#just gonna be a day behind and eliminate a day completely

[hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend]

Rare Pair Week 2023: Meet Cute

Well last week was all for Sib and Thanny and this week gets to be about Demos and Yugiri! So please have their first interaction from way back in A Realm Reborn.  no warnings. word count: 1.4k

Demos grunts as he puts the wooden crate onto the cart, pushing it to the side when Thancred comes up next to him. “Well other than the few sacks over there,” Thancred says with a small groan, “we’ve got everything loaded.” He claps his hands free of dust once pushing the crate into place, leaning against the cart with folded arms as Demos starts to make sure everything is secure. The rogue’s eyes don’t leave their mysterious guest as she talks to some of the refugees, a small smirk forming on his lips. “Do you ever wonder just what she looks like underneath that hood of hers?”

Demos glances over, shrugging, “Doesn’t seem that important.”

Thancred rolls his eyes, “Can you not humor me, Demos? She must be hiding something if she’s choosing to wear that dark of clothing and a full mask in the heat of Thanalan.”

“Well if she is then it’s none of our business to pry. You told me she just came all the way over from the East where the Empire is in full control,” Thancred nods, “Then there’s no need to try and push her to take off her mask. Wasn’t long ago the Empire had some strongholds here.”

“So you’re implying she’s a wanted woman? Which means she must be a thing of beauty underneath.”

“Really, Thancred?”

“What?” Demos lets out a heavy sigh, shaking his head, “No, tell me. What is it you’re trying to say to me?”

“Didn’t you just break things off with Siberite?”

His jaw tightens, arms folding tighter, “It didn’t just happen. That ended a long time ago.”

He huffs out a laugh, “Two and a half weeks ago isn’t a long time ago.”

“Might as well be,” he grumbles with a wave of his hand, “How do you know that any way? Didn’t think that was something you'd keep count of.”

“I don’t. Siberite does. You all still send me with her on missions just like yesterday.”

“Surprised she still talks about me,” Thancred chuckles, “Guess I just have that effect.”

Demos snorts, “Not really. I had to listen to that woman talk for three hours straight on her latest conquests.”

“Latest conquests,” he balks, scoffing with a shake of his head, “Did she happen to tell you any names?”

“I said she talked for three hours straight, didn’t say I listened for three hours.”

“Well how is that helpful to me?”

“It’s not, but you know what would be? Going and talking to her about it like you should have done.”

“She said she wanted nothing to do with me.”

Demos looks upward, with a sigh, Oh Menphina help me with these two, “Look if you’re feeling the need to get involved with someone else connected to the Scions I’d highly advise you against that. And especially not with someone that’s just had to leave her whole life behind to start anew in what pretty much feels like a new world.”

Thancred huffs, putting his hands up, “Okay, fine. I’ll leave it be for now, but not because you told me.” He looks over the cart as Demos tosses on the last sack, “Now if you don’t mind, I believe my work here is done, so I’m going to have some fun, twould seem I prefer the company of the local tavern anyway.” 

Demos shakes his head, watching as Thancred stalks off to the tavern across the way, giving one final tug on the leather straps. He turns to his patiently waiting caribou, Oisín, giving a solid pat on his neck, “Hopefully those two are the kind of people that need to be dramatic about things first. Just hope they get over it soon.” The animal gives a shake of his head, Demos giving a nice scratch between his antlers, “Yeah, probably not.” He sighs, petting the animal once more, “In the meantime Oisín we gotta get this stuff up north.” He just begins to secure Oisín to the cart when he can feel someone approaching him. 

“You are making your way to Mor Dhona, is that correct?” 

“Yep,” he turns, looking down to see the hooded woman looking up at him, “Thought you’d be on the carts with the others? Can’t have run out of room for you.”

“They haven’t no, but I am told you will be bringing up the rear of this caravan.” He nods, “Then I shall like to join you. I am told one of your best fighters is leading the way and I should like to ensure my people’s safety.”

“Mean you’re more than welcome so long as you don’t mind being in tight quarters,” he smiles gesturing to the small bench and then to the cart itself, “or ridin’ on top of crates.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Then after you ma’am,” he says, bending down to create a foothold for her to climb onto the bench. She doesn’t say anything, taking his assistance to settle herself, “Oh, if you want there’s a small pillow just behind you.” She gives a small tilt of her head, “People I’ve taken in this cart tend to not be as acclimated to long trips sitting on wood. And the champion says it’s uncomfortable when you have a tail.” He shrugs, giving one more check to Oisín’s straps, smiling when he’s satisfied, “Alright boy let’s get goin’.” Demos watches as the others begin to move into the tunnel leaving Vesper Bay, giving his signal to go as the two sit silently. 

They’ve just made it to the halfway point when she says, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“The scars on your face, how-?”

“You heard I was a healer I take it,” he finishes giving a half attempted smile.

“Forgive me. I did not know you were. I don’t mean to pry.”

He chuckles, “Ah, don’t be. Sure you got a good reason to ask, you don’t seem like the kind of person to broach a subject like that on a whim. Besides, it's nothin’ too bad. At one point we went up against this primal, she shot out feathers. Got nicked by them is all.”

“So why the scar?”

“Things got busy, moved quickly, didn’t think ‘bout it until much later and body was already doing it’s thing. So it was gonna leave some kind of mark anyway. Just had an old friend stitch it up where it needed to be.”

“Have you seen a lot of combat like that? Or are you used to a busier battlefield?”

“You trying to fill the silence?” She looks away, leaving Demos with a frown, “You’re fine to do so. Just you know, asking a lot of questions and I don’t believe we even know each other’s names.”

Her head snaps up to look at him, “No one thought to tell you my name? But you are a part of the Scions.”

“I am, but I don’t hang around much. Probably why they never told you mine.”

“I-. Hm, now that I think about it, I don’t believe I was ever formally told.”

“Then we should get on that,” Demos clears his throat, holding out a hand, “I’m Demos.”

“Yugiri,” she says with a light laugh taking his hand, “a pleasure to meet you.”

The caribou belts out a cry, making the two jump. “Oh, right. Sorry. And this guy here, Yugiri, is Oisín. You’re gonna have to pet him and give an apple when we get down to make up for the fact we can’t currently.”

She laughs, holding a hand to hide most of it, “Well it is also nice to meet you Oisín.” She turns to look at Demos, the sun hitting her covered face just right to allow for him to see through the fabric long enough to know she has a smile, one he returns in kind. “Demos, would it be alright with you, if I asked you a few more questions?”

“Can’t guarantee I’ll have a good answer but sure, just promise you’ll answer a few of mine along the way.” She nods before jumping into a line of questions that keep conversation going until they reach their destination. 

She jumps down with hardly a sound, giving a small bow, “Thank you for letting me accompany you, Demos. I hope we will have some more time in the future to talk again.”

“Same to you, Yugiri,” he says with a wave watching as she gets lost amongst the other Domans taking in the new sights, mumbling, “Same to you.”

[theres-a-body-here]

Hi could you do Genji, Hanzo, Cassidy, lifewaver and Mauga (separately) where they have matching skins with thier s/o

It took some convincing to make these boys match with you, some more than others, but you were determined to be twinsies on the field.

I threw in two extras, as a treat

Cole Cassidy - Sherlock Holmes and Watson

Took little to no convincing to have him match with you, but he was dead set on being Sherlock

This isn't negotiable

Expect to hear everything but your name out there

"Dear boy", "Watson", and "My dear" is all you're gonna be referred as

Cassidy will refuse to respond to you unless you refer to him as "sir" or "boss"

You could take a bullet to the side and he'll be kneeling over you like: "Hmm, yes, that is indeed a nasty wound my boy"

"You're a moron.....Sir" you groan out as he drags you to Mercy

Eventually, you really play into the roll

wrapping your arms around Cassidy from behind as you press your cheek against his

"Do you have a plan, Boss?"

He coughs, being caught off guard

"Yes, my dear Watson...it's uhh....ya know, this" He says as he spins peacemaker in his hands

"World's greatest detective, everyone" You remark sarcastically

Genji Shimada - Kamen Rider

He's actually the one who first asked to match costumes

You both bickered over who to be

Genji insisted you dress as Evolto, but you also wanted to be Kamen

In the end, you both dressed as Kamen

Genji dressed as Kamen Rider Blade

You dressed as Kamen Rider Gaia

You both pose and exclaim with a loud "Henshin!" after every elimination

The others don't really get it

Genji kinda just shuffles over and hugs you, pressing his faceplate into your chest sadly after being called a "Power Ranger" for the 5th time.

You have to stifle your laughter as you comfort him

"It's not the same thing," he whines, voice muffled by your chest

"Yeah buddy, they're completely different franchises," you chuckle out, rubbing his back

Niran "Bua" Pruksamanee - Bee and Flower

Pretty excited to match costumes with you

Niran took a pretty long time to pick which flower to dress as

"Maybe I should stick with Lotus, but...Jasmines..." he mutters as he brings fabrics to his chest, imagining himself as each flower

you sat on his bed wearing a bumblebee suit, watching on as Niran struggled to make a decision

He settles on fuchsia, bright purples and trailing fabric

Costume is so extravagant that you look comically out of place in your cheap Bee outfit

Niran doesn't mind, in fact, he finds it cute

He especially loves your puns

"Bee mine," you coo as you kiss his cheek

He chuckles as he returns the kiss

Hanzo Shimada - Cupid and Eros

You're gonna have to bust out all your tricks to convince this man to wear something so, in his words, undignified

What ever you do to get him into the cupid costume, expect complaints

"This is....embarassing," he mutters begrudgingly as he sits on your bed, tugging at his pastel pink wings

The bathroom door opens as you step out in your Eros outfit

"How do I look, Babe?'

Hanzo's face immediately erupts into a blazing red

"Wh-What are you wearing?" he exclaims as he adverts his gaze, looking at anywhere but you

Your outfit is... minimal to say the least

Wings, red sash, sandals, bow, and a thin loincloth. That's literally it

Besides that? Nearly all of your skin was on display

"Aww, you don't like it?" you tease as you walk closer to Hanzo

You straddle his lap, feeling him stiffen under you

You cup his face while you rub his cheeks with your thumbs

"I'm just teasing you. I have a much more modest outfit ready

Hanzo lets out a sigh as he looks at you

You lean in closer, ghosting your lips over his ear

"This one is for tonight" you whisper

Hanzo swears you'll be the end of him one day

Maugaloa Malosi - Māui and Hine-nui-te-pō

You brought up the idea of matching costumes and he instantly had a mischievous look in his eyes

He agreed on the condition that he chooses the theme

He dressed as Māui and he helped make a costume for you

You recognized Māui from a movie, but you had no idea who Hine-nui-te-pō was

"Don't worry about it" he assured you with a chuckle

You two had a blast on the battlefield with your matching costumes

Although, you couldn't help but think something was up every time Mauga glanced at you

He'd smirk and throw you a wink

But this was Mauga, so it didn't really set off a red flag

Its not until the end of the battle where a talon grunt said something

"What he'd do to convince you to dress like that?"

You looked confused. The grunt explained she was from New Zealand.

She told you the story of Māui and Hine-nui-te-pō

Your face went from shock, embarrassment, to rage

You stomped your way to Mauga, who wore a shit-eating grin

You stood in front of him as your swung your hands to slap him

But you're too short

"God dammit! Lean over, asshole!" you cry as you jump at him Mauga breaks into a fit of laughter as he picks you up and swings you around

Jamison Fawkes - Yoshikage Kira and Killer Queen

Surprisingly, Junkrat was pretty hesitant to match costumes

He was worried changing clothes would include bathing

He likes his soot and burns thank you very much

"I have an aesthetic to maintain, mate"

But you knew how to break him

The moment the words "turns anything into a bomb" left your lips, he was instantly on board

Obviously he was gonna be the explosion cat

But since this was Junkrat, you had to approve his costume beforehand

You deadass had to explain to him why entering a bathtub of alcohol and pink sharpie markers to color his skin was a terrible idea

"But the damn cat's pink isn't it?" He asks, dumbfounded that you had a problem with his genius idea

"We'll use facepaint, babe"

You show off your costumes to the rest

Jamie wearing cat ears, Pink face paint, and leather gloves

You wearing a suit, dyed your hair blond, and severed mannequin hand in your pocket

After an ultimate that wiped out a good number of the enemy team, Junkrat clears his throat to speak

"Watashi no na wa "Kira yoshikage" nenrei 33-sai jitaku wa moriōchō hokutō-bu no bessō chitai ni ari ..."

The rest of you kinda stood around staring at him shocked

"I didn't know Mr. Fawkes knew japanese," Mei comments to you in a hushed voice, not wanting to interrupt Junkrat

You and Roadhog kinda look at each other

"He doesn't" you both say in unison

Reinhardt Wilhelm - Knight and Squire

A Knight and his squire? Count him in!

To be honest, you being his squire is somewhat of a fantasy he has, so Reinhardt was pretty excited to match costumes with you

You let him have a major say in your outfit since it was apparent this was big for him

He picked out colors of the old Crusade; Muted browns, greens and vibrant golds

Reinhardt wore his Balderich outfit

He fumbled to find a camera to capture the moment

Before you two left to meet up with the others for training drills, Reinhardt stopped you

"Y/N...can you...do something for me?" He asks nervously, voice almost a whisper

"Yeah sure, what's up big guy?"

