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jaeminscoffee · 4 years

Text

The midnight man | l.ty

Pairing- Lee Taeyong x reader

Mentions- Lee Donghyuck, Na Jaemin, Liu YangYang, Nakamoto Yuta, Seo Johnny, Kim Doyoung, Ten Lee, Lee Dong Wook.

Genre- Horror!au, angst, crack, part fluff.

Warning(s)- Evil entity!Taeyong, Manipulation, Major character death (lmao you'll actually punch yourself towards the end), sexual themes suggested, impulsive decision making, talks with religion.

Word count- 11.83k

Synopsis- 'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

@kpopscape

This story is pure work of fiction and therefore doesn't speak about the mentioned members' personality in real life. I, in no manner, am trying to encourage hate speech towards the members so please don't come at me. This story was written using a mix of a bunch of urban legends and few made up by myself and therefore it isn't going to be spoken about the same way as it is in google. I also worked really hard on this piece and it's by far, the longest story I've written so feedbacks would mean a lot!, also it could get a little boring since i took time to focus on the side characters too. Make sure not to repost my works and sign it off as your own because that's a little disheartening and mockful towards the writer. So all credits reversed to @jaeminscoffee 2020©®

If anyone here doesn't know the story behind the midnight game, then read on! Because I've described it throughout the story! Happy reading!

29/10, Thursday, 10:57PM

"We need to do something this halloween man, Y/n come on!"

Your friends all collectively whined as you constantly kept rejecting their proposal.

Halloween is bullshit. It's overhyped and in all honesty, childish. You'd rather prefer staying home than go house to house and make a fool out of your existence. Not to mention you were all past the age of trick or treating. And to add on top of that came all the sugar rush you'd all go through at the end of the day. "For the last time, Hyuck we're not dressing up like crewmates and going trick or treating. I've got other things to do for the love of god" you grunt, rubbing the scrunched up skin to soothe the pain at the temples. University has been acting up again and so has life. "If your 'other things to do' is binge watch high school musical then no, you have no other better things to do" Yangyang bites back.

"It's just, I don't feel like it anymore, alright? It feels too weird going out asking for candies when we're all literally 19 and above. It's time to up the notch." you say, plopping down.

When Haechan called for an emergency meeting in pure 'among us' style back at the guys' dorm, you'd expected it to be about something along the lines of having to console Jaemin or someone for having been stood up on a date. What you didn't expect was to have the boys prepare an entire presentation on who'd dress up as what character from among us and who'd be the impostor, do a little play and then say 'red is sus' and then ask for candies. What made it worse was that you thought they were just pulling a prank on you when in all reality, they were dead serious which made you go, 'oh, oh they aren't pretending to be stupid, they're just in their original form.'

"It won't be that bad, doll. It's a genius plan if you ask me" Jaemim chirped in on the conversation finally after looking back and forth between you, Donghyuck and Yangyang caught up in a meaningless fight. "I don't see how any of this is genius, Jaem. If this plan's anything, it's stupid." You pull out your phone after making your way all the way to the headboard of Jaemin's bed. "How about we try out one of these creepy pasta games?" Yuta finally spoke up. Jaemin's brother, an early graduate, senior and of course a dear friend of yours. Yuta, despite the age difference between your classmates and you, had little to no trouble blending in with the tiny group of yours. Probably the only one who didn't behave like a toddler and the most sane one according to you. Yuta's been an amazing planner since junior year where you first met Jaemin, Yangyang and Donghyuck who then proceeded to introduce you to their senior friend group that consists of Yuta, Johnny, Doyoung; Donghyuck's cousin and Ten. You guys had a friendship the entire campus was envious of. But two year after you getting into the university, the seniors had to graduate. But that didn't stop all your bonds from staying as strong as ever. Not even after Ten got his posting in a town a little far away from the one you guys lived in. The distance didn't change anything between you guys and you were as close as you could ever get.

"Creepypasta?" Donghyuck inquired, looking straight at the guy who aimlessly scrolled down the screen of his device as Yuta didn't even bother looking up while passing the confused boy a nod. Sitting up cross legged from his previous side sitting posture, Yuta showed his phone screen to Donghyuck, who immediately got surrounded by the other two while you stare at the oldest in the room, slightly intrigued by the idea. "Creepypasta's like these horror-related legends that have been copied and pasted around the Internet by people who're too bored for their own sake." you explain as Haechan took the phone out of Yuta's hand who agreed to your explanation. "I read some sick games that I kinda wanna try out and see for myself," he said, looking at you with expectations and then the rest who seemed too immersed in surfing the website.

"Yuta, you of all people should know better than to think all these made up crap's real" you say nonchalantly.

Yuta's a huge skeptic, and so were you. Which is why you got along really well despite the mentioned age gap. The night gatherings back at the boy's dormitory or the girls (in this case, girl, yours) would always end up in narration of on spot made up stories of all genre, mostly horror because apparently according to Jaemin 'Rom-com's overhyped, sci-fi won't be fun when you narrate it out loud, mystery can easily turn boring, comedy, meh i guess, but a good horror story narrated properly, -yes, like you, Haechan- while adding jumpscares here and there could actually result in y'all being too scared to use the bathroom on your own'. And yeah, you'd startle here and there but the stories weren't believable enough for you to actually be scared. On the other hand, Haechan and Jaemin were scaredy cats. Literal toddler's who're so gullible, you could literally tell them there was an alien invasion news flash two minutes ago and they'd be hiding under their bed. And then there's Yangyang, he just doesn't care. He goes along with the plans solely for the fun of it and for the other's' (Haechan and Jaemin) reaction. "That's the point. I don't" he shuffled around to shift closer to you,

"Which is exactly why i want to try them out"

Maybe it's the feline that crossed over his body, maybe it was the fact that his spirit just wasn't ready to leave the human realm yet. Maybe it's the mourning of his family or maybe it's him himself knowing full too well his potential was truly wasted due to the fast departure. Whatever it was, his spirit was definitely made restless.

The world is a cruel place where harsh actions are always sugar coated by honey like words. It's how he knew the doings of his people were wrong that made him disappointed. The practices of the people, his people, were stupid, meaningless and only harmful to the human kind. They fend off the satisfaction of their almighty even if that means that there needs to be sacrification of their loved ones, their nemesis, or them themselves. And it was his ancestors fault for starting all these practices.

Passed down generations from generations was the curse put on the first of their bloodline by the princess he'd defied to go out and be ruthless by disregarding his duties as a husband, a father, a member of the royal courts and as a human being.

Lee Dong Wook. The root of all evil, the main reason the males of the family line faced the same wrath as him, all cursing at him but one namely enjoying his role. The pagans, dating back to the roman times era had a very, let's say, interesting method of punishing. The said lords they'd worship, the people following the religions had a strong belief that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Gods and goddesses of life, or say, death or anything else that exists beyond life and death, they believed in all.

The doings of his ancestors started off innocent. Sacrifices to the lords of goodness and tranquility, a peaceful life by the towns and outskirts, forgiveness for wrong doings and of course, happiness. It's how any religious rituals would go about and all were happy until the said betrayer of the group came in with that curse of his. 'The doings of his shall be repented for all the men following shall be the one paying it,'

At first glance when the man returned back to his royals, there were little to no suspicions of a curse being casted on him. He seemed normal to his family, his people except for the occasional forcing people to do something they despised. And it wasn't just the men of the family instead, it was all. But mostly the men, unless the same sin were to be committed by the females. Obscure behaviors have been asked to follow starting exactly at midnight to the witch's hour be it hurting your loved one, your enemy, doing sinful things, allowing self to get manipulated and mostly, shortening their own life time in the human realm. It was all unexplainable. Why was he asking people to do things like this but most of all, why are they even listening to him?

It wasn't until they discovered that Dong Wook, for one, was never the one who returned home. On a second note, he, 'Dong Wook' mainly only targeted the men whose doings were similar to his that was fueled by the same sin that had him going. Which only remained undiscovered. The curse was unbeknownst to all still, Dong Wook himself remained undiscovered. Or proposed by the elders of the community, his body remained undiscovered while his spirit roamed restless among the people.

The pagan romanticists are, in most cases, ignorant of the “paganism” they praise—the redeemed paganism of Christianity depicted in the transfigured water of the True Well of Life. Wrestling with the Greek gods, however, leads us to see the hyper-anthropomorphization of the gods with one intention in mind—justification of sexual lusts and displays of power over the weak.

The oldest written account of the Greek deities is from Hesiod. His Theogony, literally “birth of the gods,” charts out the genealogies of the major and minor deities in two branches. The first set of gods come into existence without sex. The second set of gods come into existence with sex; often very graphic and violent sex and they continue to have violent sex after their birth.

As Hesiod continues to describe the birth and death of the gods and great monsters of antiquity, the chaining of Prometheus to his eternal torment is described. So too is Hades’ rape of Persephone. Battle is depicted left and right, and “a terrible din arose from their dreadful wrath, and the work of power was revealed”. Lust, sex, and war reign supreme in Hesiod’s telling of the birth of the gods. Moreover, it is from this brutality and carnality that Hesiod gives them praise—only those with enough cunning and ambition are worthy of having the praise of the muses.

That the gods birthed through sexual lust are themselves lustful was not missed by Christians of the pagan community. Though St. Augustine received the Romanized version of the Greek myths, he goes to great lengths and laborious pains—using the pagans’ own prophecies —to highlight the moral depravity of the gods in Confessions and City of God.

His sin, after all the years, was lust and the want to dominate.

'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

Oh, how lust was a dangerous feeling.

29/10 continued. 11:28PM

It's how you all circled around in the living room like any other day that was comical to you. Instead of reading out your own made up story, it so happened to be the Creepypastas Yuta screenshotted for what he wanted to try out and see for himself. It wasn't even his idea to read them out. Haechan and Jaemin's 'too curious for their own sake' selves were the ones who wanted to read it out loud. "How about we sit in the order of who's gonna read out what and when?" Yangyang suggested, standing up from his seat. "Yuta read out the topics and we'll pick randomly."

"No fun! Hold up," Haechan did some pretty exaggerated hand actions before getting up and heading to his room, well, Jaemin's room to do who knows what. "Okay? I'll get the candles!" Yangyang said, him getting out of his seat too, "And I'll go get the bible, jesus christ" and Jaemin was out of his seat too. You look at Jaemin in a funny manner, as though questioning him with your eyes if he's actually going to get a bible or not, "What? I don't want to die young, I'm too hot for that" he said, before following Haechan's steps to his bedroom, "Yikes, you aren't going to die dude"

"Okayy, I'm back, make way bitches" Haechan dictated to which he earned a few groans and a smack on the ankle from Yuta, "Jaemin! I can't find the candles!" "It's beside the Reese's cups! Second rack inside of the refrigerator!" Jaemin says while walking back up to your tiny circle with an empyre comic in his hand and a cross pendant dangling off of his neck, "That's a bible?" you question. "Shush, do not question the power of avengers and fantastic four." Jaemin replies, holding the comic up close to his chest. You all collectively dismiss it with a concerned look directed towards the male, "Are we not going to question the fact that Jaemin keeps his candles inside the fridge?"

"So here's what we're going to do, I've got these tiny papers which have numbers from 1 to 5,because we're five people and I've folded the paper into chits, once i toss it, we pick random sheets and the number you get is when your turn to read is, any objections?" Haechan explained, "Even if you have any, keep it to yourself because I don't care" he bites in again while juggling the folded sheets in a closed palm while the other supports his body by it being planted behind him. "Okay I'm back with the candles" Yangyang finally joins in on the circle, completing it, "You took that long to find one candle?" Yuta asks, "No i was eating the reese's cups" he replied, wiping his hand on your jean clad thighs earning him a loud whine of 'Eww that's disgusting man' and a little too far from soft smacks on his shoulder, "You piece of sh-" Jaemin starts, "Okay all, Focus!" Haechan cuts him off, ready to throw the bits onto the space between the five of you in front of the now lit candle (Thank you, Yuta), and so he tossed it a little high up from the ground, letting the paper fall of his palms and onto the floor while being cautious of not throwing it anywhere near the flame.

"Now let's arrange ourselves according to the numbers, who's number one?" Haechan asks, Yuta raises his hands while pointing at where he's sitting, "I'm not getting up, y'all arrange yourself so that the person going second is to my right and the last person would be to my left", you all look at him nonchalantly, "What?" with a shake of your head, you proceed calling out numbers, "Number two?" Haechan shoves Yangyang back to take his place beside Yuta, "bitch." Yangyang seats himself beside Haechan, followed by Jaemin and lastly, you.

"First, Yuta!" Jaemin slurs the elders name, receiving a death glare from his cousin. Nevertheless, Yuta cleared up his throat and switched his attention to his phone screen, "The first urban legend is from Japan, ironically." He states as a matter of fact, "It's called Aka Manto."

"Aka manto is an urban legend related to toilets—particularly those in elementary schools.-"

"Is that why you take a relatively long time inside of the bathroom? Are you, you know? Tickling pickles with Aka Mant-ow! Sorry!" Yangyang was wasted as he was tackled onto the floor by Yuta, while the rest of you cracked up, "Now let's get a little serious, come onnn!" Haechan whines.

"This phenomenon is known all over Japan, with countless variations on the same theme. It usually takes place in a specific stall in a specific bathroom in the school. Usually it is an older or seldom used bathroom, often in a stall with an older style squat toilet. Often the fourth stall is the cursed one, as the number four is associated with death." "I'm so glad our university has only two stalls," Jaemin chimes in, suddenly grasping the cross pendant.

"Most stories follow this general pattern: while at school late in the evening, a student suddenly finds him or herself in desperate need of a toilet. The closest restroom available is one that is normally avoided by the students; it is older and less well-kept, separated from the rest of the school, and is rumored to be haunted. But with no time to search for a different restroom, the student enters. He or she does their business, and when they have finished, they reach for the toilet paper only to find that there is none. Then they hear a strange voice" Yuta looks up from the phone screen, "“Do you want red paper? Or blue paper?”"

"None bitch, give me the classic white,"

With a roll of his eyes, Yuta continues, "If the student answers, Red paper, moments later, they're stabbed and sliced up violently that blood seeps out of them, painting the walls of the stall red and it soaks up into their body, making them appear red", "And if the student responds blue paper, then their blood is going to be sucked up dry, leaving them dead and blue-faced on the floor."

"But! If you try to outsmart Aka Manto, by replying to question with, i don't know, "Yellow paper" then too, dead is inevitable, you will be shoved onto the floor where the spirit is said hold your head down in the dirty toilet water until you drown and well, die" Yuta ends with a shrug of his shoulder, "Seems pretty bullshit to me" and you agree alongside, though, it could be a little creepy if the existing legend did turn out to be true. "Okay next!"

Yuta leans back a little more, pressing onto your side which you took as an invitation to lean on his shoulder. When you did so, all Yuta did was beam at you and wrap his arms around you to keep you close after handing the phone over to Haechan, "If you want me to start reading you have to give it up for me. Give me the grand welcome that i deserve" the lad said in a childish voice which again only earned him a few smacks and half hearted applauds. "So this one is apparently called, the one man hide and seek" though all narrations were being taken on a lighter note, the mood set in the room gave you enough space to picture the stories, added to that came the factor that Donghyuck knows exactly how to narrate what.

"The "One-Man Hide and Seek", also known as the "One-Man Tag," is a ritual for contacting the dead. The spirits, which are wandering restless on the Earth, are always looking for bodies to possess. In this ritual, you will summon such a spirit, by offering it a doll instead of a human body." He lowers his voice while focusing solely on the screen.

"The warnings say that if you have any psychic abilities, you may feel unwell or be prone to accidents during the ritual." He raises his eyebrows, looking at all four of you in a curious manner. The things you need for this game seems lowkey sketch"

"One stuffed doll. It must have limbs, Rice, enough to stuff the doll full. One needle, and one crimson thread. One pair of nail clippers. One sharp-edged tool, such as a knife, glass shard, or scissors. One cup of salt water. Natural salt would be best. A bathroom, with a bathtub and some form of counter. A hiding place, preferably a room purified by incense and ofuda. There must be a TV in there." Haechan's face contorts with each requirement for the game. Letting out a defeated sigh, he hands the phone over to Yangyang, "Of all the stories i could've narrated, i got chosen for this and for what? Just to contact stupid poltergeists. Just play a ouija board and go"

Giving Haechan a sympathetic pat on the back, he takes the device. Looking through the screen he cracks up a smile, "Alright, listen up closely. This is an Urban legend classic"

"The Slender Man-" a bunch of 'aahhs' of realization resonate through the room

"-is a supernatural creature that is described as appearing as a normal human being but he is described as being 8 feet tall and he has vectors or extra appendages that are described to be as sharp as swords. The creature is known to stalk humans and cause many disappearances. He is described as a shadow creature that has a missing face. The creature fits into many mythologies in legends from nations such as germany and celts which brings up the possibility that he could be real." Yangyang pauses to add in a little more life to his reading while all of your paid full concentration to him

"A man named victor Surge found this legend and made his own version of it which he called slender man. The slender man is not exactly evil according to mythology but victor Surge’s version shows him as an evil creature that stalks humans to kill. In mythology he was actually trying to save you from a painful death by taking you to the underworld early." he ends, placing the phone down in front of him, screen down. "Kills you to save you from a death and collectively shortens your lifespan? Seems legit to me" Jaemin chimes in while the rest of you chuckle whereas Haechan pouted at the device in front of his friend, "I should've gotten that story"

"My turn!"

