#Die Like the Butterfly Shoot With Their Guns

[rose-pearls]

You're losing me

Inspired by the song You're Losing Me from Taylor Swift, that completely destroyed me.

Warnings: angst, cursing, men

Part 2

Top Gun. 

Your father had talked about it every chance he had and now here you were ready to join the new class. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell had always been a mystery to you, the only time you saw him were at your birthdays and sometimes at Christmas. Your mother would tell you that he had another family, that he preferred and that you shouldn’t hope for him to come back.

And in the end, you did stop, birthdays coming up with only a postcard and after time you didn’t knew what he looked like anymore. The only reason you still heard about him was because of the Navy, everyone knew him and just for that you were getting judged. 

Getting the callsign Fire didn’t help either but slowly you started showing what you were made of and the captain’s stopped comparing you to your father. 

Now heading into Top Gun, you knew it wasn’t going to be easy, even more cocky pilots who thought they were better than you just because they were men. But you had fought that your whole life, not time to stop now. 

The Hard deck was filled with people as you entered with Steph by your side, the two of you had been flying together since the Academy and by some luck got called together. The pool table is surrounded by pilots, and you know immediately that they will be with you. Dress whites and cocky smiles, that will certainly be your class.

Penny introduces herself before telling you that if you have any issues, you can always come to her, and she will handle it. 

“Ready for your first day tomorrow?”, she asks with a knowing grin and the both of you smile at her slightly nervous.

“Not sure what to expect but excited.”, she smiles and before she can answer a costumer arrives.

Steph takes you to the pool table and the other pilots, already getting to know each other. A blond man is talking to another dark-skinned pilot, and you can’t help but admire him, the man is truly handsome. 

“Well, well would you look at that. Two new recruits”, the man says, a cocky smile on his lips and you can’t help but blush slightly under his gaze as he looks at you. Steph scoffs before looking at him unimpressed.

“And you are?” he smirks at her reaction and turns towards what you assume to be his friend.

“Hangman, and this here is Coyote.”, Coyote smiles in response and you nod back.

“What about you two pretty ladies.”, even if he seems to be quite the asshole you can’t help but feel butterflies in your stomach at the sound of his southern accent.

“I’m Thunder and this is Fire.”, that seems to surprise the two of them, just for a moment. It’s the typical reaction, your last name was quite known just like Steph as her father was Cyclone.

“Two legacies then. We’ll see what you ladies can do in the air and if you didn’t just get in because of your father’s names.”, he smirks, like a cat that got the cream, and you can’t help but scowl at his insinuation.

“I don’t know what you are insinuating Bagman but don’t go there.”, you tell him, and he looks at you surprised for a moment, the quiet chatter around the pool table has stopped and everyone is looking at the two of you wondering what was going to happen.

“Hangman.”, he tells you with a smirk as he comes incredibly close to you, which means you have to lift your head in order to look him in the eyes.

“Whatever.”, you say before turning around towards Steph who is smiling like a proud mother.

Hangman leaves to join his friends again and even if you do not like the man after this first meeting you can’t help but feel butterflies at the sight of him. The butterflies needed to die fast.

“He can be a real pain in the ass.”, a voice tells you and you turn around to see another female pilot.

“Hadn’t figured that out.”, Steph says sarcastically, and you shoot her a look before turning towards the other pilot.

“Well hopefully we won’t have to do this too often. I’m Fire.”, you tell her, and she smiles at your words.

“Unfortunately, he doesn’t give up easily. And I’m Phoenix.”, you had heard about her before but just in passing, you knew about her training accident that gave her, her call sign.

--

The next week had been hell, you thought you were a decent pilot, but your instructors were kicking your ass, it didn’t help that Hangman had somehow decided that he wanted to torment you every day.

“What do you want?”, you can’t help but ask in frustration as you see Hangman waiting for you outside the changing rooms, he has a smirk on his face, and you can’t help but think he looks handsome like this.

“Relax, just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out and drink something.”, the words surprise you and you must be showing your surprise as Hangman looks at you with a knowing smile.

“Common, I know you find me attractive, and honestly who could blame you.”, his smirk widens at his words, and you can’t help but blush at the thought of him having seen you checking him out.

“You really are confident aren’t you.”, the stupid smirk doesn’t leave his lips as he comes in front of you, one of his hands going against the wall, trapping you against his body.

“I just know. So, what do you say? You, me tonight?”, you try to focus on the words, you really do but the closeness is just a lot, the smell of his cologne is soft after having worn it all day long, but it still smells the same.

“Sure, why not.”, you try to say confidently but your voice quivers a little and Hangman’s smirk widens.

“Perfect, let’s go.”, he doesn’t give you time to react before leaving the spot and turning around, leaving you there trying to regain your senses. After a second or two you start moving and following him towards his car. 

The ride is awkward at first before he starts talking about today’s hop and you can’t help but start talking about the instructor and how he was getting on your last nerve, making him laugh.

The Hard deck was quieter then the first day and as you enter it you see Penny looking at you curiously, but you ignore it, instead following him to one of the tables.

“So, tell me about yourself.”, he simply says as Penny gives you your drinks and you look at him slightly surprised.

“There isn’t really anything to know, I’m an only child, grew up in California with my mother and when I was old enough, I decided to enlist in the Navy.”, Hangman nods at your words and looks at you with curious eyes.

“Common, I’m sure there must be something that you are hiding.”, he says with a smirk, and you roll your eyes.

“What do you want to know?”, this makes him smile and he takes a moment to think before answering.

“What is something that practically no one knows.”, the question was quite intimate, but you guessed that it was normal to move quickly towards these types of questions.

“I have two tattoos, one on my ribs and the other on my ankle.”, he seems to take a moment to process the information and you can’t help but chuckle at his silence before a smirk appears.

“Aren’t you full of surprises.”, you roll your eyes at his words before asking him the same question and he looks unsure for a bit.

“I lived in Texas, on a ranch my whole life and before I decided to join the Navy, I had never seen a real plane before.”, this makes you look at him in surprise and for a moment he seems sheepish.

“I need to hear all the stories of you at the ranch.”, he laughs in answer before thinking and starting a story of one of the horses.

The rest of the night is spent talking, laughing and reminiscing about your childhood. Hangman, or Jake as he had asked you to call him seemed to be a completely different person after a few hours. More relaxed, less trying to put on a front and you couldn’t help but like the person that you were seeing in front of you.

“Well, this was fun.”, you say softly when the two of you get back to your housing and Jake smiles softly, there is something in his eyes that you can’t decipher but you let it go.

“It was, we should do it again.”, he says, and you can’t help but smile brightly at the idea of him wanting to do this again.

“I would love to.”, you tell him, and a small smile appears on his lips.

“Are you free tomorrow?”, you can only nod in answer, too busy looking into his green eyes and before you know it, he kisses your cheek softly. 

“Good night.”, he whispers softly, and he seems to be ready to leave before you stop him.

“Leaving without a good night kiss.”, you tease him, and he looks surprised for a moment before a small smirk appears.

“Your wish is my command.”, he tells you and you can’t help but laugh at the words before feeling his soft lips on yours. He is delicate, sweet even as he kisses you and the two of you stay there for a moment before he stops the kiss.

“Sleep well.”, he tells you softly, and you nod slowly and tell him to do the same before entering your room and silently jumping up and down in excitement after that night.

--

It had all been going well, the two of you were seeing each other every two days and it was going well until one day you didn’t see Jake and decided to go to his apartment.

He answered at the first knock, but he looked worn out, dark bags under his eyes and he was looking distressed as he stood there.

“Are you okay?”, you ask him softly and Jake takes a deep breath, probably to say that he was but you take a step closer and take a look at him, making sure he was alright. 

“I’m not.”, he manages to whisper, and you whisper his name before taking him into your arms and letting him break down. 

The sobs were breaking your heart and he was holding you as close as he could, like he was somehow scared that you would leave but you held him just as close. 

After what felt like hours he started to calm down and you looked at him with worried eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, you asked slowly, and Jake shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face.

“I’m sorry, you didn’t have to do all of this.”, he says, his voice breaking over the words after crying.

“What? Comfort you? Jake that wasn’t an issue at all, I’m here for you.”, you whisper, and Jake closes his eyes at the words.

“I just-”, you let him figure out the words, knowing that he needs to find them on his own and after a moment he lets out a sigh.

“I’m not used to someone doing that.”, he whispers, so quiet that you nearly don’t hear it but when you do you can’t help but get closer to him.

“it’s scary at first to open up to someone but I’m here to stay Jake, talk to me.”, he looks unsure but after a moment he lets out a shaky breath and you take his hand in yours.

“My parents were never really the cuddling type; my mother preferred a bottle of wine as company and my father his mistresses. Most of the time my father would ignore me and the times he didn’t it was to tell me some stupid shit.”, the words make your blood go cold and you squeeze his hand in reassurance.

“I left immediately when I was able to, haven’t seen them since then but sometimes I still have nightmares.”, a tear rolls down his cheek and you immediately bring him back into an embrace, holding him close and trying to reassure him.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, you didn’t deserve that. If there is anything I can do just tell me.”, you whisper, and Jake holds you tighter.

“Just stay.”, he whispers and clings to you as if he is scared that he was going to lose you.

You spent the rest of the night there, holding him until it was time to get ready, but he stayed close to you all day long. It was weird seeing him like this, but it showed you a more vulnerable side to him that you will always protect, make sure that no one would hurt him again.

--

The final hop was close, and Jake had gone back to his cocky self, flaunting his points to everyone and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes and smile at his antics. 

Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but he was Jake, and that was enough for you. Somehow you believed it had been enough for him too.

What an idiot you were. 

“So Seresin when are you going to drop the girl?”, you hear someone say and you can’t help but freeze in your steps, you had wanted to get some fresh air, but the words made you stop.

“What do you mean Cody?”, it seemed like some of the boys had gotten together to talk, recognizing Coyote, and two other pilots in your class.

“I mean that you won the bet, you asked her out and kissed her. I think it’s time you let the poor girl go.”, the words hit you like a knife in the back, a bet. 

“Didn’t you tell him that he would win 50 dollars more if he got her to go to bed with him? Maybe he is waiting for that.”, Coyote says, and you feel sick at the words.

“I don’t think I will go that far. She is nice and all but not really my type.”, you hear Jake, no Hangman say, and you feel anger coming up as the conversation plays over and over again in your mind.

“Well, at least you got fifty dollars out of it and our respect.”, the two other pilots say, and you want to throw a punch at one of them.

“Fifty dollars? That’s low for you Fishman.”, you hear yourself say and the four of them turn to look at you, eyes wide in fear as your look at them with cold eyes.

“Fire, good to see you.”, he tries to start, stammering over his words but you scoff at his words.

“Don’t bullshit me, get the fuck out of here before I make sure you don’t have any balls left of the small ones you have.”, the two men seem to take that as their cue to leave and hurry back into the Hard Deck. 

Hangman and Coyote are looking at you with mixes of horror etched on their faces.

“I can explain.”, Hangman starts but you let out a laugh, as cold as the ice you had pressed against one of his wounds just a few days ago.

“I’m sure you can but let’s see if I got it right.”, you say before stepping down the peer and approaching the both of them.

“You made a bet about me, betting fifty bucks that you could swoop me of my feet and kiss me before Top Gun was over but later on, they saw that you did it and thought why not add fifty more bucks to see if you could get me to sleep with you. Am I wrong?”, you ask him, and Hangman looks at the ground, shame in his eyes.

“Am. I. Wrong?”, you ask, this time raising your voice, unable to keep your emotions in check any longer. Hangman and Coyote both flinch at your tone and you glare at them.

“No.”, Hangman barely whispers, and you scoff at his answer. The silence following is long, and Hangman opens his mouth multiple times, but nothing comes out.

“Was any of it real?”, you can’t help but ask, your voice wrecked from all of the emotions running through you.

