#(also if he is still trying to beat his gambling addiction I wonder if the pilot was a relapse. hm)

[justarandomhelluvablog]

having thoughts about how Husk actually has very little left to redeem bc he started his journey of self-change before even coming to work at the hotel, but at the same time redemption isn't even his goal- he ain't even aiming for heaven, he just wanted to be a better person and maybe now with friends and especially Angel, who he supports so much and wants to see succeed, maybe now he has a reason to be a better person

[zeltqz]

hohihiwhshwh i have a request where y/n is the girlfriend of a rival gang leader but doesn’t treat her right but then ran is interested in her that way with rindou and sanzu banter about

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈ temptations | haitani ran ◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

pairing. tokyo manji!ran x fem!reader

word count. 8.1k

contents. gold digger!reader, toxic relationship (not with ran), misogynistic views, infidelity, reader's boyfriend is a gambling addict, possessive boyfriend. NSFW contents. dirty thoughts, fantasising, fingering, squirting, multiple orgasms, safe sex, oral (both)

The room was polluted with cigarette smoke, flashy lights and far too much testosterone for you to handle without feeling uncomfortable. It was hard to keep your poker face as you sipped on your glass of water, sitting lonely, by yourself on a plush l-shaped couch in the corner of the room.

There was boredom written all over your face as you watched your boyfriend lose at snooker over and over and over again. With each loss of the game came a loss of money. Honestly you’ve lost count with his losses, rolling your eyes every time he curses loudly and makes a scene of throwing the stick at someone’s head for laughing at how much money he’s lost tonight.

He’s surrounded by his friends, none of which you cared enough to remember their names. All you know is they’re gambling obsessed horny fucks that don’t respect your boundaries when your boyfriend isn’t around.

Being the only girl in the room is awkward enough and it feels like a slap in the face when you spot other women in the room, a small glimmer of hope flashing your face as you desperately try to make eye contact with then—hoping they can use that telepathic sense all women seem to have when it comes to each other—only for them to glance at you briefly, then ignore you and walk away. 

At this point you’re so lonely you’ll handle even talking to men but they also make a conscious effort not to talk to you. It’s hard making friends when you have such a possessive boyfriend like Kozo; he’s practically barking at anyone that even bothers to approach you, not liking other men close to his property . 

It’s like Kozo’s playing a constant game, getting you all dolled up and pretty, dangling you in front of other men at the club to grab their attentions, then the poor men who’ve fallen for the trap would get dragged outside by their collars and beat into a pulp on the streets for touching what’s his. 

It was a daily routine for you. Kozo would come to the club every Friday, bring you along for pointers and soaks in the attention you receive from his friends as they brag about how much of an eye candy you were. You knew you were nothing but a prize in his eyes, nothing but an accessory Kozo wears to make himself feel better. They gamble, play games, smoke, do drugs in the clubs and you sit on the nice couch for hours and watch Kozo win money.

Why are you with him, your friends wonder? Probably for the money. He was…nice to you on occasion, whenever he was in a good mood and he’d fuck you like he meant it, even counting in your pleasure. But those times were rare; the main reason you stay is because he takes you on a shopping spree with the money he wins from gambling, buying you nice jewellery, clothes, pays for your nails. 

You liked getting dolled up, he liked seeing you dolled up. The relationship was nothing but transactional. You came to that realisation that you had no feelings for him the day you came back from the bathroom and saw him with another girl, his arm around her waist as she hyped him up at the card table to win. You examined it for a moment, your presence practically invisible to all the men, and just wondered why you weren’t feeling angry that he’s practically got his hands on another woman. You watched deep in thought for what felt like five minutes and the only thing on your mind was if you’re still going on that shopping spree on Saturday. 

For the record, you did.

And it was fun. 

The ball gets hit into one of the holes and Kozo yells at the top of his lungs, loud enough to startle you; you watch the opposing team manhandle each other in a way that’s just so masculine , aggressive back and shoulder slaps that look like they sting. 

Your expensive presence caught the eye of a creep at the bar. Glancing in his direction, he looked twice your age, grey hairs marking his hair and beard and wearing a very creepy smile on his face, cigarette bobbing from his lips as he eyed you down with what he probably thinks is an attractive face. You know his type. Being at these bars all the time, you had time to analyse everyone and what types of men come to these bars.

There’s the occasional addicts: drug, gambling or alcohol addicts that come here to fuel their needs, then there’s the creeps like him, looking old enough to be your father but crave young, attractive girls in their early 20’s to spend all their money on. Then there’s the rich men that come through once every month or so. 

You’ve caught a glimpse of them a few times and there’s this one man that caught your eye many times, but he’s never looking in your direction. It hurts your ego a little bit, but you remember you’re in a relationship with a loyal (?), loving (??), giving—very much giving($)—boyfriend. 

Kozo looks in your direction for what seems like the first time in two hours and sees your eyes are staring at the creep. His face scrunches up when he glances over to the guy at the bar. 

“Hold my stick,” he grits out, slamming it firmly into his friends chest and rolls up his sleeves as he walks up to the bar. “Oi.” He slams his hand down on the bar top loud enough for everyone to stop doing what they’re doing and look over at the scene. “You got a staring problem?”

“What?” The guy puts his cigarette down. “No—no. I wasn’t looking at you—”

“Nah. Not at me. My girl .”

“Your…” The man tries to get another look at you before Kozo’s hand is on his chin, gripping it hard and redirects his gaze back to him.

“You’re really gonna look at her again while I’m here? Bold aren’t you.” Kozo cackles, slaps him on the back hard, ignores his yelp and leans in towards his ear, voice dropping dangerously low and whispers, “Meet me outside.”

From your seat across the room you could tell where this was heading and quickly stood up. Kozo looked positively murderous right now and you didn’t feel like running from the police tonight. Being the good samaritan you were, you stood up and walked over to Kozo, holding his arm tight.

He snaps his head back to look at you. “What?”

“I wanna go home.”

“Really?” He lets go of the man’s shirt and turns all 5’10”of him around to face you. “I haven’t won enough money yet baby. Don’t you want that new dress you were telling me about?”

“I do…but…” You bit your lip, stepping closer to him. “I wanna go home.”

“Whatever, you’ll live,” he grumbles, waving your concern away and nods back towards the couch. “Go sit down. I’ll be done soon.”

You attempt to plead at him with your eyes once more since your words clearly weren’t getting to him but his gaze was ice cold, unwavering, and you could see how serious he was about this. 

This wasn’t a battle you could win, you knew that and you accepted defeat, shoulders slumping as you walked back over to the couch. Fifteen more minutes pass and they’re doing more talking than gambling at this point. 

Kozo managed to hit the 8-ball too early and out of anger tossed his stick half way across the room, the impact snapping it in half as it hit the wall. Now they were waiting for another stick. 

Guess no shopping spree this weekend, you thought. Kozo was losing badly. 

“You might as well resign out now, Kozo. Better to leave broke but with your ego in tact.”

“I’m not fucking broke,” Kozo snaps, his bubbling anger slowly starting to spill out. 

You can tell he’s one snarky comment away from losing it and you need to get him out of here before he hurts someone. The last time he was in a bad mood he took it out on a random man waiting in line at the club and you could do nothing but watch from the sidelines as he beat the man half to death.

Kozo’s anger is something that scares you, and also another factor that stops you from leaving him. He’d never lay his hands on you though, he doesn’t want anyone touching his property, even including himself. You’re too precious to be bruised. But that didn’t mean you were safe if you ever broke up with him, since you won’t be his property by then. 

Too deep in your thoughts, you fail to notice him walking over to the couch.

“Get the fuck up,” Kozo frowns down at you. When you don’t move fast enough for his liking, he snaps. “I said get the fuck up !” He forcefully lifts you from the couch, squeezing your forearm in a tight grip that has you wincing, trying to pull him off. 

“Kozo you’re hurting me—”

“Didn’t you wanna fuckin’ go? Let’s go .”

“I’m coming, okay! Just let go,” you whine, grabbing his hand, trying to pry it off your skin. 

Once he let go, you clear your throat and move closer to him. In an attempt to calm him down, you run your hands up and down his chest, cuddling up to him. 

“Are you okay?”

The soft whisper of your voice did wonders to calm him, and he exhales heavily. 

“Yeah.” He kisses your forehead. “Sorry for snapping at you baby. I’m just…pissed off.”

You hum; your hands moving around his back and rubbing there. “It’s okay to get pissed. Just don’t get too upset. Control your temper, remember?”

He nods. “Yeah. I know.” 

You pull away and wipe your sweaty hands on the back of your dress. “Alright, let’s go.” He pulls you towards the door.

“Oi, Kozo.” Kozo pauses by the door, looking over his shoulder.

“If you play one more round you can win your money back.”

Kozo wrinkles his nose. “Nah. Pass. My girl’s tired anyway. Gotta take her home.” He pulls you closer to his side and kisses the side of your face. Kozo was about to begin walking again before the guy at the table spoke up.

“That so? I’ll double it then.” 

The mention of double the money had Kozo freezing on the spot. His body weight along was enough to make you recoil back to his side when you continued walking. 

“Double, huh?” Kozo smirks and you panicked at the interest dripping from his voice.

“No no no, Kozo baby he’s bluffing. I wanna go home,” you said, trying to get his attention back on you and away from the world of gambling and addiction.

Kozo let go of your hand and your heart sank to the floor. He walked over to the table and you wandered back over to the couch, standard procedure as usual. Right now, you could only hope he wins because if he loses for the second time and embarasses himself, it’ll be ten times harder to get him to cool down.

Ten minutes in, the couch dipped and look to your right at the gentleman that sat down next to you. “You look like you’re having fun,” he drawls out in a low, smooth voice.

Your eyes meet his own and you spotted a hint of teasing in them. The shade wasn’t anything you’d seen before, and you couldn’t take your eyes off his. 

The silence stretches out far too long to be considered normal and then you remember he was looking at you because he asked you a question. 

“Oh. Yeah. I am.” You gave a noncommittal shrug to your already non-committal answer and sunk deeper into the couch. “I’m great.”

Judging by the bland tone of your voice, he had a feeling you were lying. His head tilts to the side to get a better look at your side profile as you kept staring straight ahead, glaring daggers at Kozo. 

He readjusts himself in his seat, turning to face you. “Whatsa matter?”

You turn to look at him, your eyebrows pinched together in annoyance. “Do I know you?”

He grins, boyish and charming, and for a moment you regret your tone. “I’m Ran. You?”

Before you could say your name, a shadow falls over your face as Kozo stands over you, his eyes hard and seething as he glares at Ran. 

“That’s my girl.”

It takes Ran a few seconds before he’s looking away from you and onto Kozo, curling his eyebrow at Kozo. “That’s nice. What’s that gotta do with me though?”

“Stop talking to her?”

Ran glances at you, looking embarrassedly down at your lap. He decides to stand up, trying not to smile as Kozo’s shoulders slump downwards, watching in real time as his ego deflates to negative levels as Kozo realises the height difference.

“She can answer for herself, can’t she?” Ran asks, cocking his head at Kozo.

This was probably the first time you saw someone stand up to Kozo and you couldn’t help but feel intrigued, readjusting in your seat to get a better angle of these two men fight over you. 

Kozo’s eyes narrow slightly, too irritated to come up with a response.

Ran turns to look at you; your breath catches in your throat at the eye contact. 

“What’s your name?” he asks again. Your eyes slide over to Kozo but Ran tuts, shaking his head disapprovingly. “I’m asking you sweet thing, not him.”

The pet name had Kozo’s nose flaring, temper rising to impossibly hot and you could tell he was two seconds away from murder. Regardless of that, you smile, shift your entire body to face Ran and tell him your name.

Ran’s smile turns wolfish before he sits down heavily beside you, even closer than before, his knees practically touching yours.

“That wasn’t so hard,” he looks smugly over at Kozo, “was it?”

Kozo’s fists tighten as he watches Ran raise his arm to rest along the back of the couch, his hand barely brushing your shoulder. He sighs, closes his eyes to control his temper and lowers his voice to sound softer, more approachable and says, “What do you want Ran?”

Ran shrugs. “Just being friendly and a good host. She seems pretty lonely by herself here.”

Kozo’s eyes narrow. “Go be friendly somewhere else.”

“You forgetting who owns this club Kozo?” Ran sings Kozo’s name as he asks the question; you notice Kozo’s eyebrow twitch at Ran’s tone. 

“Are you threatening me Haitani?”

“Threats? Nah. Never that. ‘M better than that. My dad on the other hand…he’s not as kind as me when it comes to threats or kicking people out of his club.”

Kozo glares at Ran’s annoyingly smug face for a few more seconds before realising he cannot stand the sight of it anymore. 

“Want me gone so badly? Fine then.” Just like before, he yanks you upright by your arm, making you wince loudly. “We’re heading home now.”

Ran grabs Kozo’s hand effortlessly and all but rips it off your arm, then tugs you back down to the couch next to him. 

“I don’t appreciate you grabbing her like that.” His eyes were serious whilst his tone was playful. From this angle you couldn’t see Ran’s face clearly, only getting a good view of his side profile as he looks up at Kozo, but considering the way Kozo stiffens slightly as he stares at Ran’s face you could tell he was intimidated.

“It was a joke Haitani…jeez get a sense of humour. I don’t normally grab her like that. Chill.” Ran didn’t look impressed and Kozo swallows, nervously. “Okay…I won’t grab her like that again.” Kozo turns towards you, his voice softening a bit. “Come on baby. I’ll take you home now.”

This time, he grabs your hand as soft as he can and lifts you from the couch, making a show of readjusting your dress from when it rid up your thighs and heads towards the exit. You look back at Ran once last time, mouthing “thank you” with a small wiggle of your fingers, waving goodbye at him before disappearing from the room.

Ran exhales and leans his head back against the couch, closing his eyes when his brother sits down next to him.

“There a reason you’re picking a fight with Kozo today or what?” Rindou asks, taking a sip of his drink.

“Do I need a reason? What if I was just bored?” Ran peeks an eye open at his brother who was looking at him unimpressed. 

“What was the reason,” Rindou repeats, his tone indicating a direct answer asap. Ran doesn’t respond instantly and Rindou fiddles with his cup, moving it around to watch the liquid splash around. “It has nothing to do with that girl right?”

Ran stays quiet and Rindou scoffs. “Jesus christ.”

Ran laughs and shrugs. “What’s the problem? Can I not talk to girls anymore?”

“Single girls sure. You know how weird Kozo gets about that girl. The amount of dudes he’s beat up for even staring at her is wild,” Rindou says, reminding his brother of Kozo’s possessiveness as a warning, but Ran only takes it as a challenge.

“Yeah whatever.”

Rindou knows Ran isn’t fully listening, only digesting whatever he wants to hear to satisfy himself. “If you piss Kozo off, Dad’ll be angry. He comes here a lot and it’ll be a loss of money if he stops coming. Just…don’t do anything stupid.”

With that, Rindou stands up and left when Sanzu calls him over to play a round. Ran watches the two for a second, then begins thinking of his next move.

Meanwhile, Kozo slips into the front seat of his car after putting in more gas and turns to look at you, staring out the window staring into the night sky. He places his hand on your thigh to grab your attention. 

“Baby,” he says softly, waiting for you to meet his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Stay away from Haitani, okay? He’s…weird…alright?” For the first time in forever, Kozo doesn’t feel any anger inside him and you feel like you’re looking at a totally different person, one that actually looks worried for your safety which is funny considering all the risky situations he’s put you in.

“Weird how?” 

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Just promise me you’ll stay away from him.” He reaches out and grabs your hand. You meet his eye and see him staring intensely at you, awaiting your response.

“...okay, I will.”

The next time Kozo attends the club, he takes you with him as usual, standard procedure. It’s been a month since you’ve last been here, sitting on the same couch but you instantly slip back into routine, sipping on your water because Kozo refuses to let you drink without him next to you. 

Instead of snooker, this time Kozo decides to waste his money on another game called roulette, watching intently while trying to figure out the odds, never touching the table itself except to place his bets. There’s a man at the other end who spins the wheel, successfully taking Kozo's attention away from you completely. Sometimes you honestly wonder if he remembers you're still here with how hard he ignores your existence.

Still though, it gives Ran plenty of opportunities to stare at you, wondering what Kozo would say if he saw him doing so. Rindou's words ring in his mind momentarily and he's about to stop himself from approaching you when you shift on the couch a little, the movement exposing your leg again and for some reason, this only fuels Ran’s desire to look at you.

He can't explain why exactly; it just makes him want to reach out and grab your legs, pull them closer to his body and let his lips run up the length of your legs until they reached the perfect spot.

He glances over at Kozo across the room once more; he's not even paying attention to you. Perfect.

With that, Ran strolls over towards your couch from behind. Your back is against the couch and he bends down, resting his arms along the back of the couch and speaks into your ear, "Sitting by yourself again?"

You jump at the sound of his voice right by your ear and let out a soft gasp, flushing hot before smiling. “Don't scare me like that!" you clutch a hand over your heart, letting out a giggle.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” His voice is deep and sexy, accentuated by the smirk he wears on his face as his lips brush the shell of your ear again. The hand that had clutched at your heart slowly falls to rest on your knee and you shiver at the contact.

"It's okay," you say in a quiet voice, trying to ignore the way your chest feels when he brushes against you. "I was actually starting to get bored." You smile and turn your head slightly to meet his eyes.

"Missed me did you?" He rests his chin on his arms folded on the couch, grinning widely.

"A bit," you admit, trying to look away but your eyes are magnetised to his face. A smile creeps across his lips and you know he's about to say something cocky.

"Then why'd you wait a month to come back here? I figured you'd want to visit me as soon as possible."

His words carry a certain arrogance about them, his smile revealing his intentions. If you didn't already know better, you'd think he wanted to get you into bed tonight. You squeeze your legs together at the thought, then your blood runs cold at the fact that Kozo hasn't even looked your way once during the entire conversation.

If you weren't so turned on by Ran's presence right now, Kozo's lack of care towards you would have bothered you.

"Who says I didn't want to visit?" you tease back, turning to face him fully, your leg shifting further on the couch.

"Then why didn't you?" With every word, he's shifting closer to you. Your thighs press together involuntarily when his eyes drop to your lips briefly.

"I kinda have a guard dog boyfriend," you say with a coy smile, looking at him with an almost teasing gaze, attempting to hide your obvious desire for him.

Ran looks past your body over at said guard dog boyfriend, Kozo's attention still focused entirely on the roulette game. He is rubbing his chin thoughtfully, eyes focused on nothing but the game. Ran has no idea how this guy could fumble so badly; he has a fine girl sitting on a couch and he’s busy winning money.

Your eyes never left his face when Ran looks away from Kozo back at you and you shoot him an awkward smile. “By the way I didn’t have the chance to tell you this last time but thank you.”

“For what?” Ran asks, backing away from your face to create a little distance and stands up straight, resting his hands along the back of the couch.

You look up at him, the height difference making your neck ache. “For defending me in front of him. It felt…nice. Thank you.”

Ran hides his surprise well and nods, unsure of what to say in the face of someone so sincere for doing the barest of minimums. He never considers himself a good boyfriend, having only had two girlfriends his entire life that never lasted longer than four months. He realised dating wasn’t for him but he knows for a fact he’s a better boyfriend than the shitty one on your arm. Honestly you deserved better, not only treatment wise but looks wise too.

Kozo isn’t ugly by any means but he’s average. Just average. In Ran’s eyes at least. Looking at you though, all dolled up tonight, dressed in what looks like an expensive dress, showing just the right amount of skin to drive him crazy. How Kozo’s attention is on a game rather than you makes no sense to Ran whatsoever. Even Ran’s hands are tingling to just touch the sides of your waist and thighs; they look so welcoming and have just enough space for him to slot his entire hand onto your thigh.

“Are you done staring?” you say, snapping Ran out from his stupor. His eyes were dreading to look away from your body to your face but he met your eyes, staring at him with those eyes of yours all shiny under the lights.

“You giving me permission to stare more?” Ran asks, smirking.

You try to hide your smile by looking down at your lap. After composing yourself, you look back up at him. “Flirting with me when my boyfriend is right over there?”

“Who said I’m flirting with you?” He rounds the couch and sits down heavily next to him, his colonge wafting in your direction. He smells so expensive you struggle to focus on anything but him.

He looks lazily at you with half-lidded eyes, and you felt your body tempertaure rising by the second, wondering if someone turned off the AC in the room. His eyes not-so-subtly drop downwards, over the swell of your breasts.

“If you’re not flirting with me then keep your eyes up.” You grin when he grins, both of you equally not taking the situation seriously.

He takes a sip of his drink before handing it to you. You didn’t hesitate to take a sip and the both of you kept passing the drink as you spoke to each other. He tells you about himself, you told him about yourself and how you dropped out of university because you couldn’t afford it anymore, and how Kozo basically took you off the streets to live with him in his house.

The more you drink, the more you loosen up and the alcohol basically forcing the words out of your mouth and you end up spilling how unhappy you were with Kozo, how money is the only thing keeping you around and the fact something deep inside you is just waiting for him to go bankrupt so you had an excuse to leave.

When it was Ran’s turn to speak, you found your self zoning out, your eyes wandering along his face, tracing the sharp cut of his jaw. Your mouth was tingling as you wondered if his skin felt as soft as it looks. His voice is what got you the most, it was so deep and seductive you couldn’t help but ask him pointless questions just to hear him laugh and respond. By this point your brain totally forgot about Kozo, in fact, it had you hoping some other girl caught his attention like last time just so you had an excuse to sneak away with Ran for even a minute.

Fuck, at this rate you’d be happy with even ten seconds of his time. As the alcohol raged through your body, you found your mind getting dirtier, imagining his voice in your ear whispering all kinds of dirty things he wants to do to you. He looks like he’d be good at dirty talk, knowing exactly what to say to turn you to mush.

You slide your eyes down to his hands resting on his lap and wonder just how big they’ll look on certain parts of your body. And just like that, you can feel them on your ass, squeezing and rolling the flesh between his fingers—those long, slender fingers—that look like they’ll fit wonderfully inside your pussy.

The thoughts were coming faster and getting dirtier and you shook your head to try shake the thoughts out but it wasn’t working. 

Your body knew what it wanted and it was him . It never reacted this way for Kozo and for once you’ve never wanted to just rip your clothes off for a man right here and now. You blink and nod every time Ran says something, hoping and prating he didn’t see the way you completely zoned out and allowed lust to fully take over. 

“Well?” he says after a few seconds of silence.

You blink again, confused. “Sorry, what?”

He chuckles (dear lord his voice) and speaks again. “I asked you a question.”

“A question…? Oh, sorry. I—”

“Was too busy thinking of me,” he finishes for you, that smirk back on his face as you gape at him, speechless. 

“I wasn’t—” Your voice came out too high—a clear indication you were lying— and so you clear your throat and tried again. “I wasn’t.” He’s smiling at you again, though he looks insanely hot wearing that cocky smirk, it still made you irritated nonetheless. “I wasn’t,” you repeated, furrowing your brows.

