#I just had higher expectations for it at the time which is my own fault honestly | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

potatomountain · 1 year ago

Text

"Case: It's You" - 1

Chapter One

📍pairing: detective ateez ot8 x detective reader

📍Rating:

📍word count: 3.4k

📍network: @pirateeznet

📍Warnings: language and sexual innuendos

📍Beta readers (and sole motivation): @flurrys-creativity , @candypop1611 and @daesukiii

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It was entirely too early, and too gloomy of a day, for your phone to be ringing for the near dozenth time in the last five minutes. After the hour trek, in the rain and a packed subway as well, you finally relented and picked up the call. “What is so important you have to call me twelve times, Ji?”

“Jeez it wasn’t that much-”

“No, that’s just the last five minutes. Heaven forbid I count the calls on the subway in the last thirty minutes. Spit it out.” Hissing, you held the phone closer, dodging one of the many men in suits rushing to their own places of work.

Jisung huffed on the other side, grumbling under his breath before speaking up. “I’m worried about how your first day is going to go.”

Rolling your eyes, you sidestepped a puddle, barely managing to miss the splash of a child rushing through it. “How are you more nervous for my first day than I am?”

“Because I’m sure you’re pretty angry right-”

“Of course I’m angry! Half the unit agreed to transfer me out! After three years Ji!”

“I know, I’m sorry. You’ll do great though! You’re really driven and have a strong moral compass, the organized crime unit is lucky to have you. Just… play nice? It’s not their fault you got transferred.”

You knew he had a point but you were loathed to admit it. With a sigh you approached the small detective precinct, the heavy rain finally slowing to a light drizzle. “No, but I doubt they’ll be too happy about the higher ups forcing a random transfer on them. Look Ji, I appreciate you worrying about me but don’t. I’m not supposed to have any contact with the S.K unit for a month after that last day, that includes outside of work. They already transferred me, I don’t want to give them a reason to fire me so soon.”

“Okay okay, hint taken. I’ll check up on you soon.” He hung up first, wishing you luck once more by name before doing so.

He really was right, you shouldn’t be so angry at this predicament. Sure it wasn’t your decision to get transferred out to a new Precinct, but it was your decision to go to this one. Which, in hindsight, was stupid. You had just named the first Precinct that you knew was furthest from the S.K and the homes of your former colleagues, hurt by their betrayal. Good intentions or not, you didn’t want to leave the team.

You didn’t want them to be right though either but being a detective was your dream, and the higher-ups didn’t want to give you a second chance after this.

Pocketing your phone and stepping under the small black awning, you closed the umbrella and placed it in the holder next to the door. If it wasn’t for the plague on the door reading A.Z offices, you might mistake the inconspicuous building for one of the many other office buildings in this district. There were several detective units in the city that operated outside of the police stations, but none so secretive.

It actually piqued your curiosity and excitement as you pulled the gray door open, greeted by a typical, but cluttered, receptionist desk and foyer. There was no one in sight, the pale blue gray of the walls the only color of otherwise bland decor. “Huh.”

There was a hall past the desk, some muffled voices carrying from an ajar door at the end. You were a few minutes early, but the door was open and they were expecting you- still you found yourself carefully moving down the hall, maybe to get an idea of who you were working with before introducing yourself.

As soon as you reached the door though, things went quiet. With nothing to eavesdrop on, you opted for knocking on the door, nudging it open before calling out. “Hello?”

Footsteps were heard before the entirety of your view was blocked by a vested chest, the door halting from opening further. “Who the fuck are you?”

Tilting your head back you blinked up at the towering figure, frown pulling at your lips. Out of all the welcome scenarios you had imagined, this hadn’t been one of them. Readjusting your bag your hands went to your hips and you jutted your chin out. “The new addition to your unit, detective.” You spat out with venom.

He seemed around your age, thick lips pulled into a scowl as he glared down the brim of his nose. “We don’t have a new addition.” He moved to slam the door in your face, but a new hand stopped it, slipping under the brute’s arm to stand between you. “Hwa?”

The ash-blonde detective had a professional smile on his face as he blocked the other one from staring you down. Before you could retort he spoke your name. “We’ve been expecting you. Detective Song here just forgot.”

“Forgot? I didn’t forget- hey!” The taller man was pulled away out of your sight, protesting the whole way.

“What do you mean new addition?” Another voice spoke up from behind him somewhere, which irked your already growing discontent for these men even more.

“Pardon me but, I don’t think the rest of your unit is aware there was a transfer to your unit- and that I start today.” Lips pursed, you held eye contact.

He shrugged, taking a step back and holding the door open for you. “I might have forgotten to mention to some of them, the point is the Captain and I are very aware. I’m Detective Park, the vice-captain of the unit.”

“I see…” You trailed off, turning your attention from the vice-captain to the rest of the room. There were three more men around the room with five desks in the center. It was a typical detective office, one wall full of pins and strings connecting faces and names you didn’t recognize, papers strewn about, computers and cords connecting the five desks that were all facing each other. Some filing cabinets, a second hall, and a door. Nothing about the room itself told you anything about these men- but they were all clearly handsome.

All men.

You didn’t like where this was going.

Aside from the vice captain to your left, the tall brute was being held in a headlock by an equally tall, slightly more beefed-out man with black hair and softer features. The other two were standing near the desk closest to the second hall, the stockier one with chestnut hair glaring over at you while sipping his coffee, the prettier one next to him watching you with more curiosity.

Internally you wanted to groan, turn around and walk back out because nothing about this felt like it was going to go well. “Is there another female here or just me?”

“Well…” Detective Park next to you shrugged, motioning for the others. “There are eight of us, all men. Captain and Detective San, and Detective Jung are in the field right now, but allow me to introduce you.” He motioned to the two tall ones. “Detective Song Mingi and Jeong Yunho. And those two are detective Choi Jongho and our technical analyst Kang Yeosang. Team, this is our newest addition.”

You bowed at your introduction, forcing a relaxed smile despite feeling so out of place already. “I’m in your care.” Standing back up, you turned to the Vice again. “Where can I set my things and get to work?”

He blinked in surprise, shifting uncomfortably. “Well, the receptionist desk will be yours.”

“Pardon?”

“Right up front there-”

“No no, I heard you, I’m just confused. I’m a detective, not a receptionist.” Again, your discontent was growing as you stared him down.

But it was a new voice that spoke, turning your attention. “Well um, we have all our bases covered and really don’t have a need for another detective. This is sort of sudden.” Yunho was his name if you recall correctly, although now he was making himself busy at his desk.

Pinching the bridge of your nose you let out a heavy sigh. “The transfer was approved two weeks ago after nearly a week of consolidation. I don’t think the board would approve a transfer for a unit I’m not needed for.”

“A new detective on the books isn’t something we need.” Mingi snapped out again, once more showing his distaste for you.

You wanted to lash back, to curse them out for the blatant disrespect and unprofessionalism. They had two weeks to prepare, only some of them knew you were coming and yet none of them bothered to put any weight into that?

“We’ll talk to the Captain and put you to work then.”

“Captain isn’t due back until the end of the week Hwa, maybe later if he and San don’t get what they need.” One of the others with a familiar voice spoke up. He must have been the one who spoke up earlier- Detective Jongho.

“That’s fine-”

“Fine?” Like a twig snapping, so did your patience. “I’ve been sitting on my ass for the last three weeks just to wait another? This is ridiculous!”

“Shouldn’t have transferred then, newbie.”

“You can take your attitude and shove it up your ass with your head, Detective Song, because the likelihood of me leaving any time soon is slim. Not unless you personally want to kiss and shine the Commissioners shoes!” You stepped forward, the man stepping up towards you in response.

“So this is why you got forcefully transferred? Can’t play nice?” The fifth voice startled you, just as deep and condescending as the man before you.

You swiveled on your heel to glare at the final man, sneering. “I play nice just fine- when I’m welcomed.”

“We never said you weren’t Detective-”

“You don’t have to!” You turned your glare on the Vice Captain. “Eight of you, with three offices and five desks- an empty receptionist, lack of communication on the arrival of a new Detective in your care- You have no means or intention of including me in this unit.”

As soon as the words were out there was a drastic change of tension in the atmosphere; the professional expression the Vice Captain wore was gone, replaced with a cold stare. One glance at the others and they all had similar expressions. “Truthfully, we do not, but until we can convince the Commissioner and board that you are not needed here, we have to put up with each other.”

“So buckle up buttercup, or get the hell out.” The smug smirk on Mingi’s face had you stiffening, but not from intimidation.

No, you always rose to a challenge even if it clearly wasn’t in your favor.

Taking the time to stare each one of the men down with a similar cold stare, you bid your time before finally locking gazes with Detective Park. “You should be aware, Vice, that I bite when threatened.” Straightening your back, as if you could any more, and holding your head high you turned towards the door. “That receptionist desk will have to do then; plenty of space for me to do my work. I’m sure you won’t mind at all if I make myself at home.”

“If you have the time.”

You didn’t care which one of them said it, slamming the door behind you because you expected them to do the same. Marching down the hall, past the small bathroom you failed to notice before, you took in the receptionist desk with a huff. It was empty, probably never used and just full of trash and miscellaneous decor that never got pulled out of the box.

“These fucking dicks think they’re just going to get their way? Over my dead body. Play nice Ji said, well he can go fuck himself too because ain’t no nice here.” Mumbling under your breath you immediately began organizing the desk, making use of the trash can under the desk. There was no stool, no electronics, not even a phone- but you could fix that.

There were other boxes in the foyer you hadn’t noticed, tucked away and out of sight. This room was probably a front for any bystanders that walked in, something to discourage anyone who wasn’t supposed to be here from snooping around.

At least it gave you plenty to do over the next week, knowing that until the Captain did show up, some things you would just have to deal without.

—

Your spiteful rage motivated you for several hours, suit jacket tossed aside and sleeves rolled up to your elbows as you cleaned up the now clutter-free desk. You had found some decent decor in the junk, using it to spice up the desk. It was waist high, with a ledge to hide the desk from the other side. A fake little plant and metal bowls of varying sizes now sat on that ledge, the desk devoid of anything but your work bag.

You hadn’t heard the door open or any sounds from the back, further indicating the distance they were trying to put between you and them. It just fueled your determination to stay.

Despite what happened with your last unit, you were a damned good detective, you knew that even without Chan reminding you often. While the S.K unit revolved around cases about runaways and crimes committed by minors, it was still a police force. This was no different, even if the unit operated differently, you could handle it.

Glancing around the space, you did feel a bit proud with how it was coming along. There was a pile of boxes and garbage by the hall, which you felt ready to take care of now. Picking it up, you headed down the hall, heels clicking on the wooden floor. The door was indeed shut, but not locked, and you swung it open with a loud thud. You heard something clatter on the other side of the room, but you ignored it as you dropped the boxes of garbage on the floor.

“What the he-”

“Take care of this will you.” Dusting off your hands you looked towards the nearest one, which happened to be Mingi and Yunho at their desks, but Mingi was half out of his chair. “Since this is your unit, you can handle the trash.” Turning on your heel you made your way down the hall.

“She didn’t leave?”

“Apparently not Min.”

You could hear them as you shut the door harshly, a smirk on your lips as you made your way back to your new work area. They really had no idea just how hard you were going to make this for them, and it brought a sense of pride.

You could easily be the biggest pain in their ass, all too happy to oblige. One week? You could make them regret it by then. Maybe you could make them regret it by the end of the day, it was only lunch time.

—

Having set out to get your lunch from a deli down the street, you were a bit annoyed to come back to your newly cleaned office once more full of the trash that you had tossed back at them. Setting your sandwich down, and with all the calm you could muster, you cleaned up the trash once more. Plastering a fake grin on your features you carried it to the back, only to find the door locked this time.

Frowning, you set the garbage down, took a deep breath, and then pounded on the wooden door. “Hello detective’s? I think you forgot something!”

No answer.

You just pounded harder and called out louder. “Hellooo?”

No answer again.

Grumbling, you gave the door a kick with your heel, leaving the garbage there and instead going back to your desk. Grabbing your phone you brought it back to the door, recording once more as you banged and called out, then sighed. “See what I mean Sir? I really think there was a mix up- I can’t even access the office. How am I a part of this unit?”

Just as you had been hoping for, the door swung open and the pile of garbage you had set against it went tumbling against the unsuspecting Vice Captain. You smiled up at him innocently, pointing to the recording camera and then saving it. “Your poker face is impeccable Vice, but do you really think it’s wise to lock me out?”

“We’re in a meeting.” He deadpanned, kicking some of the garbage to the side into the office. “You were being disruptive.”

“Me? Disruptive? I have no idea what you mean, I just needed to throw away this garbage for a second time, since apparently it can walk on two legs right back to my beautiful desk you so graciously assigned me.” Thick with sarcasm you added a bit of a pout to your tone, pointing to the boxes between you two. “I had asked Detective Song and Jeong to handle it since no one bothered to show me where it goes. You do have a proper place for garbage, right? This isn’t the only place is it?”

His features darkened as he leaned forward. “You should really watch your insults Detective- You don’t want to disrespect this unit any more than you have.”

“Oh so I’m disrespecting the unit? Hardly anything to respect when you haven’t earned it.” You sneered out.

“Okay okay- calm down you two.” Yunho came barreling forward, putting space between the Vice and you while looking a bit panicked. “We can’t get anything done if we are tearing each other’s heads off.”

You shrugged, crossing your arms over your chest. “I have nothing better to do for a week, so I don’t see why not.”

“For fuck’s sake woman- you really are so mouthy.”

You glared past the two in front of you to Jongho who had a fresh coffee in his hands, sitting at the desk from before. “Give me a reason to shut up then.”

“I can give you several off the clock.” Mingi countered from his desk, leaning his palms against the surface.

You rolled your eyes. “I like dick, but not the personality type.”

“Enough!” The room froze with that one raised word, Yunho staring each of you down with a tick in his jaw. “We can all agree that none of us are happy with this situation… but for fucks sake we do have a job to do. Can you sit pretty until the Captain gets back and just hash it out with him? And can we all at least agree to try to be civil until then?”

You bit down on the inside of your cheek to keep from retorting without thinking. This had been what you wanted right? But you weren’t about to be the first to agree.

Yunho glanced at each of you once more, lingering on the Vice Captain last. “Seonghwa? We can’t afford to have an ongoing battle with another detective right now, can we make some arrangements?”

He relented with a sigh, shoulders relaxing. “Fine. You three handle this garbage… and you and I will talk.” He breezed past you down to your desk which you hesitated to follow at first. You could hear Mingi’s grumbles towards Yunho but you didn’t care.

“We’ll supply you with wifi, a seat, and a phone. As for work for the week it will be menial or trivial things. When Captain Kim returns, you can discuss with him your role.” He said as soon as you stepped up to the desk.

“And the offhand comments? The intentional sabotage?”

“Will stop.” Seonghwa relented once more with a sigh, seemingly tired of this whole ordeal. “Will this work?”

Now it was your turn to relinquish a sigh. “Yes, I came here to work not to fight over petty bullshit. As long as you follow those terms I’ll behave until your Captain returns.”