“I’m sorry. It was a bet at the beginning but then I got to know you and-”, he continues to ramble, and you shake your head.

“Stop.”, you whisper, feeling tears in your eyes as you close them, trying to regain your strength.

“I know it was wrong alright, from the moment I saw you.”, he tries to say but you scoff and turn to look at him.

“You had a choice! You had one and chose to still go through with it. You chose to talk shit back there and tell them I wasn’t your type.”, he flinches at your words, but you can’t stop. 

“You lied, made me believe you had feelings for me when in fact you did not. And for what? Fifty fucking bucks.”, you yell, tears brimming in your eyes and Hangman takes a deep breath, but he doesn’t say anything else. 

You wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t, just stay there and you can’t help but feel helpless. 

You leave, unable to still look at him and as you leave you silently hope for him to stop you, to try and win you back even if you wouldn’t take him back. But he doesn’t say anything.

-

And I'm fading, thinking

Do something, babe, say something (say something) Lose something, babe, risk something (you're losing me) Choose something, babe, I got nothing (I got nothing) To believe, unless you're choosing me

-

Steph is the one to hold you that night, trying to console you while probably plotting his murder in her mind. 

“I should have listened to you.”, you whisper at one point, and she looks at you with sadness in her eyes.

“For once I wished, I hadn’t been right about this.”, she whispers, and a sob leaves your lips at her words. Unable to stop the memories from coming back with him, trying to push them back but ultimately you fail.

--

You could’ve stayed in bed that morning, trying to mourn something that wasn’t real from the start, but you couldn’t give them the satisfaction. It was after all the last hop; it would be now or never to prove yourself. 

Steph stayed by your side, looking at you with worried eyes but you ignored her. Moving towards your plane, ignoring everyone who was looking at you.

Hangman hadn’t done well on his last hop, not that you were watching but you had heard everyone whisper about it. You managed to get full points, the anger making you even more brutal than you usually were in the air. 

Admiral Cain had congratulated you as he gave you the Top Gun trophy, but you didn’t feel a single emotion, still feeling like someone had pushed you under water and you couldn’t get out.

The time you did come back was when Hangman tried to approach you, but you turned around to try and leave but he quickly stopped you.

“Please.”, he whispers, and you look at him, he looked like shit but at that moment you didn’t care. You just wanted to hurt him just as much as he had hurt you.

“I’m sorry, I know I did something unforgivable, but you have to believe me when I tell you that it wasn’t all a lie. I fell for you through the hours we spent together, and I know I fucked up but please, give me another chance.”, he was pleading, nearly with his knees on the floor but you looked at him, eyes devoid of emotions.

You take something out of your pocket, fifty dollars. 

“They gave it to me after you refused it. Said that I at least deserved to get it.”, he looks pained at your words, but you don’t care.

He tries to say something, but you shake your head.

“It’s too late.”, you whisper, and he shakes his head at your words, looking at you with sad green eyes.

“You just need to think about it, just for a moment.”

“I don’t, we are done. You made your choices now you need to take responsibility, accept it and move on.”, you whisper, and he looks destroyed, but you ignore it, taking his hand and putting the fifty-dollar bill in his hand.

“This is yours.”, a tear rolls down his cheek but this time you don’t comfort him, you let go of his arm and turn around to leave. 

“You promised you would stay.”, he whispers, and you feel a tear leaving your blinking eyes.

“And you told me you had feelings for me.”, you say, unable to look at him.

“Guess we are both liars.”, a sob leaves his lips, but you turn around, seeing Coyote arriving, knowing that someone was there to take care of him.

Rain started falling as you entered your car and a sob left your lips as you gripped the steering wheel. You knew you had made the right choice, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell.

-

You're losing me Stop (Stop, stop), you're losing me Stop (Stop, stop), you're losing me I can't find a pulse, my heart won't start anymore

#top gun x reader #top gun fanfiction #top gun imagine #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin fanfiction #jake seresin x you #jake hangman x you #jake hangman x reader #top gun movie

[captain-mj]

Small Switch

It was a small thing. They were born at different times. Ghost a few years later and Soap a few years earlier.

Soap went through Roba and Ghost had the luck to be the new member of the SAS.

Just a tiny drabble about them if they switched places :)

Simon was... surprised. Not disappointed. Absolutely not. The man in front of him was only 5'10 but built. Tattoos decorated his arms. Simon caught the symbol of their unit on his inner arm.

"You must be Soap?" He looked at the skull mask. White over black fabric. There were doodles and little lines of color all over it like Soap had decorated it.

"Aye."

Simon had not been expecting Scottish, but it sounded nice. Really nice. "Nice to meet you, sir. Sergeant Riley. I was told I'd be under you."

Soap nodded. "Understood." His eyes were a striking blue behind dark fabric and even darker makeup. Deadly as a rushing river. that would slam him against the rocks until he suffocated. "Follow my lead. Don't die, yeah?"

Simon fell into step with them. For a first meeting, it didn't seem to be going well. He wasn't sure if he did something, but he had been prewarned that Soap was a bit prickly. Well, the exact term Price used when telling Simon about his new team was "Stone cold bastard". It was said with a shocking amount of affection, even if he was clearly very serious.

The mission was uneventful. There were long stretches of silence that Simon liked. It was calming. He could sometimes hear Soap's breath over the comms. Nice and even.

"Why is it so easy to shoot a fish in a barrel?" Simon had no clue why he decided to talk, but he did.

There was a long pause, Soap's breathing disappeared. After it had started to get awkward, Soap spoke up. "Why?"

Simon grinned and glanced at him. "It's already in the gun."

Soap didn't laugh. He was secretly looking at Simon's smile. The soft scarring on his lower lip, possibly from a piercing but it was hard to tell. Dimples. His hair was a bleached blond that was just long enough to be out of regulation and it curled around his jaw.

Soap looked away from him and Simon decided he wouldn't make any more jokes.

That part wasn't important. What was important was the way Soap interacted with him. Cold. Detached. It set Simon on edge.

Until he saw him interact with Gaz. It was exactly the same. Gaz treated him like a friend even though Soap barely acknowledged his presence.

Simon observed them closely. They didn't touch. Gaz was a touchy person. He had grabbed Simon's arm when they met and casually punched other soldier's shoulders and even threw his arm around him. But he didn't so much as brush his hands against Soap.

"So." It was the first time Soap had looked at him since they had been introduced. "Why is your name Ghost?"

"First unit just gave it to him. Said it was because I was quiet."

"Yeah, big guy. Doubt you're that quiet." Soap was clearly a little more interested in him. The interest made Simon's chest feel funny. Butterflies filled his stomach.

"Get fucked."

Soap laughed. Gaz whipped around to watch him before trying to play it off as subtly as he could. "Alright. You're good." He nodded to him before leaving exfil.

Gaz signaled to Simon to wait so he did. They were the same rank, but Gaz had been there longer, so Simon trusted him. "How did you manage that?"

"Manage what?"

"Soap likes you."

"That's him liking someone?"

"Yes! It took me six months for him to even speak in full sentences to me."

Simon shrugged. "I don't know. I just... I don't know."

It was two weeks later. They hadn't had a mission so they were stuck helping train recruits and handle a few things around base. Soap had a surprisingly predictable schedule. He woke up sometime really early in the morning. Ghost couldn't quite figure out how early, because no matter when his insomnia became too much and he just rolled out of bed to start his day, Soap would already be awake and dressed. He had done the math once. There was no way Soap got more than about 2 hours a night. Even that was seeming unlikely.

But every morning, he started a pot of coffee. He used his own. It was labeled and everything with a giant "Do Not Touch: Soap's" on it. Definitely smelled way better than what everyone else used. He drank it over the hours from whenever he woke up to 7 am when everyone else was finally up, showered, dressed and ready to start the day.

There were several mornings when Ghost and Soap would be the only people up for a few hours. Just the two of them. Soap never asked what kept him up. Ghost never asked him either.

Simon wanted to tell him. For some reason. That he dreamed of his dad. Or that he worried he'd come home from leave to find his Mum beaten again. But he never broke that silence. He just made a cup of tea for himself and sat next to him.

"You want to try it?" He offered to Soap one morning. Soap had the mask on. Ghost hadn't seen him do more than lift it slightly. And even then, it was only times like these. When no one was around but Simon.

Soap shook his head. "Not a fucking brit. Thanks." He continued drinking his coffee.

"Must get tiring. Being surrounded by us."

Soap was quiet for a minute. The cup of coffee was slightly lowered so Ghost could see the scarring. Deep Glasgow's. A line over his throat, right along where his Adam's apple was when he spoke. "What is the biggest export for Britain?"

Simon tilted his head, a bit confused. "Fuck, I don't know. What?"

"Independence days." Soap didn't laugh. He said it so dead pan, Simon almost didn't realize he was joking. And then he did and he was laughing like an idiot at 4:30 am in a kitchen with a man he was told was the embodiment of death.

Johnny, because Soap was not the one that thought Simon was pretty, felt his breath catch. Simon's cheeks had turned red. His laugh was just like his voice. Deep and rumbly and handsome. It took Simon a minute to compose himself, which gave Johnny plenty of time to take his fill of him and make sure he didn't show a single sign of anything. Slipping his metaphorical mask back on since he still wanted to drink his coffee.

Simon put his hand on his shoulder for just a few seconds as he passed him to sit down and Johnny's whole world melted down into that point of contact. His shoulder felt warm from the touch even through Ghost's gloves and his own clothes.

"Knew you had a sense of humor."

Four days later, Simon decided he wanted to show Soap exactly why he got his namesake. He saw him across from Gaz and silently moved closer. Even Gaz and Price, who were facing his general direction, didn't notice him. Both were distracted with other things to give them a little credit, but still.

Simon stopped when he was right behind Soap, standing just so so his shadow didn't fall on him.

"Hey, Johnny."

Soap really, really did not mean to. But as soon as he turned and saw how close Simon was standing, he hit him hard enough in the gut for him to double over and then pinned him face first into the ground.

Soap pressed him down by his head so his cheek pressed to the floor.

Simon's hair was soft. Really soft. It curled around his fingers and Soap realized with a jolt that Price had his arms around Soap, trying to yank him off.

"Jesus, Simon. Why the fuck would you think that was a good idea?" Price snapped at him.

Simon stared at Soap and Johnny felt sick when he saw how scared he looked. It was wrong. He never wanted Simon to be scared of him.

Gaz helped Price yank Soap back, who hadn't actually gotten off of him. "He asked him why his callsign was Ghost a few weeks back and said he didn't believe he was quiet. Were you trying to prove that?"

Simon touched his face. Soap had busted his lip when he had slammed him down. He looked at the blood for a minute.

"It was just an accident. Forgot to make noise."

Soap thought that was odd that Simon's default was silence instead of the other way around. He had a funny feeling Simon was lying about the accident part.

"Won't happen again, Captain. I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I didn't mean to startle you." It was clipped. Perfect professional speech.

Price nodded, clearly not believing him either but if Soap wasn't trying to yank out of his arms to get at Simon, it was okay to let it be. "Go to medical. Make sure you didn't crack a rib."

Simon nodded and quickly stood up. His footsteps didn't make a sound.

Soap swallowed. "Guess he can be quiet..."

No one laughed.

#call of duty modern warfare #simon ghost riley #johnny soap mactavish #call of duty modern warfare ii #ghostsoap #soapghost #call of duty #shifter au #cod mw2

[cantheykillmacbeth]

So, if a man of woman born tries to have some other being or force kill Macbeth on his behalf, then the prophecy will thwart that, yes? How far does this caveat go in your eyes?

Let's assume the prophecy works by manipulating probability to make anything that can go wrong in one's plan to kill Macbeth fail, such as your gun jamming if you try to shoot him, because it doesn't exactly seem like Macbeth has any supernatural abilities of his own.

