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love-toxin · 3 years

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plagas; leon.

a/n: in the midst of some writer’s block i stumbled upon an old concept i never finished. enjoy some good ol’ plaga leon <3

warnings: parasitic possession, yandere leon, female reader, violence, blood, groping, leon’s teasing is just straight up bullying, pet names, almost noncon, slight boot kink, chasing.

word count: 1.9k

“Leon..?”

The sun had set on your terrifying journey, and cast a shadow over the room you'd found yourself trapped inside. Not by locks this time, or villagers, or Saddler himself...but by the person you had trusted throughout this entire nightmare. The man that had saved your life stood between you and your only way out, and even then, you doubted that you'd be able to escape if you managed to slip past him. The road home was so long and the stifling, smothering Spanish heat had made way for a chilling cold that breezed through your body in the night and froze you to your spot.

And Leon was gone. His mind and body had succumbed to the disease he'd been injected with, the parasite that he'd protected you from...but instead of saving you, now all you felt was panic, fear, and dread when you looked into his eyes.

“You can’t suck the poison out of this wound, sweetheart...but I won’t stop you if you wanna give it a try.”

Leon took slow steps around you, his footsteps echoing in the marble hall of the castle as he eyed you up like you were his prey, while his fingers spasmed and twitched at his sides, like they were itching to either grab you or wrap themselves tightly around your throat. So much had happened since he'd rescued you from the farmhouse, and reassured you with infectious confidence that everything would be okay. It felt like a lifetime that you'd known him, even if in reality you'd only spent less than a day together--but running and hiding and waiting for Leon to dispatch any threats made the hours seem so long and torturous. You prayed for his safety at every turn, and felt terror grip your heart as you waited for him to come back and retrieve you from hiding…

And now you were here.

"Saddler wants me to kill you, you're not worth the hassle to him. But to me...you're my treasure. Mine."

The way that word rolled off his tongue sounded like an echo in your brain. He said it once before, and it stuck with you awhile--but hearing him say it now was like having it permanently seared into your head.

It wasn’t a secret anymore. You’d fallen in love with Leon, as so many had before. You fell for his confidence, his strength, his effortless teasing and sincere concern for your safety, and maybe it was all just backed by your appreciation for him saving your life and playing the hero so well. But even if it was temporary, you were in love and you wanted him to survive just as much as he wanted to save you, and even if he succeeded and brought you home just for you to never see each other again, there would always be a part of you that loved him, and you had accepted that fact.

But things had changed. Seeing Leon no longer filled you with relief and happiness, that smug grin on his lips as he greeted you after fighting off monsters you could only imagine in nightmares. He took a step towards you, and this time you took a huge one back--and he chuckled, his tone dark and biting, before continuing on and piercing through you with blood-coloured irises.

"I found you, I get to keep you. Finders keepers, huh sweetheart? That's fair, isn't it?"

His gaze held nothing less than a deep, ravenous hunger within him, the unsettling smirk on his face in no way easing that tension that weighed heavily on your mind.

“Maybe I’m just a monster, now...if I am, then so be it. If being a monster means seeing that look on your face forever, then I gotta say, it feels pretty damn good!”

"Y-You're not Leon!"

His shoulders suddenly tensed like he was about to lunge for you, but letting him have the upper hand would mean the end for you. You knew that fact so well that you acted on instinct, and unsheathed the knife whose handle you'd been stealthily gripping this whole time, to stab it into the eye of the man you wished you could have a life with. And you missed, the realization both relieving and terrifying, as the blade clanged and stuck into the wall behind him and barely clipped a few strands of his light-coloured hair.

"Is this my knife? Now that's pretty cute,"

A shudder violently wracked your body as Leon's tongue slipped past his lips, and he turned his head to lick a slow stripe up the gleaming, bloodstained blade. He'd ended plenty of lives with that thing, but it seemed as though his own had yet to be one of them.

"I've played the hero long enough. I want a reward for all my hard work...I want you."

His hand crept up your waist before you could react to it, rough fingers spreading warmth through your stomach as they grazed the exposed skin of your hip. But once you tried to break away from the touch you wished you didn't crave more of, his other hand shot out to grab you by the waist and keep you pressed uncomfortably close to his body, so close that your lips were mere centimeters from his neck and breathing in gave you a good whiff of that faint scent of cologne that still lingered on his skin.

"Don't fight me, pet. I can already hear you crying for me to use you...you know, you're so cute when you're scared."

You squirmed even still, thrashing and shoving against his chest to try and find some way to twist out of his hold--but moving him was like trying to push a brick wall, and his grip on you got tighter and tighter until you whimpered with pain. The things he was saying just didn't make any sense, and you never wanted the real Leon more than you did in this moment. Knowing what it felt like to have his strength used against you instead of to protect you...it was becoming too much to bear, and in your terror you found comfort in Leon's touch again even if it was brief, his thumbs rubbing circles into your skin and working to relax you enough that you weren't so tense.

"You're gonna forget all about that fear when I'm balls deep inside you."

What little comfort you found was gone once he whispered that into your ear. You felt your eyes widen and Leon's fingers worked their way under the waist of your shorts in a moment, the danger so imminent that your reaction ripped itself from your throat in a scream, and you returned to struggling against the unmistakable stiffness that dug into your inner thigh through his tight pants.

"Leon, stop!"

You wailed, beating your fist against his chest and even catching him in the jaw, not that you really noticed in your frenzy nor did he react save for his brow furrowing in fury. It didn't last forever though, it was easy for him to use his leverage to shove you off, your back hitting the ground hard enough to sting while he loomed over you and watched with sick glee as you trembled too hard to get up.

"You don't want me to stop. Be honest, doll."

You weren't expecting this kind of violence from him, especially not when he brought his foot down right between your legs, as was evident by the way you shrieked and tears pricked at your eyes at once. Somehow he managed to aim the heel of his boot right at your clit, and you were certain now that it was by no way an accident by the way he ground into it in slow circles, and watched with a smirk as your hips shakily followed his rhythm of their own volition.

"You want me to take everything from you, and I swear to you I will. I'll strip you of every inch of your pathetic life and make you mine."

The pressure was starting to hurt, and your arms shot out to grab his calf and try in vain to wrench him off of your sensitive areas. It seemed to just entertain him, however, and his taunts were starting to sting your broken heart even more than any physical pain he had inflicted. Even worse was watching him lick his lips as he reveled in your suffering, and one of his hands descended beneath the belt of his trousers to stroke himself under the tent that was so clearly obvious. He loved watching you in pain, and nothing but rage bubbled up in your chest from the humiliation of loving somebody so depraved, even if he wasn't really Leon anymore.

"I hate you,"

You muttered through gritted teeth, trying so hard to hold back your tears that your whole body was shaking. He let slip a soft moan as he twisted his grip on his cock, and didn't stop even as he focused those bloodred eyes on yours and growled in time with an especially rough tug.

"Liar."

