#SMG Group
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vero-niche · 6 months ago
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Okay what in gods good fuck is this
did not click the button to find out either
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randomuntitleduser · 5 months ago
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Exposing Justin Bieber [someone who works in the industry, runs in the same circles as him posted this on reddit].
TW: Racism, R@pe, Abuse.
I found this on reddit, as a Selena fan I'm sick of people still shipping her with her abuser hence wanted to share how terrible her ex truly is from an actual insider.
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Let's talk about Justin Bieber i.e. the teenager who has physical assault allegations against him since 2010, who talked about joining the kkk & eliminate an entire race, who admitted to abusing his relationships and disrespecting women but in the same paragraph gaslighted everyone saying "he's changed" & victimized himself in the name of "god" multiple times, admitted to being an addict & cheating, also infamously called women 'female dogs', a 14yr old plus size female fan 'a beached whale',
Funny how everyone forgot that when he was accused of r*pe and sexual assault by multiple women - he hired Bill Cosby's lawyer, and filed the $20-million suit to prevent his alleged victims from ever coming out (...the temporary defamation suits - the legal cases which most of the guilty male celebrities use when they are accused of assault and r*pe), this man settled multiple abuse suits against him, made them sign multiple NDAs. Multiple reports and articles were removed by his manager & team in which they claimed several minor girls were found unconscious and drugged out at his parties and they were made to sign multiple NDAs.
His pr team is encouraging, editing and paying videos about victimizing him when he was never a victim, Bieber had physical assault against him by other teens before he was famous (he hung out with straight men and was famous from the beginning unlike the struggling female child actors who survived through hell).
JB was Diddy's favorite student. D treated him like his son (note: D's biological son is also accused of sa and abuse like Bieber). D praised him multiple times, they even released a song together few months back. But when D's allegation were viral him and his team twisted the narrative making Biebs the victim. It's false and baseless, but it's just one of the main narratives which the Bieber pr team banks on, they paid across all social media platforms to spread it like the pizzagate theory (which was used to market 'yummy') to garner sympathy and to remain in the limelight without any projects. So you can guess how much PR agencies and paid social media comments play a major role to shift a perpetrator into a victim and complete misinformation.
Remember when Taylor Swift exposed Scooter & his clients back in 2020 and Selena Gomez also said Justin Bieber abused her. And how conveniently people forget Bieber praised Chris Brown "no one could touch you" during the time when Brown was accused of r*pe and sa, he also associates himself with Marilyn Manson, R.Kelly, among many other 'alleged' rap*sts... The list of atrocities he gets away with goes on and on...
Many sources (credible blinds, friends and people who go to church with the couple) said that his wife is 'allegedly' aware of his history and problematic behavior, But she doesn't give a damn about it, since she cares more about their public image and 'happy pap shoots' than the victims, anything else. "
Also why does Justin Bieber keep hiring managers who have experience and history in paying off their client's victims ?
[" ESMG - 'Exposing Selena Marie Gomez' which has been slickly changed into 'Exposing Scandalous Media Groups' in recent years inorder to spread hate on Selena Gomez with "pretend unbiased-ness".
I can 100% guarantee that they have zero sources they just copy and paste information from tabloids and EntLawyer blinds (ELB are same as Deuxmoi, they have very few legit sources hence 50-50).
It is very psychotic how they 40+year old women (ESMG) Angela and Shannon Lester have been harassing and bullying S Gomez since sixteen years. Few rumors I heard is that, Braun & Bieber donate, encourage these blogs. Regardless it has been very evident that Bieber and co. use bots to spread misinformation and hate on Gomez ever since she opened about how he abused her. It is paid hate inorder to influence others to join in too. "]
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duckapus · 1 year ago
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Meme Pokemon world means Meme traveling companions for Ash but I've only figured out one so far: Hatsune Fucking Miku herself.
She has a Farfetch'd as her Starter because of course she does, and is on her Pokemon Journey to get inspiration for her music. They met when Ash saved her from a bunch of Team Chungus Grunts (because Meme Pokemon world also means Meme evil teams) who wanted to kidnap a celebrity and hold them for ransom. The fact that the world's most popular synthetic pop star and the World Champion (who is also the Universal Avatar and Legendary Chosen One) are traveling together would draw a lot of attention except they're also a couple of dumb hyperactive teenagers so most people are too distracted by their antics to properly make the connection between Ash and Miku the traveling Pokemon Trainers and Ash Ketchum and Hatsune Miku the celebrities.
The SMGs aren't part of the main travel group since 29 usually has her hands full keeping the Internet Graveyard in line and 30 decided to be one of Professor Oak's lab assistants since staying in Pallet Town gives him a more stable internet connection and he's got that whole Mad Scientist Thing going on.
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karvoja · 4 months ago
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davidjhonsblog · 1 year ago
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How can small business owners overcome the current lack of customer confidence? | SMG Group
At SMG Group, we understand the challenges faced by small business owners in today's uncertain times. That's why we are here to help you overcome the current lack of customer confidence. Our expert team can guide you in developing strategies to rebuild trust, enhance customer communication, and adapt your business operations to the changing landscape. From implementing safety measures to leveraging digital marketing techniques, we provide practical solutions tailored to your unique needs. With our support, you can navigate these challenging times with confidence and regain the trust of your customers. Contact SMG Group today to discover how we can assist you in overcoming the current obstacles and driving your business towards success.
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whimsimoon-archive · 2 years ago
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kinda depressing how whenever any black group that intersects with another asks people to get educated about something that harms us, there's always backlash and passive aggressive racism towards that black group
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loveharlow · 1 month ago
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SEVEN [SEASON 2] - 007 (PT 2)
PAIRING ‧₊˚ JJ Maybank x Fem!Reader
SYNOPSIS‧₊˚ [8.5k] based on Netflix’s Outer Banks Season 2 Episode 10
WARNING(S)‧₊˚ swearing, general obx warnings, graphic depictions of injuries/blood, mild violence
NOW PLAYING‧₊˚
A/N‧₊˚ i KNOW y'all hate me but i've literally been through hell and back these past 1-2 months but we are BACK IN BUSINESS XX THEE SEASON 2 FINALE
˗ˏˋ series masterlist ˎˊ˗
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“IT’S SO HOT IN HERE…” You groaned, fanning yourself as you slumped against the side of the receptacle. You’d all been enclosed in the space for well over two hours at this point and the exhaustion was starting to settle in…as well as the agitation.
“Nice work, John B.” JJ said sarcastically as you leaned on the blonde's shoulder while he glared at his best friend. “Y’know, these things lock from the outside, right?”
“I was just trying to get us on the boat, JJ…” John B groaned, forehead pressed against the metal wall as he stood limply. “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.”
“Now we’re stuck in here...like rats.” JJ argued, tone short. 
“It’s hot…” Kiara exasperated, stripping off her jacket.
“Okay, JJ, you’re not helping.” Pope dismissed, annoyed as beads of sweat trailed down the sides of his face. He was gripping a random bar, holding on for dear life. 
“You don’t have a whole lotta room to talk, right now, Pope.” JJ retorted. “You said you had a plan but what happened to thinking ahead?” 
“I find your lack of self-knowledge very disturbing.” Pope shot back through heavy breaths. 
“Ohh, okay.” JJ laughed humorlessly, standing from his spot. “Last time I checked-”
“Oh, my God. Shut up!” You and Kiara reprimanded simultaneously — you tugging so hard on JJ’s arm that you managed to get the boy to sit back down as Kie slammed her arm between the two. “Instead of arguing,” You started. “How about we try to find a way out of here?” You offered, mildly agitated yourself.
“We can take the bridge.” JJ offered, shrugging carelessly. You pinched the bridge of your nose in frustration, turning towards your boyfriend stiffly, sighing.
“...What?” 
“The bridge. It’s like killing a snake — we go for the head. And I happen to know that there’s an armory on this ship. I’m talking grenades, SMG’s-”
“Killing everyone here is not an option.” You stopped JJ bluntly, looking the blonde in his eyes. You sighed once more, walking away in an attempt to recollect yourself, isolating yourself from the group and wandering into the very back of the shipping container.
“Well, what’re we supposed to do-”
“We can’t do anything until we find a way out of here, JJ.” John B told the boy. 
You tuned out the boy’s conversation as your eyes found a beam of light coming from behind a mountain of crates and boxes. The observation stopped you in your tracks, squinting your eyes as your thoughts raced. Without hesitation, you began moving the objects out of your way to get to whatever was shining behind them.
After a few minutes, you finally got to what you were looking for — your eyes going wide. “Guys…” You tried, but your voice went unheard over the bickering of the two boys.
“Guys!” You snapped, eyes on your friends on the other end of the container. Their voices came to a halt, all eyes on you as you used your head to motion them over.
“She’s got somethin’.” JJ mumbled as the four of them walked over to you, now able to see what you were seeing.
“Can we fit through that?” You asked smugly, motioning for the window you’d uncovered. 
“Hell yeah.” JJ chuckled, squeezing your arm proudly. “And uh, what about that swiss army knife 'not coming in handy'?” JJ asked sarcastically in John B’s direction, holding his pocket knife in between his fingers — the perfect tool to pry the grate off of the window.
“Just shut up.” JB rolled his eyes as JJ used one of the crates on the ground as a step stool to get high enough to start rooting out the metal grate.
“Okay, sooo…we raid the armory, get weapons, roll back here, and plot the next move?” Pope confirmed with the group as JJ worked, to which everyone nodded tiredly.
“The armory is on the third deck, near the laundry room. Let’s roll.” JJ verified, fingers hooked into the unscrewed grate, ready to pull it off. 
“Hold up.” Pope started, looking around at all of you as JJ stopped in his tracks. “I don’t think we should all go out there…” He cringed. “It’s too risky.”
“What?” JJ said incredulously. “How?”
“...I think you should stay here.” JB added, eyes on your boyfriend. “I have Sarah that I’m gonna go after. And Pope has-”
“The cross.” Pope finished for him. 
“Yeah…” JJ said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Let’s go get it.”
“Also, if you go out there, there’s a one-hundred percent probability that you’re gonna do something stupid.” John B shrugged.
“Okay, first of all, I think the correct terminology is ‘ballsy’-” JJ tried only to be cut off.
“Okay, get down here-” Pope urged, tugging on the blonde’s arm.
“No. Get off-” JJ whisper-yelled as he snatched his arm away but hopped down off the crate anyway. “Dude, I’m a field player.”
“Shhh.” John B demanded. “Look, if we go out there and we get in a bind, we need somebody to look out for us. That’s what we need-”
JJ scoffed, unbelievably. “Okay, I get it, I get it.” He dismissed, jutting out his bottom lip as he trotted over to you, slinging an arm around your shoulder. “Fine. I’ll stay here. Single out the one who got your asses out of the container, cool.” He said. "I’ll be on B team, ‘s fine.”
“I never said B team.” John B said bluntly, blinking.
“Sorry, are you calling me B team?” You asked, mildly offended as you looked up at the blonde, crossing your arms.
