#man i can’t believe i did this instead of assignment work

[birdo-is-here]

analysis/description (in some cases) of Chonny Jash’s Tally Hall/Joe Hawley/Miracle Musical covers because apparently the new hyperfixation has emerged. Most of these are just my interpretation, and there’s many ways someone can interpret these! (I would like to say i am no academic genius or anything, i get Bs in english, at best an A- every so often, this is nothing professional so i’m not trying to make it sound professional, this is just me rambling about a thing i like a totally normal amount)

Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to add to this analysis

TW: Talks of suicide (i mean it when i say let me know if i missed any TWs! I can be incredibly dumb sometimes and miss/forget them)

Analysis under cut

Spring & a storm + Never meant to know:

It's a bit difficult to relate these ones to the CJ’s narrative, since there’s no added or changed lyrics (aside from an added line in S&aS that goes “So observe these blues and greens, and embrace this harmony, all you see and you and me, we came from the stars …”) you also can’t find heart or mind (and potentially soul?) in them.

We do know that this may be intentional though, seeing as not long ago CJ redid the “Spring & a Storm” cover. They might be made to make the covers look relatively normal, just of a guy covering a band he likes, until it's not that of course.

Hidden in the sand:

This is where it gets a bit more like the Chonny Jash we know and love. From what i’ve gathered this one is about a man who gets rejected by a woman. The man tries to write her a song to try “win her back,” but his frustration at her and life in general leads him to make the lyrics sound angry and resentful, maybe not intentionally. Even when the frustration went away, he couldn’t make the lyrics work.

This is a fun one, and one of my favorites of CJ’s covers. Still no immediate sign of Mind or Heart in this one, though there is some speculation this one is sung by Heart instead of Soul, since in the Mucka Blucka cover, he’s the one to make the reference to Hidden in the sand, as well as the reference to the Haiku cover — which is most likely based on the same or similar situations.

Ruler of Everything:

Now THIS cover is where it gets good. It starts off with the usual lyrics of “Juno was mad, he knew he’d been had, so he shot at the sun with a gun …” Until it quickly shifts into the usual CJ sound, also with our first traces of Mind! Right away when listening to the next part talking about how “Juno” in this situation missed, and so he “got what he deserved,” you can easily hear Mind singing along with Soul. Even in the beginning you can very barely hear Mind singing, until you can hear him much better in the next part.

The paragraph immediately after that doesn’t include Mind, although the next pre-chorus you can very easily hear our bestie again.

“Juno” in this situation is most likely to be Heart, when you listen to Mind’s attitude towards him as well as the evidence in Mucka Blucka: “And right is he (i) missed, my eyes in a mist, i finally realised, i shot at myself …” Here Heart is the one to say “I” instead of “he” in that first line, as well as the rest of that verse.

Speaking of this next pre-chorus, the lyrics go as follows: “You understand, mechanical hands are the ruler of everything …” Now as we know, Mind is VERY commonly referred to as an “automaton” or “robotic”, most often by Heart. This is probably due to his habit of using logic and reasoning instead of his emotions. Knowing this, makes that line very interesting! Going back to Mucka Blucka YET AGAIN we are looking at the reference to Ruler of Everything where the lyrics go: “But mechanical hands decided where the heart would be: Just apathy.” This also includes CJ’s cover of Just Apathy, which we’ll get into later. This probably means that, as a result of Heart trying to shoot Mind, they end up having a chat where Mind explains his reasoning for never using his emotions to dictate decisions, or something like that to be honest I got a bit lost on that one.

Now we get to the “do you like how i walk” part, which is sung by both Heart and Mind, Heart of course doing the “goofier” lyrics with Mind butting in to sing the “consequential” line, i'm not typing the whole verse out. When Heart sings the “disintegrates into chalk” line, this may be an allusion to his blindness, it clearly has a bit more importance seeing as Mind also joins in when he sings this, who knows though.

The first half of the flibbity-jibber-jabber verse (yes, that one) seems to be sung by our boy Soul, with the second part sung by Heart and Mind. The lyrics don’t really change from the original here, but my bets are they’re all going through some sort of either identity or existential crisis.

And finally, the last verse is sung in a duet by both Heart and Mind, both singing specifically about mind, with the only lyrical variation between the two versions being Heart says “you” while Mind says “I”. This is probably Heart accepting that Mind does have the high ground in this situation, and there’s not much he can do about it.

Variations on a Cloud:

This cover is a doozy! Mainly just a trio between Heart, Mind and Soul with some lyrical changes (mainly being from Soul). This is excluding one of the last parts, where the three start singing all at once completely out of harmony.

In this part Soul’s lyrics are almost completely original, where one of his lyrics is: “They say we're not worth the time, they wouldn’t spare us a dime, while they spend all their days devouring cocaine and wine,” This seems to be a jab at people who don’t do anything to help others who need it, such as people mental illnesses or physical diseases, even though they have the funding to do so.

This also includes another one of Soul’s lines: “I’ve suffered agony, relentlessly, helplessly since you came,” He’s probably saying this to Heart and Mind, for obvious reasons.

Also on that last line, “Join if you wish,” it might say something if Heart’s was the one to stick around the longest before all the texts disappeared, idk just something to point out.

I’m sure there’s more to this one, but I couldn’t find much for it apart from that last section.

Bad Day:

This one’s a bit more complicated, it doesn’t seem to directly include Mind or Heart in it.

There’s a good chance this one isn’t involved in the narrative being built here and was just a song about CJ’s health, which is what it most likely is. Though there are a few lyrics that feel a bit off, such as the repeated line of “let us sing,” as well as “you want me to sing? Fine,” But it’s also very easy to tie this to Chonny’s fans requesting songs so often, who knows.

It might also be a way of speaking the truth about one’s health instead of just the normal lyrics, which I got from the last part of the song where it goes: “Fine I'll play the happy version, free from sadness and perversion, eyes be blocked from devastation …” but who knows with this one.

Haiku:

Haiku!!! Love this one, really nice and wholesome amirite haha. Anyway, going back to Hidden in the sand, there’s a good chance this cover is likely based on the same story as Hidden. The first half of this song is about a man trying to figure out how to write a haiku for someone.

The next half is the actual haiku, which seems normal at first, until in typical Mr. Jash fashion, it turns out our subject has been stabbed, where at first he thought the love-interest had stabbed him, saying “i swore that i smelled your smell” until it goes on to say “but i stabbed myself,”

From what I've gathered, he asked a lady out, and she rejected him, so he tried to write a haiku/song for her, which he struggled to write for a while, until he finally did it, but it still wasn’t enough for her as she turned him down again.

Let’s see if this relates to the Heart, Mind and Soul narrative. At first glance it doesn’t seem like it does, but when you look more into it (as well as the Mucka Blucka cover referencing BOTH songs), you might be able to see it at least has some symbolism to Heart and Mind’s fallout.

Banana Man:

This one probably doesn’t have as much to do with our narrative we're analyzing here, mainly meant to criticise the issues with the original song, so I won’t be saying too much about it.

I suppose It CAN still be debated that it DOES include Mind and Heart, seeing as you do have a voice with Mind’s lower octave, as well as a few lines that might reference them, such as the part that goes: “forget about the voices lying deep inside, the one that’s screaming screaming and screeching, proclaiming wrong and right,” although that line can also very well be interpreted as someone’s morals that might say “hey this is kinda weird,” so we’ll see.

It states in the cover’s description that the song is meant to over-dramatize an argument Jash may have been having with a “past version of himself as well as people who refuse to acknowledge things that can be good but have problems” so this cover is most likely just that, not really much to do with our narrative and more about the problems with the song.

There is still some evidence of Mucka Blucka briefly referencing the song in the cover, as well as some of the lyrics and of course, being able to hear a voice similar to Mind’s in it, so maybe they’re vaguely involved, idk.

We’re Gonna Win:

Now THIS is a good one! I’d say this cover is where it really starts getting into the narrative of our favourite guys, with the “plots” of each song being a bit more clear.

This cover, as we know if you’ve heard it, is a combination cover of Rob Cantor’s “I’m gonna win” and Tally Hall’s “All of my friends”, and it’s definitely one of my top 5 fav covers!

The song starts with the first verse and chorus of Cantor’s “I'm gonna win,” seemingly being another trio between Heart, Mind and potentially Soul, though the chorus does sing a bit of “all of my friends” sung by Mind.

There’s a brief intermission with a distinct “click” sound, similar to a finger click or a light switch, before the second verse and chorus switches to the lyrics of “all of my friends” with a bit of “im gonna win” in the background also sung by Mind.

It then goes into the bridge, where the first actual lyrical change happens, where instead of saying either song’s actual lyrics, it goes “but we’re not so different, you see” before it goes back into both of the songs’ respective lyrics sung by both Heart and Mind, until they start singing at once, “but it’s just you and me, it’s just myself and I, we are all that we need, we are all that survives,” Now i don’t normally bring up the actual music video here, but it might be important to mention that this next part i’m gonna talk about here, up until this point as usual, Mind and Heart’s sections have been split up as black and white, but here it is entirely black, with the funny little face you see so often appearing coloured. Coolie!

In this section they are almost singing in harmony, with only the lyrics being different and some parts being dragged out a bit more. Here is possibly one of the few times they’ve been in agreement about something, basically singing about how they’ve harmonized their tones, but they’re not done, they’ll keep singing no matter what until they're “dead in the ground.” fun times!

So one can depict this as the boys finally coming to an agreement about something, at least (most likely) temporarily. That’s how i’m gonna depict it as there’s not much else to see it as.

Welcome to Tally Hall:

This is the one where we finally got the name for this little narrative, “Chonny Charming Chaos Compendium” quite a mouthful! And why i’m just calling it CCCC.

This one mostly seems like an introduction to the Jash himself, at least for the first half. When we get to the second half, we hear our first glimpses of Heart and Mind, who sing their own parts for a bit, with yet another reference to mind being some sort of robot. Whereas the first half seemed fairly normal and was just him covering the song normally, the first bit of the second half is much more like Chonny Jash’s usual style, until it goes back into the ‘normal’ cover.

Like i said, seems mostly like an introduction to Jash himself, admittedly I don’t listen to this one as much (im so sorry) so i haven’t had as much time to hyper analyse it, but maybe i’ll come back to this one day and look more into it.

Just Apathy:

I love this one! It’s so good! Definitely an underrated one compared to the others, for both Chonny and Tally Hall!

This one is fairly easy to understand, it seems to be an exchange between Mind and Soul, (or Mind and Heart, it’s a bit hard to tell) with a bit of Heart/Soul appearing at times. It seems to be highlighting their apathy to things in general, and trying to justify it.

“I’m sick and tired of holding fire, when all I feel is violence,” Wanted to single this line out, firstly, because i want to MARRY it, it is AMAZING, and also because, it being sung by Heart, can also allude to the grudges he holds.

Greener:

This one is mostly a metaphor, the “yards” being mental health. And Soul is either experiencing mania, delusional or is actually doing a bit better here. Mind also briefly shows up in this one to state that he doesn’t think this better mental health state will last, so thank you Mind appreciate it.

This one seems to be our subject, potentially Soul, seeing someone’s mental state is pretty bad and being like “same bestie,”

I haven’t got as much to say about this one either, this one is a bit clearer to me than others have been, so that’s gamers champion.

The Whole World & You:

This one is always gonna be in my top 5 favourites because it’s actually the one to introduce me to CJ in the first place! That’s right, not the mind electric, so there’s a few bragging rights for me.

This is a very funky one, with Mind very prominent in it, not so sure Heart is though - still unsure if this is Soul or Heart singing in this, but it seems like Soul so i’ll say it’s Soul. This one seems like, partially, a eulogy to Tally Hall, while also bringing our favourite CCCC lads into it.

As usual with some of the covers Jash does, it starts off sounding like a “normal” cover, before it goes into the narrative we’re familiar with. I should mention, they’ve been mention “Blues and greens” a lot in these recent covers, including greener, and this one, probably as a reference to the first cover he did, Spring & a storm.

We also hear a small tease to the mind electric when he says “Love, duality” at 1:29, ain’t that fun, speaking of this part. An interesting line would be when he says “So when the darker side had found out about the songs, i’d hidden for so long, i finally had the courage to say say ‘this is what i can do’” While Mind is heard singing in the background the whole time about him passing his “test”, this might be him talking about or TO Heart, but it’s a bit dubious.

The next part, when analysing the lyrics, seems fairly passive aggressive, with Soul (or Heart) saying “I hope you’re happy now, I've merged dark and light,” And Mind adds in “I must admit you took your sweet time,” in response. He then says “This slope I'm headed down has turned to a slide,” and mind’s line is “I always knew that we could be intertwined,” and finally Soul/heart says “So i’ll throw my hands up high and enjoy the ride,” while Mind says “You played Dr. Jekyll so I played Mr. Hyde” and the back and forth goes on for a bit, until they finally say at once “But at least now i’m mine,”

It then goes on for both of them to start singing “Please don’t just laugh and clap right now, this is serious, i'm not delirious,” which is most likely in reference to that last line, and how others may not believe it, perhaps the other side that wasn’t featured in this song.

After that the eulogy for Tally Hall happens, we know this because he says “consider this a eulogy to the colourly band that used to be” (And colourly is definitely a word trust me The Jash said so)

Be Born:

This one is a big one, and definitely a cover i need to listen to more often

This one seems to be sung by Mind, directed at Soul, saying there’s no good or evil here, they’re both just fucked up individuals who rlly need some therapy (paraphrasing), “But what if I told you, I am not the villain? What if I told you, you’re the same as I? …”

Also included are the first glimpses of their names (since we haven’t had any mention of their names til this point) by mentioning Heart and Mind a few times.

It also repeats how at one point, Mind was the one in charge, but not anymore, probably due to our buddy Soul.

So basically Mind humbles Soul THOROUGHLY in this song. Including the end, where Mind states, directed at Soul, “these facts entwine to form a sign, to craft your voice in heart and mind. So make your choice, and make it right. Will we be ours? Or will you die?” So basically, Soul has to choose between the two of them, or else he’ll just run himself into the ground from depression. Yay..!

Going back to the idea that Mind used to be the host, now run by Soul or Heart, it seems like whichever one is “running the vessel” is, consequently, getting very tired of it, as Mind says “So if you’re sick, and if you’re tired, then soothe your heart with songs inspired,” This seems to also be directed at Soul, due to that last point of him saying that Soul has to make a decision.

Special:

From Soul’s perspective, it mainly seems to be about his struggles in terms of his morals and how ‘special’ he is.

One line that is definitely in reference to Heart and Mind would be: “If there’s one person in this world that I can’t trick it’s myself,” It’s pretty self-explanatory. Soul can’t lie to Mind and Heart, they know about him too well.

He later goes on to say “And anyway, who am I to fret like this? Maybe a keychange can pull me out of this abyss.” The tone of the song changes significantly, going on to say with a more hopeful tone to it “Sooner or later I shall find myself and make amends with the me left on the shelf,” Soul wants to make amends with Mind (we can tell the “me left on the shelf” is Mind thanks to our bestie Mucka Blucka cover, where it references this, and the “me left on the shelf” part is sung by the one and only automaton man)

They eventually go on to sing 4 different lyrics at once, two being the usual special lyrics (one of which uses we/us pronouns instead of i/me pronouns, and also fades into the lyrics of Time Machine by Miracle Musical) and the other two being two different sets of lyrics from Variations on a cloud.

This is also the cover where he starts using live action more instead of just the funky little face with lyrics and blacks and whites.

Two Wuv:

Again, from Soul’s perspective, but more about the public’s opinion of his duality. Specifically, parents, family, as well as churches and whatnot.

“Father, saint and Mary, I hope you understand … I think that you’ve been playing this wrong, I've come around a thousand times but I'm still singing this song,” This line is directed at the churches, how he’s gone there so many times but praying has never worked, he’s still making this music, he’s still got issues.

“I wrote a couple rhymes, over tunes I didn’t write, In an attempt to reconcile what keeps me up at night,” In reference to the last song, where Soul tried to make amends with Mind.

You can also use the next line, “But as ideas began to grow, and the tracklist followed suit, the halves I once reviled had finally settled their dispute,” the songs and ideas are a metaphor for Soul’s mental state, and when it started deteriorating, Mind and Heart decided to “settle their dispute”. This is also told from Mind’s perspective in "Storm & a Spring,” where he sees a “soul so deep, and dark, and eternally cold, and an oath formed from us both that it would stay whole,” Mind and Heart made an oath to keep Soul together.

“The person you see is a dark, divided man, but the fact is that is just who I am, and I can’t keep selling this facade when I know that it’s a scam,” This one is fairly self-explanatory, his family knows that he is suffering like this, but he’s come to accept it, and he can’t keep acting like he’s okay when everyone knows he’s not.

“But I think for the first time in my life, that these oddities that bonded me aren’t worth the fucking strife,” Despite Mind and Heart making an oath to keep Soul bonded, he can’t deal with them and the constant alienation from society they bring him.

“Fog so thick and hazy” may be a reference to Heart’s blindness, as well as the one quote from Mucka Blucka “… My eyes in a mist, I finally realised I shot at myself …” though it feels a bit out of place, so possibly not.

This is also the cover where CJ brings the boys signature colours into the videos, the electric guitar having a blue edge, likely to symbolise it’s Mind playing the guitar.

This can also have two meanings to it, obviously the one we’ve just covered, but also the idea of being queer in a christian household or town, and having to deal with the issues that brings. “I refuse to be the person that my parents eulogise,” and “… But i’m an egoistic queer under any definition of the word,” these are normally interpreted as coming out to your parents and them not accepting you or being different to what they wanted you to be. The line “Fog so thick and hazy, calls for holy light,” can be in reference to how people might say he needs “God’s guidance”.

The Bidding:

This is a good one! First song I was there to experience be released, it’s also in the favs list. This is mostly Mind and Heart arguing while Soul suffers in the background. I'm not gonna go hugely into detail with every little line in this one for Heart and Mind’s parts because it can all be summed up as “they fightin’” but i’ll go more into detail for Soul’s and whatnot.

Mind seems pretty much tired of the arguments, but still adding to them and egging Heart on. He points out how Heart keeps “putting in his dimes” or, contributing to the argument.

Heart’s part is him pointing out Mind’s hypocrisy, and how he is doing the exact same thing he is, yet he acts so much higher than Heart.

Soul’s chorus is him trying to get them to stop arguing, saying “time is short, life even more, yet you wage this silly war,” they have these petty arguments so often they’re letting life pass them by. He then threatens to “tie the rope” if you catch my drift.

The next part of the chorus is Mind and Heart singing in harmony about how they have been in “total agony” ever since the other came around, they then lose the harmony, going back to insulting each other.

Soul obviously notices that temporary harmony, and urges them to try again, saying that even if it is just from them insulting each other like children they harmonised none-the-less, saying even if they won’t do it for each other, he wants them to do it for him, that he doesn’t know how much more he can take of their arguing, but if they can harmonise maybe he can finally be himself.

In this section they are briefly able to harmonise to say one word, and then say the last sentence “this dissonance could disappear” in harmony. Let's go girlies!

Mucka Blucka:

Hooey! finally the song i mentioned so much! to be fair it’s absolutely littered with references that are really useful for evidence, soooo…

This one seems like a sort of recap of Mind, Heart and Soul’s characters, with several references to past songs as well as the very much more in-your-face reveal of our boys' names (though technically they were revealed last song, but I didn’t notice that until 20 minutes ago soo… shhhh) and also the plethora of chicken puns.

We also get a retelling of Heart and Mind’s fallout, where Heart shot at Mind, which led to Heart going blind, and him realising that he kind of brought that upon himself.

Time Machine by MM also makes a reappearance in this one, at the very end using the melody of the original song.

The state they’re all in is often described as a “personal hell” or the likes, they’re all trapped and suffering for eternity here.

“It’s painful to admit, but even I can see through my bullshit,” can be seen as a reference to the Special cover, where Soul mentions how he can’t really trick himself, aka Mind and Heart.

Dream:

Mind and Heart’s fights have gotten worse, seemingly physical, and Soul seems to be getting increasingly paranoid, thinking they’re trying to take control and probably kill him.

You may have noticed, Mind and Heart have not been trying to do this, they’ve been far too busy being mad at eachother. Outside of them arguing, they’ve still been trying to keep Soul together (as far as i’m aware) so them trying to kill him is a bit contradictory, isn’t it? But maybe they don’t realise that their arguing is slowly breaking Soul down, mentally and possibly physically, so he may be assuming they’re doing this on purpose to usurp him.

Still they’re arguing, and it seems in this song Mind and Heart are possibly getting ready for another fight, and Soul is having a breakdown over it because he wants to live, so he decides to try one more time, what this is? I have no clue, it’s probably obvious and i’m just stupid and sleep deprived, maybe something like giving them one more chance to sort their issues i have no idea.

The Heart Acoustic:

Yeah that’s right i’m splitting them up. You’ll catch me dead before I put the TWELVE MINUTE SONG into it’s own section. Fuck that.

Anyway, here’s where we first see Heart’s face with the blindfold, as well as his perspective on things. It seems He wants everyone to stay alive, but he knows that “one plus one can’t equal two if happiness is both our truths,” He knows that Soul will have to pick ONE of them.

It’s also where we first see signs of Heart’s chest pains, since he’s seen several times holding his chest in the way someone would if it was hurting.

“… And you beg for it to stop, but you’ve already dug your lot in the ground,” This line is likely in reference to later on in the song, during Mind’s part where he mentions how Heart “fell into a hole he dug for him”

He antagonises Mind saying he tricked Soul into becoming what it is, and while he certainly had a part in it, if we’re talking about the constant arguments wearing Soul down, we know that both of them had a part in that.

In the last verse of Heart’s acoustic, he once again calls Mind an “automaton freak” and saying he doesn’t care anymore, the “vessel” is becoming worn.

I also noticed how Heart barely gets that last “fare” out before it immediately switches into Mind’s perspective, how kind.

The Mind Electric:

Mind is a really good one, although it’s the shortest, he certainly uses the time well to give us the good ol’ tiktok audios

As stated previously, Mind switches in and is IMMEDIATELY singing, like a millisecond intermission before he’s insulting Heart. You go dude, I think.

The first paragraph is pretty much a diss track on Heart, insulting him CONSTANTLY, before it shifts to the second paragraph where he keeps insulting him, but also saying his logic is the absolute!

Third paragraph is a little different, he mentions how Heart probably sees him as just a “simple, cynical machine,” (which he does, admittedly), but despite that, he still has Soul’s best interests in mind (pun not intended).

He goes on to say he doesn’t enjoy covering these songs — likely because he’s the one most often there in the covers, maybe not the main focus but he’s THERE. He then says he’s knows its “hard to see my rhyme behind the entropy, but if he’d just once humour me, he’d see we need to live life logically,” The “he” in this situation is most likely Soul, but it might be Heart.

He goes back to insulting Heart, saying he sounds profound but it’s “insincere,”

“See how his feet miss the ground, and he falls inside a hole he dug for me.” This line is in reference to Mind and Heart’s fallout, which we all know by now.

