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hornime · 3 years

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voyeurant | kenma kozume x f!reader

he tentatively wrapped a palm around the shaft, shuddering at the contact, his eyelids fluttering shut. god, i’m such a pervert, thinking about her like this. she’d hate me if she knew i saw her like that, knew that i was touching myself thinking about her tits...

warnings: 18+, timeskip!kenma, kinda dubcon, kenma’s unintentionally pervy, male masturbation, poorly written video game content (i tried my best), mutual pining but u both are oblivious

w/c: 1.5k

a/n: yes, the title is a shitty pun of valorant. no, i will not be changing it. also this tiktok about timeskip kenma made me giggle so pls enjoy.

voyeurant: part one ↓ | part two | part three:

“fuck, i hate this map,” kenma grumbled into his headset.

your voiced chimed in his ears. “is it ascent?” you turned to see his face on your screen, pinched in annoyance. “ha, it is ascent. sucks for you.”

“which one are you on? haven?”

“you know it,” you chuckled. “your favorite.”

“i hate you.” he weighed his options, did he really want to play this game? the layout of the world made it irritatingly hard to strategize, and today’s losing streak was making him more agitated than usual. with a sign, he closed the application. “fuck this. i’m gonna go piss.”

“yeah, yeah, you’re such a big baby. and...” you released your mouse, throwing your hands up in triumph, “we just won. at this point, i’m gonna outrank you.” you were joking, of course. kenma wasn’t just a gamer, he was kodzuken, one of japan’s best pro-gamers, and you were just someone that played as a hobby. but it was always fun to tease.

“hmm,” he hummed. “i’m sure you will.” he turned his head to look directly at his webcam, smirking, “in your dreams.”

“ooh, catboy’s getting feisty!” he flinched at the nickname. “go pee so i can beat you at your best.”

he obliged, pulling his headphones off and looping them on the top of his chair. he casually raised his middle finger at you while smoothing out strands of his hair, prompting a series of profanities to escape your mouth, none of which he could hear. he chuckled playfully as you responded with two middle fingers of your own, before moving out of the camera to get to the bathroom.

you and kenma had met in an... interesting way, to say the least. after going moderately viral from lashing out at him for refusing to heal you in a game of overwatch—while he was streaming—the two of you reconciled over a twitter thread and exchanged gamer tags. since then, you’d struck up an easygoing friendship, characterized by almost nightly discord calls and occasional flirting. but we’re just friends, you often reminded yourself. and you were fine, well, mostly fine, with that.

tonight was like any other night: both you and him spending hours in a video chat with nothing better to do than mindlessly play games and bash each other. it was more than enough to strengthen your relationship but fell short of giving you the romantic tension you craved.

with kenma off in the bathroom, you, already bored, spun wildly in your chair. forgetting that your earbuds were still plugged in, the white wire caught on an opened can of coke sitting on your desk, spilling the sugary drink all over your keyboard and the front of your shirt.

“shit!” you quickly scrambled for paper towels, but the still-connected wire yanked you backwards. in your haste for something to wipe the soda with, the fact that your camera remained on in the video call completely slipped your mind. making the split-second decision that the trip for a towel wasn’t worth it at this point, you quickly whipped off your shirt, dabbing the keys with the part that was still dry. since you were home, you’d gone braless, and your current predicament had you flashing your webcam.

now, kenma had seen a lot of things from your side of the call: he’d seen you get chewed out by your residential advisor for being too loud, you with two sticks of pocky poking out of your mouth like walrus tusks, and you doing random cosplay moves you’d seen on tiktok. what he wasn’t expecting to see, not even in his wildest dreams, was a screenful of your tits, slightly damp from the cola that had seeped through the fabric of your long-gone shirt.

he stopped in his tracks, still out of the frame of his camera, eyes wide and heart racing, desperately trying to calm down and prevent the gradual hardening of his cock in his pants. unable to deny his desires, he continued staring at your plump breasts on his computer, you completely unaware that he could see you.

you quickly threw your soaked top in the laundry basket before throwing on a random sweatshirt and trying to calm your frazzled nerves. you tentatively touched your keyboard, groaning internally when you fingers lightly stuck to the buttons. it’s gonna take forever to clean this, you mourned.

“hey,” kenma mumbled, reappearing on screen and shaking you out of your thoughts.

“hey.” you noticed his flushed expression. “are you okay? you look really red.”

“uh, yeah. i actually uh, i feel kinda sick. so i’m gonna, gonna go.”

“oh, okay.” why’s he acting so weird? “feel better!” you disconnected from the call with a huff, disappointment morphing your face into a pout. well, you thought, better get to cleaning.

kenma, on the other hand, was still, swallowing as the bulge in his boxers became agonizingly hard. though the only thing left on his screen was his reflection staring back at him, the luscious view of your bust was etched in his mind. his hands moved to free his cock, the tip an angry red and smearing pre-cum over the waistband of his underwear.

“fuck,” he whined, slowly stroking up and down. his thighs trembled as he fell back into his chair, mind wandering. he couldn’t stop himself, his thoughts become more and more lewd, fantasizing about how your breasts would bounce as he thrusted into you, how your thighs would wrap warmly around your head as he ate you out, how you’d cry out his name so prettily when he made you squirt around his fingers.

it was all too much, and as the circle he made with his fingers tightened as he reached his tip, he lurched forward, alarmed at how good everything felt just by thinking about you. i can’t cum, i can’t, the small part of his brain that wasn’t completely overtaken with pleasure tried to reason with him. there’s no going back if i—shit—if i cum. she’ll know, somehow, if i—if i cum, i—

the ecstasy kept clouding his judgement and his body worked against his mind as his hand pumped faster and faster while his conscience screamed to stop. his wrist wetly slapped the base of his cock, the sounds of both his hands and his moans getting too loud for comfort, but all he could think about was you. your eyes, your mouth, your chest, your legs, your ass, your pussy. god, he wanted to be in you so badly.

he couldn’t hold back, his insatiable need to cum overriding his senses, and the translucent liquid twitched out of his throbbing cock in spurts, drenching his fist and his balls. “fuck, fuck, fuck. i’m—fuck.”

he collapsed against the back of his chair, chest heaving with the sheer intensity of his orgasm. he combed a hand through his hair, the consequences of his actions now weighing heavily on his shoulders. i’m never gonna be able to look at her in the eyes again, he lamented. how am i ever gonna—damn it.

the sudden ping of a notification had his eyes raising from the mess on his pants towards his computer screen.

meanwhile, you were messaging kenma, a little off-put by his sudden radio silence but chalking it all up to his mysterious sickness.

[11:05 PM] you: hey ken! hope u feel better

[11:05 PM] you: if u get the chance u should check out what i added to our minecraft house. its perfect for sick victorian orphans like u

[12:14 PM] you: guess

[12:05 PM] you: guess

[12:05 PM] you: why arent u responding

[12:05 PM] you: guess

[12:05 PM] you: ok u got me ill tell u

[12:05 PM] you: its a hot tub

[12:05 PM] you: but with soup

[12:05 PM] you: but the soup is lava

[12:05 PM] you: genius right

[12:06 PM] you: anyway get some sleep and feel better <3

[12:06 PM] you: lmk if u wanna play animal crossing

[12:06 PM] you: actually no u should sleep. rest ur eyes and shit

[12:06 PM] you: no animal crossing for u!

[12:06 PM] you: sleep well so i can destroy ur ass in val tmrw

[12:06 PM] you: >:)

he sighed as he read your one-sided ramblings. he really liked you.

and he really wanted to fuck you. lucky for you, you wanted the exact same thing.

if only kenma knew what you did on the other side of the screen, hands in your undies and his name on your lips...

>> part two

#i have never played a game of valorant in my life #for someone thats only watched their friends play i think this is pretty decent #like wtf is ascent idfk #kinky.inky #haikyuu smut #haikyuu! smut #kenma smut #kenma kozume #kozume kenma #kenma x you #kenma x reader #tw.dubcon #kenma

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tiramisiyu · 3 years

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【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: Main Story 7-20 Translation

Translation Masterlist | Video

Chapter 7 – Rains of Monte Cristo: 7-1 / 7-3 / 7-5 / 7-7 / 7-9 / 7-11 / 7-13 / 7-15 / 7-17 / 7-19 ♦️ ♦️ 7-20 / 7-22 / 7-24 / 7-26 / 7-28 / 7-30 / 7-32 / 7-34 / 7-35

NXX Base

It was yet another new day. In the NXX base, Artem was updating the case information for Simon. After completing upload of the video recording, he had a sudden moment of absentmindedness.

Artem: I wonder how she’s faring…

He looked at the common screen on the side. On the massive Stellis map, faintly-flashing markers indicated the other NXX members.

Luke’s marker was in a certain spot in the north district, at the location of the assistive team he’d mentioned before. Vyn’s marker was moving rapidly, most likely towards the house of a “special respondent”. And the markers indicating Marius and MC had been at Yaofu Community for a while.

Artem: Yaofu Community?...

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

Yaofu Community

In Yaofu Community, Marius and I were prepping to perform the second crime scene reenactment.

MC: (Good thing luck’s on our side. We found a residence with the exact same layout beside Hang Fei and Qi Yu’s.)

As for why Marius and I were doing our second reenactment, it had to do with our discussion at the natural park earlier.

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

[Flashback]

Natural Park

Marius: Awesome. With this video, our investigation can take a huge step forward.

MC: Then how about we take this opportunity to organize our thoughts?

Marius: Sure.

MC: First, starting from Wang Chunchong…

MC: What he was deliberately hiding before was his murder of Simon. And he hid this because…

Marius: Easy. All else aside, Wang Chunchong’s innocent in the Hang Fei and Qi Yu case, at the very least.

Marius: If the police didn’t know that Wang Chunchong had murdered Simon, then when they were investigating Yaofu Community…

Marius: Wang Chunchong could be acquitted.

Marius: But on the flip side, if the police knew that Simon’s case had to do with him, even if the Yaofu Community case ended…

Marius: Wang Chunchong would not be able to walk out of jail.

MC: Yes.

MC: Although after figuring this out, a bunch of new questions come up.

MC: First, why would Wang Chunchong murder Simon?

Marius: Could it have to do with Tyson? The timing of Simon’s murder and the timing of when Wang Chunchong and Tyson started to work together is very close.

Marius: Wait, if that’s the case, then when Wang Chunchong said “Something that only I, Tyson, and a dead person know about”…

MC: It’s probably about the Heirson raw materials!

Marius: Looks like our investigation was a great success this time!

MC: Next, the second question is, who wanted to frame Wang Chunchong with this case?

Marius: Someone who wanted to frame Wang Chunchong must have known about his plan to murder Simon.

Marius: Someone like that… Tyson? Hang Jiahe? Could Xu Yin be a possibility?

MC: No, I don’t think Xu Yin’s a possibility.

MC: She’s only aiming for Wang Chunchong’s shares and spot on the board of directors, so she should be the one who least wants something to happen to him.

Marius: But it doesn’t seem like Tyson has any motive to murder Hang Fei or Qi Yu either…

MC: That being so, Hang Jiahe is really suspicious.

MC: But we need proof to back that up.

MC: Why would Hang Jiahe murder Hang Fei and Qi Yu, and why would she frame Wang Chunchong…

MC: Plus, how did Wang Chunchong’s fingerprints appear on the murder weapon, and how did Hang Fei and Qi Yu’s DNA appear in the suitcases…

MC: We’ve got to figure those out.

Marius: Then how about we do another round of crime scene reenactment? We still have another trail of actions that we haven’t analyzed yet, right?

MC: You mean, how the victims were murdered?

Marius: That’s right. Since the clue that the police have was used by the true murderer to frame Wang Chunchong…

Marius: If we reenact the process of the crime as judged by the police, we’ll sure to find some parts that don’t match up.

Marius: These parts that don’t match up just might help us.

[Flashback end]

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

After, we handed the video to the police. After viewing the video, the police overturned the charges against Wang Chunchong and began investigation anew. Darius thanked us, then reminded us to contact him as early as possible if we found anything else.

MC: The exact course of action inferred by the police before was…

MC: Wang Chunchong brought food laced with G24D and knocked on the door for Room 1001, pretending to want to apologize.

MC: After entering, the three people ate at the bar table. After, Hang Fei and Qi Yu fell unconscious due to the drugs.

MC: He moved the two to the ground, cushioned them with sofa cushions, then struck the victims’ heads multiple times.

Marius: Then let’s reenact things in this order.

Marius: I’ll play Wang Chunchong, you play Hang Fei.

MC: Sure.

Marius walked out the door, holding the bag of food from the table. I set up the camera.

Marius: Let’s start.

MC: Yep.

Marius closed the door.

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

The doorbell rang.

Hang Fei: Who is it?

Wang Chunchong: Me.

Hang Fei opened the door.

Hang Fei: Ah, it’s Chunchong. Come on in.

Wang Chunchong: …

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

Midway, Marius stopped.

MC: What’s the matter? Why aren’t you coming in?

Marius: Uh, jiejie, your acting isn’t quite right.

MC: ???

Marius: Think about it. Considering how many times Wang Chunchong and Hang Fei fought, would Hang Fei treat Wang Chunchong that nicely?

Marius: Would he let Wang Chunchong in that easily?

MC: True, how did I forget about that?

Marius: So, you’ve got to be a little ruder, a little more aggressive.

Marius: Bring on your professional lawyer’s attitude.

MC: Okay.

I nodded solemnly.

Marius: Then, I’ll start again.

MC: Sure.

The door closed again. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice.

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

The doorbell rang again.

Hang Fei: Who are you?

Wang Chunchong: Me.

Hang Fei: Who are you?

Wang Chunchong: Wang Chunchong.

Hang Fei opened the door.

Hang Fei: Master Wang, what brings you here?

Wang Chunchong: What else? It’s obviously for my marriage with Jiahe.

Hang Fei: Marriage? Now you know to bring up marriage.

Hang Fei: Weren’t you pretty stubborn the past few times? Didn’t you say that I was extorting you of your Wang family’s money?

Hang Fei: Wanna try bringing up marriage now? Too late.

Wang Chunchong: …

Wang Chunchong: You’re right, it’s all my fault. So I came here to apologize.

Wang Chunchong handed his bag to Hang Fei.

Wang Chunchong: This is the signature dish from that restaurant you love. See it as a compensatory gift from me.

Hang Fei: You want to make me give in with just this…?

Hang Fei snatched the bag away.

Hang Fei: Let me make things clear. If you don’t double the betrothal gift, I won’t let my daughter marry you.

Wang Chunchong: I know. I came today to talk about this.

Wang Chunchong: Uncle Hang, you see…

Wang Chunchong scanned the area.

Wang Chunchong: Let’s not talk about the betrothal gift under the eyes of the masses – you know, not letting outsiders in on this.

Wang Chunchong: How about we talk inside?

Hang Fei: … Come in, then.

Hang Fei let Wang Chunchong in and closed the door.

✼ ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✼

I let Marius in, then turned around, nearly ramming into him.

MC: Marius, why aren’t you walking in?

Marius: I was thinking, if Wang Chunchong really entered Room 1001 under the apology pretext…

Marius: With his personality while facing someone like Hang Fei, he must have been suppressing his emotions hard that day.

Marius: If that’s the case, Hang Jiahe must be “extremely important” to Wang Chunchong.

MC: But other possibilities exist, like…

Marius and I looked at each other.

MC & Marius: The one who came wasn’t Wang Chunchong at all.

Marius: If the one who came was someone who was more familiar with Hang Fei and Qi Yu, then not only could they avoid the cumbersome entrance process earlier…

MC: Hang Fei and Qi Yu also wouldn’t be resistant to them, and would thus be easier to act against.

Marius: …

MC: …

MC: Marius, let’s continue with our reenactment. Maybe we’ll get more clues.

MC: After, let’s focus on reenacting each person’s actions and not bother with unnecessary dialogue.

Marius: Sure.

Marius took the bag in my hand and walked to the bar table on the side of the room.

Marius: After entering, Wang Chunchong recommended that Hang Fei and Qi Yu try the food he’d brought.

Marius placed the bag on a plate on the bar counter. I sat beside him, pretending to scoop food up.

MC: After eating the food, Hang Fei and Qi Yu rapidly fell unconscious due to G24D.

Marius: Wang Chunchong dragged them onto the ground, and then…

Marius’s empty carrying movements suddenly stopped.

Marius: Something’s wrong.

MC: What?

Marius: There was no need for Wang Chunchong to drag them onto the floor.

MC: Why?

Marius: I’ll show you.

Marius returned to the bar table, chose an empty seat, and made a few gestures to indicate a person bent over, face down.

