#idk why it took me this long to figure it out though LMAO

[nikikikiko]

while doing research for an au (ahem ahem mbav soul eater au) i realized that wow the shinigami family have a small little connection to hinduism via Asura & Vajra and wow thats interesting tbh, though not considerably surprising due to how many names in Soul Eater tend to reference stuff irl (ie albarn last name, franken stein, sid barrrett (syd barrett), billy the kid / death the kid, etc etc)

but like damn thats interesting..

[kumquats-are-gay]

sparing with Johnny, and you pin him down only to find that he's rock hard, maybe some teasing/sex? idk idk

(TF YOU MEAN “idk”?? THIS PROMPT IS HEAT AND I’M ‘BOUTTA COOK!! 🔥💯😤)

Johnny Cage x gn!reader (SFW/NSFM)

NOTE: This will be a two-parter because I just couldn't wait to post what I had already, lmao. This first part only has sexual themes and foreplay, while the second part will have actual smut (also, while this first part is totally GN, the second part will be mentioning afab anatomy, but I will still be using GN pronouns). I'm sorry this took so long to get to; I've been working almost every day for the past two weeks and ya girl is tired, lol. Was super excited to write for this though! :D

ALSO I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE HOW ACTUAL FIGHTING WORKS I JUST MADE SHIT UP LMAO PLS DON'T COME AT ME

Pasted straight from Google Docs and NOT proofread, so please excuse any grammatical/continuity errors/syntax and formatting. I am also still VERY much an amateur writer so pls go easy on me <3

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51869623

Come On With a Come-on

         For a ‘professional’, Johnny Cage is about the least professional person you’ve ever met. Propriety must be a foreign concept to him with how frequently he flirts with you, especially on set—you know, in front of all of your colleagues and crew? The man was shameless in his relentless pursual of you, like a goddamn dog with a bone. And worst of all? You liked it, and this fact frustrated you to no end. 

         How could you possibly be attracted to someone who is so insufferably arrogant, loud-mouthed, and impossibly far up his own ass? An ass that, admittedly, you find yourself staring at whenever you think he isn’t looking. But, because you’re an actual professional, you’ve rebuffed his every attempt to seduce you thus far. Plus, you had a reputation to keep and dignity to hold onto; you weren’t sullying either when the likely outcome would involve your face and name on countless tabloids. 

         Without warning, his stupid, smug, and incredibly handsome smile invades your mind, and you suddenly find yourself wanting nothing more than to punch it off of his unfairly chiseled jaw.

         …or maybe kiss it off.

         “Grah!” you abruptly shout while burying your hands in your hair, momentarily tugging at the roots in annoyance. God, you had a problem. 

         Bzzt.

         “Huh?” You look down at your hip where your phone had just buzzed in your pocket. You pull it out and flick your finger across the screen to unlock it, then tap on the messaging icon.

         Johnny Cage: Hey, wanna spar later? 👊👊

         You raised a brow. You and Johnny worked in the same sphere for a reason. Action films were your guys’ bread and butter since the both of you knew how to fight as well as do your own stunts. 

         You and Johnny hung out casually here and there, but the two of you had never sparred before. You sensed an opportunity in his proposal, though: an effective way to get your frustration out on the source of said frustration. Shrugging, you figure, ‘why not?’

         You: Yeah, I’m down. But I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into b/c I won’t be holding back!

         Johnny: Woah, don’t go threatening me with a good time ;) 