Now let's add in our hypothetical man of woman born, let's call him John Faith. John Faith has the supernatural power to see all the threads of fate and probability at once, and understands every consequence and butterfly affect for every action done. Additionally, let's make it so John Faith can rewind his actions to any time he has been alive before that moment, and that he can freeze time to give him additional room to think on his omniscience. And finally, John Faith is fully immortal unless Macbeth dies of unnatural causes, and John lives within the universe of Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

John Faith's one goal in life is to cause Macbeth's unnatural death so that John himself can finally die. However, John is a man, born through a standard vaginal birth, with his birthing parent being a woman. John, knowing all potential futures, is aware of Macbeth's prophecy, but he decides to try and find a way to arrange Macbeth's GUARRANTEED death, prophecy be damned.

Given enough rewinds and all the knowledge of potential futures and full understanding of the butterfly affect, could John Faith from @localtransvamp 's Macbeth AU hypothetical KILL Macbeth?

If I'm understanding what you're trying to say... then I think John Faith would need to get someone else to kill Macbeth for him, assuming this second person would be able to kill Macbeth (woman, c-section baby, child of trans man, etc.). He could potentially hire a hitman for this, or, with his power, could see exactly what actions he would need to take to culminate in someone else killing him via the butterfly/domino effect.

As an example of that second one: John Faith puts a lightning rod on a tree next to a road. Thunderstorm hits, lightning strikes tree, tree falls onto road, road is blocked. Sir Caesar Section, a wanted anti-monarchy criminal on his way to Somefuck City, now needs to take a detour through Dunsinane via Birnam Wood. Not happy about it; already very irritable today. Goes to Dusninane (probably running into several other frustrations planted by John Faith along the way and getting a bunch of sticks in his hair), can't keep a low profile, gets put in Dunsinane jail. Breaks out, rampage, Macbeth caught in cross-fire and killed. Congratulations, John Faith has fulfilled his life-long dream of killing Macbeth (kinda).

Now, sometimes, we've had situations where Person A using Person B to kill Macbeth wouldn't work, but that is almost always because Person A is possessing Person B, essentially using B's body as the murder weapon (see: Emperor Belos). But in the case where Person A gets Person B to kill Macbeth via hiring them or stringing them along, the murder is still attributed to Person B instead of Person A (see: Rube Goldberg Machine).

Uh. Thank you for your submission?

#asks #unique exception #“im not reading all that are you kidding me? who sent me an entire college essay??” #“...oh thats one of my regulars. now i actually have to do this dont i”

[writingsofmax]

Disarm pt. 23

Words: 1.8 K

Summary: Y/N finds herself in trouble and Edward goes to save her. Warnings: gun violence, shooting in a public place, general canon-typical violence, puking, graphic depictions of illness

Tags: angst, violence, kidnappin Author's note: self conscious about this chapter because I am not an action writer but I did my best. writing this was like pulling teeth. sorry for the long wait everyone. ALSO as always, a very special thank you to @e-moneyyy for helping me with some of the writing in this chapter!!!!! i would die without her

ALSO: this is the penultimate chapter of disarm so Thankyou to everyone who’s been reading this

Chapter 23- Bullet With Butterfly Wings

“She has medical problems with her heart.”

Y/N was nauseous. Her heart thumped erratically in her chest and her head pounded as she opened her eyes. She couldn’t get a read on her surroundings as each shape and object in the room bled into the next. It registered that people were talking but she could only make out some of what they were saying. “You gave her what!? Oh Jesus Christ, you—” the words fuzzed out again as she struggled to gain her bearings,”--she might die before he even gets here.” Another man answered, but she was unable to understand it. She realized dully after a moment that she couldn’t move, her ankles were tied and her arms were restricted behind her back. She was seated against the wall of a large room, the bricks cold against her back.

She coughed and slumped down on the floor, drool running in rivulets out of her mouth. I’m gonna puke. “You alright, sweetheart?” A voice asked. She couldn’t bring herself to answer and just watched from the ground as a pair of clean, black leather shoes approached her. They stopped a foot away from her face, before the person wearing them crouched down. I’m gonna die here. “Come on.” The voice said, as hands grabbed her shoulders and propped her back up against the wall, “Up you go.” As her vision came back into focus, she looked at his face. Carmine Falcone. This is bad. Another voice from across the room asked, “Are you sure that this guy that’s coming is… safe? What if he tries something?” I’m gonna die here.  Falcone stopped inspecting her for a second to turn and answer, “I’m certain we’ll lose a few men, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” 

“I’m sorry about all of this unpleasantness,” Falcone apologized, turning his attention back to her, “Here. Let’s get you out of these ropes, huh?” He said, slowly untying her restraints. “Get that circulation going a little better.” 

She just nodded dumbly at him, unable to move or talk. Waves of nausea ripped through her as her body shook. Even with her ankles untied, there was no way she could stand. She realized as he undid the ties on her arms, that she could barely move those either. 

I’m gonna die here. Another man approached Falcone, handing him a blanket, which he then laid on top of Y/N. “Lose a few men?” The man asked. “Well he is an emotionally unstable guy.” Falcone replied. She wondered if it would be better to just give up completely. She could just ask Falcone to kill her. Like most Gothamites, she knew how gangs operated and knew that Falcone had no intention of letting her leave alive. She took a deep heaving breath, but oxygen wasn’t making it to her lungs. Move. Get up. She tried, but her limbs had turned to stone. This useless body. Always letting me down. 

She was going to die here and her life hadn’t meant much of anything. She had spent years feeling like she was dead already. Life was something everyone else got to have, but not her. Her days were filled with pain and fatigue, spending days in bed, and being a burden for everyone else to worry about. That could be over if she just let it. A wave of nausea ripped through her then, causing her to empty the contents of her stomach onto the concrete floor. Shit. 

The group of men considered her for a moment, while Falcone snapped his fingers at them.

“Clean that up before he gets here.” 

He…? She wondered as one of the men came over with a rag. He gets here…Oh… She winced as she tried to focus her eyes, but the room kept spinning. Eddie… he means Eddie..

Edward. She wanted him to come— to be able to see him one last time before the end, but then he would die too. Falcone would kill him. Falcone must have figured it out…She cursed herself. She had known this was going to end badly from the beginning, but hadn’t put a stop to any of it. Too late now. She wasn’t going to try to run, she was far too weak for that anyway. Besides, what chance would she have against a mob boss and his goons? Her entire body ached. She laid down on the concrete, pulling the blanket under her head just to rest her eyes. It won’t be long now. Won’t be long at all until he kills me. Strangely, she felt relieved at that. There wasn’t much to miss in her life, she had been alone and at odds with the world these last couple of years. Well maybe not alone. Eddie had been there towards the end. But what had she done except worry him every day? He didn’t need to live his life caring for her. Thinking of his face caused her pain. 

I am not the bright and beautiful girl you say I am, Eddie. She didn’t want to continue being a millstone around his neck. 

In fact, he was probably going to die now because of her. Just another person caught in the black hole of her life. And still, she wanted to see him. Before Eddie, everything had been so lifeless. She had been living the same day every day, but then she ran into him that night. On that night, she had thought she was going to die, but for some reason she had chosen to live. She fought for her life by running away even when it felt like her lungs were gonna give out. And that choice she had made, the choice to stay alive, led her to Edward. Eddie opening the car door, the street lights reflecting off of his glasses. Eddie’s hands that had not touched her yet, but would, on the steering wheel. Before they had known each other. How her life had changed since then.  So are you gonna die here? A little voice inside of her asked. Or are you gonna get up?Is your life over? Are you gonna die here? Moments with Edward flitted through her mind. Curled up on the couch with him on a lazy weekend afternoon, Eddie reading to her in bed.  Getting food at the diner with him when she was feeling well enough to. Autumn walks through the park with their hands intertwined. That electric feeling at the estate sale when he had grabbed her hand for the first time, but not the last. 

Is your life over? Are you gonna die here?  Memories of kissing him, touching him. The long conversations they would have about anything. They were small things, maybe even silly things to most people, but to her it was a life. 

Is your life over?

She couldn’t go for a walk with him whenever she wanted. She couldn’t even be a person that got out of bed every day. She hated those things about herself. She wanted to be normal. But even though she wasn’t, her life had started to become enjoyable again despite it. It was the little things that made her heart rebel against the thought of not seeing him again. Are little things enough to make a life out of? 

Are you going to die here?

Isn’t that all anyone’s life is? A collection of moments big and small that you create meaning from? Get up. Falcone hadn’t left her tied up. The two other men had left. It was just her and him in the room. He had a gun at his side.  Get up. 

—————?————— Edward was outside of the iceberg lounge right on time.

He knocked on the large metal door covered in graffiti and stickers and it swung open. 

“Password?” A large man asked, having to yell over the sound of the deafening music coming from within the club.   Edward laughed, “I have a question for you, actually!”

The man behind the door wasn’t amused, “Just give me the password or stay outside.”

He looked Edward up and down, taking in the coat and mask, “Freak.” he added.

Edward, who could care less about his comments, continued, “Here’s the question!” he chirped, “Who stole my girlfriend and has a hole in their head?”

“Um–”

BANG. A gunshot rang out startling those in the back of the club, closest to the doors.

“YOU, silly!” Edward exclaimed as the doorman dropped dead on the ground. Patrons were yelling and scrambling away from the door. Not everyone in the club had seen or heard because the music was deafening. However, he knew that as those in the back continued to scream, panic, and push forward against the crowd to get away, it would become chaos. He was going to use that to his advantage.

He slipped in between waves of the crowd as he made it to the stairway at the side of the cavernous room. The music reverberated through his bones and the overwhelming rainbow lights washed over him continuously, but he didn’t care.

Looking up the stairs, he saw the elevator that would take him to where she was being held. In the back of his mind he noticed that the screams from the bottom floor were getting louder, as more people discovered the body. Taking up his attention currently was a gang member standing at the top of the stairs.

For a brief moment the two of them locked eyes before Edward reached into his coat pocket. 

BANG Reaching the top of the stairs, Edward stepped over his body as more people fled.

Elevator. People were pushing past him now, as he made his way up the stairs. As he reached the top of the landing he focused on the elevator doors only a few steps away. As he approached, the doors slid open with three more men waiting inside.

BANG BANG BANG

As he stepped inside the elevator he noticed with irritation that the doors wouldn’t close fully. With a sigh, he kicked the offending body out of the way, letting the other two bodies ride the elevator with him. He was almost to where she was.

He reloaded his gun as he traveled up to the top floor, muttering to himself, “The man who invented it doesn’t want it for himself, The man who bought it doesn’t need it for himself, The man who needs it, doesn’t know it when he needs it, what am I?”

He held his gun at the doors, ready to kill anyone who was standing there, and sure enough, two more men were there, but he was ready.

Stepping over their bodies a few moments later, he giggled, “The answer is a COFFIN!” he exclaimed, kicking one of them, “COME ON, the answer is so EASY!” he laughed as he advanced down the hallway.

BANGHe stiffened at the sound of a gunshot from the room at the end of the hallway.

No. I’m not too late, I’m–He ran down the hallway, bursting through the doors, gun ready and–

“Eddie…?”

He was greeted by her shaky voice, and there she was. In one piece. She was holding a gun with both hands, her entire body shaking.

At her feet Falcone lay dead.

#disarm fic #the riddler fanfiction #riddler x reader #riddler x you #riddler x y/n #edward nashton x reader #edward nashton x you #edward nashton x y/n #the riddler x reader #the riddler x you #the riddler x y/n #edward nashton fanfiction #riddler angst #danonation #danocel

[aliceindaisychains999]

Hiii ✨️ Your reply from my post got me really curious about headcanons for my self ship and I feel like I really need a kick back into posting all my drafted f/o posts...

Primis Dempsey is the absolute love of my life, and I was wondering what sort of hcs you had? I also want to come up with a new ship name, but I'm stumped thus far heh..

