#or maybe i did and i missed carp day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jokeroutsubs · 11 months

Text

Joker Out interview with magazine Mladina, published on 30th of June 2023

Interviewed by Vanja Pirc

Photos by Borut Kranjc

This year's Slovenian representatives at Eurovision, the five-member band Joker Out, attracted an unusually large amount of attention with their accessibility and playfulness, especially with the song "Carpe Diem." In the days and weeks that followed, it became clear that their Eurovision entry, which only placed 21st, had indeed opened the door for them to go abroad. They started adding new concerts in Ireland, Croatia, the UK, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Serbia, and others to the ones they had already arranged in Slovenia and the former Yugoslav republics. They sold out all of them, some in just a few minutes. Well over eight thousand people will see them on the UK and Nordic tour alone. For musicians working in Slovene, that's an incredible statistic.

It's a remarkable milestone to see how they've come from "Špil liga," where they first came to the limelight by winning in 2013 when they were still a high school band, to today, being greeted by masses of enthusiastic fans below the stage, and being selected by the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand to be their opening act at Croatia's Špancirfest festival. We spoke to lead singer Bojan Cvjetićanin, guitarists Kris Guštin and Jan Peteh, and bassist Nace Jordan. Unfortunately, drummer Jure Maček was missing, but we could see that he is a man of many talents by looking at the huge wooden structure with a platform that added another floor to the band's rehearsal space in Šiška, Ljubljana.

After Eurovision, you made no secret of your disappointment at finishing 21st, but your Eurovision song "Carpe Diem," sung in Slovenian, is now one of the most listened-to songs of this year's Eurovision event. It's being played all over Europe, most notably in Finland, Poland, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain... Did you expect this turn of events?

Bojan: The result we achieved at the Eurovision Song Contest was really not the greatest. Not even close. But, as you can see, in the end, it doesn't even matter. What is more important for us is that we managed to achieve the rest of the goals we had set for ourselves. We approached Eurovision in a very organic way, aiming to translate our stage and concert experience from real life to the Eurovision stage. It was clear to us that this is the biggest show stage in Europe, maybe even in the world. We were aware that this is a competition of one song, one comprehensive performance to be presented in three minutes. Our goal was to ensure that the audience would remember Slovenia's performance in 2023, and we have achieved that. We also aimed to connect with other performers, and we succeeded in doing so. But most importantly, we wanted both our Eurovision song and our other songs to be well-received in the real world. The data from radio stations, online streaming platforms, and concert offers confirm that apparently, we have achieved that as well.

Before, you were known mainly in Slovenia, and to a lesser extent in the Balkans. However, your Eurovision song has temporarily climbed to the top 50 most viral songs in the world chart on the streaming platform Spotify. You even briefly surpassed Sweden's Loreen, the winner of this year's Eurovision, in terms of popularity.

Bojan: Just to clarify, we only surpassed her for a day or two. But it's really nice that it happened on Spotify's list of the most listened-to songs in the world.

Kris: Well, she did get a billboard in New York's Times Square as the winner at the time, so it's a matter of who surpassed whom, I suppose (gesturing with his hands).

Well, who did?

Bojan: I believe that what we will gain from this performance will surpass what many other performers will achieve. Eurovision has introduced us to a very large audience in a very short time, and they have really connected with our music. They are now translating our lyrics into their own languages and even learning Slovenian. We were surprised to see how many of them bought dictionaries to learn Slovenian - we know this because we were asked to sign them. Others are learning Slovenian through online platforms, and there are even dictionaries being created on TikTok. These listeners are not bothered at all that we are not creating in English at this point; on the contrary, they would like us to keep it that way. However, we have to be realistic. To truly expand our listener base, it's important to be accessible to people.

That's why you have already prepared an album a few months ago, featuring songs from both your previous albums rearranged in English. The album is now awaiting release. One of your main goals was to be able to translate your concert experience onto the stage.

Bojan: The first real international test after Eurovision was in Zagreb, where we performed as the opening act for the most popular young Serbian band at the moment, "Buč Kesidi", at a previously arranged concert. We performed outdoors in the middle of the day, with the sun still high up in the sky. However, we were greeted by a crowd of 2,500 people and received a phenomenal response. They sang along with us, and later we read in the Serbian media that we probably have the most Croatian fans among Slovenian bands. After this show, when we announced a solo concert in Zagreb's Tvornica for November, which is comparable in size to Ljubljana's Cvetličarna, the tickets sold out in five hours. So, we arranged another concert in the same venue, and that one sold out as well. The response in Croatia has been truly amazing, and they have set a very high bar for the future.

You have been intentionally engaging with the countries of the former Yugoslavia lately. Through songs like "Demoni" ("Demons"), you have approached them language-wise. In addition to Croatia, you have also been booked for concerts in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Your Eurovision song also reminds me a little of Plavi orkestar, which was once the most popular Yugoslav pop band, or Đorđe Balašević. It is probably not a coincidence that the line "The game of hatred is your thing, thank you, don't count on us" is reminiscent of his hit "Računajte na nas" ("Count on us")?

Bojan: No, no, it's not a coincidence.

Is it nevertheless more difficult to plan a breakthrough to the rest of Europe? After Eurovision, the Irish were the first to sign you up, did the audience there also know your songs by heart?

Bojan: Yeah, we haven't really gotten used to that yet (laughs). In Ireland, we managed to sell out our first show in 12 minutes. It's true that it was a small venue, comparable to Ljubljana's Orto bar, and it wasn't a solo concert, but a joint performance with this year's Irish Eurovision representatives. However, due to the high level of interest, we arranged another concert in a club twice as big, which is also their most iconic venue. Soon after, other venues started to show interest. We announced a UK tour, with over five thousand tickets on sale for four shows in major cities, and they sold out. We announced a Nordic tour, with around 2,500 tickets available, and it sold out in half an hour, along with three Finnish concerts in just ten minutes. Later, we released an additional 770 tickets, which were gone in five minutes. Offers are also coming in from many other countries, and it is impossible to predict what will happen in the upcoming months.

A number of Slovenian music artists have successfully reached international audiences, from Senidah to Laibach, from Gramatik to Umek, and you were the first ones to consider using Eurovision as a springboard. Would it make sense for our country to continue using this event to promote established musicians who are eager to make an international breakthrough? You were internally selected for this competition.

Kris: It all depends on what we as a country want to achieve from this competition in the future. We have to decide whether EMA is a competition where we find the most suitable representative and expect them to make the most of their opportunity while promoting our country along the way, or whether it is a competition where Slovenian musicians present themselves to Slovenian audiences. Personally, I believe that it is definitely better to choose a performer who already has an established infrastructure in place and a certain support base, because this can enable him to use his potential to the fullest.

Jan: I think that would be the best approach as well. However, since many musicians see EMA as one of the few opportunities to showcase their work to a wide audience through public broadcasting, it would make sense to maintain that aspect too, perhaps as a prelude to EMA, transforming it into a grand finale for carefully selected artists, similar to Sanremo.

Bojan: The main issue with the previous selections was that Slovenia didn't approach it with the intention of winning. Of course, success in such a significant event is not guaranteed. But why not approach it strategically nonetheless? For example, I believe we should send Senidah to Eurovision in 2024!

Senidah is the biggest star in the Balkans, the most listened-to musician. Is she also your role model in that sense?

Bojan: Absolutely. Senidah is the first Slovenian artist, after Mr. Predin and "Lačni Franz", to truly break through in the Balkans. She does write music in Serbian, but that's irrelevant; what's important is that she's made a remarkable breakthrough in a market that has so far been very closed off to Slovenians. And not only has she broken through, but she is topping the charts. However, I would understand if Senidah refused to participate in EMA, at least as long as the current rules are in place. EMA is too close in time to Eurovision. The winner has only one month to submit material. Imagine having to put together the most important performance of your life in just 15 days? We, on the other hand, had more time since we were internally selected—three months—and we utilized this extra time to design our pre-Eurovision campaign, which ultimately played a key role in our success. That's what left the biggest impression.

You managed to invest between ten and fifteen thousand euros of your own funds in this promotion. You have an extensive domestic touring career behind you. In October, you will fill our biggest venue, Stožice, for the first time, where you expect 12,000 people.

Kris: I've always considered it a privilege to have established a music career at such an early stage in our lives and to have quickly reached the point of financial self-sufficiency.

Bojan: It really worked out for us that right after we finished university, we began our professional lives as musicians.

Those who know you say that you are very disciplined, very organized. Bojan, your fellow classmates from Poljane Gymnasium in Ljubljana also say that even back then, you were absolutely convinced that you were going to make a breakthrough. Many people rolled their eyes at the thought, but you had a clear objective. You were networking with the right people, educating yourself, and Pavle Kavec taught you guitar...

Bojan: Yes, Pavle the legend. I knew during my time at Poljane Gymnasium that I wanted to be an artist. I hadn't fully decided whether it would be music or something else because I was also considering studying acting. But my thoughts were always centered around creating. I suppose that's more or less true for all of us. When Jure and Nace joined us, the first question was whether we were fully committed at 1000%, or if there was another one percent pulling us towards a "plan B," such as the directions we were trained in. No, there is no "Plan B" anymore. At some point, we made the decision to cut it off.

So, the high school students at Poljane Gymnasium may very well forget that you were once planning to be their sociology professor? We've also seen you in a few episodes of the series "Gospod profesor" ("Mr. Professor").

Bojan: I've given up on the professorship, but I still find acting very interesting. For once in my life, I would like to be in a film, playing a totally negative character. I would be mean as a snake. And it doesn't even have to be a Slovenian film; it can be from the Balkans.

Kris: I have to admit that I never thought of making a living from music, although I certainly saw it as an ideal. Even when I was deciding on my studies, I wavered between sociology and chemistry, and then preferred the latter because of its greater potential for employability. Well, later on, I did go into social sciences, for a master's degree in international relations.

Yet Kris, you were the one who had the ideal conditions to become a musician. You grew up playing guitar, because your father, Miha Guštin - Gušti, is the co-founder of "Big Foot Mama", one of the most popular Slovenian bands. Today, you are considered to be their successors.

Kris: I really had the ideal conditions to become a musician who does this for a living. Not only because of my dad, but my mum also worked for record labels for many years and has recently embarked on this path again, so I've been in touch with both sides of the music world, creatively and business-wise, since I was a little kid. But I didn't really start playing guitar until I was 14, 15. And nobody else among us is a trained musician either, except our drummer, Jure Maček.

Bojan: Yes, our Maček finished elementary music school, and he also played a lot, mostly with the "Logatec brass band".

Jan: Let's not forget his performances with the "Golaž brass band", and with the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra...

Jan, you are a mathematician. The link between music and mathematics was explored by Pythagoras after he listened to a blacksmith striking a hammer, and from that he developed the study of harmony.

Jan: Yeah, at the moment it's kind of like, if you have an out-of-tune guitar, you can just say you have a Pythagorean tuning (everyone bursts out laughing). To me, maths is relevant because it's the only thing in the existence of human understanding that you can really count on. It can be used to get definitive answers to at least some questions. I see it as something that gives you structure in your life.

Nace: I would have chosen to study veterinary medicine if I had gone to university, but I discovered very quickly that music was my passion. After high school I went out into the world, I played in a band on a cruise ship that more or less sailed the Baltic, somewhere between Russia, Finland and Sweden. You could say I've got a lot of musical mileage from playing abroad. But it's limited to German schlager and German rock. Our audiences were mostly German families (laughs).

You also have the most experience of performing in front of TV cameras, especially as a member of the in-house band of the TV show "V petek zvečer" ("Friday Night"), which gives airtime to more folk-music genres on TV Slovenia. Have you scrapped this "plan B" now as well?

Nace: Officially, I'm still a member of that band; maybe the managers are expecting me to come back to the show in the autumn. But it remains to be seen whether that will be possible. Most probably not.

Today, together with MRFY, you are considered the successors of our most popular rock or pop-rock guitar bands who managed to appeal to the masses, not only of "Big Foot Mama", but also, for example, "Siddharta" and "Dan D". Why hasn't there been a real breakthrough of new bands of this kind in the last few years? Were guitars considered to be outdated, were young people closer to electronica, trap, hip-hop, mixtures of genres?

Bojan: The music of "Siddharta" and "Big Foot Mama" was a kind of basic building block for me from the very beginning. These people have influenced me more than any other world-renowned musicians. So having them support us really means a lot to me. And the Špil Liga, where student bands have been entering for the last decade, has definitely been a very strong factor in the revival of the scene. MRFY are also from Novo mesto, which is considered a mini Slovenian capital of rock'n'roll, as many of the bands that have developed under the patronage of Tokac, the music producer and frontman of "Dan D", originate from there. At the same time, in last few years the Slovenian youth has become hungry for home-produced music of all genres, and this has stirred up a strong wave of creativity, which is being held in the hands of our own generation, as well as those a little younger and older than us. At this point, the whole spectrum of what we need, from clothes to design to photography, is being created by people our age, as well as those a little younger and older than us. Well, with one exception, of course, being our producer Žare Pak, but he's young at heart.

As you reach out to a wider audience, do you also feel the pressure to meet the ever-increasing expectations of both listeners and the music industry?

Jan: I feel that right now, more than ever, we can be confident and sure of what we are doing. We didn't even enter Eurovision with some deliberately made hit-like song to suit Eurovision ears, but we did a Joker Out song that could easily have been on our album last year. Our achievements so far prove that we are doing something right because people at home and abroad like it.

Kris: I also feel like we have more freedom to create now but also fewer inhibitions to go into more experimental waters in terms of music, outfits, visuals, or anything else.