Leon's grip fastened on your shoulder, but instead of pushing you back down to the filthy ground, he yanked you forwards and crushed your lips against his. Nothing but heat and the scent of blood overwhelmed your senses, your eyes fluttering closed when he started sucking on your lower lip and grazing it with his teeth. You wanted to hate the shivers that snaked up and down your spine from his kiss, but when it was from the man you still loved, it was difficult to brush those feelings aside. It wasn't impossible, however, because when he prodded past your lips with his tongue and moved in close enough for you to feel his cock twitching through his pants, panic flared up in your throat and you bit down on instinct, the coppery tang of his blood flooding your mouth at once. Leon shoved you off him much harder this time, but with the pain causing him to stagger you managed to scramble to your feet and back away a few steps to get some distance. But the fear of turning your back to him kept you frozen in place.

"You wanna be a brat, huh?"

Despite inflicting some much deserved pain, his glare barely wavered as he pulled his hand from his pants and wiped the blood that dribbled from his mouth, eyes gleaming with a lust for violence that you feared right now more than ever.

"I'll let you have a ten second head start then, sweetheart. Better hurry."

You hesitated, his offer confusing you for a moment, but once the realization dawned on you your feet moved on their own. Sore and stained with tears and blood, you tore off down the castle corridors to search for an escape, and if not, then just a place for you to hide until Leon gave up on you, which would never happen. The thought of monsters barely dwelled in your mind when the most dangerous one was Leon himself, but little did you know that it would only take a short while for you to realize how fragile you really were when he wasn't protecting you, and that escaping without him was just simply not possible.

"...Cheeky little slut. Let's just see how far you get before you come crawling back to me."

#yandere leon kennedy #yandere leon kennedy x reader #yandere leon x reader #leon kennedy x reader #yandere lemon #yandere resident evil #resident evil #resident evil 4 #love-toxin #1k

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headoverjojo · 5 years

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So, here we are with the second part of the “Polpo’s test”! Man, it was a really nice journey. Thank you again, anon, for such a interesting request!!

Bruno’s gang taking Polpo’s test

(Under the cut for lenght!)

Bruno Bucciarati

Bruno was only 12 when he killed the men who wanted to slaughter his father. Even if he was so young, he knew that life as he had known was irredeemably lost, but he wasn’t afraid nor taken by guilt: he had done what was necessary to defend his father’s life.

Little he knew that those gangster were Passione’s, the same organization that offered him and his still comatose father protection: Polpo himself, who wasn’t still in prison, came to talk to him. He saw a serious and responsible boy, a little man who wasn’t afraid to do what was necessary to pursue a goal, even to dirty his hands with blood. He saw also a deep loyalty and he was determined to gain his trust. He knew that, one day, he would have been useful to him and to Passione.

Bruno was still too little to join formally the gang, so Polpo put him on smaller jobs, like espionage, gathering informations, luring targets in a determined area to let the seniors do their job. He lived like this for five years, splitting between his work as rookie and his still comatose father’s caretaker duty, until his father died for complications during a surgery. Deep inside Bruno knew that Passione was involved in his father’s death, but he didn’t want this doubt to mine what he had built in those years. He repressed it, even if this awareness was still in the bottom of his heart.

Polpo took him under his wing personally, making him take his infamous test. Bruno took the lighter with heavy heart, still mourning his father, but with the resolve to pass it. He was too deep in the dark world of mafia to withdraw. He could just go on and try to climb the ranks.

Bruno managed to keep the lighter lit ‘till deep night, when a sudden blow of sleep made him drop the lighter, which turned off. Even if inside was panicking, he maintained a cold and stern demeanour and for the first time in his life he cheated. He had to join the gang at any costs.

When he turned the lighter on, however, the little self-confidence he had evaporated. He felt something lurking in his little and empty flat, something that he couldn’t see and that was what frightened him more. A deep voice talked, startling him. It seemed to come from every corner of the room; Bruno couldn’t find the enemy, he couldn’t defend himself. The impossibility to fight was what really put him in a panicked state.

When the arrow made his appearance, Bruno thought he was already dead. He tried to escape it, to fight the invisible entity, but no standless human could win against Black Sabbath: in the end, Bruno was pierced right in the heart.

He gurgled, feeling the irony taste of blood in his mouth. When he thought that death had finally taken him, the pain disappeared, as the arrow and the invisible presence. Bruno fell on the ground, staring with unseeing eyes at the ceiling, his chest barely moving.

When he came back to himself, he felt heavy and groggy. He went to Polpo and gave him the lighter, receiving back the pin and the official admission in Passione. The Caporegime took Bruno near him, pushing him to manifest his stand with missions more and more dangerous. In the end, Sticky Fingers made his appearance when Bruno was put in the corner and, before the enemy could give the final blow, a figure sprung up in front of him and beated the enemy with powerful punches. To his utterly surprise, where the strange figure hit more and more zippers opened on the enemy’s body, ‘till his death. Bruno went back to Polpo, who explained him what stands were and how they worked. He trained him personally until he was put in prison, leaving Bruno outside to take care of Naples in his place.

Leone Abbacchio

Leone was lost for many months before being found by Bruno. He drowned himself and his guilt in alcohol and self-loathing to the point that he simply didn’t care anymore about himself. Every hour, every day, he revived that terrible night in loop, studying it, trying to find something that he could have changed, a way to change the past… he always ended up drinking more, to the point to pass out on the floor or everywhere he found himself.

Bruno took him with himself for a while, before actually sending him to take Polpo’s test. He helped him to cope with his trauma and at least to start his rehabilitation from alcoholism. When he thought he was ready, he escorted him to Polpo and said him to take the task really seriously and that he couldn’t help him. It was something he had to do alone.

So, Abbacchio met Polpo and took the lighter and the task with an apathetic gaze that made Polpo doubt about the new kid Bruno sent him. Was he worth of a stand? He didn’t really know.

When he exited the jail, Bruno wasn’t around. He was clear: the test started the exact moment he was out from the jail and he couldn’t help him. So, Abbacchio went to his old home, to which he hadn’t return since Bruno picked him, and tried to settle down a bit. The flat was dusty and cold, lifeless, like him. He set the lighter down, feeling the gloom fall on him again, and sat on the dusty couch, spacing out.

At some point in his sleepless night, he felt the urge to drink. With Bruno he would have found the strength to resist it -and if not Bruno would have slammed him down with Sticky Fingers’ help too-, but now he was alone, without any surveillance… and he knew that some bottles were still stocked on the shelf.

To fight the gloom and the deep self-loathing, he drank again himself out, ending on the couch, out of the world. He didn’t even notice that the lighter was off.

When he woke up in pure hangover, he finally noticed that something was off. He was supposed to take care of something… but what? It was all so confused…

Finally he remembered about the lighter. He frantically searched for it and he found it off. He panicked, knowing that his only chance to join the gang, to be able to get better, was vanished. He was done.

However, his resolve stroke back, freeing him by his immobility. He couldn’t give up so easily… he promised Bruno. He promised him that he would have joined the gang, that he would have passed Polpo’s test… he couldn’t give up now. He just couldn’t.