“Good. Write down anything you need for this space and I’ll have it picked up by tomorrow-”

“No need I can do so. I still have my things from my last unit, it’ll be fine.” Leaning against the wall you glanced up at him, holding out your hand. “So truce?”

He stared at your outstretched palm, reluctantly accepting. “Truce. Finish up here and come find me when you’re done. I’ll give you the wifi and a key to the front door.”

Just like that he left you alone, the click of the back office door heard a second later. Something still didn’t sit right with you, something still so inherently wrong about this whole situation, but there was nothing you could do.

Not yet at least. This was one battle won, you had a week to prepare for the boss fight.

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dudelymantits · 7 days ago

Note

Tell us more about your Adler/Star pairing please 👀✨

Sure! Thank you for asking! As usual this ended up longer than intended oops

So originally a few months back a friend mentioned how there should be more Signalis rare pairs and one of the ones she ended up mentioning was Star/Adler. For some reason this one stuck with me and kinda marinated in the back of my mind until I started to flesh them out more.

They both are stationed at my totally normal radio outpost B-92 Becquerel, because of Becquerel’s smaller size this station’s work hierarchy is set up differently than S-23 going like:

KNCR-B9201: this Kranich is the main head of the facility, she takes the place of a Falke unit and has a lot of other things going on that are not really relevant to this post besides the fact she is eternally tired because of them and therefore dismissive of certain issues that she shouldn’t be.

The three “heads”: these guys oversee the three main sektors of the facility with each being, Radio/military, Research, and Civilian/other. That last category is run by our Adler!

ADLR-B9201 or Grey is a newer unit being commissioned after the death of the previous Civilian overseer gestalt, Grey handles most of our usual expected Adler paperwork and bureaucratic duites, but he thinks due to the other two guys being “lackluster” in their own ways Adler often finds himself having to pick up whatever technical work they “didn’t end up doing in time”. Grey wants to run the place nice and organized, but his gestalt coworkers and boss seemingly having better things to worry about they don’t care he has a larger workload than everyone else. He stresses over performance and often wishes he worked as a normal Adler unit with a more clean cut ladder, but here? To many variables and people he has to get along with.

Thing is that it’s partially his own fault, he wants everything ahead of schedule and obviously that’s not happening, and if he would just work at a more normal even pace and communicate with the rest of his coworkers a large number of his problems with his work environment would be fixed, or at least lessened. Basically he’s the last guy you’d want to work with, very controlling and wanting to completely change the place he works at rather than adapting to what already had worked there before.

This bleed into his personality making him just a ass to be around, “pissy little bitch” was what I called him for months, he was whiny and short tempered especially when things didn’t go his way. And this is where Star comes in.

STAR-B920?: Eloka is a pretty average star, higher ranking than most but not to the point I’d call her high ranking yk? Above average…! Eloka also likes to push buttons and see exactly what she can get away with. This is partly why she’s in the middle of B-92’s Star ranks, she’s pissed off the ones above her so much they wouldn’t dare promote her more than they already have but also they recognize she’s more skilled than the newbie’s and weaker stars. She doesn’t care for hierarchy like most Starlings, and therefore finds it entertaining to break their rules.

Eloka has a record for getting herself in a mess, with other Star, with other Protektors, with relationships, hell she probably has gotten stuck in the Ara vents or on the rooftop a few times. She’s pretty silly. So when the new Adler got stationed and she heard about his poor temper you know exactly what she started doing, fucking with him!

Pretty quickly this turned into a game of “how quickly can I get Grey mad today?” Typically with insults. She also gave him the nickname Grey rather than referring to him as Adler, which he saw as a disrespect of his authority, she gave it to give him because of his atypical grey chest plate. Now you may be thinking, if she’s causing so much trouble for a higher up wouldn’t she be decommissioned? Well this is where it goes back to the other two heads, basically they would all have to agree to the decommissioning of a Protektor and Kranich would then order it. So even if he wanted to and probably threatened to at first they both knew that was an empty threat. It wasn’t constant picking but slowly became more consistent.

At first they really hated each other due to this strange routine they developed for obvious reasons, but slowly Grey started to grow more used to it and became less explosive in his reactions and he actually started to like her interpretations, and she started to also get used to this pattern. The pranks got lighter and rather than her fucking with his office she’d rearrange the files in a less disastrous way, tripping him lightly, ruffing his hair etc. He still found these mildly annoying but when they didn’t happen their days didn’t feel complete.

Both were oblivious to their growing affection but started to be with each other more and more, Eloka finding reasons to be in his office and Adler finding reasons to be less of a dick and controlling because he actually had something else in his life now to focus on and was kinda forced to chill out. She also started to find his grey chest plate cute. and a small bet was started by the stars and eules on who would ask the other out first, some units put their bet on Eloka because she had a history of girlfriends before and was usually the one to ask them first, where others argued that because she usually was so blunt with women why hadn’t she done so with him yet?

I’m not sure who wins the bet yet, but I do have it that Eloka was flirty with Grey from the start originally for fun but later actually meaning it sometimes [he still is bad at picking out when it’s serious or not] he also started to return the small pranks and insults back now, and the flirting that came with that. After they actually get together I imagine it would remain mostly the same as before, but with them now exploring their new relationship.

I also feel like Eloka would talk to him about guns a lot, and him talking about his stress at work. I have a scene in my head of her just in his office talking to him while kicking her feet like a teen girl lol. This could lead to him getting more into weapons, but I also like the idea of him getting into computers as well. He’s still a workaholic but not as much of an ass so improvement for sure.

Other thing to note: I don’t think Adler’s need a Falke specifically to function, I think they need structure. The reason it’s painted as them needing a Falke is national propaganda. Adler’s I feel work very well with clear hierarchy which is why I made grey specificly hate the one he’s in. Also why you shouldn’t have multiple Adler’s in one place most of the time, they don’t work well in teams. Even for Adler’s like S-23 we see him have issues with the Kolibri’s in his notes, who I see as being on equal footing to Adler but handling different parts of the facility than him. Adler’s also don’t strike me as leaders, they are helpers and need someone or something to follow, and for a country like the nation why not make sure he follows your literal man made goddess? Someone made to embodied your ideals?

Oh yea no Falke at this station lol

If you read all this text ily

#asks #signalis #adler #star #starling #B-92 Becquerel #dudelys posts

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nthspecialll · 17 days ago

Note

I have to confess somewhere that the O'Driscoll kidnapping annoys me — not just from Rockstar's poor handling of it, but even how the fandom approaches it without much deeper thought.

To start off with the fandoms view of it; I don't think many people take a few minutes to think a bit more critically about it. I often see the viewpoint that Arthur has been kidnapped all day, and Dutch and Micah just rode on home with no questions asked and the whole gang didn't question it much either. My issue with this... is that we don't actually see the full extent of this meeting Colm and Dutch held. We see everything from Arthur's perspective (as throughout the majority of the game, and unfortunately that means many fans are just only going to see his perspective in the highest light). If you get the interaction where Dutch apologizes to Arthur after he's been on bed rest and all, Dutch describes the whole meeting as "odd" and tense that they suspected to get jumped. Rather vague, but I always question, just how long of a meeting was this? Considering Arthur doesn't see Colm himself until much later in the night, we can perhaps assume the meeting went on for longer than expected and Colm was probably trying to stall time with Dutch and keep him distracted, providing enough time for his men to capture Arthur and drag him to their camp. So it's at least after or sunset when the arrangement is over and Dutch and Micah are returning to camp, which I feel like is a tiny bit more understandable of a delay time to question Arthur's disappearance rather than half a day.

I am in no way defending it, I still wholeheartedly get pissed off at Dutch - hell, the whole camp - at the scene for shrugging off Arthur's absence. But at the same time, I do feel it's a bit more realistic that they noticed he was gone for maybe a few hours instead of half a day with no alarms getting set off. I think it is still a testament to Dutch getting sloppier as of late or even just prioritizing himself over others, considering that he admits to suspecting getting jumped, yet... shows little concern to the fact that Arthur isn't there. But I will also bring up, it seems like it's common behavior for Arthur to take off and spend some time away from camp before grouping back up, as that seems "his role" in contrast to others. Again, considering the conditions though, I still question why they weren't on higher alert.

With that of the way... I will also just go on to criticize the games, itself, handling of the situation, outside of characters and what not. For such serious disregard to Arthur's wellbeing, you'd expect the results to be more! But it felt really underwhelming after the "2 weeks" skip, that I had sat there puzzled as to why what was seemingly a big offense just... happened and was over. Yes, there was a two weeks skip, so we don't exactly know what happened during this time. But honestly, from a story telling point of view I kinda would have liked to? It honest to God feels like it was supposed to be more pivotal or at least lead up to something a bit more, but was likely scrapped. And that's where R* annoys me with this scene because it's such a tense and dramatic mission for... nothing. I suppose it's supposed to work as one of Dutch's earlier moments of expending his own men, and Arthur initially turns a blind eye to it before later chapters where it gets increasingly worse; but I can't shake the feeling of how utterly intense it was for such a deflated climax.

So I wouldn't put only my blame on the characters, but also on the fact that R* themselves feel like they had more they wanted to do with that scene, but maybe that's me. Sometimes I feel the need to grip fans by the shoulders to recognize when something is for a narrative or when sometimes it can also just largely be at fault for something outside of the game's world.

Idk what to say to this, I am kinda neutral. Some points I agree, some I disagree but I do like the general idea of what you are trying to say and I feel like you aren't asking for my option but rather my platform to spread the word, so yeah.

One thing I want to note:

Arthur said that no matter what happened they should meet at the forked road, so Dutch and Micah should expect that he would show before going off.

#arthur morgan #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption community #rdr2 arthur #red dead redemption two #rdr2 community #john marston #red dead fandom #rdr john #rdr2 #micah bell #rdr2 micah #dutch van der linde #rdr2 dutch #ask #asks #answered asks #nthspecialll asks #nthspecialll

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llamagoddessofficial · 2 years ago

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Sorry if this was obvious. But did Skull eat Kevin in Tilikum? If so, that's super dark, I love it

Maybe this will explain things. From Edith's secret logs.

---

(Sirenus) Hadocephalopoda Tenebri - Incident Log 9 - audiofile b

“Audiofiles are incredibly tedious to keep and sort. But I can’t risk this being in text format, that’s far too easy to leak.

So. Kevin... is dead. S3 made short work of him. I can’t say I didn’t expect this to happen, it had been too long since the last attack and Kevin was getting increasingly more arrogant with the sirens. I think he genuinely believed we had tamed them. Ultimately, what happened was his fault, and I really can’t say he’ll be missed all that much.

... This was a very unique kill, though. Worth fully logging. The same initial chain of events occurred, just like all the others- somehow, S3’s sirensong is still getting through its enclosure. What is this thing made of? The glass for S1 and S2 is half the thickness, and we consider that overkill. But it’s undeniable... in the security footage, Kevin is clearly under sirensong influence. He enters the room, then something happens to make him ascend the stairs, open the tank and stand at the very edge until S3 launches its attack. The unique part is that this time around, S3 did not consume any part of the body. In fact, S3 removed the body from the water of its own volition and left it on the edge for us to collect. Everything was intact... even the fingers, which are usually the first to go. My current theory is that this attack was out of malice, not hunger, like the other ones seemed to be. He’s akin to S1 in that respect.

... We still have no idea what to expect, after all this time. That’s what I don’t like about S3. What happened to Kevin was definitely... unfortunate. It’s always a pain to lose a member of management, no matter how low in the chain. But equally, it’s preferable to lose a management member, rather than a member of the hands-on team. It’s much easier to cover the tracks of someone who knew all the risks.

Perhaps it’s for the best that this happened with S3, when it did. Kevin was becoming a liability. His arrogance certainly would’ve led to him being killed by another siren in a much more public manner.

...

Now... onto the interesting part.

I was right. S3 won’t harm her, none of them will. My theory is looking more and more plausible. Even close to his next feeding and a few hours after having attacked another staff member, S3 was careful and playful with her. He knows his own strength, and the fact that he chooses to be gentle shows a higher level of intelligence than we initially suspected. The rest of the board refused to see the utility of her ability to calm/charm them, but now, I’m certain they’ll let me push my ideas through. She swam with S3, for fuck’s sake- why are we having her sitting around with the rest of the afterhours crew? The possibilities are endless.

I have so much to plan. For all S3’s faults, with this one... he did me a massive favour.”

#zoo siren au #ooOoOoOo le SPOOKY

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captain-mj · 10 months ago

Note

First of all, I love your writing and your fics. I love your IWTV au so much. And I'm a fan of your other stuff.

Sooo I have some ideas I'd like to share with you , dear MJ. I was thinking of an isolated Ghost. He almost hides himself from people, some place like Alaska or in the wild. Somewhere cold and out of humans, so he can be all by himself. He doesn't want to be around people because of his past, and he hides himself from people. He lives in a cold forest or somewhere unreachable in winter because of the snow. He lives in a cabin.

And there is Soap, who goes on a camping trip with himself after breaking up with his boyfriend. Thinking that camping would help him get better emotionally. But it starts snowing, and he is not prepared, and he gets lost in the wild. He is desperate and cold. While searching for help and walking for hours. He comes across the cabin where Ghost is staying. Ghost doesn't welcome Soap at first, but because of the heavy snow, they are stuck for about a week or a month. So Ghost helps Soap get better, and they start to get close and hot...

I think I explained it in so much detail, but you can change it however you want. I'm always hungry for your stuff, in any form. And feel free to ignore this if you don't want to write about it. And of course, please don't mind my English; it's not my first language.

Ily,take care.

Very much can do that!! Yes!

Ghost sat in his cabin up the mountains, using his sniper to look down at everyone. He knew that right now there were two different groups of people camping. One further down that seemed to be full of experienced campers and one a bit higher up that set up their spot for their view. They were way too close for comfort.

Neither were particularly good company. No one was.

Ghost hated people. Especially fuckers who came on to the mountain for camping.

He had hoped this secluded place in the middle of nowhere would provide peace. Instead he just dealt with this.

Ghost put his gun away. It was for hunting and he was worried any gunshots would send the campers into a frenzy. He had plenty of food for the winter thanks to Price sending him stuff. Price insisted he just used Ghost's pension for it but he didn't believe him. Old sap probably used his own money.

Ghost went to his cabin and cleaned instead. Not that it really needed it. Besides the fact that he meticulously cleaned most of the time, nothing he did made much of a mess. It was mostly just dusting the books off to make sure they didn't get dry rot.

The snow started. A lot harsher than he had been expecting. It started to pile up on his porch and it made the roof creak a little.

Ghost imagined it caving in and crushing him. Suffocating under the weight of wood and snow.

There were worse deaths.

Further down the mountain, Soap went a little away from the group he came up with. He set up his tent and planned to relax for the next two days.

No cell service which was exactly what he needed. No worrying Mam, no angry ex trying to get him back. Just silence.

Soap was so bored. He supposed it was his fault for expecting anything less. He was not a person that sat still often. Always searching for the next thing. The next adventure.

This did not feel like an adventure. It felt stale.

Soap noticed the snow so he only walked within the vicinity of his tent. He followed the protocol, but it took one stumble for him to fall out of bounds. Quickly, Soap scrambled back up and glanced at his tent. Still right there, just slightly farther than before.