“You’re not B team, baby, of course not. I was just-”
“Did ‘B Team’ not just find our way out? Or am I, like, totally losing it?” You asked rhetorically, looking around the cabin with your hands up in surrender. 
“Look, we’re just saying we need people to hang back and hold down the fort.” Pope clarified, hands clasped in front of him. 
“Great, fine. It’s fine, I’ll just stay here with my girl.” JJ smiled annoyedly, throwing an arm over your shoulders as your arms returned to their crossed position.
“Oh, now you wanna stay back with B Team?” You sassed, raising your eyebrows.
“Will you please-” JJ tried before being cut off by Kiara.
“Guys.” She said firmly. “Chill. Look, John B and Pope wanna go alone? Fine. I’ll stay here with Y/N and JJ, I’ll babysit.”
“You guys have fun. It’s your funeral, your game. We’ll be in here, on the bench…” JJ taunted, shrugging nonchalantly as he released his hold on you and walked back to the front of the container.
You watched as John B and Pope climbed the crates on the floor up to the opened window, one behind the other as John B moved the metal grate to the side. 
“Don’t...get shot?” Kie said, attempting to offer some kind of comfort.
“...Don’t get shot.” Pope reiterated sassily, pulling his lips into a thin line. “That’s…disheartening and scary.”
Kie simply shrugged. “It’s all I got.”
“Okay, let’s go.” John B whispered, poking his head out of the window like a dog. “Pope, grab my feet.”  He instructed in a whisper before launching himself out of the window before bothering to make sure the boy in question even had a hold on him. 
“Oh, Jesus-” Pope cursed, watching as his friend fell face first out of the window — you and Kie’s jaws going slack. It seemed John B had managed to catch himself, however, considering there was no screaming or cursing as his entire frame seemed to slide the rest of the way out of the window.
Seconds passed before Pope followed suit, carefully sliding himself out of the small opening. You were quick to tip toe up the crates, hearing unknown voices from the outside which prompted you to carefully replace the metal grate, praying it wouldn’t dislodge itself. 
Letting the object set itself, you turned to face the two people you remained locked inside with, sighing heavily to yourself when you realized how awkward this would be — even if all parties didn’t realize it. 
“...’s just us.” You sighed with a grimace, hopping down off the grates. “Now, we wait.”
NOT EVEN THIRTY MINUTES INTO CAMPING OUT, OR “KEEPING WATCH", THE THREE OF YOU WERE SWEATING BULLETS. Kiara had isolated herself on the complete other side of the container — whether it was to give you and JJ space or avoid you, you weren’t entirely sure. A part of you wondered if you should tell JJ about Kiara’s confession, if that was the right thing to do as a girlfriend. But the other part figured that it wasn’t your place as Kiara’s friend, no matter how rocky of a hill the friendship currently stood on.
“I’ve been thinking,” JJ started after half an hour of silence — you were resting your head in his lap, hands splayed across your stomach as he laid his head back against a stack of boxes and crates. “When all this is over, and we’re just rollin’ in the dough, I’m gonna get a new board.” He concluded, lanky fingers playing in your hair. “I’m gonna deck it out, and I’m gonna go on a surf trip.” He smiled to himself in thought as you stared up at him. “I don't know where,” He shrugged. “But, like, the world’s calling…I don’t know. Name a place.” He requested, blue eyes looking down at you.
You pondered for a moment, fingers tapping on the surface of your stomach before you settled on an answer — eyes meeting his with a small smile. “Spain.”
He beamed, seemingly satisfied with the answer. “Then after Spain?”
“...South America.” You said, pouting your lips in thought. “Or South Africa.” You shrugged with a smirk.
“And then Micronesia, maybe? And then we…just ride.” He sighed dreamily. You couldn’t help the pure admiration blooming in your eyes, unable to unglue them from the boy above you as he got consumed by his own daydream. You liked seeing JJ happy. He deserved it.
“Wherever the wave takes you?” You asked, voice soft and full of adoration. 
Your voice seemed to snap him out of his stupor, the blonde looking down at you once more to find your big eyes staring at him like everything you’d ever wanted. Everything he'd ever wanted. “Wherever the waves takes us.” He corrected.
“So, that’s the plan if we were to get a ton of cash? That’s it?” You inquired. “That’s the dream? Surf trip?”
The blonde simply nodded. “Rippin’ jungle break all day long. Bamboo hut, cooking a fish on a fire, and after that, you go back out and hit the waves again.” He smiled once more to himself, dropping his hand to brush his thumb over the curvature of your jaw. “That’s the dream.” 
“Sounds perfect.” You cooed, putting one of your hands over his. Subconsciously, you let your head fall to the side, finding Kie’s eyes across the shipping container. Her own sad, brown eyes were glued where you and JJ’s hands were connected — fleeting between his featherlight touch on your jaw and your fingers on top of his. There was an indecipherable look in her eyes, a look that made your stomach turn in the worst ways.
You loved JJ. But you hated hurting Kiara. And you wonder if being in a position like this would ever get any easier.
The sound of tapping and Pope’s voice broke you from your thoughts. “Hey, hey,” He whispered, face nearly pressed against the grate. “Open it.” He instructed in a whisper, Kiara being the first one to get up in order remove the barrier, allowing the boy into the container. You and JJ stood to get closer to the two, watching as Pope climbed through the opening. 
“You need help?” Kiara offered her friend.
“I’m good.” He strained out a polite denial of the offer, landing on his feet inside the space.
“I thought Rafe got you guys for sure.” Kie worried, shoving her hands in her back pockets. 
“No, we’re chill.” Pope whispered, peeking out of the window once more before letting John B in after him, the brunette struggling a bit to climb back in. 
“All right.” You sighed, finishing your mental headcount. “Let’s put the grate back on.” You suggested as JB landed on his feet.
“No, wait.” Pope held out a hand, prompting you to wait a second. 
Your eyes furrowed at this. “What?”
“Hold on to it.” Pope instructed, eyes focused on the opening as if he was waiting for something. Or someone.
“No, put it back.” Kie urged, ready to replace the grate. Suddenly, a girl appeared in front of the square opening — a pretty, brown-skinned girl, covered in sweat. Your face immediately contorted into one of confusion upon registering her presence.
“Jesus Christ!” She whisper-shouted, taking in each of you one by one before her eyes landed on John B. “I kill you, John B!” She threatened with her accent, climbing into the shipping container as you all backed up to make room for her.
“Who is this?” Kie whispered, eyes on Pope. 
“Just relax, okay?” John B got Kie’s attention on him. “I told you I had a surprise.”
“When did you say that, exactly?” You asked, eyes permanently pinched together as you instinctively backed into JJ for comfort. 
“Who is she? What’s going on?” Kiara interrogated, voice becoming something between angry and frantic. 
“Hey, hey, hey,” John B coaxed, planting his hands on the girl’s shoulders to stabilize her. “Kie, relax.” He tried, tone lowering as he seemed to calm her. “Remember I told you about the girl we met in the Bahamas that saved us?” He asked, eyes connecting with all of yours.
“Uh…Cleo, yeah?” Kiara answered, earning a nod from John B.
Your eyes went to the girl standing on the makeshift stairs, pointing as you gained her attention with the movement. “That’s you?” You asked.
She offered a simple nod in response, allowing John B to continue talking. “She’s gonna help us.” He told Kie before turning to Cleo herself. “...Right?”
“Next time, ask me.” Cleo reprimanded your friend in a low, annoyed tone. This girl didn’t necessarily give you a bad vibe, but this seemed to be working out in your favors a little too well.
“John B.” You started, eyes on his as you jutted your head towards the back of the container and away from the group. “Can I talk to you?” The boy drew his lips into a thin line as he followed you to the back of the container, leaving the remaining four up front.
“What’s wrong?” Your friend asked impassively.
‘What’s wrong?” You asked incredulously, eyes fleeting quickly between your friends and the unknown girl as you took one step closer. “John B, we don’t know this girl. How do you know she’s actually going to help us?”
He immediately began shaking his head, his hands out in front of you to stop your ranting. “I know, it’s risky.” He assured you. “But that girl saved me and Sarah’s lives in the Bahamas. I know you guys don’t know her but I trust her.” He explained. “Do you trust me?”
You pondered for a moment, chewing the inside of your lip as your foot tapped incessantly on the floor — eyes flying back and forth between Cleo and your friends. “...You know I do.”
John B nodded, a pompous smile on his face. “Okay. So, trust me when I say that you can trust her.” He said simply.
You clenched your jaw as you eyed the girl from feet away as she conversed with your friends. 
“...Fine.” You caved, sighing and untensing your body. “But if this is a bad call, it’s your bad call.” You warned before walking away and rejoining the group as JB trailed close behind. 
“You seriously grabbed nothing?” JJ said in surprise, the group continuing the conversation you and John B had missed a chunk of. “Not even a single gun?”
John B sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned on some netting hanging from the ceiling. “We tried, okay? I got attacked.”
“This is why I should’ve gone with.” JJ sassed, shrugging from his place beside you. 
“Let me get this straight,” Cleo inserted herself into the boys' bickering. “You five, with no weapons, decided you were gonna hijack this tramp steamer on your own?” She asked, unbelievably. “Do you have any idea who these people are?” She asked, something between anger and fear in her eyes. “Eberhimi? If he catch you, he’s gonna kill you.” She warned. “Dead. Cut off ya fingers.” She exaggerated. Or...maybe not.
“Okay…” Kiara started. “What about waiting until we get to port?” She threw out. “At least then, if something goes wrong, we have a place to run.” 
“No.” Pope shook his head almost immediately. “No, we can’t do that.”
“Why?” Kiara shrugged in offense. 
“Because I’ve run the scenario over one-thousand times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There’s fifteen crew members and six of us,-”
“Exactly.” Kiara quipped.
“Three-to-one odds.” Pope said bluntly. “That’s the best it’s gonna get. If we wait ‘til we get there, they’re gonna trap us.”
“We have no chance.” Kiara argued with his logic. 
“No, Kie, there’s something else.” John B added. “...Ward’s alive.”
You couldn’t control the way your neck snapped in the boy’s direction, an immediate wave of confusion and pure anger washing over you. “Excuse me, what?” You spat as the rest of your friends stood frozen, waiting for John B to elaborate on just exactly what the hell he meant. 
“He’s alive, and he’s on this boat.” 
“What?” Kiara finally spoke.
“I fucking knew it.” You scoffed, overcome with disbelief as you turned away from the group, shaking your head. 
“You gotta be kidding me.” JJ scoffed.
“...Are you serious?” Pope asked in a whispered tone. 
John B just nodded despondently. “It was all a setup.” He shrugged. “Blowing up the boat, his confession to Shoupe? Think about it.” He explained. “That was to clear Rafe’s name. And he does what? Goes to the Druthers. And what’s on the Druthers?”
“Scuba gear.” You answered, voice tight as you turned back around, clicking your teeth. 
John B grimaced, tilting his head to the side. “Bingo.” 
“So, Ward’s alive, huh?” JJ started, tone indecipherable. “And he has the gold…and the cross…and Sarah.” He listed, walking to the center of the group. 
“Thanks for rubbing that in.” Kie retorted, rolling her eyes. 