Do you think that's what some people expect from you now?

Bojan: Musicians are often criticized for their style, genre, or sound. But such criticisms are absurd.

In particular, Slovenian rock or pop-rock has always been attacked in this respect for relying too often on tried-and-tested forms and less often, for example, on boldness, innovation.

Bojan: We've been on the scene long enough, and we know that the very concept of what Jokers do bothers some people. And that's why they keep pushing their idea that we don't make authentic music but rather some crap that we invented just to exist. So, they feel it would be good if we would stop doing that. These people want, or even demand, that Joker Out should stop being Joker Out. And we're happy that on the first and second album we were able to make music completely unburdened by expectations of how people would react to it. I think the second album is quite challenging in both its sonic elements and the overall meaning of the lyrics in certain songs. I'm sorry that not one of the critics mentioned "Plastika" ("Plastics") in their reviews. None of these intellectuals who have so much to say against our love songs thought that this could be a harbinger of a different, new direction.

This song was written in response to a study showing that the vast majority of teenage girls today want plastic surgery and other body modifications to meet their perverse beauty ideals.

Bojan: There's a lot of content that people don't want to see. On the other hand, I also don't understand why songs about love, which are in the vast majority in this culture at the moment, should be inferior to those about society. In fact, I hope to be able to sing about love for the rest of my life.

Kris: You will, you will sing "Umazane misli" ("Dirty Thoughts") for the rest of your life (laughs).

You addressed Europe with the words "We'll be dancing all night long, we'll love and play with each other as if there was no tomorrow." You have stated several times that you are not a political band, but isn't that actually very political? What is more political than being able to smile and rejoice even in the worst of situations?

Bojan: I very much agree. I even think that if Tokac had sung our song, the message would have gotten through to a lot more people. But because we sang it, a lot of people didn't take it seriously.

The current Prime Minister, Robert Golob, after learning that the future coalition had brought down the government of Janez Janša, said, "Today people are dancing, I am waiting for you to start dancing too." Do you think that if we had had your song then, he would have said instead, "We'll be dancing all night long"? As some employees of RTV Slovenia did when the depoliticisation of their institution could begin?

Bojan: The song "Carpe Diem" is largely written with the idea of fighting back against the things that are happening today. The fact that we had Eurovision in a country that was not last year's winner, because the event could not be held there due to the war, is quite an indication of the troubled times we live in. On the other hand, our only defense as musicians is to spread positive energy among the people and send socially relevant messages. We cannot do more than that. We do not want to take up arms, and we won't. Our only weapons can be our songs.

Culture and art can certainly be weapons too, especially in situations where people are suffering. Do you think that's why Ukrainians supported you at Eurovision, both the audience and the jury? The country is in ruins because of the war, people are displaced, and there is no end in sight to the conflict. But your dancing until dawn has been noticed.

Bojan: I am a child of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. My parents had to leave their home in Banja Luka because of the war. They came to Slovenia as refugees and stayed here. They had to rebuild their lives. In light of today's events, I can only conclude that the saying 'Historia magistra vitae est' (“History is the teacher of life”) is clearly not true. Because one day, when all the problems of this world are solved, I too will be able to afford the attitude of being opposed to all that is positive. But at the moment, that is not a possibility.

Your parents, Bojan, had to move because of the war, and your mother, Kris, moved from the Netherlands to Slovenia for love.

Bojan: That's a much nicer reason, isn't it?

Kris: Well, I also have a grandfather who fled Indonesia because of the civil war.

Migration flows have been huge in recent years, with thousands of people pouring into Europe, but they are often met with contempt and harsh treatment. Do you feel that your intimate experience of all this migration has also shaped your attitude towards all those who are seeking a better life?

Kris: Absolutely. In my home, this has always been a topic we have talked about. When I was still living with my parents, we often watched the TV program "Dnevnik" together, and whenever they showed a piece on migration, my mother would get very emotionally involved in the scenes on the screen. And that sticks with you. When you see a parent who can understand someone who had to leave home for completely different reasons and on the other side of the world, it naturally rubs off on you.

Bojan: Most of all, you feel the spectrum of pain associated with having to leave your home is much more than just having to leave a place. Only then do you realize that home is really a tangle of space, of people, of smells, of tastes, of everything surrounding you. Leaving all that behind is not the easiest thing to do. It is even harder to leave under duress, and the hardest to leave knowing that your home is in the process of being destroyed and that when and if you return one day, it will not feel like home anymore. The same people will not be there, the same smells will not be there. What has shaped your life will no longer exist.

Alongside wars and conflicts, another key reason why people from other parts of the world are moving to Europe in large numbers is climate change. Your generation is leading the fight to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, to live more sustainably. How important is this cause to you?

Kris: The fight for climate fairness is one of our few very clear common political positions. Here we are completely united and support all political choices towards sustainability. It is also very clear that this is an important issue not only for us but also for a large part of our audience. It was interesting to note that two years ago, at a rally for climate justice in Ljubljana, we saw a poster with the lyrics of one of our songs. We've summed up our own thoughts on the subject in the song "Novi val" ("New Wave)," which was written last year and is currently one of our most successful and important songs.

In that song, you say "The radio only plays lightnings and strikes', the newspaper says that we' ve lost our way. Today we'll sing and raise our glasses, we were born yesterday and have already been blamed for everything." And what are you guilty of? Probably not the fact that your generation faces precarious employment, that loans are hard to come by, and so are real estate, even rental properties?

Bojan: These are the facts of life lived by the "born yesterday" generation. They are the result of the accumulation of bad decisions over decades. These facts manifest themselves in reality as obstacles that reduce our ability to build the pillars of our independence and, as a consequence, are the reason for our failure to live up to societal expectations. In a world where laws have been written for decades in favor of a mega-massive littering of the planet, we are guilty of standing up for environmental justice instead of "doing something smarter and more serious with our lives," even though previous generations have themselves turned the (labour) market into a war zone of precarious employment. We fight day in and day out with the uncertainty of whether or not we will be employed tomorrow...

But even in this song, you sing and you raise your glasses.

Kris: This song and the Eurovision song "Carpe Diem" are actually very similar in spirit and message, except the second one addresses the listener in a dance guise and this one in a much more serious manner.

The song "Novi val" ("New Wave") has received a lot of attention because of the English version you released before the Eurovision, which you performed with the renowned British musician Elvis Costello. Your now ex-member Martin has a godfather who is a friend of Costello's, and in 2013 you sent him the song "Gola" ("Naked") to listen to. He did listen to it and suggested that you send him more songs. So last year you sent him "Novi val" ("New Wave").

Bojan: Yes, that was true, and when I sent him that song, I also asked him if he would be willing to re-arrange it in English. And he wrote back that he was up for it. Shortly after that, only about a week later, he sent me another email saying if we all agreed, he was ready to sing the song with us. Interestingly enough, he felt the song even before he understood what it was about. His first reaction after hearing the Slovenian version was that it was "a charming song that transcends the understanding of language". He recorded his vocals in New York, and we recorded them in Ljubljana. At the end of the song, we kept the chorus in Slovenian, at his request.

Costello has two Grammys, two Brit Awards, and was named one of the 100 greatest rock'n'roll musicians of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. What does his support mean to you?

Bojan: I can say without any reservation that even if I never wrote another song after this, I would forever be proud of what I have achieved. But it was this collaboration that gave us an indescribable amount of new energy to create. I am very proud of it. However, I must add that I felt the same pride when Tomi Meglič or Grega Skočir gave us words of encouragement. The moment when I first felt their sincere appreciation was a turning point for me, and since then I have existed quite differently as a musician. But of course, it is clear that Elvis Costello's encouraging words carry international weight. And that is something completely new for us. It's just a pity that we haven't been able to meet up yet because he was on tour in the US at the time of the recording of the song and later the video.

He will be touring Europe in the autumn, including Hamburg. You recorded the Eurovision song there in December.

Bojan: He honored us greatly then. He sent us the song "Hamburg Postcard", which he wrote especially for us.

Kris: Let's not forget something else. Our band has always described our music as "shagadelic rock'n'roll" (the Oxford English Dictionary defines shagadelic as "sexy, but in a psychedelic or retro way", A/N). We borrowed this term from "Austin Powers", but it was actually spoken by Elvis Costello, who played himself in that film. When we sent him our song "Gola" ("Naked") in 2019, we thought it would be a good idea to let him know that we also use the term "shagadelic rock'n'roll". And then he personally gave his permission to use it because he felt that that was what it was. To complete the circle, Elvis Costello is one of the original protagonists of the English New Wave, and we are now singing together about the New Wave. He is also from Liverpool, which hosted this year's Eurovision. Our collaboration was clearly written in the stars.

Costello, as a Liverpudlian, knew the most famous local musicians, The Beatles, very well and had worked with Paul McCartney. The Beatles are also among your role models, and this year you also visited the place where the Beatles began their musical journey for the first time. Do you now understand better why they remain the greatest?

Kris: For me, visiting Liverpool and the places that influenced the Beatles and their music gave me some perspective. We knew them through songs, like Penny Lane, for example, but in reality, it's much smaller and more 'plain' than we imagined. Liverpool is a beautiful city, but the suburbs where the Beatles lived are very ordinary working-class housing estates. One could say quite bland. Now I walk around Ljubljana with different eyes. I can imagine that one of our future songs could also feature an insignificant, less exposed street that made its mark on us...

Bojan: And this is where you can see very clearly why the Beatles are the Beatles. Because everybody has a Penny Lane in their life, an ordinary street where you meet a friend. Penny Lane is the most universal thing in the world

The English song "Novi val" ("New Wave") was covered by the BBC and ITV, and the British voted for you at Eurovision. Your music and performances have always been influenced by British pop. Is that one of the key places for you, besides the Balkans?

Bojan: I think our focus is on any place that is willing to accept us, but England has a special charm because we ourselves have been heavily influenced by British music. I'm not the ultimate "nomad," I dislike long flights and exotic destinations that can be unpredictable, so Europe is very dear to my heart. I would be very happy if we could establish ourselves as a European band that could travel a little bit around Scandinavia in the summer and then Dalmatia in the winter...

Kris: Or Spain, where we would eat tapas.

Is the interest in your band in the country also related to the fact that Bojan speaks Spanish?

Bojan: Yes, I ended up doing more interviews in Spanish than in English. The Spanish have also been very active because of our links with their Eurovision representative Blanca Paloma.

Kris: It's really amazing how you can charm a foreign audience by speaking their language. I understand it with the Spanish, as they are mostly less proficient in English, but I was surprised by the Dutch. Dutch is my mother tongue, of course, but I didn't expect that it would matter because in the last few years I have noticed that in Amsterdam, almost only English is spoken on the street. Even the oldest market vendor speaks perfect English. But they were very enthusiastic. On streaming platforms, the Netherlands is one of our top 10 countries.

You mentioned earlier that your fans are now learning Slovenian. What about your future - will it be written in English?

Bojan: The next album will almost certainly have songs in English, Slovenian, and Serbian, but it's very possible that there will also be some in French or Spanish.

What about Finnish? At Eurovision, the most talked-about thing was your friendship with the Finnish representative Käärijä, who came in second place. When you, Bojan, sang his song, he praised you, saying it was "better than the original".

Bojan: We haven't talked about a musical collaboration yet, but I was a guest at his concert in Helsinki in June, and we would be very happy to have him at our concerts. Unfortunately, that won't happen in Stožice because he has a big concert on the same day.

Now that it is clear that your international ambitions are growing exponentially, what is the ultimate goal where you would say, well, now we have made it?

Kris: Even before we had international ambitions on the level we have today, we often talked about how performing on the main stage of the Hungarian festival "Sziget" would be a testament to the fact that we have achieved something in our lives. Do you remember?

Bojan: How European of us, right? (laughs)

And - have they called you yet?

Jan: Not yet, but we are already learning Hungarian just in case (laughs).

Kris: And we were just wondering why we shouldn't just announce a concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 2030.

Bojan: Yeah, because if we started selling tickets now, we might even be able to sell them by then. (Everyone bursts out laughing because the stadium seats 90,000).

#joker out #bojan cvjeticanin #nace jordan #jan peteh #kris gustin #jure macek

274 notes · View notes

itsagrimm · 1 year

Text

He who Comes from under the Water

Chapter 3 - The Fish, the Fox and the Fairy Lights

CN mentions of cannibalism in a fairytale-esk way, implied mentions of femicide, arranged marriage, sexism and patriarchy, talking animals, slight dip into paranoia, isolation, missing dead family and human connection, mourning process and grieving, talk of sex, talk of ‘virginity’ and insecurity, eating habits that could be read as pica behaviour, generally food and weight play a bit of a role here but not in a judgy way.

Much tanks to @queenquazar for editing and pointing out that yes indeed we can go more monstrous and that this is in fact very sexy and romantic.

Masterlist

Notes for better understanding at the bottom!

It became a silent ritual. You got up, dressed, and stepped into the garden after the knocks on your door. Every morning you collected a new pile of fish from König under the watchful eyes of the Heron. And with the fish, arrived a fresh stack of firewood and two buckets of water, ready for you at your doorstep.

Reliable and useful. It was a nice gesture…or a trap.

It made you uneasy.

Taciturn, you kept to yourself, mumbling a few polite words to the heron, and staying mostly around the house for the rest of the day. Now alone, you had plenty of things to do.

No one was there to share the work with you. No friends or neighbours to help with repairing the house or harvesting berries or sharing some of the household chores. Biting your lips, you laboured on alone, no longer crying yourself to sleep at night but falling asleep as soon as you closed your eyes.

