#I was the person who started the search for this footage and now that stuff has been found. ego boost this shit made my week

[i-hear-a-sound]

BABE WAKE UP WE FOUND DRAKENGARD LOST MEDIA

DRAKENGARD 1 AT E3 2003

[del-thetiredwriter]

Mafia au/Good luck while running away from mafia part 0.5

intro , part 1, part 2 , part 3 , part 4 , part 5

Notes: Sorry for keeping you waiting. writing it was harder than I thought but I hope you like it.it’s something like before everything started, When they realized you left the mafia.

Warnings: not really mentioned yandere stuff, gn reader

Tags: @hrhqueenfox , @anonymous3spider6lily9 , @hasty-desert , @jokesterreality , @ayachansan , @mouchie , @oceanside-pixie , @paintbrushofanimeuniverse , @lianreine

Door opened. A masked figure entered.

“Oh~ sorry I'm late. I was immersed in conversations with former executives.”

He apologized , however this apology was not enough to calm the five angry men who had been waiting for him for about half an hour, the person who was attending the meeting via a tablet, and the person sitting anxiously.

He quickly took his seat at the head of the long table.

“My dear executives wanted to meet of their own accord, and it has been a week since the monthly meeting. I'm really curious about why we're meeting”

“Tch, stop acting like you don't know. You know the reason very well.” Leona said, clenching his fist nervously.

“Leona-san, please control yourself.” Riddle said.

"The reason we're meeting tonight is 'Y/n'."

A tense atmosphere filled the room at the mention of your name.

“After the monthly meeting, I didn't get a chance to call them because of my schedule, but according to the news I got from you and my subordinates, no one could reach them.” Riddle continued.

“I cleared my schedule to spend this week privately with Y/n. However, when I called them,I could not reach . When I got their home, everything was in its place. Their car was also in front of the house.” Said Vil.

"They hasn't been to the Monstro lounge since the day they came to report the monthly meeting." said Azul, adjusting his glasses.

“Nothing happened to Y/n, right? This has never happened before.” Said Kalim worriedly.

“Idia? Do you have any information?" ' Azul asked.

“Y/n-shii normally visits me every day but they never showed up this week. Like you, I searched for them, but I could not reach . The phone line was turned off a week ago. The cameras I placed in their house suddenly broke down at the meeting night . Not only that, I can't access the footage of all the cameras around the house from the last week, they're all missing." Idia replied.

“Is there anything else? There must be something.” said Riddle.

“There is nothing at the moment. The bank account was likewise closed. Give me some time, I'll definitely find them ." Idia said.

Leona began glancing at Malleus.

“What is it, Kingscholar, is there something on my face?” said Malleus, sipping his tea.

"Nothing . It's just that Y/n last spoke to you before they disappeared. I thought of that.”

"Oh,so you suspect me"

Leona squinted his eyes suspiciously.

"I don't know what happened to dear Y/n or where are they right now either." said Malleus with a grin.

“But eventually I will find them. Besides, if you're going to be suspicious, you should suspect the head of the table first, right boss?"

All eyes were on the masked man sitting at the head of the press.

“Draconia-san is right. Y/n was your assistant and also your so-called right-hand man, so if anything happened to them , you would be the first to know.” said Azul.

“Where is Y/n, Boss?”

The room resounded with a burst of laughter.

“As expected of my executives,although it took a long time for you to arrange this meeting… anyway then I say it, I don’t know where Y/n is, but I do know what happened to them. My beloved bird Y/n left the mafia.”

Silence filled the room at Crowley's words. The silence was broken by Leona's fist hitting the table.

“What nonsense are you saying! Why would Y/n leave the mafia? There was no reason for that.” Leona said.

“R-right why would Y/n leave ? Y/n was very happy here with us.” Said Kalim while trying to not believe.

“Oh you are right. Y/n was happy here, or so we thought. I don't know why my beloved bird wanted to leave either, but who knows, maybe they felt like in danger or just wanted a new ,smoother, quieter life. I dont know ." ' said Crowley, taking a sip of his tea.

Riddle grit his teeth. He had to control himself. He stood up and began to speak.

“Still, although you are the boss, you cannot make such a decision without consulting us. I, Riddle Rosehearts demanding that Y/n L/n be brought back to the organization . My justification is that a former high-ranking person like them poses a great danger to all the secrets of the organization . Please vote on my request right now, boss. While all the executives are present."

“Well then, let's vote as you say. Those who accepts the request to bring the Y/n L/n’s back to the mafia?"

Everyone raised their hands. Crowley grinned.

“Okay, then the decision has been made. I leave the rest to you managers. Please don't go too hard when you bring back my little bird. You know, I love them as much as you do."

[veespee]

Vinnie is *such* a complex character i feel. And he makes me feel very conflicted, but here are some (personal) opinions about him: (kinda an analysis? idk i'm just rambling)

-Firstly, he's the voyeur, although unknowingly. The word “voyeur” has two meanings, the first one is.. we won't talk about it, but the *second* one is: a person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others. Now, i don't really think he actually likes seeing people in pain. Of course, he shows remorse and guilt over the deaths of his close ones, and even people he didn't know that where victims, so why voyeur? Why would HABIT describe him as a “voyeuristic fuck”?

So, i may be getting some lore wrong, and i apologize in advance, but it's revealed that he has led everyone to their deaths, due to his insistence to keep filming and find answers. Also, if i remember right, he had intentionally left out footage that caused him to be seen in a bad light, and it showed that he had led Jeff and Alex to their doom.

-Now, of course for any sane person, why would someone do that? The answer is… well, for answers. That's the word he seems to be infatuated with, ’answers’. And it's made pretty clear. He saw what HABIT was doing, he saw the state Evan was in, and he knew. He was fully aware, he's not stupid, and he knew what he was doing. If Evan wasn't going to do what Vinnie was telling him to, then… he was going to summon HABIT. He was also aware of HABIT's intelligence/experience with the human race, which was good for him, since he was going to get his questions answered.

-Now’s the trick question (for me at least), is Vinnie a horrible person? Well… yes, and no? I mean, he did do horrible things, that much can be said. He led everyone to doom, he purposefully ignored people's wishes (Evan's request for Vinnie not to upload the video about Jesse's grandmother dying), and of course, continuing to record after all of these things happened, despite Jeff's and Evan's wishes. But he feels incredibly guilty. “Sometimes you gotta do stuff that you don't agree with, but that's the price you pay. But you gotta remember, sometimes the price is too steep, and you just can't live with yourself... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry to everyone that I've hurt, to everyone that has died, around me or because of me.” (these are his own words).

I honestly believe he's a very, very flawed character. His goal is answers, and he will do anything to get them. He has the drive to get what he desperately wants, even after being tortured by HABIT. And i feel that HABIT has some respect for him because of that. And of course, his role was set from the start. Everything was calculated, and he was fulfilling his role, “the voyeur”, “the guardian”, whatever it may be. Everything happened for a reason, the God Killer was created, Vinnie's “purpose” was completed. I guess he could be described as a pawn, a follower that was blinded by his desperation for knowledge and control, but fell into the traps of the bigger entities at play.

thank you for reading! i apologize if i got any characteristics wrong, i just wanted to get my thoughts out. and this is very yap-y, so here's a TL;DR:

Vinnie is a complex ass character, who's blinded by his search for control and answers. He's guilty and self loathing, but avoids responsibility. Basically… opinions vary about him, you either love him or hate him.

[butchdiaz]

hiiiii your edits are so incredible!!! i've been thinking about trying my hand at video editing do you have any tips?? also how does one source clips lol

hope you're having a good day :)

hi!!!! thank u so much! for sourcing clips, i did it the hard way by downloading full episodes and screen recording the clips i wanted w quicktime which is a lengthy process that takes up a lot of space on ur laptop LOL but i really wanted HD footage and didnt know any other way when i started and now i just have my own little library of clips.

here is a lifesaving site to download eps if u dont wanna/cant torrent. i forget who made it but if someone knows lmk so i can credit!

after i had done all that i discovered that there were these magical things called scene packs that are more popular over on twitter. where u can easily download every buddie scene in s2-4 for example that took me hours to record myself 🤦🏽‍♂️ i dont really have any specific sources for u bc im not on twitter. sorry ik thats not very helpful LMAO but if u ask around/search for them i know they are out there!

and uhhh as far as tips go here are some things i personally think about while editing! everyone has different styles and methods though:) this got long accidentally so its going under the cut oops

- i like to try and tell a story w my edits so im almost always thinking about that first and foremost. like how can i tie the beginning to the end and have a satisfying climax etc. i try to work with the song and highlight the emotional/tonal shifts in the music with my editing

- on that note, i am very influenced by the music while im editing cause i want my edits to LOOK like how it FEELS when im listening to the song. i think my best example of this is im afraid i love you. the drop in the chorus feels like a punch to the gut everytime and i really wanted to visuals to reflect that so it would be the most powerful. hence: soft lovey dovey looks galore and then BAM! SHOOTING. these comments fills my heart with glee cause it makes me feel like i did a good job capturing the feeling the song gives me.

i also really love the way the beat comes in in the second verse of that song and i made sure to sync up the shots to the beat at that moment instead of the words in order to highlight the musical shift. (i always think about how @ilostyou loves that verse and calls it bouncy, it makes me feel like i achieved my goal!!!!)

- the little details and nitpicky stuff goes a long way! like painstakingly making sure clips hit right on time with the beat/the words if thats ur intention. it may seem like a chore at the time but it definitely pays off for me at least

- i also think a LOT about composition, and how to make edits flow smoothly so that the viewer can follow the story easily. if i have a bunch of faster clips in a row im going to try to make sure the focus stays in the same place so the viewers eyes dont have to jump around to find what they are looking for. its easier to explain w an example so in happy to be here, for these three shots on the word "en-gi-neer" i wanted the order to go frank -> dr salazar -> buck.

because then it goes back to frank for "listening" so i wanted space between when it shows him AND i wanted it to end on buck cause he's the most important. but the original shot of dr. salazar was flipped so at first it looked like this:

and i didn't like how ur eyes had to go back and forth so fast, so i flipped the middle clip. it was much easier to process all three clips in quick succession if the subject didn't move. hope that makes sense!

[kuijoon]

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT PALESTINE, WHERE TO GET NEWS AND WHAT ISREAL HAS DONE

(This is on-going and I will continuously add things as time goes)

also please be careful about what to trust. There is always fake info flying around and with topics like these it’s always difficult to tell

VERY IMPORTANT POST WITH LOTS OF LINKS TO HELP. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT

Thread from Twitter of pro-palestine brands

https://twitter.com/search?q=Isreal%20barcode&src=typed_query

Helping

Spread awareness: go to all your social media accounts and share what’s going on in Gaza. Don’t just share stuff on your main too. Do it everywhere. Tell others in your life about it. Do whatever you can. It may seem like everyone is already informed at first, but really that’s not the case. The NCCM has witnessed a 1000% increase in anti-palestinian and islamophobic incidents. https://www.palestinecentral.ca/resources/ongoing-incidents Isreal is openly admitting that they are committing a genocide. They are calling palestinians “human animals”. This is a crime against humanity and we need everyone to know.

Go to protests: there are TONS of protests happening all around the world. If you find one near you, go there. Every person present counts. Just look at all the protests that have been happening in just one weekend https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQk4CGe89kEnBy05Fqz7IhtJ-H9ENhe-dtFfJ4qdiVTvPnos5sO4KP4IDpFEbXotKqKIJUT4AgNwWF-/pubhtml

Demand immediate ceasefire from your mps: send emails to the political representatives in your area demanding ceasefire. If you live in Canada, please use this link- it automatically sends an email to all mps. https://www.palestinecentral.ca/action-alerts/ceasefire

Boycotting: Boycott companies that support isreal: stop buying products from companies that support isreal. The BNC calls for a targeted boycott. Learn more here: https://bdsmovement.net/get-involved/what-to-boycott also here are some authors who support isreal+some that support palestine https://www.tumblr.com/aphroditesmoon/732598764797313024/to-the-people-who-follow-me-for-my-book-content

Barcodes: Don’t buy products with a barcode that starts with 729/871. This means that the products are from Isreal.

Sign this petition: https://chng.it/hTNxdFYDjp

Donate: since palestine is cut off from the rest of the world as of now, donations cannot immediately help people. HOWEVER, when palestine can connect with the rest of the world again, these funds can help a lot.