Maybe some sleep would do him some good.

Soap settled into his tent, ignoring the snow piling on top of it. It just kept coming. Covering him in a freezing cold blanket of water.

The tent had a hole in it. He had just bought it, he had no idea what he did to cause it. Although small, it was definitely messing up the whole insulation part of this. It also let snow in which started to melt, getting him and his clothes wet.

Frustration started to bubble over. He wasn't experienced at camping but he wasn't an idiot. This wouldn't work. He'd have to either fix it or leave and he wasn't sure how he could even leave.

Thanks to the water, his arm was soaked, cold digging in so hard it felt like actual needles. He tried to dry himself off but the whole situation wasn't working.

Reluctantly, he ignored that he was still slightly wet and got dressed. He'd just go out for help.

The people he came with weren't there. Or at least, they weren't where he thought they were. He didn't want to believe the guide they came would be so stupid as to not count the people before evacuating if they did, but he also said he wanted seclusion and lied about being experienced.

Maybe they assumed he already left?

Soap panicked for a moment. He allowed himself that. Before he straightened up and started thinking. There was no way he was the only person on the mountain. While he couldn't make it all the way down on his own, he was sure someone had to be there. It was mid morning, he had time before it got dark and cold.

Ghost sat on his porch close to twilight. He smoked silently, watching the trees.

The man had been walking around his property for a few minutes and Ghost was trying to figure out if he was a real person or not.

He sighed and whistled, watching him yank his head around painfully to stare at him.

"You okay?" Ghost called out.

Soap stepped a bit closer, no longer shivering. He was also holding his shoulder. "Are you God?"

"Oh for fuck's sake. Sure. I'm God. Where are your things?"

"I took them."

"Why are you jacketless in the middle of the snow?"

"It had gotten wet. Was trying to dry it out but it didn't really work..."

Ghost sighed. "Come closer."

Soap stumbled to the steps. His pants up to his knees were soaked and his face had pale skin with rosy patches.

Ghost sighed in frustration and opened the door. "Come on." He'd get the guy warm and then send him on his way. The snow wasn't too bad yet. Neither of them had a radio to know that it was predicted to get much worse.

So Ghost accepted him in and had him sit in front of the fire. He found a dry blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. "You okay?"

Soap started to shiver.

"Guess not."

"Got a drink?" Soap rasped out.

Ghost poured him a nip of bourbon and handed him.

"Don't suppose you got Scotch?" Soap said softly before knocking back the drink. He grimaced and Ghost was sure he heard a mutter under his breath about British people having shit taste.

Ghost watched the way the alcohol raced through him. Color almost immediately back in his face. "Thanks. Name's Soap by the way."

"...Ghost. The fuck you doing up there?" Ghost went by his callsign since there was no way someone would name their kid Soap. He thought of asking him about his shoulder but decided against it.

Soap sighed. "Trying to clear my head." He flinched when Ghost laughed at him.

"Piss poor job of preparing."

"Aye. Suppose I thought myself a survivalist." Soap laughed softly before averting his eyes. He looked embarrassed.

Good.

Ghost put the bottle of bourbon next to him. "Drink as much as you want." He knew he'd barely make a dent on the bottle.

Soap only took what he had to. He managed to get himself warm.

Ghost looked out at the sky. Too dark to send him anywhere.

"In the morning, I'll show you the way down the mountain."

"Yes, sir." Soap looked at him. He seemed almost indignant. Like Ghost was being bossy.

Ghost bit his tongue. "fuck off. Go to bed near the fire. You'll need to stay warm all night."

Soap nodded and laid down. "Don't have to tell me twice."

Ghost went to his bedroom, brandishing a knife. He stayed there and watched the door all night. Just in case. Just in case.

Soap stayed in the living room and he tried to Keep warm. Ghost would come in like clockwork to put more wood on the fire.

During the night, the snow came down harder. Before long, it was at the door, covering the entire porch.

Ghost groaned as he watched it. While yes, he may be able to go down by himself, he'd never be able to get Soap down the mountain as well. As much as he hated it, he also likely wouldn't be able to make it back.

Soap stirred and groaned, holding his shoulder. He saw the outside and before long came to the same realization that Ghost did. "So we bunking together?" It sounded sheepish, like there was a risk that Ghost would throw him out into the cold.

Ghost sighed. "Yeah we are. I have a guest room that i haven't used in ages. I'll get it set up."

"And I had to sleep on the floor... why?"

"Be closer to the fire." Ghost left him alone to brush the dust off of everything. He had planned to turn it into a gym or something equally useful, but never did. The stupid room came with the house.

Once it was livable, Ghost came back out. "You can go in. I'll make breakfast. We'll be up here a while. It's still snowing so it's hard to tell."

"You have a vehicle or anything?"

"Nope. We'll be walking."

Soap cursed in a funny language and stretched, back popping. "How long you guessing?"

"A week. Minimum."

Soap winced. "Sorry for the... everything."

Ghost stared at him for a moment before just going in. He cooked breakfast silently and Soap sat nearby. Occasionally, he'd start talking, but Ghost didn't respond to any of it.

"Oh come on. You're going to be stuck with me for a week. Might as talk to me. What are you doing up here so isolated?"

Ghost put a plate of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns in front of him. He sat across from him and yanked his mask up just enough to start eating.

His scars had the effect he hoped. Soap winced at the harsh smile cut into Ghost's face. "Aye. I see."

"Good." Ghost answered, shoveling food down. He mentally counted through his supplies. He had enough for a few months, so with two people, it should be fine. This bastard was getting none of his ice cream though.

Soap ate quietly before swallowing. "Gang?"

"Military." Ghost admitted begrudgingly.

"Aye. I see. I'm a sergeant right now."

"Retired." Ghost drank some of his tea.

Soap nodded. "Look, I'm not trying to be an ass here. Really. You don't have to talk to me. But. Do you have any coffee?"

Ghost stared at him for a minute before getting up and checking. "I got instant and regular."

"Got a coffee pot?"

"French press. It was a gift."

Soap's eyebrows scrunched together. "You know how to use it?"

"...No."

"Fuck."

They put their heads together and worked with the French Press until they managed to get a cup of coffee brewing. Ghost watched the stuff bubble and huffed. "Tea is easier to make."

"Coffee tastes better."

"Yeah, right." Ghost continued drinking his tea.

"Since we got it figured out, do you at least wanna cup to try your gift?"

Ghost sighed. "Yeah, why not."

Black coffee was just as dreadful as he remembered. He added some sugar, ignoring Soap's mildly judgmental gaze.

The first day was spent with Ghost trying to do his normal routine of reading or working out and Soap being incredibly bored. Ghost felt too uncomfortable to do most of his workout routine with him around and decided to give up.

"Do you have internet? Or anything? Most of my stuff was left in my tent."

Ghost sighed. "No. How far away was your tent?"

Soap hummed. "No clue honestly. I don't think it was that far, but there should be a trail of my clothing. I have no idea why I started taking it off."

"Hypothermia makes you feel warm after a while. It's some psychological thing. It's why some people who are frozen to death are found naked."

Soap grimaced at him. "That's horrifying."

Ghost shrugged and showed him the guest room. It was pretty nice, if a bit plain. Soap fell on the bed and groaned. "Firm. I like that."

Ghost hit his boots. "I'll try to find your tent tomorrow. Get some sleep."

The second day he found himself being trailed by Soap despite the asshole clearly should be staying at home. He kept touching and rubbing at his shoulder. Ghost was trying not to ask, but he'd need to eventually. If he got infected, that would make everything a lot harder.

They found his tent and Soap went searching for his phone. Unfortunately it was dead and when they got home, they found that his charger had too much water damage to help. Soap sighed and rubbed his face. "I knew I shouldn't have come out here."

"Why did you?"

Soap thought about it for a second before turning towards him. "My ex." He was careful not to include man or woman. This guy could be homophobic for all he knew.

Ghost nodded. "Got it. Their fault or yours?"

Soap blinked. "What?"

"You cheat on them and up here hiding from it? Lot of guys do. Or did you come up here because they're a right prick?"

They. Not she. They. Soap picked up on the pronouns and took a deep breath. "They asked me to leave the military. I said no. They said stuff."

Ghost tilted his head. "I see. Well. They can't exactly find you up here."

"Aye. Guess they can't." Soap smiled.

On the third day. Ghost went searching and found his dvd player and old tv. He showed Soap his dvd collection.

Soap hummed. "More romance movies than I'd expect."

"I inherited my mum's collection." Ghost lied.

"Uh huh." Soap picked a movie and put it on, happy to have something else to do besides sit there. How Ghost did it was beyond him.

On the fourth day, Soap even managed to convince Ghost to sit with him through one of the movies. It was a romance movie that Ghost had memorized. It was a film where she had to travel across Ireland and stayed with a nice Irish man throughout the journey.

Soap drank some more of the coffee and it seemed to calm him down a little.

After a bit of hesitation, Ghost looked at him. "You smoke weed?"

"No." Soap glanced at him.

"You wanna start?"

Soap took a deep breath. "Fuck it. Sure."

Ghost pulled out a joint and lit it. He took the first hit and then gave it to Soap.

Soap coughed and Ghost laughed at him. "It's a little different than a cigarette."

"Yeah, a little bit, sir." Soap smiled at him and they passed it back and forth for a bit.

Ghost felt the pretty much permanent ache throughout his body disappear. It seemed to do the same for Soap's shoulder.

They both relaxed for a bit and Soap looked over at him. "You're a cool guy, Ghost."

"Thank you." Ghost smiled at him and kept smoking. They put on another movie and relaxed for a while. It took the edge off.

Soap swallowed. "Why are you up here?"

"It sucks down there."

"Does it get lonely?"

"Sometimes." Ghost mumbled, his head falling against the couch. Around people he was usually always wide awake. Too scared. But Soap made him feel weirdly safe.

Soap fell asleep against his shoulder and Ghost followed soon after.

When they wake up, the fire had been out for hours and the house was freezing.

"Fucking hell." Ghost got up and tried to start a new fire but it wasn't sparking.

Soap shivered. "Well, that's not great. Anything i can do to help?"

Ghost checked the wood. It was fucking damp for some reason. He couldn't figure out why but that would be better for morning when he had more light. "My bedroom has the least amount of windows."

Soap's eyes gleamed as they shacked up in there. Ghost covered his windows with curtains and grabbed some more blankets as he turned on the lights.

His room was far better decorated than any other part of the house. His bed was covered in quilts and high quality soft pillows. A cabinet in the corner had tons of photos from Ghost in his time in the military. Most of them had Ghost's own face covered with marker.

"You know Captain Price?"

"Yeah, I know John." Ghost rearranged a few things and started to strip off his jacket.

Soap paused to stare, admiring the muscles that were revealed when the shirt followed right after. His pants unfortunately did not come off too. "Take off your shirt."

Soap nodded and followed the order. Was this happening? Were they about to fuck right here and right now? The worst part was he was going to let it happen.

Ghost pulled him into bed and shifted so he was fucking spooning him. "Fucking hell I was cold." He settled into the warmth and promptly closed his eyes, pretending nothing was happening.

Soap was in heaven. Or maybe hell. Either way he was getting hard and that was not great.

Ghost fell back to sleep. Soap was ridiculously hard, pressed against a beautifully muscled chest. He could feel each of Ghost's breaths with the rise and fall of it. In a desperate attempt to calm down, he thought of war. His ex. The fact that his ex was probably trying to blow up his very dead phone.

Soap thought of his ex and felt a strange lump in his throat. God he didn't want to go home. He really didn't want to. His ex would be at his heels like a baying fucking dog to nip at his fucking heels.

Soap let out a sharp noise, a bit like a sob, and quickly bit his lip to shut up.

Ghost pulled him closer. "Soap?"

"My name is Johnny."

Ghost's thumb rubbed circles in his chest. "Johnny." Oh that beautiful voice. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Simon. You okay?"

"My ex tried to hurt me. I'm military, don't know why he thought it was a smart idea. But when I defended myself, he was just... so cruel. Called me shit I never wanted to hear again. Accidentally made myself upset over it."

"I'm sorry, Johnny."

"S'okay. Nothing to do with you. You're the first person that hasn't made me feel worse honestly."

"Not worse. I'll take it." Ghost sounded a tiny bit amused. He squeezed him. "Do you feel warmer?"

"Yes. Feels nice in this bed with you." Soap didn't mean to sound quite as suggestive as he did, but Ghost noticed. His grip loosened briefly before tightening again, tangling their legs together. "Simon."

Ghost turned him onto his back and kissed him, having pulled up his mask at some point. His scars tickled a little. It was pretty nice honestly.

Soap's fingers ran down his chest to his pant's button and undid it for him. "Is this okay?"

"Should be asking you that." Ghost gruffed. "Don't have to do too much tonight, but you're hard."

"So are you. Can feel you through your jeans." Soap smiled at him. He slowly unzipped his pants and touched over Ghost's cock.

Ghost let out a small whine. "Fuck, it's been so long." He quickly unzipped Soap's pants and pulled him out, having no shame about it. His hand fit around both of them and his thumb easily ran over Soap's head.

"Me too. Won't judge you if you don't last long." Soap teased, pulling him back to kiss him again. He groaned as he thrust up. "Nice and easy, yeah?"

Ghost rutted into him and moved his hand in time. They kept kissing as his hand found a decadent rhythm, truly stretching the pleasure out for both of them.

Soap moaned and his back arched trying to press himself even closer. "Simon."

Ghost bit his lip hard and paid more attention to Soap's cock, trying to get him closer and closer. He felt him start to pant into his mouth and licked into his mouth happily.

Simon buried his face into his throat and came over his chest. Despite this, he managed to keep his hand moving so Soap followed after a moment later.

Johnny kissed him softly. "Later, if you have lube, I'll let you fuck me."

Simon wondered briefly if he was a rebound and then decided he didn't particularly care. "Okay."

#call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #simon ghost riley #johnny soap mactavish #call of duty modern warfare ii #cod mw2 #ghostsoap #cod #soapghost #ghoap

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otori0 · 23 days ago

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Ho, Bam and consequences | ToG rant

SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

Disclaimer - I'm reading the manhwa at the same pace I watch the anime so I won't miss anything, and I'm enjoying both equally, I think there's value in both of them. Both will be referenced on this post. Also I haven't finished S1 yet so of course I'm open to changing my mind later on. I might also write a full analysis later on (probably on Ho because as you can see I'm very invested in his writing...such a shame he had little screentime). Additionally, this was written on discord so it's not as fleshed out and coherent as my usual posts.

I loved episode 9 of the anime to death. I loved it, but it feels to me like Ho's death had more weight narratively than for the characters. Especially, I expected his exchange with Bam and Rachel to affect them a lot more than it did, at least so far. Ho's death is important to the narrative because it showcases the gap between the powerful and the powerless, the chosen and the failures, in a more extreme way than the previous dropouts had. Ho's immediate response to his (very naive) plan failing is to kill himself, which hints that he might have thought about it beforehand- Ho saw his plan as his last chance to regain some self-esteem, pride and to show himself that he isn't wrong (and of course, to pass the test). This episode also strengthens Endorsis' despair to survive and aim higher, Khun's arrogance, and in general gives us a more empathetic view of how it feels to climb the tower for a Regular. I think Ho should have lived a bit longer and actually faced his plan failing (might actually write a fic about this), but it's something that would have happened sooner or later to someone, and a pivotal moment that involve two of the most important characters Bam and Rachel and also forces them to interact. At least, that's how it feels, that it should have been pivotal.