The silence was the hardest. It broke you down more than any working day could. No words or gossip or laughter or songs filled the house anymore, grinding your need for seclusion down.

The only companion you had were your own creaks and groans as you struggled with heavy tools and an even heavier, lonely heart.

One day, you could not bear it anymore.

“Does König catch these fish, master heron?” You asked casually while walking through the grass, wet from morning dew, a big bowl already in your hands.

“Yes, he goes fishing. For you! The fox told me,” The heron replied and swayed on its spindly legs like branches of the willows in the wind, “The dirty furball insists on guarding you at night. Of course, he only does it for the fish he gets from the King if you ask me. He thinks it's clever and subtle.”

“And you? What do you get?” you asked as you kneeled to pick up the fish. Crucian carp and walleye this time.

The heron master cackled, the sound loud and teasing in the morning air.

“Maiden,” it said, “I may be a bird flying high above the King’s deep kingdom, but I fish on his waters – his kingdom is right below the surface I stare at for hours. Serving your husband and earning his good will is better than a fish or two from him. Besides,” It cackled again, “you will make a fine, kind queen. You share your food with me every day!”

You smiled politely, “Governed by the stomach are we then, master heron?”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Indeed. A chalice then, again?” you asked simply as you grabbed some wood for the cooking.

“It would be very welcome.”

You nodded before grabbing the buckets and closing the door behind you.

Alone again… to some degree. Except for a fox guarding you at night, a heron at day, and König visiting your house as you slept.

You had been right with the feeling of eyes on you.

Sinking in the chair, you stared at the bowl with fish. It was too much, far too much for only you to eat. Maybe König wanted you to cook for him as well? To share a meal, have a bit of company. He helped you, after all.

Like a husband would.

You shook your head at the thought.

No, you did not know him, did not know why he wanted to marry you and what he wanted with you. As far as you were concerned, he could still plan on fattening you up to eat later. You remembered stories of girls getting married, only to vanish. Why else would he bring you food but not visit you otherwise?

You pushed the thought aside, the air of death terrifying, threatening to cripple you now with memories too fresh to be just memories.

The pond was still too real.

You got up and started to pile up the wood. The heron was right. Everyone had something to gain, and you needed to know what a king from under the waters wanted from you.

You were just a peasant girl, you thought to yourself as you lit up the fireplace. No ordinary king from the cities knew of you or cared about this village, likely never even heard of it and certainly not about you. Kings married queens. Princes married princesses. No one married the poor bumpkin without a family. All you had was the flesh on your bones, the hair in your plaits, and the dress on your skin.

But König was no ordinary king.

He was no human.

And he chopped the wood for you.

The thought of the strange, tall man, collecting and chopping wood for you in the dark made you chuckle.

How royal.

How odd.

Was that what kings did?

You had no idea. What you needed was to learn more about him. You looked at the pile of fish and grabbed your knife. Maybe you needed to face your fears before the silence took you as the waters once tried to do. And maybe you could get to know your future husband a bit better over a shared meal.

This night you forced yourself to stay awake. Not lighting any fire or candle, you sat in your kitchen, wrapped in a scarf against the cold, and waited while sipping on your Sage tea.

Gathered by your mother and dried hanging from the roof of the kitchen, it calmed your nerves. It’s mild taste pleasant on your tongue, comforting and familiar.

You listened.

Outside the leaves rustled, the wind making the birch trees in the garden sway. The light steps of an animal walking close to your house, eating and smacking from the plate with fish left out, made you lift your head.

That must be the fox.

You took another sip.

An owlet cried somewhere in the woods, it’s “Kowitt, Kowitt!” hushed in the distance. It reminded you of your brother. He used to imitate all those cries, claiming one day he would learn all the bird’s sounds. He did not get to that.

Tock, tock, tock! The sound of wood getting chopped made you put your thoughts and your tea aside.

You got up, checked your plaits, and straightened your shoulders before grabbing your prepared package and stepping out of the house.

It was dark. The moon wasn’t even half full, so dark you could barely make out the steps down and into the garden.

“There, there. Here comes the bride!”

You stilled at the sound of the unknown voice.

“Is that you, master fox?” you asked into the darkness.

A rustling sounded before something warm pressed itself to the side of your legs and you smelled the little animal.

That definitely was the fox.

“Master?” the fox spoke with an amused ring, “So the heron was right. You are polite. No one ever calls me that. Say, why are you up and out at night, hm? It is dangerous for pretty women and future queens. You might run into monsters.”

“From my experience monsters care very little if the sun is up or down to be dangerous,” You replied. “But I could use some help walking at night. Would you like to make sure I don’t fall by accompanying me?”

The little animal around your knees shifted and smelled your hands. You felt a cold, wet, snout at the tips of your fingers.

“And where might you want to walk, eh?” the Fox said.

“To König.”

Immediately it stopped twisting and turning around you.

“Oh… OH!” The Fox exclaimed, “How romantic. Or stupid. In my experience, those two things can be very similar, hm? I will bring you to the king.”

For a quick moment the Fox left your side and stood in silence before a cold, wet snout at your shoulder nudged you onwards.

With wide eyes you moved.

“Don’t you worry, queen,” The fox rumbled somewhere above you, “I see well enough for two at night. You just walk.”

You nodded, too speechless from the tiny fox suddenly being tall enough so that you walked between its front legs, holding onto his fur to steady yourself.

“You are a brave one, eh?” The fox spoke.

“It is not like I have a choice.” You replied as you walked. “But, I am only putting out only one plate for you, no matter how tall you make yourself. I cannot have the heron accuse me of favouritism.”

A deep grumble erupted behind you, a laugh, you realised, as you stepped somewhere deeper into the forest. The ground changed from soft grass to roots threatening to trip you, despite clinging onto the fox’s leg.

“How stern of you, maiden,” The fox teased.

You walked on, further, and further, deeper into the woods, with the sound of chopping coming closer and closer, louder with each thwack.

Finally, the Fox stopped.

“King of all that is under the water!” The large animal rumbled through the dark forest, “I brought to you your bride. She wanted to see you.”

The chopping sound stopped, as an axe was driven down onto the wooden block.

“What a surprise! Here I thought humans sleep at night,” you heard König say, “Thank you, Fox.”

You felt the animal move and suddenly you were alone again in the dark.

“How are you, my bride?”

“I,”you started, thinking about what you could say before deciding to go with the most practical, “I cannot see you. Do you have a light?”

A chuckle, an amused human chuckle, sounded through the forest before you heard a few whispered commands.

You waited for a heartbeat in the dark, listening to the owlet cry far, far away now.

“There they are,” König spoke into the dark.

You looked around. Little swamp lights danced around the trees, coming closer with soft laughter and with it an alluring feeling of security. You felt your legs long to walk with them, wanting to go with those lights wherever they went, laugh and dance with them the whole night.

A hand grabbed you by the arm, breaking the spell.

It was König, his hand firm and warm on your skin.

He stood beside you, casting a long shadow with his frame.

You looked up, confused as to what happened.

“You must not go with the swamp lights, or you might drown for good, bride,” he muttered, “Do not look at them. Ignore them. Enjoy their light from afar, and you are safe.”

Dizzy from the light’s callings, you nodded, blinking slowly.

König’s eyes were light and reflective, like the water mirroring the moon. Aside from that, he looked human. A young man with a trimmed beard and kempt hair..

Good-looking.

Bashfully, you turned away. That is not what you came here for.

“Why are you here, bride?” he asked and tugged you to a fallen tree.

You sat down on the wood, and he took a seat on the ground in front of you. With his tall size you were near eye-level with him and his watery eyes.

“I wanted to see you,” you trailed off. You had made plans, thought up words, explanations, lies. Now, all gone and forgotten, you were left with nothing but yourself.

“Are the Fox and the Heron not treating you well? Did Ivar return after all, and I have not heard?”

“No. it is all fine,” You paused. König looked so real, so unlike the terrifying stranger haunting your mind when you were alone. Maybe you could marry this man and become what your grandfather had wanted you to become.

“Why do you want to marry me?”you ventured.

The watery, bright eyes blinked before settling on you again.

“The old man told me stories of kings- of kingdoms. What it is supposed to be like.” A soft smile danced over his lips.

“I am a king of a kingdom. I have all that is supposed to be of kings. All I am missing is a queen. That would be you.”

“So, you want to marry me because I accidentally became available to you? Because my grandfather offered my hand in marriage?”

“Yes.”

It was your turn to blink. Was that all to it? Was it just a swampy being playing king and you got caught up in it? No other intentions other than that?

“How is it supposed to work?” You asked, “I am a human. I am much smaller than you, and I need air.”

“I thought about it and have decided to build a new palace. That is why I have been so busy. It will be both in the water and on it. You will have to tell me what else you require to live except air. As you can see, currently, I am getting the wood ready needed for the foundation.”

He pointed at the fallen trees and chopped wood.

“And for the size – we can put you on a chair or something.” He eyed you up and down before adding, “maybe we put that chair on a box too. But it will work.”

“How?”

“What do you mean how? You will look taller that way.”

“What about when I am not on the chair and the box?”

Confusion knitted his brows.

“I don’t know. For what else do queens need to be representative for?”

You eyed him with confusion. You knew little about what queens were expected to do. But, you figured it included other marital expectations… bedroom expectations.

You felt your face turn hot.

“König,” you asked. “How do you think people marry among humans?”

He tilted his head, “I was told there is a feast.”

“And?”

“And then the bride and the groom stay together for the night.”

“Yes?”

“I suppose they have a good night’s sleep.”

“I doubt there is much sleeping going on during a wedding night,” You snorted.

“Oh,” He paused. “Oh. I did not know that.” He cleared his throat.

“We don’t have to do that.” He shrugged, “Who could tell anyway? And who would care to ask?”

You looked down at your fingers, your left hand nervously fumbling with the package you bought with you. Was it odd to know he was willing to lie to not… to not touch… not to feel… You were unused to thinking of yourself this way, assuming once you would get married, your mother and your already married girlfriends from the village would tell you all about this. But they were all gone, you were about to marry a man from the swamp, and all those things would always stay a mystery to you. You did not even know what it was you were missing, not even sure how to name it.

“Is that fish?” König asked, “ I smell fish. That is fish!”

Relieved for the change in topic you nodded.

“Yes, I wanted to say thank you for all the food you brought me. It is very thoughtful.”

You passed him the package.

“It’s not much but, maybe, you would like to have some din-”

The words stopped coming out of your mouth as König took the package and gobbled it up in one go without even unpacking it from the pressed birch bark.

With your mouth still hanging open you starred.

He bit down with a crunching sound on the fish and bark, his sharp teeth reflecting the swamp lights before chewing a few times with a thoughtful look on his face as if he was tasting something for the first time.

You closed your lips before you choked on the dinner invitation on your tongue.

“Ah, so that is how cooked food tastes like,” He finally stated after swallowing down with an audible sound, “Delicious. Thank you very much, my bride!”

He licked his fingers with a wet slurping sound and wiped his face from the birch bark crumps with those large clawed hands - hands that looked like they could snap your neck like it was a stick.

He burped before continuing.

“Pardon. It’s nice, easier to eat this way than when they still wiggle.”

Still fixing whatever face you were making into something less baffled, you mumbled an, “I need to go,” and got up.

König rose with you, whispering a few commands.

“The lights will guide you home. You humans can’t see in the dark, right?”

“Ah yes. Thank you.” You replied weakly and turned around to leave.

“Wait,” he called after you. “What was it that you wanted to say?”

You turned back. König looked at you, waiting patiently for you to speak. The terror was still in your bones, the crunching sound still ringing in your ears as he bit into the package like it was nothing. Was that what he could do with you too? Your body frail and fragile against the large and imposing König and he only waited for you to become his to do as he pleased with you and your body, consuming it whole like he had with your little gift?

“I-“ you began, fumbling with your now empty hands.

He waited as your heart raced fast against your ribs. A part of you screamed that you needed to run from this terrifying man who wanted to parade you around on a chair as his queen, ate like you had only seen in your recent nightmares and nearly drowned you. He was no human and commanded powers you did not understand.

But then he looked at you, a kind, patient face, who stood up for you when you needed it and was concerned for well-being.

It’s for now. I am safe until the wedding, you thought to yourself.

“I wanted to ask if you would like to have dinner with me, sometime?”, you said out loud.

XXX

Notes for better understanding:

- I use the word ‘plaits’ for readers hair to describe the braided hair style of the reader I know as ‘косы’. Since translating it as braids technically would have also been correct but invokes a different meaning for most English speakers due to distinct cultural codes, I used ‘plaits’. However, if you have braids or hair that can be braided, feel free to read the word ‘plaits’ as ‘braids’ or at least understand yourself as included in the description. This was very much a technical translation problem with words not being translatable 100% and ‘косы’ simply meaning any type of braided or plaited hair.

- some of you might not be aware of foxes’ smell. It’s a very strong and not pleasant to most.

- Female owlets cry ‘Kowitt!” which sounds like the german ‘komm mit’ / ‘come with me’. Therefore, it is said in German folklore that the owlets are birds of death wanting to take a soul with them or warning of the impending death of those who listen to it because it was heard so much around the dead and dying. Owlets and many other nightly birds of prey were hunted because of that in German speaking regions. The real reason for owlets crying around the dead is a different one: the lights of the wake for the dead drew the birds in at night.

- Sage grows wild nearly everywhere and is calming as well as anti-inflammatory. It is a medicinal tea so one should not drink it regularly due to it being very potent. Also, the sage reader is drinking is a native sage known as green sage so please don’t go and get white sage if you just want to have a tea.