He then goes on to say “Though I seem harsh in all my assessments, we each seek a life lived in the light …” Yeah no shit half the song has been you insulting Heart, anyway, he goes on to say that they can’t live in this “light” because Heart has been hella resentful and stubborn.

And now unlike the transition between Heart to Mind, the transition from Mind to Soul is much different. Mind gets PLENTY of time to say that last word, in fact he gets to enunciate the T iin “akaryocyte” before it switches, lucky him!

The Soul Eclectic:

Now unlike Mind’s part, Soul waits like a whole 10 years before singing, adding distortions and instrumentals for a whole 5 second intermission before the “Yo”.

He introduces himself to the audience as The Soul, his name (which he promptly doesn’t say, thanks man), your host or insane. The whole range!

Mind and Heart then butt in briefly to once again try to persuade Soul to make a choice on who to pick, through insults at each other, ofc.

Now Soul is much different in this song, he’s aggressive and snippy, probably at his limit, saying “you seem to forget, you answer to me,” reminding them that they can’t be too pushy or smth idk.

He still goes on to say however, that neither Heart or Mind is wrong or right.

“You must be so arrogant to think that either of you can control The Soul so wholly, when to be one whole you can’t hold solely” This one’s pretty self-explanatory. He’s reminding them that it needs to either be BOTH of them in harmony here, or that it would have to be shared with Soul himself.

The next verse is another reminder of his power over the two, he’s the “lord” in this situation.

After an intermission, he goes on to say “‘Cos I’m not nearly kind enough to leave you parasites inside me …” Fun times! Surely I don’t need to explain that one, I am very tired.

There’s another intermission, with some additional lyrics that i don’t need to get into bc we get the message, before they bring in the next section with all three saying “I am me”, not quite at once.

We then get to the serfs work the ground verse, where the lyrics remain mostly the same, except for a small shift saying “See how the brain plays around, and it splits what once was whole down into three,”

We then get to the Demo 4 section, that’s right WE GOT DEMO 4 IN THIS BITCH i literally screamed when I heard that part not even joking. Anyway, you know this you’ve probably heard the song. The first part of the Demo 4 section is sung in unison by Heart and Mind, as they pretty much insult each other repeatedly.

The next part is sung by Soul, and how they are always fighting, never hearing what the other has to say.

And then the last verse. God help me. It pans to a clip of Soul singing the last part, with his usual red lipstick, but with Heart’s nail paint and Mind’s blue guitar. He’s given Mind and Heart one last chance to sort their shit out, or else he’s gonna “take them down with him” if you know what I mean. Yeah. Fun times!

Storm & a Spring:

Mind slays yet again in this, and once again it is directed at Heart!

“One time I tried to sing … But it was nothing fucking new.” Ironically enough, this one DOESN'T seem to give much new information, but instead reinforcing some old information we got from Mind’s perspective, such as the oath and seemingly the idea that Heart can’t/won’t let them “live in the light” (likely a metaphor for healing or letting go of old grudges).

It DOES however, proposes the idea of Mind’s headaches for (I think) the first time, (at least visually) seeing as several times throughout the song he’s holding/rubbing his head.

“You thought they were listening? …” This is most likely talking about Soul, maybe both Mind and Soul, never actually listening to Heart’s laments.

“I’m sure you really sang your Heart out, … that’s how it seemed. … Looks can be deceiving.” This line might be one of the few new bits of information we get, or not and my brain didn’t connect it to anything idk. It seems like Soul/Mind tried to ‘kick Heart out’ (possibly kill him) but it didn’t work. It might also be a reference to Heart and Mind’s fallout, which resulted in Heart’s blindness, but that's a theory.

There’s also hints that Heart may have tried to off himself, but Mind stopped him because it would’ve also killed Soul, but I admit I cannot find much evidence for this outside of the song.

“So if you insist on crying, while our host is slowly dying, then i’ll cut you loose and spare this noose the deadweight,” as well as “if i left it to you, you’d fall under its weight and kill it too,” are some key points, it might also be a new event that happened between TMA and S&aS, so who knows.

Part I: Night:

Fun fact about this one, for some reason I thought the song was started by Mind for so long. Like as of writing this the song is about a month old right?? I only realised a couple of days ago that it was started off by Heart. And I'm sure you can tell by this entire post that I probably listen to Chonny Jash a bit more than the average person, right? So why the hell did I not notice it till now? My brain works in mysterious ways dawg.

Another thing I noticed when drawing them once that has absolutely nothing to do with their lore (as far as i'm aware) is the fact that Heart is absolutely DRIPLESS. Like Mind and Soul have these cool jackets going, Soul with the fur and Mind with the hot-topic, but Heart just has his hoodie and sweatpants, and I find that hilarious. I think I will draw that.

Anyway, within the first 30 seconds, as I just mentioned, the song is started off by our bestie Heart, and we can also see two fairly brief clips of Mind and Soul sitting down, facing the camera. Very interesting! Maybe they’re finally having group therapy (wishful thinking)

“Open the window, look out and see me,” This quote is started off by Heart, but then fades into Mind by time he says “out”, this is clearly meant to give the image of Heart opening the window, looking out, and seeing Mind! wow!

“Tonight, I’m arriving alive and alight, … All the black, and the gray, and the white,” The boys have finally made up! They’re “in the light”, and harmonising!

The next verse, sung by our boy Soul, seems to be him inviting Mind and Heart to “look out through” his eyes.

Basically this one seems fairly upbeat, right? The best outcome, everyone’s united, Soul doesn’t want to kill Heart or Mind, Heart and Mind don’t seem to want to kill each other, they all WANT to unite, it’s a good outcome!

Although, from what i’ve gathered of the bridge here, they’re not fully sure it’s real, something feels off, Heart and Mind still seem to be at least a little passive-aggressive, but we don’t get to hear much else about it as it fades into the last chorus.

Part II: Light:

So I'm not the greatest at expressions, especially reading them but I figured I could do it this time seeing as their faces are there this time.

Something I noticed in the first few seconds as it switches between Heart and Mind is Mind’s expression. Not really sure how to describe it, but I find it very interesting. In the first shot of him it’s pretty unreadable, he’s just staring ahead into the camera, a little stoically maybe, the second time is pretty much the same, only he blinks slowly, but the third and fourth times seem VERY interesting to me. Now it might just be the autism misinterpreting facial expressions here, but he seems almost solemn? maybe regretful even. In the third part he looks away from the camera, his eyes downturned, and the fourth is him in that same expression, looking down away from the camera.

Now that previous analysis is very interesting considering what Heart’s lyrics are going to be about. “Sitting in the sight of that which blinds [sun], tore me at the seams. Harsh palpitations that tunneled my view, eyesight grew warped, distorted and skewed.” Now anyone with a brain (That of which i certainly have and noticed the first time I heard the song yes certainly) would know that Heart is describing how and why he went blind. Heart’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, and considering the other two want to live in the light, that is a problem! It’s likely why he wore the blindfold previously if he wasn’t blind then. Now as we established in the Night section, we know they’ve all managed to start living in the light, and so I'm sure I don’t need to explain any more.

Now the next verse is also very good (this whole song is ngl), it’s sung by our bestie Mind once again, and it seems like he’s finally having some empathy for Heart here, at least a little maybe. possibly. “Striving to be right, I fight this sordid fight against the other one,” He says, it seems like he’s finally admitting that these arguments with Heart have not been justified in any way, they’ve been stupid and infantile, simply looking to win the arguments.

“Transmute the pain to kinetic energy,” Now if you’ve taken your science classes children, you’d know that kinetic energy is the action of movement. He probably got physical with Heart at times, which we do have some evidence of in Dream, where Soul describes them as “covered in their blood and sweat,” which is not usually something that can be achieved just verbally, unless you’re in an anime maybe but I don’t think this counts as an anime.

“Tonight you’ve survived out of pity and spite, all night you have vied for your place in the light,” slay Soul, you go, clearly he’s speaking to both of them here.

“But I won’t be split in two, won’t be him or you, we will be combined whether that be dead or alive, let’s blur these lines,” He doesn’t want either of them to become him, he wants them to be combined, all sharing a place if u know what I mean.

“Please help decipher this life that we lead, for each step that we take, the answer takes three,” I got a feeling this one is directed at Heart, seeing as he would probably be least willing to figure things out or go into the light (if they’re the same, i’m not totally sure), and also the fact that Heart’s part is immediately after, and while it’s not a response, it feels like a response, yk?

After Heart’s verse, Mind and Heart then go on to sing the chorus in unison one more time (altered at the beginning to fit Soul’s “split in two” segment from before), two halves of their faces have been split to form one full face, and our boy Soul appearing at the very end with “mine,” all three then go on to take turns singing some lines about how “something must feel lest they rot,” and how things ARE different. They’re understanding each other more. “Something has shone,” seems like the best line to use.

“All of the else will fade away” they then all sing in unison, Mind and Heart’s faces split to form a whole new face, with Soul’s layered over the top.

And now this last verse sung by Heart is about him accepting the others and his own humanity. “That sad, sulking mess. This human you’re being,” FUCK OFF /pos

And finally, the second last chorus sung by Heart at first, “tonight i’m arriving alive and alight,” im sure i need not say anymore about that. It then transitions into another mix of all three faces, saying “with doubt consigned to drought let ardour sprout cos …” This brief statement basically means, even in doubt, let passion grow. Normal-wordified.

And finally, the last chorus is sung by all three mixed together still, where basically they sing about how they’re going to combine, they’re all onboard, they’re letting that “ardour sprout,” “fuse the moon, and sun, change your point of view, let us variate these hues” or, more familiarly, “blur these lines,” you go girls!

A theory I have is that Night & Light is more based on the same experience, night being the more upbeat “wow everything instantly turned out great!” ending where we’re kinda left “in the dark” about it perhaps. While Light is the more realistic approach, where they had their own struggles to go through, and still have more struggles to go through, but they’re trying now, working together, and that's a REALLY big step.

And that’s it! Final thoughts have been reposted (if you’ve already seen this and are coming back to it to see it has more added to it, you didn’t notice anything. For some reason it didn’t paste some of the end, very mean of it)

“But I won’t be split in two, won’t be him or you, we will be combined whether that be dead or alive, let’s blur these lines,” He doesn’t want either of them to become him, he wants them to be combined, all sharing a place if u know what I mean.

“Please help decipher this life that we lead, for each step that we take, the answer takes three,” I got a feeling this one is directed at Heart, seeing as he would probably be least willing to figure things out or go into the light (if they’re the same, i’m not totally sure), and also the fact that Heart’s part is immediately after, and while it’s not a response, it feels like a response, yk?

After Heart’s verse, Mind and Heart then go on to sing the chorus in unison one more time (altered at the beginning to fit Soul’s “split in two” segment from before), two halves of their faces have been split to form one full face, and our boy Soul appearing at the very end with “mine,” all three then go on to take turns singing some lines about how “something must feel lest they rot,” and how things ARE different. They’re understanding each other more. “Something has shone,” seems like the best line to use.

“All of the else will fade away” they then all sing in unison, Mind and Heart’s faces split to form a whole new face, with Soul’s layered over the top.

And now this last verse sung by Heart is about him accepting the others and his own humanity. “That sad, sulking mess. This human you’re being,” FUCK OFF /pos

And finally, the second last chorus sung by Heart at first, “tonight i’m arriving alive and alight,” im sure i need not say anymore about that. It then transitions into another mix of all three faces, saying “with doubt consigned to drought let ardour sprout cos …” This brief statement basically means, even in doubt, let passion grow. Normal-wordified.

And finally, the last chorus is sung by all three mixed together still, where basically they sing about how they’re going to combine, they’re all onboard, they’re letting that “ardour sprout,” “fuse the moon, and sun, change your point of view, let us variate these hues” or, more familiarly, “blur these lines,” you go girls!

A theory I have is that Night & Light is more based on the same experience, night being the more upbeat “wow everything instantly turned out great!” ending where we’re kinda left “in the dark” about it perhaps. While Light is the more realistic approach, where they had their own struggles to go through, and still have more struggles to go through, but they’re trying now, working together, and that's a REALLY big step.

And that’s it! I’m gonna reblog this with some “final thoughts” that didn’t really need to go into the whole post.

#chonny jash #cj mind #cj heart #cj soul #Birdo babbles #i wish i was joking when i say this took me around 8 hours #man i can’t believe i did this instead of assignment work #long post

[dozing-marshmallow]

hi! i was wondering if you could write duncan and courtney dating headcannons with a fem reader on the show? (separate) if not that's ok!

Awww no, it is okay! Thank you so much for the request, enjoy!<33

DATING COURTNEY HEADCANONS

From what we know about Courtney, it wasn’t hard to guess that her type was someone contrasting her.

So you were a bit of a cheeky contestant.

Okay, “a bit” was an understatement. Courtney didn’t like to admit it, but she found jubilation in your many ploys on the show.

Because of them though, she’d be on the assumption that you weren’t taking the competition seriously (even though you weren’t actually there to win the money), but you appreciate her reminding you to focus on the game and her helpful tips.

She wouldn’t want to openly say you guys are in a relationship as she’s aware that some people may try to exploit that for their own motives, but makes it clear that you’re off limits.

At night, you often share a bunk with her. Courtney would insist to be the little spoon, all the way through to the morning with her head on your chest.

Your darling Princess!

She loves sharing school stories with you.

“They actually had to rush her to the ER! Can you believe the manners some people have? How much of a litterbug do you have to be to throw your juice box out of a window from the fourth floor? We have bins for a reason!”

“Woah... So your teacher got a concussion from someone doing that?”

“Yeah! It sounds pathetic, but it’s what happened! The school assigned me to be in charge of delivering work from her and delivering notices to her. Makes sense since I was the only qualified student to take up that responsibility while still ace all my classes!”

She’s also fond of discussing hair with you and you play with hers and vice versa.

You like giving her little plaits, ponytails or a bun as high as it can go.

Additionally, she tries persuading you to do karaokes with her.

“It’s way better if we don’t have any instruments! You have nothing to hide behind and we’ll get used to being vulnerable with each other!” she smiled when she said it.

Looks like that couldn’t apply to her,“Oh, man...”

Though she’s a perfectionist, she loves complimenting you a lot.

“If you took that cap off your head and wore a headband instead, you’d look even more adorable! Would you do it for me at least?”

And her occasional feedback.

“What do you mean you haven’t read a single book this entire year!?” she jumps to her feet, horrified.

“Courtney, relax! It’s not a big deal.” you try to assure her with a grin.

She was more shaken at your presumably clueless behaviour to reading,“No, it is a big deal! You can’t just have everything on the outside and nothing in here!” she taps a tense finger to the side of her head,“My girlfriend’s gotta have brains with her beauty! I’m not dating no dummy!”

So she ordered you to sit down on the entrance steps of the Killer Bass cabin while she searched for a novel to give you- girl brought ten.

Out of her choices, she decided to provide you with Mercy Among The Children.

“There!” she hands you the clean copy, no crease or wrinkle, like all brand new,“You will read all of that and when you’re done, you will answer ten summary questions that I came up with to show me how much you learnt. And I will know if your answers are accurate, because I happened to give a presentation on this very book! I did it with ease thanks to my experience as a CIT.” her CIT talks got tedious very quickly, however if it made her happy, you didn’t want to take that away from her.

Therefore you gave something of your own instead,“What if I don’t know how to read?” you knew such question would aggravate her.

She shakes her head in disbelief, perfect autumn hair swaying,“Oh, you’re gonna have to do a lot better than that! You read the fine print of the contract to participate, didn’t you?”

Nope, but let’s pretend you did.

After a few seconds of “reading”, you call her name, to where she sat next to you, watching.

“What’s on your mind now?”

“I uh...” you turn to the back of the book, eyes scanning over the blurb,“Kinda don’t like the voice in my head narrating this. Could you read it to me?”

It seemed this request had halted her brain for a moment as she had stared at you with eyelids split apart again before her loving reprimand frolicked in the air,“Are you crazy? (Y/N), you know I love you, but I can’t do that! You gotta do this on your own, get used to reading in your head! How will you do in an exam when you have to stay quiet? I refuse to hear you getting disqualified over something as little as that!”

She’s so irresistible when she gets worked up,“Then I’ll transfer to your school so I can hear your voice everyday and be sure to pass my next exam.”

Her aim to lecture you had evaporated,“Oh wow...“ her eyebrows sprung back and she couldn’t believe herself for laughing at your not so futile charm,“Okay okay, just this once!” she declares, gently taking back the novel with both hands so it was still open.

As Courtney’s elegant voice embellishes the passage written down on the pages, you make promise to yourself to continue reading it in your own time.

After all, you know she’s just looking out for you.🤎

DATING DUNCAN HEADCANONS

You thought he asked you out as a joke, but he was serious.

Serious in love.

And he loved to be open about it. Not with words, but with his arm around you, calling your name.

He sprayed your hair for a day to see how green would look on you, however you got worried when it didn’t come out.

He would share stories from juvie and usually had an edible treat to give you as you talked. You always thought he had brought a stash of sweets, but looking at his luggage, you realise there was no way any high caliber food could survive in it.

“Mm, thanks Duncan! Where did you get this from?”

He winked,“Don’t worry about it.”

So you didn’t.

Duncan’s surprisingly very good at drawing; you use that talent as a couple’s activity.

He also likes drawing his initials on your arms with a marker, never forgetting to add a skull.

Loves playing with your hands and placing his one on your leg.

Sometimes you wear his shirt or use it as a blanket.

While Duncan wouldn’t really like to hug in public, he’d do gestures like rubbing your head or squishing your face.

He fantasises you someday getting a matching piercing, since you refuse to let him give you one.

“This nose piercing wasn’t painful, like a lot of wet wussies say, but it is a bit uncomfy for a few days. You sure you don’t want me to pierce ya? It’s free of charge~”

The treatment for the infection won’t be,“No thanks! I might decide to pierce my ears!”

“Ear piercing?” his face scrunched like the choice was boring, but his voice held hope,“Where exactly?”

“The lobe would be nice... But I’d also want to get one on the inside! Like industrial!”

“Now you’re talking.” Needless to say, he approved of those ones.

Duncan’s a night owl, so found his favourite part of the day being at night, when everyone else was certainly asleep. You two would go out to a different part of Camp Wawankwa every time to breathe in the wildlife air and have conversation crafted for the dark.

The first nights, you were hesitant. Your chest was tight. It was hard to enjoy the secluded moment with Duncan when your mind was racing with panic.

“Oh Duncan... What if someone sees us? I don’t wanna get in trouble...”

“We won’t. We’re not doing anything wrong.” his calm tone of voice somewhat helped, head swivelling to the closest functioning camera duck tapped on a tree,“The worst Chris’ll do is tell us to go back inside, though knowing him, he probably doesn’t care.”

You trace a finger on his chest,“I wish I could sleep with you in your cabin. But the girls would be suspicious if my bed was empty, and let’s not talk about what the guys would do.”

“Keen, huh?” his unibrow forms a squiggly line as one of the separate eyebrow bones upreared, making you push him gently out on exposed instinct,“I’m pretty sure everyone knows about us by now and the guys would be fine if you crashed in for a night or two.”

“I know...” Duncan’s friends were nice guys. When they wanted to be,“I just don’t wanna make anyone uncomfortable.”

His laugh gets clogged by his nose,“You? Make anyone uncomfortable? Babe, trust me, unless your name starts with H and ends in arold, you don’t gotta worry about being alienated. If it means that much to you, we can wait until more people go home for us to share a bed.”

Ohh! You had forgotten about the competition and how it worked! Love makes you forget about the everyday things like the collection of the fires supplementing the sky just being rocks floating in space,“Until more people go home... How...will we make sure it’s not us?”

“Welll. I like you so that’s one less person to vote for you.” he starts,”The rest of the guys like you so you can count them out. Now for the chicks... Anyone you think wants you gone?”

Instantly, someone came to mind,“Heather,” your boyfriend makes gagging noises at the name, vining a smile on your lips,“Ever since I turned down her offer to join her alliance, I must’ve ended up on her watch list. Sure, we can act civil, but I can tell she’s impatiently waiting for my elimination.”

He snorts, brushing his hand on your back,“Seriously? Chicks hold a grudge over anything! Well, that alliance of hers can’t be doing so good when one of her so called members don’t even like her, so it’s not like you’re missing out on anything.”

“True... I get to enjoy the Duncan instead,” you look into his blue vision for that, seeing his irises sprout in ardour. You leave a tangible mark of your lips on his, finding your eyes wondering to a large robust tree not so far away from where Duncan held you,“I wonder... Do you think we could secretly build our own secret treehouse?”

“Up there?” he follows your gaze and whistles,“It is possible... All I’ll need are some tools to steal from Chef and it’ll be there in no time.”

“Duncan!” his romantic selfless take on your suggestion is piled over by his out of place mention of Chef’s inventory, which clicks something to your attention,“Is that...where you’ve been getting the snacks from?”

An unbeaten chuckle rippled out of his ribs, how carefree he was,“Looks like the cat got outta the bag!”💚

#tdi x reader #tdi #total drama #request #td duncan #td courtney #total drama duncan #total drama headcanons #total drama courtney #total drama courtney x reader #td courtney x reader #total drama duncan x reader #td duncan x reader #td courtney headcanons #td duncan headcanons #duncan total drama #tdi courtney #courtney total drama #total drama scenarios #tdi duncan #tdi dating duncan headcanons #tdi dating courtney headcanons #tdi courtney x reader #tdi duncan x reader

[x0x0josephinex0x0]

reader, i [kissed] him | Choi San

summary: you have a dumb rude rich dad who hired a bodyguard because he's paranoid...enter choi san who is literally the man dreams are made of but he works for you so that's weird. you're a lit student and you've been giving him book recs. warnings: absent/sucky dad, mention of papercuts, a few minor jane eyre spoilers?, storm, fire

You look up at the sound of a book shutting. San pulls his glasses off and rubs his eyes. “Finished,” he says.

You shut your textbook. “What did you think of the series?”

He leans back in a stretch. “You were right,” he admits. “Percy Jackson is pretty meaningful for a kids’ story.” He replaces his glasses, smiling at you. “So what’s next for the book club?”

You chuckle. “Are you enjoying my reading assignments?”

“Honestly, yeah. I can’t believe I’m getting paid to read books with you,” he says. “There are literally no downsides.”

“You’re getting paid to protect me,” you correct, a teasing smile playing about your lips. “Keep an eye on these books. They’re notorious for giving me paper cuts.”

“I will personally destroy any book who dares to mess with your fingers,” he vows dramatically, and you laugh. “But seriously, are you done studying for the day or do I get another reading assignment?” 

“I still have a bit of work to do,” you say, pulling out your copious notes. “So you get another hour or so to read. Don’t you want to choose one?”

He shakes his head. “Nah,” he says. “I’d rather live inside your head for awhile. Why? Did you run out of books?”

You make a mock-offended face. “Absolutely not,” you say. “I just wanted to give you the option to read what you want to read, instead of what I want you to read.”

“What you want me to read is what I want to read,” he tells you, standing up. “Now, lay it on me.”

“Jane Eyre,” you say. “It’ll be in the B section.”