It undeniably is, but I can't help but feel that it should have affected specifically Bam more, especially the things Ho says to him. Him saying that the friend list is just lip-service and never meant anything to him should make Bam question the rest of his friends. It's one of the first times, if not the first, that Bam is directly confronted with someone lying to him like that, spitting on his good intentions, and showing him the darker side of people and the tower. Ho directly blaming him (''It's your fault for showing off your power'') should make Bam doubt himself and his power. Ho telling Bam that he's a monster, that he's going to become the same as the one who attacked his family? village? (i don't think we know the details), and that Bam is sure to grow up that way should make Bam reflect on himself, or feel shocked. But here is the thing- through his death and afterwards, Bam doesn't seem all that affected by Ho himself. Instead, the small bits we get of how it reflects on him are much more self-centered.

In the manhwa (and I'll never forgive them for skipping this line), when Ho kills himself Bam says ''Why must everyone always try to run away?!''. This line, this one says a lot. Bam seeing suicide (something he surely has or should have little knowledge of, all he knows is that Ho is dead by his own volition) as running away, something he has never considered of doing but he knows that other people do... He might see Rachel's avoidance as running away too. He might like Khun and Rak because they're two pretty straightforward and ambitious people. ((Or at least, that's how they look from his perspective- We however know that Khun is all but straightforward in his ways and he actually struggles with changing)) Endorsi is the same way. It gives us insight on how Bam sees other people, although so far he always tries to see the good in them. But it also just seems rooted in pure frustration, and I don't believe Bam is blaming Ho here. Once Ho's dead and they do his funeral, it seems like Bam immediately forgets and focuses on the most important thing: Rachel. In a sense, Rachel being injured is the perfect excuse for Bam to again shift all his attention to her. But the thing is- this isn't an inconsistency. I don't know how much SIU has planned this beforehand, but this makes perfect sense, which makes it frustrating. Bam really has mainly only thought about Rachel. Sure, he likes his friends, he cares about them, but he's lacking a basic empathy that people seem to miss, and once Bam actually loses Rachel, he's going to find that he's an empty person because he couldn't see the bigger picture. He's only seeing her and his own goal. His altruism is selfish from the very first episode, and that actually makes it interesting, but it's also sad because it kind of confirms Ho's fears. Ho is forgotten and meaningless and a failure. Up to now, the other dropouts also received this treatment from the cast, so it's not surprising, but it's still upsetting (not to mention, the only person who actually seemed affected by it left...which i completely understand).

We don't see much of Rachel's point of view, so I'm unsure on how she approached this whole matter mentally speaking, but we can tell that she either: 1. Didn't care if Ho actually killed her (most likely option), or 2. Was confident enough to think that she wouldn't die in that situation (can also be likely because there's many reasons why Ho's plan could have failed anyways without Bam being there). She might also be used to experiencing that sort of thing/her negative outlook might influence this.

((Adding to Bam's lack of empathy, there's the fact that he didn't hesitate to fight a Ranker after Ho threatened that he'd kill Rachel if Bam didn't. I won't go as far as saying that Bam would have tried to kill Quant, but I don't think he would have minded it if that meant Rachel survived. I wonder how much does Bam know and internalize about life and death.))

Some other small details that stood out to me that I might include if I write a Ho analysis: It's interesting that Ho brings up God a few times. I wonder how does God work in a universe like ToG's. Him assuming that God must have taken something from Bam in exchange of his powers is also interesting (''What did God take from him in exchange for that talent? I lost everything and all I got was enough power to do some parlor tricks.'') and it makes me wonder if he'll be proven right on this too...

It's upsetting because, in real life, you could argue with someone with this mindset that people's talents aren't given by god, that instead they're a lot of times the result of a lot of hard work. But in the ToG universe specifically, it does work that way, people are chosen and more than once one's hard work doesn't mean anything. So it's really interesting that we could see a character with this mindset.

All in all I really enjoyed that episode, I'm really curious to see if and how will this situation affect them in the future (the lack of effect is also an effect on itself, which was the main point of my rant), and to see how the cast develops. I'm very intrigued so far by the writing, it's very interesting, and I feel like every scene or line tells a lot about each character giving them a lot of personality.

Forever sad that Ho doesn't have more lore or scenes, but I can change that......

#tog #tower of god #otori analysis #character analysis #ho tower of god #hoh tower of god #25th bam #the 25th bam #the 25th baam #rachel

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sleepy0s · 1 year ago

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The Ariana Griande concert

Havent written Ariana much so lemme know any tips!

Some au facts for this certain one-shot

Allay Grian! (I felt like Allay grian made the most sense to be a singer cos there like musical??)

His voice sounds different due to Allay stuff- makes it higher pitched?

Hermits know he's an Allay but no one knows he's Ariana Griande (Not even pearl- very important for this)

I've decided. When Grian is just grian he is he/they and when he's being Ariana Griande has she/they

This is my longest one yet! (1303 words)

—---------------------------------------

“Pearl! Pearl! I got them!” Gem came sprinting round the corner, clutching four tickets in her hands

“Let me see!” Scar pushed Pearl to the side wanting to see the tickets,

“Gem! You're the best!How did you get four VIP tickets?!” If Scars Vex wings worked then you best believe he would be floating

. “I have friends.” She smiled, handing the tickets out to her friends before pocketting her own. “We are forever in your debt Gem.” Scar bowed down, almost hitting Mumbo in the nose on his way back up.

“What are you doing?” The voice made all four jump, having not noticed Grian get closer, the small allay was trying to climb Mumbo to see what was in his hands but was failing due to the suit material. “Gem just got us V.I.P tickets!” He made sure to take a pause after each letter in VIP, Grian just looked at him, sliding down the suit. “To who?”

“Ariana Griande, of course!” Pearl responded before Mumbo could.

Now, they’re not sure what they expected from Grian but it certainly wasn’t for him to lay on the floor and sigh in what seemed to be sadness, “Grian?? You all good down there?” Gem put her arm out to help him get up- he took this as a chance to climb onto Gems shoulders instead, whatever her fault. “Yep. I'm fine.” Scar however seemed offended that Grian had responded this way to such an idol, “G, do you not like Ariana? She is the best idol in the world and you need to agree.” Grians response was a sad sigh as he hopped of Gems shoulder and fluttered towards his base. (Can you blame the guy tho? He just found out four of his friends were going to be at his concert, pressure much.)

~ ~ ~

Ok, so it turns out Gem is Amazing. They had front row seats to the concert and would be able to see everything perfectly, she had managed to get her hands on some merch so all four were decked out.

Gem was wearing a nice laced white shirt with a baby pink skirt, her hair was put high pigtails (One of Ariana's signature hairstyles) with two bows clipped on.

Pearl was wearing a pink shoulderless shirt, a bandana wrapped around her wrist, and her hair had been put into a plait with pink ribbon.

Mumbo was wearing pink glasses (Vampires don't do well with the lights), he had a pink jacket on which was covered with pins.

Scar, who was arguably the most enthusiastic, was rocking a pink cowboy hat, heart shaped glasses, a half buttoned up white and pink striped shirt (Think limited life) and had a bag covered in pins, bandanas and keychains.

So yea. They were decked out.

~ ~ ~

They had gotten there early and had been waiting for around half an hour (Though all would claim it was worth it) and now, finally the lights were dimming around the stadium signalling the start was near, all the chatter quieted down as people looked to the stage.

“I'm so excited!” Scar whispered from beside Mumbo

“Scar shush. I'm concentrating.” Pearl elbowed him, making him shush,.Just in time as well because suddenly a bright pink light appeared on the stage and a platform rose from underneath the stage, and there she was! Ariana Griande rose from the stage, wearing a sleeveless white shirt and a gorgeous red and pink skirt, her hair was put in high pigtails with ribbons wrapped around. It was genius really, the pink she had claimed as ‘hers’ matched the light blue of her wings and the small horns in between her hair.

“Good evening Ladies, Gents, Hybrids and Humans!” The four screamed at her entrance, waving their hands in the hopes she would notice them, “I hope everyones having a lovely night, and hopefully you're happy to be here!” She began walking to the front of the stage waving at audience members as she spoke, “We have an action packed night ahead of us, so first let’s just have a little talk!” She gave a young girl a high five, causing the girl to scream, someone threw a poster up luckily, Ariana caught it before it hit her, “Guys, please don't throw stuff.” Ariana began talking and walking again, just chatting normally as if one would with a friend about how her day had been and occasionally pointing the mic towards someone else to let them respond.

She got to Scar, Mumbo, Pearl and Gem and gave them each a high five and smile, and honestly they looked like they were on the edge of passing out. “All right everyone! I think it's time we start!”

~ ~ ~

The concert was around 2 hours long and honestly they wished it was longer. But now it was time for the best part. “We get to meet her!? Gem I dont think ive said it enough but you're amazing.” Pearl was smiling madly, hugging Gem as if she was going to disappear, “Yep, Yep I know- pearl. I can't. Breath.” Pearl immediately let go, making sure she was okay before running to go find the VIP line. “Pearl, wait up!” Mumbo called after her.

The three met her at the line, she had gotten near the front and was talking to one of the body guards, who seemed to know her? “Pearl! We're here!” Gem waved her hands in the air to get Pearl's attention as they got closer.

“Ah! You guys made it! Look, meet my friend Martyn!” The three introduced themselves to Pearl's friend, “Martyn I wish we could talk longer but it's nearly our turn!” Martyn just laughed and gave Pearl a hug, promising that they would have to meet up sometime.

Scar dragged them forwards once it was their turn to meet Ariana Griande.

“Hello! Welcome, it's lovely to meet you!” Ariana smiled at them happily, from where she was sitting. “Hello! We are such big fans!!” Gem led the group to sit on the seats opposite Ariana. “It's great to see you so enthusiastic. Is there anything you'd like? I can do signatures, photos, could just chat, or really anything you’d like- under reason of course.” There were probably loads of things she shouldn't do, but c'mon. They were gonna do anything bad. Hopefully. “Can you sign our photos? Please??” Mumbo had been put in charge of holding all four photos, and happily handed them over to Ariana to sign them. “I am so going to brag about this to Grian.” Scar said, causing Ariana to chuckle, The five talked for a bit, it was mainly just questions like if she had any pets, her favourite song she had made, just the normal things you ask your Idol. But obviously others needed a go so they had to leave, “Would you guys like a picture before you leave?” Ariana asked,

“Yes please!” Scar answered for the group as they all stood up to take the photo.

“Alright! Have a lovely night you guys! I hope to see you at the next concert!” Ariana smiled happily at them as they left the Private room, and headed back to the hub.

~ ~ ~

Scar popped around Grians base the next morning, poor lad looked exhausted. What had he been up to whilst they were at the concert?

“Griannn!” He called out in a sing-songy voice, “Guess what I gottt”

Grian just sighed, rolling over and looking at scar, who was proudly showing off his Signed Ariana Griande poster.

Grian rolled back over, “Scar, that's great and I love you. BUT. Its 5am go back to sleep.” Scar laughed a bit before wishing Grian a good sleep and leaving his base, promising to tell Grian all about the concert once he was more awake

#grian #hermitcraft #pearlescentmoon #mumbo jumbo #goodtimewithscar #ariana griande #sleepy0s

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phantomdialogue · 2 months ago

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˗ˏˋ. ݁₊ ✶ ˖ 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐰𝐨𝐨�� - 𝟑/𝟓 ☆ . ݁ ˖ˎˊ˗

premise: after spending her whole life as a pawn for the vampyre council, misery lark finds herself in yet another plan to bring peace amongst the different species. however, she's got her own plan for how to use her arranged marriage to her advantage. lowe moreland wasn't expecting his vampyre wife to make him feel the way he does but as tensions shift amongst the species, perhaps working together will do far more good than expected.

couple: lowe moreland and misery lark

tropes: omegaverse (ish), vampire x werewolf, almost grumpy x sunshine, rivals to lovers (ish), arranged marriage, a little found family, fated mates

review below!

review:

i'm really conflicted on this book. i feel like i was going back and forth between two books about the same characters that the storylines didn't mesh well together. on one hand, there was some clear political drama that ali hazelwood set up between the different species of humans, werewolfs, and vampyres (the spelling did also get annoying). but it just seemed so lackluster and was used more as a filler for when the romance needed time to sit. especially at the end around 75-80%, all of the sudden everything turned on its head and the twist was just so confusing to me because i don't feel like we got much lead up to it. on the other hand, there was the arranged marriage romance between misery and lowe. that part i did enjoy... until the third act breakup. the third act breakup was just so irritating because there was such an easy solution to it and because we never read lowe's point of view, it felt really unwarranted.

misery was a fun fmc, however, and i did enjoy her snark and sarcasm. it added a light to this book and really elevated the romance to see her and lowe's interactions as their personalities clashed at the beginning because of the way they were pretty closed off from each other. lowe was... fine. he wasn't a bad mmc but he also wasn't that great. the third act breakup is literally 1000% his fault. in fact, a majority of the conflict in the romance comes from him and not being honest about what's going on. which also brings up that i felt like we dragged the conflict in the romance out immensely and then using it as fuel for the third act breakup really just frustrated me after 25 ish chapters of knowing what's going on and the book avoiding addressing it.

the smut... wasn't that great either. i loved the lead up to it (the airplane scene kind of lives rent free in my brain because that was hot) but when it got to the actual smut, it just didn't hit as hard i feel like the smut in her other book that i've read did. the knotting/omegaverse aspect of it was also incredibly hyped up online and it just fell short for me.

overall, it's not bad. but it's definitely not what i was hoping for i guess. i think that it's fine and if you want a fun werewolf x vampire book, this fills a little need for it. however, i think it would have benefitted dramatically from maybe an extra 50 pages to give itself the time to develop the political drama better if she really wanted to go that route.

q & a:

are they endgame? - probably... i guess... i feel like lowe really needs to work on his ability to communicate honestly and openly with misery to get to the point of being a strong endgame. but the way that he handled certain truths with her and caused the third act breakup really brought down his character as a whole. if he had just been honest with her, i'd probably be far more inclined to think that they would be endgame as well as rank him higher as a book boyfriend. i think misery has some issues of her own to work through but lowe feels like the main issue with the two of them.

did i cringe? - the dialogue in the smut really just did not work for me. i think ali hazelwood was going for a bit of an alpha thing with lowe and it just felt wrong because he wasn't like that except for during sex. he's supposed to be this alpha that is widely respected because of the air around him and how he holds himself and how dominating he is but we don't see that as a reader really and it makes his dialogue during the smut really out of character and sometimes gross.

favorite part? - the romance up until 75% ish through was really strong i think. i enjoyed the pacing of them coming together and connecting and falling for each other as well as acknowledging their differences. i think this book would have been so much better without a third act breakup because the romance leading up to that was probably the best part of the book.

least favorite part? - my main issues with this book comes from a lack of plot/development. there was a lot of potential here and it lived up to some of it but also falls short on a lot of it. the actual plot outside of the romance felt so minor compared to everything else going on. because of that as well, the plot twist just felt so underwhelming and confusing because there is so little actual build up to it while the build up to the romance is much more developed.

favorite quotes (some spoilers here, of course, but minimal):

I have no friends on the left, and only enemies on the right. So I ground myself and look straight ahead.

