#Where I know the gist of what shape the mystery is going to take but I dont actually know the answer

[secrettreestuffidk]

ok. 1:

SIFFRIN DOESNT KNOW WHAT STUFFED ANIMALS ARE?????????

(or like. At least forgot the word. But still)

also. Like. Masterful move of letting us affirm that we definitely remember everything to mira right in our first conversation with her, before gradually revealing that no the fuck we do not, huh.

Also the bit where after you get reminded on what something is called, you remember for a loop or two, then forget again? Nice touch.

im also not sure if this is a glitch or intentional but theres been a couple times where options im certain i havent done yet (like giving a specific person the flower) were greyed out like id already done them, and options that i have absolutely done before were still bright white? If it is intentional, its incredibly meta, and I eat that shit right up. If not. Its the happiest accident I’ve seen in my life.

also. The fact that sif recognized the telescope on sight, but no one else knew what it was for. Its played off so subtly. But I’m paying attention.

[cellsshapedlikestars]

do you plan out your stories in advanced or do you just start writing and hope for the best? I'm trying to get back into writing but I always end up completely deviating from any plan I made beforehand

My writing process is chaos, anon.

For a tl;dr: I just start writing and hope for the best

For a longer explanation of my process, see below the cut. Also, I feel dumb saying this, but spoilers for my own fics, especially the mysteries (which are better examples for plot planning than my romcoms)

1a) I get an idea, something super basic. Like, "time travel murder mystery" or "Sansa and Jon reluctant roommates". The idea then usually forms into a series of scenes or one particular scene in my head - for example: Sansa is dead, Jon goes to her funeral, later is questioned by police as a suspect, then time travel. Or, Sansa is already having a bad day and arrives at her brother's house only to find he's also letting his friend stay there and they were both unaware & kinda pissed about it, which starts them on the wrong foot as she threatens him with a knife.

1b) OR I watch a piece of media, go "wow they fumbled this great premise hard and I want to fix all the things I didn't like" and then I take the inciting incident and build my own story from there. (See: Doona. Business proposal is different, I actually liked the show, but Jon and Sansa did not fit the main leads' personalities so I had to change everything after the inciting incident. Plus I just find it more fun to come up with my own story than following the source material to a T)

2) this idea does not leave my brain, even if I want it to. I don't think you can force this step, tbh

3) I write a first chapter to get the idea/scene out of my head so I can get back to writing the story I'm already in the middle of. I post the chapter to exorcise it from my mind

4) this does not work

5) People in the comments are excited, which makes me excited! I obsessively think about it until I have a vague idea of how I want the story to go. Usually I have an end goal and some important story beats. Nothing is set in stone, and 99% of the time I don't even bother writing an outline, because I know I won't stick to it. The only "outlines" I make are just a string of ideas in the general order I want them to go in

6) I think of scenes I want, then work backwards to how to connect them

7) when I write a chapter, I know what I want the chapter end to be/the cliffhanger, and I write until I get there. Only once or twice have I had to cut chapters in two, but I try not to do this, even if the chapter ends up being pretty long.

8) sometimes you have to throw away ideas/scenes you thought were set in stone. Sometimes you start writing and those scenes Do Not Work anymore, and that's ok

For example, in mongrel heart, there was supposed to be this big, super dramatic showdown with Ramsay, like this big action movie scene. But when I got there, it felt totally wrong for the vibe of the story, so I went with a more intimate/personal final fight. The scene I had envisioned was totally gone. I had to add Oberyn kind of at the last minute, because I had come up with this elaborate world in the background, and needed to wrap that up.

For you on the run, I wrote the first chapter because "Sansa is kidnapped in a library" would not leave my head. I then posted it and had to scramble to come up with a plot. I knew the why, I knew I wanted it to be for Sansa's own safety, but WHO is out for her? I honestly don't think I decided for certain until she's back in winterfell.

In help me out of the shape I'm in, the bad guy was going to be ol' Bobby B, until I started writing chapter 4 when it switched to Joffrey because I had started fleshing out that case more and liked the horror of it being someone Sansa had "dated" more

Anyway, the gist is, I write as I go, and I go where the story takes me as I write. I'll be completely honest and say that a lot of the time, the excitement in the comments makes me excited to write and fuels my creativity. (this can backfire though. The few bitchy/negative comments on trojan horse kinda ruined the momentum for me on that one, which is why I'm not as actively writing it, despite REALLY liking it and thinking those comments were kinda dumb/narrow minded. And I'm not even talking about the rando anon who seems to have made it their mission to be negative on multiple jonsa fics, those people I don't even take into account. It was the ones from people who CANNOT escape a POV trap and make me so frustrated that I don't want to write anymore lol. I feel like how grrm must feel in these moments). But yes, the basic gist is: chaos and my obsessive brain that needs a creative outlet

I know this method isn't for everyone. I know there are authors out there who write an outline before they ever write a sentence, and they post their first chapter with the chapter count already out, bold and confident in their outline. This is not me. I could never aspire to this level of control

Anon, I hope you keep trying! Write those stories! Be creative! Remember the number one rule of fic: it's FUN, so have fun and write what YOU would want to read!

[bmodiwrites]

You Drew Stars Around My Scars

Hi friends! This one is based of a prompt I got sent a couple of days ago. The general gist of it is janitor x workaholic AU. So, here we are! Eddie's a story board editor with nothing to go home to and Steve, well, he's a janitor. This little beauty is filled with cuteness, a few twists, and lots of steddie goodness. Oh, there's some naught stuff, too. Minors, DNI! Check it out here or over on AO3! Let me know what you think in the comments below <3

Dropping the ludicrously expensive color pencil back onto his drawing desk, Eddie reclines back into his chair. He quickly clenches and unclenches his fingers in a desperate attempt to get some blood flow back to them. The sketch before him, a recent episode idea for Epic Kids, is almost perfect – after ten straight hours of work, Eddie is glad to see the thing finally shaping up into what it’s actually supposed to be.

As a story board artist, the demands on Eddie change daily. He doesn’t work for one show or something simple like that. Instead, he works for a company that dabbles in both television and video games. His projects range from children’s shows to multi-million dollar selling video games. No one knew the 90’s would be the time technology blew up – now, so many different game consoles exist, Eddie is never shy on work.

Upon picking up the craft right out of college, Eddie didn’t expect this to be the rest of his life. Sometimes, though, the world works in mysterious ways. The children’s book he always wanted to write comes alive in the shorts he draws and ideas he shares. Though he’s still wanting to put together a D&D epic for younger kids, Eddie is content enough with his lot to continue doodling on someone else’s dime.

He's about to pick the red pencil back up when the creak of his already open door startles him. It’s well past the time at night where anyone else is usually in the building. Eddie likes to close his door until everyone leaves so he’s got the space to himself. Now, he’s drawing in ambient light with nothing to disturb him – except, he guesses, for a gorgeous man dragging along a cleaning cart.

For a lingering moment, Eddie knows the man hasn’t seen him yet. He’s got headphones covering his ears and his head bobs to the beat. Strong hands are already reaching for the tools he’ll need to clean the floor before clearing out Eddie’s trash. This guy is new because no one ever took the time to sweep up the pencil shavings under Eddie’s desk. Lately, he’s been coming back to the office to a clean space. Now, he knows who the culprit is.

Since the guy still isn’t reacting to Eddie’s presence, brown eyes greedily take in their fill. Though the headphones push it down, the janitor has gorgeous hair. It’s thick and dirty blonde. Eddie thinks about the potential for amazing hairstyles and almost swoons. As his eyes roam a little further, Eddie notices wide wire-framed glasses pushed up an angular nose. They enhance hazel eyes that are now looking at him with a mix of panic and surprise.

“Oh damn, I’m so sorry. No one is ever here, I didn’t even think to knock. I’ll uh – I’ll come back later.” The words are out of the new janitors mouth so fast that Eddie’s head spins. Though, he’s quick to put it on right in hopes of keeping this mouthwatering stranger in the room.

“Hey, it’s alright. I should be thanking you. You’re the first cleaner to ever pick up my pencil shavings. It’s awesome, man. I appreciate it.” Eddie finishes his thanks with a soft smile. It should be enough, saying something sweet before moving on. Yet, it’s not. Eddie feels compelled to keep talking. “Are you new?”

The guy looks incredibly uncomfortable for a second before nodding. It’s brief and coarse but it’s a reaction – one that Eddie wasn’t all that sure he was going to get. Happy with that small crumb, Eddie’s smile widens.

“Cool, you’ll like it here. I’ve been working behind this desk since college. Loved every second of it.”

His comment is met with silence that lingers so long Eddie thinks his new friend is done with the conversation. He’s about to grab at his pencil again when that deep voice sounds off.

“Maybe you’re right. It’s really quiet. I like that.” The man pauses for a second, takes Eddie in. His hazel eyes roam over Eddie’s face and down until he sees the drawing on the desk. For an instant, those eyes widen, but the moment is gone long before Eddie can process it.

“I’ll let you get back to your work, Mr. Munson. Sorry again about the interruption.”

Shrinking back at the name, Eddie calls out immediately – “It’s Eddie. Please, call me Eddie.”

Though the man doesn’t verbally respond or outwardly acknowledge Eddie’s request, there’s a short little nod before the squeaking of the cart sounds again and the enigma of a man is gone as quickly as he came.

Over the next couple of weeks, Eddie changes his routine in hope of bumping into their new custodian again. He walks the halls every couple of hours during the day to see if the man works while the rest of his crew does, but never finds him. He then stays a little later, lingering in his office until the call of food or a television show or plain boredom has him collecting his bags to head off for the night.

Eventually, Eddie’s enigma makes another appearance. This time, though, Eddie is not prepared for him. He’s been curled up into the sanctuary of his arm, napping soundly, since his last meeting. They ripped apart his drawing and asked for something completely different than what Eddie had been picturing. The game isn’t even out yet and Eddie is over it. The headache that sets in kicks his ass, making the call of the flat of his desk so very enticing. He doesn’t know he’s fallen asleep until the door kicks open and he’s blinking awake.

“Shit, I did it again. I’ve been saving your office for last every day, trying not to disturb you on your late nights. Sorry, Mr. – Eddie. I don’t mean to disturb you.”

Sitting up a little straighter in his chair, Eddie stops him before he can go. “Wait! You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind the interruption. It’s probably needed. I’m spending way too much time here, anyway.”

With an invitation to stay, the guy doesn’t take off like the rocket he had just been trying to become. Instead, he lingers in the doorway, eyes roaming over Eddie again. Since they’re staring at one another, Eddie doesn’t disguise his desire to look back.

This time, Eddie notices a thin little mustache that covers red and probably delectable lips. They’re plump and forming words that Eddie is obviously missing out on. He clues back in just in time to catch the tail end.

“ – my friend’s son loves Epic Kids. I get so many more cool points now because I know one of the artists.”

Eddie is glad he managed to tune back into reality – catching that compliment makes the rest of his shitty day seem insignificant. Epic Kids is his pet project, one he’s much more interested in than the stupid game pitch still haunting him from his desk. Though, Eddie is unsure how the man before him knows about his involvement. He hasn’t had a new project for the show cross his desk since they first met.

“How did you know I worked on that show?”

The man smiles then, his lips (they are absolutely kissable, Eddie just knows it) quirk into a knowing grin. For the first time since Eddie encountered him, there’s a sign of life outside of trash cans and a grumpy demeanor.

“That first night I barged in, you were working on a doodle that ended up in yesterday’s show. After Lucas finished up the episode, I watched through the credits. Eddie Munson, Storyboard Editor, is pretty hard to miss.”

“It’s kind of unfair you know my name and I don’t know yours,” Eddie petulantly says before he can stop himself. Though, it’s not a bad thing because the man laughs, genuinely chuckles, and points to the embroidered name on the left side of his tacky blue jumpsuit.

“I’m Steve. Steve Harrington.”

Eddie’s cheeks heat up for some reason, as if access to a name gives him so much more. While it’s just a title to call the hot man that roams the halls at night, Eddie sees the vulnerability as something more. An obvious door has been opened and he’s timidly excited to step through it.

Steve becomes a regular fixture after that. It’s easy for him to wheel his cart into Eddie’s office at the end of the night and make conversation while he goes about his duties. Eddie draws or sits in his chair listening intently to everything Steve’s got to say. He learns about the man’s found family and his platonic soulmate who also doubles as a roommate whenever she’s in town. The connection they have is something that should be cherished, despite only being nurtured for a handful of minutes the nights Eddie can force himself to stay late enough.

There is, of course, an easy fix. Eddie isn’t one to actively pursue another person, especially when he’s not quite sure about their interest. Steve, it seems, is the exception to every rule that Eddie’s ever put into place, however. Their time together is too nice not to extend it past the walls of his workplace. Never mind the fact that Eddie is more than excited by the prospect of Steve in anything but the ugly blue uniform he’s forced to wear. The man is beautiful, Eddie sees that through and through. Something tells him, though, that Steve has lots of potential outside of navy blue.

He bids his time until the perfect opportunity presents itself. It’s a Thursday night and Steve is already talking about the weekend. He has yet to mention Friday night, however, so Eddie takes that as his chance.

“What about Friday? Are you free? There’s this joint in town I’ve been dying to try out, thought you might like to come.”

Eddie waits with bated breath as Steve blinks a few times behind his thick lenses. He goes about putting the trashcan back in its spot, even replaces the bag before looking in Eddie’s direction.

“Uh, yeah. That – that sounds good. I haven’t been out with adults I didn’t grow up with in ages. I think I’d really like that.”

It takes a massive amount of effort for Eddie not to happily jump up from his chair. His fist is tingling with the need to thrust itself into the air in triumph, but Eddie keeps control. After finally securing some extra time with Steve, the last thing Eddie wants to do is muck it up by being over eager or worse – immature with his excitement.

It seems, however, that Steve is just as excited. Pink overtakes his cheeks and a smile that Eddie’s never seen before stretches those gorgeous lips wide. And while he’s not making eye contact with Eddie at all, Steve sneakily glances in his direction time and time again as he finishes up.

Eddie feels like he’s back in high school again, fumbling over his first crush. It’s a glorious thing, experiencing freedom like that after the fickle mundaneness of adulthood.

----

As expected, Steve is an absolute dream out of uniform. The yellow polo Steve’s wearing makes the hazel in his eyes stand out beyond belief. His blue jeans are tight in all the right areas, enhancing thighs and ass like navy blue fabric never could. Eddie has to physically close his mouth upon first glance, lest he starts drooling before the date actually gets started.

Thankfully, Steve spots him across the weird little bar and makes a beeline in Eddie’s direction. The space they’re in is an eclectic little place that serves beer while it’s patrons play mini golf on the two courses out back. It’s one of the coolest things Eddie has seen – he desperately hopes this little place won’t be the last of such an interesting idea.

Everyone around them looks to be enjoying themselves, either way.

Glad for that knowledge and reassurane, Eddie makes quick work of getting them both a drink and the things they need to play the first course. Steve is slightly stiff as they start but loosens up by the third hole.

Now that they’re not in the noisy bar and the party before them is a couple holes ahead, Steve relaxes. He starts to shoot better and actually takes a couple pulls of his drink. It’s a relief because Eddie already thought he blew it.

As it turns out, Steve is just a man with a little social anxiety. When it’s just the two of them, Eddie gets so much from Steve. He talks about his family the most, the little brother (who’s not actually a ‘real’ sibling, though Steve counts him as one) that’s been a pain in his ass most of Steve’s life, the niece and nephew he spoils incessantly. It’s a beautiful thing to experience a person so dedicated to the people around them.

Eddie tries to reciprocate by telling him about art school and the program he did throughout. He talks about the children’s book he wants to write, despite never spilling the beans of that to anyone else in the entire world. Uncle Wayne doesn’t even know the plot of Eddie’s dream work. For some reason, Eddie can’t stop himself from speaking so earnestly to Steve. It doesn’t hurt, however, that Steve is pretty candid with his words, too.

The only thing that Steve doesn’t talk about is himself. After the first date and then the second, Eddie chalks it up to nerves and taking things slow. He’s in deep already, so the change in pace is a welcome thing.

Except, it keeps happening the longer they’re together. Two dates turns to two months of dating, two months of Steve avoiding questions, two months of them never once setting foot in Steve’s apartment. Admittedly, the lack of personal details is a little off putting. Though, Eddie is eager enough to see where things might go with Steve that he pushes all of that aside. One day, one day really soon, Steve will open up.

It eventually happens, just not in the way Eddie ever thought it would.

For the first time in their entire relationship, Steve’s walking him towards his door. Well, he’s backing Eddie up against it because they can’t keep their hands off each other. Between their intense connection and the chemistry that runs rampant, Eddie’s been edging himself, waiting for this very moment. It’s a little much now that it’s happening but Eddie’s here for it, eager and willing, too. So much so that he doesn’t question Steve leaving off lights as they stumble inside.

Despite the time it took them to get here, Steve is anything but patient and inexperienced. He doesn’t fumble or miss buttons in the darkness of the room. His accurate attack gets Eddie out of his clothes in record time.

Instead of taking off his own, however, Steve immediately drops to his knees, eager hands finding Eddie’s cock without struggle. Long fingers wrap around the base while Steve’s other hand drops to Eddie’s balls. He rolls them at the same time the wetness of his mouth sucks in the head of Eddie’s cock. It’s so glorious, Eddie can do nothing but thread his fingers through Steve’s hair and pull him closer.

The suction is so good that Eddie has to dig the nails of his free hand into the fleshy skin of his palm. Drawing blood is the only thing stopping Eddie from shooting down Steve’s throat but it’s all too good to make him stop. At least, Eddie thinks that until the end is actually imminent. Then, he tugs on Steve’s hair, pulling him off as gently as possible.

“You’re way too good at that. Care for a little something more?” Eddie asks as Steve stands up from his spot on the ground. There’s a smile on his face, though Eddie barely recognizes it in the dark. He thinks to ask about the light but bypasses the urge – if Steve wanted them on, he would’ve flipped the switch as he passed.

Knowing that, Eddie is a little surprised that Steve takes off his clothes at all. Usually when a person liked to keep the lights off, they liked to keep their clothes on, too. Steve, it seems, is filled with contradictory worries and triggers. He sheds his clothes in the same manner he disrobed Eddie. It’s efficient and quick and soon, they’re both standing in front of each other naked as can be.

Steve doesn’t give Eddie much time to take him in. That self-conscious air is back, despite Steve covering it up by sliding his body on top of Eddie’s on the mattress. They fit together so well it’s difficult to keep up with anything at all aside slick slide of Steve’s hips as he grinds down against Eddie. Their cocks are both wet with pre-cum that makes each brush of their pelvises an electric thing. Eddie is already done in – he’s not sure how much more he can take.

There must be precognition in Steve’s life because he moves away from Eddie right as he thinks that. It’s both a torture and relief, one that’s only made better by Steve shifting his body so he can dig into the bedside table for a condom and some lube. The triumphant little noise he makes is kind of nice, too. It reorients Eddie back to the real reason they’re taking each other apart. He loves Steve. Steve loves him. Coming together like this is the ultimate culmination of their feelings for each other.

That thought echoes in Eddie’s head while Steve lubes up a finger, then leaves a dollop of the cool liquid on Eddie’s hip for later. When that finger breaches him, Eddie lets Steve project his love into him, feeling complete for the first time since things started between them. It’s satisfying and dizzyingly delicious.

Steve is very good at the things he’s doing to Eddie. His fingers take no time at all to find Eddie’s prostate. They nail the bundle of nerves tirelessly before not touching it again for many minutes on end, despite more digits coming to the party.

Eventually, three fingers barely skim against it by the time Steve’s getting antsy for more. Eddie too is right there with him.

“I’m good, Steve. I’m good. I need you, baby.”

A soft chuckle slips from Steve’s lips that are pressed against Eddie’s neck. While hands fumble between them, Steve kisses and nips little marks into soft skin, distracting them both from the lurid slip of a condom down Steve’s cock. Eventually a hard tip presses against Eddie’s entrance and the softest of whispers echoes in his head.

“I’ve got you, Eds. I’ve got you,” Steve mumbles, his words laced with lust and want and anticipation that reaches a peak as Steve finally presses inside.

It’s so difficult to keep his composure, Eddie doesn’t even try. He yells out a loud “fuck” that sits in the room with them. While Steve draws back and thrusts forward, Eddie clings to him. He runs his hands over Steve’s back and sides, tracing lines of something like scarring from one side of his torso to the other. If he was thinking straight, Eddie would’ve taken that all into account. Instead, he wraps his arms around Steve’s neck and lets the man drop even more weight upon him, distracting Eddie further.

When the end comes creeping near, Steve’s head is tucked into Eddie’s neck, his harsh breath like a tsunami’s wind. Eddie is hanging on the precipice, already able to cum for minutes now. He’s clutching to that edge just to make sure he tumbles off at the same time Steve does. It only takes a handful of thrusts and a cleverly placed bite of Steve’s teeth right above Eddie’s collarbone for both boys to free fall into the unknown abyss of immaculate pleasure.

Eddie must black out because the next time he blinks back to consciousness, there’s light streaming through Steve’s windows. There are curtains but each one is pulled back, letting in the light.

It’s then that Eddie sees them, the reasons behind Steve’s need to keep the lights off in front of Eddie. There are scars everywhere that Eddie can see. Some are long and thin while others look like something tried to take a bite out of Steve’s skin. The flesh is red and raised, though healed completely all the same. Eddie wants to reach out and touch but he refrains. Intimacy is a gift he doesn’t want to give away. Misplacing Steve’s trust in him is not at all what Eddie wants to do.

Already, it’s too late, though. Steve turns slightly, revealing more of the scars on his chest and neck. There’s a long line around his throat that Eddie is surprised he’s never noticed. It obviously hides well under all the clothes Steve wears. This time, he doesn’t tamp down the urge. His fingers brush up against Steve’s neck on their own accord.