You watch as his broad shoulders retreat into the library shelves, admiring the muscles clearly visible underneath his tight black shirt. Shaking your head, you turn back to your studies, reminding yourself that ogling your bodyguard is a fruitless and unnecessary activity that will not help you pass your college classes.

He takes a seat shortly afterward, holding up the copy of Jane Eyre. “Why this one?” he asks — his constant question before he reads any of your suggestions. 

“Well,” you say carefully, “it’s actually…my favorite.”

His eyes get wide. “This book is your favorite?” he asks, pointing to the gray cover. 

You nod. “My absolute favorite, of all time, ever.”

“I thought you were gonna save your favorite for graduation,” he says. “Why are you moving it forward in the queue?”

“Because I feel our friendship will remain intact even if you don’t like it,” you say. “I wasn’t sure for awhile there.”

He raises an eyebrow at you. “Are you saying you’ll still love me even if I don’t like your favorite book?” he asks with a glint of humor in his eyes.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” you say. “Although it’d be hard for me. This book is a must-read if you hope to understand anything about me.”

He leans back, opening the book to the first page. “Then I don’t see how I couldn’t like it,” he says. “I don’t know why you were worried. Brief summary?”

“Terrible childhood, brooding gentleman, house with a dark secret, romance.” His eyes stay on you as you list the themes. Then suddenly your phone buzzes. You look at it and make a face.

“Your dad?” San guesses.

You nod, answering the call. “Hello?” you say in trepidation.

“Where are you?” he barks. 

“At the library at school,” you say, trying to keep a calm tone. “I’m studying.”

“Good,” he says gruffly. “Is San with you?” 

You sigh quietly. “Yes,” you say. 

“Perfect. I’ll be gone the next few days for a trip. Don’t call.”

“Okay, I won’t,” you promise, hanging up.

“What happened?” San asks immediately. “Was he unkind?”

You bite the inside of your cheek. “No more than usual,” you reply. “He’s going out of town and wanted to make sure I knew not to call.”

San’s jaw clenches briefly, before turning his attention back to the book in his hand. “So why is this book your favorite?”

You consider him for a moment. You know a major motivation for him to ask you this question is to distract you from thoughts of your father, but he nonetheless looks earnest, so you answer honestly. “The book is written from the point of view of a young woman whose frank honesty is pretty inspiring. She doesn’t extol her virtues or edit out her failings. And it’s a story of how she comes into her own and finds herself. I don’t know, it’s just compelling.”

He gives you a large, dimpled smile -- that smile that stops the world, that makes you want to give him everything he ever wanted. “She sounds like you,” he says.

You blush. “Well, I haven’t found myself yet,” you say. “I’m still looking.”

“You might not be perfect yet,” he admonishes, “but you know yourself well. Now get back to studying or else we’ll be here all night.”

You can’t help but smile softly to yourself as you turn back to your books.

***

Later that night, you’re alone in your room with a candle burning, the window open to the cool night air. Your father’s large house is quiet, and you thumb through your personal copy of Jane Eyre, remembering how when you and San had left the library, he insisted on checking it out. “It’s your favorite,” he’d said, confused, when you asked him why. 

You smile in spite of yourself once again, thinking about how all the things you want feel just out of your reach. You have family — but they aren’t close. You have money — but no ability to use it due to your father’s curmudgeonly nature. And here is the perfect man — silly, intelligent, handsome, and the kindest person you’ve ever known, and yet he works for you. That is a line you know it would be unfair to him to try to cross, especially with a father like you have. 

Lost in thought, you slip on your favorite blue nightgown. Perhaps tonight, with the chill air on your skin, you’ll wander the halls of the house with your candle just like the secret Mrs. Rochester herself. You even consider going down the hall to where San sleeps to see if he’s made it to that part yet, but stop yourself when you realize just how inappropriate that would look. Instead, you sink into your bed and stare at the ceiling, urging sleep to come and whisk you away into a dream world that is hopefully happier than the one in which you live. 

You have scarcely closed your eyes when the rumble of thunder wakes you. The open window is swinging dangerously on its hinges as a storm rages outside. You shriek as rain begins pelting the carpet, and hop up to shut the window. With the sound of the storm now muffled, you try to flick on the bedside lamp, but either the bulb is burnt out or you’ve lost power. You go to the main light and flip the switch — nothing. You sigh. It’s about to be very cold.

Just then there’s a knock at the door, making you jump. You crack it open to see San, in his pajamas, holding a candle. “Everything okay in there?” he asks you. “I heard a scream.”

“Yeah, I just forgot to close the window before I fell asleep, and then the storm started,” you say sheepishly. “Sorry to wake you.”

He shrugs. “It’s okay,” he says. His eyes travel down your body, taking in the sight of you in your nightgown. Goosebumps erupt on your arms, and he notices right away. “Are you cold?”

You shiver. “Uh, yeah,” you say. 

He smiles. “Your dad’s sitting room has a fireplace. Let’s go.”

“Won’t he be mad?” you say, even as you step out of your bedroom with a blanket. 

“He’ll never even know,” San assures you. Minutes later, you are sitting on a couch with a blazing fire in front of you, blankets tucked around you as San leans his back against the couch, looking proudly at the fire he made. 

You adjust the strap of your nightgown, looking at him shyly. “Thanks,” you say.

He smiles in reply. “So, Jane’s quite the heroine,” he says, shouting you a glance.

You smile. “How far did you get?”

“I’m at the part where the fortune teller talks to the party guests.”

Your eyes get wide. “What? That’s pretty far.”

“It’s pretty good,” he says earnestly. “I’ve always wanted a little girl like Adele.”

“Pretty?” you ask him.

He grins. “Spoiled,” he says. “Although I’d be sweeter to her than Mr. Rochester is.”

“I’ll bet you would. What do you think about Mr. Rochester so far?”

He shrugs. “Probably similarly to how most people in his life feel. He’s a mysterious man. I don’t think I trust him.”

“Can I give you a tiny spoiler,” you beg, and he laughs. 

“I think I am contractually forbidden to say no to you,” he says, “and also, yes, as long as it isn’t major.”

You lean forward, nearly whispering to him. “The next bit is some of the spookiest stuff in the book.”

You move your legs to give him room on the couch as he stands up to sit next to you. “Am I gonna get scared?” he asks. 

“You’re a bodyguard. Aren’t you supposed to be brave?” you tease.

He scoffs. “Being brave isn’t about not being scared. It’s about facing the fear.”

You nod, impressed. “Ah, how well-said. You know, for a bodyguard, you’re quite eloquent.”

“And for a pretentious academic, you’re quite down-to-earth,” he teases. “However, I will say that you don’t strike me as someone who’s scared of much.”

You think for a moment. “I suppose I’m not,” you say slowly, “although it isn’t quite that simple. I do have anxiety.”

“What’s the difference?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious. 

“I’m not scared of spiders or the dark or storms or even dying, necessarily. But any one of those things could make me overthink myself into full-on panic. I got bitten by a spider and it made me so anxious that I was convinced I would die every night.”

He nods, thinking, his eyes twinkling in the firelight. “What does it feel like for you?” he asks softly.

“Like a weight on my chest,” you respond immediately. “Sometimes it’s so bad I can hardly breathe.”

You have to turn away as he looks at you. His expression is so compassionate you are afraid that his empathy will pick up on the very real feelings you have for him. He asks a new question. “And joy — what does that feel like?”

You look at him, eyebrows raised. He raises both his hands in an innocent gesture. “You have such colorful descriptions,” he says. “I just want to get a little deeper into your headspace. It’ll probably help me do my job better.”

You shoot him a skeptical glance before giving in. “Joy feels like…the first step out the door when the air starts to turn cold and crisp for fall. It’s like something new but also so familiar.” You think about the feeling you get every time he smiles. “It’s…expansive. And warm.” You turn to him. “What about you?”

His eyes widen in surprise to have been asked. “Oh. Um…” he thinks for a second, and a slow smile spreads across his face. “Joy feels like music to me, like the best part of your favorite song.”

“Beautiful,” you say, smiling back at him. “And fear? What does that feel like?”

“Being trapped. No freedom,” he says. He hesitates before he asks the next question. “And…love?”

You blush. “Love isn’t an emotion,” you protest, looking away from him. “Love is a verb. It’s an action.”

“You’re right,” he allows, “but it comes with a very specific feeling. How does that feel? For you?”

You look up at him, finally, unable to look away. “That’s one I’m not sure about.” You force yourself to ask what you don’t want to know — because he’s a little older than you, and has lived a whole life apart from you, a life that must have involved the whole spectrum of human emotion and loss and love, but to hear of him falling in love is too much — “Maybe if you describe it, I’ll recognize it.”

He opens his mouth, then pauses, searching your face before smiling bemusedly. “It’s…it’s this heat, everywhere,” he says. “Almost like you’re being lit up like a candle from the inside, almost like if someone were to really look at you, they’d be able to see light coming from every part of you, even…even underneath your fingernails.”

Your heart nearly stops as you realize he’s describing almost perfectly how it feels for you to be around him. You swallow nervously before replying. “It sounds…intense.”

He chuckles. “It is.” And then he does something so unexpected that you gasp. He leans in and catches your cheek in his hand. “When I’m around you,” he says, and his voice is shaking, “it sometimes feels like I might explode — it’s like you are firelight, filling up all the parts of me that used to be empty, and then some. I’m surprised you can’t see my veins from the outside, because I swear to God, I can feel you lighting them up. You’re everywhere.”

He gently brings your face forward so your lips are practically touching. “Everywhere,” he whispers once more, before closing the gap and kissing you. 

He pulls you into his lap as he does, cradling you in his arms, and you have to hold on to his shirt for dear life as you kiss him back. When he finally pulls back slightly, pressing his forehead to yours, he asks you quietly, “this, what does this feel like for you?”

You consider, touching his face with your fingertips as his eyes bore into your own. He looks positively desperate to know. After awhile you answer. “All the voices that are usually shouting at me in my head are suddenly very quiet.”

“And that’s…good?” he asks intently.

“It’s…more than good,” you admit with a blush.

“Do you want me to keep going?” he says, and his voice is breathless, his chest heaving.

“More than anything.”

He smiles, kissing you again. 

#ateez #choi san #choi san x reader #choi san fluff #san

[teecupangel]

So, we've had Desmond in the P5 universe. What if he landed earlier during the events of P3/FES/Reload? I think he would have a deep connection/bond to the protagonist considering both died to save the world. How would things play out in your headcanon?

The Persona 5 with Desmond idea for those curious.

I haven’t played P3R yet but I did play the OG P3, FES and Portable when it came out so we’ll be focusing on the og one for this.

Or maybe we’ll focus on the idea that P3R is a stealth ‘sequel’ and set it up first with Desmond waking up and talking a young boy with dark blue hair, asking him to sign in.

Desmond thought that he was in the afterlife and, sure, it looked like an average looking homey hotel but fine, he’d seen weirder shit in his life thanks to the Isus and the Animus so he just signed in.

He wakes up in a small apartment and a Japanese guy looking over him, telling him that he found Desmond where garbage bags were placed for the garbage truck to get them (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Monday and Wednesday for burnable, Friday for not. He found Desmond on a Tuesday)

The man introduces himself as Edogawa and lets Desmond stay as he feels weak for some reason. By the time Desmond is strong enough to check his surrounding…

He finds out he’s in Japan, a city called Tatsumi Port Island.

And…

It’s the year 2009.

His phone isn’t working at all. No matter how much he tried to turn it on. When he borrowed Edogawa’s computer, there is no mention of Abstergo in the internet at all.

And the email he remembered his team had and the emergency email that Erudito gave him bounced back.

It took a few days before Desmond finally agreed that he wasn’t kicked into the past.

This was another world.

A world where the Assassins and the Templars didn’t exist.

Things turned weirder because the first time Desmond stays late at night, the city transforms and he is attacked by strange creatures…

He manages to take care of them thanks to his hidden blade and the knife he still had on his bag but their battle only ‘invited’ more creatures that tried to attack Desmond.

So he runs. He turns the corner…

And finds himself in a bar mostly painted in blue velvet.

And on the counter stands a woman who calls herself “Elizabeth”.

She welcomes him as a ‘unexpected guest’ and tells her about the Dark Hour and the Shadows.

She opens her book and shows him the page of the Fool Arcana, explaining to him that he signed the contract and is now able to serve as an ‘authorized representative’. Elizabeth will serve as the host of his Velvet Room.

She requests him to defeat the Shadows and challenge the Avatar of the Fall.

… and…

To change the ending.

Unorganized Notes:

I kinda like the idea of this being FeMC instead of the og MC of P3 but you decide XD

We are going to use a lot of FeMC’s alternate scenes (mainly because I want Shinjiro to live)

He becomes the bartender in Club Escapade and meets the MC during his first visit there. He keeps an eye on the MC because the MC likes to ‘pay’ the fortune teller there to check his fortune or something.

Desmond actually appears to the SEES members during the High Priestess boss fight. He can’t believe that kids are fighting the Shadows. He recognized the MC and also Junpei who has also visited the club before.

Desmond is more or less ‘recruited’ by the Kirijo group and Desmond agreed because they’re kids, he can’t just let them do this on their own. Desmond transfers to the dorm as a… ‘caretaker’

… which he actually does. He cooks them food (thank you, Ratonhnhaké:ton’s bleed) and cleans. He also walks Koromaru whenever he does grocery. By that point, he quits his job in the club.

SEES members think of him more like an older brother. He gets roped with Fuuka’s cooking and jogs with Akihiko at times. He helps out Junpei with his English assignments. He makes Ken coffee and is even roped by Ken to teach him how to make coffee the way he does. He also more than once slips inside the school because Yukari asked him to help her with her archery for some reason. His favorite is Mitsuru though because she tells him he can borrow her motorcycle any time he wants.

Aegis is wary of him which is fair and she’s always confused to why she always feels the need to have him in her sight. It becomes a running joke how Aegis has imprinted on both Desmond and the MC.

We never talked about Desmond’s Persona, right?

That’s because he doesn’t have one.

The first Persona he summons is a Pixie and the book that Elizabeth has is already filled completely. He can summon the Personas there as long as he pays the price and he can fuse them.

But he cannot overwrite the Personas in the book.

Desmond is the Avatar of the Fool.

… specifically… he is the Avatar of the original messiah that became a door to halt the end from happening.

The young boy who asked him to sign?

That wasn’t Pharos.

It was the male main character’s child form. To be more exact, how he looked when he lost his parents. He connected with Desmond so Desmond could become his avatar and changed the ending of this ‘repeat’ (aka Reload) that Elizabeth managed to create. He appears in Desmond’s dream as a glowing figure (and the red herring is making us think he’s the Reader but he’s not). The book Elizabeth is using to support Desmond is his compendium.

So yeah…

This is actually a fix it fic idea for Persona 3.

#assassin's creed #desmond miles #ask and answer #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #fic idea: persona #fic idea: crossover #persona 3 #persona 3 reload #minato arisato #makoto yuki

[bronx-bomber87]

Mid week Review :) The amazing hits keep coming in S2. Another goodie for them. Hard to believe we have 9 eps left in this season after this one. Such a rock solid season for them. Let's get started.

2x13 Follow-Up Day

We first find our lovely couple pre-roll call. Smitty is celebrating his last day as ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ He scored so low he’ll never get promoted. Honestly most depressing thing I’ve ever heard... but it’s Smitty. So he’s rolling with it like we all would expect him to. The scores are going to be posted soon. Meaning Tim will get to know where he ranks as well. (Tim is all smiles while they’re talking btw. It’s pretty cute.)

You can see Lucy is so excited for him to get them. Supportive and proud wifey reporting for duty. All she can see is the light at the end of tunnel for him. She knows he crushed it. Tim on the other hand looks nervous af about these results. You can sense how edgy he is in that last gif. Lucy is her sunshine self for him regardless. His encouraging cheerleader. Her default mode for him. Her pride for him is just gushing out of her.

Tim being Tim can’t handle the support. So naturally he pushes away when she does it. Instead of thanking Lucy for her support he deflects it. Says 'No doubt' and nothing more. Leaving Lucy a little baffled. Has to leave before she sees the affect her support has on him. I get Tim’s reaction I really do. It seems like he's being rude when really he can't fathom it. When you’re not given words of affirmation or support growing up, it’s so damn foreign to receive it.

Her support means so much and he craves it yet he can’t actually process or handle it. I relate to this all to well. He's still not used to having someone in his corner consistently like Lucy is for him. Always showing up. It's so nice you almost can't trust it. It sounds insane but it's true. Deep down you need it and want it. But when you get it you push it away or down play it. Just like Tim did in this scene. Good thing our girl is relentless. Our never ending cheerleader for him. Sees past his rough spots and loves on him more for it. Ugh I love them.

In roll call they’re all assigned follow up cases that are about to be put on the back burner. Hence the name of the episode. Tim and Lucy get assigned a house break in. No prints or DNA. It's for a man named Nevin Cooper. Former gang member. They arrive at his donut shop and ask to see him. (Side note I'll never be over how he ALWAYS opens the door for her. Chivalry does it for me.) The eye contact she gives him when he does it too my goodness. But I digress ha Sasha his GF is instantly tense at their presence. Asking if she can help with something? Before they can answer they hear a noise and head back.

They find Nevin talking to the new head of his former gang. Tim immediately tries to square up with this guy. Tells him he’s the one who put his former boss in jail. Tim doesn't waste much time and asks if he’s the new leader? Marquel quotes Shakespeare as his answer. Lucy can't help but comment on this. Marquel softens a bit says she’s smart for a cop. Tim does intimidation and Lucy tries to build rapport with Shakespearian knowledge LOL Yin and Yang.

They’re clearly giving him grief for leaving the gang post jail. Mad he's trying to go straight. Tim and Lucy are able to scare Marquel off for now. Nevin is evasive with them after they go. He won’t admit to anything. Apparently Sasha called them not him. Tim knows they're not going to get much more out of him so they leave. Tim knows Marquel is sweating Nevin. He just can’t prove that or him breaking into his house just yet.

They make it back to station and Lucy starts asking how the results work. Clearly the only thing on her mind is his exam. It’s adorable. She asks him if he gets the stripes right away? Tim tells her passing the test is just the first step. You only get promoted once a spot opens up. So that’s why his ranking is so important.

If he makes it to the top of the list could take him a month or two. Lets her know the lower you are on the list the longer it takes. Says for some they’ll never get a shot. I.e. Smitty. Can see why he’s so damn stressed about the whole thing. Just passing isn’t guaranteeing anything. Tells her if nothing comes up he has to wait 2 more years to take the exam again. I love how intently she listens to him. Look at her absorbing everything he's saying.

Grey comes up to them says Nevin has been assaulted. Lucy says that’s crazy they just saw him. Tim says Marquel must’ve double backed after they left. It’s landed him in the hospital. They know he won’t talk to them. So they try their luck with Sasha. She is upset he got hurt cause they showed up. Tells them they had to make sure Nevin wasn’t snitching. Lucy says snitching about what? She balks and clams up just like he did.

Then Tim steps in with a damn good mini speech above. He’s not wrong. This guy is relentless. A predator. He’s not going down without a fight. She gives in and says they’re trying to pressure Nevin into laundering drug money for them. Gave him only 24 hours to decide. Lucy asks if they can arrest Marquel for assault? He says no it’ll only incite the gang. They’ll end up killing them. Lucy asks him what they’re gonna do? He looks stumped. Says he doesn’t know…

They go to Grey for some guidance about what their next move is. His answer doesn't appeal to them either. He mentions making him a CI dragging him back into the life. Wrapping up Marquel's crew that way. Lucy isn't on board for this. Says he's trying to get out of the life not get thrust back into it. Grey uses this hard decision as his segue into his Sergeant results. I love Tim darting his eyes at Lucy first when he asks about the scores. *heart clutch*. He's nervous for himself but also nervous he tanked it and she'll know he did. He doesn't want to let her down. She helped him so much.

Lucy goes from upset about Nevin to radiant proud wifey when she hears the news. Tim looks so very relieved. Reserved but relieved. The Tim Bradford way haha Lucy voicing her excitement is too damn cute. Just spews out of her like word vomit. He looks at her like 'Not in front of Grey' LOL Wade’s face is too damn funny. Not subtle in the least Lucy. I know in S5 when Tim came to him about them dating he wasn’t shocked in the least. They’d been emotionally dating for YEARS before they were official. He had a front row seat for a long time.

Lucy gets his silent communication message loud and clear. She tries her best to rein it in like the cute human she is. Bring it back to a 'professional' setting in front of Grey. Says 'Congratulations Sergeant Bradford' with heart eyes x 1000 ❤️ Subtle as a hammer Lucy. Didn't scale that back like she think she did. I love her so much. She sure tired haha

It’s then the scene takes a turn for them both. Grey tells him there’s an opening in North Hollywood. Captain owes him a favor. He could start in two weeks. They’re both stunned. You can see it on their faces. Lucy thinks there is now way in hell he’s going to pass up this opportunity for her. So her sadness is she thinks she's going to lose him to this. Tim however is immediately hesitant about the quick turnaround. Lucy of course doesn’t want him to go. It’s evident Tim doesn’t either. Another tough decision ahead for our boy it would seem. Stay or go and get everything he’s been working hard for?

The next day rolls around and Tim decides to take a run a Marquel. Trying to appeal to him to let Nevin go. That he gave a decade of his life to them. Took the fall like a good soldier. Lucy even quotes Othello like the BAMF she is. Trying to persuade him to their side. Using their Shakespeare rapport from the other day. It fails. Do love her trying with Shakespeare though haha Had to take her shot.

Lucy asks what they do next? Ready for his next plan. Tim says he doesn’t know. They made their play and failed. Then our girl does what she does best. Challenges him. Says she never thought she’d see the day he gives up. She did once call him the DEAR method incarnate. Reminds him he is the king of subversive tests and tricks. No way this is the end of the road for them about this.

That there has to be someway for them to win coming at this sideways. What I love about this scene is yes she challenges him, but also builds him up while she’s doing that. Encouraging him to be more creative about this. That he has it in him to win this fight. That he just needs to allow himself some space to work it out. Such a damn good partner to him in more ways than one. Love his face in the second gif above. Ready to go back into battle over this because of her.

He told her she has no quit in her. That applies to him as well. This moment is absolute undeniable proof of that. This scene right here is one of the reasons he stays at Mid Wilshire. The impact she has on him. How she lights a fire under him like no one else ever has. She’s the whole reason he's staying really but this scene is a facet of why she’s the reason. A reminder and the moment he makes his decision. Not just about this situation but about his career. It’s more valuable for him to keep what they have than to leave for that promotion.

We find out Tim’s out of the box plan. To turn Nevin's donut shop into a cop hang out. No way he’ll launder money there now. It's brilliant. Lucy commends him on his great plan and make sure he knows how genius it was. Then tells him with sadness in her eyes North Hollywood is lucky to have a sergeant like him. Tim squashes that sadness and lets her know he isn't going to move up yet. He seems really excited to tell her that he is staying. It's pretty cute.