"So, ahem-" Once the focus is all on him,Jaemin looks down onto the device containing his part of narration. "- This is an urban legend about a girl named Daruma who was a young Japanese woman that died in the bathroom, which upon entering to take a bath, it stumbled and her forehead ended up against the edge of the tube, destroying it the brain, at the same time that her eye embedded in the tube , leaving it in consequence, one-eyed key and later , dead by bleed out." "Oh god ouch" You hiss as though your forehead was the one that hit the edge, " Her appearance as described is apparently; black hair that is entangled, her clothes rotting and made shreds. She only has one eye. Her left eye is completely open and injected with blood." "That's gruesome," Yangyang adds, earning a nod from Jaemin who's eyes were still fixated on the screen. "And apparently there's a ritual that you can follow to summon her into your house for twenty four hours straight" At the silence, he continues. "I'll shorten it, so you have to begin it right before your bedtime, shed all your clothing and enter your bathroom, turn off all the lights and fill in your bathtub, climb into it while being seated facing faucet, close your eyes and start washing your hair while chanting "Daruma-san fell down" and keep chanting that until you're done washing your hair, and yeah don't open your eyes."

"If you did it right then you'll get this image of a japanese who'll slip and fall in front of you. Even if you hear a noise behind you, do not open your eyes, no matter what it takes, Ask out loud, 'why did you fall in the bathtub' and let that hang in the air. With your eyes still closed, get up and out of the tub and be careful not to slip and do not drain the tub. Go to your room, don't turn the lights on, shut the bathroom door closed and sleep. Wake up the next day and carry on with your day and you'll apparently feel her presence alongside you all day. She'll constantly try getting close to you, when she does, scream 'Tomare!',"

"That means stop," Yuta adds to which you all hum in understanding.

"To end the game, capture her gaze from over your shoulder and say 'Kitta' which means 'I cut you loose' while swinging your arm in a chopping motion. If you followed the procedures then you'll be rewarded but if not then, run. That's all it says here" He stops, looking a little shaken at how he created an image of it all in his mind. "They didn't say how to get rid of her if you fail following the procedure?" you ask

"No." Jaemin shrugs it off

"Alright boys, my turn"

30th October, Friday, 10:53PM

It's probably how you read out your part of story telling, or it was how he felt the game was a little too unrealistic that had Yuta hooked onto the urban legend.

Yuta found himself at his dorm doing a little more research on the midnight ritual. A backpack already consisting of all the elements required for the game, 'could it really be played just by one person?'. Whatever it was, he really wanted to do the game. He wanted someone to accompany him, of course. But knowing his friend group, not many would be ready to play it alongside. Doyoung was probably busy preparing his resumes for his job interviews. Johnny's all the way back in Chicago for a little family time. Ten was a little too far from your town so he'd feel bad calling him all the way over just to perform a probably demonic ritual. Donghyuck and Jaemin are out of the question, they'd obviously say no. Yangyang has a company party to attend as the heir. And you had to study for your test on Monday so he didn't really feel like disturbing you though, he did inform you that he was going out to have some fun and that you could join him anytime. Closing his laptop with a sigh, he gets up and walks over to where his bag was sprawled across the floor, picks it up and makes his way out of the studio apartment like dormitory after grabbing his car keys.

Not like he believed it was real, it's incase if the legend turns out to be even the slightest of reality, he wasn't going to get his dormitory haunted, instead opting to perform it at the house he grew up in, his childhood house. That was left abandoned ever since they moved out months before his younger brother was born after his father had an episode still unknown to him inside the place. It was convenient enough to perform the ritual in and no one lives there anymore, and it was just a few minutes from where his house was anyways.

Reaching the place and swinging the backpack over his shoulder, he makes his way into the surprisingly still intact house. Not much time to waste, looking around, Yuta slowly made his way up the wooden stairs, the wood creaking with each step he took to prove the existence of this house dated long back. The guest room shut lock from lack of human souls even when they used to live there. The paintings still hung off of a single screw, nostalgia hitting him straight as he recalled the one time he was playing catch with a neighbor's kid and ended up breaking the glass frame. The wallpaper's adhesive seemingly had gotten weaker from how they had started coming out from nooks and crannies of the walls. The place, without doubt, looked a little creepy but nonetheless felt homely.

Switching on all switches from the main controller that was in the control room right by the end of the hallway, the entire darkness was replaced with light as the bulbs shockingly still seemed to function. The warm white colour of the lights took Yuta all the way back to his growing up years, missing all the fun he'd had there and all the memories he'd created. He, though grew up mostly by himself from how busy his parents were on the weekdays and sometimes the weekends, missed them more now that they live far off in Japan with his mother's family. Especially now that he was in the place they spent the most time together in. Shaking his head, he had no trouble navigating his way to his childhood room. Where he set the bag down.

He reached out to his back pocket to get out his phone, switching it on as the screen illuminated, 11:28PM, the screen read. To kill the time, Yuta set up all the items required in place to proceed the ritual smoothly. He pulled his laptop out of the backpack once he was all set to maybe watch something on the internet. It being other peoples attempt at the ritual he was about to perform.

11:55PM.

Yuta inhaled, having only a few more minutes until he had to proceed. He recalled your words,

"Alright boys, my turn" You snatch the phone out of Jaemin's hand who seemed really immersed in finding out more about the legend he just read out about, earning a pout from him. "I was reading" he let out in a whiny tone immediately going stoic after receiving a 'do i care' look from your end. "Okay, so the story I'm going to read out is called the midnight man, or the midnight game" You scroll back and forth through the pages the oldest of the group screenshotted. "From what he's gathered, there's not much backstory, but apparently it's a ritual or mostly a punishment that the pagan's use to punish the betrayer of the group who failed to stay loyal to their lords or the group. One of the people of the religion will summon the midnight man to an abandoned house where they lock up the said betrayer who'll then be put through god knows what by the midnight stranger," You stop to look up from the screen to look at each of your friends before letting out a sigh.

"My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you state, "But what if, it's the midnight man that they preach? You know, like, they could be praying the midnight man" Haechan adds in a point which seemed to make sense, "That's possible too"

"Why would someone preach an evil entity? That's so sketch" Jaemin asks perplexed. "They did a lot of sketchy things back in the days, Jaem. I wouldn't question it," Yuta chirps. "Is there any other backstory given about the midnight man?" Yangyang finally speaks up, "Well not really, but when i was taking screenshots of this it apparently started with a curse on someone whose identity is unknown to most. There was no such thing as the midnight game or ritual until the said bewitched man came back into town. I only know up to there, but there are high chances that he's probably the origin of the ritual." Yuta explains. "Why does Y/n get the best always, that's so unfair" Haechan's dramatic self whines while leaning onto Yangyang who rolled his eyes but nonetheless threw his hands around the latter's shoulder, "Anyways, the procedure for the ritual is given here."

"You need one candle, a lighter or a match box or anything that ignites fire, a piece of paper, something to write with, a sharp object, it could be a pin, it just needs to be something sharp enough to draw blood, a wooden door, and salt for protection-" You read out, "Now why the fuck would they need blood," Jaemin asks, shaken up. "That's for them to know and us to find out"

"Here's how the invitation for the midnight man goes. Begin prior to midnight,"

Yuta stood up from his bed, and walked up to the backpack on the floor, picking out the papers he'd brought along and took out a blunt pencil.

"Write your full name- first, middle, and last- on the piece of paper with your writing implement." He wrote syllable by syllable, Nakamoto Yuta. "Prick your finger with the pin and squeeze until a drop of blood appears. Dot the blood on the paper and allow it to soak in. Turn off every light in your home." He took out the small safety pin he brought along from his jean pocket, pressing his fingers hard and pricked into the skin as hard as he could, keeping in mind to not draw too much blood. Yuta let the droplet fall right in the space between his last name and first.

"Place the paper with your name and blood on it in front of the closed wooden door. Light the candle using the matches or lighter and place it on top of the paper. If you are using a taper, make sure it is placed in a candle holder." He walks up to the door and places down the paper with his name and blood on it, with the half melted scented candle he brought along. Yuta took out his phone once again, 11:59. "Knock on the door 22 times. The final knock must occur precisely when the clock chimes 12am. Open the door; then blow out the candle and close the door. Relight your candle immediately." He starts to knock on the door, drumming on the dusty wood, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

He checks the time once again, 12:00AM.

He leans down to pick the glass jar containing the candle, relighting it,

"I welcome you."

Taeyong loved the tiny creatures in the human realm. They were so naive and so, stupid but weirdly smart at the same time that made playing with them ten times more interesting. The callings from them, or the way they say it in the human realm, summoning the spirit was the only way he could gain access to enter the place. Summoning wasn't even necessary. Saying his name out was more than enough for him to go up to you. Midnight man, midnight stranger, midnight visitor, pagan's god, What not had the human's named him.

The only one besides his ancestor of said curse that enjoyed the power of punishing people was Taeyong himself. The youngest of the bloodline and the freshest of pagan's spirit, he loved the power he had. Sure he had no access to love, instead besides lust and range he felt nothing, maybe amusement too, but none other than that and he seemed perfectly fine with that. Human's always seeked lust more than love either way so he found no problem in being void of feeling a vulnerable emotion. Instead, he found love pathetic. Watching human's from where he lived, he'd seen all from men and women seeking love by going to heights of trouble only to waste away your remaining life with one partner. Leeching off of pleasure at times when you had a significant other. He always got a hearty laugh from all of that. According to him, if you want someone, get them. Instead of tailing them and trying to be a goody two shoes, just make them yours in a way that's inevitable for them to fall for you. Control how they feel. Easier said than done since he was the only one with the ability to do so, 'how fucking pitiful'.

So when he saw you and your small group of friends discussing about him, laughing at all the assumptions you made along the way, he wanted each of you to himself. "My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed to the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you're smart and that was intriguing to him. He liked the way you thought of things and the male beside you too, you both seemed to take tales of him as a grain of salt and that, besides angering him, made him feel the want to prove himself to you. Taeyong found the other three cute, seemingly scared of him just the way he liked it.

His ancestor's who held the same power as him, the curse actually, came to be known as said lord because of their power of manipulation and to inject in their worst nightmare into their minds that had the people divide themselves into groups. One that believed the power they had was for the good and considered them to be their god, their savior. And the other being the one's scared of their power and the fear that the same faith would bestow upon them that had them pray for forgiveness for sins they never committed. So your friend had the point a little, but it was inaccurate. They believed him. Believed Taeyong and feared his power. He loved people bowing down in front of him, eyes trembling and body shivering. It gave him a sense of dictatorship. And he had set his mind to have both of you non-believers fear him.

Having been brought up with little to no love, Taeyong followed down the same path as his great grandfather. Not having enough time to feel the vulnerable emotion, he chose to go down the path of pleasure and power play. His powers though, seemingly stronger than the past generations, probably due to the fact that he was young, ruthless and free of care. He could make himself appear physically in the human realm in any shape and form, though he always preferred to go in his original, but less scarier form. His visuals were out of the world. He didn't have to scare people to make them obey, instead all he had to do was pretend to be there and just be himself and that only made humans seem even pathetic to him.

"Relight your candle immediately"

12:01PM, The main event.

"Keeping your candle in hand and your salt and matches or lighter close by, begin to move about your home. Should your candle go out, you must relight it within the next ten seconds. If you are successful, continue moving about your home. Do not stop moving until 3:33 am. If you are unsuccessful in relighting the candle, immediately surround yourself with a circle of salt. Remain inside the circle until 3:33 am. At 3:33 am, it is safe to stop moving or to step outside your circle of salt. You may also turn on the lights. The game Is Over."* You conclude. Hissing slightly at the sudden pain by your shoulder that was exposed from the minimalistic clothing you'd adorned, the stranger looking over it all smirked to himself. 'Got it'

Yuta opened the door again, mindful to keep his phone back in his jean pocket along with the lighter and of course, the salt be brought along. Starting from the end of the hallway, nothing seemed to change except now, the eerie silence was starting to bother him, 'Just 3 hours to go,'. He didn't miss a single corner, walking room to room, corner to corner, mindful to stay inside all the way. The temperature of certain rooms seemingly lesser than others. A cold pocket.

"There are few warnings too," you swipe the image to go to the next one, "At 3:33 am, the Midnight Man will leave your home. After he has left, you may safely end the game. Do NOT turn on any lights during the game. Do NOT use a flashlight during the game. Do NOT go to sleep during the game. Do NOT use a lighter instead of a candle during the game." Check. He had a lighter on him just to relight the candle anyways.

Taeyong, following the guy seemed to be quite impressed by his bravery. Not even the slightest of shaken up as he proceeded to walk about the villa. That's good, no slip ups and he seemed too good to mess anything up either ways, and that bored the entity. Where's the fun if he just succeeded?

To avoid the candle from going off at the sudden flickering, Yuta covered it up the best he could with his hands and checked around whether any windows were left open. Darkness engulfed the surrounding all of a sudden, the lad being taken aback, 10 seconds. He rushed to take out his lighter, 9, pressing the button repeatedly to ignite the flame only to get a small blue flame instead, huh? 8, running back full speed happy that he was in the premises of where his backpack is, he pulled the spare lighter, a brand new one out of the side pocket, 7, repeating the same process of flicking the button over and over, 6 until a bright orange flame engulfed the dark room, 5, he immediately grabbed his candle from besides the bag, 4 reaching in close by the wick, burning himself slightly in 3-, the process. Yuta heaves out a sigh of relief, while the spirit laughs at the frantic boy. 'He's cute.'

For a breaker, he took out his phone, looking at the time that seemed to pass by quickly throughout the ritual, 2:47 AM. A little more while to go until he'd finally get it over with. "Do not attempt to provoke the Midnight Man during the game." You ended for the nth time that night, "Which idiot would-" Yangyang asks "Haechan-" Jaemin pretends to cough while blurting out his best friends name, the mentioned feigning offence while tilting his head to the side, tongue poking at the insides of his cheek. "Seems like that's pretty much it." you shrug while the older guy beside you leaning back on both of his hands, "I kinda wanna try that out" Yuta raised his eyebrows at you. "Halloween night? We all go together" you chirp in, both of you whipping your heads to look at the three perplexed boys. "Uh, I have to water my fish on halloween? She'd get pretty thirsty". Jaemin's eyes wandered about, coming up with an excuse, "And I gotta walk my rock yo, physical fitness." Haechan adds, "Can I bring my fish along? She could use some exercising".

"Come on guys, it won't be that bad, we'll stick in a group?" You pleaded, trying your best to muster up the cutest puppy eyes. "I'm down" Yangyang shrugs. You do a tiny seal clap, looking expectedly at the other two, Yangyang and Yuta doing the same. "We stick together?" Haechan asks, to which the three of you nod your head,

"Alright then we're down too"

[3:04AM 30th, October. ]

A few more minutes left until he'd succeed, Yuta was starting to grow tired of constantly roaming. He'd usually not the one to wear out that quickly, but for a reason unknown to him, he felt utterly sleepy, tired, hungry and just wanted to lie down. He decided to take a small break, the candle still light, dangerously flickering but yet still intact. Yuta sat by the foot of the stairs as Taeyong looked at him with the same cocky smirk on his face, contemplating whether to pop out or not. 'Maybe let's make it subtle? '

Taking up the form of a black humanoid figure, Taeyong makes his way towards Yuta whose eyes seem to be dropping low with each passing second. Upon hearing the sounds of footsteps Yuta looks up, a hand on his forehead from the sudden throbbing headache. Letting out a loud yell at the figure in front of him that disappeared almost immediately, he rushed to grab his lighter again. The sudden temperature drop made him shudder. Taking out the new lighter, he pressed the button again and again as the time limit started to exhaust, 6, at a successful fire, he reached for his candle, only for the flame to go off when it neared the candle wick. "what the fuck.." 5, "come on.." he stated in a rushed voice, sure that he just saw whatever he saw once again. Finally flicking the button one last time, he succeeded in lighting the candle.

Contrary to popular belief, the midnight man didn't always radiate death. Sometimes he just messes around with the humans because the underworld could get a little boring. And as the curse states death and wrath is only to be faced by those who sinned and the boy playing right now seemed to be of no threat. All Taeyong wanted to do was get the guy to believe in his existence. Skeptics were like an insult to him. So if he had to prove himself and his existence on his own, then so be it. He gets some pretty good experience out of it anyways.

Yuta stood up immediately, remembering the warning's you'd stated, "Do not stop moving until 3:33am", walking back up the stairs, he took out his phone to check the time, 3:29am. Almost.

The same sounds of footsteps resonated from behind him, Yuta took an immediate U-turn. Going back down the stairs and roaming the empty, dark hallways, making sure to enter each and every room, keeping a mental note to thank his parents for having a slightly confusing infrastructure. The wax was almost completely out in the glass jar, but he had to hang in there for a little longer than 2 more minutes when he felt something brush his shoulder, much similar to how a friend would drape their hands over his/her friends' shoulder. He could've brushed it off as anything if it weren't for the sharp pain he felt right after the feeling of someone touching him. He's getting the proof he wants. Almost as if someone pulled his hoodie, Yuta stumbled back, letting out a shaky scream, tripping on his own foot, landing butt down onto the floor, catching a glimpse of the same humanoid figure he'd been seeing. He needs to get out of there.

Stumbling back onto his feet, Yuta bolted it upstairs, grabbing his phone once again to check the time, 3:32am. Reaching his room, he set the candle down right beside him, vary of the windows and doors, starting to back his backpack, the sounds of rushed footsteps running start to where he is ringing through his ears, hands shakingly packing his bag. Keeping the candle closeby, contemplating whether to draw a salt circle or not since there was only less than half a minute left when the same humanoid figure neared him with fast footsteps, reaching by the door frame with a loud agonizing scream only to disappear immediately.

Not realising the stress of tears flowing and the tresses sticking to his forehead, Yuta looked at the door frame in a perplexed yet confused manner. What the fuck was that.

Taking out his phone once again while grabbing his backpack, laptop and the car keys in the other hand, 3:34 am. He'd made it through. After reaching the front door, not even bothering to close it, he rushed to his car, starting it before pulling up your contacts, seeing the messages he'd never sent you.

Yuta san 1:39am: The boys said they won't make it tomorrow, it's gonna be just you and i

Y/nleE 1:43am: Why not?

Yuta san 1:45am: Dk, they said they aren't interested. So come near xxxx tomorrow at 11:30. I'll meet you there.

Y/nleE 1:48am: Coolsies.

Yuta san 3:38am: Y/n don't come here, gather the boys and meet me by Haechan's dorm tomorrow. The game's no fucking joke.

And with that he started driving away quickly to his dormitory, not once looking back at the house to see a human. Or a human like figure standing there, A bright red hair standing out due to his blood drained looking pale skin. A smirk on his face

Message not delivered.

31st October, 22:37PM, 2020.

Today was a weird day,

Having all plan's set two days before, you'd make sure to keep yourself ready for whatever you and your friend group were supposed to do today. You finished up all your assignments earlier that day to keep yourself free from afternoon and on.

The weird part was that, no matter how much you kept your phone for charge, each time you tried calling one of the guys to ask for the sudden bailing out on plan, which is a shocker because they've never done that, your phone kept switching off. You could've gone all the way to their apartment, well, dorm, but you decided to wait until later to do so. Maybe a few minutes before leaving to the place Yuta texted you so that they'd have no choice but to come along. Since your last time texting with Yuta, you hadn't heard from him. Granted, he did text you quite late at night saying he's going to do god knows what and to tell you of the sudden plan change, but you hadn't heard from him after, that being weird since he literally lives a floor below yours, he could've come any moment but nope. You kept a mental note to tell him off later.

You took out your phone once again to check if they'd sent any messages or missed calls only to have an empty chat box, other than that of your other friends that is. Added on top of that came the constant pricking feeling on your shoulder blades from the last day you hung out with the boys. The pain would appear randomly and it would be hurtful enough to draw blood, which is weird considering the fact that you kept yourself away from all sharp objects and had a full sleeve covering the area.

One stone, two birds. Taeyong's motto.

After having interfered with your phone, your friends, trying to keep you away from them until you'd go through the same as your other skeptic partner, Taeyong made sure that Yuta would be sick enough after returning home to keep him from even getting up from his bed. Temporary paralysis. Your other friends, of course they tried reaching out to you, only for him to cut the service to keep you away from them for a while. They got easily distracted from you ignoring their texts as they were focused on reaching out to Yuta.

Unknown: Hey Y/n, I'm Yuta's friend. He told me you aren't replying to his texts so asked me to do so.

Y/n: Who's this?

Unknown: Oh! I'm Taeyong! A close friend of well, your friend XD.

Y/n: Nice to meet you, Taeyong. I'm Y/n but it seems like you already know that.

Unknown: Yeah :). Yuta's on his way here and told me that you'd be joining us? Are you nearby?

Y/n: He left? No, actually, I'm just leaving my place. I guess I'll meet you there?

Taeyong: Meet ya :)

[23:22PM, 31st October, 2020 continued. ]

Hailing a cab to the address Yuta had sent you with his friends, Taeyong's number saved on your phone in case the later won't pick up, you left your place. Still feeling a little eerie from how Yuta just decided to leave you behind when he could've just offered to go together, which is pure Yuta style. He probably wasn't in the best of moods but he could've at least texted you letting you know of his departure from the apartment building.

The journey to the given address didn't take that long surprisingly. A little towards the outskirts of the town in a much aloof part but nonetheless, doable. It's not like you'd be alone there any ways. Paying for your fare, you took your purse, brushed your fingers through your hair to tame it a little from the ride, and turned towards the building, jumping slightly at the bright haired guy sitting by the front porch. Adorning the simplest of fit, a black knee slit jeans, with a graphic tee and a black leather jacket with a chain or two. He, in no doubts, was ethereal. His pale skin stood out the most in the street light if you could call it that and his lips seemed a little drained of blood, eyes hollow yet captivating when he looked up from the dirt below him to you who still stood yards away. Smiling, he got up, making his way towards after brushing off the invisible lint from his jeans, "Hey" he offered you his hands for you to shake upon reaching you. "Hey..? Taeyong, right?"

Wanting so badly to smirk, he only looked down with a silent snicker, looking up immediately to not look suspicious, "Yeah, Y/n..?" you nod in response, shuddering from the coldness of his skin, "Have you been out for too long? You're freezing," you exclaim, looking at him with a guilty expression and taking a mental note to hit Yuta for not arriving earlier. "Oh no, i just reached a minute or two prior to your arrival." you nod in understanding, withdrawing your hands from his hold, "By the way, Yuta called me a few minutes ago, telling me that he wouldn't make it and to just carry on" Taeyong said, looking at you with his eyebrows raised at your confused, innocent expression, his humane form threatening to change into his original form. "What? Why? It's like,-" you look down at your wrist watch, "11:50! And he's bailing out now?", smiling at you in fake sympathy, he replied, "he said he had other things to take care of," "But you said he'd left the place and was on his way here?" you ask, hands on either sides of your hip, "Last minute plan changes" Taeyong shrugs, "Anyways, let's get inside?"

He pointed towards the front door with both his hands, gesturing you to go forward first. And so you do. You offer him a smile before turning your back towards him and making your way towards the old house, the door seemingly open. Climbing up the stairs with caution, humming at the sound of dried leaves crunching up below your feet with each footstep. Taeyong stood behind where you two had introduced yourselves for a few minutes, a few more minutes. "Taeyong? Are you not coming?" you turn around slightly, looking over your shoulder at lad standing still, "Yeah, I'm coming" he replied soullessly, still standing his group until he saw you open the door ajar and then took his first step forward. Not bothering to go too quick.

The insides were simple, very very simple yet magnificent. The flooring seemed to be that of wooden finishing that creaked with each step you took, implying that of how old the infrastructure must be. You look around in awe, clutching at the sling bag that you carried along. You go corner to corner, not bothering to look behind to see if the friendly stranger was hot on your trail, instead seemingly being captivated by the olden time-ish wallpapers and paintings and antique pieces that the wall adorned. Taeyong on the other hand was just growing restless, 4 more minutes until he could play his next victim, he was growing frantic. He did follow you inside, instead opting to walk the opposite direction as you, towards where he'd hidden the paper with your crimson blood and name written on it, contemplating whether to just tear it and carry on proving his existence to the female in the room. 3 more minutes, he bit into his lips, "Taeyong? Look, i found something!" He heard you scream.

Puffing out a breath of frustration, Taeyong replied "Coming!" and he walked out of the room, hands in his pocket towards where you stood by the bottom of the stairs, looking at the lighter in your hand that seemed relatively unused. "I found lighter down here" you look at him with a tiny pout evident on your lips, looking back and forth between the candle and the guy, puzzled. "It must be some thugs who came here to smoke or something" He shrugged it off, taking the lighter out of your hand. It must be you over analyzing things but without a single light turned on in the villa with only your flashlight acting as a source of light, but Taeyong looked even more lifeless than before. Eyes dark ebony and dangerous, somehow intimidating, lips adorning a bright shade of red in contrast to how you saw it the first time, and his aura had seemingly darkened. 2 more minutes. You shake your head and walk up the stairs and towards a room which has it's door wide open. Choosing to lay out your things there, you stretch out a few stiff limbs, "So, me and the boys were planning on doing the midnight game, you know. One of those stupid creepy pastas? I can't believe all of them bailed out on me last minute," you speak particularly to no one in the room, assuming that Taeyong was listening to you, whose ears only perked up at the words midnight and stupid. Midnight. 00:00Am. The devil smirked to himself. Midnight, at last.

"I mean, Yangyang, Jaemin and Haechan came off as no shock to me- they're the other friend's by the way, but Yuta, it's weird for him to at least not let me know." You keep going, scrolling through your phone screen, only for it to load suddenly, No internet access. Sighing, you pull out offline downloads, "Did he tell you anything else? Like if he's feeling unwell or something?" you ask, letting the question float in the air, waiting for a reply. Getting known even after the passing of a few seconds, a minute too maybe, "Taeyong?" you stand up from the bed, well, the bed frame and make your way outside, "Tae?" you look left and right, searching for any moving soul when you feel your phone vibrate in your hands, and the sound of notification resonates through the eerie silence. You look down at the device in your hand, one new message from Yuta san and an immediate black out of the screen. Impossible.

You remembered full well charging your phone to a hundred percent before leaving your dorm. Hell, you even kept it on airplane mode your whole cab ride. Shrugging it off, you keep your phone beside your bag and then proceed to go out to look for your new friend? acquaintance? You didn't even know how to classify him as yet. "Tae, if you're trying to scare me, I'll give you heads up, it doesn't work on me." you chuckle, walking to the room beside the one you were previously lounging in. "It's past midnight and we both seem too uninterested to try out whatever we were supposed to anyways, how about we just head out?" you start, looking down at your wrist watch which displayed 00:09 on the screen in neon green. "I mean, it was stupid enough that my friends and i even decided to try it out knowing it's some made up shit to scare some seven olds, probably" you continue, feeling as though you're talking to the walls at the lack of response. "Taeyong, come on. I'm growing bored."

"Tae-" "You know, the way you logicised made it seem like you're smart enough. It was impressive," you hear his voice, a little too hoarse and plain for your liking, he continued before you could muster up a reply, "But seems like you aren't all that smart after all, seeing how you believed a total stranger and are even ready to spend time with him." you look around the place, only hearing his voice but his figure to be nowhere near you, "Taeyong, what are you talking about?" you head out of the room you currently stood in, jogging to catch his voice.

"It was a little angering you know? The way you spoke about me and my followers, it was disrespectful. And I could've taken you then and there, but what to do. You seemed too cute to take your soul without a small game? Is that what you humans call it?" You feel breathing fanning the nape of your neck and a cold air following it right after, making you turn back, "Your friend got his share of play" you whip your head forward, finally seeing the male in front of you, standing by the door frame of a connective hallway, you swore you felt his presence behind you though. His infamous smirk still adorning his features. Figure a little more towering and intimidating. If you thought he couldn't have seemed more lifeless a few minutes ago, then his appearance now only seemed to prove you wrong. "So it's only fair if you got your part of the play too, right?"

"Taeyong, you're only making your existence weird for me, let's go if you're done." He only tilted his head in amusement, "Oh it's only about to get weirder, darling" You turn back to face a blood red shot eyed male, well, Taeyong, eliciting a gasp from you, you look over your shoulder to see the place where Taeyong stood a blink of eye ago. "How..did-" His chest visibly vibrated from the hearty laugh he let out, "How did I do that?," you step back as his voice dropped even lower, only for you to bump your back into something rigid, something cold, making you let out a yelp as Taeyong seemed to stand still in front of you, "I can do a whole lot of things," you feared turning back, the insides of your stomach hurdling around as whatever was behind you reached their arms up and held you still in a vice grip. "Y/n!" you hear a voice scream from downstairs, "Y/n! Come out! We need to get out of here!" you recognize the voice as that of your friends, Yuta's.

You squirm hard to loosen the person's grip on your shoulder. Once succeeding, you bolt down the stairs, skipping a few steps, tripping now and then but nevertheless making it down without landing face first as you hear Taeyong's laugh thunder throughout the place. You take a turn to reach the front door, where Yuta stood in all his glory. You immediately run into his embrace, ignoring how his body seemed just as cold as the one you felt from whatever Taeyong was, "Y-yuta, he's sick, let's go, we need to go!" you try pulling Yuta's body a little closer to the exit, only for him to stand his ground, wrapping his hands around you even tighter as he caressed your hair, "Oh, Y/n.." your body goes stiff as your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that sounded nothing like your best friend, "Yuta..?"

You try pulling your head away from the nape of his neck to look at him, "No darling, it's 'stupid made up shit''," his body vibrated once again from the laughing against yours, as you feel yourself growing scared each passing second. You try mustering up all your strength to bring it to his sides and push him away when you feel a plush yet cold muscle press against your neck, only for it to go futile. "Still made up for you?" you feel a sharp pang of pain flow through your nerves, result of him biting the skin in a manner far too away from soft, "Taeyon-g- lord--midnight man, whatever you are.. I'm --sorry" you say in a hushed voice, scared that if you voiced out a little louder, he'd pounce at you. You feel him nibble at the soft skin, making you whimper, "Oh no, darling, do not apologize. Your doings really intoxicated me. Kept me entertained for a while."

"But now, it's angering me to know a feeble creature as you kept poking fun at my people. At me. And I want no more than to turn you into something belonging to me. Who'd worship me the way 'my people' do." He whispered against the area, lifting his head up and leaning down, making sure not to let go of his grip on you, "oh no, pretty girls aren't supposed to cry. Tsk tsk, what is this, Y/n" His eyes bore holes onto the crown of your head. "Look at me." he acted on making you look at him faster than you could, "Could you beg for forgiveness? Give me a piece of yourself?" he inched closer to your face, a small snarl escaping his throat at your scared and trembling figure, "Or you could just be my queen and come below with me, and you'd not have to cut down your lifespan"

"Are you turned on by all of this, Y/n? Or is it out of fear?" you let out a shaky breath as the tip of his nose touched yours, "Because i can smell you from here and oh," he let out what sounded like an animalistic growl, "Is it delicious.". "Taeyong, please let me go.. I'm sorry. I really am, just please don't hurt me,-" you let out a whine of pain when you feel his other hand knot his fingers in your locks and pull it back with much aggression, immediately planting his lips onto your trembling once, bearing his fang like teeth into plush flesh to draw out blood, earning a loud high pitched scream from your end as you try your best to push him away, futile once again. His hands tighten their grip at the waist while his other hand pulled your head further back, latching onto the firm skin of your neck, treating it with the same aggression, puncturing through the skin with his teeth as your hands go limp beside your body, nevertheless, letting out a whimper from the harsh treatment, which, in all your defense couldn't be help since you still are a human with all emotion any human would feel, that including lust. You feel his cold lips curve into a smirk against where blood flowed out, lapping it up with his tongue as you feel your vision blacken the more as time went by.

"Oh darling you're no different than me.."

4th November, 19:48Pm, 2020.

"She's awake!!" you blink multiple times to get accustomed to the blaring lights in the room, a comfortable white filling your eyesight. You move your head towards the side to find all your friends sprawled out on each side. A drip connected to your hands making you squint in confusion, "Can you hear us, Y/n?" you feel your shoulders being shaken as jolt, "Hey? Yeah i can hear you, why won't i be able to?" you ask, confusion still laced in your voice, "Because you hadn't responded to us the last time we called you. And because you've been laying dead the past few days" Jaemin spoke up first, earning a smack from his elder brother

"Why didn't you stop when we screamed your name the other day, Y/n? You literally weren't breathing the day we found you" Yangyang inquired and stated, "And why did you leave us all on seen??" Haechan added, "Most of all, where were you even??" Yuta spoke. You hiss at all the questions being thrown at you as you try sitting up by the inclined hospital bed, "Screamed? Didn't respond? I left you on seen? That's highly impossible and where was i??" you stare blankly at the plain wall in front of you, trying to remember any such episode. The more you strained your head, the more clueless you grew. Your throat starts to grow dry so you turn your neck to check if there are any water bottles nearby, only for a sharp pain to flow through your nerves at a particular spot in your throat. You yelp at the sudden pain, "I'll get the doctor," Haechan rushed outside, when you reached out to touch your neck, feeling it with the tips of your finger, feeling in the swollen skin, the dried up blood when it all hit you. Your eyes grow wide as you start shaking, for it to be first noticed by Yuta, "Yuta, that house! The game, it's all real! I saw hi-him, his name! I swear he's real!" growing concerned at your sudden frenzy behavior, Yuta kneeled down beside your bed, holding your non-injected hand giving it a comforting behavior.

"Calm down, angel. Tell me point by point," he encouraged you to take in a long breath, as Haechan rushed in along with the doctor whose face was half covered with a doctor's mask, "Doctor, he-he's probably out for me, you need to get me far away from here! Please" you beg with your eyes stinging with all the tears, "No one's going to get you from here, Ms. Y/n, you're safe here" You pause your frantic actions for a while. That voice sounded a little too familiar for your liking, making you think you're over analyzing everything again. The doctor gestured to your friends to leave you up to him to have a doctor to patient talk. All of your friends nodded in understanding, giving you one last reassuring smile before collectively leaving the room.

The doctor, once after making sure that everyone left, removed his mask to reveal the oh so familiar smirk and the hair protector, rustling the same, familiar bright red hair with the same familiar pale fingers of his. Your eyes widen, mouth falls wide ajar

"Oh wait, there's one last warning, Do not assume that the Midnight Man has left your home for good at the conclusion of the game. I'm for real done now" You laugh at your friend who snatched the phone away from you,

"Pleasure to meet you again, darling"

244 notes · View notes

iceslushii · 3 years

Note

So, I'm writing this to document what I can only assume is my sudden descent into insanity. I can't possibly be THAT bad a navigator, and yet as I write this I've been trapped in Ikea for 2 days. I haven't seen another person in the entire time I've been here. I thought it was a prank at first. Turn the place into a maze, get all the people out and see how long it takes me to get lost, then everyone has a good old laugh. Realised that wasn't the case when I tried to backtrack. Everything had changed, so I ended up lost. Instead of the exit, it was just row after row of bookcases.