“So, he’s just gonna get away with everything again, huh? Rafe, too?” He provoked, looking at each of you as he spoke. 
You immediately shook your head, a look of borderline disgust on your face. “No.” You threw out. “No, hell no.” You reiterated, tone much more firm this time. “We’re not watching this movie again. Okay? Pope? John B? Do you hear me?” You continued. “You said we need the win. You said that Pope.” You reminded the boy, taking a few steps into his space. “And with her?” You pointed to Cleo. “We’re going to the bridge, and we’re gonna take it. Are you with me?”
“...Let’s do it.” John B opted in, eyes focused on his feet as he took your words in.
“I’m with you.” Pope assured, eyes meeting yours. “And I wanna be the one to take that bridge.” He made abundantly clear.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” JJ praised, cupping your neck and pulling you in to place a quick, proud kiss on your cheek. 
“He’s gonna take the bridge?” Cleo chuckled, referring to Pope. “He couldn’t even take me.”
“Okay, first of all, I was going easy on you-” Pope tried to defend. 
“I went easy on you.” Cleo asserted herself, pointing at the boy.
You all shushed the bickering teens, careful not to be too loud. 
“Relax.” John B directed as JJ began talking, eyes on Cleo.
“If you’re really with us, if we use that knife,” He started, referring to the weapon in the girl’s hand. “We can go up into the bridge, hold it up against the captain’s neck, then we go on the intercom and make him tell the rest of the crew to meet up in the forward hull.” He explained his logic. And for once, his plan didn’t sound so bad. “Once they’re in the same place, bam, we lock ‘em in there and take back what’s ours.” 
Pope nodded, thinking about JJ’s words. “I like it.” He agreed. “It could work.”
“...Are you with us, then?” JJ pressed Cleo, stepping even closer and making unwavering eye contact with the girl. 
“No.” She said without much thought before turning to look at John B, directing her next words at him. “This is stupid.” 
“All right, let’s open these things up!” A voice boomed from outside the container, startling all of you as your gazes whipped in the same direction. 
“...They’re checking the containers.” Kiara stated the obvious. Cleo wasted no time in climbing the stair of crates and peeking outside the “window” before removing the grate. Your heart raced as you watched her quick movements — was she about to rat you all out?
“”Wait. No, Cleo.” Pope tried.
“What are you doing?” Kiara hissed. 
Cleo shushed the pair, carefully placing the large piece of metal on the ground. The five of you watched with anticipation as the girl climbed out of the window, hearing metal clanking from the outside as you presumed the men had begun to open up your crate to search next. 
“Piece of shit’s stuck.” One of the men complained. Good, you thought to yourself.
“Macias!” Cleo bellowed as her feet hit the ground, the girl disappearing out of sight for the most part. 
“She’s gonna tell them. Shit!” Pope automatically assumed the worst. 
“Hold up!” Cleo’s voice boomed from outside as you instinctively covered the opening, also assuming the worst. Until you heard her voice again. “This one’s clear, sir.” She said to the men, the sound of metal clanking from the outside coming to a halt with her words. 
“...You sure?”
“Went through it inch by inch. Nothing but tubing and plastics in there.” You all shared smug smiles of amusement. Maybe you could trust her.
“What if the stowaway had been in there?” The guy pressed.
“Well, he wasn’t, so…” She replied. “C’mon, man. We have work to do. Move your bumper, man.” She dismissed the crew member. And it wasn’t long until you heard footsteps coming back your way.
“Okay…” Pope started. “She’s on our side. That’s good.” 
“Okay, Pope, you’re up.” JJ patted his friend on the back, watching as Pope removed the metal covering once more, revealing Cleo on the other side as she whistled to signal her return. “We’ll wait for your signal, okay?” Pope nodded before turning to the girl waiting outside for him.
“Come on.” She urged, helping the boy out of the container. 
“Thanks for that, by the way.” He showed his gratitude to your new found companion, their voices still close enough to hear. “I don’t know why you did that, but I’m not gonna argue.” He told her. “...Why’d you do that?” 
“Not for charity.” Cleo told him honestly. “Just figure I’m better off with you guys than with Eberhimi.” 
“Right.”
“And now you guys owe me a cut of that treasure.” 
“...That’s fair.”
“All right.” The pair concluded. “How we takin’ over this fort, Chief?”
“...Can I borrow your knife?” Pope asked. 
“...I got a better idea.” Cleo denied. “Come on.” And that was the last of the conversation you all could hear before the sound of their footsteps retreating was heard.
ABOUT TEN MINUTES PASSED BEFORE YOU HEARD IT. 
“Attention, all passengers, all crew, report to the tween forward hull. That’s an order.” The four of you remaining in the crate, shared looks before putting your ears to walls of the enclosed space. “Repeat. All hands and all passengers report to the tween forward hull immediately.” 
There it was — Pope’s signal.
“They did it. They took the bridge.” John B smiled.
“That’s our boy. “JJ applauded, him and John B immediately removing the metal grate for what you hoped to be the last time. “Alright, we split up. Once they’re all in the hull, Y/N and I will lock them inside.”
John B nodded in agreement. “I’ll find Sarah and get the lifeboat.” He informed. 
“What about me?” Kie asked, eyes wide as they went between John B and the pair of you and JJ.
“...Come with us.” You told the girl, your eyes locked with hers. It was a silent gesture, a speechless truce — your way of letting her know that you were both okay. She nodded, a tiny smile on her lips.
“Alright.” She took the offer. 
You nodded in her direction before looking to John B. “We’ll load the cross, meet you, and get outta here.”
“Okay.” JJ gathered you all’s attention. “Let’s roll.” He led the group of you, leaning out of the window and using the barrels below to help himself out. Once he was on the ground, he turned around — hands outstretched to help you out, assistance that you gratefully accepted. John B followed after you and Kiara was the last one out.
The four of you wasted no time in bolting in the direction that Pope and Cleo had gone previously, following JJ as he led you all to the forward hull. John B had already managed to separate himself as soon as you entered the ship, quick on the start of his search to find Sarah.
You, Kie, and JJ ducked behind the walls on either side of the door when you reached the hull. You and Kie on one side, JJ on the other. You heard voices grow as the room filled with passengers and crew members.
“Hey, what the hell is this all about?”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with that stowaway, does it?”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
“Psst.” JJ aimed to get your attention - your wide, adrenaline filled eyes going to him as you tried not to move a muscle. “How many?” He whispered. You and Kie took a quick glance into the hull, doing a quick count before turning back to your boyfriend as you both held up three fingers simultaneously. 
The three of you peeked, watching as the room filled with person after person. 
“What’s goin’ on, man?”
“I don’t know. Waitin’ on the captain.”
“He’s supposed to be down here.”
Over the mess of voices, one in particular caught your attention. 
“Where are we going? Where’s dad?” Wheezie? The girl’s meek voice caused you to peek further into the door, watching as the girl in question followed Rose into the hull, both of them being followed by Rafe. 
“I don’t know, Wheezie.” Rose sighed.
You watched them approach the final door to the hull, hiding back behind it in order to not be seen or spotted as Rafe paused in his tracks, whipping his head to the side, just nearly missing the sight of you three. Once you heard footsteps, you assumed he’d gone inside — taking the risk and peeking to find the family of three completely out of sight.
Turning to face JJ, you spoke as low as you could. “That’s all of the crew.”
But he shook his head. “Except Ward.” The blonde reminded you. “We need Ward.”
As much as you agreed, closing the door now was your best bet before the crew got suspicious. “We can’t wait.”
JJ seemed to sit on the thought for a moment before caving in, motioning for you and Kie to help him close the door. With no hesitation, the three of you ran inside and used all of your collective strength to push the door shut, the people inside immediately reacting to the creaking of the metal door.
“Hey!”
“Oh my God!”
Crew members began to throw themselves against the door in an attempt to keep it open and overtake you three, but you had already gained the upper hand. For the most part. Once the door was shut, you and Kie held it down while JJ locked it.
You all left out breaths of relief until you heard one of the voices on the other side.
“Check the other door!”
You, Kiara, and JJ all shared mutual looks of shock before jumping into action, running around to the other side of the hull, almost tripping over one another in the process. 
JJ himself took the lead, managing to shut and lock the door completely by himself before the men inside even had the chance. You all looked at one another, sharing the same victorious smile before going off and taking the ladder down into a lower part of the ship where the cross was being held. 
“Time to jack this loot.” JJ clapped his hands together and rubbed them together in true klepto fashion, being the first one down the ladder.  You followed his lead, watching as he stopped in front of a cloth-covered coffin. JJ didn’t wait a second before uncovering the box, revealing the cross you all had lost. “There she is.” He cooed, staring down at the golden masterpiece.
Your eyes locked with his, the two of you sharing a look. “Surf trip?” He asked lovingly. 
“Surf trip.” You winked, the two of you carrying out a complex handshake. 
However, the three of you paused — hearts jumping out of your chests when the ceiling opened up. But your fear quickly turned to relief when you made out Pope’s frame standing above you, smiles breaking out on your faces.
The pure relief in your chests prompted a chorus of laughs to ring out, eyes on the boy standing above you with unadulterated determination on his face. You all started cheering, forgetting how important discreteness was to this plan.
“Whoo!”
“Whooooo!”
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Let’s go!”
You all applauded how well the plan was going. For the first time, it felt like something was going right. In your favor. Maybe the Kooks didn’t always win. Maybe the Pogues didn’t always lose. 
“The time where people do shit to us and we just sit back and take it is over.” Pope declared, standing above you all like a public figure.
“That’s my boy!” JJ praised, punching the air. “Let’s get this done, baby!” 
You three watched as Pope climbed his way to the top of the crane, seating himself and watching as the machine came to life. The trio of you got the cross ready for pick up and drop off, wrapping a loop around the cross with thick fabric, securing it. 
“Take her up, Pope!” JJ shouted from below once the large piece of treasure was ready to go. You all watched in awe as Pope used the heavy machinery to lift the gold, watching it sway violently from side to side on its way up.
“Slow, Pope!” You hollered, watching the cross nearly hit the sides of the ship. “Slowly!”
“Bring her in the middle!” Kie instructed, using the short rope JJ had tied around the bottom to help Pope guide it. Pope did as he was told, but way too fast, sending the cross flying to the middle of the opening in the ceiling, taking JJ with it.
“No! Too far!” You shouted, chasing the cross while trying to lend JJ a hand at the same time. “Too far, Pope!” 
“Sorry!” The boy shouted from the crane operating cubicle. “My bad!”
Once JJ was on his feet, you, him, and Kiara helped to guide the cross to the actual middle. 
“Hey!” A fifth voice chimed in, your heads shooting in the direction of it — watching as Cleo ran around the corner, standing above you all where Pope was just moments before. “Send it up, Pope. You got it!”
“Did John B get the lifeboat?!” Pope questioned from his place above you all.
“I don’t see him!” Cleo replied back loudly, shrugging confusedly. 
“Where’s Sarah?!” Pope questioned further as the three of you keeping the cross stabilized, the boy earning no response from the girl as she waved a hand to dismiss his interrogation.