Click on this website: if you can’t donate yourself, please visit this website and click once a day on the support Palestine button. With each click the website donates money to support the thing you click for. https://arab.org/click-to-help/palestine/

Buy e-sims and help Palestine get back online: https://www.tumblr.com/stil-lindigo/732649047487299584/quick-reminder-that-besides-calling-for-a

Staying informed

News sites

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eye On Palestine (@eye.on.palestine)

Social media accounts of people from Palestine updating everyone on the situation

Instagram:

eid_yara

byplestia

motazazaizagaza

wael_eldahdouh

alijadallah66

abdallah_alattar1999

mohamed.h.masri

Twitter

MuhammadSmiry

Hind Khoudary

Free e-Books about the isreal/palestine

Stuff Isreal has done

The ten stages of genocide and how isreal checks all boxes https://www.tumblr.com/strangeracrossthestreet/732006087413350400/letstalkpalestine

Isreal harvests organs of Palestinians without their (family’s) consent: https://www.tumblr.com/storiesfromgaza/732651083902697472/hi-everyone-yesterday-i-shared-here-a-series-of

Palestine families were promised safety of their babies but found them all dead when they came back https://www.tumblr.com/sayruq/735269646480097280/tw-death-child-death-mass-murder-corpses

one of the prisoners isreal has released and what “crime” she committed https://www.tumblr.com/opencommunion/734893922512470016/ben-gvir-told-the-cops-to-try-to-prevent-freed

Talking about the apartheid

Apparently making TikTok’s celebrating the genocide in Gaza??? (what the fuck)

Also here’s a video I found showing the situation at the end of october 2023 (around the time I posted this).

And would you look at that. Isreal comes out and says that the hospital where all these people seek shelter is a headquarter of the Hamas.

If there is anything else I can add, please let me know

[andromedasummer]

Hello, I just saw an ask you sent abnerkrill about f1. I'm very new to the sport (I'm on s4 of Drive to Survive and have just begun following the current season), and doing some research into f1 history for a project I'm working on. Do you have any resources on the history of f1? And do you know where I can find the Senna documentary? No pressure to respond, of course, and thanks for sharing your insight in that ask.

Hell yeah I can help! DTS is docudrama which means it will make a storyline outta nothing, so you've probably been given a very warped view of the sport. Which isn't to say it isn't good fun! Its just not helpful to understanding the sport.

I've been into motorsport coming up on 4 years now and I've read/watched a bunch on the history of F1 and motorsport. I'll list some of that stuff here:

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

One: Life On The Limit (documentary)

Free on youtube. Interviews tons of drivers. Got me into the sport. I mean it when i say it interviews a ton of old drivers/important people from multiple eras and paints a real picture of the danger of the sport. Fair warning: it contains footage of fatal crashes and if you find that upsetting I totally understand and won't blame you for skipping it

Lauda (Documentary)

Eveyone should know about Niki. I say this half-ironically. Hes my fav driver so I'm biased but his impact on the sport cannot be overstated. His story, from his championship to his horror crash and full body burns to his next two championships and his fight for driver safety is incredible. He was half of the pair that organized the famous driver strike! Whole grid locked themselves in a bedroom instead of driving to protest the lack of safety!

Rush (Movie)

Again Niki Lauda related, however this is THE motorsport movie. It's very accurate to the battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the championship, along with their friendship. It's great and even non-motorsport enjoyers loved it.

Biographies/Auto-Biographies (Books)

Tons drivers have tons, some have multiple (like Senna or Schumacher) and you can get the more well known ones from the more well known drivers off Z-Lib or annasarchive pretty easy (use a vpn and go to r/piracy and navigate to their masterpost of piracy links. if you dont have a vpn dw they list a really solid free one) you should also be able to find a host for the senna doco through there. I would recommend reading about figures like Prost, Schumacher, Lauda, Hamilton obvs but also non-drivers in the sport like Ross Brawn and Sid Watkins.

Life on The Limit (Books)

Two books by Sid Watkins (doctor who made f1 safe) that were released in tandem with the doco I mentioned and go into great detail about his friendship with past drivers. Really funny at multiple points and then absolutely heartbreaking when it comes to the things he saw and lost during those days. Highly recommend.

My friend Laura who has been watching since infancy also recommends:

- "In general for freebie resources, overtakefans as a site has a Ton of resources and history archived"

- "and if you search for 'F1 season reviews YouTube' you will usually find the short season round ups they used to do that provide you with some basic history and that can be really good if you want to know more about certain eras but don't know where to start."

Silver War (documentary)

It's abt nico and lewis and their lifelong friendship into bitter toxic rivalry into. whatever the fuck it is now. is on youtube, (I personally haven't seen it.)

Grand Prix: The Killer Years (Book)

About the deadly years of F1, I believe. (I haven't read it.)

Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine (Book)

from Laura: "even though it starts WAY WAY WAY before f1 and is probably too heavy for a newbie to handle it is a VERY detailed look at not just Ferrari but early Motorsport in Europe and how that eventually led to the creation of F1 and why Ferrari has always been a presence in it"

The book also touches briefly on fascism in the sport which I will be talking abt under the readmore because I do feel it's an important disclaimer.

So, I put this under a readmore cos it's a bit long. But the one last thing I wanna say is that I think it is important when looking at F1 both in the current day and it's history to discuss the grim realities about why Motorsport is so elitist, and how that has been ingrained since it's founding.

A big thing to know about F1 history is that is was founded by the wealthy, juuust pre (late 1920s) and then post WW2 (paused during the war). It was the wealthy of this era who could afford to buy and race motorcars. From there, it was only those wealthy who could fund and form those teams. It was a rich mans hobby. And unfortunately, more often than not, those very rich men had fascist ideals (which were very, very popular in England and Italy and Europe in general and up until WW2 which made it a more distasteful ideal, although enough people certainly persisted with these beliefs more quietly).

Nazis raced in it. Nazi sympathizers raced in it. Ferrari had to work for Mussolini and Mercedes had to work under Hitler making weapons during the war, some members of these companies more willingly than others. Hell, one of F1s most famous circuits it raced on is the Nurburgring. A massive stretch of track that was made on the orders of Hitler, next to a small town where the small Jewish population had been purged. It was built to show off German Engineering and with the hopes to show off to the rest of the West (they lost against the English in the inaugural race and threw a fucking fit abt it loser fucking nazis).

These echoes of facism and elitism do still exist in european motorsport to this day and, like fascist ideals, have expanded into other continents. I don't think I could name a Brazilian driver who doesn't support Jair Bolsonaro. The Piquets are personal friends with him, Nelson (4 time world champ, prolific racist) drives him around for political rallies. Emmerson Fittipaldi (another old champion, Brazilian) ran as an MP for the Italian fascist party. Bernie Ecclestone (owned the rights to f1 for a WHILE) believes in fucking insane conspiracy theories about Jewish people and described Putin, who he is friends with, as a "good man" on national television when questioned abt the invasion of Ukraine. Max Mosely, who was head of the FIA until the late 2000s, was a youth fascist who handed out handwritten leaflets on "racial inferiority". His parents wedding was attended by Hitler himself. He was the nephew of Oswald Mosely, who was done for treason during the war for his loyalty to the Nazis and belief in Nazism. Max was still in charge when Lewis, the sports first black driver (one of two ever now, out of 70+ years of history), came into the sport. And that's not even going into the morality of some of F1s sponsors (Armco, etc) and the places they race (too long to list)

This is uncomfortable, yes, but it's not often talked about when recounting F1's history. Certainly not in documentaries or books. The creators of which who, frankly, dont even know how to touch on the subject or think it's fine to skip over. But it is a reality of the sport and it does intertwine in an irremovable way with its history, especially when you look at the people who both competed and still do compete. When you look at its current day classism, its racial inequality, sexism, homophobia, ableism etc.

Just because its easier to hide these days through weak statements, a stance of individualism on drivers political views and co-opting of activist language without actual moves towards change, certainly does not mean it isn't there. And while things have absolutely improved in terms of diversity and will hopefully continue to improve with the presence of people like Lewis Hamilton and Susie Wolff, F1 and European motorsport is and was unfortunately, founded in an era of fascism and elitism and it will be a while until those parts of the sport can be removed from its structure.

[cat-vase]

other thing similar to the bryce stuff that i think you may be interested in!

Owen was most likely interrogated by police about Liams disappearance since he was the last one to see Liam before he vanished (BOTH TIMES not counting bryce or the cashier+waiter in ep15), which means there’s the possibility of Owen being wrongly convicted… despite the fact that there may not be much evidence against him.

(same thing goes for Parker regarding Charlotte’s disappearance since he was AT HER HOUSE and had a reason to be mad at her, leading the police to believe he possibly murdered her over the money..?)

Someone pointed out to me once that it was likely Owen who REPORTED Liam missing in the first place! How else would the police know it was LIAM'S bike instead of... literally anyone else's? He probably got cleared of suspicion since there's likely outside security footage of Liam leaving the office alone (and Owen leaving alone, too!) Assumming this because... well. Everything has cameras everywhere nowadays.

But yeah!!! I'm sure he was questioned but since Liam literally disappeared into thin air, they couldn't find anything to convict him? Or anybody else, either? Or anything to use... to figure out where he was? Hence presuming him dead!!! Which sucks for Owen, especially if he finds out about the smokestack incident somehow (and that it happened BEFORE he saw Liam???), but what can you do!

But oh my god Parker. I have so many thoughts about Parker you have no idea. Not a lot of people talk about Charlotte I feel and even then, if they do they DON'T talk about Parker and that is a CRIME.

He saw her disappear in front of his eyes! Mid sentence! There was still dinner cooking in the kitchen and jazz playing on the TV! Wouldn't that send him into some sort of anxious spiral? Or psychotic break? Wouldn't he be unsure if she ever existed or not?

And his job is a brand associate! Wouldn't that make him in the public eye, at least somewhat? If he went crazy people would SEE and KNOW. He might be arrested on suspicion of murder? Or institutionalized? Or go off the grid? Maybe he starts to pay for her place and cover up her disappearance in order to try and investigate it! Maybe he searches every single forum he can online, stringing together other random disappearances of this nature whether or not they're actually connected! Maybe he takes something of hers to convince himself that yes, she WAS real! He can't tell anyone else in his friend group about this, of course. They'll think he did something to her, and he would never. He just wanted her to be okay. Is she okay, wherever she is? He hopes she's okay. He just wants her to come back. He's not mad about the money anymore. He's sorry he yelled. Please just come back. One day she has to, right? In the same manner she disappeared? He can't get rid of her place now, what if she came back and he wasn't there?

Maybe he posts incomprehensible ramblings on a website he makes in order to make sure he doesn't lose them, but also so he can stay anonymous. He goes on outings for days searching and never turns up any leads, of course. In the beginning his friends try to interact with him; they fear for his safety, he's so JUMPY, and he has an accident and falls in one of the caves they've been to a thousand times. He just gets more closed off after that. He becomes more and more like the person he's trying to find: No, he's FINE, he can find her on his OWN, he doesn't NEED help, he's perfectly fine and sane.

And maybe, if he's not locked up somewhere or done something to hurt himself, maybe he DOES see her come back someday. She's in a worse state than she left in.

But that's a whole different can of worms.

[gadunkie]

spiderverse 2 sucked shit and was performative twitter.com fuckery. hi reddit in this rant Im going to talk about why I think the second spiderverse movie gave me a queasy uneasy feeling after I left the theater. spoiler warning and all that.