So he did the only thing that his still alcohol-dazed mind thought about: turn it on again and pretend that nothing happened. And so he did it, feeling immediately a chill run down his spine. His cop training kicked in and he avoided Black Sabbath’s first assault, but not the second. The stand grabbed him, keeping him on the ground and he pierced him without even a word. Abbacchio didn’t even had the time to think about it: the arrow was already in his heart.

He felt himself dazing away, lulled in a dark that was becoming more and more intense. A thought, however, kept him alive: he couldn’t let Bruno down. He had bet on him, he gave him a home, human contact… he couldn’t lose like this.

So, he forced himself not to fall asleep, to fight back. Black Sabbath was taken aback by the sheer will that he, a broken man, showed, and retired the arrow, vanishing in thin air, back to his user. Abbacchio stayed on the ground, still shocked, but he felt… different. Something inside him was different.

He took the lighter back to Polpo, without saying anything, with a stony face. When he got back to Bruno, he immediately asked him what the hell was that test and why he didn’t die when the arrow pierced him. Bruno was surprised, nonetheless he called Sticky Fingers out, to let Abbacchio see the stand. The man felt something snap in him, like his soul was splitting: behind him appeared a strange figure that reminded him a bit of himself. Moody Blues seemed to watch him curiously, before approaching Sticky Fingers and starting to interact with him.

Guido Mista

Mista was saved from prison by Bruno and he didn’t wait long before sending him to Polpo. He already proved to be a more than valid gunman and his team needed so much someone like him. So he gave him just the time to recover a little from prison, before escorting him to Polpo.

Mista just arched an eyebrow, when Polpo explained him the test and handed him the lighter. He thought it was pretty stupid, but, if that was what life was offering him, he was not going to throw it for sure. He headed back to his old flat, eyeing suspiciously the lighter. He didn’t like Polpo and all of this seemed too weird. He didn’t like it at all.

He set the lighter sheltered by gusts of wind and everything. He didn’t care too much, but better to prevent than cure.

His carefulness, however, wasn’t enough: the lighter turned off ‘cause he accidentally dropped it down while preparing dinner. He was angry with himself, but not desperate: he fucked up, yes, but he could make up for it. He just had to switch the lighter on again and all would have been well again.

When he did, however, it was like all the shadows in his home came to life. Mista wasn’t easily scared, but that feeling freezed the blood in his veins. Something bad was going to happen, he knew, he felt it. It was like when he had shot down those men just few weeks ago, but this time he didn’t have a gun. he couldn’t defend himself.

Black Sabbath grabbed him by his hair and slammed his face on the counter, almost breaking his nose. He spoke slowly and scaringly, but Mista was more focused in trying to find a way to escape than to listen to him. The entity seemed to have bad intentions and he didn’t want to die, not there, not like that.

His effort were, alas, vain: Black Sabbath’s grip was strong and then the arrow stuck right in his throat. Mista couldn’t even scream, while blood gurgled in his mouth, bringing his breath away.

He thought he had died. He really thought it. The last thing he remembered was the arrow in his throat but, when he woke up, he had just a little hole on his neck and not a mortal wound. He was confused and, when he heard some high pitched little voices, he felt again on the edge. More enemies? More ghosts?

He fastly got up, ready to fight, if he had to, but he stopped dead when he saw that the voices’ owners were a bunch of little beans who were roaming around what should have his dinner. They were all marked with numbers, but the 4 was missed. He was surprised by this, since he fiercely hated the number 4 but never actually told to anyone. When the beans noticed him, they flew around him, calling him by his name and asking him if he was well. He was confused: why those strange creatures seemed to be so concerned for him? And why did they act like they knew him since always?

He told them he was fine and finally asked them who they were. One of them, the number 1, talked for the others and told him they were his stand, whatever it was, and that from that day on they would have been by his side. Mista was still utterly confused but he mostly shrugged it away: they seemed friendly and they missed the number 4, more than enough for him.

He took the lighter back to Polpo and, when he exited the jail, found Bruno and the others waiting for him. His stand immediately flew out from his shirt and went straight to them, chit-chatting and squealing, and Mista had to run to catch them and keep them in line. Bruno just chuckled, congratulating him for his stand. Mista passed his first day with Sex Pistols trying to keep them in line, mostly failing.

Narancia Ghirga

Narancia tried to go back to a normal life, as Bruno almost ordered him. He really tried. But he was still mourning his mother, he hated his father with all his heart and the time passed in reformatory changed him. He couldn’t be a normal boy anymore, not after what he has gone through, not after nearly dying. All of this brought a positive thing: Bruno. He was the first to manifest even an inch of sincere concern for him; he took him to the hospital, he payed for everything, he got angry not against him but for him, ‘cause he wanted to keep him safe. No one had ever done it, not even his father. He wanted to be like Bruno, to become a man of honour like him. He also wanted to thank personally the other boy, Fugo, who saved him from the street and took him to Bruno. He wanted to stay with them and repay his debt, in a way or another.

He had heard, while he was still wandering through the streets, that the most powerful Caporegime of all Naples was a man called Polpo and that he was in jail. So, even if nervous at the thought of going back in a place he hated so much, he managed to meet him. Polpo was surprised to see a little boy in front of him, but the raw determination in his purple eyes convinced him to give him a chance. So he handed him the lighter and Narancia took the task very seriously. It was his first task as a mafia man, he couldn’t fail!

He was heading home when, unfortunately, he met some boys he knew. They immediately spotted him and encircled him, nagging him with bad words and even shovings. He tried to resist, to keep his temper in line, but, when they named his mother plus some bad attributes, rage took the better of him and for the next ten minutes all what he saw were blood, his wounded knuckles and the battered faces of the boys. He managed to make them run away, but the lighter went lost during the brawl. He frantically searched for it and, when he found it, it was off. Narancia felt the world crashing around him. He failed. He failed his first task just after not even two hours.

He came home with a darken face and an even worse mood. He closed himself in his room, staring at the lighter with eyes full of regret and anger towards himself. Fat tears ran down his cheeks at the thought of having lost everything he wanted. He just wanted to do good, for once, to be part of a family…

He dried his tears, finally convincing himself that all those goals were worthy of a little cheating. He studied the lighter and found that it was still in good conditions and tried to light it on. The exact moment the flame came to life, a sense of dread froze him on his bed. Before he could even move, something grabbed him and slammed his head against the wall. The invisible hand was keeping him by his neck and it was clenching and clenching. Narancia’s efforts to free himself, to loosen the invisible fingers’ strong grip were vain.

