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#i think that was gonna be the last scene but eh
concreteangel92 · 1 day
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Be careful what you wish for
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Noah Sebastian x female reader
18+
Warnings: Cum play, mentions of spanking, dom/sub relationship, slight humiliation kink and degradation kink (not too heavy) male masturbation, just Noah being a typical brat tamer
So this is kinda filthy even for me ahaha but it’s not massively detailed as it’s a head canon styled piece but I am working on proper detailed works as we speak so hopefully I will get those out soon.
This actually started as an idea from the other fic I’m writing but it didn’t fit into that scene properly so I decided to make it a separate piece so the thought wasn’t wasted haha and fyi the story I’m currently writing has definitely been inspired by the new tour content, that’s absolutely feeding me right now 🥵
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•You’ve been playing up all day and winding Noah up in front of people when he’s been working
•Just genuinely being a brat because you found it funny that day
•That’s fine but Noah would 100% punish you for it when you’re alone
•You’d be face down on the counter, underwear round your ankles while counting each spank he delivers
•But what’s one more dig?
•”That the best punishment you got? I’m getting bored of it now”
•Those spanks would instantly stop
•”Is that so?”
•Oh yeah, he’s pissed now
•You’d feel Noah’s grip on your hip tighten and hear the sounds of his trousers hitting the ground
•”Spread your legs”
•Noah would have a deeper growl in his voice, clearly not impressed with your attitude, but that’s ok, he’s happy to take it up a notch just teach you a lesson
•You’d feel his fingers scissor you open with a dark chuckle “bored are we? Do you want to tell that to your dripping cunt”
•That would most definitely pull a low moan from you, now Noah loves dirty talk, but to be that vulgar is very rare, even for him
•You could feel movement behind you and hear the sounds of him groaning and skin slapping on skin
•”So my punishments aren’t good enough eh?…” You could hear his words get caught in his throat, you knew he was touching himself behind you, his other hand now not leaving your hip
•”Well lucky for you…shit….I’ve got the perfect punishment for your cocky little attitude”
•You’d keep your head on the counter, pussy aching to be touched but you know that’s not going to happen any time soon
•“Did I forget to mention….that the guys will be here…any….any minute for the afternoon?”
•Noah hadn’t mentioned that they were all coming round for a gaming afternoon, you suddenly felt a sense of fear at what he had planned
•Noah’s groans became louder as he sped up his pace, you knew he wasn’t going to last much longer
•”fuck..I’m gonna cum”
•You’d feel him release onto your heated core, Noah would quickly bring your underwear back up and press the material into your folds, making sure not to let any of his juices slip out down your thighs
•You’re eyes would go wide, a choked moan escaping your lips as you now knew what his punishment was, it felt so wrong and dirty but fuck me were you turned on
•You’d hear Noah fix his clothes and then he’d grab you by your throat, bringing your back onto his chest so he could talk into your ear
•”let’s see how cocky you are walking round with my cum in your pants, and don’t think you can run away and hide baby. You’re going to sit with us until I say otherwise, is that clear?”
•”I’m in a dress, what if it…slips out?”
•You’d receive a hard smack to your ass and then Noah turned you around so he could stare down at you
•”You should have thought about that before you decided to be a brat and telling me that my punishments are boring”
•Noah grips your chin and gives you a hard kiss
•”Be careful what you wish for baby”
•That’s the moment you’d both hear keys in the door and the guys walking in with pizza boxes, Noah pulling your dress back into place and stepping away from you
•You’d do your best to walk normally and act all innocent when everyone started chatting, trying to sit without anything ‘leaking’
•Your cheeks would have a permanent blush for the afternoon
•All the while, that cocky smirk never left Noah’s lips as he stalked your every move
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thatanimeramenchick · 2 months
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Yandere Vox x Secretary Reader Pt. 2
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Eh, what have you guys done to me. I swear, we Vox fangirls are the thirstiest on the internet right now. Also, officially, I’m making this a three part series, but that’s it. So much for a oneshot. I'll make a title for this series, eventually. Also, if you want to be tagged, please put your age in your bio.
Part One - Part Three
Triggers: Dubcon-y vibes in scenes. Violence and threatening. Read responsibly, stuff is gonna get a little dark this chapter.
Word count: 3,142
---
Vox thought you looked perfect. For once, you were wearing something decent that he bought you instead of one of the plain outfits from before you had moved in. Somehow, you had been convinced to put on actual jewelry and makeup as well. The only flaw you held was the dirty look on your face, which you refused to face towards him directly, and it only got dirtier as you downed more and more wine.
“You know, you could at least attempt to have a good time after all the effort I put into this evening,” he said, “You haven’t even touched your food.”
“Not hungry,” you said, voice ice cold. It always was nowadays.
“If you’re not in the mood for dinner, we could watch a new production I oversaw,” he said, “I think you’d enjoy it.”
You snort at that.
“I’d rather listen to Alastor’s radio program than watch any of the hot trash your production company creates,” you said.
“I’m sorry? What was that?” he said, putting a warning hint into his tone.
“You heard me,” you said, “I’ve gotta say for someone supposedly so modern, you’re still just an old man. Alastor is what? Like twenty years older than you? And you think he’s elderly? You’re practically a decrepit bygone as well. You think anyone gives a shit about cable nowadays? At least Alastor has the decency to make stuff with class and not just forgettable, cheap cash grabs.”
Against his will, he felt a circuit spurt. His hand clenched around the glass and slammed it onto the table, causing you to jump. A small noise left your mouth, as panicked as the look in your eyes was now. You looked like you knew that you had pushed a little more than you probably should have.
“You know what?” he hissed, “You think you can just talk to me like that? Fine. You wanna play rough with me? Well guess what, I’m going to fuck that bad attitude right out of you!”
“Excuse me???”
You didn’t even look scared at that just shocked and baffled, as if that had been the last thing you had expected to hear.
“You heard me!” he grabbed you by your shoulders and shoved you flat onto the couch, “I’m sick of you fighting me. Well, you’re not going to after this.”
“W-wait, Vox, stop-”
He smashed his lips to yours, purposefully being harsh, biting you when you tried to keep your mouth closed. When you attempted to turn your face away, he grabbed your chin rough enough where he knew it would leave a mark before kissing you harder. You pounded your fist against his chest, but he ignored it, straddling you. He eventually used his other hand to grab your wrist and push it into the couch.
He didn’t know when it happened, but at some point in your struggle something shifted in the air. Changed. You had finally stopped fighting, slowly wrapping your arm around his neck, kissing him back. It was heavenly, you finally submitting to him. Yes, yes, yes… He paused to look you in the eyes, to see your timid gaze and red face. There was still a look of anger glazed across your features, but it was fading. He brought his hand up to play at the buttons on your blouse. You looked at each other for a second longer before you initiated a kiss for once, using the arm around his neck to pull him close. Your tongue felt so hot, so right, as if your body was as electric as his own and-
Vox gasped, a spark running through his head. He woke up alone in bed, a literal hot mess. He felt like his head was overheating, running a million miles a minute, despite the fact that he should feel cold from sleep. Mixing this with the slick sweat and fluid he was covered in, it was an uncomfortable feeling. Groping for the robe hanging next to his bed, he climbed out. What a dream. He needed a second to wire down from that before trying to go back to sleep.
He picked up his phone and opened it to check on you. The camera in your room showed you curled up on your mattress, blanket half off your body and arms wrapped around one of your pillows. It pressed into your dozing face, which held a peaceful, relaxed look that he rarely saw now that you had decided to go to war with him. His finger absently stroked your image on the screen.
Why did you have to be so difficult? He didn’t know what had been the powder keg that had kicked off your little rebellion, but whatever it was, all his attempts to nip it in the bud had made you more temperamental. Clearly his irritation with your behavior had seeped into his mind enough to create some… darker fantasies deep in his sleeping subconscious.
He shook his head. It was just a dream. It didn’t mean anything.
Besides, he already had been thinking about what to do next, to give you that little push you needed to be more agreeable.
---
Later that day he scoffed at how ridiculous his own morbid imagination was. The idea of you dressed all pimped up like one of Valentino’s whores. You barely got out of bed nowadays. If he was being honest, your imprisonment had caused your mood to swing between defiant temper tantrums and a hopelessly depressed sloth. Today, you were in the latter mood, still in pajamas that he swore you were wearing two days ago, lying on the couch and mindlessly eating as you watched some random reality show.
“Hello there, beautiful,” he said, trying to sound pleasant, “Looks like you’ve had a relaxing day.”
You glance at him for a second before looking back at the television. The blanket is pulled tighter around you, as if you were trying to hide any inch of yourself from him. Ever since his last attempt at showing his affection had ended in you headbutting him – hard – you had been particularly prickly at even the slightest hint that he might want to touch you.
“What do you want, asshole?” you said, voice lacking emotion.
Charming as always.
“Well, dearest, I was thinking. Now that you’ve had some time to think things over, I was hoping we could finally come to an agreement that would make us both happy,” he said.
“I highly doubt that’s possible,” you said.
He sat beside you, which caused you to curl your legs in tighter. You inch up on the arm a little, as if to sit as far away from him as possible without having to actually put any effort into getting up.
“We both have something that the other person wants, something that could be easily settled with a written contract,” Vox said, “You would like to be allowed to roam around this cesspool of a city and I-”
“Let me guess, it includes a whole paragraph about me never leaving your sight as well as a clause about how often you get to stick yourself in my various orifices?” you grumbled.
“You’re so melodramatic sometimes,” he said, “You always assuming the worst about people, F/N. Makes me wonder if you were double crossed a lot in your previous life.”
You don’t even respond to this, just continue to stare ahead. He’d noticed that lately you’ve been avoiding his gaze. He wasn’t sure how much you had figured out about his abilities, but you seemed to have pieced enough together that the more you avoided his eyes, the less direct influence he had on you at the moment. He was sure that it was one of the many reasons you were so moody lately; you stubbornly refused to be soothed by him. Regardless, whether you were trying to avoid his hypnotic gaze or not, it’s no matter. It’s not like you’re going to be able to avoid the overall influence he has over this city, especially if you spend your free time watching television he’s created.
“It’s rather tame, considering the situation you’re in. Contract or not, it’s not like you’re going to be going anywhere anytime soon,” he continued, “You’re lucky I care for you as much as I do, trying to work with you like this.”
“Hooray for me,” you said.
You really were a brat sometimes. Vox at times wondered if it was because he was too soft on you, and you didn’t realize the amount of actual power he held over you. Either that or you just didn’t care anymore. Whatever. It was all big talk because at the end of the day, you both knew you couldn’t do anything about your situation.
“You already have lots of benefits, which you would retain. Nice apartment, clothes, up to date tech. Besides that, you can come and go regularly, as long as you’re back here within twenty-four from when you last left. You can do whatever you want during that time. You also would be working for me a minimum of forty hours a week, with the occasional granted vacation at my discretion. That’s pretty much it, along with you occasionally being cooperative with my… desires,” he said, “So you’d have plenty of time to yourself. I didn’t put in anything that would force you to do anything too unsavory with me.”
Though he certainly would have liked to be more pushy in that department, he knew going too far could result in the kind of hate fueled relationship Valentino and Angel Dust shared. He honestly didn’t have the energy to have that much drama in his own life. Good night, he could hardly handle the drama that was in his life now. Besides, he was sure you’d come around willingly, even if it took a few centuries.
You glared at him as he finished speaking, as if to say, how generous of you.
From inside his vest, he pulls out the contract and holds it out to you.
“So, we have a deal?” he asked.
You sit up and take the paper, still avoiding his eyes. You seem to be reading it over, though your hold on it is lazy.
“… This still says you can fuck me at least once a week if you want to, or else I’m not allowed to leave the building,” you said, “Did you really think I wasn’t going to notice shit like that?”
He laughed a bit awkwardly.
“I mean, I did say I would like you to be at least a little cooperative,” he said, crossing his legs, “We could wait a little while if you’d like. I mean, you’d still have more freedom than you do now, even with that minuscule restriction. You should know by now that I’m a patient man.”
You stare at it again, forehead wrinkled.
“You know what… I see where you’re coming from,” you said, finally making eye contact, “Tic for tac, eh?”
“That’s a crude way for you to put it,” he said.
You shrug.
“Crude or not, it’s the truth,” you said, a sardonic smirk appearing on your face, “You want me to give a little to get a little.”
Before he could say anything you hold up your hands with more energy than he’s seen you have in days.
“No, no, no! I understand. I’ve been in hell long enough to know how people like you work. I get where you’re coming from, I really do. I’m not stupid! So trust me, I’m being completely serious when I say that I think you should take this lovely contract of yours and shove it up your glowing blue ass!” you ripped it in half on the last word, your smile still present but a nasty look in your eyes.
Vox felt his eye twitch as you continued to smirk at him, tossing the paper at him like you would throw trash across the room. You then lie back down and turn back to the TV, ignoring him again as if the last few minutes hadn’t even happened at all. Though you were attempting to pull your face back into the blank expression of earlier, he could see in your eyes a mixture of emotion, rage, yes, but also a certain smugness. What, did you really think you were tough shit for mouthing off to him like that?
He felt like his head was going to explode. Before he even registered how he was reacting, he had grabbed you by the hair and was pulled you back over.
“Ow! What the hell are you doing, Vox?” you yelled, the smug look gone from your eyes, “You’re hurting me!”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you? I’m trying to be generous to you because I actually like you, but you know what? I’ve clearly spoiled you rotten already!” he fumed.
He was practically seeing red as he dragged you over, causing you to yelp. You try to kick him, but he only grabs onto your ankle and pulls you closer to him, spinning you around so that you were pressed against the back of the couch, his arms on either side of you. His fingers are still gripping your hair, forcing you to turn your head towards him.
“You know, you’re right, who needs a contract?” he said, “I can do whatever the hell I want with you, and what are you going to do about it?”
Your voice cracked as you attempted to speak, but he didn’t pay any attention to what you were trying to say. He could feel his systems overloading with the amount of rage he was feeling, shouting over you.
“I hope you like the view from up here, because you’re staying here for the rest of your miserable eternal exist. You can work and live here 24/7,” he said, “Anything else we should change in the arrangement? You didn’t like the idea of fucking me once a week? Fine by me. Why not once a day? Twice a day? Every hour? Would you like that better? Huh? Answer me!”
As he finished speaking, he finally heard what you were saying, “-m sorry! I’m sorry, please, stop!
As he heard your pleading, he felt himself being brought back down to earth. While his rage was still present, your begging brought him back to reality, and it was finally registering how upset you were. Hysterical. Terrified. You were sobbing, more afraid of him than he had ever seen you, even on the worst days of your fighting.
“D-d-don’t hurt me. I’m s-sorry, I’m sorry! Please, don’t hurt me!”
He released your hair with a rapid exhale, and you automatically moved your head away from him, arms shielding your face. Shaking, it was sinking in just emotionally distraught you were, as well as the damage he had done to the couch. He hadn’t even noticed he had been digging his claws into the polyester, a row of gnashes beside your head. The situation was completely getting out of control. He pushed himself off of you and turned away. He didn’t even say anything, just left the room and went through the wires to his office. His head was overheating, and he was going to crash at this rate if he didn’t calm down.
Damn it! He hated how out of control you made him feel. It was pathetic. There was only one other person he could think of that made him get near as frustrated as he was feeling with you at the moment. He wasn’t the kind to act out, and here he was acting almost as ridiculous as his business partner did. The only saving grace was that Vox at least tried to keep his infatuation as quiet and private as possible.
It was more than his emotional irregularity though. The fact that he felt this way at all about you was humiliating. Affection, fondness, it was a weakness, and he knew it. Valentino got away with just having simple lust and taking what he wanted, but genuine affection demanded gentleness and tenderness. It was beyond him just not being able to do as he pleased with you, he didn’t want to. He wanted you to come to him willingly. It was the thing holding him back from just hypnotizing you into his arms or using a “love” potion, and now he had probably set any progress towards your affection back significantly.
He rubbed his forehead, which was starting to cool down a little. What was going on up there? He was going to end up doing something rash, something he regretted, if he didn’t get things under control and under control fast. Something needed to be done, but he didn’t know what. Nothing had gone how he had wanted it to. He would need to rethink his approach.
---
You spent a long time shaking on the couch, arms and blanket wrapped around you, crying. You were an idiot. Clearly your brain was turning to mush just sitting around the house all day. Did you actually think you’d be able to get away with speaking like that to an Overlord of Hell?
There had to be a way out of this place. Had to. But the more you thought about it, the more impossible it felt. Even if you did manage to get out of the building in one piece, Vox had this entire city under constant watch. Every corner of Pentagram City was crawling with his tech and media. It would take minutes if not seconds for him to find you and bring you back by force. At this point, maybe you should just sign a contract with the douchebag. Surely, he’d get bored of you eventually, right? Maybe if you got lucky he’d even get killed off one of these days in an extermination, and you’d be off the hook completely.
But how long would that take? Decades? A century or two? What if he never tired of you? Eternal death or not, you didn’t want to spend that much time living and sleeping with some psycho you hated. No. That wasn’t an option. You weren’t going to do that. But what then? You had thought he was going to literally rip your head off just a few minutes ago for telling him no. You were pretty sure things weren’t going to get less volatile around here if you kept rejecting him.
You wiped at your tear soaked face with a tissue and tossed it across the room. It’s light material just sent it floating to the ground though. It looked as pathetic as you felt.
“Damn it,” you cursed, smashing your head into a throw pillow and lying back down, “I hate this fucking place.”
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athanza · 10 days
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Starlett - Part 3
Cooper Howard/fem!OC (not self-insert)
Tags: Hurt/comfort (sort of?), non-allowed romantic connection, lots of tention, pre and post war drama, some fluff
Warnings: Mentions of domestic abuse (no graphic scenes or descriptions of that nature), angst, canon wasteland violence
This branches out from canon but I thought it was a cute story idea so I had to write it. Enjoy! ♡
Part 1 | Part 2 | Final part
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Suddenly Irene looked unsteady and she held a hand to the wound on her side.
"Fancy seein' you here." She chuckled painfully.
"I know, I haven't changed a bit."
She laughed but immediately regretted it, groaning in pain.
"You uh," she said, blood dripping down her leg. "you wouldn't happen to have a stimpak on you would ya? I'm uh...I'm not feelin' too hot."
He looked her over, the gash was deep, she'd need more than one stimpak. "Unfortunately I don't think I do."
Suddenly her legs gave out from underneath her and she collapsed.
"Whoa." He said, catching her before she hit the ground.
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Irene woke up hours later, lying on her back in what looked like a small cave, her head resting on a saddle bag.
She didn't look any different than she did before the war, albeit a little dishevelled, Cooper figured that however Moldaver survived must've been how she did.
"Coop." Irene croaked.
He looked up from cleaning his revolver and saw her try to move.
"Easy there Starlett, you're pretty banged up."
She winced in pain again and lay back down. "I thought you were dead." She said, weak from the blood loss.
"I should be. So should you."
"Fate had other plans I guess."
Cooper scoffed quietly. She didn't press it, even though she wanted to know if Janey made it.
"You're gonna need some proper medical attention." He said. "Ain't much out here though."
"Eh, it's just a scratch." She joked, swallowing a mouth-full of blood.
Cooper got up and handed her a flask of water, half empty. She took a few sips and handed it back.
"I'm lookin' for Lee, you know where I can find 'er?
"I've been looking for her myself, I'm afraid I can't help you there, I've found nothing but dead ends. The bitch is hard to find even in a fucking desert."
He smiled a little at the very different tone coming out of her mouth than he remembered; she must've been in the wasteland for a little while, at least.
"I'm glad I found you cowboy. You're about the only fond memory I've got left. I needed that right about now."
"I'm not the man you remember."
"Doesn't matter. You've reminded me of something I haven't seen in years."
"And what's that?"
"Kindness."
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2077
The doorbell rang and Cooper opened it to find Irene looking remarkably understated compared to her shows, but she still had that aire of grace that she always carried with her no matter where she was.
"Come on in." He smiled, stepping aside for her.
"I can't thank you enough for letting me stay, I know its a lot of ask of someone you just met."
"It's the least I can do."
He closed the door and took her suitcase for her.
Janey appeared with Roosevelt, having been playing in the backyard and Cooper gestured to her.
"Irene, this is my daughter Janey. Janey this is Irene, the friend from work I was telling you about."
"Irene Taylor!?" She said, her eyes sparkling. "I've seen you on TV! Your voice is sooo beautiful! You definitely should have won the award on last month's show."
Irene and Cooper both laughed.
"Looks like you have a fan."
"That's very kind of you." Irene smiled sweetly.
"Janey, why don't you watch some cartoons while I show Irene to her room?"
"Ok." She beamed and sat down with Roosevelt in front of the TV.
Irene followed Cooper to the back of the house where the guest room was and looked at all the family photos as they walked through. Wedding photos, Janey's baby photos, a puppy photo of Roosevelt. When they finally reached the room she felt even more uncomfortable.
"This is you." He said, placing her suitcase on the bed.
"I'm so sorry to put you in this position Mr. Howard, I do appreciate it very much. I didn't know who else to come to."
"Don't worry about it." He smiled warmly. "I'm just glad you decided to leave."
"So am I. You made me realise the cause wasn't worth the abuse, no matter how much I told myself it was. Lee won't be happy but it'll be worth it in the end."
"I'm sure it will."
She smiled softly at him. "I'll let you get back to your daughter. You'll barely know I'm here."
"Nonsense," he said. "You're joining us for dinner, plus I'm sure Janey would love to spend some time with you."
She got choked up a bit at that. Everything she had done since getting into show business had been for other people, someone doing something like this for her was something special.
"Thank you Mr. Howard."
"Cooper." He replied.
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Irene lay sleeping and Cooper sat wondering what to do with her.
He couldn't spare any resources, and he didn't need stimpaks, so he had none. Could he carry her to Filly and get her to a doctor? Sure, but that was in the opposite direction of where he was headed, where they were both headed.
It would be more humane to shoot her now to save her the pain, but he couldn't bring himself to do it and it angered him.
"Fuck." He said, getting to his feet and picking up his gun, walking out of the cave in search of supplies.
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korikokorin · 3 months
Text
Fluff
Angel Dust headcanon/ scenario
Huskerdust
Warnings: mild swearing
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Picture by: I make art ヽ⁠༼⁠⁰⁠o⁠⁰⁠;⁠༽⁠ノ?! obsessed with this scene and this song
Note: I can't stop thinking abt that look angel gave husk during the last episode so here's a little something hehe
The flirting started as a joke.
Husk was always so grumpy and gruff. Annoying him was fun.
When Angel flirted with him for the first time and he got all agressive and hissy— Husk truly looked like a grumpy old cat and Angel? He found it amusing.
So he had a little fun.
After work he'd walk up to the bar, order a drink, and flirt with him. He'd get to see Husk squirm and grumble and he'd get a good laugh out of it.