"Can you bring me my hammer?" he finally responds after a while

You shrug and walk over to grab the massive weapon, bringing it over with a bit of strain

You had an idea of why he asked you to do this

You knelt on one knee and raised the hammer with both hands

"Your hammer, Sir Wilhelm"

Reinhardt's hands clench into a fists, the fabric of the gloves making a creaking sound from the pressure

He pushes the hammer aside and pulls you in for a bone crushing bear hug

"You've made this old dog happy, Y/N" he mutters as he nuzzles his face into your neck

"Yeah, sure, no problem" you strain out as you see spots on your vision

Reinhardt drops you immediately

"Sorry..." he mutters as he pats your shoulder

[neos127]

yang jungwon x fem!reader | moth to a flame

genre. toxic relationship (jungwon isn’t the best guy) cw. none rlly notes. based on ‘moth to a flame’ by the weeknd

“but does he know you call me when he sleeps”

“does he know the pictures that you keep”

your pencil softly glided against the paper in your notebook with soft strokes, the rain pattering against the window being the only sound in a quiet room.

your bedroom door suddenly opened with a small click, and a comforting presence approached your frame from behind. a smile graced your face before you could even see who the person was, but you knew.

jungwon leaned down to place a lingering kiss on your neck, his lips soft and delicate against your skin. you turned around to face him, dropping your pencil to the desk and cupping his cheek.

“hi.” you spoke, your voice so low that the heavy rain nearly drowned it out.

“hi.” jungwon replied, barley being able to hide the large smile on his face. seeing you always seemed to fill him with energy and a sense of comfort that he could only find in your presence.

“i thought you were gonna be with jake tonight.” jungwon mumbled, his mood suddenly shifting at the thought of you and jake together. simply imagining you in his arms or him having you under him made him feel sick, but ultimately jake was the one you should’ve been spending your nights with.

jake was a gentleman, loved by parents and friends all over, someone who would treat your daughter right and leave no doubt in your mind that he’s a good guy. but for some peculiar reason, like a moth drawn to a flame, you always made your way back to jungwon.

“you should be with him.” jungwon said to you one day, wincing as you patched up the cuts littered around his face. it was due to yet another fight that jungwon had gotten involved in— his lifestyle caused him to get in quite a bit of trouble. that was why jungwon wanted you with the man who he thought you were in love with.

“but i don’t love him.” you replied, ignoring the frustrated look in jungwon’s eyes as you packed up your first aid kit.

“i can’t offer you anything better than jake can. you know this, y/n.” jungwon mumbled dryly, his eyes narrowed as he stared down at his battered floors. he couldn’t even afford a decent place for rent, a princess like you deserved somewhere safe to reside.

jungwon had been very possessive of you in the past, nearly losing his shit when he had found out about your casual relationship with jake. there wasn’t much he could do about it, you and jungwon weren’t a couple either and you had been with other people in the past. but what irked the man more than anything, was the fact that jake was exactly what you deserved in a partner. he was the complete opposite of jungwon, and that was a good thing.

at first, jungwon tried to keep you away from him. relishing in the fact that he was the one you called at night, that he was the one you went to for anything. but soon enough, a moment of clarity washed over jungwon. his lifestyle was insanely shitty and you needed better than that.

“don’t try to push me away.” you gritted out, forcing jungwon to look at you. he had rarely ever seen you so upset before, and it shocked him to see how you were willing to throw away your morals for him. despite the many times you had shown your loyalty, jungwon was still in awe with your willingness to stay by his side.

“my heart lies with you. i know it’s crazy and stupid and no— i don’t think i can fix you. i don’t want to. i just want you.” you spoke up before jungwon could get another word in. you had settled in his lap again, your grip on his chin becoming lighter. jungwon’s eyes softened as he looked at your face, a laugh threatening to tumble from his mouth. you definitely couldn’t say the same, but how did he get so lucky…?

“y/n— you’re crazy.” he said softly, watching as you leaned closer to eliminate the gap between you two. you shook your head, tracing a finger over his swollen bottom lip.

“no. i just really love you, yang jungwon.” you whispered against his lips before kissing him.

“does he know where your heart lies”

“where it truly lies…”

[ghostssweetgirl]

Okay, I've got you. 🤪

What if reader (already in established relationship with the boys 141+los vaqueros) asks them "Would you love me if I was a worm"

Its gonna be so much fun!

😂😭💀Dying at this LMAO it's a legit question though, because if they wouldn't love you in ANY form do they really love you? 😂😂😂 @ghostslillady

Reader x TF141 + Los Vaqueros | Would You Still Love Me if I Was a Worm?

Captain 'John' Price

"Hey, babe," you looked over at him with a smile on your face.

"Yes, dear?"

"I have a question."

"What's that, love?"

"Would you still love me if I was a worm?" you said it outright and confidently as you held eye contact with him.

"A worm?" he laughed. "Bloody hell kind of question is that?"

"I'm being serious!"

"I... I don't have an answer for that, darlin'," he shook his head while he chuckled, you could see his cheeks flushed red.

"So... you wouldn't?" you frowned, looking down at the ground.

He sighed. "Yes, yes, I would, y/n. I'd still love you if you were... a fuckin' worm." He peered over at you with an unamused look on his face. You smiled ear to ear, happy that he'd still love you... even in an unrealistic scenario...

John 'Soap' MacTavish

"Babyyyy..." you crawled closer to him on the couch, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug.

"Hey, there, pretty," he chuckled, hugging you closer.

"Can I ask you a silly question?"

"Oi, I love a silly question."

"Okay. Say I was a worm."

"A little earthworm?"

"Yes, exactly, me, a little tiny earthworm."

He shook his head, understandably.

"Would you still love me... if I was that worm?"

He busted out in laughter, his face turning red from how hard he giggled. "How exactly do you take care of a worm? The hell would I feed you?"

"I... I don't know," you thought. "Leaves? Dirt? I don't know, but you would still love me?"

"Of course, bonnie," his laughter didn't stop. "You'd love me if I was one, aye?"

"Yes! We'd be worm boyfriend and girlfriend!" you grinned, laughing with him.

Simon 'Ghost' Riley

It was a bad time for this question you had... it was bugging you all day. You were in the middle of a mission, and were taking cover in an abandoned building.

You and Ghost were reloading your guns. You looked at each other and he squinted at you. "What is it?" he knew that look on your face.

"I just... wanted to ask you something," you tried to hide that smile forming on your face.

"Can it wait until we're done here, luv?" he rasped as he secured the mag into his gun, patting it with the palm of his hand. You followed suit and sat up next to him as you eliminated enemies on the opposite side.

You emptied bullets into the enemy soldiers before ducking again. Ghost took out the rest before he was sat back next to you. He took a quick look at you, and you were already staring, still with a smile on your face. "Just what is it?"

"Well..." you started before you started quietly giggling. "I was wondering if... you'd still love me if I was a worm?"

"A fuckin' worm?" He repeated before calling over the comms, waiting for pickup. "Seriously? Fuckin' bloody hell kind of question is that?"

You couldn't help but laugh, laughing even harder even though no sound came out as he grumbled on about the question. Your stomach was starting to hurt.

"... Still love you if you was a goddamn worm...", "Fuckin' dumb questions you come up with sometimes..."

"Simon!" you yelled in a whisper. "Would you? Yes or no?"

He simply rolled his eyes, sighing in defeat as he looked at you. "... Yes. I suppose I'd have to learn how take care of the damn thing, yeah?" he chuckled.

"Yay!" you shrieked as you pulled him into a hug, he hugged you back tightly before pulling away as your getaway vehicle showed up.

Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick

A mission completed successfully, as always, results in a night of good fun and drinking.

You were sitting next to your boyfriend, Gaz, as the alcohol flooded through your veins.

You giggled behind your hand, covering up your laugh as it only became more intense with your thoughts.

"What's funny, baby?" Gaz asked.

"Oh," you paused. "Just thinkin'."

"About?"

"If you'd still love me if I was a worm?"

"Oh my god," he shook his head, his hand wiped down his face at the question. "How do you come up with this?"

You shrugged, your face beet red as you couldn't stop giggling. "Would you, though?"

"I..." he stammered. "Y/n... why? Just why?"

"Because! Just because!" you said. "Yes or no? I'm a cute little worm!"

He sighed, soon laughing as well. "Yeah, yeah, I guess, as long as you're cute."

You hummed, smiling, happy with his answer.

Alejandro Vargas

You had prepared a home-cooked meal of one of his favorites, along with some wine to wash it down with. Waiting for his arrival, you nearly jumped for joy when he entered the house, jumping into his arms as you attacked his face with kisses.

"Mi amor," he rasped, kissing you passionately. "Missed you so much. Smells so good in here."

"Hehe, thanks, baby," you ushered him into the kitchen, pulling out his chair for him to sit and eat.

You finished your lovely dinner, catching up with him after his absence.

It was now bedtime, and as you laid cuddling him, one of the most random questions popped in your mind.

"Alejandro?" you whispered.

"Yes, baby?"

"Would you still love me if I was a worm?"

He didn't answer for a moment, but you waited, twiddling your thumbs as you awaited his response.

"Is this what keeps you up at night, hermosa (beautiful)?"

You softly laughed, but you shook your head. "Yes... But what's your answer?"

He chuckled, pulling you closer to him. "I love you regardless, baby. Even if you were a tiny little... slimy worm."

Rudy

You were in the passenger seat as he was driving you back to the safe house. It was a bit of a drive and you had all the time in the world to be in your own head, pondering unanswered questions of the world until you came across one silly question...

You waited a moment, peeking over at your boyfriend while he had his eyes on the road. For a moment, he met your eyes and he smiled lovingly at you, holding his hand out for yours to take.

He rubbed the back of your hand before he pulled it to his lips, kissing it softly.

"Rudy, baby?" you cooed.

"Yes?"

"Random... stupid question..." you giggled.

"Go on..." he nodded.

"Would you love me if I was a worm?"

"A worm?" he exclaimed, laughing.

"Yeah..."

"Darling, you would never be a worm," he spoke in between his laughs. "You're silly."

"I'm curious, though," your voice pitched slightly higher.

"Well..." he thought about it. "I love you. As you are now... and I'd love you in... any way, so... yes?"

"Yes?" your smile widened, your eyes lit up at his answer.

"Is that what you wanted me to say, my love?" he smirked. You nodded in response, sitting back into your seat.

[alwaysshallow]

coffee at midnight, part 12

John "Soap" MacTavish x f!reader

Military consumes your private time - to the point that you pretty much can't live without it. All of the boys from Task Force 141 are just like brothers, not only best friends – you know that you can trust them with your whole heart.

Somehow, one of them manages to steal it completely, and that's on Johnny MacTavish. Over months, you learn that's harder and harder to ignore that burning feeling in your heart. (4,6k)

READ ON AO3

previous part

You need a few seconds to understand what exactly happened in the last twenty minutes. A few seconds to look back, before you’ll leave this room—but understanding doesn’t come easy here. You just stare at the dead guy’s body with a wound in his head, thinking it will come to you, eventually.

The whole time, you felt like you were the observer of the situation. Watching everything behind a glass in slow motion, watching a movie where tragedies happen, but in these moments, thankfully, you’re usually not the participant. 

But here, you were a participant. You still are, but it’s hard to believe that so many things took place under the span of twenty minutes. Not an hour, not half a day.

What is funny in all of this, you had a particularly easy job. Had to be the perfect little spy, find the room, take the intel and run away, so you won’t get caught. Simple, yet, ending up tragically in beating up the guy and taking the pendrive before you checked if he’s still alive. You thought the whole situation would result in you having a few bruises there and there, but you made a mistake like a rookie, so you have two gun wounds.

You only blame yourself. It’s something that they teached you about in the military, on multiple trainings—to check. Not even twice, maybe thrice, if you’re not so sure about someone being dead. Because if the enemy is not dead, you’re as hell going to be.

Or, someone from your unit. Almost the same thing.

It was a reflex, when you grabbed a gun and shot the guy in the head. Without mercy in your action whatsoever, but it’s still a tad too late. There’s a bullet in your thigh anyway, your arm has a wound too. Not that bad, as he didn’t really know how to aim after being hit to the head, but… but it’s still only your fault. Even if he looked pretty beaten up, barely able to do anything other than grabbing your ankle.

It makes you angry. 

Not only the fact that you got shot like a rookie, but the fact that there’s no actual way in the world that someone didn’t hear the gunshot. No matter how fucked up and wasted people are, something like this doesn’t miss them. Music isn’t loud enough for them to skip it, at least not the guards that are watching everything like a hawk, waiting for someone to slip, so they can off them, if they are a problem. And here, you definitely are a problem that they’d want to eliminate.

You scrunch your nose, weighing your options. It wasn’t supposed to turn like that, and now you’ve got to think fast, before someone will eventually shoot you. This time, with deadly precision; you don’t escape death twice like it’s a “Final Destination” movie. 

So, you think. It’s not like you can show to anyone that you’ve been shot; there will be questions, assumptions and it will lead to your quick fall. Or, they’re already after you—nonetheless, you just need to go out of there and leave everything behind you. The guy’s dead, there’s nothing to do here. 

