#trying to get his character intro done for this week

[avrablake]

It’s Tunesday

and I am putting out a request for song recs. If y’all got anything that you think would suit my OC Gram please send it my way. Tagging a few people but this is for everyone.

@bloodlessheirbyjacques @odysseywritings @emelkae @aalinaaaaaa @ettawritesnstudies

[ryanguzmansource]

Full Audio Transcript (5.21.24)

Hey guys, welcome to I've Never Said This Before with me, Tommy Didario.

If you are not watching 9-1-1 on ABC, you are seriously missing out. The show is so phenomenal that it has been renewed for an eighth season and, my guest today—well, he is phenomenal as well. In fact, he is on my show because of you. I saw all of the tweets, the DMs, the emails—all of it so, like a genie in a bottle, your wish has been granted.

The talented actor Ryan Guzman stars in the smash hit firefighter drama series 9-1-1 and audiences fell in love with his character, Eddie, the moment he debuted in Episode 1 of Season 2. Man, he has become a staple on the show and fans have been rooting for Eddie throughout the years, and Ryan plays each moment of Eddie's journey with such care and vulnerability and truth.

We have a lot to cover today and I have a feeling you're going to really enjoy this fun but also personal and deep conversation. We do dive into some very serious mental health conversations, so after the interview, I will be providing resources for anyone struggling with their own mental health. This is one of the most powerful interviews I have ever done, and I really thank Ryan for opening up in the ways that he did today because I know that he is going to help so many people out there feel less alone.

So, let's see if we can get Ryan to say something he has never said before.

[INTRO MUSIC]

Ryan, my friend, how are you doing today?

I'm good, brother. How are you?

I'm good. I know you have been working your butt off. You were just saying you were filming all night. Are you exhausted or are you on adrenaline right now?

A little mixture of both. I got a little coffee pumped through my system. But yeah, I think I worked six out of seven days this last week. We've been doing around 14, 15 hour days. And I just got off last night around 1.30 in the morning. So got home around 2.30. But we're here. We're here.

Well, you were putting in the work. Congratulations to you on all of the success with this show. It's of course now on ABC. People are loving it. The numbers are going insane. And you've always been a fan favorite from day one. When you had that first scene of you putting that shirt on in slow motion and your body was glistening and Whatta Man was playing, people just fell in love with your character. But that's not just why they love your character. I mean, over the seasons, people have found you so relatable and and really, really are truly invested in the role that you play. Why do you think that is?

I like to say that, I mean, I try to play as grounded as I can, but I think the story itself is just the way Tim Minear writes the character. And I think he's always had a special connection with this kind of character. So, just indebted to how he writes and the connectivity between Eddie and his son. I mean, it's just like it pulls at the heartstrings, you know, and that's always been a fan favorite as well. So, you know, I'm living in gratitude for everything that's been written for that character and I try to do as much justice as I can.

Well, you're nearing the end of Season 7 and past seasons for you have been a bit heavier, a bit more intense. You've really gone through quite a lot of things that we'll touch on a bit later, which I know is also part of the reason why so many people relate to you. Are you enjoying this journey this season?

Yeah, you know what? I haven't really been able to kind of flex my humorous side and just kind of lightheartedness, kind of a vibe about Eddie, and I love that aspect of him. So while everybody else is kind of going through chaos, while Cap is going through chaos, Eddie is kind of, you know, trying to keep everybody together while, you know, Chimney and Hen be going at it during the tsunami and The Poseidon Adventure, Eddie is just, you know, being there for everybody as much as he can. So not to say that he's always going to be happy because Tim always has this thing about saying, you know, if I just let you guys be happy, then there'd be no story. You got to have some kind of drama. Nobody wants to show up just for people smiling all the time. But yeah, we've got some things in store for the rest of the season. And from what we've already shot, I've been super pleased about, you know, this new way of life for Eddie.

Like I said, the things you've gone through are intense throughout the years. Do you have any fear stepping into this role or any anxiety before you had to film some of those more intense scenes? Because it's a lot.

Yeah, you know what? Prior to 9-1-1, I might have had some fears about the depth of a lot of the things that we shot. I honestly didn't really call myself an actor until like maybe three and a half years ago.

No.

Yeah. I thought I was just fooling everybody, trying to get jobs and land the movies that I was getting. And then I think somewhere around the third season, a co-star of mine kind of, like, metaphorically slapped me in the face and said, you know, let's really get into this, man. You got some really good opportunity here. So that's when I started calling myself an actor. But to be honest, the depth of Eddie in the past three, four seasons has been amazing as just a class. It's been class for me. It's been an opportunity to flex these emotions that I don't get to flex in my day-to-day life and to access certain things and see how far can I push Eddie, how, you know, in the scene where Eddie is just losing his stuff and he's breaking everything in his house. Obviously, I've never done it in my house, but how do I get there? How can I allow the audience to feel what I'm feeling? And that task itself becomes a challenge. And I really [like] that type of challenge. So again, living in gratitude for all the little things that Eddie presents that, you know, I haven't really been presenting my own life.

So with that being said, is there a storyline that's particularly special to you for any given reason?

I kind of lean automatically towards the military/PTSD just because I have a cousin who served six tours and, you know, he shared with me—and I actually, oddly enough, during the episode of Eddie Begins, I brought him on as a military tech and he helped out everybody in the production. His name is Randy Hudson. I, you know, I love that guy to death—but, yeah, he's shared with me a lot of his issues that he's gone through and a lot of the obstacles he's gone through in his day to day life and what it's like to be a military vet coming back and kind of assimilating back into civilian lifestyle. So that storyline always kind of held a special place in my heart just because it was very close connected with me and my own family. And I always hope that, you know, I did it justice enough for everybody that has that story ingrained in them.

I think you definitely did. I saw a lot of comments when I announced you as my guest saying that that was a very meaningful part of your journey on this show. I'm so curious, you know, quite often in television it moves so fast, there's always rewrites or so much going on. Was there ever a story that you wanted to come to fruition that never did?

I hated the fact that we killed off Shannon so quick. I know she wasn't a very likable character for so many different reasons, but I always loved working with Devin. So I would love to explore a little bit more with that. But yeah, there's always beauty and chaos a little bit. So I would have loved the relationship, mother, father, parenting style aspect of Eddie's life to be a more explored, but unfortunately that can't happen anymore.

There's always so many things going on. I'm sure it's hard to fit them into each episode, and I'm sure things do have to get cut because major things keep happening episode after episode, one of them being recently, of course, Buck realized he's Bi and that's a storyline everyone's going crazy over. Did you see that coming? Were you like, I think one day this is going to happen for him?

Well, I mean, it's always kind of been in the ether. Everybody, you know, all the fans, you know, have their speculations about Eddie and Buck and, you know, for the longest time, I think Oliver and I again had lightheartedness to it. We always kind of like saw it as like, oh, at least they're so interested in our characters. Thank God they're interested in our characters. They're not ignoring us, and I don't know if either of us had a pinpoint, you know, idea on which character or if any character would actually lead in that way.

But again, all credit to Tim Minear. He's the one that knows the way. So he chose Buck's character to explore that route. And now seeing it happen in front of our eyes, it makes so much sense. And it just the way him, Buck and Tommy are getting together and the way they're exploring their own individuality and personality. It's beautiful to watch. I was very excited to see, you know, that episode specifically, just for the fact that it was such a moment between, you know, a friend and another friend who had held this huge secret. And how do you come out to your friend?

I had a friend, you know—because I know I've had this actually in my own personal life. I've said this in prior interviews—I had a friend who was deadly scared of coming out to me. And I realized that that moment itself wasn't so much the journey for me, you know, it was this hard journey for himself. And all I had to do was catch. I just had to be there for him, and I was like, that moment itself is so beautiful. I can't wait to do that scene. I can't wait to, you know, show the world like this is how you be there for your brother.

Wow, how cool that you could pull from your real life experience and make that scene even more special, which is why I think it came off so incredibly powerful. It really was so cool to see. And the reception has been absolutely incredible in terms of people feeling like, you know, they're seen through that character and it's on prime-time TV. And you don't see a ton of that, which is still kind of crazy. But, you know, and of course, there were some negative comments, which blows my mind. I mean, I'm sure that blew your mind, too, to see that because who cares, right?

Honestly, I've got this now filter for negative comments. They just kind of seep right through and I don't even hold on to anything. So all I've seen is really, really good comments.

And one of the best parts is actually I've gone to work and Oliver himself has been like telling me these stories of people saying, man, I did not have the strength to come out until way later on in my life. So I'm like, oh man, could you imagine 20, 30 years of holding on to this repressed thing and then it just eating away at you and not being able to say anything, even to the closest people and then seeing something on television to inspire you. That kind of thing is just like, whoa, okay, we're doing something much greater, much bigger than us.

He's not the only one inspiring its characters like you because you're showing, you know, what an ally means, and I think that's really cool to see this like macho, cool guy that's just like, cool, like who cares? And that's also equally as powerful and as important. Before we put a pin on this, you know, part of the conversation, you mentioned you never know what the writers are going to do, and I think there were talks at one point of possibly Eddie being the one to come out in some sort of way. Do you laugh and have fun with all of the fandom's obsession with you as Eddie and Buck getting together? Like, is that something you guys always are seeing and hearing? And I know everyone brings it up to you and it's something that's always looming. Like, how do you react to that? Does it ever get tiring for you?

Again, if the fans are interested, we're doing our job. So I love the love. And I mean, unfortunately, I'm not the one that writes it. So it's all up to Tim. But me and Oliver have a really good time with the fact that, you know, people are so invested into these storylines. And in fact, they're so invested, they're creating their own storylines. They're sending us clips and edits and videos. And, you know, every now and then, Oliver will show me something, I'll show Oliver something. Like, did we actually do this in a scene? Because they cut it so well together.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I think at the end of the day, you know, we just love the love. We're here to entertain and tell the truth. If it's true to the character, then yeah.”

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

You can't predict the future. Nobody can on this show. But if the opportunity one day happened to come your way where they were like, this storyline might be explored between Buck and Eddie, would you be open to that storyline in the future? I see you smiling. I see Oliver had the same reaction, a big ass grin on his face when I asked this.

Yeah, you know, like I said, it's got to live in the truth and I think right now we live in a moment—or me, I live moment to moment—so I love the fact that the biggest plot point between these two characters is one happens to be Bi, one happens to be Hetero, and they have this vulnerability towards each other. And that is the truth to me is it's the fact that you have such a safe space and it doesn't matter your sexuality, that you have a safe space to talk to this individual and he can fully accept you. If we can stay with that, then whatever happens, happens.

But I don't necessarily want to push the fact that because you're vulnerable, you have to be one way or the other in your sexuality. Then I would hate to have a lot of other men who are struggling mentally and not sure about, oh, do I even open up? Because will that make me something that I'm not? I would hate to push that narrative. So if we live in the truth, whatever happens, happens. And again, I'm here for it all.

Whatever happens, happens. That's a nice way to put it. And I agree with you. I think there's power in both. I think there's power in showing a strong friendship that you don't always get to see. And then there's power if something eventually does happen. So whatever happens, happens. I like that, man. What can we expect for the rest of the season with your characters? Anything you can tease? The finale is coming up. We have a couple more weeks. What can we expect?

What can we expect? Well, we can expect that Eddie's smiles might turn to frowns.

Oh no.

Or at least confusion, maybe. We'll start to see, you know, has he gotten past certain traumas? Or is he just kind of pushed them to the side and acting like they're not there?

You know, I have to say a lot of people are still holding on to hope that we're going to get that karaoke scene.

I mean, yeah, we had such a good time playing that karaoke scene, and it was kind of a let down a little bit to know that it wasn't going to be in there. But now, again, looking at the episode itself, as fun as it would be, the main story was Chimney. And the way Kenneth Choi played Chimney, and that episode specifically—I mean, I think he got, you know, performance of the week for that—it would have been a disservice to add, you know, a three-minute scene of us laughing and having a great time and being drunks and karaoke and take away from that performance. So I'm glad that Tim made that decision, and I don't know if he has any plans on showing that later on or whatnot or having some extended clip version, but I can tell you this much, everybody from the cast to the crew to the background had a wild and crazy time doing that scene.

And I think what I just heard you say is you might accidentally drop it on your Instagram very soon.

I might get fired if I do that.

All right. Well, we'll see. I'll talk to ABC PR. No problem. What do you want to see for season eight? Like, are you thinking about the future? Is there like, OK, if I can have my way, I absolutely want to explore blank.

To be honest, there's so much going at us so rapid, so fast paced at this moment. The scripts are getting handed in like quick as can be. So we have a moment's notice to kind of know what we're doing and where we're going with our character. From what I know, from what I've shot thus far, I think next season will literally be a refresh button to Eddie. And starting over in so many different ways, so many new ways in which Eddie has never explored and we've never seen Eddie explore. He'll be on his own in a lot of areas.

Speaking of that, I have to bring up season five, the mental health breakdown, man. That was intense. And a lot of people felt very connected to that. How was it stepping into that scene for you and that storyline? Because it's pretty powerful.

