#I didn't have a tablet when I began this blog! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jae-bummer · 11 months

Text

My Idol 3: Part Five

My Idol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Idol is a South Korean competitive reality dating game show. It currently airs on Saturday nights on Jae-bummer’s blog. First broadcast in 2016, the show offers the opportunity for a lucky fan to go on seven blind dates with seven idols. The idol plans the date with the show throwing in a specific mission to complete during the day. At the end of the initial dates, the show opens up an audience vote to decide what four idols will move on to the second date.

My Idol 3: The Series

**TW: Mention of break-in/pet death (it was a fish.)**

"And do you know anyone who might want to act maliciously against you?" the police officer asked, his gaze solely focused on you.

"I-I don't," you stuttered, completely overwhelmed. How did they expect you to answer all of their questions when your world was crashing down around you?

"Can we have a minute?" Hongseok asked, tucking you further into his side.

"We need to-" the officer began but immediately halted their words as Hongseok leveled them with a glare.

"I'm asking for a minute," he insisted. "Not the whole night. Let them calm down."

The officer sighed before flipping his notebook closed and motioning for the two of you to stand off to the side. You finally looked up from your shoes and to your apartment door that was now marked as a crime scene.

"Hongseok-" you croaked, shaking your head.

"Shhh," he hummed. You were positive that if he could pull you any closer he would. "I know. Let's have a sit."

Bringing you toward the staircase, he held the bulk of your weight as your slumped toward the carpet. Taking a deep breath as soon as you were seated, you allowed Hongseok to position you to lean against him. For a moment, you were frozen with dismay. Were you being dramatic? Was your reaction too over the top? You knew they were just things...but they were your things.

After Hongseok informed the production crew as to what was going on, you had gone numb. You wanted so badly to get into your apartment, but he was right. The best thing to do was to wait until the police arrived. Once they did, the area was secured and you were allowed to do a quick walk-through of the place you called your home.

It didn't feel like home anymore. What was left could only be described as a shell of what you once knew. Everything had been either destroyed or stolen. Every nook and corner were somehow haunted, the memories of your happiest moments cycling against one another in an attempt to cover up the reality of what was happening.

Whoever had broken in had stolen the most important things, your comfort and security. Aside from that, your furniture was trashed, stabbed, and sprayed down with paint. Vulgar messages were scrawled across the walls in English AND Korean. Your laptop was missing, as was your tablet and several other electronics. The staff had instantly begun tasking you in trying to recall anything that was taken and could be used as blackmail. Luckily, you didn't think you had any. Living in a day and age where things were so easy to be hacked, you tended to avoid keeping anything scandalous lying around. Plus, they employed excellent social media trainers when this whole thing started and you had done a grand deletion of anything questionable then.

The heaviest blow though, had to have been Jinki.

You knew he was just a goldfish, but he didn't deserve to be strung up in your living room as if his life never mattered.

And yes, you had named your goldfish after a member of Shinee, what of it?

"Drink," Hongseok said quietly, handing you a bottle of water that had seemingly materialized out of no where.

You looked at him moodily. "Jinki will never drink again."

"Jinki would want you to be hydrated," he encouraged, pressing the drink into your hands. "And he didn't drink water, he breathed it."

"This is just so messed up," you muttered, humoring him and doing as he said.

"Who would do this?" he whispered, rubbing his forehead. "I understand there are sasaengs, but to go to this level?"

Judging by the words written across your walls, it was definitely a "fan" that was responsible for the crime.

"The online hate was one thing," you said quietly. "I expected it to a certain degree, but I didn't think it would escalate."

"K-pop is such a global and attainable thing now," Hongseok nodded. "There are more fans than ever. I know it's silly not to think any of our supporters capable of this, but..."

"Has the lineup been announced publicly at all?" you asked, tilting your head. The dates were meant to be a surprise for you, but you knew details were commonly leaked online.

"Not that I know of," he sighed. "I mean, of course there's been rumors in the industry of what groups would be participating, but is that really enough to make someone snap?"

"I don't think it takes much to make any given person snap," you muttered. "We could try to reconcile it all day, but really, it's just senseless."

"We can't continue the show," Hongseok said slowly, side-eying you. "Your safety is more important than this."

You hadn't had time to give it much thought, but you figured he was right. The sensible part of you agreed that it was time to shut it all down, but the obstinate part of you pushed in the other direction. You didn't want to give up. You couldn't let the people who did this run you off, but how were you supposed to move forward?

First your apartment...what was next? When would a fan show up at filming and do something even more drastic?

How were you supposed to feel safe ever again?

Picking up the pieces of your broken life was one of the hardest things you had ever done.

After the police had finished up at your place, you salvaged what you could and packed it up in a few boxes before the My Idol crew whisked you away to the nearest hotel. To their credit, it was a very nice one that you could never have afforded yourself, but it didn't lessen the sting of the cause for your visit.

And for Hongseok's part, he didn't leave your side until the staff had forced him...into a hotel room down the hall.

To both your delight and horror, the entire show's operation was locking down. You would still be going off the premises for dates (with heavily increased security) but any time a contestant appeared, they would be shipped off to the safety of what had become the My Idol compound.

There was no shutting down production under any circumstances.

You had signed a contract after all, with no escape clauses for this type of situation.

Sighing to yourself, you pulled on an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of shorts. Grabbing the ice bucket, you shuffled to your door and gave three knocks. That was the "code" if you needed to leave.

Instantly, you heard the click of your lock (that you weren't allowed the key to) and the door swung toward you. Smiling in the hall was the security officer for the night shift, Insu. "Going somewhere?"

"Ice," you sighed, smiling sadly up at him. Although you had known this man for less than 24 hours, he was already a comforting presence. Standing at least a foot taller, and broad enough to take over half the door way, he was a force to be reckoned with.

And it may not have mattered, but it was worth mentioning...of course he was good looking.

"Optimal time for a late night stroll," he grinned, motioning at you to step into the hall. Walking past him, you tried not to look too long, but it was difficult. While his face was generally unmarred, a long scar was evident from the corner of his left eye, all the way to his jaw. It didn't make him any less handsome, obviously, but added a certain amount of character you weren't expecting. You weren't rude enough to stare or ask, but you were curious of the backstory.

"How's your day going?" you tried, ambling in the direction of the small room that held vending machines and the like.

"Great," he answered calmly, nodding at another security officer stationed by a different hotel room door. You wondered to yourself if Hongseok or Jungkook were locked inside. "I would ask how your day is, but I have a sneaking suspicion I already know the answer."

You felt your lips tug up at this. "It's going better than it was a few hours ago. I think I'm still in shock, honestly."

"That's understandable," he agreed. "Even before today, this world was new to you."

You hummed in response. He was right. Since this show had started, you were trying to navigate new ground, but today had completely upended everything you thought you knew. "How long have you been in security?"

"I did similar work in the military," he acknowledged. "Once I got out, this is what made sense."

"So that means..." you trailed.

"Seven years," he chuckled. "Including the two while I served."

"No way," you gasped, pausing to turn toward him. "How old are you then?"

This startled another laugh from him. "Twenty five."

"Oh," you said quietly before beginning to walk again. "So you joined right after high school then?"

"I did," he confirmed. "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life and I thought it would be nice to have another two years to consider it."

"Sorry if I'm prying," you winced, worried that you were pestering him while he was just trying to do his job.

"That's not necessary," Insu said. You weren't going to look over your shoulder, but you were certain their was a smile hidden in his deep tone. "It's important that you know who is protecting you."

Turning into the room with the ice machine, you placed your container in the appropriate area and waited. After some loud crunching and getting ice nearly everywhere around your feet, it was time to head back.

"Let me," he insisted, taking the small bucket from your hands.

"It's not heavy," you laughed, glancing up at him.

"Did I say it was?" he hummed, a spark of something playful in his expression.

"Just being a gentleman then, got it," you hummed, allowing him to fall behind you again.

"It's quite literally my job to make this a little easier for you," he affirmed. "But I'll take the compliment."

Walking back down the hall, he turned the conversation your way. After answering a series of questions about schooling and your career, it wasn't long before you were at your door again.

You weren't expecting to feel so...disappointed.

"Get settled in for the night," Insu advised, handing the bucket back over to you. "Hyuk will be taking over in the morning."

"Right," you nodded. "Goodnight then."

"Sleep well."

Closing the door between you felt much louder than it should have. Shaking your head, you tried to clear your thoughts. It had been a long day. It was natural to try to find comfort in anyone that had crossed your path.

"Of course," you whispered to yourself. That's exactly what it was.

Hyuk was not nearly as graceful as Insu.

"Sorry," he grumbled, shouldering open the stairway door. He wasn't much taller than you and was likely old enough to be your father. "This building must be old."

"Right," you laughed nervously, stepping around him and toward the lobby area.

Being in one central location wasn't so bad, but you weren't sure how transportation would work.

"He's already at the destination," Hyuk said, as if reading your thoughts. You nodded absently at him as you saw the My Idol SUV already parked outside. Admittedly, you were exhausted. After the day and night you had, it was nearly impossible to fall asleep. The PD's you worked most closely with tried to push today's date out a few times, but scheduling simply wouldn't allow it.

Climbing into the vehicle, you plopped into the backseat, your eyes quickly catching on what was going on outside of the vehicle. Across the street, barricades had already been set up to contain the fans who had evidently found out what hotel you were staying in.

"What?" you hissed, angling yourself to look more closely.

"We've got the situation handled," Hyuk reassured. "They're being kept as far from the building as possible."

"Across the road is as far away as possible?" you whispered, your stomach dangerously close to vomiting what little contents you had in it. "How did they find out?"

"In this city, if you want to know something bad enough," he grumbled. "You can usually find someone willing to give it to you for the right price."

Turning toward him, you knew he saw shock plain on your face.

"Welcome to celebrity life, Mx. Y/N," he sighed.

After a quiet car ride that only took about ten minutes, you felt anxiety begin to crawl up your spine as your driver pulled into a large parking lot. Looking out of your window again, you saw the location for today, the Han River.

"Isn't this too open?" you asked, trying to tap down your panic. "So many people are around."

"We have a specific area cleared out," Hyuk said, his voice more gentle than it had been before. "We will keep you safe."

You swallowed hard and gave a curt nod. If you were going to do this, you had to trust the people around you no matter how difficult it was proving to be.

"Don't let them win," you whispered. Maybe if you repeated the mantra, it would make this whole thing easier.

Hyuk looked at you with a lifted brow. "Good call."

Easing out of the car behind him, you were disheartened. The usual rush of butterflies and anxiety that came before a date were a bit dampened. Of course, it was understandable given the situation, but it also wasn't fair to your date. Or yourself.

Taking a deep breath, you set your feet on the pavement and looked up at the grassy knoll beyond. Surrounded by security and the camera crew, a man stood before a small pop-up tent. Holding a slim box in front of his face, you only assumed it was a man by his build. Broad and muscular, he was dressed in dark, ripped jeans and a black t-shirt. As you drew closer, you narrowed your eyes at what he was holding.

"What's this?" you mused, shaking your head in disbelief.

Your date pulled the box away from his face and gave you a large smile. "Hi, I'm Ateez's San, and this, is a gift from me to you."

Pushing the item away from himself and into your hands, you looked down and chuckled softly. "A new laptop?"

"I heard you've had a rough few days," he hummed, securing his hands behind his back. You glanced up at him, his handsome face wearing an easy smile. "And lost a lot more than anyone deserves to."

"San-," you whispered, on the verge of crying. The gift was expensive, there was no way you could accept it, especially from someone you had only just met. "I can't-"

"Nope," he said, cutting you off immediately. "Getting back to normalcy in a time that's anything but normal is hard. You gotta start somewhere, right?"

"I swear if this starts a chain of dates bringing me household appliances," you teased, looking at him with gratitude.

"Then we'll all be taking our turns making life a little easier on you," he grinned. "One step at a time."

In Loving Memory:

Sea Jin Ki (2022 - 2023)

39 notes · View notes

xmassamurai · 6 months

Text

Infromation and warnings post

I feel the need to share some thoughts and important information in this post. If you don't want to read about my thoughts and feelings, go straight to the Information block.

If you don’t like my art just scroll it or block me. You don’t need to text me about it.

Thoughts and Feelings

Warning: voluminous text with some thoughts.

I have abandoned my art blog again and it’s mentally difficult for me to come back to it, so I won’t do it.

My art block started in 2020, but I stubbornly tried to continue drawing with hope that I could force myself to overcome it. At the beginning of 2022, I drew my last picture and couldn’t bring myself to draw anything else. Before my birthday that year, I decided to announce that I was no longer publishing my work.

In my creative journey I made several mistakes. Two of them were large:

1. I started making money as a graphic designer and it led to a burnout.

2. I expected a greater response from the audience, but I didn’t get it because I really don't know how to work with an audience.

Now I have changed my approach. I no longer work and will never work in the creative field. My job position is connected with data analysis.

I want to express my endless gratitude to my sister, who brought drawing back into my life. One day she brought me her iPad and offered me to draw. Before this I had never drawn on an iPad; I had always used Wacom graphics tablets. The drawing process turned out to be like meditation for me. I would draw sketches, not finish them, and then abandon them. Sometimes I simply covered the canvas with different brushes.

After working day, my sister and me started playing Mortal Kombat, and when I was tired she gave me the iPad, then she continued to play. And we talked a lot. One day she said: ‘For some reason I like it when you draw.’ And it was very enjoyable. Perhaps she always thought so, but did not voice it. These words seemed to resurrect me. My sister didn't care how long I drew, she just loved sitting next to me and seeing what I was drawing on her iPad. This relieved the nervous tension that I had earned from the wrong attitude towards the audience. I was always afraid of losing the public's interest because I draw slowly. My friends said that I should draw as often as possible, even if it turns out badly, and post it on the blog to increase the activity of subscribers. This approach was very toxic for me. And furthermore I don't know how to draw something actual. Sometimes I become hyper fixated on something and can only draw that.

My sister didn’t care exactly what I was drawing. She looked at my crooked sketches as if they were a miracle. She was delighted that I could make some semblance of people through lines. While we played Mortal Kombat, we inevitably created (almost always without plot justification) pairings, so pairings with the characters of which my sister and I played after work began to appear on my canvases.