         Your stomach twirled in unbidden delight at the cheeky response, and you internally chastised yourself for being so easily affected by this man. You and Johnny sorted out the details of your meetup—his place, late afternoon—and returned your phone to your pocket. You would just have to kill some time until then.

~~~

         “Of course you would have your own gym, and of course it’s fuckin’ huge,” you joked with a bit of sarcasm, yet enough lightheartedness as to not offend. Though, you doubt Johnny could be so easily offended; he’s got way too much self-confidence (for better or for worse) to be put down that easily.

         “Oh, honey, you haven’t seen ‘huge’ yet,” he boasted with a smirk. The wink that followed did nothing to abate the heat that was slowly taking over your body, but you did your best not to let the effects show. Since when were easy, immature innuendos such a turn on for you? You just closed your eyes and shook your head.

         “Alright, I am definitely knocking you on your ass for that one.”

         “Hah, see if you can, sweetheart!”

         The two of you stood in your  respective corners and took your stances. One quick little countdown later, and the game was on. 

        You knew Johnny was a very good fighter being a martial arts expert and all, but you didn’t realize he was that good. In all honesty, you figured he was more bark than bite, and that you’d have no real problem going toe-to-toe with him. Unfortunately, it seems like you may have underestimated him. It turns out that Johnny Cage was one of the rare few you had met who could back up their arrogance. Bully for you.

        Furthermore, this shithead was fighting dirty! Well, okay—technically he wasn’t fighting dirty. He was just talking after all, and there’s nothing wrong or “illegal” with that. But it was a dirty tactic regardless, and it only infuriated you further with how helpless you were to try and block him out.

        You pivot sharply on one foot and  use the momentum to lift and swing the other around, aiming the kick at his head. You expect him to duck under such a high-reaching maneuver—maybe he’d follow up with a low sweep with your single foot planted on the ground—so you prepare yourself to counter this. See, before you went into acting, fighting was your primary activity; you won many tournaments and managed to make a decent living off of it. One of the main things you were known for were your notoriously powerful kicks; few would risk trying to outright block them rather than moving out of the way.

         You must have forgotten who you were up against; that was the only reasonable explanation for your short-sightedness. You were not distracted by him or anything like that, thank you very much. Johnny-fucking-Cage just lifts an arm and grabs your leg. With one hand. Like it was nothing.

         The impact creates a loud smack! that briefly leaves you dumbfounded; you felt the force of that blow against his palm, and it was enough to leave the skin there tingling unpleasantly. Johnny didn’t look phased in the least bit with a crooked smile dancing across his handsome features, just gripping your ankle. Casually. Like you weren’t currently being held in the near-vertical splits.

         Johnny took this fleeting opportunity to give you a quick once-over, and his smile only grew. “Nice legs,” he quipped, “bet they’d look a lot nicer over my shoulders.” You openly gaped at his brazenness, and he used your shock to his advantage, flipping you in one fell swoop. You grunted when your back hit the mat underneath you, but the heat that overwhelmed your person (caused by your anger and fury, obviously) had you back up in a flash.

         “Best two out of three,” you nearly seethed. Johnny had the audacity to appear as anything but intimidated. In fact, he seemed rather amused.

         “You know, you’re like, really hot when you’re mad.”

         You nearly flung yourself at him in a mindless bout of rage, but caught yourself only a split moment before you could make such a devastating mistake. A delightful idea quickly sprang to mind—two could play at this game. 

         You kept up the facade of indignation and outrage in order to trick Johnny into thinking that you actually were going to make that blind charge at him. You stepped off of your dominant foot, using the momentum to make a lunge for him. He braced himself to counter your head-on attack, but you feigned right at the last possible second, swiftly gripped his shoulder with your left hand, and brought your right leg in against the back of his knee to buckle it. Johnny was quick to recover, though, keeping enough of his balance to twist and grapple with you as his leg nearly gave out. 

         Ah, so it was time for plan B.

         Before he could finish off the move, you brought your face right up to his, making sure that the two of you were making eye contact, and looked at him with sensual purpose. It was almost enough to disarm him, so to ensure you had the upper hand, you threw him another curveball with a breathy, “I wonder if you fuck as good as you fight.” 

         That did the trick. Johnny’s mind was sent reeling with your seemingly out-of-pocket comment, and you jumped at the chance to knock him flat on his ass. Johnny got the wind knocked from him as he landed with a resounding thump. Not wasting a minute, you straddled yourself across his hips and held his wrists against the floor mat. While Johnny had more raw strength than you, you hoped that the KO would leave him dizzy enough to keep him subdued.

         “Ha! Gotcha!” you barked out in triumph. Johnny just blinked up at you in a daze as his response. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle the taste of your own medi-” you had cut yourself off when you felt something stiff beneath your pelvis. ‘What…? Wait, is he…’

         “Are you hard right now?!” you squawked incredulously. Johnny just shrugged his shoulders and gave you an audacious smirk, as if to say, ‘Uh, yeah I guess so. What about it?’ You were flabbergasted. “I can not believe you right now!” You released his wrists and made to get up, but he grabbed your hips before you could get away. Damn it, his body was so warm, and…holy shit he felt big.

         “Woah now, hang on just a tick,” he spoke like he was trying to soothe a startled horse. This fucking asshole! Why, just why did you have to fall for him? “It is very difficult not to pop a boner when I’m getting up close and personal to the most gorgeous person I know,” he spoke with an immense amount of charm and a surprising measure of sincerity. Your eyes widened comically before you squinted at him with a healthy amount of suspicion. 

         “Oh, really now? And I don’t suppose you’ve used that line with every other person you’ve taken to bed, hm?”

         Johnny just sighed like he was the exasperated one here. “Darling, I’ve been laying it on thick for half a year now. There’s no way I’d still be after you just to get into your pants.” He looked at you with this sort of ‘duh’ expression on his face, like he couldn’t possibly understand your confusion. “I mean, don’t get me wrong: you’ve got just the kind of body that I love,” he added, and you nearly clocked him then and there, but you relaxed again as he spoke further, “but I’ve come to really like spending time with you. There’s never a day that I don’t look forward to working with you on set, you know.” And, just like that, you felt like the stupidest person on the planet for denying yourself something that you evidently could have had for a long time now. 

         You hung your head low and shook it from side to side in disappointment of yourself. You fool. You buffoon. You absolute imbecile. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” Johnny took this the wrong way, looking offended, and opened his mouth to say something. However, you were quick to shut him up with a short yet firm kiss of which he wasted no time in returning. He ground his hips against yours in short, desperate thrusts like there would never be another chance to do so, and you eagerly mirrored his movements like they might be your last. Without warning, he rolled the two of you over to flip your positions. Sprawled out beneath him with your hands held beneath his own, Johnny thought you looked like a dream.

         “By the way, I think you’ll find that not only do I fuck as good as I fight, but I fuck like I fight, too—hard n’ fast,” he intoned in a voice nearly an octave deeper. 

         You squirmed in anticipation at his words, and retorted with equal huskiness, “let’s see it then.”

[fairydares]

loook i get why the idea of riding the "anti/pro" fandom disk horse makes people gag a little in their mouth and try to opt out entirely, but here's why i went from feeling exactly the same way to taking a firm profiction stance. I've been meaning to make this post for a while.

~10 years ago, I posted a fic for the first time and it got its own harassment campaign. The fic wasn't even sexual, and wasn't going to be (it remains incomplete). It was accurately rated T on fanfiction.net. Anyone in the Fairy Tail fandom will understand this: I literally got harassed for writing a "Lucy leaves the guild" fic💀.

After many nice comments, someone left a pretty nasty one. Hurt, I messaged them back. They acted super attacked that I'd responded (lmao) and after we argued, threatened to "rip my shitty story apart in the comments section" if I responded again. I told them "go ahead lol."

They went ahead.

Now know that it was a relatively small harassment campaign, but at the time, it was devastating. Right around then, I wound up in the hospital. After I got out, I went to excitedly check my fic, and found several reviews saying things I wouldn't repeat to my worst enemy. I was suicide-baited more than once, told "thank fuck you finally abandoned this shitty story, dumb cunt," stuff like that.

There were several accounts involved, and I can't say for sure, but I suspect at least a couple different people were involved, though probably at least half of it was one person.

All the other comments were screeching about how I hadn't updated, mostly. "NO UPDAAATEE WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS TO MEEEE??!!!" was one that stood out after I'd been miserable in a hospital for an extended period of time.

Idk what people think is going on when FT fic authors write this trope, and frankly I don't give a fuck. Because while I was partly writing the story out of some young, cringe feminist rage, I also did genuinely have a real story I was compelled to tell. I was inspired by another, popular fic I loved which used the trope to talk about how trying to shoulder our burdens alone really just hurts both ourselves and everyone who cares about us.

My own story was ultimately going to have similar themes, with more focus on strength, what it means, and in what contexts earning and having it actually matters. In retrospect, no wonder I wound up in hot water, because at the time "Lucy vs. Strength vs. Misogyny" was the FT fandom's Designated Nonsensically Activist Debate™. But that's partly why i wanted to write about it; engaging with the fandom had gotten me thinking about it 🤷‍♂️

Not too long after that, FFNet oh-so-benevolently granted us the ability to delete comments from our own stories (they never took my reports seriously at all, afaik). I deleted all or most of the harassers' comments (may still be a one or two up, and i'm fairly sure there's a couple comments defending my fic from the harassment) without saving screenshots, which I really regret now. I was just so mortified and full of self-loathing about the whole thing that i wanted to forget it completely. Something that had brought me joy at a very lonely, vulnerable period of my life had turned so negative, and i couldn't even tell the people closest to me about it without being made fun of for writing anime fan fiction.

I didn't understand why this happened at the time, but--after a period of trying to forget/bid out of it all with a slight anti lean (a common approach I see people use, and one which I'm not proud of adopting)--I just had to figure out What the Fuck Even Happened There. And I'm telling you, after years of reflecting, wrestling with both sides, and educating myself, that this "status quo of harassment" culture which pervades fandom goes way deeper than you think and comes out of a way darker well than you probably realize. An astonishing amount of this is, quite literally, TERF shit and evangelical shit.

Trying to be in fandom and take a stance of, "Anti/Pro shit? Ew, I'm Not Touching that," is like swimming in a heavily polluted river and being like, "Poison? Cringe. Not me lol."

You might be lucky enough to be in a less-polluted part of the river (AKA a relatively non-toxic fandom, in which case good for you!)...but tbh this rhetoric and peer-signalling will still seep in.

I can't stress enough that pro-fiction, AKA "proship", is the normal, leftist-about-art-and-sex opinion. Pro-ship is against all the horrible things you're against; in fact, pro-ship isn't trivializing real trauma by equating it with fictional trauma, or trying to apply literal evangelical/radfem solutions--which are proven not to prevent or help. Profiction/proship is literally just saying, "Fiction is fiction, reality is reality, and the two don't have a 1:1 relationship. And historically, trying to censor just things we've decided are bad has done nothing but get LGBTQ+ and POCs censored. Therefore, depictions of illegal things shouldn't be censored." That's it. "Proshippers all ship problematic ships," is a brazen lie. Many of them share other fans' disgust for those ships, they just don't believe in censoring fic authors over it.

It is also taking a stand against harassment because--and I hope my own story has helped drive this home--as with all groups who adopt ingroup/outgroup thinking, antis are defined by their tactics, not actual stances on real, serious issues. What happened to me was absolutely a result of anti, "it's okay to 'bully out' anything I just don't like" mindset pervading fandom. In a way, this was the mindset's final form. They didn't even feel the need to cite a reason the trope was "bad" or "wrong"; it annoyed them, and they viewed their own feelings as a valid enough pathway for policing to go right ahead and do so.

In the interest of offering solutions instead of just bitching about problems, I might make a "how to know if you've bought into these types of views"-type post sometime. Also might come back to this and provide some sources/citation.

[okkalo]

This is my first time requesting but hear me out

You’re rin’s partner who’s hospitalized and rin came to visit you after the u-20 match but the bllk boys saw him buying flowers and going to the hospital as they were following him out of curiosity

hi anon! thanks for the request! this is so cute to think of jdjdidhd i hope u have a good day/night!

i did these in headcanon format because it was easiest for me to write,, i hope you don’t mind!!

warnings: spoilers!! proceed at your own risk

character: rin

a mistake meeting

- RIN FELT SO BAD LEAVING YOU!!

- he literally thought of you everyday (god he feels so lukewarm right now)

- remember the phone privileges they could get during the first selection? probably uses it to text you because missed you so much

- undoubtedly tries to show off during the u-20 match to impress you (and sae)

- the day he goes to visit you happened to be the same day the blue lock boys hung out together

- the group catches him at the flower shop after their free dinner with the ex u-20 members

- reo probably has to hold bachira back from running up to greet rin

- ARYU KNOWS FLOWER LANGUAGE AND DECODED THE BOUQUET RIN GOT

- EVERYONE GASPED AT THE SAME TIME WHEN THEY HEARD THE MEANING OF THE BOUQUET

- it was roses and orchids to mean “i miss you” but in a romantic way ;)

- they all probably stood silent for a good minute and just watched rin in disbelief

- they stood that way until rin started to leave the flower shop

- “let’s go follow him!” was bachira’s wise idea

- and so they did.

- barou left. he didn’t want to be apart of stupid acts.

- chigiri’s and yukimiya’s curiosity were the only reasons why they stayed. no one knows why nagi stayed tbh he just continued following everyone though

- tokimitsu was dragged by bachira.

- the rest were actually curious and didn’t mind following him

- imagine this huge group trying to tail a guy while trying to be discreet about it

- they got a lot of weird looks.

- karasu kept smacking the back of bachira’s head to get him to shut up

- the only reason they didn’t get caught is because they were pretty far away from rin.

- anyways the hospital wasn’t far from the flower shop

- it’s a WONDER how they got past the person who checks people in

- probably said they were with “that guy” (they pointed at rin while he walked away to the room you were in)

- another wonder is how rin still hasn’t noticed them

- yk how u get stickers showing you got approved to go further into the hospital?

-imagine how long this whole thing took 💀💀 all of them just dumbly standing in front of the sticker machine like 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

- if we’re being real and you could only have a certain amount of visitors (idk what the actual amount is help) they would send bachira and tokimitsu (they figured rin would go easy on them)

- we’re going to continue the unrealistic whole group visiting scenario though because it’s funnier.

- rin, still oblivious to this all, made his way into your room

- rin says he never cries but he was about to when he saw your face light up in excitement (im about to cry too.)

- IMMEDIATELY engulfs you in a strong hug, his head burying itself in your neck as he inhaled your scent