So, I'm trapped in Ikea. Sounds like the setup for a bad joke. The lights went out at 10pm. Nearly gave me a fucking heart attack, that loud electrical THUNK sound and then pitch blackness. Place is full of beds though and my phone has a torch on it - but no damn signal - so I found a bed and went to sleep. Spent most of the next day trying to find my way out with no luck. Did find a restaurant serving those meatballs though, so at least I won't starve. That's probably the punchline to that joke. Anyway they were still warm and fresh, but I haven't seen anyone around who could have cooked them. Made my way back to the beds before the lights cut out again since it's too dark to search with them off.

It's 9.10am now, the lights came back on a little while ago. I'm sure I've searched the entire area around where I came in now and the exit obviously isn't here, so I'm going to pick a direction and hope for the best.

Day 3 of my magical Ikea mystery adventure. If I wasn't sure that there was something seriously weird about this place before, I am now. Walked for 3 hours in a more or less straight line (insert Ikea joke here) before I came across a ladder next to one of those huge stock shelves they have here. Climbed up to get my bearings, and it looks like this place just stretches on forever. Like that scene from the Lion King, except instead of trees and grass it was all shelves and tables and crap. I did see a person moving not too far away though, so I headed over.

Thought it was a staff member at first - it was wearing the uniform. And hell maybe it was, maybe freakish 7ft tall monsters with long arms, short legs and no faces are just the kinds of thing they want working at Super Ikea. Damn thing completely ignored me though, and with no eyes or ears I can't even be sure it knew I was there. Thought about shoving it or something to get its attention, but its hands were big enough to crush a water melon so I decided against it. It just kept moving along and eventually I lost sight of it so I decided to carry on the way I was going.

Anyway, no comfy bed for me tonight. Looks like I've entered the Improbably Hard and Pointy Table section of the store. Guess I'll have to make do with some bunched up tablecloths. Phone battery died during the day too. Didn't work anyway, but I feel like I've just lost some vital lifeline.

You ever see one of those cartoons where they're going through doors in a hallway and they just pop out of another door in the same hallway? That's how I feel right now. I've seen nothing but the same identical bookshelf for 2 days now. Just row after row after row of them. I mean, come on. I love books as much as the next guy, but this is excessive. I'm obviously still moving forwards though, I can see the signs hanging overhead passing by. Too bad none of them say "Exit".

Not sure who I was addressing that question to. Lets just say it was practice for the autobiography I'm going to write when I get out of here. I'll call it "My perfectly normal trip to a regular old Ikea".

If I ever get out o

Finally found some other people! Yeah, turns out I'm not the only poor bastard trapped in here. Lucky for me, I guess. My 6th night here, 2 of those staff things came at me in the dark. Different from the first one I saw, but still messed up. Heard them coming, they were saying that the store was closed and I had to leave the building, all nice and polite like. I'm not sure which part of that was weirder, that they don't have mouths or that they were apparently trying to kill me while they were saying it. Came at me like rabid dogs.

So, I legged it. Sprinting through ikea in the dark like a fucking madman. I saw it when I cleared another stand of those giant stock shelves, all lit up with torches and floodlights. They've built a whole town in here! Got a massive wall built out of shelves and beds and tables and whatever else. I swear to god it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Anyway I guess they saw me coming (or maybe they heard my girlish manly bellows of fear), because they had a gate open and 2 people were there waving me in. Heard the staff things slam into the gate behind me after it closed, still politely informing us all that the store was now closed. They wandered off eventually though.

They call the town Exchange, because that's whats on the sign hanging from the ceiling directly above it. Exchange and Returns. All lit up against the night using lights they've found and plugged into the power lines. And there are beds and food and people. Over 50 wonderful people with regular sized limbs and a full set of facial features. It's now my 7th night here, and the first one not spent in darkness. A full week living in Ikea. There's probably a TV show in that somewhere.

Now that I'm around other people, I'm starting to feel more normal. Maybe normal isn't the word. But after a week with only the sound of my own footsteps for company, I was becoming increasingly sure that I'd just gone nuts. That I was tied up in some padded room somewhere, banging my head against the wall. But no, I feel quite sane now, thank you very much!

Apparently there are other towns out there. Some with more people, some with less. I found that fairly mind-boggling - how can that many people go missing with no one noticing. Surely someone would have noticed that everyone who goes to ikea seems to fucking vanish. Or maybe it's not everyone. Maybe we're just the lucky ones.

The people here just call those staff monster things the Staff. Apparently they are fine during the day, minding their own business walking the aisles. As soon as those lights go out though, they go fucking bonkers. So during the day people go out to find food, water and whatever else they need. Apparently there are restaurants and shops around that randomly get restocked. No one knows how. Maybe the staff do it. Apparently they aren't very good at their jobs though because the restocking sometimes takes a while, which means the food needs to be rationed. Maybe if they weren't so busy chasing people around in the dark they'd get more done.

Anyway when night comes the staff go nuts and everyone holds up inside the walls. Apparently it's the same everywhere in this place, whatever this place is. The Ur-Ikea, from whence all other Ikeas sprang. Or maybe we're all still just in the regular ikea and this is all some fever dream brought on by mind-numbing boredom. Who knows.

Been here for 10 days now. Most of the people I asked said they stopped keeping track a long time ago and one guy, Chris, said he'd been in here for years.

Years.

[ILLEGIBLE SCRIBBLES]

Apparently there are rumours of people who do manage to get out. And of people who see the exit, only to have it vanish before their very eyes. I get the feeling not everyone believes that, but I do. Explains how we got stuck in here in the first place (sort of). And I mean, come on. Staff monsters, row after endless row of high quality Swedish furniture. I don't know why they would find a disappearing door so hard to believe in.

Anyway, I went out scavenging for food at a nearby shop with Sandra and Jerry today. Once you learn the landmarks of this place it's not so hard to navigate. The overhead signs help a lot, but there are others; not too far in the distance a huge section of those giant stock shelves has collapsed against each other and way off in the east (we all assume it's east anyway - apparently Ikea doesn't sell compasses) is some kind of tower that looks like its made of wood, reaches all the way to the ceiling. Maybe they were trying to break out through the roof. Lights up at night so there must be people there, but its apparently a few days walk (which means it must be miles away) so no one here really knows for sure. Apparently I got incredibly lucky sleeping out in the open for a week without getting ripped to bits by the staff. That's me. Lucky lucky lucky.

We found some food in the shop. Guess the staff restocked it during the night, which was nice of them. There was a telephone on the wall, so I figured I'd try it out. There was a voice on the other end, but they were just talking nonsense. Random words strung together with no real meaning. You ever see a video of someone with aphasia? Kind of sounded like that. Didn't answer me when I spoke to them anyway. Sandra says all the phones in here are the same.

Oops, asking the journal questions again!

I was thinking last night. The ceiling on this place is pretty high and as far as anyone can tell it goes on forever. Shouldn't there be some kind of weather in here? I'm sure I read about some NASA building that was so big it had its own weather patterns, with clouds and stuff. This place is definitely bigger than that, but now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I've never felt so much as a temperature change in here.

I'll add it to the Grand List of Weird Bullshit.

The staff attacked the Exchange last night. Must have been 20 or 30 of them all just asking us to leave the store calm as you like, while trying to smash the walls down with their bare hands. Apparently this happens pretty regularly, so everyone is prepared for it. Knives from the restaurants, lawn mower blades made into hatchets, a fire axe. One guy, Wasim, even made a functional crossbow. Anyway the walls have holes in them, which I hadn't noticed before, specifically so we can stab out at the staff when they attack. Took a couple of them down myself. They don't seem to bleed, which is weird, but they go down as easy as a regular person once you start sticking holes in them.

We had to haul the bodies away in the morning. Apparently the dead ones will attract more during the night, so we had to get them away from Exchange. We have a couple of those trolley things they use to move big boxes around, so we loaded them up and took them over to Pickup. Apparently people just name everything in here after whatever sign is hanging overhead.

Pickup was grisly. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of dead staff all piled up. There was no smell, which was a blessing. Apparently in addition to not bleeding, these things don't rot either. My curiosity got the better of me while we were unloading them, so I took a look at one of the more cut-up ones. They're just skin, or something that looks like skin, all the way through. No muscle, no bone, no organs. Are they even really alive in the first place? They certainly seem like they have bones when they are moving around, pounding on the walls. And I'm sure I felt more resistance than just skin when the knife went in during the night. Maybe something happens to them when they die. Just one more thing on the ever-increasing list of Weird Shit that goes on in here, I guess.

Something occurred to me, after the staff attack the other night. Every time you see a situation like this on TV or in a film, like its the end of the world or everyone is trapped on an island or whatever, once groups like ours start to form people always seem to turn on each other. Fighting for food or dominance or whatever else. That hasn't happened here. Apparently people from other towns come by from time to time, just to check in or occasionally to trade if they are short on something. But everything is always cordial. Friendly, even. Maybe its the threat of the staff, or perhaps the constant restocking of supplies in the shops means there's nothing much to fight over.

Maybe people are just better than they are generally given credit for. That's a nice thought. I think I'll go with that one.

A dozen people showed up at the gates this afternoon from a town called Trolleys. Apparently the staff broke through the walls and tore the town apart during the night. These 12 are the only survivors out of over a hundred. We let them in, obviously. One more point in the human decency column. Later, I asked if anyone knew how many of these towns there were out there. Between us and the new folks, we managed to come up with over 20 names. 20 towns filled with people, and who knows how many beyond that.

The motto for this place should be "How Is That Even Possible". Surely someone, somewhere must be looking for the thousands of people that must be in here.

I've been here for a little over 2 months now. Not that much changes, as it turns out. A couple of new people showed up, same story as the rest of us. Nice little trip to Ikea and suddenly they're trapped in Billy Bookcase's House of Faceless Weirdos. The staff attack the Exchange once or twice a week. We kill them and haul their bodies off, sometimes they hurt some of us first. They killed a guy called Jared a couple of weeks back. It was awful, frankly. Turns out regular humans still bleed in here, even if the staff don't. We tried our best, but none of us are doctors.

Jared was a good guy. He deserved better. We all do.

It occurred to me a couple of days after that, none of us were really looking for a way out of here. I don't even know where we'd start.

One of those quad copter things with a camera attached buzzed passed Exchange today. I thought it meant that someone was finally looking for us, that help was on the way. Apparently it's not the first time this has happened, though. Same thing happened a few months ago, and everyone is still here.

No idea if it saw us, it didn't stop if it did. Just kept flying until we could no longer see it.

Note: Based on recovery time of the journal, this entry appears to line up approximately with our first successful test piloting a drone inside SCP-3008-1. Analysis of footage shows a walled settlement under a sign labelled "Exchange and Returns". Attempts to relocate the settlement failed. Origin of previously sighted drones is unknown.

I started talking to people about the stuff they miss from home during dinner today. Probably not the best idea I've ever had, everyone seemed pretty down after. A bunch of people here have families. Husbands and wives, kids. Dogs. Franklin apparently has a pet llama, though I'm not sure I buy that.

But apparently some of the people here have some seriously odd gaps in their knowledge. 3 of them had never heard of the International Space Station, 2 of them seemed to think █████ ███████ was the Prime Minister, and one of them had apparently never heard of the Statue of Liberty. I believe them, too. They seemed just as confused as the rest of us.

The more I thought about it though, the more it started to explain a few things. What if the reason no one is looking for all us missing people is because we haven't all come from the same place. This is going to sound weird (maybe that should be the motto for this place) but what if all the people here have come from different dimensions? Realities? Whatever you call it. I've seen enough TV shows to know the drill. Sarah comes from a place where there is no Statue of Liberty. They didn't launch a space station where Wasim is from. If everyone here came from different places, even from ones that seem identical, there'd be no huge missing persons panic. No mass search. We'd just be a blip, a single missing person in a world of non-stop news.

Well. That was a fun train of thought.

Just realised that yesterday was the six month anniversary of my arrival here. I wonder if Ikea sells party hats. The routine around here has remained more or less the same. More new folk show up, one every couple of weeks or so. Food supplies go up and down, but we've never actually had a major shortage. Occasionally we get a visitor from one of the nearby towns, usually Checkouts or Aisle 630. We check in with each other from time to time, occasionally trade supplies if someone gets particularly low on something. It's comforting, in a way. A reminder that we aren't alone in here, some small glimmer of civilisation. Sometimes they bring medical supplies. Apparently there's a pharmacy a few towns down from Checkouts that gets restocked every now and then, so they share out what they can. I've never heard of an Ikea with a pharmacy before but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if someone stumbled on an Ikea Organ Harvesting Lab. Would certainly explain the staff.

Speaking of our faceless jailers, their attacks have been getting worse lately. 3 or 4 times a week now, with twice as many staff as there used to be. No idea where they all come from, or why the attacks have increased. We tried following one of them during the day a few weeks ago, me and Sarah. Wanted to see if they lead back to a staff room or something. Didn't seem to go anywhere though, just randomly walked through the aisles. We had to turn back before we found anything.

We've been reinforcing the walls, trying to arm ourselves better. Certainly no lack of materials to use. Wasim has been making more crossbows, but it's pretty slow going.

Too bad Ikea doesn't sell guns.

Note: No new personnel have entered SCP-3008 at Site-██ in the time span indicated in this entry.

The attacks are getting bad now. Almost every night, and with so many staff that the bodies almost pile high enough for others to climb the walls. I think we're in real trouble here.

Exchange is

I think Exchange is done. We got hit pretty bad last night. Not many casualties, but the wall is wrecked. We finally figured out why the attacks had been escalating, too. A box of supplies had a chunk of one of the staff in there. No idea how it happened but apparently a piece of one will draw them as well as a full body. Too late now in any case, there's too many bodies for us to haul away and still have time to fix the wall before night. Candace has called a meeting. I suspect there will be talk of abandoning Exchange, maybe try and get shelter at Checkouts or something.

It's already getting late though. I don't think we'll have time to make it. Maybe some of us will. I was fine for that first week out in the dark, after all. But then, how often can I keep getting lucky.

I'm only writing this for a sense of closure, I guess. For me, or for anyone who finds this. If this is the final entry here, I hope whoever is reading this is doing so from outside of this place.

My biggest fear? If I do die tonight, I'll just wake up here again in the morning.

Note: This is the last entry. It is assumed that while attempting to reach the "Checkouts" settlement he was separated from the rest of his group by a pursuing SCP-3008-2 instance and happened upon the exit.

We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I A full commitment's what I'm thinking of You wouldn't get this from any other guy I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you We've known each other for so long Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it Inside we both know what's been going on We know the game and we're gonna play it And if you ask me how I'm feeling Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give, never gonna give (Give you up) We've known each other for so long Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it Inside we both know what's been going on We know the game and we're gonna play it I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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The River of the Giant Alligator

A bunch of Italians pretending they’re not Italian in a movie about a guy who chose the wrong place to build a hotel… it’s like Avalanche by way of Devil Fish, with an alligator. And racism. You can’t have a 70’s Italian jungle movie without the racism, and this one layers it on real thick. I think The River of the Giant Alligator has its MST3K bases covered.

Rich Asshole Joshua has opened Paradise House, a resort in the middle of the ‘virgin jungle’. He proudly tells visitors that not only has he left the surrounding ecosystem undamaged, but he’s helping the local people by giving them jobs and improving their standard of living. Naturally it’s not as simple as that. Trouble begins when Sheena, the model they brought for their advertising photographs (just for a dash of Killer Fish), vanishes overnight. Photographer Daniel and hotel manager Ally go to the locals looking for her, and are told that the River God has awakened and intends to drive the white people away by assuming the form of a giant crocodile and eating them all. Considering how mind-bogglingly stupid the tourists in this movie are, that should take all of twenty minutes.

The locals, who call themselves the Kuma, have a name for their River God but it’s pronounced five different ways and I won’t guess how to spell it. Because of the deep breathing sounds that presage its first appearance, I shall call the creature Darth Gator.

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. The whole movie is dubbed and the voice actors are bad. The Darth Gator prop is completely immobile but they mostly keep it in the dark or in really tight shots so we don’t notice… it’s only the occasional ill-advised wide shot where it’s obviously fake enough to be funny. There’s a spiky fence that exists mostly so that people can get impaled on it and a cloying little kid for no reason whatsoever. The ‘wildlife’ is a stock footage smorgasbord that includes orangutans and hippos on the same river. The worst effect in the film is a terrible miniature shot of the hotel on fire, which would have looked just fine if the people involved hadn’t forgotten that flames don’t scale.

So all that sucks, but is fairly harmless. Now let’s talk about the racism.

We’ll start with the movie’s treatment of its two ‘love stories’, and I use the floating commas because neither of them quite qualifies. Daniel and Ally are the main ‘couple’ of the movie. The camera lingers on each of them to show that he thinks she’s beautiful and she thinks he’s rugged, and they spend the whole movie hanging out on balconies and boats together and discussing whether the resort is good or bad for the local people… but they never get so much as a kiss. This is kind of nice, actually, because there’s very little time to stop and make out when you’re being chased by a large carnivorous reptile. It does, however, make for a hell of a contrast between them and the other ‘couple’ we see.

This is the model, Sheena, and her Kuma boyfriend. I am unclear on where this movie is set (the closest we get to a clue is Ally referring to the area as ‘the Orient’, which could honestly mean anything) but it’s perfectly clear that the reason they hired a black woman for their publicity photos is to make the place look ‘exotic’. There’s a weird moment when Joshua attempts to flirt with Sheena by telling her, “it occurs to me that Eve herself may have been black”, which… yes, that is how human evolution worked, what about it? All that aside, at the end of the day, Sheena runs off for a romantic evening with one of the tribesmen. We never see her talk to this guy or have any clue what made her pick him over any of the others. They just go fuck on a beach and then get eaten by an alligator.

