#Seven Walls Arc
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fullscoreshenanigans · 1 month ago
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(Chapter 127 | Chapter 141 | x)
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fullscoreshenanigans · 2 years ago
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#AKZJDKDKSNDJDNSBSJNANSODNZKWKAJDKSNSJKWNAJDKSBSLANSJ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #Holy this is SO GOOD oh my God #I'm going to pass out #Holy really be out there inducing Stendhal syndrome into people smh #For real tho every single piece you create you reach new levels of beauty still unknown to humanity #Holy creates new art and humanity's score counter suddenly beeps and says “congratulations! You've unlocked art level 100000” #This is so beautiful gorgeous and mesmerizing on so many levels I don't even know where to start #I LOVE the golden tears!!!!! I love how more than tears they look like waterfalls of gold!!!!! #I love the tiny little Norman Norman's holding I'm his hands!!!! He's everything he's burying inside of himself!!!!!!!! #He's the innocence and happiness he's burying and slowly killing and I love this symbolism!!!!!!!!! #Where do you even take these concept from Holy like. What do you eat in the morning tell me I wanna have your brain #I sure as hell hope you put this in your portfolio so anyone who sees this has to hire you immediately #THE SPARKLES!!!!!! The little glimmering stars!!!!!!!!!! Sis I love them so much they're always such a great addition to your art #I'm really in love with the halo... I'm probably mistaken here- #but this thorn-like diamonds it has makes me think about Jesus' crown of thorns #And there's a lot to unpack with the Norman/Jesus parallels you know? Norman somehow “coming back from death” / Norman being a savior etc #But I'm digressing. The shadow on his chest is SO FREAKING COOL #Is it blood? Is it Norman's blood? Is it the blood of the demons he's killed? #Is it the blood of all the cattle children that were slaughtered and that he feels such a deep connection with? Is it his illness spreading #Is it a way to make the whole piece feel like an early Renaissance oil painting even more than it already does? #All I know is that it's freaking mesmerizing #The light coming from his feet like a fire burning him... How it makes his head the darkest point of his figure... His mourning expression. #I'm just. Wow.
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Happy birthday, Norman!
The boy who cried inside
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fullscoreshenanigans · 4 months ago
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Stealing @just-like-playing-tag's ship chart with a few tweaks but my general leanings for the trio
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chidoroki · 1 year ago
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August 1, 2023 - TPN’s 7th year anniversary - ft: Emma & Ray at the Seven Walls
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bibannana · 1 year ago
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Tup *watching Fives stick Rex's entire office to the ceiling*: Did you just wake up one day and choose violence?
Fives *standing back to admire his handy work*: No, no, it's a conscious everyday decision.
Echo *who helped but will deny it*: This isn't violence, this is anarchy.
Jesse *making sure nothing will fall off the roof*: No, this is controlled chaos.
Dogma *starting to understand that following the Domino Twins around is a bad idea*: This is a one way ticket to the medbay if he finds us.
Hardcase *stuck to a wall*: Ha! Like he'll know it was us!
Rex *opening the door*:.......
Fives *smug*: He won't know it was us Dogma, the security tapes aren't even recording at the mo- what's with those faces?
Echo *look of dread*: Well-
Fives *hangs his head*: He's right behind me isn't he?
Rex *wishing he had given them to Cody*: He is.
Kix *in the corridor wheezing into his comm*: I'm going to need six stretches at the Captain's office as soon as possible.
Taglist: @sexy-rex @soliloquy-of-nemo @jiabeewrites @staycalmandhugaclone @nekotaetae
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fullscoreshenanigans · 5 months ago
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Reading these popularity polls and feeling like I'm going lowkey insane
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(WSJ Chapter 102 Popularity Poll, released September 7, 2018)
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(Official Anime Site's 4th Anniversary Popularity Poll, conducted in August 2020)
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(VIZ February 2021 Popularity Poll)
Anna being more popular in fanon that Don illustrates the phenomon of a fandom being willing to do one of their least favorite things (appreciate a female character) in order to avoid doing another one of their least favorite things (appreciate a character of color)
#Eurocentric beauty standards and cishet ship brainrot is a hellavu drug combo#Ch102 poll is especially crazy because her big moment in the spotlight in Ch116-117#where she goes to help get the medicine for Chris didn't happen yet where you can maybe justify it as something else#but like. You're delusional if you don't think a significant portion of that popularity comes from her being#a conventionally cute‚ blonde-haired‚ blue-eyed white girl with how much more consistently involved Don (and Gilda) are in the story#Phil outranking so many characters in relation to his role is also a thing#but he did have that major defining character moment where he took on the burden of the secret at the tender age of 4#during one of the greatest emotional climaxes of the series that even people who say the series fell off remember fondly#and that poll coming out two chapters after he showed up again in the story during Ch100#on top of being a cute bby#so while he isn't ranked as my 4th favorite character it's way more understandable to me than Anna's placement#also something something using this as a way to neutralize Ray as a “threat” to NE#by pairing him off with the conventionally cute blonde girl when he's had more consistent interactions with Don and Gilda#my personal red flag for a ship line-up if only because it's frequently done in the most bland comphet way possible#with RA and GD being used primarily to prop up NE as opposed to more genuine interest in the ships on their own#TPN References#TPN Polls#Fandom Salt#TPN Salt#Fandom Wank#TPN Cast#Grace Field Kids#Anna#Don#TPN S1#Cuvitidala Arc#TPN 102#Seven Walls Arc#TPN 131
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ghostie-jakxy-gray · 5 months ago
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The Rat That Feeds The Rattlesnake (7659 words) by Ghostie_Jakxy_Gray Chapters: 4/8 Fandom: Content SMP, Hadestown - Mitchell, no rpf - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Folly | r4tmaid, Rat | doctor4t (Video Blogging RPF), The Fates (Hadestown), Hades (Hadestown), Other Character Tags to Be Added, Implied Orpheus (Hadestown) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, once again: SMPs ability to just Make People Gods?, that's Important here, Demigods, Inaccurate Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Inaccurate Minecraft Mechanics, The Neverend (ContentSMP), Fish, Respawn Mechanics (Minecraft), Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, hopefully not painfully out of character, the Fates are the wind, BAMF Folly | r4tmaid, she's getting there at least, The Author Regrets Nothing, Major Character Undeath, Dreams and Nightmares, Potentially painfully out of character idk, Mind Manipulation, The Fates Are Not Nice, Whump, Existential Crisis, gods being assholes Series: Part 2 of Gut and Idyll Summary: Hades is an old god spurned. Orpheus and Rat are builders after the same heart. Folly isn't much of anything for certain yet (but oh, she could be, couldn't she?), and the winds -The Wind- that of the fates blow like tides… in and out and over and over and over… ~ A (technically) continuation of my AU where Orpheus and Eurydice escape to the Neverend, and all the consequences that follow. Featuring actual CSMP characters this time!
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darksvster · 3 months ago
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okay i was asked to post this on tumblr since i posted a mini essay about it on twitter so here it is, i added some more examples and elaborated on my points that i couldn't over twitter.
so, when i first watched episode 207 i thought it was weird how religious rhaenyra was, until ryan condal mentioned the cult imagery. now i think instead of the show making her paranoid and neurotic in the final arc, they're going to make her more of a cult leader figure.
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i think rather than leaning into her paranoia and the idea of a "hysterical paranoid mother" after she loses her sons, they're going to have her drink her own kool-aid more and more. it's interesting that this is what emma and ryan discuss in this scene with the dragonseeds in the inside the episode.
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i think it's interesting that instead of the show positioning her like "a leader amongst the smallfolk," this episode positions her in a darker light, like someone who is manipulating the people there for her own goals. and when vermithor turns on the bastards, she doesn't let them run, the guards keep them barricaded in.
she is literally enraptured by the fire in these scenes. now that she knows it's possible for others to claim the dragons, she has been vindicated and wants more. this is not a merciful queen who is reaching out a hand to the smallfolk, she's throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. after all, these are just smallfolk. bastards with no honor. ryan literally describes the scene as a ritual sacrifice.
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and who do you conduct sacrifice for? the gods. but in this case, the gods the seven or the old gods, they aren't even just dragons, but the fact that rhaenyra sees herself in the dragons. she says as much in the literal pilot of the episode when viserys asks her what she sees when she looks at the dragons. she understands the power they wield.
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she knows that their power lies in the dragons. but she doesn't reflect viserys' belief that they are a power that man never shouldn't have trifled with. she leans into the chaos and fire and blood of the dragons, we see that in the sowing, clearly.
rhaenyra inherited the worst of both viserys and daemon and that will lead to her madness. she's got viserys' strong belief in prophecy (one now exacerbated by her desperation).
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we see that faith in the prophecy falter but never truly fade. rhaenyra has always taken is seriously, to the point that everything she's done this season is in response to the prophecy. her pacifism isn't just due to avoiding bloodshed. she makes it clear to jace that before plunging the realm into war she had to know there was no other option because of the burden of the prophecy.
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even though daemon has never believed in prophecy or superstition. she's also got daemon's desire and lust for power and strength (something she confessed wanting specifically because daemon is a man when she was speaking to mysaria).
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it's a great deconstruction of the chosen one archetype to have her drink this koolaid and believe herself the chosen one only to have that belief corrupt her. emma d'arcy speaks on this in their interview with gq when discussing rhaenyra's growing fanaticism.
I think something that has been happening for Rhaenyra throughout the series is a growing religious fanaticism. After her father’s death, there is this desire to be connected to him in some way. And losing him happens at the same moment as having her throne usurped. And so that thing that would have been such a direct connection to him is also stolen. So in lieu of that, there’s that searching [through] the histories. I think imagining that at some point her name will feature next to her father’s is in some way comforting, and I find it very moving to see a person who in grief has committed themselves to the history books. As the series goes on, I think we see her more and more invested in her faith. She returns to the old gods. I think all of these actions are in search of her right; the thing that she thought she had received from her father, she is looking for evidence again and again. And part of it, I’m sure, is a choice. I think sometimes in times of loss, we can choose the anchors that we are going to cling to, and her faith becomes one. But I think there’s a narcissism in it. I think her connection with her religion is about wanting to reinforce a divine right. And I think, looking at [episode] seven when this miracle takes place, and this man claims Seasmoke, I think she feels that it’s a gift from the gods. I think it’s what allows her to ride roughshod over Jace’s very legitimate concerns about his own status. I think it’s what allows her to stage a massacre, essentially. She feels that she is riding on the wings of her faith. But her faith, and her belief that she is the ruler that is supposed to sit on that throne, are completely enmeshed.