Steps that you take are slow; you pay attention to them, way more than you actually need to, but it’s hard to pretend you’re okay. Or to have your back straight, when you have two gunshot wounds and you need to move because it’s gonna be worse.

Being completely honest and straightforward, you’d prefer to rip the dress (annoyingly long dress) and at least try to look at the wound, estimate the damage, but it’s not an option right now. Even going to the bathroom isn’t one: you don’t know if motherfucker didn’t inform someone about your presence here before he died. He had multiple ways to do it, maybe some wouldn’t be visible to you, God only knows. 

All in all, going anywhere to inspect the wound is more dangerous than trying to get out, even if it potentially means you’re gonna pass out in the car. That’s why you push through with a pendrive in your bra (as, logically, it’s easier to steal a purse than having a pendrive slipping out), papers carefully folded in your purse, and a fake smile that you give everyone, so they won’t suspect you’re hurting.

You also tap the bracelet Alejandro gave you in a frantic manner the whole way to the back door, trying to get past many people. The only thing that is saving you is their drunkenness, the way that they don’t exactly get that you’re limping your way to the outside. 

There’s just a few obstacles in your way. Some guards wander there and there, not paying too much attention, but on your way you have to eventually sneak into the small cabin in the men’s bathroom, when you hear them reloading their guns and running towards your direction. Maybe it’s nothing, maybe they’re after someone else, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Especially when you’re limping, and you can’t quite do the Mission Impossible moves here; not when you do not want to do anything that might cause another injury. 

Because you probably wouldn’t be satisfied with additional leave. You spent enough time off the team already.

You can’t see what is happening, so you just listen. There’s people surely going forward, not even stopping to check the cabins around yours, but at least two are standing nearby. Talking, and you barely can hear about what—and you can barely understand, as it’s Russian and English at the same time. They have a heated conversation, that’s what you can definitely hear.

“...had to run somewhere,” one of them says. Seeming furious—and you really can’t blame them, you’d be furious yourself, if you’d find a dead guy from your team. Because that's what they did, you assume. “Three clear shots.”

The other man is saying something in Russian—you only catch some words, thanks to Nikolai that taught you, and they don’t seem friendly either. So, the moment they leave, you decide it’s the perfect time to go forward after another look or two, when the coast is clear.

You’re walking way quicker than the last time, caring even less about your limping and disguising your state. You realize that your time here is shorter second by second. It won’t do you any good, but it wouldn’t do you any good to act like you did earlier. At least, you think so.

An absurd idea grows in your mind, when you’re passing through hallways: because you start to debate on exiting the building through a window. It’s the “Mission Impossible” move, many times saved your life, but the last cells of common sense tells you it’s the worst idea ever with a two gun wounds. Not only that, there’s too many people to pull a stunt like that; no matter if it’s breaking the window, or simply opening it.

The idea flies out of your mind the moment someone grabs your arm and yanks you into their direction, to one of the darkest corners here. You don’t even have the time to see the person before you start attacking them; first with a kick, and you follow that with a quick punch in the gut; because screaming isn’t an option. With one man you can do something, but with an army? You’d be dead in seconds.

Surprisingly so, it doesn’t work. Or, it does, but not in the way that you think it would. They’re not attacking you, but they give you a little slap right in your butt, shushing you with a quick “Quiet”. The grip is loosening, and when you see Alejandro right in front of you, you realize that the person who is holding you is no one else but Soap.

They both seem to be scared and concerned at the same moment when you look at them.

“Ye tap the bracelet like crazy and then you attack me. ‘S not a good look on you, lassie,” MacTavish murmurs right to your ear, teasing it with his lips. For a second, you forget why you are here.

“Security’s going like crazy downstairs. What happened?”

Alejandro’s question makes you silent for a few seconds. You give them a faint smile, before you actually answer. “Well. I should start with: I had to kill someone—”

“—And you’ve been shot. Again. What were ye thinkin’?” You grit your teeth, hearing that tone from Soap. It seems patronizing, like you’re gonna get a twenty minute long talk about your decisions; and you hate it in the moment where all you want to do is just lie down and forget.

Yet, you really can’t say that you didn’t see that coming. You’ve been together with them for too long to not learn how they react.

“You know, these days I’m playing as a living human target,” you joke in response, trying not to wince under his touch, when he starts to walk again with you by his side. You find it easier to sneak with them—easier or better, as you have in the back of your mind the thought that they will help you, in case of emergency. They’re like bodyguards, making you feel safer than you felt earlier. “That was funny. You can’t deny it.”

Soap looks far from amused, as you can see. “Oh, very bloody much.”

You raise your eyebrow, surprised at his tone. “It’s not like I’ve done it on purpose. Besides, I’m good.”

“We know,” Alejandro says, before even Johnny opens his mouth. “He just has a lot to say lately, amiga.”

And it seems like he wants to prove it to you that he has a lot to say. He grabs you unexpectedly, bridal style, rushing to the car, Alejandro after him. Not giving a care in the world to the two men that are asking if you are good, they’re just pushing through. 

When you’re in the car, things are even wilder than they were. Before you know it, Soap lifts up your dress—without even asking you for permission—almost seeing your underwear, while Alejandro—more clumsily than not—tries to drive to the safe location, as your previous one already got compromised. Johnny doesn’t even react when you call him by his name; maybe that’s for the better because you’re not sure if you want to scold him or ask what he has in mind. 

After looking at your wound (way too close for your liking—it feels like you’re gonna lose your mind here), he ties his tie right above the wound. Tight. Preventing you from bleeding any further, and then he takes care of the second one. 

You thought you’d feel pain by now, but you’re too hypnotized in his movements to even notice something; it’s difficult enough for you to look at what he is doing, not straight at him, so your pain takes maybe the third place in importance.

It’s not a surprise that he cares, not at all. He always cared. No matter what the situation was, no matter what humor you had, he was always here. A loving man, making you smile with every little interaction, making an actual effort to do that. He was just a pure ray of sunshine on every step of your life, and you always knew that you could count on him.

But situations like this one, where you’re taken care of on a mission, gets to you at a much higher level than anything else he could do. He puts you first before anything, even himself.

“Price said there’s gonna be a medic nearby, so we’ll take you there. We’re… nearby, I think.” Alejandro says out of the blue, looking at you two. “No discussion,” he adds, when he sees how fast you open your mouth, as if to argue with him about it.

You roll your eyes. There’s nothing you can do about their attitude for that matter and you know it very well, so you wouldn’t even try to argue with them—and, what’s more, you’d prefer those two bullets out sooner than later. You’re not a two year old to make a fuss about something so serious. “Fine.”

“Perfect.”

You close your eyes. Crimson red flies right before them, haunting, along with the dead guy’s face, when you ride to the temporary base; it's something you're used to, massacre. Seeing a lot of blood, taking a lot of lives, whether you like it or not. Comes with a job, so you sweep away these images, trying to focus on the moment. You're alive, that's what matters—not who’s dead, especially when the people you love are still alive.

You’re grateful that you didn’t leave them tonight. Could’ve been better, of course, but it’s the thing for the past right now. You don't need to worry yourself with that.

You have enough of a headache when you arrive. There’s maybe two minutes of peace, and it’s broken the minute Price walks in with the whole ass Ted Talk that contains “you need to be more careful” for the twenty minutes straight. When they are sewing up the wound, after telling your captain the whole story, you hear how reckless you were, how rookies make these mistakes, but you shouldn’t.

You know it well, so maybe that’s why you don’t look at him when he says that. There’s a sting of shame, but also an irritation because how long can someone give you a scolding, when they see that you’re aware of everything that happened?

But, even if you’re a little bit irritated, and humbled by him, you know it’s because he cares about you. About everyone in that matter, so if it was Soap, he’d give him the same treatment—after all, you’re his family. Found, almost like a daughter. 

Out of the team, Ghost is the one that gets your jokes about being a living target, when the atmosphere is lighter; not only that, he’s the one to suggest that you should practice more, at which you laugh, asking if he’s gonna help you with that. One irrational conversation leads to another, and time is flowing by.

Price and Soap look at both of you like you are insane, Alejandro says something in Spanish under his nose, but it’s clear that he doesn’t find it funny either, what makes you and Ghost just continue joking. Kyle just snickers in the back, making coffee for everyone, and it’s all so domestic, even when Johnny gets defensive and says something about being stupid. For some time, even your wounds are all forgotten.

At least, it doesn’t bother you until you decide to take a few hours of rest before going into route again. The nap seems important, necessary after getting hit, but you can’t fall asleep; you toss and turn, but it doesn’t give you anything, when the stitches irritate you through your clothes. As much as you try, there’s no sense in making yourself go through that when you have a bandage nearby.

You sit on your bed and start wrapping the bandage around your thigh. Carefully, so it won’t make things worse—because you really want to sleep. Your eyelids feel heavy, everything that you do, every little move feels like you have to put some force into it, so it would be best to go to sleep.

It would be.

“How are you feeling? Better?” You hear. When you look up, you can see Soap, leaning against the door frame. Completely unbothered, like the mission didn’t happen, like you didn’t announce an hour ago that you want to sleep and you don’t want anyone to disturb you.

His shirt is slightly unbuttoned and way more disheveled than it was before; and he looks like a Greek God nonetheless. The one that people worship, look up to, not only because he’s smart but because he’s good looking. 

You almost feel jealous of that; he can’t really stay in elegant clothes more than he’s supposed to, yet he still looks good. No matter if his shirt has seen better times, as well as his hair. 

“Alright. Wound irritates me when I’m trying to sleep, so I’m… doing something with it,” you murmur, noticing how he scoffs at that. “What?”

“Do ye have to wear clothes at all?”

You laugh, shaking your head. Not taking him seriously because why would you? It’s him. Soap, cracking jokes, it’s not unusual. “Johnny—”

He takes a few steps forward; you observe him with double curiosity right now. Like a prey observes the predator, knowing that the attack is inevitable to happen. “I’m completely serious, lassie. We’re not going home for at least a couple of hours.”

“And, your point is?” You raise an eyebrow. It’s not hard to see that he hates the way you act on his obvious tries. Maybe for the first time, he can’t really decide if you are clueless, or if you’re just playing with him.

He purses his lips. For a moment, he’s silent—but it feels like an hour. An hour of longing glances, thinking what to do next. What you should and what you shouldn’t, applying to you and him. You both try to get through the other person’s thoughts with fear of being possibly rejected. Hell only knows how much time you spent on feeling like this in the past; some of that, you remember. But you can’t really recall from your memory when you understood that you feel something more to Soap than friendship. There’s fond memories of fear, annoyance at his actions with other girls, but realization is hard to find. 

“Open,” he says.

You take a shaky breath, looking at him. Your cheeks are hot, making you realize how you’re burning inside as well. Taking a walk on hot lava would be the right equivalent to what you’re feeling right now. “What?”

“Open,” he repeats, tapping your thighs. Kneeling right in front of you, a knight in shining armor, even if his doings are far, far away from that. “Or I’ll make you. I don’t really want to repeat myself again and again, ’m not patient enough for that.”

“Listen—”

“I need to see if you did it correctly, don’t I?” He harshly cuts you off. His blue eyes look like real sapphires now, looking right through yours with a question, even if he knows the answer already. Even if he doesn’t need an answer, if you’re honest with yourself. “Please.”

Please do that for you, so you just allow him to do what he wants. Inspect if you did everything that you needed to, even if you know perfectly well it’s not what he wants to do—at least, not the only thing. He just hides himself behind a barricade, thinking that he won’t get caught. 

He’s slow with his movements—you can’t help but think that it’s to mess with your head more. His “checking” contains lifting your dress higher and higher, without even looking at the bandage once. His eyes are glued to your skin, once again this evening; this time, with plenty of care. It’s clear that he wants something and he’s determined to get it.

There’s not a single protest from you.  

How could there be a protest, though? You want that. Maybe you’re not admitting it in front of yourself, but you do want that, badly. 

You wanted that for a long time. Waited for the right signal from him, so you wouldn’t make a complete fool of yourself if something would go wrong.

His fingertips trace the line higher and higher, feeling definitely confident about what he is doing. You call him by his callsign multiple times, but he doesn’t seem fazed by that; he’s maybe even more encouraged, leaving a single kiss on your thigh. Testing the waters, before he’ll dive deeper into it.

And you’re buying everything that he gives you.

Your last cells of restraint are hanging on a thread. Particularly thin one. “Soap, we—”

“—I’m not on duty right now,” he almost growls. A warning sign, something that you see immediately; as well as the sudden mood change, when he looks up at you. Soft eyes, eyes that could convince you to do anything he wants. “Please.”

“Johnny,” you say, your voice almost a whisper. He nuzzles your hand with his nose, and that alone makes you feel bad because of what you have to say right now. “We can’t.”

“We can’t, or ye dinnae want to?” he asks, taunting. Kissing your wrist higher and higher, crossing any boundaries you had. Folding you, piece by piece, in order to get what he wants. “No one will know.”

“Price said—”

“—He can kiss my ass, if I’m bein’ honest. We have hours.”

And that’s all you need. 

He keeps eye contact with you, as he drags your panties down. Royal blue eyes transform to something entirely different, something dirty, maybe predatory, if you’d look deeper. 

It’s something that you didn’t see earlier—and you thought you knew all of Soap’s faces. Turns out, not only it’s unusual to see this particular one, but you’re determined to learn more about your comrade.