- HE MISSED YOU SO SO SO MUCH

- if you’re crying he will wipe your tears with the softest look on his face

- awkwardly hands you the bouquet

- also awkward with his first words with you

- probably stares at you with the soft look while a, “hi,” leaves him

- you guys start your conversation while the rest of the blue lock boys finally find the room rin went to

- CHIGIRI SLAMMED A HAND OVER BACHIRA’S MOUTH TO SILENCE HIS GASP LMAO

- meanwhile otoya is thinking of how to rizz you up 💀

- they watched in silence for a good minute, bachira taking pictures to send to isagi later

- they wouldn’t even have gotten caught if it weren’t for the nurse who loudly asked if they needed something

- at that both you and rin look back at the door and just see all of them dumbly looking at the nurse

- they’re so stupid help me

- rin immediately goes red STEAM COMING OUT OF HIS EARS

- please put a hand on his arm. it’ll remind him not to go ballistic

- the nurse awkwardly walks off, noticing rin’s now scary demeanor

- cue the awkward laugh with them all scratching the back of their head from the group

- except for bachira. “hi, rin!” he excitedly waved at him then at you. wave back.

- “hey, you were the guys who played with rin in that match!”

- your excited tone was the only reason rin hadn’t started yelling yet.

- bachira took that as an invitation to just walk in and start talking with you

- he probably sits himself in between you and rin on the bed 💀

- otoya absolutely flirts with you during this time as well.

- THEY ALL LOVED YOU THOUGH!!

- just pray rin didn’t kill them all after they left…

unedited thanks for reading!

[aurorangen]

OC Deep Dive Questionnaire Tag

Thank you for tagging me @matchalovertrait @mdshh @duusheen (and anyone else I might have missed, I'm so late to answer!) I'm doing it for Vincent, he's just interesting to talk about! It's a long one:

What uncommon/common fear do they have? Vincent has a fear of crowded places, how people could be watching or spying on him. What do they want? Why are they doing this? Who is behind it? Anyone could be doing it, but he knows it's from his past (unless something new has developed). Remember he has been spied on before, by someone from Strangerville. Now he doesn't know and we don't know if his Dad's disappearance and Strangerville are all linked, but you can probably guess. Also a fear of going into the operating room and surgery.

Do they have any pet peeves? When people are late. He hates it.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom? His briefcase, his favourite cologne, iPad

What do they notice first in a person? Facial expressions, eye contact and body language: how they compose themselves.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance? He has high pain tolerance physically/emotionally so 8.

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? In the past, it would be flight. But now that he is older it's always fight. In court, he can be under a lot of pressure, but he is always prepared to fight and win!

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person? From his mum's side, he has a big extended family, from Evergreen Harbour and Henford on Bagley! Growing up he has always wanted siblings. He loves having Isaac as a brother and they spend so much time together now! But his childhood was so lonely at home, while his mum was working and his dad always MIA before his disappearance. Vincent always went over to Billy's house to hang out with Charlie! Billy and Josh have always been his father figures, unlike his own. Now with kids, he'll do the best he can to provide a childhood full of love!

What animal represents them best? Vincent is obviously a lion and Isaac is an eagle. You know in an ecosystem there are food chains where predators catch prey. Well, they are Kingsleys, so they're the top of the "hierarchy". Think of it like they're going into enemy territory (investigating their dad or other cases) and they are bringing them down. But their dad is also a Kingsley...

What is a smell that they dislike? Any sort of science experiment chemical idk...I'm not saying anymore

Have they broken any bones? Nope

How would a stranger likely describe them? Secretive first. But that goes away to easy-going, amicable, reliable

Are they a night owl or a morning bird? Both actually

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love? Hmm Vincent is a bit of a foodie and appreciates good food, he likes a lot of stuff really. Something he hates? Mint ice cream lol

Do they have any hobbies? Cooking (I've not explored it though)

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises? He's all good with surprise birthday parties! Vincent would be full of gratitude to the people who took the time and effort to arrange it. He'll make sure everyone enjoys their time and divert himself from being the centre of attention haha

Do they like to wear jewelry? Ooh he likes fancy watches

Do they have neat or messy handwriting? Surprisingly quite messy. He likes typing stuff lmao

What are two emotions they feel the most? Pride, determination

Do they have a favorite fabric? As long as it's comfortable

What kind of accent do they have? British accent duh

[reds-skull]

Post script on Not Alive, Nor Dead

Like I mentioned yesterday, I have a lot to say about the fic now that it's done.

The TLDR is that I'm leaving an option for a sequel. No promises though.

Leaving the rest of it under the cut because idk how long it will end up.

Okay, so first thing I gotta admit is that I didn't plan shit lmao. I had the start very clearly in my head, which were the scenes I talked about in the first post I made about revenant AU. But the entire plot line with Graves being a secret revenant? Hell, even the whole 'revenants and non-revs are getting kidnapped around the world' was not planned.

The scene in chapter 4 with the PMC was the introduction for the anonymous PMC, but I didn't think of making Graves and in extension Shadow Company all the work of a revenant. I was debating even making him a revenant at all, up until I wrote the chapter introducing him.

This approach, of not planning shit, is what made me excited to sit down and write every day. It felt like I was discovering the story myself.

It's also a fucking miracle the story is coherent in any shape or form.

Now, I did write a few things before starting. They were a small overview of the character arcs I want the 141 to go through, and a brief about each revenant's powers, because those things need to be consistent.

The arc overview isn't accurate anymore, it has a version of Gaz's storyline that I didn't manage to fit in, where he has a fear of heights, and overcomes it throughout the fic. The only one really left unchanged was Soap, who had the whole "my powers are too destructive" thing ongoing for most of the story.

Speaking of Soap, the Konchar mystery? I was figuring it out while writing the 3 chapters before introducing 'Konchar'. There are some inconsistencies because of that, specifically in a line where Soap says something along the lines of "I did something on my Reaping, something that if I could replicate, I might've not been let on the team." which kinda makes sense but kinda doesn't, considering all that Ghost has done.

Ghost's struggles with Limbo were something I added after wanting to give him a parallel to Soap. Originally, Ghost's role was to be the guy that has already gone through what Soap is going through, already knowing everything and having as much control on Limbo as he can. But making Limbo this uncontrollable realm was more interesting... also having it reflect Ghost's mind and emotions was cool.

One of the most pleasant surprises was how Price's powers interacted with everyone else's. I think it was the best power to personality match I made, he's not as scary as the others at first glance, but the ability to bore into the minds of his enemies, the way no one can keep secrets from him? Makes him terrifying. It's not made clear in the fic, but the reason it took Price so long to figure Graves out is their previous encounters. Graves knew how to divert his thoughts away from his Shadows, and stop Price from finding out.

What made Price realize Grave's Shadows aren't human is he tried to read their mind, only to find a list of commands. Graves tried to keep them away as much as he can, but it was inevitable. Shepherd knew it, which is why he ordered Price to keep his mouth shut almost instantly.

Since the way revenants get their powers must be linked to the way they died, some revs were easier to find powers for than others. Obviously the 141 was first, some at the time I started thinking about how they died didn't have a canon near-death experience, like Price and Soap.

I took Ghost's og backstory, and the idea of Limbo was gotten from the fact he died in a coffin, in a state of in between life and death. What Limbo does to people was just 'scariest thing I could imagine' type of situation. In the end, I don't know if Limbo is scarier when Ghost couldn't control it, or when both he and Soap could.

With Soap, I knew I wanted something with explosions, so it was a no-brainer to make him die from one. I mentioned in another post, but revenant AU was originally at the very beginning just a thing of 'what if I put mw characters in my original magic system?', and in that scenario, Soap was the only one with powers, which were control over anti matter, meaning anything he touches or touches him explodes. The only scene from that one is of Soap pushing Ghost away and getting shot to high hell, only to go and explode the people that tried to kill him - which is chapter 8.

I chose to use Gaz's iconic hanging out of a chopper scene, because I found it funny tbh lol. Later, when I thought of how exactly he died, it became more serious.

Price's were just kinda random tbh. I figured telepathy is a good ability for a Captain.

Rudy obviously dies in the house fire he almost did in the campaign. Alejandro was harder, but I thought of how Graves locked him up in the black site prison alone, so I went for something similar.

It's not mentioned in the fic, but Farah was the youngest to die from all of them. The house collapse in the start of her flashbacks in mwi, where her father pulled her out of the rubble? She didn't survive it. She's a very rare revenant, to be Reaped when she was a kid.

Farah and Ghost's og backstory have a lot of similarities, in my mind they're parallels to each other. What Farah had that Ghost didn't, however, is other people, a community. I think that's why she didn't lose herself the way Ghost did.

Alex's was difficult, because his canon near-death experience was being exploded, like Soap. I used the fact he's ex CIA, to figure he probably took part of many covert operations, and one went wrong. He was caught, so now he can go invisible. This was the thing I failed to make clear the most in the fic, I think, since a few people asked, more than anything else.

Thomas Anderson, the revenant with underwater breathing abilities, was originally made just for Ghost to roast him. When chapter 8 rolled around, and I needed a random revenant to kill there, I thought using the one established would make sense.

Accidental foreshadowing like this was what carried the fic, tbh. It was like a huge session of 'yes, and'ing myself. A little bit of bullshitting confidently, sometimes it felt like that lmao.

The wedding vows in chapter 31 were, again, unplanned. Ghost said "till death do us apart, Johnny?", so I started looking up Christian wedding vows in English because I don't fully remember them. Later I thought "wait, Soap is Catholic, maybe they have a different version." and then I thought, "shit, he's fuckin' Scottish, he won't use fucking American Catholic vows." (maybe he would idk).

Anyway, I found the Celtic vows present in the fic, which sounded like a metaphor, so perfect I couldn't use them just for the original joke they were meant for. So Soap ends up reciting literal wedding vows at the man.

[here's a link to the website I found the vows at]

Last thing is the whole Makarov tie in to Konchar. I was thinking about how we never really dove deep into why Konchar did what he did, besides having his Reaper tell him "you have to kill Soap before he kills you". I heard an advice somewhere, that in world building you have to dive in two questions for it to be believable.

So, let's take Konchar for example. First question is, "how did Soap killing Konchar not bring on an international incident between Kastovia and the UK?". The answer is, "Konchar was an army deserter." Second question is, "why did Konchar desert the army?", and the second answer is, "because he left to work with Makarov."

We don't need to know why he left, not at the point I left the fic at. Those two answers would be enough for readers to not feel like there's a plot hole there, at least according to that advice I've heard.

NOW, with all of that out of the way, I wanted to post the notes I've made on each revenant's powers, because I thought it could be interesting for someone. AND! I kept some deleted scenes, and it would be a shame to just let them rot in the Google Doc lol.

First up, list of revenants and their powers:

[These aren't 100% accurate anymore, as they were written before I started writing the fic, and I only added stuff to them]

Ghost - limbo: is able to send a circle around him into “limbo”, a space between life and death, that no one can escape. Filled with his enemies. Only way to survive is if ghost brings you to the eye of the storm, where he keeps himself safe of his own powers. Ghost can be killed by any means if taken by surprise and doesnt activate his powers.

If stands still too long, inky hands start grasping at him from the ground. Prefers to sleep elevated.

Died in a coffin.

From chapter 21 and beyond - able to wield to withstand fire in his right hand.

Soap - explosion: cant be killed by explosions, and can explode anything he touches. Any injury with the root cause being explosion (fall from high building, debris scratches, etc.) will be healed, but he does feel pain from it. Gunshots cant kill him (the bullets shoot with explosions). Can be killed by any melee attack, poison, electricity.

Fire burns from his fingertips, hard to put out. Spreads when agitated. Hot to the touch.

Died from a fall because of an explosion.

From chapter 21 and beyond - able to wield the protective light in his left hand in Limbo.

Gaz - gravity: can manipulate gravity of himself and objects he touches. Cant die from falling. Can be killed by any means, but hard to catch and aim at while at motion.

Usually floats a couple inches off ground.

Died in a helicopter accident.

Price - telepathy: can talk and transmit simple ideas to other around him. Can feel emotions of others. Can be killed by any means, but Price can manipulate the enemies thoughts and distract them.

His thoughts can “leak” if left unguarded.

Died after being abandoned and without comms.

Alejandro - phase: can phase through solid objects, including bullets. Can be killed by any means if caught by surprise.

Sometimes accidentally phases through things.

Died in captivity.

Rodolfo - ice: can lower the temperature of anything he touches rapidly. Can freeze and jam guns. Can inflict ice burns. Can be killed by any means beside fire.

Breath always visible, cold to the touch.

Died in a fire.

Farah - steelskin: can deflect any attack to her body. Bullets, knives, rockets. Can be killed by poison easily, as needles cant pierce her skin and therefore medical administration is hard to give.

Skin shines oddly.

Died from a stab wound. [changed to what I explained above]

Youngest to become a revenant.

Alex - invisibility: can become invisible. Otherwise can be killed by any means, hard to spot.

Skin sometimes flickers.

Died when got caught.

Graves - shadow company: can create “shadows”, puppets he controls. Can be killed by any means, but hard to get through his shadows.

Doesnt have a shadow of his own, eyes become milky and vacant, leaking after a while.

Died from betrayal.

[I didn't manage to find a place to add this - yes, Graves died after his squad betrayed him. His powers are a replacement for the whole army. His last line, "Me? I am the army." was what he boiled down to. Limbo's victims marking him a traitor was two fold. He betrayed the 141, Vaqueros, the UFL and basically everyone around him, but he also betrayed his own Reaper, who gave him powers to not go through that very thing. It's also another reason why chapter 30 is called 'Die As You Live'.]

Kirill “Konchar” Bogomolov - telekinesis: can move objects with his mind. Can protect himself from any physical attack, and redirect them towards the attacker. Is a revenant of the Pull, like Gaz.  (name means “Lord” and “devotionalist”) First death from RPG, second death by Soap.

Now, for the cut content. Most of these are one scene, usually one that didn't fit the emotinal arc of the characters, or the direction was going somewhere I didn't like. There's one that is a page and a half long, and that chapter was one of the hardest to write, so I practically restarted it at one point.

I'll try to add the context they were originally in if I remember.

[Context: the scene in Chapter 5, where Ghost watches the night sky out of a window, unable to sleep, and Soap comes to speak with him for the first time since they fought about Soap's tendenticy to let himself get hurt. Soap says he heard rumors about Ghost, and Ghost asks what they said.]

“ (rumors) That you murder our soldiers.”

Something akin to fear rang through his chest. So he knows… He supposes it was meant to happen eventually.

Soap’s face, for some reason, doesn’t lose its newfound cheerfulness.