Ive been seeing a lot of praise for this movie lately and a lot of fan stuff and while that is cool I think spiderverse 2 really doesnt deserve it. to me it feels like baffling performative bullshit where they checked off certain "woke" categories and forgot about everything else. Im bad at formulating rant posts so Im just gonna randomly bring up my feelings on certain things.

ok so first of all the number one thing that pissed me off was the in-movie dialogue of people telling miles, the first black spider-man, that he was never supposed to be spider-man in the first place. that is incredibly tone deaf, especially when the first movie's message was that anyone could be a hero, regardless of who you are. you could argue that this story beat is used to reinforce that message being that miles' reaction to that line is rejection and finding his own way to become spider-man after all. but thats stupid because, again, anyone could be a hero no matter what, even if theyre not supposed to be 'canonically' a spider-man. what this tells me is that theyre going for the same fucking message, again, but this time its padded out in 2 movies rather than the one that weve already seen.

second, and this one was much more brief, there was a disabled spider-man amidst the roster of the multiverse spider-mans whose only line of dialogue was making fun of their own disability. thats some travis mcelroy bullshit, I thought we were past the point of making disabled character's only personality being their disability. to me that was also incredibly tone deaf and just completely unneeded.

third, there was an Indian spider-man by the name Pavitr Prabhakar whose only personality was that he was Indian. of course theres nothing wrong with Indian culture or just being an Indian person, but to me its like if they had a Japanese spider-man and made them only talk about katanas and sushi. theres no way that indian people act like that and constantly boost about their own nation, it just rubs me the wrong way and makes them feel less human.

fourth, that "gwen is trans" shit is utter queerbait, I cant believe anyone is fucking falling for this shit. it literally infuriates me that I see fellow queer people look at the most basic off to the side decoration in a room / police officer's uniform and jump to the conclusion that what we are seeing is trans representation. like sure she could be trans! but it can also be read as her just being an ally, same with her father. "what ally has a trans flag in there room?" are you fucking kidding me? like are you being serious? hey heres famous content creator Ludwig, who is cis and has a trans flag in his room:

fucking anyone, literally anyone could have trans iconography anywhere in their house regardless of their gender. side bonus, heres how you can have a real confirmed trans character in your art without it being bait! - have them taking transition medication in a scene - have them wear gender affirming clothing, like chest binders - have them tell another character that theyre trans - have them literally look into the camera and say "Im trans." crazy how easy it is to do all of these things and yet gwen did none of it! dont fucking search for crumbs and pretend that its a feast.

fifth, theres a character called spider-punk who goes by Hobie and his entire character is being a punk and making fun of The Establishment™ and Capitalism™. I thought he was dumb because it just reminded me that anti-capitalism is just a form of entertainment now and not a real message to start a change.

sixth, there was so much fucking nostalgia pandering and repetitive dialogue. there were many scenes showing footage of older movies, cartoons, or real life actors that were only there to be pointed at the screen by audiences. next, the dialogue was so expository that any time miles' parents were on screen they would only talk about miles and how worried they were about him. I swear to god that 70% of spider-man 2099s dialogue was about his disturbed past and wanting to capture miles. at several times throughout the movie I thought "ok I get it" and hoped that were was something new to be seen in the next 5 minutes, which wasnt the case most of the time.

seventh, evil miles was fucking stupid. you cant just reveal such an easy counterpart villain and expect me to believe that he has any bearing on the story whatsoever. that shit was so laughably bad that I can easily imagine him getting defeated in the same old hero vs villain shit in the next movie. here let me have some fun and say that miles is going to do the most predictable "Im going to fix you to become good" trope only for evil miles to deny it and fuck off forever in some weird way.

anyway this post is already too fucking long so Im just gonna add personal peeves onto it because Im on a roll. I had a hard time paying attention to several fight scenes because they were mixing with too many visual styles, like the vulture scene at the beginning of the movie was too disorienting for me. I think there shouldve been subtitles, sometimes characters were inaudible for me and the audio mixing during some scenes didnt help either, unless there was a slow moment in the film I just couldnt understand what the characters were saying.

I thought the movie sucked so bad that what they got right in certain aspects (cast diversity, parent and child struggles, etc.) felt like nothing to me after how they treated the parts that Ive listed. its like they fucking checked off a Progressive Bingo Sheet and left everything else in the dust.

I left the theater disappointed and feeling worthless because all I felt was that these movies were just trying to sell me something and didnt push for a change like the first one did. what a fucking shit show.

conclusions. if you liked the movie, awesome Im glad, and you should decide for yourself how you feel about it and what it means to you. Im simply just putting my frustrations into a little text post because that is how I feel. Im not in charge of your enjoyment and you should decide that on your own regardless of my opinions. be responsible with your enjoyment.

but I wont, if you try to argue with me on any of these topics then Im blocking you forever and if you dare type "let people enjoy things" on my post then Im killing you,

[cipheramnesia]

I watched my first horror movie tonight since i was a teenager in the 90's. Back then i mostly giggled through Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer with friends. Then life happened and i sort-of stopped watching things in general. Anyway, I'm now finding myself on months of bedrest and am watching things to pass the time and decided I'd watch a movie tonight and picked horror just to see if i even like horror. I caught The Pope's Exorcist and actually really enjoyed it, which is delightful! It kept me on the edge of my seat and in suspense and i know my heart was racing at times. So I figure enjoying that one gives me a starting point in the genre, and i was wondering if you might be able to suggest others based off my liking that one? I picked it based off rotton tomato critic and audience ratings. Not because i care heavily about such things, but it made it a logical place to start of what's new. I'm not catholic so i don't care about religion based horror but I'm not opposed to it. I don't like jumpscares. Learned that from Sixth Sense and 12 years on tumblr. Oh! I've also recently seen Renfield, though none of the dracula movies that follow the books. I don't really count Renfield as horror in this regard because it's comedy horror and more funny than scary. Kind of like how i found 90's horror. Though that might have been just as much me being a punk ass kid trying to look brave with my friends. Who knows. It was a long time ago. Anyway, do you have any suggestions? Old or new doesn't matter. I'm bored and mostly stuck in bed. Thank you for your time!

I haven't seen The Pope's Exorcist so I had to search it up - exorcism movies don't do a lot for me, but The Taking of Deborah Logan and Daniel Isn't Real are perennial recommendations which I think would sync up with possession movies. Deborah Logan is kind of divisive with how it treats Alzheimer's and dementia - for me it resonated with my experiences and felt like a sensitive exploration of the topic for horror, but it can also reas the opposite way.

Hellbender and The Deeper You Dig are some fantastic work by a team of independent filmmakers who are also a family. They all act and direct and write together in upstate New York and have astonishing talent. A magnificent illustration of why seeking work by independent artists is such a good idea.

I just watched Ghost Crew, a weird little low budget Scottish movie that I won't say too much about except that it starts out as slightly cringe-comedy faux documentary and grows into a lot more. Zombie For Sale is an adorable Korean romantic comedy zombie movie I had a fun time watching. The Dark (2018) also very intriguing movie, basically victims of abuse getting revenge but one of them is a revenant.

Jamie Marks Is Dead is a queer ghost story that made me cry, everyone should watch it. Also in the sweet romantic category is Attachement, a Jewish and queer horror. It's written and directed by a Jewish person and to my experience felt very true to life. My personal reading of it was a kind of metaphor about how Judaism can be carried forward in different ways everywhere from generational to academically to people who convert. It's another one that I think could be read different, but the positive reading works better for me.

A Wounded Fawn is just bonkers surreal, I can't describe it exactly but it's about a serial killer who gets in deep with some very hallucinatory shit. Related, but Vicious Fun is exactly what it says on the tin. Very fun silly stuff. He's Watching is imho one of the most terrifying found footage movies ever. All found footage movies use a lot of pretty common and consistent tricks of limited light and limited perspective, but He's Watching fucks with the sense of reality by constantly obfuscating who or what is recording, where the line between real and film is blurred.

Babysitter Wanted is also a fun twist on the satanic panic trope. Also similar in that vein, Anything For Jackson is pretty neat. And while I'm thinking about Shudder, The Mortuary Collection is pure spooky fun, a delightful anthology movie with Clancy Brown getting to chew up some scenery. Also for the movie that has everything, Saloum. It's a kind of revenge crossed with magic crossed with evil spirits centered around a bad ass team of mercenaries for hire.

Also check out my horror movie tag.

[hourcat]

hey I was reading your obj/Eli stuff (I know it’s been years) and I was wondering a couple things…

how did u get into them?

how do you write a ship when no one else is - like what motivates u?

how do u feel about them now??

I want to say okay they are amazingly written etc the characterization GOD keebevh but personally I always feel bittersweet when in a small ship fandom and quite sad when there are no longer any works for years. and gosh I shipppp it so much

oh my god. my love. hello!!! i literally did not even realize people still ventured back in n the nfl rpf archives to see yingyang!verse 🥺🥺 im so touched 🫶 and am so so happy to answer ur questions!!!! i woke up earlier than normal, checked my inbox n read this ask, and could not stop thinking abt it when i tried to go back to sleep, lol. so i'll put em under a read more bc i get the feeling im gonna be rambly

how did u get into them?

by watching the games, honestly. LOL. i always enjoyed their relationship on the field (eli threw more touchdowns to odell than anyone else in his sixteen year career, which is an insane fact considering they only played together for like....five of those years) and as a giants fan obviously i was like “YES I WANT FIVE MORE OF THOSE LITTLE BLONDE BITCHES” because it was so, so fun to watch them.

but what drove me to shipping them romantically was a moment i first caught after the giants/dolphins game in 2015. the giants won (something they RARELY do, especially during the O years) and like always, at the end of the broadcast, the camera kind of meanders around the field to catch some post-game shots. and i saw eli and odell huddled real close together. i couldn’t figure out what they were doing but i knew it was kind of sus u know. upon further investigation (aka me desperately searching youtube for game footage) i found it.

this.

and that’s where it really started. QBs always have really intimate relationships with their WRs when they’ve got good on-field chemistry and these two were truly, truly no exception.

how do you write a ship when no one else is - like what motivates u?

honestly i would say it was hard but tbh? it wasn’t hard at all. when you love a pairing enough and you SEE what they are enough, it’s easy to write because it’s all you think about. you know? i had a good little mini-circle around me about them which helped me generate the ideas, and i have always craved attention and validation so of course i was gonna post it to ao3 even if no one else cared. i wrote SO much more than the yyverse content up there, too, but i was terribly afraid of the way i’d put eli/odell on the filters section singlehandedly so i stopped lol. it all went to my e/o fic library archive on here (@eoverse).

it also made it so much better when people who DIDN’T care about them suddenly did because of my fics?? which was SUCH motivation, too. being the one to open someone’s eyes like that is a special privilege imo. it’s power but in like...a tender kind of way. like holding someone’s hand and bringing them into the light. i was so addicted to that feeling.

how do u feel about them now??

oh, they devastate me. for a while i was so mad at odell after he got traded because it felt like he left me (and eli, ESPECIALLY, considering the fact that eli didn’t even know he got traded until ESPN announced it like he rest of us. dave gettleman i am in your fucking walls) and it kind of ended on a sour note. they didn’t talk to each other for a while. they never won anything substantial together which just felt like a deeper knife to the gut.

and then i moved on. and discovered that eli is actually rearranging the guts of the quarterback who replaced him after retirement (the elidj agenda is real and insane and you should not ask me about it because i have written, if possible, MORE about them than i did e/o) and for a while, kind of forgot. but my love for eli/odell never really faded, i don’t think. it’s nostalgia. i miss when odell was young. i miss when eli played. i miss how they hugged every pre-game, i miss how they would bump helmets tenderly after every touchdown, i miss the weird little sus quotes like “take me home, 10″ because who says that. who.

and now with odell potentially interested in coming back to the giants after all these years i’m like....this is going to be like tearing open an old wound, huh. they were my whole heart for so long. they are my BABIES. they are the first fics i wrote that truly, truly meant something real to me. so i think i still love them. not the same way, of course, but like...is it ever the same after a tragedy like they had?

oh my god i’m so sorry i wrote you an essay you were just being nice and asking questions about yyverse THANK YOU FOR BEING INTERESTED AND READING I LOVE YOU

[marksarmel]

What I've been Consuming - 01/31/24

Welcome back to a new year of What I’ve Been Consuming! Now, slide out of those DMs and into your comfiest Snuggie and drown in the soft glow of your picture box.

MOVIES:

Rebel Moon Pt.1 - You know when you meet a really attractive person and you get a date with them and then they start talking, like really talking and then you find out they’re completely empty inside. This movie is like that. Zack Snyder can make a beautiful movie, but it just has no heart. There’s some cool stuff here, but it just doesn’t have anything that really makes me feel hopeful for the characters. Snyder needs a writing partner that can flesh out all the parts he just races by. This is a perfect background movie, which is not a good thing.

Godzilla Minus One - Whooo baby is this some fantastic giant kaiju moviemaking. This movie can feel a bit slow, but it all pays off in the end. This movie perfectly mixes modern effects, while still nodding to Godzilla’s original look and feel. Watch how he moves, it’s a bit clunky like the original rubber suit, it’s intentional and it works. The characters all give great performances and the time we spend with them makes their stories all the more compelling. There are some truly beautiful shots of destruction here and when Godzilla shows up he is just awe inspiring. See this however you can, and on the biggest screen you can.