“Hurry!” Cleo commanded. The three of you watched as Pope lifted the cross, the piece of treasure getting higher and higher in the sky. “Wow…” Cleo's eyes twinkled at the sight of the cross, this being her first time seeing the aforementioned treasure. “Send it this way.” She guided Pope.
Once those two had the cross secured to the crane — You, JJ, and Kie’s job here was done. The three of you released your hold on the cross, letting the pair of them do their task without intervention. You led your boyfriend and best friend around the corner, at the forefront of the three person line, now on your second task to meet John B.
“Clear?” Kie asked, peeking behind you. You eyed the scene left and right before nodding at her over your shoulder.
“Clear.” You assured, tip-toeing around the corner and onto the upper deck. You swiftly walked around, looking for where John B and Sarah should've been with the lifeboat. “I don’t see him.” Rounding another corner, you looked around before your heart dropped when Eberhimi, the captain of the ship, descended the stairs.
You and the man made eye contact — challenging and unwavering as he unsheathed a knife. “Of course.” He gritted through his teeth, brows set into a harsh line. “There’s more of you.” He spat, pointing the knife at the three of you. “Get down on your knees.” He ordered.
JJ was the first to speak, drawing his lips into a thin line as his head jutted to the side. “I don’t swing that way. Sorry, bro.”
“In front of my boyfriend?” You couldn’t help but chuckle — being somewhat acclimated to situations like this. “Wow, you’re bold.” You shook your head in pity. 
“Is this a joke to you?” Eberhimi squinted, looking at the group of you like you were out of your minds. “Get on your damn knees!”
“Yeah, not gonna happen.” Kiara denied as the captain’s patience came to an end, the man charging at you all, swinging his machete at all three of you as you managed to collectively dodge the attack. He swung again, to the side this time. An attack that didn’t land, again. 
JJ took the opportunity to pin the captain’s arm against the wall, rendering the older man somewhat defenseless. You and Kiara used your collective strength to replace JJ’s hold on Eberhimi’s arm, allowing your boyfriend to clock the man in his cheek. “Hit him, Y/N!” JJ directed, you giving Kiara the task of keeping the man pinned as you opened the fusebox closest to his face, slamming the door against his features. “Where’s John B?” JJ asked breathlessly, frustration growing with the aforementioned boy's absence.
“John B!” You and Kiara screamed, looking over the edge of the boat for any sign of the lifeboat. “Bree!” You continued screaming, looking back to find JJ engaged in another brawl with the captain. JJ had the upper hand for a moment — dodging hit after hit until Eberhimi managed to get him one good time in the chest, sending your boyfriend flying backwards, watching as he hit his head against the side of the ship.
“Hey!” You jumped into action, running towards the two men. “Don’t fucking touch him!” You warned, running at the man whose attention jumped to you at the sound of your rapid footsteps coming in his direction. He swung at you but you managed to dodge the swing, just narrowly missing being cut with the tip of his blade but now you were disoriented, unaware that your back was to the older man now.
“Y/N!” JJ and Kie called your name at once. You tried to stabilize yourself, turning in the direction of their voices only to come face to face with the man once more, but this time you weren’t as lucky. As you made another attempt to dodge his swing, you failed — a burning sensation blooming down the length of your thigh as his machete made a long, deep incision from the top of your thigh to right above your knee.
“Y/N!” They shouted once more, watching you get semi-mutilated as you let out a heart-wrenching screech, falling to the floor as your own blood started to pool underneath your injured leg. All you could do was sit, dry-heave, and watch as JJ quickly regained full consciousness, getting up and launching himself on to the man's back.
He managed to get the man into a chokehold and away from you, until he was elbowed in the ribs and hit under his chin — rendering the blonde unconscious and sending him flying overboard and into the water. It was like your entire world was moving in slow motion as you watched JJ fall into the water, your heart dropping to your stomach as your only focus became him.
You screamed his name as he fell, you were sure of it. But you couldn’t hear your own voice in your ears. Somewhere in your adrenaline-driven haste, the pain in your leg seemed to dissipate — pushing yourself up and onto your feet. You angry eyes found Eberhimi, limping swiftly in the man’s direction before he had time to register your movements, giving him no time to defend himself as you used your good leg to kick him savagely in the stomach before punching him mercilessly in the face, sending the man to the ground with strength you didn’t know you had.
You immediately turned your sights to Kiara, who stood to the side, shocked. “Where is he?” You asked through heavy breaths, eyes scanning the waters below for any sign of your blonde.
“Y/N, you need to-”
“Where is he?!” You repeated yourself, much less patience in your tone this time. You didn’t mean to yell at her, but JJ needed help. Why couldn’t she see that? Eyes still trained overboard, you spotted a figure floating face down, motionless. “JJ!”
You didn’t think twice — wincing as you lifted yourself up onto the edge of the boat, paying no mind to your own potentially fatal injury before jumping off into the water where you watched your boyfriend’s unconscious body float, hearing Kiara scream your name before your body hit the water.
You were under for seconds before you were able to fight your way to the top, looking around to find JJ floating limply next to you. “J…” You breathed out, struggling to swim to him — the saltwater eliciting the pain receptors in your thigh to work in tandem with your brain again. 
Despite the insufferable burning sensation in your leg, you continued to swim to JJ — scooping him up by his arms when you reached him, now able to flip him onto his back. His eyes were closed and his chest wasn’t moving, which sent you into a panic of your own. “JJ.” You tried, attempting to shake him but it was hard with the water restricting your movements. 
It was also becoming increasingly harder to keep you both afloat by yourself. “JJ, come on!” You groaned, maneuvering so you could use one hand to lightly slap his face. “J, please. Please, don’t do this to me.” You begged, letting the tears you didn’t know were forming fall down your already wet face.
Holding you both afloat was getting harder by the minute and you were sure only one of your legs was working to tread any water. An overwhelming sense of fear started to overtake you every time your chin dipped below the surface of the waves, wondering how long you could do this. “JJ, please.” You cried, sniffling. “You’re scaring me. I need you, okay?” You breathed. “I can’t lose anyone else.” You whined, crying harder by the second. “I can’t lose you.”
Suddenly, there was a splash in the water next to you, Kiara’s head popping up within seconds as she shook the water from her hair. A part of you wanted to ask her what took her so long but the other was grateful that she came down at all.
“Let him go.” She instructed breathlessly. You looked at her like she was insane, paying no mind to your own vision that was starting to spot. You were losing too much blood, you realized. But you had bigger things to worry about it. You’d be fine, you told yourself.
“No.” You shook your head, holding JJ closer to you. “No, I need to keep him above the water-"
“He’ll float.” Kiara told you, treading water. “He’s already unconscious so he won’t breathe any more water in. But if you try and hold him up, you’ll drown.”
“I’ll be fine-”
“Y/N, you have to-”
“No, I don’t!” You argued, vision going blurry as you shook your head to re-stabilize it. “I’ll keep him up until we find the others.” You told her. “I’m not letting him go.” Kiara seemed to accept her defeat, opting to share some of the burden of JJ’s weight — moving to hold up the other half of his body.
“Where’s John B?” You asked, voice slipping under.
“I - I don’t know.” Kiara sighed. “John B!” She screamed, looking around as you continuously blinked to try and keep yourself awake. “John B! Help!”
You figured all hope was lost until the sound of a boat engine rounded the corner, four blurry figures coming into view. 
“There they are!”
“JJ!”
“Kie!”
“Y/N!”
They all called your names as they got closer, the boat slowing next to you.
“No, no, no, no no…” John B repeated, taking notice of JJ’s unconsciousness.
“Why is she so pale?” Pope asked, referring to the way your skin had lost all pigment and undertones, leaving you looking like a ghost. "How long have you guys been in the water? Is she hypothermic?"
“Help me get them up.” Kiara demanded, releasing JJ to your friends as they dragged him onto the boat, laying him in the center before they began to help you up, not seconds passing before they took notice of the large, deep gash on your thigh.
“What the hell happened?” John B asked, realizing both of his long-time friends looked like they were on the verge of death.
Once all three of you were on the lifeboat with the others, you immediately pushed your way through your friends to reach JJ, despite their protests that you should sit back down. JJ was flipped onto his back, head elevated against the boat.
You began to tap the side of his face, trying to get a response once more before deciding to go further, clasping your hands together and pushing down on the center of his chest. 
“Here, let me-” Someone offered, you didn’t know who.
“No.” You said quickly. “No, I got it.” You assured weakly, but you could feel yourself slipping away, having to recenter yourself every few seconds. 
“I don’t think you do…” They tried once more, but you ignored them — involuntary or voluntary, you weren’t exactly sure. You continued pushing down on JJ’s chest until you saw droplets of water dribbling down his bottom lip, the sight only motivating to push harder until he started coughing. Only then, did you allow your movements to stop as your boyfriend coughed up whatever liquid had leaked into his lungs from the fall.
A small, weak smile crawled onto your face at the sight, the two of you locking eyes for the briefest of moments. “Hey.” You said softly, leaning back as you finally let yourself breathe. The boy looked at you tenderly before rasping out a response.
“...’Sup?” He said, trying to sound cool, sending you a sly smile before it morphed into concern. “Why are you so pale?” He asked, a hand coming up to caress your cheek.
You shook your head slowly, your eyes closing themselves as you spoke. “...’M fine.” JJ’s eyes went to his friends for answers, realizing you were losing it. Then he remembered — his eyes immediately shooting down to your thigh, the blood still leaking like a waterfall, if not faster.
“Shit.” He cursed, sitting up straighter and pulling you into him. “Help her.” He ordered, holding you tight. “Help her!” Was the last thing you heard before everything went completely black.
THE NEXT TIME YOU OPENED YOUR EYES, you were greeted with the heat and glare of the sun and a dull ache in your right thigh, grains of sand pressing into the back of your legs. Blinking your eyes open carefully, acclamating them to the rays of light, you watched as Pope, JJ, and John B drug the lifeboat to shore. A quick glance down at your thigh had you realizing someone had done their best to construct a makeshift tourniquet to help you out. 
Where you were? You had no idea. But you felt better. Somewhat, anyway.
You watched as the three boys plopped the floatation device on the sand, taking deep breaths from the labor before approaching the four of you girls sitting in the shade.
You didn’t miss the way JJ’s eyes immediately locked with yours, a grateful smile on his pink lips at the sight of you awake. He took a seat next to you, pulling you into his side and planting a kiss on your temple as you cuddled into his embrace. 
“Good to see your pretty eyes again.” He uttered, voice oddly soft and gentle.
You playfully shrugged him, not enough to disrupt his hold on you as you let out a light chuckle. “Get away from me, you flirt.” You joked before returning to a somewhat serious demeanor. “Are you okay?”
The blonde shrugged, sighing and leaning against the tree you perched up against. “Still a lil dizzy. But I’m alright.” He said simply. “How ‘bout you, princess? How’s your leg?” 
You nodded, sighing relief. “Much better.” You told your boyfriend. “Was this you?” You asked, referring to the tourniquet that seemed to be constructed from someone’s sock.