They continue:
What is going through Rhaenyra’s mind as she watches the Targaryen bastards be devoured and torched alive? I think she feels like a god. I think she feels super proud. I mean, I think it’s uncomfortable. I think there’s something, actually, also that ties into the religiosity — even being back in proximity to dragons, to that fire, is to somehow be living her birthright. To be soaking up the divine, somehow. And do you think that she feels as though the decision to essentially stage a massacre, as you say, is vindicated when the two new bastard dragonriders are found? Totally. Without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, it’s horrendous, but I think she is now this sort of emboldened fanatic, [and] I think she’s experiencing events within a far bigger timeline. She’s imagining the history books. And you know, what’s happening right in front of her is awful. But in 300-400 years, what will be documented is possibly a very short war; a huge civil war that was averted, that this was the first ruling queen, that this ruling Targaryen queen expanded the Targaryen’s ability to have dragons within their armoury.
emma's read on this supports what we see on screen when it comes to rhaenyra's newly found zealousness. the religious aspect could lead her to do things that might have been seen as atrocities by her. it could lead to mysaria abandoning her, her riders turning on her, and we would see more of that targ madness.
gods are mentioned several times in 207. first by addam, who says that the gods are calling him to greater things. rhaenyra has never been the extremely religious sort but, in this scene, she looks like she's had a moment of clarity.
importantly, rhaenyra doesn't know who addam's father is, or hugh's or ulf's. this is simply the first time in history that a non-targaryen (at least in her eyes) has claimed dragons. it's something that she believed impossible. it can feel like destiny to the desperate and she's been extremely desperate after losing daemon, rhaenys, and continuous loss after loss with no hope of recourse.
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mysaria says that rhaenyra is lucky addam chose to bend the knee to her rather than himself. and her reply is that it is ordained. this religious vocabulary being used is intentional!
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her complaint against the lowborn is that there is an ancient fealty from highborn houses. she essentially implies that bastards do not have honor. mysaria corrects her by pointing out that her legitimate half-brothers aegon and aemond aren't exactly delights, but that doesn't make rhaenyra see the light. instead she recognizes that there's fealty to be had from lowborn people too. the order of things have changed, as mysaria says, so she realizes that she can lift up people who have been historically stepped on and give power to the powerless, calling them her army of bastards.
but when jace calls this out, predicting that someone (perhaps hugh?) could lay claim to her throne if she legitimizes these bastards if not by name then by offering them the power of gods. obviously, jace's concern is real, his entire legitimacy lies on both viserys' past support and also the fact that he has a dragon of his own. if any bastard can claim one, what does that make him? but rhaenyra's response isn't logical. she believes that the throne is part of her and her son's destiny. their right.
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for years, on some level, rhaenyra has believed that even though people have insulted her sons, they are full-blooded targaryens. she says herself that if she was a man she could father a dozen bastards, and as heir, she gives birth to three without hesitation. these aren't strongs or velaryons to her, her sons are targaryens.
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but even when jace essentially begs his mother not to give commoners dragons, bringing up her past sins and pointing out his own struggle knowing that he's harwin strong's son, her response is somewhat cold. she says now that the gods have laid this in front of her and she has no choice.
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the dragonkeepers call what she's doing blasphemy and note that it isn't the gods who brought the dragonseeds to her, but she herself has done that.
Dragonkeeper Elder: This is an abomination. You sent an Andal before a dragon. The judgment was delivered. Now you would send more. Rhaenyra: Ser Steffon Darklyn was the blood of the dragon. Dragonkeeper Elder: It was a blasphemy. He was no dragonlord. Neither are these. Rhaenyra: And yet the gods have set them before us. Dragonkeeper Elder: You have set them before yourself! The dragons are sacred; they are the last magic of Old Valyria in this sad world. They are not pieces on a board for the games of men. Our order will take no part in this.
to the dragonkeepers, she's using these bastards and dragons like chess pieces in her war. but to rhaenyra, who has seen addam claim seasmoke, it seems like this is a divine right — a sign from the gods. and that's proven again when hugh claims vermithor.
addam claiming seasmoke changed everything for her. she talks about claiming a dragon as a transformation, and, in many ways, this claiming has transformed her as well. she tells the dragonseeds that their purpose now is the end the hardships of war.
she paints a lovely image promising them peace at the end, but it is a wholly false image. with vermithor and silverwing now in her arsenal, there will be more suffering, more bloodshed. there are no promises of peace now that the war has been given to the dragons, not until everyone is dead. and if that happens, well, the gods willed it, not her.
in this moment, when she says "may the gods bless you" i have to wonder, is she talking about the seven? or the valyrian gods? or the dragons? i don't think she's fully in deep, but i can see the set up for a much darker storyline for rhaenyra rather than the book plot. every time her beliefs are proven or something impossible happens, that could reinforce her zealousness.
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i have always said that rhaenyra is a combination of viserys and daemon, and i think that still. i think that she has both of their madnesses within her. as she loses more, the only thing she'll have to hold onto is that prophecy and the divine right she believes in now.
even this scene from the finale promo has over-the-top messiah, chosen apostles, last supper vibes. her saying "i have entrusted you with a power only few have known" as if she wasn't desperate for them and had no say in who the dragons chose. i love it!
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honestly i'm totally here for it, i think it's an exciting direction to take. i don't think rhaenyra was always like this, she might have had the proclivity for it growing up under viserys' wing, but it's the war that's pushed her to this point. desperate people will turn to things like faith in order to guide them when the real world disappoints. i think it's a far more nuanced look at a sort of "madness".
and i'm here for the conflict that will happen with daemon as a result. i think daemon will be in direct opposition to this. he's NOT the type to follow cult leaders. this will be their conflict on top of the existing power struggles. this, to me, is far more interesting of a struggle as opposed to nettles causing romantic tension. this show has a tendency to lean away from harmful stereotypes about women. pitting woman against woman is one of them, as is the hysterical woman.
daemon dying for her could be a form of devotion, or perhaps even a command from a delusional rhaenyra who believes he will survive it. daemon could end up drinking the kool-aid too after the devastations of the war or simply realize that this is the last thing he can offer to someone who is too far gone to be saved.
THIS IS THE FIRE I WANT FOR RHAENYRA. this is the mad queen setup that we could have had! targ exceptionalism and completely going off the deep end as a way of coping with an unwinnable conflict. without viserys, without rhaenys, no one is there to temper the fire within her.
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fullscoreshenanigans · 8 months ago
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#this is just what middle schoolers do when theyre left to their own devices your honor (via @midnight-sloth)
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March 21st - Happy Birthday Norman - ft: his tvtropes
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wibben · 5 days ago
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Perfectly Imperfect
🎃 My actual plan for Halloween is, unsurprisingly, not finished. But I couldn't just let Halloween come and go without a little something! So here's a little fluffy Nanami Kento, struggling with being a perfectionist. 🎃
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You were beginning to suspect Nanami took pumpkin carving more seriously than most.
The first time you leaned over to see his progress, he’d swiveled his pumpkin out of sight, his brows knitting in concentration. “Not yet. It’s not ready.”
You’d laughed, shrugged, and let him be, thinking it was cute he wanted it to be a surprise. After all, that was so very Kento – everything he did had that meticulous touch. But after your own pumpkin was proudly propped up (and, admittedly, a little wobbly in its smile), Kento still wouldn’t let you peek. His shoulders were a little tense, jaw set as he sliced each angle of his pumpkin with the same exacting precision he used to analyze your taxes. 
“Come on,” you teased, nudging his shoulder. “Let me see.”
But he only huffed, eyes glued to the uneven surface of the pumpkin, moving his knife in slow, perfectly straight lines. “It’s not ready,” he repeated, sounding… a little deflated.
You tried to give him space, focusing on arranging the remaining seeds into tiny, wobbly hearts and stars. But every so often you’d catch him glancing at your pumpkin, a small wrinkle of irritation tugging at his brow. It’d been nearly an hour now, and he still hadn’t carved anything more than a few long, straight slices, some lines coming out so exact they didn’t even look… pumpkin-y. At all. But the lines did look familiar…
After the third time he swiveled the pumpkin away from your eyes, muttering something about the lines not coming out right, you pressed a hand to his to halt his knife. “Kento,” you said, struggling not to smile, “are you… using your technique on the pumpkin?”
His mouth twitched, a flush creeping up to his cheeks. “That would be ridiculous,” he muttered, though his fingers tightened around the carving tool with even more grim resolve. You’d seen that look before – it was his getting shit done as neatly as possible look.
“What if… just for tonight,” you whispered, stifling a laugh, “you forget about perfect lines and… you know, let it be a little wonky?” 
He exhaled, slow and resigned, and turned his pumpkin just slightly so you could see what he’d carved so far: a series of perfectly measured slashes, each one a little too sharp, too straight, all at perfect angles of seven to three, creating what looked more like a spreadsheet than a face.
“I’ve carved one eye,” he said, and he sounded almost ashamed. “The mouth keeps looking like a bar graph.”
You had to bite back a laugh. You reached over, flicking a bit of pumpkin goop in his direction. “You can’t make a jack-o'-lantern with ratios, Kento.” 
He leveled you with a scandalized look, brushing a seed from his hair where it had landed. “Yes I absolutely can and you know it,” he said, tone dead serious. “This pumpkin just has no symmetry.”
You couldn’t help but burst out laughing, pressing a hand to your mouth. “Symmetry? It’s a pumpkin!” 
He scowled – though the corners of his mouth betrayed him, just a little, tugging up as you reached over, guiding his knife in a jagged, uneven arc to make a cartoonishly crooked smile on the pumpkin’s lopsided face.
He watched your shaky line, a look of pure horror crossing his face. “The angles aren’t even close, my love—” he groaned, but he couldn’t stop a smile from creeping up, finally, when you added a few goofy teeth.
“There,” you said, wiping your hands on your jeans. “See? It’s you, Kento.”
He looked down at the wobbly, crooked-faced pumpkin, then back at you in mock accusation, embittered with disbelief. “Cruel woman… I look nothing like that.” He grumbled, disgruntled as he fingered at the eyehole, picking out a stray seed stuck to the inner wall.