“What happened, Steve?” Eddie’s eyes are welling up with tears. He can’t decide if he’s mad at whatever did this or overwhelmed with the need to care for the man before him. That must be clear – Steve doesn’t draw away or try to hide. He rolls over completely and pulls Eddie into his arms.

“It’s – really hard to explain,” Steve starts, his hand idly running up and down Eddie’s sides as they cuddle. “The town I grew up in, Hawkins – it made the news a bunch of times a few years ago.”

Sensing some familiarity, Eddie wracks his brain, trying to remember but New York is a long way away from Indiana. He still nods his head, willing Steve to go on.

“Some crazy stuff went down that you probably won’t believe. In the end, I took a beating to make sure my family got to see another day. I got… taken and the things that were trying to tear Hawkins apart, they did this to me. A couple times over.”

Steve’s a little breathless when he finishes. Despite not sharing all that many details, Eddie knows whatever he just purged from Steve is a lot. It’s something that’s stricken him down in unimaginable ways.

For all it’s worth, Eddie leans further into Steve, dragging him in a little closer. He doesn’t know what to say but that seems to be okay. Steve wraps him up tighter and lets the easy silence settle between them. Without noticing, both drift off again.

Between a nap and another round of amazing sex a while later, Eddie is famished when they eventually resurface to go about the rest of the day.

Steve volunteered to cook so Eddie wanders around the apartment. He takes in the comic books and CDs. There are toys in a box in a corner and a big tv box tucked into a nice looking stand. It’s simple and nice and totally not what Eddie expected at all.

Neither is the master’s degree Eddie sees hanging from the wall.

“Steve, you went to college? For longer than the mandatory four years?” Eddie’s voice is high, the shock clearly coming through.

Steve comes bounding around the corner, a spatula still in his hand. “What are you screaming about in here?”

Eddie takes a long breath and then another. He looks at the diploma on the wall and then back at Steve. “You never said you were a college boy.”

Laughing lightly, Steve shrugs his shoulders. “You never asked.”

“But – “ Eddie starts, his face flushing. The mere thought is too much. How can he ever say the words?

Steve, of course, beats him to it. “But what? But I’m a janitor? You know, Eddie – that’s pretty narrow minded of you.” The words hold no malice, despite the tone of Steve’s voice.

“I don’t like people or crowds. I have PTSD from all the trauma in my teens. Offices and university campuses are the Mecca of loud noises and large masses of other humans. Instead of putting myself into danger, I work a slow job that fits my complexities. It’s exactly what I need, Eddie. Kind of like you.”

The last sentence is enough to make Eddie’s head spin. He for sure thought he was getting a lecture where in fact he gets the opposite.

Steve strides towards his bookcase a determined look in his eye. He searches and skims his fingers over book spines until the right one is in his hands. “Read this. You might understand things a little better. I always told anyone who asked that the events weren’t real but they are. Everything I wrote down in that book is what me and my friends went through. All of it.”

Steve taps the top, looking directly at Eddie. “Read it, don’t read it. If you’re curious about me, you’ll find a lot of what you want to know between those pages.”

All the sudden, Eddie remembers where he heard the name Hawkins before, where he’d even been privy to Steve’s name prior to them meeting. Looking down at the book in his hands, Eddie distinctly remembers demogorgons and bats with tails that stung and ripped and tore. Quickly, Eddie riffled through the pages in order to get to the back cover.

There, in all his gorgeous glory, was Steve Harrington, not at all smiling at the camera. Reading into the bio, Eddie ticked off all the educational credentials that Steve has. Two master’s and a prestigious scholarship from the university he used to teach at. Despite himself, Eddie is surprised, yet not all at the same time.

Instead of continuing to read through the book in hopes of finding out more details, Eddie closes it and puts it back on the shelf where Steve found it. Sucking in a long breath, Eddie nods, then goes to join Steve in the kitchen. Now that the cats out of the bag, Eddie thinks he might enjoy learning more about his boyfriend strictly from the source himself.

As Eddie settles himself against Steve’s back, he allows himself to relax. Steve’s mystery is one Eddie can’t wait to pick apart. Until the clues lay themselves out for him, however, Eddie’s content to hold onto Steve tight and see where the road leads them. It’s too easy to be enraptured by a man that holds his hand while flipping pancakes with the other.

“Thanks,” Eddie whispers as the breakfast making commotion calms down.

Steve doesn’t ask him what he’s thankful for or demand an explanation. He simply pulls Eddie close and silently finishes breakfast.

Slow and steady.

Absolutely perfect in every way.

tag list (message if you'd like to be added): @infinite-orangepeel, @thefreakandthehair, @corrodedcoughin, @prettyboisteveharrington, @writer-in-theory

[reidsmemory]

Echo

Spencer Reid

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: Y/N is abducted while working a case and the team has to find her before it’s too late.

Genre: Fluff with a touch of angst

Warnings: Mention of death of minor character, torture

not my gif!

The team had been looking into case that had targeted girls with Y/H/C hair and Y/E/C eyes. All had looks strikingly similar to you and if anyone were to see either one of the victims in a room with you, they would say you were related. You all had been on the case for about a week now and you were still no where close to catching this guy. 

     “Agent Y/L/N,” a voice called as you whipped your head to face them, “these came in for you,” the officer was holding a bouquet of red roses with a small white card on the top of it. 

      “Do you know who these are from?” you asked as he shook his head and walked away. 

      “What does the note say?” Emily asked as the whole team had watched the interaction. 

     You opened the envelope and read the note as you furrowed your brows, “echo.” The team looked at each other with puzzled faces, “what the hell is that suppose to mean? Have we already dealt with this unsub?” The rest of team began theorizing as the same officer walked up to you again.

     “Agent, we’ve got someone that say he needs to speak to you.”

      “Can’t they come here?” Hotch asked, getting defensive.

      “He says that he won’t go into a place of justice, whatever that means,” the officer began to lead you as the rest of the team followed. You began walking towards the entrance of the station as the officer looked around for the mystery man. “He was just here,” the man spoke. 

      “Spence,” you spoke out as your boyfriend looked to you before you collapsed on the ground. You head hit the flooring as a ringing sounded in your ears as well as their being two of everything. Two Spencer’s holding your head, two Hotch’s yelling and pointing fingers, two lights blinding you from seeing anything. 

     What felt like hours later you were being lifted onto a bed. Two men had arrived with an ambulance as shouting and yelling was all that was heard. “Are you family, sir?” the first responder asked as Spencer opened him mouth and closed it again, “I didn’t think so, you all can follow in cars.” The man said as his colleague gave him as weird look as the both of them lifted you into the ambulance as the rest of the team rushed to get their keys and get into the SUVs.

     The ambulance sped off as the sirens wailed and your team rushed to the cars. “What in the fresh hell?” Derek said as he looked at the tires on one of the SUVs. “My tires are popped, what about you, Hotch?” 

     “Same here,” the raven haired man said. 

     “It’s a set up,” Reid spoke as fear flooded his face. 

***

     You awoke in a cabin where you had been tired to a chair and had a gag on your mouth. Your vision still hazy and your thoughts even hazier. 

     “Oh good, you’re up,” a male voice said from the corner of the room. You tried to get a good look at him, but he stayed in the shadows. “Ben Cyrus,” he said as you furrowed your eyebrows. The name sounded so familiar, but you couldn’t quite remember where you had heard it before. 

      “Who are you?” you asked as the man chuckled. “Let me go, I’ll talk to my team and we can work this out.” He scoffed at your words and began to walk towards you. 

     “Ben Cyrus. He ran the greatest church known to man and you,” his face was hardened and his eyes had a crazed look in them, “took away our faith!” He struck his hand across your face as a burning sensation filled your cheek. 

     It all rushed back to you. A few year back you, Prentiss, and Reid had all gone undercover in a cult-like church. The leader, Benjamin Cyrus, had been suspected of child abuse and sexual harassment and the government had wanted the BAU to get involved. 

     “I remember,” you said as the man smiled. 

     “Good, Agent,” he grabbed a chair from the side of the room and brought it over to sit across from you. “Now,” he started again, “you might not know me. My name is Joey Cyrus and I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’d be lyin’,” he studied you as you did the same.

     “What do you want, Joey?” 

     “Well my daddy would be nice for one, but I don’t believe you have the power to do that. So you’ll do just fine,” he got up from his chair and walked over to the bag that you had seen from the corner of your eye. He dumped the contents on the ground in front of you and a spill of tools came out. A hammer, pliers, a baseball bat, a few knives, and other things that could do damage. “Let’s get to know each other.”

***

     Back at the station, Spencer was frantically trying to figure out who had taken you and why. The note on the roses had been laced with a medicinal herb that had knocked you out and the ambulance had been found in a ditch on the highway with all but one of the first responders on it. The medics had been killed in a brutal way that even made Spencer sick to his stomach as he thought about what this guy was doing to you.

     “Reid,” Hotch’s voice broke his train of thought as he met eyes with the older man. “Go ahead, Garcia.”

     “Alright. Our mystery medic is Joseph Mulgrew , he moved to Utah just a few years ago and before that he has been off the map,” Garcia told the team. “This guy, he’s like a ghost. No records of his name anywhere else and no former address of any kind.”

     “Did you say Mulgrew?” Spencer said as the team looked at him.

     “Yes I did Doctor, what about it?”

     “Look up Joseph Cyrus,” Spencer told her as they heard the taps of Garcia’s keyboard. The team looked at him for an explanation, “Benjamin Cyrus, he was an unsub we had.”

     “Yeah,” Emily started, “he was that guy that ran that church and...” she trailed off as the team got the gist of what she was saying. 

     “He was Charles Mulgrew before he made a come back at the church. It could be possible that he has unknown family, considering what he was really doing all those years,” Spencer explained, “Garcia, how old is Joseph?” 

     “He is 27 years of age and the good doctor is right. Joey here changed his name like dear old dad and oh...” Penny trailed off.

     “Penny?” JJ asked.

     “Joseph has been in and out of jail and juvie for as long as I can see. Charged with assault, petty theft, and oh my. Domestic abuse filed by his ex-wife who looks a lot like our Y/N,” a sounding on their tablets was heard as they opened it and saw a woman very similar to you.

     “But Spencer and I went undercover too, why would he pick Y/N?” Emily said as she immediately started to solve the puzzle, “you think it’s because of the looks of the ex-wife?”

     “I think so,” Rossi mumbled, “Penelope pull up the most current address to Joe and anything that could be used to store Y/N.”

     “I’ve got a home address and a storage unit and they have all been sent to your phones! Go crime fighters and get our princess back!” Penelope told them.

     “Thanks, Baby Girl,” Morgan hung up the phone.

     “Reid with me and JJ. Rossi, Morgan, and Prentiss take the storage. We’ll have to use squad cars until the SUVs are fixed so lets go get Y/L/N,” Hotch ordered as they all nodded ad went to the parking lot. 

***

     You muffled your screams and grunts as Joey had began to carve into your stomach. He laughed as you clenched your teeth and held your hands in fists, surely four crescent shaped cuts were to be found on the inside of your palms if you opened them. “You son of a bitch,” you struggled to get out as Joey wiped the knife off on your pants. 

     “Don’t you talk about my mama that way, girl. I’ll make sure you regret it.” You received at blow to the side of your face. You spit out the blood that formed in your mouth as Joey began to take the other tools out from his collection. “These look nice, don’t they, girl?” He held up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter as he popped one in his mouth.

     “Those things kill,” you said remembering Spencer tell you countless facts about the ‘cancer sticks’ as both of you had nicknamed them. “On second thought, why don’t you just keep smoking them.”

     He laughed, “you are a firecracker. My daddy always said the young ones are.” He stroked your hair as you tried to move back.

     “Your dad was sick in the head and you are too,” you spoke with such tenacity. 

     He looked at you blankly, “I thought I said you don’t speak of my family like that,” he took the cigarette from his mouth and stuck it on your exposed collar bone. 

     You grunted as he held your face in free hand. He leaned into your ear and whispered, “I want to hear those screams, girl.” He press the cigarette into your skin further, finally inciting a small scream to slip past your lips. “Good.”

***

     The team had arrived at both locations and there was no sign that you were there. Spencer paced around with his hands in is hair as the rest of the team was now even more worried than before, if that was possible. The team had no idea where you could be and if you were even alive. It had been at least 13 hours since you had dropped in the lobby and it was eating Spencer and the team alive.

     “You have nothing?” JJ asked Garcia over the phone,.

     “No, i’m sorry. I’ll keep looking and-” she was cut off by Spencer who had just had a revelation. 

     “Garcia, make sure the jet is ready. I think I know where Y/N is.”

***

     On the jet Spencer had explained the note and how it read ‘echo’ as saying that Joey might want to recreate the explosion at the church and now the team had touched down in Colorado where they got in SUVs to go to the church’s location. 

     A swat team followed them along the dirt roads that were bumpy and the night sky that was dark. The sun was starting to rise in the distance. Spencer remembered you always saying, ‘the same beams but a new day,’ and that made him the tiniest bit hopeful that they would find you in this new day. 

     The church came into view as they could see it was now a smaller wooden building. “What the hell,” Morgan said from the drivers seat as he say the building, “this guy built up a whole new structure to what? Avenge his father’s death?” The car came to a stop as the team hopped out of the car and Hotch began to go over the plan with the others.

     “From the front-” he was cut off by a ear piercing scream that came from no one other than you. Spencer looked at his boss in worry as Hotch returned the look and started again, “let’s go.”

     Joey drove a knife into your stomach as you screamed loudly. He left it in your body and quickly grabbed another knife from the ground. “You have got to work out your daddy issues another way,” you told him as he dragged the new knife down the side of your face as it cut into your skin. 

     “You wanna try something different, girl?” You immediately regretted your words and recalled Spence always telling you that your smart mouth was going to get you in trouble some day. He began to unbutton the top of his flannel, but quickly stopped as he heard footsteps in the distance. You heard them too. 

      “Spencer!” you yelled as loud as you could as Joey came over to you and cut the ropes on your ankles and arms as he quickly grabbed you and put a knife to your neck. 

      From the front of the house Spencer could hear your cries as his ears perked up as his heart rate grew faster and Hotch nodded as Morgan kicked the door down. The team moved through the structure and finally Spencer came face to face with you, “Y/N,” he said as you locked eyes with your boyfriend and smiled lightly, despite the situation at hand. 

     “Joseph, put the knife down,” Hotch told the man as the knife just dug deeper into your skin. 

     “I don’t think so,” he took grip on you and made it tighter. “You killed my family. He never did anything but help people in need of his guidance.”

     “Your father ruined the lives of young girls,” Spencer said matter-o-factly. 

     “No! He did them a favor, he gave them the greatest gift he could,” Joey said as he began to move his hand without the knife a bit more. You furrowed your eyebrows as you tried see what he was hold and finally saw a small remote concealed in his hand. 

     You moved your eyes to Hotch’s and blinked rapidly. You just hoped he would pick up on the Morse Code and get everyone out of the building. 

     “Let’s just talk this out, Joey,” Hotch started, “JJ get everyone out, I want to talk to Joey alone.” JJ furrowed her eyebrows at the man but he gave he a stern look as she understood and began to move the team out. 

     “No! Bring them back!” Joey yelled, “or she dies.” Spencer looked at JJ as she tried to get him to leave the building, but he refused to move so she quickly called Morgan who grabbed Reid as he struggled against him.

     “I can’t leave her!” he told them and Morgan ignored his pleas and called a couple SWAT members to help him with the genius. 

     “As much as I like her, I’ll do it,” Joey said as he continued to watch the men and women exist the building. “Bring them back!” Joey yelled as his grip on you faltered for a second which you took advantage of as you got out from his grasp and struggled to take the device from his hand. 

     “Go!” you yelled at Hotch but he jumped in and started to help you as the three of you wrestled and quickly the device was flung across the doorway to another room. You all freezed before you grabbed Hotch’s hand and dragged him towards the back of the building. 

     The team waited outside for Hotch and you as Reid screamed at Morgan, “you have to let me go back in there!”

     “You can’t Kid, you heard Hotch!” Morgan yelled back as the rest of the team cringed at the fight. “I know all of us want to go back in there, but we can’t! You gotta understand that, Kid!”

     “No! You don’t understand!” Spencer screamed, “she’s all I have! I didn’t even get to tell her that I love her! That I have been in love with her since that stupid dinner at that Thai restaurant in California!” 

     “That was two years ago...” JJ mumbled.

     “Yeah! Two years! I’ve only been with with her for a couple months now and I haven’t even told her!” Everyone’s hearts pained as they heard Spencer’s cries and saw the liquid that dripped down his cheeks. “I can’t-”

     All head turned as the house exploded a safe distance away from them. The orange flames roared as the team had their mouths’ open in shock.

     “No,” Rossi and JJ whispered at the same time. 

     Morgan’s grip on Reid was gone as he watched the flames and turned to Emily who had had disbelief and horror over her face. 

     Spencer’s mind raced a mile every second and now his mind was completely blank of everything but you. Your face, your smile, your eyes, your lips, your laugh, your touch, your everything. Spencer ran towards the flames as the team yelled after him. 

     “Spencer,” JJ’s voice breaking as she leaned into Rossi’s embrace. 

     “Kid. Come on, don’t do this,” Morgan called as Emily just watched in disbelief with a gaping mouth and teary eyes.

     Spencer didn’t care about their calls, he needed to find you. He scanned the firery rubble for any sign of you or Hotch, but there wasn’t any. Just ash and fallen wood covered in sweltering heat. “Y/N!” he yelled out, “Y/N! Hotch!” Spence continued to look through the wall of intense heat and for a second he saw a delicate hand reach up through the burning wood. “Y/N,” he whispered to himself as he began to walk through the blazing fire that threatened to burn his body and ruin his lungs. 

     He moved a piece of wood off of where he saw your hand and saw you and Hotch laying side by side. “Guys!” he screamed at his friends, “help!” The team gave each other confused faces before coming over to Spencer. JJ gasped as she saw your form next to Hotch’s as tears of joy spilled from her faces. Her and Emily joined hands as they worked to get the wood off of you. 

     “Medic!” Rossi yelled as people began to rush over to help. 

     Morgan and Reid worked to get a big piece of debris off of the two of you. Hotch’s eyes opened and he immediately looked to his side where you had been, holding his hand tightly. He coughed violently as the medics lifted him up and brought him to the ambulance. You blinked a few times and saw Spencer standing over you. 

     “Hey, can you hear me?” he asked as you gave him a thumbs up and he laughed at the simple gesture. He brought you up for and embrace as you struggled to keep your eyes open. The medic came over to you and began to carry you away as Spencer and the team followed you and Hotch to the ambulance. 

      “Can I?” he asked one of the nurses as she nodded and he climbed into the ambulance and held your hand as you drifted off to sleep.

***

     When you woke up, blinding lights had been the first thing you saw. The second was Spencer who was asleep in a chair next to your bed, his head resting on the bed and his fingers interlaced with your own. You blinked a few times and saw the rest of the team in the room with you. Hotch was in bed identical to yours, but he was up and had his eye focused on the TV in front of him. By his side was JJ and Morgan as the conversed with each other in hushed voices. Penny was writing in a card with a sparkling pink pen as she handed it off to Rossi who smiled lightly at her. Emily was just outside your room as you saw her talking with a nurse or doctor; rather it looked more like arguing.

     Derek glanced over to you briefly as he then turned back to JJ and then back to you. “You’re up,” he said quietly, a contrast to his usual booming voice. Everyone looked to you as you smiled.

     “You gave us quite a scare, Y/L/N,” Hotch said as you laughed quietly which then turned into a cough. 

     “Em! Get a nurse or doctor!” Penny exclaimed as Emily rushed and called a nurse in the hallway. JJ got up from her seat and made her way over to your bed.

     She examined your face before hugging you tightly. “God, you can never do that to us again,” she chuckled as you rubbed her back. You felt a few tears fall on your shoulders as JJ pulled away and wiped her cheeks. “He’ll be happy to see you,” she gestured to Spencer.

     “Glad to have you back, kiddo,” Rossi told you with a smile, “you need anything?” As soon as he said that a doctor walked into your room and started to go over your condition.

     “You are very lucky, Agent Y/L/N” she started, “you have a mild concussion and that wound on your abdomen will take some time to heal over. You received first and second degree burns all over your legs, arms, and torso, just like Agent Hotchner. Your eardrums are very fragile and I recommend no flying for at least 3 weeks. Your face has some minor bruising and cuts that should heal over time.” She set her chart down. “The both of you should be able to leave in a few days time, but for now just relax.”

     “Thank you,” you said as she smiled.

     “Dinner will be up in a few minutes,” with that she left and Morgan was seen grinning widely. 

     “What?” you said.

     “She didn’t mention one thing.” You furrowed your brows at his words and he started to rub his head which just made you more confused.

     “I have a concussion, you’re going to have to actually say it.” He laughed at your words.

     “Do you think pretty boy will like the new haircut?” he asked as it finally clicked and you ran your fingers through your hair. 

     “Oh my, God,” you said as everyone laughed. “Oh my, God!” you repeated as Emily handed you a mirror and as you brought it up to your face your jaw dropped. Your hair was cut in jagged parts, but none shorter than your chin. The team laughed as you continued to gape at your reflection.

     “Some of your hair ended up burning off, just a bit,” Emily said as you looked at her with wide eyes. She laughed as you began to laugh too and soon everyone joined in as you all smiled at your stupidly, funny haircut.

     Spencer rubbed his eyes as he saw your smiling face and immediately hugged you tightly. “Thank Goodness,” he whispered as he pulled back from the embrace. “Why are we laughing?” he asked as you gestured towards your hair and smiled widely at the tall man.