"Think he'll notice if you leave for a few minutes?" Ran asks you with a grin, making no attempt to hide the lust that's clouding his voice.

You bit your lip and shook your head quickly. With that, Ran stands and holds his hand out for you to grab.

You take it gratefully, your heart racing and your palms clammy. In seconds, you're being pulled off the couch, towards the door. For some reason, you feel as though you should be worried, Kozo's warning in the car replaying in your mind over and over again, but then you glance at Ran once more, his tall, lanky frame walking in front of you and your worries seem to disappear.

Rindou watches his brother take your hand and exit the room and rolls his eyes, not even the slightest bit surprised Ran would listen to his dick first rather than care about losing Kozo as a regular of the club. He downs the rest of his drink and heads over to the roulette table, determined to keep Kozo's attention on nothing but the game and not on the fact his girlfriend currently disappeared from sight with his brother.

Ran opens the door to a room titled VIP room, letting go of your hand and lets you walk in first. You turn around to the sight of him shrugging his jacket off and you instantly head towards the couch, shifting backwards until your back hit the couch arm. 

Ran follows, one knee on the couch as he cages you in between him and the arm. Your hands rise to his hair, looking up at him through hazy eyes before bringing him down closer. His lips brush against yours for a moment before he closes the distance. 

You couldn’t keep your hands off him, his broad shoulders, down to his waist, grabbing whatever you could muster. He groans into your mouth when your fingers rake up to his hair, scratching lightly.

His big hands spread your legs open, your dress riding up your thigh exposing more skin he’s been dying to touch, and slots himself between your spread legs. Your legs close around his waist, locking him in place as his tongue devours your mouth, licking lightly at yours until every inch of your patience is going haywire. 

The desire running through your veins make it so you don’t even care about what you’re doing, Kozo completely eliminated from your mind as you kiss him back as passionately as you can muster.  

His hand slides down the sides of your body, your waist, to your hips and he pulls away from the kiss to sit on his knees. Reaching behind him, he unlocks your legs from his body and spreads them open. You bite your lip and wriggle your hips to help him peel your panties off quicker. 

His fingers gravitate towards your cunt, soaking and ready for him. A small whimper leaves your mouth when his finger grazes your slit, moving upwards to your clit and rubs circles on it. Your mouth drops open as you pant softly at the sensation.

Satisfied, he inches forward, latches his lips onto your neck and sucks. His lips, plus the skilled movement of his fingers have your body working overtime, pleasure filling every pore of your skin as your back arches with every flick of his finger.

“Ran…” You’re the first to speak ever since entering the room and he hums in response against your neck, the vibrations echoing throughout your entire body.

“Yeah baby? Whaddya need?” His words, muffled from his face in your neck, still manage to reach you.

“I want…” you keen when his finger circles at your hole before pushing in, making your eyes squeeze shut at the intrusion. “Feels so good .”

“I know baby.”  He pulls out from your neck. “Boutta make you feel even better.”  

His hand pulls the top of your strapless dress down, revealing your bra. He kisses your breast exposed from the bra cup and bites down softly on the flesh. He hasn’t even touched your nipples yet and you were already aching for him. 

You throw your head back against the couch arm when you moan, biting down on your lip hard as his finger inside you reaches a place that’s never been touched by your own fingers, or Kozo’s. You feel a whole new world of pleasure, mind so dissociated from reality that you don’t even notice he’s pulled your bra cup down all the way and latches his mouth to your nipple, sucking rhythmically with hollow cheeks as he gets the most out of your reactions. 

He switches to the other nipple, flicking and rolling the other wet one with his spare fingers. He squeezes your breast as he sucks, adding another finger into your wet pussy and begins to fuck it faster just to hear the squelch and the sound of your moans getting louder, body squirming, writhing on the couch, unable to even function anymore.

“I’m gonna —ah fuck !” Your hand flies to your mouth and you scream into it, legs shaking uncontrollably, body twitching as his fingers keep thrusting in and out of you. It takes more than thirty seconds for you to regain control over your body and weakly attempt to push him off you.

“That was so hot baby.” He’s chuckling and bending down to your pussy, spreading your folds open with two fingers. He eyes the wetness in front of him, your juices leaking from your quivering hole, soaking the couch and your inner thighs. 

You’re panting heavily, hand smacked over your eyes as you try to rub the stars in your vision away before yelping when you feel him blow cold air onto your bare cunt. He watches the way your hole spasms, laughing to himself before inching forward, sealing his lips to your folds. 

He sucks and kisses along your pussy, his tongue flicking through your juices, your clit, and even protrudes your hole, entering without any warning. Your hands fly to his hair, trying to pull him off while simultaneously grinding his face against your pussy. 

His lips attach to your clit, sucking the bundle of nerves until a sound he’s satisfied with escapes your lips, then he’s re-entering his tongue into your pussy, licking around until you tug uselessly at his hair.

He loves seeing you like this, so broken and drunk on the feeling of his tongue and fingers. He had a feeling Kozo wasn’t satisfying you like he should be, and wants to raise the bar so high that you’ll never want to accept sex from a low-life scum like Kozo. Wants to raise the bar so high that you won’t be able to cum from a mouth that isn’t Ran’s, a cock that’s not Ran’s, or fingers that’s not his or your own. 

He’s so preoccupied in making you cum for a second time he doesn’t realise your legs are shaking uncontrollably again, unable to control yourself and you release on his face again except its more liquid than you’d ever produced before.

You fucking squirt on his face, on his tongue, and you want to sink into the floor from embarrassment. Ran pauses, pulls his face away from your pussy, completely drenched and looks at you peeking at him through a small hole you made with your hands covering your face.

“I’m so sorry—I—I told you to stop…” you try defend yourself but he’s pulling your hands away from your face.

“And you’re apologising for what? That was so hot baby.” He wipes his face with his shirt, uncaring of the huge wet stain on his perfectly ironed white shirt and  cages you back between him and the couch, his strong arms coming beside your head to hover above you. “You never done that before, right?”

You meekly shake your head and he grins, smug and proud of himself before bending downwards, capturing your lips in his. Your hands cup the side of his face and kiss him back softly, slowly, treasuring the feeling of his lips against yours, the way his tongue flicks playfully into your mouth.

“...Ran…” you whisper between kisses, obsessed with the taste, touch, feel of him. You can’t get enough. The way he feels against you, the sounds he makes when you make him feel good, the strength of his grip on your waist, the passion behind his eyes when he looks at you. 

You’ve never felt anything like it before.  Ran could get you off ten times in a row if he wanted to, and you’d happily let him.

Your hand travels from his cheek, around to his neck, eagerly meeting his kisses with soft moans, before running your spare hand down his chest to his pants, finally resting there and letting your fingers trail across the print of the dick poking through his pants. 

Ran smiles against your lips, opening his mouth and running his tongue up your neck and onto your ear lobe.

"I wanna make you feel good," you breath out shakily, hand still caressing the outline of his erection.  He moans a quiet "fuck okay" into your ear before shifting to sit on couch.

You get on your knees next to him, looking up at him and meet his lips again for another deep, intense kiss, then run your tongue down his jaw line, all the while unzipping his pants and pulling his cock out. Ran takes a hold of your head, moving your lips further down his throat, groaning softly when you begin to leave marks on his skin.

His cock twitches in your hand as you stroke it in movement with your lips on his neck, trailing the tip of your thumb on his shaft until you’re brushing against the slit, lightly swirling around.  Ran jerks your head away from his neck and locks eyes with you. 

"You drive me crazy," he admits quietly, watching you intently.

You bite your lip and take your spare hand, tugging playfully on one of his braids and lean in close, lips brushing his, "you're driving me crazy too." You shut him up with a kiss before he can respond, nibbling his bottom lip and slipping your tongue into his mouth hungrily. He moans into your mouth, tangling his tongue with yours, spending sparks of electricity coursing through you.

You slowly strip him from his shirt, making sure you don't miss any detail about his body, memorizing every curve and shadow. "Wanna drive you even crazier," you whisper and kiss down his stomach.

Ran's breathing is becoming heavier and his skin has become flush as he watches you inch your way down his torso, sucking and licking the light trail of hair going down his abs, until you finally come to a halt at his crotch. Sliding off the couch, you got on the floor on your knees and bend down until your lips brush the head of his cock.

Looking up at him, you take the first hesitant lick of his cock and watch him quiver slightly. His eyes burn with desire, hands gripping the sides of the couch tightly, his eyes watching every flick of your tongue on his length. You begin to lick and suck, going deeper each time and taking all of him in, sending shockwaves of pleasure through Ran's body.

You wrap your lips around his shaft, moving them up and down at the same pace, humming softly when a low moan escapes his lips, vibrating against your tongue as you continue to lick, swirl your tongue around the sensitive head. The way he smells, tastes and feels is intoxicating. Every lick sends more and more tingles down your spine, adding fuel to the fire already burning inside you.

After a few minutes of this slow blowjob, Ran stands up and helps you stand as well. "Get on the couch," he says, caressing your hips as you look at him expectantly.

"Okay," you giggle, obeying him.  He picks up his jeans and grabs a condom from his back pocket, slipping it on his cock as you crawl on top of the couch, on all fours and arch your back, inviting him to come closer, pushing your ass against him.

Ran kneels in front of you and guides the head of his hard cock to your wet entrance, rubbing it up and down over your slit, then pauses. You look back, about to ask what's wrong before he speaks first. "Actually, turn around. Wanna see your face as I fuck you."

His words send waves of heat through you and you lift yourself off the couch, turning around so that you're on your back. Ran licks his lips, spreading your legs wide open for him, eyes never leaving your own. The heat behind his eyes are so intense, you squeeze your eyes closed to avoid them.

His hands tilt your head up and then leans forward, kissing your forehead softly.  "Open your eyes, pretty," he whispers, nipping your earlobe gently.

You slowly open your eyes and glance up at him, seeing a smirk spread across his face, seeing desire and need there. His voice is strained and thick when he asks if you're ready. You bite your lip and nod yes, biting back a scream when his hot, throbbing length slips inside you.  It hurts a little but you manage to hide your wince by smashing your hand over your mouth.

"Shit," he curses under his breath and pulls almost completely out of you, only to slam himself back inside of you hard and fast. You gasp loudly, hands rising to his shoulders, nails digging into his skin. Ran's hands come to rest beside your head, thrusting into you repeatedly, each thrust harder than the last.

"Faster," you pant and arch your back.

He continues to thrust, letting go of your hips, wrapping his arms around you instead. He grinds his hips into yours, whispering, "Fuck, you feel amazing, baby. Just as I thought you would be."  A small smile spreads across your face, "You alright?"

Your cheeks are flushed, feeling both turned on and embarrassed at the same time, "ye-yeah...I'm g—good," you stutter out when his hips start to move faster again.  Your hips start to meet his and the familiar pressure builds quickly.

The first few thrusts of orgasm hit you hard, pleasure shooting through your core, soaking your insides and causing you to tense up as your inner walls clamp down on Ran's length. Your body trembles beneath him, moaning loudly as you clutch his arms tighter, not wanting to let go, wanting him to keep fucking you forever.

As your climax subsides, the pressure releases its hold and he slams into you one final time, letting out a deep groan suffocated by the press of his face into your shoulder. His hips stutter as he fills the condom, thrusting weakly into your body once, twice, three times before coming down next to you on the couch, chest heaving, sweat glistening on his skin.

You lie on the couch, body still trembling from the intense pleasure you just experienced, trying to catch your breath. The feel of Ran's weight pressed onto you makes you relax, enjoying the warmth radiating from his body, letting out a soft purr of contentment.

He turns his head, resting it on your chest. "That was good, huh?" His head snaps up at the sound of your laughter. "Yeah? You enjoyed it?"

"Best I ever had," you say honestly, smiling slightly, holding his head in your hands and looking earnestly at him.

Ran looks away for a second, biting his lip. After a moment he looks back at you, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. "Leave that guy," he says out of nowhere and you blink at him.

"What?" you ask with confusion.

"Kozo, Kazoo whatever the fuck. Leave him." He drops his head onto your shoulder childishly, his hands clutching your bare back as he tugs you closer. "Don't wanna share you with that guy."

"You're already assuming I want you back. Moving a little fast, no?" you tease, giggling.

"I already know your answer, pretty. Stop playing dumb," he sighs dramatically and you raise an eyebrow, pulling away from him.

"Confident aren't you?"

"Am I wrong?" he sits up, bringing his legs off the couch, coming closer to you. "That guy treats you like literal shit. There's no possible way you're thinking about staying with him."

You shrug and look down at your lap. "He buys me nice things. I don't wanna lose that."

Ran inches closer to your ear, his hot breath making you shiver. "Can buy you better things," he says, trailing his fingers along your jawline. "Can treat you better too."

He grabs your chin, turning your face towards his, planting a firm, chaste kiss on your lips.  When he pulls away he smiles widely at you, biting his bottom lip. "Say it," he whispers.

You swallow nervously, looking up at him, debating whether or not you should give in. "Alright..."  you mumble, looking up at him with a big smile on your face. “I’ll leave him. But you gotta take me out on a nice date.”

“Bet.” He presses a long, firm kiss on your forehead. “Now lets get you outta here.” 

Ran helps you put all your clothes back on, and by help it means trying to slip them off everytime you tug them back on. After giving into temptation, another ten minute make out session on the couch—with your clothes on—you finally pick up the ten missed calls and texts from Kozo asking where the hell you were.

You look at Ran, asking for help on what to say. 

“I have an idea. Give it here.” He held his hand out for you to give you his phone. You look at him sceptically, the look on his face screaming all sorts of mischief.

“You won’t do anything weird, right? I wanna end things with him but I don’t want him to hate me.”

“Uh-huh,” he responds, clearly not paying attention as he taps away at your phone. You wait for him to finish and turns the phone off and hands it back to you. “Ran what the hell did you do?”

“Blocked him.” He stands up when you gape at him, shocked. 

“What the fuck? I told you not to do anything weird…” Your voice gets lower and quieter when his hand skirts around your hip, pulling you closer to him. “Ran…I’m serious. He’s going to be so mad at me when he—”

“He’s not gonna do shit. Now put your coat on, lemme take you home.” 

You do as he says and when you’re leaving the club with Ran’s hand in yours, you pretend not to see Kozo eyes wide with shock, turning to anger when Ran smirks in his direction, his hand snaking to your lower back to help guide you out the door like the ever so respectable gentleman he is.

mr steal yo girl is back hehe

Not proof read so ignore any mistakes plz

[lepoppeta]

Favorite Elite Four members of each region, GO GO GO

Buckle up, buttercup.

KANTO - LORELEI. I have a Pokemon Adventures manga from my elementary school years that showcases several stories from the Yellow arc. At one point, Yellow gets chased and later cornered by Lorelai of the Kanto Elite Four (who are, in fact, all villains in the Adventures manga, hell bent on killing humans who caused the suffering of Pokemon). Villain or not, Lorelai is memorable in both aesthetic and personality; I like her sexy businesswoman vibe, and "Lorelai" is just such a pretty name. Ice is also one of my favourite types, even if it is a touch frail.

(Runner up - Lance, but he doesn't really count so much anymore because he becomes Champion in the sequel Johto games).

JOHTO - KAREN. I'm not sure what GameFreak were going for with Karen's design, because she sure doesn't look like a Dark-type trainer, but I like her regardless. She's got the all-famous quote:

"Strong Pokemon, weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favourites."

... which I think really encompasses what Pokemon as a game is at least supposed to be (it was only successful in executing this I think in the most recent two or arguably three generations). Her Destiny Bond-Gengar is also a staple.

(Runner up - Will)

HOENN - GLACIA. When I was 9 and first taking on the Hoenn League in Emerald, I'm pretty sure Glacia gave me the most trouble due to her Hail strategies and also because her bulky Walrein was impossible for little old underleveled me to one-shot. Her outfit and overall vibe reminds me of an opera singer somewhat and I really like that. Also - more Ice types!

(Runner up - Sydney)

SINNOH - LUCIAN. I've always found Lucian to be much harder to beat than Cynthia, mostly due to his Bronzong and the fact that it's really hard to overlevel in the Sinnoh games (the later level jumps, especially in DP and BDSP, are kind of insane). I'm a big fan of calm, collected boss-types and Lucian definitely fits that bill.

(Runner Up - Aaron)

UNOVA - GRIMSLEY. I love Grimsley's energy so much; this lazy, aristocratic vibe he clings to. It's such a shame that he's got such an intense and detrimental gambling addiction (or at least he does until SM was released, I assume at that point he's in rehab) and what seems to be some sort of reliance on chance (maybe a sprinkling of OCD) but it's also what makes him so interesting. He was definitely the most intriguing of the Unova E4 for me.

(Runner up - Shauntal)

KALOS - DRASNA. I must say that I don't find the Kalos E4 to be particularly memorable as individuals (although the environment and build-up to fighting them is spot-on), so this was a little tough, but I'd have to ultimately pick Drasna as a favourite. She's just so nice to you! It's also nice to get another female Dragon specialist, and she's a heck of a lot more enjoyable than Claire ever was.

(Runner up - Wikstrom)

ALOLA - KAHILI. This one's a little weird because, at least to me, Kahili is the only member of the Alolan E4 (except for perhaps Molayne); all of the others (Hala, Olivia, Acerola) in my mind are temporary since this is the first League match.

Kahili is interesting in many ways; she's obviously a very serious person, she's a professional golfer (which I believe is a first for Pokemon), and she's the first Flying E4 specialist we ever got.

(Runner up - Molayne)

PALDEA - HASSEL. The man, the myth, the legend. There's no way I could complete this list without mentioned our dearly beloved bow-legged Dragon master. It helps that SV fleshes out pretty much every important adult NPC in the entire game, and it also helps that Hassel is one half of a whole ship that both I and @roxycake adore immensely. His history is out in the open for you to discover and yet still shrouded in a healthy layer of mystery. I wonder if anything new will be discovered when the DLC comes out later this year.

(Runner up - Rika)

[theartistknownaslymond]

Whumptober 2022 day 30

This is the writing mood lads, but we’re nearly there...

Manhandled | Hair Grabbing | “Please don’t touch me.”

Another stellar shout from @stripedroseandsketchpads ​ Mmmmaybe the thing in PiF where Lymond is caught/being held back and GRM tries to literally force him to take drugs etc? Iirc there was also face grabbing involved…

Took me a while to find the in on this, and please don’t question surrounding details - PiF timelines and events diverge a bit from canon. A card game isn’t equivalent to five-aside opium-fuelled murder chess, it’s just one element of things. Francis has been playing at other tables too - though you might be suspicious as to whether he really has been trying to cheat the house.

CW: kidnapping (well...implied gambling for custody over people), prescription drug misuse and addiction, manhandling and signs of a beating (blood). Casino setting. GRM being there, being a creep, trying to force drugs on our dear hero. Also cw 1980s fashions. And a toddler gets dropped, but that’s how it goes in canon, too.

---

"You can't just keep me here!" Philippa injected all of her strident Somerville common-sense into the words.

She supposed Kate had been right about another thing - a shower and a change of clothes could do wonders for your confidence. She'd probably have been unstoppable if she'd been allowed to choose the outfit herself. Instead she had to make do with Kiaya Çalışkan's idea of suitable attire for a business meeting in a casino: a clingy mint green dress cut straight across the top so that her shoulders and collarbones were bare, cinched in at the middle by a wide gold belt that felt almost like a corset. In the air-conditioned room, Philippa's neck and shoulders might have felt exposed if not for her hair, which fell long over her clavicles, and for the child, Hamal's warm weight in her arms.

She stood at the table where the final game of the night had been played and stared down the array of disinterest and disdain that greeted her.

The owner of the casino, Roxelana, gazed impassively at Philippa. "Sweetheart, he lost," she said, raising one empty palm and shrugging.

Kiaya Çalışkan's arms were folded - an unusual indicator of her annoyance - but she said nothing to support Philippa. She looked at Roxelana and Philippa thought she saw something pass between them, these two otherworldly women. They towered on their huge heels like tall, elegant birds, Kiaya's gracefully curved nose raised in the air, Roxelana's long, narrow eyes quick to observe from beneath her heavily made-up lids.

Roxelana's thin lips softened at the corners into a hostess' smile and she turned back to Philippa. "You'll be quite comfortable here, our rooms are luxurious. It's only until Mr Crawford and Mr Reid Malett can reach a more...binding agreement."

"It's still kidnapping," Philippa said baldly.

Roxelana chuckled mirthlessly, her mouth remaining closed as she did. She met Kiaya's eyes and Kiaya smiled back obligingly.

Philippa wondered what sort of life these women led, where a teenager complaining of kidnapping and abduction could just be treated as a source of amusement, or something endearingly naïve to be patronised.

The third person on the other side of the table had been staring at her with an expression of boredom and disgust. Graham Reid Malett's lip curled even as he ran his icy blue eyes up and down her body. His hands were in the pockets of his pink satin suit trousers and he stood in an aspect of readied relaxation that belied the damage Philippa knew had been done to one of his legs.

Philippa clutched Hamal tightly and pretended she couldn't feel Reid Malett assessing every swell and curve of her seventeen years through the form-fitting fabric of her dress. She tossed her hair back and raised her chin assertively. "Mr Crawford won't stand for this. I know he has a plan. He'll never consent to leaving Ms O'Dwyer and their son behind with a man like him," she deliberately ignored Reid Malett and addressed Roxelana, the lady in charge.

Another woman, who remained sitting down next to her, gazed up with her own look of wry amusement, though it was nearly buried beneath exhaustion. Oonagh O'Dwyer appeared every inch the supermodel again after Kiaya's work - an ivory-coloured satin bodice enfolded her body, as straight-edged and unyielding as she was, and an artfully pressed pair of matching trousers seemed to engulf her long, skinny legs. She held a toddler on her lap as well, a sullen and restless boy with blond curls and a long, angry mouth. She didn't contradict Philippa - but Philippa gathered that she had little hope of any help from Francis now.

"He ought to have played better then, oughtn't he?" Reid Malett sneered.

"Yes, well - " Philippa drew an indignant breath, but didn't get the chance to offer up an excuse for Mr Crawford. At that moment the door to the private room opened and the man himself was launched back through it, followed by two black-suited security guards.

Francis tumbled to his knees on the thick, patterned carpet and wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist. Philippa saw it come away with blood on it and she detected Oonagh's soft murmur - some Irish curse, no doubt.

Reid Malett perked up at his appearance, swaying to face the man who was now being forcibly restrained by the guards. His hands still in his pockets, he nodded his head at Roxelana's chief of security, who had been standing in the shadows by the wall, observing all with silent professionalism.

"Well, Dragut. Looks like your boys have discovered some...irregularities already."

The Turkish guard did not move or unfold his arms. His moustache twitched a little, like he wanted dearly to say something to Reid Malett, but instead he asked his men what the situation was.