You watched. Shamelessly. With a grin slowly growing on your face and a suggestive waggle of your eyebrows to accompany, which was promptly met with that same seed being flicked straight between your eyes.
“Incorrigible,” he accused.
He sighed, surrendering with a slump to his shoulders at having been thoroughly bested by a gourd. “Unbelievable.” But his tone softened as he shook his head, eyes lingering on your pumpkin which proudly supported your elbow, all wobbly lines and clumsy knife strokes and you couldn’t possibly look more pleased… and then his own, half him and half you, perfection to a fault but made better by your added touch and enthusiasm. 
“You did make it adorable,” he admitted, reaching out to flick a little pumpkin goop back at you.
You grinned, unable to resist scooping a handful of seeds to toss at him. “Yeah, see? Like you!”
Before you could blink, he’d ducked away, laughing, rounding the orange-guts-covered table with one quick stride to lift you right off your feet, your gleeful squeal swallowed by his low chuckle as he tossed you over his shoulder. He held you there easily, despite your wiggling, his free hand swatting playfully at the back of your thigh to chastise your squirming. 
"Behave," he chuckled, a thick arm keeping you secured while he scooped up the pumpkins with his other hand, tucking them in the crook of his arm.
By the time he set you down and proudly displayed the two pumpkins on your front steps, they looked… well, they looked a little lopsided. But the way he looked at them, and then looked at you – all smiles and pride as you hung on his arm with matted orange hair up to his elbows – he thought that was exactly how they should be.
They may not be masterpieces, but they were perfectly imperfect.
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fullscoreshenanigans · 3 months ago
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(Chapter 32 | TPN Light Novel 1: A Letter from Norman - "The Ghost Incidents at Grace Field House" | Shirai's Highlights for Volume 4 | Chapter 140 Post)
The most common route I see is he regains his love for it after he's out of the oppressive environment of Grace Field (myself included), but I've also seen some people opt for him to focus more on cooking, photography, machines, or archery.
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(Chapter 4 | Questionnaire Translation Source | Mystic Code Book Chapter 7 Q&A)
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fullscoreshenanigans · 2 years ago
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#yes I know Norman loves the lambda crew #but he gets so defensive when Emma and Ray try to put themselves in danger #Emma: so we’re going to the seven walls #Norman: you’re both grounded what the fuck
Norman: Is everyone here prepared to give up your lives for our cause?
Vincent: Yes.
Barbara: Yes.
Cislo: Yes.
Zazie: Wrah.
Hayato: Yes.
Jin: Yes.
Emma and Ray: Ye-
Norman: Shut the fuck up.
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moondirti · 1 year ago
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8. VICES
CHAPTER EIGHT OF ANIMALIC | MIGUEL O'HARA X F!READER
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↼ chapter seven / chapter nine ⇀
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summary: a shower, a training session, and a blowjob
explicit (18+) | 5.8k words warnings: enemies to lovers, training arcs, unhinged smut, dubious consent, it's rough guys, blowjobs, handjobs, miguel o'hara is a strict (asshole) mentor, throat-fucking, choking, mentions of infidelity, mentions of starvation, homelessness notes: well. hope y'all still respect me after reading this
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The cell doesn’t last long. 
You don’t know what you expected; the terms of your deal weren’t exactly negotiated in full. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t been discussed at all. You’d assumed Miguel agreed based on his reticence – as you’ve come to anticipate from him, a non-answer always means you have a point he’d rather not appreciate. But he’d added little else after the figurative pouring of your soul, his back turning towards you instead, fixing his hands on his waist. And it had stayed that way, up until you were escorted back to the laser enclosure, still as much a prisoner as anybody else.
So, perhaps you were wrong. You convinced yourself that it was okay, that you didn’t have any hope for your own redemption. You weren’t his problem to deal with anymore, not since you agreed to go home. He probably couldn’t see the potential in you, anyway. A string of excuses drawn upon one common line – self-degradation. Tamping yet another pipe dream destined to leave you evermore downtrodden. And that was okay. 
That is, until you were roused from sleep by the scarlet spider much later. It’d been light, a rest on the verge of consciousness, contorted into the most compressed position possible to make use of limited space. In truth, you’d been thankful for it – to be granted a break from the fruitless struggle and, finally, some cue towards your fate. But he led you away from the anomaly imprisonment sector – opposite from the go-home machine you thought would be your adjudicator.
Now, you’re here.
“Was ordered to pull something together from a spare recovery room,” Reilly crosses his arms, giving an approving nod to nothing at all. “‘Course s’not the biggest – not meant to be used for extended periods of time, but I could manage if I were you.” 
You don’t let yourself harbour a reaction, not before he leaves you to your own devices.  
Because, well – it’s perfect.
There’s not much to compare it to, naturally. You’d grown accustomed to sharing a dormitory back at college, cramped in shoebox square footage with your roommate. Then, when your earth had gone to shit, there were no houses left to revel in. The past year since your miraculous escape have found you homeless, huddled under awnings or atop park benches, and by that point, discomfort had found a permanent friend in you. 
Yet–
White asymmetric panelling hems the studio, broken up only by a triangular window that peeks out onto Nueva York’s cityscape. On your right, the wall recesses in to form a bed nook, where fitted sheets hug a thick mattress, two feather pillows stacked at one end. Opposite it hovers a multi-purpose desk, niche’s carrying reusable utensils, bowls, a lamp and a small first-aid kit. 
And it’s all you could want. Gorgeous. Not conventionally so, no; it’s plain and lacklustre with an air of futuristic frigidness. But it’s clean, and comes equipped with an air conditioning system that puts you in control of the temperature you sleep in. It’s a stationary point for you to return to,  no matter the day’s drag – a place to call yours if not home. 
Not to mention, there’s a flat door towards the back, too plain to have caught your attention until you actively look for it. It has no handle, opened with a slight push that releases a latch, and swings outwards. Given the size of the corner, you’re forced to take a step back – which, a more ungrateful version of yourself would’ve marked as a con, but you’re too caught up in the novelty of what you’re led into.
A bathroom. A private, unrestricted bathroom – with a toilet and a sink and a fucking shower. You’re unable to repress the grin that stretches your cheeks, absolutely ecstatic with the – however temporary – development. No more sneaking into gyms to use their bath facilities, fortunes splurged on soap over dinner. You can wash yourself whenever you see fit, not have to feel guilty about deluding expensive memberships or your own hunger. 
(Small blessings; that still-pious part of you succumbs to the sign. You’re being rewarded. You’re on the right track.) 
Immediately, you schedule your night. A shower, first – partly for your excitement, majorly for the necessity. You doubt there are laundry machines nearby, if there’s any at all, so soaking your clothes in the sink should have to do the trick. You have no others, and to ask for more would be testing the grace you’ve been granted so far. Besides, the sheets look sterile – to lay in them bare can’t be the worst option.
Wiggling your fingers, you plug the drain to fill the basin. The garments you shuck off quickly settle there too, crumpled in a way that only exposes all their worn-down qualities. Jagged rips in your jeans, caked gore on your shirt. It’s instinct to turn away once the grime bleeds into the water, dying the once-clear pool with the unsavoury colour of your recent exploits. Harder, however, is trying to ignore the dried slick on your panties, bashfully tucking them underneath everything else. 
Engrossed by the chore, you’re almost taken by surprise by the flash of your reflection in the half-body mirror. It comes suddenly, a shape in your peripheral that looks like it’s in the wrong place. An apparition in a horror flick – darkened, wrapped in bandages and dirt and set with heavy eyes from days of unrest. Your heart rate spikes, stuttering rapidly even as you realise that it is, indeed, you. 
Or – you and Wraith. Both, existing simultaneously. 
Because it is the image you’ve become familiar with. The slope of your cheeks, the curve at your waist. It’s off putting seeing her again after some time; you don’t think you’ve spared a glance for more than half a second since the day of the gala, when you’d sat crouched in front of yourself, swiping gloss on puckered lips. But it’s those same lips that purse back at you now, unchanged. You recognise it all so quickly.
None of it resonates. 
An ugly bruise mars your temple, a yellowing one at your ribs. Your skin is littered with silver scars, or purple, depending on recency, like the two points at your neck where fangs have made their mark. Stark, white gauze circles each arm, one below your shoulder, the other above your wrist. And you’re… less, than you had been – evidence found around your cheekbones, or across your collar. Your flesh sinks into the hollow planes behind bone. When was the last time you’d eaten? 
Wraith. This haunted, cursed figure. 
You breathe through the discouragement. You tell yourself that it’s okay, the words quickly becoming a new mantra. You won’t go as far as to say it’s ambition – but the new sense of purpose that courses through you works to drown it out. You have something to work towards, no longer an aimless soul wandering uncharted realms. Whatever happened, whatever happens – all of it doesn’t matter now that you’re finally setting things straight. 
Your enthusiasm is enough to tide you over, at least, and when you step in the shower, the final dregs of hatred drip away.
White noise accompanies the cleanse. You’re suspended, surrounded by the pitter patter of water splattering down on the tiled floor. It’s overwhelming – the system has been pre-programmed to a common preference, but you find that it’s too cold for you, turning it up to one that singes your exposed form instead. Your lungs tighten, unaccustomed to the steam that quickly replaces oxygen. Hair plasters to your ears. It’s good, though, an appreciated racket. You look for soap and can  focus only on that, the buzz of guilt that constantly occupies you drowned out in favour for more menial tasks.
Of course, that really only leaves room for one train of thought.
You wonder what he’s doing right now. Has he retired for the night, back to a warm home with a partner already drowsy, cushioned in their shared bed? He seems like a family man, the type to have a galley kitchen that breaks open to a dining room, four chairs tucked beneath glossy oak. One supplanted by a high chair, maybe, meant for a squealing babe; because he’s a dad, for sure. You’ve never known Miguel to be tender, but that’s towards you and your criminal disposition. There’s a sort of careful consideration he harbours – like stopping mid sentence, that moniker, Wraith, on his tongue, and opting for something less loathsome when you grimace. You imagine it honed in a gentler setting, fostered by children he adores. 
And his spouse– 
You squeeze a generous dollop of shampoo on your palm, working it into your scalp. 
What is his type, anyway? Dedicated individuals who prioritise discipline over all else? Certainly, he wouldn’t be married to another spider-person, not when their relationship jeopardises his mission’s motto. Someone homegrown, then, a childhood sweetheart who knew him before he became all that. Who continued to love every inch of him as sinew stretched to brawn, the civilian he once was falling out like a baby tooth, fangs spouting in its stead. Unconditionally, or something along the lines. 