     “Is this gonna be a deal breaker, babe?” his cheeks flushed at the nickname.

     He laughed a bit, “no, I still love you,” he said as the team froze at what he said as did he.

     “Awh, I love you more, Spence,” you told him without skipping a beat as he pressed a kiss to your forehead. 

     “Even if you do kinda look like David Bowie,” he said as you opened your mouth and smacked his arm playfully.

     “Spencer Reid!”

[aerequets]

can you give me some webtoon recommendations? name some of your favorites! :)

i am here to answer folks 😎

all of these webtoons can be found on webtoons.com! I'm not sure about the whole daily pass thing they've got going on (which sucks tbh) but like,,, you could probably find it online illegally. NOT THAT I CONDONE ILLEGAL ACTIVITY HAHAHAHA ᵖˢˢᵗ ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵒᵒᵏ ⁱᵗ'ˢ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ

I'll split these up between completed and in progress :) most are still in progress though

COMPLETED

1) Gourmet Hound (166 chapters)

this is like, my all time favorite webtoon. it follows Lucy and her quest to find all the chefs that left her favorite restaurant, Dimanche! it’s a really heartfelt story and the food illustrations make you really hungry, so make sure you have a snack before you sit down to read it. each character’s name is also food-related, so that’s pretty cool too! and the diversity in this webtoon is AMAZING. it’s the only webtoon i’ve ever read that has a hijabi character in the main cast. the development is done really well and it explores themes of loving and letting go. all in all, it has a bit of everything. i personally love food-related things, and this centers around it, so i was set LOL

(also a bonus is that this webtoon has NOT succumbed to daily pass hell, so you can binge read the whole thing. legally.)

2) Hooky (200 chapters)

if you like stories of witches, this is the one! the summary and beginning chapters are deceptively lighthearted. DO NOT BE FOOLED! the story really develops further on and explores numerous conflicts, a big one being (if i remember correctly) witch vs. nonwitch. if you like to see struggles between two sides, not a good-and-evil but just people-who-want-the-best-for-themselves-and-their-loved-ones type of thing, this is good for that. also, sibling love! the two main characters are Dani and Dorian, and while there is someee romance, i like how this story centers around the siblings first and foremost. ALSO THE ART??? I LOVE HOW THE AUTHOR DRAWS SETTINGS SO MUCH and am unabashedly jealous because i am completely incapable of doing so   just like,,,, even if the story doesn’t pull you in, you can at least stare at each panel for long stretches of time.

(unfortunately succumbed to daily pass, but you can read it on mangaowl or manganelo!)

3) Spirit Fingers (167 chapters)

aww, this one is cute. Amy is 18 and lacking in self confidence (her family definitely doesn’t help). but HEY she joins a wacky art club!! without her parents knowing!! HECK YEAH!! unfortunately it takes more than joining an art club for her to learn to love herself (it is a long journey after all!). i love this webtoon because it explores the problems of multiple people, not just amy: her high achieving brothers, her mother who had to give up her dream, the different members in the art club, Amy’s girl friends. the art is unique and has a cool watercolor-y texture! and the main couple is just adorable, too. if you’re an artist especially, i recommend this because that’s a big theme and you get to see these characters expand their art styles! which is very cool!

(you can read this one fully on 1stkissmanga)

now here’s where the majority of my recs are:

IN PROGRESS (all can be read on webtoon.com)

1) The Makeup Remover (currently 71 chapters)

i look forward to this every tuesday and friday because oh man!!!!!!!!! idk about you guys, but i am thinking about beauty standards A Large Amount of the time, especially when i consume media. and this webtoon is all about beauty standards (specifically in Korea, but still applicable like. everywhere). Main character Yeseul ends up having to partake in this beauty competition and, with her experiences through it, she begins seeing makeup and beauty standards for the huge role they play in society. i said it already but i LOVE LOVE LOVE this webtoon because it really challenges you as a reader to think about your own perspectives. why do we find the things/people beautiful that we do? what shapes our perception? how much of it is marketing, and how much of it shows in our daily lives? what assumptions do you make about people based on how they look? AGHH im sounding like an essay prompt instead of a reviewer but man. if you like webtoons that examine society through a critical lens (gosh i sound like an english teacher), this is the one. 

2) Odd Girl out (currently 261 chapters; on season 2) 

okay, first and foremost: if you’re NOT into long winded drama, this probably isn’t it for you. i will admit im not a fan of long problems that get dragged out, especially in a school setting, but i did keep reading this webtoon and i am glad that i did! the character development here is amazing and ONE CRUCIAL THING is that the whole first season (which is many, many chapters. at least over 100) focuses on the friendship between our main 4 girls. if you don’t wanna wait for a romance storyline (which comes in season 2), then you’ve gotta have the patience of a saint. i loved this though because lots of romance webtoons cast friendships aside or use them to further the romantic plot. platonic relationships are great to read about and this one does it masterfully! main character nari is resilient and emotionally strong, and it’s great to see her ruin her enemies

3) Cursed Princess Club (currently 110 chapters; on break before the final season)

this is another one about beauty and societal expectations, but in a fantasy setting! it’s really funny and the cast of characters is heartwarming. Gwen is a princess, but she doesn’t look like the typical princess. she accidentally stumbles upon the Cursed Princess Club, which is exactly what it sounds like: a club for princesses that have been cursed and are trying to find their self worth despite not being conventional princesses! now that i think about it, this is like a lighthearted mixture of Makeup Remover and Spirit Fingers. although while i do say “lighthearted”, this webtoon has its fair share of mysteries and exploration of deeper topics. but its funny throughout

4) Brass & Sass (currently 83 chapters)

ahh this one is really cute and the art is cute, too! i also like how this has a diverse cast. high schooler Camilla kinda sucks at band, but dangit if she’s not passionate. Victor is some type of musical prodigy but he’s a brass-hole (hahaha get it. no that’s not original i ripped it from the summary). now i KNOW I KNOW, the whole “perky girl and asshole guy” is so overplayed BUT DON’T FRET! this isn’t the type of story where the girl “fixes” the guy, or where the guy is an asshole to everyone except the girl. believe me, the character development and relationship development in this story is SPLENDID. there’s no real antagonist. it’s just a bunch of high schoolers trying their best to make themselves and everyone else happy, and that’s hard! the story is carried more by the characters than by the plot, but it works well in this case since the characters are strong and each one has a presence. 

5) Surviving Romance (currently 10 chapters)

this one is relatively new compared to my other recs but it’s by the author of the Makeup Remover so yaknow i had to hop on it. BUT IT IS VERY DIFFERENT! first off, it’s a horror, so keep that in mind. the best way i can describe it is a mixture of the standard “girl falls into a story” genre, Groundhog Day, and zombies. Yeah. Bascially, Chaerin is our main girl and she’s in a romance story that’s she’s read a bajillion times, so she knows the day has come for her male lead to confess his love! except he doesn’t! because he becomes a zombie instead! hahaha well that sucks! it’s only got 10 chapters but i am very into it, and it seems to be taking an emphasis on platonic relationships, so i am very closely watching 👁👁

6) The Witch and the Bull (currently 60 chapters) 

another witch story! and the art is GORGEOUS. more witch + nonwitch conflict, too! our main dude, Tan, is the royal advisor and he’s hella bigoted against witches. our main girl, Aro, happens to be a witch. and Tan needs her help to make him into a human again (because he got turned into a bull. that is worth mentioning). this is a very barebones summary and there��s a lot more that goes on, but that’s the general gist of the beginning!

ANYWAYS. this got very long, predictably, and i rambled for each title, predictably. i’ve got more that i’m reading, but i really like these 9! i also made comments on the art for a lot of them, which might not matter to some people, but i feel like my art was very impacted by each webtoon i read. if you’re an artist i recommend finding a webtoon you like and studying the art; try implementing parts you like into your own style! 

anyways, i am FINALLY done talking. bye yall 

[sugar-petals]

Club Daemon (m)

PAIRING. merman!baekhyun x vampire!reader

↳ PLOT. You join a club of half-demons all hailing from different supernatural species — and find an unexpected love.  

↳ WORDS. 27k

TAGS / WARNINGS ⚠️ eventual smut, jealousy, explicit bloodsucking sex (mutual oral, vaginal), fangs kink, pining, groping, femdom!reader, angst/action, neck fixation, rough sex, fantasy au

The room is filled with smoke, but not from any cigarettes. Somewhere around here, or so you’ve been told, must be the entrance to actual hell. 

A gloomy spiral staircase headed for the core of the earth, kind of rusty and gleaming in red, fog everywhere, you get the idea. But so far… that’s none of your business. And either way.

The architecture in the part of the mansion you were invited to elegantly pools into a massive door of brass and copper. An embossed piece, amazingly sculpted — a hundred years old or more.

The center depicts a translucent emblem that appears to be strangely double-headed. Two facial profiles. One gazing east, the other, west. What exactly that’s supposed to mean: You have no idea, but you get the gist. Some kind of Greek mythology visual going on there. 

Doesn’t look like hell, does it.

You approach the door with slowed steps, tug your blazer into a comfortable fit at the lower hem. Had a mint? Check. Documents? Check. Posture? Semi-check. Adjusting necessary. Back straight, firmer walk. Done. Hopefully. As long as you don’t have to take those reckless stairs down south, you’re surprisingly ready for this. And what kind of preparations can you take for this kind of encounter in the first place anyway.

Beside the door, a concierge behind a luxurious, bulky table lifts his golden-framed glasses. They’re exceptionally thin and round, making their wearer appear like a wise, yet prying owl. Mister Mark Lee, apparently, going by how Taemin described him to you. 

Oh God, Taemin’s pointers saved your life finding this place. He’s been so forthcoming and took the time to explain as much as he could. The moment makes you reminisce a little. Your eyes lose focus.

Meanwhile, fully in the moment, the conscierge seems to cloud himself in the mystery of his dark green suit without any words. A man as groomed as this very Victorian penthouse. And this very borough, and this very carpet you’re standing on. Greeting you with a nod as understated as can be. 

It’s not like he’s treating you like air — he simply keeps the certain reserve you’d expect from a nocturnal bird. Or so it seems. That you’d be scrutinized you already expected, but this way feels a bit uneasy in the chest. If you’re the mouse to the owl, you want to move on past that door as fast as you fucking can.

You try to continue standing straight and hand him your letter as inconspicuously as possible. Oh, that damn piece of paper that turned your life around. A little ‚good evening‘ barely leaves your throat and Mister Lee presses a button underneath the table top after gazing over the document nearly thrice. Following his insistent eyes, you leave your phone on the table altogether, and now have virtually nothing to hold onto. You opt for putting your hands in your navy blue pants pockets. If that’s any good around here, staying a little hellishly casual. 

‘A very good evening indeed,‘ is what Mister Lee’s eyes seem to reply.

The door shifts open with a dull, booming sound. Very well then. You stagger inside toward what’s hopefully behind it — suddenly feeling so terribly exhausted. Hazy. You don’t know how it hit you. So many scents. Impressions. Movement. Space. Eyes. Heartbeats. 

You try hard to focus on the first candle you can see around, and you do find one, and it does ground you. After their split-second delirium, your feet anchor on the carpet now, and the scenery pulls you back to breathing. Now, the bigger picture becomes a lot clearer. 

There are several men settled everywhere across the room that opens before you so luxuriously. All dressed in the finest of garments and polished shoes, donning the most annoyingly impeccable haircuts on top of that. Everything about this room screams dignity, and haughtiness, and a hefty bank account. 

But you can’t deny another, stronger hunch. The presence of one gentleman in particular sends a chilly feeling down your spine. You can’t tell who it is now. You just know that somebody here is very different. Dangerously so.

Between armchairs, chandeliers, blood-filled cups and side tables, you spot arrangements of night-blooming jasmine and daffodils. Large and opulent, really catching your eye with their elegant trumpet shapes.��

Perhaps, and you really have no clue whether that’s a good theory, to suggest that however solid teak and mahogany this entire interior might be, there is still life and scent in it. But it’s all… so carefully curated. Too deliberate to be authentic in the very least, and that’s what is making you tense up so much. You know very well that nobody in this room, if it weren’t for this meeting, would be preoccupied with flowers. Except maybe Taemin. But he’s half-elven, so that doesn’t count. Elves love jasmine.

Meanwhile, you suspect that the cups with blood were purposely brought in to catch you off guard pretty much right away. To test your self-control, get you startled, or lord knows what. Power games in this club, you’d not be surprised. But the scent really is so overbearing. You become all light-headed. Whatever they set up for you here, it’s already working. You feel like falling asleep in the middle of the damn night. 

The fumes, and the candles, and the daffodils—

„Wong Yukhei,“ a voice finally pierces through the mist inside your brain. 

You perk up. It belongs to a figure seated in the deeper middle of the room. A dark-haired man, noticeably tall and baritoned, with full lips, immense shoulders. In fact, a frame to behold all tailored in matte black. Down to the pointed oxford shoes, laced up in a very brisk way as if someone pulled a corset very tight.

„Yes—?“

„Half-lycan. Club president. Have a seat.“

Now you know why he speaks first.

It’s like you’re frozen on the spot. Judging by how muscular he is underneath that very suit, especially around the upper body, you don’t want to catch a glimpse of what happens when the moon says hi. Half werewolf it is. No wonder his hands are huge like paws. You don’t have to count one and one together to know that this guy could go casual beastmode and rip the room’s door in half.

„A... alright.“

Stammering like a fool isn’t something you planned but comes out as a sheer reflex. To distract from the awkward tone, you resort to looking around. You wonder if the club is in full attendance. Because who knows, they could await some more people like you later on. There are actually quite a few empty seats to choose from. A dozen, perhaps a bit more. Each with a filled cup on a table, right to the brim, one more flavorful than the other.

Since the president didn’t gesture towards any seat in particular, you find yourself having to make an intuitive choice. Whether that’s some werewolfey ‚where does she put up her territory?‘ personality quiz or whatever… is unimportant because your nose is already telling you precisely where to sit anyway. In fact, obnoxiously so. It’s itching like crazy at most of the scents except one. You realize — at least that you can rely on. There’s that one cup you want to be close to. Ignoring it would probably torture you for the entire night so you give into it.  

Taking the empty chair at the chimney fire on the right side of the room comes naturally. And: With several eye pairs resting very firmly on you. But your attention is elsewhere already. The blood in the goblet of this particular table really does smell like the most delicious thing. There’s something magically attractive about the consistency. You can feel with your whole body just how amazingly juicy and welcoming the drink is. For a strange reason, it seems like it’s almost iridescent. You’ve never seen that before. Everyone in the room has the current pleasure of watching you being smitten by a fucking drink.

There’s no way they didn’t see you lick your lips like a first class pervert either.

Whatever first impression you’re giving them, it’s one that makes a part of you mentally run out the door again. Poor Taemin thought you were a promising invitee. You feel bad for disappointing him already. Slave to your instincts, how on earth are you even supposed to sit here in the finest and highest of company. Creating sexual tension over a glass of blood in a millionaire’s club or whatever.

Still, against all odds, the other part of you glady reclines in your seat, sleazy like a retired Russian oligarch on his yacht. Because that means: Smelling that heavenly scent up close. Hell, just fuck everything else. It’s the most gratifying thing you’ve come across. Did they brew you a damn magic potion or something? 

You have a hard time snapping back to the conversation and realize everyone is still intently looking at you admiring your cup as if it’s a prime time television event with Zac Efron in it. Which you now force yourself to break from. Not so gladly this time. You really want to have a sip, but Yukhei’s pressing gaze demands you to make your move. You wonder why his eyes are so livid, but again realize that he probably doesn’t need the moon to be wolf-like, does he.

„So you were the one who came up with inviting me, then?“ you say, and the words come out much more bluntly. It surprises you. Since you skipped the introduction and small talk altogether, maybe your mouth thought, why not strike a direct tone. Just being in the vicinity of something so mouthwatering makes you feel on top of the world out of literal nowhere. You’re about to lose your train of thought again that Yukhei fervently shakes his head.

„It was Baekhyun’s suggestion. A terribly daring one I thought,“ he says. „Thank him that we agreed to meeting you in person. In fact, he was very adamant we’d do so.“

You look around the assembly, hoping to find clarity about whoever prompted the invitation letter. Since nobody seems to put anything forth, you quiz yourself on who of these gentlemen looks like a Baekhyun, and why nobody is reacting. Everyone’s literally sitting there like marble statues. 

According to Taemin, getting an invitation to Club Daemon is not only something that excludes the general public, but also merely a fleeting ‚rumor‘. Not even a neighborhood legend if it came down to it. Because on more official papers, this guild does not exist. Whoever wanted to invite you was indeed taking a notable risk — to the president’s nuisance, on top of that.

Oh yeah. Now you’re at the edge of your seat.

„Eh. I’m afraid Baekhyun cannot meet you in this particular setting,“ Yukhei breaks into a lop-sided smirk. You’re shocked he’d pull a dismissive face like that. So openly, like he simply doesn’t give one damn all of a sudden. Strangely enough, it still doesn’t take away from just how nobly he’s dressed. It’s seriously messing with your head. Or is it the goblet?

„So, this setting, um—“

You look like Yukhei just spoke in a different language now. Stifled laughter among the guild members. At least they’re reacting now. That’s progress. But you’re even more confused and stuff your hands back into your pockets.

„See. Carpets are typically not Baekhyun’s favored grounds. He’s half-merman,“ Yukhei continues, very much composed in his seat now just as before. And it finally registers.

Oh man.

You can’t spot some giant water tank in this room or anything of that kind. There’s no way he could just casually hang out here. Of course he can’t greet you in the club. Sweet Jesus. You have too much blood and flower scent around you.

„But not to worry. You’ll get to meet your sweet benefactor,“ Yukhei leans back, the smirk growing even wider. „Baekhyun can speak to you in the club bathroom from time to time. If he’s not out there playing around in the bays like the kid he is.“

„I see? Uh...“

You shift back and forth in your seat. Even if your brain somehow tries to piece that information together, keeping your eyes off the chalice is so hard all over again. 

You can’t lie, it’s even starting to get you hot and bothered from the toes up. Gritting your teeth is all you can do not to gasp out loud. Literally, you’re one moan away from semi-public indecency. That is, if human law applies to this room. Going by how everyone is so keen to see you react, it probably doesn’t. Your ears are telling you that pretty much everyone is holding their breath right now. Untouched orgasm at 7:30 PM? Wasn’t on your plan either. But looks like you’re headed for it. You wonder if Yukhei has been planning to set you up for this and—

„We didn’t put this up to confuse you, Y/N. Please feel free to drink. We want you to feel welcome here,“ a second, innately friendly voice addresses you now, parting the silence like a vintage knife through warm butter. It’s much softer than Yukhei’s, as if laced with honey.

Immediately, you recognize the sound. It is Taemin.

Seated to Yukhei’s far left in a flawlessly upright posture. Blond and lavish, dressed in a type of brocade tux. It seems to be a mix of burgundy and golden pipings in the fire light, but you could be wrong. With good reason and regard to most members present, the room is kept very dark. In fact, the atmosphere couldn’t be any more controlled. Nevertheless — finally reuniting with him is such a relief. You already want to thank him for averting a full-on catastrophe.

„Taemin! It’s good to see you again,“ you finally break the tension. Your tone loses all discomfort, your face brightens. Taemin gently bows in response. His poise lights up the room, and you even manage to detach from the chalice.

„The pleasure is ours. It’s great to see you again as well.“

You recall. The memory is still so vivid. He was the one who brought you the letter in the late evening. You were sitting on your balcony scrolling through your phone feed and boom. There he was, sitting — even seemingly glowing or whatever it was — in a cherry tree. With his pointy ears and an envelope for you, the exact invitation Baekhyun had suggested. As far as you can remember, he’s been elected as the Club’s vice president very recently.

Taemin explained a lot of the club’s incentives to you on the balcony. Even if you did manage to drop your phone in shock at his appearance, his open approach had you packing up your bags for the mansion in a matter of two days. Seems like the club knows who to send when they don’t want to intimidate possible recruits. If Yukhei showed up in that dark suit and the low brow, you probably would’ve turned into a bat and headed for the forest. Well, or something like that. Meanwhile, Taemin feels like you’ve been familiar for decades.

„Do drink. It is handpicked for you!“

„Thank you, Taemin,“ is all you can say, and turn back to your drink with shaky hands. Finally. And well. If Taemin offers it, it can’t be wrong. It’s far too late to ignore it anyway. You already grab the base of the chalice like you’re holding on to dear life.

The first sip is so hasty, Yukhei almost has to laugh out loud. Or is it a laugh? Taemin frowns right at him, but you’re too busy chugging to notice. Hawthorn, lotus, apples, water lily, chestnuts and vanilla. So many nuances, too little tastebuds and too little words to describe it. You’ve never tasted blood of such a quality. For free. Not one pause to breathe, it just goes down like fine liquor.

Everything in your body starts to feel completely alert. Whoever this blood belongs to, whatever is going on, this is the most thrilling feeling you’ve experienced in a while. It’s like floating inches above your seat. Your face is feeling all heated as if the chimney fire burns your cheeks. Your skin is normally pretty cold and stays that way if you think about it. 

At the same time, you’re surprisingly refreshed on the inside. The blood left a minty trace on the back of your tongue. You know the men are watching you, but you can’t help but ride the high of the taste for a few seconds with your eyes closed. Once the rush is fully over, you slack in your seat. Open your eyes. And sigh out. Goddamn. 

If that means to feel welcome here, then you’re more than convinced. Taemin knows how to serve an aperitif. Everything about your body feels relaxed. You bet your pupils are more blown than Yukhei’s dick in his freetime going by how he sits and watches your reaction. Manspreading is an understatement. Wolfspreading is the new thing. Literally, what on earth happened. He’s glowering at you like you just stole the keys to the glitzy silver sportscar that’s parked in front of the mansion and without a doubt must be his. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you even if the light is so dim: He’s straight-up gotten all angry to the point of gritting his teeth.