One day my mom accidentally saw one of these pictures drawn while playing Mortal Kombat. She said: ‘What beautiful faces they have’. I was embarrassed, but I was pleased. My mom usually didn't give my fandom shipping pictures high marks. Then I decided to create a server on Discord and invited my sister and best friend there. There I started posting all my pictures. I post everything that comes out of one drawing session, even if it only lasted 5 minutes, and they post reactions. There is nothing else on the server. I realized that I need these reactions, I am delighted when they stage some unusual reactions and I am delighted that these reactions are always there. This completely satisfied my need to get feedback from the audience. I have almost gotten rid of the traumas that I inflicted on myself in the past. I am eternally grateful to my sister and my best friend for these reactions.

I myself began to like the pictures that I completed. And one day I decided that I could post on my Tumblr blog those pictures that seemed good enough to me on the Discord server, and leave space for creative chaos on Discord. Processes and abandoned work will remain there. As well as originals that for certain reasons I don’t want to publish on the Internet and some local jokes and art that only my sister and I or my friend understand.

So I'm restarting my blog. My art will sometimes appear here. They will not appear here regularly. As I complete some works and if they seem suitable for publication, I will post them here.

Information

I do not exclude that sometimes there will be text posts on free topics. These may be my thoughts or incorrect quotes. I will continue to reblog.

Sometimes captions for art may be in Russian. It is my native language. I don't speak English well, but I'm trying to improve it.

This blog will contain pairings that have no plot justification. Please don't comment that this is weird or wrong. I like them and most likely they came here because my sister and I came up with them together for some reason.

Here are a few Mortal Kombat pairings that I ship (maybe I will add it in the future, or maybe create a separate post):

Kuai x Hanzo (in mk1 too)

Baraka x Kabal

Kitana x Jade

Fujin x Rain

Frost x Erron

Shiva x Sindel

Erron x Kano

Johnny x Kenshi

Bi Han x Tomas

Mortal Kombat warnings and headcanon

#xmas_info

3 notes · View notes

kitishsnzes · 1 year

Note

Hello! Nice to see a new sickfic blog! Can I request a sick and sneezy Nathaniel and Jacob taking care of him??? Thank you 😊

Short but sweet

Nathaniel p.o.v

It had been a stressful few days. Work had been busy for me, Jacob had been stressed with his own work and was therefore quite irritable. This has led to us having quite the argument. We had literally never argued before, especially not like this. After the fight I had gone for a walk to clear my mind, but it had unfortunately started raining and I was not suffering the consequences. Because now, on top of Jacob being mad at me I was also very quickly coming down with a cold.

Jacob and I sat at dinner, a somewhat awkward silence between the two of us. I knew I was in the early stages of my illness. Stuffy nose, scratchy, tickly throat, a small headache and a near constant need to sneeze. Not even halfway through our meal my nose had gotten too itchy to hear. I took a napkin from the center of the table and cupped my nose into it, "hhtshu! EhhtSHhhu!" My husband barely even looked at me, but still mumbled a soft "bless you" I softly thanked him. Then we continued to eat in an awkward silence. This only lasted a few more minutes before my nose began tickling again. I pressed my fist under my nose, hoping to keep the tickle at bay. This seemed to work, but apparently my sniffling was getting on Jacob's already short nerves. "Nate! Just sneeze for fucks sake!" I was shocked by his sudden outburst. I took another napkin, my breath hitching, "hhTshu! Hh- ehh- tsSHhu! HhtCSHu!" The sneezes were harsh and caused me to cough after, and I was even concerned at how rough my lungs sounded from the coughing. I blew my nose into the napkin. "Bless you" Jacob sounded a bit concerned. His usual loving, sweet, kindness showing through. He leaned across the table and his soft fingers brushed over my forehead. "Nate, I think you've got a fever" it was in my better judgment that I didn't correct his grammar. "Maybe?" I said, trying to avoid the obvious. "Nate honey are you sick?" His voice was void of all previous annoyance. "Maybe?"

"I knew you shouldn't have been walking outside in the rain. I was worried this would happen." He stood up. "I'll be right back love"

"Ok-ah- hhh- hhTSshu! HktSsshu!- snf okay"

"Bless you darling" his voice sounded apologetic, as if he was trying to make up for our fight. "How long have you felt sick for?" He asked as he rummaged around in the cupboard in the kitchen. "Started feeling sick this morning"

"Why didn't you tell me"

"I felt bad bothering you, I knew you were stressed and we weren't really on super friendly terms" he came back from the kitchen, a bottle in his hand, he was shaking his head, "Nate, I don't care about a silly fight."

"But we never fight"

"Everyone fights. Couples fight. It's part of being in a relationship. Doesn't mean I don't love you or wouldn't want to take care of you" he leaned in to kiss me, but I turned away, "I don't want you to catch this" he smiled tenderly at me, he set his fingers on my jaw, "nonsense. You're worth it" he kissed me, I knew I was blushing. Even after being married for nearly 10 years I still found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with him.

He pulled away from the kiss and handed me the bottle in his hand, "you can take this right?" He knew I had allergies to certain medications, but could never keep them all straight. I nodded, I took a few of the cold/flu tablets out and swallowed them with a swig of water. "I'm sorry for making you mad" I apologized, he shrugged, "I should have been more patient."

"I love you"

"Love you more"

"Not possible" I said jokingly, before turning away as my nose tickled again, "hhtshu! Ehh- hhh- hhTSshu tsShu!"

"Bless you" Jacob said rubbing my shoulder. "You should get some rest before you get more sick"

"Probably a good idea" I smiled to myself, after years of Jacob protesting when I told him to sleep when sick, he pulled the uno reverse card on me. "Ugh I sound like you" he said, he wrinkled his nose cutely. I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Because I'm so smart" he rolled his eyes, "yeah, smart ass!" I laughed at him before kissing him softly. "alright I'll behave I'm so sorry my love"

He triumphantly smiled and kissed my nose, "bed!" I stood up, "yessir"

He followed me to our room and climbed into bed next to me, "you know that you're gonna get sick."

"For you, It's worth it."

I fell asleep with a lovesick smile on my face.

#snz #snz kink #snzblr #snz fic #snzfic #snz things #snz ocs

7 notes · View notes

starleska · 8 months

Note

no offense but why do i keep seeing you getting new fictional crushes at least every once a week 😆

hahahaha, no offense taken!! but i must ask - are you new around here? 🙈🙈 i do an f/o/crushes/obsessions roundup at the start of every year - we're averaging around 30 per annum 😂 the real answer is ...why not? time to get a little personal under the cut - sorry it's so long!! but i wanted to give a proper answer 💖

i was your typical autistic kid with a lot of weird-ass obsessions and crushes, but i was slowly shamed out of those interests despite how happy they made me. my teens were a really difficult time, and i began believing my fandom-related interests were 'weird' or 'childish', so i shoved them waaaay down, and tried to be 'normal'. turns out, that stuff is not good for you! 💔 it wasn't until the 2020 lockdowns that i saw things differently. it'll seem crazy to my pals and followers now, but i never used to post the way i do today!! i'd stopped making fanvids and writing fanfic, and i was too ashamed to explore my love for drawing and hadn't ever picked up a tablet pen. i'd spent so long trying to survive i didn't really know how to just exist and do things i like - much less with stuff i thought was shameful. 2020 made me realise i didn't want to spend my limited time here denying myself joy... ...so i embraced cringe culture being dead, and threw myself into the Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning fandom 🙈 reawakening my love for horror, silly video games and the bountiful creativity of fandom (plus my crush on ridiculous characters) and making it a safe, comfortable, normal thing to do was imperative to my healing. it might seem silly, but openly thirsting about a green polygonal noodle who spanks you to death allowed me to laugh at myself, be open about my interests, and stop attaching such terrible, negative thoughts to my existence!! 😂 people who should've taken care of me hurt me a lot when i was younger. obsessing over fictional characters who tickle my brain just right - whether in a selfshipping capacity, making art, collecting info about them, etc. helps heal that hurt inner child. after so many years of denying myself fun or joy, i realised there aren't really any rules!! if i see a cool character, show, game, etc. and it piques my interest, why shouldn't i follow that spark of passion and see if it blooms? 🥰 i love seeing people gush about fictional characters because i know they're having a great time, and many are healing themselves 💖 so yeah, that's the answer!! fandom rules are fake, crushing on fictional characters is fun, and it's like a neverending chain of serotonin to gush, and for your pals to gush, and to suggest silly characters to one another and make their day a little better 🙏💖 i hope to continue making my blog a fun and joyful space for that kind of energy, and i don't intend on stopping posting about my love for weird characters anytime soon 🙈💖

#i hope more people do this honestly!!! you're not a 'brand' - you're a person with interests!!! enjoy yourself - you're only here once!!!#starleskasks #long post

5 notes · View notes

galactichelium · 1 year

Text

Man. This is the least I have drawn in like, at least 10 years. I don't know why I've been lacking in ideas. Though, admittedly, on the 1 or 2 ideas I have been able to come up with, due to not drawing for so long, now I've lost my rhythm with drawing and nothing even comes close to looking right. Augh. I really hope I'm able to get back into drawing eventually. Because I really do love drawing.

Extended ramble below the cut 😭. It wasn't supposed to be so long but it just kept getting longer. Basically, tl;dr: There are SO many fucking factors that have seemingly contributed to this. More than I realised before making this post, even.

I think probably part of this also is my chronic pain, because I think I first got into this art block back in December 2021. Of which being when my chronic pain started getting really bad. Though, back then it wasn't as bad as it has become. Up until around August 2022 I was still for the most part making a drawing a month. But since then, I've only drawn 2 drawings. One in December, and then one in February. And I didn't even post the February one.

Another potential factor is that, well, my art blog url is "officialkarkat". At the time, it did feel like a proper expression of me, as I tied a lot of my sense of identity to this character, but. Around the same time my chronic pain started getting worse weirdly enough, was around the time when I began to realise that while initially doing this did help me figure out a lot about myself, at this point, it felt more like something I was hiding behind. Not being my true self. (Not that I'm not a kinnie anymore, I am, but yeah.) But then I've been stuck on what to do, because I've HAD that url for 2 or 3 years, and I also still can't even think of anything better lmfao.

There's also the fact that I did get a job in October 2022. While I have very little hours, it still does get in the way because I always have work on Fridays. Almost always exclusively. So the rest of the weekdays I get stuck in ADHD "waiting" mode, waiting for work at the end of the week. And the weekends feel like a recovery period.

I also am now using a completely different art program as of December 2022. Because I've been trying to switch computers, but wanted Linux on my newer one, but I couldn't get CSP to work on it despite my numerous attempts at different methods. So while I have completed 2 drawings using my new art program of choice (Krita), and have become more familiar with it by messing around in it every now and again, it still doesn't quite feel like home. Does that make sense.

And last potential factor. My newer computer is a desktop computer instead of something like my Surface Pro was, which, in hindsight, was a kick in the foot. I thought it'd be better because I could get better specs for cheaper with a desktop. And I thought that getting a graphics tablet would be all that I needed to get right back into it. But I didn't realise just how essential being able to pick up a pen at any time and just start drawing was, to my drawing process. Back then this was true, but even more so now with my chronic pain, of which gets worse with inactivity, thus making big drawing sessions impossible. Though when I got this desktop (June 2021), that was yet to be a big factor. I mostly only even got a new computer because well... my surface pro, at the time, was 8 years old. Now it's 10 years old. I got it second-hand 5 and a half years ago from eBay. It could now probably fall apart at any moment. I'm surprised it hasn't already. Though there are a lot of problems with it tbf. However all this being said, having my desktop computer has helped with chronic pain in a different way. Y'know, having more proper posture. But it still comes at a cost with how accessible drawing is.

But honestly, out of all of these. The two biggest factors getting in the way right now I feel like are the fact that I'm very out-of-practice, making it harder to get back into it, and the chronic pain. But. Augh. All of these different things happening all at once 😭

#Iron text

1 note · View note

fic-dumpster · 3 years

Text

Deer in headlights | Short stories: Dream a little dream of me

Bonten x Reader | 1.4K+ words

Warnings: Angst .-. yeah… | suggestive(?), Blood, violence, death, implied drug use, turned kinda funny, I can’t write angst to save my life, no beta and not edited. Grammar/spelling mistakes, I SUFFERED SO YALL BETTER READ 😭😭 why is angst so hard to write. have your age in your blogs visible

Sum: Sanzu being Sanzu, is always a mess. But sometimes, that could affect everyone around him. And Mistakes. Mistakes can cost more than what you are willing to give.

Requested a million years ago by @rositabluemoon 💕🫂💕 (I don’t do requests)

As always, Bonten now hangs out at your place. Everyone was doing their thing, scattered around the couches, except for two people, who had been at the kitchen counter for half an hour.

“Sanzu, for the last time, stop leaving pills unlabeled!” Koko was helping the pinknette with his messy pockets. Kokonoi had a headache and asked for painkillers, only for Sanzu to spill from his pocket countless little tablets and some white dust on the table.

“My bad,” the pinknette felt terrible; he knows how bad Koko’s headaches can get. Luckily for them, they had almost all the pills now in labeled little bottles. “Let me get you some water,” Sanzu walked towards the fridge.

“Where is Y/N? She hasn't come out in a while,” Ran asked as he looked around, searching for you.

“Taking a bath,” Mikey said from the couch, legs up in the air and head on a comfy pillow.

“It’s been a while. Should I go check?” Kakucho asked with concern. Mikey was about to dismiss the idea when a scream broke the peace in the room—your scream, to be exact, followed by the sound of glass being shattered. Not a second passed, and the men in the room moved. Mikey, Sanzu, Rindou, and Takeomi guns out as Ran and Kakucho pursued behind. At the same time, Kokonoi and Mochi checked the entrance.

As soon as they opened the door to your bedroom, their bodies stilled—pools of blood and red imprints of someone's shoes led to the shattered window in the room. The door to your private bathroom was open. Mikey was the first one to react, flying to your bathroom, but all in vain.

He couldn't get in—observing the scene from the door frame. Mikey saw you there; he couldn't move. It was like his head was being pushed underwater; he couldn't breathe. Sanzu, for once, didn't think of Mikey as his boss, pushing the petrified man to the side, entering the room.

“Mikey? What hap-” Koko came running when he heard his boss scream, a hollow scream. The noise was filled with excruciating pain that Koko left Mochi behind. But Mikey didn't register his own actions nor how Kokonoi fell on his knees once he saw what lay inside the door frame. Kokonoi didn't notice when his tears began to flow.

Ran roared in anger, running towards the broken window. There was nobody—only the cold air of the night whistling through the tall buildings. His brother—the younger haitani, Rindou left, he ran, he couldn't stand the sight. A third piercing scream haunted the night. The purplenette reached the streets and shot at anything that crossed his path.

