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#hi sorry i just realized how much stuff ive forgotten about and its. a lot
larabar · 2 years
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dump consisting of stuff from today and Months ago
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fir3ylolol · 7 months
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hi fir3y :3333 can we have more johnny cage x camera stuff (anything related, nothing specific; cameras in house, recording w phone etc) w him having a long time crush for y/n 😁 kind of like how you did w smile! you're on camera (i cant remember if i sent this if i already did im sorry 😥😥)
dazed and confused
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pairing: Johnny Cage x Reader
summary: it's been a while since you've seen your good friend johnny. but what happens when long-time crush mixes with weed?
tw: vaginal sex, vaginal penetration, oral sex, blowjob, eating out, cunnilingus, long-time crush, weed usage, intoxicated sex, loss of inhibitions, praise, filmed, sex tape, cumming inside, cum eating, putting on a show, whimpering men heheheh, afab!reader, gn reader
a/n: YAYYY finally another post!! its been forever. this was requested by @keiiikomegumi. gotta love men who fall hard and fuck desperately O.O also i think this is the longest fic other than we want you! ive ever written lol
word count: 2.65 k
Ao3
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It’s been about 3 weeks since you last saw Johnny, which kinda sucks. He’s always a lot of fun, and you’ve been really stressed lately. So when you get his text reading, “come over 4 dinner, we can chill 0.o”, you quickly respond, “see u thennn”. You leave shortly afterward, excited to finally relax. You roll into his driveway after about 30 minutes of driving, seeing Johnny’s shadowed figure standing in the doorway. You hop out excitedly, walking over and capturing him in a tight hug. He laughs, hugging you back just as tight. “Hey! I’ve missed you, it’s been wayyyy too long. Come in, I’ve already got some food ready.” You walk in, drinking in the familiar sight of his home. You see the table set, two spots right next to each other, with a suspicious look on his face.
“So what do you have in store for me?” You sit down, watching as he disappears into the kitchen. “Well, I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure lately, and so have I. So…” He walks out, a large silver plate covered with a cloche. “I figured we deserved a treat,” he says with a smirk, lifting it and revealing two brownies. Realization hits you hard. You see, this is California, and if there’s any pastime Californians love, it’s getting high. Johnny is no different; in fact, he likes edibles more, since he says smoking will “damage his star-quality voice and flawless skin.” But he lives a stressful life, and he needs a break just as much as you. So seeing two, delicious-looking brownies on separate plates, you know exactly why you were invited. And you nearly cry.
“Johnny…” you smile up at him, “thank you. So much.” His eyes light up, placing the plates down for you two as he sits down next to you. “Yay, I knew you would be happy! Ok, I’ve got plenty of snacks in the fridge and cold ass water, so we’re set.” He picks his brownie up, and you follow, clinking them together like glasses before taking a bite. It’s rich, fudgy, and absolutely one of the best brownies you’ve ever had. With a mouthful of food, you try to speak, “Schit manm, ‘his is schoo good.” He laughs at you, finishing his bite before speaking, “It’s been barely a month and you’ve forgotten your manners?” You smack him lightly, before standing up and getting a glass of water, downing the whole thing. He follows you, giving you a big hug from behind. He’s rocking back and forth, face buried in your neck. He’s always been more touchy with you than his other friends, but you don’t mind. He’s warm and gentle and always smells fancy. But you laugh, rocking with him. “The room’s already spinning, oooooh.” He lifts you slightly, walking through the kitchen. “You’re so high, oh noooo!” He set you down, laughing still. “You’re so much fun, I missed you.”
You feel a slight twinge in your heart, the words must mean more to you than it does to him. You’ve been a little glad not to see him honestly, but only because your feelings for him have gotten that intense. A break was just what you needed, but now? When you’re going to be wasted and he’s just so nice and so close? You might break. But for now, you appear cool laughing as well before managing to say, “I missed you too” without seeming suspicious. And you start to fall into the same routine as usual, he leads you to the couch to chill together and watch something fun. He used to go to the cinema room, but once he got too high, watched Rambo on the big screen, and had a panic attack. Plus, you can’t cuddle in there, and he can’t stand for that, loudly declaring that he’ll rip the chairs out every time you two go in there. But he never does. You two end up talking about the weeks you didn’t see him. He’s been working on a new film, but won’t reveal any details other than it’s “based on a super true story”. And he laments how hard you’ve been working, trying to convince you again, “You should just quit and hang with me all the time. It would be awesome.” But alas, you turn him down again, as tempting as it is.
Before you know it, it’s been almost two hours, and you’re definitely feeling it more, the buzzing in your brain is a little louder, and Johnny’s touch gives you more goosebumps. But he leans back suddenly, looking you up and down. “Wait, I just realized, I can’t remember the last time you told me one of your famous bad date stories. What’s going on?” You fluster at his words, so direct and to the point that you can’t think for a second. You finally manage to speak again, your tongue feeling a little too heavy, “I’ve just been busy, man.” He scrunches up his face, thinking deeply. “When was the last time you got some? You know…” He nudges you, eyebrows raised suggestively. You take an embarrassingly long pause before speaking again. “...a year.” 
He leans forward, directly in front of your face. “A year?! How are you even alive??” You push him as playfully as you can, completely flustered by the whole thing. “Quit it, it’s not funny!” He sighs dramatically, splayed out across the couch. “So what’s up? Someone catch your eye or something?” You pause again, trying not to look at him, but your mouth betrays you. “Yeah, maybe. But it’s fine, he doesn’t like me like that.” He scoffs, head still tipped back, “What an idiot. You’re awesome. He’s really lucky I don’t just snatch you away for myself.” His whole body freezes as if he said something he didn’t mean to. You look at him, eyes wide and muscles tense. “W…what?” You ask tentatively. But he stands up, walking away while waving his arms around, “Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” But you can see the tips of his ears are bright red, and he’s tapping his foot on the ground, something he only does when nervous. You stand up and walk over, staying behind him. “Johnny, it’s something. Just tell me, it’ll be ok.” He takes a deep breath before speaking, still turned away from you. “I said he was lucky I didn’t take you for myself. I didn’t mean to say it, but honestly, it’s true. I mean, what kind of idiot doesn’t like the most stunning person alive? I just…I said too much, and I didn’t want to weird you out because you’re such a great friend and…” He’s babbling on, saying way too much and not making a ton of sense.
But you grab his hand lightly, which causes him to turn around. His eyes are watery, his cheeks and the tip of his nose are red, and his mouth is scrunched up in a frown. You can’t help but smile at him, squeezing his hand tighter. “Do you like me, Johnny?” He nods like a child, free hand coming up to wipe his eyes. “I like you too,” you say with a smile, no longer nervous or guilty of your feelings. He sniffles, looking at you with his wide brown eyes, “Really? You do?” As you nod, he sort of snaps back to usual, but not in a performative way, in a happy way. “Well of course you do! Who could resist all this?” He smiles before pulling you into a tight hug. “Thank you,” he whispers in your ear before he pulls away. But not fully, as you two lock eyes, and the air grows thick again. You swallow hard, eyes darting across his face nervously. He cups your face with his left hand, and slowly leans in, pressing his lips to yours. It’s exactly like him, warm and gentle, and it makes you dizzy. In fact, you feel your knees buckle slightly, which he laughs at into the kiss. As he pulls away to breathe again, you can’t help but feel hungry for more. You’ve only gotten a taste of what you’ve wanted for so long, and it’s very appetizing.
Johnny quickly pulls you back to the couch, barely able to think before you find yourself on his lap, hands wandering around your back, eyes locked onto yours. His touch is even more intoxicating than normal, with heavy breathing and racing hearts shared between you two. One hand reaches your neck, pulling you back in. But he’s not as gentle this time, like he’s trying to devour you whole. His other hand is on your hip, guiding you to grind against him slowly. Your hands wrap around his neck loosely. He groans into your mouth, squeezing tighter. You feel his tongue in your mouth, desperate for more of you, more than there is. You can feel yourself growing wetter, so high that your previous inhibitions are gone. Everything is happening so fast, and you’re starting to feel desperate.
He finally breaks away, panting heavily, before looking at you needily. And with how pretty his flushed face is and how badly he wants you, you can’t help but slide down to the floor between his legs. His pupils are blown out, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. He tries desperately to pull his pants down quickly, struggling slightly.  But he finally frees himself, cock bouncing out as the angry red tip leaks out. He’s embarrassed, turning his head away slightly, but keeping his eyes locked on you. You have no time to tease, absolutely hungry for him, for this. You take him in your mouth, getting most of the way down before you stop, looking up at him sweetly. He gasps, eyes wide and hands clutching at the couch cushions. You start to move, swirling your tongue around him as you keep a steady pace. His eyelids are fluttering, and very quickly he darts his hands out to grab your face lightly, bringing you up to face him. “C-can I film you? I just…I’ve wanted this for so long and you just look so pretty and I just…I don’t want to forget this, any detail of this.” 
You nod lazily, a smile spreading across your lips as you watch him scramble for his phone. He holds it up, hands shaking as he starts filming. You decide to put on a show for him, looking up through your lashes as you go down again, able to get almost all the way down, gagging slightly. He white knuckles the phone, staring at you intensely. His other hand comes up, grabbing your hair in one hand. His voice rasps out, “Wanna see that face, all of it. God, you’re so good at this. Fuck…” He sighs as you reach your hand out, starting to stroke him as you lean your head down, licking at his balls. He jumps slightly, but the most lovely whine escapes his lips, so you continue, trying to overwhelm him with pleasure. And overwhelm him you do, as he starts squirming back and forth at the intensity of it all, more heady whines. He finally remembers to hold the camera steady, trying to still himself. But as you go down again, rapid and sloppy moves, eyes watering as you look up again, his grasp on your hair tightens. He cries out as he cums, shuddering as you keep going, swallowing it all. You pull off with a pant, looking into the camera and sticking out your tongue to show what you did. He’s breathing hard, letting go of your hair and going slightly slack on the couch. But he tugs at your shirt, pulling it over your head. Even fucked out, he wants more.
You stand up, half-naked, and he tries his hardest to get your pants off too. But his hands are too shaky, and he’s trying to keep his grip on the camera. So you step back and slowly peel them off for him, and you can see his cock twitch slightly at the sight of you. You climb back on top of him, kissing him gently. But he leans to the side, propping the phone against the arm of the couch, and flips to the front camera. He shuffles down a little, leaning slightly to pull his pants down further as you pull his shirt off, wanting to feel his warm skin against yours. He kisses your cheek, and down your neck, reveling in the way you arch your back at the feeling. He whispers out shakily, “You ready? Gonna put a show on for me?” You nod, head dizzy again, as he rubs himself against you, audibly groaning at the feeling. He has no time to waste, sinking into you with a heady whimper. You gasp, taking a second to adjust to him, feeling his hands cling to your hips.
But it’s not long before he’s bucking up into you, using his grip on you for leverage. He’s bit down on your shoulder, whimpers slipping out. Your arms are behind his neck, clinging to him like your life depended on it. You feel him let go, raspy whispers in your ear, “You’re so hot, shit, so tight around me. You like putting on a show for me? Yeah?” You nod, moans pushed out at the force he’s moving now. His voice is shaking more now, but he can’t stop talking, “Shit, I don’t know if it’s the weed talking or what, but you’re so fucking good. Can’t believe I didn’t tell you sooner-” He’s cut off, a whimper as he manages to push deeper, completely enveloped in you. He’s losing his mind, hands wrap around your back for more leverage. But it’s not long before he’s cumming again, a whine as he pushes you down as far as he can. He’s trembling more, heavy pants in your ear. But finally, he’s lifting you and setting you down on the couch. Both of you are breathing heavily, trying to calm down after everything. 
That is until he grabs the phone and puts it in your hands. Confused, you look at him, but suddenly, he’s between your thighs, kneeling on the ground. “Can’t leave you wanting, especially after all that.” He dives in, with no sense of patience, as he sucks at your throbbing clit. His fingers pump inside you, your wetness mixing with his cum. You keep the camera on his face, legs pushed apart as you flinch at your sensitivity. He’s looking up at you, sweet eyes locked on you. He lets go slightly, mumbling into you, “Good job, baby, you’re doing such a good job.” You’re moaning, high-pitched, and slipping from your lips. He’s whining into your sopping cunt, vibrations against your clit causing more jumps. But you cling to him, eyes screwed shut as you cum hard, feeling his tongue lapping everything up with fervor. He finally separates from you, sitting down on the couch with an exhale.
He takes the phone, stopping the recording as he puts his arm around you. “I’ll save those for later,” he says, making you giggle slightly, but you’re quite tired. “We should get high more often, huh?” You snuggle into him, enjoying the feeling of his heartbeat under your ear. “Maybe. But hey, those videos better not get leaked or anything.” Your words cause him to whine out, slightly annoyed. “Come on, you know me! I would never. Besides…it would make too many people jealous, you know? Such a pretty thing like you, all for myself.” You laugh again before looking up at him, sleepy but happy eyes. “You’re stuck with me now, by the way.” He hugs you tight, squeezing you with a wide smile on his face. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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arsenussy · 9 months
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Yes, i'm gonna have to ask for you to pretty please infodump about your persona 5 oc cause i'm obsessed-he's so freaking awesome and your artstyle is gorgeous i just have to know more <3
AAAAAA omg thank you so much!!!!! sorry it's taken me so long, life and all that
okay so. i can't remember what all i have said about him so, you get everything. his name is Akabane Haruto (last, first) (or as my phone wants to keep autocorrecting to, Alabama Naruto) and they’re a 3rd year at Shujin. his persona is Mercutio, and his arcana is The Vagabond which i just sorta made up cause why not
this is long i’m putting the rest under a break
as for more specific and personal info; its kinda depressing but i promise it gets better his whole character is built around themes of isolation, feeling directionless, lack of sense of center or even self, the feeling that you're just kinda floating through life with no substance or impact. existing without interacting a constant gnawing whole where "you" are meant to be inside Haruto wasn't always so husk-like though, of course he was actually a very loud energetic colorful kid he was a lot and they got a lot of flak for their... general manner of existing. too loud, too hyper, too odd, too different, too much so they pretty quickly learned to just stop being that way. kinda turn everything off and he became this reflective thing that would latch onto the expectations of others and spit it back out slowly losing touch with any personality he once had they were pretty popular for a while. kinda. hopped between friend groups, seeming to fit in just about anywhere. but it all had no substance. they were connections but no real relationships. so he formed this pattern of making "friends" and like joining groups and then ghosting seemingly randomly and moving on to the next group leaving everything behind in the dust. scared of getting too close where people may see how nothing he actually is inside and it didn't take long for his peers to recognize the pattern so they got a reputation for being just this super wishy washy ingenuine dude that will lead people on but doesn't actually give a shit so Haruto stops doing that all together and just. kinda keeps to himself. goes full loner mode. and he feels like just a warm body in a room. and he truly feels like theres nothing to him. no substance or skill or talent or unique traits or any traits really he is boring and he is empty and thats just how his life will be. even though in reality they're really just so repressed they don't even REALIZE they are. and then his arc would be about like. reconnecting with who he actually is. finding himself, who they once were, who they've become. finding a center, or at least a path to it. being their own person after trying to be as palatable as possible for so long. making friends. also with other weirdos where he can just. BE. and eventually the world will gain saturation again . which is why the whole metaverse outfit is so striking i think its an incredibly colorful and extravagant get-up. a macaw inspires venetian carnival costume. nothing about that is bland or empty or muted. its bold and bright and in your face and EXTRA and thats who Haruto IS he's just FORGOTTEN and the macaw aspect also still ties in with his tendency to just sorta mirror others. parrot stuff. cause that is still also a facet of Haruto and then the persona mercutio, the character from romeo and juilet (it's been a while since ive dived into romeo and juliet bare with me) he's outside of the two main houses in the story which allows him to mingle and wander. he's just got so much PERSONALITY, y'know? his emotions are one of the things that drives the plot. he's confident and unafraid to just go and let his voice and opinions and personality be heard for LENGTHS of time
i probably have more info and fun facts and whatnot hiding somewhere in my brain, but alas it is almost midnight and i can no longer think so i will leave it at this for now
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floatinginwords · 3 years
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Saved by the Devil (17/?) - Thomas Shelby
Summary: Father and reader are reunited, Reader faces her past and future at once. (Im getting better kind of?) 
Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Fem!Reader (Romantic)
Warning: Unhealthy father and daughter relationship.
A/N: This chapter took oh so long but I’m glad that we get to see this relationship between Father and Daughter in this one. Also i named the father George so sorry if you know someone named George. Comments and feedback is always appreciated and as always have a good night and take care of yourselves. 
Italics = flashback
George (L/N), your father was a man that everyone feared. You knew this ever since you were a little girl. You saw the air he prided himself with, the way people parted like the red sea whenever he walked, the way no one would look him in his eye. You used to worship the ground he walked on. You would cry on to your mother why you couldn’t spend more time with the man, she would give you a look that you didn’t understand then. She was horrified when George did decide to take you for a tour of his ‘office.’ She could do nothing but watch you bounce happily away on your father hand. You still remember the day.
 “You can’t take her, not there.” Your mother cried to him
 “Shes gonna need to learn sooner or later.”
 “Then later!” She yelled.
 He ignores her cries as he drags you along. You had a big smile at finally getting time with your father. You didn’t understand why she was against this.
The walk was brisk, you even stopped for a treat. You ended up jumping from one place to another. Your father talking to people, shaking their hands. You noticed how they looked to him like a leader. So you asked.
 “Im a boss honey,” He answered, “You will be too one day. You’ll help me run all this.”
 “Really?” you said
 “You just gotta be tough. Can you do that?”
 You nodded pulling off your toughest face. The next place he leads you is some old train tracks that aren’t used anymore. A group of men stand around in a circle. All of them waiting for him.
 “You brought a kid to this?” One of them says.
 “You got a problem with that?” George says cocking his gun you didn’t realize he had.
 The man shakes his head no and pints where the rest of them gather, “They got him over there.”
Your father no longer holds your hand as he walks ahead of you. You follow slowly. You can see the man in the middle of the circle. Looking worn down and beaten. Your father stands ahead of him, he plays with gun in the air. He talks words you block out. You just watch the man as is eyes loosely follow your father. He cries uncontrollable begging for his life. You see his body fall before you hear the gun. You don’t cry, you don’t say a word. Your father pats you on the head and says you did good.
 Soon he took you everywhere and anywhere, spending more time with him less with your mother. You became a different person as you became used to the violence. You saw different side of your father more than once but he still treated you like a good. He wanted you prepared for anything and you just wanted to prove that you could be. So learning wasn’t an issue and neither was the perfection you set yourself up for. You became a mini version of him, you didn’t mind unlike your mother who was just horrified. She fought for you to stay in school when he would convince you to leave. She wanted to to date, have a normal job. But you wouldn’t listen to her. You father was your hero at the time you saw nothing wrong with anything that was happening.
 “Your tainting her. Its not good for her to be around this stuff.”
 You listen from atop of the stairs, now only seventeen.
 “Son or daughter, my child is gonna learn the business and learn it right!” He yelled
 “Then ill tell the police, everything I know. Ill take her away or- or”
 “Are you threatening me?”
 “I want my daughter back! You’re running her.”
 “She’s growing up, deal with it.” He turns away from her, gives her the side eye before walking out. You go to sleep, hoping for them to forgive and forget.
 You wake in the middle of night for a glass of water when you found your mother dead. You cry for the first time over a dead body. Holding your mothers hand close to her face, hoping for  a reaction. Your father walks in and pauses. You can see through your lashes that his hands were stained red. You don’t say anything. He brings  out two shovels and hands one to you. George tells you nothing more but to dig in the backyard.
 You don’t. He scolds you for not listening, for not working faster. He digs it himself. He doesn’t look you in the eye as you watch his bury dirt on top of your mother. You share a tea later in the night. You just watch the inside of your cup, the steam rising up. He drinks his greedily, eating cookies as if it’s a regular Sunday morning.
That’s when your relationship changed. You begun to bicker and challenge everything he said or did. You couldn’t understand why he would do that. Or how he even could. You didn’t know what you could do, so you held the emotions in for a long time. Growing distant with your father. He confronts you on your behavior and you no longer hokd your tounge with him.
 “You killed her. Why?”
 “You wouldn’t understand.”
 “I had to bury her, do you know what that was like?”
 “In this business you’ll have to bury a lot more like her.”
 “she had nothing to do with it.” You state.
 He looks at your small figure, your eyes welling up with tears. “Don’t cry.”
 “Why did you do it? Why did you kill my mother?” You press the issue your voice growing louder wanting , needingthe answer. Wanting all this to make sense.
 “Why does it matter? So you can tell the whole city?” He turns on you quick.
 “What if I did, does that scare you?”
 “Watch your mouth girl.”
 “Is that why you killed my mother? Cause she didn’t watch her mouth.” He gets up quickly punching a hole in the wall near your face. You stay still as tears fall from you eyes slowly.
 No longer were the two of you a pair. The father daughter duo was dead. He iced you of the business. Meeting happening without you, transactions with your knowledge. He treated you like a stranger he shared a house with. But every chance you got when you would see him. You questioned him, wanted him to feel bad. No answer at this point would satisfy you, you know that. But you hoped the guilt would eat at his soul for the rest of time. You were there to remind him. And he didn’t like that.
It was the day before you turned eighteen, when you were surprised with a knock on the door. The men claimed to be doctors as they grabbed you by the wrist, throwing you in their car, declaring you insane. You didn’t understand what was happening and that only made them laugh sealing their opinion on what state your mind was as you panicked. The doctors told you nothing but that your father had expressed concerns over your health. And that he was doing this for your own good. Being there made you feel insane but you tried your best to repeal the order to get out. But the doctors were well played off, some of the nurses being Georges goons, no one would let you out unless he said so. Until Tommy Shelby came in, of course you were finally free from that cage.
 So now you stand in front of this man, you had idolized and called father. A man who now is only a murderer, a thief, a low life, your enemy. You clench your jaw as he opens his arms to you. The wrinkles on Georges face crease as he smiles. He’s older in the face and hold a cane in his hand.
 “What? No hug?”
 “Fuck off.”
 “What a lovely choice of words. Im glad to see your okay. I meant to visit…” You glare at him, “but I’ve been busy. Its good to finally find you.”