Marius: If an unconscious Hang Fei were theoretically sitting on this chair…

Marius: After confirming his unconsciousness, I could already make my move.

Marius: Taking one step back, if the murderer theoretically thought that striking the back of the head didn’t guarantee the damage well enough, they would just need to turn the chair around.

Marius: That way, Hang Fei would go from being bent over to laying his head on the table, and the front of his head would be on full display.

Marius: They could’ve made their move then, too.

Marius: The more the movements when committing the crime, the more they’ll probably leave traces.

Marius: So I have no idea why Wang Chunchong would bother moving the victims to the floor.

MC: …

MC: If there’s no subjective reason, could there be an objective reason?

MC: Like, maybe something unexpected happened?

I copied Marius’ actions, trying to act in a way that wouldn’t require me to move the bodies. But when I turned the chair around so that the “bodies”’ heads could face me, I noticed where the issue was.

MC: I know why they had to move the bodies.

Marius: ???

MC: There’s a prerequisite to what you just described – your height.

MC: As you’re tall enough, you can strike the victims while they are on the chairs.

MC: But to me, these chairs and table are somewhat high. If the victims are still sitting on them…

MC: Doing this under these conditions would be extremely uncomfortable, and it would be hard to guarantee my accuracy.

MC: But moving them to the floor would make everything much easier.

Marius: Wang Chunchong’s around my height. Based on this…

MC: That’s right. The murderer shouldn’t be Wang Chunchong – it must be a female of average height or a smaller male.

Marius: Looks like someone’s even more suspicious.

MC: Yes, but let’s go through everything, just in case.

Marius nodded. He walked to an empty area, pretended to take a sofa cushion, then acted out striking motions.

Marius: Wang Chunchong grabbed a hammer at random from the nearby toolbox, murdered Hang Fei and Qi Yu, and then…

Marius: He cleaned up the crime scene and decided to dispose of the corpses.

Marius: Thus, he brought the bodies to his house via fire escape and got two��

MC: Stop.

Marius: What’s the matter?

MC: There were already suitcases in Room 1001 – plus, they were ones used by Hang Fei and Qi Yu.

MC: If they used these two suitcases, even if the police detected the victims’ DNA in them after, they’d deem it as normal.

MC: Why would he expend such effort to move the bodies and use his own suitcases? Isn’t this more likely to leave clues of his actions?

MC: Plus, Wang Chunchong still hasn’t thrown out those two suitcases.

Marius: …

Marius: Wait, didn’t you say before that Hang Fei’s blood was detected in the suitcases in Room 1001?

MC: Yeah, what…

MC: Marius, do you mean that the suitcases used to discard the bodies were actually the ones in room 1001?

Marius nodded.

MC: If so, someone must have placed the victims’ DNA in Wang Chunchong’s suitcase deliberately…

MC: When would it have been?

MC: Also, if our guess about the suitcases is true, the whole crime must have happened in Room 1001.

Marius: Looks like we’ve got to return to the crime scene.

#Tears of Themis #tears of themis translations #zuo ran #lu jinghe #artem wing #marius von hagen #未定事件簿 #switching over to using english names now #though i'm still using cn names when rambling about whatever

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introductions-are-a-spook · 3 years

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Reblogs and feedback always appreciated! Tag list: @kissthe-gogoat @kyuudomo @caloroso-cosmos @omrade-echorin Let me know if you want to be added or taken off!

Last chapter baby! This was an emotional ride, so sincere thanks to everyone who's stuck with me through it. Both followers, friends, and family. Your support really means the world to me.

“I still don’t understand why you need me for this.”

“I told you, you know the layout better. Since you didn’t give me a map like usual. Sides’ the place is empty- I wanted to ask more about how your whole business works. Somewhere truly private, y’know?”

It was the oldest trick in the book. Get them talking about themself so you can work. Or get them to say something incriminating. Which Antigone, of course, did not oblige.

It was slow work, but Maxwell managed to take back the notes Andrew used to leave in houses. They had sent to work painting the Antigone family seal on them in invisible ink.

With their family’s past (one easily dug up), the police would have no problem convicting Nikos Antigone of everything. All Andrew would have to do was play hostage here in just a few minutes.

“Oh, I need to pick this lock- bit of a two-hand job. Could you hold the note?”

Antigone growled but agreed with a sneer. Andrew discreetly pressed the button for Maxwell. Most likely he was calling the police right now- saying, well, something, anything, to get them there quick. Andrew couldn’t help but smile.

“You know, I didn’t know we went to the same school.” Perfect topic to stall with.

Antigone was immediately thrown off. “What? W-We did?” He sputtered.

Good lord. Bring something up from a criminal’s past and they’re all yours to manipulate.

“According to the book of signatures I passed around on graduation day, yes. Same year and everything.”

Antigone was now staring Andrew down with a dangerous glint in his eye. He ever so slightly thumbed at the dagger hilt on his belt. Okay, backpedaling now.

But the moment he saw faint police lights outside, he knew he had to keep going, for better or for worse. He only had one shot…!

So still fiddling with the lock, he blurted, “I saw your old school sweetheart the other day. Jennifer, right?”

Antigone froze. A stillness hung ominously in the air, like a jaguar about to pounce. The hairs on the back of Andrew’s neck stood up, and he almost started praying.

“How dare-“

Saved by the fuzz, though! As soon as Antigone looked as though he could kill Andrew, the men in uniform came streaming in the front door.

Andrew wasn’t all that scared. He winked at Antigone before yelling. “Help! I’m up here, he’s got a knife! Please help!” And more quietly, “Might wanna check the back of that note, Mr. Tig.”

Antigone didn’t bother to look, and instead pulled out the same weapon Andrew shouted about. “You tricked me!” he jabbed the knife at Andrew, who put his hands up in instinctive defense. “You lying snake!” And to the smaller man’s sickening shock, Antigone swung the knife, barely grazing his cheek and hitting his hand by sheer chance.

But upon hearing footsteps getting closer, the towering villain backed away, leaving Andrew to yelp in shock and fright and the rapidly reddening wound.

An officer stamped his way up the nearby stairs, and shouted at Antigone to freeze, but the man wasn’t having it. Andrew hadn’t thought Antigone would ever use an actual weapon on him- he was wrong. Whimpering in pain and paralyzing, icy fear, he moved only to foolishly pull out the blade and grip his bloodied hand.

“I am not to blame! This scoundrel here-” Antigone shook a finger at Andrew, “-is the thief you’ve been looking for! He did this to himself to make me-”

“Yeah, Chapman told us you’d say that.” A twinge of comfort came with hearing Max’s name, along with the struggling Antigone, who was now being arrested despite his best efforts.

And just like that it’s over, Andrew thought to himself as the officers walked him to a car and drove him to a hospital.

~*~

A day later in that same hospital, Andrew was recovering from a surprisingly quick surgery.

“The knife went through the top of your right palm, losing you a pinky and very nearly your ring finger, too. You have a couple options now; leave the stump or find a prosthetic somehow. Both are up to you to manage,” the soft spoken nurse informed him as soon as he was lucid enough to understand.

“Well, shit. Thanks, uh,” he peeked at her name badge. “Thanks Mary. Guessing you’re not gonna give me a new one for free then?”

“No, but I might,” came a gentle yet dry voice from the door.

Andrew turned as the nurse excused herself. “Max!” a fuzzy black figure hopped up on the bed next to him. “And Maxie!”

“Now, I’m not really supposed to have her in here, so…” Max chuckled, sitting down and giving the cat a few pets.

“Nah, I get it. So, finally coming to see me, huh?”

“I’ve been too swamped with end-of-case work. Our plan worked, you’re off scot free. I considered resigning, but-”

“But you don’t love me that much, I getcha,” Andrew teased.

Maxwell gave him a look. “More that I love my job too much to let it go, risks be damned.”

“Makes sense. But you didn’t come here to talk about work, did you?”

Maxwell reached for Andrew’s now four-fingered hand, gently running his five over the bandages. “This wouldn’t have happened if I had just-”

“Hey, it doesn’t matter now. You know that,” Andy reassured him, running his good hand through Max’s thick black locks. The man leaned into the touch, putting his own hand on Andy’s cheek.

“You terrify me,” he almost whispered after a moment. Andrew tilted his head but didn’t say anything. “I’ve never felt so conflicted before meeting you. It was torture. And even now I can’t be sure that loving you is a good thing.”

“Neither can I. And I’ve never met someone that can make me feel so cornered. I didn’t know I wanted to be. But, we’re both selfish jerks. So if loving you is gonna be bad for me, it wouldn’t be the first bad decision either of us has made.”

This made Max chuckle and lean in to kiss Andy. “You’re probably right.”

~*~

It had been a few months. A new metal finger glinted on Andrew’s right hand.

“Jennifer.”

“Andrew.”

“So, I heard ole’ Mr. Antigone is in prison now?”

She gave a solemn nod. “For ten years.”

Andrew blew a low whistle. “Well, shit.”

Her demeanor went from closed to fiery. “This is your fault, you know. I know you and Chapman did something to pin your shit on Nikos. And now I won’t be able to see him!”

Andrew drew away slightly. Both were silent for a time.

“…I think I get it now.”

“What.”

“I remind you of him, don’t I? That’s why when he disappeared to lead his family’s ‘business’ you attached yourself to me.”

She sighed. “…I don’t know. I guess I just hoped I could still hold onto him somehow.”

“So you held on to the crook classmate that shared some resemblance with him.”

She shook her head. Not as a ‘no’ but more as a self-chastise.

“We were horrible for each other. It’s no wonder we fell apart.”

“Yeah.” Another pause. “You could see about visitations.”

“I’ll figure that out on my own. I don’t even know if he’d want to see me. But, I know there’s still good in him. At least I hope so.”

“Heh. There’s my Jenny. Always hoping-“

“-never planning. I know, I know.”

He stood up and started to get ready to go.

“For what it’s worth, I’m at least sort of glad I knew you,” she said with a twinge of sadness.

“Same here. It’s probably best if we didn’t stay friends, but I’m sticking with that bakery. You can always come find me.”

And for the first time in years, she smiled at him- a genuine smile. “Thanks, Andrew. Good luck with your bitch detective.”

“With George and Darwin always lurking around? I’m gonna need it. Good luck with your crime lord.”

“I think I’ll need it too.”

They laughed, and then left, one by one.

~*~

Isabella was melancholically gathering her belongings from the bakery, occasionally swiping up a tear. Andrew walked in by coincidence, and she rushed to hug him.

“It’s not gonna be the same around here without me,” she mumbled into his chest.

“No, but it’s probably for the best,” he said, returning the embrace. “I’m so sorry, Izzy. It wasn’t fair for me to bring you into all this.”

“No, it’s alr… No, you’re right.” And with that, she couldn’t help but start crying again. “But thanks for being my dad, if only for a little while.”

“Dad, really?” he chuckled. “Sure kid. You changed my world for the better. Even if I hurt you.”

“I’ll never forget you. And… Well, I love you.”

“I love you too, girlie.”

She held onto him for just a little longer, before taking a shaky breath and grabbing her bag. “I don’t know if I can,” she whispered.

He gave her a dim smile. “You’re tough, kiddo. You can’t stay shackled to someone like me, though. I know you’ve got the guts to do what’s best for you.”

She wavered, unsure if she wanted to hug him again. But ultimately, she steeled herself, said a goodbye, and walked away leaving a bittersweet taste behind.

#writing #my writing #✒️ you write and i’ll read 📖#📖 the detective and the crook 🖋

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cateringisalie · 3 years

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I wanna ask about bdii but I'm not sure if you're playing? plus I'm still in the middle of it lol. Sooo how about Aerith!

Good call! (though am playing BDII but I’m only about a hour or so into it)

OTP for them: A three way tie! Cloud/Aeris; Aeris/Tifa; Aeris/Tifa/Cloud; give me any of them and I will be so very happy.

BROTP for them: Aeris & Avalanche – any combination of them (including the ones above). Also weirdly Rude now I’m thinking about it (This might be Remake’s fault)

Other Ships: Barret/Aeris, Reeve/Aeris, Reno/Aeris, Aeris/Sephiroth, Aeris/Vincent, Aeris/Squall, Aeris/Cloud/Zack (but like the one instance in The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun), and – pretty sure this was your suggestion and probably half-joking but it has been rattling around my head ever since – Ringabel/Aeris (which to my knowledge has still not been done/I should probably try/BSecond made the mechanics of getting them into the same scene so much easier...). Oh, Aeris/Being Alive is good too – though comes with caveats *side-eyes Remake*

What kind of fic I’d write about them: What I am writing about them: The Aeris as a scavenger in her childhood fic is slowly inching towards a new draft; there’s the trio of Resident Evil/FFVII mash-ups which will feature her as a main character (in place of (seemingly confusingly) Claire, Jill and Sherry) which I have finally started. And some mid-canon smut. Because apparently I cannot help myself.

A favorite canon moment: Remake is Remake and I have expended too many words on the thing, but Chairith remains an absolute delight no matter what.

Color that reminds me of them: While pink might be too on the nose, it’s hard to shake the connection. That said! While typing I realised green is possibly as or more apt for her.

Song that reminds me of them: Bad Guy by Billie Eilish thanks to @effortlesslyuncool

A headcanon about them: She doesn’t like to be too hot and has always wanted to see snow for real – not knowing of course she used to live in the far North.

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: Aeris Gainsborough: Planeswarden facilitates the Other Ship ramble up there. How about; Aeris Gainsborough: Marine biologist; Ifalna got her and Aeris out of the city and as far as Costa del Sol – both have remained somehow undetected and Aeris spends her time exploring the corals and reefs around the resort area/fighting local governance about conservation. Somehow the rest of the cast run across her in a succession of other events that need more mapping to get around her absence earlier in the story.

And cut for length because I went off on this last question...

Anything else: I remain highly amused that both OG and Remake Aeris have been deemed troublesome or problematic or abusive or stalkerish or toxic or some other bad term and are in fact the true villain of FFVII/somehow only toxic in their associations with Cloud. Literally everyone else is FINE and she is perfectly lovely with them. But with Cloud she cannot help but be a horrible, horrible person who makes his life an unending hell.

For those unaware, their extensive list of crimes includes:

1) Asking Cloud to spend time with them instead of taking him straight to Sector 7 (and while the specifics are different between the versions, that this is something she (unspoken) insists upon while Cloud is apparently champing at the bit to get going and not spend time with Aeris.

This seemingly strips Cloud of the remotest shred of his own agency?

And is so very weird – not like Aeris is literally the only person who can navigate Midgar and I do not understand why Cloud cannot avail himself of some simple, pragmatic solutions like ditching or refusing to help Aeris at multiple opportunities (like in Remake when she literally leaves him outside Leaf House, or fleeing from Elmyra’s house when she’s upstairs in either version etc) and asking literally anyone else how to get to Sector 7 or using the layout of Midgar itself as a starting point for figuring out the route (he is in Sector 5. If he looks towards the centre of the city, Sector 4 is on his right, Sector 6 is on his left. If he keeps going left he will eventually come to Sector 7. Even if Cloud is somehow unaware of the city’s structure/layout he will be able to extrapolate by looking up from the slums at how the Upper plate looks/how the reactors are labelled. This is not difficult. Also Remake’s secretive way into Sector 7 doesn’t even come up until they reach the park/we see the gate is currently closed, so it’s not because he knows he needs her solely for this otherwise mysterious route/he can still hang around in the park until the gate opens for other through traffic if he’s desperate to get there. There is no actual urgency on getting back to Sector 7 as far as *he* knows – hence why he doesn’t actually hurry) or finding a map or using the station (which should then also circumvent the gate Cloud doesn’t know about) and so on and so on)

2) Not wanting to be left behind when Cloud tried to leave in the middle of the night (I mean, how dare she want to spend time with him/everyone is so weirdly adamant that she hasn’t, say, overheard Elmyra’s request to Cloud and thus KNOWS it’s not strictly his opinion to stop her going with him/he once again makes almost no effort to deter her when he runs into her. Oh and her not doing that will near definitely cause Marlene’s death to say nothing of most/all of Avalanche except Tifa)

3) Making Cloud leaving in the middle of the night without alerting her trivially more difficult (given that he can still leave without her hearing and bursting out of her room doesn’t really gel – if she was a mastermind, not sure Cloud should be able to avoid it on tip-toe really)

4) High-fiving him repeatedly (the monster. Not like she stops when he seems uncomfortable/he later makes the first move to high-five her so... I don’t get it).