Those eerie, unearthly, beautiful eyes, glowing at me in the dim lights, a chilling green that borders on feral. I wonder if I’ll get used to them. If one year from now, when this arrangement is complete, I’ll still think them bizarrely lovely.

“Is it true that you don’t have a soul?” It’s goddamn noon. And there is a child here, asking me: “Because you used to be dead?”

It’s like you’re—I don’t know, suspended. Untethered from everything around you. I just need to see you go toward something, Misery.

They rarely touch. When they did, her wrist accidentally brushed against the front of his shirt, and he found himself tearing off the piece of fabric where her smell was most intense. He slipped it in his pocket, and now carries it everywhere. Even as he leaves to avoid her.

“Maybe there is something devastating about the incompleteness of it. But maybe, just knowing that the other person is there . . .” His throat bobs. “There might be pleasure in that, too. The satisfaction of knowing that something beautiful exists.”

"I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”

There is something patently sexual about this, no question, but it goes beyond. I’m being discovered. Mapped. Soothed and ignited at once.

“You’re not a problem, Misery. You’re a privilege."

He’s not sure he deserves the warmth of his current life, but he’ll keep it anyway.

#⊹₊ ⋆ᯓ★ book review #bookblr #book review #review #bride #bride ali hazelwood #ali hazelwood

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jellybean-supreme · 9 months ago

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My poor little experiment (Simon ’Ghost’ Riley x reader)

Introduction

You were a experiment in a lab that ghost rescued.

“Don’t…look at that.” Ghost sighed, watching you stare into his drawer. His personal stuff.

“Y/n.” He grumbled, picking you up and placing you down onto the floor while closing the drawer again.

You were a rescued experiment, so you had to yet learn a lot about the real life…and Ghost was there to teach you (against his will)

“You’re a rescued experiment,” Ghost stated, glancing towards you with an expression of annoyance. He hated being forced to take care of ‘dumb people’. (That’s what he called you, after all.)

He ran a hand through his jet black hair, pushing it out of his face.

“So you obviously don’t understand much about the real world...so. I’m going to do my best to educate you, even though I absolutely hate this-“

"I sorry" i say trying to reply him. In the lab that they experienced on you never really thought you words, or how to talk properly so you tried your best replying to Ghost.

“Yeah, yeah...I expected that.” Ghost looked away, letting out a frustrated grunt. “Just...keep quiet for now, okay? I’ll go and…get you something.”

With that, he left the room. After 5 minutes, he returned. In his hands, he held a piece of toast, which he extended towards you.

“Eat up. You need to get used to eating, too.”

"Thank" I say again trying to say it the right way.

Ghost rolled his eyes and mumbled something to himself.

“Yeah...whatever-“

He took a deep breath in, trying his best to contain his annoyance towards you. “Right...let’s start from the beginning.

“In case they didn’t tell you anything about your past...you were an experiment in a lab.” Ghost explained, keeping the tone of his voice as polite as possible so not to alarm you. “But, long story short...you’re out of that place now and you’re now *my* responsibility.”

"What i do here? Why I responsibilities for you? I sorry I make you mad, " I say, seeing how annoyed he looks at me.

“Ugh...it’s a long story, okay?” Ghost snapped, clearly losing patience with you. “Long story short...the people back at the lab think it’s necessary for me to take care of you, otherwise you’ll make their work go to waste and they’ll have to put you back in the lab.”

"Why I in lab? Did I do wrong?" I ask him quietly

Ghost scoffed. “No-no, I mean...” he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“You did nothing wrong...they just...wanted to do studies on you, that’s all.”

"Why me studied? I want home, " I say, remembering a house in the woods.

“You don’t seem to get it...you’re not getting home. You’re my responsibility,” Ghost said, making sure that your attention was on him this time.

He knew you wanted to go back home...but for his own sake, he had to make sure you understood that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

"Why?" I say sadly

Ghost rolled his eyes. “Because I have to keep you under observation. The higher-ups said so themselves,” he said, his tone becoming colder with every word.

“Whether you like it or not, you’re mine now. And I’m your caretaker, understand?”

"Ok, but can know I happened to papa?" I ask, remembering a man that was supposed to be my father in front of me with a bat in hand coming closer to me.

I don't remember much more than the man beating me with that beat and that beautiful house in the woods with those beautiful big great Danes.

Ghost frowned upon hearing that...you seemed to have some memory, after all. However, the memory you have was rather unsettling.

“Your ‘papa’ was the one who sold you off to the lab, you know that?” Ghost asked, his tone still cold towards you despite you being a child. “He didn’t want you, you weren’t enough.”

"Wha- I do ?" I ask him as if he's supposed to know.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s him. It’s your father’s fault. He sold you to those people to do experiments on you...he basically sold his own child,” Ghost elaborated. He knew it was a lot of information to take in, especially for a child, however he felt like you deserved to know the actual truth behind your life.

"I not child, I there been long," I tell him, making it known to him that I was not a child.

“You’re not a child?” Ghost repeated, confused.

...Huh..you certainly have a very childish mindset, given the tone of your voice and your way of thinking...

“How old are you, then?” Ghost asked, raising an eyebrow as he shifted his hands into his pockets.

"I not know, what year is it?" I ask him, trying to remember the year I was born, tho I think I might me 26.

26?...

Ghost raised an eyebrow, a bit hesitant at first, before realizing you might actually not be that much of a kid after all.

...However, why do you have some childish mindset if you’re 26?

“...It’s 2024,” he responded.

"I 26, I there been for awhile. Mayhaps 23 years I know not" I reply telling him my age.

26...and yet your way of talking is more childish...interesting.

“...If you don’t mind me asking...why do you have such a child-like mindset?” Ghost couldn’t help asking, wondering where that trait of yours came from.

"They not teach, I three when I came to lab" I say

“Three? As in, three years old?” Ghost asked you, raising an eyebrow. That made more sense now...you had three years of childhood development taken away from you, that was surely where your child-like mindset came from.

“They didn’t teach you anything? At all?” He asked, sounding surprised at that fact.

"Yes three years old. No not teach, I had learn from them speaking"

“...So you didn’t go to school, didn’t learn basic things like how to speak properly or to read and write?” He asked, surprised at the fact that the lab didn’t take the time to teach you basic things any kid should know how to do.

"No, they not care" I tell him

“Clearly...”

Ghost let out a frustrated grunt, shaking his head.

“...This’ll be harder than I thought,” he admitted. “You’re not even literate.”

"I sorry" I tell him sadly with tears in my eyes, thinking he's mad at me.

“Hmph...no no, don’t cry,” he said, his voice becoming gentler as he saw that you were starting to tear up.

The last thing he wanted, was for you to believe that he was mad/upset at you...and he didn’t want to raise his voice either.

“Hey...don’t cry, it’s okay,” he said a bit gentler.

" I'm sorry," I say, trying to stop crying. I can't, I don't know how.

Ghost rolled his eyes, sighing. “Can you at least wipe your eyes?” He asked, his expression being softer compared to the one he had a few minutes ago.

I nod trying to stop and wipe the tears with the old dirty clothes I had on from the lad.

Ghost stayed silent as he watched you try to dry your tears. He didn't want to say it himself, but that shirt you were wearing did look extremely dirty...

“...Hey, can I ask you something?” He asked.

I nod still trying to stop the tears.

“Are these the only clothes that you have?” He asked, shifting his gaze from your tear-streaked eyes and towards the shirt you were wearing.

I nod again "only clothes I have, they never gave any other"

Ghost sighed. "Right.."

He walked over to a cabinet next to him, opening it to reveal a few basic pieces of clothes...from shirts, jeans, and even hoodies. "Here," he said, picking up a plain white shirt and handing it to you. "Try wearing this instead..."

"Thank," I say, wiping the last of my tears while taking the clothes from Ghost.

"...Yeah, no problem, go ahead and change..." He leaned back against the wall nearby to watch you. He was somewhat curious to see what you looked like without the same dirty outfit.

"No look," I ask while trying to change the clothes but struggling a little, but getting it at the end.

"Alright...that's good."

Ghost watched you as you changed your clothes, now wearing a cleaner outfit.

He looked away the moment you were finishing up, not wanting you to think he was a creep for staring at you while you were changing.

“You finished?”

"I finsh" I tell him

Ghost gave a silent nod, glancing at you once again.

“Right, you certainly look better in that…”

He looked you up and down. Your old clothes were dirty and disheveled...so it was an improvement from before, at least.

“Right...so..."

Ghost paused, trying to think of a topic to discuss with you.

“...Do you want some food? I’m also planning to make some coffee...maybe you could have some, if you want, of course...?”

"What coffee? And food?" I ask him. They (the people from the lab) never said those words before

"...Uhm...you...don't understand what food or coffee is?"

Ghost raised an eyebrow at you, not sure if you're just kidding around with him or not.

That wasn't possible, right?

I shake my head "no what that"

"...Right..."

Ghost was silent for a moment, trying to process that.

"...Can I ask you a question?"

I nod again

"Can I ask you, what did they feed you at the lab?”

"Feed? Do you mean nom nom ? They called nom nom feed. Nom nom they gave it in weird tube thingy. They said good for me. It hurt. "

"...They fed you in a tube?..."

Ghost asked that again, slightly horrified by the fact that they could even do that.

He had heard of stories about how the lab subjects weren't allowed meals like normal people, but tube feeds? That...that was something else entirely.

"Yeah, it look weird they said something about nutrition in it I not know more. Sorry "

Ghost sighed.

...It seemed like you were really neglected over there...more than he thought.

"Don't be sorry, it's fine," he said, before thinking of the next question to ask.

"Were there other people at the lab? Like...lab subjects like you?"

I nod sadly "Yes, but they gone. The people (the lab people ) said something about they death."

"...They *died*?"

Ghost frowned at the thought.

...Did this mean the lab was experimenting on people, only to eventually kill them?

Ghost didn't want to believe that thought...it was horrific.

"I not know word, the word they used was death, I don't know that word also".

"...That...that's disturbing..."

The lab was killing them...Ghost was just starting to realize how messed up this place was, and he started to feel anger building up inside him.

The way they treated you...it was horrible, and the fact that they even killed their subjects was even worse.

"They're...bad people, aren't they?" He said, with a cold tone.

"I not know, they played games with us, do bad people play games ?

"...Oh, so they played games with you?"

Ghost perked up at something positive...although, the games they played were probably some kind of sick, deranged experiments on you, since the lab never really cared about its subjects.

"What type of games did they make you play?" He asked.

"They took this weird sharp thingy and told us too stand still and new people (new lab people) would through it at us until they hit us on the hands or upper leg"

"...They made you stand still while being stabbed with sharp objects...?"

Ghost’s eyes widened in shock...they were using you people as practice to learn how to hit people with sharp objects more accurately.

Ghost had a look of disgust and pity on his face now, the more he was hearing from you

"Why you look so shock? That not game you also play?"

"No...! That’s torture, not a game!"

Ghost was starting to get really pissed off at the thought of that...they basically tortured you guys for fun, or for practice...either way, it was horrifying.

He took a deep breath in.

“...What other types of ‘games’ did they make you play?” He asked, using air quotes for the word ‘games’.

I look at him weirdly not knowing what torture meant. "There another game. Where they make us fight each other, most of them (the other kids) sleep during this game" I tell him

"Wait...wait, wait, wait a minute. You’re telling me...they made you guys fight each other?”

Ghost could feel his temper rising as he heard that...they made CHILDREN, who had no idea about anything, fight each other?

"So they made you guys fight...like a bunch of wild animals?" He asked, clearly angry at the thought.

"Yes?" I say cautiously seeing that he's mad.

Ghost was trying his best to contain his anger, and he was surprisingly doing a good job at it...though there was still anger left in his voice.

"...And you fought other children?"

"I had to, they almost kill me " I say softly

"They almost killed you...?"

So they forced you to fight other people for...what, an experiment? They were trying to find out who was the strongest out of the lot?

This was becoming more and more messed up, and he was now starting to wonder if the people at the lab were even sane...

"Had to survive," I reply nonchalantly

He went silent for a moment, realizing that for you- that was probably a regular occurrence...having to fight just to survive.

"Right...that. And...those people that died...they weren't killed when they were in a fight with someone...right?"

"That's how you win they have to not wake up. They (the lab people) said that they'd eventually wake up, so we had to do it as hard as we could." I reply to him

Ghost’s eyes widened in horror.

...That sounded more like murdering than a game...was the lab trying to encourage murder, amongst children, at such a young age...?

No, that had to be wrong. It couldn’t be real...

“It’s...it’s not. Right?” He asked, wanting to not believe that the lab actually encouraged children to murder each other...

"It's not what? Real? It is, there video that they show to people, they (the lab people) called them buyers"

"...They...they sold those tapes...to other people...so they could watch?"

...This lab was definitely messed up. More than Ghost could even imagine, and he had known that they were already messed up...but this was on a whole new level.

And Ghost had been around people that could be deemed 'messed up'...but he had never heard of anyone as twisted as what he was hearing now from the description of the lab...

I nod, signalling that what he just said was true.

His eyes widen further as he processed that information.

They not only recorded these horrible experiments...but *they were actually selling it off.*

This lab was beyond messed up...Ghost didn’t know if anything else could surpass this.

“...And the buyers...they actually bought these tapes?” He asked.

"They bought friends and tapes, depending on buyer"

Ghost stayed silent for a moment, processing everything you had said.

...It was all true...all of it...

“...You do know that what the lab people did was wrong...right?”

He asked you, hoping that you would say yes.

"What wrong, that what they done since little. How wrong?" I ask, not knowing that what I'm saying is wrong.

...This was worse than he thought.

You had never known a life outside of those lab walls, and yet, in your mind, what they did to you was considered normal. They had truly brainwashed you.

“What they did was very, very wrong...they abused you, hurt you...”

He sighed, not knowing how to tell you that everything they did to you was considered messed up...

"I hurt? I do feel pain. I hurt, but what abuse mean?"

"...Abuse is when someone hurts you on purpose...or when someone treats you badly, you know?”

It seemed like you really didn't know about what the word 'abuse' meant.

"Have you never been insulted before? Or called names...or even beaten...?"

"Of course.....they say it was good thing." I say sadly, realizing that what those people dis might not have been right.

"...They said it was a good thing?" Ghost repeated back to you, sounding even more horrified now.

...Did they really have you believe that the things they were...were considered 'good things'? Did they really brainwash you to the point that hurting you was considered normal?

...Did they tell you that they were training you when it reality they were just making you get beat up badly, physically and mentally?

I nod again. Telling him that what he just said was correct

"...Right..."

So you had never had any knowledge on what was right or wrong...and everything the lab people did was good, as far as you were concerned...

...This just made Ghost even more pissed off.

"I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions but...do you remember a time when you had parents? Or...family?"