Sending big hugs 🩷✨️

- 🌾

Angel, I’ve got just the thing! I’m glad you’re back and I’m sending big hugs and lots of love to you💖💖💖

But FIRST!

A short little name brain storm

Guns and Roses

Bowie-Winged Butterflies (bowie knife btw, not the 80s singer)

Poppies and Primroses

Gun-Slinging Sweethearts

I hope these few can help, even if it helps the brainstorm have a clearer idea of what feels right.

Headcanons for you and Primis Tank:

Ohhh my GOSH. Every time Tank looks at you, it’s like a sense of pure wonder completely mesmerizes him. Smitten is an understatement

As a marine, his training and combat experience shook him down to experience constant hyper vigilance. Just your very presence helps him feel grounded again.

You have such an ethereal beauty to you! Not just in the way you naturally glow, but the way you dress yourself is just so gorgeous and so classy! You have him like moth to a flame. Tank can’t help but kiss you from head to toe every chance he gets

You’re that special someone who’s graced him with gift of tenderness that he’s secretly starved for. For that, he’s eternally grateful. He expresses this most through quality time and physical affection the most

I feel like he would give you one of these cheesy Valentine’s just to make you smile

“Yeah, I know it’s dorky. But it made you smile!”

You might be a badass belle of your own, but Tank’s still going to feel the need to protect you. If anyone bothers you, he’s immediately up to bat against anyone and anything. Hell, he’d threaten to punch the dirt if you stepped on a rock. The man is incredibly devoted to helping you

Dempsey has a lot of depth to him. Only you ever had the chance to really know that. The battles he’s willing to fight for you extend past outside conflicts. You are never too much. You are worth more than every star in the galaxy.

“Remember when I said we’d fight side to side, back to back? I meant that from the bottom of my heart. We’re a team. And I’m willing to do whatever the hell it takes to keep you safe. You’re the woman I want to love ‘till the day I die. No matter what happens, I promise to protect you.”

Some songs for your ship: You I Need by Amorphis, Doe Eyes by Sophie Woodhouse, and No Other Love by Jo Stafford

He’s very easy going whether you want to go somewhere or stay curled up together at home. Fun dates include (but are not limited to 😉): picnic dates, walking along the beach shoreline, a trip to the shooting range, aquarium visits, shopping together, and so much more.

In his top left pocket is his mother’s blueberry pie recipe to remember her by. I can see you both working together in the kitchen to make it together! Kneading the dough, teaching him what to do, having him slow dance with you while waiting for it to bake. It’s one of his most cherished memories.

Tank lets you steal his leather jacket to wear often. In a modern AU where he’s a drill sergeant, he makes sure you help keep it safe while he’s off to work.

When you two snuggle in at night, you get to rest safe in the marine’s embrace. He softly strokes your hair while you rest your head on his chest, softly conversing until one of you fall asleep first.

Tank daydreams with you about what it’d be like running away to a cottage home. Coming home to that sweet smiling face of yours every day, tending to the garden, escaping the bustle of the world. One of these days, he’s gonna make that dream a reality for you both.

#my writing #IM SO SORRY IF I GOT TOO LENGTHY #I got stuck in a mode of ‘oh these guys are such a power couple lets do some more’ #i’m only stopping myself because of the wall of text I’ve unleashed #i do hope it helps though!💝

[umi-adxhira]

what about MC fem who has piercings and tattoos? (with Jude, Ellis and Liam pls)

𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 | (𝐅) 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐒

𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒: ʟɪᴀᴍ ᴇᴠᴀɴꜱ, ᴊᴜᴅᴇ ᴊᴀᴢᴢᴀ, ᴇʟʟɪꜱ ᴛᴡɪʟɪɢʜᴛ

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: Girlie will have five earrings on each ear, a nose earing, and a bellybutton one. She will also have a large flame tattoo from her collarbone to her elbow on her left arm and a detailed design (you choose) on her abdomen on the left side, also

𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐀 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊

#𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌 𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐒

Bro fell in love with you all over again. Based on his picture, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he has any ear peircings, so when he sees you having a few it'll probably encourage him to also get one as well

He admires your tattoos from afar. If you wish to wear sleevless tops or sresses he will never shoot you

I feel like, at one point, this conversation happened: "Should I wear this T-shirt today? It feels a little underdressed"

"You know, darling, there's a gun underneath my bed. If I ever say no to that question, I want you to use it on me"

Overall 10/10 experience

#𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐙𝐙𝐀

A small part of him wants to get an earing but he's worried about ear infections so nah

He's honestly impressed at your tattoos mostly, but he'd rather die than admit it. He likes tracing them with his fingers after a long day at the trading company. It keeps him calm

His favourite piercing would probably be your nose one. It looks so cute on you, and it's very unique as well. He thinks the earings are a bit excessive, but he would never tell you to take them off

If you manage to get him an ear pierce on one ear, there's basically nothing you can't do. Once you achieved the impossible, anything is probable

Overall 8/10

#𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

He likes kissing any place where you have your piercings, so your ears, nose, and bellybutton. He would probably get a tattoo as well, but maybe a small one. Probably a butterfly on his hand or a flower on his finger

Also likes tracing your tattoos. He wants to know the thought process in getting them, like were you drunk or high? No? Oh okay

He asks if they hurt when you got them. If you said yeah, he would give extra love and attention to those areas until you feel better :)

He can't help but stare at them, his princess looks so strong! With a straight face, you'd look intimidating, but he knows you're his little bunny

Overall 11/10 because I love him a lot

©️umi-adxhira [24/06/2023]

#ikemen villains #ikevil #ikevil liam #ikevil jude #ikevil ellis #liam evans #ikevil liam x reader #jude jazza #ikevil jude x reader #ellis twilight #ikevil ellis x reader

[havendance]

Dusted off this little ficlet I'd written last summer and finished it up. Pit Madness is a trope that, hmmm, I think can be often lacking in execution, but I thought it would be fun to having it play off of Delirium.

---

(ao3)

There was a certain clarity, Jason found, that came when the world fell away into green and all that was left was the sure knowledge that all problems could be solved with a well-placed bullet. He was reveling in it—in the way that the red spread across the dirty floor—when he heard the noise.

Moving was instinctual. A bullet flew through the air. Eyes locked with his target: a girl with a half-shaved head and mismatched eyes: one blue, one green.  Their gaze unsettled him, sending a shiver down his spine. Jason had a moment to think that perhaps he had made a mistake, before the green rose up again: a tide, the ocean greeting the moon—and all he could think of was the bullet.

It stopped just before hitting the girl, exploding into a pair of blue and white butterflies.

“That wasn’t very nice,” the girl said. Her voice sounded like a fever, like smoke wafting up, like the last splash of alcohol before the bar closed.

Jason was still staring into her mismatched eyes. He couldn’t look away. It almost felt as if his own were shifting to match. He tried to open his mouth, but it felt frozen in place.

The girl took a step closer. Jason instinctively took a step back.

He found his voice. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“No,” she said. “I can go where I want. Unless it belongs to someone else. But this place doesn’t. This place is mine. ” She glared at him and he had to resist the urge to take another step back. “I don’t think I like you.”

Shoot her, whispered the green, but Jason found that he couldn’t move, his finger still frozen on the trigger.

She was watching him now, really watching. Her gaze was heavy, heavy, heavy. The butterfly that was once a bullet landed in her hair. “You’re one of mine, but you’re dead, aren’t you?” she said. “Dead and buried. You used to be my sister’s.”

“I’m not.” He was lying and they both knew it.

“No,” the girl said. “You’re dead. Under the dirt, with the worms. You won’t forget now.”

He wouldn’t. He could feel it. His hands were cold: dead hands. His grasp weakened: the gun wavered and fell to the ground. Dead hands: they were stiff; he couldn't move. Dirt was on his tongue; damp was against his in. Worms crawling, close by, wriggling against his legs and between his toes. The green was gone—all he could see now was brown. Grave dirt. Darkness was gathering in front of his eyes.

He couldn’t breathe. There was too much dirt: he needed to dig out. He was on his knees, digging, digging, digging but he was still trapped. He was still buried. He was dead. He was going to die.

Jason didn’t see as the girl left, humming to herself, butterflies fluttering after.

#jason todd #delirium of the endless #sandman #havendance writes #my fic #carthago delenda est #dc #bats + birds + affiliated

[rageprufrock]

Whittled Down by Another War (pt 1/?)

I just started a new job a few weeks ago, so obviously I am sublimating all of my imposter syndrome into writing a story where Korn dies before the events of KinnPorsche begins.

Korn's death tears through the city like a bullet: the exit wound a gory mess.

The first 72 hours, Kinn doesn't remember sleeping. He calls all his men back to home base, sends the most vulnerable into safe houses deep into the countryside. He has Chan lockdown the compound, the offices, the fallback in the city. Kinn shoves Tankhun—actively dissociating in mute panic—into Kim's arms at the service entrance of the mansion and sends them out of the country.

"What about you?" Kim asks. He's shored up in black jeans and a black muscle tee, wild around the eyes with a gun in the waist of his pants and a knife tucked in his combat boots. "Everyone in this city is going to be going be trying to kill you."

Kinn smiles at him, dizzy—from exhaustion? terror? from grief, because this may be the last time he ever sees Tankhun, this may be the last time he ever sees his baby brother; because after everything, even if this is how they end it, it will be more than Kinn had expected, shivering awake from the worst of his night terrors.

"Everyone's always trying to kill me," he says.

"If you eat it I'm going to be fucking pissed at you," Kim tells him, backing away now, toward his car, where Arm and Pol are flanked on either side of Tankhun in the backseat. "If you die, I'm burning your guitar collection."

It's as close to tenderness as Kim can manage, Kinn thinks, heart heavy and overfull, watching them drive away.

"They'll be your guitars then, you little shit," he says, to the afterimage of the tail lights, disappearing into the gray dawn. He scrubs his hands across his face, and a noise comes out of his throat that has the shape and density of a sob, but that's a hoarse scratch across his voice.

Kinn thinks, now, I'm an orphan. Kinn thinks, now, I'm truly alone.

Chan comes to get him, he says, "Khun Kinn—it's time," and the press of his hand on Kinn's shoulder feels like stones in Kinn's pockets, weighing him down in deep water.

***

It's two weeks before Kinn sleeps in his own bed again, lying down. Four days after that, Kinn shoots his uncle in the head. In the first month, there're dozens of attempts on his life, and six that get close enough to leave a mark. It's three months before he's done burying bodies, another two before he finishes auditing the legacy businesses. Six months after Korn dies, Kinn lets Kim bring Tankhun home.

Kinn's known—vaguely—that they were bouncing around Europe and North America, never staying anywhere too long for their safety. Tankhun left empty-handed, near-catatonic; he comes back with six suitcases of newly acquired clothes and a separate sea shipment of souvenirs he insists that Kinn needs, a phone camera full of photographs and videos of places and people and things he thinks Kinn would like to see.

"This is the musical instrument gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," Tankhun lectures. "Here are some weird old pianos that look stupid, but that I guess you love."

He does. "I do," he says, and he's staring at the side of Khun's face as he says it: his older brother's darker from the sun, wearing an orange jumpsuit and a rope of turquoise beads criss-crossed across his chest. Kinn's missed him so much it hurt like a gut wound; Khun feels like a little miracle, sitting here on the floor of Kinn's bedroom, showing him pictures of weird old pianos because he knows Kinn will love them.

"You look like absolute garbage," Tankhun tells him.

"Work's been murder," Kinn says, and Khun punches him in the arm for it, which Kinn figures he deserves. Tankhun's back; Tankhun's safe. Kim's alive, and as hostile as ever, suffused with feral cat energy and armed to the teeth, sleeping off the time difference in Kinn's bed still fully dressed, clutching a butterfly knife and drooling into Kinn's pillows.

"If you'd died, I would have killed you myself," Tankhun says, hands folding into his lap, phone screen going black. "Are you eating? Have you slept?"