You recognise the notion, how important it is for a hero like him. To be tasked with responsibilities beyond human ability, one has to become more. A martyr, a villain when need be. You don’t exactly blame his vendetta against you, but you’ve come to resent the man regardless. Doubtlessly, the sentiment is felt by others he’s put in their place.
So, someone who sees past all that. Miguel O’Hara, as he is behind the mask.
The provided bar of soap is small enough to wrap your hand around. You flip it a few times, lathering it until suds form. It’s unscented, so you imagine what it could be. Patchouli springs up, the most immediate smell in your memory. You have to squash it down, alongside the ache that gnaws your core.
Sulphur, pungent and sickening as it permeates your earth’s atmosphere. 
Ichor and its metallic aftermath, clinging to your tongue. 
The catalogue presented in the last year isn’t exactly pleasant. You push beyond it, settling on a vague cloud that accompanied your college roommate. Her lavender lotion, of which she bought in bulk. You’d smear it over your knuckles and knees prior to class, comforted by the balsamic undernotes. Light, fresh. Your peers would gravitate towards you, divinely feminine, resting their heads on your shoulder when lectures droned on for too long. 
(And you’re aware of how dead they all are, blown to ash because of you. 
You’ll ask for lavender products, perhaps, when you’re sent back.) 
Is it a prerequisite to being a hero – to be loved by someone from before, who sees you for who you are? You have no one, and you’re afraid of what it means for your salvation. The right thing, in your case, is eternal solitude. When it comes down to it, would you be able to accept that? 
Your gut sinks; the answer you come up with is selfish still. No. 
There’s a long way to go until that changes.
(Your skin prickles. The water sprays right through you.
You wait until you phase back in.)
With nothing left to do, you rinse off. You can feel the rot begin to grow on the sanctuary you’ve built, and with hope to return, you can’t have it destroyed just yet. 
Your room is cold when you exit, recycled air nipping your balmy skin. The towel – found folded under the sink for resident convenience – is shorter than you would like, barely enough to wrap around your bust. That is to say, it’s utterly useless at preserving heat. It occurs to you to stand in place and drip-dry, but going to bed damp is asking for a sickness that’ll knock you off course. 
You’re about to check the heater when you notice something strange, lumped by the entrance. 
For all intents and purposes, it looks like a trash bag. Slouched in a teardrop shape, tied off with an expert knot. The colouring is off though – not the plain charcoal you’d expect, but grungier, stroked with a varicoloured grain. It seems to shift, too, flicking between textures; red, yellow, grey with little inked words, as if cut straight from a newspaper. 
It’s so distinctive that you can discern who it’s from; a spider-person expressed in much the same manner. Hobie. 
It’d do well to approach it with hesitation. After all, you have no business with him. The most you’ve exchanged was a thanks, after he’d defended your plea the first time you’d been captured by the spider society. It seems so long ago now, but you recall the comfort his stance had provided, already scared out of your wits by the hoard of stylised people who claimed they were like you. He’d been the only one to see that. 
Sighing, you tear through the side, nails too soft to undo the top. The contents are remarkably plain. Leggings. T-shirts. Packs of underwear and a hairbrush. Long socks, meant for the boots he’d also thrown in. The only article that reflects his personal way of dress is a cardigan, patches haphazardly attached with yarn. In one slouchy pocket, a piece of parchment sticks out. 
(A housewarming gift. Figured you’d need it. 
– HB.)
And it doesn’t feel like charity, as opposed to Ben’s escorting you here. Rather, his genuinity registers through the scrawled handwriting; prompting a tired, thankful smile. 
You do need it. Not just the clothes, but the reminder that you’re not as alone as you might feel.
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“You’re late.” 
His voice cracks the silence you’d been walking in up to this point, pitched with an irritation seemingly etched into his being. It takes you off guard – not for its husky quality, that which you’ve grown relatively accustomed to, nor his sudden appearance. No. It’s how he stands when he says it; brashly centre-stage, taking up half of the gym with presence alone. His eyebrow is quirked, lips pursed in an inquisitive line, and you have to cycle over the day’s happenings to land on the invariable conclusion that he, in fact, did not set a schedule for you to follow in the first place. 
“Wasn’t aware there was anything to be early to,” You hesitate, lingering at a bench near the doorway, keeping an eye on him as you lay your things down. The water bottle you’d pilfered from the cafeteria crinkles under your tense grip, condensation licking a frosty trail down your fingers. 
“Would I let you prance around HQ on your own?” 
“That’s being hopeful, but no.” Miguel makes no indication of where to stand, so you continue to amble awkwardly in his perimeter. “Just– A heads up would’ve been nice.”
“And were we given a heads up when The Spider showed up on Earth-15?” He pushes, maintaining the line of questioning that starts to itch at you. You shake your head, doing your best not to tip your chin downwards – with your hands wringing the fabric of your sweats, you already feel like a child, caught elbows deep in a figurative cookie jar. 
Tension plucks at the strings tethered to the both of you. He waits for you to come up with a retort, then sighs when you fail to.
“Part of being a hero is adjusting. Security isn’t in the books for them.” From the lesson, you hang on to his choice of language. Them. Not us. Again, you’re excluded, but it occurs to you that he seems to exclude himself too. “You didn’t expect me today. What were you going to do had that been the case?” 
To exercise sounds beyond stupid, even though your attire and location announce it as the truth. It felt the most logical place to start when you’d woken up this morning, but Miguel is verging on philosophical now, and that’s something you hadn’t planned on at all. You don’t tell him that, though, because it would be asking to be sent home.
“To strengthen my stamina.” 
“What for, exactly?” 
“If I’m going to go back to that wasteland of a world, then I need the power to tough it out.” You’re getting real sick of how incompetent he’s making you sound. “Transportation is entirely contingent on how far I can walk.” 
“Huh. That’s… dumb.” He says, arms crossing over his chest. They’re thick, built like tree trunks, with muscles bulging along their lengths instead of bark. How hypocritical, you think, repressing the shiver that crawls up your spine – it’s clear he works out himself. You’re only as dumb at the way he looks today; clad in those same grey sweats, a compression top sculpting every bit of him. Out of uniform –  like he’d been using the equipment before you got here. 
(Or, he’s dedicated the entire day to training you.) 
“If you have a better idea–”
“Think a few jumping jacks will make you a hero?” A smirk edges his lips.
Your stomach lurches – whether in anger or a more mortifying emotion, you don’t know. “Can you stop with the questions, big guy?” 
He cocks his head, countenance straightening to one more serious. It terrifies you a little, the carmine in his eye, how fast it glints, sharpened with a daring edge. “Okay, then.” Miguel’s stature slacks, an open invitation. “Show me what you’re made of.” 
You regret speaking up at all. 
“Like, on the treadmill, or…?” 
“Pin me down.” He adds, as if it’s the most normal command in the world. Granted, his mind is probably not as far gone as yours. “Three seconds, and you’ll have proved your point.” 
“That’s not–” Fair skids on your tongue. His potential reaction is simple to imagine (‘nothing is fair’), and it’s obnoxious at best. You’ve had your fill of the condescending jabs, wedged to a corner where you don’t belong, ineptitude assumed of you. If his intentions are to keep you there until you give up, then you won’t let them come to fruition.
He starts to shrug, but the dismissal is interrupted by your clumsy resolve. You collide into his abdomen, channelling all your energy into the impact, arms in an arch. It’s made to grapple him by the waist, leverage in overpowering him to the floor. The odds are stacked against you, though. Miguel – twice your size – anchors himself in half the time, hard as stone against the onslaught. And your stance isn’t wide enough, feet positioned in a way that robs you of the necessary stability.
Perhaps carelessly, you press on, pouring everything into your attempt. The sheer force behind your manoeuvre is palpable; you are a spider-person, after all, and your enhanced strength would be enough to put the average human to their grave. But your opponent is far from that – he’s the pinnacle of what you preach, the resistance he musters now an attestation to the fact. 
“Torpe.” 
Your ribs burn with exertion, body still recovering from the injuries you’ve accumulated as of late. In a fluid motion that belies his size, Miguel retaliates, seeing the futility in your struggle. His hands clamp down on your shoulders, warm and vaguely comforting for the second before he flips you off of him. You’re propelled backwards, his shove sending shockwaves through your frame. Your bones rattle when you smack against the wall. 
“That hurt,” You hiss, scrambling to a stand. 
“In case you didn’t know, grace is a prerequisite for this little spider-club.” He ribs, calling to your quip at the quarry. It would be enough to set you off on anyone else, but the humour isn’t lost on you. Not with him. 
“Did you just make a joke?” You start to pace circles around him, assessing the best angle of attack. His head turns to track you, forehead marked with lines from his lifted expression. “As I live and breathe. Miguel O’Hara made a fucking joke.”
“Symptom of imminent victory.” 
“Cocky bastard,” 
“You gonna keep talking?” 
“I recall asking you to stop the questions.” You run up behind him, hoping your footsteps are light enough to not call any attention to your advancement. It isn’t very successful – he catches on quick, pivoting to confront you head on. You’re ready for it though, ducking under his reach to slip to the other side. His back is open, the opportunity presenting itself, and you spring onto his broad back with little contemplation. 
Your arms instinctively wind around his neck, securing your hold, legs thrashing to follow suit. Transformed into a glorified backpack, you stubbornly cling onto him as he attempts to shake you off. 
“¡Qué mierda haces?”
With half your face buried in his hair, you don’t respond, focusing instead on using your weight to throw him off kilter. Or, you want to focus on it. 
But he smells like patchouli, the robust aroma laced in every lock. It’s potent, much more than usual; without the sweat that usually dilutes it, you’re hit full force with every idiosyncrasy. Damp soil, freshly turned earth – rich, like the verdant undergrowth of a forest. You’ve never noticed the touch of leather underlying his cologne, nor its nuanced spice. Now, they worm their way through your rationale, parasitic, eating away at tissue until they find a blooming incurve to settle in. 
Your gut; broiling in that specific way it does when he’s around. It sinks to your core, right where you’re pressed against him, stimulated by the frantic motions of his body. Miguel hooks onto your calves, prying them off, and it’s innocent enough to only make your sudden desire worse. 