So… we have blonde, blue-eyed white people having a perfectly chaste, wait-for-marriage love affair in which they actually get to know each other… and black people who run off with a stranger and screw out in the open like animals. Holy shit. I want to say I hope this wasn’t something the film-makers actively thought about, but it might be worse if they didn’t. Naturally, this is also a version of the ‘people who have premarital sex must die’ trope from slasher movies, and the movie makes doubly sure we know this is Bad Behaviour by having Ally remark that the Kuma are forbidden from visiting ‘the Island of Love’ on the full moon.

The deaths of Sheena and Nameless Kuma Guy also begin a pattern that lasts almost the entire movie. Even though we’re told, repeatedly, that Darth Gator wants to drive the white people out of his jungle, for the vast majority of the running time it’s the brown people who are getting chomped. We’re told that twelve white missionaries came here years ago and Darth Gator ate all but one of them, who then became a crazy jungle man (not gonna lie, Father Jonathan was my favourite character and I wish we’d seen more of him). We see Sheena, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s brother get eaten alive. Furthermore, most of the white deaths in the movie are at the hands of the Kuma, who run in and kill the tourists with spears and fire arrows in the belief that they’re doing their god’s bidding, and much of this happens offscreen. Those hit by the arrows quickly fall into the water and vanish from sight. The only time the camera lingers on a white person dying is Joshua, who I guess they think deserved it. The impression one gets is that white death is a horror better implied than shown, while brown death is a spectacle. Again… holy shit.

The River of the Giant Alligator can’t seem to decide what we’re supposed to think about the Kuma people. Early in the film they’re portrayed as victims. These foreigners have invaded their land and built this giant hotel, and claimed to be helping them by giving them ‘work’. Ally notes that they’ll be able to live longer, healthier lives, but Daniel wonders if it’s worth it when they’ve basically become Joshua’s slaves. The movie leaves this question hanging there without exploring it any further. When Daniel and Ally come looking for information about the alligator attacks, the Kuma direct them to Father Jonathan, knowing they’re more likely to believe a white man, even one who’s obviously not quite all there. The movie really wants to be about the exploitation of indigenous peoples, treated as decorations and curiosities by white tourists.

The problem is, it wants to eat that cake, too. By the end of the story, the Kuma have devolved into stock savages. They attack the hotel and kill everybody, and kidnap Ally so they can tie her to a horizontal King Kong contraption as a sacrifice. The ending just makes it all the more confusing, as they turn up to discover that their god has been blown to bloody chunks after biting into a van full of explosives, and they cheer and they just leave. Is it really that easy to kill a god? Won’t a dead god demand vengeance anyway? Does this mean they actually like the white people after all, and were only angry because Darth Gator was eating them?

The ending also muddles the movie’s other point, about the nature of eco-tourism. One of the selling points of Paradise House is that it’s in the middle of virgin jungle. Joshua brags about how he’s left the surrounding ecosystem untouched – but then we cut straight to trees being cleared using dynamite, and later we see live piglets being thrown into the river to keep the crocodiles hanging around so people can gawk at them. You can’t build a hotel in the middle of a place and then call it ‘virgin jungle’. You’re the one who violated it!

The script is a little unclear on whether Darth Gator is a natural or supernatural threat. Ally and Daniel insist that it’s no mere alligator (I don’t think this movie knows the difference between crocodiles and alligators any better than I do) and Father Jonathan seems to believe it’s the Devil Himself, but it certainly dies like a flesh-and-blood creature. Whatever its nature, it’s clear enough that Darth Gator represents the jungle striking back at these intruders to drive them out. The Kuma literally say as much. So what are we to take from the fact that it dies at the end? Have we won the right to destroy the forest by killing its guardian? I don’t believe the people who make these movies think this stuff through.

I can tell that we’re supposed to hate the tourists, and we do, although not always for the reasons the movie wants us to. Minnow, the red-haired little girl who ‘only likes to play with boys’, tries so hard to be Adorable that you want to punt her across the room. Her mother leaves her to wander around the hotel alone, because Mummy’s got a smarmy mustached boyfriend to bang (even this relationship gets more attention than Sheena and Unnamed Kuma Guy, by the way… we are told that Mummy and Mustache have met before, and are here mostly to see each other rather than the jungle). Other notable annoyances include a lady who seems perfectly sane until she starts talking about the aliens, and a guy who loves to complain about Youth These Days and will seize any opportunity to do so.

I kinda wanna gripe about these obnoxious characters, but I don’t feel like I can. You may recall that I spent a month stuck on a cruise ship earlier this year. I can tell you definitively that these people do exist, and I hate them even more in real life.

Man, this could have been a fun monster movie. I’ve seen movies about man-eating crocodiles (or alligators… does it honestly matter that much?) that I really enjoyed. Primeval wasn’t even that bad – it was about how humans are more monstrous than anything nature can produce. Lake Placid had that immortal bit where Betty White says if I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it. The River of the Great Alligator is just boring bullshit and things that seem kinda racist on the surface but then you think about them a little longer and realize they’re incredibly racist. I went into this one hoping to like it, but it absolutely pissed on the last shreds of my optimism... like a lot of other things in 2020.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the river of the great alligator #the great alligator #fuck this movie #fuck it so much #70s

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sirene312 · 4 years

Text

i'm back at home

This have to be the first time that the reason I disappeared here was not because I lost my internet, I don't even know how to start the nightmare that these last two-three months have been. What happened to me it's something so horrendous that i need to get this out of my chest now that i have the chance so i don't have to think about this whole experience ever again. sorry in advance but this is going to be a long post.

Before you read this I want you to keep in mind that I live in a south american country falling apart with many problems (here's a translated thread (x) of the things happening on in my country. here’s the original with images (x) caution some images are distressing) where crazy things like this happen with impunity because literally nothing here works and that includes justice.

My dad passed away suddenly at the end of August, my brother and I went to his house that is on the other side of the city, and when we got there, apparently there were some “friends” living with him: a man, a woman and a child. At the time, since I was distracted by being utterly devastated and my mind was clouded with pain i didn't realize what this could mean, after all my dad had many many friends, but still i thought it was a little weird since we talked to my dad frequently on the phone and he never told us about these randos.

After the funeral, since we still needed to do more legal stuff and wanted to save to give him a proper grave/tombstone we decided to stay and live at my dad’s house (now ours by law) for a few weeks until we took care of everything. and this is where the nightmare starts.

We asked these "friends” of his when they would leave and go back to their place and they never gave us a clear answer, they were very evasive and never told us why they didn't want to go to their own home... and you know why? because they didn't have one. They were squatters. Here they are called “invaders” and you can read in these news articles (x) how they act (x), in our case these squatters were non violent but they did make our lives hell, because since we couldn't get them out we had to live with them or we would have lost our dad’s house and everything inside.

In this stupid country if the squatters got into your home in a non violent way, you can't just force them to get out. Yes, you read that right. That is why we didn't went to the police, we knew they weren't going to do anything, they only do something if you have money, have contacts in the police, or a bunch of people make a fuss and attract media attention.

The only thing we could do legally was go to la Fiscalía (I don't know what's the equivalent in English the persecution I think?) and file a complaint and some other paperwork, all that legal process can take years and meanwhile, the squatters can live there as they please and you can’t get inside your home again or get your things out...God...as you can imagine that was definitely not an option.

After much thought we decided to sacrifice some of the money we had and got a lawyer for advice in what to do, and she said that while she searched for another legal way to get them out asap, we had to live in the house and don't ever leave it unoccupied, always my brother or I had to be there, because otherwise the squatters could change the locks and then there would not be anything we could do to get back in. I didn't want to do that but we had no other choice. Nothing could have prepared us to the things we would have to endure there.

Here are some the horrible things they did while we were living there:

They rearranged everything inside the house. We just lost our dad and I couldn't even keep the memory of how his house was decorated and how his things looked the way he had them. they moved around every little thing. it stills hurts, they had not right.

They STOLE many things of my dad. They were only old things with very little value, but to me, their sentimental value was incalculable. like for example imagine that favorite chipped coffee mug your mom loves, or your grandpa reading glasses, or that comfy cardigan your granny likes to use when knitting, now imagine that a random stranger took them without permission and is using them as they please, worse because your loved one is no longer here and that is the only thing you had left of them. Now you have an idea of how sad and indignant i felt.

They never wore masks or didn't even wash their hands, they didn't care they were putting us all at risk with their lack of hygienic measures, in fact mocked us because we were super clean and wore masks when they were near us.

The woman pretended to have a serious medical condition and would threaten to report us for attempted murder if we spoke to her in any way that she wouldn't like because getting “upset” triggered her “condition”. Which is ironic since I’m the one with a heart condition and she could have jeopardize my health with all the stress she and her husband were subjecting me everyday.

They turned all the neighbors against us! that evil woman would pretend to have “fits” of “her disease” right on the street were the neighbors would witness it to gain sympathy and later tell them that we caused her that, they believed her and everyone on our street hated us, and even all of them signed a bullshit letter to have us evicted from our own house and to let them keep the house. Good thing that wasn't legal and the government office ignored that ridiculous letter.

They used everything inside the house without permission, like our refrigerator, the kitchen appliances, the washing machine, the stereo, our water and food, our frigging clean bed sheets, it was like that was their home and WE were the intruders. that made me so so mad.

They psychologically tormented us. They took advantage of our emotionally fragile state to do and say things to get us so upset so we would leave the house for good. And they almost got it, my mental health was a mess, grieving and dealing with this was too much but our mom convinced us to stay, she said our dad wouldn't have wanted us to lose our house to these damn thieves.

and speaking of theft...they even tried to steal OUR DOG. The kid one day said “this is now my dog! our new dog, my mom said so!” and i was like wHAT NO! but i just said something like “but we love him we’ll be very sad and lonely if he's not by our side” bc i didn't want to upset the kid. She was very sweet and innocent, she and I actually got along well and played sometimes (she gave me drawings that i still have and i gave her some paper crafts and my childhood toys) it was not her fault that her parents were evil. That horrible man wasn't even her father, he treated her bad, god I hated how he yelled at her and made her cry she was just a little child, i wish i could have had the power to do something.

At this point you must be thinking, why the hell were you acting like a doormat?? why did you allowed them to treat you like this!! why didn't you do something!? oh believe me I was very vocal in my discontent and didn't give them an inch, but the thing is there was little we could do, if we tried to talk to them they ignored us at best, police were not going to help (we at one point did end up going to the police station just to get told what we already knew: that they couldn't do anything), and even when one day i snapped and i told them to leave us alone and not touch our things, they just brushed me off. They knew if things escalated and violence of any kind were used against them we could be in legal trouble (same applied to them, that's why they never physically attacked us). We were alone in this battle, didn't have the support of anyone. What else we could do? our hands were tied.

We had to endure all this shit non stopping every day we were there. I was saving all my limited phone data for important things like calls and messages to my mom and my lawyer, so my only source of entertainment was the cable TV, I can't believe that what kept me sane was watching old reruns of Cupcake Wars and home improvement shows.

But the more time passed the more this situation was unbearable and we were not doing well, this distressed my mom so much that she decided to pack a small suitcase and go stay there with us, we didn't want her to do that because she is an elderly woman and her health could be at risk but she didn't care and just show up one evening and let me tell you, after months of not seeing her when she walked through that door i was so happy and relieved and emotional that i started crying two seconds flat and we just hug her for a long time. Damn these people for causing us to be apart when we needed our mom the most.

Now with our mom there I think they felt threatened and so those pathetic fools went so far as to make a false document where it said that they were “our tenants” so they could be protected by law and could stay there “legally” for at least a year or two. That stupid stunt would be their downfall.

We were cited to go to a govt office that deals with rent and housing problems where they were going to present that bogus document, the office needed for all parts to be present there, so my bro, our lawyer and I got there and later the squatters and their kid since they were using the scarce public transport. My mom stayed back at the house alone. I don't know if it was luck or divine intervention (or karma in their case) that the woman in charge couldn't make it and the audience got postponed for the following month, our lawyer was fuming she didn't want those horrible people to spend another whole month at our house, she called my mom and told her to lock all doors and don't let anyone in, we quickly got into the lawyer’s car and got to the house first before the squatters and we put a huge padlock on the door! That way they wouldn't be able to get in, they only had keys (that were originally our spare keys that they stole) to the front door.

I can't even begin to describe how nerve wracking was all this, but for the first time i felt hopeful because finally things were in our favor, now if those squatters tried to get inside of our private property by force they could get in serious trouble. How the turntables bitch!

And that's how we could GET THEM OUT AT LAST.

When they realized they couldn't do anything more than pace furiously on the sidewalk they left (the woman tried having one of her “fits” to get people’s attention but since it started to rain she quickly gave up ha!). We thought they were going to stay in any of the neighbor's houses but they left to who knows where. A few days later we changed the locks and we got our uncle to go stay and live in the house while we finish sorting the legal papers. The only thing i felt sorry was for the kid but we later learned that the squatters found another house to take over the very same day we locked them out, so i know at least that poor little girl is not sleeping on the streets. I feel sad every time i think of her, this is not how a child should be living bc of her deplorable parents. i wish i could have had the chance to say goodbye to her in better terms.

I still can't believe all this happened to us when all we wanted was to get through grieving our dad and give him a better grave with some flowers. Hopefully we can finally finish saving and get that done now that we don't have to stress 24/7 over people wanting to make our lives hell.

I would have liked for this insanely horrible experience to end with them receiving punishment for what the did to us, but by this country standards when dealing with this kind of situation we were very lucky, this was the best outcome many people has told us, and honestly I'm just happy that it's over and I'm back at my home with my family and I’m sleeping on my own bed again.

Last but not least I want to thank everyone that took the time during these months to send me their lovely messages and their condolences, and were very supportive and understanding of my situation, although now is when I'm able to read them, they have made me very happy thank you so much for all your kindness.

and now to end on a high note here's Tomy our sweet dog, that belong to us and we get to keep because he’s ours :)

#personal #since i got here all i have been doing is sleep i feel so tired i guess that's how my body is dealing with the aftermath of all this

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eak8753 · 4 years

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May 14: Soulbonding/soulmates

It was said that humans originally had two heads, four arms, and four legs. Zeus being terrified of them used a lighting bolt and split them in half. Now people were cursed with the task of finding their other half; their “soulmate” as some put it. Damian had thought this to be utter bullshit, for two reasons.

From a logical standpoint it didn’t make much sense. Wouldn’t your “other half” be the same sex as you? Yes he knew that people of the same sex got together - quite honestly Damian didn’t even know homophobia was a thing, he didn’t understand why people were so concerned about something that had nothing to with them. Even then, wouldn’t that mean you were falling in love with yourself?

He had lived in a world where love wasn’t a possibility. After leaving Nanda Parbat, and being forced to attend school, he realized that most people had children with someone they were in love with. His Father wasn’t in love with his Mother -which he completely understood- and was only conceived because Talia had slipped Bruce a roofie.

Damian found this whole theory to be bullshit and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s what hopeless romantics tell themselves. No, Damian Wayne refused to believe that there was someone like him. That walking on this earth, or any planet, was his other half. It was illogical and stupid to think otherwise.

Then he met Raven

Originally he had thought that he was genetically modified to not feel the emotion of love. But somewhere along the way he found this thought to be wrong. At first he hated the way it made him feel, not having control over himself and experiencing new emotions. He knew his Father and Grayson would be happy that he was finally feeling something other than anger and was getting the chance to dive into the depths that are emotions. But he was not a fan of this one.

With anger or hate he could control it easily, flawlessly. This one decided it wasn’t leaving without a fight. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of Raven and would sometimes have to force himself to look away. He knew she had caught him staring sometimes, luckily she never brought it up. He hated that it seemed like he had no control over his body, never getting the chance to just be himself around her anymore.

Somewhere in the midst of this war he grew to like the feeling. Sure it wasn’t fun seeing Raven get hurt or knowing that she was constantly fighting a battle within herself. But he learned that the fights and bruises came with the job and she could handle it. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach. It was this warm fuzzy feeling, one that he had grown accustomed to.

Raven could never feel his emotion unless she really wanted to depict them. He had a good grasp on them and his true feelings were always covered by a thick layer of hate and anger. So he didn’t fear that she would find out through her abilities. He made sure not to do anything unusual or out of the ordinary. He had a lot of self control, more than most people realized.

He assumed that this feeling would go away; and while he waited he relished in this new emotion, liking the warmth it brought, in a way different from anger. Although he liked the feeling he knew that it would dissipate, thinking of his infatuation with Raven just that, infatuation. Just some silly, meaningless crush. He was wrong.

What he expected to go away in a couple of weeks had only grown in months that followed. Slowly the balance that his feeling had been under started to shift. Anger and hatred were no longer his dominant emotion. This new and unnerving emotion was.

Sure he had welcomed it when he thought that it wasn’t a big deal, but this was a big deal. He knew Raven could feel the shift in his emotions, and that scared him more than anything. Anyone else, if it had been anyone else he wouldn’t have cared. He might have even told them, but not Raven. Not only could he lose her friendship -which he valued more than he cared to admit- he would lose her altogether. Lose her trust. Lose those rare but breathe taking smiles that she reserved for him and him alone. Lose their early morning chats and afternoon tea. Lose seeing the grateful way she handled herself in battle. He didn’t want to lose that, any of that.

He needed to make sure that she didn’t know; to get away from her, then she wouldn’t be able to sense it. So one day he packed for The Wayne Manor. He knew that if he left The Titans without a word his Father would be upset, but he didn’t have time to gain his approval. It was around midnight when he started to pack and knew that by the time the rest of The Titans awoke he would be on a plane to Gotham. it was a flawless plan; pack when everyone was asleep, slip out of the tower soundlessly, arrive in Gotham later that day. Everything was going accordingly, that was until a knock came on the door.