He stilled when he heard Black Sabbath’s deep voice, but his heart was beating so loud and so fast in his ears that he heard almost nothing. He tried to escape again when the arrow came out of nowhere, painfully slow, nearer and nearer to his shaking body. He couldn’t even scream when the arrow finally stabbed him in his heart.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone and the sun was high in the sky. Narancia rubbed his eyes, sleepy and confused. Had he dreamt everything? Maybe the hunger gave him a strange dream? He tasted his chest and, when he felt the dampness of blood, he understood that it was all true. And now? What was happened? He really didn’t know. So, he just changed his clothes and brought the lighter back to Polpo, gaining his pin and his place in Bucciarati’s new team. He immediately rushed to Bruno, storming in the Libeccio restaurant, showing him the pin and telling him that he was officially part of the gang and his team.

Bruno didn’t seem happy about it. He scolded him, calling him irresponsible, and Narancia felt so bad that he was on the verge of tears. In that moment, when he was really about to break down, he felt something snap in himself and the distinct noise of an airplane. He looked up, curious, and saw a little red airplane flying ad high speed towards them, keeping them at distance. Narancia couldn’t explain what was happening ‘till Bruno told him that the airplane must have been his stand and showed his Sticky Fingers. Narancia was taken aback by the stands thing, but managed to call Aerosmith back before hurting someone. Bruno took his stand training on himself, seen that Aerosmith was a stand to tame.

Pannacotta Fugo

Fugo was the first to be recruited by Bruno, who saw the potential both in his incredible intelligence and in his barely contained anger. Since, after hearing Fugo’s story, he knew that he had no home and no one to wait for him, he proposed him to Polpo for the test. He wanted him to be an official member of Passione and Polpo trusted Bruno’s judgment, so he accepted to meet Fugo and see what his most loyal subordinate wanted to offer him.

When he saw the young Fugo, his weary gaze and the anger that lingered in them, he understood what Bruno had seen in him. He gladly gave him the task, already eager to see what kind of stand a boy so full of raw rage could produce.

Fugo headed back to Bruno’s home, where he was kindly hosted for the time, and studied the lighter, with a frown. Bruno didn’t interfere: he had to take the test alone. These were the rules.

Fugo stayed in his room, keeping the lighter safe near him. He was so concentrated that he didn’t even feel the tiredness or the fatigue. He was used to sleepless nights since long time, when he had to study all day and all night under his parents’ watchful eyes. So, the day after Bruno found him still awake and the lighter still on.

Fugo took it back to Polpo, who seemed a bit disappointed, and gained his pin. When he came back to Bruno, the man congratulated him and promised him that he wouldn’t ever be treated like he was ‘till that moment.

He didn’t obtained Purple Haze until few months later. He was on a solo mission, a mission that should have been easy but that, in the end, revealed itself as really dangerous: he soon was circled by members of a rival gang and surely they’d have took him down. Fugo, however, had no intentions to die without fighting: he did what he could, sending ko more than one enemy, but they were just too many. He was overpowered and beaten up ‘till he almost fell unconscious.

He didn’t want to die. He wanted to do so many things, he wanted to become a great man like Bruno, he… he wasn’t ready to die. He didn’t want to. In that moment he wanted so much to delete from existence those men, to beat them, again and again, ‘till reduce them to a pulp. He wanted it so much, but he couldn’t get up. He saw one of them bringing out a gun and he knew he was finished. He prepared himself for the darkness, when the man flew away, as something hit him. Fugo managed to getting up a little and he saw a strange figure, weirdly dressed, crouched not far from him. It was circled by a sort of fog, a sort of purple haze, and it was drooling. His eyes were blown and full of mad anger, an anger that he could understand too well.

Slowly, the creature got up, bringing his fists in a guard position, but stayed still, gurgling and drooling, his eyes on the enemies, who seemed to not see it. The creature charged for them just when one of them moved against Fugo: he punched the man screaming a terrifying “Ubashaaaa”. One of the bulbs he had on his fist broke and a sort of smoke leaked out from it. Under Fugo’s incredulous and horrified gaze, the man liquefied, emitting terrifying and agonizing screams. The other men were fast to run away, terrified by the invisible entity who had just deleted one of them.

Fugo didn’t knew what to do. He was almost panicking, fearing that the creature would have charged him too, but, in that moment, it was more focused on cleaning itself from its own drool. He managed to reach a public phone and called Bruno, scared and shocked. Bruno managed to calm him down a little and explained him that the creature was his stand, what stands were and, most important, that he could control it with his will. So, Fugo focused and, after few attempts, he managed to call it back. He felt like his soul was just one again, like his rage was flooded back again. When he came back to Bruno’s home, he told everything to him and promised both to himself and to Bruno that he would never ever used Purple Haze with light heart. A so vicious and dangerous stand wasn’t something to easily call out and, even if he wanted to explore that new power, he was too scared by the thought of accidentally hurt or kill someone near him and, frankly, he was also scared by that part of him, so savage, raw and uncontrollable. He didn’t want to face it again.

#jjba #vento aureo #bruno's gang #bruno bucciarati #leone abbacchio #guido mista #narancia ghirga #pannacotta fugo #polpo's test #headcanons #anon ask

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shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl · 7 years

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Trigger Happy Persona AU

What do you do in the face of ultimate despair? You get freaking pissed off and awaken your persona! Play as Hajime [codename “Ace”] who seems average at first until he awakens his second persona and becomes Izuru [codename “Blackjack”]. But the game isn’t complete without the strength of bonds and so enter Chiaki [codename “Bonnie”] who seems aloof by nature until she rips off her mask and summons an 8-bit spaceship!

**Please DO NOT edit, use, or repost any of these! Thank you!

HOLD UP!

More AU concept art [thank you @likhangjosa] and info dump under the cut!!

Chiaki Nanami Codename: Usami or Bonnie Arcana: Star

Mask: Pink and covers the upper part of her face, with long bunny ears on top, down to a bunny nose with whiskers

Outfit: Sci-fi magical girl look with the color scheme of white, pink, and blue-grey. Wears a hoodie-cardigan (that has holes for the bunny ears to go through) and a Galaga ship (or Usami logo) embroidered on the chest. Sports a flowing translucent galaxy print circle skirt, knee-high boots with leggings and white gloves. Has a pink cat-like backpack where she stores her weapons and gaming consoles. The look is complete with a cottontail clipped on her belt.

Persona: Galaga (8-bit ship get wrekt) Skillset: Strong gun and bless attacks but weak to curse Weapons: Two-handed hammer and minigun

All-Out Attack Card: "Game Over" written in bit font and with videogame style background. Her catchphrase would be "New highscore!"

Awakening Scene: Galaga: Is that the hope that you fight for? Doesn't it seem meaningless in the face of adversity? After all, what's the point if people just betray you in the end?

Chiaki: Even if I'm betrayed again, I still want to believe in everyone. No matter how many times I may be betrayed...I still want to believe in everyone!

Galaga: Despite the despair thrown in your face, you show unwavering faith. That trust is something that you'll need... as well as my blessing. I am thou, thou art I... A better future is waiting for you but in order to reach it you must trust that it is indeed possible.

Chiaki: As long as I believe, things will turn out okay! Let's show them, Galaga!