Skinamarink - Super weird and creepy and filled with slow mounting dread. This is no ordinary horror movie or even an ordinary movie. Two children awaken in their home that has no doors or windows and their parents seem to be missing. It’s filmed in a sort of lost footage style with very little dialogue. This feels like an art house film and takes some endurance to get through it. Is it worth it? I’m not sure, but it stuck with me for days after viewing it. As I said earlier, this is no ordinary movie. If you decide to watch it, turn out all the lights and let yourself get lost in this creepy world.

TV: 

Scavenger’s Reign - Boy oh boy is this fantastic! The planet! The people! The weirdness! I know that’s a lot of exclamation points, but it’s all true. This is just so out there and so full of magical wonder. I feel like a bunch of amazing people got in a room and just said, “what if the planet did this…” over and over again. The planet is the main character here and it is relentlessly surprising. Watch it and then rewatch it again. Available on HBO Max.

Blue Eyed Samurai - All action with a great story and some great voice acting. Oh, and the animation is absolutely top notch. This is so great you might want to binge it, but I implore you to slow down and savor it. It’s worth it. I really can’t say enough good things about this series so I’ll just stop talking. Available on Netflix.

MUSIC:

Olivia Rodrigo - Guts - I love this album and I don’t care who knows! It’s full of glorious tunes that bring back all the good high school feels. Even the sad feels are welcome here as sometimes it’s fun to remember all the things that seemed so serious back then, but really weren’t that bad. Just put this album on and enjoy!

COMICS:

Omac - Story and art by John Byrne - I spend a lot of time digging around used bookstores to see what the mom’s of comic collectors have dumped there. I come across a lot of crap, but I also stumble across some hidden gems. I’m not a super big DC fan and Omac is not a character I’m too familiar with, but I love me some John Byrne. When I found all four parts of this 1991 series together I snapped it up right away and I’m happy I did. The art is b+w with a heavy use of halftones throughout. Byrne is as fluid as ever here and the story

Speaking of John Byrne I’m slowly picking up his 28 issue run on Alpha Flight. I’m probably 80 percent there and I’m loving every minute of the digging through crates, searching Ebay and of course the reading. It’s just good clean fun.

Alright that’s all for now. Trying to get into a rhythm with these things so look for one next month.

[rickgrimesdoingrickthings]

"It's okay. I won't force you to go. I'm sure they won't just throw you back at your family if they've been hurting you. It's all good, I've got this, alright?" Rick said, his voice mostly calm, with a trace of anxiety. By what Armand had said, it seemed other families had harmed him as well. "You can report all the names...of everyone who hurt you, alright? I can inform the chief, we can open an investigation, meanwhile, we can keep you safe. I'm not sure if they will try to send you to foster care again, but...I....I won't let them send you back to people who are abusing you, hear me?" The officer seemed so serious, his voice getting slightly harsh when he mentioned "abusers", almost as if Rick had a personal grudge. "Let's just focus on returning this stuff back, we close the shop then go talk somewhere else. We have time, social service opens just by the morning. Richard lowered his guard, crouched near Armand, helping him take the items from the bag. "By what I was informed, you're almost 18, right? You need just a few months so you can be on your own. Hang in there...don't crazy stuff like this..." He actually seemed worried. "It's like I said...we can....I can help you find your family, we can try, so at least you'll have an address to go. By what you told me...your life must be awful right now...but...still ain't worth getting a criminal record...specially at your age." Rick used his flashlight to illuminate the dark shop, trying to return the items to appropriate places, intending to make the boy's breaking in go unnoticed. "Good. Now we just have to lock the place up- you didn't break the locker, ri-" He froze. There was a small camera inside the shop, pointing at them. "Must be....new. Old Harry didn't have any cameras last week." Rick facepalmed, but then, determined eyes started look around. He wouldn't quit that easily. He searched for some tools, walked to the camera, rested on the floor, flashlight in his mouth, examining the wires under the counter. "Mngh...well fu....ck...." The cop muttered shyly the bad word, slowly messing with the wires, turning the camera off, opening the box where the recording tape kept stored. Rick looked at Armand briefly, gave him a look. "You don't tell anyone this." Then back to work, he took a pencil from the counter, rewinding the recording tape backwards so the new footage would erase the night. He was sweating a bit. Once done, he connected the wires, turned the camera so it would face the other side of the store, a subtle angle away, then turned it on again. "Well crap. Done." He would go far to clean it up for that kid. If Rick wasn't an optimistic, none of that would have worked. Placing the remaining objects in place, he walked outside the shop, closing it's door shut, locking it, eyes alert to see if anyone was around- but no, the streets were pretty much empty. "Okay. Keep this between us..." The man sighed, resting his hands on his own sides. "Where do you wanna talk? I don't think you want to go to the police station now, maybe let's stop by to eat something, what do you say? It's on me."

@armandlucienduval

Closed Rp with: @rickgrimesdoingrickthings and @armandlucienduval

[uvobreakmylegs]

Detour

I’m excited that it’s fall but i’m also sad that i won’t be able to swim anymore

Warnings: death, graphic depictions of violence, creepy behavior, groping, mentions of smut, kidnapping

The two guys at the gas station check out counter had been there when Phinks had first walked through the sliding glass doors, and they were still there when he approached the check out himself, having only dropped in to grab another pack of beer. The gas station clerk seemed annoyed while the two guys were pulling their pockets inside out, evidently in search of any spare change that may have been hiding on their persons. There was a sad pile of jenny and some change sitting in front of the clerk while she waited for them impatiently, and she seemed ready to push all of the money back towards them as it became more and more likely that these two didn't have enough cash for the assortment of alcohol and junk food that also sat on the counter.

Any other time Phinks would've been annoyed by the situation. But seeing as he didn't have anywhere to be, he found that he didn't really care all that much. The troupe likely wouldn't meet back up for some time which left his schedule quite open, and he had found it difficult to find something to occupy his time with while he waited for the boss to bring everyone together again.

Phinks had decided that a road trip was a decent way to pass the time. It was something he'd never really done before and so far it was easing his boredom as he had hoped it would. There was no real time limit he had set on himself or any destination that he had in mind. He'd just keep doing whatever he felt like until the novelty of the trip wore off and then go home.

“Would you like to take a few items off?”

The tired voice of the clerk cut through his thoughts, and Phinks found that there had been no progress with the two in front of him.

“No no, we need all of it,” one of the men, a redhead, insisted, “we just, uh....”

Trailing off, the man glanced over to Phinks, who was still waiting with his single pack of beer. Then the man looked over to his companion and then back to the items on the counter.

Phinks could already sense what the man was going to ask of him before he spoke out.

“Hey man,” the guy said to Phinks, “I know it sounds bad, but do you think you could spot me on this? I'm bringing this stuff back for my party. We ran out of some stuff way quicker than we expected. Can't let people down, y'know?”

The redhead started telling him how much more they needed until the clerk interrupted him to tell him off for harassing other customers for money. A mini argument started between the two, with the man insisting that he wasn't harassing anyone and the clerk disagreeing with him. The man's friend joined in shortly after and it was quickly turning into a mess.

What obnoxious fucking people.

If he was in more of a bad mood he'd have probably snapped the necks of all of them. The presence of cameras stopped him from doing that, however, as it would just be too much of a pain to go to the back and destroy the footage after. Still, even though he didn't have anywhere to be, it didn't mean that he wanted to waste his time listening to people bicker. The easiest way out of this was to just give them the jenny so they'd all shut up.

After pulling out his wallet, Phinks slid the jenny across the counter.

That shut the three of them up, and the two men were quick to express their gratitude while the clerk just looked tired.

“Thank you so, so much, man,” the redhead continued after they collected their bagged items.

“Mm-hm.”

Phinks was only half-paying attention to him as he waited for the clerk to scan the beer so he could hand her the jenny owed. That transaction went much quicker and Phinks was soon making his way to the exit.

The two men seemed to be waiting on him, though.

“Hey, since you helped us out, you wanna come to my party?” the redhead asked.

Normally his automatic response would've been to give him a flat “no”. But in this instance Phinks just shrugged.

That seemed to give the redhead hope, and he began listing the reasons why Phinks should follow them back, like his “cool house”, hot women and great beer.

Given the especially cheap brand of beer Phinks had largely paid for, he had a hard time believing that last point. He also wasn't quite sure why this guy was so insistent on getting him to come along. Was it really just because Phinks had bothered to help them out?

“Name's Stu by the way. Back there is Billy,” the redhead told him, sticking out his arm to shake hands. When Phinks didn't do the same, Stu seemed a bit dejected, yet even that didn't make him back down from inviting Phinks.

“So how 'bout it, man? You wanna come?”

“.... I'll think about it,” he told him.

“Okay, but do it fast man. My place isn't that far from here.”

Phinks nodded, and Stu ran off to the car where his friend was waiting. The other guy didn't seem as keen on Phinks as the redhead had, regarding the blonde with suspicion. Phinks could hear him saying something as the two entered the car. Stu seemed to brush him off, and then their car doors closed and Phinks couldn't hear anything else.

The two ended up pulling out of the parking lot before he did, and Phinks found himself following them as they all made the same turn onto the highway.

He still had no real urge to go to some random guy's party, especially when he found him to be pretty annoying. And if it was a party filled with the friends of someone like that, he'd probably get irritated with all of them pretty quick. Better to just ignore them and be on his way.

Although the thought of just driving aimlessly through the night wasn't all that attractive, either. He'd done that several times now, and the feeling of being the only person in the world while he drove on the empty highway had lost its touch by now.

The car in front of him veered off the highway to get onto a side road.

After a few seconds, Phinks did the same, just thinking to himself 'why not?'. It would be something different, a little detour on a trip that was meant to be a distraction, and if it ended up being something that he didn't want to bother with, then he could just leave.

Although the noise level in the house wasn't quiet, it was nowhere near ear-shatteringly loud as Phinks may have expected. At least it had that in it's favor. Other than that, it was a stereotypical frat house party, with everyone talking and drinking as they got more and more shitfaced.

The two who brought him here vanished into the kitchen, and Phinks began to make his way around the house, sipping one of the cans of beer he had bought for himself since he had no interest in the shit the host had him pay for. A girl in one of the upstairs rooms noticed the beer in his hand and begged him to share with her, even going as far as to tug on the sleeve of his jacket when he told her no. He ended up pushing her away, and though he had tried to use as little force as possible, his strength combined with her tipsiness caused her to stumble back into a wall. She was still whining about him when he walked back down the stairs, going on about how mean he was.

He thought he'd been pretty nice to her, all things considered.

It didn't take long for Phinks to lose interest in this particular distraction. Not that he'd been expecting much, but after going around the house and not even seeing anything that might be worth stealing, he figured it'd be best to leave soon. With his short temper being one of his vices, he didn't want to deal with what would happen if some drunk got on his nerves and he smashed them into the wall.

With the sights, sounds and smells became grating to him and seeing no reason to stay any longer, Phinks went about trying to find an exit. Attempting to get out the same way he came in was put to a stop when he saw how congested the front entrance had become. He could've easily pushed past all of them, but since that would likely draw a fair amount of attention, maybe it'd be a better idea to find a different way out. Phinks wandered into the kitchen, walking by Stu who tried to talk to him. A patio door leading to the backyard caught his eye and he ignored the party's host as he walked by several people to get to it.

The cool air outside felt refreshing and he let out a soft sigh as the patio door slowly swung closed. Claustrophobia generally wasn't something he had an issue with, but that seemed to change a little when he was faced with a house full of drunken strangers who didn't understand the meaning of personal space. Another nice thing was the fact that no one else seemed to be out here. He didn't think it was that cold out, but it worked just fine if the people inside thought otherwise.

He stood on a deck with an assortment of patio furniture that sat in front of an in ground pool, and when he looked to the side, he saw the gate within the fencing that surrounded the backyard.

That was his way out, then.

With no more reason to stick around, he was about to head out and back to his car-

But he paused when he heard the sound of splashing water, and he looked back to the pool.

So he wasn't the only person out here.

Some of the patio furniture had blocked you from his sight so he hadn't noticed you at first, but you were now swimming out into the center of the pool and impossible to miss. It was pretty late in the year for swimming, wasn't it? Yet you seemed to be content with yourself despite the temperature and lack of company, swimming around the pool like you owned it. Maybe you did; he wasn't sure what your relation was to the party host.

Then your eyes met, and you smiled as you greeted him.

“Hello.”

“... Hey.”

He hadn't come out to look for company. He was looking to leave.