But there’s also something that tells you he’s afraid.

„Now, you probably want to know why we’re interested in you, right,“ Taemin gently continues once you put the empty chalice down and make very needed use of the napkin already placed next to the cup. Heartbeat: Speed of a bullet train arriving at a station.

„I’m starting to see why.“

Most of your exhaustion is actually… gone. Out of the blue. You’re feeling much more perceptive, much faster in every move. Maybe Edward was right with his personal brand of heroin. You just never knew because you had 5 Pounds 50 blood from TESCO’s every day until now. So that’s that.

„We didn’t find a novice in twenty years,“ Taemin says. „Nor a half-vampire for that matter.“

In passing, he ushers a slender-looking butler towards your table. Casually, as if he did it a million times already. So far, using the shade of the lighting, the butler had been blending in with a velvet curtain until now. You ask yourself if you’ve actually noticed him or not. You can’t clearly tell which is strange. But then again, going by the course of events until now, not really.

„Right,“ you reply, trying to focus on Taemin — without much success. The butler simply looks too striking. He uses a large carafe to refill what probably measures up to another quarter liter into your chalice. He looks at you with sheer intent, it’s Yukhei’s gaze times ten, almost like it’s bundled into a lazer. Instead of being excited about the refill, you find yourself trying to desperately decipher the butler’s look. It’s not wolfy this time, that’s for sure. It’s something far, far different. It’s something deeply scary.

The butler lingers. It takes five seconds too long for him to return to the curtain. There’s that feeling again. That hunch from before when you came in, so much stronger now. You’re shivering. The man looks so serious in his crisp red suit, with the pin stripes and a golden pocket watch at his lapel. His aura is so freezing cold.

„Meaning, our guild could urgently use a new addition,“ Taemin keeps on speaking, with Yukhei closely listening to how he puts his words. In the meantime, the butler stands completely still in the dark, merging with the curtain almost completely again. But you can tell his eyes are on you. His frame looks so skinny at a distance, but you can tell he’s much stronger than that. Lord knows Yukhei might not be the only one who could break the door in half.

You hold on tight to the napkin in your lap. Where you thought you’d feel elated, you’re all sober now.

„Twenty years is a long time,“ you comment, a lot more dryly this time.

Even in a club where nobody ages by human standards, this could be quite a frustration. Looking around, you begin to understand why the invitation was such an urgent matter and there are many more empty seats. All the members look very established and at home to say the very least. Nobody here appears to be a novice.

„It is,“ Taemin replies. „You can see why we wanted to talk to you.“

„Yes. I can. Thank you for considering me. It was a bit out of nowhere but, I guess there’s no way to do it differently.“

Taemin nods. Meanwhile, Yukhei remains visibly displeased in his center seat, with his expression growing much darker by the minute. You can’t tell whether he didn’t like you downing the blood so fast like a post-diet Dracula or how Taemin explained all of this to you now. You don’t have to wonder for a long time, though.

„That we expand our assembly with a half-vampire out of all possibilities— was not my idea,“ Yukhei taps his fingers onto the lion-shaped armrests of his chair. The poor fellas probably have a hard time carrying his frame, fragile as they look. Taemin, on the other hand, is as nonchalant and petite as you got to know him. Like a feather on his seat, he sways his torso ever so slightly while he listens. Then, he reaches over to pat Yukhei on the shoulder with a wide, reassuring smile.

„But you were still delighted that Baekhyun found someone, didn’t you.“

„You make it sound like a public holiday. Eh, we’re recruiting, Taemin.“

„You didn’t take too long to agree to sending the invitation at all. Back when Kai joined, you needed five months to say yes. And he’s half-lycan himself.“

„Because Jongin was a grade A stupid bastard… and still is,“ Yukhei darts an even lower gaze to a particularly shaded corner of the room. Whoever this guy Kai is, he’s sitting right there and grins his life away. Now that you set your eyes on him, you’re about to piss your fucking pants.

Even behind a particularly large array of jasmine bouquets, his silhouette looks the most powerful out of all the club members despite him not being as tall as Yukhei. Where you would’ve called the Yukhei ‚strong‘, Kai was first and foremost athletic — head to toe, with a looming frame. He’s kept silent for the entire time, but he sure listened well.

„It’s a competition, Yukhei,“ the silhouette crosses his legs, laughing. „Whoever is bastardly enough is qualified for being the club president. Sounds like I’m headed right for it. But you’re also knee-deep. Knee-deep, I’m telling you.“

Kai’s voice is much lighter than you thought it would be, but the way he speaks commands instant respect. Yukhei’s answer is a mixture of a growl and a huff, but it’s so blended together that it’s becoming hard to distinguish to your reeling ears. All you know is that the atmosphere in the room feels like a string ready to snap.

So that’s what half-lycans are all about, then.

In case they’re about to fully out-bastard each other, you take another sip to distract yourself. You hear your ears pulse even more. The blood really is delicious and takes your mind off. To your surprise and relief, Yukhei squarely turns to the assembly with a much more point-blank attitude in his movement now. Kai remains entirely ignored.

„That she’s not part of a vampire clan and we couldn’t find possible members for so long is the only reason she’s here, that’s all.“

„Enough a reason,“ Taemin smiles even wider, and puts more soothing into his phrasings. Kai’s unsettling presence doesn’t seem to faze him the very least. 

„We’d be happy to have you join us if you’re inclined,“ he now addresses you again. „I’m sure our talk about the training and formal things will bore you, though. I reckon you want to be introduced to your kind first.“

„Oh…“

Your kind.

That explains a lot. A whole damn lot, to be exact. You can’t help but suck in air, but it’s less awkward than you thought. In fact, your reaction brings some life into the room. Looks like everyone has anticipated this. Yukhei’s eyes narrow. Kai seems even more alert. You feel like a lab rat new to the cage.

„You felt his presence when you stepped in, didn’t you,“ Taemin asks, his head tilting a bit to the side.

You did. The half-elf looks confirmed in his statement.

„It’s him, right,“ you direct your eyes toward the curtain, but don’t dare to lift your gaze any further.

The butler.

He’s been sticking out like a sore thumb.

You felt him since the very first moment.

„Yes,“ Taemin says.

Your suspicion, or rather, what your body told you from the beginning with every shiver and every fiber, was entirely right: With an interpretation you couldn’t grasp just then. But now you do. Your intuition didn’t lie.

„Ma’am. Pleased to meet you. Lee Taeyong,“ the butler strikes a surprisingly fluid introduction. You freeze up again. It’s very unlike his stiff positioning, stepping forth from his usual waiting place so his face is visible to you in candle light entirely at a bit of a distance. Lee Taeyong. His face… really is sharp.

„I was expelled from my clan 80 years ago,“ he disposes of his tray to speak freely now. His voice is so deep, it almost resonates in your ribcage. But then, you see something vulnerable in him. You don’t know what it is.

„Expelled?“

„You can imagine. They found out I wasn’t full vampire,“ he continues. Now you do see them. His fangs. You should’ve noticed. Damn. „That’s how I got here.“

And now you actually get what happened. Taeyong is an outcast. Looking past his teens, 150, 170 years, a tenth of Taemin’s age at the very least. And he’s half-vampire who’s been on his own pretty much: Just like you. That’s something that still didn’t sink in yet. Your kind. The butler of Club Daemon. 

No wonder he took his time pouring the blood into your chalice and looked at you like you’re some kind of revelation. If the cups in the room smell only half as delicious to him as they do to you? He has admirable self-control just standing there at the carpet without losing his mind.

You shift forward on your seat — as does Yukhei, unseen to you. Almost automatically, your tone becomes more tense.

„So what happened?“

„I didn’t know my entire family history until that point. I was orphaned,“ Taeyong expands, his mimic controlled. „The clan was all I knew. I never thought I could have any demon heritage. Literally any. For decades. Until my father showed up. It was…I didn’t know he was that far up the hierarchy.“

Your jaw drops. He has to be kidding you. That can only mean one thing, there’s only one person he could refer to.

„You met Satan personally?!“

Dead silence in the room. You could hear a pin drop. In fact, an elven hair strand.

„I wish I didn’t,“ the butler finally says. With a more silent voice. You can tell he has to cave in, force himself. „He gave me this.“

Taeyong begins to slowly loosen his tie. Taemin already averts his eyes. The butler goes on to reveal a left collarbone so scarred, you can’t bear to look at it for very long yourself. The tissue has been deeply torn. The bone, presumably broken twice, healed in an odd way on top of that. You feel the pain in the very same spot within your own body.

Taeyong doesn’t have to tell you that the altercation left his arm fully paralyzed. You just know, like you could sense his presence from far away already. Meeting his father changed his life forever in the worst way possible. Now you understand why Taeyong does the butlering in the club — he can keep his left hand behind his back at all times.

„His father rejected him,“ Yukhei says, sterner than ever. His anger has faded, and an extreme seriousness begins to sink his brows.

„It’s that — Neither my clan nor demon folk really want me present,“ Taeyong’s face is even more barren of an expression now. He’s bottled it all up, it’s hard to watch. It sounds like he hasn’t spoken about this for years. „This was the only place I could go at that point. Yukhei was very helpful. I hope you can feel the comfort of being accepted here like I do.“

„I… don’t understand why Satan would disapprove of you so much, Taeyong.“

„Some demons willingly get together with vampires,“ Taemin steps in now, careful in his intonation. „But Lucifer rarely does. And, only when he’s drunk. If you ask him on a normal day, and I know this sounds harsh… he despises most of pure vampires, and half-breeds even more so. He is also Yukhei’s father.“

„He is?!“

Now you’re almost falling off your chair. That Yukhei’s father must be one of the higher-ups in the demon ranks was already a no-brainer, but this —

„Idiot cast me from hell the second he found out I can grow these longer than his silly horns,“ Yukhei points at his mouth, baring all teeth now. Even in their natural shape, they’re already razor sharp, sporting clearly prominent fangs. Even your canines, and those are hardly used and worn down, aren’t as slicing as his. When he says he can grow them that long, you fucking believe him.

„He’s… not been the most accepting dad to say the least,“ Taemin folds his hands in his lap. “And doesn’t stick up for any mistakes.”

„’Cause he’s an insecure ass,“ Yukhei makes a disgusted grimace. „Fucks around and then gets mad at what he’s done. Vampire girls he sure likes when he’s doing one of his stupid orgies. But not the consequences. He’s so easily threatened. That’s almost funny.“

You’re stiffer than ever now, glued to your seat. Not in a million years did you think there was some serious family drama going on behind those fancy suits.

„So that’s why this club exists. Satan can’t handle us,“ Kai adds, kneading his thighs. Looking much more detached, almost demure. You can tell that Taeyong’s speech hit the underbelly of everyone in the room. That even Kai looks so sunken catches you off guard. „We’re half this, half that. I mean look at us. Yukhei and I could never be part of a pure wolves pack. Never. We can’t mingle with demons either. They doubt us in any place. Shitty situation.“

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Now, the double head emblem on the embossed door makes a lot more sense. It’s not just for the aesthetics. Two faces going into opposite directions. Always torn. Always the onlooker, yearning from a distance. Unable to go in either direction. Seems like you’re in the right place. Or the wrong one: Because you bet this assembly is the very eye of the storm.

„Why did Satan not try to attack the Club yet? Isn’t there even a stairway to hell in this house?“ you ask. If Satan got pissed off by Yukhei’s or Taeyong’s abilities, several people of that kind in one place sounds pretty much the ultimate provocation. Installing a designated hell door with smoke all around even more so. 

„He sure wants to,“ Kai shrugs, again, smirking in this very distinct way. He builds himself up again, and the teasing undertone in his voice strengthens back to normal. „But he’s afraid and doesn’t know about half of us. You see… Hellboy has no way of gauging what expects him. Even if he fucking hates us and wants us dead in a ditch, whatever. We know him inside out, too. Even more than he knows us. I’m sure he doesn’t want to face Taeyong now that he’s not young and weak anymore. He only exploits way down the hierarchy. He knows he can win there.“

„Makes… sense. Sort of— preying on vulnerable people.“

That an insecure hell boss is the reason this very club has formed? Seems to be a better explanation than you thought. No way so many species could stick together otherwise. How you’re in a room with two high functioning, protein-powered lycans both standing over six feet is already a miracle. Just sitting there sipping your bloody drink. There’s even an elf guy. That’s some surreal shit, even Salvador Dalí wouldn’t believe it.

„And, um. Saying that there’s a hell door is a joke Taemin pulls on every recruit,“ Taeyong scratches his head now. 

„Everybody thought that Mark was vaping but he actually put up a room difuser down the hall,“ Kai adds. „He’s using essential oils in there since a couple weeks. So sometimes we do have some fog round that area. But there’s no actual stairway or anything. It’s a club tradition... a hoax.“

Your what-the-fuck expression must be hard to beat right now.

„Er. All right then. So much about hell smoke.“

A whole damn prank. Taemin is not as angelic as he looks, is he. Still part demon, after all. It really felt like there was an entrance to hell around when you arrived here. Taemin’s little giggle right now doesn’t worry you as much as Yukhei’s grunting.

„So much about a hoax,“ he growls back. „I wish we actually had that door so I could go beat his ass.“

High functioning, protein-powered lycans with daddy issues. You never thought this club had major drama. Your lips think its time for another comfort sip from your chalice. Blessed thing you have that one. Because all this… got you into something bigger than expected. Eating shrimps on a terrace with some fellow half-breeds on a cozy Sunday evening? Nothing of that kind. Rating Christopher Lee movies and signing up on vampire tinder together just for fun? Nothing of that in sight.

„So, naturally. That we can recruit you is a good feat,“ Kai continues. „You might grow very strong in training.”

“Strong in training?”

“Vampire half-breeds are always up for a surprise. You see how Taeyong is like. He can open jars even I can’t crack. With just one hand. Long as we have a balance of power with hell, the Club is quite safe. Even from my father.“

Looks like what you got yourself into is a Cold War that coincidentally involves people from Down Under — but it’s not Australians.

„Are you Satan’s son as well, Kai?“

Kai shakes his head quite firmly. Just how stark his face structure is becomes visible when Taeyong puts a candle into his vicinity, helping you gauge Kai’s outline much better, which is a bit more reassuring. The butler seems to almost read your thoughts. Your initial shiver gladly has been in decline ever since Taeyong spoke up. And you do believe he can open those jars.

„My old man? Mammon.“

„Mammon? Ugh.“

You can already guess what this is all about. You don’t need to wait a second for Kai to go on a rant.

„He’s a fucker, fucked up, a fucking twat, and fucks around even more so than Satan,“ Jongin kicks his left foot, looking mighty grumpy in the candle light. „I’m sure you know what he’s in charge of. He likes fear and chaos. To say the very least.“

You sure can imagine. Mammon governs the most powerful resource on the planet. Or rather, what people do with it, so… you already don’t have to know anything more than that.

„Talking about him is of no use,“ Yukhei intervenes. „Lost cause, wasted time. What I wanna say is. The vampire clans also don’t know much about us either,“ he now points at you. „That’s our advantage. And the reason why you will have to quit most of your regular life if you agree to be a member. Or take a serum that will make you forget about meeting us. At least, up to the point where you received the letter. I know this is quite a severe change. You can imagine how discrete we have to be. Given everything you heard.“

Yukhei looks dead serious.

Well, alright then. The case is clear. This is legitimate big business.

Club „Most Hated Half-breeds“ Daemon. Outsiders, all of them. The first rule is: You do not talk about Club Daemon. A guild for the All-Transylvanian Rejects, the crossovers from hell gone hiding, the MIB of supernatural creatures. And all just because big daddy Lucifer loves to host an infernal orgy every now and then and never heard of a condom. It’s crazy. So much information intake, it’s time to sort your thoughts.

You take a deep breath, let the blood chalice dance in your cupped palm. Sweeping the remaining liquid at its very bottom, rhythmically. Sweet lifeline. You observe how the drops run as if nothing else in the world existed. And still, you have crystal clear hearing, and your voice is again becoming firmer. It’s the effect of the drink, you can feel it. Such good stuff, really.

„It’s not that I didn’t anticipate it. Taemin said something along those lines when we met. I get why you have to be discrete,“ you hum. Even telling you about the serum before any other information would give away too much. „I’d be back to square one anyway.“

Taemin nods at you.

„We’ll always be between elves and demons, mermen and demons, vampires and demons, werewolves and demons… This club wants to protect anybody who’s caught between chairs. We go to great lengths with secrecy. I hope you will join us in our cause. It’s a new life. Lucas has great plans for us.“

‚Lucas‘ seems to be Yukhei’s club nickname. Taemin appears to confide in him a lot even if he will smooth out his blunders. Meanwhile, you remember how Taemin talked to you about his own parents on the balcony. 

Apparently, none other than Beelzebub is Taemin’s father since over ten centuries. His latest habit seems to be blowing up his son’s phone with strange texts about recent hell politics. If that’s not enough, he asks about what he’s doing all day. It really is a new level of hell-icopter parenting. No wonder Taemin learned to be so appeasing in all situations.

„There are also ways of us finding out who your parents are,“ Taeyong comes to rest his right hand on your shoulder. Carefully, as if asking if it’s okay to touch you. You let him, without much care. Simply by— well, what is it, instinct?

Particularly Yukhei seems to observe this moment with much intent. Monitoring with piercing eyes, wild and deep. Trying to see through you at all cost. Surveying whether you’re a suitable club member, fair enough. But you seriously begin to wonder why he’s trying so damn hard to get into your head. He wants you on his side, sure, why’d he stare like that all the time?

Meanwhile, you don’t even know much about yourself except that you find veiny necks extremely appealing. Duh. So what’s there to analyze. You’re still kinda new to this. Blunt how Lucas is, wouldn’t he tell it to your face if he knew something you didn’t by now?

„At least, your demonic heritage,” Kai finishes the butler’s thought. “It’s not an easy discovery, however.“

Taeyong’s hand really does comfort you. But the thought of involving yourself in family affairs feels more than daunting and spoils the moment more than you want to. It’s something you could avoid until now thanks to simply not knowing much about your background. But apparently there’s no way to run from it.

„You might wanna anticipate that shit,“ Kai cracks his neck from side to side, then adjusts the sleeves of his white camisole. You’re suddenly so very well aware that he can probably see and smell your hesitation from a mile away. „Because when pa from hell shows up to see what’s going on? Preparation is better than being sorry. You gotta know who you’re dealing with. Art of war 101.“

Kai pointing at Taeyong’s battered left side reminds you all the more that lifting the veil is probably better than hoping for the best. If Satan happens to be your dad as well, you’re in huge trouble should he ever find you. Kai is right. Without allies and any knowledge of what you’re dealing with, you’d be lost.

Not to mention that Taeyong and Lucas would be your half brothers. Among probably a thousand other people. You didn’t walk through this door to get instant patchwork family. It would be a whole town of siblings now that you think about it.

If Satan has been even busier than that, which you’re sure of, that could mean an entire nation of people related to you somewhere overseas. Most of them being far from half-breeds. Why? Because Satan still preferred his own kind if he wasn’t completely hammered.

„Sounds like a nice prospect,“ you mumble, arms tightly crossed. Thousands of demons all out for your neck. Joining a notorious club network would certainly hide your identity much better than you hanging out in your small apartment in the middle of nowhere behaving like an average citizen. Glorious. You hate everything.

Which one person, as always, disagrees with.

„He makes it sound more dramatic than it is. Especially in this club you are more secure,“ Taemin softly adds, swiping a blonde strand from his right eye. „You must understand. Kai is in charge of defense. We all have our tasks.“

„Figured as much.“

„We all specialize in something we’re really suited for. Depending on our species, usually,“ Taeyong picks up Taemin’s point, and you begin to understand.

On the balcony, Taemin had even mentioned a gryffin member who worked as the designated club driver. Mister Ten as they called him, who was always out and about for a gazillion tasks. From hell mail to picking up tailored suits to doing the shopping to frequenting hospitals and various butchers for… leftovers.

Taeyong being an older vampire would require very specific blood (type A respectably, whreas you preferred O), and both Lucas and Jongin are in their wolf prime. Kai being slightly older but all the more active by the looks of it. So, just like Baekhyun, Ten seemed to be busy tending to that all the time, nowhere to be seen nor even mentioned. Which was a little… suspicious. 

But the ‚everyone has a task‘ seems to be a big deal. And: Everybody is set up to take their spot very seriously, in their supposed element. Being the VP suits Taemin just like being the butler really suits Taeyong. Even Yukhei, you admit, has the exact leading, head-on personality, although mixed with a lot of tempers, that his position would require. And Kai — his body doesn’t lie. Of course he is in charge of defense.

„We would strive to find out your ideal role in the club, too,“ Taemin says. „Kai thinks about this scenario from a combat perspective, but know that cases like Taeyong’s are extreme ones. We’re used to this but you don’t have that struggle. It’s probably like different worlds at the start but don’t let it phase you.“

You exchange looks, and Taemin gives an empathetic nod. His face is really gentle. It seems trustworthy. Again, you notice how his diplomacy helps you the most right now. It’s a bit cryptic, but it’s the type of classy conduct you were expecting to find in the club. You’re damn glad he’s here. Half-elves simply have a different kind of wisdom.