Quotes: "That was easy. Shall we get going Hajime?" "I could *yawn* go for a nap right now..." "Yosh, I leveled up!" “New skill unlocked! Let’s test it out ASAP!” "A treasure chest! *zelda sfx*" "Move! I've always wanted to open a treasure chest!" "A safe room. Let's take it easy and save first, alright?" “Dungeon crawling never gets old especially in RPGs.” "I feel like I can do a speedrun on this dungeon." “I don’t mind overdoing it a bit.” "Sorry, my stamina stat is running low." "There's a nearby enemy. Grind mode?" “*metal gear solid alert! sfx* We’ve been spotted!” or “Stealth mode blown!” "I felt the LVL gap in that." “Don’t worry, we’re already OP.” "I think we need more EXP to defeat that." “Better prepare so that we don’t get a BAD END.” “*yawn* Where’s Hard Mode?” “Victory! Isn’t this the part where we’re supposed to do a pose?”

*BATON PASS!* "Usami/Bonnie hopping in!" *PROTECT* "Ace! Look out!" *ENDURE* "I... don't want to die!" *PERSONA!* "Summoning reinforcement, Galaga!" *Follow Up* "How about a combo?" *Cover Fire* "Need some support?" *Harisen Recovery* "Don't give in!" or "You're stronger than this!" *low on health* "I'll be fine... probably." *healing someone* "Don't lose hope!" or "You've got this!" *getting healed* "Thanks for the heal!" *giving buffs* "This will make us stronger, I think." *physical attacks* "It's Hammer time!", "I'll smash you flat!", "Time to knock you out of the park!" *attacking* "We'll beat you for sure!" *attack misses* “Accuracy stats are… off?” *couldn't finish off enemy* "I believe you can do this!" *fainting* "I'm sorry... I wanted to protect everyone, no matter what the cost." *getting resurrected* “Thanks, I needed that extra life.”

*status ailment* "Maybe a quick nap can fix this..." Burn: "I'm overheating! Somebody turn on the AC!" Freeze: “Brrr, it’s too c-cold! Is the thermostat broken again?” Shock: "Need... to turn... the rumble off...!" Forget: "Am I a boy...? Or a girl...?" Charm: “Friendly fire mode on.” Rage: “I’ll button mash you to pieces!” Despair: "The difficulty level... it's too high...!" Hunger: "Did I forget to eat again...?" Dizzy: "My controls are all messed up...!" Sleep: “Zzz… Recharging batteries... zzz…” Silence: ... Mouse: "Squeak~!"

Mementos chats: "Ace is a really good driver. If only racing game skills could transfer to real life..." “Maybe I should start naming my combo attacks…” “Sometimes I wish this was one of those games with unlimited ammo.” “This accessory looks ridiculous but it lets me dodge my weakness so I’m not complaining.” “Games are fun but slaying shadows is fun in its own way too.” “Being a Dangan Thief is like a videogame fantasy… but in real life!” “Real life is the True Hard Mode because the stats are invisible. But that’s okay since we know it’s not Impossible Mode.”

Chiaki: What we’re doing feels like we’re in a videogame. Hajime: It’s a good thing that you’re the Ultimate Gamer then.

Chiaki: Do you ever stop to think if we’re all just trapped in some game? Hajime: No, next question.

Chiaki: *stomach growls* Hajime: Were you so busy playing that you forgot to eat again?

Chiaki: *yawns* Wake me up when we run into a Shadow... or something. Hajime: Did you pull another all-nighter over videogames again?

Chiaki: I run out of money too fast. I had to pre-order another game last night on top of the ones I ordered just the other night. Hajime: Hey, I know we make a lot of money but please don’t spend it all on videogames.

Chiaki: It’s a disappointing that electronic devices don’t work in the cognitive world. Hajime: Don’t you already play enough videogames in real life?

Chiaki: All this Dangan Thieves stuff is cutting into my schedule. Thankfully I’ve compromised with my other priorities and my gaming hours are still untouched. Hajime: Is that why you’ve been dozing off more often? Please tell me you’re at least getting enough sleep because this can’t be healthy.

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

Hajime Hinata Codename(s): Ahoge Ace, Blackjack, Dealer

*NOTE: Instead of having multiple personas, Hajime only has one and a second dormant persona. Consequently, whenever he changes persona, he also changes mask and outfit (and personality?) and codename. [e.g. Hajime accidentally summons Izuru, from Ace he becomes Blackjack.]

Codename: Ace Arcana: Fool or Judgement Mask: White domino mask with card aesthetic. The suites displayed change according to the skill type used. [e.g. Spades for physical, Club for elemental, Diamonds for almighty, Hearts for healing and buffs, Joker for status ailment] Outfit: Simple black tailcoat, white inner shirt, matching black formal pants and monk strap shoes. Emerald necktie and gloves. Persona: [starting and only] ??? Skillset: Strong slash and (surprisingly) curse attacks and weak against bless All-Out Attack Card: “Royal Flush” written with a casino table in the background. Catchphrase is “Keep your cards close to your chest!”

Codename: Blackjack Arcana: Death Mask: Plague doctor mask and his red eyes glow through the glass lenses Outfit: Maroon steampunk trench coat with a spine designed on the back and black cuffs and fancy cravat. Inner shirt is black with a textile print and large buttons. Bright red gloves, black trousers and Cuban heeled boots. Persona: [dormant unlockable] Izuru Kamukura Skillset: Strong for all types of attacks except bless skills which is the only weakness. Null physical attacks. All-Out Attack Card: “Card Counter” written with a house of cards in the background. Catchphrase is “How boring…”

Codename: Dealer Arcana: The World Mask: Black bird-shaped mask but the sides of the frame look like wings Outfit: [He has the same spiky hair but white and his eyes are heterochromatic.] White long sleeves with red cuffs, red vest, black bow tie and slacks. Black wingtips for shoes and white gloves. Persona: [hidden ultimate fusion] Hinazuru Skillset: Master of all types attacks. Repel physical and null bless/curse skills All-Out Attack Card: “Wild Card” written with scattered cards and poker chips in the background. Catchphrase is “This is the future that we want!”

Weapons: Dual wield daggers and dual wield pistols

>>>Special thanks to @crazynoodles69 for being a tarot card master and divining Chiaki’s arcana. GIVE IT UP FOR MY SIS WHO WENT ALONG AND DREW AMAZING STUFF FOR THIS. The actual lore happened because @ponsay-de-leon and I had too much fun. Then because I am a monster who has no common sense of liking anything in moderation, this happened.

Feel free to add on and have fun with this AU!

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its-morphin-time-xiv · 6 years

Text

Time between the seconds

[Emergency Alert] Linkpearl signal of user Belladonna Slater has been lost. Last known location:[Continent] Othard [Region] Dalmasca Estersand

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

[Mood]

How does it feel.. my dear?

“..cold.”

As it should be.

But you’ve felt this before... haven’t you?