 “You don’t have to play dumb. How long have you been following me. Ive noticed since a month ago.”
 “Hmm you’re slacking. Its been longer than that. You really think I would let my daughter be out and about, not knowing shes safe.”
 “I had hoped the rumors of your death were true. Guess I hoped too much.”
 “Ah yes your little hit on me. Didn’t go as planned did it.” He glances over at the smoke floating in the town miles from us, “Your work I assume.”
 “Did you do that to Trinity?”
 “It wasn’t anything personal. No need to throw a tantrum.”
 You huff and hold yourself back from stabbing right where he stood. “You had no right-“
 George interrupts you, “After the stunt you pulled. Asking Thomas Shelby to kill me in exchange you tell him a few locations. You know what he did when he found me. He shook my hand. The man helps me fake my death, im off to America. Can you guess where?”
 “New York.”
 “That’s right and its bigger and its booming, honey. And here you are sleeping with a man who lies to you, who is no different than me or the other men ive killed or hurt.”
 “Im not-not” You blush at the accusation your father throws to you. You had forgotten for a second how Tommy Shelby was involved in this. You remember asking him and never getting a clear answer. Especially when you were so unsure with what was going on, you should have pressed more. Not been so easy to trust him. You could have been more prepared for this, left the country sooner.
 “Listen, I’m just here to help you-“
 “By locking me up calling me crazy, or was it when you killed my mother, or had me followed or when you killed my friend.”
 “I understand your mad. But honey we are better as a team than not. Remember me and you fighting the world together.” He uses a funny light hearted voice. One that he would use only to manipulate you when you were younger.
 “What do you want from me?”
 He sighs, “I need a peace treaty. And the family’s got this son.-“
 You scoff, “Are you kidding me?”
 “its what best for our family. And honestly you have no choice in the matter. Ill drag you there myself if I have to.”
 “I’d like to see you try.” You pull put your knife and hold it out in attack position.
 “You’re gonna kill me, your old man,” He uses a mockingly sad voice before erupting into a mad laughter, “You might as well do it now cause you wouldn’t want me as your enemy.”
 “I think it might be too late for that.”  You press the knife against your own throat, pressing hard against your skin. You can feel a trickle of warm blood run down. Now George finally panics.
 “Hey, Hey! Don’t do that!” He yells.
 “Walk out of here and don’t turn back.  Now! “You command.
 Your father follows your orders because you knew it as well as he that in this game you were now an important chess piece. And he wouldn’t have no use with a dead bride.
 “I’ll be seeing you very soon.” He says as he walks further and further away. You watch until his figure is nothing more than a blur. That’s when you finally release the grip on your knife.
You sit down on the ground and quietly sob into your hands. You don’t know the time when you finally stop but its still night and still no train. You hear the sound of a lighter flicking on. You curse under your breath as you get up, ready to die tonight if it meant not being in your fathers plan.
 “You are really testing my patience tonight.” You say turning around. Only it wasn’t your father standing there.
 “Cigarette? You look like you could use one.” The deep voice says. And there you are, Face to face once again with Thomas Shelby.
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itsclydebitches · 3 years
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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Dark”
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Welcome back, everyone! Can you believe it's been six weeks already? I can't. Something something the uncomfortable passage of time during a pandemic as emphasized by a web-series.
But we're here to talk about RWBY the fictional story, not RWBY the cultural icon. At least, we will in a moment. First, I'd like to acknowledge that shaky line between the two, growing blurrier with every volume. A sort of good news, bad news situation.
The bad news — to get that out of the way — is that we cannot easily separate RWBY from its authors and those authors have, sadly, been drawing a lot of negative attention as of late. This isn't anything new, not at all, but I think the unexpectedly long hiatus gave a lot of fans (myself included) the chance to think about Rooster Teeth's failings without getting distracted by their biggest and brightest production. There's a laundry list of problems here — everything from the behavior of voice actors to the quality of their merch — but as a sort of summary issue, I'd like to highlight the reviews that continue to pop up on websites like Glassdoor, detailing the toxic, sexist, crunch-obsessed environment that RT employees are forced to work in. A lot of these websites requires a login to read more than a page of reviews, but you can check out a Twitter thread about it here. 
Now, I want to be clear: I'm not bringing this up as a way to shame anyone enjoying RWBY. This isn't a simplistic claim of, "The authors are Problematic™ and therefore you can't like the stuff they produce." Nor is this meant to be a catch-all excuse for RWBY's problems. If it were, I'd have dropped these recaps years ago. I'm of the belief that audiences maintain the right to both praise and criticize the work they're given, regardless of the context in which that work was produced. At the end of the day, RT has presented RWBY as a finished product and, more than that, presents it as an excellent product, one worth both our emotional investment and our money (whether in the form of paying for a First account, or encouraging us to buy merch, attend cons, etc.) I'll continue to critique RWBY as needed, but I a) wanted fans to be at least peripherally aware of these issues and b) clarify that my use of "RT" in statements like, "I can't believe RT is screwing up this badly" is meant to be a broad, nebulas acknowledgement that someone in the company is screwing up, either creatively (doesn't have the skill to write a good scene) or morally (hasn't created an environment in which other creators are capable of crafting a good scene). The real, inner workings of such companies are mostly a secret to their audiences and thus it's near impossible for someone like me — random fan writing these for fun as a casual side hobby — to accurately point fingers. Hence, broad "RT." I just wanted to clarify that when I use this it's as a necessary placeholder for whoever is actually responsible, not a damnation of the overworked animator breaking down in a bathroom. Heavy stuff, but I thought it was necessary (or at least worthwhile) to acknowledge this issue as we head into the second half of the volume.
Now for the good news: RWBY has reached 100 episodes! For any who may not know, 100 is a pretty significant number in the TV world because, when talking about prime time programming, it guarantees syndicated reruns. Basically, networks don't want audiences to get burned out with a show — changing the channel when it comes on because ugh, I've seen this already, recently too — and 100 episodes allows for a roughly five month run without any repeats, making it very profitable. RWBY is obviously not a television show and doesn't benefit from any of this (hell, modern television doesn't benefit from this as much as it used to, not in the age of streaming), but the 100 episode threshold is still ingrained in American culture. Beyond just being a nice, rounded number, it is historically a measure of huge success and I can't imagine that RT isn't aware of that. Regardless of what we think of RWBY's current quality, this is one hell of a milestone and should be applauded.
All that being said... RWBY's quality is definitely still lacking lol.
Our 100th episode is titled "Dark" — keeping with the one word titles, then — and I'd like to emphasize that, as a 100th episode, it definitely delivers in terms of plot. There's plenty of action, important character beats, and at least one major reveal, everything we'd expect from a milestone and a Part II premiere. The animation also continues to be noteworthy for its beauty, as I found myself admiring many of the screenshots I took for this recap. There are certainly things to praise. The only problem (one we're all familiar with by now) is that these small successes are situated within a narrative that's otherwise falling apart. It's all good stuff... provided you ignore literally everything else surrounding it.
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But let's dive into some examples. We open on Qrow starting, awoken by the thunder outside. Robyn has been watching him and makes a peppy comment about how none of them will be sleeping tonight, followed by a more serious, "Sounds bad out there." Yeah, it does sound bad, especially when they all know — thanks to Ruby's message back in Volume 7 — that this is due to Salem's arrival. I think a lot of the fandom has forgotten that little detail because people often discuss Qrow as if he is entirely ignorant of what is going on outside his cell. Even if we were to assume that he's forgotten all about the pesky Salem issue (the horror of Clover's death overriding everything else, perhaps) he still knows that Tyrian is running loose in a heat-less city with a creepy storm going on and, from his perspective, the Very Evil Ironwood is still running the show. So it's bad, which begs the question of why Qrow (and Robyn, for that matter) hasn't displayed an ounce of legitimate worry for everyone he knows out there. Thus far, their interactions have centered entirely around Qrow's misplaced blame and Robyn's terrible attempts to lighten the mood, despite the fact that a war is raging right beyond that wall. It's another example of RWBY's inability to manage tone properly, to say nothing of balancing the multiple concerns any one character should be trying to juggle. Just as it rankles that Ruby and Yang don't seem to care about what has happened to their uncle, Qrow likewise doesn't seem to care about what might be happening to his nieces. When did we reach a point where these relationships are so broken that someone can be arrested/chucked into a deadly battle and the others just... ignore that?
So Robyn's otherwise innocuous comment immediately reminds me of how badly the narrative has treated these conflicts and, sadly, things don't improve much from here. We are thankfully spared more of Robyn's jokes when Qrow realizes that what he's hearing can't be thunder. A second later, Cinder blasts through the wall — called it! — and Qrow instinctively transforms. 
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The only downside to this moment is that the whole ceiling falls down on Qrow and the others because APPARENTLY these cells don't have tops on them. Seriously. As far as I can recall we don't see the stone breaking through the forcefield somehow and this looks pretty open to me.
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If it is... you're telling me these crazy powerful fighters who practice landing strategies and leap tall buildings in a single bound —
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— can't just hop over this mildly high electric fence to get out? Qrow can't just fly away?
We're, like, two minutes in, folks.
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We transfer to Nora's perspective as she wakes up, seeing Klein giving her the IV. He tells her not to worry, that "you and your friend are going to be just fine." What friend? Penny? Klein went upstairs prior to Weiss hugging Whitley or Penny crash landing outside. I had thought them bursting through the door with another unconscious friend was the first time he learned what the big bang outside was, but apparently not.
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Penny is, obviously, a mess. While I now understand the choice to make her blood such an eye-catching color when that's crucial to the Hound's hunt, I still think it looks strange visually. Like someone has taken a copy of RWBY and painted over it. It doesn't look like it fits the art style. More than that, it implies some rather complicated things about Penny's humanity, especially in a volume focused around her being a "real girl." Real enough for Maiden powers, but with obviously inhuman blood that isn't even referred to as "bleeding." Penny "leaks" instead.
Toss in the fact that she's literally an android who is made up of tech — recall the running gags about her being heavy, or it hurts to fist-bump her, to say nothing of keeping things like multiple blades inside her body — yet Klein says that her "basic anatomy" is the same and he can "stitch up that wound."
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I'm sorry, what? Whatever Penny looks like on the inside, it's not going to resemble a human woman's anatomy, and Klein might be able to stitch the outer layer of skin she's got, but that won't do anything to fix whatever metal bits have been broken underneath. Penny isn't a human-robot hybrid, she's a robot with an aura. Penny has knives in her back, rockets in her feet, and a super computer behind her eyes. When our clip introduced that Klein would be the one to help Penny, my initial reaction was, "Seriously? He's a butler and a doctor and an engineer?" But RWBY didn't even try to get away with a Super Klein explanation, they just waved away Penny's very obvious, inhuman anatomy. Yeah, I'm sure "stitching up" an android wound is just like giving Nora her IV. I hope the surgical sutures he used are extra strong!
In an effort to not entirely drag this episode, I do appreciate that Whitley is allowed an "ugh" moment about the non-blood covering his shirt without anyone calling him out on it. That felt like the sort of thing the show would usually try to make a character feel guilty about and I'm glad that, for once, he was just allowed to be frustrated without comment.
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Then the power goes out and May calls, which raises questions about what state the CCTS is in and when scrolls are available to our protagonists vs. when they're not. But whatever. She's checking in because she just "saw another bombing run light up the Kingdom" and —
Wait. Bombing? Salem is bombing the city? I know we've seen explosions in the sky, but I'd always just attributed that to evil aesthetic. Why does this dialogue sound like it's from a World War II film and not a fantasy sci-fi show about literal monsters launching a ground attack?
May looks pretty against the sky though. I like her hair color against that purple.
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I'm admittedly grasping at positives here because we finally return to her "You have to choose" ultimatum and — surprise! — May has pulled back completely. Ruby says that once they've helped Penny, "We'll...we'll do something!" which is once again her avoiding making a decision. Ruby still refuses to choose, instead falling back on generic, optimistic pep talks. They'll figure out how to stop Salem later. They'll think about the impact of telling the world later. They'll choose who to help later. Ruby keeps pushing these problems into the future where, she hopes, a perfect, magical solution will have appeared for her to latch onto. When that continues to not happen, others pressuring her to actually do something and stop waiting for perfection — Ironwood, Yang, May — she panics and continues stalling for time. Wait an episode and the narrative supports her in this.
Because initially May was forcing Ruby to decide. Now, May enables her desire to keep putting things off. "Don't beat yourself up, kid. At this point, I don't know how much is left to be done." That's the exact opposite of what May believed last episode, that there was still so much work and good to do for the people of Mantle. This is precisely what the show did with Yang and Ren's scenes too, having people call Ruby out... but then return to a message of, 'Don't worry, you're actually doing just fine' before Ruby is forced to actually change.
None of which even touches on May calling her "kid" in this moment. That continues to be a convenient way of absolving Ruby of any responsibility. When she wants to steal airships or Amity Tower, she's an adult everyone should listen to, the leader of this war. When the story wants to absolve her of previously mentioned flaws, she becomes a kid who shouldn't "beat herself up." I said years ago that RWBY couldn't continue to let the group be both children and adults simultaneously, yet here we are.
So that was a thoroughly disappointing scene. Ruby gets her moment to look sad and defeated, listing "the grimm, the crater, Nora, Penny" as problems she doesn't know how to solve. Note that 'Immortal witch attacking the city I've helped trap here' isn't included in that list. Ruby is still ignoring Salem herself and no one in the group is picking up where May left off, challenging her to do more than wring her hands over things others are already trying to take care of: Ironwood is fighting the grimm, May has gone off to help the crater, Klein is patching up Nora and Penny. Ruby, as one flawed individual, should not be expected to come up with a solution to everything, but she does need to stop acting like she can come up with a solution to everything when it matters most (office scene) and rejecting others' solutions when they ask for her help (Ironwood, May).
If it feels like I'm dragging the flawed, traumatized teenager too much, it's not in an effort to ignore those aspects of her identity. Rather, it's because she's also the licensed huntress who wrested control from a world leader and violently demanded she be put in charge of this battle. Ruby, by her own actions, is now responsible for dealing with these problems, or admitting she was wrong and letting others take the lead, without purposefully derailing their plans. She doesn't get to suddenly go, "I don't know," cry a little, and get sympathetic pats.
But of course that's precisely what happens, courtesy of Weiss.
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During this whole scene I kept wondering why no one was celebrating Nora waking up, especially when Ruby outright mentions her. Have they just not noticed given all the Penny drama? Because Nora absolutely woke up.
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Aaaand went back to sleep, I guess. What was the point of that POV shot? No worries though, she'll wake up again in a minute.
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Willow arrives and announces that they can fix the power (and Penny) using the generator at the edge of the property. I'm convinced RT doesn't actually know what a generator is because the characters are acting like it's some super special device that only richy-rich could possibly have. Whitley says that it's the SDC executives who have their "own power supply" and that it's "extremely unfair." Now, don't get me wrong, a good generator powering large portions of your house can run you 30k+, but you can also get one that plugs into your extension cord and powers your fridge for a couple hundred. There's absolutely a class issue here, just not the one Whitley and Weiss seem to be commenting on. They make a generator sound like the sort of device that only a politician-CEO could possible have and it's weird.
Likely, it sounds weird because it's a choppy way of getting Whitley to bring up the wealth disparity so he can then go, 'That's right! We're crazy rich with a company housing tons of ships! We can use those to evacuate Mantle.' Awkwardness aside, I do like that the Schnee wealth is being used for good purposes, but... evacuate where? To the city currently under attack by a giant whale? In a RWBY that wasn't determined to demonize Ironwood, this would have been a great plot point during the office scene instead, with Weiss offering her services to Ironwood, even if the group decides that a continued evacuation still isn't possible.
Instead, we get it here from Whitley. Do I need to point out the obvious? That Whitley is the MVP of this episode? He's done more good in an HOUR than the group has managed in a year. Give this kid some training and make him a huntsmen instead.
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We're given a (very pretty!) shot of the shattered moon because it wouldn't be RWBY if we weren't continually reminded that gods once wiped out humanity before destroying part of a celestial body... and absolutely no one talks about that lol.
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Blake's coat might not make any sense for her color scheme, but it does make her easy to spot as she and Ruby run across the grounds. Oh my god, they're actually doing something together! It only took eight years. They even get a lovely talk where Blake admits how much she looks up to Ruby, despite her being younger, and once again I'm struck at how much more I would have loved this scene if it had appeared elsewhere in the series. It is, indeed, as sweet and emotional as all the RWBY GIF-ers are claiming... provided you overlook that this is the exact opposite of what Ruby needs to hear right now. She doesn't need to hear that she's more mature and reliable than her elders when she's functioning under a "We don't need adults" mentality. She doesn't need to hear that not knowing what to do is totally fine, not when that led to her turning on Ironwood, despite not knowing how to stop Salem. She doesn't need to hear that "doing something" — doing anything — is a strength, because Ruby keeps avoiding the big problems for smaller ones she's comfortable with, like standing by Penny's bedside instead of deciding between Mantle and Atlas. Blake's speech is heartfelt, but it's a speech that suits a Beacon days Ruby who is having some doubts about her leadership skills, not the girl whose impulsive — and now lack of — actions is having world-wide repercussions. Everyone is babying Ruby to a staggering degree. It's like if we had a med show where the doctor is standing by the bedside of a coding patient, fretting between two treatments. 'Don't worry,' their colleague says, patting their shoulder. 'I've always looked up to you. You'll do something when you're ready' and then they continue to watch the patient, you know, die.
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Also: who does Ruby look up to? Everyone talks about how much they depend on and trust Ruby, but who does Ruby look to for guidance? A number of her problems stem from the fact that she has rejected the advice of everyone who has tried to help her improve: Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, even Yang. Ruby is presented as the pinnacle of what to strive for in a leader, rather than a leader who has only been doing this for two years and still has a great deal to learn.
Anyway, they get the generator on and the Hound shows up.
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I am begging RT to just make RWBY a horror story. All their best scenes the last three years have been horror I am bEGGING —
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Anyway, while Ruby waits to be eaten we cut to Willow and Klein, the former of which is reaching for her bottle, pulling back, reaching again, all while her hand shakes. This is good. This is what we should have gotten with Qrow. Which isn't to say that their (or anyone's) addiction should be identical, but rather that this is a far more engaging and complex look at addiction than what our birb got. Willow tells us that she doesn't drink in the dark despite bringing the bottle with her; tries to resist drinking when she's scared and ultimately fails. Qrow just decided to stop drinking after decades of addiction, seemingly for no reason, and that was that. Why is a side character we only met this volume written better than one of the main cast?
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Blake manages to call Weiss about the Hound and she asks if Whitley can handle the airships without her. I mean, I assume so given that Weiss is looking at the bookshelves while Whitley does all the work lol. He makes a teasing comment about how he can if she can handle that grimm and she comments that they still need to work on his "attitude."
No they don't. Weiss stuck a weapon in her kid brother's face. Whitley made a joke. Even if Weiss' comment is likewise meant to be read as teasing, it's clear that we've bypassed any meaningful conversation between them. That hug was supposed to be a Fix Everything moment even though, as I've laid out elsewhere, it didn't even come close.
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We cut back to Ruby getting thrown through a wall into the backyard and the Hound creepily coming after her. She's freaked out by this clearly abnormal grimm and Blake is weirdly... not? "It's just a grimm. Just focus!" Uh, it's obviously not. Have we reached the traumatized, sleep-deprived point where the group is sinking into full-blown denial? I wouldn't be surprised. They've been awake for like... 40+ hours.
Because the Hound knocks Ruby out with a single hit. Just, bam, she's down. "Focusing" is not the solution here.
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Weiss calls to warn the others about the grimm, telling them to stick together. Willow (understandably) starts freaking out and flees the room (classic horror trope!). Klein is left alone when Penny wakes up with red eyes. Oh no!
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Don't worry. You know nothing meaningful happens.
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She shoves Klein before (somehow?) resisting the hack, her Maiden powers going wild in the process. Just when it looks as if Penny might cause some serious damage, Nora wakes up, takes her hand, and says, I kid you not:
"Hey... no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do... It's just a part of you. Don't forget about the rest."
Okay. I want to re-emphasize that I love hopeful, uplifting, victory-won-through-the-power-of-love stories. Istg I'm not dead inside, it's just that RWBY does this so badly. I mean, what is this? It has similarities to the character shouting, 'No! Resist!' to their mind-controlled ally, but this is not presented as a desperate, last-ditch effort by Nora. She just speaks like this is the most obvious truth in the world. If you don't want to have your mind taken over... just don't! It's that simple. The problem definitely isn't that Watts has changed her coding and has implemented a command she can't override, it's that Penny has forgotten about the "rest" of her personhood.
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And this works. Granted, not for long, but we leave Nora having successfully calmed Penny down and until her eyes unexpectedly go red again scenes later, we're left assuming that this is a permanent solution. That, imo anyway, is taking the Power of Love too far, overriding the basic reality of Penny being hacked. It’s not a personal failing she must overcome, it’s an external attack. I would have rather had Nora react to the scars she saw on her arm, or have a moment with Klein, or get some love from the group. Not a wakes up, falls asleep, wakes up again to save Penny with a Ruby level 'Just ignore reality' pep-talk, then back to sleep again.
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So Penny isn't attacking her allies, or mistakenly hurting her allies with wild Maiden powers. Not that the group doesn't have enough to deal with, but still. Weiss arrives to help with the Hound and attempts a new summon, only to fail when two minor grimm burrow up into her glyphs. I really enjoyed that moment, both for the wing visual and the knowledge that Weiss' glyphs can fail if you break them somehow (which makes sense). Also, I just like that she failed in general? Weiss is, as per usual now, about to demonstrate just how OP she is compared to the rest of the team, so it was nice to see her faltering here.
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The Hound tries to make off with Ruby and Blake does an excellent job of keeping it tethered. Ruby finally wakes, only to realize that the grimm is actually after Penny since it's staring at her power up through the window, no longer trying to escape. Moments like this remind me that there's someone on RT's writing team that knows what they're doing, at least some of the time. The assumption that the Hound is after Ruby as a SEW, the surprise that it's actually Penny, realizing it holds up because Ruby is covered in Penny's blood and Blake is not... that's all nice, tight plotting. More of that please!