"I only remember papa, he I told you about. The one who I rembered with the bat coming closer."

"And you don't remember anyone else?..Not a mom, or siblings?" He asked, now curious about whether or not you had any other family outside of your dad...

"No mom. No sibling."

“No siblings…”

That made Ghost pause for a second.

“Did you have any friends? In the lab…”

"Had one, they died"

“Died...? Do you...how did they die?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

"Had to kill them"i say with no emotion in my voice.

“What? You-...wait-...you killed them?” Ghost said, now looking at you with a mixture of fear, disbelief and confusion.

"They had sharp thingy to my throat"

"...They held...they held a knife to your throat?" He repeated, his tone of voice revealing that he was shocked at what you had just said.

"To survive had to kill"

“...Right…”

This was really getting messed up.

He took a deep breath in before asking you a question.

“...How about the people you fought against, or the people that fought you. Do you know what happened to them?”

"Died," I say

“…Right…” Ghost’s heart dropped slightly as you told him that.

So all the kids you fought against..they were also dead…

“And…the buyers…” He took another deep breath. “...Have they ever come to the lab?”

"Yes, they did. Though they were killed and money taken from their bodies."

“Wait…wait...the people who bought the tapes from the lab…the ‘buyers’…they were murdered when they tried to buy them?”

I nod

His eyes widening again in disbelief.

"...The lab people...they...killed the people that bought their tapes?!”

I nod once again

"...Are...you telling me...that the lab people were *killing the people that supported them?*"

I nod "yes, they are"

"...Wha...why?" His tone of voice had suddenly become serious- and confused.

...He just couldn't understand why they were killing the people that supported them. Or maybe these 'buyers' were there for some other reason, other than just buying the tapes.

"Why would the lab people try to kill them?" He asked you, waiting for you to respond.

"They only want the money" I tell him

"...Is that all they wanted?" He asked, starting to get slightly worried now. There had to be some other reason they were doing this...

"...So they killed the buyers...just for money?"

"Yes." I tell him once again

"...There has to be another reason...right?"

He paused for an moment, debating with himself about what his next question should be.

"...Were the 'buyers' actually buyers...or were they...people who were trying to stop them from doing all this stuff?"

"No other reason only money," I say, knowing that they don't care for anything else.

"...Are you sure...?" He continued to ask, trying to not sound too pushy.

"...Were these buyers just regular folks trying to buy the tapes from the lab...or were they people from the government trying to catch them for their crimes?"

"I not know" I tell him

"...Right..."

Ghost sighed. You probably didn't know the real reason either.

You might not have even known anything at all…

"...Have they ever done any experiments on you that weren't...fighting related?"

"Course, they inject me with different types needles" I say to him slowly

"...They injected you with different types of needles?"

He raised an eyebrow at you, his tone now getting slightly concerned.

"...What did they say they were injecting you with?"

"I not know" I say while my stomach starts to growl. "Can i have nom nom? " I ask him saying it quietly, he almost can't hear it.

"...Yes, you can have food."

Ghost glanced at your stomach, it wasn't hard to realize that you were suddenly pretty hungry.

"...Right, I'll go make the coffee and the food, just...stay here. I'll be back."

And with that, he rushed into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Ghost came back into the room, carrying a small tray that had a plate of food, along with a mug of coffee.

He had made sure to make enough for you...just in case your appetite was large, given all you were used to eating was those meal tubes.

He sets the tray on the table, before looking at you.

"Here you go, food and coffee. If you want some water, that can be provided, too."

"Thank" I say to him with a small smile

"No problem." He responded, smiling back.

Ghost watched you eat, taking a mental note of how you ate and the speed of it…

“...Do you always eat this fast?” He asked, since he noticed your eating speed was pretty rapid.

"I always hungry......" You replied, as you ate at a pretty quick pace.

Ghost remained silent for a moment...noting the sudden hunger that you seemed to have, and thinking of how long it has been since you have had a real meal.

"...Right. Just...just take your time eating...don't eat too fast."

He looked at the food, and took another mental note of how quickly you started to eat...he didn't want you to accidentally end up choking on it as a result.

“You’re...you’re not used to having a real meal...are you?” Ghost said, as he continued to watch you eat quickly.

I shake my head while taking another bite.

Ghost continued watching, now realizing that he might not be able to get you to slow down, given your lack of experience around proper meals.

"Right...well, just, try to eat slower...do it at a...reasonable pace..." Ghost said, trying to get you to slow down.

I nod, eating slower.

"Good...that's better..." Ghost said, looking at you as you ate slower and not as quickly as before...

...Now that he was thinking of it, he realized that you didn't really know how to properly have a real meal, due to the food tubes you were fed while in the lab.

So he decided that he would just let you eat at your own pace, for right now...

After Ghost gave you food, and you finished eating it. Ghost starts to teach you English and about life. A few (like three ) years have passed since he rescued you, and you slowly realized that you were falling for him.

Over the years that he has spent teaching you, Ghost has noticed that you slowly started hanging around him more and more...

This had started to make him curious about your true feelings towards him...and he's noticed that he has slowly started to enjoy teaching you about life...and he’s also become quite attached to you as well...

...The both of you had certainly become close over the years…

...And while he's taught you about life, you've also taught him about having a more empathetic side to himself, and that he was actually able to fall for people as well...

...So the two of you eventually developed feelings of love, and that love slowly grew over the years...

...And here you both are, with the years gone by, still in love with each other and still being close...

Ghost and you have become a couple...the two of you living out your lives together...always there to support and love each other...always able to make each other laugh and remember about the important things in life...

...And the two of you were always by each others side, loving and caring...even when things got tough...you both were always there for each other, through the thick and thin...

...And here you both are, living your lives out, and still loving each other...

...And so the years continued to go by, the two of you now living in a cozy home, where you both are still spending your days together, and loving each other...

...And even though years may have passed since you left that lab...the love still remains strong, and the two of you are still together...

...You both lived long lives together...with each other's support, love and friendship...

And that was the ending of these two’s story.

It was quite the rollercoaster, wasn’t it?

From escaping the lab to meeting Ghost, to becoming friends, family and then finally, lovers.

These two made it through it all...through the thick and thin, they had each other’s support, love and friendship through it all…

...And now, they’re living together...with each other’s love still standing strong, and still enjoying their time together.

THE END

Words : 4408

#cod ghost #simon ghost riley #x reader #ghost x reader

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goldenlilium-ocs · 10 months ago

Text

November 27th, 1995.

(thank you to @multifanenthusiast with your assistance with this scene last year)

Loss. For such a universal experience, Juliette had never expected it to be so isolating. It had been five months now since the death of Cedric Diggory. The world did not stop spinning for the death of angels. Juliette had learned that the hard way. There were no more handwritten letters at breakfast, no picnic dates on the quidditch pitch or astronomy tower, no matching shirts bequeathed by Seb and Kingston. She had danced with Death for the first time and it had left her lonely on the dance floor while everyone else continued Life’s waltz. It was like she had forgotten the steps.

She had received her O.W.L results over the summer. Her aunt had gotten engaged, Gwenog Jones had visited to share her prayers- and yet none of it meant anything. Nothing mattered anymore. Not when it couldn’t be shared with him.

Those around her grew impatient now. It seemed the socially acceptable mourning period was coming to an end. The gentle nudges to contact friends, the invitations to Hogsmeade, owls from both her and his parents. Juliette, once so eager to please, no longer cared for the worry she caused others. Let them worry that she was falling apart. They didn’t understand that she already had. The pieces of her lay scattered in that grave with Cedric. Now she was just a shell of Juliette Bishop, moving through the motions.

Juliette spent most of her time in the library these days. It was a good way to avoid the heavy eye-prickling sorrow that threatened to take over every second of the day. Madam Pince made a pretty good bodyguard with her affinity for scaring people away the second they spoke a decibel higher than the sound of a pin dropping. It had eventually encouraged even her own best friend Kingston to give up and leave her be as soon as she stepped inside the library. The witch kept to a table by the windows in the very back of the room, usually only occupied by the most studious or couples snogging. Fortunately, they usually left pretty quickly once they spotted ‘The Girl With The Dead Boyfriend’.

It was one of those days again today. The emptiness hollow yet weighted permanently in Juliette’s chest as she stared blankly at her potions homework. Amortentia. Death was cruel, but Life was ruthless. Lost in her voided mind, the shadow passing over her almost went amiss until the intruder cleared their throat. As the brunette glanced up, she was taken aback by the sight of Mattheo Riddle. Especially without his usual cohort. Up close, he looked like shit.

His dark curls seemed in disagreement about which direction to stand in. He had bags under his eyes and kept shifting from foot to foot. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times, an odd sight to see. What was even odder were the words that finally came out.

“I’m sorry.”

Juliette glanced around, wondering if maybe he’d knocked over her ink or dropped some books. Nothing seemed out of place except for the Slytherin standing before her. “For…?”

He still stood there, mouth puckering like a fish. Eventually he inhaled sharply, gazing down at the books on the desk. “Diggory was- he was really good. Death’s sort of a strange concept for me and all but…he didn’t deserve that. And… I know he’s my father but- I mean I don’t know him. Never met the bloke.”

Juliette’s gaze fell onto the books in front of her, as if staring hard enough might burn through any rising emotion. She thought she had run out of tears to cry by now but they poked at her eyes, begging for release.

“It wasn’t your fault.” The witch shrugged. She wasn’t even sure he had bothered to attend the finale of the tournament. Perhaps because he had known, but the look in his eyes told a different story. She knew pain.

Mattheo seemed confused. As if the genuity of her words had shocked him. “No, but I still have to live with the consequences of what he does.” He stated. "No one should have to die for this. No one should lose the one they love the most..." Mattheo said, trailing off wondering what the feeling was that he just spoke of. Much like death, he knew little about love. He had love from his aunt growing up. He knew brotherly love from Theo. But a love that is so strong you can smell it in a potion and be reminded of a single person- the love he saw in Juliette's eyes every time she looked at Cedric was a love Mattheo had never known. It was a love he craved, but would never feel. He didn't deserve to feel that level of emotion.

“You didn’t give the order or perform the curse as far as I’m aware. It wasn’t your fault.” Juliette steeled herself to look up again. She just wished he would leave already instead of trying to take responsibility for what happened to Cedric. She didn’t need to relive that night again. Or be reminded she might never be loved like that again.

Instead of leaving, Riddle pulled out the chair opposite and sat down. “Where’s Chance?”

The worst part of it all was that this boy who didn’t even know her, looked genuinely concerned. Juliette was so sick of that look. She shrank into her chair, folding her arms across her chest. The truth was that Kingston was losing hope in her. He was inviting her to eat less and less, no longer bothering to bring her the homework she never completed from classes she never attended. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.

“Has anyone ever told you it’s impolite to shove your nose when it doesn’t belong?”

“Once or twice.” The Slytherin replied, the humour wrapped around his tongue was absent from his gaze as he stared her down. “Do you really think this is how he wants you to mourn him, Bishop?”

Why was it always the people who had lost nothing who were the ones acting like they understood how it felt?

“Don’t act like you knew the first thing about him.” Juliette’s scowl deepened. She doubted he’d ever uttered a single word to Cedric. Too many people in Cedric’s life had just assumed they had him pinned down. It had to have been exhausting.

A hushing sound came from over the Slytherin’s shoulder, the shape of Madam Pince disappearing behind the shelves, and Juliette glowered. “Are you done?”

Apparently not.

“Look, I get it. He was your boyfriend. You probably thought he was the love of your life,” Mattheo continued in hushed tones, “But you have got to stop being dead set on being the girl with the dead boyfriend. I know you’re pushing people away. This is my table, you know. Nobody comes here. I know your grades are slipping. Since when does Theo score higher than you in potions? He’s always complaining about how uptight you are in that class.”

So he was impolite and a stalker.

“I am not uptight.” Juliette huffed, another shush coming from somewhere to her right. She rolled her eyes and went to pull her planner toward her, but Mattheo tugged it right out of her hand.

“Bishop, your planner has two different colour code systems, you’re always obnoxiously on time to everything. You push away anyone who tries to sympathise with you and you hate when people don’t match the effort you put in. Up. Tight.” Mattheo leaned back with a smirk, proud of his freakish oberservations, but then his expression turned serious again. "Everyone around you can see it. You've become a shell of yourself since losing him." He muttered.

Juliette’s hands shook a little, and she gripped the edge of the desk, gazing away from the Slytherin. “I didn’t lose him, he was taken from me. And they’re trying to call it a fucking accident.” She hissed.

She watched as Mattheo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table with that stupid smirk on his face. His dismissal of her anger was irksome, as if he’d been waiting for it. “There you go, Bishop. Let out the aggression. No use in keeping it bottled up forever. Strength is better than weakness. Be angry.” He even chuckled, which made her insides burn.

Her cheeks flushed a little, brows furrowing in confusion. Was he actively trying to piss her off? “I’m not angry. I’m fucking sad.”

“Sadness is just rage turned inwards.”

“You’re insane.” Juliette scoffed. She rose to her feet, packing the books back into her bag.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.” Mattheo stood too, sidestepping to block her escape. Her planner was still clutched in his hand. “You’re allowed to be angry. Merlin knows it’s better than feeling sorry for yourself.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel!”

“Out!” Madam Pince had appeared out of nowhere yet again. And despite her whispers, the shrill of her voice still pierced Juliette’s ears. “One week’s ban, both of you.”

Juliette paled. Where else could she go to escape her friends? No, not escape them, just get away for a bit. “Nice going.” She spat, glaring at Mattheo as she tore her planner from his hands on the way out.

She began walking away, but she couldn’t get rid of that nagging voice in her head. Cedric would have handled it better, he handled everything better. She risked a glance over her shoulder. Mattheo was still standing there at the entrance, he seemed to be muttering angrily to himself. Juliette felt a little bad for snapping now, but he shouldn’t have pushed her. And she was not uptight.

She turned back with a sigh, changing course for the Hufflepuff common room. She probably owed her friends a visit by now. If Cedric were here, he’d definitely be smug about her sudden change of heart.

“Shut it, Diggory.”