The gentle shift of stained steel inside the small hyur’s chest caused her muscles to twitch, the muted pain.. so far and so distant from being felt brought a wave of discomfort into her mind as the peering eyes around her loomed over the blood-stained clothes.

A low rumble of a chuckle echoed into the dark chamber, a ghost from the past, haunting her in every sense of the word. His face, a hollow visage of the man she loved back then. His voice a lingering reminder of the heart-ache she felt as he screamed her name as the transport left. It was an angry sort, the kind that sinks deep into your mind, filling it full with regret and the want to make things better than they could have ever turned out.

The pain dug into her still beating heart, the sadness, the grief, the agony of regret... all of it. His eyes pierced her at every turn, only adding to the muted sting of the blades as they kissed her body, one after the other.. over and over.

Her world became hollow and silent as it grew slow. The fires of the crashing sand-drifted around her seemed like nothing but a crumbling dream to her as she fell to the floor. Her mind in a daze ever since the escape hatch opened to see... him.

Leon...

She killed him. Left him to die for the broken promises he killed everyone else between. It was the only thing she could have done, to repay for what he had done. But that was then, so many many years ago.. She watched as the voidsent ripped him apart, piece by piece. That was it. That’s all it should have been.

We’re the same, darlin’. You and I. We’ve died.. but they can’t keep us down.. Not matter how much they make us bleed. You.. you learned from Me... and Me? Hells.. baby.. I learned from you.

He flashed a devil’s smile that seemed to rip from ear to ear as his laughter bellowed up, deep from within him. He relished living again.. being able to walk and give every piece of vengeance that he wanted to the woman that left him to die.

You see.. this.. this Ranger thing, it’s rigged. We’re just the toy soldiers in a long-ass game of war. And I got tired of it, I wished you understood that... I wished you understood it. But you didn’t. And now we’re here, baby.. second time.

The trickle of blood rolling down her body seemed to play with her senses as he spoke. Each little stream gave her a sense of time, the time between the seconds passing, tick by tick they’d go. As Leon spoke, his eyes left his once beloved, looking to the window to watch the ship they stood on crumble to pieces into the sandy dunes of the Dalmascan Estersands.

A twitch of her body gave her a small glimmer of hope as the spikes along her back twitched, signalling there was still a way to fight back.. to escape. Her tired eye dragged to see one of her pistols, they were discarded and thrown to the side.

Slowly she’d reach for the pistol, it’s magitek circuitry glowing and pulsating a teal-like color. It was loaded and ready to fire.. all she needed to take hold of it with her bloody hands and fire. Ilms... only ilms away, so close yet so far from her armed salvation.

The ship around them began to shudder more, the metal flooring rattling against her body and the bloodied steel piercing her. With a jolt and jostle the entire room shifted left, her pistol jumped into her hand. With a weak whine, her thumb passed over the safety... *click* ...

There was a roar as the pistol primed itself, refreshing the near empty clip as her arm pulled upward, the trigger finger dragging back. The rumbling air of sand and blood was shaken by the thunder-crack of gunshots echoed throughout the metal chamber.

A thud and another scream came into the air as Bella’s voice ripped into the auburn colors. Tears were mixing with the crimson stains along her cheeks as she screamed out, anger and fear, agony.. and rage. She needed to leave, she couldn’t bear to see his face anymore.. his body.. his now bloodied corpse.

His eyes were going dark, the colors draining from his eyes.. the reflection of her own bloodied self was in his eyes and it drove the hyur mad. She couldn’t stand to see him like this again. Bella began to thrash and struggle against the floor, her boots scraping against the cold and red stained steel as she jerked her head back side to side. Her horrid sobs filled the air as she was reminded of all the lives she had left behind, all the memories that have been compounding and mixing into her mind after every thing that she had been through.. every life that she remembers.. every death.

Belladonna’s voice was rasped and weak as everything that was keeping her alive was struggling to keep her now. Each and every breath was dragged and slow as her hands dropped the pistol, the weapon clattering to the ground as it powered off. Red stained hands began to grip at the blades that stuck through her. Her tears blurring her vision as her mind was racing into the hurting chaos.

The cold steel began to slick itself with blood as she gripped the blades tight. They’d shift and shudder in her body as she tried to pull them up and out of her. Her body reacted violently, refusing to work as the pain registered there but not with her mind. The muted bleeding was nothing to her as she struggled over and over. Bella slammed the back of her head against the cold floor screaming again. Flashes of thought slipped in and out of her mind as she screamed over and over again, her tears never seeming to dry out as she sobbed violently.

Focus.

Belladonna... Focus.

Find something.. and Focus.

The words of The Creator beckoned to her. He was calling her mind to do just that... focus. Focus and escape, over and over. Bella’s mind fluttered and swarmed the multiple memories and thoughts that piled upon her to find one point that she wanted.. one point that she could....

... Her.

The hyur’s mind began to clamp down on the woman she thought of. The visions and memory of the woman before her brought her comfort as her hands gripped the bloodied blades again. With a grit of her teeth the hyur’s mind began to drift from thought to thought about how this girl brought her happiness.. and how she would fight the world over and over to see her again.

Bella’s hands despite every cut and gash pulled every blade and grip she could she could away. She was screaming in agony and frustration.. and despair as the blades slid against clattered against the grooved flooring towards Leon’s still warm body. Blade by long blade they were pulled out, her voice was quivering against her sobs as finally her body pushed itself forward upon the Ranger’s instinct to survival. The lack of pain she could feel was nothing but a gods’ send to her.. a curse and a gift all in one.

The world around her began to crumble, as the ship’s descent collided with the dunes below finally. With a tumble, Bella followed the momentum to get to her knees. There was a groan from her as a hand gripped at her chest, attempting to staunch the blood that would’ve otherwise be flowing. A sniffle and sob from her as the woman reached for her pistol, pocketing it into one of the bloodied pockets.

Slowly but surely she’d trigger the room’s hatch open, giving her time to drag herself across the ground to the sands that awaited her in this desolate waste. Around her the ship was crumbling to pieces as if it was simply waiting to fall apart by the last individual fiber. The heat of the burning air and the singed sands began to mix, creating a choking aroma cinders that scorched her lungs.

Away from the burning wreckage Bella would escape, blood trailing behind her in every sunken footstep. Traces of green lighting shot across the sands before her, guiding her path to The Creator himself. It seemed as if the time droned on as she followed the path before her, the winding green magic finally began to spark as she got closer and closer. Before her, finally a large shimmering green doorway stood. Tears of sadness rolled down her cheeks as her body, despite the lack of caution began to collapse.. the blood she had lost may have proven to finally be too much.

Her voice haggard and rasped, she screamed out for him to appear. The whispers and claws of Leon’s.. associates began to reach her muffled hearing. The beasts of the dark practically breathing down her mutated spine. The hyur’s body began to halt, her legs giving way till she collapsed onto the sandy incline.. just fulms away from the portal that would be her escape. Another scream and sob as she kicked up the sand to deter the approaching beasts before her dirtied hand pulled the pistol up. Her thumb swiping across the the safety after the magitek circuitry shimmering once again.