5) *Might* know the whole plot in Remake and thus is culpable for every death in Sector Seven (which is... 1 or maybe 2 named people (there are those tragic sector 7 people without names or context we see die at the pillar admittedly) depending on how you count – and at least one of those (Biggs) is definitively alive come the Remake epilogue, so one named person (Jessie) who was blown up in a fight with Shinra. The villainy of Aeris! Oh sure you are told other people died, but sector 7 denizen’s major concerns seem to be the structures within the sector which doesn’t really indicate any other casualties actually occurred. Those not explicitly depicted would seem to be okay as no one mentions them either: you’d expect Johnny to bring up if his parents died (and like, maybe he doesn’t know, but he cannot have missed the plate-drop and his parents live in the sector and his relationship with them never seemed horrible so, surely he would care a little/react differently if they were dead))/Wedge to mention Jessie’s parents but neither happen). Oh and for Aeris to do the obvious intervention to fix terrible events would increasingly derail the plot even just in the first part, so, *maybe* she doesn’t know the whole plot (or else has some strange reason why she can’t interfere) and that conjecture is not accurate?

#auncyen #thanks #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy vii #asks

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norafike · 3 years

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Despite all this, I still love you 13

Finally got around to updating this for y’all! Hope you’re all enjoying it and I walk like to apologise for the long wait. It’s more up-to-date on my AO3 but I will continue our Tumblr updates.

*******

“Dutch.” Nora greeted the infamous outlaw humbly, walking with him into the old house at Shady-Belle. Inside they met with Arthur and John, who looked no better since she had last seen him. “We were hopin' you could assist us in Saint Denis.” The leader explained and she raised a brow to push him to explain what he meant.

“How?”

“Angelo Bronte, you heard of him?” She nodded. “What about him?”

“The Braithwaite's gave young Jack to him. So we're going to get the boy back.”

“Angelo Bronte, huh.” Nora shook her head in disbelief, pulling the sleeves of her shirt down over her hands. “Guess I should've expected as much.”

“Will you help us?” John Marston sounded sad than the usual manner, she grew used to his snappy way of talking but he had lost his son. “Of course.”

“Thank you.”

In front of Dutch at the table was a map of Saint-Denis that she recognised well, it was outdated as the majority of the slums which were a later addition to the city hadn't been marked yet, but surely she noticed the mansion district and the very spot where Bronte lived. She pointed at the shape on the map, tapping it gently. “That's where our man lives.” She explained before running her finger along what was meant to supposed to be the roads. “Nearest bridge into Saint Denis, to us, is down here and we just need to follow the one road to get to his mansion.”

Dutch watched intently as she planned out the route and found himself impressed with her knowledge on the city, wanting to hear more she knew he had asked about any other important locations in Saint Denis for *future projects. “Don't know what interests you boys, we got a graveyard here and the trolley station down there.” She pointed at the spot and then dragged her finger up towards one final box marked on the map. “This, I believe, is the Lemoyne National Bank.”

“Bank?” His eyes lit up at the word and he leaned closer to the map, taking in the area closely to remember the layout of the streets to get there. “You heard correctly, Mr. Van Der Linde.”

“I say we wait until night for Jack, to arouse less suspicion.”

Arthur and John agreed but Dutch had a lack of interest in what she had to say, muttering a few words but really his eyes only remained on the paper. She spared a moment to glance towards Arthur who could only give a small shrug before leaving the house with John in tow. Nora prepared to speak with him but was cut off when a frantic Molly stepped in, looking more frantic than the usual and desperate for Dutch's attention. “Dutch, can I talk with you for a moment?” He frowned, pinching the bridge of his knows and squeezing his eyes tight. “I'm busy right now, Miss O'Shea.”

“You don't look busy.” Her eyes travelled to focus Nora who stood awkwardly in the room, excusing herself to leave but being stopped when Molly had grabbed hold of her wrist. “It's always gotta be about you, Molly O'Shea. You've had all this time to talk to me and you choose now.”

“I've not had any time because you're always so busy.”

“Whatever, Miss.” He pushed past the females, making an effort to push Nora behind him so he was standing before Molly. He towered over the female in comparison and shrouded her in his shadow to intimidate but she kept her ground and balled her hands into a tight fist. “I have work to do, something you don't know how to do yourself.” And with that final word the man walked away to leave them alone inside.

Nora couldn't believe just how cruel Dutch could be and it confirmed her earlier suspicions over the male, a source to not be trusted. “Forget about him, Molly.”

“It's easier said than done, Nora and I doubt you know what any of it feels like.”

“I don't, but I know people don't need to face that sort of shit. He's a bully it seems.” Molly squeezed her eyes shut to keep some tears from falling and raised her hand to dismiss the female, using fingers to wipe away a few stray tears. “Look you need someone to talk too, I'll be there an' you can write anytime.”

“Thank you.”

“I should get goin', see ya Molly.”

She left the house and frowned at the thick air, it somehow being a lot more thinner indoors. Relocating her may have been a poor decision solely based on how much warmer the territory was and Nora had to fan herself with her hand to cool down every-so-often otherwise she felt she was going to fate. She wondered how Bill or Arthur, even Lenny on occasion were able to walk around with their coats on.

“Howdy cowpoke.” She had found Kieran near the horses, his natural habitat and decided to stand near him while he ran the horse brush against Branwen. He smiled upon recognising her voice and turned slightly to face her, never faltering on his chore. “Mornin'!” He cheered.

“Seem a lot happier than usual. What happened?”

“Nothin' exciting.. guess started to slowly feel I belong. A lot of 'em started bein' nice.”

“You don't sound so nervous when ya talk too.” He chuckled and nodded slowly. “No, I do not.”

“I think I may be stayin' a little while and thought to keep my favourite cowboy some company.” She teased and Kieran smiled at the compliment, pulling out an apple from inside his coat pocket and handing it to her to feed the horse; as told by his pointing towards the creature. “Sure I just saw Arthur approach Pearson's chuck wagon. Probably be where you'll find your favourite cowboy.”

“Real funny.”

“Or you'll find Lem.” He paused to think. “Where would you find him?”

Nora shrugged, unsure of the answer herself. “Guess is as good as mine. When he ain't at the shack he's at my camp and when he ain't there he's at the shack.. but when he's neither, well it's hard to find him.”

“He ever say where he goes?”

“Not unless asked, but we don't ask him often.”

Kieran finished brushing the dirt from Branwen's coat before turning the brush towards Nora with a playful grin. “Your turn.” She chuckled, taking a step back from him. “You're gonna have to bathe first I'm afraid.”

“Oh, how funny.”

“I pride myself on my.. comedic nature.”

Kieran looked behind him and gave Mary-Beth a gentle wave once he realised she had been looking his way and once he did so the girl flushed a bright red before looking away, digging her nose into the pages of her book that sat open in her lap. “You're goin' with Dutch to rescue Jack, right?”

“Yes.” She answered, helping him out by picking up a bucket of dirty water not far from where they stood. He led them over to the wagons furthest from the hitching station and the pair talked quietly amongst themselves as they crossed camp; ignoring the odd looks sent their way from one person in specific. Everyone else seemed far too occupied to worry about the O'Driscoll, after all, he didn't feel like one to them anymore.

“How's the readin' going?” She asked to be polite and once before she had asked and he looked annoyed when she did so, but this time he gave her a bright smile. “It's okay.. doin' a lot better than a few months ago.”

She shared the joy with him and bounced on her toes and clapped her hands together simultaneously. “That's great, Kieran! I'd have to buy you a drink sometime to celebrate.”

“I doubt I'll drink, who knows what'll happen.”

“Nothin' bad might wake up the next day feelin' terrible but that's the worse of it.”

“We'll see I guess.”

She dumped the water out on the grass, a decent distance away from camp and returned back to the grounds. Kieran had waited by an old shack trying to light a match but failing in his attempts to do so. “Here.” She took it from his hands, her fingers brushing against his before striking it to alight. He held the cigarette out to her and waited for her to light it and once she had done she waved the flame out.

“When are you leavin'?”

“Eager to get rid of me?”

“Maybe.” He joked and Nora took to gently patting his shoulder. “Lovely, ain't ya?”

...

John and Dutch set out for Saint Denis days a few hours before they had, saying that they would keep an eye on the place before actually going in with their demands. They had no idea who they were going up against after all.

She left Shady-Belle last and made haste to the mansion district in the city, unaware of where the men could be waiting for her as they hadn't set an official meeting spot prior but it didn't take a drastic amount of searching to be able to find them, given they had sat in the community garden opposite and Dutch wasn't quiet when he talked to the men, instructing John to remain calm and for Arthur to keep a close eye on the situation...

She walked up the path to greet them and Arthur gave a gentle nod when he saw her and quickly the men rose from sitting on the steps; ready to talk with Bronte.

“Remember, we don't wanna go gun's blazin'.” Dutch warned them as they approached the gate. “Could risk harmin' Jack if we do.”

Upon finishing their walk, Nora noticed the guards all lined up along the path armed with guns and looking mean. They didn't seem pleased with the close proximity they were in and less so when Dutch had called over one particular guard to stand at the gate so they could talk.

“Run along now.” He muttered and the guard scurried off after he *negotiated with him. Dutch did momentarily tell him to return just so he could give back the taken gun and then they were told to follow on inside to speak with Bronte himself.

As soon as she stepped inside the house she was choked with the thick smell of fragrance and for a moment she could swear that they had walked into a greenhouse instead of someone's home.

The man himself sat surrounded by guards in a parlour, dressed in robes and drinking a glass of wine.

“Where is his son?” Dutch didn't jump to formalities and Angelo Bronte looked far from pleased as they cut straight to the point.

“Excuse me?”

And Dutch repeated himself, pointing at John. “Where is his son?” Bronte scowled at the forward approach and called over one of his guards to whisper something in his ear. Nora was told not to go in and start shooting but with the way things seemed to be turning out she began to worry that they would need to switch their approach.

“Who do you think you are, coming into my home with these demands and stinkin' of shit.” Nora's hand to move just above her revolver and Arthur moved in front of her to grip her wrist and not bring suspicion her way; he would let go if they needed to use it.

Bronte continued telling Dutch off while the three remained standing around in awkward silence.

“I like you-” Angelo raised a cigar and pointed his fingers in the direction of the man his smile big and yet sinister. “I do, I do like you. Please have a seat men and.. lady.”

The three on the seat took up all the space so unless she were to on one of their laps she chose to lean against an arm and balance herself there, sitting close to Arthur who looked equally as uncomfortable.

“I'll tell you what, you can have the boy back.” John's face lit up. “But I have.. a request.”

Arthur groaned and leaned forward, clasping his hands together in front of him and biting back the need to swear at the Italian. “What is it?” She asked, not shy to hide the frustration in her voice.

“There are graverobbers in the graveyard.”

“Well, that is a good place for it, the best.” Dutch quipped and Bronte laughed at his joke. “I like him, I like you.”

“Just clear them out and I'll give you back the boy.”

“Of course, I can have these three go and do that and you and I can talk a little more.” Dutch stood and motioned for the trio to leave the area but Bronte called them to stop. “Why doesn't the lady stay? I'm sure she wouldn't want to associate herself with those types of thieves.”

“Oh, I should really make sure these pair stay out of trouble.” She cut in quickly but Bronte wasn't having any of it, further insisting that she stay. Dutch placed his palm on the female's shoulder and his grip tightened ever so slightly. “I'm sure you can part with Arthur for a few minutes, Mrs Morgan.”

She raised a brow at the use of 'Mrs' but didn't want to raise any alarm regarding it. She nodded slowly and sat back down on the chair, with walking behind her. “Young couples, never can be apart.” He commented. “Never did see any use for marriage myself, but that didn't stop these two.” And now she was parading as a married woman.

“Oh, you are married?” Bronte asked Nora specifically, pouring bourbon into a glass and handing it to her. She took a sip and was about to answer his question before Dutch cut it. “To Arthur, yes.”

“Well, congratulations.”

Bronte clicked his fingers together and one of his bodyguards walked over; leaning down so the man could whisper in his ear. She tried listening to what he said but unfortunately for her he spoke in Italian possibly so they could not decipher what instructions he passed on.

“I wish for you to stay and chat awhile, but I am a busy man no? And I am sure that your husband and his friend will be back soon.” Bronte stood to escort them out, having one of his men hold the door open in politeness. Dutch turned, ready to ask about the boy before Jack ran down the stairs to join them.

“Uncle Dutch!” He cheered running to his side and the gang's leader crouched low to greet the boy before taking his hand and walking him outside. “Where's mama?” The boy asked but Dutch was reluctant to answer at first, only keeping an eye on the armed men that lined the gravel driveway towards the mansion.

She sat on the steps with him and distracted him long enough for the men to arrive and when John did return through the gates the boy took off and ran into his hands, this bright smile on his face. “How did it go?” Arthur asked Dutch and Nora specifically but neither provided a coherent answer, besides the subtle comment she made about them being married now.

“Excuse me?”

“My thoughts exactly.” She chuckled, walking around to Casper and mounting up alongside the men. “Will you be returning to camp with us, Nora?” Dutch asked as he took lead on The Count. “Not sure. If you wish me too then I see no harm in joinin' you fella's.”

“Please come with us, Nora.” Jack begged, his bright eyes silently pleading the woman to join them. Dutch scratched his nose, tilting his head over towards Jack. “It seems that the boy has spoken.”

“Alright, guess I will be goin' then.” Jack cheered and it livened up the evening for the group and having him back would mean that this turned to be the end of a very bad and stressful week.

...

“Abigail!” John hollered and the woman cave rushing over at the mention of her name, she faltered in her steps when she noticed her child in his arms and in no time broke into a sprint to reunite with her child.

“You got my boy back! You got him back.. thank you, thank you all.” She blinked away a few happy tears and quickly rushed the boy into camp and soon Dutch had departed while he told his dear best friend, Hosea of their little adventure. Nora turned towards John who looked longingly at his family, holding a cigarette between his lips. “Go over and sit with them, Marston.” She said and he nodded as if she were giving a command. He scurried off.

“So we're married?” Arthur asked as he escorted the female back into Shady-Belle's grounds.

“I was just as shocked too.”

“Who's idea was that?”

“Dutch's, I don't know why he said it or where it came from but Angelo Bronte didn't seem thrilled when we brought it up.”

Javier began to play a song on his guitar, one recognised well by the gang who all cheered once the first note was played. “That's a shame.”

“As much as it's been an honour, bein' your pretend-wife I am afraid that I am spoken for by someone else.”

“You are, are you?”

“Nope.” Nora chuckled lowly, scuffing the dirt up with her boot. “But I have eyes for someone.”

“Well I respect that, ma'am. I should leave you to get on with the party however, enjoy yourself.”

He said a humble goodbye before returning to his room for the night, deciding that he had enough excitement for the day.

She spotted Kieran sulking near the chuckwagon and decided that he was who she wished to take with for the evening, especially since he was one of the rare decent men around. She walked over and joined him at the table, offering a liquor bottle she picked up on the way. “How are ya?”

“I'm fine.” He mumbled and she noticed in the low light how his cheeks had flushed a red. “Good job on gettin' Jack back. Must've been fun.”

“Guess that could be said.” Nora brought the bottle to her lips and took a sip of the beverage, cringing at the bitter taste. “Didn't take too much work and nobody needed to die.”

“Well you got the kid back, it's w-what matters.” Gone was that confidence from before. The man took a long drink from the bottle, despite his earlier refusal to do so and she watched with curiosity, wondering what had happened while she was out. “Did somethin' happen to you?”

“No.” Kieran said bluntly. She didn't believe it, narrowing her eyes is suspicious before diverting her gaze over towards the scout fire where some members of the gang sat, unfortunately for her she met eyes with Micah Bell and he gave her a wicked grin that chilled her to the bone.

“Listen, I'm gonna talk to Mary-Beth for a short while. You need me I'll try not to stray too far from camp.”

Kieran nodded slowly. “G-Guess I'll do the same.”

Nora placed a palm on his cheek, running her thumb along the top of his beard before pulling away. He leaned into her touch and the minute it had gone he pouted like some child. Kieran moved to longingly watch her as she walked away from him to enter the old building, taking note of how she lingered in the doorway for a little too long before eventually disappearing indoors. “You got it bad for her too don't ya?”

Kieran shook his head to deny these claims, but Hosea only laughed as he saw through the blatant lie. “Jus' keep ya head on your shoulders an' everything will be alright.” He left Kieran alone after that and all he could do was sulk in his spot, both annoyed and confused with his feelings and how he struggled to come to terms with them. Nora was sweet and spoke more to him than anybody else, he always looked forward to her visits as they not only meant that he wouldn't be alone for a prolonged period but also because he could have a conversation with someone who thought of him as an equal and not some vermin. “How'd you end up in this mess, Duffy?” He muttered to himself, taking to drink again from the bottle and slowly he slipped into a dazed state of drunkness and tomorrow he would most likely regret his decision to so foolishly drink.