Especially from the lover's side, a side that you don’t know very well. It’s the side that is reserved for hookups only, if anything. 

And normally, you’re experiencing the fun friend, the deep talks friend, so the difference is big, when you were never in a position like that. Under him, basically, but you can’t complain. 

When he leaves hickeys on your thigh, you can’t help but think that you always made fun of him with others—about that side. About him being a lover boy, whenever he came back after having a woman around him because it was easier than admitting that you wanted it to be courted by him. Adored, assuming that he’s a tender man.

He offered it to you thousands of times, serious or not. You always took it as a joke, something that you can laugh on with a glass of whiskey in your hand.

But right now, with his face buried between your thighs, you can’t help but think if you’d only take him more serious sooner, you could have it all. If you could have him, this, and maybe many more because no matter how Soap was, he always took care of things.

Even if it was for a quick moment.

You’re gone the moment he touches your clit; not a coherent thought in your mind. Fixation on him is too strong to care about anything else but his words, when he makes you do everything he wants you to do, like an obedient doll. If he wants you to dance, you’d dance—you lose every ounce of willpower when he speaks. Right now, you’re not even bothered by that fact.

The worst is when he wants you to lay still—it’s nearly impossible, as he speeds up the tempo, then suddenly slows the moment he sees you’re not doing what he wanted. Limiting the pleasure or extending it.

“Waited way too fuckin’ long f’ this,” he murmurs into your skin, when you yank his hair, trying to get him back to action. “Just say please, baby. ‘S all it takes.”

And you do. You say please multiple times, knowing perfectly well that you hate to use it, especially in fragile moments like this one—but when he pushes his fingers in, you forget about it instantly. There’s no other sound in the room besides the squelching, the obvious proof of John making out with your pussy, and you think you can go genuinely crazy.

Which is ironic enough because you are crazy about him. Been for a long time, if you’d like to count.

He seems to enjoy every little “please” that he gets from you, when your orgasm is close—he asks “if you want it”, and you have to beg, assure him that’s what you need. Your fingernails scratch his clothed shoulders, thighs squeeze his head, and he menacingly laughs because that was what he wanted all along.

You can’t hear what he says to you; you only see that his lips are moving, when you’re splayed on the bed, eyes on his fingers where your juices are. Body absolutely limp, with mind full but empty at the same time. It’s a funny feeling, keeping you wondering what will happen next.

Before he even unzips his belt or kisses you, there’s a call on his phone. He almost ignores it—almost. You can clearly see how his smug face drops the moment he sees who calls.

“Price?” you ask, even if you don’t need to. He’s the only man that could get him off the things that he was supposed to do, even if the said thing is you.

Whatever the captain says, upsets him visibly. Soap plays nervously with his mohawk—just like you were, a minute earlier—but he’s way more upset. He just mumbles, “yes, sir,” under his breath, the last thing he wants to say, and he hangs up. “Apparently, we have only thirty minutes now. Not hours like I said.”

You prop yourself on your elbow, looking at him for a few seconds before speaking. You’re torn between feeling disappointed and relieved by learning this information. “Right. I’ll… change, you can go.”

“Or: I can stay. It's not like I haven’t seen ye naked,” he says, cocking his head to the side. Boyish, making you think twice before you’ll actually answer him.

“It’s different this time,” you murmur bashfully, turning to him, so he’ll see your back instead of your face. Hot with emotions caused by his attitude; it’s like a never ending story.

“Different,” he repeats. You feel like he’s burning a hole through you, even if you can’t really see if he’s looking or not from that position. Maybe that’s the effect after you just were trembling in his hands. “How so?”

You want to give him an answer to that, but you can’t find a coherent thought that would satisfy him. If you’d tell him about the high of the moment, he’d probably corner you and ask if you’re not feeling all of it right now—and if you’d say that you’re shy right now, it wouldn’t be a good answer for him either.

You could be compared to a blind person, trying to find the right exit when there’s multiple ones; and you’re sure as hell that they would find the right solution first.

“Just different,” you finally decide to say, after you clean yourself up. Surprisingly, he doesn’t react to that. He’s silent, so you continue to quickly change, and then, the two of you are gone from the room.

The rest of the team are already waiting for you at the back of the building. They talk about something, but the moment they spot you and Soap they stop. If you wouldn’t know any better, you’d think that boys discussed something about you.

“You’re certainly better, huh?” Kyle asks, tilting his head to the side. Observing, just like he always does.

“I mean… it is better,” you say slowly, suspiciously looking at your comrade. “Why?”

“No reason. I suppose someone has magic hands,” he murmurs, a knowing smirk on his face. You do not like that, at any chance. “Wanna share some secrets?”

“You wish, Garrick.” You poke him in the chest with a smile; slightly forced because you didn’t expect that from him. “Better get to the car, or we’ll leave your ass.”

You keep quiet here, and thankfully no one pays mind to that, as you’re usually like this on the way home. Silent and in your thoughts about the mission.

This time, on your mind is John MacTavish.

[sexhaver]

me n bailey marathoned the first season of this show over the last few days. some thoughts:

Alan Cumming, specifically his accent and wardrobe, are by far the highlights of this show. i sincerely hope someone has made an edit compiling all of his outfits without any of the actual gameplay, because he is consistently serving cunt

like just look at this

that being said i did keep seeing him as Fegan Floop from Spy Kids

oh right there's an actual game/competition component to this

im just gonna get this out of the way: the entire premise of the show is fundamentally flawed. they keep trying to make it sound like the three Traitors in the group are "backstabbing" and "working against" the Faithful (non-Traitors), but, like, everyone on the show (Traitor or Faithful) is competing for the exact same prize pool. it's not like The Mole (or any other social deduction game), where the secret evil team actually has different goals diametrically opposed to those of the good team and has to complete them without having anyone notice. here, the evil team just... votes on someone to "murder" every night. that's it.

to emphasize this point: the literal only thing that can ever give you away as a Traitor is being bad at lying/concealing guilt. there are ZERO gameplay differences between the goals of a Traitor and the goals of a Faithful, which means the arguments over who to vote for banishing are based entirely on "gut feelings"

nobody on the show has ever played a social deduction game before. late into the season, there's a day where all 3 Traitors are alive and it's down to 6 people total (so 3v3). anyone who has played Mafia/Werewolf/ToS/etc knows what this means: barring bullshit last-minute rules from the producers, it is quite literally impossible for the Traitors to lose, because none of them can be voted up. it takes 4 out of 6 votes to exile someone, and there are only 3 Faithful left. if no Traitor votes for another Traitor, then it is, again, literally impossible for a Traitor to be exiled. furthermore, if they all coordinate their votes on one Faithful, all they have to do is convince one of the remaining two Faithfuls to vote with them, and they instantly win $180k (split three ways). and hey, wouldn't you know it, one of the Faithfuls (Kate) was already really suspicious, and another one of the Faithfuls (Quentin) said out loud multiple times that he was voting for her!

so what do you think the Traitors did?

god this part pissed me off so much im having to pause for breathe while typing this. okay. so.

two of the Traitors voted for the third Traitor, who got voted off.

after being voted off, youre supposed to walk up to the Circle of Truth and reveal if you were a Traitor or not. the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was entirely too nice and gracious about it. me n bailey discussed this and came to the conclusion that we would either a) out the other Traitors on the stand and explain, using game theory and math, exactly how fucking stupid they are, completely ruining the game for them, or b) pretend to cry a little while walking up to the Circle of Truth but as soon as you walk behind the first other Traitor's chair you flip it over backwards and elbow drop their nose into their face while screaming "YOU STOLE $60K FROM ME YOU SON OF A BITCH"

also the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was very clearly autistic and Every Single Reason the other traitors gave for not liking him was like straight out of the DSM V diagnostic criteria ("he talks too loud and laughs weird", "he's got way too much energy all the time", "his emotional responses don't make sense")

apparently there's a season 2 but i cannot bring myself to watch it after seeing Christian thrown to the lions (ayyy Sunday school reference)

also at one point a Faithful has to leave because of COVID (this was filmed in 2020) so the producers don't let the Traitors murder anyone that night for balance reasons, but to compensate, they tell them they can like. write down three names that will be publicly revealed to everyone the next morning, and then one of those people dies the next night. so obviously this is mostly a nerf for the Traitors because they miss a night of killing someone, but the intention was clearly to give the Traitors an opportunity to sow confusion by putting one or two of their OWN names onto the list to make them seem like Faithfuls. and they even had an extra objective during that day's game where one of the three people could earn a "shield" to protect them that night, so if a Traitor was on the list, they could basically "steal" the shield from the other 2 (since they obviously weren't getting killed no matter what). but i think the Traitors heard "write down three names" and "kill" and had all the blood rush to their respective dicks because they just wrote three Faithfuls lmao. deeply unserious show

[eufezco]

Being in the Borderlands was refreshing for him. That didn't mean that he liked fighting for his life every time his visa was about to expire, it was so exhausting and the games were nothing to him. But being trapped there allowed Chishiya to let his past life behind, all the people he once met, but especially his medical studies that, even though he was the first in the class, didn't go as planned. He was growing to hate more and more the life he had chosen for himself.

From the moment he arrived to the Borderlands he refused medicine. He saw people with bad injuries getting to the beach, some of them he could have treated, other ones were in a very bad condition and treating them would only make things worse. Chishiya didn't feel guilt, the real world had taken that away from him. He didn't feel anything when he saw Arisu and his friend asking for a doctor at the five of spades game, he didn't feel anything that time the Hatter twisted an ankle and made a cut on his head while drunk, he didn't feel anything watching Ann trying to handle every person that came back hurt from a game. Of course, Ann was smart and she had some medical knowledge, but it was more complicated than that. Ann needed to know how to practice medicine and most of the time her knowledge was not enough.

—This is what you decide to do the first time I leave you alone for a game? —Chishiya knelt, taking Ann's place in front of you as he tried to move your hand that was covering your wound. Chishiya raised his eyebrows, condescendingly, once you refused to let him move your hand.

You were shivering, your teeth were chattering and your eyes were glossy. Your chest was softly starting to heave as you gasped for air as if it were the beginning of a panic attack. You were sitting on a chair, your body struggled to keep you upright as the dead body of the Hatter lay on the table.

—I need you to breathe through your nose and focus on what Arisu is going to tell you. —Chishiya said to you. That completely caught the other boy off guard who let out a 'huh? me?' but quickly understood that you just needed a distraction.

Your friend Arisu also knelt by your side and started talking to you. Chishiya tried to take away your hand but you shook your head and pressed harder, hissing at your own action. At the end of the day, you didn't know that Chishiya was a forming doctor in the real world, that he was first in his class and that he dedicated every single day of his life since he graduated from high school to this.

—You're not gonna die if you stop applying pressure for five seconds, but you will if you keep pressing your wound like that and pushing the bullet deeper.

Your eyes opened wide at his words and you finally allowed Chishiya to take a look at your nonstop bleeding wound. You coudn't focus on Arisu, your attention was on the amount of blood that was flowing out of you, on Chishiya's fingers poking in your wound to see how bad it was and specially on Niragi standing behind Chishiya, still holding the gun he shot you with.

Chishiya noticed how your eyes moved nervously from his hands working on you to the boy behind him and he quickly knew what happened. You left for the game with the Hatter and games usually don't have firearms because that would be way too easy and if Chishiya remembered correctly, a lot of militants went with you two. The Hatter was a prick so perhaps he had something going on with one of them. Aguni, maybe? He was looking rather guilty. So the Hatter possibly got on his nerves and ended up dead. And you, always at the crime scene, were shot as a side effect. Niragi had wanted to get you for a quite long time, and he found the greatest opportunity. Also eliminating the only witness to a crime committed by his friend was very tempting.

—It's a rather superficial wound. It is impossible for it to have affected any important organ, so whoever shot you must be either stupid or wanted you to survive.— Chishiya moved your hand softly again to cover your wound so you wouldn't lose more blood, but this time placing it correctly so that you would not make the situation worse. Right after he gave Ann some very specific orders of what he needed to treat you.

Kuina was surprised. She would never dare to say that she knew Chishiya because she only knew what he wanted her to know. She was surprised to see him doing something for somebody else but she was not surprised that that someone was you.

When Aguni told her that you were hurt, she ran to her friend who not wasted a second looking for you. His face showed no expression, he was focus, his hands were inside his pockets as he walked but Kuina knew that Chishiya was worried.

Chishiya was surprised too. Since he met you he knew this moment would come. You never saw the danger, plus, he thought you were clumsy and he couldn't explain how you could win all your games with your lack of attention. He never thought he would ever have to use medicine again, he had been disowning it ever since he got to the Borderlands and he hoped he could leave that part of him in the real world. It was working for chishiya until you two met and how could he let you die?

Chishiya could forget all the things that made him hate his dream for you, about the corrupt doctors, about all the people he was forced to left to their own fate, about all the patients for whom he had to prohibit a treatment, about the cries of grief of family members in the waiting room. He could do anything but let you die.

[helispark]

It's September now, two months away from the United States 2024 presidential elections. In addition, some states are holding their primaries in a few days (hello, Massachusetts!).

A lot happened over the summer, and I wanted to make a little "reminder" post about the situation we're in.