Four shots rang out, one after the other all in quick succession. The snarling of the daemons grew quiet as the beasts dropped one after the other. Bell’s voice would pierce the heavens as the airship nearby began to explode, it’s engines finally catching fire to ignite the smokey auburn skies once more.

The shimmering green portal visibly pulsated its hues as a man took slow steps out. Bella began to feel aged yet eternally strong arms wrap around her as The Creator folded his arms to form the comfort she needed. With the passing time, the little mutant’s eyes continued to water over as she kicked and screamed her heart out. Her voice growing hoarse till she could lose it and beyond. The Creator... the figure she looked up to, cared for.. prepared her for all this.. couldn’t prepare her for the aching pain that she felt.

Germán pressed his face against Bella’s head, hiding away the sorrow he felt for his Ranger... He could have told her, he could have given her the signs, the power.. the preparation as he had always before.. But he didn’t. He hid her away, pushed her objectives and timed them right to avoid such a meeting... such a hurt... But he didn’t.

For Bella’s plight.. of the fall of Rangers wasn’t her burden to bear alone.. The Creator... Germán Valiante too shared the blame for Leon.. He chose them.. the Rangers.. everyone of them. They were his children, the children he always wanted, the ones he cared for time and time again.. Sending them away into the fields for their first.. and their last missions. He remembered every one of them.. and he remembered.. They.. They remembered in the time between the seconds that nothing could have been done.. to save them.

“I am sorry... My dear Ranger...”

“I am sorry, Belladonna..”

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whatdoyouexpectthistime · 7 years

Text

Heaven Hath No Fury - Original Sin

“Leon!”

It was the most animated Miho had been in… she didn’t know how many days and nights had passed in seclusion. Her body actually ached when she stood she had been sitting stationary for so long, just staring into the reflecting pool – watching Earth ebb and flow, but powerless to influence it in any way.

The arrival of her brother was unexpected; the King had told her no one would find her, no one could see her – if she was going to be petulant, stubborn, if she insisted on defying him, then she would do so alone.

“How did you even find me?” she gasped, stopping sort of hugging the man who, looked unusually… disturbed.

“You’ve been wishing so hard,” he pointed out in an attempt at casual. “Think I couldn’t hear you?”

“Heard and unanswered,” she pointed out, drawing herself up.

The Goddess of Corvus was not short, but Leon was still taller. In their childhood he’d always loomed over her, and even as adults it seemed when they were simply side by side, he was an immense tower.

Now, however, he seemed somehow so much smaller – not even his shadow could touch her.

“This, this is unbearable,” she growled. “Brother please, help me escape this nightmare.”

Hesitantly his answer came.

“I… am here to grant your wish,” he declared, but he sounded so unsure, and this concerned Miho deeply.

“Then let’s get out of here,” she urged, taking his hand, but her usually confident, arrogant brother did not budge.

In fact, he cast his eyes to the ground.

“What?” she frowned. “I wished to be freed from this purgatory, so free me.”

“I… must also grant the wish of the King,” Leon said, his voice quiet, his voice incongruously diminutive with every other memory Miho had of him.

The King’s wish.

Miho’s chest clenched.

“And what, exactly, has he wished for?” she questioned.

But she already knew.

He had already gone so far as to strip her of her title and position, and to cloister her away on an isolated estate from which she could not use her power – and she had not broken. Her consent was all he could not take by force.

But he could wish for it.

“He wished you’d fall in love with him,” Leon answered after a short pause, “and I have to grant it.”

“No,” she hissed, balling her fists and scowling at him. “Why would you… how could you even think of granting that?”

“No one defies the King, Miho,” Leon pointed out, and this caused true rage to blossom across her pale features.

“I defied the King!” she roared, eyes blazing.

“And look where it got you,” he volleyed. “You won’t even remember this, you’ll be happy,” he added, but this had the opposite of its intended effect.

“No, I won’t,” she snarled, backing away from him like there was somewhere she could run where it would make a scrap of difference. “You would betray your own family for that… monster?”

“He’s the King, Miho,” Leon retaliated, stepping toward her, but she scurried back like he meant to physically assault her.

“He’s taken enough!” she barked, but her voice had become thick and panicked. “Don’t… don’t take my free will too, don’t make me his slave.”

Brows knitted, Leon struggled. He was himself powerful, but the King was something else entirely. It was not that he feared the repercussions of defiance per se, would never admit to fear, but he had to rationalise what might happen if a minister such as himself was to disobey – others might also, chaos could allow evil to gain a foothold.

And to prevent this, all he had to do was sacrifice his sister to a creature who, even he had to admit, was the single most selfish being he’d ever encountered.

“I’m sorry, Miho,” he exhaled finally, lifting his hand slightly, fingers poised, and full force horror exploded in his sister’s eyes.

“Leon!”

The light touch of gold-spun hair tickled against Miho’s cheek – and she smiled up at the King who hovered over her. Though the hands that held her down gripped tightly, possessively, there was a gladness in her heart that sang amid the shortening length of her breathing.

“Your Majesty,” she exhaled, unable to blink for fear his angelic presence would vanish.

Her body hummed so powerfully for the want of it him it was almost painful: a deep, aching, burning resonance, as much a part of herself as the lips that longed to kiss him, the heart that beat for him, and the warm, wetness of her core that desperately beckoned him inward.

“Tell me what you desire,” he commanded, the twist of his lips a smirking, arrogant tease in which she saw only benevolence.

“Ahh,” she groaned, the torment of his rigid length rubbing just between her legs, so infuriating she could barely form a coherent response. “My King, fill me so…”

Her response, as she had spoken it then, continued in a gushing overflow of sexual yearning and hyperbolic banalities – while an unseen figure at the bedside loomed like a storm cloud flashing with violence.

“I desire the crush of your throat beneath my palms, to feel bones bend and snap,” Miho’s shadow snarled, unheard and glaring at the monster king as he forced the air from her past-self with the crush of his body. “I desire the slide of your entrails through my fingers, slick and slippery with the last of your malodourous life, and I want to see the light of the stars leave your eyes, your last thought regret you ever crossed me.”

Revulsion rose into her throat as her-past self moaned incomprehensibly.

Glowing, sweaty, dominated and enraptured by complete and unparalleled worship, this pathetic ghoul of her former self, wrapped around the most powerful creature in all the heavens; and though she knew now his perverse heart had no true capacity for love, her past-self loved him with such brutal dedication it very nearly tore her apart.

But as she reached out now to pull him away, knowing what she did, knowing he would tire of her and cast her so thoughtlessly aside, her hand passed through him.

An incorporeal observer of the past, her rage and frustration were the only things with true substance.

Yet she was suddenly tethered, unable to recoil, and just as the King had all but suffocated her with his unchecked want for control over her then, Miho felt herself slipping back beneath him and the wish her brother had granted.

“GET OFF!” she roared, sitting bolt upright in the cold, dark room.

