#I'm actually not that surprised that he's in a foreign production

[ayyy-pee]

Can I request vampire Nanami surprising reader on a date but she broke up with him because she’s moving overseas to study animals

𝕃𝕆𝕍𝔼 𝔹𝕀𝕋𝔼𝕊

Discord 18+ - Twitter

Pairing: Stalker Vampire Ex-Boyfriend!Nanami Kento x Female Reader

WC: 5.8k

Summary: Did you think he would know how to find you? He's tasted your life essence, been engulfed in your delicious scent, drunk off the taste of you. You could leave if you wanted, he couldn't stop you. But he would find you, he would be watching.

Story Warning: Stalking, Jealousy, Obsession, Biting (duh), Suggestive Things I guess idk lmfao, Blood, Drinking Blood, Spit, Maybe a bit of fingering and who tf knows what else, Kissing with blood, Nanami spit lover?, Nanami Intoxicated on you and your bodily fluids, Exes to Something???, Fingering for sure actually, Kissing with Blood, Profanity bc it's ME, Nanami downbad like SO downbad for reader, he's such a little weirdo

Art by: 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗸𝘂ᴬᴿᵀ (@chitrartum) on X

Divider Credit: @jelliedink

A/N: FINALLLLLYYYYYY @lovebittenbyevans it's FINALLY up LOL. Listen, I know I said I would post it yesterday but if yall believed me, that's your fault! I'm a liar! Yall know! LMAO. Anyway, I hope I did this one justice. I haven't written Nanami in so damn long I found myself kinda second guessing myself a lot here, but I'm happy with the final product so I won't complain LOL. Anyway ENJOY!!!

‘There’s something familiar about this scene,’ Nanami thinks as he leans casually against the wall of whatever random building this is. 

There’s something familiar about you. You, and your laugh that causes this strange tingling sensation he hasn’t felt in who knows how long. You, and the way your hand grips onto an arm when you find something particularly amusing. You, and the way you lean a little closer when you’re happy.

‘And you’re so beautiful when you’re happy like this,’ he thinks. Happy, like you clearly weren't with him.

Nanami's eyes narrow, vision honing in on you and the way you laugh and hold onto an arm and lean a little closer because you’re content and enjoying yourself. If only you were laughing with him, gripping onto him, leaning a little closer to him like you used to.

Perhaps then, he wouldn’t be standing across the street with his gaze locked onto your form while you dine out with another gentleman who most certainly isn’t Nanami Kento.

Everything feels so familiar here, like he’s lived this scene before, because he has. But foreign as well, because he’s an outsider now, no longer a part of your world. Not by his choice. Nanami would never choose to be watching the life he once had played out before him. It feels like some sort of sick joke, like he’s being mocked as he’s watching as you do all the things you used to do with him before you’d up and left one morning, knowing it’d be impossible for him to follow you for quite some time. It gave you one hell of a head start, and it took Nanami awhile to find you again. 

But oh, he did find you. And here you are, sitting with another man in the very late hours of the night, at some hole in the wall food stand across the street of a busy intersection. You can’t see Nanami, not from this distance he’s put between you two. But he can absolutely see you, clear as day. Every movement you make, every twitch of muscle, he sees it. 

He can hear you, too– hear your laugh, your heartbeat, your breath, the rush of your blood flowing through your veins. He hears it. Everything.

Nanami watches, his eyes hardening when the man beside you slides his plate over and you take a bite of his meal. That used to be him with you at whatever shit hole you’d chosen for your date.

Nanami had always appreciated that about you. Sure, you enjoyed the occasional fancy night out at Nanami’s insistence – getting dolled up and dining at a Michelin star restaurant. But you much preferred the lowkey vibes of grabbing a bite to eat at a smaller establishment or local street vendor. Even if you knew that wasn’t Nanami’s scene.

“It just brings less attention to you,” you’d reason.

And Nanami isn’t an idiot. He could read between the lines. What you meant was it brings less attention to the fact that he never orders anything to eat, not even a bread roll. The waitresses would give him strange looks, glancing at your table occasionally as he simply watched you consume your meal while the most he could stomach was a glass of water at best.

It really can’t be helped. Human food makes Nanami viscerally ill, after all. If anything, you may have been more concerned that Nanami was eyeing the staff like they were on the menu.

He’d be lying if he said the sight of you sharing another man didn’t upset him. Not only did you give another man the place beside you that was once his own, you’ve welcomed him into your routine. Welcomed him to the smiles that were once meant for only his eyes. Welcomed him to the laughs that Nanami can hear even above the noise of this late night traffic across the road.

Simply put, you seem to have replaced him. You’ve moved on, tossed him aside for another. And it’s more than Nanami can say for himself.

It’s been months since you ended your relationship, and he just can’t seem to let you go. He knows he should. He knows that he shouldn’t be watching you the way he does. He can’t help it. Besides, it’s not as if you know what he’s doing. He usually keeps his observing to a healthy distance, only to ensure you’ve made it home safely. That you’re tucked into your bed and definitely not out on dates with new men.

Not too far, but not too close either. It’s become a habit for him. He works from home until the late morning, then he sleeps, because what else is he to do? He wakes up once the stars are visible in the sky, then heads straight to your home. And on days he’s not able to get to you because he’s busy…having dinner (sometimes it’s for business reasons!)…he just hopes you’re doing what you usually do on a lazy night; sitting in your pajamas and curled under the soft blankets he’d purchased for you early on in your relationship.

He likes to think you’d kept something that reminded you of him. Do you think of him? Because he thinks of you. Always. If his standing here staring at the back of your head like a madman isn’t any indication. He keeps all your little trinkets, too. Anything you’d left behind, he has. 

He’s lived a long life, human emotion having long been cast aside, and your presence awoke something in him. At the time, he couldn’t quite place this feeling and didn't bother digging any deeper for answers. But it’s your absence that provides the knowledge he never sought out. It reminds him that he was once human. That he was once capable of feeling more than insatiable hunger, the need to feed off another.

He’s capable of desire, of love. Nanami doesn’t think he’ll ever feel the way he does about you for anyone else.

Unfortunately for him, that doesn’t seem to be the case for you, as you appear to have finally started seeing someone new. But unfortunately, you’ve made the grave mistake of opting for what appears to be a date that falls within Nanami’s most active hours.

He’s used to the shadows, as it feels most like himself to hide under the cover of darkness. It’s how he was able to find you, able to sense that you’re even breathing and content sighs when you slept were noticeably absent when he’d found himself doing his nightly “check in” on you.

So he does what any concerned ex-boyfriend would do. He follows the sound of your heartbeat. All the way here, where you’re having far too much fun for his liking.

Brown eyes stare as you and your date finally wrap up dinner. Your date helps you from your stool, and you idly chat before he wraps you in a tight hug and Nanami feels his blood boil. Well, if he had a beating heart, he imagines his blood would be boiling. 

How dare this man put his hands on you so affectionately? And how dare you receive it so happily? Did all your time together – the kisses, the moans, the love you shared – mean nothing to you?

Fuck this. He’s going over there. 

But the moment your date leaves you and you turn to head the opposite direction, Nanami is torn. Should he follow you? Or should he follow your date? On the one hand, he wants to see what you’re up to, if you’re going home and if not, who and where are you going to? On the other, he’d love to sink his teeth into your date's jugular and rip his larynx out. So many tempting choices…but he opts for the former.

He’s on your tail quickly. He’s determined to speak to you, has to see you and confirm that you’re done with him for good. His body moves fast, hurrying through the crowd to try and catch up to you before you can slip through his grasp again. He won’t accept this. He’s given you ample time to come back. He won’t wait a moment longer.

When the crowd thickens in the busier part of the city, it becomes harder for Nanami to see you. The sounds of different heartbeats blend with your own and your scent becomes more difficult to track when you mix in the shitty perfumes and cheap colognes. Before long, he's lost you. 

His eyes dart around, quickly and thoroughly scanning every face and body in the crowd. But none of them are you. He's certain of that. Deep breaths, Nanami takes several of them focusing on the familiar rhythmic beat of your heart. The pedestrians move around him as he stands still, eyes closed as he focuses. They mutter their curse words or pardon themselves, but he can’t be bothered to listen to anything but you. 

At least a minute passes before he hears it. It's faint at first, but it's there. The light thumping of your heart. He follows it, all the way into a dark alley. And then the panic sets in. 

Why would you be here of all places?

Why is your heartbeat so quiet?

Are you in trouble?

“What the hell are you doing, Kento?” Your harsh voice has Nanami spinning on his heel, the tone unfamiliar to him. 

There you are, in all your glory. Beautiful as he remembers, though it’s not as if he hasn’t seen you recently. He just hasn’t seen you this close in awhile. The neon signs of the city cast a cute glow along your skin and Nanami has to resist smiling. Because you're also so very pissed, arms folded across your chest and a deep frown sitting on your lips. And yet, you still manage to mesmerize him.

“I was just out–” he begins coolly, but you cut him off.

“Out…Out what exactly?” You ask. “Out…following me?”

He should lie. 

He should tell you that he would absolutely never do something as outlandish as following your scent like some cartoon hound dog floating through the air as they chase the smell of food. But that may be hard to believe seeing as that’s how you two started out in the first place – with Nanami searching for his next meal (you) and you somehow charming him into taking you out to dinner instead. What a twist.

Weeks later, he would reveal himself to you as the blood hungry creature of the night he is. And you’d accept him for exactly who he was.

And still, he should lie. 

So that at least you feel a little better. Maybe you’ll think this is just some coincidence that he’s run into you in this dank alleyway in the middle of the night, but he doesn’t bother. You know him. And well, at that. 

So he tells the truth. All of it. 

Your laugh is dry, fingers pinching the bridge of your nose as you try to keep your composure. No one is around, save for the people passing by on the sidewalk, not sparing a single glance into the shadows where you hide with your ex-boyfriend. Still, you don’t want to draw any attention to the two of you. Less for either of your sake, and more for the poor person who deigns to interrupt.

“So you’ve been following me…”

Nanami wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but…

“Yes.” 

Okay, maybe he would.

He never was one to mince words.

“How long?”

He tilts his head in question.

“How long…” you pause briefly, seemingly gathering your thoughts. “Have you been watching me? Following me? Whatever the hell it is you’re doing?”

Nanami thinks about this, though he knows the answer. It’s been exactly four months and six days, about eighteen and a half weeks, one hundred and twenty nine days total since you left and he picked up this…obsession with you. But who’s keeping track?

“Since you left,” he answers with the truth once again. Even in this darkness, he can see your eyes widen in shock. He doesn’t want to scare you. He wants you to see how much he wants you, needs you even.

“Because you left me without a single word, ___” he tries to explain. “Won’t answer my calls, won’t reply to my text messages, won’t see me –”

Nanami steps closer to you, and you step back, and it causes this strange stinging sensation in his chest that sort of…hurts? Makes him want to beg you not to move any further, because he’s not sure he can withstand it now that he’s within reach of you again.

“Well apparently, you see me all the time!” You grit out, voice rising an octave before you catch yourself.

“I’m only making sure you’re safe,” he tries to reason, but you shake your head.

“No…” You hold up a finger between you both, keeping Nanami at a distance. And that sting settles in again. “No, you’re stalking me, Kento.”

“Yes, but you’re dating. I saw you.”

“And? I’m allowed to go out with people, Kento!”

It’s been so long since Nanami has heard you say his name. And you’ve said it three times in such a short span. It’s doing something to him that he can’t quite put into words.

“And how do you know they’re a good person? How do you know they won’t hurt you? I’m simply looking out for you.”