Thank you. Man, that was cathartic, to be honest. It was I've gone through my own mental health issues as far as like, you know, my own depression and anxiety, and, you know, I was raised in an age where men aren't vulnerable and aren't allowed to show feelings. So that kind of repression is like a ticking time bomb, you know, especially for a person in Eddie's life, or his lifestyle. So to kind of relinquish this boundary of who Ryan is and step into Eddie and just kind of just full-on dive deep into these this well of emotion, it was, it was almost like therapy. It was crazy because, you know, from the second they started to say rolling, it's like my—I started to, you know, start bawling and crying, and when Buck comes in and, you know, he's trying to check in on me and the whole room is just all scattered around and I'm losing it—it's just like there was no semblance of Ryan anymore. It was just all Eddie and he was just lost, and that's what it is.

It's like if I were to look at my son, you know, five year old son, that's kind of what we revert back to is just this child that is just so scared and not having any sense of direction and—or hope that anybody will ever love him or ever see him. And it's just these like, you know, existential fears that come out within those tears, and that was my goal to portray that whole scene and then the scene following it. So to get there was just let go, just let go.

Well, the work you did was clearly honest and raw and vulnerable. You can't fake the work that you did in that. And it was really a powerful man for many people to kind of go through that with you and for people who have had their own experiences. And you're right, like, I'm from an old school Italian family. And, you know, you grow up thinking men don't go through that and men don't show those emotions. So to have that on prime-time TV is huge.

Yeah, I hope that helped out a lot of people. I hope that people were actually able to see that and at least, you know, go to their best guy friend, and, you know, I think that's what really needs to happen. As far as men, we need to lean on each other. You know, women have their own issues and they have their certain way of connecting with each other, but there's a special connection that you can have with your brother. And I give so much credit to quite a few of my personal brothers—including my actual brother—for allowing me to run to them in my moments of need, in my moments of feeling lost. And them, you know, being men themselves, not having to say one thing to me.

Or they can just, you know, if they see me in a moment of, you know, deep into a problem, they have the ability to say, well, here's a solution. And since I'm, you know, of like mind, I can be like, okay, you know what? Thank you for giving me some kind of direction. So yeah, I implore all men out there to kind of at least have one or two in your corner, you know, because we can't get anywhere without community.

Absolutely. What have you most learned about yourself through playing this character for so many years? You know, you joined in season two. It's been a lot of years now under your belt. Have you thought about that? Have you learned anything through playing, Eddie?

I've learned a lot through Eddie. I've learned patience. He's a—you know, he has a sense of patience that I didn't have in the beginning even prior to being a father, you know, and then kids itself, they teach you how to be patient. So, yeah, I've learned how to be there as a father. Kind of oddly enough, it was just living as one onscreen prior to actually being one in real life, it gave me, say, practice. I get to practice on television what I get to implore with my own children. And, you know, even if it's the worst thing for Eddie, you know, and I see him doing something horrible, at least I come back home, like, well, that can't happen. I can't do that with my kids. So, yeah, and in so many ways, it's helped me grow as a man, let alone a father.

That's pretty awesome when you can take things away from your job like that and become a better person. I love that so much. Can you believe you've been on the show for so long now? Do you ever think like, damn, that's not normal. That's the rarity in the business. So is that a cool feeling for you?

Yeah, I literally just had that moment yesterday. We were filming a scene, all of us, the whole cast, and I'm sitting outside—I can't tell you the location, that's going to blow something—I'm sitting outside one of the sets and I just had that moment to myself. I'm like, oh my God, I'm actually here. How did I get so lucky to be on not only just a television show, the number one television show out there, where we're in our seventh season and we're creating numbers that people don't even get in their first season? So again, if there's a moment to tap into, let's get into that gratitude again and just be super thankful that I was lucky enough to land this.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

That is so cool, and that's why I have no doubt you'll continue having so much success in your career and in your personal life because you keep bringing up gratitude, and it's very evident that's something you lead your life with. And in fact, I saw a recent Instagram post where you give a beautiful tribute to Twitch, and you credit him with being able to form connection with people in your life now and to different things and places, and I thought that was such a beautiful way to show people that you're working on yourself and you're a work in progress and that he helps you kind of open your eyes. So that was a really cool moment for you to also reveal.

Thank you, yeah. Yeah, I believe so much of the world right now is showcasing a polished version of themselves. And to be honest, I did it myself for so long that I've become tired of it, and I would much rather get to the raw—the raw, the unfiltered, the, you know, the mess ups, the, you know—I've stuck my foot in my mouth too many times. I've done, you know, stupid things in my life, and I never want to present myself as a person that does everything great because there's so many things I suck at.

So I think there's an opportunity within that rawness to invite others to become raw themselves, and for us to see that, you know, we're not competing with each other, we're competing with ourself and our own image of ourself and friends like, you know, a brother like, like Twitch, you know, and—not understanding what he was going through and that lack of connectivity that I always, you know, felt but never acted on, which again, I felt imposter syndrome for so long of calling him my brother. It really struck a chord in me and now I can't go backwards. Now I'm propelled forward to be like, is this conversation authentic between us or are we just kind of saying what we have to say just so we can pass on to the next person and create whatever that is? And I'm not here for that. I would much rather have that depth and I'd much rather have that rawness.

Beautifully said and a perfect segue into what I want to finish this conversation with, which is based off the title of the show: I've Never Said This Before. So I'm wondering, is there anything that comes to mind that you want to share today that you've never shared before?

Uh. Huh. Yeah, you know what? I've been thinking about this for so long and there's so many things, you know, that come to mind. One specifically, and I've been hesitant to actually say any of this for so long because, you know, it's been years upon years.

About six and a half, seven years ago—and I've really never said this out loud, especially onto a public platform—I had my own mental health crisis and I tried at one point in time to take my own life. And luckily, it didn't work. Luckily, I got a second chance by the grace of God. And from that moment forward, I've taken each step as an opportunity to erase what got me there and build on what allowed me to live forward. So I would say that that moment itself, in addition to what happened to my brother Twitch, are probably the two biggest fundamental moments of my entire life and have allowed me to have a deeper sense of mercy and empathy towards every individual.

So I would implore that all men renounce this fact of, you know, you're a tough man, you have to hold all this in, but lean on your brother, really lean on your brother. And if your brothers aren't being there in the way they need to be, find some new ones. Because that's another thing, if you don't have the people that are conducive to a healthy lifestyle and you're keeping on to them because of loyalty, let them go. There's plenty of other people. There's people that have been through your situation before that are willing and more than willing, you know, to help. So yeah, that was a big one.

Man, first of all, thank you for sharing something so personal and close to your heart with me today. I feel honored that you did open up and share that. And I'm truly—God, this could be another half hour conversation, so I'll keep it short—but I'm truly grateful that you are spreading that message today for anybody listening because, you know, mental health is a crisis and I think people sometimes look at you, they look at me, they think everything's perfect. We are, you know, in this public space and what can be wrong?

And when you humanize real shit like that, it makes people feel less alone. And you got through it, you realize that wasn't the right way to go about it and your life forever changed for the better, and I'm truly grateful that you put that message out today because you have no idea how many people you're going to be helping with that. And I truly know that that's something that's not easy to get off your chest. And for that, I thank you and I know so many people will be thanking you, and I hope you feel kind of like a little bit of a weight lifted that you share that hopefully.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to understand what I'm feeling at the moment. But I hope in what you said is true. And I hope that, again, I would love to do more for mental health, especially for men, I mean, just in general, to be honest. But yes, I hope that there is a new wave out there that's kind of taking over that we can actually have some cohesiveness and connection, a true understanding of what connection is. Let's revisit that. So this issue isn't a common issue anymore. If we can take that down, then let's do it. I'm here for it.

Beautifully said, and thank you again for sharing that. I could talk to you for hours, especially leaving with that. I think you're such a cool person. And you watch people, I get to talk to people all the time. But this to me was a real conversation, and that's what I value. That's why I have a show called I've Never Said This Before, and I want to talk about the projects that the fans love, but also leave room to talk about things that matter. I don't think there's enough of that. So I truly thank you for hanging out, for coming on, for talking about the fun of 911, which we all love, and it's killing it in every way, but also sharing a little piece of you. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I have.

Thanks for having me, my man. Yeah, I had a great time.

Thank you, and remind everyone where, how, when, all the things about your show.

Yes, please watch Thursdays at 8 on ABC.

All right, and stay tuned for the karaoke scene that you just promised you will be dropping.

Yeah, maybe when I'm fired again.

All right, man, until we meet again, take care.

All right, brother.

[heizours]

GLITCHES

summary. when they find out that you're planning to delete the game under a few reasons

tags. gn! reader, grammatical mistakes may occur

cw. angst if you squint, mentions of explosions, sumeru archon quest spoilers on scara's part, they are lowkey freaking out like it's the end of the world

feat. xiao, scaramouche, heizou, zhongli, kazuha

note. there will be no endings/parts where the reader deletes or doesn't delete the game. to make it easier, the characters somehow already knows another way to prove their existence, and that it is ;)

< back to event m.list

INTRO.

Recently you have been busy for the past few days, as you're trying to accomplish all the works that was given to you before the given deadline.

And that also meant, not being able to spend the rest of your day opening the game. You really tried managing your time, but even that advice can't stop from the overflowing requirements that were continuously being given to you.

Which led to this scenario- apparently your laptop's storage has already reached it's limit, and because of that you can't save the file that was tasked to you

"Are you seriously playing with me now?" You grumbled under your breath, as this minor problem is starting to making you feel frustrated.

Meanwhile, your dear character has been very worried about you. He haven't seen you log in for the past recent weeks, and each passing day was a dreading feeling for him.

Till, all his answers have been granted when that familiar feeling came back again as he heard the sudden sound, which indicates of you logging in. The feeling of your presence, made him feel at ease again. But, of course, he seriously didn't expected it to be thrown away in an instant.

"Perhaps playing one last time, should erase the guilt I'm going to be feeling while deleting this..." You mumbled to yourself, not even the slightest aware that it was clearly heard by him beyond your screen.

Oh, no.

What have you done?

XIAO. 

any outsider would think that there’s nothing going on inside his mind. the truth is, he’s trying to understand if what you had just said was just a joke or not, that he didn’t even noticed that he’s actually panicking the minute he heard it.

Xiao’s breathed hitched in nervousness at the statement that he had just heard from you, not too long ago. His eyes widened in both shock and fear, as he needed to control his breathing so that you won’t be able to noticed the odd actions about him. 

He tried to keep his composure, but he really can’t as his thoughts continue to spiral and emerge from every corner of his brain. 

Did he do something that you didn’t like?

Is it because he isn’t build enough to surpass your expectations?

Or maybe, you just came up with that excuse to indirectly say that you’re tired of him?

No amount of words can be describe by the amount of predictions Xiao is coming up with, as he looked back to reflect on his actions if there is something that bothered you so much, that you refused to play the game for the past few weeks and now, you’re mumbling about deleting it from your gadget’s existence.

His eyes kept darting every where that is surrounding him, except the direction that leads to yours, as he could feel the sweat from nervousness and fear are starting to kick and come out from him.

“But- they were always so happy and glad after logging in. It’s impossible that they are getting tired of it l, they even always use my abilities and skills to complete quests..” He mumbled to himself.

He looked up to look at you again, and there was no denying that Xiao can see frown that was evident on your face even though you tried to hide it in the first place, while you’re taking every last explore in the map, to be worth it and cherished before logging off.

If there’s anything that affects Xiao the most, it is seeing you under the clouds.

Suddenly, the thoughts that were brewing inside him, were pushed out of the way, as this time a determination presence has made it known from within him.

He has made up his mind, and even if it will have to cost something, then so be it.

It might be considered as an irrational decision, but anything is a rational one as long as it involves your happiness and well-being.

“Before I knew it, you are the only keeper of my heart. You gave me such a blossoming feeling I can't be able to explain. Then in return, if this decision will be for your own good, then I’m willing to risk it all for you.”

SCARAMOUCHE.

it might be already expected that he would let out a sudden outburst like he usually does, but it was the complete opposite of it. he was as still as thin ice, since that statement alone from you had triggered and brought back such major flashbacks that he had experienced from his whole life.

For a thousand of years he has lived and wandered all his life, this was the very first time Scaramouche has experience that feeling once again.

He thought that it was all over, and that he had left all those incidents all in the past, but you were the trigger for those unpleasant memories to emerged back from the ashes.

He doesn't understand.

What do you mean by that?

Are you also going to be like her? like them?

Are you also going to abandon him?

Scaramouche felt paralyze by those thoughts, because just as he was about to become a playable character and is waiting for the anticipation to be welcomed in your arms, this is what he gets instead?

“That can’t be possible, in fact- they are always excited whenever I get cutscenes especially if they are unexpected ones- or maybe they didn't like my part for Sumeru's archon quest..?" He murmured to himself, as he covered a part of his mouth, while being deep into his thoughts.

He looked back up to the screen, only to see you very focused on defeating a group of hilichurls that you were commissioned to. But no amount of focus can cover the sadness that is displayed on your face.

Scaramouche often has a routine, that since he is still an NPC and can be able to also roam around whether your online or offline in the game, he had made it a point to himself, to subtly follow you wherever you go, so that he can also be able to secretly help you to defeat the opponents much easier than you expected.