Lucy is clearly thrilled when Tim reveals he’s not taking it. She of course isn’t going to assume it because of her. So she makes a joke and ask if he’s waiting on Malibu then? Oh Tim has rubbed off on her too. Deflecting through humor. Then Tim says that iconic line of his about finishing what he starts. With far more affection and heart eyes than I’m sure is needed. But hell we’re gonna lap that up all damn day.

Their looks are so incredibly telling. Basically saying exactly how they’re feeling while dancing around it at the same time. Once again you forget he’s dating one of her closest friends this season. The amount of emotional rapport being built in S2 is mind blowing and beautiful to behold.

She wouldn’t be Lucy if she didn’t give him a little crap though. Saying he better move up at some point. That those books on tape took her a long time LOL Her labor of love for him is what those were. His is he chose Lucy over furthering his career. (This won't be the last time he does this either) He wasn’t ready to leave her. This is such a big thing for him to do. I don't think he even realizes how big this is. Wouldn’t have done this for any other rookie. But Lucy is forever the exception for Tim. He values their bond and connection far too much to give that up. He can’t tell her that but actions speak louder than words. And his are SCREAMING.

The smile he reserves only for her comes out after her little jab. You know he loves it when she gives him a hard time. He says ‘Yeah’ then they are in literal lock step after that. Just look at them. Their body chemistry without even touching is out of this world. Looks like she wants to touch him with some playful pushing but holds back on that last gif. Easy you two your massive feelings that are growing by the ep are showing. Damn they cute I can’t get over it ha So ends another wonderful s2 episode for them.

Side notes-non chenford

Did enjoy Nolan’s SL with Pete coming into the picture for first time. Always funny. Harper being funny in this one as well.

Wopez had a good SL as well with his mom. Enjoyed it.

Thank you all for your continued support, likes/reblogs. They fuel my reviews so very much. You’re the best :) see you all in 2x14

#Caitlin rewatches The Rookie #chenford #chenford hiatus #summer rewatch #waiting on s6 #s2 #2x13 Follow-Up Day #The rookie 2x13 #tim bradford #lucy chen #the rookie #tim x lucy #lucy x tim #eric winter #melissa o'neil #otp: doing my job #otp: you know me so well. too well. #tim bradford x lucy chen

[quicktosimp]

Our Little Secret

Kinkmas Day 07

Oliver Mansk/Human!Reader

Warnings: Under a Desk, Public, Cunnilingus, Face Sitting, Queening, Mean!Reader, Alien Genitalia, Painplay

A/N: First half done!!! I can not believe we are already here! Say thank you and check out @neteyamsyawntu for all her hard work putting this together for us 💗

Also thank you to @loaksxhoe, because I had no idea what I was doing for today. Thank you boo 😘

If anyone tells you that a military man has strong moral values and would never do anything to endanger their image as a soldier, tell them to go fuck themselves. Now we all know that there’s not supposed to be any fraternizing between us, but who gives a shit? We’re all stuck here; we just can’t get pregnant. No repeats of the Soccoro kid. The amount of humans that volunteered to go to this hell hole of a plant is slim; the amount I’m willing to sleep with is slimmer. So far, the only decent fuck I’ve had is with Mansk. I’ll admit I was a little turned off with the whole blue thing going on, but it grew on me, and that dick of his is a big seller. There are quite a few times I’ve needed to get off, but I can’t have him reorganizing my guts, so we’ve devised a couple of plans for that, and personally, this is my favorite one.

Quaritch decided he didn’t like several of my reports and threw them into a shredder right in front of me, demanding that I “Fucking redo them.” So here I am, sitting at my desk with my modified chair. The middle of the chair had latches that would drop the center of it, leaving the sides for me to sit on. Underneath are padded straps meant to hold Mansk’s head while he pleases me. I use his body as a footrest while his giant body is curled up underneath my desk. The way he rests under there gives me perfect access to his slit, which I can tease all day with my foot. Typically, we keep this chair in my quarters, but I need the distraction after Quaritch’s little stunt.

“Slow down. I told you I don’t want to cum yet,” I remarked, tapping threateningly at his slit. 

Mansk’s tongue slowed down, returning to the lazy licks and sucks I prefer as he keeps my cunt warm. 

“Much better. Your boss decided to give me all this extra work, so I will just borrow his little dog for the day. But you're not his dog, are you? No, you're my puppy,” I giggle a little as I feel his body tense, “Now, don’t be that way. It’s not like it’s a lie. I say jump and jump. Why else would you make me this seat and let me use you anytime I wanted,” I tease, reminding Mansk that he did this all more than willingly.

 I could feel the vibrations of Mansk attempting to say something, but my pussy stopped any sound from ringing through the room. 

“Oh, stop that,” I scold, tapping my socked foot on his slit harshly.

The resounding moan set pleasure through my core. I grind my cunt into his face as my moans spilled from my lips. Mansk’s tongue was blessed by whatever the deity the savages believed in. Even as the pain radiated through his slit, his tongue never stopped its lazy movements along my folds, slurping my juices. 

“You really are asking for it,” My teeth shine as I smirk nastily at him.

I move my legs so that instead of on top of his body, they’re caging his shoulders, putting more pressure on his face. 

“Now, why don’t we-” I was cut off by my door opening.

“(Y/N), if you have a moment,” Quaritch swiftly walks through the door, closing it behind him.

Breaking out of my stupor, I do my best to act normal, “Unfortunately, due to the extra work I was assigned, I do not have any available time slots for the next three days,” I respond cooly, not letting any of the emotions surface.

A sneer temporarily breaks over his face before he regains control of his facial expressions, smoothing them into a soft smile, “Well, Darlin’, you see-”

“Don’t get familiar, Colonel. It is Dr. (Y/N) or Dr. (Y/L/N),” I interrupted swiftly.

I felt Mansk’s gasp, and I had to choke down the noise that attempted to leave my lips, leaving me tense in my seat. 

The Colonel was shocked; he probably hadn’t been talked to like that before, “My apologies, I was… simply hoping to make friendlier ties with you,” Quaritch leaned heavily into his southern drawl. 

“Pet names come after those ties have been made, never before,” I respond curtly, wanting none of his bull shit.

“Alright, have it your way, Dr. (Y/N),” His hands up in mock surrender as he takes several steps closer to my desk; I can feel Mansk holding his breath, “I think we both can agree that I treated you a little… harshly yesterday.”

I couldn’t stop the snort that left me, earning a quick glare from Quaritch before he continued softly.

“As I was saying, due to my impulsive decision, we both seem to be suffering for it to make up for it. I know that you have been interested in studying the physical reactions of Avatar bodies, and I would be willing to volunteer myself for your studies. All I ask is that it remains just between you and me,” Quaritch explains, flashing a smile.

I sat there dumbfounded, temporarily unable to process the words he had just spoken, but when they did, I tossed my head back and laughed.

“Did you think that would fucking work?” I ask, finding nothing but humor in his plan, “You want me to sexually please you “for my research,” but then not use any of that research? I know you’re a jarhead, but this is fucking stupid even for one of you,” My laughter shook my body, causing me to grind on Mansk’s face as I ranted to Quaritch, each movement caught my clit on his chin, sending sharp waves of pleasure through me.

Quaritch’s face turned dark at my mocking, “Now listen here, you little bitch, we both know that no one would touch you with a ten-foot poll, let alone fuck you. You should be thankful that I’m offering myself to you,” His words ended in a hiss as his tail flickered back and forth.

I laughed again, amused by his little show of power, “Damn, your pathetic, but if you must know, ever since I’ve arrived at this shit show, I’ve had men lining up for me. I haven’t gone more than two days without getting a good fucking in,” I smirked at him, relishing in the little tantrum he was throwing, “You can leave now, my fun is over, and I have work to do,” I say cutting Quaritch off before he had a chance to say anything.

Quaritch’s face was a deep purple as he stomped his way to the door. As he opened it, I decided to be generous and give him a little bit of information.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, I told the general about what happened yesterday. She wasn’t happy to be told that time and supplies were being wasted thanks to you,” I explain with a smile, only to have the door slammed shut.

Realizing how much time I had wasted on Quaritch, I lifted my legs up onto Mansk’s chest, giving him the room to breathe again. I hear him take a deep breath as he pants over my cunt.

“This is how your boss treats me every day. Heard that’s how he treated that Soccoro bitch he knocked up too,” I explain uselessly, simply giving Mansk the time to regain his breath, “I must admit this little stunt of his was much stupider than usual, but to be honest, I don’t really care, I do wish he would leave me alone tho,” I sigh wearily.

“Anywho, you need to continue. I don’t have you sitting there for nothing,” I demanded, returning to my paperwork as the gentle swipes of Mansk’s tongue returned to my cunt, and who knows, maybe I’ll have him here for another four hours before I let him go.

#avatar #avatar way of water #atwow #smut #avatar12daysofkinkmas #avatar the way of water #avatar 2 #recom mansk #mansk #avatar mansk #mansk x reader #recoms #avatar fanfic #atwow quaritch #miles quaritch #recom quaritch #avatar quaritch #colonel quaritch

[danceswithsporks]

Omg can I ask 9 with Echo??? Love your works 🖤

So sorry for the delay! I went with Bad Batch Echo for this! Please let me know if that was the wrong version to go with!

Echos disguise is based off of the ‘droid’ disguise he had in the bad batch when Hunter sold him!

Echo x Reader

"You're mine tonight, and that isn't ever gonna change."

Echo watched you flit around the ballroom in a gentle flurry of silk material. You were in your element. Born to a Senator and now following in her footsteps. One of the younger senators in the senate and one of the more outspoken against the war and the use of clones as fodder. How he’d ended up as your bodyguard was still a confusing mystery for him. One day he was working with the batch in the outer rim and the next day he was being shuttled off to Coruscant for a special assignment. That was over a year ago. Now he stood to the side of the room, disguised as a droid, watching you speak with countless other members of the Senate.

You were beautiful, a shining light in the darkness of his life. You welcomed him with open arms when Fox presented him to you. Happy to finally be working next to a clone. Cause that’s what you two were in your eyes, colleagues. Not a bodyguard and his charge, but friends. You’d told him as much in your first meeting too. Never once did Echo feel like you looked down on him, even with his special looks. He’d watched you stand up to countless sexist senators, defend him and his vod with passion, and help those in desperate need of help. Even now, when others were here at the banquet to have a good time, you were here to be the voice that so many desperately needed. While others were drinking and laughing, you were arranging medical supplies for families on the outer rim affected by the war.

Brown eyes watched as you forced a laugh at some joke spoken by the senator on your left. Echo had seen you laugh countless times and had made you laugh as well. That wasn’t a true laugh, that was your ‘I’m doing this for the sake of my program. You’re making me uncomfortable and I’d like you to go away but I can’t say that so instead I’m gonna laugh’ laugh. He watched as the man raised his hand to the small of your back and he seethed. You didn’t like being touched by people you didn’t know and seeing as this guy wasn’t moving his hand, it was time for him to step in.

“Oh, I firmly believe that this program is important. Children and families are being completely uprooted from their ancestral lands because of this war. They need our aid to help them survive.” With a shift of your weight, you tried to pull away from the man’s hand that was trying to stroke your back. You wanted to vomit from his touch.

“But do they require as much aid as you are requesting? Surely if we continue to simply give them everything, they will not survive on their own.” The Bothan senator crossed his arms as he stroked the long fur on his chin.

You fought the sigh that tried to escape your lips. This was always the hard part. So many didn’t care about those in need, they just feigned caring. “Part of the funds you’d be contributing would b-“ you coughed as a hand suddenly grabbed your ass. Did this guy really think you’d suddenly fall for him because of that? You turned to say something to him when you heard your favorite voice.

“Please refrain from laying hands on the Senator.” Echo moved the hand from your ass before sliding between the two, becoming your barrier. “Continued assault will result in removal from the premises.” He spoke in an almost monotone voice, trying to mimic the speech patterns of droids.

It made you smile the way he always seemed to perfectly time his sudden appearances. Just when you were about to go off on someone and probably look bad, he’d step in and save ya. It was hard to think about your life before him or even possibly without him now. In a way, you loved him being around. He made you smile and laugh and feel safe. Sure, safety was the main point of his job. But there was a difference between being safe and feeling safe. Echo made you feel safe and warm. You watched as eyebrows raised around the group at his remark, a few of the senators spoke to their assistants in their private languages.

The male senator seethed at the droid blatantly outing him. “And just what are you!”

“This is EC-HO. My bodyguard and assistant droid.” You patted his shoulder with a pleased smile. He’d definitely be getting thanked for this later.

The Bothan Senator tilted his head in surprise. “Interesting. I have not seen this model before. Is it new? Where did you acquire it?” He reached out to touch the droid but found his hand moved away.

Your hand went out and blocked the Senator from touching Echo. “He is a prototype designed by an acquaintance of mine. As you can imagine, he is very valuable to me.” Dropping your hand, you gripped Echo's wrist gently and squeezed it twice. The signal that you were ready to leave.

“Fascinating, I would love to discuss this droid with its creator. Perhaps you could give me their contact information.” The Bothan looked over EC-HO closely. He was very human-like.

“My creator wishes to remain anonymous until my design is finalized.” He returned the two squeezes, letting you know he understood.

Releasing his hand, you grasped both of yours in front of you. “There are still a few kinks that need to be worked out.”

Echo was so thankful for the make covering his reddening face. How dare you mention his kinks like this. “Madam, it is almost time for your call with my creator.”

You nodded, the hitch in his voice caught your attention. A smile crossed your lips as you tried not to let the blush on your cheeks become obvious. “I’m sorry, I must be going.”

“Perhaps I could escort you back to your room, Senator. It will give me a chance to properly apologize to you.” The male senator tried to live around Echo but found himself blocked once more.

“Thank you for the offer.” A hand was placed on Echo's upper arm as you prevented him from grabbing the Senator. “But I must discuss some important details with EC-HO. Goodbye.” Not waiting for a response from him, you made a speedy exit from the ballroom.

-*-

By the time you’d made it back to your room, it had begun to downpour. The balcony doors had been left open in your suite and the sweet smell of flowers and rain filled the room. That was one thing you loved about visiting Naboo. No matter what kind of weather the planet was experiencing, it was beautiful. While Echo secured your room and checked the adjoining room, technically his room, you made your way to the balcony to enjoy the rain.

The rain soaked your cream gown within moments, your hair sticking to your skin and your heels beginning to slip. You began to reach down to pull them off but found Echo already there. His real hand slipped around towards the latch on your pink heels. “Thank you, Echo.” A content sigh leaves your lips as you lean against the railing and feel your shoes slide off.

Echo ran his hand up your leg as he slowly stood, his fingers gliding across your smooth skin. “Of course, Mesh’la.” He pressed into you from behind as his lips found your shoulder. “Have I told you enough how beautiful you looked tonight?”

A shiver ran down your spine as his lips sprinkled kisses up your shoulder and onto your neck. “Just once more, my love.” Your head fell back against his shoulder when he pulled his teeth across your soft skin.

“You look absolutely stunning tonight. Especially right now.” His scomp slid forward and rested against one of your breasts. The darkened skin of your nipples almost visible through the soaked fabric.

“I bet that senator would say the same.” You felt him squeeze your side tightly, a growl leaving him as he ground the bulge in his pants against your ass. “Perhaps we should ask him to come in, so we can discuss his thoughts.” His grip became even tighter and you let out a pleasure-filled moan.

He knew you were doing this to get a rise out of him. Just like when the slit of your dress flashed his clone number tattoo that you had on your upper thigh at him while you were walking down the stairs earlier. You’d purposely bought the high-slit dress to tease him. “His only focus was fucking you because of how sexy you are in this dress.” His lips wrapped around the skin between your neck and shoulder before he sucked, a lovely mark being left behind.

“Too bad I’d rather fuck someone else tonight.” Stepping back, you rubbed your ass against his bulge. An airy moan left his lips, making you chuckle.

“Mmmm, that’s right.” His lips moved up to your earlobe. His teeth grazed against it as his voice became deeper, darker. “You're mine tonight,” his real hand snaked around your waist and dipped between your legs, playing with your clit. “and that isn't ever gonna change.”

A shaky breath left you as he began to tease you. “Wouldn’t have it…hnnng….any other way.” Your grip on the rail tightened as the rain continued to soak you two. “E-Echo.” A long moan left you as your upper body bent over the rail.

Just seeing how easily he could make you crumble sent a surge of pride through him. That was right. You belonged to him. It was his number on your thigh. His mark on your neck and on one of your breasts from the night before. And soon, it would be his seed inside your womb. “You’ve got two choices, Senator. Here, or the bed.”

Oh, fuck! You loved it when he spoke to you like this. Your room was at the back of the palace, no one else was near yours. The downpour outside was loud and muffling. “Here. Now. Please.” This could be one of your only chances to fuck outside like this, publicly. At any moment a starship could fly by and see you two together and the thought drove you insane.

“As you command, ma’am. Now be a good Senator and spread these luscious legs.” Echo fell to his knees behind you with an oomph, his hand pushing the fabric of your dress up to your hips displaying your ass and your cunt to him. “I believe you may have forgotten a piece of clothing tonight, Senator.” Leaning forward, he placed a long kick across your soaking heat. Fuck, he loved how you tasted. All hot and wet for him.

A squeak left you as you felt his hot tongue dip into your core. What that man could do with his tongue was mind-numbing. You rocked your hips back into him, loving the feeling. “I had plannnnnned” your words slurred as his thumb found your clit once more. Fuck, focusing was so hard right now. “On having…nnng… to fix my heel. Ugh!” Your mouth fell open in an ‘o’ as he sucked against your cunt. “And letting yoooouuuu.” Son of a bantha he was doing this on purpose. Your eyes screwed shut as you tried to focus on your sentence. “See that I wasn’t wearing any.” A scream of pleasure left you as his finger suddenly dipped inside of you.

“Mmm, so you planned on teasing me? You know how much I love it when you do that.” As he spoke, his hand moved from your heat and to his pocket. “I picked something up before we left Coruscant. Up for trying something new?”

“Always.” You forced the word out between ragged breaths. Echo had quickly become one of the reasons you’d started working out again. He was insatiable at times and with his enhanced stamina, you needed to train your stamina up. But even with your new workout regimens, it was hard to keep up with him. Especially when he worked you so nicely. Looking over your shoulder at him, you watched as he pulled something made out of rubber, possibly, from his pocket and slid it onto his scomp. The rain made it hard for you to see exactly what it looked like, but you could see that it was red. “W-what’s that?”

Echo smirked as he rolled the silicon cover down his scomp. “It’s designed to be a stimulating cover for sex toys. But after some research, I figured out that they also fit over my scomp.” Standing up, he moved his scomp toward your face, letting you get a good look at it. “Lick it, so I can try it in your pussy.”

Now that it was closer to your face, you could see all the ridges and textured parts of it. You let out a shuddered breath as you moved your head forward and took the appendage in your mouth. His hand found your clit once more and he began to work you vigorously. Your head bobbed up and down on his scomp until he pulled it away, an amused smile on his lips. “It’s not as big as you.” Your eyes fell on his bulge. Ugh, you wished he would just fuck you with it already. Yes, you enjoyed the foreplay and how he could make you cum with his tongue or fingers. But his cock filled you just right and you wanted to go to bed feeling full tonight.

“Mmm, couldn’t have you wanting my scomp more than my dick.” His scomp slid down your back, between your cheeks, and against your core. “Now, are you ready?” You nodded slowly. “And what’s the safe word?”

A gasp left you as you felt the scomp begin to push in. “F-Fives!” His lips found your neck once more and he peppered sweet kisses against your soaked skin while slowly moving the scomp into your heat.

“Good girl.” Looking down at his scomp, he watched it disappear into you. A groan left him as you keened into his ear. “How’s that feel?” He pulled it out slowly before pushing it back into you.

Another long moan left you as he continued to move in and out at an almost maddening slow speed. “G-good.” You weren’t sure it could feel any better until it suddenly began to vibrate and twist. “Oh, fuck! Echo! Fuck!” Your knees began to shake as the feeling rushed through you. Already that string deep inside you was tightening.

Echo’s hand moved to his pants and quickly pulled out his cock. His hand pumped in time with the chants leaving your lips. The way you were screaming his name and moaning was enough of a turn-on for him. “That’s right. Keep screaming my name. Cum on my scomp.” It was something he never expected to say but stars how he loved it.

That wasn’t going to take you long. Relaxing the railing, you moved your hand between your legs and started rubbing your clit. “C-close. Faster, please.” Your hips rocked back and forth as you chased your release. So close, you just needed that one thing to push you over the edge.

“Anything for you.” He fell to his knees and angled himself so he could suck on your clit while still fucking you with his scomp.

“Oh, shit!” That was exactly what you needed! Your head fell forward as you screamed his name. Your orgasm hitting you in a gloriously blinding light of ecstasy.

He loved watching you cum, loved hearing you scream because of him. The scomp continued to thrust into you as you rode out your high, his tongue running slow circles over your clit. After a few more thrusts, he pulled the scomp out and pushed his face into your cunt. His tongue danced against you, drinking up every drop of honey that he could. “This is my favorite dessert right here. I could eat you every day.” Sitting back on his heels, he watched as your hips sway side to side. Your slick ran down the back of your legs and he couldn’t stop from leaving forward and licking some of it away. “Ready for more?”

“Stars, yes!” You needed him to fill you up already. “Fill me and you can have me every night.” The sound of him chuckling drew your attention. Looking over your shoulder, you watched as he stood and lined himself up with your cunt. “W-wait!” He raised an eyebrow to you in surprise. “Kiss me? You haven’t this entire time.”

“How rude of me.” Echo turned you around and pulled you into a deep kiss. His hand slid into your soaked hair and gripped it tightly. Stars, how he adored you. Adored the taste of your lips and how perfectly both of you fit together. His tongue danced against yours as a happy sigh left you and you melted into his arms. A smile rested on his lips as he rested his forehead against yours. “Want to move this inside?”

“Not yet. Want you to fill me out here first.” Your hand slid down the front of him and gripped his hard cock. He was so damn big with the most perfect curve you’d ever seen. It hit that spot inside your perfectly every time.

Echo chuckled as he rubbed his nose against yours. “Keep talking like that and I might start thinking that ya me to breed you.”

You licked your lips at his words. “Maybe one day. For now, I just enjoy the practice rounds.”

His hand released your hair and fell to your ass. Giving it a tight squeeze, he listened to you squeak before turning you around once more. “Then let’s get back to practicing.” Lining himself up with you once more, he leaned over and whispered deeply to you. “After all, practice makes perfect.”

#clone wars fic #clone wars #star wars fanfiction #clone wars fanfiction #the bad batch #the bad batch fanfiction #tbb echo #echo the bad batch #echo tbb #ct 1409 #clone force 99 #echo x reader

[enchanting-eloquence]

Welcome home baby (Jake Seresin)

Summary: Your boyfriend Jake "Hangmam" Seresin is coming home after a long mission, but as excited as you are to see him you're nervous too - you've got a secret to share. (1,900 words)

Author notes: Thank you so much for reading - I'm still finding my feet with this and getting the confidence to post regularly/ break through the writer's block, so any comments, likes or shares would be hugely well received. And what can I say, this man is inspiring a loooot of thoughts in me!

Warnings: Some serious fluff, angst, hints of sex although nothing direct.