„I guess,“ you look at Taeyong. „It’s an extreme case because he was part of a clan, right, and I wasn’t.“

„Smart,“ Taemin takes up a porcelain cup from his own table and guides it to his lips. It appears to be some sort of elven elixir inside of it, light blue and sparkling. Maybe that’s the source of his maturity or something. „This is exactly the reason how so much conflict was possible in the first place.“

„Right.“

„You grew up with adoptive parents after your mother’s passing. It was unfortunate but also a hidden feat of luck later on,“ Taemin balances the cup between his elegant fingers. „Nobody from hell could find you. You didn’t show many abnormal traits. Nor were you close to any clans that fostered your abilities or spread the word. But especially the former. You grew up in human ways. Your abilities weren’t worked with.“

„Which we can do for you now if you want to,“ Taeyong clears your table off the empty goblet. Instead, he puts a booklet with a red ribbon around its hard cover just there. „In a more covert way that doesn’t arouse any attention.“

„Can we really do it so secretly?“

He really did read the concern out of your face all over again.

„Yes,“ Taeyong emphasizes, then directs his gaze toward the fireplace. „For any half-demon, half-vampire, this is the place to develop herself. We want to honor both sides and work with it. As good as we can.“

„All other approaches usually fail because they’re one-sided,“ Taemin raises his tea cup indicating towards a thoroughly disgruntled Yukhei. You get what the elf wants to say by that.

Yukhei — another extreme case, perhaps the most severe. From a certain perspective, you can imagine how being antagonized by his father and wolf packs at the same time would motivate Lucas to run a club like this. And what would motivate him to act like this, anyway. 

Leading Club Daemon with a velvet gloves approach? It’d be more dangerous than an iron fist mentality. Although it feels so clear to you, past the nebula of the blood cocktail, that Yukhei completely turned this aggressive style into a hyperbole. But you never know what or whom he’s doing it for.

Even at such a young age. You are convinced he really can’t be anywhere near 30 years of equivalent human age even if his height and way of dressing makes him look so settled. His overall presence on top of that: Whatever training they have to offer, it must be compelling.

At this point, you can only say to yourself — fuck everything. And lords knows the whole club is green of envy. No wonder they’re staring at you like that. You grew up so unbothered, your life is a joke compared to theirs. You were ignorant about way too many things about yourself. Looking at how everyone here embraces their origin, not developing your abilities was a full-on heresy.

„I’m actually considering it,“ you browse through the booklet, directing all attention in the room at you so keenly. Taemin sits at the edge of his seat himself. The paper feels luxurious between your fingers. As a first page, the name of who assembled the booklet’s contents is printed in bold. Mark Lee, conscierge, Club Daemon. 1999 edition.

The text details several time lines, diagrams, and fact lists about vampire-demon halfbreed history, on top of outlining a program featuring traits that a club novice could develop. 

Sprouting and care of demon wings. Usage of blood banks. Defense against crosses and garlic. Cities with high vampire populations. Types of claws. The culture of hell. Demonic Spells. Battle Gowns. Impact of ‚Twilight‘ on public perception of Vampires. Symbolism. Vampiric Reflexes. Christopher Lee Movie Analysis. Avoiding Exorcism. Communication with hell hounds. On Hunting and Forests. Fist-fighting Lucifer. Evolution of Ancient Vampire Dress Codes. Fang safety. Hierarchy of hell. Nutrition. Choosing a castle. Strength development. The list is nearly 200 bullet points long.

And the majority of training, it states, is supervised by Kai. Even the lessons on Vampires and Sexual Relations. Other lessons are conducted by Taeyong and Mark, mapping the more theoretical contents.

Most of the listed training units feature things you never knew you could possibly try let alone perform. Some lessons are even more vital than you thought they would be. Things your apartment life wouldn’t have to offer in the very least. At this point, walking out the door would be a grave mistake for an entire variety of reasons and you trust your instinct. The only thing that makes you bargain is not the elephant — but the big and bulky alpha wolf in the room.

What to do about Yukhei. 

Given the hardliner choice between serum or a complete new existence, it’s a question you’ll have to postpone. Interestingly enough, even though he was lycan through and through, Kai doesn’t bother you nearly as much anymore after the initial shock effect faded.

So what is it about Lucas. Even more things you’ll have to find out, then.

You’re nervous with the booklet in your hands, but you can’t complain. The two cups of blood in your system have given you more courage to look the four of them in the eyes.

„Considering what: Joining for the cause or the heritage?“ Yukhei crosses his arms at the solar plexus. His eyes are so probing on you, but you keep your head straight. You very well know that he’s testing you with this one.

„Both. And I want to know my role, too.“

The president seems to ponder for a bit. Then, he hums. More placid than before, you note. He actually seems satisfied with that answer.

„Then let’s start out,“ Kai rises from his seat alongside Yukhei, and both walk towards the red curtain in big strides. Taeyong sweeps it to the side, revealing a heavy door to another room.

Unlike the rest of the house, or at least the parts you’ve seen so far, this area has no embellished walls or ceilings. Not a spark of luxurious colors, either. No dark materials, no curtains, no dutch paintings, just concrete everywhere. It looks heavily worn, but strangely, doesn’t seem to be a relic like the fireplace room’s wooden tiles. All lighting is purely artificial. It seems part gym, part studio, and all furniture is solid metal, minimal, angular. You’d never expect such a modern, plain grey room to be anywere around the house. It smells like a damn hospital in here.

„Our training grounds,“ Kai paces around the area, clearing it and turning a knob that seems to activate floor heating. „The second safest place in the manor.“

„What’s the safest one, then?“

„We have a bunker downstairs. Flood-proof, radiation-proof.“

And Satan-proof, you don’t have to guess.

„Oh wow.“

„It’s unused so far when it comes to catastropes,“ Yukhei roughly pulls off his tux jacket and hangs it over a steel chair. Given how he stretches his arms, you figure it’s to gain some mobility. Or… to show off his huge build to impose his authority and intimidate you which surely is working. „But we do run it as a makeshift jail.“

„You’re keeping criminals in here?!“

„If you’d call Kai a criminal,“ Yukhei raises a brow.

Now you understand. The bunker is actually not meant for somebody else unless the situation calls for it.

„You’re isolating yourself during full moons.“

„You got it,“ Kai nods. „Nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Two days. I got used to the cold down there. And Yukhei locks himself in here with a pile of meat.“

„I…see.“

So that’s why the concrete walls look so damaged despite not seeming that old. If you look close enough, it’s actually not hard to imagine how there’s massive strength and claws at work here. And there must be plenty of things to desinfect afterwards. Hence the hospital smell. 

But then again, Lucas is not the one who gets put in the bunker downstairs. If that one is the safest room, Kai is in all regards the strongest. Which makes sense given his task here. But something about it makes you shift from one foot to the other. If Kai has to jail himself in an atomic prison, what a fucking beast are you even dealing with?

So this is with who you’ll train with, then.

„Nothing you’ll see anything of,“ Taemin clasps his hands, bringing your mind back to the image of meat piled up all over this room. „The member’s private rooms are way up on the 3rd floor. You’ll be situated there as well, in whatever free room you choose. They are very pleasant suites. The interiors are selected Victorian antiques. It’s not like around here.”

“Thank you, Taemin. That sounds great actually.“

“And— we can always predict their transformations without failure.“

„The suites have steel doors as well,“ Kai adds on. „Easy to lock from the inside. We’ve had centuries to think all of this through.“

„Reassuring…“

„Mind you. In case you feel you get a bad craving, you’re doing the same thing Kai and I do,“ Yukhei re-ties his left shoelace, foot placed on the metal chair like a 6’0 Napoleon. „It’s not like we aren’t the only people who have to protect others from ourselves.“

You don’t like the tone he’s striking and try not to look into his direction. As if you’re some crazed vampire lord with a body count and not a bloody amateur. Whatever cravings he’s talking about, it’s hard to imagine how you’d go absolutely buckwild on a concrete wall whining for blood.

„With half-vampires, well… It can happen,“ Taeyong helps Kai pull off his jacket as well. „But lycans still have to take more prevention if I may add. Simply because their whole being transforms and they’re gaining unexpected strengths from it. Vampires hardly do. Our strength is present always. We naturally learn how to deal with it each day. Lycans have exponentional and way more erratic powers in a shorter period of time.“

Now that puts it into perspective. You exchange a thankful glance with Taeyong. The butler gives a composed smile. Yukhei sees that and huffs. Looks like someone’s been projecting.

„We’re dealing with threats from the outside, better check the ones from the inside,“ Kai says, shrugging. „We can’t change that we’re aggressive species but we can lock a door ten minutes before shit goes down. Early risk detection. That’s gonna be a lot of what you’ll learn in the programme anyways.“

„Pragmatic, I guess,“ you scratch your chin. 

And he’s right. There’s nothing else the members could possibly do. Unleashing someone outside of the manor into the surrounding woods sounds like an overall bad idea. There’s a town somewhat nearby, fifteen minutes down the road. And as a matter of fact, you’ve never heard of suppression pills for half-demons on the market. Each species would need a different concoction: Tailored exactly to them in a long chemical process. Given the variety of Satan’s harem, that equals pure scientific madness.

Yukhei cracks his neck, puts the steel chair back in its spot. „We hope so. What reasons you’ll have to lock your suite for we’re about to find out.“

Three minutes later, you’re face down on the center table of the room, Yukhei pulling off your blazer. Even if you thought it would be much more unceremonious, he seems to do it rather slowly. In the meantime, Taemin rings a little silver bell. The sound is shrill and obnoxiously piercing. Seconds later, the concierge enters the room with a clipboard, introducing himself fully now. 

Oh shit, you almost forgot about the owl guy.

„Mark Lee. Bookkeeper, treasure master. Half-goblin. I also do our finances.“

Joining the club officially unlocks a whole new level of information, does it.

„Bookkeeper, I see?“

„Yes, we do keep a secret chronic.“

„Oh, alright? Spanning for how long?“

„Older than this house. I’ll introduce you to the archive next week, in fact. Welcome to Club Daemon, Miss. I’ll be documenting the findings of this test.“

Then, he turns to put down your phone on another table. First you missed it, now you don’t even care. Mark’s sudden appearance has you all wondering. He’s different now. Maybe his initial silence was very much connected to the exact level of secrecy Taemin has been talking about.

Mark comes across much more high-spirited when he talks, and his face appears youthful once it comes into motion. You give a little ‚mh’ as a rather distracted reply, and he begins a lightning fast scribble on his board, using a golden pen that looks like it’s worth your apartment.

Meanwhile, Kai’s interest seems to gravitate entirely to your shoulder blades. He goes about tapping the skin and muscles surrounding the bone, even pulling down the backside of your tanktop by an inch, causing you to hold your breath. He circles the spine, presses too fingers in at either side. He’s surprisingly subdued, but still quite hands-on. It’s not hard to feel that he has experience with examinations like that. In fact, Kai has the touch of a modern day chiropractor. Whatever you should think about that you don’t know yet.

It makes sense he’s in charge of all things physical. And — that the first thing he’ll do is get your wings to grow and work, wherever they may be inside your back right now. Lord knows what kind of reflex or trigger is needed to make them sprout. Mark, in full haste, keeps on checking off boxes on his board and hums, cocks his head every now and then.

Yukhei only seems to care for another area altogether. He holds up your ponytail to take a closer look at the back of your neck. You glare at him for pulling at your hair more than you thought was needed. Taemin volunteers to take up that task instead, with Yukhei going on scanning the nape. His hands are so large and grip at your shoulders, it feels like you’re some kind of prey being handled. Taeyong has no problems reading the discomfort on your face and clears his throat, prompting Yukhei to slack off at least a little.

„It won’t be anything painful,“ Taemin says. „We’re looking for any birth marks to appear.“

„Birth marks?“

„It shows up when other demons or half-breeds are around. It usually gives away who you’re related to. The color and shape show which rank your demon parent had. Not to worry.“

You chant a little thank you, Taemin inside of yourself as a way to keep yourself together and nod.

„Yukhei and Taeyong have large black markings that resemble a lighting shape if you will,“ Mark now speaks up. „Taeyong’s is so noticeable, he always wears his hair past his shoulders. And Yukhei mostly uses a high white collar.“

How fitting. You didn’t expect anything else if you’re honest.

„So I should cover it as well, right?“

„You shouldn’t tie your hair up this way so it can be seen,“ Kai says. „You can be glad it hasn’t alerted anyone yet.“

So… that’s why Yukhei did not seem to be very happy with your ponytail. You’ve been utterly reckless without even knowing. If there was someone who didn’t think it was a tattoo, you could have caused some major issues. But before you can apologize, the president already shakes his head.

„Well. You can keep that silly hairstyle. Because there’s nothing on that neck where there should be something.“

„What?“

„Not one mark. I’ve pressed every spot, there’s nothing. The birth mark should be visible already anyways since we’re here. Our presence activates it.“

Commotion. Yukhei lets go of your neck, Taeyong begins inspecting the area very hectically instead, joined by Kai. Mark seems to be in the most confusion right now and gnaws on his lips.

„But Baekhyun clearly said she has demon descent!“ Taemin interjects. „He sees such things the best!“

„Baekhyun… Little fish only wants her here because he has an eye on her,“ Yukhei grits his teeth, looking like he’s ready to kick the steel chair into a corner. „Swims around and invites anybody he fancies long as they have some decent fangs.“

„Yukhei!“ Taeyong cuts right back.

„I knew something wasn’t right,” Lucas keeps shaking his head, now seeming even more convinced. “Not a drop of demon blood in her.“

„What are you saying!“

Taeyong’s stoic face is turning livid now. You never thought he could turn this angry.

„Stop kidding yourselves. Get the serum, Taeyong. All that jazz we’ve been doing… I’m fucking tired. I told you it wasn’t my idea to invite her.“

Yukhei curses an entire string of very canine-sounding things under his breath and Taemin tries to hold him by the shoulders. The whole room feels like it’s about to explode. Taeyong doesn’t look like he’s ready to comply in the very least. Instead, the butler starts baring his fangs with a defiant snarl. Mark shouts out loud.

„Don’t—!“

„Are you deaf? Get the serum, bloodsucker! We’re not playing around anymore!“ 

Yukhei begins grabbing Taeyong by the collar. His eyebrows start to become fuller, and his teeth begin to crack, growing rapidly. Taeyong, eyes turning blood-shot, fastens his left hand behind his back. He positions himself to bring forth a powerful fist about to shatter right through Yukhei’s face. Alongside Taemin, you struggle to get up and reach them in an attempt to hold them apart. But before either of them can strike out—

„Wings! Her wings!“

Exclamations from all sides. Everybody turns to Kai. Panicked, he rests his hands just inches over your kidneys. Mark screams, loud enough to make Lucas shift his attention. Meanwhile, Kai gestures everyone back to the table.

„Here! Look here, now!“

Incredulous, Yukhei lets go of Taeyong’s suit and jumps right beside Kai. He pulls up your tank top to expose the lower back completely. Mark drops his board and pen. Yukhei’s hands roam all over the area that Kai mapped out through the fabric. And yes. Now you’re feeling bumps there, too. A painful tear pools at the bottom of your spine. The adrenaline of the situation didn’t make you realize.

„They… they’re unusually low,“ Mark chops his words, eyes wide and crouching behind Yukhei as if petrified.

„That means they’re large,“ Kai puffs out. „Look at the color, too. White, grey. They’re spotted in red. I’ve never seen anything similar. As if they’re bloodied.“

You can’t believe your ears, wind on the table. „Spotted wings?! What’s that about?“

„It’ll be even more visible when they’re spread. They’ve been hiding really fucking well down there,“ Kai says. „It’s very unlike any wings of ours. And I can’t get them out, all we did was locate them now.“

Great. You have special snowflake wings.

„Really?“ you’re pretty much staring like Mark yourself now. Kai affirms.

„It’ll take a trigger event that sprouts them. I don’t know what yet. Too early to say.“

„But what does the color mean, then?“

„Our wings are all some kind of… well, auburn. Neither Satan’s nor Mammon’s children have colorings like this. Only Taemin’s are blue.“

„But that’s regular for elves,“ Taemin adds.

A churning knot of panic seems to grow inside your gut. The fact that Yukhei keeps on groping about your back is starting to tug at your nerves as the cherry on top.

„Why, why are they like that? What is this?“

„Y/N,“ Mark inhales sharply. „Please calm down, we only—“

„And why are you touching me like I’m some kind of science object? Who am I?“ you shout at Kai and Lucas, prompting Taemin to slowly pull away both their wrists from the table. In this moment, you could jump either of them.

„I’ve, I’ve only heard of one case with such wings,“ Mark begins, but ends up choking up a cry. He’s shaking all over, takes his glasses off. „If you… turn her around…“

Yukhei doesn’t have to be told twice.

„So her mark is elsewhere? Isn’t it? She’s from a different family altogether?“

Mark nods.

Lucas swiftly flips you on your back. You can’t even blink and you’re already watching the ceiling with five faces right up close above you.  

„Let Taeyong do this,“ Taemin begins to urge Yukhei. „Lucas, you shouldn’t touch her now.“

That you need Taemin’s words for Lucas to hold himself back is starting to bother you. Him just grabbing you by the hips and turning you around felt more than strange. You imagine how in his mind, you’re probably a sizzling steak in a pan that he wants crispy on both sides and you don’t like it. One thing’s for sure: You’re not here for being werewolf dinner. What the hell.

What’s been on your mind even more is that Kai is not even half as annoying despite being so full of protein himself. With his chiropractor hands all over you on top of that. Is it that they’re from different families? Wouldn’t you dislike Taeyong as well then? He’s from the exact same corner of hell, after all. What exactly makes Lucas so pushy to you keeps on preoccupying everything you thought of until now as a bottom line. It’s not like you can ask him directly why he behaves like an asshole.

Three minutes pass. Lucas has stepped back from the table, watching like a hawk. A bit more composed, Mark picks up his pen and clipboard. He still can’t concentrate on writing. Taeyong gently probes each of your legs and ankles, even pulls your shoes and socks off to look at the underside of your feet. Finding nothing, he moves on to survey your wrists by smoothing over them, sending Yukhei an evil eye for grinding his teeth. Looks like someone doesn’t like others touching your soft spots.

Kai watches reactionless, seemingly deliberating. He’s in a different headspace, you can tell. Taemin helps Mark with ticking off boxes on the paper. Taeyong turns your jaw to either direction and slightly upwards to inspect the underside. He glides two fingers over your temples, and also asks you to open your mouth. He counts through your teeth with his digit and moves your upper lip to look at your fangs. Taemin emits a large ‚wow‘ when he does, and Yukhei growls out loud. Kai looks visibly interested, although he still seems to piece something together in his head.

„Extremely durable and angular,“ Taeyong says. „I’ve never seen this shape.”

„Me neither,“ Kai props up his palms on the edge of the table.

„Nobody in any clan I knew had fangs like that. Not even the elders. They’re so sharp… it must be inconvenient often,“ Taeyong requests a measuring tape from Mark who pulls it out of his left suit pocket.

„It is. Shreds every toothbrush,“ you mumble.

Taeyong glides his finger all across your gums above both canines, pressing on the root of each tooth. It seems to get a nerve inside your jaw going, and again your breath becomes shallow. He measures, dictates the unintelligble results to Mark. For some reason, you find whatever he’s doing strangely pleasant. Meanwhile, Lucas has been prowling around the table with a heavy gait. You adapt Taeyong’s method of sending him eye daggers.

„Can you put your story-telling on halt? This isn’t some vampire underground bar at Friday 12 PM,“ Yukhei grunts back at you and Taeyong. „Just say whatever the fuck this means. Shouldn’t you search for the birth mark?“

„Can’t quite tell now,“ Taeyong, sounding rather absent-minded, goes on counting through your teeth each. He’s feeling about like it’s a box of jewelry. 

Beside being an obvious difference to what your mostly human high school mates sported — if you could call them that, high school makes everyone inhumane — you never thought your fangs were anything out of the norm. There weren’t many people you could compare them to in your small home town in the first place. You only saw vampires on late night TV at best.

There’s a strange tingle that spreads across your body now. It’s unusual having someone so comfortable with your teeth.

Your first and last boyfriend headed right for the door when it came to kissing. As if stung by a hornet almost, a complete change of mind. Meeting you at a festival he thought the idea of dating a vampire was „pretty sexy!“. He paraded you around at his birthday party two weeks later, you thinking he was actually proud of you rather than only himself.

You later realized that he just wanted to appear like the bravest guy in the world. To gather his guy friends complimenting him on the ‚spicy catch you got there!“. And maybe, you suspected, also making the female guests compete for him with some one-upmanship towards you. If he needed you to attach any value to himself, what value did he have himself to begin with? It still feels like a bad decision because you said yes to someone like him.

He liked the exterior, but doing the actual dating with all that it entails he had seemingly underestimated. It’s not like you expected him to use any tongue or try a blowjob. Why would you?  Doing that would always be a stupid idea for both. Did he think you would purposely hurt him? Or did he just leech off everything he could get until he had to be responsible and deal with limits? Crazy vamp is what he last called you, and you never heard from him again. No texts, nothing. Does your pussy have monster teeth, too? Just go back to your cave or wherever you came from.

„If you forgive me saying so. They really are pretty,“ Taemin chimes in, then urging Mark to note something down. You take a moment to realize he means your teeth. Mark seems to have a lot of trouble snapping out of his daze at first himself, but begins to immerse himself in sketching and documenting after a while, ruffling his hair like a mad scientist. Lucas regularly gazes over his shoulder and you can tell he’s one grumpy wolf.

„We can show you how to keep them in shape and do a proper bite on someone who agrees on it. But you probably even tried something along the lines, right,“ Taeyong says, and Kai nods, probably wanting to say the same. It seems to be nothing out of the ordinary going by their expressions. But the question makes you more nervous than you actually want to.

„Honestly, I… didn’t bite anyone so far,“ you shake your head, unable to meet the eyes of anyone at the table. You hate the feeling of shame that kicks in almost by itself.

„Come on folks, that’s the first thing you smell about her,“ Yukhei boldly announces from his wandering spot around the dumbbells. 