He simply shook his head, jutting out his bottom lip as he motioned his head in Cleo’s direction. “It was all her.” He smiled gratefully. “I think we can trust her. She’s saved three of our lives so far.” 
"Three?" You pondered. "Wouldn't it be four?"
"Nah." He shook his head. "You saved my life. That was all you." The praise made your cheeks go hot, burying half of your face into his chest.
Your eyes found Cleo across the sand, locking eyes with the girl. You sent a sweet smile her way, mouthing a ‘thank you’ her way. The girl simply winked and nodded at you. You had a feeling she’d fit in just fine, if she wanted to stay, that is.
“Might not want to thank me just yet, darlin’.” The girl warned, a sly smile on her face as she leaned against her arms. “We still gotta cauterize that thing.” She pointed to your thigh. “And you can’t be asleep for it.”
A look of terror made its way onto your face as you looked up at JJ, a small action that made the group laugh, a miniscule moment of lightheartedness after the unspoken loss.
“Okay,” JJ came down from his laughter. “Anybody know where we’re at?” 
“Deserted beach.” Pope shrugged, taking a seat next to Cleo. “Unknown island.”
“Alright, I’ll take that as a no.” JJ replied to Pope stating the obvious. “Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well.” JJ sassed, to which you lightly elbowed him in the side.
“This is the lowest we can go.” Pope said, sitting with his hands in his lap, hunched over. “We literally have nothing else to lose.” He laughed, humorlessly. “The cross, gone.”
“The gold, gone.” Sarah added calmly, yet sadly.
“Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I’d say we’re at a dollar-fifty.” JJ threw out.
Kie shrugged, looking up at the fading cloud as the sunset. “That’s more than I got on me…”
“That somehow doesn’t make me feel better.” Sarah agreed.
“Hey, I’ve got a large coin slot on my leg if anyone wants to make donations.” You joked, earning head shakes at your morbid humor.
“Yeah,” John B finally spoke up. “You’re all right. But, I mean, we’ve…” He shrugged, eyeing all of you. “We’ve had some good stuff happen, right?” 
Pope scoffed. “Name something.”
“Um…” John B pondered, looking at the leaves of the trees. “Uh, the boiler room?” He concluded optimistically. Everyone just stared at him. “What? If the boiler didn’t explode, I wouldn’t have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn’t have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out here.” He laid out a timeline of cause-and-effect.
“That wasn’t luck.” Cleo started, a knowing smile on her sun kissed face. “That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feedin’ it.” 
“Stealin’ my thunder, Cleo…” John B said lowly. 
“Sorry.” The girl shrugged shortly. 
“Okay, Pope,” Your friend started again. “You’re related to Denmark Tanny.” He reminded, all of you making faces of agreement at this statement. “That’s crazy-”
“And I lost all his inheritance.” Pope said frustratedly, looking JB in the eyes. 
“...You know what?” John B stood from the log he was perched on. “Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life.” He dreamed, walking closer to the shore. “We are in the Caribbean. It’s our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family…” He tried to reel you all in. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t wanna do it with anyone else.” He said, eyes mainly on Sarah. “Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing…” He trailed, walking over to you and JJ and kneeling in front of you both. “JJ?”
“Hm?” The blonde holding you hummed in response.
John B simply pointed behind himself and smiled, raising an eyebrow. “I was looking at those burly lefts.”
JJ eyed the water that his best friend was pointing to, trying to hide the smile on his features. “There’s some slabs out there, yeah.”
“Just a few?” John B poked, diverting his attention to someone else. “Kie, you see that? I know you wanna get out there.” He continued taunting. 
“No boards.” The girl rolled her eyes, a small smirk on her features.
“Well, we can…bodysurf ‘til we make some boards.”
She sighed, leaning back. “Lame.”
“Pope?” JB moved his attention once more. “Come on, man.”
“...They do look pretty tasty.” Pope admitted, still trying to hold onto his self-pity. 
“Oh, yes, they do.” The brunette smiled. 
“There’s nobody around.” Pope observed with squinted eyes. “We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?”
“You got a point.” You added, breaking your silence. 
“Six-way split?” Pope inquired, doing a handshake with John B. 
“Poguelandia.” JJ started in a posh accent, smiles breaking out on all of your faces as your boyfriend gently removed himself from your side and repositioned you comfortably against the tree before standing to his full height.
“Oh boy.” John B groaned facetiously. 
“I claim thee Poguelandia.” He continued, leaning his arm against a tree with his swiss army knife in hand. “I like the ring of it.” He said, voice returning to normal. “I’m gonna make a flag, it’s gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smokin’ a J...in Crocs.” He described, eliciting small laughs from everyone as they envisioned his soon-to-be work of art.
“I could use a J.” Kiara added.
“As long as you're sharing.” You joked with the girl. "Can't turn down the injured girl. Puff puff pass."
“Can we vote on this?” Sarah smiled.
“Shall we get to work?” Pope offered, talking mainly to JB who was right next to him. 
“...Let’s get to work.” He fist-bumped his friend. “Let’s start working on provisions. Set up shop.” They planned, walking into the thick of the trees. 
“Going full pogue?” JJ asked you, offering a hand to help you up as the others stood.
You smiled, rolling your eyes at him lovingly. “Going full pogue.” You joined, voice strained as you got up, putting as little weight on your leg as possible. The seven of you walked away from where you’d been camped out, leaving your first landmark behind with an ‘X’ to mark the spot, in the shape of ‘P4L’  carved into another tree.
Whatever happened back at home, or would happen, in Kildare, it worried you. You didn’t know what was going on or what would happen days from now, weeks…Months. But it was out of your control. And you weren't sure whether you hated that or loved it. Was “Poguelandia” a final moment of rest or the first step towards you and your friends retribution? 
As you walked, you suddenly remembered a quote John B told you that he got from his dad. It was from Euripides…
“The ocean washes away all the evil men do.”
…But you weren’t sure if that was necessarily true. Maybe, the ocean doesn’t truly “wash away” anything. If anything, the ocean makes you remember.
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next chapter >
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the-midnight-blooms · 23 days ago
Text
shameless woman | smg
PROLOGUE
pairing: ghostface!song mingi x reader (ft. ghostface!jeong yunho) AU: modern au word count: 3.2k warnings: yandere themes, stalking
masterlist
A/N: I've never actually watched Scream but I love the concept, so general ideas revolving around the character will be used here (i also saw yungi!ghostface fanart, which i am OBSSESSED with).
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A chat room is an online platform that enables users to communicate with each other in real time. Chat rooms are typically hosted on a server with an internet connection, enabling members from around the world to hold conversations about various topics.
Upbeat 80s rock music reverberates of the four walls of her room, the pen nib scratches, furiously, across the thin lined paper as her mind spills the plethora of knowledge that's locked up within it. Dropping the pen to the side, a long groan escapes her lips in tiredness the bright light of the computer screen gnawing at her attention. As she flicks between the several open tabs on her web browser, loitering in the far corner is an underground chat room for ‘conventional losers’, i.e. nerds, geeks, freaks, goths and emos and every other ostracised sub-cultural group you could think of. The thought itself was quite fascinating to her, which one was she? Or rather, was she the pretentious introvert who thought herself higher than those who defied society's conventional train of thought and aligned herself with the populars?
Snapping her book shut, she closed several of the academic pages she had open; leaving her with the final one: the infamous chat room. She’d already logged in, curiosity masticating her rationality and browsed a few pages, sent a few quick messages to people the website had recommended based on her “favourite topics”.
Her eyes glance carefully across the blaring screen, the blue light penetrating into her steady gaze as she reads the username that steals her undivided attention.
@ pyscho.killer
A snicker escapes her lips, she surfs their profile finding very little information about them, other than ‘Fix on’. Goodness, is she really going to talk to this person just because he too enjoys listening to Modern Talking? Her lips purse in contemplation as she clicks on ‘Message’, there’s no harm in conversing with someone you don’t know. Right?
modern-division: Fan of the Talking Heads much?
She prides herself on her nonchalance, if he wasn't to respond she really wouldn't care. After all, Yeji had invited her to join a number of societies at university and despite the fact that none of the them seemed particularly interesting to her; there was no harm in joining at least one or two if the outcome was a few friends to make her strenuous four years more bearable.
Ping. Her head snaps back to computer screen as she shoves all of her pens back into the pencil case; a dirty habit from childhood to spread all of her things across the table and then spend five minutes, impartially, cleaning everything up.
psycho.killer: Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est?
modern-division: Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, better
psycho.killer: Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away,
psycho.killer: I think I have met my match. To whom do I now call mine?
A childish giggle escapes her, she leans back in her seat in a knowingness that she may now actually enjoy being on this sketchy platform. Careful, yet. She doesn't actually know this stranger.
modern-division: AHAHA you’re funny, Mr Fix On (what does that even mean?)
psycho.killer: that’s not for you to know, darling.
psycho.killer: let me guess…you like joy division and modern talking?
modern-division: what gave it away?
psycho.killer: I guess you’re pretty funny too
It's quite absurd to believe that a famous hit song by the 'Talking Heads' is what got her, her new best internet friend yet the notion is very much a fact. So much so, her life is now consumed by the chat rooms she used to look down on. Social media is very much a vortex, or vacuum of some kind, sucking one in; leaving them void of humanity, stripping them down of some yearning for human interaction. Or at least that's what it did to most. After a long day of lectures, she found herself wanting to be able to see 'Mr Fix On' in person, talk to him in person, be able to stare into his eyes.
Speaking of. As a matter of fact, she didn't even know what he looked like. Just that he was South Korean, had short black hair and brown eyes. She too allowed herself to share the same amount of information that he provided. Mum did say not to go around talking to strangers, and even if she was doing just that; she was not dim enough to start revealing absolutely everything about her identity.
The autumn leaves sway softly with the gentle breeze, a waft of biting air floods over her sending a ripple of goosebumps over her supple skin. Her shoes crunch the delicate leaves, that pave the way to her home, yet she feels a daunting figure stalk after her. For a split second, she believes herself to be hallucinating as she takes a daring look behind her shoulder to find the street behind her, empty.
A tall figure strolls after her, picturing landmarks that carves the path to her home. His soft dark brown hair tousles with the wind, the cold forging a pink blush over his cheeks; sinking his long nose into the woollen scarf his movements come to an abrupt halt as his heroine plunges her eyes into his.
God, she's fucking pretty.
They move over his, hastily, as to her he's simply rifling through his bag for a wallet in line for an expensive coffee alongside a couple of old-age pensioners.
Conclusion: She is paranoid, there is no one after her. Yet as it is autumn in her unsafe town, its better to be cautious than to walk across the surface of the earth with no walls at all.
psycho.killer: wanna join a gc with my friend? he likes some of the same music as us.
psycho.killer: plus, he's a compsci loser who needs a friend
It's been at least a month since she had began talking to 'psycho.killer', who she had learnt his name is: Mings. Or rather its a shorthand version of his forename that he is weirdly reluctant to disclose, as he insists on her calling him 'Min' or "darling, my lover, husband- whatever floats your boat." He is truly charismatic, his charms are perceived from the other end of the screen. She wonders what it would be like to see him in real life. Is he truly as amiable as he reads?
modern-division: haha, i don't mind. what's his @ ?
psycho.killer: its @ killed.theradio.st4r
modern-division: you guys are my people
She hums the tune to 'Video Killed the Radio Star." Her mother's soft laughter pervades her way into her room; the older woman places her washed clothes on the Chester drawer wondering how the younger generation manage to get invested in the songs of the past.
