#is very cool to see him kill other players so fast and quick makes me proud. Is like ‘oh so spreen was right’ Ik it’s unexpected but | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pyrrhiccomedy · 3 years

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Hello ☺️, I’ve heard from your lovely lady companion Emily that you’re a very seasoned DM! I was wondering if you had any advice for beginners to DMing when it comes to things like improvising and making sure your first session has an impact on the players as their introduction to the world. Any advice at all would be a lifesaver! Thank you ☺️✌🏻

holy shit, a question about DMing. you have freed me, stranger. I can stop blogging about Troy (2004).

First of all, I’m really excited to hear that you’re going to be DMing for the first time! DMing is understandably intimidating, but it’s also incredibly creatively fulfilling, and it’s something you’ll still be learning how to do better after 25 years.

Okay, so let’s talk about session 1.

Your first session has a lot of lifting to do. You want to make an emotional impact, you want your players to learn about the world, you want to convey tone and genre, and you want your PCs to have a chance to band together and form quick connections.

I really can’t say enough good things about session 1 being about An Escape, because an escape scenario immediately poses a whole bunch of really valuable questions.

What is a crime in this world?

Who are your natural adversaries?

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

What will the next few sessions be about?

Literally, in 3 of the last 4 campaigns I’ve run, session one was An Escape. I’ll walk you through the set-ups for 2 of them (the third is a one-on-one campaign, so maybe not as useful to you).

In Vampire: the Masquerade, the party (all vampires) woke up staked to the ground in the basement of an abandoned school, captives of the fanatical inquisitorial group, the Society of Leopold. None of them had met each other before, all of them were confused, angry, scared, and low on blood.

What is a crime in this world?

Just being a vampire is a crime. You can be brutally attacked, captured, and murdered for being what you are. Your only recourse is to fight for your life.

Who are your natural adversaries?

Vampire hunters. They are not as strong or as fast as you, but they have dirty tricks up their sleeves and fanatical conviction on their side, and they do not see you as human.

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

Without them, you will not escape your predicament. You know you can trust them because you have a common enemy. Each of them will have a chance to solve a problem with a unique skill that you do not possess, driving home that you can solve dangerous problems together that you could not overcome on your own.

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

Fast, flashy, bloody, and dark. Descriptions of injuries are savage; heads get torn off, chests get ripped open, shadows pinwheel wildly as the sole hanging light in the ceiling gets knocked around amidst the violence. But there’s a slick cool to all of it. You are in real danger, but you are also capable of dealing out grievous and acrobatic harm.

What will the next few sessions be about?

Upon your escape, the Prince of the city charged you all with seeking out the leaders of the hunters. Best not to disappoint him.

In my Call of Cthulhu campaign, the characters were all prisoners on a bus to the gulag, in Russia in 1938.

What is a crime in this world?

Literally anything, if you have displeased the wrong people. One of you received a letter you shouldn’t have seen. Another one wrote seditious poetry. Another was rude to a secret police officer during an investigation. Another literally has no idea why he’s here. There is a cold, kafkaesque indifference to the notion of fairness in this world. You have been disenfranchised and shipped off to do hard labor for almost nothing at all. Do not bother to look for reason in the machinations of the state.

Who are your natural adversaries?

The NKVD. They are all-powerful, all-seeing, and brutal. They could kill every last one of you right here in the snow, and so long as they filed the correct paperwork afterwards, there will be no follow up investigation. They have the key to the vehicles, they have warm clothes, they have all of the guns, they have the radio that is your only way of contacting the outside world. You don’t even have coats that will keep out the freezing wind. If you want what you need to escape this place, you will have to take it from them.

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

You will be shot, if you try to escape alone. The tundra is vast and the NKVD are always watching. Your only hope is to cause confusion and hope that your numbers count for more than your jailers’ guns. And once you’re out, into Siberia? conditions are so hostile you have no choice but to band together for survival.

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

Almost instantly fatal. You are shown fellow prisoners (NPCs) get headshot by the NKVD captain and drop to the ground, dead. Another NPC has a broken leg, and cannot participate in combat at all. If you get hurt, that’s it. There are no health potions or magic spells that will mitigate the effects of bullets and the biting wind.

What will the next few sessions be about?

As you escaped, you saw strange apparitions across the snow, which caused the radio to malfunction. You are fleeing in your stolen truck from the NKVD, but where are you going? Where can you go, except towards the mystery?

Escapes are great, too, because as a DM, your list of things you need to prepare is pretty concrete. You need:

- Mooks

- A boss for the mooks

- a map of the immediate area, so your players know what avenues of potential escape they have

- a couple of NPC fellow prisoners for them to talk to & for you to kill along the way (alternately, this can be a great way to link the party up with future quest-givers straight from the jump).

- A list of possible resources to aid in their escape that they might be able to get their hands on (a fire axe? a radio? a car?)

- A couple of ideas for spanners to throw in the works (if things are too easy/going too quickly, maybe this NPC fellow prisoner turns on them, hoping to curry favor with the NKVD; maybe one of the hunters has a flamethrower to force the vampires to double back; maybe it starts to snow with white-out conditions, maybe something is being filmed right outside and the vampires can’t bust through the steel doors without potentially breaking the Masquerade).

Another great thing about escapes is that they’re geographically isolated. So you don’t need to have The Entire Starting Zone figured out from session 1: you just need to know about this one truck stop in Siberia, or this abandoned school in Queens. When they gain access to the wider world, the session ends, and you should have an idea of where they want to go next.

And if any of their captors survive, you may have an act 1 villain on your hands. Don’t get too attached to the idea that any of them WILL survive; but if they do, and the party bears them a grudge, find them a place in the story, flesh them out as an adversary. Your Big Bad means nothing to them yet, but Captain Volkov, the NKVD captain who pursued them across the ice like a relentless automaton, scares them.

Another thing I like about escapes is that they feel very natural. There is no quest giver; they have an obvious goal they can all agree on, and the obstacles to achieving it are built into the situation. It’s a solid framework for an adventure that you can pack a lot of worldbuilding detail into along the way.

Good luck!

#dice matters

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red-riot-rat · 4 years

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ＲＥＱＵＥＳＴ: me dashing to the request button 🏃🏽‍♂️. I am asking for platonic league of villains with teen reader who's joining the team and everyone like- "tHeY dOnT lOoK lIkE mUcH-" but then when they go on their first missions reader whips out some marvel black widow assassin type shit and they're like: 🧿👄🧿

HEY HEY! GOD I FUCKING LOVE P!LOV REQUESTS GJNKFG

Ｇｅｎｒｅ：CHAOS AHHSAHASH

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: kinda gore(brief mention of blood), reader being a badass, shigaraki is crusty and unmoisturized…. Uhm, reader kills like two dudes, stabbing, me making up stuff for fighting no one @ me on that,

𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘴: they/them

AN: is this good,,, no. a lfjhABSLKJGN

OKAY SO MR. COMPRESS BRINGS YOU IN

AND YOURE LIKE OKAY bitch.

But not really

Hes very nice to you and recognizes that even though you're young you can be good for the league, not to mention that you’ll soon all basically be family

But full ass you walk into the bar and everyone just stares because

You're a new recruit

YOU'RE A KID

Shigaraki: Theyre a fucking kid

Mr. Compress: Uh, yeah.

N e way

All of them sit at the counter and just stare at you.

They want you to break and start talking but you're used to this

You’ve been doing this gig for most of your life

Eventually tomura will start to throw a tantrum, kinda, but then he’ll ask you questions

He wants to scare you, he wants to be intimidating but to you,

You kinda look up to him

You answer his questions, sounding oblivious to the obvious threats he spews to you.

“Kid, you're going to end up dead NPC here, and I'll make sure of it. You still wanna join?”

“✨ yes you dumbass✨”

NO PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT

Nah for real you just say yeah.

He doesn't dislike you, but he's purposely not going to like you because he wants you to be scared of him.

Kurogiri talks to him, they glance over at you every once and awhile

You’ve been talking with Toga, Dabi and Mr. Compress

“So! Who are ya?”

You reluctantly explain what has happened and who you are, you know the backstory. Parents were heroes and pushed you too hard to become a hero as well,

And then you went apeshit,

The hero commissions been on your ass since you’ve been born,

You didn't want to ever be like your parents

So yay villain times

Dabi talked a little about it, agreeing with you that parents are shit, you know and then you asked him

“Who were your parents?”

But tomura interrupted your conversation you might never know

“Much to my unwant of a side character like you, welcome kid.”

Toga pats your head

Dabi slaps you on the back

Twice messes up your hair

And Mr compress just flashes you a thumbs up

You stick with them

You grow as close as you can with Dabi, and especially close with Twice and Toga.

Although Dabi seems cold to you, he’ll never tell you but he does care a great deal for you.

Shigaraki assigns a mission to you, Dabi, and Toga

All you have to do is get some info out of a boss that works for a small part of the hero commission

Which only fuels your anger

You walked side by side, to the right side of Dabi. Toga skipped on his other side, and waved her knife around. Yours was hidden underneath your hoodie, and was sheathed in a thigh rig.

“What's his name again again Dabi?” Toga sang, not caring that her voice echoed down the long hall. You glanced at the male, who looked rather annoyed.

“I don't know, it doesn't matter. We just get the info and get out.” He turned and stared at her,

“That's ALL we need.”

She groaned and pouted to him, “You’re no fun! No fun at all.”

Dabi grunted in response, he honestly didn’t care.

“Hey! Who are you?” A male voice behind you caused all three of you to spin. Out of reflex you kicked the side of his knee and he toppled over. You smiled wide as you heard Dabi warn you, but you didn't care. You played your own game, you were the narrator of your own story. You didn't need anyone in your way.

You grabbed the top of his head, grasping onto his hair violently. You yanked the knife out of its holster, and twirled it between your fingers.

“Guess my hand…”

You held it to the man's throat, and beamed at him.

“Slipped.”

And in one quick motion, the man's body went limp as he bled onto the floor. You stood tall, and your expression blank like you didn't just kill a man.

You looked up, your eyes narrowed. You scanned through the eyes staring at you as you twirl your knife between your fingers again.

“Kid we-”

“We had a problem and I took care of it, let's move on.” your knife flips through your fingers at a fast pace, one that if you slipped it would hurt like hell.

“That was fun! Can I get his blood? Can I? Can I?” Toga asked excitedly, turning her head rapidly to Tomura then to you.

“Have at it.” You spun your knife one last time, and handed it to her. She seemed taken back, like she didn't expect you to comply.

“Yay!” she took the knife eagerly, and you turned away from her before anything went down. As you turned you were faced with a pair of turquoise eyes staring daggers at you.

“Kid, that was fucking dangerous. We could’ve handled that.” Dabi was frustrated, but he didnt know why. Yeah, he could have handled that but seeing you put yourself in danger like that made him upset.

“Yeah I know that okay? That's what its fucking about. That dude works with the hero commission, I’m not letting him stand.” Your brows furrowed as you talked and Dabi rolled his eyes.

“Don't treat me like I’m five. I know I don't look like it, but I’ve done this for a long time.” you shoved your hands into the pocket of your hoodie and kept walking.

“You’re either a pawn, or a player.”

Toga smiled wide and skipped up to you.

“That was cool! Dabi’s just a party pooper!” She glanced over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at the male.

He rolled his eyes once again, and continued to walk behind your duo.

Eventually, after minutes of silence you found the main office, that held the boss.

Well, a mini boss.

A funnel of smoke fogged the hallway as you ran.

“Kid! Wait up!” Dabi’s raspy voice rang through the long hall and you spun on your heels to face him.

He walked towards you, Toga smiling wide at his side, blood smeared across her face. The sound of footsteps came from both sides of you, and you glanced over your shoulder to the other side of the hall.

A man's figure ran closer to you by the second, he moved fast, too fast for you to see his face.

Too fast you didn't have time to react when he punched you straight in the face. You fell back, holding a hand to your nose that began to bleed.

“KID!” Dabi’s flames erupted from his hands and Toga’s knife made its way back into her hand.

Your brows furrowed and you jumped up as you unsheathed your knife. The figure in front of you threw another punch, but you ducked causing him to stagger forwards. You slammed him into the wall and flipped your knife in your hand.

You drew your arm back, and brought it into his chest quickly stabbing him right between the ribs. He yelped in pain and held his hands against your shoulders.

Blood stained his blue button up shirt and it leaked onto the floor.

“Guess nothing lasts forever huh?” Your boot rested on his leg, and you pushed back removing your knife from his abdomen.

Immediately, an arm wrapped around your neck locking you into place.

Dabi began to run to you, the blue flame escaping his hands once again , and Toga flipped her knife in her hands as she stalked over to you.

You struggled, gasping for air against the figure, and with your best ability elbowed him in his chest. He groaned but kept you in place, until you swept his right foot and pushed him into the opposite wall.

“Everyone here is fucking annoying.” You took a step back and glanced at the figure struggling, leaning against the wall. You pushed a hand out and stopped Dabi and Toga from coming closer, and smiled wide at them with your eyes narrow.

“Did you know you're lifes a game?” You asked the man, his eyes wide, his breathing heavy and staggered.

You threw the knife into the air and as it spun the male watched it. You caught it in your right hand, and wasted no time to throw it at the figure.

It lodged right into absodemn and he toppled over.

“Can we go home? This is kinda boring.” You groaned at Dabi, who stared at you with wide eyes. Toga begged for the knife while jumping up and down and you compiled once again.

“You’re a fucking madman.”

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lizbotw · 4 years

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SEVEN MINUTES IN HELL: BAKUGOU’S ROUTE - DIADEM

YOU’VE CHOSEN A WINDING PATH: TURN BACK NOW (MASTERLIST)

pairing: bakugou x reader

summary: An attempt to blow off steam is your saving grace in the forest.

a/n: second route of my halloween collab with our favorite explosive boy and the prompt “firework’s lightshow” ♡ also, the title is a specific type of firework in case you were wondering! i think they might be my favorite kind actually lmao, they’re super pretty if you look at the differences between the different fireworks patterns!

warning: very mildly spicy in one part

word count: 3.9k

You could practically feel the impatience rolling off of him in waves from next to you. Outwardly, he was the picture of calm—or at least as calm as you could seem with your arms folded across your chest and your face set in a scowl. He was thinking and you could tell because his eyes weren’t fully focused on the spot on the floor he was supposedly glaring at.

It was hard to be sure in the dim light, but you knew that look anywhere.

It was clear he wanted to do something. The obvious choice when you had been trying to figure out how to get out of here had been to have him either go blasting off above the trees to find the way back to U.A.—if it was even close enough to see—or to set off a signal in hopes of someone catching sight of it. Then, of course, there was the issue of visibility that had put a halt in all plans of escape.

Yet there was still that small voice of reason within everyone’s head though that perhaps you were being overly cautious—Bakugou could still technically do it. You were hero course students, among the best of the best, a little rain and lack of sunlight shouldn’t stop you.

While Todoroki was good for the survival aspect, especially when it came to staying warm during the frigid night, Bakugou seemed like the key to the way out. It felt like everyone was expecting him to do something, just volunteer already—or, at least, you were pretty sure that’s what he felt like. The truth was, no one was expecting anything from him. The plan had been set to simply try to find a way out in the morning. Things would be better then and you knew all of you would have reacted the same way he did and held back a little from immediately rushing out to look for help in conditions like this.

Plus, you were pretty sure they felt it too. A weird tugging in your bones—you don’t know how but you just knew it had something to do with the forest not mixing well with your quirks. You could feel it.

You knew Todoroki and Iida had amazing stamina, honing their quirks from a young age in top hero families, but it seemed that even they had to take more frequent breaks than usual when they had been using their powers earlier. Kaminari’s attempt at sending out a signal had fizzled out and he was reluctant to try charging your phones, stopping every so often to take a deep breath.

All of them must’ve felt it, even if no one said anything. It was like the forest was trying to keep you here.

The feeling was so strong that it was the only thing that could keep someone like Bakugou from pushing past the cautious side of things and actually saying fuck it, he was going to do whatever he wanted. He was still tense though, feeling like he should do something (you could tell). He was the best and he was going to be your way out of here in his mind.

You noticed the way his fingers were digging into his forearms where they gripped and you felt terrible all over again.

You tentatively reached over, about to lay a hand on his arm. “Hey-”

“(Y/N)! Truth or dare?” Kaminari’s voice sliced through the air and you stiffened, quickly drawing your hand back and pushing it into your lap. You could feel the other’s eyes on you even though you were staring straight ahead at Kaminari, chest hot at the sudden choice to begin the game with you.

“Um…”

Bakugou shifted next to you, not really readjusting his position, but seeming like he just wanted to move. “This is stupid…”

“Yeah, you said that before, Bakugou. Lighten up a little, will you?” Kaminari was grinning, tone teasing, and it seemed that it was only you that had noticed Bakgou’s ansty nature. Maybe staying in a random cabin wasn’t the best idea. You started to feel a little trapped too and the onsets of a possible headache pounded in your skull. This all felt weird.

“How the fuck can I lighten up when we don’t know even know when we’ll get out of here?” You expected him to yell it, emotional and scoffing at how stupid the rest of you were being to be fine with sitting around—but that was the opposite of what happened. In fact, you would’ve preferred that to the alternative. Instead, his voice was flat, his brows still furrowed as his eyes seemed to take a special interest in tracing over the ridges in the floor. He refused to look at anyone and he seemed strained.

“Bakugou, come on, man. We’ll get out of this fine. Just give it a few more hours.” You weren’t sure if Kaminari was getting what Bakugou was feeling the same way you did, but he did seem to be choosing his words a little more carefully. That is until— “It’s almost like you want to get dared.” The light laugh that followed had your heart clenching because Kaminari why.

Bakugou finally looked up, staring Kaminari dead on. “Fine. I’ll play.”

That almost halted his laughter, turning it uneasy. “It’s not really your turn yet-”

“I said I’ll play.”

Kaminari seemed unsure now.

You bumped your arm with Bakugou’s and whispered, out of the side of your mouth, “Calm down.” He grunted in reply but made no other indication he was going to listen to you.

It seemed like Kaminari, after a brief second of back and forth with himself, had mustered up the courage to actually agree with Bakugou’s request. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

No one said anything for a moment and the crackling of the fire was the only noise.

Then, Kaminari released the tense breath you had all been holding. “I don’t know what’s with you, but you’re giving me a weird look—and not the standard I’m-going-to-kill-you one either.” The others were silent, although it looked like Midoriya wanted to say something with how he was leaning slightly forward, biting at his lip like he was forcing the words back down. Kamianri continued, trying to lighten the strange mood that had settled over all of you, “I dare you to chill out. Seriously, we’re going to be fine. Ha, didn’t know you were that worried about me, dude.”

The cheeky comment was apparently the wrong thing to say because before you knew it, Bakugou had risen to his feet beside you. “Okay.” And then he made for the door, opening and slamming it shut behind him. Everyone was left blinking at where he had just stood.

It happened so fast you weren’t sure if it had been real, although the sudden coldness at your side gave you the answer to that question.

“Are we still going to play?” Jirou broke the silence. No one was sure if they should go after him or give him a moment to clear his head.

“Um…,” Kaminari was dumbfounded for a moment as his eyes kept going back and forth between the spot where Bakugou had sat and the door he had just left through, “Yeah… sure… who wants to go next?”

“It was (Y/N)’s turn,” Jirou supplied helpfully, leaning back to rest on her hand. Were they just trying to pretend that nothing had happened? Being here sure was starting to make everyone act different.

“Right. (Y/N)-”

You cut him off. “I dare myself to go check up on him. Be right back.” You scrambled to your feet and within a few heavy steps you were pushing open the door and stepping out into the cool night air, surely leaving the group to lament the loss of yet another player.

You hugged your arms around you as the door swung shut and the glow of the fire was left long behind you—if you thought it had been bad inside, out here was freezing. “Bakugou?” He was nowhere in sight, although you knew he couldn’t have gotten far.

You took a quick glance around the edges of the cabin, covered in moss from years of disuse (you would have expected a lot more though if this had been truly been abandoned… you pushed the thought out of your mind), looking to see if he’d turned a corner. Unlikely. There was no way he wanted to be near here right now.

Then that leaves… your gaze slowly shifted to it. The forest. Of course he would.

You toyed with the idea in your mind for a bit, wondering if you should just call it quits and head back inside.

...fine, you would just briefly check and if you couldn’t find him, you’ll turn back right away to avoid getting lost. He probably had some grand secret hiding place if he wasn’t there anyway. Without thinking, you walked forward and beyond the trees, not seeing any point in hesitating.

Cautious to watch your step, you began to pick your way through the area, each hum of nature, hoot of a faroff owl, and chirp of a cricket making your heart race. It didn’t take long for you to see a flash of movement up ahead—you had been right, he’d come to the riskiest place to be alone right now.

Your steps picked up in speed as you rushed after him, closing the distance easily. “Where the hell are you going?” you hissed, “There’s a reason we’re all staying inside.”

He didn’t answer, but you hurried to catch up and fell into pace next to him, trying to search for any signs of his thoughts on his face. The moonlight coming through the branches wasn’t much help and everything was shrouded in shadows.

“Bakugou.” No answer. “Bakugou.”

“Where does it look like I’m going?”

You didn’t expect the sudden response and faltered momentarily in your steps before you quickly recovered. “What?”

“Where does it look like I’m going?”

“I don’t know! Maybe somewhere you shouldn’t be?”

“I’m getting us out of here.”

“Yeah, in the morning.”

“No, now.”

“Bakugou, you’re impossible.”

“You’re one to talk.”

This time you actually stopped walking and although he continued for a few more steps, he eventually stopped as well, a few paces in front and his back to you.

“What do you mean?” Your voice sounded small.

“What? You’re the same way when we’re at U.A.”

“I don’t-”

“The sports festival?”

“Well-”

“How many times did I have to stop you before you hurt yourself?”

You bit your tongue when he turned to face you now. You could say the same about what you did for him.

The moonlight barely reached this part of the forest, although you knew what he probably looked like right now—you knew his facial expressions, his hard stares, the way he twisted his mouth for brief flashes when he tried to hold in emotions.

Bakugou rubbed at the back of his neck before he came back to stand next to you wordlessly, passing through a patch of moonlight before pausing in the darkness with you. You were about to say something when he reached a hand up to flick at your shoulder.

“Wha-”

“Leaf.”

Right. You were in a forest. “Thanks.”

“Mhm.”

You stared at each other for a while and suddenly it felt like all the fall layers you had on were too much—who was messing with the thermostat in this forest? Not necessarily because of him (although, maybe he was a factor... who knows?), just… in general. You wanted to go home.

“You still got first.” The dark shadows made it difficult to see his face and you shifted to get a better look at him, accidentally bumping into the tree behind you. You reached a hand behind you to steady yourself against the trunk. “At the sports festival I mean,” you quickly added for clarification, “even though you kept trying to babysit me.”

“I did.”

There was the unspoken agreement to drop the matter—you knew he was still bitter over what felt like a false win to him.

“I’ll get first now too,” he said quietly and you knew what he meant. He was still set on finding the way out. Your hand darted out automatically, grabbing his arm before he could try to go off on his own again.

He tried to shake off your hold but when you held fast, he gave up relatively quickly, twisting his wrist around to grip your arm as well. It was mutual now. Always something equal between you two.

“Why the fuck do you keep stopping me? Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“Not if it means we get lost in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t you have your phone?”

You tapped against your pocket to feel if the device was there. Empty—you’d left it with Kaminari to charge. Not that there was any reception out here anyway. “No. Do you have yours?”

“No. I was going to say we could use the flashlight and then it wouldn’t be as bad.”

You fully leaned back against the trunk of the tree now, not caring if it ruined your jacket, your legs tired from standing up already. You were still holding onto each other’s arms and his grip was starting to hurt a little bit. Bastard. You tightened yours to make it even again. “You could just use your quirk, you know.”

You felt his fingers flex against your arm at the idea and even with the minimal light you could tell he was pressing his lips into a thin line. “You feel it too, don’t you?”

Of course you knew what he meant—the weird quirk suppressing feeling. “Yeah.”

Bakugou grumbled, no longer studying your face, but now observing his free hand, as if that would reveal some sort of secret. “I can’t do anything like this. For fuck’s sake, I fucking hate it-” In response to his anger, a few sparks flared up his palm, although you could see what he meant—they were dull, as though something was actively putting them out.