He for once, thanked himself that he never got tired of doing it, even though he sometimes also ‘complains’ how it’s really troublesome to see, that someone as dangerous as himself, is discreetly following you around like a lost child.

He took one last look at you, before turning his back. But as he took force steps away from you, he had halt it. Once again, he turned around to look at you, as a small smile slowly crept up to his face.

Like he suddenly had a big plan on his mind.

After all, if you can be able to enter his, then he too can do the same to yours. Right?

“The hoax, they are just all a gigantic lie in the world I live in. But you, you were different from all of them, in you I found peace and assurance. So, can I be able to find the truth in yours?”

HEIZOU.

as expected from a detective like himself, he’s coming up with every equation, that can fit as the solution to your problem. he gives himself some assurance that it will take not that much of a time before he finds one....or can he be able to?

He is a prodigy, an amazing detective. Surely he can be able to find such major clues, and can put it into the puzzle that's missing it's pieces, to prevent you from erasing the game?

Heizou stands there with his typical detective pose, as he goes deeper in his inner thoughts.

Ah, maybe this can work!

I think I'm gonna have a change of plans, it will not work.

It's alright, I can be able to solve this. Hopefully..

His brain continued to brew and function like it used to be, but every time he comes up with something it was always met by a dead end.

If any passer by will be able to see him, they could literally see the imaginary smoke coming from his brain, and because of his frequent change in expressions.

One moment his eyes would light up, the second he will freeze in pure disappointment before replacing it with a frustrated expression, as he goes back at the starting line.

"This is quite odd...usually I can be able to solve cases with the help of my intuition, but how is it I can't find something for their problem?"

Heizou mumbled disappointedly to himself.

He wasn't even aware, that the "assurance" that he is telling to himself, will be the embodiment for him so start panicking, as the fear that he won't be able to see and feel your presence again, is starting to sink in.

Heizou looked back up at the screen, as the dreaded feeling in him continued to drop. Archons, he hated it so much to see you feeling like this.

If only he can just find a way disappear from this sham world, and can be able to do all the things he is already thinking of to comfort you, then he would gladly do so.

The moment that unintentional statement formed in his mind, a large bright light bulb appeared above his head.

'That's it!'

He snapped his fingers as he mentally exclaimed it.

It was a risky and impossible solution, but how could we say it as an impossible one, when we haven't even tried it yet?

He took a look at you, up at the screen before raising up his hand, as if he was trying to touch your cheek and comfort you, despite the digital barrier that is hindering him from doing so.

"You are the William to my Sherlock, therefore I would like you to wait for me [Name], I promise you I will be the solution to your needs."

ZHONGLI.

he flinched unconsciously from that statement. out of all the possible words he is already predicting to come out from you, this was by far, the most surprising one. can you imagine the look on his face?

Out of all the things that Zhongli has expected, this was the very least he had expected to happen.

It was a very rare yet memorable moment to catch the old archon to be off guard, and there is no denying that he did felt that way when you had spoken to yourself about how you're thinking of ending things already.

He completely understands it due to the experiences he had seen as a witness during his lifetime, as he also has his own beliefs that he can't be able to stop you, especially that it is not his right to know what's happening among your personal affairs.

After all, you're not even the least aware that he is alive and breathing lively inside the device you're using right now.

However, there is still this tingling feeling where he's a little curious of what is bothering you so much, that it this had to happen in this point of your life.

Did something not good happened?

Are you alright?

Will you still remain safe, even if you erase his existence?

Such countless thoughts started coming one after another, as the more he continues to spiral down through it, the more he is getting concerned about your condition.

"One shall not expose their identity especially if it's something unimaginable, but I clearly want to express how concern I am over you [Name].."

Zhongli voiced out to himself, because if he would do it in front of you, then there is a very big possibility that you're going to freak out and will be able to click that delete button without any hesitation, before he can even explain anything about that glitch.

Engrossed in his thoughts, he was snapped out of it after hearing a big explosion that was not that far from where he is standing at the moment.

He has hesitating if he should go after it, especially that there is a chance someone might have gotten in danger because of it, but as he took a look at you are right now, he decided that he would make the travel fast in order to get back to you in a flash.

As he arrived at the area, something worth shocking and unbelievable was existing right in front of his eyes. No, it wasn't an unpleasant sight but it was rather a complicated one.

There stood an unknown portal, and through the portal he can be able to see you, doing what you were doing, but in a more different perspective from what he sees behind the screens.

Zhongli took hesitant steps, towards it. There is an odd presence radiating from it. Knowing that he is usually a rational person, he would usually step back from it just to be safe, but instead he finds himself closing the gap between him and it?

He took again another look through the portal to make sure if what is behind it, is truly not something delusional just to lure him in.

He's not one to make a decision in a fast pace, but just seeing you right behind this portal he's standing in front of, is encouraging him to take the opportunity, as it will be a worthy choice to make and shouldn't be wasted.

His fingers shook, as he got closer and closer to it, and once it had collided with the portal, there was a blinding light that surrounded the area before it disappeared along with the thin air.

"Oh Dear, just how big of a trouble did I got into? Well, there is no time to blame myself. I guess it should be you who I am worrying about, after all how would you react to find me standing right in front of you?"

KAZUHA.

he was able to take that statement calmly on the outside, however the moment he had grasp what you had just said, there is no denying that something shattered inside of him.

It seem that time has stopped around him, the very moment those words had escaped your lips.

But, despite the unpleasant twisting and burning feeling in his chest, it's a surprise that he was able to take it well from the outside.

Do not be fooled though, for if you have the ability to go deep inside his mind, you would be able to see the countless thoughts that are appearing and whispering from within him.

What was the cause of this effect?

Can he be able to reverse it at least?

Are you going somewhere he can't be able to follow or reach?

Such an occurrence like this, brings back Kazuha from the burdens he had to carry because of his past and fallen status.

"I have no right to stop you from doing so, since I firmly believe that you are entitled to have goals and dreams. But, there is a bitter taste in my mouth that I can't be able to erase once you separate the both of us for the purpose of your path."

He mumbled to himself, as he places a right hand near his chest, while reminiscing the unforgettable moments he had with you before you completely take the chance, to erase his data and memories.

He was glad that he isn't part of your team party at the moment, because he can take this chance to just simply look and admire you from the barrier, and take in your breathless form before fading away like the glitches.

That is, until something bright yet risky have been planted on his mind. Not too long ago, he heard some gossips about a mechanism device, being able to grant a wish of whether it can be believable or not.

Now, Kazuha knows that such a device can't possibly be able to do a miracle like that, but even though he is denying it, there is still that glimpse of hope inside him, that he should go for it.

Knowing that he can be able to also roam around like the others that escapes your naked eye, he took one last yearning look at you, as he hastily began his journey, hoping and praying that he can be able to make it to that device before you can even plan to erase all of the game's existence.

"You are the summer to my autumn. Back then I didn't have someone I can be able to protect, but now that you're here, please continue to show me the bright light that leads to yours."

OUTRO.

Peacefully.

You were just sleeping very peacefully.

But, that peace was unintentionally disturbed by his arrival- which you didn't know at all.

You could feel something- no, someone softly caressing your face, as if you're a sensitive vase.

At first, you tried to ignore it thinking that it was just the gust of wind, and it soon stopped.

However, it didn't end there. The lingering and soft touches had already disappeared from your senses, but you could still feel the presence of that someone.

You could feel them staring right into your soul, and if you even show the slightest signs of being awake, who knows what can they do to you.

Despite the warnings you had gathered, your stubbornness still got ahead of you. Because as soon as your eyes fluttered open, the first thing you see is someone breathing above you.

Out of instinct, you push them and hastily grabbed the nearest object that you can use to defend yourself, but as you took another look at the said intruder, you could have sworn that this is a dream.

Unconsciously, you slapped your face with the both of your hands, attempting to jolt your soul to wake up. And the sound emitted a sharp sting, causing the intruder to panic.

"W-wait! I'll explain everything I know, j-just please don't continue to hurt yourself further." He frantically claimed, as he started to feel guilty for making you act like that.

You lowered down the object that you're using to defend yourself, but that doesn't mean that you're guard has also lowered down.

I mean, who would even lower their own guard down when they wake up to find one of the characters from the game that they are playing, are alive and breathing right above them, got into their property without noticing it, knows them and looks exactly like the character itself?

"A-alright, I'll let you. J-just please don't come any closer than that, since this moment actually took a big toll on me, and I'm finding it unbelievable to even believe it." You nervously replied back, as he nodded back eagerly in return.

You think it will only end here? How laughable, truth to be told, this is just the beginning of each other's story.

We may never know what are fate's plan for the both of you, but as they always proclaim-

'Everything happens, for a reason.'

comment to be added in the taglist!

[rabbitprincessthief]

gog i still can't get over minish cap vaati's Everything. He is So Fucking Stupid (affectionate)

Like. This guy's establishing character moment is, in order:

he's introduced as having won an entire tournament to get to touch a magic chest and get a cool sword, which was the prize for said tournament

turns around and does a goddamn evil soliloquy TEN FEET AWAY FROM THE GUARDS who were about to hand him his macguffin on a platter

(like this man fucks up his own horribly planned daylight heist because he cannot keep a lid on the dramatics for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES, IN PUBLIC)

(THE BAR WAS ON THE FLOOR VAATI, FUCKING GANONDORF PLAYS THE PIPE ORGAN FOR HIS OWN BOSS INTRO AND HE STILL KNOWS BETTER THAN THIS SHIT)

proceeds to fight the guards (it is, admittedly, a curbstomp for him, but it still clearly wasn't his plan, because otherwise why bother with the tournament)

gloats evilly

opens chest, unleashing a whole bunch of monsters

exposits out loud about Zelda's powers like a nerd while she is actively charging up her magic powers to kick his ass

RECOGNIZES and IDENTIFIES said magic as the special power carried by the female royal line

completely fails to recognize it as the light force he is currently trying to get his hands on (he spends like 99% of the game not figuring this out.)

petrifies her

(i have no idea if link could have deflected this spell if he had managed to get the right angle with his shield but i like to think somewhere there is a very short and very funny alternate timeline where it happens)

(more importantly: no part of vaati's original presumed plan would have involved doing this. he 100% created this situation for himself by being an dramatic idiot and picking a fight for no good reason.)

looks in the chest

there's no light force

considering his stated goals he might be as confused as you are about the monsters tbh

uhhh

evil laugh

teleports the fuck out

He then proceeds to spend the rest of the game trying to figure out where the light force is and ends up having to wait for Ezlo and Link to figure it out first because he was, as far as I can tell, GENUINELY stuck on this part. He fucking kidnaps and impersonates the King, not for access to Zelda, but to… send guards to go look for the Light Force, presumably because he was either running out of ideas or genuinely thought that would work.

None of the guards even had any idea what he was talking about. He's not even good at impersonating the King. He's already sent like twenty people to the dungeon by the time you get there and it hasn't even been a week. Somehow the game spins this as a cunning plan and clever manipulation or something.

(Meanwhile the guards are just. Poking around in random bushes and shit hoping to find the light force. One of them asks you what you think it might look like.)

Zelda is literally right next to the throne and Vaati does not figure it out until you find an actual honest-to-goodness LORE TABLET spelling out that the Light Force is Stored in the Zelda, at which point he's like "ahahaha you've done my work for me this was definitely my plan all along" and takes over the castle and throws a bunch of monsters at you to stall for time while he figures out how to extract the force from her. Somehow he still doesn't think to actually lock the fucking door.

[behindthesoul]

Your MK men as parents headcanons are very interesting. Would you write other MK men as parents? Especially I want to read Rain and Havik!

MK Men as Parents pt2

Masterlist || Part One

Characters: Rain, Havik, Quan Chi, Kenshi

Note: Combined a couple of requests into one. Also, sorry this one took forever to come out!

Rain

Probably one of the more normal parents.

He’s a lot more chill compared to himself in other timelines. I can see him being a proud parent to one or two children. Maybe twins?

Teaches his kids to be a better mage than he is. He tries to make his lessons as fun as he possibly can.

Though, he can become frustrated if they aren't taking their teachings seriously. If something were to happen, they need to learn how to defend themselves.

In some MK1 intros you can tell Mileena (understandably) has a lot of distaste for Rain. So much that she wants his mother banished.

I can imagine his children are involved in this banishment which irritates him. His family, especially his innocent children, do not deserve to be punished for his actions.

The main driving force behind Rain’s mission to atone for his actions is his children. He wants to show that if you make a mistake, you should try to make things right. He also wants to be a man his children can be proud of.

Havik

A pretty hands off parent.

I can’t imagine him ever having a complete grasp on this parenting thing.

Just has one kid and refuses to have more.

His kid just kind of does whatever and Havik doesn’t care. Just as long as they don’t make a mess he has to clean up.

Has the “world’s your oyster” mentality.

This behavior is boosted to 100% after his burns. He embraces the chaos, and what’s more chaotic than having a kid?

Havik and his kid are public menaces, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He’s less of a parent and more of a cool older friend.

Don’t come to him for emotional support or other things like that. Having to actually parent his kid makes him feel tied down.

If his kid wants too much from him he’ll somewhat drift away.

You’ll have to hope their other parent is in the picture.

Quan Chi

Totally the parent who somehow knows their kid’s every move.