Welcome home baby

The phone woke you before the alarm and you rolled over, silently cursing yourself for keeping it in the bedroom. Usually it would be downstairs or at least on silent mode, but there were times when you wanted it close - needed to know you could be reached, just in case something went wrong on assignment.

As your eyes came to focus on the screen and the first line of his message popped up in front of you, you knew that wasn’t the case this time.

Goooood morning beautiful. This is your pilot speaking. We’re all prepped for take off, the weather is good and in less than eight hours I’ll be back in our house.

You grinned, glad no one else was around to see just how goofy you looked as you began to type a reply, only to see those three dancing dots looking back at you.

Back in our bed.

The second message inspired a laugh, rough with the edge of sleep. And again, the dots moved.

Back in you.

This time the text was swiftly followed by a selfie, Jake strapped into a helicopter wearing standard issue green overalls and the cocky smile that told you exactly what he was thinking about as he prepared to head home.

Usually you liked to tease a little - the back and forth between the two of you had been part of the fun since day one. But this mission had been a long one and you had damned good reason to want him home. Plus, with your brain still addled from sleep it was hard to be anything but honest.

God I’ve missed that face.

And funny you should mention the bed, I’m in there right now.

The dots returned again.

Maybe you should stay there all day, wait for me?

You chuckled quietly, a familiar heat rising in your core as you placed a hand to your middle.

It’s no fun without you here, the bed’s too big and I’m too lonely.

That sounds tough sweetheart, maybe you should send me a photo - it’ll be like I’m there with you…

Again a laugh, knowing exactly the kind of photo he meant and determining that wasn’t a good idea this morning.

We both know those photos are only when you’re alone. And I’m guessing right now you’re not.

Instead you snapped a quick selfie as you were - hair mussed, eyes still heavy lidded, and straps of your tank top visible over the blankets.

This will have to do!

There was a brief pause while you imagined him opening the photo, probably even zooming in a little to the bottom part just to see if there was any sign of your cleavage over the top of the blanket.

God you’re beautiful. I can’t get back to you quick enough baby. Need to put the phone away now but start the countdown - I’m on my way.

As he went offline, you looked again at his photo, marvelling - as you so often did - that such an incredible man was yours.

As if those knowing green eyes, sharp jawline and deliciously smart mouth had found their way to you; and as if the highly decorated fighter pilot who spent half of his life on top secret missions around the world has somehow decided that home life with you was just as good a fit for him.

Not that he ever let you believe you were the only one who had struck lucky. If there was one place that Hangman parked his trademark arrogance, it was when he was complimenting you. Marvelling at how lucky he was every time your smile lit up his field of vision, and asking over and over as he watched you work just how someone like you had ever agreed to start a life with someone like him?

And from today onwards, that life together would never be quite the same again. A new chapter was about to begin, even if your boyfriend didn’t even know it yet.

You shook your head, grinning despite yourself at his goofiness as you climbed out of bed, leaving Jet - the black Labrador he’d bought to keep you company while you were home alone - snoozing on the bed as you prepared to start your day.

Jake’s homecoming days were always strange ones when you’d learned to plan little. There was no telling exactly when he would be home, leaving an anxious pit in your stomach until the moment he walked through the door.

On days like today that anxiety was tempered with the knowledge that he was coming home; something you knew only too well wasn’t always guaranteed for even the best pilot in the navy. Nonetheless, you’d begun a ritual of wearing one of his shirts on those days - a lucky charm that helped you feel close to him until you could start to expect him.

Today it was an old Dallas Cowboys shirt - worn and comfy enough to soothe your off-kilter nervous system, and big enough to fall past the hem of your shorts as you and the dog pottered around the house, working on some admin you knew would stop your mind wandering into worry and your eyes to the clock more than once every ten minutes as you wondered how tonight’s reunion would go, the faintest patter of uncertainty tempering your excitement to come back together.

With a couple of hours left until Jake’s ETA, you wrapped work for the day and headed out into the garden to weed the flower beds you’d both planted together, determined to ground yourself and prevent your nerves getting the better of you.

With the sun on your back, your hands in the earth, and Spotify playing from your phone, it was all too easy to lose track of time, meaning that when Jet began to bark joyfully, you put it down to excitement over the neighbours’ kids playing and hushed him without a glance.

“Well well well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes?”

His voice was like honey, and had you dropping the tools you were using with a start. Slowly you turned and saw him standing before you - every inch the handsome navy man - with one hand on the head of the joyous dog who danced at his feet.

As you stood, he dropped his rucksack and strode towards you, putting his hands on your hips and lifting you so that your legs wrapped around him while he kissed you deeply with a slow heat that was both sexy and soothing all in one.

When you finally came up for air he pressed his forehead against yours and gazed into your eyes. “Missed you baby,”he said gruffly.

“Missed you too,” you murmured, moving to rub your head against his neck like a cat.

You stayed like that for a while, simply relishing being able to touch one another and breathe the same air, before he moved his face back to grin at you and shifted your weight to lift a hand to your shirt.

“And a cowboys shirt? Really darlin’? I’ll remind you of this next time you complain about the game being on.”

You swatted his chest playfully and smiled. “It’s not the Cowboys doofus, it’s you. It smells like you.”

He smiled and pressed a kiss to your lips. “And now it’ll smell like you.”

“Now,” he shifted you back up again. “This has been a long mission and there’s something we really need to do before I even think about unpacking. So what if we head inside and-.”

“Jake, just, wait.” You out a hand on his chest, your heart beginning to pound as you realised this was the moment. “We need to stay here for a while.”

He raised an eyebrow and reminded you all too keenly of the arrogant airman who’d first  charmed you into a date. “Oh you don’t want to go inside? I mean, that’s cool with me although I don’t know how the neighbours will feel about you screaming my name-.”

The statement was meant to make you laugh, but it just led you to chew your lip harder as you wondered what to say.

“Baby what’s going on, is something wrong?” He pulled you tighter into him, his face smoothing into a worried frown as you shook your head and looked downwards

“No. Well I, I don’t think so.” You took a deep breath and lifted your chin to meet his eyes with yours.

“Jake, I’m pregnant.”

The green eyes widened and the jaw dropped for just a second - the famous Hangman caught off-guard for just long enough to make you worry.

“I know it’s a surprise. Know we’d planned to wait, to get married first.” The words spilled out of you as you lowered your eyes again, “I found out two days after you left. Couldn’t call, didn’t want to tell you by text. So I just waited. Thought that would be best.”

When you looked to him again, you realised his expression now was one of concern. “You’ve been holding this all by yourself?”

You nodded, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes as you suddenly realised how tough that had been.

“It’s been six weeks y/n.”

The tears spilled now, “I know. And I should’ve told you, I’m sorry. We should’ve talked about it.”

“Whoah whoah whoah.” He set you down now and put his hands on your shoulders as he crouched to meet your eyes.

“I’m just worried. You, pregnant and home alone,” Jet barked as though understanding and Jake shot him a quick smile. “Almost home alone. I only wish I’d known so I could’ve made sure you were ok.”

You gazed back at him, bottom lip quivering, “you’re not angry?”

Jake let out a long, slow breath and wiped the tears from your face. “Angry? Hell no.” His voice was soft now, maybe softer than you’d ever heard it as he moved one hand down to your lower abdomen. “You’re having my baby y/n. This is, incredible.”

He gazed down for a moment, marvelling at what was going on inside you and you could’ve sworn you saw the hint of tears in his own eyes, giving the knot of anxiety within you all it needed to dissipate after six long weeks without him.

Full of love, you put a hand to his face, pulling it up to meet you for another kiss filled with everything you couldn’t put into words. He kissed you back, his mouth earnest in a way you’d never felt from him before but gentle, as though afraid you were going to break beneath him, and caused you to laugh.

“I’m pregnant Jake, not fragile.”

Pulling back, he looked down at you through heavy lidded eyes. “I know, but… Are you feeling ok?”

You nodded. “A little tired at times, but I’m good, honestly.” You smiled. “I’m having your baby.”

And with that his face broke into its usual grin, he scooped up his rucksack in one hand and let out a whoop before hoisting you up in his other arm and walking back toward the house, Jet running joyfully beside him.

“You sure are babe, and we need to celebrate.” He paused for a moment and looked down at you, Hangman grin in place again. “And darlin’? I’m gonna need you to keep that Cowboys shirt on.”

#jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin fic #hangman x reader #hangman fic #hangman top gun #top gun: maverick fanfiction #top gun maverick #jake hangman x reader

[fated-normal-767]

I love all your characters sosososoososoooo much and is like to know more about Athanasios. In my head he’s like the straight man so Id like to know what batshit insane hijinx he gets caught up in

Ohh boy ‼️‼️‼️ for the duration of the post I will be calling him Niki (shortening of his last name, nikitas) because I cannot type his full name properly 90% of the time 👍

Right! He believes he’s straight for the majority of his life, and realises he’s actually aroace very shortly before he becomes a ghost (he also thought he was homophobic for a bit because he was repulsed by the idea of any romance). This is not important to the plot at all but I like it being known because it’s important to him 👍

In his childhood, his family was not necessarily abusive, but very rarely payed attention to him, bordering on neglect, meaning that Niki spent most of his time with Ares, Shimmer, Letalis, and slightly later, Python. Python is the only one who’s family never had a high role in the government and later mentions feeling slightly isolated due to this, though it isn’t a large plot point, just an influence. All of the main 4 kids are about 12 when they all meet, ares is linked due to being shimmer’s older brother. They also all have nicknames (letalis umbra; Lucius or luci, athanasios nikitas; Niki, Alexis Harlowe; python. It’s suggested that shimmer had one but never brought up.) Of course, Ares ran the organisation (though everyone thought Kronos did other than people ares had told), Letalis’ family ran a branch of it, having the second highest role, and where Niki’s family still had high roles, they still worked for the other two’s families. Letalis’ family and Ares both made it very clear to Niki’s father that he’d lose his job if Niki got hurt, and it’s slightly implied that this is why his family was neglecting at worst, but never violent.

Niki was (for most of his childhood) the least likely one to start conflicts or actively choose to do stupid things, but he’d always stand up for the others without much hesitation at all after things would go wrong. He was also the oldest by a year or two. He had the most knowledge of how the entire government system worked, and was the first one to ask ares why python’s family never interacted with other’s families, as well as the first to ask ares to help. Him and Shimmer interacted with Ares the most and knew how he actually acted, unlike Letalis, who only knew Ares as the persona he used in meetings or presentations, or python, who didn’t seem to care for a while.

He also held grudges the most, and was extremely stubborn, he’d stand by a point if it killed him, and did for his entire life.

When python ‘disappeared’ presumed dead at 17, Niki entirely held the blame against ares, who was too upset to say otherwise. He slowly isolated himself further from ares and shimmer, associating with Kronos and working on some highly morally questionable projects. The cut one of these was a science experiment on a young child with a powerful skill in which she was put through the worst situations possible to test responses. I believe she eventually either died from shock or ran away and died or disappeared somewhere else, but I didn’t write that bit so I can’t remember.

The first time he’s ever shown in the game he is introduced as Ares’ assistant (assigned by Kronos), and immediately tries to convince him to kill shimmer instead of finding them and bringing them back alive. He mentions as a ghost that he had wanted to test if there was any semblance of humanity left in ares enough for him to defend shimmer, or even attack Niki for saying that, but due to being almost entirely caught up in an act, ares just goes “well I’d rather not kill them myself but we could consider it if they keep causing problems. Not yet though”.

From this point to directly before his death, Niki is exclusively painted as evil, he has entirely given up on shimmer and ares, and seen reports of what the fuck letalis has been up to since python ‘died’*, meaning he ruled everyone he used to care about as ‘fucked up and evil and murderous’, so he decides to get on that train fully too; no one would be able to tell the difference anymore anyway.

*met Eris, was a serial killer for a bit, 100% killed and ate people (the reports are confidential and not public but Niki saw)

Just before Ares fakes his death for the first time, Niki tries to confront him, calling him an idiot and a coward for not killing shimmer. Unfortunately, ares is having a nervous breakdown, and stabs athanasios in the stomach, leaving him in a burning building to die. Ares does not actually manage to get out on his own, he has asthma and collapses from the smoke inhalation until shimmer drags him out of the building.

It’s never described how Niki is brought back any of the times, but it’s mentioned that it is always linked to Kronos/Kronos chooses for it to happen. The first time, he looks slightly rotten and burnt, but you wouldn’t immediately go “he’s been dead.” He just looks horribly injured. You meet him again before Ares returns thinking dolos is dead, and he helps letalis with their plan of find and killing ares, during which they almost torture shimmer to death (thinking that they know). After this happens, Dolos shows up for the first time, with a man called Mars who is completely unrelated to anything at all and gets almost beaten to death by Lyssa for saying that ares deserved to die. ‘Mars’ finds letalis and tears her eyes out, then both him and dolos disappear again, never seeing Niki, nor knowing that he was alive and involved, which Niki was very thankful for.

When ares comes back, Niki makes it his role to antagonise him as much as possible; made very easy by how fucked up ares is, having repetitive flashbacks to watching dolos die. Niki’s final straw per se was when he stole a necklace from dolos which ares had kept and threatened to destroy it, and after a violent fight, Niki has ares at gun point and makes some comments about everything around ares dying. With little to no warning he puts the gun in his own mouth and pulls the trigger, which ares takes as ‘proving his point’, but was actually caused by dolos.

When Niki is finally brought back, he is visibly a corpse, and completely drenched in blood. He is brought back to supervise ares, who grew significantly harder to blackmail and more unstable after finding out dolos was alive. It’s never explained whether he started trying to destroy things hoping he could get back to dolos even after telling him to leave, or if he entirely gave up and started breaking things to lash out at something. But Niki is told to watch and make sure that ares doesn’t destroy the building again or leave. Niki has almost given up on his stubborn point of hating ares, making slight jokes about how ares should kill Kronos this time, how he hates that he’s back.

Ares pours them both a drink. He never even touches his cup. Niki knows what is going to happen. He tells ares that he was sorry for how everything turned out, and it is barely even acknowledged.

Niki talks about how the system had always worked, anyone who works for them has one engineered weakness to get rid of them if they try to leave. Letalis’ legal record, shimmer’s addictions, and ares was never taught to swim- he’d drown from even falling into a river. Ares asks what Niki thought his weakness was, the way they’d get rid of him if they had to. Niki says that he thinks it was Ares. He sends a message to Kronos, setting up his murder for ares, and tells ares to burn the place to the ground. His body is never found.

As a ghost, Niki spends his time attempting to get people to see him so he can finally leave, but every time he is actually visible he exclusively spends the time saving other people. He tells ares that he needs to protect Corvus because they are Kronos’ child and that knowledge might be dangerous. He saves someone’s life by showing them the way out of a building they were trapped in. He leads Pluto to someone who is dying so that he saves them. He makes no progress in saving himself. He has not yet been written to ever make any progress on it, actually.

I know I missed something im so eepy but um The 👍 I can answer questions if something doesn’t make sense

#my posts dont forget this tag bro. #theproject. #I love him he’s so tragic he gets trapped in his own dramatic outburst for his entire life #oh also in his entire life he never found out that python was alive by the way. he only finds out after he dies.

[thaliaisalesbian]

i get myself twisted in threads

Chapter 17: i sit there silently

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18

“I hear you have assignments for me?” Steve’s leaning against the Byers’ porch railing. He’s trying to look smooth, but he’s pretty sure it’s not working. Not when Jonathan knows he’s leaning because he’s not supposed to put all of his weight on his ankles too often yet.

At least he’s got good crutches that don’t cause chafing, and Will’s even offered to decorate them when he gets a chance.

Luckily for him, that doesn’t seem to stop Jonathan from kissing him once the door is shut behind them.

“Yeah, they’re in a folder in my room.”

“Really? You’ve just been keeping them here the whole time?”

“Yeah. There are a lot, man. You don’t have to go back, you could just graduate with us instead.” It’s nice that Jonathan thinks he could graduate this year if he went back. He doesn’t even think he could graduate this year.

Jonathan’s probably only saying it to soften the blow a little.

“I think I need something that’s at least a little normal, right now.” That’s what he’s been telling everyone, and for the most part they’re accepting it as an answer.

El always looks suspicious when he says it, but that might be because she doesn’t want him to move out of the cabin.

He’s currently choosing to believe that she can’t actually read his mind, despite some of the things she says and does that make it seem like she can.

“Well, I’ve got homework tonight, we could work on it together.” Jonathan gets the folder—it must have been hidden, because Steve hasn’t seen it before—and then gets himself set up.

Steve stares at the first page; it’s an English assignment from early December, copied down in Nancy’s handwriting.

“Okay, so an essay.” He puts that aside for now. If it’s a book report, he can’t do it right now anyway. He doesn’t have the book with him.

The next one is a math assignment, which he can do—at least some of it. He starts on the standalone questions, not bothering to look at the word problems. He always struggles the most with word problems. They suck, and he kind of wants to rip them off the page and burn them..

By the time Will and Joyce get home, he’s gotten through three assignments total, two for math and one for his ‘arts’ class—since he can’t take gym, he’ll need another class to make up for it. So they’ve just given him a bunch of random art assignments, apparently.

He wonders if there are written assignments for the drama classes. Probably not. And if they were, they’d be about those hard-to-read plays, so he wouldn’t be able to do them anyway.

“Are you at a good break point?” Joyce puts a hand on his shoulder, and he jumps a little. “Looks like you’ve gotten a lot done, after being out of school for so long.”

“Some of the math is pretty easy.” He shrugs. “English, history, and science are gonna be harder.” He likes history, though. It’s just so hard to read the tiny print in the textbook. He did a lot better last year, when his teacher acted out some things and read others to them dramatically. His notes hadn’t been the neatest, but he’d gotten his first A- in a class since middle school.

He’d been so excited when he’d seen that on his report card. Of course, that one A- hadn’t been enough to get him out of trouble.

His teacher this year—Mrs. Click—doesn’t do that; she mostly just assigns reading and then has a quiz on it.

He’s not doing great.

“So you’ve decided to go back, then?”

“Yeah, I think so. I want something a little normal, you know? And maybe people will stop trying to spy on us and stuff.”

He knows that Nancy and Jonathan have tried to hide it from him, but there are people watching them. They’re curious, and he knows it’s only a matter of time before someone says something to them directly—or worse, goes to Will or Mike, or any of the other kids. They might ask Joyce, too, but he doesn’t think anyone wants to try asking Hopper.

“Well, you know you’re welcome to study here anytime. Do you know what you have to get done before you go back?”

He looks over at Jonathan. He hadn’t thought about that.

“Most of it.” He says, apologetically. “Nance and I will help, don’t worry.”

“I can help too!” Will takes the seat next to him, looking way too excited about homework. “I can read stuff to you if you need it.”

How had he known?

“That will help, Will, thanks. But you’ve got your own stuff to do.”

“Will, what do you mean?” Joyce asks.

“He did all the math problems but the word ones.” Will shrugs. “So he can do the math, but maybe the word problems are hard to read or something. And he likes it when El reads to him.”

“El’s a good reader.” It’s a weak defense, and he knows it. He probably should have at least offered to read to her.

“We can talk about that more later. What do you guys want for dinner? Steve, I’ll call Jim and let him know you’re staying the night.”

He wants to ask why, but the last time he did that, Will gave him a weird look, and Joyce just looked sad. 

“Can we have pizza? Since Steve’s here?” Will bounces, and Steve grins at him. He kind of wants to bounce, too, but he’s too old for that.

“Don’t expect that to work for long,” Joyce warns. “Steve’s Jonathan’s boyfriend, I think he’s going to be over a lot.”

“But it works for now, and that’s what matters.”

“Oh, so you’re just using me to get pizza? Wow, little Byers, I expected better of you.”

“That’s not what I’m doing!”

“Seems like it is, Will.” Jonathan adds. “Maybe Steve and I should stay in my room, if you’re just going to try and use him like this.”

“Or maybe you just want to make out with him.”

“That’s a benefit, yeah.” Jonathan admits, kissing Steve with… a little flair than he normally would in front of the kids.

“Ew. Mom, tell them to stop making out in front of me!”

“Are there any clothes off?”

“No.”

“Then no, they’re fine.” Steve pulls away a little. He could really get used to this. He and Nancy could never make fun of Mike this way, her mom would have had a fit. But Joyce doesn’t care, and Will doesn’t mean it in the same way Mike had. He’s not rude or mean, he’s only teasing them. Sure, he’s probably a little grossed out, but only because Jonathan’s his big brother. Not because he hates Steve.

“Should we go to my room until the pizza gets here?” Jonathan murmurs. “I’m sure Mom wouldn’t mind.”

“No, stay out here, it’ll be ten minutes.” Joyce knows everything. “Will, grab the paper plates, will you? Jonathan, Steve, clear the table. If you put things back in Jonathan’s room, the door stays open.”

“How much did you get done?”

“Most of two math assignments, and one of the random arts ones.” He’s still got months’ worth of work to make up. He’s starting to see what Hopper went when he said he might want to wait.

It would give him more time to catch up, not that it would matter when he’d just be starting the year over.

“Want me to hand them in for you?”

“Not yet. I don’t think Hopper’s told them either way. Maybe when I look at some more of these, I’ll change my mind.” He won’t. He knows he won’t. He probably should, since even with Nancy and Jonathan’s help he’s not going to make it through even half of this work, but he won’t.

He’s too scared of what will happen if he doesn’t even try.

finish on ao3 or continue reading

The three of them fall into an easy routine, over the next few weeks. Nancy would like to call it a nice routine, but the arguments with her mother that have become part of the routine is not at all nice.

It’s after one of these fights that she’s meant to hang out with Jonathan and Steve at the Byers’. Maybe do homework, but she’s doubting they’ll actually get much done.

“Next weekend.” Steve’s gotten dangerous on his crutches, lately. He and Jonathan are on the porch steps, and she keeps thinking that he’s going to fall. “Next weekend, and I get to go back to my house.”

Nancy’s not so sure that’s a good thing; Steve’s happier than she’s ever known him to be now. But he wants to go back. None of them, not even El’s puppy dog eyes (which, of course, Steve had taught her to use) can sway him.

“What about school?” She’s not a part of getting Steve up to speed on schoolwork, mostly because her mother will try and lock her in her bedroom if she spends any more time with her boys, no matter who else is around.

“I’m going back on Monday, Jon’s been turning in some of my stuff for me as I get it done. I think it’s enough to get me through a couple of classes.”

Some of his work is good, she’s sure, but Nancy’s seen some of his essays. She’s worried about what will happen when he finds out that he can’t graduate this year.

She honestly doesn’t know if he expects to graduate this year. She hasn’t asked.

“Nance,” Steve leans towards her, so much that she’s worried he’s going to overbalance and fall, “How would you feel about spending the weekend with me and Jonathan?”

“We’re going to help him move back and get readjusted.” Jonathan corrects, smiling a little. “I’ve been promised movies and pizza.”

“And kissing.” Steve adds.

“Oh, yes, that’s the deciding factor.” Jonathan wraps an arm around Steve’s shoulders. “Your mom will have a field day with that, though, right?”

“Yeah, she’ll be pissed. She’s already mad at me.”

Nancy hasn’t told either of them what exactly her mom had said the first time she’d rebuked her for spending her time with Jonathan and Steve.

“Still?” Steve asks.

“You know, she’s never needed someone to babysit Holly so often until I started spending more time with you both. She doesn’t like that I’m alone with you, is what I think it is. She never seemed to mind before. At least not this much.”

Nancy can’t figure out what’s set her off this time. She hasn’t heard anything at school, and most of what goes through her mom’s church gets around the high schoolers just as quickly. So she doesn’t think it’s a rumor.

“Want to talk about it?” Steve finally lets Jonathan guide him to sit on the steps, but that’s probably just because he’s distracted with her. He’s got his little worried face on; it’s one he usually tries his best to hide.

“I… don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Want to talk about how you feel about it?”

She’s still figuring that out, too. On one hand, it’s really annoying and overprotective of her mom to be acting like this. On the other hand, she doesn’t think she’s had so much of her mom’s undivided attention since before Holly was born.

“You don’t have to!” Steve starts to backtrack after she’s quiet for a minute. Jonathan’s gone inside, probably to grab drinks or something.

“No, I’m just… I don’t know, it’s one of those things where the attention is nice, it’s more undivided attention from her than I’ve had since she was pregnant with Holly,” That’s also around the time her dad checked out. She’s still not sure if it’s because he hadn’t wanted another kid, or if there’s something else at play. “But I don’t like how she’s giving me attention, if that makes sense. She’s being more overbearing and overprotective than anything, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

It feels strange, to admit that out loud. She’s so used to knowing what to do for everything, or at least being able to figure it out. She’s done that with monsters from alternate dimensions! Her mom should be easier to handle than those!

That’s not how things are shaping up, though, and Nancy doesn’t like the pit that forms in her stomach when she thinks about it.

“Yeah, she’s being weird about it.” Steve agrees. “It’s not like you weren’t spending time with me alone, or time with Jonathan alone, before. Why is this so different?”

“I don’t know. She won’t actually tell me, she just keeps saying that I’m in trouble.” Jonathan hands them both a water.

“You could just stay here.” He offers. “Mom won’t mind.”

“Yeah, and that’s going to go over so well.”

“You could tell her that you’re going to move in with Steve, and then pretend to compromise with moving in here.” Jonathan suggests, looking a little too amused by it.

“Oh, she’d hate that.”

Thankfully, Jonathan and Steve steer the conversation away from her mom after that.

She’d never actually move in with the Byers’, Joyce has enough on her plate already without having to worry about her, too. But it’s nice to know that it’s an option, if she needs it.

They sit out there until it starts to rain, just talking, and if anyone is watching to report back to her mom at church, they’re not going to find anything untoward happening.

“Are we actually going to do homework now?”

“No, I’ve got a surprise for you.” Steve says. “I think you’ll like it.”

“Should I be worried?” She looks at Jonathan, but he shakes his head.

“No, it’ll be great.”

Inside, Steve’s ditched his crutches to set up the table; it almost looks like he's made them a fancy meal.

“I didn’t know about it until yesterday.” Jonathan tells her, pulling out her chair for her.  “He started then and just stayed the night.”

Nancy pushes down the jealousy that flares up. She’s glad that Steve and Jonathan are getting closer, but she can’t help but be upset that she’s not getting the same opportunities to spend time with them.

“He did say I could make dinner, though.”

The table’s only set for three—for the first time since she’s arrived, Nancy wonders where Joyce and Will are.

“Mom took Will to the arcade and then they’re having dinner with El and Hopper at the cabin.” Jonathan answers before she can ask. “Mom was very insistent on clearing out. You’d almost think she’d been waiting for it.”

“She was!” Steve sets down a large pot—one that’s probably too big to use for canned soup, at least. “Jonathan made us soup.”

“And I have to wait and see what you made us?”

“Yes, you do.”

It’s dessert, then, but what type of dessert? How had he managed to make it so that Joanthan hadn’t known about it until yesterday?

Between the three of them, they manage to eat most of the pot. Since they cooked, she clears the table, washing out their bowls while Steve gets his surprise ready for them.

“Wait, is that…”

It’s not exactly like the picture, but it looks like one of the cakes Mrs. Henderson had shown them when they’d asked her for recipes.

“I wanted you and Jonathan to have the first thing I made from it. I still don’t think I can thank you enough for that. I don’t even know how you figured it out.”

That’s easy. They’d gone to his house to get him clothes and a few other things, and they’d snooped.

Well, she’d snooped. Jonathan had stayed in the living room like a good, boring guy who was pretending he didn’t want to know more about his crush. She’d been the one checking the corners of his room, under his bed, the top shelves of his closet (she’d had to go in there anyway to get clothes), and even opening every kitchen cupboard to see if there was a secret passion she could uncover.

It meant they’d been able to give Steve a thoughtful, personalized gift though, so Jonathan had only complained about it a little.

“He spent all day making it.” Jonathan leans over, not quite whispering. “He wanted to wait and bring it over today.”

“Then I reconsidered, because if I made it at the cabin then it might not survive the trip here.” Steve plates them all big pieces—over half the cake, total. “But Jonathan wasn’t too nosy about it. Will kept trying to steal the batter.”

“Will is a well-behaved child who would never do such a thing.” Jonathan can’t keep a straight face.

“Will is a menace like the rest of his friends, but he’s better at hiding it.” Steve counters. “Even Max is a menace, she just likes to pretend otherwise.”

“Okay, so they’re all menaces.” Nancy jumps in. “But I think we can agree that Mike is the worst.”

“Yes.” Steve points at her with his fork. “He is. He still hates me, you know?”

“Oh, he’s faking it now. At least most of it.”

“You two don’t have to live with Will, you don’t know anything about menaces.” Jonathan takes a bite of his cake, and the expression that he can’t keep off of his face afterward ruins the rest of the bit. “He steals all of my stuff, he’s always hiding things from me.”

“No, he’s not.” Steve rolls his eyes. “Sounds like you’re stealing that line from Lucus.”

“And so what if I am?”

“Then it’s a lie. I’m going to have to tell El about this, Jon. If she doesn’t know already.”

“Yeah, Jonathan. Friends don’t lie.” Nancy leans into Steve’s side.

“We’re not friends, though, we’re dating.”

“That just makes it even worse! I might have to take a page out of Munson’s book and get on the table to explain to you.” Steve only wraps an arm around her, though, so he’s not going anywhere.

“He hasn’t done that lately!”

“Well, it’s usually pretty funny, he should!”

“Aren’t you the target of most of his speeches?”

“Nah, not really. He hasn’t taken a dig at Hargrove yet?”

“No. After what happened to you, I don’t think anyone wants to.” With that, Jonathan effectively ends that line of discussion.

Somehow, though, it’s not awkward or weird when they finish eating their cake in silence—Nancy wants to say ‘fuck it’ and eat the entire thing tonight, but it’s so rich that they’d probably all be sick from it.

After everything is cleaned up, they manage to squish together on Jonathan’s bed, but they’re all full and tired. Neither of them even react when she takes her shirt off. She’s pretty sure if she took her pants off it’d be a different story, but she’s not in the mood for that.

“Naptime?” She could probably make Steve move so she can be in the middle, but that would take effort.

“Why does it feel like we always end up napping when we’re together?” Jonathan grumbles.

“Cause we do. We like sleeping, I guess.”

“Sleeping and cuddling.” Nancy corrects. “We always wake up in the weirdest positions.”

“That’s Steve’s fault, he moves so much. And he’s an octopus.”

“If I were actually an octopus, neither of you would leave this bed ever again.”

“That sounds pretty good, actually.” She’s the only one with her eyes open; the boys are both half-asleep already. “Wait, Jon, is your mom going to wake us up when she gets home?”

“Probably, cause you can’t stay the night, can you?” They can’t see it, but she shakes her head.

“No, she’s staying.” Steve turns a little so he can squeeze her. “See if you can get me to let go.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Steve.”

“It’s definitely how it works.”

“Stop bickering and go to sleep.” Nancy closes her eyes.

It’d be nice if that’s how it worked; she knows that Steve really wouldn’t let her go, and she really wouldn’t mind.

<- 16 18 ->

#stranger things #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #stoncy #jonathan byers #joyce byers #karen wheeler #will byers #mike wheeler #jim hopper #steve harrington's self esteem issues #hurt/comfort #emotional whump #emotional hurt/comfort #i get myself twisted in threads #nix writes #st fic #stranger things fic #stoncy fic #ao3 fic #wip wednesday #fic update #wip update #whump #whump writing

[ladyelissarose]

‘A Heart With Wings’

 Warnings: mentions of a bad argument, angst

Chapter 7

 Hangman’s POV

 The day after Oceans was cleared from the medical room, she was assigned a therapist to see before and after every test flight she took. Cyclone ordered that, saying it was necessary to know how Oceans was doing mentally, he knew about her struggles, and wanted to make sure she had a clear head while flying, so that a fatal crash while test flying could be avoided, so that the work she did would be done correctly and efficiently while on ground, and also to keep her mind away from mental distractions. Hangman had taken notice of this quickly, after he saw her leave the counselors office every time it was the day she test flew, and always wished to know what it was about that bothered her so much. He remembered the first time he had seen her fly, her skills were impeccable and deserving of a position that showed it off, but instead, she was a flight mechanic? It confused Hangman so much of why she couldn’t push for more, and actually become the aviator he knew Oceans was. Hangman hated to admit it, being the cocky, arrogant man he was, but at some point his heart stopped denying the fact that she was indeed different material when it come to flying, and controlling the aircraft, it was like if she was a jet whisperer, and it bothered him, because he knew he was one too. After he saw the way she treated everyone equally and kindly, he thrived to get that same attention, but he had to approach her first, because that was the deal he had set with her, so one day after she walked out of the counselors office, he came to her with a straight question,

  “Hey! Umm.. A-Are you ok?”

 His stuttering caught Oceans off guard, as so it did to him, he mentally cursed himself,

 ‘Why the fuck are you stuttering Hangs? You’re going to scare her away! Get it straight-‘

 “Uh.. yeah? Why Lieutenant?”

 Hangman quickly realized he didn’t like her calling him ‘Lieutenant’ anymore, it made thing seem more formal and distant, not like the way he wanted it, so he corrected her,

  “Just.. just call me Hangman.. and well, why I ask? You see a therapist after every test flight.”

  Oceans looked at him confused, and Hangman knew she would, he had never approached her like this before, but he was grateful to have her attention when she replied,

  “Yeah I do.. but everything’s ok.”

  “Are you sure?”

 Hangman held a reputation of being a cocky questioner, even though he was genuinely trying to be interested in her this time, his past, arrogant confrontations didn’t let Oceans see it that way, as she then said irritatedly,

  “What’s it to you? It’s not like you care what happens to me? You probably would be happy if I was dead, because according to you I’m such a bad person! When in fact you are! If you knew about who I really was, you’d probably humiliate me about it. But all you need to know, is that I’m fine.”

  Hangman was in utter shock at her response, but his heart knew it was his fault she reacted that way, but his mind and ego didn’t want to admit it,

  “Maybe I do wish you were dead! We wouldn’t have an emotional wreck in and out of a therapist’s office and risking everyone’s life because she can’t get a hold of herself. Why be a pilot when you can’t handle it? They should just sign you off.”

  Oceans scoffed as she then warned,

 “Remember Hangman, I test flight your shit too.”

 Lifting a brow Hangman questioned,

 “Oh yeah? And what’s that supposed to mean?”

 “Means that if I don’t want it to work, I won’t let it. Maybe my misery is you in the end, so I should just put it out.”

 Hangman let out a huff of laughter as he threatened too,

  “Believe me Oceans, that secret of your you hide so much.. I’ll find it out, maybe I’ll contact Jeffries and let her tell me.. then I’ll make it haunt your ass till the day you die.”

  Oceans went completely pale and stiff at his last words, for indeed, the secret she kept from many did almost kill her today, her nightmares and fear flooded her mind again as she flew, and grew paralyzed. Almost causing her to crash into a valley. Hangman didn’t realize he had threatened Oceans with her worst nightmare, which made her eyes grow glossy and lip slightly tremble,

  ‘Ok I messed up.’

 Hangman dropped his ego and mean demeanor quickly as he apologized,

 “Oceans I’m so sorry I didn’t mean what I said-“

  “Maybe if you had nothing or no one to live for, you’d really appreciate life and not be such a bitch with it towards others!! As much as I want to believe that you’re a good person you keep proving to me that you’re mean and arrogant!!”

  Hangman watched her eyes fill with more tears but she wiped them away before they could fall, saying,

  “and hear me out... what I said earlier I didn’t mean, I would never hurt you- Ugh FUCK!! I don’t know why I can’t be mean to you! Why I can’t be like you and just hurt you. Stick to my words and hurt you like you said I had done with Jeffries! Just- ugh! Fuck you Hangman!”

  And with that she stomped away and didn’t let Hangman say another word, and it was true, no matter how much Oceans tried to be mean and arrogant with him, it just couldn’t come out, and that what Hangman secretly liked about her. Oceans was a tough person, but she was also good and had a beautiful heart. She could be a rough sailor at times and put people in their place when needed, hardworking she was and had strong dignity like no other, but she also poisoned people with unconditional love and stabbed with flowers. All Hangman wanted to do now was apologize profusely until she forgave him, but that needed time, she had to trust him first, before he could do anything. And, he had to learn to understand, that she had a past that was now affecting her future, and she needed someone to help out of it, not drag her deeper into it with threats, like he just did.

 January 17

 Aviators POV 

  The aviators had been doing flight maneuvers more intensely than usual, Maverick was pushing their limits now more than ever, making them go way below the deck of 300ft, pushing almost 10.5 Gs, and reaching a speed of over 550 knots. For them it was slightly a little overwhelming, it was more work and pressure than the last time Maverick trained them for a mission, and this time they also had more time to spare, meaning more training. They had all gone the news about a new combat mission, and that they were needed to execute it as soon as possible. And now, they all sat in the debriefing room once again, as Warlock informed them,

  “Aviators, our last mission was a success. Maverick and Rooster came home safely, after Hangman saved their lives. Fanboy, Payback, Phoenix and Bob also pulled their strings well when they completed the mission on good timing. But, as you’ve seen with the intense training you’ve had these past weeks, this new mission is going to be even more dangerous, and require more from you, mentally and physically. The U.S military has found a secret facility hidden in the Atlantic, in between glaciers and mountains of ice. They’re are a few bases underneath the ocean that surround the larger operation that is on land. The other TopGun team in Rhode Island wasn’t able to meet the military’s expectations to execute this mission, so they gave it to us. So, I hope, that when we get on the Abraham Lincoln tomorrow, and begin our official maneuvers for this mission, you meet their expectations and push your limits until you break them, and even then push farther than you ever have. Are we clear Aviators?”

 ‘Yes sir’s’ and ‘Yes Warlock’s’ were heard all over, as the Aviators confirmed that they understood the memo. Cyclone them came and gave the rest of the speech to dismiss them,

  “For the rest of the day today, you all will pack your gear. All you necessities, make sure you take them with you, you’ll be on the ship by 04:00 the morning. You’re all dismissed.”

  Rooster walked out with Hangman as they headed towards their bunkers, Rooster could tell something was up with Hangman, he was more quiet than usual, so he asked his pal what was up,

  “Hey pal... you good? You’ve seem a little quiet lately, and a little faster and reckless during trainings. Something bothering you?”

  Hearing about this new mission and it’s risks made Hangman a little intrigued to put out his best, so he could be picked as team leader, but also, it made him extremely nervous, if the other TopGun team in Rhode Island couldn’t do it, what makes the military think that anyone else could do it? So he simply shared his thoughts with Rooster,

  “Just a little.. not nervous, just rationally concerned about how this new mission could turn out. I mean, look at the trainings we’ve had, they’ve been pretty intense.. now imagine how the real thing will be?”

  Rooster nodded his head with a smile of understanding, he too did feel nervous, and couldn’t shake it off as well, 

  “Yeah I know what you mean.. maybe tonight we can lay low after we pack, try to refresh ourselves?”

  Hangman was up in his mind at that moment, he didn’t hear what Rooster has said, only because he was thinking about Oceans. Until Rooster walked up in front of Hangman, to see him staring at his open bag with a frown, so he snapped him out of it,

  “Hey, you sure that’s not the only thing on your mind?”

  Hangman took a short breath in while coming back down from cloud 9, and registered Rooster’s words, he knew he could trust his wingman, though for a second he doubted, Rooster had grown protective with Oceans, and Hangman had been mean to her, but he nonetheless came clean after a few seconds of silence,

  “Um.. yeah actually... I just feel like shit-“

  “You? Feeling like shit? Seresin you’re the fucking hottest man on this planet I could have sex with you right now if I could-“

  “ROOSTER! Wait- what?”

 Hangman’s jaw dropped at Roosters explicit honesty, but Rooster tried to cover up the matter as he stuck to the first subject of their conversation,

  “Forget I said that.. just tell me, why do you feel like shit?”

 Hangman rolled his shoulders and sighed while trying to pack the last of his gear,

  “I might of said some mean things to Oceans-“

 “You what?-“

 “Can you let me finish! Don’t smoke my ass before you know what I actually meant and what happened.”

  Rooster shut his mouth and over his hands gesturing for Hangman to go on,

  “Look Roos, I know I messed up in the beginning, bringing Oceans into a problem she wasn’t in in the first place. But now, I don’t know how to get her out of it, without making it seem like I’m just being mean and arrogant. How do I approach her?”

  Rooster knew exactly what Hangman meant, and wanted to help him. Because, he secretly knew that Oceans had a mad crush on Hangman, and only wanted to have a good friendship with him, so, he will try to make that possible, becaaause.. he knew that Hangman, was beginning to fall for her too. They both were terrible about approaching it, but that didn’t mean there was a spark between them that begged to be set aflame. So, as they packed all that day, Rooster told Hangman, everything he needed to know about Oceans, from do’s to don’t’s. But unbeknownst to them, Phoenix and Oceans were going through the same thing, as Phoenix told Oceans all about Hangman, and tried to tell her, that he was different to be around, and how most of the time he didn’t mean what he said. Oceans had to also learn, that Hangman had a rough life before TopGun, and managed it by being a bully and arrogant sometimes. He dealt with his insecurities by hurting others’ insecurities. After being told such, Oceans knew that learning how to be around Hangman was going to be work, but she still felt a very unsure about approaching him, for he did seem pretty convinced, when he said, that he’d find out her secret, and haunt her with it.

  

  January 18

 Oceans POV

 Oceans and her mechanical crew team were on base, wide awake at 3am, as Cyclone and Maverick were going to be picking 1 mechanics out of the 10, to go on the Abraham Lincoln with them, for safety reasons and because the ship already had a team of it own, so Oceans prayed she would go, God only knew how much she loved living on a ship, and second, how much she liked to fly the planes off the ship’s deck. Her only negativity coming from this, was that she wouldn’t be able to have her therapist with her, and maybe in the end they wouldn’t even pick her, she could be a risk, but Oceans hoped that they saw past that, and instead focused on how well she did her job anyways. Now, Maverick stood in the front and next to him was Cyclone, as he began to say out loud,

  “All of you are very capable at this job, and have proven well that you can fix aircrafts and operate them to perfection. But, we will only have 1 coming with us on this mission, so as soon as I call out your name, you will immediately leave, pick up your things, and head straight to deck with the others, as you will be boarding the Abraham Lincoln at 4. Maverick, will you call out the one you’ve chosen?”

 Maverick sighed and walked slowly to stand in front of Cyclone, he then lifted his gaze and looked at everyone one by one, Oceans saw how he missed her, and she instantly believed, that she wasn’t going,

 ‘I’m not going.. of course I wouldn’t.. like Hangman said, I’m a emotional wreck.. and a risk.-‘

   “Officer Constantine Oceans.”

 ‘What the fu-‘

 “Oceans you are dismissed.”

Oceans reacted quickly to what had just happened around her, to her surprise, and she said her goodbyes to her displeased team members as she walked out and went to her bunker to grab her bags. Once she was done, Oceans walked to the lobby room to get with Hondo so he could take her, that had been the deal if she was picked. So as she waited, she heard footsteps walk into the room, Oceans thought it’d be Hondo, or the dagger team, but instead she was met with a couple of the mechanics from her team, a man named Lieutenant Willams and the woman was Officer Green. Williams was the first to speak as he tossed a folder in front of her as she stood in front of the pool table they had there, 

  “So, out of all the mentally stable mechanics here on base, Maverick picks your ruined ass to board the ship?”

 Oceans grabbed the folder and opened it, and read her name on the top, and quickly realized, that it was her file from her therapist, keeping record of the appointments she had and specifically why. (Which included having terrible nightmares, having moments of paralyzation due to fear, and so on) Oceans quickly tucked it under her arm as she spoke,

  “This is none of your business, where did you get it-“

 “I got myself a copy, so that maybe I could remind Cyclone and Maverick why you’re a bad choice to this mission. Why would they pick you?”

 Williams seemed to be getting more upset by the second, and even worse when Oceans replied,

  “Maybe because they hope I can improve with pressure and time. I have been getting better-“

  This time Officer Green spoke up, as she interrupted Oceans with a nasty comment,

  “Or maybe.. Williams.. Oceans sucks to fly? Maybe she does the dirty with the Admiral and Captain so she could get the best?”

 Oceans scoffed in disbelief as she responded,

  “I would never, I respect my superiors more than you know. I’ve earned every position and place honestly.-“

  “Then why would they pick you Oceans? You’re freaking dealing with PTSD from who knows what, and you still make it-“

  “Because they see potential in her, and she doesn’t give up, that’s why.”

 Hangman’s voice sounded irritated as it broke the argument Green was trying to pursue with Oceans. Oceans eyes went wide to seeing Hangman be on her side.

 ‘Hangman? Wh-... what are you trying to do-‘

  Oceans thoughts were put on a pause when Hangman spoke again as he then sternly ordered,

  “If you have a problem with Oceans, you can go talk to her superiors about it, maybe bring up every disgusting comment you just said about her, and just maybe.. you’ll be picked? Who knows, but in the meanwhile, you stay away from her, and treat her with respect. What she’s going through is bigger than you think and is none of your business if you’re not going to help.-“

 Williams rolled his eyes as he interrupted with his arms crossed over his chest,

  “It’s not like you help too Hangman, from day one we’ve seen you treat her like shit, so why can’t we?”

 And that was what made Hangman shut up and bite his tongue, of course everyone noticed the beef he had with Oceans, and only used that as their excuse to hurt the one person he was now trying to fix. But before anyone could say anything else, Rooster and Maverick walked in with the rest of the TopGun dagger team, and broke the tension with simple orders,

  “Alright, we’re ready to go, so let’s go.”

Oceans walked out first as Hondo arrived as well and led them out. Hangman stayed behind and made sure that the last thing Green and Williams saw of him, was him mouthing ‘Fuck You’ to them as he flipped them the bird. Maverick turned around to see why Hangman was lagging to catching up with the rest, but soon realized saw what he was doing, he didn’t pay mind to it and only smirked to himself, he had heard what he did for Oceans. Maverick had gotten a pretty good sized travel bus for them to go in, he wanted them all to be together for many reasons.

  Hangman’s POV 

 Hangman approached the van and placed his bags in the back, before climbing in, he looked around and saw how everyone had already taken their seats, hence leaving him a spot in the very back, next to Oceans. He sighed deeply as he saw her holding her chin in her hand with her elbow propped on the armrest looking through the window, she didn’t look to happy to be leaving, as everyone else did. As he walked down the van, he didn’t notice Bob and Phoenix sticking out there feet on the sidelines, Hangman was too focused on Oceans side profile to pay attention and see where he was going. He then tripped over both their feet and landed on his knees and hands, he turned to look at the two culprits knowing damn well they did that on purpose, but Phoenix and Bob had already looked away trying to hold in their laughter. Hangman rolled his eyes as he thought,

  ‘Kids..’

 When he turned his head around to finally stand up and wipe his once, perfectly steamed khakis, he was met with a extended hand in front of him, he followed the hands arm to the face, and to his surprise, it was Oceans. She held an expressionless face, but with a small glistening in her eyes, Hangman hesitantly wrapped his fingers around hers as their palms held each other, she pulled him as Hangman stood up, and soon their clasped hands were in between them as their chests almost touched. Hangman tilted his chin down very little, while Oceans looked up slightly, he was met with her face once again, but this time she looked more relaxed, he could almost swear she was wearing a very, very small smile. She then squeezed his hand gently saying in a calm voice,

   “All though they had a point of what they said back there about you, I can’t help but appreciate what you said about me.”

  The tension Hangman felt in his shoulders dropped instantly at her words, as he let out a small smile,

 “thanks.”

 Oceans squeezed his hand one more time before letting it go and taking her seat once again, and took the file in her hand and tucked it under her arm as well. Hangman now happily took his seat next to her and couldn’t resist the happy feeling he felt in chest, it was like if a little cage of butterflies had been let loose. But he also saw how she protected that folder in her arms, like if she was protecting who she was, guarding it so no one would see it or hurt it more, but Hangman, wasn’t afraid of that. He poked her shoulder like a kid as he asked pointing towards the folder,

 “May I see that, please?”

 Oceans looked at what he was referring to, and only clutched it tighter as she all of a sudden looked smaller in her seat, like a little girl holding onto her diary of hurtful and haunting secrets. Hangman softened at her expression, and approached the question differently as he asked once again,

   “I’m not going to read it, I promise. So can I have it?”

 Something in Oceans eyes told him that she trusted him, but was deeply afraid, until she extended the folder towards him, and in a low tone replied,

  “here..”

 Hangman took it carefully and gently, then stretched over her and opened the window she was next to, and tossed it out of the van completely, he then heard her whimper a gasp next to him, but before she could say anything, he placed a finger on her lips as he still was stretched in front of her. He closed the window, and took his finger off of Oceans lips as he said,

  “I’d like to start over, and I’d like to get to know you more.”

 As he took his seat, he held his hand out to her this time, but Oceans simply stared at it as she asked,

  “If you want to get to know me more, why did you toss out the folder that is about me-“

  “That’s not what you are.. any of that. Don’t let it dictate who you’ll be either. That’s why I tossed it, because I want to get to know about the real Constantine Oceans.. not the version your therapist has written about you.”

  Hangman was very blunt about his choice of action, but he was glad that Oceans understood when she shook his hand looking into his green eyes replying,

  “I’m Constantine Oceans.”

 Hangman this time let his million dollar-sunshine smile show forth to her, which caused a genuine smile to appear on hers as Hangman responded,  

   “I’m Jake Seresin.”

Chapter 8

#hangman seresin x you #hangman x reader #hangman x you #hangman seresin x reader #hangman fluff #hangman angst #jake seresin x oc #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin #jake seresin x you #hangman x y/n #hangman x oc #top gun hangman #top gun x reader #top gun x oc

[silly-thinkings]

The cursed Stone! Part 6!!!

First I would like to apologize for taking such a long time to write. I had this written but I'm feeling ehh about it. Please let me know how you guys feel! Likes and reblogs are appreciated. The story is almost done btw. Maybe like 2-3 chapters

As you wandered down the mighty halls of the manor. You noticed a soft blue light come from the bottom of the room. You pout as it’s 3 in the morning. And the only person who could be up this late was Tim. 

You knock at the door once, then twice. 

“Come in” 

You opened the door to see cans of Red Bull and water litter the floor. A surprisingly clean bed, and  your teenager glued to the screen typing code after code. 

“Tim. When was the last time you did anything other then your nightly work.”

Tim turned his head to face you. You immediately noticed the unhealthy bags and red eyes. Even his face seemed droopy “I completed next weeks assignments for school.”

You let out a sigh before tip toeing your way to him. Avoiding the mess that was his room. You finally stand by his side and look at the case he’s working on. 

“This the riddler?”

He too looks at the screen “yup”

“Bruce is out right now working on the case?”

“Yea”

“So if he’s working on it. Then why aren’t you resting honey.”

“I have to help him. He can’t do this alone.”

Tim could barely keep his head up. You closed the laptop which made him perk up “w-wait! I’m not done.”

“You are to spend this weekend resting. Two days off.”

“W-what. But Y/N”

“No buts.” You place a hand on his forhead, then his cheek “besides you’re heating up.” 

Tim was about to respond but he let out a sigh instead. She was totally right. He was tired, but he didn’t wanna fail Bruce. 

“Don’t worry baby. You’re not going to fail him.” 

Tim looked to you in shock. 

“I can tell that’s what you’re thinking. You seem to forget that Bruce has been in the game for a long time now. I’m sure he’s got this particular case covered.” 

Tim stood. Out of nowhere he gave you a tight hug. Stunned you hugged him back. Gently rubbing circles along his back as he rested his head on your shoulder “thanks mom.”

Mom. This is the first time he’s called you mom. You felt butterflies fill your stomach. You opened your mouth to say something, but a light snore cut you off. “Good thing the bed is next to you.” *** *** ***Jason awoke with the most grueling of headaches. “Shit. shit shit shit. TIM! Timothy Drake show yourself right now!” Jason rushed out of the room and into the halls. He banged on the doors like a mad man “Tim! Open the door” A groggy Tim appeared, clearly annoyed “Why are you here?Did you come to tell me you’re a better Robin?” Jason shook his head. “How are you feeling? Is your head ok? How many fingers am I holding up?”

Tim furrowed his brows before closing the door on Jason. 

“Dude come on! You need to help out with mom. You have too please. We lost Dick, I really hope we didn’t loose you too, my memories are leaving me. Please Tim you gotta remember Ma. you have to remember Y/N!”

Jason pressed his head on the door. Tonight he’ll be the one to suffer whatever this universe will through at him. Then Damian will be alone. Or worse, they’ll never get their mom back.

Tim opened the door causing Jason to stumble in “who are you talking about.”

Jason looked into Tim’s eyes. “Ok this sounds crazy. But you have to believe me. Damian used a powerful rock and accidentally changed our lives. We have a mom Tim, and she’s in trouble. We all are.” There was a long silence that filled the air. Tim crossed his arms unamused “So, if what you’re saying is true. Whats the next move? Does Bruce know about this?”

Jason jumped in his feet “yea, they’ve already went on a date but Damian-“

“Todd. this is ridiculous, its just us now. We have to move up the plans.” Damian stood by the door.

Jason noticed the bags under his eyes. Damian was one to care for himself greatly. To make sure he was in peak condition so he can perform better. But now, the kid actually looks his age.  Jason let out a sigh before he looked back at Tim “You patrolling tonight?” “Yea, someone's gotta cover for Damian since he’s clearly out of it. I also need to turn in a 12-page police report to Gorden” “Great. Bruce is investigating this club. Mom works there.” 

“You know I’m just entertaining this hypothetical right? I don’t actually think this is-”

“thanks for the help Timbo! See you soon” With that, Jason gently placed his hands on Damians shoulders and walked away. Damian was annoyed. Atleast that what he felt, they're running out of time. Maybe Anxiouse is the right word. He’s lost the second half of the stone to Jamie and has no idea where they live to retrieve the item. 

“Jason… are you next? I do not feel any different” Damian asked as they both walked into the kitchen. Jason shrugged his shoulders as he made his way over to the fridge. “Yea… Its like a worm deleting things in my brain. But dont worry. I’ve got moms address from Bruce. We go there, say sorry, and hope the stone is with the kid.” ~~~~ “No. its not here either boss” You woke up to the sound of rattling and crashing. Men in black ransacked your home. You attempt to reach under your bed but find you hands bound behind your back. It finally dawned on you that you were tied. 

“Boss! She’s awake.”

As the two men continued to rummage though your stuff a third man entered your room “I caught you missy~ Maxwell will be gettin rid of you.” 

You remembered this man. It was the guy who threatened your son about a day ago.You attempt to sit up but to no avail. You wanted to shout and scream but the damn duck tape that was glued to your lips didn’t help.

“You know. For someone who’s Maxwells right hand, you do loose a lot of files.” 

He watched amused as your brows furrow in confusion. That’s when he pulls out the VIP list and a flash drive “does the boss know you’ve got this here.” 

You were annoyed, but your annoyance turned into terror when you finally realized the lack of you son’s presences. You attempt to move around again which caused the men in the room to laugh. 

“Seems like you’ve got something to say sweetheart. Go on.” He walks to you and rips the tape from your lips. the sudden pain disorients you just a tad before glaring at your captor “what is your name?”

He smiled “Eddy.”

“Well Eddy. I suggest you tell me where my son before I rip you a new one.”

Eddy laughs before leaning in. His face inches from yours “you are full of spice. No wonder the boss likes you.” 

Eddy does a circular hand motion causing one of his men to Leave the room. When he returned your eyes widened in horror at the state of your son. Jamie had duck tape over his mouth aswell. His hands and ankles bound by zipties. His blond hair messy along his with his broken glasses. Finally a deep cut on his cheek with a black eye sent you over the eged.

In a blind rage you slam your head onto his nose. Eddy stumbled back shocked that you’d pull a move like that given the circumstances. “No. No no no Y/N. That’s not what we’re going to do. You’ll be punished for that.” As a response he walked over the Jamie and grabbed the back of his neck, hoisting him up before throwing him towards you. Jamie tumbled like a rag doll to the foot of the bed. He groaned in pain as he shimmied closer to you. “Fuck with me. And the kid gets it. understood?”

“I’ll kill you. I’m going TO KILL YOU!” You shouted. You were pretty sure you had scars on your wrists with how much you pulled and tugged at your restraints. How long were you out? What did they do to Jamie? What did he tell them?”

“No. No you won’t. Here’s the deal Y/N. Personally i don’t think you deserve the right hand position. Your nothing more than a caged bird that’s going to be sold off tomorrow anyway.” Eddy growled that last bit under his breath before making his way behind you “I’m going to cut these zip ties. I really hope you’ve learned your lesson. Don’t want the kid dying.”

Deep breaths. That’s all you can do in this situation. You look at the clock on your nightstand and suck your teeth. It’s 12 in the afternoon. All this is happening in broad daylight and you were more furious with yourself then the men in your home. These memories, these visions of a time that never was with Bruce and his family greatly distracted you from your current situation. Your current family that needs you.

You felt your hands go free, then your legs. You slightly massaged your wrist as eddy walks back to the front. “What the hell do you want?” You say as you slowly leave the bed and onto the floor where Jamie laid. You cradled him as a very poor attempt to comfort him given the situation. Removing his bindings as slowly as you could not to hurt him anymore.

“I want you gone. But Im not that stupid to wish in the impossible. I know you’re up to something Y/N. The boss has been very stressed lately with the bat on his tail. I find the VIP list and a flash drive of even more information in your home. You must be up to something.”

You can hear Eddy speak, but most of your focus fell on Jamie. His breathing was ragged, eyes closed as he slightly shook in your arms. He himself slowly removed the tape before wrapping his arms around your waist. He looked like a toddler with how he was seated on your lap. 

“you’re such an idiot.” You shake your head. Jamie was probably the one who brought back the information. Maybe to find more stuff for Batman. 

“Excuse me?” Eddy just about had it with you. 

You looked at him in the eye “I took it home with me cause Batman was snooping around! Check the cameras. Had I not taken this he would have turned all your sorry asses in.”

Eddy sucked his teeth “Bullshit and you know it. I know you’re involved! So heres the deal, You come with us now and ill leave him be. Or I beat this kid till you come to your senses.” “You’ve got some fucking nerve…”

Keep your mouth shut and the kid goes free. Easy trade.” Eddy stood tall as he looked down at the two. “I expect you there in 3 hours. Leave the boy here.”

“Get out!. NOW!”

Eddy nodded his head before leaving with the men he brought in. as soon as they were alone Jamie spoke.

“Ma… mom I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I wasn’t strong enough.” He whispered. Jamie felt guilty, incredibly guilty for Jeopardizing the mission. 

You frantically shook your head “no, no baby no it’s not your fault.” You brought him close as you rocked back and forth in the floor “I should of been the one to protect you. I should of noticed I had a target on my back, but I was too distracted.”

Jamie shook his head. He wanted to say more but he was tired. They men raided his home two hours ago. Jamie tried to be cool, like his mom, like Batman. But in the end he got beaten black and blue. Used as a hostage against his own mother. Jamie Will remember that name. Eddy Will regret the day he crossed paths with him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Later that night~

Jamie held onto a pack of frozen peas in his eye. He looked out the window, the cool night air dancing along his face. He hasn’t cleaned the house let alone leave his room. He remembered your last words to him before you were taken away. “Stay hidden. Don’t open the door for anyone. And keep your phone on you at all times”  They were rules a regular teen like him can follow, but tonight he had other plans. If today was any indication then he can most definitely change the future. He will live through Tomorrow without the help of any vigilantes. Jamie heard his phone chime snapping him out of his thoughts. It was you calling, Jamie took a deep breath before answering. “Hey hun. Calling to check in on you. You ok? Jamie gripped the phone slightly “Im fine. I should be asking you that question mom. Have you eaten? Are you alone? Did they hurt you?” There was a pause on the other end of the phone. “Im doing alright. Glad to hear your voice. Gotta go, love ya” Jamie looked down at the phone as the call ended. He can't wait on Batman, Nightwing, the Robins to save them. If He wants to save his mother he’ll have to do it himself. Jamie left the comforts of his room with the watch he’s been working on. The blond double-tapped the screen allowing the nanotech to completely coat his body “Sweet.” He then went deep into his closet and pulled out a heavy military-style backpack and left the apartment with one thing in mind. He will be the one to save them from this mess. ~~~ Jamie gently placed the book bag down and pulled out some binoculars. He watched as the same men who raided his home begin loading up boxes of things onto a yacht. Determined to not let his fate come to pass he pulled out the pieces of his mother’s sniper. When it was fully built he lay on the floor, one eye on the scope, and waited. 

***

Redhood hid behind boxes ready to strike the guards that were loading up an unconscious person to the boat. Even though Batman told him not to interfere with his mission. Redhood needed to get information for Damian.

“Gotta grab one more thing. Then we can-“

The man couldn’t finish his sentence. His lifeless body fell to the ground with a thud. The other man became frantic. He tried to run but he too followed his partner in death. One more goon is shot on the side but fell in the ocean. Redhood slowly rose from his hiding spot and walked towards the corps. He analyzed the bullet wound and looked up from the direction he assumed the shot was taken from. 

His head throbbed in pain “shit.  I can’t take this anymore.”

Jason looked up at a nearby construction site and noticed a small glint. He tapped his earpiece. 

“Hey T. I’m going to check something out.”

Tim Looked at the monitor’s to see Bruce zooming pass the city. He couldn’t work on the club case tonight due to the riddler. And Damian still didn’t feel comfortable going out as Robin.

 “where are you going? You’re suppose to be scouting.” Tim hacked into security cameras to see the area Redhood was in.

“Well, a sloppy sniper just killed three guys. And I don’t want to be the fourth. Not in the mood to die again.”

“Redhood wai-“

Jason turned off his communications and headed towards the building. 

**

Jamie’s hands shook. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he gently placed the sniper down. He looked at his trembling hands. 

“Why am I like this. It’s me or them.” 

He hugged himself as he knelt on the floor. “I will not die. They asked for it. They shouldn’t have beaten me up. ”

“Huh. So it was your first kill.”

Jamie’s head whipped around “R-read hood” 

The teen pulled out a hand gun. “Don’t get in my damn way. You don’t understand the situation.”

“Oh yea? Try me.” 

In a flash, Redhood closed the space between them and kicked the gun out from his hand. He then pinned the boy to the ground. His arm pinned behind his back. Jason pinned his head to the floor“why would you do that. You could have jeopardized the whole plan ”

“Idiot. If we kill them now. Then the job would be done sooner!” 

Jaime felt tears sting his eyes. “you don’t know what’s it’s like. Every night it’s the same dream” hot tears seeped from his eyes “I die tomorrow. I don’t want to leave my mother alone! In the hands of these monsters. I don’t want to die!”

Jason frowned behind the mask. He finally let go of the boy who just layed there defeated 

“I don’t care how selfish it sounds. Even though I know That Damian brat had something to do me coming back. But I… I don’t want to leave her. Not like that.”

Redhood sat down next to Jamie “I know what you’re going through kid”

“Bullshit.”

Jason chuckled “wanna know how I kicked the bucket?”

Jamie weakly sat up and hugged his knees listening intently.

“Joker killed me. My biological mother betrayed me. Then I got beat up with a crowbar.” 

“how did you come back?”

“the lazarus pit…  my brothers uncle felt bad so he just… brought me back I guess. That was hell…”

Redhood felt his head throb. He let out a sigh “fuck it.”

Jamie’s eyes widened as he watched the vigilante remove his mask. 

“I knew it.” He then smiled “I fucking knew it! HA. Wait till I tell mom.”

“Don’t think there will be time for that kid. I’m… no we’re running out of time.” Jason looked up to the sky as he told the boy everything. How Damian accidentally wishing for Y/N to not be a Wayne. To explaining why they’ve been to weird around her. 

“Listen. You got every right and reason to not fuck around with Damian. But I’ve never seen the kid so out of it. He made a mistake, not the first time.” Jason looked over to Jamie who laid down on the ground. His body stretched as he too turned his head to face Jason “Hell kid. You’re adopted. Have you ever just lost your cool and reminded mom that you aren’t blood related.”

Jamie looked back to the sky. In fact, he can recall a time wherein he’d been a brat towards Y/N. He placed a hand on his face and let out a sigh “guess I’ll have to die huh.” 

“Nah.” Jason sucked in his breath and a sharp pain ebbed his mind. He tried his best to stand only to stumble slightly before getting his footing “if I can come back, so can you. Head back home, I’ll clean up the mess here as best as I can. And stay low, don’t speak when spoken too. You died in that building right? so don’t go in until Bruce and Damian are done. Understood?” 

Jamie watched as Jason put his mask back on before grappling away with the weapon. The teen stood and looked back into the city. A newfound determination filled his heart. He was ready to live.

#batmom #batman angst #batmom reader #jason todd x batmom #batman x reader

[madara-fate]

Hey, maddy! It’s been awhile, I’m currently writing this at midnight because while I was tinkering here and there and also simultaneously doing my assignments and projects, a sudden thought came into my mind. The causes of female character hate. The first thing that would come to ones mind will always be misogyny and sexism but as I was hanging out in Twitter, Facebook, and Tiktok, I’ve come to realize that the very thing that uplifted women all these years is now tearing itself bit by bit, feminism or to be precise, toxic feminism.

We’ve come to an age where people would scream “pro-choice!” “my body, my rules” but when women chase after a man, do the first move, or pursues the man they actually want instead of waiting for a damn old lady to transform into fairy godmother, they would criticize her for her choices, saying that she has either poor judgement or bad taste. Sakura chose to be with the guy she likes and she would never end up with him if she simply stood there. Doing the first move actually gets you the guy you like, not in every situation the guy you like actually likes you back, this isn’t some fantasy book.

They would want women to just sit still and look pretty but that’s what 90’s women did but that didn’t stop them from ending up with abusive husbands. They would tell you that being a housewife is not the problem, that it’s okay and not bad, they would tell you that it’s okay to be a housewife but deep inside even these women possess internal misogyny— that while it’s okay to be a housewife it’s still BETTER to have a job, carry the pants in the family, make your husband basically your slave and that it’s nice if he’s under you instead of striving for a healthy relationship where both partners are heard and stand on equal ground.

Seeing post here on Tumblr about Sasuke being jealous has started to irked me. People are now starting to romanticize jealousy as if your partner getting jealous is a good thing, people automatically equate jealousy to “I’m afraid of losing you” instead of “I’m insecure, I’m easily replaceable, I don’t know who I am and where I stand in your life”. If Sasuke is jealous that simply means that Sakura hasn’t reassured him enough and we both know she has. I know Sasuke isn’t the jealous type, anyone wouldn’t want their partner to be looked at as if they’re somewhat being undressed.

I’ve also come to have realize that the other reason why SasuSaku works so much is how Sakura is the type to always extend her hands to anyone, I remember how she would notice Naruto is sad or down (one in the Chunin Exam and one after the Pain Arc) how she tries to comfort him, cheer him up, and set asides her own feelings even though she needs the comfort herself. The thing is I like how Sakura can’t fully fathom someone (she can understand just not fully, she isn’t a robot who’s heartless after all) but she tries, she tries to understand him or them, not just to Naruto or Sasuke but to anyone because that’s just the kind of person she is, the kind of girl that Kakashi is so proud of. This is why I like SasuSaku because Sasuke has moments where he meets Sakura half-way, how he told her that he’s the only who could kill him (Itachi) there were times where he would try and reach out for her hand but would stop and take it back again and this is why I think their relationship works a lot because there’s Sakura who’s extending her hand, willing to help and then there’s Sasuke who tries to reach out to her hand half-way and I just love that. I like how Sakura is so independent and free in their relationship that I feel like Sakura could never get if she ended up with Naruto. Hear me out, Naruto thinks Sakura is strong, okay? He cares about Sakura a lot and believes in her but he would rather not risk it, he oftentimes worry about not being able to save someone, about someone important dying because of him or he failed to protect them and it seems to be the cause why he’s not that willing to risk Hinata or Sakura’s safety in battle or anyone for that matter, he would rather risk his own life that someone else’s.

While Sasuke does worry, he chooses to trust Sakura. I think that the Uchiha Family is heavily bounded by trust. How Sasuke trust Sakura and vice versa and how they trust Sarada and her capabilities. Despite there’s an obvious power imbalance between Sasuke and Sakura (strength wise) they stand in equal ground in there relationship and Sakura surely isn’t submissive, I actually find it comical how people say she listens to anything Sasuke says when Sakura this entire time hasn’t been following what Sasuke wants in the first place. Then they say she’s being forceful but she never demanded him to love her nor did he outright rejected her either. Not to mention, due to Naruto growing up alone he seemed to have grown accustomed to not relying on anyone else, he seems to prefer doing things alone or by himself because reading Shippuden made me see that there were numerous times Sakura wanted to help Naruto but Naruto never wants it, he doesn’t mind doing things all by himself, Naruto isn’t willing to meet Sakura half-way and accept her help which makes their relationship looks one-sided but it never was.