In the brief light, you could see his eyes dart to you as if he wanted to make the most of the illumination as well and take in what you looked like. You could see where the cold had nipped at his skin, and the way his expression was slightly less tense now that it was just the two of you and—

And then it was dark again and you were all but left with only his silhouette. It felt darker now that you had experienced that brief taste of light and you considered asking him to do it again.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Bakuogu suddenly asked and you were caught off guard.

“Like what? You can’t even see me.”

“I saw you just now though. You’re making that face.”

“What face?”

“That face you’re always making at me during times like this and-” He cut himself off and shook his head, knowing this was going nowhere, although you had a feeling you knew what he meant. He had been giving you the same look as well—one that was indescribable. “Nevermind.” He was back to looking at his hand, flexing his fingers—the dark shapes twisted in front of you as you watched him, not able to make out the details of the lines on his fingers or the area where his sleeve met his wrist.

“What’s wrong?” You knew he was thinking about earlier when all seven of you had tried to come up with a plan to find a way out, but you still felt the need to ask.

“I would’ve done something—”

“I know you would’ve.”

You felt his harsh glare on you even if you couldn’t see it. “Will you let me finish a sentence for once, for fuck’s sake?”

You held up your hand in surrender, smiling—even if he couldn’t see you—at how easy it was to rile him up. He studied your darkened form as if making sure you were truly going to be quiet before he continued.

“I was going to do something—I would’ve—but my hands were feeling weird and I knew I couldn’t make a proper explosion.”

You nodded—you felt the same way with your quirk—and then remembered he couldn’t really see you and stopped.

“I didn’t want to be in the middle of doing whatever and suddenly my power supply cuts out. Don’t need anyone seeing that shit.”

“Bakugou, it’s fine.”

“It’s not because I know you wanted to catch the rerun of that dumb old Halloween movie on T.V. tonight.”

“Do you mean-”

“I don’t care about the name so don’t tell me.”

Typical, Bakugou. The thought had you grinning as you pulled on his arm to tug him closer to you because you were suddenly feeling cold again. He was fluid with your movement as he stepped closer like you wanted. “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

You just knew he was rolling his eyes. “Of course I remember. You wouldn’t shut up about it for the past week.”

“Yeah, but still. That’s cute.”

“That’s what?”

“Cute.”

He didn’t immediately shut it down and after mulling it over, seemed to accept the term. His head dropped down to rest on your shoulder now and you let him, supporting the pressing weight as you readjusted yourself against the tree trunk.

“I guess,” he breathed out.

“You’re always cute.”

“Okay, I fucking get it, can you shut up now?” You felt his scowl against the part just below your shoulder where his mouth was almost brushing against due to the angle.

“Okay, okay, but get off. You’re tickling me.” You were laughing at the feeling of him talking against your shoulder now and lifted it up to your ear as you tried to pull away. He relented, straightening up a little, but not moving completely away yet, and as you slid back into place, comfortable against the trunk, you realized he was but a hair’s breadth away. There was a small bit of moonlight that came in from between the branches of the tree and positioned like this he fell right into its path. Only half of his face was lit up, but it was enough to see the crimson iries that bored into your own.

“I’ll watch it with you when we get back,” he whispered.

“The movie?”

“Yeah. I checked in case we didn’t have time to watch it today—didn’t fucking think we’d be bsuy doing this though—and they’re showing it again tomorrow. Halloween night.”

“That sounds good.” You breathed in. “Make me popcorn?”

“You fucking bet.”

Neither of you could think of anything to say, but you lean forward to playfully bump your nose against his. His eyes closed at the action and there was an irregular thumping in your heart when he started to tilt his head. Steeling yourself, you let your eyes fall shut too, anticipating the warmth.

That is, until a loud crackle rang out through the forest and you harshly pulled back from each other in surprise, startled. You hit your head against the trunk behind you and brought up a hand to run at the sore spot. Bakugou had released your arm in his haste and you could still feel the imprint of his bruising grip (your own grip had been loosened on his arm when you’d gotten distracted by the proximity before, so when he pulled away you easily let go).

“What was that?” Your voice was hoarse and you cleared your throat, eyes darting around the area.

“I don’t know…” You saw him looking down at his hands now, remembering that he was almost entirely defenseless like this. If it was something objectively “bad,” you would for sure be in big trouble. It didn’t look like he was worried about himself though—more so about protecting you (as strange as it seemed) even though you’d proven yourself to be more than capable of taking care of yourself on countless occasions (then again, that had been before whatever quirk zapping magic had descended upon your group).

You rested a hand on his arm. “Maybe we’ll find someone if we follow it.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever-” Another faint crackle rang out and above the trees there was a flash of light—someone was definitely here.

You looked at him now with the same I-told-you-so tilt of your head and raise of your eyebrows you knew he hated and you knew he could picture you doing it as clear as day even if he couldn’t see anything.

“Fucking fine, let’s just go already.”

It didn’t take the two of you long to get closer to the source of the noise since every few seconds it sounded again, and the colorful lights in the night sky were enough to keep drawing your attention in the right direction. Bakugou kept stopping to make sure you were following him and keeping up, but whenever you waved him off because you were fine, he would just grumble and pretend like he hadn’t been looking behind him for your sake at all.

Within a few minutes you emerged onto a cliffside, the area clear. In the distance below it, you could make out what looked to be glimmering city lights (which was alarming enough) and as you walked closer to the edge—

“Is that-”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Not far away from the cliff, U.A. towered from its place atop the hill it always sat upon—the campus illuminated as part of the ongoing holiday celebrations. You could see now that fireworks were being set off from there. You had been this close all along.

You were caught up in admiring the display—and slowly lowered yourself to sit at the edge of the cliff, legs dangling over the edge, eyes on the bursting lights—until you remembered the past few hours and what this meant. You quickly moved to scramble to your feet— “Bakugou, have to tell the others-” —but found a weight pushing you back down into place.

Bakugou sat down next to you with a thump on the hard packed ground, swinging his legs over the edge of the cliff to mimic your position.

“Bakugou?”

“We’ll tell them later,” he mumbled, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you against him. You thought about protesting but then— “Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes.” You couldn't tell what he was thinking and his voice concealed it well, although you understood the implications of his words.

“Okay.” And then you were quiet, settling against him as another string of fireworks went off—U.A.’s annual week-long Halloween light show—brilliant variant colors that twisted into various shapes lighting up the night sky against the sparkling stars, moonlight bright now when paired with the hustle and bustle of Musutafu down below. It was still chilly, but you felt strangely warm now and… free? You realized the weight of the forest was gone. In its place you felt a comforting pressure—warm and spreading through your body, and as you sat there and listened to Bakugou’s beating heart, you decided you had an inkling of what it might be.

YOU’VE REACHED THE END OF THE PATH: RETURN TO THE CABIN

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tanakavox · 3 years

Text

A look into the multiverse chapter 5

Soooo. Due to post limit im gonna have to reblog this post with the rest. Just tell y'all when you wonder where the rest is lol. Anyways intro for Winter is done by ExiledDarkness. Everything else is all meeee! On with the post.

A flash of light blinds everyone in the room. As it dies down, Winter Schnee is shown to be standing in the middle of the room.

"Winter?!" Weiss exclaims in shock. The rest of the cast, except for Qrow who groans in annoyance, keeps silent as Weiss explains to Winter about the situation they're in.

Winter nods. "I see. How interesting. I usually wouldn't do something like this but it appears that I have been given no other choice."

"Yeah, that seems to be the case with everything going on in my life." Jaune says while scratching his head.

The screen's light flickers on again and shows a boy setting up his computer and putting a helmet on his head. The sound of the computer starting up is heard.

"Link start!" With those words a flash of light appears with lines of color streaking across the screen.

"That voice sounded familiar …" Winter muttered to herself

"What was that Winter? Weiss asked, turning to her sister.

"Ah. It's nothing"

"Ah. Sword art online." The boy thinks to himself, sighing wistfully. "It's been a while since the beta. Wonder if they change anything?

A man in his early 20s with white hair looks and sees that ads plague the area around him.

"Oh c'mon guys, really? That's just disgusting." The man said to no one, his disgust at the ads was apparent.

"Yeah, seriously. That's just annoying. Qrow said with a grimace.

"Active Adblocker" A screen appeared in front of the young saying it was 29.99 for the Adblocker DLC. The man chuckled darkly. "I'm gonna burn this F***r to the ground.

"Please do!" Nora said a manic grin on her face.

The scene cuts to Blond man with long hair being tackled by a pig, the man blonde groaning in pain.

"That's Sun." Blake said almost immediately.

"How can you tell? Yang asked.

"I just know."

"Well he just got his ass kicked by a pig." Jaune said, laughing a bit

"Wow, Congrats. You were defeated by a pig." The white hair man was there looking down at Blonde unimpressed.

"F**k you man, that's like a pig from hell! The blonde cried, looking at the boar in terror.

"Really?" The white hair man smirked, and picked up a rock and threw it at the boar's ass killing it. It exploded into shards and a screen showed the exp he had got from killing it.

"Wow. This either that blonde guy sucks that bad or the other guy just that good." Mercury said with a grin.

"My god." He gasped with a shit eating grin on his face. "I've stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game"

"Stop" The blonde whimper.

"The Mithril Pebble of pig smithing!"

"Please stop."

The white hair man takes a deep breath of air as the Blonde groans.

"My god, this sounds like something Whitely would do." Weiss said with an annoyed look.

"For you see, long ago, this pebble was forged in the fiery pits of tartarus,by the grand blacksmith of Lucifer himself. In a time before the world began…

The blonde facepalm as his party member continued. The sun had started to fall when the white haired man was finishing up.

"And thus, Mardoza, Guardian of the pebble, fell to his knees, and passed from this world, leaving behind the mighty weapon. For he knew... that one day, it's power would be required once more.

"Are you done?" The blonde asked.

"Yes." But then he whispered: The legacy of the pebble lives on.

"I have a feeling you get beat up a lot in real life." The blonde snarked.

"And he's using it as some kinda power fantasy cause he can't be that cool in real life." Yang added.

"Shut up! Here I have power!"

"Right, anyways, I've got a pizza coming, and I'm gonna meet up with some friends later.

So thanks for the quick tutorial on pig slaying and the not so quick tutorials on…. rocks…Shirou Yuki?" The blonde slowly wording out the other's username.

"Hey,no problem. I had fun taunting you." Shirou said with a grin. "Ballsdeep69"

"Yeah that's Sun." Blake said, shaking her head. "Only he would come up with such a dumb name."

Meanwhile Winter had a good idea who Shirou Yuuki was, but didn't want to say anything until she was 100% sure.

Ballsdeep69 laughs a bit. "Yeah it's uh, it's just a joke name. Just a character to dick around with while I get a hang of the game. I'm gonna make my real character later."

"Yeah yeah. No, I get it."

Shirou and balls look at each other awkwardly for a while when Shirou breaks the silence. "So uh...your pizza?"

"Right,right logging out." Balls swipes the air with his right hand and goes to log out but notices something odd.

"Hey,Shirou?" Balls called out. "Um, Totally noob question, but how do I log out?

"Are you serious, man?" Shirou asked exasperated.

"Yeah, Really dude? How hard is it to logout?" Jaune asked just as exasperated.

"Hey this Nervegear man. I can't Alt-F4 this sh*t.

Shirou sighs. "Alright fine. It's right…" He looked at his menu screen in confusion. "Here?"

"Oh thanks, player's guide." Balls deadpan.

"No it's here. But it's just blank."

Balls turns back to his menu and something catches his eye. "Oh wait, something scrolling Across mine. HahahahahahahaHAHAha"

"I get it." Shirou said with a frown.

"Wait, Wait, there's more. Ha."

"Riveting."

"Wait so they can't log out? What happened?" Ruby asked the rest of the confused viewers

"Eh no worries I'll just take the nervegear off like SO!" Balls reaches around his head and tries to take it off to no effect.

"Hey, dumbass, It doesn't work like that." Shirou sheerned. "The Nervegear disables your motor function so you don't move around in the game. Don't you remember all those videos of the beta testers?

The clip on Dustube plays, A man walking around in nerve gear is marlouving at the tech is shown. Someone, a friend of his walks up and offers a greeting to the man and he mistakes his friend for a troll and goes to pummel his friend into the ground.

It goes back to Shirou and Balls.

"So many lawsuits." Shirou muttered.

A few of the viewers had a good laugh at that.

"Uh, Do you feel tingly?" Balls asked before the two were transferred from mellow they were in a city square.

"No. Why?" Shirou asked casually. The two looked around and it seemed that other players were being teleported into the city square.

"What the hell is that?" Balls asked, looking at the sky going red.

"Well, I believe some people call it a Hexagon? Ain't 100% on that, gonna have to check my sources." Shirou snarked.

"Man f*ck off."

"I like this guy." Mercury said with a grin

The sky started to seem like it was starting to bleed.

"And The sky's bleeding" Shirou observed, not seeming to really care."

"Yeah, they are really pushing for that M rating." Balls repsoned on caring as much as Shirou.

"Wow the sky bleeds and they don't even care." Winter said.

"Probably because they know it's a video game, Ice Queen." Qrow reposned

A hooded figure appears flooding in the air. A wave of dangers fills most of the players in the area.

"Oh it's a person." Expect for one player.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Jaune Arc, Head programmer!"The figure greeted."

"Jaune made this game?" Ruby asked, looking towards the blond.

"Nice Vomit boy." Yang said slapping Jaune on the back. Jaune grunted a bit but smiled towards Yang.

"Welcome to the unparalleled online Sword art onli-" Jaune was interrupted by the player being to talk frantically among themselves. Jaune tried to get them to focus their attention on him by muting them, but ended up muting himself.

"He knows he muted himself right?" Balls asked.

"Give him a minute." Shirou mutters. Jaune unmuted himself.

A few laugh at Jaune's mistake as the Blonde himself facepalms at his mistake.

"Alright. Just realized what happened there. It's very funny. But right now, serious time. How many of you have seen Tron?" He was met with complete and utter silence. Jaune looked over the crowd and was met with blank stares, not counting Shirou. "W-what seriously?! None of you have seen Tron?! " Jaune asked, completely baffled. "I was really banking on that."

"Seriously?! No one had seen Tron?" Jaune all but screamed.

A few viewers didn't want to admit to not seeing Tron either.

Jaune cleared his throat, and proceeded to wing the entire thing. "Much like the world of warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW, however, your being held here by me, not by a need to escape your empty f*cking lives. There is no longer any way to log out of Sword art online. If someone on the outside attempts to log you by removing your Nerve gear, well… Has anyone seen scanners?

Jaune once again looked and was once again met with silence.

"Uh Scanners. It's a movie…. Seriously?! He grumbles to himself about how the people here had no class and pulled up a clip of a man's head exploding. "Okay. That was from Scanners… and basically that.

"First Tron, now Scanners?!" Jaune facepalm.

"You just trapped god knows how many people in a video game, and you're worried about what movie they haven't seen?! Weiss retorted. Jaune flinched and wisely kept quiet.

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Finally seeing some gears turning, making progress."

"Why would you do such a thing?!" One player cried out.

"Stephen? Stephen is that you?" Jaune asked happily "How are you enjoying that advance copy?"

"I'm playing it with my family!" Stephen repiled.

"Oh, that's right!" The hooded figure laughed. "Happy birthday Timmy!"

Little Timmy began to cry.

"Aw, They grow up so fast." He said, sighing. " Cherish these moments Stephen. Cherish these moments. So as I was saying, the only way to keep the nervegear from going Gallager on your grey matter, is to make your way through castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online!"

"So you want us to beat a MMO?" A random player asked.

"Essentially."

"F*CK YOU!"

"That is the correct response when someone says to beat a MMO" Ren said.

"Is it really that bad?" Oscar asked and he receive a loud

"YES!"

"WOAH! Getting a lot of hostility here. Do not appreciate it."

"Well honestly!" The same player began,"When was the last time you heard of someone beating Everquest?"

"When was the last time you heard of someone playing Everquest?" Jaune fired back. There was a slight pause.

"That's fair."

"Everquest…. That's a deep cut." Qrow said, sighing thinking back.

"Anywho, for all you guys that wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are," Despite not seeing his face they could tell Jaune had a huge grin. "I've got a surprise for you!"

A mirror appeared in everyone's hands and a light filled the city.

A young boy, no older than 14 was where Shirou was. He still had the white hair and was wearing the same clothes but was more lankey and shorter than the man who was once there.

"Shirou Yuuki?" The boy turned and a familiar face was shown.

"Whitely?!" Weiss cried out at the sight of her brother.

"I knew it was him." Winter said. The username gave him away, Not only is it the username for when he goes on forums, Shirou Yuuki has the same meaning as his real name.

"How do you know what username he uses when he's online? Weiss asked her sister, a question that went unanswered.

"You're not a girl!" A fat player cried out.

"And you're not 17!" Another skinner one also cried out."

"I'm okay with this!"

"Me too!"

"LOVE KNOWS NO GENDER!" Someone shouted out.

"A wise seminent. Ozpin said sipping his coffee."

#rwby #look into the multiverse #jaune arc #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #whitely schnee #rwby weiss schnee #rwby winter schnee #headmaster ozpin #emerald sustrai #rwby mercury black #rwby nora valkyrie #lie ren #rwby salem #rwby mercury #sao abridged

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twilightofthejedi · 3 years

Text

fic: this city screams your name

written for the 2021 chayenzo community fanfic challenge by @the-chayenzo-community (again)!!!

dialogue prompt:

"happy birthday"

read on ao3: here

episode 16 spoilers!

It has been a long day.

Vincenzo stands in front of his unit in Geumga Plaza, the faded numbers 606 the only thing written on the dark wooden door. It’s nearly midnight, and he is exhausted. He could go inside and decompress the way he usually does, alone, with comfortable clothes, cheap food, and relaxing music.

Or, he could use the key in his hand, and go to Cha-young’s house.

After they had started dating, on that day a few weeks ago when she had disappeared and made him go mad with worry only to show up later and give him a gift so meaningful that it had cut right to his heart, she had pushed a key into his hand. It was a night when they were sitting on the roof and staring out at the city laid out in front of them. They had been sitting on the edge of the roof, bottles of beer held loosely in their hands, when she had reached to her side to rummage in her bag. He had watched her with mild curiosity, but his mind had been too hazy to do anything other than take another drink from his bottle, and wait for her. Then, she had put the cool metal in his hand, and told him to come over whenever he wanted. He had been taken back, and even more so when she pulled him close and kissed him.

The rest of the night had been slightly blurry after that.

Now, he stares at the key, and thinks of the cozy house on the quiet residential street filled with pictures and memories and the very essence of the woman he loves. He turns around, and smiles to himself. He loves her, doesn’t he? Somehow, through the relentless legal battles and late night subterfuge and the devastating grief of losing his mother, he has fallen in love with Hong Cha-young. The realization fills him with something light, something he cannot remember ever feeling.

He makes it all the way to his car in the parking garage before he realizes that he has smiled the entire way there. Huh. So that was why Mr. Tak had looked at him strangely when he passed him in the hallway.

As he starts the car and pulls out of the garage, he thinks of a conversation that he had had with Cha-young. After unwrapping the record player and eating the salvaged ramyeon (after he had nearly burned it) at the low table in his living room, they had laid back on cushions to stare up at the faintly glowing stars on the ceiling, La Traviata’s first act playing softly from the record player in the background. She had seized his hand, bringing their entwined hands up, and pressed her lips to his knuckles. The simple gesture had ran a jolt through his body, and he had turned to look at her.

In that moment, there had been a thousand things that he had wanted to say, but what he had ended up saying was, “I haven’t been entirely honest with you.”

She had looked sideways at him, and had only raised her eyebrows.

“I have killed. Many times, in fact. I know I told you that I didn’t, that I was only a lawyer, but in Italy, I-”

She had cut him off by raising a hand. “Of course you have killed. Did you think I didn’t know what being second in command in a mob family meant?”

“Then what-”

“Do you think that you’re some fallen angel, and I have no idea? I can assure you that it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve done questionable things, too. Before Choi came to Wusang, I was the best out of all of them, and I didn’t exactly get that title through any righteous means.” Cha-young had shrugged then, an elegant, half-raise of her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. All we can do is move forward. Right now, we can use our considerable talents in subterfuge, manipulation and trickery and who knows what else you have in your arsenal to bring down people like Babel, Shinkwang Bank, and Wusang.”

He had nodded mutely because he had no clue what to say to that. How could he tell her that her seemingly casual words had lifted a huge weight off of his shoulders?

Now, he pulls onto her street, and as usual, it is dark and quiet. He thinks he may prefer the silence of her residential neighborhood to the nosiness and loudness of Geumga Plaza. As he gets down from the carlocking it absently, he realizes that her driveway is empty; she isn’t home yet. This isn’t abnormal; she had announced that she was going to be talking to one of her old contacts for information.

He opens the gate and lets himself in through the front door, tossing his suit jacket onto the low couch underneath the pictures that she hated but could not bring herself to take down. He sets his briefcase down on the kitchen counter, next to her own, and switches on the television to the news, watching absently as he prepares a cup of coffee. Before, she had drank instant coffee almost exclusively and kept nothing else at her house, but too many mornings at her house spent staring blearily into a cheap-smelling mug of instant coffee had driven him to go out and buy her a proper coffee machine with his favorite beans that had the entire house smelling amazing in the morning before they both had to rush out to the firm.

He watches the drops fall into the cup, and wonders absently about the barista that had made his coffee in Rome most mornings. The man had been excellent, so skilled at his art that Vincenzo had returned there day after day to the point that there was always a cup waiting for him by the time that he walked through the door. But then he had left the city he had grown up in, pursued by the family in which he had never quite belonged.

He looks around and realizes that he fits in perfectly in this house. It’s messy, and cluttered, and there are a ridiculous number of blankets on the couch, but it’s no longer just Mr. Hong’s house where he learned to treat hangovers the Korean way. It feels so intimately familiar that he could probably navigate through it in the dark (he probably has). Everything, from the outdated calendar (from three months ago) to the clock that chimes five minutes late, to the wall where there are now two hooks, for both of their car keys, feels like home, a home that has shifted, just a little, to accommodate him, like someone moving over on a worn couch and patting the seat next to them and saying come on in and make yourself at home.

He pads upstairs to her (their) bedroom where he has stashed a few changes of comfortable clothes for nights exactly like this one. He pulls on the soft cotton shirt and pants, and goes back downstairs to where the coffee is ready. While he drinks the coffee, he sends off a quick text to her asking if she has eaten yet. It’s a truly ungodly hour and any sane person would have had dinner ages ago, but once his Cha-young had a goal, she would stop at nothing to achieve it, and she would have probably eschewed eating to accomplish her goal for the night. Sure enough, she responds with of course not jagiya, who do you think i am, and he laughs quietly to himself as he gets up to rummage through her pantry for ingredients. He sees spaghetti in her pantry, tomatoes in her fridge, and a sweet basil plant on the windowsill, and immediately knows what he’s going to make her.

He’s stirring the simmering sauce when she walks through the door.

“Jagiya? Are you cooking?”

“Yes,” he says, turning around to look at her. She’s wearing dark blue today, with dark makeup and jewelry, and she looks like some sort of shadow wraith. He smiles at her, and she raises her eyebrows high, like she is mocking him.

“Are you cooking for me?” He laughs again, and turns back around to keep the sauce stirring. It’s truly strange how much more he seems to laugh around her. He’s set the spaghetti to drain, so all he needs to do once the sauce is done is to add the pasta. She comes up from behind him and wraps her arms around his torso, clasping her hands together. She puts her chin on his shoulder, and he leans into her.

They stand in silence for several minutes until he judges the sauce to be done. She wriggles her fingers at it, and he dutifully feeds her a spoon to taste, at which point she suggests, very seriously, for him to add ginger. He laughs, and moves to get the pasta from the sink, but she holds him fast.

“What is it?”

She puts her hand on the side of his face and turns it to the clock that runs late. It reads 12:33.

“It’s your birthday, jagiya. Wow, can’t believe the famous mafia lawyer forgot about his own birthday-”

“How did you know?”

He pulls her around to hold her looking into her eyes, a curious replication of that night they had drank into the night and she had hugged him to test if she had feelings for him. Her eyes dance and she turns her face up to his.

“I had Luca tell me. Turns out he can get by in English, which means you-” she pokes him in the chest- “are not going to have any secrets anymore! I will find them all out.”

“I’m not keeping any secrets from you, Cha-young-ah. Just ask me whatever you want to know. I will answer all eighty of your questions.”