He knows when their kid has done something they shouldn’t so there’s never any use in lying to him. He just has this look on his face and his kid knows they’re in trouble.

Excuse my only child self for HCing every character as being a single parent but Quan Chi definitely only has enough energy for one kid.

He feels guilty for bringing a child into the world when he can barely take care of himself. Spending hours and hours in the mines, Quan Chi is exhausted by the time he sees his kid.

All his child knows is a dad who always looks tired and dejected.

That is, until he gets an opportunity to live a better life. A place to sleep, clothes that aren’t tattered, and fresh food - all necessities that his child now gets to experience.

Whenever his child asks how he was able to provide their new life, he just smiles and gives a cryptic answer.

Kenshi

His child was kept hidden. Kenshi thought it best to keep his child away from the whole Earthrealm-Outworld war.

None of his allies knew he was a father til the day they were all thrown in jail with Baraka. Thinking it was his last day on earth, he let the secret spill. Kenshi told everyone all about his child.

He mourned the fact he’d probably never see his child again. Of course, he did; after he helped defeat Titan Shang Tsung.

Kenshi was very nervous to meet his child again. What if they don’t react well to his blindness? Johnny pulls him out of his negative thinking. If your kid is as kind as they say you are, then why would they have a bad reaction?

It eases him a bit, but he’s still a little nervous. He feels like a fool for having those thoughts when his child runs to him, screaming his name. The last few weeks of fighting for Earthrealm was all worth it for them.

His child is a bit confused when they see the mask over his eyes.

“You can’t see me!” They say with a frown.

Sento glows, and Kenshi suddenly sees all the details of his child’s face. He smiles, assuring them.

“Yes I can.”

—

@mortal-kombat-shitposts

[binahs-sinbin]

Hii, can i request the nut kicking with savanaclaw please?

Hello! So wrote this as as Leona being the getting kicked as he’s the trouble maker! (I hope this is alright!)

(All characters below are 18+!)

-

Intro!

Leona loves pushing your buttons, and today was no different, he started the day getting in your way and dragging you to the greenhouse to nap. You didn’t WANT to rage a nap or go there.

Crewel was upset you skipped class and thank to Leona you now had extra work and what was his response?

Try to make you nap again and when you yelled at him and trued to leave, he first blocked the door, but you instantly tried to duck under his arm.

He lifted you up by your shirt and held you there. You were so frustrated you decided to make him drop so you could run. You swung your foot back and Aimee between his legs.

Leona

He jumped embarrassingly enough, but he did let go of you! And you ran and was out of his sight before he even realized what happened

He’s more impressed that you did that, given his most people avoid arguments, but you just hit him in the balls and ran, he knows you are upset with him so…

He waits almost an entire week before testing his luck and springing you again. You still weren’t happy but he was being stupid and said you should apologize

He instantly left and waited another week before apologizing. He also informs you you are more intimidating when mad.

Ruggie

He just stares in confusion fir a second, Leona knows you get mad about this shit, that you would beat his ass if he got you in trouble once more.

And then he does this and he honestly isn’t even upset With you and straight up goes to you to check if your ok, given Leani dropped you and you clearly hit stuff while trying to catch yourself!

Ruggie dosent steal from you for a month thinking you’re gonna be more on edge around him since he’s always with Leona

He pushes Leona into apologizing since he can sense the anger radiating off you when Leona approaches

Jack

He’s in complete shock at first. He wants to scold you, check on Leona and figure out what just happened all at the same time

He does say Leona, deserved it you shouldn’t have done it. (He does literally apologize on Leona’s behalf and talks to him over how he did have it coming)

He honestly treats you like you were hurt, I mean he’s seen you upset and you’ve never kicked anyone so…maybe leona was being a big bitch-

He’s extra friendly to you afterwards for a while. He lets you feel his ears and tail to help cheer you up!

[nevernonline]

✽ maybe this means something? ✽ | csc.

001: FALL

Choi Seungcheol used to be the bane of your existence, but through a year of seasonal rotations, something felt different.  It has to be overwhelming realizing you're falling for the person you always thought you hated. 

𐦍 paring: seungcheol x reader. (svt members mentioned)

𐦍 genre: frenemies (sort of), romance, a little angst, fluff.

𐦍 warnings: drinking,  brief mentions of illness, mary jane 🍃,  suggestiveness (sort of) 

𐦍 word count: 2.8k

𐦍 content: non-idol characters, food/drink, cursing, slightly- suggestive, pet names, fem! reader. bff! hao. 

𐦍 notes: every time I listen to Means something by Lizzy McAlpine it makes me think of cheol so I wanted to write a little something with it as inspo, but pls ignore any typos or weird phrasing I'm super rusty when it comes to writing long fics. pls enjoy and give feedback. xo.

intro - fall - winter - spring

Fall: Flashback. 

 Running out of your childhood home faster than ever onto the first day of college felt so exhilarating, the smell of the fall air and the wind pushing your hair back as you sprinted to your car door made you feel free. 

You had around two hours before your first class started, a new start was one of your favorite things. Fresh people, fresh clothes, a new haircut, the smell of new books. 

Pulling up to the curb and wailing on your horn to notify your friend you had arrived, made you giggle. This was such a mundane thing you’ve done for years, switching off weeks driving to school, gossiping about your day, but now it felt new again. 

Xu Minghao, the constant person in your circle, the one who always had your back and took the words out of your mouth. He understood you more than anyone in the world, even your own family, got you into parties, held your hair when you happen to drink too much, and most of all never judged you. 

A slam came from across the lawn in front of you, Minghao strutted down his home's cobblestone passageway like he was living his own Tyra Banks fantasy.

“Goodmorning, Gorgeous.” he says eleated as his long legs stretched into your vehicle. 

“Goodmorning, my love.” you responded, putting your car back into drive. “Coffee?” 

Minghao peered at you under the rim of his sunglasses. “For you, I’ll have orange juice and green tea.” 

A whistle escaped your lips, “Wow, robbing me for all I have I see?” 

“No, but I am trying to teach you healthy habits this year. Are you excited for our first class? I actually can't believe we managed to get nearly the same schedule.” 

“Yeah, well my dad insisted on calling the dean and told him that I had a learning disability so I had to be around you as much as I can.” You said cringing. “Luckily they just made him open his wallet and donate to the art department.” 

Minghao just giggled and rolled his eyes because he knew how your parents were and how much you didn’t want anyone to know. “Listen, maybe this year you should just lean into telling people about your family if they ask. I’m not saying you have to or anything, but pretending to be average when you’re anything but is below you.” 

All you could do was hum at his words. The reason you conceal yourself is because pretending you didn’t have an influential family made people respect all the things you’re able to do more, Hao knew that, but he also knew that you struggled keeping a secret all four years of highschool. 

You pulled your car into the local campus cafe and hopped out only to be met by a group of guys yelling for Minghao. 

“Who are they?” you questioned laughing at the group of excited looking puppies from across the lot. 

Hao mimicked your expression, waving his hands side to side, “Oh, wow. That is the group of guys I met abroad I told you about, they go here too.” He roped his arm through yours pulling you into the lion's den. “You’ll like them, they’re nice I promise.” 

Your feet felt like they couldn’t move staring at the four new faces in front of you, one more gorgeous than the next. There was Jun and Chan the dance majors, Wonwoo the literature major, and Seungcheol the business major. Three out of the four automatically welcomed you into their circle, the fourth Choi Seungcheol was icing you out, for a reason you may never understand. 

“What major are you again, Y/N?” Jun asked as you continued awkwardly sipping your coffee across from him. 

“Oh, I’m an art major same as Hao, mainly digital and my minor is tech and graphic.” You said smiling back thankful he broke the ice for you. 

“Wait cool, I think Cheol is also minoring in tech and graphics. Maybe you guys will share a class too.” 

A smirk came from the male to his right, Seungcheol. Something about him was bone chilling, the pale skin the raven hair, competitive by nature. 

“Don’t ask me to sit with you in class, I don’t do amateur hour.” He said flashing you a gingival smile. 

You just smirked back, “Fine with me, I don’t do asshole hour.” 

And that's where it all started, your ongoing competition with Choi Seungcheol. 

Present: 

It’s been a few weeks since your encounter with the bully himself, you just worked and worked behind your desk, with no chance to be out in the real world. You thought about texting your mom to come and visit for the weekend, but ultimately decided on calling Minghao. 

“Hello, my beautiful working girl. How are we?” you could almost feel his smile through the phone. 

“Love my life, hello. I’m alright, just so busy. I was just wondering what you’re doing all weekend, I desperately need to drink.” 

You laugh and he follows along. “Well, well, well. Finally coming to ask me to rescue you from corporate life, huh? I actually made plans to go watch Jun and Hoshi’s concert this weekend, if you wanted to come? There’s a cast party after and they asked about how you were anyway so you can definitely join.” 

“Wait, they’re in town? I had no idea.” You put Hao through the speaker phone and check your socials. “They literally messaged me two days ago asking if I was free. Maybe I should listen to you more.” 

“I have been trying to influence you for like nearly a decade, y/n. But, come please. It's tomorrow, so we can go shopping tonight, have a little sleep over, and drink for breakfast before we go on Saturday.” 

“Wow, yes. I could kiss you. It’s a date.” 

Hao hummed over the other end of the phone, “Meet me at my place at five, okay?” 

“Okay. I love you, I gotta go, bye.” 

┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄

You nearly sprinted out of your desk as the boring work day you had sped past since your conversation with Hao. And you much like the clock speed as fast as you could to find your oasis at his home. 

“Honey, I’m home.” you yelled, removing your coat and shoes and dropping them in his entryway. 

“Well, hello baby.” A voice spoke, not Minghao, but Seungcheol resting in a large lounge chair watching the news. 

With an eye roll, you greeted him back. “What are you doing here?” 

“Hao told me to meet him here to go shopping for the show tomorrow, what are you doing here?” 

You found your way to Hao’s cloud of a couch and planted yourself on it.  

“Uh, he told me the same thing, we were supposed to just hangout and have some drinks tonight.” 

Your eyes met him again, something about them made you feel bad for being so cold towards him for years. 

“Oh, are you spending the night too?” 

“Yeah, did he ask you to stay as well?" 

Seungcheol gestured to the similar overnight bag resting on the floor adjacent to yours. 

“Yep. Should we fight to the death to see who gets the nicer guest room?” 

“I really don’t think I could kick your ass at anything other than Mario Kart.” 

“Then let’s play, the loser gets to buy all the alcohol and the winner gets the good guest room.” 

Seungcheol’s hand reached towards yours and you decided to take it, like making a deal with the devil. 

┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄

About an hour after virtually driving the rainbow, the front door opened again to reveal Minghao in its threshold holding multiple bags of takeout. 

“Oh, hey you’re both here. I brought food."

You jumped up at the chance to break the closeness with Seungcheol you found and he followed suit behind you to greet your friend and to help him with the bags of food in hand. 

“You did not buy fire noodles again, you will literally be in the bathroom for hours.” 

Seungcheol giggled at you while unwrapping the rest of the food. 

“You know, Hao. I never realized Y/N’s strength really lay in gaming, she gave me a run for my money at Mario Kart.” 

“Shut up, Seungcheol you literally still kicked my ass, enjoy your beautiful guest room.” 

You sat sulking at the dining room table, slurping up your bowl of noodles. 

“No, you can have it. I actually live two floors up anyway, I was just fucking with you to see if you could take the heat.” 

“I see you guys had fun without me.” Hao chuckled. “Did I not tell you Cheol moved into my building recently?” 

“No clearly not, he kicked my ass in Mario Kart and now I have to buy you booze hounds alcohol.” 

Minghao clearly was loving the fact that the plan he had set out to get you to get closer was working. Cheol didn’t pick up on the fact that you knew what Hao was up to and continued eating in silence for a while before speaking back up. 

“You don’t really have to spend your money on us, Y/N.” 

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I’ve been spending my allowance and paychecks on Hao since eighth grade.” 

“Hey! That is not true, our relationship has always been equal.” 

Seungcheol stirred, he always assumed you didn’t have much financially. He’d often wondered in college, how you became friends with Minghao who was definitely better than well off. Was he wrong about you using Hao, sure, but he always thought you benefited from the friendship more than him in other ways then the platonic relationship you shared. 

Too scared to ask without knowing what outcome he’d get from you he decided to excuse himself to the restroom and find out for himself. Cheol sat on the marble tile of Hao’s bathroom sink and searched your name, but no luck, only your professional profiles and instagram hit. 

He searched deeper, and deeper until he stumbled upon an article written in a High School newspaper. 

“Wait, her mom is Mina Lee?” he muttered now searching your first name with a newly founded surname following it.  

Dozens of articles popped up about your family, their finances, their homes, the illness. Stuff Seungcheol would have never expected, all this time he thought you were everything you weren’t, but this, this made more sense. 

He pretended to run the sink water as he bookmarked the article he found talking about the Lee’s hidden children, a gossip blog no less, but maybe it would give him more answers. 

┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄

After hours of shopping, mainly to find Minghao a perfect outfit. You reached your destination, the liquor store. Whipping your card out to hand to Minghao for him and Cheol to spend whatever they wanted to make their night as good as possible, you decided to stay outside and watch the colorful leaves fall. 