One tossed a leather satchel on the table and pointed a finger at it. "He's been pocketing his winnings. Tried to leave without paying off his credit."

"A serious accusation," Reid Malett looked at Roxelana and stepped forwards, reaching for the bag. "May I?"

Dragut watched him closely but did not object. Roxelana frowned, folded her arms and nodded.

Philippa was staring at Francis, who laughed ruefully and shook his head. There was blood welling from his split lip and dripping on the front of his white shirt. His arms were held unnecessarily tightly behind his back by the two guards. He glanced up finally and met her eyes. "Hullo. Fancy meeting you here," he gasped, his attempt at a reassuring smile somewhat undercut by the blood on his teeth.

Hamal saw it too and whimpered unhappily. He wrapped his small fists in Philippa's hair and nuzzled her chin.

Reid Malett was removing things from the satchel. What interested him most seemed to be a little orange pill bottle, which he shook experimentally and held up to the light above the playing table. "Oh, Francis, my dove. What on earth is this?" he cooed.

Philippa went to take another step closer to see what it was, but felt a cool grip on her arm.

Oonagh looked up at her with steady, serious green eyes. "Mo chailín cróga. Don't."

She hesitated. She just wanted to ask the guards to loosen their grip a bit, to check Reid Malett hadn't somehow planted the evidence he seemed so unsurprised to find. But Oonagh's expression was the expression of a woman who knew all too well what was at stake and what the people in the room were capable of. She squeezed Philippa's arm until the girl sighed and agreed to hang back.

In Oonagh's arms, Cai watched Swami Geetesh with a rapt expression. "Sweeties!" he yelled, and pointed a chubby finger at the bottle in Reid Malett's hand.

Most of the people in the room where staring at the child and the pill bottle - only Philippa and Oonagh saw Francis turn glacial white at the boy's demand.

Reid Malett smiled perfunctorily at Cai. "Not sweeties, no. The sign of a dreadful addiction, in fact. When did you grow so desperate that you had to self-medicate, Francis?" he stepped towards him until he was standing right in front of the kneeling Mr Crawford, and he shook the bottle of pills again, holding it down by his crotch, which he held jutted towards Francis' face.

Francis swallowed and a tremor went through his body. The guards responded as though it had been an escape attempt and wrenched his arms back further.

Graham Reid Malett stared at him, open-eyed, open-lipped, an expression of thirsty fascination on his features. "It's been a while since you've had any, hm?"

He flicked the cap off with his thumb and wafted the bottle below Francis' downturned face. It probably didn't smell of much at all, but the proximity of it made Francis snap his head up and wriggle against his restraints.

"You must be feeling dreadful," Reid Malett mused. He turned to Roxelana and Kiaya, but he did not move away from Mr Crawford. "It must have impaired his judgement during the game. It would be remiss of me to accept a result like that - won on an advantage, against a man who is already lost to his basest instincts."

"Indeed?" Kiaya's brows raised. "What do you propose?"

Reid Malett barked a laugh. "Well first, he needs to be in his right state of mind." He raised the bottle and studied it again. "They're strong, Francis. How long have you been taking them?" Abruptly, he dropped to a crouch, so that he was at eye level with his plaything. "You must be feeling..." Reid Malett studied his face, then whipped a large hand out to grab Francis and hold him, his thumb on Francis' cheek, his fingers tight on the back of his head. "Simply dreadful. No sleep...cold sweats...anxiety...do you see that it is all hopeless yet, darling?"

Mr Crawford pressed his lips together and Philippa distinctly saw him shudder again.

Reid Malett beamed. "Siezures? Oh dear. Dear, dear, dear. I think the only way you can work with us is if you have a little more, hm? We don't have time to wait out the withdrawal symptoms."

"Hold his head," he stood and ordered the guards.

"Stop!" Philippa yelped. "Why are you listening to him? He's not your boss!"

Oonagh's hand was on her arm again, pinching tight, but Oonagh was also looking at Roxelana and Dragut. Kiaya was looking at Dragut. Dragut was looking at Roxelana.

The lady of the house turned to the table and ran her fingers through the takings that had been discovered in Francis' bag. She hummed to herself and tapped a roll of bills with one manicured nail. "Why did you steal from me, Mr Crawford?" she asked.

Francis, his head forced back and his hair pulled tight by one of the guards, grimaced. "My financial problems are well known."

Roxelana's eyes narrowed. "Indeed, which is why I brought you here to negotiate a residency on stage."

Francis' brows rose and he glanced at Reid Malett, a smile almost reaching his lips. "Yes. It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"The uncontrolled impulses of a junkie," Graham Reid Malett announced.

Roxelana looked down her long, straight nose at Mr Crawford and at Reid Malett. Then she shrugged and turned away.

"Dragut, I think Mr Crawford will be staying with us as well. Please have someone prepare a room for him."

"No..." Philippa whined, pain seeping into her voice as Oonagh's nails bit into the skin of her bicep.

Mr Crawford didn't have a chance to cast a brave look in her direction. Reid Malett grabbed his jaw between his thumb and fingers and pinched tight enough that Philippa could see the blood rise to his skin even from where she stood.

Reid Malett lifted the bottle of pills towards Mr Crawford's mouth and squeezed as hard as he could against his teeth, trying to force an opening to appear between his lips.

The only thing that Philippa could think of to do was not very fair, really, but then nobody in this room could judge her on it. Nobody except for Hamal himself, whom she murmured an apology to as she let her hold on him fail and watched him drop to the floor.

Hamal shrieked as he fell and shrieked again at the impact. It wasn't very far and the carpet was plush, but the shock of it left him howling.

It was enough of a distraction - in the instant the guards' attention wandered, Francis tore his hair free and threw himself sideways, managing to knock the pill bottle from Reid Malett's hand with his shoulder as he turned.

The contents of the bottle rolled away and found places to nestle in among the thick pile carpet. Francis didn't try to flee, but let the guards grasp him once more and laughed even as the back of Reid Malett's hand landed a blow across his cheek.

Philippa had bent to where Hamal sat screaming, his face red and the tears flowing down his cheeks. She tutted at the carpet burn on his knee and spoke gently but firmly. "Fie, fie, hinny! It’s a soft, expensive rug!"

She glanced up to check on Mr Crawford and saw he was staring at her with horror, Reid Malett's face next to his, also turned towards Philippa. She could almost read the words on his lips as he murmured against Francis' cheek: "Don't worry. I'll see that she pays for it."

[ringmyheart]

Hey was wondering if I could get something for lookism characters with an older s/o, like they're 3-4 older. Please do goo, Jake kim and Scott kwon.

Good luck with the blog🤩🤩🤩

Goo Kim

When you get into the relationship, of course he knows ur age and that you’re a few years older than him, and at first he doesn’t mention it but once ur like just a little bit closer he’s probably gonna poke fun at the fact

Because there’s nothing wrong w u being older it’s just that in all the stereotypical or general movies or shows or books it’s like the older person in the relationship is usually the like stronger or more providing person ends up being the oldest in the relationship and ur not useless in the relationship at all but he’s out there like killing ppl and raking in thousands a day at like 19 😭

If ur walking around in public and someone stares at u for a little longer or one of the ten geniuses is looking at u just casually he’ll get up in their face and b like “whaaat?! Do you know who you’re staring at? That’s your elder over there!! Show some respect!!”

He definitely sends u cringy texts like “how’s my favorite 21 year old 😍😍😍😍” and it’s clearly somewhat condescending but he means it endearingly simultaneously

If u don’t know something that he asks u he’ll raise a brow and go “really? A four year head start and u can’t tell me that 🤨” and it’s all good fun but he’s always gonna say stuff like that

And this is all unprompted, if he knows ur actually kinda like insecure for whatever reason that ur older than him, maybe bc he’s already getting cash like crazy at his age, he’ll either start making fun of u relentlessly OR if ur serious about it he’ll cut it out of course and never mention it again. He might try to make u feel better by being like “don’t worry!! Physically and mentally im probably years older than you 😘” and it doesn’t really make u feel better probably but he kind of tries

It’s honestly no big deal to him what ur age is, but if he knows u don’t like him mentioning it so much he will bc he likes to be annoying LMAO and whenever u accomplish something he’ll be like “did u see what my s/o did?! My 21/22yr old s/o?! At their old age they’re still kicking it!!” And ur in NO means old but he just wants to strike a nerve in u and fight in public for fun

But when u put him joking about it aside, it really doesn’t mean anything in the relationship honestly. He doesn’t feel like there’s a certain way for things to go nd just goes about things normally, and he doesn’t really see people older than him as wiser or anytning so he’s not gonna like go to you for advice or ask you to figure things out for him just bc ur older

And honestly u don’t even need a job anymore bc ur gonna b together for a long time and he makes SOOO much money so if u hate ur job or college u have the opportunity to do what u want in life without worrying ab the pay bc he makes it all for u

And yeah he’s pretty stingy w money besides being filthy rich but when or if u need it he’ll give it to u ofc and he wants u to pursue what u like too so he’ll even go to ur job or college and just inform them “btw (y/n) isn’t gonna work here anymore” for u and gets u a job as whatever u want. He beats up ur boss so u can get promoted or something but if u ask about it he’ll deny it anyways and it’s like who else would beat tf out of my boss and he shrugs

Or if u like ur current job or college he’ll threaten the school or ur boss LMAO and have them give u more money or make u pay less or promote u

Even tho ur older than him he sees himself as the like leader of u two ?? Like he’s a really joke-y guy on the exterior but behind the scenes he is doing all the like hard stuff so u don’t have to. Like he sees it as he helps u and if u never offer much help or advice he doesn’t gaf, it’s like he helps u and in return he gets u LMAO

If u like ur job or college, don’t wanna quit and don’t want him threatening ur superiors he is like the number one customer of u guys

Like if u r working retail or as a cashier he is always going to that store nd buying stuff nd funding ur business and he gets chairman choi to do so too

Or he’ll just buy ur company or college LMFAO and suddenly sales r booming and u don’t know why r ur classes r so much easier

Yeah ur older than him and the twelve geniuses but he doesn’t let u near them 😐 he doesn’t want u to be a part of that type of business and honestly keeps u away from it besides maybe gun bc he’s always around him but that’s it

Like he doesn’t want u anywhere near his business or that type of stuff and if ur curios about it he says “u will understand when ur my age” or something LMAO so u will stop asking. It’s like the 1 time he’s suddenly rlly serious

If anyone else mentions how ur older than him in a demeaning way he’ll def be mad it’s like HE can make fun of u but no one else can, like ever. He will fight them nd win even if it’s just on the street or something

He’s threatened like two of ur friends behind ur back bc they made fun of u once and u mentioned it LMAO

He makes u do taxes (does he even do taxes ????? LMFAO) but if he does he makes u do them bc suddenly he thinks ur so much smarter and wiser

If he’s in a rut and needs ur help and it’s something dumb like he lost something he’ll b like “cmooon ur so much smarter than me 😣😩 ur like 21 u would know this for sure” to make u do it and he uses flattery

None of the ten geniuses know ur name bc he’s tryna keep u safe lol

If ur ever in a situation somehow vaguely similar to one he’s in and he needs help on it he’ll ask u what u did, and if u say something surprisingly smart or wise he’ll be kinda surprised bc I feel like he’s cocky and doesn’t think others can help him that much but u do

But overall, it means nothing to him and it doesn’t matter how much older u r he’s still gonna feel like the protector

Jake Kim

It REALLY means nothing to him. Like he honestly never mentions it and ur like does he even know??? Bc a guy like him who’s like a leader of a whole enterprise type thing gang usually seems like he’d wanna be the elder in a relationship so ur like “... u know I’m like 4yrs older than u right?”

And he’s like “...yeah? Was that important or something?” And just blinks at u so ur like ... never mind

Honestly he probably makes u a bank account and puts money in it to surprise u on ur birthday or something like a little fund thing and he has a bank account on the side for u that has like thousands of dollars

If u ever feel bad or weird that ur older than him bc he is so successful and younger than u, he wonders why it even matters??? Who gaf??? And he’ll just hug u or something and is like pls don’t even worry about that... wth

If u ever feel petty bc he’s so much more successful than u bc it’s like when u have a hobby that u love and then a kid ends up being so much better at it than u but SO much worse bc he has like millions at like 19 💀 then he’s like okay but it’s OUR little enterprise now since we r together to assure u. He’s not cocky about it at all

But he won’t offer for u to join or try and help him out in making money even if he’s got to or it’s vital bc he also doesn’t want u involved w Big Deal at ALLLLLLL either, u could literally b like the smartest person in the world but once ur his s/o he probably doesn’t want u involved in his business at all

He does assume ur kind of wiser than him bc of ur age, so he’ll ask u for help or advice more often

Tbh regardless in a relationship he probably doesn’t leave any work for u to do like he does everything the financial stuff the living stuff everything so it doesn’t matter if ur older than him or if u see it as ur responsibility bc of that he’s still gonna bring in the money for y’all

Like he’s gonna take care of everything even if ur older so there’s no pressure for u to “act ur age”

Never brings up the fact that ur older than him, but maybe once in a fight it got bad and he yelled “ffs ur 21 u should know better than this!!” And that hurt ur feelings or something so from then on he just never ever mentioned it

And when others mention it he makes a cut throat motion like “stfu😡” bc he took it as u not liking ur age being brought up rather than u not liking it being held against u but it’s still kinda sweet how he tries to preserve ur feelings sm

If ur in college or something, he tries to help u w hw and stuff and he’s rlly educationally smart I think like he might’ve gotten bad grades but he understands quickly

And eventually he’s just doing ur hw for u LMAO

One time he probably accidentally wrote “Jake Kim” on the top of ur hw and u had to explain to ur professor why that happened

If u work, he probably also bribes ur boss or something to give u a raise and promotion or if u wanna move jobs but r scared of the low pay he feels like it’s a dumb fear bc he is clearly rich af, like u probably don’t even need a job 😭😭

Ur allowed to since ur in ur 20s legally but he doesn’t like or doesn’t let u go around casinos bc he’s seen firsthand how bad gambling is and he has the money to compensate if u ever get into gambling and lose a lot but he just doesn’t want u to feel guilty or get addicted

Like if u pass a casino and wanna go in and r like hey wanna check it out he just grabs ur hand and keeps walking and is like “let’s not” and probably asks u at one point to pls not get into gambling

If ur kinda petty bc he’s so much better at fighting than u despite being younger he’s like u don’t even need to fight I can literally do that for u???? Bc he feels like the only reason U would ever need to fight is to protect urself so if u wanna do it for fun he’ll teach u but doesn’t take it that srsly

He maybe made like one joke ab ur age or sent u a meme he saw ab relationships but u left him on read and it was just a bad joke or something but yeah overall he really refrains from bringing up ur age like ever 😭😭

He thinks ur insecure bc ur getting older or something and that’s y so he might start going like “looking youthful today 😀👍” every morning to u and ur like oh hehe thanks ????????

If someone else ever voices that they think it’s weird ur older than him he’ll fight them too like first he’ll go “(y/n), is this ur friend ?” Like he did w jiho and if ur like no he’s like oh :)) and then punches them or something

Doesn’t tell u stuff ab his business and ur like I’m 20-23 I can handle it and he just refuses anyways and will leave u in the dark bc yk won’t even risk it

Someone in Big Deal might be like “use ur s/o to help us work nd get money since they’re old they seem professional” he kicked them out immediately ur not touching that shit

But generally, he doesn’t care about it at all, and honestly just cares ab u and not ur age

Scott Kwon

He definitely uses u to get into places only ppl 20+ can enter LMAOO

He’ll have u walk in first and then slip in past u and if he gets caught he grabs u and goes “THIS is my s/o!!! They’re clearly of age, and I’m their s/o so clearly I am of age too 😤😤”

Ur banned from like 50 bars because of this like there’s a little “if these two come and ask u to enter their bar DO NOT LET THEM ENTER!!” Wall for y’all

He might try and hide in ur coat or something to get in but it never works

He definitely makes fun of ur age in a cocky way like haha... an older person wanted to get with ME. Little old me. And he feels like hot stuff bc of it for sure

Brags about it a lot like will take out ur photo and goes “u see this?? My s/o?? Yeah they’re in love w me and THREE YRS OLDER... hold ur applause guys” and it boosts his ego sm

He sends u scarily recent memes or jokes on the internet ab older s/o’s if there r any, and eventually when u go on his Instagram at least 1/3rd of his feed is just ageist jokes

If it really hurts ur feelings, he won’t tell any jokes ab it and won’t mention it ever again but will continue to utilize ur age to do things he can’t at age 18-19

He feels proud that he’s making sm money and is such a good fighter despite being younger than u bc he feels like it makes u look up to him so he’ll boast about it like he’ll punch something and go see that babe????? I can do that and I’m only 19!!! And ur like omg that’s so cooollll!!!!! <3 and his heart just swells

Pays for anything u want like buys u everything u ask for or just look at tbh, and also feels like u have no responsibility just bc ur older and seees himself as like the “leader” if the relationship and has a sense of duty to helping u and everything

Steers u away from trouble ASAP too it doesn’t matter if u can hold off on ur own, if he sees guys that just look mean he and u r walking the other way and ur like bro what?? And he just lies and is like I liked the sunset this direction or smmn and he doesn’t confide in u ab scary things

Bc yeah u can probably handle scary or threatening news but he’s not gna risk it regardless

If he’s rlly stressed ab something that can’t endanger u he won’t tell u that much ab it but might vaguely describe his predicament and looks to u for help and comfort and u just listen and he feels so much better afterwards and he’s telling u all this and ur just like mhm uh-huh :) and so he starts confiding in u more

But ruins it by going like “damn old ppl r good listeners 😆” and ur like STOPPPPPPP

Everyone in God Dog knows ur name age face and occupation bc he’s always talking ab u LMAO

When he was younger and didn’t have that much leniency with the law he made u his legal guardian so he can do what he wants and he tries to use u to get him to do stuf by pointing to u and going “they’re my legal guardian and they say I can drink all this!!” And ur like “no I absolutely do not???!!!!!” And he thought by doing that he’d get anytning but u prioritize his health 🙄 and he’s annoyed but secretly loves it and loves u doting on him nd worrying ab him and his well-being lol

In general, he rlly doesn’t care that ur older than him. His only big concern I. A relationship ever is how he can keep u safe bc he’s in pretty like tough stuff, and he’ll make fun of u but in all good fun and loves u sm

Thank you for the request, and thanks for the wish of luck <3 I’ll the my best w this blog!! I’m not that good at writing for Jake Kim, btw, because his character can kinda confuse me sometimes but he seems to be popular so I hope I get more requests of him so I can get his character down and write him properly. 💘I hope this was what u wanted 😭

[doorsclosingslowly]

Do You Remember the First Time?

A Dregs member with a grudge, a cruel ambush—but to Kaz’ luck, a boy named Jesper Fahey has just joined the gang and he happened to tag along.

3.1k | pre-Six of Crows | warning for attempted rape, violence, ableism

By the time the door closes, it’s too late. Kaz is curled belly-down on the floor just past the entrance in a room with Beertjie and his mates Kert, Frans and Sonna, and Beertjie—well, he’s a much better actor than Kaz gave him credit for. Or Kaz is still more naïve than he believed—it’s probably both—but before two seconds ago when the truncheon hit his head, he never expected Per Haskell’s old enforcer to pull this off. The man’s neither creative nor ambitious enough. He’s been with the Dregs for longer than Kaz has been alive, and he’s still occasionally pulling bouncer duty when Haskell doesn’t need a brawler to second for him: Kaz, meanwhile, in less than three short years, has worked his way up to doing the accounting for all the Dregs’ gambling halls. He’s working on building up Fifth Harbour. Kaz has plans.

If this trap isn’t Beertjie’s own idea, though—then whose? Kaz has watched him, and he doesn’t have any contacts outside the Dregs. Outside his three accomplices, really, and a couple of bar men. It could’ve come from the boss, but Haskell’s at least clever enough to know that he needs Kaz.

So what—

“Nothing to say now, you little brat, eh?”

“I’m trying to understand how even you could be stupid enough to attack Per Haskell’s favourite second.” Kaz uses the lowest rasp his teenage voice will go to. “Give me some time. It’s an enormous amount of stupidity to tally.”

When in doubt, rile up. Kaz isn’t holding any cards at all right now—he doesn’t know who ordered the hit, he’s outnumbered and outmuscled, Frans over in the corner has his foot on Kaz’ cane and his hand on a gun, the three new Dregs who accompanied them—who lulled him into a false sense of security—they’re on the other side of the locked door, plus they might be in on the attack anyway, and when Kaz blacked out from the truncheon for a second someone locked his hands behind his back in some iron contraption, not Grisha thank the Saints but unfamiliar enough that he’ll need a few seconds to unlock it.

When all their attention is on him—and by his position, his back— they’ll notice if he fumbles a lockpick from his coat, but if they get angry enough… well, angry men make mistakes.

Unfortunately, angry men with truncheons also hit him in the head again.

“Is that your only trick?” Kaz smirks through the pounding blur in his eyes, not that they can see it when he’s face-down in the dirt. Beertjie’s not worth straining his neck to look up. Still, it doesn’t hurt to keep the acting impeccable. “No wonder you never got further than bouncer.”

“Thieving little bitch. Just ‘cause you suck Per’s cock just right doesn’t make you a big man,” and Beertjie’s genial ruddy cheeks are stained crimson with hatred now. “Stick to your books, cripple.”

So that’s what this is about: jealousy.

“If you’re worse at your job than a fifteen-year-old with a bum leg, I’m sorry to say, that reflects more on you than it does—”

Another blow, this time to the back. It glances off, no real damage done, and Beertjie’s even terrible at his actual job. He’s losing his cool.

So is Kaz, unfortunately, although he has enough sense to conceal his growing unease. No matter how subtly he wriggles his hands, the shackles are ratcheted too tight to slip out, so tight he’s starting to lose circulation. It might not even suffice to dislocate a thumb. He’s trapped. New plan. So if he’s going to stay prone and tied up and unarmed and anger’s only making Beertjie hit him more, that does not rob him of all his weapons. He’s talked his way into and out of far more dangerous situations before. Threats? No, Beertjie doesn’t have any connections outside the Dregs. No spouse, no family. Extortion? He doesn’t have any secrets either, save the insecurity he just revealed. He does jobs for Haskell with his buddies, he drinks in Haskell’s bars with his buddies, he plays poker in Haskell’s bars with his buddies. He’s a profoundly boring man. Maybe that’s why Haskell has kept him for so long: boring men provide no leverage, much to Kaz’ current detriment.

The next strike is to Kaz’ bad leg. Another, same location. Then the healthy one. Not enough force to break bone, but still, it hurts enough that he has to bite his lip to stifle a moan, and worse yet is the way Beertjie’s bending over him in order to aim. The bouncer’s got enough core strength that he doesn’t need to prop himself up, doesn’t need to touch Kaz with anything but the truncheon, but—every rush of air from the body above him makes his heart jackhammer. He screws his eyes shut. It’s hard to think of a plan, now; hard to even have the presence of mind to be grateful his humiliating position is hiding even more humiliating panic. Another strike. Another close movement. He’ll lose another leg. Another—

“Everything alright? We heard scuffling.”