She blinks at him. “Yah, why do you have to get all sentimental on me?”

“You were the one who conspired with Luca to find out my birthday, of all the things.”

She rolls her eyes at him. “I am going to faint with hunger. Feed me before I collapse on you.”

“As you say,” he says, leaning in to drop a kiss on her forehead.

Later, as he watches her inhale the food, food that he had made because it reminded him of the only home he had ever known before coming here, he wonders about his life. They still have so much work to do. They have to achieve the impossible against an entire system of corruption and injustice, but with her and the home that they have built for themselves, he thinks… no he knows, that they can do anything.

#vincenzo kdrama #vincenzo x cha young #vincenzo cassano #hong cha young #tvn vincenzo #my fic #my writing #i go feral for them

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botwstoriesandsuch · 3 years

Text

Whoopsie King Rhoam’s a dick but I gotta flesh him out so

Read Part 1 here!

Part 2

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

‘sup ya beautiful bastards it’s time to gush about the process of storytelling and writing as we fix up the fix it fic so let’s just jump into it

- - - - - - - - - -

A quick recap of Part 2, and I swear this recap is faster than the recap last time: Chapter 3 of Age of Calamity opens with a more substantial scene the beginning points of Revali’s character, and contrasting the old position that Link and eggbot have, so that their later changes in this chapter (well, at least for Link in this chapter) are more pronounced. We edited a bit of the dialogue to make Revali’s intentions make a bit more sense, while also putting some little foreshadowing points with some camera tricks for the Hollow Champions. The Hollow Champions can now speak, which means their potential for being used to bring out the flaws or bitter aspects of each character is more readily available further into the story. And of course, we’ve introduced the main antagonist of Astor, and coupling his presence and dynamic with Zelda’s insecurities. While his intentions of needing Zelda for something is clear, his motivations and backstory remain a mystery as of yet, the only true clue we have so far being some sort of connection to eggbot.

I didn’t get any big asks or comments about Part 2 so I’m going to assume that it was mostly well received (although I will note that I promise I’m going to flesh out Revali to be more than he has been presented as of yet, this is just the very very start of this development don’t you worry your feather loving butts) that being said, you should totally critique me or give me your opinions or comments. I’d love to hear them! Although, keep in mind that I am restraining my rewrite to the guidelines already said, so don’t get mad at me for not killing off all the Champions or something. Thaaat’s a rewrite for another time. So yeah if you reblog you get a little kiss from me because believe it or not I spent a lot of time trying to rewrite an entire storyline while keeping it’s tone and integrity intact. So thanks much <3

Okie dokie then chaps! Let us finally delve into Urbosa lesbian vibes, a zest of Zelink angst, rants about pacing, and a couple tablespoons of Astor backstory, all starting in the latest stage of Chapter 3: The Road Home, Besieged

So right of the bat, big problem here. This Chapter follows directly after the events of Korok Forest, so you assume that maybe “The Road Home” refers to the team, going home, back to the castle, to tell King Rhoam what’s up. But...that’s apparently not the case.

So this entire stage, firstly, it brushes over any scenes where Zelda, Link or the other Champions might talk to King Rhoam about the Master Sword, or the Deku Tree, or...hmm what else happened last stage that might be interesting to see—oh yEAH HOW ABOUT that mysterious magic guy that tried to kill Zelda and was going off about the future and stuff?? That guy that wielded a bunch of dark magic and malice looking stuff and, uh yeah, you’d think it might be important and interesting to see the King’s take on was is essentially a wanted traitor to the crown who may or may not be leading the entire movement for the Calamity’s uprising. But nope, no one asks questions, no one says anything or has interesting conversations that reveal stuff about the plot. It's just….just all about Zelda and ooooOOooo she can’t awaken her powers oh no what’s a gal to do!

And I do mean that quite literally, this entire stage is all centered around two scenes with Zelda. The first, an admittedly narratively important scene of Zelda having a quick flashback about eggbot after he sings her a song, but it lasts for five seconds. And the second, being a pep talk with Urbosa as Link eats rocks in the background. For the majority of this stage, it’s all focused on Zelda, and pacing wise, it does virtually nothing to progress the narrative/plot forward.

And on paper, there’s nothing wrong with that! Hell, people read entire fanfictions dedicated to character development and relationships that have absolutely no external plot. Having a scene dedicated to just character development is completely fine, it’s something that’s pretty common and even encouraged to an extent. The problem arises when you remember that this is a story being told through the medium of a video game.

Now, I am going to try and breeze by this because, similar to Age of Calamity, I have to also construct this post with pacing that keeps my audience engaged, while progressing with my core narrative and story. But I highly encourage you to watch through this video by hello future me (On Writing: How to Master Pacing) because a lot of what I know about this I’ve picked up from his videos, and if you’re a writer or just someone who thinks storytelling is cool, it’s a great guide to the art of pacing.

youtube

Anyhow. There are two levels of pacing within a story. There is the small type of pacing, like for the structure of a singular scene. And there is the pacing of the overall core narrative, how the larger beats of the entire story is revealed. Good pacing for your core narrative is about whether the reader feels like they are getting closer to the big thing, the big climax or answer or promise of satisfaction. The smaller type of pacing, for your singular scenes, focuses on that timing between how close you get to achieving new information, this refers to your slow and fast pacing, tension versus rapid action.

So, overall the rule of thumb is: the amount of time you invest into your smaller scenes, even put together, that must correlate with a big enough payoff in the core narrative. That’s what good pacing is. (And that’s why people make stuff like the Three Act Structure to help visualize this pacing process but obviously other forms of pacing guidelines exist like the Five and Seven Act Structures but that’s too complicated for this Nintendo Game anyhow that’s just some educational flavour for ya to impress your highschool English Teacher I guess)

So knowing that, the question now is: Does The Road Home, Besieged contribute good pacing to the story? This is going to be my excuse for changing up other later scenes in the game, so when I mention pacing and narrative again, remember this. The time spent playing for thirty minutes, minimum, in the game, to only be paid off by two lines of character development isn’t good pacing. So the answer is “no.”

Delving as long an amount of time as thirty minutes, means that pretty much everytime a stage is complete, you must introduce new substantial progress to your story. A game like this just doesn’t have time to waste it’s valuable cutscenes on character development alone. There’s an even further wrench in the issue when you consider you also need to account for sidequests, so you could really be forcing your player to go through hours of gametime before you introduce new details in the story.

Obviously it’s not always gonna be cut and dry like that—sometimes you have to account for how enjoyable the gameplay is, and sometimes the amount of character development offsets any lack of narrative development—but for the majority of stages I’m gonna change, they all suffer this pacing problem. In a game that's entire story hinges on these cutscenes, bad pacing is just something it doesn’t have time for.

Anyhow anyhow anyhow, I got to get my dose of serotonin by talking about pacing writing structure and stuff and blah blah, so now I shall grace you with the changes that address these problems that would theoretically lead to vast improvement. I gave you this reasoning and backstory to writing because I am making hella changes, to hopefully make the experience more “poggers,” which is something the cool kids say these days if you didn’t know.

Firstly, timeline wise this stage is gonna take place directly after the Korok Forest battle. The gang is returning home from the battle, with Link, the new wielder of the Master Sword, along with this new information regarding a certain Astor character.

We open the same way it does in game, focusing on Zelda’s face, before the frame is suddenly blocked by the pommel of the Master Sword. A wordless way to express how the sudden revelation of Link being the hero has forced its way into Zelda’s mind, great use of camera Koei Tecmo 10 outta 10

Now I don’t want to immediately jump into Zelda’s “oh poor me I can’t awaken my powers” dialogue because—and this is something even Breath of the Wild is guilty of—This game seems to forget that there are other characters besides Zelda. It’s marketed towards kids, sure, but I assure you that kids playing this game have a longer attention span than 2 minutes. You don’t need to keep reminding the audience every single scene about how Zelda is anxious about her powers. It gets redundant, you waste the audience’s time, and therefore you waste your own time, because you could have been using that precious screen time to develop some other thing further. So anyhow, goes a bit like this.

Zelda’s walking, the Master Sword comes into frame. Zelda looks down at the ground but keeps walking, but you can tell from her expression that she’s troubled. Don’t need to waste time on dialogue for her here, show don’t tell, we need to make the most of the scene here. Camera is still on Zelda, but the focus blurs shifts from Zelda to the Champions behind her. We can start with Mipha, I don’t have my heart set heavily on any specific dialogue, but I want her to say something along the lines of “how proud she is of Link” and what an honor it will be to fight by the side of not just her dear friend, but also someone selected by the goddess to be the hero. Subtextually, I want her to say this in a tone that suggests that she doubts the need for her to be here at all. She’ll say something like “He’s grown so…” glances up at Link who's just walking ahead, “...so much stronger than I could ever imagine. [Something Something] His power has grown so much over the course of a few days, more than I have achieved in a lifetime.” She looks down, but she still has a sweet smile.

Now I’m doing this because I want to develop further this plot line of “getting stronger” that Age of Calamity sets up but never does anything with. Remember how in Chapter 2, Mipha asks Daruk to train with her to get stronger? I really like the possibilities of this arc with Mipha as it can not only parallel with her feelings for Link, but also make her character better as an individual. Mipha wants to get stronger so that she can protect Link, but now she thinks that Link’s already growing stronger to an extent that she might not be needed. She’s not jealous of Link, nor does she wish him to be weaker, she simply wants to be more than she already is. This is literally echoing her words that she left her father, about how leaving the Domain and experiencing new challenges would be “good for her.” So I wanna run with it. The dialogue here establishes Mipha’s motivation to grow stronger, almost equivalent to a rivalry of sorts.

So after Mipha says this, Revali scoffs and butts in. Again, I’m not too set on any particular dialogue here, just something like “Hmph! Well, I don’t know about that. Seems to me all that’s happened is some magic sword gave the knight an ego boost. Blade’s only as strong as the little Hylian who wields it, and—based on my own extended experience and professional observations of course—I’ve yet to see this ‘stronger’ boy that you speak of.” Another camera pan to Link a ways in front of them. “If you ask me, hero or no, that knight is still exactly the same as I first met him.”

Revali places a wing on his chest dramatically. “Perhaps if you’re truly keen on seeing growth in skill and strength, Mipha, you’d do well to—”

“Flattering of an offer as that may be, Revali,” Urbosa interjects, “But I think Mipha might find it difficult to observe growth from one of the shortest Rito in Hyrule.”

Cue laughter from others or snickering or something. We just need some banter to add a bit more flavour to the characters. Revali can do a little huff and cross his wings or flip his scarf or something. But then Urbosa continues.

“Although...he is right about one thing.” Urbosa looks straight ahead. “A sword does not alter a hand, just as strength does not alter character.” She puts a hand on Mipha’s shoulder. “Grow as he might, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the same boy as he’s always been.” Urbosa looks up in the direction of Zelda. “Whether you realize it or not.”

Ok so, scene’s not done yet, BUT quick gush on the dialogue flow here. I’m trying to establish parallels in these character perspectives based on the flow of conversation. We started with Mipha who, like I said, wished to grow stronger along with Link. This flows into Revali who also has a similar parallel as he wishes to grow above Link’s shadow. But the distinction between Mipha and Revali is that Mipha think’s Link’s strength is earned, and Revali thinks he cheated, gaining authority through a magic sword, and not through merit and skill. Thus, leading to Revali’s perspective of Link being exactly the same as he’s always been, he believes the sword doesn’t change anything. Urbosa then speaks, because she thinks exactly the same thing. However, her distinction is that Link is the same as he’s always been: a determined young boy earned his place and cares for his friends. Then she looks to Zelda who, as we know, will develop a perspective that contradicts this. So you get it? This scene is like 20 seconds long but it already mirrors nearly all the character parallels and perspective, that’s why the flow of dialogue is important. And I know half of you probably think these kinds of details are a stretch but I promise you it’s not, just look at any movie or show ever and I guarantee you can find similar stuff there too. Ok moving on moving on—

Urbosa looks up at Zelda, comments her, “He’s the same boy, whether you realize it or not” piece of dialogue. Camera shifts back to Zelda and Link, who, idk if I mentioned this, but in the scene there’s enough distance between the Champions and Zelda and Link that the Champions can speak without the other two listening. So they didn’t hear any of this.

So the camera is back on Zelda, and now we can get her “How can I…..If I am unable to awaken my inner power….” line. Eggbot senses her sadness, does his little cheer up dance, Zelda gets a flashback.

One small change I wanna make to this flashback: Instead of just a baby Zelda going “nighty-night” I want there to ALSO be a figure in the background behind eggbot wearing a silk royal blue dress. And said woman has blonde hair and she’s by the table back there. We don’t have to show her face or anything because Nintendo hates that. Just place the woman somewhere in the back somewhere

Also possibly you could add the shadow of another figure by the doorway, maybe? It would serve good continuity purposes for the plot points that I’m telling, but that part is not as necessary. I just need at least the woman there.

Then Zelda is like “I remember you” to eggbot and all that and blah blah… Now, instead of Impa offscreen just yelling “enemy ahead!” I just want it to be a full on ambush. Not like a major one, but just enough where the group is surprised a bit. Maybe on the cliffs above, a lizalfo throws a boomerang, or a bokoblin shoots and arrow, or even just throws a rock. I don’t really care. I just need this to happen because…

As soon as this danger is presented, Link turns around to grab Zelda’s hand and they start running again. And he can like use his body to try and shield her a bit, I need it to parallel how he acted during Chapter 1 on the road to the Royal Tech Lab. However, this parallel has one important distinction because…

Zelda rips he grip from Link’s after a moment. “You don’t need to coddle me!” She says, or something along those lines. “Y-You...You’re the hero aren’t you! I’m perfectly fine, you don’t need to spend your precious time playing babysitter to me.” In the distance, a horde of monsters is beginning to form. Zelda looks between the monsters and Link’s Master Sword, her expression unreadable. “Well? Just...just go do what you need to do.” Link hesitates, looking between her, and the approaching monsters. Zelda speaks more sternly now, “Go!” So Link, not one to disregard an order from the Princess, gives one last look to Zelda before setting off towards the monsters. Maybe Zelda can take a deep breath to steady herself after he leaves, but as soon as Link unsheathes his sword, the metal glistening in the setting sunlight, it cuts immediately to gameplay. Start battle.

For essays’ purposes this is the part where I explain why this is better than the original. So here’s my reasoning:

Uhhh, it just is. :3

Ok but seriously, I’ve already talked a tone about why the pacing and dialogue flow is better than the original. But also this scene doesn’t just say “Ooo Zelda is sad about her powers,” because that’s not interesting. Like I said, it’s redundant information. What is interesting is see how characters deal with that internal conflict and how it affects their relationships. AKA Zelda’s relationship with Link, who now basically embodies the success that she’s been working so hard towards but never achieved, is deteriorating a bit. I wanted to get that sense of the Zelda that we see in Breath of the Wild because all things considered, they should be roughly the same character.

So that’s that, you fight the battle, the Hollows show up a bit, so insert “dark evil Champion” dialogue because if you’re gonna use the evil clone trope might as well use it to the fullest. Then you fight the Talus and hurray horrah the day is saved.

Then we have that iconic Urbosa motherly pep talk to Zelda as Link eats rocks in the background. Now honestly, I’m not that big a fan of the first half of the dialogue, so I wanna change it into something more interesting. But the rest of the beats and camera work go roughly the same.

Zelda: “Link is...so much stronger now”

Urbosa: “‘And yet I have not.’ I presume that’s what you’re thinking, hmm?”

Zelda: “Well it’s true, isn’t it? More and more, monsters have been appearing around Hyrule. It is a sign that the Calamity draws near. So...there isn’t much time. And still, no sign of my power awakening.”

Urbosa: *sighs* “Little bird…”

Zelda cuts her off, in an attempt to change topics: “Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa: “Hmm?”

Zelda: “Little bird...I feel like I’ve heard it before. Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa, after a beat looks off in the distance or something: “A long time ago, my dear friend would call me to the palace, or perhaps invite herself over to mine, [she chuckles] ...and she would talk with me all day, and ask me to gaze upon her little bird with her. Her dearest daughter...a princess”

Zelda: “You mean my…”

Urbosa just smiles with a soft nod: “Back then, times were a bit different. The destiny that you have was still upon the Queen, who worked day and night to refine her powers and fulfill her destiny. In just a few short years, I went from being friends with a Queen, to friends with the destined sealer of the Calamity.”

Another pause, before Urbosa speaks again: “But...she was still the same woman I had grown with. Still the same loving mother who spoke about her little bird with joy. She had not changed one bit.”

Urbosa: “Even when your mother passed, her loving smile was there until the very end. She always loved you—believed in you, Zelda. She had great hope, great faith that her daughter would grow into the beacon of light Hyrule needed. That even with her gone, you would spread your wings and fly, because you were just that amazing to her.” *Urbosa puts her hands on Zelda’s shoulders.*

Urbosa: “Destiny did not change your mother’s love, just as it does not change Link’s courage, or your value.” *the camera can pan to Link eating rocks now*

Urbosa looks directly at Zelda now: “Look how hard we’ve all worked to get this far, how hard you have worked to get here. While we may grow in strength, in that regard, we’re all one in the same.”

Zelda: “...I….well…”

Urbosa: “What did the Great Deku Tree say? There is no need to fret princess.”

Urbosa: “Our faith, Link’s, your mother’s, it’s all as strong as ever. And everyday, with every moment that you travel towards your destiny, it just grows. It is always with us. So believe in that, have hope, yet, little bird.” *Eggbot can scurry up and make cute noises here next to Zelda*

Urbosa: “I know, you are where you need to be. You must accept that too.”

Zelda: “...”

Zelda gives a solemn nod: “Thank you, Urbosa.”

So that’s that scene! Don’t let the length fool you, it’s technically even shorter than the original scene in Age of Calamity. So why is it, in my opinion, better? Because for one, we actually get an insight into Zelda’s mom and Urbosa’s relationship, something that was PROMISED To us but never given and I’m still a bit salty about it. Anyhow, in addition to just getting some lore details, that relationship between the Queen and Urbosa is important for this scene because, just like Urbosa spells out, it’s in direct parallel with Link and Zelda.

Before the Queen suddenly got sick and died, she was destined to seal the Calamity. But she didn’t let that destiny change her, she was still the same loving mother to the end. Now that is something that Zelda needs to realize about Link, as his newly acquired destiny doesn’t change who he was before, the knight who cares for her and wishes to protect her. Zelda needs to realize he’s the same and that she can still trust and confide in him. Hence, that’s why this mom backstory is in this scene and not somewhere else, because it serves to the narrative but also more impactfully to the character development.

The dialogue could probably be polished a bit more but come on, not half bad for an improvement yeah? So that concludes Chapter—

SIKE we’re not done yet. We still have to move into the entire point of this stage, the road home, to the castle.

So, badabing badaboom, I’m adding an entirely new scene from scratch right here at the end, because it is VITAL that I set up something new about the story, as a sort of clincher. So anyhow

Zelda is alone with her father, let’s set it in the royal library (Intact, not ruined, of course) because we don’t see enough of that location and it’s really cool. So Zelda is briefing her dad about the events in Korok Forest and on the journey back home. I know I always gush about cinematography but it can’t be fully appreciated since I’m….writing,,, this, BUT I think it might be fun if the side shots of Zelda have her background be some bookcases of the library, maybe half bookcases and the other half the ornate walls. Then the background for the King’s shots is the full symmetry of the elegant staircases.

[And if you needed the specific reasoning for that, because it makes camera shots more fun. Like when Zelda says something that aids in her scholarly side, the camera angle can change slightly where the bookcases take up more of the frame, and then when the King’s will takes more power, then the book cases can be angled a bit more out of frame. And then the symmetry of the King by the staircase is a way to show his higher power dynamic to her, and contrasts well with Zelda’s shots since the bookcases are dark and the stone is lighter, so on a meta level is also makes it easier for the audience to understand where they are. Shot composition is fun ok, and that’s not even getting into color theory (Thinks about Baby Driver and LaLaLand....even videogames like Undertale and Hollow Knight have such wonderful shot composition and use of color theory hhhhh love it)]

Ok so Zelda’s briefing the King in the library, she’s standing while he’s sitting at a desk. There’s maybe two or four Royal Guards on the staircase entrances, but for the most part, they’re alone. You can tell that this meeting between them has been going on for a bit now, as from Zelda’s dialogue, she’s retelling events midway through the story.

The King is flipping through some paperwork, not really looking Zelda in the eyes. She continues speaking.

“And so...with the malice cleared and the monsters being dealt with, Link and I made our way into the heart of Korok Forest.”

The King hums a response, flipping through another page. “And this is when Link pulled out the Sword that Seals the Darkness then, I presume.”

Zelda paused, as of thinking of how to phrase her next words. “Not exactly. I...we both encountered someone beforehand. A man, with a pale face, and dark hair and robes, and he had the power to control malice, using a strange object in one of his hands.”

Rhoam stops writing in his journal or whatever. He doesn’t look up, but the sudden stop he makes is obvious. Zelda notices, but continues.

“He talked about...the Calamity, and my birthday...destiny, and the future….I’m not quite sure I can remember his intentions word for word. But he did introduce himself as—“

“Astor…” Zelda and the King say simultaneously. The King has fully perked up now, looking at Zelda. She’s pleased to see a reaction from him. The King rises from his chair, and starts pacing a bit, stroking his beard thoughtfully like the asshole he is.

“So you know him then? This Astor man? Who is he, father? What does he—“

“Were you alright? Did he hurt you, or mention anything else?”

Zelda pauses for a moment before shaking her head, as if the concern he was expressing was uncharacteristic. “N-No. No, I’m fine, and Link was there. During the battle, as Link fought him off, that was when the sword was pulled. Then Astor fled, or...” Zelda pauses for a beat, “retreated...he expressed his wish to speak with me again.”

Another beat of silence, as Rhoam gets up, hands clasped behind his back. “He used to work at this very palace.” The shot is now directly on Rhoams back, as he faces a bookcase, although it’s clear that he’s just deep in thought, and not just staring at books. Rhoam is in third column of the shot (he’s to the right, not in the center)

“A trusted advisor. Someone gifted with foresight, who many years ago, had first predicted the coming Calamity.” Cut to shot of Rhoams face, the camera being by the bookcase, so that we see Rhoam’s expression and Zelda’s.

“In truth, I thought him dead. For the last time I saw him alive—truly, truly alive—was ten long years ago...” The shot goes back to the original establishing shot, of Rhoam facing away from the camera, towards the bookcase, he’s standing to the right, hands still clasped behind his back.

“...when your mother still graced this earth.”

From left frame, a younger Astor walks up and stands beside Rhoam. He runs his fingers along the books. Rhoam looks to his left, as if he is seeing Astor. Camera cuts to Astor’s right, as if looking at him from Rhoam’s perspective. He continues brushing his fingers against the spines of the books, before he finds the one he’s looking for. Pulling it out, he opens the book, flipping through its pages, before giving a genuine smile. Cut back to wide angle behind them. With the book, Astor starts walking back out left frame, but this time the camera follows him. Filter fade to a memory tint as the camera pans right to left

[when the camera fades fully into the Astor memory, the figures can have that silhouetted effect like you see in botw. Cause I know Nintendo hates making new character models for some reason.]

So if it wasn’t clear already, even though the memory filter doesn’t come immediately, Astor isn’t actually there, but it’s just a flashback. I’m a sucker for merges, which is something this game and botw NEVER do which bugs me because there are so many creative ways you could introduce flashbacks without just doing “ooOooOoo fade to sepia filter and then oooOOooOOO we fade back to reality and no time has passed.” I apologize if my explanation of the camera doesn’t make sense as it’s hard without much visual aid, but hopefully it makes sense so far. Anyhow! Let’s continue.

We’re now fully immersed in this memory, but King Rhoam’s voice still narrates overhead.

Astor brings the book to one of the desks in the library, where a woman sits writing something onto paper. News flash, it’s the queen. Astor hands her the book and starts speaking about something, although you can tell the tone of their conversation is light, almost akin to Zelda rambling about Sheikah Technology. The Queen laughs about something unheard, as Astor continues ranting about something, his hands moving to like a professor giving a lecture.

Rhoam Narration: “When he had first predicted the Calamity, things were much more hopefully for our kingdom. As although his foresight granted him only glimpses and fragments of a future, he was almost certain that with the Guardians, and the strength of your mother’s power, our victory would be absolute.”