“And what do you think about those rumors?” Hell knows why he wants to keep hearing him talk.

“Well, that makes the two of us.”

… What.

“What?” Ghost intelligently mutters.

Soap’s eyes widen, face not unlike a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

[Reason to cut: Soap wasn't supposed to admit that yet. He also wouldn't have done it in such a non-chalant way, with how heavy the guilt weighs on him.]

[Context: Chapter 10, where Ghost was showing his powers to the Vaqueros and Graves.]

The Captain’s voice fills his head, “field’s clear, go ahead Lieutenant.”

Ghost glances one last time at Soap’s figure, no more than a small speck, far, far away from him.

He closes his eyes. The warm air of Las Almas dissipates into the chill of Limbo.

He opens them, confused. The void is quiet, the residents of Limbo looking at the distance, calm and still. It reminds him of… before.

Ghost frowns, narrowing his eyes to try and see what caught their attention. There, a far away point flickers.

A small, white flame. Where… Soap was standing. 

Ghost blinks and stumbles back. Price instantly sounds in his mind, “Simon, what’s going on?!”

“I saw something there…” He makes eye contact with the Captain, who is now jogging towards him, Gaz and Soap behind him. “Light… from Johnny.”

It can’t be… how is Soap able to affect Limbo? Every single spiritulogist he met agreed on the fact he’s a sort of master over Limbo, that the realm is a manifestation he’s inseparably linked to.

The only thing others can do there, is die.

“What do you mean light?” Price urges on.

“A small flame. Where Soap was. The victims were all staring at it.”

The 141 members reach him, Johnny rushing to him, “are you alright?”

Ghost gapes at him, “you’re different. I’ve… changed you.”

Soap frowns, “what are ye on about?” he steps closer.

Ghost takes a step back, “stop.”

The Sergeant stills, a hurt expression flashing on his face before he schools his features.

Price invades his mind, “Simon, you have to calm down-”

“Calm down?! I fucked up Soap! I need to-”

The ladder patterns. Ghost turns around.

“SIMON RILEY”

“Reaper”, he exhales shakily.

“YOU’VE DOOMED YOURSELF. IT IS TOO LATE.”

“What are you talking about?!” Ghost screams, “you keep saying I’m gonna die, while Johnny keeps suffering!”

“I DO NOT CARE ABOUT OTHER REVENANTS, SIMON.”

The Reaper leans in to shriek in his ears, Ghost clutching his head uselessly.

“YOU ARE INTERTWINED.” 

Ghost cries from the pain. His Reaper does not falter.

“KILL HIM FIRST.”

His vision fades along with the Reaper’s words.

“Ghost! Fuck, someone get a medic” Someone shouts above him.

Another voice interjects, “he’s not injured, Sergeant. He’s with his Reaper.”

“From my experience, that doesn’t make me holler and pass out!”

A third person joins the conversation, “shut it! He’s waking up.”

Ghost groans and makes a move to rub his eyes, only to be stopped by his hard-shell mask. “Simon? You alright son?” Price asks, bringing the smell of fresh flowers and a soft bed to him.

He gets up (when did he lay down?) and mutters, “fine”. His voice hoarse from screaming. He takes in his team, the three of them concernedly crouch beside him, except Soap, who’s pacing around.

The Sergeant stops and eyes him warily. 

“My Reaper’s mad.” he says in lieu of explanation to the others.

Soap stops, and looks down at him, still avoiding his stare, “it’s because of me, isn’t it?”

He sighs, “when those arms started grabbing ye I thought it was gonna-”

“What arms?” Ghost gets up.

“The dark arms from the ground, don’t tell me you didn’t noti-”

Ghost grabs the front of Soap’s shirt, “you fuckin’ see them?!”

The Sergeant struggles against his iron tight grasp, “aye! Thought I was hallucinating last night, fuckers made a pass at me-”

Ghost pushes him away, “fuckin’ hell”. 

What the fuck is going on?! Nobody can see the victims outside of Limbo. It’s almost like…

“He has some of my powers…” Ghost whispers to himself.

But that’s not possible? 

[Reason to cut: chapter wasn't working out for me. Characters not reacting in character. Reaper not supposed to show up just yet, and what it says kinda repeats previous encounters.]

[Context: chapter 13, instantly after Rudy and Gaz confront Ghost on his relationship with Soap.]

What, do they think he and Soap are sleeping side by side every night, comfortably tangled under the thin sheets? That he warms himself on his Sergeant’s eternal flame, that Johnny brushes his charred, calloused fingers over his arms, his shoulders, his neck, chasing away the cold, inky grasp Limbo always has on him? That Ghost reciprocates, that he holds Johnny’s face softly, bringing them closer and closer until-

[Reason to cut: out of character. Ghost doesn't think about affectionate actions, he jsut does them. Too early in the story for him to express such wants.]

[Context: I don't remember honestly. Entire scene was cut. Might be later in chapter 13, before Graves threatens Ghost.]

He catches Alejandro pacing around the base one day, frowning and arguing with Rudy in Spanish. From what Ghost can pick up, it’s something about an American. He’s pretty damn certain which one.

“Vargas, any issues?” he stops him before the man pops a blood vessel.

Alejandro glances at him, scanning their surroundings for eavesdropping ears. “Come with me.”

The three enter the Vaquero Commander’s office, Rudy locking it behind them, “it’s about Graves.” Alejandro starts pacing again, “fucking gringo is ordering his shadows to collect intel on us.”

“What?” that’s a huge fucking development.

Rudy is quick to correct him, “we can’t prove anything. But yes… Graves knows more than he should.”

“He knows about secret tunnels we have under the base, and weapon stashes that not even Price knows about. We got fucking Shepherd trying to get us to use locations for the mission he shouldn’t even know exist.”

Ghost feels the tension climb up his spine, “what the fuck do you think he’s playing at?”

Alejandro exhales loudly, “whatever it is, [I didn't finish the sentence]

[Reason to cut: Decided that Vaqueros wounldn't suspect Graves, and he wouldn't risk his powers found by using Shadows to spy on them. Didn't like where the scene was directing the story.]

[Context: chapter 19, when Ghost asks Gaz for help with showing emotions with Soap. Gaz asks why can't he now.]

Garrick nods thoughtfully, “and what is it that stops you? Fear?”

Ghost clenches his teeth, this conversation feels like pulling them out one by one, “I’m not afraid of him.”

“Wasn’t saying that sir”, Gaz thrums on his boot, “could be rejection, or… shit. Of course.” he stares at Ghost, eyes soft.

“The fuck’s it?” he glares back.

Gaz releases his powers, standing up in front of him, “you need to get over your fear of feeling.”

[Reason to cut: out of character. Wouldn't confront emotions head on. Unnatural for Gaz to just state that, rather have it implied. Not where I wanted Ghost's mentality to go.]

[Context: no idea. Probably after Ghost sent Soap to Limbo, and he gained an immunity to it.]

“We don’t have to be afraid, Simon. You can’t hurt me anymore.” Johnny whispers

[Reason to cut: don't remember.]

Tumblr is starting to lag, which means this post is huge lmao. Again, thank you to each and every one of you! The response to the fic was amazing, I never expected my little revenant AU to turn into something this big!

I loved the experience of writing Not Alive, Nor Dead. You can certainly expect more from me in the future!

For now, I have to focus on uni, and after that I have a few ideas for comics I wanna do. Might make a few oneshots in between, but no big projects like this one just yet!

[bestfriend491]

could you maybe do some angst like reader feels neglected and leaves okoye but some time later she’s at a club or something and okoye sees her and can go fluff or smut or more angst idk i’m bad at this LMAO

Want Me Back | Part 1.

Okoye x Female Reader

Summary: You haven't been happy in a long time, and Okoye just can't seem to understand that she's the problem.

Word Count: 3.1k

Angst, Hurt

Warnings: None

The door to you and Okoye’s shared home opened, and Okoye’s figure appeared in the dark. She wore her Dora Milaje uniform perfectly and her face looked unbothered. Maybe even satisfied. She didn’t look too tired considering the time. Overall she looked very put together, much like she always did.

You, on the other hand, looked completely out of order. You wore the most mismatched pieces of clothing that you owned, your hair was in no shape to go out in public, and overall, your face was still puffy from the tears that you had shed only minutes before her arrival. You looked like the day had really run you over.

“My love.” 

“Y/n,” she greeted you back blandly as she saw you sitting in the dark with a lit candle. 

You noted that down. She had all of the options in the world and she called you by your name, like any other person. Not; my love. Not; sthandwa sam. Not even a casual; darling. She had greeted you like the two of you were just some housemates that occasionally indulged in small talk. You weren’t surprised by her lack of affection nor were you surprised when she completely dodged you to go and undress and take a bath, not stopping to give you even a peck on the cheek. That’s how it had been for the past few months. 

You would be in a state of disaster as she came home from her General Duties and she would be all calm, and happy. She wouldn’t bother to ask you about why you looked so defeated or worried. 

Then you’d get into bed and she’d barely touch you, and she surely wouldn’t do anything to help you in achieving your goals. 

Like that exact moment, where you were still in the chair studying for a test that you had at your university for your degree in teaching. The same test that she had promised to leave work early just to help you study for. It was 02:02 a.m and your head was killing you. A side effect from the illness that you had gotten from one of the kids at the school you worked at earlier in the week.

Okoye didn’t care about the work you were constantly putting in, though. To you, it felt like all you were to her was a lousy assistant teacher who had no real purpose. She never said it like that but that is exactly how she made it look. 

Before her dream of becoming the General of the Adored Ones had come true, you sacrificed every extra minute of your freetime training with her, whether you were working or not. You supported her even when she felt like she couldn’t do it and when she was struggling to cope, you took a deep breath and kept helping, reassuring her that she could do it. You did this because it was her dream and you loved her so therefore it was your dream too.

Unfortunately, she didn’t apply the same logic to your job. You wanted so badly to become a good teacher, and to enlighten young minds with the magic of knowledge, but she never helped you in trying to achieve these dreams. She didn’t visit the school you worked at. She wouldn’t know a thing about your field of work even though it was all you talked about, and she never even tried to make things easier for you.

Instead, she did what suited her. Like turning on the light in the house when you had clearly wanted them off, hence the lit candle.

“Okoye!” you whined loudly, rubbing your temples as you closed your eyes to shield them from the light. 

She looked at you, confused. “What?” 

“My head hurts and I need the lights off to focus.” You replied standing up to switch them off. 

She shrugged and gave a pathetic “Sorry.” like usual. You rolled your eyes.

“How was I supposed to know?” She asked with an agitated voice, as if you were the problem.

What you really wanted to say to that was. ‘I’ve told you countless times! YOU JUST DON’T CARE!’

“I sent you a message.” is what you ended up saying definitively. 

For extra measure, you sat back down, took out one of your beads, and navigated yourself to a chat log from earlier in the day, because you were definitely going to stoop low tonight. 

You began to read. “‘Sthandwa sam, I have a really bad headache today. Please don’t open the blinds or turn the lights on when you come back to help me study later.’”

You then asked.“Does that jog your memory?”

She nodded, guilt creeping up on her face, but her pride still consumed much of her expression, which only made you more irritated. Again she shrugged like it was nothing, and although you usually left your annoyed statements there, today you just weren't having it. You turned to her as you sat down, ready to let her have it, but stopping yourself to make sure that you worded it all correctly. 

“You said you’d be here to help me study before dinner, Okoye.”

“Time got ahead of me. Important things came up.”

“So I'm not important?!” you asked, actually curious to know, because she didn’t treat you like you were. She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes at you, her favourite combination to show her annoyance for you lately.

“I didn’t SAY THAT!” 

“YOU IMPLIED IT.” you froze at your own words, your breath hitching for a second.

Your eyes grew watery as you spoke but you were determined to finish speaking your mind. “I really needed your help earlier and you know I’m not feeling well and I have the exam tomor-” you were cut off by her approaching you and putting her hand up to stop you from talking.

You stared at her, bewildered by her action, and you were quick to swat her hand away. 

“I’m sorry, but can we talk about this tomorrow? Work was extremely tiring today.” She explained to you. Like you didn’t know how that felt. Like you hadn’t just done a full day of school starting from the crack of dawn only to go to work and not rest your sick body until early evening, where you skipped dinner to study up until that very moment.

“I’m busy tomorrow.” you spat out at her, shifting your head to get further away from her. 

“Oh, your exam. Right.” She came even closer to you. Again, prompting you to move back, nearly falling off of your chair. 

You could feel yourself melting under the charm, breaking under the pressure of her sudden remembrance. It was SO performative. But you were so hooked. 

Her hand grazed your arm, rising to come up to your chin, where she held your face up and smiled at you. 

“Why don’t we go on a date tomorrow? I have a day off and we can celebrate right after your exam.” She suggested, changing the subject like she always did. Looking at you like she hadn’t just dismissed your clear frustration with her again.

You looked at her, hoping that maybe she was joking. There was no way that she was actually asking you to go out on a date. 

Firstly, you had the most important exam of your life that morning and you wouldn’t want to be distracted by the prospect of her taking you out on a date. 

Secondly, you were still sick, and you weren’t keen on leaving home when you were sick.

Thirdly, you still had work. Which would mean rushing to leave to get home after a long day just so that she could avoid confronting your problems for an entire dinner. That would be yet another mission that you’d have to get through..

All of those reasons were completely reasonable enough for you to decline and tell her to try another time, but the prospect of it being her first day off in 3 months, and her not spending enough time with you already felt so tempting. 

You grumbled, “Fine.” 

She kissed you gently at that, a satisfied grin plastered on her lips for the night as she went to go to sleep.

You let a tear slip, but quickly wiped it away and got back to work.

THE NEXT DAY

You woke up to feel the presence of your so-called 'lover' on the other side of the bed. Getting up and out of the bed, you couldn't be bothered to look at her, or even plant a kiss on her head. You couldn’t handle seeing her.

She had abandoned you the day before, just like she had the day before that one, and every other day previous to that. And to add insult to injury, she thought a date would fix it. 

Now you’d spent the rest of the night crying instead of studying, while she peacefully slept, never getting up to make sure that you ended up going to sleep.

Your mind was only consumed with your relationship problems, and how she was constantly rushing over your feelings and ignoring you when you called her out on it. 

This was not good. You had an exam to get ready for, and there wouldn’t be any questions about your broken relationship on there. 

You stood up and went to the bathroom to get ready, hearing the rustling of the sheets. She would wake up soon. It was nearing the sixth hour of the day, and she’d need to go to training.

You hated yourself for knowing her schedule by heart. She would not be able to say the same thing about you. She probably didn’t even know where you worked, if you thought about it closely enough.

You sighed at the thought. Okoye had really been disappointing you lately. 

You had asked her so nicely to come home and help you study for the most important test of your career so far. For the test that would determine if you could ever become a permanent teacher at the school of your dreams, and she had bailed on you. 

You were really reaching your breaking point, and you weren’t sure how much more you could take. 

30 minutes later, you were already in a rush to get to campus. Your exam only started at 08:00 but you were paranoid and needed to get out of the house anyway.

Before you left, you looked at Okoye who had just gotten up. 

“Don’t forget about our date today.”

“I won’t.” she grumbled.

You glared at her. “I mean it, Okoye. I wouldn’t miss this date if I were you.” you got a confused look from her on your way out.

As you walked towards Wakanda University, your mind raced again. It tried its best to recall all of the answers that you had struggled to answer the night before. You arrived at your exam venue 45 minutes early, and decided to study a few more topics in more detail. 