Dialing your mom’s number on your phone and waiting for her to answer seemed like forever, but you were eventually met by her soft voice. 

“Y/N? Darling, are you alright?” Hearing a sweet pet name from your mother, no matter how long it's been since you’ve seen her always felt right. 

“Hi, Mom. Yes, I’m okay. I just wanted to check in on you. Is everything alright?” 

“Oh, well good. Your father is feeling better, but I’m not sure his chemo is working as well this time” Your mom just sighed, you could hear the pain through the phone. “Why don’t you come visit for Christmas, okay? We can make hot cocoa together and I’ll fill your stocking with Jelly Beans like we did when you were a kid.” 

“I will. I’ll book my flight when I get back to Hao’s later tonight. Kiss him for me?” 

“Aw, good. Tell Minghao to visit, we miss him too.” 

The sound of the bell on the door rings to alarm you Hao and Cheol were coming back to find you. 

“I’ll force him, I love you, okay?” 

“Alright, dear. We love you, goodnight.” 

As you hang up your phone, you fight back the tickling itch of tears forming in your eyes and fall into step with the two men. 

“We got you that weird sour beer you like, and-” Minghao pulls out a brown bag full of mini bottles of your favorite alcohol. 

“Wow, I see you really treated me and my money well. It’s an honor.” 

You pulled three small bottles out of the bag and handed them to Seungcheol and Hao, twisting off the top of yours. 

“If you guys walk back to Hao’s building with me, I’ll reward you further.” 

You smiled holding up your bottle for a cheers and they followed. 

“Deal.” 

They both smiled and tipped their heads back to get their night started. 

About two blocks from the apartment complex and a few mini bottles of liquor in, you stopped for Hao to run inside a mini mart to grab multiple snacks and a pack of cherry rolling papers you loved. 

“So, Y/N Lee? I was wrong about you wasn’t I?” 

Seungcheol spoke your full name like he was singing lyrics to a song, but it had you confused. 

“What? How did you know that?” 

“I will confess I got confused over dinner before, you guys were saying a lot of stuff and I felt bad asking what it was about so I looked for myself. I’m sorry.” 

Sorry. A word you’d never thought was in Seungcheol’s vocabulary, so you felt it was sincere. 

“It’s alright, it was stupid I lied about it for years anyway. Really, don’t sweat it.” 

“Yeah, that's actually really stupid.” 

That’s all he could respond with, but he did offer an olive branch by opening you a bottle of beer and offering it to you on the sidewalk. 

“Cheers, to getting to know the real you?” Cheol questioned. 

“Yes, cheers to getting to know the real me.”  

┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄ ︰ ┄┄┄┄ ︰ ┄୨୧┄

After a change of clothes and more than a few drinks, you dipped out onto Hao’s balcony to roll yourself a joint only to find Seungcheol drink in hand typing on his phone fearlessly. 

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt, I’ll go back inside.” 

“No, I’m finished, you can sit.” 

You nearly stumbled onto the balcony, the alcohol telling your body where to go.

“Isn’t it against your better judgment to send work emails while drunk?” 

He laughed, placing his phone back into his sweatshirt pocket.

“Well, isn’t it against your better judgment to roll a joint while drunk? That shit looks fucked.”  

You didn’t even ask before you were handing over your stash and papers to him. You watched his fingers and they perfectly packed and fixed your work for you. 

“Wow, what the fuck?” 

“I’ve had practice, if you need a teacher.” 

“I’m much better sober, I promise. Plus it’s cold and I can't feel my fingers.” 

Cheol scooted closer to you now holding a lighter up, begging you to spark his good work with his eyes. The flame burned against your lips as you inhaled a big pull from the scented paper. 

“Thanks.” 

You smiled at him as the smoke poured out of your mouth and you offered him your olive branch, a hit. 

He took it with ease and deeply breathed into his lungs to expand his chest. 

Your closeness was now inching dangerous territory. His fingers grazing yours with every pass of the small object burning between you. That’s what always been going on, burning between you, passion, former hatred, sparks. 

“Here, I’ll help you since it got smaller. Open your mouth.” Seungcheol whispering now, his breath hot on your cheeks. 

You just obliged, feeling a little insecure with your mouth open wide watching the smoke leave his lips, you inhaled. 

Maybe it was the high, the setting, or the alcohol finally setting in, but you needed his mouth on yours. 

“Will you kiss me?” 

Without a word from his lips, they came smashing onto yours and before you knew it you were kissing the enemy. 

The feeling of him on you left you with a high you’ve never felt before. He never let go before you were ready, his hands found their natural space on your hips. 

“Can I confess something, y/n?” 

Snuggling into his embrace you nod against his chest, as you fiddle with the ties of his sweatshirt 

“I was only mean to you in college because I had a crush on you. And if we were sober right now, I’d ask you to come back to my place, because I just love being around you.” 

Suddenly your hands stopped moving and he knew he had missed his chance at a confession once again. His arms scooped you up and carried you all the way into your blissful night of sleep in the good guest room. Little did he know you had been awake the whole time and didn’t sleep a minute.

Feeling the way he kissed you when you got too drunk had to mean something.

[palettesofrenaissance]

Hey. I got a short drabble idea for your Wonka story, if you'll have it. Since you're trying to get into more dark stuff.

The idea is this: Wonka thinks he has Sapphire and Ruby trapped in his "wonderland", but by some freak accident, they find a way to escape and he. is. pissed.

✎ᝰ ── 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨! I'm thoroughly relieved to be finished with this and excited to be posting this. this is my first dark!fic. don't expect this to be like my previous stories. this is the first thing I've written that I had fun with. it's the first serious thing I've done since struggling with writer's block. this prompt fill is the one after after the intro fic (this is what I've been up to lately. join me!)

Permanent Marker  · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · INTRO/AU CONCEPT

Location Services: OFF  · · · · · · · · · · · · · THIS PROMPT

𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Dark!AU, Future Fic, Canon Compliant. Prompt-driven story

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: The saying goes: “Never, ever accept a gift from a fae. And never, ever verbally say thank you for a gift. It implies that the receiver owes them something, like food, your firstborn, or a favor (no matter how deranged).”

If only she had known this warning when meeting the unpredictable, tricky, and arrogant magician Willy Wonka. She fears her precious daughter is going to have to pay the ultimate price for her moment of temporary short-sightedness. Especially when her daughter doesn't heed her warnings.

People change over the years. People are also multifaceted and can have contradicting factors about themselves. Her daughter will find that she was kept away and hidden for a reason.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬: love/hate, meet rude/meet ugly, secret children, mentions of violence/blood during a hallucination, abuse of trust, Willy is a bit rude, obsessive and dark Willy Wonka, dark fairytale elements, and taking inspiration from the actor's few insane moments and running with it

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: Written in 3rd person. Named child character. Named mother!reader if you want to imagine that, or named OC; she's named Sapphire, inspired by the singing lady in the tram scene

“I was young when I first made the deal with him,” she had described herself to Noodle Slugworth Smith, the next in line to inherit the Slugworth empire and fortune. When she first met the soon-to-be-known magician she was indeed several years younger than him despite looking older than she actually was… She wonders if that was another reason he continuously manipulated her and kept her in his clutches…

To be exact, she first “met” him in passing on a tram car on the way to clock-in at her job. He’d been posing as a tram ticket collector and had offered her and a friend a piece of chocolate each to sample—something she would have declined had her friend not pointed him out and his reputation throughout the past several months not preceded him.

But even before he announced himself and began handing out samples throughout the tram car, Sapphire had thought none the wiser, his face blending in among the sea of others. That, along with already being distracted because she was on her way to work, then the candy’s influence to dance and sing on the crowded tram that quickly became overwhelming before the police even showed up, she wouldn’t have been able to pick out his face from a line-up even if she wanted to.

Which is why when she came across him once more sometime later, it made sense why she hadn’t recognized him: clothes really can make the difference about a person.

Now sometime later and at a laundromat on a rainy day, Sapphire has no reason to know that the tall man alone in a far corner was the previously unknown, enigmatic chocolatier that swept in and gradually took her city by storm. At the laundromat, he looks so ordinary and unnoticeable, staring off at a point unseen. She doesn’t give him any acknowledgement beyond a few glances to mind her distance.

It has been an angry and dark overcast for the past week, the air heavy with humidity and the promise of rain that never came.

‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ Keep reading

[kaipotato]

Announcement regarding my Hermitcraft AU

hello fellas! I am happy to announce the start of the fic writing for my Hermitcraft AU, which is currently dubbed the merger au, but the name is subject to change

there is a public doc with the lore, species, and introductory stuff which can be found here

canon designs will be posted over the coming week(s), starting the day this is posted

i will try to be consistent with chapters and im planning for once every month or sooner if possible

this is also my first ever fic so it WILL have flaws

the fic will contain light shipping with NO nsfw content, possible gore, and horror imagery so if any of that makes you uncomfortable DO NOT INTERACT

all shipping is of the characters, not ccs

and for the people who are new to the au, here is the intro which is also avalible on the public spreadsheet:

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[The fic would follow the pov of Scar but may alternate sometimes. It is set in season 10 and Scar is still suffering the effects of Secret Life.]

 Since Scar never died in Secret Life, he was pulled out of the loop manually by the secret keeper and was almost coaxed into becoming one, but he escaped in time before any major damage was done. 

Except the secret keeper follows him.

When Scar fled the watchers' realm, he accidentally led the secret keeper to the Hermitcraft S10 world, giving them access to it and every other Hermitcraft world before it. In an attempt to communicate with Scar and bring him back to the watchers,the secret keeper uses this new “tool” to mess with reality and merge the different worlds. Some days, a random building from season 8 might show up in a crater, other days Larry may return because “the snails built him on the cart” (lie), and sometimes this even affects the hermits themselves, causing sudden wardrobe, personality, and motive changes.

 Like how Joel randomly grew a Tanooki tail when joining the server. 

Many people blamed the servers' already weird aspects in terms of species, but others suspected it was caused by the transition to becoming a “hermit.” Joel himself claimed it was caused by too much time around Etho and that it was because “Etho is so obsessed he used his mind to give me a tail so that we had something in common.” No one believed him.

And we can’t forget Etho somehow getting a glass monopoly, which was also pointed out by some when the permits were handed out, and is also not possible since every hermit only got 6 shopping permits. The keeper seemed to favor Etho in this way.

Maybe it was Magic Mountain’s looming presence and mystic powers, but Scar felt that many things were off this season. From the weird references to past seasons, Etho’s odd luck, Joel’s mutations or…..

…..was it the feeling of not being alone?

---

aaand thats all you get for now ;)

all content will be under the hermitcraft merger au tag and any ideas or fanart is welcome! <3

[happy-mokka]

Hi there.

I'd like to start with a warning first: Beware!

I'm rather new to tumblr, so if what will come next turns out to be total bs, I hope you all get out of this unscathed, forget we ever crossed paths and will be able to go on with your beautiful lives.

If you're still here, you'll about to hear the nice and accurate story of a guy that stumbled naively into a Good Omens binge watching weekend and came out forever changed.

Roughly 4 weeks ago I was asking friends what they were watching currently. I needed new material to turn to.

That's when it happened.

One of them casually brought up Good Omens on Prime.

I should give it a try.

Angels, demons. Terry Pratchett. Neil Gaiman.

Ok. I like fantasy. I like good story telling. I have an odd sense of bad humour.

I decided to give it a try.

To my eternal shame I have to confess, that until lately I hadn't read a single line written by both Pratchett and Gaiman.

I've read thousands of books. My love for them is so widely spread over all genres, that it simply did never happen. There was always some other book and author that came next.

Oh, how blind and ignorant I have been. I now clearly see the grave error of my ways.

If you can't forgive me, that's ok. I'm having a hard time myself doing so.

Be that as it may, I'm currently reading Good Omens and won't stop there. I promise.

Update notice 2024-06-03 I am now 6 books into Neil Gaimans works, last one was this...

So, where was I?

Right.

Binge watch session of Good Omens season 1.

Saturday evening. Around 9:30pm.

Episode 1 wasn't even running for 5 minutes and I was already sucked right into it.

Frances McDormand's God intro and the garden eden scenes.

I was instantly in love.

Michael Sheen had already been one of my favorites. His first minutes as Aziraphale directly hit home.

David Tennant was familiar but I also hadn't been into Doctor Who, so it took another 5 minutes to also fall for Crowley...

The path was set and I started to deep dive in.

6 hours, 6 episodes, 1 Antichrist and 1 almost Armageddon later I crawled into bed on early Sunday morning to get at least a few hours of sleep. I fell asleep with an almost idiotic grin on my face and a feeling of deep content.

Only 5 hours later, technically still Sunday morning, I woke up, prepared a coffee infusion and switched the TV back on.

There were important deeds to be done. Episodes to be watched.

I could sleep later.

Narrator: No, he would NOT sleep later...

I again immediately fell for the 2 celestials.

The slightly different arc, no dramatic catastrophe on the horizon, instead beautifully written side characters and wonderful new details on the two main protagonists...an evolving love story that had already been clearly visible in season 1...

And god, or Satan, HOW I LOVED JON HAMM as Jimbriel...

I again ended up binge watching the whole season, only interrupted by a few coffee and bathroom breaks.