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The Hound drops her and Ruby's aura shatters when she hits the ground. I want everyone to remember this moment as an example of how strong the Hound is. The group may be tired, but unlike YJR they've been sitting around in the Schnee manor for a number of hours, regaining strength. We saw the Hound hit Ruby twice — once through the wall and once to knock her out — and then she falls from a not very high distance for a huntress, yet her aura is toast. That's the level of power and skill the Hound possesses. Decimating YJR, knocking Oscar out, same for Ruby, avoiding Blake and Weiss' hits, soon to treat Penny like a ragdoll. Just remember all this for the episode's end.
Blake tells Weiss she'll take care of Ruby, you go help the others. Yay breaking up the duos more! Bad timing though as the new acid-spitting grimm pops out of the ground and Blake is now left alone to face it.
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Weiss re-enters the mansion, knowing the Hound is somewhere nearby, but not where. Suddenly, Willow's voice sounds through her scroll with an, "Above you!" which... doesn't keep Weiss from getting hit lol. But it's the thought that counts! Willow has accessed the cameras she's set up throughout the manor, watching the Hound's movements, and I have to say, that is a WAY better use of her separation from Klein than I thought we were getting. I legit thought they'd have Willow run away in a panic, meet the Hound, die, and then Weiss could be sad about losing her mom.
It does say something about RWBY's writing that this was my knee-jerk theory, as well as my surprise when we got something way better.
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The Hound runs off, uninterested in Weiss, and she asks Willow to keep tabs on it. It heads for Whitley next (also covered in Penny's blood) and very creepily stalks him in the office with a, "I know you're here." Whitley is seconds away from being Hound chow before one of Weiss' boars pin it against the wall. He runs, then runs BACK to finish deploying the airships, before finally escaping assumed death. Goddamn this boy is pulling his weight.
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I assume all these ships are automated then? I hope someone takes a moment to call May. Otherwise it's going to be super weird for the Mantle citizens if a fleet of SDC ships just show up and hover there...
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I don't entirely understand how Weiss saved him though. She's nowhere to be seen when Whitley leaves and he runs a fair distance before he and Willow encounter Weiss again. We know her summons don't have to keep right next to her, but are they capable of rudimentary thought, attacking an enemy — and an enemy only — despite Weiss being a couple corridors down and unable to see the current battlefield? I don't know. In another series I'd theorize that this was a deliberate hint, a way to clue us into the fact that Willow, someone who we currently know almost nothing about, had training in the past and summoned the boar herself. Weiss and Winter certainly didn't get that hereditary skill from Jacques. Hell, we might still get that, Weiss reacting with confusion next episode when Whitley thanks her for the boar, but I doubt it. That scene with Ruby and the Hound aside, the show isn't this good at laying groundwork and then following up on it.
Case in point: Weiss says, "I didn't forget you" to Whitley after he gets away from the Hound, the moment trying to harken back to her promise to Willow. Key word is "trying." Because she absolutely forgot him! Weiss threatened and ignored Whitley until he proved his usefulness. I also shouldn't need to point out that, "Don't forget your brother" does not mean, "Don't let your brother die a horrible death by abnormal grimm." Weiss acts like her saving him is a fulfillment of her promise, rather than just the most basic of human decency. And also, you know, her job.
So that part is frustrating. The entire Schnee dynamic is a mess, from Weiss making a joke of her father's arrest, to Willow (presumably) fixing their relationship by putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Okay.
Then Weiss cuts off the Hound by summoning a giant wall of ice. My brain, every time this happens:
YOU COULD HAVE FIXED THE HOLE IN MANTLE'S WALL.
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Moving on, Blake's fight against the acid... thing has some great choreography, including Blake using her semblance which we haven't seen in AGES. 
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I really like the fight itself, just not what Blake is shouting the whole time. "I need you, Ruby! We all need you!" This has really gotten ridiculous. Ruby is presented as everyone's sole savior despite failing time and time again. It's not that I don't think Blake as a character should have faith in her leader, it's that I don't think the writers should be crafting a story where everyone puts their unshakable hopes in an untrained, disloyal, impulsive 17 year old. I mean, Ruby is currently unconscious, yet Blake is acting like if she doesn't wake up — she, as an individual, if Ruby Rose does not re-join this fight — then all is lost. If Ruby doesn't save them, no one can. Which is, of course, absurd on numerous levels. Blake doesn't need the passed out, aura-less Ruby right now, she needs the still very healthy Weiss pulling out multiple summons and an ice wall! Use your scroll and call for backup again.
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But of course, Ruby wakes up and kills the new, terrifying grimm with a single hit. It's a preview of what's to come with the Hound and it's just as ridiculous here as it will be there.
Speaking of the Hound, am I the only one who thought this was... cute?
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I can't possibly be the only one. That head-tilt is exactly what my dogs do and my brain instinctively went, "Aww, puppy!"
Murderous puppy.
The Hound realizes none of the Schnees are who it's looking for and runs off. Penny, meanwhile, has been fully taken over because, well, that's just what's convenient now. She resists long enough keep Amity up, then succumbs, then resists to apologize to Ruby, then succumbs, then resists because Nora asked her to, then succumbs once it's time to knock her out. If RWBY was willing to commit to consequences, Penny would have been taken over and that was that. The characters would need to deal with whatever outcome happens as a result. Instead, the show very carefully avoids any of those pesky consequences by having Penny successfully resisting at key moments, despite no explanation of how she's managing that.
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She shoves Klein again (Klein is having a Bad Time) and starts walking down the main steps. When Whitley wants to know where the hell she's going, Penny mechanically responds that she must "Open the vault, then self-destruct." I suppose the change Watts made was the self-destruct order? Ironwood obviously wants the vault open, though not necessarily Penny's death. Think what you will of his moral compass, she's a damn powerful ally — a research project, perhaps — and a Maiden to boot. At the very least, her death may give the powers to someone even worse.
God, please don't let them have brought Penny back and made her a Maiden just to kill her again.
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The Hound arrives though and, as said, knocks Penny out. We're back to square one with her, then. Note though that this attack is near instantaneous. She grabs its hands one second, is hanging limply the next. Wow, the Hound sure is a terrifying antagonist!
Not for long.
"That's enough," Ruby says and one-shots it with her eyes.
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Now, I want to talk for a moment about the implications of that line. "That's enough." Obviously Ruby is #done with this situation and emotionally unwilling to let the Hound kidnap Penny (congratulations, Nuts and Dolts shippers), but there's a meta reading here as well. Not intentional, but glaring to me nonetheless. Basically, the idea that the Hound has, from a plot perspective, done enough. It has served its singular purpose. It kidnapped Oscar and now it dies. Never-mind how insanely powerful we've established the Hound to be, never-mind how Ruby's eyes also work or don't work according to whether anything of actual import is on the line. From a plot perspective "that's enough" and the Hound can be disposed of instantly. It got Oscar and gave us an episode of filler creepiness. Move along now.
The idea behind Ruby's eyes isn't bad, but the execution absolutely is. RT has undermined a huge portion of the stakes by giving their protagonist an instant kill-shot that always works precisely when she needs it to. Starting with the Apathy, we have yet to get a moment where Ruby's eyes fail to save the day when she really needs them to, no matter how incredible the challenge. The Hound was very intentionally written to be a grimm outside of the group's current power level. It thinks, it talks, they literally can't touch it. This creates the expectation that the group will need to grow stronger — or at least become smarter — in order to surmount this new obstacle, yet Ruby's eyes undermine all of that. The group hasn't grown in years, the show just makes enemies weaker as needed (Ace Ops), or has Ruby pull out her eyes as a trump card. It wouldn't be that bad if we'd at least gotten a good battle out of it, one where the group gets close to defeating the Hound on their own, but needs Ruby's eyes to finish it off. Instead, she literally walks up without any aura, announces to the audience that this antagonist's time is up, and blasts it out a window.
Granted, Ruby's eyes don't completely finish it. The Hound pulls itself to its feet and we see this.
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Yup, that's a guy and yup, those are silver eyes.
I would like to issue a formal apology to the "It's secretly Summer!" theorists in the fandom. I mean, I still think it would be ridiculous (and at this point highly improbable) that Ruby's dead mother has actually been a grimm mutant this whole time, just hanging out in Salem's realm while she waits for the plot to start before attacking the world, and then sends some no-name faunus dude after the group instead of their leader's mother for extra, emotional torture... but you all were definitely right about the “It's a person” part! I... don't know how I feel about this. Admittedly, it seems to be a logical continuation of the other grimm-human hybrids we've seen — namely Cinder and Salem herself — and it finally explains why Salem wants Ruby alive (even though it actually doesn't because WHY did she want more SEWs for Hound grimm when she wasn't even attacking back then? And already has all these other insanely powerful tools??), but at the same time, it feels like it's complicating a story that doesn't need further complications. The group fights monsters and has an immortal enemy. You don't need to add 'Some of those monsters are secretly human' to the mix.
It doesn't hurt that this twist is giving me Attack on Titan vibes, which, ew. A dark time in my fandom life, folks.
The Hound staggers a few steps before Whitley and Willow dump a suit of armor on it. That's all it takes to kill the most dangerous grimm we've ever seen: a single flash of silver eyes and some heavy metal. This also wreaks havoc with the implication that Salem wants SEWs alive because they create such powerful grimm. Obviously not. I mean yeah, normal huntsmen are going to have serious  problems, we’ve seen that this volume, but any other SEWs nearby will take a Hound out instantaneously. For a villain with so many other powerful abilities — immortality, magic, endless normal grimm, her nifty soup — Salem would be much better served just killing SEWs straight out. Clearly, creating Hounds isn't worth the effort.
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The Hound leaves some bones behind and Ruby collapses to her knees, overcome with the knowledge that this was once a person. Again, uncomfortable Attack on Titan parallels.
We finish our premiere with Cinder clearing away rubble to reveal Watts. Honestly, I like that we ended on this because her rescue is hilarious. She just slings him over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes and blasts off with her magic fire feet. Fantastic.
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Note though that with this scene we've seen almost everything from the clip and the trailer. What's to come in the rest of Volume 8? No idea. Outside of Winter leading the charge with the bomb, we got it all here.
Time to update the bingo board!
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I'm crossing off "Introducing new grimm that are quickly abandoned." Between the Hound and acid-dude both falling to a single blast/cut from Ruby, we've more than earned this square.
It doesn't look as if we'll get another Watts-Jacques team-up now that he's left, but you never know.
Maria's got me worried. I feel like her Yoda fight against Neo is the one thing she'll be allowed to do this volume, but given that we didn't see anyone except Ruby's group this episode, we don't yet know whether the story is now ignoring her and Pietro, or if they'll re-appear in another episode like YJR.  
Qrow is free. Will he get a drink before trying to murder Ironwood? Perhaps.
Still no bingo :(
All in all, the episode was by no means horrible. I think there were lots of horrible parts, but also some legitimately well executed moments, fun action, and scenes that I can easily imagine as squee worthy if you lean back and squint. Everything is comparative and in the growing collection of bad RWBY episodes, this one isn't securing a top slot. Which doesn't mean I think it's good, just... not as bad as it could have been and primarily only bad due to long-running problems, not things this specific episode has done. That's my bar then, so low it has officially entered the underworld.
Still, RWBY is back and a part of me is eager to see where this volume takes us, for better or for worse.
Until next week! 💜
[Ko-Fi]
75 notes · View notes
vlogsquadssquad · 4 years
Text
Secure 2
summary: Charlie confesses his feelings and reader has to decide if that's what she wants, or if another guy has her *attention*
a/n: i’m honestly BLOWN away at part 1′s feedback. y'all really loved it so Ive been working on this all day, I hope its everything youve been waiting for! thank you to my new followers, ive been writing for a bit for fun and no one was reading my stories but after the reaction for the last story I was so motivated to write. I have A LOT more ideas and even an idea for a part 3 with smut and maybe even reader having to tell the boy she didn't choose the bad news, who knooowwsss. send me in suggestions! 
warnings: language, alluding to smut at the end.
mood board:
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-- YOUR POV
my life has been the most fun lately. ive been hanging out with David and he really gets me to let loose. he's always trying to top his last video which is so fun to be a part of. even if we wait around the house all day. tonight im alone though. I told him I needed to get some writing down for the last song of my album. I want it to be about being happy with yourself and secure with who you are. that you don't need another person to define who you are. but im having trouble putting that into words that rhyme. maybe I should just see what David is up to.
- daveyy (:
hey, I know I said I was busy but my mind is too cluttered and im curious what the vlog squad is up to 😉 >
< hahaa nothing actually. im by myself at the house tonight. really boring. watching movies ive seen dozens of times.
oh no! your friends realize they were too cool for you? >
< probably lmao. what are you up to?
trying to finish this last song but I can't think straight >
hey would you wanna come over? its ok if you're too busy being alone watching 50 first dates lol >
< how'd you know? 😅 id love to. chipotle?
- end texts -
“hey, loser” I say as he walks in with our food and... is that ice cream? “wait, did you get ice cream?” 
“yeah, I got your favorite flavor!” he says with a smile. my heart aches at the kind gesture. “wow your house is so nice” he sets the food on my counter as he glances around. 
“thank you, im really into interior design... and nice houses” i joke as i examine the ice cream David got for me. he chuckles as he gets my food out of the bag and sets it up in my living room. I put on a movie to watch but we end up muting it and just talking instead. our conversations just seem to flow. “what's a memory that stands out to you from your childhood?” I ask him. “there's so many things,” he puts his arm around the back of my couch as we sit sideways to face each other. we finished eating forever ago. “probably just all of high school. I learned so much, from my friends and my teachers. nothing academically, obviously.” he laughs. I smile to him and run my fingers through my hair. he watches my movements and for a moment its quiet.
“I think you're really smart.” I say finally. “I love how you push me, you're always there for me, and you just come up with the best ideas. you're so creative.” 
“wow. what did I do to deserve your kindness?” he asks with a slight laugh.
“I can think of a few things.” our conversation became much lighter after that. after a while we went into my home studio and he helped me write. the night was filled with jokes and endless laughing but also had serious moments too. I shared very personal details about my life. but the best thing of all was that there was no camera in sight. it was just friends being friends. no clickbait. no underlying purpose for the long stay. it was perfect.
-- next day
“hey y/n could I come over and talk?” Charlie asked over the phone.
“sure, I don't have anything planned till tonight.”
“ok be there in 20.”
“what's the sudden emergency?” I ask as he walks in the door.
“there's just something I've been wanting to confess for a really long time and i’m not sure-”
“its ok Charlie, what is it?”
“I think I'm in love with you.”
my heart dropped. Im frozen in time. I don't need a relationship right now and I sure as hell can't lose my friendship with Charlie.
“I don't know what to say...”
“say you love me too!” he moves closer to me “I know you do! you always want to be around me, have me close to you, we talk all night. I know you feel it.”
I look at him with a blank expression.
“I honestly don't. I've never thought of you that way, and I'm really enjoying being single. for once in my life I'm not letting the pressure of having someone on my arm get to me, I don't need this right now, I-”
“what..? y/n. don't do this.”
“I'm not doing anything it's just the truth.” I look to the ground as his eyes fill with tears. “I think you should go.” I say.
-- DAVIDS POV, that night
- y/n/n 😋
you're still coming to my party tonight right? >
< I wouldn't miss it! so proud of you! ❤️
tonight was my party to celebrate my new show. I haven't told the fans yet but this vlog will be my announcement. we start filming for it on Monday and I've never been more excited. its exactly what I've been dreaming of all my life.
the party started to kick off and all my friends slowly started showing up. Charlie was going to perform his unreleased song tonight and everyone was already talking about it. 
“hey have you heard anything from y/n and Charlie? are they dating?” Ilya comes up and whispers to me.
“no man, I haven't heard anything. I was with y/n all night last night and I wasn't exactly begging her to give me details but we did talk for hours about random stuff and she never brought him up or texted anyone. I don't know they might not be.” I say with hope shining through the cracks of my voice.
“I can just ask Charlie?” Ilya offers. he's such a good friend when it matters.
I nod and then head to get something to drink. y/n still wasn't here and I was getting antsy.
just then I hear Natalie let someone in. I peak around the corner and see y/n. she looks drop dead gorgeous. i’ve never seen her dressed up like that. I think she saw right through me and asked if she had something on her face. 
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“no, no, I just have never seen you dressed like that. you look great.” I look to the floor. no way she and Charlie aren't an item. they both love music and they're both flawless people. they're a match made in heaven. 
“well, thank you, cowboy.” she says in a funny southern accent. she was so weird. she came in for a hug and she smelled exactly like when I first met her. I put my hand on the small of her back and for a split second I felt her push more into me. 
“so where can I get a drink?” she asked as we pulled apart.
“a drink?” I ask
“yes, i’ve had a bizarre day and I need a drink.”
Im about to ask her what she means when I hear Charlie from behind me 
“hey, babe, you're late.” he says to y/n as he pulls her into a hug. she almost looks uncomfortable. “hey Charles, how are you?” 
“i’m great, i’ve had several drinks and im thinking much clearly-er now”
“I can smell that” she chuckles
I hand her her favorite drink and ask her if she finished the song. after a short conversation Charlie pulls her to the couch where some other friends are doing karaoke. she's basically sitting on his lap and laughing. I grab my camera and record a little outside trying to not think about it.
-- YOUR POV
I honestly think drunk Charlie has forgotten about our conversation from earlier. which i’m relieved because sometimes I just need good ol Charlie and not this new one that was in love with me. sure he's a little touchy but we were always close like that. 
“alright I promised David I would perform an unreleased song tonight. come on I want you to hear it.” he grabs my hand pulls me up. I have a gut feeling I don't want to be here for it.
David set up the mic outside and everyone found a seat. David sat next to me with camera in hand. 
“alright alright” Charlie starts. “hopefully I don't forget the lyrics since i’m a little buzzed.” the audience laughed. “but this song means a lot to me, and I wrote it with someone in mind. someone who has changed my life for the better and made me a better man.”
oh god, please don't say my name 
“y/n. you are everything to me. I wouldn't be able to be who I am today without you.”
everyone looks to me as the music starts. a love song. i place my head in my hands and David nudges me. “you ok?” he whispers.
“can you please get me out of here?” he nods his head and stands up. Charlie is looking down at his guitar lost in his music. I feel bad leaving but how could he not take no as an answer? I follow David out the door and my head is down in shame. he closes the patio door and turns to me. “what is going on? I thought you guys were dating?” 
“oh god, not you too.” I groan. “just please I need to be anywhere but here right now. fast.”
“okay. let’s go.”
we go to his garage and he looks at me. 
“you said fast!” he shrugs as he opens the passenger Ferrari door for me. I laugh with my head thrown back “true. but im going to need a jacket or blanket.”
“here, use mine.” he took off his hoodie and handed it to me. I hopped in the car and we were off.
“anywhere in mind?” he asks as we pull out of the neighborhood.
“nope,” I smile. “im kinda hungry though”
“alright,” he turns the car at the light. “then we’re gonna make this worth our while. I know an overly expensive place with great burgers.” 
I laugh at him as my hair blows in the wind “yes! lets spend all your money!” I lift my arms and scream. David just laughs at me. we speed down the highways. ive never felt so free. 
we finally arrive to the place and get seated.
“so do you wanna tell me why we left my party now?”
“i’m sorry by the way. I didn't mean to drag you from your party but...” I look down and pick at my napkin “Charlie confessed his feelings for me this afternoon.” David looked at me confused. 
“isn't that a good thing?” he asked.
“not if I don't feel the same way.” I sigh and David looks surprised. “I was very clear about my feelings- or lack of. but he had been hitting on me all night and then the song. I know he was drunk but im really worried for my friendship with him.” 
“I can't believe my ears.” he said almost laughing. “you, y/f/n, don't like the guy who seems like he was sent down from the heavens for you?” 
“nope. he just isn't my type I guess, I don't know. I never really thought of him that way and I don't want to.”
“wow, no one will be up to your standards will they?” David laughs as he takes a drink.
“the right guy will be.”
perfect timing. the waitress comes over with our food. we thank her and get eating. he was right. best. burgers. ever! 
I moan as I take another bite.
David looks me up and down with his cheeks full of burger and chuckles. “okay, y/n, calm down. it isn't no Charlie puth.”
I gasp and throw a fry at him playfully, laughing. “no... no it is not!” we both laugh harder. as we finish up David pays despite my best efforts and we head to my house so he can drop me off. the car ride was fun, we listened to all the hits and sang our hearts out. we got tons of funny looks, but nothing mattered. I grabbed his vlog camera he threw to the side and recorded him singing and then popped myself into frame and had the camera aimed at both of us. our hair was crazy and the night was wearing down on us but it didn't matter. we were just happy to be alive. 
as we pulled into my driveway and David put the car in park, I looked to him. “you wanna walk me to my door?” 
“already on it.”
he came around and opened the car door for me and walked me up to my door. 
“thank you for tonight. it was like out of a movie. I really needed it.” I was talking softly now since it was the dead of the night and the only thing heard was the crickets. 
“anytime, y/n.” David also said softly. he kept looking to my lips which made my heart beat faster every time. I know I said I didn't need a guy, but he just looks too good. 
“and congrats on your show, I'm really proud of you.” I step closer. 
“thank you, congrats on staying single another night.” he joked but had his hands gently placed on my forearm. 
“its still early.” I whisper closer to his face now. I can feel his breath and he can feel mine. my heart is going a million beats a minute and the butterflies in my stomach are in a tornado.
“I can't write a song about you, but I can buy you more expensive burgers.”
I laugh leaning my head on his shoulder. “that's all a girl needs anyways.”
he laughs too but gently. I look up at him and his eyes are locked on mine. he places a hand on my cheek and then lower to my neck. I take a sharp breath in and connect our lips. his lips are soft, sweet, and gentle. I pull my arms up around his neck and deepen the kiss. I feel his hands slide down my back to just above my ass. I move my head to the side and open my mouth gently. he knows what to do and opens his mouth too. I feel his tongue dominate my mouth. he retracts and I close my mouth only to bite his bottom lip and then pull away. I let go and we put our foreheads together breathing heavily. 
“I could do that again.” he says.
“wanna come inside?” I whisper, my hands now playing with his hairs at the end of his neck.
“best party ever.” he laughs and I pull him inside. I don't know what im supposed to tell Charlie. the heart wants what it wants?