Yet something about this situation, about you, intrigued him, and Phinks walked forward, continuing with “isn't it a little late in the season for swimming?”

“That's what everyone seems to think,” you said, “it's going to be drained tomorrow, so I wanted to swim one more time before that. It's the last chance I'll get for this year.”

“No public pools around here?” he asked.

“I don't really like public pools,” you told him, laughing a little bit as you continued “the ones around here are never clean, and I don't wanna swim around in nasty water.”

Phinks couldn't say if he really had an opinion one way or the other. He tried to avoid situations where he'd need to be shirtless in public, as the spider with the number 5 on his ribs would've been a dead giveaway for anyone who understood it's meaning. He just shrugged at you as he said “fair enough.”

Phinks now stood at the edge of the pool while you swam up to the edge.

“I don't think I've seen you before. You new around here?” you asked him.

“No. Just passing through. Helped out the host at the gas station and he invited me as thanks,” Phinks explained, “I was expecting this to be taking place at some shitty apartment; didn't think a guy like that owned a house.”

“He doesn't, it belongs to his older brother Jed. Stu just lives with him,” you responded.

“Ah.”

That made a bit more sense to him. Since he hadn't been able to buy beer from a gas station on his own, it didn't seem likely that the guy would've had his own house. So he was just leeching off of his brother.

Despite being ready to leave just minutes earlier, he found that he now had a reason to want to stay here longer. But standing and talking to you was getting a little awkward, so Phinks sat himself down on the concrete next to the pool. So far you weren't annoying compared to some of the others. And despite being by yourself beforehand, you seemed pretty open to talking with him, resting your arms on the edge of the pool.

“You friends with them, then?”

“Jed is in a few of my classes, so I'm friends with him. Not Stu, though. He's kind of an asshole. Likes to play a lot of stupid pranks.”

You rested your chin in your hand as you thought back.

“He's destroyed two of my phones so far, both times by dumping water on me,” you said, “although I guess he did repay me for both, but it's still such a hassle to go through.”

“You're nicer than I am. If some guy like that fucked up my phone I'd kill him.”

You laughed at him, not taking his words seriously.

“You seem nice enough. You helped him out, right?”

“Only because it was the fastest way to get outta there. Stupid bastard started an argument with the clerk.”

“Yeah. That sounds like something he'd do,” you said, tiredness lacing your voice.

A cheer then sounded from inside the house, and though the doors and windows were closed, it was loud enough that the both of you could hear it from outside.

“Things must be ramping up in there,” you commented.

“Guess so,” Phinks said, taking a swig of his drink after.

“Isn't it kinda weird that you're keeping to yourself with an event like this? Don't see the point in going out if you're going to avoid people,” he added.

“But isn't that what you're doing by coming out here?” you asked.

“Nah, I was getting ready to leave.”

“What stopped you?”

“I haven't done much out here beside sitting here talking to you. What do you think?”

You seemed a bit taken aback and a little embarrassed as you realized the reason, but gave him a small smile.

“Oh wow. Are you saying I managed to be charming enough to keep a guy from leaving?” you asked him.

“No. You're just not as annoying as the others I've met tonight.”

Your expression was rather blank as you took in that information.

“..... I'll take that as a compliment, then,” you said, “so what do you do?”

“What do I do?”

“For a job, or just anything in general.”

“I do a couple odd jobs here and there, I guess,” he answered, “every once in a while a bigger opportunity comes up, and I just do whatever I need to.”

It was an oversimplification of his criminal activities, and he hoped that he'd been vague enough without sounding suspicious.

It appeared that he had as you didn't seem to think it was strange.

“You mentioned earlier that you were just passing through. Are you on your way to a job or something?”

“Nah. I'm currently off-duty. And I had a lot of time to kill, so I decided to take a road trip.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” you said, “I work on campus, so I don't really get to do vacations for now. Can't remember the last time I went on one.”

“Job at least worth it?”

“Kind of? Although the other week I needed to go through something stupid.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I got screamed at by a lady.”

Your tone made it seem like that was something happened on a regular basis.

“For what?” he asked.

“Something with her daughter's textbooks. She ordered one that she didn't need on accident but didn't want to admit that she made a mistake, so she just let her mother yell at me for forty minutes and claim that we were the ones who fucked up.”

You sighed a little after the explanation. Evidently that situation still made you frustrated.

“.... Did she apologize after?” Phinks asked.

With a slightly wistful smile, you shook your head as you said “people like that don't apologize.”

“Sounds rough.”

It went without saying that Phinks wouldn't have tolerated anything like that. If it had been him he'd have killed them both and tossed their bodies in the trash. But he kept that rather violent thought to himself.

“Sorry you needed to deal with that,” he added.

“It's okay. It's little things that keep you going,” you said, “I've been looking forward to swimming for a while, so I'm pretty happy right now. Although I guess I'm kinda doing a job right now.”

“How so?”

“Jed's at his job right now, and since he doesn't trust Stu, he asked me to make sure nothing happens to the pool. The last time Stu had a party there was a bunch of trash in it the next morning, and it was a pain to clean up. So in exchange for using the pool, I have full permission to snitch on anyone who tosses anything.”

“Yeah? What's snitching gonna do?”

“Jed's a scary guy. Nobody wants to make him mad.”

If Phinks had felt like being more of an asshole, and if you'd been unpleasant during your conversation with him, he probably would've taken his half-finished beer can and thrown it into the pool just to upset you and also to see if your friend was as scary as you were making him out to be.

But so far he'd been enjoying himself, so as fun as that thought might have been, he decided against it.

You pulled one of your arms off of the rim and back into the water. Evidently you were getting cold, but you held on to the edge to continue speaking to him.

“So how long have you been on your trip?” you asked.

“A few weeks.”

“A few weeks? You must have been all over the place, then. Did you go anywhere in particular?”

“Not really,” Phinks answered, “didn't have any real plan when I set out. Just drove to wherever I thought would be interesting.”

“That's kinda cool,” you said, “must be nice to be able to go wherever you want without any real plan.”

“You can't?”

“Nope. Classes and work means I can't just run off whenever I feel like it.”

“Too busy getting screamed at?” he asked jokingly.

“Yeah, something like that,” you answered, laughing a little after.

You pulled your other arm back underwater and just kept a hand on the side of the wall.

“Cold?” he asked.

“A little.”

“Probably why most people aren't swimming this late.”

“I don't care; it's worth it,” you said, “honestly, the thought of being able to swim was what kept me going this week.”

That.... Was a little bit sad, Phinks thought to himself. That all you had to look forward to at the end of the week was a few hours to swim by yourself in the cold. There were much sadder circumstances in the world – he was certain that anyone from Meteor City would be more than happy to switch places with you – but your life must have felt empty. Although Phinks was technically in the same boat at the moment, at least being with the troupe gave him purpose. What did you have besides a shitty job and presumably a fair amount of college debt? Just the 'little things' to keep you going?

Maybe he was presuming too much; he'd only just met you after all. But it bothered him regardless.

“What are your plans for after college?” he asked.

You seemed a bit startled, and you looked away from him for the first time.

“Not really sure, actually. I'm still undecided on my major,” you admitted, “I need to figure out soon, though. I'm going to run out of the basic coursework that I need to get through, and my family is getting mad that I haven't made a decision yet.”

So you didn't have any direction and were being pressured by others. Still not the saddest circumstance ever, but if it had been him, Phinks was certain he'd have been miserable.

You clearly didn't want to keep going on about that particular subject, as you began to ask him questions about his trip, wanting to know where exactly he had been so far and how much longer he planned to drive for. The change in topics was obvious, but he decided to go along with it.

As the night grew darker while the two of you talked, he decided that he liked you. You could hold a decent conversation, even if the things you two talked about weren't all that meaningful.

You were pretty cute, too.

The party behind him still seemed to be going strong, but it was largely going ignored by you both, in part by the fact that you were still the only ones outside.

Your face lit up as a thought came to mind.

“You should come in!” you told him.

“No thanks.”

“Come on! It's really nice!”

You grabbed at his free hand, tugging on his arm lightly as you tried to encourage him to get into the pool.

“If you get my suit wet I'll drown you,” Phinks said told you.

You giggled, once more not taking him seriously. Though he was only half-serious about it at this point.

“Then take it off and come in,” you insisted.

“I don't have a swimsuit.”

“That doesn't stop most people.

“Good to know,” he said flatly.

Though you'd stopped tugging on his arm, both of your hands remained on his wrist as you looked up at him.

“Can you not swim?” you asked.

“I can swim fine,” he said, “I just don't feel like it right now.”

You seemed a bit disappointed, but you had yet to let go of his wrist.

“Should you really be that surprised with the temperature being what it is?” he asked you.

“It isn't that bad. And the pool is heated,” you insisted, “didn't think a bit of chill would scare off the most interesting person at this party, though.”

The corner of his lips curled a bit at that. He wasn't one for meaningless flattery, but he didn't mind hearing you say things like that.

“Is that why you're not letting go of me?”

“You don't seem to be doing much to shake me off.”

“I could if I wanted to.”

“So you don't want to?”

You were teasing him. And while he could tease you back, he went for a different approach.

He yanked his wrist out of your grip and grabbed your own wrist just as fast, and lifted you up until you were eye level with him. To say you were flustered by the action would've been an understatement, and your free hand grasped at the arm that held you up to lessen the weight on the arm that he had trapped.

With you partially out of the water, Phinks allowed his eyes to travel over your form, following the trails of water that dripped down your skin and imagining exactly what you looked like under that swimsuit. His grin got wider when he saw your body reacting to the cooler temperature and the way your nipples showed through the material. It hadn't been on his mind when he first approached you, but after spending time with you he found himself liking the idea of fooling around with you. Probably not in the house, and he doubted you would want to do anything in the pool due to that friend of yours you had mentioned. Maybe there was some dark corner around here where he could take you to do what he wanted.

You were squirming a little, trying to free yourself from his grip.

“It's cold,” you whined.

“Yep,” was his reply.

“Come on, let go. I'm only in a swimsuit.”

“You weren't letting me go,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but I didn't pull you into the water.”

“Because you're too weak to do that.”

“That's not fair!”

“Don't think this is a situation where fairness matters, sweetheart.”

With that he let you go, and you dropped back down into the pool. You pushed away from the wall after, giving him a slightly sour look.

“Problem?” he asked.

“It's cold,” you repeated.

He just smirked.

“You're gonna need to deal with it at some point,” he told you.

“Yeah, but I wasn't ready for it then!”

You had to have noticed the way he looked at you, right? There was no way you were so oblivious to have not seen how he had blatantly looked you over. Yet you weren't mentioning it.

By now you were more at the center of the pool, pointedly out of his range.

“You done talking?” Phinks asked.

“No, but I don't want you pulling me out again.”

Then you looked away like you were embarrassed.

It clicked for him. You must have liked it, but you were too shy to say anything about it.

Your reluctance was cute, though Phinks knew he'd get tired of that game pretty fast.

“Come back over,” he told you.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to.”

You shook your head.

“You're going to do that again, right?” you asked.

“Maybe.”

“Then no. I don't wanna get out yet.”

“How long are you gonna stay in there?”

“Until I feel like getting out.”

“And if I want you out of there now?”

“Then you'd have to come in and get me.”

…. Oh

That's what it was.

A ploy by you to get him into the pool.

That's what you had to mean by those words, right?

“.... What the hell,” he said to himself as he stood.

It got your attention when he began to remove his clothing, throwing them over to a few neatly folded articles of clothing that sat next to a bag on the patio, which he assumed belonged to you. You were watching him closely, and he could sense a growing interest in you when he removed his shirt. Your eyes lingered a little when you caught sight of his spider tattoo, but there was no hint that you recognized what it meant, which was preferable.

“Enjoying the show?” he asked.

“You were looking at me earlier,” you answered defensively, “you're not allowed to get mad when I do the same.”

“Didn't say I was mad.”

You acknowledging the way he had looked at you then just reaffirmed in his head that you hadn't minded, and after stripping down to his boxers, Phinks jumped in. The water felt just as nice as you had said, but he didn't take much time to focus on it as he was quick to approach you. Within moments, he had wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in close, lifting you a little so you were at eye level with him. You seemed flustered again, but you didn't make any move to get away, and were resting your hands on his chest.

“I don't think you told me your name,” you whispered to him.

“Phinks.”

“Phinks,” you repeated, smiling afterwards, “I like it. It's cool.”