Scene changes to the Queen walking down a corridor, Astor is leaning against the wall by a window.

Rhoam Narration: “He and your mother would often work together tirelessly to study the ancient arts, to make the most of the powers given by the goddess.”

The Queen has walked up to Astor now. She crouches down and gestures to her left, the side not yet seen by the camera.

Rhoam Narration: “In fact…”

The camera changes to focus to where the Queen was looking towards—a young Zelda, crouched behind her mother’s dress, stares up at Astor.

Rhoam Narration: “I would not be surprised if you found within yourself, a memory of such.”

I would prefer if you could see the expressions of Astor (giving Zelda not a smile, but not really a frown or anything rude either) and young Zelda. But I guess it can also just be silhouettes too cause again, Nintendo hates giving us younger character models outside of first person POV stuff. Anyhow.

The scene fades, the light from the window dimming as everything darkens.

Rhoam Narration: “I often times wish we could go back to such a time, when victory and pride swam in every corner of this castle. But of course…”

The scene brightens again, although not as bright as before. It’s the exact same corridor with the large window, but now it’s raining. A young Zelda stands alone in front of it, looking outside.

Rhoam Narration: “Such a time did end…”

We now cut to a new scene, King Rhoam is walking down a hall, the camera’s perspective is of a bird’s eye view, like we’re peering in from outside a window. We can see the shadow of Astor chasing after him, as he starts speaking frantically about something, not quite, but almost to the point of shouts.

Rhoam Narration: “After your mother died, the visions of the future shifted drastically. No longer was there glimpses of rolling fields and shimmering skies, but instead, of rubble, red earth, and death.”

You can now more clearly hear the words coming out of Astor’s mouth. He is telling something about failure, and souls, and the Calamity to the King’s ear. He’s still walking forward.

Rhoam Narration: “He was adamant that our demise was now coming faster than ever, and that without your mother, we were doomed. That even you, should you take up your mother’s mantle, could not save everyone.”

Astor: “I’m telling you Your Majesty, if you go down this path, there is no going back.”

King Rhoam: “There is no other choice, we are moving forward.”

Astor: “I don’t think you quite understand the true gravity of the fate you’re choosing for yourself. It is a guarantee that you, me, and countless others shall die.”

King Rhoam: “I don’t want to hear it.”

Astor: “And of course, there are a multitude of possibilities, but the end result is the same.”

Astor: “Do you have a preference, perhaps? Crushed by rubble? Suffocation under ash?”

Rhoam’s tone is deadly: “Stop.”

Astor: “I’ve seen fire too. I’m not yet quite sure the exact circumstances that lead to flame appearing and spreading so quickly, but rest assured that if you—”

King Rhoam: “Stop.”

Astor: “If you saddle someone else with this duty I am absolutely certain that you and I will—”

King Rhoam, voice not shouting, but still with a booming intensity: “Just like you were so certain of our victory 10 years ago?”

Astor’s face darkens. He’s silent for a moment, collecting his words before practically spitting the first articulation: “...That, future, was the one that would come to be if Her Majesty was alive. If you’re so unsatisfied with my departed wisdom you can go ahead and flail around with destiny alone. You think I choose for these events to happen? You think I lie when I saw I want what’s best for this kingdom—”

King Rhoam: “What’s best for you.”

An ugly pause.

King Rhoam: “It is decided, Seer. It’s time you accept this. My wife is dead. That is the truth. Thus the role of sealing the Calamity shall pass to my daughter. She will work to awaken her own ability. It will be her duty to save us.”

Astor half laughs: “A child?! Surely you don’t need the supernatural to see how foolish that is.”

King Rhoam’s voice is even more stern: “You are living proof that the future is not absolute. Therefore I...must place all belief in her ability.”

The King walks away, leaving Astor alone. Weirdly, he smiles. Perhaps to mask some other emotion.

After another moment, Astor yells to the King: “I’ll fix this! Alone if I must!” He’s chuckling as he shakes his head. “Your useless faith may cost many lives, but even so mark my words, I will fix this.”

The King looks back, but says nothing, his expression unreadable. He continues forward, leaving Astor alone chuckling, or perhaps something in between chuckling and crying to himself.

Rhoam Narration: “We haven’t spoken since that day. I simply left him to his devices. If he was so determined to find another way to stop the Calamity, then who was I to stop him. I doubt my word could have swayed his mind regardless.

We’re now looking at a room, the camera is just by the doorway, looking at an office, circular and domed. It’s stone brick walls are covered in parchment and ripped books, covered in symbols and frantic writing. An old Sheikah tapestry hangs crudely on the left wall, and the window on the right seems to tint grey, or even a deepest crimson. Centerframe, is the back of Astor, robe hanging just above the paper ridden floor. He is flipping through something on his desk.

Rhoam Narration: “Fixated as he was on the perfect future that you mother might have led, I still had hope that with time, he might still assist you with your destiny one day.”

The camera slowly comes closer to Astor. We can see more clearly the type of stuff that sprawls the papers and books and diagrams across his office. Some depict stars and constellations, and even a few notes on Ancient Technology, although in a noticeably cleaner font. However, as the camera moves close and closer to Astor, the papers and books depict only one clear topic: the aura of death that comes only with necromancy.

Rhoam Narration: “It seems…”

Astor finally reacts to whatever he was doing on his desk. You don’t see his eyes, but as he fully turns around to face the camera, you see his smile, along with him holding a dark orb of unknown energy. It hovers in his hand.

Rhoam Narration: “...I was mistaken.”

The camera cuts to a wide angle, looking at Astor from behind a stack of books on his desk. The stack of books on Astor’s desk brighten in color (from the memory dull filter), until the scene fully fades back into the Royal Library. The camera is now focused on a similar stack of books on the desk behind Zelda, where Rhoam was working before.

Zelda is still looking at her father, who is still turned away. Now, he turns back around to face her.

“He had disappeared completely one day, so it was my understanding that whatever he was working on killed him. However, if he is truly back as you say…”

Rhoam walks closer to Zelda, close enough that he might have put a hand on her shoulder, but his arms stay behind his back.

“It is in your utmost interest to prove him wrong. I know not what he plans on doing, but it would be wise to stop him before he does.”

Rhoam turns away now, pacing back to the otherside of the desk. “But, your more important priority is unlocking your powers, understand? Now more than ever, is not the time to get distracted.”

Zelda, taking this all in, takes a deep breath. She then nods at him. “I understand...Father.”

After a moment, the King makes a motion as if to dismiss her. She starts to walk away, her thoughts churning in her head, heart thumping to the same beat as her echoing footsteps. Suddenly, Rhoam calls,

“Zelda.” It’s not a question, but the tone is asked like one.

She turns back, looking at him, expectantly. Rhoam only stares at her, an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty for him. The words he wants to form seem stuck in his throat, until finally, he lets out a quiet breathe through his nose, before simply saying:

“You must.”

Zelda can only frown, her shoulder’s slumping slightly, as she ducks her head and leaves.

- - - - - -

And that’s that! That’s the complete end of Chapter 3. So tune in next time for Chapter 4, including a new slight but important story changes, Yiga husbands, and shocking turns of events.

Edit: I forgot that posts with link’s dont show up in tag results so a rb is appreciated :p

#Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #fuck this is the biggest one yet #hwaoc #age of calamity #hwaoc rewrite #hw age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

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intheseautumnhands · 3 years

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Sorting Hat Chats: Oxventures

Hey look, I finally actually got a sorting post written! .... and it's one that I'm pretty sure interests absolutely nobody else, because I don't think anyone else in the Sorting Hat Chats community is into Oxventures, and also the reverse. But the brainwanderings will go where they wish and they don't ask me for permission, and I've been marathoning (and sleeping to) a lot of Oxventures lately, so let's go.

Just in case anyone does choose to take a look, I'll do a brief sum up of both system and canon, so that no one's lost. System first, because I have some other thoughts about canon I want to mention. The full rundown of the basics is here, but just so we're all on the same page:

A VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE @sortinghatchatsSYSTEM

Your Primary house is your motivations, values, and why you do what you do.

Lion Primaries do it this way because their gut tells them it's right.

Bird Primaries do it this way because the system they've put together to guide them tells them this is what's right.

Badger Primaries do it this way because it's the best thing for the community as a whole, or for the most people.

Snake Primaries do it this way because it's the best thing for the people they prioritize.

Your Secondary house is how you approach the world, the methods that come most easily and naturally to you.

Lion Secondaries charge. They attack problems head-on and directly, and they're in their comfort zone when they are their authentic selves.

Bird Secondaries plan. They collect tools, skills, and information, and they're in their comfort zone when they're prepared for the situation.

Badger Secondaries toil. They put their nose to the grindstone or they build connections to get things done, and they're in their comfort zone when things call for steady, consistent work.

Snake Secondaries improvise. They're adaptive and quick on their feet, and they're in their comfort zone when they have the wiggle room to go with what comes to them.

Other terminology may come up as well. I will try and link to posts that explain it better if I end up using anything.

A VERY BRIEF EXPLANATION OF OXVENTURES

Oxventures is the D&D Actual Play show done by the youtube gaming channels Outside Xbox and Outside Xtra, DMed by Johnny Chiodini from the tabletop game channel Dicebreaker. They've been going since fall 2017, first in-person and now streamed. It is an extremely fun show with a group of very entertaining players that have been basically learning to play as it goes. If you're into D&D shows and not too bothered by a very hand-wavey approach to rules, I greatly recommend it.

There are, however, some things that make it difficult to sort. It's a comedy show, and while I don't think this is true for every comedy, in general, it's very easy for characterization to occasionally get passed over for a laugh. It's sometimes hard to tell what jokes are being thrown around OOC versus IC. And the D&D format means there is no going back and editing anything; characterization is developed on the fly, and there's already been discussion that talked about how some of the characters changed as they were being played. Also, it's action-driven -- you don't always get a lot of information on what's going through people's head, so motivation can be hard to pin down.

So it's a little difficult and I've gotten wobbly on a lot of them. Which makes it a great choice for my first sorting!

(...To be fair, it's my first sorting post. I've been watching this system and sorting things to myself for -- *checks when I first mentioned it* wait hold on five years? Really? Okay, cool. Excuse me while I sit and have a mental montage to How Far We've Come as I remember all the fine-tuning it's been through in that time.

Anyway, I've been sorting things to myself for five years, so I'm not new to this, I'm just new to trying to explain my whys, so I hope this comes out understandable. I'm sorry for the rambling, because we're already 750 words in and I haven't even started.)

ANYWAY LET'S GET TO THE SORTING.

Corazón de Ballena, human pirate rogue Corazón, oh Corazón, what... do I even do with you. He's clearly not a Badger -- fairness and other people's needs are not his priority. Between the obvious Jack Sparrow riff and the "pirate seeking glory" thing, my instinct is to say a Lion Primary, probably a Gloryhound Lion in specific. I could see a Bird Primary, just because there is something extremely constructed-feeling about Corazón -- I think his truth would look very Snake-like, prioritizing himself and the people he chooses, but I could see it.

But I'm going to lean into a full Snake Primary, I think. While he doesn't care about most people, he does care very much about the people who do matter to him -- see his whole complicated relationship with his father, even after his father tried to kill him; see his burning down a guy's house because he's mean to Prudence; to some extent, see his attempt to help end his old crew's curse. He puts people above anything else, but only the people he chooses to (or where can't help it, in his father's case) I think he'd almost like people to believe that he's Burned and doesn't care about anyone else, but he very much is not, though he doesn't seem to let new people into the circle often or easily, either. I could still very much see a Gloryhound Lion, but in the end I think if asked to put the party first or fame and fortune first -- he would complain, he would never let them hear the end of it, but he would also choose the party every single time.

For Secondary: Corazón would really want people to think he's a Snake. If he could read the descriptions and pick his own, I'm pretty sure he'd say he was a Snake. Adaptable, cunning, deceitful -- and it's not that he's not these things, but the way it manifests itself feels much more like a rapid-fire Bird Secondary. He's analytical, he learned magic entirely from books, and I haven't actually counted, but I would bet you that he makes more investigation rolls than anyone else. While his quickly thought up plans do work, they often tend to rely on things he already knows -- disguise self and minor illusion come up often, hiding and evading, etc. He seems to be one of the party that gets the most non-combat use out of his various magical abilities. It's a very quick and jack-of-many-trades style of Bird, but it's still very Bird.

Dob, half-orc bard Dob is quite possibly the loudest loyalist primary... just, that I have ever seen, ever. To start with, I'm just going to drop this quote here: "I know there's good in you, jailor I just met!"

How about the way that he's first introduced as a bard who goes from town to town playing the lullaby his lost sister used to sing to him, searching for her. Or his habit of, to quote TV Tropes, "engaging in random acts of adoption". Or the time he tried to learn spells to apologize to the dead orphans. Or how he still managed to forgive the skeletons that killed the orphans. Or the time he forgave the cult that almost got them all killed. Or giving the cultists (from a different cult) relationship advice. Or the time he ended up listening to the jailor's marriage woes. Or....

Look, I could keep going but I think we've got enough examples. So: Badger or Snake? On the one hand he definitely seems to worry about saving his particular people first when there's danger... but, there's a level of guilt about innocent people who have died on his watch, and that habit of taking in random people on multiple adventures, that really makes me lean towards a Badger Primary. Dob seems to genuinely care about everyone they cross as a default, and of all of them, he's the first I can see coming to the aid of an enemy who he has no prior positive experiences with.

As for a Secondary, Dob is the master of quick plans, quicker lies, and steamrolling NPCs into going along with things. The entire party ends up thinking on their feet more often than not, but he seems to do his best work that way, as a Snake Secondary often does. Sometimes he goes so fast that he forgets something and makes a mistake -- which is how "don't be a Dob" has become a thing -- but his impulsive ideas actually work out more often than it doesn't, and he's also very good at connecting with a wide variety of people. On the page for Snake/Slytherin Secondaries, the SHC site says,

"Slytherins will adapt to their own best advantage without thinking about it. They’ll walk into a situation and things will work out to their benefit without them quite knowing what happened or what they did to influence it."

-- and doesn't that just fit with Dob's ridiculous amounts of luck?

He does seem to spend a fair amount of time in his neutral state, or at least adapting in a non-conscious kind of way. There is something generally blunt about Dob a lot of the time, enough that I considered Lion pretty heavily -- but in the end, he works best when he's running on the fly and making shit up, in a way that feels extremely Snake to me. And he's not only so good at lying, but so quick to default to it, that Lion doesn't feel accurate.

Egbert the Careless, dragonborn paladin Poor Egbert, the worst paladin. While his original order really seems to prioritize a very classic Paragon Lion Primary, Egbert barely seems to have a model of one -- it's more of a performance, which is being chipped steadily away by the rest of the party. He tries, but I can't see a genuine Lion Primary from his background killing people so casually. Or hitting an old man with a cursed mace over and over until he turns into a seal. And then keeping the seal as a pet. Or just... saying "maybe crime is good!" because he likes the food at the crime den. He's trying, but he's really not good at it. So the question remains: what is he?

I think it's hard to place him because, one, he really want to be that Lion. And second, whatever he is, I think the values that motivation is set on are... kind of in flux? I don't think he's super burned; I think he might be lightly charred at best. But: if he's a Bird, he's in the process of losing the truth of "whatever the Order of the Dragon Door says is right" to something that comes more from the party and probably more genuinely. If he's a Badger, he's in the process of changing communities. If he's a Snake, the Order is getting pushed more and more out of his inner circle, replaced by the party.

I was leaning Badger, but the more I think about it, I think that's the remnants of the attempt to play Lion. I think Egbert's a Snake Primary who is starting to shed his old skin. (There's like three layers of bad joke in that, and I'm sorry.) The Lion priorities made that Snake look a little more Badger-y, but he does so, so many things that just don't strike me as caring deep down about need. Like the thing where he turned an old man into a seal. I just keep looking at that incident and I either need to completely ignore that incident -- which is hard, when Seal Gaiman is still hanging around -- or go with something else. His reaction to Dana's bigotry in Snow Mercy does feel a little more Badger-y to me... but that could still be that Lion Performance flavoring, and/or a symptom of how the party as a whole gets pissed about anti-tiefling sentiment coming out in sympathy of another maligned race. I also feel like a Badger would be working a little more actively on atonement and stop getting distracted.

He is, however, a very loud Lion Secondary. While the party as a whole does a lot of ploys that involve deceit or talking their way into things, Egbert is rarely the one doing that part. He doesn't bother with subtlety, or with doing any of the many things he can as a paladin, which is how we got the whole glorious "you've been able to teleport for how long?" moment. He does sometimes manage to make connections that move the story along, and he always does it by being himself.

But most of all, I can't think of a better word to describe how Egbert attacks a situation than charging. I'm just going to quote again from the site:

"their problems are met head on rather than subverted, negotiated, or cajoled. They have an efficiency so direct it’s almost combative."

And that seems like Egbert to a T.

Merilwen, wood elf druid Merilwen is a Badger Primary whose version of "people" is "animals, my community, and also I guess these four now". She doesn't really seem to care about what would traditionally be considered "people", and Ellen (who plays her) has spoken about how Merilwen's morals towards non-animals is pretty much entirely influenced by the party -- but with the things she cares about she strikes me as extremely Badger. She's absolutely ready to throw down everything for the party, but when they're not in danger from it, she will also absolutely fight the rest of them for an animal -- see that incident where she talked everyone out of fighting the Owlbear. "Animals are hurt" or "you hurt my friends" is the fastest way to bring out her viscous side.

She could also maybe be a Snake who includes all animals in her circle, but: one, I very much feel like she'd choose whether to prioritize her friends or an animal over who needs her more. Two, the way she interacts with her family and her community in Elf Hazard seems very Badger to me. Her worry about not being able to see her family again, her unwillingness to disappoint them and decision to take a new name to make them happy, even after the danger is past. Things like Merilwen's Meat-Grinder also strike me this way -- specifically, her willingness to do massive damage to save the party and subsequent discomfort with having done it, even though she doesn't care that much about the people who were hurt even after having done it. "Fair and loyal" seems like a good way to sum up her morality in general. Her being so close to Dob and understanding each other so well also adds to this (even if a lot of that likely has to do with Ellen and Luke (who plays Dob) being so close as much as anything, but if I try to separate out things that are OOC-influence I will be here forever).

I'm torn between the foundational Secondaries for her: Bird, or Badger. There is something about her likelihood to fall back on "I turn into a [cat/bear/octopus]" as a plan that feels a little Bird-like to me -- that fallback on the favored, most well-used, best-understood tools, even in situations where it takes a little forcing to make them fit. On the other hand, she seems to be the one most likely to see a job that's not being done as part of the plan, and go fill that role. She's certainly steady, trustworthy, quiet, and consistent. I don't think she has a problem with shortcuts on many things, but could see her raising objections about things she actively cares about. She also often solves things by connecting with animals, which fits when you consider her people/community largely being animal-based. I'm still a little back and forth on this, but in the end, I'm going to lean towards a Badger Secondary.

Prudence, tiefling warlock I'm having a hard time putting my finger on Prudence. I think this is partly Jane's play style -- I feel like she's the least likely to go into what's going on in Prudence's head or why she's doing things, and she doesn't really have a driving goal we're aware of except "do things to make Cthulhu pleased", but that's mostly along the way. She's not a Badger. I would lean towards not a Lion; I guess it's possibly she's a Lion whose gut morality is about hedonism, "I should have what I want", or something like that, but I really don't get the impression that she has much of an internal morality overall. "Some things are just wrong and you can't talk your way out of it" (to quote the Lion/Gryffindor Primary page) absolutely does not sound like something Prudence would ever thing.

So again we're between the decided Primaries: Bird or Snake? I could see her being a Bird, but I have no idea what her truth is at this point. Still, I want to lean towards Snake Primary, specifically one that was burnt. We're going into how-IC-was-this-anyway territory here again, but there's a moment early on, in Brawl of the Wild, where Jane is narrating Prudence hurling herself in front of two of the others and stops mid-narration to ask "wait, why am I doing that" -- it feels incredibly like a Snake who's found themselves unburning while they weren't paying attention and now is trying to figure out how this happened. She's also pretty open with how fond she is of the party, pleased as punch when Corazón burns down the house of a guy who's an asshole to her, even more pleased when Egbert seems corruptible, seems genuinely happy that the group has gotten more lax about killing, and of course there's "You'll never leave me, Corazón, I'll kill you first" and hugging the Egbert-statue after he's been kidnapped when no one can see her.

But more than the party, what makes me lean towards Snake is her relationship with her warlock patron. There's nothing cold, nothing business-like, it's not even worshipful: Cthulhu-dad is kind of a joke, but... it's also not? Even if the actual fatherly-ness of it can be read as joking, she still genuinely seems to have warm, loving feelings for him, and that particular set-up really strikes me a loyalist thing.

(That gives us an all-loyalist party, but honestly, considering they're not the most moral people around and how quickly they all bond... that kind of works?)

Bird Secondary -- her plans tend to be the most practical, she has her favored methods for handling things, and her interest in all things magic strikes me as very Bird-with-a-favorite-thing. Her Bird seems pretty good at reading people, too, particularly knowing the party's strengths -- which is often chaos and making things up. She's not quite a rapid-fire as Corazón, but she's pretty good on her feet if need be... it's just that her lack of interest in what's morally right means the plan she usually pulls out is "eldritch blast". To be fair, it usually works.

IN SUMMATION:

Corazón: Snake Primary/Bird Secondary (possible Snake performance)

Dob: Badger Primary/Snake Secondary (possible Badger model)

Egbert: Snake Primary (attempting to model the Order and possibly Shattershield's Lion Primary, which comes off weirdly Badger-ish in the end)/Lion Secondary

Merilwen: Badger Primary (whose "people" are animals, the elf community she grew up in, and now the Oxventurers)/Badger Secondary

Prudence: Unburning Snake Primary/Bird Secondary

OXVENTURE IN THE DARK BONUS ROUND:

Very recently they've begun an Oxventure spin-off series, playing Blades in the Dark instead. We're only two episodes in, and since part of the plan is to rotate who's in each episode, most of them are only in one -- and since we've gotten so little of the new group, and so much can change as the players learn their characters and find their feet, I can't confidently sort them right now. But I think it'd be interesting to share some initial impressions and see how they hold up down the line. Spoilers for both episodes if anyone's behind, I'll put Lillith and Barnaby last just to be sure.

Edvard: If Edvard the inventor is not a Bird Secondary, I will eat my hat. I could see him going the way of the traditional SHC impulsive scientists who do things For Science, and ending up in Lion/Bird territory, or going towards Bird/Bird; at the moment I don't think he'll be a loyalist, but we'll see!

Zillah: I think we know less about Zillah than anyone else at this point, but we do know that, one, she's doing crime to get money for her family, and two, she seems pretty level-headed. I'm thinking maybe a Lion Secondary, leaning away from Bird Primary but at this point could see anything else.

Kasamir: Between his class/playbook being about having his fingers in a lot of crime pies, Johnny saying he's not really good at anything besides crime, and his slight mentor-y vibe in episode one, I'm getting Badger Secondary or Bird Secondary vibes -- leaning Badger right now, but we'll see. (I'm also getting Mozzie-from-White-Collar-but-more-physical vibes, but I cannot find the sorting that Moz used to be under, unfortunately. I want to say either Badger/Bird or Bird/Badger.) He doesn't strike me as a Lion Primary at this point, but we'll see.

Lillith: I was going to say Bird Secondary because she's leaning so hard into the intellectual, but so far she has tried to solve problems by befriending a ghost girl and convincing the workers to start a union so.... I'm feeling some Badger/Lion or Lion/Badger vibes coming off her at this point. She might slide into a more Bird-y role in the future, or it might end up looking more like a model.

Barnaby: Despite having gotten through two episodes now basically saving the day by being himself, I don't get Lion Secondary vibes from him -- actually, I'm thinking he could end up a Badger Secondary, just extremely far on the Courtier Badger side of the scale, and one that’s very full of himself. Not sure on that yet, though. Primary: no idea, but probably not Badger.