#rdr2 #this is a long one #rdo #rdo fanfic #lem fike #lemuel fike #lemuel fike fanfic #lem fike x oc #rdo lem fike #john marston #arthur morgan #Dutch Van Der Linde #jack marston #nora meets angelo bronte #she's not keen on it

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atalana · 5 years

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Hargreeves House Masterpost

So sometimes you’re just there watching Umbrella Academy and you think “Hey, this is a really big confusing house, it would help to have a map of it!”, but no one’s done that so you have to (and also you’re a trivia nerd who wants to).

There will be a couple inconsistencies with certain parts of the show because the house wasn’t all filmed on one location, so those inconsistencies are in the show itself, but I’ve done my best to be as accurate as possible with as much of the show as possible

This is gonna get long, so I’ll put it under the cut

Okay, let’s start with the basics

The house forms roughly this shape

you can see it in this screenshot, with the courtyard in the middle there, and the courtyard is enclosed on all sides except for the opening to the right

It’s got a gazebo but not a whole lot else, it’s a pretty dismal place.

The reason I’ve split the stuff around it into house and training rooms is that the house curves around the courtyard but basically ends there (where I’ve marked on the diagram), the windows here mark the back of the house (give or take a small amount) and look onto the courtyard

However, this staircase

isn’t one that appears in the house, and I don’t think Hargreeves would allow the kids into the courtyard if he didn’t own all the buildings around it, and given how they’re doing exercise stuff here I assume this part of the building functioned for schoolwork, fitness and powers testing

(We don’t see any of this part of the building other than the stairs, but there’s plenty of it, so you can go wild with the headcanons here)

Now to the house itself - we’ll take this floor by floor.

Basement Level

The dance scene isn’t 100% accurate for where stuff is in the house, because they cared more about showing the people than the house, but it’s a pretty good guideline

The basement level is laid out more or less like this (doors/entrances are green)

(I’ve listed the staircases by colour because there’s more than one set)

So the whole academy wasn’t originally one building, Hargreeves more or less just bought the whole block and then knocked down the connecting walls, you can see them around in certain places where he hasn’t bothered to fix it up, the doorway between the stairs and the kitchen is an excellent example, as you can see here

(if you’re looking at this from the kitchen you’ll see the utilities, but like I said, discrepancies)

Now next to the main entrance of the Academy is what used to be a laundromat, and that laundromat has it’s own basement entrance that goes down from the street, it’s where Vanya and Leonard enter through in episode 6

And that leads into the kitchen

We don’t know much about this part of the house other than what we see in the dance scene, but we can see Pogo’s room, and we can presume from the look of the place next to it (and also bc there’s nowhere else for it to be), that that’s where the elevator down to Vanya’s dungeon is (probably quite deep underground, as the elevator takes a while to go up and down)

Ground Floor

The ground floor layout looks something like this

The entrance hall and living room we’re all pretty familiar with, that’s where most of the scenes in the house take place

Next to them in the dance scene we can see two things, the continuation of the red staircase coming up from the basement, and Grace working in a kitchen

This kitchen actually has an oven and stuff, so I assume it’s where most of the food prep gets done, as opposed to the basement kitchen which is a lot more chill of a space

We don’t technically know what’s behind any of this, but there has to be something given how the floor above it has rooms there, so if I had to guess I’d say it was more spaces Grace needs

The part at the back again, we only know is there because of the floor above it, and the second floor is entirely Sir Reginald’s back there, so this part probably is too

The second floor is the most complicated, so I’ll take it in parts

Second Floor - Left

This is where most of the kids rooms are, and is most characterised by the long corridor with the fighting instructions along it

The original layout for this part of the house was something like this

(The blank space is left because there is a corridor there, but we don’t ever see what it leads to, and the cues we get from the scene don’t make sense with the layout of the house)

The red stairs continue throughout the house, the spaces left in this case because it’s just part of the corridor, though there is a door downwards

The bathroom is directly across from what was originally Vanya’s room, and there’s fighting posters along that corridor too

Now I say originally, because here’s the interesting thing - at some point Vanya’s room was removed

Our first scene we see of the kids rooms, you can see Klaus and Vanya’s rooms are clearly separate, here (and both really tiny)

However when Vanya goes back in episode 10 to all the memories in these rooms, it’s not her room anymore, it’s just Klaus’

And this continues into the present day - here’s Klaus’ room now, and you can see the divide in wall where it used to be two rooms

It’s also still got both doors, in this scene Five enters through one and leaves through the other

What happened that Vanya was removed from her room? I don’t know, but I’d imagine that had something to do with Reginald’s attempts to isolate her (and it definitely contributed to this being a bad memory for her)

(Also on the subject of Five - when he left Vanya’s room was still on this floor so that’s another thing to think about)

Diego’s, Allison’s, and Luther’s rooms stay pretty consistent throughout the series, here for reference

At the end of the corridor is the green staircase, which leads up to the attic (and also connects to the central part of the house)

(in here)

Second Floor - Central

Not much to say here, it’s all very pretty but we know what it looks like, or you can go back and watch for yourself, this part is in most house scenes

Second Floor - Hargreeves’ Rooms

We don’t know that much about the layout of Hargreeves’ rooms, we see a lot of it but not in relation to itself, we know it contains Hargreeves’ bedroom, study, the surveillance tapes room, and many other rooms, it’s all blue and dramatic

Here’s what we do know

(Hargreeves’ bedroom)

(Hargreeves’ study and the room beyond)

(The hallway with the surveillance room)

Second Floor - Right

There’s not much of note here, it’s basically just the walkway, so I’ll just include the dance scene screenshot

Third Floor/Attic

The layout of the third floor looks like this

This is far enough over that half of it faces the alley, with the dumpster where Klaus chucked Hargreeves’ stuff

(here’s the fire escape from Five’s room)

(and Five’s room itself)

Closer to the street is the attic room, which we see from the balcony a lot (I mean okay upon further looking it’s probably just an extension of the fire escape but it’s a balcony now bc I don’t feel like changing my floor plan)

And here’s the attic room itself, with our only glimpse of the rest of the attic beyond it

It’s also the place Klaus gets Diego to tie him up

In the hallway we can see the top of the green stairs, and also a room to the right, which we know nothing about but I’m going to assume is Ben’s room, because no one ever goes in, and it’s the most convenient place to put it

(It also means that the attic housed the two kids who died/went missing, which would explain why Diego and Klaus mention they hate being up there, and Allison goes up there when she’s upset)

We can also assume there’s stairs up to the roof somewhere here, but we never see them

Roof

Honestly, this is more of a courtyard than the courtyard.

On the left is where the attic stairs would come up, and is probably the only access point to this whole place, since that’s the route Hargreeves uses, even though his rooms are on the other side

The only place of note here is the greenhouse, where Allison and Luther’s fort was

But yes, that’s a complete layout of the Hargreeves’ house (or as much as we see in the show anyway), now go forth and write more informed fics or come up with headcanons or whatever you wanna do with this info

#tua #the umbrella academy #reginald hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #number five #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #tua meta #words

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fallintosanity · 5 years

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cloud and kunsel are the dictionary definition of moirails change my mind

spoiler: you can’t

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13

“Cloud!” Kunsel called. “Welcome back!”

Cloud turned to see Kunsel jogging up the barracks hallway. “Hey. I thought you would be asleep.”

It was late Sunday night; Cloud and the others had gotten back half an hour or so ago. While Noctis had headed straight for the Thirds’ bunks, Cloud had stopped by his office to file a mission report. He’d been heading back to his own bunk, but now Kunsel caught him by the arm. “I heard you’d be back tonight,” Kunsel said, “and we, uh.” He rubbed the back of his neck under the helmet; Cloud couldn’t see his face but he sounded almost shy.

“You what?” Cloud asked.

“We have a surprise for you,” Kunsel blurted. “Zack and Genesis and me. C’mon.” He tugged Cloud’s arm, leading him back toward the elevators.

Cloud let him, not sure if he should be bemused or concerned, right up until Kunsel pushed the button for the floor where Sephiroth’s apartment was. Technically Genesis and Angeal had apartments on the same floor, but Cloud had had that entire floor marked off-limits in his mental map of the building from the day he got there. “Where are we going?”

“Just wait,” Kunsel said.

Cloud frowned, taking a moment to focus on his connection to Sephiroth - but the man was somewhere in the office blocks, probably working late again. “Sephiroth’s not involved?”

“Not directly,” Kunsel said. “Technically as the general he had to approve this, but his part was just routine paperwork.”

The elevator dinged, opening onto an elegant hallway that looked more like a luxury hotel than military housing. Kunsel led Cloud to the right, passing a couple of doors on either side of the hall before stopping at another door at the very end. Pulling a key card from his pocket, Kunsel tapped it against the door lock, then as the door slid aside with a hiss, waved Cloud ahead of him into the room.

Cloud had an instant to register the room - easily three times the size of his barracks room, with silver-grey carpet thick enough to lose toes in, a sleek white leather wraparound couch, glass-and-steel end tables, and floor-to-ceiling windows on the wall opposite the door - before Genesis and Zack jumped into view. “Surprise!” they chorused.

From behind Cloud, Kunsel added, “Welcome to your new apartment.”

“What?” Cloud said.

“C’mon,” Zack said, bounding over to catch Cloud by the arm and pull him deeper into the apartment. “Take a look around! Kunsel brought up all your stuff already so you can settle right in - we figured you’d be tired after that mission.”

Cloud stared at him, then over his shoulder at Kunsel, and finally at Genesis, who’d taken up a studiously casual pose beside the huge window. “Why?”

It wasn’t especially coherent, though Cloud would rather blame the long hours of travel than the unexpected emotion that tightened his throat. Fortunately, Genesis knew what he was trying to ask, and said lightly, “There are many benefits to being a SOLDIER First Class. A private suite is one of them.”

“You should have moved up here when you made First last year,” Kunsel added, “but you were promoted faster than anyone expected, and the rest of the suites hadn’t been finished. Then, well…”

“Hojo happened,” Zack said, and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“I’ve been on Lazard’s case ever since you got back,” Genesis said airily, as though Cloud had simply been on a long vacation rather than trapped in a mad scientist’s lab. “It’s ridiculous that you’ve been stuck in that tiny closet downstairs.”

“I’m next door on the right,” Kunsel said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the hall. “Zack’s on the left.” Genesis sniffed, probably disappointed that he hadn’t managed to get Cloud next door to his own apartment, but this layout meant Cloud was as far away from Sephiroth as he could be while still being on the same floor.

“...Oh,” Cloud said. He looked around, taking in the rest of the space. A large kitchenette was separated from the main room by a marble-topped bar complete with tall stools, while on the opposite wall, a door led into what was presumably the bedroom. Through the door he could just see a huge bed, flanked by more floor-to-ceiling windows lined with curtains. He hadn’t lived somewhere this spacious since he’d left his mother’s house as a child, and he’d never lived anywhere half as fancy. “It’s…”

“Great,” Zack supplied. He slung an arm around Cloud’s shoulder and shook him lightly. “It’s great, buddy. That’s the word you’re looking for.”

His enthusiasm was catching, and Cloud smiled despite himself. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

“Excellent!” Genesis clapped his hands together, as though Cloud’s agreement was a sign. “I brought you a housewarming gift. Let’s crack it open!”

Genesis’s housewarming gift turned out to be a bottle of expensive scotch and a box of fine chocolates from Mideel, which the four of them split around the kitchen bar while Cloud told them all about the mission to Rocket Town and the subsequent detour to rescue Yuffie, as well as Noctis Lucis Caelum’s odd behavior, his unexpected diplomatic prowess, and his bet with Yuffie.

“I still don’t know how he did it,” Cloud admitted.

“A Steal materia?” Zack suggested, and spun his bar stool around thoughtfully.

Cloud shook his head. “He doesn’t have one.”

“That we know of,” Genesis said. “I still think he has more materia than he’s letting on.” He leaned across Cloud to pour Kunsel another finger of scotch.

“He claimed he’d never used it before, though,” Cloud pointed out.

“He’s lying, then,” Genesis said, with a definitive nod. “Probably lying about never having been to Wutai, either, if he can deal that effectively with them.”

“But why?” Zack asked. “Why lie about all that?”

“Maybe he’s a Wutai ninja trying to infiltrate ShinRa,” Genesis suggested.

“Assassination?” Kunsel said. “But who? He’s not exactly well-positioned to get at the President, and trying to assassinate you, here, would be a death sentence.”

Genesis shrugged. “Ninja are patient. He might be waiting for a shot at the President, or he may even be hoping to get paired with me on an assignment where an ‘accident’ could happen.”

Kunsel nudged Cloud with an elbow. “You said he was really upset about the whole, uh, ShinRa conquering thing.”

Cloud nodded. “Enough to spook Reno.”

Zack’s eyebrows shot up. “Spook a Turk? That’s something.”

“Something unsettling, certainly,” Genesis said. “We’ll have to be very careful.”

“As long as it’s not another crazy time travel, mutant monsters, end of the world story,” Zack teased, and leaned across the bar to poke Cloud in the arm. “I don’t wanna go grey before I turn twenty.”

* * *

It was nearly two in the morning before Genesis and Zack finally admitted exhaustion and headed back to their own rooms to sleep. Kunsel stayed, watching from behind the visor of his ever-present helmet as Cloud explored the bedroom. The place was huge, the bed luxuriously wide and soft, the floor-to-ceiling windows displaying a gorgeous view of Upper Midgar at night. A discreet sliding door in the glass opened onto a small balcony; if Cloud was feeling more adventurous he could step outside and feel the wind on his face from hundreds of feet in the air.

As it was, he pulled the heavy curtains closed over the view. He liked the idea of having an escape route from the apartment that didn’t involve the elevators, but the huge windows left him feeling exposed. Turning to the walk-in closet - itself half as large as his entire downstairs bunk - he poked around for a few minutes, checking what was there. As Zack had said, Kunsel had brought up all Cloud’s belongings - which, granted, wasn’t much, just the standard-issue SOLDIER wardrobe, toiletries, and a handful of mechanic’s tools and trinkets Cloud had picked up in the nearly two years he’d spent in the past. Still, Cloud was glad it had been Kunsel who’d cleaned out his old bunk. He didn’t like people poking around his stuff, but Kunsel was different.

“Everything okay?” Kunsel asked finally.

Cloud nodded, started to answer out loud, and yawned instead. “Sorry,” he said.

Kunsel chuckled. “It’s late,” he said, then yawned himself. He pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. “Are you sure you’ll be all right up here?” he asked, then looked down, scuffing a toe on the carpet and abruptly looking like the teenager he was. “I mean, I know it’s sudden, and Sephiroth’s apartment is up here, and…”

“It’s fine,” Cloud said, and smiled at Kunsel when he looked up. “Thank you.”

Kunsel’s face lit up. “I’m glad you like it.”

“What about you?” Cloud asked, as he sat down on the edge of the bed and began pulling off his boots. “You’re up here now too.”

“Yeah.” Kunsel hesitated, biting his lip. “It’s just…”

Cloud waited. It was an open secret in SOLDIER that Kunsel’s promotion to First Class had been a bribe for his continued loyalty to ShinRa after what had happened to him in Nibelheim. He’d suspected it bothered Kunsel more than he let on, but hadn’t wanted to pry. Now, though, it was clear how Kunsel felt.

Finally Kunsel said, “You know, for all I joked about it with Zack, I never expected to make First. I’m nowhere near your level, or even Zack’s. I don’t…” He shook his head. “I don’t belong here and we all know it. But at the same time… I’m glad. And then I feel dumb for feeling glad, because I didn’t earn it—”

Cloud shook his head. “You earned it,” he said firmly. “What Hojo did to you… it wasn’t fighting in a war, sure, but surviving that…” He trailed off, suppressing a shudder as fragments of memory flashed through his mind, images of Hojo’s lab that might have been from six months ago, or six years. “Being First isn’t just about being able to hit things with a sword.”

Kunsel bit his lip again, and Cloud jerked his chin at the open spot beside him on the bed. Taking the hint, Kunsel sat down, leaning against Cloud’s side the way he’d done on particularly bad days in Hojo’s cage.

Cloud wrapped an arm around him. “I never even made SOLDIER the first time around, remember?”

“Yeah,” Kunsel said. “But you’re different.”