Way to go. You realize how comments like that are exactly why you’re so nervous. He’s already acting holier-than-thou again.

„I only ordered cheap blood online,“ you try to muster a shrug. Acting indifferent is at least helping you to say literally anything. „All legal but artificial.“

And disgusting, but that’s another story.

„Not hard to tell either,“ Yukhei laughs out. „Takes a blood virgin to down a whole liter of the real deal in five minutes. You were staring at that cup like you’ve gone mad. The difference to cheap blood is quite intense, isn’t it? Wanna see your face if you get a willing neck for the first time. Priceless.“

Something coils up inside of you. Eye daggers aren’t enough at this point, are they.

„Don’t get rude, you dog… Do you like spying on others or what?“

„Come on, come,“ Taemin steps in, ushers Yukhei towards the steel chair.  He leans in, speaking in a low tone to the president. „Little more tact and privacy with a novice. Your dad would thoroughly enjoy this.“

„Would enjoy what?“

„Us creating discord in the club without him having to do crook a single hoof.“

You’re starting to think that ‚Vice President‘ means nothing but ‚group counsellor‘. Fine by you, but Yukhei has been rubbing you the wrong way from the very start. That he tried to attack Taeyong and called him names isn’t something you’ll just ignore. You’re growing increasingly more tense. That there doesn’t appear to be a way to take matters into your own hands is even more frustrating. 

„I think… there’s a reason you’ve been living a more isolated life than most vampires,“ Kai interrupts your thought as well as the ongoing banter, trying to strike a more rational tone. He returned from his thought process, ruffling the long hair at the nape of his neck.

„Okay—?“

„See. Most half-breeds with the same father will find each other. Almost automatically. Look at Taeyong and Lucas. And all vampires will get picked up by clans, their scouts. But in your case… I think you have been purposely avoided. By both clans and demons.“

„What does that mean now?“

„My theory is, I… I suspect. Your father,“ Mark looks up from his clipboard, „is someone who hasn’t exactly been Satan’s ally.“

„My dad is — some kind of, Lucifer’s enemy?“

„Maybe. It’s likely. So, the clans would use to trust your father lot.“

„Does that make any sense?“ you frown at Mark, who hastily continues. You still don’t get why that has something to do with how you grew up completely uninvolved in clan affairs.

„His affinity for vampires was much higher on top of that, unlike Satan.“

„Get to the point!“ Lucas taps his feet on the concrete.

„I, I think that’s why you were born,” Mark carries on, pushing up his glasses. “He got together with a vampire. But he has been mingling with a lot of arch angels as of recently as well. Your father, I mean.“

„Okay? But how would you know?“

„The reasoning is this,“ Mark reads from the clipboard. It seems like he has been working on some kind of theory. „The clans don’t like the archangel’s power nor their politics. And the angels don’t really like us as a club either. Simply because we’re half-demons and have offsprings of Satan among us. I know that’s, that’s really complicated, so—“

Whoever Mark means in all of this word spill, your father is evidently a huge trainwreck already. Who’s against who now? It’s all so hard to understand.

„That all doesn’t sound very good,“ you grumble. „Are you sure your theory holds true, Mark?“

„It all sounds like he’s pulling that out of thin air,“ Lucas says. „Angels and whatnot. That’s some random bullshit.“

The conscierge looks rather overwhelmed with your question and can’t quite get a word out at first. Taemin encourages him with with a little supportive eyebrow raise.

„What I know is. By the signs your… body has. We have to keep you safe here and build your strengths at all cost. Because something’s going on,“ Mark eventually continues, earning strong approval from Kai.

Then, Mark addresses the president, much more fragile in his voice, but still secure in his judgement. „Lucas. If we give her the serum, Satan could someday get her if he musters up the courage and the helpers. Which I think he will. That won’t end well in any scenario. The club is in danger. Do you understand? Putting her out there is a bad idea and she doesn’t want it either. She wants to be a member and that’s instinctively the right thing at this point. Baekhyun happened to spot her now out of all times with good reason, I think.“

Lucas seems to ponder back and forth now. He props down on the steel chair with crossed legs, palms in the back of his neck. He looks genuinely concerned for the first time. You find yourself starting to nod along to Mark in the meantime. You like when he speaks like this. 

„Thank God you’re here then, Y/N,“ Taeyong says. „It’s important you get to know more about yourself. It creates a lot of chaos otherwise. For you the very most, unfortunately. We have to admit that joining the club probably makes it worse. But we can’t know what would have happened if you never found your way here.“

„Yeah, I guess.“

„Your heritage is probably much more… controversial I would say. I hope you don’t take this to heart too much,” he continues. “We’ll still have to find out more. But it’s something else we’re not accustomed to so excuse any crudities.“

You can imagine. If your dad is yet another person having beef with Satan, and there’s even people from heaven involved, things are bound to get icky.

„So, where is my birth mark, then?“, you exhale, voice growing with an acute panic. „Do you know my father’s name or not now? 

“Um...“ Mark stares at his own feet.

“Is all of this a fraud? And what can be more controversial than having Lucifer as your dad?“

Taeyong and Mark are looking at each other far too awkwardly not for you to notice. Kai crosses his arms and sighs out.

„Come on, you two are suspecting something. Tell us.“

All attention is now on Taeyong and Mark who are a puddle of sweating embarrassment.

„We have to… Well…“

You feel like a patient about to receive the most embarrassing surgery. Yukhei roams around the table murmuring and fuming.

„What is it now? What are you avoiding?“

„…pull up the shirt to see the birth symbol,“ Mark spouts in one go. „It’s located in the middle of the chest.“

So here’s the reason for all that tiptoeing and stuttering.

„And I thought you’d need my period blood to paint an ancestry sigil or something,“ you roll your eyes right at Mark who looks like he’s sinking into the ground right before you.

„That’s actually what we wanted to do next,“ Yukhei licks his fangs. 

Taeyong, as if lightning struck him, immediately kicks him in the back of the knees. Everyone turns their heads. Judging by Yukhei’s awkward, reaching step forward and no signs of retaliation, Taeyong has some serious leg strength going despite being so lithe. You never thought you’d see his butlery composure begin to crumble either.

„Stop making weird jokes. You’re a dog just like she said.“

Taeyong’s tone is so cutting, Mark breathes out as if he was the one getting kicked.

„Technically not wrong.“

„You got what I wanted to say, Lucas.“

„Can’t hear you mumbling through your stupid old fangs, brother. I’m fucking proud of being a dog.“

Yukhei does an even more obnoxious werewolf-brand wink that makes even Kai cringe a little. Taemin looks like he’s slowly dying on the inside. 

While they’re all continuing to throw out retorts, you cut the debate short by pulling up your tank top. Must be the courage from getting your teeth praised.

Today’s braless day, but anyways.

Mark immediately starts crouching again, and Kai’s mouth drops wide open. Taeyong collapses right on the floor. Taemin buries his face in his hands.

„It… It is as dramatic as Kai said!“

„What is it now? Can’t you guys handle some breasts or what.“

You look down on yourself. And— soon freeze as you see the large round marking right on your solar plexus. Red as blood and crudely outlined.

„What the fuck is that!“

You get goosebumps. The mark has never been visible before. Whatever work Kai did on your back pressing all sorts of points, it must have activated not only your wings, but also this particular spotting. It appears to be shaped like a medal emblem, depicting a snake and a centaur or whatever creature in bold zigzag shapes.

„The sign of King!“ Mark shudders through his tears. The temperature in the room seems to drop, and the scent of jasmine smells like rotten coal. The sign glows red and large on your chest, and not even Yukhei is looking at your breasts now.

„We’re so fucked, man!“ Kai pulls at his hair. „What are we gonna do!“

„Wait! Wait, what is this!“ you pull at Mark’s suit, urging him to speak on. He can’t properly gather himself the very least.

“I can’t say—”

“Tell me, Mark! What is this sign!“

„Be, Before Lucifer… became the prince of the underworld. It was like this.“

„Like what?“

„There was a King who ruled the 9th circle of hell. For over a million years.“

„Who is that guy? He’s my dad?“

„Yes. He never left. That was, until Satan overthrew him after being cast from heaven. The King purposely decided not to come back and expand his influence elsewhere. He’s now a free-walking spawn of hell. The guy who’s technically… actually the boss. Satan is just tolerated but The King has the actual powers. You can guess… look at how large the mark is.“

„I am the King’s daughter?“

„You are,“ Mark contines. „The daughter of King Belial.“

He can hardly pronounce the name without everybody flinching.

„He’s the original guy in charge,“ Taemin bends to help pick up Taeyong, who’s breaking out in a cold sweat. Whatever is glowing on your chest, it’s something out of the Club’s league and that thought alone drives an equal sweat on your face. Belial, you’ve only heard that name sparsely, somewhere, and you knew hell had kings, but you didn’t know it was a very real tale.

„Satan was expelled from heaven for his pride,“ Kai picks up Mark’s point, but his voice is just as shaky. „So he took on hell and drove out your father after a decade-long war. And, plenty of tricks, dark magic. The King first settled in a radical vampire clan who thought he’d be the ultimate weapon to get back at Satan. And Belial thought he’d had an army now, too. But the arch angels also took interest in the King for that same reason. They wanted to fight Satan, too.“

„Didn’t Mark mention the angels earlier? What’s going on with them?“

„They don’t like vampires, so they lured the King away from the clan to only collaborate only with them.“

„So there’s a triangle going on!“

„Belial hasn’t really retaliated or done anything since then, but we’re thinking that he’s plotting something big together with God,“ Kai continues. „Against anything demonic that they set their eyes on. Not just Satan.“

Your head is spinning. Now God’s involved in this shitshow, too. It just gets worse with every new thing you find out.

„The foe of my enemy is my friend. That type of idiot logic,“ Yukhei says. „And Belial was stupid enough to fuck a trash vampire in the process. And you… are the result that we have to deal with now.“

„As if I can help it! You shut your mouth!“ you jerk up to lash out at Yukhei, but Kai steps in between you. He’s as fast as he is strong, and an impenetrable wall you can run up against all you want. And Kai isn’t foolish, either. He grabs you by the shoulders with extended arms to keep your fangs as far away from him as possible. All Yukhei has to do is step back.

„Stupid— because that got your mom killed,“ Kai says, teeth gritted, but sounding much more sensible than his stance suggests. „You gotta understand. Satan wants to eradicate or silence anyone associated with Belial. To avoid a revenge and losing his position!“

„Then you’re right that he’s a prick…“

„My damn words,“ Yukhei shrugs behind Kai, adjusts his tie. „Now put your tits back and sign Mark’s form, you’re part of Club Daemon without further notice anyways.“

„Wha—“

„Now listen closely madam,“ Yukhei burges past Kai to build himself up above you.

„I’m not gonna say this a second time,“ he throws the blazer at you, and you awkwardly catch it. Kai steps out of the way to let Yukhei step even closer to you. The grit in his eyes is too commanding, untouchable. Mark backs off against a wall, and even Taemin gives up on stopping Lucas. Only Taeyong lingers close behind the president, surveying his every move.

„Since Satan is an illegal worm on the throne and the King prefers to sip ambrosia with God, you happen to be the only legitimate heir. The literal, official ruler of hell. And as we saw, giving you the serum would cause even more trouble. You might even get used against us or yourself. You get me? We have enough trouble and craziness with all this! Do you understand that? From now on: You’re doing exactly as I say.“

„Why are you the one to declare all that now? Yu—“

„No objections. Training starts today.“

————————

„Your wings are so nice,“ Baekhyun smiles, turning twice in his bath tub. The water gently rises, bringing some foam to the corners. If you squint a bit, it actually sparkles. You’re feeling laid-back with the scent of fragrance sticks and candles lingering in the bathroom now. Tangerine, a bit of lemon. A pocket-sized music box strums away on the sink. The melody is foreign to you, but it feels nostalgic and welcoming. There are almost a dozen shell-shaped metal soap holders all around and pointy quartz clusters frame the two mirrors on either side of the room, creating an endless loop of reflections. Yours excluded, which always seems to amuse Ten even if he’s already used to it from Taeyong by now.

A snugly dim lightbulb screwed into a large pink lamp shade right above you spreads some warmth, as does a fluffy carpet underneath you. The vapors of the room become visible as little ascending particles in the light and you wonder how hot the bath water must be. Unlike the chairs in the main hall, the one you currently sit down on cross-legged is meant for comfort solely. A pink and poufy 50s relic, put there specifically for you since it’s Friday.

„Ah…Baekhyun. I forgot you see them for the first time,“ you settle, while he turns again. You find yourself laughing at how cutely Baekhyun spins. That this is the way mermen express their excitement and adoration you learned only last week.

„And, your fangs have grown so big!“ His cheeks are bright and giddy, and his tail glistens from all the soap he tossed around in the water for almost half an hour now.

„I’m on my 50th day of training now.“

„Ooh, that’s so impressive! You’re doing great for sure!“

„I don’t know if I do. But there are some results at least. Kai made me fight Yukhei with bare hands and they came out,“ you wriggle your either wing, and make their tops touch the ceiling. Ever so slightly, you don’t want to break anything around here. Baekhyun’s little bathroom paradise is too carefully assembled to pull any stunts in here, and it’s your Friday night safe haven for long talks and even watching movies on Mark’s tablet. Now, it doesn’t take a lot of stretching to do so in the first place. At this point, wearing your wings out this way is starting to feel natural, even if the way that they shift your balance is still new. They are red-white and stringy, feathery, and spotted just like Kai had predicted.

„He was in his full form, right? You’re really brave you did this.“

„It’s a strange thing sometimes. It’s like I followed an impulse.“ you say, shrugging a little. „I guess — Blame it on instincts.“

You really hoped he would buy that dodge, but it’s a futile try.

„Hey, I mean it. I’m proud of you. Really.“

You push a few hair strands out of your eyes. He’s not going to let you off the hook until you admit it, or maybe it’s only you so fearing to say that, and making it so awkward that he notices.

You don’t want to bare yourself but also don’t want to leave him in the dark about how much his words have been building you up over the last few weeks. It’s almost been two months since you first saw Baekhyun on Mark’s video call, discussing where to relocate the club chronicles after a shelf randomly collapsed. Even a fraction of him on screen made you hold your breath.

Maybe it’s because a whole lot of your ancestors were — although surely snobby and even aristocratic — so bite-first-talk-later and rather reserved folk staying in the shadows that accepting or never doubting flattery is hard for a vampire of your generation. And maybe it’s time you muster up something else than either extreme end of that aristocracy or that terrible shyness.

„Thanks for your compliment,“ you stare at the tips of your fingers that clamp around your knees. „Matters a lot, okay.“

Baekhyun props up his head on the edge of the tub in response and looks at you all blushed. He’s playing with the blue crystal penchant around his neck, and his light purple hair falls into his face in wet little waves until he shakes it. The strands are so thin and plush, they prop up all dry again so fast, as if by magic (which it likely is). His cheeks are so glowing when they’re rosy, you notice every time you see him, but today even more so. To the point where, and you feel it in your gut, your confidence becomes so shaky all over again.

„But don’t praise me too much,“ you say. „It’s only doing what I’m supposed to do and what I’m made up of, I think. It wasn’t that hard.“

„Not as hard as defense against crosses and garlic, isn’t it?“

„Damn right, that was something ese,“ you nod. „But there are much bigger problems.“

„Is there something that preoccupies you as of lately?“

Baekhyun blinks a few times with a falling smile, and you contract in your chair.

„I feel like… It’s so hard to say.“

„I won’t hold anything against you, okay. I just hate seeing you preoccupied night til dawn. That’s not right.“

„It’s…Yukhei is treating me like some kind of tool. Just fostering me because that means a hybrid demon sits on the throne of hell. It feels too much sometimes. Like I have to dance to the beat of his track all the time, you know.“

„I’m sorry. Lucas can be really zealous. I hope he’s not demanding too much from you.“

„Or… training me like a machine. I’m really not a dog’s toy. I don’t think that’s what made my join all this. I don’t have as many problems with my heritage as with the way he takes so much control. It’s… one-sided. And I feel like I should be above that already and just do my thing anyway.“

Baekhyun’s expression sinks even more now, but there’s also something single-minded in it.

„As long as you truly wish to take that position in the 9th circle, you can do as you please,“ he says. „Look at how strong you are. I don’t even have to tell you that. As I know him, Yukhei wants to protect his kind. Including you, that’s why he trains you so hard and wants you to have influence. I know it’s an ironic thing. That you have to be his subordinate now to be his superior in the future. He sees himself as a founding father, so he coaches us. His strict ways are not for everybody.“

„I guess,“ you shrug. It doesn’t sound illogical to you. Having a half-breed in charge of hell would raise the status and safety of Club Daemon immensely, and Yukhei does behave like the club is his child. „I just don’t like it when he uses his position too much without caring about how I want to go about it. I know I’m new to this, but I still have preferences. And the training is for my sake, he’s the one who emphasizes that the most but it feels like it only serves him. Telling him that is like, like— talking against a fucking wall, I don’t know.“

„That doesn’t sound good. I think that you inspired a lot of respect in him. Lucas is afraid of many things.“

„I feel that.“

All too often. When he trains you. At dinner. During any hand-to-hand practice. And especially: On Fridays, where he is tense all day.

„That the pack order is so wired into him doesn’t help. There’s always only superior or subordinate to him, he doesn’t know anything else. The social order of vampires is less defined than that.“

The roles, the hierarchies. You often find Mark talking about it.

„I try to understand it but our ways are so different. I don’t know what it is. Yukhei should know that vampires aren’t responsive to this alpha thing the very best. And I don’t think anyone in Belial’s family for that matter.“

You’ve seriously been wondering how Lucas was donning his big bad wolf attitude. That he was intimidated behind all that jazz would come as no surprise to you. But this type of explanation would be too… simple. Too easy, for all those intricacies, the weirdness of his behavior.

„If you look at it from what he does rather than what he says. He spends a lot of time developing your skills and puts all of his energy into the project,“ Baekhyun’s gaze drops from yours now. „To be honest… I’m jealous of him.“

Now that makes you swallow hard. It implies way too much for you to process right now.

„I don’t, I don’t think he likes me,“ you vehemently shake your head. „Or at least not in a way that feels good to me. And that’s what counts. He’s making me grapple with hell hound holograms and box with Kai until dawn under his supervision. I’d rather be here and discuss with you. It’s really valuable.“

„Ah… thank you.“

Now that you’re on a roll, saying it is easier.

„I’m really glad you were the one who scouted me. I really wish I could be here more often. And, you put a lot of effort into this. You think it’s just talking but it’s important for me.“

The last part you say with a much more subdued tone, but it doesn’t lose its meaning to Baekhyun. That he looks flustered is an understatement. He wriggles his shiny tail and it actually changes its color to light pink, matching his flush.

„You know, it was more of a coincidence. I was counting shells at the beach, I saw you coming out of a pharmacy at the quay. I haven’t told you that, have I?“

Back in May. A very breezy, sunny late afternoon.

„Taemin said something along those lines, but not in detail, no.“

„You had these huge sunglasses on. And so much sun screen. And a big hat. You came out with six packs of iron supplements and cranberry juice in a transparent plastic bag. I couldn’t quite believe it.“

„You really saw it that clearly?“

„Merman eyes can see even in murky water. Kai has trained me to read people at any distance on land.“

„And how did you see that I’m part demon?“

„You had a crop top on.“

What?

„I mean. Come on. That half-vampires like crop tops is clear to me. Taeyong is wearing them all the time. But don’t other people do that as well? Isnt’t that a little—“

Baekhyun starts giggling.

„The sun was hitting your back while you were opening the lock of your bicycle. I could see the wings folded underneath your skin.“

„Oh man,“ you puff out, reclining in your seat. And you thought he was going for a reach. „Okay, I get it. I hope nobody else saw that.“

„It can easily look like some kind of tattoo,“ Baekhyun shrugs. „At least someone who has no idea about demons wouldn’t have realized anything. And it was only visible for a split second since you weren’t standing upright.“

„Okay… that’s good I guess? Just me walking around in a crop top at the bay. Nothing suspicious going on.“

You’re ready to chastize yourself for being so careless, but then again. Arguably, you don’t have eyes on the back of your head. And on top of that, it took someone as trained as Baekhyun to discover your sleeping wings showing in a matter of one blink or two.

„It’s likely that your wings only started growing this very year. I really need you to realize. This didn’t happen in twenty years. I was never as fascinated in my entire life, I—“

And by saying that, Baekhyun’s pupils become heart-shaped, and pretty much everything else about him turns bright red. The hair, the tail, the lips.

Oh.

Looks like you’re starting to understand why Baekhyun didn’t just casually mention you to Yukhei to send out an invitation, bar half-breeds being a rare occurance and highly sought for by the club.

„I called Taemin with my shell phone right away so he could inform the club,“ Baekhyun stutters on. „I’m sorry we’ve been observing you that way. Many half-breeds don’t know that they are.“

„You didn’t do it to hurt me,“ you shake your head, gather yourself, and take Baekhyun’s hands in yours. They’re so pretty and slippery. „You don’t have to apologize. It’s been a lucky coincidence.“

He saw you in the right moment and it decided everything.

„I’d not be here without you, that was very needed,“ you add. „Lost and found, you know. I gotta be the one to say thank you.“

Baekhyun firmly squeezes your hands and looks you deeply in the eyes, even more so than before.

„We’re the ones who have to say that,“ he says. „We didn’t have many good prospects before you. Maybe we can have a better chance being half-breeds in the future. Don’t think of yourself as Yukhei’s chess piece. That takes away all your importance. I think he’s trying to tell you that, too.“

„Maybe. But just know that if he’s so invested in me the way you say, I couldn’t reciprocate it.“

You look down, retreat your hands. Baekhyun reaches out of the tub to cup your chin upward very gently.