Kinn laughs; it comes out wet, shaky. "No," he admits.

Khun nods, practical, determined. "Well, we'll feed you, and once Kim wakes up, we'll keep watch and you can drool on those pillows, too."

Kinn wants that so badly his bones hurt, his eyes get hot. "Okay."

"And have you decided?" Tankhun asks, going sharp now and reaching over to cup Kinn's face in his hands. "What you'll do with our father's empire?"

Kinn's never let himself imagine it before. The chasm between what he wants and what he can have has always been the gulf of the Pacific, the depth of the Atlantic. Even as a boy, at barely 14, when his father had said, "This ring, and its responsibility, will be yours now, Kinn," he'd known that what he wanted no longer truly mattered. He'd sharpened his bones intro blades, cut away at himself until he'd been the shape of a perfect weapon.

Two decades later, skin thin, the possibility makes him dizzy.

"I'll need your help," Kinn hears himself say; he sounds strange, far away.

"We'll both help," Khun promises him, close and low. "Let's bury our father—and then let's bury what he built."

From the bed, Kim says, "Fuck, don't volunteer me for shit," raspy and irritable and vibrantly, amazingly alive.

Kinn's laugh kicks out of him like a reflex, and he goes lightheaded with it, and he lets Tankhun strip him out of his disheveled suit, lets Kim shove him under the snowy white covers, still body warm from his little brother, and lets himself—finally, finally—give in, give way, into the consuming arms of sleep.

***

According to Kim, he sleeps for 16 hours, during which time Tankhun does routine wellness checks to ensure he's alive, ask if Kinn needs a bedpan, and does he want anything from Starbucks because they're putting in a mobile order.

"And what the hell were you doing that entire time?" Kinn asks Kim.

He feels simultaneously incredible and incredibly shit, making his way through a liter-size bottle of water and shaking out the numbness of his right arm where he slept on it like the dead. Someone had undressed him and redressed him for shits and giggles at some point during his coma, so he's slumped against his headboard in black boxer briefs and a XXXL green t-shirt that says MOVE I'M GAY on it in white letters.

"Masturbating," Kim says, the same time Tankhun carols out, "He was tenderly threatening to shoot anybody who tried to wake you up and trying to break into your phone."

It turns out Kim had been successful in breaking into Kinn's phone, which is why his inbox—creaking under the weight of an eye-watering 703 unread messages at the time Kinn finally lost consciousness—is down to a merely demoralizing 207.

"What happened to the other 496 messages?" Kinn asks.

"We delegated, you sociopathic control freak," Kim retorts.

Tankhun hands Kinn a frappachino. "Drink this before your blood sugar gets any lower and you start shooting."

Kinn doesn't realize he's hungry until the coffee milkshake hits his system, and then he's ravenous, a bottomless maw. He relocates himself into the family quarter kitchens and sits at the long metal worktable on two overturned plastic milk crates, stacked together, barefoot and still in the green tent of a t-shirt. Kinn eats three mangos, a dozen sticks of pork satay, a bowl of rice with three fried eggs and soy sauce, and drinks another bottle of water while he's at it, the gnawing pain in his stomach fading by degrees.

"Did you not eat at all while we were gone?" Tankhun scolds, cutting up another mango, frying him another egg, adding rice to Kinn's bowl.

Kinn ate while Khun and Kim were gone. He ate and drank and must have slept because of the biological imperative of the thing, but he can't remember any of it, only the high-pitched howl of panic that sang through him the entire time. It had left him numb of pain, immune to suffering, what was left of his heart traveled outside his body and possibly already lost. For the first time in six months, Kinn feels the expansion of his lungs, the throbbing soreness of his left knee, the stiffness of his neck: brought excruciatingly back to sudden, startling life.

"I was waiting for you to cook for me," Kinn says to Khun, bratty, smiling, and ducks away from from a smack, grabbing Kim by the scruff of his shirt and throwing him into the line of fire—absolutely shameless.

They're orbiting stars, the next few days: Khun, Kinn, and Kim locked into one another's gravitational wells. They take turns sleeping. They take turns feeding each other. Tankhun and Kim take turns wrestling Kinn away from his cell phone, his laptop, the landline in the bathroom. It's the longest time Kinn's spent with his brothers since Kim turned 17 and fucked off, since he and Tankhun stood shoulder to shoulder in front of their father to make sure Kim could. It's both terrible and amazing; terrible and amazing to be so loved, terrible and amazing that this is the shape and substance of their lives—terrible that this is how Kinn gets his brothers back; amazing that they've returned to him, that they would peel apples and pull triggers for each other.

"If you hadn't gotten all emotional at Uncle Gun, you could have just left him the whole lot and we could call it done," Khun sighs later.

If Kinn hadn't gotten all emotional at Uncle Gun, Gun would have likely gotten all emotional on Kinn, and where would they be now? Tankhun presiding over a pyre of Kinn's guitars; Kim hunting down the senior ranks of the minor family in Doc Martens and skinny jeans, eyeliner flawless.

"I lost my temper when we couldn't reach contractual terms that didn't include our dead bodies in the river," Kinn says, light. Vegas and Macau are still at large, vanished beyond the border into Myanmar, two unanswered questions—one indistinct, one psychopathic. It's a problem for tomorrow, for all of their tomorrows.

"I'm also not sure our Uncle's management style would have been in alignment with not causing absolute fucking chaos," Kim chimes in. "The Lithuanians still have a kill-on-sight order for Vegas."

The Lithuanians can get in line.

"Oh that means the Russians must want him, too," Tankhun says thoughtfully.

"I think it's generally a fair assumption that everyone who has met and been forced to interact with Vegas wants him dead for some reason or another," Kinn says.

His cousin was an annoying kid who was shaped by the weight of their family legacy and Gun's fists into a necrotic wound of an adult. Vegas is too smart, too dangerous for Kinn to ever truly pity him, but he stands on the opposite shore, recognizes that in ways that are too harrowing to admit even to himself, he and Vegas are phantom echoes. The difference is Vegas thinks he can unfuck himself if they upend the family structure—Kinn knows better; he knows they're both ruined.

"Enough about our cousin—we should talk about Papa's funeral," he sighs.

In the immediate chaos of their father's death, Kinn had been too busy trying to prevent the cataclysmic collapse of the Theerapanyakul empire, smuggle his brothers across borders, and shooting his uncle in the face to see to the appropriate funerary rites. In this, as in so many other things, Kinn's been a disappointment of a son and heir.

So now, six months later, he ignores Kim's suggestions that they throw Korn into the river and has Chan pull him from cold storage. Kinn's seen too many dead bodies in his life, but it's a gut punch all the same, all over again, to see his father's face without its panoply of microexpressions—each one a separate area of study and source of paranoia—in the mute peace of death, Korn looks like the after image of a parent Kinn once imagined having: kind, forgiving, safe. The stroke that killed him was fast and comprehensive. It's probably kinder than he deserved, and Kinn—making calls in the background while Tankhun tries to convince Kim that as the youngest, he's honor-bound to be ordained for the services—is grateful: that his father didn't suffer, that he's capable of gladness for it, that as much of a wreck as he is, as complicated as he feels, that at least this dimension of grief can be clean.

"This is our father," Tankhun insists.

"Exactly why I'm not shaving my fucking hair and eyebrows, you clown," Kim yells back.

Kinn schedules the bathing rites for the next day, and it's only himself, Tankhun, and Kim in attendance. Chan is there, but Kinn's not sure in what capacity. The closest thing Korn had to a friend, toward the end? Watching over Korn's legacy? They put a coin in Korn's mouth and lay him out under a sheet, at the high table, wreath him with flowers, heaps of blooms that fill the room with the smell of their garden at dusk. Kinn's still too tired to think about it—he's so deep in the red on his sleep deficit he's going to die tired—to do anything other than pour jasmine-scented water over his father's unmoving hand and to pray for more kindness that Korn doesn't deserve.

It's typical to hire four monks for the seven days of daily chanting, but their family needs every possible fucking merit, so Kinn gives in to all of his worst impulses and hires 16 for the full seven day cycle. Kinn knows that in some families, there are visitors and happy stories, food and dancing; for the Theerapanyakuls, there's just Khun and Kinn and Kim, getting shitfaced on their father's collection of botanical gins and conspicuously avoiding conversation about how angry they are to mourn this man. It's the worst part of family, that someone so arbitrarily assigned to you can both hurt and love you in such concussive, devastating ways. Millennia from now, once Kinn has worked through the karmic debt of this existence, he hopes he's born into a normal family, where when his father dies, he doesn't have to carry a gun to the fucking cremation—where he can feel something other than a gash in his throat.

They go in age order, up to the casket with their wooden flowers, and so Kim's the last to give his bloom away to the fire as it's lit.

"The ashes will be ready for you tomorrow," the funeral director promises, terrified. Chan had done the security briefing, so Kinn doesn't blame him. "Will you—will you want to keep them at the temple?"

He says this in a way that makes it abundantly clear he can think of no more horrifying outcome than for Kinn to inform him that they would like to keep their father's ashes at the temple.

"We'll take him home," Khun says, somehow still the best socialized of them all. "Thank you for taking care of our father."

They're nearly at the door, nearly back into the waiting shadows of the two dozen guards that Chan had sent along for the ceremony, when Kim says, "Give me a second," and disappears back inside for ten seconds, fifteen.

When they get the ashes back, Korn's remains are mixed with sun bright Ratchaphruek petals, fragrant jasmine, their father's favorite flowers. Kim sticks the urn in the back of a cupboard in their father's study, embarrassed by his brief detour into filial tenderness and working triple time to be an asshole in compensation.

"The king is dead," Tankhun says, late into the night. They're all sitting in the garden in the dew-wet grass, passing around a cigarette and staring at Khun's fancy carps; Elizabeth and Sebastian hovering close as if they can sense their owner's distress. "Long live the king."

Kinn snatches the cigarette away from him. "Don't say that."

"Yeah he prefers emperor," Kim says, which earns him a punch in the kidney. "Fuck."

"You deserved that," Khun tells him, and turns back to Kinn. "Well? What next?"

When he and Khun were boys, and when Kim was a (more) annoying blob that screamed all day, Kinn had spent a lot of time trying to figure out how they could escape their fate. Khun could become a famous artist, and they would live in New York, where there were already so many mafias surely Thai organized crime would find no foothold. Kinn could become a famous singer-songwriter, hire his brother as a stylist, and they would travel the world on tour and have no time for calling in debts. They could run away somewhere no one knew them, and then Khun could do whatever he wanted, and Kinn wouldn't have to watch their father turning his brother into a weapon. Once the ring had been on Kinn's finger, he'd stopped imagining the alternatives; he was old enough to know then that the alternative was Kim.

"I don't—I mean, where would we even begin," Kinn says finally.

"Wherever we can, with whatever we have," Kim says, taking the cigarette back. "Unless we've completely misread this situation, and you actually want to keep running the fucking mafia."

Kinn closes his eyes, presses his face into his knees. "I don't know how to do anything else," he admits. I'm scared to hope for anything else, he thinks.

"Kinn, you have an MBA," Khun says. "You majored in accounting."

"I think he means, 'who do we break the news to first,'" Kim says, but he's grinning, savage, bright-eyed. "I vote we start with the Lithuanians."

***

The Lithuanians, once they find out that Kinn has no idea where Vegas is, comprehensively do not care. Their existing partnership is largely limited to coordinating profits off of luxury car thefts—a rounding error on the Theerapanyakul family balance sheet—and they're more than happy to take it off of Kinn's hands. This leads to an existentially bizarre sidebar that Kinn ends up having with the second in command about whether or not this means his cars are now fair game.

"If you have to steal one of ours, steal the purple one," Kinn tells them.

"That one's your fucking lunatic brother's," Boris says. "You think I don't know that rabid little shit will try to chew my throat out?"