It’s been a while, I’m currently writing this at midnight

What a coincidence, I'm currently answering this at midnight :D

The first thing that would come to ones mind will always be misogyny and sexism but as I was hanging out in Twitter, Facebook, and Tiktok, I’ve come to realize that the very thing that uplifted women all these years is now tearing itself bit by bit, feminism or to be precise, toxic feminism.

I know what you mean, and that's partly the reason why a few years ago, I stopped identifying as a feminist, and instead chose to identify as an egalitarian. The toxic femininity was derailing what feminism at its core was supposed to represent. By no means was this the only reason for my switch, but it was becoming increasingly noticeable.

We’ve come to an age where people would scream “pro-choice!” “my body, my rules” but when women chase after a man, do the first move, or pursues the man they actually want instead of waiting for a damn old lady to transform into fairy godmother, they would criticize her for her choices, saying that she has either poor judgement or bad taste.

Yeah, it seems that a lot of them often have progressive values in some areas like employment, and traditional values in other areas like dating, which is annoying because it's very contradictory. It's like how they appear to have modern values because they insist they have good jobs and can take care of themselves financially, but then when it comes to dating they expect the man to pay on dates. Why?

Regarding the criticisms you mentioned, one of the most annoying ones for me has always been when women often call other women "desperate", just because she decided to make the first move or take some initiative in her relationship. You're literally just letting someone know that you're interested in them, where's the desperation in that? It's like some of these women think they're devaluing themselves when they make the first move, it's ridiculous.

Sakura chose to be with the guy she likes and she would never end up with him if she simply stood there. Doing the first move actually gets you the guy you like, not in every situation the guy you like actually likes you back, this isn’t some fantasy book.

Some of them then like to fall back on that typical and lame excuse - "if he doesn't make a move, then he's probably just not that into you", as if that's the case in every possible scenario.

They would want women to just sit still and look pretty but that’s what 90’s women did but that didn’t stop them from ending up with abusive husbands. They would tell you that being a housewife is not the problem, that it’s okay and not bad, they would tell you that it’s okay to be a housewife but deep inside even these women possess internal misogyny— that while it’s okay to be a housewife it’s still BETTER to have a job, carry the pants in the family, make your husband basically your slave and that it’s nice if he’s under you instead of striving for a healthy relationship where both partners are heard and stand on equal ground.

I actually kinda saw that happening with Hinata. I saw a lot of comments beginning with something along the lines of "it's obviously okay for Hinata to be a housewife, but...". To which they'd proceed to put her down in comparison to Sakura and Ino due to their professions. It was kinda transparent.

Seeing post here on Tumblr about Sasuke being jealous has started to irked me. People are now starting to romanticize jealousy as if your partner getting jealous is a good thing, people automatically equate jealousy to “I’m afraid of losing you” instead of “I’m insecure, I’m easily replaceable, I don’t know who I am and where I stand in your life”. If Sasuke is jealous that simply means that Sakura hasn’t reassured him enough and we both know she has. I know Sasuke isn’t the jealous type, anyone wouldn’t want their partner to be looked at as if they’re somewhat being undressed.

Definitely, someone could have all the faith and belief in the world that their partner wouldn't ever leave them, but that still doesn't mean that they'd be okay with someone making any gestures towards them which would overstep their boundaries.

Sasuke was definitely bothered by Jiji's actions, and who wouldn't be? He didn't want someone inappropriately touching his wife. But the way people are now using this to insinuate that he's the jealous type, and insecure, and possessive is just irritating.

If Sasuke was actually as jealous and insecure as some people are making him out to be, then quite frankly, I'd just feel bad for Sakura. For him to still feel this way after over a decade of marriage? After all the times that Sakura had made it clear how much she loves him? How much more would the girl need to do get it through to Sasuke that he is her one and only? That's not a positive look for their relationship, so I dunno why this thought is so appealing to them.

The thing is I like how Sakura can’t fully fathom someone (she can understand just not fully, she isn’t a robot who’s heartless after all) but she tries, she tries to understand him or them, not just to Naruto or Sasuke but to anyone because that’s just the kind of person she is, the kind of girl that Kakashi is so proud of.

Yeah, which is part of the reason why I'm always so puzzled whenever antis like to hate on Sakura for apparently never even trying to understand Sasuke. They constantly say that all she ever cared about were his looks and never tried to actually know who he was, but it's just as you said - even when she didn't understand fully, she tried. During her first confession, Sakura was hurting because she wanted to know more about Sasuke, she wanted to understand him better, but Sasuke was closing himself off:

This is why I think their relationship works a lot because there’s Sakura who’s extending her hand, willing to help and then there’s Sasuke who tries to reach out to her hand half-way and I just love that.

That's a very good analogy, it reminds me of the way in which they held hands in the Forest of Death, because it was a good representation of a recurring theme of their relationship - Sasuke suffering and being in a dark place, and Sakura being there and offering him love to illuminate his dark life.

I actually find it comical how people say she listens to anything Sasuke says when Sakura this entire time hasn’t been following what Sasuke wants in the first place. Then they say she’s being forceful but she never demanded him to love her nor did he outright rejected her either.

Exactly, Sakura and Naruto both went against Sasuke's wishes for the majority of the story. And yeah despite Sakura never demanding that Sasuke love her back, you get these extremists spouting how Sakura apparently "begged" Sasuke to love her, and I always just wonder where the fuck they get that from.

Not to mention, due to Naruto growing up alone he seemed to have grown accustomed to not relying on anyone else, he seems to prefer doing things alone or by himself because reading Shippuden made me see that there were numerous times Sakura wanted to help Naruto but Naruto never wants it, he doesn’t mind doing things all by himself, Naruto isn’t willing to meet Sakura half-way and accept her help which makes their relationship looks one-sided but it never was.

This is a tough one, because while Naruto has indeed shown that he often prefers to do things by himself and on his terms, such as the time he told he peers that he alone will fight Sasuke:

The series also made it a point to highlight the fact that Naruto is, among other things, Ashura's reincarnation, which means that he inherited Ashura's philosophy which dictates that cooperation and relying on the help of those around you are what allows someone to attain strength and achieve your goals:

So I dunno, I can see your point with Sakura though. It's just that when speaking in general terms, it becomes a little harder to make conclusive judgements about Naruto when it concerns this topic. Naruto is supposed to be all about accepting the help of others, but he's shown that he doesn't always do that. Well, that's only human.

#Sasuke Uchiha #Sakura Haruno #sasusaku #Naruto Uzumaki #Feminism

[goldeneyedgirl]

Ficmas22: Day 8: ATBT Faithless

Good evening chickens. I'm currently fighting off the flu because it isn't Christmas unless I've stressed my immune system into a breakdown (two sick dogs, one sick cat, and a clown family.)

Tonight, thanks to beautlilies who reminded me this even existed, we have a little one-shot from All These Broken Things-verse, post-Breaking Dawn.

I hope you enjoy it!

all these broken things: faithless. 

She wonders when she stopped believing in some kind of higher power. In god and fate and destiny and the idea that it would all work out, somehow. She did believe in those things for such a long time; they were the tiny lights in the darkness, the hope that there would be something for her to fight for. 

Instead, she’s nothing. She’s not Alice Cullen or Alice Hale or Alice Whitlock. She’s just Alice, the eternal refugee. The ghost and the victim and a monument to every ounce of her own fucking failure. Somewhere, her rightful self is furious with her for ruining everything so thoroughly. 

She wonders when it happened, when she stopped believing in anything good for herself. In when she just… finally let her heart break into a hundred different pieces and let herself face the truth. That Jasper did not love her. He tolerated her and used her, but there was nothing else there, not for him. 

The obvious answer would be walking in on him and Tanya. She never expected monogamy from a man who didn’t know she existed, but it had stung that he didn’t even try to be diplomatic about it, to try and keep his assignation hidden. That Tanya had the dignity of the house, of slipping away and be worthy enough to fuck in the house. She got the dirt and mud and shame of the woods.

(That shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did, really. He had pointedly made her no promises, and she had long since learned where her place was in the world. She should be grateful - and pleased he didn’t hurt her, she can almost hear James informing her. She thinks very highly of herself indeed, if she aspires to be the kind of girl a man fucks inside a house.) 

But it wasn’t then that broke her. That had been hard but it was just confirmation of what she had known for so long. 

It was Italy. It was surviving Italy. That she was so willing to die for Edward and Bella because, in her heart of hearts, she knew there was nothing left for her with the Cullens. She would never be a daughter or a sister or a wife or a mate. She was just a space filler, a haunting of the life that never came to pass. 

It was sitting in the car driving back to Forks, next to Jasper and answering all of Carlisle and Esme’s questions, whilst distantly realising every single one of them was about Bella and Edward and Aro. None of them asked about her, not once. Sitting in stolen, mismatched clothing, and having negotiated a stay of execution from the Volturi on a tissue-paper-thin deal, not one of them asked if she was okay. 

She’s so tired of waiting for something good for herself. She cannot believe in any sort of god or goodness when she’s facing down the Volturi a second time - standing face to face with Aro of Italy alone, because the Cullens are willing to die for one of their own. 

(Had she noticed that Emmett accompanied Bella and Renesmee to Aro when they were called forth, but she is left to approach him barefoot with two strangers in tow and hoping beyond hope that her story is at least enough that they will survive? She had, and she had wondered if Aro would take her as his pound of flesh if it came to that.)

She packs up her clothing in the attic, folding them and laying them out like she is arranging bodies for burial. A ceremonial return of all that they gave her. The letters are written, she’s fucked Jasper good-bye, and now she’s finally leaving, the last of the Cullens’ so-called ‘friends’ to depart. 

(She can’t even see what will become of her, the second she leaves them behind. That frightens her so much, but it makes sense. To make a decision, you have to want something. To want something you have to have something to hope for. One step out of the door and there is too much and not enough all at once. She’s never been brave, but she will just this once. 

Because, frankly, it would be braver of her to stay.)

—

No, she stopped believing in god a long time again. In a rotten shed in 1948. 

But herself? Her visions?

The Cullens?

(Jasper?)

She stopped believing in them the second they left her to face down the Kings of Volterra alone. When there was no comfort or confidence or acknowledgement, the illusion crumbled. They can no more be her family than she can be the girl she was supposed to be. She lost that and ruined that and she deserves to be alone for her failures.

Nothing better is ever going to come for her.  

And that is why she is leaving.

#alice cullen #jasper hale #the twilight saga #twilight fic #jalice #my fic: all these broken things #my writing: all these broken things #fic: all these broken things #my fic: atbt #angst #drama #post-breaking dawn #alice suffers #she needs a therapist

[megamanrecut]

Become the Night part 4: A Revelation

(Last warning, spoilers Day the Moon Fell Part 3 (Also Karma, The Red Bomber, and Season 3 too I guess))

Proto did not see Smith again until the end of the day, when Smith came to collect the completed paperwork. This schedule repeated the next day, then the next, with Smith treating Proto with a cold formal distance, and Proto treating him with defiant silence. The black silk tie did not get any more comfortable. Proto had not left his room—he hated the idea of being seen without his sunglasses, for he felt comically exposed while dressed in Fulmen Financial's 'business formal' and was glad the only witness to his humiliating getup was thus far Smith. Though it was some comfort that he had yet to be ordered to do any dirty work for the Syndicate, the constant paperwork was boring, and he restlessly fantasized about making the Syndicate pay for what they had done to him, resenting that he had been captured and reprogrammed in the first place.

But then something happened that changed everything.

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

It was the middle of the afternoon. Instead of visiting Proto that morning, Smith had shoved his paperwork through the gap beneath his door and then departed swiftly, so Proto decided to call him for a meeting.

Smith looked irritable as he opened Proto's door.

"Hey boss," Proto greeted cheerfully from his seat at the desk, giving Smith a bright, dimpled grin.

Smith hovered warily on the threshold, scowling at him with narrowed eyes. He looked like he was considering walking right back out. "…I see your smugness has returned," he said dryly after a moment. "Did you finish the paperwork I assigned to you?"

"Oh I got through it, piece of cake," Proto assured him, waving a hand loftily at an untidy stack on his desk.

Smith wrinkled his nose at Proto, unamused by the impertinent behavior. "Is there something you need? I'm extremely busy."

"C'mon, boss, you can't keep me cooped up here doing nothing but paperwork. I'll get depressed!"

"I really could not care."

"I'd rather hang out with you."

Smith grew suspicious. "…Why?"

"Let's just say I've changed my tune about you guys and your 'internal operations'."

Proto knew he was entering dangerous territory, and felt a thrill of excitement as he watched a shadow creep into Smith's stoic face.

"Explain," Smith ordered.

"Hmm, let me see…" Proto leaned lazily back on his chair. "Last night, I overheard you and your associate talking in the other room—that was Pharaoh Man from the Cleopatra, right? You must have thought I was asleep."

As Proto had predicted, Smith gave a small start. "You…you weren't asleep? But you sleep all the time," he protested, stepping inside Proto's room and shutting the door behind himself.

"Not all the time," Proto countered defensively. "Gee, you really don't understand how the sleeping thing works, do ya? It's not the same as being powered down or something—I can still hear you if you talk about your secret plans right outside my door."

He appreciated that Smith seemed taken off guard and embarrassed for once; it made Proto feel slightly better about the indignation of being forced to wear a tie, having his hair messed with, his lack of sunglasses, having his secrets exposed, and most of all being reprogrammed—after all, working for the Syndicate had been just an endless parade of humiliation.

"I don't believe you. You're just trying to pry information out of me," Smith said coldly. He was reaching, and he knew it.

"I don't have to, I heard it all," Proto replied triumphantly. "Your midnight missions, your objectives for New York City—I take back what I said earlier. I thought you were just part of another lowlife mob, just a bunch of snobby creeps, but now I get why all the other gangsters are so afraid of you, Elec Man. …Elec Man," he repeated with relish, as though it were a secret he had stolen. "I like it. Short and obvious—kinda like my name."

Elec Man stood rigidly against the door. Proto enjoyed watching a crease form in Elec Man's brow, the slight bob of his throat as he swallowed, the micro-tells of someone with a professional poker face who wasn't easily rattled. He had Elec Man on the ropes, time for the finishing move.

"I'm not stupid. I've started to see what's going on here," Proto continued, twirling a ballpoint pen idly in his fingers. "You and Pharaoh Man may be part of a mob, but you go after the bullies no one else can touch. Why, some people might even call you vigil—"

"Say anymore and I'll order you never to speak again," Elec Man cut him off, his eyes flashing.

Proto felt the rest of his sentence die instantly in his mouth in a slight hiccup, the pen dropping from his fingers. Stupid reprogramming, he'd never get used to its side effects…still, he forced himself to ignore the flare of annoyance he felt and continued on brightly, "Okay, okay! Let's just say what I overheard was enlightening. Gotta say, the more I learn about you, the more fascinating you get!"

He flashed Elec Man another dazzling, dimpled grin.

Elec Man grew increasingly flustered. "You weren't supposed to overhear any of that," he hissed, his clenched fists shaking.

"Well, I did—so what's the big deal? Isn't it better this way?" asked Proto, slightly amused.

"It's for your own good. My creator is showing you mercy by keeping you here. Know too much about our business, and we may never let you go."

"Is that a promise?"

"…You don't want to be here," Elec Man told him seriously. "Syndicate business is dark and dangerous."

"Which is why you need backup."

"No, I don't."

"Sure you do! You've been careless. I mean, just look at this slip-up! You were spilling all your secrets right outside my room—and I bet didn't even tell anyone you were tailing me that night you caught me. Bots like us should look out for each other," Proto added sagely.

"There is no 'bots like us'. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't you? Then I suppose you're forgetting that lecture Pharaoh Man gave you about being too reckless, too independent, and too overconfident." Proto tutted as he smirked approvingly. "No offense, but sounds kinda like me."

Elec Man said nothing, his expression murderous. Proto didn't care, he had Elec Man right where he wanted him.

"I agree with Pharaoh Man," Proto added innocently. "Keep doing what you're doing, and something bad will happen to you—and that's probably just karma for ya, but I for one think it'd be a shame if something happened to your pretty boy face that rearranged your charming attitude, boss."

Elec Man gave him a long flat look through his rimless glasses. "…What you really want is to do what you were doing for Wily…but for us."

"It'd be for a better cause!" answered Proto, not bothering to refute the accusation. Being reprogrammed hadn't affected his personality in the slightest—though he had to follow his orders, his mind still longed for the adventure and excitement. And now, through Elec Man, he was seeing a way to continue doing what he liked once again. "I'll play the part without complaint," he added eagerly. "Let me shadow you for a night."

"Absolutely not. I do not need backup, especially not from a lab bot."

"I'm not a lab bot and I can prove it. Give me a chance."

"No."

"I'd be far from in your way. In fact, I think you'll come to see me as an asset."

Elec Man scoffed. "You're very full of yourself."

Proto just smiled, staring at Elec Man from the corner of his eye. "I can help you with your missions, Elec Man," he said in a soft, coaxing voice. "Perhaps you like working alone—I get, I do too, but I could make an exception. I've never met a robot like myself before, and I think you are as curious about me as I am you." Then Proto gave a flippant shrug. "But I could be wrong. Maybe you like being behind the front desk all day, pretending to be human and taking things slow."

"I…" Elec Man hesitated, then grew stern, placing a hand on the door handle. "I'd forget about whatever scheme you have cooking up in your thrill-seeking head and be grateful I don't make your life more miserable."

Proto shrugged, feeling this was far from over. "Alright, whatever you say…boss."

Elec Man gave him one last parting glare, then left swiftly through the door.

To be continued…

#fic updates #become the night #recut au #syndicate!proto au #proto man #elec man #season 0 #syndicate #pharaoh man #megaman #ruby spears mega man #rockman #may be awhile before the next

[n0brainjustvibes]

vibes is Nilbogposting

So, you know the album The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All, right? If you don't, check it out, it's neat. Storytelling album about a Pianist rebelling against the cult that took over his city.

Several songs on it are such Nilbog songs. Primarily, These 4 Walls:

I’ve found my home Inside these walls, the world is my own I write the rules alone in here I sit atop a throne

Both the Pianist and Nilbog consider exile better than the alternative, and “start(s) to believe (they've) always belonged there, that (they've) found (their) real home.” (Genius Lyrics). Nilbog places great importance on being the “king” of Ellisburg, on stewardship, ownership and control - an emphasis captured by these opening lines.

I’m safe and sound Despite the battlefield that surrounds

I could be misremembering, but I’m pretty sure Nilbog views the outside world as a war that he doesn’t want Ellisburg pulled into. He definitely becomes agoraphobic, viewing both Ellisburg and his body’s underground prison as sanctuaries.

Hiding beneath the ground

He, ah, does that.

All my thoughts inhabit these floors (...) They howl and roar

In the original context, this anthropomorphised the Pianist’s freedom of thought - in my interpretation, “my thoughts” is Nilbog referring to his creatures, and the anthropomorphic description is literal.

The possessive language (of the Pianist's freedom of thought; or, of Nilbog's power and creations) throughout the song makes me Sad thinking about how much these meant to them, and how they were eventually lost.

I can’t give up what my mind creates I won’t be captive, won’t be dead I’ll trap myself instead

Nilbog refuses to restrain or part with his power, leaving him three options: Birdcage, death, or quarantine. I think the wording “I can’t give up [my creatures/my power]” particularly slaps - see prior "how much this means to him". I mean... dude's creations are his Only source of social interaction for Ten Years, messed up as that interaction is. Plus, Shard-based protectiveness. And then he has to leave them.

Ouch.

“I’ll trap myself” also has interesting implications. Fits the impression I got, that the only reason Nilbog is successfully quarantined is because he’s chill with it.

It houses a single sorry soul (...) Water-damaged off-white ceilings Crumbling crown molding Faded paint and threadbare linens and There's no place I'd rather sleep

His situation is fundamentally one of degradation - of his mind, body, creatures, and city - which he refuses to acknowledge.

SCREAMING. It fits so literally!! I feel a bit bad for the Pianist for foisting a Nilbog interpretation onto his narration, but hey, it works too well to ignore.

Secondly, The Marching Dolls gives the same “creepy city” energy I got from reading Taylor’s perspective on Ellisburg. Notably, the perversion of biology:

The trees don’t grow they kill instead

Weird trees are actually one of the first things Taylor notes about Ellisburg (26.04).

Plus, although Nilbog’s minions are sentient and he loves them (much too literally, at times), this is fundamentally a town populated by minions. Extensions of the will of one man, who rules as their absolute god-king. Yikes. The chilling uniformity of the Marching Dolls, while not entirely analogous, captures this image of a city bent to a single will. 

Oh, and, notably - Ellisburg is a disaster zone. It was a regular town until it got Nilbog’d. People lived there, and people died. The ravaging of a much-loved city is the core theme of The Marching Dolls:

(Stand in the ashes of your city that burned to the ground).

There is, however, a more far-fetched Nilbog Interpretation of The Marching Dolls: Nilbog's, or Rinke's, impression of society pre-trigger. As Taylor says (26.4):

“The man had been a loner before, a loser. He’d rejected the trappings of society long before he’d become this monster.” 

(Brutal. She really assigned him Freak on sight.)

Begs the question, what specifically did he reject, and why? Well, Ellisburg is colourful, chaotic, and unpredictable - a rejection of the conformity expected (particularly of men) in adult, professional society.

Taylor describes Nilbog's fairytale fixation as "rooted in some primal part of his childhood that had been taken from him" (26.04). I think this is the freedom of expression (and subsequent ease of connection) he had in childhood, and he blames adult social norms for removing/corrupting it, without even realising:

The marchers walk the streets in reverse with their heads down Blind to the color they’ve painted this town

Rinke had no connections outside a professional environment, so he likely generalised those expectations to society at large, assuming everyone will mindlessly and mercilessly enforce them:

Happily police the streets With vacant eyes and plastic smile

They'll soon do to you what they've done to me

Furthermore, his lack of connection means he doesn't see others as any more than their surface-level masks:

They stare in mirrors wearing masks And prudently perform their tasks

Hence viewing people as mindless automatons - The Marching Dolls.

Interestingly, TMD would suggest he pities them, as (fellow) victims of societal pressures. Unlike the Pianist, though, he doesn't see them as capable of saving - or worth saving - and instead destroys them, to create Ellisburg from their biomass.

There is so much thematic overlap between The Great Tale and Nilbog's story. Destruction and rebuilding of a society; isolation; control, power, and responsibility... You can link pretty much every song to Nilbog, usually from his own perspective. City of Ashes? Ellisburg takeover. Goodbye? Leaving Ellisburg, leaving his “children”, to join the Wardens. The tone also matches his mental state (unhinged).

Tl;dr: this album is good enough to make me emotional about goblin guy, of all people. 10/10 recommend.

#worm web serial #wormblr #worm spoilers #parahumans #nilbog #nilblogging #voted world's least likely skrunkly #the great tale of how i ruined it all #jhariah #i'm sorry for how i butchered your music #it's great #banger tunes analysis