6 hours later. The end credits were already over for like an eternity and I hadn't moved. Just sitting there, all goosebumps and teared-up.

I ate something. Had to. Don't really remember tasting anything or remembering what I actually had.

I was dumbstruck.

The friend that had suggested to start watching GOs, hadn't let out much more detail, so I hadn't been prepared in the least, for the emotional train wrecked state it had pushed me into.

Hours later I finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning before work I just sent Tori Amos' Nightingale in Berkeley Park to my GOs friend followed by a ❤️, as a signal that I had watched it all and let her know that there was no need anymore to hold back with talking out of fear to spoiler me.

We had lunch together and spent the whole time rambling on our GOs induced emergency emotional state and the whole beauty of especially Gaiman's season 2.

The next days we kept randomly talking about GO before she pinpointed me to tumblr, in case I wanted to dare a real deep dive into GO fandom.

So here I am now. A week's passed. I've spent hours of reading so many amazing posts around here. So many eye-opening moments.

I'm not only speaking of all those perfect interpretations of GO and it's characters.

What impressed me so much more is the fabulous energy especially radiating from the queer community.

Update notice - 2024/04/10

Attention! This installation of base module "Sexuality" is currently being updated to a more flexible one...work in progress...

Not being queer, only having a few queer friends, I hadn't really realized, just how big a thing GO in general and season 2 in particular was for you.

I was raised to walk earth open-minded, to respect everyone, no matter of religion, gender, nationality and sexual orientation. This is so deep a part of my DNA and personality, that GO for me was mostly just a beautiful story about religion, the meaning of life and love.

2 immortals fall deeply in love, first into humanity, life on earth and then finally into one another, while trying to overcome all the madness of belonging to two opposing sides of the same medal.

A great parable on the pursuit of happiness. Skillfully written for the screen and perfectly casted and played.

Well that was then.

Now I see you and I have to thank you, for opening my mind even further.

For giving so much joy so generously, although every day is still a fight for your rights.

For giving me a space here among you and the chance to delve some more in beautiful minds and fanfiction.

So, if you're still here and reading this, maybe it was not all bs. Maybe it gave you some minutes of entertainment and distraction from every day's stress and problems.

It sure was for me.

I'll end this with some favorite Shakespeare quotes, although now I'm not so sure any more, if not some red haired demon might have actually written this...

"If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."

More personal middle aged ramblings...

...birthday meldown 2024...

[roseartsandfics]

Sephiroth (CC) -- Rose

Here is another Sephiroth artwork from Crisis Core with a rose 🌹 Tbh, I actually LOVED how this turned how. I just love drawing my favorite FF character (or villain lol), especially the FFVII trilogy <3. I’ve been wanting to draw more Sephiroth lately, so here he is I did probably last week (?).

SPOILER ALERT for those who hadn't played Crisis Core and/or Crisis Core Reunion, and the original and the remakes of FFVII of what I am about to say! So be aware of spoils!

I managed to do chapter 8 of CC-R, finally managed to see the Nibelheim Incident, which was an essential, and most shocking event I have EVER seen in my life ever since getting into FF. I hadn't even known that the people that created FFVII to have the most crucial event that probably is popular and shocking at the same time. I hadn't even gotten into that event in the OG and the remakes of FFVII just yet, nor seen the full thing of Last Order, but I did manage to get through it in Crisis Core Reunion. I was NERVOUS of playing that chapter 0_0. My heart was beating fast and my stomach was turning just thinking about it and how I will get through it! (I started to love Tifa's voice, btw :3). Sephiroth’s fall from hero to a threat was INDEED heartbreaking. I feel like he is the victim of Hojo’s experiments and the origins are just heartbreaking. Unfortunately he fell into insanity. I also felt if that wasn't for Hojo, and all the experiments he had done, and what he had done to Sephiroth, and probably the company did this to him as well, none of Sephiroth’s insanity would've happened. And yeah, Cloud killing Sephiroth at the reactor by stabbing him and throwing him into the Mako pit (or lifestream) was hard for me to watch after the battle. It'll be hard and NERVOUS for me to watch that scene from the OG as well along with the backstory from Cloud's POV in the OG and Rebirth. Oh, and that Sephiroth battle… was probably one of those battles that got my blood boiling but loving at the same time for some odd reason. I wasn't even READY for the Sephiroth battle at all, and I hated it, but loved it at the same time. Things I love was his stances and and intros before the battle, but what I hate is trying not to die from every powers he's using. The second phased I don't really like. So yeah, Sephiroth's fall from grace sucked, but will be forever my favorite FF villain ❤️

Alright, that's enough with the long description of my time playing chapter 8 and discussion before I get myself carried away lol. I had the shirtless Sephiroth art with a rose done on this book, but I didn't like how it turned out. So I decided to redraw that piece on my iPad and will display it as soon as it's done :). I'll be playing more Crisis Core soon!

WIP pics:

Sephiroth and Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunion ©Tetsuya Nomura, Hajime Tabata, Yoshihiro Hirota, Mariko Sato, SQUARE ENIX and Tose

Artwork ©RosePrincessArts

No copyright infringement is intended

Used: Soho Studio pencils and markers, fine artists pens, gel pen, illustration markers, non toxic alcohol markers and calligraphy pen

[ladyloveandjustice]

Anime Recommendation: Raven of the Inner Palace

I said I wanted to give this one more attention since it got lost in the shuffle of last season, so here we go! Raven of the Inner Palace is a supernatural mystery series set in a fantastical version of ancient China. It’s bursting with ghosts, bloody demises and courtly intrigue. It’s fast-paced, dramatic, beautiful, and has some heartwarming character development at its’ core. If you want an extra reason to give it some love, it’s an adaptation of a story aimed at women, which is increasingly rare in the modern anime landscape.

The series follows a mysterious woman dubbed “The Raven Consort”. She’s isolated and confined to the inner palace, and (as the intro narration likes to remind you), she’s skilled at the mystic arts and does not have any nighttime duties despite her title (meaning she doesn’t have to sleep with the Emperor, or even answer to him). Even the new Emperor, who only just recently retook the throne after being ousted by a spiteful relative, has no idea who she is or what her true role in the court is, but he’s understandably intrigued.

 If you like ghosts, episodic supernatural dramas that form a larger mythological arc, cut-throat palace politics, careful character development, and/or sweet romances that develop from a strong friendship, this a show for you. The general premise of the series is the Emperor or another court official will come to Shoxue, the Raven Consort, with news of a ghost, and she’ll figure out how to help the ghost cross to the other side (or in some cases, forcefully exorcise them). As Shoxue solves these problems, we learn more about her, how she came to be the Raven Consort, and the terrible truth behind her role.

If you know anything about ancient Chinese imperial history, you have probably accurately guessed the show gets very dark. There’s tons of suicides, beheadings and other executions, people being persecuted, servants being tormented and so on. Probably the biggest thing to warn for is that one of the eunuch’s backstories involves csa. The show always treats it seriously and rarely gets graphic all about it, though the show’s final episodes have a few surprisingly bloody moments. (Also one of the problems of the week involves romanticized sibling incest- it’s easy to miss the line referencing it, and it doesn’t end well for them, but still something note).

It doesn’t feel like edginess for the sake of edginess though, just an acknowledgement of the consequences of the rigid social roles the characters adhere to, and a natural extension of the commentary on the rigid role Shoxue herself is forced into. When her backstory is revealed, it definitely feels like there’s some commentary on how women with power are punished, though we don’t get far enough in the story to see if the anything meaningful will come of it.

And amidst all the drama, there’s something sweet going on here- throughout the show, we see Shoxue slowly go from someone who’s completely isolated to someone who forms warm connections with not just the emperor, but a variety of new friends who see past the creepy stigma surrounding her. Seeing Shoxue awkwardly navigate her new relationships is part of the charm of the series.

Also, they do this cool thing where the little flashback tales are done like Chinese shadow puppets:

The Emperor is definitely set up as Shoxue’s love interest. The first episode has him act a little pushier than he will for the rest of the series (they do the ‘it seems like he’s going to come on to her in bed but he actually just falls asleep” thing). During the rest of the episodes, he seems to want to be her friend first and foremost before going further and tries not to push her too much. It just becomes a sweet underlying relationship where they try to understand each other. Shoxue leans a little into mild tsundere stereotypes at times, but there’s good reasoning given for why she’s so prickly. And there’s hints at the Emperor having his own emotional struggles, and that the power he wields might cause issues that divide them down the line, so it would be interesting to see where that goes.

It's overall an elegant, slightly spooky character drama. The anime has a quick pace- often throwing a lot of information at you and insisting you keep up- but that also means it’s never boring, and the animation can be quite nice and fits the ethereal nature of the show. If anything in here sounds like your jam, I strongly recommend you check it out!

[fortunatetragedy]

Hey @amielbjacobs <3 You bet I can.

I want to start out by stating A Living Machine is the only project I'm writing like this. Doom Metal Love Story is character-driven and requires a bit of actual outlining, and The Cave Dive is on the rails so once I got the characters fleshed out I didn't have too much outlining to do.

Intro

So, I ran a Mage the Ascension campaign in an online multisystem non-crossover setting from 2009-10, and I started playing in 2006. IDK as anybody read them, but when there were lulls in between scenes I would write "mood posts" for extra experience points.

Obvious statement that might not be obvious to people who haven't TTRPG'd: a difference between running a scene for a group of players and solo RPG is that as Storyteller (the World of Darkness's term for the Dungeon/Game Master) I have to keep track of a lot more moving parts than if I'm going through by myself and playing through a solo campaign.

Normally I have a brutal approach to character death. If your character dies, I really am sorry. I had a reputation back in the day for being a bit of a lunatic as far as scenarios went, but there was almost always a way through the scene without resorting to combat. Other players knew they might lose their blorbo if they showed up and they were both blockheaded in dealing with NPCs and uninspired in their problem-solving.

(Unless I was running Werewolf. I tried to tailor based on auspices but had to trust the players were doing the same thing with their choices. I couldn't do much for a Theurge who wanted to be an Ahroun.)

Some Context

The framing of A Living Machine is that an NPC (Dr. Khalid Abandonato) has done something that impacted two other Player Characters (PCs): his daughter (born Apricity, assumed the name Adelaide in 2009 and Alicia in 2014) and his daughter's person (my now-roommate's character Elijah.) Alicia and Elijah were active in an online campaign in 2014, and this is what we knew about Dr. Abandonato based on Alicia's sheet:

He wasn't born until 2064 (fifty years ahead of the campaign.)

He was a Mad Scientist with the Sons of Ether (something caused him to be branded "insane" by the Scientific community, he was labeled a Dissident, and he was outcast from Mage society.)

He was captured by the Technocracy during her Awakening.

They were able to capture him because he was in Quiet. Alicia had been trying to take care of him for several weeks and was exhausted.

He forced her to run away using the Mind Sphere.

His Arete was high enough when she was 14 that he could use Time 8 to make a Time Door to hide her in the past.

He broke an entire universe to keep her alive during a previous encounter with the Technocracy.

He was a young father (18-19 when she was born.)

He was a child prodigy and a precocious learner.

The Storyteller has pulled Khalid out of the NPC stable to run him through his backstory, because what the hell is all that. (Also because vaguely sinister not-yet-revealed in-world reasons.) He was in his late 30s when he was captured, so they have to go back pretty far to explain why Khalid did what he did.

Khalid is limited in what he's "allowed" to do because the other characters in his scenes have instructions to keep him alive and to not allow him to witness any magick that might alter his existing Paradigm. He has metaknowledge when he's talking to the Storyteller (he Ascends at some point in his life) but when he's actually in the scene, he's limited by what he knew at the time.

(Was thinking of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Pathologic 2 when I started writing this. The players in the thing are aware they're being fucked with by Fate but their ability to do anything about it varies.)

Because they're considered PCs for the purposes of any scenes I write, they're the ones I have to worry about.

I swear I'm going to answer your question now. This is getting long so I'll toss it under a cut. Apologies to my tag list for the essay on a Saturday morning.

Character Choices/The Process

So I do the same thing to "run" a session in ALM as I do when I'm getting ready to write a chapter in a novel:

Make sure I can answer "What does this character want going into this scene?"

Confirm no one has any injuries or debuffs that are affecting their cognitive function or behavior, and if they do, DON'T FORGET THEM.

Imagine what the worst thing that could happen is, and plan for that in advance.

What's different about ALM is all of the characters have sheets that I put together based on Mage 20th anniversary rules. (I'm using 3rd edition for rules and setting because I'm a twat.)

The characters have the option to cast effects before going into the scene (if they want their bullets to do Aggravated damage, or be able to soak Lethal damage, etc.)

What everybody wants in the scene is unanimous, because they're running "asset retrieval." And everyone agrees on "Khalid has to stay alive." Khalid is highly motivated (in scenes where he's talking to the Storyteller; I'll show the extent to which he was motivated in Part 2) not to do anything that would cause his daughter to not be born, but he also realizes he has minimal control over the outcome of these scenes, so he's not as stressed about it as the PCs are.

I'll use Session 3 as an example.

There were five characters going into that scene:

Luz, a Verbena who was/is considered the cabal's leader and has PTSD as a Flaw.

Cayden, a Son of Ether with PTSD as a Flaw.