64 notes · View notes
bladekindeyewear · 4 years
Text
HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-05-19
Figured an upd8 was coming, it’s felt like enough time has passed for one.
Huh, looking at my last post I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to play through Pesterquest sometime... work is busy and stressing me out a bit, I’m not sure when I’ll have the energy on the side to do that.  (Maybe I’ll livetweet it like I did Undertale a while ago, but this time not looking at my twitter replies so I don’t get spoiled by One Guy™?)
Also, including bonus commentary on A Threat Sensed.
Okay, going in completely blind.  I’d guessed from context that we’re hopping over to Meat side to get a chapter there before we can come back to actually see Yiffy?
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Yep.  Okay, what is this about exactly?
(Agh, dammit, I’ve been copying and pasting so much at work remoting into Windows lately that now I’m automatically trying to hit control-C instead of command-C to copy.)
> CHAPTER 9. How Goes The Eulogizing, Dear?
CONTENT NOTE: This chapter contains Child Abuse.
Which one???
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Wait
JANE: (Where is he?) JANE: (It's a question I've found myself asking many times in recent days.)
Holy SHIT we get two Candy chapters in a row???  So we might see her right away??  No, it’s gotta just be another tiny glimpse.
(Has two Candy chapters in a row happened before?  Future Boots, scroll back up and put this here. FUTURE BOOTS: “I forgot to scroll back up and put that here.” EDIT: Also, not the first time with two in a row, but it IS the first time with THREE in a row, huh.)
So Jane has to be talking about either Tavros or Dave.  --Oh, if this was a Candy Side chapter title, I guess Rose or Jade is eulogizing Dave for John?
> (==>)
JANE: (Where now is our merry savior?) JANE: (Where is the horn that was honking?) JANE: (Where is the cape and the codpiece, and the...) JANE: (The...) JANE: (Oh, fiddlesticks.)
What?  Is she reading a childrens’ book?  --Oh.  She’s eulogizing Gamzee.  So that gives us a third option, where the rebellion crashes the funeral somehow, probably audiovisually rather than in person.  (Which would make sense, given Candy practically began with Gamzee crashing Dirk’s funeral.)
> (==>)
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Ah never mind, she’s still writing it.
That sure is a single button drama-remote that’s going to be pressed at some point.  Oh, and who the fuck keeps a spork in a pen cup???  --No no, don’t say it’s one of those pens with a spork at the eraser end, either ready-made or rubber-banded to the side.  That would make sense.  You totally know it isn’t that and is just a spork.
JANE: (Okay, poetry is out.) JANE: (What else?) JANE: (Hrm...) JANE: (I've always been pretty good at crying on cue.) JANE: (Could I try staging an emotional breakdown?) JANE: (That could work; playing to people's humanity.)
Why were you crying in Jake’s arms about his death if you didn’t care that much?  Did you just want him to hold you and kinda make him feel in on things again?  Or did you just cry yourself out about him?
JANE: (Or whatever is the more inclusive term.)
I bet the rest of Earth C figured out a more inclusive term millenia ago FUCK I accidentally added millennia to my dictionary misspelled instead of correcting it hold on--
...There, killed the entry for it.  ...Huh.  Take a look at my Chrome dictionary’s custom-added words over the years, apparently:
Caliborn Eridan Kanaya Matriorb Meenah Tavros alchemiter dichotomic nephilim reblogged uncaptchalogues uncaptchaloguing
That’s fun.
Okay back to reading. Millennia.  Phew!  Where was I.
JANE: (One really good and calculated weep could do it, I think.) JANE: (But then there's the danger that I might get carried away and do it for real.) JANE: (And I can't risk that.)
So still feeling something, just too used to calculating over the past years.
JANE: (What can I say about him that will stir up their emotions?) JANE: (Do I mention the stuff about the milk?) JANE: (Think Crocker, think.)
WHY would you-- how much did Gamzee normalize adult breastfeeding?!
JAKE: Ahoy over there!
Not the best time.
(The thing with the divorce papers from the Epilogue and John implying he was planning with Jake to execute something that sounds like a divorce... is that going to be sprung here?  Did her lawyers send the divorce papers way back when she was in a fit of pique, and he just had them available to sign now at the tactical moment? Or... let me pull the exact text...)
JOHN: now, harry anderson, i know that you and tavros haven't always gotten along. JOHN: but i am going to have to ask you to try and look out for him for the time being. JOHN: your uncle jake and i... well, i'll explain later. JOHN: let's just say that gamzee isn't the only family member jane is losing today.
(So is John going to submit the papers? Or did they already go through a while ago and default custody to John or something who’s going to adopt him too or some nonsense?  And did he plan this out with Jake NOW, or a while ago, and if only a while ago, is Jake going to KNOW whatever John’s about to pull in that respect is about to happen??)
> (==>)
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Butte
Janepalme
> (==>)
JAKE: Er... how goes the eulogizing, dear?
Gah.  I completely forgot again that capitalized-first-letter chapter names don’t mean KANAYA is saying them.  That probably makes a lot more sense out of my wondering about the chapter title earlier to those of you who didn’t realize I was making that mistake.
JANE: It turns out that it's mighty difficult to find touching things to say about a person, the relationship with whom was predicated on deep-seated mutual loathing.
Hah!
--A loathing you regarded as largely more important to you than Jake ever was, by the way.  You asshole.
JANE: I imagine this is one of the reasons no funerary tradition was ever established on Alternia, besides the barbarism of their culture. DIRK: Jesus christ. JANE: Not only did a significant proportion of their interpersonality depend on romance in the form of hatred, but it was a society based on cruelty and violence. JANE: What reason could they have had to provide for the dead? JANE: What kind of last rites could they have even imagined?
I wondered for a moment why (bg!)Dirk of all people would react to a single line of her starting to bring up prejudices, but then I realized that (1) Brain Ghost Dirk is a little more Jakey, and (2) Dirk knew that more ranting would follow the first line.
JANE: I can't think of anything good to write about him because deep down, I hated his guts. JANE: But he was and is beloved of the multitude, so I have to think of something regardless. JAKE: Im not sure i understand. JANE: Don't worry your pretty little head about it. JANE: This is politics, Jakey. JANE: Lying through your two front teeth about people you hate is about as good a definition as it's possible to get. JANE: But, by gum, is it tiring work.
Mm.  It’s a position Jane put herself in, but it’s still a legitimate position once you’re there.
JANE: The funeral is tomorrow, after all.
Got it.
DIRK: Dude, the bowl. JAKE: Hm? JAKE: Oh, right. JANE: What is it now, Jake. JAKE: I brought something for our guest as well. JANE: You mean the prisoner. JAKE: Y...es.
Wait, bowl?
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Oh god damnit which of you had the idea to feed her with a DOG BOWL.  Either of you could have thought of it, and either of you would be horrible for it.
> (==>)
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Huh, that outfit on Yiffy looks familiar, like a reference to something.  And a black tail?  This definitely isn’t quite the look I was expecting from Jade Plus Rose, but I suppose the snazzy tie is a Roseish vibe.  Also reminiscent of Jade’s old Dead Shuffle dress.  Formal wear and soccer cleats??
JANE: She's over in the corner. JANE: Don't worry, she won't bite. JANE: I've seen to that already.
WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN.  I don’t see anything over her mouth!  Did she stick something in it, or drug her?  File her fucking teeth???
I mean I did forget the Child Abuse trigger warning to be fair.  Hoping whatever would be on her mouth is just not shown in-panel yet for stylistic reasons.
> (==>)
JAKE: Its only mac and cheese, sorry. JAKE: Its all I know how to make, haha. JAKE: ... JAKE: I um... hope you can safely partake of cheese? JAKE: ... JAKE: Well, JAKE: Bon appetit.
How the fuck did Jake eat on his island then?  --Oh right, preserved food cans that Grandma Jade stored up, I think I remember.  Why would cheese not be a thing for them, if it’s fine for Jade?  I know he’s probably not just worried about lactose intolerance.
Either way, if she’s drugged here, that’ll mean we won’t get a good idea of her for a while, so which is it...
> (==>)
DIRK: Bon appetit. DIRK: Seriously dude? JAKE: (What? Did i pronounce it wrong?) DIRK: Jake. DIRK: You put the food in a fucking dog bowl. JAKE: (It was all there was, ok???) JAKE: (I feel awful enough as it is without you getting on my case about it.)
Ah, missed the bone pun.  AND, yeah, Jake, you’re a fucking idiot, you could have put it in a cup or something.
JAKE: (So far ive yet to see anything come of that brilliant plan of yours.) JAKE: (Are you sure sending that message to the others was enough?)
Okay, so he IS coordinating this slightly.
> (==>)
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Horrifying image to contemplate, eh Jane?
Or anger-inducing?
> (==>)
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Seems about right!
> (==>)
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Oh that’s a GREAT exasperated Jane face.
JANE: I hope you're not expecting dessert, young lady.
I like how Jane didn’t notice, comment on, or care about the bowl.  How can you hate a kid so much??
> (==>)
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Oh I know why I felt like I recognized the outfit style, it’s because it’s ANIME AS FUCK.  Feels like some Persona 4 Arena nonsense, and I say that not having played any of those games or even remembering what they looked like.  Also, white hair, black fur’d dog parts?  Nice change of pace.
YIFFY: GRRRRRRRRR... JANE: Oh no you don't.
Red text?  What color exactly... “#D00009”?  Huh.  That’s nowhere near Alt-Callie’s #FF0000, and darker than Dave’s #E00707.  In fact, let me go back and check those spilled color pins the commentary pointed out from an update or two ago...  no, the red pin is #E63225, closer to Dave’s color.  (Also, is Yiffy blocking the doorway out?  That’s a pretty slack chain then.)
Did Jane see to it that she wouldn’t bite with like, a water spray bottle?
(EDIT: Oh my FUCKING GOD, THAT's why it's #D00009...)
> (==>)
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FUCK I didn’t notice the shock collar in the Yiffy image!  FUCK YOU, Jane.
> (==>)
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Keeping someone in line with collars, especially ones that punish whenever one strays out of line, has always been a decent way for her to mix in some Doomy control of others to show how she’s “grown” to balance her main role and her Tiara-controlled-like inverse for more power.  Doom in part represents boundaries that you can’t cross without getting hurt or punished.
> (==>)
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FUCK, those little buck teeth!?  D’:
JANE: That's more like it.
She HAS to have more of a reason for hating her than hating her parents, right?  Like, more than that and general racism applying to partdogfolk?
> (==>)
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Hey fuck off with that!
> (==>)
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This is a pretty cool ima-- are those piercings on her dog ear?  I didn’t notice that in the first shot, neat.
JANE: You've been a thorn in my side ever since I agreed to enroll you at the academy, little madam. JANE: Back then, I was doing a favor for two old friends who made a disgusting mistake. JANE: I'm no longer going to play nice with you just because of your parents, however. JANE: That truce is over. JANE: Do I make myself understood?
What the fuck?  WHY would you do that?  Why does Jane run "Ms. Paint’s Home for Inconvenient Girls”?  What did Yiffy do to piss her off so much there, how much trouble could she have caused?
I don’t know if she’s referring to the behind-Kanaya’s-back part as disgusting or she’s just being MORE racist.
> (==>)
JANE: We don't want you passing out during the ceremony, do we?
Oh, just showing the hostage off during the clown funeral, huh?  Classy much?
> (==>)
JANE: Now, be a good hostage and get some rest, Yiffany dear. JANE: We've got a big day tomorrow.
For a politician, Jane’s not good at looking at herself in a mirror.
> (==>)
JANE: Night night. JANE: Hoo hoo.
> (Yiffy: Lights out.)
Huh, dream stuff is gonna be relevant out in Candy then? *click*
Okay, dark background all of a sudden.  Properly dramatic?  You even have to highlight the non-link “>” part of the Next link to see it.
> (==>)
-- thespiansGlamor [TG] began pestering adamantGriftress [AG] --
Well, I don’t know WHY it’s happening, but the white-backed pesterlog suddenly on the dark site framing is certainly evocative.  Of like, a mood, or something.
TG: i thought he was pretty quiet down there. TG: we'll make a rebel of him yet! AG: Lol. AG: I think it's more that he can't sleep. AG: I know how he feels. TG: yeah. TG: today was a lot. AG: ... TG: do you wanna talk about it? AG: Ugh, not you as well.
It’s really jarring to transition between Homestuck’s “kids jarringly mentally resistant to freaking out about the end of the world” to HS^2′s more realistic “kids traumatized by their first firefight even though it was an overwhelming victory-escape”.
TG: but seriously, do you? AG: Not really. TG: not even about... you know? TG: her? AG: No. TG: ... are you sure? AG: A8solutely. AG: What are you, my moirail? AG: Just leave it, Harry. TG: ok.
Are they about to have an “I wonder what Yiffy’s like” talk?
> (==>)
Very similar Tav/Vrissy convo to the previous one.
GG: I havent ever shared a bedroom before,,, GG: Not even for a slumber party,,, AG: Tavvy, you are just a8out the saddest person I've ever met.
Well, we have an even better idea how horrible Jane can be with kids, now.  From Nanna to THIS is quite jarring.  I wonder how the double Nannasprites that must still be around here somewhere feel?
> (==>)
TG: nothing about my dad is cute. TG: what are you even saying. AG: Lmao. TG: seriously! TG: i think he has something against that word, even. he gets super weird about it. AG: He's a strange and funny m8n. TG: yeah. TG: ... TG: i think something bad must have happened.
...um.  What?  Why would John have some sort of trauma about the word cute or being called it?
Did John dress up as a hint of his buried June ambitions as a kid and Dad lavish him with “SO CUTE” praise in an epic supportiveness backfire that caused him to shelve the idea of wearing non-masc clothes and being happier on the flipside of gender ever again???  Because if that’s how June gets canonized as promised, it’s a little harsher than the back of my mind was hoping.  I guess it kind of had to be though from the premise of how it was read into his childhood for the original idea, though.  Fuck, I hope this Cute business is about something different from that (like a Terezi reference or such) just to get less John Sads.  (But still June.  Definitely still want to get June.)
> (==>)
Oh, and now Vrissy is doing nothing but talking about what she said she didn’t want to talk about, of course.  (Also I like how JANE’s now being called the Batterwitch.)
AG: And the worst part was they didn't even fight a8out it! AG: That made me madder than 8nything else. AG: It felt like I was the only person who even W8S mad! GG: I dont think thats true,,, AG: What would you know a8out it?! GG: Maybe nothing,,, GG: Sorry,,, GG: Its just,,, GG: To me,,, all the way through the conversation,,, aunt kanaya looked even angrier than you,,, AG: ... AG: Adults are so fucking weird.
Guh, I don’t want to be reminded how hurt a good chunk of the fanbase is by Kanaya getting hurt this badly.
Original Tavros was always SLIGHTLY perceptive of others sometimes, but maybe perceptiveness is being hinted at as a Tavros specialty?  We still don’t know his classpect/hero-title or have any firm guesses based on purely him evidence.  (Also, frightened kids of abusive households tend to learn to get perceptive pretty fucking quickly I hear.)
> (==>)
TG: dad was sitting in the cafeteria with aunt jade and your moms. TG: it looked like they were discussing something important... they were whispering and stuff.
[etc etc] Alright, the what-happened-to-Dave bit.  And I imagine they’re kind of helping John grieve there, since Rose and Jade have talked that out already.
TG: aunt kanaya's was the only face i could see. TG: she was standing next to them, but she wasn't looking at what was going on. TG: almost like she couldn't bear to. AG: I doubt it. Kanaya's got a8out as much Emotivity as a very reclusive stone. TG: ok, i think that is bullshit but whatever. TG: she saw me standing there, but didn't say anything. she just shook her head slightly, and pointed back out into the hallway i came down.
Yep, giving them some space to grieve.  Also-- gosh, shouldn’t Vrissy have the same emotive senses that Aranea implied Vriska shared with her?  Kanaya isn’t that EXPRESSIVE but she’s certainly full of emotion.  Also, I hope part of her not bearing to watch wasn’t lingering anger toward Jade and Rose mixing with that, but there probably was a bit of that too, though Dave being gone is so much harsher than that. --I just realized they might not have broken the news to Karkat yet, either.
AG: I guesadxcxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz TG: vrissy?
Put to sleep by someone slumping down on your phone keypad, or surprised by something about the other conversation?
Oh shit, “other conversation” reminded me I didn’t look at Tavros’s chumhandle:
glutinousGymnast [GG]
HHHHHhhhhuh.  Hm... huh? hhhh.  huh?  what, but.  Why would.  ?????
I really don’t understand what that chumhandle or any of its entendres should signify in this context.
Also, this means for our new four kids we have TG, GG, AG, and ??.
> (==>)
GG: I think she might have succumbed to sleep quite suddenly,,, GG: It would explain the,,,,,, interesting messages I've been getting for a while,,, TG: hehe. TG: i guess that tracks. TG: she does that from time to time.
That’s... strange.  Homestuck’s taught us to be suspicious of that.
TG: ... TG: tav? GG: Yes,,, harry anderson,,,? TG: what does it feel like to know someone who's died?
Who is Harry referring to? (EDIT: Yes I know Gamzee for Tavros, but I meant Harry talks like he's worried he'll have to feel that way soon?)  Is he just kind of inferring that something bad might have happened to Uncle Dave?  Got that perceptive “parents are about to tell me about a death in the family” vibe?  Or did he overhear more than he let on to Vrissy?
...alright, that’s the last page of this update.  Looks like this chapter is going to continue to have a good bunch of grieving, or talk around it.
---
Now for Bonus Commentary for A Threat, Sensed.  For some reason I have a dim memory of like... reading this myself without commenting on it?  Or skimming it?  But I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that.  Weird.  Must have imagined doing it.
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Ah, I think I saw the opening paragraph scrolling Patreon, and my mind kinda filled in the blanks, this is still looking new to me.
Okay, mostly banter and japes in the commentary here.  About Dirk “throwing a huge tantrum in his philosophy cave”.
We’ve had quite a bit of speculation on whether this is “really” Andrew. To that, I think we’d say that it doesn’t “really” matter.
Really?  That was speculated about?  :/
Here we discover that Dirk has not, as some people have speculated, been directly intervening into the Candy timeline, or influencing it in any way. In fact, he has a very hard time seeing anything going on there at all.
Mhmm, and that was a pretty important thing to learn.
A couple of years ago I might have agreed with the take that everything happening in Candy is simply too outlandish to ever happen naturally, without direct, villainous interference, but that was before literally every fucking batshit insane thing that has happened on Real Life Earth started going down, and now I will believe literally anything. 
This is a nice bit of distraction from the idea that at least the opening parts of the Candy story were written/narrated by Original, Alive Calliope over on meat side.  To refresh your memory of what was pointed out to me:
ROXY: back when jade first got all effed up callie saw somethin and it made them freak out ROXY: it took me weeks to convince them that it was safe to come home ROXY: but now we got the opposite problem and they arent leavin the house at all ROXY: they stay home all day with the blinds drawn paintin some weird ass shit on the walls TEREZI: WH4T? ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise ROXY: some of it is like ROXY: weird and violent?? ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um ROXY: nudity???? TEREZI: >:? ROXY: yeah yikes ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married and shit ROXY: anyway thats kept callie kinda busy
Which tracks with the initial out-of-character-seemingness of almost everyone at the start of Candy, and how they kind of tried to railroad things back onto the “Happy??” track after Dirk derailed it with his weird self-accumulation suicide, along with some of the flowery-idyllic descriptions of characters seeing each other bathed in a halo of light and such.
Of course, they’re not going to out-and-out STATE that Calliope was at fault for that narration, helping the Candy story not necessarily fall out the way it did “naturally”, until we finally get a glimpse of her on the heroes’ ship in Meat probably still painting the continuing Candy events, inspiring them into the void of the singularity with her latent powers.  Til then, it’s a bit of misdirection whenever the topic is to be brought up.  Along with a mix of Roxy’s late-Candy point to John of more or less “why COULDN’T we have done this naturally? you don’t know”.
He might even think that he has more direct power over the narrative than Hussie does himself. Surprise, motherfucker, you are a fictional character. 
:p
I’ll quote this next part in full:
There’s been talk of whether or not this bonus was written in the two days between its release and the Yiffy reveal chapter. The answer is--no. It was written over a month ago. But I think the things it addresses were not difficult to suss out. Obviously, Dirk is highlighting the issues that the readership are having with Yiffy, in his typical Dirk fashion. If it seems a little defensive, well...I suppose it is. Yiffy is one of the two hard lines drawn in the sand, and all of us love her, and we’re hoping that everyone else will love her too. But more than that, it focuses on the fact that update culture has a rhythm to it--shock, revulsion, acceptance (or not), and then excitement (or not). Will it follow that pattern this time? Who knows. I guess we’ll find out. 
Yeah, given what was going to be dropped on us I expected they would have had exactly this lined up, especially because Andrew specifically mandated Yiffy.  --I wonder why they aren’t mentioning that somewhere in the commentary and only on one of their Twitters?
Also quoting this:
There’s something both incredibly “cringe” and self-indulgent, as well as philosophically intriguing, about the author arguing with his villain, especially since he’s writing both halves of the conversation himself. You are, for all intents and purposes, trying to solve a problem that you have created for yourself. You are looking an aspect of your personality in the eye and asking, hey, what the fuck, man?
But in the end, isn’t that what every story is? Trying to untie knots that you put in the rope yourself?
Since it’s part of the central struggle of this story, and kind of the question Andrew’s tried to imply with every Homestuck work about what right we have to keep these characters trapped in a story, and if they’d be better off escaping it.
I’m really trying to avoid quoting so much of this, since the commentary is paid...  but I think we can make an exception here?  I’ll have only quoted about half of it; just, the really plot-important half.  Plus, I left out a LOOOT of japes.
Dirk has a certain idea of how stories are supposed to go. That’s pretty much what the Epilogues is about. The audience also has a certain expectation of how a story is supposed to go. In a way, the Epilogues were also about that. They were taking a story that had reached the traditionally “acceptable” happily ever after, and saying, wait, no. What happens next? Thinking past happily ever after in any story is a terrifying prospect. Once Cinderella marries the prince, what then? Sure, she got what she wanted, but who knows that it will be everything she dreamt it would? What if she changes her mind, if not today, what about ten years from now? What if the prince dies of malaria? 