You rub aggressively at your temples. “Kento…” you sigh. “You…are…a…fucking…vampire.”

Nanami rolls his eyes.

“And a shitty one at that. But I dated you, and I was just fine,” You’re sure to add. “For a vampire, you’re really not as stealthy as you think you are, by the way.”

You’re right. Perhaps he’s been sloppy, following you the moment nightfall comes, tracking your whereabouts. He thought you hadn’t noticed, but has he really made it so obvious?

There’s a short bout of silence between you, you glaring hard at him while he tries to think of a way to make you see reason. But you look away, just as you ask, “Are you hunting me now?”

Your sudden question surprises Nanami, his brows rising when he hears the fear seep into your quiet voice.

He steps forward again, and this time he breathes a sigh of relief when you don’t move. “No, of course not.” His hands cup your face, tilting your head upward so you can see the honesty in his eyes. You let him hold you as he speaks. “I would never hunt you…” Your eyes narrow, and Nanami quickly adds, “...again.” 

He sees the way your lips purse together, like you’re trying not to find humor in that. “If anything, I was hunting your date…” he mutters, quickly tacking on “kidding,” when you narrow your eyes again.

But still, he makes a mental note to find that man later.

“The first time,” Nanami says honestly, “I hunted you with the intention to kill. Clearly, things didn’t work out that way.”

You sigh, your features softening as Nanami pours his heart out to you, the way he wishes you would’ve let him before you left. “No…they didn’t.”

He remembers the first time he’d caught your scent, so alluring and delicious, the first time he’d heard your heartbeat, and he’d let the sound lull him to sleep, the first time he’d pressed his tongue to your pulsepoint, the thrumming beneath making his nostrils flare. And then, the first time you’d let him taste your life essence…

“You changed me, ___,” he whispers. “I’m a monster, it’s true. I kill, I manipulate others to get what I want, I hurt others. But I’ve never done any of these things to you.”

Your hands find his wrists, holding tight while he finally blurts out everything he’s been keeping buried all these months.

“You leaving me…it left a hole in my life I didn’t know you filled at the time. I need you. I love you,” he says. “It’s why I watch you, why I follow you. I’m sure I sound a little insane…”

“An understatement,” you murmur. But there’s a tiny smirk playing at your lips. You’re teasing him.

“I have not felt this much emotion towards another since…” He shakes his head, almost in disbelief. “I don’t even know when. But I know for certain, I feel love when I think about you. I thought you felt the same…” He breathes hard, like it was such a strenuous task to get all of that off his chest. Eyes boring into yours, he mutters quietly, rather pathetically, he thinks, “...what changed for you? Why don’t you want me anymore?”

Any other vampire would be mocking Nanami to all hell, dragging his name through the mud at how desperate he is for you, a human. He loves you. There is no doubt there. Why else would he spend any and all of his free hours thinking of you, dreaming of you, seeing you anytime he closes his eyes? You consume him, and the irony is not lost upon him. 

It’s been so long since Nanami stepped outside in the daylight. So long since he’s felt the sun on his skin. But your warmth, your presence…you are his sun. He orbits around you. 

It can’t be helped. He knows what he wants, knows what he’d do to have you back. He just needs to know that you want him, too.

Your soft breaths against his face has his mind reeling. Your scent is driving him crazy. He doesn’t even know when you two had gotten so close.

“It didn’t change…” You confess, and if Nanami didn’t have incredible hearing, he would have missed it. Your feelings for him haven’t changed. “I’m leaving Tokyo, Kento…”

Nanami thinks he misheard you.

“I’m sorry?”

You repeat it, a little louder this time, albeit shakily. “I’m leaving. Going abroad for school.” You smile softly, and Nanami finds his thumbs gently caressing the apples of your cheeks. “I got into a program to study wildlife and…I’m going to go.”

Now Nanami wishes he had misheard you.

“You…left me…to go and study animals?” He’s not understanding. You can’t do that here?

“No. I left because I need this change, Kento.”

“Why?” The question comes out more strained, more desperate than he intended. “Why do you need to leave me to do this? Why do you need to see other people to do this?”

You can’t look at him now, eyes downcast. “I’m still young, Ken. I have to figure out my life.”

“And you can’t do that with me?”

This is all too much. Why the hell does studying animals mean you have to leave him? That you see other people romantically? That you give yourself to another? Perhaps he should just kill you. It feels like a better solution than letting you leave him for good.

“It’s only for a few years,” you reassure him. “I just…it was easier for me to cut and run. You can’t go with me. The trip is long and…the sun…you just–”

He gets it now. A lengthy flight abroad is impossible for someone like him. Of course you’d want a real life, a mortal life without him. He would be selfish to keep you from that. And he is selfish. He wants you, deserves you. After years of living in the shadows, he wants so badly to step into the light with you.

But he knows that he can’t. He knows he can only give you what you truly deserve – freedom.

“You’ll be great,” Nanami says, trying to control the way his voice threatens to break. “And when you’re done…if you still want me, come back to me, okay?”

You nod, tears pooling at your waterline as you make your silent promise clear.

There are no more words to be said. It’s the closure he needed, though not the results he wanted. He has to let you go. It’s not fair. That’s what he wants to say. He wants to grab you and take you back to his home and keep you locked up so that you can never leave him. Maybe turn you so that you can spend an eternity together. But it’s just not fair.

He feels your hands press against his chest, trembling as you stare up at him. “One more time before I go?”

It’s an offer he can’t, and won’t refuse.

Nanami kisses you, hard and long, hungrily. He slips his tongue into the cavern of your mouth, humming when your tongue tangles with his, and he’s already losing himself in you. In your touch, the little sounds you make, your scent, your taste.

God, how he missed you. How he will keep missing you when you’re gone and even until the day you return.

Your lips slot against his, messy and demanding, hands balling his shirt in your fists as you pull him closer. You step back, dragging Nanami with you, each step moving you further and further until your back hits the wall and Nanami’s towering over you. And he’s losing himself, humming when you sigh into his mouth, hands finding your waist and squeezing out of fear you’ll vanish into thin air if he lets you go, his head tilting just slightly so that he can take up more of your space, more of your air. He’s so lost in you that he barely feels the change, hardly makes out the little yelp you let out, your hands pushing him away as you roughly break free of the kiss. 

Eyes wide, your fingertips graze your bottom lip where a cut now resides, thick crimson blood dripping into your hand. “Your fangs…” you’re panting harshly. “They’re out.”

Nanami’s fingers are on his mouth, a single digit running through his lips, along his teeth where he feels the long, sharp canines fully protruding. He’s nicked you. He lost himself so much so he sliced your lip with his fang.

‘This is fucking embarrassing,’ he thinks. The urge to vanish into the shadows and forget about this encounter is strong.

This. This is the effect you have on Nanami. Any and all control he has is out the window. His fangs appearing on their own? It’s the equivalent of suddenly getting an erection while out in public. This has never happened to him before. Not with any of his past lovers. Not even when he’d first turned. And yet, you pull this reaction from him so easily. 

Nanami is overtly aware of humans and their mortality, of course. So he doesn’t particularly go out of his way to care for them. But you…he cares for you. You have him skulking around like a rat in the dark, waiting for you to look his way. You have him losing control of his fangs like he’s some goddamn adolescent vampire just from the taste of your saliva.

It’s definitely not the liquid he’d prefer, but he loves it all the same. Intoxicatingly saccharine, so sweet it almost hurts.

“I’m so sorry,” Nanami whispers, taking your hand from your lips. “I lost control.” He lifts your hand to his face, eyes boring into yours as he inhales the enticing scent of your blood. One long breath, deep, savoring the smell. “That seems to happen a lot when it comes to you.” His tongue darts out, his gaze locked on the way your breath hitches, how your heart beats loud like a drum as he slowly drags the warm and wet muscle along your skin.

‘Delicious,’ his mind sings. Nanami’s body reacts as it always does when he even catches the scent of your blood. He leans forward until he’s only an inch away before he drags his tongue along the swelling cut on your lip, humming gruffly at the taste. He’d missed you, and your blood. It’s unlike any others. 

You watch him through hooded eyes, chest rising and falling rapidly. The sounds of the bustling city just down this alleyway drown out as the two of you simply stare at each other, neither daring to look away. You may not be able to see as well as Nanami can in this darkness, but he sees you, and he’s sure he wears the exact same expression as well – love, desire, need. He sees the way you hold all of it in your eyes. You do care for him, you do love him the same way he loves you. You want him the way he wants you. He sees it so clearly.

He kisses your lips tenderly, careful not to hurt you again. Slow, steady, a bit more controlled than before. He’s trying to reign it in. But it’s you who deepens the kiss, arms wrapping around his neck and pulling Nanami closer as you kiss him harder. Your tongue finds its way into his mouth, and Nanami groans, the metallic blend of your blood and saliva sweet on his tongue.

“Fuck,” he breathes.He lips are on yours, rougher this time, the cut on your lip opening again and bleeding, mixing into both of your mouths. “Did you always taste this good?” 

You giggle in response, a sound he missed dearly. 

“I’m serious,” Nanami pants. “I feel like I can’t think straight just from kissing you.” He grinds his hips into yours, evidence of his need rubbing against your center. “Do you have any idea how badly I’ve wanted this again? How badly I’ve wanted to see you, to hold you, to touch you, to t–?”

He catches himself, not wanting to beat a dead horse.

“Taste me?” You whisper, fill in the gap, humor in your tone. 

Well, it does come with the territory, he supposes.

“That, too.”

Your fingers play with the short blonde locks sitting at the nape of Nanami’s neck, staring up at him and it reminds him of the domesticity you used to have. Reminds him of those little moments in between the busyness of your lives. “I have some idea,” you sigh as Nanami dips his head down to kiss along your jawline, down your neck. “You did stalk me for months, after all.”

He hums against your skin, acknowledging the fact. His lips drag along as he finds the spot that calls to him, and when he presses a light peck to the place where he can see your pulse fluttering, you gasp, fingers tightening in his hair. This was always the part you sort of dreaded, he recalls. And it was also the part you both were most excited for.

“Can I?” Nanami pleads, rubbing his nose along your pulsepoint and inhaling deeply. Your scent has changed, the anticipation and little bit of fear in your blood evident to him. So he presses another kiss, sweet and soothing to your neck again in hopes to calm you. He hopes the answer is a resounding yes, that you’ll let him do this one last time before you leave him for who knows how long.

He’s certain he’ll die right in this spot if you say no.

But your hand glides along his arm, until your fingers wrap around his. You guide his hand to the waistband of your pants, his fingers just barely beneath the fabric, and Nanami groans eagerly.

“Have me,” you whisper, whimpering quietly when Nanami runs his tongue along that spot. “I want you to.”

Nanami’s nostrils flare, the rapid rhythm of your pulse pounding beneath his tongue sending him into overdrive. If he’s being honest, this is his favorite part. Perhaps he gets off on the small bit of fear you exude just before this. He can’t help it. It’s instinct for him.

His hand slips between your bodies, into your pants as you loop your both arms around his neck. The feeling of your dripping core makes his cock throb within the confine of his own pants. But he can take care of that later. Right now, he only sees (and hears, and smells) you. He inhales deeply once more, kissing along your jaw once more until he reaches your lips. His lips slot against yours, needy and hungry until he has to force himself to break away in case he loses control again. He’s back at the juncture between your neck and your shoulder, right where your pulse beats wildly beneath your skin.

“It may hurt,” he warns, but it’s only to make himself feel better, really. You’re aware of the pain, having experienced it many times before. And still, even with the bit of pleasure it gives him, Nanami feels a little guilty about it.