Sanzu held your lifeless body in his arms; his whole body shook at the intensity of his cries. The blood flowing from your wounds stained his once clean suit. He kept caressing your face; the wetness of your skin intensified the coldness of it. “Y- yo- you are just taking a bath, right? Baby? Y/N?” Sanzu couldn't accept it. You are just asleep. Trembling, he held your face as he connected his lips to yours once more in hopes of finding that you would return his action. But nothing. Nothing. Just like his heart, there was nothing in it right now.

Kakucho had seen this kind of red before; flashes of his past flooded his mind—his parents, Izana, now... you. You couldn't leave him. Not now. “Please, don’t leave me now, not ever,” Kakucho didn't realize he whispered the same words over and over. As if he were in a trance. Small steps took him towards you as if something pushed him; because he didn't want to see your naked body like that.

Takeomi in all his life in the crime world; no death has ever affected him. Not like this. He saw red; he wanted blood. The ache and burn of his chest were too much. You did nothing wrong other than to love them. The only stain in your pure soul was them. So why? Why do you have to lay there and not them? Why did the bastard that did this took you and not one of them? Takeomi thought to himself as tears streamed down his face. Seeing his brother held your still form broke him.

The last one to know what happened was Mochi. And he saw it. The way your head hung lifeless as Sanzu kept trying to wake you up as if you were sleeping. He didn't see just another body. It was you, the girl that brought light to them, a person he could honestly call a friend. An innocent person paying for their mistakes... Rage, there was nothing but rage in him. “This is all your fault!” His voice echoed in the room and fell like a slap on their faces.

Abruptly everything went black.

Multiple groans could be heard in the living room. It was still dark outside. Everyone groggily woke up with strong headaches drumming in their brains.

“The fuck,” Rindou could have sworn that something had happened... Realization hit him. “Y/N!!!” that also made every other male in the room straighten up.

You were still in the bathtub, less than ten minutes in, when the slam of the door startled you—not understanding what the hell was going on as multiple clothed bodies invaded your bathtub. You saw Rindou and Sanzu deep their expensive suits in as they clashed in attempts to hold you. Mikey jumped in as if it was a pool splashing water everywhere—face against your chest as his arms circled your naked form. Kakucho and Ran weren't far behind trying to pull you out instead of submerging themselves in the floral water of the bathtub. Kokonoi and Takeomi threw every rational thought out as they too attempted to include themselves in the now growing dogpile in the bathroom.

“Okay! Oh my god! Is everything all right?!” You struggled to let out as Mikey didn't lose his hold on you, and Rindou and Sanzu somehow managed to sit on the back, also hugging the hell out of you. A chorus of no’s and don’t leave me’s filled the bathroom. “I would never! What-” your words were cut short as Ran smashed his lips on yours, and then Sanzu pulled your head back also to steal your lips. Rindou didn't want to wait for a turn, so he pushed the pinknette aside—joining his own to yours. You were dizzy with how they handled your head and neck and also preventing your oxygen flow.

“Don’t die, please,” Kakucho kissed your knuckles as his eyes filled with tears, just by remembering the very vivid dream he had. that he also noticed somehow everyone understood...

Mikey was now biting your neck, more like over where he can feel your heartbeats. He kept his mouth and teeth over that patch of skin as his tongue pressed falt on it. The more he sensed your pulse, the more his breathing calmed down.

Suddenly, Takeomi stood from his kneeling position next to Kokonoi, who was fighting for your arm against Ran. “Did you all dream that...”

“Y/N died?” finished Kakucho for him. Everyone stilled. What are the odds? he thought to himself.

When suddenly Kokonoi hit Sanzu in the head, “Sanzu, you idiot! What was that white dust in your pockets!?!” Kokonoi realized Sanzu had been walking and leaving that shit everywhere today.

“Oh...” said the pinknette.

“What do you mean by oh!?!?” Rindou used a headlock on Sanzu as Kakucho went for a towel and not to dry you off.

“Did you drug us?” Ran was about to make Kakucho Bonten number two.

Even after the bathtub invasion, you weren't able to move. Mikey holding your left side, Takeomi hugging your right, and Kakucho head on your belly and his body between your legs. Apparently, they were taking turns since Ran, Rindou, and Koko were now doing who knows what in the kitchen. As for Sanzu, let's say he was busy.

“Why is Sanzu tied up in the bathtub!?” Mochi had just arrived from doing his duties of the day when he saw the pinknette wet and with a towel in the mouth.

Kokonoi appeared with a cup of coffee, “leave him there,” and kept walking.

“O- okay,” Mochi closed the bathroom door with an apologetic smile, “Sorry.” Sanzu saw his last hope leave the place.

“Hey, hmm, can I go to the bathroom?” you asked still resting in bed with the other three.

“No!” Every person in the house answered that.

Except for Mochi, who was sitting on the couch, “Hey, what is this white dust?”

“Don’t!!” Ran, Rindou and Kokonoi shouted. Too late, Mochi had already sniffed the particles.

#tokyo revengers angst #humor (?)#tokyorev fluff #akashi takeomi #sanzu haruchiyo #kokonoi hajime #kakucho hitto #ran haitani #omificstags #rindou Haitani #bonten x reader #sano mikey manjiro x reader #mochizuki kanji #tw.blood #tw.drugs #omi.dih

991 notes · View notes

ein-liebloser-wanderer · 2 years

Text

⸸ Love is an Abnormality ( Yandere Lobotomy Corporation ) — Confess Thy Sins ⸸

Pairing: Reader x 0-03-03 (One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds)

Warnings: MC isn't a good person, religious themes involving sins (well, it's in his name), implied cannibalism. Also, I took a lot of creative liberty with this one

Description: You have just recently begun working at the newest wing, Lobotomy Corporation. As a Backstreet rat, this was everything you could have ever wanted. Finally, you could leave behind your wretched life and become someone useful to society. 'Face your fears. Build the future' is their motto, but little did you know that it would be literal. Especially when the first Abnormality you must work with is hellbent on making you face your darkest demons.

Word Count: Around 2 600

Last Proof-Read: 03/16/22

Corrected some word misspellings

Fixed Suppression and rewrote it as Repression (as it is canonically called in-game)

Hopefully easier and smoother word flow that isn't too repetitive

Grammar check

Inspired by SCP: Doki Doki Anomaly. This blog is finally going to live up to its name as a yandere eldritch blog haha.

His Redrafted Abnormality Details

~~~~~~~

'Hello, [Name]. I give you all the warmest welcomes to Lobotomy Corporation.'

When you were first hired, you were overjoyed. It was understandable, really, since you lived on the Backstreets. Though, calling it living would be implying that there was remotely any luxury to it. No. Everyday was a struggle just to see one more day, and if it weren't for the fact that you knew some trustworthy people, you wouldn't be alive.

Society itself was crumbling at the seams, corruption and cannibals were free to run amok, and those above didn't even seem to care. In fact, they even encourage it.

So how could dealing with a couple of abnormalities be worse than that?

As you will eventually realize, it can in fact get worse.

⸸ 'He was your first...' ⸸

To your surprise, you were one of the first 'agents' on the field. As it turned out, L-Corp had just recently began anew as a Wing. Even your manager, X, is new on the job.

You weren't sure if you should be grateful or afraid. On one hand, that means they will be more lenient towards your mistakes, but on the other hand, it means they might carelessly get you killed.

Despite your anxieties, X called for you specifically to work on the first Abnormality. You narrowed your eyes as you read your working tablet.

O-03-03? You gulped.

You didn't know what to expect. Nothing else was on the tablet save for its subject classification, and it's...surreal profile picture. Not that you expected to have more info on them, but seeing these numbers...it reminded you that L-Corp wasn't any safer than the doomed world outside.

For all you know, the Manager could be sending you to your death right now.

You thought so because you hadn't even entered the containment unit, yet the sensation of being watched lingered...

⸸ 'It had no eyes, yet it saw all your wretchedness...' ⸸

You were understandably terrified of entering the containment unit.

You saw the worst of the worst in the Backstreets. You saw what was hidden underneath the armors of the masked humanoids called Sweepers. You knew how lucrative human meat was, and what awfulness people were willing to commit to acquire them.

But this thing contained inside? Its mere presence sent chills down your spine.

The moment you entered, you were greeted by a man who you might have considered handsome...if he had eyes. The Abnormality was dressed ceremoniously in religious garbs; simple white robes and some sort of sash on his shoulders. He was sitting on the ground rather innocuously, but...you couldn't trust him. Even if all he had was a silver crucifix on his lap, whose to say that he can't hurt you with it?

Standing before it, you felt vulnerable. How could something without eyes feel like they were watching you?

You didn't know what L-Corp planned to do to these creatures, and frankly, that was none of your concern. The only thing you should be worrying about was that you were required to interact with the monstrosities called 'Abnormalities.' And right now, your tablet said, Attachment.

Here goes nothing, you thought before stepping closer.

He was quiet, and eerily so. You introduced yourself, trying to be as friendly as possible, yet nothing happened. The containment door was still closed, meaning the Manager truly was watching you, and you were doing something wrong.

You can't fail on the first day, but...what else were you supposed to do?

Just as you thought you were going to be trapped with this unnerving man for eternity, O-03-03 spoke for the first time.

"I see. Thou art carrying a heavy burden on thy shoulders."

Your eyes widened. What?

"Do pray tell...hath thou ever committed a sin so grave it haunts thee?"

"Doesn't everyone?" you replied, jokingly, but your eyes betrayed the wariness you were trying to hide. Even without eyes, he knew.

"So, am I right to believe thou art a sinner?"

Your eyes narrowed. Should you be honest? Or should you lie? What if this abnormality was one of those zealots? He might kill you!

Deciding against your instincts, you said, "Yes. Yes, I am."

You closed your eyes, awaiting the punishment that will inevitably come your way. But all you heard was a ping! from your tablet, and the containment door opening behind you.

"I see."

You opened one eye slowly, afraid that you might see a maniacal killer before you. But no, the man's face was just as serene as it was before, but this time, a small smile graced his lips.

"I bid you adieu, child. May we see each other again like this."

You left O-03-03's unit with a very perplexed look on your face. Why did the Manager release you only after talking about that? And most of all, why were your sins any of that man's business?

Right. He isn't a man. You thought.

You reprimanded yourself for even considering him one. There was a reason why Temperance was the skill needed for Attachment work and not charisma. It was because more than anything, Agents must never get attached to the subjects. There would be no turning back once that happens.

You heard another ping! from your tablet. You thought you were being sent in to work on O-03-03 again (since he was the only Abnormality here), but to your surprise, it was his manual being updated.

Name: 'One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds

Subject Class: ZAYIN

Well...at least you know the basic information about him now, you thought with attempted optimism.

⸸ 'To Be Willing to Bear the Pain is Only Half the Atonement...Only Through True Suffering Can Thou Be Forgiven' ⸸

The next couple of days working with One-Es (short for One Sin) have been rather easy. Too easy.

Though there was another Agent (who only introduced himself as Beta) asides from you, the Manager seemed to trust you enough to do most of the work load for the Abnormality. You could assume that much since the other Agent only came twice to do Reppression and Instinct work. After that, he was never assigned again.

Not that Beta had a problem with that. He was more than happy to never return, seeing how much he disliked One-Es.

He's too invasive, he said, looking disturbed. The dude has no concept of privacy. Like at all. And you know what's worse? He sounds like those cults from the Backstreets! He just kept spouting all this religious nonsense about sins! Like who the hell is he to force me what to believe in?

While you weren't going to disagree with him, you didn't see that as a reason to dislike the man. He was bizarre, sure, but wasn't what they warned you about before you applied here? Beta complained as if he never agreed to the Terms and Conditions of this job.

Unlike the other agent, you were largely assigned with Attachment and Insight work, which was pretty much the only two things allowed to be done on One-Es. You would often try to befriend him as ordered, but it seemed like the Abnormality had returned to his quiet disposition.

He just sits there, staring at you, his empty sockets absorbing everything it couldn't see.

Once, while doing Insight work, you tried to tend to his head injuries. You have noticed before that he had a crown of thorns tightly wrapped around his head that it pierced into his forehead, so you brought a first aid kit with you this time. After all, wasn't Insight about ensuring the Abnormalities were comfortable?

But the moment you sat down on the ground in front of him, your hands reaching up to free him of his crown, he gently grabbed your wrists and held them on your lap.

"There is no need for that, [Name]," he smiled. Somehow, that made him seem like he was radiating light, like an angel with a halo. "This is a burden I willingly carry."

Confused, you asked him why. Why would anyone willingly inflict pain upon themselves? Was he a masochist of some sort?

To that, he laughed. It was a gentle sound, one that made you feel warm on the inside. Safe.

"Cleanse thy mind of impurities, child. I wear this not to relish the pain, but to remind others and myself that pain is inevitable when one carries sins."

Ah. Right...of course.

"Thou should know. Thou art a sinner."

⸸ 'One Can Deceive Themselves to Feign Ignorance...And Thou Cannot Refuse Him' ⸸

The next time you were assigned to work on One-Es, it was for Attachment work.

Ever since the revelation about his obsession towards sins, you made it your point to always talk about it with him. Whether if it was just you sharing a general discussion or personal stances on it (without rejecting the existence or concept of it, of course), or if you were confessing about 'sins' you have committed in the past.

Doing the latter made your job end faster, but you had to sometimes do the former so you don't run out of 'sins' to confess. After all, there was only so much wrongdoing one could commit. You liar.

Not even One-Es will forgive you. He is the only one who can end your suffering.

And he didn't need to know everything. Some burdens are only yours to carry. Why must you torment yourself so much?

One-Es wasn't the confrontational type. You learned that over time, since he never once demanded you to confess. But that didn't mean he couldn't manipulate you into it.

One day, while you were confessing about that one time you stole candy from another street rat as a child, One-Es tilted his head at you. You quickly quieted.

"Come hither."

You took a step closer to him, not feeling afraid at all that he would do anything. By now, you have worked on him countless times that you are certain he was incapable of Red damage--physically harming you.

If he was truly aggressive, he should have done that to Beta a long time ago during his Reppression duty.

Besides, there was something about his presence that made you feel...safe. You didn't know what it was, but every time you talked to him, you felt lighter. You didn't even notice how good it felt to be around him until you caught yourself feeling disappointed when it was Beta sent to work on him for Attachment.

"Why doth thee stand there? I shan't harm you."

He noticed. Of course, he did. You were being unusually reserved than usual. Besides, stealing candy from a child wasn't a sin compared to the...other things you did.

At the memories flashing inside your mind, a knot formed in your throat. It was a dark, tangled mess trying to strangle you, to shut you up.

Don't tell him don't tell him--

"I'm not worried you will hurt me, One-Es."

"Then, what ails thee?" he asked with an innocent tilt. Why must he look at you like this..?

You looked down at his lap, away from his all-knowing gaze and down at the silver crucifix within his grasp. "I must confess...I have been withdrawing something away from you."

The man didn't speak. Rather, he sat there patiently, waiting for the one thing he ever wanted.

The two of you sat there for what felt like hours. At the beginning, you still held some hesitance to tell him. Fear gripped at your heart like a claw, and if he hadn't been so patient and understanding with you for the past few days, you wouldn't be talking about this at all.

What you did to those people was unforgivable. Even if your only choice was their life or yours, you still couldn't push away the guilt that gnawed at you.

The countless lives you have ended and eaten. The trust you betrayed and countless promises you had broken because you were too hungry, too starved to give a damn.

That upper-class woman whose meat you sold to the butcher out of spite. That little baby whom you boiled alive in the cauldron of your home because you were too cowardly to stain your hands with its blood. All of their flesh and fat still sits in your kitchen, abandoned, waiting for you to return home.

You had been running away from everything. That was why you came to Lobotomy Corporation. But in a twist of fate, the first Abnormality to ever come to this facility was your greatest fear.

But you never will. You have read the Terms and Conditions of this job carefully. You know you they will never let you leave this place alive.

And you preferred it that way.

"I can end thy suffering...if you desire it."

Your eyes widened. How?

"My light heals all graced by it. Nothing in this world is unworthy of forgiveness."

But you didn't need forgiveness. You didn't deserve it. How could he--

"Hush." He placed a slender finger on your lips. "Thy intentions may not be noble, but they were pure. Can I not for once forgive a single act of evil?"

You pursed your lips, pondering a response. When none came, he pulled you close, holding you lovingly in his warm embrace. Your consciousness began to drift just as bright lights flooded the room.

To your unconscious body, he vowed...

"Your sins are mine and mine alone, [Name]. Only in the ignorance I have bestowed upon thee shall thou find true happiness."

⸸ 'But If Thou Must...His Punishment Shall Rain Down Upon You' ⸸

One day, your Manager tasked you to do Reppression work on One-Es.

All this time, you had been doing everything you could to make sure he was happy, that he was getting all the social needs he needed as his only Attachment and Insight Agent.

Internally, it made you wince to act as though nothing had ever happened between you two. He might have been quiet, as you harshly pretended to disregard everything he had ever done for you, but if your previous encounters have taught you anything, it was that he was more sensitive than he lets on.

And it was that sensitive side of him that you were afraid of abusing.

You may not remember much about what happened the day One-Es engulfed the room with bright light, but if there was one thing you were certain about, it was that he healed you.

You felt so much lighter. Like you had always been carrying this heavy weight in your chest that you never noticed before. And to act ungrateful...it was just wrong.

No matter what you said, though, he would only stare at you. Occasionally, you could hear something click within him, as if he were a marionette being pieced together. That couldn't mean anything...right?

He wouldn't hurt you right?

Ping!

For the first time, you were happy to see that your job was over. Normally, you would have been upset to have to leave his containment unit, but that was when you were trying to be in the Abnormality's good graces. When you let him embrace you, and take away all your worries...

But the man before you was indifferent. Cold. Gone was the man who you could entrust all your secrets.

Now, he was the Abnormality that awaits to punish humanity's sins.

Just as you were backing away from him to the exit--because there was no way you would turn your back to him after all that--it hit you. Something had wrapped around your heart, constricting it, rubbing its gritty surface on the sensitive muscle of the beating organ.

For a moment, you genuinely thought your heart was going to stop.

But it won't, of course.

This was an emotion. One you thought you would never have to feel again. It was the one that you stopped feeling ever since that day he first embraced you.

And now, you understand why.

He took them. Literally. All your memories, your guilt, your sins. That was what he meant when he said he carries the sins of others.

Guilt was like rain. It came in fast, but at least, it was in the form of small, bearable raindrops. Eventually, you wouldn't even notice it with how soaked you are.

What One-Es did was the equivalent of dropping a thousand tons of water on you. You felt like you were going to be crushed under the weight of it all.

Kneeling on the floor, gasping for air, you tried to look up at him, pleading for the kind man he used to be.

...but all you saw was the face of an indifferent punisher. A true Abnormality.

"If thou wish to reject me, then so be it. Thou shall carry that guilt for eternity. That is thy punishment until thee hath learned to accept me."

You went insane from all the revelation...

~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! <3

Don't worry, MC will be fine. One-S taking petty revenge for what the Manager made them do 'punishing her' will be the least of their problems after this.

#yandere #yandere boy #yandere imagines #yandere male #yandere scenario #yandere writing #yandere x reader #lobotomy corporation #yandere lobotomy corporation #one sin and hundreds of good deeds

58 notes · View notes

sdr2lovemail · 3 years

Note

OH MY GOD!!!! SOMEONE THAT WRITES FOR RYOTA! COULD I GET #4 ON THE PROMPT LIST FOR HIM!!!!!

Another request! Glad to see other Ryota fans here on the blog. Now this came out a bit more angsty than intended but I hope you enjoy it regardless Anon.

⚔Mod Peko⚔

“….Did you just sniff me?” (ft. Ryota Mitarai)

“Hey Ryota! I bought some snacks so let's go hang out in the common room together. And you can’t say no cuz you promised to spend time with me last week!” Before he had time to even respond you grabbed the pen from your boyfriend’s hand. You quickly save his work, grab his arm, and bring him out to the common room of the dorm building. There weren't any people in there so it was a perfect spot for your shut in boyfriend.

You set the various bags of snacks down on the table and turned to Ryota with a smile. “Alright, our friend Twogami is heading over after his cleaning duties. While we wait we could start that new magical girl anime you were talking about.” Pushing him so he could sit on one of the couches. Poor Ryota was working himself to the bone. While you would show him love and support while he makes his anime, you couldn’t just stand by and watch while he slaved over his drawing tablet.

“Uh...As nice as this is...and I know I promised but, I was so close to finishing the draft of this scene. S-so I would really like to get back to my tablet…” Ryota stuttered out as he attempted to get up. But before he could even get his thighs off the couch your hand pushed him back down. Looking up, the animator saw a sorrowful expression on your face. While you didn’t want to come off as mean you had to be stern with him.

“Ryota. You had promised to take a break from your animation. I know it's important to you but I refuse to just sit here and let you rot away at that table.” Rot away wasn’t even an understatement. Ryota hadn’t been eating, except for the occasional bag of chips Imposter would bring, saying that he didn't have the time to. He had such dark circles around his eyes. It made you so sad to see him this way. Seeing the sad expression on his face, you brought Ryota into a hug with his head resting on your shoulder. “I’m sorry if that was rude of me. I just want you to be healthy.” You had whispered to him while stroking his hair. Ryota’s breath started to waver and his shoulders began to shake.

He was crying.

“No, It’s not that. It’s just- it’s just I’m still unused to being in a relationship. And I even pushed you to the side for my animation.” Ryota cried into your shoulder. While yes he was socially awkward. And yes he doesn’t know what to do in a relationship, he was still trying. It broke your heart to see him this sad.

“Hey Ryota...It’s okay you’re still so new to the relationship world. And we could start slow with the breaks. Every Friday after class we could go and get something to eat or we could watch something together.” You told him softly, carding your hand through his hair. You truly loved Ryota and wanted the best for him. It may take a while, but you’ll do anything to help him. You had tightened your arms around him, wanting to hold him forever…”Did….Did you just sniff me?” Ryota had quickly pulled away from you with a yelp.

“AH! I'm so sorry! I had seen it all the time in anime when one of the love interests would smell the other and say something on the line of ‘your smell is so comforting to me’ and the other love interest would find it very endearing! I’m so sorry I thought it would be like that!” Ryota said in quite the frantic manner, his hands trembling in front of him.

With a small chuckle you brought Ryota back into your arms. While that was a little awkward, it was one of Ryota’s charms. And to spare him the embarrassment, you won’t tell him that Twogami had returned from his cleaning in the middle of that.

#danganronpa x reader #ryota mitarai x reader #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa #danganronpa imagine #danganronpa fanfiction #super danganronpa goodbye despair #ryota x reader #ryota mitarai #sdr2 x reader #sdr2 #x reader

67 notes · View notes

eryiss · 3 years

Text

Ship: Freed x Laxus

Rating: Teen

Prompt: Soulmates

Summary: THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM. A week-long experience guaranteed to find you your soulmate. Laxus had dismissed it as nothing but crap, and brought himself a ticket to prove it. It would have gone well, if it weren’t for the handsome guy running the program who kept catching his eye.

Notes: This was written as part of Fraxus Week 2021, as always hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. Check out their blog to see all the other content.

Links: Event Masterlist ||| Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction

THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM

Year: 2055

Location: Tokyo, Japan

"Laxus Dreyar," A robotically cheerful voice echoed through the room. "Please step into the preparation area."

Rising quickly, Laxus strode through the reception room and towards the door that had lit up. The animated emoticon projected onto the wall followed him as he walked, and the glass door shimmered out of existence as he approached. Once through the archway, the glass flickered back into place, and the emoticon went back to its unanimated state. So far, Laxus had yet to be impressed by THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM.

It claimed to be an experience that will end up matching an attendee with their soulmate. You paid your fee, gave up a week of your life, trusted in the system that it would work, and supposedly you'd end up meeting the love of your life. Laxus was only there to disprove it.

Well, also because Ever had paid for it, and he knew how much it costed. But mainly he went to disprove it.

So far, he'd undergone a full body scan, had his social media accounts interrogated, and submitted a completed questionnaire that covered everything from best first date ideas to how he dealt with the inevitability of death. This was apparently so the algorithm could create a profile for him, and was not reflective of how the program would be. According to the guidebook Laxus had absently flicked through, the morning of the first day was slightly tedious, so to better match him with potential lovers. It all seemed stupid – as far as Laxus was concerned, romance was born out of coincidence and chemistry, not a list of things you liked and didn't like – but he was willing to undergo it all just to prove how it was a waste of money.

Each day, he would go on an 'Experience' with a match. It was a simulation of a first date, purpose built to the two people's shared interests. Some people went on candle lit dinners, some people went into an escape room, some people were stranded in the middle of the ocean with only each other for company. Every experience was tailored to the participants.

At least it would be interesting.

Laxus walked down the corridor, following the neon arrows that pointed him to another shimmering glass door. The pretentious modernism of the building was obvious, and it showed off every ridiculous advancement in technology in the most frivolous ways. It couldn't be a more obvious money-making scheme if it tried.

As he walked through the door, he saw a man standing at a podium. His date, perhaps.

Well, if that was the case, they at least knew his type.

Tall, long legs with some obvious lean bulk to them. Well dressed, in clothing that clearly was trying to highlight his physique but not in an obvious way. His face, looking down at the tablet attached to the podium, was sharp and angular, with high cheek bones and a slightly jutting chin. A mole rested below one of his vibrant eyes, and a long main of flowing green hair hung down to his waist. He was hot and Laxus grinned; at least he would spend a bit of time with a sexy guy.

As Laxus approached, the man looked up with a polite smile. He didn't make a move towards him, as Laxus expected, and continued to tap on the tablet before him. The lights gained a bright blue and the small room illuminated itself.

"You must be mister Dreyar," The man said in lieu of a greeting.

"Yeah, nice to meet ya," Laxus nodded, stepping forward and offering the man a hand to shake. He took it; he had a good grip on him. "Guess you're my date for the evening."

"Ah, I'm afraid not," The man denied, and Laxus frowned a little. "I work here, I'll be overseeing your simulations throughout the week as part of a quality control test. You'll meet the man who you've been set up with in the simulation itself."

"Thought the system was supposed to be automated?" Laxus asked, retracting his hand, and taking a step back.

"It is. A few times a year someone is called to watch over, to make sure it's as streamlined as possible," The man looked back down to his tablet again and began typing, and a small bubbling of curiosity grew in Laxus. Nothing he'd act on, but the face of concentration on the man was an attractive one. "I'm surprised you weren't informed beforehand; I must admit. It's in the contract you signed that this could happen, but the company does like to warn people before things begin."

"It ain't a big deal," Laxus shrugged, looking around the small room. "I ain't really sure how this part of the process works, so maybe you could help. I didn't catch yer name, either."

"Freed Justine," The man introduced himself, smirking ever so slightly. "In a moment you'll walk through those doors," he motioned to the aforementioned doors, "and the simulation will begin. Your date will walk through another set of doors, and you'll meet then. We like to have dates meet for the first time mid-way through a simulation, as it feels more natural than meeting beforehand. Once you've spoken for a while, the activity of the simulation can begin."

"How do I know what the 'activity' is?"

"It's normally fairly obvious. If you were, for example, white water rafting, you'd be placed on a dock with a boat already attached to the rapids," Freed explained, looking up from the tablet again. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Laxus would have rather known what he was getting into before it happened, he felt like it would give him an advantage. He couldn't dwell on that, though, as the floor below him lit up. Pulses of light seemed to guide him to a corner of the room, where an odd glass cylinder stood. Clearly they were informing him that he was to get inside the cylinder and, after a nod from Freed, he did as he was instructed.

The cylinder closed as he stepped in, and a flicker of nervousness dwelled inside of him as the glass seemed to seal itself shut. He glanced towards Freed, who gave him a short smile, before a flash of light erupted from above. It only lasted a moment, and Laxus took a second to understand what had happened.

His clothing had changed. Where once he wore an outfit he saw as worthy for a date, he now wore a tee-shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

"The hell?" He murmured under his breath.

"That's the outfit that best fits what kind of date you'll be having," Freed explained as the glass unsealed and Laxus could step out. "Partly it's to better round out the simulation, but I think it's mainly so we don't get sued for property damage should your actual clothes get stained or damaged."

"How romantic," Laxus murmured, before looking down at himself. "Am I having a date in a gym or something?"

"Yes, actually. One of your shared interests is combat sports, so you'll be placed in a boxing arena," Freed said after looking towards the tablet. He thought for a moment, then frowned. "I probably shouldn't have told you that."

"Glad you did, I like being prepared," Laxus shrugged. "Boxing's hardly romantic, though."

"For the right person, it is," Freed retorted. The lights around the simulation door lit up green, and Freed smiled. "Speaking of the right person, the simulation is ready, so when you're ready please step through. I hope you enjoy your date."

"I'll certainly try," Laxus nodded. "And if I don't, I get to punch the guy."

Freed laughed, and Laxus approached the door and refocused his attention on his goal on disproving the systems worth. He knew that the guy in the simulation wouldn't be his soulmate. If the company was worth it's price, then they would have understood that Freed was a better match for him than some random guy who happened to like to box. Still, once this was over and he'd disproven their complete success claim, he might get Freed's number. It wouldn't be a waste of time.

---

"So he wasn't the love of your life, then?"

That was what greeted Laxus as he walked into the preparation area outside of the simulation. It had been a day since his first date, and Freed stood before his tablet again as if he'd been waiting for Laxus to approach. He probably had.

"Wouldn't be here if he was," Laxus shrugged. "You saw how it went. Hardly compatible."

"I suppose not."

The date itself wasn't awful, in fact it was pretty fun. As Freed had stated, he'd been taken into a simulation of an old-fashioned boxing gymnasium, where he'd met the guy. He wasn't bad looking, and in pretty damn good shape, but they hadn't been destined for a relationship and they both knew it. Though Laxus couldn't say it was time wasted, as they'd exchanged information and said they'd workout together at some point. Laxus had always found it hard to find a spotter who could match his weight, and the guy could certainly do that and more.

"The first dates don't typically be where people settle," Freed continued, tapping at his tablet, perhaps setting up the next simulation. "The first half of the week has a low success rate, honestly. I believe it's mainly collecting information to better inform the matches later in the week, so don't be disheartened."

"I wasn't," Laxus shrugged. "If I'm honest, I don't believe this is real."

"I thought as much," Freed chuckled. "Though you probably shouldn't have told a member of staff that. It might taint my view of you."

"What are you gonna do. Throw me into a simulated volcano?"

"I could," Freed grinned, and it was a pretty nice look on the man. "But the real danger is that you say it to a member of staff who's gone through the program and who met their partner through it. They can get somewhat defensive, and they'll do whatever they can to make you believe it will work, and they'll be rather annoying while doing so. It's something I know from experience."

"You ain't been through it?"

"No, I'm hardly in a rush to find someone," Freed shrugged a little. "I believe that these things will happen when they're meant to, so why force them? And yes, before you point it out, it's hypocritical of me to say that while working here."

"Never been tempted?" Laxus asked.

"Of course. I know you don't believe it but I've yet to see someone leave the program without meeting someone they eventually fell in love with."

Freed didn't seem like the kind of guy to say bullshit like that for no reason, and the honesty in his tone didn't feel as though he was parroting a line from a corporate memo, so maybe he did believe it. Admittedly Laxus hardly knew Freed, so he couldn't make too many judgments about his person, but the fact he seemed to believe that this could find him true love was a little intimidating. A pragmatist like Freed – that's what Laxus thought him to be, anyway – wouldn't say that if he didn't believe it.

A horrible thought suddenly hit Laxus. He might actually find someone who he might fall in love with. That was… worrying.

"You won't need to change clothes today, your date won't require it," Freed said, looking up from his tablet again.

"Good to know," Laxus nodded, trying to ignore the nervousness that was filling him. "You gonna tell me what I'm doing?"

"No," Freed shook his head. "For all we know, if I didn't tell you yesterday, the date might have been entirely different."

"Nah, I don't think so," Laxus chuckled, walking towards the podium Freed was standing behind and leaning on it. He grinned at the man, who looked up at him for a moment before averting his eyes. "Tell me, I'll complain about you to yer manager if you don't."

"What a horrible threat," Freed said sardonically, though he did look down at his tablet again. "It's a fairground with a circus performance at the end. And apparently your date is something of a gymnast, and so there's a high chance that he'll get on stage and perform for you."

"Is that gonna be impressive or is it gonna make me wanna claw my eyes out?" Laxus laughed.

"He's a professional athlete, so I suspect the former," Freed grinned a little.

They chatted for a few minutes more, and eventually the lights around the door lit up again and guided him towards his second date. Laxus pushed off from the podium he was still leaning on, ignoring the teasing comment that he should adjust his posture if he wanted to impress his future husband, and walked through the door and into the simulation of an outdoor fairground. As he crossed the threshold, he didn't notice how his nerves had disappeared completely.

---

"I'm startin' to think your program ain't as good as you're saying it is."

Laxus spoke as he walked into the preparation area, and Freed looked up with a small grin on his face as he approached. Laxus had the slightest falter in his step as he saw that Freed had his hair tied up in a high ponytail, rather than using the low band he'd had on the two previous days. Seriously, the simulation had matched him with two random men and not the beauty before him and yet still claimed to be the best matchmaking system in history. Ha.

His second date hadn't been bad, exactly. The guy was hot in his own way – and someone with a scene/punk interest would have been all over him – and he was entertaining the entire time. But he was a little too much for Laxus. Constantly wiggling eyebrows and euphemisms. Good for the right guy, but not for Laxus.

"We're still collecting data, every date is an improvement on the last," Freed waved off the complaint. "For example, you seemed to enjoy the games you were playing, so a bit of friendly competition is something you'll like in a relationship," Laxus had to admit, someone who could challenge him was a turn on, so the system had gotten that right about him. "That's certainly been taken into account for this date."

The way he'd said the last sentence, with a hint of amusement and restrained laughter, made Laxus nervous. He didn't push the topic, partially out of fear.

"We'll see how confident you are when the week's over and I've turned everyone down," Laxus shrugged.

"You're determined for this to fail for you, aren't you?" Freed asked with amusement, and Laxus didn't deny it, instead choosing to shrug. "Is that why you're here, do you see yourself as the man to take the system down and prove how much of a scam it is? Because we've had literally hundreds of people try that and we've yet to have an unsatisfied customer."

"How do I know they've not been silenced?" Laxus joked, grinning as he walked closer to Freed. "Or worse, you killed 'em, blended their bodies up and sold it as a health drink or something?"

"Because we're not in a poorly written young adult novel?" Freed chuckled. "We actually just burn the corpses, it's much less messy."

"Knew it," Laxus laughed. "You gonna tell me what you're gonna put me through today?"

"Absolutely not," Freed grinned. "And I won't move on that today. Because nothing is going to please me more than seeing your reaction to it."

"Why, it's not weird is it?" Laxus frowned, looking concerned now.

"It depends on your definition of weird, I suppose," Freed smirked, and if it weren't such an attractive expression on the man then Laxus might have taken issue with it. "I'll simply say, I expect it's weighted slightly more towards what your date will enjoy rather than what you're going to enjoy."

"Or you could just tell me what's gonna happen," Laxus prompted, and Freed shook his head.

"You'll require an outfit change."

Laxus sighed a little, apparently the topic was to be dropped. He walked to the glass pod in the corner of the room and allowed it to close behind him, and he turned to look at Freed in expectation. Freed pressed something on the tablet and the light flash of light filled the cylinder a moment later, the same chill running over him as his clothing was replaced.

When he saw his reflection, Laxus found himself more confused than anything. He was only wearing swimming trunks and a large life-preserver. He could swim fine, so didn't know what the hell the point of that thing was, and turned to Freed again in confusion.

Freed, who had apparently been looking at him, immediately turned away, and Laxus could see his cheeks redden.

Huh. Had Freed been checking him out.

"You really not gonna let me know why I need to wear this?" Laxus asked, stepping out of the pod, and lifting one side of the life-preserver. Freed looked back to him, pointedly looking only at his face, cheeks still covered with the slightest dusting of a blush. Laxus wanted to focus on that, and maybe flex his abs to see if he got a reaction, but instead spoke again in a jovial tone. "You know if I drown in a simulation, I'm gonna get a lawyer right?"

"I doubt that will happen," Freed said, seemingly forcing himself to shake off the blush. "It's just a precaution."

"You wanna tell me what it's a precaution against?" Laxus probed.

"No," Freed grinned again. The lights above the door lit up, and Freed's grin widened. "And it seems you'll be finding out now."

Laxus wanted to push the topic more and find out what he was going to endure, and he very nearly ignored the flashing green lights and did just that. He almost did, if it weren't for the fact that he also wanted to take off the life preserver and give Freed an unhindered view of his chest to see what happened, so he clearly wasn't in the right mind to be making decisions. He was trying to disprove love could be found in this place, flirting with the guy was hardly helping his argument.

As he had the previous two times, Freed wished him luck as he approached the door. Thie time, though, it was tinged with amusement, and Laxus felt a swell of anticipation as he walked through the door.

The simulation was… interesting. It took Laxus a moment to realise he recognised what he was seeing, and a further moment to remember what it was. When he was a kid, his grandfather had watched old reruns of a gameshow: Wipeout. It was a ridiculous set of obstacle courses, where idiot contestants tried to win money but usually ended up looking like assholes, falling into water after being hit by giant mechanisms covered in foam cladding. It was cheap entertainment where the contestants were there to be laughed at, and apparently Laxus was going to be enduring the damn thing.

He turned around quickly, watching as the doors flickered out of existence, Freed's smirk being the last thing he saw.

---

The moment Laxus walked into the preparation room, he was met with a bursting of laughter. He crossed his arms, watching as Freed tried and failed to retain his laughter. It took longer than it should have, and it was tempting to shake the bastard. He would deserve it if he was laughing at what Laxus thought he was laughing at.

"It ain't that funny."

"Oh it truly was."

Laxus grit his teeth. His third date had been the most interesting, that was for sure, but it had also been ridiculous. He'd been forced to go through three stupidly weird obstacle courses, competing against his date, who was a loud-mouthed idiot with stupidly pink hair.

Multiple times, he'd been pushed from the course and into the unnecessarily cold water. The loud cackling from his date seemed to be shot straight into his ears the moment he broke the surface of the water, and the man's amusement at Laxus failing seemed to double each time it happened. During the last round, when he'd been knocked down a slope of gushing water by a barrel of all things, Laxus had to stop himself from swimming over to the man and clocking him on the nose. He'd probably be kicked from the system, so he talked himself out of it and instead put his focus onto winning the game. He had, and the brat annoyingly wasn't bothered at all.

"He was fucking annoying," Laxus muttered as he walked closer to Freed. He leant against the podium again, closing his eyes in exasperation. "Good luck finding him a guy to match with."

"Actually he's on his fifth day here, and everyone other than you said they wanted to match with him," Freed informed him, looking over the tablet. He was being cagey in letting Laxus see the screen surely the next date wouldn't be as bad as the last. "So you're the outlier in the set. He's remarkably easy compared to you."

"Honestly, kinda offended by that," Laxus muttered.

Freed breathed out a laugh, before placing the tablet back onto the podium. Laxus didn't spare it a glance, and instead looked towards the clothes-changing pod to see if he would need a new outfit. Seemingly knowing that, the pod lit up and directed Laxus to enter. With a small sigh, he did.

Once inside, the flash went off and his clothes were replaced by the appropriate outfit. Thankfully, this time he'd been replaced by an actual normal outfit. A dinner suit, perfectly tailored for his body. It was entirely black and white and, while he definitely looked good in it, it wasn't exactly what he would have chosen for himself. He liked his clothes to have at least a splash of colour, and suits could have that in a tasteful way when done right.

"Before you ask, you'll be having dinner today," Freed informed him as he stepped out of the pod. "Fairly simple, but I think that's more than earned. Most people only have one peculiar simulation, you've had nothing but."

"Lucky me," Laxus murmured. "Wanna tell me about the guy?"

"No," Freed shook his head. "Though I should say, it's at this point in the program where the system starts to understand what you're looking for. So it's entirely possible that he might be the person you end up with."

"I doubt it," He rebuffed, glancing at his reflection in the pod.

"Just go in with an open mind, that's all I ask," Freed said, typing on the tablet again. "The gentleman you've been set up with supposedly has a ninety two percent match with the data on you we currently have. There's a good chance that this might go well if you let it."

"You know I wanna disprove this, right?" Laxus grinned. "I ain't gonna help you."

"Well, lets make a deal," Freed smirked. "If you go into your date with an open mind, I'll promise not to put this on YouTube."

Laxus went to ask what, but the lights lowered, and a projection appeared on one of the blank walls. Watching the video, Laxus felt his blood run cold and his body tense, and a glare was soon aimed at Freed for what he'd done. The grin, which could only be described as shit-eating, he got in return only went to further annoy him.

The video was of Laxus' previous date. All the instances of him falling off the course, and into the water, had been put into a montage, with ridiculously obnoxious circus music blaring behind it. Laxus looked like a damn asshole. When the footage slowed down, showing him getting punched in the face by a foam-covered fist, only to lose grip of the handholds and fall face first into a pool of mud, Laxus openly growled.

"Delete this."

"Absolutely not," Freed smirked. "You heard my terms. Give your date a chance and I'll make it disappear. If not, the whole world gets to see you looking like this."

"Yer an asshole, you know that?" Laxus asked, though he couldn't help fighting a grin.

"I do," Freed nodded, and Laxus barked out a laugh. "And your date is ready for you. Have fun."

Laxus waved a hand towards him, walking towards the door and adjusting his jacket as he did so. He supposed he would give this date a chance, just to avoid the humiliation of that stupid video being leaked onto the internet. If it went well, then he'd meet a guy he might be interested in. if it didn't go well, then he could spend the entirety of the next day planning some kind of revenge on Freed for forcing him to endure such a night. That would be fun.

---

The date had been… interesting. Freed was right, the guy had certainly been the closest to someone Laxus would consider getting into a long-term relationship with, and that had somewhat spooked him after the date had ended. He'd been completely certain that he wouldn't meet anyone even close to what he wanted, and hadn't allowed for any deviation from that mindset. Having that belief challenged was worrying.

The guy was smart, silver tongued, and pretty sexy. He wore a suit to perfection, knew all the right things to say, and was flirtatious by nature. Which was all good, and certainly wasn't a turn off, but it wasn't enough for Laxus. He was all too focused on flirting, and didn't show off the other facets of his personality, which Laxus had wanted.

But if he had done that, what then? What if he had a good sense of humour, or was passionate about random things and would happily speak of them for hours? Laxus liked men like that, and his date had been dangerously close to that.

What if he'd gotten Laxus to match with him? What would happen then?

Those thoughts were plaguing his mind as he walked into the preparation room. He hadn't prepared himself for actually meeting someone, certainly not someone he wanted to get serious with. Laxus didn't get serious with guys, he was more of a love them and leave them kind of guy. It was part of the reason he wanted to disprove this place; not everyone was looking to find a guy to settle down with, and Laxus saw himself as one of those people. But the entire selling point of THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM was that it matched people together in relationships that would last.

Who even was he when he was in a relationship? Would he be one of those people who obsessively cleaned their home to impress their partner? Would he have to constantly be thinking about dates and things to do? Would he have to buy the guy flowers? He didn't know how to do that shit. He didn't think he even wanted to do that shit.

"Laxus," Freed asked, cutting through Laxus' growing panic. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, fine," Laxus lied. He didn't say anything else.

Freed didn't push conversation, apparently noticing that Laxus wasn't in the mood for their conversations. Laxus walked to the small sofa that he'd previously ignored, sat down, and listened to the gentle tapping of Freed's fingers against the tablet. He closed his eyes and tried to drown out his thoughts.

He wasn't ready for the date this time, because if they were meant to get better each day, then the guy he'd be matched with next might one day become someone important to him. What if he fucked the date up and the guy didn't wanna match with him? What if the guy was perfect for him and he didn't feel anything? Maybe he'd spent years sleeping around, never being with the same guy for longer than a month, and it'd fucked him up somehow.

"If you'd like to enter the pod," Freed prompted, and Laxus looked up to see the clothing pod lit up.

Doing as he was told, he walked into the pod and waited for his clothes to change. After it happened, he felt that his pants had been replaced by something uncomfortably clingy, and he frowned a little. The frown turned to a grimace when he saw his reflection.

"The fuck?" He demanded.

He was dressed in all green, wearing tights and a slightly sparkling tunic. He looked fucking stupid; even more stupid that he had on the damn Wipeout video. He gaped at his own reflection, not entirely sure what to say. The whiplash from emotional turmoil to embarrassed confusion was overwhelming.

"The fuck!" He repeated.

"You'll apparently be performing as Peter Pan for your next date," Freed informed him, and something close to dread built inside of Laxus' stomach. What the fuck? What the fuck! How the fuck had anyone thought that was something he'd enjoy? Who could think he'd wanna be with someone who wanted him to… to perform on stage while looking like an asshole?

"I fucking am not." He snapped.

"The system states that you'll have a very high matching rate with her," Freed replied, before frowning. Laxus also turned to look at him. "You only wanted to be matched with men, didn't you?"

"That's right," Laxus nodded, voice low. It had set him up with a woman?

Freed looked down at his tablet, face scrunching slightly for a moment as he swiped and tapped at the glass, and Laxus tried not to enjoy the sight. He seemed to understand something, flicked on the screen a few more times, and the pod Laxus had left lit up again. Laxus frowned, looking towards it in confusion before turning his gaze back onto Freed.

"There was a blip in the system. Apparently your date and another man's date were mixed up. If you'd like to step into the pod again it'll give you your actual outfit."

Relief flooded through Laxus. There were certain things that he would have outright refused to do, and making an ass out of himself on a stage, dressed like a glorified pixie was certainly one of them. But the contract he had signed said he was obligated to undergo all simulations if he didn't find a match, as not doing so would harm the reputation of the company unfairly. Would Freed had forced him to do it if he hadn't noticed? Laxus hoped not, but he couldn't be sure.

The new outfit was a lot more simple. It was normal clothing, with a large winter coat and, he realised a moment before he tripped, his shoes had been replaced by ice-skates. He knew how to skate, so it wasn't a problem, and compared to what he'd nearly had to undergo, this was perfect.

"Would I have had to do the fucking performance if you didn't notice it?" He asked.

"I'm sure the system would have picked up the mistake before you went in," Freed dismissed, tapping on the tablet, and lighting the door to the simulation room. "You should go now. Don't want to keep him waiting."

Laxus glanced towards Freed, not commenting on how obvious Freed was being in his dismissal. He walked through the door to see an ice rink empty of everything but one man, who was skating towards him. As Laxus skated towards his date, all he could seem to think of was how much better this was than Peter-Fucking-Pan.

His previous nerves about the date were the last thing on his mind.

---

"So here's the thing," Laxus said as he walked into the prep room. "I think you lied to me yesterday."

"Lied about what?" Freed asked.

"This is supposed to be the most successful, most advanced matchmaking system in the whole world, right? It's unmatched and has years of coding and advancements in technology inside of it, right?" He asked, and Freed nodded. "So it kinda seems a little bit bullshit that it wouldn't understand that a guy who's gay would only wanna go on a date with other guys. Feels like that's one of the basic things it should get right?"

"That would be a fair assumption."

"So, if that's right, then it seems unlikely that it'd just happen to me. Seems even weirder that it'd happen conveniently when there's a guy watching over the sessions to pick up the mistake," Laxus walked towards Freed, maintaining eye contact. "All seems coincidental."

"I suppose it does."

"Yeah, it does," Laxus nodded. "So why don't you admit that you're the reason it happened."

"If you already know, what would me admitting to it do?"

Laxus laughed. He didn't know what he had been expecting when he decided to confront Freed with his realisation, which had happened half way through the date with the guy, but he hadn't thought he'd get an honest admission without a moment's guilt.

He wasn't angry about what Freed had done. If he'd gone on the date wearing the costume then he'd certainly be pissed off, but in reality he'd only worn the stupid clothes for a minute or two, and Freed had quickly replaced them with what he was actually meant to wear. In reality it was just a weird thing that Freed had decided to do for a reason Laxus didn't quite understand.

"You really just wanted me to look like a jackass?"

"No, that was coincidental," Freed admitted. "A happy coincidence, mind you, but not the reason I did it. You clearly had gotten overwhelmed by the possibility that the system might actually work, and you were getting in your own head about it. You needed to be shocked out of your own self-doubts, and it was the easiest way to do it. A simple ice-skating date is hardly a challenge when you've just avoided something ridiculous that you'd never enjoy."

Oh, that was actually kinda nice. Weird, but nice. Not what he expected. It was almost flattering, in a way, that Freed had chosen to help him at all.

Of course he couldn't actually say that. He'd entered the room with a build-up of energy, having expected he would need to force the truth out of him by repeatedly asking him. He had been so certain that it would take their entire time together, and it would end with Freed laughing and Laxus trying to salvage his own pride back. He'd half thought that his costumed self would be edited into the fucking Wipeout video to further add to his embarrassment. A kind, if not slightly odd, action was hardly what he expected.

"So, is it actually automated?" He asked, instead of voicing his thanks because it was the only thing he could think of saying. "Or have you just been saying it is while doing everything yourself."

"No, it's automated, but I can override anything should I want to, which is what I did."

"Show me," Laxus demanded.

Freed nodded, moving slightly so Laxus could stand beside him in front of the tablet. Laxus stood behind him, trying to ignore the fact that this was the closest he'd been to Freed, and he could almost feel the heat radiating off him. It was hardly an appropriate thing to think, particularly when he was going to be on a date with another man damn soon.

He focused on the interface. He saw a quick flash of what his date would be – another meal with a guy – before Freed overrode the system. He pressed a few buttons and ended up controlling the clothing pod. He loaded the program up, and was given a large interface of different outfits, all with pictures to show what they'd look like.

"It's surprisingly user friendly," Freed said, pressing a random outfit and loading it into the system. "Now if you went inside, you'd be wearing that."

"So even I could do it, then?" Laxus asked with a grin, and Freed faltered beside him.

"I suppose."

"What you did for me was pretty nice of ya, but I still ended up like an idiot in a costume because you made me wear it," Laxus mused aloud, and Freed audibly sighed beside him. "So if you think you're getting away without me turning the tables on ya, you're an idiot."

"I probably should have expected that," Freed murmured to himself, and Laxus laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder, and gently guiding him towards the pod. Freed didn't fight him.

"You should have," Laxus agreed, pushing him into the pod before Freed could second guess anything.

He stood at the tablet a moment later, knowing Freed was watching him. He swiped down the hundreds of outfits before inspiration struck him. He pressed the button for the search bar, typed in his idea, looked over the ten or so options before picking the one that looked the most ridiculous. He added it into the system, pressed the apply button, and grinned as the pod flashed with light. A moment later, Freed was revealed, and Laxus burst into laughter.

Freed looked ridiculous. Dressed entirely in an old-fashioned jester's outfit, purple and yellow, with a stupid hat covered in golden bells. He looked at himself in the mirror, crossing his arms unimpressed as Laxus guffawed at him.

"Holy shit," Laxus cackled. "What kinda date would need you to be dressed like that?"

"The system needs to cover all bases," Freed grunted, expression showing annoyance, but Laxus felt like a smile wanted to break through when the bells on his hat jingled. "Can I have my own clothes back, please?"

"We've got a couple minutes before the sim starts, that's enough time to have fun," Laxus grinned, scrolling through the recommended costumes. He found one, applied it to the pod and activated it.

A moment later, Freed was dressed as a circus clown, and Laxus spluttered into laughter all over again.

"Very mature," Freed mumbled sarcastically, though his words were slightly nasally because of the large red nose he wore. "I'm glad you're having fun."

"I am," Laxus grinned, holding back sniggers as he took in Freed for a moment before he began scrolling again.

This was an opportunity that he couldn't waste, and he'd get the man in as many stupid costumes he could before the date began. He quickly settled on a vampire costume that looked equal parts cheap and ridiculous. Once he applied it, he was slightly disappointed to see that Freed managed to pull it off with startlingly good looks. It was twenty-fifty-five, nobody should be able to look good while wearing a cape.

"The fact you're not complaining about this kind of takes the fun out of it," Laxus teased. "You like dressing up or something?"

"Not particularly, but I'd rather you be doing this than stressing about your date," Freed shrugged, seemingly all too comfortable dressed like a vampire. "Night six has the highest success rate. I thought you'd be panicking, this is better."

Laxus paused for a moment, but didn't say anything. He instead found another costume, and grinned when he saw how little it suited Freed. A clean-cut man like Freed didn't make a good caveman.

He fiddled with the tablet for a little while longer, flicking between costumes. Freed managed to make them look better than he had any right to do, but some of them looked ridiculous and Laxus decided to enjoy those as much as he could. A small timer at the bottom of the screen told him the simulation would be ready within the minute, and in a scramble to further annoy Freed, Laxus quickly picked a random outfit from the selection of superhero costumes. He had applied it before the lights to the simulation lit up, and smirked.

The smirk fell when he looked towards Freed. He'd expected it to be a cheap thing covered in cushioned muscles. The reality was… snug. Too snug for Laxus sanity, truly. He'd expected that Freed was hot as well as handsome, but having it clarified wasn't helping things. The guy was muscular, had a tight body, and biceps that strained against the fabric. Laxus pointedly didn't look down. That would be too much.

And he managed to pull off a bright red cape too. How? Capes were stupid. Not hot.

"You've had your fun," Freed said, and Laxus found solace in looking at his face rather than his very, very visible body. "May I have my own clothes back before you start your date?"

"Why?" Laxus asked as he stepped away from the podium. "Can't you do it yourself while I'm in there?"

"No, I can't," Freed muttered, and Laxus grinned.

"That kinda sounds like a you problem," He smirked, and Freed's face darkened for a moment as he stepped out of the pod. His cape billowed behind him and Laxus smirked. He patted the man on the shoulder. "I don't wanna leave my date waiting, after all," Without any reason to, he actually winked at Freed. "Enjoy your walk home, Superman."

As he entered the sim, he was fairly certain those few seconds of seeing Freed blushing unabashedly would be better than any date the system had in store for him.

---

"Is there something wrong with me?"

The high of messing with Freed hadn't lasted throughout the date, and the feelings had been replaced with a maudlin sense of nothingness. That was a feeling Laxus couldn't seem to get rid of throughout the day, and had persisted as he walked into the preparation room for the last time.

On paper, his date was his perfect man. He was intelligent and suave, well lived and happy to talk about his passions. He was hot, had the long hair that Laxus had always favoured on men, and had been pretty good company. He knew the guy was into him, and he felt like he should have reciprocated the attraction. This man should have been ideal for him, and yet Laxus had felt like he was going through the motions. It made him wonder, if that man wasn't right for him, then who the hell would be?

"What makes you say that?" Freed asked, who had been hunched over his table, furiously tapping at it before he'd entered.

"You said most people match with their sixth date. The guy was nice, good looking, we had interests in common," Laxus muttered. "Didn't feel anything for him."

"That doesn't mean there's something wrong with you."

"Maybe," Laxus didn't believe it.

He'd wanted to be the person who ruined THE S0U1MATES SYSTEM'S reputation. He'd wanted to be the person who proved that soulmates were pointless because they didn't exist, and even if they did, a computer program wouldn't be the way to find them. He just hadn't realised that, if he did prove that to be true, it would feel like a punch to the gut.

The system had a complete success rate! Everyone who had ever been involved found love. It was fact. Laxus was apparently going to be the exception to that. He was the first unlovable person to enter the program, and he would be the idiot who couldn't get a boyfriend no matter what.

It was shit. It was just fucking shit.

"Laxus, they're just dates," Freed said softly, placing a hand on Laxus shoulder in a comforting gesture. It felt like fire against him. "We dress them up with fancy technology, and we can explain the science in a way that makes it sound impressive, but a date is just a date. When you get two people together, they can fall in love within a moment, but they could also hate one another. That can happen to anyone, no matter what the statistics say."

"The statistics ain't got it wrong with anyone else."

"And you don't know that they have with you. People wait for the seventh night, and it works out for them," Freed assured him, the hand now gently massaging him. It was electric, and Laxus could almost allow himself to be thrilled by it. "And even if the man isn't the person you end up with, you'll find someone at some point. Don't put this on some kind of pedestal, all you'll be doing is meeting a man for the first time."

"The guy's meant to be my soulmate," Laxus scoffed. "It ain't exactly like meeting for coffee."

"It is what you make it, Laxus," Freed placated him. "Not matching with him isn't a failure of personality. It's just a thing that has happened, and it doesn't shape you."

"I guess," Laxus muttered, not exactly confident in his own words.

"You will find someone Laxus," Freed said firmly. "You're fun, intelligent, confident, good looking. A man is out there, and he will find you. Just give him time."

Freed didn't say anything else, and instead patted Laxus on the shoulder and returned to his tablet to do whatever it was he did. Laxus looked down at the floor, his nerves and self-pity only slightly at bay as he tried to agree with what Freed had said. He had come into the program wanting to prove that it was false, and he should have known this would be the outcome.

Focusing on his own problems, he didn't notice the slight change in posture from Freed. His eyes had widened, and he was tapping somewhat manically at the tablet. His teeth were gritting together and his heart hammering. A moment later, he stood up, and Laxus frowned when he saw how tense he looked.

"Don't overreact to this," Freed demanded, voice too calm. "This is a glitch, nothing else. The system has flaws, this is apparently one of them."

"What?"

He took a moment before speaking again. "Apparently you haven't been matched with someone tonight," Freed spoke quietly, almost under his breath, and Laxus felt as though he had been shot. Freed was quick to speak before Laxus could spiral. "This is the program not being able to work as intended. It is not a reflection of you. Do you understand me?"

"Fucks sake," Laxus growled, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck!"

"It's not you, Laxus," Freed tried to tell him, but Laxus was walking towards the door. He needed to leave, to get out of this damn place as quickly as he could. Why the hell had he gone there? He was an idiot. He shouldn't have gone. "Wait. Laxus, don't leave."

"Why the hell shouldn't I?"

"Because I don't want you to," Freed said quickly. "I don't want you to feel like you're… whatever it is your feeling. Because whatever it is, whatever you're telling yourself, is false."

"How the hell do you know?"

"I've watched every date of yours, Laxus. I know you, and you are a good man, and anyone would be happy to have you," He insisted, stepping towards Laxus, and placing a hand on his forearm. "If I'm honest, I found myself somewhat jealous that those men got to be with you. I'm sure I could find hundreds of men who would feel exactly the same. Truth be told, I had to stop watching you talking with that little blonde ass last night. It's unprofessional, I know, but it must be said. You are a man who, one day, will be adored and you will deserve it."

Laxus scoffed. "Sure."

"You're incredible, Laxus," Freed stepped closer, placing a hand on Laxus' cheek. Laxus blushed at the action despite himself. "And if this program has made you think otherwise, even for a moment, then it is pointless. Do you understand me?"

"You think I'm incredible?" Laxus asked, voice a little raspy as he looked down at Freed.

"I do."

"Then do something about it," Laxus whispered because he needed Freed to do this.

And he did.

Freed leant forward without hesitation, tilting up his head and slowly, cautiously pushed his lips against Laxus'. His hand remained on Laxus' cheek, and slowly he started to move his lips in tandem with Laxus', opening his mouth slightly as he pushed himself up against him. Laxus wrapped an arm around Freed's waist, and felt himself clinging to the man as if he were a lifeline.

The kiss could only last a moment, and when Laxus pulled away and was met with the slightly flushed, kiss swollen expression of Freed in his arms, all of his doubts seemed to flow away. This was more important.

"Damn," He whispered, and Freed breathed out a laugh.

"Yes," He agreed. "Damn."

"Wanted to do that from when I first saw ya," Laxus admitted.

"And I you," Freed confessed, smiling. "I must admit, watching you with those men became somewhat torturous by the end."

"Would've stopped if you told me," Laxus shrugged.

"Then you might not have come back, and I didn't want that any more than I wanted to see you match with someone," Freed chuckled.

They stayed in their embrace for a moment, Laxus gently stroking Freed's lower back with his fingers in a slow and comforting gesture. Freed was still cupping his cheek, and it was a delightful sensation that Laxus didn't want to break. He would have to at some point, and he found himself at a loss of what to do next. For a moment he considered asking Freed to set up some kind of simulation for them both, but he felt he'd had enough of the damn place for now.

"You wanna maybe go somewhere and get something to eat?" He asked, and Freed pulled back slightly with a smile.

"That'd be nice," Freed agreed, though then smirked. "Though are you sure it's not too boring? Wouldn't you rather ice skating? Or maybe a boxing match? Or an obstacle course that you keep failing at?"

"Don't be a dick," Laxus laughed, pulling himself off of Freed. "Or I'll drag you back to the pod and you'll have to go to dinner dressed as batman. Dunno how happy a restaurant is gonna be with the Dark Night's cape falling in the soup."

"I'd rather avoid that. My roommate already thinks me odd after what you did yesterday, I don't need anyone else agreeing with him," Freed laughed, and Laxus grinned at the confession. He wrapped an arm around Freed's waist as they began to leave the room. "Though, if I could get you in the Peter Pan costume again I couldn't complain. Those tights were rather flattering."

"Didn't realise you were lookin'," Laxus smirked.

"I was more subtle than you were, then," Freed grinned, and Laxus laughed.

As they left the room, the simulation unused, neither man noticed the screen of the table lighting up with an updated message.

Laxus Dreyar.

Profile = Matched.

Soulmate Level = 100%

#Fraxus Week #Fraxus #Freed Justine #Laxus Dreyar #Fairy Tail #Fanfic #Writing #One Shot #Future AU #Soulmate AU #Wordcount 8.5k

18 notes · View notes

alindae-anne · 3 years

Text

What Makes a Book?

I want to take a break from my novel and dive into a history lesson of books themselves. Why? Well first of all, I will be honest, this blog is for an assignment. But also because the way books have evolved over the last 5,000+ years is fascinating!

Of course no one ever really thinks about THE book, just the fact that the story within its pages--the mystery, the romance, whatever they happen to be enjoying--is a great read (or maybe not so great), but have they ever wondered what materials the book is made from? Who invented it? How the book has become one of the most common and most used items of all time?

No. Of course they didn't wonder any of those things. And if they did, they probably didn't take the time to research any of these burning questions, either.

How great, then, that I wrote this post?! Today is your lucky day! (Also, it is a good thing that Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters, decided to write a whole book about it (1).) I'm going to use the pages of a classic tale to explain some cool things you probably never noticed while reading a book before.

Gulliver’s Travels was originally published in London in 1726 by Benjamin Motte. The author, Jonathan Swift, used it to satirize London society and culture, poking holes at the social hierarchies and systems, basically making out everyone living in the 18th century to be fools--but mostly the wealthy and those who were obsessed with scientific progression (2). If you have not read it, I highly encourage adding it to your reading list, or at the very least there is a 2010 movie, featuring Jack Black as Gulliver, that you could watch. (It’s Jack Black, okay?)

This 2 page spread of Gulliver's Travels pictured above is actually found in The Franklin Library edition from Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, published in 1979. This is the first printing of this edition, and its pages, the way it is printed, and the way it is bound and presented, are all features of the modern 20-21st century book, plus some extra bells and whistles. The most interesting qualities come from the publishers themselves who specifically design their books to be very snazzy--meant for collectors’ editions! They include different kinds of leather binding, exclusive illustrations, and may be signed or part of a particular series specific to a certain author or genre (3). This makes the books published here very valuable and sought after.

Gulliver’s Travels is hardcover. Specifically, “fine leather in boards.” This means the spine and front and back boards (or cover) of the book are bound in leather. The leather is fine and and delicate and able to be decorated and engraved upon.4 Above you can see how fancy it looks with the gilt gold engravements. Even its pages are gilt!

This picture shows more clearly the binding, and of course the spine, which is “hubbed,” or ridged, for added texture.

At this point you may have notice that this version is much different than the original published in 1726. That is because over time, the materials involved in making books have changed slightly or the processes have become more efficient or cost worthy, etc. Either way, the anatomy of the book has not wavered. Keith Houston has dissected the book into certain components and we can see them in each book we read:

I have attempted to label it as best as I can, so hopefully you can follow along:

Chapter Number

a) this seems to be a description, more or less of the chapter, or the Chapter Title. b) “A Voyage to Lilliput” seems much more title-like to me, although this is technically called the “Recto Running Head.” The recto running head is a condensed or abbreviated chapter title, repeating on every right-side page to the end of the chapter.

Drop Cap. This would be the first letter of the first word of a chapter, which is usually exaggerated or embellished in some way.

Opener Text

Head Margin - the space between the top of the page and text

Foot Margin - the space between the bottom of the page and text

Folio - page number

It has taken quite a while for books to become so sophisticated. Because it was published in 1726, Gulliver's Travels is technically what you could call "modern" in terms of how long ago books began their journey to what they are today, but even between 1726 and 1979 the quality has improved. This edition published by Franklin Library is a perfect model for the modern book of today.

The 2 page spread we analyzed above is made from paper. But books were not always made with paper, or even in the book form, bound with anything at all, and they were not printed either. They were written by hand on papyrus.

Papyrus was the first material used as "paper" beginning in Egypt. The reeds were stripped, strung side by side and pressed together. Papyrus was durable and sturdy, and the water of the Nile was abundant in aluminum sulfate, which brightened it so that writing and scribbles could be seen better. There is no particular origin of when Papyrus had first been invented but it must have been around the end of the 4th millenium BCE (Houston 4).

Parchment is made from animal skin that has been soaked, scrubbed, dried, and stretched for days and days, creating a more flexible, yet still durable, material for writing. It was also thinner and could be made "cleaner" and brighter by chemical means. Religion heavily influenced its distribution; some parchment use was literally banned because the type of animal skin used to make it wasn't considered "holy" or "good." For example, the lamb or a calf was acceptable, but how dare you use parchment made from goat skin? What is wrong with you?

Besides the fact that parchment is kind of gross if you think about it (although to be fair, you can’t be too choosy in times right before the common era), it was also expensive to keep certain cattle only for paper making, and the reliability of having new cattle at the time you may need more paper was not very high.

Paper was first introduced in China. It is made from bits of cloth and rags soaked in water, and after breaking down into pulp, strained through a wire grate and pressed to dry. Fun fact-- the Rhar West Art Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has held classes showing how to make paper using this exact process.

There is a trend here: the materials used to make paper (and papyrus and parchment before it) become scarce or too expensive, or they are just not “good enough.” People want their paper thin and smooth, but still strong and durable; crisp and bright, but still able to last years and years without crumbling. There have been times that processes used to ensure these preferred qualities of paper included using chemicals that ended up negatively affecting some other quality. For example, the paper would be white as snow, yet the chemical that did this broke down the natural adhesives which kept the paper intact.

Have you heard that paper grows on trees? Well, that is partly true since after rags and cloths were nowhere to be found (unless people were about to start donating the shirts off their backs), wood pulp has now since been used... the higher the demand for paper, the greater demand for those materials used for its creation.

This brings us to printing side of things. The first ways of printing weren’t of how we think of it now. Even before papyrus, people were still writing and making inscriptions on pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The earliest forms of writing were rather indentations or markings on clay tablets. Found across the Middle East, it is a cuneiform script of the Sumerian people from 3300 BCE (Houston 79).

Similarly, the Egyptians were also keen on developing their own writing system which today we recognize as hieroglyphs. A lot of these were found carved on the walls of tombs but also began to be used on papyrus in 2600 BCE (Houston 82-83).

The Egyptians celebrated their scribes and believed those who wrote with brush and ink on papyrus to be channeling power--that it was a gift from the gods--”wielded with respect and humility” (Houston 87). The hieroglyphs not only showed the intention of the writer, visually, but often the picture would be associated with or connected to certain sounds which emerged more formal use of letters as time went on.

The alphabet we use today can be traced back to the Phoenician alphabet (used by the Egyptians) which had evolved into the Greek and then Roman alphabets (Houston 91-92). At this point in time, scribes were using water based ink which was fine for papyrus, but during the transition to parchment they realized that ink smudges quite a bit. This led to the creation of iron gall ink that would darken and adhere to the parchment as it dried due to its chemical makeup in contact with oxygen in the air.

Jump ahead to 1400s and we are with Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press! One thing Keith Houston make sure to mention is that although Gutenberg invented the printing press itself, to help moveable type and mass printing, the idea of printing had not been new. Clay pieces used as stamps and similar objects had been excavated and dated back thousands of years before the clay inscribed cuneiform tablets were made. And a primitive version of a sort of printing press is mentioned being made by a man named Bi Sheng during the reign of Qingli from 1041-1048 AD (Houston 110). Obviously nothing great came from it, most likely because he was of unofficial position. Even so, movable type was still possible, although painstakingly slow with wooden blocks used as stamps. This was common for the next few hundred years in China.

Even though Gutenberg's press completely revolutionized the transmission of knowledge, it was still quite slow in comparison to the versions which came after, only being able to print 600 characters a day (Houston 118). From Gutenberg's printing press came other types of presses that improved the speed or efficiency of movable type immensely. These all came after the original publication of Guliver's Travels, starting in the early 1800s with the Columbian press, eventually the Linotype, and then lack of precision called for the Monotype, which could produce 140 wpm (Houston 149).

The 2 page spread above then, could possibly have been printed by the Linotype, but most likely, however, the Monotype, which is the more accurate of the two. Another possibility could be "sophisticated photographic and 'lithographic' techniques" or "'phototypsetting'" (Houston 151). Houston mentions that the printing press age has died and now faces a digital future.

I'm at my 10 image limit which means I better wrap this up with some interesting facts about bookbinding. On BIBLIO.com I was trying to see exactly what "fine leather in boards" meant which is apparently how Gulliver's Travels is bound. I didn't find any phrase that matched, but from my understanding, the leather is very supple and pliable, which is why it was able to be gilt with gold, and it was able to form nicely to the hubbing on the spine.

The website also explains that the first "book binding" was technically just putting the pieces of paper or parchment together and pressing them between two boards. Literally. Like just setting them on a board and putting another board on top of that. Eventually leather was introduced, first as a cord wrapped around the book to keep the boards in place. As time progressed, the practice was improved and perfected so it was less crude. This involved the creation of the "spine" where the pages meet together and can therefore open and close in a v shape without flying away.

This website helped explain some of the other embellishments and extra flair that can be added to a book's binding. It mostly goes over leather binding which is from most animal skin but there is a unique leather bound book that can be bound with seal skin. Some of the books on the website are so expensive because of the materials they are bound with and the effects that have been created in the cover, for example, Benjamin Franklin's observations on electricity, which has had acid added to the page, discoloring it for a lightning strike effect, and includes a key to represent his famous experiment.

Gulliver's Travels, although not quite so fancy, is still a very beautifully bound book with decorated endpapers, meaning the inside cover is laden with designed paper rather than boring white or some other neutral color.

I hope you found this journey of the book as interesting and as exciting as I did while writing this post! You must really love books because even my attention span isn't this long. I will admit I took at least 3 different breaks.

I'm back to my novel for now, thanks for listening😎

Bibliography

Houston, Keith--Author of Shady Characters, which I used extensively in my TikTok “history of punctuation” project--also wrote -> The BOOK - a cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time, 2016.

British Library Website -> works -> “Gulliver’s Travels overview”

Masters, Kristin. “Franklin Library Editions: Ideal for Book Collectors?” Books Tell You Why, 2017 (blog).

BIBLIO.com -> “Leather Binding Terminology and Techniques”

#bookbinding #papermaking #printing #book history #keith houston

4 notes · View notes

mycatshuman · 4 years

Text

A Risky Mystery

This is heavily based on an ask on @the-officially-kat 's blog about how prinxiety got together in their Scooby-Doo au. You can find that ask here

Art by @the-officially-kat

Colored by me

Masterlist | More

Warnings: There is a moment when the others think Thomas and Virgil have gotten seriously hurt, so look out for that. Let me know if I missed any.

Thank you to @icequeenoriginal for reading through this for me!

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

A lone van drove along the twisted road into the town of Letchworth. The people of the town watched the van through their curtains as it passed by while on it's way to the town's only hotel, Brooks Inn. The town was on fear induced lockdown during the night. But the people in the van couldn't possibly know that.

The people in the van were actually kind of professional sleuths. They had handled countless different mysteries before. Each one ranging from predictable to bizarre with various different monsters as the cause of each one. Of course, the townspeople couldn't possibly know that. So they watched with fear-filled eyes as the van pulled into the Inn's parking lot.

Out of the van came a small odd little group consisting of two glasses-wearing figures, a princely looking fellow, a fellow with dark eyeshadows under his eyes, and a dog. Together, they walked inside the Inn and the townspeople lost sight of them.

-------

An older woman sat at the front desk to the Brooks Inn. The inn was empty, not a guest laid in her rooms. It was to be expected, the recent events have scared away any previous guest and most others left after one night. The old woman, whose name was Agatha, sighed. She wasn't sure why she didn't just close the inn. After all, it was late and recent circumstances provided a bit of a risk in staying open at night. Just as she decided to close the inn, a small group walked in. She quickly put on a small, reserved smile and greeted them. "Hello, welcome to Brooks Inn."

The one in darker blues and glasses stepped forward. "Yes, hello. We would like two rooms for the night please."

The woman nodded. "That will be $75," she said as she moved to grab two keys for each room. She placed the keys on the counter and took the money the man in front of her had placed down. "Can I have a name for the records?"

One of the others spoke up, "Virgil Rogers."

The woman frowned a little before filling out the information on the computer. "Alright," she said. Let me take you to your rooms. She led the group up the stairs and then to their rooms. "Here we are." She handed the keys over. "Rooms 2B and 3B."

"Thank you!" One of the group called. He had glasses and lighter colored clothes.

The one from earlier, Virgil, spoke up as he glanced around suspiciously. "This town seems awfully empty."

The woman bit her lip. "Oh, that." The group became alert and they all turned their attention to her. "Um, recently, we've been having some trouble in town."

"What kind of trouble?" The last human of the group asked. His look seemed to consist of colors one would associate with a prince.

"Well.." The woman hesitated. She didn't want to sound crazy but she decided to just tell the group, it wouldn't be right to keep it from them, they were at risk too, even if they didn't know it. "A phantom has been terrorizing the town recently. They scared off my last paying guest."

The bubbly one's eyes lit up as Virgil groaned. "Well gang, it looks like we've got a mystery to solve!" The woman's eyes widened in surprise. The first one of the group, the one wearing the ascot, spoke up. "We are sleuths. We've solved a few mysteries before. This one will be a breeze. And I assure you, there is most definitely a logical explanation for this."

The woman nodded slowly, not quite believing them. "Well, enjoy your stay," she responded before turning and leaving to go shut down the Inn.

The group watched her go before turning to each other. "Alright, we'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well!" The bubbly one exclaimed and took one of the rooms with the other glasses-wearing figure following him after giving his own good night.

The other two and the dog turned to their own room and closed the door.

--------

The next morning, the gang gathered in the inns dining room to discuss their next move to begin their investigation. "Alright, let's start by looking around for any clues and if we find anyone willing to be interviewed, we'll interview them," Logan explained.

"Sounds like a plan," Patton agreed.

"We're not going to split up, right?" Virgil asked as he scratched behind Thomas's ear.

"Not, yet," Logan answered and pulled a journal out of his bag. "I've written down a few questions and things we should look out for while we're investigating."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Come on, Logan we've been through this a million times. We know what to look out for and what kind of questions to ask. Let's just get going already."

"Be nice," Patton chided.

The group got up and left the Inn and began walking around town. They found it a little weird that the town now seemed so lively. When they had arrived last night, it was still fairly early, far too early for everyone in town to be all locked up in their homes. After walking for a fair amount of time, the gang noticed a few people walking around as if they were on eggshells. Virgil bit his lip before jerking his head at one of them. "Maybe we should ask one of them."

"Alright." Logan walked over to ask if they could interview them while the rest of the gang waited. Soon Logan waved them over. The gang approached as the person before they inspected them carefully. "You said you saw the Phantom," Logan started. "Would you mind telling us about that?"

The person bit their lip and glanced around. "Well," they started. "I was just taking my evening walk. When I started to hear this loud wailing." The person before them shivered. "It was really unsettling, so I turned to go home only to run into the Phantom. It looked like they had stepped straight out of a scary movie. They had pale bluish-grey, ghastly skin and it terrified me." The person sighed. "Ever since then, the Phantom has walked around every night. And two nights ago, they nearly pushed someone off the roof of the library."

The gang shared a glance, they had never dealt with a mystery like this. Sure there were some terrifying monsters they had to deal with but none of them ever put people’s lives at risk. "Did the Phantom say anything to you?" Patton asked.

They nodded. "Yeah, they told me to leave and never return before I regretted it."

Roman's nose wrinkled. "That's interesting. Is there anything else you can tell us about the Phantom?"

The person shook their head. "Nope, I'm sorry."

"That's okay, thank you for your help," Patton said and the gang walked away.

"Do you guys think whatever this phantom wants is something that involves getting all of the people in town to leave?" Roman asked.

Virgil shrugged. "I mean, it seems like it, but why?"

"Let's head back to the Inn for lunch and then I'll do some research on the town and see what I can dig up."

"Sounds like a plan," Virgil said as he ruffled Thomas's head. The gang head back to the Inn. Patton ordered a pizza while Logan went to get his tablet. Roman, Virgil, and Thomas wandered into the dining room to wait for their friends. Soon they were joined by Logan who immediately began working on pulling up the town records, recent articles, the most recent town map, and an older town map. By the time Patton came in with the pizza, Logan had about three different theories about why the town was being haunted and a few different suspects.

"So, what have you discovered, Logan?" Patton asked as the group ate.

"Well," Logan began. "I have found that recently, a wealthy business owner had offered to buy the whole town. But they refused. So he offered to buy single bits of land at a time."

"I thought it might be something like that," Roman piped up.

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I think our most likely suspect is Carl Livingking. He's the business owner. Although why he would want to buy up the town, I haven't a clue."

Virgil bit his lip, "I have to agree, that seems like the most likely situation. But why would he go to the lengths of risking people's lives to get the town? I mean, it seems like he's trying to scare people off, and you can do that without putting people's lives at risk so why is he doing it?"

Logan shrugged. "That's what I can't seem to find anything on. The land isn't even that good. But something tells me that we're missing out on an important clue."

"Hey, L," Virgil started. "Can I borrow your tablet for a minute?"

"Sure."

Virgil quickly opened a new tab and did a quick google search. Soon he found something that looked promising. "Maybe you can't find anything, because this town is fairly new." He spun the tablet around to face the rest of the table. Thomas hopped up on a chair to get a closer look. "It says here that apparently, the land that this town sits on is part of a larger area that is said to be the hiding grounds of the legendary Sanderson Gang."

"Oh, I've read about them!" Logan exclaimed. "They were train robbers. They stole over two million dollars worth of coins and precious stones. But they were never caught. No one knows where the loot went. Rumors spread that it was somewhere in this area but most people thought the gang had fled the country with their treasures and settled down on a remote island somewhere in the Pacific. Eventually, the rumors died down and some people settled down here and started a town. Since then, the Sanderson Gang faded into legend and most people forgot they were real people."

"So Mr. Livingking must be trying to find the treasure," Patton exclaimed.

"And what better way than to buy up all the land, evict the town and start a massive expedition."

"He could keep people out and avoid anyone trying to steal the loot."

Logan nodded. "Yes. It seems so, he isn't doing a good job of covering his tracks. He was actually able to buy a nearby abandoned factory."

The gang went silent as they looked between each other. "Should we set up a trap?"

Roman asked.

Logan bit his lip. "It would be wise. During my research, I found that the Phantom has put two people in the hospital with near-death experiences. Even if it's not him, the Phantom is clearing trying to scare people out of the town so they should still turn up if we are out at night."

"Yeah, I'd rather have a trap for the most likely culprit already then not have one and risk someone else getting hurt," Patton agreed.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Virgil asked as Thomas hopped up on the chair beside him.

Logan quickly opened the drawing app on his tablet and began to sketch out a plan.

"Okay, Patton, Roman and I will set up a trap in the town square-"

"Oh don't tell me," Virgil started. "Thomas and I are gonna be the bait."

"Well, you two are the faster runners out of all of us," Logan explained. "It's only logical." Virgil and Thomas pouted. Logan rolled his eyes.

"Would you do it for a Thomas Treat?" Patton asked Thomas. The dog's ears perked up a bit but he stayed still.

Roman poked Virgil with his foot. "Do it or you're straight."

Virgil sputtered. "Don't threaten me!"

Roman snorted. "Then do it."

Logan rolled his eyes at the two childhood friends. As Patton finally convinced Thomas. And it only took ten Thomas Treats. "Okay, I need you two to go on a walk around town. Virgil, I need you to talk out loud about buying the whole town with Thomas. It'll be like you surveying what you're going to buy while taking your dog for a walk." Virgil cringed, not likely the idea of acting like one of those rich people. "I want you to eventually end up at the abandoned factory and if you happen across the Phantom, lure him back to the square. Okay?"

Virgil groaned. "Yeah, I guess."

"Great," Logan said and the gang continued to flush out their plan. In the end, they came up with an elaborate trap, one of the few things Logan allowed himself to be elaborate in, that included the entire town square. They were to block off all other entrances into the square except for the one leading to the factory. Virgil and Thomas would lead the Phantom into the square where they jump on a trampoline in front of the town hall and jump up onto the balcony and when the Phantom tried to jump on it, Logan would click a button to release the mechanism which would cause the trampoline to be pulled along a track and drive him right into a giant ball out in front of an apartment building where Patton and Roman would drop a large net over from the top of the building. The plan was flawless.

-------

Virgil and Thomas walked through the old factory apprehensively. "I don't know about you, Thomas, but this place is really too scary." Thomas nodded his head in agreement as they walked. "Like, I think there's no one here, so let's go." Just as Virgil and Thomas turned to go, a loud wailing sounded throughout the factory, bouncing off old machinery and creating a terrifying echo.

"Get out!!!!!" Virgil and Thomas froze. The wailing got louder until the Phantom stood right in front of them. "GET OUT!!!" It screeched.

"Don't worry, we are!" Virgil shouted and he turned tail and ran with Thomas running along beside him. The Phantom chased after them with a terrible that grated at their ears. They raced through town but ended up getting turned around. Eventually they scaled up a fire escape and ended up on the roof of Town Hall. They skidded to a stop as they got to the edge. They gulped as they looked down at the trampoline below them, a jump from this height would still be risky. But soon the Phantom was behind them. And before anyone could blink, Thomas and Virgil jumped.

--------

Roman groaned as he waited. "Where are they?" He asked Patton. The other shrugged. Just then, as he glanced around the square, he noticed Thomas and Virgil on the opposite roof with the Phantom close behind. Roman's eyes widened in fear. Before he could say anything, the two jumped off. "Virgil!!" Roman screamed.

It all happened in a blur. The Phantom jumped off too and bounced right back into the air after landing on the trampoline. They flew in an arch and landed into the ball pit. Roman and Patton dropped the blanket in shock and raced off the building quickly as they could. Meanwhile, Logan raced over to the ball pit with the police. The Phantom was indeed trapped. "Just hold on," Logan told them before meeting up with Roman and Patton. "What exactly happened?"

Tears streamed down Roman's face as he answered. "They jumped off the roof!"

"What?!?!!?" Logan exclaimed. "Where are they????" Roman went to answer only for a shout to draw their attention.

The gang turned to find Thomas and Virgil stumbling out of the doors of town hall. The world around Roman stopped. The noises and flashing lights of the police cars fading into the background. Images flashed through Roman's mind. They have been best friends since birth. This was the boy who dyed his hair neon green on a date, the boy who ran to his house to show him his new dog, the boy who continuously jumped into terrifying situations willingly for his friends despite his fear. And suddenly the realization that he was so irreversibly and incredibly in love with.

Roman marched as fast as he could to Virgil without running. His hands cupped Virgil's face as soon as he reached him. He slowly leaned in and kissed the other softly. Virgil returned the kiss without hesitation. It was so much better than either could have imagined.

Thomas howled approvingly as Patton and Logan clapped. Eventually the two pulled away. "How did you-"

"I found some rope and tied it around my waist and a hook on the roof before I jumped and we swung down into the open window."

"I was so worried."

"I'm okay. I'm okay."

"I think we should just hurry up and wrap this mystery up and get out of here," Patton said.

"Agreed," Roman and Virgil said in sync. The gang moved over to where the police handcuffed the Phantom. Roman clung to Virgil, which made it a little difficult for them to move, but they managed.

Logan walked over and grabbed the mask. "This is none other than Carl Livingking!" He exclaimed.

"What?" The sheriff asked.

"Carl had learned about the legend of the Sanderson Gang's loot and decided to look for it. So he offered to buy up the town. But when he was refused he decided to try and scare everyone out so he could begin looking for the treasure."

Carl huffed. "Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids and your dog."

----------

Roman sighed as he laid in the back with Virgil, clinging to him like a kola. "I'm sorry again, Thomas." Thomas turned his head back to face them from his spot in the front seat as if to say it was okay. Roman smiled and nudged his face into Virgil's chest. Virgil pulled him closer and they slowly fell asleep. Content being in each other's arms.

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

Taglist: @spxced-oxt @superwholocked-for-life @mirror2thespirit @aroundofapplesauce @lyditist @little-euro-girl @unicornofdarknessstuff @maryann-draws @odette-ssbu

31 notes · View notes