In an effort to enable anybody to understand what's been going on, even if they haven't been around for recent developments for any reason, I'm going to summarize the major events, talk a bit about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and give my two cents on why you should vote blue.

It's gonna be a pretty long post, so I'll start under the cut here to talk about Project 2025...

What's Project 2025?

It's a set of plans authored by the Heritage Foundation, a Republican think tank behind a lot of nasty policies over the years, which details their intent to reshape the government into an extreme right-wing, Christian nationalist dictatorship.

They will carry it out to the best of their ability the next time a Republican becomes president. They're hoping that person will be Donald Trump, who chose several members of the Heritage Foundation for the Cabinet in his 2016-2020 term. If that happens, they will do many very bad things, including but not at all limited to:

- Reclassifying most government workers as "at will" workers that can be fired if they don't agree with right wing extremist policies

- Banning abortion nationwide, and tracking people's pregnancies to get them arrested if they don't give birth

- Making it illegal to be transgender. They plan to do this by reclassifying gender identity as pornography, which will also be banned, by the way

- Eliminating the Department of Education, COMPLETELY, making it so the only schools will then be private schools

- Defunding green energy, shrinking the Environmental Protection Agency and allowing businesses to ignore the Endangered Species Act.

A great summary is here:

And the full document outlining Project 2025 is here, permanently. It's a huge document, over 900 pages, so don't beat yourself up if you can't read the whole thing:

https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

What happened over the summer?

On July 9th, Joe Biden made a post on Twitter telling people to look up Project 2025. It wasn't a new thing that just got announced, but Biden tweeting about it gave it mainstream attention.

A few days later, on July 13, Donald Trump was holding a rally in Pennsylvania when someone tried to assassinate him. They didn't kill him, the bullet only grazed his ear.

Some of the story is blurry - the shooter's motive is unknown, and some even think this whole thing was staged, which I personally could see being true given the timing of it - point is, what happened doesn't matter as much as what the Republicans tried to do with it.

They tried to launch a big attack against the left, decrying leftist voters as being bloodthirsty and violent. Pressure was mounting on Biden. He had already done very poorly in a presidential debate on June 27th, which spread concerns that he was just too old to run the country anymore. But this basically ensured that he'd never get elected come November.

The Republicans started the Republican National Convention two days later. There, Trump was confirmed to be the Republican pick for president, and he announced his pick for vice president - JD Vance, a weird and slimy man just like Trump himself.

The convention was kind of a big deal. I had to bear witness to it myself because of my conservative family, the large crowds chanting "Bye, bye, Biden!" And for a moment, for a lot of people, it looked like civil rights in America were finished.

But Biden did something clever. See, both the Republican presidential and vice presidential picks were now locked in. But the Democratic National Convention was still a month away, in August. He waited until July 21st, after the GOP had spent billions of dollars campaigning against him, to drop out of the race and endorse the current vice president, Kamala Harris, for the position.

Enter Kamala

Kamala quickly grabbed the Democrat Party's favor for the presidential candidacy. She entered the race and the feedback was unprecedented. She broke fundraising records, raising $81 million from small donors in 24 hours.

On July 19, the Democratic National Convention started. She became the presidential pick and announced Tim Walz to be her running mate as vice president.

Kamala has a great history before her time as vice president. When she worked as a district attorney and then attorney general for California, she created a new program that charged people for low level drug offenses instead of throwing them directly to jail, which drastically lowered incarceration rates.

She refused to defend the ban on same-sex marriage in 2008, leading to it being overturned in 2013, and she removed "gay panic" as a criminal defense. She's a very vocal proponent of safe, legal abortion.

As for Tim Walz, he's also awesome. He's the governor of Minnesota, and under his leadership Minnesota became the most progressive state in the country as of 2023.

Now Minnesota has banned conversion therapy, 12 weeks of both paid sick leave and paid family leave for workers, and a universal breakfast and lunch for children in participating schools.

Why you should vote blue

I won't pretend that Kamala getting elected will fix everything in our nation. But I believe it's important to acknowledge that regardless of political views, we're all living in this country together. Sometimes you have to work with people and make compromises even if you hate their guts. Like with bad siblings or school project partners.

When most people state their reasons for why they plan not to vote, the genocide in Gaza is brought up a lot. And you know what, I think it's awful! It makes my blood boil thinking about all the people who are starving, surrounded by the death and destruction of everything they've loved. The last time I opened my mouth about politics on here it was about Gaza.

But if you really care about saving lives, you have to ask yourself what is going to be the best solution.

Not voting, or voting for third party? That's a vote for Trump, and he thinks Israel has been soft on Gaza. He wants them to "finish the job."

Overthrow the government? I'd love to, but we have one of the most militarized police forces in the world, not to mention the actual military. A violent approach like that is just going to get us all killed, so we need passive change.

Move out of the country? Most of us can't do that. We're stuck here, whether we like it or not.

Please vote for Kamala when elections come this November. If you want to see bigger change, I encourage you to participate in local politics.

Every month, there are little things happening in your state or your town that you can feel happy that you were able to make an impact in. And little changes like that will add up. If Kamala wins, it means we all get at least four more years to change this country for the better. We could do a lot in that time.

[mysimsshowdown]

SHOWDOWN SPOTLIGHT #1

hey its metal and welcome to showdown spotlight! these will not be done regularly at all but as i brainstorm what i want this project to even. Be more i thought id just post some behind the scenes snippets to that ppl got a clearer idea of what im workin with here. heres a bunch of details from the outline doc; namely episode titles, the final teams, and most exciting of all,,challenge ideas!!! woo!!!

the show being contestant vote (the contestants eliminate each other instead of the viewers voting on it like an object show) means i have Complete And Total Control and i can plan out all the story beats and character developments and whatnot without worrying about something going awry because everybody decided to vote out a character i was building something with LMAO. that means i have a lot of neat ideas like this in storage i can dig up and fall back on!

ive not decided a set order i wanna do these challenges in. i keep goin back and forth on all of them because GODD theyre so fun they sound so fun to just write and do and AGHGHHGH i just wanna get this thing out there somehow even though i know like 2 people are gonna care. its MY BIRTHDAY PARTY and I GET TO PICK THE HYPERFIXATION

anyway, onto the teams. when i was working on deciding the teams i wanted them all to have kinda a "Thing". in my head it was like...Franklin is all the, in my eyes, "fan favorite" sims (and also chaz.) besides cassandra those are all characters that have appeared in multiple games and have a decent following from what i know. dj candy and violet appear in Every Fucking Game theyve earned this. Eureka is the goofy wildcard team, a bunch of characters that dont really fit together trying to make it work!! and then The Uhhhh is the result of morcubus trying to make a team out of morcucorp operatives but yuki gets distracted and leaves for another team because she ate the fuckgn contract and therefore doesnt remember signing up to work with morcubus, and theyre left with the fuckin. table crumbs nobody else wanted LOL. poor lyndsay

curating the cast of showdown was really tough because i had to leave out a lot of my fav sims, like summer, beebee, mel, nichole, sapphire, rosalyn--and i know ppl are gonna be questioning why some iconic sims like travis arent here. like bro I only have half of the royal academy on the show thats wild LMAO.

truth be told, 24 contestants is not ENOUGH to represent the love i have for these characters, but the 24 i picked id say strike a good balance between MY personal favorites and generally beloved sims. u may notice i try to address this by having some of these characters play significant roles in challenges!! and i hope that strikes a good balance :)

showdown still has a long way to go and im not totally sure if itll be more than just an idea rn, but im loving working on it and i hope i can get it out there one day!! if ur one of the aforementioned 2 people reading this then thank u very much and i hope u have an awesome day

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Sebek Zigvolt Dorm Uniform Personal Story: Part 1

"There is no time to whine!!!!"

Part 1 (Part 2) (Part 3)

[Lecture Hall]

―First year, Class A and D, Joint Protection Magic Class, 1st Session

Ace: Oh, there's the bell. Awesome, the first session of the joint class ended with just the explanation of the assignment.

Deuce: So our assignment during these four joint sessions is to… "Destroy the target with a combination of three or more types of magic."

Deuce: They just say "a target," but it's one of those dolls that move around like a person, right? These kinds of practical application classes feel so hard, I get so nervous.

Deuce: And on top of that, we gotta do it in front of everyone at the end. I can't look bad in front of the others…!

Ace: Yeah, this is gonna suck so hard, but really, the number one problem is gonna be…

???: I REFUSE!!

Deuce: Ack!? Th-That startled me.

Ace: Man, that ridiculously loud voice can only be..

Sebek: Why should I join forces with the likes of you!?

Classmate A: Whaddya mean, why? It's a group project! How many times do I gotta say it to get it through your skull!?

Deuce: Ah, that's Sebek form Diasomnia… Looks like he's picked a fight.

Ace: Well, yeah. It's 'cause they said, "Complete the assignment in randomly assigned groups of three and present the results to the class."

Ace: There's not a single soul in this school who'd wanna do that. And that includes me.

Deuce: Yeah, it's gonna be a pain, but… the teams that fail on the day of the final presentation'll get supplemental work, right?

Deuce: No way I'm gonna let that happen. So even if I don't like it, doesn't look like we got any other choice but to work as a team…

Sebek: The day our grades are released will be a very special day for me.

Sebek: As both Lilia-sama and Silver will be unavailable,

Sebek: I will have the greatest honor of escorting Malleus-sama all by myself.

Sebek: So I will not suffer any sort of poor performance on such an important day!

Sebek: There is no priority higher to me than guarding my liege-lord. Therefore, I have absolutely no time for supplemental assignments!

Ace: There it is, Sebek's Draconimania…

Deuce: That guy's always bringing up Draconia-senpai whenever he can.

Deuce: I get respecting your elders and all, but I don't know if he's just annoying, or thick…

Ace: Doesn't it look like the rest of his team's withdrawing a little? Seems to me like no one really wants to deal with him in his class normally.

Classmate B: You don't gotta yell, we totally feel you, we don't want more work either. All the more reason for us to work together...

Sebek: I will certainly avoid staying after class. For that to happen, I must eliminate all possible factors that may cause it.

Sebek: I can accomplish the task of combining three types of magic on my own. I need no help from you humans.

Sebek: IF ANYTHING, YOU WOULD BE NOTHING BUT HINDERANCES.

Classmate A: Hah? Did you just say we'd be "hinderances"?

Classmate A: Bro, you're always looking down on the rest of uh, huh. It really pisses me off…

Classmate B: Sigh… Just leave him. If he wants to do it by himself, just let him.

Classmate B: Doesn't matter to us if we get saddled with supplemental work or nothing, so if Sebek wants to do all the work, why should we care?

Classmate A: I guess so. There's no working with this guy. Good luck on your own.

Sebek: I've told you already, that was my intention from the beginning. The only thing that you two can do to assist is to do nothing.

Classmate A/B: UGH HE PISSES ME OFF!!

Deuce/Ace: Wow…

Deuce: Sebek's crazy. He's basically turned everyone against himself.

Ace: It'd be easier all around if he just stopped acting so arrogant and let them work together. He sucks at reading the room, man.

[Cafeteria]

―Lunch, same day

Ace: Ugh. We got here too late, and the only seats open are behind Sebek… Man, it's gonna be so noisy.

Deuce: Not like I want to sit next to you, either. Should've just come to the cafeteria earlier.

Ace: That's my line! But I guess we just gotta deal with it and sit here…

Lilia: By the way, Sebek, how was today's class?

Sebek: Sir! Everything went smoothly.

Lilia: Really? That's what you always say. You're only a first year, you can make a mistake here or there, you know.

Sebek: It's true. There were no issues!

Ace: …Pfft.

Sebek: Hm?

Sebek: Oh, it's Ace and Deuce from Heartslabyul. Did you just laugh at me?

Ace: Well, yeah, 'cause you said, "There were no issues!" And it's totally the opposite, hahah!

Silver: …Did something happen?

Deuce: He was arguing pretty loudly with his classmates in the Protection Magic class earlier.

Deuce: He insisted that he didn't "need any hinderances!" when it came to the three-man project he was assigned, so it looks like he's doing it by himself.

Ace: It's amazing the discord that he sowed in what was supposed to be a group project.

Lilia: What's this, Sebek? Did you get into it with your classmates again?

Silver: Sebek…

Ace: You gotta be overflowing with confidence to take on a project by yourself that they're telling us to in groups of three.

Sebek: What do you find funny about it? It is only natural for me to do something as simple as that, as one of the Young Master's retainers.

Ace: No way, you don't even register sarcasm either?

Deuce: I'm not looking to make fun like Ace, but… As an honor student, myself, I can't overlook this behavior.

Deuce: It's fine to have confidence, but don't make waves for the people around you. It's only going to cause problems.

Sebek: Hmph, how soft. One can only improve their skills by their own will, in the first place.

Sebek: If you find yourself being preoccupied by the whims of other people, then that is just proof that you lack focus. Perhaps instead of blaming others, you should blame your own weaknesses?

Ace: Man, you're a talker… You were so loud back in class, too. Can't you take that smart mouth of yours and actually put it to good use sometime?

Sebek: I came to Night Raven College solely for my liege.

Sebek: I am only here to protect him, so I am not concerned by how others perceive me.

Ace: Sigh… If we're still not getting through to him, there's literally no reason to keep trying.