Cloud shook his head. “I was just a kid.” Sixteen years old back then, and now that he was closer to thirty than twenty, it was painfully clear just how little difference there was between sixteen years old and Kunsel’s eighteen.

Kunsel didn’t answer, just settled deeper against Cloud’s side, kicking his boots off and curling his legs on the bed. Cloud yawned again, shifting to sit more comfortably.

He didn’t notice when his eyes slipped closed and sleep claimed him.

* * *

Cloud woke the next morning in a moment of dizzying disorientation. He wasn’t in his ShinRa bunk, and someone’s back was pressed against his—

Kunsel. The new First Class apartment.

Cloud blinked his eyes open, squinting in the darkness of the bedroom. Apparently the curtains over the big windows were blackout curtains; only the tiniest slivers of light filtered around their edges. Sitting up, Cloud stretched and yawned. He felt far more rested than usual, probably thanks to Kunsel’s presence warding off his usual highlight reel of nightmares. And probably also because the clock on the bedside table said it was nearly noon.

There was a sleek little remote control mounted at the head of the bed, with buttons labeled “Open”, “Close”, “Lights: On, Dim, Off”. Experimentally he pressed the “Open” button, and was rewarded with the curtains swishing open with a low hum. Sunlight flooded the room and Kunsel stirred, then jerked upright with a startled yelp. He looked around, eyes wide, until he spotted Cloud - then his face turned nearly as red as his hair.

“Oh,” Kunsel said. “Um. I, um.”

Cloud shrugged. “We were both tired. You sleep okay?”

Kunsel nodded, making a visible effort to calm down. The blush faded and he smiled, a little sheepishly. “Better than I have in a while. You’re, uh. You’re not the only one with nightmares.”

No surprise there. What Kunsel had gone through in Hojo’s lab would haunt him for a long time. Cloud shrugged again. “Glad to help.”

“I better get going, though,” Kunsel said. “I’ve got a couple local missions to run today.” He hopped off the bed, stuffing his feet into his boots and scooping up his helmet where it had fallen to the floor. Cloud trailed after him out to the main room of the apartment - marveling again at the size and lavishness of the place - and walked him to the door. He waved as Kunsel headed up the hall toward his own apartment.

Further up the hall, past the elevator lobby, another door opened and Genesis stepped out in a swirl of red leather. He saw Cloud and grinned - then spotted Kunsel, just stepping through his door, helmet tucked under his arm. Cloud saw it the moment Genesis jumped to the wrong conclusion, and sighed. He waited until Kunsel’s door was closed - Kunsel didn’t appear to have noticed Genesis, at least - and Genesis had stormed most of the way up the hall toward Cloud before saying, “Don’t.”

Genesis sniffed. “Don’t what? I wasn’t going to do anything.”

That was such a blatant lie that Cloud didn’t bother responding to it. Instead, he said, “It was late, we stayed up talking, we fell asleep.”

It was funnier than it should have been to watch the muscles in Genesis’s jaw work as he tried to figure out how to respond to that in a way that wouldn’t make his already-obvious possessiveness even more blatant. But then Genesis’s eyes lit up, and he plunged a hand into the pocket of his coat. “Oh! I forgot last night, but I have another gift for you.”

Cloud raised his eyebrows.

“I picked them up on that last tour with the President,” Genesis said, and pulled his hand out. In it, to Cloud’s surprise, he held two shining red materia. “Ramuh and Shiva,” Genesis said proudly, and tossed one of them at Cloud. “You have that mastered Thunder already, so I thought this might expand your elemental repertoire.”

Cloud caught the Shiva summon and turned it over in his hands, feeling it out. Magic thrummed between his palms, the frozen breath of an ice goddess. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Genesis said, and didn’t quite manage to hide the smug tone. Apparently if he couldn’t be the one to spend a night in Cloud’s apartment, he would try to buy Cloud’s affection with materia. Cloud just wished he could get through to him that Genesis didn’t need to buy Cloud’s affection.

Then he had an idea. “You know, I haven’t covered summons with my materia students yet,” he said. “Want to come to the class on Thursday and help demonstrate?”

Genesis lit up like Zack getting a day off from squats training. “It’s a date!”

#final fantasy vii #ffvii #final fantasy xv #ffxv #sanity's final fantasy crossover fic

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bignookling · 4 years

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100 days to acnh challenge - 1 to 74

found this challenge and decided it would be a great way to pass the time until the release date, and a good way to get people to know me a lil better too c’: i feel so powerful starting at this point, there are so few days left to wait!

1. Do you prefer making up a new name for your villager, or using your own name? i never, ever used my own name... i always felt like this would be boring, and i kinda want to give myself the opportunity to create a new “character” based on the events that happen to them in the game... (my first character in wild world was named Scarlet :^)) 2. Do you use the first map you’re given, or do you reset for layouts? i am bige resetter with bige plans all jokes aside i am way too indecisive and spent way too much time on this, i would even check people’s dream towns prior to resetting to gather ideas and fresh input on this. though usually, each time i remade my town i had a specific kind of map in mind? most of all, i like having a secluded nice little corner to put my house (being able to move your house in nh is a game changer honestly!) grass type and colors of buildings also matter. residents not so much because, hey, i can also reset for that later! (i am terrible) 3. Do you use the face you’re given, or do you wait for guides and choose your favourite? similarly, i use a guide. i think the only times i didn’t was my first times in wild world where i didn’t really have access to a fast internet connection :’^) (guess what i am also indecisive about this! my most used are the classic arched villager eyes, the almond shaped ones and the shiny anime ones THEY ARE TOO CUTE) 4. Favourite town/island name?/Have you a name picked out for your town/island? I WON’T SAY YET... i have multiple options for now and idk what to do... but my nl town is named Suzuran, and i really like this name :] 5. Will you be sharing with friends/family, or is your island going to be all your own? probably gonna be my own! my mother used to have a character in my wild world town though :) 6. What’s a new feature you’re excited about? ALL but mostly the terraforming/switching everything up options!! for...reasons mentioned above... also the weeds. i never really got to dupe clovers or stuff like that so i am very pumped 7. Favourite fruit? buttfruit peaches probably... i also love perfect oranges and perfect pears because they’re like golden... i like gold like perfect fruits in general hehe i also love the new fruits in new leaf! 8. Least favourite fruit? apples are a bit tacky to me but i still love them i am sad i cannot really make a lot of fruit trees work in my minimally colored nl towns... some people do it so well though and i am TRYING 9. Favourite area? (Beach, campground, shopping district etc, from any entry in the series.) THIS IS HARD I DON’T HAVE A LOT OF MEMORIES i have fond memories of the beach in wild world just because of some people’s really pretty hacked towns. like they added a whole “manor” (big player house) in front of it and that was the bomb. i also loved the cliffs in city folk and am so glad they are back... 10. Where do you like to like to put your house? Do you like that level of customization, or do you prefer to have some things decided, like in older entries? as i said i like secluded, remote areas for the house, and i also loved to put it near the cliff in city folk! (you better be fully awake if you step out) the beach is a neat option too. but in nl my favorite was next to a waterfall! 11. Favourite grass pattern? triangles! when i was a kid it was my least fav and i always avoided it though... then i visited a friend’s cf town and was like “wait this is MORE LIKE REAL GRASS” and i had an awakening... 12. Least favourite grass pattern? circles are a bit... odd for grass i think 13. Favourite villager/s? purrl was my absolute queen when i played wild world and still is. i love cats in general... and deer. and coco. coco is so my aesthetic and goals for a town feeling if you know what i mean, i adore her. doyoing 14. Least favourite villager/s? i am basic and like cute things so the least cute and mostly most tacky, bright colored ones... i am sorry...i still care about all your villagers 15. Did you like doing Tom Nook’s chores, or did you find those to be a pain? generally speaking i like them when i first play the game because they are immersive and kinda introduce you to the main concepts of the game? (the city in city folk, being mayor in nl etc) but with side characters and resetting they get a bit repetitive and frustrating upping your reputation to be able to work as a mayor in nl also is a pain 16. Favourite NPC/s? label is my queen and wife. i love her sisters too, and tom nook... BLANCA too i adored her when i played wild world and couldn’t get to see her in my town and was so hyped for her nl event laughs, and joan and daisy mae... i’m probably forgetting some faves I LOVE EVERYONE wait KAPPN has cute dialogue too! 17. Least favourite NPC/s? is there one? i don’t know? i’m gonna go check a list of npcs now ... i am back and honestly I DON’T KNOW 18. Do you use paths? Are you excited about the new path tool? i don’t use paths in my town because they are a mess to set up and i love the natural look anyway, but some people do it so well! i love the ones with natural colors and the little details. the new path tool looks so convenient, but i don’t know if i like the textures! i’ll probably use it sparsely because i also wanna keep that wild look to my town 19. Favourite feature from an older entry? the lights on the villagers’ houses in wild world is what came to mind first, hahah 20. What was your first Animal Crossing game? WILD WORLD!! i played it so much and for so long 21. Favourite activity (fishing, bug catching, fossil hunting, other)? bug catching (ca-ching) is my fave out of this list, i also love visiting dream towns and playing with friends in general! 22. Least favourite activity? diving is so slow... 23. Favourite bug? the huge butterflies you see in summer (i was AMAZED when i first saw them), the fireflies (SAME, the first time i saw some was in someone else’s town in city folk as we crossed a bridge and it was just magical, laughs), and the big shiny beetles... it’s not just for the monies, i promise 24. Least favourite bug? either the small butterflies that you see everywhere when you’re trying to catch something neat for the bug-off, or the tarentulas/scorpios because i NEVER MANAGED TO CATCH THEM 25. A quarter of the way there! How’s the wait? actually there’s barely a month remaining as we speak, so pretty fine! i still have to pick my character and town names, and to be honest i am mostly worried i’ll start procrastinating like crazy once the game is out. coughs. at least i’ll draw ac characters? 26. Favourite fish? i love coelacanths because i am a big nerd, also the sharks and the cute colorful fishes 27. Least favourite fish? just all the most common ones probably? sea bass isn’t the only one... 28. Favourite fossil? what are these questions. uh, i loved putting the small squares ones in my room in wild world...especially ammonites 29. Least favourite fossil? the ones that bring less cash money? i only care about fossils when they’re displayed in the museum tbh. and there i just love them all 30. Favourite furniture series? the ranch series looked way better in wild world and i am mourning now i love alpine, rococo and modern wood the most! the green one looks cool recolored too! i like combining different series the most, too 31. Least favourite furniture series? anything bright and tacky (except maybe the lovely that’s still fairly cute?) 32. Favourite soundtrack? (Gamecube, DS/Wii, etc) i can’t remember but i get huge pangs of nostalgia if i listen to the wild world/city folk one 33. Least favourite soundtrack? i DON’T KNOW... maybe nl was a bit less whismical? 34. Favourite wallpaper? alpine, chic, exquisite, classic, [...] anything that looks warm and natural and makes for a comfortable house! 35. Do you have a nice memory of the games/community etc you’d like to share? when i was a young teen, i idolized someone in the wild world community because her town was honestly incredibly pretty? so much thought has been put into it and it was just a dream. it made me want to invest more time and planning into my own towns and that’s how i got really, really hooked on the game, i think 36. Least favourite wallpaper? anything really colorful and tacky again... 37. Favourite carpet? the wood ones, mostly! 39. Favourite furniture item? i love the oven thing from pocket camp... and the rocking chair... and the fireplace... 40. Will you be buying a Switch for Animal Crossing, or do you already have one? i have preordered the animal crossing one... i live for this (i am so glad i waited though honestly) 41. Least favourite furniture item? the huge tacky things or things that just look odd in a house perhaps... wait but i still like to see them and some people use them so well. why would i hate on furniture i wonder 42. Favourite flower? jacob’s ladders and white flowers in general. i adore the look of the ones in nh, holy sh- 43. Least favourite flower? pretty much anything that’s yellow. just never goes with my town plans... the roses especially are so bright i’m 44. Favourite hybrid? i miss the colors of the ones in ww/cf so much... so so much but in general i like anything that’s purple, black or blue i think :> 45. Least favourite hybrid? hmmmm the orange ones from new leaf i think? in the previous games they were so rich and warm though... 46. Favourite shirt? the canary shirt, maybe? though i mostly use qr codes, ahaha some of these outfits are still super cute... 47. Favourite dress? anything pocket camp tends to be good, also this one forever in my heart. i adore the flowery sleeveless dresses too! 48. Favourite accessory? bandages, heart shades, leaf, and tortoise specs! 49. Favourite hat/helmet? celeste’s ribbon, hibiscus hairpin, and that tiny straw hat 51. Favourite shop? i always adored able sisters, and leif’s little gardening shack :> 52. Do you collect amiibo cards/figures? Would you like to see them used in the new game? we know they are compatible now, but i don’t have any! maybe i should buy some? 53. Fishing Tourney or Bug-Off? bug-off is quicker and funnier >:] also i remember i ALWAYS WON in cf while playing with friends... fight me... 54. Do you like making your own clothing patterns? there are so many nice ones already that my slots are always full, so i don’t bother... i remember making a two-toned shirt that i wanted irl when i got new leaf, but that’s pretty much all 55. Did you streetpass with many other ACNL players, or is it a feature you didn’t get much use of? I ALMOST NEVER DID...

56. Favourite villager species? CATS... also, deer. basic basic 57. Least favourite villager species? mice and monkeys have the least cute designs i think...? also hamsters idk. i don’t know i like villagers don’t make me choose 58. Favourite nickname from a villager? 59. Least favourite nickname from a villager? I NEVER LET THEM NICKNAME ME... i am sorry to all the aminals 60. Do you try to collect everything in the game, or just try to get your favourite bits and pieces? in wild world i tried to fill my catalog, but now i only get what i need or what i know my friends might need 61. Favourite villager personality? i always had a thing for the snooty and cranky ones! the uchis are cool now too 62. Least favourite villager personality? the jocks are boring to me and they tend to have my least fav designs. when i like one i keep them though because it is so rare...wheeps 63. Do you “plot reset” for villager house placement, or do you let them move in wherever they want? i only really started doing that with the welcome amiibo update that apparently makes it easier, else i just waited for the annoying ones to move... (and time travelled a lot) 64. Are you excited to wear any of the new accessories (like the bags etc shown in the E3 trailer)? i will COLLECT THOSE and COLOR COORDINATE 65. What season are you most looking forward to seeing in New Horizons? 66. What’s your favourite season? i think summer, i want to hear the cicadas and see the fireflies again, and i also want to see how the rain and wind look like! i remember seeing really pretty storms in nl during summer too ♥ 67. Least favourite season? winter gets slow after a while? i still love it though 68. Which game’s events/holidays do you like the most? 69. Which game’s events/holidays do you like least? i don’t remember ‘-’ honestly i feel like i liked them all for different reasons? wild world felt more “involved” in the community, REMEMBER THE GARDENING CONTESTS! and city folk gave you better rewards and was a fun minigame for the day. 70. Do you have another nice AC related memory you’d like to share (in-game, of the community, etc)? i had a vivid dream that your character could DIE in animal crossing once (i predicted new horizons yes) 71. Do you prefer the “live” versions of K.K. Slider’s Songs, or the airchecks? i tend to prefer the airchecks but the concerts are Special, no matter if it’s with friends or alone 72. An NPC you’d like to see more of? mmmnnh blanca always. i love her spirit 73. An NPC you’d like to see less of? really unpopular opinion probably but i wouldn’t miss reese and cyrus too much if they aren’t as present in nh 74. If you could have any piece of AC merchandise, which would it be? the plushies are so good... i’d like like... a fauna one... idk WHEW I’M DONE... i’ll be posting the rest of it daily now!

#100 days to nh #.txt

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thatweirdmod · 4 years

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Beriphitar’s Pillage 1

A cigarette leaks smoke from the corner of my frown as I work, hacking the neglected path clear again with my machete. My garden bed should be back here. I grow all kinds of things.

There's magenta irilis which gives my "snacks" and snacks their unique, fresh, lovely flavor. It also adds a nice touch of color, I think. Then there's the weight pullers: tall, weedy drogul plants, harsh smelling buds of grengis, and the innocent looking but deceptively potent white composite flowers, yequin.

Don't wanna remember all that? Don't worry; all you need to know is that they're drugs and drug enhancers, and people want what I harvest out here. It's a mixed bag, this business. It gets me into all sorts of mess with people, but I wouldn't do it, you know, unless it payed the bills.

And it does that, really well in fact. I huff I sigh into the humid air, grateful that at least it's relatively cool, and I'm finally through. I look over the state of my garden, and observe, unsurprised, that the rest of the evening must be spent weeding.