As you sat, looking down at the holographic-type computer that held your exam behind a big blue button, you said one last hopeless prayer. “Bast don’t fail me now.”

9 hours later…

“Umwe, remember to tell your mother to come and see me by the end of the week.” Anze, the teacher that you assisted, said to one of her students as the kids packed up for the day. 

It was the first sentence that you had actually paid attention to in the last 3 hours, mostly because she said it in Hausa, rather than Wakandan or English. She knew that Umwe spoke Hausa more than English and Wakandan at home, so sometimes she struggled. 

You loved seeing how much effort Anze put into every student. You wanted to be like her some day. She was only slightly older than you, so you related to her a lot more than other teachers that you had assisted in the past.

A stream of loud yells came towards you as the students left, “Bye Ms. Y/l/n!” you smiled and waved at them and stood up to organise the classroom before you left. 

Anze had seen your face the whole day, and she knew about your exam so she was worried that something bad had happened. 

“Is everything okay?” she asked as she approached the back of the room where you were. “How did it go?” 

“It was fine. I think I have a shot. I’m just a bit… apprehensive.” 

“Is it Okoye again?” you turned your head to the side, raising an eyebrow. 

“When is it not?” 

Immediately, she came towards you and gave you a hug, allowing you to have a quick breakdown in her arms. It wasn’t the first time you had cried about Okoye to her, but the two of you were close now, so she knew not to ask until you said something.

You detached yourself from her body and wiped your face, pulling yourself together again. “Thank you. I needed that.” 

She crossed her arms at you. “You can’t keep letting her do what she wants, Y/n. You’re going places, and she needs to know that she either needs to go with you or stay behind. She can’t keep pretending that she’s coming with you while she secretly stays behind. She gets the best of both worlds and you get the best of nothing.”

“I know. I’m going to tell her that. I just need the right time. Maybe she’ll finally change.”

“Hm” she scoffed, “Y/n. I love dreaming too. But sometimes, you have to wake up.”

You nodded shamefully. She was right. You needed to wake up. And you needed to do it now. She had nearly ruined your shot at acing the exam, and although in the end it went well, who could promise you that it would the next time. 

“I’ll talk to her.” you said. She eyed you down. “I promise. This time I’m going to talk and make her listen.” you crossed your fingers to show her how serious you were and she smiled at you, hugging you once again before letting you go early to get ready for your date. 

You didn’t need to leave early to get all dressed up for your date in the first place, because in true Okoye fashion, she was late. You checked the time over and over again as the seconds came and went, soon becoming minutes and then hours. 

By ten o’clock you were completely fed up. You had skipped dinner thinking that you would go to a nice restaurant. But now you were heartbroken and hungry. Anger consumed your thoughts as you stood up, went to the mirror to look at yourself once more and see your beautiful reflection. You finally saw it. 

You were a catch, and if Okoye couldn’t see that. That was her own fault, not yours. 

Your journey to the palace was short and brisk. Your formal attire didn’t stop you from walking at a fast pace and in no more than 15 minutes after the mirror moment, you were walking frantically around the palace, looking for Okoye. 

Luckily, for once something went your way, as you were quick to find her. She stood in her stationery position in front of Shuri’s lab. 

You felt even luckier seeing as she was the only one there. You supposed Shuri was still in the lab, but the walls were soundproof when needed, so Okoye would just have to pray that Shuri had turned that setting on, because things were about to get heated. 

“OKOYE!” You started out strong, not fearing the confrontation anymore. She looked in your direction- surprised.

“My love, what are you doing here?" 

You didn’t dignify that with a response, rolling your eyes."You were supposed to come home and pick me up to go on our date."

Her face morphed into one of realisation. On ‘o’ shape formed on her lips. Then she gave you her signature pity smile. 

"Things changed. I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you." 

You scoffed, " Of course you did." 

She was moved by this, as she backed her head and scrunched her eyebrows together.

“My love, it’s just a date. Why are you so angry? I said that I forgot, how is that not enough for you?” 

"It’s not just the DATE! “ you yelled, breathing to calm down. “It’s you not helping me with anything. I helped you become the General and you have never returned the favour. You think my job is less important than yours. You become the General of the Dora Milaje and now my dreams no longer matter."

"You're making a scene!" she whispered. “ NOBODY IS HERE!” you responded., 

“Shuri and A- you know what? Can we do this outside at least?” 

“No! We’re gonna do this right here, so that anyone that is passing can hear me for once!.” you could feel yourself getting emotional again. 

“YOU DON’T MAKE ME FEEL GOOD, OKOYE!” you really let yourself scream. 

“I have been in competition with your job for YOUR LOVE for years, and the sad part is that I helped you get the damn position!” 

With her not saying anything you continued, “I have been fooling myself trying to tell myself that you care about me, but you don’t, and everyone except me has seen it apparently.”

She looked at you, wanting to say something but not being able to. Tears came to her face as she saw where the conversation was heading. 

“Y/n, please.” she began. She tried to take you into her arms. You were quick to push her away. More tears fell.

"Bast, Okoye. Stop with the tears already!" You insisted; becoming less receptive to her antics. 

“I won’t keep doing this if you won’t change. You can either support me like a partner or I can leave.” 

She looked down, not saying anything as you stared in disbelief. 

One tear escaped as you turned, "I guess I have my answer. I’ll get my stuff in the morning.” 

You left Okoye there, wiping her tears away, just as a shocked Shuri and Ayo came out of the lab; having heard it all.

Just a little something . I hope you enjoyed.

Now, I need to know:

[azsazz]

Okay, this is the response to the anon that wanted to talk about cc and contained spoilers:

"I just finished Crescent City today after swearing I was done with SJM because ACOWAR and ACOFAS were so disappointing to me. SPOILERS

—————cc1 spoilers under cut——————————

And I totally wasn’t expecting to see them using phones and other modern technology. So i agree with the other anon, it kind of took me out of it a bit, but not by much. I will say IMO the book was way too long and the murder investigation and the initial “plot twist” were messily done. It just draggedddd and was very boring to me.

The last 20 chapters were good though. But i couldn’t stop thinking why the hell nobody left the Summit to help Bryce. Like Ruhn and Fury were sitting there like “he’s gonna kill her”. So GO??? Are you really just gonna watch your sister die via Twitch stream?? LMAO I know they sent the Aux but they’re not as powerful as everyone who stayed back and it irritated me so badly when Bryce was fighting for her life, and they were just watching it like it’s a movie. Only one i won’t fault is Hunt cause he was nerfed by his handcuffs.

Also Sarah loves a “one drop of power from everyone” moment omg 😭 I liked that we started the series with Bryce at 25 instead of as a barely adult teenager. I think that’s why I started CC1, cause I read TOG and ACOTAR in high school and college, and I don’t want to read about another 17yo heroine. Or a 19yo who is in love with a 350yo.

The ending of the book confused me though cause it felt like a stand alone w/o the epilogue. It ended very cleanly. Like, what now? I don’t have to read the next 2 books if I don’t want to.

Sorry for spewing all my thoughts at you!! No one else I know is reading it so :/"

First of all, you're always welcome to share your thoughts with me! I love getting to chat and hear everyones predictions and opinions!

yes, i agree that the books are WAY too long. i just don't understand...i felt like half of the book was unnecessary. so boring and bryce was not relatable no matter how hard sjm tried to make her.

the climax of the book is usually the best part haha. Idk what fury was doing that time because i don't remember but what i thought was was that ruhn was essentially trapped there at the summit? LMAO TWITCH STREAM IM SO DEAD. Also i figured they were conveniently too far away from her to be able to get there in time to help.

yeah, it's nice that she's older than the other mc's but i'm wondering why it's so necessary for every book to add the mc's age? like what if we just didn't say how old she was? what in the plot would change?

yeah, i mean i can't blame you there. i'll be doing a cliff notes type thing for cc3 for those who don't want to read it lol...

thank you for coming to chat!! 💙💙

[shankschewtoy]

Okay, on account of recent requests, I now have something to ask. What Usopp, Barto, and Kid with an S/O who's hobby is art but can pretty much only draw stick figures. How would they react to finding a painting of themselves in stick figure form?

a/n - barto would cherish that drawing more than he cherishes his Luffy posters I just know it 😭 tysm for this request anon! This is so adorable 🥺💜

Warnings ⚠️ - g/n reader, I bully kid lmao

Bartolommeo

- He loves you so much, but this boy is the definition of “Aw sweetie you’re talented in other things!”

- … I’m sorry but it’s true

- Barto can’t do art, it’s just not very compatible with him

- Idk once he tried to paint something of you (I think he put Luffy in the background somewhere) and he accidentally dropped the paint bucket on his head, turning his hair pink for around a month

- He supports every single one of your hobbies, it doesn’t matter what the hobby is!

- Cooking? Of course! He’ll help in whatever way he can :) Writing? Omg you better read him bed time stories 😭

- Today, he was walking around the ship, looking for you in literally every room

- “Y/n?!” He was so confused- where the hell did you go ?!

- He found you seated at the table, extremely focused on something, so he decided to try and be quiet for you

- He tiptoed (like those fucking cartoons) trying not to make a single peep

- He looked over your shoulder, struggling not to make a noise

- You were drawing! But.. Why did that stick figure kinda look like him??

- His eyes widened when he realized you were drawing him

- His heart melted, his eyes turning into little sparkles of amazement and care

- “Y/n is that me?!”

- “WHAT THE FUCK?!” You were startled, man forgot he was supposed to be quiet

- You scared the living shit out of the poor boy, “WHA- WHAT’S WRONG?!”

- “Barto- why’d you sneak up on me?!”

- Poor boy didn’t mean to scare you! He was just so amazed by that drawing of him

- It doesn’t even matter if the drawing was good or bad, he literally didn’t care

- He took that drawing and framed it in his room, and he asked you to draw another one so he could keep one with him at all times 😭

- This boy will do anything for you, and seeing you draw him? That just made him fall even more for you (if that’s even possible, man’s already head over heels for you)

Usopp

- Honestly Usopp is a pretty good artist himself!

- He painted the strawhats flag after all!

- He was going about his day, gathering random scraps of materials he found scattered around the ship

- He went to go say hello to you, his precious, amazing y/n (who always protected him in his times of need)

- He paused when he saw what exactly you were drawing today

- He tried his best not to just burst out laughing

- “Oh- Usopp!” You said with a grin, looking up from your stick figure drawing

- Usopp gazed at the photo with a snicker, taking a look at how- long his nose was

- “Y/N EXCUSE ME- MY NOSE ISN’T THAT LONG.”

- He was OFFENDED

- how dare you make his nose 3 inches longer than it should be?! 💀

- he was yelling at you while pointing at his nose for a while after that

- “I’m gonna sue you!” He shouted jokingly

- “Mhm with what money??”

- …

- “NAMI?!” -Usopp

- pssssssst- he kept the drawing anyways 😭

- he uses it as hype up material for when he’s scared or about to fight someone strong hehe 🥺

Kid

- Kid’s a mechanic, not an artsy guy

- he lets you do you though, it’s not bothering him, actually he kinda likes seeing whatever you end up drawing from day to day

- your drawing today was of him, and instead of stick figures, you decided to practice some anatomy! (It obviously went wrong)

- His chest was extremely disproportionate to the rest of his body (it was literally like you stuck watermelons onto his chest 💀)

- Perhaps that’s how you saw him

- Kid looked over your shoulder and immediately took a step back

- Was that.. HIM?!

- “Y/N WHY THE FUCK ARE MY TIDDIES SO FUCKING BIG?! I’M NOT THAT BIG!”

- Man got so angry lmao

- He had to lecture you about how he’s actually not that large and how his tiddies are “small”

- You couldn’t even practice anatomy in peace with this dumbass tulip head

- “KILLER! My chest isn’t that big right?! Y/n’s fucking blind!”

- Killer snickered, and he agreed with you, the drawing you drew was pretty accurate

- “FUCK YOU KILLER I’M COMING OVER THERE SHITHEAD!”

- … kid you need to calm down 😭

a/n - lmao I love barto 😭

[coredrill]

perhaps my most insane collection of brvn thots yet

do we think lulu is from the moon. i think this for three reasons. one: when she told superbia she was going to ride him the moon was quite large and prominent in the shot. symbolism. two: when she got her fancy hairdo, she had two little buns that looked like moons. three: “lulu” could come from “luna” the same way it could come from the first syllable of smith’s name. why would she become spanish? don’t worry abt it. also if she’s from there then maybe the “final battle” which obari allegedly said would take place in an unexpected location will indeed be on the moon (pls dont ask for a source on this bc i don’t think i could find it again but it was one of the like. EARLY early interviews iirc. or it was just a rumor. this part of the post is a joke anyways LMAO). however this IS a super robot show so i feel like the moon in general is actually a more expected location for me than like. idk. cleveland

everyone pointing out the animation differences maybe indicating different timelines is so funny to me cause like. if it’s NOT intentional, the fans are putting together a list of fixes to make for the bluray on a silver platter LMAO. also god i hope we get a western bluray release, i honestly am considering getting the jp one if it somehow winds up w eng subs though just cause i know it’s such a long shot for CRUNCHYROLL of all motherfuckers to put one together 🥲 discotek ur our only hope………………

i keep thinking abt the like. pacing of the previous fight scenes being reused in ep9 in such a smart way…………like with smith/lulu v superbia - isami/bravern v cupiridas AND with smith/lulu v knuth - isami/bravern v pessimism/vanitas they kept doing the quick jumps between each of the two fights in a way that made it clear that isami and smith were in conversation even if they were doing completely different shit, and then bringing that completely to the forefront this ep while isami is asking smith why he died and at the same time smith is refusing to die bc of his promise with isami. BLEW MY FUCKIN MIND to see the pattern reused like that, i swear to GOD everyone talks about how fun and hype this show is but it’s so damn GOOD too 😭😭 and then after that the fuckin. symmetrical docking ass cut and then later the gattai which has been held off for SO long bc they are no longer separate conversations. JESUS

called my shots too early tho w smith not melting ppl’s minds in a kaworu manner where they convolute the story x1000 to try to make him seem straight 😭 congrats white boy, your days are numbered until ppl start saying you love isami like he’s your pet dog……….also in a related fashion the giant naked smith fanarts are taking me out LMAO

you can tell idk shit abt fuck when it comes to time travel fuckery cause i rly am just here like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ atp LMAO, the serious theorizing is GONE. i trust the show to finish out in a satisfying manner and also in a way that my pea brain can understand and i’m rly looking forward to savouring these last 3 episodes :] and then rewatching the whole thing from the beginning once the remaining twists have been revealed and i Know :3 like not to get way too sentimental w 3 whole episodes left but we are so lucky to be following this story in real time you guys 😭 like i’m just gonna put the same post i made back after episode ONE here cause it’s true but times a million with what we’ve seen so far, truly this is such a special experience to have and i’m so glad this show waited until i got into mecha to get made so that i could like. Understand it yknow. anyways good for january 14 2024 version of me, you are so excited andyet still have NO idea the kind of treat you are in for 😭

“lewis” jumpscare tho omg. i forgot it took me like a week to figure out what the hell was goin on with all the characters first and last names LMAO. anyways everybody go look at sumiisa sekiha love love tenkyouken right now i am no longer asking

[gideongrovel]

Bro 👏🏾 is 👏🏾 yapping 👏🏾 about 👏🏾 that 👏🏾 man 👏🏾 again!!! 👏🏾