“Get. Off." He emphasises, authority compounded into every syllable. His jerks steer you in various directions, spurring nausea that blends in with your desperation. The mix courses through your bloodstream, sickening and, along with your headlessness, allows the slightest weakness to seep into your stance – a crucial opening that he seizes without hesitation.
Your vision swims as you’re capsized, thrown off course and onto the unyielding embrace of the ground. Pain shoots down your spine, the oxygen knocked out of your lungs dissipating into air. It takes you longer than necessary to realise what had happened, gasping for breath until you land on the reality that he had just used your lust against you. But of course, he doesn’t know that. To him, you’d just faltered – a rookie mistake for the rookie you are. 
It’s harmless, then, when he straddles your chest upon impact, knees touching the ground on either side of your head. Pinned in place – a mounted butterfly, captured in the perennial moment of your shameful sin – you’re convinced you’ll die like this. Miguel’s crotch under your nose, rubbing your thighs together to rid yourself of the nagging pressure between them. Wanton for nothing, wanton for him.
And it’s not the first time, a bank of memories coming available at the familiar arrangement. When he’d finally detained you on 15, groyne cleaving your ass while he undid your restraints. That damned kiss, exploring the plush lips that currently curl with a complacent sneer. They’d been so soft, the impression of his fangs just barely grazing past. And how good those had felt, too; your arteries swollen, bloated with venom injected into your neck. Lethargic for hours afterward, unable to do anything to sate the response he’d triggered.
Now, you’re not as powerless. He’s on top of you, doused in some fragrance from heaven, blessed with a robustness you’re sure extends to every appendage. If he is married, how high would fucking him be on your list of transgressions? Surely, it can’t be your worst, though you hope you’re above it at this point. 
(But, if he wants this too–)
You look up at him, mouth parted. It isn’t a request so much as it is an assessment, tallying every suggestive hint he gives. There is none. Instead, he does much the same, catching your scrutiny before promptly looking away to calculate his options on an adjacent wall. 
(The logical part of you can already sense how dreadful this’ll turn out. You’re not thinking straight. 
You hope he succumbs to your debasement.) 
Your hips buck involuntarily, a rip release effect to your rising need. He takes it as a plea to get off; that which he defers to, dismounting your chest. 
No.
You stop him, left hand clamping down on his thigh. Slowly, he sits back, tipping his weight forward, onto the curve where your clavicle plunges to your throat. You can hardly move, diaphragm pinching in a bid for breath, and it’s okay for as long as he stays where he is. 
(Apollo, meet Dionysus.)
It’s gradual – deliberate – when your fingers meander on their trek to his waistband. You skim over his hips, pelvis protruding to border his V-line – which holds prominence, even under the layers of his sweats and boxers. Miguel does nothing; gives no shiver in encouragement, nor an order to stop. He just looks down on you, dissecting the fervour with which you touch him; a woman crazed. 
His shirt is stubborn in rolling up, elastic and tight against his form. You want to feel the way his flesh heats, defined abdomen rolling in eventual pleasure, but it’s a privilege you don’t have in this setting. You’re only able to pull it out from underneath his pants, allowing a sliver of skin to be exposed to your gluttonous gaze. Bronzed, gorgeously brown in contrast to the desaturated colours he’s chosen to don. Drool pools behind your tonsils.
The cords of his waistband unlace when you tug it with your pointer, hinged at the middle. Miguel makes a sound, the beginnings of a growl rolling up his throat. It’s to tease yourself, you want to say – because the fuzz of his happy trail leads down to a darkened bush, and the brief flash will forever be seared into your mind’s eye. Goodness fuck, if your yearning were any worse, that would have been enough to tip you over the edge. It’s been so long since you’ve wanted anything this bad. 
Pining wreaks a foreign mess on your systems. Toes curl within your boots. Lashes quiver with every ruminative blink. Your new panties are doubtlessly ruined, generic cotton soaked through with slick; you’d been so ashamed of it just last night, washing your previous pair in the sink. Now, all you can consider is how expertly he’d test you, calloused thumb running over your clit until he witnesses just how wet you can get. 
(Is it the length for which you’ve gone without this, deprived of your favourite vice? Before you’d discovered the stars, you’d pursued your most carnal desires, jumping from one hookup to the next. 
You didn’t suppose you'd missed it this much.) 
Maybe that’s why you go for him, out of anyone else. Because he’s immediate, the most prominent presence in your life. A convenient outlet, for all your bad blood. He doesn’t stop you, either, his pinky instead grazing your wrist, almost pushing for you to reach in.
If you do, things’ll change. When they had just settled. 
Your dynamic seemed okay to morph into what you needed it to be: mentor, and mentee. But this– 
This is so fucked. You would rather be anywhere else if not seated on his lap, and that’s a level of dysfunction you should be unsure about. Would he even let this progress? Beyond a one time thing, so that it doesn’t become a fixture you’ll always regret? 
(Does it matter?)
You dip into his boxers. 
(So, it is your lechery that negates your need for consideration. Call it thirst, or self-sabotage.)
Shit.
He’s thick, fucking pulsing on your palm, dry and heavy enough to cause considerable trouble when fishing him out. You’re at an adverse angle, twisting your arm to grip the base. Miguel’s hiss thins to a whispered curse, a muddle of Spanish and English that loses legibility as he shifts to help you. Hand swooping next to yours, he cups his balls, hoisting them out of the suffocating fabric. His cock follows suit, slapping his tummy upon release. 
It’s–
Angry. A blossoming shade of purple that grows more vibrant the lower you go, guided by two fat veins that branch along his frenulum. Huge, too – not the longest you’ve had in your mouth, but stocky enough for you to worry about it regardless. You run your nail up its length, doing the maths in your head. 
“Intimidated?” He says. It doesn’t register as proud as he probably intends for it to be, voice too  hoarse, broken by some unspoken lust. 
“Cocky bastard,” You murmur, holding your arm above you in the meantime. He takes a second to understand what your extended hand is for, bowed in a reverent-like appeal. And, even when he does, he pauses, gathering the saliva around his teeth. “Take that as a double entendre.”
He doesn’t laugh, spitting onto your palm, watching as you smear the natural lube around his mushroomed head. It melds with his pre-spend – that which pearls at the tip – forming a pearlescent marker for where your caress travels. Above the glans, rounding to coat down the body, and running out before you reach the root. 
It’s enough, though. Enough to provide momentum to your motions, jacking him off above your face. Up to this point, Miguel has eased his mass off of you, balanced on his haunches – but your ministrations have him losing that awareness, leaning further and further until he all but sits on your neck. His fingers latch onto your head, cradling your jaw in a similar fashion to how he treated your whiplash, each thumb at a cheekbone – waiting for the opportune moment to plunge into your mouth. 
It comes with the hypoxia, his choking straddle clotting the oxygen meant for your brain. What you can see – him mostly, meaty thighs and a lean torso, with a face that screws up with controlled precision – spots as secondary to black vision, your eyes bulging at the edges, struck with stationary blood. It’s opposite to smoke inhalation, that scratchy condition that only grew more uncomfortable the more you coughed. This is debilitating, the last dreg of stimulants you need to embrace your drunk efforts. You’re drowned in a pool where nothing matters except what’ll pull you out – life vest, a buoy, the hefty cock tapping your bottom lip. 
You unhinge your jaw the widest it can go, accounting for teeth and all. Hollow cheeks accommodate his size when he drives in, but your lips still stretch, aching at the corners where thin skin threatens to rip. Immediately, your tongue laps over the dense intrusion, mapping out the patches where he seems most sensitive. Below the head, along the ridge. Right between his veins, if you press down hard enough. Your usher more of it in, stuffing your gullet full of him. 
How does he manage to smell good here, too? Muskier, still, a heady ambrosia of masculinity.
His balls slap your chin, stopping you from swallowing any more. Miguel doesn’t take too favourably to that, however, bending your head to parallel his pelvis and pushing. Your neck aches, spinal plates prodding at where it inclines – the combination of that, the choking, and the swollen head that spears your tonsils makes for a deadly combination. You’ve been doing your damnedest not to gag, clenching your thumb in a fist, but the sound erupts from you regardless. A lewd, wet gluck – tears pool upon your lashes, caught by the thumbs still guiding your face. 
And Miguel groans.
“Mmmf–,”  His hips withdraw, giving you an instant’s respite, before snapping back forward. “Se siente tan bien.” 
“Hnmghh,” You attempt to reply. 
“Filthy fucking girl. So– mierda, always so goddamn stubborn,” He continues, accent curling with a raspy quality, smouldering at its core. “Never listens, never rests.”
You’re unsurprised to hear that what he really feels for you, exposed in this crude confessional, is just more indignation. 
(Does it matter? Does it really? 
He’s fucking your throat like cumming down it will reaffix the spiderverse.)
The gags drop rhythm, snowballing to become a chorus of the most salacious whines you can make, punched in tandem to his thrusts. Saliva coats your lips, bubbling when he withdraws, welcoming him back with the sight of you wrecked, glazed in salty liquids from multitudinous sources. 
You lose yourself to it, squeezing your eyes shut until he urges you to open them back up again, brushing the corner where your skin burns from crying. His brows are pinched, canyons of deliberation formed between them, regarding your debauched expression with something more than the base measures exchanged in the past half hour. 
He pulls out with a pop. You clasp around his dick’s circumference – rubbing over the tip, where his hole leaks a steady flow of prespend – and question him with a keen. You can’t exactly manage anything else.
“Where do you want it?” 
You frown, leading him back into your mouth. Where else?
It isn’t much longer until he carries out the promise. 
The sequence of events is more organised than anything else that’s happened today. You’ve come to recognise it, an expert in unravelling. He jostles your head back onto the floor, stabilising you for when his rear lifts, slanting his cock ninety degrees downward to ram straight into your mouth. You wince, incisors accidentally skimming the surface, which only prompts him deeper in. Your nose squishes onto the coarse hairs of his groyne, soaked with drool, and his balls tighten under your mandible, leaden in an indication of what’s to come. 
You want it, so bad you can hardly gulp in precious breath. Your pupils roll behind your lids. You want, you want.
And finally – for the first time, over the entirety of your relationship – Miguel O’Hara gives that to you. Readily.
He cums. Hard. In throbbing spurts that coat your oesophagus, your molars, the back of your tongue. It’s sweltering, viscous and thick enough to choke you again – you cough up the excess that doesn’t quite fit, sinuses screeching with the overexertion. You can’t gulp, not when he’s still buried in you, so you do your best not to suffocate as he rides through his orgasm. Rope after rope, until he releases you, excess drops splattering onto your nose.