Deuce: …We'll apologize to the upperclassmen here for interrupting your meal. It seems seats in the back have opened up, so we will move.

Silver/Lilia: …

Sebek: Hm? Lilia-sama, Silver, is something the matter?

Lilia: No, it's only… I just thought that you truly have a one-track mind when it comes to Malleus.

Sebek: Oh... Thank you very much! I am greatly honored to hear that from someone I respect so highly!

Lilia: That wasn't a compliment.

Part 1 (Part 2) (Part 3)

Requested by Anonymous.

[death2normalcy]

Since I’m officially done with the main guides to Stray Kids, I figured I’d do a couple fun guides, just for, well, fun. I wanted to start off with the dynamics between the boys. I’ve already talked about the three main rachas (3Racha, Danceracha, Vocalracha), but I thought it would be fun to talk a little about each friendship. (If you want to see even more about them, I’m going to have a playlist related to each post, and I currently have a finished dynamics series!) (There is 28 different pairings in this group, so they have to be broken up into multiple posts, lmao)

This post contains the following dynamics: Bang Chan and Felix; Lee Know and Changbin; Lee Know and Seungmin; Changbin and Hyunjin; Hyunjin and Han; Han and Felix; and Felix and I.N.

*Sort of a disclaimer: Each pairing will have a little nickname/identifier attached to them. Most of them come from stays themselves, whether directly or indirectly, but some of them I kind of had to create on my own. They may not be super creative, but it is what it is, lmao

Bang Chan and Felix - “the aussie bros”

nickname is pretty obvious, lol. they’re both from australia

another ‘soulmate’ duo.

both boys have talked about how comfortable it is between the two of them and how they don’t have to be extra to show each other how much they care, they can just be. chan even stated that he wouldn’t be surprised if they lived together later on in life.

they clearly have a very special connection, i imagine being two aussie boys in south korea, far away from home without their families, helped make that bond stronger. i think chan has even talked about how he didn’t want felix to feel as lonely and depressed as he did, being so far from home, so he was there for him.

when felix was eliminated during the survival show, chan told him to come find him, that he would never leave him behind, and honestly, it makes me emotional just thinking about it

felix has mentioned, but i can’t remember where, that chan is like a real brother to him

chan is always telling felix how great his singing is and how much he’s improved. honestly, chan is just great at hyping up the other members.

Pairing name: Chanlix

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

Lee Know and Changbin - ‘the loud bunnies’

both of their skzoo characters are bunnies (even if changbin’s is mixed with a pig) and they are both loud. very loud. the loudest in the group, honestly

their love language is hand holding and food

completely unexpected. i never expected to love this duo as much as I do, but they may be my favorite friendship in the group

this is one of those duos that feels like we don’t see a lot of it. like, they’re more lowkey, a lot closer than we’d expect.

chan’s left and right hands. they help out with the other members a lot, and they also have a lot of affection and love for the other members.

there’s so much of them that’s been happening for this comeback, it’s wonderful

they both have each other as their phone backgrounds and it’s so funny and cute. that’s what clued me in that they might be closer than it seems. they have stated that they do this because it makes them laugh, and honestly, i bet they make each other laugh all the time

the romantics of the group, apparently (them and felix). the boys chose them, mainly lee know, as the most romantic, and i know they were kind of being silly and were talking about stay, but i’d like to think that lee know really is romantic, but like...lowkey romantic. and changbin just screams that he’s big on the romance, not gonna lie

they apparently fought a lot in their trainee/early debut days, but the other boys have stated that they would make up pretty easily

Pairing name: Minbin

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

Lee Know and Seungmin - “the divorced couple”

we finally made it here, lmao

listen, don’t listen to these two dumbasses

they go on and on about how they ‘don’t fit’ or ‘don’t get along’, etc.

but they care about each other so much, it’s insane

seungmin literally cried an entire river when lee know was eliminated on the survival show, and although i don’t know the source, i’ve seen fans say he stated that lee know was his favorite hyung at some point

lee know has talked about how seungmin was kind to him in the beginning and how thankful he was for that, and while he teases and bugs him a lot, it’s clearly out of affection (once again, gotta mention that 9th episode again, since lee know wrote his letter to seungmin about how he was thankful to him for helping him adjust to trainee life.)

lee know also never shuts up about seungmin and finds ways to talk about him on the regular

arguably more alike than they will ever admit

despite appearances, lee know is the softie in this duo

but seungmin still cares a bunch, of course

they’re referred to as a divorced couple because of the popular sketch that the group did. there’s actually 2 videos: the original and the follow up they did for their 3rd anniversary. they’re really hilarious, and I highly recommend checking them out! It’ll also be helpful because the boys reference these two videos a lot, so watching them will let you in on some inside jokes)

Pairing name: 2min

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube (there’s so many videos out there for these two, i recommend all of them, lmao)

Changbin and Hyunjin - ‘cuddle buddies’

this was the first duo that hooked me, honestly

and it’s mainly because of the thousand and one clips of these two being cuddled up together during lives and interviews (reason # 495904 why no one believes hyunjin when he says he hates skinship)

changbin will never shut up about how much he loves hyunjin and how wonderful he thinks he is, and that’s valid, honestly

changbin is one of the co-presidents of the ‘everyone loves hyunjin’ club.

he’s so obvious about it that the group teases him, lmao. you can see this in their recent video celebrating Chuseok. changbin selected hyunjin’s name for an activity, and although it was supposed to be kept a secret, everyone knew who he picked immediately, because changbin is not subtle

however, hyunjin is always like ‘no’ and it’s a hilarious dynamic

but he’ll be like ‘ew, no’ while being cuddled up to changbin at the same time

it’s clear that hyunjin find comfort in changbin and, if im not mistaken, they’ve been close since trainee days, but i can’t remember where i heard that

changbin definitely makes hyunjin laugh a lot, but again, hyunjin laughs a lot in general, lol

Pairing name: Changjin or Hyunbin

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

Hyunjin and Han - ‘enemies to lovers’

got into a lot of arguments as trainees, or at least, didn’t get along very well. han has been very open about being difficult and angry when he was younger and he tended to have issues with communication. they talked about their ‘feud’ in their 2 kids room episode and stated it was over hyunjin trying to help han out with something and han lashing out at him for it. they’ve talked about their fighting multiple times, even in earlier 2 kids room episodes from previous seasons. they’ve talked about how they almost physically fought once and how they were just terrible at communicating with each other.

but they’ve also both stated that all that fighting in their earlier days brought them closer together, because they have nothing to hide and can just be themselves with each other.

their fighting is where the ‘dance better, rap better’ stuff comes from that you’ll see a lot in skz content. its based off an argument the two had.

but don’t be fooled by the fighting in their earlier days. they’re very close now, and there’s clearly a great affection and love there, as well as respect

in fact, han is the other co-president of the ‘everyone loves hyunjin’ club

if it’s not changbin, it’s han all over hyunjin and these two basically just fight for his affection, but he wants none of it, lmao

just wants a kiss, lmao

also the dumb and dumber duo. i once stated that it’s wild they didn’t get along before because they share one braincell and that one brain cell is constantly thinking of ways to be funny and dramatic as hell

part of paboracha (from the korean word that means idiot or fool), which is a nickname the fans came up with to affectionately refer to the trio of hyunjin, han, and lee know after a live with these three being silly and answering riddles (i highly recommend looking it up, it’s so funny)

Pairing name: Hyunsung

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

Han and Felix - “the sunshine twins”

their birthdays are one day apart, hence the twins thing. some fans even speculate that, because of time zones and whatnot (considering han was born in korea, and felix was born in australia), they may have been born around the same time. although, i have no idea if that’s accurate

they honestly give me similar but different vibes. like, the same person, but not. it’s so hard to explain.

i could go on and on about how they are so similar but so different, honestly

another soulmate duo, in my opinion. there’s a lot in the group, but the whole group fits, lmao

i think they bonded pretty early on? i’m not 100% sure on that, but from the clips on the survival show, han was the first one to hug felix when he returned, and he seemed so happy. they seem pretty close, either way

they both light up a room, i think the group has even said this, but i can’t remember where, lmao

when han does his little kissing thing (you’ll know what i mean after like, 1 video compilation, i swear), felix will joke around with him and try to kiss back, lmao

little nerds. felix is really into gaming and can even put together a computer (?) and han is always into random and nerdy stuff, from what i can tell.

Pairing name: Jilix

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

Felix and I.N. - “the angels”

referred to as angels during their 2 kids room episode (by changbin, i think)

get babied by the fans the most, and i bet it can get annoying for them, considering they’re in their twenties

these two seem to be into clothes and fashion the most? at least, just from what i’ve seen. i.n. is always showing us his outfits of the day, and i believe felix has talked about spending lots of money on clothes (i hope i’m not misremembering that, lol) and seems to be into trying new things with his outfits

underrated. felix brings in a lot of fans, but he tends to get overlooked for his dancing, and it’s ridiculous, since it’s a core member of danceracha. and while i.n. does get praise for his vocals, he tends to get a little more overlooked than han or seungmin. again, neither of these happen that often, more often than not, fans praise all the boys. but if we had to discuss being underrated, than yea.

they clearly adore each other very much and one of the members (lee know?) said that they are lovey-dovey with each other

but there’s not a ton about them? at least, not that i see on the daily.

i.n. once did an asmr video with felix and i have to be honest, i love it. it was so good and cute, i recommend checking it out

Pairing name: Jeonglix

Their 2 Kids Room episode

Random video compilation on Youtube

[ashysmultifandomcatdump]

Why Fist Thingy is (or is in cahoots with) Walkie Talkie theory (and also my Actual Thoughts about Walkie Talkie)

here to tell you guys mytheory on why FIST THINGY IS THE SECRET INANIMATE INSANITY INVITATIONAL VILLAIN!!!!!! read it. (contains spoilers for iii17!!!)

(just wanna preface this with the fact this is mostly a joke!!! i thought of this while rewatching the whole show back in october and decided the new episode would be a time to post about it. did it for the funnies and the slightest chance there may be some merit to it)

Ok first item on the agenda this is gonna get wild so strap in tight or else it may blow your seatbelts off: iii has introduced the concept of fist thingy being sentient, doing things a non-sentient object would not do

this is something that the show has NEVER hinted at before, making it seem almost as if they’ve added this in specifically for a reason..an EVIL reason?!?! suspicious!!!

second! we have fist thingy Sending Contestants To Indefinite Island. we know it has to be intentional on fist thingy’s part, since it’s done consistently, HOWEVER. it is completely without mephone’s knowledge—until iii10, he had no idea about indefinite island at all and he did not give fist thingy the direction to send eliminated contestant characters there. which means that someone ELSE has to have done it—whoever is behind walkie talkie .. or fist thingy itself, perhaps ?! mysterious!!!

next up here at spot number three we have the springy connection. now that it has been confirmed that springy and walkie talkie Are Indeed working together, there is something Verrrrrry interesting i was thinking…what sort of object is fist thingy? a boxing glove. now, what do springy’s mitten-covered hands look like when curled into a fist (!!!), and particularly in this image at the end of the ep? THAT’S RIGHT, BOXING GLOVES!!! curious!!!

but ashy! i hear you cry out. this is all so farfetched! what reason would fist thingy have to be walkie talkie in the first place? well imagine this little ones. fist thingy is just like mephone. overly attached to the show. been here since the early days and wants it to go on forever. however it was mostly left behind in s2, save for a few scarce appearances—so it’s desperate for any chances to stay in use in s3 it finally finds a voice through the use of a walkie talkie (don’t. Don’t question how.) and tries to keep it going as much as it can because once it’s over—what use is it going to be anymore? also hey if you wanna add in the “something bad happens to every cohost” thing then fist thingy has a reason to hate the floor specifically—it’s shown frustration over not being able to send him away

or, Alternatively, it’s the other way around. what i mean is fist thingy still isn’t sentient but was hijacked and is being controlled by walkie talkie—still is walkie talkie, but not technically actually walkie talkie or just in cahoots with walkie talkie! either way it has to be one of them, because fist thingy wouldn’t just be sending contestants to indefinite island for no reason BUT YEAH!!! end of my awesome theory unless i remember some other point hope you enjoyed …

honestly it could end up being something Similar to this but with one major detail different. that’s what happened last time when i predicted bot in april 2021 but thought they were meeple made

if you want my Actual Thoughts behind walkie talkie. who it is, i don’t know exactly. but she’s definitely a kinda metaphor or stand-in for like, The Corporation, the way capitalism affects art, you know—the whole ai art metaphor as well as the whole deal with springy

she’s someone who wants to Profit from the show, i think. which is why she’s so desperate to keep it going like mephone is—not that she holds any sentimental value towards it, but because it’s popular, she wants to make it her cash cow and milk it dry and mephone is a person who would let it happen

she Could be from meeple, i suppose, but i don’t really think so? we’ll see. although she doesn’t appear to have any relations with it cobs Did enjoy profiting off of the show without mephone’s knowledge, aside from that though there doesn’t appear to be much reason to see them as the same this is just a Different corporation. a different capitalism, i guess! while cobs would orchestrate fights and such to make the show more exciting and adam begged for bow to stay because viewers liked her, walkie talkie doesn’t seem to really care about entertainment value. she doesn’t care about the art. she prefers quantity over quality and to get that quantity, to get The Money, she has to keep the show running for as long as she can, way past what’s natural. 2 different kinds of corporate meddling

the show has sponsorships. MAYBE THE LIFERING SPONSORS MEANT SOMETHING AFTER ALL!!! springy wants to sell a contestant as a mascot to endlessly profit off of them

etc etc this has gotten very long …im excited to see the finale!!! what is walkie talkie’s DEAL!!