Tensing up for a bit, he moved his duffle bag under his bed before going to open the door. The sight that beheld him was not one he had seen in a while. a trembling, on the verge of a panic attack, Raven. Most heroes suffered from some type of mental illness. None of them could go through what they did and be sane.

For most it was insomnia. For Raven it was anxiety; social anxiety, separation anxiety, anxiety anxiety. He had figured this out when she had rushed out of early morning practice one day. After that he made sure to keep a close eye on her, making sure to be there in case she had another attack. And she hadn’t, not in a while at least

He knew he couldn’t leave her like this. The fuzzy feeling he felt towards the empath wouldn’t let him. So -almost as it was an instinct- he wrapped his arms around her and let her rest against his chest, shaking. He never knew what triggered them, and he never asked. He knew one day that she would tell him and until then he was happy to be there for her. He knew he was risking everything by doing this. He'll be off schedule, but that didn’t matter. None of it mattered when the girl who had captured his heart was breaking right before his eyes.

Half an hour later and she had finally calmed down a bit. They didn’t talk, just stood, embracing one another. Slowly she released herself from his hold on her. It took everything in him not to reach out to grab her, to feel her against him once more. Silently she walked over to his bed and sat down, head in hands. Her hair fell down around her, covering her face in a curtain of hair. She looked so tiny, like she was fragile and if he made the wrong move he could easily break her. Then she looked up at him, eyes slightly puffy and red. Sighing deeply she looked into his maskless eyes.

“What's wrong Damian?” she questioned, motioning for him to come sit down with her. He wanted to be close to her again. But he knew that he had to be cautious and not do or say something that he might regret. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he replied. She shrugged before laying down on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. “When you first came to The Titans I hated being around you” she said, still not looking at him. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. For the first couple of days she had avoided him.

“I hated being around you because you were always angry. No matter what you felt in that moment -sadness, excitement, happiness, relief- it was always overshadowed by your anger. Whenever I was around you it felt like I was being suffocated by hatred” although he couldn’t see her eyes, he knew that they were clouded over. Like she wasn’t really there with him. She wasn’t really in his room, laying on his bed; she was lost in her mind, thoughts and memories.

“Eventually I learned to bear with it, and after forming the bond I realized that it wasn’t misplaced anger. I wanted nothing more to cure you of it, release you of all of your pent up emotions” he knew what she was referring to. He had seen her do it once before. They were on a late night walk with Titus when they spotted a woman standing on the edge of a building, about to jump. They rushed over to her, trying to talk her down. Raven had reached her hand out for the lady to take, and after a few moments she did.

The woman had embraced the young teen, crying softly. Looking at Damian, Raven’s hands started to glow periwinkle blue. Quickly he realized that she was healing the older woman. He hadn’t seen any injuries, so he was curious to know what exactly the young sorcerer was healing. When the women pulled away she thanked the teens and left. After he had asked her what she did, Raven had told him that she had taken the suicidal feelings away. She said it was like she had allowed the emotions to be reborn.

“But I knew you” the young girl in front of him spoke. “You would never let me do it, so I dealt with the weight of your anger against my empathic shields. It was bearable and I found that I really enjoyed spending time with you. A part of me thought that I’d have to deal with it forever” she had no intentions of letting him slip by her, leaving her. She was going to fight for him to stay. She knew he was planning on leaving tonight, which had actually triggered the attack. Her Father’s nagging definitely didn’t help.

Moving her head to the side to look up at him, holding each other gaze she spoke. “I was wrong” his eyes went wide for a millisecond. She knew. The one thing he didn’t want, that he tried to keep conceal, and she knew. Of course she did, she always knew when it came to him.

Sitting up straight she continued. “I don’t know if you’re less angry, but that's not what I feel from you any more. Sure you still have a bunch of pent up anger but it is no longer your primary emotion. It's not the first thing I sense when I’m near you” she had pushed herself off of the bed. Bending down she took the duffle bag from underneath his bed, placing it on a nearby chair.

“You were going to leave” it wasn't a question but he answered anyway. “Yeah” he whispered, slowly she walked towards him. Stopping when there was only a few inches of space left and he couldn’t help but think about how if he leaned in a bit more…

“You weren’t going to tell me” again, not a question. “No” he said, looking into her impossible purple eyes. He knew that he shouldn’t -maybe it was the way her eyes pleaded with him not to leave- but for some reason he still had hope. Hope that they could continue the way they had, when all he felt was anger. She had known, for how long was still unclear, but she had known. She knew and didn’t treat him any differently, and if he didn’t say it, maybe life could go back to how it was. Alas, life was never that simple.

“Why?” she questioned, placing her hand on his cheek. He simply smiled sadly at her. “I didn’t want it to be you. To fall in love with my best friend, it’s the biggest cliche out there” he laughed humorlessly. “Anyone else. Had it been anyone else and I would have told them, but not you. Because I need you in every way; not just romantically. Platonically, physically, mentally. I need you as a friend and teammate, to have my back in battle and if I told…” he trailed off. Closing his eyes and sighing, he leaned in to her touch. Opening his eyes he could still see the question in them.

“Rejection is painful” he admitted, deciding to start again. “And I could handle it from anyone else. Anyone but you, I can’t handle being rejected by you” he said honestly. Lifting his hand up to hers, he wrapped his fingers over hers. He was about to move her hand off his cheek before she spoke up. “And why in Azar would you think I would reject you?” she asked him, a look of disbelief on her face. Before he could say anything more she closed what little space they had left between them, bringing her mouth to his.

Damian still thought the theory about Zeus splitting people in half was bullshit. But the idea that somebody was out there, that everyone had a soulmate wasn’t an unwelcoming one anymore.

#damirae week 2020 #fanfiction #damian x raven #damian #raven #teentitans #this was kinda long #day 14 #soulmates #demon birds

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thevisoryposts · 4 years

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Marvel’s Avengers got me concerned...but it’s over humanity. Not the game.

So we’re just exiting the 2nd Beta Weekend. This one was open to a lot more people, a lotta hands got to touch this thing, get to see whussup and finally feel what it’s about. You’d think after this, a good majority of people would start to level out, be less confused and cut the game some slack.

No. No, this is not what happened. In fact these are some of the most bullshit claims I’ve ever seen in my entire life. There’s so much shit, I can’t even keep it all together. One second people are claiming that characters don’t feel different from each other. To the next that the game feels scripted. That it’s too easy. That’s it’s too hard. That it’s ridiculous that they’re playing Hulk and they got defeated. And if they play Hulk they should never get defeated--w-WHAT?!

To mini-rant for a second, you know in 2005′s Hulk Ultimate Destruction game, Hulk could get taken out by something as humanly trivial as a bunch of shooting helicopters and missiles. You know that right?? And I’m not source referencing; I put a LOT of fucking hours into that damn game. It was (and really still is) the best Hulk video game there is. People goddamn love that game. And you’re complaining because this game can spawn a fucking Omac (Yes they’re called Adaptoids in-game, I’m aware) that immediately establishes a presence that tells you they could probably punch goddamn Superman in the face and make that shit do injury. And after he’s done an insane amount of damage, it’s downright BATSHIT that he made your Hulk crouch in the corner to take a time out. Yeah. Okay.

This illustrates my point beautifully though. There are too many people that if they aren’t saying completely dumb shit; (I’m still reeling at people that have played this game and think the characters all feel the same) then it’s something overly critical like the game is a looter shooter and that the missions are repetitive. Like some of these same people don’t play Destiny or Fortnite in where you do the same shit over and over again. “Wahhh, this game isn’t single player like Batman: Arkham or Spider-Man ps4″ ---- NOBODY EVER SAID THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE. Nobody promised this to you! These are all things that are biased from you worldview and therefore you feel should be the case. And you know what? That’s fine.

You’re within your rights to want something. But nobody -- absolutely goddamned nobody -- is entitled to give it to you. And a lot of you need to be fucking adults and realize that something is not ‘shit’ just because it’s doesn’t meet your ultimate vision.

Which also boggles me. This game is damned amazing. They’ve managed to pack so much fanservice into what they’re bragging is not even a quarter of the final product. You mean to tell me you’re going to overlook that you can fly around freely as Iron Man and give your teammates cover fire with an assortment of lasers and rockets while your friend as Hulk on the ground has picked up two enemies to make his bitches, and is repeatedly beating other bitches with his said bitches? Just because there’s no open world? Really??

I mean just to hammer home the point how dumb people have gotten with this complaining; there was one mother fucker that said this game shouldn’t be called Avengers because it basically had none of them. None of the core Avengers like Spider-Man and Vision. And Wolverine.

This kinda shit...this makes me lose faith in humanity. I know a lot of you are better than this. And you should be ashamed. These are some of the most entitled, spoiled, negative mindsets I have ever witnessed and it’s all over a beta. Now the game could come out and it could be lackluster. In which case; some of you would be within the right to be bitching so hard. But how dumb are y’all gonna look, if it does come out and it meets pretty damn high expectations? There have been some games that have had really really worse betas than this and come out pretty good at launch. You mean to tell me you guys can’t see a bigger picture? That things could turn out for the mind blowing? You all might want to start to. Because anyone could tell you there was a lot of work put into this game -- they actively don’t want it to be shit. (They want your money and time) So they’re going to keep improving; it only goes up from here. The beta is a great place to go up from. But you know what’s not? Fucking people that spout dumb shit and act like pansy little brats over good work. You guys want good games? You’re not going to keep getting them with that attitude. What sane people would be motivated to put in all the time, passion, blood sweat and tears when you have hundreds of rabid nonsensical people tearing it down???

The answer is not a lot.

Rant is over. I’ve been tired of hearing really stupid shit about this game. It’s all so unnecessary. I think there are a lot of people in this world that should be more grateful than they actually are. All this negativity as we progress further into life is not the answer. As a species we should learn not to be content with just any old thing, yeah. But we don’t also pick apart everything to goddamn death and demand absolute perfection as our eyes see it. Balance. We need to constantly work to strike it. As humans.

#ffs #Avengers #Marvel's Avengers #video games #hulk #ps4 #xbox #pc #marvel #iron man #captain america #black widow #kamala khan #thor

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rebelbyrdie · 4 years

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SwanQueen Ficlet: Black and White Pt 1

A ridiculous excuse to have Emma drool over Regina. Not edited very well because I wrote it in the car.

“What-” Emma stabbed at her eggs. “-the hell is this social thingy you are all excited about?” Emma stared across the table at her parents. They were at Granny’s and Snow was practically vibrating with excitement. When Ruby came back over, Emma was not going to let her give Snow any more coffee.

“Oh it was a glorious tradition! Everyone would gather and split into factions and there would be a tournament and the winner was honoroed with a ball!”

Emma blinked. “So instead of just a normal New Years Eve Party, you want a ye olde Super Bowl?” This had to be the dumbest thing she’d ever heard, and she lived in a town where fairytales were real.

“It was my father’s favorite event! We were always white, of course, and we always won!”

Well that sounded like a big ass-kissing-fest, not an actual competition.

“I’ve already got it all arranged. We don’t even need a theme. Regina’s already agreed to head up the Black Court!”

Emma dropped her fork. It clanged against her plate. Neal, two and squirming in his high chair like a crazed escape artist, threw his plastic baby fork in solidarity, then yelled out something that might have been a curse word that she definitely hadn’t said in front of him once. She liked the kidlet, he had moxey. He was also the only member of her family that was making any damn sense at the moment.

She looked at David. “Dad, you really think its a good idea to have Regina play the Evil Queen? We just got people to stop forming fu-freaking lynch mobs in town.”

David shrugged, completely useless. “She said it was fine. I think the town knows it is all an act.”

He did not seem so sure. “We never really had time for any of this, since there was a real ware between good and evil to fight at the time.” He rolled his eyes and smiled. “It sounds like fun. This town could use a party.”

That was code for Snow had already made up her mind and he knew better than to argue with her.

Her dad was the actual definition of whipped.

“You’ll love it, Emma. We’ll all wear white and dance. You’ll get to cheer for Killian in the tournament and give him your token. Then you’ll wear a beautiful white gown and dance with him-”

Wait a minute. Did Snow think? Worse, did Killian think? If Snow had set this all up for Killian to make some kind of grand proposal, then she was going to kick both of their asses.

She had dumped his skeevy, leather wearing, rum swilling ass two months ago. He, and Snow, had not left her along since. She was going to kill them.

Emma didn’t kill them. She was starting to consider it, though. Everyone seemed so excited, like it was the event of the century. Even Regina didn’t seem to mind that much. She was right there beside Snow, arranging and planning and acting like it was all fun and games.

Emma hated this Black and White bullshit more than she’d hated anything ever and she’d lived through the 90s.

Thanksgiving and Christmas flew by and before Emma could fall jnto a convenient portal to the next sane dimension, December 31st dawned bright and cold.

The high school football field had been converted into a tournament grounds. There would be bows and arrows, swords, races, jousting and a bunch of other dangerous shit that Emma hadn’t bothered to learn about.

Henry was excited. Snow was over the moon. Emma wanted to be anywhere else. It was cold. She was bitchy. This was stupid. She’d already stained her white shirt by breakfast.

They walked out onto the grass and someone, probably Dopey, was playing Queen’s We are the Champions over the loud speakers. The gathered people in the stands (most of town) clapped, cheered and screamed for them. Emma hated it.

Then, like things weren’t dramatic enough, the music changed. The opening guitar licks of AC/DC’s Back in Black boomed out and the “Black Court” came onto the field.

Oh man. Emma wanted to swear. She was definitely on the wrong team.

Regina did love to make an entrance. A line of black armor clad people marched in perfect step in front, banging swords against heavy black shields. It was, somehow, perfectly matched to the music. Bursts of fire, courtesy of Maleficent and Lily flying over in dragon form, lit up the sky. Coal black horses stomped in next, then split off, to reveal Regina and her “court”.

Emma’s jaw dropped and her heart-rate tripled. She felt faint.

Regina, flanked by Zelena on the left and Kathryn on the right, looked like a dark sex fantasy come to life.

She was wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. She’d been poured into it. The deep v of the jacket revealed nothing but smooth sunkissed skin. She wasn’t wearing a shirt or even a bra. Regina wasn’t showing anything but the tease was beyond cruel. She had her hair slicked back and her eyes surrounded by dark kohl, Her lips were blood red. She had the most wonderfully sinful smirk on her face. One brow was raised, as if in challenge. It felt like she was staring right into Emma’s soul.

Emma could hear, somewhere in the distance, that the crowd was booing. White good. Black bad. She was on the wrong fucking team. All of Emma’s brain power was now dedicated to remembering how to breathe.

How the hell was she going to survive all the way to midnight?

#fanfiction #swan queen

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miyu-hyperfixates · 4 years

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Water ghouls!AU

[Part 2: Meeting the ‘sinking ships’ owner (or WWX’s naming sense... ) ]

(At least it’s still 100% better than JC’s)

(part 1)

About six months after the “water ghoul accident”, WWX, JC and their shidis were training in the yard of Lotus Pier, when Madam Yu just strode in, with a sharp “Wei Ying!” and with an equally sharp nod of her head beckoned him over.

(WWX, inwardly panicking and gulping: shit, shit, shit.

JC, snickering and patting WWX’s shoulder: I’ll lit a candle for you.

All the shidis: It was nice knowing you da-shixiong! )

WWX followed her back to her office and nervously sat down.

Madam Yu: Recently, I’ve noticed a discrepancy in the treasury.

WWX, sweating: Was something missing?

Madam Yu, throwing a huge bag full of money on the table between them: Someone, for some reason, seems to have secretly been adding coins to the treasury. It was truly perplexing as Jiang Fengmian doesn’t seem to know where it had come from neither.

WWX: ...

Madam Yu: Then when walking down the docks of Lotus Piers, I heard this rumors that about three or four months ago, a new very promising business had started in Yunmeng.... Do you know the most interesting part though? It would appear that this business has been directly founded by the head disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. But that is preposterous. No Yunmeng JIang head disciples have so much free time that they’d be able to start a business without the explicit consent of their sect leaders, would they?

WWX, who was trying out the tactic of “don’t make anything worse by opening your mouth” and trying very hard not to wince with each words: ...

But then Madam Yu seemed to have reached the end of her patience and barked: “Explain. Now.”

And WWX did:

It all started because JC made an offhand comment at WWX when he saw him playing with the water ghouls. WWX was showing off the new trick that he had taught to his water ghoul.. and JC just went “if you have to waste time playing with them...can’t you at least teach them something useful?”

So WWX pondered about it for a while. And then he came up with the idea of using the water ghouls to move quickly on the water. So he took a small barrel/wooden tube and tied on them a few sturdy chains. Then he threw it the water, stood on it and used the water ghouls to “surf” on the lakes. Of course during the first try the speed of the water ghoul made him fall down face first in the water. But after a few try (and instruction for the water ghoul to slow down its speed), he actually manages to move very fast on the water.

So of course, when he discovered how fast he could go... he just had to race JC. JC used one of the small boat of Lotus Pier and a bunch of wind talismans to increase the speed. Both of them raced through the lakes of Yunmeng... and eventually WWX ended up winning by a huge margin.

WWX noted though that the race wasn’t fair because the weight and size of his barrel was way smaller than JC’s boat. So he switched to a boat of the same size and ask the Water ghoul to pull it.

Turned out the additional weight of the boat did made it slowier - but not by much - and both of them navigated through Yunmeng water at a neck-breaking speed. WWC won again.

And it started to become a common occurrence between them. JC started to stock-piled wind talismans while WWC worked on how to be able to keep standing on the boat if the water ghoul went faster...