#sorting hat chats #oxventure #i should probably wait til it's not 6:30 am; reread this; and make it shorter #but screw it! have my rambling!#if you read all this you get a cookie #but it's out of my head now at least #there are many other sortings i'd like to do #we'll see if i ever get to them

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gophergal · 3 years

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Hooooo Boy! This took longer to write than I though, but with the help of @bucketofcowboys , I did it! (Encouragement from @bisexual-horror-fan was also a major motivator) enjoy this second chapter <3

I’m Not Lonely - Chapter Two

Word count:4 000+| Rating: M | Michael Myers x OC | M/F

Morning came, with all that entails. In the midst of her freshly awakened delirium, Jean was sure that the previous night's events had just been a strange dream. She'd been known to have dreams like that, especially when she was stressed. The paranoia induced by the news I listened to on the way home must have been the basis, she told herself. She had been exhausted and what she did in that dream was absolutely ridiculous. Never in a million years would she be so stupid as to do what she did. That would be like one of those foolish horror story protagonists that Jolene liked to tell her about. With a light chuckle, Jean changed out of her pajamas into the brown sweater and jeans she liked wear on cool mornings like this. There were plenty of things to do today, but none of them could be done on an empty stomach, so off to the kitchen it was.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, the living room came into view, and suddenly her train of thought came to a screeching halt. The coveralls, with their dark stains and tears, lay on the floor, mocking her for her stupidity. Their owner, however, was absent, with no sign of his presence. Jean's heart began to beat far too fast in her chest as her mind raced with all the things that could go wrong. She turned suddenly to leave the room and crashed into a solid mass, stunning her for a moment. At once, she was hit with a wave of embarrassment as she was pressed against the chest of her uninvited guest.

“Oh! Excuse me, I didn't see you there,” She exclaimed, taking a step back from the man. Now, in the daylight, she could take the moment to realize how tall he was. He was about a whole foot taller taller than her, built like a football player, and, when she'd been pressed against him, solid muscle. “Um, I, well, I'm going to be making myself some breakfast. Would you like to join me in the kitchen?” He didn't answer, unsurprisingly, but she could feel his presence as she moved toward the other room. Her mind was a storm as she flipped an egg in the skillet. What am I even doing? She wondered, I don't know who the hell this guy is or what he did last night before he broke in.

Jean set a plate of eggs and toast in front of the stranger, then sat across from him with her own steaming plate. The air was heavy with tension as they sat, the man staring at Jean as she struggled to force her mouth to form words. Neither of them reach for their food and Jean feels the need to squirm in her seat. She spots her notebook and pen.

“Ah, I- Um, I never caught you name,” she pushed the paper and writing instrument toward him gently, “Mine's Jeanette. Jeanette Parrish. Well, I just go by Jean, because that's what everyone calls me.” She stuttered out. She would almost feel embarrassed if he weren't watching her in such an intimidating way. Like an owl watching a mouse scurry across the forest floor, waiting for the moment to swoop down with its talons bared.

Stop that, she thought to herself, you're working yourself up over nothing. The little voice of common sense returned, Or not. He very well could be dangerous. After all, how many good men just break into a person's home covered in blood, refusing to speak? Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the thoughts racing in her head, Jean pushed herself up from the seat a bit too forcefully, nearly knocking her half eaten breakfast off the table. She needed air. Somewhere without his eyes on her, forcing her mind to spin wild thoughts. She went outside to the utility shed, a basket of dirty laundry (she'd grabbed the filthy jumpsuit without thinking on her way out) pressed to her hip as she exited. The washing machine was set up to cycle and she leaned against it as it filled with water.

She let out a shaky breath, tapping her fingers against the cold metal as she calmed. The machine hummed and shook as it worked, the rhythm of it lulling her into a sort of relaxing trance, broken by the buzz signaling the cycle's completion. On autopilot, she removed the garments from the washer's drum and took them to the line, performing the repetitive motion of hanging them up to dry. When done, she went back inside, seeing no sign of the man when she did. He wasn't in the kitchen, where she had left him, the only sign of him being on the table, where his empty plate sat beside the notebook. Jean was amazed to see a name written down on the paper in a childish, unpracticed scrawl. “Michael,” she read softly to herself. Well, that answers one thing, she thought, but leaves a lot more for me to wonder about.

Michael watched from threshold undetected as the woman, Jean, flit around the kitchen tidying things up and washing the plates and silverware. She moved with purpose and care, reminding him much of the few nurses who cared for him in the sanitarium. One question kept coming to him, however: how stupid was this woman? When she first saw him, she did not scream or beg, or even run away. No, this one stood her ground against him, a thing of pure evil, silent and horrific. Admittedly, it intrigued him, her strangeness. He realized that she lived alone, yet appeared no older than his escaped prey, Laurie. Young women didn't tend to live alone, only old women and men did. She would have been an easy kill, had he chosen to do so.

Why hadn't he? Well he hadn't wanted to, of course. Why hadn't he, though? Enough. He wouldn't waste time on this line of thought for longer than he needed to. Only because you have no answer, The Shape spoke. He supposed that was true. He felt the same urges he had when seeing those girls Laurie surrounded herself with. The same urge he felt when he was young, seeing the life leave Judith. Jean was beautiful, and there was only one thing a devil could ever do to beautiful things: destroy them.

Jean felt eyes on her back as she put the clean, dry plates in the cabinet. She twirled around to see Michael in the threshold, head cocked ever so slightly to the side. She started to move again, not even noticing the pause she made in her movements. She walked past Michael into the living room, deciding to straighten the book shelves and sweep the floor. The usual intense focus she would fall into refused to come, the presence of another body too distracting for her to push from her mind. Why won't he leave, she wondered quietly.

Eventually, she gave up on the endeavor, choosing to flop onto the couch, frustrated. She picked up the book on the end table. Well, I could always start that book Jo recommended to me, she considered as she opened the book. She'd only gotten a few lines in when she felt breath on her shoulder, causing her to hesitantly look to the source. Michael stood, head tilted like a confused pup. She swallowed and pointed to the book, “Have you read this one? My coworker said it was good, but I'm not very fond of scary stories,” she said, “but, if you wanted, I could read it aloud and we could experience it together? You might want to sit down if that's the case.”

Truthfully, she just wanted him to stop hovering uncomfortably behind her like a cat ready to pounce. To her surprise, he did, though a bit closer than she was comfortable with, a closeness which was increased by gravity pulling her to the low spot made by his superior weight. She cleared her throat, “Well, I suppose I should start then,” a pause as she readied herself to read, “Chapter one: Job Interview. Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick...”

She read until she could read no more, Michael sitting as still as a cold marble slab next to her on the old couch. When she looked up, throat scratching from the use, she noticed that it was quite dark outside and, upon looking at the clock, realized that she had missed dinnertime and her stomach was quick to confirm. Dog-earring the page she was reading, Jean set the book back on the table, rushing to the kitchen to get something to eat. She eats a plate of leftover meatloaf that had been in the refrigerator, and left a plate for Michael, should he decide to have some. With a yawn, she turned off the light in the kitchen, slinking up the stairs and looking over to the couch where Michael still sat.

The bedroom door was shut firmly behind her and she turned the lock to give her peace of mind while she slept. Are you so sure that will keep you safe, her common sense questions, when he's so close by? She pushed it from her mind, it's all she could do if she wanted to sleep. Besides, becoming paranoid wouldn't serve her well either. The bed wasn't comfortable enough to counter her stress and confusion over the situation she'd gotten herself into.

Jean awoke abruptly, horribly aware on this morning that the previous day and night were not, in fact, dreams. She was also horribly aware that she would have to leave her room at some point that day. Oh shit, she thought, I have to work tonight. Snuggling further into the soft comforter on the bed, she grumbled internally. She didn't hate her job, but she sure as hell didn't like it. Annoying, entitled customers weren't the only thing she disliked about it, but they were a big part of it. The next man to call her “sugar tits”, “babydoll”, or anything overly familiar was going to have to get her fist surgically removed from his face. She was a waitress, goddamnit, not a whore! And even whores deserved more respect than that. Both she and they were just working women, after all. How could that ever be undeserving of basic human dignity?

Rolling out of bed, she hissed at the cold hardwood under her bare feet. The weather is cooling rather quickly, she noted as she put on slippers, unlocked the door, and braced herself as she tiptoed down the stairs. There was no sign of Michael, which seemed to be the norm with him. She half expected to run into him again as she had the previous morning. He wasn't in the kitchen either. Or the bathroom. Or the closet. Not hiding behind her like the shadowy creature in an old monster movie. Finally, she checked the backyard, only to see that the man's coveralls were missing and in there place the clothes he'd borrowed had been lazily draped over the line.

It was- surreal in a way. He was gone just as abruptly as he'd appeared. It was almost sad to have him gone, in a strange way. The house felt emptier, like it was missing something. She shook her head. No, this was the way it was meant to be. She could only hope that he didn't decide to return. That settles that, she thought to herself, now I can just live my life in peace. All that left for her to do was get some breakfast and enjoy some time to herself. Same thing as every day. Eggs and toast. Get dressed. Tidy the house. Sit and read. She felt odd picking up The Shining again. It's rude to read ahead when you're trying to share a book after all. She put it down without a second thought. Picking up an old favorite, she began to read it all over again. It must have been the- what? Tenth time? Something like that. It was a comforting book to read, after all.

Soon enough, it came time to ready herself for the long shift ahead. Her clean, wrinkle-free pink blouse and black skirt reflected back at her in the mirror as she pulled her hair into a half ponytail in the back. She dragged herself to the car, an old gray clunker that had to be from the last decade or so. Jean didn't really know. It was granddad's from when he was a younger man, but she remembered how her brain would shut down every time he tried to talk cars at her. At least she knew how to change tires and oil, the mechanic could worry about everything else.

The door to the diner section of the truck stop swung open as Jean walked in. There was only one patron sitting at a table, a plate of meat and potatoes set before him. He looked up at Jean and gave her a friendly nod, which she returned with a smile. At least he wouldn't be a nuisance tonight. She walked back into the kitchen where Jolene leaned against a counter top as she chatted with Gus, the cook. He was a big man who's heart was as big as his biceps. He was an amazing cook too and, oftentimes, it made Jean wonder why he hadn't become a chef at some big fancy restaurant. He noticed her and grinned.

“Hey Jean, did you have a good day off?” he asked, deep voice carrying over to her. Jolene seemed to light up, turning to look at Jean.

“Yeah, it's never as fun around here without you!” she said. Jean smiled.

“Oh, y'know, same old, same old. I started reading that book you recommended to me though!”

“Really? What do you think? I know you're not one for scary stories, but I thought you might like this one.”

“Pretty good so far, actually. I didn't think I'd like it, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit. I like the atmosphere the author's set.” Jolene smiled at that.

“That makes me really happy, Jean. Now if only you'd just-”

The redhead was cut off by the jingle of the door as a customer stepped into the establishment. Jean flashed her a small smile as she made her way over to where the man sat down. She knew exactly what Jo was about to say next and felt as though she'd dodged a bullet when she got away. Now she'd just have to be sure she wasn't hit by the ricochet when they took their break. “Now sir, what can I get you?”

Finally, a quiet moment came where no customers sat in the dining area. Jean took the moment to join Jo as she left out the back door. Jolene stood in the light of the small bulb that flickered above the back door. She puffed away at a cigarette that she clenched between her peach toned lips. A grin quirked up to her lips when she noticed Jean, who sighed as she prepared for the usual lecture Jo liked to give her.

“Oh Jean, you wouldn't believe the guy that came in here yesterday,” Jo began, taking a pull off the dwindling white stick, “guy waltzes in like he thinks he's hot shit. Couldn't be any older than, what? Sixteen, I'd guess. Just some dumb fucking kid. And he says to me Ay, dollface, how's 'bout you get me a beer?”

She throws her hair around, “As if he thinks we won't card him, ha! I tell him about as much and say I'll bring him a soda, so Mr Tough Guy gets pissy, but agrees. When I leave to go get it though, the little bastard grabs my ass! What a pig, am I right?

Well, I know he's lucky that you weren't here because you would've been on him like that!” she snaps for effect, “well, Gus just threw him out and made sure I was ok, but still, what a little creep!” She finishes, throwing her hands up in the air as she did.

“Wow,” Jean began, a bit confused as she always was when Jo would go off on a rant like that, “the nerve of some people! You're right, I would've taught him some manners right then and there. Little bastard.” She swore.

“It's no big deal, I guess. It's not like I'm hurt or anything.”

“That's not the point! You know I can't stand when people like that act like they can just do whatever the hell they want.”

“I know, but there's no need to worry about it. Gus took care of it.”

“Not as harshly as he should have.”

“Well, you know that's just not how he rolls.”

“I do.”

“Now-”

“Oh no.”

“Don't you Oh no me! You didn't call my buddy Robert back!” She threw her hands to her hips, her brows furrowed.

“Jo, please-”

“You promised me that you'd give him a chance, Jean.”

“I did. We just didn't hit it off, I guess.”

“Ugh, that doesn't mean you get to be rude to the guy. The best thing to do is tell him up front.”

“I'm sorry,” and she was. Jo was just trying to help her, in her own way. This was the third guy she'd set Jean up with. It was sweet of her, but the help was unneeded and very much unwanted.

“I'm just- Well, I'm just worried about you. I don't want you to end up a lonely old woman, bitter because you never found anyone.”

“According to you, I'm there already,” Jean said, chuckling.

“Laugh it up, but when that happens you'll think: Oh, how I wish I listened to Jolene! She's always been so smart, why did I disregard her advice!” she danced about dramatically as she said this, throwing an arm over her head with the last word, making Jean snort-laugh.

“Alright, alright, you have a point.”

“Yes, I do! Now do you promise to keep an open mind?”

“Of course.”

“Pinkie promise?”

“Yes,” she said, holding out the finger, which Jo hooked with her own. The door opened gently and Gus stopped it with his foot.

“Something I missed?” he asked softly.

“No, no,” Jo laughed, “nothing at all!” Gus rolled his eyes.

“A'right then, well your break's up, ladies,” he said, holding the door open more so that they could enter.

Jean felt light as she drove home from work. Her shoulders were relaxed as the blackness surrounding her passed by. Talking to Jo and Gus was like therapy for her. She could almost push Michael and his intrusion from her mind. Almost. She was still a little worried that he'd show back up in the night. Thankfully, there was no figure on her couch when she unlocked and opened the door (making very sure to lock it back after her). There was no man sat at her table, no towering mass in her corner with intense black eye holes that made her feel weak and small. And that was how it stayed for days. That's how it stayed when she woke up to eat eggs and toast. That's how it was when she went to work and when she got home. For about two weeks.

She got home after a late shift, more tired than she had been in a long while. It had been the stress, she guessed, of Jo reminding her that she had no plans for the holidays that were rapidly approaching. No loving husband and in laws to fill her home with joyful voices and good memories. Being alone had its downsides, it seemed. She flopped straight into bed with a muffled groan of annoyance, then fell asleep with ease. It was also with ease, however, that she was awoken. First slowly by the creaking of her window and the cool breeze that came through it, but then abruptly by the sudden presence at the end of her bed.

The foreboding black shadow just stood there, the moonlight obscuring the figure in silhouette. She at once felt panic rush through her veins as she kicked her legs out. They connected with the figure's abdomen, forcing a deep strangled grunt from it. She flipped out of the bed, staggering to her feet as they tried to carry her to the exit. Her arm was grabbed, causing her to slip and nearly fall, had she not been pulled roughly to the figure's solid chest. She struck out with her free hand wildly, which was caught in a vice-like grip and, using the leverage gained from having her hands in its grasp, the figure pushed her roughly against the wall, pinning her and knocking the air from her lungs. The figure breathed heavily.

Jean squirmed helplessly against the wall, her torso bared vulnerably to her attacker. She squeezed her eyes shut, turning her head away and holding her breath as she waited for the inevitable. When nothing happened she opened her eyes and looked back, catching the sight of a telltale white mask and blue coveralls. “What the hell, Michael?” She breathed through a clenched jaw. He responded with a head tilt, as though he saw no issue with the situation at hand.

“You can't just do that!” She yelled, which amused him because he could, and he did.

“Can I at least have my arms back?” She asked, as he pretended not to hear her, keeping her arms in his cruel grip.

“I'm sorry I kicked you, but you have to understand that I was afraid I would really be killed- Or worse!” Were he any other man, Michael would have chuckled. Not yet, Jean, the Shape supplied for him. That would have to wait. Regardless, he released her wrists, which she rubbed gratefully. She left the room, pausing to look over her shoulder expectantly, almost like she was waiting for him to follow her. And so he did, down the stairs and into the living room where she plopped herself down on the couch. He sat beside her, feeling as she leaned against him at first, then readjusted herself on the couch.

“It's been a while, huh?” She said softly, peering at him nervously. “Well, I'll admit, I can't get back to sleep with all this excitement. I'd like to read our book. Would you like that?” He tilted his head, first to one side, then to the other, which she took as a yes of sorts. She cleared her throat, then picked up the book, “Alright-y, where were we? Aha! There!” And she began to read.

Michael didn't pay much attention to what she was reading to him. On occasion, he would tune back in to her words to catch bits of the plot. Not that it interested him, but her voice, on the other hand- It was mesmerizing. He'd heard women's voices before. Obviously. Usually they held the tone of disinterested disgust, much like the nurses at the sanitarium. Sometimes it was in the midst of a pleasured moan, much like his sister, Judith mere moments before her life ended. Best of all was their fear, their pain, their death. The sound of it intoxicating, filling him with a sense of control and satisfaction. Something about Jean's voice, however, was very different.

When he heard her voice, regardless of what he would think on first seeing her (that being the desire to snuff her out like a candle), he would begin to feel a sense of calm wash over him. He felt like a child again, hearing his mother speak to him in soft tones. Mother. She wasn't quite like his mother, this woman, but it was a closer comparison than to either of his sisters. She was caring. Not like the nurses, with their fake chipper tones and needles filled with numbing drugs. No, she was real. For a moment, when she bandaged his wounds, he remembered Sunday school and the stories of angels he was told. Is this an angel? He asked the Shape. No, it responded angrily, this is flesh and blood. This is for you to rip and shred. To break into a million pieces. But not now, not yet. Now you wait. Now you remain patient.

And so he did.

#michael myers #slasher x oc #slashers #michael myers x oc #gopher writes #I'm Not Lonely

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johannesviii · 4 years

Text

So I guess I’m hyperfixating on Death Stranding at the moment

And since I’ve finally finished the story after playing it for like 100 hours over the course of seven months or so I guess I have Opinions(tm) about things I didn’t like in the game

They’re eating at my brain so I’m gonna put them all in a single post to get them out of my system once and for all so I can enjoy the rest in peace

Spoilers, obviously

Hi welcome back to ‘Johannes is obsessing over yet another video game with horror elements in it’! I guess!!

Our latest entry in that category was Until Dawn but since UD can be played in like 6/7 hours and I spent 100 hours of my life on DS, as you can guess we’re talking about a full-blown hyperfixation, the kind that physically hurts because I can’t focus on anything else even after having finished the storyline

But it was super gradual. Again, seven months. I barely made any progress from December to May because I was only doing side-deliveries at the beginning of Chapter 3 instead of... you know... advancing the plot. It became an honest-to-god special interest about two months ago, then 6 days ago while playing chapter 10 it reached hyperfixation levels and now I am in PAIN

I hate my brain

Anyhow

At first I wanted to list the good and the bad hings in it but there’s too many good things to list them all in full, excruciatingly long details, so

Very Quick And Very Incomplete List Of Good Things That I Love

It’s a post-apo game based on travel, logistics, and good will, and it straight up goes AGAINST the whole ‘survival of the fittest’ trope that SO MANY post-apo things try to push!! YES

I insist but it’s built on helping each other and keeping everyone alive, seriously that is my shit right there!

The online community is wholesome?? People leave stuff everywhere, you never see anyone but people put little helpful signs and send you likes, and in my game we almost managed to repair all the roads together

There’s so many new & strange allergies and disabilities and phobias in this post-apo world and? nobody is trying to ““fix”“ anyone?? Like Heartman with his padded floor and his little box that brings him back to life constantly. He’s just... living like that. Nobody’s going “hey maybe you should get another heart operation buddy”

The hero and his phobia of being touched. I. Loved. That. The quiet scenes when he was just talking with Fragile, sitting next to her. In any other context this would just be two people sitting next to each other and talking but it always feels so soft and intimate everytime he allows another human being to just. be next to him. I love it. I love them

Everyone crying constantly because of chiral allergy!!

I loved all the important characters bar one (Bridget/Amelie)!

Why is this walking simulator so enjoyable why am I enjoying the fact that holding L2 + R2 while walking feels like holding your backpack and that you have to relax at times just like you’d have to if you were actually holding a backpack

Seriously. Why

The atmosphere was so great, the music was fantastic and the visuals were on point. A E S T H E T I C

The ghosts!! The giant Beached Things!!! Chiral crystals look! like! creepy hands reaching for the SKY!!

THE RAIN DESTROYS THINGS AND KILLS PEOPLE BY ACCELERATING TIME THIS IS SO COOL SHUT UP

Everytime the game got surreal it was electrifying

THE SURREAL WAR SCENES ON CLIFF’S BEACH

Everyone is using emojis

There’s guys addicted to delivering packages in that game and they’re trying to steal our stuff and we’re like “haha they’re dumb” but we’re basically addicted to delivering packages as the player. So yeah that was pretty fun

Terrorists thinking humanity isn’t going extinct fast enough and wanting to just rip the bandaid and speed things up. Simple but effective concept

People ask for SUPER VITAL ITEMS right next to completely trivial stuff and I’m LIVING for it. “Please fetch my toy dinosaur”. I feel you dude

The most isolated characters are like "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS THING I LIKE" in your emails because they haven't had contact with other humans in years, it's super relatable

There’s a farm where people use the fact that Timefall rain accelerates time to grow food super quickly in one (1) Timefall and harvest everything just before it starts to die and I LOVE that detail of worldbuilding so much

YOU’RE FIGHTING BEACHED THINGS WITH YOUR OWN BODILY FLUIDS IT’S SO STUPID BUT ALSO SO COOL?? I love yeet-ing my own blood at eldritch entities

THE T W I S T S

All the fanservice (bar one detail that I’m gonna complain about later) is on dudes. This game reeeeeeally likes to show dudes naked or somewhat naked. Mostly the main character but this mocap also L O V E S Mads Mikkelsen and there’s a shit ton of homoerotic shots in there

I love Sam the antisocial papa wolf delivery man and if someone touches him or his baby again, I will cry

LOU. LOU LOU LOU PRECIOUS BABY I’D DIE FOR YOU. Wait I did

I love Fragile and how brave she is and how she keeps helping people even if most of them wrongly think she’s a terrorist and yes I will eat this cryptobiote thank you

I love soft science boi Heartman who keeps dying again and again and is a bit too much interested in bodily fluids

I love garbage man Higgs and how complex, funny and still somewhat tragic this memelord actually turned out to be in the end

Seriously I want to stop fixating on this character but you can’t give me YET ANOTHER character who wants to die but at the hands of someone else, that is unfair to do that right after my fixation on the new Doctor Who Master

So yeah Higgs is yet another character who makes me want to grab him by the lapels and shake him and yell WHY! ARE! YOU! LIKE! THIS! STOP! BEING! LIKE! THIS!!

Cliff broke all three of my feelings beautifully and in excruciatingly well-acted scenes that transcended the sometimes lackluster dialogue

John made me cry during That Scene

Mama your background was tragic and terrifying and you didn’t deserve any of this shit and I love you

Deadman was more funny than anything, really, but I still liked him even if he had no sense of personal space whatsoever and it clashed horribly with Sam’s phobias

The ending had some sad parts but was mostly positive, thank goodness

Now I’m gonna explain things I dislike and this looks long but it’s actually only 5 main things so I bolded them to avoid confusion

Things I really disliked (and could have been handled wayyyy better)

We all know it but Kojima isn’t a master of subtlety and some parts of the dialogue kept repeating the same informations again and again AND AGAIN and I was like “ok ok I get it”

The dialogue can be so bad at times seriously

Kojima is a bad writer there I said it

It was particularly annoying with Amelie/Bridget and the fact she’s a horrible person trying (and failing) to justify her actions wasn’t helping

Bridges protocols are incredibly intrusive. All of them. I know it’s framed as bad and Sam hates being spied on all the time and in the end he destroys the device that does that, but I wish someone else would openly criticise it in-game

I guess Deadman sort of did but still

Also I know the whole BB technology was Bridget’s idea, and since she’s the actual villain it’s framed as a twisted, evil thing during the ending, but I wish that had been framed like that much earlier ; a lot of Bridges employees just... seem to accept the idea that their employer is using premature babies and their dead mothers as useful, if disturbing, devices. They seem to justify it by “uh we stole that technology from terrorists” to try to cope with the idea but... yeah.