The power of her exclamation was so extreme, the blankets flew apart, the fabric shredded and sent scattering around the space.

In surprise, woken so suddenly from fitful slumber, the slender, pale and naked figure that had been curled against Miho’s body, flinched to wakefulness and the urgent gasping of her companion.

“Miho,” a soft voice whispered, and a gentle hand sought fingers clasping the sheets in a vice like grip. “You are awake now.”

Angrily the Goddess of Corvus sobbed out the remnants of sleep, and the sensation of pressure within that was nothing short of the most heinous violation.

“The nightmare is over,” her lover told her, her other hand sliding slowly up Miho’s exposed spine to the nape of her neck. “Retribution is soon, is now.”

“I know, Mieke,” Miho panted, grasping for calm, “and it will be such a reckoning.”

“And I will help you,” Mieke smiled, rising up on her knees and snuggling into Miho’s back, and wrapping her deceptively thin arms around the other goddess’ neck. “And keep you safe.”

What grace she’d lost in forsaking the Heavens - what pain she’d suffered in knowing the truth - those ragged edges of memory still deep in her mind and flesh were smoothed by honest words and honest intimacy. The Goddess of Canes Venatici, savage and vicious in her most powerful form, lapped gently against the ghostly wounds that still bled in Miho’s soul; and the vengeful rage swirling within became a little less tumultuous… for a few hours.

Now the rest of this is going to be written in fragments. Hopefully you’ll be able to make sense of it - and I may elaborate upon request.

#voltage inc #voltage fanfiction #voltage #voltage otome #star crossed myth #scm #scm fanfic #leon #King of the Heavens

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popofventi · 4 years

Text

Favorite 100 Songs of 2019 :: #80-61

Ventipop's favorite 100 songs of 2019 is the culmination of all the best new songs I've heard and featured over the past year. It's not the same songs you'll hear on every other site's top 100 song list. Because it's my fucking favorite 100 songs...not theirs. Here are songs #80-61.

80. “Masquerade” by Lindsey Stirling

"It’s funny because with this recent album I wanted to go back to the Lindsey that wrote her first album. Because you really do evolve and change as an artist and you learn a lot. But sometimes I try to go back to that first album because back then I knew how to dream without limits. I didn’t understand that what I set out to do was impossible. I was just a girl living in Utah … I didn’t know any electronic producers, didn’t know how to dance, didn’t have any contacts or knowledge of the music industry at all, and yet I was determined to be an international performer. It was impossible but it didn’t matter because I knew how to dream really strongly back then and no-one could convince me that this wasn’t possible. I think that you’re extremely powerful when you believe in yourself. With this recent album I wanted to capture the freedom that I felt in the first album." -- Lindsey Stirling

79. “Somebody’s Daughter” by Tenille Townes featuring Girl Scouts of Tennessee

"She could be a Sarah She could be an Emily An Olivia, maybe Cassidy With the shaky hands On the cardboard sign And she's lookin' at me Bet she was somebody's best friend laughing Back when she was somebody's sister Countin' change at the lemonade stand Probably somebody's high school first kiss"

78. “Not” by Big Thief

"Not the meat of your thigh Nor your spine tattoo Nor your shimmery eye Nor the wet of the dew"

77. “Surf Song” by Sean Henry

"I’m apart at the party Hardly smart call it art, right Divine intervention, thanks so much for the invitation"

76. “Walking On A String” by Matt Berninger featuring Phoebe Bridgers

"The things you said are hanging in the middle of my mind tonight I can't turn them off I try to worry for your soul but I forget to All the time I'm in a twisted web and I can't pull my Head from it"

75. “David Buxkemper” by Dale Watson

The song was inspired by a letter from the real-life David Buxkemper, who wrote Watson to express his appreciation for the Texas singer-songwriter’s trucking-inspired songs. Touched by the correspondence, Watson wrote back to ask Buxkemper — who lives outside Lubbock in the flatlands known as Llano Estacado, inside the Texas Panhandle — about himself, which he then translated into the song’s lyrics. “He’s a farming trucker, or maybe he’s a trucking farmer — it all depends on the time of year,” Watson intones over a steady, rolling beat, which takes on a psychedelic tinge thanks to a spaced-out steel pedal guitar.

74. “Same Kind Of Crazy As Me” by Cody Jinks

"There's more colors than red and blue To paint the elephant in the room You piss and moan about that and this There's always another ass to kiss, but I believe that freedom rings And I believe in the songs we sing"

73. “Texas Sun” by Leon Bridges & Khruangbin

"Say you wanna hit the highway while the engine roars Well, come on, roll with me 'til the sun goes down That Texas sun, oh yeah That Texas sun"

72. “Lovesick” by Maude Latour

"It’s insane how powerful heartache is. It is the stuff of life. This song is about acknowledging their power, letting it go and being grateful for how lucky we are to feel any sort of connection between people despite how much space there is in the world." -- Maude Latour

71. “Hero” by Michael Kiwanuka

"Am I a hero? My gun to reload now A broken people There go a hero now"

70. “Apalachee Plain” by Leif Vollebekk

"Mustangs are kicking in the field I saw it all behind the wheel But it woulda never had that feel If you weren’t right there at my heels Holding up Your end of the bargain"

69. “Don’t Let Me Go” by Cigarettes After Sex

"When I was young, I thought the world of you I was dumb to let you drift away"

68. “No Walls In The West” by City of the Sun

"I don’t think any of us consider ourselves jazz. John and I taught ourselves guitar. None of us went to any school for music." -- City of the Sun guitarist Avi Snow

67. “Side Effects” by Joseph

"First cup of coffee after a long night First kiss after a bitter fight First time we see each other after too much time Something's gone but we're still here and it's alright"

66. “Kick Him Out The Disco” by ILL

KHOTD is a song about realizing that it’s not You, it’s definitely Them. It’s about standing up for yourself and giving your manipulative exes and incompetent overlords a glittered middle finger.

65. “A Secret” by Dario Crisman

"Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized and there's just no outlet, there's no venue for it, in terms of media." -- David Sanborn

64. “You Need To Calm Down” by Taylor Swift

"You are somebody that I don't know But you're takin' shots at me like it's Patrón And I'm just like, damn, it's 7 AM Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out And I'm just like, "Hey, are you okay?""

63. “I Remember You” by Eilen Jewell

"I remember you We were Bonnie and Clyde We thought we'd go down in history I guess we changed our minds You're a hundred worlds away now I'm sure it's for the best You're practically a stranger now"

62. “The Search” by NF

"Been makin a whole lot of changes Wrote a song about that you should play it I get scared when I walk on these stages I look at the crowd and see so many faces Yeah That's when I start to get anxious That's when my thoughts can be dangerous That's when I put on my makeup"

61. “Lottery” by Jade Bird

"I was 19 and you were 23 and We stayed in Number 4 Ferdinand Street We spent five talking 'bout our lives But we'd talked like that about a thousand times And I'm bored of all that"

#100-81

#60-41

#40-21

#20-1

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