The screech of the door as it opens wider—the pain as it hits Kaz’ bad leg—Beertjie cursing as he hurries out of the way, and then three pairs of footsteps. The new Dregs. Kaz swings his throbbing aching good leg until he’s turned on his side—the wrong one, he still can’t see any faces—but though that would’ve been useful, he doesn’t strictly need it. He knows the new Dregs. He recruited all three of them, and that interruption was Jesper Fahey’s voice. Jesper is the newest, and the one with the most potential.

Their presence makes the whole unfortunate situation slightly more embarrassing. However, any mix-up also presents new opportunities, and Kaz just has to think…

“Hey. I’m talking to you.” Jesper, again. Insufferably confident for a teenage dropout gambling addict with debts in the thousands of kruge watching the person who recruited him a month ago get roughed up by a washed-up old guy.

So confident it even catches Beertjie on the back foot. The man opts for nonchalance. “Fine,” he says. “Just teaching a little rat some respect.”

The constant references to his height are starting to grate uncomfortably against Kaz’ skin. Sure, he’s almost fifteen and still hoping for another growth spurt, and the malnutrition of a Barrel kid probably didn’t do him any favours if he was ever meant to grow up tall, but in Beertjie’s wide mouth, the word takes on a more dangerous hue. Something predatory.

“Well, I was. Seems like he needs something a little bigger than a truncheon to teach him some respect. Something to replacethat stick in his ass.”

The implication alone is enough to leave Kaz’ reputation in tatters. If this gets out—if the young Dregs leave, and he wants them to leave now, but he can’t—none of this can leave this room, ever. Kaz can’t see the obscene leer on Beertjie’s face, but he doesn’t need much skill to imagine it. He can feel the movement of his vicious greedy eyes deep in his bones, can feel them travelling through his layers into his skin, and he’s wriggling in his fetters with more and more urgency. He’s managed to pull a tiny lockpick from his shirt cuff during the beating, and with just a little time he might be able to…

“Got any room for one more?”

It shouldn’t feel like a betrayal. There is no honour among thieves, and the Bastard of the Barrel’s only friend is his vengeance, but still. The new Dregs were supposed to be his. Jesper was supposed to be his. After all, it was Kaz who saw the potential in the Zemeni gambler in the first place. His quick, easy charm, his steel under pressure, his skill with a gun.

And Jesper is not as subtle as he probably likes to think, when his eyes keep flickering down to Kaz’ mouth—yeah, Kaz knows about the crush, even had vague notions on how to put it to use, but somehow, he’s never expected the other boy to just want to take what he’s been denied. Stupid, stupid.

Kaz led him to the Dregs. He had great plans for the boy. Had. Jesper’s going to die bloody. What a waste.

Something about his loathing must have bled through in Kaz’ posture, because Beertjie chuckles.

“Brekker makes his enemies quick, eh?”

Jesper laughs, too. It’s a grating sound, somehow: Kaz has heard him laugh often at the gambling tables, doing trick shots, making friends, and that’s what helps him pick out the new nuances. This laugh is breathy, high, almost hysterical. He sounds like it’s slowly sinking in what he’s planning to do. He sounds terrified. Good.

“They’ll remember your death in Ketterdam for decades,” Kaz vows. It’s all he can do, because the lock still won’t give in. “Centuries. It’ll be so gory and painful they’ll use it to terrify their children into submission. If you wanted your name to become immortal—well, congratulations, Jesper Fahey.”

“I’d like to shut his smart mouth,” Jesper says, his voice still wrong and shrill. “Stuff it, if you catch my drift.”

And then, Jesper’s on his knees next to Kaz, heaving him up. Kaz refuses to be of help, until one of the hands holding up his clothed upper arms moves down to the knee of his bad leg to bend it. Heavy boots move closer as if to offer help, either Beertjie or Sonna or young Peer, and that’s—it’s too much, not when Kaz still hasn’t found a way out of his handcuffs, not when he knows what’s going to… thank the Saints he’s still clothed and he won’t get torn bare this soon, won’t have to endure as much skin touch anywhere except his head and that’s bad enough, though at least it will thoroughly spoil their fun when he spews vomit all over…

He bites his lip bloody to halt his thoughts. There’s still time to escape. Maybe on his knees, picking the lock will be easier. Maybe—it’s Peer who came up pull him into position, Kaz can see the boy now, and that’s too much, too many people around him when Jesper’s bad enough, and so he gets onto his knees of his own accord. Peer stays.

Jesper’s hands fondle Kaz’ wrists for a second. Even through the gloves and the shirt cuffs and the jacket and the steel shackles, the trembling touch makes Kaz sick.

The fucking traitor rises to his feet, and then he’s standing right in front of Kaz, so close Kaz can smell leather and gunpower and sour sweat, his groin right in front of Kaz’ face. His still-clothed dick, as far as Kaz can tell, is soft. Good. At least he isn’t enjoying this as much as he expected. At least this won’t even be worth it for him. For a fraction of a second, Kaz steels himself by imagining biting his way through that soft rat bastard belly and tearing out Jesper’s liver with his teeth. The blood. The screams.

Jesper, though, has other concerns.

“I guess you’ll be a biter,” he says softly, as if to himself. Kaz can see his eyes flick over to Beertjie, though: he’s playing to an audience, though for what— “I happen to prefer my dick attached,” and he pulls out a gun. Uses it to caress Kaz’ temple with a parody of tenderness. “You know what’ll happen if I feel a tooth. You can touch your stick now, boss,” even more quietly, and—

As if Kaz was gonna get off from this. Is if he��s going to let Jesper pretend it’s consensual, as if his arms aren’t cuffed behind him, as if—Jesper’s grey eyes are staring down past Kaz’ face even though his chin’s still raised, and despite himself, Kaz follows his glance.

Next to his knee, there’s the bottom end of his cane. It must’ve rolled over, and before he can bury the child straining to hold onto any security that drowned in the harbour years ago he’s reaching for it, and—his hand moves.

The cuffs are open.

They clatter to the floor before his hands locks around the cane, and Jesper spins around and shoots Frans right in the head.

Kert and Sonna are next, before they even manage to take a step closer; and Peer stumbles when Kaz’ cane meets his foot and dies when the cane meets his neck. Another couple of bullets for Beertjie. Screams. Otto the other new recruit desperately rattling the handle of the locked door and Jesper glances at Kaz and Kaz shakes his head and then the boy’s brain paints the door.

And Beertjie’s still screaming.

“I’m out of bullets now, boss. Only brought the one gun.” Jesper looks almost shy now, standing in the blood splattered room. It’s strangely at odds with the ruthless fighter he was a second ago; the eager rapist he—pretended to be, with admirable quickness of mind and acting acumen, for a few minutes. Now, he’s only meeting Kaz’ eyes for a fraction of a second and then glances away again, as if it was him who was humiliated here. As if—

“He’s yours, boss.”

As if he’s an eager cat who fetched Kaz his revenge and is hoping it’ll please him. Because Jesper shot Beertjie in both knees, Kaz realises. Deliberately. He shot him in the knees and left him for Kaz to kill, and it’s almost—almost—enough to paint over the terror and humiliation of the past few minutes. He was right. Jesper will be useful.

So he stands on his aching bad leg and his throbbing bruised good one and ignores his trembling as he works his way up, breaking bones, from the thighs to the arms and ribs and, finally, the face. The shaking’s just adrenaline, pleasure, leaving early. He’s fine.

Jesper is proving his mettle even more by studiously ignoring the way he can barely stand, can barely limp over to the door.

The door. That’s what he almost missed. The unlocked door that was locked when Otto tried to escape, and unlocked when Jesper got in, and locked before that. Just like the shackles were locked until they weren’t.

Jesper’s going to be very, very useful indeed.

+

It's been six days since The Event, and Jesper’s in the Crow Club, losing badly at poker. This time, he knew he was going to lose even before he sat down at the table, but his head’s spinning, and there’s something about the familiar banter and shuffle and the weight of the cards in his hands, the practiced movements, that often helps him think. That might help him now not lose himself in bouncing questions and worries left over from The Event, even if it’ll lose him a hundred kruge.

The Event. That’s how Jesper has taken to referring to what happened, even in the sanctity of his own head: because despite what happened in the leadup to The Event, he’s not entirely convinced that Kaz Brekker isn’t a mindreader Grisha, and if Brekker’s gonna murder him for—for pretending to go along with raping him, oh Saints—if Kaz is gonna kill Jesper as the last witness, well, not provoking him needlessly will maybe buy Jesper time to write a last letter or two to his Da.

So he’s waiting on hot coals, and drinking, and losing at poker, and not thinking about What Happened. Or What Didn’t Happen, because whenever it comes up Jesper’s been going along with Kaz’ version of events: that creepy old guy was a traitor who’d turned all the other guys to his side too, and Kaz confronted and eliminated him, with minor assistance from Jesper himself. If underplaying his own initiative, quick planning, superb acting skills and cool under pressure—not to mention his perfect kill shots, but then Kaz did go back and set the house on fire to get rid of the corpse evidence—if letting Kaz rest on what should rightfully be Jesper’s laurels is what gets him another lease on life, so be it. He’ll have more chances to prove himself. Unless Kaz murders him.

He doesn’t regret the impulse that made him save Kaz. It was wrong, what that creep planned, regardless even of the fact Jesper’s maybe a little only here with the Dregs in the first place because Kaz asked him and even that first time, he liked Kaz. Maybe Kaz would stop planning to murder him if he explained—but on the off-chance that Kaz hasn’t realized he’s Grisha yet, and Kaz hasn’t brought it up so there’s at least a possibility… He was close to picking the shackles himself, after all. On the off-chance he doesn’t know, it would be pretty stupid to tell him—case in point, Jesper’s still fifty-fifty on whether Kaz will murder him—but the only explanation for why he went along with the rape pretence in the first place is that he needed to get close enough to those shackles. Maybe Kaz will just calm down on his own. Fifty percent non-murder are still good odds, after all. Better than Jesper winning today at poker.

More worrying—and just plain unfortunate, because even if he’s fucked his chances now Jesper really does like the guy—is that Kaz hasn’t exchanged a single word in private with him. They’ve barely been in the same room, and when Jesper clapped him on the back two days ago the guy actually jumped. If it wasn’t for the fact that this is Kaz, Dirtyhands, Bastard of the Barrel, who did torture a man to death a week ago even if that guy deserved it and Jesper did help him, so he really can’t claim any white vest there—if this wasn’t Kaz, Jesper would almost think he’s afraid of him now.

So he’s going to get murdered by his crush who’s also scared of him. And he’s just lost another two hundred kruge. Life is great.

But when he’s waving to the dealer to signal he’s up for another round—it’s Tom today, who’s always nice to Jesper and kind of pretty but he’s definitely no Kaz, so maybe later once Jesper’s nursed his sore heart… But the dealer’s not even paying attention to him. He’s staring straight behind Jesper. Not even a chance of a rebound tonight, then. Saints, Jesper’s luck just sucks.

A hand raps on the table next to him. Slim fingers, black gloves.

“Fahey, with me,” Kaz rasps from behind him, closer than he’s been in a week. “Geels wants a talk. I need someone reliable at my back.”

Or, just maybe, Jesper is the luckiest man in Ketterdam.

[randomrichards]

BEST MOVIE MOMENTS OF 2020

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Abe Makes Dinner from ABE

Teen chef protégé Abe (Stranger Thing’s Noah Schnapp) hopes that his dinner blending Israeli and Palestinian dishes will mend a bridge between his Israeli and Palestinian families (as well as his atheist father). But he gets a sad dose of reality when he learns the hard way that a wedge between families can’t always be solved with a meal.

“Wait for It” from HAMILTON

On June 16, 2016, Leslie Odom Jr. surprised many by beating Hamilton star/creator Lin-Manuel Miranda for the Best Actor award at the Tony Awards. And now they understood why thanks to Disney+ presenting the musical. And it all has to do with the song “Wait for It.”

In this soulful musical number, Odom Jr. allows us to understand Aaron Burr’s beliefs in letting fate leads his path. Whether it’s winning the heart of a married woman or watching all his loved ones parish, Burr is willing to wait for destiny to reveal why. It also showcases the contrast between Burr and Hamilton. This song changes Burr from History’s villain to a complicated anti-hero.

10)          Deku and Bakugo go full Super Sayan in MY HERO ACADEMIA: HEROES RISING

My Hero Academia always delivers great action scenes and they truly shine in their latest round in the cinema.

In his final battle to protect young brother and sister Mahoro (Tomoyo Kurosawa in Japanese, Dani Chambers in English) and Katsuma (Yuka Terasaki in Japanese, Maxey Whitehead in English) from ruthless power-stealer Nine (Yoshio Inoue in Japanese, Johnny Yong Bosch in English), underdog hero-in-training Izuku “Deku” Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita in Japanese, Justin Briner in English) transfers his “One-For-All” power to hotheaded classmate Bakugo (Nobuhiko Okamoto in Japanese, Clifford Chapin in English). The result is an image of the in super powered form resembling Super Sayans.

When Deku reaches 100% power, the film suddenly turns white then stretches into abstract imagery.

Honestly, the main reason I put this on the list is because it’s pure awesome and I’m not afraid to admit it.

9)            A Survivor Model from COLLECTIVE

This documentary follows the reporters of Romanian Newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as their investigation into the Colective Club fire in Bucharest that killed 27 people and left 180 injured exposed vast health care fraud that caused survivors to die in the hospital and would bring down the government. Another key focus is a survivor who was so badly burned she lost most of her fingers. The camera focuses on her as she watches conferences about the fire.

In a standout moment, she models for photo shoots. In this moment, we see a beautiful woman who refuses to allow her disability to stop her, revealing her power.

8)            the Wuhan Flu Song from BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM

Many best scenes of 2020 will focus on the bed scene with Tutar and Rudy Gulianni. But I prefer to focus on the scene where Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) performs the “Wuhan Flu Song” at a Anti-Masker Rally. Not only is it deliciously cringy and hilarious, but It perfectly captures all of Cohen’s strengths as a comedic performer.

As with Borat’s previous cringy yet catchy “Throw the Jew Down the Well, Cohen uses the Borat persona exposes the ugliest side of America. Watching the Qanon conspiracy theorists cheering on Borat (under the guise of Country Steve) singing about injecting Obama with the Coronavirus horrifies while splitting sides. This moment reveals the dangerous consequences of misinformation and conspiracy theorists on society. Plus, the song is shamelessly catchy as hell.

Add the fact that Cohen was nearly attacked during this scene shows how far he’s willing to go to make a point and get a laugh.

7)            The Dinner Scene from LET HIM GO

This scene is a perfect example of how you put subtext in a scene. On the surface, It’s just Weboy matriarch Blanche (Lesley Manville) serving porkchops to her daughter in law Lorna’s(Kayli Carter) former parent in laws Margaret (Diane Lane) and George Blackledge (Kevin Costner). But with the context of Margaret and George trying to deliver Lorna and their grandson from her abusive husband, you can feel the hostility in the atmosphere.

It’s a credit to the actors and their ability to hide their aggression under a mask of southern hospitality. It’s especially true for Manville, who brings to life a woman who is a master of hiding her cruelty under a pleasant smile. She may sound welcoming to them, but you can tell something’s off about her. No wonder she’s able to manipulate the police into siding with her. Hell, many audience will be surprised when they find out she’s British in real life.

Lane matches her every step of the way with the most nuanced jabs.

It won’t get as much appreciation due to it’s unassuming nature. But it’s a perfect scene to show how to bring nuance to a performance.

6)            The Restaurant Scene from THE INVISIBLE MAN

At first, it seemed Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) finally has the drop on her sociopathic control freak ex Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). After days being tormented by him, Cecilia finally has proof of how he turns invisible. Now she goes to a public restaurant to convince her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer). But then a  levitating knife appears out of nowhere and slits Emily’s throat before flying into Cecilia’s hands.

Director Leigh Whannell and cinematographer Stefan Duscio do an excellent job using everyday envirnoments to create a sense of unease. Whenever the camera lingers on a kitchen, you search with anxious eyes for any sign of Adrian. In this case, they use the ambience of a crowded fancy restaurant to create a false sense of security. And yet, you can’t help but wonder if Adrian’s still watching them.

It’s in this scene where title character goes from a good villain to a great villain. Here we see what a cunning monster he truly is. The scene also showcases Moss’s terrific performance as her desperate eyes showcase the complete helplessness she feels in this scenario.

5)            Edna sheds her skin in RELIC

Rarely do the words “horror” and “heartbreaking” go together, but that describes the ending to this underrated gem.

Kay (Emily Mortimer) returns to her family home to care for her mother Edna (Robyn Nevin), who seems to be suffering from dementia. Now she and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) find themselves trapped in the crawlspace while fleeing a warped Edna, who has been warped by a supernatural force. With contorted joints and decaying flesh, she has become monstrous. At first it seems they have defeated Edna and are heading out the door.

Then Kay looks back to see her mother lying on the ground, struggling to breath. This brings the film into a unexpected turn as Kay carries the creature that used to be her mother to bed. When Kay peels the skin off Edna’s body to reveal a charcoal skinned, dying creature, the film goes from creepy to heartbreaing. Anyone who ever lost a loved one to dementia will recognize to devastating feeling of watching them fade away right in front of your eyes.

4)             The one-take action scene in EXTRACTION

Well, we can’t have a best movie moments of 2020 list without mentioning the 10 minute action sequence from Extraction.

As black market mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) shields the kidnapped son of a drug lord from other mercenaries, his race across a Bangladesh village delivers all you want from an action movie. Fast paced car chase? Check. Semi-automatic gun battles? Check. Hand to hand combat? Check. Parkour across rooftops? You bet. Sometimes you’ll even get people get hit by cars during hand to hand combat. All of this happens while cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel makes it look like one take.

Sure, sophisticated viewers will recognize there the cuts are hidden. But when director Sam Hargrave is willing to ride on the hood of a car as it races across dirt roads for the sake of a shot, you can’t help but be impressed

3)            Opening Bike Ride from THE CLIMB

The film begins with what sees like a regular bike ride. American Mike (Director and Co-Writer Michael Angelo Covino) and Kyle (Co-Writer Kyle Marvin) are racing across the road of a French mountain before Kyle’s wedding. But then Mike reveals he’s slept with Kyle’s fiancé, resulting in the furious Kyle to chase Mike. Unfortunately, they’re both too exhausted to commit to a long chase.

The whole opening sequence could be its own short film. Covino and cinematographer Zach Kuperstein) shoot it all in one unbroken take, allowing the awkward exchange to flow more naturally. It leads to a hilarious moment when Kyle tries to chase Mike, but neither have the energy to keep going. Plus, it summarizes the reoccuring cycle of the film with Mike becoming increasingly self-destructive and a terrible friend and Kyle being nice until pushed too far.

2)            The Ending from UNCUT GEMS

After spending two hours in a state of panic, it looks like the audience will finally breath a sigh of relief. After locking his pissed off brother in law Arlo (Eric Bogosian) and his goons Phil (Keith William Richards) and Nico (Tommy Kominik) in the Jewelry store with him, smooth talking jeweler and gambling addict Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) makes the biggest win of his life via pinpoint accurate predictions of a basketball game. Now he has millions of dollars; way more than enough to pay off his debt. Everything’s coming up Howard. That is until the furious Phil puts a bullet in Howard’s head and proceeds to rob his store.

With all his reckless behaviour (including putting his girlfriend at risk) and overconfidence, you knew at somehow Howard was going to be punished. But when the flilm cuts to scenes of Howard’s family celebrating the game and his girlfriend leaves with the money, you can’t help but know how bad they’re going to feel when they find Howard dead.

Then the camera zooms into Howard’s bullet wound to reveal the same colourful kaliedescope imagery as shown within the title uncut gems. With Daniel Lopatin’s enchanting new wave score playing, this moment gives the audience a moment to finally relax before closing with Gigi D’Agostino’s L’amour Toujours.

In spite of (or because of) his flaws; Howard is himself an uncut gem.

1)            The little things inspire Joe from SOUL

Everyone recognizes “The Pixar Moment”; that scene that elevates a Pixar film from great to extraordinary. No one can truly define it, but it’s the one scene from the film everyone talks about. It’s the ten-minute prologue from Up. It’s Anton Ego’s reaction after trying Remy’s dish in Ratatouille. Even a lesser Pixar film can have this moment; a perfect example is when Lighting McQueen allows Ramirez to race in his place in Cars 3. Now we can add another film to the list thanks to Pixar’s latest masterpiece Soul.

After a day of escaping the afterlife and being trapped in the body of a therapy cat, Joe Gardner’s (Jamie Foxx) has finally achieved his dream of being in a Jazz band. And he feels…nothing. So, he heads back to his piano to ponder his direction in life. Then he finds the items 22 (Tina Fey) collected while in his body. What results is a moment fans will be coming back to in their moment of need.

As Joe rests 22’s items in front of his piano and starts playing, he comes to realize how a pizza crust and a seed truly meant to her. In the process, he comes realize the moments that seemed meaningless at first had some magic in them. The joy of playing for his father. The feel of the ocean waves flowing on his feet. The taste of a café’s pie.

In a time when many people can’t do any major activities, this moment serves as a reminder of to appreciate the little things in life. I imagine many audiences will return to this scene in their lowest moments.

[onepdumpsterfire]

As long as you don’t question why, what was is? 1,600? people are living together or at least like 8 of them, this’ll  make sense.

Thatch and Reader are indeed together in this fyi

Thatch X Reader

“What are you doing?” asked Edward Newgate or ‘pops’, as all of his kids called him. “Taping pigeon heads to all of Thatch’s faces,” I replied as I continued to deface their family  photo wall, “I wanna see how long it takes for him to notice.” Stopping my movements, I turn to face him, “It’s fine, right? It’s only for a little while.” Pops laughs, amused by our shenanigans. “It’s fine, my child.” Pops walked past me to his study.

Thatch and I have been pranking each other ever since I put Viagra in his drink while we were playing poker with some of his brothers then left him to deal with the embarrassment by himself. At the time, when Ace and I found it while looking through Marco’s things we’d thought it would make a funny prank.

Let me explain. Marco, one of Thatch’s brothers, is a doctor; or at least that was his reason for why he had the Viagra in the first place. That excuse was absolute bull and all three of us knew it. Anyway, Ace, another brother of the many Thatch has, and I were being little shits as per-usual. We were going through Marco’s things, waiting for him to give in and let us borrow his car like he always does, after we annoy him for a little while. We told him we just wanted to take it for a spin, but we really wanted to race each other and learn how to do wheelies. He knew it would be something stupid like this; that’s why he was trying not to relent this time.

Honestly, I’d found it really funny at the time, so I laughed about it once I found the little bottle of pills. 

“What’cha find?” Ace walked over from where he was looking, so he could get a better look at what was in my hand. 

“Pffft. I didn’t know you needed help getting it up, bro.” Ace chortled out, making Marco, who was on his bed trying to ignore us with his computer, shoot up and at us.

“I-I have these because … because I’m a doctor,” Marco stammered out with deflating confidence, “I have pills laying around everywhere.”

“Well, that’s concerning,” I send him a shit-eating grin.

“Here,” he defeatedly tossed Ace his keys. 

We couldn't contain either of our laughter after Marco pushed us both out, telling us to just leave him alone then slammed the door on us. 

“Did you see how red his face was?” Ace asked between giggles. “It’s ‘cus I’m a doctor,” I mockingly parroted before falling back into a fit of laughter, “yea right.” Suddenly our hysterics were interrupted by a loud banging from the other side of Marco’s door. Hurriedly, we got up and ran downstairs before he decided to take back his keys.

Downstairs Ace turned to me to gloat about what he’d stolen. “Look what I got,” he thrusted the bottle of pills in my face, devil horns practically growing on his head with the devious scheme he must have gotten. As fun as it is to go along with his antics, he left himself wide open. How could I not poke fun at him? I’d be a terrible best friend if I didn't take advantage of this wondrous opportunity. 

“You took the Viagra? Didn’t think you were that old,” I chortled at him with a shit-eating grin on my face. Closing the distance between us, I lowered my voice, “you need a cane too?”

Ace glared at me as he shoved his hand on my face and pushed me away, “No! Not because of that!”

“Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, gramps.” I continued to mock his growing agitation, “really seem defensive about it though.”

“Shut up,” he huffed, “ I just thought it would be a funny prank.” 

“Getting someone hard is...funny to you?” I clasped both of my hands in front of my mouth before pointing them at him, a pity-filled look on my face. “Do you need some help? ‘Cus I think we can find a good thera-”

“You’re not funny, shut up.” Ace rushed to grab one of the couch cushions before throwing it at me. “I’m serious, Ace! I’m here if you n-” He threw another pillow at my face. “Oi! I'm trying to be a good friend!” Giggling, I picked up both pillows and hurled them back at him.

Our little pillow fight was short-lived; we had to stop when Vista came in and yelled at us to clean up the mess we’d just made. Though our fun may have been killed, the wheels were turning in Ace’s head. He whispered to me that he had a plan and to just go along with what he did; then LEFT ME TO CLEAN THE WHOLE MESS BY MYSELF. It wasn’t much but there was no need to tell me to go along with anything if he was just gonna leave me. Betrayal? Payback? Backstabbing? Who knows but by the time he came back there was a change of plans.

Ace wanted to do a bit of gambling. And what's best for that? Poker. He invited some of the others in the house to come play with us, making sure to invite two of the biggest gamblers here. Jozu and the man of the hour, Thatch. Those two were crucial to our plan happening because not only were they two hard-headed to let the other win, they also had this weird gambling rivalry going on. Before the game, I’ll slip some of the pills into Thatch’s drink and then fold. Leaving him to choose between admitting defeat to Jozu or to keep being stubborn to the bitter end. 

To make sure our plan went perfectly I was sent to gather the drinks and snacks for the game while Ace was standing guard with the others; waiting for my return, stopping them from going into the kitchen until the deed was done. Can’t say it didn’t irritate me a little. Here I am walking with a shit-ton of chips and dip, making a second trip for the seven drinks, but I digress. 

It didn’t take long for me to get everything together and slip the aphrodisiac into Thatch’s drink; now everything is in place. All that’s left is to take my seat and wait for the fated time.

--

About halfway through the game, I felt Thatch slip his hand between my legs. Resting it just below my sex; roughly gripping my thigh as he uncomfortably shifted in his seat. A sign from him that he wanted to move somewhere to be together for a while, but before he could get the chance to pull us away from the game I so casually remembered that Marco had lent us his car keys and folded.

“You guys are just too good at this,” I fake pouted, throwing my hand in. Two games in and never even came close to beating the gambling addicts of the table.

“Hey, Ace. Didn’t Marco give you his car keys earlier? Let’s take it for a spin before he regrets it.” I pulled away from Thatch’s grip to go stand by Ace. 

“Didn’t take you for a sore loser, Y/N” Vista commented, “Weren’t you guys the ones  who wanted to play poker in the first place?” Jozu remarked giving us both a side glance. “Yepp,” Ace chimed in, popping the ‘p’ for added effect. “But before he regrets it we gotta go now. He rarely lets us borrow his car,” shrugging he got up to leave.

“He lets you borrow it all the time,” Jozu accused him, smelling something fishy about the whole situation. He can be too intuitive for his own good, but considering what we’re doing, I doubt he’d be able to figure out what’s happening. I hope…. 

Ignoring the accusation all together Ace, an excited Haruta who was yelling about joining us, and I followed him out. 

“Give it up. Marco let him borrow it until he scratched it last month; I’m surprised he even let them borrow it this time.” Rakuyo said after we’d left, doubling the amount he’d put in, full confidence on his hand. “Really? That was such a nice car too. Wonder how he convinced Marco to let him borrow it again.” Vista chimed in, engrossed more in his cards than the conversation.

���They’re definitely up to something though,” Jozu gave the quiet Thatch a side glance, taking his silence as a bad hand. “Oh, yeah. Definitely. Those two together are always up to something.” The statement was shared by all of them. They knew too well than to give us the benefit of the doubt.

Thatch finally decided to speak up as well. “Actually, I think I still have some paperwork to do so I should probably…” he pushed his chair back, hoping that when he got up he'd be able to hide his erection from the group. “Chickening out, are you thatch?” Teased Jozu, “couldn't even finish the game like a man, but I understand if your beginner's luck has run out. But stick around and I’ll show you a good hand.”

Eye twitching and unable to drop the gambling rivalry the two had going, Thatch scooted his chair back in with uncomfortable determination and the stubbornness that outmatched his girlfriend’s, “beginner? I’ve played this for longer than you have. If you could stop running your mouth maybe you’d have a better chance to beat me, but until then I won’t let you have such an easy win.”

--

Normally their games last a bit longer but after an hour or so I got a call on my phone. Guess he couldn’t keep it up for much longer. 

“It's Thatch,” I made a motion for Haruta to lower the music. “What's he want? Did he lose Jozu and came to cry to you about it?”

“I’d know if you’d give me a second to answer,” I put the phone up to my ear and a finger to my lips so that he’d shut it for a second.

On the other side of the line, I was greeted with Thatch’s needy lust-filled voice. “Hey, babydoll. You should hurry back here,” He breathed heavily on the receiver before grunting. “I want you on your hands and knees, begging to suck on my co-”

“I'm gonna stop you right there, you're on speaker” I interrupted him, my face beet red, one more word from him and I’d spontaneously combust. Thatch sputtered on the other end “O-oi take me off speaker.” I laughed at his expense. He wasn't really on speaker, but he didn't need to know that.

On my end, Haruta was looking at Ace for answers, but he was too busy laughing his ass off, already knowing what kind of call I'd gotten. “Hey tell me what’s happening! Don’t just laugh!” Haruta whined at Ace, but all he could do was say bits and pieces of the story amidst his laughter. Leaving him Haruta put together what he’d heard. Once he finally understood he made a disgusted face. “Gross! Thank god you actually didn’t have it on speaker,” the all too innocent Haruta said, trying not to think what his brother could have possibly said to me.

Thatch later found out what I had done because blabber-mouth Haruta went home to tell loose-lipped Rakuyo about what had happened. Rakuyo, having thought it was funny, told everyone else, much to Thatch’s dismay. And thus the pranks started.

At first, Ace was in on it too; up until he fell off a tree trying to drop spilled milk balloons on me and fractured his wrist. Pranks were banned for a while but soon continued when Thatch connected party poppers to the door so when I opened it they would go off in my face. In retaliation, I put a lot of food dye in his coke bottle so his mouth would turn black. He changed the password to my phone with a clue as the lock screen background. The answer was the beginning lyrics to the song ‘baby shark’.

Once I'd managed to get in I found that he'd downloaded a ‘shark theme’ into my phone. Then later I found out he also put the shark theme as my ringtone. I got him back for that, then he did the same. we kept going back and forth in a never-ending cycle up until we got to this point.

Finishing up putting pigeon heads on Thatch’s pictures, except for one that was a chicken head, I taped a drawing that I’d made to the back of the chicken headed Thatch picture. I’m sure he thought he’d won when the pranks ‘stopped’ though he’d soon find out why.

About two weeks it took him to notice. I’d come over to help Izo with some things when out of nowhere we hear ‘what the hell? Y/N!’

Giggling I waited with Izo to see what he’d do, and he didn’t disappoint. He hadn’t known that I’d come over so he gave me a call. “Hey there, love of my life. How are-”

 “Y/n did you put-”

“It's rude to interrupt someone, babe. But yes, yes I did.” I pause for dramatic effect, “almost two weeks it took you to notice.” I hung up on him, opting to yell the last part up the stairs so that he could hear it from where he was, “you should check behind the chicken!”

Thatch's P.O.V.

After they’d hung up I didn’t expect to hear their voice yell at me to look for a chicken, so I may have jumped up a bit. Regaining my composure I yelled back “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Stop yelling,” Jozu came out of Pop’s study with him in tow.

“Maybe check the pigeons you failed to notice for half a month?” Pop’s gave his input as he walked away from both of us. “Did everyone notice them except for me?” I asked rhetorically, irritated at my lack of observance.

 “Yes, we did,” Jozu pointed at a picture that was on the far right of the wall. That must be the infamous chicken headed Thatch. I lifted it off the wall, feeling a piece of paper crinkle behind the frame. Turning it around I was met with a drawing Y/n made. “You’re such a dork,” a goofy smile plastered on my face.

“What is it?” Jozu moved next to me to have a closer look. “Ah! So you are a chicken!”

[girllovescomic]

Winter Begonia episode 33 recap

The episode start with Lin Danqiu talking about finding what he thought was his family, wanting to turn his life around, but his crippling gambling debt prevented him from doing so. Aiyu told him everything would be alright, she would sell their ancestor’s estate and pay off his debts.  At that moment, he decided/realized that he was a Zeng, that Aiyu and him were blood sibling, as he received such a huge favor from the family he never knew.  That gave him motivation to protect his ‘sister’, to carry on the ancestral line and repay their kindness.  That is all fine and dandy, but that is not your family.  You are not blood, Rui Rui is.  He slaps himself upon the realization that he got his sister to debase herself for his sake, telling Rui Rui he is sorry.  

Er Ye arrives at the station looking for his bae.  He spots Zeng Aiyu and asks her if she saw Shang Lao Ban. She tells him that he went for a chat with her gege. She then tells him that Rui Rui told her about Fengyi’s situation.  She seems interesting in hearing about her daughter, but CFT tells her that he is raising the child, not to worry.  She tells him she is not worried, just curious. He tells her that he knows about her prejudice towards opera performers but the troupe would not neglect the baby, will raise her well, and that she will not always live there.  Probably wants to raise the baby with his wife until irresponsible baby Fan Lian grows up.  I vote for keeping the baby with her biological uncle since she is Rui Rui only link to his blood sibling.  OK, Er Ye pulls a picture of his wifey holding his niece and WHY THE FUCK DOES A STRAIGHT DUDE HAVE A PICTURE OF HIS SO-CALLED BROTHER IN HIS POCKET? Give me an explanation show!? He gives it to Aiyu as a keepsake to remind the baby by, and perhaps give her a keepsake of her real brother.  I don’t know, this is still a salient point for me.  The fact that Rui Rui and Danqiu look nothing alike, the fact that she can’t even recognize who her real brother is, bothers me. She looks at her daughter, half sad, half happy, calling the baby My Fengyi.  Sigh. I wish she could raise the child, but single moms back then were a huge no no.  Gone would have been her marriage prospect, her future.  Er Ye asks if she has a picture of herself so that he could show Fengyi that her mother was a beautiful woman. She grabs her purse and pulls a picture.  

Meanwhile, her two brothers comes out, looking disheveled. She asks what happened, looking angrily at Rui Rui asking if he hurt her fake brother.  Lin Danqiu tells her that he was clumsy and fell down the stairs. It’s a little white lie that has a lot of weight; it allows Zeng Aiyu to not leave with rancor in her heart for her real brother. She believes the lie, while Er Ye realizes the sacrifice his bae did in allowing Lin Danqiu to take his place as the eldest Zeng.  Lin Danqiu bids his adieu and they leave for the train.  Lin Danqiu pauses and gives a deep bow, probably of gratitude that he gets to have a life he never thought possible, due to Rui Rui’s sacrifice. Rui Rui calls out to his sister and tells her to take care of herself.  She smiles at him, oblivious of the emotion behind such a simple sentence.  My heart is in pain.  I can’t.  I just want Rui Rui to be happy, to be with his family. WELP. 

In the car, Er Ye tells Rui Rui he really thought his bae would beat Lin Danqiu to death.  Rui Rui replies it is against the law to beat him to death, it’s not worth it.  LOL, wait, since when do you care about such thing?!  He adds that besides, it wouldn’t be punishment enough. Er Ye asks how did he punish him, but Rui Rui remains mum. Er Ye pulls Zeng Aiyu’s picture and gives him to Rui Rui. Awwww, so he actually got the picture for his bae! He tells Rui Rui if he doesn’t tell him how he punished Lin Danqiu he won’t give him the picture. Yooo, you know your Rui Rui can be a bit kooky, don’t play with him.  As expected, Rui Rui tries to grab the picture and covers his eyes while the man is driving.  LOL, I told you Er Ye.  Rui Rui takes the picture while Er Ye is like, you might not care about your life, but I do!  Awww Rui Rui is happy to have a picture of his meimei. LOL, they settle back into their married routine as Rui Rui tells him he is hungry and Er Ye obliges, asking him what does he want to eat. :Cough: I have some ideas... Oh wait, Rui Rui is talking about real food! He wants pan fried pork dumpling.  Hmmm that is also delicious. Er Ye says okay and after that we are going to have a movie date. 

Meanwhile, in the train, Lin Danqiu holds Rui Rui’s pendant. I have to say, this breaks my heart.  Sigh, I am not happy, but I get it, still I am not happy. This would effectively close the possibility of Zeng Aiyu realizing her mistake, since for her the pendant will act as proof that Lin Danqiu is her real brother.  I get why Rui Rui did it and it is a huge sacrifice to make.  Our Rui Rui is growing up.  We see in a flashback that Rui Rui gives him the pendant as he effectively accept that Lin Danqiu is the person his meimei recognizes as her brother and the punishment he has incurred upon Lin Danqiu is to take care and cherish her for his entire life, and for his sake (Rui Rui’s). If he finds out he tricked her or made her suffer, he will kill him.  See, how mature our Rui Rui has become? She sees the pendant and jubilates that her gege has found his lost pendant. He lies and tells her that he suddenly found it while doing his luggage.

Alright, we leave the sadness behind for some ChengShang gushing moment. So, they are discussing the movie they have just watched.  Wait, how late did they stay up?????? Our opera addict Rui Rui comments on the actress acting skills, finding it lowly because all she did is straightened her eyebrow and stare at her costars eyes.  LOL, oh Rui Rui, you would have a tough time watching half of the TV dramas’ actors and actress, some who are so wooden you wonder how they got their part or fame. He compares her to his acting skills, especially her posture and voice, along with the lyrics she sang. He finds it too simplistic. LOL. He adds that Du Qi would have had a fit if he heard that.  I doubt it, since Du Qi lived abroad, therefore as a better knowledge of cinema. Er Ye tells him he thought it was good because it relieves boredom and doesn’t require too much thinking. True, unlike a play, Broadway show or opera, which demands more attention, movies are simple entertainment that can be mindless fun. He says that unlike movies, watching operas can take 3 days for the entire opera to finish. GEEZUS. Yeah, I cannot, sorry Rui Rui. Not only that but you have to know the right time when to shout bravo, when to sing praises, so many freaking rules. If you don’t know the rules, you get ridiculed and called an amateur by an useless sperm donor.  It might be too demanding on the audience. Rui Rui asks what does Er Ye like to watch.  Er Ye tells him he used to watch movies, but now he prefers watching opera, specifically Shang Lao Ban’s operas more.  He tells him that whatever role you play, you bring it to life.  It is like he is inhabited by many souls. Whenever he puts on makeup and costume, the soul will borrow his body and come alive while he is on stage. Once he leaves the stage, the soul departs but the story stays alive in him. Rui Rui tells him his writing sounds just as good as Du Qi and is flattered by the compliment, asking for more. LOL, greedy queen. 

Er Ye is like, who asks for compliments like that, beside you got so many people praising you already, you don’t need me. Rui Rui tells hubby that his words means more to him than others. Er Ye is like fine, I’ll shower you in compliments. Guys, you better get your salt vapors because the next line might make you faint and ask how the fuck did this get past censors. Ok, so I am directly quoting here: “Shang Lao Ban is like a flower, or a fire that only cares about blooming for itself, flaming in a blaze.  For those who likes watching you, you will do your best to show it to them. For those that don’t like watching you, you won’t try to appeal to them by changing yourself and go against your own will. You are such a popular ju’er, but you can still live so freely. This is truly extraordinary. Very rare! It’s true innocence. Everyone says someone like Shang Lao Ban who is so talented can only be looked from afar.  Others do not dare to walk shoulder to shoulder with him. Except for me, Cheng Fengtai, who is willing to go into the fire and stay by your side.” I WANT MY CHENG FENGTAI.  WHO DO I NEED TO GOAD TO HAVE ONE?????? Rui Rui is so taken aback that he stops walking to look at his hubby.  

Er Ye asks what is it. Really Er Ye, after saying such words, you ask him why he is stopping in his track?! Awww shit, trouble is brewing as we heard voices from an alleyway. Rui Rui follows the voices and runs up to the alleyway, followed by Er Ye.  A woman is fighting off two lecherous dudes. Rui Rui is pissed, probably thinking of his sister if she were in this situation.  He kicks one of them and threatens the lecherous men. One of them tells the woman she should have told them she had a lover. Man GTFO with that shit.  The woman recognizes him as he asks if she is okay.  Er Ye is like, goddmammit, another fan trying to take away my bae’s precious time.  LOL, Rui Rui is like, awww shit, yeah, grabbing his hubby so he wouldn’t have to deal with the fangirl.  She blocks their path and tells Rui Rui she’s been looking for them. He is like, que? Who are you? She seems to struggle to say.

We see a man wearing a cast with a bottle of booze. Oh My GOD, it’s my bae Chen Renxiang!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Rui Rui asks what happened to Chen Lao Ban to be in such a state.  It turns out the woman is the talkative prostitute from Nanjing who had taken Chen Lao Ban away before meeting Liu Hanyun.  She had sought her freedom from the brothel and come to him in Shanghai.  Upon her arrival, he was already in such disheveled state.  Rui Rui asks his bae and the ex-prostitute to leave the room so he can have a heart-to-heart with Chen Renxiang.  Rui Rui believes Chen Lao Ban put himself in such a state because he lost the competition.  He tells him if he had been the one to lose, he would have done everything to better himself so he could fight him out once more.  He had been impressed by how he had defended him against his uncle, seeing him as a hero so how did he become such a coward? Chen Lao Ban still remains quiet as Rui Rui lambast him, saying unlike the ex-prostitute he would have left him to die since he doesn’t seem to care about his own well-being. He sets out to leave when our sad ju’er finally speaks.  He tells Rui Rui that he is indeed a coward and that the girl doesn’t care that he lives or die.  Rui Rui yells at him that he is ungrateful dog for ignoring all the effort to girl has made to seek Rui Rui out and beg him to help Chen Renxiang out.  Xiang Xiang replies that he is not talking about the ex-prostitute named Yueling, but his Shanghai girlfriend he had mentioned when they were on their way to Shanghai after the Liyuan Association incident.  Apparently her parents did not approve of their relationship, thus the lovers decided to elope, however, they were caught by goons hired by her family.  They broke his leg and dump him barren fields while taking her back home.  He asks Rui Rui if he wasn’t a coward, what would he be? Rui Rui is like, yes, you are a coward since his girlfriend probably as no idea that he is injured and hiding out getting drunk off his ass. How would she know he is alright or care whether he is alive or dead if she doesn’t know where he is.  That makes him an ungrateful dog, which Xiang Xiang tries to deny, but Rui Rui interrupts him telling him he thought of an idea for him to help him reach out to his girlfriend. Get his leg treated, so he can perform opera with Rui Rui, like this everyone in China will be talking about it, thus his girlfriend will be able to find him. Isn’t it better than him being a drunken stupor? This seems to bring a bit of hope to Xiang Xiang until he remembers the conditions of their bet.  Rui Rui laughs at that, telling him he wasn’t serious about not letting him perform for a year.  He tells him he will find a doctor to help set his leg back and that he needs to clean up and stop drinking. Xiang Xiang thank him for being his savior, but Rui Rui doesn’t want to hear his gratitude, he just wants him to perform well on stage as a thank you. Btw, even disheveled Tan Jian Ci is one sexy bish.

It takes everyone to help calm Xiang Xiang down while the doctor tries to set his leg.  LOL, Rui Rui tells him that a girl is looking at him while he screams like one.  The doctor gives Yueling some after-care directives. Rui Rui asks the doctor if his leg will get better, but the doctor is slightly optimistic. Sugar daddy and husband of the over eager penguin asks to speak to the doctor away from the sensitive ju’ers. Xiang Xiang senses something is wrong as he repeats it is destine disaster, then laughs.  Rui Rui thinks he’s cray cray, but Xiang Xiang tells him he is laughing at his uncle Jiang Rongshou for having a useless son who he cannot impart his skills to, which kept him from teaching his fairy steps to anyone, until he finally taught it to Xiang Xiang, but now he is crippled, the Jiang Family fairy steps will be lost forever.  Xiang Xiang tells Rui Rui that he got his revenge against the elder Jiang, but Rui Rui does not seem to gleeful at the prospect, which even gets Xiang Xiang attention. Rui Rui is like, yeah, I am on bad term with the old fart, but I have nothing against the Fairy Steps. In fact, it would hurt him to see such a superb skill get lost. WHY ARE YOU SO PRECIOUS???? I cannot, he is to sweet, my baby boy!!! Xiang Xiang bemoans the fact that he learned the skill so late in his career, having little time to master the essence of the skill.  If he had learned it since he was a kid and hone the skills for years, he probably wouldn’t have lost against Rui Rui, who agrees.  AGAIN WHY ARE YOU SO PRECIOUS? Xiang Xiang reveals that when he returned to Shanghai, an Italian fan asked to film his fairy steps and show them in Italy (damn, they were that popular!!!), but they didn’t agree on the price and he worried about his uncle’s objections, so it didn’t work out.  He also regrets not taking any disciples to impart of his skills, and now he ponders who would remember his performances.  STOP IT, OMG, I CANNOT ANYMORE.  My Xiang Xiang is so depressed!! Rui Rui gets philosophical and replies the current situation is too precarious, especially for performers who may not have time to pass down their skills on time.  What would be left for future generations to appreciate.  Xiang Xiang replies that life and death go hand in hand, and that ups and downs are inevitable.  This sounds like a man who has given up.  I am balling. Rui Rui tries to comfort him, telling him to stop spitting such depressing things like life and death.  How can he be dead when he met him.  LOL, oh Rui Rui.  He advises him to just live his life and that his girlfriend still waits for him. Xiang Xiang is like, you are right, I must live well and wipes his tears away. 