I mean, one of the points being made very early on is that Sam sees his BB as his child who must be protected at all costs instead of a detection device, but I really wish he wasn’t the only one to object to that thing

Again, the game DOES frame "using babies and their dead mothers as tools” as evil and twisted, I just wish it was given a lot more weight and way sooner

Now let’s talk about the Token Straight(tm) in this game

In any other kind of context it would be a joke! But Death Stranding literally has a Token Straight Guy!

I mean, there IS a few hetero couples among the Preppers. Not a lot, mind you. Like, there’s the Montaineer and his wife for instance. But they’re just there and it’s not what their side plot is about

No I’m talking about this piece of shit right there

This f█cking Junk Dealer guy complains the girl he loves is dead because of Bridges and emotionally blackmails us by sending us old holograms of her before her supposed death (somewhat disturbing holograms too because she looks... pretty young in them), then he sends us on what’s essentially a suicide mission in a BT infested zone, THEN when we give him proof she’s still alive and living in another bunker nearby, he won’t go there himself to check??

But SHE’s like “ok, bring me to him, then!”

He doesn’t deserve you, girl

I’ve already seen several people pointing out that carrying a woman as cargo on your back is... debatable at best and sexist at worst, but that part didn’t really bother me to be honest? She asked to be carried to him and it’s her choice. She was talking to us the entire way too, so that made things a lot less awkward. Also Sam has this phobia of being touched by other people so I bet carrying another human being on his back isn’t fun for him. It was also super stressful to do, to be honest.

And then there’s this EXTREMELY AWKWARD scene when they’re reunited and decide to get married, and thankfully Sam finds it just as awkward as we do because he’s standing super far away from the bunker in a “can’t they talk about this later - I’m right there” way. And I’m under the impression it was intended as cringy, in a “yeppp young people in love are Like That” sort of way, so I can accept that, to be honest. If you don’t take that scene seriously, it’s pretty fun in, again, a cringy sort of way

BUT

Then you receive more emails later and this piece of shit guy complains about her and he’s like “ugh WOMEN” or “marriage is the worst” and they end up divorced in record time and she goes back to her bunker

Which isn’t my problem with this subplot either, I promise I’m gonna explain myself eventually but this context is important. It’s okay to have characters who are pieces of shit like this guy who reeks of incel cologne. It’s alright. Not every character has to be a role-model. It’s good to have characters you can hate.

BUT THEN they get back together later to try to patch things up and you learn he was part of a gang who murdered her parents even though he protected her against the rest of the gang and that’s what I hated about that storyline. I guess if you squint it can be read as “this woman is making REALLY BAD life choices” but I read it as “he saved her so she owes him something, he can’t be entirely bad” and y i k e s this left such a bad taste in my mouth, good lord.

But yeah miss Chiral Artist you’re making really bad life choices please get away from this dude as soon as you can, thank you

Also don’t do this ‘sending Likes’ pose ever again, it was hilarious but also you made me use the word “cringy” several times in this paragraph even though I absolutely hate cringe culture, look what you made me do

Now I have to talk about a scene that was intentionally disturbing as hell but ONE (1) detail in it was disturbing for the wrong reasons

To be honest, I really don’t like the Metal Gear Solid games and one of the reasons is the rampant sexism in them so I... was kind of bracing myself for Death Stranding and expecting it to have at least SOME really bad fanservice with a woman at one point or another but to my surprise?? There was none? All the fanservice is on dudes??? Hello? I really liked that (well at some point Fragile takes a shower in our room but we see literally nothing except her shoulder and then Sam looks away)?? What a refreshing change

THAT BEING SAID

And if you played the game you know exactly what I’m about to talk about

Yep this is the part where Johannes complains about how the bomb flashback was shot

Ok so I guess I should also give some context in case someone is reading this but hasn’t played the game, but the deal with this scene is that our friend Fragile was betrayed by her colleague Higgs who used to be a porter but became a terrorist after meeting the “main“ villain of the game. First he secretly put a thermonuclear bomb in one of her deliveries so she’d nuke an entire city without even knowing it, and everyone after that thought she was a terrorist. And then he tried to do that shit A SECOND TIME, but she noticed and decided to toss the second nuke into a bottomless lake of tar. But he caught her just before she reached the lake and he decided to give her a sadistic choice, which was “teleport away and the bomb stays there and nukes the city, or carry it to the lake but only in your underwear under this rain that speeds up time and it will do enormous damage to your health and your body”

And of course being the hero she is, she decides to take the second option

And it’s an incredibly disturbing scene and it’s genuinely hard to watch

But it’s also the ONLY time a woman is in her underwear in this entire game and there’s A COUPLE of shots that were male-gaze-y at the beginning before she started to run and the really horrific part started.

So in a way I guess it could have been worse? way worse, even

But it still tarnishes an otherwise disturbing (and harrowing at times ; seriously I know I’m oversensitive but it was physically painful to watch) scene with unnecessary shots

We know Fragile had a young body before this happened, this isn’t the point of this scene, guys

Whoever decided to keep these shots (probably Kojima let’s face it), that is bad and you should feel bad

Idk how to do a visual transition for that next one because I do not want to screen that memo

So here’s a screenshot with a nice landscape instead

tw: acephobia

Now I have to talk about something I like the GENERAL IDEA of, but not how the IN-GAME MATERIAL ABOUT IT was written

Because I have to talk about that “asexual world” memo

First I have to say that I absolutely love the fact that a mainstream game openly says in-game “this future is full of asexual people" and?? it’s just that, it’s a part of this world. That’s just how things are. It’s normalised. I love it. For crying out loud this memo has the word demisexual in it. I can’t think of any other mainstream game that had this word in it so far.

It should have stopped there and let me enjoy that in peace but it didn’t

THE MEMO ITSELF WAS CLEARLY WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THESE CONCEPTS and there’s some really bad stuff there. I’d say it’s accidental acephobia but it’s still there. I’m not the best person to talk about this because I’m bi, but it still rubbed me the wrong way

The words this memo uses near the beginning are “"sexless lifestyle” among young people” and yikes, my dude. “Lifestyle”, uh? Really?

And then it goes on about how these new labels were already more and more common “among young people before the Death Stranding” and it also rubs me the wrong way, in a “wow young people and their weird labels lol” sort of queerphobic way?

However I’ve seen a post pointing out that the line “One theory posits that the Stranding accelerated the proliferation of these sexualities” was maybe a way of saying ‘yo asexuals are causing the end of the world’ but... I don’t see it, tbh? In the context of the game, society is extremely divided and a lot of people live in complete isolation and social norms have heavily shifted and it’s kind of normal that there’s queer people visible everywhere now, aces included obviously, because nobody’s bothering to hide it anymore. It’s a post-apocalyptic world! People are just being themselves! A lot of characters also seem to be bi/pan! They’re just vibing ok

At least that’s how I read that part, I can understand if someone had a problem with that bit but I didn’t

BUT! THAT’S NOT ALL because the memo concludes (I’m paraphrasing) “the birth rate has dropped, which might be a problem, but harassment and assault have also dropped, which is good, so idk it’s 50/50″ and. like. I get the intention. But it’s clumsy as hell and very bad. Please don’t confuse abuse of power and attraction. They don’t go hand in hand. Don’t do that. Please. And you know that aces can have kids if they want to, right. Come on. It’s 2020 my dude. This shit is harmful

Also. Like. It’s the end of the world in this game. People don’t want kids. It... has nothing to do with aces. Reality itself is crashing down. People are reluctant to have kids because reality.exe might f█cking crash down at any given moment!

Or a Beached Thing could VoidOut their city!

Or someone might send them a nuke, not naming names!!

Anyway!!!

It’s really badly written and whoever wrote it should educate themselves and maybe get an ace to re-read their stuff next time??

Again I’m not the right person to talk about acephobia and I bet an actual ace would have plenty more to say about this

Thankfully it’s a memo written in-game by a random Bridges councellor and NOT by any important character that we actually know

"I must preempt myself by admitting that I do not have any empirical data" yeah so, f█ck off maybe

So I’m just gonna call that guy “another piece of shit character” but it still doesn’t excuse the fact that the memo was written by someone who thought it was a good idea to put it in the game

Just let me enjoy my super queer post-apo world in peace and don’t write shit like that in your game thank you and goodbye

Minor stuff I also disliked but it wasn’t as awful

I get that Sam is upset at the end because Lou is dying but the way he said goodbye to Fragile broke my heart. It was abrupt and you KNOW he’s upset and wants to have nothing to do with Bridges anymore and that’s very understandable but it isn’t her fault

Seriously I want them to be friends again

I’m gonna pretend they’re friends again after Lou is saved and that Sam is a freelance porter again and sometimes their paths cross and they just talk together in the middle of nowhere and share cryptobiotes

The pacing is weird, there’s this deluge of plot in the beginning and the end but not much in the middle?

The BT boss fights could have been these epic Shadow of the Colossus showdowns but no, they were relatively standard boss fights. Wasted opportunity

The running on the Beach scene sdfghjhgfdsdfghjhgf that was... dumb

A lot of preppers are interesting in one way or another but some are just boring. Also I wish the design of their bunkers was more varied

Amelie/Bridget’s motivations are all over the place, both creating Bridges AND the Demens is... a lot? I know she both WANTS and DOESN’T want the actual, final end of the world to happen but that is a lot to take in and it’s all very confusing

Who the hell cares about ‘rebuilding America’ I just want to build a network where people can help each other

The ‘likes’ are fun but don’t make much sense

In conclusion

Death Stranding Good

Some stuff Bad

Some stuff Very Bad (but it’s just one memo out of 100+ memos, thank god)

I’m still hyperfixating

Send help

#death stranding #long post #eye contact tw #acephobia tw #from a minor unamed character but still it's there

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razorblade180 · 3 years

Text

So I finished Age of Calamity

[spoilers]

Thanks to the beauty of holiday time off I have logged in 40 plus hours into this game and just beaten it, so naturally I’m gonna talk about it a bit. I’ll save the spoiler stuff for a little later though.

The game

This game might be my favorite game of 2020, or at least top three. Not just because of the world, but because everything is over the top! So far I’ve done 131 missions and 90% has the consistent energy of “we are fucking under attack” and it’s almost overwhelming in the best way possible. It really felt like you were on a battlefield field. Your map is just a sea of red and it’s your job to clean it up. What kept me engaged in the fights was all of the character’s different uses runes. I found myself constantly ordering my teammates to face certain enemy types that match best with how they fight.

Originally, I really wanted to be fair and rotate between characters. That didn’t last long. Mipha and Link in my opinion don’t have a single bad move. The bias only got worse whenever the master sword is obtained. Before that, my Link had a spear most of the time but that sword is just handy. Especially with item drop rate and attack range on it. In the end, my strongest characters were Link 74, Mipha 70, Impa 60, and Zelda 60. It’s been awhile since I played the first hyrule warriors so I can’t remember if they had the level up system were you can pay for experience but or definitely came in handy. Combine that with how many guardians were in this game and I quickly found out I needed Link with a shield on a regular bases. I also learned I didn’t forget how to time a vase amount of blocks and dodges.

The amount of characters you get to play quickly became too massive for me to juggle, but they all had their own merits for the most part, though I did find a few of the gimmick characters a bit of a hassle. My opinion on who was viable was constantly changing as I unlocked more combos. Originally, wasn’t the biggest fan of Urbosa. That second and fifth combo modifier changed everything.

The real portion of the game that really kept me wanting to play more was not only the ability to order other people, but seeing them fight along side you. I’m a softie for things like this, but genuinely felt relieved or hyped whenever I was fighting something crazy and I can see Impa rushing over towards me while text from soldiers scream “Just keep pushing!!!!” The AI wasn’t dumb either! There’s plenty of moments that controllable and NPC characters will just go where they’re supposed to, or kill targeted enemies. I remember not wanting to switch over to Link because he had low health, so as I’m running over to him as Mipha to heal him, the madman kills the Lynel. Ran all the way over there to watch him flex. That combined with elemental reactions you can cause in a fight, and the entire spectacle just felt elevated. The feeling of fighting three Lynel’s at once becomes a little less scary when you have a lightning rod and puddles everywhere.

The only negative I found in a gameplay perspective is some of the resource gathering. Gaining the trophy notes for killing a type of enemy isn’t too much of a hassle, but I found getting the materials they drop to be a bit harder, even with increased drop rate statuses. Most of this I find irritating for two reasons. One, specialized enemies show up in relatively small groups in a majority of missions, so getting things from them could be a flop altogether. Number two, a fair amount of these missions take a decent chunk of time if you’re being thorough and killing as much as possible. So grinding is a pain. Fortunately most missions a majority of what you need . If the game wanted chu chu jelly, I knew one of the missions coming up had chu chu as an enemy. You could also keep track of what you needed with material sensor that told you when you had enough.

The story

I’ll be honest, I was upset with this game for a hot second. It was advertised as a prequel to BoTW and while sad, I was truly invested to playing the events that lead to the fall of the champions. What this game didn’t tell you is it’s like most LoZ games, on its own separate part of the timeline. This isn’t the story of they lost. It’s the story of how they win, thanks to the little adorable robot mascot that has the ability to not only show the future, but bring people from the future; the champion’s descendants. At first I was upset with this. Mainly because I’m a little tired of time travel plots and it felt really out of place here. However, time travel gave way more to this game than what I expected this game to have in the first place. It allowed at least six more playable characters that wouldn’t have been possible in the other timeline, and a wellspring of interactions through missions. Every time Mipha was with Sidon, I smiled. Having Urbosa being this super encouraging role model to Riju was so nice since BoTW had expressed just how much those two admired and missed those people. Revali was nice to Teba! They were vibing. Even the soldier commentary on the new champions were a treat. So I got over the time travel issue pretty quick. It made things sad as well when the new generation leaves because they’re going back to a time where they lost it all. There was no great union that took place across hyrule to fight Ganon and their beloved champions failed. I do appreciate that the diverge in the timeline really takes place on the day they’re supposed to die, moments before the final blow. It still lets the player see the definitive moment where good was supposed to lose.

The “new” villain is meh. I wouldn’t really say he stands out. His entire thing is thinking he’s gonna win because he doesn’t realize that he isn’t seeing hyrule’s future. He’s seeing another hyrule’s future. What comes out of his character is cool though because it gives a different, yet same finale boss. I wasn’t expecting to basically fight a giant Ganondorf. Honestly, you can kinda say you fought Demise. At least aesthetically speaking. Or Yuga. This game has also made me care about robot. Something I haven’t done in awhile. A few scenes near the end felt hammy, but also amazingly realistic to how a lot of people would feel when someone breaks your favorite thing. The war was already personal, but now it’s really personal. Quests open up after the game that plays on those emotions too. It’s very clever.

Overall, Age of Calamities story felt like a love letter to everyone who loves this rendition of hyrule and the characters in it. They even another one named Sooga, who just might be my favorite. That man has no choice but to be the brain and muscle of the Yiga. It kinda makes me sad he’s introduced here because you can assume he didn’t make it in the other timeline, so he has no descendents. The amount of serotonin I felt just seeing all of these characters fighting together as the absolutely conquer the battlefield was more than satisfying. Definitely worth the money. I don’t know if they can, but Nintendo might wanna consider some sort of audio patch. The mixing is bad in certain parts. Voice lines get really quiet. Other than that, this game is real solid. I’d give it an 8.5/10

Side note

The music is really good. Especially the Zoe’s demain track. Also, I never noticed frame rate dropping or lag, except on two occasions. Both of these happened to be me pushing the game to its limits. The first is being surrounded by enemies in a small space as Mipha. Creating the water vortex and raining down bombs makes the game wanna cry a little. The second one is a similar case. Sidon’s fifth or sixth combo made the made the game drop frames because it’s incredibly fast, involves timing, makes a vortex, and i was in a small space with tons of enemies. Other than that, not even Urbosa’s or Riju’s lightning made the game freak out from what I noticed. That may have something to do with me never using them in a place where there’s constant rain. That might actually be the cause of the drop in combination of everything else.

#hyrule warriors age of calamity #age of calamity #legend of zelda breath of the wild #botw #nintendo #legend of zelda

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brockboser · 3 years

Text

Prince Charming and the pauper PT #1

AN: this is my first fan fic so let me know what you think and if you want another part! Suggestions are always welcome

Words: 2,400

About: Brock Boeser finds an unexpected love intrest....

YOUR POV

It was a pretty normal December night in Vancouver, Cold and snowy and all I wanted was to be hanging out with my friends around a fire drinking hot chocolate but of course I was stuck at work.. My name is Y/N I’m 22 years old and I work full time as a waitress at the Parlour in Yaletown. Now normally my shifts went by slowly and painfully, each day an exact copy of the day before with the occasional cute boy or maybe even a celebrity but for the most part my days blurred together as one. Work all day, sleep, repeat just so I could afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, part of me didn’t mind, Vancouver really was an amazing place to live.

Today however was different. Every year the Vancouver Canucks hold their end of year dinner party here at the Parlour, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid it at all cost. Unfortunatly for me my luck has run out and I was scheduled to be one of 3 waitresses serving their party. Some girls would kill for this opportunity, serving rich professional athletes, but not me. I’ve served my fair share of hockey players and they all turn out to be assholes who don’t know how to leave a tip.

BROCK’S POV

I couldn’t really believe that this was my third end of year dinner as a Canuck, time has gone by way too fast. It was almost 6PM, I was waiting for Quinn to pick me up, he said he would be here by now and If we’re late I will beat his ass. He knows how much I hate being late. As if on que I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. The Screen read “Huggy Bear” I chuckled to myself as I am still thankful that isn’t my nickname and I answered the phone. “hey you here?”. “Yeah hurry up, Green will kill us if were late” Quinn said so fast I barely caught what he said and the line went dead. I said goodbye to Coolie and Milo and I made my way to Quinn’s car.

Once I got into Quinn’s car it was only a 5-minute drive to the restaurant. Yaletown was our favourite place to get food, they have way too many places to choose from but the Parlour was one of the best. We walk up to the host and let her know we’re here for the dinner, she escorts us to the back room where the rest of the team was already seated. You could hear the boy’s voices echo through the whole restaurant. Guess that’s what you get with 20+ drunk men at one table. “yo that host was smoking, I’ve seen her here before and she was definitely interested in you” Quinn teases me but I do my best to ignore. Not to be cocky but girls tend to flirt with me all the time but on the contrary to what people think I’m not a player. I don’t flirt unless I’m interested which I never really am because it’s hard to know people’s real intentions when you’re a professional athlete, besides I’m not really looking for anything right now. I leave the flirting up to Jake.

5 minutes go by and we all finish looking at the menu, I always get the same thing a BBQ burger with a hey y’all as my drink but doesn’t hurt to look. As I put the menu down I notice three women walk into the room, we all drop our tones so we can tell the waitresses our orders. Two of them are the same as last year but one I did not recognize but wow she was beautiful and I don��t say that lightly.

YOUR POV

6PM rolled around quicker than I would’ve liked but I just wanted to get this dinner over with. Once we knew all the boys were seated and ready to order we went into the room, notepads in hand. We decided we would split the table in three and make it easier for ourselves that way. I’m not a hockey fan but I don’t live under a rock and I do recognize most of the boy’s I’m serving. I go from left to right, and to my surprise the orders are basic and the drinks are all beer which makes my life a lot easier and on top of that they all seem to be pretty nice. I finally reach the last two boys in my section of the table. Both look somewhat younger. One has dark brown curly hair with dark circles under his eyes, I don’t recognize him, he orders a burger as well as a beer, I furrow my eyebrows debating whether or not to ID this boy as he barely looks 17 but I decide against it as I know it would embarrass him and probably cost me a good tip. As I’m writing down his order I notice the boy sitting next to him eyeing me. I look up and make direct eye contact with two very blue eyes staring at me. I shift my feet and he look away. That’s Brock Boeser I recognize him from my friends fangirling over him last time we went to watch the hockey game. My stomach twists and I suddenly got nervous. He was kind of hot. I take a step away from the tired looking boy closer to Brock to take his order. “W-What can I get for you” I stuttered slightly, and I NEVER stutter when taking orders. What was wrong with me this boy isn’t anything that special, although his hair does flow kind of nicely. “Um can I please get the BBQ burger and a Hey y’all” he said softly. “yeah good choice, can I please see your ID?.” As soon as those words left my mouth I instantly regretted them and I felt my cheeks get hot “my bad umm don’t need to see your ID never mind I’m just going to go put these orders through” I said before I practically ran out of the room more embarrassed then I have ever been. I just asked BROCK BOESER for ID and not the 17-year-old looking kid sitting right beside him, I am such an idiot. I walked to the kitchen and put in the orders and just prayed he would still tip me. As I waited, I felt my mind drifting to him I had to shake it off as 1) I was at work, I have to be professional and 2) hockey players are bad news.

BROCK’S POV

The whole room went silent, and then everyone erupted into laughter and proceeded to tease me about what had just happened. “Mr. Sensitive getting ID’d sitting next to Quinner that’s classic” Taney shouted across the table. I felt myself smile as I thought about what had just happened, I could tell she was flustered and it was standard practice to ask for ID although I do look about 30. She ran away with the orders before I could even ask for her name. she was beautiful, long blonde hair, blue eyes and a lot shorter than me I’d say about 5’4 I couldn’t stop smiling and the boys started to notice. “ouu Boes is day dreaming” Petey joked “at least ask for her name” he said while giving me a nudge “yeah yeah I will” I replied

About 25 minutes went by and we were all a few drinks in, the girl still hadn’t returned I assumed she was avoiding me. Next thing I know the food starts to get brought in. A part of me really hopped she would come back just so I could admire her again and maybe ask for her name. Moments later I see her long blonde hair turn the corner. She’s looking at her feet avoiding all eye contact. She approaches me and places the plate down in front of me and starts to walk away. All the boys were looking at me, waiting for me to make a move and ask for her name but I couldn’t seem to speak. “Hey miss!” I heard Petey yell. She turned around and looked at me and just as fast looked away and towards Petey. “Brock over here wants to know your name” he smirked and I felt my heart sink and bile rise to my throat, did he seriously just throw me under the bus like that. I was pissed. At first she didn’t say anything, she just stood there like she didn’t know what to do but her eyes shifted to mine as she said “ Y/N, my name is Y/N” and just like that she was out of the room before I could even ask her anything else. My emotion soon turned from happy to pissed off really quick. “Way to throw me under the bus Petey, she probably thinks I was talking about her now or something” I scoffed and sank into my chair like a child. “you should be saying you’re welcome, if I hadn’t said something you never would have”. Part of me knew he was right. I’m pretty shy and reserved and I like to keep to myself unless I know you.

YOUR POV

Did that really just happen. Did Brock Boeser really want to know my name or were his teammates just messing with me? Either way I can’t seem to stop smiling. I came into this night wanting nothing to do with it or these boys and all of a sudden the one boy I find attractive in there wants to know my name?.

The night is coming to an end, I’ve avoided the room as much as possible, I’ve been in and out grabbing plates and refilling drinks, no more comments have been made just many stares. We’ve made eye contact once or twice a small smile included but my time is up and it’s time for the bills. I go around my side of the table one by one receiving a very drunk thank you from each of them until I get to Brock. Apart of me wants to say something but knows its unprofessional. I hand him the card machine, brushing hands as he takes it from me and we both look at each other. Het lets out a small laugh, I could tell he’d had some drinks but not nearly as many as the rest of the boys which weirdly made me feel relieved. He puts his passcode in and hands me back the machine, I take out the receipt and notice he tipped me 200$. As he stands up to put his coat on I say to him “You must’ve made a mistake, it says you tipped 200$ maybe you mean 20$?” he turns to me a flashes a smile “No mistake you deserve It” I almost felt like crying of happiness as 200$ to me means a lot more then to him. “oh, wow um thanks you so much, I hope you have a good rest of your night” I say barely being able to suppress a smile.

“yeah about the rest of the night, I’m having some friends over and I wanted to know if you wanted to umm maybe join?’ he said somewhat hesitantly. Almost as if he was nervous.

“I finish shift in an hour” I replied more confidently then id expected. “oh, great okay here’s my number text me after for the address” he replied almost surprised I had said yes. I tried to keep my cool but inside my stomach was doing flips. Brock Boeser what are you doing to me…..