The middle class in my town is probably what's called riffraff elsewhere, and whether we're farmers, craftsmen, or prostitutes, we spend much of our time bent over.

I stretch occasionally when my back aches. I wonder if it's normal for a guy my age to have back and shoulder pain at rest, though. I grit my teeth and shrug it off when it happens, because it's not like it's a surprise, for how long I've been working the land.

Despite all the violence, dishonesty and threats I have to contend with in my line of work, I love this time after I've finished doing something. I feel small yet accomplished as I look up at the starry night sky, unpolluted and uncontested by city lights. On the ground, darkness, dirt, leaves and chirping surround me. I'm alone in the most perfect sense, but then I have to go back home into the residential district of town.

I trudge out of the woods, tired and hungry by now, and looking forward to getting home. I hop on my scooter. I'd call it something like "Trusty Rusty", but even though it's old, I take care of my things, so it's not rusty at all. I buzz down town, taking the back roads so I don't really run into anyone. My house is modest, but comfortable. Some dust can't be helped out here, but I've put my foot down against mildew, stains, and muck.

I strip out of my rough, dirt-crusted pants and torn shirt, enjoy a hot shower, and put on some fresh clothes. As I'm enjoying my warm meal, a knock sounds on my door.

I open up in my boxers and shabby grey t-shirt, with my usual lazy-eyed, irreverent expression.

"What do you want?", I ask the guy standing there.

We're friends, I guess, but only because I lack a better word. Reyfon scratches his messy brown hair and laughs lightly.

"I came to talk to you about that thing."

His thick glasses and somewhat shy demeanor would kind of suggest and innocent young man, but many of his actions paint a corrupted picture.

Truth is, I totally forgot about whatever event we have planned, but I just say, "Okay", like I was planning on him showing up at my doorstep in the middle of my beans and rice.

He steps in on his nervously light feet. I watch as he does a brief, sweeping glance over my home. I never say anything, but man, do I hate it when people evaluate and scrutinize me or my stuff like that. Reyfon smiles. "Looks like you're still your usual neat self."

"It hasn't been that long", I reply.

"Yeah, I guess so", he says. "Maybe a couple of weeks?"

"I bet you've had your hands even fuller than mine", I say.

"Yeah. It feels pretty hectic adjusting to the influx of tourists, no matter how many summers I spend at the brewery."

Reyfon comes from a family of artisans- brewers. While I haven't particularly missed him, I have missed the free beer. I look down and sure enough, I see one of the reasons why I always graciously pardon his intrusions into my home. "Oh", he says, lifting up the paper bag once he notices my eyes have locked on it. "Here."

I immediately take it, put it on the table, and unpack the assortment of pricey drinks, darks, lights, ales, ambers, et cetera. Needless to say, I'm very pleased. "Thanks", I say, then pause. "I suppose you want me to thank you some other way as well."

Reyfon smirks and nods. I'll have to help him again. "You know my father's health has been declining", he begins.

"Yeah."

"More and more of the responsibilities for the business have come down to me, my older brother, and kid sister." Then he scoffs, "Well, mostly me and Veralia. Yet, according to the tradition of favoring the eldest, the one to inherit the brewery will be Theorion. You know my brother, arrogant and lazy, and worse, incompetent and irresponsible. It wouldn't 100% be up to him even if he were the owner, but with enough poor decisions and investments, he could end up making a mess of generations of our family's hard work. So please, help rid us of this pest."

I grow tense, and hold up my hand. "Hold on. This sounds pretty serious. Knocking off some poor scrubs from the west side of hick town is simple, something nobody cares too much about. But now you're asking me to help kill the heir of a wealthy business. Everyone knows you guys around here, and whatever happens to him, it will thoroughly investigated."

"I know it's too much to ask as a friend, so on my word, you will be compensated generously", Reyfon says.

So far, I'm not too keen on this, but that word, "generously" hangs in the air tantalizingly.

"Do you even have a plan yet?", I ask.

"I was hoping you could take care of everything on that front. Of course, though, I'll provide whatever inside info you might need."

"I'm taking a huge risk here, hitting such a prominent target, but how much would you be willing to give me for this?"

"How does 10,000 buckaroos sound?"

"Nice try. This could break my life, so I need enough money to make it if this goes well. 20,000 buckaroos."

Reyfon cringes a little, but says, "Okay. I'll pay you after it's done."

I frown. "You think you're the one of us who trusts the other less? Who's at the other's mercy? You'll pay me before, or there's no way I'm doing shit."

"Hey, it doesn't have to be like that", he says. "How about a compromise? I pay 10,000 upfront, and the other half after it's done."

"15,000 up front."

"Fine. So you'll do it, then?"

I pause for a moment. "Yeah."

"Great", Reyfon says with a small smile, sighing in relief, as if assassinating his brother were an innocent request like any other. "I should be going then. Enjoy the brews. This could earn you a lifetime supply, Beriphitar."

With that, he left, leaving me standing, trying to keep myself from slowly being overwhelmed by what the fuck I'd just agreed to do. Nothing was set it writing. I could still back out, but I feel that that would be unacceptable for me. But then I get another idea. If I'm going to do something like this, if I'm going to take this kind of risk, might as well go all out. It seems like Reyfon can pay me, easily, whenever this gets done. That makes me suspect that the Greyhorns have a lot of cash sitting around.

The next day, Reyfon meets me at my house again. He answers all my questions not only without hesitation, but with enthusiasm. As far as he is concerned, we're in the process of turning his scheme into reality. At the end, I know the schedules of the inhabitants of the house, their maids, and Reyfon even gives me a detailed map of the layout of the house when I ask where his brother's bedroom is.

For better or worse, Reyfon decides that he should be out during the assassination. Actually, it's for the better.

The next night, I lie on my stomach in the dark, rich carpet soft against my chin. Reyfon graciously left the back door unlocked after he left this evening. I came in, went up two flights of stairs to Theorion's room, or chambers if you will, because it's like a whole pad in here- a big personal bathroom, dining and sitting area, and bedroom. I've been camped under his bed for like two hours, waiting for him to come back, hopefully alone.

I snap into tenseness when I hear whoozy female giggling and a good mooded, but douchey male voice approaching. Figures a fuckboy would be bringing a girl back with him. No matter. I prepared for the possibility of having to dispatch multiple targets quickly and silently, but maybe I should've hidden in the closet. Getting out is going to be awkward.

The door opens. "I wanna see that awesome shower you were telling me about!" The girl says. Theorion replies, "Yeah, well how about I give you a tour?" Their flirty tone and words are obviously telling of plans for a shower fuck, a way to bang that's highly overrated in the movies, but pretty good for me now.

Once they've rather stupidly sexy walked into the bathroom while swaying and groping, I start slipping out from under the bed. The bathroom is further down the wall, to my left. They left the door open, but cannot see me as I siddle along the wall towards it. Before they get in, or even have a chance to scream, I've swung out into the doorway, and fired a shot from my silenced pistol.

The pop goes off, and a bullet zips through the air, hitting its marks with beautiful precision. You see, I caught the love birds in a smooch, the guy's back to me. The bullet punches through the back of his head, and then tears through the front of hers. The blood and matter of two brains splatter, making a rather jarring contrast against the clean white and beige rugs, marble floor, and counter. I doubt very much that those were the kind of fluids they were planning on exchanging tonight.

I look up from their toppled bodies, and damn, that shower is pretty awesome. It's massive for one, and.. ah fuck it; this is not what I'm here for. I walk over to them. They'd make a pretty cute couple, just, not exactly like this. I shuffle through the guy's pockets and pull out his wallet. Very nice. The girl doesn't have anything worthwhile in her skirt pockets, but she's got something in the skirt.

According to Reyfon's info, I should have plenty of time. His sister's out having drinks with friends. His dad is emaciating in the hospital, and his mom is dead. So, I decide to help myself to what Theorion was about to have anyway. I brush the girl's wavy brown hair out of her face. It's sticky with the blood that's pouring out of the hole in her head and dripping down her face. Her hazel eyes are closed, her face didn't have time to contort into horror or surprise, so it's stranglely peaceful despite her undue and random end. She was pretty, well is, for all intents and purposes at the moment.

Ugh, it's like stripping a hundred pound sack of meat. Actually, it's exactly that. The human body is really a pain to move when it's dead weight. Getting my own clothes off only takes like 10 seconds. I stand buck naked in the bathroom with two dead bodies. I was mocking it earlier, but I drag the girl into the walk in shower anyway. I turn it on and warm water sprays from a marble seal's mouth. I flop the chick over the marble shower seat, kneel, and start pumping her from behind. It's only been minutes since she died, so her vag is still very warm.

Once I finish enjoying myself, I turn the shower off, dry myself with a towel, and get dressed again. I check my watch. It's only been 15 minutes since I killed Reyfon's older brother and his squeeze. My head is wonky. I can't remember whether I was supposed to leave the bodies or dispose of them.

I rush back over to the bed, and pull out the three bags that I brought with me. I pillage the house, rummaging through drawers, closets, and cabinets favoring speed only slightly more than precision. My last stop ends up being Reyfon's chambers. My 3rd bag is still empty.

After swiping a couple of snazzy watches and 200 buckaroos from around his room, I check under his bed. Sure enough, there are a couple of chests. They're locked, but I prepared for this. After being pried open with my crowbar, the chests reveal their treasure.

In one of them are various trinkets, an old scarf, a few journals, letters, papers- it seems to be a bunch of sentimentals mixed with important documents. The other contains cash, likely a lot of the money Reyfon was planning on paying to me. Upon looking through the bills appreciatively, something beneath the neatly bundled stacks catches my eye- five gold bars curtained beneath. Oh, I love this boy.

I pack the remaining bag, and just for the heck of it, I throw one of Reyfon's personal journals in. I never considered myself the gossipy sort, but who doesn't find it at least a little entertaining to stumble across the juicy secrets of someone they know? I sling my booty over my shoulders, make sure my mask is in place, and head on out of the house. Trusty Rusty is parked a block away.

I mount the scooter and buzz away into the temperate night. First thing I'll do later is buy a new bike, and a car too. This thing has been reliable, and I know how to fix it up, but I could have to make some serious distance, and I can already feel it slowing beneath me under the weight of my goods.

Reyfon plans to head back into his house, find the horrific scene and call the police. He plans to give an account, enjoy the sympathies, gifts and attention he will get as the victim of such a horrific tragedy, and prosper from here on out as the head of the brewery.

I park my bike at the dirt strip around the back of my little house called the backyard. I dip inside to drop off the bags, clean up, and change clothes. Taking my crowbar with me. Reyfon is hanging around a bar in town. I'm supposed to make an appearance there, so he knows that it has been done, but we're not to interact.

When I enter, he notices me immediately. He's probably been watching the door, scanning every patron that comes in. He turns back to his beer as soon as he sees who it is. Reyfon's eyes are clear; he's likely just been nursing that one drink this whole time. If he was gonna come to the bar as an alibi, then he should've at least made an effort to appear more casual about it, and maybe have brought a friend, and had a good time.

Thankfully, this bar also serves food. So while Reyfon is paying, I order a cheese sandwich and have them put it in paper lunch bag for me. I can leave shortly after he does, without looking too weird for not staying and drinking. I tail behind him as he walks down the street. I can tell he's nervous by the way his glasses constantly seem to need readjusting, and the paranoid glances back that I have to keep dodging.

He veers off eventually, into the shortcut through a patch woods that leads to the backyard of his family's mansion. It's here that I pounce. I remove the crowbar from my toolbelt rush forward. I hear him gasp at the sudden sound of feet rushing towards him. The crowbar hits just as his head finishes swiveling around, and his eyes see his attacker. After the big, dull thud he crumples to the ground, twitching a bit, but barely conscious.

As I bash his skull in, a few thoughts will pass through his brain before it mashes, asking why I've betrayed him. The answer? We are living in a material world, and I am a material boy. Hey, you wanna hear another quote? "People work together when it suits 'em. They're loyal when it suits 'em, love each other when it suits 'em, and they kill each other when it suits 'em." I get it, he didn't. And that's why he couldn't hold onto his life.

Reyfon's blood splatters onto my tattered beige work pants. After I finish and catch my breath, I observe. The face of the only person I ever really hung out with has been crushed into a bloody pulp of flesh that looks like fresh ground beef and bone chips. Frgaments of glass and pieces of the black frame from the young man's familiar glasses are mushed into the mess.

Something must be wrong with me to have such a compulsion, but my dick was out, hard, and being rubbed by my hand before I processed what was happening. My hand.. it's slippery with his blood, and it feels so good like this. I pleasure myself, looking down blankly at the battered corpse, lying on its stomach. I probably wouldn't even be able to tell that it was him if I found him like this.

My white, hot cum bursts forth onto the ground between his legs. I sigh and put my penis away, slightly dizzy from all the exertion of today. Brown leather peeks out from the back pocket of his blue jeans. Like an idiot, he kept his wallet there. I slip it out, take his cash, then throw the wallet onto his body.

I walk back home, mostly through the woods so as to be seen as little as possible. I pack one small bag with a few clothes and hygienics. Four bags carried by one guy on a scooter is pushing it, but I want to leave town right now. Then I realize while packing how suspicious all of this looks. Three members of a rich family in a small town are gruesomely murdered, and the house is robbed.

And me, I suddenly skip town, abandoning my drug business, my house, and my land. Where did I get the money to up and leave all of the sudden, and why would I do that on the night of the murders? I should stay, hide the stolen stuff, and wait out the investigation for a couple weeks to a month. Before leaving, I should tell a few people,

"This town is just getting worse by the year. We've had scuffles in the trailerpark and occasional killings among druggies, but for something like this to happen to the Greyhorns... Even I worry. And Reyfon and I, you know, we went back a few years."

Yeah, something like that should be good. It doesn't come across as too on the nose, and it foreshadows my leaving. Others will leave too after this, I'm sure, because the kind of violence that occurred tonight isn't often heard of here. It'll shake folks, myself included, heh.

So if some gumshoe finds their way around to asking about me, like, "That dealer Beriphitar was a friend of the youngest son's wasn't he? He left soon after, didn't he?" the downtown scrubs will answer, "Looks like even he got worried. He was racking up a little that might'a been worth stealin' himself ya know. Not so tough, just a boy trying to carve out a living in a town that turned out to be rougher than he was ready for."

With that, I put my clothes back. I put the bags of stolen money and valuables into plastic trash bags, then take then out to my garden- on foot mind you, because the noise of the scooter at this hour would an overly obvious deviation from my usual routine.

There would be nothing strange about overturned soil in a garden, especially not with fresh crops on top. When I'm done, the bags are safely hidden under about a foot of dirt. Just so you know, the lawmen won't want to tear this place up anyway because of the drugs. What I'm doing is perfectly legal here.

By the time I get back home, it's the middle of the night. That girl seems even hotter now that I'm remembering her in my tiny shower. My tired brain spins a fantasy of her, Reyfon, and Theorion. Reyfon is sandwiched in the middle, Theorion plowing his dirty asshole from behind while he penetrates the girl's dripping pussy. The three move harder and faster, until the illusion comes to its climax, and my jizz sprays the shower wall.

"Sandwiched" though, that word reminds me that I have a perfect good cheese sandwich just left on the counter. I eat it on the way to bed, and then sleep sweetly. With the day that I had, I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell dream from memory.

I wake up to birds chirping, a sour mouth, and the pleasant brightness that comes from having one's home so close to nature. Then I smile little, when I think of the chaos that must be unfolding uptown. Lawmen like buzzards circling my crime scene, Veralia, distraught, shocked, and hungover, and Reyfon's father- I wonder if the news has made it to his hospital bed? At this point, they might as well spare the old man and let him die in peace if possible.

I climb out of bed, have one of the craft beers that Reyfon gave me for breakfast, and then brush my teeth. Over the next two weeks, I follow my plans. I attend the Greyhorn funerals, tell a few people that I'm thinking about leaving town, and sell my land and house.

The lawmen took me aside once to ask me questions. "Did you see anyone strange around town?" et cetera. My answer was simply, "No Sir."

On the day that I was packing my bags again to get on Trusty Rusty and leave town, a beautiful gift delivered herself right to my door. It was Veralia, Reyfon's suffering brunette sister who'd been becoming increasingly irresistable to me the more I saw of her.

Her entire immediate family was either dead, murdered, or dying. It had become unthinkable for her to even stay in her own house; the emptiness and the memories of what had happened, of what she'd seen there, were too much. I heard she currently lived with an aunt in the next town over, so imagine my surprise to see her at my hovel.