And I’m...
Yeah I don’t have anything else to add here, I’m kind of out of brain juice to think about this tonight.  BUSY day I had.  Y’all take care!
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kawaiianimeredhead · 5 years
Text
Oh right I wanted to rant. Im still on my phone so there might be typos but oh well
Edit: this got way longer and rambly than I expected oops. I hope this read more works, i never actually checked yesterday when I used it to see if it still worked on mobile so if it doesnt oops and sorry
Anyways. In september a new company took over our contract and thats a whole rant on its own. The previous lead (my dad but not important) left before the new company came and he left Sam in charge. Sam has been there for like four or five years and he's a pretty good guy. When the new cobtract started he was very quickly overwhelmed with the bs and also with the paper abd computer stuff he had to do so he stepped down. Hes still there and actually was still in charge for a bit after he stepped down because we didnt have a new lead.
And now we do have a new lead. This was apparently a Process from what ive heard. Nobody really wanted the job and im not sure how the Boss from the company even went about hiring but i heard that a couple people he considered weren't interested and then I was told that someone was hired or was going to be hired and quick before she even started. I heard these from two differenr people because one told me she qas being walked around and woukd start soon and another said she wasnt coming a day or so later. Someone was hired though and the first night he was there so was the Boss showing him around kinda. I spoke with him a bit and he seemed nice. Def better than the Boss who I cant stand beinf around for long hes got weird and annoying vibes around him.
None of this is actually particularly relevant or necessary for this rant but it came out anyways.
So this new lead has tried all thr different shifts/jobs out and and has been with us for like a month or so now maybe? The first schedule he was properly scheduled on was such a SHIT week/schedule because I went from working 5-4 days a week to 3 and instead of doing bathrooms which is 3 hours or 4 depending on if I'm also doing trash to working 2 hours one day, 2 or 3 the next, and 3 or 4 the last. And it sucks. Then, the first schedule to come out that he made (with the help of the Boss) had ALL of us on less days and hours and HE now working every day but one and working both in the morning AND at night. Now I'm not convinced this was soley his decision because I know he made this schedule with the Boss and i have a suspicion that the Boss encouraged him or persuaded him or some other kind of bull shit to do the schedule like this. And then the week after was the same schedule copied again and this week coming up is the same minus a few small changes.
Now all this is annoying and bull shit on its own but not even the main fuel to this rambling rant. With this schedule, hes scheduled to clean the bathrooms and trash every day except Sunday, which is when I am scheduled on them. Last week was the first week of this and besides the day I'm specificed to do bathrooms im not given a specific job. Imbonly told to do "extras" so ive asked Sam and hes told me to do offices one day and some windows the other. I come in Saturday ready to do the windows which ive been dying to do because they look awful and they used to be my Thing so I get really annoyed about them often but then I notice the trash hadnt been done. So I start doing that thinking maybe that was what I was supposed to be doing. Then while doing this I notice the main breakroom doesnt look particularly clean, breakrooms are a part of the bathroom persons job. This was annoying but because it wasnt Bad I left it. I then go to the next break room which is smaller and always messier because more people stay in it for longer, this one also looked dirtier than it should be. In addition, the bathroom's trash hadnt beeb taken out which is a part of the bathroom job. Bathroom trash is separate from trash trash as far as jobs go, theyre usually done together but if someone is doinf "extras" and someone else bathrooms, bathrooms normally gets bathroom trash abd extras the rest. Something felt really off about the bathroom as well and combined with the breakdowns I had a suspicion that bathrooms hadnt been done. So I decided to check the costumer bathrooms for their trash and their cleanliness. When I got there they absolutely had not been done. Which ! I hadn't planned for. I was taking my time on trash and now I had to do bathroom s.
Nobody had been called or texted about the lead not being at work. And he absolutely has our numbers. We used to sign in on a time sheet and that would have helped us noticed but we recently got a finger print time clock which, as far as I know, we cant check other peoples hours on. So we had no fucking clue he just hadnt been in the previous night.
Then this week comes along. Friday talking with Sam he mentioned something along the lines of not checking the bathrooms. Mentioning that its not really our fault if we dont abd they havent been done because since were not scheduled for them, we have no reason to assume they wouldnt be done. So I hadnt looked in the bathrooms but I did notice the break room looked a bit messy and which had me a bit concerned about a repeat of the previous week. But I didnt wanna do them and I knew Sam didnt either so I left it be but texted nick to ask if hed seen the lead the previous night. Nick confirmed hed been in and was seen cleaning the bathrooms. Yesterday, I briefly looked into the main break room and it looked not great, and then later I went to the bathroom in the smaller breakroom's bathroom (they have really nice soap they buy themselves thats not really importantto this tho) and noticed that one looked AWFUL. It absolutly hadnt been swept and I felt bad but it wasnt what I was scheduled for so I just kinda left it... Their bathroom also had 1ply toilet paper in it, which is what we had when the company first took over it its AWFUL everyone complained so we switched but the unused rolls are still in our closet. Nobody told our new lead this so he had put some of this in the bathrooms. Then later on in the morning, I noticed several trash cans had stuff in it. Not trash but like residue from trash? Like sticky spots of soda oe coffee, some gum, things like that. Basically things that pointed to him only dumping out the trash and not changing the bag. The bags dont always get changed everyday, thats not really an issue, but if theres something still kinda in them they normally are changed because thats gross and why would it just be left like that... I also noticed that up front by the entrance door none of the trash had been got. The busiest area for trash (from customers) and it was still ! There! And I had actually heard Friday or last Friday that this wasnt the first time. Again I left it because I had other things to do.
Now this morning. I worked bathrooms and trash. Trash went ok, I changed a lot of the bags becsuse I prefer to do it regardless and it was just normal overall. Then bathrooms. The bathroom cart is a mess. Which started my mood. The top is all unorganized and theres dirty water in the mop bucket. When I went go get new water, I had set the mop off to the side assuming it had already veen run out and dried because it had been in the part of the bucket where you ring it out and it had been there since yesterday morning. I finished filling the bucket and then look over and notice the puddle forming under the mop because my assumption had been wrong and worse, it smelled like pee. ! Carring on The first two bathrooms were ok, not great but fine. Then I got to the main breakroom and noticed itd clearly been cleaned, Sam worked the day shift Saturday so I assume he swept and mopped. I also swept and mopped. Then, the small break room. Sam didnt clean this one. Which is fair on his part because I think throughout the whole day at least one or more people are sitting in it with no time for someone to clean. So I start and its just the whole thing, even the bathroom floor, was so bad. Aside from the floor the bathroom part was ok, but the floor really didnt seem to have been swept. And the main floor absolutely hadnt been swept. This was obvious from the start but it kept making me madder and madder as I swept and saw how much trash was on the floor. It absolutely put me behind because I wanted to get as much as I could. The cutomer bathrooms also looked pretty bad which is had to tell who thats on, but wheb I got to them it was apparent somethibg else I hadnt fully thought of as a problem until then. Behind all the toilets, like on then but behidb the seat part, there was so much DUST. I had noticed before in the other bathrooms but didnt really think about it because of things plus i see the dust more often collect in the orher bathrooms than that one for some reason and I didnt even realize this but because it was something New in the costumer bathroom it was really noticeable now. Which made ne even madder. Its not hard to clean, were supposed to be cleaning the toilet seats anyways so getting just behind them isnt anything!
And its just so aggrivating. The longer at work i was this morning the more it pissed me off. Especially because in addition to what I was seeing, the things I had heard from others over the last couple of weeks started piling on.
With my own eyes i had seen how bad the cart had been and from sam I heard that the water in the bucket had been in there all week, he suspected that he wasnt changing it. He also commented on the rags all over the cart thinking that he wasnt using paper towels to clean and instead used the rags. I heard about how a couple of times now hed forgotten or ignore the front trash cans and some others. I heard from someone in the meat room that when he cleans it he doesnt do that grear a job and even broke a couple small things. Which is all very concerning to hear since thats a fucking sanitation issue!? And I heard from nick yesterday that he thinks that the lead isnt cleaning all thw bathrooms every day and is instead only cleaning them when they look dirty. Which I'm a bit inclinded to believe because the underside of some of the seats seemed much dirtier than id expected.
And its all infuriating! The Boss is the one who showed him all the jobs, none of us showed him any of what we do it was all the Boss. So like, did HE tell the lead not to do this or that? To do some of it to save time? I dont know but some of it is common sense regardless of what hes beeb told hes still fucking it up and hes our fucking boss. And the main one doing everything!
The store hasnt looked as clean from the start of this new contract and now it's even worse and its awful!
And I dont have a way to end this rant it got really long snd feels like it needs a good closer but I dont have one...
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twiexmachina · 6 years
Text
I have a ryomarx mistaken number au that I never wrote, but yesterday, the tweet that Matt “voice of Ryoma” Mercer got shitfaced and passed out on the creator of Neopets couch and.
well.
i got inspired and it got out of hand.  and i feel sorry for everyone on mobile.
🍣 22:25 grumpy 🍣 22:26 grumpy im so bored 🍣 22:26 i’m bored at a bar and that never happens 😭
😾 22:31 You?  The life of the party?  Bored?  That never happens.
🍣 22:32 I KNOW 🍣 22:32 but alas 🍣 22:33 im bored
😾 22:35 So you’re texting me.
🍣 22:35 ya 🍣 22:36 dont get pouty grumpy 🍣 22:38 i like you and you’re good to talk to so i text you regularly. more than my friends who i actually socialize with
😾 22:39 I understand.  So tell me what has you bored.  Because I have a feeling that this doesn’t happen much.
🍣 22:40 u kno me so well 🍣 22:41 theres 2 reasons why i’m like this 🍣 22:42 the first is that because this is a friday so my jobmates go out and we drink
😾 22:43 You think you would be good at that.
🍣 22:44 YOUD THINK 🍣 22:45 but my usual friends had other stuff so they didn’t want to go out 🍣 22:46 my entire friend group grumpy 🍣 22:46 i kno the people here but i dont know them
😾 22:47 I hate that I can understand what that means, but go on.
🍣 22:48 mmmmmmmm 🍣 22:48 im tired of talking about me what are you up to
😾 22:49 You’re deflecting.
🍣 22:49 ya
😾 22:50 I’ll allow it 😾 22:51 I’m at home, as usual.  It’s late so I’m just reading.  My youngest sister went to bed so we have to be quiet.  
🍣 22:52 dont u ever go out 🍣 22:53 ur always home reading
😾 22:51 Not particularly. 😾 22:54 Where I work, it’s tradition to go to some local bar and drink.  Network, I guess.  But I can’t handle that. 😾 22:57 I spend so much energy managing everyone and making sure that things get done, I can’t allocate the energy to go out and talk to people I barely know. 😾 22:58 So it’s just easier to go home, unwind around family, crash in peace.  I also have things to do in the morning.
🍣 22:59 weekends arent your days off
😾 23:00 Exactly 😾 23:00 Also That Asshole would make a scene if I went. 😾 23:03 Make it a Big Deal that the resident hermit is going out to get drinks.  If I decided to go, he would not leave me alone the entire night.  If I don’t go, well isn’t that just standard.  He accepts that I won’t go, so he says nothing.
🍣 23:04 what a prick
😾 23:04 I know.
🍣 23:05 i honestly hate that he’s always up your ass about things like that 🍣 23:06 like...........cant he tell??????  that youre overworked and tired????? 🍣 23:07 but thats kinda where im at right now 🍣 23:08 at ‘i don’t have the energy to talk to these people’ 🍣 23:09 i have before. we dont have anything in common except work. 🍣 23:10 i wouldnt mind talking but all there is is work
😾 23:11 You could recommend sushi places.  Worked for me.
🍣 23:14 u underestimate urself. youre easy to talk to. youre grumpy but we do have similar interests and personality
😾 23:15 I like spelling more than you do though.
🍣 23:16 i spent time cultivating this style and both u and my sis get hilariously annoyed by this so it wont stop
😾 23:17 Thank you though.  You’re comforting to talk with. 😾 23:23 You said there was another reason?
🍣 23:24 ya this bar only has good beer and its not buzzing the same way
😾 23:26 I didn’t think you partied that hard at a bar.  Do you really need something hard?
🍣 23:26 ya 🍣 23:27 see its my dads fault
😾 23:28 I don’t know your age biut I was assuming that you were old enough to not be blaming things on your father.
🍣 23:31 nah not like that. my dad and moms took my little bro over to japan to see family. i didnt go because ~job~ but i always really liked going. dad brought back sake and ive been going over to hang out and drink and just talk. 🍣 23:32 dad brought back a lot of sake 🍣 23:32 it mustve had a big effect on me 🍣 23:33 because this beer is s h i t 🍣 23:34 do you even drink
😾 23:35 Yes, a glass of wine at dinner, most nights.  Just a glass.
🍣 23:36 not surprised 🍣 23:37 do u buy vintage wine 🍣 23:38 ive recommended u the best japanese food to eat in the city recommend me a fine vintage good sir
😾 23:40 Not my thing, I just go to the local liquor store.  I don’t need anything that fancy or extreme. 😾 23:41 Granted, my father owned a vineyard, so I do know that stuff, I choose not to care.
🍣 23:42 plz tell me u drink boxed wine to get back at your Rich Dick Father
😾 23:44 I don’t hate myself that much. 😾 23:50 Did the bar get more entertaining Sushi?
🍣 23:51 havent forgotten about you grumpy just getting more to drink
😾 23:53 I just realized that you’ve been there for over an hour.  How much are you drinking?
🍣 23:54 grumpy youve never been to a bar have you
😾 23:55 Do clubs count?
🍣 23:56 grumpy 🍣 23:56 oh my god 🍣 23:56 grumpy goes clubbing
😾 23:57 I don’t go there in my spare time.  I go there because my friend wants me there to be his wingman.
🍣 23:58 grumpy youre literally killing me im giggling at a bar 🍣 00:00 grumpy i think this is the first time that youve implied that you may have a sex life
😾 00:01 Don’t worry I don’t have a sex life. 😾 00:02 I don’t know why I didn’t realize that sentence was a mistake until I sent it. 😾 00:05 Anyway since you’re still dying, I should say that I don’t know why he takes me as a wingman because it goes three ways. 😾 00:06 Either he never had a chance because of just him himself, I fail as a wingman, or I end up getting their number instead.
🍣 00:07 g r u m p y
😾 00:08 i k n o w
🍣 00:09 oh god have you ever hooked up with someone you met in a bar 🍣 00:10 have you gotten a bathroom blowjob????
😾 00:10 You’ve been drinking too much.  Also no, I like to be friends with someone before I date them, and especially before I have sex.
🍣 00:11 grumpy this is not drunk at all 🍣 00:12 i dont get drunk 🍣 00:12 i got shitfaced once 🍣 00:13 never again
😾 00:14 Tell me.
🍣 00:15 ugh i hate this memory 🍣 00:16 so have you ever played neopets 🍣 00:17 okay so i know thats a no 🍣 00:17 i haven’t either 🍣 00:18 but s o m e h o w i ended up in their hotel
😾 00:20 Sushi it’s midnight, I can’t be laughing.
🍣 00:21 dont laugh at my shame
😾 00:22 How did you even get there?
🍣 00:21 grumpy do u kno what shitfaced means 🍣 00:22 at least i didnt bang the neopets dude. i was clothed unfortunately because i threw up on it 🍣 00:23 some poor maid had to clean a couch i ruined 😖
😾 00:24 This is still hilarious but I’m seriously worried about you.
🍣 00:25 we cant all be ~rational~ 🍣 00:25 can u still be my friend knowing im like this
😾 00:26 Of course.
🍣 00:35 hey can u start to use emojis or loose grammar or something so you dont make my jokes serious like this
😾 00:37 My opinion of you started incredibly low considering you dialed the wrong number and then proceeded to continue talking to me.
🍣 00:38 yes perfect deflection thank you 🍣 00:40 I’m glad my fat fingers dialed your number. youre a good friend 🍣 00:50 guess you fell asleep good night grumpy.  thanks for talking with me. i didnt realize how late it was because time flies when i talk to you
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secret pain
guys this is my first real fic ive ever written. im really proud of it. making new chapters all the time.
Chapter 1
: chapter 1Chapter Text
Lainey had been hunting on her own for 6 years. Bobby had begged her not to go. It wasn't safe alone. Well now Bobby was dead. The news had reached her when she had gone to a hunter's roadhouse. She regretted how she had stormed out on Bobby, the man who had helped her when no one could. She had traveled to Sioux Falls as soon as possible. By the time she had gotten there the funeral had already ended but there was a familiar '67 chevy impala still in the driveway. She walked inside Bobby's rickety old house remembering younger days when she would walk the halls and laugh along with the old man. Her attention was diverted in another direction as she heard someone's heavy footsteps coming from the living room. Lain turned to meet the footsteps, reaching for her gun in the process. But who she was met with was..."Dean Winchester?" "ya, and who the hell are you?" Lain had just realized he had his gun trained right on her heart. How long had it been since she'd seen him? Maybe 8 years? God he had become so beautiful. Uh what? No she was not thinking these thoughts right now. she shook her head and pulled her gun out to rest it at her side. "My name is Lainey McKane. I- I was close to Bobby" "How do you know him?" Dean asked almost testing her. "um...we've hunted together for years. I haven't seen him in 6 years but we were really close." Lain decided not to tell him her backstory just then. Dean seemed to be contemplating letting me pass or shooting me, when Sam came in. "uh hey. Dean who is? And you don't need to point your gun at her!" Sam took the gun right out of Dean's hands. "that's better. Now how are you?" "I'm Lainey. Lain. I was close to Bobby but i haven't seen him in 6 years" "well then welcome. You missed the funeral but you can still pay respects to his memory. And you might even be willing to help us clean up. Hunters make a big mess." Sam had started walking back into the kitchen. "um thanks. Sure I'll help." she tucked her gun back into the waistband of her jeans. Then she walked behind Sam into the kitchen. As she was walking past Dean she felt his eyes following her. As she entered the kitchen she saw that there was indeed a big mess. Why did hunters always so messy? "Can I just wander around a bit? Its been been so long since I've been here." "Sure. And why were you here before? I didn't quite get that part of the story." "Me and Bobby did some hunts together. He saved me on one of them a while back. He let me crash here sometimes." She hadn't been lying about most of that. She just didn't give him any context. Nothing more than necessary. "oh. Well then you know what an amazing man he was." "Ya. Also how drunk he can get on bad days." "That too. But anyways I'll let you get back to your roaming." "thanks." Lain started by going up the old molding stairs. She walked down the hallway to where Bobby's room was. When she looked in there she saw nothing but memories of when she was younger. She walked next to the bed and lifted the mattress to find something she knew had been there for a long time.
Chapter 2
: chapter 2 Summary:
lainey will be going through memories with bobby. so heartwarming.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
What Lain had gotten from under Bobby's bed, was a simple frame holding a photograph. The photo was aged and beautiful. It was of her and Bobby outside the sign to the junkyard. She had been 15 at the time. She had finally started to think of this place as home. It had been a year since he had taken her in, and that was closest to the roughest year of her life. She was still grieving and couldn't accept reality. She had stayed in the room three doors down the hall on the left. She didn't leave her room much. But one day, that day, Bobby came in and told her to get her sorry ass out of bed because we all lose people and we all go through pain. And he promised to get her through it. And he promised to help her have control over who she was and what she could do. So she had gotten up, gotten dressed, and helped Bobby with the cars. That's when he decided to take a picture. They had agreed it was too dangerous for her to be unnecessarily public, so Bobby had hidden this picture under his bed. In the years that passed after that they only grew closer, and one day she had finally been ready to start hunting again. But that all went downhill when she nearly didn't make it home. Bobby had gotten furious and had tried to make her quit hunting, but she couldn't. Hunting was a big part of her life and she wouldn't give it up. And so one day she had packed her black duffel bag with all of her stuff, and left. Might have been one of the worst decisions of her life. She hadn't even looked back at the man who had taken her in, the man who had helped her and saved her. She walked out on a normal life forever. And she drove off and never came back. Until now that is. Being in this house, remembering all those good times was making her emotional. Ugh she hated being emotional. Emotion was a weakness. She learned that a long time ago. She put the picture back under the bed mattress. She took one last look around Bobby's room and went down the hall to her old room. When she opened the door she saw that nothing had changed. Everything was how she remembered it. Plain walls, plain floors, plain bed. The red curtains were still there if not a bit more dusty. He had wiped all remnants of her from this place except for the picture under his bed. Lain decided that she had had enough time to reminisce, and so she went back downstairs. As she was nearing the bottom she could hear Sam and Dean whispering angrily at each other about something. She was willing to bet her life it was her they were whispering about. She stepped off the stairs, folded her arms, and leaned against the wall. "whatcha boys talking 'bout?" They both jumped at her voice, not knowing she was there. "um, we were just talking about uh. Sam, what were we talking about?" Dean said then asked Sam. "Well Lain we were talking about you." Dean looked at Sam like he was out of his mind for saying that. "And what exactly have you been saying about me?" "We were just saying how its strange that you come back now, saying that you knew Bobby for years, but he never mentioned you." Well this was going to be difficult. "Well he wouldn't have. I was younger. A teenager. I stopped being in contact with him around six years ago. I asked him not to talk about me. He probably didn't even remember me anyways though. Its been so long." "Ah, well, if you knew him from so long ago, why did you still come to his funeral? Or tried to anyways." Dean asked her. He was having trouble speaking today for some reason. He kept saying 'uh'. "because I've never forgotten how he helped me. After I left I regretted it, but I chose to keep hunting and he wanted to take that away. So I had to go. Would you forget some of the best years of your life?" "I- I guess not. Sorry. Didn't mean to pry." Lainey took a deep breath and told Dean, "It's fine, you just struck a soft spot." she chuckled a little. Then she pushed off from the wall and stood in front of Dean with her hand outstretched. "What do you say we start over. You know without the gun pointed at my face." "Sounds good." he grabbed her hand and shook it. "Do you boys want help cleaning up the mess now?" "Yes," both boys said energetically A few hours later when they had cleaned everything up and had a few beers, Lainey was headed back outside to her car to find a motel for the night. She didn't feel like driving or leaving any time soon, but she needed to. She was getting her keys out to unlock the door when a piercing pain struck her. She doubled over on the ground. She started coughing and when she pulled her hand away there was blood, lots of blood. And with that the world went dark.