[queen-mihai]

I wanna talk real quick about "capitalism is the problem"

First

Capitalism IS the problem

Problem is, I really don't love the implication that sentence has. That's what I'm gonna discuss here.

As usual, I'm gonna start with a story.

Imagine you have a job. A decent job that pays well. Well enough, in fact, that you're able to save up and buy a car new enough to still be within its warrantee period.

You don't even mind the constant phone calls, emails, letters, singing telegrams, and dream invaders "trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty"

One day you go out to your fantastic car and find it doesn't start. You step out to inspect and notice one of the wheels has fallen off. You look under the hood and the wiring harness is fried, and when you search on the internet what the problem could be, it turns out an important update was never done on your car which causes all these problems.

The car IS the problem.

Your boss calls you, you're not gonna say "the dealer didn't complete the TSB". You might not know what that means. Your boss may not know what that means. You're gonna say "my car broke down"

Do you scrap the whole car?

The damn things in warranty! Heck no you don't scrap the car. You pay the $75 to get it towed to the dealer and you get into the managers office to have a polite but firm conversation about the importance of following manufacturers recommended service bulletins, especially those regarding driver safety. Maybe you kindly remind him that the car has just been in for service where you paid them to complete all necessary services and now you have needed to take half a day off work. Maybe you FURTHER request, in your completely pleasant and patient tones, that they kindly provide you with a loaner car for the duration of time your car is needed in service. You're so patient and kind. Go you.

Now the car in this situation is DEFINITELY the problem. You could blame the service manager for not completing the service as recommended but there are probably a thousand other cars out there without that service completed and they're all running fine. They had no reason to believe yours would be the one that goes wrong.

This is where we're at with capitalism.

We know it's the problem. We can see the smoke coming from the hood and the wheel lying on the ground. Capitalism IS the problem.

Where I draw a distinction from many others who say that, though, is this:

Capitalism doesn't need a wrecking ball. It needs a maintenance team.

The problem is, the services and follow-ups just aren't being done. Oversight is being overlooked. The maintainers with the wrenches in their hands have their hands tied behind their backs because the managers decided it's cheaper to run a maintenance crew if they just stop breaking so many tools

Yes. Like your car, the system needs a major overhaul. Extremely important systems have been neglected for an extremely long time.

But scrapping the whole thing would be like taking your car to the dealer and telling them you'll walk from now on.

You still owe all the money that car costs. You're paying for it anyway. We're not going to get rid of capitalism

We need. To fix it.

How?

Regulations. Taxes. Eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse. BORING stuff. People who make decisions all day, listening to people who look at numbers all day. Doing the right thing for everybody not just themselves.

I'm in maintenance. Maintenance has been my mindset as long as I've been an adult. I know when a system needs work and when it needs to be scrapped. We're not gonna be a bartering economy. And if other countries have shown us anything, there's always gonna be some idiots who want to turn any attempt at communism or full socialism into oligarchy or kleptocracy. We have a system that, even in its current broken form, is keeping us (barely) from becoming a dictatorship. It doesn't need to be scrapped. It needs to be fixed.

You want a hero for the ages? Look away from superheroes. There's nobody for Batman to punch. We don't need the world's greatest detective. We need the world's greatest accountant.

You want a 3 letter agency that could save our country? Think less CIA. More IRS.

[pantwolf]

I went to my uni's library yesterday after class to study. I'm quite behind this week! My initial plan was "after class, go study." Easy. Simple. Right?

Nope! Get to the library and immediately shut down. I know the things that I need to do, but suddenly, I can't think of ANY of it. My body refuses to start, and I end up in a state of listlessness.

After some "debugging," I came to these observations:

1) I was probably dissociating from the stress of everything I had to do. I couldn't tell (I felt fine), but the lack of cooperation from my body suggests I was struggling to cope.

2) I had too much to do. Too much on the mind. Again, I knew what I had to do! But when it came to it, my working memory was full, the gears were clogged up, and I couldn't begin to untangle the web of choosing what to do first.

Here are a few solutions I came to:

1) If it isn't working, don't punish yourself by staying there in a stupor. Get up. Move. Do something else, but not something dissociative like social media, games, or drugs. Keep it cognitively relaxed, incorporate movement if you can.

2) talk to someone. My uni has "peer listening," which isn't therapy, but it's a walk-in service where you can talk to a peer about anything! I did this (terrifying, for the social anxious among us), and it helped quite a bit. We shared common struggles with academics, and we exchanged solutions, tips, and ideas. It was reassuring, and I found new strategies through them that I'm going to implement!

3) Planning. I've never been one to adhere to hard schedules. My Google calendar has old recurring events that haven't been relevant for years. I don't even bother anymore. BUT. It turns out that just saying "I'm gonna do X thing at Y time on Z day" isn't enough for me.

3 a) Planning doesn't just have to be "this is the time I will do studying." That's vague and leaves too much to interpretation, which can lead to overwhelm and paralysis. Break it down further. Don't schedule a vague "study" block, schedule blocks for "Biology Homework 3" and "Psychology paper: rough draft." Be specific with what that time is for to reduce ambiguity and eliminate the time spent untangling your thoughts!

3 b) Planning should also include preparation. Will you need notes? Do you need to watch a lecture video? Take a quiz? Gather all of the supplies you need and organize it in a folder. If it's digital work, even better! Put a folder on your desktop and fill it with notes and list any URLs you might need to visit in a word document so you can click and go. Preparation increases your ACCESSIBILITY; it is a powerful buff!

4) Focus on "I will work on" instead of "I will complete." An outcome-focused mindset is honestly really debilitating for me... It manifests as perfectionism and anxiety. Reframing can be difficult, but it's really important that, at least during planning, you just commit to working on it. If it can't be finished during that time, it's okay! You still worked on it, which means you completed your OBLIGATION. This means you still accomplished your goal, which means you won't be hit with a wave of shame of failure. Plus, cultivating a healthier mindset around work means you can clear space to be proactive.

[alwaysshallow]

coffee at midnight, part 11

John "Soap" MacTavish x f!reader

Military consumes your private time - to the point that you pretty much can't live without it. All of the boys from Task Force 141 are just like brothers, not only best friends – you know that you can trust them with your whole heart.

Somehow, one of them manages to steal it completely, and that's on Johnny MacTavish. Over months, you learn that's harder and harder to ignore that burning feeling in your heart. (3,7k) READ ON AO3

previous part

Clown. 

You feel like a clown, despite being dressed like a goddess. 

Because it’s not like you look like a clown, objectively speaking. You’re dolled up—in a nice, white velvet dress, your hair pinned up in a neat bun to expose the long earrings that you do not want to know the price of. Everything has been taken care of, so you could only focus on things that matter, the mission. 

What’s more, you feel extra because of the make-up Price’s wife made. Make-up that you wouldn’t do normally, maybe you even don’t know how, but it’s nice to look a little different sometimes. Different than your brown eyeliner type of day when you’re not deployed, different than red lipstick and a simple eyeshadow type of day when you go out.

But it’s not like you can help the feeling that you do feel like a clown, in some sense. Just because they’re looking at you. Hawks. Monsters under your bed, crawling there when you don’t look. They are your comrades, observing you with a dose of curiosity, not really knowing why you are there or what put you here in the first place. It’s not usual to see you like that, so different from them. Because most of the time, you look like them.

And maybe their reactions are like this because this is the first time they see you looking somewhat different, like a woman would look at an expensive dinner, not at a cheap bar you’re used to going with them. 

It definitely wouldn’t bother you so much if they kept their mouths shut. But they’re commenting and making small jabs towards you: how different it is, how maybe you should dress like that on a daily basis, even if you’re deployed. They even whistle, which irritates you even more as you go through the hallways with a tail behind you.

All fun and games, but making you realize what a difference makeup and dressing “like a woman” makes. Not being constantly in a sweaty T-shirt, jeans and boots that definitely seen better times. 

On the bright side, those men are mostly men that you don’t see that much, as they’re only a backup for the Task Force. Your team doesn't react to your attire at all; Kyle only asks if he can borrow your shoes when you almost tripped in your heels, suggesting that he can do a better job in them. You don’t comment on that, just roll your eyes, but the fact is, you’d kill for that view. Garrick is the perfect candidate for heels.

“In and out,” Price reminds, as he exchanges his gaze with you, finally at a meeting. There’s a lot of worry behind his eyes—a feeling that you understand too well. The last action with you came down to you being off duty for little over two months, something that isn’t really convenient for your Task Force; not to mention, it was close to eliminating you from the military if the shot would tear the nerve completely. You can’t really be surprised that he’s worrying right now. Maybe this mission is even more dangerous than the last. “If there’s hell inside, then—”

“—then we call for backup and get the hell out,” you interrupt him, nodding.  He said those words to you way too many times to not remember them like a mantra. “I have Alejandro and Soap coming in with me, it’s not gonna be that bad.”

“It’s a simple reminder,” he mutters, looking at the three of you. A beat of silence, then, a sigh. He reminds you of a father after his kids do something stupid, except you didn’t do anything. Yet, at least. “Don’t get your arse killed out there, Laswell. Your mother will kill me and it won’t be funny.”

“In some way, it’ll be.” You give him a stupid grin with hope it’s gonna make him less tense. Then, you go to the truck, your stomach tightened. It’s easy to play a game of keeping up your facade in front of Price, like it’s just another mission, but in the heart of you, buried deep, there’s some kind of fear. Going through your bones, almost paralyzing you, but you can’t really allow that. Not here, not when you have things to do, but it’s still here.

Gnawing at you from time to time, like a hungry dog. Irrational fear that something worse will happen to you or someone from your team. Just because you feel like you’re the opposite of a lucky charm lately. Like something changed and you’re doomed to experience only bad things.

Everyone splits into two groups. One bigger with Ghost, Price, Gaz and the other unit in it, a backup, as they call each other. Team that won’t engage until you’d be utterly fucked, without even a chance of escaping, so calling them in is the last option you actually use. 

If—of course—you’re gonna find time for calling them. In the darkest scenario possible, you could be dead by the time you reach for the phone, as the Russians would put a few bullets in you and your comrades. The chance for it is low (considering you have the best team), but never zero.

Second team: you, Alejandro, Soap and a random guy that will drive you to the mansion everything is set in. Small group that has three things in mind: pendrive and the data, not getting killed and not breaking the cover you have. You’re the ears and eyes of the operation; which is funnier, Vargas has special glasses with a camera in it, so others will see what is happening inside quite literally.

You’re the one chosen to get the data, send them to pendrive but also to Price. Proud of yourself to earn the honors to do this, but also scared, you nervously fidget with a scrap of your dress.

“We should talk about the kiss.” Soap says the moment Alejandro starts talking with the driver. There’s nothing nervous in his tone; in fact, he says that with such a certainty, suggesting that you have to talk with him nonetheless. 

You’re not really sure if you understand what he has in his mind, though. You’ve been focused too much on what is now, to know what he wants.“What?”

He huffs, looking at you with a puzzled expression: like he can’t believe you out of all people don’t know that he was going to talk about this. “You kissed me. Then, walked out like it was nothing.”

Realization strikes you like lightning. Unexpected and sudden, but you can feel it through every bone of your body the moment it hits. You’re conflicted if it’s either a good feeling, or something that you would avoid in the future. “...not a good moment for it, if I’m being honest.” 

Soap rolls his eyes, strangely irritated. “When it will be, then? You kiss me and then act like nothin’ happened?”

You sigh, clearing your throat. His stubbornness irritates you to the core, how dramatic he is towards this situation.

It’s not a good moment to talk about this for number of reasons; you shouldn’t talk about it when when you are in the car with two other people that certainly don't need to hear the potential discussion, not when you’re caught off guard, not when you’re not even ready for the discussion because you have better things to worry about. Hell, this isn’t even something to talk about considering it was innocent, nothing else. “I didn’t even kiss you properly Soap, I—”

“—Want to do this here, then? Before the mission?”

His suddenness and recklessness in his voice takes out your breath for a second, as you stare into him blankly. If you’d be less assertive, you’d straight up agree, just to get it over with. And for other things that you keep close to your heart, hidden and afraid. “What? No!”

“So you don’t want to kiss me at all?” He cocks an eyebrow, accusingly. It’s not fair from him, but Soap isn’t fair in general. He takes what he wants, demands it, and if he can’t have something that he wants immediately, then he’s mad at the whole world. It’s just how he works, you got used to it.

“We’re… definitely not talking about this in the car, not with Ale in the front seat. And not before the mission,” you murmur, almost angrily. “Get a grip, MacTavish.”

He grabs your jawline—quick, without giving it too much of a thought. Tight enough that you can’t even look in the other direction if you’d like to avert your gaze. “If ye think ‘m gonna drop this, you’re makin’ a fool of yerself.”

“I just think it’s not the right moment,” you gulp, biting your lip. Johnny glances at your lips once, then sighs.