Marisa, a Son of Ether with PTSD as a Flaw.

Thiago, a Virtual Adept with Agoraphobia as a Flaw. He will not leave the van on assignments unless it is an emergency, and then only after successfully passing a Willpower check.

Khalid, who I just described. He's 12.

The absolute worst thing that could happen would be Khalid dying, because of the reasons I mentioned above. He can't die, or else everything else falls apart.

Dice Time, Baby!

When we reach a point in the scene where a fail on an action could impact what happens, or they just flat-out aren't paying attention, I make the characters roll dice. I also made Khalid roll dice bc he was afraid of biffing it performing a really easy action. He biffed it. That was some fine writing, there /s

(But Cayden caught him and didn't make fun of him for failing an Athletics roll while encumbered with equipment, so he wouldn't have gotten that locked up in his dorm room.)

There are places where I plan dice rolls. Alertness checks can make or break a scene. The part where the dire wolf attacks them, Marisa botched and they were arguing or doing something that made the Storyteller punish anyone who got fewer than 2 successes.

Combat scenes are where I'm really hands off, and that's the shittiest part of writing TTRPG-style for me. I do not like not being able to physically block out a fight scene. (Shout out to my roommate for letting me slap her around when we didn't have furniture in the living room.) If a character should be able to win a fight, I'm not going to make them lose the fight unless it's imperative that that happens and there are severe extenuating circumstances to explain why a superior combatant should end up wounded and/or killed by his opponent. (I'm thinking of DMLS here.)

Can't do that here.

The first thing that happens in combat in WoD is we roll initiative order. That's Dexterity + Wits added to a 1d10. Khalid almost always ends up last in these situations when he's 12 because he has the Ageing Flaw, which gives him -1 to his Dexterity until he's 15.

Once everyone knows what order they're acting in, the person with the lowest score declares their action. Once we're back at the top of the init order, the person with the highest score acts.

The "person" with the highest score in Session 3 was the dire wolf.

The Storyteller, in the interests of fairness (and because I didn't want to choose LOL) assigned everyone a number, in alphabetical order, and rolled a d4.

It came up a 2. (Khalid.)

Sidebar: The other players were like WHAT THE FUCK so I let them yell at the Storyteller for a little bit before carrying on. Khalid got greased. Like, I think he took 5 damage (Mages have 7 Health Levels) in the first round and was decapitated in the second. There are no saving throws in WoD. I think D&D has them (it's been decades since I played D&D lol) and in Call of Cthulhu if you biff a roll, someone else can help you avoid a penalty by rolling for you. When Cayden decides to revive Khalid, I fell back on what I remember from being an EMT, and what the book says about reviving vs. resurrecting. The Storyteller ruled that if Cayden could repair Khalid's physical body (Technology) and then restart his heart (Medicine) within three turns, it would be good enough.

The beauty of writing it the way I'm writing it is the Storyteller explains most of what's happening, and I do let the characters argue with him when it seems like he's doing something shady. (Like greasing a 12-year-old.)

As a general rule, I don't head hop.

But during the narrative, it feels fair to head hop, since there are five of them, and the four are technically the PCs to Khalid's NPC. Head hopping also helps me figure out what direction the scene might go in.

For example: Luz's decision to jump in and "help" Cayden. It was unnecessary, it interfered with what Cayden was doing (positively! but it did interfere) and left Khalid with a gnarly Flaw. I could have just let it slide, but there are Consequences for performing magick, and she didn't even eat Paradox Backlash for what she did. When Luz sees Khalid in the future, she sees this glowing green scar wrapped all the way around his neck. (And goes "Worth," not "Oh man I should have just let Cayden use mundane effort to help him." #mageshit)

Let's Wrap This Up

The scene I'm writing now, I had to do a bit more finagling, because it's the last session I have planned. This isn't an open-ended story; I have to explain what happened to Khalid that made him go Mad, and I am not trying to come up with another scenario where he might wrack up enough Paradox to slap him into next week.

So "the worst thing that could happen" is I don't answer that question.

That's a failed scenario.

The Storyteller calls "Bullshit."

They have to wash and do it again.

This happened twice before I got the result I needed.

(This may be inspired by the fact I play a lot of "Soulslike" video games, where if you fuck up, you have to start all over and keep going. In R&GAD it's implied [if not outright stated, I haven't read it in a while] that Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern have to do their part in Hamlet over and over because they keep fucking up; in P2, if you fuck up too many times, the only thing you can do is start a New Game.)

Because I have been writing it as a combination of "normal" prose, TTRPG transcripts, and dice rolls (and because my roommate confirmed this is The Play) I am going to show the "failed" attempts. To include the PCs arguing with the Storyteller over why a wash his necessary, because they have gotten attached to Khalid and want to save him, even knowing he is an NPC and they ultimately have no impact on his fate. They think this is bullshit, and have to face the same fact that Khalid has been motoring along with this whole time, which is what they want doesn't matter and the Storyteller is going to do whatever he wants to do.

Is it going to be the longest chapter in existence? Probably.

Is it going to be compelling literature? Fuck if I know!

I apologize for dropping an essay on you. Apparently I have a lot of ~*~thoughts~*~ about this.

Apologies to my tag list. If anybody else wants on it after reading all that let me know XD

@leahnardo-da-veggie @the-golden-comet @cowboybrunch @finickyfelix @lychhiker-writes

[bronx-bomber87]

Good morning all and Happy Saturday we are onto episode 4 of S2.

2x04 Warriors and Guardians

If you need further proof these two are married long before they were dating it's this is ep. S2 is chock full of growth and goodies galore. I love it sfm. Also this episode is the intro of Nyla Harper. Who I absolutely adore. Tim and and Lucy are my top favs obviously. But she is right behind them in terms of characters I love to death. So excited for her to finally have joined this series rewatch. Off we go.

We start off with them talking to Rachel. Lucy hugs her and says happy birthday. Tim clearly has no idea it’s her bday and is feeling slightly out place in the convo. Rachel commends Lucy on her choice of gift. It’s a book 'Aeronautics Through The Ages.' Tim is a little shit and says it sounds like a real page turner. The sassy look Lucy gives him. I wish there was a gif of it haha Tim realizes quickly after Rachel's grandfather did the illustrations for it. That the gift Lucy gave was actually quite meaningful and sweet. Eating his words quickly after….

Tim is clearly feeling slightly awkward he didn't know it was her b-day. That coupled with watching the exchange between Lucy and Rachel. I think Rachel can sense this and asks if they’re still on for Friday. Tim does that lovely smile of his and says yes. Tim spots right away Lucy wants to say something after Rachel has left. He cuts her off at the pass LOL She has the pre-excited going to tell you something face haha Tim doesn't let it get far and squashes said excitement before roll call.

We rejoin our amazing duo in their shop. Lucy doesn't waste a second before starting in on the topic Tim cut off earlier. Rachel’s bday gift from him. Completely disregarding his grumpy behavior from before. Lucy tells him not to worry he’s riding with the world's best gift giver. She asks him what he’s thinking about getting her? Tim tells her nothing. Lucy is in instant judging mode. Tim goes on to say it’s only been two weeks. That it would be weird to get her something. Lucy then re-frames her question to him. ‘So, you just wish her happy birthday, and now you’re done?’ He’s so confident at first with his yep. It's quickly demolished by Lucy's loaded 'Okay....'

Tim looks over at her and see’s her facial expression. It's so damn telling. He knows he’s in trouble with his answer. Lucy's face says it all. I'm dying haha What I love so very much about this scene is that silent communication on Lucy’s end. Tim knows her so well all he has to do is look over and know he'll be in the dog house if he does nothing. Her face is saying 'It's your funeral...'

Literally all Lucy has to do is say ‘Okay’ and her body language and expression does the rest of the work. He questions his choice because of this. Tim then breaks and says he could get her something small…Lucy’s face in the final gif is perfection. She has won the first part of this battle and knows it. She is happy he has seen the light. Her face is basically saying 'There we go...' haha Look at him listening to his wifey's advice. Didn’t even fight her that much on it. So proud of him. Look at this glow up haha

They respond to their first call at a hospital. Tim is pitching Lucy gift ideas. Ironically he strikes out with his first idea. A baseball game. Having Chenford being canon now all his ideas would sit just fine with Lucy. He has no idea he is trying to give Rachel, Lucy gifts LOL Their convo gets interrupted by their call. Two social media wannabes stormed into this poor sick kids room and started posing with him.

They get arrested for trespassing and photographing a minor without a parents consent. Then the cutest thing ever happens. The kid comes out and asks for a pic with Tim and Lucy. They happily pose with him. I’m diabetic at how sweet this is. Look how happy they are to do it. Also you know their arms are touching behind that pillow. It’s the little things hehe.

Back at the station they’re booking their insta wanna be’s. Tim is trying once again to seek Lucy's approval on his next gift idea. I adore the fact that he is not only reaching out her opinion but relying on it heavily. He knows she’s going to be honest with him about them. Another foundation is being put in place here. He values her opinion and is letting her know that whether he realizes it or not. Also shall we talk about the fact there is little to no personal space between them in these shots? A theme I constantly love . One I have to remark on cause it's so obvious how they are always so drawn to each other. They don't even know they're doing it.

The fact they’re having a convo about a shooting range kills me. He literally went to paintball with Lucy haha Their banter in this scene is fantastic. Tim poorly defends his idea saying he sees couples all the time at the shooting range. No love you don't, you and Lucy are the couple that would do that and you would see. Not Rachel….

Lucy shoots down the shooting range idea instantly. No regrets on her part. Lucy isn't pulling any punches with him. She is right when she says once again he isn’t picking it for her. It truly is a terrible idea for Rachel. The sass she gives him. 'All the time?' He can't even fight her on it and knows it's a losing idea. He is so cute in his defeat though. Strike 2 for Tim.

Lucy gets a call from Nolan and Tim's interest is piqued. He tells her to answer it. Lucy does but not before she calls him out for why he wants her to. Tim clearly isn’t a fan of Harper's and wants more intel on her. Lucy makes sure to note this before answering haha The best part of this stage of their development is the two way sass. It’s not just Lucy lobbing sass grenades. Tim has his own pile now and is chucking them right back at her. It’s glorious. Brought out his playful/sassy side and it's here to stay.

Nolan asks them if it’s worse to disobey a direct order from your T.O. or to stand by and watch them get killed? Lucy looks Tim in the eyes and says depends on the TO....The Heart Eyes Lucy look at your heart eyes madam. Directed right at him this time. But she doesn't know why she's so invested in him and his love life....So very transparent and I’m not mad at it haha Clearly neither is Tim. He advises Nolan best he can about his situation before he hangs up.

Tim and Lucy are on the perimeter of a stakeout and back to the topic of the day. Tim is irritated because Lucy has shot down every single idea he has had. Lucy reiterates he is picking gifts he would like. (Or the woman sitting to your right would…) Tim once again tries to defend his choices. Saying it's not just guy stuff that Isabel loved doing this kind of stuff for gifts with him.

Let’s take a second to be proud of Tim. A moment of growth is happening here. I want to note and appreciate it. He brought Isabel up. It wasn’t even in a moment of sadness or anger. Lucy replies about her with her own opinion saying Rachel has different interests than she did. Biggest part of this is Tim concedes to her point. No rage or saltiness. Just agreement. He’s come so far. We may now dive back into the scene. This mini rant was sponsored by the ‘I’ll never stop being proud of Tim and his growth’ foundation heh.

Tim FINALLY comes to the conclusion he had been fighting all damn day. Lucy is right and he is wrong LMAO That his ideas aren’t working and he should just listen to her. Lucy knows what she is talking about and should just take her ideas for a gift. Lucy is so cute with her smile and reply and tells him basically haha You know she's thinking what took you so long? This woman been schooling Tim in ‘Lucy Lessons’ long before she coined that in S5.

Just listen to your wife Tim. She’s always right and you benefit from that. Her cute smile in that last gif is the best. She’s won another battle with Tim and knows it. He does too written all over his face. So annoyed she is in the right on this one and he can’t fight it not even a little. Happy wife happy life Timothy hehe. Lucy has his number and there is nothing he can do about it. He tries so hard to push back and not let her further into his life and she continues to creep in. To create more cracks in his armor and slowly destroy that wall of his.

This action shop is epic. Love Chenford coming in like complete BAMF'S to bail out Harper and Nolan. They don't miss a beat before they join them in the fight. I always love watching them in the field together. So in sync. Makes me happy to watch them in action. Such a power couple.

Grey has Harper apologize to John in front of Tim and Lucy. Its for putting him in danger for her own gain. He naturally takes it too far. Makes a meal out of it cause Harper can't stop him. He thinks a lot of himself afterwards till he turns around and sees Tim’s face lmao. The face he’s making in the pic below. The amount of judgement I’m dying. Eric you are a treasure. He tells Nolan ‘You always have to push it….’ So damn funny. Lucy is smiling and trying not to laugh as she follows Tim out. He can’t even with Nolan most of the time and it always cracks me up.