I wish I could remember more about what my thoughts on E/nel were when I first watched S/kypiea all those years ago,,,,, i was like what 10?? maybe 11? maybe 12?? idk maths isn't mathing,, and idr if I met him first through the Funi dub, or though my copy of Grand Adventure on gamecube, or the manga itself I can't blame myself for not remembering since its been so fucking long,,, and OP is one of those things that's quite literally always been apart of my life,,,,, my obsession coming and going in waves, but still,,, idr it never not being a thing in my life,,,, 😭

but anywhoooo I have figured out a couple small pieces to the puzzle of why i have snapped all these years later, and why i want that man (E/nel)!!! Okay so since in my youth I use to ship with Z/oro (I do not anymore, i personally feel too grown for him, and im just not into him in a shippy way anymore) but when I was younger and into Z/oro, his S/kypiea outfit was my absolute favorite (gonna mention Grand Adventure again- id always pick that as his outfit in that game lol), but i think that was my main focus when watching/rewatching that arc back then lmao,,, And while im not religious now, i use to be a christian when i was younger,,, so E/nel's whole god shtick probs was an ick to me back then,,,, so thats also a potential reason of why i didnt feel any shippy feels to him when i was younger,,,, 🤔

but now in this current day and age,,, those barriers weren't there,,,,, god complexes are hot to me- i love blasphemy and i didnt have someone else drawing my attention,,,, so i think thats a couple reasons of why these feels arose,,, My preferences with characters i lust after is different now then it was back then, and he checks alot of boxes for me "maybe, just maybe, its mental illness innit" so its not surprising when i really think about it,,,,,, its just funny it took over a decade to like smack me in the face,,,,, especially cause ive seen the arc many of times so i had many chances for it to happen 😭😭😭

i cant find it but i saw diagram once, it was like two separate lines meeting, then going their separate ways, then meeting back up again,,, and thats what this feels like??? not in like a rekindled old flame way,,,, cause he never was a flame, he was just someone i knew,,,, idk i guess its more like an "Oh. Oh." moment,,, like actually catching romantic feel for him (and not just sexual ones like i originally thought it was) has felt kinda comforting in some odd way??? that may sound off the wall given the type of character he is lmao,,,,,

But my thoughts are like it was a "wrong place, wrong time" back in the day,,,, but now,,, now we found our ways back to each other, it may have taken some time but things have aligned perfectly,,, and we're together now, and that is what matters in the end,,,,

idk what im on about truly,,,, articulating my emotions for this man feels *make vague idk gesture* if you wasted your time reading this im legit sorry 💀 I just love E/nel alot,,,, and this development of feelings these past couple months has my head spinning

[your-nanas-house]

Ok soooo I love this account, and I have a request 👀 Originally I was thinking that post-spray Jeremiah would be good for this fic idea but now I can’t choose between him and Jerome, so I’m going to leave it up to u LMAO

Anyway, I was thinking of like what if R is good friends with bruce, but they’ve been kind of in a rough patch because R is starting to mentally be in and out (if that makes sense) and bruce is “too busy” to actually help them out so he’s just been annoyed with them without realizing that he’s being a bit of a dick. Until one day R brings up that they met someone that’s been helping them understand what they’re going through and feel more confident in themselves. Bruce figures out that the new person they met is J (Jerome/Jeremiah). He also finds out that J is just manipulating R to join his side only to get to Bruce. Bruce tries to warn R but they’re too far gone and they don’t really trust Bruce anymore.

I kind of now realize that this is more of a Bruce fic, but I do mainly want J to be in it? Bro idk I’m desperate for a J x gn!reader fic (and my attention whore touch starved ass is projecting). I ofc give u free range to change up the request in anyway! Even if u don’t take this request, ty and I hope ur having a chill day! :)

Thank you! I love this idea 😍 Sorry if it took me too long.

Not a GAME

Pairing: Jeremiah Valeska X Gn!Reader, Bruce Wayne X Gn!Reader

Warnings: manipulation, sadness, panic attack, crying, bad friendship, Jeremiah, warning

Words: 1462

Summary: in the request

Note: Sorry for the mistakes and the English.

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

The words that came out of Bruce's mouth would have been sharp and almost suffocating as well as painful if he had said them a few months earlier, but now they were like steam, like the flame of a lighter that was almost completely finished for Y/n.

They were still meaningful to them in a way, because Bruce still meant something deep inside them, which is why his words echoed in their heads like the first time he hurt them in one of the worst moments he could do it.

Y/n should have hated the millionaire boy but as the days went by he could no longer do so, the burning sensation inside their chests that hurt them emotionally had faded because it was due to him that they met the one who helped them the most at the worst time in their lives.

It all started with a small fight, with Y/n wanting to open up to Bruce to show him and seek help after several weeks of feeling like the world was devouring them, a negative feeling of pressure as if something was crushing them and not letting them breathe; it was a bad idea though because the only response they got from the one they thought was their best friend, the one who would understand most of all was "Geez, don't make everything always about yourself...I'm too busy to take care of this exaggerated thing that's only in your head'. In a way Y/n had expected this, Bruce had been 'too busy' during that time and had started to behave annoyed and dismissive towards them, preferring to take care of his own things instead of thinking about others.

This was what prompted Y/n to leave the manor, with a feeling of pressure in their chest and their breaths quickening, they felt their pulse quicken, drumming against their chest, if they looked down they could see how their chest moved followed by the deep breaths and choked sobs; the falling rain seemed to be there to make things worse, there was nowhere dry for Y/n to take shelter but they didn't care, in fact after they reached their limit they leaned back against the wall, feeling again that so familiar tingling sensation spread from their hands throughout their body, their breathing becoming even more erratic and that feeling of not being able to get enough oxygen returned as they slumped to the floor trying to calm themselves down but in a way not wanting to in the hope of throwing it all out and getting better later.

They felt alone and lost, a fitting moment for Jeremiah who was right nearby to approach and interact with them.

The first thing Y/n noticed was that the rain stopped falling on them probably because of an umbrella and then the shoes, it didn't take long for them to recognise the pale man's style as he continued to look down at them seeing himself in their place, remembering his own panic attacks when he was still locked in the bunker and Jerome was still alive.

He slowly knelt by down never touching the ground and keeping his piercing green eyes fixed with Y/n's y/e/c's who had not yet recovered "Now, now...does that sound like the way to behave in public, you might attract a lot of unwanted attention, huh" he lifted their face to look them in the eyes again when they shifted their gaze "deep breaths, yes?" He showed them how to do it by breathing deeply with them as he helped them up "I think you're having a panic attack, has that already happened to you yet?" he asked receiving a quick shake of the head from Y/n "let's start counting together...1,2,3,4,5,6,7".

As soon as they managed to calm down Jeremiah walked to his car asking if they wanted to get in, Y/n wasn't sure but they really needed to feel better and at that moment a shroud of apathy had fallen over them, they didn't care about anything, if anything was going to happen that night it was going to happen so they walked to the car, getting in through the door the man had opened and putting their seatbelt on before leaning their heads against the window looking out at the falling rain and the depressing environment that was Gotham CIty, they managed to close their eyes for a moment to try and calm themselves and not drop any more pathetic tears in front of one of the most wanted criminals in that city; they tried to suppress their emotions that were coming out again and they were succeeding before a gloved hand wrapped itself around theirs, causing them to shift their attention from the window to Jeremiah's porcelain face, all it took was a slight smile and a squeeze of his hand to reopen the faucet of their emotions.

It all ceased again after they entered the flat and had some time to calm down, they accepted a pajamas and stood by the fireplace with a blanket as they stared blankly into the fire, lying on the sofa with no discernible emotion on their faces, only the previous tears that were now dry on their cheeks, their eyes still a little red and puffy and their cheeks redder from the cold and crying.

Jeremiah's gaze was fixed on them the whole time as he spoke to Ecco, who later took charge of preparing hot tea for their new guest to drink.

The more time passed the more things improved, at first Y/n didn't feel any progress and it seemed so strange to open up to Jeremiah making him their personal psychologist, the advice he gave was strange at times but it worked and they went step by step.

They slowly drifted away from Bruce like a shadow to the appearance of light, all thanks to Jeremiah who drew them towards himself and his ideas to make them drift further and further away from the world and Bruce.

Jeremiah spent more and more time with them, listening to them and being there for them whenever they needed him, cheering them up and making them overcome that depression and constant anxiety almost completely by understanding them, sharing his own experiences by bringing them into a more confident and perhaps making them become a sort of weapon of battle.

Y/n felt understood and despite the complete loss of the rich boy's friendship everything improved, finding the salvation they were looking for in Jeremiah Valeska.

The months flowed by as fast as the water in a mountain stream and changed as it did, even Bruce changed during that same time realizing how he had been behaving and how the lack of Y/n beside him made him feel, leading him to do some research to find out what exactly had happened after inviting them once to apologize, to have a hot chocolate together and noticing how Y/n acted cold and almost stranger to him, hinting at something like he had met someone.

That someone was indeed the boy's own 'enemy', he had discovered his identity in a few days and could even see the manipulation underneath Jeremiah's kind and sympathetic gestures as he tried to get Y/n to go over to his side against Bruce.

It was those words that didn't hurt Y/n in the slightest, it was as if they went in one ear and out the other even as Bruce's hands grasped their shirt trying to pull them back to their senses receiving as a response from them a phrase that had come out of his own mouth long ago "The world doesn't just revolve around you, Bruce".

Bruce's dark gaze was now incredulous as he registered the words he had heard realizing their power, he shouldn't have behaved this way with them months earlier "Y/n/n...I've been a dick to you but you have to listen to me, Jeremiah is just manipulating you to get to me!" "Jeremiah was the only one who was there when I really needed someone and the only one who helped me and made things better by also making me realize what was wrong....even if I wanted to I wouldn't have anyone, I don't trust you anymore Bruce and you can blame yourself for that."

This statement and seeing them walk away caused a mischievous smile to appear on Jeremiah's face, he was now certain he had fulfilled part of his plan the only thing he didn't know was that Y/n were aware they were being manipulated from the beginning but they didn't care.

Taglist:

@gabile18 , @mrsfullbuster500 , @rex-ray , @elizamalfoyy, @eovjjj , @monkeyking-and-liuer-mate , @jeremiah-va1eska , @gothamchic16, @rabbiteggz , @dieg0brandos-wife , @rottenecstasy , @lazyexcuse , @teh-vampire-bunny , @lobotomy-lover

[thegongoozlerreacts]

Dead Plate (Part 2)

OK so its been a month since the last time ive played Dead Plate and uhh oops!! my bad !!

in my defense life has gotten very busy for me especially since its the holidays but now i finally have the time to finish this game and get at least one ending!! (hopefully)

spoilers under the cut

back to day 5 where i struggled so incredibly hard

the amount of times ive played through day 4's nightmare sequence is killing me

bro. how do i pass this level without losing a customer

NOOO I WAS SO CLOSE WHYYY. PLEASE. literally i was doing so well but i took too long for the 4 table orders ugh <//3

i wish you could see like, a patience meter for the customers or something

maybe i should try using the item that slows down how impatient they get

YESSS FINALLY!!! I DID IT I FINALLY DID IT!!

what is that weird squelching sound.

still here even though the shift is over and the sounds i am hearing are concerning to say the least

what if... i just leave ok i cant leave

boss's office? also i just noticed the timer ticking down uhh

can i just leave please why is the timer ticking down wtf do i do???

also lots of interesting things in that office

was the review on the waiter about Rody? if so ouch man thats harsh

NOOOOO OH MY GOD...... I ACCIDENTALLY QUIT I HAVE TO DO DAY 5 ALL OVER AGAIN ARE YOU KIDDING ME

ok well. at least now i know my key to success is the cologne

ok so Rody had an interesting reaction to the crumpled up picture of Vince and a woman so maybe he knows who she is? is this the 'her' that you can sorta not really call on the telephone??? or is he just surprised to find love letters in the trash

anyways its telling me the sounds are coming from the freezer but idk where to go from here

LMAO the sound signalling the end of the day jumpscared me askhjdakj

at least the food looks tasty

what was that whole thing about tho? what was going on in the freezer??

back home, looked out the window and i noticed you can see someone's silhouette in the background windows

i dont know if that was always there and i just missed it but very interesting

FINALLY a new nightmare

bro he was in an oven?? why ?? damn Rody's nightmares are like really creepy akladjalks

another day another dollar

damn. im gonna struggle once again because there is a LOT of customers and like i am just sooo. ksfdjslkdj whatevr kakayanin !! lets go guys

my hands are so sweaty akladh

another successful day and another tasty dish ....my fingers hurt LMAO

looked out the window and yep alright the person's silhouette isnt always there

huh. interesting nightmare it was Vince eating him and like damn that actually scared me lskjd

shorter than previous nightmares

well onto day 7 another day another dollar

lets go!! i am winning!!! only had to retry once this day!!

BROSKI JUST QUIT?!?!?

ohhh so the woman is named Manon

aww i feel so bad for this guy :(( the girl isnt picking up i wonder why tho? like does she just not like him anymore and he just needs to give up on her or is it cuz of smth w Vince (shes probably the girl from the crumpled photo in the trash right?)

damn the phone just ringing while the credits are playing

ouch :((

alright then time to get the other endings!! to do this i will be following the ending guide bc my brain is not big enough to figure it out by myself lmao

ive opened up the official ending guide and oho? you can actually get a phone call from Manon? cool i will try that out first

restarting all the way to day 1 bc i miss how easy it was

yk an interesting thing that was introduced in the tutorial that i havent experienced yet is the customers asking questions

oh hey!! i kept the stuff that i purchased in my previous run?? really?? awesomeee

ooh hey!! i kept the dishes from previous runs too!! cool

ok its day 3 now and i have to take out the trash to activate the cutscene

ok went through that whole baffling ordeal of getting slapped

also!! i chatted with Vince on day 3 and like. idk their chats are just funny to me

also like there might be something wrong with me but i am lowkey shipping Rody and Vincent together kadjlksd this is something that happened in Elevator Hitch where i started lowkey shipping the two main characters oopsies

anyways!! moving swiftly onwards!!

um. my guy disappeared after i checked the fridge

oh shit new cutscene

BRO ??? UM ????? well that was scary uhh. damn

oh the boss isnt in the kitchen anymore wait i didnt get to do all the dialogue options that are needed!! no!! does this mean i need to redo this whole day in order to get the phone call event???

better safe than sorry i guess

ok so interestingly when Rody asked Vince if he liked his job, he didnt answer the question he just changed the subject and made fun of Rody LOL

the 'can you give me a raise' question gives some more details on Manon and what Rody thinks of her (he is a grade A simp bro)

the 'are you single' question is interesting to me just bc Rody the simp has issues w Vince being like 'meh' on romance and tbh im with Vince on romance not being the end-all-be-all

THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT A STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

IS IT CUZ I FED THE RAT CHEESE INSTEAD OF SCARING IT AWAY OR SMTH???

EW ITS IN THE FRIDGE AND THE REAL ONE I HAD BEFORE IS GONE NOOOOOOO

Vince: I haven't got any sense of taste. Rody: Yeah I could see the decorations out there-

LMFAOOO RODYYY

bro now i am sad that i missed out on these gold interactions between them on my first run this is so funny

also they both didnt really have any proper answers for what their favorite food is Vince was like 'eh i dont have any since i cant taste stuff idk lemons or smth' while Rody was like 'i just like whatever my girlfriend likes'

very interesting how Rody is like obsessed(?) with Manon

then when asking Vince what he's reading, he just straight-up lies about what the reviews are saying about Rody lmfaoooo

anyways now for the creepy night restaurant segment and going back in Vince's office to check out the possible Manon love letters in the trash

i just realized the croque madames are like. rotten cuz they have flies flying around it which ew! yuck! why is it like that

well. nothing i can do about it so next day i guess!! oh hey wait i can now afford the matches which i will be needing for ending 3! nice

OK NOW I HAVE REACHED THE PHONE CALL

damn ok so its not Manon but its Vince inviting Rody to a dinner party!! nice !!

LMFAOOOO HE INVITED RODY TO MAKE HIM WORK VINCE I CANT BELIEVE YOU!!

Rody you are so embarrassing but its ok bc ur really funny anyways!! getting interesting lore on Vince and Rody!!

one of Rody's old classmates was there, and then another guest said that either Vince must really like Rody to have him there at the party or is incredibly desperate akldskl (since she said that Rody's outfit sucks LOL)

ooh ok so. Rody is desperate and a bit delusional my bro u gotta let go of that girl bc apparently she dumped you already so like. stop bro

dkjhskas nooo ive served all the guests and theres nothing left to do except snoop around in Vincent's bedroom agh!! agh!!!!!

bro when i go in the room the music just disappears wtf

UM? HELLO??? BRO THAT SCARED ME DSKJKSDJ

i knew this was going to happenn aughjahkj

BRO THE MUSIC IS JUST GONE AJKSDFK not Rody asking what happened like he didnt just steal smth from Vince and pretty much get caught in the act 😭😭😭

well ok then so that happened

actually you know, now that im thinking about it, its kinda weird that Vince threw Manon's letters in the trash does that mean she is pursuing him romantically but he like just doesnt care or what??

i am inside and i am afraid cuz the game asked 'are you sure?' when i clicked 'go inside' broooo

oh hey its Manon and Rody WAIT WHY IS THIS LOCKET IN HERE ?? DID VINCE KILL HER ??

ASKHDKAS OH FUCKK OH NO

bro thats so like. sadistic leaving him tied up and telling him he can live if he runs away but like he can only crawl across the floor

i see why the matches are needed for this part

gee wow thanks game

ok now this time im bringing the matches with me

ok so ive burned away the ropes but im still trapped inside cuz he locked the freezer aghhh

what the heck do i do?? oh nvm i found bags of flour, i can use these to reach the cooler

so i have to stop the fans of the cooler, probably by putting something in it

can i take the saw out?? oh wait theres a switch LOL

ok so ive use the saw to cut the meat off and now ive got animal bones

ive jammed the bones in the fans and now i can break open the window wow

SHIT GOT CAUGHT BY VINCE

DID HE JUST BITE A PIECE OF MY FLESH?!??!

oh my god. he killed and cooked her to feed to Rody i. wHY???

oh so he ate Rody's ear i am shook wtf

bro Rody just severely pissed this guy off by telling him he never ate his food i feel it in my bones also makes sense why its just sitting in his fridge

Rody really hitting this guy where it hurts damn i mean its deserved cuz of like the whole thing

i accidentally got ending 4 since i messed up a QTE but damn. damn that was wild and also this is gross

something i didnt mention earlier but i noticed that there was a grilled hanger steak on the table, which is the dish when you get ending 1 would the other dishes i got in past endings show up when i got them? but i got ending 2 and the dish from that didnt show up so maybe its just a little detail for ending 1 wait was the steak made out of Manon. oh boy that makes that ending a lil more fucked up

ok going back to the chase sequence

BRO RODY JUST KILLED HIM

so i went into Vince's office, surprisingly did not get chased inside and then i picked up the broken bottle and now Rody's just killed the guy

got the restaurant key

bestie like. theyre gonna arrest u if u just leave and never say anything please explain the situation to the police or smth

why is the game not letting me leave. what do you mean revenge is best served cold. does the game want me to put Vince in the freezer!??!?!

yep the steak is def Manon

why r u not letting me leave wtf do i do

trying to read the comments on the game's page on itch.io and the amount of people going 'when will they kiss' 'kiss ending when' im laughing

like even tho all this horrible shit just happened i still lowkey ship Vince and Rody oopsies. toxic yaoi LOLOLOL

i have no idea what to do now so i am just gonna look up a guide rq

ok i need to get the cooking oil

he's burning this place to the ground

wait was Vince still alive after getting stabbed repeatedly???? his eye moved when Rody was pouring oil on him and i mean the game did say that his eyes are still following you

oh bro after-credits cutscene with Manon???

aww ok my opinion of Manon has greatly improved cuz she broke up w Rody cuz he was destroying himself for her she realized that she wasnt good for him and like, for the greater good of his mental health they cant be together

its burnt and also its lemon, which is what Vince said was his favorite food

OH HEY IT CHANGED

actually i did notice that after ending 3 it was snowy

damn

well, thats the end of my playthrough on Dead Plate

honestly, it was a very fun and enjoyable game! i liked the serving aspect even tho i kinda sucked at it and like i also really liked Rody and Vince despite all that just happened those two are seriously fucked up and i love them LOLOL

the music was really good and made up for having to redo day 5 over and over again alskdjh i was jamming most of the time to the music the art was also really good! i liked how cute the pixel sprites were, and then like the art for the portraits and CGs and everything was also really good! i really enjoyed the art style and music

the story was interesting, and i liked it too the twist was wild and blew my mind but i am still a massive fan of Vincent x Rody JKDAHSDKJ

i like how there was a cannibalism twist but Vincent wasnt actually like, an actual cannibal he was just insane and planning on making Rody an unknowing cannibal

i know he ate Rody's ear but like. he said that he doesnt eat people on the regular so yk he's just fucked up

also its really funny reading all the comments and seeing a lot of Vincent x Rody stuff LMFAOOO so true of everybody honestly

HELP I FOUND A COMMENT THAT SAID THEY NOTICED EVERY PIC WITH VINCE IN IT (on the store page) HAS HIM LOOKING AT RODY LDSJHSFLSDKN THE SHIP IS SO REAL!!!

ok sorry enough of that

overall, 10/10 would play again solely for the server gameplay (would be cool to have a kind of endless mode where you just serve customers until one leaves or something) and also because i love these characters

thats all for today and probably for this month LOL byebye!!

[ccalhoun]

Oh also another one for our dear Dano!Riddler because I love him too!! X male reader with optional smut ideas.

Maybe Edward is with a psychiatrist!reader in Arkham.

NSFW Ideas:

- They could become bonded and it leads to yknow kinda like harley quinn’s situation.

- Maybe Edward notices that the guards are too preoccupied to notice if he slips out one time, going into reader’s office, surprising him.

“I just couldn’t wait til’ our next session.”

Confesses his attraction and yeah sex happens lmao idk.

≻ ┄┄ ♡ ┄┄ ≺

Edward Nasthon x Psychiatrist!Male!Reader

req: yes!

warnings: male reader, bottom reader, reader can be read as trans or cis, top Edward, possessive Edward, Edward Nashton is a bit of a creep, sweet Edward, canon typical violence, psychiatrist x patient, fluff and smut, kind of short

note: sorry this took so long! i started writing a oneshot to go with this and forgot to actually post these

cut for length!

you were a psychiatrist at Arkham, working there because the human brain has always interested you

a new patient was admitted, Edward Nashton. You were the only psychiatrist that he would talk to so you two became close very quickly.

You both had weekly meetings where you learned that Edward was sweet and smart, he enjoyed riddles and puzzles (though he solved most of them quickly)

His favorite color was green so you often wore green outfits which he complimented profusely.

None of your colleagues understood how you could effortlessly get him to open up, but didn't complain as it at least helped him get better.

You got a special green pen for Edward, he loved to write and draw while you two talked so you figured a small gift wouldn't hurt anybody.

you went to your session as normal, setting down the paper and new pen you got for Edward. The therapy session went as every session did except that you didn't get the pen back from Ed.

Edward had waited until the guards were idly distracted, one watching the tv in their office and the other out using the bathroom. Ed had taken the pen apart and used it to quietly break out of his cell.

He didn't plan on escaping though, no, he was going to visit you.

You heard a knock on your office door, you got up, and answered it only to see Edward's 6'0 figure standing over you.

Edward's hand shot over your mouth and shoved you into your office, he closed and locked the door behind you two.

Explanations of what he was doing tumbled out of his mouth before you shushed him and asked why he broke out of his cell to see you when you two had a session earlier that day.

He ended up telling you that he loved you and needed you to know it, he thought of you every day and he even told you how attractive he finds you.

You had to admit, he was attractive himself and was nice. If he wasn't a patient you would probably date him, so you told him that.

"What's stopping you from dating me now?" "I don't see a problem with you dating me," and things of those sorts came from Edward, he wanted to date you and do more with you than just sessions where you assessed if he was mentally sane.

He gave some compelling arguments and you agreed under the condition he doesn't tell anyone about it.

Edward kissed you he was so happy and he was a surprisingly good kisser, his hands were on your hips and yours were tangled in his hair.

He backed you onto your desk and one thing led to another which led to Edward fucking you while you were bent over your desk. He was gentle and knew exactly how to make you cum.

After that, you were extra careful to cover up your tracks. At least once a week, Edward said he would only talk to you if there were no cameras in the room and no one watching you two. That always either led to you getting fucked or you two cuddling in the room.

Edward also went out of his way to make your time a little easier. A patient is giving you shit? Whoops! They seem to have been killed under mysterious circumstances.

Your boss is being an asshole? He'll be sure to get at least one punch in the next time he sees the old prick.

You were just the small, helpless, adorable psychiatrist to him! Even when you two are intimate it shows.

He loves that he's taller than you, it turns him on. When he's fucking you, he likes to hold your hand or press his chest against your back and cover your form.

He loves pet names that show belonging to him (my baby, my sweet boy, stuff like that)

If you also use pet names like that I think he would instantly dedicate his life to you

You're his and he's yours, which means he does get jealous but let him bend you over your desk and slowly thrust into you until your begging for more and he'll feel ok again!

Once your boss almost catches on, Ed quickly covers up with the clever plan to fake attack you during a session. He put on the act of being pissed all day and lunged at you when you opened the door. The guard saw and reported it, meaning you two got to keep dating after all!

Once he gets his official "sanity" certificate, he is let free and you two start living together.

Eventually, you're able to quit your job at Arkham and get a new one, Ed appreciates being able to see you more.

≻ ┄┄ ♡ ┄┄ ≺

[oddball-artz]

I am gonna flood your inbox, just warning you now 🤗

So, you want questions? I'll give some to ya.

1. How tall is Dalia?

2. If she was granted anything she could want, what would she want?

3. Any family? If so, who's she closer too?

4. How does she feel about colorguard? Is she good at it?

5. If she was friends with one of my own oc's? Who, and why would she be friends with them?

6. Lastly, if she was dared to eat dirt for 20$ would she?

Sorry for all the questions! I wanna know more abt her, and squeeze her like she's one of my blorbos.

Here we go, in order! :]

1, Dalia is 5'6, and she's also 15 and weighs around 160 pounds just to cover bases

2, if she could have anything, it would probably be peace of mind. She's usually worried about something or someone, and she puts her concerns about and need to protect those close to her above her own needs. She wants a way to just shut out her thoughts and have the peace her epithet can provide to others, but if she tries to use her epithet on herself it doesn't work, so she's constantly seeking out ways to get that peace, but her thoughts never go away, she can push them to the back of her mind but they're always there and she wishes they weren't. (Lowkey needs therapy tbh)

3, alr family wise she has a pretty big family(so many cousins but I'll make a tree later, I promise) but for immediate family she has 2 siblings, both younger. The middle kid is Esme, and she's 9, and she's pretty close with Dalia (even though some days she makes her wanna rip her own hair out bc omfg does this kid not listen). The youngest is named Jasper, he's 8, and he's sweet, but that doesn't mean he doesn't cause trouble, it's just that when he just does it's more sneakily than when Esme does it. When they play together, it's just basically this (https://youtube.com/shorts/7EVy_Bh6lNk?si=qKcONC0YZzcMUH2b sorry idk how else to link it) Dalia regularly walks in on them being like this and is used to it at this point. Her mom is pretty distant and is constantly working, and Dalia wishes she was around more. Her mom(named Avery) also just kinda pins her siblings onto Dalia whenever her dad isn't home. Her dad(named Carter) is a stay at home dad who's trying his best. He's got a lot going on, but despite it all, he's pretty close with Dalia. They have the same sense of humor, so if you put them in a room together, they constantly crack jokes at each other. He was on drumline when he was her age, and that's part of the reason she joined guard bc she wanted to be involved with the marching band like her dad. She looks up to him a lot.

4, she likes colorguard a lot, but there was definitely a learning curve. If you saw her at her first performance compared to her latest, you wouldn't think it's the same person. She gets super nervous before performances tho (she cried because of her nerves before her first real performance) but the more performances and practice she got under her belt the better her nerves have gotten(she still gets a little panicky before big shows and parades, but nothing compared to how it used to be)

5, Prolly Sabrina, i feel her idgaf energy would ground Dalia in a way(I have a lot of friends with that energy and idk why but it grounds me, so now figuring out why is Dalia's problem lmao) They also have similar music taste(Dalia playlist coming soon) If they were friends they'd totally send eachother fanfic for fandoms they're both in at ungodly hours of the night lmao

6, short answer, no (but if you push, yes.) Long answer no, and not because she's above eating dirt for cash but because she knows she'll probably get made fun of if she does. She folds to peer pressure pretty easy tho (people pleaser) and could probably be convinced to if you pushed her about it.

(Sorry this took so long to make lmao, and tysm for asking questions about her. Sorry if this is kinda bad. I'm a better artist than I am a writer)

[drabbles-mc]

Personal Business

Bishop Losa x GN!Reader

Whumptober 2022: No.16 No Way Out- "No one’s coming”

Warnings: 18+, Major Character Death, angst, language, mentions of blood/injury

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: Whewwww this one was a doozy to write. I haven’t written Bish in a hot minute and this is how I welcome him back into the rotation. 😅 Timeline-wise, I picture this happening at the end of S3. Anyway. Idk what else to say about this one. It’s something, for sure lmao. Shout-out to @narcolini​ and @garbinge​ for helping me really figure out how to make this one hurt.

Bishop Losa Taglist: @masterlistforimagines @sincerelyasomebody @thesandbeneathmytoes @withmyteeth @kelpies-shed @queenbeered @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @arveeee @buckybarneshairpullingkink @plentyoffandoms @themoonandthewicked @bucky-iss-bae @bport76 @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @lakamaa12 @i-love-scott-mccall @beardsanddetectives @redpoodlern @punkgoddess-98 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @just1bri @fanfic-n-tabulous @anditsmywholeheart @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @choochoo284​ @passionatewrites​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

He hadn’t told you where he was going, not exactly. But the options were limited. It wasn’t as though he had a long list of friends he could go to. There weren’t a lot of choices for couch-surfing. If the circumstances had been different, you would’ve started asking around, talking to members of the club. They were the last friends that Bishop had these days, but with the way that things had shaken out, they had it in for him too. It was tough to have a longer list of enemies than friends.

When he’d told you that he needed to get out of town for a couple weeks, your first response hadn’t been where. It hadn’t even been why. When he told you that he was going to be laying low, you hadn’t asked him anything at all. You had all the answers that you needed. All you told him was that if he was going to be laying low, he better be laying really fucking low.

The club safehouses were out. Those were some of the first places that the MC would look. And, while Bishop had been on a rampage of making poorly-informed decisions, you knew that he wasn’t going to be that stupid.  That checked off a few more places on the list of potential spots. You thought about all of the random roadside motels that you passed in your travels. Enough long hours sitting on the back of Bishop’s bike and your brain turned into its own roadmap of sorts. But you didn’t think that he would stay somewhere that would be so obvious, somewhere that would leave his bike in such plain view and give him away.

A lot of places had been knocked off the list. For a moment it left you wondering where the hell he would go. But then it hit you—Santo Padre wasn’t where everything started for Bishop. Oakland wasn’t either, although most days he probably wished that it was. He had a life before that, though. A life before Alvarez took him in. The past was a good place to hide for someone like Bishop, someone who never shared that part of themselves with anyone. Except for you. He shared it with you.

You knew more than most, but even so, it wasn’t as though Bishop had rattled off old addresses to you as a form of pillow-talk. You got some brief glimpses into what his life had been like before the club, before the military. He didn’t talk much about his parents but you were one of the few people that he mentioned them to at all. You could count on one hand with fingers left over the number of times you heard him mention his hometown. But you remembered it regardless.

It wasn’t as far of a drive as you thought it’d be. The town was about what you’d expected. In some ways, it reminded you a lot of Santo Padre—small, poor. But even though it lacked the shiny appeal of the larger surrounding cities, it still had a homey feel to it. Maybe it only felt that way because it reminded you of SP. You wondered what other ghosts were here besides Bishop’s.

Then you had to figure out where you were even supposed to start. Assuming that he was actually here, you had to hope that he had gotten comfortable and sloppy, or that you were just going to get insanely lucky and stumble across him. Both of those things felt just as unlikely as the other. He wasn’t sloppy, and you weren’t lucky.

You were methodical, though. It was a small town, the kind of town that had about one of everything. One gas station, one main supermarket, one mechanic. There were only so many places for people to go. You figured that if you were going to catch Bishop anywhere, it would be wherever they were selling alcohol by the handle or the six-pack.

It paid off, too. It wasn’t an immediate win, but when you went back to the gas station the second day, it wasn’t too long before you heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle coming down the road. You chuckled to yourself at the consistency he showed. Even when he was in a different town trying to stay as off the grid as he could, there were still some habits that never went away.

You didn’t approach him in public—you knew better than that. You knew how to tail someone and not get caught, too. So you waited until he had parked his motorcycle in the garage of the small house that he had apparently been squatting in. You wondered how it all came together. The house was still in decent enough shape. Bishop either had one friend left around here, or there was yet another thing that no one knew about him.

You parked your car on the street, only grabbing your phone, keys, and your gun when you stepped out. You tucked the gun in the back of your waistband, stuffed your keys and your phone into the pockets of your jeans. The silence of the street made the sound of your boots on the cracked blacktop seem much louder than it really was. Even though you knew it was ridiculous, you were almost worried that Bishop was going to hear you before you even knocked on the door.

Three times. You knocked three times and waited. When you didn’t hear anything coming from the other side, you knocked again. You didn’t see anyone peaking out from the other side of any curtains so you knew that he must’ve just been trying to wait it out. You weren’t going to be kicking the door.

Instead, you leaned against the frame and knocked a couple more times. You spoke up, not a yell but just above your usual talking volume so you knew that he would be able to hear you from the other side of the door. “It’s me.”

You waited, and were getting ready to knock obnoxiously again when you heard the clicking of locks on the other side of the door. You pushed yourself off the doorframe and waited. Seconds later, he pulled the door open from the other side. Not all the way, just enough for the two of you to see each other.

You held your hands out, wordlessly emphasizing that they were empty. “It’s just me, Obispo. No one else is coming.”

He looked shocked and worried, if not also a little impressed, “How the fuck did you…”

You shrugged, offering up a disarming smile, “We always find a way, right?”

He nodded slowly, still not sure how he felt about it all. “Right.”

“Do we have to keep awkwardly talking through this crack in the door? Or do I get to come inside?”

He hesitated, but after a few long seconds, he opened the door up just wide enough to let you slip inside. Even though he didn’t comment on it, he noticed the gun tucked into your waistband. He couldn’t judge since he had one in the hand that wasn’t opening the door. Once you were inside, he shut and redid all of the locks built into the frame.

“See you took my advice about the locks,” you said as you nodded towards the door, thinking back to his home in Santo Padre, that just had the deadbolt and the flimsy lock built into the knob. It never seemed like enough in your opinion.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, cutting right to the chase.

“I should be asking you that.”

“I told you, I’m laying low so—”

“Since when do you lay low?” you cut him off.

His face scrunched in annoyance for a moment, “Since the entire fucking club wants my head on a goddamn platter.”

“That’s not new.” You shook your head. “That’s been the case for a long time now. What changed?”

You saw his body tense up even more than it already was. He shook his head. “Shit that I can’t do anything about now.”

Neither of you said anything for a bit after that. You were both standing tensely, awkwardly in the center of the living room. Everything inside the house was clearly outdated, but it wasn’t as though the place was filthy. It just clearly hadn’t been updated in a long while. Your eyes darted around, taking in what you could. You noticed the photos on the walls. Your lips turned into a pensive frown as you realized that the young boy in a few of the pictures looked very much like what you had pictured a young Obispo to look like.

"I figured you would’ve sold this place. Or had it fucking demolished,” you let out a half-hearted laugh.

“Kept it like a rainy-day fund,” his tone was neutral, eyes trying to peel you apart.

“Storm finally came?”

“Answer the question. What the fuck are you doing here?” His agitation was enough that you felt like you were breathing it in.

You sounded as casual as ever. “I was worried about you.”

His grip around the gun tightened, but he didn’t raise it. “You don’t worry.”

“Alright,” you conceded, “I was curious.”

“About?”

“Where you were.”

He was expecting more. When you didn’t give it, he said, “You didn’t seem that fuckin’ curious when I told you I was leaving.”

You shrugged. “You were freaking out. Wasn’t going to get any answers out of you then anyway.”

“Figured if you tracked me down, you would?”

“Guess we’ll see.” You paused. “So. What the fuck is going on, Obispo?”

“I told you—”

“Don’t lie to me.” You shook your head. “You’re not good at it anymore.” You waited for him to respond to the statement. When he didn’t, you continued. “If the club was really all you were worried about, you would’ve taken me with you. Or, at least, that’s what I’d hope since we both know I’m the first person they’d be going after. But you left me back in Santo Padre.”

“Club wouldn’t lay a hand on you,” he argued.

“Bullshit,” you said with a laugh and a roll of your eyes. “You guys will put your hands on anyone if you think it’ll get you what you want.” You saw the way his eyes widened at the accusation, but he didn’t try to refute it.

“Say what you came to say.”

Your eyes flickered down to the gun in his hand, but you still didn’t reach for the one that you had. You had the upper-hand for now—you didn’t need it. Hooking your thumbs on your beltloops, you made yourself stand a little straighter. “I know what you did. What,” you shook your head, “what your fucking club did.”

“And what’s that?” The confidence was fake, but it sounded good.

“Did you really think that I wasn’t going to find out? That, that fucking Canche wasn’t going to tell me?” You shook your head. “Shouldn’t have burned so many of the fucking bridges between you and your brothers. Maybe they’d be less willing to air out all of your dirty fucking laundry.”

He shook his head, but you saw the fear in his eyes. “Canche’s a fucking snake.”

“Yeah.” You scoffed. “Apparently the two of you have that in common.”

“What’d he tell you then, huh?” He was about to gesture with the hand holding the gun but he stopped himself.

“He told me,” you took a slow, calculated step towards Bishop, reveling in the fact that he backpedaled as you did, “that you are the person that I should be asking about what happened to my brother.”

“I didn’t do—”

“Fuck you,” you cut him off. “Don’t try to pass the buck on that. Those were your guys,” the heartbreak seeped into your voice for the first time in days. “Your guys did that to my brother.”

“He wasn’t supposed to be there.”

“Well he was!”

“He chose to stay on Canche’s side! That was his fucking mistake!” He shook his head, looking at you. “And you chose to stay with me.”

“Yea,” you nodded, “and that was my fucking mistake.”

“You didn’t want this shit to get messy, you shouldn’t have fucking gotten involved.”

“Right,” you scoffed. “My bad for thinking that messy didn’t mean you were gonna have your guys blowing up my fucking brother. Oh, and then not fucking telling me!”

The entire situation was impossible to wrap your mind around. You knew that things with the entire club were in a state of chaos right now. You knew that there was going to have to be some bloodshed to calm it all down again. But you didn’t think that your brother was going to get caught up in the middle of it that way. There was always a risk, but this wasn’t him losing in a gunfight. This was much more than that. And to lose him and then have Bishop lie to you and tell you that he had no idea what had happened were two completely separate issues.

“EZ is the one who—”

“EZ didn’t lie to me.”

“You didn’t ask him.”

“He didn’t owe me a fucking explanation!” you snapped. “Fucking hell, Bish. This,” you motioned between the two of you, “whatever you wanna fucking call what’s going on here, that means you owe me. You owe me the truth. Especially when it’s about my fucking family.”

“What do you want from me, then? You want me to say it?” He shrugged. “Fine. I sent those guys to blow Canche to fucking pieces and your brother got caught in the crossfire.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” despite the cool tone you said it in, there were still tears in your eyes.

“What, that’s it? We’re good now?”

You laughed, tears escaping onto your cheeks but you ignored them. “Oh, no, we’re not fucking good now.”

“So, what, you’re gonna tell the club that I’m here and—”

“No,” you didn’t let him finish the sentence. “I told you, Obispo, no one is coming. It’s,” you laughed, “it’s just me. Because this isn’t club shit anymore.” You stepped in so that you were chest-to-chest. “This is between us, now.”

“What happened with him,” he shook his head, “it wasn’t personal.”

“Yes it was!” You shoved him, sending him stumbling back. “It was personal! That was my brother!”

“It wasn’t about him.”

“Well it’s about him now!”

You reached and pulled the gun out from the back of your waistband, aiming it at Bishop’s chest. What little space you’d put between you by shoving him was now broken by your outstretched arm. Bishop was still clinging tightly to his gun, but he didn’t raise it at you. The look of shock in his eyes let you know that he wasn’t expecting you to be able to pull it on him. He should’ve known better. You both should’ve known better.

“You think that pulling the trigger is going to make us even? That it’s going to make anything better?” He scoffed but it wasn’t enough to paint over the fear coursing through him. “You kill me, then what the fuck was any of it for?”

You rolled your eyes. “You trying to make this into some greater purpose bullshit? Fuck you.”

“It was the only way—”

“Don’t,” you felt the tic in your jaw as you spoke, “Don’t do that. Don’t keep lying to me.”

“There is no right thing for me to say to you here,” he admitted. And it was the one thing that he had been right about. You watched as he reached, slowly pushing your gun down so that it pointed to the floor. “Come on. You’re not doing this.”

You frowned, hating how your lips were still quivering. “I should.”

He nodded. “Yea, you probably fucking should. But we both know it’s not going to fix anything.”

“No,” you conceded, “it won’t.”

His shoulders sagged with relief ever so slightly. “Alright, so let’s just fucking—”

You cut him off as you raised the gun again, “But it’s still gonna feel really fucking good.”

His eyes widened, his mouth opening to try and come up with some type of hail Mary argument, something that would miraculously change your mind. But your mind had been made up a long time ago. Bishop could promise you anything in the goddamn universe and it wouldn’t make a shred of a difference.

The first bullet didn’t go into his chest, or his head. That felt too quick. That felt too easy. You wanted it to hurt. He deserved that. The second that the bullet lodged itself into his stomach, he fell to the ground, his back slumped slightly against the wall. He went to lift his own gun in an attempt to try and defend himself, but you were faster. Before he could given get it six inches off the ground, you were kicking the gun out of his hand. It clattered and slid across the floor. You saw him staring after it, but he knew that there was no way he was going to get up and retrieve it.

You saw the blood starting to pool on the floor. You heard the change in his breathing as he reached for the bullet wound, even though he knew that trying to put pressure on it would be futile. You watched him for a moment, not feeling good about it, but not feeling bad about it either. Lifting the gun again, you fired another shot into his chest. Not into his heart—you didn’t plant it on the correct side of his chest for that. But it was enough to inflict more damage, more pain.

Crouching down, you put yourself eye level with him. You could see it in his eyes the second he went from frantic to accepting. He knew that there was no getting out of this now. You shook your head at him.

“When people ask me about you, Obispo, if I know anything about what happened to you,” you shook your head, “I’m not gonna tell ‘em shit.” You placed the gun beneath his chin, tilting his head up so that he was forced to look you in the eyes. “You get to rot here, in this deadbeat little town, in your forgotten fucking house. Just like you deserve.”

He sputtered, and you could tell that he was trying to say your name. You gave him a couple tries to get it out. When he couldn’t, you continued. “Someone was always going to get you eventually. I’m just,” you wrapped your finger around the trigger, “glad that it was me.”

“Please,” he managed to force out.

You took in a deep breath, thinking on it for a moment before shaking your head. You didn’t have to say anything else. He knew. As much as it hurt for him to try and take a deep breath, he still tried. His eyes shut as he braced for what he knew was coming. You pressed your lips into a thin line, knowing just as well as he did that you couldn’t go back on this now. Before you could drag it out any longer, you squeezed your finger around the trigger.

Blood splattered back against the wall and tears ran down your cheeks. You knew that they weren’t the last ones you’d shed. But there was no time to dwell on it. In such a quiet town, the gunshots weren’t going to go unnoticed.

Standing up, you tucked your gun back into your waistband and took off towards the car. You were thankful that it didn’t seem like anyone was around at the moment. Shoving the key into the ignition, you started making your way back to Santo Padre, your life a whole lot emptier than it had been a few days before. But, as you kept your death-grip on the steering wheel, you knew that you didn’t regret it. You didn’t love it, but you didn’t regret it. You were going to have to settle for that for now.