- birch bark is a very versatile resource used in many cultures as a means to e.g. write on or to make other wares out of it

XXX

Taglist: @thesinsoflust @kdkj122920 @die-prophetin @lillianastuff @1234ilikecowsthanyoumore

#grimmwriting #könig #könig cod #könig call of duty #könig mw2 #könig x reader #könig x oc #call of duty #monster!könig #monster x human #he who comes from under the water #hwcfutw

504 notes · View notes

tick-tick-moo · 2 years

Text

The Sandman (2022) To-Be-Read Fanfics Masterlist

Per the suggestion of @nebulosa-reina and my urge to organize my AO3 "Marked For Later" :) Most are 1,000+ words, I'll update this pretty much daily as more fics pour in! And feel free to recommend any and I'll add 'em to the list!😁 ✔️ = Read No emoji = Unread ❤ = Favorite of mine

Endless Fam x Reader Series Sweet Dreams by Miss Alrauna

Dream x Hob And I'll Kneel Down, Wait for Now by thesuspiciousflyingjellyfish (@thesuspiciousflyingjellyfish ) What day did you say it was today? by rooniper ✔️ Dream² by Ryunya ❤

Dream x Reader The Beauties by bibard (@bi-bard ) ✔️ Rogue Nightmares by bibard ❤ Where I Can't Follow by periangry (@ahsxkatano ) ❤ My Queen by MissAlrauna ✔️ time flies. by @megthemewlingquim ✔️ Dream Fic by @the-darklings Between Dreams and Realities by @why-what-no ✔️ Dream by @dyns33 ✔️ today i bury you in me. by thedarklings ❤ In Your Dreams by allipaige ❤❤❤ I Know You by tashastral (OC) ✔️ Lucid by missmills (platonic) Meet the Family by MissAlrauna ❤ Carpe Nox by Opium_du_Peuple ✔️

Johanna x Reader What a God Damn Kiss to Think About by bibard ❤

Johanna x Rachel Maybe I Don't Deserve To by Andnever_ever_eatpears ✔️

About Jessamy The Second Death of a Raven by Jedi_Claire ✔️

About Gregory Gregory by Rocketbride

Musings / General The Sandman Oneshots & Headcanons by Canibecomeadragon ❤ Dream Falling In Love With You Would Include... by Bowieandqueen11 (@bowieandqueen11 ) ✔️ Death's Gift by godricplease ❤ When a Dream Goes Missing by alivebutdeadinside_6_6_6 ✔️

#Moo moos #fanfic recs #the sandman #dream of the endless #fanfiction #death of the endless #gregory the gargoyle #johanna constantine #hob gadling #jessamy the raven #morpheus x reader #dream of the endless x reader #dream x reader #dream x y/n #dream x hob #fandom

450 notes · View notes

rustcleaver · 10 months

Text

It Falters On The Horizon (Chapter 1)

Fnaf Eclipse x gn reader, 6k words

(it/they/he pronouns are used for Eclipse)

If any of you have an ao3 invite I could use, I would be deeply grateful <3

Waking up for work on a Tuesday morning isn’t all that bad if you like your job. It doesn’t even need to be particularly glamorous; anything that doesn’t make you want to crumple to the floor like a tinfoil ball by the end of your shift is a win. And anything beats retail. So you’re pretty satisfied with your decent pay (and flexible hours) at the Fazbear Entertainment™ Mega Pizzaplex©. You even get to google conspiracy theories on company time, it’s great.

Your alarm rings, and you feel at least half the joints in your spine crack as you sit up to turn it off. It takes a minute of flailing like an indignant carp before you’re able to roll out of bed and onto your feet. You grab your Fazwatch© (patent pending) from its little charging station and its screen buzzes to life. A few practiced button-taps show you the day’s schedule. All the tours are at the regular times, showing the same schedule as it did last night. Maybe you don’t need to check it as often as you do, but management has made last-minute changes before, and it’s pretty fair to assume it will happen again. For some reason or another, the tour times will sometimes get moved around or cancelled on the day-of. After a month on the job, you’re comfortable enough in your routine to give a tour on 5-minute’s notice. (You had to last Friday. That was a new low, even for Faz-management.) But everything looks fine today, so you shouldn’t have to whip out The Ol’ Fazbear Entertainment Approved Apology Spiel for any poor customers who might miss the sudden change in their tour times.

You once bet $50 that management will try to move a tour to some time in the past. The staff bot that cleans at your end of Rockstar Row is often the recipient of your quips, and it only stopped sweeping for a second to acknowledge your comment. You still aren’t sure if it knows what money is, and you probably don’t have 50 bucks to spare, anyway. You guys can probably just call it even. Besides, you think it found the joke funny (it made a single ‘ha’ sound), so that’s probably all that matters.

You used to be surprised by the number of people you can find in the pizzaplex at the asscrack of dawn, but the magic of the place (and the meticulously crafted ads on kids’ youtube) always attracts a small crowd. Weekdays are pretty quiet in the mornings, but there’s always someone visiting the pizzaplex. It’s a lavish place that probably pays more money for the monthly electricity than you will ever see in your life, but you’re sure the company can afford it easily with the number of guests they get. With how stupidly overpriced some of the stuff is here, you’re sure those guys have plenty of funds to spare. You really don’t get why management will always cut corners and be so cheap, then turn around and drop hundreds of thousands on some shiny new robot. Fickle, those guys.

Anyways, back to your own work:

Thankfully, it’s never too busy back at Rockstar Row during the day when the animatronics are performing or going to private birthday parties. You can hear their music if you listen for it, but all the festivities are distant enough that they don’t disturb you. The voices, cheers, and catchy tunes blend together in a gentle hum-drone of white noise. You keep saying that you’re gonna watch a performance one of these days, but you want to go at a time when you won’t get lost in a sea of pre-teens and their exhausted parents, so you keep putting it off. Usually, none of said pre-teens or parents are hanging around Rockstar Row when you prepare for the day, so you can have your peace of mind as you clock in. You can even whistle a bit of copyrighted music while dusting off the ol’ display cases without getting a single disapproving email from management. Throughout the day, you give a couple of tours down the Row to tell the history and legends of the old Fazbear pizzerias, throwing in some popular conspiracy theories and horror stories for spice. There’s plenty of time in between the tours of this makeshift museum when you usually just sit around in case anybody needs directions or something. All-in-all, it’s a pretty nice job. And you’re pretty darn good at it, too. Nobody knows how to redirect a customer to somebody who actually knows how to help with whatever wild shit happened to their kid quite like you do.

Sometimes, Rockstar Row gets kinda crowded at the end of the day when the animatronics are doing meet-n-greets in their rooms. There aren’t any museum tours at this time (thank Faz), so you get to sit down at your little desk area and watch how these vibrant characters and their equally dazzling personalities capture the attention of the crowds. They’re real pros at what they do; you can’t help but smile at their acts, even from a distance.

There have been a few times when there wasn’t anyone waiting in line to chat with one of the animatronics, so Freddy or Roxy will sometimes come over to say hi when you wave to them. You’ve been hoping to introduce yourself to Monty and Chica, but their rooms aren’t really visible from your corner of Rockstar Row (and you don’t want to intrude when anyone’s busy), so you’re limited to the other two at the moment. Freddy is very popular and very busy, he is the titular character after all, so you’ve probably spoken to Roxy the most. She once expressed gratitude that she doesn’t have to maintain her usual act and energy when she talks with you. It was a pretty serious and vulnerable comment, so you wanted to respond in a positive and encouraging manner. The somewhat goofy thumbs-up that you gave her (clearly not the expected response) made her laugh so hard that Freddy came over, concerned that her voicebox was glitching out. The memory makes you smile as you clock in for the day.

---

On this morning, this perfectly average Tuesday morning, you do a double-take at one of the display cases. Empty. It definitely isn’t supposed to be, so you walk over to take a look at it. You stop a couple of inches away from the glass and squint at it like this is some optical illusion. Yep, definitely empty, no amount of rubber-necking or suspicious glances appear to be changing that. Also, it looks like the top panel has been unceremoniously smashed in. In fact, it took you a perfectly normal amount of time to notice that the whole upper half of the glass box is shattered. Yes. And, like the awe-inspiring detective you are, you start looking around on the floor. You know, just in case the old Chica arm had hopped out of its display case and was lying around somewhere. Okay, so maybe it’s a little hard to wake up on a Tuesday no matter what your job is.

You’re almost surprised that management didn’t tell you about the missing exhibits before your shift, but then you remember how low they keep setting the bar. They probably didn’t know, or didn’t care. You move to check the rest of the displays yourself and see that an original Fredbear top hat has also disappeared. This horrible loss is enough to properly wake you up. That was your favorite exhibit. It was a nice little hat that will be sorely missed. You take a minute to grieve the tragic loss before you see your good pal (the staff bot who you might owe $50 to someday) vacuuming around the golden Roxy statue. You jog over to it and give a little wave.

“Hey! How’s it going?” You say. It turns off the vacuum and looks over at you. It blinks twice and gives you a thumbs-up.

“Happy to hear it! Doesn’t look like you got covered in soda like last week, so that’s good. Hey, if that ever happens again, you can come to me if you need a hand with cleaning it off. I’m getting pretty good with those chem wipes. Also, two of the exhibits are missing: the Chica arm and the old top hat. Do you know anything about that?” You ask, remembering your original mission mid-sentence and pointing at the crime scene. In response, the staff bot looks at the ground for a minute, then tilts its head quizzically. It turns to look down the hallway and makes a little ping sound at a nearby security bot. The security bot comes over and the two of them look at each other silently for a minute. Robot-to-robot conversation, robot-to-robot communication. The security bot looks briefly at the floor like the staff bot did, then the two resume their telepathic chat. You begin to wonder if you should ask again later when they both turn to look at you. The security bot beeps a few times.

“...Did you see anything suspicious around the displays recently?” You offer, guessing at what the security bot is trying to communicate. It shakes its head in response.

“Can you check the security camera footage from last night?” It nodds this time.

“Great! So, do you see anything..?” You wait a moment. Maybe the security bot didn’t hear you? It keeps looking at you but doesn’t respond, doesn’t move. Your fazwatch buzzes on your wrist, and you read the screen, confused.

REQUESTING SECURITY CLEARANCE ...

...

APPROVED

UPDATED SECURITY CLEARANCE FOR: DAYCARE ENTRANCE

Ok. Well, that’s something. But the daycare has been closed for long before you even got hired, and you doubt that whoever stole the two displays would have any reason to put them there. (Our great detective has deemed this a case of larceny, deducing that there iss a thief afoot.)

“The daycare? You want me to go to the old daycare..?” You ask. The security bot nods.

“Shouldn’t I go to the security office for this sort of thing?” It doesn’t respond. Your fazwatch opens the pizzaplex map and begins charting a course for the daycare. There’s your answer, you suppose. The security bot begins rolling back to its post and you shout a quick thank-you. Turning back to your dear friend and colleague, staff bot, you shrug.

“Well, the security bots probably know a lot better than I do. I’ve got about an hour, so I’m gonna go check it out. Wish me luck!” You give it a dramatic little salute. It blinks in acknowledgment and goes right back to vacuuming.

---

It always bothered you that “Floor 1” isn’t always the first floor of a building. Sometimes, it’s literally the second floor. You are reminded of this tragedy as you take the elevator down to the “Ground Level” and step out onto the balcony. (Note that even the “Ground Level” has two levels. Fazbear Entertainment really dropped the ball on this one.) You shuffle out of the elevator, leaving room for the family passing by while checking your faz-map. It says that you just have to go left. And there it is, a large pair of doors labeled “Superstar Daycare Pick-Up”. You’ve never had to go inside, but it still shocks you that you never noticed the entrance before. The lights above the door are off and all the paint is faded, so it’s admittedly hard to spot. You hesitate for a second, just standing there, staring at the door handle. You get the sense that you aren’t supposed to be here, like you’re a child about to get caught doing something that you were told not to. Reminding yourself that you were literally told to come here, you try to shake the feeling. As weird as this whole thing is, you’re pretty curious to see whatever the security bot has sent you to find. Besides, if this yields nothing, you can just stop by the security office and ask somebody else for help. You finally turn the handle and step through the door.

Here you find a large, poorly lit, and lifeless area. There are only a few posters on the walls, lit by bands of neon light. Some are of the band, but you notice several that depict a sun figure and a moon figure. These advertise some “Sundrop” and “Moondrop” candies. You find it weird for the Fazbear advertisement team (faz-vertisement, if you will) to come up with new characters just to promote some candy that you’ve never even heard of. Weird when they will typically do whatever they can to “show the audience our beloved cast of Fazbear Ent. characters that you know and love” (reuse the same old clipart of the animatronics for most ads because, collectively, they do not give a single damn). But here are two characters you have never seen before. Something entirely new. A sun and a moon.

You walk over to the posters and note the layer of dust clinging to them. The sun and moon look very similar in design and are clearly each other’s counterparts. You’re the museum guide, the person who probably knows the most about the pizzaplex’s history, and yet you’ve never heard anything about these two characters. Maybe these were just a part of the daycare’s shtick since the entrance also has a sun and moon on it? You decide to grab a couple of these posters as potential stand-ins for the missing exhibits. Even if you don’t need the interim replacements, you’ll definitely want to look into these characters later.

You pass a little fountain surrounded by the world’s jankiest fake palm trees on the way to the end of the hall. It’s impossible not to marvel at the dichotomy of how cheap or extravagant Fazbear Entertainment can be. There are some lights around the fountain’s edge, but the water isn’t running, just lying quietly at the basin. Your footsteps echo over the checkered PVC floor tiles and the poor lighting doesn’t let you see the ceiling. It looks like it might go on infinitely. This room feels too big. You grip your phone a little tighter.

You eventually come to a big, metal shutter door with a little panel to the right. Using your sleeve, you wipe the dust off the screen. After a few taps, it begins to boot up and update. You are presented with a few options, and “Open Daycare Entrance [A]” immediately catches your eye. You press the button and it makes a little ping sound.

AUTHENTICATING CLEARANCE, PLEASE WAIT…

Your watch buzzes, and you flinch at it, startled. It shows a loading wheel for just a second before the panel beeps again.

STAND CLEAR OF SHUTTERS UNTIL FULLY OPEN

And the metal doors begin to rise. Inside, you spot a golden statue of the sun and moon figures. So they have 3D designs, too. That’s a little too much effort for a couple of candies. This thing looks just as glamorous as the statues of the band members out in Rockstar Row. Impressed, you take a photo and begin walking around this little entrance area filled with chairs. There is a thick net that hangs in front of you with a railing that leaves room for a rainbow slide. The sign above it says “Slide Into Fun!” and points at the opening. Hm. No thanks.

You lean against the railing and look into the massive space beyond the net. There are a bunch of play structures and a massive river of a ball pit that you can barely make out in the dark. You see a small balcony to your right, on the only wall where there is no netting. It is the only place inside that is properly lit, gleaming in the spotlight, but it doesn’t look like there’s any way to get up to it. Over on the left, you think you see a desk. It’s right next to some large wooden doors, and you’re glad to see a normal entrance so you won’t have to use the slide. It could be fun, don’t get me wrong, but thoughts of dashcon ricochet around your brain as you envision the ball pit at the end. You choose to think about something else. Like your mission! Yes. You’re here to… well, you’re not really sure. Find whatever the security bot wants you to find, I guess. It’s darker in this area, feeling even more abandoned than the fountain area before. You can’t really see, but you doubt that the (potential) thief would choose to stick around in the building, so you don’t think that’s what you’re looking for here. There’s no one else in the entrance area, so you’ll have to go inside the daycare to see if there’s anyone you can talk to. Maybe there’s a security bot who guards the place, and maybe it knows what happened. So, to get inside, you’ll have to make your way down some stairs and circle around the walled-in (netted-in?) daycare area to get to those doors.

Said doors feel a lot taller when you’re right in front of them. It’s a little intimidating, to be honest. From here, you can see the corners of the mechanisms that open the door, and you’re glad that the doorknobs about 20 feet up are just ornamental. This does, unfortunately, leave you with no idea of how to actually open the doors. The thought of flailing about to grab those doorknobs gives you a laugh, at least. For lack of a better idea, you knock on the door.

“Anybody here? Knock knock.” You say to yourself, trying to come up with a plan to get in. You most certainly don’t expect a reply.

“Who’s there?” Rings a response in a muffled, robotic voice. This makes you jump like a cat. There really is something in there, and it’s definitely not a security bot. But that doesn’t sound like the voice of anybody in the band; it has a completely different intonation and almost rumbles at the end of its words. Each of the glamrocks has a distinctive voice, and this doesn’t match any of them. And, above all else, it just set you up for a knock-knock joke. Now this is serious. It’s one thing to meet a mystery robot in an abandoned area of a technologically-unmatched pizzaplex, but it’s something else to get the perfect set-up for a real bad pun. You’re gonna have to think hard about this one, pull out all the stops. You could use the ol’ classic “Boo-who” but that’s too basic, too predictable. There’s one about yodeling, but you don’t remember how the second part goes, so you’ll have to improvise a bit.

You settle with a “Wa.”

A few clicks resound behind those doors. You take a small step away from whatever they came from.

Your mysterious interlocutor responds after a moment, sounding genuinely curious:

“Wa who?”

“Mario, is that you?” You offer, hoping that your improvised punch-line makes sense. After a second, a hearty chuckle echoes from inside the daycare. There’s a rumble as the doors before you start to swing open (which makes you jump again, but this time it feels more like the frantic wiggle of a disgruntled worm than the hop of a cat). The doors open slowly, making you wait a moment before gingerly taking a step inside and looking around.

The darkness is almost complete in here, and the air feels heavy. There is a particularly dark area around the play structure right in front of you, casting even more shadows around itself. Within that darkness, you see a wavering, orange glow. Two pinpricks of light loom above you, shining down from this structure. You realize that this must be your new “friend.”

“I’ve never heard that one before,” It muses, “but I don’t think it’s legally advisable for any Fazbear Entertainment staff to mention Mario by name. Copyright infringement is against the rules.”

You realize that the glowing orange points are a pair of eyes. Eyes that are firmly locked on you during the slow tilt of its head. There are some other glowing areas around them, but they’re dim enough that you can’t make out their shapes.

“Ah, right. Definitely wouldn’t want to cause a lawsuit.” Your voice doesn’t even echo in this cavernous space. You are suddenly made very aware that you’re completely alone with this thing. In the dark. Pretty far away from anyone. Spooky, but you’re being so brave about it.

The eyes before you do a whirling clockwise spin while the entire patch of orange glow moves rhythmically downwards. You hear something land gently on the floor with the rattle of a bell, crouching to absorb the impact. Those eyes are still on you, and you don’t think they’ve blinked at all. You are aware of how difficult it would be to evacuate this area. Deeply aware.

“Can’t have any guests overhearing the unlicensed use of another company’s character, now can we? Well, we’re alone in here, so I suppose I could let it slide…” The voice gives a dramatic hum as the stranger stands up, eyes rising to a height that towers over you.

“And I did like the joke... Alright, we can overlook this one. But you should be more careful, you know. I’m sure it would be a terrible hassle if Nintendo tried to sue the company again.” There’s a creak of metal and plastic as the figure seems to lean to the left, chuckling to itself. A few bells ring from the light source as its shoulders bounce with the laugh. Then, you hear a gasp.

“Oh- Now where are my manners? This is no way to welcome our new guest!” It speaks with a completely different energy, standing upright again.

“Do forgive me, and allow me to introduce myself properly!” There’s a tap-tap-tap of steps as those luminous eyes get closer. You shuffle backward and tense at the sudden approach, arms raised defensively. This thing sounds kind enough, but hearing a massive metallic creature approach you from the dark and seeing nothing but its glowing eyes is pretty fucking scary.

Seeing your reaction, it comes to a stop. Now that it’s closer, you can see its eyes flash with a concerned look that darts around your face before landing nervously on the ground. It almost looks like it’s deflating, the way the lights seem to shrink in on themselves. You hear quiet, rapid taps from where you imagined its hands might be held, fidgeting.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry! Did I frighten you? Goodness- that’s no good, no good at all-” It keeps stumbling over its terse apologies, slowly backing away. Its body language makes it seem so much smaller than you, even though this colossal silhouette is obviously anything but. Those eyes are squinted in what might be the start of panic, or dejection. Oh great. We gave the poor robot anxiety.

“No, no, it’s fine- I just got a little, uh... Surprised because I can’t really see what’s happening and I don’t know what-” You’re cut off by the sound of a whack sound coming from the animatronic’s face. You realize it just facepalmed.

“Of course! Oh, how silly of me, how ridiculous! I can’t very well introduce myself if you can’t even see me, now can I? Here- Give me just a moment-” It turns and disappears into the daycare, its muttering growing distant. You notice that, despite the bells you heard before, it was nearly silent as it left. After a moment of wondering if you should be worried, a click reverberates from above as the lights buzz to life. This causes you to squint for a minute, feeling just as blind as when you were in the dark. You blink until your eyes adjust and look into the now-illuminated daycare. The entire space looks much more inviting in the light; everything popping with color and life. Now, you can finally get a good look at the animatronic who’s approaching, more sheepishly this time.

It’s easy to tell that they're at least 8 feet tall, even though they bow their head to appear less intimidating. It folds its hands together in the same way that an old lady might when she’s saying something sweet, except this colossal robot has four arms to work with. Double the gesture, double the sentiment, I guess. You think those fingertips might be pointed, but you’re choosing not to look too close. Its face is round with a crescent shape on the inside and two rows of triangles on the outside. You get the impression of one of those sun/moon theater masks: one that might be happy on one side, then sad on the other. There’s a large nightcap sitting at an angle on its head; the end of it rests on his shoulder and sways slightly with each step. All of the robot’s clothing look soft and flowy, giving it a very gentle and elegant appearance. Whatever plastic its face is made of, it’s clearly malleable, allowing the animatronic to make minute shifts in its expression for a precise demonstration of emotions. You have to admit, whoever designed the animatronics here is some kind of genius.

“There. Let me try one more time.” It sighs with an apologetic smile.

The half-sun, half-moon character stops before you and gives a dignified bow, the motion smooth and practiced.

“My name is Eclipse, I am the caretaker of the Superstar Daycare. It’s very nice to meet you. Welcome, and sorry again for the poor first impression.” They address you. Their smile is so genuine that you can’t help but mirror it as you return the greeting, introducing yourself in turn.

“Come in, come in! Make yourself at home! Here, allow me to get you a seat-” They respond, visibly straightening up now that they know that there’s no hard feelings. You know that they literally glow, but they still seem so radiant with their rejuvenated spirit. That smile of theirs definitely got wider, and they move with a skip in their steps. They pull up two of the few adult-sized chairs and set them by a small, plastic table. It stands by one of the chairs and gestures for you to sit, intending to push in your chair for you. It’s pointedly gentle with this, too, even speaking slightly quieter because you were closer. You have to admit, this Eclipse is quite a charming host, and a fascinating character. After you are seated, they sit in their own chair and rest their upper pair of arms on the table between you, tapping their fingers rhythmically. The anxiety from before is gone, but an excited energy still dances behind those eyes.

“We don’t get a lot of guests, so it truly is an honor! Is there anything I can help you with, my dear guest?” He asks, tilting his head a little.

“Yes, actually,” You begin, “I’m the tour guide for the museum area along Rockstar Row, and two of the exhibits disappeared last night. The cases were broken, so it looks like they might have been stolen. I tried to ask one of the nearby security bots about it, and it sent me here to learn more.” You point at your faz-watch and Eclipse looks truly enraptured by your every word.

“I see! Terribly sorry to hear about the exhibits, but that does explain a thing or two. I just got a request to authorize someone’s security clearance to come in here. I didn’t know what it could possibly be for, but I guess that must have been you!”

“Yeah! Though I still don’t get why they wanted me to come here. Especially when there’s a dedicated security office for this sort of thing.” You admit. Eclipse chuckles at that and rests its chin in one of its hands, its eyes narrowing with a cheeky flaire.

“If I had to guess, that would be because I’m the head of security, here at the Pizzaplex.” His grin seems to widen at your surprise. He titters briefly before continuing, each laugh lighter than the flutter of a moth’s wing.

“Yes, funny how the head of security isn’t in the security office, isn’t it? Well, there’s rarely anything that requires my input down there. Though, I wonder why they didn’t just show you the camera footage when you asked, even if you aren’t security personnel-” He trails off, closing his eyes for a moment. His brows furrow and his smile slips for just a moment.

“Ah. So that’s why… But surely it would have…” They go quiet for a little longer, eyes flickering about beneath their eyelids. They hum quizzically as they open their eyes and look back at you with an unreadable expression.

“It looks like there are no recordings from the Rockstar Row’s security cameras from last night… But I’m certain I was able to see through them at the time, and I didn’t receive any kind of notifications about them malfunctioning later… That’s…” It gives a defeated laugh.

“It looks like I’ll have to investigate a bit more thoroughly, then.” They conclude, shrugging with their second pair of arms.

“Well then! I’ll be in contact if I find anything, but you should go get ready for today’s tours.” He waves a hand and you feel your faz-watch buzz in response. On the screen, you see a message from Eclipse that just says “Hello :)” from a messaging app that management occasionally contacts you with. On the time above the notification, you can see that there are only 10 minutes until the first tour starts. Oh shit. You need to get moving. Eclipse springs to his feet and motions you to the door with a flourish of all four arms.

“Feel free to message me if you need anything else, we’re always happy to help. It’s truly been lovely meeting you, and good luck with today’s tours!” They conclude with a showman’s poise. You thank them as you hurry out the door, to the stairs. Before leaving the daycare, you turn to give the grand play area one last glance, hoping to wave to Eclipse on the way out. You aren’t able to spot them, just a metal cable unfurling from the ceiling, falling to a point behind one of the play structures. Then, the lights go out, leaving you in a little hollow of light around the golden sun and moon statue. It’s a bit sad that you couldn’t say another goodbye, but you decide you’ll make up for it when you aren’t possibly running late for work. You are very grateful for the reminder, but you’re certain you never told them when the first tour was starting.

- - -

You return to Rockstar Row with 7 minutes to spare. Thankfully, your favorite staff bot has been kind enough to clean up the broken glass around the missing exhibits while you were gone. You make a mental note to thank them later, then make a physical note to place by the exhibits:

“This exhibit is temporarily absent for routine maintenance and repairs” You write with your best handwriting and hope that it sounds official enough that the guests won’t interrogate you about it. You are so caught up in thinking about excuses you can give people or where you might find a temporary replacement that you don’t notice the heavy footsteps that stop right behind you.

“Hey, heads up. Somebody’s gonna walk right into ya if you’re spacing out in the middle of the walkway.” A voice snaps you out of it. You turn to see a pair of nonchalant, red eyes looking down at you over a pair of star-shaped shades. The legendary Montgomery Gator himself stands in front of you, with one hand on his hip and his head tilted like he’s somewhere between casual and completely uninterested.

“Right, yeah. Didn’t mean to get in your way, sorry.” You take a step back, out of the way, shaking your head once to clear your mind like an etch-a-sketch.

“Don’t sweat it.” Monty adjusts his sunglasses. You expect the animatronic to keep walking, but he’s still looking at you, so you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Hey, you’re the museum guide, right? Not that you can call this handful of trinkets much of a museum... I heard you got hired a while back, but I never got the chance to see for myself. So, I’m Monty.” It seems he’s landed on casual over disinterested as he holds out his hand for a handshake. You return it, both of you giving a firm couple of shakes and feeling some mutual respect for it. It isn’t every day that someone returns a nice, solid handshake with the same amount of gusto.

“It’s nice to finally meet you! I was trying to find the time to properly introduce myself, but this works, too. And yeah, we lost two exhibits last night, so the museum’s looking even more sparse than usual. Not really sure how I’m going to fill the tour time I usually spend on those, but I’ve only got 5 minutes to figure it out.” You say, shaking your head and shrugging in exaggerated defeat.

“Yeah, I noticed the empty cases. That’s tough. Someone should probably remove the broken glass, though; some kid’s gonna get hurt on that. So, did somebody steal ‘em?” He asks. He’s nonchalant about it, but he seems genuinely interested. Maybe there’s a secret passion for gossip and drama under that rough exterior... Or maybe he’s just concerned for everyone’s safety. Either way, his eyes are still locked on you.

“That’s what it seems like, but I’m not sure. I asked around and nobody seems to know what happened- the staff bots were even saying that they can’t access the security footage from last night… Well, I’m sure this incident has already been reported or logged in whatever system, so it’s probably out of my hands. Still, I’m gonna ask around for any signs of a break-in. Oh, speaking of, did you see anything weird last night?” You realize just how little you know about the situation as you recount everything, it’s all so odd. Monty immediately shrugs and shakes his head at your question, which is only a little disappointing.

“Nope, I did a little patrolling around the atrium last night, but I spent most of my free time playin’ the bass.” He says, making air guitar motions for emphasis. Suddenly, he flashes a playful smile, then gives you a suspicious side-eye.

“Hey, you think I’m a suspect or something? This is startin’ to feel like an interrogation- I do have an alibi if you’re not convinced by my testimony, detective.” He makes sure to bitterly enunciate every syllable of the word. If he wasn’t smiling, you might think he was being serious, but you play along.

“Hmm, I really can’t rule it out… Anyone could be the perp- even me! No one suspects the detective, after all!” You dramatically wiggle your fingers at him, to which he feigns a shocked gasp. It’s incredible how these guys can make such realistic breath sounds with their voiceboxes.

“We should’a known it was you, you connivin’ little punk!” He really hams up the act, pointing at you and everything. You laugh a couple times, internally commending his dedication to the bit. Even though you just met, he’s joking around with you like you’re old friends. It’s nice to be treated like you’re a cool dude without having to prove anything, and Monty immediately gives you that respect. You appreciate it.

“Seriously though: I don’t think you could wear the tophat with that mohawk of yours, and god knows what you would even need an old Chica arm for. So, I think you’re off the hook for now.” You gaze off towards your desk and the exhibits nearby it. There appears to be a small crowd gathering over there. You’re wondering what that’s all about when it strikes you.

“Oh shit, I’m gonna be late for the tour.” You say, deadpan. After a beat, you start running over to your desk, dodging a kid. You don’t turn around, but you briefly look over your shoulder to say goodbye.

“See ya later, alligator!” Which works doubly well because he really is an alligator. You catch an amused Monty in the corner of your eye, and it seems like he gets the joke when he barks a single laugh.

“In a while, crocodile!” He shouts after you.

#IFOTH #eclipse x reader #fnaf dca x reader #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf eclipse #fnaf security breach #fnaf #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf sb

40 notes · View notes

specialagentlokitty · 1 year

Text

Mr Evershed x Student!reader - personal challenge

Hiya, I love ur writing. Any chance u could do something with mr evershed x student reader who has Tourette’s. If ur not comfortable with that maybe something to do with adhd? X - Anon💜

Sitting in the classroom, you were rocking back and forth on your chair while you waited for whatever teacher it was you were supposed to have for the day.

“You’re gonna fall…” Sam whispered.

You grinned a little at her and shrugged.

“Means I get a few days off.”

She laughed and did the same as you, both of you talking about what you were going to do after school.

She decided she didn’t want to go back to the hostel, so you said she could come to yours instead since your parents were away for the week and they wouldn’t care.

You decided to talk about what to do when you both got there and what you wanted to order for dinner when Mrs Carp walked in and you groaned a little.

“What a bitch…” you mumbled.

Sam laughed and put her chair back on the floor but you didn’t.

“Put your chair on the floor (Y/N).”

“It is on the floor Miss.”

“All four legs.” She snapped.

You looked at her.

“Why? It’s not like I’m gonna be hurting anyone. Maybe myself but that’s not the point, it’s my chair, not yours. So nope.”

“I’m going to warn you once more time.” She said lowly.

You made a face at her and set your chair down and she started to teach the lesson using whatever she had been by the original teacher.

You were bored though.

Not only did you hate math, but you hated Mrs Carp too, so you were thinking of any possible way that you could get out of the class.

You mindlessly swung on your chair again, resting the back of it against the wall as you read the book in your lap.

“Do you know the answer (Y/N)?”

“What?”

“Clearly you need to be taught how to pay attention. What’s the answer?”

You looked at the math problem she put on the board and shrugged a little.

“Do I look like I know that? Seriously miss I grades would say otherwise.”

A few students snickered and watched what was going to happen next, having been in a few classes with you and the teacher they knew it wasn’t going to end well.

“It isn’t rocket science, at your age you should know this.”

“Oh at my age? And I suppose at your age you should be in a nursing home?”

“Right get out!”

You smirked happily to yourself and grabbed your bag, leaving the classroom with a sarcastic wave and started to aimlessly wonder the hallways.

It was the last lesson of the day, so you could just leave, but you wanted to wait for Sam so you just wondered.

As you were wondering, you walked past Mr Evershed who was looking for someone.

“(Y/N)?”

He turned around and watched you stop in your tracks.

“Uhm… no?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in math?”

“Stranger danger!”

With that you took off running down the hallway and Mr Evershed just stood there confused about what he was supposed to do.

He couldn’t exactly go chasing after a student, but he also didn’t know what class you had just come from, all he knew was that you had math.

He watched you sprint around the corner, nearly crashing into a wall and he sighed to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He decided to just leave you, he was sure whoever it was would email him or come speak to him so he carried on what he was doing.

And he was right Mrs Carp came to tell him what had happened and all he could do was sigh again.

“I’ll have a word with them in the morning, thank you.”

Before he became a teacher he had no clue who you were, but since becoming the acting head teacher he had heard your name so much the moment someone said it he assumed you were in trouble.

The following morning you were stood outside the gate taking to Sam while you sipped some of the drink in the van you were holding.

“Morning you two, (Y/N) can we have a word?” Mr Evershed said.

“Morning sir, I’ll see you later (Y/N).”

Sam jogged away and you looked at the headteacher.

“I will have to politely decline your request, school hasn’t started yet and I really should avoid unnecessary stress.”

“If anything going to stress you out it’s that drink, it’s not even 9 in the morning and your drinking an energy drink?”

“If it makes you feel better it’s my second one.”

“That really doesn’t make me feel better. Are we really going to stand here and wait for the bell to go?” He sighed.

You hummed a little, rocking back and forth on the skateboard as you shrugged.

“Hey, I’m here it counts for something.”

“Because you legally have to be here?”

“Yeah pretty much.” You nodded.

Mr Evershed sighed and looked at his watch, seeing you still had ten minutes before the bell went he leant against the gate and looked at you.

“So, I heard about yesterday. Want to tell me what happened?”

“No thank you.”

“(Y/N), what happened?”

“I’m gonna be real with you sir, I actually can’t even remember, but I can tell you that your tie makes you look old.”

Mr Evershed rolled his eyes at you.

“Really? We’re just asking to be placed in isolation today aren’t we?”

“Hey, outside of school. I can say whatever I want here.”

He shook his head a little and smiled.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many teachers complaining about one student (Y/N), seriously, I can’t tell if I should be worried or impressed.”

“I personally think you should be impressed. Can’t be worried about something you can’t control.”

“What makes you think we can’t keep you in line?”

“I mean, I can barely keep myself in line so…”

The bell rang and you picked up your skateboard, walking through the gates and towards the reception where you were stopped from going any further.

“Drink in the bin, and my office please we still need to talk about this.”

“We have all day to talk, or if you’re fast enough you can catch me after school. Either way.”

“No, we’re going to talk now.”

You mocked what he said and finished your drink, putting the can in the bin he was holding up for you and walked into his office.

You didn’t sit down though, you simply stood up, setting your bag and skateboard on the floor as you did a little dance while you waited.

“So, wanna tell me what’s causing all these behaviour issues? I mean you’re a bright student, I’ve been your grades. Aside from math and Science you seem to be really good at everything. If you’re struggling we can put some extra help in place you know.”

“Nah that sounds like a lot more work.”

“Well, we have to do something. I need some sort of explanation (Y/N) otherwise I have to consider taking further action.”

You stood on your skateboard, rocking back and forth a little as you looked around his office.

“I have this amazing, amazing condition sir. It’s called ADHD.”

“Right, and why isn’t that in your file them?”

“Because I was diagnosed last year, haven’t got round to it I actually completely forgot.”

“Okay, so is there anything that helps with this?”

“Magic pills.”

“(Y/N).” He warned.

You snickered a little, raising your hands.

“I’m serious! I have medication that’s supposed to help with my adhd helps me concentrate and all that.”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say you haven’t been taking them.”

“Nope! Unmedicated for the win!” You grinned.

Mr Evershed rolled his eyes at you and gestured for you to get of your skateboard which you did.

“Right I’m going to need a doctors letter, and I’m going to have a meeting with your parents. You are to be put in isolation for the day.”

“Oh fun, okay.”

“But you’re going to be spending it in my office, so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t get into anymore trouble.”

“Not fun…” you mumbled.

“Skateboard please.”

You walked over and handed it to him and he put it under his desk and pointed for you to go sit at the other table.

“You’re going to be working there today, Loraine is getting you some stuff now.”

You huffed and started to pull books from his bookshelf and he just looked at you defeated knowing it was either let you do that or have you causing chaos.

“If you’re supposed to take your medication why haven’t you been taking it?” He asked.

You looked over, and went back to where you were trying to build a house out of books.

“I forgot.”

“Have you tried setting alarms to remind you?”

“Yeah, but then I forget what my alarms are for. And I also forget to set those half the time too.”

He chuckled a little and shook his head, turning back to his computer so he could finish the email he was typing up for your parents.

You got bored of trying to build a house out of books, and now you were scrolling through your phone.

“No phones during school hours.” He said.

“I get that’s your rule, but it’s a stupid one.”

“I will put you in isolation longer.”

“You wouldn’t, you’re gonna get pretty fed up of me soon.”

“Keep trying, I have kids. It’s going to take more than a hyperactive, unmedicated, student with ADHD to get the best of me.” He grinned.

You smirked, taking that as a personal challenge.

Your task for the day?

To annoy Mr Evershed so much that you prove him wrong and that you can get on his nerves

#ackley bridge #Ackley bridge x reader #Ackley bridge x you #Ackley bridge imagine #mr evershed x reader #mr evershed imagine #mr evershed #mr evershed x you

63 notes · View notes

pixeldistractions · 4 months

Text

"It's the last day for the summer fair, Charlie. Five hours is not even enough time. Carpe diem. Let's seize the fucking day."

Charlie didn't stop home after work. He threw his gear into the dusty crevice behind the front seat of his truck and drove over to the county fairgrounds. Ingrid waited in the center of the midway with his friends, like they were already her friends now too, like she'd transplanted herself into the middle of his whole universe so she wouldn't be missed or forgotten. Her lips curved into a pleased smile.

"You came," she said.

"I said I might."

"I wasn't sure what my chances were. Twenty percent?"

"Nah," Charlie said. "At least forty-five."

"You don't hate me."

"I never said I did."

"You like me then?"

Charlie smiled. "Luck was in your favor."

"I don't believe in luck," Ingrid said. "I think if you want something to happen, you make it happen."

"And what do you do if you can't make it happen?"

She seemed genuinely stumped. "I don't know. You keep trying? Or else maybe you must not have wanted it that bad."

She threw open her hands, inviting the world to come at her. “The world is our oyster, Charlie. The world is our playground. What do you want? Whatever you wanna do, let's do it.”

“I wanna play the shit out of some skeeball.”

Ingrid laughed. “You are so tame.”

“I am not tame,” Charlie said.

She came up inches from his nose and said, “Prove it.”

Charlie didn't need to prove anything to her, but for some reason he felt like he wanted to.