„This whole werewolf-vampire feud thing,“ he starts in a low tone. „You don’t have to buy into it. It’s not good for our club’s unity.“

You cast down your eyes. „I know.“

„If we fall apart, that makes us very vulnerable to the outside. It’s important that you stick together, and… he really likes you.“

„Baekhyun—“

„You have an easier time with Kai, right. If you approach Yukhei the same way, that… could be beneficial to your bonding.“

„Bonding?“

You don’t like where this is going. All of your alarm bells are going off right now. There’s cold sweat starting to stick to your shirt at the back of your spine.

„It’s kind of an unspoken codex,“ Baekhyun sounds much more understated now, his eyes become droopy. „If there is a female half-demon with claims to the 9th circle, a mate from the guild may accompany her. But it has to be someone from the upper rank.“

„What!“

„Yukhei is the highest in our hierarchy... He might become your consort. He said to me he’d be ready to do it.“

„Yukhei as my mate? How do I know nothing about that!“

The shock in your voice makes Baekhyun rolls up in the bathtub and his tail turns into a lifeless green. You’ve never seen him so small.

„Because… because he can’t say he likes you.“

„I beg your pardon?“

„It’s all bound to happen because of his status, and yours, and— As I said, it’s an unspoken law. It doesn’t really matter if he confesses or not.“

„Are you kidding me now?“ you jump off your chair. Your wings knock over a ceramic vase in the bathroom cupboard right above the sink. It comes down splintering. „Why on earth does Yukhei push me around like some political… genetics… preservation tool!“

„It, it is not the intention—“

„I don’t want to mate with Yukhei! Not because he’s the president, not because I need some fitting husband apparently, not because he spends a lot of time with me, not because of his money or because he cares a lot about preserving half-breeds, and especially not just because he likes me.“

„You— You don’t?“

Baekhyun’s eyes are wider than when Mark first saw your spotted wings, well-knowing he was dealing with a more delicate subject of the chronicles. But this was something that would turn the annals of the club upside down entirely.

„We’re not compatible. Not in the least,“ you frown. „Did you assume I did?“

„Of, of course! I mean in your position, who else would come to your mind? It’s such a given from both of your sides, I didn’t… even think about it. Please, I didn’t want to offend you!“

You settle on your chair again, fold in your wings. Cross your legs, lean back. An overbearing feeling of depletion makes your whole body ache.

„You know. That’s the thing with tradition. Nobody thinks about what they actually want. They just follow a program to satisfy some stupid custom. To soothe their ego, their morals, I don’t know what. But that leads them in the opposite of being satisfied. Because it’s against their real wishes. Doing away with quite a few traditions without causing much damage would be entirely possible, wouldn’t it.“

„I think traditions do serve someone,“ Baekhyun shrugs. „Many people.“

„In this case, only one person. Hint: tall lycan man who wants to fuck me. And take me as a wife which I didn’t even know until now. And how would I if he’s yelling at me about putting away my tits as if I’m some chunk of trash.“

Baekhyun stutters, decoiling not one inch from his position.

„Didn’t he do that in front of others?“

„Yeah, but why are you asking?“

You can’t help but put some sharpness into that reply. All that mating monkey business is reeking of bullshit.

„Lycans are, well you know it. Really possessive. He wants you for himself, he… he’s affected by your body. Everyone can see that. So, everyone automatically thought he’d just, sooner or later make a move on you, you know. You’ll be exclusive to him.“

„You really think that Yukhei is territorial over my fucking tits.“

„On the outside he was acting grumpy that it was a half-vampire coming to us out of all races. But he sent out Taemin with the club invitation letter in a matter of a day. The fastest he ever wanted to get someone to join was when I scouted Ten as our chauffeur. Ten had all the qualifications and he’s half-harpy, they get on with lycans very well, but Yukhei was deliberating for two weeks.“

You shake your head.

„He sent it out because the club direly needs extra manpower, a new element, whatever, that’s why. He literally said so.“

„Yukhei ordered to send out the invitation only when I told him that you’re a good-looking… woman.“

You’re gasping for air. Can this get any worse? This has got to be a bad joke. It sounds like Yukhei literally wants to own you.

„Is he— that desperate?“

„He’d not mate with any full-lycan or half-human half-lycan, or humans altogether,“ Baekhyun shakes his head. „And how could he, he’s the president and protector of the only demon half-breeds club there is. Anything else would be out of character.“

„So me being in need of a mate because of all this heir thing… serves him well and he’s already planned all of it and treats it as a given in the club. All behind my back.“

You could rip out all your hair at this point. You curse him. This dirty, sneaky, cunning wolf guy.

„From his perspective, it makes sense. Nobody else in his shoes would do it differently. He didn’t mate at all yet. We respect that he will take that only chance because he has the last say, you saw that. If a lycan runs a club, we go by lycan ways.“

All you can do is plant your face on the edge of the bath tub and puff out a deflated noise.

„So I’m the only fuckmeat in sight. To get rid off his virginity.“

Oh God, no. This has got to be a terrible dream, even the club’s chronicles pre-1689 aren’t as tragic.

„Yukhei’s instincts are going crazy since he reached maturity. Kai already mated earlier in his life and takes Beta status. I guess that’s why you get along a little better. But with Yukhei… he’s so depraved, he’s even ready to mate with a half-vampire.“

„I saw how hostile he can get with Taeyong…“

It still pains you. That Yukhei would go at him with full fangs and claws even if Taeyong is so severely marred was a punch in the gut. You don’t doubt Taeyong’s strength, and you saw he was ready to defend himself properly and resolutely. But it showed a lot of true colors and you thought about it for many nights.

„Exactly. That he said he’d be your consort tells you how much he needs somebody. He’s even ready to bury the rivalry and also contests anybody of your race. Taeyong is competition to him.“

„Jealous possessive alpha looking for a trophy,“ you bury your face deeper in the enamel of the tub edge. „Baekhyun. I fucking swear. You’re giving me even more reasons not to get with him. He’s even dragging Taeyong into all of this.“ Taeyong, who made you feel so at home and comfortable with being half-vampire. Who was very open with you and had exactly the integrity and dedication and utter class a club member needed to have. A confident, quiet strength and rolemodelship that you could always look up to.

„So talk about unity,“ you grit on. „And I’m only tolerated to Yukhei. If I’d be a guy, he would’ve sent me an invitation after like 5 years, wouldn’t he? Yukhei cares a lot less about halfbreeds than he pretends. How would I get with this guy if he’s such a mess. Never ever.“  

„You actually wouldn’t?“

„Come on! If that’s not clear at this point. No degree of Yukhei wanting me means I want him. Man, what the—! He’s planning my life as if it’s his factory. He’s making chaos out of everything.“

Hell, Yukhei must be more than insecure if he reached that level of entitlement. And you only get to hear it from Baekhyun? He’s not just insecure, but also a coward. Just how much he’s living in his own bubble is hard to fathom.

„But, it’d be an honor for you to be with the president. Is there a reason you don’t like him back?“

„Baekhyun. I don’t give a fuck about his arranged marriage thing. He has no respect. I want someone else.“

„I mean, I… You’re free to choose from the assembly. You’re the Queen of Hell. You can do whatever you want.“

„Apparently not.“

You cock not one, but two brows right at him. Baekhyun seems entirely confused. It’s so strange to you how he doesn’t seem to catch on in the very least. Yukhei really must have threatened the other club members. Nor does he seem to take your role seriously in the very least.

„Is there someone you want to mate with, then?“

„First time someone ever asked.“

You straighten your posture and tap your fingers on your knees. Admittedly, you’ve probably picked that one up from Kai.

„The guild accepts any of your wishes. It’s just a recommendation or a tradition that—“

„Yeah yeah. A dumbass expectation. Disguised as some… guideline. And everyone’s parroting it just because Yukhei is the boss. I don’t like that, okay. I’m not on board with his personal agenda. Because it’s shitty. Full stop. I’ll shove his bonding schtick up his ass until it comes out of his ears.“

„Ah, I, I see. I get it now.“

„Understand, Baekhyun. Rules have to be adapted to the benefit of those they concern. Are we agreeing on that?“

„That’s only logical!“

„So you get that I have someone in mind that I want to have a consort. That person is not Lucas. You see that the benefit would apply here, that, you know, I mate with that other person instead.“

„Sure! Do you need any help with selecting somebody? Wouldn’t Kai be a perfect match? You’re both so strong! Or Taeyong. You have great chemistry! Mark is very impressed by you, too! Haven’t you seen how shy he is?“

You want to sink into the ground on the spot. It just goes on and on. Man, you need a 500-year coffin nap with extra dust and spider webs and no garlic in the radius of ten kilometers.

„Baekhyun, you, you are… God damn…“

You can’t say it. You can’t.

„Always glad to help,“ a bright smile lights up his face once again. His tail turns back to a very familiar turquoise.

And just when he decoils himself to his full size—

It happens.

„Ah! What was that!“

Baekhyun begins to jerk up and winds. You panic. The surface of the bath water colors with red almost right away. He grabs his tail in pain. You dive either hand into the tub to pull up his tail.

„It’s a splinter! It fell inside the tub!“

„From the vase?!“

„Yes, it’s, it’s…“

„Are you okay Y/N? You look different!“

He seems more shocked about that than the fact that he just got pierced.

„It’s…stuck here. I’ll pull this— out and… and. Very carefully, and…“

Your hands work on their own. There’s nothing in your mind that has to direct them. The piece of ceramic is easy to remove from his scales, nor is the cut too severe at all. It’s not even two fingers long. But he’s bleeding. He’s bleeding. It’s unbearable. You mindlessly cast the splinter into the sink and look at your hands, and the water, and his tail.

„Are you really okay? It really doesn’t hurt a lot!“

„Baekhyun,“ you slide forward from your seat and linger at the edge of the tub, facing him. „I can’t take this shit anymore. Please.“

„Oh my god. Your eyes are going red! Should I call for Taeyong? You’re looking really sick!“

„Don’t you understand. How, how are you not seeing it,“ you clutch at the bath curtain, dizzied, and it’s like you’re seeing double. Baekhyun tries to keep you upright in his arms that wrap tightly around you. But your head has lost all its stability, tipping way forward. You’re face-to-face, forehead-to-forehead with him now, a frantic, salivating mess. Your lips feel so swollen and pulsing, it’s hard to keep them pressed together at all.

„I’m… I’m not sick. I’m not. Hush— Listen to me now, Baekhyun. I don’t want anyone else’s blood. You’re the one I wanna mate with. I want yours. And not just a little bit of it.“

Open mouths. You gape at him, he stares right back. You’re already expecting him to call for Kai to drag you into the serum room. So much about Club Daemon.

To your surprise, he doesn’t. Instead, he begins to blink like he just heard the most incredulous news, pulling away from the embrace. He looks at you in earnesty.

„Why didn’t you just say that right away?“

Baekhyun turns the brightest shade of pink all over yet. „I never thought you’d like me back this way.“

„Really?“

„Of course…“

„God,“ you laugh, „oh God.“

„And who said you can’t drink all you want from me? That’s literally what I was gonna offer—“

You are already shoulder deep leaning into the water with your arms grabbing hold of his tail. Some of the water even gets into your nose and it’s terribly soapy from Baekyun’s shampoo, but saturated with enough blood to knock a tidal wave of adrenaline right through your system.

This is the freshest and warmest you’ve ever had it. It’s feeling like a shark in the water. The lithe red clouds wavering through the tub loosely clinging to your face and lips makes you go weak in the legs. It tastes sweet like actual candy. And it’s so, so… familiar. Being surrounded by all that cherry pink water is better than a coffin nap and no garlic pizza combined. This is way too good. You can be glad your air is running out and the wound begins to close behind scales getting back into order.

„Wow! You can hold your breath for a long time,“ Baekhyun gasps when you surface.

„I didn’t,“ you cough, and take two minutes to gather yourself.  But not exactly because of that much water getting inside of you. Rather, the blood is showing its very effect already. „The wound should be fine, um,“ is all you can say, but Baekhyun only smiles in reply.

„Oh? You don’t look full in the very least.“ he swipes his hands over his wet neck and pats it. „Try it here!“

Oh please no, not the patting and the slapping. It brings all the best veins out, oh fucking no. But he continues to do just that. At this rate—

„Can’t guarantee I’m not getting really horny.“

„Huh? If you’re not I’d be worried. Didn’t you say you want to mate with me?“

„Well… yes.“

„I’m just really honored, I need a little moment.“

„You don’t have a problem with me just… vandalizing your neck?“

„Isn’t that what it’s for? It doesn’t suck itself.“

Baekhyun, with the most innocent little expression, continues just as before kneading into the sides of his neck. His long… tan, glistening piece of art neck. You probably look like a starving wet poodle preying for a bone, and then there’s him in the tub, sparkling like a water god with his beautiful cherry hair and droopy brown eyes.

With every smack on the side of his neck, your pants squarely decide to get a little more soaked. Maybe because it sounds like you’re already fucking. Maybe because his neck is bursting with everything a girl needs. It doesn’t suck itself, huh. And your canines are in best shape because you floss them twice a day just like Taeyong said. Uh oh.

„I’m so sorry I… I think I’ll tear you up.“ Why does it have to be so long and throbbing. His smell is turning your brain inside out and back again. „God Baekhyun, you’re tormenting me.“

„Hey, not fair! That’s your job,“ he’s pouting again, and probably begins to realize he’s been doing more prep than most porn stars nowadays because the kneading stops. Without much further ado, Baekhyun squarely beckons you to climb into the tub.

„Are you really ready—“

„Don’t worry, Taemin is great at cleaning the tiles. He actually loves doing that.“

„I want to make this enjoyable to you, Baekhyun, so…“

„I don’t know, you don’t have to please me or anything,“ he shakes his head. „That you like me is already overwhelming enough.“

„A bite is serious business. I still want you to enjoy it like I do.“

„If you want that. Just, just do it harder,“ Baekhyun wriggles himself up, pinker than ever. „If we’re doing it unprotected… I want this properly.“

Finished off with a shy smile. This guy is making you go times more nuts than the first raw blood you had in that chalice. You start to understand what Mark really meant by recently mentioning how Baekhyun’s parents gave him „A certain inclination“. A well nymph and Asmodeus, demon of lust, combining? That could not possibly create anything less than somebody so enticing.

„Baekhyun, always tell me if I should stop, I, I try to rein myself in, okay. You’re too delicious…“

„My veins stop swelling, just bite already,“ he sways his tail, keeps on rubbing into in throat again with his flat palm. „Just don’t worry. You’d have a hard time draining me. You saw my body just heals itself fast.“

„Yeah. Merman thing. Mark said that.“

„You can also fuck me if you want to.“

„Baekhyun, you really don’t have to offer yourself just because my body is going crazy.“

„But I’d really enjoy it. How aroused are you?“

„In all honesty… Bram Stoker novels level horny.“

„I’m not gonna leave you like that.“

And something in his tone tells you that Baekhyun has it all figured out.

As much as your wobbly legs permit it, you get into the tub more or less elegantly. You already want to apologize for mounting him that way, but Baekhyun squarely sits you down on his crotch with his hands on your waist. That his wrist and knuckle veins have gotten the word does not go unmissed by your tunnel vision. All those pulsing underarm serpentines… leading your gaze upwards, and more, and more. Up, up, until you cannot rip your gaze from his puffy little throat. Baekhyun lets out a content little hum and lifts his chin. You really get the full damn view.

„Sorry teeth, I’ll devirginize you. No more blood oranges,“ you babble to yourself, and you can tell your brain just switched off all inhibition. You never thought you’d be slurring your words about what types of emergency fleshlights you use, all in a bath tub with a merman. „About time I pop my cherry boy.“

„Exactly right,“ Baekhyun proudly huffs, and leans back. With his Adam’s apple bulging out his throat even more, you lose all trains of thought and just grab him by either side of his head. You sink your teeth in as far as the power in your jaw can drive them, and going by how his pulse is beating inside your ears, you drilled them in pretty damn hard. Oh fuck. Beginner’s mistake. A huge gush comes out to spritz against the back of your own throat, and you almost pass out from the incredibleness of the taste.

It’s too much at once. You’re hanging by a mere thread. All your body does is follow whatever its instinct dictates. Grabbing Baekhyun by his hair is all you can keep track of, shoving your teeth right up his throat again all dissipates in a blur because your entire mouth is dripping full with him. He’s moaning so loud right now, his neck vibrates along.

„Yes…!“

You don’t want to be a weakling. And, get yourself to swallow for the first time — but then. regret it right away. His blood melting down your esophagus is like a liquid marriage proposal on the Eiffel tower. You don’t know where the noise comes from, but the birds are singing. Once it’s down your stomach and pooling there, you’re already high as fuck. Grinding erraticly all over Baekhyun’s more than steel hard boner that parts upward through the scales of his crotch. He’s really giving you all the best things.

You bury your whole face in his neck. No more neatness. All you do is let your tongue loose and drag your mouth all over his face, and his chin, and his lips, and his jaw, and all of his neck. Every angle, every side, every nook and cranny until your mouth is bursting full with all of his sweet-tasting sweat and pinkish blood that has thinned out with the water dripping from his gills. If it wasn’t diluted, you’d probably forget your own name.

You melt your teeth into his pulsing skin. A vibrant image opens before your inner eye. You’re getting visions of the beach and you as seen through Baekhyun’s eyes. And then— Baekhyun from an outside perspective, swirling through the water the moment after he saw you walk at the quay for the first time. Singing so beautifully, your ears are ringing and you never want to hear anything else.

His blood is all over your lips and chest, your training print shirt. You admit you’re tempted not to ever wash that thing even if Taemin politely asks you to or Yukhei calls it crazy. You want it to be as sullied as a white shirt can possibly get. What must be your eleventh bite in a row gives you a particularly big shot right to the tongue. It’s so much, Baekhyun’s blood starts running out of your nose, only to get back onto your lips that suck up all that candy right away all over again.

Being all drenched in Baekhyun’s nicely bloodied wonder shampoo water and your own horny leaking shit at the same time, your pussy is double wet and way, way too ready to get stuffed up with all that merman dick. You never thought that he would be any larger than your thumb, but you’re mistaken.

„No wonder Yukhei has been keeping you outside the club so often.“

„You can have it as often as you want, eight times a day, I’ll manage to be there, don’t worry.“

It’s so stiff and glides into you so easily, you groan out loud and loose a whole portion of blood from all that open mouth. It sprinkles over Baekhyun’s little nose and lips, and makes his way down to his belly. The scent is turning your brain upside down. You find yourself hooked on his nose, sucking and licking it with your pussy reaching the meaty base of what’s all the way inside you now. All the precum he’s leaking into you is taking its time, but comes down to cream you up when he starts moving. Really smudgy thrusts from below, several big fat fillings from above that you can have your fun gargling on the back of your tongue. Baekhyun knows what makes you happy. You squeeze every bit your can get out of his throat and plunge your teeth inside of him far enough to feel his vocal chords vibrating during his moans. You don’t wanna damage those. So you decide to switch things around a little and slip off his cock. It’s grown a lot inside of you and peaks out the water still brimming. The whole tub gets a taste of soapy foam mixed with Baekhyuns semen and lord knows how much delicious red cherry juice that you’ve been milking out of him. Oh god, you feel like cumming. You turn Baekhyun underneath you so the back of his head comes to face you, and you bow down to violently bury and seesaw your teeth in his nape like a lion shaking a little prey animal. His little helpless moans are so melodic and out of this world, you do notice you forgot your own name. Well, he can tell you afterwards so, no problem. For now, you made him completely yours. You don’t miss how Baekhyun didn’t reach down to get himself a hand but has grown even harder.

Going by how much he’s been begging you to do your carnage on him, and you’re tempted to ask him, you know for a fact Baekhyun would probably fanboy like mad and ooze his cum all over the place if you broke his neck altogether, but you decide that’s probably way too edgy for now. And too much, hello. His body can heal anything in a matter of five minutes, doesn’t mean you have to challenge it with a clean snap during the first time. That’s a schtick for the later fucks, maybe a birthday. Just when you find that what you’re doing with his little nape all between your jaws is way too sick for a novice, a string of tiny „please, please, please!“ noises spurs you to sink in deeper and even work your tongue just like it’s a french kiss.

„Oh woah, ah! Do it, do it more!“ His pleasure screames and demands for roughing him up leave no second for a pause. At this point, you’re just digging in and he’s all the way close to going off like a bomb. Taemin doesn’t just have to clean the tiles alone, there’s gonna be sperm everywhere. Probably even as far as the door, and that one’s all opposite to the bath tub and four meters away.

Now that you’re so snugly penetrating with your fangs pierced in around his spine from either side, you notice how Baekhyun has successfully corrupted you into a sadistic freak. The more blood seeps into your mouth, the lewder your slurping gets, and the tub water has long gone from pink to very crimson like it’s the type of apples Taeyong loves to test his fangs on pretty much daily just for practice. You swallow again, and this time, a wave of Baekhyun’s sexual fantasies crashes down on you.

Looks like since you’re closer to his central nervous system, you’re tapping his entire stream of thoughts. However this works, it’s giving your pussy severe missing-cock-disease. Drinking and swallowing repeatedly makes the visions even more vivid. The images are so vast and animated, you can hardly keep up. His face, buried between your thighs. His tongue, dragged all over your legs. You riding his tail like it’s thighs. A big gush of semen between your breasts. You slobbering blood all over his cock and making good use of its protruding veins. Images of you cumming and screaming his name. Baekhyun screaming even louder because he can. Baekhyun sucking his fingers and you licking his wrists clean. Baekhyun cumming inside you and everything bursting right out because holy shit, that’s a lot.