“We’ll talk later, then.” And your jaw is free from his grasp.

Your thoughts aren’t free from him, even if you’d like that.

We’ll talk later, then.

Your stomach twists at the thought; suddenly, the mission doesn’t look so bad. The perspective of Johnny discovering your feelings about him? Oh, it seems like hell on earth.

Because knowing him and his ways, it’s gonna lead up to the famous “feelings talk”. He probably wouldn’t accept the “it was just a simple kiss” statement, even if you have tiny bits of hope that it would be enough for him and he’d drop the topic.

In some ways, you don’t get why he wants to talk about it. It’s not like it was the first time you kissed him on the cheek that night, nor the first time being so close like this. He has a routine involving him kissing you in your temple, hugging in the moments that he shouldn’t do it. The whole situation shouldn’t be different from those little moments between you two, as you think about it.

Maybe something changed along the way. Maybe he had a deep thought about it, talked with his friends about it and decided that it’s time for some changes? You’re not really sure, but it is confusing. 

The rest of the road is peaceful, if it’s even possible to say it like that. You’re not really engaging in conversations in your team. You occasionally nod or ask to repeat the sentence, but mostly you listen, as in the same time you repeat the plan of the mission in your head. In theory, it should be easy. Making your way to the gala, spotting the person with keys to the office and stealing all of the data you need. Maybe stunning someone if it would be necessary, but mostly making the famous “in and out” operation.

It’s only theory, you come to a conclusion. With all those people around, it's going to be one of the hardest missions—because how easy can the mission be, if you’re surrounded by highly trained assassins and mercenaries? If it would be only stupid millionaires with their bodyguards, maybe it would’ve been better, but it’s not a mission like that.

Even the fact that Johnny is here doesn't help you much; maybe it messes in your head even more than it should've. 

“I’ll tap the bracelet if something’s wrong,” you politely inform; Alejandro only nods in acknowledgment, leaving you be, so he can go somewhere else.

Even if it belongs to a literal criminal and murderer, you can’t help but be amazed by the mansion; with every step you take, you have to stop yourself from wandering around with your mouth wide open. Big windows definitely catch your attention first, how you can see everything from the inside—and, as you saw earlier, nothing from the outside. You guess it’s for their privacy and schemes, so the random person from the street wouldn’t be able to see what is really happening. With that, they’re not able to call police or anyone that could take care of them in that matter.

Hardwood doors, beautiful marble floors and many, many mirrors. There’s not a single step that you can do without seeing yourself; and that feels like you’re some kind of narcissist when you look in every moment possible. What is more, a lot of chandeliers are crystal clear, adding to the rich vibe that already this mansion has. You keep wondering if some of these things are fake or not. 

But knowing how Russians like their money, you think they’re real. They’re stealing so much, so they can spend whatever they’d like. Simple.

After a few minutes, you glue yourself to a nice brunette lady, when you see her walking from one painting to another—she seems lost, just like you pretend to be, to get some companionship. She looks like a chance to learn something about the gala, if she’s willing to cooperate with you at any chance, so you shoot your shot. 

It doesn’t take much to start talking with her like best friends, even if you need to straight up lie. You “share secrets”, chatter about your imaginary residences and an island that you recently bought to learn something about her and get a scrap of information about the gala. A bit desperate, you’ll admit, but this is the job that needs to be done.

And… she’s literally telling you everything. It’s either alcohol making her speak so much or willingness to share some tea with someone that she doesn’t know yet; because she talks about how everyone is connected one way or another—she hysterically laughs when she says that. She doesn’t stop only on that: you learn about arranged marriages to erase the conflict between gang members, how she’s against it but she likes the money that comes from it, even if the entire situation is against her beliefs. 

You try to feel sad for her, for the fact that she got into this mess without knowledge and she has to stay in it, but somehow you just… can’t. Not when she still attends all of these parties. 

When her husband comes, you’re quick to ask him some things too; and he’s not that chatty, he doesn’t tell you all about the hierarchy, but he accidentally gives you multiple names, when you talk business. It happens that you know them for something else, for elimination to be clear, but you don’t say that to him. You just smile and nod, like you’re acknowledging that they’re “good” and you can rely on them if you’d want to invest in something, or if you need someone to disappear because they’re that good.

You want to engage in the conversation deeper, give him more drinks to make him talk more, but your plan falls apart the moment you smell specific perfumes. The moment you hear a familiar voice that you were sure you’re not gonna hear for the next half an hour, but here you are.

“Have I missed something?” He sneaks his arm around you. His grip is iron, when you discreetly try to move yourself away from him, remembering how you were supposed to act as complete strangers at the gala, so no one will recognize you two. 

Price’s words about not blowing your cover echoes in your mind, when your new companion talks with the Russian couple. The man seems interested in him, asks about investments and banks that he prefers; not knowing that Johnny doesn’t really give a shit, but enjoys the information that he gives him. Where to locate the money, what to invest in (apparently gold and stolen paintings are the best, but you’re not so sure about that).

He gives shit about touching you, though—he knows perfectly fine how to locate his hands on you to make you crazy and mark the territory. Fingers are caressing your hip in slow, deliberate movements, when he tilts his head and laughs at a bad joke from the couple. His cheek grazes against yours multiple times when he scans the room, which keeps you wondering why he’s like that right now. You have to care about the mission, not his tries to desperately crawl into your skin.

And it’s not like he has anyone to fight with for your attention. No one looks at you like a hawk except Johnny. Trying to be the closest he can, so maybe he’ll potentially scare someone who could be interested in talking with you. As idiotic as it is, it’s not the only situation like this in your life with him. He always—

—not the mission, you try to tell yourself, when you wander with your thoughts too much. Your feelings don’t come first in this situation, the interest and success of the mission does. It’s not like you can do anything about it right now, but if you’re gonna be confused here, you can lose a life, multiple ones. You can’t allow yourself to be selfish, so you sweep all of your worries under an imaginary rug, so they can lay here until you’ll be ready to unpack them.

You lose Johnny somewhere around the bar, when he finally gets the attention of the guy that you’re supposed to get keys from. Chit-chats with him, giving you time to snatch the keys before he’ll know it, so you can move onto the next step without being easily spotted.

And you do. Taking them feels like taking candy from a kid: easy and less problematic than you thought it would’ve been. 

You hope it’s gonna stay that way—at least for a while. When he’s going to realize he’s short on something… putting it into nice words, this could be a potential problem.

But, this is a future thing to worry about. Right now, you move like a cat between all these guests, trying to locate the room that has the computer you care about, without drawing too much attention to yourself.

And it goes pretty well. No one really looks at the girl that blends in with the environment, especially if the guests are hammered as hell and all they want is drink after drink to forget about everything for a while. At least, you think that way, considering the amount of people you passed and the amount of people that barely kept themselves together.

Not to mention the couples that are making out in public and are a little obstacles in the way, but you don’t mind them. Not when you enter the room, after you make sure it’s the right one and no one is in the line of sight here.

Room that looks like a completely normal office—you wouldn’t ever suspect that guy has multiple criminal activities on his account, if you didn’t know this earlier. A few trophies there and there, a couple of photos of the guy’s wife and kids that, when you’re hacking his laptop with the gloves on, keeps you wondering if his family knows of these dirty things that he has done. If his wife is aware the money she spends on groceries is followed by a lot of innocent people's blood that did not deserve the way they died. If his dad knows that he does not care about the lives of children in general.

After getting through his computer passwords and all of the protection walls, the hardest part is getting all of the information to Price and on pendrive—because as you look, there’s a lot of stuff. Locations, contracts, everything you need and even more. You’d hate to lose it or risk that you wouldn’t download something important just because you wanted to spend two minutes here and not five.

So, as you wait for it to transfer correctly, you start rummaging through the office, in a million documents that make you wish you’d have a bigger purse with you right now. You hide interesting ones after folding them a couple of times, you even make time to check if you have emergency weapons where you put them before the mission.

And then, before you even take out the pendrive from the computer, you hear a little click of the closing door.

Red lamp in your head lights immediately. There’s a lot of thoughts, plans to use, when you turn around and see a man in a suit with a gun behind his belt, his eyes scanning you from the top to the bottom. Making you realize that nothing is as easy as it might seem, even if everything worked out so far without any problems in the way. 

And it’s not good that the one thought that red lamp highlights is the thought that you should jump out of the window with everything to spare the courtesy talk with your enemy. And eventual fight.

Sadly it’s not a Mission Impossible movie, even if you’d want it to be so everything would work out in the end.

“A woman like you should enjoy the gala,” he says, looking at you with a dangerous, curious glint in his eyes. Like he actually cares in some way about what you’re gonna say to him—more for entertainment, probably, but still.

“Got… a bit lost,” you shrug, laughing; trying to make yourself look more dumb in front of him, like you actually would tell the truth. You even manage to do a few “drunk” steps to the man—causing you to cringe internally— but the moment his hand grips the pistol tighter, you think it can be the end of acting.

“You’re from Price, да?”

Yeah. And that would be about holding your cover the longest you can.

Before you can give him an awkward smile, he already hits your wrist with a kick, making your purse land on the back of the office. He doesn’t wait for the next move, he pushes forward with his technique, clearly trying to get you off guard, wanting you on the floor as soon as possible. It’s the way of throwing punches that you know a little too well, so you’re prepared for this.

You make a mental note to thank Ghost when you push the Russian off you, making him trip over the rug so you can hit him in the face a couple of times. Fast and rough movement was something that the big Brit knew very well—and more often than not, you were the victim of this, thinking it wouldn’t be that hard to make him lay on the mat.

Well, it was, still is, considering you haven’t done it, but it’s the thought and experience you have.

You don’t pay much attention to the guy when he doesn’t move, as you get your pendrive hidden into your bra. You try to get everything done, just assuming that he passed out and that’s your first mistake.

Because you can’t blame anyone but yourself when the gun fires.

[quaranmine]

Utah Resident here- I’ve lived p much my whole life in Utah, and nearly every summer here has had one bad fire or another. I have vivid memories of watching smoke billow over the tops of the mountains I lived next to, or driving past massive columns of the stuff while on the way to a trip in southern Utah (we lived in the north, but have a cabin in the south and visited frequently). The Brian Head fire was just over the mountain from our little cabin, and I remember having to leave a trip there a few days early for fear of our whole campground being overtaken by the fire. There were a lot of evacs that year, and a lot of the trees on the north side of the Brian Head Ski Resort are still charred black from where the fire hit the worst.

There was another time a few years later, back in Utah valley this time, where we had to evacuate for a night bc the mountain that was just behind our house caught fire. It was much smaller, and the evac wasn’t official, but it still scared me. The fire had gotten under control before it really took hold thankfully, but it really scared me at the time.

There were another two massive fires that happened at the south end of Utah Valley, near Nephi and on the west side of the lake. They happened on separate years but I have vivid memories of both- even a picture floating around somewhere of my little brother and I watching the west lake one burn from a healthy distance.

Not to mention all the days I’ve seen where the sky was completely clouded over with smoke from massive fires in California. It was terrifying to wake up to the smell of smoke and a gray fog that persisted for days, covering up the sun enough you could look directly at it without hurting your eyes.

I’ve seen…. So much fire, and I’m not even that old (early 20’s). I’m thankful most of these fires were put out within a couple of days/weeks, but I think these kinds of fires always gonna be part of living here tbh.

OUGH i'm so sorry you had these experience but also so many of these experiences. you need a break! that sounds so scary!

anyway i looked up the Brian Head Fire and HELLO??? I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS A THING????

Unbeknownst to Lyman, the fire he started wasn’t just burning the pile of branches above the surface of the ground, it was also spreading underground, creeping through what’s known as duff, a thin layer of composting organic material just above the mineral soil. Lyman said he noticed the “weird looking” burn, which he described as “kind of a drippy burn, like oil or kerosene.”

(source) i've unlocked a new fear lol. no but seriously, despite doing sort of research on the subject for a few months now, I didn't know until I looked up the fire in your ask that fires could burn underground. Even when I googled it, I got a lot of articles about coal seams burning, which I did know about. But I found this article out of Canada that explains the phenomenon well. Basically: "When this happens, it's because there are just enough tiny spaces in the soil and between pieces of wood material to hold oxygen and keep the combustion going. These fires can smoulder metres below the surface."

Fascinating. Some fires can survive the winter like this and pop back up the next season and keep burning.

Anyway, I'm sorry you've had to experience so many fires. I think you are right, though, that fires are always going to be part of living there. Utah is geologically, geographically, and ecologically part of the region that experiences wildfire as a regular part of its natural life. There's a lot of dry montane forests, basin brushland/plains, etc. Now, humans certainly exacerbate this in more ways than one. Humans can cause out of control wildfires through negligence or arson, and humans can more indirectly impact wildfire prevalence through climate change. As the seasons get hotter and dryer, the more severe and common fires might be. But yeah, fires in general cannot (and should not) be eliminated completely. So fire management is a complex task in order to balance natural ecology with (unnatural/extensive) human impact.

in other news, big fan of your state's geography and nature by the way. utah is devastatingly beautiful and i haven't seen enough of it! i also headcanon utah to be basically the same environment as the badlands biome in minecraft, and therefore base my headcanons about Tumble Town in ESMP2 off of it.