#jattheo #julie x mattheo #snapshots

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batsplat · 7 months ago

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right, by popular demand (a request from @washerdryer), I'm following up this post and just giving a few more details for what you can watch out for to start distinguishing tennis players in your head. how to differentiate the hoards, basically - what makes each tennis player unique. so I've split this up in three basic levels: the numbers, the units, and the shapes

the numbers

so, let's just simplify tennis playstyles as much as it is possible to simplify them, and say we have two types of players: the offensive ones and the defensive ones. the bashers and the pushers. one wants to finish the points on their own racquet, the other one just wants to get the ball back often enough. winning a tennis point is about getting the ball into the court one more time than your opponent. what this means is you can win a point either by putting the ball into a position the opponent can't get it back from, or by waiting until your opponent makes a mistake

when tennis points are coded for purposes of generating stats, point finishes can fall into one of three basic categories:

winner: a ball you hit into the court that the opponent's racquet does not touch, to cleanly win you the point (also includes aces)

unforced errors: a ball you hit that does not make it to your opponent's court, when you could have been expected to make that ball (also includes double faults)

forced errors: a ball you hit that does not make it to your opponent's court, when you have been put under enough duress to 'force' the error

now, you may be wondering how we distinguish between unforced and forced errors, which... it's complicated... it's basically a question of time. if the player had time to reach the ball, if they were in a position on the court where they could hit that ball within a relatively comfortable hitting zone, if they were in a neutral or an offensive position rather than a defensive one, then it's unforced. obviously, this isn't an objective measure, and sometimes whoever is logging in the points is like... either WAY too harsh or far far too generous.... but as a general metric, it's not the worst place to start. now, typically we only get numbers of winners and unforced errors (unless it's a fan-charted match, which we'll get to in a sec), but obviously you can infer the number of forced errors at least. even these basic stats aren't a bad starting point. if someone is playing offensively and taking more risk, it would logically follow that their counts of winners and unforced errors are both higher than for someone playing defensively, right?

let's bring in two players I thought of off the top of my head, and luckily they did not disappoint me here. kasatkina on the left and ostapenko on the right at wimbledon 2021 (this is from flashscore btw):

in the end, penko won this three set match. she won somewhat more points than her opponents - and outperformed her opponent in both service points and return points. what else can these numbers tell us?

well, first of all, penko managed to hit 48 winners vs dasha's *pinches nose* 11. so she tended to play more offensively, or was certainly more effective in doing so. on the flip side, penko hit 48 unforced errors to dasha's 24 - her high risk style inevitably generated more errors than dasha's low risk approach. obviously, in this case that approach took her to victory, despite finishing on double the amount of unforced errors as her opponent. sometimes, the difference between winners and unforced errors is treated as some kind of brute force measure of a match's 'quality' which... I don't love, but of course it's generally a good thing if you're clocking in more winners than unforced errors. dasha ends on (-13) and penko ends on (0), and penko ended up winning the match

what else can we take from this? well, penko came to the net more - and tended to have a very good success rate there. this is a super super rough metric, but I generally feel you want about two thirds success at the net at least, since more often than not you're approaching the net when you're on the offensive and should be winning points. so, y'know, 13 isn't a crazy amount of total net points but it's still fundamentally a job well done. some players don't approach the net at all - and of course it's also reflective of the fact dasha generally wasn't getting herself into positions during the match where she could get to the net. given penko's playstyle, most points will have be conducted on her racquet, where either she bullies around dasha to make an error or she makes an error herself. she's not giving dasha the time to construct rallies in a way that would let dasha gradually navigate herself to the net

and then, of course, there's the most glaring numbers of them all: the serve/return numbers. *pinches nose again* okay. so obviously, the serve is supposed to be a weapon, and especially on grass it is common enough to see 80%, 90% of service points won (if more so on the men's side). these two icons don't believe in that kind of thing, and have even managed to win more points on return than on serve on the most serve-friendly surface. given dasha's impressive returning and her very not impressive serving, I'm guessing this was mainly her fault. there's also a lot of people who will conflate a lot of breaks of serve with a match being 'bad', but those people lack taste. nobody likes a servebot

now, we can add more numbers into the equation. and yes, this is a lot of numbers, but it's all actually quite straightforward, don't run away, we're not going through all of them. this is from ryba vs krej, the wimbledon semi we just had, and is submitted as part of the volunteer-driven match charting project at tennis abstract. what you're seeing are elena's shot types:

so. what you're seeing here is every single shot rybakina hit in that match, and what the result of each and every single one of them was. rybakina hit 257 total shots - of them, 32% ended the point in some way. of those 32%, you get a further breakdown between winners, 11%, forced errors, 8%, and unforced errors, 15%. she hits 133 on the forehand side, and 124 on the backhand - and she was more likely to finish a point on the forehand side than on the backhand side. this is what we would EXPECT to see: for 99% of players, the forehand is a bigger weapon than the backhand. that doesn't mean the forehand is better, and it is often more liable to generating errors, but you can hit the ball harder on that side. the numbers here beyond that are actually a bit quirky... unsurprisingly, rybs was hitting more forehand winners than backhand winners, but in terms of errors the big disparity was in the forced errors tally. now, honestly I don't remember this match enough so this may be bullshit - but just looking at the numbers, my initial guess is that rybs was being forced to run into the forehand corner a lot and krej was extracting errors that way

there's a lot of other details you CAN look at here, but also ryba makes it easy for us by conducting most of her shots from the baseline. 'gs' here stands for 'groundstrokes' so... literally any shot that hits the ground first. she barely went to the net, she wasn't doing much slicing or dropshotting. (I notice the coder made one of her forehand dropshots a forced error, which... I can kinda see how that happens, but to me almost all dropshots are unforced.) some normal volleys, some 'swinging' volleys - also called topspin volleys, which basically looks like your normal groundstroke but without the bit where it touches the ground first

let's quickly bring in what krej was doing:

so, only 23% of shots are point ending, which is what you'd broadly expect - ryba is one of the players with the biggest firepower so she will generally be doing more point ending on her racquet. similarly to ryba, krej has a slight skew to the forehand side, and also has a strong skew towards staying at the baseline. the main thing I'm a teensy bit curious about is how krej ended up with 9 lobs and ryba with only one smash because like?? rybakina is very tall?? but also krej is the prime moonballer on tour, so if that was correctly coded then well done to her lol. the only other thing I wanted to point out is the kind of quirk you can spot through these numbers - krej is one of the big users of the forehand slice in the game, which tends to be an extremely uncommon shot, but she uses 24 times. ryba's 12 also actually feels quite high, but it's also more common to slice when you're getting a slice so that MAY be part of it

tennis has many more numbers that tells you many more things about the matches you're watching - like for instance serve efficacy and how your win % compares on the first serve to the second serve, how often you're getting your first serve in, how often it's an ace, an unreturned serve, a double fault... you'll build up a bit of a frame of reference over time for what counts as 'good' or 'bad' numbers. but, yeah, if one player is hitting a lot of winners and unforced errors and the other one isn't, you can draw some basic conclusions about what kind of player you're watching

the units

okay, so you've got the numbers, which you can also check during matches and will be provided on screen between sets. now we get to the bit where you're actually watching tennis. you basically what to figure out what units, what bits a player's game is composed of. everyone has a serve, everyone has a return, everyone has a forehand and a backhand - but what are they doing with them? how are they using them? where do they tend to win points and where do they tend to lose them? again, part of this will just be about paying attention to what the commentators tell you and try to see if you can spot it for yourself. here are like, some of the basic questions you can watch out for... many you don't need to immediately just spot, but just so you know this is something that is possible to notice:

are they a good server? very tall? good at 'hitting their spots'? do they double fault a lot? can they mix up the spins of their serve - the kick serve (literally kicks up) or slice (slides away from the opponent)? how's their ace rate? how good are they at 'disguising' their serve direction? is it easy to attack their second serve?

how about their return? is there something funky about their return position, are they standing too close or too far away? (most players will be a little bit behind the baseline.) do they change their position depending on whether they're returning first or second serve (typically but not always you'll be closer for the second)? do they get a lot of returns into play? can they attack the second serve? how good are they at 'reading' the opponent's serve?

are they more of an attacking player who attempts to generate their own offence and dominate the point, or a defensive player who is responding to what the opponent is doing and are trying to force them into a mistake? are they a counterpuncher (aka a player who can turn defence into offence)? are they 'aggressive' with their court positioning by standing further forwards? or are they retreating, buying themselves time?

where are they looking to finish points? are they a baseliner and are operating from the back of the court? are they an all courter? are they looking to come in and attack at the net? how's their forecourt game? how are their volleys? do they ever serve and volley (aka immediately follow in the serve to hit the first ball from the net)?

how are their two wings - the forehand and the backhand? how good are they at generating offence from either side? how good are they at defending from either side? is there one side where they're good at hitting 'on the run' shots but not the other? is there one side (typically the forehand) where they can generate more pace but are also more likely to make errors? can they rally consistently from both wins?

what about their variety? now, variety is a bit of a catch all term that describes how many dimensions their game has - but a lot of times it does kinda just mean 'can they slice and volley'. a slice has a different type of spin from your basic ground strokes - especially on the backhand side, it's an important defensive tool, not least to slow the ball down, but can also used offensively. are all the balls they're hitting kinda similar in terms of speed and height and spin? or can they hit their shots flatter, can they change up the spin with slices... can they get forwards and sprinkle in volleys, can they integrate different shots like the dropshot into their game? can they hit high moonballs and find short angles? or is it all just 'see ball bash ball'

how good a mover are they? both in terms of outright speed, up the court and side to side, but also how their balance is, how good they are at anticipating where the opponent will hit the ball, and do on... how flexible are they, can they reach even the unlikeliest balls? how's their endurance? can they defend point after point game after game, or do they eventually falter?

what are they like mentally? do they fold every time they're facing break point? can they actually convert their chances? what are they like at crunch time - late in sets, in tiebreaks, in deciding sets? do they choke away leads? are they clutch under pressure? can they serve out sets and matches?

how do they think they're going to win this match? what's their approach, what's the strategy, what tactics are they deploying, can they adjust these to the match situation? are you watching a player who's thinking their way through rallies, who's following a game plan, or are they just doing whatever?

these aren't questions you need to be engaging with every time you watch a tennis match but, again, they're questions you can ask yourself. not as tricky as it looks!!

the shapes

okay. you get the numbers, you know how the match quite literally is playing out. you've watched the points and can spot what they're actually doing to generate those numbers. now let's go one step further: how are these 'units' being produced? why is it that some serves are better than others? what makes different forehands produce different effects? what makes someone a good mover?

now, obviously, this is like. a massive topic, and I'm not going to give an intro to tennis technique here. but what you really want to do, especially at the start, is spot variance. the photos I included at the top of this post are all from players with techniques that immediately jump out at you for being WEIRD. snigur's forehand looks weird (it's like she's swinging a pan). delbonis' serve looks weird (bizarrely high ball toss). norrie's backhand looks weird (like he's trying to stab someone). obviously, to some extent you can only do this through brute force watching tennis to give yourself a kind of internal, instinctual understanding of what the 'average' shot looks like... but you can also kickstart this process

the thing is, right, you can say that all technique is very complicated, but at the end of the day what it boils down to is you have the bit that happens before they hit the ball, the bit where they're hitting the ball, and the bit after they're hitting the ball. usually, what tennis viewers are responding to when they're watching the sport is some kind of flash aesthetic judgement of that racquet motion. is it a 'short' or a 'long' motion? you can be super concise and compressed with your motion, and only quickly slash at the ball in a direct path, or you can draw a massive loop with your arm like you're simulating a windmill where, after yanking it in a bunch of directions, eventually you make contact with the ball... where is the racquet at the point of contact? generally speaking it should be in front of the body, though how close or far it is can vary quite a lot. and where does the racquet go afterwards?

let's bring in a straightforward example, and check out the forehand techniques of the two most recent women's slam champs - krej on the left and iga on the right

at point of contact, krej has her arm completely extended, while iga's elbow is bent. both are entirely acceptable way of hitting your forehand!! it obviously means both need to move differently to the ball to make sure it's at their preferred distance

if you look at iga's arm, you may also notice all the... bits are kinda pointing in different ways? what you might notice if you watch her a bit is that she draws quite the loop with her forehand, and that a lot of her arm seems to be moving a lot during the stroke. the underlying 'reason' for that is she has quite an extreme forehand grip (called the 'western' grip) which means that the way she holds her racquet essentially requires her to twist around her wrist to make contact with it. so, what's the benefit? why are you doing weird shit with your wrist while hitting the ball? well, iga's forehand also has a lot of topspin - the sharp wrist movement applies an intensive amount of spin to the ball that makes it fly high over the net and bounce high on the other side of the court. it's a very spin-intensive forehand grip - she WHIPS the racquet up to make that ball rotate a shit ton

now, obviously you don't need to get all that just looking at a clip of a player hitting a shot. it's more just... stuff to start paying attention to. how much they're using their arms. how much they're bending their knees. where their racquet is in relation to their body when they hit it. how big the steps they're taking are to get across the court

in conclusion

in conclusion. have fun watching the matches!!

#//#tennis #this is supposed to be an intro guide but (not to be rude) you do feel like a lot of long term fans still can't spot some of this stuff lol #so it's not mandatory. I just think tennis is fundamentally more interesting if you treat it as a puzzle. what's the story of a match #also the quirkier the technique the better

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sugarsnappeases · 8 months ago

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lilyrosekiller after midnight……. on my knees asking for lilyrosekiller after midnight…..

kissing you. thrilled to provide. so this fic is sude @/stillagoodwitch 's fault. bc they told me like back in december that i should write lilyrosekiller based on chappell roan's after midnight and i'm nothing if not at their every beck and call so here we are!!

the general premise is lily having just broken up w james, heading out to a bar wherein she encounters barty and evan....

i posted a snippet a while ago which is basically where the fic has left off since i last tried to write it. am currently Stuck and deeply overthinking every decision i've made w it but basically the gist of what happens next is snogging. then a bar fight which results in the three of them getting kicked out of the bar. then breaking into a building to watch the sunrise from the roof. then fucking on said roof...

and it was also meant to be a fairly speedily-written fic lol but here we are six months later bc i kept getting side-tracked by lily evans' beautiful mind. bc when i say she's just broken up w james, i mean that james was down on one knee in front of her, asking her to marry him. and she said no. and i apparently had rather a lot to say about that.... snippet for your consideration:

Two weeks earlier, after breaking up with James, after the disaster proposal, Lily had packed her things. James had come back to their shared flat with her for some reason, tears still streaming down his face, and for the first time, Lily hadn’t felt the need to comfort him, or try and make him feel better, or take back the decision that felt like the only decision she had ever truly made to suit her own best interests. Instead she had packed her things, just the essentials, she was planning to start afresh and she didn’t want to carry around memories like an endless chain always tying her back to James, she was cutting herself loose. She had looked at James one last time - because they had been together for four years, they had plans together, they had a future mapped out between them, a house and a wedding and a family that Lily didn’t want anymore, maybe had never wanted. She looked at him one last time because there were happy memories too, laughter and adventures and love - she thought there must have been love, surely there was love - and she said goodbye to him. He was sitting on the bed they had shared for the last five months, since they had moved into the flat together for their second year of uni, tear stains on his face and just looking so lost, confused, bewildered maybe, and Lily had said goodbye and walked out without a backwards glance. She feels free again now; she wasn’t sure when she had stopped feeling free, maybe when she had started her degree, medicine, setting out a career path for herself, something that felt like it was set in stone, or maybe when she had started dating James, giggling when people told her they’d look good together instead of hitting them, giving in to expectations and his infuriating persistence, or maybe it was when she had started at Hogwarts, eleven years old with her scholarship and her sister’s jealousy and her parent’s ever-higher standards. At some point, a noose had started to tighten around her neck, a chain around her ankle, endless ropes tangling around her, squeezing at her until she was contorting herself into the shapes that she thought would please the most people, twisted and uncomfortable and painfully unreal no matter how much she tried to convince herself they weren’t.

okay reading this back now it's in need of some edits but you get the vibe. she's cutting loose. she's leaving james behind. she's living in a shitty hotel on the other side of the city and spending most of her evenings going to different bars. she's figuring out what she wants and what she likes. she's forcibly knocked herself off the pedestal that everyone in her life has always put her on and now she's the phoenix rising for the ashes in the aftermath.

and she's coming across barty and evan <3 and they're such a tightknit couple, so incredibly comfortable w each other and they've clearly been together for years and see and know each other in a way that she doesn't feel like she's ever really been seen or known. and they're looking at her across the bar throughout the night, locking eyes w her, seeing her. and she's so drawn to them, pulled into their orbit and like. she's obvs 'wearing that dress and red lipstick' and 'she's been a good, good girl for a long time' and it's 'after midnight' etc etc etc

anyway mwah mwah mwah thank you so much for asking i do love them even if they've been getting on my nerves as of late and i'm hoping that when i have time again things will flow....