“Thanks,” he replied, “and how 'bout you?”

You gave him your name, which he also repeated to himself.

“Not as cool as 'Phinks', I guess,” you said.

“It suits you,” he said.

You smiled at him, then shifted slightly in his grip.

“Are you just gonna keep holding me?”

“You said I needed to come in and get you.”

“And what did you want to 'get' me for?”

Despite the question, you clearly had an idea of what Phinks was after as you began to move in closer to him. Phinks did the same, and slowly, the gap between the two of you was closed as your lips met together in a kiss.

With the heavy scent of pool chemicals that surrounded you two, it was hard to smell much else, but your lips were soft against his. The kiss was a bit tame for his liking, but he let you do what you wanted for now as you readjusted your arms so they were wrapped around his neck.

One of his hands slid down your back to reach down and squeeze your ass, and you gasped into the kiss. He slipped his tongue into your mouth for a brief moment before you pulled away, your hand over your mouth as you looked away in embarrassment.

“I'm not sure we should do much more here,” you said, glancing up at the house behind him, “there are people watching. I'm not into that.”

“Where do you wanna go?” he asked. It didn't surprise him much that you two might have attracted an audience, and when he heard the door to the patio open from behind him, he chose to ignore it.

“I don't think we'll get much privacy here, so how about my place?” you asked.

“Do you usually bring home strangers?”

“Only the really cool ones.”

He grinned.

You were leaning in to kiss him again when you suddenly froze and turned your attention to something behind Phinks.

“Don't do that!” you yelled.

Phinks turned his head just in time to see his and your clothes land in the water, with the guy who'd invited him – Stu, he remembered – pointing and laughing after having thrown them. The annoying woman from earlier, the one who had whined at him for his can of beer, was also there, standing behind Stu and running off with him towards the gate in the fence.

Phinks saw red.

He let you go and swiftly exited the pool, following after the two even as the chill of the night air nipped at his skin. He barely felt it, and he didn't give a shit that he was running around barefoot either. All of his focus was on catching up to those two assholes who'd dumped his clothes in the pool.

He was angry enough that he didn't notice the sound of feet following after him.

The two perpetrators were in an alleyway between two rows of houses, drunkenly laughing their asses off. Their demeanor didn't change when Phinks caught up to them. The woman actually began to laugh harder, probably because Phinks was still wearing only his boxers.

Stu was trying to contain himself a bit, and put his hands up as an offering of peace.

“Hey man, it wasn't anything personal. Just a prank,” he said, “you can use the dryer, and I'll lend you some clothes-”

His sentence was cut off when Phinks grabbed both sides of his head and twisted it completely around, the cracking of his broken neck ringing out in the empty alley.

The sight of Stu falling to the ground with his head facing the wrong way had the woman instantly sober up, and she looked to Phinks as she opened her mouth to scream.

Barely a whisper of sound was able to escape as he did the same thing to her, and now Phinks was standing half-naked in an alley with two dead bodies.

“Obnoxious fucking people,” he muttered to himself.

Then there was noise that came from behind him.

Phinks turned and saw the other guy who'd been at the gas station on the ground, his arms barely supporting himself as his eyes were wide at the sight of his friends dead before him.

His eyes widened even further when he spotted the spider on Phinks' ribs, clearly recognizing what it meant as he whispered “oh my god.”

Make that three bodies, Phinks thought to himself as he rushed forward to snap his neck as well.

Three bodies that he needed to get rid of. If anyone else from the party came out here and found them, the police would be called immediately. He had no intentions of staying here any longer, but it'd be best to put a bit of distance between himself and the crime scene before the police were inevitably called.

He was dragging the other guy by his ankles and in the process of collecting the woman's body when someone walked out into the alley through one of the other entrances. An older woman, who was definitely not from the party and had come from another house, carrying a bag of trash walked out in front of Phinks, and like the guy right before, her eyes grew wide as she saw the sight of the dead before her.

She made a move to run back to her house, but Phinks picked up a pebble that he infused with nen and launched it at her head. It traveled through her skull and the fencing beside her, and blood sprayed out from the exit wound and splattered onto the fence as well as she fell to the ground.

This was turning into a goddamn mess, and after Phinks had thrown now four bodies over into a different backyard, he heard a voice calling out “mom?” from the direction that the woman with the trash bag had come from.

Fuck this. He needed to go.

When he returned to the backyard to retrieve his clothes, he found you on the patio. You were holding his jacket over the concrete, desperately trying to wring out the water that had soaked it completely. You were visibly shivering as you did so, with goosebumps running up your arms and your teeth chattering. He noticed his pants hanging off the fence that surrounded the patio, and while they weren't dry by any means, you had clearly done your best to get the water out of them. Meanwhile your own clothes laid in a soggy heap by your equally soaked bag.

You noticed him when he walked closer.

“I'm sorry,” you told him. You looked guilty for some reason.

“You didn't do it,” Phinks said, considerably calmer now.

“No. But I made a big deal about you getting in with me, and with Stu around I should've been paying attention. I'm really, really sorry.”

He was about to tell you to stop apologizing when he heard a shout coming from the direction of the alleyway.

Fuck. He forgot that he needed to leave.

Luckily you were the only one who noticed, as the rest of the party goers still had the doors and windows securely shut. He pulled on his pants and his sopping wet tank top, and the sensation of wearing those wet clothes was just as unpleasant as he had anticipated. At least his shoes were still dry.

You were still holding his jacket, looking confused as you looked off in the direction where you'd heard that voice. Phinks was about to just take it from you and leave, but when he looked you over again, he thought over the things you two had talked about, the things you had said and how you'd acted around him, and he came to a split second decision.

Grabbing your clothes and bag, he shoved them into your hands before he grabbed one of your arms and pulled you after him. You seemed startled, but you didn't question him as you were too surprised to think of anything to say. He led you out through the backyard and down to where he had parked his car, opening the passenger side door and pushing you inside. He then walked around to the driver's side, and within moments you both were speeding out of the neighborhood.

By the time he came to the highway there was a strong smell of pool chemicals that filled the car, and both of the front seats were slowly soaking up the excess water that dripped off of the two of you.

You seemed to be in a mild state of shock, as you had yet to say anything. You just sat in your still wet swimsuit looking rather confused while you still held onto the soaked clothing Phinks had forced onto you.

After a while you shuddered and finally spoke up.

“Do you think you could turn up the heat?” you asked him.

“Oh. Sure. Sorry.”

Phinks turned the heat up all the way, and after a few moments you seemed to relax a bit, though now you were glancing over at him while smiling nervously.

“Uh, so, there's a lot that I should probably be questioning,” you began, “but I'll start with if you knew why there was yelling?”

Should he lie? No, that might be weird if he pretended not to know.

“I punched that guy in the face. I think I broke his nose,” he told you, “that was likely his friend after he saw him.”

“Ah. Okay,” you said, “that's..... Not very good, but I think I get why you did that. You're gonna get charged with assault, though.”

Fat chance.

“I'll deal with that when I come to that,” he answered, “sorry if I put you in a tough position.”

“It's okay. Well, not really. But Stu's pranks have always been pretty bad and what he did was shitty, so I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“Think you can forgive me?”

“... Yeah, I think so. Just promise you won't do anything like that again.”

“I promise.”

“Okay,” you said as you nodded, “so second question: where are we going?”

“.... Not sure. Didn't have much of a plan besides getting out of there and going back to what I was doing,” Phinks admitted.

“So you're just back to driving around going wherever?”

“Seems like it.”

“Why did you bring me along?” you asked.

“.... Didn't want that to be the last time I saw you,” he said.

“Oh.....”

His answer ended up making you flustered again, and while you did seem to be holding some reservations about him with his admission of violence and the fact that he really had just kidnapped you, he could see you rationalizing everything in your mind and convincing yourself that this wasn't all that bad.

It was preferable if you did that. It made taking you with him a lot easier.

“Luckily for me I don't work tomorrow,” you said, “and since the day after that is Sunday and the campus store isn't open then, I also have that day off. So I think it's okay if I drive around with you for a bit. Just get me back by Sunday night, alright?”

“Don't worry. I'll get you back safe and sound,” he told you, and you visibly relaxed at his words.

You were a little naive, a little too trusting. But that was fine. Phinks liked that about you.

“Okay so third question,” you announced as you looked down at the wet clothes in your lap, “what should we do about this?”

“Right. Let me pull over.”

He stopped the car beneath a streetlight, and you sat sideways on the passengers seat while you held the clothes out of the car and wrung the water out of them as best you could. Phinks took the opportunity to change after you handed him his jacket, and he threw the mostly damp clothes in the backseat.

Glancing over at you, he did appreciate how much your swimsuit showed off while you tried to dry out your own clothes. But while he liked the idea of you staying as you were for the rest of the trip, you probably wouldn't be as big of a fan of that. Going over to his trunk once more, he dug around through his bag before he found what he was looking for.

“I don't have anything that will fit you well,” Phinks said as he made his way over to you, “but this should cover you up.”

What he handed you was the long white robe he wore on occasion, usually for combat or missions.

You seemed a bit surprised when you saw it, but you accepted it gratefully. Your gaze went to the jeweled eye that hung near the neck of the garment, and he heard you mumble about it being pretty.

He wondered briefly what you might think of the snake headpiece he usually wore with it, but the time for that would come later as you were currently slipping his robe over your head.

“Thank you,” you told him again as you threw your clothing in the back as well.

Then your attention went to your bag, and you frowned.

“What's wrong?”

In response to his question, you tilted your bag to the side and water began to pour out of it.

“Ah.”

“How much do you wanna bet that my phone is dead?” you asked as you reached inside.

As was expected, your phone screen stayed black when you hit the power button, and you sighed.

“And that's phone number three that Stu has destroyed.”

“Don't worry. It won't happen again,” he told you.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

You tossed the now useless phone into your bag and looked back up to him as if to say “so what now?”

Phinks had an idea for that.

“Wanna go to a motel?”

“A motel? Wow, you sure know how to treat someone,” you said sarcastically.

“You really think I can get you into a nice hotel with you looking like that? You don't even have shoes,” he said.

“I didn't get a chance to grab them,” you responded, though you seemed to concede a bit.

“Could we stop somewhere tomorrow so I can get shoes or something?”

“I'll buy you a whole new wardrobe if that's what you want.”

You laughed at that, shaking your head and saying that you didn't need that.

Before too long, Phinks was back in the drivers seat while you watched the streetlights as the car passed them by, your fingers idly playing with the jewel on his robes as you did so. He had turned down the heat and turned on the radio, and though it still felt strange to be sitting in the wet seats, it wasn't bothering either of you as much anymore. The smell from the pool was mostly gone after driving a bit with the windows opened just a crack.

Except for the occasional car that drove in the opposite direction, you were the only ones on the highway.

“How far are you gonna drive?” you eventually asked.

He wanted to get out of the state at least. Phinks didn't want to deal with a confrontation with the law while also taking you along with him. He wanted to get as far as he could while you were still cooperative, and whenever you realized that there was no chance he'd be taking you back, he'd go to more extreme measures of keeping you with him. Your phone being dead was a good thing for him; you wouldn't be able to try and get help as easily.

“I think we've passed by three or four motels already,” you added, “was there something wrong with them?”

“No. Sorry. I got a bit distracted,” Phinks replied, “I've come to really like the highway at night. There's something soothing about it, I guess. Wanted to stay like this for a bit longer.”

You nodded in response and looked back out the window, your fingers still playing with the jeweled eye.

“Can I borrow your phone at some point tomorrow? I need to call someone just so everyone back home knows I'm okay. Don't want them to worry,” you said to him.

“Sure,” he said.

Arguing with you over that would seem strange. He'd just need to avoid that subject tomorrow.

He noticed when you yawned.

“Getting tired?” he asked.

“A little,” you said, laughing a little as you added, “this wasn't how I was expecting my night to go.”

“Same here.”

“I hope you decide to stop soon. I might not be up for it tonight if you're planning on continuing where we left off at the pool when we reach that motel.”

“That's fine. We'll have all day tomorrow, right?”

His words made you embarrassed again, and you shyly answered with a yes as you smiled to yourself.

So that was the plan, then. Drive as far as he could tonight, fuck your brains out tomorrow, then get away further before you figured things out. You would likely object, not liking the idea of being taken away from everything you'd ever known. But he was certain that after spending enough time with him, you'd prefer it. Your current life wasn't any good, but he was prepared for you to not understand that at first. And if he needed to tie you up and shove you into the trunk to keep you compliant, he could do that. Seemed like a pretty fool-proof plan.