Then, he tucks his softening dick back into his pants and moves off of you.
You swallow, left with a weeping cunt and a swift sobering up.
Miguel proffers a helping hand, meant to lift you off the floor. Swatting it away, you clamber onto your own, unsteady feet, collecting your abandoned things from the bench, and bolt out the door.
What the fuck did you just do?
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chapter nine
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northlt03 · 6 months ago
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Rick is known to mirror myths a lot (Silena-Clarisse and Patroclus-Achilles, Polyphemus' cave, Hercules' labors, etc) He could and SHOULD have mirrored the Trojan war in HOO.
Let me set the scene. Gaea doesn't pop up until the last couple books. It's easy to be scared of something that is mentioned but not seen, which in my opinion, is why Gaea in the HOO books just wasn't scary enough.
So the antagonists in the first few books are the Giants working under Gaea's orders. Percy is kidnapped by them and given to the Romans in the hope that the Greeks and the Romans will go batshit crazy in a fight and forget all about the prophecy of the seven and destroying Gaea or whatever.
Camp Halfblood is fully ready for war. As soon as they find out (through an oracle or smth idk) that the Romans exist and they have Percy, not even Chiron can stop them. Percy is the hero of the Battle of Manhattan, of course, and the hero mentioned in the last great prophecy. He's like their modern Aristos Achaion.
Meanwhile, the Romans have no clue what's going on. There's this guy he's funny, he has no memories, he just shows up at their wolf goddess and trains and gets sent to them. Cool.
Juno can't stand to see New Rome be attacked. Whether or not they would win is a whole different story. So she plucks Jason from CJ and brings them to the Greeks just for some sort of a balance.
This mirrors the Trojan war in the sense that Troy was a fortified city, so is New Rome with tons of forts and walls. Aeneas' lineage went on to be Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome. And Helen of Troy was stolen from the Greeks.
Anyway so there's that conflict, but at the same time Camp Halfblood is getting ready to attack, Jason, Piper and Leo get sent on a quest to rescue Hera who has been captured by Porphyrion and Enceladus.
On the way, Jason starts to regain his memory a little bit, though he doesn't know everything yet. He's still super conflicted with everything. A pretty girl thinks they were dating, Leo says they were best friends, Annabeth says the Romans are enemies. But whom should he really believe?
Piper's whole arc through the first book could be about how she's the daughter of the goddess of beauty, she wrongly assumes her fake crush on Jason was her mom's fault. And she's learned so much bad stuff about her mom from myths, she outright rejects feminity and anything remotely girly at first but then slowly she gets to know Aphrodite isn't as bad as some myths make her out to be. Bonding and shit bc why should Poseidon be the only present godly parent?
Leo, meanwhile, has no idea he can essentially fire bend in the first book. His arc could be about discovering his mother's death was his fault, slightly and coming to terms with it with the help of his friends.
Reyna on the Roman's side is freaking out bc Octavian wants to go to war with the Greeks who are close to attacking them, there's a strange dude who keeps trying to pick fights with gods, a horse girl and not to mention monsters won't fucking DIE.
SON trio go on their quest to Alaska to kill Alcyoneus/ release Thanatos and things are getting clearer to them as well. Just when the Greeks are about to attack on CJ, Polybotes and the monsters attack as well. Somehow, both sides end up fighting the monsters together.
They're not friends, but they're not enemies either, bc Percy is reunited with his gf and Jason is returned to his home.
The Roman senate and the Greeks somehow come to the same conclusions- that a quest needs to go to their ancient lands. Over the next few months the work of the Argo II commences.
Things seem smooth for a while. But Gaea grows restless. She poisons Octavian and manipulates him through dreams and stuff like Kronos did to Luke. As is the nature of most Roman emperors, Octavian overthrows Reyna and declares himself the leader of New Rome like his namesake Octavius Caesar. (HAHA! HISTORY PARALLEL BITCHES)
This puts the actual quest on hold bc the seven now need to find the Athena Parthenos to bring together the Greeks and the Romans and to stop Octavian's plan of trying to fuck as much shit up as possible.
Reyna, Nico and say idk, Grover, are the ones to deviate from the quest and bring the statue to USA again. But the Seven are still very much in Europe after rescuing Nico.
Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus which helps close the Doors of Death, except this time since Nico isn't there, Hazel has to take on control over ghosts and the dead in the House of Hades and leading up to it. The powers of mist, in my opinion, should have gone to Piper since charmspeaking is a lot like bending the mist verbally.
Piper's arc through the third and fourth book is starting to discover herself and with the help of her mother, figuring out she doesn't like Jason romantically like she thought she did.
Hazel's arc is gaining control over what she once was (dead). She's jealous her dad was there more for Nico than her, but she pushes past it and never lets her anger and grudges get the better of her which is like breaking boundaries for children of Hades/Pluto.
Frank's arc in HOH was really cool, I like that. So no change to that.
Jason, poor guy is still very much confused about everything really. He's used to being the leader, he feels lost in the large group. He has his moments to shine ofc (please take away his excess amounts of head injuries), but he starts to feel inferior, which is where Leo helps him bc the guy knows what that's like.
Anyway, in the absence of Percy and Annabeth, Jason has to take charge. He discovers he doesn't really like it. That's not what he was meant for even though he had greatness thrust upon him at a very young age.
His BOO arc is earlier this time and takes place throughout HOH and BOO. He's content with himself, even if he isn't with anyone. HE'S THE ONE THAT GETS SENT TO OGYGIA!!!
And Calypso eventually does fall for him bc he's smart, nice, and just an overall swell guy. But he helps her to realize that she can be content in herself as well. And he promises her that he'll help her.
Show me Leo, Jason and Percy trying to think of ways of helping the goddess.
In any case. BOO could have been like Iliad pt 2 also known as the Odyssey. It takes them the whole book just to get to Athens. Meanwhile, they've understood that Gaea is the main main villain. She's even raised some of the other primordials against them.
Percy and Annabeth already saw Tartarus, and then there's Oceanus who makes their travel much harder than necessary. Something something about how they get tossed all over the place and somehow manage to gather all the correct ingredients for the potion (i forgot the name lol) on their small adventures in the different places. In the end they finally make it to Athens. Except this time, there's only a few giants there bc they killed the rest before.
Annabeth and Percy are taken hostage, like it happens in the books, but PERCY WILLINGLY GIVES UP HIS BLOOD TO RAISE GAEA RATHER THAN LETTING ANNABETH GET HURT BC OF HIS FATAL FLAW LIKE ATHENA TOLD HIM WOULD HAPPEN EVENTUALLY!!
The Gods DON'T SHOW UP PLEASE!! That was so lameee. Why even do the whole quest if their mommies and daddies were going to show up to help them????
So while Percy and Annabeth are battling the remaining few Giants, Leo, Piper, Hazel and Frank go up against Gaia herself. In the old myths four titans held Ouranos down while Kronos chopped his essence up. In the same way, they battle Gaia away from her turf in the air, keeping her distracted enough. All these demigods are needed because she's a primordial dammit!
Jason, my guy, comes in a clutch, chops her to pieces and sends her essence to Tartarus!!
The world is saved, the end!
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fullscoreshenanigans · 3 months ago
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#i am shooting laser eyes directly at shonen jump with their barbaric working conditions and crunch times. they are the true enemy
Say this on discord repeatedly but so viscerally real
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(Mystic Code Book Chapter 5 | "Tracks to the Neverland" December 2020 Exhibition Interview)
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(TPN Wiki Page on Chapter 134 | @TPNManga's translation of WSJ's Editorial Department Note)
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(October 2020 Series Completion Commemorative Interview)
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(Discussion of Dragonball author Akira Toriyama's and One Piece author Eiichiro Oda's work schedules | Sample Schedule of an Anonymous Weekly Mangaka | Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto's typical schedule)
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(Notes by @1000sunnygo on this post)
This is why I personally can't fault Shirai for ending the series when he did while trying to maintain his sense of artistic integrity, even with my complaints about the back half of the series.
escape arc is easily the best tpn arc and there are critiques to be had about the pacing in later arcs but if you say everything post-escape is unoquivocally bad you are simply wrong and dumb i'm so sorry
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btsmosphere · 5 months ago
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Supercharged | JJK
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Chapter 10: Is This Not Control?
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🗲summary: It starts with a blow to the chest that changes your life. When your city’s most celebrated hero pays a visit, it turns out the noble Bolt has no trouble tossing lives aside. Lives that won't be missed. Lives like yours. Seven mysterious and powerful men give you another chance – one that starts to feel more like a curse the moment you meet golden boy Jungkook. The boy who wants you as far from his brothers as he can get you. Is it you he hates, or the blue lightning that now runs through your veins? And could it be his golden light that illuminates your heart when darkness threatens? 🗲this chapter: You're forced to come to terms with the danger – and the beauty – in the way your powers burn.
🗲pairing: jungkook x female reader 🗲word count: 4.7k 🗲genre: angst, action, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, slow burn, superheroes/villains au, found family 🗲rating: pg15 🗲warnings: violence with superpowers, swearing, near-injury, arguing, skipping a meal, nightmares containing death (this is brief)
a/n: THIS is the chapter that made me keep going with this fic. I read it back after a looong break, and realised I wanted to finish after reading some of this where our main pair are so.... close... to revealing something. especially Jungkook... what is going through his head?
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“You’re getting too good at this!”
The shriek came from Hobi, currently several metres in the air.
Laughing, you let him come down to you, where he landed with ease befitting a villain. You really ought to work on that yourself – which was precisely why you were here. He had asked you to train with him, bringing you the chance to work on something more athletic, and him to add even more danger into his death-defying stunts.
Smirking, you flipped your hair.
“Maybe next time I’ll really try, then you’ll have another think coming,” you goaded.
Grin wide, he scoffed.
“You really are as bad as Kook. He was always insufferable when we did this too!”
“You’ve trained like this with Jungkook?” you asked, “in that case, I don’t know why I’ve been going so easy on you.”
That joyous laugh of his filled the training space, already raring to go again.
“Let’s see what you got then!”
Just like that, he took off, eyes igniting yellow before he was springing from the floor and kicking off a higher block to rejoin the array of obstacles.
“Can’t fly, my ass,” you muttered, turning to take the long way up.