Everyday.
But then days turned into a weeks and…
Well…
Angel got too comfortable. At least, that's what he figured happened. He'd spilled his guts to Husk just one too many times and now?
Now he's started giving him advice. Now he thinks he knows enough to start butting into Angel's business.
Fucking bartenders.
Flirting went from a joke to a distraction.
Husk's words hitting a little too close to home?
Flirt.
Husk looking too deeply past his facade?
Flirt.
Husk remembering bits and peices from their old conversations…
Flirt.
Remembering his favorite cocktails; knowing which one he needs when he needs it…
Flirt.
Husk listening. Just listening and looking right into his eyes without a shred of disdain or judgement. Even saying the sweetest things sometimes…
Flirt.
It came to a point that he couldn't deny it anymore.
The flirting went from distracting husk to distracting himself.
Then husk called him out.
And Angel got scared.
So he got angry.
And when Husk told him to cut the shit because it wasn't ever gonna work on him? That?
That fucking hurt.
And then Husk had to come and try to help him? Had to cut him deep, bleed him out, and then somehow patch him up with the most stupidly sweet words and the damn cozy comforting presence that he is?
Fuck it.
He used to say “I need you.” to hide how much he was breaking, and now?
Now, he let Husk see how he was breaking, see how much he struggled and cried. He let the world see himself, if only to hide from Husk how much he wanted to say “I need you.”
“Eh. You fuck one cannibal pool boy, you've fucked ‘em all.”
“Wow, guess you have changed.”
“Hey, Charlie said live however we want to tonight.”
Angel paused.
No, not today.
“So pour me a new one and let's get to livin’!”
Angel watched as Husk turned his back to him to pour him another drink, his deep voice shaking his shoulders as he chuckled making Angel feel that warmth rise in his heart again.
Somehow the back of this man— despite his actual stature— felt so much bigger and stronger than it looked.
It was grounding.
Which is probably why Angel was falling so hard.
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harrywavycurly · 1 year
Note
Sarah we need more Wayne so can we get some conversations with him when the reader is pregnant? I know he’d love to be a grandpa🥹😩💕
Hiii babes!! I hope you enjoy this and just know it made me all emotional so thanks for that 🫠💖
-Some of these are between him and Eddie and I marked those with a 🖤 the others are the reader talking to Wayne.
*Wayne is ready to be a grandpa and he always makes sure he has your snacks on hand*
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🖤 “What did you just say?” “I said…you’re going to be a grandpa…or like whatever you want to be called? You don’t have to go by grandpa if you’re totally against it.” “A grandpa? You…two are going to be…parents?” “Fucking crazy right? I about blacked out when she told me.” “Good lord please let it be more like her I really don’t think I can handle another you.” “Hey! I wasn’t that bad…”
“Uncle Wayne do you have any pickles? Eddie ate my last one.” “Uh oh you didn’t kill him did you?” “No…just cried and made him go to the store.” “Well come on in and check the fridge darlin I think I have a whole jar full.” “Did he tell you he tried to slip Ozzy in as a possible name for the baby?” “How’d he handle it when you told him no?” “He pouted. Like full on stomped his feet and pouted.” “He’s always been that way, when he gets told no he storms off and makes a big scene. It was more entertaining when he was a toddler though…” “I think that’s why he ate my last pickle…out of retaliation.” “Send him over here when he gets home from the store.” “Ohh gonna talk some sense into him uncle Wayne?” “Don’t worry about it sweetheart just send him over okay?” “Will do! Thanks for the pickles!” “Anytime.”
🖤 “She cried in the middle of the mini mart yesterday.” “Well yeah she’s growing a whole human she’s gonna be a little more…emotional than normal.” “It was because the polar bear on the holiday Coke display was wearing a turtle neck…” “Oh don’t go acting like you didn’t cry at the zoo when I told you it was time to go and you wanted to watch those damn otters swim around some more.” “That’s different I was like five!” “Just let her have her moments okay? She needs you to be supportive not making fun of her.” “I’d never make fun of her it’s just…sometimes she just cries out of no where and I don’t know what to do.” “You just let her cry and hold her hand and tell her it’s okay. That’s all she needs from you.” “Okay…I can do that.”
“What the hell are you doin?” “I’m hanging pictures up? Eddie isn’t here and it’s been driving me absolutely crazy seeing them just sitting here so I figured I’d do it myself.” “Get down…now please.” “It’s just a step stool uncle Wayne it’s perfectly safe.” “Darlin you can barley walk on a flat surface without falling so please…just take my hand and step down okay? I’ll hang the pictures up.” “You and Eddie really are related. He says the exact same thing.” “You know he’d be freaking out if he saw you up there.” “Yeah one time he came home and I was standing on a chair to put some mugs away and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.” “You’re too far along to be climbing onto things and sure as shit too pregnant to be standing on chairs okay? Just call me if he’s gone and you need something hung up or need me to grab a mug off the top shelf.” “Fine.” “Now don’t go giving me that sad little pout. I know you like to be independent but it’s for your own safety okay? You’ll be back to scaling the counters and climbing step stools before you know it.”
🖤 “it’s…uh it’s a girl. We are having a girl…” “congrats Eddie I know you wanted a little girl.” “I’m going to be a girl dad…with the dolls and the tea parties and all the pink glittery shit girls like….” “I mean not all girls are into that kinda stuff but yeah…you’re gonna be a dad to a little girl. How do you feel?” “Like I’m going to royally fuck it up but also I’m …excited? It’s weird.” “Eh all parents feel like they’re gonna mess it up but it’s a learning process. You’re gonna be fine son.” “You ready to have a little girl running around calling you grandpa?” “Shit no. But what about you? You ready to have a little girl running around calling you dad?” “Actually…yeah…I am.”
“Will you teach her how to fix cars?” “Sure. When she’s old enough to hold the flashlight.” “Eddie is trying to convince me the van is a perfectly reliable family van.” “It has no backseat…” “that’s what I told him but he said he’s gonna install some.” “Instal some seats? God he’s really lost it huh?” “I found a cheap little car that I love but figured I might see what you think about it before I even show it to him.” “Oh you want to tag team him is that it?” “Well he can’t tell us both no…” “that’s sneaky sweetheart, but I’ll do it because no way in hell am I letting my grand baby ride around in that damn van.” “
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saturnalmoss · 8 months
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ARM-WRESTLER
CHAPTER ONE
A curious case of littering
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Master Post
An arm was what had caught York’s attention.
He was taking his daily jog around Fancy Town. There weren’t much in the way of alleys here, but the older parts of town had some number of dark nooks and crannies. It was here that York noticed an odd shape on the ground.
It was still there on the second lap. He stopped and looked around. It was getting to be evening, but the brownstones remained quiet, curtains drawn or maybe empty. The irregular lots between them like rotten teeth grew wild with weeds and garbage.
York walked up to the thing on the ground: an arm - as he had thought. He had felt the call to wrestle in his hindbrain before his eyes had even registered it, but if they were lying on the ground, they probably hadn’t got the energy for a good armwrestle. That’s what he had decided on his first lap.
Now, he realized, this arm would never wrestle again. He stood a little longer, then pulled his brand new, refurbished, little flip bone out of his jacket pocket. He was reticent to get an iBone when he couldn't be bothered to memorize a bone number but Rosé way struck with inspiration after their last adventure.
York carefully pressed the buttons marked with stars in the order of the constellation. He had even written orcish on them to help practice the foreign numbers. He figured, in for a phalange in for a femur.
“York!” Rosé said happily.
“Rosé.” York said. “I found an arm.”
“Uh.”
“It’s on the ground, and ain’t attached to no one.” He wanted to hold it up, but Jancy had drilled into him that the crime scene was not to be touched until photos could be taken, and his iBone did not have picture capability.
“Oh no. Uh. Okay, Jancy isn’t in the office - she went to talk to a potential client. UH.”
“Can you call her?”
“Potential client! Her bone is on silent.”
“Can you call Grandma?”
York listened patiently as Rosé muttered something about holding and groups and beep boops.
“Grenda Highforge speaking.”
“Grandma, I found an arm.” York said. There was silence on the other end while Rosé thought of how to rephrase.
“...It’s by itself, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Also Rosé is here. On the bone, not with me. Rosé, I don't know where you are,” York crouched down on the ground to examine the lone arm again.
“Hi, Rosé!”
“Hi. I'm in the office and Jancy isn’t in the office so we don’t know what to do. Can you do your best Jancy for a minute and tell us what to do?”
“Uh! Yeah. Uh. Don’t touch anything!” York nodded; accomplished. “Secure the area?”
York looked around. Still not a soul, as far as he could tell. “Next?”
“Maybe draw a chalk outline?” Grenda suggested.
“I don’t got chalk.”
“Oh, I do! Well, with me.”
Rosé chimed in, “Grandma, I’m heading over there. Let’s all meet up.” York nodded again, unseen.
“Good idea! Where should I go?” There was a sudden silence on the other end. Rosé stopped in her tracks.
“Uh. Yeah. Uh, what do you see nearby, York?”
York listed them the landmarks nearby. The city folks insistence on naming all the places they go instead of just going was still weird to him. Then again, Northern Tribe orcs didn’t tend to plan to go places together so much as just run into each other sometimes.
The other two tell him to stay on the iBone, maybe look for a blood trail.
“Ain’t no blood.”
“What.” Grenda said.
“Don’t like that.” Rosé said. York peered closer.
“Actually, I don’t think this thing ever had blood to begin with.” He held it up triumphantly. “Yeah! It’s metal! It’s a metal arm!”
“What like a prosthetic? Or a mannequin?”
“Or a crash test dummy?” Rosé added.
“A prosthetic?” York said derisively.
“A prosthetic is a replacement limb!” Grandma told him helpfully. A dog yipped in the background.
“I know what a prosthetic is! But this ain’t no prosthetic. It doesn’t even have spikes.”
“Northern Tribes do prosthetics differently, eh, buddy?” Rosé said.
York turned the arm over in his hand. “Yeah! You just stick a weapon in there! Whose gonna make a whole fake arm to put on your arm when you can stick an ax in there?” He looked at the arm again. “Oh, shit.”
“What?” Rosé asked
“Even for a leg?” Grenda said at the same time.
“Uh, no, hammer’s best if you lose a leg.” York said distractedly, putting the arm on the ground gingerly. “Swords and axes’ll just stick in the ground.” He pushed the palm a little, then pulled it back again.
“What if you just lost the front of your foot, could you get a dagger and do sick kick flip stabby stabs?”
“Yeah. Classic.” York muttered.
“I’m here!” Rosé said and York stood up sharply. She looked at him, then the arm. She raised an eyebrow. York stared.
“Ooh, in stereo! I’ll be there soon. Plus, I have a client! Maybe she can do a little sniffing?”
Rosé, Grenda, and York stared down at the hand together. A dog panted happily nearby, tied tightly to a stake. A little bowl of water glittered. “So, no blood. No body.” Rosé said. “Does that mean this is a lost item, not a murder?”
“It could still be a missing person!” Grenda said helpfully. “You never know.”
“It’s definitely a prosthetic, though? Even though it’s not a weapon?” York asked.
“I mean, I could knock someone out with that.” Rosé said. “Not that I would, because I am a good girl.”
Grenda nodded. “See the bits here? I think it’s so the arm can move. And the fingers have grippies for... gripping. And up at the end it’s kind of softer? To stick to the person. Not a mannequin, Probably a prosthetic. Definitely missing! I bet someone wants this back.” Grenada beamed up at their friends.
Rosé hummed softly, and stroked her chin. “The rules are different for a missing belonging...” York nodded, Grenda smiled. “So... what if we hunted down the owner and returned the arm?”
“And fined ‘em for littering.”
“Wouldn’t Jancy be proud of us?”
“So proud.” Grenda said.
“So proud.” York agreed.
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coneedogawa · 2 months
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Just wanna put out my theories after seeing the new trailer for movie 27.
Theory 1(What I think is going to happen): Kazuha at the end is actually kid.
This is mainly because, upon close inspection, I believe that you can see her knees poking out as she’s standing. Only the bottom of her pants are moving so it might be intentional since the bump is still throughout the final scene of the trailer. Now, I could very well be looking too deep into it. But last time Kazuha was Kaito, he had to bend down throughout the episode to match her height. Here’s a photo for reference:
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Now, you may wonder why Kaito would hug Heiji and whatnot but seeing as “Kazuha” has her hands on either side of his head, he may be acting to protect Heiji from some type of danger. Seeing as we saw snipers earlier in the trailer I wouldn’t be too surprised.
Theory 2(Second most likely to me): Both of them are really themselves but it’s not a confession.
Basically theory 1 except Kazuha is Kazuha. She simply interrupts his confession herself as she sees danger and tackles him to protect him.
Theory 3: Heiji at the end is Kaito and Kazuha is just playing along.
Kazuha can easily call out Heiji in disguise or someone else disguising as him so I find it unlikely that she would fall for Kaito’s disguise but on the off chance that Heiji is actually Kaito in disguise, then she’s probably playing along to help catch him. That, or she could be trying to protect Kaito for some reason under the same pretenses as the last theories.
And finally, Theory 4: It’s THE confession.
Let’s be honest, it’s definitely not gonna be but eh, a girl can dream.
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portaltothevoid · 8 months
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you're losing me part iv -- copia x reader, ex!terzo x reader
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Summary: Your cheating ex is the leader of the Satanic church and you caused a scene in front of the whole congregation. You've been summoned to meet with him, alone, to be served your punishment. Turns out, you're destined for more than you could ever imagine...
A/N: buckle up buttercups, you're in for a doozy. please read the warnings. also this is my first time writing real smut please be nice to me. this little idea i had has grown into something i never thought it would and it is my overflowing cup of reason to live juice. and yes i switched gifs around because i'm new here and found the perfect one for part iii soooo did a little switcheroo. ps there’s a lot of lyrical easter eggs for my fellow swifties
songs: coney island by tswizzle, tempt me by stone nobles (please check out this band, i beg of you. trust me.)
word count: 8.4k (😬😬😬)
warnings: (this chapter deals with some dark stuff) dubcon, manipulation, talk of self-sabotage, flashbacks, oral (f!receving), fingering, p in v, rough sex, choking, fingers in mouth, allusion to panty-sniffing kink (kinda), horror elements, allusion to degradation (the bad kind), female reader, terzo heavy, google translate latin, some google translate italian (i took it in high school but that was forever ago, so i tried?)
“A summons?” you gasped jumping up from the couch. “A summons?! Oh, great. Perfect. Wait, what exactly is a summons?” 
“It’s a meeting with Papa… alone…” Copia said, his voice balancing on the edge of feigned calmness and panic.
“Why the fuck does he need to see me alone? He can’t excommunicate me without witnesses, right? …Right?!” Your voice was rising in pitch as you started to pace around the living room. 
“I-I don’t know, tesoro. No matter what happens, eh, I don’t think he’ll let you go that… easily.”
“Okay, okay, we just have to remain calm and- and think about this rationally. I-it could just be the slap on the wrist for the outburst, right?”
“Maybe…”
“Then again, if I’m alone in his office it’ll probably be a slap across my ass,” you grumbled, rolling your eyes. Copia couldn’t even respond, he just made a growling sound from deep inside his chest. You held your hands up defensively. “I’m just saying.”
“If so much as lays one finger on you–”
“He won’t,” you interrupted. “What happened after I left mass?”
“I got up to run after you and the fucker, very condescendingly, reminded me…” he trailed off as a realization smacked him across the face. “He reminded me I was to lead the closing prayer, which he assigned to me at the last minute. Cazzo! Quel figlio di puttana (Fuck! That son of a bitch…) planned this. He knows what he’s fucking doing,” he fumed.  “That’s why he couldn’t wipe that fucking smirk off his face.”
“Oh fucking hell, we are so fucked,” you groaned, sitting back down on the couch with your head in your hands.
“Eh, maybe not if we’re already figuring out his plan?”
“True... Okay, so… we just have to think like Terzo.” A repulsed shiver went down your spine at that thought alone. “His comment to me was planned. He wanted to get under my skin. Point for him. I spat wine in his face and told him to fuck off in front of literally everyone. Point for me. But he was testing me to see my reaction or maybe it was just to test your reaction, or both? Either way, it didn’t matter because he made it so your duties came first no matter what I did… Point for him. He’s in the lead and now I’m gonna have to be in his office tomorrow. Great. Just fucking great.”
“So he’s going after me now too…” Copia sighed as he ran his hands through his hair.
“N-no. Not just you.” Your voice faltered as you felt your insides do a somersault. A realization of your own drained every emotion from your face. “He’s going after us. He’s going– He’s gonna try and break us apart.” Copia looked up at you, dumbfounded. Of course. Of course that’s exactly what Terzo was doing. 
“If he can’t have you, no one can…”
“Do you remember what a big fucking deal it was to get me on the books for living with him?” Copia nodded, not liking where this was going. “I… I never officially moved out… I just… came here. He’s… he’s going to reassign my living quarters tomorrow. That's what this has to be about.”
“Oh Satana mio…(Oh my Satan)”
“Call Sister Imperator. Right now. She can rush the paperwork, can't she?”
“Amore, even if we could, he’d still have to sign off on it in the morning,” he sighed.
“I can’t just sit here and wait for morning. Even if that’s not what the summons is going to be about, at least let’s cover our asses. Now… Call. Her.”
He ignored the warmth that traveled up his body from you being stern and demanding with him and started the call to their superior. She answered right away and you were sitting on the edge of the couch. “H-hi, uh, hello, Seestor. I’m sorry it’s so la– Sì. She received the summons… Eh, sì, that’s why I’m calling you… No… Okie dokie, Seestor.” He hung up the phone after that.
“Did you really just ‘okie dokie’ Sister Imperator?”
Copia just shrugged. “She’s expecting us in her office.”
“Hmph!” you hummed triumphantly as you got up. “Told ya we needed to call her.”
He rolled his eyes at your gloating. “Andiamo, anidamo (let’s go, let’s go),” he said as he placed a hand on the small of your back, letting you lead the way out of the apartment.  
Copia knocked swiftly on Imperator’s door. Seconds later it was opened. “Come in. Quickly!” she hissed. The Sister took her seat at her desk, while you and Copia sat in the chairs in front of her. She stared at you, her lips pursed. “That was some stunt you pulled at mass today, Sister.” 
“I-I… he… I’m–” you stuttered and then abruptly shut up when she held her hand up.
“I knew of the nature of your relationship with Papa and I know that it is no longer. I know of the infidelity… on both your parts. Save the apologies. I heard what he said to you. When I was your age… I would have acted similarly… I did not bring you both here because of that incident. Clearly Papa Emeritus III is out of control and it’s only going to get worse.” She spoke matter-of-factly. There was no animosity in her voice towards you, this was strictly business.
“I think he’s going to try to separate Copia and I,” you blurted out quickly. You winced at the frantic tone of your voice.
“Yes I know. I have your room transfer papers ready. Luckily, it’s before midnight, so tomorrow he won’t have a say in where you end up since this is already being put in motion. Sign here and here,” she pointed with her pen as she spoke and handed a clipboard over to Copia who then passed it to you.
“Do you… do you know what else is going to happen tomorrow? At the summoning?” you questioned timidly.
“No. I only caught wind about the transfer. But, Sister, you must be prepared. We are thwarting his plans. Whatever happens tomorrow, you cannot retaliate via a spectacle. I am fully on your side here, but we need to bide our time.”
“So… What? I’m just supposed to take the public humiliation and whatever else he’s gonna throw in my face?”
“I think what Seestor is trying to say, cara, is that behind closed doors you can say anything you want to him, but whatever you say to him, we don’t know if he will retaliate right then or wait to strike,” Copia said calmly.
Sister Imperator gave a short nod in agreement. “Your reactions have to be calculated. You cannot let your emotions get the best of you in the moment. You’ve done so well holding yourself together, I know you are capable of this.”
You felt the weight of everything come crashing down on you, overwhelming you. All you could do was chew on the inside of your cheek.
“I know you know this more than anyone, Sister,” Imperator continued, “Terzo is out of control and out of line. This is becoming nothing but a game to him. As Papa, he feels no one has the power to tell him no. At the rate he is going, he will only bring ruin to this Ministry. And I, for one, will do everything in my power to keep that from happening. I know Cardinal Copia feels the same.”
He nodded. “Sì, Seestor. I do.”
“I will do whatever it takes, Sister.”
“Do you know why your role is so vital to this?” Sister Imperator questioned. You shook your head. “You were the only one that could tame Terzo. For a while, I had thought we found our solution to our problems with him. But he is a wild animal. No amount of domestication will tame that beast. You also possess magical and ritual talents well beyond your years. You are a very valuable asset to the church as a whole. If all goes according to plan, your efforts will be regarded in the highest favor from the Dark Lord himself, I’m sure.”
You were too stunned by her praise to notice that Copia shifted uncomfortably. Sister Imperator shot a glare at him to stop before you looked up from your hands. “I– Um, thank you, Sister.”
She gave you a stiff nod as she began to organize the papers on her desk. “Oh, and, Sister? Should anything happen to you, be it comments or gestures, report it to myself or Cardinal Copia. Immediately. If I am preoccupied, tell someone or myself that you have a very important document for me to review. Understood?”
“Yes, Sister,” you nodded.
“Very well then. I will have this processed and on Papa’s desk by sun rise.”
Copia got up and bowed to Sister Imperator. He held out his hand for you to take your leave. Just as you both were a step away from the door, you turned back to her desk. “Sister Imperator?” you asked innocently.
“Hmm?” she murmured without looking up at you.
“Thank you,” you said sincerely.
She finally looked up at you, her eyes darting between you and Copia. An uncharacteristically warm smile spread across her face. “No need to thank me yet.” Her demeanor turned back to its usual stoicness. “Now go get some rest. The both of you. You’ll need it.”
~~~~~ 
Even though you somehow managed to fall asleep, you felt like as soon as you drifted off, you heard the incessant beeping of Copia’s alarm. You rolled to face the ceiling and groaned, but didn’t allow yourself any more time in bed. You wanted this over with. You had no idea what was about to happen. Delaying it wasn’t going to solve any problems. Reluctantly, you got up and showered quickly, putting on your makeup afterwards. While Copia got ready for the day, you searched your side of the closet, trying to decide the best approach for this summons.
Earlier last week, while Terzo was tied up in meetings, you and one of your favorite Ghouls went back to the place you once called home and packed up the rest of your things. When you brought in the last box, and the Ghoul was to return to his post, he gave you his signature straight-lined, toothy smile, something he rarely did around humans. He stood at your side and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, nuzzling his head into you. The affection was so endearing you didn’t mind his mask slightly clunking against your head.
“Thank you for always being there for me, Swiss,” you told him. He had caught you crying on more than one occasion, always wiping your tears away or badly misbehaving around Papa when he realized that’s who was the reason for your sadness. “Don’t forget about me, okay?” you laughed delicately. The Ghoul put both their hands over their heart and shook their head. How could they ever forget the one person who treated them like an equal and not as just a devout servant or like some kind of pet? 
His shoulders slumped when it was time for him to go. You put your hand on the side of his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze and said, “Be on your worst behavior for Papa. Be the best little shit I know you can be for me, alright?” He perked up and nodded excitedly, happily accepting this task from you. “There we go, that’s my favorite Ghoul,” you smiled warmly and scratched under his chin as his tail swished. He flashed you one more of his signature smiles before turning heel and heading back.
You sighed. “I miss the Ghouls,” you grumbled as you continued to flip through all the clothes you had hanging. You could wear something plain, albeit respectful, just what all the Sisters wore day-to-day. Maybe something more formal… But then you found it. It was a dress you saved for special occasions and events and luckily for you, you had yet to wear this one. A devilish smile went across your face. 
Looking in the mirror, smoothing out any stray wrinkles, you nodded to yourself. You looked hotter than hell. You had your wimple on, but pulled some hair out to have it frame your face. You fluffed your bangs, then applied your red lipstick. Yeah, this’ll do.
You walked out of your room, causing Copia to look up from his phone. He almost choked on his coffee at the sight of you.
The dress was a black satin that hugged your body. Leaving very little to the imagination, it had a plunging neckline and an open back. Its asymmetrical hem fell just above your left ankle, while the right side hit the top of your thigh, showing off your whole leg when you walked. On that leg, you had a garter with a single Grucifix dangling from it, made of black diamonds. It had been a gift from Terzo, you only hoped it added insult to injury. For shoes you wore simple, black, strappy stilettos. 
“Y-you’re wearing that for h-him?” he stuttered in shock.
You grinned a Cheshire cat smile as you walked over to him. Tilting his head to the side you were on, you leaned down and kissed him. Your hand trailing down his chest, a finger dragging across where his pants started under his cassock. “Oh, caro, this dress isn’t for him. I’m dressing for revenge.” You dragged the hand holding his head across his jawline as you pulled away. “You got a little…” you said quietly as you used your thumb to wipe the corner of his mouth. He could only stare at you as you walked towards the door. His eyes wide and filled with lust. “Meet me back here for lunch,” you said, your tone commanding. You looked over your shoulder with a delightfully sinful grin to see Copia nodding fervently. 
Just before you stepped out to leave, he called out, “Be careful, amore. Per favore.”
“Always am,” you responded as you shut the door. Taking one long, deep breath, you began your trek to the summons.
Dark Lord, give me the strength to mask my emotions, to not let them overpower my actions. Please, give me your strength and guidance to get through this. Nema, you thought to yourself, eyes closed and focused as you stood outside his office and set your intention. You elegantly knocked on the door.
“Entra.”
Let the battle begin. 
He sat with his elbows on his desk, chin perched in his folded hands. You felt him eyeing you as you walked over to the chair across from him, sizing you up. His face dropped slightly, taken aback by your appearance. His lust for you consuming him.
“You did this all for me, sorella? Or would you still prefer I call you tesoro mio?” His voice was sultry, dripping with sweet honey. It made you sick.
“Sorella is fine, Papa. You summoned me, I only thought it best to wear something more formal,” you smiled politely. 
“I always did like the way you think…” he mused under his breath, but still loud enough for you to hear. You ignored the comment. “Do you know why I summoned you, tesorino?” 
Your expression held firm as you kept your air of professionalism intact. “I can only assume it has to do with the incident from mass.”
“Actually, I wanted to discuss your living arrangements. But you see, a very curious thing happened. There were already papers on my desk dealing with just that. Isn't it funny how quickly things can get done when you know the right people, hmm?”
“I see it as a blessing. The Dark Lord works in mysterious ways.”
“That He does, that He does…” his smile showed he was impressed by your response and ability to dodge the question, but his tone suggested he knew the move was calculated. “Well, with that out of the way now, I suppose we have time to talk.” He looked at you through his lashes. He softened, his voice quieter. Was this his way of waving the white flag? You weren’t talking to Papa now, you had Terzo in front of you. The real Terzo. However, you weren’t about to drop your guard so easily.
“What is there to talk about, Papa?”
He shook his head, his expression forlorn. “This isn’t business anymore.” When he looked up at you, he dropped any and every mask he was wearing. Even behind his papal paints, you could see how broken and defeated he actually was. “You left… and then I returned home one day and… every trace of you was gone. Poof. As if you were never there. As if we never happened…” he took a deep breath, it was unsteady. He bit his lip in an effort to control his emotions. You stared numbly at him. “Do you remember the first night I stayed with you? When you were sick?” he whispered.
Of course you remembered. How could you forget? You had a nasty cold. You texted him early that day, telling him you were sick and you’d have to reschedule dinner. He told you to rest and get better and that he would see you soon. You didn’t think ‘soon’ meant him showing up at your door later that evening with two quart containers of minestrone soup (that he made himself from his nonna’s recipe (and with Primo’s guidance)) and a bouquet of flowers.  
“What are we watching, tesoro?” he asked as he settled in behind you, holding you, arm wrapped around your waist. You felt guilty having him there. 
“You really don’t have to stay. I mean I don't want to get you sick and… Really, I’m fine on my own, especially now that I have soup!” 
“Amore. Just because you do well on your own doesn’t mean you have to be on your own, hm? I'm here because I want to be, because la mia ragazza preferita (my favorite girl) is sick. If we fall asleep watching tv, then we sleep! There’s no use arguing with me, you know,” he said as he pulled you closer to him and pressed gentle kisses on your neck. “I'm staying– right– here.” His voice was muffled from barely taking his mouth away from your neck as he punctuated each word with a kiss. The affection made you bubble with laughter.
“I'm glad you’re here,” you said shyly. It was at that moment you knew you had a difficult conversation ahead of you. One that could make or break your relationship with Terzo, but you were falling for him. Hard. Nothing could stop your momentum. He had a reputation and if he loved you like he said he did, he’d commit to you. Wouldn’t he?
He let out a content sigh that pulled you out of your thoughts. He nuzzled into your shoulder. “Sono tua. Tutta tua.” He paused before adding, “Solo tua.” You froze. Did he read your mind? Did he feel the same as you? (I am yours. All yours. Only yours.)
“Solo mia? Davvero?” (Only mine? Really?)
“Sì. Sì,” he murmured affectionately as he placed a kiss on your temple. “There's no one else I want to share my time with. You’re all I think about, all I dream about, amore. You ground me. Make me feel like… I'm not… I’m not as— You make me feel like I'm worth loving. I want… us… I want to be esclusivi with you.” A sudden bashfulness came over him that you had never seen before. He was also so cool and collected, but you could tell just from the sound of his voice and the way he was fidgeting, tapping his fingers on your arm as he spoke that he was nervous.
You rolled over and cupped his face, searching his eyes with nothing but adoration. “Promise me then. Promise me, I’ll be the only one. Promise me, I’ll be your only one.”
“Te lo prometto. I promise you. You have my word, amata.”  
 “If you get sick this is on you. It’s so not my fault,” you jested as you poked his chest. 
His eyes lit up. “Will you take care of me if I do?” 
You swept his bangs away from his eyes. “Certo, amore.” His eyes scanned your face like he was trying to remember every single detail of it. “Okay, then I have no regrets about doing this and accept the consequences,” you added as you grabbed his face and kissed him. He deepened the kiss, turning and pulling you on top of him. You couldn’t help but giggle. This was it. You both were in it for the long haul. There was no going back now. 
You pursed your lips and rolled them together as you tore yourself away from the now painful memory. You couldn’t help but wonder, if that was the long haul then how’d you end up here so soon? 
“I do… but forgive me, what does that have to do with anything?”
He was focused on his hands in front of him as he anxiously tapped his fingers together. “Could you ever look at me again the way you did that night? Could you ever love me again?”
“Do you know how many nights I spent wondering where that Terzo had gone?” you snapped as you countered his amative question with one of your own that had been frozen in ice.
“I have always been here, tesoro,” he mumbled, avoiding your eyes again.
“Do you remember what you said to me that night? What you promised me? How you were all mine? Only mine?”
“Sì, ricordo (I remember)…” he muttered. The quietness of the room made your ears ring. With so many conflicting emotions running through your veins, the strongest made your blood begin to simmer.
“Then why? Why wasn’t I ever enough for you?” The questions flew out of your mouth before you could even debate betraying your strictly-business-like demeanor. Your voice tinged with desperation, devastation, and nostalgic longing. You wanted to hate Terzo. You wanted to. Most of the time now you did, but here he was in front of you. You sacrificed so much for him, for your relationship, you set all politics aside. Right now, you merely wanted answers to the thoughts that had kept you lying awake countless nights.  
His breath got caught in his throat. It was as if he physically reacted to your words piercing through his heart. He stared at you, mouth slightly hung open in shock at both your question and the revelation of the consequence of his actions that it brought. Suddenly, he was on his feet, gliding over to you. Your chair had been far enough away from the desk that he was able to kneel in front of you. He placed his gloved hands on your knees. 
Your jaw clenched. You saw right through what he was trying to do. Act as if it was the first time you confronted him. The first time you caught him. 
The memory flooded your senses making you relive the moment when you returned to your apartment and sat at the table, waiting for the door to open. You didn’t even bother to turn on a light. Copia had walked you back after he literally ran into you as you tried to flee from one of your worst nightmares. It had taken you an hour or so to even begin to calm down. The clock neared eleven and he still wasn’t home. 
He expected to find you already asleep, but he saw you waiting for him, still dressed, makeup ruined. The rage and hurt that radiated off you hit him like a brick wall as soon as he walked in and turned on the light. “Amore, what are you–”
“How was your day?” you asked plainly, staring at your hands folded in front of you.
“Lots of meetings,” he let out a tired sigh. 
“Your last one ran really late. Is everything okay?” 
He froze for a split second as he started to take off his gloves. He cleared his throat. “Yes, you know, just lots of red tape to sort through while the Ghost tour is being planned.” His voice became just unsteady enough to let you know he feared this was becoming an interrogation.
You nodded. “Hm, I thought that meeting was scheduled for next week.” For the first time since he returned, you looked over at him. You shrugged nonchalantly, turning away from him to look at your hands again. 
“I-it got moved up suddenly. Mi dispiace, I thought someone had told you…” he muttered, making his way to the bedroom.
“Ah, yes, I’m sure Sister Thérèse just got tied up with someone… I mean something else. I haven’t seen much of her lately, or at all really, though I’m sure you have.” You turned to see him come to a complete standstill the moment your tone darkened. Slowly, he turned to you. He opened his mouth to stutter out something, but your voice was sharp as a sword. “Don’t.”
“I can explain–”
“Oh, I’m sure you can. There just has to be a reasonable explanation as to why you were balls deep inside her in a random office. And I’m sure there’s another for why the door was left ajar. Usually I would have just kept walking, but there was this very distinctive, very familiar voice. ‘È tutto. Ragazza bene. Sì, sei la mia ragazza preferita. È tutto (That’s it. Good girl. Yes, you’re my favorite girl. That’s it),’” you did your best mocking-impression of him you could muster. “I thought ‘Hmm, I’ve heard that somewhere before. There’s no way it could be..’ Well, sure enough, peaking through that crack in the door, there you were! And now… here we are.”  You were so beyond furious that you appeared calm.
He stood there, still frozen, locked in place. You could see the fear in his eyes. If it weren’t the papal paints on his face you could have seen his color fade. When he finally was able to speak, his voice wavered, sounding close to a whimper. “Are… are you going to leave me?”
Your fists clenched and you let out a huff of air. “I’ve thought about it, but given the nature of everything, I just can’t up and leave you.” A silence hung in the air. “How the fuck did it get to this point?” Your voice cracked as you repressed the tears that started to rise to the surface.
He jolted forward, rushing to you, kneeling in front of you, taking your hands in his. “Please, please, amore. I’d– I’ll do anything for you. Amata mia. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Mi dispiace. Mi dispiace.” Sobs rippled through him as he cried at your feet. All you wanted to do was pull him up by his hair and slap him so hard across the face, it would have woken the whole floor up, then scream at him to stop crying. You knew you couldn’t do that. That wasn’t you. So you sat there, silent and stoic, your whole body tense.
After he calmed himself down slightly, his watery eyes gazed up to your towering form. “You promised me,” you breathed through your teeth out of fear that any extra movement would cause you to break down just as he had. You refused to give him the satisfaction. 
“I know. I know I did. I… I ruined everything.”
“Why, Terzo? Why did you do it?”
“I… Non lo so.” His lips barely moved as he breathed out words you didn’t care to hear.
You slammed your fist on the table, abruptly pushing yourself out of your chair, needing to get away from his touch. “When are you gonna fucking let me in, Terzo? Huh? This whole ‘us’ thing really won’t work if you don’t ever tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“I-I-I don’t know! She was just there! And– and I knew how wrong it was. I know… but I couldn’t stop. I… I was bored and–”
“You… you were… You– You were bored,” you scoffed. “So I bore you enough to go fuck a  wanna be Prime Mover whore?”
His head dropped in his hands. He moved them up through his hair which he gripped so tightly his knuckles turned white and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant,” he groaned.
“Ooh, do enlighten me then!”
“I can’t tell you why I did it, because I don’t know. Veramente (Truly), I don’t know. It’s just– Everything was going so well. Perfect almost. You were taking everything being thrown at you in stride. Your ideas for Ghost, the way you keep me on track, the way you… You were just you. Always there. Always by my side.”
“So you just had to go and fuck it up.”
His shoulders slumped, his jaw clenched. “I don’t deserve you, tesoro. I never did…”
There it was. There was the answer to the multi-million dollar question. You felt your heart shatter as he sat there in his hurt. You scurried over to him, dropping to your knees, holding his face between your hands. With a shake, you forced his dichromatic eyes to find yours. “But you do, Terzo. You do. Satan, I give you everything I have, every day, to show you that.” He turned his head away from you. Your words only made him feel like you were proving his point. “Look at me,” you commanded with another shake. “Before I came here, I didn’t have anything or anyone. I had nothing. When I found you… when you took an interest in me, the kind of person who never had the guts to stand out or be noticed, who didn’t even think they were special enough to catch anyone’s attention, never mind yours… It’s because of you I can even see myself in a different light. Don’t you think someone capable of that deserves someone just as special?”
The kindest words that were ever said to him, the most genuine words, always came from you. He loved you more than anything he could possibly imagine. He knew lately he’d done a piss poor job of proving that to you. He could see the cuts he was inflicting on you. He hated himself for it. He needed you by his side for so many reasons. He needed you to keep him in line. If you ever stopped… If he ever let himself completely lose control… If you ever left him… He couldn’t even imagine the monster he would become.
You didn’t know the depths of the internal battle he was waging on himself, you saw enough of it on his face to know his struggle was heart-wrenching. You loved him. Yes, he royally fucked up, but you still loved him. “We can work through this,” you whispered, moving yourself to intercept his blank stare.
“Will you ever trust me again?”
You winced at the memory. Everytime he came close to regaining your trust, he would do something to break it. Over and over again. 
“It was never you who wasn’t good enough, amata mia. You know that,” he purred as his satin covered hands slid up your thighs, taking your dress with them slowly. He paused as his fingers brushed your garter. He toyed with the Grucifix that dangled from it. That he had given you. He smiled affectionately at it, before his devil may care smirk returned. You wearing that wasn’t an insult to him. It was a sign of subconscious devotion. 
This was the real Terzo. You chastised yourself for falling for it, yet again. Always a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a lesson you just couldn’t seem to learn. “I am the one who was never worthy of you.” His eyes were locked onto your core. He then stood up, parting your legs by wedging himself between them. As he did so, he dragged his dual-toned irises up your body until they locked with yours. His pupils fully blown out, his breathing became heavier. His lust could only be described as animalistic.
Your words formed a lump in your throat, unable to escape.
He towered over you. His hands grazed along the sides of your entire body. He ripped off your wimple. Your face scrunched at his roughness. One hand, then, settled around your neck, squeezing it, as he put his mouth by your ear. “There is so much for you to learn. So much I have to teach you, demonino mio.”
Your heart pounded in your chest, roaring thunderously in your ears. You felt your blood go from a simmer to boiling. “I’m not your little demon,” you growled as you spat in his face. The hand on your throat swiftly moved to your chin, his grip painful enough to fear it might bruise. He forced you to look at him, to look at his knowing smirk. He knew something you were clueless about. 
“Mmm, C’è la mia ragazza (there’s my girl),” he cooed. He kept your face locked in place as he licked your spit off his face, making you watch. Your eyes burned with a ferocity you’ve never felt before. “Satanas, I’ve missed you,” he sighed.
He breathed out a laugh as he unexpectedly dropped to his knees again. Your dress had already moved up so much, nothing was hidden. He pushed your legs open wider as he dove between them, running his nose along your core, inhaling deeply.
“Terzo, stop,” you demanded, trying to squirm your way out of his hold.
“You know you don’t want me to.” He moved up slightly, so his throat was flush against you. When he spoke, it sent undeniably pleasurable shockwaves through you. 
“No. Fucking stop! No!” You tried to leap up and push him away from you, but he was stronger and faster. Easily he took your arms and pinned you to the chair, of which you were barely sitting on the edge of in your struggle. 
His eyes darkened, his head swayed back and forth as he tutted at you. “Sei stata una ragazza molto cattiva (you have been a very bad girl).” Your arms would surely bruise as he put even more of his weight onto them, further constricting his vice grip he had on you. Relentlessly you still tried to wriggle your way out of his grasp. 
Stop fighting, my child… A calming, almost sultry voice, yet somehow also one of safety, rang through your mind.
Terzo pushed his face into the crook of your neck, biting down where it met your shoulder. You cried out as you continued your attempts to writhe away from the monster in front of you. He licked the mark and dragged his tongue all the way up your neck, sucking on the sensitive spot behind your ear. The line between pain and pleasure was beginning to blur. “If you keep trying to fight me, la mia stellina oscura (my little dark star), or you so much as breathe one word of this to a certain Caridnale, he will find himself back in Italia for a very, very long time…” Your body ceased movement. His stronghold on you loosened as he descended once again. “Ora, dimmi, amore, that you don’t want this (Now, tell me, love).”
Give into temptation, my child. The voice rang out again, echoing throughout your mind like a spell to sedate your frayed nerves. You hadn’t the faintest idea why, but this time, you trusted the ethereal voice. You stopped fighting. 
Terzo returned to his spot between your legs, humming appreciatively. “Oh, guarda. I can see how much you already want this. Sporco bugiardo (You dirty liar),” he taunted as he ran his finger along the wet patch that had started to pool in your underwear, your body betraying you. While his thumb ran circles around your clit, your breath hitched involuntarily. Your eyes shut, your head turning away in shame. You couldn’t bear to actually watch this.
He teased you, dragging his finger up and down your lace-covered slit, before covering you with the palm of his hand. Now he moved his whole hand in slow, circular motion. He was satisfied when your wetness had completely soaked through your underwear. Next thing you knew, he tore them off you, tossing them over his shoulder onto the desk behind him. 
His arm wrapped around your thigh, securing it in place. You couldn’t help but let out a gasp as you felt his tongue circle your clit. His brows furrowed and he let out a sharp huff when he noticed you weren’t watching him work. With his free hand, he grabbed your chin brutishly again, forcing you to keep your eyes on him. You hated the force he was using. You hated seeing the insatiable hunger in his lustful eyes. You hated him. But that all paled in comparison to how much you hated the part of your desire that got caught in the wildfire of your rage.
Once he felt you understood his wordless message, he let go of your chin. Stubborn as ever, and with admirable restraint, you refused to let out the mewls and moans that perilously needed to, biting your cheek until a metallic taste tickled your tongue. The little control you had snapped like an old rubber band when he inserted the first finger inside you. Your hips bucked, craving more friction. The smoothness of his satin glove drove you as mad as it had countless times before. Your breaths became shallow and rapid as he pushed another finger inside you. Pawing at your sweet spot he knew as well as the back of his own hand, you now writhed from the remorseful pleasure. You didn’t even have time to register the smirk he made just before he snuck in a third finger. 
“Satanas!” you tried to hiss, but it dissolved on your tongue into a moan. Your eyes slammed shut as your head fell back. Then all movement stopped. You dragged your head up to resume the eye contact he demanded. He stayed frozen, the only movement he made was the one eyebrow he raised, his look expectant of you. You scowled, but in a moment of forgotten animosity, you reached to brush away the hair that had sloppily fallen in his face. “P-please, don’t stop. Please. I need–” that was enough for him to resume with furious intensity. 
You found purchase by running your hand through his hair, gripping it so tightly your knuckles went white. As you pushed his head into you, needing even more friction, more pressure, you could feel his fleeting smile before he resumed concentration. “Fuck! T-terz-zo, fuck!” you mewled, the pressure unbearable. You were about to unravel in his hands. “I’m go–” you started to say, but the words died in your mouth just as quickly as he stopped. 
He leered over you. He pulled you up by your wrist and grabbed you by your waist. He held you there for a moment, your body flush against his. “You are mine,” he commanded, his voice gravelly. Suddenly he turned you around, pushing you down, bending you over his desk. Your arms caught you as you fell forward. You could hear him undoing his pants and then felt his hand wipe some of your slick off to rub on his dick. A faint, breathy moan escaped his lips as he lined himself up with you. “You will always– be– mine,” he growled as he thrusted into you, punctuating each word with another hard thrust. You cried out in delirious pleasure that overrode the pain of him emphatically bottoming out inside you each time. “È tutto. Ragazza bene. Sì, sei la mia ragazza preferita. È tutto,” he moaned in your ear, repeating what you had overheard him say the first time you found him with another in this very same position.
You reached for the edge of the desk to try and brace yourself, but he pushed his fingers into your mouth, hooking into your cheek. You could taste yourself on his soaked gloves. His pace faltered just slightly as he reached for your wrist and pulled you against him. You moaned around his hand, eyes rolling back, at the slight change in position. 
Tears leaked from your eyes due to the overstimulation. You were so close, so, so close. You could feel your pending orgasm building, about ready to explode like a dying star. It had never been like this with him before. Not with Terzo, not with anyone. 
Sure, you liked it rough from time to time, but this… this was awakening something else inside you. And it was solely from the sex, it was everything surmounting together: the infidelity, the degradation both public and private, the manipulation… It felt like a caged animal, a beast, which deep down you knew had always lurked inside you just waiting to be set free, waiting for the right time to emerge from your darkest shadows. There was still guilt bubbling up inside you that longed for this to be over, but… you couldn’t deny it, and you would never admit it. This excited you; it terrified you. 
His gruff whisper pulled you back to reality, “Voglio che tu venga per me, amore mio… il mio unico vero amore. Vieni. (I want you to come for me, my love… my only true love. Come.)” 
You felt yourself erupt, crying out with the force of a hundred hell hounds as your walls pulsated around him, as the most sinful pleasure rippled through your entire body. He kept going with his relentless, starved pace. Only when he spilled himself inside you, did he let up and remove his hand from your mouth. Your cheek, sore, as you tried to adjust your jaw back to normal, tonguing where you still felt the impressions of his fingers. 
You stayed there, bent over, laying on the desk. Your bones felt as if they had been liquified. He hummed behind you, pleased with his work. Using the back of his hands, he brushed them up the inside of your legs before wiping both hands along your cunt, gathering whatever excess of fluids his gloves would lap up in one swipe. He removed his gloves, tossing them on the desk beside you. You could hear the soft splat sound they made when they landed near your discarded underwear. His bare hand slapped your ass and you jumped as the sting radiated through you. 
Tucking his dick back in his pants and buttoning them up, you could feel him looming over you. You only dragged yourself up to stand when his statue-like presence caused your skin to crawl. Your eyes turned to slits as you turned to face him.
Hooking his finger under your chin, his thumb cleaned up the corners of your mouth. His other hand wiped away the tears that stained your flushed cheeks. “I think your incident at mass can be overlooked now, sì?” he snickered. 
The attrition from what had just transpired came crashing down on you like a tsunami causing ripple effects of shame and guilt to wash over you. Suddenly, your breathing became heavy. There was a fire inside your chest that blazed hot enough to burn this entire Abbey to the ground in minutes.  
Through temptation has your wrath been spurred. For your sacrifice… you will be… rewarded, that mysterious voice whispered to you again as your body started to shake from the electricity of your fury.
“Ask me again how I could ever love you,” you snarled as you stood up to adjust your dress in a feeble attempt to cover yourself.
“Oh, dolcezza,” his honeyed croon made you want to grab him by the hair and smash his face into the desk behind you. You never knew where these violent thoughts came from, so out of pocket for you. It was gasoline being added to the flames of your wrath. Your hand twitched, almost as if you were about to do it… You were pulled out of your thoughts by his sickly sweet voice. “You have no idea of the power that you possess.” He gently caressed your face, his eyes searching you as if he could see the power he spoke of, as if he was trying to find it. When his knowing smirk shrouded his face again, you had had enough of his bullshit.
You forcefully slapped his hand away from you. You could hear the sting, “Rot in hell, figlio di puttana,” you sneered as you turned to make your exit.
“Only if you’re beside me, amata mia,” he chuckled, rubbing his hand where you hit him, getting too much enjoyment and satisfaction from your reaction. You accepted that you had no idea who the man standing in front of you was or if you ever did and that thought alone only infuriated you even more. He shut up completely when you turned around and glared at him. He could see darkness starting to cloud your eyes. He shook it off, opening his mouth when you only had one more step before you were out of this office. “Oh, amore,” he started, his tone went from casual to sinister, causing you to freeze where you stood. “I mean it, you know, you utter a single syllable of this to Copia, and he’s gone. Sei mio (you are mine).” 
Your boiling blood instantly turned to ice. You turned around painstakingly slow. Your rigid body and movements were enough to send shivers down Terzo’s spine. You couldn’t feel it. You had no idea it was happening. The fury of hell shone through your eyes as Terzo watched them fill with black smoke until your eyes turned to dark voids before him. “And I’ll make you wish that I never was.”
You watched as Terzo went slack jawed and his eyes turned into saucers from shock. The anger you felt, the wrath coursed through you like an electric current, was the only thing you cared about. Although you did revel in the fact that he looked terrified enough to cry, you were too wrapped up in your emotions to care.
“I-is that a th-threat, amore?” he stuttered, failing to keep his composure.
“It’s a fucking promise,” you growled, your voice dropping several octaves, sounding borderline inhuman. Terzo stumbled backwards, his hands reaching out behind him to clutch his desk. All you could see was red. 
You almost ripped the door off its hinges as you stormed out, leaving it open. You were barely aware of where you were storming off to or that there were two Ghouls making their way towards Terzo’s office. In the haze of your rage, you almost missed how they stopped in their tracks and kneeled the second they saw you. When “Your Eminence,” sounded in your mind from two different and distinct voices as you were a few paces in front of them, your gait slowed. Still bending at the knee, they nodded to you as you passed by. Looking down at them, your brow furrowed for a moment, never having seen this kind of behavior from any Ghoul before. You returned their gesture with a curt, singular nod. They got up to resume going to wherever they were headed and you continued on your war path. Behind you, still watching from his office doorway at the end of the hall, Terzo’s jaw was just about on the floor. He scrambled to get to his phone.
Two Sisters of Sin saw you barreling towards them. Quickly, they moved to the side, but when they saw you up close, they both let out a gasp. You shot them a look only causing them to cower. Once you passed them, they ran down the hall as if they were running for their lives. Your brow furrowed again. “What the fuck…?” you muttered to yourself.  
You didn’t have time for this. Terzo said you couldn’t tell Copia about what happened. He never said anything about Sister Imperator. When you reached her office you didn’t even bother to knock, scaring the daylights of her from the sudden burst of noise and movements. Then the color drained from her at the sight of you.
This time, you slammed the door behind you. Sister Imperator backed herself up until she hit the wall. You stood in there for a moment, your breaths coming out in short huffs, almost like pants. Your eyes looked crazed as you widened them. It was like two black holes were staring at Sister Imperator, threatening to destroy anything that got in their way. Chills ran up and down her spine. “Sister, y-your ey– uh…” she sputtered, her breathing becoming shallow. She tried to ignore the tightening feeling in her chest. She swallowed, even though her throat had gone dry. “Sister, w-what happened?”
You charged forward, slamming your hands on her desk, rattling everything on it. She winced and brought her hands up to her chest, clutching her Grucifix rosary beads that hung around her neck. A malevolent sneer etched onto your face. “Terzo happened,” you growled, although this time, it actually sounded like your own voice. 
You pushed off her desk and began pacing, slowly, deliberating, as if you were trying to both calm down and calculate something. When you gathered your thoughts and paused, turning to directly face the panicked clergy member, your words sounded nothing less than a warning. 
“Imperator, I don’t know what game you and Copia and Lucifer knows who else are playing with Terzo… and I don’t exactly know my role in it,” you clenched your jaw, speaking through your teeth, “since no one cares to divulge that information.” You took a deep breath and regained composure as you feigned innocence. “I only care about how it ends. Do you know how it will end, Sister?” Her mouth hung agape. Any sound that tried to escape was nowhere to be found. She could only shake her head in response. You leaned forward onto the desk again, you slowly pulled your chin in, but you kept your gaze locked on hers, your eyes now almost looking up at her. A smile wider than a cheshire cat’s grew on your face. If Sister Imperator didn’t believe in evil, she certainly did now. “It’s going to end with his head on my altar.”
taglist: @da-rulah @fishwithtitz @ivycasket @water-ghoulette (drop a comment if you'd like to be added!)
part iii | part v
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howlingday · 9 months
Text
A Most Unusual Unit
Good morning, or rather, good evening, "Nightshade". Excellent work on your last assignment. Thanks your efforts, the councilman has lived to see another day, much to the great benefit of Vale. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have another assignment for you already. Your new target is the leader of the Spiders organization, "Little Miss" Charlotte Malachite. She is a grave threat to peace between Vale and Mistral. Your mission is to get close to her and gain any information that may be related to seditious activities.
In order to do this, you will have to marry and have a child.
Blake: (Spits out her coffee, Coughs) EXCUSE ME?!
Little Miss is a reclusive woman and is notably suspicious of others. At this point, she operates almost entirely behind the scenes. Her only public appearances of late have been her attendance at the elite private school her daughters attend. These events act as informal get-togethers for the upper crust of society and the lowest of low in the criminal underworld. You are to enroll your child at this school and gain entry to these events. However, admission deadlines are approaching fast. YOU'VE ONLY GOT ONE WEEK.
Blake: (Rips encoded-cypher paper in half) THEY EXPECT ME TO HAVE A CHILD IN SEVEN DAYS?! (People stare at her, Ahem!) Excuse me...
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Blake: Listen up, little girl.
Penny: I'm Penny!
Blake: Listen up, Penny. From now on, you are my child. As far as everyone knows, however, you have always been my child. Understood?
Penny: Understood!
Blake: You will address me as "Mother," as the elites do.
Penny: Mama!
Blake: Very well.
Old Woman: What an adorable girl~.
Blake: Thank you. We're the Belladinas. We just moved in.
Penny: I'm Penny, and I have always been Mama's child!
Old Woman: Huh?
Blake: (Thinking) You don't need to say that!.
Penny: Mama, I want a silenced pistol~!
Blake: If we see one on sale.
Old Woman: What a strange family...
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Jaune: (Answers phone) Hello, Arc residence.
Jaune: Oh, Saph!
Saphron: (Via phone) How are you doing, baby bro?.
Jaune: Good. Everything's good. I'm still hard at work in Vale!
Saphron: Still as weird as ever. Don't make me worry about you.
Jaune: You don't have to sound so mean about it! And I am not weird!
Saphron: Jaune, when are you going to get married? You find a good lady friend yet?
Jaune: (Thinking) Not this again...
Saphron: Listen, I might be offered a big promotion here soon, but that'd mean I'd be too busy to look after you. I'm not gonna say no right off the bat, but it doesn't feel right for me to abandon you in the big city. Like I always tell ya, I'm forever grateful for you taking care of me all this time, and that's why I want to make sure you're happy.
Jaune: I know, Saph. Thank you.
Saphron: I think I know some cuties out here in Argus. Maybe I could put in a good word for you?
Jaune: Ah! N-No! You don't need to do that! A-Actually, I'm heading to a party this weekend... and I'll be bringing someone!
Saphron: A girl?!
Jaune: Uh, y-yeah, I guess that's one way to describe her. So don't worry about me, okay?
Saphron: Alright. So, who's throwing this party? One of your co-workers?
Jaune: Mm-hm!
Saphron: Great! I'll have Pyrrha give me the full details on this girlfriend of yours!
Jaune: Eh?
Saphron: No offense, Jaune, but you can be pretty naive. I just want to make sure the girl you're digging isn't just digging into you, right?
Jaune: Uh, well-
Saphron: And I'm gonna hold off on this promotion until I know you're happy!
Jaune: Y-You don't need to-
Saphron: Can't wait to hear all about her, baby bro! Ciao~! (Click)
Jaune: (Hangs up, Pacing) What do I do?!. What do I do?!. I need to find a girlfriend now!. If Saph finds out I lied, she'll think there's something wrong with me!. Then she'll never get that promotion, and Terra'll be mad at me!. Adrian will never play with me again!.
Jaune: (Phone rings, Answers) Saph, listen! About what I said earlier, I was just joking! I-
Boss: (Via phone) Having family trouble?. That's unusual for you.
Jaune: Oh! Headmistress! I'm so sorry, I was-
Boss: Good evening. I have a client for you, Rusted Knight.
Jaune: (Eyes dim)
Boss: The Glass Unicorn. Room 1220.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jaune: Excuse me.
Proprietor: Oh, hello again, Jaune! How can I help you?
Jaune: I'm going to a party tonight, so I need my slacks patched up ASAP. Er, if that's okay, of course.
Blake: (Flinches, Thinking) How did he get by without me noticing?!. Jaune... Hm... Right. Jaune Arc, 26 years old, never married, and never divorced. Parents deceased. Seven sisters, six dexeased, one surviving, couple years older. They're both ordinary civilians with nothing on their files. Maybe I'm getting sloppy-
Jaune: Um, miss? You've been staring at me since I came in here. Is there something I can help you with?
Blake: He sensed me watching him?!. How?!.
Blake: Oh, uh, no. I just thought... you were really cute. Excuse me for being rude.
Jaune: Wait, so... I'm good looking to you?
Blake: Um, yes?
Jaune: Miss-
Penny: Mama! I got measured! Huh? Who's she?
Blake: He's another customer, like us.
Jaune: (Thinking) I almost asked another man's wife on a date! I've heard stories of men being murdered for things like that. BUT THIS TIME, I'D BE THE ONE TO DO THE KILLING.
Penny: !
Jaune: No! I can't even fantasize about a thing so horrible! It's thoughts like those that'll expose me as an ASSASSIN.
Penny: (Thinking) A- A- A- A- ASSASSIN?!.
Blake: (Spy)
Jaune: (Assassin)
Penny: (Telepath, Starved for entertainment) SOOO COOOOL!.
Blake: I thought he'd make for a good fit for the husband role, but his intuition could threaten my mission.
Jaune: I thought she'd be able to pull off the girlfriend role, but I can't afford any kind of unnecessary bloodshed.
Penny: (Looks down, Covering her face) Oh, boo hoo hoo! I am so sad about Papa!
Blake: P-Penny?! What are you-?!
Penny: I just miss my papa so very, very, very much! If only he could see me in my pretty dress!
Jaune: Oh, is your husband away?
Blake: Ah... You see... My husband actually passed a few years ago. I've been working hard to support my daughter as a single mother.
Jaune: Then... Then no one could try to kill me if I asked her!.
Jaune: Um, excuse me...
170 notes · View notes
bronx-bomber87 · 4 months
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Happy Weekend all :) First off sorry I forgot to thank everyone last ep. My Chris rage was immense so it knocked me off kilter haha So thank you all for reading ❤️ We’ve hit another fav on my list. The dance alone makes this episode amazing. It’s also the things leading up to it that are also great. This definitely has the why aren’t you together moment? Excited to cover their iconic dance. Let’s get going.
4x18 Backstabbers
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We begin with Tim telling Lucy they're not riding together. That she's with Nolan and he's with Aaron today. I love Lucy’s little nose scrunch. Clearly not happy she has to ride with someone else for her shift. Riding with Nolan wasn’t on her list of things she wanted to do today and it shows. I can't get over her dislike of being separated from him for the day. I do love her sassy reply though. Can’t let him know not riding with him bums her out.
Also we all know he would rather be riding with her as well. But you know neither of them can admit as such. Because god forbid we do that eh? So they bury their feelings in their banter per usual. Definitely got that old married couple energy going on here. The sassy eyebrow pump she does is so cute. Tim is gonna miss her we all know it haha We also get that Tall/Smol shot I love so much as well. Always happy to get one of those.
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They pass Webb on their way to the kit room. He tells Tim what a good job he did on the Stewart case. Lucy is smiling then putting things together. Saying isn’t she the one who solved it? The one who made the connection? Also that she got punched in the face while arresting him...
Tim cutely says ‘You’re jealous.’ Clearly amused by this reaction of her's. Then goes on a classic Tim rant. Asking if that’s why she does this job? For high fives from Webb? We all know that’s not what she’s asking for here Timothy. Lucy tells him it would be nice to have some recognition. It is part of the reason she took being his side. Amongst other reasons….
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He then does what he thinks she wants and it backfires. Pretty badly. This isn’t what she meant by recognition. I do love him winking at her while he’s explaining it to Webb. Saying how he couldn’t have solved it without her. All it does it make Tim look even better. Because Webb just continues to praise Tim. He can't possibly think that's what she wanted LOL Now it looks like he is being selfless and sharing credit.
Lucy’s reaction is hilarious when he asks her if she feels better? Cleary not Timothy... She is still pissed because this is after the fact. She wanted the recognition when the case happened. Not after when Tim’s name was already the arresting officer. It's not the same thing. Oh my love you aren’t getting what’s she’s throwing down right now ha Her body language and facial expression expressing her discontent with him.
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Aaron joins them and makes the worst decision he could. Kissing Tim’s ass. Idk why he would think this was a good idea. Especially after riding with the female version of Tim LOL Tim is straight forward with Aaron. Tells him to not kiss ass and set up the shop. He turns to Lucy looking for advice. Wisdom of any kind. She is the Tim dictionary after all. No one better to go to about this man.
Unfortunately she is too caught up in own thing to dispense anything helpful. Just goes off on a rant about credit. How he shouldn't let Tim just steal it from him. Poor Aaron is like 'uhhh but I’m a rookie…so that is not helpful at all' ha I love her pout and restlessness as the scene ends. Lucy is so salty and needs to vent. Aaron is not your guy for that sadly.
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We catch up to Lucy full on ranting to Nolan about Tim. Telling him it’s not even about the recognition. I mean…it kinda is ha She continues on saying how every single case file has Tim’s name on it. How she’s the one filing all the reports for it. She asks Nolan how she’s supposed to take on more responsibility if no one knows what she’s capable of? Nolan being the dope he is tries to get factual on her. *sigh* John this is why you are just friends LOL You clueless dope.
Asking her 'Wasn’t riding with Tim her idea?' Lucy says yes cause he takes on all the high profile cases. Which is huge for her. Nolan adds in that she is seeing a down side to that now? She nods and he continues to put his foot in his mouth cause Nolan. Saying she should just get reassigned then. Tim would understand. (I don’t know he would...) Also that's not what she wants at all. She was upset they weren't riding for one day together. So there's no way she's walking away from being his aide.
Nolan is being such a man right now. Trying to solve her problems when she just wants to vent. To hear ‘yeah that sucks .’ Or ‘Tim should give you credit’ I love her calling him out on it. Like listen John you are here to listen not problem solve haha Luckily he does as such and repeats back that Tim is the "worst" (I mean he’s not she just stupid frustrated with her work hubby ha). Lucy’s cute little smile after he does is adorable. Like good boy Nolan. ha
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We flit back to Tim and Aaron. He tells Tim he’s ready for any test he wants to throw his way. Tim says that’s why he’s not going to. That Harper is a great T.O. (Look how far we’ve come since s2. My heart.) He’s been on the job long enough he doesn't need them. He lets Aaron know today isn’t about if he will make it. It’s about what kind of officer he will become when he does.
Aaron asks Tim how they’re gonna find that out? Tim says by figuring out his superpower. He starts to list everyone’s. He’s spot on for Harper and of course for his girl. I mean her empathy is one of her biggest strengths. She is very good at adapting to any situation. I mean her biggest adaption was Tim at first. Hehe It is her superpower no doubt.
He then says Nolan talks a lot LMAO Aaron isn’t disagreeing….I love Tim’s answer to his follow up question. That if he doesn’t have one he’ll be Smitty Haha Aaron looking nervous and feeling like this is still a Tim test somehow…I mean it is. Just a character based one. Which is pretty damn important to Tim Bradford. So...you should be nervous. lol
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This next portion for Tim and Aaron is hilarious. They’re called to a guy magnet fishing. He tells them he found something strange. It’s a sword. Aaron mentions a murder that involved decapitation recently. Tim tells the man they’ll need to take it. He looks bummed but says at least he can get money on something else.
Aaron panics and levels Tim. Knocks him to the ground immediately. Poor Tim and his back issues. I have those now it hurts to watch him tackle him to the ground like that. Tim makes a crack saying 'Clearly being able to identify fake grenades is not his super power.' LOL Aaron makes a face and we see Tim’s back covered in goose crap hahaha Oh Aaron is bombing left and right.
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They're back in the shop and Tim is eating his potential super powers for breakfast. Kudos to Aaron for suggesting more and more though. Except Tim is destroying every single of one of them…It’s so funny to watch. I mean it’s not funny for poor Aaron LOL Just more proof no challenges him like Lucy. Truly no one can match what she brings to their dynamic. You know Tim feels it when she’s absent. So he is just mowing down Aaron in the process haha poor guy. I do love Aaron though. He’s such a goober and it shows through out the rest of this season and into the next. He was a great addition to the cast.
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Tim and Aaron respond to domestic call. This man just got paroled and wants to see his son. His ex is fighting him saying he can't be anywhere near them. Tim takes the man's ID to run him and Aaron asks to talk to the man. He does a good job calming him down with his own experience. Tells him I’m sure he’s dreamt of this moment for years.
He’s also sure this wasn’t how he expected it to go down. That he needs to remember it’s been years for them. They've been living their lives while he was gone. So they might not be ready but someday they might. Gives him his card and the number for James if he needs it. They can help him get back on his feet when he's ready for it. Tim walks up and tells him good job. Finally got one right. Yay Aaron.
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Tim walks up to Aaron at the wedding reception to discuss his super power. Wanting to make sure he knows what it is. He's been searching for their entire time together. Tim tells him that it’s experience with being incarcerated. Clearly he has a connection to those that have been in prison. That empathy and compassion is what he can build his career on. Gah I love when he’s in teaching mode. Fine af. *fans self* Teach away sexy. This scene ends with funny bit about the park moment haha I enjoyed them together a lot.
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This next moment is an all time fav of mine. Tim surprising Lucy not once but twice with his actions. First off by bringing up that dance he 'owes' her from 3x14. You know Tim kinda made the first move with her more than once before they were together. 3x14 being one and this being another. He’s the one to bring the dance back up. A dance I’m sure she never expected him to bring back up. We all know he wanted to dance with her and this was his sly way of doing that. So he uses the guise of saying it's still owed to her.
Tim ‘I don’t do weddings’ Bradford wants to dance with his girl. This is his way of getting that but still being himself about it. Acting like he has to do this. When I’m sure that dance has been on his mind on and off since that moment happened. We see right through you Timothy but it's ok hehe The absolute sass from Lucy is on par for her. Always toe to toe with him. She too is excited he’s cashing this in. You can tell she is happy he remembered this dance. A debt was owed hehe Tim making a face but you know he loves it. She is his equal in so many ways but especially for banter. Tells him like it is and he keeps coming back for more.
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Ahhh these two idiots in love. Looks at this man when she takes his hand. That is his full blown Lucy smile. That 'I’m a goner for this woman and would do anything for her.' smile. She is the only one who brings that out in him. He’s so love with her at this point you’d have to be blind not to see it. He lights up when she takes his hand and makes a classic Lucy expression at him. You could power a city with that smile of his. The way they walk onto the dance floor you'd think they were each others date to this party.
Harper’s daughter earlier said she liked her mom with James. Noting that ‘You’re happy when you’re around him.’ These two are never happier than when they are around each other. Their true self’s come out and they are radiating joy. Look at those two above. They are carefree and light as a feather in this moment. Projecting heart eyes as far as the eye can see. You’re never gonna see them be this way with their current SO’s. They don’t bring out the best in them. Anyone around them can see they’re gone for one another. Except them….
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Tim is heart eyes galore for his girl from the minute they hit the dance floor. Lucy is flying pretty high herself. Look at the way she is looking at him in that first gif. Transparent as ever at hiding her feelings for him. Tim starts off with the thing he knows is bugging her. He didn’t spend the day with her but he knows her. Knows it ate at her all day long. He also knows it's something he needs to rectify.
Lucy has simmered down at this point about it. It’s evident in her reply to him. Tim forges forward anyways. I do want to note the eye contact between these two. It never breaks as they speak to each other. It's so intimate. I love him gesticulating his fingers around her hand. Re-wrapping them around hers as he explains himself. It's a cute fidgety thing he does while trying to get what he needs to say out. It's the little things I love so much .
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He starts out STRONG complimenting her. Not only complimenting her but saying she is in the top 5 he’s ever trained.(Psst. She was the best one.) No better praise she could receive in this moment than that. Lucy being Lucy has to make a joke. She craves his praise but also can’t handle it at the same time. I feel that girl I’m the same way. Tim is looking down at her with massive heart eyes might I add. Saying he wants her to have a successful career.
He wants to support her career the way she’s always supported his. No hesitation and putting her first. Look at the way she is beaming up at him when he says this. The way she's searching his face as he speaks. Gah how do these two not know they’re in love? Honestly. She looks so enamored with him as he’s talking. Their smiles and heart eyes are so loud. They’re screaming how they feel to the entire party.
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Tim shocks her even further with his next set of comments. Lucy is already on cloud 9 as is. He’s asked her to dance, he’s complimented her in the best way and said he wants her career to be successful. She is in serious shock when he tells her he’s listing her on all future reports as the arresting officer. Lucy is in awe of this man right now. Not only for doing this but for how he’s grown. As a person and as a sergeant.
For him to step aside like this and give her the glory. To put her career ahead of his so she can succeed. The way she says ‘But you’re senior officer.’ Reminds me of her in 5x12 being in the same amount of disbelief replying ‘But that’s a desk job….’ Lucy can’t believe what he’s giving her and putting aside. He finishes it off with his version of I love you at this point. Saying she deserves to be recognized. What he's also saying is she deserves to be recognized by him. He's so damn soft in the delivery of his words. His body language also as relaxed as we've ever seen it.
The way he looks at her while he says this. Be still my heart. Screaming his feelings in this moment without realizing. Showing Lucy he hears her and has done something about it. That he cares, wants her to be a success, and that he’s putting her first just like she always has done for him. Lucy is sassy in her retort because she can be. (Ain’t no one else talking to this man the way she does) She is looking up at him with the same amount of affection he's shooting her way. Telling him 'You’re right I do. Thank you.' haha Look at her. She’s saying I love you right back in this moment. *sigh* These two.
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Everything about this moment makes me squee. The non stop romantic looks they’re throwing each others way. The way they’re gazing into each other eyes the entire time. Forgetting everyone else there and the fact that they can see this love fest. Then comes the cutest most carefree part. Look at the smiles on these two! They’re so gone for each other at this point. I imagine this would be similar to how they’ll dance at Nolan’s wedding. With a little more closeness and kisses ha
Seriously though. Have we ever seen Tim this happy and relaxed? Only when he’s with her. It’s oozing out of him in S4. The laughing, the smiles, Lucy complimenting his moves. That glorious smile of his when she does. Be more in love you two. If someone just saw these gifs no context. They’d think they were a couple in love having the time of their lives on the dance floor. It’s hard to believe they were dating other people at this point. I mean look at this scene. They look so damn happy together. Truly just enjoying one another’s company.
Lucy is beaming with happiness when he spins her around. How he leans into her as he spins her around. Her laughter as she leans into him after he does. My heart is gonna implode from the cuteness everyone haha There’s a reason it’s one of my all time fav moments. It’s so sweet Imma get diabetic. Such a good episode I cannot. One of my favs of the season. For this moment alone right here. *sigh* I love them. Moments like this I knew were cementing them for s5. Slow burn at its finest.
~~~~
Side notes- non Chenford
James and Nyla ❤️
Grey, Wes and James making the video while Silas critiques them is hilarious. Makes me laugh everytime cause they’re so bad LOL
Thank you again to everyone. You all are the best for your continued support. The likes, comments and reblogs are everything to me see you all in 4x19 :)
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ehh-is-the-name · 2 months
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TPOT 10 spoilers 'cause BH makes me insane
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I mean, c'mon. You can't see this thumbnail and think things are gonna be ok for you mentally if you like blackhole. Like you know what's coming to you.
First things first, let me just scream into the void for a second-
HIS NIGHTMARE IS KILLING PEOPLE AND LETTING THAT CONSUME HIM?????!!?!?
AAAAAAAAAGUH MY HEART??!!???!?
Man- I love Blackhole and this episode just drove the stake into my heart. The fact that he, himself, is a being who causes death by getting too close to people made me writhe in BFB. But actively showing the extent of how it affects him—ack! He knows he causes death, which is why it's so important for him not to kill people, and why he's so strict about the pact rules!!
It makes so much sense... BFB 1 had it all laid out, and TPOT 10 sewed it together.
From the way he was hesitant about helping Flower!!! We know- he knows he's gonna end the world by getting closer, but he gives into it anyway. Instead of putting his foot down to Flower, he gives in to his feeling of wanting to be closer to people—from the way he's so happy about being shrunk—and more later. Then we get that whole thing with everyone about to die.
We know if Four never came, everyone would've died. Blackhole knows that too, from the end of his nightmare. More specific to this clip though, from the scene with Pie and LIY, since he literally just gave in to the urge to get closer and he wants that to never happen again. As a singularity in space, he could appreciate the planet, and life on it, more than other objects. He could see them all interact but never actually interact with them (besides talking), so at this chance of being beckoned, it makes sense that he'd just go "eh, fuck it, alright" then IMMEDIATELY regret his actions. Although his nightmare was about being afraid he'll "give into murderous urges", it can also be interpreted as him being afraid to let go. Something clearly stated in the last scene of his nightmare...
Queue TPOT 10 scene from clip above (I'm so mad that it's only 1 video per post on here)
Over the season we've seen him go from preventing death to just not killing people. It's morphed into his own cut-throat rule for the pact, which, in this context, is fair to see why. He joined the game via him not caring about the consequences, and it's stuck with him, so seeing everyone over and over get away with things made him HAVE to re-enforce to himself that he wasn't allowed. Death PACT doesn't kill people. HE doesn't kill people. He can't allow himself to let go of that regiment.
Obviously, this causes problems in the team- we see the clip. The thing that gets me the most is that this is bona fide trauma we're working with—Fanny telling him to #get-over-it kinda rubbed me the wrong way. And OK! I know- I know that's not exactly what she's saying but that's how it felt, and I know she has every right to be upset 'cause he was fuckin' over his team, but again that's just me! (The fact they got on the same page was enough for me anyway.) I digress, his "obsessive nature" was essentially just a response to everything that's happened to him—it's what makes him feel in control of himself. Poor BH's got trauma bad :(
I think what really twists that knife for me is that... the guy really just wants to connect with his peers normally- He wants everything to go back to normal, and that's one of the reasons he compromises with Fanny. On some level, he knows he's gone too far, but he's just afraid. Even at the end, he can't bring himself to kill Tree, even though he knows it'd be better with the new "focusing on life" angle. Did you hear that shakey exhale? Man's going through the wringer. Obviously, he won't overcome his trauma in an episode, but it's a good step to just playing and enjoying the game.
Anyway... There is probably a shitton of fans that are looking at this like "Yeah no shit Sherlock" but hey! Be nice. Some of us are slower than the others, and by some of us, I mean me. I needed this punch in the face to really see how death was impacting Blackhole's mental state and now I've word vomited my thoughts out.
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dreamersparacosm · 2 years
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austin butler - into you
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warnings ; smut. what did u think this was gonna be????
prompt ; in which you and austin butler are co-stars in the new elvis biopic, and it leads to some sexual tension on and off set. 
a/n ; first writing in over 3 years but this movie was enough to make me return to the writing scene, so, here goes nothing. requests are open!
part two
。・:*:・゚★,。・:*:・゚☆
One of the weirdest things about becoming an actress was working with people you saw on screens, at galas, red carpet events, etc. You would pass them on the carpet, take one glance at them, and not think much of it. For example, you currently were working on the film Elvis, a documentary about the King of Rock and Roll. Lucky you, your co-star was none other than Austin Butler. You had seen him at multiple red carpet events, and you always thought he seemed a bit pretentious. However, you two have been working together for two months so far, and apparently there could be more than what meets the eye. 
It was a big transition for you, moving to Australia to work on a film you were really passionate about. You were secluded from the rest of your family and the world, only keeping up through pictures and cryptic messages from your friends. Not only was it a big transition, but you were also recently single. You broke up with your boyfriend to move to Australia - well, not precisely. He broke up with you. Details not necessary. Regardless, you took the role as Priscilla Presley to advance your career and play an influential role that meant a lot to others. And, there you were. Filming a movie like this was not only for yourself, but to prove everyone who doubted you wrong. 
Another day of filming had wrapped up, and today, your scenes had required you to make out with Austin Butler more times than you could count. You were currently scouting the food tables by set, hoping to devour a donut secretly while no one was looking. Suddenly, you felt a body slide in next to you, reaching out to grab a sandwich nearby. You looked up, smiling when you noticed it was Austin. The two of you weren’t necessarily close, but you had bonded over breaking up with your significant others recently. Everyone, and you mean everyone, knew about him and Vanessa Hudgens. Tragic, really. You could relate. You also bonded because you had practiced making out about 10,000 times for a chemistry read. So, maybe you were close. “I have to say, this sandwich is worse than yesterday’s,” He broke the silence, chewing with a hint of disgust on his face. 
You laughed, replying “Oh I know, that’s why I’m scouting these donuts over here. Can’t go wrong,” you finally located them, picking one up and taking a bite of it. He watched as the powder exploded over your face; mouth and nose. 
“Geez, you’re quite the delicate eater,” He joked. “Must be why the boyfriend left, eh?”
“Shut up,” you scoffed, slapping his arm. “I’ll have you know, I can eat politely. Just not when it involves powder or sauces… or seasonings..”
He rolled his eyes again, chuckling softly to himself before walking over to speak to one of the cameramen. You couldn’t lie to yourself and say that you weren’t attracted to him. However, what actress wasn’t attracted to their coworker at least once? You had worked with Dylan O’Brien previously on a film, and your attraction had actually manifested into a drunken hookup. Again, far too common. But Austin was a little different, if you were being honest with yourself. He was kind, funny, and was always down to go over lines with you. And… also incredibly attractive. 
There were times where you would catch him looking at you from across the room, or make eye contact awkwardly while you both talked to other people. You’re sure he had his fair share of off-screen hookups, but no need to ruin a friendship, right? 
                                                             +
It was the next day, and you had yet again managed to kiss Austin over 20,000 times. This last kiss was quite the passionate one, leaving your mind reeling with thoughts that might had not been legal in some countries. The way he cupped your face, gazed deep into your eyes, it was cruel. To think, it was just two characters playing a role. 
“Cut!” Baz Luhrmann, your director, yelled out. “Another amazing, AMAZING, scene, Austin and [Y/N]! I cannot deny the chemistry between you two.” 
“Hey, it’s all her,” Austin pointed towards you. “I’m just a prop of her affection.” 
You pushed his shoulder, and you almost flinched at the electricity between your touch. You were constantly playing with him, pushing him around like an elementary school student with a crush. “He just gazes into my eyes ever-so-lovingly, and I am overcome with love,” you pretended to swoon, making the crew laugh. 
“Keep up this act and the two of you will have yourselves nominated for Oscar’s,” Baz encouraged before walking off to discuss with the cameramen. 
“Oh god, I haven’t even thought about getting nominated for anything,” you spoke under your breath, but Austin heard you. You had been nominated twice for an Oscar before, but never won anything. 
“Me either. I don’t even think I’m doing that good to even get nominated,” he agreed. There it was again. The boy that you thought was pretentious was actually humble, and he didn’t realize that his acting was actually monumental for the role. 
“Are you kidding?” You turned to face him, a look of disbelief plastered on your face. “You literally carry every scene we do together. You’re practically Elvis.” 
He blushed a little at your comment, smiling and looking down at his feet, “Damn, that means a lot coming from someone who was nominated for an Oscar two times.” 
“You knew that?” You scrunched up your brows, shocked that he even knew who you were before this film. When he introduced himself the first day of the table read, you didn’t think he had any clue of what movies you were in. 
“Don’t worry, I do my research on all the pretty girls I work with,” He smirked lightly before walking away. You were left with your mouth gaping open. That was the first time he had ever actually flirted with you to the point where you could be sure he was. He had opened the flood gates for even more flirting, possibly sexual innuendos. 
And, that is exactly what happened. 
For the next two weeks, stolen glances escalated into promiscuous touches, and little flirty comments into bold, outright statements. At this point, even the crew and the rest of the cast were beginning to catch on. The crew would gossip on the sidelines wondering when the two of you would finally hook up. Now, every time you two kissed on set, it had a hint of passion and longing behind it. It ached your core and burnt your insides. 
One night, you were in your hotel room, watching a rerun of an old television show. You had on a white silk nightgown that was gifted to you from your parents after you won your first award. It was almost a little too short, but it was good enough for you to sleep in your room. 
The cast and crew stayed in the same hotel, and oftentimes you would run into them when getting a midnight snack. You didn’t mind the constant company; it made filming less lonely, especially since you had replaced your ex-boyfriend with your new eating habits. 
You laid comfy in your bed when you were suddenly jostled from your thoughts by a knock on the door. You furrowed your brows, confused as to who could knock on your door at this late night hour. You shrugged your shoulders, getting up and unlocking the door without checking the peephole. 
You opened the door to reveal Austin Butler. 
He had on a white t-shirt with a silver chain on, and boxers. His hair was disheveled and he had a small smirk on his face that didn’t seem like it was leaving. Oh god, you thought to yourself. Who looks this good at this hour? “H-hi, what are you doing here?” You found yourself in a vulnerable position, unable to form coherent words at the sight of him looking like this at your doorstep. 
“Thought I’d stop by. I couldn’t sleep tonight,” he spoke in a tone much darker than normal. His Elvis accent had impacted his voice greatly, and it was even more attractive than you thought. 
“You don’t have anyone else to bother at this hour?” You joked, regaining your composure and propping yourself against the door. 
“I mean, I’d rather bother you if that’s alright,” His eyes had a tiny sparkle in them. You couldn’t even look away from the constant eye contact he held. 
“Am I signing myself up for a night of teasing and bullying?” You took a step forward, feeling more confident. You knew this was wrong on so many levels, but you couldn’t help yourself. He was just so damn handsome. 
“Depends, sweetheart,” you shuddered at the pet name that fell out of his mouth. “I’ll do whatever you want to do.” 
The submissive words that exited his mouth felt dirty. They could be innocent in other context, however, him in his boxers didn’t really leave much else. “Really? And here I thought you were here to make me do what you want to do.” 
“And what is it you think I want you to do?” Now, he took one step closer. One more step and he would be touching your face. You were going to lose your composure again if he got any closer to you. You could smell the faint cologne left over on him and it was driving you mad. 
You slyly smiled, looking up at him with submissive eyes, “I think you want me to fuck you.” 
What the hell am I doing? You thought to yourself. Multiple curse words flew through your brain. You promised yourself you wouldn’t do this again but the chemistry was too undeniable to reject him. His eye contact still hasn’t broken yours, and he took one more step towards you. You could see every freckle on his face, every fleck in his eye. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Before you even had a chance to think or move, he slammed the door behind him, pushing you up against the wall and smashing his lips onto yours. It was messy, tongues colliding after weeks of sexual tension. You couldn’t even breathe, your heart jumping out of your chest as he pulled your arms above your head, pinning them against the wall. 
You moaned out lightly as his hand roamed to your neck, firmly clasping his hand around it and moving your chin up to kiss down your neck. You had a moment of clarity that was clouded by the wetness that had pooled in your underwear. “Fuck, what are we doing?” You spoke, almost coming out like a whine. He kissed up your neck, back to your lips before pulling away. 
“I want you, [Y/N]. Bad. I don’t give a fuck if this ruins everything. I can’t stop thinking about you,” he says in a rushed tone, eager to kiss you again. That was enough confirmation for you and you grabbed his face and kissed him again. You jumped up, allowing  yourself to wrap your legs around his waist. He was bulkier than before; he had worked out a lot for his role. Your fingers roamed down his arms, feeling the biceps he worked so hard for. You could feel him moving towards your bed, lips still intertwined. 
You two dropped down on the bed, his body weight on top of you as he pulled your legs out from under him. His fingers traced your leg, feeling up the hem of your nightgown. At this point, you were soaking wet. It took all your night to just not come right then and there. His fingers dipped into the waistband of your underwear, his thumb brushing over your clit gently. You gasped at the sudden contact, pulling away from his lips to look into his eyes. Maintaining eye contact, he peeled down your panties, down your shins, and over your feet until you were bare in front of him. “God, this little thing is so fucking hot,” he referred to the silk nightgown. He kneeled down, kissing up your leg before getting to your thigh. You were restless, small moans exiting your mouth. 
“Oh!” You gasped as he lifted your legs over his shoulders, nose brushing against the inside of your thighs, your clit hot and throbbing in front of him. As he tasted you for the first time, it was everything he imagined and more. Sweet on his tongue. You let out an audible moan as his fingers entered your aching core while sucking your clitoris with his mouth. A fire struck your veins, your fingers desperately grabbing for his hair as he licked and sucked, your back curling as he brought you closer to the edge. 
He could tell you were close, his fingers pumping in and out of you. He could feel your walls beginning to tighten, numerous moans and curse words falling from your lips consistently. He removed his mouth from your clit, taking his fingers away as well. He looked up at you, your mouth parted open and cheeks red with desire and agony. Seeing you in this state was everything Austin wanted and more. “Why d-did you stop?” 
He slowly began to kiss down your thigh, saying, “Because you’re going to come when I tell you to.” 
“Please, Austin,” you pleaded, eyes begging for more. He moved towards you, his chest on yours. 
“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll give you what you really want.” 
You grabbed his face to kiss him again, tasting yourself on his lips. You hastily reached down to slide his shirt off, and then his boxers off, and you were met by his erect cock, springing free. He was way bigger than you expected, and you almost wondered how you were going to fit him inside of you. With no hesitation, you flipped the two of you over, your waist hovering over his as you leaned down to kiss him again. He was shocked by your dominance, moving his hands from your legs up to your waist to slowly remove the nightgown off your body. 
You began grinding against him, groans exiting his mouth as he massaged your breasts. Now, those were a different story. He couldn’t keep his hands off them. They were perfect and just as he imagined they would be ever since you walked on set. He moved between your bodies with his free hands, grabbing his cock and sliding it through your folds until it was aligned with your entrance. You could feel him teasing you as he moved the tip between your wet folds slowly. “Fuck, please. I need you inside of me,” You begged.
“How bad do you want it?” He whispered against your lips. His tip slipped into you with one smooth move, showing no sign of moving. You tried to slide down on him but he would not let you.
“Austin, please, baby. I want you so bad. I want you deep inside of me,” That was all he needed to hear, and he released his cock as you slid down on him. You both moaned at the same time, and your walls wrapped him warmly. You were paralyzed, adjusting to his size. His hands were gripping your hips as you started rolling towards him. You were in charge, and he liked it. The way your tits bounced up and down as you sped up, your eyes never breaking eye contact with his. 
"You are so fucking tight, sweetheart," He grabbed your hips, beginning to control the tempo as he thrusted up into you. Your hand moved towards your clit, slowly making figure eights around your soaked core. 
"Austin," You whined as he went so fast all you could hear was the sound of skin slapping, your tits mesmerizing him as he watched you crumble. 
"Say my name again,” He watched as your head leaned back, eyes shut tight. 
“Austin," You said, his name coming out in a whining moan. You could feel yourself nearing closer and closer to the edge, and he could once again feel your walls tightening around him.  He knew he wouldn’t last much longer in this position, so he flipped you over with his hard cock still inside of you, your back pressed into the mattress. He resumed his previous speech, slowly placing one of your legs on his shoulder. 
“Oh my god, yes,” you moaned out, your eyes still squeezed shut, “That feels so fucking good.” 
“Look at me when I’m fucking you,” His tone was dark and you almost didn’t even recognize him when you looked up at him. His jet-black hair was pooled over his eyes as he pounded into you, sweat heading his forehead. He was gripping your hips so hard you were sure you were going to be bruised the next day. He put your other leg over his shoulder and you were certain that was the position you were going to come in. 
You were an absolute mess, squirming and moaning as he could feel your walls clench around him. “Oh my god, I’m going to come,” you exclaimed. “P-please, can I come?” 
“Do you want to come for me?” 
“Yes, please,” You whimpered, breathing heavily as the burning pit in your abdomen grew. “I’m so fucking close.” 
“Come for me, [Y/N].” His voice was enough to send you over the edge. He watched as you worked through your orgasm, toes curling and back arching off the bed as you tried to maintain eye contact with him. He could feel his own release coming close to, biting his lip as he tried to suppress his moans. 
He pulled out just as he was about to explode, motioning for you to go over to him. You sat on your knees, cupping your tits together as he let out a string of curse words. “Fuck, [Y/N]. I’m going to come, baby,” he moaned out as his warm liquids painted your chest. He looked so submissive in this angle, his chest heaving as he met his release. 
The two of you fell backwards almost immediately, chests rising and falling as you took in what the two of you just did. Thoughts ran rampant in your brain as you realized you two could’ve possibly ruined the chemistry between your characters. You could hear him still breathing heavily beside you as he spoke his first words, “I’ve wanted to fuck you like that for a while.”
You looked over at him, eyes gazing over his naked body. “You did?”
“You were my celebrity crush, you know.”
You sat up a little, propping yourself up on his shoulders and leaning over to look him in the eyes. “Seriously? I kinda thought you had no idea who I was. Plus, you were dating Vanessa so I didn’t think you noticed anybody.” 
Possibly bad timing to mention the ex. 
He chucked at your thought process, “Well, yeah, but after that, I always counted you as my celebrity crush. I would notice you on the red carpets. You always had a boyfriend, and I guess so did I, but it's weird how this worked out.” 
You lightly smiled, looking up at him as you rested your head on his chest, “I guess so. But, this can’t be anything, you know that, right?” You hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it didn’t feel right. The two of you were co-workers and everyone knew how bad it was for co-workers to be involved. It could impact the entirety of filming. 
“Yeah. We’re just rebounding from our exes,” He agreed. “It’s for the best anyway.” 
You couldn’t help but deny the twinge of pain in his voice. 
“Exactly, some good old-fashioned sex. Which you’re pretty good at if I say so,” you joked as you began to get up to put your nightgown back on. “I do have to go to bed though, and I don’t think I can let you sleep here for obvious reasons, so…” 
You trailed off, slipping your nightgown over your body once more. “Right, of course,” he spoke as he stood up and snatched his shirt off the floor. “Just to be clear, you are going to let me fuck you like that again?” 
You smirked at him, moving towards him slowly. “Oh, absolutely, we are doing that again.” 
。・:*:・゚★,。・:*:・゚☆
masterlist + request 
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dontyouworrydaddy · 6 months
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Hiiii 😄
Never really requested anything before, But I just read your "danger" post it was soooo fking good !
I was wonder if you could do the same concept but the *reader* gets help from the whole 141 group maybe in a more dangerous situation? However you feel like writing it! Hope that makes sense
Thanks ! 🤍
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ᴅоп’т ѕʟеер
Task Force 141 + gn! Reader
First of all, I‘m so sorry that this ask took so long:(
But here it is ❤️❤️
and…AHHHHHHHHH thank you so much💘💘💘 I hope you enjoy this one xoxo 🫶🏻🫶🏻 LOVE YOUUUU!!!
TRIGGER WARNING: Violence, Blood, Near death scene
⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
Don’t. Fall. Asleep.
Don’t. Fall. Asleep.
Don’t Sleep.
Even if you didn’t sleep for the last 37 hours. Don’t. Fucking. Fall. Asleep.
You don’t know where you are. Nor do you know what happened. Everything happened so fast. And the last thing you remember is Price yelling orders through the comms. But somehow you never knew what he was saying.
The only thing you know is that if you fall asleep now, you’re dead. You’re in a basement, god knows where this basement is. Laying on the floor with chains swallowing your feet and hands. Your clothes are ripped and there is barley anything covering your body. And oh god… you’re lucky you can’t see your body. You wouldn’t like the amount of bruises and dried blood covering your body. And let’s not forget your face. Your whole hair is covered with blood and your nose is definitely broken. You can barely open your left eye which makes it difficult for you to consume your surroundings any further.
You wish you were dead already so you wouldn’t have to keep living through this. All they want from you is top secret information and they do everything… literally everything to get this information out of you.
Waterboarding? you still stood silent.
Pushing a knife in your leg? You still stood silent.
Pulling a bag over your head? You still stood silent.
And the list continues.
Now you’re barely moving and breathing but you’re still silent. You even gave up the hope for the task force boys to find and rescue you out of this hell. But if they didn’t rescue you in those 37 hours… they for sure won’t do it know. It would only put their life at risk and it wouldn’t be worth it, or so you thought.
"You fucking -" the man dressed in a white tank top (with your blood on it) and joggers was literally was losing his mind because whatever they did to you, you didn’t say a word. Not a single word came out of your mouth and this fact was driving him crazy. "You fucking talk now or I‘ll send you straight to afterlife." he says with a serious tone and the aggressiveness in his voice makes you let out a little chuckle but it hurts so bad, you stopped. But he sadly saw your lips twitching and the silent chuckle which makes his blood boil.
"You think I‘m joking eh?" he steps away for a quick moment and puts his hands on his head. He lets out a maniac laugh which doesn’t scare you at this point anymore. Suddenly he turns around and kicks you in your stomach which causes you to scream in pain.
After a few hits the man standing in the back pulls him away and whispers something in his eat but it was difficult for you to hear it. The ringing in your ears are too loud and you start feeling dizziness taking over your whole body.
The worst part isn’t the dying part. It’s the fact nobody will properly ever find your body. And the fact you’re gonna die alone. Which has been always your fear.
And you fear that you’re going to face those fears.
You close your eyes for a second and exactly in that moment you hear the door burst open. You heat gunshots and you think it’s just the boss coming in and torturing you again.
But after the sound of gunshots finally comes to an end, you slightly open your eyes and see Kyle.. looking down at you with worry written in his eyes.
Kyle and you have always been closer than anyone else. You guys were best friends in high school and decided to join the military together. He was always your back while you were his shield.
He says something but you can’t make out what he says. You only see Johnny solving the chains around your wrists and free you from all of those.
Without a second hesitation, Kyle picks you up while Simon, Johnny and Price are around you, defending you from any further danger.
You let your head rest on Kyle‘s shoulder and close your eyes while they carry you down the street, straight into the helicopter.
You know you’re safe now. And that’s why you close your eyes. They rescued you from facing death alone. And they sure are going to pull you out of the grave.
You close your eyes and hope you wake up tomorrow. At least you were rescued
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wip wednesday sketch dump
tagged by: @ivymarquis @josephseedismyfather @cassietrn @direwombat @finding-comfort-in-rain @cloudofbutterflies92 @kyber-infinitygems @josephslittledeputy (and likely others, I have been very absent as of late...sorry)
okay, so uh clearly the art won for that poll (heh, always knew the cod fic was just for me... anyhoo) here's the sketchy sketches for oc kiss week. They are very, VERY rough still so please forgive
I won't run with the usual tag list but if you see this feel free to consider yourself tagged
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(Top: Kit and @dickytwister oc Elliot Fletcher, Kit and @statichvm oc Katherine O'Neill Middle: Rory and @statichvm oc Lily Watt, Rory and @direwombat oc Saoirse Monaghan Bottom: Kit and @theelderhazelnut oc Ombra, Kit and @florbelles oc Lyra Fairbanks)
*I still have a few more sketches to get done, so if you were in my replies asking for some art, its on the way*
going to tag @strangefable @isobel-thorm and @direwombat for the cod stuff since y'all were kind enough to indulge me in a little scene I wrote for chapter 11 (even if I'm still supposed to be working on chapter 9 lol)
“You were jealous, weren't you?”
“Of course I was bloody jealous, Rory. Look at you, can you really blame me? I've been with my fair share of women, but Jesus, none of them can hold a match to you, my girl.”
“Your girl?”
“Listen, I've been trying my damnedest to keep my composure here. You think I went into this expecting to have this happen with my subordinate? It's rule number one and I'm here breaking it for you.” He sighed. “I had to listen to you in my fuckin’ ear, Rory. It was a goddamn nightmare.”
“And so what, you want to have that be the foundation for a relationship? The fact that I nearly died and you had to pull me out of there? That’s the foot you want to start on? It’s like I said last night, this is a dangerous game to be playing and I am not worth the trouble. I’m not worth your career.”
“And why’s that, eh?”
“I’m a fucking mess, that’s why. I’ve got nightmares, anxiety attacks, tremors, flashbacks. I’m in no place to start anything with anyone. And certainly not with someone who’s life could be upended because of me.”
“I don’t care.” He shrugged and gave a slight thrust of his pelvis as he crossed his arms over his chest. Obstinate, pigheaded right to the bitter end, refusing to back down from anything. This was Captain John Price type behavior through and through. 
“What do you mean ‘you don’t care’?”
“You think all that’s gonna keep me away from you?”
“Well it should.”
“Why?” He lowered his head, looking up at her through his brow. Constantly challenging her. 
“Trust me, after several nights of no sleep from me waking up with nightmares, you’ll understand.”
His eyes narrowed for a brief moment, the crows feet by his eyes creasing. “Someone else left you ‘cause o’that?”
Rory grimaced and bit down on her molars. Her eyes fell to the floor as she turned her head away from him. She didn’t have to say anything, her body language gave it all away.
Price’s face darkened at her reaction. If it was up to him he’d hunt down whoever it was and teach them a lesson, but that isn’t what she would want to hear.  “Christ, don’t tell me someone actually did that?”
“Of course someone did that, John. Most people who see that side of me either think of me like I’m holding on by a goddamn thread or I'm just another broken soldier. And if it's not that, it's the whole horde of other shit in my head.” She rubbed at her brow. “People don’t want to fall in love with someone like me. It’s too hard to do.”
“Well, lucky for you I’m a bit of a stubborn bastard. I’m willin’ to put in the hard work. I can be goddamn relentless when need be.”
Rory scoffed, “I’d expect nothing less from you.”
He gave her a little crooked grin and stepped forward, cupping her face in his large hands, his thumbs stroking her cheeks softly. “I’m only gonna tell you this once, darlin’.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t care about how much trouble you might be, you hear me? I have to have you, Rory. I need you to be mine, yeah? Simple as.”
It was her turn to ask the question. “Why?”
“Because if there’s anyone who’s going to understand what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, it's me. I wanna protect you. I wanna make sure somethin’ like this never happens again. I can’t even take the thought of you bein’ with someone else besides me.”
“I’m not willing to take the risk.”
He nodded his head slightly. “Well, I’m patient. Persistent. I can wait as long as I have to.”
“Fucking hell. You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Not after what I saw last night.”
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midnightsslut · 4 days
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the whole cardigan/Peter parallels are messing my head can u explain
okay so peter is actually one of my favorite songs on the album for this reason! I think it has parallels to a lot of other songs, not just cardigan. the first thing to get out of the way is the cardigan lyric about peter and wendy: ‘tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy.’ now, that line doesn’t make a ton of sense because peter losing wendy is the ending of peter pan (idk I’ve never seen it and never thought I’d spend this long thinking about them), but I think what she’s saying is that he tried to change the ending of *their* story to peter losing wendy. peter loses her because she outgrows him, while he remains a ‘lost boy’ forever. the cardigan demo has an alternate lyric where peter actually *leaves* wendy. this does not happen in the original story, and to me, it reads like betty (eh, I don’t think those characters existed when she wrote that song, but bear with me) is accusing him of trying to change their fate by leaving her. peter is meant to always come back to wendy. *she* is the one who eventually leaves him. either way, cardigan ends with them together. yay for betty and/or taylor.
now, peter was written 3-4 years later, and it is the conclusion of a story about outgrowing someone despite truly wanting them back. the ending was not, in fact, changed. she did outgrow him. very sad. I actually want to go lyric by lyric, but I’ll put a cut just in case.
Forgive me Peter
My lost fearless leader
In closets like cedar
Preserved from when we were just kids
Is it something I did
the song starts with taylor trying to figure out what went wrong. did she do something wrong to crush these dreams of theirs? she kept him in a closet of cedar (where unmarried women kept their belongings that they would want to take with them after getting married) in her mind, but things didn’t work out anyway. the first line being ‘forgive me, peter’ indicates that she is the one who pulled the plug, and she’s apologizing for it. again, she isn’t entirely sure what went wrong, which, to me, is a clear parallel to how did it end.
The goddess of timing
Once found us beguiling
She said she was trying
Peter was she lying
My ribs get the feeling she did
when they first met, the timing seemed to be perfect for their relationship (‘the goddess of timing *once* found us beguiling’), but that didn’t last. the goddess of timing claimed that she tried, but nothing could save them. taylor even wonders if she lied, which suggests a lack of faith in higher powers like fate or deities. this verse introduces timing as a major conflict in the story. ‘are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?’
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Words from the mouths of babes
Promises, oceans deep
But never to keep
peter went away, but he promised to come down once he was ready for a relationship. yes, this kind of applies to both of the main storylines on the album. you could take this to mean that they actually broke up a decade ago but promised to get back together, or you could assume there was some sort of break to their relationship, which she and joe did have. i kind of took it to mean that he wasn’t fully committed to the relationship, but he promised to be eventually. again, the renegade lyric, but also ‘i’m a fire, and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade ocean wave blues come’ and ‘I’d hold you as the water rushes in,’ both of which are grand promises that neither party could keep.
Are you still a mind reader?
A natural scene stealer
I've heard great things Peter
But life was always easier on you
Than it was on me
he is charismatic. his magnetic field is a little too strong. he can read people. but he’s also fragile and inexperienced (‘he was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman’). he may be able to read people, but things have been way too easy for him to ever understand a truly hurt person fully.
And sometimes it gets me
When crossing your jet stream
We both did the best we could do underneath the same moon
In different galaxies
And I didn't want to hang around
We said it was just goodbye for now
this is the thesis statement of their relationship to me. obviously, there’s the call it what you want parallel, but more importantly, it shows that the two people really wanted this to work. they just came from completely different places in their lives and perhaps the entire universe. this verse seems to reference the epilogue (‘resentment rotting away galaxies we created’ / ‘some stars never align’). they learned the right steps to different dances, if you will. she knew he needed time, so she left temporarily.
And I won't confess that I waited
But I let the lamp burn
As the men masqueraded
I hoped you'd return
With your feet on the ground
Tell me all that you'd learned
Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned
she does get with other men, but she keeps longing for him. she wishes that he would return with a grasp on reality and be the man she needs. if anything, the time away would give him the perspective he needs to ground himself. interesting parallel to ‘I said I don’t mind / it takes time’ in loml.
And you said you'd come and get me but you were 25
And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired
Lost to the lost boys chapter of your life
Forgive me Peter, please know that I tried
To hold onto the days when you were mine
But the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light
this is just devastating to me. well, first of all, both matty and joe were 25 when they first met her, which, lol. the dreams they had together have expired now. it’s been too long. she cannot keep holding onto a love from almost a decade ago. he took too long to return. he lost his lifelong dreams to what was only supposed to be a chapter of his life. she tried to hold onto the days when he was hers, and everything was right, but she had to turn out the light at some point. this is the moment when she gives up on their relationship. she apologizes for abandoning the ship, but she must do it.
overall, I think peter is a story about two people who genuinely did everything they could to be together, but their needs and their growth no longer aligned. there’s a sense of acceptance and lingering fondness here. she did everything she could not to bolt, but the ending was the same.
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1moreff-creator · 8 months
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A Summary of the Levi!Accomplice Theory + How We Got Here (DRDT CH2)
Hey there! So a while ago I made a post about the CH 2 murder method, but I missed some pretty crucial information. You might know me and @thebadjoe had a pretty long thread back and forth talking about the murder, which lead to me reworking a lot of the original theory. However, that thread is extremely long and frankly quite confusing to read, so I thought it would be good to summarize what the final theory actually looks like in a separate post. This was sorta inspired by thebadjoe making a similar post about his own theory (which is Eden working alone, but disguising herself as Arei at one point), which I absolutely recommend you read as it’s probably one of the best DRDT-related posts I’ve seen on Tumblr.
If you’re here simply for a summary of the Levi!Accomplice Eden!Culprit theory, then simply skip to the Closing Argument of this post. You should be able to understand it on its own. However, I think it would also be nice to explain how I reached the conclusions I did, which is what the start of the post will be. Othersie I'm gonna look completely unhinged, and that's not good, I'm only kinda unhinged! If you’re interested, then I hope you enjoy!
CW: Murder, betrayal (Eden!Culprit), hanging (including geometric depictions), suicidal thoughts, one mention of self harm.
(Also, the Ace almost-murder won’t really be touched on much here, but there is a thread where me, venus-is-thinking, accirax and thebadjoe all went crazy trying to explain the blood on the wires. It’s about as difficult to follow as the other one, but eh)
The First Step Into Madness
(This part goes over a bit of the same from my OG post, which is why it sorta ignores other theories. There may be some assumptions made which are not necessarily true under other theories. Feel free to skip this if you read the first post and don’t need a refresher)
It all started when I made the original post where I discussed the murder method. I was left very intrigued after watching DRDT for the first time, so I wanted to see if there was some way to figure out how the murder was carried out, and to see if that pointed to any culprit.
-The first thing to note is that EP 11 cuts off when Charles is about to confront David on something related to the time of death, based on when he cuts in. This would imply the murder did not happen the night of the third day as the characters had assumed. Seeing as Arei was last seen at noon of that third day and I wasn’t aware of disguise theory, I figured the murder actually happened at 7:30 AM the morning of the day of the investigation, which I still believe. The fish could have been simply taken before nighttime and kept in the water jugs.
-What this means is that the culprit had time to set up an elaborate murder mechanism overnight, which is what the rest of the evidence around the crime scene would appear to imply.
-One of the reasons to believe a mechanism was involved is the flickering light of the playground. For a while, I genuinely had no idea how the hell that would happen. Even if there was a secret passage from the Movie Screening Room, proving that in trial would be nigh impossible.
-However, sometimes to solve a mystery, all you gotta do is mash random things together until something sorta looks like it fits. And what was a thing I didn’t know how to place? The ball of clothes.
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-The idea here is to attach the rope to the ball of clothes and throw it over the railing, that way you can get the rope to go over there without having to get up there yourself. On the way up, the clothes would hit the light and displace the lightbulb, causing it to flicker.
-But why would you need rope over the railing? Well, if you were interested in creating a pulley system to make something go high into the air, you would need the rope there. And a pulley system is the first thing I thought of when I saw the spinny thing had tape on it, and thus was likely involved. This is what I envisioned.
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Note how the rope is first looped between the handlebars to make sure it actually does the thing it’s supposed to. There may be other ways to set up the pulley, but the important thing is, a pulley was likely involved.
-So we got a pulley, but what are we pulleying? Presumably Arei, getting her higher up so her neck could snap instantly when she dropped down. As Veronika stated, her neck wouldn’t have snapped unless she weighed more or she dropped from higher up.
-Unless she weighed more, huh? That’s an interesting thing to specify. How would she weigh more? Unless, there was something which weighed her down.
-One thing which always struck me as odd about the water jugs is how oddly the handles are snapped.
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-After thinking about how that could have happened, I realized maybe they had been snapped due to the action of rope. If you tie rope around the handles and pull hard, they would snap just like that.
-And what’s the deal with that? As I said, perhaps Arei was weighed down by something. And here is the answer. Since we know there were two pieces of rope (one found around Arei’s neck and a longer piece under the spinny thing), I believed the jugs were attached to her via rope to weigh her down.
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-That way, the culprit could further ensure Arei’s neck would snap once she fell and the pulley system was stopped.
-Because yes, the culprit would need to stop the pulley system from spinning back all the way, otherwise Arei would just fall to the floor. And since her broken neck is the only injury apart from red marks on her wrist, that clearly didn’t happen.
-And my answer for that… was frankly just brute forcing it and stopping it by hand. See, I was sorta coming in after watching a cool video by Ocean Unknown, and I was already kinda thinking Levi was probably the culprit, which is why this feat of strength didn’t seem too insane for me. In retrospect, I may have been underestimating the strength required to do that.
-Anyways, the rest isn’t too hard to figure out. Make the note, ambush Arei when she arrived at the playground, with the ensuing struggle resulting in the scuffed floor, put tape on her wrists, put the noose around her neck, pulley, let her fall a bit and stop her so her neck snaps, prop her up so the murder looks vaguely like a suicide, throw some stuff in the trash, profit. You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the fact Arei doesn’t have her glove in the BDA, because… well, frankly I just hadn’t noticed that at the time. The fish are to confuse the time of death, and the tape was likely taken from the gym and used to have a better grip on the spinny thing as the culprit spun it.
The tape was taken from the gym?
The Curious Case of the Tape Thief
(Or: BY GOD IT’S THEBADJOE WITH A STEEL CHAIR! /lh)
So, what you may have noticed is that the method I came up with doesn’t really point to anyone in particular, but there’s a detail I hadn’t noticed when I first made that post. The time the tape was taken.
Thebadjoe had already pointed it out on his blog, and was kind enough to reblog my own post with this information. Turns out, he realized that in Ep 6, at around the time Ace wakes up, the roll of the tape previously on the floor disappears from the background. Which means it was taken by someone who was at the gym at that point.
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Now, you might be wondering if maybe that’s just an animation error. After all, it’s not like this is evidence that can be brought up in the trial.
Except, it can be deduced. With lockdown logic. Let’s look at the facts:
-The tape was on the floor after Nico leaves the gym.
-The last people in the gym before the lockdown begun were Teruko, Ace and Eden.
-No one but MonoTV could enter the gym during the lockdown.
-Rose and Teruko are the first people to enter the gym after the lockdown, stated explicitly by MonoTV.
-But by the time Rose and Teruko are there, the tape has disappeared. And there is special attention brought to the fact the tape’s disappeared.
So the tape couldn’t have disappeared during the lockdown (unless MonoTV took it out, but why would it do that), and it can’t have been taken after since Rose and Teruko were the first people there after it ended. Since that roll of tape was still on the floor when Nico left, that means the tape disappeared when only Teruko, Ace and Eden were in the gym.
Teruko couldn’t have taken it, protag privilege.
I’ve seen Ace thrown out as a possibility, but it just doesn’t really work. Teruko was inspecting his body right before he wakes up, and she never has a reason to look away after he wakes up. She never saw him pick up the tape, though, so it seems unlikely he did. Not to mention the lack of blood on the tape when Ace had blood on his hands the whole time, or the general weirdness of him taking the tape and, like, pocketing it in the first place. Why would he do that? If he wanted a weapon, he’d have taken the wire which was nearby, right?
So, the most logical answer is that Eden took the tape. In fact, she gets knocked down to the floor right around the time the tape disappears from the background.
So, now we ask, why did Eden take the tape? The issue is that there really is no reason for her to do that, unless she went down to the second floor specifically with the intention of picking up the tape (and maybe some other stuff). However, she never tells Teruko she wanted to pick up the tape, which combined with the fact she takes it sneakily and without anyone noticing, would suggest she wanted it for nefarious purposes. This is where the Eden!Culprit theory comes from.
There simply is no good answer as to why she took the tape otherwise. Even other theories I’ve seen, which suggest perhaps the killer intentionally used the tape to frame Eden, can’t really explain why Eden would take it without warning in the first place.
Thus, the only issue left is… would Eden really do this? How can the nicest person in the killing game betray a friend like that? Well, it’s not as impossible as you may think.
Of Motivations And Narrative Consequence
(Or: venus and accirax come in clutch)
You may have seen this post by DRDT Tumblr’s dynamic duo of @venus-is-thinking and @accirax circulating around, and I recommend you read it if you want a full exploration of why Eden!Culprit works from a character and narrative standpoint. They explained everything way better than I ever could, so I’m not gonna dwell on it too much and just ask you do your assigned reading if you’re interested.
However, as a short summary of the main points:
-Motive: Eden is a very caring person, who has several people she’d want to return to outside of the killing game. Her family, which she speaks about with Levi in the first scene of the chapter, and possibly even the girl mentioned in her secret. The incident with Arturo could have scared her into taking more drastic action so she could go back to the real world. Note the secret quote on her page is “You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try.” She’s likely not secretly evil or anything. And the fact she kept trying to go against the killing game, but ultimately never achieved anything, could have led to her feeling completely hopeless.
-Why Arei?: Because it was the easiest option, most likely. It was implied in the ep 10 flashback that Eden may not have believed Arei when she claimed she wanted to be friends, and that she may have only realized she genuinely did during the trial. Also worth noting, they’re paired together in the CH 1 recap, which implies they’re at least important to each other’s stories.
-Wouldn’t this just prove Teruko right? And wouldn’t that be narratively redundant?: Oh, yes. It would very explicitly prove Teruko right.
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Teruko: Sooner or later that kindness of yours will have you breaking down, until you’re too overwhelmed with grief to be able to act. That’s not how I plan to live.
But the thing is, Teruko has already been proven right this chapter. Even beyond all the scuffles around the secrets, you have Nico, seemingly one of the most harmless people in the killing game, admitting to trying to kill Ace; and you also have David, who almost everyone trusted and viewed as a sort of leader, being revealed as a liar and a manipulative asshole.
(Yes I know both of them are a bit more complex than that but that’s not the point.)
In fact, Teruko was explicitly right about David too. Not to mention, someone killed Arei or J if you’re inclined to believe that, which won’t exactly do wonders for trust in the group.
The point, as venus and accirax pointed out, is to show the audience how Teruko’s life usually is. Full of betrayal and misfortune. This is to set up the theme of fate and change that runs deeply through Teruko’s character, and that I’m not gonna explain here.
And while you could say Teruko doubling down on not trusting anyone would be redundant, you have to consider the rest of the group as well. While they mostly held it together after the first trial with a few exceptions, Eden being the killer, combined with everything else that happened in the chapter, would cause way more damage to the whole group’s sense of trust, leading to a very different atmosphere for chapter 3. So I don’t really think it would be redundant at all.
-What about the handwriting sample?: What about the handwriting sample? The note is in cursive, Eden writes her sample in print.
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Obviously it's gonna look different. If anything, the fact she specifically writes in print could be seen as her hiding her cursive handwriting, which looks suspicious to me.
-Why help piece together the note in the first place? And why would she fight back against the idea of Arei committing suicide?: Because she would presumably want to build a narrative that she and Arei were friends, to make people trust her more. I mean, it worked, since people immediately jumped on Arturo when they first heard the full story.
-And more! Again, read the full post for more details.
So… now we circle back. Eden’s probably the killer, but what does that mean for the method?
A Method In Shambles
One of the main issues this brings to the method is Eden’s strength. She’s very weak, as has been established in both the most recent QnA and in the series itself (see: arm-wrestling scene, where Arei specifically excludes Eden for being weak). She wouldn’t be able to pull Arei + water jugs up with the pulley system herself.
…Or maybe she could? But it would be very tight, and I think we’re not supposed to pull out the physics and calculators to figure out it would only be the equivalent of lifting like thirty pounds as accirax implied in one line of this really good post. Point is, it doesn’t look like she could, which is more important imo.
Even then, it would also be really difficult for Eden to prop up the body like we see in the BDA.
Speaking of BDA, that’s another issue. The BDA rule states it takes “three people who did not witness the murder” to see the body before the announcement plays. So how did it play after only Whit, Teruko and Eden had found it? Surely Eden as the killer would count as a witness with the method I established earlier.
But the biggest issue for Eden!Culprit are actually the fish. Because while Eden doesn’t have an alibi for the time of death, she does have an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance. Think about it: Nico fed them presumably at around 7:00 PM, since they later see David going down at around 7:30, and 7:00 is likely the time when communal dinner ended as it’s also the time Eden and Hu begun washing the dishes together. We know from Nico the fish were still all there by the time Eden’s alibi with Hu begins.
And that alibi lasts all the way until nighttime, when the relax room locks down for the night. And it doesn’t open again until after the murder was supposedly committed at 7:30 AM. So Eden couldn’t have taken it the morning after.
The fish in particular are an issue for Eden!Culprit, because while everything else is odd, this particular thing makes it impossible for Eden herself to have set up the crime scene as we see it. And unless Ace is lying for no good reason, Arei was still alive the night of the third day, so it likely wasn’t set up by anyone uninvolved in the murder.
In the end, although Eden feels like she should be the culprit, she couldn’t have done everything alone.
She couldn’t have done everything… alone.
:)
The Rise of the Accomplice
Eden is a very trusting, very sociable person. So if there are things in the crime scene she couldn’t have done alone, is it unbelievable to assume she may have had an accomplice?
Let’s ignore the “who” for now and see if this idea holds up. The accomplice would be in charge of taking the fish out of the relax room during nighttime, a tactic to confuse the time of death and give Eden a fake alibi. They would also be in charge of overpowering Arei when she first arrived at the playground.
After pinning her down, wrapping her wrists with tape and possibly her legs too if needed (there were two pieces of tape in the trash, when strictly speaking you would only need one for the wrists. Arei has long socks, so marks wouldn’t be visible on her legs), the accomplice would also be in charge of lifting up Arei into the sky. The exact logistics of how the accomplice would go about this are a bit awkward (they would probably have to run quite fast to the spinny thing so Arei doesn’t get a chance to stand up and try something), but I don’t think it’s outright impossible.
Now, here’s where the trick comes in. Since Eden was the one who likely planned the murder (she had been preparing since Night 2, after all), the goal would be to make her the blackened. Here’s how I think that would be done.
The accomplice would hand off the spinny thing to Eden once Arei was high up enough, and Eden would be the one to let go off the carousel so Arei’s neck breaks. But how does it stop?
Well, you remember the second, shorter piece of rope, which I had originally said would be for the water jugs? Instead of that, they would use it as a stopper rope. The idea is to attach one end to the swing set near the spinny thing, but leave the other end by itself. Then, once Arei was high in the air, one of the two culprits (let’s say Eden) would tie the unused end to the spinny thing. That way, when they let Arei fall, the shorter rope would tense before she went all the way to the floor (you can make sure this happens by using a lot of the rope on the knot on the swing set), and stop the carousel abruptly mid fall. This is what would cause Arei’s neck to snap.
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(Ignore the text)
This means the water jugs would need to be attached to Arei in some other way. Possibly by making the noose in such a way that you have rope to spare and you can put the jugs there?
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Looks a bit wonky, but I think it can work! Or, at least, Eden could conceivably think it would help, which is all that’s technically necessary.
If you’re not convinced, there could also be a third, extremely short piece of rope being kept in Eden’s fanny pack which was used to put the jugs at Arei’s feet. I don’t quite like this answer too much, since it relies on evidence we don’t have (Russel’s Teapot and all that), but it’s there.
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Surprise! Alternative Method Bonanza!
So you remember how thebadjoe has a really good theory on the murder which is Eden!Solo? That means he has a different method for the murder mechanism itself, as Eden sort of can’t do my method herself.
And I am gonna steal it! Like a thief!
Essentially, if you’re not convinced by the hanging method, you can instead copy and paste joe’s method to my accomplice theory, with a few modifications.
Joe’s method takes my idea of a stopper rope, but instead of attaching one end to the swing set, it’s attached to Arei’s neck. The pulley system is instead used to pull up only the water jugs, the rope attached to their handles, which Eden should be able to do herself. The idea is that, after pulling the water jugs up and attaching the shorter rope to Arei’s neck, when you let them fall, if Arei’s neck is secured in place, when the stopper tenses, it will snap her neck.
Now, in his method that involves knocking out Arei with turpentine (long story) and securing her with tape, but with the accomplice idea, and since I don’t think Eden has turpentine, it may be better for the accomplice to just hold down Arei’s body themself. Though that runs into the issue of “why put tape on her wrists then”, which isn’t a method with joe’s original method and rather an issue of translation to the accomplice idea.
Because of that, and because there’s a particular thing I’ll talk about in a moment, I think my method is still slightly more plausible for the accomplice idea, which is why I won’t bring this up again, but I did want to point out that it’s technically a possibility.
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Any other changes? Yes, actually.
-You remember the starch on the ball of clothes? Well, joe suggested it may come from the enriched formula used in the relax room, as starch is often used to stimulate plant growth or something along those lines. Meaning the clothes spent a night inside the relax room. I agree with this, as I have no idea why starch would be there otherwise.
The question now is when the clothes spent the night. It can’t be Night 3, as Arei died before the relax room opened again at 8:00 AmM. So it would have to be in the second night. And where was Eden that night?
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Eden: I noticed you didn’t take any of your new clothes, so I was going to deliver them to you!
Ah, right. On the second floor. In the dress-up room. Totally not suspicious behavior.
Basically, I think Eden went to the second floor to put the clothes in the relax room and pick up the tape, but once nighttime begun, she realized Ace was still in the gym, and decided to wait it out so as to not be spotted in a suspicious place. Unfortunately for her, Ace was busy getting murdered by Nico, so she ended up getting caught by Teruko, and had to course correct.
But why would she need the ball of clothes? Couldn’t she have just grabbed, like, anything else to throw over the railing?
Well… yeah, but. It may have been hard for her to find anything more convenient than the ball of clothes. I’ve seen the roll of tape suggested, but the rope may not have been able to fit through the hole in the middle. Maybe yes, maybe no, depending on what’s most convenient for your theory. That’s not sarcasm, it’s just that there’s no good way of checking how big the hole is.
Throwing a ball of clothes would be a lot easier than throwing a lot of other things. Maybe it’s a bit weird, but I don’t find it completely unbelievable that Eden considered it the best option.
-To make the whole ordeal easier, it would be best to make sure the “noose” end of the longer rope dangles from the railing over the seesaw, closer to the entrance, so they don’t have to move Arei around too much. They could easily do this by just throwing the ball of clothes around a couple of times.
-The BDA is an issue, since the accomplice would also be a “witness” and thus not count. But this can be solved quite simply. For one, there could be a loophole where if Eden just looks away when Arei’s neck breaks, then she’s not a “witness” and she counts. If that sounds too stupid, there’s another answer. To make absolutely sure Eden would be counted as the blackened, the accomplice would leave the room entirely while Eden holds Arei up in the air. That way, the moment they enter again, they would see the corpse without being a “witness” to the murder, and so they count. Add to the accomplice/Eden the view of Whit and Teruko, and you have the three you need for the BDA.
-That’s also my answer to why Eden shouts “Teruko, wait!” right before Teruko opens the door to the playground. Logically, she knew the BDA would play, which is why she didn’t act nervous when Teruko first offered to search in a group of three, but she second-guessed herself right before they got there. I’m sure we’ve all had an experience like that before, where logically we know one thing will happen, but we still get nervous right before the thing happens because we’re worried it might go wrong.
-The Achilles Heel of this theory is the missing bowling glove from Arei’s left hand. I have exactly one explanation for it, and it’s kinda stupid. Essentially, I believe the accomplice took the glove for themselves, to reveal it during the trial if people start accusing Eden. The idea would be that showing people that glove should hopefully get them to vote for the accomplice without thinking about it too much, but since Eden is the real blackened, they would lose and Eden would escape.
Imagine a big reveal, with a little animation like David’s “guilty as charged”, where the accomplice takes out the glove from their pocket and they say “I killed Arei” or something. That’s kinda what I’m envisioning.
So… that’s basically the method. And now, we have to answer the age old question:
but, like, why though
And this, this is the question that makes me believe the accomplice idea more than any other. Because it gives a proper reason for why the method had to be so complicated.
See, there is one fundamental contradiction in the evidence we see, one which has to be solved in some way. Arei’s wrists were bound, but given the rest of the evidence, there was a mechanism involved in her murder.
Why is that an issue? Because if you bind her wrists, then there is no reason not to just kill her in a much easier, simpler way. And there’s no reason to bind her wrists after killing her, either. So why would the killer go through all this trouble?
demodraws0606 (not sure they’d want to be tagged) suggested in this post, under Levi!Culprit, that maybe Levi was trying to frame Eden, and to do that, he had to make sure the BDA wouldn’t rule her out. And while that’s a really good post and a pretty interesting idea, the main issue with the plan of framing Eden in general are the fish. Levi maybe wouldn’t know for sure whether or not Eden would have an alibi, but just in case, it would be much safer to just fill the water jugs with water from a sink or something. The fish could only ever exclude Eden, never incriminate her.
Joe’s method assumes Eden simply used a complex method to distance herself from the murder in a way. Working on mechanisms would calm her as a clockmaker, so she feels more comfortable with murder if she can do it with a mechanism. This is cool, and while I personally think it’s a bit underwhelming, it could work. But it only works if Eden!Solo works, and then you have to explain the fish again. Joe says David brought them there, but, I don’t agree. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, obviously, just that I personally don’t see it given what we have. I think David genuinely thinks Arei committed suicide because of him.
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David: Of course. Of course this would happen.
So, yeah.
And because the why is so hard to explain, I think it’s important to explain it. And wouldn’t you guess it, my method does explain it.
It goes back to the origin of the accomplice idea. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own.
Let’s be clear; an accomplice is a huge leap in logic. One that I feel comfortable making given everything, but one which would take the characters a while to figure out. One which they may reject in principle. There’s no benefit for an accomplice after all, right?
I’ll address that in a moment, but let’s get back to the main point. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own, and because of that, the method in itself is an alibi for her.
Think about it. Because she is clearly not strong enough to lift Arei up into the air (or at least, that’s what it looks like), what happens if someone starts pointing fingers at Eden? Well, all she has to do to absolve herself is insist they speak about the method, and guide them in the general direction of the right answer. Once they start thinking the murderer would need to be strong enough to pull Arei + water jugs up into the air, they would instantly dismiss Eden as a possibility, until the idea of an accomplice is revisited.
This is, by the way, why I think the Hanging Method works better than the Neck Stopper Method under Accomplice Theory-
(ok the nomenclature is starting to get out of hand)
-, because it requires more strength to use the pulley.
But the point is the same. This method actually provides an explanation to why a mechanism was necessary when Arei’s wrists were bound. It was to give Eden a defense.
And that’s also where the fish come in. Because the most straightforward explanation for why the fish would be there would be that the killer would want to confuse the time of death. But why? The time the fish were taken is the same time frame the characters currently believe the murder happened at, so the alibis don’t change. If the killer wanted to give themselves an alibi for the supposed time of death, they would need to have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. But if they have an alibi for the time the fish were taken, they couldn’t have taken the fish!
Provided Nico is telling the truth about the fish, but I really don’t see why they’d be lying. I really doubt they’re the killer.
Thus, unless the fish somehow got there through a third party entirely (which I find unlikely, as Veronika had an alibi and no one else would really want to hide that they found a dead body for a night), it’s very possible the accomplice brought the fish to give the real killer an alibi.
So, that’s the big reason I have for believing there was an accomplice. It’s the best explanation for the fish and the motivation behind the creation of a mechanism I can find, but of course, that’s my opinion. There’s a bit more to it actually, but before we get there, we have to ask:
OMG, Who Did This?!
What we know about the accomplice for now is that they must not have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. This leaves us with Ace, Nico, Rose, Arei, Levi, and David. We can also add Hu to the list, as her only alibi is Eden, and, well.
Out of hand, I'm gonna eliminate Nico, Ace and David, as I really don't think their characters fit the accomplice idea at all, I hope you can forgive me.
I gave Arei a fair bit of thought, since narratively I could see it working, but I just don’t think it’s physically possible. One of the things which got me to believe there was an accomplice was that it would be really difficult for Eden to string up Arei’s corpse herself, and Arei wouldn’t be able to help with that on account of being dead.
So, then there three.
Was it Rose?
An interesting possibility. She was the first one to suggest looking in the trash, which helps Eden build the narrative she and Arei were friends, and she was one of the people who suggested voting for David on Ep 11, claiming she didn’t want the trial to go on any longer. However, that’s pretty circumstantial, and I don’t think there’s much else connecting her to the crime. I also don’t know how much stronger she is than Eden, but that’s neither here nor there. Overall, a possible candidate, but not extremely plausible.
Was it Hu?
Hey, have you ever thought about how weird it was that Hu and Eden never spoke during the conversation Teruko, Charles, Whit and David had right before David went to the relax room on night three? They were supposed to be cleaning up after dinner at that point, according to their alibi, so what gives?
Well, frankly, I just think they weren’t in the kitchen, but probably just cleaning in the cafeteria itself. But maybe Hu and Eden are lying!
Hu could work as an accomplice, given her caring nature and the fact she probably has the “hopeless child” secret, meaning she’s attempted suicide. Thus, she may be willing to throw away her life for Eden’s, which is the biggest obstacle for the accomplice idea.
Her secret quote could allude to it. “I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.” The issue there is… well, that could be referring to quite literally anything else, so.
I consider Hu the second likeliest candidate for accomplice because of all that, but… frankly, I still don’t see it. The way she acts during the trial doesn’t suggest she’s doing anything of the sort, and there are reasons she wouldn’t want anyone to get away with murder. Mainly everyone else’s lives. Also, she has even less arm strength than Rose, seeing as she lost at arm wrestling with her.
There’s probably more discussion to be had regarding Hu as an accomplice, but frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary for now. Because there is one person who fits the bill much better than Hu, and has much deeper connections to both Eden and the murder.
You read the title of the post. You know who I think the accomplice is. Let’s go.
Yeah, it’s Levi
(How’s that for a callback?)
Levi is probably the most widely believed culprit theory, and for good reason. He acts very suspiciously all throughout the investigation and the trial. He is the first to call up MonoTV to start voting after David’s reveal, he throws accusations quite liberally, his profile states he dislikes unpredictable people like Arei, the ball of clothes and even the missing glove being involved connects him to the method through his talent…
The main thing is the secret motive. Not only did Levi receive Arei’s, without the context Arei gave David and Teruko in the playground, it is widely speculated that Arei received Levi’s secret through sheer process of elimination. Won’t get into it here, many people have already talked about it, so just trust me bro.
Not to mention the whole “good person” fiasco. Essentially, Ch 2 has the title “All That Glitters”, with the secret title “A Good Person”. Clearly, put together you get “Not All That Glitters Is Gold” -> “Not All That Glitters Is A Good Person.”
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And as far as I can tell, there are only a few people who have been referred to using the specific words “good person” in this chapter:
-Teruko: She dissuades Whit from calling her a good person because she’ll feel bad when she’s not.
-David: Hu calls him a good person right before his Ep 11 heel turn.
EDIT: I misremebered, the line is actually "good friend." Ah, oops.
-Eden: Levi calls her a good person in the beginning of the chapter.
-Arei: Says she will prove to Eden she can be a good person.
-Levi: Eden calls him a good person at the beginning of the chapter.
Hopefully I didn’t miss any.
You’ll notice the common thread is plot relevance in CH 2. Teruko’s the protag, David pushed the plot forward by getting people to reveal their secrets and also had his heel turn (EDIT: But he wasn't called a good person so), Eden has been a huge part of the chapter and she might be the killer, and Arei is the victim.
The outlier is Levi, which would suggest he’ll come to be plot relevant soon enough. I don’t think just getting his secret revealed would be enough to put him up there in importance with the most influential people in the entire chapter, so he’s probably heavily involved in the murder. And since I don’t think he’s the killer, accomplice it is, baby.
There is even a particular moment we can point to as the moment Levi may have given up on the group as a whole.
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Levi: Why do I even bother?
Right after Ace refuses his help after almost getting murdered. And Eden’s right there.
Finally, his secret quote is “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.” That’s interesting, because in this context, it could be he never believed Arei wanted to change, as her previous actions contradicted the words she said to Eden. But maybe that’s a poor excuse for his heartlessness, as Arei did want to change.
There’s more I could bring up, like the fun fact Levi’s profile states he likes suckers (candy) and Eden’s states she likes sweet things (that’s insanely circumstantial and confirmation bias-y, but sure I’ll bring it up), but I think venus and accirax may be wanting to make a narrative defense of the Levi!Accomplice theory, so I’ll leave it to them, since they’ll probably do better than I could. Lord knows they did better on Eden than me.
Not gonna lie I’m kinda making this so they can just link back here instead of the insanity train the original thread was-
Final Issues
No theory is perfect, and this one isn’t an exception. While I think the theory mostly covers all the evidence in the scene quite satisfactorily, the explanations for the BDA, the glove and the shape of the scuffed floor (but how do you explain that shape) are a bit shaky. There’s also a few awkward moments of timing and character’s actions, like the whole Ace almost-murder situation being sorta awkward with Eden’s presence in the second floor, and in particular that Arei apparently spent almost an entire day inside her room. That’s sorta gonna be an issue for everyone unless you believe Ace is lying about the day her conversation with David happened, which… okay, isn’t as insane as it sounds, read joe’s theory, but I still consider a bigger leap than simply assuming Arei took a real long nap.
And of course, as much as I’ve ignored it, it’s still insanely risky for Eden to work with an accomplice, and we have to assume Levi was willing to die and get everyone else killed just to get Eden out of there. I’ll try my best to explain how I think that could happen in the Closing Argument.
However, it’s all in all, in my opinion, not too bad. Everything is pretty physically plausible, there are narrative justifications for practically everything, and the few inconsistencies aren’t too large or obnoxious for me to consider damning. I’m still open to other theories, of course, but for now, this is the thing I believe.
-
So, now that we’ve established how I arrived at my conclusions, it’s time for what everyone’s been waiting for!
Closing Argument
Keep in mind character motivations and especially unseen dialogue could vary quite a lot. The main thing to take away is the actual method, everything else is sorta flavor text. This… really is a lot longer than it has any right to be. I kinda got carried away trying to show how I think the characters would act. Sorry.
I’ll mark with “>” the parts which are mostly just for spice, “~” the actually important parts, and just for fun I’ll add predictions to how the end of the trial will go with “+”.
I am extremely sorry if I mischaracterize anyone. I’m not good at writing dialogue, but I think it’s worth trying to give a better impression of what’s going on in my head.
(Days start counting after the start of CH 2)
Second Day, Afternoon
~Eden wanted to return home.
>Of course she did! Everyone did, in the killing game. She kept trying to look for ways to end it completely, and while she hadn’t found a good solution yet, she’d surely find it soon enough!
>But for now, they had to keep strong! And fight against the motive! David had suggested talking to the people whose secrets they’d all received so they could share it and ease tensions, and Eden thought it was a great idea! She went up to Arturo, and told him what she’d received about him.
>…
>She almost died.
>That was the only thing running through her mind as Arei got Arturo away. Eden had almost died, and if it weren’t for Arei, she most likely would have. A small desperation began to grow in her heart, longing to get out, get out, get out-
>Arei tried to talk to her, apologize for the things she’d said in the playground… but Eden couldn’t believe her.
>Arei had shouted in her face that Min’s death was her fault. Even if it was, to say it like that… Eden wanted to cry just thinking about the things Arei had said. Eden may have been nice, but she wasn’t naive. Someone like that could never be a good person.
>Still, a part of Eden wanted to give Arei the benefit of the doubt. So, she hugged her, told her how much it meant, and went on her merry way.
>But those doubts had firmly planted themselves in Eden’s mind. What if Arei was just manipulating her? What if Arturo attacked her again? Would someone as weak as her even be able to stand up to the killing game, when she couldn’t stand up against some bullies?
>Slowly, the gears in her mind started to turn. An idea was brewing, an idea which scared Eden to even think about, but one she was desperate enough to entertain.
>There was a way for her to end the killing game. By winning it.
>I mean what? No! Eden would never kill anyone! …
>But if she were to, hypothetically speaking, how would she go about it?
>By the second night, she didn’t know all the details, but she was going on autopilot, her body moving practically without her thinking. Just like she used to get lost in her work while making clocks, she was now beginning to get lost in the preparations for a murder.
>An accomplice, she would need an accomplice, if she wanted to do it. Probably something with the rope in the storage room, she was good with mechanisms. Maybe the railings on the playground, a pulley system… she needed a way to get the rope up there, and a way to secure the grip of her accomplice on the carousel.
>Hypothetically, of course.
Second Day, Almost Nighttime - Nighttime
~She went to the second floor, grabbed some of Hu’s and Teruko’s old clothes, and put them in the relaxation room to cover them in starch. She wanted to make a ball of clothes, it was the best way to get the rope over the railings.
~She also needed tape from the gym, the roll people used to replace the grippy tape on the pull-up bar when it got too sweaty.
~Slight issue: nighttime had begun, and there were still a few noises in the gym. Eden didn’t want to be caught doing anything too suspicious, so she decided to wait out until the noises stopped.
~Slightly bigger issue: Teruko arrived at the second floor, spotted her, and now Eden needed a cover story. She just told her she was looking for Hu’s and Teruko’s new clothes, sure, that works.
>Eden told Teruko her and Arei had made up, and asked if she wanted to pry. In retrospect, she wasn’t sure why she’d done that. If Teruko had heard the story of what Arei had said, she would just tell Eden what the uglier parts of her psyche were already telling her. That Arei was lying, trying to manipulate her. But maybe she wanted the confirmation, to justify to herself why she was thinking the thoughts which were running through her head.
(It’s almost tragic, really. If only Teruko had pried, maybe Eden would have learnt of Arei’s breakdown, and everything would have ended there)
~The two decided to head back to the first floor, and Eden figured she would just take the tape tomorrow-
~Oh shit, Ace got murdered.
>Seeing that convinced Eden. The killing game was too dangerous, when even the seemingly harmless Nico was able to do something so brutal to one of the strongest participants physically speaking. She had to get out, and now. She couldn’t disappoint her family, her friends, and her.
>So, she resolved to do something about it right after-
>Oh, hey, Ace wasn’t dead! That was… good. Even if he knocked Eden down to the floor when he woke.
~… And while she’s on the floor, she may as well pick up the tape she had come to retrieve.
~[Cue Ace running to kill Nico scene]
>Wow. Tensions were… really high. Ace had collapsed, and even then Teruko had just walked away as if nothing had happened.
>But Eden was more curious about something Levi had said. “Why do I even bother?” What had he meant by that? She decided to speak with him.
>…
>Levi had lost all hope.
>There was just no way to reason with the people of the killing game. All of them were erratic, nonsensical, unpredictable people. And he loathed unpredictability in people.
>None of them wanted to accept help when it was offered. None of them knew what the hell to do about anything, but refused to just be nice and patient with each other. Practically speaking, pretty much the only normal person around was-
>Oh, Eden wanted to talk to him. Sure, he could do that.
>Eden was checking in after the whole Ace fiasco. How nice of her.
>But after chatting for a while, Eden directed the conversation towards an encounter she’d had with Arei. She explained what the bowler had told her, looking for advice. She asked if Levi would believe Arei, seeking confirmation on whether or not she really could be trying to get better. And Levi...
>Levi was pissed.
>Because it was such an obvious lie. Such a horrendous attempt of manipulation. To try and take advantage of someone as nice as Eden, truly despicable.
>Eden seemed taken aback at his intensity, asking why he was so certain. Levi debated internally for a moment, before deciding Eden deserved the whole truth.
>"Blackmail, rumors, lying, stealing, slander. You did everything you could to ruin your sisters' lives." That was Arei's secret, the one Levi received.
>Eden looked horrified when Levi told her, and it seemed she agreed with what Levi was already thinking. After all, they both loved their family a lot, even if Levi had been disowned. Someone like Arei, who would do something so horrible to their own family, couldn't possibly be a good person. If Arei did all that to her own sisters, who's to say she wouldn't do the same to Eden?
(In retrospect, Levi would always regret jumping to conclusions. After it was all over, he would try to explain. “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.”)
>And in all that anger, and hopelesness, and desperation... Eden revealed an idea. A very strange, almost outlandish idea. To help her out of the killing game.
>Levi wasn't a fool. He had seen how the group had handled the first trial. Eventually, someone was going to get away with murder, and that would be how the killing game would end. It was predestined.
>And if someone was going to win, it may as well be the kindest person in the group.
~He agreed.
Third Day, Noon
>Everyone was yelling, and Arei's stomach was twisting.
>Nico had tried to murder Ace. They hadn't outright admitted it, but Levi's and Ace's accounts were enough to get her to believe it.
>But she wasn't thinking so much about the incident itself, as much as she was thinking about what had caused it. The secrets. David's plan was backfiring massively...
>Except, maybe it wasn't. As she saw everyone arguing, the secret she had seen Whit receive flashed in her mind. David's secret. "You exist to manipulate others. Everyone else exists to be taken advantage of."
>Was he really that evil? Was he really trying to instigate a murder? Was anything he had ever said even true?
>Had he lied to her, too?
>...
>She didn't feel like speaking much that day. She'd rather go to her room, and contemplate. Maybe sleep for a while. Maybe lie in her bed, and maybe cry a bit.
>She didn't leave her room until it was time for dinner.
Third Day, Afternoon
>Ace was fucking pissed.
>Of course he was, he'd almost been murdered! By Nico of all fucking people! And now he couldn't even look the fucking gym without getting nervous, like the motherfucker would show up any time and finish the job!
>But it's not like that was gonna stop him from exercising. He wasn't a fucking coward, he wasn't afraid of Nico. (Or at least, he told himself that). So he'd train anyways! He'd raced on horses he was terrified of his whole life, a little exercise was nothing!
>Still, to his chagrin, he couldn't help but feel nervous whenever he heard any noises in the rest of the floor. Even the very light noise of the elevator felt like thunder in his ears. So when someone came down and started speaking, Ace couldn't help but overhear.
>Yet, the conversation was interesting. Arei was saying David had lied about his secret? This was worth hearing.
>Ace snuck in closer and listened in. Apparently David's secret was that he was a manipulative bastard, the dick. He had gone quiet when he heard that, too, so it must have been true.
>"David! Say something!"
>David went quiet for a bit, and then... Ace got bored.
>So what? David was an asshole, big deal. Breaking news, everyone! Every single participant in the killing game sucks dick and balls! Who could have seen that coming?! It wasn't anything Ace didn't already know. So he left. He didn't really feel like listening to David try to lie his way out of that. He just went back to the gym and stopped paying attention.
>Meanwhile, the conversation went on.
[THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN MOSTLY FOR FUN. I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING HOW THIS CONVERSATION ACTUALLY WENT]
CW FOR AGGRESSIVE CONFRONTATION
>David was fucked.
>"I... I don't know what to say to that" David managed, covering his eyes with his hand. "It's... well... How do I put this?"
>"Just tell me, please. Did you lie to me?"
>"..." David sighed. A small, sad chuckle rose from his chest. "Yes. I'm sorry"
>"..."
>"I apologize for the false hope, Arei, but... people can't change" David continued. His head was firing off alarm bells, years of deception warning him not to continue, but he ignored them. "I have seen so many try. I have seen so many fail. In the end, there's no avoiding it. If you could improve yourself to be a better person, all that means is that you were a better person to begin with..."
>Arei fought back tears. "You're wrong"
>David had to stop himself from laughing in her face, but he couldn't help a sharp exhale. He would probably stop there, but... he had lied for so long, he almost wanted to speak what he actually believed for once. "No, I'm not. I'm the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, Arei. If people could change, I would be the first to see it"
>"That's not- You can't be serious. Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen!" Arei snapped.
>"Is that so?" David raised his voice, and glared at Arei. He smiled nervously. "Then tell me, Arei. Do you think I can change? That I can become better? Look at what I've done. I've lied for years, and now Ace has a permanent scar on his neck from the murder I almost caused!" He put a hand to his chest. He shouldn't be doing this, he shouldn't, but, but- "Do you really think people like me, like us, can ever be good?! If you do, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought"
>He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. Why was he saying it?
>Arei snarled at him, her face growing red in anger. "You...." She took a breath, and her gaze grew defiant. "I'll prove you wrong. You're the idiot here. I will become good. I promised Eden I-"
>"Well, Xander promised he'd be my friend, and look where he is now!" he almost shouted. Why was he even thinking of him now? "Don't you see it? You're lying to yourself. That's the only thing to come from my speeches. Lies. And now you're repeating a degraded version, like it's gonna be any more true just because it's coming from your mouth!" He needed to stop. He- "Are you that arrogant, or did your sisters cause you permanent brain damage?!" What the fuck was he doing?!
>"..." Arei looked horrified, and angry.
>"You don't even believe it yourself, you hypochrite!" Stop! He smirked even wider. "Otherwise, why don't you go talk to your sisters, and get them to change?" She looked so sad, why was David doing this? He had to- He couldn't- It felt good to let it out- He felt horrible- Stop- He laughed. "Oh, right! You can't! Because you're a monster and destroyed their lives! And you, won't, change"
>"You-!" Arei shouted, and rushed forward to push him. Her heart clearly wasn't in it, but David retaliated and pushed her back.
>"Out of my way!" he snarled, and began walking out of the room. He couldn't- he wasn't thinking straight, he needed- he needed air, he needed out. Arei almost slipped into the pond, or maybe she did? David couln't tell anymore. His mind was a fucking mess and his only coherent thoughts were screaming at him to leave.
>Meanwhile, Arei was left alone, and hurt. She shouldn’t listen to an asshole like David, she knew that, but, but still…
>She didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. Maybe she’d just go back to bed.
CW OVER
~Later, Levi would arrive at the relaxation room to fill up two water jugs, making sure to get the fish. At the same time, Eden was discussing ways to end the killing game with Hu, securing an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance.
Third Day, Nighttime
~Levi and Eden met back up at the playground, and the preparations began. The materials they were working with included two pieces of rope (one longer, one shorter), the ball of sticky clothes Eden had prepared the night before, the tape Eden had taken from the gym, and the water jugs with the water and fish Levi had gathered.
~First step, with the tape from the gym, they covered the bars of the carousel, to have a better grip when they used the mechanism.
~Then, they grabbed the longer rope and put part of it through a few of the handlebars of the carousel, before tying one end to one of the handlebars.
~After that, they tied the other end to the ball of clothes, and Levi used his strength to throw it up above the railings. In doing so, he accidentally hit one of the lights with the clothes, displacing the lightbulb and causing it to flicker. Once it fell, he also threw it up to the railing in the middle, so the unused end of the longer rope would end up around where the seesaw was.
~Meanwhile, Eden tied one end of the shorter rope to the swing set near the carousel, leaving the other end unused for now.
~After removing the ball of clothes, they fashioned the untied end of the longer rope into an odd-looking “double noose”, with one of the nooses, the one closer to the end of the rope, tied around the handles of the water jugs.
~With all the preparations in place, they took the ball of clothes to the dress-up room, and Levi went to sleep. Eden wrote the note Arei would receive, telling her to meet in the playground at 7:30. Then she went to sleep as well.
Fourth Day, Morning
>Arturo was a fucking asshole, Arei decided from the moment she saw the note.
~Obviously Arei followed it, because she was trying to be friends with Eden.
>And as suspicious as the note was, there was no way Eden would betray her, right? If she did…
>…
>Well, Arei didn’t really want to think about it.
>She arrived at the playground, and… why was there so much rope around? Eden was standing near it, contemplating… a noose?
>Oh god.
>Arei didn’t even think. She rushed in and tried to stop Eden from doing-
~Levi, who had been hidden besides the door, attacked. He ambushed Arei from behind, and used his weight to pin her to the floor. Arei screamed and struggled, scuffing the floor around her, but she obviously wasn’t able to do anything to fight off Levi.
[Oh great more dialogue]
CW for emotional confrontation, feelings of betrayal and suicidal ideation.
>”What the fuck are you doing?! Eden, get him off me!”
>Eden looked downcast, her expression somber. She was evidently lost in thought. “I’m sorry it has to be this way”
>Arei didn’t get it.
~Levi grabbed Arei’s hands, and roughly pulled out her glove to better get the tape around her wrists. This was to make sure she didn’t struggle too much after the process began.
>”Hey! Eden! What’s going on?! I thought we were friends!”
>”As if. We’re not that naive” Levi spat from behind her, and she could practically feel that murderous edge he always used when threatening Ace.
>”Huh?! What are you talking about, you-?!”
>”I’m sorry, Arei. I just can’t believe you” Eden spoke softly, fidgeting with her hands. She grabbed the noose, which weirdly had- wait. “I know you’re lying to me. You don’t have to keep pretending you like me”
>…
>Arei’s entire world crumbled in that moment.
>”H-Huh?! Wait, I- I never lied to you! I want- I wanted to be friends-!”
>”Don’t lie” Levi snarled. “We know what your secret is. What you’ve done to your sisters. I can’t believe you. You know, actions define people, and you have been nothing but terrible your whole life”
>Eden bent down to put the noose around Arei’s neck. Because of course, of course it was a fucking noose. Eden hesitated, however.
>”Don’t fall for her crocodile tears, Eden” Levi warned. Oh, Arei was crying? News to her.
>”R-Right” Eden said, putting the noose around Arei’s neck. Eden then positioned herself to pin Arei down herself as Levi stepped off and went towards the carousel.
>”Eden, please… please don’t listen to him! Don’t be scared of him! I’ll beat him up for you, just-!”
>”I’m not- I’m not scared of Levi” Eden frowned.
>”But- But, he’s a murderer without remorse!” Levi stopped in his tracks. “That’s his secret, Eden! I received it! Do you really want to help someone like that?!”
>Eden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but shook her head, and looked at Arei with glassy eyes, smiling nervously. “I mean… I- I can’t really judge him for that. I… I was the one who came up with this idea, you know”
>…
>Huh.
>So there really was no point, then.
>David didn’t believe in her. Eden didn’t believe in her. Fucking Eden. And now, even the nicest person in the entire killing game had decided Arei deserved to die.
>…
>Arei stopped struggling after that.
CW OVER, mostly. There’s still references to suicide after this point.
(God I really hope I’m not horrendously mischaracterizing these people)
~Levi begun to spin the carousel, which worked as a pulley that started dragging Arei up. As he spun it, he likely had to adjust it slightly so it wouldn’t slide off the wrong way, hence why he needed to be able to better grip all the handlebars instead of putting tape on just one. [I don’t know if that made sense]
~As the rope started pulling up, Eden stepped aside and ran over to the carousel.
~Levi stopped spinning it once Arei was high enough, and Eden attached the unused end of the shorter rope to the carousel.
~Eden grabbed hold of the carousel, and Levi ran out of the room.
~Now, neither of them had thought of asking MonoTV how to determine the blackened in the case of an accomplice being in play, so they took all the steps necessary to make sure Eden would be the blackened.
~She was the one to put the rope around Arei’s neck, she had been the one to come up with the murder plan, and she was the last person holding her up. Levi running out of the room was extra insurance: how could he be the blackened if he wasn’t even a witness to the crime? However, the final trick would ensure Eden would get the title of blackened.
~Eden let go of the carousel, and gravity made it spin as Arei fell. It spun for only a little bit, however, as the shorter rope soon fully tensed, and stopped the carousel in its tracks. Because of the height Arei fell, as well as the extra weight from the water jugs, her neck snapped in the moment the shorter rope tensed. At the same time, the handles from the water jugs snapped, and they fell to the floor.
~With this, it could be argued the act which caused Arei’s death was the letting go of the carousel, for which Levi wasn’t even present, meaning Eden was indubitably the blackened.
~And when it was all said and done, there was one fact which stood. Because of the strength the mechanism had required, Eden could not have possibly done it all alone. Unless the class somehow figured out she had an accomplice, just the strength necessary for the act would rule her out, give her an alibi. That is the reason behind the complexity of the murder.
~After that, Levi came into the room, fulfilling another nice benefit. Because he hadn’t technically witnessed the murder, he counted as a “body discoverer” for BDA purposes.
~The last step was setting up the scene as we saw it. The fish they spread around would confuse the time of death and give Eden an alibi, and hanging Arei from the swing set would make people initially believe she had committed suicide. Levi had to be the one to do that, as Eden was too weak and short, adding an extra layer of misdirection.
~”What if I just take her glove?” Levi asked.
>”Eh?”
>”I could take her glove, and then if someone spots me with it, they’ll vote me out and you’ll win” Levi explained.
>”That’s… kinda silly, isn’t it?”
>”…”
>”…”
>”…”
>”… Okay, sure”
>”Very well” Levi nodded sagely. Eden remained very confused.
~They took the longer tape and hid it under the carousel, then threw the tape which had been on Arei’s wrists and the jugs in the trash, as well as the note after ripping it up a bit.
~With that, they left to go see the supposed announcement of the motives.
Investigation
>Pretending to be surprised at Arei’s absence wasn’t as hard as Eden thought it would be. Just make a horrified face and say nothing, easy!
>Eden knew the BDA would still play if just Whit and Teruko discovered the body, which is why she wasn’t nervous when Teruko first asked her and Whit to go search for Arei together. Still, she second guessed herself just as Teruko swung the door open, because she would be in big trouble if the BDA didn’t play. Thankfully for her, it did, as Levi had already “discovered” it before. Honestly, it was pretty good luck (and bad luck on Teruko’s part) that Eden got to be part of the “discovery group.”
>On the side, David looks at how the body was positioned, and instantly knew what had happened. “Of course. Of course this would happen” he muttered. Arei killed herself because of him. What a monster he was.
~After pretending to be sad about Arei’s death for a moment, Eden offered to investigate with “braincell haver” Teruko, but got shut down. So instead, she joined Rose and Whit as they put together the note in the trash, to make sure they got it right. It was an important part of the plan, after all.
>Levi just went to look at the secrets because he didn’t really have to do anything specific.
Trial
>When people begun discussing the possibility of Arei helping her killer, Levi thought it would be a good way to misdirect the cast, so he started pushing the idea. Though with the slight freudian slip of saying Arei may have been her own “accomplice.”
>On the side, David held his tongue. Once MonoTV revealed the condition to be the blackened was that you were “someone alive who we can blame for her death”, any doubt dissipated in his mind. He had caused her to commit suicide, he could be blamed for her death. And he was the blackened, then.
>However, Eden needed to go against the idea of suicide, because she was supposed to sell the idea they had been friends once the note was revealed.
>When that happened, they had agreed Levi would push on the idea that Eden was the killer a bit, to “force” her to explain the note she wanted to explain anyways.
>Levi also added he’d protect Eden no matter what, but Eden responds “Don’t say stuff like that.” To the others, that was because Eden was worried Levi would end up like Arei. To Eden and Levi, it was a subtle way of saying ‘shut up and don’t link us together!’
~Eden explained the note, making sure to act like she was very distraught by the situation and genuinely believed Arei had wanted to change.
~She also provided a “handwriting sample” to look more innocent, but she intentionally wrote it in print instead of cursive to separate it from the note. Somehow, no one noticed.
>Meanwhile, David was starting to break down. She really had been trying to change, but the naive idiot had believed in David. And nothing good happens to those who believe in him.
>What a reprehensible killer indeed.
>But David’s breakdown was having an impact on Eden, who begun to think that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arei.
>She was in too deep, though. She needed to continue. She couldn’t turn back the clock now.
>When David is accused of everything, he decides he might as well enjoy the last of his life, of his killing game. He breaks down the same way he did when Arei confronted him, becoming insulting and dismissive to prevent any vulnerability from showing through. The words he said, he believed for the most part, but the smile on his face as he said them was perhaps his biggest lie yet.
>In other news, that’s pretty convenient for the murder duo! If they can just get David voted out, then…
~But that wouldn’t happen. Not if Teruko and Charles had something to say about it.
Chapter 2, Part 2
[This is just for fun]
+Charles realized the trick of the time of death, and the cast decided to start speaking of the murder method.
+After a bit of discussion (where Eden was surprisingly helpful!), they realized the murder would require inordinate strength, and they start pointing the finger at Levi.
+The secrets are revealed then, as some have realized what most of the remaining ones were. David deduced Hu must have the “hopeless child” secret, Teruko deduced Veronika must have the “self-harm” secret, Veronika in turn figured Teruko must have the “dead family” secret (that wasn’t hers, but it still applied to her life, so they didn’t question it too much. David bit his tongue), and… well, they somehow realize the “poison” secret must be Min’s.
+As Levi’s secret is narrowed down, he finally admits.
+He takes the glove from his pocket, and dramatically confesses: “I… I killed Arei”
+All going according to plan!
+The voting time is almost about to happen, but Veronika pipes in. She wants to talk about the Ace case for some reason, and while Teruko tries to deny her, the horror fanatic throws the luckster’s own words against her. “The more cases we solve, the better we’ll be at solving them in the future!”
+Reluctantly, Nico starts speaking about what they did. It was… an odd sequence, but it wasn’t too wild.
+Except, Rose pointed out something odd. What happened to the tape?
+Nico says it was still on the floor when they left. Rose says it’s impossible. Eden’s getting nervous.
+And Teruko goes dead quiet, as she runs the math again in her head.
+The lockdown… the lockdown meant no one should have been able to take the tape during nighttime… MonoTV claimed it wasn’t the one to take it… and she knew neither Ace or herself had taken it… so… It must have been taken by…
+”Teruko?” someone asked, but she wasn’t listening. It was clear now…
+She couldn’t resist the maniacal laughter that escaped her, as the adrenaline of realizing how close they’d gotten to dying (scratch that, she wouldn’t have died, but the others might have), and she realized she was right. She couldn’t trust anyone.
+The others looked at her in concern, but she just explained the simple truth.
+It was chaos. No one wanted to believe it. But the more they thought about it, more questions arose. Why would Levi make such a complex mechanism, when he could have just killed Arei in a much simpler way?
+Whit had an idea. He asked Levi which direction Arturo had ran after leaving the infirmary. And Levi answered wrong. He hadn’t listened on the conversation, then. It would be impossible for him to write the note. Charles further verified by asking Levi and Eden to spell “responsible”. Levi spelt it right, Eden spelt it wrong. “Responsibel”, the same misspelling as the note.
+There was a scrum debate, people went crazy, but in the end. They arrived at the answer, and voted for Eden.
+It was right.
+They asked for further clarification and Eden admitted everything which had led to her decision.
+”I feel terrible. Arei really was… I should have believed her. But- But, at that point, when I finally realized the truth, it was too late” Eden explained. “I wish I hadn’t done it, I want to go back… but time only moves forward. You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try”
+She hugged Teruko one last time, pleading she wouldn’t close herself off even further. But Teruko wasn’t having it. She asked MonoTV she was using a MonoCredit to get Eden away from her.
+And MonoTV obliged, starting the execution right that moment. [Credit for the idea to venus and accirax]
~This was the truth. A tragic misunderstanding, a horrible mistake. Call it whatever you want, one thing remains the same. The blackened of the case, who committed the crime with the help of Levi Fontana, the Ultimate Personal Stylist, was none other than Eden Tobisa, the Ultimate Clockmaker!
And right before dying, Eden reveals the name of the girl she had kissed was Mai Akasaki-
Conclusion
Yeah, this was longer than it really had to be, but I had fun writing it. This will probably be the last post I make about this case, at least until CH 2 Part 2 comes out. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, hope time only brings you good things! Take care!
69 notes · View notes