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The Delilah Affair
Note: I promised I would post something and I did...late as fuck. I apologize for that. I literally wrote half last night and then half on the plane today as I was flying from London to the United States. This is probably chalk full of erros and for that I apologize, but I’m jetlagged as hell. I was originally going to write a nightmare fic with Wes, but for some reason this muse stuck with me. It’s kinda the original behind Wes’s long ass hair. Anyway, I’m planning on posting A LOT of stuff this week. It’s going to be crazy. In case you were wondering, the title is based upon the story of Sampson and Delilah. Anyway, happy anniversary to my bestie @welllpthisishappening, who is instrumental behind the creation of this series and without her influence, I wouldn’t even posted this nonsense. Summary: She and Killian weren’t in a bad way when it came to their finances, but they try to save their pennies when they can. So naturally when it came to haircuts, they preferred to do the cutting themselves rather than spend an extra twenty dollars on a professional job in a salon or a barber shop. However, during a routine trim, Emma makes a grave error. Rating: T Word Count: 3,300+
Most people tend to believe that the hardest part about being a parent was the near constant juggling of obligations or the lack of real social life, but for Emma Swan, the hardest part was screwing up. It didn’t happen too often but when it did, she couldn’t help but feel like a failure. She realized how illogical it was to assume everything would go perfectly but still whenever it happened, whether it be a missed football game or forgetting to make dinner, Emma would feel like the worst person in all of the realms.
Which is why when she accidentally sheared Wes’s hair off like sheep wool, she nearly had a mental breakdown.
She and Killian weren’t in a bad way when it came to their finances, if anything, they were in pretty solid shape despite the rather large size of their brood. (She wasn’t entirely terrified by the concept of potentially paying for five college educations as most in her position would be.) Nevertheless, they were frugal in their spending; past experience on both ends dictating that they squeeze each and every penny of its full worth. If a piece of clothing was torn, they were more likely to mend it than purchase a new one. Leftovers from dinner were frozen for later consumption rather than tossed away thoughtlessly. Emma saved every single takeout container they accumulated rather than buying more Tupperware. Their children prepared their own lunches at home under her careful supervision rather than spending money on hot lunches. They weren’t deliberately trying to be austere, it was just an ingrained habit to be cost effective.
So naturally when it came to haircuts, they preferred to do the cutting themselves rather than spend an extra twenty dollars on a professional job in a salon or a barber shop. Both of them had been cutting and maintaining their own hair for years (centuries in Killian’s case), so it wasn’t necessarily a hardship.
And yet, Emma made the most rookie of all rookie mistakes: not checking the setting on the razor before she began her work. (However, in her defense, the razor wasn’t normally set on the lowest setting. Neddy’s preschool class recently had an outbreak of head lice and in a preemptive measure they had shaved his head. Obviously, they had forgotten to change the setting.)
Her error became very apparent when Emma brought the razor against the curve of his head and more hair loped off than anticipated, leaving a large and very noticeable bald spot.
“Oh shit.”
She immediately turned off the device and stared at it in horror. She had been planning on giving Wes a small trim since it had become quite unruly, but instead she had buzzed it down almost entirely to his skull; pale skin peeking through the barely there short blond bristles.
“Mom…what’s going on? Is the razor not working?” Wes asked, completely unaware of his mother’s folly.
Emma didn’t reply; not knowing what to say or do. She just stared at her mistake, internally screaming. She tried to will his hair to grow back with every fiber of her being but no matter how hard she tried, the bald spot remained. (A part of her wished she knew a spell to regrow hair but then again her magic had always been a tad unpredictable and there was no telling what other affects it would have on her son if she tried.)
“Mom…what’s wrong?”
“Mom made a little mistake, kid,” she replied, feeling like the worst parent in the universe.
“What did you do?”
She couldn’t see his face, but she could imagine his panicked expression vividly in her mind; blue eyes the size of dinner plates and lip trembling.
“Ummm…”
“Mom…what did you do?”
She couldn’t bring herself to voice what had happened. When she didn’t speak, Wes immediately reach behind with an inquisitive hand, probing his hair. His fingers stilled when he discovered the patch where Emma had shaved his hair off. She cringed, guilty filling her.
“Mom…” His voice cracked.
“I’m so sorry,” Emma said, dropping the razor and squeezing his shoulders.
“I’m bald.”
“Only in that one spot.”
“I can’t go to school with a bald spot!” he squawked.
“I know! I know! I know!” She pulled her hands away from his shoulders and rubbed at her face, trying to scrub away her mortification. She screwed up majorly. She was the worst.
“What are we gonna do?”
“We could call Regina…” Emma replied, biting her lip.
“She won’t help on this,” Wes replied, shaking his head. There was a slight whine to his voice.
“You don’t know that,” she said sympathetically, rubbing his back.
“No, I know she won’t. Bobbi tried asking her for a spell to get rid of acme and Regina said magic wasn’t a toy and shouldn’t be used for trivial things. And Bobbi legit looked like a pizza face! If she didn’t help Bobbi when she was looking like that, and she loves Bobs, then she’s definitely not gonna help me!”
“I’m sure if I asked her –” “No!” he interrupted her. “That would be so, so, so much worse!”
“Okay, okay, okay! No Regina! I heard you loud and clear,” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What do you want me to do, kid?”
“I don’t know…”
“I think I’m gonna have to shave off the rest of it.”
“Seriously?” he groaned.
“I don’t see any other way out of this, kiddo.”
Wes didn’t reply immediately. He just stared at the wall in front of them, shoulders stiff. Emma didn’t necessarily blame him. She had just suggested to shave the rest of his head and there was no telling how that would go.
“Do it,” he replied in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Okay,” she sighed, picking up the razor once more. “For what it’s worth, it’s hair and it will go grow back…in like two-three weeks. Hopefully.”
“Might as well be an eternity,” he moaned.
A muscle in Emma’s cheek twitched. A part of her wanted to hit him on the shoulder for his dramatics, but she had to remind herself that this was all her fault in the first place. She was the one who had fucked up.
“Hardly an eternity but for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry. Like really sorry.”
“Yeah, I know,” he grumbled. “I’m gonna look like Leroy, Mom.”
“I don’t think you have the beard to fully pull that look off, kid.”
“But I will look just as ugly.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“But I will,” he insisted.
“You’re gonna look fine,” Emma said firmly. “I’ve seen you bald before when you were a baby. It took literally forever for your hair to come in. You had nearly no hair until you were two and you looked absolutely fine.”
“Yeah, but I was a baby and nobody cares about babies being bald. That’s, like, normal.”
“You know right now, I’m not sure if you’re a baby or not with all that whining you’re doing,” Emma replied, losing her patience. “No, stop whining and hold still while I shave the rest of it. I don’t want to hurt you accidentally.”
Wes let ought another heavy sigh but didn’t offer any further commentary. She took this as a signal that he was going to stop whining and finally let her do her job. She turned the razor back on and went to work, carefully and slowly shaving off the rest of his fair colored-mop. Wes flinched a few times as the razor got a little too close to the sensitive skin of his scalp but Emma, for the most, was patient and gentle with the instrument. She couldn’t help but grimace as she watched the golden strands fall to the floor. Wes was the only one of her children to inherit her fairer complexion and blond hair. While all of her sons all bore a rather strong resemblance to their fathers, Wes was the only one who noticeably had some of Emma’s features; inheriting her cheeks and chin alongside her colouring.
When she was finished, she ran her hand carefully against his scalp; silently mourning the temporary loss of his pale locks. Before her mishap, Wes’s hair was soft and fine, almost silk-like, but now it was barely there and rough against her palm.
“Turn around and let me have a look.”
Wes obeyed but when he faced her, his lips were twisted into a deep scowl and honestly, Emma couldn’t blame him. This wasn’t what she had imagined when she had decided to give him a trim.
“I look horrible, don’t I?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“You look fine,” Emma reassured him, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder.
He didn’t look fine. Maybe the shaved look would have worked for him if he had inherited his father’s darker features but unfortunately he had her fair coloring and without his hair, it also looked like he had no eyebrows. Her second youngest son looked like he belonged on a St. Jude’s charity advertisement.  All he needed was the hospital bed, a pale blue smock and an IV running through his arm.
“You’re lying,” he stated flatly.
“Am not.”
“You are. You always have that funny look on your face when you lie. For someone who is oh so good at detecting lies, you’re positively crap at telling them. Word of advice, Mom, don’t play poker.”
“You’re worrying about this too much,” Emma responded, dodging his statement. As borderline disrespectful as it was, she knew it was the truth. The kid had inherited her blunt and near non-existent social grace. Sometimes she found Wes to be disturbingly similar to her in a way her other children weren’t; sharp acid tongue, weaponized sarcasm, quick sticky fingers and a little angry with the world.
“And now you’re avoiding the subject. I must really look ugly.”
“You don’t look ugly, I promise. You look absolutely fine.”
As she spoke, Harrison and Beth walked into her bedroom, both sweaty and covered in dirt. Blood was trickling from Beth’s chin, which looked nastily scrapped. Despite this, she looked fine, chattering away while her thirteen-year old son nodded obligingly. Both stopped in their tracks when they saw Emma and Wes.
“What happened to you?” Wes asked, gesturing to Beth’s chin.
“Fell out of a tree.” Emma’s nine-year old daughter shrugged casually, as if she were discussing the weather rather than a painful looking facial wound. “Har said he was gonna catch me and totally let me drop. He owes me like a million Star Wars band aids.”
“You don’t need million band aids. That’s overkill and I didn’t do it on purpose!” Harrison replied defensively before regarding his younger brother with a frown. “And what happened to you? You look like a cancer patient.”
Wes’s face colored at the comment and Emma get her second oldest son a reproachful look. Harrison, ever the most observant of her children, also flushed when he noticed his mother’s silent reprimand; tugging on his earlobe and shuffling his feet uncomfortably.
“I was gonna say he looked like a skinhead,” Beth said bluntly.
Harrison punched her arm, frowning at her.
“That wasn’t nice. Do you even know what a skinhead is?”
“Of course, I do!” Beth snapped back, hitting him back. “It’s one of those creepy people that Mom and Dad arrested last week with the bald heads and the crap tattoos and the weird leather and that stuff they were trying to spray paint on the school.”
“It really looks that bad then,” Wes grimaced. He brushed hand against his shorn scalp self-consciously.
“It doesn’t,” Emma said firmly, raising her eyebrows at her other children; signaling to them that they were not to contradict her.
“Well, you don’t look like you…” Harrison replied. “So, it’s…interesting.”
Wes’s flush deepened at his words. He didn’t reply, just ran into the bathroom as he continued to run his hands against his freshly razored hair. He slammed the door behind him with enough force that it nearly caused Emma to jump. As the door shut, Emma turned to glare at her other two children.
“Was that necessary? Seriously, both of you!” she hissed.
“Sorry Mom!” Harrison replied, placing his hands up in surrender.
“He looks like a skinhead!” Beth replied defensively, not as willing as her older brother to admit her blunder.
“Even if he does, you don’t say things like that! That’s a horrible thing to say and I raised you better than that, Elizabeth!” Emma admonished.
Beth wilted a bit under her mother’s scolding, eyes darting down to look at her feet. Harrison took a step away from her, as if distancing himself from his sister would lessen his chances of being yelled at as well.
“Sorry,” her daughter mumbled.
“It’s not me you need to say you’re sorry to,” Emma replied, folding her arms across her chest. “And when he gets out of the bathroom, you’re going to tell him you’re sorry and that you love him and you aren’t going to say mean things anymore. Got it?”
“Got it,” she mumbled, eyes still trained on her feet.
Emma allowed herself to soften a bit, stepping forward and kneeling down so she could inspect her daughter’s face, particularly the bloody scrape on her chin. Now that she was close enough, Emma could see the beginning of a bruise starting to form around her right cheek.
“That must have been a nasty fall. Are you hurt?” she asked gently.
“No.” Beth shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. If there was one thing that Emma knew about her nine-year old, it was that she tried constantly to appear tougher than her brothers. Emma couldn’t decide if this was a product of her environment or something she had inherited from her father.
“Well, if don’t look deep enough to get stitches over. But it definitely needs to be cleaned,” she commented before her eyes flickered in the direction of her son. “There’s hydrogen oxide cleaner in the downstairs cabinet along with some band aids. Help your sister get cleaned and get her an ice pack while I’m tending to your brother who is justifiably traumatized. You are not to tease him. Do you understand me?”
Harrison nodded obediently, placing his hand on his younger sister’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I don’t need an ice pack,” Beth pouted. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“You forget my superpower, kid,” Emma responded, tapping her on the nose. “I know when you’re lying and that definitely looks like it hurts. Just be good for Harrison.”
With that Emma clapped her hand on her daughter’s shoulder for a brief moment than turned to head towards the bathroom, where her son was more likely than not freaking out about his hair loss. She rapped her knuckles gently against the door.
“Westley? Kid? Can I come in?”
She sighed quietly when she received no response. She pushed the door open as gently as she could. Wes was standing in front of the mirror, hands slightly quivering as they ran over his shorn hair. He looked miserable.
“Oh kid,” Emma sighed, moving behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She placed a kiss on the top of his head. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault…”
“I look like Caillou, Mom,” he replied miserably. “No one likes Caillou. He’s annoying and bald and even Neddy hates him and that kid would cuddle the Black Fairy.”
“You do not look like Caillou, Wes. It’s gonna grow back. I promise…” Emma replied helplessly. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault…”
“What am I going to do? People are gonna laugh at him. Bobbi is going to totally take tons of pictures of this so she can torture me with them. Even Gideon is going to laugh.”
“Gideon is not going to laugh and Bobbi is not going to take pictures of you, I promise. I’m not gonna let that happen to you.”
“You can’t stop them” he replied stubbornly.
“But I can.”
“How?”
“How is not important. It’s going to happen. It’s my job as the Savior, kid. If I can’t protect you, then I can’t protect anyone.”
Wes didn’t say anything. He just scowled at his reflection in the mirror, which made it quite to clear to her that he didn’t necessarily believe her. Emma sighed, placing her hand on his head, rubbing circles against the skin. Her thumb grazed the thin delicate shell of his ear and she couldn’t help but notice how pointed the tips of it was.
“You got your dad’s ears along with his eyes, kid,” she thought aloud.
“No, I look like bald elf.”
“You don’t. You look like your dad. Especially without the blonde.”
“Dad’s not bald.”
“I think you’re focusing a little too much on the baldness, kid,” she replied, tugging on his ear.
“Yeah because it makes me look like a freak!” he said bitterly. His posture then deflated, shoulders sagging and lip trembling. His eyes met hers in the mirror and the sad look in them was a direct stab in her heart. Wes, who was seemed so confident and so resilient, looked ready to cry. “I can’t go out in public looking like this, Mom…”
“I’m sorry.” She repeated the two words she had been saying all night. There was nothing else she could say except those words.
“I know,” he huffed, annoyed. “You keep saying that.”
“Because I am.” She rested her head on top of his as she ran her hands from down his arms in what she hoped was a smoothing manner. “I don’t know how but I’m going to figure this out and we’re gonna get through this…”
“How?”
Emma was silent for a moment as she tried to think of a solution. There was absolutely nothing they could do about his hair now, but it was very clear to her that her son would avoid going out in public in such state if he could help it. He needed something to cover it. Perhaps a hat.
She then smiled as an idea hit her. She placed a quick kiss on his head.
“Wait here. I have an idea.”
She immediately left the bathroom and made a beeline to her closet. She reached for the cardboard box, which held all of her winter things. She smiled as she pulled out one of her numerous beanies. It was black and made from one of the most softer materials she owned.
When she returned to the bathroom where Wes was still agonizing, she immediately placed the beanie on his head, folding the brim so it fit snug and covered the tips of his ears.
“There,” she smiled. “Now you can’t tell that you have no hair.”
“Where did you get the beanie?”
“It’s from the Emma Swan collection.”
Wes scrunched his nose in response.
“So it’s a girl beanie?”
“Kid, it’s black. Black doesn’t have a gender I’m pretty sure so who cares? The point is that no one can see the hack job that I did to your hair…Also, for once, you kinda look like me…with the beanie and the red hoodie…it’s about time I got a Mini Me,” she replied, placing another kiss on his head.
“Beth kinda looks like you.”
“Beth is almost disturbingly your father personality wise. You and I both know that,” Emma chuckled. “And then there’s  the conspiracy theory that Har is really a clone gone wrong. And don’t get me started on Neddy…”
Wes merely arched his eyebrows at her in response.
“Sorry,” she chuckled. “Either way, how are we feeling about the beanie?”
“I’m not sure my teachers will let me wear it in school, but yeah. It looks okay. I mean, it’s not bad for a girl beanie.”
“Beanies don’t have genders, but I can talk to your teachers about letting you wear it until your head comes back.”
“Okay. The beanie can stay, but Mom?”
“Yes?”
“You’re not touching my hair ever again.”
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hannahindie · 7 years
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Maple Leaves and Flannel
Characters: Sam Winchester x Reader, Dean Winchester (mentioned) Word Count: 2,608 Warnings: Cutesy fluff and extreme descriptions of fall. (I don’t think that’s really a warning, but I’m a wordy girl so...maybe?) A/N: I wrote this for @impalaimagining’s Favorite Seasons Gif Challenge! Fall is my favorite time of year, so I was excited to get to write a fic that primarily focused on that.
Beta’d by my wonderful @trexrambling, because without her, a lot of my thoughts would be jumbled: “THIS. HANNAH, THIS!!!!!! YESSSSSSS I LOVE THIS LINE IT IS MY NEW FAVORITE LINE. Gaaaaaaaaaah this is wonderful.”
And my sweet @pinknerdpanda, who encourages me even when I hate nearly everything I wrote and feel like starting over: “ I love this whole sentence sooooo much!”
As usual, tags are at the bottom. Please let me know if you’d like to be added!!
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Fall has always been my favorite time of year. Summer had its moments, but when the stifling heat finally started melting into cool breezes, when I could enjoy the sun’s warmth on my face without immediate fear of being burnt to a crisp, I was in my happy place. If anyone were to ask me why fall was my favorite, besides the cooler temperatures and the lack of sun poisoning, it would be hard to pinpoint an exact thing.
It could be the brilliant colors the leaves inevitably changed to, a magnificent splash of reds and oranges and yellows all mixing together to make it look like the landscape was on fire. The slow appearance of Halloween decorations that would go up bit by bit; a zombie here, purple and green lights there, fake spiderweb stretching across every available surface. The extraordinary amount of pumpkins that would just appear with no warning on porch steps, balanced precariously on hay bales that also would magically appear, a majority of which had simple faces that had been painstakingly carved into them by excited children who cared less about the carving and more about cleaning out the slimy guts inside.
So, had you asked me what my favorite thing about fall was, I would have told you it was too hard to choose and wandered off with my pumpkin spice latte to find some crunchy leaves to jump in.
Well, that’s what I would have said. But then I saw him.
Right in the middle of town is a large maple tree. Large is really an understatement. This maple tree is one of the oldest I’ve ever seen, and it’s huge. It’s right on the edge of the sidewalk, and the roots have pushed up the concrete slabs like they’re made out of foam. Every year, I expect one of the massive branches to break off and land on top of the old, Victorian-style house that sits empty next to it, but every year it proves me wrong. It also sits directly on the path I take from my apartment to the library, and every time I walk past, regardless of what I might be doing at the time, I glance up at the huge spanning limbs and falling leaves. Most days, there’s nothing remarkable about it. It’s beautiful, yes, and it’s one of my favorite things about my town...but generally speaking, it’s the same scene every single day.
Except one day when there was an addition to the normal scenery.
I had just crossed the street and was making my way down the sidewalk when I glanced up out of habit and stopped dead in my tracks. Standing just under the maple was a tall man, his head bent as he looked down at his phone. His shaggy, chestnut hair hung down and obscured most of his face, and I held my breath as I waited for him to look up. He was wearing a burnt orange coat and a lighter orange flannel; he was like the perfect autumn day in a ruggedly handsome, broad shouldered package. He must have realized someone was staring at him because he looked up and locked eyes with me, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Hi,” he said softly, his voice deep and smooth.
I finally released the breath I’d been holding, my eyes wide. “H-hello.”
He took a couple of steps towards me and pocketed his phone as he did, “Sorry to bother you, but do you live around here?” I nodded but remained quiet. “Do you know much about this house?”
“Oh, yea, it’s one of my favorite places in town. Are you...are you interested in buying it?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded, “Yea, actually. Me and my brother grew up in a house like this, and I just happened to be driving through when I saw it.”
“So do you live close by?” Surely I would have remembered seeing him around.
He shook his head, “No, I'm here on business. I've been kind of looking for a place to start over, and since I was already here, I thought I'd look around.” He held his hand out, “My name is Sam, by the way. Sam Winchester.” I took his hand, and I was unsurprised when his totally engulfed mine.
“Y/F/N Y/L/N. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Same.” He smiled again, and just as he opened his mouth to say something else, a muffled ring interrupted him. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a quick glance, he looked at me apologetically, “I'm sorry, that's my brother. I gotta go meet him...family business stuff to work on. Maybe I'll see you around?”
I smiled at him, “Yea, that would be nice. See you later.”
He gave a small wave and started walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction that I was going. Luckily, that wasn't the last time I saw Sam Winchester.
The second time I saw Sam Winchester I was at the library, coffee in hand as I flipped through pages upon pages of town history. I had just started at the local newspaper, and my first assignment was to put together a large series leading up to the town’s centennial celebration. Most people would have wondered what they had done to deserve such a fate, but I loved stuff like that. There was something about getting lost in old newspapers and books, scattered photographs that lay forgotten in people's attics, only remembered when you ask them if they have anything that would help you. I could sit all day at the library, curled up in one of the overstuffed chairs with a giant book. Most of my days consisted of that, actually.
I had been reading about The Great Flood of 1928 when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up to see Sam looking at me, one corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. “Hey, Y/N.”
“Hi, Sam,” I said as I shifted into a more upright position. “How are you?”
He shrugged, “Pretty good. I think we’ll be here for a few more days.” He nodded towards my stack of books, “What are you researching?”