Even if Hobi claimed his power to be purely athletic, you still couldn’t fathom the way he navigated the skies with such ease unless some sort of gravity fuckery was involved. With a leap, you pulled yourself onto a platform, finding him already streaking ahead.
Beginning to run, you aimed your first shot at the same time as you launched over the next gap.
Blue cut through the air, Hobi’s laughter ringing out as it hit the floor he had just been standing on. By now, he was swinging away on suspended ropes.
Spyng another opening, you fired a longer bolt this time, forming a glowing barrier in the air. Kicking his legs up, Hope managed to swing and arc over it. Impressed, you cut off the attack, heart only stopping for a second as he landed hard against a ladder protruding from the wall. Though you had full faith in his abilities, it never got less jarring to see what he could pull off.
The two of you continued like that, a cat-and-mouse around the obstacles. It certainly kept you both on your toes.
As you went, settling into the movements, you took a few more risks. When in the training room, it was fun to test it out. Not to mention, knowing Hobi was this capable also boosted your confidence in having each other’s backs in a real situation.
Exhilarated from the rush of movement, you pushed yourself, sprinting and leaping over gaps and vaulting corners, an equal amount of focus on your electric offensive.
As much as you had joked with Hobi, you couldn’t bring yourself to aim with everything you had. Besides, aiming your shots to only brush the air beside him would improve your accuracy more, if anything.
In true Hope fashion, he stayed constantly ahead of you, practically running loops around the ceiling while you tried to keep up.
He leapt overhead as you pulled yourself onto a platform, making you spin to follow his change in direction. But you could predict the path he would take. Stopping for a moment, you raised your arm, lining it up to graze the soles of his trainers as he leapt towards a series of steps.
Pulling himself out of the way in time, his momentum continued his path while your bolts chased him, blue splashes in his wake.
Grinning, you finally followed him, jumping up a level and letting another shot go at the same time.
But as you landed, your feet slipped with the force, arms instinctively shooting out to correct your balance. The training room floor wobbled too far below you, teetering for a heart-stopping second at the edge.
Safely righted, you turned back to find Hobi.
Your chest tightened, heart seizing once more.
The dazzling, dangerous blue sizzled through the air, not hitting the mark you had intended. Time slowed down as Hope jerked away from it, only to fumble his footing on the next landing, only a thin ledge high on the wall.
His body slammed against it, his arms grappling for the edge he had just slipped from.
Blue collided, scorching the dark wall above him, but you could only watch in petrified terror as he started to fall. It was too fast, while your body was left frozen, powerless as he plummeted.
Somehow, he twisted, trying to kick off the wall on his way down, as you had seen him do so often. His path changed a little, velocity easing as he grasped a rope, but it escaped his fingers, unable to catch on with the speed of his fall.
He reached the floor. Rolled, half-colliding with the base of one of the scaffoldings you had just been racing around.
“Hobi!” you breathed, lungs only just beginning to cooperate.
With the newfound movement returning to you, you unthinkingly stepped off the side of your own platform, shooting blue lightning to the ground to support your descent. It wasn’t a skill you had practised much, and with the way your arms were shaking, you didn’t make it smoothly, but you stumbled onto the ground, just managing not to fall on your face.
You were already tripping over yourself to get to Hobi’s side.
He was sitting up – how, you had no idea. Somehow, you seemed the most stricken of the two as you practically collapsed at his side while he grinned around at you, rubbing his head. Was he hurt?
“Oh my goodness, Hobi, I’m so- I didn’t mean to actually-”
“Hey, don’t worry-” he tried to say, a bit breathless but still smiling. You barely heard him, though, hands quickly coming to his head where he was clutching it.
“Shit, I wasn’t looking, I shouldn’t have shot…”
Your panicked apologies accompanied you kneeling up, trying to get a look at him. Neither of you noticed the figure passing the doorway, stopping as he saw you two knelt together.
“Y/N!”
Hobi succeeded in getting your attention only by catching your wrists, stopping your hands as they fussed over him. Looking up at you, he fixed you with a firmer gaze than you were used to from him. Checking he had your attention, he placed your hands away from him and relaxed.
“I’m fine,” he emphasised, “you think you’re going to knock me down so easily? Imagine, ‘feared villain falls over in training, defeated.’”
Heart still pounding a little too much, you huffed a bewildered laugh.
Dropping your hands entirely, he sat back. You kept them there, some of the frantic energy fizzling from your body.
Grin taking up residence on his face once again, Hope leaned in conspirationally.
“I thought you would be pleased to get the one-up on me,” he teased, “you literally said you weren’t going to go easy.”
Your real challenge had been to aim near enough but not too close, but of course Hoseok didn’t know that. The precision practice you had been going for had failed, you hadn’t won!
Swallowing all that down, you half-heartedly tried to smile. You stayed kneeling opposite him, still too shaken to stand.
“Are you sure your head’s ok?” you asked weakly.
To your surprise, he laughed brightly. But then again, that was a signature Hobi response.
“Yeah, I just hadn’t bargained on a free haircut!”
Bringing his hand up back to the spot you had noticed him grabbing earlier, he pulled on a chunk of his hair, showing it to you. The lock was shorter than the rest of his hair which flopped around his head; it had been chopped off roughly, the ends singed and blackened.
You gaped, staring at it even as he let it fall back among his hair.
“See, it was only my hair, and it needs a chop,” he elbowed you, “no black hole through my heart!”
That certainly wasn’t an image you wanted. Any reminder of how close you had been to hurting your friend was unbearable, the black splotch in his hair bad enough.
You blanched, but didn’t get any further into apologising.
“Looks like she tried hard enough, though.”
Instantly, you tensed at Jungkook’s voice.
Hobi’s grin slipped a little, glancing past you. You, too, turned, finding Jungkook advancing, fists clenched at his sides. He had clearly come from working out: in his gym clothes, hair tied back but falling loose from movement. Except, in place of the animalistic vigour you knew training infused in him, his glare towards you was hard and shut-off.
It scared you more than what you had seen there before. Normally his fury burned, but now it was cold.
“Get away from him,” he ordered.
For once, nothing in you fought to argue. With the heavy weight of your mistake sitting in your stomach, you could only agree, and silently complied.
As you stood, Hobi shot to his feet quicker.
“Kook, leave it. We were training, this shit happens-”
“You were training with her?!” Jungkook exclaimed, “that was bound to end badly.”
“Then it’s my fault!” Hope pressed. He stepped towards Jungkook, but you only shrunk back from the two of them. “I asked her to join me!”
“You weren’t the one who shot you out of the air.”
“That’s hardly what-” Hobi sighed, “Kook, you’re being dense, there’s no problem. I trust Y/N.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” the younger ground back, before turning a glinting eye on you, “maybe you shouldn’t.”
You sucked in a breath at his words, feeling them lodge deep inside you like bullets. But it was your own guilt that dug them in there, the reason they didn’t deflect. He was right.
That didn’t make it sting any less.
Feeling nothing but his gaze fixed on you, you longed to escape it. Run free of the reminders of what you did, what you almost caused, and how that hurt him as well.
And so you did.
At least you kept yourself from breaking into a full sprint. After a charged moment, the tension not allowing you to breathe, you stepped desperately away, rushing for the door.
You paid no mind to Hope’s crestfallen call of your name.
Leaving them behind you, trying not to feel worse at the fact that you couldn’t even stand to face your guilt head-on, you simply blundered your way to your room. You knew some others would be in the kitchen, and didn’t want to alert them, so you forwent slamming your door.
The tension stayed crammed into your arms as you shut the door forcefully, yet painfully slowly. Your hands hovered, shaking, inches away from the wood as you stared at it, breathing heavily.
You breathed in, in, in, gasping like water was rising about your head.
And then, everything spilled out. A tide of air left your lungs, forehead falling forward against the wood, hands dropping despondently to your sides.
Among the whirlwind your life had become, you had focussed so hard on using your powers, building them, trying to prove something. Falling in and out with Jungkook, on top of this – but he had been right all along, hadn’t he? How had you forgotten the real danger this magic brought with it?
You didn’t blame Jungkook for not wanting you around the others. Gone from your mind were all the times you had shared with him and the others, head only filled with his stare. You couldn’t shake him.
That evening, you stayed in your room, not particularly feeling hungry. Or willing to face the others, more like.
You had only winced when Hoseok knocked on your door. Why should he be the one coming to you, after what you had done to him? It should be the other way around.
For tonight, you let yourself be a coward. At least you hoped the boys wouldn’t push; they never wanted to overstep. So you stayed silent, waited after he asked if you were there without giving any response. Waited until his footsteps left again.
Jimin also came past and said goodnight to your closed door, but he didn’t stop long.
Sleep didn’t come easily, and didn’t stay long. You simply seemed to get lost between the darkness in your room and your head. At some point, you thought another set of footsteps came to stop outside your door. But no one spoke.
Somewhere along the way, you must have fallen away from reality, but even then it kept knocking. You had no way of knowing just how deep into the night it was when you startled awake, throwing the tangled covers off you to escape.
You were left alone, panting and staring into the unforgiving shadows. They did nothing to erase your nightmare.
Blue shot from your hands, missing the mark. Hoseok fell, fell, body motionless. You had scrambled back, screaming, at the sight of his bloodied and pale face. The gaping black hole where his heart should have been glared at you.
Blue surrounded you, scorching through your limbs. The stench of burning filled your nostrils as sparks filled the air.
As you writhed on the floor, a row of your friends stood watching on. They didn’t move, frowning down at you. And you couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop the power that forced itself from your body, striking them one by one, black burns streaked across their skin.
Last of all, Jungkook fell at your feet.
That had woken you up alright.
Itching to move, you finally decided to give up on sleep and got to your feet, throwing on a warmer sweater. Opening the door cautiously, you found only more darkness welcomed you from the rest of the house.
Still, you knew that with 8 people in one place, meeting someone was not out of the question.
You turned away from the communal kitchen, slipping out quietly towards the staircase which you followed down. On your way, you hugged your arms around you, some ridiculous fear possessing you that your powers could break free, like in your nightmares.
They hadn’t stirred, however, your control well practised. But that didn’t stop the phantom itching, memories of the ugliness your powers held.
The pain they had wrought on you when they first emerged – the pain they must have inflicted on countless others, who had never been as lucky to tell the tale like you. Were they your powers at all, not Bolt’s? But Bolt was a hero. Maybe it was you that made these powers so perilous-
Your feet hit the cool floor of the training hall.
Stilling, you stood and stared across the vast space. Cavernous in its emptiness, it sorely missed the life it usually had when the boys trained, filling it with colour.
Not really having an aim, you slowly walked to one of the adjoining spaces where you felt more apart from the world. Away from your friends. Your limbs moved like you were still sleeping, wrapped up in your head as you were.
You crossed the threshold and sighed. Then you sat, slowly sliding down the wall beside the doorway and curling into it. Retreating.
For a while, you simply breathed in the silence.
You tried to ignore the warring images in your mind. The sudden and unpredictable night when Bolt had changed your life. Back then, this power had been nothing but pain; it had tried to kill you.
But then, you couldn’t help but think of the people who had come to you when you lay alone on a dark road, burning up in Bolt’s wake. The man who the city thought was their hero had sent you off the edge of that building, not saved you. It had been a different group of heroes that came for you.
Mind wrestling with itself, you tried to reconcile the home you had been given, the safety and family that filled it, with this ugly, gnawing worry. Your group were powerful, had nothing to fear as you stood aside from the world.
But what if they should have been looking for a threat within?
You lowered your head to your hands, fingers threading through your hair and stretching, restless from this conflict.
The power that ran through these hands…
How had you grown to love it?
Staring at the floor as this thought struck you, you felt the thoughts grind to a stop. You blinked, relaxed your hands.
With an exhale, you sat straighter, bringing your palms in front of your face.
You had grown to love your power. If you threw your panic aside, you could feel…
Nothing.
No threat, no disobedience, no burn.
These were your powers. You wouldn’t let the thoughts of Bolt chase you away from them. You were in control.
Slowly, you breathed, feeling the flame in your chest ignite like sparks you were blowing to life. In no rush, you let the embers trace their way down your arms, collect in your palms and hover. Blue twined together in the air there. It wasn’t a callous beam of lightning, not aimed at anything, or anyone. Occasionally, a tendril of static would stray from its edges.
Sitting back, finally feeling some tension ease away, you gazed into the light. Neon and shadow swirled together in a globe.
This was what your friends had given you. The ability to control what could be dangerous – could. Instead, they had made it beautiful.
Your mind strayed against your will, thinking of the one person among them who had helped you shape this the most.
“I always knew you were reckless.”
Despite his words, Jungkook’s voice wasn’t harsh. Among the silence, his voice was low, flat rather than accusatory. You hadn’t heard him arrive, but his appearance seemed to come straight from your thoughts, and as such you didn’t even flinch.
You were pulled from your reverie, however.
Blinking at your still swirling orb of blue, it took a moment to catch up with reality before you turned slightly to see him standing in the doorway, looking down at you. His face was lit in pale blue, a light frown thrown into relief by this, the only light among the blackness.
His eyes bore into yours for a moment before he diverted them to the bundle of power you held in your hands, making a foreign lick of blue dance in his irises. The reflection was jarring, and you realised just how used to his warm, golden power you were.
“Reckless?” you repeated.
You saw the moment you took back his attention, his scrutinising eyes returning to you. He stepped into the space, hands buried in his pockets as he walked steadily around you.
“Do you know how much power it takes to kill? A hell of a lot less than you have right there.”
His feet fell evenly, barely audible. It was as if he fell into a short orbit of your globe, focussed intently on its presence where it hovered, its crackling surface and the light it emanated.
Then, he was opposite you, and his eyes flicked upwards. Locked with your own over the fizzing lightning.
“You had a good enough shot at it today.”
The instant his words hit, you bit down on your tongue. But you absorbed their impact, only needing to remind yourself of the energy, harmless in your palm, and the paths your mind had already been down tonight.
“That’s not what this is about,” you spoke softly.
It seemed to startle him, and he considered you for a moment. His keen gaze didn’t waver when he finally decided to press.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not shooting it at you, am I?”
His frown deepened.
“It’s not something that’s there just to look pretty. You- you need to control it.”
“Is this not control?”
He blinked. In the blue light, you saw for the first time complete surprise in his eyes, like such a thought had never crossed his mind. Always, he seemed to be steps ahead of you, but here he was stumped, lost…
Watching his mouth grapple with the ghosts of words, his eyes searching the sphere as if it would give him the answers he could understand, you softened. Instead of preparing to push back at him, you sighed.
And explained.
“It scared me. I don’t want to hurt Hope, of course I don’t. But where will it get me if I fear these… powers?”
You were aware of Jungkook’s eyes intently trained on you, but you let your powers magnetise your gaze. Staring into them, you lost yourself in their depths again.
“This could hurt someone, you’re right. It could kill you – well, maybe not you – but someone, if I wanted right now. But… I don’t. They’re mine. And… they’re beautiful.”
You sighed your last word. Maybe in a more awake state, you would have the presence of mind not to admit this all so readily to Jungkook, of all people. But just speaking the words gave you more confidence in them. You held the light steady.
Meanwhile, Jungkook had drawn closer. He looked down at you with an odd expression, more awkward with the steeper angle now he stopped beside you.
Realising his presence, you snapped away from the hypnotic light, turning to look questioningly at him.
He pressed his lips together, before making a stunted gesture with his arm.
“Can I-”
You stared blankly. A short huff left him, his frustrated gaze tearing away from you before he tried again, fixing you with a glare, as if it was your fault he was desperately embarrassed.
“Can I join you?”
“Sure,” you shrugged. His question had caught you off-guard, in honesty, though you tried not to show it.
He sat in a hurry, as if it would shake off the previous moment. In his haste, his shoulder brushed your own, and he shifted away a moment later, though the distance was still small enough to feel his warmth.
Neither of you spoke for a while.
The ball of light you had formed continued to roil in mid-air, almost proving your earlier words. You were in control, and it made no attempt to break away, to destroy.
Slowly, you lowered your hand, the light dimming with it.
You didn’t dare turn around or make any move nearer to Jungkook, still staring into the semi-darkness. But as your light faded, you caught a motion of his hand. He had turned it over, and flexed his fingers in a jerky way, but as he moved them a couple more times it became almost delicate.
Refusing to turn your head, you kept your eyes on it nonetheless. Jungkook must not have realised you were watching, as he turned his hand over contemplatively a couple of times.
All of a sudden, he seemed to give up, letting it drop. For a moment there, you had expected a warm golden light to join the weak blue that remained of yours. Not about to leave the pair of you in total darkness, you let a cool light simmer from your palms, but they rested on your knees rather than raising to illuminate the space.
It only extended so far as to surround you and Jungkook. A spotlight in the otherwise sleeping house.
You heard Jungkook’s head hit the wall with a soft thud. You heard his breath in, the way it screamed of having something to say. Something he was breathing in the courage for.
But then he breathed out.
While your mind had settled considerably, the reminder of just who you were next to put you on edge again. You would never have envisaged sitting peacefully side by side with Jungkook, yet here you were.
If he was stewing on how to break the silence, however, you were expectant.
Another breath in, followed by a moment where it was held. You did the same, almost tempted enough to turn to him.
The air left him.
“Bolt’s powers aren’t beautiful,” he blurted out. His sharp words landed a blunt blow to the silence.
You let the impact dissipate, breathing in.
“No,” you replied, “they aren’t.”
It was certainly true for you, who had felt their impact. But there was something of that same pain in Jungkook’s voice, the way he spat out the supposed hero’s name.
Beside you, Jungkook shifted.
“How can you say that?”
His words were hard, but you sensed he wasn’t butting his head against you for an argument. It was a genuine question, a lingering curiosity behind his bull-headed disguise.
“Because my powers aren’t Bolt’s,” you said softly, “not anymore. He may be the reason I got them, ours may be the same colour… but they’re in me. That’s got to be as a big a part of it as the lightning itself. The power would be nothing without me, but that’s not true the other way around. I’m more than them.”
“Yeah, well, people don’t see it like that.”
The bitterness in Jungkook’s words surprised you. Brow creasing, you finally looked around at him. He, too, was frowning, but it was directed at the floor, his head bent.
In the meagre light, the slope of his cheeks were washed in your blue, the slant of his slightly downturned lips outlined in shadow.
“Do you?”
At last, his eyes turned to you. A few of his dishevelled strands fell into them, but they still reflected back that blue in their troubled depths.
It took him too long to form an answer, or maybe it just dragged out as you stayed stuck in his gaze.
“Of course not,” he muttered, all in a hurry.
He diverted his eyes, reminding himself of his surroundings, the fact he was staring just as much as you.
But they betrayed him. They darted back to you once, twice.
He dropped his shoulders, before resolutely turning to you once more. Perhaps he had more to say on that strange noncommittal answer? You could only wait as he inhaled again, steeling himself for the words to come.
“…did it hurt?”
What?
You hadn’t expected that.
Nor did you expect the sudden weakness underlying his tone. The kind that made him sound as scared as you had been today, rather than the affront of anger you were used to. The kind you knew you were only hearing because it was the middle of the night, alone.
You searched his gaze, trying to puzzle out his question.
“Did what hurt?” you asked carefully.
His gaze didn’t falter, almost pleading, as if he could dredge the answers just from looking into your eyes.
“Bolt.”
You inhaled shallowly. You hadn’t needed the nightmare to remind you of just how excruciating it had been, your memory could tell you easily enough. That kind of experience couldn’t be forgotten so simply.
“Yes,” you forced out, honest and flat.
In his desperation, Jungkook must have leaned closer. Why he had such a need to drink in your answer was beyond you; he had never brought this up before.
You had no idea what more you could say, and were quickly getting distracted, your mind pushed off track by the inescapable eyes locked on yours. Around them, his face shifted at your words, falling almost imperceptibly. But you were busy drowning, engulfed in the dark irises lit with your own blue light.
Suddenly, he pulled away, leaving you reeling back to your surroundings, feeling like you had resurfaced, gasping, from a lake.
Refocussing, you breathed deeply, calming the powers. You had felt a small spark leap further from the contained glow in your hand.
Jungkook was hunched over, his elbows on his knees and head bowed once more, thoroughly defending his face from your sight. You had no idea where the tension that wracked his frame had come from.
There was no time granted for you to find out, however. He pushed himself up, only sparing a sideways glance for the blue radiating from your hands, before he stormed away as if he had never come.
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Thank you for reading! If you liked it let me know! See you next Sunday💜💜
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