At some point they were noticed by one the auntie working on the pier and she asked them how they managed to make their boats go so fast as if they actually manage to trade with such a fast boat it would actually boost their business quite a bit. Because once or twice every month, there will be a special event where she needs to do a lot of back-and-forth from different parts of Yunmeng and the faster she goes the more money she can earn. Coincidentally the event was planned for two days later.

JC and WWX were actually quite familiar the auntie and wanted to help her so they didn’t see the harm in explaining. The talismans wouldn’t work on the long run because you’d need quite a lot of spiritual energy (plus making talismans aren’t cheap). But as for the other way. WWX told her that if she didn’t mind having a water ghoul pulling her ship then he’d lent her one if she wanted.

She looked somewhat apprehensive at first, but after WWX introduced her to one of his water ghoul and assured her that it was very safe, she accepted. WWX spent a few hours training on how to keep standing on the boat and on how to direct the water ghoul. (Likewise the water ghoul had to learn how to adapt its speed to her.)

The water ghoul worked wonder and that was the first she had earned so much money in one go and she was so thankful that she actually gave him a small part of the money she got in repayment for ‘borrowing’ his water ghoul. WWX of course tried to refuse, but in the end she was very adamant. So WWX was forced to bullshit her and saying that he was actually starting a business of renting water ghouls and that every new customer could get a ‘free ride’ for their first time renting a water ghoul.

Then, of course, she had to ask him what the fare after using up the ‘free ride’... he blurted out a random price. Then she asked about the name of the business... and in a spike of inspiration and ingeniuty he answered Yunmeng’s “Chén Zhōu”. Auntie: You named your business ‘Sinking boats ( 沉舟 )’ ? WWX: No, no, it’s ‘Faithful Boat 谌舟 ’ written with the character 谌 for faithful or sincere. Don’t you think it’s funny? Auntie: ...

He thought then that it would be the end of that...Because surely no one sane would actually want to deal with a business that sounded exactly like ‘sinking boat’... and even if they disregarded the ominous name, surely once they were told about the joke, no one would actually consider doing business with such a childish business owner....

Unfortunately his bullshit actually came to bite him in the ass about one week later. ‘Cause the auntie had actually spread the words (Sinking/Faithful Boats and all) around Yunmeng... and now every time WWX went out to play, he’d get a huge line of customers wanting to try the water ghoul’s pulling ships. Of course since it still counted under the ‘new customer free ride’ policy, he obliged, thinking that they were just curious about it... because like who would actually pay for that?!

Three weeks.... and turned out that actually a lot of people would pay for that? And they even paid him a larger sum than what he had told the auntie (because apparently she believed that he wouldn’t get any profit with that amount and she had purposely given a higher price).

After a while he accumulated a huge amount of money and since he didn’t know what to do with it, he just secretly dumped it a corner of the Yunmeng Jiang treasury... (technically all the blank talismans he had used to ‘purify’/’tame’ the water ghouls were generously given by the sects, and everything he knew were also thanks to the sect tutelage, and he basically owed them everything for rescuing him from the street, so it seems natural to give everything back to them).

Madam Yu: ...

WWX: ...

After that, WWX had to kneel down in the ancestral hall for three whole days to repent for his “tremendous stupidity”. And then he had to provide every single one of his notes on the matter and all the “Faithful Boat” activities had to be stopped until Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian could attest of the safety of using Water Ghouls. (Also it could be mistaken for demonic cultivation, so they had to make sure that their head disciples had not stumbled down that road, at eleven). Here is what WWX had learned during his experimentation:

After the purifying process, the water ghouls didn’t possess any ounce of resentful energy whatsoever, apart from their corpse like appearance in term of energy they registered more like a spiritual beings (which means that WWX sorta kinda created/made evolve a new whole species) .

None of the water ghouls being purified so far had wished to passed on and willingly chose to stay there.

The key points of the purifying lie on the presence of blood on the talisman [When WWX tried to use the same modified talisman but using cinnabar ink for additional strokes the Water Ghoul still went feral].

The amount of blood doesn’t matter, even one drop is enough. However the location of the blood on the talisman does. Depending on the radicals of the talisman, it can produce drastically different results: some water ghouls ended up having special characteristics (being faster, stronger, smarter etc.)

While the intention and the amount of spiritual energy during the activation of the talisman don’t seem to matter as far as ‘taming’ the water ghouls goes, it seems to have an impact on the strength of the characteristics the water ghouls will end up with. [It might also have a correlation with the body type of the water ghoul before it died, but there is not enough data to be sure ]

Once the purifying is done, the purifying talisman doesn’t have any effects on it anymore. [Alternative methods of exorcising might be needed in the future if they turn out to be a threat or if they want to pass on - still in progress]

The average water ghoul is still very fast, strong and quick. It can pull the biggest boat in Yunmeng - with ten passengers + cargo on it with only the slightest decrease in speed

They can easily travel all over Yunmeng without tiring [Still have to check whether it is true on longer trips]

They don’t require any food or energy to survive [Or maybe it is something in the water? But they seem to like Lotus seed very much?]

Water ghouls are better than dogs!

After Madam Yu had tested everything under the sun to make sure that the water ghouls were not a threat. She dragged WWX once again to her office and gave him two scrolls of parchment.

Madam Yu: This is the official document from the Yunmeng Jiang Sect acknowledging the legitimacy of the *eyes twitching* Faithful Boats business. This is a contract affiliating your business to the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. Sign them.

WWX who couldn’t believe his ears nodded and took a brush to sign them. But just as he was about to sign the second one, Madam Yu pulled it out and smacked WWX on the head with it.

Madam Yu: What are you doing?

WWX, sweating: ???

Madam Yu: Do not sign any contract before reading it.

WWX: But I read it, there was nothing wrong with it.

Madam Yu, exhaling sharply: It says here that any profits made by the Faithful Boats business must be transferred to the Yunmeng Jiang Sect.

WWX: ... Yes?

Madam Yu, refraining from pinching the bridge of her noise, gritting her teeth: Negotiate.

WWX: ... I’ll take 5 - *Seeing Zidian crackle dangerously* I mean 15! 15 % of the profit?

Madam Yu: You will keep 70% and give 30 to the sect. You will also provide an accurate book account of any expense and intakes you get. If I see even one copper coin more in the treasury, I will make you kneel in the ancestral hall until you die of old age, am I clear?

[The ”This stupid kid is so going to be tricked out of all his money and will end up in a ditch somewhere one day. He must be protected from his own stupidity” squad: +1 member ]

And that’s how WWX became a legit business owner (he even got a small office in Lotus Pier, where people can send their request for the Water ghouls) and Water ghouls became a very common sight everywhere in Yunmeng. (Also, after that Madam Yu drastically increased his training regiment because obviously he must have way too much free time before.)

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

Status Progress:

>> Current members of the “This stupid kid is so going to be tricked out of all his money and will end up in a ditch somewhere one day. He must be protected from his own stupidity” squad: Jiang Cheng (founder), the auntie working at the docks, Madam Yu (+ half the merchants in Yunmeng [but that’s only because the other half didn’t met WWX yet] )

>> WWX has been upgraded to business owner!

>> Water ghouls have been upgraded to Super safe and better than dogs pets!

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

Author’s rambling: I spent waaay too much time thinking about this stupid AU.

Here is an ‘art’ I made... As usual my shitty drawing skills are shitty, so don’t take it seriously.

#mdzs #cql #my shitty au #wwx #Water Ghouls AU #jc #madam yu #madam yu is a good mom #throwing MXTX thoughts in the void

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obxlife · 4 years

Text

Comfort (JJ x Kie)

A/N: This is my first fic that isn’t x Reader so I’m nervous about this. Hopefully, I did good lol. Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know that I have two weeks of classes left and then I’ll be able to open my requests again, I think. It depends on what I’m going to be doing during my vacation and what I’ll be working on.

Pairing: JJ x Kie

Word Count: 6,436

Request: Hi! Could you write an imagine where Kie is in an abusive relationship with a kook? (more details in chat lol)

Summary: Kie is in a relationship with a Kook because of her parents. And JJ and the rest of the boys hate it. They especially hate it when she begins to show signs of abuse, which JJ is quick to recognize. After Kie’s pain goes on for months, JJ and the rest of the Pogues step in, wanting to comfort her and help her. But Kie seems to especially find comfort in a particular blond.

Warnings: ABUSE (I’ll put a warning before it), swearing, a bit of underage drinking and weed. Also, this is told from Kie’s point of view, so it is in first person.

COMFORT

I was stuck between a rock and a sword, and its gleaming tip was scaring the hell out of me. Obviously this is a metaphor, but the sword was the pressure placed on me by my parents and the gleam was Ryan.

I hated the fact that he was my boyfriend. Even though I hated him as a person, it was more so due to the fact that my parents were basically forcing me to date him. Well, not him in particular, but they wanted me to date a Kook. And Ryan was the only Kook around my age that was willing to date me.

He was a year older than me, and he had a promising future. His father, Mr. Matthews, was the owner of a line of supermarkets back on the mainland, which meant that they were filthy rich. His mother, Mrs. Matthews, was a lawyer that normally worked out divorce cases. She made s shit ton of money each year because the Kooks were always seemingly splitting up and sleeping around with each other.

Ryan was supposedly going to grow up to be a lawyer and own the supermarket line, which meant he was for sure going to have money when he was older. This made my mother ecstatic. There was nothing more she wanted for me than to become the wife of some rich man, ensuring my entry to the Country Club and a ticket to Midsummers each year.

She had been pestering me for years to get a boyfriend that was of our social status. Since everything nowadays was about your relations and connections, if I got it on with a child of a rich, elite couple, I would ensure my family future business deals and whatever the hell my mother wanted to indulge in with them. I had cracked under her pressure about a year ago, finally accepting to go out with Ryan after months of rejecting him.

No one could really understand why he was chasing after me. He just seemed to be obsessed with me. And I’m not saying this to sound conceited or full of myself, because it’s the truth. No Kook could understand why Ryan Matthews, the child of one of the most powerful families in Kildare, wanted to be with me, half-Kook, half-Pogue traitor.

What was even a bigger shock to everyone was the fact that I had accepted. I had never thought I would finally crumble under my mother’s pressure, but I did, and once the word got out, most people assumed I was finally becoming sane.

See, the difference between me and the rest of the Kooks was that I had friends that didn’t live in Figure Eight. Instead, they lived on the Cut. John B, Pope, and JJ came from, what everyone would tell me, the wrong side of the island. The way I saw it was that they had been unfortunate enough to have economic problems but fortunate enough to not have to deal with the patriarchal and elitist bullshit I had to put up with every day.

It wasn’t uncommon for me to hear remarks from my classmates at the Kook Academy stating that I was a traitor and that I was hanging out with a bunch of low lives. I tried to not let it bother me, but ultimately, it did. I had to spend every single day alone in school, and it really put a damper on my mood. I would try and pretend that I didn’t care about most of their opinions - which I truly didn’t - but I wasn’t able to pretend that I liked being alone all the time.

That was also a reason as to why I had accepted Ryan’s offers to go out on a date with him, even though I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy myself. In the end, it was going to be a win-win situation where my parents would be happy for me, I wouldn’t be alone in school, and the Kooks wouldn’t ask me about my friends.

John B, Pope, and JJ couldn’t even begin to understand why I was with Ryan. They had been in one too many fights with him to ever picture him as something different than an egotistical and violent asshole. Which he was, but I tried to ignore that.

All I would do was pretend like everything was fine. I would spend time with Ryan and the Pogues (separately, of course), balancing my two lives out. When I would come home I’d smile at my parents and gush about how happy I was with Ryan before frowning and heading to bed.

This was something I had become used to. Smiling and pretending everything was fine. Ryan and I were experts at doing this. Behind closed doors were screams and insults but in public everything was perfect.

It had all started after we had been dating for two months. He had come around to my house for dinner with my parents and then he had slipped into my room. He had begun to kiss me, and I wasn’t into it, so I had tried to pull away.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked me, offended. I raised an eyebrow, giving him a questioning look. “Why did I do?”

“Nothing,” I stressed out. It was true, he hadn’t done anything except be himself. That was the reason I didn’t want to kiss him, but it wasn’t something in his control. So I lied. “I’m just tired.”

“Really, Kie?” he asked. His voice held judgment between every letter, almost as if he was doubting the reason as to why I was saying no to him. “I just think it’s funny how we’ve been together for two months and every time I try to kiss you, you pull away. Are you not into me or something?”

I began to panic. If he broke up with me my parents would freak out and begin bothering me again about getting a boyfriend.

“No, Ryan,” I said. I tried to be delicate with my voice as I lied to him. “I’ve just never done this before. You know, kissing and stuff.”

That was a total lie. I had hooked up with more Tourons than I could count on my hands, but Ryan had no way of knowing that. His eyes softened at my words and he approached me, wrapping his arms around me. I tried to hold back the grimace I was about to let out, not wanting to make him angry or anything.

“That’s fine. I can teach you,” he whispered. I almost scoffed but I forced myself to accept the kiss he was giving me. I was grossed out beyond I had ever thought possible, but I didn’t move back.

Once we parted, I forced myself to give out a smile. Ryan kissed my head once more before stating “Next time, I’ll teach you a lot more than kissing.”

I wanted to gag. I really couldn’t believe he had said that. Once he left my house, I stood up and brushed my teeth at least twice. I thought the worst had already passed, but I was so wrong.

The following week we went to a party together. I knew the Pogues were also in the crowd, but I wasn’t with them that night. I was with Ryan, pretending to be happy and convincing every single Kook that I was madly in love with him.

I remember Ryan trying to pull me into a room. I followed him, and closed the door behind me, assuming he wanted to talk. However, he pressed himself into me, kissing me roughly and forcefully.

I pushed him back, my hands at his chest, and wiped my mouth clean. “Stop,” I pleaded. “I don’t want to do this.”

The alcohol in Ryan’s blood made him come closer to me, pushing my body into the door. “Listen here, you little bitch,” he grounded out. “I’m tired of your shit. You always pull away from me.”

Tears were spilling out of my eyes by now. I didn’t want to be in that room with him, much less kiss him. But I forced myself to stay.

“I’m sorry, Ryan,” I spoke out. My voice was shaky with fear and it scared me. “I just - I’ve never done-”

“Shut up!” he yelled. “I don’t want to sleep with you anyways. You ugly, fat fucking bitch.”

And with that Ryan opened the door and exited the room. I didn’t have time to analyze the hypocrisies that escaped from his lips as I feel down onto the floor and began to cry. I really thought he was going to force me to do something with him, and that just terrified me to the bones. My body was quivering all over, and I could barely register what was going on outside of the room.

Was what he said true? Was I fat and was that the reason why no Kook ever seemed to approach me? Why had he tried to kiss me if he thought I was ugly and fat?

That night, JJ found me and took me home. His blond locks would shine under the moonlight as we walked back to my place. He tried to make jokes to lift my mood up, and he tried to ask me what had happened, but my mouth remained shut. I belted out a lie about period cramps. I could never tell him what really made me cry. JJ would beat Ryan up and then my parents would be so mad at me for having caused that.

And so JJ dropped me off, thinking the reason I was crying was something silly and stupid that didn’t merit any attention.

The next time I saw Ryan, he apologized profusely. He said what he had said was a mistake and a lie and that he was only taking out his anger about something else that had happened out on me. Foolishly, I forgave him, trying to keep him by my side to make my parents happy.

However, he kept making comments about my body and many of my insecurities.

“You should lose some weight.”

“Your skin is too dark.”

“Your hair looks gross when it’s that long.”

“You should at least try to dress nice.”

“I don’t like you wearing such short shirts.”

It went on for months and months and months. Slowly but surely I tried to hide my bloating stomach and tried to avoid sunlight and chopped half of my hair off. I thought that maybe then Ryan might stop making such comments about me.

He didn’t. Instead, he kept going on and on about every small detail about my physique.

“Your wearing clothes that are too baggy.”

“You look almost sick when you’re this pale.”

“Nobody wants to be around you when you look like this.”

I didn’t even know why I cared. I didn’t even like Ryan, but his words would cut me deep, making me bleed and cry and break down. The Pogues had no idea what was going on. Every time they would question my actions and my decisions, I would shut them out. I’d tell them that the changes in my appearance and in my wardrobe were unrelated to Ryan, contrary to their beliefs. I felt bad for lying, but I didn’t want them to worry. Especially not about something as trivial as myself.

JJ was the worst out of all of them. It was almost like he could see through me. But no matter how much he would interrogate me, I would always lie.

Soon Ryan began to become controlling. He wanted to know where I was at all times. His messages would blow up my phone, and sometimes I wouldn’t be able to use it because he was constantly calling me.

When I would arrive back home I would always find him in my room, where he would begin to question my every move of the day. When he began to realize how much time I had been spending with the Pogues, he began to get mad.

“Why are you spending so much time with them?” he would start. His tone of voice was nowhere near calm, but it was calmer than what it would become.

At first, I would just shrug. “They’re my friends.”

Ryan would scoff and cross his arms, his brows pulling into themselves. “Well, maybe you should get better friends.”

“Hey!” I shouted, mad at what he was saying. “Don’t talk about them like you know them.”

“Well, I do,” Ryan would start. He would then come closer to me and take a hold of my arm. “I know that they are trying to break us apart. They take you away from me. You spend so much time with them that you’re never with me.”

His fingers would latch on so tightly onto my arm that I would let out a yelp. His grip was cutting the blood circulation from my arm and I could feel my fingers going numb.

“Ryan, you’re hurting me!”

Only then would he let go. Right before he would stalk out of my room he would say, “Good. Maybe then you’ll listen to me.”