#dil tag #after midnight fic

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thesinglesjukebox · 4 months ago

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FKA TWIGS - "EUSEXUA"

youtube

Forever 'til the end of time...

[7.70]

Ian Mathers: First part: I do wish more pop music sounded like its makers had heard "Windowlicker" at least once, yeah. Second part: why does it suddenly feel like we're freefalling without a parachute? Third part: you know what, they should have gone with "braindance" back in the day. [8]

Grace Robins-Somerville: Everyone should burn down their place of work and host a rave inside its charred shell. This song is so fucking good. Twigs can do whatever she wants forever. [9]

Will Adams: The office choreo clip that kept bouncing around my timeline upon the video's release was a fake-out; the stuttering boom-boom beat in the prelude is a separate song entirely, "Drums of Death." "Eusexua" proper is breathtaking in the way the best trance music is: strobing, nervous, euphoric all at once. The titular concept would seem overwrought were it not explicated as flawlessly as Twigs does here. Her voice is suspended in mid-air as the track swirls around her, until everything falls away and she is lifted to that higher state. [9]

Jel Bugle: It’s ponderous, and I had to google what "eusexua" is: "a state of being" and "the pinnacle of human experience." I didn’t really get to the summit of human experience with this one – it’s kinda Perrie Edwards x Yeule, and I feel this leaves a sort of electronic slop. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that gets played in a club, rather than on a cold drizzly afternoon, The last 40 seconds are good, where it’s more disjointed and ethereal. That should have been the whole song. [5]

Katherine St. Asaph: Putting my editor's cap on: Twigs used 167 words to describe the indescribable "eusexua" when one word existed and would suffice, "ecstasy." Zero words, even, would suffice: the last part of this song. [8]

Mark Sinker: Listening to this engenders a state of being and the description of that state of being is: pleasant! In a somewhat nervous and spooky way! It’s not really a new state of being though, because I’ve heard other songs by FKA Twigs. It seems a vaguely needless pressure for everyone to invent a whole new word for it. [7]

Taylor Alatorre: FKA Twigs is bad at naming things, including herself, but this is known. The syllables comprising "Eusexua" are an obstacle of her own making, which is apt for a song that portrays its (unfortunately) titular feeling as a state that must be fought and clawed for, even against one's better judgment. As depicted, the ascent to transcendence is a rather bumpy one, speckled with earthly crevices and frictions -- those chittering little clacks against the temple are what deny us an early exit from crass materiality. Twigs dances around her definitions because she knows that, despite what she says at one point, to transcribe would only tether her down further. She trusts in her voice, and its wide range of contortions, to do the real semantic lifting, and the trust pays itself back. Our reward for following her on this ersatz Eightfold Path is a guiltless surrender to the simple joys of trance, not in scare quotes but in full hands-up glory. It can't last forever, of course, but just long enough to have made the journey worth it under any name. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Maybe my standards are too high for her — at this point, I expect masterworks from Twigs every time, songs that will stop you in your tracks through novel stylistic choices or sheer emotive weight. "Eusexua" is instead merely a case of well-executed contemporary sophistipop, hitting all of the right semi-nostalgic synth tones and rhythms to feel like a moment of ecstasy on the dancefloor. Even when it slows down I don't get any more out of it; she phones it in a little, which is to say she does better than most working pop musicians. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: I already felt constantly alone. It's my own damn fault. I'm getting older, so it's my job to fix it. That is when you reach eusexua. You finally hit the end of your excuses, rationalizations, punching up and down and delusions, and you swim free into your own eusexua. Fear is a common process -- it happens often when others are trying to drown you with their own despair -- but fear not; eusexua is here for them too. Look past yourself to see the despair and regret you constantly feel just for existing reflected in another's eyes; pull them too into eusexua. Eusexua will be our freedom, our community, our life. You will not have to be rich, you will not have to be handsome, you will be healed of your disabilities and difficulties, you will need no power or gratification, you will become part of us, and be a greater whole that will have you complete and loved. You will finally have help. [10]

Alfred Soto: Putting aside my FKA Twigs skepticism was easy: I'm a sucker for boom-clap stutterbeats. She channels K-pop and Fever Ray for the sake of inhabiting a reasonable facsimile of euphoria. She's always been reasonable. [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#fka twigs #eusexua #music #music writing #music reviews #music criticism #the singles jukebox #Youtube

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jordanianprincesses · 1 year ago

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My post is actually going to get some heat but I really have to say it

I know rajwa gets a lot of hate online and people are sympathetic towards her BUT BOOHOO CRY ME A RIVER she’s an iffing future queen and frankly I think she doesn’t give a damn (I’m not excusing bullying I’m just saying she clearly doesn’t care) here’s why I think some of the criticism she’s getting is actually somewhat justified…

Rajwa was really popular once the engagement was announced ALOT of people praised her and liked her but unfortunately here’s a list of what the JRF did to completely ruin rajwa’s reputation

1) they acted as if she was this very conservative Saudi woman from a big and important family (they literally mentioned all her family tree during the announcement) when in fact she wasn’t!

2) they literally didn’t even try to remove pictures from online and save rajwa from the public scrutiny she’s going to get once the pictures are released

3) rania spent so much time praising her and pushing her which gave people the illusion that she will be a working royal SINCE WE SAW HER EVERYWHERE BEFORE THE WEEDDING

4) they set high expectations for her without making sure that she was actually fit for these expectations (I feel like they just ignored that she might be lazy and simply didn’t want to work)

5) they spent way too much time coddling and protecting her instead of working on improving her and her work ethic. I think they did that because they were terrified she would leave otherwise!

It seems like the JRF were actually setting her up from the start l. Now now for the part that I will get hate for…I don’t think rajwa is completely innocent and she helped in tarnishing her image as well

1) she did not contact certain people to delete some of her past photos which is insane because she knows how popular Hussein was in the past and she should’ve at least used her brain a bit.

2) she enjoyed the limelight before the engagement a bit too much without thinking this will make the expectations for her higher.

3) she thought that being queen in Jordan is an easy task where you only have to play dress up and look pretty, which leads me to believe she didn’t even bother to simply google how messed things inJordan are.

4) she doesn’t even TRY to push against the royal family! She does what they want without even asking or thinking whether it was good for her or not. She doesn’t use her brain at all.

5) THE FAMOUS BIKINI SCANDAL: now now before you eat me alive I do think she was a victim and we should blame the person that invaded their privacy BUT it’s so stupid on her part to think that she can just slip under the radar and wear whatever she wants after the HUGE wedding they had! She was 100% aware of how popular she had become and still she didn’t USE HER BRAIN and think for a moment that there’s always people watching especially in public. I genuinely would’ve excused her if they were in the privacy of their own home.

6) now finally the most inexcusable of all: I think she genuinely doesn’t want to work. Now people like to come up with “theories” that maybe rania doesn’t want her to work (which is almost impossible considering how much time and effort rania put into hyping up rajwa and making her popular) or that Hussein is the one setting her up with is also not true because he is trying to push her as well… so we are left with the only option that Rajwa genuinely doesn’t want to be a working royal and just wants royal treatment with no royal responsibilities… because if she wanted to work, she would have. It’s not that hard to ask your team to give you a task to do.

7) wearing boycotted brands in the middle of genocide

Conclusion: I think both parts are at fault here they set her up and then she proceeded to set herself up as well. I wholeheartedly believe rajwa did marry for the title mainly and was so protected and coddled that she thought that’s all she’s getting A TITLE. I think she was shocked and overwhelmed with the work that comes with it. So she decided not to work at all. As if for the bullying? I honestly don’t think she cares she’s living her absolute best life and she’s set for life with the JRF stolen money and endless connections. 🤷🏼‍♀️

It’s crazy coming up with these conclusions now… I was rooting for her & Hussein so hard just about a year ago ! 💔

I agree with you in most of what you said but not all of them . Anyway, welcoome

#answered

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bebepac · 2 years ago

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Six Sentence Sunday 03.26.23

Ooooh. Boy.. Here we go. Some of you all may remember this chick. Well she’s back messing with stuff again. I apologize in advance for some of the snippets you’re going to see today.

Things I’ve written lately:

The Cordonian Arrangement: Shattered Heart

The Cordonian Arrangement: Memories of You

The Vampires Live On: Part 3

Original Post: 03/26/23 at 8:01PM EST

The Book: TRR Chapter 8: Garden Party Photo Op Series: The Life Of Riley: Book 2 Pairings: Liam x Riley Status: Still in the writing process.

Special Request fic :) and has a companion chapter to Heroes and Villians

She smiled when she woke up yet again, amongst the soft plush covers and mattress that felt like she was sleeping on clouds. Opening her eyes, she glanced around the ornately decorated room. Waking up there every morning always felt like she was in a dream. She jumped up ,from her bed running over to the balcony, throwing open the doors, as if she expected the gardens below not to be visible. But it was, every single morning. She had been in Cordonia a little more than three weeks; the ending of the first week at the palace where she was participating in Prince Liam’s social season. She was living her own Cinderella story thanks to Prince Liam Rys, who after spending the night with her in New York, asked her to come visit him in Cordonia for a week, and then asked her to stay..

She was not the only one living their own Cinderella story that had Liam to thank. A young Nicolas Karahalios had everything he owned packed in a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and was standing at the palace gates waiting for entry.

“Full name, and state your business at the palace.”

“Karahalios, Nicolas A. I’m training for the Kingsguard.”

The sentry took out a clip board and scrolled through the names. Nico sighed in relief when the guard picked up a pen and checked his name off the list.

“Right on time, head through those double doors there to take your photo for your level two identification, and from there, you’ll go to uniforms for your cadet attire.”

“Thank you.”

“Good luck, kid.” The guard nodded to him, opening the gate.

“Thank you, Sir!”

Nico slid the strap of his bag up higher on his shoulder and stood in amazement as the palace gates opened for him. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Nico was officially on palace soil for the first time.

“Come in Maxwell!” Riley said when she heard his knock.

Maxwell smiled as he walked through the door.

“You know, we have to stop meeting this way.”

Maxwell laughed but the door remained open for Bertrand to walk through. Riley tried to hide her annoyance.

“Yes Bertrand, what did I do wrong now?”

He looked her over.

“Nothing that I can tell as of yet, but you did just wake up, which already means you have a late start.”

“Still getting used to the time difference.”

“That didn’t matter last night when you were at the dive bar drinking with Drake Walker acting like you’re still a college student.”

“You’re acting like your brother Maxwell wasn’t there too.”

“Little Blossom! Way to throw me under the bus!”

“I feel like I’m the only one taking this whole arrangement seriously, keeping you two in check is like herding cats.”

“Meow.”

Maxwell chuckled.

“Do not encourage her Maxwell.”

The Book: TRR Part 4: The Vampires Live On Series: The Vampires Live On Pairings: Liam x Riley (in this decade) Gabriel x Alice in the past. Status: Still in the writing process.

Gabriel consoled me as I cried.

“Are you happy we made it here?”

“Very happy. I promise these are happy tears. I felt like I was robbed of the opportunity to give her a proper goodbye.”

Gabriel looked visibly hurt by my words. I grabbed his arm to reassure him.

“It was not your fault, you did what you had to do to keep me safe, to keep us safe. I understand why you did it. Though, it still does not sway how I felt and have felt all of these years. The world should be more evolved, and it’s not. And because it wasn’t, I couldn’t even say a proper farewell to my sister, when I really needed to do it.”

“The world never changes. Yes, there is a lot more technology now that has made life remarkably easier, but the core of people… never change. I have walked this earth for long enough to realize that.”

“The things you’ve seen I can’t even imagine, especially in the earlier years.”

“Yes, it was quite a different time. I must leave for a little bit, but I will return shortly, then we will go out for dinner.”

From the time Gabriel left to the time he returned all I had thought about was Clara and the picture of the two of us.

“I have a present for you.”

He held out a small wrapped box for me to take.

“What is this?”

“Something you really wanted, and deserved to have.”

“This is so sweet.”

When I tore open the box, inside, was the framed picture of me and Clara.

“Gabriel….”

“You deserve more than just to see Clara in only your dreams. This picture should lie with her family and now it does, and if you look closely, you can see Maxwell in it as well, and he’s looking at Clara, smiling.”

“He loved her so much.”

“He did. And you can see it as clear as day here.”

The Book: TRF Part 8: Where Do We Go From Here? The Series: The Cordonian Arrangement Pairings Former Riley x Nico (Riley X M!OC) Liam x Riley? Status: Still in the writing process.

It was barely dawn and the sun was only creeping slightly through the windows. When she moved, his embrace tightened, pulling her back close to him, leaning in, to kiss her neck. Still waking from her slumber, it felt like a typical morning that she had lived every day when waking in his arms was commonplace. Riley moaned softly as he continued to gently nibble her neck, pressing her body into his.

“Let’s stay in bed. Don’t go…." she mumbled in her sleep. “Stay with me.”

“Always.”

His voice made her immediately leave that place of pre woke slumber to soberingly wide awake, quickly pulling away from him.

“Liam….”

Fully awake, all the memories of the last few months, and from last night flooded back to her in a wave.

Observing the shock and almost disappointment in her eyes, shielding her bare body from him with the sheet, Liam knew.

“That wasn’t intended for me, was it?”

She didn’t want to lie to him, and she couldn’t look him in the face either.

“No… I’m…. sorry….” She headed towards the door still draped in the sheet from the bed.

“Riley, we need to talk about this. There’s a reason you came to me last night. It felt right for us to be together that way.”

“For a brief second, this morning I forgot the horror that has been these last 3 months that has been my life. Last night, I was lonely… I wanted to feel…. Connected to someone again. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea.”

“Do you regret it?”

“No… I don’t regret it… but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a mistake. It was a mistake Liam. We have way too much history for me to think that you would simply be okay with this.”

“We made love last night Riley.”

“We… didn’t. It was just sex. I’m still in love with my husband.” Glancing down at her ring on her finger that she was still wearing.

“Your husband is dead.”

Riley gasped in shock. Liam immediately wanted to take the words back.

“Who are you?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like it came out Riley. Forgive me, I didn’t mean it Riley. I promise you I didn’t.”

“Get out of my house.”

“Riley…. We’re supposed to take Angelo to the zoo today.”

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!!!!”

#bebepac writes #six sentence sunday #always more than six #cfwc sunday six #the cordonian arrangement #the vampires live on #the life of riley #riley goes to cordonia #heroes and villans #choices fanfiction #trr fanfic #trr fandom #liam x riley #riley x nico #liam and riley throughout the centuries

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