You want his dick and properly connect to his lips for the first time now, so you ease your teeth out of his nape, much to his protesting. You cave in and give him another bite, and make it brutal so he begins squeaking and gasping that he’ll cum. Now that you have him there, you can venture a second try and turn him around. Because you’re afraid of blowing up the second you sit on his cock again, so you start with his lips.

Kissing Baekhyun is all you expected and even more than that. Even if you’re so saturated with his blood that your taste buds are on fire, you can still clearly taste how sweet he is. Everything about him is so delicious and he’s so cute. All that pleasant taste and the gentleness of his tongue has you riding up and down his cock in less than a minute. Busy like a New York high rise elevator. Gentleman he is, Baekhyun retorting with his own thrusts feels nothing short of whipped cream consistency fucked into you with a headspin-inducing mega girth. Where he mustered that one from, only Neptune knows.

Since the entire water is ripe with his blood, that can’t go without pumping some of it into you. You’ve never found yourself horny all over your period even if the scent does make you tingle, but now, somebody else’s blood squeezed into you? Your legs feel like doing somersaults. You’re probably asking for too much, but you hope your walls soak it all up, his pre-cum included. Hell, if all that mixture shoots up in your womb, you’d probably be on a permanent high for one week. Who would have thought. This giggly little merman has turned you mad and lawless.

It doesn’t take for very long that Baekhyun’s tongue has been wrecking a havoc of pleasure between your fangs and has started bleeding after deliberately giving himself a small little prick with them, you want to get bursting full with his cum now, you can’t wait any longer. You lost your breath so it takes a few seconds until you can verbalize it, but when you do, Baekhyun doesn’t take even half a minute to have you pussy bubbling with a particularly scented load of deliciously fertile semen.

It’s such a huge amount, you have to hold onto his upper arms. Baekhyun breathes like he’s curently swimming a marathon, and has his eyes closed to concentrate on giving you the best to the best. What makes you moan is just how wildly his cock is throbbing and pumping against your cervix, that girl has never seen an avalanche of white stuff like this, she’s so lucky she gets to see this up close. Baekhyun has sunken so deep into his orgasm, he’s starting to mumble some kinds of magic words. Which seem to be directed at keeping his dick hard and keeping the cum flowing just like that.

„Shit, I want that in my mouth,“ you promptly decide, and pull your all-loaded pussy off, causing leakage all over the water. You turn to prop his cock between your lips, and Baekhyun makes it no secret that he won’t hesitate sucking his creampie right out of you. So while you’re busy sliding your tongue up and down all that veiny shaft, Baekhyun glides his nose and chin between your slippery pussy lips. The stimulation of his tongue has you twitching and stuffing his cock even deeper until your mouth is nothing but filled except a few remaining spots.

His cum is all fizzy in your mouth, it’s the most addictive thing. You decide that all that vanilla ice cream needs a juicy strawberry sauce to top it off. You do exactly what Baekhyun’s steamy fantasies displayed to you. That you lock your horny fangs deep inside of Baekhyun’s cock and squeeze him out by the liter for sperm and cherry milk is already having your eye lids flutter because you’re that stoned. Not to mention that you will smell like candy to the lycans and certainly also Taeyong for at least a whole month.

You’re the farmer, he’s the maple tree, and Baekhyun’s blood the runny, sugary syrup. The mix with his semen tastes like you bite right into a large fresh lemon and melon popsicle. and swallowing comes easy once you got into the rhythm of his continuous little bursts. Your stomach is telling you oh babe, I adore you for this. It’s stuffing full a) with the one thing is needs and b) the other thing it loves. All while Baekhyun’s bloody tongue is having a party on your clit and you can’t help but heavily rock your pussy all slapping up against his face.

The friction is unbearable, it makes you sopping wet on top of already being shot up with a ton of cream. Which now faithfully drops right into Baekhyun’s awaiting mouth and his nostrils along the way. He just snorts it up, gathers it on his tongue, then swallows it down like it’s a mild cold. The noise is so disgusting, it’s so sexy. You didn’t know mermen were this hardcore. You bet your fangs Yukhei can’t do that.

Baekhyun keeps on slurping on your creampie like it’s a desert pudding, and puckers his brazen lips to suck your clit between giving it little kisses and licks. The point where you forgot not just your name but your hometown and birth day is already passed, with Baekhyun indulging your pussy like that, you even forgot about planet earth being a thing.  His petite „Aw pretty“ and „So tasty“ noises have you clenching up and wildy deepthroating whatever impossible length of his dick is still left.

It’s oozing out too much to deal with at this point, so you just let it flow into the bath water. Your mouth being so slobbery, Baekhyun’s cock pulsing in and out of it causes a wet, hollow noise. It’s strangely satisfying and dirty to hear, you just love it. The blood seeping into your mouth makes you spiral even deeper and resorting to drift off into a wonderworld again, blowing big pink cum bubbles while you’re dreaming of Baekhyun in a groom suit out of nowhere.

Swimming at the edge of a pool, he’s stroking your hair and admiring your skin that seems so completely without any veins. Cut to Baekhyun standing in the kitchen with an apron making pancakes, drizzled with what can’t possibly just normal strawberry sauce. He perfectly balances himself on his tail to stand upright, and you’re wearing a Christmas sweater signed by Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi.

Image three, Baekhyun massaging your feet with his pretty hands while you watch Nosferatu Reloaded on television. He whispers sweet nothings but they mean everything to you. Image four, a big house with a nice water system inside, and on top of that, a really shapely coffin that smells so dusty and snugly by just looking at it, you’re enamored with no return. Oh my god, there’s a moth plague in that house, too, and the garden grows nightshade!

Swallowing the remaining semen, thick and marshmallow-y as it so savoringly is, you shift back to your senses. Shit, that was a ride. You have a hard time letting go of his cock, but he’s not sustaining it with a spell at this point. Rather, it closes back behind his scales. Probably regenerating, you sucked and performated the shit out of it. Preoccupied, Baekhyun is still busier than ever making your pussy his personal oozing face grave, he’s particularly enjoying the digging part with the tongue. You promise to unearth him once he’s zombiefied, can’t let the poor tiny merguy just drown in there.

To think that he could do all the things you saw makes you furiously thrust back and hear his face smack into you. All of the cum he pumped into you is slathered all over his mouth and makes it all the easier to get all the clit stimulation you want from his bottom lip in particular. That he catches a hang of it and moves right along doesn’t help with your arousal. Your entire lower body is so heated and bustling, any south-Texan bat cave is a joke compared to that.

You hardly catch a direct glimpse of what’s going on, but from the reflection in the tiles you can see that Baekhyun’s hair has changed its color to how it naturally grew according to Mark’s seemingly random chronicle recital on Monday. Baekhyun only ever does it when he’s really serious about something and vulnerable enough. You can tell be picked up the pace and makes sure not one lick will miss.

With that level of determination, Baekhyun is sure to earn your moans and shaky thighs after a mere minute or two. You think that because he’s part demon, his tongue is… a bit longer and pointier and stronger than the average merman’s. It’s simply how the genes tend to mix and your clit very well feels that. The way he’s driving in the tip of the tongue in rapid sequences that resemble Ten’s piano suites, you’re tipped over the edge hard enough to grab at his tail not to slip from the massive tremble that rocks you.

Your orgasm rolls your eyes back to places even ghouls could dream of, and the amount of pleasure is so strong that your hearing and vision sets out for a solid ten seconds. You just scream and moan and scream again, and Baekhyun’s face gets one massive cum shower all over again. He’s not shy to move his mouth and head around like a madman, so your cum ends up being stuck in his hair altogether. Through even more frantic sucking and kissing, he seeks to prolong your high for another fifteen seconds of blissed out grinding against his face. You drank so much blood, you

By now, your face must look so blown up with all that cum and Baekhyun marked up so relentlessly, even if his bite marks have closed by now, Kai must think you switched roles going by your scents.

„Really sorry for my big cock.“

„Your blood… does it cause random hallucinations or something of that sort, can you direct it in any way?“

„It causes prophetic visions in some cases, if you experience it clearly as an image it will come true. Did you see something?“

„Um. Lots of things. Let’s say I… liked what I saw.“

„Actually, don’t tell me. I like being surprised.“

„Doesn’t it take 50 years until the egg fertilizes?“

„47, 48 is usual. Mermen cum is really slow but it’ll get there.“

„Nice. Isn’t the firstborn always a girl?“

„Yep.“

„We’ll name her after the song that’s always on the human radio, what is it again. Janine?“

„Jolene I’m thinking. I think it was that kind of song.“

„Yeah, I like that. And in the meanwhile we have some time, do we.“

„We can just go on like that. What are you thinking?“

„Shit, shit. I’ll suck you dry, Baekhyun, you don’t even know.“

„My blood regenerates the fastest among all half-species. Shouldn’t be a problem.“

„And what will we do about Yukhei’s mating drive?“

„Don’t worry. He’ll smell it.“

You pull the bathtub plug with a heavy heart and begin washing Baekhyun down. The blood doesn’t seem to stick to him very easily, which is as unsurprising as you not getting it off your own body. Even with his whatever pricey merguy body scrub thingy thing that’s normally used to keep gills and scales in shape. Resorting to staying bloodied for the day is nothing you’ll particularly hate, though.

Ten minutes later, you find a very unsettled Yukhei standing at the window of your designated club office, not able to meet your eyes for more than a second. In that expensive black tux, and you… in your bathing robe with blood all over your hair, and just a pair of Baekhyun’s sparkling light blue and silver ‚i ♡ dolphins‘ socks he borrowed you. He can’t wear them anyway, but they were so cute that he ordered them online.

Very much naked underneath all that, and water running down your legs in drops, alongside— something that does not feel like water. You already plan to hop right back into the shower and do the rest of the cleaning. The sex is great, but vampire hygiene is a pain in the ass sometimes. The scent must be killing him. You don’t even have to sit down for the word spill to start.

„Y/N.“

„I told you I don’t like you sneaking in here.“

„After working out. And, you know my senses are always heightened after this…“

„What is it now, hellboy. Just cut to the chase.“

„Please let me talk for a minute. I came walking by in the northern corridor,“ he starts out low once again. „You talked about your wings sprouting and you were being open with him. So—“

„You listened to us!“

He keeps his lips tight, not granting any reply.

„Piece of shit, you! You’re an all-round asshole.“

The water contained in a silver jug on the office table goes right over Yukhei’s head. He doesn’t react, lets you poor it all over him stoically. You hope it’s particularly cold. Since the water is silver-infused, it stings him, but he takes it.

„I can’t switch my nose and ears off, even at such a distance. It… it just reeks, alright. I just heard what was going on without intending. The talk, the— I didn’t know what it would develop into.“

„From start to finish. Am I right?,“ you dig your nails into your palms. „And you didn’t just walk off like you fucking should. So stop blaming your ears or what topics we started out with or whatever! You talk about mating behind my back, you eavesdrop, you invade my office just like this. Do you think that’s gonna make me marry you on the spot?“

All the magical afterglow — ruined. You cast the jug into a random corner and prop down at your desk. Yukhei wipes the wet bangs out of his face and turns from the window to face you now.

„I’ll stop with all this. Okay. I don’t want to treat you like a crusade machine against my dad or just to satisfy me. I’m sorry if I’m like you said. I’m just a stupid voyeur. I really didn’t want to.“

Yeah. Of course.

„If I spied on you? You’d be kicking me out in a hearbeat,“ you cross your arms and leave them in deadlock. „And what, you’ll stop what?“

„Training you for your position and fighting dad’s army.“

„Eh.“

„I know very well that’s Kai’s job and mine.“

„No shit, Yukhei.“

„And that we should defend more and not just plan the attack. You don’t enjoy the training as much as the normal recruit. You said you’d rather be talking with Baekhyun and that you chose him as a mate.“

„You’ll change your program?“

„A lycan will respect a no. We’re determined but not a creep. And my nose works perfectly fine.“

„What?“

„I’ll be realistic, I don’t think I could satisfy you like him.“

Now that sounds very different from all he’s ever said. You turn your chair toward him and stare Yukhei down.

„I’m listening.“

„I’m not stupid, okay.“

„Inaccurate, but go on.“

„You’d… bite me once and either I bleed out if I control myself or go wolf when I don’t. That’s lose-lose.“

„So you got that all of a sudden,“ you murmur. Yukhei just keeps on talking. It’s almost a prepared monologue.

„I’m a wolf, okay. I only get it when I smell it.“

„That’s some weird shit but fair enough, Mark says that too.“

„You smell like you had almost nine liters in one go. The whole fucking mansion feels like a butchery just opened. How many times did you bite him, fifty, sixty?“

„As if I’m counting. Do you count down when you drink water? You have it easy, you’re normal when you’re not in the moonlight. I’m vampire all the time.“

„What I try to say is. I don’t boast that much regenerating ability even if I wish I had.“

„And you realize that only now.“

„I came here to be honest. I gravely underestimated Baekhyun. You bit his nape and he really enjoyed it.“

„Well thanks for the information. About my private business…“

Yukhei’s senses must be really sharp to discern all of this. He might have stood in the bathroom in person. And if he knows it, Kai does tenfold if he was anywhere near the house. His senses are time-tested and four times as trained.

„I know that doing a bite like that is a big deal in half-breed… couples.“

„You’d find that inacceptable for me to do on you, wouldn’t you.“

Silence again. You tap your feet. Yukhei ends up nodding.

„To the extrent of how you reacted when I grabbed you by the hair. We’re not much different. Trying to make someone ours. Call me possessive but you’re also territorial. You didn’t just bite his neck tonight.“

„You understand why I said we’re not compatible. then.“

Yukhei remains silent for a while after that.

„The tension between our kinds has a reason.“

„No way. Never thought of that. Totally groundbreaking news.“

„We’d probably kill each other when we fuck. Simply because of what we naturally do. We’re suited for other species. Baekhyun matches you very well with his abilities. I admit that even if it hurts my pride.“

„One man’s trash another man’s pleasure.“

„You’re not trash. You know you’re my MVP here. And Baekhyun is going to please you well himself. He’s not as selfish as I am. He’s 290 years old, he’s very experienced.“

„Your instincts are really dying for a mate, don’t they.“

„Just like you deflate to a literal zombie when you’re not drinking, I can’t go without my pack hierarchy being complete. You go stupid when you sense blood, I go stupid when my senses aren’t challenged and I have to suppress my form. It’s that easy.“

„Now tell me something I don’t know.“

You comb your fingers through your hair. It’s kind of comforting right now. Yukhei comes to sit at your desk now himself, opposite to you.

„I should have left you to your own devices when you picked your spot at the fire place already.“

„What do you mean?“

„We left you seven empty places, right.“

„So that was not a coincidence.“

„We spiked each cup with a blood probe of each member. Enough to emenate a scent, but small enough not to have you figure out which cup belongs to whom. Especially not in a room with so many people was it possible to tell that apart so it worked.“

And of course they put up flowers to further confuse you. It was all planned.

„Did you… you…“

„It was a test. I made it so that if was covert enough and fair to everyone.“

„Fair? What the hell did you do with me!“

„Find out whose blood you like the very most. It was my idea. I wanted to see if I have a chance with you or not.“

„That’s insidious.“

„You picked Baekhyun’s probe right away. And you even drank a second cup. That should’ve answered my question by that point.“

That’s why the blood in the cup was so strangely shimmery. You knew that was familiar when you slept with Baekhyun, but couldn’t connect the dots entirely because there was so much soap in the water.

„And you still kept on talking about mating with me?“

„I didn’t know about your heritage before you came to us.“

„So?“

„That gave me a second chance that I hoped you would reconsider. Because it’s tradition tha—“

You smack Yukhei right across the face with your right backhand.

„Never say that word again.“

„And you said you’re here to tell the truth anyway. It’s a shallow excuse to get with me.“

„I’m not denying that, Y/N.“

„It’s been clear to you who I like since our first words. You’re acting like you can bend me to your wishes. You tested me and knew I wasn’t into you. Why?“

„It’s like when you couldn’t take your eyes off your cup. We’re not far apart with our instincts.

„I never said that’s a lie, Yukhei.“

„You can’t expect me not to get the hots if you’re lying there on the table without your top on. And I already controlled myself. I did my best, alright.“

This man is infuriating. You wish you had more silver water to splash him with.

„Taemin was right, Taeyong should’ve done the examination. Touching me fucked with your virgin head. You’re just hunting some one-sided dream looking for some omega girl that fits into your ideology thing.“

„Well you’re right.“

„Unfortunate.“

„But at the same time at least acknowledge that I realized we wouldn’t fit together. I changed my mind about that prospect okay, I’m trying.“

„That you’d make the worst blood bank ever is already clear.“

„I really wouldn’t.“

„Just know that the next time you’re trying to own me or do your wolf stalking shit. Or try to mess with Baekhyun. I’ll be skinning your hairy back with Taeyong’s 17th-century silver dagger and use you as a mud boots doormat.“

„I’ll control my senses as good as I can.“

„Leave away the last part of the sentence.“

„I’ll control my senses.“

„Ma’am.“

„I’ll control my senses, Ma’am.“

„You’re one desperate little shit. Club president and you need to be trained like a rowdy dog. How old are you again?“

„Last time I checked, 21.“

„Not surprised Kai still calls you a puppy and Ten thinks you’re a giant baby.“

„I say, found your own club if you can’t handle it.“

„That would put it back to square one. The only problem is you being horny for the wrong person, the rest are only consequences.“

„As if I can control what my nose tells me. And you know that the very best.“

„You’re still mad your own test backfired,“ you remember the cups put up in the fireplace room.

„Is it wrong wishing you would’ve chosen my blood?“

„Yes, after I clearly made my pick.“

„Then that’s that.“

„That’s that.“

„So what are we gonna do?“

„You cut your wolfy shit, that’s all. It’s creepy. And don’t annoy Taeyong either. You got me? Just stay in your own lane.“

„If I can.“

„Are you the president or are you not?“

„Fair enough.“

Taeyong rings a bell, and you gather for some tea under the backyard Wisteria. Shrimps are served, and Taeyong even bothered to prepare a minestrone that’s wonderfully dark red. Lucas savagely chews on raw chicken wings, Ten relaxes in a hammock, Mark writes, Taemin knits, and Baekhyun plays in the nearby pool, watching and listening and chatting, upbeat as always.

Kai arrives the very last in his post-jog showering robe, but greets you the very loudest in front of everyone.

„Hey, hey! I heard you waterboarded yourself to get some soapy red juice!“

Some confusion at his word choice, some giggles.

„So that’s been making the roun—“

„Amazing! That’s my girl,“ Kai burst out and pats you on the back so passionately, it feels like a freight train hits you.

„O—okay?“

„That greed is all I ever wanted to bring out in training! Where was that determination when we peeled garlic? I tried every method in the book to get you to that point!“

Awkward silence among the members. Then, some shrugs. Mark seems to be the only one who doesn’t get it. Figures, half-goblins don’t have hyper-developed senses. Thank God, his innocent soul. The club chronicles would be filled with details of you doing all sorts of things in a bath tub because Mark never leaves out anything unless he’s currently dropping a pen out of nervousness. Which doesn’t happen anymore.

„Kai, um… I still don’t think you understand what really motivates a vampire,“ Taeyong scratches his head, with you well-aware that he can smell merman blood across the entire house without even trying himself.

„So, what is it, then?“ Kai puffs himself up, arms crossed. „I’m the fucking trainer of how many species again? I should know best!“

It doesn’t take two seconds for a heated discussion to break out. The Venerable Pyramid of Essential Vampire Needs — which author defined it the most accurately? Which peer-reviewed vampire journals are trustworthy? Which interviewed populace is the most reflective of all vampirekind? Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Greece, overseas?

Everybody wants to weigh in: Taeyong and Mark at the forefront, with Kai and Lucas saying the exact opposite of what they expertly claim just because. Ten starts trolling them with made-up facts („a vampire’s #1 need is premium cellar dust!“), Taemin unsuccessfully tries to calm everybody down with a theory that considers all perspectives, and the tea gets colder and colder.

In the meantime, you squat down at the pool and muse over Baekhyun’s hair in the wind. You twirl it and tell him he’s gorgeous. He whispers just how good you smell. Why debate about essential vampire needs when it’s all right before your eyes.

Thinking about it. It was all about which relationship was mutual. That’s what the decision had been all about, and yes, it had been crystal clear from the very start. Lucas desperately wanted you, but it was one-sided. Mark was flustered by you, but didn’t make a move, nor did you have feelings for him. Taeyong you loved, but his age and mentor status were incompatible with turning it into a relationship. You understood him, but it was motivated by an admiration — there was a pedestal, which again made it one-sided. Ten was a mystery, it wasn’t clear on either part, and leaving each other guessing was no good sign instead of going about your ways. Kai was a compelling man, but had his piece of cake and aspired to different things. Baekhyun — he loves you and you love him.

A powerful engine revvs in the nearby garage, then, the motor stops. Onto the Wisteria jogs Ten with a huge bag of groceries.

„Hello, hello!“

Everybody greets him and picks their favorite snack from his bag. He really thought of everything. Yukhei and Jongin get a huge pile of meat from the car trunk’s cooling box. As a crowning finale, Ten presents you with the latest newpaper. The front page splayed out on the Wisteria’s main table causes everyone to steer and gasp.

SHOCKING!

SATAN’S HEAVENLY RETURN

Ruling hell too stressful after all?

„Rumor has it the King finally got bored of chatting with God and kicked out Satan from the 9th circle without much further ado.“

„No way!“ you toss and turn the newspaper. Five whopping pages are filled with cover story details.

„So dear horned guy went back to where he came from,“ Ten shrugs, then points at the snapshots all over the newspaper. „I mean look at it. This is all just a big ole jealousy drama.“

Who knows God talked some sense into Lucifer.

„I know that dad was getting envious about the King associating with the arch angels,“ Yukhei says. You start to get why. