#i added the have fun with your research part later because I forgot to respond to that part lol

[asktheshanks]

I need to know Frypan's crush/lover for research purposes.

Frypan:

I’m single as a pringle and ready to mingle.

And my crush is secret… but

Have fun with your research.

(Gifs from here and here)

#tmrfrypan #fryho #tmr #tst #tdc #frypansgirl #honestly i made his crush minho because I found the 2nd gif #i added the have fun with your research part later because I forgot to respond to that part lol

[pikemoreno]

if you ever wanna be in love

Chapter IV: Plan B and Other Messes

a/n: this is my favorite so far, but it’s only gonna get better from here!

taglist is open if you’d like to be added. sorry if you asked and i missed it or forgot. please just ask again if you aren’t on there and would like to be. :’)

pairing: marcus pike x f!reader

word count: 2k

warnings: none, and i don’t expect there to really be any serious ones in upcoming chapters either. this is just fun.

If this plan was foolproof, you were all worse than fools.

It had started fine. It had been more than a week since the disastrous failure that was Plan A, and you spent the week doing some reconnaissance to keep Wendy’s brief interaction with Adrian on the top of her mind.

On Tuesday, you had asked her again about the elevator incident, stating: “Wow, that must’ve been scary. Did you have someone with you? I don’t think I remember.” She responded that there had been and that he was “nice.” 

On Wednesday, you had asked her if she had caught the name of the “mystery man” in the elevator. Did he work in the building? What department? Was he cute? She had said that she “Didn’t catch his name or his department, but… Yeah, he was alright, I guess.” Not a lot to work from, you lamented, but it was a start. You told her you’d see what you could find out and she groaned, telling you not to get into it, that she was fine. If only she knew how late she was on that sentiment.

On Thursday, you had taken the day off from bothering her about it. After all, you couldn’t make it seem like you found out everything about him in a day. Because that would have just been absurd. 

Today-- Friday-- you spilled all of your “research” to her: name, age, department, and the information that he’d been “asking about her too”-- ignoring the fact that that was only true because Marcus had been giving him the same treatment you were giving Wendy this week. Her eyes lit up a little at hearing she’d been asked about too, and you knew you had her hook, line, and sinker.

You met Marcus outside on your lunch break to debrief and discuss the finale of Plan B, sitting on a wooden-slatted bench with him underneath the slowly changing leaves of the trees in the courtyard. While an uncharacteristically cool breeze blew by, you were starting to decide that if you could just get Wendy and Adrian to this point right here, that would be enough to bring them together. It was a quiet and secluded place, a blessed change from the chaos of work on the other side of those glass double doors in the distance. There was something undeniably romantic about it all. 

With the right person to share it with, of course.

This wasn’t a romantic exchange. It was planning, organizing, talking about another’s romance, and never your own. There was absolutely nothing inherently romantic about this, certainly nothing in the way he smiled at you from the corner of his eye as you talked about how the week had gone with Wendy. There was nothing in the way you admired the light in his eyes when he grinned and how they crinkled when he laughed and nothing in the way you wanted to make sure he laughed every single day.

Oh no. Oh no no no no. 

This whole thing was about Wendy, not you. And certainly not Marcus. 

“So, what’s the plan for this evening?” His question brought you out of your daze.

“Umm,” you cleared your throat, re-gathering yourself as you poked at your lunch with your fork. “We’re gonna text them both separately to meet us at Copper Coin for coffee. We won’t be there when they arrive. We’ll be twenty minutes late and hope that they’ve decided to sit together in that time. If they haven’t, we’ll make sure they do,” you shrugged. 

“Right,” he nodded, and you returned it. Silence overtook the moment, but not in the serene way it had previously. This was decidedly more awkward. You were back in your head, doing the mental calculations of why and how there was nothing at all romantic about your friendship with Art Squad over here. That’s all it was; that’s all he was. You vaguely heard him call your name-- your real name.

“Hm?” you blinked, looking back to him.

“Where’d you go?” he murmured quizzically, his eyes searched your face in a way that undid all of the mental calculation you just went through.

“What? Nowhere. Anyway,” you stood quickly, gathering your stuff, “See you later.” You couldn’t ignore the feeling of his curious eyes still on you as you walked away.

This was not happening.

You’d be lying if you said that lunchtime exchange wasn’t at the forefront of your mind for the rest of the work day... And as you drove to the coffee shop… And now that you were sitting across from Marcus yet again, waiting on Wendy and Adrian, who still had yet to show up after the predetermined twenty minutes you were giving them before sitting inside the mahogany-saturated, hipster’s paradise yourselves. 

Plan B was most certainly not foolproof, and the four of you were the grandest of fools. Where could they be?

“They’re gonna walk in and think we’re the ones on a date,” Marcus quipped as he took a sip of his drink. You almost spit yours out from the surprise of the comment, but couldn’t help the huff of laughter.

“Oh, if Wendy walked in and thought I was on a date with a guy like you, she would probably cry tears of joy.”

“What does that mean?” You missed the warm pink take over the skin of his neck at what he was hoping was a compliment. 

A guy like him? 

How did you see him? 

“My recent track record is not great,” you stated, running a finger around the rim of your drink, “I would go on a couple of dates with someone. Never let it go anywhere. Decline any attempt to make it exclusive. Get the hell out of there. Rinse and repeat.”

“Why do you think that is?” 

You were making him nervous. It was pretty obvious to him now that he was starting to be interested in you beyond just being a work friend helping him with a “project”. But hearing your hesitance to commit in the past made his heart sink. He knew too well the feeling of being the one more invested in the relationship, of scaring someone off by going all in. He couldn’t let himself fall into that again with you. He’d have to force himself away, push down what was threatening to blossom.

“Afraid of getting hurt, I guess. I’ve seen a lot of committed relationships around me fail. People falling out of love. I don’t want that.” You shrugged.

“That’s a very reasonable fear.”

“Exactly. So I’m just… Waiting I guess. Wendy sees it as me just having commitment issues. I don’t have commitment issues per se. I just haven’t really found anyone worth committing to yet.”

“I’m afraid I have the opposite problem.” You tilted your head, questioning, and he continued, “I haven’t found anyone worth committing to, but I don’t realize it until it’s too late.” he sighed, “I was that one teenager who had one steady girlfriend from eighth grade all the way through high school and never looked at anyone else-- probably for the best, I was kind of a dork,” he laughed despite himself and you joined. It fizzled sadly, “But anyway. Everyone thought we were gonna be together forever. And I started to think so too after, you know, five years. I had it all planned out by the time we got to senior year. We wanted to go to the same college. We’d date through college, I’d propose on our graduation day... We didn’t make it past senior prom. She had disappeared for a while, and I found her in a supply closet with another guy.” You couldn’t help but gasp a little. He continued “Then I still got married pretty young, not long out of college,” he shook his head, seemingly to clear out the emotions that reared their ugly heads for what was obviously the first time in a while. You wanted him to know he didn’t have to explain himself to you. 

“Marcus, don’t--” you tried to stop him.

“I was ‘too much’ for her.” You froze at the admission. His mouth contorted into a frown that didn’t suit him at all. “I’m still not sure I know what she meant by that,” he laughed humorlessly, “Guess I cared too much? Who knows. She divorced me, and that was that.” You both looked down to find that you’d put your hand on his. There was a part of you-- maybe more than a part, really-- that decided that what he was saying sounded nice. That he would be a blessed change from relationships that never lasted longer than a month and whose conversations never reached the level of depth that you were already experiencing with Marcus after just the couple of weeks you’d known him. You breathed, letting your hand stay resting on his as you spoke truly.

“What you said was right. Neither of them were worth your commitment. I’ve seen your commitment to someone who’s just a work friend, and I can’t imagine anyone not wanting that in their life. They couldn’t have been worth your time.” His thumb reached up to brush against the side of your hand. “I would--” You stopped yourself mid-sentence upon looking at the cafe door to find Wendy finally walking in.

If only you knew that Marcus was holding his breath waiting for the end of the statement, hoping to hear you say that he might be worth that commitment. 

“There’s Wendy now.” Your hand left his as you got up to meet her, and Marcus found himself immediately missing the contact and entirely unsure of what just happened. 

“An hour late? Where have you been?” you laughed as Wendy met your eyes excitedly. 

“You’ll never guess what just happened,” she practically squealed in response, yet not answering your question.

“Probably not. Go for it.”

“I got my rebound!” You blinked.

“You-- What?”

“So right before you left the office, I received a tip on a case from the Elisabet Ney Museum. They had some priceless jewelry of hers on display. Only supposed to be up for a week. Family heirloom. It’s on display for two days before it turns up stolen. But get this: the bust of hers it was on was also stolen. Meaning this case also falls under the jurisdiction of the Art Squad. I figured ‘Hey, the more, the merrier,’ so I hopped on down to the 6th floor to talk to them about a team-up and guess who I ran into?” Your eyes widened, finally getting the point of the story.

“Adrian.”

“Adrian!” she nearly squealed again, talking a mile a minute. “So anyway, we’re gonna be teamed up on that next week.” You subconsciously shot a glance over to Marcus. Having to work a case with him? After the day you just had? “But the crazy part is that I started talking to Adrian and he’s so great, you know, now that I’m not freaking out in an elevator. Turns out he’s a recent dumpee too, and we’re gonna go out tomorrow night. Oh, and we might’ve made out in the supply closet.” The words of that last part all ran together as she tried to play it off nonchalantly. You let your mouth hang open in the flurry of words and admissions that came far too quickly for you to process fully. 

“Wow. That’ s-- That’s great! I told you he was worth looking into,” you smiled weakly, trying to get over the newest developments in this absolutely ridiculous story. “So, this case? Starting next week?”

“Monday morning, bright and early. Hey, didn’t you say you had a friend on Art Squad? The one who gave you a ride that one day? That’ll be fun, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, for sure.” You caught Marcus’s eye, and your face must have betrayed just how exasperated and confused-- and… relieved?--  you felt because the look he shot back to you was full of concern. Everything was somehow simplified and complicated in one fell swoop. 

Plan B: Success? You guess?

forever taglist: @acomplicatedprofession @hdlynn @makaela27 @space-floozy @catfishingmorales @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @princessbatears @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @findhimfives @mistermiraclee

series taglist: @whiskeyslasso​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @dindjarindiaries​ @absurdthirst​ @roxypeanut​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @dirty-dancefl00r5  @starryeyedstories​ @buckysalefty​ @wickedfrsgrl​ @the-feckless-wonder​

#marcus pike x reader #bri writes #iyewbil

[fic-for-fic-sake]

Does Your Mother Know

A/N: Peter is 18 in this, nothing inappropriate. Age gap. You’re like 25, he’s 18. Also yes I got the inspiration while watching Mamma Mia. 

Pairing: Peter x reader 

Even though the Avengers now had an upstate facility you were staying at the tower for the time being. You were working on your masters degree in neuroscience at Columbia, so Stark offered an available room in the tower, of which you were grateful. You had cringed at the thought of having to take a car into the city for your classes every other day but Tony hadn’t thought twice about setting you up at the tower, claiming you could keep a watchful eye on everything. 

What you didn’t know, what Tony conveniently forgot to tell you was that Peter was also staying in the tower. He started his freshmen year at NYU for Biophysics. It’s not that you had a problem with Peter, not at all. You had known him since he was 15 and Stark recruited his help at the airport in Germany, but Peter had developed a bit of a crush on you. Which more than weirded you out. He was only seven years younger than you but the thought of dating an 18 year old made you balk, it felt wrong. 

Most times you could steer clear of Peter, claiming you had research to do (which wasn’t completely untrue) or saying that you were going out with your friends when really you were hiding at your friends apartment, avoiding him. After the tenth visit to your friends apartment she officially banned you for your own good. And she was right. You just had to tell Peter you weren’t interested in him like that, it should be easy. 

The next morning you readied yourself to talk to him. Practiced phrases over and over in your head until they sounded right. You wanted to let him down gently, he was still your friend after all. And you wanted to make it perfectly clear that this didn’t have to mean the end of your friendship, you could move past this amicably. All of those thoughts left your mind when you walked into the kitchen to see Peter chugging a glass of water. 

Your mouth went dry. He was only wearing a pair of gym shorts slung lowly on his hips, giving your eyes the perfect chance to glimpse the v that was prominent. You also got a very close look at his abs which were, um, impressive to say the least. You maneuvered your way around him to get a coffee mug and start making your brew for the day, your mind now muddled. He refilled his glass once more and then gently pressed his hand against your lower back before moving behind you, “I’m just gonna sneak by you.” His voice husked in your ear. 

You’re so hot, teasing me. So you’re blue but I can’t take a chance on a kid like you. It’s somethin’ I couldn’t do. 

You coughed to cover up the shock as you filled your mug with coffee. You didn’t bother to say anything, much less risk a glance in his direction, as you added milk and sugar to your drink. You knew what he was playing at, you just shook your head and laughed before turning around to go back to your room, conversation be damned. 

But like the dutiful enhanced human he was, he was in front of you in a second, blocking your path with his lithe but toned body. He leaned against the wall casually, like he had done this hundreds of times. 

“Don’t I get a ‘good morning’?” Peter asked jokingly, cocking his head to the side. You could see mirth in those chocolate eyes of his and you wanted nothing more than to wipe the expression off of his face. You just rolled your eyes as you walked around him, giving his half naked body a wide berth. 

There’s that look, in your eyes. I can read in your face that your feelings are driving you wild. Oh but boy you’re only a child.

You had been around the block enough times to know what that expression meant on a guy. Hell, you had given that expression yourself once or twice, enough times to know that nothing good, or rational, ever followed. You were saving the both of you an even more awkward conversation than the one you had actually worked out in your mind. 

“Good Morning Peter.” You responded in a singsong tone as you walked back to your room, hot coffee in hand. You could hear his resounding chuckle as you closed your door and prepared for the day. 

An hour later, as you were preparing to leave for class you got a text from the Iron Man himself. 

Stopping by later today for a little get together. Nothing major, just a few friends. Tell Pete

You rolled your eyes as you typed your response. For Tony, “little get together” meant the whole damn team. Here. In your apartment. You made sure to have a cleaning crew come by the tidy up while you were out. You were about to send a text to Peter when you literally ran into him while going to the elevator. 

He caught you, hands gently but firmly pressed against your shoulders as he helped you right yourself. 

“Woah, where’s the fire?” He questioned, warm brown eyes meeting your own. 

“Class, and then back early because apparently we’re having company tonight.” You explained to him as the elevator opened and you both walked inside. Peter was standing closer to you than usual but not close enough for you to comment on it so you let it slide, for now anyway. You had enough to deal with. 

That night you had come back to the tower at 6pm sharp. You were thankful that the cleaning crew was gone and left the place looking spotless. You had two hours to go before Tony and whoever else arrived so you took the time to relax and unwind. You played music as you took a shower and tried to pick out something to wear. You weren’t sure what you were in the mood for until you saw the perfect dress. 

It was a button down shirt dress that stopped mid thigh. The best part was that it was in royal blue, Peter’s favorite color. Just because you didn’t want to date him didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun. He sure had a hell of a good time teasing you this morning. It was time to give him a taste of his own medicine. You grabbed a deep tan belt to wrap around your waist and didn’t bother to do much with your hair. You painted your lips a deep cherry color before adding small diamond studs to your ears. You looked at the clock and it read 7:55, perfect timing. 

You came into the main area where Peter was sitting on the couch wearing a striped button down of his own and dark wash jeans. He stood at attention when you walked into the room and you could feel his eyes roam over your body. You gave him a coy smile and fluttered your lashes before the elevator door opened. Tony spilled out along with the team each carrying an assortment of food and drinks. 

Rolling your eyes you made your way over to Tony who was already directing where everyone should place the numerous pizza boxes and different cases of beer, hard cider, spiked seltzer, and other kinds of mixed drinks. Honestly, after the week you had, you were more than grateful for this but you would never let Tony know that. 

“I thought you said a ‘little’ get together.” You said, a twinge of a whine in your voice. 

Tony smiled as he threw an arm over your shoulder and gestured at the team, “There’s only like what, 12 people here. Relax.” He pressed a kiss into your hair before going off and grabbing a slice of pepperoni from Nat. 

You were happy to watch the lovely chaos unfold before you but then Bucky was walking towards you, a hard cider in his hand. 

“Ugh you’re the best I love you.” You moaned to your best friend as you opened the can and took a generous swig. Bucky was your best friend on the team and even though you were glad to be living in the city and thus close to campus, you were bummed that it meant you couldn’t see Bucky as much. 

“Careful sweetheart, don’t let Pete overhear ya.” Bucky teased, opening a beer for himself. You shook your head at his antics, because he knew how much it was on your mind. You, of course, had told him about it and he, being very unhelpful, told you that you could probably stand to get laid. 

“You know what, I take it back, I hate you.” You replied before going into the kitchen closet and pulling out a cooler. Bucky helped you load it up with ice before you took it to where the alcohol was. Bucky made some lame ass excuse about checking in on Steve as Peter headed in your direction. You silently cursed him as he walked away. 

“Mind if I take a beer?” Peter asked, gesturing to the brews in the cooler. 

“Aren’t you a little young Pete?” You teased, reaching inside to get him one anyway. 

“I’m old enough.” He replied brazenly before taking the beer from your hands, letting his fingers brush up against yours. 

Well I can dance with ya honey, if you think it’s funny, but does your mother know that you’re out?

Fine, two could play at this game. You, having finished your cider alarmingly fast, reached down for a spiked seltzer this time, fully aware of Peter’s eyes on you the whole time. 

“It’s getting a little warm in here don’t you think?” You questioned, as you lifted the cool can and pressed it against the column of your throat, moaning a little bit as you did so. Peter’s Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he watched you slide the aluminum across your skin and the trail of condensation it left behind. 

You took that feeling of satisfaction with you all the way to the couch where everyone else was chatting about their latest missions. 

“Ugh I wish I could be on missions with you guys, getting a masters is hard.” 

“But the work you’re doing is literally groundbreaking. I would argue that it’s more important than what we do on the field.” Steve replied, ready to cheer you up, and you were glad for it. 

“I agree, I think you’re doing great work.” Peter said casually, as he sat in the vacant spot next to you, opposite Sam. 

“Hey Pete, how’s freshmen year going? Meet any cute girls?” Sam teased and you internally groaned. You wanted to smack Sam. He knew what he was doing. 

“The girls at school don’t really interest me,” Peter began, placing a hand on your bare knee and rubbing his thumb back and forth across your skin, “I’m into someone else.” 

“Oh yeah.” Bucky teased, eyes narrowing in on Peter’s hand. “What about you doll? You into anyone right now?” Oh you could kill him. You could murder Bucky and you’re pretty sure nobody would stop you. 

“Well...there is someone.” You started, at this Peter’s hand stilled, waiting for your reply. 

I can chat with ya maybe, flirt a little baby, but does your mother know that you’re out?

“Really?” Peter choked next to you. 

“Mhm,” you started, “But I don’t know if I should give him a shot or not?” 

“And why’s that?” Bucky asked, knowing damn well what you were doing. You gave a small smile before you answered. 

“I need someone...with experience in certain things. And he's younger, so I don’t know if he’s qualified for the job. If you know what I mean.” You responded, letting the implication of your words hang in the air. 

Bucky choked on his beer and Peter removed his hand from your leg all together. You smiled. That should buy you some space, or so you thought. Twenty minutes had passed before you got up to use the bathroom. The team hardly noticed, they had picked a movie to watch and everyone seemed pretty glued to the TV. There was only an acknowledgement from Bucky to bring him another beer when you got back. 

You checked your phone in the bathroom and gave yourself a once over in the mirror before you planned to head back out. The only problem was that when you opened the door, a very determined looking Peter was standing on the other side of it. 

“Can we talk?” He asked, voice soft. You conceded and he walked into the bathroom with you before you closed the door again. You turned around to find him staring at you, brown eyes now a liquid amber shade. You didn’t say a word as he moved towards you until your back was pressed against the bathroom wall. He brought a hand up to rest it over your shoulder, pressed against the wall. 

“What are you doing?” You asked, gaze locking with his. 

“I think you know.” Was all he said in response, as he leaned in closer to you. You just shook your head as you rested your hands on the planes of his chest and then ran them up to rest on his shoulders. 

“What do you want Peter?” You asked again. 

“I want you. I want to kiss you.” He admitted. And maybe it was his honesty, maybe it was because you had been teasing each other all day, or maybe it was because you hadn’t had more than one drink in a while, but mostly it was because you wanted to see how far he was willing to take this, so you said, “then do it.” 

He pressed his lips to yours in a gentle, if not unsure, kiss. But you were having none of it. You made up your mind and you were done with his teasing. If he wanted to kiss then you were going to give him the kiss of a lifetime. You threaded your fingers through his hair and pressed your body against his own as you deepened the kiss. You felt his arms wrap around your waist and you moaned your appreciation against his lips. 

You gently coaxed his mouth open with your tongue and wasted no time in exploring every inch of him, enjoying the throaty moan that followed. You walked him backwards until he got the idea and sat on top of the toilet seat, with you in his lap. Your lips never left his as you undid the buttons on his shirt and started to kiss the newly exposed skin, appreciating the deep lipstick shade that marred his otherwise perfect complexion. You moved off of  his lap as your hands found his belt buckle and began to undo it. 

“Woah, are you sure?” He asked, his face flushed and hair mused from your hands. 

Take it easy, better slow down boy, take it nice and slow. Does your mother know?

You cocked your head to one side and rested your hands on his upper thighs before you spoke. 

“Isn’t this what you wanted? I can’t think of another reason why you keep teasing me.” You whispered in a husky voice, looking at him through your lashes. The picture of submission. Before he got to answer there was a knock at the bathroom door. 

“Doll are you still in there? I wanted to make sure you weren’t dead.” Bucky called from the other side and you had to fight the giggle that made its way up your throat. Of course Bucky knew what was happening here. You pressed a finger to your lips for Peter to be quiet before you answered. 

“I’m in the middle of something, I’ll be out in a minute.” You called back. You heard Bucky say something under his breath before you heard his footsteps recede back into the main room. Suddenly you got up from your knees and went in the mirror to wipe off your lipstick and fix your hair. 

“Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.” You mused to a confused Peter who had a mixture of a shocked and frustrated look on his face. 

“Wait, where are you going?” He asked as you unlocked the bathroom door and made for the hallway. 

“To watch the movie with the team.” You said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “See ya out there.” You gave him a wink before you walked back into the main room and sat down next to Bucky who gave you a knowing smile. Peter came out five minutes later and took a spot on the floor next to Tony who asked him where the hell he’d been. Pete looked like a goldfish as his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, looking for something to say, before he came up with an excuse and Tony went back to watching the movie. 

You were curled into Bucky’s side with his arm wrapped around you when you felt Peter’s eyes on you again, giving you a questioning look. You only gave him a smirk and a wink in return before turning your attention back to the movie. 

Does your mother know, does your mother know that you’re out?

#peter parker x reader #peter x reader #mcu fanfic #avengers fanfic #song fanfic #peter parker x you

[duskdragon39]

dust can’t settle: Commentary

I thought you were done with credits and notes and commentaries, I hear you say. You had an entire chapter dedicated to credits and notes. Why do you have more notes?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, @stellarfoam​ and I wrote a thing for @pod-together, got a whole ton of talented people to help us read it, and created the first ao3 relationship for the tag “Original Fear Entity Avatar Characters & Original Fear Entity Avatar Characters (The Magnus Archives)” except the tag was too long so the “the” got dropped. You can find that here. If, however, you have already read/listened to/somehow otherwise experienced our oc/self-insert-heavy original statement fic, welcome! I assume you’re here because you wanted to listen to me ramble on for yet another thousand words. If you’re not looking for that, well, here it is.

Under the cut, anyways

The World of DCS:

This is, very technically, the Magnus Archives fanfic.

I say technically, because nowhere in this does canon appear. It appears in the inspiration and base worldbuilding, but other than that... yeah no.

So this started when Kai and I looked at the worldbuilding TMA has for the U.S. and went “yeah there’s got to be more than one institute.” Thus the San Francisco Institute for the Unusual and Paranormal was born, along with its satellite offices in Denver and Chicago. Those same satellite offices also serve The Usher Foundation in DC. The branch offices collect statement, both written and recorded, and other research on the paranormal. Every five years, SFIUP sends along a couple of archival assistants to go and transfer those files to long-term storage in San Francisco or DC. The relationship between the branch offices and SFIUP can be best summed up as follows:

Chicago & Denver: Bigger archives are always bossing us around :( San Fran & DC: Alright but can you like, actually store your statements Chicago & Denver: No.... San Fran & DC: Okay, so...? Chicago & Denver: DON’T TELL US WHAT TO DO

Also, we said screw you to Smirke’s 14. There’s every chance that by defining and putting boundaries on the 14 he actually helped shape them into those roles, and we figured that different places would have different mergers and interpretations of those 14. Most of our statements merge or ignore the defined fears- Something There is Dark/Hunt/Eye, Hung is Vast/Buried, Beauty is Eye/Vast, Shasta Lake is just a weirdly big fish, Dragon’s Cauldron might be Hunt? It’s more just a “alright but wouldn’t it be COOL if...”

We also have another giant document about how the fears might manifest in different parts of America.

Because there is never an end to the worldbuilding.

The Car:

Some random facts about the car for your enjoyment: - It woke up because something something knowledge = power and Lee and Dusk (LD) kept reading it statements - So now the equation knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass applies, which is to say that the trunk is a transdimensional space that LD primarily use for storage of random things. - Also a flesh monster. - It’s just back there. - It tried to kill them at one point while crossing through Minnesota. They shoved it in the trunk. It just sort of. Remains there. For awhile. - The car did not approve. - In case your wondering, the car is more or less a traveling archive, and LD are its archivists. - However LD did not sign up for this, and so their road trip culminates eventually with them killing the car. It is a long and terrible battle, and the two of them nearly die. - I have, somewhere on this computer, right now, a recording of the Car’s lovely voice actor Lynx doing a variety of absolutely terrible voices, including petulant teenager and valley girl.

Statements:

We have two pages worth of statement ideas still that we’ll get around to writing someday. If we stop adding to them. Here’s the stories behind some of the ones that made it into the fic, and some other general things I wanted to talk about.

Chapter 1: Archivist’s Note, San Francisco, Shasta Lake:

The recording classification system does not have much thought put into it, but follows the following format

[Media type];[Supernatural Classification].[Year].[Month]:[Employee(s) responsible for the case]

So in the case of [S;F15.2015.06-09:LD)], it’s: Statement(s);Multiple fears.2015.June-September:Lee & Dusk

Is this a perfect system? Hell no. Did this get as deep into archive classification systems as I wanted to go for a 15k fic? Yes. 

The Shasta Lake statement pulled heavily from several sources, including the Shasta Lake fishing website, Wikipedia, and an actual news story about a couple of guys who saved a sturgeon from choking on a catfish. It’s kinda an amazing story, especially since the fish was actually about 8 feet long.

Things I don’t want to run into, thank you.

Chapter 4: Empty City, Gas

Empty city was, as mentioned in the fic, inspired by a statement @laurenbrightwing​ gave to us. And yes, LD absolutely have gone and explored graveyards and abandoned buildings for the Aesthetic of it. 

Gas, however, came from The Car, an absolutely beautiful TAU fic by Feneris. Don’t ask what it runs on. You don’t want to know. Chapter 6: Greenway

Fic-Dusk used to work for the Denver Branch Office before going to San Fran. The branch office never forgave them for their treachery.

Chapter 7: Hung

Eastman Chemical Company is an actual company stationed in Tennessee, and this statement was very heavily modeled after Mag 124: Left Hanging, except with more buried vibes.

Needs more buried should be a motto.

Chapter 9: The Dragon’s Cauldron

Guess who went down a research hole? It me. 

Research notes for this statement can be found here. 

Sources: Debunking the Myth, Fear of Yellowstone (U.S. National Park Service) Native Americans and Yellowstone National Park: Hot Springs, Legends and Sacred Places Explore the Fort Yellowstone Historic District (U.S. National Park Service) Whittesly Yellowstone Myths.pdf Timeline of Human History in Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Legend of the Sheepeater Indian Tribe in Yellowstone - My Yellowstone Park The History of our Local Tribe: The Sheep Eater Indians - Bitterroot Ranch Dragons in Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Chapter 10: Something There, Archivist’s Note 2

RIGHT. This is a fun chain of events that have taken about three years to mature into this story. 

Something There started off with a nightmare about something stalking me through my house. I was thoroughly creeped out, and then promptly forgot about it for the next day until I went to walk through my house at night and thought I heard something moving behind me. 

About a year later, my composition teacher told us to write a speech. I think the prompt was truth? 

So I went off about the thing supposedly living in my house, how no one would believe me if I told them, and implying that I absolutely was lying about the entire thing. My teacher loved it, and I got the highest grade I’d gotten that year for that assignment. (“They lauded me for that, did you know?”)

If that sort of vaguely existential crisis sounds like something you’d have fun reading, the full speech can be found here. 

A bit later, I read the same speech for an open mic. One of my friends there yelled out that she believed me- something that did make it into the final version. (“One of my friends told me she believed me, once. I… I just shrugged and told her that there wasn’t actually anything there.”)

It eventually made its way into this project via me trying to figure out what the hell to use for a more spooky statement and stumbling across the speech sitting in my google drive. 

I managed to scare myself to the point of not being able to go upstairs in the dark for about a week with the updated version.

 I wrote it. 

This seems counterintuitive.

Does this make this a self insert story? No. Statement giver here does not in any way respond like I would have in this situation, and they’ve since drifted even farther into full OC territory.

The “they can’t hurt you if you’re watching/if you see them comes from the lovely tma time travel fic “Strangers in the Dark” by Mayarene Rose. 

MouseK also gave us the closing line for the fic! It wraps it up so nicely, and I’ve already squeed about this in the fic itself, but they deserve more because the line’s amazing and I love it. Conclusion:

Thanks to everyone who gave us statements, inspired us, and helped us with the project. It’s been an excellent time, and there have already been discussions of either statements collected on this journey or short stories set in the same universe being written. 

Thanks for reading!

- Dusk

#podtogether 2020 #the magnus archives #statement fic #twisting roads #duskwrites #too many thoughts head full

[roadsofar2020]

Chapter 10: The Road Continues. . .

Jared and Jensen rhythmically raced back to the crossroads and, much to their mutual surprise, declared in harmonic unison, "We're ready." They turned their heads toward each other exchanging knowing glances. Returning to the task before them, Jared stated, "According to the script, we summon the thing and then get it to walk into a devil's trap." Jensen instinctively shook his head, "if this thing knows anything about the show, it will know that that is the basic plot to 'Crossroad Blues.' We don't stand a chance if we do that." His brown eyes gleaming with determination, Jared mused, "why don't we catch the demon off guard and send it back to Hell." Jensen put his hand momentarily on Jared's chest to prevent him from hastily implementing his quickly thought out plan. With a wrinkled nose and a raised eyebrow, Jensen stated in a bemused tone, "Hold on there, Walker Texas Ranger! What do you plan to do, karate chop it? Shouldn't you, I dunno, do some research first?”

Raising his eyebrow back at Jensen and cocking his head to the side causing a piece of hair to fall in front of his eye, Jared quipped, "You got a better idea?" Jensen nodded his head as he decisively described his plan, "We sneak over there in the shadows and then gank the mother!" Jared shook his head–"Aaaaaah–" he sighed, unamused, "how is that not exactly what I just said?" Jensen squinted his eyes and clumsily, but with hearty dose of charm, began to explain, "Yeah, but my plan has more of a–a" Jensen scratched the back of his head as the decrescendo in his voice made clear he knew he had backed himself into a corner, "has more of a hunter vibe to it." He added hand gestures and a wink for good measure, trying to rest the reliability of the tail end of his sentence solely on his charisma. Growing inpatient, Jared forcefully brushed his chestnut locks from his eye with an open palm as he pointed out the obvious with a twist of humor, "You know there are no cameras around, Dean ! You don't have to act like that!" In an irritated tone that sounded forced as if he were trying to hide a laugh, Jensen pointed his finger at Jared and raised his voice, "Well at least I'm not all–" with an exaggerated motion pushed back his short hair and continued, "with my hair while there is an apocalypse, or whatever, going on!"

Castiel positioned himself in the middle of the two, stretching his arms out to create an illusion of physical distance while he calmly interjected, "Do not take out your fear on each other. You can have your brotherly spats later after this is all done." As he spoke, Castiel glanced at the fully risen moon with earnest concern. They mutually felt the weighty truth of Castiel's statement and exchanged apologetic glances coupled with a smirk, which demonstrated to observant onlookers that they not only were mutually amused by their momentary distraction, but they knew that, whatever plan they chose to implement, they would prevail because they had each other's back. As the clock inched closer to the fateful hour, the two brothers began the familiar dance of working together to summon the crossroads demon. After completing the ritual, something clicked. Their fear subsided and they felt an intense feeling of belonging, as if they were destined to be in this place on this night. They firmly planted their feet on the ground and stood back to back, keeping a watchful eye.

From the nearby shadows echoed a tauntingly sultry voice, "What, you boys forgot to wear plaid for me?" Jared tugged on his shirt, hoping to buy time to think of a makeshift plan with a loveable awkward pause, and staring down at his shirt he muttered, "Hey, I like what I'm wearing!" Jared's purposeful distraction gave Jensen time to realize that he had recognized the voice, "Meg, is that you, or should I call you–" The voice responded, "Meg is fine. Yes, Kripke I had to rescue you and your sad puppy dog eyes." Kripke inched backward with an audible scraping noise, and his shoe dragged against the ground. Castiel held Kripke's shoulders and whispered, "I've got you."

"And you brought Castiel, I will get to you later," Meg laughed with a hint of innuendo. Castiel stood next to Kripke, the sweat on Kripke's brow and trembling hands made clear that this was the demon with whom he had made his deal. Jared and Jensen slid into the shadows, taking a quick route to Meg now that she was distracted by Castiel's disarming disposition. "As much fun as this whole thing is, everyone just . . . stop. I can see yoouu , nice try!" Meg cooed. Jared demanded, "You have to let him out of the deal!" Meg retorted, "Or, what?" Jensen chimed in and pointed at his temples, "Or we will send you back to Hell. I've got the incantation up here." Meg, still hidden by the shadows, replied, "Oh, boys, I thought you were smarter than that. Sending me to Hell won't stop the hellhounds from having your friend for dinner."

Out of options, Jared and Jensen stood around Kripke trying to protect him. They were willing to risk their safety by attempting to kill the hellhounds one at a time, if necessary. Meg was moved by the intensity of their love and stated in a noticeably sweeter voice, "Kripke was willing to sacrifice himself for you, and now you two are willing to do the same in return. It's so Sam and Dean of you both.” Jared and Jensen stood, poised and ready to fight, as Meg further explained, "Kripke, I saw how much you care about the show and these boys, and I knew you wouldn't give up until you thought you made a deal. But, I couldn't let you make a crossroads deal, so I intervened." At this point, Meg revealed herself from the shadows. Jared, Jensen, Kripke, and Castiel were all mutually taken aback as a noticeable silence fell over the crossroads. The wind ceased and the yellow-hued flowers that lined the outer edges of the crossroads bowed in her presence as she, with ballerina like grace, sat regally on her unicorn Clarence as she glided to the center of the crossroads. Everyone was speechless as Meg, with a genuine smile on her face, revealed her true identity, "I am an angel and I believe that inner weirdness is something we all should embrace. I'm sorry I had to instill such worry in everyone, but I had to keep my true nature secret so that you two could realize for yourselves that you are heroes, just like each and every one of us is in our own unique way."

Kripke breathed a sigh of relief, "You could have told me sooner!" Meg retorted, "And where would be the fun in that be? But now Jared and Jensen know what they are capable of, there is something I must tell you all. The dream demons have made alliances with other supernatural beings and collectively they are determined to come after the two hunters at the center of it all. But their plan does not stop there. And this is what I needed you to be ready to hear tonight. They are planning to seek vengeance on the fans of the show." Jensen exchanged a fearful glace with Jared before suggesting, "Can't we just enjoy this win for a moment?" Jared turned to Jensen and, weary from the magnitude of the day's events, they instinctively headed back to the Impala.

As the boys rested their backs against Baby, their faces maintained stoic expressions, but their blood raced with a storm of adrenaline. They desired a contemplative conversation of what had just happened and how everything has changed, but those words remained unspoken as they found more comfort in the silent simplicity of their shared reality. Jensen reached into the trunk of the Impala and pulled out two dark brown glass bottles. "Beer?” he asked holding a bottle to Jared's chest.

"Good thing you hid some real ones in there," Jared responded while grabbing a bottle by the neck and effortlessly twisting off the cap. As they stood side by side staring ahead at the grassy field that swayed with each breath of the crisp night air, every wordless sip bonded them closer to each other and to the road ahead.

"Do you think Crowley is really the King of Hell?" Jensen questioned breaking the silence. Trying to disguise the apparent fear in his voice, while his eyes involuntarily rolled in a reactionary moose-like fashion, Jared laughed "God, I hope not!" With a devil-may-care grin on his face, Jensen mused, "All of this for a song, a freakin' awesome song, but a song. Seriously?" In a heartfelt tone, Jared clarified, "Not for a song, for a fandom, for a family . We are part of the best fandom in the world, and they need us ." After a few moments, Jared's fear dissipated and a smile took up residence on his face. The expression might have seemed somewhat out of character for Sam, but Jared was not about to cast aside the beauty of his innate childlike sense of wonder no matter how far this road would take him and Jensen from their former reality. With full knowledge of both the irony and the weight of his decision, Jared grabbed hold of the trunk of the Impala and closed it with a definitive slam. With complete acceptance that the road so far has no end, he boldly looked Jensen in the eyes while declaring with passion and without a hint of regret, "We've got work to do."

To Be Continued (Forever). . .

#spnfamily #spn cast #SPN Supernatural SamAndDean TVshows Fantasy

[kweebtrash]

Greedy (M)

Sexual Liberation Ch 5-Kino/Hui

Pairings: Hui/Kino/Hongseok/E’Dawn x Reader/OC

Features Full Sex Scenes with: Hui, Hongseok, Kino, E’Dawn, Hyuna

Genre: College AU, Heavy Smut

Summary: College is about experimentation, being free, and having no strings attached fun. Hui, Kino, And E’Dawn have messed around with their best friend ever since last spring. Now that summer is over and they’re back in America, their sexual antics have intensified especially when everyone starts catching feelings. Throw Hongseok into the mix and it creates a swirling mess of emotions and an ultimate decision that might hurt everyone.

Warning: 

Features: threesomes, anal, public sex

Word Count: 5.4k

A/N: I sometimes flipflop between stage names and real names. italics are for past events. Updated edits are done for this chapter! Enjoy.

Sexual Liberation Masterlist

____

“Um...hey…” I swallowed hard, my throat still dry from sleep and nervousness building. “What’s everybody doing here?”

“Well we live here so….” Kino took a bite of the cereal from the bowl he was holding. “What are you doing here...in Hui’s room?” He asked with his mouth full.

I adjusted the scarf around my neck. “I need to get to class.”

“Oh, honey, it’s 8 at night.” Hui came over to me and smoothed out my bedhead. “You were so tired I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“HUI! I needed to go to class! It’s my dance class! My professor is going to kill me.” I groaned.

Hui wrapped his arms around me. “Sometimes you have to put yourself first. I’m glad that you slept in. Do you want to hang with us? I was just about to kick Hongseok’s butt in Mario Kart.”

Hongseok looked up quickly when he heard his name. His eyes caught mine for a second before darting over to Hui’s. “It’s hilarious that you think you’re that talented. Stick to singing.”

Time had passed and there was no reason for me to fuss over something I couldn’t go back and fix. I would just have to get chewed out next class. I needed to focus on what was going on currently- me being an animal trapped in a cage surrounded by the men that made my mind, body, and soul go crazy. Their curious stares were still kicking my nerves into overdrive and I wanted to shift the attention back to their brotherly banter. I patted Hui’s chest and sighed. “He’s right, Hui. You couldn’t beat anyone at Mario Kart. You’re always last place.” I teased. He made an adorable pout and whined at me for taking Hongseok’s side.“Besides, everyone knows that I’m the champ and no one has beaten my streak yet.”

Hyojong looked straight at me and had the audacity to final utter any communication my way. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?” That was all he had to say? My brows furrowed in anger.

“Why don’t you learn how to text people instead of just using them?” I spat back at him.

Hongseok traded glances between Hyo and I, a look of confusion on his face. “Am I missing something?” 

“No,” Hyojong replied. “It’s nothing at all.” He avoided looking at me now as my eyes were filled with hurt and bitterness.“

Hongseok seemed to take that answer though he was still unsure of the whole situation and I wanted to keep it that way. He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. “Well, you’re more than welcome to stay and play with us.”

I shook my head. “No, I wish I could but I should really get back to my dorm.” That was my blatant excuse for not wanting to be surrounded by the men I fucked and the one I wanted to fuck but couldn’t. “I've got a lot of things to catch up on.”

Hui rubbed my back gently, his overbearing nature poking through. “Do you want me to walk you back?”

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry about me.” I kissed his cheek before grabbing my backpack and dealing with the awkwardness of goodbyes. Seeing Hyo again really hurt, especially since he hadn’t even acknowledged me in class and his only words to me now were related to a game. It was too casual and felt like he didn’t give a damn about me at all. I couldn’t deal with it all at once. I was halfway down the hall when I felt a presence appear beside me. I glanced over and saw the devil himself which made me roll my eyes.

“Hey.” he said rather softly. I didn’t answer him and continued walking, increasing my speed a little. That didn’t deter him and he stayed quick on my heels. “They caught me up on what's going on with you.”

My jaw set in anger. “Nothing is going on with me. You’re the one that forgot we were friends and didn’t bother to talk to me all summer. Now we’re stuck in the same class and working on a stupid project together. I know where I stand with you, Hyo.”

“No, I don’t think you do but you sure seemed to have gotten back on track with Kino and Hui.” He quipped.

I stopped and whipped around, almost crashing into him. “Hui knows how to treat people kindly and is working towards rebuilding our friendship. I wouldn’t say I’m back on track with Kino just because we slept together. He’s still an asshole but you’re an even BIGGER asshole!”

“I am not an asshole. I was busy and I’m sorry that my life didn’t revolve around answering you back. I don’t want us to be fighting, ok? I do want us to be friends again. I don’t want you to think that you aren’t important to me because you are. It was a bit hectic back home.” 

“If you want to be friends so bad then start acting like it and stop acting like I’m an inconvenience.”.

He slipped his e-cig out of his pocket and took a deep drag off it. He exhaled slowly, the smoke pouring out of his nose and mouth. “I’m sorry. Things were...they weren’t easy for me to deal with when I went back. A lot of stuff went on that I can’t exactly talk about.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “i'm glad everyone has excuses.”

“Look,” He took another drag. “I’m ready to move on with you. We have good chemistry; musically, sexually, platonically. I know i messed up but would you please give me another chance?” 

That was a difficult decision. The rationality in my brain was telling me that I shouldn’t give in a third time but my heart and body wanted to fall into his trap. He was also right in some ways. When we made music together it was amazing. Our raps were pristine and his beats showcased how much of a genius he was. I loved the way we sounded. Avoiding him was going to be almost impossible with this project. I dreaded us working together but parts of me were still excited to spend time with him. I was basically defeated in the war against myself

“We'll work together for the sake of the grade, ok?” I stated, deciding that was the best solution I could come up with for now. I would try my damndest to not let it go further than that but there were no guarantees. ‘But once someone hurts me I'm not quick to trust them again.”

Hyojong took my hand in his and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “I’ll work hard, on the project and on getting you to trust me again. I promise.��

“Yeah, yeah….” I sighed and gave his hand a small squeeze before resuming my walk. He kept my hand in his and stayed beside me. “We can set up a day to work on it. Oh, I just thought of something. Have you heard from the others? Yuto, Shinwon, Yeo One, you know?” Our friends had returned back to their home countries once the spring semester was over. My conversations with them were sporadic at best due to the time difference but I was at least able to stay in contact with them.

Hyojong nodded and explained that he had classes with a few of them. There were fortunately gaps of time where we could band together and have lunch or practice which i was ecstatic about. “I'll make a group chat in Line for us and invite you.”

I smiled. “That sounds good. I can’t wait to talk to them. Yanan told me he’s been really sick ever since he got back to China and almost didn’t make it back for this semester. I checked in on him a few times but I still want to see him.”

Hyo nodded and stopped as we arrived at my dorm. We stood in front of the large glass doors, readying our goodbyes. “I’ll set it up tonight, ok?” He promised.

I nodded and pulled my keycard out of my backpack. “I'll probably be up all night since i took that nap but what else is new. My sleep schedule is always shit. Dance club is tomorrow too and hip hop club is the day after. I'll just die, it's fine.”

He chuckled. “You wont die. Just don’t wear yourself out so much. I don’t want you to get sick.”

“Is this you trying to care about me?”

He stepped closer so that our bodies were almost touching. “I'll always care about you, dumbass.” He took another drag and before I could even retort, his slender fingers wrapped around my chin and pulled me to his lips. He shared the smoke between us in a small stream, reminiscent of our first hookup. It still made my knees weak as did his slow kiss that followed. I pushed him away gently.

“D-don't do that.”

“Why?” He whispered in a seductive voice that was dangerously enticing. He knew exactly why he shouldn’t do such a thing but decided to tease me anyway. 

I swallowed hard. “You'll make me want to take you upstairs and do bad things to you.” I admitted.

“I like bad things. I especially like when you do them to me.” He tried to give me another kiss but managed to jerk my head away quickly.

“No! No.” I commanded both myself and Hyo. “I'm going upstairs now. Away from you. Go home, E'Dawn.” I swiped my card in quickly, not giving him a chance to protest or worse- seduce me, and ran through the doors getting away from him before i ripped his clothes off and fucked him hard.

____

Later on that evening, I was bent over my laptop typing up some parts of my research paper. My roommate was asleep and I was trying not to disturb her. Our room lights remained off and I was left to strain my eyes against the minimal light of my screen. Suddenly, my phone vibrated beside me and I saw chat bubbles pop onto the screen. Hyo was adding every one to the group chat as he said he would. It was slow going at first, as expected since it was late at night, but soon enough a few of them started to respond. Each time I got a new notification it was a moment of saving grace. My brain was starting to fry after working on this stupid paper for so long and I was only five pages in.

Another vibration signaled a new chat altogether. I recognized the tiny profile pic as Hongseok and my heart skipped a bit. Holy shit, what was I going to do?! Of course I accepted his request but I was nervous and unaware of what I should actually say.

Hongseok: Hi :)

uh, hey. How are you?

Hongseok: I’m good, what are you still doing awake?!

I cant really sleep now after that giant ‘nap’ i took this afternoon so I’m working on my paper. What r u still doing up?

Hongseok: Studying:( i have a test in two days and im worried i will fail.

He seemed so proper when he texted. I didn't want to look like a complete illiterate fool.

What class is it for?

Hongseok: History of European Music. It's kind of boring, ha ha.

I took that class. I think i still have my notes from it. Do you want to take a look at them? Also do you always type like that?

It felt weird for me to text so grammatically correct.

Hongseok: Like what?

Like all perfect with your grammar and everything.

Hongseok:  Oh, sorry. It just helps me keep up with my English. Sometimes I can be a bit rusty.

Oh, I see! I was just wondering. it’s kind of cute...

I hit send before I could take it back and internally hit myself. I wasn’t supposed to do that. I wasn’t supposed to flirt with him. Would he even see it as flirting? He didn’t respond for awhile and I started to panic, thinking that I had somehow offended him. I flopped back onto my bed, trying not to check my phone every so often but ultimately failing. Still nothing had come through so I decided to try and get back to my paper. I made it about three more paragraphs before my phone finally vibrated again. I scooped it up quickly and smiled when I saw his name pop up again.

Hongseok: Sorry, i was showering. But if you’d like we could try meeting tomorrow?

Ok, so he didn’t completely sound upset that i called him cute. It wasn't entirely an accident that I called him cute but him ignoring the comment in general was a little heart breaking.

Sure. I can meet you somewhere. I get out of class around 2?

Hongseok: Two works for me. Is the library, ok? We can go back to the top floor. 

Oh lord...the library.

Yep! That sounds good.

Hongseok: Amazing. Have a great night :)

That seemed to be the end of our conversation which also disappointed me. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted the outcome to be of our talk but at least we were getting somewhere as friends. A study session would be fine as a first hang out. I just had to keep telling myself that it was purely platonic.

_____

I sat uncomfortably staring at the table that I had been fucked on just a few days before. The ache in my hips was just starting to go away but the urge to feel Kino again seemed to be coming back. My mind swirled with memories of being bent over and feeling Kino’s cock relentlessly fill me. It was the most perfect sensation and- my thoughts were cut short when I heard a voice coming nearer.

“Sorry, i’m late.” Hongseok huffed as he pulled back the seat beside me and sat down. “My vocal lesson ran over and I rushed here are fast as I could. I didn’t want you to think I had forgotten about you.”

I cleared my throat and tried not to be too obvious in my blushing. I didn’t think I could ever be mad at him even if he was late. I didn’t mind at all and I was definitely grateful for the distraction from my barrage of Kino thoughts. “You didn’t have to rush. I was totally fine with waiting. I haven’t really been here that long anyway.” I pulled out my tattered spiral notebook from my backpack and set it between us. “Sorry it’s a little torn up but the notes should still be fine. If you need help studying i got you. I got a B.”

He chuckled and smiled that perfectly stunning smile at me. “I might take you up on that offer. I don’t know why I can’t seem to grasp any of the concepts. Maybe I’ve just been distracted or something.”

“Distracted?” I asked. “By what?”

Hongseok avoided me and instead looked down at my notebook, flipping through some of the pages. “Um...I’m not sure. Maybe just all the TA stuff…”

“Yeah, you do have a lot on your plate. But you’ll make it. I know you will.” I smiled at him and scooted my chair a little closer. “Here, what Unit are you on? I should remember most of what we discussed. Tell me what you need help with.”

Hongseok licked his lips and rubbed this palms over his thighs. I noticed our knees had touched briefly when I moved in closer but I didn’t really think much of it. What I did notice was the faint smell of his cologne lingering on the collar of his shirt, the same he had worn when we first met at the library. It was the perfect scent to get wrapped up in. I realized that he hadn’t said anything then and wondered if he had even heard me. “Hongseok?”

“Oh, right, yes!” He seemed to have snapped himself out of whatever distraction was capturing his attention. “So, I’m having trouble with this.”

We sat huddled together for hours as I explained whatever I could remember from the course. Every once in awhile i would catch him staring at me and I didn’t know what to make of it. I was over thinking about what I felt made me unattractive, wondering if that was why he was staring so much. I questioned if my breath stunk, if i needed more deodorant, if my hair was turning into a mess. I had been twirling it in my fingers it in for awhile now and had probably made everything frizzy. However, in the midst of studying, or conversations started veering which provided me a bit of relief. Questions about music class switched to comparisons of Avenger superheroes. He was such an Ironman fanboy and I argued that Hulk and Thor were much better. He said that I only liked them because Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth were attractive and I had to school him in my knowledge of comics. It only made him laugh and smile more which made my body seem like it was radiating warmth. That laugh was infectious and made my insides bubble with excitement. I didn’t want anything to end with him but soon after Hongseok noticed the time on his watch.

“I would love to stay and talk to you more but I’ve got to get going. I have one more class coming up in a few minutes.” He stood up and gathered the notes we worked on and stuffed them into his backpack. “It was um...” He swallowed hard. “I had a really nice time with you. Would you want to maybe help me study again sometime?”

I agreed a little too quickly, absolutely ecstatic that he wanted to hang out again. “Yeah, of course! I would love to. Just let me know when you’re free next.” Could I sound any more thirsty?

“Will do.” He gave me one last smile before getting up from his seat and heading over to the elevator. I stood behind and set my head on the table once he disappeared. Why was he so damn beautiful? I guess I was a masochist because I loved just piling on one exchange student after the other to make my life a living hell. I was also becoming a pathological liar to myself. No matter how many times I told myself not to get involved with anyone else I would still go and do it. Sometimes I wondered why I was trying to get my Bachelor’s Degree in music when I could just get it in “Roping Gorgeous Men into My Life that I Don’t Need” Studies. Tuition was free and I was already getting stellar grades.

____

I stood face to face with the bane of my existence, staring him down as i was ready to destroy his ego little by little. Our groups had been chosen by our dance club to do the usual after-lesson battle. We were the leaders and I was determined to have my girls go harder than ever. I wanted to drop him down a few pegs and remind him that he was nothing to me (no matter how much of a lie that was). I squatted down to stretch out my hamstrings and popped my gum obnoxiously. “Try not to get a boner, Kino. It’s just a dance battle.” i teased. 

“Try not to squirt all over the floor this time.” he spat back with a wink. I rolled my eyes at him and scoffed.

“Pig!” My teammate shouted to him.

“Shut it and pick.” He rolled his eyes and gestured towards the coin we had to make the decision for us. “Heads or tails.”

“Oh, we don’t need to pick.” We’ll go first. Song is ‘Swalla’. Watch and learn boys.” I said.

He scoffed. “Boring and overplayed.”

I ignored him as our fellow club member started the song. Room was made for the dancers and we settled into our beginning moves. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hui within the crowd. I hadn’t expected him to come but he was already clapping and cheering in excitement. It made me smile and become much more confident as I landed each body roll and pop. Kino was quick to retaliate with his own teasing moves that were a bit sharper than mine. He worked his way over to me, adding a few body rolls of his own while lifting his shirt and sticking his tongue out. I wanted to roll my eyes into the next century at his fuckboy ways.

Oh so you want to play dirty then?

When our team switched turns i danced closer to Kino, bouncing my ass and dropping low into a split, which got a lot of cheers from the crowd. I danced my way back up to my feet and bent over at my waist, shaking my ass a little more. The rules were that the teams couldn’t touch each other while dancing but we could sure as hell gets as close as we could. I could tell he probably wanted to smack my ass to get me to move away but had to be a good boy. I looked out into the crowd and saw Hui biting his lip. He probably just came here to see my ass move, that pervert. I pushed my hair back and ran my tongue against my lips, smirking because I knew we had won.

Kino took his last chance to tease me. He got close to me too, rolling his body and biting his lip as his teammates battled with mine. I wanted to push him away but also i wanted to wipe that smug look on his face by winning. The song ended and the jury went to the crowd. I gave a little wave to Hui who had his hands suspiciously covering the front of his jeans. He only smiled at me in acknowledgement.

My team was announced as the winner and I stuck my tongue out at Kino who had to swallow his crushing defeat. Our club president got everyone’s attention and announced that time was up. We were already running a little bit over and had to wrap up quickly. I went to my gymbag and pulled my crop hoodie off. I grabbed my towel and dabbed at the sweat on my forehead and neck.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Kino toss a bottle of water at me. I caught it and twisted it open, taking long, fast gulps. “You were ok, I guess. You rely on your fat ass too much.” Kino quipped. Hui came up to us quickly.

“Don’t insult her like that.”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry Hui, Kino likes it too he just won't admit it.” I felt Hui’s hand outline the curve of my ass. “Hwitaek, is that your way of flirting?”

He blushed and moved his hand. “Sorry.”

Kino looked around as the room was mostly empty now. He and Hui exchanged a suspicious look. “What?” i asked sternly, knowing they were up to something.

“Nothing...nothing.”Hui said.

“Ya'll are weird. Goodbye.”i grabbed my stuff and exited the dance room. It was pretty dark out and the way back to my dorm wasn't really illuminated enough. I hated coming this way, even with the short cut but i did it for dance. I adjusted my gymbag on my shoulder and browsed through my phone. I was hoping someone had posted a video of my team's dance so i could see how well i did. I was scrolling through our dance clubs instagram when i heard a crunch behind me. It sounded like a twig snapping. I swiveled around like an owl, trying to find out where the sound was coming from. But no one was behind me. I swallowed hard and started walking a little faster.

I could still hear the crunching behind me and i was ready to start running when i felt someone grab me. I tried to scream but my mouth was covered. I was picked up and taken into the more densely tree packed area, towards the back of the dance building. I tried squirming and wiggling my way free when i was suddenly let go and pushed up against the dance building.

“Did we scare you?” Kino laughed.

“I told you you shouldn’t have done that! She’s gonna kick your ass and I’m gonna laugh and watch.” Hui added.

I growled. “If you ever...EVER pull that shit again I will end you.”

Hui pulled me closer to him. “I’m sorry baby. I wouldn’t let him really hurt you.” He kissed my cheek gently.

“Ahh, c’mon, what’s a little fun?” Kino rubbed my hips gently. “Besides it was Hui’s idea to do something a little...public.”

I glared at Hui who held up his hand in defense. “I just- i mean i thought- i just wanted to…”

“He was just so turned on by the way you shook your ass.” Kino whispered in my ear. “And maybe i was too.”

Hui stepped closer and rubbed my thighs. “We couldn’t help ourselves, baby.” He placed a kiss flush against my lips. “Can we show you how much we enjoyed your dance?”

“I’m hot and sweaty and angry.” I said sharply. “What makes you think that I want to fuck outside in this woodsy ass shit behind this danky building? Hmm?”

“Maybe not, but we think you’d want to be filled and cum so hard you see stars.” Kino licked the shell of my ear and nibbled slightly..

“And you’d know that if i’m on my knees I’d do anything you’d like.” Hui said lowering himself down to his knees in front of me.

God, he looked so good down there. He was already sliding my leggings down my thighs, kissing them as they became exposed.  I was still mad as hell but Hui loved kissing every inch of my skin and had in fact spent hours doing it once until it lulled me to sleep. I wanted to curse him for exciting every nerve inside me. Kino was already shoving his hands beneath the band of my sports bra, pushing it up and over my breasts so he could cup them. The chilly night air hit my heated skin, making me shiver.

Hui took off my sneakers and made me step out of my leggings. His lips went to my center, kissing and nibbling at the fabric of my thong.

“Hyung, get her against the wall.” Kino commanded. Hui stood up and tossed his jacket aside before pressing me to the cold concrete. I pulled my sports bra up and over my head, tossing it by my gymbag.

“Don’t make me wait so long. You’ve both already pissed me off.”

Hui reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He tossed something to Kino and tore at a small packet between his teeth. He spit away the part he ripped off and Kino pulled my thong down quickly. Hui’s fingers slipped between my cheeks and i gasped as i felt the cool lube against my rim. I gripped Kino’s shoulder tightly as Hui’s fingertip rocked little by little until he pushed through. “Have you been practicing for me, love?” He cooed in between kisses to my shoulder blades.

Kino’s fingers teased at my other entrance. “You know she did, Hyung. I can almost see her on her bed with her legs spread. That cute vibrator you got her stuffed in her ass while she fingers herself.” he slid his fingertips up my folds and rubbed my clit for a second before stroking me again.

“Is that right, Baby? Do you still use the vibe i got you?” His finger was firmly pushed inside me now and my ass struggled to relax around it. I bit my lip and nodded.

“I got bored. No one to play with and I couldn’t travel like 7 thousand miles to fuck.” I grabbed Kino’s wrist and rocked against his fingers faster. “M-more.”

Hui’s second lubed finger pressed against my hole, squeezing in beside the other until he scissored me open. “Fuck…” He breathed. “Relax for me, baby, I want to fuck you good.”

I was panting already, my clit throbbing at both sets of fingers inside me. My body eased into a comforted lull wanting to hold off just a little longer until they were both inside me. Kino kissed at my neck, licking wherever he pleased.

“Your hickies are starting to go away, it’d be a shame if you got some more. You’d look like a cheetah.” Kino moaned against my sweat slicked skin.

“You do that and I’ll make sure I bite you so hard you bleed.”

“Damn, is that a threat or a promise, princess?” He said the pet name mockingly. I leaned back away from him, pressing my back to Hui’s chest and guided his head towards mine. He didn’t even hesitate to slide his tongue into my mouth and moan my name into the kiss. I gripped his dark locks as his third finger threatened to join the others. I winced into the kiss and mewled.

“Hui...ahhh…”

Hui drizzled a little bit more lube between my cheeks and his fingers went in even smoother. He gripped my shoulder with his free hand, pushing me down slightly so his fingers could dig in deeper. In front of me Kino had dropped his shorts, his cock suddenly bobbing free, a bit of precum glistening at the tip. “I’ll punish that mouth of yours, sweetness.” He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to his cock, completely bending me over between them.

Kino pressed the tip of his cock against my lips, forcing my mouth open to envelop him. I grabbed his hips, desperately trying to anchor myself as my mouth stretched open mimicking my gape. He was already rocking his hips which made him slide deeper into my mouth. My tongue tried to keep up, swirling around and rubbing against his veins but his grip on the back of my neck kept me in place. Hui’s fingers left me for a moment and i heard the clang of his belt buckle hit the ground. I had a little bit of time to catch my breath, popping off of Kino’s cock and swallowing down his precum. He tilted my head up and looked down at me. “We’re not done yet, princess.”

“Call me that one more time.”I said through grit teeth. “And you wont have a dick for me to suck.”

He gripped his base and traced the outline of my lips with the head of his cock. “Be a good girl and don’t scream, would you?”

I felt Hui spread my cheeks apart, the length of his dick sliding up and down my slick hole. He stopped every once in awhile to pressed against my hole, pushing in until i sucked in his head. As soon as Hui made his way in Kino resumed his invasion of my mouth. My moans remained trapped in my throat as both men rocked their hips into me. My hand made its way between my legs rubbing the wetness that was already building up. I shoved three fingers inside me, wanting to be filled in every whole. I wish Hyojong would suddenly appear and fill my pussy so i could be complete. My fingers would have to make due for now. But even that was taken away from me. Hui pulled my arms behind my back and pinned them in place.

“No, love. None of that.”

“You’re mouth is mine tonight and Hyung said I could have your pussy too.” He yanked my hair back so my mouth was freed of his deep thrusts. Then, in one fell swoop, Kino set my legs on his shoulders and lifted me up completely. Hui braced himself against the building wall, thrusting straight up inside me while my dripping center lay fully open for Kino to see. I was sandwiched between them, panting as my knees were practically against shoved to my ears. Kino quickly rolled on the condom, which i assumed that was what Hui tossed him earlier. He kept me propped up against them both and thrusted deep. I couldn’t help the scream that escaped me. Their thrusts were hard and fast and god did i love getting fucked like this. My head rolled back onto Hui’s shoulder where his labored breath ghosted across my nipples. Every inch of my skin felt so sensitive now, like i could cum at any moment just from one touch. I never wanted their cocks to leave me.

“I want to cum so bad,” I panted. “Please.”

I could hear Hui’s hips slap against my ass as his thrusts got rougher. “I know, love. But we want you to feel so amazing first. We know you love being gaped open like this.”

I nodded quickly as i bit down on my bottom lip, tearing it open. I could feel myself tiptoeing closer to the edge. My slick sounds of Kino fucking my wet heat filled my ears. My thighs quivered and I heard Hui whisper, “Your ass is so fuckin’ tight for me.”

“She gonna cum everywhere, Hyung. Just look at her.” Kino swallowed hard, trying to keep up the facade that he wasn’t going to burst at any minute either. Hui was the opposite. His face was already twisted in pleasure, cock swelling and stretching me further.

“Yes!”I hissed. “Kino, baby, make me cum. I want both of you to make me cum!”

Kino’s thrusts were becoming sporadic and wild and Hui was following suit. My nails dug into my arms Hui was still holding captive, my toes curling in the night hair, and my lungs burning as i moaned loud. My orgasm came gushing out off me seeming to never end. My body seized and thrashed against them as i felt them cum with me. Kino stayed inside me for a moment until his arms couldn’t support me any longer. My lower half fell instantly, with only Hui keeping me from falling completely. Kino rolled onto the building panting heavily.

I shivered and Hui kept me close, petting my sweat drenched hair and whispering that it was ok. He slipped out of me slowly so i could lay flush against his chest. His heart was racing with no sign of slowing down. I kissed him gently and pushed his hair back.

“Get a room,” Kino panted. He made his way over to me and kissed my shoulder. “You ok?”

I parted from Hui momentarily and kissed Kino. He nursed my bleeding lip gently. “Hmm, you bit your lip hard.”

“Yeah well...shit happens. I don’t think I can walk.” I said.

Hui finished buckling his belt and putting on his jacket. “I’ll carry you to your dorm.”

Kino looked down at his drenched shirt. “You’re lucky I have some more clothes in my gym bag. You soaked everything.”

My face turned bright crimson. “I didn’t mean to, ok?”

Hui laughed as he helped me to get dressed. “Don’t listen to him. We love it.” Once i was sensibly dressed for travel back to my room, Hui hiked me onto his back, giving me a piggyback ride while Kino carried our gymbags.

Kino tossed the used condoms in the trash as we headed back to my dorm. “Is your roommate home?”

I could barely keep my eyes open. “I have no idea. But honestly she’s probably at Bible study or something.”

“Where’s your key?” Hui asked me. I barely motioned to Kino who was already digging through my bag.

“Got it.” He swiped into the building and I didn’t even notice the awkward stares we were getting. The elevator ride was short and down the hall was my room and most importantly my bed. Kino swiped the key and flicked on the light and illuminated the empty room. Hui laid me down on my bed and rubbed my legs.

“Do you want us to stay here a little bit?”

I nodded, still not really opening my eyes. Kino lifted my legs up so he could scooch into my bed. He propped himself against the wall and set my legs back down on his lap. Hui occupied the top of my bed, lay my head in his lap. I felt their caresses slowly work across my body easing me into a deep sleep.

#i was kinda proud of this one? #i mean i think it was decent and i needed to build up some plot #lmao whats plot #edawn scenario #edawn #edawn smut #pentagon smut #pentagon fanfic #pentagon #pentagon fanfiction #pentagon hui #hongseok smut #hongseok scenario #hongseok pentagon #kino smut #kino scenario #pentagon kino #ptg #hui smut #hui scenario #hui pentagon

[thatonelucky]

Twist of Fate - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is here! Sorry that it took so long! In case you forgot the previous few parts here’s the link to my A03 format of this and the very first one on here!

A03 

Part 1

               Jughead still couldn’t quite grasp the idea of conducting the interview normally. He usually scrutinizes his possible employees to see how well they crack under pressure. He didn’t want to do this with Betty, he already knew she was an amazing writer from all of the old Riverdale articles written about her. He did do his research before letting her live in his home, only a fool wouldn’t.

               “So, Miss Cooper, what made you interested in applying for this job?” Jughead read the first question, clearing his throat slightly and leaning back into his chair with ease. Betty’s warm smile remained etched across her features. Opening the seemingly full binder she had brought in with her, she started to speak.

               “I’ve had a passion for writing and journalism since I could remember. My parents own their own newspaper back in my home town. It was called The Register. Most summers I would intern there, learning the craft some might say. In between that I worked at a local diner and kept my grades up. Speaking of grades, here’s my GPA, grade sheet and certificates to prove that I didn’t just print off a random sheet.” Betty spoke fluidly and confidently, shocking Jughead in the process at how professional she really could be. “I also have some of my previous journalistic work in case that was needed.” I guess that explains why her binder is so full.

               “Miss Cooper, I have to say I’m quite impressed. Speaking from a professional viewpoint, it looks like you have incredible potential. A few more questions and then I’ll be out of your hair. May we proceed?” Jughead swiftly grabbed the pile of papers Betty had slid across the desk, flicking through them promptly. “What would you say are the best features you can apply to a workplace?”

               The interview continued like that for another 10 minutes before both roommates stood up and shook hands firmly. Betty had thought the interview had gone well, considering it was her roommate who was living a secret double life as a multimillionaire. Jughead too, thought it had gone well. He really wanted to hire Betty as one of his editors. It was a big job role that she hadn’t signed up for; she came to work as a basic journalist.

               “Miss Cooper, I don’t want to step out of line here. But we have another job role available and I personally think it would fit your abilities a lot better.” Jughead paused briefly to examine Betty’s face. She looked happy but something in her features grimaced. “It’s not because you’re my roommate either. I would just like you to apply for the editor in chief position instead of just a reporter. You still get to write your own pieces.” Jughead rushed out. Betty instantly lit up.

               “Of course sir, I’ll look forward to that call back.” Betty gathered the rest of his things and walked towards the door. Just as she opened the door she span around. “By the way, as Betty, what did you want for dinner tonight? I was thinking spaghetti Bolognese but I didn’t know if you liked it?” She said hopefully. Jughead smiled as he sat back in his seat.

               “I like Bolognese a lot, Betty. I get off work at half 4, we can talk more then. I’m sure there’s a lot you’re confused about.” He spoke slowly, making sure to keep eye contact with her the entire time. Betty’s cheeks were flaming, it’s not every day your hot roommate/possible boss/best friend’s brother stares into your eyes for more than 3 seconds. Betty swiftly nodded and made her way out of the door.

               “See you later Holden Caulfield.” Betty teased, shutting the door before he could respond. Little to her knowledge, those words made Jughead sit back in his chair and smile like an idiot. This mere interaction threw his mind off of schedule for the rest of the day. He reached over and pressed the microphone button to contact his assistant.

               “Hey Lydia, yeah, could you cancel all of the editor interview please? I think we’ve found our girl.” He smiled yet again, dreaming that the next few hours would pass by in a blur. He doesn’t know why, but being with Betty is so easy. Even if he’s known her for less than a week, he feels like he’s known her forever. He practically has, Veronica blabbed nonstop about her ‘internet bestie’ being the walking example of perfection. Jughead couldn’t agree more.

               Later on, sat at the table over steaming plates of Bolognese and mugs of hot tea, the pair sat in a comfortable silence. Jughead wanted to explain everything to Betty. The least she deserved was a bit of intel, but his mouth couldn’t form the right words. This is the first time he’s wanted to pour his heart out to someone. The damaged loner strikes back. Betty seemed to sense exactly what he was thinking.

               “My parents were overbearing. My mother only cared to make me perfect and my father was a liar. My sister got knocked up and ran off with her ginger devil of a boyfriend when she was 17. After she left she never bothered to get a hold of me whilst my parents worked harder to ‘fix’ me. The only friend I had was Kevin, my gay best friend. My whole high school life I was bullied for being Polly’s sister and for being Elizabeth Cooper in general.” Betty said in one breath, not looking phased at all as she chewed on another bite of her dinner. Jughead’s eyes were wide with disbelief at her outburst. “We all have secrets we want to hide Juggie, but the sooner you say them out loud the sooner they’ll stop weighing you down.” Betty spoke, taking a long sip of her tea afterwards.

               “My dad was an alcoholic and my mother was a selfish bitch. My baby sister was the only sweet thing in my world. My entire childhood consists of me holding my sister close whilst my parents fought nonstop. We both got put into the social system and separated. 6 years later I ran away from my 3rd foster home and went back to Greendale. There I saw my parents with my little sister looking happier than ever and my dad was sober. Hiram Lodge saved my life; he took me in when I had nothing. I was a malnourished kid freezing in the streets and he took me in like I was his own son. They cared for me. So, I got a name change and became a Lodge. Ronnie and I hit it off instantly. She might as well be my blood.” Jughead scrambled for a while, trying to find the right words to portray his story correctly. He avoided Betty’s gaze, scared senseless at how she would react.

               “Juggie.” Betty cracked out, her voice wracked with emotion. He looked up shamefully to meet her warm and welcoming eyes. They were filled with tears, some escaping down the porcelain skin of her face. Her hands reached out to cup his face, bringing his head higher up. “You are so brave. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Betty sternly spoke, the emotion still clear in her voice. Jughead wanted to believe her, but he was nothing. Before he could respond Betty got up from her seat and walked to him, wrapping her arms around him. She pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing his back reassuringly. Only then did Jughead start sobbing. He’s not a usual crier but when he does have the odd occasion, it’s a sob.

               They stayed like that for a while, finding comfort in holding each other close. They could’ve stayed in that moment forever if not for the front door bursting wide open. The culprit was, of course, Veronica Lodge. This time, sporting a plaid red mini skirt, a regular black top, her pearls and cute heels that were probably worth more than a month’s rent.

               “Hola, tis I, V Lodge.” She strutted into the kitchen, wavering slightly as she noticed Jughead and Betty’s teared up expressions. Archie followed her in suit, sporting a regular red shirt and black skinny jeans. “Wait what happened? Are you okay?” Ronnie rushed over, pulling her brother and her best friend into a bone crushing hug. Betty chuckled slightly, pulling back so she could speak to the raven haired girl in question.

               “I told her everything.” Jughead mumbled. Veronica nodded lightly, pulling him in a little harder. She knew nothing more needed to be said tonight. As chairman of the fun committee, she deemed herself responsible for making sure tonight would be the funniest night of their boring lives.

               It started off by getting into their comfiest pajamas and playing Just Dance on the Xbox. That, obviously, ended with Jughead falling gracefully onto the floor and Betty beating him by almost 2000 points. Veronica was the champion by the end, Jughead coming last. Betty wasn’t too caught up over being 2nd, she knew she would be Sing Star. Which she did, followed by Jughead coming last, yet again. His excuse was one he couldn’t say aloud, but he was so blown away by her angelic voice. He was entranced. Veronica noticed this and added it to the list of things she needed to ambush him about.

               “Aha! Something I’m finally in the lead for. Have fun in the clutter zone you low budget Lewis Hamilton.” Jughead boasted, clearly winning at Mario Cart. The only talent he’s shown to possess so far is button smashing. Even if he had failed miserably at everything, he had an amazing night. Betty being there made it 100x better than any of the other game nights the 3 had before. She made everything better. At around 10pm Archie and Veronica had left for their apartment whilst Betty and Jughead cleared up the remaining dishes and stray pillows.

               “Tonight was really fun Juggie. I’m glad I met you guys.” Betty spoke warmly to Jughead, leaning against the sink and watching him put the leftover food in the fridge. He turned around and smiled a genuine smile at her. The raven haired boy closed the fridge door and walked over to Betty, pulling her into a soft hug. Betty accepted with open arms, resting her head in the nape of his neck. Something about this felt right, they both felt it. The spark igniting in their hearts. Neither of them acted on it that night. Instead, they went to their respective beds and laid their heads. Both were dreaming of the endless possibilities in their future together, not knowing how true those thoughts would become.

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #bughead fanfic #jetty #betty and jughead #betty cooper #jughead jones #bughead au #riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale fanfic

[hamilficsfordays]

New Beginning—Chapter Three: Too Much

Disclaimer: I don’t know Lin, nor do I know any of his friends or family.

Also posted on Ao3

Summary:  Alexa is starting to become dependent on Lin, all the while mysteriously isolating herself from Vanessa. When she’s first exposed to time without either of them, a harsh reality is presented.

Rating: M. NON-CON TRIGGER WARNING

Author’s Note:  If you’d like to avoid that scene, I’ve taken the liberty of putting the line directly before and after the scene in bold lettering. If you don’t want to read the scene, don’t read between the bold lines and you’ll be fine. There are references after the fact, just so you’re aware.

Words: 6533

Askbox / Masterlist / Chapter Two / Chapter Four

With the beginning of August, and Hamilton’s Broadway debut closing in, Lin wasted no time slaving away, spending time to perfect the show down to the very last detail.

When he wasn’t caught up in Hamilton, his efforts shifted to being a better father and whatever that may have entailed. This week, it was tireless research on immunodeficiency. After nearly a month of having Alexa as a part of their family, he seemed to know virtually nothing about her disease. Since Vanessa was usually at work for more than fifty hours a week (not including the time she spent working at home), he was the only guardian around her most of the time. If something went wrong, being as clueless as he was would not be helpful.

It was Saturday evening when he was particularly caught up in research, his understudy Javier Muñoz set to perform that night in his place. Sebastian was already asleep, Vanessa was at work in her office.

Alexa joined him silently in the living room, a sweatshirt and leggings on, wrapped in a blanket. Her phone was in one hand, a pair of headphones attached and keeping her attention, a small blue device with a large syringe on top in the other. There was a tube attached to the device that vanished underneath her sweatshirt. She sat on the far end of the couch, Lin across the room on the loveseat.

“What are you watching?” he asked, loud enough for her to hear through the headphones. She pulled one aside.

“Oh, um, I’m just going through my cue on Netflix. I found this show called The West Wing. It looks pretty good but I’m only about two episodes in—what?” Alexa paused when she saw Lin’s face change into an excited smile.

“You do know that’s my favorite show of all time, right?” he told her, setting his laptop aside in search of the remote for their smart TV. “What part are you at? We should watch it together.”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” she insisted. “Don’t let me stop you from… whatever you were doing.”

“I can multitask, I was just researching your immunodeficiency.”

“Why would you do that?” she demanded, glancing down at the machine attached to her, confused if not shocked by the gesture.

“Because I care.” he reminded her.

“You mean unlike every other foster parent I’ve ever had?”

“Exactly.” he smiled. “You can make fun of me all you want for being proud of that, but I am.”

Alexa couldn’t help but smile. “Just turn on the show so I don’t have to hear you brag about it.”

-

They had managed to make it through five more episodes of the show before Alexa’s treatment had finished, though a few unwanted side-effects had already kicked in.

“One more?” Lin asked as Netflix cued up the next episode to run in twenty seconds.

There was no response. He glanced over at his daughter to see that her eyes were still open though she chose not to respond. She was curled up in the blanket, shivering every so often.

“Lex?” he asked again, moving closer to her. “Are you okay?”

She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut as she shook her head in response.

“What’s wrong?”

“I fucked something up.” she finally said, pulling the device out from under the blanket. The syringe was empty and the device off, signaling that her treatment was complete. “I’m supposed to pause the treatment for like five minute intervals, but I forgot. I was distracted by the show.”

“That’s okay,” he attempted to reassure her. “Do you know that you’re shivering right now?”

“I’m so cold.” she managed back, shivering again. “Oh my god, am I gonna die?”

Lin put a hand against her forehead, feeling how warm she was in contrast.

“You’re not going to die, but I think you may have a little bit of a fever.” he warned. “We should probably pull that tube out—”

“Bandages.” she reminded him. “They’re in the bathroom.”

“I’ll just go grab a few—” As he stood up, Alexa reached out for his hand, pulling him back.

“Please don’t.” she begged, squeezing his hand.

Though Lin had no firsthand experience with anxiety disorder, he could tell his daughter was on the verge of a panic attack. Her occasional shivering had turned into constant shaking as she tried to hold herself together.

“I’m right here.” he assured her, squeezing her hand back. “You’re okay.”

Lin sat on the floor beside the couch, not letting go of her hand. Considering the strength of her grip, letting go didn’t seem to be an option even if he had wanted to do so.

“Hey Vanessa,” his voice projected down the hall to his wife’s office, where she pulled herself away from the desk and out to the living room.

“What’s going on?” She asked, catching sight of her daughter shaking on the couch. “Is she okay?”

“Everything is fine.” He hoped the calm presence that he was exhibiting would be enough to signal Vanessa to do the same. Thankfully, she caught on.

“Could you grab some bandages and bring them over here? In fact, just grab the box.”

“Yeah, sure.” She scurried off to the bathroom, grabbing the box from the cabinet underneath the sink and rushing it back to the living room.

There was a cry from the hallway catching everyone’s attention.

“Shit,” Lin whispered, taking the box from Vanessa. “He must’ve heard me call you.”

“I’ll take care of him.” she offered. “Stay here.”

While V left to take care of Sebastian, Lin stayed behind to be with his daughter. He slowly pulled the blanket aside, cautiously avoiding sudden movements, and pushed up the hem of her sweatshirt to reveal three small needles embedded underneath her outer layer of skin just above her hip bone. He pulled each of them out and replaced them with a bandage.

“Really weak…” Alexa managed through uneven breaths.

“Mija, you have to breathe evenly.” He reminded her, taking one of her hands and placing it against his chest. “Follow me, okay?”

The teen nodded slowly, eagerly trying to match her breathing rate with his. She did, feeling her skyrocketed heart rate drop ever so slightly.

“Do you think you can walk?”

“I-I don’t know.” she admitted.

Slowly but surely he helped her off the couch, supporting most of her weight as they relocated to her bedroom. When she was safely in bed Lin opted to stay with her, sitting beside the bed on the floor. She still insisted on holding his hand, though her constant shaking and uneven breathing had been reduced to occasional shivering and steady breathing.

He had every intention of staying beside her until she fell asleep, but when he was woken up by Vanessa a few hours later only to discover that he’d fallen asleep leaning against the side of Alexa’s bed, he debated if having done so was a step too far.

“At least she knows you’re there for her.” Vanessa said once they’d stepped out into the hallway, closing her bedroom door.

“I just don’t want her to become too dependent.”

They headed down the hall to their own bedroom, sliding into bed beside one another.

“What’s gonna happen when she starts school in September?” he prompted. “We can’t be there for her all the time. She’ll occasionally need to whether a storm on her own. I’m not sure she knows how to do that.”

“We could always ask you mother for advice.” Vanessa pointed out. “Before we discuss school though, we should probably settle on a school for her to attend.”

-

As July pressed on, Lin and Vanessa came face to face with a very serious decision and a very strict deadline to make it.

They had searched the city, desperately seeking the best possible school to send Alexa to. They knew it had to be private—though tuition would be steep, they would only have to pay it for two years—and that it had to have a good arts program. It was the only way her heavy interest in playwriting would be encouraged academically.

“Okay so, we’re down to two options.”

It was a week before Hamilton opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The couple sat in Lin’s office, laptops out and coffee in hand to make a final decision. Both Sebastian and Alexa were asleep, giving them the space to put their heads together.

“Right. First is Brearley.” Vanessa announced, reopening the tab to the school’s website.

“All-girls, which you know I’m a fan of.” Lin offered. “The less shitty teenage boys around to hurt her, the better.”

“Yes, but it is all the way out on the Upper East Side which makes commute a huge hassle coming all the way from the Heights. I have enough trouble getting to court downtown. Especially during rush hour.”

Lin shrugged. Distance was another negative peg for Brearley. Travelling from so far uptown to the Upper East Side would mean a lot of buses and a lot of transfers that would make the morning commute inconvenient.

“Still,” she added. “It’s a top notch school. I think Tina Fey’s daughters go there. Not to mention, their college prep is really great too.”

“Right.” Lin nodded slowly. “But their arts program is kind of bleak. It mostly focuses on music. Which is great, but it’s not Alexa’s area of interest.”

“What are we up against?” Vanessa asked

“Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.” Lin started, changing the tab on his own computer.

“Upper West Side, so commute is really simple.” he paused, wincing at the next thought. “But they’re co-ed. Which means shitty teenage boys.“

“They’re also a great school, and with a similar college prep system.” Vanessa added, taking a swig of her coffee.

“Their arts system also has a more profound Drama program. This has to be it, right?” Lin questioned.

“At $47,000, it’s two-thousand more expensive a year than Brearley.”

He sighed. “I mean at this price, what’s two-thousand more dollars?”

“Lin,” she grabbed his free hand, squeezing it. “We may have to cut corners to make this work.”

“Well if Hamilton does as well on Broadway as In The Heights did, we might be able to scrape by.”

“Sweetie,” she tried.

“We’ll be fine.” he insisted. “Hamilton will do fine. It did fine at the Public—.”

“You know I want nothing but success for you. But there’s always a rare chance that these things don’t work out like you thought they would.”

“But if they do—”

“Then we pay tuition for this year, set aside tuition for next year, and keep going. That’s great.”

He sighed again, groaning as he rubbed his eyes. “What do we do now?”

“We pay for this year and we budget until we see how Hamilton turns out. I’ll pull a few extra cases at the firm. We can make this work.”

As fortune would have it, their off-Broadway tickets sold out almost immediately. In time, Hamilton quickly became an overnight sensation. Ticket prices soared, seats for their Broadway shows sold out months in advance and, much like at the Public Theatre, notable names came out in droves to see the show.

With this popularity, Lin-Manuel Miranda very quickly became a household name. His once quiet days at home writing were now spent doing interviews, photo shoots, and and press for Hamilton’s upcoming opening on Broadway. Time typically spent at home with his kids now had to be split with his busy schedule.

Coming home from a Sunday afternoon matinee, Lin stepped into his living room only to find him a significant collection of shopping bags scattered about the room.

“What the…”

Alexa stumbled into the living room then, picking up a few bags before she noticed Lin in the doorway.

“Oh, you’re back.”

“What’s going on?”

“Your mom took me shopping.” she explained. “She’s in my room trying to figure out how we’re going to fit all of this in my closet. The woman has amazing taste… but it’s like the shopping was never ending. I left owning no bathing suits and came back owning five.”

“Wait, why did you go shopping with my mom?” Lin picked up a few bags, glancing in them before setting them down. “She goes way overboard when it comes to clothes shopping.”

“You weren’t here.” she reminded him. “Neither was Vanessa.”

He sighed. He couldn’t exactly argue that.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Alexa opened her mouth to speak, hesitating for a moment as she placed the bags in her hand back down on the floor.

“I’m not…” she sighed, groaning in frustration as she struggled to get the right words out. “I’m not great at expressing feelings.”

Lin was silent, waiting for her to continue.

“I get that… I understand that you’ve created Hamilton and it’s this big, successful thing that a lot of people like, but I didn’t ask to have a famous parent and still I’m getting all of the negative repercussions of what that entails. I don’t see you anymore. You’re not here. You’re off doing interviews or photoshoots and I get it, that’s what you have to do, but you can’t just leave your family behind at the same time.”

“Lex I’m so sorry,” he tried. “This all kind of happened at once and I’m still trying to work on my time management skills—”

“Just be a father.” she interrupted him. “That’s all I want.” She picked the bags back up, turning to head back to her room. “Oh, and something else,”

He glanced at her curiously.

“I don’t know how long this public interest is going to last,”

“It should die down soon.” he suggested. “Usually people are pretty hyped in the beginning, but once you’ve been running for a while it dies down pretty quickly. Things will go back to normal soon.”

“Whatever it is or however long it lasts, just leave me out of it. I can’t stand the idea of being related to someone famous. People always befriend you because they want something. Money… attention… tickets to Hamilton. I’m not about to be taken advantage of just because you’re a good writer.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s fair. I’ll leave you out of it.”

“Okay,” she sighed, dropping the bags again to pull her hair back into a high bun with the hair tie on her wrist. “That sucked.”

“I’m proud of you.” he smiled. “You expressed how you were feeling in an appropriate matter.”

She rolled her eyes. “Rare, I know. Don’t expect that to happen all of the time.” She picked up the bags once more. “Since you’re actually home for more than five minutes, can you help out?”

He picked up bags as instructed, following her into her room.

-

Fall was approaching, the beginning of the school year soon to arrive as well. Once the decision had been made (and down payment sent), of where she would attend school that year, Alexa changed her facebook information to show the school she would be attending that fall, Columbia Prep.

It drew a lot of attention, mostly from other students at that school. She was a recognizable face, the girl who hangs out with the cast of Hamilton, the hottest show in New York. The girl who was the daughter of the creator. A big deal.

It was August sixth, the date circled on the calendar as opening night for Hamilton on Broadway.

That morning, as she was being briefed on her dreaded babysitting duties for the evening by Vanessa, an unexpected facebook message caught her attention.

[Hey, Are you Alexa? You’re going to Columbia Prep in the fall, right?]

Vanessa was delivering instructions to her daughter while feeding Sebastian at his high chair in the kitchen, Alexa alone with her macbook in the living room. Desperate to discuss anything else, she started typing back.

[I am… who are you?]

The stranger was quick to respond.

[Oh, I’m sorry. That was rude of me. I’m Eric Westley. I go to CP. I’m the varsity lacrosse captain. I don’t suppose you’re into sports?]

With that short description, Eric sounded exactly like the type of boy Lin had lectured her to avoid. Athletes. She remembered him saying. Especially with typical rich white boy names like Eric or Eric or Nathan… they only want to take advantage of you. Avoid them at all costs.

She was usually one to heed Lin’s warnings, but being exiled from the night’s events, she was feeling rather rebellious and chose to respond.

[Not unless you count University of Alabama college football… and only by force tbh. I’m sorry, but how do you know me?]

[Then I guess I should say Roll Tide. Aren’t you Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new daughter? The guy who wrote Hamilton?]

Reading that last line, her interest vanished.

[Whatever you’re trying to get out of me, I’m not interested. Thanks for wasting my time.]

Eric could tell he’d lost her faster than a dying patient’s pulse. He was quick to defend his actions.

[Woah hold on… I didn’t mean it like that. Listen, I get what that’s like. My dad’s an actor… it always feels like people are trying to get shit from me. I just figured you could relate.]

Alexa hesitated. The idea of knowing someone who had similar experiences was comforting at the very least.

[I guess it can’t hurt to meet new people if we have something in common.]

[Exactly. Hey speaking of meeting new people, do you have any plans tonight?]

“Lex, are you even listening to me?”

The teen glanced up from her computer, Vanessa standing over her, half dressed, a jar of baby food in one hand, her cell phone in the other.

“Sure,” she muttered back.

“What did I just say?”

Alexa rolled her eyes. “Could you put on a shirt while you’re talking to me, Vanessa? This isn’t a Victoria’s Secret fashion show.”

Vanessa scoffed, headed back to her bedroom to put a dress shirt on.

“Not like they’d ever invite you anyway.” the teen mumbled just loud enough for Vanessa to hear. Once she was gone, Alexa turned her attention back to the screen in front of her.

[No plans. Why?]

[A bunch of upperclassmen are having a party tonight. It’s just people from CP so you’ll meet plenty of people who go there.]

[Sounds like fun.]

[It’s kind of low-key though, so don’t tell anyone. The address is 2 E 61st St.]

A quick google search revealed a luxury hotel on the Upper East Side along Fifth Avenue.

[Can I take a wild guess and say you have your own suite there?]

[Didn’t I say it was lowkey? ;) Be there at midnight. I’ll meet you in the lobby.]

“Lex, I’m serious!” Vanessa was back, fully dressed for work this time.

“Could you not call me Lex?” she finally asked, breaking Vanessa’s stride.

“What do you mean?” she asked, putting on a pair of earrings. “Lin calls you that all the time.”

“I know. I’m asking you not to.”

There was a pause. Vanessa glanced at her daughter who seemed serious about the request.

“I don’t know what I’m still doing here.” she finally said, grabbing her briefcase and choking back tears. “I’m going to be late for work. I should go.”

Lex watched carefully as Vanessa made her way out without another word. Once the front door was closed, she briefly turned back to her laptop.

[I’ll be there.]

-

Lin had left for the night around four, Vanessa returning briefly around six to change and head to the theatre.

This gave Alexa plenty of time to prepare for the evening, all while putting Sebastian to sleep at a prompt seven-thirty.

She was out the door at eleven, wearing one of the many dresses her grandmother had bought for her on their recent shopping trip along with a pair of heels and a small bag to carry the essentials (phone, house keys, wallet, a tube of lip gloss). Before she left, she felt obligated to peek in on Sebastian. He was fast asleep as expected, though that didn’t keep the guilt she felt of leaving him alone at bay. He was only eight months old, after all.

“I’ll be back soon.” she whispered. “Just don’t freak out until then.”

On her way out the door, her phone buzzed alerting her of a text that had come through. As she headed to the elevator down the hall, she opened the message.

[Just finished an amazing show. Can’t wait for you to see the others. Thank you for coming through tonight. Grateful for you.

Love you

Lin]

She held her breath as the elevator made its way down to the first floor. The unholy “L word” had finally made it’s way into her life and it managed to hit her like a car hitting a brick wall.

She’d been with the Miranda’s for five weeks, and while her time had been enjoyable no doubt, using that word had never occurred to her.

Until now at least.

The night she was lying to them and sneaking out, leaving their infant at home alone.

“Did you have to love me right this second? She managed, closing the messenger app without drafting a response.

-

She took a cab to sixty-first street, carefully adjusting her hair before she entered the hotel.

Eric Westley was waiting in the lobby for her, dressed for a cocktail party. Eric was tall, at 6’2” compared to her 5’7”. He was also rather fit, although the lacrosse probably had something to do with that. He was blonde, his hair flipped back and styled meticulously. He was already smiling as she approached.

“Hey.” He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush. “Are you ready?”

She nodded, glancing around at the other patrons in the lobby—employees and older guests.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

Eric took her hand, leading her toward the suite’s private elevator on the far end of the lobby. “You’ll see.”

It was a short elevator ride to the top floor of the building. The largest suite was at the top. As they headed up, Alexa could hear the music blaring. The doors opened and they entered the space, a living room full of dozens of other teens. Everyone had a red cup in their hand, a table loaded with small bar in the kitchen being frequently populated. She spotted a few people snorting coke off of the tables using hundred dollar bills. While most were in groups of friends, there were couples scattered around, some likely hidden away in one of the bedrooms.

Suddenly, she felt very out of place. This was nothing like she’d experienced before.

“Can I get you anything?” Eric interrupted her thoughts, a smirk on his face. “A drink? Maybe something a little more exciting?” he gestured to the group of students snorting coke off of the dining room table. “If that’s your thing.”

“Just a drink.” she confirmed.

“What do you feel like swallowing?” he asked, a cocky grin on his face.

Her eyes widened in shock, though Eric seemed completely serious. Finally, she seceded. “Surprise me.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t go anywhere.”

Leaving her in the living room among the others, Eric headed over to to the bar, signaling a friend as he did so.

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” his friend, Braxton, asked, handing him a pill bottle.

“The guy said it would work. He said one, maybe two to really have an effect.”

“Then go with two. I don’t want to risk anything.“

Eric opened the bottle, shaking out two pills and placing them both into a red solo cup full of whiskey. He grabbed a cup of his own, untouched before turning back to Braxton.

“Just make sure the guys are ready. When she’s out, I’m gonna bring her into the bedroom at the end of the hall. I’ll text you when it’s okay to come in. Then it’s time to put on a show for daddy.”

“Alright man, get out there.” Braxton gave his teammate a supportive pat on the shoulder as he headed back toward Alexa, drinks in hand.

“There you go.” he smiled, handing the correct one to her.

“Thanks.” she immediately took a sip, sucking down the hard liquor without hesitation.

“Hey did I ever mention that my dad has won four academy awards?”

Oh god… Alexa was already sighing internally. If she’d known Eric would brag about his family, she would’ve bailed before he got back. She took a long swig of her drink and waited for him to continue.

“… Then when I was six, my parents put me in a lacrosse league. I was the best one there. They kept moving me up to the next group early because my skill was so good.”

Every time he told an obvious lie, Alexa forced herself to take a sip. She’d started when he bragged about his IQ being over 200.

“Then in fourth grade…”

Alexa could feel her vision blurring. She would stumble once or twice, grabbing onto him for support. He didn’t seem to mind.

This whiskey is a lot stronger than I thought… she realized, feeling her senses fade. She struggled to stay up now, depending entirely on him to stay upright.

“Are you okay?” he asked, helping her stay up. “I think you’re a little drunk, Alexa.”

“S-strong drink.” she managed, her words heavily slurred.

“Let’s go somewhere to cool off.” he suggested, quickly helping to relocate her.

They stepped into the bedroom at the far end of the hall, devoid of other patrons. Alexa was confused by her surroundings, unable to process the new environment before Eric leaned in to kiss her. He slid his tongue between her lips, exploring the inside of her mouth.

“No—” she managed to push him away. “No I’m not okay with this.”

“Too bad there’s nothing you can do about it.” He smirked.

As if on command, the room started to spin. Alexa’s vision blurred to shapes and colors as she collapsed to the floor, barely coherent.

“That’s more like it.” He pulled her up onto the bed, unzipping the back of her dress and fumbling with her bra before he managed to pull it off. Her breasts were revealed, bare to the cold air in the room.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell phone, opening the camera, and snapping photos of her.

“Aw shit… Your dad’s gonna love this.”

Alexa could hear him speaking, but wasn’t able to form a response. She felt her dress being completely pulled off, her underwear nearly torn apart. There was something inside of her.

She wanted to scream, to kick, to do anything to stop it. Still, she lied there. She felt weak, motionless. Like nothing could be done.

Eric made sure to get a photo with her face in frame, her motionless body and how he slid himself inside of her.

She managed a groan in protest, a tear sliding down her cheek.

“Yeah, that’s good, isn’t it?” Using one hand, he switched the format on the camera

“What do you say we take a little video?” he asked, hitting record. Carefully, he zoomed in on her face.

“I wonder what he’d think if he saw you know? His little bastard orphan making some awfully bad choices.”

Another protesting groan. Eric readjusted the camera, filming himself pulse in and out of her. He leaned over, using one hand to wrap around her neck, then refocused on penetration. He was quick, hungry for release. He finished inside of her with a sigh, squeezing her neck harder before pulling away from her.

Alexa felt a wave of relief. It was over. She wanted nothing more that to be left there to her own merit.

“Now,” Eric stopped recording. “We’re going to bring a few friends in.”

The fear quickly returned as three figures entered the room. They were all excited at the sight of her.

“Is she totally out?” one asked

“She’s awake enough to hear and see us… Not enough to fight back.” Eric confirmed as he began recording once again.

They each took turns then, going one by one. The penetration was short, a product of their age and lack of control. They would finish over her, an insult to injury, leaving their remains to stick to her skin.

Alexa could feel herself rolled over, pushed to lie on her stomach.

“Holy shit look at all those scars.” one of them said.

“We’re probably not the first ones to do this.” someone else quipped.

“Are you getting this?” She heard someone ask.

“Yeah. I’m gonna send it to Lin-Manuel Miranda on twitter.”

There was a chorus of laughter as a warm liquid made contact with her back. One stream, then two then three. She could feel the liquid seeping into the duvet she was stuck on. She sobbed, causing another chorus of laughter.

She was wasted. Numb.

The group managed to push her back onto the wooden floor for good measure, before leaving and shutting the door.

As soon as they returned to the living room, they wasted no time relocating the data to social media.

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel looks like someone needs to head back to the orphanage.]

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel are you proud of her now, Daddy?]

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel knows how to raise a girl. Didn’t even put up a fight. Maybe because #Idruggedher]

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel The best part? I may not even go to jail for this. #richwhiteboypriv]

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel #bastard #orphan #grewuptobeafucktoy]

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel some people just deserve to be pissed on

[@EwestCPchamp: @Lin_Manuel Come find us, daddy. 2 E 61st St. Renaissance Suite.]

Each tweet had an incriminating attached photo or video. They had no shame, showed no regret. They were proud of themselves. They were hoping to solicit a response loud enough to get attention.

-

Downtown, the afterparty was in full swing. Lin was drunk, celebrating with his cast mates and family over Hamilton’s overwhelming success. Music was blaring from the stage as The Roots performed, among a ton of other celebrities.

Alongside his wife, Lin’s father, Luis, was actively retweeting things about Hamilton in support of his son. It was almost a ritual of his, to do anything he could to support his kids. Because of Hamilton’s literal overnight success, he’d been busy keeping up. There were thousands of tweets celebrating the success of opening night. While scrolling through tweets, he came across a group of them from one individual. All sent to Lin, all with a photo or video attached. Eager to see fanart or something more exciting, he negated reading the tweets and opened the first video.

An image appeared of his granddaughter, nude, on a bed in what appeared to be some kind of hotel room, barely conscious. She was being raped, laughed at, choked as she lay there, a victim of her situation.

Luis was shocked, disturbed, enraged by this. He glanced at the other tweets by the same account, all sent to his son, all including incredibly graphic photos or videos of Alexa being sexually assaulted. He closed twitter immediately, prompting his wife to find Vanessa as he went in search of his son.

Lin was on stage, freestyling for the crowd as The Roots played a beat to back him up. As he finished there was an eruption of applause, his father there to greet him as soon as he got off-stage.

“LIN! Have you seen what’s happening?”

Still plenty inebriated, Lin all smiles as he gestured to the room. “Yeah, Hamilton’s doing great!”

“No!” His father pulled him closer, an attempt to keep a secret even with the blaring music. “There’s someone on twitter sending you videos of him sexually assaulting Alexa!”

Lin’s face fell, almost in disbelief. “Wait, what?”

“It’s all over twitter!”

Frantic, Lin pulled out his own phone an opened twitter, desperate to find the evidence himself. There is was, dozens of tweets from teenage boys sent directly to him, filming as they (or others) violated his unconscious daughter.

His was furious, an emotion he rarely, if ever, felt. The rage matched his concern and fear.

“I’m going over to that address.” His father announced. “Come with me. We need to find her.”

“Wait! I have to find Vanessa first.”

There was a tap on his shoulder then, Vanessa behind him.

“Oh my god, V. We have to gowehavetofindher—” Lin was frantic, rushing through his words.

“Your mom and I are going home to find Sebastian.” she announced, cutting him off. “I never thought I’d say this, but I really hope she left him home alone.”

Lin pulled her face closer, kissing her forehead. “Go. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as we find her.”

It was a twenty minute drive from midtown to the Upper East Side. Lin and his father had begged the cab driver to drive faster, to run red lights, to do anything to get there as quickly as possible. Lin tried to mask the panic in his voice, but given the circumstances, it wasn’t easy.

When they arrived, the street outside was nearly silent. From the exterior, no one would know what was going on inside.

They rushed in, frantic, determined. There was one employee, a young man, behind the check-in desk when they walked in.

“Can I help you?” he asked as they approached him.

“We need to get to the Renaissance Suite.” Luis glanced at the tweet once more for confirmation.

“I’m sorry sir, that suite is currently occupied.”

Lin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we know that. We need to get in there.”

“Unless you’re a guest of the person currently residing there I’m afraid I can’t let you—”

“Can we speak to your manager?” Lin interrupted him. “Now?”

The employee nodded slowly, heading to the back. Lin rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up, realizing just then that he’d left his jacket in the cab. It was the furthest concern from his mind as he loosened his tie slightly, still fuming.

“Hello, my name is Geoffrey. I’m the manager of guest relations. Is there a problem here?”

“Hi Geoffrey,” Lin offered his hand to the older gentleman. “My name is Lin.”

“How can I assist you this evening, Lin?”

“Papá, ¿puedo ver tu celular?”

Luis handed his phone over as requested, prompting Lin to pull up one of the many videos before turning the phone to face Geoffrey.

“Do you know what this is, Geoff—may I call you Geoff? This is a video of my sixteen year old daughter being raped in your hotel. Now unless you want me and my wife—who is an attorney, by the way—to sue you out of business, you’ll take me to the Renaissance Suite immediately.”

Geoff nearly sprinted to the private elevator, Lin and Luis close behind. They made the slow climb to the top, a cesspool of bad decisions awaiting them. At first sight, both Lin and Luis came across mounds of illegal drugs alongside copious amounts of prescription pills and alcohol that were being ingested simultaneously Among them, the occasional used condom.

“She wouldn’t do this.” Lin whispered to himself.

“Geoff,” he said louder this time. “Call 911. Ask for the police.” he paused, another wave of fear washing over him as he remembered the state his daughter was left in. “And EMS.”

The manager pulled out his cell phone, wasting no time.

Lin and Luis went on a search then, carefully looking out for his daughter.

At the far end of the room, the group of boys responsible managed a sarcastic applause when they saw him approaching.

“You,” Lin approached Eric directly, recognizing his face from the photo on this twitter profile. He got uncomfortably close, right into the younger boy’s face.

“Where’s my daughter?”

“Isn’t it your job to know that, daddy?” he mocked, his friends chuckling behind him in response.

“Tell me where she is.” Lin could feel the rage coursing through every inch of his body. It took everything he had not to snap the sixteen year old in half like a twig.

“Or what?” Eric challenged. “You’re gonna write my death and put it in a fucking musical? Oh boy… I’m so scared.”

“Listen kid,” he started, immediately calling out their age difference. “I’m being nice and not kicking the shit out of you right now. If you don’t tell me where she is, I’m not gonna be as nice.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” he shot back. “You know I’m a 18 year old heir to a billion dollar company and you’re, what, a 40-something Mexican that practices a dead media? Who do you think the police are gonna go after?”

“Lin!” Luis attempted to pull his son aside, away from what was brewing. “We need to look for Alexa.”

“He’s right. You need to keep an eye out for your damaged goods.”

Lin was instinctive then, winding his arm back to punch the teen directly in the eye. He winced in pain, but was satisfied in watching his target go down.

“By the way,” he added, starting to follow his dad. “I’m Puerto Rican. Not Mexican.”

“You’re gonna pay for that!” he heard, walking away from the scene.

“Try me.” he responded, not even glancing over his shoulder.

There was a wailing of sirens approaching as Lin and Luis attempted every door in the room. All of them lead somewhere else, none of them to Alexa. Finally they approached the last door at the far end of the hall, locked. Frantically, Lin used his shoulder to slam against the door until it forced open. There, on the floor of the bedroom, was his daughter. Completely nude, her clothing scattered aside, bruises around her neck. She lay motionless, having lost consciousness.

“Oh my god…” Lin was choking back tears at the sight. He fell to her side, trying to shake her awake.

“Alexa, are you okay? Please say something, please. Anything.”

Luis left to grab towels from the bathroom, using them to cover her.

“NYPD! Everyone freeze!”

Outside the room, the police had arrived at the scene, taking anyone they could catch into custody. EMS was right behind them, Luis leading them to the room where Alexa was. They carefully pulled her onto the stretcher. Briefly, she regained consciousness.

“Alexa! Are you okay?”

“Can you tell us what you took, sweetie?” A female paramedic asked, making sure her body was covered. “And how much?”

“I… I didn’t.” She tried. “They put something in my drink—” was all she could manage before losing consciousness again.

“St. Luke’s is diverting, so we’re gonna take her to Roosevelt.” a male paramedic announced. “We can only take one of you in the back with us, though.”

“I’ll go.” Lin immediately volunteered. “She’s my daughter.”

They passed Eric, being interrogated by police, on the way out.

“Don’t let the door hit you on your way out of the country when Trump wins!” he managed, getting a stern look from the police while Lin ignored his harsh words.

#hamilton fanfiction #hamilcast imagines #hamilton imagines #foster dad lin au

[shonikado]

Warning: Contains "Shonikado Does Tabletop: Episode 6"

I waited all week for this, this was basically my experiment with doing D&D fights in a more engaging way (with mixed results, good feedback though)

First up, there's some stuff that the human barbarian went through that wasn't RP'd out, but instead I just sent the player the stuff that happened so we could get to the next session where another player would be joining in. Here's what that all was:

The barbarian and the frogs traveled onwards, reaching the mountain range between them and their destination. But a magic storm hit (those happen this time of year) and they took shelter in a cave to wait it out. She got bored waiting in the cave though and explored, and found a peaceful cult town full of blind cultists and bat-winged beholders. She didn't really care to find out what was going on, although the cultists were niced and offered her the opportunity to trade her standard eyesight for the ability to have a vague psychic sense of the whole continent. But standard eyesight is useful, so she declined

The storm passed and the party continued onwards, a day behind schedule, taking with them an old dwarf cultist who was meaning to go on a supply run later anyway. There was a tribe of orcs-and-miscellaneous that watched the group from afar but they didn't make any moves, they just scared the frogs a bit. But the mountains were left without issue, at which point the party ran into a giant who collects the toll to enter the city. They paid the toll, but the giant saw the merchant frog's amulet and was like "hey gimme that too" and it was reluctantly handed over. And then they went onwards

So then they arrived in the city, at which point the frogs and cultist departed and Ulyana went to the giant-hunters guild. There was a giant who seemed to be helping run the guild, which was confusing, and also he was a bit condescending. Anyway, Ulyana learned that the guild only accepts 100 members total and they're careful about who they pick, and the most convenient way to tell them "hey I'm a good pick" would be to win the Azure Tournament happening in a few days. So Ulyana was like "sure I'll go have fun fighting people to prove I can fight even more people" and went off.

OKAY SO THAT'S WHERE THE SESSION BEGINS

Started off introducing an elf monk, who used to be a sailor but got into boxing. He's very old. He wanted to enter the tournament so he was tasked to fight three little anima (my world's word for animated constructs, pretty much simple robots) and display his fighting prowess. He used flurry of blows or something to destroy them all in a single turn.

Later in the day, the barbarian applied, and smashed one with an axe and had her displacer beast destroy another, and then finally tore the last one apart. Which was maybe excessive but definitely displayed ability.

But since a lot of people had been applying to the tournament and they didn't want to overdo it on applicants, they were both asked if they'd be cool with partnering up, and ended up getting teamed up with each other. So a monk, a barbarian, and a displacer beast all show up to kick some butt

but first they were like "hey let's spar" which gave me an opportunity to do a silly joke regarding the arena I had prepared, and then I sat back and let two players basically drive things for me and get some character development going on. (The monk won because the barbarian forgot to rage and dodge and stuff at first and the monk is GOOD at damage-dealing.)

so at this point I introduced the system where they got double EXP for going into a fight without researching their opponents prior to the fight, the idea being "figure it out on the fly" is more challenging than "know what you're getting into". To start off, the monk went off to try and figure out who they'd be doing their tournament-entry-culling match against (there were too many applicants still so they were being pitted against each other to determine who the public-audience-getting fighters would be), and ended up finding a place where bets were being put on the fights. The person running the betting booth said it wouldn't be fair to divulge that sorta stuff to a fighter but offered to tell in exchange for a bit of gold. As it turns out, the monk is very cheap and immediately walked out of the roleplaying closet. (We went into the closet so the barbarian's player wouldn't know what went down.)

they needed 3 EXP blocks to reach level 4, 7 to reach level 5. Going in blind meant 2 blocks, going in prepared meant 1.

i gave them half a block for their spar since neither of them tried to actually kill the other

Anyway, having failed to research their opponents, they went in blind and encountered a bugbear who seemed dressed for much colder weather than was actually present, wielding a malicious-looking green longsword. The other creature was a new race they didn't learn the name of, that looked somewhere between a lobster, a cockroach, and a fish, with eight arms and totally decked out with weapons. The bugbear was super nice and said hi.

then they proceeded to curbstomp them both, meaning I never got to even show off the bugbear's special abilities and the other combatant just barely got to hint at what their moveset was

ALSO the bugbear looked at Ulyana weirdly but then decided it was probably nothing. That was before the fight. The bugbear was unconscious after the fight. So was the monk, which was fun!

Also, some extra stuff about the arena: there's some height-advantage parts of the arena, also you can only have as many potions as you have team members, also there's these clerics called the "angels" who are there to let you fight lethally because they prevent anyone from dying. The way it works is that they focus protective magic on people, and if they'd die, they instead go into a sort of near-dead state that it takes a few weeks to recover from. So they'd be out of the tournament, but not out of life in general.

anyway, the party won, the monk didn't die so he got to continue fighting (I basically explained the death rule to the barbarian in an effort to convince her to stabilize the monk since he made two death fails)

ANYWAY they went on to the next round, and the barbarian decided to investigate who the opponents were - she ended up interviewing drow twins who had been in the entry-to-actual-tournament fight against two dragonborns (the next opponents) and lost. They explained one was a paladin with healy stuff, and the other was a warlock with spooky spells. The barbarian nodded and half-understood and then left.

when they got to the arena the next day I introduced the fact that the grass in the arena has flowers planted in it to make mosaic ads, the first of which was "Rope! You Can Never Have Enough" which was a reference to a character I made for a campaign that never really happened, in which my char owned I think several miles worth of rope because we were given a lot of starting money and I didn't know what to spend it on.

anyway so the fight happened, the paladin proved to be ridiculously hard to kill, and also made it very hard to target the warlock because of two tiers of protective stuff going on. So the paladin got downed, then was revived by the warlock's potion, then the paladin was downed again and the warlock revived her with her own potion, and then she was downed a third time and the monk was very mad about the whole thing and curbstomped her face. Seeing defeat was already gonna happen, and not wanting her to get dead'd or himself to get curbstomped, the warlock surrendered and the party won.

also the warlock cast a spell that had a bunch of grabby tentacles that was supposed to do damage but when the drow twins were explaining it they were like "oh but it doesn't do damage it just grabs you" SO WHOOPS I FORGOT. WHOOPS. WHOOPS. I don't think it would have been more fun if it did do damage though, maybe just more frustrating

anyway the party was like yaaay we won and then they leveled up and it was too late to move on to the final 8 fighters (so 3 more fights, although the final fight is gonna be a bit weird) so the session was ended, more like paused but basically ended.

~DING~ SO WHAT WENT WRONG

missing happens a lot and it's frustrating for the players. Also I didn't really get to show off what made most of the fighters cool because they immediately got pummeled by the rush-and-deal-all-the-damage team.

My current ideas are this: since everyone begins at the same time, the first round of combat lacks any movement, and is just what you do IMMEDIATELY as the fight begins. This means my enemy characters can set up any fancy interesting fun fight-changing stuff that they've got (for instance, the warlock had a weird spell that would deal a lot of damage but required casting it/some prep time, and the paladin was gonna defend him while that happened, but then the party rushed up and immediately attacked so he was like "I'm getting out of here" which was not the best tactical decision maybe. There are things I could do differently.)

My second idea is that, if you miss, you can choose to automatically hit instead, but this invokes an opportunity attack. I don't know if the attack would happen before or after (so miss -> opportunity -> autohit, or miss -> autohit -> opportunity?) and this would just be a mechanic in the world. I think I'll consider it the "baiting" mechanic, like, you get the opponent to strike at you, giving you a chance to land your own hit.

Maybe I'll make it so the opponent can either opportunity attack, or take half damage. Maybe make it so that you can respond in one of the following ways: 1. Defensive. Take half damage. 2. Neutral. Opportunity attack, then take full damage. 3. Aggressive. Opportunity attack. Take half damage if you land the hit, get critted if you miss.

Both of these ideas are things that ANYBODY can use, player or enemy, making it fair but also making it easier for me to deliver on better experiences overall.

also I think I'm gonna inject a bit more roleplaying into the sessions. I was planning on skipping it to mostly experiment with combat, and it was mentioned this hurt things a bit - the fights were largely just "okay we're fighting these people now". I have ideas on how to make the fights more engaging on a narrative level (basically having the party MEET the other combatants, though learning what they can do is another story entirely and retains the EXP thing).

overall I think it was decent but I'm definitely glad it ended earlier than expected because that gives me time to refine what I have coming next.