Her eyes were sunken, though puffy from what could have been her hundreth bout of tears, and filled with pain. She looked lost, like so many others who'd come to me, and I so then I knew why she was here. She had to find something good in her overwhelming plight.

"I know", she began quietly and not meeting my eyes, "That my brother used to buy leaves and stuff from you." She dug into her pockets and pulled out some crumpled bills. Veralia stretched the money out to me. "Yes", I said softly and with an air of consideration. "I was closing down shop, but please, come in and you can select what you want from what I still have."

There's hardly any stock remaining, since I lowered prices and had been doing a lot of peddling to get it off my hands,but I'm glad I left some. Turns out, Veralia doesn't know a cow from a cat when it comes to drugs, so when I show her my stuff she just says, "I don't know. Just give me something to... stop it." Her face twitches like she's going to collapse into tears, but she holds back.

Her ignorance doesn't matter anyway, because I was partially lying about the effects and the types of drugs anyway. I dope her up as she asks. The drugs take her mind to another world, while I take her body. She moans and pushes me away weakly, but she barely knows what's going on, and she sure won't remember any of this. I strip off her clothes and pound her. I finger her, stick my dick in her slit and her mouth, and rub it against her thighs, pussy and then her asshole before fucking that too. I roughly grope her breasts, then use her vag to finish, shoving my dick in harder and harder, faster and faster, until she wimpers a little even in her drugged state.

Once I get off, she just lays on my living room carpet by the coffee table, almost completely out of it. I think I'll relax for a while before redressing her, but upon having another look at her perky pair of tits and tight pussy soaked with my semen, I decide I'll have a second helping.

I turn her over and splay her legs before me again, completely exposing her genitals to my salacious gaze. I rub her privates, and roughly violate her asshole with two and then three of my fingers. I push my penis inside her body again. She moans sleepily and her hands reach up to swat around above her as I continue raping her- sometimes anally, sometimes vaginally. Her vision is blurry, I know, so she can hardly see me. Veralia's confused, and I feel her thighs pressing up against my hands as she makes makes feeble attempts to close her legs. I come all over her genitalia and asshole.

I wipe her up and put her clothes back on. I finish packing as I was before she came, hop on my scooter, and leave town. Buzzing down the roads to the north, cool wind blowing at my hair and jacket, cargo over my shoulders- I must say I've never felt this free in my life. I've done just as I've pleased, and now I have thousands of buckaroos in cash, gold, and valuables, and a new life of ahead. Life has finally gone my way.

I'm living my own dream as my own man.

#violent #story #crime spree

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cheswirls · 5 years

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tether notes 1/3

long overdue, sry abt that.

pt. 1

why is there no change to the mines after 15+ years of destroying an environment?

i modeled the sinnoh region of tether almost exclusively on the hokkaido region of japan. from the layout of cities like sapporo, abashiri, and muroran, to geography like lake saroma northeast of veilstone and the hidaka mountain range for lower mt coronet, and especially, to the isolationism. i kept it trie to pokemon in the fact that sinnoh has no railways, unlike its real-life counterpart, which has plenty for traversing its vastness. a big part of hokkaido is how empty it is.

[on that note, though i mention both, i used muroran photography to model veilstone instead of abashiri, as its a proper port town. not super significant, jsu thought i’d bring it up, since muroran is sandgem’s counterpart.]

hokkaido is vastly underpopulated in ratio to its size. its mostly due to climate, and nature. things are far less technologized there. outside of sapporo, you won’t find very many glowing billboards and fancy casinos and active nightlife. you have to ride a train for hours to reach the next big town. the mountain range cuts the northern region in half.

when compared to this, little villages out in the middle of the wilds are far more isolated than towns. especially when they’re remnants of indigenous tribes. it’s sad, but it’s pretty standard process in the world nowadays -governments don’t care about the native people much. it’s prevalent in the united states, and if you’ve ever read commentary from fma’s mangaka arakawa, you’ll know the same is true for japan. the ainu are isolated to hokkaido. they aren’t looked after much.

so, even though it’s been a direct result of oreburgh’s mines’ negative effects, it’s still a matter of most of the sinnoh region not even knowing the village existed, and even if they did, not paying it mind. the wilds of sinnoh are difficult to traverse, and it’s more logical to take a boat to your destined city instead of traversing through them. that’s why so many of the big towns in sinnoh are located on a shore. for others, like jubilife and hearthome, there are airports that cater to people. and, for real life hokkaido, there are the trains.

i really wrote abt the mining incident in reference to bangladesh. in hokkaido, once all the prevalent mines started having accidents, the japanese government was quick to shut them down. in other eastern countries, especially bangladesh, the government is notorious for doing nothing abt the insane amounts of river pollution caused by factory waste. writing the river scene was heartbreaking, but learning about the trash rivers that prevail in countries with vast amounts of pollution, of the ones that run stark orange with mining waste, that was more difficult than anything i’d written for tether.

so it comes down to being a mix of two things. one, sinnoh’s government viewing the production of the mine and the money it brings over the safety of the nature that surrounds it. and, two, no one noticing the damage anyway. it’s not like it ever affected oreburgh. or, maybe it did, but they installed the fresh-air vents to keep the mines clean, like the changes made in pokemon platinum suggest? the oreburgh mines are the sinnoh region’s majority of energy, after all (you can argue for sunyshore, but i’d say solar power only stretches so far from the source) so even if there’s a scuffle of it here or there, keeping it active is important.

also. my take of the pokemon world has always been a little gritty. so there’s that.

why hancock as champion?

i ask myself this question everyday. i don’t even like boa. why did i include her, if in name only? what was i thinking? oh well. it’s already been done.

[side note, again. if boa’s in charge of sinnoh, considering her, erm, personality, is it hard to believe nothing was ever done abt the mine pollution? aka does she care abt anyone but herself hm hm ]

pt 2.

i introduce a pokemon known as driftzel rather early on. it’s luffy’s, and it’s an in-progress pokemon, a concept i thought would be interesting to use. you can see what driftzel looks like here. it also links to the blog i got the idea from. instead of it being like a natural evolution, though, the idea in tether is more of a middle evolution for pokemon with two lines. so, there aren’t any for three-line evolutions. i was originally going to introduce ricaru, an evolution between riolu and lucario, but i moved away from that idea somewhere around writing part 4.

herbalist!law is the solution i came up with in lieu of him being a doctor. i had so much fun with the berries. when i was doing my maps for each part of tether, i had separate maps marking out the locations of berries in the games and which ones law collects along the journey to veilstone.

hearthome is the only city i didn’t base on a real world counterpart. i think because i had too much to work with already. the cathedral, the contest hall, the gym. all the architecture. the poffin house. i didn’t wanna change anything abt hearthome, and more importantly, i wanted to portray part of japan’s hospitality here, too. it does extend all the way to hokkaido, yes. people are nice, and friendly, and happy to have travelers, just as depicted in all the games.

yes, all of ace’s pokemon are named after spade pirates. except for isuka, because i couldn’t resist. yes, striker is a spade pirate, it was his ship.

[in reference to the night walk between hearthome and solaceon] remember to bring a compass, when you’re in a region with a giant magnetic mountain range at its center, because it will be a lifesaver.

Law can see how uneasy Luffy still is, but as they walk further from the coast, he eases up, so he chooses not to ask

^ in platinum, the opposite shore houses the hallowed tower where you can encounter spiritomb. sensing the presence of an evil spirit leaves luffy on edge, thus their dodge to avoid it.

why are lunar wings, an event-only item, brought up in hearthome?

you’re right. lunar wing is a rare dppt item, and you can only get it after encountering cresselia on fullmoon island. my inspiration came from an episode of the dp anime, where a stall in canalave was selling the feathers as homage to the game event. actually, to go further, the same thing happened in the darkrai movie, which is where i got most of the insp. especially for the charms made out of them -look at the picture here!! i figured, with the sinnoh region i was depicting being a place of mostly friendly and peaceful pokemon, cresselia was more generous with her feathers. they make for popular items, and if they work in keeping the bad dreams away, whats the harm? plus, they’re in hearthome, a hotbed for tourists and foreign activity, because they’d sell best there. a good luck souvenir from sinnoh? sign me up.

but they are still lunar wings, and they do work, as shown with chimchar. i really wanted a piece of practical merchandise i could show off, and once i got the idea for chimchar’s introduction, i tweaked the hearthome scene to include the feathers. if you pay attention, though, you’ll note that law no longer has restless sleep after luffy’s secured a lunar wing.

the solaceon ruins was a place i wanted to explore so badly, but it just didn’t make sense within the continuity of the story, especially when i decided to go the northern route and introduce tsuru out of the fog. my original ideas were split between that, and law/lu cutting through the mountainous area of the ruins as a shortcut to veilstone. i was really captivated with exploring the uncharted areas of sinnoh’s map, and i think at this point i had established enough, so i decided they would stay on paved routes this time. but! i did want to bring it up, which is where carmel comes in.

in the games, there are houses on the outskirts of solaceon, nestled between the trees, and very close to the ruins. there’s one house where a little boy will give you ball capsule stickers. that’s the basis for mother carmel’s house. she lives there with anana, the first of the captive granddaughters to be introduced.

anana is creepy in canon. you can’t die that. i used carmel’s canon portrayal to match, and then the scene becomes a match of who’s creepier -the ruins or this old lady? the atmosphere around the ruins is weird. there are unknown there, so the space is distorted. it’s an old place. it’s quite possibly connected to giratina and the distortion world, since there are unknown present. it’s supposed to be eerie and strange and off-putting. it’s supposed to feel like a place where a wandering child can disappear into quite easily. though, maybe carmel’s just inattentive.

The trees out here are tall, towering over them in shades of deep green and dull orange, a byproduct left over from spring’s bloom

i mention orange trees in a section of the woods just past solaceon. they’re not orange from fall, though, they’re naturally so. oran trees! any off-colored trees mentioned -assume they’re berry trees. also another berry thing i had fun with, deciding which was a bushel and which was a plant and which was a huge tree.

i had way too much fun depicting the fog forest. i actually listened to a lot of pkmn soundtrack while writing tether, and for this part, this santalune forest remix was on constant replay. getting turned around, not being able to see your map, hearing the sounds and calls of wild pokemon, and then getting so lost in it that you begin to hear what isn’t there. not being able to see in front of you, barely able to dodge attacks and sabotage from wild pokemon, and feeling like youre going insane from myriads of different tunes clashing together. the road between solaceon and the dragon tamer’s house is terrifying, and i wanted to use this to depict the dangers of traveling in the pokemon world. though most sinnoh pokemon thus far had been shown to have good intentions, it can’t be said about every pokemon.

not to mention the big drop you have before the bridge, right when you get out of the fog! not really even out of it, as it sticks around near the dragon tamer’s house. could you imagine encountering something like that in real life? imagine how many accidents there would be.

so i had a bit of trouble in deciding if i wanted to use tsuru or not. this was fairly early on in wano, and i knew i wanted to use tama, but who to pair her up with for grandmother/daughter matches was iffy. looking back at my list, i had lots of other picks for the dragon elder. gloriosa, shakky, kureha, rouge, gerth, even! carmel, too, at one point was a pick, since i planned this part out early on into the story. i actually had marine tsuru on the list as well! in the end, i think i decided on wano tsuru bc of all the dragon tie-ins thus far. if i were to go back, now, i think i might change it to toki and hiyori, possibly. or, tsuru and hiyori. not that i dont love tama, though, i do.

i had a small list of grandkids, too, depending on who was the grandmother. anana, rebecca, tama, marguerite, and a few choices for marine tsuru (the standout was, apparently, isuka. then i repurposed the name for ace’s talonflame. tashigi was another pick, but in the end in wanted little girls.) at another point i thought about hiluluk and chopper, and had another grandfather/son combo that i can’t remember anymore. those were scrapped early on, since i wanted all girls. i also thought abt chimney and kokoro, but i wanted them on a more coastal city, to mirror water 7.

there were two things i really wanted to happen in tether. one was a pokemon joining a team. and another was an evolution. part 2 fulfills one of those w chimchar, the pokemon i always wanted luffy to have, and the one i never knew i needed him to earn. also, giving pokemon their own personalities is really cute.

also, just before this scene, i take a skip, marking the second time an indefinite amount of time has passed between scenes. i realized while writing the time through mt coronet that i was writing more passively than actively, and this was speeding up things more than i liked. it’s why i took a break and depicted hearthome for a couple days, so that things were happening more in the moment. still, i hope at this point it’s gotten across that it’s taken a long time to travel to veilstone. moving across the entire region is a long journey, after all.

introducting aura, a movie concept.

so. aura was the main reason i wanted tether to take place in the sinnoh region. it’s actually mentioned in the games once, and that’s from riley, one of the sinnoh quartet, on iron island. in the movie where the concept is introduced, it’s brought with a lucario, another region. in the anime, riley has an active role in aura. but, for those who’ve just played the games, or know next to nothing abt pokemon, i tried to explain my best in-story.

aura takes the place of conquerors haki in this pokemon verse, basically. you’re born with the sensitivity to it, so it’s not something just everyone can unlock. it’s rare, and it’s widely unknown. like law says, in sinnoh it’s considered an old myth. outside of sinnoh, it’s hardly known at all. so finding others to learn from is difficult. most people go their whole lives without even knowing what it is, just considering it natural luck that they can perceive things than others cannot. luffy meeting shanks, and learning that they both are sensitive to aura, is an incredible thing. having someone to teach you how to manipulate aura rare, and pretty amazing, when you think of the chances. but luffy and shanks live in different regions, and luffy has his own life. it’s been a long time, training, and as he expresses in part 2, he’s still not as far as he wants to be.

aura guardians, what shanks is, are almost unheard of. with great power comes great responsibility. and with great power comes the desire to obtain it. aura guardians are secret for a reason -if someone found out a person had an incredible power, and had the desire to, would they not seek it out for themselves? even to other aura users, revealing themselves wasn’t wise. protect yourself first. it’s a motto you’ll see come into play later.

with that said, and with one of the last things luffy mentions in part 2: could that have something to do with why shanks has gone missing?

#tether #im writing pt3 notes today #when i finish ill post them and pt3 to ffn

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iamvegorott · 6 years

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Stolen Series Book 3: HiJacked

Welcome to the third and maybe final book of the Stolen series. I’m excited to work on this series even more and I also look foward to everyone’s support. I hope you all enjoy!

Summary: First, they were taken away, then returned and now their lives have been hijacked once again. They've already been in a world like this before, will they be able to get out again? If they do, they will have the entire Magic Society coming after them.

All Over Again

Gray..just...gray.

Jack's entire body was numb as he fell, the wind making his hair whip against his face. But he didn't feel it. He felt nothing. Jack couldn't believe this. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.

Gray.

GRAY.

"Jack!" Signe's voice was an echo in Jack's mind. "Jack! Save him!" Slowly Jack regained feeling in his legs and he used them to flip himself over. The wind was blasting into his eyes and it started bringing him back to reality. "Alec!" Jack slowly turned his head and saw Signe holding her hands around Alec. Hugging him so she could put pressure on his wound.

"Jack. Get up!" A slap across the cheek snapped Jack fully back.

"Mark?" Jack said when his friend's face registered.

"You have to heal Alec! He's dying!" Amy cried as she held onto Mark's arm, believing it prevented her from falling away from everyone.

"Alec?" Jack looked over at Signe again, fear in her eyes. "Alec!" Jack began kicking his legs and 'swam' over to Alec.

"Jack! Help!" Signe begged, tears in her eyes.

"Move your hands," Jack ordered gently and took placed his hands over the wound when Signe did was he said. "I can do this... I can do this." Jack mumbled as he closed his eyes and felt a surge of magic go through him. After a moment he pulled away and saw that the bullet hole was gone. "Fuck yeah!"

"Is he okay!?" Wade called. He, Bob and Felix were further away and was heading towards Jack. None of them looking happy to be back in a gray portal.

"He's still out!" Jack called back.

"It's probably because of-shit!" Mark cursed when he saw that the ground had appeared and was nearing them very quickly.

"We're fine! We should be fine!" Bob said, mostly for himself.

"Fuck!" Felix screamed as they went through the portal, landing on the grass with a soft 'thud'.

"That's...that's not how gravity works," Amy said.

"Magic." Was Mark's answer as he gave Amy a hug.

"Blood loss," Jack said, finishing off Mark's comment from before they landed. "He's still out from blood loss, right?"

"Most likely." Mark nodded, watching as Jack climbed up a nearby tree.

"I'm gonna..." Wade stepped aside and vomited into the gray grass.

"Well...looks like we're only missing Bob and Mark on the puke train." Felix weakly joked.