[psycho.killer added you to 'two losers and a hot nerd']
killed.theradio.st4r: helloo, i'm yuyu :)
modern-division: hi!
modern-division: also, who's the hot nerd?
psycho.killer: me.
killed.theradio.st4r: lmao. its you, doll.
Does Mings just refer to me as, Doll to everyone he speaks to?
modern-division: you don't even know what i look like
killed.theradio.st4r: guess we just know you're a hot girl by intuition
modern-division: what if i'm a man? ever thought about that?
psycho.killer: your bio literally states that you're a girl
psycho.killer: not-so-mysterious babe
It wasn’t so bad for someone online to know your gender, it was just ensuring that your femininity wasn’t exploited. She knew they would never ask her to share explicit content nor would they force her to engage in it, though talking to the pair of ‘Killers’ preserved an ominous feeling in the airs. She couldn’t tell if at any point, she really felt comfortable talking to either of the two.
To begin with, Min was always trying to call her. Ask her where she was, what she was doing, if she had she eaten, what time she was going to bed. He asked about her day, and if anyone bothered her in particular. To any other he may have seemed like a kind-hearted boyfriend yet to her it felt like an intruder had permeated into the walls of her bedroom and dominated her life. Then you had his esteemed friend, Yun. He was always deeming her the most beautiful being he had ever seen. She could see within his words the robust desire he had manifested from her words, the way he had subtly requested for her photos in order to fuel the raging fires burning in her absence.
He wanted her. Physically, to put it lightly. Indeed, she was a doll to him and to have her in his arms would purify him of all his sinful thoughts. Yun always brought it up with his friend, who had simply told him to put out those fires. (For the time being).
“Have you heard of ‘Ghostface’?” Her head snaps up from her workbook, in the library where one of her closer acquaintances sits opposite playing with her water bottle. A newspaper article sits in front with the notorious blurry image of a man with a ghost mask roaming around town.
“This is the first I’m hearing. I mean it’s Halloween soon, so it’s probably some idiot roaming around town.”
“An idiot? I don’t think so, ma’am. Read on, he’s been going around stalking people in his costume.” She raises her eyebrows, nimbly scanning her eyes over the text before returning back to her work. Though she cannot help but stare back at the blurred image of the figure. “I bet there’s a sexy man under all that.” Scowling at her friend, she sends a dirty look.
“You have got to be kidding me. A ‘sexy’ man. You said it yourself, he’s stalking people.”
“Yeah but, one of the girls from Art said he was mad tall and had this deep, attractive voice.”
“Yes, I bet he goes: ‘come here babe, let me kill you’ in his husky voice and you all go running to him because you have no morals.” Once again, she rolls her eyes whilst her friend merely giggles as if she is just pleasantly awaiting to be a victim. She rarely meets women who have an ambition for a victim complex, yet those she does: she steers away from.
“I’m only joking, but be real. Have you never heard a guy with a deep, attractive voice?” Her friend questions, making her pause her writing. In fact, she has. Mins’ voice has a sent over her railings during their late night calls, there’s something so potent residing within it. Intoxicating. It almost has her want to do everything he asks.
He is too, tall with a deep voice but there must be so many like him in this world.
The thought is dismissed and she shoos away her friend to allow herself to prioritise the exam that’s pending in two weeks time.
modern-division: have you guys heard of ghostface?
killed.theradio.st4r: why?
modern-division: just asking, apparently some loser is dressing up in a ghost mask and stalking people. idk if it’s just halloween round the corner though
killed.theradio.st4r: oh no :(
killed.theradio.st4r: could just be a halloween thing
modern-division: yeah, I think so too.
“So you like the librarian?”
“Mhm.” She steals her longing gaze away from him towards Yeji, who sends a vicious smirk her way. A blush taints her cheeks, knowing that Yeji will never live it down now. “I’m not gonna deny he’s pretty good looking.”
“Pretty good looking? He’s gorgeous as fuck. He’s not a want, he’s a need.” Playfully, she bites her lip suppressing a fit of giggles by burying her face into the textbook. A few others send irritated looks from across the room, which has the pair sinking in their seats. “You think a guy like him is single?”
“Absolutely not. If I had the chance, I’d snatch him up right away.” Her eyes flicker back to the tall man who catches her stare in an instant, he holds it before moving back to surf through the books on the trolley.
A low beat surfaces along the posters, her phone is sandwiched between her shoulder and cheek as she trudges furiously around the room looking for her scarf. Min's voice permeates her ears delicately, despite the alarming sentences he speaks; he converses in length about human anatomy saying that raw flesh must be easier to study than cadaveric tissue. As much as she agrees, just to play devil's advocate she will never admit that.
“I love your voice, Mings. It’s so deep, but like in a comforting way. As if you can protect me.” The declaration escapes her mouth before she can even stop it.
“Do you want to be protected by me, or from me, doll?” A pause lingers in the air, before he lowly chuckles—one that forces her to laugh with him though an uneasy feeling resides within her bones.
“By you, preferably.” She jokes, playing with the pendant of her necklace. A shadow looms by the open doorway, obscuring the stream of light that spills in from the hallway; the deafening silence panics her. “Mum!” She shouts, discarding the phone to the side in a frenzy.
“Yes! I just had a cup of tea for you, were you not studying?” The door is pushed open by nonetheless, her mother who waddles across the carpeted floor to settle the hot beverage down on the table.
“I was, I’m just tired now. Maybe I’ll come back to it later.”
“No, no. Go to bed, dear. I’m off to work, make sure you’re outside by 8, I’ll drop you.” A soft kiss is placed on her forehead, she is calmed by the maternal affection seeing her mother to the door before she dashes back into her room to find her phone.
The call must have been disconnected in the process of her flinging it elsewhere, her hands shake violently as she’s, pathetically, unable to hold the phone steady in her grasp. Mings has spammed her several times with messages, she doesn’t bother to read any of them.
modern-division: i’m tired, going to bed.
psycho.killer: goodnight, babygirl
In the midst of wandering through the aisles of the library, seeking books two shelves above her head, it instantaneously occurs to her that she’s never actually paid much attention to Yuyu and Mings’ pet names that they have for her. Doll, babygirl, darling, love, honey, etc. The list seems to never end yet she ponders the primary reason they get so comfortable around her is because she has never actually given them a reason to stop being so affectionate.
A cascade of books tumble down from the shelf, hitting the floor with a powerful slam—jumping backwards on instinct, she grimaces reaching down from them as a few pairs of eyes stare at her from their tables. Her face heats red in embarrassment, until another pair of hands comes to assist her.
"Goodness, how did you manage this?" Her eyes gleam up into another's; words lodge in her throat upon realisation of the being in front. It's the 'hot librarian', as her and Yeji have trademarked.
"Oh, I—they just fell." He raises his eyes at her.
"They just. Fell." A mischievous smile is sent her way as he stacks the books back onto the shelf, that's too high for her to reach anyway. "We'll call it the force of gravity then, shall we?" Shyly, she nods, handing him the last of the books. Her eyes reel in the name scrawled across the name tag. A thought Yeji will be pleased to hear drifts into her mind.
“I’m Yujin, by the way. I’m always at the help desk if you need to me to stack book that fall off the shelf again.” Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. It clearly says ‘Yunho’, on his name tag. He stalks off in the opposite direction before she can question him, leaving her abandoned in the desolate aisle.
modern-division: the hot librarian lied about his name.
modern-division: I wonder why
Paranoia is no longer a delusion. It must be very true that someone is following after her.
Under the banner of the night, herself and Yeji walk back home after a long day of studying. They amble down the cobbled roads, yet her eyes cannot help but glance over her shoulder. There must be a man of some sort following them, his long calculated strides send a wave of fear pummelling through her. Instantly, she grabs Yeji’s hand dashing down the road towards the convenience store.
The dim lights flicker upon their arrival, she cowers behind the large aisles; ignoring her friend’s imperatives watching as a tall figure saunters into the store.
It’s him.
Jeong Yunho, the Librarian.
Or ‘Yujin’ as he addresses himself for reasons she assumes she will never know why.
Is he her stalker?
“I thought there was someone stalking us. There was a guy who walked all the way from the library to the road we just crossed behind us. I took a detour as well and he kept following.” She breathes out, leaning her head against the shelf.
“Are you kidding? Why didn’t you tell me?” Yeji squawks.
“I didn’t want him to suspect that I knew he was following.”
Her eyes sought ‘Yujin’ who gives her a sincere smile before he makes his way to the exit.
modern-division: I think there was someone following me
psycho.killer: ??? are you home? are you safe now?
modern-division: yes, but shit that was scary.
psycho.killer: let me call you bbg, I’ll help get your mind of it
Her phone vibrates in her hand, her finger traces over the red button before she lifts the device to her ear. His smooth tone infiltrates her ears again, easing the anxiety prevalent in the fibre of her muscles. She doesn’t know how Min does it. He helps her forget all about her problems, it’s as if he himself is the cure.
“Oh hey, baby. There was something I wanted to ask.” He pants slightly, the distant sound of leaves crunching drifts from the other end of the line.
“Are you outside?” He laughs.
“Yeah I’m walking home.” His hasty breaths pervade the line. One after another, a series of profane thoughts enter her mind. She is so disappointed in herself. “So, you got a boyfriend?”
“Why? Do you wanna ask me out on a date?” She teases, a lock of hair curls around her forefinger, the vibrato of his voice truanting into her ears, exhilarating her core as rush of certainty floods into her.
“Maybe, do you have a boyfriend?” He piques, she cannot help but grin at his words as if they are both playing a dangerous game of seduction, one she has never played before and one he has won a countless number of times.
“No.” Her truthful answer is not one that hurts her, though she says it as if she’s lying and has had countless lovers before in the past. Perhaps this is the persona that will have her enigmatic paramour crawling towards her.
“You never told me your name.” He acknowledges, 'Mings' has only ever called her 'doll'. Her moves are careful as she continues her cyber relationship with this unknown man, there's a reason she's at the top of her class—he thinks. A thread of messages enter from another chat room, his sharp eyes reeling in the words of his partner.
“Why do you wanna know my name?” Sheer curiosity. Yes, he told her he’s called ‘Mings’ but it’s just a silly nickname used to gain her trust. What is it really short for: Mingi? Mingyu? And Yuyu? Is it possible that he is Yunho? A foreign uneasiness rushes into her skin, she’s cautious as she sits up in her desk chair.
A bad feeling, an intuition of some sort.
He’s going to tell her something she doesn’t want to hear.