I didn’t. I would never listen to him. He had no right to get between me and my friends, especially when they were the last good thing I had around. So I would find myself like I am right now, with the Pogues and my phone silenced at the bottom of my bag.

“Pass me a beer,” JJ said to me as I reached over the bottle I had just opened. I noticed how his arms rippled underneath his shirt, his muscles bulging through the cloth. I sighed, shaking my head and pulling myself out of whatever trance I was about to fall into. JJ would never be into me, especially if what Ryan said about me was true. And that was fine because I was with Ryan anyway.

The music coming from Pope’s stereo was soft and drowsy, and it almost made me want to fall asleep. However, I knew if I stayed out too late Ryan would get pissed.

“I think I need to head home, boys,” I told them. John B groaned and rolled his eyes, but he listened to me. He headed over to the chair behind the wheel and turned the engine on/ The turned to boat towards Figure Eight.

“You don’t have to go back just yet, you know?” Pope said. I rolled my eyes at this.

“You know how Ryan is.”

“I don’t get why you don’t just dump him,” JJ stated while standing and turning back to the cooler again.

“Because,” I replied as if there was an obvious reason as to why I wanted to be with Ryan. JJ and the rest of the boys could see right through my lies. They, however, just remained silent.

When we finally pulled up to my dock, I hugged Pope and John B before JJ helped me out of the boat. He began to walk me to my door, not commenting on how bony he thought my hands felt.

“Hey,” he called out once we had reached my porch. I turned around to look at him, not yet opening the door to my house. I knew my parents would be inside and they would not want to see JJ. “If you ever need anything, you can always talk to me, okay?”

I nodded, confused as to why JJ was telling me this.

“I know,” I whispered as I hugged him. His hands went around my waist and I suddenly felt small. Tingles broke out from where his skin was in contact with my body, and I felt as he pressed his lips to my temple.

When we broke apart and I finally entered my home, I pressed my back against the door and sighed. How was JJ making me feel everything I should feel with Ryan? Why was JJ suddenly all I wanted? Why did I always want to -

“I can’t fucking believe you,” Ryan growled out from where he stood, twelve feet away from me. He seemed to be frozen in his spot, and my eyes swiveled around the room to see if my parents were anywhere around.

“Hi, baby,” I said, trying to ease the tension I knew he was feeling.

“Don’t you fucking dare ‘baby’ me. You are such a lying bitch,” he replied.

My eyes widened in shock. What did I do now?

“I can’t believe you have been cheating on me with that dirty, son of a bitch Pogue.”

“I - I haven’t -”

(A/N: Abuse starts now.)

“DON’T FUCKING LIE TO ME!” Ryan yelled out while stalking towards me. His hand was suddenly around my neck, squeezing my trachea and not letting me inhale any air. My fingers clawed at his own, trying to pry them away. Weird, guttural sounds escaped past my lips as he pressed his face next to mine.

“I should have done this ages ago. Ever since I noticed you sneaking around with that Pogue.”

My body was raised from the ground and away from the wall before crashing into it again. I crumbled down onto the floor as Ryan’s leg was raised. It came straight towards my rib cage and I could almost feel it bruising instantly. Ryan crouched down on top of me and grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around so that we were face to face. His fist flew back before socking me right in the eye.

My arms were raised, trying to protect myself from the beating I was receiving. Punch after punch after kick after punch I stayed there, on the ground, in pain. When it finally stopped, Ryan spit on me before wiping his mouth.

For a second time, he crouched down and latched onto my shirt. “If your parents ask you what happened, you say you got jumped. And I don’t want you to be around those dirty Pogues anymore.”

(A/N: end of abuse.)

I closed my eyes in pain. I could hear as Ryan walked out of my house and closed the door behind him. I felt myself slipping away from the room I was in, and then everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. My parents were crying around me, and I could hear other voices coming from outside my room.

“Oh, thank God!” my mother cried while she reached out for my hand. I groaned in pain, not really understanding what was going on.

“Kie, sweety, you have to tell us what happened,” my father spoke. “When we came home we found you on the ground, beat up. What happened?”

I thought about telling the truth. I really did. And I weighed out my options and I thought if it would be best to do. Would I free myself from Ryan? Probably. But I had no way of making sure of that. After all, Ryan’s family was a lot richer than mine and I knew what a fancy lawyer could be capable of. Even if I came clean Ryan would probably never step a foot inside a jail cell. However, I still was going to try to get him there.

Just as I opened my mouth, Ryan came stumbling through the door. My stomach fell.

“Oh, Kie, I was so worried,” he lied. Well, maybe he wasn’t lying and he was worried about himself, but I was trying not to think about that. My parents were looking at Ryan and they didn’t notice how I recoiled away from him.

“Oh, Ryan, honey, we’re so glad you made it!” my mom exclaimed. Ryan smirked, but y parents probably thought he was smiling politely. “We’ll give you two some time together.”

“No!” I tried to shout. My throat almost burned. It was probably because of how Ryan had chocked me earlier.

“Sorry, Kie, but we couldn’t really understand you,” my father said, staring at me in a questioning matter.

“Oh, she just exclaimed in joy,” Ryan convinced them while giving me a hard look.

I helplessly watched as my parents exited the room, panic beginning to flood inside of me. Ryan approached my bed, his gaze not wavering from my body one bit.

“I did a good job, don’t you think?” he said tauntingly. A whimper escaped my mouth as he took my hand in his. Tears began to pool in my eyes but I refused to let them escape. I didn’t want him to see how weak I felt.

His fingers wrapped around my own as he took a seat next to me. “You do know I did this because I love you. Right?”

My eyes widened in shock. For starters, Ryan had never said he loved me before, so that was shocking in itself. However, what shocked me even more was that he said he hit me because he loved me. How could someone that loved me cause me so much pain?

I began to shake my head, denying what Ryan had said, but his fingers latched onto my chin, squeezing my jaw almost painfully.

“Yes, baby, I do. If I didn’t love you I wouldn’t have put the effort in teaching you a lesson.”

What the fuck? Was Ryan for real? I tried to shake his fingers away but I felt too weak. I just let him hold me in place hoping that if I didn’t move he would let go of his strong grip on my face.

Ryan stared deep into my eyes, trying to resonate with me. I quickly realized that if I didn’t comply with what he said, he wasn’t going to let me go. I began to nod as if I understood. Once he realized what I was doing he smiled and leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine. I forced myself to respond to the kiss, ignoring the twist in my stomach.

After he left I felt my body relax again. I only had to stay a couple more hours at the hospital before they let me go back home, where I locked myself in my room and ignored whatever sound was coming from my phone.

I knew the Pogues were probably texting me as we had made some plans for that day, but I wasn’t feeling up to it. I knew for a fact that they would realize what had happened to me if I went to see them, and that was the last thing I needed.

And so I ignored them for weeks. They would sometimes walk into The Wreck and I would smile at them and wave, but I felt panicky every time I was around them. I didn’t want Ryan to be lurking around the corner and catch me being friendly to them. I knew what he would do if he caught me.

During these long weeks that I spent ignoring the rest of the Pogues, Ryan made sure to be around me as much as he could. It was almost as if he was making sure that I wasn’t going to be opening up about what he did. But suddenly, I caught a break from him.

“Hey,” he had called out to me one afternoon when we were in my bedroom. I remember my body tensing, afraid that he was calling my attention to tell me another hurtful comment or push me around because I had done something wrong in front of his friends. Every time he called me out I would feel my muscles go stiff and panic flood inside my veins.

“Yeah?” I said trying to keep my voice level. I didn’t want him to feel my fear as I was almost sure he fed on it. He could feel my every move and my every emotion, and I knew he lived for the panic that was induced into my body every time he raised his hand around me or he called me out.

“My parents are taking me out to the mainland next week. Do you want to come with us?”

That had not been what I was expecting to hear, but I knew that this was going to be an opportunity for me to get away from him. He was going to be gone next week and I couldn’t go because it was my mother’s birthday. I knew Ryan was not going to flip out because he respected my parents way too much to take me away from them on one of their birthdays.

“I can’t,” I began softly. I noticed how his nostrils flared in annoyance, probably expecting me to give him some excuse he thought was lame. “It’s my mother’s birthday, remember?”

Ryan’s anger seemed to drain out of him and I noticed how his muscles relaxed. He pushed himself off my bed and stood up, coming closer to where I was seated. I had been folding my laundry when I felt him come close to me, and I ducked my head down to avoid any eye contact with him. Much like an animal, sharing eye contact with Ryan could be dangerous and send him into a frenzy.

He hand suddenly latched onto the back of my neck and gently tugged me towards his chest. He was crouching down, both of his legs around me. He pressed a rough kiss to my lips but I didn’t respond. He pulled away and stared down at me.

“We need some rules for when I’m gone.”

I knew he was going to say that. Just like every time he had something to do and couldn’t be around me, he was setting rules that were probably going to be ridiculous. However, I was too afraid to stand up for myself. I did not want to end in the hospital again, and I had enough bruises that were hidden by my clothes on my body. So I just simply nodded.

“I don’t want you spending time with anybody. Only your parents.”

He stood and began to pace around my room. He did that often when he was thinking or trying to control himself.

“I don’t want you texting anybody but me. If you don’t reply in twenty minutes I will call you. If you don’t pick up, you know what to expect when I get back.”

I nodded but didn’t turn around to look at him. I knew I wasn’t going to be following his first rule, but I would need to follow the second one for sure. I knew he had a tracker on my phone (I had found that out after getting a pretty bad beating), so I wouldn’t be texting anyone else anyway.

“When I call or text you, I want you to give me a full report about where you are. I will be checking in with your parents so don’t even think of lying.”

Ryan continued to walk behind me as I carried on folding my clothes. I felt myself sweating, already planning what I was going to do once I was away from him and his overbearing tendencies.

Once he had settled down, he laid down on the bed once again before fishing his phone out from his pocket. I had finished folding my clothes and headed over to my closet to put it away.

“Understood?” Ryan suddenly spoke out from where he was. I nodded and then said, “Yes.”

He seemed happy enough with that.

The following week I found myself heading down to the Chateau, which I hadn’t stepped foot in since Ryan had beat me up and I was in the hospital. I was nervous, not knowing if they would want to take me back into their group, especially since this was the second time I had abandoned the Pogues.

However, this time was different, and I felt as if they could feel that as well. The last time I had left them behind was because I had chosen to do so (and which now I kind of regretted), but this time it had been against my choice. And so when I walked in with my heart beating inside my chest, I felt relief wash over me as the boys I loved so much came up to hug me.

“We thought you were dead!” John B exclaimed as his arms wrapped around me. I flinched slightly when he raised his arms and I tried to ignore the panic that spread through my body at the moment.

JJ noticed though. He had been through so many beatings he knew exactly what it was like to flinch when somebody was going to give me a hug or when I thought someone might throw a punch at me. JJ saw how I had a little bit of panic swimming inside of my orbs and how I was covering my body a lot more than usual. He noticed how I winced when Pope’s arms pressed against my ribcage and how a tear pooled in my eyes as JJ stood up to approach me. He noticed how small and bony and frail I was under his touch, and how much my cheekbones were sticking out from my skin. He noticed how pale I was and the dark circles under my eyes. He recognized himself in me, and that made him worry.

I noticed how his arms were moving extremely slow, almost as if he didn’t want me to panic around him. His arms came around my shoulders and I noticed how he avoided my ribcage in general. I closed my eyes in relief that he had forgiven me, but they shot open in panic when I realized he had probably noticed what was going on with me.

He couldn’t know. JJ couldn’t know. But he did. So now I had to make sure that Ryan would never know that JJ knew what had been happening behind closed doors.

This was the only train of thought going through my head as we all boarded onto the HMS Pogue and headed out into the marsh. JJ noticed every time I flinched and every time I would recoil from what was going on around me. I could feel his gaze burning into me, and as much as it would have made me blush two months ago, now it was making me nervous.

When we finally arrived back at the Chateau, JJ accompanied me to get something from my car. It was then when he tried to talk to me.

“Hey, Kie,” he said questioningly. He didn’t know how to approach the situation at hand, and I could feel his nerves rolling off from his body. His hand reached out to touch my back, right between my shoulders, but I jumped away from him and wrapped my arms around myself.

His wide eyes made me know he had noticed how jumpy I was, and I cleared my throat, trying to make the situation less awkward. “What’s up?”

“I just… Are you okay?” he asked. He sounded genuinely concerned and I felt bad for lying to him. But I knew if I ran my mouth and Ryan found out, I would probably end up in the hospital again.

“Yeah, J. Why wouldn’t I be?” I lied.

“It’s - I mean, is Ryan - Are you and Ryan okay?” he asked now. Oh God, now I was certain that he knew. It made sense that he would be the one to notice exactly what was going on with me. It was foolish of me to think I could hide this from him.

“Yeah,” I voiced out. However, my word broke and JJ could instantly tell I was lying.

“Kie,” he tried softly. He was probably trying to imitate the tone of voice I would use when he would come back to the Chateau beaten by his dad. I remember I never knew how to act, but speaking softly seemed to calm him down. “I know you’re lying. Can you please tell me the truth?”

Tears instantly broke out from my eyes. They fell down my cheeks and they burned, and just like JJ had done when I had first arrived at the Chateau, he raised his arms as slowly as he could and hugged me. I broke down completely after that, sobs choking and ripping me apart, while his hands rubbed up and down. I felt butterflies erupting from my stomach, but I pushed them down. It was so stupid that from this situation all I felt for JJ was love. How could I love him when I was nothing? How could I love him and want him to hold him if I was worthless?

“I know, Kie,” the blond whispered in my ears. His hand went over my hair, petting it down as he tangled his digits through my locks. “You can always come to us, okay?”

I shook my head. He didn’t get it. “I - I can’t!”

“Okay, can you tell me why you can’t?”

“Because he’ll find out. And then it’ll happen again.”

“What will happen again?” JJ asked. His voice had suddenly turned a lot harder. He knew what was going on with me, but now that he heard me speak out the truth, he was angry. Did he know all the truth, to begin with?

“He - he - I’ll end up at the h-hospital again.”

“Wait, what?” he growled out. His fists were suddenly scrunched up, holding onto the cotton of my shirt. I tensed up when I felt his hands take the form of fists, afraid that he might lash out on me. It was ridiculous, as I knew JJ would never do that, but I was still afraid. He must have felt me become nervous because JJ relaxed his muscles.

“He was mad, JJ. So mad. And he said I was cheating on him a-and he beat me up until I blacked out and -”

My sobs didn’t let me continues. And so JJ cradled me until I stopped crying. Until I was okay enough to be able to speak and tell him what had happened. By then, we were back inside of the Chateau with the rest of the Pogues around us.

Once I had told them everything (and after breaking down like seven more times), they wrapped me up in their arms and told me that everything would be fine. That was probably a lie, but it gave me enough sense of comfort to hug them back without flinching and without breaking down again.

They helped me organize my thoughts and tried to convince me to break out of the toxic relationship I had with Ryan. They tried to get me to talk to my parents and they all stated that they would support me along the way. But what gave me a feeling of security was not their words. No, instead, it was JJ’s hand that had been wrapped around mine ever since he led me back into the Chateau.

His thumb would rub small little circles into the back of my hand, and it was almost grounding to me. It made me forget about my panic and about what was going to happen once Ryan found out what had gone down this afternoon.

Once I got back inside of my car with JJ by my side, he continued to throw out promises that sounded sweet and reassuring. Once again, however, it wasn’t this that made me feel more relaxed and safe. His hand on my thigh was what made me calm down.

When we arrived back at my house, he climbed out of the car with me and headed inside. I was happy that my parents weren’t back from The Wreck yet because this meant I didn’t have to sneak JJ in.

Just as the blond had promised me before, JJ helped me clean all of the wounds that were right now on my body. From bruises to small cuts. He told me a story of something that happened to him and the rest of the Pogues while I had been absent, distracting me from the stinging of the rubbing alcohol. He pressed his fingers around my ribcage to spread a cream that would help with my bruising as he began to joke around. When he was done, he stood up straight again, eye level with me. I was seated up on the counter, and he slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Kie,” he whispered out while leaning in closer. “I want you to know that whatever he said about you is fake.”

I simply nodded, not trusting myself to speak without crying again. Instead, I just leaned forward into his comforting touch wondering if I would ever have the nerves o come clean about what I felt about him.

“Kie,” he called out again. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

I nodded, whispering a small “Same” to him. He continued to lean forward until finally, his lips were on mine.

Instead of making my heart race at an ungodly pace, my heart seemed to slow down. My blood wasn’t pumping in my veins and everything around us fell utterly silent. His touch wrapped me around in a blanket of safety - one that didn’t make me feel trapped or panicked at all. It brought me comfort in a way nothing had ever brought me before - more than when I was small and my dad would pretend to scare away the monsters in my closet and more than when my mom would kiss my head goodnight. The pressure of his lips on mine was just perfect and made me feel loved and cared about.

When we broke apart I almost whimpered, wanting to feel safe again. He let out a breathy laugh before pulling back and wiping my tears away.

“I want to keep doing that,” JJ said to me. I was surprised he was being so open with his feelings. But I guess we were both vulnerable and that made him feel safe as well.

“Me too,” I said softly. “But I’m still with Ryan right now.”

JJ nodded in understanding. “I’ll help you with whatever you go through. Okay?”

I nodded. I wrapped my arms around JJ and rested against him as he hugged me back. The feeling of safety that I had felt while kissing him came back to me and made me feel better. I wasn’t okay yet, but I would be. As long as I had JJ and his comfort by my side, I could grow into a person I wanted to be. A person that would be okay.

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