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yodawgiherd · 3 years

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Red flag

>>> AO3 <<<

ye, just creating random scenarios instead of sleeping, that's how we roll

“Don’t get into cars with strangers.“

That’s what her mother told her back when she was a child, and that was the rule she lived by. Until tonight. Because tonight, Mikasa was leading a complete unknown out of the bar, not nearly as drunk as she wanted to be when she came. Why? Because her last exam was done, which meant that now she had a glorious month of no university work, no assignments, no nothing, just free time to do whatever she wished. Which meant getting roped in with Sasha and following her bestie out of the dorms and into the welcoming embrace of the city’s busy nightlife.

With a clear intent in mind, to get as drunk as possible and finally let go for once. School was kicking her ass lately, so much that she had to cut down on her Muay Thai classes, a fact that had her brother scowling endlessly. Mikasa shook her head. She didn’t want to think about her brother today, or school, or workouts. Tonight, she wanted to drink and have a good time with Sasha. Tonight, her brain was on party mode.

The plan was great at the start. She and Sasha met some other schoolmates at the first bar, doing the exact same thing, and they joined forces. When Sasha grew bored, they changed establishments for another bar where they met yet another group, and once again bundled together. Her brown-haired friend just had that effect on people, Sasha was so friendly that it was infectious in a way. Now surrounded by a rather large group, Mikasa could finally feel the fact that her finals are done making its way to her brain. For the first time in months, she felt herself relaxing, truly enjoying the moment. Raising her glass, she emptied it, feeling the burn of alcohol in her throat. Everything was going great, she was getting wasted at exactly the preferred rate, and her life didn’t seem so gloom for a moment.

And then he walked in.

Brown hair in a ponytail, green emeralds for eyes, a confident stride of someone who is attractive and damn well knows it. Not paying attention left or right, he beelined to the bar, nodding at the bartender who almost immediately served him something in a tall glass. A regular then.

“Hey, Miks…”

Torn from her trance, she turned her head to the left to see Sasha gripping her shoulder, an ear to ear grin on her face.

“You’re staring.”

A faint blush crept up Mikasa’s features and she vehemently shook her head.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. I haven’t seen you like this since you saw that new motorbike model.”, turning on shaky legs, Sasha observed the new guy down the glass in one smooth go, “Well, I can see why you’re gawking like that. This looks like a fun ride too.”

It took a second before Mikasa understood the double-meaning in Sasha’s words, which made her blush even harder.

“It’s not like that…”

“Why not?”

“H-Huh?”

“You’re a grown woman Miks, just go talk to the guy, see where the night takes you.”

“B-But..”

“Hey, I won’t force you.”, Sasha calmed her, “But I don’t see what’s wrong in you having some fun once in your life. C’mon, what’s the worst thing that can happen? If he’s a creep or something, just knock him on his ass.”

Mikasa opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, but nothing came out.

“Welp, if you want to just sit here and make fish-faces at me, that’s fine too, but I’m getting another drink. You have fun now, you hear?”

Done with her free advice class, Sasha let go of Mikasa’s shoulder and made her way back towards the bar. Turning the words inside her head, she tapped her fingers against the glass. Have fun, Sasha said. But she was having fun, damn it, before this guy walked in. Now all she could think of was how nicely his forearms looked when he flexed his fingers and….

Oh god, was she seriously admiring his forearms? How far had she fallen.

Then again, Sasha was right, there was nothing wrong with enjoying yourself once in a while. In the worst-case scenario, Mikasa was more than able to defend herself, Levi took care of that years ago. Finishing her next shot, Mikasa made a decision, standing up swiftly without even wobbling on her feet. Unlike Sasha, she was very far from being hammered, and the lack of alcohol in her system was making this thing just that much harder. A deep breath later, she made her way towards where the guy was sitting, wondering how the hell one started a conversation with a complete stranger.

In high school, Mikasa was often told that she has the attitude of ice queen – she didn’t care what people thought about her, and she didn’t think much about anyone herself. As queen of the ice, she should be good at breaking it, right? Yet apparently it didn’t work that way, because she found herself standing next to the stranger’s barstool while drawing a complete blank in her brain. Words were just impossible, and she cursed whoever invented English because he had to make the language so hard on purpose. Just as she was about to turn and walk/run away in shame, the stranger took notice of her, turning towards Mikasa with a raised eyebrow.

“Can I help you?”

Damn, even his voice was sexy. He asked her a question, answer. Answer. Answer….

“I…. Huh…”

For some reason, he found that amusing, the corner of his mouth turning upwards. Pointing at the stool next to him, he continued himself.

“Would you like to sit?”

Saved from answering, she plopped down on the offered seat, her cheeks flaming red. This wouldn’t work, she was just making a fool of herself. And the stranger was keen on torturing her with more completely basic questions that any other human being would have no problem answering.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

A nod was the best she could manage.

“Any preferences?”

“H-Huh…”

She could hear the grin in his voice.

“I’ll pick for you then if that’s okay.”

Another nod.

Leaning over the counter, he ordered her something, sitting back after. Determined to stop acting like a five-year-old, Mikasa raised her eyes, meeting the inquisitive green gaze. She could get lost in those eyes no problem….

“Can I at least know your name? Please.”

All right, she can give him this, come on.

“M-Mikasa.”

Good job!

“Mikasa.”, it rolled off his tongue naturally, “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

He paused there, probably waiting for a response, but got nothing.

“I’m Eren. Nice to meet you.”

She nodded at him. Again. Luckily, the bartender picked just that moment to clink her drink down, and Mikasa could hide her face behind glass for a moment. Whatever Eren ordered her was fruity and fresh, with just a small hint of alcohol. It would appear that he wasn’t trying to get her wasted, which gave him a few good guy points in her book.

“So… Mikasa…”

Oh shit, he was talking again.

“How are you doing this evening? All good?”

If she came here of her own volition, that meant that she wanted to talk to the guy so, please... Nope, nothing came out.

“Well, they say silence is golden right?”

For whatever reason, Eren looked like he was having a blast in this one-sided dialogue, instead of being weirded out. Why? And he still went on.

“Since you are such a great conversation partner, I could bounce some of my ideas off you, what do you say? Nothing? Good. Ok, so….”

Sometimes, she wished that she was more like Sasha. While in the ring Mikasa could take on anyone or anything, in social situations she was helpless. On the other hand, Sasha could very well have a great talk with a rock and somehow befriend it. Mikasa should know, as she was the rock at the start of their friendship, it was completely Sasha’s doing that they were roommates now. But even with that giant social blocker in her brain, Mikasa could see that she completely sunk whatever chance she had here, and now was left with only one thing. Exit. Gritting her teeth, she stood up straight, interrupting Eren’s monologue about the economic situation of the middle class.

“I’m sorry, but this is not working.”, to ease her speech, she kept her eyes on the floor, “I made an ass of myself, so I’ll just cut my losses and leave. Feel free to laugh.”

Resolutely, she began to turn, only to be stopped by his voice.

“Please don’t.”

Raising her eyes from the floor, she saw that Eren’s face was completely serious, he wasn’t making fun of her.

“Huh?”

“Mikasa, please don’t go.”, he repeated, “I do enjoy your company.”

“The company of a silent creep?”

“Creep? No... I think it’s cute.”

The blush that was present on her face for this whole time had now spread everywhere.

“W-What?”

“Yea. I know that this is pretty shallow of me, but I think that you are really pretty, and I would like to get to know you better.”, a crooked smile appeared, “If you will finally talk to me, that is.”

This was completely out of her character. She had never done this before. She never even thought about doing it before. But this is how Sasha did it, right? This is how.. normal people did it. This was….

But she liked this guy, really really liked how he looked, he was basically what she imagined her type to be if it was a person, liked how he talked. Plus there was that strange gut feeling Mikasa got once she moved closer to him. Like she knew him already, like they already talked before or something. That had to be fake, as this was the first time her eyes saw him because she wouldn’t forget someone like this. Yet the feeling remained, only growing stronger.

So Mikasa collected all that was left of her courage, hot-glued it together, and made a sentence.

“How about we skip the talking and head out?”

Eren’s eyes widened, and Mikasa didn’t blame him. How does one react when the girl that couldn’t complete a sentence is now asking you out, just like that.

“You sure?”, the wariness was clear in his voice.

Scared that her voice will betray her again, Mikasa just nodded, her favorite head movement for the evening.

“All right then.”

Eren finished his drink, fished out some money and placed them on the counter before standing up. His eyes were still confused, but he gestured towards the exit in the classic “ladies first” move. Dude was probably still half-sure that Mikasa was making fun of him. Shooting a last look towards her group, her eyes met Sasha’s who gave her encouraging thumbs up. And then they were out, standing awkwardly in front of the bar.

“Is there a place you want to go?”, Eren asked, either dense as hell or the perfect gentleman, giving her an out if she wanted it.

Judging from his face, it was probably the latter, but Mikasa was still riding high on that bravery wave, determined to push through to the final goal.

“How about your place?” she offered.

To her surprise, Eren leaned closer, and Mikasa’s fist tensed on its own, ready to defend herself if the need arose. But all he did was look her in the eyes, studying her face for a moment.

“You’re hardly even drunk.”, he finally concluded, pulling back.

“That an issue?”

“It would be an issue if you were hammered.”, Eren corrected her, “I have no interest in that.”

“Well, I’m just slightly buzzed, so how about you get us a ride?”

“Do you really want me to?”

“I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”

Finally convinced that Mikasa was in her senses and wanting this, Eren was quick to grab them a taxi. Not that long after, they were standing in front of his flat’s door while he fumbled with the keys a bit before finding the right one. Cracking the door open, he stepped aside, letting Mikasa go in first.

“Welcome to my kingdom.”, he said, “Make yourself at home.”

It was a very nice flat, much better than her dorm. Pretty big too, Mikasa noted, making her wonder if he was living here on his own.

“Take your shoes off please,” a polite request from behind her, “I like to keep things clean.”

Her brother would be happy. After complying, Mikasa walked into something which was probably a living room, dominated by a large couch and a flat-screened TV. Following Eren’s wish of making herself at home, she sat down, eyes wandering. The room was very neat and organized, but it lacked personal items, those small trinkets that people collected through their lives and that could be used to get a bit of an insight into their personality. Even in his home, Eren remained a mystery.

The couch dipped, announcing his arrival. Turning to face him, Mikasa was once again hit by that beautiful green gaze, somehow making her feel all warm and tingly inside.

“So, what do we do now?”, Eren asked, smiling once more, “Something in mind?”

In rare moments like these, Mikasa usually asked herself a question. What would Sasha do? Well…

“Just one.”

Luckily, he sat close enough that when she moved in for the kiss, she didn’t have to go far. It still caught him a bit off guard, but Eren had quick reactions and was kissing her back before she could truly get irritated at the lack of response. And damn, he was good. She could say that he was experienced, because the movements of his tongue and lips were short but calculated, drawing gasps much faster than Mikasa thought was possible. He liked to take control too, as she found herself on her back very quickly, with Eren hovering over her, pressing her down into the soft material. The way he kissed was addicting, and with each one, Mikasa was more at peace with her reckless decision to come here. When he dropped his mouth down on her neck, the sharp bite made her moan, the realization that she will have a dark mark tomorrow flying out of the window. Her body acted on its own, turned on so efficiently, she didn’t even realize that her hips rubbed against him, against that hardness that was forming in Eren’s pants. Dropping a hand between them, she palmed that impressive length, earning a groan against the skin on her neck. Yet for some reason, it was that touch that broke the spell. She was enjoying this, he was, judging from the sounds he was making, too, so when Eren suddenly pulled back without saying anything Mikasa did not understand it at all.

Opening her eyes that she closed in her bliss before, Mikasa saw that Eren was sitting a bit away from her, watching her with a strange glint in his gaze.

“What’s wrong?”, she asked, more than hoping that he will continue.

Instead, he shook his head.

“I can’t do this.”

“Huh?”

Bullshit. Unless Eren was keeping a large flashlight in his boxers, he most definitely could do it. Question was, why didn’t he want to? He did say that she is pretty, right?

“I can’t…. Uhm... It’s hard to explain.”

“Try me.”

“I think it would be better to show you. Wait here? Please.”

Again so polite. Mikasa nodded, watching him give her a tight smile before he stood up and disappeared somewhere inside the flat. At least it gave her time to sit up and fix her ruffled dress, calming her horny mind for a moment. It didn’t feel nice to be so violently yanked from such a pleasant kiss, but Eren had something to get off his chest and if she wanted the night to go on, she had to deal with it first. Such is life, no good thing comes without baggage.

Eren was back before she could think about whatever the problem was. He looked the same, the only change being that his face was wet, most likely from a splash of cold water, and he was holding something in his hands. Sitting back, he offered the item to Mikasa for inspection, making her brows furrow. It was a rope. Reaching out, she took it, feeling it in her own hands, still having no idea what this had to do with Eren giving her the proverbial blue balls.

“It’s soft.”, she said out of nowhere, breaking the silence.

“It’s a special kind, doesn’t give burns or marks easily.”, Eren quickly supplied.

All right, that’s cool, but still….

“I don’t get it.”, she finally surrendered, looking up from the rope.

“The thing is, I don’t really have a normal sex.”

“Why?”

“Professional deformation.”

“H-Huh?”

“That’s a story for another day. Now, since you are apparently willing to continue, I have to ask you.”, Eren took the rope from her hands, flexing it between his fingers, “Would it be okay if I tied you up first?”

Talk about a giant red flag. The stranger not only had her in his home, he also wanted to tie her up as the first thing. Normally, Mikasa would immediately say no and leave. But then again, normal Mikasa would never find herself here in the first place. Normal Mikasa would never talk to strangers at a bar and ask them out. Normal Mikasa…….. was on vacation today.

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried it.”, she confessed.

“That’s fine, let’s start small, see if you can handle it.”, Eren immediately answered, “Hold out your hand.”

Following the command, Mikasa did so, watching when he looped the rope once around her wrist, tightening it with very practiced movements. This was not his first time, that was for sure.

“First a rule, if I do something you don’t like and you want me to stop immediately, just say red, okay?”

She nodded. That was easy enough.

“Good. Now close your eyes.”, Eren went on, “Tell me how you feel.”

She did so, surrendering to the darkness. The touch at her wrist was something new, but not unpleasant, the rope was indeed very soft. It hugged her close, like a bracelet, sliding over her skin with a hushed whisper that promised so much more, if she is willing.

“It’s… good. Good.”

“Okay, let’s try something harder. Can I have your other hand? Oh, and keep your eyes closed.”

When she offered it, Eren gently pushed her hands together and after a moment her hands were tied at the wrist.

“What now?”

Mikasa breathed in, breathed out, focused on that sensation. At first, it was fine, but then….

The memories, the blood, the darkness. And she was helpless to defend herself, she couldn’t do anything, because her hands were tied, she couldn’t….

Her breathing became ragged, heartbeat accelerating but not in a good way, and suddenly it was very, very cold in the room. Panic was choking her, rising into her throat and she had to get away, get free, now, now, NOW.

“Red red red red.”, Mikasa screamed those words out.

There was a kiss of something cold on her wrists but then the rope was gone and she was free, scooting away from her assailant on the sofa as far as it would let her. Finally opening her eyes, she saw Eren looking at her, with the cut rope in one hand and a knife in the other. Sensing her urgency, he probably decided to just cut the bindings instead of taking his time with undoing the knots. He also saw just how distressed Mikasa was and didn’t try to move closer, giving her all the space she wanted. Rubbing her wrists, calming her breathing and realizing that nothing happened, Mikasa slowly got her body back into control.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do it after all.”, she finally said, earning a sad smile from him.

“Of course, I understand.”

Her reaction was violent and over the top, but it was clear to see that whatever plagued Mikasa was not something she was willing to share, and Eren did not press the issue. Smart guy.

“I should go.”

“Let me call you a cab.”, he offered immediately, grabbing his phone before Mikasa could protest.

Sitting in silence, she listened as he got her a ride, gallant as ever.

“He will be here soon.”

A nod. Good enough.

“Listen, Mikasa.”, she looked up from her lap, eyes shining with unshed tears.

Eren wanted to hug her then but held himself back because he could say that physical contact was something very far down on her priority list right now.

“Can I give you my number?”

She blinked at him, not understanding why he would ever want something to do with her again.

“I meant what I said at the bar,“ Eren continued, “I would like to get to know you. How about you give me a call and we meet someday. I’ll treat you to lunch or something.”

She was still on the fence, though, this humiliating evening left her ashamed enough that meeting the guy who saw her at her lowest was not exactly appealing.

“I’ll just give you my number, you don’t have to give me yours.”, he offered, “So If you don’t want to see me again, just don’t call. I promise I won’t stalk you.”

Finally, thank heavens, she caved in. Must have been the promise of free food.

“All right.”

So one one-sided number exchange later, Mikasa said her goodbyes and was gone, leaving Eren alone with a faint ember of hope in his chest. It was strange since she said about two to three full sentences that evening, but Eren could not shake that pleasant feeling that he had in her presence. And what was that spine tingle that tried to tell him that he met her before? No way, a girl like that he would remember. Why? Because she was exactly his type.

#eremika #fanfic #random as fuck #its 4am bro

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modern-fae-female · 3 years

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Elorcan Modern AU Chapter 6 Lorcan’s POV

She just had to show up with the rest of her friends to see me, the Cadre, and Maeve arguing and taunting them. Then of course Maeve hade to go around calling her the ‘crippled girl.’ Usually I would go along to the names Maeve would call people, but for some reason that made me angry. I felt the sudden urge to tell her to shut up, but I held back because I know it would make tonight more awkward and I didn’t want her to be angry at me. I had zoned out again until I heard Maeve say we were leaving and I walked out with them to head out to football practice, sadly Dorian, Rowan, Aedion were also on the team which meant we were going to have to deal with them. I got to the locker rooms with the Cadre and got my uniform on. I could still feel the rage I had from Maeve taunting Elide and I hoped that I could get it to stop during practice.

“ Alright boys, stop frolicing around and get into formation and do some run and catches, pair up.”

Luckily I got paired up with Gavriel, one of the members of the Cadre I could stand most of the time.

“ So, your going over to Maeve’s tonight?” he asked.

“ Ya, why?”

“I heard during class, just wondering since she’s never had just you over before, right?”

“ Not that its any of your business but yes.”

“ Well good luck, she can be pretty unpredictable when she asks you over.”

“ What do you mean?”

“ Well I know what your thinking why she's asking you over, but when she asked me over she asked me to do some jobs for her.”

“ What kind of jobs,” now I was confused,

“ Like you said earlier, none of your business.”

We did some catches and played some runs until practice was over. It was now 5:00 and I knew I had to head over to Maeve’s in a little bit. I didn’t want to head home so I just decided to visit the library and get some work done until I had to head over.

I got on my motorcycle and drove to the library and walked in. Surprisingly

“ I went there quite often so I smiled to Mr.Illias as I walked in and went to my usual spot, a table beside the window where you could see most of the city. It calmed me, to see the outline of the city, its lights, the people walking by, the sun setting over the horizon. I sat down and pulled out my bag to do some work. I did some math and science until I pulled out the debate papers. How was I going to work with Elide on a six week project when I couldn’t even stand up for her today. I thought we made good progress during class, I don’t usually do small talk but with her it was easy, and now she probably hates me again. Great job Lorcan, you’re back at square one. I looked at the time, 6″15, shit! Maeve;’s house was at least 20 minutes away with no traffic, but it was rush hour. Maeve was not a patient person and I didn’t want to make a bad impression as it was my first time over alone. I quickly packed up all of my stuff and got on my motorcycle and drove as quickly as I could over to her house. I pulled into her driveway and ran up to the door and rang the doorbell. After a minute her maid opened the door nodded at me and let me in. She pointed me up the stairs and to Maeve’s room. Maybe Gavriel was wrong, maybe she did love me back and wanted to get together with me. I knocked and walked in to see her sitting at her vanity pulling up her hair.

“ Lorcan, so glad you could come.”

“ Of course.”

“ Now down to business,” wait what, “ You know that little new crippled girl, Elide Lochan?”

And there it was again, the rage, and like before I resisted the urge to tell her to shut up.

“ Yes I know her, I sit next to her in history and she’s my partner for the debate project.”

“ Exactly, that’s why you are the perfect person for this job,” what job is she talking about that had to do with Elide, “ We both know that Aelin the bitch and her little group of pathetic friends are always nice to everyone, but they were exceptionally quick to make her part of her little group and I want to know why. I know that there is some dirt there so I want you to find out everything you can about our little Lochan.”

“ Why is this so important,” now I was annoyed. I didn’t want to hurt Elide.

“ Lorcan, think about it. There is a reason that the little queen bitch snapped her up so quickly. There may be some dirt on them that we can find out and take our revenge on them.”

“ What exactly do you want me to find out?”

“ Anything, I’m planning to have this year be our best yet and I have some big plans for the school and I don’t want anyone interfering, so you find out anything that will make the rest of the student body turn on them and love me.”

Of course Maeve some clever plan, but did it have to involve Elide. Wait what am I thinking? Maeve is asking me personally to help her with a big job and I’m second guessing it. What is wrong with me, Maeve is everything and Elide is nothing. I should have no guilt about this, so why do I do?

“ Can I rely on you to find this information for me Lorcan?”

“ How am I supposed to get that from her?”

“ I don’t care, you have six weeks of working on a project with her and thats when I need all the information possible by. Befriend her, make her fall in love with you, threaten her, I don’t care, just get it for me, and maybe I will give you a little reward.

I defiantly wouldn’t threaten Elide, but befriending her or making her fall in love with me. I didn’t know how to do either. My ears perked up at the little reward Maeve would give me. I could do this. I mean I’m Lorcan Salvettere for gods sake. I’m Maeve’s most loyal follower, member of the Cadre, feared my most in school, and star player on the football team, I could totally get information from a little new girl, right?

“ So, do we have a deal Lorcan?” I looked up to see Maeve right in front of me with those eyes looking at me, she new that I would do anything to be with her.

“ Ya, we have a deal.”

“ I knew I could count on you,” she said while dragging her nail up my arm and to my shoulder and leaning up to my ear, “ And don’t fail, remember your reward.”

I nodded and I knew I was done here, so I walked out and back to my motorcycle to head my foster home, which my great luck just happened to me Fenrys and Connall’s family. They had known my parents and when my dad left when my mom was pregnant and my mom died when I was 8 years old, I was put in the system. I was in and out of a few families but managed to still be in the Adarlan school district. After a couple more years Fenrys and Connall family had taken me in. They are very nice, but it still doesn’t feel quite like home. I pulled into the house and walked into the home to my Rottweiler, Hellas, jumping on me.

“ Omph, really Hellas, I just walked in.”

“ Lorcan sweetheart, how was school,” Mrs.Moonbeam asked.

“ It was fine, have a big debate project.”

“ Oh Fenrys told me about it, he said you got paired with a new girl, Elide Lochan.”

“ Uh ya, I did.”

“ Well be nice to her, I’m sure its hard moving here after most people there have known each other for years. Well we just ordered pizza tonight so you can get a slice and do what you need, don’t forget to take Hellas for a walk soon.”

“ Thanks.”

I walked into the kitchen and washed my hands and got slices and walked up to my room. They had a big house so luckily we all had own rooms. Mine was very minimally decorated, it had some rock posters, my guitars, motorcycle helmets, my bookshelf which had lots of books, my desk, and bed. I walked and sat down on my bed and pulled out my phone. I had a text from an unknown number.

>> Hey, its Elide, your debate partner. Rowan gave me your number and I just had a couple questions to ask you about the project.

She got my number from Whitethorn? Now I had Maeve’s job to think about which weighed on my chest. How would it end, but that was to think about later, might as well try to befriend her.

<< Hey, and I know who you are Elide. And what questions.

>> Um.. did you want to start some things on your own before Wednesday or did you want to completely start then?

<< I did a little research about what the case was today so if you want to do that we can then cover the basics when we meet.

>> Sounds good! Thanks for letting me know.

<< Yep...

>> Everything ok?

>> I wanted to say sorry about after debate. I didn’t know Maeve would call you that

<< oh, it’s fine.. I expected it. I was just sad that you were there.

>> What do you mean?

<< Well when we talk you seem so nice, but then I see you with her and your a different person, someone who I don’t like.

Is that how she saw me? She didn’t like me?

<< Don’t get me wrong, you seem like a good person, but I just don’t know why you act like two different people.

>> I don’t.. at least not on purpose. Maeve and the Cadre are my friends and I do what I can to please them.

<< That doesn’t sound like friendship.

>> What do you know about friendship?

<< Well friends should accept who you are and make you the best version of yourself.. you should feel happy and accepted with your friends

>> Are you saying that I’m not.

<< I’m just answering your questions, I don’t get to chose what friends you make.

>> Ya, you don’t.

<< Well... I have some things to do, see you tomorrow.

>> See ya.

Well... this year got off to an interesting start.

@bri-loves-sunflowers

#elorcan #elide #lorcan salvaterre #modern #tog #elide x lorcan

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winstontabak · 3 years

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Top 5 Twisted, Yet Fun Games of All Time

I have been a video gamer since growing up as a kid (back in the 1980's), with my first game system being the classic NES, and I have played many different games since then. These games includes: Battletoads, Super Mario Bros, Sonic, Mega man, first person shooter games, roleplaying games, online games (such as Adventure Quest), and plenty of other hit games out there. Of course, I have also played plenty of twisted games too and some of them are surprisingly fun, humorous, and sometimes even popular, and in this article, I will talk about at least 5 of them.Game #1 - Become a "thug" in the Grand Theft Auto SeriesEver wondered what it might be like living the life as a thug and getting involved in organized crime (such as gangs) without actually becoming a criminal? In the Grand Theft Auto series (with the latest installment being The Ballad of Gay Tony), you do just that. The GTA universe is a popular roleplaying game, usually based in New York City (also known as Liberty City, though some games feature other cities such as Miami in Vice City and Los Angeles in San Andreas) where you usually control a thug (such as Nikko in GTA 4) and do missions for various crimbe bosses throughout the city. Some quests involves petty crimes such as stealing a prized car that a certain crime boss wants, while other missions may have you assassinate people that have crossed the criminal organization you are a part of, such as delinquents. In GTA San Andreas, for example, Carl Johnson joins the Grove Street gang and gets involved in a gang war with rival gangs, such as the Ballas (though he also works for crime bosses such as El Salvador, Doctor Rosenburg, as well as a corrupt government agent named,Lumber Jack Forest Wood aChop Mike Torreno to name a few). Many of the newer games also have plenty of side missions you can do, such as spraying graffiti on select buildings in San Andreas, take on multiple girlfriends (CJ for example, can have up to 6 girlfriends), as well as doing smuggling missions (such as hauling freight from the badlands to Las Venturas while dodging police officers in San Andreas). Of course, on the side if you rather just play for fun, you could always go on rampages in the game, where you can steal cars, get a little trigger happy, obtain wanted stars and drive the local police crazy, drive like a maniac around the city, as well as trying to get your guy killed. By the way, you never really have to worry about getting busted or wasted in the game as your guy will simply respawn at the nearest hospital or police station, only to go on another rampage once more (by the way, never try this in real life a this aspect is very unrealistic of course). Similar games: Saints Row, Gun and BullyHere are some interesting stuff you can do in the GTA univers that you can't get away with in real life:Your primary form of transportation are cars you jack from unsuspecting people, and you can usually get away with it unless if there is a cop near by (who will try to bust you if he sees you jacking a car). Cops will simply bust you, take your weapons and some of your money as a brige, and simply release you for even the most henious offenses (such as going on rampages). And when you get released, you can do more crimes as well, with the same results. Imagine doing that stuff in real life. You would probably go to jail for a very long time (or worse depending on the offense) for similar crimes committed in real life. If your guy dies, he will simply respawn at a nearby hospital. In GTA San Andreas, you can have up to 6 girlfriends at a time without having to worry about them getting jealous. In real life, trying to take on multiple girlfriends is quite risky as they do get jealous (at least from a guy's perspective of course), and even the slightest form of disloyalty (such as cheating) can lead to disastrous results on a relationship, as was the case for Scott towards the end of the third season of the reality TV series, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" when Kourtney learns that Scott was cheating on her (though luckily for him,

the two seemed to have gotten back together by season 4). And plenty of other odd stuff that you can't really expect to get away with in real life. Game 2- Fight to the death in the Mortal Kombat SeriesIf any game were to take after the infamous gladiators events during the days of ancient Rome (where people fight each other to the death), it would probably be the Mortal Kombat series. On the surface, Mortal Kombat takes after similar fighting games, such as Street Fighter 2, where two opponents fight each other in matches consisting of three rounds, with the opponent winning at least 2 out of three rounds being the victor of the match. Usually, the loser simply gets knocked out in his/her losing round, with the winner moving onto the next level. However, in the Mortal Kombat series, there is a whole new twist to fighting: the winner of each match has the option of terminating his or her opponent using special finisher moves called, fatalities. If you have played any of the Mortal Kombat games, you would know that when you knock out your opponent during the final round of a match, the announcer (presumably Shao Kahn in most games) will say "Finish Him!" (or her if your opponent is a female character). When this happens, if you have five seconds or so (some games have cheat codes that allow you to disable the fatality timer if you want extra time to pull it off) to finish off your opponent by entering a certain button combination in the right sequence and in the right distance within the time frame (the exact move does vary by fighter by the way. Pulling a fatality (or similar move, such as animalities, friendships, etc) can be tricky at first, but if it is done correctly, a special tune usually plays, the screen goes dark, and your character will do a special move that basically finishes off his/her opponent. Each character has their own fatalities, by the way (Scorpion, for example takes off his "mask" and hurles fireballs at his defeated foe, while Sonya will blow a kiss of death at her foe that incinerates him/her instantly). The list of fatality moves goes on and on (some people have posted fatality demonstrations on YouTube by the way if you are curious about all of the moves), but you get the picture. By the way, if you prefer not to do fatalities, you could always do a friendship move (where your character "befriends" his/her foe), a babality (where your opponent gets turned into an infant), or even simply knock out your opponent with an uppercut. Despite the obvious dark nature to the Mortal Kombat saga, the games have been quite popular as there have been many sequels in the series (my favorite is probably Mortal Kombat Trillogy), several movies produced (with the latest one being Mortal Kombat Armageddon), a short lived cartoon series, as well as sound tracks released. Of course, this game is probably not recommended to the younger audience or people that are easily offended as these games definiately has death matches in them (similar to MTV's Celebrity Death Match). Similar games: Killer InstinctGame #3 - Play "God" Sims 2 (and most other games in the series)I don't want to sound blasphemous (I am a Christian by the way), but do you ever wonder what it might be like to play God for a day? It might sound wiered, but in SIms 2 (and similar games), you will pretty much be doing that. Sims 2 is an open ended game for the PC (though there are also versions on the consoles, such as Play Station 2) where you build a virtual home in a virtual community, along with creating a simulated family (consisting of a mother, father, kids, etc) that you will help manage as you play through the game. Sim families function much like a typical family you would see at least here in America: they work, have emotions, go to school (if they are sim kids), do chores, socialize with other sims, get into relationships, sleep, relax, watch TV, build skills for a job or career they have, and sometimes even raise a dog or cat (at least in Sims 2 Pets). You could simply watch them live out life and make their own choices, or you can

intervine and give them stuff to do. For example, if they need to go to bed at a certain time in order to get to work or school on time and they are say watching TV, you could put it in their minds to go to bed, and usually they will. Maybe there is a person that you want your sim to meet or interact with, you can have your character strike up a conversation with another (complete with dalogue options of course, allowing you to choose how they interact with each other). Or maybe you need to help the sim keep their motives up (such as having them eat when their hunger stats are low, using the bathroom when their bladder stats get low, interating with other sims when depressed, etc). Of course, as "God" in their world, you can also take after Satan and abuse your powers and ruin the lives of your sims. Here is a breakdown of some funny and twisted stuff you can do to your sims:Cause a sim to become a jerk around other sims. Whenever you have your sim strike up a conversation with another sim, dialogue options will open up, and while you can make your guy or girl friendly, you can also cause him/her to say and do things to be mean (such as insulting others, slapping others, tell lies, gossiping about other sims, or even picking a fight). By the way, be careful about creating fights between family sims as some sims will move out if they take too much abuse from other sims. Sit back and do nothing. Usually the sim(s) will make bad choices and suffer the consequences for it (for example, if he/she misses work too often, he/she will get fired). Allow kids to get bad grades in school (usually happens by allowing them to skip the school bus when it comes). The only downside to this is that they can be sent to military school if their grades get too low. Kill off a sim. One way you can do this is simply by letting him/her to starve to death. Of course, there are plenty of other ways for a sim to die (such as electrocution, drowning in pools, getting scared to death by ghosts, etc). Once a sim dies, beware of the fact that they can come back as ghosts and haunt your sim family (by the way, in Sims 2, one can get scared to death if their mood is too low when the ghost is active in the house). By the way, one funny thing you can do in the PS2 version of Sims 2 is that you can actually control the ghosts, which can be quite hilarious as you can scare other sims, possess them, and even cause them to behave erratically (such as throwing up). Cause your sim(s) to get abducted by aliens. Usually happens if they look into a telescope at night too often. By the way, in SIms 2 for the PC, there is actually a cheat I found a while back that allows your sim to get abducted at will instead of by random and even caused my entire sim family to get abducted by aliens as well). If you are a control freak, you can also turn off free will (it is usually on by default) and bend them to your will. Can be useful when dealing with a stubborn sim that won't listen to you when you give them a tas k to do (no matter how foolish it is). The list goes on, but as you can see, Sims 2 can be quite twisted when you think of it and yet it has been quite popular especially among the younger audience, and has spawned many sequels (including Sims 3), YouTube videos, as well as console versions of the game which tend to be a bit different from the PC versions (in the PSP version of Sims 2, for example, the game is more of a roleplaying game where you control this dude who finds himself in Strangetown, a desert city that has lots of paranormal happenings in it, and go on a quest to stop an evil genius from taking over the city and escape the ghosts and aliens infested town).Game 4 - Play as Alien Invaders in "Destroy All Humans!"Games involving aliens have been quite popular probably since the days of Atari (such as Space Invaders) and have evolved quite a bit since then. There have been plenty of different games and even films in this genre, with titles you are probably familiar with including: Space Invaders, the Simpsons Game (Kang and Kronos launch an alien

invasion near the midpoint of the game), Independence Day, the Star Wars and Star Trek sagas (not all of the alien race are hostile in Star Wars or Star Trek, of course), Aliens vs Predator, the Contra series, as well as even the Halo series (where you get a hostile alien race bent on wiping out the entire human race). Usually you fight against the aliens, however in "Destroy All Humans", you actually get to play as the aliens themselves, controlling an alien named, Crypto who is a part of the Furon empire, an alien race that wants to acquire human brains for some odd reason. The game is pretty big and spans many missions, starting with Crypto crash landing in farmlands and terrorizing both cows and farmers alike, and later with Crypto launching a full scale invasions against towns and cities. And yes, you do play as the bad guys in this game as your job is to conquer Earth (particularly North America as the game is centered in the United States). Besides terrorizing civilians, you can also take on human form and blend in with the crowd (can be useful for infiltration missions, for example), go up against government agents (such as the "men in black"), do mind control on people, making them do as you wish, razing villages with your flying saucer, as well as taking on huge bosses that try to stop you in your invasion (which is natural of course when you are controlling a hostile alien race bent on the destruction of the world). Despite the twisted nature of this game, it can be quite humorous when Crypto goes on rampages, along with creating hysteria among citizens, harassed cows, destroys buildings using his saucer, as well as battling government agents trying to stop Crypto. Similar games: Alien Homid and OverlordGame 5 - Conker's Bad Fur Day (also known as Conker's Live and Reloaded if you have played the Xbox version)Platform games have been popular probably since the debut of Mario Bros in the 1980's, and have spawned many popluar titles in the genre, with hit titles including: Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kirby, Castlevania, Crash Bandacoot, the Mega Man series, as well as the SImpsons Game. Many of these games have similar themes: you play through different levels in various kinds of terrain, go up against an evil villain and his/her cronies (such as Dr Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog series), fight plenty of huge bosses (usually cronies and close associates of the evil genius, unless if you are on the final showdown), and save the day (such as recuing Princes Peach from Bowser in Super Mario Bros). Most of these games are obviously geared more towards the younger audience (barring some games, such as the newer Castlevania games given the "M" ratings on some of the newer titles, such as "Curse of Darkness"), especially in the case of games like Mario Bros and Sonic, where kids will usually play these games more than adults do. Anyways, with that said, there another platform game that I have played through that is quite twisted when you think of it: "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (I played the Xbox version by the way). Conker's Bad Fur Day appears to be a typical 3D platform game (Super Mario 64 style), complete with a storyline, boss fights, an evil genius to defeat (namely the Panther King), and many colorful stages to play through. However, if you have checked the rating for the game, you would probably see the "M" rating. That is because Conker's Bad Fur day is pretty much a platformer that is geared more towards an older audience. Here are some features in this game you will usually not find in most other games in this genre:Most of the characters swear (though in some versions, the swearing is censored by a beeping voice when they swear). There are some crude levels in the game. In one area in the game, for example, there is a poop themed level where you are surrounded by poop and one of the bosses you fight in this area is literally one giant piece of poop (his voice actually reminds you of that of Christopher Lee, with the heavy British accent, though he is actually voiced by another guy named Chris

Marlow). There are some sensual scenes in the game. In one level, for example, you have to help a bee "pollenate" a feminine sunflower plant. Also, Conker does have a girlfriend, named Berrie, who gets kidnapped by the Panther King. There is a grim reaper in the game that wants to kill cats for some odd reasons (his voice is somewhat funny as well). Alcoholism does play a role in this game. At the beginning of the game, Conker has a nasty hangover after a night of drinking beer before the story officially begins. Also, alcohol is a powerup that Conker can use in the game that causes him to get drunk and urinate on foes (funny and crude if you ask me). There are plenty of other adult themes in this game (though I won't list them all), but you get the picture. This wacky game is sure to both offend some people (for example, if you are a kid, this is certainly not a game you would want to play with your parents near by) and make other laugh.Well, there you go, those are some of the most twisted and yet surprisingly fun and sometimes popular games I have seen throughout my gaming career. Obviously there are more titles I haven't mentioned (such as Overlord, Bully, etc) but, you are welcome to add to this list if you want to and feel free to comment on this article as you are free to agree or disagree with me.

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violetsmoak · 4 years

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Philtatos [9/?]

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20101543/chapters/47690671

Blanket Disclaimer

Summary: During a patrol where Red Hood and Red Robin cross paths, Jason is infected with the blood of the Eros, the ancient God of Love, who informs them that they must track down his missing bow and arrows, or Jason will go slowly mad with an obsessive desire–for Tim. Though overwhelmed by the sudden attention being paid to him, Tim sets to work trying to solve the case, before Jason succumbs to madness. In the meantime, Jason discovers that there’s more than godlike powers at work here, as well as a legacy that reaches back through the sands of time.

Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)

Beta Reader: None at the moment.

JayTimBingo Prompts This Chapter: #gold #warriors #gods in disguise

First Chapter

________________________________________________________________

“Just going to put this out there, but if breaking into a flower shop is your idea of a first date, it might explain your lack of game,” Jason remarks. Tim glares up from the rear door where he’s disabling the building’s paltry security system. The other man sniggers, the sound echoing through the vocal modulator of his helmet. “Too soon?”

“You’re an ass,” Tim informs him, clipping a wire to ensure there will be no outgoing calls to the alarm company.

Jason is still chuckling as he picks the lock to get them in. He’d complained when Tim insisted on no unnecessary smashing of their way into some innocent owner’s shop. Thankfully, he’d also yielded with an uncharacteristic lack of fight.

Vigilantes cause enough property damage fighting the villain of the week, we’re not going to send some poor guy’s insurance premiums up because the Red Hood wants to kick in a door.

“How come you never broke into a flower shop for me?” Steph wants to know, voice crackling across the comms.

“That ship sailed when you hit me in the face with a brick,” Tim mutters as he and Jason slip through the rear entrance and begin looking around.

“Hold a grudge much?”

“Looks like the roses are back here,” Jason says, shining a flashlight into a cold storage display. ��Think the color affects the spell?”

“Everything about this is cliché already, so I’m guessing it has to be red,” Tim deadpans, digging into his belt for a few bills to pay for their break-in and theft. Meanwhile, Jason reaches into the display and removes a bunch of red roses.

“Gotta say, this is easier than the usual job. Kind of lackluster.”

Tim raises an eyebrow. “Feeling cheated? I could queue up the Mission Impossible soundtrack for you on my phone.”

“More like Beauty and the Beast, given the situation.” Jason considers and then snorts, “Actually, definitely like Beauty and the Beast. You know that story was actually based on our annoying feathered friend?”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. In the original version of the myth, an oracle tells this girl Psyche she’s destined to marry ‘a monster that neither god nor mortal can resist.’”

“Eros.”

“Bingo.” Jason pauses, seeming to remember where they are, and then clears his throat, holding up the flora. “So, we good? Ready to channel your inner Zatara?”

“Only if I can be Zatanna.”

They leave the shop.

“Go for it. I’ve met that cousin of hers. He’s a douche.”

Tim laughs out loud. It’s not anything he hasn’t heard before—or agreed with.

The comms crackle then, bringing him back to present.

“Are you flirting?” Steph asks, sounding amused and awed. “Oh my god, you are. This is totally you flirting with each other, isn’t it?”

“We’re not flirting,” Tim grumbles, looking away from Jason, pulling his cowl down a little lower to hide his warming cheeks. He had completely forgotten about the open commlink.

“I’m flirting,” Jason confirms without shame. “But I’m allowed. I have a note.”

“You are both embarrassments,” Damian disdains.

“I think it’s cute,” Steph coos. “I know it’s temporary and all, but we should give them a ship name.”

“A what?”

“A name for their relationship. A portmanteau. All the celebs do it. Like Kimye. And technically Tim is a celebrity, so—”

“Keep the comms clear,” Dick growls, attempting to mimic the Batman voice, but there’s a tightness to it that screams discomfort. “And no names in the field.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Aw, are we makin’ you blush, Dickhead?” Jason jeers. “I thought you out of everyone would appreciate a good flirt…”

“Not when it involves my brothers. Magically induced feelings or not, I don’t need a play-by-play…”

“Consider this repayment for all the times I walked in on you and Kori at the Tower,” Tim says easily.

Dick groans. “You really did grow up mean.”

Jason roars with laughter.

“This surprises you?” Damian interjects. “He had a hit list of potential threats with all of us on it.”

Jason whistles. “Seriously? Babybird, I’m impressed! Also, annoyed—how am I the only one that gets labeled the bad one?”

“Because you don’t understand the meaning of subtle.”

“Careful, Robin, that almost sounded like a compliment.”

“Can we just get out of here?” Tim mumbles, ears still burning a bit.

It’s not like he’ was trying to flirt or lead Jason on in any way. It just seems like treating this enforced dynamic lightly, trying to find some humor in things, makes everything seem a little less…terrible.

And okay, maybe he’s kind of enjoying the fact their recent interactions are lacking their usual bite. When he was a kid, he dreamed about befriending Robin; after Jason died and even after he resurrected, that became something impossible.

But this, even in the backdrop of a horrible situation, it’s like getting a taste of that.

Which is dangerous, since it’s not going to last.

No matter how tightly Jason holds Tim’s hand as they speed toward Robinson Park, or continues to watch him as they park Redbird under camouflage nearby. He can’t know for sure, but he suspects that under the helmet, Jason may be smiling at him.

Like he’s his favorite person in the world.

But that’s why Eros said he was the one who had to do that, right?

It still sucks.

“Everyone in position?” Dick’s voice crackles over the comm line. “Batman – north quadrant.”

“Robin – south quadrant. This is still a bad idea.”

“Most of our ideas are bad ones. Batgirl – east quadrant.”

“Red and Red at the drop point,” Tim says, scanning the open glade they’ve chosen. “We’ve got the west quadrant once we set the trap.”

He crouches down on the ground and sets to work.

“You really think an electric cage is gonna be enough?” Jason asks as he loiters beside Tim, twirling the rose between thumb and forefinger. “Considering her talents avoiding capture, Carrie Cutter probably knows how to get out of a trap.”

“Which is why we distract her and knock her out as soon as we confirm she has the diviners,” Tim reminds him as he finishes placing the electromagnetic field generators in the ground. Rather than dig up the earth, he hides them beneath debris and branches.

“Which is why you distract her, and I knock her out,” Dick reminds over the comms. “You two are to get clear of the area as soon as the spell is done.”

“Father would not approve of us relying on spells.”

“Luckily B’s not here,” Jason replies, using a knife to sharpen the rose’s stem to a point. “Now what?”

“Eros said we have to join hands, and then you have to say this—” Tim digs into his belt and passes the ripped magazine cover, “—apparently it invokes the words of Eros. I can’t read it, but he said you could.”

Jason takes the page.

“How the hell would I know how to—oh.”

“I guess the same way you were speaking ancient Macedonian?”

“Looks like.”

“Anytime now, imbeciles,” Damian snaps in their ear. “The sooner this foolish plan fails, the sooner I can say ‘I told you so’ and return home.”

“Sounds like the toddler’s gettin’ cranky,” Jason snorts. “Must be past his bedtime.”

“At least he’s being optimistic,” Steph points out. “Assuming we’re getting back home and all.”

“Once again you’ve displayed your tendencies towards selective hearing, Fatgirl, I said I intend to return home, not that I expected you to do the same.”

“Charming,” Tim drawls.

“Damian’s right,” Dick interrupts. “Let’s get this over with.”

There’s a moment of fumbling where Tim grabs the rose so that Jason can use one hand to hold the incantation and take hold of Tim’s with his other.

Tim stares down at their joined hands, Jason’s on top of his; he notes the collection of scars on the backs of his knuckles. Knuckles his face has been intimately acquainted with in the past—

“Here goes,” Jason mutters, brandishing the invocation. When he next speaks, it’s in a language Tim has never heard before, as incomprehensible as what he was saying the other day when he nodded off during the movie.

And yet it still sends shivers down Tim’s spine.

The rose glows with golden light and then flies out of his hand to hover in the air above them.

“What’s next?”

“He said something about palms together, so—”

They readjust their hands.

“No, wait, yours should be on top,” Jason suggests. “Minimize the chance of you getting in on this oh-so-fun obsession thing.”

“Yeah, hard pass…”

As soon as their hands are horizontal over the ground, the rose gives a pulse of energy and then shoots downward, piercing fully through both their hands.

“Motherfucker!” Jason shouts.

Like Tim, it’s probably only years of training that keeps them from jerking their hands away from each other with the rose still piercing them.

“What happened?” Dick demands.

“We’re embracing a new career as human pincushions,” Jason snarls.

“He didn’t tell me what was going to happen,” Tim says through gritted teeth; the pain is nothing compared to what any of them have been through, but it still makes his stomach twist like he wants to throw up.

Blood wells around the stem of the rose, sliding around their hands and dripping onto the ground. They stay completely still, waiting for the flow to drip to an end and then stop completely.

In that instant, the rose vanishes like nitrocellulose paper, freeing their hands. Jason shakes his hand, still cursing as he studies the wound, while Tim kneels in the dirt to etch the symbol of Eros into the ground.

There’s a golden shimmer against the grass, and then—

Nothing.

Tim won’t lie, he sort of expected more smoke and explosions or some indication that something magical was about to happen.

From the way Jason’s head tilts to one side, he expected the same. “Now what?”

“Now we wait, I guess. She’s human, it’s not like she’s going to teleport here I guess.”

“She has been taking the slow route so far…”

“Take advantage of it,” Dick orders. “Get to cover.”

“And no making out,” Steph says cheerfully. “No one wants to hear sucking noises.”

“Seriously, Batgirl?”

“Why would you say that?” Damian sounds scandalized.

“Muting our comms then. Wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities,” Jason says, tapping the side of his helmet. There is a chorus of complaints and disgusted groans in the background. A beat later, his shoulders tense like he’s wincing and he glances at Tim, head ducked down. “Sorry. That made it sound like—”

“No, they’re being jerks,” Tim says as he mutes his own comms. “Let them stew.”

Jason’s mischievous, conspiratorial laugh is entirely worth the flack Tim knows he’s going to get from Dick later.

They retreat to their designated spot, crouching down to await the supposed arrival of their query.

“I was sort of expecting us to be struck by lightning or something,” Jason admits after several minutes, drumming his fingers against his thigh in a quick and nervous rhythm. His other hand keeps reaching for the catch of his helmet, then jerking back downward, like he’s fighting the impulse to pull it off. Whether to tear at his hair or scrape at the skin of his neck, Tim isn’t sure, but either compulsion worries him.

He’s been good so far tonight, ever since they all got their marching orders, but now that he’s sitting still, he’s clearly without a distraction.

Tim stretches across the small distance between them and takes his hand in his.

“Struck by lightning, huh?” Tim says, swallowing against the awkwardness. He can feel Jason’s eyes on him from beneath the helmet. “Looking to defect to the Allen family?”

“Well, red is my color,” Jason jokes tensely, then shrugs. “Actually, I was thinking in terms of the gods. It happened a lot in all the myths, where if you pissed someone off Zeus would fry you with a bolt of lightning. Or, you know, Hera would trick some poor girl to ask to see Zeus’s in all his immortal glory and then she’d get fried.” He snorts. “Almost all the myths basically boil down to trouble started because Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants.”

“Clearly,” Tim mutters. “Guess Flash and Kid Flash were lucky they got powers instead of dead. Somehow the Big-Pile-Of-Dust doesn’t have the same charm as Scarlet Speedster.”

Things go quiet again.

Out in the open, there’s still no sign of Carrie Cutter. Tim wonders if maybe this whole thing really is just Eros having fun at their expense.

Oh well. Even if it all turns out to be a bust, this is keeping Jason’s mind occupied. Better than anything we could do for him locked up in the manor…

“I’m glad it was you I was working with at the time, and not Grayson or the bat brat,” Jason says suddenly.

“Why’s that?” Tim asks absently.

“Because you’re not family.”

Tim tries not to react. He’s had punches to the gut that hurt less than that.

It’s pretty much what I figured, but still…

“At least not the way they are,” Jason continues, oblivious to Tim’s reaction. “Nightwing wasn’t around much when I was a kid, but it was like having an older brother in college or something, right? Anytime I picked up the phone to bitch about the old man, he’d take the call.”

Tim swallows, needing a beat to ensure his voice doesn’t sound heavy, and ventures, “Did you…do that often?”

He’s not sure how to take the older man’s sudden candidness.

“More than you’d think. Not the first year—he still wasn’t that real to me before then, just a name I kept getting compared to. Also, he was always fighting with B, or treating me like his replacement.”

“Imagine that,” Tim says wryly.

“What, you thought you were the only one to get the cold shoulder?”

“His cold shoulder didn’t involve causing permanent scarring.”

Jason winces. “Fair.”

“Forget it. I told you before, water under the bridge,” Tim dismisses. “How’d you end up making good with N, back then?”

“I ran away. Tried to make it on my own because B was being…you know. Shit went down and I came back to the manor, and then Dickiebird showed up and told me about how he ran away shortly after B took him in.”

Tim blinks. “I never knew that.”

“Must’ve been before you took up your stalking hobby,” Jason says, and Tim can hear the grin in his words. “After that, he was more real to me. And he tried to actually be there. Except when he was off-planet.” He pauses for a moment, thoughtful, and Tim remembers that that’s where Nightwing was when Jason was making plans to go to Ethiopia. “And then with the brat—we come from the same place. Mothers sold us out, don’t play well with others, never really had a childhood…trying to toe B’s stupid line when we know it’s never gonna work…”

“You don’t know that.”

“Agree to disagree, Timbers. The point is, with those two, I get it. They’re family, even if I don’t want them to be. But you—”

Tim’s shoulders slump. “Not damaged enough?”

“Bullshit, you’re plenty damaged. You chose this shit, and there’s a special kind of insanity in that.” That should be an insult, but Jason’s tone is admiring. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m relieved. That I’m fixating on you and not—look, I couldn’t take the incest guilt on top of losing my mind. It’s one less thing to hate myself about.”

There’s a lot to unpack there, Tim thinks, especially that bit about Jason hating himself. He opens his mouth to say something about it, but then Dick’s voice growls, “We’ve got company. Everyone stay sharp.”

Looks like we’ll have to table things until later…

A motorcycle speeds into the park, the growl of the motor shattering the otherwise quiet night. The woman upon it, clad in green combat gear and without a mask or even a helmet over her bright red hair, practically leaps off the bike without stopping, letting it skid to one side.

Her eyes are wild, and her arms snap out in front of her in an oddly zombiesque. Tim understands the reason for the latter when he takes note of the wrist-mounted crossbows on both hands.

Ten to one those are Eros’ diviners.

Cutter marches straight up the sigil, which shimmers and vanishes, and she stops, looking around.

Tim’s finger hovers over his wrist computer, waiting with bated breath as she edges closer and closer to the trap.

“Come on,” Jason murmurs under his breath, attention fixed on that as well.

“Where is he?” Cutter growls and Tim is surprised at how rough her voice is compared to the way she’s sounded in various interrogation videos he’d used for research. “This is his blood, so where is the brat?”

She finally takes the final step and Tim engages the cage.

Fingers of electrical energy spring to life around her, creating a contained dome around Cutter. She snarls, trying to jump backward, but the forcefield keeps her immobile. She can’t even move her arms.

Across the clearing, Dick materializes from the shadows in silence.

“Be careful, Batman,” Tim cautions in a low voice. “The electric field was supposed to knock her out.”

“If you really thought it would be that easy, you haven’t been doing this long enough,” Jason murmurs.

Tim ignores that. “The field will keep her from shooting you while she’s in there, but the minute I deactivate it, she’ll try something. Get her disarmed first.”

“It’s like you think this is my first time,” Dick mumbles before he growls out his imitation of Bruce, “Carrie Cutter. You made a mistake coming to Gotham.”

The woman’s slightly manic expression freezes on her face and then smooths into something predatory. “Oh, I see. So, you’re the Batman. I have to say, I’m underwhelmed.”

Dick remains silent, and Jason snorts, leaning in a little too close to Tim to murmur, “Wonder how hard it is for him right now not to make a joke.”

Tim grins.

“Your murder spree ends tonight,” Batman says. “If you cooperate, it will go better for you.”

“Isn’t that what every guy says?” Cutter purrs. “What if I like it a bit rough?”

“It’s up to you. You’re getting arrested either way, but if you work with me, I can ensure a lighter sentence.”

Tim can practically hear Jason grinding his teeth at that. He nudges him.

Now’s not the time for a rant about Red Hood’s brand of justice…

“That’s awful accommodating for the Big Bat. I must have something you want,” the woman muses, shifting as she continues to test the bounds of the forcefield. She glances down at the ground and then snorts. “You’re working with Eros. The little brat wants his toys back, doesn’t he?”

Damn. So much for surprise.

“And if you give them up without bloodshed, we can figure out a deal.”

Her expression becomes pinched. “What makes you think I care about deals?”

“Because without making one, you wouldn’t have been able to steal those in the first place.” He gets closer until he’s looming over her. “Tell me who helped you steal the diviners. If I know who it is, I can protect you from them better.”

“Protect me,” she repeats. “What makes you think I need protection?”

“I already have intel that says the only ones who know about the diviners and how to wield them would have to be Olympians or beings of similar nature. They don’t tend to be the most altruistic—or forgiving.”

“Well, you have a point there,” Carrie agrees with a smirk, and Tim suddenly has a really bad feeling about this. “But then, I knew what I was getting into when I struck my little bargain.”

“We can help you,” Batman insists. “You don’t have to be alone in this, Carrie.”

“Now see,” she purrs, “your mistake is thinking I came here without their help.” Her eyes burn a bright, unnatural red, and her entire body begins to glow. “Or that we mind a bit of bloodshed.”

⁂

“Well, that, wasn’t in her files,” Tim remarks lightly, in a mild voice that tries not to betray the ‘oh shit we’re screwed’ sentiment of the moment.

“I’m not usually one for negotiations, but I think that means they failed,” Jason remarks.

“Your grasp of the obvious is impeccable!” Damian sneers across the comms.

Jason can’t help blink as Cutter seems to draw into herself, her back rounding and arms tucked in before she emits a wordless growl. She shoves her hand right up and through the electric cage holding her—and wraps it around Batman’s throat faster than he can avoid it.

I know she’s enhanced and all, but something tells me she’s not usually that fast!

Sparks sizzle and fly as the cage around her shorts out, and she lifts Batman over her head.

Or strong.

Freed from the cage, Cutter pulls back her left arm, priming the miniature crossbow on it. Jason doesn’t hesitate—he’s got his guns out and takes two shots in rapid succession, hitting both her wrists directly where the devices are attached.

Cutter curses as they fall to the ground, dropping Batman, who immediately tries to reach for the discarded diviners. A steel-toed boot to the chest and more force than should be possible stops him, leaving him momentarily winded on the ground.

“Converge!” Tim orders. “Don’t let her pick up those weapons again!”

“No, I thought we’d let her have them, she seems so reasonable!” Steph snarks, but is already dashing from her hiding spot.

“Hood—get the diviners while she’s distracted!”

“Easier said than done, Red!”

Steph reaches Cutter first, lunging forward with a right hook that is neatly evaded. Cutter grabs her by the shoulders and shoves her downward, kneeing her in the face. As Steph stumbles back, trying to shake off the blow, Cutter backhands her.

Dick is back on his feet, kicking out with a roundhouse that Cutter ducks before grabbing hold of him again. Undeterred, he headbutts her and this time it’s Cutter that staggers back, reeling enough for a front-kick that nearly downs her.

“Stay down, Carrie,” he growls.

“It’s cute you think that’s going to happen,” she laughs. The timber of the sound doesn’t seem quite right for some reason.

As she rallies, she aims a kick to Tim’s face when he tries to get close enough to grab the diviners, forcing him to bend backward. Jason snarls, whipping a knife at her face in retaliation, which she catches and lobs back at him, forcing him to bend backward to avoid it.

As reaches for a gun, Steph recovers, trying for a downward chop to Cutter’s blind spot. However, the redhead rallies, manages to get an arm around her neck and hold Steph up, choking her in the crook of her elbow.

“Go on and take the shot, warrior,” Cutter taunts.

Goddamnit—she knows I can’t.

Normally he would, but his hands aren’t exactly steady today. Beyond that, he gets the sense that training or not, Cutter is a lot faster right now than she should be.

Damian materializes behind her and tries to clothesline her, but this fails as she whips around and punches him in the solar plexus, making him lurch backward.

“I never liked children...”

Dick’s attempted right hook fails, too. Cutter twists around and knees him in the jaw, all while Steph continues to struggle against the chokehold. Her arms slap uselessly against her adversary, who still has the strength to punch the still rallying Batman so hard he flies backward several yards, forcing Tim to duck out of the way or be bowled over.

Damn it. She’s taking them out too fast, there’s no opening to get the diviners.

Cutter throws Batgirl over her shoulder and into the ground, hard. Steph doesn’t move, and Cutter makes another attempt to pick up the diviners.

His line of sight clear now, Jason fires several rounds, targeting her joints, but somehow, she avoids them all.

“That…should not be possible.”

Jason knows his marksmanship capabilities, and unless she’s got precognition, she shouldn’t be able to avoid being hit.

Definitely faster than human. Either that, or she’s got tougher skin than expected and just isn’t bleeding.

As he pauses to reload, Red Robin creeps up behind her, once more trying to get his hands on one of the abandoned crossbows. Cutter spots him, grabs him by the folds of his cape and sends him flying straight at Jason, who’s forced to stop shooting and catch him.

“You okay?”

“Fine—let me up.”

Jason hesitates a minute.

Even with the body armor, he’s way too small…

“Hood!”

“Right—yeah,” Jason shakes his head, forcing himself to remember the fact they’re in the middle of a fight.

Several yards away, Damian darts back again, this time with a sword that Jason’s sure he’s not supposed to have with him. He swings in an underhand arc at her unguarded back, but she whirls around, diverts the blow by catching and pushing away the hilt. Robin is already twisting his body around, trying to aim a downward swipe to her abdomen—and she bends back to avoid it with ease. He makes a third attempt, slices the blade overhead again, and she dodges it by inches, the steel passing harmlessly over her. He doesn’t get a fourth shot, as this time she grabs hold of his hands where they grip the sword and throws him away from her, sword and all. The blade slips from his hands as he skids to the ground, rolling several times in the dirt.

Tim’s sprinting forward again, bo staff at the ready, but Cutter is ready to catch him, neatly avoiding his attempt to shatter her collarbone with the staff. Still, he turns, using the momentum to follow through, shoving the staff backward to hit her abdomen. Before it can connect, her hands fasten around the staff, and she tries to pull him forward. Red Robin evades her hold the first time, freeing his staff and comes back around with an overhand swing from the right, but Cutter dodges, shoving a palm at his sternum and sending him flying into Batman.

With Tim clear once again, Jason lets loose another volley of gunfire, stalking forward. His accuracy improves the closer he gets—he can see her clothing shred in places as the bullets glance by. She seems to notice this too, because then she’s bending forward and kicking out, foot under Batgirl and sending her directly into Jason’s path, forcing him to drop his weapons and catch the other vigilante.

“Oof! Did you gain weight?”

“Rude. You didn’t say that to Red Robin.”

“He doesn’t have your ass.”

“He wishes he had my ass,” she replies, pushing off Jason and crawling off to the side.

“You’re both asses,” Tim grunts across the comms.

“Once again you state the obvious,” Damian puffs. He’s recovered by now, sword back in hand, and is unsuccessfully trying to swipe Cutter’s knees from underneath her. Somehow Cutter manages to slip beneath his guard and kick him in the chest, forcing him into the same heap where Steph and Jason are struggling to their feet.

Tim gets up again, dashes forward to jab with his bo that Cutter continues to avoid. He rolls it over his wrist, changes his grip like he’s holding a baseball bat and tries to sweep her legs out from under her. She avoids that and neatly moves to one side as the energizer bunny that is Damian returns to the fray.

Instantly, the two birds take up positions on either side of her, Robin slicing downward, forcing her to jump again, while Red Robin attempts to knock her out from above.

Somehow, Cutter’s body appears to scissor, and she executes a complicates midair flip that twists her almost horizontally between the two swinging blades.

Holy shit, it’s like Raiders of the Lost Ark…

As she lands, the guys move in sync to hit her with their weapons, but she fastens her hands around theirs and with seemingly no effort, spins and throws them off in a whirl of counterclockwise motion. They land close to Steph and Jason, and Cutter is left holding the bo and sword, which she curls her lip at in disgust, and launches them into the air with unnatural force.

Her eyes flit over them, narrowed in suspicion, before she suddenly whirls around to find Batman—and a well-placed right hook—waiting for her.

She falls hard to the ground, barely able to brace herself on the heels of her hands.

“It’s over, Carrie,” he says coolly.

She blinks guilelessly up at him and then smiles coldly. “'Flowers of this purple dye’.”

Dick’s mouth turns downward in confusion, but Jason feels like something’s just jolted his brain.

“'Hit with Cupid’s archery’,” he murmurs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steph asks.

“Batman, watch out—!”

Cutter swings her left leg out, hobbling Batman at the knees; as he moves in the air to regain his balance, Cutter gets hold of the nearest crossbow and stabs one of the tiny arrows into Batman’s thigh, somehow with enough strength to burrow past all the body armor.

“No!” Red Robin shouts as Dick groans in pain.

“Sink in apple of his eye,” Cutter singsongs, "when his hate he doth espy!” Then she laughs and in a harsh language that resembles the one Jason used to summon her, “Hate them, Batman. Throw caution to the wind and kill them all.”

The arrow vanishes into stardust and Dick’s entire frame goes tense. Then, he slowly turns his head towards them. His mouth curls into a horrible smile, and beneath the lenses of his mask, Jason sees an unnatural red gleam.

“I’m guessing that was one of the lead tipped ones,” Tim murmurs.

“Yeah…that’s a complication,” Jason replies, stomach sinking.

Which is an understatement.

Dick Grayson is a force of nature on a good day—well on par with Bruce in terms of skill, maybe even better in other aspects. And Jason’s tangled with him a few times, both when he’s been in his right mind and with the human decency brainwashed out of him.

Neither one’s good.

Add the danger Dick poses to a murderous psychopath with the untold backing of an unknown god, and Jason will be really surprised if they make it out of this one alive.

“Hood,” Red Robin begins, both question and warning.

“I’ve got him,” Jason murmurs. “You guys deal with her.”

Cutter is priming the wrist-crossbow again, only for one of Robin’s incoming Batarang to knock it free.

“Oh, you’ve got me, do you, Little Wing?” Dick taunts, stepping forward. “Always with the overconfidence. That’ll get you killed. Again.”

“Right—because I haven’t heard that one a million times before.”

Dick winds up an overhand punch toward Jason’s head, which he ducks, and continues with a flurry of blows that Jason’s only just able to stumble back from.

“I always forget you’re fast like a freak,” he mutters, regaining his stance and throwing himself back at Dick. When the older man continues to avoid the assault, Jason tries to take him out at the knees instead.

Several yards away, the other Bats have surrounded Cutter and are trying to coordinate taking her down.

“Who are you?” Steph demands. “There’s no way you’re just Carrie Cutter in there.”

“Smart girl,” she purrs. “I hate smart girls.”

She tries to jam a knife hidden in her gauntlet in her face, but Steph ducks; Tim and Damian dive forward to pick up the slack.

“I’m surprised you’re not asking me if it’s really me in here,” Dick sneers at Jason, drawing his attention once again. “Or trying to convince me this ‘isn’t me’.” He kicks his heel to Jason’s chest, knocking him back. “Appeal to my better self?”

“You forgettin’, Dickhead?” Jason pants. “I’m the only one that knows you don’t have a better self. Just a pretty-boy smile and a horseshoe up your ass.” He jumps to his feet. “Been telling everyone for years that you’re just a tool. This is just confirmation.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Dick grunts, going for an overhead roundhouse, and when that doesn’t work, aiming low. As Jason staggers back, Dick slices at him with a Batarang, penetrating the thick material of his gear and sending a spray of blood into the air.

In the background, the fight with Cutter doesn’t appear to be going any better.

“Was Carrie Cutter aware you were going to take over her body?” Tim demands of Cutter. “Or did you trick her?”

“As if there was anything to trick—we have an arrangement. And luckily, we both like raising a little hell!” She sends both Tim and Steph flying backward and then gets a hold of Damian as he swoops in from behind. “Wanna see how much?”

And she’s got one of the diviners in her hands again, ready to bring down an arrow on the kid’s head.

Ensorcelled demon-brat is not something we need right now!

Jason barely thinks, throws himself forward and rolls beneath Dick’s grasping gauntlet, skidding across the grass and dirt to knock Damian out of the way. Cutter’s weapon is still on a downward trajectory, and there’s no time to grab anything to block it.

But he doesn’t need to.

Without true thought or intent, the pulsing energy of the All-Blades simmers into being, manifesting in his hands and topping Cutter’s arrowhead inches before it hits him. There’s a small wave of impact that separates them, but judging from Cutter’s expression, that’s not what puts her off guard.

She stares at the blades a beat, before the red flashes in her eyes again.

“All-Caste,” she snarls.

Jason smirks. “Yeah, I’m not just a pretty face.”

“You’re about to have no face!”

They disengage, but not before Cutter manages to grab hold on her crossbows. Before their eyes, they vanish, transforming into twin double-edged blades, one gold and one black.

“Something you want to share with the class, Hood?” Damian asks, spinning his own sword in his wrist.

“Not now. Go help the others deal with Batman,” Jason orders.

“You’re outmatched—”

“We’re all outmatched if you don’t stop your mentor over there, now go!”

He and Cutter cross blades, sparks and energy flying before they disengage to circle one another.

“Tt.” But the kid darts off to where Steph and Tim are already flanking Dick defensively. “Apologies in advance, Richard. I’ll make it quicker than the last time.”

“Keep overestimating your abilities, brat,” Dick sneers in a voice he never uses on Damian. “You don’t even know how much I hold back with you.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” Cutter tells Jason as they circle one another. “You really think this is a wise decision, boy?”

“I really think you look nervous,” Jason counters.

Cutter hisses, but there’s something uncertain in her eye.

“Not hard, I guess,” he continues, flipping out of the way of an attempted jab. “You’re as nuts as Arsenal said. You know Arsenal, right? Green Arrow’s protégé? He said GA said you were a delusional hot mess.”

The red in Cutter’s eyes flicker to green and back.

“Knew you were in there,” Jason goes on. “So, Carrie—was it you that sliced that kid’s throat, or your mystery passenger? Because you’re a lot of things—crazy being one of ‘em—but you’ve never killed kids.”

She falters for just a minute, and red glow vanishes.

At the same time, the blades in Jason’s flicker in and out of existence.

Crazy doesn’t mean evil—and when she’s not being possessed, clearly the All-Blades don’t consider Carrie Cutter to have gone completely dark side.

Cutter’s eyes dart to the blades, then back to Jason’s face, and she snaps her head forward, butting him hard enough he’s forced to let go of her.

In his periphery, Damian makes an angry noise and throws himself forward, earnings a broken nose for his trouble. Dick launches himself at Tim, who feints to one side and crouches down on his knees, turning and throwing two metallic disks at the older man. Electric beams crackle to life, only to die as Dick flings two Batarangs into them, destroying them in a fizzle of electricity and smoke.

“Look at this—the unwanted family screw-ups, getting along,” Dick mocks.

“Don’t pay attention to him, Robin,” Steph orders. “He knows what pushes your buttons.”

“Trying to be the Team Mom, Batgirl?” Dick taunts. “If you wanted that job, you shouldn’t have given up your own brat.”

“Batgirl—!” Tim warns, but Steph is already moving.

She vaults over Tim, who hasn’t gotten to his feet yet and somersaults in midair, heel coming down on Dick and knocking him into the ground. It downs him for a moment, but when she follows up with a left hook, Dick catches it and twists.

Everyone hears the snap of bone and Steph’s pained cry before Dick tosses her to one side. Tim hurries to check her.

“Uh-oh,” Cutter whispers, manic gleam in her eye once more replaced with glowing red. “Looks like things aren’t going too well over there.”

“Better than how things are going for you,” Jason replies, calling up his blades again.

Damian is taking a run at Dick, sliding between the older man’s wide stance and slicing the sharp edges of his gauntlets at Dick’s ankles, injuring the places not covered by armor. Dick goes down on his knees, and Damian is up, knocking him hard across the back of the head. But Dick jerks his head to one side, dodging the blow, and then reaches with his right arm to drag Damian over his shoulder and shoving him down on his back on the ground.

Winded, Damian struggles to breathe, and Dick draws back his hand like he’s about to crush the kid’s skull against the dirt. But then throws himself at him, knocking Dick away and the two of them roll to the ground.

There’s a brief tussle, and then Dick is on top of Tim, pinning his arms to his sides with his thighs. As Damian sails forward with a kick to the head, his arm snaps out, catching him and flipping the boy upside down. Then, laughing, he leans forward, forearm on Tim’s throat like he’s trying to crush it.

Jason’s concentration shatters. “No!”

Tim’s in trouble!

He’s already turning to go help, All-Blades vanishing, when he chokes, staring at the golden sword that suddenly protrudes from his abdomen.

⁂⁂⁂

Next Chapter

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thechocoboos · 5 years

Text

Cor with a Daughter HC

Hey guys, it’s ya girl, thechocoboos, here to deliver some Cor HC bc he’s great!

In this scenario, that weird fucker Verstael makes female clones alongside the normal ones (so yes there are female MTs in this AU) and Cor steals one when he takes baby Prom away, so uh... It’s a mess, but it’s a cute mess.

So Cor was the one who stole baby Prompto away right? Right. So, turns out, Verstael made a female clone as well (that also means that in this au there are female MTs)

And guess what? Cor stole one of those too.

Just picture this: a scuffed up, young Cor Leonis on the run from the Empire with two little blond, freckled babies in his arms. I know. It’s cute.

Anyways

Cor knew he was supposed to return both babies, but the second he looked into the girl’s cornflower blue eyes, he knew he couldn’t give her up

It hurt enough to give up the boy after getting so attached in only a few days, but when she looked into his eyes, he vowed he’d raise her as his own

She had been so calm, merely sucking on her thumb while her brother (what he could only assume was her brother) was wailing his adorable little head off

Even so, he saw the fear in her sparkling blue eyes and promised that she would never have to feel that fear again; Papa Cor was gonna raise her in a safe environment

And he did.

He turned baby Prompto over and had to watch as he was put in the foster system, but he quietly adopted the girl as his own with no one knowing where she came from save for Regis and Clarus

Everyone else? Well, he simply told them that she was the niece of a distant relative that was unable to care for her

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you!” or “Aw, look at you bein’ a big ole softee.” is what everyone said, and it was always followed by, “What’s her name???”

“Poppy.” she may be the same poppy from the actor au but who knows

Papa Cor raised Poppy well

He always gave her the best toys and always, always left work early so he could pick her up from daycare with a warm smile and all

He’d pick her right up in his arms, earning a cute bubble of laughter from her and he’d ask, “How was my little princess’s day?”

All the women in the area swooned (me too)

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows

In the beginning, Cor was terrified. He had no idea how to raise a child, and he didn’t even have baby furniture for a week (not to mention his apartment wasn’t babyproofed either like y i k e s)

He only survived through the help of his elderly neighbor, Gertrude. She was the mother of four kids and had more grandkids than he could count

But she was always willing to help him. “It’s not often that I see a single dad tryin’ to make it on his own like this,” She told him a couple months after he adopted Poppy, “But it always warms my heart to see a young father trying so hard. Keep it up, young man.”

And he did.

He stuck through it--through the potty training, through the tears, tantrums, incessant babbles and the waking him up in the middle of the night

He stuck through it all and never regretted it

When Poppy said her first words, he practically shouted for joy and even called Regis and Clarus up and the day after? Oh man, the trainees were scared to see such a smile on Cor’s face (he actually went easy on them that day so it was pretty nice for them)

Cor kept pictures of her in his office and always had a small pic of her in his wallet and i swear to you, if he ever had the chance to bring her up in conversation, he would brag and brag away

Poppy really liked reading and wasn’t a big fan of athletics or fighting, much to Cor’s relief

He tried keeping her away from politics and such, didn’t want her questioning too much, ya know?

Still, he knew he’d have to teach her basic combat, just in case (plus he knew one day she’d start dating and he didn’t trust those teenage boys…)

And he did. And surprisingly, as much as Poppy hated it, she was really, really good at it

Cor figured her out-of-nowhere skills at combat were due to the Empire, but he was more relieved than not that she hated fighting; it gave him some reassurance that she wouldn’t ever abuse her skills

Although it wasn’t a big concern in the first place, his daughter was pretty damn soft-spoken and shy; she hated conflict and fighting more than most

Overall, she was a tame kid

She followed the rules, listened well, was a fantastic student… Honestly, Cor counted himself lucky that she was such a good kid

Although whenever he mentioned it to Clarus, Clarus would only chuckle and say, “Yeah, you raised her that way, Cor.”

It always seemed strange to him, that he--a gruff, tough soldier--could raise someone so sweet and shy, but there many more moments where all he felt was pride--pride for himself and pride for his daughter

Still, Poppy had her faults: she had too big of a heart for her own good

She was always trying to bring in hurt animals or asking if they could get a dog or a cat (Cor ended up relenting when she was 10; they ended up with an elderly cat named Haggus and Poppy swears he’s the kindest cat ever)

And then there was her trusting nature. She was incredibly trusting and understanding; Cor was terrified that she’d get taken advantage of one day (all though, deep down, he knew she wouldn’t. At the end of the day, she was a Leonis and he raised her to be reasonable and carry a healthy amount of suspicion)

Sometimes when she was still little, he would worry about her getting into some shit or something going wrong and when he did, it would bug him in the back of his mind until he went to pick her up from daycare (he always gave her tighter hugs on those days)

Cor raised Poppy as his own, but he also told her that she was, in fact, adopted when she was around 11. He didn’t want her to find out through someone else and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could avoid questions about her mom or the strange barcode tattoo (he always told her to keep the barcode covered, and he was always so firm about it that she never dared to do otherwise)

Of course, he didn’t tell her the entire truth. Yes, she was adopted, but he still stuck by the story that she was the niece of a distant relative and eventually, Poppy stopped asking

And as previously mentioned, Cor kept Poppy out of politics and the Citadel

Like, there were a few times when she went to balls or social events (and everyone would always coo over how cute she was) and sometimes Cor might take her to work with him (when she was young), but outside of that, she was never really in the Citadel, not even when Cor was training her

However, whenever she was there, she ended up being around Noctis

There weren’t very many kids there besides her and Noct--sometimes Iggy (maybe Gladio, but he was always with the adults), so they often ended up hanging out

She’d see Gladio around here and there, too, and was pretty curious about him, but Noctis was always super reluctant to go talk to Gladio (let’s face it, Gladdy was probably a dick as a kid and tried to act older than his actual age, so basically, no fun for Noct)

They’d giggle together and run around the Citadel, playing games and goofing off while the adults went around with their boring chatter

Despite how much fun they had, those few social events a year were the only times they saw each other and as they got older, Poppy was able to stay at home instead of attending

So then, they stopped seeing each other at all

Cor always felt a little bad whenever she would ask about Noctis, but he was determined to keep Poppy and work separate (something he was very good at doing)

Still, despite all of Cor’s attempts, Poppy and Noct ran into each other again in high school

They were pretty quick to befriend each other again after a few weeks of awkward small talk, and when Cor found out, he couldn’t help but feel a tad annoyed (I mean, he’d been trying to keep her away from politics and shit for years)

Of course, through Noct, Poppy got to know Ignis very well (he was often in the background of those damn social events when they were kids, so they knew each other existed for sure)

Ignis was fairly fond of Poppy. He always said that she might be a good influence on Noctis.

Gladio was aware of Poppy and she was aware of him, and tbh, they thought the other was pretty damn cute but they never really interacted beyond group outings that centered around Noct (tho they would become surprisingly close down the line)

And Prompto? It was a bit of a weird thing

In summary: their first meeting was weird as fuck

Noct was the first one to befriend Prom, and the first time they properly met, he was absolutely S H O O K

Prompto was so similar to Poppy. They had the same freckles, the same cornflower blue eyes, same shade of hair… They even seemed to have the same inflections in their voices

The longer Noct was around Prompto, the more similarities he saw between him and Poppy and tbh… it weirded him out

And theeen… Then, there was the day that Prompto and Poppy met

Noct offhandedly mentioned that Prompto would be joining them at the arcade, to which Poppy eagerly agreed. Noct had mentioned Prom quite a bit, so at that point she figured that she should meet him

“Oh! I found Prom!” Noct said later, nodding his head towards Prompto’s familiar silhouette, “Hey, Prom!”

Prompto turned around of course, beaming as he walked closer to them in the arcade, “Hey, Noct! And you’re Poppy, ri-” He froze when he saw her

Her mouth was open to speak, but she couldn’t help but freeze when she saw him only a few feet away

It was like looking at a weird, distorted version of herself

Noct kept glancing between them, “Shit, I didn’t realize how similar you guys were until now.”

Luckily, it broke whatever weird spell they were under

Prompto managed to laugh it off and they had a quick, very awkward introduction before moving onto the arcade

It was strange and surreal for both Poppy and Prompto, and honestly, at first? Awkward as hell

They didn’t talk much to each other and seemed to be avoiding one another as best they could

Poppy even ended up going home earlier than planned, giving Noctis an apologetic smile and saying something about how her dad wanted her to help him with some pie (Cor hated pie so it was a bald-faced lie)

That evening, Cor could tell something was up

“Thought you’d be out with the Prince until pretty late.”

Poppy tried to dismiss his statement with a shrug, but Cor’s steady gaze and open silence pushed her for more info. “Just wasn’t feeling it. Met another one of his friends and it was kinda weird, ya know? His name’s Prompto and he’s plenty nice enough but…”

It clicked into place, and with a stoic nod, Cor didn’t ask any more questions. Internally, however, he was beating himself up

He knew very well it was the same Prompto he stole from the Empire with Poppy and he knew something like this would happen with her hanging around the Prince so often

It was only a matter of time before she pieced together some kind of connection and honestly? Cor wasn’t sure what to do when she did

Luckily for Cor, it was a long time before that happened

In the meantime, however, Poppy and Prompto somehow got over their awkward avoidance of each other (it was defo thanks to Noctis)

They ended up clicking very well. They’d finish each other’s sentences, laugh at the same damn stuff, freak out at the same things, and they were absolutely fantastic at teaming up together

Simply put, they became best friends. Noctis and Ignis were surprised at how well they got along, especially after the rocky start to their friendship, but at that point, they were practically stuck at the hip

Cor was uneasy as hell when it came to Prompto

There were times when Poppy’s friends were over and he was strangely tense (although he would always tell Poppy it was just at surprise at seeing the Prince in his apartment with his advisor and bodyguard)

Still, it was only a year before Noct left for his marriage to Lunafreya that Prom and Poppy found out about their barcodes

They had been goofing around like normal before deciding to try their hand at making cheesecake in Poppy’s kitchen

She didn’t want to get her long sleeves dirty and rolled them up, figuring that Prompto wouldn’t notice her wrist in their goofing around

Unfortunately, there were a few minutes of comfortable silence when he did

And boy did he clam up

“Uh… Poppy, is that uh, a tattoo?”

Poppy freaked out about it of course, “Uh, no--it’s just one of those fake stick-on tattoos ya know?” She had tried to lie her way out of the situation

“Oh--that's, that’s cool…” He didn’t believe it completely, “But,” but he had to try, right? “I actually have a similar one! Haha,”

“You do?” The seriousness in her voice was enough to cut all humor out of the room

“Y-yeah,” and he showed her.

Poppy felt the closest to understanding her damn tattoo than she’d ever felt before

Neither of them knew what it meant, but they felt an intense sense of solidarity and there was an unspoken pact between them from then on

They never really spoke about it for a long time, and Poppy never asked Cor. She was almost too scared to; she didn’t know what it meant and didn’t want to break their small family apart trying to figure it out

When she finally did find out, she was worried that Cor secretly hated her and that she was an abomination

Of course, Cor ended that pretty quickly. She ended up having a breakdown one night, and it was all Cor could do not to break down with her

He knelt down to look her in the eyes, holding onto her hands with his own just like whenever she fell as a kid and he wanted to cheer her up

“Poppy, you’re my daughter. I took you from that place and raised you myself. The second I looked you in the eye, you had me wrapped around your little finger. I could never hate you, not for spilling my favorite beer or waking me up when you were little, and definitely not for where you came from. You’re my kid, Poppy, and nothing’s gonna change that.” He managed to give her a shaky smile and earn one from her too, wrapping her in a big, comforting hug and making all of her worries disappear

“I love you, dad.”

“Love you, too, kiddo.”

Look i just love this ok. Give Me Papa Cor or Give Me Death.

B/c I’m a slut for a happy ending: Poppy did go on that road trip with the bros but guess what?

Luna lived, Noctis lived, they both got married and had some cute kids

Poppy ended up in a relationship with Gladdy (he kind of fell in love with how cute and sweet she was, plus the fact that if she had to she would kick his ass--which she did on multiple occasions)

Cor became a grandpa and both loved and hated it. He also never stopped giving Gladio hell.

Prompto married a swell gal and had some kids. Auntie Poppy spoiled them rotten btw

Regis and Clarus were proud Grandpapas, Iris and Poppy got along really really well (Iris said that if Gladio didn’t marry Poppy then she would)

Ardyn lived and became a weird trash uncle who spoiled the family kids and no one knows where he got his fortune from

Anyways, everyone lived happily ever after

Hope you guys enjoyed and let me know if you want some more realistic plot hc!

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thedcdunce · 5 years

Text

The Signal

“Someone told me that the problem with youth is the inability to accept your own mortality. I wouldn't consider this one of my problems.” - The Signal

Real Name: Duke Thomas

Aliases:

Robin

Lark

Gender: Male

Height: 5′ 9″

Weight: 180 lbs (82 kg)

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black

Powers:

Unique Physiology

Abilities:

Leadership

Indomitable Will

Martial Arts

Equipment:

Robin Costume

Unnamed Costume

Signal Armor

Motorcycle

Eskrima Stick

Nunchaku

Universe: Prime Earth

Base of Operations:

Gotham City

New Jersey

Citizenship: American

Parents:

Gnomon; father

Elaine Thomas; mother

Marital Status: Single

Occupation:

Student

Vigilante

First Appearance: Batman Vol 2 #21 (August, 2013)

Powers

Unique Physiology: Duke is a metahuman and is only beginning to understand his powers. Duke's physiology appears to be unique in comparison to other metahumans, amplifying their abilities in his presence. Gnomon claims Duke has his "infinite blood", implying Duke may potentially be immortal.

Photokinetic Vision: Duke has photo-kinetic powers that allow him to take in light through his eyes and manipulate the way he processes light. His eyes can absorb light faster than normal humans, see beyond the visible light spectrum and can detect changes or variations in light that other people can't. Particularly powerful forms of Nth metal can amplify his vision, allowing longer more vivid visions into the past and across dimensions, even hearing some audio.

Retrocognition: Duke can look back at the history of light in a room and see a few minutes of what happened before by looking at the "ghosts" of the light that hit the objects in the room.

Precognition: Duke can use his powers to not only see where light has been, he can also see where light will be to glimpse into the future. This gives Duke an edge in combat, being able to react faster to attacks and even catch projectiles in some cases.

Abilities

Leadership

Indomitable Will: Duke's proven himself to be an exceptionally strong willed individual.

Martial Arts

Eskrima

Stick Fighting

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Duke started fighting without any training and demonstrated considerable skill.

Equipment

Robin Costume: After joining the We Are Robin movement, he was given a red leather jacket by the mysterious "Nest". The jacket proved to be bullet proof, even against multiple bullets at close range.

Unnamed Costume: When Duke went to live with Bruce Wayne, he was gifted a new yellow and black costume. It included a yellow helmet with a black bat-shaped visor.

Signal Armor: After training with Batman, Duke was given a upgraded version of his costume. The new suit is a slightly heavier plated version of his previous suit with some new technology updates. The suit has a reflective bat insignia that can blind or confuse an enemy as well as change color depending on lighting. His suit also has a built-in defensive electrical grid and a stealth mode that makes him invisible.

Motorcycle: Originally a yellow version of Batman's batcycle, Duke has upgraded to a more streamlined motorcycle that can also cloak itself with Duke's suit; rendering it completely invisible

Eskrima Stick: Duke's primary weapon of choice are a pair of modified Esckrima sticks that connect to function as nunchaku as well. The sticks come with spring loaded hatchet blades that allow them to be used as a grapple hook.

Nunchaku

History

Duke Thomas is a vigilante and a member of the Batman Family. He joined the We Are Robin movement and became one of hundreds of civilian teenagers to don the Robin R and fight for their city. Eventually, he would leave the movement and join the Batman Family officially as the vigilante called The Signal.

Origins

When the terrorist known as the Riddler shut off all the power in Gotham City, the madman challenged the city to get smart or die by natural selection during what would later be called the Zero Year. Riddler told the city that if anyone could ask him a riddle that he couldn't answer, he would restore power to Gotham. Duke, who was a confident student at the time, began to train his mind with brain teasers in anticipation of accepting the Riddler's challenge. Duke and Bruce Wayne met for the first time when the Thomas family rescued the unconscious billionaire when Hurricane Rene began its rampage on Gotham simultaneously during the Riddler's plot. Thanking Duke for his kindness, Wayne departed to take on the Riddler himself.

Several years later, the Joker had returned to Gotham with an endgame for Batman in mind. Figuring out the vigilante's secret identity, the Joker kidnapped Duke and his family and planned to recreate Bruce Wayne's parents' murders right in front of him using the Thomas family. Batman managed to rescue Duke from the murderer, but Duke's parents succumbed to the mind controlling gas Joker had released.

Becoming a Robin

After the events of Batman: Endgame, Duke was placed into the foster system. He became desperate to find his parents after it became apparent that the authorities were not making any progress in locating them. During his time in foster care, he went from an excellent student to having a heavy police file because of all of the fights he got into. Because of this, his temporary foster parent, Raymond Mendez, sent him back into the system.

Leslie Thompkins was placed in charge of his social case and tried to keep him from getting into trouble by reassuring him that the police were still looking for his parents and would find them. In the meantime, she asked him to stop picking fights and try to be respectful to his foster parents. She then placed him with Joanne and Roy Dawson, after telling him that police had found some of the Joker's toxin victims wandering in the sewer system. Joanne showed Duke around the dirty apartment, telling Duke that he would need to babysit the other kids and clean the bathroom. Then she left him alone for a few minutes to organize his things into a drawer in the bedroom.

Feeling guilty about letting Dr. Thompkins down, Duke climbed out the window and left the apartment behind in order to go search for his parents in the sewers. As he made his way to the sewers, he thought about his mother and how she was so clean in every part of his life. It made him sad to imagine her wandering the sewers because he knew that that meant she was extremely far gone on the Joker's toxin.

While in the sewers looking for his parents, Duke accidentally stumbled into an underground meeting of homeless people who had created a small city. There he overheard their plan to bomb different landmarks in Gotham, starting with the Hall of Records. Just after hearing this, he was discovered and attacked. Luckily, this was also when the Robins joined the fight to save him.

Together with the robins, Duke fought his way out of the sewers, only to lose consciousness after a blow to the head. When police came, the other robins were ordered by the mysterious "Nest" to abandon him and run. Reluctantly they did as they were told.

Duke awoke inside a police interrogation room. There a skinny man with facial hair and dark glasses asked him what he was willing to do in order to find his parents. When Duke expressed confusion and told the man that that was the police's job, the man left the room. After waiting and then getting frustrated, Duke tried the door handle only to find it unlocked. When he stepped out of the interrogation room, he realized that he was not in a police station at all, but actually inside an abandoned warehouse.

This was when he discovered the red biker jacket with a yellow R on the breast, atop a motorcycle. Inside the jacket, he found a cellphone.

We Are Robin

The cellphone in his new jacket instructed him to go to a new location where he met the robins who had saved him earlier. Together they found the bombs Duke had heard about, beneath the Hall of Record. Using instructions sent to their phones from a mysterious sender called the Nest, they were able to disable one of the bombs. The second bomb proved more difficult, however, as it was on a subway train track and they had to jump out of the way of trains every few moments.

Finally, the Nest instructed them to get on the next train and leave the second bomb there. However, one of the robins, Troy, refused to leave. Determined that he could disable the bomb himself, he stayed behind alone. As the others rode away, he was caught in the blast and killed instantly.

Robin War

After one of the robins was implicated in the shooting of a police officer and a robber in a convenience store, the We Are Robin movement comes under fire by the public. This leads to a member of the city council, Councilwoman Noctua, implementing the Robin Laws. The Robin Laws made it illegal for anyone in Gotham to wear robin paraphernalia and encouraged police to stop and detain anyone who might be a Robin.

Training with Batman

Once Bruce Wayne returned to the mantle of Batman after he had previously lost his memory, the Bat offered Duke a position as his new protege, which the boy accepted under the condition that he not become just another Robin. Handing him a yellow suit instead, Batman agreed to teach him as something else.

Beginning their training together in what Alfred would call the "Cursed Wheel", Batman taught Duke the basics of becoming a professional vigilante by first following a string of murders committed by Victor Zsasz. Though Duke was injured in the process, he learned an important lesson about the psychology of criminals and who he was as a hero.

The "wheel" was forced to turn faster, according to Alfred, when Duke was thrust into a real adventure after Two-Face's return. Having heard a rumor of a cure that could fix him, Two-Face simultaneously fought and befriended Batman and Duke as they tried to locate the cure together, with a hoard of assassins on their tail. Once the adventure ended, Duke was commended for his actions in his first real mission.

Continuing his training under the Cursed Wheel program, Batman and Duke tried to investigate how the Riddler was managing to terrorize the city from his cell in Arkham to celebrate the anniversary of the Zero Year. Following the clues, Duke discovered that the Riddler had secretly allied himself with Duke's former friend and the original Mister Bloom - Daryl Gutierrez, Daryl being the conduit for Riddler's schemes. Together, Duke and Batman saw that the two villains were stopped.

Dark Nights: Metal

While Batman investigated the mysteries of Nth Metal, Duke and Hal Jordan attempted to decode the clues that the Bat had collected and stored in the Batcave, only to discover that Bruce had captured and hidden the Joker there too. Accidentally freeing the madman, the Joker revealed he knew more about the mystery and that he knew that Duke was actually a metahuman before vanishing from the cave entirely.

Fun Facts

Duke Thomas is dating Isabella Ortiz.

#the signal #signal #duke thomas #robin #lark #batman family #outsiders #we are robin #dc #DC comics #thedcdunce

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charlotteroseessex-blog · 5 years

Text

Web of Lies or Web of Ties?

Let me just start by asking you a question.

How many people do you actually know that you follow on Instagram?

Imagine scrolling through your ‘following’ list right now. How many of the accounts would you be able to confidently say you know personally? Not just know of through a friend of friend of their brothers girlfriend, but actually, seriously, can call a legitimate worthy friend?

These days, people use social media to follow and connect with friends, family and also influencers and celebrities who are considered relevant to their lives and goal. ‘Following’ is a crucial process in every users experience and can become misused tool when the element of connectivity is abused, especially if you begin to share private photos with people you don’t really know. The most followed accounts on Instagram belong to Cristiano Ronaldo (152.62 million) and Selena Gomez (144.75 million). Regular people who may not have even met either celebrity will follow them in order to keep updated with upcoming music releases or football team transfers because the information is perceived important to their lives. In adjunct to this information, it is worth admitting that we, as the general public, seek factual or even pointless knowledge about regular people that is unlikely to be beneficial for us to learn. It’s a strange concept, but we now live most of our lives online whereby everything is accessible and this is making us become reliant on instant gratification when seeking information regarding other people’s business (basically, we are just nosy).

Take the incident, for example, which broke the internet in 2018 when Kylie Jenner's secret pregnancy was finally revealed, after a year of speculation, with the birth of her daughter, Stormy. Now I’m not sure about you, but I was shamefully interested in the news way more than I should have been for someone other wise unbothered by other celebrity pregnancies. Online communities stalked the Jenner in what should have been a private journey through the beginnings of motherhood, which exploded with posts and images about the new arrival as soon as the hint of information was published. Now, unfortunately I don’t actually know any of the Kardashians nor do their life choices affect me in any way, shape or form... so why do I even care? Well truthfully, it’s because it’s shoved in all of our faces by every social media platform we are on and there’s really no escaping it, so naturally you kinda become interested. I think every man and their nan got a little hype from the announcement of Stormy’s birth.

Social networking sites, like Facebook, are becoming more accessible to people of all ages due to their attractable features targeting basically every age category. There’s news coverage for the oldies and games for the young'uns (one word, Farmville). Users now as young as 13, which is the minimum age requirement, can create an active profile which encourages them to take their first few steps into the addictive world of social networking. Now, I know I speak for a lot of millennials when I say that this never happens. I joined Facebook when I was 10 years old. I’m no mathematician but even I can assure you that rules were broken when I ticked the ‘Terms and Conditions’ section when confirming my false age of about 33 before accessing my Facebook profile. Everyone did it because no one wanted to be that one weirdo going into secondary school without a Facebook account.

So why is being online so desirable? I mean why else do kids break the age bracket by lying about their truthful year of birth? Well, the initial idea of being online is exciting. I mean there is literally no other platform that allows you to choose a profile picture, share funny posts and engage in group chats with friends after school. But this is merely the makeup of Facebook. Think of the features on Facebook as the high coverage foundation covering up the scars and cracks hidden on a site able to save information and build your digital footprint as well as selling this same data to external companies. I mean??? To consider kids as young as 13 becoming active online is slightly alarming.

Little 10-year-old me was definitely unaware of all the potential dangers awaiting me as soon as I activated my online profile. Younger people are becoming more and more active on social networking sites which makes the issue of ‘stranger danger’ even more prominent. Especially when I was new to social networking, the element of cyber attacks or bullying was only just being uncovered, so in a sense, the awareness we have for the internet now is more educated despite the dangers still being there. But who’s to say the users are any more careful than they were before? There are cases of people being scammed or ‘catfished’ over Facebook or something, but there’s never a bone in your body that thinks that will ever be applicable to you. The dangers of being online are endless, but now it has reached a point where some bad experiences have become entertaining for others intrigued and excited by online horror stories.

4 words.

Catfish the TV show.

The fact that this show has achieved 7 successful seasons in the 7 years it’s been running, outlines the overall crisis that false identities and accounts have and still are destroying real lives. The cases that are investigated by Nev Schulman and Max Joseph are outrageous and most of the time so far fetched you wonder how these people couldn’t recognise the Catfish themselves. However, the manipulation and deception highlighted on the show presents social networking as a vulnerable world for those unaware of the intentions of those wanting to serve you harm. I mean, who’s to say the online friend you made on Facebook is actually who she claims to be. Yes, her picture might look legit and her friends may also seem believable, but nowadays, you can never ben too careful. She could be using her friends image in order to be perceived by others as someone prettier or skinnier or she may even be a he. Imagine a 50 year old man sat in his scabby 1 bedroom flat, who used the image found on google to befriend other young girls, whilst adding a nearby college as her ‘place of education’ in order to easily befriend unsuspecting students from the college who assume acquaintances purely based on their same place of education. It’s probably easier than it sounds.

But still, how many people do you actually know online?

Being accepted as a friend or being followed on social media can create a feeling of acceptance and gratification, but who are we really letting in? Are the pressures of society in being a certain weight or height, making an individual's hatred and discontent towards themselves a toxic driving force towards the increasing rate of falsified representations? The idolisation of more successful people, naturally evokes some sort of admiration and can even lead to a self comparison with someone so vastly different from yourself, we end up wishing ourselves to be something else - longer legs, bigger biceps, rounder lips, you name it, we’ve all thought it. Is the growth in catfishing others with personas deemed more attractive than our own, a progression towards a less unique generation? It’s no secret that the younger generation are all starting to look the same. After all, we are all influenced by the same few models and fashion bloggers who sport a similar appearance, like the small sunglasses perched at the end of their perfect button noses serving no purpose whatsoever other than an extension of the nose.

Not only is Catfishing a betrayal of social networking, but it is also a solid representation in how online communities can violate the privacy of others if the information provided to and by others is false. To address the mishaps of online communities and understanding the weak ties with some followers, it is worth delving into the realms of Instagram - the Queen of all user generated contents. Here, users are able to depict whatever persona they desire, true or false. Most accounts on Instagram post aesthetically pleasing images which are followed by those interested in the fashion it features or the interior design included in the backdrop. The communities created here share common interests despite being unofficial acquaintances with one another. In being so inspired by certain feeds, we often find ourselves trying to replicate influential or successful users so to achieve a similar sort of popularity. But how realistic is this new representation of ourselves? Potentially, this could also be classed as a form of catfishing, as even though you are the same 20 year old female displayed in your photos, the clothes and hair and makeup IS NOT YOU. The interests and persona you have created online is simply a replica of someone else. Is this just another symbolic reference of being a catfish? And are we now catfishing ourselves in becoming something or someone we no longer recognise online?

Younger users are the most likely to befriend strangers due to their naivety of experience in the application. Luckily, Facebook is a bound system which SHOULD make accessing profiles and private information less easy to access (depending on the privacy controls) until a friend request is accepted. The factorship of age and difference in online awareness is important when considering the reasons why users embark on adding others online. I remember my own first hype of Facebook as, when I was 10 and new to the world of online networking, my initial desire was to add as many people as I could in order to gage the most amount of friends. Why? Because I did what every other kid in the world was doing and didn’t want to be the outsider with less than 1,000 friends. In doing so, I dismissed the dangers of accepting a request from someone I didn’t know and instead embraced the extra friend regardless of ‘stranger danger’. In addressing this naivety at such a young age, it has bought annoyance upon my feed in recent years when I am still inundated with people I don't even know. My Facebook timeline was, until recently, filled with strangers status updates I didn’t care about. Now, 10 years later and having unfollowed and defriended those irrelevant strangers and to return my profile to a safe and bounded system, I am more cautious in my privacy settings as well as the information I choose to share. In being older and, I like to think, more wiser towards the dangers of Facebook and those using it as a platform to abuse, my profile is purely used for communication for those I maintain strong ties with. My point is that social networking, despite being intended for bound systemic usage, has the potential to allow strangers into a personal world of expression.

The element of ‘stranger danger’ is prevalent on all day to day social networking sites and has recently developed into an entertainment theme. Not only is false identity the main purpose behind the TV show Catfish, as well as exposing and raising awareness for recognising false identities, but it’s also become a popular genre in the thriller category on Netflix. I would be lying if I denied the entertainment value of these movies and documentaries, as sad as that may be. We live in a world now where traumatic, horrific and impossible events prevail to be the most popular watches amongst the general public. Watching dramas and films created at the expense of others life-changing online experiences merely shock audiences nowadays due to the normality of cases whereby people are tricked into situations others would say ‘well you should have seen it coming’. The shrugging of shoulders when cases of catfishing or identity thefts are reported are becoming more and more acceptable in their regular occurrences and barely now even make the headlines.

Netflix capitalises on cases such as stalking, identity theft and catfishing in order to present, for the film hungry public, an endless binge watching of tragic cases of unsuspecting victims. One of the most recent movies to have been released on Netflix, is psychological thriller ‘Cam’ which follows a young webcam girl down a pathway of self destruction when her identity is stolen and then replicated by an anonymous user who benefits from her achieved success in her career. This film represents the repercussions of living your life online and over sharing information to a network of followers unknown to you. ‘Cam’ leads you on a journey which sees the obsession with not only being liked online, but also the growing fixation in achieving the largest following in order to reach self-love and acception.

The entertainment world has hugely profited from the mishaps of social media and the victims of others abuse of it. I often wonder the main attraction for creating false profiles online, or even stealing others, as my personal use for social networking is to engage with friends, the real life friends I actually know. The intention for users who create false identities in order to befriend and scam random innocent people, which is usually financially motivated, is honestly one of the most tragic pathways a human being can embark on. Just get a life? It’s not only putting regular people’s privacy in danger, but it also makes being online a concept of which some people do all they can to remain as far away from as possible or take regular breaks from social media altogether. And truthfully, the way in which social networking is spiralling, I don’t blame them.

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philcphobic · 5 years

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[ ONE / THREE ] hello ! it’s KRIS with my first of three muses, and she is known as ANGEL, an assassin for the most iconic gang, DRAGON EYES ! she is a FORMER MEMBER OF RED LIONS and lasted almost two years, before taking her leave about a two months ago because a dragon eyes member ( shout out to @bladehoney ) convinced her to ... so ... there’s that. if you’d like to plot, smash that heart & i’ll come to you as soon as i can either through tumblr im’s or through discord !

[ TRIGGER WARNING ; DEATH, PARENTAL LOSS, BULLYING, VIOLENCE, RUNNING AWAY, UNDERAGE DRINKING, DRUGS, MANIPULATION, MURDER ! ]

LIFE BEFORE GANG ACTIVITY !

born as kim jangmi on november 05, 1997 and she was born to two loving parents and the youngest of five children in total !

( DEATH, PARENTAL LOSS ) paradise doesn’t last forever, and she and her siblings lost their parents when she was 7 years old. she doesn’t know much about her parents, as she lost them to what police would call ‘ an unfortunate accident that should’ve never happened ’, but she knows that her father was a big time attorney & businessman.

he’s known to never have lost a case up until his death. let’s just say some people higher up on the ladder were NOT fond of him and wanted him GONE.

after their death, all five kids were sent to an orphanage. one by one, she would watch as her siblings were either all adopted or headed to live with a foster parent, and wondered if they were all ever going to see each other again. reassurance can only go a long way.

eventually it was just her and her oldest sister, and they were considered a package deal, which is why no one wanted to adopt them; everyone that came around always wanted one & one only.

they soon entered the foster care system but it turned out to be a lot more hellish than they’d presume. the first family was extremely promising, and could’ve been their best bet to a normal life again if jangmi just wasn’t so disobedient.

jangmi was confused and scared, and wanted to go home to what she was used to. she wanted her parents and these people were not them.

it was an endless cycle of going back and forth between new homes for a couple of years, and by the time jangmi was twelve, she and her older sister were finally separated, everyone believing they would be better apart like their brothers were.

all she had of her family now were unspoken goodbyes and one last family photo, taken on christmas day, a month before everything shattered.

luckily, a family chose to adopt her. they had other foster kids, troublemakers like her, and they wanted to test if adopting one would change them for the better before adopting the rest.

this … did not sit well with these other kids.

( BULLYING, VIOLENCE ) these older kids did not like her. they had a lot of reasons, but usually pinning it on her beauty at a young age. jangmi was used to rough housing with her own siblings before separation, but the way they ‘ played ’ with her was nothing like that.

she always had cuts and bruises, and told her ‘ parents ’, she was just really clumsy when they asked. her foster ‘ siblings ’ frequently told her that she wasn’t pretty, forcing her to look in the mirror with all of her injuries and tell her this is what she truly looks like.

( RUNNING AWAY ) there is only so much a young girl can actually take. she thinks it’s easier to run far away, where no one else could hurt her or make her cry. she takes whatever can fit into her backpack, and runs as far as she can physically handle.

an old couple end up finding her passed out on a bench in the park late in the night and take her home. they end up becoming her new parental figures, and they take care of her ( and hide her as she pleaded them to, ) as she is still considered a missing child.

the woman is an ex-professor and the man is war veteran, so she believed she had all she needs in order to live what’s considered a ‘ normal ’ life. she plays with the other kids in her neighbourhood leisurely, but is homeschooled for the fear of being found out, despite already having another identity as ANGEL. she’s taught everything she needs to know from them; everything from english & japanese to self-defence & how to use a gun.

life is perfect with them, and they’re the kindest, most understanding people she’s ever met. they give her a lot of freedom to be her own person, and they usually don’t discipline her, partially because they feel bad about her messy childhood and also because they thought she’d rebel if she was contained in a certain box …

despite their efforts, she turned out to become a rebel anyway.

( UNDERAGE DRINKING, DRUGS ) with so much freedom and little to no discipline, it was easy to push her boundaries away from her. they didn’t know about her getting involved with alcohol and drugs underage, her equally troublesome friends, nor did they know about her first boyfriend three years her senior, at the age of sixteen. they just believed she liked the freedom, and since she was obedient when around them, they didn’t feel the need to be suspicious.

( MANIPULATION, RUNNING AWAY ) it’s good up until she turns eighteen, when she’s about to attend university and meets … [redacted], and they hit it off quickly ! they convince her that she doesn’t need her parents anymore, and manipulating her into thinking she’s a burden for being so troublesome, and should leave them alone. this marks the second time she runs away from home, but this time hurts more than the first.

she left nothing but a letter and a necklace they gave her for her fourteenth birthday, and hasn’t seen them since. in her letter she apologizes for taking a gun from her father, and hopes they don’t try to find her.

[redacted is somehow connected to the gang red lions. she doesn’t understand why someone with so much money would be involved with a gang, but she doesn’t question them ... mostly for safety, in case this person was dangerous, but she’s always been curious.

( VIOLENCE, MURDER ) it takes a year for her to stop being naive with this person, who has isolated her for her ‘ safety ’ while being her biggest threat as they stay under the same roof. she realizes this one night when she looks in the mirror and sees a reflection of the same girl she was when she was thirteen, living with a bunch of foster kids who hated her. a fight ensues, and it’s clear who wins.

meticulous as ever, she erases her presence in their life to avoid trouble with the law, but realizes she’s alone again for the fourth time in her life.

LIFE WITH GANG ACTIVITY !

she slides her way into RED LIONS just days before her nineteenth birthday, already having connections on the inside. it’s the second ‘ unfortunate accident ’ in her life, but this time she’s involved and it’s anything but an accident.

she doesn’t know whether they genuinely thought she’d be a good addition to their growing empire or if they pitied her circumstance ( since she didn’t tell them the blood is on her hands ), but she finally found a stable family.

she is the story of [drake vc] started from the bottom now we here, as she went from having nothing for to her name to rising in the ranks as she proved her worth time and time again. she somehow rose high enough to be one of the trusted assassins in red lions, and was also taking money from outside sources ( coughs aka sugar daddies / mommies ) when she was really in need.

targets are mostly the wealthy, as it’s easier to maintain secrecy when they have reputations to live up to. she usually takes her sweet time with targets, ( no longer than a month ) just to know their schedules and … them as a person. sometimes there are hit & run opportunities but she doesn’t like doing spontaneous jobs like that too often … they get messy.

so she’s there for nearly two years, but during then she befriended sienna and she somehow managed to convince angel to leave red lions and join DRAGON EYES …

or is there more to the story? yes, but it’s not important tbh since it’s minor.

she left red lions at the beginning of september 2018, and joined dragon eyes at the beginning of october 2018. no one outside of dragon eyes knew this until recently … for obvious reasons. hopefully there’s no hard feelings because she still loves the members of red lions !! ( most of them, maybe? hopefully? )

still an assassin, that hasn’t changed ! — not sure what happened to their old assassin, but that’s not her problem — she’s still the same girl, who has tattoos for both gangs despite being only in one. she has been mostly independent in red lions ( except for those times she needed a warm body if ya’ get what i mean, ) and that hasn’t and won’t change. her allegiance is with one gang, but she usually works by herself unless specifically requested to do something other than kill.

red lipstick, pistols & pretty chrome daggers are part of her aesthetic.

ANGEL AS A PERSON !

she wasn’t always a strong person, but she’s stronger than she’d ever thought she’d be. there were nights when she didn’t think she’d see the sun the next day, so she’s proud of her growth. she’s not too in-touch with her negative emotions, so pride is what she feels.

this girl is always looking for improvement, and is constantly challenging her skills, her strength, her mind, & her perseverance when she has the chance. if you look at her desk, there are files of herself with records of her improvements. she’s extremely organized and careful, which helps for her job too.

she is a university student during the day, just to keep as a front if she’s to be acquainted with targets. she majors in criminology, ironically enough. she minors in chemistry, which is also useful if ya’ get what i mean.

she has a lot of money now, mostly because she has a bunch of unknown sugar daddies / mommies funding her every need. if you need anything just hit her up and she’ll get it … with a small price. it’s two way street, but she is more lenient.

she’s a social person, but she’s not extroverted … does that make sense? she doesn’t go out of her way to go out ( unless it’s a target ) and likes staying home a lot. she likes staying with her persian cat, sumi, and her cute lil rosy boa, nagini.

skills include self-defense, knowledge of & experience with most weaponry, lying, forgery, stealing, disguises … uh … driving? maybe one or two more but … whatever. she’ll do whatever the gang needs her to do, no doubt !

( DRINKING, DRUGS ) she drinks every week, but usually tones it down when she’s got a job. luckily, she doesn’t really do as many drugs anymore, but she smokes marijuana occasionally ( when someone offers it to her ) and smokes cigarettes when she’s really stressed, but also once biweekly if anything.

this girl is pretty much a clean slate. ever since she met [redacted], any life with the elderly couple is erased, and her life in and out of foster homes is so far gone that no one knows about it. her name was kim jangmi back then; NO ONE knows she’s kim jangmi unless she’s told them, or made the connection by themselves on their own time. as far as anyone is concerned, kim jangmi died as a missing child back in early 2010. she’s secretive about her past; don’t try digging into it unless you plan on digging your grave too !

she has a lot of repressed emotions, sadness being the biggest one, and isn’t the type to get angry very often, if at all. annoyed is the most she’d get, but she wouldn’t raise her voice. to be honest, she’s decent as long as people are as well? again, it’s a two way street. give respect & you get respect !

uh … these repressed emotions will eventually spill over : ) one day !

ummmm that’s it for now folks !!!!! pls plOT with Me !!!!!

#pabintro #oof this one is LONG AF ladies !!!!!!#⟨ 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂. ╱ out of character ⟩ * 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.

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momestuck · 5 years

Text

Let’s read Hiveswap Friendsim - volume 14

We’re getting close to the endgame now, enough that the writers have started dropping some hints about What’s Going On. But before we can see where this road leads, there’s a good 11 trolls left to befriend!

This time... ‘Of Cleanliness and Clownliness’. We open with a little bluster about how edgy and grimdark Alternia is.

The narrator then calls themselves out for using Godwin’s law. Yeah, ‘feeling dramatic’ huh.

Our trolls today are...

...on almost the far ends of the hemospectrum! (Curiously, no sea trolls seem to feature in this game at all. Sure, that might be because they all live underwater, or because they are generally violent and cruel, but the latter hasn’t stopped our protagonist and I’m sure they could overcome the former with a little creativity...)

Marsti

Marsti is the last creation of Aysha before the epilogue! She’s got a pretty fun theme with a bass guitar which kicks in immediately on his route.

We find her in the process of trying to clean off some graffiti, arguing with a ‘purpleblood boy’. Curious... judging by the cans of what’s probably spray paint that Karako is carrying, does that mean that these two trolls are encountered together in this episode?

...is that what that purple bit up there is supposed to be?

Anyway our first decision is fairly straightforward...

Let’s quickly go down the ‘mind your own business’ route, which I’m expecting to be short.

...despite our decision, the narrator can’t resist the urge to intervene, by tripping up the clown. Luckily, Marsti saves us by taking us into an alley.

Her quirk seems to just be... the -_- emoticon. And she’s not pleased that we intervened. She tells us that if we keep this up, we’re going to end up dead. “What’s your deal? -_-” she demands.

We ask her if she really needs to retrieve the cleaning bucket she left behind. Ahh, bucket jokes. Never get old.

Presumably this has a different troll name, other than ‘bucket’. Apparently a cleaning bucket is called a ‘scourdray’.

That one seems like kind of a stretch...

We ask if this is like... her job, but then remember that nobody has jobs. Honestly, how the economy of Alternia works is a total mystery to me. They run an imperial economy based on endless expansion and extraction like ancient Rome, but how are resources worked into useful forms? Is it... robots?

Anyway, Marsti seems to be doing this just on a whim.

But a lot of her whims concern cleanliness. She comments on our strange ‘magnetism’, which she is also feeling.

Magnetism or not, she mostly seems to find us very annoying as we ask her random questions like why she likes cleaning so much (she doesn’t, she just does it), and so on. She seems to suggest it has something to do with being a rustblood, and pushes the narrator to think about whether other rustbloods they know have hobbies.

Anyway we end up helping her clean this wall. Thrilling activities here in Hiveswap friendsim. We very smoothly ask Marsti if she’s doing anything later...

We get the choice of ‘uptown’ or ‘downtown’. Since my gf Elaine was next to me and saw the choice and started singing ‘Uptown Girl’, I guess we have to pick ‘uptown’. The narration immediately also makes an uptown girl joke.

We get in our stolen scuttlebuggy and head uptown. Marsti starts cleaning up crumbs in our car.

Apparently Alternia has scanners that read the driver’s blood colour, but Mallek helped us scramble it.

We briefly get the false impression she’s homeless. The narration draws comparisons for the reader with Diemen and Boldir, which the protagonist turns out to have spoken out loud, as is often the case...

It turns out, however, that she just got tired of cleaning the same hive.

We learn where we’re taking Marsti... Zebruh’s hive!? Really, protag? Of all the people?

To put it mildly.

We decide not to go to Zebruh’s hive, thank god. Marsti’s getting a bit fed up of the lack of mess, and we offer to make a bigger one...

Genuinely not sure what Marsti is parodying. The well known “obsessive about cleaning and kind of grumpy” subculture?

Instead we head to Galekh’s hive. We’re greeted by the goat, but no Galekh.

D’aww.

Luckily, Galekh’s messy library is exactly what the doctor ordered. Marsti gets to work. Attempts at conversation don’t go so well...

She doesn’t care what a we think... and calls us a ‘condescending alien with no blood colour to speak of’. Oof!

Anyway, at that point the route abruptly ends, with the goat eating some of Galekh’s writing, and Marsti making a break for it out the window. Welp.

All right, let’s try some other approaches...

Let’s try explicitly opting to intervene against the purpleblood troll. The narrator decides fate must be on their side thanks to their conversation with Boldir, and gets involved.

That is not particular ironic. I think you should have a word with Dave. That’s like... not even ‘like five or six my dude’ levels of irony.

So that leaves... downtown.

Which is to say pretty much where we were standing.

It’s mentioned that the drones mostly clean uptown. The protag ponders Zebruh’s whole ‘getting lowbloods to clean for him’ thing.

There’s a weirdly 4th-wally moment.

Speaking of which, the narrator tries offering some places to clean, and gets surprised Marsti doesn’t like us.

Marsti picks up on the whole ‘been killed’ thing. I guess our character does have explicit memory of all the branches where they died? Though that still doesn’t explain things like... having an umbrella from a non-friendship branch. Or remembering things we did in those branches.

The narration tries to brush over it. Uh-huh.

We end up at an empty lot - one we can recognise as where Boldir died, on a branch that got erased. The narration mentions deja-vu...

But it’s not Boldir here, but someone we haven’t seen in quite a while.

The protag tries to get Folykl’s support in ribbing Marsti for her weird cleaning habit. Instead, Folykl and Marsti have a go at us... and we keep digging.

It just gets worse and worse...

You’re not even a member of this whole caste system, narrator! You’ve picked up the whole ‘space racism’ thing remarkably quickly.

Marsti calls us on it. We start going over the fact that like... most of the lowbloods we know are very constrained in their aspirations and hobbies, etc.

Meanwhile,

OK then??

Apparently Marsti has noticed Folykl’s voidrot. And general dirt.

Apparently like... being dirty makes the energy transfer harder? I guess Marsti knows a thing or two about voidrot.

(Recalling that in Homestuck canon, an army of dead Aradias were flinging planets about from outside the universe...)

Our protag helpfully suggests medicine as a field. I don’t even know what their deal is at this point. Marsti doesn’t seem to either.

If she applied to be a medic, she’d get laughed out of the room of course. And the narrator finally gets the hint.

So we... back off a bit, with some uncharacteristic maturity. After a bit, we head off. The protag actually makes a (fairly) genuine apology!

And... yeah I guess we mostly make up.

I actually kind of appreciate such an ambivalent ending. A nice change from the pattern to meet someone who finds our whole... thing super annoying.

The achievement for this chapter says ‘you cleaned up your own attitude’.

These chapters are getting increasingly meta, huh.

Karako

Now for... the second purpleblood in the game! Karaka is the creation of someone only credited as ‘Geezey’, who has not written anything before now.

We get a new, and very pretty backdrop immediately.

That palette! Curiously the narration doesn’t really seem to be acknowledging much of what’s happened so far - that we have a car, for one.

We’re in a relatively sparse area of the city. Unfortunately, the vegetation is not very accommodating for a gentle stroll...

As we pick our way through this, we meet a stranger on the road...

The soundtrack has like... ‘bwmm’ noises with a bunch of reverb, and clown horns. Usual disclaimer that I don’t know shit about music. This track’s title is, impressively, a Unicode drawing of Bowsette.

Surprised by the use of ‘it’ pronouns - usually the narration gets in there quick with gendering.

Anyway, we get a foot sprite. That’s unusual.

We go to help them down from the tree. The narration in this episode is doing the ‘unnecessarily formality’ joke but it’s not really working for me.

They have a nametag, which tells us to call Bronya ‘if lost’. Conveniently, someone we know! The narration supplies an interpretation...

Hmm.

Anyway, this guy’s dialogue consists entirely of the word ‘honk’.

The narrator fills in the conversation - the usual I’m an alien, etc. etc. I guess the joke is that the narrator is really wordy today in contrast with Karako’s one-word lines.

Here’s a sample.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we make some friend overtures along those lines, and then stand about for a bit, until a drone shows up!

The artist is at least making some very expressive drawings in this episode!

We get a choice: help or run. Let’s try to help.

We shield Karako from the drone by leaning on a rock for a bit, and that... makes him happy I guess. He smiles, at any rate. We get back to the whole... weirdly obsessive about establishing Friendship(TM) affect, but then some sea trolls show up.

They laugh at us a bunch, to Karako’s chagrin. Well, it would have to be sea trolls for anyone to be able to laugh at a purpleblood, I guess.

We get some very strained fish puns.

The jabs get a bit much for Karako and he goes for the seadwellers with knives.

This will not end well.

If he wants to throw down... let’s let him. Comfort and support? OK.

We use the dangerous plants to back up Karako’s rampage, impaling some of the violetbloods. But unfortunately for us, they’re pretty much invincible or something.

Curiously there is at least one circumstance where a violetblood has to answer to a purpleblood - the Grand Highblood and Dualscar. But in this case, the hemospectrum seems to rule.

Poor little Karako ends up dead.

And it’s time for the end of this route. But for once, we’re not just getting a death screen!

It’s time for some LORE. Behind the portal is... some kind of carousel?

Well what do you know, the Dark Carnival is real. It’s being ridden by various troll mannequins (or as they spell it here, ‘manikins’... is that a UK/US difference I didn’t know about?)

The mannequins come down and raise Karako into the Carnival.

This religious experience prompts the narrator to get a little introspective about their total insignificance.

We’re sick, we decide, of highblood bullshit. In fact we get quite a lot of philosophising done while bleeding out on the ground here.

The protagonist resolves to do something about this. We get some strained physics metaphors...

We ‘take on the aspect of Clown-sarker’, whatever that means. Taking up some of the soft drinks that Karako was carrying, we... start spraying soft drinks on the sea trolls. The effect of this is... limited. They kill us pretty much immediately. But by dying in battle...

...we seem to have earned our own place in the Dark Carnival!?

Which means... a friendship ending?

Honestly what? Is the next episode gonna start with us in the Dark Carnival?

I certainly didn’t see that coming.

...let’s check out the other branches, I guess.

First, let’s see what happens if we run away from the Drone instead of pretending nonchalance. We make good our escape, more or less, and get a new background:

But Karako is gone.

All right, that was more or less what I expected. Well mostly I thought the drone would kill us, but same difference.

Now, if we try to restrain Karako from fighting the sea trolls...

We try to calm Karako down as we restrain him, but he’s just getting more and more berserk. Given what Gamzee pulled in a state like this... not promising.

He lets off some kind of... rage bomb?

The only thing in canon I can compare with is the Vast Expletive uttered by the Sufferer.

Whatever this is, it nicely does for the sea trolls, and we wake up still with Karako. And... that’s the very quick end to the arc.

OK, that’s a friendship ending too? Huh.

However, this ending does not give an achievement, while the other one did. “You ascended to the Dark Carnival... or did you?” is the achievement text.

What a strange chapter! I’m very curious to see how the next one will begin now.

#momestuck #lets read hiveswap friendsim

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hitsusven · 6 years

Text

alldenspa replied to your post “hello i will try to post more art soon i’ve been working on prepping...”

Tellusmoreaboutthecampaiiiiiiignnnnn

/runs in before heading to work

im making and DMing a 5e thieves’ guild campaign for some friends from another fandom! 2/3 players are new (the third is my DM for my usual campaign) so it’s a fun challenge trying to come up with short sessions that are still flexible? since some of them want to go do their own thing, so i’ll try to keep the group sessions short and then offer downtime over discord? so there’s a balance between group content and also solo shenanigans. (i love playing long sessions but they are tiring and i don’t think i’ll be able to handle DMing smth for more than 1.5hrs bc it’s also my first time DMing ahaha)

but the campaign is supposed to be more like... loosely connected assignments and stuff instead of a long overarching plot, bc i think this party would enjoy that more. make your own plot :P the basic goal is to get a better standing in the thieves’ guild though so it’ll be fun to see how they go about it

i’ve finished making the first session (they have to go track down somebody who owes the guild money) but i still need to do a lot more worldbuilding things. luckily it’s dnd so idc if i just randomly use concepts / names from other games i enjoy, so the city’s some sort of mash between limsa lominsa (ffxiv), the original lion’s arch (gw2), and kirkwall (da2). but also i hate making maps so i just have a squiggle on a cue card rn ahaha. ngl i would be further along in planning if i didn’t figure out how to use roll20′s jukebox system, i keep picking background music instead of planning XD

i also made a bunch of npcs already and im trying not to get overly attached in case my players murder them :’D but im excited bc the party sounds like it’ll be entertaining. my dm is going to be a tiny gnome alchemist, another friend wants to be an arcane trickster half-tiefling half-elf that looks like a sheep with a pet sheep whose goal is to befriend all the sheep, and the third hasn’t picked a class yet but they plan on being v sexy and charismatic and i can’t wait to see what they do when the dice gods fail them. hopefully we’ll be able to start playing soon! scheduling: DC 40

#alldenspa #replies #svenanigans

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steve0discusses · 6 years

Text

Yugioh Ep8 S1: Pharaoh’s Nietzsche Problems

I figured this would be a good show to recap since it’s got maybe about 5 minutes of content an episode...usually. But, the thing about Yugioh is that when it needs to move plot, it really moves a lot of plot. Quite a bit happens this episode, it’s a long recap, so lets just get to it. Starting with Keiba’s brother, Mokuba.

And no, we haven’t missed anything--he’s just secretly been here the entire time.

What’s kind of neat about Pegasus’ help is that they are reoccurring characters. This guy with the mustache. The one with the double spike mullet. They are very flat characters, but their presence asks a lot of questions. In this case it’s “do you really want to befriend Mokuba or something? What’s with this silver platter service? Do you guys all hang out? Do you all go to the beach together in your time off and like read magazines with your sunglasses on?”

And back in the largest drawing room and all of it’s slight perspective errors that are off just enough to cause me great pain, Pegasus is enjoying his weird ass cheese meal.

When informed that his victim has escaped, he’s not exactly concerned. He’s got cameras all over the island. Also, it’s an ISLAND with only one boat to stow away on and it is nicely guarded. So he figures he should check out how the duels are going with the island computer system. Because ya, of course there’s a camera every five feet on this deserted island. This guy is about one step removed from a Bond Villain.

Speaking of, Yugi is back to walking aimlessly around the forest with his buddies, just biding his time and blissfully unaware of the karmic retribution soon coming to him because of something his other half did.

And they run into my brother’s favorite character, double spike mullet man. He’s got a name but for the life of me I will never remember. His weird thing is that he can’t hold someone a normal way. He usually holds them like teddy bears.

Tristan finally demonstrates why he’s a member of the crew and it really threw me for a loop. Tristan has bizzare gorilla strength--but only occasionally. And predictably he gets soundly kicked by this very nimble double-spiked mullet man, who might be legit invincible.

And because the Yugi crew can’t not, they decide to take heart and do some justice, like they always do. This episode is like a big caveat for “always do the right thing, though sometimes the right thing would be to leave it alone because you aren’t as good or smart as you think you are, and you might only make things worse with your ineptitude.”

So, they decide to use the best strategy they could think of in order to catch the chip-napper, which was to just kinda...wait around or something. Turns out they aren’t very smart, which I’m really starting to think may not be entirely their fault since Yugi has only half a brain (though I’m starting to think it’s more a 20-80 Yugi-Pharaoh mix) and the rest are constantly exposed to Pharaoh psychic powers, which must be confusing. They actually do talk--in great detail--about how dumb Joey Wheeler is through the length of this episode, I just didn’t cap it.

Luckily, Mokuba wasn’t exactly hiding so we very quickly cut to the chase, although it appears Yugi doesn’t really get who this, he’s just got a card addiction and sees dueling as a great way to solve Nearly Any Problem. Including how to deal with theft.

Ah Joey, the Cassandra who called it first at the haunted Pharaoh necklace Maybe Possessing His Best Friend’s Mind.

Surprisingly, Seto Keiba’s awake. I just assumed he was in a hospital bed these past 7 episodes. But, apparently he’s walking around...sort of. He got a heavy dose of depression symptoms from the mind-wipe, and that’s not the sort of thing that this show tries to hide.

A lot of kid shows try to tread on this territory. But, this is the only one I’ve seen that goes HARD into mental illness without watering it down into some sort of cute metaphor like Elsa and her ice magic. Kieba doesn’t know how to Keiba anymore. He doesn’t want to do what he used to do. He doesn’t want to be who he used to be. He lost the thing that gave him passion and he’s PISSED.

And because it’s Yugioh, it’s gotta get Pretty Dark For A Kids Show, and so Keiba walks out of their life and puts all of his very real adult responsibilities on his very little brother who does not understand why.

While this is actually a pretty accurate portrayal of what depression can do to a family, I just wanna note that they chose to go this route. Usually in a kids show, when a character is “cured” of evil, it’s replaced with something else. Usually, it’s replaced with the goodness that character already had, deep down inside. Maybe a goodness they had as a child. In the case of Keiba...he apparently didn’t have that goodness to begin with.

Parts of Keiba are just GONE and Pharaohs take is “I fixed him, so you should be happy now.” Like, I have no idea if this show supports Pharaoh or actually wants to portray this as a character flaw, but I assume we’ll find out more later.

Also, remember how I said that Pegasus was once removed from a Bond Villian? Well, he crossed the one degree in a foot-note flashback.

I had to rewind when I watched this because this whole thing about “I’ll just kidnap him and run the company that way” was so...illegal? Even for a kid’s show it’s so roundabout. I mean we’re dealing with a Psychic so why not just mind control one of the Kiebas? O well. And then there’s the other thing--because Yugi embarrassed Keiba Corp by beating Seto, Pegasus has to prove he’s a better card player in order to seal this shady business deal. For...some reason?

Meanwhile, Pharaoh turns himself into a Philosophy 101 major’s first thesis about Nietzsche, as he makes himself the sole definer of what is good and evil and basically ignores what anyone lesser than him might say on the subject because he is Pharaoh and Pharaohs are Right.

Does he care about what he did to Mokuba and his family? Maybe later, but he certainly didn’t really care this episode. He just seems annoyed that other people aren’t like gun-ho about his “just wipe em clean” theory when it’s like, dude, does the medicine really outweigh the cure here? You gave the guy depression.

And although the show keeps saying Keiba was evil--we didn’t see much evidence of that because this all went down in Episode 1. Maybe that’s a lot of my problem in getting to like Pharaoh. I just gotta trust him that Keiba’s evil, but the worst thing I saw him do was tear up a card that Grandpa’s heart was connected to. Keiba still doesn’t even believe in that folktale heart of the cards stuff so should he be judged on that?

This blog just came off of occasionally recapping Once Upon a Time, which is obsessed with “where does good/evil come from?” and so to see this same trope of “We’ll just remove everything evil and it’s fixed!” explored again in another show--I dunno, we’ll see if Yugioh can do a better job. The bar is set pretty low because Once totally botched this.

My opinion: this mind-wipe seems pretty temporary since it’s not like Keiba chose to get it done, but we’ll see how it goes.

I was honestly surprised to see a show like this actually deliver a good take on the Sailor Moon Moral Savior trope, where she waves her moon healing wand, and evil characters are just “good” in the flash of an eye and all problems are solved and she is heralded as this wonderful savior.

Like seriously last episode was about stabbing the moon with a stone robot, how did we get here from that?

Meanwhile, back on the island, They’ve decided to do the right thing and it’s screwed them yet again because sometimes the only way to truly fix something when you screw up, is to just never have done it. Sometimes we do bad things thinking that if we get caught we can just fix it later--but there’s a lot of things that aren’t fixable. Sometimes people won’t be available to say sorry to. Sometimes you can’t return what you’ve taken, let it be star chips, time away from your little brother, or actual pieces of someone’s soul. Sometimes you just have to live with that.

Just a quick reminder that last episode revolved around eating fish for lunch.

Mokuba has such a strong neck now because of all these weird arm grabs. Also, I just realized Double Spike Mullet Man also has Big O type eyebrows and it’s something.

speaking of freaking too late

I mean I’m not even going to pretend that’s the real Keiba because youknow it’s a dark show but it hasn’t gone that dark. With the exception of our main character who IS half a zombie but man it’s always nice to see Pharaoh get a good ol slap in the face when he’s on his insufferable God kick.

Anyway, next week we duel a zombie and also find out how this is even possible. I admit I did not see the zombie twist coming that was...I feel like I use the word “unexpected” in every recap but here we are.

#Yugioh recap #fair warning: this is a lot of plot #ep8 s1 #tw mental illness #tw depression #yeah you read that right this show is gonna dive alllllll into that #humor #yugioh #yugi moto #joey wheeler #tea #tristan #photo recap #recap #why is there a zombie now????#mokuba #seto keiba #kieba #I'll never spell kaiba correctly

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shaevira · 7 years

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For my 55k post I will post my au one shot prompt that’s slightly tweaked for freezerburn . it went a lot different in my head and was a lot sweeter lmao oh well.(also lol @ my attempts to be funny) i also havent written in forever so SHRUGS excuse my shitty writing lmao

words: 2.2k

prompt: Everything is in black and white until you meet your soulmate.

“How did you even meet him again?” Weiss yelled, as she just nearly missed bumping into a different stranger for the 5th time in one day.

Weiss was being pulled through a crowd, almost unwillingly as she was drug behind her best friend, Pyrrha Nikos to a rowdy concert - or was it a battle of the bands? Weiss couldn’t exactly remember as her ear drums were in the process of being blown out by the band currently playing. Either way, loud music and thinking quietly to oneself was on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

To her luck, Pyrrha heard her question - “We met at a festival like this one! We just bumped into each other and boom! Color - just like that!” Pyrrha exclaimed loudly. For a prim and proper duo the two knew how to make themselves heard.

Weiss groaned. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to feel left out. Even if she had just been invited to this screamfest.

But in this case she was, because she couldn’t say ‘no’ to her best friend. Her best friend who had found their soulmate. Her best friend who now had the privilege of being able to see color. As long as she was around her soulmate of course.

As for Weiss, everything remained black and white. Literally.

Weiss had money, lots of it. She could buy anything she wanted.

What she could not buy was true love; the satisfaction of seeing everything and anything for how it truly was.

Her whole world, just like every other soulmate less person out there - was dim.

“Oh! They’re on next!” Pyrrha clapped together her hands in excitement. Pyrrha’s tall and demanding demeanor had managed to get them to the front of the crowd and to where the railings blocked them off from the stage.

A girl with dark toned hair walked on stage. If Weiss didn’t know any better black and white was this chicks aesthetic already. How cliche. Behind her followed two scraggly looking dudes. One had his shirt opened, his washboard abs rippling in the light and the other looked awkward and out of place.

Pyrrha’s Soulmate.

There was one more person to follow behind - she carried drumsticks and lifted them in the air as she posed and grinned. Her light toned long mane flowed behind her and she banged her head; this riled up the crowd who began to cheer loudly. She posed once more, this time flexing to show off how ripped she was before taking her seat at the drum set.

Pyrrha’s soulmate picked up a bass, while the washboard guy picked up a guitar. The slender black and white aesthetic figure took place on mic.

“I’m Blake Belladonna and we are the Bleeding Banshees!” She raised a fist in the air, before clutching onto the mic as if it were a desperate lover.

As soon as these words were said the crowd screamed loudly and the singing - or well - screaming in this case began.

Weiss groaned and pretended to be just as excited as Pyrrha for the next thirty to forty-five minutes. The music was just too much. But if there was one person that kept Weiss’s attention was the girl on the drumset who was dramatically lip syncing along in the back and making horrid faces while doing so. Weiss had to keep herself from bursting out in laughter for several songs.

Soon enough the screaming was over and Pyrrha had once more dragged Weiss off to meet the band. Blake had been kind enough to give them V.I.P passes. How Pyrrha met and befriended this lot of people will always remain a mystery to Weiss.

Weiss and Pyrrha slipped backstage as another band passed them getting ready to start the next gig.

They were soon greeted by three out of four of the band members. Soulmate, Aesthetic, and Abs had come out to meet them. But not, what Weiss liked to call her, Facial Horror.

“Pyrrha!” Soulmate had called out to her before embracing her in his arms.

“Jaune!” Pyrrha grinned and hugged him back.

Oh, right. Jaune. That was his name. Weiss was happy that Pyrrha finally found her soulmate, but at the same time - she was envious. For a variety of reasons. She did not care enough to keep his name in mind.

Pulling out of the embrace Jaune noted Weiss. “Who’s uhh, your pale friend?”

“Excuse me? I’m not pale!” Weiss retorted.

“Hate to say it, but you are pretty pale.” Aesthetic commented, as she seemed to be holding hands with Abs.

Weiss glared at the other couple now. So she was surrounded by people who could see color, but she couldn’t? Who had found their soulmates, and she hadn’t?

She felt a sense of exclusion.

Before Weiss could say anything, Pyrrha cut in before anything could truly escalate. “Weiss, this is Blake, Sun and Jaune. Everyone, this is Weiss.” She had pointed to everyone respectively, as they gave a simple hand gesture back.

“Where’s…?” Pyrrha looked around, Weiss had mentally asked herself the same question that Pyrrha was obviously about to ask.

“Oh, Yang? She opted out. She said she didn’t want to fifth wheel.” Sun commented.

“So, I’m going to be the fifth wheel then?” Weiss raised an eyebrow in discontent.

“I’ll see if I can convince her to come. She may change her mind if she know she’s not the only one.” Blake pulled out a cellphone and put it to her ear.

“Weiss, you haven’t found a soulmate then?” Jaune questioned.

Weiss had half a mind to groan and ask if that was rhetorical question, but instead politely shook her head no.

“Well, you’re in luck then! Yang doesn’t have one either. At least you two will have something in common!” Jaune grinned.

Weiss ultimately decided that Jaune was a special kind of idiot. How the universe decided him and Pyrrha should get together was beyond her.

“Yang’s in. Surprisingly.” Blake said as she shoved the phone back into her pocket.

“What’s she up to now?” Sun asked.

“She’s just putting away her things and she’ll be here in a second.” Blake paused before starting up again. “Hey, there’s this bar down the street we can walk to. You guys mind if we go there tonight?” Blake turned towards the group.

Everyone nodded in agreement. As they had, Yang had run up to the group.

“Aww, you guys didn’t leave without me! What a good group of friends!” Yang wrapped her arms around the shoulders of Blake and Sun shoving her way in between them.

“Of course not. We were thinking about going to that new bar just down the road, you in?” Blake turned her head towards Yang.

“Duh, you already asked.” Yang pulled away now shrugging and putting her arms behind her head. “But uhh...who’s the odd-man out?”

“You mean Weiss?” Pyrrha questioned.

“We-who?” Yang commented, almost in a confused manner.

“I’m right here, you big brute.” Weiss scowled.

“You’re so short! I didn’t see you there.” Yang grinned widely. “Hmm. Big brute. That should be the name of our next song! Thanks Princess.”

Weiss, definitely groaned while the group laughed at her displeasure. How did she get into this mess of a group? Weiss could only hope alcohol would be her systems soon enough.

It didn’t take long for the six man group to make their way to the bar. The walk was one that Weiss had mostly spaced out on. She only heard bits of the chatter which was mostly between Sun, Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha. Yang messed around on her phone while taking occasional, and very obvious glances at Weiss.

They arrived at the bar and luckily for them, they had been recognized by the owners and given sitting very quickly.

The chatter between the group became more disparaging for the likes of Weiss and Yang. The talk of soulmates and what new color they all had discovered or whichever one was their favorite was something that Weiss and Yang could not relate to.

The more their talk grew the more Weiss and Yang shot down alcohol.

Yang seemed to have had enough and tossed some peanuts at Weiss.

“What the hell, Yang?” Weiss slightly slurred as she had clearly seen Yang take that action.

“You wanna get outta here?” Yang asked - she seemed to handle her alcohol well.

Weiss sighed and nodded. She paid her due and hopped of the stool following behind a very upright Yang.

The cold night air hit them in the face as they both took a deep breath, in near unison.

“That fucking sucked.” Yang laughed as they started their walk.

“No shit. All that lovey dovey bullshit. Colors! Soulmates! Fuck them!” Weiss was inebriated. “It’s not fair! They get all of that and what do I get? A fucking multi-million dollar company.” Weiss scoffed, she made wild motions with her hands and her tone of voice went in and out with emotion.

Yang let out another laugh.

“My dad! He fuckin tried to help me - bless his fuckin’ soul - by putting on a ‘let’s fuckin’ handshake Weiss’ charity to see if you’re the one! Do you wanna know how many sweaty boys I shook hands with that day? Three hundred. Three fucking hundred and NOT A SINGLE ONE MY SOULMATE. We raised a lot of money for charity, but me? I’m still a single fuck while Pyrrha get’s Captain idiot and the abs aesthetic brigade!” Weiss had gone on a full out tirade.

Yang was completely lost in laughter. Yang was tipsy, but she wasn’t gone like Weiss was.

“You know, maybe you’re looking for the wrong gender.” Yang teased.

“Fuck, you think? Maybe if I start touching girls butts I might GET SOMEWHERE.”

Yang snorted down another fit of laughter.

“It’s not funny Yang! Don’t you feel lonely too?!”

Yang stopped her laughter and put on a straight face. “Well, yeah...but watching you say everything I wish I could say makes me feel a lot better. In a sense, I’m not alone. Because you feel exactly the way I do.” Yang kicked at the ground. “In the end I’ve accepted that maybe it’ll never be for me, you know?”

Weiss grabbed the bigger girl by the shoulders and shook her wildly. “You can’t say dumb things like that Yang!” Weiss yelled then pulled away, and covered her mouth. “I think I’m going to puke.” she muttered.

Yang put her hand on Weiss’s shoulder, Weiss turned her head to look at Yang and both girls paused.

“Your eyes...they’re…” before Weiss could say anything she puked all over the ground in front of her.

Yang knew what she was about to say. As Yang could see it too.

Yang had let Weiss finish her business before picking her up and carrying her safely back to their hotel room.

The the next morning Weiss woke up with a headache. Everything was in black and white once more.

“Heard you had a rough night.” Pyrrha winked as she squeezed her hair dry with a towel.

“I had the craziest dream I could see in color.” Weiss muttered.

“How do dreams like that even work?” Pyrrha chuckled before returning to the restroom to finish drying her hair.

A light knock could be heard on their door.

“I’ll get it.” Weiss muttered loudly and shuffled her way to the door. When did she put on PJS? She shook her head.

She opened the door and it was none other than Yang Xiao Long.

“Hey.” Yang nervously smiled.

“Hey Yang..” Weiss hadn’t the slightest clue what she was here for.

“I came to see if you were okay, how are you feeling, I brought you these I thought you might like them and..” Yang seemed to spurt out words at a mile a minute all of a sudden as she shoved flowers into Weiss’s arms and pulled back immediately. What happened to the cool nonchalant girl from last night?

“Whoa, whoa..slow down..what are these for…?” Weiss had trouble keeping up as she rubbed her head.

“Can I show you?” Yang cautiously asked.

“Where are you going to -” Before Weiss could finish her sentence her lips were sealed by others. Yang’s.

But Weiss didn’t pull away. Not immediately at least. “Yang what was tha-” she paused, her eyes widened. Suddenly everything was filled with color.

Yang’s lavender eyes stared at her cautiously. Her bright yellow mane flowed behind her as she adjusted her black leather jacket. A small bead of sweat ran down the side of her bronzed neck. There was a small tint of red on Yang’s cheeks, almost unnoticeable but to Weiss everything was so bright. So colorful. Yang was the only thing currently colored, but she shone bright like the Sun.

“Yesterday, when I was carrying you back...It was the most amazing thing just looking at you. You were beautiful and for once I knew what it was like and I just wanted that feeling again...and I..I want that feeling to last forever.” Yang gave a sheepish grin, she wiped the sweat off of her neck and looked at Weiss expectedly.

“It wasn’t a dream?” Weiss muttered. “I’m stuck with the Facial Horror?” Weiss’s eyes widened as she stared at the ground. The red carpeted ground.

“Facial Horror? Wow, Weiss! That’s a really good song name too! First Big Brute and then Facial Horror! Maybe you should join our band!” Yang grinned.

#Freezerburn #Freezerburn AU Prompt #I got bored and wanted to write. OTL

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jurassicparkpodcast · 5 years

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EXCLUSIVE: A Look Behind The Scenes At Masrani Global, The Dinosaur Protection Group and Much, Much More…

We’re all Jurassic Park fans – that much is undoubted. But, whether you loved or hated the newer entries in the Jurassic World series, it is undeniable that the immersive viral marketing for the films has been incredible. I know as a young and impressionable college student during the Jurassic World release campaign, I was inspired by the marketing – envisioning dreams of a grandiose marketing campaigns which pushed the boundaries and walked the line between marketing and real life.

With this personal love for immersive marketing, it is my absolute pleasure to share with you today a behind the scenes look at Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s marketing.

Jack Ewins and Timothy Glover are responsible for the formation Chaos Theorem – a marketing agency which has handled Universal’s immersive Jurassic projects.

So – Jack, Tim, before we start why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you got into Jurassic Park, and what it means to you both?

Timothy Glover: I was actually living in Rhode Island, USA as an eight year old at the time Jurassic Park came out in 1993. I had grown up reading illustrated books and playing with those late 1980’s dinosaur toys, which always looked like they were inspired by the 1933 King Kong film. When I saw the preview for this new Spielberg movie that made dinosaurs look so incredibly real I was hypnotised. The entire concept of a Jurassic Park felt very believable as a kid. As a film, Jurassic Park made you want to be a storyteller, director, musician, actor, animator, you name it - it’s the pinnacle of film-making.

Jack Ewins: I’ve been heavily drawn to Jurassic Park after seeing the first film at the cinema when I was 4 years old. At the time, I was enthralled by the adventure of the story, and the menacing presence of the dinosaurs, which still rings true today, but now I’m 30 I’m engaged by the deeper meaning that Jurassic brings to my life. To boil down to the spine of Jurassic’s story, the franchise surrounds a moral, and ethical debate about playing God, and this is something I think captures the minds of children, and adults, which sticks with them because it resonates with real debates that exist in our world. So, whilst Jurassic means a lot to me because it’s fun, and adventurous, it also means a lot to me because of its philosophical nature.

As we’ll touch on in a little bit, you guys have been on an incredible journey with the franchise. How did this all start for you both?

JE: I’ve been thinking about this ever since we got the initial email from Universal asking if we’d like to join the team. For myself it went something like this:

In 2011, my mother presented me with this box which contained all my old Jurassic items, or close to all of it, and I was surprised just how much I had accumulated over my childhood years. So, I went online to see whether anyone else had made videos showcasing their collections, and I found this plethora of fans who were proud of their stuff. So, I made my collection video detailing all the nostalgic memories I had for the items, why my Robert Muldoon was nicknamed “El Floppo”, why my Coelophysis had a missing foot, or how my Juvenile T-rex figure was missing its dino-damage. This gained millions of hits on YouTube, and caught the attention of Sam Phillips who hosted a Jurassic Park podcast called Jurassic Cast. He reached out to get me on the show to discuss my collection, and I agreed wholeheartedly, because I was a fan of Sam’s podcast, listening to it in my spare time. However, before going on the podcast, and after finishing work one night, I felt this urge to send a tweet out to the newly announced director of Jurassic Park 4, Colin Trevorrow, inviting him onto the podcast with us to discuss his attachment to the franchise. I had no idea that he would agree to this but he DID! And it was going to be his first official interview about Jurassic since he was announced as Director. Going not to some major magazine or news outlet but directly to the fans. So, after a week or so we recorded and released our interview, gaining a lot of media buzz. And this is where Tim came into the picture, by hearing about our podcast, and researching who we were he reached out to myself for help on his (yet to be completed novel). Tim?

TG: In early 2014, I befriended Jack on Twitter. I was writing a creative story about a space exploration mission and I needed an artist to push some of my ideas forward. At the same time, all this Jurassic Park 4 news was coming through full of rumours and speculation. I think in February there was a JoBlo article that hinted at the possibility of an open park run by an Indian billionaire with the surname Patel. I asked Jack if he’d be interested in making a fan-based viral website for this company showing they’d recently acquired InGen. He was totally in, which was great as I don’t think I would have had the motivation to do it alone. Everything happened quickly after that - the Patel site went up and Twitter went nuts. Colin and Universal both saw the site and how it generated so much reaction. Luckily for us they reached out! The rest is history.

Most people will be familiar with your viral work on Masrani Global – the website which was featured heavily in Jurassic World’s marketing. How did you go about constructing the website?

TG: We had a few months in 2014 to work on our ideas, content and so forth before we were flown out to LA to meet with Colin, Frank and the team at Universal to present our ideas. That trip was when we had a first look at some of the materials from the film as they’d just wrapped shooting. I think straight away I said to Jack, “Wow - this film is going to be amazing. We really need to make something that blows everyone away”. Fortunately for us Universal were fantastic and sent us an assortment of assets that we could use. From there Jack and I worked on making a website that was rich in content and fun to explore. We had to make sure someone could dive into 20 years’ worth of lost information but not do it all in 5 minutes. This included us brainstorming and writing original ideas about events that (in all likelihood) would have occurred over the twenty years since 1993’s Jurassic Park. Colin’s help and feedback was instrumental to our success. A day before we went live he told us the website was “understated, thoughtful and rich”, which was a great compliment for us.

On the website, we see a lot of World Building – grounding Masrani Global as not only a conglomerate who built Jurassic World, but a conglomerate who have ties to the security, power and fuel industries. What kind of real-world inspiration did you use to ground this fictional company?

TG: I think I recall there being a little bit of Wayne Enterprises in the mix, but we were honestly making a lot of this conglomerate up during our Skype brainstorming sessions. We were told by Colin in LA that Simon was a billionaire with interests in Oil and Telecom, so we knew first up we had to create two companies and give them some backstory. Then we looked at various other specialties a billionaire might be interested in such as engineering, aviation, healthcare and data consulting. We had a bit of fun with some of their names along the way too. Axis Boulder is an anagram for Diabolus Rex, the original name for the Indominus. Timack Construction was a play on our own names and for constructing the world of Masrani Global. Masrani Oil became Masrani Energy, which was a fun environmentally friendly rebranding campaign we launched. In hindsight, perhaps there was a little bit of Elon Musk in there too!

A fan favourite feature of the Masrani Global website is the Backdoor – providing insight into the Jurassic world beyond what we see on screen. How did you decide what to include here?

TG: The Backdoor was a really important addition we wanted to include in the viral campaign because Masrani Global as a company would only be interested in positive PR on their main website. The Backdoor was where you could look for archives and Easter Eggs that had direct connections to some of the previous films. We felt this was a platform where we could really go into some details about Henry Wu’s character in particular, so a lot of focus went on his archived logs and you can see his thought processes evolving as he picks up new discoveries since the early 1990s. We’d also come up with the acronym of I.B.R.I.S. when Colin mentioned to us that Owen’s program didn’t have a name in the film. So, we were like - “Let’s name it!”

JE: This was an idea that we jumped on because we felt that one of the major parts of the original Jurassic movie was this notion of hacking into parks systems. We hoped early on to bring that aspect to the site so fans could play the part of hackers. The site wouldn’t launch until the day of the home media release, so it was a case of better late than never. One of the must haves for this section of the site was the timeline of events. For years, we had been seeing wishes for Universal to officially release a timeline of events that would help explain things more coherently than before. So, we sat down and researched what dates would be best to highlight and what to keep hidden. We agreed to keep the events of the movies under “Restricted Access” because the fans, and audience would already know what happened and the company would want the information contained within to be harder to reach. This would also allow us the opportunity to bring stuff to the surface later down the pipeline if need be, and with the release of the reports of the DPG website we made that happen.

We also see areas which retroactively add to the story-line – such as some of the information about the Spinosaurus. What kind of approach did you take when adding to the history of the franchise?

TG: Where there were opportunities to promote Colin and Derek’s story-line we did that first and foremost. I consider the viral websites as prequels or bridges with opportunities to connect the films together in a linear method (i.e. timeline) and so that responsibility came second. The third level of writing was left to our own creativity. We had to be very careful here as we didn’t want to upset any fans by including contradictory or irrelevant information, and we also didn’t want to tread on Colin and Derek’s territory. We noticed that Jurassic Park 3 in particular had some opportunities for expanded ideas, and there were some positive elements to Jurassic Park: The Game that we could “borrow” and bring into the film canon’s world - such as Mt. Sibo and the Bribri tribe. Overall my favourite additions were creating the I.B.R.I.S. acronym and writing a prequel for Vic Hoskins’ character in connecting him to the Jurassic Park 3 Pteranodon “cleanup”. Both these pieces seemed to be well liked by the fans and have made it to official games and booklets.

JE: We took a careful approach. We never wanted to spoon feed the fans information, and that meant not revealing everything at once. We carefully decided what to dive into, and used the position of the company Masrani Global, or the organization of the DPG as vessels for information within that universe, meaning the reader would only know what they would know, or were willing to publish to help their cause. So, for example, on Masrani Global it mentions Simon personally hiring Hoskins after his working during the “cleanup” of some flying reptiles over Canada in 2001, but if you watch Jurassic World, when those characters meet, it’s their first actual encounter with one another. So, the website was painting a nicer picture to what was really happening, a corporate mask as it were. Whereas the DPG are fighting for a specific cause, and will only release what they felt would help gain traction behind their vision for saving the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar. The dialogue I have seen fans undergo, trying to dissect or understand what is happening is reflective (I think) of what people within the Jurassic universe would be talking about. So, the fans and the fictional people who have witnessed the events go down in the world of Jurassic are closer than ever.

So – Masrani Global has been one aspect of your work with the franchise, but for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom you doubled down with both the Dinosaur Protection Group and the Extinction Now! Group. What inspired these ideas?

JE: The DPG was already in motion when we were brought back for round 2. It plays a pivotal role in getting our protagonists to the island within the plot of the movie, so the ideas for that site were given a jump start here. When we visited the DPG set we got a real sense for how the site should look and feel, and how juxtaposing it was going to be when compared to Masrani Global. However, Extinction Now! came about in an entirely different way.

TG: That’s right, the DPG was already central to the plot of the film. Whilst pitching our ideas for the DPG to the team at Universal, we came up with the idea of an antithesis group, which we simply referred to as the “Anti-Dinosaur Group”. It didn’t get the green light until much later in early 2018 when Colin reached out to us wanting to promote the same kind of idea. Believing the DPG were only representing half the ethical debate, Jack and I worked with Colin to build a campaign based on some fun back and forth social media banter, and really get the debate going. Thus, Extinction Now! was born as a collective effort between us and Colin. Can’t forget mentioning Manuel’s incredible San Diego video too which really kicked things off!

So, we saw you really double down with this project – with a heavier influence on Social Media. What was it like getting to work on trends such as the Dinosaur Adoption campaign?

TG: I came up with the idea for “Adopt a Dino” very early after hearing about the DPG project, even before we were booked to visit the set of the filming. Universal loved the concept so much they ran with it separately and created a whole campaign - including badges and t-shirts. We knew it was going to be a big hit with the wider audience because we did something similar on the Masrani Global website that let people interact and “apply” for a job, which turned out to be more successful than we’d anticipated. Watching Adopt a Dino all unfold in the way it did on National Dinosaur Day was very rewarding.

For the DPG, we also see content from the set of the DPG office, with stars like Bryce Dallas Howard contributing. What was it like working alongside these people to build the fictional world of the DPG?

JE: We didn’t exactly work alongside those actors, but we did write a list of phrases for them to record for videos, or sound bites for them to say which made it into the videos. We wrote those on the DPG set, and handed them to Bryce Dallas Howard’s assistant so once the main filming on that set had been wrapped, they would use the cameras to shoot the viral videos using what we wrote. However Universal worked on the content for the videos, and sent them our way once completed so we could integrate them on the site.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about working on these epic-scale Jurassic Projects? I think to the average fan it is hard to comprehend just how much work goes into these projects!

JE: There’s months of preparation that goes on behind the scenes, including ideas, and pages of documentation that doesn’t get used. One example from the last campaign was this idea to have a simple video game appear within the Kids Section of the DPG. We worked with Manuel to design how this game would look and what it would be. Our idea was to have the player be a triceratops escaping the volcanic eruption on Nublar, trying to get to the East dock to be airlifted to safety by the DPG. However other more crucial things came up, and we decided to abandon the game. In hindsight, I think it would have been OTT, that site was already packed with plenty of goodies. On top of that there’s the aspect of where our team members operate from on Earth. Chaos Theorem works globally, so keeping up with time-zones whilst we work, other external work we might have, family life, social life, and R&R, there is never a dull day.

However – these big projects are not all the pair of you are working on! Can you tell us a little about Chaos Theorem?

TG: Chaos Theorem I think is something that’s going to be evolving over time. Right now, I like to think of it as a digital storytelling entity that is lucky to possess some talented individuals who aspire to work on BIG ideas.

What is the dream with Chaos Theorem – where would you like it to be in five years’ time?

JE: My hope is for Chaos Theorem to be working on its own productions. Bringing our own method and flavour to the world of storytelling. But with anything large scale like this it’s one step at a time. So, we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.

TG: Like Jack says - producing our own creative content. Lucasfilm and Amblin are very big inspirations for me. I’m not just talking about the obvious stories like Indiana Jones or E.T., but early short films like THX 1138 4EB and Amblin’ really set the tone for what Lucas and Spielberg were going to do for the rest of their lives.

Where can people go to learn more about Chaos Theorem, and how can they support your continued work as the company grows?

TG: We’re working behind the scenes on building a website at www.chaostheorem.com and we’ve just kicked off our Facebook page https://fb.me/chaostheoremdigital/ recently where we’re posting videos and a bit of content related to the Masrani and DPG campaigns. We’d love for the community to keep in touch and follow us.

Lastly – what would your one piece of advice be for anyone looking to get into film marketing?

TG: If we’re talking digital marketing then I’d say two things -

Grow your imagination. People will be attracted to something they haven’t seen before. If it’s already been done then try to make it better. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas because just discussing them can lead to even greater ones.

Learn the internet. Web development is important if you want to be creating a website. Not Wordpress and WIX type stuff because creators will want you to be dynamic. HTML5, CSS and JavaScript is a good way to go. Social media management is a must, and the more Adobe you learn the better. Get out there and create!

JE: Thanks guys!!!

No Jack and Tim – thank you for taking the time out your busy schedules to have a chat with me about all things marketing for the Jurassic franchise! I really appreciate it.

Make sure you check out Chaos Theorem, and stay tuned for additional interviews, features and much, much more here on The Jurassic Park Podcast.

Written by: Tom Fishenden

#article #tom fishenden #dpg #masrani terminal #masrani global #choas theorem #jack ewins #timothy glover #dinosaur protection group #backdoor terminal jurassic #jurassic world viral marketing #viral marketing

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soclosewiz · 6 years

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Magnum Opus

Magnum Opus “How many more bolts until the end of this thing?” my partner Mike asked as he powered past the crux of a climb. “You never really reach the end,” I replied sarcastically. “Greyhound stays with you forever; you’ll never be the same after you clip those chains.” In that situation it was a joke, but for the climbs we would later go on to send that day, the words held unironic truth. Some sends are just a box ticked on 8a.nu or an excuse to drink beer at the end of the day. Others tell a story: of lessons learned, friendships made, challenges overcome, or in the case of Magnum Opus, all of the above. When I was 19 and on my very first climbing road trip, I met my very first dirtbag. He was living out of a van with his dog and another climber he’d picked up somewhere along the way, and rock climbing was his life. As I traveled around for the next three months, I toyed with the idea of doing such a thing myself one day, but also wondered if I actually had what it would take. The years went by, and I found myself drawn to the comfort of a stationary life, with a community, friends, a home… basically a support system so that I never really had to face the thought of being truly and one hundred percent alone. I always set ultimatums for myself, with the hope that one day I would be ready to face the adventure of leaving home with just the things that would fit into my car and see where life might take me. When I sent 8a/13b I would do it. That came and went and I only settled down more. When I’d lived in Seattle for a full year, then I would do it. Three years went by. When I turned 25, that would be the year that I’d reevaluate. 25 finally happened, and I found myself with the opportunity I had always been waiting for. In December of 2017 I met a guy in Mexico named Alex who was psyched to travel and climb together. We hit it off and stayed in touch, and so I, ready to make the most of my last year of Dad’s health insurance, hit the road. I was travelling by myself, but I still had a safety blanket; a seasoned dirtbag to hold my hand as I jumped off the deep end. It was the push I had been waiting for all this time. Unfortunately he was ready to let go of said hand after a lot less time than I would have liked, and I was faced with a new ultimatum: venture off into the unknown by myself, keep climbing with a guy that had just broken my heart, or head home with my tail tucked between my legs. None of the options were what I had been mentally prepared for when I left home. I called a few friends, cried for a few hours, drove to St. George, got a hotel, and drank an appropriate amount of wine for what I figured the situation entailed. I felt more physically alone than I have in many years, being solo in a very foreign place with absolutely no plan. Luckily, I received endless support from all of my friends, and that comfort got me through the night. I couldn’t afford to stay there more than a night however, so I needed to come up with a new plan pretty quickly. I found a place to sleep in my car just outside the city, and considered all my options. I had friends coming in soon, but I wasn’t just going to sit around and wait until they got here. After two rest days, I needed to climb. I showed up to Moe’s Valley with no knowledge of the area, no crash pads, no guidebook, a marginal amount of psyche to boulder, and a healthy level of fear at the thought of putting myself out there and trying to befriend some strangers in my already emotionally vulnerable state. I walked up to the first people I found and asked to join them. It was a couple from Salt Lake who were working on a V7 called Paradise Lost. I ran two laps on the warmup V2 next to it, and then proceeded to start working the 7 and subsequently dispatching it within three tries. I can only imagine what they must have thought! Who the fuck was this girl? Luckily first impressions are quickly overwritten by honest friendships, and we ended up having a great day together. I began to feel like I could actually make something happen with the rest of my trip, if I was able to see the many opportunities around me for what they were. At the end of the day I also ran into another few familiar faces from my time in Mexico: Mike and his dog Sequoia. He was on a similar soul searching, partnerless vision quest in Moe’s, and it was through pure serendipity that we happened to sync up that day when we were both wandering through the boulders while actually yearning to sport climb. After a few more days farting around until my other friends showed up, I rallied my crew around me to head back to the Grail. I had unfinished business, and thy name was Magnum Opus. Driving back to Lime Kiln brought with it a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Would Alex still be there? Would the place still seem as exciting and magical with a different crew? Did I have a prayer at sending this rock climb? The answers were ‘No,’ ‘Yes,’ and ‘Maybe, just maybe.’ I wasted no time in diving into the project. Magnum Opus was everything I had been told it would be: bad feet, shallow mono pockets, and very few rests for 35m. Pulling on some of those holds felt like an injury ready to happen, and if I didn’t hit some of them just right I had to force myself to just let go to avoid blowing a tendon. I had to tape one of my fingertips and it made many of the moves much harder because I had to be significantly more precise to fit into some of the pockets now, and other holds were now quite slippery. On my second or third burn I split a tip on my other hand too, so now I was double taping. A rest day yielded hope for the skin, but when I came back the draws had been taken down, so I had to hang my own. Suddenly there was a new pressure: I couldn’t leave without either sending or accepting defeat, because putting them up was an ordeal I was not enthusiastic about repeating. I also didn’t have enough remaining draws to do anything else, so I couldn’t realistically consider leaving to climb somewhere else and just coming back in a few days. Friday marked the arrival of more friends from my previous stint in the Grail, but they were only there for the weekend, and Mike was also scheduled to leave on Sunday. I had two days before there were no longer any partners I knew, plus I also wanted to meet up with my friends back in St. George. I one hung the climb twice, feeling strong, psyched, and stressed. Saturday came, and I knew I would need a rest day after that. It was time to sink or swim. I felt terrible on my warmup, and my skin felt like every hold was sharper than crimping on the blade of my pocket knife. On top of that, when I walked up to the climb there was a family toproping the approach pitch, so I had to wait for them to finish to get on. It wasn’t until after lunch that I even tried it that day, but the first burn brought another high point and one-hang. Even with the continued progress, I didn’t think it would go down. There were just too many places that you could screw it up (i.e. every single hand and/or foot move from the start of the crux until the anchors), and even the most minor of errors would send me pitching off with a flurry of expletives. The main reason I didn’t think it would go down was because that would make everything just a little too easy. I would send the project just as my partners were all leaving, just as my new friends were arriving in St. George, just before my skin got any worse (I was worried about another finger splitting), and just before I would need a rest day. Yet somehow, the universe decided I had earned a break, and I found myself crimping through the crux with confidence. I got to my high point and felt myself slipping off the same hold as before, but through sheer force of will I managed to pull through and get to the rest. From there I knew I could finish it as long as I climbed well. If there’s one thing the Grail has taught me about climbing, it is that the difference between climbing poorly and climbing like I should be on this technical terrain is almost entirely in my head (unless I’ve had too much coffee, then it’s anyone’s guess). ‘Climb well, Brittany’ I found myself telling myself whenever my leg would start to shake or my heart would begin to race. ‘Climb like you should be climbing, and you can do this’ and similar mantras became my constant internal dialogue. For me this is a dramatic change from the norm. Usually I find myself thinking things more along the lines of ‘don’t fuck this up,’ or ‘wouldn’t it just suck to blow it right here?’ There is no room for those sort of thoughts on Magnum Opus. When I clipped the chains my own cheering was almost drowned out by the chorus of encouragements from friends and strangers alike from one end of the crag to the other. The wall at Lime Kiln is such that everyone can see everything from just about any vantage point, so I was lucky to be able to celebrate my victory with the masses who had watched me punt off (quite vocally) so many times before now. Many other members of the crew sent their projects that day, and it filled me with endless joy to be able to share my experience with all of them. Not only was Magnum Opus the first 13d of my climbing career (the grade receives many different labels depending on who you ask, but that is what I feel is right for me), it is the most tries I’ve put on anything away from home crags, and the hardest I’ve done outside Washington. It represents all of the elements of my journey so far, and also everything still to come in my remaining days of travel. From making pizza for five hours over the campfire, to crossing state lines several times a week, to watching 360 degrees of sunrise en route to Las Vegas, to cooking dinner in parking garages, to sleeping in shooting ranges, to falling asleep stargazing on crash pads, to overstaying my welcome at McDonalds to use Wifi, to bleeding through the knees of every single pair of pants I brought, to sewing car curtains at the library, to getting baked and watching Jumanji in the rain, to ground score potato chips, to so many other memories—These days are long, but the weeks are short, and I am eternally grateful for each and every moment, from the ones that break my heart to the ones that make it feel like it will burst with joy. Every day brings new lessons, opportunities and adventure, and while nothing has tuned out at all like I had been expecting, I wouldn’t change a single part of it.

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