Alone, he dreams about that fateful day when him and his girlfriend were running away from the goons employed by her family.  Out of breath and tired of running, Renxiang decides to send her to hide while he deals with the goons, but unfortunately, she is taken away.  As he asks the goons where she is, one of them taunts him, talking about his fairy steps and how it mesmerized the first miss (his girlfriend). Wait, what? DIdn’t he have this girlfriend prior to learning the Fairy Steps?  I am confused. The man tells him he must break his legs so this filthy actor would not seduce any more young ladies from other good families.  DAFUQ.  I am tired at how everyone is looking down at opera actors.  Even servants act uppity towards them.  They are good enough to sleep with and be toys for the rich, but they can’t have meaningful relationship with them? That is fucked up. He wakes, all sweaty while Yueling comes in to bring the medicine.  Then we switch to him doing some physical therapy with the crotches. The doctor tells him he is recovering well and Xiang Xiang presses him to find out when he could go back to the stage so he can reach out to his girlfriend.  Yueling is like, no way, you are still recovering! It is clear that she loves him, but he is too enamored with his little rich miss. The doctor agrees with her, but Rui Rui is like, who cares about your legs, your voice is not harmed, so we’ll perform a literary piece and he will take of him on stage. Er Ye just stands there, smiling at his smol husband, and I can’t fault him for that. Xiang Xiang seems encouraged by Rui Rui’s pep talk, but Yueling is not happy. 

That paper boy is busy af with Rui Rui selling newspapers like hotcakes. He announces the joint performance of Chen Lao Ban and Shang Lao Ban. Oh my Xiang Xiang looks good!! Oh wait, his twin Rui Rui, also wearing a white gown.  Xiang Xiang is anxious while Rui Rui tells him to get ready for their performance.  Apparently Xiang Xiang is waiting for someone, perhaps someone who had news of his girlfriend or his girlfriend herself. Rui Rui replies that he has been waiting for days and there has been no news.  Maybe he told her about his family and she may have gone to Beiping to find him. Right at that moment, someone asks for him.  He delivers a letter for him.  

We see him looking at picture.  Behind it are words written: “ We are not destined to be together in this lifetime.  Hope we’ll each live well separately.” OH NO, it’s the girlfriend!  I cannot figure out Xiang Xiang mood at this moment.  It is kind of indescribable.  Then, as he rubs the foundation in between his palms, a tear falls on the back of his.  Oh my poor baby looks defeated, yet, a strange smile is on his face. He talks to himself as he stares at the mirror asking why he looks like a ghost.  He tells himself that he looks ugly and depressed. I CAN’T CONTINUE, I AM CRYING TOO MUCH.  I have a bad feeling about this guys, I just...sigh. He continue saying that he no longer wants to see himself anymore.  Tears are forming in my eyes, everything is blurry.  

We see him on the stage and the audience is asking why this third sister is carrying a sword.  This is not part of this opera, so they wonder if they changed the opera at the last minute. My Xiang Xiang looks beautiful while the other actors are asking the same question as the audience.  His character, Sister Yu is not supposed to have a sword. Even the orchestra is baffled.  Seriously, who allowed him to carry the sword? Isn’t there anyone to take care of the props? Where is Rui Rui? Xiang Xiang starts singing without the music when Rui Rui finally appears.  I guess he was still in his room getting ready.  One of the actors asks him what is going on.  I don’t think Rui Rui has any idea. He looks at the audience for their reactions and can see the confusion on their faces, but they remain quiet, no booing. The lyrics seemed to encapsulate his life, especially the moment that effectively broke his heart, destroyed his soul.  Oh my God, no amount of makeup is able to cover the sadness on his face.  GAAAH, and now this show has decided to rip out my heart and step on it, as Jiang Rongshou is seen, lounging on his chair, eyes closed.  NOOO, SHOW DON’T DO THIS TO ME!!! We can hear Renxiang singing while we see Jiang Rongshou reaching out for his tea cup, but knocking it down.  Oh, I know what that means in dramaspeak and I don’t want to see it.  NO SHOW, please, don’t do this!!  We see my lovely Xiang Xiang swinging the sword and cut his throat, much to the surprise of the actors, including Rui Rui. OH MY GOD I CAN’T.  Jiang Rongshou is feeling some malaise as his son comes to see what is wrong.  As Dengbao cleans up (despite my dislike of him, he is really a filial son).  Jiang Senior shakes his head and says he doesn’t know.  He’s been dozing off today and then asks if the young actors are still training.  Dengbao confirms, but Jiang senior seems dissatisfied by them and their progress.  They can’t seem to get the basic movements right, yet want to learn the fairy steps. He reminisce about Xiang Xiang and how he was able to learn 70-80 percent of the opera at their age.  Dengbao replies how can they compare to the very talented Xiang Xiang.  Dengbao tells his father to be patient for Xiang Xiang to make the Fairy Steps famous once he returns to the stage, but grumpy papa Jiang reproach Xiang Xiang for not writing to him since he went back to Shanghai.  WAIL, he has no idea of the state Xiang Xiang was! Dengbao is like, you know how Shanghai is, Renxiang is probably having the time of his life.  Why you do this to me show? Grumpy Jiang is like, yeah, when he is with me, he pretends to be filial, once he leave, he forgets all about me. Sigh, this show knows how to humanize these characters, even the ones you learn to hate.  I hate this show. Stop making me have so much feels right now, even for the Jiangs! Papa Jiang cares for Xiang Xiang, wanting to see how he has improved once he return to perform.  He dozes off again, and OH NO SHOW, STOOOOOPPPP.  Don’t do this, don’t have Xiang Xiang voice from beyond the grave call on his uncle, asking to look at him. Startled, Jiang papa calls out for Xiang’er, asking if that is him.  Jiang papa is taken aback and thinks its his old age causing his to have auditory hallucinations.  WELP

Back at casa de Er Ye, we see our Rui Rui sitting pensively as he stares at the window.  Er Ye opens the door and quietly enters the room.  In the most romantic gestures this show encapsulate (they have so many, especially post-baby drama), Er Ye uses his fingers to imitate a camera, wanting to capture his hubby form forever.  THE GAY IS EXPLODING IN MY FACE.  If you still have doubt that Er Ye is utterly in love with his bratty penguin, I don’t know what to tell you.  He walks up to him and sits in front of his beautiful wifey.  So damn domestic!  Oh my God is Er Ye really saying this right now? The sun has cast a pattern on your outfit.  It’s just like dressing with a golden robe? This is too poetic! I want a man like this.  Now I am crying again. He bemoans not bringing a camera to immortalize that moment.  He probably would have carried the picture in his pocket like he did the one he gave to Rui Rui sister.  He adds that if he went to get the camera, the moment would be lost since the sun would set. Rui Rui eyes are closed as he responds that yes, the moment would be gone, nothing stays.  I guess he is referring to Xiang Xiang and the whole Shanghai trip. Er Ye agrees that the good times don’t last long, and tells him to take it easy. Rui Rui tells Er Ye that Chen Renxiang died on stage, it’s also considered a worthy death.  Is it though? He didn’t with a happy heart, sacrificing himself for his art.  He died depressed, realizing that everything he held dear was gone. What saddens Rui Rui is that life is unpredictable.  Awww, our boy is learning about the realities of life and shedding a bit of his naivety. He bemoans what it entails to the legacy of the Fairy Steps since there is no one to showcase it on stage, and how an accident could also make his Goddess Dance along with the Shang Family Stick skill could disappear forever.  You got to be thankful we live in the modern era where cameras captured all the dances forever for future generation to learn and nurture.  Imagine the thousands of dances lost to us because there were no longer practitioners who cared to learn them or died without imparting their skills. This is indeed disheartening. Er Ye gets philosophical and says that God’s intention is hard to fathom and so is a person’s heart.  He adds that Rui Rui’s time in Shanghai has widened his understanding of the world, introducing him to foreign things outside of his Beiping environment. Some were nice and fun, and sheer temptations.  Even if life was an utopia, without birth, old age, diseases or deaths, it would be hard to guarantee that he would not succumbed to those temptations, wanting to throw away those things passed down by his ancestors (although Er Ye says ‘our’). Rui Rui says that he won’t, to which Er Ye replies that he might not, but can he guarantee that his apprentice won’t? That subsequent apprentices won’t?  You cannot predict the future, nor can he predict what people or God have in store. The only thing that could remedy this is to encapsulate it on film, so it can be passed down for a long time.  I agree with Er Ye on that point that movie is long lasting, but in a time of war, films can also be destroyed, either by fire or by enemies wanting to push their propaganda. Anyhoo, Rui Rui is not ready to agree to it, stating that a camera can only shoot the form of a person, there aren’t any details.  It is the degree of the expressions, measurement of the footwork, the precision of the hand movements, that can be captured accurately on film and be used as training tools by future generation.  He adds it is like drawing a tiger with a cat as a model, the kids would learn the wrong things. Er Ye replies that Rui Rui makes film sound useless, it is no wonder he is unwilling to make records. LOL, he practically called Rui Rui a technophobe. Rui Rui replies it is because he place too much importance on the audience reaction, he doesn’t dare to be careless about all those details aforementioned.  He lives for the audience, wanting to be sure they enjoy themselves.  Wait, honey, you seem to have no problem provoking them by changing the lyrics.  What gives with this talk of hesitation!? He states that he would rather be tired and take on more apprentices to teach them. Er Ye questions this, asking him how long it would take for him to meet an eager disciple like Xiao Zhouzi. How much effort will it take to turn on into Zhou Lao Ban.  Yeah, he lucked out with him because the boy was an innate talent.  How many out there have such capacity? Rui Rui replies that he will take his time and misses him home, and troupe. Er Ye sighs and says that he also misses his home.  Btw, they’ve been in Shanghai for more than a month (probably three at the time they are talking).  Ugh, I wasn’t expecting to see Er Nainai so quick.  She is still doing accounting, closing out the books for Shuiyin Lou.  LOL, she ended up doing the accounting for them after all.  Oh oh, she is thinking of Fengyi. That’s not a good thing.  

Oh shit, she comes to Shuyin the next day. What is she planning? She is greeted by one of the actors, who tells her they’ve been diligently training and improving upon the things she taught them.  Shit starter Shi Jiu does not seem to approve of this ass kissing, and I don’t blame her, especially since he throws his troupe leader under the bus or rickshaw. YOOOO, this maid is opening her mouth again? Shut her up.  She once again insults the performers saying their pitch is higher than her bird. SHUT YOUR MOUTH. I have it up to here with her arrogant ass. Shi Jiu is about to tongue lash this bish, but is stop her Rong Lan.  Er Nainai states that their boss can easily remove himself from an undesirable situation.  LOL, cannot blame him for you suddenly appearing and ordering him around his own house, sweetie. Not only that but you insulted him, looked down upon him, in his own house! Anyhoo, she adds that he left her a big mess that she had to take care of.  She had to set order in this house, give them some rules (gurl, they were fine without you).  

Best girl Xiao Lai brings her some tea while they sit in that same room where she insulted my baby.  Sigh, I really don’t want to talk about the maid, she leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth.  She is soiling Shuyin House with her presence.  She insults my Xiao Lai by looking down on the tea she has prepared for Er Nainai, saying they brought their own with such indignation, as if the tea was made with piss.  I don’t think I have ever hated a character for simply existing.  Good job on the actress for being so irritating. Wait, no, I have always hated the maids on C drama.  They are insufferable, act haughty af depending on their mistress status, and are the biggest bullies. Er Nainai is like, someone is missing.  The troupe responds that everyone is here and that little shit replies that no, people, Er Nainai is talking about the baby.  HOW THE FUCK WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO KNOW. Dasheng replies the baby is in the room away from your ugly face. No Rong Lan, don’t do it, let that little shit do some work instead of running her mouth! Rong Lan brings Fengyi to Er Nainai. Sigh, don’t that little shit get anywhere close to Rui Rui’s niece!  Well, at least Fengyi is softening Er Nainai who states the baby can catch a chill if not covered properly and tells her servants to take out the items she brought.  Lol, even Shi Jiu notices the change in behavior, claiming that Er Nainai went from Empress Dowager Cixi to a living Buddha. Rong Lan is like, well at least with Er Nainai growing closer to the little Goddess of Wealth, Er Ye would not have any problems bringing her home. Shi Jiu does not approve and agree with my shit starter. DAFUQ, is that little shit bossing the actors around. GTFO.  Who allowed her to speak. Fuck this.  Ugh, I don’t want to hear her voice anymore.  She tells her boss that she doesn’t understand why she cares so much for the baby since she has unknown origins. Seriously, GTFO.  Er Nainai replies the child should not be punish for the adults’ sins.  Wait, is that little shit still believe Er Ye is the father? Bish, go away, get out of my screen. I wished Fengyi would cry so hard to make her deaf. I hope Xiao Lai would disinfect the area when they leave.  Gotta get that stank ass out.

Okay, I am done bishing about that maid.  I seriously don’t know why the show had to aggrieve me with her presence.  Did I do something in my past life to suffer so much? Talking about suffering, why did you kill my Xiang Xiang, show??  I had expected a death similar to the ending of Farewell my Concubine, but I did not expect it would be him. However, in hindsight, his words spoken back in Nanjing revealed his mindset about life.  He had admonished Rui Rui for being solely focused on the opera with no outside distractions.  For him, his girlfriend offered the distraction he sought outside of the opera.  Without her, and without his ability to perform at 100 percent due to his injury, he was left to nothing.  The true coward in this depressing episode is Chen Renxiang’s girlfriend, who bowed to her family pressure and married a man she didn’t love.  Unlike Yu Qing who willingly left her family behind for an uncertain love, Chen Renxiang girlfriend gave up a willing love for her family.  The constant reminder of how people looked down upon performers acted like a shadow permeating this entire episode.  Even with the bookending scenes involving the maid, we see the indignation, the dislike towards the performers.  Despite their fame, they are look as trash, good enough to admire and even bed, but not good enough to truly respect.  It’s a constant theme we are shown throughout the show.  Even Rui Rui, who cares so much about the audience, can’t escape this reality.  Perhaps why we have that moment when Er Ye tells him he would walk through fire to stand by his side, because only Er Ye seems him as his equal, who respects him and only wants the best for him.  Hence the talk about capturing his skills and likeness on film.  Sigh, will Rui Rui give in and let him film him so the future generation can gain an appreciation for the art the same way he has?

[oudenoida]

Can't sleep - raster and mal

The title of double agent, Raster Vellic thought, was profoundly misleading. There were more than two masks he wore on a daily basis, and the number of lies each mandated was a heavy burden that he could feel himself starting to wobble under. The idiot son, the covert scientist, the spy, the turncoat, the saboteur, the... lover? Having to remember what affectation, what lynchpin lie, what dancing deceit each one was built upon was a complicated set of maneuvers he felt himself making up the steps for as he went along; and looking out over the star-speckled ocean of Chandrila he wondered if, after taking off mask after mask after mask after mask, there was any kernel of truth buried in the heart of him at all. 

On the surface the lie at the center of his reason for being on Chandrila was easy enough. The Interplanetary Sabacc Championships were held there every year, and pretending to have a gambling addiction was a phenomenally easy way to explain why large sums of credits went missing from his Vellic Industries spending account. Far easier, at least, then attempting to explain to an accounting droid that he was spending the money on difficult to acquire parts and smugglers. 

The actual reason for their trip here was that Raster was arranging a pickup of refined focusing crystals from a black market agent he’d had dealings with in the past. They’d give the rebellion a range advantage after he outfitted their blasters with them and they truly needed any advantage that they could get. The initial meeting had been accomplished and after some particularly tense negotiations in the steam room; theoretically because it was one of the only places in the hotel that wasn’t bugged but also because it made it easy to see if anyone was wearing a wire, a price had been settled upon. It was exorbitant, but, he needed what he needed and he was willing to pay to make sure the rebellion had the upper hand. 

But unfortunately there were several days of downtime between the deal being arranged and the pickup happening which left his calendar wide open; and despite outward appearances Raster Vellic loathed idleness. 

There weren’t enough forms of entertainment in the galaxy to calm Raster down when he was deep in the throes of anxiety about a plan coming together. He’d filled half a notebook in tight machine-precise shorthand of plans, contingencies, and emergency plans to be delivered to Rebel leadership whenever Mal made it back to Yavin-4. What to do if he was compromised and needed an extraction from Vellic Prime, what to do if he was compromised and unable to make it off of Vellic Prime and had to implement the dead man’s switch he’d been working on in secret, caches and dead drops he’d left at various places, what they would need to change about tactics and plans if he was discovered… anything he could think of to be helpful in any small way but he’d run out of ideas hours ago and he wasn’t any closer to sleeping than when he’d started. He’d thought about calling Mal. His fingers had been hovered over the codes to open their secure channel a dozen times but had always second guessed and thought better of it. 

There wasn’t any easy way to try to quantify or qualify what exactly it was that he and Luck Maloris were; and as a scientist that frustrated the fuck out of him. 

He couldn’t even pinpoint when it had turned from animosity to begrudging comrades in arms to whatever romance-adjacent thing they were now. One minute it had been barking in the entry hall of Hawen Vellic’s estate for the pilot not to get grease on his bags, the next it had been sitting in a cockpit watching the radar in an asteroid belt around Polis Massa, elbow to elbow and all he could think about was the searing heat of Mal’s skin burning through the thin fabric of his over shirt, and then the next someone was slamming someone else against a corridor wall, lips hungrily finding any scrap of skin where they could beat a morse code of truth between two consummate liars. Even now Raster thought he could smell the ghost of vanilla and wood smoke on his clothes, a reminder of the silence and safety of hyperspace and what it allowed them to share. 

He thought he could see a path of wear in the lush carpet of his suite, having been pacing it like something caged and yearning to stretch for hours. A glance at the clock told him there were still long hours before the sun rose brilliant and carnelian over the gentle waves and in an instant he knew that the night was going to be too long. Raster was halfway to the elevators, still dressed far more casually than he normally appeared in public, before the suite door shut. In the middle of the night he’d hoped that he’d make it to the landing pads unseen, but an overzealous desk clerk clocked him. 

“Evening Mr. Vell-” 

“Speak to me again and I’ll have you fed to a zoo exhibit.” The harsh tap of the cane against the agate floor punctuated his words as he continued towards the landing pad, not slowing as he looked at the clerk, “Understood?”

To his credit the poor clerk only nodded mutely and Raster gave a razor thin smile, “Good. Glad we’re on the same page. If I walk onto the landing pad and see a single employee I’m going to get my father to use this place as his next testing ground.” He could hear the panicked fumbling with a comm panel as the desk clerk cleared out any staff from view from the landing pad he was about to stride across. He didn’t necessarily need a lot of witnesses to the sight of him sleepless and yearning. 

It appeared as if he had properly put the fear of death by experimental weaponry into the poor resort employee because the landing pad was deserted and quiet as he exited the main building, curly hair buffeted slightly by a salty breeze that smelled so much like home. With no ships currently arriving or departing the pad was lit only by basic emergency lights, but one passenger ship still had its lights on, a beacon in the murky darkness of Chandrila’s early morning. Raster knew it wasn’t Mal’s favorite thing to fly, he’d much prefer to be in his on X-Wing but when ‘working’ for Raster he had to at least keep up appearances, which meant he was stuck in the cockpit of the Corona for the duration of their trips. The ramp was still down and Raster strode up it softly, hefting his cane over his shoulder to avoid the ringing announcing his steps. Pausing at the entrance to his ship he could feel a soft smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he looked at the back of his pilot, head half-into an access panel, the sounds of profanity under his breath as he fixed something. 

“I like to think I keep my ship in working order.” He spoke loud enough for Mal to hear him but not so loud that his voice inevitably carried out to the employees of the resort hiding just out of sight, “What are you in there breaking now?” 

He was rewarded with a profane hand gesture as the Mirialan withdrew from the access panel, wiping his hands on a rag stuffed in one pocket, “Your inertial dampeners are keyed up way too high. Sends your fuel efficiency plummeting. I’m just evening them out.” 

“Yes because ruining my careful tuning is exactly what most people do in the middle of the night. Can’t sleep?” Raster crossed the threshold into the ship and closed the hatch behind him, the soft hiss of it sealing the only sound between them for a long moment as he looked over at his pilot. “Did you know this is where my mother was from? Chandrila is where I was born actually.”

“Don’t like sitting around doing nothing.” Mal hadn’t moved to close the distance between them with his response and so Raster did so, stepping into the much shorter man’s space and looking down, gently and gingerly raising a hand to slide a thumb down a gently green jawline, just barely brushing Mal’s lip as he did so. The pilot didn’t respond to the bait of offered history, looking up and into Ras’ dark eyes as he waited him out. 

“Most people don’t think of ship maintenance as a substitute for sleep though.” It was so quiet in the ship Raster thought he could hear his own heartbeat echoing off the walls as Mal’s head dipped ever so slightly to press a kiss to the pad of his thumb. 

“We’re not most people though. You have to ask, Vellic. I’m not a mind reader.” 

The silence deepened and thickened; not the tense brittle silence of unknowing but something that could support and shelter the two men inside of it. Raster’s hand drifted down to Mal’s chest, gently grazing the exposed sliver of flesh from an unbuttoned uniform shirt. His hands spent so much time gripping wires or metal or plastic that it always shocked him how soft and warm another person was. They locked eyes and Raster’s mouth opened and shut several times, the hitch in his breath the only indication that something was lurking in the back of his throat attempting to be said. 

“.... Luck.” 

Mal’s hand settled on Ras’ hip, a steady support as they stood frozen in their small sanctuary, “Say it, Ras. Just spit it out.” 

Bringing his head down Raster nuzzled into the crook of Mal’s neck, a series of small kisses pressing a constellation into warm skin, some celestial map to try to lead him to the comfort he was seeking. “Can I spend the night with you?” 

A laugh was the first response, “It’s your ship, Mr. Vellic. Don’t really think it’s my call.” 

Pulling back Ras narrowed his eyes and glowered at the mirth in Mal’s eyes, “Not what I mean, Maloris, and you fucking know it.” 

Mal’s fingers slowly unbuttoned Raster’s shirt, sliding the thin fabric over and off smooth shoulders as he corralled him back towards the pilot’s quarters, “I don’t know if you’ll fit in the bed, you freak of nature, but we can certainly make a go of it.” 