"I'm good." Mark chuckled softly before letting out a long sigh.

"There's a town a good mile away," Jack stated, going back to Signe and Alec.

"This isn't Vince's world, right? It has to be Nina's. Do you think it works similarly?" Bob asked.

"I don't know," Mark admitted as he grabbed his suitcase, gesturing to Felix to get Jack's.

"Its similar to a degree," Jack said as he attempted to lift Alec.

"Let me help" Bob went over to Jack.

"How is it similar?" Wade asked as he went over to help as well.

"All Spellcasters can create their own worlds like this. It's like an escape for them if real life gets to be too much." Jack grabbed Alec's legs and turned around while Bob and Wade both scooped up Alec by the torso, walking sideways while Jack was going forwards, leading the group. "The worlds are gray and in a forest with a town because those are the easiest things to form out of your head without a reference. We all know what trees look like, or grass or buildings. What stores have, how a home would look. We can invent those. But we can't invent a color. We all think in gray."

"I fucking hate gray now," Felix grumbled. Callie jumped off of Mark's shoulder, landed on Wade's and hopped onto Alec's chest, patting the man's face with their paw.

"Callie, no." Bob lightly scolded, earning a sniff from Callie before they moved down to Alec's stomach and curling up into a ball.

"We should find a store first. We're gonna need weapons and having a cart to carry Alec with would be great." Bob suggested, grunting a little when he needed to adjust his arm.

"These suitcases are also heavy as hell." Felix groaned. "What the hell did you put in here, bricks?"

"A little bit of everything," Jack answered.

"I still can't believe you were gonna fight Nina without us," Wade said. "We can be helpful, you know."

"I do...I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of me." Jack stated. "We've all been through too much already. I don't want to be the reason there's more."

"You're stuck with us, whether you like it or not," Signe said as she caught up to Jack and took one of Alec's legs.

"I'd never complain about being with you." Jack smiled.

"Ew." Wade and Bob said together.

"Gross." Felix stuck out his tongue.

"Get a room," Mark called and laughed a little when Amy gave his arm a light slap.

The group went silent after that. No one knowing what to say anymore, but their thoughts were racing. Amy and Signe were trying to figure out how this world worked. Felix, Bob, and Wade all remembering what has happened in an area like this. Mark debating on what all they should get while Jack stared straight ahead, praying that a certain section of the store didn't exist but knowing that he needed it. It saved their asses last time, it could do it again.

"Do we wanna claim the closest house to the store?" Felix asked when they finally reached the town, breaking the silence.

"I'm okay with that," Mark said, getting sounds of agreement from the others.

"I hope the store's not too deep into the town, my arms are getting red," Bob said.

"We can switch if you want." Mark offered.

"If I stop moving, I'm not gonna be able to start again." Wade chuckled.

"The store should be coming up soon," Jack said. "They tend to be in the same location in all towns."

"This is spooky," Signe commented. "It feels so empty here."

"It does, but it's not. Those gray things could be in one of these houses...or a corpse." Jack added the last part under his breath. Signe was able to hear it and rubbed Jack's back, knowing what he was referring to.

"There's the bitch!" Felix exclaimed in joy.

"And there are the carts," Bob added.

"Full speed ahead!" Wade yelled as everyone rushed to the front of the store. Mark, Amy, and Felix watched as the others hoisted Alex up and placed him into one of the carts. Callie jumped off of Alec and went to Jack’s shoulders.

"We should get some blankets and pillows for him first," Amy suggested. "Can't fight if your neck is sore."

"Let's get some weapons first, just in case this place isn't empty," Mark said.

"I have bats in my bag that we can use for now." Jack grabbed an empty cart while Bob held the one with Alec in it.

"We can split up, the sooner we get Alec into a bed, the better," Signe said.

"A bat for you, a bat for you, a bat for you and a bat for you" Felix sang as he handed Wade, Mark, Signe, and Amy a bat. "And one for me."

"When did you get five bats?" Mark asked Jack.

"The day after we got back. I didn't feel safe without something in my home that I could use." Jack answered.

"Me, Wade and Felix can get some medical stuff and clean Alec up," Bob said.

"Signe, Mark, and Amy can get food. The houses were filled in Vince's world, but I don't know if it's the same here. Food is different from person to person." Jack handed Mark the cart.

"I'm not letting you go alone," Signe said.

"Trust me, I need to do this alone. I promise to be safe." Jack gave Signe a quick peck on the cheek.

“At least take this.” Mark held the bat in front of him. Jack nodded and took it, spinning it in his hand before walking into the store, knowing that the others would be right behind him.

“Let’s do a quick check first,” Jack said when he stopped. He lifted the bat and clanked it against the tiled floor, the sound echoing loudly and making Callie flinch a little. Everyone was frozen while they waited. “All clear.” Jack chuckled and went off without looking back. He could hear the others discuss what they were going amongst their groups, their voices getting softer and softer.

Jack hoped there was a map of some sort as he walked, but did see a large ‘school supplies’ sign hanging above an isle. He went to the sign and found several backpacks. Jack grabbed the first one that would fit him best and slipped it on the shoulder that Callie wasn’t on. He looked around for more signs telling him what was where. A ‘frozen goods’ sign was at the opposite side of the store, telling him he couldn’t be too terribly far from what he was looking for, most stores had a similar layout when it came to products. Callie patted at Jack’s shoulder and pointed at a case of tennis balls. Jack chuckled before picking it up and popping it open. Callie patted Jack even faster before leaping off when Jack tossed the ball. Jack would never understand how Callie’s mind worked, but they were happy and that’s what mattered. He put several tennis balls into his bag before continuing on, very close to his destination since he was in the sports area.

Callie caught the ball and rolled with it for a moment, sitting back up and looking to see if Jack saw what they did. Their ears twitched in concern when they saw Jack staring at a glass display. Callie left the tennis ball and rushed over to Jack, returning to the man’s shoulder and chirping. Jack gave Callie a smile before checking the door to the display, sad but yet excited to learn that it was locked. Jack adjusted himself so that his side was facing the display. He held the bat out and tapped it against the glass several times before holding the bat with two hands and bending at the knees a little. Callie took that as a cue and quickly got off of Jack, making sure there was a good distance before turning back around. Jack smirked before taking a step and swinging the bat as hard as he could, shattering the glass on impact. Jack felt a quick, sharp pain in his hand, but ignored it as he crunched through the glass, taking one of the items on display into his hand.

A gun.

Every single fiber of his being was begging him to throw it, to destroy it with his bat. To scream, to cry, to curse, to do anything that wasn’t this. But he ignored it. He knew what was real and what wasn’t. The gun wouldn’t do anything. The gun couldn’t do anything. Only the person holding the gun could do something. The gun was needed to protect himself and others. To protect them from the monsters of this world. Vince’s creatures were one thing, what would Nina’s be?

Jack made sure the gun was on safety before putting it in his bag, doing the same to a couple more and zipped it up when he was done. He put the bag on and felt Callie climb up him, chirping softly. Jack only smiled and walked away from the mess he made. He was not going to let Nina get away with this. Not only did she mess with Jack. She messed with his friends, with his loved ones. There was no way he was going to let this go. There was no way he was going to go down without a fight. There was nothing that Nina could do to stop him.

He was going to win.

#jacksepticeye #markiplier #pewdiepie #lordminion777 #muyskerm #wiishu #love you!#fanfiction

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blessuswithblogs · 7 years

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Thoughts on Hollow Knight: I gazed into the void and it was full of cute buggies

(very minor spoilers for Hollow Knight ahead)

It occurred to me when I was writing up my thoughts on The Surge that Hollow Knight probably deserved the same treatment, as it is another recent Dark Souls inspired offering that I played quite a bit of. I think the reason I haven't really put my thoughts together about Hollow Knight yet is that I haven't really needed to. The game is simply very good in a straightforward, easy to understand way. Hollow Knight is a metroidvania made by the indie studio Team Cherry with charming hand-drawn graphics. Mechanically, it draws much more from modern Castlevania titles than Souls. The only thing that really even qualifies it as a Dark Souls inspired game is the fact you lose your money on death and have to recover it again. It's a rather unnecessary addition, but at least in Hollow Knight, this mechanic has some (vague) diegetic reason for being.

I don't feel quite as inclined to explain the systems of Hollow Knight in such excruciating detail as I did for The Surge, mostly because they are simpler, better implemented, and easier to understand. You swing your sword (or Nail, in the parlance of Hallownest, the ancient bug city where the game takes place), it does damage to enemies, enemies drop money (or Geo, as it is called) you can use to buy things, and you explore a huge 2D interconnected world. Character progression is done entirely by finding upgrades in the game world, or finding NPCs in the game world to buy things from, so Hollow Knight is quite light on RPG aspects. The main character customization aspect comes from charms, your only real gear analogue, which you can equip at benches, your rest and respawn points, for various helpful effects like increased swing range, extra health, and a passive magnetic field that draws Geo into you so it doesn't go flying off into the abyss all the time.

What I would say is the most unique mechanic in the game is the Soul system, which sounds ridiculous, but it's not what it sounds like i swear don't close the window. Instead of currency, Soul is basically your MP equivalent, which you use to cast spells and heal yourself. You regain soul by striking enemies with your nail, creating a rewarding rhythm of using basic attacks to power up your big moves or keep yourself alive. It encourages using spells instead of hoarding them because your Soul is effectively unlimited as long as you have things to smack. The game can get pretty hard towards the end because bosses and tougher enemies tend to go berserk the moment you step back to take a moment to heal, but otherwise it's a well realized system that gives you a lot of variety and flexibility in how you approach the game's various challenges.

Where the game really gets its self-proclaimed Dark Souls inspiration is in its world design and preferred method of storytelling. You play as the nameless Knight, a cute little bug child with some interesting powers and no sense of smell or verbal communication skills. The Knight is explicitly and importantly genderless. You start the game making your way to Dirtmouth, small town of friendly bugs situated on top of Hallownest, a huge bug metropolis built beneath the ground. Unfortunately, Hallownest has been visited by a Terrible Calamity and most bugs brave enough to venture into the depths eventually lose their sense of self and wander the tunnels aimlessly, attacking anything that moves. The comparison with Lordran is quite self-evident, and the general structure of the narrative mirrors the original Dark Souls quite faithfully. The world is designed similarly, exploring the nooks and crannies of a once great civilization, marveling at its grand archtiecture, and gradually uncovering the unseemly secrets it was built upon.

Unlike The Surge, which was so much of a narrative mess I felt like I had to go into it in detail just to sort my thoughts out and sort of confirm to the world at large that I wasn't having some sort of fever dream, I have enough respect for the tale of Hollow Knight that I don't really want to spoil it. It's worth seeing and exploring for yourself, and at a very affordable price point, I would really recommend giving it a try. A lot of love and care went into Hollow Knight. One area where the game shines is in its characters, a motley collection of bugs from all walks of life with many different perspectives and goals. They are both memorable in personality and in design, each one drawn in an expressive and unique way that emphasizes their own little idiosyncracies. Quirrel, a happy go lucky adventurer explores Hallownest for its secrets much like you do and you get to be friends with him as you go through the game. Zote the Mighty, a supremely overconfident and haughty warrior, becomes your rival of sorts after you get him out of a sticky situation. Cornifer, a jolly and helpful cartographer, can be found in each area selling a map for a reasonable fee and offering insight about the locale. You need to buy these to have a map to begin with, so you tend to be extremely grateful whenever you hear his trademark hummning and find the paper trail he leaves behind. There are a lot of characters in Hollow Knight, and most of them have their own stories and surprises. They're also "voice acted" in a sing-song fake bug language sort of reminiscent of older Legend of Zelda titles that's quite charming and evocative.

The game's various bosses (of which there are more than 5, I might add) are quite similar to the characters. They've got their own stories and goals and take on a variety of forms, some cute, some terrifying, some a little bit of both. I've been fairly effusive in my praise of the game so far, and while I do think that the bosses are very good for the most part, it is worth noting that a lot of later fights in the game, especially some optional ones, are huge difficulty spikes that can kind of take you out of the game. Being optional, of course, means that this is never a huge problem, but Hollow Knight can get pretty brutal later on even on the critical path. It has a much more traditional difficulty curve than the average Souls style game, which usually start very difficult and become easier as you master the mechanics. Instead, the game starts off quite leisurely but gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) ramps up into a very difficult fight for survival. Bosses, and regular enemies, also have their own bits of lore courtesy of the game's bestiary system, the Hunter's Journal. The Hunter is an NPC you meet fairly early on in the game who, impressed either by your courage or simple disregard for your own safety, bequeaths to you his journal and exhorts you to hunt and grow strong. By killing a certain number of each enemy type, you get both basic information and the Hunter's own thoughts and feelings, which can be quite edifying -- or at least amusing. I will criticize that the prose used in some of these entries is a bit amateurish, but, glass houses and all that.

Speaking of optional bosses, Hollow Knight has a lot of them. It has a lot of optional stuff period. It's a legitimately pretty huge game, especially your first time through. You go through a large variety of environments, from crystalline mines to verdant gardens to horrifying spider-infested tunnels. Hollow Knight can, on rare occasions, go right for the jugular with that primal fear of things that skitter and bite, and given how cute and pleasant most of the game world looks, these occasional forays into nightmare made manifest are extremely jarring and if you are particularly afraid of phylum Euarthropoda, you may want to give this game a pass. Or at least maybe have somebody hold your hand while you go through Deepnest. Spider hell aside, the game rewards exploration with all sorts of hidden goodies, vendors, and even entire areas that somebody only going through the critical path might never even see. It is in this aspect that the Souls lineage really shines through, at least by my estimation. The game is so big and multilayered that not having a map available from the start can be kind of difficult, since 2D space tends to be more difficult to make a mental map of. There's plenty of options for fast travel and shortcuts to take from place to place, but without some sort of anchor, getting lost is an inevitability.

My biggest singular complaint comes at the very end of the game, on the way to get the Best Ending, so it is once again optional content so I can't count it against the overall package too harshly. Even so, it's pretty bad. Leaving out on the specifics for spoiler's sake, you find yourself in a sawblade and spike infested deathrap straight out of Super Meatboy. The platforming in Hollow Knight is Perfectly Fine, but not quite precise enough to really shine in situations where I Wanna Be the Guy style jumping puzzles are presented as obstacles. It's a very out of place segment with no enemies to fight whatsoever (and thus, no really reliable way to refill soul and heal yourself from the inevitable damage you're going to take from whirling death) and while the payoff is good, I still came out of it feeling more annoyed than anything. The checkpointing in some of the game's later segments can be obnoxiously unforgiving, most of all in this particular part. Eventually I had to entirely reconfigure my charm layout to go for maximum survivability, and I would not envy the player who made it there without finding some of the special HP regen charms or enough mask fragments to upgrade their health bar. Also I keep almost calling charms badges because I am a huge Paper Mario girl until the end of time so sorry if that ever slips through.

I mentioned earlier that the story of Hollow Knight was worth seeing and experiencing for yourself, and I stand by that. I think that there are some criticisms to be had with the execution and perhaps the derivative nature of it all, but an indepth analysis of Bug Lore will have to be its own post, should I feel like making it. For now, I will simply say that the characters are brilliant and lovable, and piecing together the mystery of Hollownest is quite rewarding, even if it is frustratingly vague at times. I think a lot of people forget that in Dark Souls, most of the digging had to be done for the finer details about the various historical figures and places. The main thrust of the narrative, the curse of the undead and the Dark Sign and all that, was actually kind of just Out There from minute one. It gave you a foundation to work with. Hollow Knight goes for Maximum Enigma and obfuscates even the foundation until a pretty good chunk of the way in, which is maybe a little bit excessive. Ultimately, I think it's a valid stylistic choice, but one I'm not a huge fan of.

Hollow Knight is good. Hollow Knight is great! Aforementioned considerations of arachnophobia aside, I would recommend it to anyone who ever enjoyed a Metroidvania or similarly styled game, or any Souls fan. There's lots to see and do, most of it gorgeous and haunting in equal measure. I have a few fairly minor complaints, and people without much patience for Hard Games might want to consider just sticking to the critical path and looking up the rest on Youtube, but overall it's a fantastic package made with a lot of love and heart. There's an earnestness and sincerity to Hollow Knight that's very precious and should be nurtured as much as possible. It's this extremely high-concept bug adventure that is nevertheless very affecting and memorable. The eventual payoff for seeing and doing everything is very impressive and quite a spectacle, with some evocative visuals that will stay with you for a long time. Definitely a game of the year contender as we approach the conclusion of 2017.

#hollow knight #dark souls #lore

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