#hockey #brock boeser #nhl #vancouver canucks #canucks #sports #vancouver #go canucks go #sioux nation #und #fanfic #story

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tablefourtwo · 4 years

Text

just another player in your drinking games (r.t)

summary based on the song drinking games by silver sphere. she hated how easily richie could act like he didn’t care, she hated how he discarded all his feelings once he was sober again, she hated how she was just another player in his drinking games.

warnings drinking, swearing

richie tozier was on her bed, buried in her blankets at three in the morning. if it was any other day, this would've made (Y/N)’s heart flutter, but she didn't have time to acknowledge her heart as she had to rush to the boys side every minute, trying to mend his broken heart.

could it even be called a broken heart? jesus, they dated for what? two months? (Y/N) was positive that she would rather be anywhere else right now. obviously, she would never say this to his face. she couldn't help but feel anger rise in her body. she's been chasing the curly headed boy for literal years now and he settles for ashley-fuckin-martin?

she shuts her eyes for a moment, trying to cool down before having to comfort richie again. in his defence, at least he wasn't throwing a fit anymore, (Y/N) would be in deep shit if he woke her parents up.

(Y/N) stopped listening to what the boy was saying but through the words she managed to string together, most of them being curses, she knew she had to say something. “you know what?” she started, turning to lock eyes with tozier. cutting him off when he was going off about how he did something wrong.

“fuck ashley, you didn't do shit, you don’t deserve this.” she hissed, “don’t beat yourself up over this. you- you don’t deserve this.” (Y/N) sighed, watching as richie’s tears slowly decreased.

“this sucks, really fucking bad, but you make it alright.” richie smiled softly, speaking in a voice just above a whisper. it was meant to be a friendly thank you, he would've done the same to eds or stanley. thats what (Y/N) told herself, but as he looked up at her, glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose, she found it hard to think of a smart remark to make like she usually did.

“yeah, don’t worry about it, rich.” (Y/N) laughed, hoping that he wouldn't notice how her heart was beating a million miles a minute.

fuck, she needed to stop getting attached to every little thing he says.

when (Y/N) offered to do anything to make richie feel better, she didn't think that attending a party was anything close to what he would suggest, this was alright though, she told herself.

(Y/N) smiled, tozier was right. she watched as he laughed with his friends, red plastic cup in hand, to her, he was literally glowing. like he wasn’t just crying in her arms. why did she chase after him? why did she torture herself like this? every time she looked at him she was reminded of what she couldn't have. why did she waste so much time when she knew he wouldn't be hers?

as people started filling out of the house, (Y/N) had started to sober up. richie hadn't talked to her the whole party - except for their game of beer pong - so she didn't really have a reason to stay, but what else was there to do in derry?

“(Y/N)?” richie slurred, coughing into his sleeve, squinting behind his glasses. (Y/N) beamed as the boy slowly walked up to her. “what’re you still doing here?” he swallowed.

“i was actually just talking to connor, you know, the one from bio? he said i have pretty eyes.” (Y/N) giggled, eyebrows raised. richie took a second to process what she had just said before contouring his face into one of disgust. “connor? ugh.” richie exclaimed, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he pretended to gag.

(Y/N) thought it would be easier to just play along, laughing before an awkward silence washed over the both of them. “walk me home?” richie shrugged, “sure.” (Y/N) didn't miss how he carelessly agreed, how if there was a better option, she’d be thrown aside. he didn't care if she got home safe. no, of course he cared, as a friend.

(Y/N) had to slow down her usual fast paced steps to keep up with richie’s slow treading. sure, richie was drunk, but it didn't take a genius to realise that (Y/N) was staring at him. he felt as if she was burning holes into the side of his face.

it wasn't like she could help it. once every few minutes, she’d find herself imposing all her attention onto richie. how the dim moonlight illuminated his face, how she had to dig her nails into her palms to keep herself from combing her fingers through his soft looking curls.

every time (Y/N) turned to look at richie, she hoped that he would look back at her. he never did. she had to hide her growing frown as the pair approached her house.

(Y/N) stood on her porch so she was closer to eye level with richie now. she was thankful that he thought she was drunk so that she didn’t have to hide her blush like she usually did.

“thanks again for tonight, (Y/N/N),” richie smiled, hiccuping. “and yesterday.” he mumbled. “it’s cool, just don’t almost punch my wall down again next time you come over.” she joked.

the two continued to stare at each other for a while, richie, probably drunk out of his mind and not knowing what was going on–– but (Y/N)’s gaze was out of pure admiration. love.

when would be a better time to do this? kiss the boy, (Y/N)! the worse thing that could happen is he doesn't remember it. this is it, this is the only chance you’re gonna get.

(Y/N)’s thoughts ran wild so to ease them she shut her eyes and leaned in. richie’s eyebrows knotted together and he didn't shut his eyes, when (Y/N) realised that she instantly pulled away.

“we’re drunk.” he murmurs, very much sober now, trying to blink himself awake.

“yeah, yeah, no, duh.” (Y/N) starts blinking rapidly, tears quickly forming in her eyes.

richie nodded hesitantly, “(Y/N), are you alright?” he frowns, a string of curse words leaving his mouth as tears start running down her face.

“peachy, tozier. really, my parents are gonna kill me if they catch us out here, i’m gonna go.” (Y/N) laughs through the tears.

“once we’re sober, we should just— forget!” (Y/N) hears richie before opening the door to her house. it was probably meant to sound comforting and she lets out a genuine laugh at that.

(Y/N) hadn’t talked to richie in a week, this had been the longest the pair had gone without seeing each other so when her home phone rang she quickly picked up, instantly forgetting about the events that had occurred just a few days ago.

“(Y/N).” richie’s bright voice sounded in her ears.

“rich.” she smiled sadly, fiddling with the phone chord in her fingers.

“look (Y/N/N). i have to make this quick but- about what happened-” he stuttered.

“don’t worry about that, it was a mistake, i was- super drunk.” (Y/N) lied, she heard a sigh of relief.

“thank fuck, (Y/N). i was so scared that it would screw up our friendship.”

(Y/N) smiled, but she thought that if richie focused hard enough, he would be able to hear (Y/N)’s heart breaking through the phone.

“yeah.”

“i care but- it was a mistake.” richie laughed. (Y/N) hummed in response as she shut her eyes. tears flowing down her face now.

“Uh- ashley apologised and, and it was really real you know? it felt sincere and shit.”

(Y/N) lowered the phone from her face before letting out a laugh. she raised the phone back to her face and had to purse her lips so that he wouldn’t hear her sobs. “that’s good, Rich.”

“okay. well, i gotta go but hang soon, alright? and i can’t tell you about how happy i am that we’re still cool. you’re the best, (Y/N/N).”

#richie tozier #richie tozier imagine #richie tozier x reader #it #it 2017 #teen richie tozier #teen!richie tozier #losers club #losers club imagine #losers club x reader

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deanstop13billyjoeltraxx · 3 years

Text

Superposition

a deancas college roommates AU

Dean Winchester had it all at Wichita State University — a second chance, a future devoid of his father, and a roommate-turned-best friend who understands him inside and out.

But his father dies, he fails out in his second semester, and Castiel Novak leaves without so much as a goodbye.

Three years later, Dean has picked up the pieces. He works at the most trusted auto-shop in Lawrence, he’s putting Sam through college. Dean thinks it can’t get much better than that.

Then Castiel Novak gives him a concussion, and everything falls apart. Again.

Chapter 2 is up on AO3 (and below the cut)! Tumblr chapter masterlist here.

Classic Rock and Other Foreign Concepts

Three Years Earlier

Castiel Novak was ready for his second chance.

Sure, the name “Wichita State University” held no cache, and sure, it was only two hours away from home. But it was a full ride, it was free of old high school acquaintances. It was enough.

Castiel stood at the door of his empty dorm room, hope blooming in his chest as he regarded the dingy bunks and linoleum floors.

He didn’t have much in the way of belongings, so moving in was quick and easy, even by himself. Castiel made his bed, hung up his limited outfits in the dresser, and filled his desk with his books and paper. Only one thing remained in his suitcase — a picture of his family, two Christmases ago. Castiel took it out and looked at it for a moment, before deciding to place it on his desk.

He decided it might be a good idea to familiarize himself with his new surroundings. That was sure to calm down the inevitable anxiety that his first trip to the showers would bring. Castiel strolled down the hallway, doing his best to stay out of the way of all of the other freshmen moving in on his floor.

After successfully discovering the bathroom and the water fountain, as well as narrowly avoiding an awkward encounter with two giggling girls who were apparently intent upon introducing themselves to him, he returned to his room with a sigh.

Castiel moved to his desk and opened his computer. He pulled up his course schedule, reviewing it again, despite having already committed it to memory. Tuesdays and Thursdays would be difficult, he thought, with financial accounting, economics, and an intro to business. The other days were more interesting, holding philosophy, creative writing, and nineteenth century British literature.

Castiel was about to read the class descriptions for the millionth time when a loud thud and a grunt interrupted his thoughts. He stood up, fast, almost knocking his head on the bottom of his bed. Castiel got to his open door just in time to almost run into someone.

“Shit! Watch it, man!”

Castiel found himself face to face with… Plastic storage bins. The man holding them shifted to reveal a mild scowl. Castiel cleared out of his way, and the man set the three boxes down.

“Sorry,” Castiel muttered.

“You’re fine,” the man grumbled. “Sorry, long drive.”

“Dean Winchester, I presume?” Castiel said, cautiously. He had seen his roommate assignment online weeks earlier.

“Damn straight,” Dean said, and he offered a hand out to Castiel, who accepted it graciously. “Sorry, man, I’m terrible with names. Have we met?”

“I’m Castiel Novak,” Castiel replied, then added, “We haven’t met, but the website informed me of your name and email address. I emailed you a few weeks back.”

Dean nodded. “I definitely didn’t respond. Sorry ‘bout that, I kind of haven’t had access to the internet in… Well, it’s a long story. Anyway, good to meet you.”

“You as well. Do you need any help unpacking?”

“Least you can do after nearly killing me.” Castiel tensed, but then Dean clapped him on the back. “Kidding. Help would be great.”

Castiel moved to unpack the box nearest him, but Dean stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“No! Uh, not that one. No offense, but that’s the most important thing I own. Give me a second, you can start on this one.”

Castiel tilted his head in inquisition, but Dean said nothing more, just got to unpacking the bin. Castiel set to work on the second of the three, first grabbing the sheets to make the bed.

When Castiel had finished with Dean’s bed, he turned to see Dean had set up a record player and a pair of bookshelf speakers on the floor.

“Behold,” Dean announced. “My prized possession.”

“A record player?” Castiel asked.

“Not just the record player,” Dean said. He went back to the box, which Castiel could now see was filled with vinyl LPs. “The whole collection.”

“It’s quite impressive.”

“Fuckin’ A-right,” Dean said. “Here, you like Zeppelin?”

“Embarrassingly, I have no idea who that is,” Castiel said, blushing.

Dean’s eyes widened. “Dude! No way! Oh man, it’s time to educate you. How have you survived this long Zeppelin-less?”

“My father was strict about music.” Castiel felt suddenly very nervous that this, combined with his near-toppling of Dean moments earlier, would have him solidly fixed on Dean’s bad side. But Dean was flipping through his records with animation, as if Castiel’s ignorance was a game to be won.

“That’s utter bullshit,” Dean declared. “Here, listen to this.”

Dean put on Led Zeppelin IV. Castiel turned back to the plastic bins, intent upon doing something while the record played. He was quiet as he worked, setting up first an ancient-looking coffee maker, then a small, LCD monitor. Dean unpacked his clothes, quietly singing along to the music.

“Do you need help with the rest?” Castiel asked when they had finished, assuming there had to be more than just those three boxes. Dean chuckled quietly.

“Nah, this is it. Thanks for the help, Castiel.”

Castiel raised an eyebrow, but only said, “You’re welcome.” Dean had brought even less than he had.

“That’s a weird name, by the way,” Dean said, turning the volume down on the speakers. “Castiel. It sounds kind of --”

“Ancient?” Castiel supplied, and Dean nodded. “That’s because it is. It’s adapted from the name of an angel in the third book of Enoch.” At Dean’s blank look, Castiel added, “Christian apocryphal lore. My parents are very religious.”

“Ah,” Dean said. “And you…?”

“Haven’t been to church since I was fourteen,” Castiel finished. “We are very different, my family and I.”

Dean nodded. “That them?” He asked, pointing at the picture on Castiel’s desk.

“Yes,” Castiel said.

“That’s a lot of kids.”

“Yes, there’s five of us.”

“Road trips must have been fun,” Dean said.

This actually got a laugh out of Castiel.

“I’ve only got one. My kid brother, Sam,” Dean said.

“How old is Sam?”

“God.” Dean rubbed his face, considering. “I guess he’s fourteen now. It’s weird — I feel like I can never see him as any older than, like, eight.”

“I can’t say I understand,” Castiel replied. “I’m the youngest.”

“Damn, that must suck, four older siblings. What’re their names?”

Castiel picked up the picture. “The boy on the left — he’s the oldest — that’s Gabriel. The other is Bartholomew. The redhead is Anna. And then there’s Hannah, she’s just a couple years older than me.”

Dean nodded, moving to his record player. He pulled a small, worn piece of paper from the inside.

“This is old as hell,” he said, showing Castiel the picture, “but that’s my dad, and that’s Sam when he was… ten, maybe?”

“It’s just the three of you?”

“Yeah, my mom died when I was, like, four.”

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to --”

“No worries, man,” Dean said. “Long time ago.”

There was an awkward pause that made Castiel want to open his computer just to look preoccupied, but Dean spoke.

“I’m sorry, I can’t get over this name stuff. I can’t be roommates with a dude named after an angel.”

Castiel felt his entire body deflate. Day one, and just his name was already making things difficult. “I’m… Sure there’s a way to switch roommates. But, what’s wrong with being named after an angel?”

“Dude, I was totally joking,” Dean said, putting his hands up defensively. “I’m not switching roommates — unless you’re secretly a vampire or something.” Castiel smiled at that. “And there’s nothing wrong with it, I’m just not into the whole religion thing. Makes me feel weird. Nah, I’ll just have to call you something else. Any suggestions?”

“I’ve always just been ‘Castiel.’”

“Man, haven’t had many creative friends,” Dean said. “Cas it is, then.”

“Cas?” Castiel replied. He considered the new nickname. Castiel actually found it strange that no one had ever thought of it before, now that he had heard it. “I suppose it is a great deal shorter.”

“Easier to say, too,” Dean said. “It fits.”

Castiel smiled tentatively. “Sure.”

The music faded, and Dean flipped the record to the B-side.

“What do you think so far?” He asked.

“It’s certainly different than what I’m used to. In a good way,” Castiel added.

Dean beamed at him. “Awesome. I have more in here, too, and it’s not just Zep. Mostly the classics — the Stones, Rush, AC/DC… And a shit load of grunge, too. Man, wait til you hear Alice in Chains…”

Castiel smiled at his animation. “Music is important to you?”

“Dude, I couldn’t function without music. I feel like every time I listen to a song I like, I find something new that makes it even better.” Dean chuckled to himself. “Sorry, I’m geeking out about classic rock.”

“I don’t mind,” Castiel said, and he found that it was true. “I feel similarly about books.”

“You like to read?”

“Immensely.”

“You’ll have to give me some recommendations. I read Vonnegut in high school, and that was cool, but other than that and Harry Potter I think I’m pretty hopeless.”

“I will,” Castiel said, even though he knew he wouldn’t, even though he knew Dean was simply saying the polite thing. He had learned by now that when people asked about him to talk about the things he liked, they were just being nice.

Dean asked Castiel which end of the hall the bathrooms were on, and excused himself.

When he returned, Dean clapped his hands together. “So,” he said. “I gotta ask you the Freshman Questions.” At Castiel’s confused look, he elaborated: “You know, the two things you ask everyone for your whole freshman year. Where are you from, what are you majoring in?”

Castiel nodded. “I see. I didn’t know there was a procedure.”

Dean looked at him for a moment. “It’s not — I was kinda joking.”

“Oh. Right,” Castiel said, rubbing his neck. “Well, I’m from Guthrie — it’s a small town in Oklahoma, just a few hours south of here. And I’m studying accounting and creative writing.”

“Guthrie… I’ve driven through there, on our way to Oklahoma City for a job my dad worked once,” Dean said.

“It’s not very impressive.”

Dean laughed. “Nah, not really.”

“What about you, Dean?”

“I’m from Lawrence — it’s northeast of here. And I have no fucking idea what I’m gonna major in,” he said. “I’m not really… Well, Sam is the smart one. That kid is gonna kick ass when he goes to school. I’m kinda just here to…” Dean trailed off.

“Experience it?” Castiel suggested. Dean shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess.” He cleared his throat. “Why accounting? I get the writing thing, you said you like books — but accounting? I feel like those two don’t mix.”

“They don’t,” Castiel agreed. “But I don’t want to be a starving author. I do want to be able to take care of myself.” I want to be far, far away from everything I’ve ever known. I want to leave and never look back.

“Fair,” Dean said. “I don’t know about you, Cas, but I’m starving. Wanna grab some dinner?”

“Sure,” Castiel said with a smile.

The next day, in his first creative writing class, the professor asked each of them to share their major, their hometown, and a fun fact. He called, “Novak, Castiel?”

“Double major in accounting and writing. I’m from Guthrie, Oklahoma. I suppose a fun fact is that I’m named after an angel, but you can just call me Cas.”

#superposition #destiel #supernatural #fanfic #deancas #castiel #dean winchester

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elaphaemourra · 3 years

Note

🖊 + Any of them ~

Hooooo this is a fckn, You Have Given Me Too Much Power. I have So Many Words.

Gonna be real tho, this is gonna be a Big Thing about Mita bc I have a fckn AU where he's the Outlander and I have some FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. Bc he's part of my main continuity as an adjacent player to the IA and BH storylines, sharing agent crew/other random shit with Phaeyla for the IA stuff (he got Vector and Scorpio, Phae got the rest) and serving as Another sidequest generator for Jeni in the BH line (I give Jeni so many nerds to keep track of whoops).

(THIS IS ALREADY LONG, AND I'M ABOUT 8 PARAGRAPHS IN, SO IT'S GETTING A READ MORE WHILE I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT IT)

Uh, TL;DR, Mita is handling being Commander about This Well:

OK SO in NORMAL canon he goes with Lana and Koth to go fetch the Outlander (who I decided is actually one of Zal's apprentices, a Voss named Thera-nal, until Zal fckn goes 'no fuck this. I have ghost experience. Gimme the emperor u don't have to deal with this urself' and steals Valk from her bc Good Inquisidad Takes On The Oof Ghost For His Kid) and then gets fckn Ditched on Zakuul. Like straight up that whole 'get the outlander on the ship, Vaylin is 3 meters away FUCK FUCK FUCK' thing, he pushes Thera-nal on and then the ship takes off. Without him. And he does a dive off the platform bc he's like 'nah' @ Vaylin and knows he can survive a Really Long Fall. It's all very dramatic, very ciffhangery. I'm still writing the next chapter beyond that in Left Behind.

He ends up fckn, roughing it on Zakuul, gets himself a sort-of job posing as an assassination droid in a gladiator ring (bc i'm a NERD for gladiator shit), grows up, gains some confidence. Knife baby gets a grow up and a glow up. It's awesome.

BUT. BUT I HAVE AN AU WHERE HE'S THE OUTLANDER. AND IT'S AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF WHY HE SHOULD NEVER BE IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING EVER.

He and Lana don't like each other. It's a Thing. They can put their differences aside for the sake of Professionalism or when they give each other the 'r u seeing this shit' Look when someone else is being Stupid in both their opinions, but they don't like each other (this is true in the normal canon as well, they're very antagonistic to each other, it's a little silly how petty it is but it's Fun). Despite this, and their tendencies to piss each other off on purpose, Mita thinks she's the most tolerable of the initial Pile of People. The Conflict between Koth and Senya was A Lot for him to handle, and he doesn't do Leadership Positions very well. About an hour after they picked Senya up, he was already out of patience.

The constant arguing got to him SO FAST, it ran him out of patience and Fucks so quickly, he started getting real snippy. By the time they got to asylum he was throwing around threats to people who couldn't keep their Shit to themselves. He TRIED to do good things, to pull together enough patience and good will to be Benevolent in his actions, but as his patience fell apart, so did basically everything else good. Mita getting Tora was a whole Thing where he did the Nice Thing by making her apologize to Vik and when she talked back he turned around and drew a knife on her, told her to keep her mouth shut if she was going to complain because he WOULD kill her, and he DIDN'T need an engineer/mechanic THAT much. That he'd use her corpse as payment for the next batch of cargo, which, MITA. WHAT THE FUCK, MAN.

He started falling into MUCH older patterns of thinking, refusing to take any action that was Any risk to himself. It's a thought process he had before he got shoved full of implants, before he realized that he could be a Better Person and started being a rebellious little shit in Intelligence and taking risks that helped Other People instead of just being single-mindedly focused on his own self-preservation.

He's falling back into it, which is BRUTAL because he's making more and more devastating choices, and where he saved people by shutting down that reactor on the First blip of Zakuul, before he ran out of Patience and Fear, and he did Good Lightsided Things to Help People, he just went off with Kaliyo to blow the absolute shit out of that whole thing, and where he used to be like 'shit, we need to make things Better', now he's started talking about Vengeance. Which uh. Does me a Concern about Knife Baby.

Basically none of the advisors actually LIKE him. At best, Senya and him have a solid enough mutual understanding of Work Vs Free Time between them, but she's also Pissed that he keeps taking the Big Death Options and fucking over her citizens. Theron's basically constantly giving him the Pensive Side-Eye because of how consistently Freaky Mita has become. Their first interaction was Prickly at best, and Mita hasn't gained any more patience.

Ofc, Mita and Lana just Don't get along, but they at least vibe on the level of 'i am So Done with everyone here' and she's pulled him aside more than once to get him to cool off a little. Though mostly she pawned him off on HK, when the droid was still aroujd, so she's at least Done Something for his mental state, and he liked that droid enough for talking with him being Relaxing. Kind of.

He's a volatile Commander who Can and Will pull people who irritate him aside to threaten them with mortal or bodily harm, or yeet a datapad at the wall for that Big Sound, or just punch a wall while he's got gauntlets on, to get everyone to Shut Up and Pay Attention so he can yell at them for not keeping their Interpersonal Shit out of the war room and out of his presence. He's basically single-handedly driving the Alliance into the ground, driving it forwards through pure force of will and by making people scared enough to work together without Complaining, hoping that Arcann will give before he or the Alliance do.

He's refused every offer by Valkorion for Everything, and right now that's his saving grace.

Koth bounced, furious with Mita and Kaliyo's 'let's blow this bitch up' thing, and Mita's little circle of people he Actually Likes has uh, maybe Not the greatest influences among them. His inner circle is Kaliyo, Scorpio, Tora (which surprised me, but they are Remarkably chill with each other for people whose introduction was Humiliation and Death Threats, like, a 'they'd vibe and drink in a dark corner together' sort of deal), and Even More Surprising, Aric Jorgan.

Completely separate from the Alliance Advisory Squad, Jorgan seems to be REALLY good for Mita. He's just kinda, it's Working Out. Mita's doing Nicer Shit when Jorgan's around. I'm not sure if it's just, the lack of Shit-Stirrers, the comfort and familiarity of military company, Jorgan's 'ur not the boss of me' thing back in the swamps on Zakuul, or what. But Mita's doing Good Shit when that rad cat man's around. Hell, it might be that he just doesn't want to disappoint his new friend. But like, they're actually a STELLAR team friendship-wise. Mita's actually Relaxed enough to get shit done efficiently, do LIGHTSIDED SHIT, and he basically ONLY brings Jorgan when he goes raiding star fortresses. Kaliyo and Scorpio are higher up on Mita's 'would send out alone' list, but only because he worked with Kaliyo when he and Phaeyla got assigned to each other, and Scorpio was HIS team member.

Even with that though, Mita's reputation among Alliance personnel isn't a Kind one. He's terrifying, volatile and quick to snap at anyone and everyone who gets on his nerves. People avoid him in the halls unless they Absolutely Need Him, and there's ABSOLUTELY a network of people you can ask as a 'where's the Commander now' if you really need to spend the day Avoiding Him.