Which lunatic brother, Kinn doesn't ask, but only because Khun doesn't drive.

But the Lithuanians are easy, small fry in Thailand, and honestly Boris is probably the closest thing Kinn has to a work friend. It also helps that they both want Vegas dead.

In a sort of grim distillation of Kinn's entire adult life, dealing with the people who want to steal his cars and kill his cousin is actually the least shit part of this entire exercise.

The Theerapanyakul empire goes six generations back, and his father had married into the lineage with a chip on his shoulder and an explosive, obsessive love for Kinn's mother, who Kinn can't be sure ever loved him entirely back. But she'd loved her sons, and it was Rachini who'd put the first gun in Kinn's hands, who'd taught him what it meant to be a Theerapanyakul, and ensured—from as soon as Kinn was old enough to understand—that given a choice between his family and the outside world, he would never hesitate to take the shot. She taught her children the same thing her father taught her, that there's power in controlled violence, that there was a right and a wrong way to be mafia, that they might die young, so to take ruthless, ravenous bites out of life while they could. She'd blow dry Kinn's hair, tender, with the same hands she used to stab someone in the throat. Kinn's keenly aware he was born wrong, raised wrong, that even though her death had felt like an amputation, the phantom pain he feels is both anger and mourning. Their parents had turned all three of them into bullets.

The rot is deep at the heart of the enterprise, so inextricably tied that even at the root of their legitimate businesses, some vein of corruption flows through. The hotels and resorts they own are convenient cash sinks to launder funds from their lower-overhead activities; the shopping centers and hospitals topline PLCs that conceal in their labyrinthine corporate structures holding companies where their casinos funnel cash, where their sideline in brothels and escorts pay dividends, where their import-export hustle dumps free cash flow. They'd gotten out of drugs during their father's generation—too tight a market, too high risk, too low on returns—and dumped their considerable connections into vendor service for the cartels instead. Kinn had combined his expensive MBA, penchant for fucking closeted Chinese nationals out blowing daddy's ill-gotten politburo gains, and struck gold laundering drug money through the brisk tourist trade in vacation hubs like Phuket and Bangkok.

"The Sinaloas will be very angry if we close up shop," Khun meditates.

Kinn pours himself a Pappy on the rocks, because he's fucking earned it, and presses the cool crystal of the tumbler to his forehead. "Let's not—worry about the Sinaloas for now," he says. "Let's start with the easy exits."

Of course, there are no actual easy exits, only less shitty ones. Kinn throws a metaphorical dart ands on the Italians.

"That's going to be a shitshow," Kim says, when Kinn tells him.

"Take Pete," Khun frets. "Take Arm and Pol."

"Pol is absolutely useless," Kinn tells him. "And I want Arm and Pete here in case anything goes sideways and you need actual competent protection—I'll take Chan."

Taking Chan does not ameliorate the broader truth that dealing with the Italians is a shitshow. It starts with snide commentary on gelato and ends in a hail of bullets, Kinn running panicked down the filthy back streets around Thonglor Soi being chased by Sicilian shitbags who are pissed he doesn't want to ferry around their cocaine anymore. It would be absolute poetic justice if he ends up getting shot to death behind a club where he'd once separately facefucked two guys who turned out to be a couple and who'd then started screaming at each other about cheating while Kinn had been trying to put his dick back in his pants.

#kinnporsche #fanfic #wip

[softpine]

Omg do u think that there could be a game path where if Jada and Austin (somehow) have a higher relationship then the default, she could convince him to stand down? Maybe their convo could go like this:

Jada: what if Elaine was here and saw you do this?

Austin: Don’t bring her up

Jada: I’m not a liar, Austin. You know that.

Then maybe if Austin does let Alisa go, and they return to the cabin, Elaine can repair her relationship with Austin after the elevator scene after she sees that he’s suffering the same way everyone else is and he was just scared. Oh man I’m thinking of even more!!!! What if Jada misses and shoots Alisa on accident!!! Aaaaaaaa!!!!!! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

i could definitely see the elaine card being played in BOTH directions. not only could jada ask "what if elaine was here and saw you do this?" but austin could also ask "what if elaine knew you killed her fucking boyfriend?" because at this point, they both think elaine is dead (and she can be), but honestly that would be an even stronger deterrent for jada and austin, because they're both christian and they surely believe that their loved ones are watching over them. they know they're acting in ways elaine wouldn't approve of, but the situation is so stressful that i'm not sure if this kind of emotional appeal would actually change anything. they've already done things they're not proud of, so what's one more?

but i like the idea of their relationship affecting the outcome!! because austin and elaine go off on their own so early in the night, it'd be tough for me to imagine anything changing his relationship with jada drastically enough to make her not shoot him. there would definitely have to be some type of intense action sequence prior to the safe room scene to make him look more sympathetic in their eyes. i can think of a few things, but i would have to change a bunch of things after that to make it fit (boom butterfly effect) so let me hold off on that jfksjds but maybe their traits could change things? i know traits don't really change things in the game, but that'd be a whole new layer of decision making if the characters could refuse your decisions based on their own traits. like if jada's bravery is too low, she won't even pick up the gun. and if austin's honesty has gone up high enough, he can show them the bite before things have a chance to get out of hand. alisa will do her thing regardless of traits or relationships because she has zero connection to austin and she's not trying to die tonight lol

jada accidentally shooting alisa would be WILDDD because not only would jada be horrified, so would austin. he wasn't actually trying to hurt anyone, he was just reacting like a cornered animal. but truly i think this would break jada. i don't think she'd be able to go on. if it were austin who died, she would be able to justify it (at least for the moment – she'd fall apart later) by believing he would've turned and hurt other people. but if she directly killed someone who did nothing wrong and was never a danger to others, jada wouldn't be able to function. she'd stay in that room until the moment it caught on fire. even if someone tried to save her, she'd stay :(

and i agree, i think there's a way elaine could forgive austin if she understood how truly dead she seemed lmao. he thought there was no way she could survive a fall like that, and he didn't hear her screaming anymore so he saw no point in going after her again. i do still think they'd break up though, because they both have very different ways of dealing with trauma (and possibly grief depending on who dies that night). oh man imagine a playthrough where matt AND stevie die, that would really highlight the differences in how elaine and austin deal with losing their best friend. there's just so many ways it could go, but i do think there's a way they could remain close!!

#oh horses came out today sorry i'm still on my until dawn bullshit lmaooo #maturation #asks #nonsims #brandi answers

[puniyo]

A Plot for Bible & Build (because they mentioned police and serial killer on the same interview...)

Since the boys mentioned they would like to act in a crime drama (yes, please!!), this plot bunny suddenly came to my head (and since Be On Cloud basically has the monopoly of the majority of the cast of Kinnporsche):

I’ll use the name of the actors I would like to portray the characters because I have no creativity at all to make up names.

The plot is simple: crime/police drama in which there are a few victims that are interconnected, either because of the crime scene, because of the victims themselves, or because of something found on the victims. I like the idea of something related to butterflies.

Each “solved” case leads closer and closer to the serial killer/mastermind, as if he was leaving the hints behind on purpose.

Bible’s character is the newly transferred detective from the main branch in Bangkok to a province. He is under the tutelage of Mile’s character, who is a fairly experienced detective (I want the friendly dynamic that we did not see in Kinnporsche).

Build’s character is a forensic doctor/detective. He is crucial in solving each case and his wits fascinates Bible. Very serious during an autopsy but even a better guide to Bible outside of work. He is the serial killer that everyone is after. He obviously frames other people.

Bas, Job, Tong, Barcode are the colleagues, each with an area of expertise – firearms and weapons, fingerprints and identification, IT, facial composites, body combat, explosives, interviewing witnesses and suspects.   

Police headquarters shenanigans.

Obviously romance between Build and Bible’s characters. Let Build be that suave, smooth persona, charming and with a charisma to die for.

There is a scene at the end where they point guns at each other, with Build threatening to pull the trigger at Mile and trying to persuade Bible to choose to either shoot him or let Mile’s character die.

Give me a manipulative villain even without much redemption. I want the boys to really do a mature drama, a thriller with hints of comedy, but also dark to the point of leaving us looking at the ceiling before going to bed and be afraid of closing our eyes because of how fucked up things were.

This could as well be a fic for KP but I have no time to write it now.

Back to my corner now…

#kinnporsche #biblebuild #bible wichapas #build jakapan #plot bunny #I need another drama with them

[skoulsons]

you know what time it is. my scrambled thoughts. took me an hour and a half to finish the ep 🥴

-

TLOU EP2

people have said this ep is really good and intense so I’m excited

HERE WE GO

where are we

OH JAKARTA

we going back to two days before it broke out it looks like cause the 24th

Oooh police? What did she do

I think every ep is gonna start with a flashback so that’s cool

or is she like a doctor or something and knows something about the fungus?

she looks distressed?

Ibu ratna okay. Prof of mycology so they need her to inspect the cordyceps or something

I remember seeing a pic of her floating around

my episode froze why

Ophiocordyceps

A HUMAN?

cant survive in humans suree

oh dear is this person gonna be a clicker already or something

oh no okay it’s just her corpse

EUGH I hate surgery stuff and cutting like that

is she gonna wake up I fear

This is so gross please

OH MY FORHDKF that’s horrifying

bro I feel sick wth

FLOUR AND GRAIN FACTORY people were right

so she bit three people and they were all taken into observation

oh fourteen that’s a lot

listening carefully

“There is no vaccine” you’re damn right thank you joel

BOMB alright cool

it’s gonna be hiroshima all over again

was that too much im sorry

no she wants to be with her family before they all die :(

INTROOOOOO

oh the music. gustavo I love you

I cant skip this intro it’s too good man

and the little Joel and Ellie <3

alright back to reality

look at her sleeping. she’s so tiny

they really put butterflies everywhere in this show

her bed hair 😭

did they just shove her in a room or something and tell her to go to sleep

OH THEYRE STARING AT HER AOFHSKDHJER

I feel like I just experienced whiplash

oh cause she’s infected

sir that’s the second time you’ve aimed a gun at her in the last two days

im only 11 minutes in at this rate I’ll never get through this episode

“Don’t worry about that” “well I’m gonna” 😭

“there’s not gonna be anything bad in here” “just you” “oh funny” STOPPP I cant wait to get moments like these where they’re smiling

Joel :((

holy crap. “You need to stop talking about this kid like she’s got some kind of life in front of her”

“Guess not you guys” 😭

joel being scared of Tess going over to Ellie bc he doesn’t want her to get hurt :( the end of this ep is gonna suck real bad

“You must’ve heard that he wants to shoot you” :(

THE FACE PALM

“She told me not to tell anybody and now I’m telling the first people that i-“ this is so Ellie. it’s about the vaccine isn’t it

YUP

Joel knowing exactly what she was saying 😭

FUCK YOU MAN I DIDNT ASK FOR THIS THATS FROM THE GAMEEEE

Tess having to be their mediator

I GET IT!? damn no

her making the clicks 😭

I can’t believe I get to see my little comfort character in live action whisper an “okay” and throw his hands outwards. I love you joel miller

ILL JUST THROW A SANDWICH AT THEM

the chirping birds :)

I hope there’s a little instinctive moment where Joel protects her this ep. IM YEARNING FOR IT (I got it :D)

man those buildings look gnarly

I love how Joel just keeps walking while Tess indulges her questions. he’s so annoyed 😭

they’re such a little family 🫶🏻

oh I’m dumb I had captions this whole time and never put them on

GUSTAVOOOO

NO YOURE JOKING THE LITTLE GIRAFFE TOY. REALLY. REALLY NEIL.