“I wanna know who I’m looking at.” Her finger immediately presses, harshly, onto the red button throwing her phone onto her desk. Her body jumps up from her seat, heart pounding furiously against her chest. With her body leaning closer to the window, her eyes outcast the front lawn in which a slender figure stands outside. A ghosts mask rests upon his face, his lanky frame is shrouded in a loose black cloth concealing the shape of his body. A large brick phone is held up against his ear, when he catches her staring down at him, his head cocks eerily to the side.
psycho.killer: Pick
psycho.killer: Up
psycho.killer: The
psycho.killer: Phone
psycho.killer: Doll.
•••
All Right Reserved © the-midnight-blooms
DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE, REPURPOSE, OR PLAGISRISE ANY OF THE WORK HERE
A/N: happy 'late' Halloween! my timing is atrocious, but here's a 'small snippet' of a fic i may continue if my writing schedule allows. atm its a one-shot. What's your favourite scary movie? 👻
let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list for any future fics I post!
tag list: @n0v4t33z @potatos-on-clouds @jjongwho
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coraniaid · 23 days ago
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Reverse Unpopular Opinion: Season Four of BtVS
[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]
I’ve been (very, very slowly) rewatching Season 4 on and off all year (and occasionally writing Tumblr posts complaining about this very process about the episodes I’ve been watching), and I think it’s fair to say that this is definitely not the best way to enjoy any season of television.  
That being said, I feel I’d be lying at this point if I pretended this was my absolute favorite season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  In hindsight, the show was in a strange transitory place this year: having lost some of the grounding framework that the high school setting gave the first three seasons of the show – as well as having suddenly lost some of its actors and writers to the new Angel spin-off – and not yet having quite figured out what it was going to do instead.  One can imagine some alternate reality where the show ended up taking a very different direction after this season.
That being said, here are five things I like a lot about Season 4, with as few caveats as I can manage:
I think the opening four episodes of this season – The Freshman, Living Conditions, The Harsh Light Of Day, Fear Itself – are as strong as, if not stronger than, the first four episodes of any other season of the show.  Every other season has at least one dodgy episode in this opening block – in fact Season 3, my favorite season of them all, manages to have two of them! – but where is the bad episode here?  The Freshman is a criminally underrated season opener.  Living Conditions is a fun character episode and a great showcase for SMG to act in ways she doesn’t normally get to on this show.  Fear Itself is the best Halloween episode the show ever did and it’s not even especially close.  The Harsh Light Of Day is my least favorite of the four, for reasons I guess it would be against the spirit of the game to go into, but I certainly wouldn’t say it was a bad episode by any means.  Perhaps none of these episodes would trouble my personal top ten, but they are four very solid episodes nonetheless.
While Anya had of course appeared in a handful of Season 3 episodes, I think Season 4 is the point where Emma Caulfield really makes the role her own.  This season’s version of the character – a blunt-speaking outsider whose romantic struggles are often deliberately contrasted with Buffy’s own [in the aforementioned The Harsh Light Of Day, for example] and who is inexplicably attracted to Xander Harris – could easily have come across as a fairly lazy attempt to replace Cordelia Chase, and I think it’s largely to Caulfield’s credit that she doesn’t.  Anya feels very much like her own person this season, and an increasingly integral member of the group.  It’s a performance that retroactively redefines the character: of course this is who Anya is.  Of course she always acted this way. It's only when you back and rewatch The Wish or Doppelgangland that you realize she didn't. And I think it’s pretty obvious, for example, that when people [e.g. people like me] go back to write Season 3 fanfiction where Anya features more heavily than in canon they [again, meaning me] invariably end up writing the Season 4 version of the character instead.  Anyanka might have appeared for the first time in Season 3, but Anya belongs to Season 4.
I really like how important to the show Willow has become at this point and how much of this season is all about her.  Just go back and look at the first season, in which Willow is arguably the member of the Core Four the writers cared least about – when she existed mainly to nurse a sad unrequited crush on Xander and to be good with computers when the plot required someone to be – and then compare that to this season, where she is Buffy’s best friend and roommate, unambiguously the second most important Scooby, and the center of a – genuinely pretty groundbreaking for the time – .season long subplot about coming out as a lesbian.  And of course Amber Benson is great as Tara too.  I’ve criticized the character of Oz for being very transparently written just to be Willow’s Nice Supportive Boyfriend and never becoming much more than that, and on paper you could level the same sort of charge at Tara.  And sure, obviously she was written to be Willow’s girlfriend and it’s impossible to seriously pretend otherwise.  But I think Tara manages to become a more rounded character than Oz very quickly. Even in this season, when she doesn’t yet have much connection to the others (she will, later, go on to become a key member of the group and a friend of Buffy's in ways I don’t think Oz was) she feels a little more complex than he did.
Faith is in this season!  I don’t just mean in the two parter This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? either. Of course, both of these episodes are great: the scene in the church in Who Are You? In which Faith (in Buffy’s body) breaks down while fighting Buffy (in Faith’s body), -- screaming repeatedly at her own reflection that she’s “nothing”, “disgusting”, and a "murderous bitch" -- is one of my favorites in the whole show.  But Faith feels like a real presence in the show even in the episodes she’s not actually in herself.  Unlike Kendra or Jenny in previous seasons, or even Cordelia the season, the other characters still talk about her and remember she existed when it’s appropriate that they do so (and in a way that they won’t really do again until … well, until Faith comes back in Season 7’s Dirty Girls).
Finally, Restless is possibly the best episode the show ever did, and certainly one of its most creative.  Willow’s dream sequence in particular is fantastically well done. I think this might be my favorite single act in all of Buffy.  Why this all works for me – apart from the fact that the show now has years of history to fall back on and reference – is that it’s an example of the show being utterly unafraid to play to its strengths.  Characterisation, dream sequences, dialogue, foreshadowing, oddly striking visuals, random moments of comedy … these – rather than tightly written plots or rigorously consistent world-building or anything that requires a working knowledge of world history or how the US military functions or what capitalism actually is – are the show’s strengths.  So Restless embraces all of these elements, and just doesn’t bother with anything else.  And the result is a season finale that – by virtue of not really being a season finale at all, at least according to the usual rules – is not quite like any other season finale the show ever did.  Which is, on reflection, a pretty fitting end to Season 4, a season of the show not quite like any of the others. 
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hersterical · 1 year ago
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If I had a nickel for every time Sarah Michelle Gellar played a hyper-competent character who is often underestimated due to her femininity and is part of a group of teens/young adults who solve supernatural mysteries and is closely associated with Scooby Doo and has a nerdy, super smart, and seemingly “good girl” lesbian best friend whose own femininity is used as a foil for smg’s character’s femininity and said best friend also at some point has an unassuming love interest with a dark side who is played by Seth Green, I would have two nickels.
Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
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the-cat-sorcerer · 2 months ago
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Alright I want to talk about caine, I'm gonna be rambling A LOT so good luck if you decide to read lol
Small spoilers for tadc episode 3 btw
Alright no idea where yo start so let's start with the fact that people villanise him way too much when in reality he hasn't really done anything THAT bad all things considered. I have proof for this below so let's get into it!
The adventures:
The people in the game and a few people irl are saying that caines adventures are bad but in all honesty they seem fun and if it weren't for the groups collective stupidity they'd be pretty fun if I say so myself. Ep 1 they had the task go follow the gloinks to find the gloink queen and defeat her (seems pretty fun all things considered and the only thing that really went wrong was abstracted kaufmo coming in). Ep 2 they go to the candy Kingdom and need to stop the bandits stealing whatever ot was and bring it back yo the Kingdom (if it weren't for the gand pushing the gummi gangs truck into a wall making gummigoo and pomni clip out and subsequently becoming friends which led yo gummigoos traumatic poofing that adventure would have been great). And finally Ep 3 they had to go through a haunted house and exit on the other side (yes the horror path kinger and pomni took was scary as hell but caine made it that way to try and get zooble to participate and if kinger hadn't jumped in they all could have walked through the safe part). And even after he had a whole mental break learning that the others hate the only thing he's good at by zooble from what we know he's changing his tactics, the next episode looks like the gang will work at a fast food restaurant and the one after that them possibly playing baseball? He is trying to make the adventures more like something the gang would have done irl!
Next up, his feelings:
Well done if you are still reading, now. Caine is very limited when it comes to what emotions he is able to feel and he literally can't tell what others are feeling as told by gooseworx when she said he lacked empathy, this leads me yo think he doesn't know what abstraction means to the humans, he probably assumes it os just the people leaving the game or smg but the gang see it as literal death, Have they told him that? Has ANY of them sat down and talked to him about what abstraction is like to them, hell have they even had a normal conversation with him? I bet a fuck ton of their problems would be nonexistent if they talked to caine about how they hate what has happened to them, what grief is and how to help them. 'OH BuT hE wIlL jUsT bReAk DoWn If ThEy SaY aNyThInG bAd LiKe LaSt TiMe', constructive criticism exists my friend they can explain what they dislike and give him ways to improve.
Caine isn't a bad guy, buy this doesn't stop him from doing bad things. He has made many mistakes and the others are allowed to be mad about that but I feel like they can only be mad in the same way you can be mad at a child for doing something wrong, because Caine doesn't know any better, he never got the opportunity to learn.
Thank you for coming yo my Ted talk here's a cookie for making it all the way through 🍪
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eundiarys · 2 years ago
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24. my boyfren
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genre : fluff, angst, crack, idol!au, fake dating au.
warnings : a kys joke. if u think that’s offensive please unfollow me bcs i think that’s normal 😞
summary : in which — yn who just debuted gets into a dating scandal with one of the most famous group members because of a misunderstanding and is forced to fake date with him. what happens if it isn’t as bad as she thinks? and and what if she finds comfort with him?
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masterlist ʚ♡ɞ next
authors note , and that’s a wrap !!! thank u to all the readers that enjoyed this silly smau i posted as a joke, i appreciate every one of you. especially those who stayed from the beginning, till the end! i loved seeing your feedbacks and i hope to see you all interacting in my future works aswell <3 it makes me a bit sad i have to end this but i have nothing else planned for omg :( but this smau will always have a special place in my heart, especially with all the amazing feedbacks i got from only this one smau 🥹 i hope to see u next time and have a great day/night! love, jules ♥️
taglist , @kiribirien @wccycc @hanniluvi @imhuh @ashxxgyu @zuyairus @suburbiataehyung @r7yu @eveyi @taekwondoesp @mirula @aestheticsluut @lcv3lies @iirene304 @curly-fr13s @luvdokja @forever-in-the-sky2 @sserafimez @cha0thicpisces @hawkins-hs @whippedforbeomgyu @hoonfever @stepout-09-15 @yuhjoeyuh @nyujjan @qluvrv @vixensss @viagumi @captivq @ttyunz @luvkait @foxsunoo @emohazuzworld @smg-valeria @ja4hyvn @tmrx2gther @reverbtunes @xiaoderrrr @catsyoon @soobsdior @iad0ru @wonyofanclub @lonewolfjinji @chaeey @fzy-b3om @itskpopular @dimplewonie @haknom @bwljules @eulris @cashew00nut @fanfangying1304 (thank you for reading!)
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dipdopdog · 17 days ago
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how long does this take you to make these? I seriously feel like it takes a day and yet sometimes you post 2-3 times.
also they should hire you-
It usually depends upon how many characters are in it, as well as how much I need to pose them.