“It’s okay. I can take it,” you assure him softly.

Of course you can, his sweet love. You would let Nanami do this time and time again if he asked, would you? And this is what Nanami remembers. How pliant you become when he’s got you like this. So eager to give him whatever he asks for. 

How will he live without you?

Nanami groans, low and rough against your neck, murmuring about how much he’ll miss you, how he loves you, how you’re so perfect for him and he’d rather die than to have another take your spot in his world. All the romantic words he’s been hoping to say fall from his lips, and he can hear from the way your heart drums against your ribcage that you’re feeling the effects of his words. He means every one of them, he hopes you know. 

His lips brush against your skin, presses one last, sweet kiss to the spot, murmuring, “I love you,” while his fingers run through your slick folds. Your legs tremble as Nanami’s rough fingers rub tight and slow circles on your clit. Your hands have found his shoulders, bunching the fabric of his shirt as you hang on. Every curse and moan from your lips is music to Nanami’s ears, only making him harder, more desperate to hear you make more of those noises.

He keeps his ministrations going, slipping forward until he has a single finger positioned at your entrance. He pushes in gently, just barely enough to garner a reaction, but your mouth still falls open with a soft gasp.

“So tight, so sensitive still,” he speaks, muffled against your neck.

Nanami’s tongue runs along your pulse, mouth opening slightly so that his lips lift and pull back. His canines push forward from his gums, exposing the long set of sharp fangs that have been screaming to be let loose. The relief he feels at finally being able to freely expose the long canines has Nanami letting out a strangled groan, murmuring an “I love you” just one more time before he’s slowly sinking his fangs into you at the exact moment he adds a finger to your entrance, pushing in and stretching your walls. His eyes roll to the back of head immediately, the thick and warm liquid filling his mouth, and he consumes everything you’re willing to offer.

It’s no wonder Nanami felt the need to follow you from the moment you’d left him. There is something completely addicting about you, something that doesn’t simply satisfy his hunger and cravings, but so much more. 

Your teeth bite down on your lip, an attempt to not scream at the sharp pain. Your hands squeeze hard, the discomfort running through your entire body. And Nanami squeezes you, too, one hand holding onto your waist for dear life, for something that will tether him to this moment here and now with you. Because he doesn’t want to lose control, doesn’t want to hurt you any more than he already is. 

Your eyes are closed tight, mind reeling with the intense pain and ecstasy you’re feeling while Nanami drains you, simultaneously pumping his fingers into you, and you quickly find yourself overcome with pleasure. Your quiet gasps and moans of pain turn to quiet gasps and moans of bliss, and the iron grip you had on Nanami eases.

He drinks from you like he hasn’t fed in days, and it has your head spinning, the quick depletion of your blood making your legs shake. It doesn’t help that Nanami’s fingers are picking up speed, reaching the place that makes you whine and beg for more, the lewd sound of your wetness mixed with both your muffled moans filling the space of this disgusting alley. 

You haven’t fucked anyone since you left him all those months ago, and now you’re remembering why.

There’s not much Nanami needs to do to quickly have you unraveling beneath him. Be it his mouth, his hands, his cock, he knows exactly what to do to make you come undone. You’re not shocked at all when Nanami presses his thumb to your clit, rubbing delicious circles on it, and your walls squeeze down on his thick fingers just as he bites down on your neck a little harder. Then he messily breaks his hold on you with a sharp intake of breath, standing tall and looming over your form so he can have a front row seat to your orgasm crashing over you suddenly.

Your lips fall open, a loud cry threatening to burst from your chest. But Nanami’s lips find yours, silencing you when his tongue immediately enters your mouth so that you can taste yourself on him. You moan, the taste of metallic heavy between you as you ride out your high on Nanami’s thick fingers.

You’re like this for a while, kissing lazily as Nanami pumps into you. When you’ve finally come down from your high, Nanami slips out of you easily, not wasting any time before he’s putting his fingers in his mouth and sucking them clean. You can just make out the dried blood staining around his mouth and his chin, and you wonder if you share a similar look.

It’s strange to taste your own blood, you’ve always thought so, but it’s not bad. Not when it’s Nanami you’re sharing it with. Not when it’s with someone you love.

You gaze up at the man you feel you can’t live without, but know you must in order to truly find yourself, your happiness, and your heart races. How could you have ever thought you’d be able to live a normal life after leaving him? How could you have given up this love you strongly share? Could you truly leave him here alone for the next few years? 

You don’t have the answers, but you know you can’t go back on what you’ve planned for your future. You need this, and he knows it. But it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this bit of time you have together. You were stupid to think you could cut and run. You don’t want to be away from him.

“Can we take this back to your place?” You whisper, pulling Nanami down for another kiss, softer this time, teasing almost. You press a palm to his groin where you feel his desire for you, and Nanami grunts at your touch. “I want to spend every second with you before I go.”

[octuscle]

Sustainable changes

Nicolas had just been promoted to Senior Product Manager. But the condition was that he had to take a foreign assignment for two years. He had reckoned with Germany, the USA or maybe Japan. India would also have been okay. But he was supposed to go to Turkmenistan. His employer had just bought a large agricultural cooperative there, which was now to be converted in the direction of ecological and sustainable agriculture. On the one hand, this sounded like a completely unknown field of work. Nicolas had previously worked more in the consumer goods sector. On the other hand, anything that bore the label "sustainable" was naturally a career driver at the moment. So he took a cautiously optimistic approach.

Once Nicolas arrived at his new workplace, the optimism quickly evaporated. He had arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There was no office building, there were only barracks. Mostly not air-conditioned. He had expected to be put up in some hotel. But he had been given a room with a farmer. Toilet in the yard. Bathroom was an outdoor shower served from the cistern. He felt infinitely silly in his outfit.

In the first service meeting, a colleague asked him if they could tweak Nicolas's resume a bit for the presentation to the workers. It might be good for his credibility if they could give him some local roots. Nicolas was tired. The trip had been exhausting. He remembered his parents' Russian gardener. A picture of a man. Former combat swimmer. And of the Turkish cook. So he answered, one may mix in there with pleasure something Russian and Turkish. The main thing was that he was allowed to retire now.

The night had been hell. It smelled like a pigsty in his room. And he could hear the pigs too, as if they were sleeping in bed with him. There was no hot water to shave with. And company policy forbids the use of shower gels containing microplastics without functioning wastewater treatment for environmental reasons. So all he can use is a bar of curd soap. When introduced to the staff, he looks appropriately a bit bedraggled. One of his colleagues asks Nicolas to say something in Russian. He has to think a bit. His grandmother sometimes spoke to him in Russian. But it's enough for a "I'm happy to be here and look forward to working with you. The employees cheer for their new boss.

Before Nicolas takes a shower the next morning, he drives the pigs out of the barn. If he's going to share the roof with them, he might as well make himself useful. His hosts invite him to breakfast. The conversation in Russian is still a bit bumpy. Nikolai hasn't spoken his father's language for years. And his host family, of course, actually speaks Turkmen. But with hands and feet it works. And so it goes on in the office. The team meeting was supposed to take place in English. But the interpreter dropped out. With every hour it gets better. The memory of his father's language comes back.

At breakfast, Nikolai realizes that he understands Turkmen better than he thought. It definitely works out that his hosts ask him in their native language. But he prefers to answer in Russian. Nikolai speaks it again as fluently as he did when he lived with his father in the Sevastopol army barracks. At work, they discuss the tasks for the next few days. Nikolai considers the projects for preventing soil erosion and unused surface water runoff to be urgent. Everyone passionately discusses the possibilities of transforming agriculture to get by without artificial irrigation. But Nikolai realizes that it will be difficult to irrigate only naturally in the desert.

The next morning, Nikolai surprises your host family with a few words of Turkmen. With his fluency in Russian and Turkish as his mother's language, it's not that hard for him to learn the language. On the job, they speak almost only Turkmen anyway. Today, his job is to drive the fields and inspect and document the environmental damage. Nikolai doesn't even need to shower for that. It will be hot anyway. And air conditioning is only for wimps. The point is to save energy wherever possible. In the afternoon, he gets a call from headquarters. They are very pleased with his work on site. It is clear that the project would not make an economic contribution. But the advertising impact is enormous. Whether he is interested in accepting a junior director position at the headquarters in Paris.

Nikolai turns his camera, bares his left breast and says in broken French that his heart beats for his new home. He won't leave until the desert blooms again.

[tenebrius-excellium]

The pure ENJOYMENT that is The King of Attolia I'm YELLING

I'm starry-eyed laughing out loud glued to the page I am ENTERTAINED

What was boring and incomprehensible upon the first read is the icing on the cake when you know. The drama. The theatrics. The subtle hints at EVERY corner that nothing is what it seems.

Look it's not the second read that has me hooked on Costis' poor existence it's the THIRD read which has me keeling over.

It takes time to understand!!! Time to get the elaborate production of outsmarting one's enemies and their intrigues. It takes so much time to see Gen's hands in every scene, even when he is not in the room at the moment - oh my gosh, the way the supposed puppet is the puppeteer all along, maaaaaan whaaaaat am I really only starting to discover the symbolism of this series now???

The incredible way that I can sort of start guessing which parts of Gen's actions are clearly staged and where he actually messes up because he is just human as well... the way his consistent lateness is profound and to be given stern attention to...

And do you want to know the best part?? There are STILL scenes that I don't fully understand. There will possibly be MORE for me to discover on an eventual fourth read.

Also POOR COSTIS oh maaaan. Gen is toying with him and Costis is as thick as a skull about it because it's not that he's not smart - he's actually very smart - it's that Gen is just such a foreign concept to him, completely out of his area of expertise, so that Costis struggles to see past what's right in front of him.

Gosh.

EVERYBODY WHO WANTS AN EXCELLENT READ; WHO DESIRES TO BE SURPRISED BY A PIECE OF LITERATURE AGAIN AND AGAIN; EVERYONE WHO HAS HIGH STANDARDS WHEN IT COMES TO BOOKS; GO READ THE QUEEN'S THIEF SERIES RIGHT NOW.

[airam1quhs]

💐This Goes to My Partner.💐|K.C.

(requested by @screamfome [request: Kurt Cobain but. He writes a song about you and he's like "this goes to my lover, at home])

A/N: I wrote this crumb-not-really-a-crumb a while back but never posted it because I didn't think it was good enough. Turns out I haven't been productive in AGES so you guys can have this lol 😭 keep in mind it's unedited and probably wasn't supposed to see the light of day. And to all my other pending requests, IM REALLY SORRY for the delay and I promise I'm working on them 😭 just don't get your hopes up too high and expect them any time very soon. Sorry again :(

Warnings: N/A. Gn reader (they/them pronouns)

They pressed the button on their telephone, playing back the message that was causing the blinking light. As soon as they heard Kurt's voice they smiled. They looked forward to the daily updates they could wake up to every morning, as it was one of the fewer ways they could contact Kurt while he was on tour.

"Hey love! I know you'll probably be sleeping or out with your friends so I'm uh, leaving a message. Things've been going fine here, I guess. Nothing much to report. Y'know what actually there is, Krist damaged himself onstage again but that's nothing new so," a pause, "You know that big show we have tomorrow night? I think it's being broadcasted live... you should tune in. Looking forward to being home off this fucking drag. Hope you watch the show. Miss you."