You were yawning again.

“Get some sleep if you need to,” he said, “I'll wake you up when I find a place I like.”

You nodded. Soon after he saw you settling back into the seat and closing your eyes as you attempted to get some rest.

He liked the sight of you next to him, sitting in his clothes while you nodded off in his car. And when he turned his attention back to the empty highway, he was once again hit with the feeling like he was the only one in the world. A feeling that only came with seeing an area that was typically full of people seem completely abandoned.

But this time, though, he wasn't alone.

[xgryffinwhore]

Hey! Can I request a jaeden martell x reader where basically their charters are dating on a tv show and they are really really good best friends in real life and they they both go on the Jimmy fallon show and he keeps on asking if they’re dating because everyone thinks they are and when they say no he obvi doesn’t let it go lol and it ends up slipping up that jaeden did/ does have a crush on reader and they maybe end up sharing a kiss in front is Jimmy & audience & stuff😶just an idea i had 😂:)

i love this idea wow, thinking i’m going to put my own little twist on it but i think you’ll still be pleased ;)

just friends

warnings!: suggestive topics, fluff

word count: 2.1k

five

your face was being touched up with powder, the cotton pad dabbing at your nose as the white powder absorbed into any oil your face may have had.

four

you look over at jimmy, this wasn’t your first talk show, but it had been the biggest one with the most following. it was intimidating, you bounced your foot up and down and played with your hands.

three

behavior jaeden had grown to recognize. he knew you better then you knew yourself, your anxiety was worse then you put it out to be. “you ok?” he questioned, “fine, i’m fine” you painted a small smile on your face. but he wasn’t easily fooled.

two

he grabbed one of your hands and rubbed circles into your palm, this sent vibrations of relaxation down your spine.

one

his eyes locked with yours, you swore they were a different color each time you saw them. sometimes more blue, sometimes more green, sometimes dark with mystery, sometimes light and playful.

‘aaand where on air’

you wiped the hand that was interlocked with his off on your dress, it was clammy. the curtain came up fast, and your vision was soon flooded with bright lights and silhouettes of bodies.

making out the faces in the sea of people was impossible, but you knew your friends were out there. they had flown out to see you, a) they could go see new york and b) you were on national television, and they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

jimmy was talking, you knew that much, but your nerves took over and honestly you weren’t registering a damn thing he was saying. the crowd cheered, you snapped out of your daze.

“and here tonight, we have jaeden martell and y/n l/n from the new HBO tv series: turning tables”

he turned to both of us, and gave everyone time to clap. he tired to speak over the loud hands, moving on with his show, but the crowd made that difficult. eventually the clapping died out and he could continue.

“now, i’ve watched all of the episodes but, for the people who haven’t seen: can you explain what the show is about?” he looked a jaeden, you let go of a breathe you had held in.

“s-sure” jaeden turned to face the audience more, he was soft spoken and shy, so it was important he projected as much as he could.

“turning tables is a teen drama. it’s about families of poverty in the seattle washington area and how they struggle to go to school and work. my character, jennings cooper, is the main protagonist. the show is mainly from his point of view, and how he struggle to support his family.”

jimmy nods and smiles, he looks pleased with his explanation. i’m truth the show wasn’t that simple, he knew that. but, it would take so long to explain.

“and y/n, who do you play?” he knew the answer to this obviously, but you were becoming a crowd favorite. everyone loved your personality, and you were an up-and-coming a list celebrity.

“i play parker marlow, jennings girlfriend” you blushed at this statement, the crowd giggled and ‘ouuu’ed. jimmy rubbed his hands together, getting excited at the upcoming topic of discussion.

“so, your romance on season one was steamy” you thought back to the scenes you did together. all of the kissing, which felt normal at this point. he wasn’t a bad kisser, in fact- you didn’t mind it at all. your romance through the season built up to a sex scene, your mind flashed through the memories of filming it.

filming those scenes isnt half as steamy as you think it is. it’s awkward, you laugh a lot. you had never felt that exposed in your life! however watching it was different, it looked so real, so perfect.

you blurred out your thoughts, mr. fallon still speaking on the subject. “can we expect more -“ jimmy searched for your ship name, it was on the tip of his tongue. the combination of your first names on the show didn’t make an attractive combo. it was either jarker or pennings. your last names matched a little better.

“-carlow” jaeden finished for him. jimmy nodded and smiled “yes- carlow- can we expect more carlow next season?” you both looked at each other and smiled. the writers for the show already had the next four seasons laid out. you knew that carlow was a continuing relationship on the show.

“yes, you should expect more of that sort of content from us” you stated. the people in the crowd had a positive responce to this, the applause lapping until it died out once again.

“right, your characters have so much chemistry in the show. two struggling teens just trying to break even.” jaeden agreed “yes, our characters balance each other out, and being from the same background helps them associate. jennings is kind of a bad boy-as the ladies say- he’s a felon, he steels cars and sells them to counterfeit manufacturers and dealers for money. parker, y/n’s character, has a job at a diner. she shows him the light at the end of the tunnel if he chooses to go down a good path.”

“yes, parker gets jennings a job at the diner with her, and he falls for her sweet disposition even after everything she’s been through” you add.

jimmy licks his lips and pops another question: “so id imagine the chemistry in the show heightens the real life thing?” he cocked an eye brow, the group gasping at the intrusiveness.

“jaeden and i are just friends” you blurt out, your nerves working up again. it was hard, you liked jaeden ever since you had your first kiss with him.

“y-yeah” he stutters, he obviously wasn’t expecting this either “friends” jimmy shakes his head and puts his finger on his lip “recently, you both have been showing a lot of pictures of you two together on social media.”

the audience ‘awwwed’ at the photos that displayed behind you. on the screen, there were pictures of you and him that were on both of your instagrams. you two at gardens, getting food, even watching movies at each other’s houses.

“for just friends, these photos looks intimate , wouldn’t you say” a bunch of ‘yes’’s and ‘mhm’’s came from the crowd as both of your faces became red.

“we’re just best friends, honestly” jaeden laughed nervously, he fixed his hair with his hand has he always does.

“right right- can you tell me when this photo is from?” jimmy asked, the last picture flashing on the screen. it was of you both, you had just filmed your first scene together.

the first scene you filmed together was episode two, he saved you after you fell into ice cold water. it was how the characters met, and it was filmed at a cove on a windy august day.

the picture was a little blurry, but it added character. he had his arm around you, both of your hair soaked, and you share a huge towel. you remember how cold you were, your teeth chattered so rapidly. his hair was stuck to his forehead and more small pieces went up. and your lips were almost purple, half from the makeup, half because you swore that was the coldest water you had ever went in.

“that’s from when we first started filming, it was the first time we met in the show” you recited, re living the memory in your head. you remember jaeden pulling your head into his chest when the wind began blowing. you remember his thumb trying to create friction on your back to make you just a little warm.

“yes yes- you two look so adorable!” jimmy squealed, he was the most teenage-girl-grown-man you had ever met. his hand opened one of the drawers in the faux desk he sat behind, pulling out a small blue camcorder.

the camcorder.

you know how on tv shows, there is special footage? sometimes it’s just behind the scene specials but sometimes- sometimes - it’s footage the actors document when they were just having fun? yeah it was one of those camcorders.

the camcorder was brought in by the two other co hosts wyatt oleff and finn wolfhard (i know this cast is sooo original not really) they played jaedens two best friends on the show. while they weren’t filming, they’d dick around and talk about stupid stuff. you’d never seen what they filmed, but you had been featured quite a few times; their by them pranking you, or invading your personal space.

you looked over at jaeden, you watched his adam’s apple bob and a thin layer of sweat flush over his face. he bounced his leg slightly, a habit he had picked up from you.

“let’s just review our material here” jimmy teased, his tongue darting out between his teeth. the video began to play, the sound was loud; assumingely for jaeden quiet voice in the tape.

the video started with wyatts unsteady hand, him and finn were running around set, they stopped at jaeden, he was playing on his phone in his trailer.

“jaeden wesley we have come for you” finn yelled. you could see jaeden shoot up from his chair. “hey guys” he waved. they talked for around a minute, jokes and all. then finn started to giggle, wyatt zoomed in on jaedens face.

“so jaeden, how’s y/n?” he chuckled, jaeden blushed “she’s ok i guess dunno.” wyatt stopped zooming in when the only thing in frame was jaedens head. “the kiss was good hm?” wyatt asked. jaeden continued to play on his phone, he nodded. “yeah, she’s pretty cute too.”

the video cut to another segment, this was filmed after the sex scene. you knew because jaeden laid on the bed you, in the same underwear that he wore during the scene. the boys were jumping on the bed, and jaeden took the camera and talked to it.

“this is for memory and memory ONLY! h-hey y/nnn” he was talking to the camera like it was you “you’re amazing and cool” you could hear finn explode into laughter as he stole the camera back and started running “yeah! and he wants your babies and loves you so much-“ “SHUT UP FINN!!!” and jaeden chased him around.

the video was taken off the screen. your face had become close to ghostly white. it was weird, it was almost like he was dumb enough to think finn wouldn’t give jimmy this blackmail goldmine. you looked at jaeden, he hit his bottom lip until it was red, he itches his neck and laughed it off.

“yeah ok-ok jimmy, maybe i liked her back in the day” jaeden tried so hard to be casual, but jimmy hit him with a heart stopper: “but mr martell, the last clip was filmed less then a month ago!”

your mind flickered with memories and ideas of him.

your first time meeting, how good his hand felt in yours. when you wiped icecream off his chin, and him dotting icecream on to the top of your nose. the way his hair always fell perfectly above his eye brow. and SHIT how he always smelt so fucking good. how he let you fall asleep in his arms and how he never complained when you put on some stupid romcom and-

“y/n?” jimmy questioned. “huh?” you spaced, come on y/n you gotta stop doing that. “i asked how you felt about all of this.” “well, there isn’t a right word i can use.”

jaeden took this has a bad reaction, he did a small wave to the crowd and stood up to get off the stage.

you stood up, grabbed his hand, and laid one right on him. kissing him felt normal, but now that there was emotion behind it, it just felt so right.

you both stopped for air, the crowd went wild. jimmy was clapping too, you could barley hear them, your heart was pumping throughout your whole body. you swore jaeden could hear it.

after the show, you sat in your dressing room for a bit, contemplating the events of tonight, and how they were all broadcasted for your embarrassment. but it was only the beginning. only the beginning of what was to come for mr. and mrs. jaeden martell.

[blue-labcoat]

15. Library/Home office/Piano Room

summary: spencer and reader move in together!

genre: fluff, 2.0k

warnings: none

series masterlist here

A few weeks after Spencer and I said ‘I love you’ for the first time, we were at his apartment watching Doctor Who (it was his turn to pick, and I honestly liked Doctor Who better than he liked Bones, and he put up with it, so I figured it was the least I could do). I hadn’t been to my apartment in at least a week, and I was out of clean clothes. Plus, I had food in my fridge that had gone uneaten and was likely to be stinking up the place.

“I have to go back to my place tomorrow,” I told him as we were crawling into bed. We slept at each other’s places most of the time; I couldn’t even remember when the last time I slept alone was. Even when I was on a case with the BAU, we snuck into each other’s rooms at night, and then back out in the morning.

“Do you have to?” He whined. “Neither of us has work, I thought we could do something together?”

“You could help me do my laundry and clean my fridge out, if you want,” I joked.

“I just wish we didn’t have to go back and forth all the time.”

“Do you think we should maybe… move in together? Is it too soon for that?” I asked hesitantly.

“I don’t think it’s too soon. I think it makes sense,” he replied. “But do you think either of our apartments has enough room for both of our stuff?”

“We could always look for a new apartment,” I reminded him. “Someplace that’s just ours. Maybe with 2 bedrooms? We could make one of the rooms a library, slash home office, slash place to put my piano?”

“I’ve always wanted a library,” remarked Spencer. “Looking at it objectively, it makes sense.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not being emotional about it,” I teased, reaching over to pinch his cheek gently. He swatted my hand away, and I rolled over to face him.

“So that’s it? We’re moving in together?”

I nodded excitedly, grinning. “Well, once we find an apartment,” I reminded him. “You can start looking tomorrow while I’m doing my laundry.”

“I love you, y/n.” No matter how many times he had said it, it still made my heart flutter.

“I love you too, Spence.”

The next morning, Spencer was already awake when I got up. I swore, that boy barely slept. However, that meant that there was nearly always coffee waiting for me when I woke up.

“Good morning, sleepy-head,” Spencer greeted me as I came into the kitchen.

“I’m not a sleepy-head, it’s not even 9:30!” I protested. “You’re just an anti-sleepy-head.”

“Well, I’ve had a productive morning searching for apartments, and – hear me out – I think that I have found the perfect one.”

“Already? That was quick.”

“Although the notion of fate is somewhat fickle and unreliable, I am almost tempted to say that it was fate. I mean, look at this place.” He turned my laptop towards me to show me what he had been looking at.

I scrolled through the listing. He was right, the apartment was perfect. It had two huge bedrooms, a spacious living room with huge windows and a small balcony. The kitchen was similar to what I had in my current – it looked out into the living room, but this one was bigger and the appliances were newer. The bathroom was nice too – it looked brand new, and there was a large bathtub.

“You’re right,” I turned to him. “It’s literally perfect.”

“I know, right? I realized that we didn’t really discuss a budget, but we both make decent money, and considering the square footage, it’s actually pretty decent rent for two people. Plus, it’s close to the office and the lab.”

I scrolled up to look at the price. It was a little more than I thought it would be, but it had been a long time since I’d lived with another person. There would be other expenses that would be cut. Plus, I was making actual money now, and my student loans were nearly paid off.

“Okay, well, like I said, I need to head home and get some stuff done, but you should call the person listing and see if we can set up a tour.”

“Will do.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and I collected my clothes and headed home.

While I was at home, packing some more clothes, Spencer phoned me.

“Hey. So, I phoned the number that was listed and they said that we can schedule a time whenever? I told them that we both have really unpredictable work schedules, and asked if this afternoon would be too soon, and he said no, so I told him we’d come for a tour around 3. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s good. I’m just about done here, I’ll come back over and then we can drive there together.”

“Okay, sounds good. See you in a bit, love you.”

“Love you too.”

A few hours later, we were pulling up to the apartment building. We parked on the street out front.

“Is it weird that I’m, like, strangely excited about this?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Spencer responded. “This could be our first apartment together! It’s perfect, and we can decorate it however we want, and make it our home, and make a bunch of new memories there!”

I smiled and pulled him in for a kiss before we headed inside to meet the landlord.

“Hi there, you must be Dr Reid,” he greeted Spencer, holding his hand out for a handshake. To avoid the conversation, I reached out for a handshake instead and introduced myself.

“Hi, I’m Spencer’s girlfriend, Dr y/n y/l/n.”

“Wow, two doctors.”

We both smiled in that polite way that acknowledged what the person had said when they found out we were doctors. The landlord, Michael, led us up to the apartment.

“Have a look around,” he said, unlocking the door and letting us in. “I’ll be downstairs if you have any questions.” He shut the door behind him, and we began to look around.

“The windows are so big!” I squealed. “You know what that means – more houseplants! Plus, there’s a balcony, which means I can get some outside plants too!”

“Well, we already have a lot of plants. I don’t know if we need any more,” Spencer joked.

We walked into the first bedroom.

“This could be our library-office,” Spencer observed.

“It would be so good! We could make this entire wall bookshelves, and then put our two desks on the opposite wall. We could put a rocking chair in this corner by the bookshelf, and then we could put my piano against the wall by the window.”

“I know we haven’t even seen the whole apartment, but I’m already very attached to the idea of our library-office!”

“Yes, I am too,” I smiled, wrapping my arm around his waist and pulling him into a sideways hug. “Let’s finish looking at the rest of the place, though.”

The rest of the apartment was just as perfect – the main bedroom was slightly bigger than what each of us had at the moment. The kitchen had all brand-new appliances, and the bathroom looked newly renovated as well. Even the balcony was good – it would be a perfect spot to put some furniture out and read in the summer.

“I think we should make a decision about this soon, Spence.” I told him when we were finished walking around. “My lease is up at the end of August, that’s only a week and a half from now. If we can move in here September 1, that would work out really well.”

“Yeah, I agree. I know we usually put a little bit more thought into decisions like this, but it really just feels right. Plus, my lease isn’t up until the end of September, so you could stay at my place during September while we move our stuff in and set everything up.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. So, we’re doing this?”

“I guess we are! Our apartment. I like the sound of it,” he said, hugging me. “Let’s go talk to Michael about a lease.”

Michael informed us downstairs that he was ready to lease the place as soon as possible, and that September 1 would suit him very well.

“You two seem like a great fit, but I’ll just need a reference for each of you. I’ll give your references a call, and then after I speak with them I’ll send you the lease and you can look it over. Just get it back to me before the first and we’ll be set to go!”

I called Millie quickly to make sure that she was okay with being my reference, and Spencer called Hotch for the same thing.

A few weeks later, we were moving my furniture and kitchen stuff into the new apartment. We both took a day off to move in, and Spencer started to move some of the stuff from his apartment in as well. I left most of my clothes at Spencer’s current apartment, since we were still going to live there while we put the finishing touches on our new place.

The same day that we moved in, we bought bookshelves to fit in our office, and we got matching desks as well. We transported the bulk of Spencer and I’s books, and then discovered that we didn’t have enough room in our library.

“It’s okay. We can just get some more bookshelves for the living room. They’ll look nice beside the TV,” I told Spencer.

By the third week of September, the apartment was ready to move in. Spencer had a few things left at his place, but we decided that we were going to spend the night for the first time in our new apartment together.

We ordered takeout and ate it on the couch together.

“Do you think that we should start to think about telling the team that we’re dating?” I asked Spencer while we were cleaning up. “It’s just, moving in is a pretty big step and it’s going to be harder to hide the fact that we’re dating if we live together.”

“Yeah, you have a good point. I think Hotch suspects that I moved in with someone else, but he didn’t say anything.”

“Okay, well maybe we should just keep it a secret still, and if someone figures it out, then we can come clean. But I mean, there’s not really any reason to tell them otherwise?”

“Yeah. I wish we could invite the team over though, to see the apartment. We did a good job with it. It really feels like it’s ours.”

“Me too. We have to tell them sometime. Maybe… let’s plan a specific time to tell them.”

“How about our six month anniversary? It’s still a couple months away, but that seems reasonable, right?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Okay, so like the end of November, beginning of December.”

We decided to watch Star Trek to christen the new tv we’d bought. Halfway through the episode, I placed my hand on Spencer’s thigh and began to very slowly drag it closer and closer to his crotch. By the end of the episode, we were making out on the couch.

“Shall we christen the bedroom?” I pulled back to ask Spencer.

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Dr y/l/n,” he replied, smiling cheekily at me. I followed him to the bedroom, where I pushed him down onto the bed and crawled on top of him. I was convinced that nothing could be as perfect as this moment – just my best friend and the love of my life in bed, in our perfect apartment.

Previous -- Next

[bloomstruck]

General Yandere HCs (Okazaki Kei, Sasazuka Takeru, and Zero)

Okazaki Kei

Off the bat, Kei is already going to be pretty overprotective and somewhat paranoid. His job as an SP officer is constantly putting himself in the way of danger to complete his mission; what if you wind up as collateral in the end?

This is definitely what leads him to his more yandere tendencies. He completely justifies his actions, and doesn't believe he is in the wrong at all.

Oh, you can't go outside, what if somebody sees you with him and they target you?! You can't be friends with those people, they're pretty suspicious, and Kei just doesn't want you to get hurt!

It starts out with small, slightly overbearing and slightly overprotective actions before it just snowballs.

Good luck trying to tell Kei off or call him out. He'll pout and gaslight you. "I'm just trying to keep you safe" and "I'm giving you my all, please understand".

So touchy and clingy, oh my god. And he loves marking you, he wants the whole world to know you're his and his alone.

At some point, he's going to straight up kidnap you and lock you in a safehouse of sorts. It's not that he doesn't trust you, but he doesn't trust anybody else. Your safety is top priority, and he won't let anybody else risk that.

Good luck trying to escape, this man is a professional bodyguard and the best at keeping tabs on people. If you step even a foot out of the safehouse (if you manage to even get out), he's going to know in an instant.

At the very least, he won't punish you. He won't call you names, or hurt you (intentionally). He's affectionate, and wants you to know just how much he loves you, and will always coo sweet nothings in your ears when you're upset.

It doesn't matter what you say; once Kei has his sights set on you, you're never going to be able to leave.

Sasazuka Takeru

Definitely not somebody who can get you to stay by him through manhandling. I mean, have you seen him? He's 166cm/5'5" and doesn't work out. He's a swizzle stick.

Just because he can't up and haul you over his shoulder like some people, though (cough kei cough), doesn't mean you should take him any less seriously.

Takeru will verbally manipulate you, gaslight you, the whole nine yards. He'll bend your mind and try to break it. He's good with his words, good at being demeaning, and if it gets you to stay by his side then so be it.

Wouldn't kidnap you, not at first, but he would definitely install hidden cameras all over your apartment. He'd hack into your phone and computer — nothing is private from him.

If the two of you are already dating, then great, he'll show his true colors more slowly. He'll still cyberstalk you, that won't change, but you'll get a bit more freedom.

If you two aren't dating, though, and you bring somebody else to your apartment, Takeru's going to be pissed. It doesn't matter if they are a friend or a lover. This will immediately make him lose his trust in you, and you'll be locked in a fortress.

Not really, but you know what I mean. Security locks with long passcodes, cameras covering every inch of the room. You've got no freedom, and no privacy.

I hope to god you can cook, because no way is Takeru letting you go anytime soon, and I'm certain you don't want to just live off donuts and cup ramen.

Takeru is also very touchy, but unlike Kei, he gets rough. Biting, hair pulling, scratching — he's dominant either way, but if you make him angry, it'll just be much worse, as if he's taking out his anger through sex.

Will definitely call you stupid, idiot, etc. Would also say things like how nobody would ever love you like he does, that you have nobody else left, etc. The usual manipulative stuff.

He still has to go to work, he works in cyber crimes after all (ironic, huh?), so if you ever try to escape, that's your one chance, but good luck. He'll see you through CCTV footage, through your phone... Nothing is safe, and once he gets you back, it'll only get worse.

At least you get donuts?

Saeki Yuzuru/Zero

HOO BOY. I feel like Yuzuru is probably the worst yandere to have after you in the Collar x Malice world.

Look, this guy is already super unhinged, both from childhood trauma and sociopathy disguised as an intense empathy.

Chances are, he is not going to recognize his feelings for you at first. Love? Him? What an insane notion!

It's possible you'll go through exactly what Ichika went through. He'll collar you and threaten you to follow his words, but you won't exactly be finding the justice that Ichika is searching for...

No, Yuzuru wants you to figure out who he is and why he feels weird towards you. Talk about vague.

You probably knew Yuzuru somewhere in real life; he has such a friendly person, you probably run into him at the bar a lot and are somewhat acquainted with him. Not like you could ever guess that he is the head of Adonis, though.

Eventually, you'll be kidnapped and taken to Yuzuru himself, donned in his Zero disguise in the cathedral until he's certain it's just the two of you.

When he takes off his hood, he revels in your devastated and tear-stained face upon recognition of him. How could somebody so sweet cause so much pain in Shinjuku?!

He'll admit that he's been watching you for a while. Adonis has eyes and ears everywhere — even before you were collared, he was getting information about you 24/7. He'll probably still keep the collar on you, not being able to trust you to not escape.

Adonis' hideout is mostly underground and is pretty hi-tech, so he'll stow you away in a hidden away room that is impossible to escape from.

He's not very affectionate, at least not at first. He's still sorting out his feelings, and will make moves on you more to observe his own emotions that would react to your reactions. Why does he care so much about you? Why can't he bring himself to kill you?

He'll get affectionate eventually, though, and you don't get to have a say. If he wants to kiss you, or hold hands, or explore every inch of your body, then that's what's going to happen, whether you want it or not.

Eventually, he does realize it's love. He knows it's twisted and messed up and that it's only harming you — Yuzuru is very self-aware, but that's not going to change a single thing. He loves you, and if he's going to be the god of a new era, you'll just have to stay by his side. He'll gaslight, manipulate, break and mold you until you are the perfect disciple for him.

Somehow, you caught eyes of Adonis' leader, and now, you'll never get your old life back. Yuzuru most likely killed all of your friends and family nearby to ensure you had nowhere else to run. You'll be his, forever and more.