As they careened towards bed, slamming into several walls as their faces were occupied with more than trying to find their way, Raster’s hand managed to find the switch to kill the lights and the ship fell into a dimness illuminated only by emergency running lights. He didn’t need the lights to see his way, though. With the feeling of Mal’s skin against his he knew exactly where he was going. 

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 15 notes

Ok true crime as in my new addiction is true crime podcasts specifically about serial killers

Back to the session

 After getting a bit of a reality check from durnan about the supposed strength and power of the xanathar guild…

Protected our home w glyphs of warding

Last day of our contract

Spell is set to fade soon

Asyna is feeding ot

Ot looks at asyna like he's a cornered animal

"ot here's some meat"

Why is krystal roasting me about my lover

He wants poison

Ot is calling his jailers idiotic

Oh no aerana might be spilling beans

I really shouldn't be allowed to play games

Because I will always turn to the chaotic evil character

Aerana isn't giving anything up

Theo tells us about the plumbers who came over last night

Aerana is going to typ, rest of party is staking out house

Shifts to watch ot, adam takes front, asyna tower lookout (it's foggy tho so perception check at disadvantage, 9; city looks a little eerie in the fog)

Cel puts immovable rod across cellar door

Ot is suspicious whenever cel comes in

"you cannot fool me xanathar"

Cel making theo a new cloak

Ot asks cel when he'll turn him into dust

The xanathar can turn ppl into dust

Flare ?

Is flare the brain boy ?

I don't like the energy we've created around the word "enlightenment"

Cel rolls 18 insight check

Ot doesn't think cel is cel

Cel is gonna just vibe witth him

"WHEN U SLAY ME I WILL THINK NOTHING BUT HATEFUL THOUGHTS"

Sorry didn't mean caps but too lazy to fix

Everyone else

Adam in front hissing at neighbors and cats, 7

Hears pavement scuffle, someone approaches and reddish gtray beard person w non-descript gray cloak approaches; trench

Doesn't remember cellar and plumbers guild coming by night before

Trench says he can help

Help get bar open

Used to drink there a lot

Gets parchment and quill with ink

Rolls insight to see if bar was only thing he wasd interested in, 13, trench seems v interested

Works in surveillance, protection

Gives him cel and theo's name "5 copper please"

Gets 5

Adam picks his nose

Theo patrols entrances

13 for perception

Overlaps path w adam's

Aerana to typ

Afternoon when there

Similar pattern to those there; frequent patrons

"if I'm making up words, it's not really hitler"

8 perception

Place feels open, not as packed as it usually is

Still feel sensation of cold from the well

Wizard w pointy red hat a regular

You see goliath wizard talking to a dwarven woman

Aerana sees an elven man (bard) w "ugliest guy you've seen in your goddamn life" dom says but only after we point out he looks like legolas, tuning a lute

Sense you've seen him before

The wellllllllllllllllll

It is better told by a bard

Some patrons old and strange, others just like to drink

But ritual in the storytelling

Durnan built

Gwyliam

Talking in elvish

Place formerly not too populated

But one of durnan's ancestors came over to build upon it and discovered the well

Network of tunnels underneath

20 for history check

Familiar with some of what he's saying

Parents would throw you into the undermountain if you were bad

Undermountain = stirs weird memory in your head

Being told as a child stories of undermountain

Deep dark fearsome place

Mt waterdeep wizard came here once named hallister the black cloak

Hallister - ppl don't know where he was from / if he was real but legendary

Brought apprentices trained in magical arts

Tunneled on peak of mt waterdeep

Legend of undermountain could not be verified as truth

Durnan's ancestor came to typ

Climbed into well

"I wouldn't bring this up around him" - doesn't talk abt

When ancestor returned was fabulously rich

Split money with best friend

Built typ

Occasionally engages in ritual of going

No one truly knows what lies in undermountain but there's something there bc some return but most do not

"it might just be the sewer" - "but don't tell anyone I said that"

Differing renditions

Some say durnan was the one with magical powers and killed everyone in there, or more nuanced speaking only of tragedy of those who return who come back fearful or returning with smaller parties; others talk more of hallister and argue over his life; every night a different story

Ask if he knows anyone who's come back

Gestures to half-orc in corner playing variation of solitaire; great celebration when he returned, he came back with riches

He is a regular

21 history check

Undermountain

Familiar name

"Deepest dungeon of them all"

When sewers were built many passages abandoned bc other halls + passages found, many teams from cellars and plumbers guild died during construction of the sewers

Prisoners often thrown into "undermountain"

Says even tho he's here most days there's still stuff he doesn't understand about it; new community reforged every night

At some point durnan talking to wizard and having a conversation which is odd ? Eventually wizard looks at aerana (old man) skinny pointy red hat

Wizard squinting at aerana then turns back to conversation

Try talking to half-orc

Interesting plated beard almost like that on dwarves wrt ornamentation; jewelry running through it

Wiry half-orc

Not skinny but muscled

Weird tattoos covering one side of his face looking like they change a little bit

Balanced a little precariously

Ask if he wants to play a two-person card game bc he's playing solitaire

Ask for his favorite game, Skipper (slapjack)

Dexterity check

5, 20, 10

First round you lose, his fingers have strange looking rings beautiful but rough-worn bands of steel or other heavy metal

Second you win

Third round he takes

"say not many people can beat me in that game"

"luck favors the bold"

In the well

Hell but now look at him can gamble all he wants

City of balder's gate

Large city rough place to grow up

Turned into rough child living on streets

Says his name is Sand

Balder's gate warlords make life difficult so he decided to leave

Was found in youth by someone who turned his anger into smth holy

Ran into thieves and plunderers of forgotten relics, became brother and sister and decided to take on deepest dungeon of them all

Horrible things - asks if you've heard the song

The yawning portal song

Not many people know the full tale

Was taught to be skeptical (it's in his nature or maybe his name)

Not sure how long he was in there or didn't know when he was in there

No light

Tunnels are confusing and without it would've been lost; found room with throne with snakes for arms

Great hallway with ancient trap

Living things also in there; all manner of beasts and creatures; ppl don't come back bc of those

Killed goblins down there but after the things he's seen and after the things he'd had to do could've gone with killing a few more goblins

Advice ? Some will sell maps of what they found or what they think they've seen; anyone can tell u abt beasts down there

Durnan wouldn't lower us down

Durnan doesn’t send ppl to their deaths

Durnan lowers people he deems worthy

Strong brave smart fast bold enough or some combo

But even then not everyone comes back

It's a place of death

Not buying him lunch lmao

Has broken into dangerous old elf dungeons like in the ones up north and would do it again if he could unsee some of the things he saw down in the well

A place of death but things move in the shadows w tombs down there and tunnels for miles hallways great and tall, treasures, beasts keeping it for themselves

Ask about tattoos

Gift from master

The person who saved him in balder's gate

Steeped in magic of shadows

Powerful bc he is strong but qi is stronger still

Aerana gets back home but starts to rain heavily

Ppl still patrolling

Adam

Sees drow ? W purple colored eyes silver-ish hair hiding weapons under his cloak steps up and says "pardon me" and asks if adam's seen a cat

Large cat - would've know if saw it

Adam sends drow to trench

Adam gives him good up and down look, can he see weapons ? Carrying two cinotaurs ??? Sinotaur ???? Adam rolls insight for cat

14, seems like he's talking abt a cat

Heads off to trench

Asyna in watchtower guessing ppl's names

Cel and theo switch

Theo says hi to ot, ot curled up in corner

Whispers "hey ot what's up"

Says he should've gone with his gut on the day theo arrived

"dark elegance" "the way you glided into the room" - ot on theo

Ot says he knows how the xanathar pays theo

"I guess seeing you was a realization of my deepest fear" a fear he couldn't name or place or knew he had but out of the darkness theo stepped forward

"I'm curious . How long do you leave your victims like this"

Ot starts to cry and says he would beg her to keep him in this place

"this voice you're using I find it sweet"

"I just don't want to wake up before the end"

Theo is gonna get him food

"the poor dead tiefling told me yesterday"

7 insight

Theo does not know what's happening

Says the water theo gives him looks real

Looks at the wall drinks some water

"and it tastes real"

We kinda fucked ot up LMAO OOPS

"I know that you don’t have a heart… but if there's any chance that anything I've ever said or thought about you could take root in your soul"

Theo says she'll consider his request

Sits there for a half hour then asks if that's her real name

"nithlur" or smth like that

Nihloor

"where'd you hear that"

In his head lmao

What if this is like

A tapeworm

In his head

"what does knowledge taste like"

Asks if it's a feeling or a thought

Theo says it's a feeling

Ot says whatever knowledge is it's valuable to the right thing

Wonders if he can take a nap

Gonna take a nap

Adam forgot he made ott think he was dead

Aerana is taking over for theo

Adam takes first watch

Perception check, 22

Raining ohp so at disadvantage gotta do it again

New roll, 12

Rain is still falling

Hears a weird noise coming from outside the house

Uses thaumaturgy to boom voice saying "wake up"

Everyone sleeping wakes up

Goes toward sound

Hears weird growling noise

Goes semi-toward noise w pyrotechnics prepared; darkvision does he see anything

Sees shape

It's not the cat

Unfamiliar, looks like it's flying but more like it's floating

Bobbing up and down in air

Creature w large glassy eye and sagging mouth w lots of sharp teeth

Sticking out from form are eyes attached to a slug protruding off it w glassy eyes hanging off it

Intense stench making icky moaning noise

Adam shits his pants

It's big

The size of its mouth is human size

I've been listening to serial killer podcasts all day

[ichirostitties]

It’s great to see another HypMic imagines blog around!! Can I request some headcanons for how Ichiro, Dice, and Samatoki (desperate ofc) react when they’re attempting to flirt with their crush, but their crush doesn’t understand the flirting and just thinks the guys are being super nice all of a sudden? Hopefully that made sense agsjjfkvkv. Best wishes for you and the blog!!!! ꒰#’ω`#꒱੭

aah thanks also this is a v cute ask they r all babey (yes even mr hardcore)

Ichiro

-POOR BOY he really has no experience with this at all :^( it’s basically canon that his only relationship experience comes from light novels/manga and all that nfdjfhssj

-he was probably SO NERVOUS he’s liked you for so long!! for ages he was trying to drop subtle hints (’subtle’) but you just didn’t understand him. he’s so nervous cause he wants to tell you but he just..can’t

-it’s just..,,this one day in particular you guys are hanging out alone FINALLY (since jiro and saburo are at school, he has the day off and you happened to be free too!), and he’s dropping so many hints (it’s up to you whether or not he uses purposely cheesy pickup lines to no avail lmao) he’s tried EVERYTHING. 

-he asked you to go to the movies sometime (he was like “so uhh..,,,would maybe wanna see this [insert cheesy romantic movie title here because ofc he would pick that to be as obvious as possible] together sometime y/n??”) and u were like “yeah i’d love to!! how did you know i’d love to see that movie you’re so thoughtful! :) is it ok if i bring some other friends too?” and he just internally cries because he MEANT just the two of you because it’s a movie COUPLES see together

-you guys were chillin on his couch probably watching uhhh NARUTO like weebs or something and he even tried the ‘accidental contact’ strategy but you just apologised and moved your hand away (he cries again because he just wants to hold ur hand aw)

-so in the end he’s tried all of the worst flirting strategies ever and not only did none of them work, you didn’t understand aNY of them (although you DID notice he was being a little more touchy than usual) and he’s sitting there wondering what to do because he’s so nervous!!! He’s sure he’ll have to actually confess at this rate and he’s never done it before his poor mc big bro heart is beating so fast!

-you probably notice that he seems to be sweating up a storm and you ask if he’s okay and I think that would do it for him honestly

-he takes a deep breath and is like right.,,ok mr mc big bro u got this in his head and turns to you with the reddest face you’ve seen in a while and blurts out that he really reaaallly likes you and he’s had the biggest crush on you for so long!! and he even tells you how he’d been trying to flirt with you all day (honestly flirting for ichiro is sending the ‘:3′ emoji) but you didn’t notice so he decided to just tell you and he Really hopes you feel the same way

-you’re like “oh…oH” and then it all clicks and you FINALLY understand why he was acting the way he was, and you give him the biggest smile ever because you really like him too!! 

-”I really like you too, Ichiro!” and the moment you tell him all his nerves just drop to 0 and he’s SO HAPPY, he doesn’t even register you apologising for not understanding his advances cause he’s too busy trying to believe that this is real and he really just did that and you actually like him back

-and now u r dating ichiro and u guys went to that cheesy romance movie and maybe u smooched him and maybe he cried himself to sleep that night because of how happy he is

-wow this turned into an entire scenario oOPS BUT ANYWAY basically i think ichiro would just confess out of sheer desperation because he’s never really experienced this before and he has no idea how to best handle the situation

-he’s just a big soft nerd idiot but he’s the best big brother ever and we love him anyway :’) ily ichiro ughhh this made me wanna go on so many dates with him

Samatoki

-angery man

-Samatoki would actually be pretty good at flirting honestly, he’s probably had a lot of positive reactions from people in the past so when you don’t really get what he’s implying he like ???? nani the fuck

-he’d probably repeat himself expecting you to get it but you just. don’t and he doesn’t actually know how to react at first.

-he’s not shy when it comes to this stuff, but he does get embarrassed easily when he has to admit his feelings. flirting was so much easier for him because he can just pass it off as not being that deep

-he probably becomes more aggressive with his flirting, like he starts leaning into you more if ya get what i mean

-he just goes with it the first few times it happens, but when you’re continuously oblivious to him he rapidly gets very frustrated, and he becomes more pouty as time goes on and you still just don’t get it!!

-he has trouble expressing his true feelings. he’s such a tsundere oh dear

-he wouldn’t get mad at you though, he really doesn’t want to hurt you even if he does come across as prickly, he just doesn’t really know what to do other than get angry at himself for not just telling you straight away

-you notice he’s feeling down so you ask him what’s wrong and he just blushes and looks away like the dumbass he is. his heart aches when he hears the concern in your voice and he really just wants to tell you. so he mumbles something but you can’t quite hear him, so you ask him to repeat himself and then he turns to you that’s when he confesses to you because he’s tired of feeling like a coward

-he tells you he’s liked you for a while now, and that it’d be fuckin great if you felt the same way otherwise he’d probably never be able to talk to you again (he probably says it all while looking to the side because he’s a stereotypical tsundere when it comes to this and i love him)

-you sort of take a moment to process it, but when it all clicks you realise how much he’d been dropping hints and you’re sorta like damn ok..he’s really smooth im just a dumbass ok but it’s ok cause you guys can both be dumbasses together!!

-he’s still waiting for your response, so you just lean in and kiss him on the cheek and he goes. very red but once he realises that means you feel the same way (it takes him a full 5 seconds), he has the biggest cheesiest grin on his face and gives you a REAL BIG SMOOCH because he’s secretly a pretty big dork

-soft samatoki makes me go sicko mode oh my god

Dice

-DICE’S FLIRTING IS SO STRAIGHTFORWARD AND HE REALLY DOESN’T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN’T REALISE HE HAS A BIG FAT CRUSH ON YOU???

-he’s literally been like “u look hot” and you’re like “aw thanks dice ur the nicest friend!!!!” he literally had question marks in his eyes the entire day

-he has tried EVERYTHING he even used “ya like jaaazzz???” from the bee movie but you thought he was just making a horrible reference and depending on how u feel u either refused to talk to him for the rest of the day or laughed until you cried because he’s such a clown

-he really doesn’t care that much, he’d LOVE to date you but hanging out with you is fine too so he wouldn’t be in the biggest rush to confess. Honestly he’d probably have a blast finding out just how far he can go before you realise how he feels (in a way it’s kinda like gambling cause he never knows when you’re gonna get it ooooo)

-after a few weeks he probably starts to get pretty desperate tho. he sees ur hand once and goes apeshit cause he wants to hOLD IT SO BAD he just wants 2 give u a big soft hug (dice gives the BEST hugs just saying) and now he realises that maybe he should just tell you

-and Dice has no shame, so he does! he goes up to you and is like “hey so uhh..,,,i’ve literally been dropping hints for weeks that I really like you so would you maybe wanna go on a date sometime??”. 

-He wouldn’t seem like it, but he is actually a little nervous. After all, he’s some hopeless homeless case addicted to gambling, why would you ever like him back? But for as few brain cells as Dice has, he actually has more sense than the others and thinks that hey, you must like him at least a little to have been hanging out with him for as long as you have

-when you say that you like him a lot too, he feels his heart swell!! he’s really happy and gives you one of his big signature grins. You apologise for being so clueless, you really thought he was just trying to be nice or entertaining in general cause that’s how he is with everyone else

-Dice pulls you in for a Big Dice Hug and assures you that it’s fine, he’s just as bad as you seeing as he still believes literally everything that falls from Gentaro’s mouth despite knowing how he is, and that he had a lot of fun trying to flirt with you using literally any tactics he could think of (even the kabedon didnt work smh)

-dice is such a genuine person i really can’t see him not confessing. he’s just a babey please give him lots of love and food

[fallout2282]

The Office of the President, Hall of Congress

Shady Sands, New California Republic

Yulia Arteaga sat in her office chair, fiddling with the Two Headed Bear Flag pin between her fingers. She unclasped it, bringing it up to her chest so that she might wear it at her heart, as was customary. It was a gift from her predecessor, a symbol of office. She wanted nothing of Kimball’s and she refused to watch as her staff moved his portrait into storage, replacing it with a painting to rival it, depicting her own visage. She stood for four hours so that the artist they commissioned, someone from her home state, the Boneyard, could accurately transfer her image to the canvas. She wore the pin in the painting too, a detail added afterwards. It had originally belonged to President Tandi, the Great Mother, before being passed along to Tibbett, Peterson, Kimball, and now her. It was a symbol of office, no matter what she wore, as long as she carried that pin it was like she like she radiated with the commanding aura of high office. Her predecessor, now retired against his will to some ranch outside the Hub, preferred old world style suits where as Yulia was often accused of looking something like a cross between a field hand and a factory worker. She liked the brahmin leather vest her Bear Flag was now pinned to, and the earthy tones of her checkered button up and slacks. She wore the same outfit in the painting. The artist thought it fitting, she was the young populist who was taking California by storm. Her majority in Congress was secure, now that Chief Hanlon won the race in Redding and was now Senator Hanlon. She was going to need the allies in the months to come as it became apparent making peace was far more complicated than making war. A detail Kimball neglected to mention when he handed over the keys to the Republic. Her train of thought was interrupted when the door to her office flew open.

“Yulia! You’ll never believe it. Dennis Crocker agreed to stay on until the drafting process for the treaty is finished. It’s just like you said, maybe he really is different from those other Kimball holdovers after all. He thinks you should meet with Chief Executive-” It was her aid, Maxim. He had been with her since her days as a labor organizer in Adytum. He managed her campaign for an Angel’s Boneyard council seat and didn’t even ask for an appointment to some cushy job in the bureaucracy. Although, being aide to the president came with similar guarantees of job security and long term financial security. 

“It’s Madame President now, Maxim.” She made the deals, led the censure, and cast the first vote of Kimball’s downfall. She earned her position. Now she just had to keep it, and that meant any deal with New Vegas had to insure the lights stayed on. At least until the project she arranged with the Followers of the Apocalypse was complete. It would be funny if it wasn’t so frustrating. The Mojave Campaign was Kimball’s war, and he lost his job over it. Now it seemed most of her job was picking up the pieces, when she had campaigned on an extensive program promising to fix the many problems at home. 

“The answer is no. I’ll give it my signature, but Crocker can shake that man’s hand. He knows if the deal screws us, I’ll screw him harder. I like the good Ambassador, but if he expects to come back to a career he has to earn it. Speaking of which, draw me up a list of candidates to take his place once the negotiations are finished. If his plan does work I’ll want him running for a seat here in the next election. I know Thaler’s will soon be up for grabs, and he might act like a friend, but we all know he didn’t vote with us when we got rid of Kimball. His days on the council are numbered.”

“Yes, Madame President. My apologies Madame President. I will send out word to the State Department to have a list drawn up at once. As for Councilman Thaler, we should avoid alienating him until after the vote tomorrow. He has been more than supportive of the Crimson Caravan inquiry. Alice McLafferty was forced out of her post in the Mojave branch, it’s practically an admission of guilt on their part. If he thinks we intend to endorse someone else for his seat, he could end up voting with Senator Morales. And if Morales rallies the governors then they will certainly shut down the investigation and shut down this investigation” her aide said with great uncertainty. She couldn’t blame him for his skepticism. Aaron Kimball was wildly popular until he wasn’t. All Yulia had to do was alienate the wrong person and she could lose her majority. Then it would be all over. 

“Have a little more confidence in me, Maxim. I didn’t win the Presidency for the novelty of it. I intend to hold on to this seat for as long as I can. The people aren’t so fickle as to turn on me yet. Thaler will vote for me because if he doesn’t again, then it is a certainty he will lose his seat. I might have been a councilor for Adytum, but I was born in Shady Sands. Now I represent all of California. And it’s about some time someone stood up to the merchant houses. And don’t call the representatives from Hub that, their heads are already big as it is” She was right, and Maxim knew it too when she said it. Yulia had always spoken truth to power, and now she was the power. Not the only one, granted. That’s just how it was in democracies. Still, that wouldn’t stop her from using the authority she was given to hold her colleagues to account.  

“We can discuss tomorrow’s vote later. There’s still a lot of other work to be done. Have we received a report from General Hsu yet? What’s the status of the withdrawal?” Military matters were the one aspect of governing she was new to. She had coordinated with the military in the past, back in Adytum during one of the multiple operations against the raider gangs that are pervasive in the Boneyard. Yet she only ever acted as a point of contact then, now she was Commander in Chief. 

Maxim cleared his throat, “Slowly, but surely Madame President. The General and the Ambassador were able to convince the new management in New Vegas to allow a handful of our forces to remain at the Dam and watch over our civilian personnel that will stay there. Long term arrangements haven’t been decided yet, but the General is unsure of the prudence in leaving the Dam in the hands of those... robots. He seems uncertain if we even have a choice in the matter. You’ve already seen the projections. A renewed conflict is not likely to be in our electoral interests. As for the full withdrawal to Mojave Outpost, we are expecting the last of our forces to be safely within the border in three weeks time.”

“Sooner we conclude this business the better. What of the Legion? The rangers set out after the battle to scout their territory and I’ve yet to see a report land on my desk. I would hate to leave our new friends on the Strip defenseless against such savages.” Yulia folded her arms, leaning back against the desk. 

“The robots were actually quite thorough in their assault on Fortification Hill. The military seems to think the enemy was quite completely demolished. Caesar had died three months earlier, reportedly of a botched attempt to remove tumors from his brain. As for the rest of the Legion’s leadership, they are all believed to have perished in the battle.” Now he was just rehashing what she already knew.

“What about the east? Arizona... New Mexico. Those places. I recall from the archives we sent scouts out that way decades ago. There are people out there. The Legion’s people. What will happen to them?” That was the real question. If Kimball had succeeded, if the NCR had annexed New Vegas, would they have been next? Would the NCR have kept going? Just like the old world. That she didn’t like to imagine. 

“Our commanders speculate what is left of the Legion will converge on Flagstaff. That I suppose you would call the Legion’s capital. It’s also where Caesar left his heirs, supposedly. General Hsu has assured us that the Legion isn’t a threat to the Mojave, let alone us here in California.” Maxim knew as much as she did. They would both be left to wonder until the rangers they sent east reported in. It could be months, and that’s if any of them managed to cross back over the Colorado. 

The Mojave Campaign began decades ago, back then the NCR only had to contend with the same raider tribes they had been fighting and beating for generations. Jackals, Vipers, Khans, all scattered to the wastes. The war with the Legion only began in 2277 when their warband attempted to seize Hoover Dam the first time. All the while her country was being bled try. More lives and more money than she could imagine. Costlier than every other war fought in California combined. Not mentioned in official reports, the rumor was General Lee Oliver died not at the hands of the Legion, but after the battle had already ended. Thrown off of the side of the dam by one of the robots that now defended New Vegas. She chose not to ask if it was true when she received her first briefing from the military, after all it allowed blame for the defeat to fall squarely on Kimball’s shoulders. And he deserved it. She wouldn’t make his mistakes. 

“I can’t tell if we were lucky, or unlucky. We won the battle and still lost the war.” She chuckled at the irony, at the sheer stupidity of it all. “We saved the damn... dam, and it doesn’t even seem like we’ll be able to keep it. First we get strung along by the seemingly-immortal Mr. House, and now we’re negotiating with a former Vault dweller with a gambling addiction? We clearly didn’t play our cards right, even though for all intents and purposes we had a winning hand.”

Maxim nodded in agreement, ever willing to play the sycophant. “Poor governance ultimately makes for poor policy decisions, Madame President. I believe you will lead us towards a much brighter future. One where the people of New Vegas are our friends, not subjects.” 

“Friends? We’ll just see what terms Crocker wins for us. I’ve no intention of getting us into another war, if that’s what your concern is. Still need to see about making states out of the territories up north before I go looking for more outside of our borders. Congress can’t deny the territories real representation forever. We give Arroyo and Klamath statehood, and I won’t have to worry about losing my majority for as long as I’m President.” She sighed, “First we need to see about officially ending this war and bringing our men and women in uniform back from the front. Once the withdrawal is complete we’ll set up the podium in front of the statue of Tandi in Republic Square. It won’t just be to welcome the troops home, but another state of the republic address.”

“Very good, Madame President. I also brought that report you requested last week. It took some time for the rangers to compile it. This one’s complete at least. I thought you would want to have a look at it before the committee did.” On the desk next to Yulia, her aide placed a folder that was so full of paper that it was nearly as thick as some of the books in her office. 

Yulia took one look at the folder’s contents, thumbing through the various pages of eye witness testimony collected in the Mojave and official statements by other officials in the NCR. This one file alone would could take up the rest of her afternoon just to read. “One question, Maxim.” She pursed her lips, her curiosity piqued. 

“What’s that Madame President?” “Who the hell is this Courier?” 

[crystalschoices]

Completed the 4th Liar

Note: This post will contain spoilers for Liar! Uncover the Truth. Please read with caution.

Also, please do not spoil any of the future liars in the comments. This includes the spinoff series as well. Thank you.

So, I was stumped, but, eventually, I did get it. (So much thinking...) Turns out our 4th liar who's a gambling addict turns out to be none other than our former college colleague and crush, Keima Katagiri.

Turns out his gambling addiction started soon after he graduated college and got his job, according to the “True Ending”. His boss invited him to an underground casino and that’s pretty much sparked his love for gambling- which for those who didn’t know is illegal in Japan. However, after he makes a bad decision, he loses his whole salary. Which then leads up to him later meeting up with MC at the matchmaking party. Afterward, we learn that he continues to gamble-currently on horse races-and it turns he’s very much in debt. And I mean, very much.

I will admit that I do feel awful that he’s stuck in this situation, but, I can’t forgive him for trying to offer the MC to the loan sharks in an attempt to clear his debt. Big fat yikes from me, pal! 😡

Now onto the other endings.

His “Secret Ending” is told through Keima’s POV and it follows up after the “True Ending”. He reminiscences about how many years have gone by since college. He wants to see if this matchmaking party can be his chance to be with MC, but, he’s worried that his gambling addiction could get in the way.

His “Scumbag Ending” follows up after MC dumps to the curb. After he gets taken by the scummy loan sharks, he’s forced into working as a host to pay off the debt. After he’s done working, he tries to win a raffle for a trip for two to Hawaii, but, fails. Keima then begins to realize that he’ll have to work hard in order to get what he wants.

In “Love Ending”, Keima begs MC to give him a second chance. She does, but, only on one condition- he pays off his debt. He agrees and works his butt off her six months until he pays off the debt. Keima even did construction work- despite mentioned that he hated work involved hard labor. Once the debt got paid off, he and the MC reminisce about their past by visiting the college grounds before starting things over.

Finally, the “Bad Ending”. Keima and the MC get married, he quits his job, and they're living a debt-filled life. He also gets back into his gambling ways and then things get ugly. They get caught by the scummy loan sharks and MC is forced to work a scummy job while her dead beat husband is off to his no-good habits. Yeah...like I said, it got ugly.

As for the other potential liars, I didn’t really suspect Azusa all that much. He was very sweet in this arc- he’s starting to grow on me. Not a big fan of him smoking though. 

But, what the heck was up with Sotaro and him signing a marriage registration form and expecting the MC to sign it as well?! Talk about desperate! Well, at least I think he is... I hope this gets covered in the next liar arc. Because, right now, he’s just making himself look more suspicious to me...

Also, I am the only one that thought Keima sounded like Suwabe for a second? But, no, turns out he’s voiced by someone else. ^^;

Still wondering what’s the big mystery with Itaru and Sotaro. Also hoping to hear Haruichi’s liquid chocolate voice. *bricked*

[guyjung]

[ park junhee, demiboy, he/they, 22 ] TECHNICOLOUR BEAT by OH WONDER? whenever i hear that song, it reminds me of GUI-JIN “GUY” JUNG. maybe because they’re GENTLE but also FOOLISH. they’ve been living at mulberry apartments since NOVEMBER of 2018 in APARTMENT 113 and have 1 ROOMMATE. ( SAVE ME, DIFFERENT COLORS, THAT’S SO US  ) 

jamie, twenty four, they/them :D tw for gambling addiction bellow the cut!

i’m gonna uhhh try not to write an entire novel here but ? i’ve never been successful at stopping myself before so. here we go.

guy is.... a sweetheart. the kind of guy you know always has the right intentions, despite the disastrous outcome of almost any situation he’s involved in. 

he was never the brightest spark in school (an understatement), but he made friends easily and that was more than enough for him. at first his parents pushed and pulled and prodded, but it became clear before he even hit his teens that he was a lost cause to them. 

they stayed civil, but he couldn’t say they were ever close or that he ever learned what the meaning of family was from them. rather, he learned it from the friendships he put his blood, sweat and tears into, and the people around him who were willing to give the same in return. 

he never went without much in terms of materialistic value as a child, with his father bringing in a healthy wage on top of their family’s money. that changed not long after he turned 16, however, when his father’s gambling addiction came to light.

it wasn’t long after that their family declared bankruptcy, their too-large home being downgraded into a place too small to house guy. he understood. he didn’t much enjoy living under their roof anyway, and the couple had a lot to work through together. somehow their relationship has survived to this day, so guy supposes that says something good about them.

guy had a few friends in school that believed they had what it took to make it as a band, and bless them they certainly tried. he dedicated his all to it, busking and sofa surfing to make ends meet. when the lead singer decided to get married and settle down, however, it was clear that guy needed to find a plan B.

at the beginning of last year, guy’s very best friend came to him with her girlfriend and asked for his help in getting pregnant. of course he said yes, and a couple months later and a lot of awkward jack-off sessions in the bathroom, she was pregnant and he was more than happy to sit back and be cool uncle guy.

that didn’t exactly go to plan when the long term relationship between the two girls ended, leaving his best friend heart broken, pregnant and scared.

plan B had found guy with a job at the local grocery store, stacking shelves and helping little old ladies find their way around. it was the kind of job most people would look down on, but honestly he loved every second of it. he still does. and pulling in those extra night shifts was all he needed to get himself and his pregnant best friend a place at mulberry apartments, where they could raise their baby together. co-parenting. 

jade was born a healthy baby girl just a couple weeks after they moved into apartment 113, and she’s changed guy’s entire world. 

she’s beautiful. he is so in love with his little girl, and he can’t now imagine ever having been anything but her daddy. it’s not conventional -- two gay best friends attempting to raise a child together in a small apartment with only minimum wage coming in, but they’re making it work and guy has got a pep in his step everywhere he goes lately. 

all you really need to know is that he looks like a cinnamon roll and is a cinnamon roll

if he asks you a question and you think he’s being sarcastic -- he’s not. he genuinely doesn’t know the answer.

he is a proud daddy and will spam everyone’s snapchat with pictures.

he does the occasional gig on the weekend and lives for it, but he gets a buzz from stacking shelves and talking to random customers too. 

he’s very very friendly. give him all the friends! also very loyal. basically he’s a puppy.

a punk rock skater boi wanna be puppy. 

ok pls plot with us. thnks. 

[tenrou-sirius-the-writer]

Omgggg yassss I was wondering when a ask blog for this show would pop up! Can I get a scenario with Mikhail and his s/o where he's tending to them because their sick/wounded? No angst, just cute tooth-rotting fluff. Please and thank you c: (also what age do you think he is? trying to pin down an age but I can't figure it out :/)

I think he’s in his early twenties but I don’t know??

Summary: In the relationship between a human and a vampire, the human is clumsier than originally thought and hurts herself, leaving her in the grips of her boyfriend.

A/N: I’m so sorry for delaying this request, I didn’t know enough about Mikhail to accurately write his character, but episodes 7 and 8 really cleared it up, and sorry this is so long. Enjoy!

Warnings: Fluff, long request, swearing.

She hadn’t meant to fall in love with a vampire of all things. It was funny, really. Their meeting had practically sprung up from a romantic novel, except those books excluded the bloody details.

Most people couldn’t stand those somewhat-minor details. It made them scrunch their noses with the stench and sprint away, or they screamed and yelled and passed out cold right there. (Y/N) had never done that, she was inclined to the blood and gore, leaned in to the dismembered bodies and into her curiosity.

It never mattered, she thought. It was her job, as she did autopsies in the murder and crime divisions of the police. (Y/N) was one of the only women in the force, that was allowed to help and step into the gruesome crime scenes.

So when another detective sauntered into her office, with an ugly sneer and a baffling expression, then handed her a pile of speckled ashes, she raised a brow. Glancing down at the ash, she tentatively looked back up at the man, who rolled his eyes and pushed the sterile plastic case into her chest further.

“What do you want me to do with this?” She remarked, and pointed at the case. “If there was an arson, then shouldn’t this be handed to the guys who handle forensics?”

The man scoffed, “No, according to Doctor Kisuke’s daughter, Saki, this is what remains of her father.”

(Y/N) narrowed her eyes, confused and bewildered at this officers stupidity, and leaned forward, almost tauntingly.

“So there was an arson?”

The police officer reared back, as if slapped, and (Y/N) nearly laughed. This was the highlight of her day so far, her amusement skyrocketing and she felt giddy for the first time in a while.

“No! This little girl was convinced that when her father was stabbed in the head, he collapsed into ash, and there were no traces of physical bodies when we got to the scene, so we’re sending it to autopsy.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll amuse you and try to get something out of this pile of ash, but don’t be surprised if nothing comes up.”

But something did. A different police officer walked in claiming this was a different person’s ash so (Y/N) labeled them and continued on. This case made her feel this foreboding sense of wonder, she wasn’t digging through some old woman’s carcass for a bullet, or opening the stomach and throat for poison samples, this was a supposed body reduced to ash in seconds.

There was no flamethrower that had that kind of power!

The next day, (Y/N) drove the boring and creepy path to the cremation chamber. It stunk of burnt skin and bodies and smoke, but it didn’t smell worse than a decomposing corpse so she adjusted quickly. She stopped in front of a man with an ashy shirt and apron, who stood in front of the burner and (Y/N) took her coat off. It was so goddamn hot.

“What can I do for you, miss?” The man took off his glove and shook hands, he was burly and out of shape, and his fingers were the size of two of hers.

“Well, I need a small sample of an old man’s ashes, if that won’t be a problem?” asked (Y/N), and she smiled sweetly on purpose, and the man only scratched his balding head with his ungloved hand.

“Well, I’d love to but people take their beloved’s ashes very seriously, they’d be mighty pissed if they found out I loaned some to a stranger.” He said, and (Y/N)’s expression flattened. The man seemed surprised by her sudden monotone expression and hurriedly finished, “I do hope you understand, my apologies.”

“Yes, well, I also hope you understand that I take my job extremely seriously as well.” She flashed her badge, and his eyes widened to saucers and the man grew suddenly baffled and scatter-brained. “And I’m sure your clients wouldn’t be pissed if they never know in the first place.”

“I-I’m so sorry officer, I’ll get my oldest right away.”

As the man ran off, she felt satisfied.

-

As (Y/N) continued on this case, she kept getting more baffled and confused and wondered. This murder had taken grip on her life and it stayed tightly there until she figured it out.

Though, when the results returned, she was horrified. The doctor’s was normal, as if he was burnt at the stake and she was sent to study the remains, but the other mysterious sample, it was a woman.

And it said her age was estimated to be over two hundred years old.

How was that possible?

-

Her curiosity had led her to her near death.

It was a typical day, (Y/N) had taken a long break of the case and focused on the building number of bodies on the metal tables. She kept messing up her incisions with her scalpel because her hands were shaking for no reason, she felt like she was in her old medical classroom, and when her heat beat so rapidly fast while taking the exam and everyone’s eyes were staring at her and her only. (Y/N)’s hands shook worse, that flat pit in her stomach twisted and turned and that foreboding sense that was clearly apparent on the day she received those ghastly samples returned.

She willingly stepped away from the opened woman’s body, and nearly dropped her scalpel on her toe. She blatantly ripped off her gloves because she had to get out of there, her head felt woozy and clogged and her legs were missing their steps.

Then there was suddenly someone who stood in her way. In her fog, (Y/N) simply sidestepped the stranger without regarding that she wasn’t out the door yet and this was no police officer.

The man pushed her to the floor, and her head hit the ground and she groaned pathetically. Her vision cleared and she looked up.

That man was not a disgusting man with greasy hair in dreadlocks or murder in his eyes, what (Y/N) saw was a guy with ruby colored eyes and was suffering in his own skin. She tilted her head in curiosity, gaining the strength to stretch her arms to sit up and the guy stepped back.

Her face denied her feelings as she dared to stare him in the eyes with her own, despite the growing fear in her stomach of this intruder that had no doubt come to kill her.

“What’s your name?”

The man tilted his head, and those wandering red eyes narrowed and a thick scar that stretched through his eyes and forehead and deep into his scalp that she just noticed stretched with it.

“Mikhail.” His voice was deep and calm and unemotional, but Mikhail’s face twisted with curiosity. As he talked, she caught glimpse of sharp teeth beneath his lips.

Suddenly, the confusion and everything clicked. (Y/N) was panicked, but she knew that screaming and crying wasn’t the way to get out of this situation.

“You’re a vampire, right? And that woman was too, the one I’ve been studying?”

Mikhail nodded, but still kept the defensive position. This woman that he’d been sent to monitor was peculiar. Most people would scream upon the discovery, beg for their lives on their hands and knees as if praying to Mikhail like he was a god. But this girl, (Y/N), simply asked questions, only showing curiosity. There was no point keeping secrets if she were going to die, was there?

“I’m (Y/N),” She said, “and kill me if you want, but in exchange for my life, I can offer to help you.”

She couldn’t believe she was actually offering this, it was a gamble, and if she had wrongly estimated Mikhail then she was dead. Then again, she loved gambling. It reminded her of her addiction way back when to the risky game and the adrenaline rush. This was the same rapid heartbeats, that excitable anxious pit at the bottom of her stomach and ropes of hope. She loved it.

But this wasn’t cards, or rolling the die and hoping it wasn’t cheated or weighted or that she wouldn’t lose a metric shit ton of money, this was her life.

“Why do you think I need help?”

(Y/N) tried to keep her smile tamed, and instead she kept the innocent look.

“Unless all those cheesy novels were wrong, all vampires don’t really want to be vampires.” Mikhail raised a brow as she talked, and (Y/N) silently praised herself as she saw him gain interest. “I’m offering to try and cure that, I believe everything should be reversible.”

It was admirable, (Y/N) was bluffing only a little bit. She had the anatomy of humans memorized, written down in her eyes and shown by her hands, but there must be dozens more functions of a vampiric body just for the fangs themselves. It was nearly impossible, most likely, but for her life she would try.

And that’s what she did.

-

Mikhail had initially agreed, and despite the tense atmosphere they had situated to meet at her workplace after her hours to study his anatomy and figure out a antidote.

“A few times a week or daily, write down the time, too.” Mikhail had said, and she quickly grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote it down like he said. She wasn’t taking any chances for his disapproval.

Once everything was situated, (Y/N) turned her back and Mikhail suddenly wasn’t there anymore. She allowed her shoulders to relax, and let a huge breath out. That was so close to her death, way too close; but (Y/N) couldn’t help but feel excitable and very curious.

(Y/N), no matter that whether or not she had the ability to create this miraculous antidote, was too excited for the next day to sleep.

-

The next day went smoothly, hints of that tension was still there but was eventually forgotten under the overwhelming amount of notes (Y/N) took and her pelting questions.

As Mikhail told her everything he knew of himself and other vampires, and her furious writing and suggestions and answers, a week had flown by. (Y/N) hadn’t dared touch him or be experimental without consent, and she kept an automatic sciencey response for his questions.

(Y/N) didn’t know why or when, but she couldn’t help but consider Mikhail as a friend. They spent hours day after day with each other, experimenting without actually doing anything and sometimes just talking. Sometimes, Mikhail would disappear for a few days, and she would oddly get sad and stay after until night to see if he’d come back and it would scare her.

Mikhail grew comfortable with her too, she thinks. He’d sit on the metal tables and absentmindedly push any dangerous chemical away from him like he didn’t care. (Y/N) could tell that he didn’t like the scent of the corpses he’d sit next to sometimes, his nose would scrunch and he’d shake his head and get back to paying attention. Then (Y/N) would only tease him about it and he’d roll his eyes and smirk.

All of these times she couldn’t get out of her head. She couldn’t get over that her favorite part of the day was to sit on unstable metal tables and talk to a kind vampire who she offered to help.

It wasn’t too long after that that (Y/N) realized she was falling in love with Mikhail.

And it was about two months after she realized that, when Mikhail kissed her.

It was typical and cheesy, she was checking his eyes for anything uncommon for them, and his skin ton after another grueling month of hoping for a single experiment to work. (Y/N) had taken notice of him staring at her lips on and off for a while but she chalked it off that they were only in his view since she was leaning over him. That didn’t stop her from blushing.

(Y/N) began checking his forehead for any contours, when Mikhail suddenly stood from his chair and leaned forward, chastely pressing his lips to hers passionately as he cupped her jaw. She melted at the softness, held his hand in hers and didn’t move her lips but press harder, a silent way of acceptance.

Mikhail broke off, and took a big breath and said, “Sorry if I startled you.”

“It’s fine, but what happens now?” (Y/N) said, still hesitating to remove her hand so she doesn’t. There were trembles in her stomach threatening to break out and her heart already beating out of her chest. The small heat in her cheeks grew to a burning heat sensation that spread to her ears and neck. Mikhail chuckled and she looked away. “We’re in a relationship, right?”

“If you want to be, then yes.”

-

The relationship thing, new to the both of you, was going off extremely well. It’s been six months, already passed the awkward stage (Y/N) was happy to see the more affectionate Mikhail more concerned and she could tell he cared a lot. That sent a sort of warming to her chest that spread and she didn’t realize she was smiling until the heat cooled.

This is what happens every time Mikhail goes on a mission. He’s told you about his murderous intent of his ‘master’, how he fears that Yevgraf will force him to kill Yuliy. Mikhail had also explained that this is why the relationship can’t be public, but it didn’t bother (Y/N) as much as she thought, and how it was narrated by dramatic novels. She reads a lot of those.

It was on one of these nights, in which her mind was ridden with Mikhail, and her concern for her lover that she didn’t notice the glass of water she places at the edge of the steps.

Once she heard the clap of familiar boots through the door, she quickly moved to go greet him at the door, but be stopped at the stairs.

(Y/N) knocked the glass over with her foot, the other catching the top of it and she knew what was coming before it happened. She wrapped the sides of her head with her arms, and she heard the crack of her ribs as the corner of a step lodged into her side. The pain shocked her, she couldn’t breathe for a second and then she knocked the uncovered part of her head.

Dizzy and disoriented, her head rushed with the shooting pain and she blacked out.

-

Once (Y/N) woke, she saw Mikhail at her said, staring at his boots with intensity, not noticing as she began to lean on her elbows.

“Hey there,” Mikhail shot up at (Y/N)’s groggy words and she saw him relax with relief. “Funny seeing you here, what happened?”

Mikhail began to gently push her flat onto the bed, “You fell down the stairs, and broke two of your ribs, it’ll take a few months to heal.”

(Y/N) covered her face with her hands, an embarrassed blush replacing the paleness of her skin. “Jesus Christ, I’m so stupid. How could I have fallen down the stairs?”

Mikhail chuckled, he always had small laughs but they made her feel happy, so she laughed too. She stopped quickly, it hurt more than expected to laugh. Mikhail chuckled again, to which she slapped him on the arm.

“Ow, stop it, you’re making me laugh!”

“Is that a bad thing?” He teased, and (Y/N) playfully glared at him.

Her recovery was slow, but it felt nice to have Mikhail mothering her and helping her up the stairs and change her bandages every day. He would make dinner and cover the bills for her home while she was on medical leave, it was really sweet.

What wasn’t as sweet was when he’d lecture her for straining herself, whether it be stretching to grab a book or repeatedly going up and down the stairs, but she understood that he just cares.

The few months of bliss passed quickly, unfortunately. (Y/N) was tempted to throw herself down a longer staircase just so Mikhail could take care of her and bring her soup and kisses in bed like he’s been doing. When she brought it up he only chuckled, and said, “If you do, I’ll catch you this time.”

It didn’t really discourage her one bit, so she did. (Y/N) jumped the leap of faith down a larger flight of stairs and she didn’t break any ribs, but felt the arms of her lover carry her down the stairs.

Who knows, maybe she becomes miraculously clumsy over the next few days, and maybe Mikhail will have to take care of (Y/N) a lot more than he thought.