The last part was more of a whisper, but they still picked up on it before the sound of the phone being placed back on its holder, and they couldn't control their smile. They were more than ready for Kurt to be home too. By far.It was a weekend, so they amused themself with hobbies and random activities for most of the day, even managing to be a little productive. It's a wonder what a good night's sleep and high spirits can do. But when it came to be evening all tasks were dropped in favor of curling up under a blanket on the couch, eating some snacks and watching the tv.

Sure enough the Nirvana show was about to be on. The channel did the thing where they excessively tease something they're going to show anyways, but it was okay, because it meant they could marvel at the beautiful, professional shots and video clips taken of Kurt. He was photogenic regardless of if he liked it or not.

Finally it began. The show started normally, set tight and not much crowd interaction between. In fact, they didn't think the band had said a single spoken word to the crowd three songs in.

They understood it. He was probably quite fatigued from all the touring. Just listening to his voice in general was enough. Though they were surprised when the band stopped, and Kurt started talking into the microphone.

"These next ones, and this show in general..." He stopped to squint at and survey the crowd as he caught his breath, "this is dedicated to my wonderful partner." He said with an air of seriousness. The crowd roared at that. "I know they're probably watching at home right now." A hint of a smile tugged at his lips, "probably sitting on the green couch, under our purple blanket..." They looked down at their exact position and laughed. Kurt knew what he was talking about. "Probably eating something too, yeah?" The full smile came out now, as he looked right at the camera. "You'll have to tell me when I get home."

With a last, sweet smile, the band went back to paying. But they say on the couch feeling full of warmth. Even a million miles away, hours off in time zones with all sorts of foreign excitement... he was still thinking of them.

[hoeneymilktea]

I NEED THE LORE ON OIKAWAS EX GF, I NEED TO KNOW HOW THEY MET ITS EATING ME ALIVE

So for some reason, I thought I already answered this in the story, but technically, I didn't! I was screening through the fanfic like "I swear I wrote that in... WHERE IS IT!!!" LMAO

My explanation is pretty long, so I'm going to break the post here :-)

So we all know Oikawa's ex-girlfriend, her real name is Rina Fujiwara. She was an undercover cop/agent working for the joint TMPD-PSIA mission, just like how Suna is.

In the latest chapter, when Suna was in the board meeting with all of the other agents and officers, they were discussing reopening a cold case from a couple years prior—capturing the infamous Cypher, who is wanted in three different countries for the distribution of all sorts of narcotics: Japan, the U.S., and the Philippines.

She basically was assigned to that same case, all before it went cold after Oikawa faked his death in Manila. She had a role similar to Suna's, get close enough to their target to influence and manipulate him on their (the PSIA's) benefit.

Though, the reason why Suna has a more distant role, and something not so... up-close and personal with Oikawa was strictly because of what happened with Rina Fujiwara and her death. They didn't want something similar happening with him.

How Oikawa and Rina Fujiwara met... well, that's a story.

In my head, I always had it that she was pretending to be a university student studying to get her psychology degree, and I don't remember if I still included it within the revised version of deciphered. I recall I included it in the first (cancelled) version.

They "met" at a college party, their meeting was entirely planned out by the PSIA. Oikawa is 24 in the current timeline of deciphered. When he first met Rina, he was probably just freshly 20 years old, pretending to be around 23-24. Rina was around 24-25 years old (actually), and pretended to be much younger than she was, around 21-22 years old.

Oikawa knew the hosts of the party as it was the biggest college party of the season, and he intended to sell a lot of his product to the college students. Funnily enough, this is around the same time Kuroo attended college as well, and he attended this party too. Like I said, it was the biggest one of the season. They never met directly, but I wanna say that Kuroo probably bummed a hit off a joint or even a line of coke from someone who bought it directly from Oikawa.

Rina obviously disguised herself well, but she was supposed to blend in with the crowd—instead, weirdly enough, she caught the eye of Oikawa. She looked more "gaijin" than the other girls in attendance (so I'm going to assume the people reading my fanfic are those who aren't born and raised in Japan... and so are technically foreigners... SURPRISE! Y/N looks like a gaijin, and lowkey probably is. lmao. headcanon!!! decipered oikawa likes gaijin girls).

So back to it—Oikawa starts chatting her up. She's playing into it. Rina's at a surprise that convincing him wasn't that hard at all—she even had a whole elaborate plan to seduce him—but it looks like Oikawa was making it too easy. She tells him lies... lots of lies he loves to hear, all because she researched the fuck out of him. She knows everything about him while he doesn't know one single thing about her (oh how the turns have tabled!).

She mentions how she's a college student at this particular university, and she's majoring in psychology and how she plans to be a therapist after all that's done. Very normal stuff. Weirdly enough, Oikawa likes those normal, candid girls. He thinks it's hot. idk he weird like that. probably the most normie thing about him

He's basically flexing on her like "oh I can treat you right, I got all this cash, i can provide for you" and Rina like the queen she is... TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THAT! deciphered oikawa is a PROVIDER MAN!!! he was taking her out on dates, buying her things, etc. They even had an apartment together! Remember, she was taking this whole undercover shit REALLY seriously, even so far as to live with him. Kinda like agent twilight from spy x family, she takes that shit seriously LMAO

though every time she went to "school", she was at work. if he wanted to drop her off or pick her up from the university, she'd have to pretend to "get out of class" or "go to class" when he'd do so. the level of dedication this queen went through was insane. even so much to "pull all-nighters" of writing papers to making up entire homework assignments to really convince him of that she's got that "college student" lifestyle.

It was so convincingly realistic that once Oikawa found out about her undercover identity, his entire world and sense of the real came crashing down. all of the trust he put into her instantly dissipated. trust and loyalty for him became everything, and so anyone within his life remaining that still stuck around, Oikawa treasures immensely. the brotherhood he has with Sakusa for example; I believe he might know Oikawa the longest out of any of the characters. He's the only one to have seen Oikawa grow and mature in experience from age 17 to 24.

Anyways... yall already know what happened to Rina after that. RIP queen who never cry 🙏

Oh I forgot to mention. The name Oikawa knew her by was Aiko Suzuki. I think I wrote some sort of screenplay of deciphered for a class assignment, and I used this name in place of Y/N's. But now it will be for Rina's. lol

[mythica0]

part 2 for shady? Dev grows actual confidence and tickles his dad back? (I don't like dale I'm not saying his stoopy name)

Rebellious

🎂: Fop; a new wish

🧁: Dale

🍫: Dev

Summary: Dev works up the confidence to tickle his dad back.

A/N: once again this is probably OOC for Dale but whatever. Enjoyyyyy

Rebellious

Dev was still thinking about the events of the previous day.

His dad had brought him into the office, and then instead of grounding him or something, he had tickled Dev.

It was a welcome surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. His dad usually wasn’t big on physical affection, especially towards him. He was used to being treated as a product rather than a person. But something must’ve changed yesterday.

Dev usually wouldn’t dare to do anything that could be seen as rebellious, but the aforementioned events made him feel like he could. As well as the fact that it inspired him to be more mischievous.

Dev decided that he was going to get some revenge. Hopefully his dad wouldn’t kill him. So, after school, when he got home, he went up to his office. Dale was working and not paying attention to his surroundings, which was perfect.

Dev snuck behind his dad, making sure to be really quiet. He waited until he was sure he wouldn’t accidentally cause actual damage to his fathers work, and then latched on to his dads sides.

“WHahahat thehe! Dehehev? Whahaht ahare yohou dohoing?!”

Dev giggled mischievously. “Revenge!”

“Ihim tryihihing toho wohork!”

“Hey, you could probably use a break!”

Dale’s systems were very shocked, he hasn’t been tickled since he was very young. It was such a foreign feeling. Electric sensations zapping through him, causing him to laugh without his permission, doubling over.

“Stohohop ihihit, kihihid!”

“Nope, I’m not satisfied with my revenge yet!”

Dale reasonably could fight off his kid with ease, he was much larger and stronger- being an adult. But he was debilitated by the laughter that poured out of him. He was also encouraged to let it happen by the happy face of his son.

Dale slid off his chair, thudding on the floor. Dev stopped for a moment. “Are you okay?!”

“Yeheah.. I’m fine.”

“Phew.” He breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, crawling onto his dad’s waist and poking at his tummy. “That means that I can continue!” He snickered slightly.

“C’mohohon, Dehehev!”

“What’s the problem? Is the famous Dale Dimmadome weak to some tickles?”

“Ohoho gohohod nohoho!” His face burned red, and he covered it with his hands.

“Yeah, how’s it feel, huh?~ tickle tickle tickle, dad~”

His mostly golden teeth showed through his hefty laughter, shaking his shoulders with the force of it.

“Stohohop ihihit! Thahahat reheally tihihickles! Hohoholy-“ he had to stop himself from cursing in front of his kid.

“Oh does it? I had no idea!” Dev’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Plehehehease Dehehev!”

Hearing the near desperation in his dad’s voice, Dev decided to wrap it up.

“Alright, one last thing and then I’ll let you go,” Dale didn’t know what to expect, until he heard a large breath in.

And before he knew it- “PBBBT”

“CrahahahAHAP! NOHOho!” Dev hopped off his dad, a smug look on his face.

Dale stood up and dusted himself off(despite there not actually being any dust.) ��geheez kid, that was a lot.”

His smug grin grew wider. “I know, thank you!”

Just as he turned to leave, Dale grew a smug look of his own. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“B-back downstairs?”

“You really thought you could get away with that? Oho no, you’re in for it now.”

Devs face grew nervous and giddy at the same time.

“I’ll give you 10 seconds to run”

———THE END————————————————

[topconfessions]

I'm so glad you're back!!! : )

I just wanted to update you about the 'tea' regarding TOP's casting in squid game 2. The director recently did an interview with a few journalists. It was uploaded on multiple Korean news outlets yesterday. (I'm Korean, btw) Apparently he spent half the time talking about TOP. I've yet to find a full translation of it in English, but I'll link one of the sources I've read here. Most articles, including the ones below, only quoted parts of the interview.

https://www.starnewskorea.com/stview.php?no=2025010215001441455&MS2

First, the director talked about how he came about with the character Thanos, emphasizing that he didn't create the role with TOP in mind. He said he was interested in issues such as crypto, drugs and wanted to cast younger actors compared to season 1. He was inspired by some of the contestants from 'Show Me the Money' (a Korean reality tv series by Mnet, where amateur rappers 'battle' each other through tournaments) and created the character 'Thanos', a rapper who garnered fame through a similar reality tv series, who also has drug issues. He auditioned 11 actors, but couldn't find the right person. He even considered casting Swings(스윙스) for the role.

Then, he talked about how TOP came to audition for the role. His production team had brought him a list with TOP's name on it. The director decided to ask TOP for an audition, but was skeptical TOP will try out for the role because of the negative parallels he shared with the character. After spending quite some time thinking about it, TOP accepted the offer. He had a total of 3 auditions. The first on was in person, which the director stopped mid-way because TOP was 'too nervous and sweated profusely'. So TOP sent an video tape instead, which the director liked. But when he announced the casting to the public (June, 2023), he received such heavy backlash that TOP had to audition a third time, while other cast members had a table read together.

After facing an unexpected magnitude of criticism, he said he took the time to 'find out why the public is unforgiving' regarding TOP. He said that at the time of the casting, he wasn't aware that TOP had once claimed he was retiring, and he has kept a passive-aggressive stance against fans and the public since. The director said that TOP may have 'made things bigger than it had to be', and he even considered cancelling TOP's casting, but he didn't want to discard TOP who 'had guts' to portray a character that was essentially making fun of himself. After he saw the results, he was satisfied with TOP's exaggerated performance of the character. He said that he had already expected the adverse reactions from Koreans and foreign audiences when it came to 'theatrical' characters like Thanos.

As for TOP's absence in promotional events, the director said that he had little to no say in the matter, and it was ultimately Netflix's decision. He argued that while Thanos is a memorable character he dies midst the season, which makes TOP a supporting role. And the fact that the promotional events only featured cast members with more important roles in season 3 has nothing do with the what the public thinks of TOP.

To my surprise, he carefully added that "I think (TOP) wanted to participate in promotional events. If he isn't planning on hiding from the public forever, he needs to clear up his controversies on his own. Honestly, though, having worked with him, I personally don't think he's the kind of person who could handle a bunch of people bombarding him with questions. But at the same time, I hope he finds the right opportunity to speak out his mind one day."

I was surprised because I think its the first time a public figure from the entertainment industry actually spoke on TOP's behalf. After almost certainly leaving YG on not so good terms, TOP has been blatantly avoided being mentioned by anyone famous in the k-pop industry or the acting industry. I've been reading other interviews from the director since, and I think he's the kind to person who likes to speak what's in his mind shamelessly and directly. I personally think he's telling the truth (at least his version of it) when it comes to how he cast TOP for Thanos.

I've read in your posts that you have your own thoughts regarding TOP's casting. It's fine if you don't want to share them. I'm just curious whether this interview brought some new insights to the whole situation.

If you have the time, make a quick search online. I translated this after reading Korean articles, so if you happen to find a more reliable English source, please let me know!

This confirms what I've been saying and thinking. Top isn't truly ready for a role like this on a show of this magnitude and This was a one off, practically handed to him regardless of the auditioning process. I feel after reading this PERSONALLY that the director is trying to clean up the whole backlash and distate of his apperance. Its giving damage control. I DO believe the parts of him being awkward and him not being fit to do press tours but while I do agree with netflix decision to not include him, he NEEDS TO BE PROMOTING the show, out there doing interviews, press conference and all of that cause it legitamize and reinstate his importance in the show Even if it's a supporting role.

It detracts from his entire involvement and really just makes it look like he is a guest star (how us americans call it) in the show for some razzle dazzle and thats it. Now, I know all about show me the money and I remember that show well, I know bobby from ikon went on there and many others.

Swings should've gotten the role and been an older has been washed out rapper with a more mature and darker personality. Squid game in character and in real life, you know you're 95% going into the game to agree to be killed. Its a voluntary suicide truly and everyone who goes there truly has no reason to live anymore or willpower. I feel while I appreciate a younger cast being incorporated into the season, it strips away the fabric of the crucial nature of it.

Even if thanos had a lot of playful banter with the girl and was cool with her, the cleverness yet the carelessness of him playing that bee trick on her adds to the show but also takes away from it to me. If this were real life thanos would be dead from the jump cause some people would've pushed him or took his ass down with them etc. But I digress.

I would like someone to tell me what episode he gets killed off in cause Although if I do watch it, I'll try to be fair, if its too much for me I'd like to skip most of those episodes and just get to the rest of the game.

Anyways, this all supports my stance that he is playing an exaggerated version of himself and poking fun at the entire stereotype of his image the korean public placed on him being a messy problematic star. He was still personally contacted and a lot of stars American and foregin are contacted to audition or given the role, but it still supports my stance that this is too close literally obvious that it was written for him.

Also, everytime he's in a movie his character always dies. It's redundant to me and upsetting. I need him to take on a SERIOUS role or a comedic role where it flows well. Tazza 2 was decent and that was one of his more solid performances. That military movie was a good direction but his character dies at the end I believe.

I need a denzel trianing day moment from him i need a wolf of Wallstreet or titanic from him. Or an oceans eleven. Or maybe a period drama from him, historical. There is something aboht his choices in roles that rub me the wrong way.

[farfromstrange]

Total Eclipse Of The Heart | Matt Murdock

Pairing: Matt Murdock x f!vampire!Reader

Masterlist ° Parts 1 , 2

PART THREE: There is a lot about the mythology behind vampires to be found on the internet, but is it really true? Matt finds the mystery woman that has been turning his head and she once again makes him question everything he stands for, including his religion.

Warnings: Description of vampirism, mentions of death, mentions of blood, religious imagery & symbolism, blasphemy, dark themes!, not proofread

A/n: IM BACK WITH THIS STORY Y’ALL! This is actually pretty tame compared to the rest. Anyway, after I don't know how long, I have finished the chapter for this series. It's shorter than what I usually write, but I'm saving space for the smut. It's coming, I promise. If I'm correct, it might actually start happening in the next chapter, but it could also be the one after that. We'll see. I don't have a schedule for this story and I don't have the time to update regularly, so just lay back and be surprised by random updates!

18+ MINORS DNI

Vampires - (in European folklore) a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.

A person who preys ruthlessly on others. 

That’s how Google defines it. 

He wasn’t sure what the internet would bring him. He wasn’t even sure what he was searching for when he activated the text-to-speech function on his laptop very late at night as he sat in the complete darkness of his apartment, his figure only illuminated by the red light of the obnoxiously large billboard outside the windows, a light he could not see. He only heard the faint buzzing over the beating of his own heart and New York City screaming beneath him. He tuned it out, focused on what he found most important, and dove into the world of mythology and science - because how else could he explain the strange woman that seemed to follow him anywhere? 

She had him in a chokehold. Every time she was around him, he felt compelled to follow her. He felt drawn to her in a dangerous way that seemed almost magical. Matt Murdock didn’t believe in magic, he didn’t believe in the reality of mythology. He believed in facts, and there was the fact that superhumans existed, the Avengers taught him that much, but who this woman was exceeded what he chose to believe. It was unholy, ungodly, and a sin in the eyes of the God he worshipped. She couldn’t be what he suspected because if she were, he would have to take God’s word and put an end to the creature that she was. 

He came across an article that seemed ridiculous to read. Even saying the word sounded foreign to his ears as he asked Google to search for one species specifically, one that was not supposed to exist, only a product of centuries of retellings and then the modern media that twisted the picture. 

She wasn’t supposed to exist. 

“In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighborhoods they inhabited while they were alive.”

Deaths in the neighborhood. The suspected drug overdoses left the victims bloodless and caused some to go crazy. The injection sites were not often on the neck but on other body parts as well. All of that happened under his nose in Hell’s Kitchen, his home, his turf, his neighborhood. 

“They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today’s gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the 19th century.”

He couldn’t see her but he doubted she looked like that and still appealed to the eyes of human men. At the gala, the men present had practically devoured her, but she had only had eyes for him. In a room full of eligible bachelors and people looking for a quick fuck, she had chosen him. He wasn’t supposed to feel so warm when thinking about her. Her hands were on his body, her distinctive scent, and the lack of a heartbeat. He wasn’t supposed to be aroused by thinking about where her hands had wandered before and the promise of doing it again. And he wasn’t supposed to want her after what she did to the fisherman only the night before. 

“Vampires are typically said to be of pale skin and range in appearance from grotesque to preternaturally beautiful, depending on the tale. Another frequently cited physical characteristic is the inability to cast a reflection or shadow, which often translates into an inability to be photographed or recorded on film.”

Preternaturally beautiful. It was as if there was no other word that could have explained her better. She was beautiful, a temptress, the snake in the garden of Eden that drove Eve to her certain demise, and Matt wasn’t sure who he was in this scenario - was he Eve or was he God? Was he going to bite the apple or was he going to serve justice for the cruel acts of the devil? Or perhaps he was a secret third option. Maybe he was the Devil standing behind the snake that was Lilith and they would both fall to their demise. He was no saint, he was merely one of God’s disciples, and he had sinned enough for a lifetime. 

“A bloodsucking creature that rises from its burial place at night, sometimes in the form of a bat, to drink the blood of humans. By daybreak, it must return to its grave or a coffin filled with its native earth.”

He brought his research to work that morning, determined to figure out what he was dealing with. With his headphones in it seemed as if he were working on the legal files Foggy left on his desk, while in reality, he scouted the internet for information on a topic that first suggested to him the Twilight Saga on Netflix.

“Tales of vampires are part of the world’s folklore, most notably in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula. The disinterment in Serbia in 1725 and 1732 of several fluid-filled corpses that villagers claimed were behind a plague of vampirism led to widespread interest and imaginative treatment of vampirism throughout western Europe.”

“Who are you?” he wondered. “What are you? Where did you come from? Where can I find you?”

“A person may become a vampire in a variety of ways, the most common of which is to be bitten by a vampire. Other methods include sorcery, committing suicide, contagion, or having a cat jump over a person’s corpse. Some people believed that babies born with teeth or on Christmas or between Christmas and Epiphany were predisposed to becoming vampires. While vampires usually do not die of disease or other normal human afflictions, and they are indeed often said to have faster-than-normal healing capabilities, there are various methods for their destruction. The most popular of those include a wooden stake through the heart, fire, decapitation, and exposure to sunlight. Vampires are often depicted as being repelled by garlic, running water, or Christian implements such as crucifixes and holy water. In some stories, vampires may enter a home only if they have been invited, and in others they may be distracted by the scattering of objects such as seeds or grains that they are compelled to count, thereby enabling potential victims to escape.”

“What are you doing?”

Matt flinched. Out of shock, his hand got caught in the cord that attached his headphones to his laptop. He hurried to press pause before his friend could hear the ridiculous research he was conducting, but it was too late. The automatic voice sounded in the office and he wished the floor would open up and just swallow him whole. 

“These “undead” creatures cast no shadow and are not reflected in mirrors. They can be warded off by crucifixes or wreaths of garlic and can be killed by exposure to the sun or by an oak stake driven through the heart.”

Finally, he managed to press the spacebar to shut off the narration, but Foggy was already laughing by then. 

“Are you researching vampires?” he asked, holding his stomach. “Are you in a vampire cult? Is that why you keep coming to work with bruises on your face? Is it some kinky shit you’re too embarrassed to talk about? Because if so, you’ve got a real issue, dude!”

He slammed his laptop shut before Foggy could steal it from him. “No,” he was quick to answer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Adjusting his glasses, he pulled one of the files from the stack on his left. If he appeared to be busy, maybe he would leave him alone. 

“C’mon, Matt, don’t be shy. Tell me! If it’s a girl you’re doing this for, maybe I can help. I could help you train your mojo, y’know. Or I could play wingman. If it’s a cult though, I’m out. I don’t like vampire cults. They’re disturbing.”

“It’s nothing,” Matt waved him off. “I was just… doing some research. Doesn’t matter. I’m done.”

Foggy wiggled his eyebrows. “Are you sure? A vampire chick would be crazy, man, but it would be hot. I assume she’s hot. Is she hot?”

“This is not about a girl!”

“You sure? You can tell me. I’m your best friend. Well, I’m your only friend, not counting Karen because you do not want to talk to her about this kinda stuff, trust me-”

He sneered, “Just drop it, Foggy.”

The man raised his arms, turning around to face the door. “Alright, keep your secrets, Bella Swan,” he said. “I won’t judge you. Yet. That might change in five minutes.”

Matt chuckled, although it was fake and a little over the top. “Get out,” he said with as much love as possible. 

Finally, the door fell shut and he could breathe. Not only did he embarrass himself in front of his friend but he almost blew his cover. He had to be smarter about this. If she was what he suspected her to be, he needed to be more cautious. She could cause all kinds of destruction. If she was this willing to hurt an innocent man, she wouldn’t hesitate to wreak havoc on his life, too, if he didn’t do what she wanted. And he didn’t want to lose his friends to a blood-sucking monster that had no right to exist. 

He set his mind on a new mission: find the strange woman and confront her before she could tear his dear Hell’s Kitchen apart. 

Dawn came soon enough and on the other side of town in the small abandoned church that they claimed, her coven started to wake from their sleep. She didn’t have to research her favorite object’s species - she knew humans inside and out. After all, she had been one of them a long time ago. 

When she woke up from her slumber, he was the first thought on her mind. It was getting sickening, this need for him. She yearned to touch him. He occupied every living brain cell constantly, and she couldn’t get his handsome face to fade from her vision. He was always there, every second, every day. Perhaps she was getting sick. Perhaps she had a tumor (that wasn’t possible) and she would pass away. If she had been human, that would have been a rational fear, but she wasn’t and so she had to admit to herself that she was not only infatuated with the stranger, she was obsessed. And perhaps her feelings were a little confused because he was simply different from any other man she had been infatuated with before. He was different from the men she had wanted before. Her mind reacted much differently than it usually did, and so did her body. She had never craved to tell someone the truth to the point they understood fully until he came along, and he screwed up the plans she made for her residency in New York. 

Part of her was screaming to leave. They could start over somewhere. There were several identities left that they could use, but with everything that was going on around them, they were bound to stay, and she was bound to suffer through wanting him until she could finally have him. Though she feared that even then she couldn’t let that peculiar creature go. And she didn’t even know his name. 

Well, that was until Talon came strutting into the main room with a brown folder in hand. She half suspected it to be the record of another victim, but she had prevented that the night before. No, what he was holding was much more precious and she considered giving him the kiss he had been craving for so long. But she wasn’t one to give in. The poor man didn’t deserve to be played with. He was one of them, after all. 

Holding a mug filled with a mixture of coffee and some leftover B-negative blood, she took the file that was handed to her. “What is this?” she asked. 

“The information on the man from the gala,” said Talon. “I thought you said that-”

“Huh.” She licked her lip, set down her drink, and resumed opening the documents. “I didn’t think you’d find him this fast.”

“The guest list was exclusive. It wasn’t that hard.”

“You’re right, I should have given you a more difficult task. My mistake.” Her tongue dripped with the venom of sarcasm. 

When she flipped the file open, she was met with the face she adored so much. She sucked in a breath of approval, tracing her finger over the man that was Matthew Michael Murdock, Columbia graduate, and attorney at law in his little law firm in Hell’s Kitchen. Partners with Franklin Percy Nelson and working alongside their paralegal Karen Page, who was just as beautiful as the rest of the group. 

“Gotcha!” she murmured with a smirk resting on her red-tinted lips. “Now you only have to find me…”

“Why don’t you visit them?” Talon burst her bubble. 

She looked at Matthew’s ephemeral face, then at the man before her. “They’re humans,” she deadpanned, “They don’t work at night unless they’re healthcare or security personnel. Lawyers qualify as neither.”

“If you want a taste, you could just visit him at home.”

“If I want a- Talon, seriously, did you eat your own brain for breakfast? I require an invitation to enter anyone’s home because I am a vampire. You are a vampire too, which means you cannot enter someone’s home without an invitation either. Do you really think he would let me in after I dug my teeth into an innocent man’s throat and almost tore his neck apart right in front of him?” She cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t fucking think so.”

He pouted. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, just get out of my face,” she said. 

“Yes, boss.”

Without a heartbeat, she was hard to track. He roamed Hell’s Kitchen for a sign of her, but she was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t at the docs or in dark alleyways. She wasn’t hunting in the woods like an animal. He preyed at places he thought she would appear. She never came. 

But this pull kept him connected to her, and so he soon found himself walking to the border of Hell’s Kitchen, far away from the city center. He could smell her miles away. She tainted the air with her scent, drawing a line toward her whereabouts. He followed that line until he reached the huge metal doors of the abandoned church he had only read about once. 

Carefully, Matt pushed his hand against the cold material. The lock gave in. The cold air hit the lower part of his face. The stone radiated little to no heat and the curtains on the colorful windows offered no entrance for sunlight. At night, they were open, and the paintings were as clear as day in the light of the chandelier. During the day, they kept them close. 

Vampires are allergic to sunlight, he remembered reading. It still felt like a fever dream. He couldn’t believe that he would even suspect such a thing. He was delusional, sick even. He wanted to know, but he was also afraid to take the first step into the walls of God’s house. It was no longer holy; the building had been tainted by the demonic possession, children of the Devil. 

He clutched the crucifix around his neck tightly, and then he dared to enter.

She stood at the altar, having smelled him long before. A chuckle passed her lips and she turned around, her eyes sparkling like those of a viper, and her voice sounded like the song of a thousand sirens trying to draw him under their spell. 

It was working. 

“This isn’t going to hurt me, you know?” she said. 

Matt licked over his lips. “Oh yeah?”

He stopped clutching the golden cross dangling from around his neck, building the perfect contrast to the crimson of his leather-clad suit. The irony of the Devil’s horns paired with the religious piece of jewelry went straight past him, but never past the woman standing right before him on the steps of the small, abandoned chapel in the heart of New York City.

“Aren’t vampires supposed to burn at the sight of a crucifix?” He realized that burn might have been too strong of a word. “…or something equally as dramatic?” he added, the hint of a dark smirk gone lost in his voice.

She chuckled. The sound bounced off the high walls decorated with poison ivy and cobwebs, and the cracks in the stone were proof of the significant age of the catholic landmark. “That’s what humans like to believe,” she said. “In your pretty little heads, it goes something like this: If the sight of Jesus on a cross can make the undead shake in their boots, God must surely be stronger than the evil lurking in the dark. I would know, I used to be like you once. A long time ago. But no, that’s actually a common misconception. The only emotion this crucifix elicits in me is pure, unbridled rage.”

“And you think I’d believe that?”

“I would say take a look in the mirror, but,” she clicked her tongue, “I don’t think you are going to see anything. Not because the mirror would be empty but because you can’t see. That’s important to clarify.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I get it. You also have a reflection. You know, you could tell me anything you want, but that still doesn’t make me believe you.”

“You don’t have a choice though.”

“Oh, I do. I always have a choice,” he said and his conviction was adorable. 

“What, you want to throw garlic at me next?” The silence told her that he played with the thought. “Sweetie,” she cooed condescension in its rawest form, “That’s not even going to leave a rash. Don’t like the smell or the taste, but then again, I do not require sustenance, so nobody cares that I don’t like garlic on my food.”

“So, no fear of crucifixes, no allergy to garlic and you have a reflection. Is anything they teach us about vampires real?”

“Fair question, but no. No matter how badly you want those myths to be a reality, they’re just myths. Stories. Retellings. Children of the human imagination.”

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”

“Classic literature without meaning,” she said. “But it’s a good book, nonetheless.” He could hear the smile in her voice, which was about the only thing about her that was audible to his ears.

There was something terrifying about acknowledging the existence of vampires. They were dead, abominations, creations of Satan – vampires were unnatural, born from the deepest, darkest pits of hell. It was everything that he gathered after hours of research, and somehow it still wasn’t enough because she simply didn’t fit the picture he had drawn up in his mind of what a vampire would be like. 

Her lack of bodily functions made it almost impossible for him to anticipate her behavior and it had him right on the precipice bothering on insanity.

“How did you know?” he questioned next. 

She frowned. “That you were the man from the gala?”

Matt nodded. 

“I can smell you,” she stated. “I can smell you and hear your heartbeat, that’s how I knew. And you smell oh-so-sweet. I could never forget that smell.”

He wanted to wipe that smirk off her face. She played with the same weapons he had. Her ears were as good as his and she could smell him the way he smelled her. Terrifying, he thought. She was everything he stood against and yet she was the most alike to him than anyone else.

“You figure out my name too?”

“Yes.”

“That I’m blind?”

“Blinded as a boy, lost his father young, grew up in a catholic orphanage. Graduated top of your high school class, then the top of your college class. You became a lawyer. You fight for justice. But then at night… oh, at night, the devil comes out to play. Daredevil,” she dragged out the word, “The man without fear.”

His tongue poked the inside of his cheek. “You did your research, huh,” he said. “You know everything yet nothing at all about me.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Oh, I did my research too, alright.”

“Well, that was terrible research. Half of what the internet says isn’t true anyway.”

Scoffing, Matt chose to ignore the sheer mockery in her tone. He hated how comfortable she was around him. She had all the advantages and he was naked before her. For a man without fear, he sure was shaking in his boots just thinking about her, but it wasn’t just fear. Matt was excited. His body vibrated with the thrill she sent down his spine and he swallowed the urge to strut up to her and pull her against him, do all the lewd things she had on her mind and that projected onto him. 

But he didn’t. Instead, he asked for her name. She complied, of course, saying her name in the sweet poisonous tone she always used. It was a beautiful name, made for her even. He would never tire of hearing it. 

Eventually, after her name vanished from where it had hung in the atmosphere for him to taste every last sound of it, she spoke again. “You’re very educated, Matthew. I’m impressed. I like that I can talk to you on an intellectual level, although that outfit of yours is a disgrace hiding behind my favorite color,” she said. 

“Why,” he challenged her, “because blood is red?”

“Perhaps, or maybe it’s just because red looks good on almost everyone.”

He scoffed.

“Dear Matthew, I know I’m currently breaking your mind, but fear not! I don’t want to kill or eat you. Not your blood anyway.” 

Her eyes trailed over his body. Needy they were. Aroused, even.

He caught up on it. The longing glance, the lick of her lips, letting the saliva drip from her tongue to her bottom lip. He didn’t need to see to imagine her wild eyes undressing him.

“What do you want?” he asked. The last thing he wanted was for her to get the wrong idea.

But that dangerous woman already had the wrong idea. In her head, it was the right one. An attractive man entering her temporary stay… she would be the last person to say no to that.

“Nothing,” she stated. “I don’t have an ulterior motive. I know you want to have a reason to hate me other than the fact that I stand against everything your little catholic heart stands for, but I can’t offer you that.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Myths, novels, folklore, and everything else that even remotely borders on fantasy is something that feeds your human brain with things you understand. You want to believe what you know to be true to justify my untimely death if you were to drive a stake through my heart or something equally as dramatic. That way, you wouldn’t have to feel guilty for murdering me, but since you can probably tell that there is a faint heartbeat in my chest, it’d still be murder.”

“Untimely? I doubt that a vampire’s death could ever be untimely.”

“Three and a half centuries is pretty early for my species. Equals about the age of twenty in human years.”

“I don’t understand,” he expressed, desperate and he looked so small then, standing below her.

“My advice,” she said, taking a step down from her pedestal, “delete everything you think you know about vampires from lore or mythology and start making up your own mind.“

“Why?”

“Ask yourself this instead, why not? Why believe anything you can’t prove to be either false or true just because you have a gut feeling, or your worldviews are different? Isn’t that called prejudice?”

“Prejudice?” he said. 

“Yes. I know big words too, Matthew. I mean, I am very old.” Her smirk told him she took this anything but seriously. “Well, you are Catholic,” she said. “Catholics thrive off of prejudice.”

Matt shook his head. “You have no right to judge me.”

“I’m not judging you. I’m simply telling you to open up your mind to the possibility that there might actually be a power that’s even stronger than God. Just the possibility. Consider that. Rethink the world, rethink your religion, even. Rethink everything and reconsider what’s important. Once you’ve done that, come back and have tea with me. If we’re still not on the same page then, you may drive that stake through my heart after all. I know you want to. God knows you want to. The only person who doesn’t know,” she said, tilting her head to the side as if she was talking cutely to a child, “is you, Matthew.”