Tim follows Lucy’s advice with Rachel’s gift. He is pretty darn cute when he gives her his gift all poorly wrapped. It is nice to see him excited about someone. After all the drudgery of Isabel Tim deserves this. He deserves the world IMO. But I just love this man to pieces so. He got her a very specific plane for them to build on their date Friday. It’s adorable and Lucy crushed it. Tim knows now going forward how important Lucy's opinion is to him and for him. This is proof of that. I said last review his scenes with Rachel had purpose. This is just another facet of that. This situation proving him to how valuable that opinion is ❤️

~~~~

Side notes -non chenford. Now that Nyla has arrived this will get a little beefier. Her intro is epic af. The way she tricks Nolan and finds out he’s a guardian and not a warrior. It’s so funny how badly Nolan bombs his first impression with her.

What I love so much about Nyla is she takes zero crap from Tim. Not even for a second it’s hilarious. She schools him a little too. Her finishing line of their first scene 'Don't get your panties in a twist handsome, not say you're not tough. Just saying you're not me.' Look at Angela's face after she says that LMFAO She knows he just got put in his place. Tim is none too pleased. He doesn’t like how she rubs him the wrong way. Also with her character arc she’s basically the female version of Tim and I love it.

She’s so abrasive in the beginning (just like Tim was….) they gotta be or you wouldn’t see the astounding difference when they grow. Angela is enjoying her cause she gives Tim a hard time it’s so funny. Ever the best friend with him with him when she says 'She loves her' when Nyla walks away hahaha

I do love watching the bond develop between Nyla and John it’s fun to watch. And we get insight into why Harper with her Golden ticket took a position of TO. Her daughter. And so her SL begins and I love it sfm. As always thanks to all of you who like/comment and reblog these reviews. You make my whole day every time it happens. I shall see you all in 2x05 :)

[portra400s]

MUN INTRO: hey! my name's peyton [th/th, cst, 21+] & i'll be writing for sverre olsen, lee hyeon, selena palacio & dylan hwang here. you can find me on discord @ #seamonkeydefender & please feel free to add me w/o asking as well! discord is my preferred plotting method. all of my characters are on sideblogs aside from sverre, so i will be dming from this blog when necessary... hehe

CHARA INTRO: first up, sverre olsen. he's a 26yr old grad student studying @ jeju natl university on the gks scholarship. he's an assistant editor for the local paper, but mostly works remotely as he spends a lot of time in jeju city for school. currently on his ~2nd year of living in yuseong bay. you can view his stats here & his pinterest here if interested!

answer the following prompts, either ooc or ic!

when did your muse first arrive in yuseong bay?: technically, about three and a half years ago when he did a semester abroad @ jeju natl uni as an undergrad student. he was living in jeju city, but a friend brought him to yuseong bay to see the meteor shower and he kind of fell in love with the place, which prompted him to consider doing the entirety of his grad studies in jeju. obviously, things ended up working out in his favor and he moved to yuseong bay two years ago.

what does an average day look like for your muse?: wake up at 6:30am, check on his cat (let her in if she spent the night outside; let her out if she spent the night inside) / make sure she has food, get ready, grab a quick coffee & breakfast @ andante cafe, catch the bus to jeju city, hate his life for about 7 hours, catch the bus back to yuseong bay, check on his cat (let her in if she spent the day outside; let her out if she spent the day inside), spend the rest of his evening working thru his laptop, which he will usually do in a public setting in order to people watch and daydream about having more friends than he does, try to go to bed by 10:30pm, usually lay awake regretting until midnight. rinse, repeat.

where can your muse usually be found?: around 7:30am he'll make a brief appearance at cafe andante (every weekday) / 8am to 3pm he'll be in jeju city @ jeju natl uni (mon, tues, thurs, fri) / frequently makes appearances at daeyanghwa florals to buy himself flowers, usually around 5:30/6pm / stops by ojo records about once every two weeks to see if anyone's given up any old records that might be up his alley / seen in the vicinity of hanwha resort wednesdays around 11:30am for undisclosed reasons, shut up, no you didn't see him there, that must've been someone else / does his weekly grocery shopping at lemon martes on wednesdays somewhere between 2pm and 5pm, usually loiters for a bit hoping to have a meetcute (hasn't happened yet, maybe next time?).

how does your muse feel about hanwha resort?: admittedly indifferent, but the general consensus suggests that he shouldn't be too into the idea, so he'll talk his fair share of shit if the social situation calls for it. unfortunately his parents chose to purchase a timeshare as an excuse to be closer to him for at least two weeks out of the year, so that's both making sverre truly hate the place but also making the locals think he's a supporter since his name is also on the timeshare and he has to attend the seminars.

is there an aspiration for your muse to stay in or leave yuseong bay?: eh... he's got a stray cat that's taken a shine to him, he's on a full-ride scholarship and still has another year to go before he gets his master's degree, and rent's cheaper here than it is in jeju city, so he's got reasons to stay at least for the next year. however, he doesn't romanticize yuseong bay like he used to & wouldn't be opposed to relocating—regardless, he'll have to go back to the netherlands once he's done with school, soooo...

answer the following, ooc!

list your muse's three favorite songs: annie's song by john denver, chateau lobby #4 (in c for two virgins) by father john misty, my girl by the temptations; a fan of emotionally-charged, old (or old-sounding) love songs.

describe your muse's wardrobe: “grandpacore,” to put it simply. a color palette of neutrals in vintage inspired pieces. a lot of chunky sweaters, loose trousers & loafers, has sometimes been told that his fashion choices are “reminiscent of oatmeal,” whatever that means. occasionally breaks out a bold t-shirt or sweatshirt with some ironic phrase on it. accessorizes with messenger bags, dad hats, minimal gold jewelry & retro (sun)glasses. has a collection of converse high-tops, but rarely wears them these days.

color, word, and emoji to describe your muse: beige, "oatmeal", 🧸

three strong likes and dislikes for your muse: really likes animals (especially ones that people are usually afraid of or grossed out by, i.e possums, insects, rodents), the sound of the ocean (including putting a big shell up to his ear to "hear the ocean"), laughing / really doesn't like ac/dc, traveling by taxi, action movies.

three positive and negative traits for your muse: positive affectionate, sincere, intelligent / negative obsessive, irrational, dependent.

three talents and shortcomings for your muse: talents cooking, picking up new words, befriending wild critters / shortcomings can't drive, nervous about making phonecalls, low spice tolerance.

a relevant goal or arch for your character to overcome: at the moment, sverre's an assistant editor for the local newspaper; in the remaining time that he'll be in yuseong bay, he would like to be promoted to just... an editor... but that probably won't happen. aside from that, he's currently The Loser of Yuseong Bay so it would be nice to see him gain more confidence in himself / make meaningful friendships!

[briizney]

Stranger - Choi San

☆main masterlist | ★Ateez masterlist | ☆Riize masterlist | ★Series Masterlist

Bathroom- Montell Fish

—a/n: The Will To Power tour being announced on my 19th birthday set off something in me to start writing (again...). This fic has honestly been a wip for 4-3 months so I've finally found it in me to finish a few chapters and post. Enjoy!! (This first chapter is just a bit of an intro to all the characters and the plot) btw this has barely been proofread and i rushed the Yunho part (IM SORRY)

—Pairing: Choi San x Fem. reader x Ex bf.Jeong Yunho

—Series Warnings : (18+ - minors dni) fluff, angst, smut, cussing/mature language.

—Genres: college au, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers.

—Chapter warnings: cussing/mature language, BAD writing, mentions of sex/ implied jokes, Drinking, ANGST, arguments, Eunseok (riize), Jungwon (enhypen) and Lia (Itzy) are all readers friends, lia is readers roomate, mentions of other ateez members. (I HAVENT DONE THIS IN AGES BARE WITH ME)

—Word Count: 1.1K (ish)

"Are you going to the party on Saturday?" Lia asks, plopping down on your bed, pulling out her phone in the process. party? in finals week?  

"I thought you said you didn't go to parties anymore because of Wooyoung and its finals week... I'm not failing this semester" you protested. 

"Firstly," she began whilst walking towards her wardrobe "I do like going to parties... I just don't like Wooyoungs friends constantly going on, saying, "I bet you've had a taste of Wooyoungs weiner" especially that San guy, mother fucker." she cursed. " And if you're that stressed about finals, I'll help you study when I recover from the amazing hangover, I'm about to bring on myself... is it a deal?"  

"Deal" you said, also making your way to the wardrobe to pick something to wear. 

"Is this too much? I mean I know it's just a house party but like... a dress? it's a nice dress Li but I don't think it matches the uh... vibe"  

This was just an excuse... you didn't want to go to this party, for all you cared you would much rather be at home binge watching the latest shows you've been watching or rewatching your favorite films. 

"You're lying to yourself Y/n, we've been to a fuck tone of parties this year, and you've worn something like this every time." She grumbled. 

"It's different this time." 

"How? because Yunho isn't eating you out at the end of the night?"  

"Lia! Don't be stupid, I'm just tired and in need of some..." 

"Dick," she cut you off " you need a one-night stand, you're too set on Yunho" 

"Maybe that's a good thing."  

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And if being in love with your ex is still desperate, you're willing to go that far. 

"Or maybe we can try and get you out your shell? There are other guys out there who'll let you finish on their face"  

"What if I only want to finish on his face" you stated. 

"Then you have some weird shit going on in your head y/n, you two broke up 2 months ago, probably more than that," she said while giving you a look that could kill you if you said anything else " and besides... maybe wooyoung has a hot single friend you could mess about with. Please just listen to me for once and have some fun?" 

So now you're at a college frat party watching people pour alcohol on themselves for fun. Great. And even better the person who always lightens your mood... Wooyoung. Approaching you and your best friend at full speed. Fucking hell. If your evening could get any worse just let it happen now. 

"Heya ladies" he said whilst wrapping an arm around Lia's waist. What even are they at this point? Fuck buddies? For all you know, whenever he shows up, Lia ends up disappearing and that's your queue to go and sit in the toilet for the rest of the night.  

"Hi, woo," she replied leaning into his chest. Great. "wanna go grab a drink?" Fuck you.  

"Yeah sure," fuck the both of you. "You coming y/n?"  

"I'm good I might go and talk to Jungwon I think he's over there," you smiled and kissed your teeth.  

So, saying this night has gone bad is an overstatement. Besides, you still needed to do the wordle of today. My god. Is this what lifes become? 

"Okay so if it's not an a ther-" you muttered to yourself before someone knocked on the door. 

"You okay in there?" Yunho? "I was just gonna check on you, y/n, make sure you werent blowing up the toilet or something."  

Opening the door, you looked up at him. And now on top of your ex being a few centimeters away from your face, your heart was also racing faster than it has in a long time. By the flush on his cheeks, you could tell he was drunk. This probably explains why he was now walking towards you leaving you with the only option of stumbling back into the bathroom.  

“Are you drunk?” you asked as he placed his hands on your waist. “Actually, I don't want to know,” removing his hands you sat down on the toilet.  

“y/n don't be like this”  

“Be like what!?” You're now standing, “Did our relationship mean nothing to you? Did I mean nothing to you? I’m not like Lia, okay? I don’t fuck about with people because I don’t mind not having commitment and closure. It’s your fault this Wack relationship ended. Then you just forget about me for a few months and act like you give a shit when you wanna get laid” You borderline screamed. Rule number one: never be afraid to raise your voice at a man with an over inflated ego, especially not an ex-boyfriend. 

“Did you really think I was gonna fall back into your arms Yunho? You broke my fucking heart!” 

“y/n I jus-”  

“Get out, don't speak to me till you'll be sober enough to remember this conversation in the morning.”

So it was dramatic and you’re stupid. Yunho finally gave you a chance and you fucked up. Actually no. He fucked up. Relationships are a waste of time. 

More knocking.  

“Fuck off Yunho.”  

This time instead of your wide-eyed ex storming in, a tall guy in a white tank top peeps his head round the door.  

“Oh, I'm sorry,” you said wiping tears from your face.  

You’d be stupid to say this guy wasn’t slightly your type. He looks like a Frank Ocean song to put it nicely.  

“I didn’t mean to interrupt, sorry, but could I use the bathroom?”  

“Oh, sure go ahead.” you replied stepping out of the toilet. 

After this guy had finished... his business he came out and smiled at you.  

“Not one for parties then?”  

“How could you guess.” Maybe it was your low standards or the fact you’ve spent the last 2 hours crying and playing candy crush, but you haven't smiled this hard all week. 

“There’s just a vibe about you, it’s the “I don't wanna be here my friend dragged me along don't speak to me” look” 

“Your right about the “my friend dragged me along part,” maybe add on “she left me to go hook up with some guy” and you’d be spot on” You hinted.  

“Well, we’d be in the same boat then. “My friend left me to hook up with a girl he won’t commit to” sound familiar?”  

“Very.” You smiled 

“San, my names San... By the way.” 

“As in Wooyoungs friend?” 

“Ever met another San?”  

“Not that I can remember.” you answered.  

“Your name?”  

“Y/n, Lia’s friend.” You implied. 

“Woah as in... wooyoungs like... whatever they are.” 

So, this is San? All of Lia's comments about him being a mother fucker weren't as true as you thought. He seemed like a gentleman. He hadn’t tried to make a move on you, or any other stupid shit like most guys at these shitty things. 

He seemed nice enough to at least hang about with till Lia got so drunk she would black out.  

This evening could go better than you thought.