[getpregnant-blog1]

The Power of Suggestion & Family Ties

New Post has been published on http://www.karanschmidt.com/2019/04/17/the-power-of-suggestion-family-ties/

The Power of Suggestion & Family Ties

The Power of Suggestion & Family Ties

The Narcopath Mocks Your Family Ties

The power of suggestion and triangulation are two of the most powerful tools in the narcopath's bag of tricks, and never underestimate her profitability in their use.

Many narcopaths mock the family of their partners. The narcopath and the malignant narcissist sees your family, other people important in your life, in the same way she sees everyone: as tools, toys, or obstacles. She will use or treat the people in your life in much the same way as she worries you, and make no mistake, if they resist her control, she will remove them from your life.

She will cause you unfair when you have plans with your family. By her negative and sarcastic remarks to time you spend with your family, she is putting the suggestion in your mind that your family is not good for your relationship. She can not hide the idea that your attention would go to someone else. It does not matter that if you are spending time with your kids. She will constantly interrupt and interfere with any quality time where she is the center of your attention. It does not matter that you have not seen your parents in a long time. It does not matter who has died or who is dying. It is not about them.

Understand this clearly, the narcopath does not see people in the same way the rest of us do. To her people are simply part of the environment. Some are resources; some are in the way; some are just there. The only real thing the narcissist wants from people is their admiration. Your family should fall down at her feet and worship. If they do not worship her, then they are competition for your worship of her. She may actively seek to stop you from gathering with them. She may be cruel or obnoxious so they will stay away. If she can not control them, she will stop at nothing to remove them from your life. She will fabricate events where she is the victim of some cruelty of one of your family members to keep your attention on her. In this triangulation, she is the victim (a favorite role), your family member is the villain, and you are her protector.

She hates being reminded that there are people who know some of her secrets and failures. She hates the assumption of relationship and rights that family has. She hates the fact that some people refuse to be twisted by her manipulations. She holds your family in protest and demands that you do the same. She ridicules and makes fun of your family in order to remind you that she is superior to your family. She convinces you that you are better off without them. She mocks the love and loyalty of your family. She never misses an opportunity to remind you of their failures. She constantly fabricates scenarios where she claims she was insulted, disrespected, ignored, used, or treated poorly by your family to cause distance and hard feelings where there once was none. She will use her own children in her endeavors to prove to you that your family is not the people you believe them to be. How does she accomplish this?

Power of Suggestion

Have you ever had someone say, "You do not look well" or "You look tired," and then ask, "How are you feeling?" If so, you probably said, "No, I'm fine" and then secretly looked in a mirror to see if your face really did look sick or tired. Then, a few minutes later, you started thinking … "Man, I do feel a little tired."

This is the power of suggestion, and it is one of the most powerful psychological psychological tools known to man and should never ever be underestimated. The narcissist uses the power of suggestion to plant the thought in your mind that your family is bad; that your family mistreats you; that your family does not care about; that your family does not want you to be happy; that your family is trying to come between the two of you & that your family only wants to control you. She plants the thought in your mind again and again until you actually believe sever ties with your family is your own idea.

The emotional and mental abuse that a narcissist inflicts on her victim is based on the minority power of suggestion which leaves one believing an idea or thought is his own. To make the power of suggestion work, the narcopath must convince you from the beginning that she is your soul mate. To accomplish this mission, she makes sure in the very beginning of your relationship she creates a false self which is built up from a collection of simple and minor pathological lies – lies which make her seem angelic and builds her a reputation of being 'as good as gold 'resulting in the belief that' she would never do anything to hurt anyone '. And she will fabricate entire conversations to rein in in your mind that she is perfect. As an example, she tells you that she heard a rumor of someone they know cheating on their partner they may then make statements such as "how could they do that to him / her? That's disgusting" making out that they are wholly disagree with such behavior.

However, this is often only to fool you into believing that they would never be capable of doing such a thing themselves yet in reality the lie is usually a cover to hide the fact that the narcissist is doing, or plans to do, exactly that – they seek to appease. These minority lies go on and on, building up over time, gradually pulling the wool over your eyes, leaving you blind to the narcopaths true hidden self.

All she needs do is constantly drop hints to control you through the mere power of suggestion and – BOOM – you are thinking or doing exactly what this manipulator wants. You may as well be a hand or foot of hers. It will not happen this quickly. Most people reject any suggestion that their family is bad, but the power of suggestion that your mother is not who you think she is without telling you this directly will actually impact your belief system. These are reinforced with lies about things your mother did that hurt her feelings. She begs you not to say anything because she does not want to cause problems, so you file it away. Every time you have a disagreement, or you catch her in a lie, or you do not treat her right, your mother's name is somehow brought into it, slowly building up resentment in your mind. This process repeats itself over and over again until you hate your own mother.

Still not convinced? Ever had someone tell you that dental or medical procedure "will really hurt," that a test "was really hard," or that a new boss "is impossible to deal with" -and then had those scenarios play out just as predicted? Turns out, those early suggestions probably shaped your reality.

A deliberate suggestion can influence how well people remember things, how they respond to medical treatments, and even how well they will perform and have, according to research by Maryanne Garry, Robert Michael, and Irving Kirsch. The reason, they say, is attributable to something called response expectancies. This means that the way we expect our response to a situation impacts how we will actually respond. In other words, once you expect something to happen, your behaviors, thoughts, and reactions will actually contribute to making that expectation occur.

If you expect something to happen-if someone or something suggests to you a specific exit-your expectations of that opportunity play a major role in its occurrence. The expectation or suggestion alone, often unconsciously, changes your behavior and your responses to help bring into reality the income you are expecting. The power of suggestion is a guilty trap, an 'I told you so' just waiting to happen.

The problem is of course intent . If a suggestion is made that something terrible will happen, to you or something you care about, your subconscious mind subtly assigns a despair emotion before you file it away. You forget about it because it has no rational context, so it never comes up. But then later when the terrible thing happens your conscious mind reactivates the other orphaned memory. Without knowing why, you feel you should know. ' Suddenly you feel regret and guilt about a terrible thing you had no way to rationally foresee and were not a party to.

Why is this important? The despair diminishes or even blocks the 'will to action' primary emotion. You will be paralyzed with guilt, and off-balance. This is when your toxic partner reaffirms the belief with a look, or a comment like, "I told you so".

Malignant narcissists & narcaths are masters at manipulating people through their emotions, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions, and unfortunately, most people are trusting by nature and are easily duped into buying into their crap. All those memories you shared with her in the beginning of your relationship are used in sub ways until you start to believe them. For example, you told her about the time your mother was supposed to bring snacks to your class and how she forgot, and how embarrassed that made you feel, and you added that the next day she came in with all sorts of trips and how the teacher let y'all have a little party, and how awesome your mother is. This information is filed away, and a few months down the road, she tells you a story about something that happened at her daughter's school, and the story is eerily similar to the one you told her. She tells you how horrible that mother was to do whatever it was she did, and she can not imagine EVER doing anything like that, and then she starts talking about what's for dinner. What has she done here? She's implanted in your mind that the mother you love and would do anything for really is bad.

The power of suggestion is the use of small statements that at the time seem harmless. For example, you are all visiting your parents, and she is not the center of attention, she may text you, "gotta feel the love in this house, right?" You're not exactly sure what she's talking about, but you reply, "yea". These are not big huge pronouncements. They are little sarcasms, little jabs that you do not really focus on, but said repeatedly, they become a part of your subconscious memory. She criticizing your family and friends while telling you she's not like that, until one day, you believe she is the only one of value that you can count on. For the power of suggestion to work, it must be subtracted and repeated, until YOU believe it, and believe that this is YOUR belief. The power of suggestion is an insidious form of abuse because the abuser just stands back and proclaims that she had nothing to do with the problems between him and his family. Your toxic partner will recruit others to help her destroy your family. She will do this same thing with anyone she feels is a threat to her control over you, and you will never suspect her of intentionally destroying your relationship with your family.

The Power of Suggestion & Psychological Warfare

Your expectations affect your behavior. Suggestions affect your expectations. These suggestions can be deliberate or non-deliberate. If you are in a relationship with a toxic person these suggestions will always be planned and deferred to influence your actions in a way that benefits them, not you. Losing the support of your family and close friends is a perfect example.

The only way to protect yourself against these psychological strategies is to develop strategies of your own. Make early observations. When anyone makes a suggestion that triggers a memory or response in your mind, ask questions. Observations and questions control your focus, which control your expectations, which control your beliefs and behaviors. You may not overturn the beliefs in other people's heads, but it will make sure that the negative beliefs your toxic partner is trying to get you to believe will never take root in your mind.

Examine their past – Do not be afraid to ask tough questions about their past, not only of them but previous friends. It does not need to be a job interview. Ask to see photo albums. Ask about old cars. Previous houses, towns. Narcopaths love to brag so make it about how great their things and rewards were. This takes some time but this should yield research-able leads about their entire life.

Observe their behavior when in public and in public. Watch how they interact with co-workers. Narcopaths compete but never cooperate. It's always a battle for power even if the battle is an inch at a time.

Listen to what they say to others and about others. Do they get offended over nothing. Do they seem to be a person who can "dish it out, but not take it"? Listen to how they describe people. Do they classify people by their day to day choices and decisions or by what they do and who they answer to.

Does he / she play mind games with their children or others? They love the power of suggestion. They will tell a target they are going to do something evil to them. Then they will distract them or say it was a mistake or joke. Later it turns out it was quite intentional when the evil thing actually happens. But now the target also feels responsible, and is less likely to retaliate.

If you do not believe this could happen to you, think again. Family, friends, possessions, finances, identification, thoughts and emotions are all historically stolen from you, leaving you in a position with no resources and no-one to turn to for help. You will not realize it until it's too late.

[euro3plast-fr]

Improve your customer experience by leveraging the power of emotions

How acknowledging your customers’ emotions helps Improve your customer experience and business performance

Every business would like to uncover the secret of the best customer experience. Customers have always run the business--no customers, no business--but this saying has never been more true than in the digital era. Brands that appeal to customers are those with added value, great features and an easy, frictionless experience--and we’re not talking about reduced prices here.

Here’s how most companies try to improve their customer experience: through surveys or market research, they find out what customers want or need and try to fulfill that need.

Sure, it’s important to understand what customers want and know how they want to be served, and to use this information to guide your strategy. That’s a basic business principle. The problem is that many companies have forgotten the basics--they forgot that emotions actually drive customer choices.

Customer experience is pivotal

There has been a lot of discussion in the media recently on the role of a positive customer experience. Here’s the famous delivery gap principle, as described by Bain & Company in 2005:

“80% of companies say they deliver superior customer service. Yet, only 8% of people think these companies deliver superior customer service.”

We could also argue that exceeding customer expectations is not the way to go and that companies should rather focus on making it easy for customers.

Companies have to understand the importance of the customer experience and of maximising satisfaction to succeed in capturing customer loyalty. Therefore, it is crucial to accurately identify your customers’ expectations.

Experts and business owners agree that customer experience is among the most important elements for a successful business. But do we really understand how to evaluate and improve the customer experience?

The power of emotions

You’ll never have a complete picture of your customer, if you can’t understand his or her emotions. You might infer patterns through quantitative data, but you’ll never really get to the “why” of their behaviour. Understanding the cause of behaviour, which is deeply rooted in emotions, can make all the difference between a decision that leads to positive results and one that brings no change, or worse.

Emotions and behaviour

According to Paul Ekman, there are six distinct universal emotions: disgust, sadness, happiness, fear, anger and surprise. These universal emotions are based on facial expressions that are recognised throughout time and human cultures. Those emotions are essential when it comes to making quick decisions in day-to-day activities. Our emotional reactions to internal and external stimuli actually cause a lot more of our behaviour than conscious, rational choices.

However, how can this knowledge be helpful when it comes to online marketing? For example, an opinion about the visual appeal of a website is formed within 50 milliseconds, and it colours every other impression about the website later on (Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression!).

This means the first emotional impression greatly affects your visitors’ subsequent actions. Is the visitor disgusted? He or she will bounce back right away. Surprise may keep them there longer, and so will happiness. A first impression is difficult to fight, and if you lose visitors because of a bad emotional response, it’s likely you’ll never see them again. As a result, the company that takes emotions as a roadmap will understand its customers from a deeper, more human standpoint.

Understanding your visitors’ emotions will help you see how your brand is perceived, what your customers are unhappy about, what they like and what you can leverage to further improve their experience.

Emotions control decisions

Damasio’s research has proven that people are mostly driven by emotions when making decisions; he shows that it is difficult to make decisions based only on logic.

In short, the emotional response, identified with unconscious memory, is produced faster than the cognitive one. People automatically choose what they like most over the variation that sometimes can be more reasonable, but not emotionally appealing. Think of the last time you went shopping for something as simple as soap. Sure, you could always buy just the cheapest soap. After all, soap is a simple item that doesn’t differ much from brand to brand. But maybe you remember the fun you had as a kid with a floating Ivory soap--so you buy Ivory. Or maybe you link the smell of Dove with your children when they were born, so you buy Dove. Most of this happens unconsciously; if we had to analyse our emotions for every decision, we wouldn’t do much at all.

The activist and artist Maya Angelou, stressing the importance of feelings, said:

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Good marketers know that emotions are involved in all levels of decision-making, from the most mundane to the most life-changing. But one thing that’s always been challenging for them is discovering and evaluating those emotions.

The role of analytics tools

No marketer could survive today without analytics tools. In fact, when they’re asked to justify a decision or to report on results, analytics data is the proof they use.

It’s true that with analytics tools, you can gather important data regarding your website’s performance, like the number of visitors, the keywords that bring the most visitors to your pages, and information about your competition. Furthermore, some of these tools let you follow your customers step by step, tracking the pages they have visited and the browsers they have used. Country of origin, language, gender and even age group can all be deduced, or at least guesstimated, by most analytics tools.

Nevertheless, there’s one crucial part constantly missed by the most common analytics tools: the power of emotions. Business owners, marketers and web designers should be able to easily find out the answer to the question: “do people like my company, my website or any experience I provide to them? Are they emotionally involved with my brand?” Unfortunately, common analytics tools don’t ask that kind of question--they’re just there in the background passively gathering quantitative data.

No amount of Google Analytics can tell you if someone bounced off a page because they were irritated, bored or confused; it can’t tell you whether people stay for long sessions because they’re excited or interested. Analytics are important tools in marketing today, but they lack the emotional intelligence you need to make the best decisions to improve your customer service.

How to evaluate emotions

The traditional way to evaluate emotions is to survey your customers. By asking questions such as “How do you feel about this web page, website, logo or ad?”, you can delve into your customers’ true motives for their behaviours. In more complex surveys, especially face-to-face surveys and focus groups, you can ask follow-up questions, evaluate the body language of your respondents, and access the part of their decision-making process that they can’t easily verbalise.

But surveys can be complicated, costly and require a lot of time and resources (before delivering actionable results to the business).

Another problem: not everyone likes to do them. The response rates on traditional surveys are low, which makes it difficult for any brand to get a complete picture of its audience. Even web services like SurveyMonkey require the respondent to move off to a different page and go back and forth between website and survey. Not everyone wants to take 10, 15 minutes to fill them out because it distracts them from their goal for visiting your website.

However, the web offers an incredible opportunity to make emotions-based surveys that are intuitive, simple and that provide lots of data with a comparably high response rate. Page-based widgets that are unobtrusive can be used to provide instant, in-context feedback without breaking the flow of the navigation--which is even more valuable than the kind of data you would get from a service that requires outside navigation. If you could get that kind of information easily and affordably, it would make an enormous difference in your ability to make decisions that are in the best interest of your brand and your customers.

This is what GetSmily, a Belgian start-up, provides to brands and website owners.

Numbers aren’t enough

Understanding customers is not only about numbers - you have to identify with them and be empathic to the way they feel.

Emotions are the core of human actions; if you aim to take your company to the top, you should focus on leveraging their power. Businesses have to look beyond the usual data to be sure that they provide what has been promised, and guarantees the best customer experience. Relying on stereotypes or theoretical assumptions can be dangerous, especially when people expect personalised service and instant satisfaction. By understanding the emotions that your customers share with you, you can give them what they really want. Remember that you can’t change your customers’ feelings on a dime. You can’t force them to like you, but what you can do is to find out why they feel in a certain way and improve what and how you offer it.

A satisfied customer is a loyal one; don’t be deaf to their emotions, but learn from them instead.

Thanks to David Frenay for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. David Frenay is CTO and co-founder of GetSmily You can follow him on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

from Blog – Smart Insights http://www.smartinsights.com/customer-engagement/customer-engagement-strategy/improve-your-customer-experience-by-leveraging-the-power-of-emotions/

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