“Deal,” he spoke before his brain even got the chance to think about it. “But don’t think for a moment that you’re in control of me. I can make my own decisions, and if I end up deciding to get rid of you, that’s my choice too.”

The vampire shrugged. “That’s fine by me. I do not fear death in the way you humans do.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he chuckled breathlessly, “When I’m done with you, you’re gonna wish I’d been so merciful as to kill you.”

“Feisty, I like it.” A smirk danced on her lips in a heated rendition of salsa. “I look forward to talking to you again, Matthew.”

Her heels sounded faintly against the stone floor as she disappeared into the darkness of the abandoned church walls.

“You’re going to sleep in your coffin now?” he couldn’t help but toss after her.

The sweet sound of her usually so dooming laugh filled his ears. “Bed, actually,” she said, not even raising her voice from wherever she stood to stop and listen to him. “Coffins are so eighty-seven.”

Matt shook his head. He had always feared the creatures of the night, like the sisters at the orphanage told him to, and the priests at church always taught God’s disciples to be weary of Satan because Lucifer hides behind the most beautiful faces. The snake lurks in the dark and every person, male or female, represents Eve in the Garden of Eden, submissive to the silver tongue of the devil. That’s why you have to be on the lookout, they told them. He’s in people you don’t expect, and the creatures of the night wait for you to let them in so they can corrupt you.

Somehow though, this one was different. She was much different from what he expected and somehow, that intrigued him more than it scared him. She could have killed him but she didn’t. She could have eaten him but she didn’t. She had the opportunity, yet she chose not to.

He left the church instead of following his instincts to trap her and lock her away. He left and he decided to rethink everything as she told him to.

What could possibly go wrong?

[papirouge]

Ah yes, because we all know that Russia bombed the equivalent of 2 H bomb onto Ukraine in the span of a few weeks, precisely like Israel did. No mention of the (illegal) use of white phosphorus, which is known to have terrible effect on the environment. That's totally a normal "war" stuff that happened before and that we should just gloss over like we did before :) .....NOT.

The "exceptional" treatment for Israel is simply on par with the exceptionalism of this war. Pulling out a whataboutism about other countries, or the Russia-Ukraine war is stupid considering that either Ukraine or Russia has yet to showcase the same casualties as Palestine does.

"how many country has YOUR country set off" that precisely because people acknowledge that their country has a hand in this conflict (sugaring Israel with their taxpayer money and weapons) that they're doing the most against it, genius🙄 And you know what happened when Westerners said that this conflict is actually also our business because that's our money that goes wasted onto it? we've been told that we're just clueless goyim and that we are forbidden to have an opinion on it lmao Because Israel spilling goyim blood to have their fanatic millennialist Gret Israel way is totally not goyim business...ofc So what's the truth? should we stay in our lane or not? how? we've been boycotting but even that has been a problem for Zionists too somehow (we'll get back to it later on this post). At this point whatever we do or say will never please you because you're just mad we stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.

btw, it's funny to see yall suddenly whine about the delusional left saying that the hostages are "crisis actor" when the ones who've been consistently saying that the victims in Gaza weren't real and made up an entire HASHTAG #paliwood to mock them(!!) were Zionists.... interestingly no Zionist complained about people making a "trend" off tragedies, like they do against pro Palestinians...what a load of hypocrites lel Actually Zionists were the one insinuating that the hostages were actors for displaying signs of sympathy for their captor and not being enough mad at them lmao ....Something-something...every accusation is a confession LOL I'm not saying that there's no delusional conspirators in the left/anti Zionist side though, only that acting like the left had some sort of monopoly in denying basic reality to fit their narrative is straight up dishonest. Never forget that the ones who came up with the "crisis factor" talking point were CONSERVATIVES, to act like mass shooting were psy-op and that no kid died in Sandy Hook to remove from their side any responsibility regarding their loose gun control policies. The same right whose antisemites constantly fly under your radar, and that you lazily label as "leftist" just because they're against Israel....

Behold, LEFTIST anti Zionist MEME 🤡

Interesting how I never see you guys seethe about the actual antisemitism of this flock of guys🧐 it's like, the left had to bear the whole responsibility of the rise of antisemitism on its shoulders.....why?

"focus on their own shit" You mean, those civilians precisely did by doing what they could do at their own level such as boycotting, something that Zionist lobby also tried to make it illegal(??). Zionists made fun of protesters protesting IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY against their own government, saying how useless they are and hop they're more of an inconvenience than a "real" protest. Like sis, if you want people to "focus on their own shit", keep that same energy for Israel and tell them to stop trying to interfere onto foreign country politics (trying to make the ban of Israeli products illegal) & assaulting them! So yeah, don't be surprised that people start to get scared of Zionism. Which btw already did a handful of victims already...even in the West :

"Zionism will kill us all". If you can use Islamism like a boogeyman to say it will "kill us all" (in the West), don't be surprised we pull out the same energy for Zionism who also kills ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"harass and threaten people in other countries" lmao you mean like those two Israel agent did by assaulting US citizens on their own soil? 🤡

the same US citizens who hound their own officials to stop funding this war, and you know who's still making fun of them?? ....Zionists (look at the comments)

but yeaaaaah anti Zionists are totally not doing shit and are just lazily harassing people online. Tell me you have no idea what you're talking about without telling me you have no idea what you're talking about.

TL;DR : you guys never beat the every accusation is a confession allegations

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Second Review of FACE

This one is more positive?

Face-off is my least favorite track. Jimin's singing reminds me of the way recent YG idols sing. The beginning actually reminds me of Love Scenario. The songs sounds very generic to me and I can't hear Jimin in it. Even the way he sings is different but in a bad way. The chorus is better than the verses but I still don't enjoy the song that much. It's not bad, but it's not great. Also, the opening instrumental is cool, but going from that to Jimin cursing and talking about drinking felt more pretentious, less clever. 7/10

The Interlude is so unnecessary. I hate the sounds of Jimin breathing, drinking, the glasses clinking, the alcohol behind poured. It's like bad ASMR. 5/10

Like Crazy would be a lot better without the actors' voices at the beginning and end. Again, hearing them whisper in my ear is like unwelcome ASMR. I can't get into the song. It's very catchy for sure, since I keep hearing it in my head, but it's not catchy in the sense that it makes me want to listen to it. I don't like the sad yet euphoric vibe. The song needed something extra, something more fun. 7.5/10

Alone is the most vocally interesting song maybe, but I'm not sold on the chorus. The verses are okay, but I don't like the choir (?) in the bg? And it's too short and doesn't go anywhere. The production, in true Hybe fashion, makes the song sound more soulless. It reminded me of the production in LSF's songs. 7.7/10

SMF is by far the best track on the album, excluding Letter. It's hype, somewhat original, catchy, and the choreo is catchy too which helps the song be catchier. It's the only song I listen to randomly. 8.5/10

Letter is super sweet and Jimin-like. It's my favorite song after SMF and Jungkook's vocals are a gift. 8/10

I said this before, but the album lacks an identity. Jimin sounds like he's trying to be edgy, and, yes, I know that sounds pretentious, but I don't know how else to express that. Cursing is great, but there are plenty of ways to express anger and negative emotions that don't evolve cursing. At least curse creatively. I don't know who Jimin, the soloist, it. This album has confused me. I thought I knew the kind of image and sound he wanted, but I don't. The album surprised me yet it didn't clear things up. It didn't actually tell me anything about the kind of sound and image he wants to have now. You have someone who chose to promote like a regular idol releasing music that is really generic idol music that is, nonetheless, packaged as deeply personal (and it is to him but I don't see it) and transcending the kpop sphere. I don't even know how to describe it but I need more albums to figure out what he truly wants to do musically (if he even knows). I guess it's natural that chapter 2 is showing BTS in a new light and sometimes the members feel foreign to us because they're sharing different parts of themselves and we're seeing them in a different context.

Overall, 7.5/10? Not the most solid debut. I think I would've enjoyed this album more if it wasn't his first one. Sorry for the inadequate review.

[depresanesfreetime]

I watched Diplodocus (Smok Diplodok) and it's Rated E Paranoia Agent (clickbait)

My review on letterboxd

Nobody my age talked about Diplodocus; it was one of very niche IPs, somewhere among works of Szarlota Pawel and Smurf comics. Meanwhile, Polish animated features struggled to either go 3D or stay relevant in 2D, and if someone made an animated movie, it was for older audience like "The Lordz o' Flys" or "George the Hedgehog". Then, you have "Loving Vincent". Kids these days watch foreign animated features, while teenagers and adults laugh at "Captain Bomb".

I didn't expect myself to end up in this timeline.

Thus, imagine my surprise when I saw my local cinema's weekend schedule. Diplodocus, mentioned by no-one, merchandised by no-one, out of nowhere got Polish, Czech, and Slovak funding and masquerades as an Illumination wannabe. A movie that is both safe and fun, exaggerated and adorable.

A movie whose only product placement is the city of Brno, and which uses only one pre-existing song:

wait for it

Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on my mind".

No, it makes no sense. It ties up to the original score, which references the 1980's synths, but that's it. It's also supposed to expand on the villain's theme because yes - this movie has a villain, and it's on the nose.

The main villain is the publishing company which trapped a comic book artist. Dude wants to draw dinosaurs, scientists, and things that are not seen as trendy. His publisher, a woman in pink (because of course), forces him to design a cute kitty and even leaves him her phone case for reference. When the artist finally draws the cat in Act 3, she speaks with the publisher's voice and wreaks havoc in his imaginary universes. The cat becomes the secondary villain, the extension of the publisher's trend chasing and apathy.

I'm making it sound deeper than it is.

The cat is not the only problem the artist causes. Dude grabbed a rubber and erased his "unwanted" characters, including Diplodocus' parents. Naturally, poor little dino wants to find them. With the help of a mad scientist on steroids, but mainly by using his own thinking skills, Diplo meets his Author and Maker. They venture together for a little bit and bond over their shared problems (Diplo hates being restricted by his parents). Very "Stranger than fiction" style, the artist regrets his actions and all ends well... But before that happens, they have to deal with the kaijuu cat.

Theoretically, the audience doesn't have to know the source material, especially because the scriptwriter doesn't follow its plot. But then there are stuff like uncomfortably close close-ups, very distant zoom-outs and chaotic change of locations, which could be seen as contemporary movie flaws... But no, that matches the comics. The actual main problem of Diplodocus is that it has three loud scenes. There's loud and then there's the Singing Onions scene.

I was worried the movie would include Native American stereotypes (below). Well, there's only one, the chief in a top hat, and he's in just one scene, looking for a seat in audience. Still, Diplodocus meets ancient Egyptians, who speak in pictures because hieroglyphs, tee hee.

Considering the movie took years to be developed, it's a nice treat that it exists and that three countries made it together. Just don't take it personally if you wear everything pink and love designs with huge eyes.

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

You're suggestion is to let him die by his own hand due to his agency screwing him over because they wanted to undermine the political site that he tried to start up to fact check these people while they're constantly being bought by foreign lobbies in order to sell more guns and start more wars?Are you sure you'd want to support anyone represented by that agency?Sounds like they all need to switch agency to someone that actually represents them in a productive way instead of using them as PR shields for war crimesMaybe that's just me though..../

First, his team didn't do shit to screw him, he could easily Say no. This political website doesn't fat check anybody. This pedo just Made that platform for a Boost of ego. Have You seen any good Made by his web site? I'll wait. The agency didn't do shit to him. Again, this pedophile just saw a young pussy and went after that. I haven't seen a pr relationship go that far to get married and having the husband going to a con and giving the news. Everything that is happening right now with him is his fault. No CAA, no his team and NOT THE GOVERMENT. Those entities have more places to go and people to manipulate in order to win a war. they don't have to go or screw over a used to be a-list pedophile who married a young pussy.