He's also leaned Heavily into the aesthetic of Big Scary. Dressed like a Sith all in black and white and grey (and a Republic insignia on his belt just for the added cognitive dissonance that gives him), with a Delightfully Menacing Helmet that makes him nigh unreadable. The voice modulation is something he Knows how to use to make himself more intimidating, and he knows how to hold himself to make Pointed Silence into something that can cause fear. He really leaned into that 'scaring people into working for you' thing, which isn't sustainable, and he KNOWS it isn't, but he's hoping to get shit done fast enough that it won't MATTER how unsustainable that type of leadership is.

He's Stressed and Tired and Angry, and he's going down a deep dark hole. He needs to be fckn, sat down and Confronted about where he's going because he MADE that choice to be better, on BALMORRA. It cost him his free will, his autonomy, and his identity. He was PHYSICALLY unable to say his own name without his upper body motor function locking up, for a long time, because it was part of the programming of his implants. He gave Everything up to be Better, and it took so much to get those things back, and now he's squandering it all by falling back into who he used to be.

He needs some Time to Chill The Fuck Out, an Intervention for what he's doing with himself, and a goddam nap.

Knife Baby is Stressed Out. He's the Team Medic. He was never designed to be In Charge, and it took its toll Very Quickly, and it's devolved into something Brutal and Unsustainable. Which is why this is an AU, and why my Canon Commander for the timeline is Zal.

Zal's a good leader, good under pressure, patient and fair almost to a fault, and a good person.

Mita can't handle the strain, and he KNOWS it. But he's doing it anyways, and will drag the people around him down with him if it means he'll win in the end. And in the mean time, he's frustrated, volatile, and Not Very Fun To Be Around.

#ela's asks #ela babbles #mita #outlander mita #swtor #swtor kotfe #Mita Lore #Outlander Mita Lore #ela does an ask meme #WELCOME TO THIS #AN UNHOLY AMOUNT OF PARAGRAPHS #you unleashed the fuckin kraken my friend #g o o d l u c k

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natural-namjoon · 4 years

Text

Ｎｅｎ

“What happens when a small child runs off into the forest and runs into the sweet but mysterious Hongjoong who can make rain with his flute?.”

Ateez as Gods AU

Non- Romantic Hongjoong X OC, Seonghwa is there too.

Fantasy, mystical, no romance

TW// Non-graphic Death, mentions of child abuse, mild angst.

Word Count: 5,139 words

*AN: short one-off that might become a series. idk yet. I wanted to do something different, I felt huge writers block from only writing romantic y/n stories so this is me trying to write something different. Its a cute little one shot of ethereal Hongjoong saving a cute little boy, very sweet, very simple, please enjoy.*

The morning air was warm and dry, the sky was bright blue with no clouds to be seen, which left the sun blazing on a small village nestled upon a densely forested hill. In that village there was a small boy who was about 6 years old who, told to stay inside and finish his chores, decided he was done for the day and with sneaking caution he peeked his small head out of the opening of the hut looking out for a scolding grown-up that might be headed his way, but there was currently no one in sight. Almost all of the adults in the village had been called to a council of the elders that morning because there had been talk of a curse on the land, the village had seen no rain for almost a year and the crops were suffering and food storages were dwindling, if the spirits couldn’t help them they would be forced to leave and make the dangerous journey of finding a new place to settle.

After a few moments of looking around the child decided it was safe enough to venture out. He knew it was forbidden and he knew he could incur the wrath of his father like so many times before but there was a restless longing that had been tugging at the small child’s mind all that morning. With no hesitation the boy made a break for the treeline, wanting to explore and look around, he had not been allowed to ever do so and even though the rainless months left the forest in a dry brown state, it was still better than sitting in the stuffy hut.

Treading carefully between the large trees, the child ran until he could no longer see the last few huts that sat on the outskirts of their settlement. After he felt he was far enough the child slowed down and took his time, looking around. The trees were so tall and imposing but not in a scary way. Nothing about the forest had ever scared this child unlike the other kids in the village. This particular little boy always thought of the trees as guardians, tall and passive, shielding him from being seen when father was angry and providing timber and branches for the fires and huts. After a bit of walking the boy came upon a large channel in the ground, dried and empty, no doubt the location of a small stream that had been bountiful about a year before but now, due to the drought, had dried up. Carefully climbing down into the dried stream he noticed a shiny glint in the dirt. With piqued curiosity, the boy ran over and with small determined fingers, he was able to move the dry clay and retrieve a shiny blue stone.

Completely enamored by the beauty of the small rock the boy didn’t hear it at first, the sound was faint and a little off in the distance but after a moment the tune had the child’s ears perked. It was the sound of a flute, there was a lone flute player somewhere in the forest. The tune was soft and slow and playful but in between the notes there was a hint of sadness, the boy felt a pang in his heart as he listened to the sweet melody and with determination he decided he needed to find the lone flute player. With a skip in his step the boy followed their ears and on quick small feet, made his way to find the magical musician.

After a few confusing twists and turns the boy was eventually able to follow the sound in the right direction, as with every passing tree the sound grew louder and soon the child found his way to a small clearing in the woods where two boulders sat, a smaller one sitting within the shadow of the larger one, the boy hadn't even realized how far he had walked, completely leaving the hill that his village sat on and traveling deep into the valley below. At first, the boy didn’t see anything but then he noticed him. A young man sitting in the lotus position on the smaller boulder, eyes closed, playing the flute. As to not draw attention to himself the boy ducked behind a nearby tree. Peeking around to watch the man. The man was thin and pretty, he also looked young, probably no older than the bigger kids back at the village, but there was something about him that made the child feel like he was much older than anyone the boy had ever met. The man was odd-looking as well, his hair was very dirty and covered in what looked like mud or clay, it made it impossible to know what his real hair color was but his appearance only got stranger, he was dressed in clothes the child had never seen before, instead of the furs and skins the child was used to seeing, this man had on long silver and white robes that looked shiny and pretty. Was this material the infamous “silk” that the child had heard so much about? According to the adults, silk was incredibly expensive and people killed for it, only royalty and the extremely wealthy were able to possess it, but this man had dirt in his hair, surely he wasn’t royalty, the boy thought.

While the little boy sat perturbed and lost in thought he didn’t notice the man had stopped playing the flute and was sitting quietly, a small smile on his lips.

“I see you there, little one,” He called, his voice was smooth and sweet, like the sound of wind chimes. Startled, the boy gasped and hid behind the tree, hoping the man hadn’t seen him.

“It's ok Little one, I will not harm you. Did you come because of my song?” He called out playfully to the child again.

After a moment The boy shyly peeked his head out, the man sat and beckoned the boy over, his eyes were narrow and piercing but kind, and his smile was warm, with a perfect set of straight white teeth, sensing no immediate threat the little boy decided to take a hesitant step out of behind the tree. The child made his way over to the boulder where the man sat, his eyes watching cautiously for any signs that the man was a threat but as he got closer he could only feel the warmth of the man’s smile and the welcoming nature of his stance. The only strange thing that struck the child was how bright and blue the man’s eyes were.

The boy stopped right in front of the boulder, looking up at the pretty human before him. Without saying a word the man patted the spot next to him on the boulder, after a moment of hesitation the boy then clumsily climbed up the side of the rock and sat where he had been directed, the shade provided a nice cool spot to sit in the middle of the warm afternoon.

“There, isn’t that better? I’m sure you walked pretty far huh?” The man asked and the child nodded shyly

“My name is Hongjoong, What is yours?” The man, Hongjoong, said extending his hand out to the boy, but the child only stared at his hand with a strange look, after an awkward pause the boy only shook his head and in a small voice he said,

“I have no name.” Hongjoong furrowed his brows in concern but didn’t say anything, instead, reaching in his satchel to retrieve his canteen. Taking off the cap he offered it to the child,

“Here, drink some water, it's awfully warm today.” Without hesitation the boy grabbed the canteen and drank hastily, Hongjoong chuckled at the child's enthusiasm. He figured the child had travelled far since Hongjoong didn't know of any villages in the immediate area , and he figured he was completely alone out there, but he had been wrong.

The canteen was heavy and cool in the boy's hands and the water he drank from it was the coldest and cleanest water the child had ever tasted, it was crisp and sweet and the little boy couldn't get enough, gulping it down like he was cursed with an insatiable thirst.

“Whoa there, slow down or you will get a stomach ache if you drink it all so fast” Hongjoong laughed placing his hand on the canteen.

The boy stopped immediately, feeling embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” he said quietly, cheeks going pink, he knew that he should’ve been polite and only taken a little, father had taught him better than that. Hongjoongs eyes softened as he helped wipe the dribbling water from the boy’s chin.

“It’s ok, I would just hate it if you fell ill.” Hongjoong explained.

As Hongjoong was cleaning the child's face, the boy had noticed some more details about the kind man in front of him. Hongjoong was beautiful, almost like a woman, with delicate features like soft lips and long eyelashes but his jawline was sharp and his nose prominent like a man. Hongjoong also was adjourned with so many pieces of sparkling jewelry,he would probably have glittered if standing in direct sunlight. Multiple small silver hoops were placed in one ear and a loong delicate chain hung from the other, he also had many thin silver rings sprinkled with small sparkling jewels all over his hands. All signs pointed to Hongjoong being royalty but the boy couldn't get past the hair. Hongjoong noticed the child staring at his hair slicked back with brown clay and laughed his same twinkling laugh, the child couldn't help but smile at the sound.

“My head must look strange to you my little one but it's something I must do the be here,” Hongjoong explained vaguely and before the boy could press it further he held up his flute.

“I was actually in the middle of doing something very important, and I was almost done, do you mind if I finish my song?” he asked, the flute in his hand was beautiful, wooden and polished with intricate carvings, the boy nodded as he marveled at the pretty instrument in Hongjoong’s hand.

With another brilliant smile, Hongjoong silently lifted the flute to his lips and closed his eyes, there was a pause and then the slow yet bouncy notes erupted from the delicate instrument, and the child was entranced. The sound seemed to envelop the clearing and seep into the forest, ringing out for anything with ears to experience. The song was playful but again the boy felt the tugging in his heart like he wanted to cry and burst out laughing all at the same time. After about a minute of silence, the flute being the only sound around them, Hongjoong played the last note of the song, extending it like a cry into the air and then silence followed. Eyes still closed, he placed the flute down on his lap gently. The little boy sat, eyes wide in amazement, he was about to tell Hongjoong how pretty the song had been but before either could speak there was a loud invasive crash that echoed through the sky and shook the ground, causing the child to jump in fright and subsequently into Hongjoongs arms. Then out of nowhere dark grey clouds rolled in and it started to pour rain from the heavens, letting out a surprised cry the boy leapt from Hongjoong’s embrace and threw his little arms up in amazement,

“ Hongjoong look! It's raining!” The boy laughed, twirling and jumping, feeling the cool touch of rain on his face for the first time in months.

It was the feeling of relief, like swimming in a cold pond on a hot day and knowing his people back in the village won't suffer anymore because of the drought, the small child had never felt this type of joy, and had it not been pouring on them he would have had visible tears. Hongjoong watched the boy, giggling and dancing in the rain and he could feel the child's relief, such an emotional burden this little boy carried, he could feel all the scars this particular child bared and he felt a deep sadness for him. After a bit of dancing and cheering the boy stopped, the rain was pouring harder and the boy was starting to become overwhelmed by the force of the rain.

“Hongjoong I can't see,” The boy said pathetically, trying to wipe the water form his face only for it to be replaced by more rain. Hongjoong chuckled and gathered his things, then lifting this child up into his arms,

“Come my little one lets find shelter until the storm passes.” he said, holding the child close as the boy buried his face into Hongjoong’s silken robes. Hongjoong leapt off the boulder and with a hustle in his step he jogged off into the woods knowing a particular cave nearby where he could put the child until the rain let up. Reaching the cave in no time at all, Hongjoong placed the boy in the back and went to work making a fire. Using a dry handkerchief Hongjoong helped the boy wipe his face and dry his hair. After the boy had all the water wiped off his face he could finally see perfectly, he took a look around the small dry cave, cozy and warm now that it was lit by firelight and then finally the boy really noticed Hongjoong and gasped. The rain had washed the mud and dirt from his head and revealed his hair to be the color of the sea, a deep dark shade of blue, it was beautiful and shined in the fires light,

“Your hair!” the child exclaimed and all Hongjoong did was smile,

“Yes, now you see why I had to cover it up, many people don't like my hair, it frightens them.” He explained. It was true that the blue hair was strange and the boy had never seen anything like it, but it didn't frighten him.

“It's so pretty Hongjoong'' the small boy replied softly, reaching up to touch it without thinking. Hongjoong leaned down and let the child’s small hands gently grasp a long piece that hung in front of his face, the boy smiled at how soft and silky Hongjoong’s hair felt, no tangles or dirt to be seen.

“Hongjoong are you a prince?” the boy asked, letting go of Hongjoong’s hair and looking deep into his blue eyes, again the child was met with Hongjoongs twinkling laughter.

“No child, I am not a prince, where I'm from I don't need to be rich and greedy to live my life, I have 7 brothers and we all live in harmony with the earth and all its creatures,” as he spoke Hongjoong had picked something up off the ground and revealed it to the boy, in his hand was a large lizard, It was black with gold flecks accross its shiny skin. The boy jumped slightly, frightened at how large the reptile was, almost as long as Hongjoong’s forearm but quickly noticed how docile the creature was as it rested lazily in the man's arms.

“It won't hurt you little one, this is a salamander, its ok to say hello. Most of the time earth's creatures are just as curious as you are.” Hongjoong explained, lightly stroking the Salamanders head. The boy followed suit and ran his little fingers over the salamanders head, giggling at the feeling of the creature's cool smooth skin. After the boy finished petting it, Hongjoong gently placed the salamander on the cave floor and it scurried away.

Both of them sat in silence for a bit listening to the sound of the rain, when suddenly Honjoong turned to the child,

“Little one, why do you not have a name?” Hongjoong asked the boy who had started to nod off against the cave wall. The boy shrugged and rubbed his eyes,

“I do not know, my mother and father gave me none, they just call me ‘boy’ and that's it.” The boy shrugged again, not finding the topic all that interesting

“ Are your mother and father nice to you?” Hongjoong asked this time and again the child shrugged,

“My mother and father give me food and father tells me how lucky I am to have a place to sleep, so yes they are nice to me, I guess.” The little boy stayed quiet in thought for a moment then spoke again

“My mother is going to have a baby, I will soon have a brother or sister who will follow mother and fathers orders better than me. I can never do anything right so father has to punish me a lot. I try hard but I wasn't born a good child and my mother says that this baby will be born good so they won't need me anymore.” The boy mumbled out the last sentence, his eyes downcast as he picked at some dirt on the cave floor.

Hongjoong shook with the rage he felt in his heart at the child's words, what he had suspected from the beginning had been true and he knew he never wanted this small boy to suffer again. No child deserved such a fate, to be born to parents who could not see what a valuable and beautiful gift children were. Composing himself before the boy could see his anger Hongjoong sighed and reached out move the hair from the boy's face, tangled and dirty it was currently a mess on his head.

“Little one, may I have the honor of giving you a name?” Hongjoong spoke softly and the boy's eyes widened like saucers.

“ Really, you can do that?” the boy asked incredulously, Hongjoong giggled at the pure innocence the child exuded,

“Yes I can or if you like you can pick your own name, it's your choice.” At Hongjoongs words the boy's face looked as if he told him that pigs could fly. After a moment of thinking the child made up his mind.

“ I want you to choose for me, please?” and with that Hongjoong smiled back and grabbed the child gently placing him on his lap, it was starting to get cold, so hongjoong wrapped them both in a spare silk robe he had, the boy laid his head on Hongjoongs shoulder relaxing in his loving embrace. After another moment of silence and thinking on Hongjoong’s part he finally spoke.

“I've travelled to many lands vastly different from this one and I've met many people who look very different from me and even you, and I've heard many different languages spoken. Based on what I've learned through all my years on this planet I think I have the perfect name for you little one” Hongjoong explained. The boy was almost trembling with excitement

“What is it?! What is it?!” The boy asked impatiently, Hongjoong looked down on the small boy, so young and not deserving of all that he been handed from the cruel world, and he smiled

“I'd like to give you the name Nen. It comes from a far away land called Egypt and it means ancient waters and like those waters you are strong, brave and resilient and more beautiful than anyone cares to realize. I haven't known you long sweet child but I feel like this name is perfect for you, if you will have it.” The boy looked up into Hongjoons eyes, searching for any sign he was lying or could at any moment take what he said back, but all he could find in Hongjoong’s deep sea blue eyes was love and acceptance, two things the boy knew little of.

“Thank you…” was all the boy breathed before he buried his face into Hongjoongs chest and cried, he cried out of joy and relief and happiness, finally he had a name, finally he might actually be worthy enough to be called a good child.

“My name is Nen. “ the boy cried and Hongjoong held him tighter, fighting the urge to cry himself. After calming down they sat together in silence as the rain outside continued to pour, Nen feeling warm and protected in Hongjoong’s arms.

“Nen would you like me to accompany you back to your village when the rain stops?” Hongjoong asked, curious to see what the child would say,and almost as if without thinking Nen spoke quickly and honestly.

“I don't want to go back..” was all he could reply, Hongjoong pondered for a second before he responded, testing the waters.

“Would you like to come home with me? The place I come from, there are other people there with me and my brothers, other children and grown-ups who were treated unfairly in their old lives. We welcomed them to our home and they came with us to find peace and happiness because where we live, there is no sadness or pain and if you really would like too, you can come with me too.” Nen sat up to look into Hongjoongs face again, trying to find any hints that he was kidding or fooling him but again Nen found no trace of badness or malice in Hongjoong’s eyes and for the 3rd time that day Nen cried,

“Yes! Please, Hongjoong I want to go live with you and meet your brothers and all the other nice people, Please!” Nen cried and Hongjoong held the weeping boy again laughing at his display of joy.

“Ok my dear Nen, we shall go once the rain passes, but that might not be for a while, so you should sleep. Would you like me to play you a song to help you sleep?” Hongjoong asked, arranging the spare robes he had into a makeshift bed with Nen resting his head on Hongjoong’s lap.

“Yes please.” Nen snuggled up into the robes, getting comfy and excited at the idea of hearing Hongjoong play again.

After Nen became comfortable, Hongjoong wasted no time bringing his flute to his lips and playing a soft slow lullaby, sure to help the child sleep. Nen very quickly felt like he was drifting, the soft sound of the flute mixed with Hongjoongs scent coming off the robes- rain and tea leaves- lulled the boy and soon he drifted off into a deep sleep. All of Nens fears and worries would be forgotten, all the pain he experienced would be like it never happened, Nen would be reborn and forget what suffering and neglect even felt like. Hongjoong would be there though to guide little Nen into his new life and he vowed to take care of the child for as long as Nen needed. The last thing Nen remembered was dreaming of colors, bright and warm. They welcomed him to a new beginning, there were other people like Hongjoong had said,with smiling faces and welcoming arms and behind those people stood 7 men all various heights, dressed in multi colored robes like Hongjoong wore and each man had bright hair colors, they were Hongjoong’s brothers. Nen, feeling a little frightened at first, slowly relaxed and walked into the bright picture ahead letting his short life go and forgetting it all together, this was joy, this was love and this was peace. Just as Hongjoong had said. Nen really didn't understand where he was but he was happy and that's all that mattered.

Hongjoong waited until he finished his song to check the child, once it was over the boy had stilled, his pulse stopped. Every time he did this the people he took always slipped after the first few notes but he always finished the song as a way to honor those who made the journey from this life to the afterlife. Almost like a eulogy in the form of a song. Once he put his flute away he stood and gathered Nen’s small body in his arms. Fixing the boy's hair and wiping any dirt he had on his face. Out of the Corner of his eye Hongjoong saw the salamander form earlier crawl out from a gap in the wall. Hongjoong rolled his eyes, turning away from the creature.

“I figured you had left. I know this wasn't exactly what I had planned but Nen found me in the middle of nowhere, that's not a coincidence” He turned back and in the Salamanders place stood a man, tall and ethereal, just as beautiful as Hongjoong but with stronger, shaper features and long black hair draped languidly over his broad shoulders. The other man stood and narrowed his almond eyes at Hongjoong

“You said you weren't going to take sacrifices anymore, what changed? Brother.” the man spoke in a deep voice and Hongjoong sighed,

“Seonghwa I know you heard what Nen told me, you heard about the life he has had to face at only 6 years old, I'm sorry I wasn't going to just take Nen back to that village. You can say it’s their sacrifice for the rain but I don't regret my decision.” Hongjoong explained sternly.

Seonghwa said nothing as he walked over to Hongjoong and Nen, black and gold robes flowing behind him, gently he reached out and placed a hand on the child's head, feeling the same sadness that hongjoong felt for the poor boy.

“I know Hongjoong, I heard everything and I probably would have done the same thing but now the village will think that our kindness comes with a price, we are trying to show the mortals we are benevolent Gods and we are not to be feared. Once they find Nen’s body they will know that you took him as payment for the rain.” Seonghwa explained grabbing a piece of Nen’s hair to show it turning silver, a common trademark of the people who were sacrificed to the Sky God. With each victim of a God, there are signs or ways to know which deity had been present and for Hongjoong, God of the heavens and sky, it's the hair turning silver or white.

Hongjoong didn't say anything, he understood where his brother was coming from, he and his brothers all tried to work with humanity and help them in any ways they could and they wanted to show the humans that they can help without needing sacrifices and bloodshed, Hongjoong had heard the prayers from the people who lived in the drought stricken area and he fully intended to give them the rain without payment but he couldn't leave the boy, Hongjoong knew Nen was better off, he had to believe Nen living forever in paradise would be better than staying on earth and continuing to be abused.

Without saying another word to his brother, Hongjoong took the child and exited the cave, making his way back to where Nen’s village was. He could be on the outskirts of the village in the blink of an eye but he decided to walk and take his time, needing to come to terms with his own selfish act. A part of him didn't regret taking Nen but the other part of his soul knew that he had acted rashly and basically robbed Nen of his life. The child wouldn't be able to grow up and experience life, he would forever be a child. Humans were destructive and evil creatures, born with greed in their hearts but not all of them grew to be monsters, if he had let Nen live would Nen had grown to be a monster like his father or grow to become someone important who would have made great changes in his community or was it all futile seeing as though Nen could just as easily died at the hands of his father. This division of what was right versus what was needed tore Hongjoong apart,he messed up but he had to take solace in the fact that regardless of everything that's happened, Nen was happy now. Hongjoong could feel Nen’s joy and he knew the child waited for him to come home. Hongjoong had finally found his way to the hill the village sat upon and stopped in front of the stream that sat in the outskirts of the village, it had previously been a dried up channel in the dirt but because of the rain it was full and thriving all over again. With gentle hands he laid the child face up in the shallowest part of the stream, upon first glance it looked as if the child had just fallen asleep in the water but the pale skin and silver hair were indicators that the child had been taken by the sky deity.

In their world, gods were real and every human knew that although the humans both worshiped and feared the Gods. All Hongjoong ever wanted was peace on the planet but for centuries, humans always seemed to stand in the way, abusing the land and creatures, taking more than needed and killing each other because of greed and malice and he had always felt that it would get worse. Hongjoong wanted things to change, that's why he and his brothers swore to help the humans so there would be no fear and finally the gods could coexist with the humans, that was why the humans were created right? Hongjoong didn't really remember how or why humans were created and he honestly didn't even remember how he himself was created, it had been a few millenniums, but he always wondered why he was created, was it to be worshipped as a higher being or did he silently wish to be like the humans. Hongjoong didn't know and he felt like all he did was spend his time trying to figure it out. It didn't help that his own brothers did not share his views, the majority of them taking their place as gods who, though benevolent, were to be worshiped by the humans and they saw themselves as superior in every way. He led them well though he couldn't change their attitudes.

“Come Hongjoong, Nen is waiting for you back home with the others.” Seonghwa said softly,having followed Hongjoong to return Nen to his village.

Seonghwa had stood watching over his brother and leader, as the blue haired god stood at the stream's edge, deep in thought. All hongjoong could do was nod, long blue hair falling over his face. He felt a twinge in his gut, he knew things would get worse, but hopefully only because it would eventually get better. The sound of men approaching the stream could be heard close by and the two ethereal beings retreated silently into the forest, wishing silently for a better tomorrow.

#hongjoong fanfic #kim hongjoong #ateez au #natural-namjoon works #ateez angst #non romantic #non romantic ff #no romance #kim hongjoong x OC #ateez as gods

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