Joel’s just causally eavesdropping cause he won’t talk to her directly but is also still curious

TESS IS SUCH A MOM

Riley :/

you got some balls on you sister 💀

I know I said this last week but Joel really has the “too tired for this shit” plastered on his face all the time and it’s delightful

the scenery is phenomenal

ooh mention of spores

they’ve really got the whole “Ellie bombarding them with questions and inquiring about every little thing” down

OOH CLICKER CLICK. that was loud too

AW LITTLE DUCKS LOOK AT THEM

and a frog too 😭

OH YEHA SHE CANT SWIM

“Have you heard of books?” 💀 he’s SO done with her

NO SMART ASS. his little jump to show her it’s not deep 😭

HIM REACHING HIS HAND TO HELP HER UP <33333333

HE PULLED AWAY SO AGGRESSIVELY

this whole set is so good

YOU TRY CLIMBING TEN FLOORS WITH OUR KNEES. they’re so old this is so cute

ARE WE GONNA GET HIM BOOSTING YHEM UP YES

he won’t even grab her shoulder to shove her aside. mans grabbed a fist full of her hoodie and backpack 😭

“I’m gonna need a few minutes” boy I hope this joelellie convo goes well

ELLIE STOP FLIPPING THE KNIFE

“The circus” he’s so tired

AWW HONESTY ABOUT WHERE HES FROM <3

he’s downplaying her knowledge so much I love this

NOT HER ASKING ABOUT THEM

“PASS”

“no more questions about me” :(

this direction is beautiful. neil I take back anything bad I’ve said about you

OH I THOUGJT YOU WENT TO SCHOOL. he’s so snippy

was that a hint of him smiling. was it. or is my brainrot convincing me of things. WAS IT. she said it’s a really shitty one and it cuts to him I SWEAR THE LOOK ON HIS FACE AND HIS EYES I SWEAR

“sometimes” :( he looks like he’s thinking abt sarah

their height difference bro I can’t wait til they hug

NO WAS SHE BIT BACK THERE?? or no

im trying to cut these into small sections so… next section I guess?

wow. that’s a lot of bodies

all the infected noises wow

wow that’s incredibly scary

ooh the fungus being like a hive mind sort of thing? Interesting

MUSEUMMM

ooh he was testing it

“did Marlene pack you one of these or just sandwiches?” 😭

“I HAVE A SPARE HAND” “CONGRATULATIONS” they’re so funny. if y’all could see the grin on my face

this is so spooky

that guy is messed up

JOELS FACE SHUSHING HER

“from this point forward, we are silent” yes sir whatever you say sir <3

this building is really falling apart

Joel turning back to look a them :’)

these first two eps have a lot of trailer shots which is good

the bodies look so gnarly

why did Joel look so soft opening that door. he just looks so 🤏🏻

oh look, a rare untouched room. not for long

CLICKER TIME RIGHT?

him helping Ellie up :’’’)

wow that’s a gorgeous shot of their lights lighting up the dust from the debris

oh my gosh dude

DUDE THE CLICKER ISBSO GOOD

joel has a tear in his eye telling her to be quiet. I might just 🕳👩‍🦯

ITS SO FREAKY

NOT A SECONF ONE?

it’s right there EUGH

they look so good dude

he sees Ellie he’s going over to get her

his backpack almost hit her in the face 😭

ITS SO CLOSE TO HIS FACE

CLOSE YOUR MOUTH JOEL

this is a serious scene but I can’t help but look at Ellie holding the flashlight on the clicker while joel fires and immediately being reminded of all the times my dad has had to fix something and I have to hold the flashlight over his shoulder while he yells at me to hold it better

HIM GRABBING HER TO PUSH HER BEHIND HIM

oh she was bit a second time I THOUGHT SHE WAS

“If it was gonna happen to ONE of us” mmmm not quite true

ROOF SCENE ROOF SCENE ROOF SCENE ROOF SCENE

“For once, maybe we could actually win” :/she’s acting like this bc she’s bit and she doesn’t get to win

WORD FOR WORD? WORD FOR WORD!

he looks sm softer looking at her :(

THE WATCH GLANCE

that ladder is so unstable

last ten mins

man she’s in such a rush to get there :/ Joel’s suspicious

EUGH was that crushing his head? sheesh

that bloods looking pretty fresh

oh here we go

oh that’s disgusting okay

Here we goooo

“That’s not my home” why does it look like that broke Joel.

OUR LUCK HAD TO RUN OUT SOONER OR LATER

SHE INFECTED

NO JOEL LOOKS SO

NOT THE BACK AWAY??

on her neck still wow.

OOPS RIGHT

she’s shaking already :(

YOU GET HER THERE YOU KEEP HER ALIVE AND YOUBSET EGRRYTHING RIGHT. ALL THE SHIT WE DID

HES CRYINGGGGG DONT LOOK AT ME HIS EYES ARE RED

we the tendrils are OH OH OH THEYRE WAKING UP OH THE WHOLE CROWD IS WAKING UP

joel baby you gotta go

NOT JOELS BREATH HITCHING

SAVE WHO YOU CAN SAVE *immediately grabs Ellie*

Tess :(

LH THRYRE SO GROSS

I hate that

joel :((

Tess went out like a hero tho what a champ

12/10 episode!! So freaking good

#it was so good. Even better than the premiere I’d say #what a fantastic way to hook people in on the show #tlou spoilers #the last of us hbo #joel miller #ellie williams

[badassbarmaid]

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄  ( 𝟓 )  𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄.

I'll share lyrics from each song that resonate with my muse.

1 - Owl City - Angels

I've been sleeping with the night light unplugged With a note on the rocking chair That says, "I'm dreaming of the life I once loved, So wake me if you're out there."

Living close to the ground Is seventh Heaven 'cause there are angels all around Among my frivolous thoughts I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts

2 - Coldplay - Paradise

When she was just a girl, she expected the world But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth Life goes on, it gets so heavy The wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall In the night, the stormy night, she'd close her eyes In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly

3 - Ke$ha - Warrior

We don't want to flirt with disaster On your ass we'll pounce like a panther Cut the bullshit out with a dagger With a dagger With a dagger Do or die we all gonna stay young Shoot the lights out with a machine gun Think it's time for a revolution Revolution Revolution

We were born to break the doors down Fightin' till the end It's something that's inside of us It's how we've always been Warrior-ior-ior Warrior-ior Warrior-ior-ior Warrior-ior

4 -Muse - Starlight

Hold you in my arms I just wanted to hold You in my arms

Far away This ship is taking me far away Far away from the memories Of the people who care if I live or die

I'll never let you go If you promise not to fade away Never fade away

5 - Elie Goulding - Explosions

Explosions on the day you wake up Needing somebody and you've learned It's okay to be afraid But it will never be the same

And as the floods move in And your body starts to sink I was the last thing on your mind I know you better than you think 'Cause it's simple, darling, I gave you a warning Now everything you own is falling from the sky in pieces So watch them fall with you, in slow motion I pray that you will find peace of mind And I'll find you another time I'll love you, another time

~

Tagged by: @poeticphoenix

Tagging: whoever wants to do it!

#headcanon

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

Fic Masterpost!

This is mostly for me I’m not going to lie to you guys

Non-It Fics:

Stranger Things:

A Complex Analysis on Why Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington Are Not a Couple: A Study by Dustin Henderson

Fem Dustin walks in on Ronance making out

One shot

Dungeons and Daddies:

strange and unusual

Beetlejuice au where Scary is Lydia and Willy is Beetlejuice

One shot

StarKid:

(i swear) i will die trying

Ted Spankoffski POV during the plot of Nerdy Prudes Must Die

2 Chapters

Locked and Loaded (oh so devoted)

Steph shoots Pete at the end of NPMD, but she misses (...sorta)

TW gun shot injuries

3 Chapters

it's like hearing a ticking sound coming from unmarked packages (something isn't right here)

Basically a what if for if Tinky was Pete's 'imaginary friend' the way Webby is Hannah's

One Shot

slurpees are a love language (prove me wrong)

Fluffy lautski drabble

Date Idea: sharing slurpees so ur boyfriend doesn't pass out

One Shot for Lautski Week 2023 (prompt: blue)

unfortunately, it's not quite a fairy tale (at least, not the one you were expecting)

Lautski cinderella au (Cinderella Pete/Prince Charming Steph)

HEED THE TAGS PLEASE PLEASE FUCKING PLEASE

In Progress

butterfly effect in reverse

Lautski personality swap au.... kinda, in which Steph is basically a honor student golden child (but still the popular one) and Pete is a stoner (but still unpopular)

One Shot

hot new christmas gift on the market: doing the bare fucking minimum

Ted realizes Pete kinda has youngest-sibling-trauma and tries to do something nice about it (he's, unfortunately, still ted though)

One Shot

all that you feel is only real (if you decide it inside)

Ted gets Truman Show-ed by Tinky, and then decides to just go with it

Heed the tags

One Shot

It Fics:

Unfinished:

Forgotten Familiarity

Richie and Eddie find each other as adults without their memories of each other, fall in love, and get married. And then Mike calls.

It’s unfinished and always will be sorry, like the story is pretty much complete I just got overly optimistic where I should have ended it

Note to Self: Don't be Gay in Derry, Maine

Fem Reddie The Prom au

She’s also probably terminally unfinished

(like) Silence (but not really silence) is Infinity

Loose Matilda Ben au

Ben Centric

Optimistically in progress but who knows

we got the keys (the kingdom's ours)

Descendants au

In Progress (optimistically but like y'know-)

whats found in the palace gardens, as seen through silver-framed eyeglasses 

Richie Cinderella au (reddie)

In Progress

the real world is where the monsters are

Camp Halfblood au

In Progress

Completed Works:

I Know Your Secret. Your Furry Little Secret.

Werewolf Richie au

3 chapters

Life (even infinite) Still Must Have Life In It

Time Traveler Stan and Eddie and Immortal Richie au (Streddie)

1 chapter but it’s LONG

so we took it in turns, and to my surprise, we found my words

Richie loose little mermaid au but like only the losing her voice part

Another fic with 1 very very long chapter

Family Road Trip

Eddie and the Neibolt Kids road trip from Derry to California so she can kiss Richie

4 chapters

One Shots:

Living on the Dance Floor

Stan and Richie were on dance moms as children au

i'm sorry. iloveyou.

Richie’s dead, it’s Eddie’s fault, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it it.

Super Hero Losers Club with powerless tech guy Richie au

This ones.... sad y’all

Radio City Presents: Middle Aged Lesbians Learning to Love

Canon divergence where Eddie lives, Richie has chronic pain, and they love each other a whole lot.

Merry (Fucking) Christmas, 1992 (1995)

Christmas themed Reverse Reddie au

A universe where Georgie Denbrough forgets his rain boots

Canon divergence where Georgie lives and Bill raises her little brother, until she forgets she has one

this one is also! sad!

Eddie Kaspbrak Vs. The Olympic Level Asshole

Olympic figure skater Richie and ice hockey team manager Eddie au

Calculated Gambles

Richie takes the hit for Eddie, but she survives. Now Eddie’s waiting for her to wake up in her hospital room.

Something Is Wrong With Richie

Richie stops talking. The Losers want to know why.

Basically my hot take on how Fem Richie having ADHD affects her differently than a male Richie having ADHD

This one is not well written I'm ngl

Tumblr Only One Shots:

Cheerleader Richie au

Only BESTIES get tortured in a lab together (Platonic Stozier) (also like really really sad)

Dracula au (this one is sort of a glorified head canon post)

Sad Internalized Fatphobia Ben One Shot

Emotober One Shots:

Otherwise known as that once scene from Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

Prompt: Collapse, "Why do you even care?"

Reddie

Otherwise known as kissing is gross and Queer Eye is a decent backing track to a breakdown

Prompt: Fears, “I know what you need”

Tumblr Only

Reddie

Otherwise known as Dear Miss Michelle Hanlon it is my sincerest pleasure to accept you into the Derry, Maine school of being miserable, graduating class of 2019

Prompt: History, “I quit.”

This ones a sad one y’all

Otherwise known as this anniversary dinner is sponsored by: a shady black market love potion

Prompt: Disaster Date, "I never had a choice."