Hello anon,

I will reiterate the fact that my opinion remains unchanged as to whether this is crappy PR to save myself the time of rebuttal while also stressing to the audience reading that you are the one calling him things that don't apply here

I'm sorry you don't have the wherewithal or understanding of how things are interconnected here to reach the relatively logical conclusion I have

You have to remember that these Hollywood agencies have previously been connected to covering up pedo rings re: Epstein and many actors who have tried to leave CAA have found themselves the subject of smear campaigns

Christopher unfortunately forayed into the political arena looking to fact check information while still being connected to these people at CAA who have deep pockets and connections with those in Washington seeing as they have their own lobbyists

The level of planning involved to use the Entertainment news as PR cover to bury the information about what is happening would require them to know what is being released ahead of time so just by that alone they demonstrate a connection behind the scenes, it does not surprise me that so many in Hollywood came out in support of the Israeli occupiers when given the opportunity

Whether you realise it or not, they are connected

🤍🪽✨

[the-firebird69]

This place is a concentration camp and think about it it's run by this idiot and it's done before and screwed tons of stuff out by doing it and exposed us to everybody I've been Arnold's wrong, and on a few points but he's not as long as Tommy f it's really wrong though and I don't think he's right about what he's saying and our friend says he's stupid okay he doesn't know the math and Ben Arnold doesn't know cuz you didn't have to learn it and he was right but who cares he's still doing it wrong and really it's basic basically human nature that they don't understand it's so weird sick as a cat or something it's like no no we humans looking it like this.. I'm actually laughing a little cuz there's a lot of people with this wacko s*** he comes up and says not really and you're freaking nuts and they don't get it some get it later and kill themselves and it's just a nightmare here this is so dumb I don't think any of us are going to make it I'm going to crap ass bastards really quick... I don't know what this guy the guy's problem is yeah I do been Arnold has been this way for a long time he ain't changing I ain't getting stopped by extortion and it's cheesy and cheap I've been helping doing things to make it look different and his kids are picking it up this is the most and really we're not going to be strong enough to do the job and he's right and I don't think the foreigners can and this guy's dead he's almost gone I don't know what to tell if people they probably have to run this experiment on Ben Arnold and unfortunately our son is saying he probably picked up on you guys saying it and they looked at it and said we said it here Daddy this is us saying we're going to run it because we can't tell I'm going to see which way you go and why so he started doing it a little and I can tell that he's just old contraire guy about everything and it's not really helping them and anyone can sit there and say that stuff like John remillard and ruin everything I went out of this these people need to make products and nobody wants him to make anything and Ben Arnold wants to get more isolated this is giving me the creeps

Mac

There's a lot of loss today and the morlock last a lot and the max lost a lot they went down there and was surprised it's like what are you surprised about it you can't get Intel what are you a kitchen appliance what are you going to do without people with a kitchen appliances you're not the ones with the ships and you're delusional you said that to Ben Arnold and it turns around and says I'm going to get you said you're fired everything you do is backwards your kids can try and survive but you're not trying and you're done you're more evil than he'll ever be the sack of crap. What's your horseshoe now we're going to go after this guy we heard his s*** today with our son and he's a mean piece of s*** and he just wants to use low-level extortion he has no savvy no plan he's not worth talking to and he's running our son around and our son says he's going to be one of the biggest because Tommy F got me money and he's the worst and finally identified him there's some others doing it some foreigners who feel that they would never chance like Garth and he's out in his crew their s*** but you can get him to do the job this has been Arnold guy won't do anything and his kids hate him we hate him. They might follow him are there other clans because these guys f****** suck the guy that helped him with the saddlebags it's going to try to help for a long time and suddenly turned into a massive a****** the other day but he hasn't been for ages and it's not true they have it too really but other clans don't not as bad but really these guys don't want to get them anything he got him something that can't get anything else and nobody in his helping him who is the clan of his but t and we noticed that Tommy f is going down and they're seeking out his matrix and people are finding them and they hate him and they're going to burn him permanently out of the like 4 million small matrix facilities which are like a billion square feet or smaller half of them have been discovered out of the medium ones which are around 3 billion square feet and there's about 1 million of them 1/3 has been discovered all over the planet pretty much everyone knows and the large ones there's probably 200,000 no there's 3,000 about 1/8 of them and discovered and the word is out they're huge ones and out of the very huge there's one it hasn't been breached but it's talked about and it's in Australia and there's probably about 20 of those now people are going after these and very hard and they're going after him and pulling their people out and they're killing off all the clones they found out it's an engine and the Mac idiot then Arnold is real slow to react and he's going to be behind the eight ball and not have stuff my daddy's mad and livid and says we're going after those things to 3 hours and to free hours and we'll have more people and stuff that they have and these idiots can't even get it out there so slow and dumb and it's true too so we have some game now and the ships are still prepping to launch they've almost got them already it's going to be a few days or less and boy is this aggravating are these people are toddlers and you can't treat us this way we're going to prove it I didn't tell you that we have to take over these ships before they launch I'm going to send in the order he said they're too big and everyone is they'll never know it

Thor Freya

Olympus

Wow this is great I've got a lot going on in my life and I do see my husband saving me I saw him do it today and they had it ready and they knew about it but it's right on it and I do understand it

Hera

Zues

We're closing in on Ben Arnold and his and we're going to start beating them up we're going to take them to court and boy they're the worst these people are obnoxious and other clans will support us

Olympus

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

8.18.23 Friday

12:21 am

Just got back from Montana again... After work, I saw a stray dog outside the building... I feel sad and I pity the dog coz he is just wandering without an owner to take care of him....

Yesterday was a new day and today is an another new start... I need to focus but I still feel panic... Here we go again but now I have to stay in the call center, for a long while... Yeah! I need money but I will feel bad and mad if I can't do this job... I had have "brain freeze" coz I'm fucking tired and thinking of my side by side or left and right credits.....

Well, good thing that Uncle Jun sponsored a meal and Uncle DD managed some important fundings here in the house....

Me? I need to pay my credits... I badly need to keep this job angels...

Still, sorry wave 468 of Iqor...

Procrastinating... It is...

Mystery there...Mystery here.... I know it is "Procrastinating" and everything here...

Me and Mia we talked about me? If I want to have a baby? I said why not if the right one comes but I want it on a well-planned... But I told Mia that I was once married and with that xpartner for almost 3 years... I said I wasn't ready to get pregnant and he must respect that... I have my own values and I was never a judgemental...

My original upbringing was conservative but my adoptive mother who raised me here, in this old house my Aunt Teresa ( the younger sister of my biological mother Beth ) told me it was an ideal thing to walk in the aisle before getting pregnant and before having sex... That was the ideal thing but there were some point of our lives that she told me that if you wanna have sex with someone, you must tell us ( my family)...

Then, I had bf's and I planned not get pregnant... Coz I'm not ready and financially we were not ready...

Mature couple can decide,like what I posted on my previous post here... Getting pregnant,having baby is an additional to your relationship but it is not the measurement of being together, not the measurement of your connection as couple.

I told Mia, I don't wanna put a period on that issue now but I feel that I'm not ready coz I really feel fat and ugly and old. I feel so conscious on my feet, I feel awkward showing my blemish butt... I wanted to flatten my tummy....Things that I need to fulfill... I don't know...

I wanna fulfill something....I told her I wanted supposed to be to have an american beauty baby but I wasn't lucky to meet anyone or a foreigner who is really an English speaking and I don't know... On the other angle, I wanted to gain friends, I wanted to join dog show, I wanted to be productive as individual... But I wanted more in life but this is my life now....

I wanna chill for now and this job in the call center this is a big challenge for me... I have to do this or I will feel bad and mad and will feel hurt that why other people can do it and why I can't....It is a major and serious challenge for me to do this job... I need help angels... I need help,oh! GOD... I need help to do this job in spite of the stress that it can give you everyday...

11:02 am

Still,having the windblow trap...

What else to share... It is a new day today...Thank God!!! In a lil while will be bound off to Montana..

Our Friday attire today is "going back to school". I'm thinking what to wear.... Surprise!

It is really funny to be in the call center, once the approved account made by some powerful people, the world inside is really funny or fun coz it is like a make-believe... But me? I was really a middle-class but our life these days is really on a downhill... It is just funny...

One thing you will notice that your account is approved by the upper original management of call center, they will really made the ac on its full power that you can actually feel the chill coz it is too cold and you will probably think that snow can fall down there in iqor...

Congratulations!!!! Wave 468 you are confirmed! BUT! Procrastinating it is...

[mitigatedchaos]

I'm sure you disagree with me a lot more than afloweroutofstone. I suspect that you only haven't blocked me because I mark out the rightward edge of adjacency tumblr that you're willing to tolerate, and to the degree that you do interact at all (which is very little), that provides you with information about what the rest of the right-wingers are up to. (I'd bet $1 that you already blocked samueldays, for instance.)

But.

I believe that you and I are both the kind of person that would read about a country getting 50% of its water from desalination, realize this is a challenging technical feat, conclude that the country must have a lot of talented personnel in this industry in order to carry it out, that the country's political system and institutions must be in decent shape in order for it not to get shut down by red tape or corruption, and that its economy must be fairly productive in order to afford that much desalination.

From this you would conclude that it likely has the talent, institutions, and resources to run a domestic arms industry. It might not, but if it has rivals on its immediate borders then it probably would. If you actually cared (there are a lot of wars or potential wars between a lot of countries), you would run a quick check on the desalination to rule out edge cases (e.g. whole thing is foreign industry fueled by oil money), and then run a quick comparison of US aid to total GDP (in Israel's case, $3.8b for 2023, vs ~$488b GDP in 2021, with another $14b potentially on the way).

Now obviously, we would expect the low range to be bad with intuitive handling of quantities.

But it's surprising that Brett apparently thinks of Israel as teetering on the brink without US aid. Maybe he's thinking that if they can get a termination of aid, they can push through to sanctions?

There's a weird unfortunate effect on Tumblr (it exists everywhere, but it's particularly visible here because of the mechanics of likes vs. reblogs), where if you agree with someone 95% of the time but disagree 5%, that remaining 5% is much more visible and so you seem a lot more hostile to them than you really are.

Brett floweroutofstone is great and I agree with him 95% of the time, including on I/P, but that US/Israel post is just completely factually wrong right from the first paragraph. No sentence in that first paragraph is correct, but I don't really feel like reblogging him and making myself out to be an Israel hawk to his followers in the inevitable re-reblog, which really is not my position at all.

But the tl;dr is that, contra Brett's post, one of the most galling things about US aid to Israel is how pointless and unnecessary it is. Israel has a very mature and self-sufficient defense industry: if the US cut defense aid to 0 tomorrow, Israel would certainly complain, but they'd shrug it off and keep doing exactly what they're doing now. They take America's money because, hey, free shit, why not, but they certainly do not need it. The idea that Israel is a weak and fragile state being propped up by American aid, and it would collapse or even become more pliant to international pressure re: Palestine, in the absence of that aid, is pure cope (and example number billion of leftists assuming that America is the only country in the world with agency and so can make any outcome it wants come to pass by wishing hard enough).

[giurochedadomani]

THAT’S HOVIK KEUCHKERIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!