— from “in between days, part 5”

(flashback to July 2085, 3 years ago story time)

Next ->

#sims 3 #ts3 #simblr #sims story #old stories coming back around again #charlie #ingrid #PFSN: a rebel yell

11 notes · View notes

da-proti-toku-grem · 2 months

Note

*breaks down door* DELIVERY BELONGING 2 ONE JURE N JAN LOVING GIRLY/gn N WONDERFUL WRITER CALLED MACA!! :DD

*🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁*

(Jan/Jure! beach date cuz I miss summer N im running out of ideas 4 the perfect date series + my brain is FRIED from working on moodboards N homeschool stuff all day so there’s no tale 2 be told this time srry 😭) BUT I do feel like putting my friends out of their misery with how much they listen 2 me yapping about our silly pretty lil Slovenians N since were all batshit insane over them here maybe rambling 2 U isn’t a bad idea (U don’t gotta read if It gets super long :3) Jure was my original bby when I first found them almost a whole year ago on my birthday,him N Bojan were the ones that caught my attention when they came on N made me drop a perfectly good slice of leftover birthday cake on the carpet N blush like crazy ☺️.Then once I was pretty familiar with the band I started becoming a Jan girly/gn aswell which started my love 4 the two as a pairing (all the nights I scrolled Pinterest 4 photos of them together N binged a bunch of vids still keep me up 😵‍💫) cuz their so PRETTY N GORGEOUS N SWEET N ADORABLE N SILLY N mmmmmmmhhhhhhhhh *melts into a vaguely Gengar plushie shaped puddle* all the gig footage we’ve been getting has made me fall even harder 4 them both (I’m the reason all those Joker Out edit complications have so many f4n views) but in a way they saved me,not just them but mostly them ykyk b4 I was being homeschooled the one I went 2 was shit N I would always head straight 2 tumblr so I could see my boys once I got home,watching the Carpe diem series N welcome to the backstage eps over N over again cuz just seeing my darlings smile made me giggle N kick my feet N twirl my hair (how could I not when they look like THAT *grabby hands*) I can’t remember how many times I’ve questioned my sexuality over them N the whole band until I finally realised my ass doesn’t just like girls N I’ll always be glad I found them N this crazy lil fandom when I did cuz this place is like a famliy N their our home,4 whoever long we got with them N maybe even forever <33333

Hey!! (About the text) Yeah I totally get you, they were totally what saved me at the end of my last year of high school last year. I discovered them when the stress was starting to become too much and they helped me a lot to keep going. And then when I started uni I felt like shit every day (that's why I ended up dropping out - bc: 1. I didn't like what I was doing, and 2. My mental health was is shit rn and I prefer to focus on that) and the only thing that kept me from going absolutely insane was going on tumblr and talk/see people talking about these silly little slovenian men so... yeah :) this fandom truly feels like home to me too <33

(About the moodboard) I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!!! Like, I saw this yesterday at night when you sent the ask and I loved the idea so much that I ended up writing a little fic 🤭 I was waiting until I finished writing to post the ask and the fic at the same time, but I finished at 2am (oops 😅), so I'm queueing both for the morning :3 🩷

#i'll update with the link as soon as it's posted hehe #take it as a gift for you given that you always send me all these beautiful moodboards :) <33 #joker out #jan peteh #jure maček #jan/jure #the two kitties of joker out <3 #moodboard #ask #mine #maca speaks #q

6 notes · View notes

followtheechoes · 3 months

Text

I met the angel gabriel in a parking lot today while waiting for my mother to pick me up. for context I was just scrolling on my phone and had stepped back out of the way of the sidewalk to let this man through, who was wearing a tattered red raincoat and thick gloves. he didn't look much older than 60, but he was pushing a walker and moving slowly.

man: excuse me?

me (assuming he's going to ask for directions): yes?

man: how is your day going?

me: it's pretty good, how's yours?

man: oh, that won't do. I can make it better. I have a gift for you.

me: oh that's okay

man: no, wait. here. (rummages around in his pocket with his gloved hand and, after a long moment, pulls out a chocolate egg with the brightly patterned easter foil wrap)

me: thank you!

man (smiling at me, and at this point I realise he is missing quite a few teeth): I have a poem. you wanna hear it?

me: sure

man: empathy is a rare gift. you have it. (and then he kept saying motivational phrases about how kindness is the way to go.) carpe diem. c'est la vie. and that's straight from the angel gabriel, you know. what's your name?

me: (name)

man: I'm gabriel. you can just think of me as the angel gabriel. you know what carpe diem means?

me: seize the day

man: you know what c'est la vie means?

me: that's life

man: you know, nobody your age can answer that. all these people who aren't learning what it means to be canadian.

me (assuming he's talking about immigrants and he's gearing up for one of those "I'm not racist I just hate all these damn foreigners in my city" rants that are so popular with old people who will randomly start conversations with strangers): to be fair they don't teach a lot of these things in schools

man: (waves me off like I've said something ridiculous) it's not about what you learn in school. you learn it by being canadian. you want another? (gesturing to his pocket)

me: I'm alright, but thanks.

man: you have a good day, now.

me: you too

I need to turn this into a poem at some point but I simply do not have the time at the moment. maybe on the bus tomorrow. I had to get this down so I didn't forget the way he worded these things. it felt like one of those weird fairy tale moments where the protagonist helps an old woman and it turns out she's a fairy who will now bless them with what they need for their quest. it was my first day at a new school in a program I've never taken before and it was exactly what I needed. not the chocolate but the weird surety than can only come from people who don't know you well. it was strange and delightful and my mum did not believe me when she pulled up a few minutes later, because he had vanished. you heard it here first. the angel gabriel walks among us, and he's canadian.

#journal #diary #return #to write #to read #personal #every personal tag ever #if this amuses somebody else im glad but i really do mean to turn it into a poem

5 notes · View notes

secretkittywolf · 3 months

Text

More Gladioturashipping incorrect quotes

There's so many that fits these two so well!

Quattro: Being in love is a constant battle between "I wish to sit on a window bench with my lover, our legs tangling as we listen to the birds" and "Hey, let's go throw rocks at fascists" and I think that's very sexy of us Dextra: If the window's open and you time it right, you can do both

Quattro: When you said 'Magic in Bed', I wasn't expecting this... Dextra: *pulls out card from deck* Now, was this your card? Quattro: holy shit-

Dextra: Are you ready to commit? Quattro: Like, a crime or a relationship?

Quattro: We’re getting married, bitches! Dextra: And we're about to make it everybody else's problem

Quattro: I like your new pants! Dextra: Thanks, they were 50% off! Quattro: I’d like them better if they were 100% off *winks* Dextra: The store can’t just give away clothes for free Quattro: That’s… not what I meant Dextra: That’s a terrible way to run a business, Quattro

Dextra: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos- Quattro: I wrote you a poem Dextra, already crying: You did?

Dextra: Hey, about that love letter you sent me- Quattro: *blushes* What are your thoughts? Dextra: The fourth sentence- Quattro: Yeah, that’s where I got really emotional and I- Dextra: It’s “you’re” not “your”

Dextra: You know my motto: carpe diem, carpe noctem, carpe coles Quattro: Seize the day, seize the night, what’s the last one? Dextra: Seize the dick

Quattro: I'm trash Dextra: As someone who's environmentally conscious, it's my duty to pick you up. Does 7 work for you? Quattro: Quattro: You smooth motherfucker Quattro: And yes it does

Quattro: There are 20 letters in the alphabet, right? Dextra: Nope, there's 26 Quattro: Ah, I must have forgotten U, R, A, Q, T Dextra: Aww, that's cute, but you're still missing one Quattro: You'll get the D later ;)

Dextra: I still have no idea how I’m attracted to you... Quattro: Yeah, well, you’re stuck with me, and no take backs, honey

Quattro: This date is boring! Dextra: This isn't a date. I said I was going to the store. Quattro: Then why did you invite me? Dextra: I didnt, I specifically said "don't come with me," then you said, "fuck you Dextra I'll do whatever I want!

Dextra walking into the kitchen and seeing all their limes peeled: Quattro, I love you but, what the h-e-double FUCK! Quattro, sipping coffee happily: I love you too :)

Quattro: Dextra and I are no longer friends Dextra: QUATTRO THAT IS THE WORST WAY TO TELL PEOPLE THAT WE’RE DATING!

Quattro: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response Dextra: Wow. They sound stupid Quattro: But they’re not. They’re really smart actually. Just dense. Dextra: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!” Quattro: I guess you’re right. Hey Dextra, I love you Dextra: See! Just say that! Quattro: Holy fucking shit Dextra: If that flies over their head then, sorry Quattro, but they're too dumb for you Quattro: Dextra...

Dextra: Do you want to explain the text you sent me last night? Quattro: It was autocorrectDextra: Autocorrect wrote "You're so hot. Please step on me"? Quattro: Yes

Quattro: Fight me! Dextra: *gets on one knee and pulls out a ring* Dextra: Fight me for the rest of our lives

*Quattro comes home absolutely drunk, undresses, and stands in Dextra's bedroom* Dextra: Babe, are you.. coming to bed? Quattro: No thank you, I’m sure you’re lovely but I have a girlfriend Quattro: *Lies on the ground and falls asleep* Dextra: ...

Dextra: Since we're in a relationship now, your clothes are my clothes too. Don't ask me why I have your shirt on, this is our shirt Quattro: Fine, but when I come strutting in with your fuzzy socks I don't want to hear shit

#ygo zexal #yugioh zexal #droite zexal #quattro #thomas arclight #Gladioturashipping

3 notes · View notes

marykaxmuses · 1 year

Note

✏️ n'importe lequel de nos ships ??

♦ Le sérieux n'existe pas ici XD J'ai failli mettre un bonus, mais je vais le faire en shitpost après. :D

Kaoru: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response. Ely: Wow. They sound stupid. Kaoru: But they’re not. They’re really smart actually. Just dense. Ely: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!” Kaoru: I guess you’re right. Hey Ely, I love you. Ely: See! Just say that! Kaoru: Holy fucking shit. Ely: If that flies over their head then, sorry Kaoru, but they're too dumb for you. Kaoru: Ely.

Ely: There are 20 letters in the alphabet, right? Mika: Nope, there's 26. Ely: Ah, I must have forgotten U, R, A, Q, T. Mika: Aww, that's cute, but you're still missing one. Ely: You'll get the D later ;).

Ely: I still have no idea how I’m attracted to you... Aether: Yeah, well, you’re stuck with me, and no take backs, honey.

Ely: You know my motto: carpe diem, carpe noctem, carpe coles. Tsukasa: Seize the day, seize the night, what’s the last one? Ely: Seize the dick.

Ely: This date is boring! Ange: This isn't a date. I said I was going to the store. Ely: Then why did you invite me? Ange: I didnt, I specifically said "don't come with me," then you said, "fuck you Ange I'll do whatever I want!

#anomieheld #KaoEly ♥#MikaEly ♥#ElyKasa ♥#AEly ♥#AngEly ♥

2 notes · View notes

clowncollectr · 1 year

Text

Arknights - Won't you look at me? (Liang Xun / Lee) - Chapter 3

Rating: T (this chapter), E / M (whole story)

Word Count: 1609 (this chapter), 11117 (whole story)

Summary: The person he’s spent his entire life looking at has finally noticed him and returned his feelings. A lifelong dream come true. Lee should have already been satisfied with just this. There was no need to monopolize his attention. But he still wanted it.

Notes: Again, the fourth chapter is basically just smut, so you can skip straight to the Extra chapter after this if that's not your jam :)

AO3 Link

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Extra

Chapter 3

The next few days were uneventful. Sort of. Lee did manage to keep himself busy visiting all the places Du Yaoye recommended to him. Honestly, he never realized you could put this much thought into how you dressed. Not that he didn’t personally care at all, but his usual approach was to pick a few favorites and stick to it. Fortunately, Miss Du’s advice is very clear, concise, and mindful of Lee’s own preferences. So Lee finds that he has something different to wear every day. He thinks that he’s doing an ok job so far. A few people have even given him compliments during his usual walks around Shangshu. But just like last week, Liang Xun is nowhere to be found.

On one occasion, the carp finally decides to pay him a visit again while he’s at work, if only to drop off some lunch for him. Liang Xun is thankful but just like that night before Lee notices the way he’s avoiding eye contact more than usual. As he watches the other man wave goodbye and fade back into the crowd of busy government workers, Lee clicks his tongue. Today he loses again it seems.

He tried again the next day. And the day after. And the one after that. He made sure he never interfered with the other person’s work, but it wasn’t wrong for him to stop by and visit right? However, the results never changed. In fact, it only seemed to get worse over time. Liang Xun had gone from acting evasive to outright avoiding him. He hasn’t visited him again ever since that first night. Today, it wasn’t even him who showed up to receive his own lunch. To Lee’s dismay, he had sent an assistant to pick it up for him, who to be fair, profusely apologized for the other man’s absence. She tells him that Mr. Liang is especially busy at this time as he needs to ensure that the conference ends with a strong positive impression on everyone’s mind. Lee can only nod politely and hand her the container in his hands.

Forget you looking at me. Now I can’t even see you? I really couldn’t have picked a worse time, could I? Or maybe you’re so sick of my antics that you’ve had enough. Whatever. It doesn’t matter now.

At this rate, Lee has half a mind to make Miss Du’s joke advice about “going for a cute skirt that shows off your thighs” a reality. Because at least it would cause enough of a public spectacle that Liang Xun would probably have to run out and ask what the hell he was doing. He won’t actually do it of course. They could never be seen in public together again if he did. But it was an amusing thought to keep him company as he walked back to the magistrate’s residence, where he would be eating dinner and sleeping alone for another night.