Another sad one with very creepy Connor Bowers 

Otherwise known as some conversations are worst had on a fire escape drunk at three in the morning

Prompt: Insecurity, “We are not having this conversation.”

Implied Poly Losers, mostly Ben/Stan

Otherwise known as Ben has a nightmare

Prompt: Nightmare, “It’s not enough anymore.”

Poly Losers and posted ten months after October lol

Otherwise known as this anniversary dinner has been interrupted to bring you: the angriest Eddie Kaspbrak the world has ever seen

Prompt: Aftermath, “So it was all a lie.”

Follow up to shady black market love potion

also posted like a year after the rest fhjkl

#fic #fem losers club #fem reddie #rev fem Reddie #rev reddie #long post #masterpost #this might not even be all of them idk man

[artic-willow]

💀 , 😭

ofc if it doesn't bother u😊

"Death Butterflies."

❄A/N: Not sure if this is okay...It's been A WHILE the last time I did something like this so...Eh...Well, this isn't canon from my story, like an little AU (?).

💖Character(s): Summer (My MC) & Jake

🕊Paring: Summer (MC) & Jake

👑Genre: Sad, angst

🖤Type: Mini-fanfiction/Little AU [1/1]

✍Request: "💀saying goodbye to dying lover" & "😭Unrequited love" from THIS.

💞Summary: Summer and Jake are in the FBI, Jake really loved Summer but she don't love him for real but she's just using him. On a mission Summer is about to die…Not before Jake finds out that she has been cheating on him with Phil.

-> !TW: Bad words, blood, shooting!

*NO POV*

-"I already told you…We can't be together." Summer mumbles, clearly destroyed by all the complicated emotions Jake created for something so mundane.

Jake has a lump in his mouth, as if mucus is stuck in his neck and prevents him from expressing his feelings in words. It just swallows some saliva.

They are here, in Summer's office, a serious place and he, an adult, cannot afford to cry in such a dignified place.

He has never been able to really express his feelings, Summer knows it well and for this reason she has always managed to justify herself with excuses as much as rediculous. It's as if she slaps him in the face every time for how much it is rediculous that he believes it but can't answer.

Summer can't even her as he is unconscious, she has been shaking hands with Phil for a few years now. But he keeps looking for her, maybe because he loves her a lot or maybe because he doesn't know it yet.

Summer lets out a sigh of frustration, she knows she feels something for Jake but it's irrelevant. As if she still has butterflies in her stomach but they are dead for him for a long time and he doesn't want them to come out, no, on the contrary, she leaves them inside and pretends that she doesn't care about him. She wants to use him, not love.

-"Even if I have feelings for you, it's not going anywhere.” She folds her arms tightly across her chest and looks at him with eyes half shut in frustration.

He's had his head down the whole time, but with some force pulled who knows where…He raises his head a little to look at her with broken eyes. -"And you think I haven't noticed it?" He asks, his voice sounded like that of an abandoned puppy looking for a family or someone to love.

-"Then why do you continue? You know that I cannot and do not want to love you." She says, her voice seemed to hide a scream of frustration.

He seems to cry. He seems to cry, like a motherless child, lost in the streets of a city but in this case he is lost in his soul because he knew she would never love him.

No. Crying gets nowhere, and Summer said so. Like his sisters, whom he hated and now they hate him. He's just…Just because he's afraid of loving someone.

Then why he is loving Summer so much?

-"I love you...But you make me feel like you don't even care about me..." The only thing he can say. Also, he's choked in pain and she knows it.

-"I never said I loved you." She said, she too felt choked with melancholy.

Even though she said it flat and dry, she's right. She never said she loves him…He's the one looking for her. Jake doesn't answer, what would he say?

Summer is there, perched on her office chair.

Soon they go on a mission.

She cannot be distracted by this baby.

------

Summer's office is extraordinarily quiet, voices bouncing. But in the field where they are…You hear only the desperate screams of the people, the police and only a lot of sadness.

Yet Jake's soul is...Desperate and sad. But he accepted it, he can't cry over spilled milk.

She used him, as if he were her personal trophy to clean and put back and reuse when she wishes. What if it's different for once?

Jake is there, hidden behind a box while the noise of the guns never stops.

-"I thought I could show you my love for you...But you just used me. Now it's my turn for make you pain...Bitch." Jake chuckles in frustration and quickly put a shot in his gun.

Summer is hiding next to a box like Jake, and it seems unreal...Jake shoots her.

A flat, fast and violent blow to the belly. Like her saying those words to him…An invisible arrow in Jake's belly.

-"Goodbye." He says, and runs away as if nothing had happened.

Love also has no limits with karma.

#duskwood mc #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood family #duskwood #duskwood everbyte #duskwood fandom #duskwood jake #duskwood jake x mc

[finiffy]

I can't write for shit cus writer' block has me in a choke hold but what I'm saying is that Meri, 408 and Iceberg would be best friends and also be terrible influences over each other.

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

The mission was simple: go into site 19, steal some documents from Charles, and get out alive. Nothing could go wrong since most everyone was on vacation that day and their code breakers had managed to break the foundation's locked doors.

The only problems could be any night guard but they were easy to handle.

Except it did go wrong.

The foundation always had a strange feeling. It was constantly cold, so much white in the floors, ceiling, and walls. Not to mention the countless Kester class scps. No one would say it but there was the feeling of being watched and for some reason the shadows were just a touch bit bigger than usual.

A single lone green butterfly fluttered straight towards the group.

The agent swatted at the butterfly in annoyance, not realizing it was one of the many scps in site 19. Big mistake

The other agents stared horrified as the walls suddenly sprang to life into dozens of green butterflies and swarmed through the offending agent. The screams of pain as they could only catch glimpses of the agent being eaten alive through the wings, their body getting smaller and smaller before it all stopped. The butterflies flew away as there was only bones left on the ground.

Then it started again as the butterflies went to their next target.

Several gunshots rang out but it didn't stop the mass of butterflies from shredding through the CI agents. They were like a swarm of hungry vultures tearing through the flesh and skin until there was only bone left, then go through the next victim.

A few agents tried to run through the door only to get stopped by something wrapping around their legs.

"I didn't say you could leave yet!" A female voice called out in a sing-song tone in the intercom before roots erupted from the ground, wrapping around the CI agent's legs. The remaining agents looked as the closed metal door opened up to reveal a girl dressed in silk with antlers sticking above her head.

The girl gave a pleasant smile which looked a lot more threatening with the moon light. "Hello! I'm Meri. You guys are not supposed to be here. Prepare to die."

And with those words, the rest of 408 attacked. From where they were hidden on the ceiling and the window.

It couldn’t be described as a blood bath as 408 would suck it all up but it as well be one. Between the screaming as CI agents tried to fend off the hungry 408, to the blood being spilled as Meri attacked herself from where she was standing by the door, and the gunshots ringing.

At some point, Iceberg joined in, mostly shooting at the agents trapped in Meri's vines.

The fight ended with nearly all the ci dead, only leaving two alive to tell the tale.

"You did a wonderful job 408!" Meri exclaimed, clapping her hands together to dispel any leftover roots around the site. A large grin on her face as she praised 408 for the show they put on.

Meri blushed when she calmed down from the adrenaline and noticed Julian Iceberg was in fact, in the same hallway with her and 408, the gun in his hand making a sizzling sound from the contrast of his cool skin and the hot metal.

"Oh, i didn't expect you to be here tonight Dr. Iceberg." She said somewhat embarrassed, brushing away a bit of hair in front of her face. "Usually it's just me and 408 left to protect the site. Could you not tell anyone?"

Dr. Iceberg remained silent for a few second, preoccupied with cooling the gun down so it couldn't burn a hole in his uniform. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret between the three of us." He answered, pocketing the gun in the inner pockets of his lab coat.

Meri nodded in agreement. As most of 408 began to clean up the leftover blood.

All three of them stayed together in silence. With 408 on janitor duty and Iceberg making a call for damaged floors as Meri stretches. It was peaceful.

"I think I'm going to raid the pantry now." Meri announced, 408 was quick to flutter to her side, some of them landing on her atlers while most of them chose to just fly next to her. They know that Meri always gives them a snack reward when they're done doing janitor work.

Meri was about to leave to find the cafeteria before stopping at the door. "Do you want anything Dr. Iceberg?" She calls out. The doctor looked up from where he was collecting the leftover bones that 408 didn't finish to be incinerated. "Maybe a cup of hot chocolate if you could. Just leave it on Gear's desk for me tomorrow." He said evenly.

"Okay Dr. Iceberg. Also, good night. Let's go 408."

If anyone saw Dr. Iceberg with a hot cup of chocolate the next day giving a smile at scp 166 and 408 through their cells. No one said anything. Especially not the o5 who are still screaming about the horror show from yesterday night

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

-soap

Fucking beautiful. God these people are so chaotic and I don't think I have ever really seen Ice, Meri, and 408 interact before

#fin answers #soap anon #long post #other's amazing stories

[spioderman]

Thoughts on TLOU episode 2:

*Spoiler warning*

Ellie my sad little murderous daughter

- I love the first shot of Ellie, the butterfly! Similar to the moth in part 2 it seems their using the butterfly to connect Ellie and Sarah as characters

- also the opening scene with the scientist was very good, I like the type of horror their leaning into and definitely reminiscent of Chernobyl and the fucked up, ‘oh this could actually happen’ type of thing, the horror on that woman’s face when she had to suggest basically the worst option, and you can tell the severity of it, she hates that she’s even suggesting it

- Them setting up the gun plot I love it, it’s such a good aspect of the story, and setting it up early, it’s gonna be so good when we get the payoff! I like we see both Tess and Joel agree on her not getting a gun, in the game basically it’s just joel against everyone else saying she should have a gun, but we know Tess agrees lol

- when Tess asked about if she was alone? The look! Ellie you sad child, oh and when Tess is like “do you have a parent or boyfriend who will come looking for you” Ellie’s awkward reaction! It reminds me of her reaction to joel in part 2 when he suggests Jessie likes her, the, you-are-so-far-of-the-court-we-are-on-different-courts-but-I-don’t-know-how-to-tell-you-that, reaction, it’s very good

- when joel and Ellie had to be alone and they were so fucking uncomfortable with each other *chefs kiss* just the intensity of their distain, Ellie is just roasting him the whole episode it’s great, their dynamic is amazing

- genuinely think Tess death scene was a step up from the game, you get to lean into it in a much more dramatic and traumatizing way for the characters, like my god, when joel just grabbed Ellie and she was like screaming at him, I was like fuck this is so good! and Tess with the lighter, she gets to actively make her own decision about what happens rather then just die in a shoot out, I like the games version, but I think they rlly got to add an intensity

- also Tess sets up a lot of thematic ideas in that scene “you save her and set everything right” “save who you can save” both are ideas that fit that moment but also fit the overarching story, I love the line “save her and set everything right” because it’s a plea in several senses; Tess is saying it to set right the wrongs her and Joel have committed, do this one good act and we can be free, but also you set the world right, we can fix the wrongs caused overall as a species, and THIRDLY it’s setting yourself right, you can recover and you can fix the damage you just have to save her, their all pleas, and none of them fully turn out right, but they represent this desperation, as a group, as individuals and as a collective humanity that I thinks really interesting

- Tess and Joel’s wordless goodbye is so good, the way he can’t face like saying a full goodbye, or living in the intensity of that moment, it’s too much, like he slowly watched his daughter die, neither Tess or Joel are interested in feeling those things again, their very avoidant of that, they both understand there’s no reason to stay and sulk so he just grabs Ellie and runs away and it’s so good!!!

- loved it, I thought they did the pacing rlly well too, it’s much more character focused, rlly build the three out and their relationships, and being able to see more of the world is so fucking cool!

- can’t wait for next week, we seeing Bill and Frank!! old gay men time!!

#tlou hbo #when your lost look for the…