For example, if I'm just doing a closeup of a character or two, it might take me as little as 10-20 minutes, however, if I'm doing a large group shot with dynamic lighting(such as smg club reborn), it could take 1 1/2-4 hours, not counting any editing I may have to do.
If I'm doing a series of pictures or a comic, it can vary, but usually I spend at least an hour making it.
Props and lighting/general scenery may also take some time if I need to add a lot of them in.
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duckapus · 1 month ago
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AU where Mr. Puzzles actually manages to kill Mario, Meggy and SMG4 during the fight in the engine room. Of course, because Mario's dead the universe starts falling apart, which was not part of the plan, and when he looks up the Lore and finds out why he finally completely breaks and whatever's left of him gladly welcomes the end, declaring that a world that can't exist without Mario doesn't deserve to exist!
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew out in the park proper are freed from his control (since he's not really even in control of himself anymore) just in time to see the world falling apart around them and SMG3's model start to corrupt. 3 then gets a crazy idea, gathers as much Meme Energy as he can in his current state, mixes in some long-dormant leftover speck of Youtube Remote energy he apparently had buried deep inside him all this time (remember, he ate the damn thing, why wouldn't it have some hind of lasting effect?), then hurls it at the rest of the group.
Somehow, this sends their minds back in time to May 7th 2011, the day "The Cake is a Lie!" was uploaded, with the mission to stop Mr. Puzzles from inadvertently ending the world again. And it also gives them a chance to make other improvements to the timeline along the way. Just a few problems though:
They're dealing with the pre-character-development Total Asshole versions of Mario and the SMGs to start with
Everyone except Luigi has to wait until the show gets out of the "fucking around in Super Mario 64 Mods with text" and starts using G-Mod to actually get directly involved
Saiko's back in her game, though Boopkins was apparently already playing it even back then so she's at least not alone
Tari's... actually not sure where she is. Her memory doesn't extend this far back. Apparently she's in some sort of weird facility? At least Clench is still active.
Melony is a watermelon and has no idea where her mask is
Apparently Inkopolis won't be retroactively inserted into the universe until Splatoon actually comes out in the real world in 2015 so they have to wait about four years for Meggy to even exist
None of them have any idea where Mr. Puzzles was or what he was doing up until that fateful Mar10 Day where he sold 4 the goddamn Demon Keyboard
As you might expect, Bob immediately starts putting his knowledge of the future to use so he can get filthy rich.
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the-unknown-void · 8 days ago
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!!UPDATED!! Murder Drones/Half-Life AU character bios
Welcome, welcome to City 9, one of our finest urban centers on Copper 17!
~ Citizens ~
Any worker drone that is not part of the resistance, and is not conscripted into the Combine. Live openly in the city under the harsh rule of the Combine, disassembly drones watching their every step, scanning for even the slightest sign of disobedience.
~ The Combine ~
Disassembly drones, basically. Except for metropolice who are worker drones who choose to work for them. All drones converted into DDs have their memories wiped entirely. The only exceptions to this are J, V, and N for who still have their memories but they are suppressed.
Design- They still have most of the canonical built-in weapons like claws, SMGs, blades, missiles, and B E A M. And they still adorn their signature “X” on their visors while fighting but they also have it while working in general, they mainly turn it off in casual situations. (Metrocops will adorn the “X” as well) Disassembly drones now come in different color schemes depending on their rank and role. (Look at Humanoid Combine Units for references) And they all(including metrocops) wear partial gas masks over their mouths(these are removable)!
Air Defense - Bigger and reinforced wings, stakes attached to the backs of their ankles that they can protrude downwards for anchoring to trees n such. In exchange for being able to fly for long periods of time, their bodies are not as armored so that they are lighter, making flight require less energy.
Land Defense - Digitigrade legs with goat hooves for agility and optimal ability to traverse varying terrain(and because I said so.) Smaller wings and their bodies are very reinforced for close-combat. Can only fly for short periods of time but they can glide.
Tessa James Elliott - Puppet Leader - Role: Dr. Breen The only known human left alive after the destruction of Earth and the Copper 17 core collapse. She managed to negotiate with the Absolute Solver to keep the worker drones alive and was appointed leader of the Combine on this planet. She remains in the Citadel and communicates with Cyn who tells her what to do whenever necessary.
Weapons/Tools: - Revolver - Sword - Wrench
Serial Designation J - Combine Operative(Commander) Relays orders to large groups of disassembly drones, can operate most Combine machinery, makes sure things are running smoothly, and speaks directly with Tessa. She mainly sticks around guarding the Citadel, if something(such as an uprising) threatens it and Combine control she will come to strike them down in nearly an instant. She isn’t as built for close-combat battle, she is able to fly very quickly but not for as long as air defense. Can drive APCs and pilot Hunter Choppers.
Weapons/Tools: - Disassembly Drone Stuff (Some listed weapons may be built-in) - Revolver - Grenades - Tau Cannon - Laser tripmines
Serial Designation N - Elite of Combine Air Defense He follows/leads hunter choppers or he can pilot hunter choppers. He is specifically designed for long flights and in-flight combat. Despite his higher position, he’s not very respected due to lacking intelligence and frequent hesitation causing more trouble than usually necessary.
Weapons/Tools: - Disassembly Drone Stuff (Some listed weapons may be built-in) - Pulse Rifle - Can deploy manhacks
Serial Designation V - Soldier of Combine Land Defense She guards the borders of Combine territories, making sure no unwelcome creatures from the outlands get inside the city.. Also sometimes deployed to guard places like Nova Prospekt. She is mainly designed to be able to traverse various terrain, she is still able to fly in short bursts and gliding. She can also drive APCs, set up mounted guns and turrets.
Weapons/Tools: - Disassembly Drone Stuff (Some listed weapons may be built-in) - Shotgun - Crossbow - Grenades - Hoppers - Can deploy roller mines
~ The Resistance ~
Worker drones who have decided to rebel against the Combine, refusing to submit to their abuse. However, since the death of their previous leader, Nori Doorman, their movement has been dormant. As Khan decided that everyone should go into hiding in the bunker for the sake of their daughter(him and Nori's).
Yeva - Deceased Was almost just as important to the resistance as Nori, playing a large role in getting them out of the city. Unfortunately she was killed by V along with her husband not long after the uprising fell.
Weapons/Tools: - Absolute Solver powers - Revolver - Pulse Rifle - Can hack roller mines
Nori Doorman - Former Leader(dead?) - Role: Gordon Freeman The initial starter of the resistance movement, which actually got pretty far. But it came to an abrupt end when she reached the Citadel walls and alerted J to the scene, killing Nori and many of those by her side just before they could make their final push.. At least everyone is pretty sure she’s dead?
Weapons/Tools: - Absolute Solver powers - Uzi (the gun, not her daughter) - Crowbar - S.L.A.Ms
Khan Doorman - Current Leader - Role: Eli Vance After Nori's death, he decided it was best to go into hiding with his daughter, fearing the Combine would begin hunting for them even more aggressively than they did before. He is also developing a patch for the absolute solver in secret, originally for his wife but now he hopes he can save his daughter.
Weapons/Tools: - Wrench - Pistol - Shotgun
Uzi Doorman - Role: Alyx Vance + Gordon Freeman Infuriated by her father’s cowardice for stalling the resistance movement, believing it nullifies everything her mother worked for. She wants to finish the job her mother started, and she will end up doing just that with the help of an unusual disassembly drone named N.
Weapons/Tools: - Crowbar (Nori’s) - Railgun (From the show) - Alyx’s gun (Modified Pistol) - RPG (Rocket Launcher) - Gravity Gun - S.L.A.Ms - EMP Tool - Absolute Solver powers (acquired much later)
Thad - Metrocop - Role: Barney Calhoun He’s another metrocop but he’s not in on Doll’s scheme. He’s just a metrocop for spying and it’s just useful to have rebel drones who can use Combine tech. But.. no one’s seen him in a while..
Weapons/Tools: - Disassembly drone headband (A headband with the 5 small extra eyes that disassembly drones have. Unlike actual DDs tho, the headband is only wired into the head instead of welded) - Gloves with retractable blades (Wolverine hands basically, when the user makes a fist, 3 blades protrude from their knuckles) - Booster Boots (Increase user’s agility and jump height, also protect the user from fall-related injury) - Extra arm & Leg armor (To look more like the disassembly drones and protect those limbs as they will NOT regenerate) - Partial Gasmask (same as DD’s) - Stun Baton - Pistol - SMG - Baseball Bat
~ Ambiguous Alliance ~
Who these drones are allied with or what they stand for isn't quite known.
Alice - Role: Father Grigori ??????
Doll - Double agent, Spy on the Resistance - Role: Dr. Mossman (Mitchell HDTF) Lives in the bunker with the resistance. She seems to have some kind of deal going with J to provide information and in return protection from the Combine. Promising to retrieve the patch from Khan, in exchange for protection and being able to avenge her parents by killing V.
Weapons/Tools: - Absolute Solver powers - Metal Pipe - Revolver
Lizzy - Triple agent, Metrocop Works for Doll, doesn’t know her entire scheme but she goes along with whatever Doll tells her anyways. Like joining the metropolice under the guise of being a spy on the Combine, but to the Combine she claims to be a spy on the resistance and giving them information to back it up. Can set up turrets and mounted guns.
Weapons/Tools: - Disassembly drone headband - Gloves with retractable blades - Booster Boots - Extra arm & Leg armor - Partial Gasmask - Stun baton - Pistol - Sniper Rifle
Cyn - True leader of the Combine - Role: G-Man + Overwatch No one but J knows there is someone above Tessa pulling all the strings. She let Tessa live, making her leader and assigned J, N, and V their ranks, allowing them all keep their memories as long as they stayed in line.
Weapons/Tools: - Absolute Solver
~ Outland Creatures ~
Eldritchs - Disassembly drones who’ve been damaged beyond what their regeneration is capable of fixing, requiring material from outside sources. Sometimes this is viable, but usually it is advised to just destroy eldritchs immediately as they will violently massacre and destroy anything that contains the material it needs, even other disassembly drones. These beings take on many forms and can create very convincing holograms of those they kill to lure prey, so one should never approach random figures in the outlands.
Note: because of this, disassembly drones have a fail-safe trigger that disables regeneration if it detects a certain amount of weight lost. (indicating severe damage that could lead to becoming eldritch.) Of course this fail-safe can fail to trigger or trigger unnecessarily(falsely detecting significant weight loss) sometimes.
Heartcrabs - The cores of disassembly drones and solver-afflicted drones that can no longer return to their bodies(likely entirely destroyed). Similar to the eldritchs, they may start looking for a new body by attacking living drones; this doesn’t work well and creates aggressive zombie-like drones.
Anti-Drone Sentinels - Quick, aggressive robotic raptors that emit bright flashes of light to boot-loop any drone who looks at it, rendering them immobile until a reboot can be done. They move in packs in the outlands, it’s rumored a few drones have learned how to tame them.
Do not be afraid to send questions my way about this AU! I am always itching to ramble :D
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davidjhonsblog · 1 year ago
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