I glanced down at the book in my hand, “Currently, a catastrophic flood that destroyed most of the town in 1928. In general, just getting some information for a series I'm writing for the paper. The centennial is coming up. Although I have to say, there's less interesting and happy things than there are devastating natural disasters, murder, and general bad luck.” I closed my book and sat it on the table. “Why are you here?”
“Well, I needed to do some research of my own. The librarian told me you might have a book I need. It's actually a collection of property deeds and stuff.”
I raised an eyebrow, “That sounds…”
“Boring,” Sam laughed. “It is. Which is why I'm here and not my brother.” He sat the books he'd already claimed down, “Mind if I join you?”
I shook my head as I handed him the book he was looking for, “Not at all. I can't promise that I'll be exciting company, though,”
He laughed, “At least we can be boring together.”
And so we sat, the next three hours consumed with what was supposed to be serious research but had quickly turned into us laughing about some of the more ridiculous things that had happened in town.
Sam sat back with a laugh, and I couldn't help but stare at the deep dimples that formed when he allowed himself to truly smile. “Wow, it's been awhile since I laughed that much. That was nice.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and his smile quickly disappeared, “But it looks like it's time for me to head out.” He stood and shouldered his coat on, “Hopefully I'll get to see you before we leave.”
I smiled, “I would enjoy that. See you around.” Sam smiled and strode quickly out of the library. I looked down to find that he'd left the book he'd asked for open, and I pulled it around to look at the page he'd marked.
The deed was for the old abandoned house with the giant maple in the yard.
The last time I saw Sam Winchester is a little blurry. It's kind of a long story, and honestly I'm not even sure that I have all the details. I remember seeing the deed for the old house. Curiosity got the better of me and I did the one thing that I'm surprised I hadn't done before but realize now should never have; I googled the address of the Victorian house with the town’s oldest maple tree.
I vaguely recall reading what had to have been one of the more disturbing stories of our town that I had soundly decided not to include in our centennial write up. But even after I sat down to read something else, determined to not focus on the vicious quadruple murder/suicide that had occurred in the house, my mind kept returning to it.
Which had led me to my next question; why was Sam so interested in that house? And what family business was he doing that he needed the deed information? Nothing was adding up, and I was beginning to wonder what that handsome stranger was up to.
I remember leaving the library, bag in tow and determined to figure out what was going on. I had stopped at the end of the sidewalk before taking a big breath and striding up the cracked concrete like I owned the place.
And that's when things get a little fuzzy. All I can really remember is that I saw something that shouldn't have been real. That moment of pause, the shock of seeing a man that was long dead standing directly in front of me, nearly cost me my life. What I do remember is Sam appearing out of nowhere, quickly followed by a shorter man with bright eyes that I guessed was his brother, and a loud shotgun blast.
Then I was outside, my back against the maple tree and a large, rough hand cradled against my face.
“Y/N...hey, are you alright?” Any other time, opening my eyes to that handsome face would have been welcome. As it was, I could barely remember where I was, much less who was in front of me.
“I...yea...I think so...what happened?”
Sam breathed a sigh of relief, “It’s a long story.”
I shifted my weight and groaned as my bruised ribs protested at the movement, “What exactly do you and your brother do, anyway?”
He chuckled, “That's also a long story.” He helped me stand up, and I grimaced again. “Are you sure you're okay?”
I nodded, “Aside from the fact that I just saw something impossible, and said impossible thing tried to kill me...I'm pretty sure I'm good. Ask me tomorrow.” He smiled sadly and my chest ached, “You won't be here, will you?”
He shook his head, “No, we uh...we have some other things to take care of.” I stared at him for a moment and tried to memorize the way his hair fell in his face, the little mole on his chin, how his eyes seemed to change color. There were too many details, and I knew it would be impossible to do him justice in my spotty memory. So instead, I put my arms around his waist and pressed my ear to his chest and listened to the strong, steady beat of his heart.
“It was nice to meet you, Sam Winchester.”
Sam didn't say anything, but he wrapped his arms around me and held me a little tighter.
It's been a year since I last saw Sam Winchester. A year since I saw him standing under that maple tree, its bright red and orange leaves falling around him as he looked at his phone, unaware of the dumbstruck girl staring at him.
It's been a year since I let curiosity win out over common sense and I discovered that there was far more to this world than I could have ever imagined, and that the gentle giant that I had laughed with over coffee was responsible for keeping it all in check.
Sam and Dean had driven me home and the ride there was mostly silent. Sam sat in the back with me, his long legs tucked in as well as he could, and I had curled tightly into his side. My ribs complained the entire ride, but I ignored them; I wasn't passing up what could be my last chance to be this close to Sam.
Sam walked me to my door and pulled me into one last hug, and it took everything I had not to beg him to at least stay the night. He'd started to walk away, but at the last minute, turned back and pulled me into him, his soft lips working against mine almost desperately before he pulled back, gave me a tight lipped smile, and walked to the car. The next morning I went to stick my hand in my jacket pocket and found a piece of a napkin containing small, cramped handwriting. There was a number, and under that a single word - 'Sam'.
We had texted quite a bit for awhile; what he and Dean were up to, plans to get coffee when they finally made it back into town to visit, the most recent book we'd read. I knew that with their lifestyle, it would probably be awhile before I got to see Sam again, but I held on to hope. Then, finally, the messages stopped.
I'd like to think that he's okay, that he's saving people from the monsters that linger in the shadows, but I often worry that something happened. I think I'd feel it, though. For that much good to leave the world, I'm sure my heart would know.
I've kept the same routine this whole year. I walk the same path, go to the same job, live in the same apartment. And every day, I walk past the old Victorian, the maple looming over it with its canopy of fiery leaves. I’d always looked towards the house, only now I do so in hopes that I'll see a man, dressed like fall, and smiling. When I don't see him there, I like to imagine that he's off saving the world with his brother, one monster at a time.
That is, until today.
Because today, I walked the same path down the same road, crossed at the same corner, and just like I did exactly one year ago, I looked up at the house and the maple. Under its falling leaves, standing just where he was the first time I saw him, was Sam. Only this time, he wasn't looking down at his phone; this time he was looking straight at me. He was a bit thinner than he was back then, and he'd cut his hair a little different, but the smile was the same. I stopped a few feet away, afraid that if I blinked he'd disappear.
“Sorry I'm late,” he said softly, “things got a little...crazy.”
I nodded, “Long story?”
Sam chuckled, “Yea, you could say that.”
I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist, my ear to his chest, and sighed happily. I never realized how relieved I would feel to hear someone’s heartbeat. “You know what, I have all day.”
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zentheknightingale · 7 years
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Stuff like this happens to me too, so I’ve learned to ignore it as well. But if it were these guys...
Warning: Slightly NSFW? The moments in themselves are very fluffy...
-Ad Bloo~
SCENARIO: HOW WOULD RFA+V+SAERAN REACT TO ACCIDENTALLY TOUCHING YOUR CHEST
Yoosung
Depth Perception is the WORST when you only have one eye.
You guys were about to  head out together to a fancy dinner, when he noticed you were wearing the necklace he had bought for your anniversary.
It was a simple gold chain with a bejeweled star pendant not completely real but pretty dang expensive
It warmed his heart that you were wearing it; he reached out to you to inspect the pendant a bit more properly.
…only to miss by a couple inches.
His fingers grazed the top of your breasts and even slipped into a bit of the cleavage It was a classy dress so it wasn’t too much or anything
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY
His hand immediately flew away and both of you turned away from each other.
He was still bowing and vehemently apologizing to you; this poor boy was so worried that you would think he’s a creep.
But you shyly said that you… really didn’t mind it so much as you fidgeted with the skirt of your dress.
His head nearly exploded at that. “Wait- you- I- what?”
You giggled at his stammering and pulled him away to your reservation for the night.
Jaehee
You were sitting on a desk, in your cami and shorts, settling some papers.
Jaehee insisted that she help as well, but you wanted to do them yourself.
She brought you a cup of coffee to keep you alert.
When she came back to take the cup back, she chuckled when she saw you in the exact same position she left you in.
Except you had fallen asleep with your head propped up on your hand.
even with the coffee....
You had finished the drink, and put it beside you at a place Jaehee couldn’t reach very easily.
Careful not to disturb, she maneuvered her hand to finally grab the mug.
However, while pulling out, her arm grazed your breasts...
She stiffened as you shuffled a bit, but otherwise resumed your nap.
When she successfully procured the cup, she quickly made her escape.
The slamming of the door woke you up
She slid down the wall beside the door, heart racing at what had just happened.
For the next few days, she couldn’t look at you in the eye, and you were supremely confused, but let it be.
Zen
You both had finally gone on your very first date. And it was going great so far.
The amusement park is always one of the best places.
As you very eagerly wandered around from store to store, Zen couldn’t help but notice that you were attracting quite a few eyes.
He ‘casually’ draped an arm around your shoulders and glared at the other men who were looking.
When he was finally done with the others, he noticed that you had suddenly gone quiet.
He lowered himself to your head level to ask whats wrong, you being short and all.
You shyly pointed to his hand, which was very closely hovering over your right breast...
He immediately straightened up and pulled away super quickly.
“I’m so sorry! You should have told me earlier!!! Argh! And when I was trying my best to protect you too.”
He was so ashamed of himself, and so had put quite a bit of distance between you two.
Pouting, you come closer to him and rest his arm on your waist.
His heart raced at your boldness, and the happiness was restored as he pulled you even closer.
707/Luciel/Saeyoung
Finally with Vanderwood’s permission and Saeran agreeing to house-sit, he could finally take you out on a long drive today.
You were amused by just how eager he was to take you out.
You finally get to ride on one of my babies.
This boy is so eager, he all but pushed you into the passenger seat.
He then jumps into his own driver’s seat and starts the car, only to have it beep at the both of them for not wearing seatbelts.
Now, on a normal day, he would ignore it or just wouldn’t have forgotten.
But today, he ain’t having it.
He gets up on his seat and reaches over to your side to buckle your seat belt for you.
But then, he topples all over you because he wasn’t very balanced when he was doing it.
He tries to steady himself by pushing against the car seat... but he accidentally gropes you chest in the process.
SEEEVVVEEEENNNN!!
Before you could push him away, he jumps out and settles on his own seat.
Poor boy can’t look at you in the face now; he’s simply sits there as you adjust yourself.
You wanted to yell at him, but it looked like he was already beating himself up for it, so you let it pass.
It doesn’t take him too long to be his cheery self again, but he is definitely more careful now.
Jumin
It’s canon that this dude has a play Gray station and a Xbox Zet Box in the penthouse.
You would probably convince him to play it with you at least once a week.
Both of you like the more interactive games than the ones that don’t require moving around.
But we all know he is terrible with technology. If the vending machine wasn’t proof enough...
So whenever it is his turn, he’s frantically waving around the remote, trying to get the game to sense it.
You have to hold back your laughter at this adorable frustration.
He refuses to take any help from you though.
One time, he actually got so engrossed, he couldn’t tell his actions had gotten wilder.
So when his hand swiped through something soft at his side, he froze at the foreign feeling.
He turned to find you protectively covering your chest with your arms.
Putting two and two together, he set the controller aside and calmly apologized.
You chuckled awkwardly, saying that it’s okay since it was accident.
Nodding, he excused himself to the bedroom, saying that he had some work to look at.
But as soon as the door closed behind him, both of you turn super super embarrassed and try to calm yourselves down.
V/Jihyun
Would you believe me if I said that this happens a lot more than you think?
In fact, it is how your first meeting went.
Jumin introduced you to him at the RFA party.
But he may have forgotten to give him an idea about your height.
So when he outstretched his had to shake yours, you were shook when he was reaching towards your chest
Thankfully he stopped moments before contact, so you warily shake his hand.
Later on, you give him a pretty good idea about your height so that he doesn’t do it.
But sometimes you swear that he does it on purpose around the house.
The only proof you have that they are truly accidents is when his ears turn an adorable shade of red every time he realizes.
No matter how suavely he tries to ignore it or apologizes, his ears always give him away.
Unknown/Saeran
Twas a cold winter night, and the two of you were watching a movie under a large quilt on the sofa.
Saeyoung wanted to join you guys too, but Saeran hissed and glared at his brother until he finally gave up.
You both kept adjusting and readjusting your positions until finally Saeran had an arm linked to yours and settled comfortably on your shoulder.
Okay, so maybe the movie was bit too bland for his taste; his head kept bobbing as he dozed on and off.
In the middle, he fell asleep and his head slipped away from your shoulder.
Groggily, he set himself back on what he thought was your shoulder; admiring how soft it suddenly became.
When he did this, you abruptly tore your attention away from the screen, watching Saeran peacefully snooze on your chest.
You were freaking out, not knowing how to move him without waking him up...
But instead, you smooth his hair and pet him softly, smiling at the sight in front of you.
“LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE”
You jumped and shrieked a little, turning your head to see Saeyoung smirking at you both from his door.
Saeran’s eyes popped open, and upon realizing where he was, immediately jumped away from you.
You both yelled at Seven until he finally went back to his room.
“You wanna watch something else?” “I’ll choose this time.”
The thing with Saeran happened with my baby bro; he snuggled up to my side while I was doing homework. I didn’t realize he was asleep until I tried to get up. Since he was only four, it wasn’t as awkward as it could have been. XDD
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askullandbones · 7 years
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Hi, thx so much... ugh, where do I start? I hope this doesnt seem too open or anything. Basically, Ive been having some problems with my best friend. Were both in 2nd-year uni and we go to school in diff cities. Weve been close since we started high school. And I love her, and shes usually my goto person to talk to or shoulder to cry on. But the thing is, shes much more social and Im not. She was my only friend in high school and while shes still closest with me she had others. (1/?)
Now in uni she still has tons of friends and I haven't really been able to make any. We havent rlly drifted apart but our convos are mostly limited to FB texts. Shes now rooming with another friend & I just have this crippling fear of being replaced. Bc it would be so much easier for her. And sometimes she does things that are sort of weird. I feel like im always shifting plans to suit her needs. She doesnt respond to half of what I text her. (2/3) (3 is the limit I promise, so sorry!)
Ive also begun a big Undertale fic and Im super excited about it, but even tho I've started posting it she doesnt seem to want to read it, she said she might someitme "if she has time" & "if shes bored." Which hurts. I tried to talk to her abt all this stuff last year, but she seems to have... forgotten. & I feel so bad & dont know how to deal with it, much as i ❤ her i dont always like the way she treats me. Its so hard to tell the line b/w actual worry and bein whiny. (3/4 sorry!!!!)
I know she has her own stuff going on and I try to be there for her but its so hard. Parts of me have stopped caring about her stuff as much as I should which I KNOW is awful of me as a friend, like when she told me the girl she loved didnt love her back, stuff like that, and I just dont know what to do. My loneliness has gone into hyperdrive basically, and its very confusing. Am I just being self pitying? Any advice would mean so so much to me. (4/4 I am SO SORRY for spamming you with this)
Wow this got long. Gonna put it under a cut.
Hey. Hey? First, deep breath. This might seem like the end of the world, but it isn’t. Trust me.
When you reach this point in your life your whole social dynamic is going to shift into what I’ll call ‘adult friends’. When you went to school it was super easy to make friends (or easier than it is now), because you were put in a small group of people your age and you were basically forced to interact. You might still have some of that in college, but it’s much less forced. The things that held you together with your peers isn’t really guaranteed as much to be there anymore.
First thing you need to tell yourself is that friends typically don’t get ‘replaced’ when you’re older. At least, not if you’ve stopped acting like a kid. Most of the time the friends you had in highschool are just gonna... drift apart. It happens all the time and it’s natural.
And while I can’t relate, I know a lot of people just have a large circle of friends they talk to about various things. Each friend has a different appeal. It’s not so much ‘replacing’ as it is ‘adding’.
Now I won’t speak for your friend, but from what you do mention about her not being flexible and not responding to texts, it could be a whole host of things. Maybe her schedule is just super rigid. Maybe she just forgets to respond to your texts, especially if she’s got about five different other people she’s talking to. Maybe she has nothing to say. Unfortunately these are things you’re probably going to have to talk to her about if they’re bothering you. Friendships thrive on communication.
As for her not getting into your fic... it might hurt? But try not to let it bother you.
When I was getting into Undertale and back on the writing bus I did the same thing with a friend of mine. While she’s always been supportive, she never really wanted to read it even if I asked what she thought, and after awhile I realized it just wasn’t something I could really engage with her back and forth with. She just didn’t know what to ask, didn’t really want to read a subject she knew very little about.
It hurt a little at first, but then I just realized she didn’t have the same interest in it as I did. I just sorta pushed it to the side when it came to talking to her even though it was such a big thing in my life. Instead of saying “I’m working on this Undertale fic omg you wouldn’t believe what--” I’d change how I worded what I wanted to say to be a little less restrictive. Instead I would say “I’m working on some writing and these characters are being--”
See the difference? The second is much more inclusive to someone who has no idea what the fuck Undertale is. They can still engage. I can’t force her to enjoy something I do just like she can’t force me to enjoy something she does.
And no, you are not being self-pitying. You’re worried about a friendship you cherish. You’re worried about how your friend treats you. You’re worried that things are coming between the two of you. You care enough about this friend that you don’t want to lose them, but that also means you’re going to have to work on it. You’re gonna have some awkward, intense moments coming up even if they’re scary.
You gotta be brave.
What you need to do is think. Think about your friendship. You mentioned that you think she treats you bad sometimes. Make a list of the things she does that make you feel bad. Can’t come up with an answer as to why she might do these things? Ask her. Bring it up. It’s scary, but if she values your friendship she’ll listen and you two can work things out.
But friendship is a two-way street. There are ways you can improve too. Find interests you share. Try not to feel bad when she doesn’t like the same things anymore, you’re both starting to grow up and get different interests.
Set boundaries and stick to them. You say you’re always shifting your plans and not the other way around. Stop. Put your foot down. Say no, you can’t shift these around. Don’t bend to her whims all the time. Set a hard line. She will work with you and bend her own plans too if your friendship is valued.
Most importantly though, as scary as it is, don’t be afraid that you two might just be drifting apart. A lot of friendships end after highschool and most of them aren’t because of fights. They’re just... from drifting apart. It might seem like you won’t find more friends, but you will.
I’ve been friends with the same girl since I was a teenager. She lives in Canada. I love her so, so much. When I got a divorce and she started college again we kinda just... didn’t talk much. We used to talk every single day but we didn’t anymore and that bothered the fuck out of me. I thought we were drifting apart, and in a way we kinda have.
She has a boyfriend she plays games with a lot, games that I don’t enjoy. I like to roleplay and write and play games that she doesn’t enjoy. She’s busy as fuck and I’m absolutely incompetent at conversations half the time. We don’t have all the same interests anymore and sometimes we go a full week without saying a word to each other, and we both realize things have changed a bit, but it hasn’t changed how we feel about one another. We still love each other a lot.
College is when you’re going to start to realize that, maybe, a lot of your friends you make are gonna be online. Chatrooms. Games. Writing. Roleplaying. They’re gonna scatter the globe. I have friends from Canada to the states to Indonesia and Germany. I visit the friends within an hour of me maybe... once or twice a month. That’s fine with me. It doesn’t bother me much. I talk to one friend I had in highschool maybe... once every... three months? I don’t hate them, I just don’t have much in common with them anymore. It happens.
But I should wrap this up.
Breathe. Take a nice, deep breathe. This isn’t the end of the world even if it’s scary and you wish you didn’t have to deal with it. You’ll survive even if the outcome is the worst thing you can imagine.
Friendships change over time.
Communicate your feelings.
Evaluate your own role in the relationship and if you need to make some changes too.
Set hard boundaries.
If you need more advice, I’m here.
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konnl · 5 years
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Scrappers
Humanity experienced a life-altering split. The details of how are long lost. All humanity knows is that some went for the stars while the rest were left to rot on a dying Earth. Those left behind hide and salvage what they can from the old world, staying hidden from the star-beings, commonly known as Harvesters.
Scrappers is August’s flash fiction that brings readers into a continuation of last month’s sci-fi horror universe. Enjoy the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Scrappers
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Big Picture
We try to stay hidden by staying underground. People like me have to go to the surface, though. When we do, we do our best to keep noise levels down and stay light-footed. You’d be amazed at how well satellites can pick up the alteration of landscape from the skylines. Even the smallest detail – like a footprint – can be detected by their drones. Stealth is all we can do until we find a better way to fend them off. There are probably a dozen names given to them. Everyone has a grudge for something they did or someone that they took. The Godly, Gene Freaks, Anti-Sapien, or whatever your choice of phrase is, we all know them as the Harvesters. The Harvesters always return to Earth. They come for us. They find us. No matter how well we hide.
“Angie, get with it,” came a croaky voice.
My eyes shot up to the sound, seeing a man looking over at me, the orange hue from the setting sun casting sharp shadows on his leathery-skin. The neon green LED lights from his goggles shined right at me. Ruggy, my partner. We had a mission. Gather scraps.
“Sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t really here.” My thoughts were being dragged off into the big picture of the world. The Harvesters. Our attempts to survive. Stuff that Ruggy wouldn’t really care about hearing.
“Keep your mind on our why we’re on the surface. I don’t want to be here like you, but there aren’t any options.” He shifted his rifle under his arm, holding the gun at a forty-five-degree angle, gaze forward. “Magnify your map and stay on course. The operator said there is an amplitude of metal not far from here.”
The Lost
I adjusted the interface that displayed within my goggles. With a twitch of my eyelid, the goggles changed the glass to project night vision. Another subtle eyelid movement caused the UI to zoom in on the map that displayed at the corner of my eye. It brought up a detailed landscape of the rubble that we walked through. Well, a map of what everything used to look like.
“These maps aren’t helpful,” I said. “They’re well over a century outdated.” I looked at the top-down view of the geographical location of the map. It showcased skyscrapers, roads, and complete pathways. In reality, all I could see was a charcoal skyline, rubble ground, and nature attempting to grow new green life in between the concrete cracks.
“It’s the best that we have to work with,” said Ruggy. “Us Scrappers always get the low-tech stuff.”
“Yep,” I said. There wasn’t much of a point in discussing the topic. He was right. Scrappers were a low rank. That’s why we stick together. Plus, I knew what Ruggy was thinking: shut up and do your job. It was tough to do just that. We were in the middle of a long-forgotten civilization trying to find old metal scraps, praying that we wouldn’t be detected by the Harvesters – not exactly motivating.