…

Today, Lee doesn’t feel like going out. There’s only two days left before he needs to head back to Lungmen and resume his usual responsibilities. He’s had enough of everything here in Shangshu. The scenery, the food, the shopping. It was all lovely, but he didn’t need to keep seeing it over and over again. Lungmen was his home now, and it’s really the only place he finds himself missing sometimes. There’s only one thing he wanted to see in the city he’s currently in. Or one person rather. But that person isn’t here right now, so he thinks he’ll keep resting in his room instead. He sits there on his bed for who knows how long. A couple hours maybe. At some point, a housekeeper brought him breakfast, which he ate indifferently. Who knows what’s come over him today? Perhaps he’s sad that his trip is ending soon without him having accomplished anything he really wanted. Maybe it was fatigue from being left with his own thoughts for too long. Anyway, all he knew was that he doesn’t want to think too much today. So he just sits on his bed, gazing out the window, at the wall, at nothing in particular. Things stayed like this until around dusk when Lee heard a light knock coming from the door.

“Come in.” He knows who it is. He recognizes that knock from last time.

When Liang Xun enters the room, the expression on his face is worried and serious.

“I was told that you haven’t left your room at all today.”

The carp turns his head towards the person in his room. His voice is a little hoarse from not having spoken all day.

“I’m not feeling well today. That’s all.”

“What’s wrong?”

Hearing that the other person is unwell, Liang Xun runs over to examine him. He sits down next to Lee on the bed so that they’re at eye level with each other. He’s relieved to see that the carp’s complexion looks ok. When he puts a hand on his forehead, he finds that his body temperature is normal. But looking back at the expression on his face, his eyes definitely look tired and his usual easygoing smile is gone. Lee is looking back at him, meeting his gaze. Before Liang Xun can ask any more questions about his health, Lee leans in until their eyes are only inches apart and says:

“Have you been avoiding me?”

Liang Xun wears a guilty expression. As he struggles to get a response out, his ears begin to twitch a little. Seeing this, Lee gave a heavy sigh.

“This situation is so ridiculous. What is it that you can’t tell me, huh? Are you afraid of hurting my feelings? I’m not so fragile. If there’s something you hate, you should just say so. This kind of treatment is way worse.”

Hearing this turns some of Liang Xun’s guilt into confusion.

“Hate? What is there for me to hate?”

“You don’t usually avoid a person because you’re happy with them, you know. What ticked you off anyway? Was I pestering you too much or did whatever I was wearing at the time actually look that bad? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me or something?”

“Oh…um, about that. I couldn’t have you distracting me…”

“Hah? That’s all? Why not just tell me then? You’re polite, but I don’t remember you ever being shy.”

Liang Xun closes and rubs his eyes, looking ashamed. His ears begin twitching again and when Lee notices this, he speaks up for him.

“Gah, forget it. You don’t need to force yourself to lie to me like this. You know, the only reason I even started dressing that way was to see what you thought. I thought that…ah…you might…like…it.”

Lee has trouble getting the last few words out. He can feel his face heating up. It sounds a hundred times more embarrassing hearing himself say it out loud. But now that the other person has at least acknowledged him, he just wants to put everything behind him. This whole situation was a shameful chapter in his life that he’d really rather bury forever, so he continued speaking: “Anyway, forget about it. I won’t do it anymore so just start acting normal again ok? Or at least tell me when I’m being a bother. I prefer it over you giving me the cold shoulder like this.”

Lee closes the distance between them and hunches over to bury his face in the other man’s chest. Liang Xun barely manages to react in time to catch the carp slumping into his arms. Lee was so tired, and he misses this person a lot. He had worked diligently for over a month to make sure everything was in good shape before he left for his vacation. But it turned out like this. He sighs to himself once more. What a headache. He swears that one of these days, he’s going to drag Liang Xun with him to Rhodes Island and beg someone from their medical department to give them couple’s therapy (they probably have someone who does that right?) because somehow he and this guy are never on the same page. He looks back at Liang Xun, waiting for a response. But to his surprise, the Kuranta has a strange look on his face. Lee knows this look. It’s the same look his kids have when they all conveniently “remember a gift they bought for him” on Father’s Day. It’s a fusion between embarrassment and gratitude. Before he can ask the reason why, Liang Xun’s grip around him tightens a little and slowly, he begins to say:

“Um…Lee, could it be…you were trying to seduce me? If so, then the reason I didn’t want you distracting me…the reason isn’t because you failed…”

Lee’s eyes widened. Liang Xun watched as the man looked up at him with a look of disbelief on his face, which slowly morphed into…irritation? The carp’s hands reached out towards him and instinctively, Liang Xun shuts his eyes, bracing himself for a slap or something worse. This person honestly deserves to be angry with him. Instead, he feels the weight of a hand on each of his shoulders, and he hears Lee mutter something.

“Shut up.”

Suddenly, there is a pressure on his lips and Liang Xun realizes that right now he is being kissed. Understanding the situation, he knows that the time for asking questions has ended. If they couldn’t communicate their feelings through words, then they would simply do so with their actions. So without hesitating for a moment longer, he pulled Lee closer into his arms and kissed him back.

#miko the clowncollectr's fic tag #LiangLee / 梁鯉 #lee arknights #liang xun arknights

2 notes · View notes

ilopisara · 4 months

Text

26.01. 22:10 | Ilo Pisara vs Carpe Diem 4 - 5

Well, well, well... if it isn't another chapter in the epic saga of Ilo Pisara's flirtation with victory only to be friend-zoned at the last minute. A 4-5 loss against Carpe Diem? More like "Carpe Dismay" for us! Let's start with Teppo Winnipeg – a puck-moving defenseman who apparently thought he was playing hot potato instead of hockey. Sure, you scored a goal and dished out two assists but defensemen are supposed to block shots too, not just watch them whizz by! Sami Noddy – what can I say? You're as useful on powerplay as a chocolate teapot. And those penalty minutes? Were you trying to set some sort of record or did you simply miss your cozy spot in the sin bin? Yuri Tarde – more like Yuri Tardy because you sure didn't show up on time for this game! Zero points and that passing percentage... maybe try sending love letters since pucks aren’t reaching their intended targets. Macho Fantastico lived up to half his name - 'Fantastico' when scoring goals but 'Macho'? More like marshmallow with those unnecessary penalties. Jani Saari is an enigma wrapped in a riddle smothered in secret sauce; one moment dazzling us with shorthanded brilliance then vanishing into thin air leaving behind nothing but giveaways. And Olaf Kölzig between the pipes… let’s just say we’ve seen Swiss cheese hold back more than that performance today. Remember folks: Rome wasn’t built in a day, but our net seemed open for construction all night long! Onward Ilo Pisara—let’s turn these near misses into hits before our fans start bringing popcorn instead of cheers!

#nhl24

0 notes

flirting-with-psychology · 5 months

Text

101 curious questions. Let’s talk.

What’s your biggest insecurity?

Being awkward

What’s your biggest physical insecurity?

My weight

Do you like the person you feel like you’re becoming?

Not as much as I had hoped to by this point in my life

What’s the one thing you feel like everyone knows how to do except you?

Make friends

Do you suffer from anxiety/depression/PTSD/other?

Anxiety probably

Where were you born?

Colorado

What do you think people say about you when you’re not around?

Idk, I'm not sure if they talk about me

Do you look up to anyone in your life?

Not actively

What makes you feel guilty? How do you resolve it?

Not being a good girlfriend or daughter. I don't really resolve it

What’s your boring hobby (that you still enjoy anyway)?

Social media

Do you like who you are around people?

Not really, I'm too shy and awkward except for a few people I feel comfortable with

Do you know what your plans for the future are? Do you like them?

Haha noooo

Tell a secret.

I'm not sure I really have a good one

What petty event are you still embarrassed about?

My dad took me to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I guess in his day everyone danced to the Time Warp, so he dragged me up to the stage but no one else came up so it was just us and the performers

Do you get wanderlust? Where do you want to go?

Yeah, I'd like to go to Europe. Also stay in those cool really expensive hotels that only rich people can afford even a night in

Romantically, do you prefer men, women, both, any/don’t care, or are you aromantic?

Men

How many parents do you have?

Do they get along?

Yes, but they are divorced

Do you swear?

Fuck yeah

How many siblings do you have? Where are you in relation to them?

None

Have you ever had to hurt anyone emotionally?

I'm sure

Has anyone ever hurt you emotionally?

Yes

Do you believe in an afterlife?

What lies do you believe anyways?

It's fun to suspend disbelief for reality tv

Would you consider yourself poor, average, or wealthy?

Below average

What does your favorite tattoo mean to you? Or if you had to get a tattoo, what would it be? Why?

I don't have any. I thought about getting a heart on my arm because I wear my heart on my sleeve, or "Carpe Diem" because I like the quote

How many groups of friends do you have? How do they vary?

A couple main ones that I play DnD with

Do you work? If so, what do you do? Do you like your job?

I work for a TV company, it's pretty cool

Do you want to have a partner for life?

Yes

Who have you never forgiven? Why?

Jerks from school, never saw a reason to be friends with them and they never tried to be nicer to me

What are you looking forward to right now?

My trip to my boyfriend's parents' house for Christmans

If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be?

Wish I had figured out how to date in high school or college

What’s your favorite color in context?

What context? I think teal looks best on me

What unpopular opinion do you have?

Cancel culture is excessive and it's ok to like something without supporting everything about the person/people who made it

What’s the last good book you’ve read?

Mistborn (reread) and Shadow and Bone (1st time read)

What’s your favorite book?

Harry Potter

Favorite poem?

Not sure

Favorite movie?

Back to the Future

Favorite song?

All Too Well by Taylor Swift

Favorite food/type of food?

Chocolate or cheese

What kind of food activates your gag reflex?

Lots of foods, I'm pretty picky

What do you feel like you’re missing from your life right now?

Direction

If you could choose your own name, what would it be? Why?

I did choose my own name

What’s the earliest dream you can remember having?

Maybe a recurring nightmare about hooks coming out of my ceiling

What’s the most recent dream you can remember having?

I accidentally broke the record I got for my boyfriend for Hanukkah

What’s the most beautiful dream you can remember having?

The magical kingdom I became queen of

Do you have a car? What kind is it?

Subaru Forester

Are you afraid of death?

A little, but it's not really on my list of pressing things to worry about

Have you ever attempted to take your own life?

Describe your dream job?

Being a student forever

Are you religious/spiritual?

What do you do to calm yourself down?

Lately, play solitaire

What’s the most annoying thing that happens to you on a regular basis?

Going to my job

Do you live in an urban, suburban, or rural area?

Suburban-urban

What’s the one talent you wish you had?

Being able to talk to anyone

Do you do well or struggle in school?

Did well

Do you have a speech impediment?

Not really, but we joke that I have a "speak impediment" because I do screw up words sometimes and when I asked my friends if I had a speech impediment I accidentally said speak impediment

What’s the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to you?

Not sure

What’s the happiest day of your life you’ve ever had?

Marching band state finals senior year of high school was a good one

Early, on time, or late?

Late

What quirks do you have?

Probably several

Do you wish you could start tomorrow with a clean slate? Why/why not?

Not really, I don't know what I would do with it

Do you ever get paranoid?

Yeah

Do you believe in human souls? Where do you think they come from?

Not really, but I am curious about where consciousness comes from

What’s one mistake that you’ll never make again?

Agreeing to run the music at a wedding

What fandoms do you belong to?

Taylor Swift and Choices are the ones I participate in a bit

What are your old URLs?

I think my old one was shineslikestars or something?

How often would you say you lie? Why?

Rarely, and only little white lies like "yeah you look good in that"

Do you like the kind of attention you get from other people?

Usually, but I don't get enough attention

Are you in a relationship? What’s your favorite thing about your partner?

Yes, he is a really good cuddler

Are you concerned about the environment?

Not as much as I should be

What stresses you out more than anything else?

The future

Credit, debit, EBT, or cash?

Debit

Who’s your favorite historical figure?

F. Scott Fitzgerald

What’s that movie you know is bad but enjoy anyways?

Not Another Teen Movie

Do you masturbate (be honest)?

Yeah

What’s your kink?

Not gonna answer that

What’s one thing you don’t feel comfortable doing around your friends?

Doing some of my more OCD hobbies like making lists

What’s your most prized possession?

My stuffed dog Bruno

Are you ever proud of yourself?

Yeah

Do you ever tear yourself down?

Yeah

Do you ever tell people how you’re feeling?

Yeah

Do you like when people guess how you’re feeling?

I usually just tell them. If I don't, it means I'm hiding it on purpose to not make the situation about me

Are you worried about someone close to you? Why?

Not particularly, but my parents a little since they are getting older with health problems

What kind of interview questions do you answer to yourself?

What does this mean?

If you could meet anyone, living, dead, or unborn, who would it be?

Taylor Swift

If you had a clone of yourself and the two of you didn’t have enough resources, would you get along?

I probably wouldn't get along with her even if we did have enough resources

What kinds of things confuse you?

Computer code

Do you feel too hot or too cold more often?

Too hot

If you had to live in any past time period, which would it be?

Medieval (if I was upper class) or 80s

What’s your sign? you feel like it matches your personality?

Sagittarius. It doesn't particularly match

Do you believe in astrology?

Do you like extreme activities, like white water rafting, surfing, roller coasters, etc.?

I like roller coasters but I don't put them in the same category as extreme activites, which I don't really like

Are you waiting for someone to save you?

Not really, but maybe a tiny bit

Can you remember the last time you made a deep personal connection with someone?

I sort of did with one of my coworkers at the work party last night

Do you like where you grew up?

Yeah

What’s your favorite word?

I don't have one

Would you consider yourself an interesting person?

Not especially

Which people in your life do you wish knew you better?

My friend group

Are you okay?

Pretty ok

What’s been going through your mind lately?

The future

#survey

1 note · View note