“This seems like a waste of time for us,” I said. “We’ve never gone this far out into the Lost.”
“Yeah, well,” Ruggy said. “When we’ve raided all of the other closer past cities, we don’t have much of a choice but to go further in.”
I scanned the ground in front of me, holding the rifle tight. There were washed-out yellow painted rocks mixed in with grey rocks. These were once roads, at least what is left of them. I’ve seen complete streets in the archive photos before. Never had I seen such large chunks of remnants in person.
“All of this seems so surreal,” I said. “These people used to live in peace before it all went south.”
“They didn’t think so,” Ruggy said, taking a turn down an archway. “Down this way,” he said.
I followed behind him looking at the massive archway. It was large enough to house a twelve-man transport shuttle. “What makes you say that?” I asked.
“They weren’t happy and tried to change the world which got us into this mess,” Ruggy said.
“I suppose.” Ruggy had a point, the past civilization were the ones that brought humanity into a technological revolution. I just liked to imagine there was a better world at some point in time. “They only wanted to do what was good for us,” I said.
“Are you really that naïve? Come on, kid.” Ruggy said. “The history books always look as good as they can, even if they are on the losing side. I am sure that Harvesters paint a pretty glorified image of their past, justifying why they do what they do. Good is relative.”
“If you don’t trust the history books, what do you trust?” I asked.
“Well,” Ruggy said. “I don’t trust much. I do know not to trust one stupid book. That’s been the issue with humanity for centuries. We put our trust in a book. Now, we’re living the greatest downfall from this repetition of history.”
My pace slowed down as we came across a massive semi-complete structure. It was about one-third of a sculpted head. A bearded man with a long nose and long hair, although it was difficult to tell from the missing pieces.
Amazing, I thought while looking up to the mountain in the near distance. Remnants of a sculpture’s base could be seen around a pile of rubble. An educated guess would be the head had tumbled down the mountainside during an explosion. That was my best guess. I really had no idea.
Gods on Repeat
I picked up my pace, realizing Ruggy had continued on without me. Once I caught up beside him, I said, “It really isn’t all from one book though. There’s bureaucracy, corruption, and human greed to take into account.”
“True, but they shroud it in justification from their holy books.”
“Yeah, it is tragic we kept repeating the past.”
“Its ridiculous. We used to believe in super beings, gods, in the sky that judged our lives. Our ‘holy book’ was science and it was just as bad as the rest.”
“The science era wasn’t much different from religion,” I said looking at Ruggy’s leathery face.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because the Harvesters turned themselves into gods in the sky, judging us.”
Ruggy chuckled. “How poetic.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being his typical unenthusiastic self, or if he was actually impressed with what I challenged him with. It was hard to know with Ruggy, he always had the same mood with anything that he did.
The two of us continued down the uneven path, hopping over large clumps of city remains and plants that had grown over the past world. Looking at it all made a part of me want to just go back to the cruiser and give up. Gathering scraps was tedious. The Lost was depressive to look at. It wasn’t like I had much choice. Scrapping was all I was good at. I didn’t have any other skills that could help humanity survive. There were no educational systems for me to go to. People that possessed knowledge from the past carefully chose who they passed knowledge onto. We have to operate this way. There is no time for everyone to learn everything. We had to learn one skill fast and stick to it.
The Harvesters were technologically advanced, mentally superior, and physically herculean. There was no time for anyone to wish about what they wanted to do. The higher commands run us through rigorous tests, analyze what we are best at, and that is what we do until the day we die. It’s that simple.
“Here’s food for thought,” Ruggy said as he reached the top of a steep rock. “Playing off of what you said, about The Harvesters being living gods and such…” he extended his hand for me.
“Yeah?” I asked as I took his hand, letting him pull me up.
“You ever fathom that humanity has just repeated itself?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, panting looking down at my health-cuff. The screen lit up with a flick of my wrist. It stated we were just over fifty kilometres from our cruiser. I thought that was a lot, but seeing that Ruggy hadn’t even broken a sweat, made me feel like a goof. Looks like I’d have to get on a tighter exercise routine when we got back to base.
“The Harvesters,” Ruggy said. “They were us at one point. Gods are only projections of what we wish to be. They had access to become one, and that is what they did. Perhaps humanity has gone through similar routes in the past, and religious books are just history books about them.”
“You mean like what the Babblers are doing?” I raised my eyebrow with a smirk. The idea was humorous. “You know Babblers are just desperate to find meaning to all this chaos by speaking about it like some prophecy.”
“Exactly my point. The Babblers are no different than any prophet. I take it you never got familiar with some of the archive’s religious texts?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” I said. “I’m a Scrapper, I rarely have time to read.”
“Yeah, you’re also in your twenties. Ah, don’t worry about it. I was a baboon at that age, too, chasing all the fucks I could get.”
My nostrils flared. Who did Ruggy think he was summing me up as some young horny uneducated kid? He had a way of belittling people. Unfortunately, I had to work with him. Scrappers stick together once they were chosen. Scrapper’s code.
“Anyways…” Ruggy said after my prolonged rage-silence. “Perhaps the past religions like Christianity, Hellenism, Hinduism, you name it, all had holy men who saw things for what they were.” Ruggy brought out his hand. “I’m not saying this is the kind of stuff that I believe in, but just playing off your idea.”
I smirked. “Really? You know a damn lot more than I do about religion. You sure you’re not becoming a Babbler?”
“Zip it. Just throwing the idea out there that maybe this isn’t the first time humanity has surpassed itself and went for the stars, leaving the rest of us down here.”
“It’s a wild theory.”
I wasn’t sure what else to say. Ruggy knew a lot more about humanity’s past than I did, and it wasn’t worth challenging him. As he put it so delicately, I was just a young horny kid. His statement had me wondering though – was humanity just repeating itself? Did the past civilizations turn men into gods, like the Harvesters? It’s a crazy idea, and no one truly knows. History was distorted. The details of how they went for the cosmos and left us here was a convoluted – and confusing – rabbit hole that isn’t worth going down. Trust me. I’ve tried. Every ‘fact’ contradicts itself as to how humanity’s split started.
Retrieval
I followed behind Ruggy as we continued down the mapped-out path projected on the goggle-screens. Of course, the goggles could only estimate roughly where we went. It’s not like we had any satellites to work with. That’s a giant flag to attract Harvesters. The chips processors are attached to our health-cuffs, they do some weird science-algorithm-tech thing that I could never understand. All I know is the map talks to the cuff, and they can estimate my steps with the city’s map’s size.
“Looks like we’re almost there,” Ruggy said.
“So, the operator found some jackpot from their A.I. algorithms or what? I still don’t get why we had to come out this far.” I asked.
“I don’t know Angie. That isn’t my department, nor yours. They tell us where to go, and we got the scraps. That’s all.”
“Right,” I said while tightening the grip of my rifle. We had never gone this far out into The Lost before. The fact we left our cruiser made me uncomfortable. If a Harvester were to show up, we were on our own. We couldn’t outrun them – that’s pointless. We had no transportation – we were sitting ducks on foot.
Ruggy brought his rifle up as we turned the corner. The smell of burning metal began to pick up. This was abnormal. Burning smells meant something recent was around. Nothing burns in The Lost. Those fires and explosions happened long before our time.
I used my eyelids to navigate through the goggle’s interface. The screen projected a keyboard and message thread between Ruggy and I. My eyelids twitched in swift movements, stringing together alphabetic characters into words.
DO YOU SMELL THAT? I typed out in the chat.
YEAH, KEEP YOUR GUARD UP, Ruggy typed back as he descended down a rocky, narrow, path.
I felt the sweat build up on my pits and palms. Whatever this was wasn’t part of our standard protocol. The operators typically had us find piles of rubble we had to dig through to snag metal. This was something different.
We continued down the path, creeping slowly to avoid loose rocks. The last thing we needed was to make noise. Ruggy reached the end of the steep decline to where the path opened up. Smoke rose from the open charcoaled ground. Even with the goggle’s enhanced vision, Ruggy nor I could make out what was in front of us.
I raised my rifle as I reached Ruggy’s side, stopping right in front of the opening.
My eyelids moved, typing, I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING.
NOR CAN I, Ruggy wrote.
YOU SURE THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE? I asked.
YEAH, CHECK THE MAP YOURSELF.
The map was pretty accurate when it synched with the health-cuffs. Plus, there was only rubble all around us. There was nothing of value here other than this mysterious smoke and burning smell.
WHAT DO WE DO? I asked.
WE’RE SCRAPPERS, WE SCRAP WHATEVER IT IS.
Ruggy tightened his grip on his rifle and stepped forward. He didn’t look back, expecting me to follow. I had to. Ruggy was right, we were Scrappers. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and marched alongside Ruggy into the smoke.
The closer we got, the smell heightened into strange stinging sensation. It overpowered my senses and couldn’t smell anything else. God, I wanted to have a mask at this point in time. Scrappers always got the leftover supplies and never the ones we needed. At least we had the goggles, it kept our eyes clear as we moved through the unknown.
I stayed slightly behind Ruggy, making sure nothing came from his sides or behind us. We entered the thick of the haze. Nothing was visible beyond a few feet. The further we stepped in, the smoke changed into an orange-red hue.
FIRE, Ruggy typed.
IT’S A CRASH? I responded.
A roar erupted from the brighter flames further ahead. We raised our rifles. A humanoid silhouette rose from the flaming ground, deformed from the light. Large limbs reached up for the sky. Too large to be human. The roar morphed into a howling groan. A sound of agony.
HARVESTER, Ruggy typed.
YOU SURE? I replied
POSITIVE. WHAT ELSE CRASH-LANDS ON EARTH?
HARVESTERS NEVER CRASH-LAND.
MAYBE. BUT THERE’S NOTHING ELSE IN SPACE.
WHAT ABOUT THAT THEORY YOU JUST CAME UP WITH? PAST CIVILIZATIONS GOING FOR THE STARS?
SHUT IT, KID. DO AS I SAY.
WHAT?
SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER.
I exhaled slowly. A part of me was annoyed. There were so many questions that we hadn’t answered. We were making choices that were beyond our rank. Whatever we were witnessing was not a Scrapper’s role. Harvester or not, this was something we had to report. There was also the fact we could end up getting killed. Scrappers were about stealth and retrieval, not killing things.
WE SHOULD CALL IT IN, I typed.
WE CAN’T, REMEMBER? Ruggy replied. WE’RE ON A LOCAL CHANNEL. HELPS WITH STEALTH.
LET’S GET BACK TO THE CRUISER THEN. THE OPERATORS WILL WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS.
WALK 50K? THIS THING WILL BE GONE BY THEN. WE SHOOT IT, CALL IT IN.
I wasn’t sure what else to say to Ruggy. We wouldn’t be able to make it back to the cruiser, report the finding, and expect to find whatever we found to still be here. Action was needed. Besides, Ruggy had his mindset regardless of any protocol. He wanted to find out what this was. I had no other choice. I couldn’t leave him behind. Scrapper’s code.
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buckyspetpsychopath · 7 years
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Forgotten
Words: 2369 Jack Maynard x reader, sibling!joe x reader Youtuber
“she’s starting to wake up” I hear someone whisper. I open my eyes slowly. At first, the faces are blurry but then they focus clearly and I don’t recognize any them.  “Hello dear, my name is Katie. I’m your nurse, you had an accident do you remember?” She smiles warmly. I think for a second starting to shake my head but flashes of bright lights barrelling towards me and my car flipping over pops up and I nod. “good. should we get your family in here?” she smiles. I nod enthusiastically then hold my head in pain. She leaves but reemerges with my brother Joe, my sister Zoe and a man. 
Zoe’s face lights up when she sees me and throws her arms around me, careful of the wires. Joe hugs me next and I instantly feel better with a cuddle from my big brother. When Joe pulls away the man rushes forward trying to hug and kiss me but I jump back holding my arms out, and look at Joe alarmed. 
“y/n?” the man whispers.  “who are you?��� I frown and he lets out a sob.  “y/n this is your fiance Ethan, do you remember him?” Joe asks. I shake my head scooting away more.  “where did we go on Saturday y/n?” Zoe butts in.  “Anna and Jonathans why?” I sigh. Joe and Zoe look at each other confused. “she remembers everything else but her fiance?” Zoe mumbles. The man ‘Ethan’ had been staring at me the entire time and it was making me quite uncomfortable, I’ve got to say he’s really attractive but... 
“where’s Jack?” I interrupt. Their heads snap to mine shocked.  “what do you mean, I’m your fiance” Ethan spits. I wince and move away.  “no! Jack is my boyfriend, where is he?” I cry. They don’t really know what to do, so I do the most unrational thing ever and pull my IV out and sprint out the door before they even realize what’s happening. I look both ways and see a waiting room. I spot the buttercreams and my entire face brightens. I zoom in on Jack and start walking quickly to him. I had caught their attention when I had escaped the room, making a lot of noise. They look my way and when they see me their eyes widen. I fling my arms around Jacks neck, leaning on my tip toes. 
“Jack” I sob. “that person, he thinks he’s my fiance, tell him you’re my boyfriend” I cry. He looks shocked and my heart drops, I awkwardly step away from him. “its true isn’t it?” I mutter tears spilling over my eyes and dropping down my cheek. He nods but brings his hand to my cheek wiping my tears. My hand reaches up to cup his and it stills on my cheek, I close my eyes and let out a sob. He gasps and I open my eyes. 
“your arm” he mutters. I look down and see the blood dripping.  “I pulled my IV out, I needed to see you” I mumble. He bites his lip and looks down.  “hey, mind getting your hands off my girlfriend now mate?” I hear behind us. I start feeling dizzy and fall to the floor but I’m caught by Jack, who lifts me bridal style. This angers Ethan more as he reaches for me but I whimper and tuck my head into Jack’s chest.  “mate don’t force her, she doesn’t remember you. Just give her a little space to breathe yeah?” Jack fumes and he looks really hot. Jack carries me back to bed followed by Joe and Zoe and the nurse.  “no more of that” she tuts jokingly putting my IV back in, I grin sheepishly and she smirks. “right I’m going to check your vitals, you’re going to need to get undressed” she says looking at Joe. He stands up panicked and leaves the room. Jack stands to leave too but I reach for his hand. 
“stay” I whimper but I see the look on his face. “if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable” I mumble. He looks at Zoe who shrugs so he smiles at me, sitting back down holding my hand. The nurse peels away the gown I was wearing and I wince in pain. Zoe gasps at my beaten up body. The nurse pulls me forward to see the intense bruising on my back, Jack closes his eyes a few tears spilling out and tightens his grip on my hand. I squeeze back to reassure him I’m fine.  “right, you have three broken ribs, fractured wrist, multiple lacerations and severe bruising. Your memory loss is completely normal and should come back very soon and a concussion that will hurt like hell. These tablets are for the pain, these are for infection and these are for anxiety.” she hands me stacks of pills and I gulp. She leaves and Zoe joins me on my other side helping me to cover myself up.  “Can I leave yet?” I huff looking at Zo. She shrugs and disappears to find another nurse.  “what happened between us?” I whisper looking at Jack now that everybody is gone. He shifts nervously and I look away.  “I was gone a lot, youtube stuff. We tried to make it work but it wasn’t healthy, you were in school and we’re staying up until 3 am some nights to talk to me, we started getting bitter so we decided we should break up. We never really spoke for a while then you show up six months later with a fiance.” he mutters and I snap my eyes to him.  “have you met him?” I ask and he nods.  “what’s he like?” I question and he chuckles.  “he’s your fiance...” he trails off and I look down.  “why don’t I remember him at all?” I whisper. He sighs and stands up.  “I should go” he mumbles.  “got the papers, we can go” Zoe walks in and looks at Jack. She realizes what happened and sends me a sad smile. 
Jack leaves and Zo helps me get dressed. We soon leave after I greet the buttercream boys.  “Zo where are we going? where do I live?” I ask. She sighs.  “you live with Ethan but you’re going to stay at Joe's until your memory comes back.” she replies.  “if” I mumble.  “when” she laughs. I end up falling asleep in the car, I feel someone pick me up and the brisk coldness on my cheek. I open my eyes slightly and see Joe carrying me into his flat. I exhale and nuzzle into him. He sets me in a bed and I fall back asleep. 
-A couple of weeks later-  I still haven’t got my memory back, which is frustrating. I pretty much remember everything but the breakup. I spend a lot of time with the buttercreams as they are all constantly together. So all in all, I spend a lot of time with Jack. I had been on a few dates with Ethan, he was trying to make me remember but I really couldn’t. It’s so frustrating because I can see how much he loves me but I just can’t return the feelings. I’ve tried but I can’t. 
“knock knock” I hear on my door.  “come in” I shout struggling to zip my dress up. I look behind me in the mirror and see Joe waltzing in. I smile at him and silently point to my dress, he gets the hint and comes over to zip it up. He sits on my bed as I slip into my heels. 
“you going out with Zo?” he asks and I nod with a sad smile. “still don’t remember?” I shake my head.  “just going to meet up while she’s in London for the night, look I’ll talk later I need to go” I say kissing him on the cheek and running out the door. I hear him sigh but shrug. 
“y/n” I hear and turn around. 
“hi” I smile hugging Zoe. 
“you look gorgeous” she compliments. 
“thank you” I smile. We sit down at the table and I drop my napkin by accident. I reach down for it and when I come back up I smack my head on the table. 
“ouch” I yelp and I feel a rush of emotions. I remember everything. I look at Zoe wide-eyed. 
“do you remember?” she asks hopefully.  
“I need to go, I need to tell Jack! I’m sorry” I spit and stand up.
“wait, Jack? shouldn’t you tell you’re fiance?” she asks confused, I look at her guiltily and she realises. “go, I’ll pick him up” she rushes swatting her hand at me.
I don’t even wait for a taxi, Joe’s flat isn’t that far from the restaurant, literally about 5 minutes. I’m that excited I shed my heels opting to carry them and start sprinting towards the house. I frantically try to open it with my keys when I get there breathing heavily. I barge in and see the buttercreams sitting on the couch playing FIFA. They turn around at the commotion, stopping the game. 
“I REMEMBER” I yell. Joe jumps over the couch and spins me around in the air. Jack comes up next, hugging me. I hold him close.  “everything?” I hear Jack mumble nervously.  “everything” I whisper. I hear a banging on the door and Joe opens it, Ethan storms in.  “you remember?” he says out of breath and Zoe appears behind me. “yeah,” I breathe out. He jumps forward to hug me but I jump behind Jack, everyone stops. Ethan frowns and Jack reaches behind himself slightly to grab my hip. “if you remember then everything is back to normal right?” he fumes. I look down and go towards the table by the front door. I open the drawer and pull out my ring. Joes eyes widen and he grabs my hand ushering me into the kitchen.
“are you sure about that y/n?” he asks and I nod. “I think it was fate, even if he doesn’t feel the same anymore I’m in love with Jack, I think I always was even before the accident. I can’t marry Ethan when I don’t love him. I’ve spent a lot of time these past few months with both of them, I love Jack, there’s something that you don’t know about Ethan” I stutter. He sighs and hugs me. “I never really liked Ethan” he admits quietly and I giggle. “so you want me with one of your best mates, the biggest flirt you’d ever meet?” I tease. He laughs. “yeah, Ethan seems like an ass but I know Jack would stop all his ways as soon as he had you back, I don’t think he ever really got over you.” he sighs. I perk up at that. “really?” I grin and he nods with a small smile. We head back into the main room and I walk towards Ethan who is glaring at Jack. I hand him the ring and he scoffs.
“you’re going to pick him over me? we were engaged, you remember, you remember what you felt for me right?” he glares. I gulp. “I’m really sorry that this happened but yes, whether he wants me or not I pick him, I will always pick him.I also remember why I was driving in the first place.” I seeth. Ethan looks down.  “I told you I’m sorry” he grits.  “what’s happening?” Jack interjects.  “mate I think you should leave this to me” Ethan grits.  “no, I’ll tell you. I told him that I’m still in love with Jack, he told me he had been cheating on me for months and when I tried to leave he threatened and hit me” I gulp trying not to cry. Jack turns around wide-eyed.  “you love me?” he whispers.  “this is all your fault” Ethan grits and launches forward slapping his fist into Jack, Joe and the boys quickly hold him back. I gasp and grab Jacks face.  “just leave” I yell at Ethan grabbing Jack and taking him upstairs to my bedroom. 
“damn, please let me kick his face” Jack exclaims sitting on my bed holding his cheek. I giggle and go to my bathroom, getting a damp towel. I bring it over to Jacks' cheek, kneeling between his legs and he hisses at the cold.  “you were willing to risk your whole relationship because of me?” he whispers. I blush and nod.  “I love you” I admit quietly. He smiles and grabs my cheek pulling me up slightly and leans down to kiss my lips. The towel is discarded as he grabs both of my cheeks. I grab his forearms for stability and sigh contently.  “I missed you so much” I whisper pulling away.  “I missed you too” he mumbles. We hear a knock on the door and the person enters. 
“hey, sorry to interrupt but I’m going back to the hotel” Zoe says. I nod and jump up to hug me. She also hugs Jack.  “treat my sister right” she says jokingly. He laughs and pulls me into his side.  “I won’t let her go again” he says staring down at me. I smile at Zoe.  “should I tell Joe he won't see you for the next hour?” she smirks and I gasp hitting her arm. I grab my blushing cheeks.  “Zoe” I squeal and she giggles leaving. I turn to Jack and he is trying not to laugh. He pulls me onto the bed and I squeal, bursting into laughter. 
3rd person POV* “hey, ” Zoe says coming downstairs. “I don’t think they’ll be down for quite a while” she giggles and the boys look straight to Joe. He puffs his chest and stands up heading towards the stairs. He stops when he hears a thud, a squeal, and a giggle.  “Joe just leave them” Zoe tuts.  “that’s our baby sister” he defends  “yeah and she’s with her ‘boyfriend’, completely happy and in love. Just leave them” she sighs. Joe smiles a little.  “how happy?” he mutters.  “from 1-10?” she asks. Joe nods. “about 73″ she giggles. Joe smiles wide and joins the boys on the couch after hugging Zoe. 
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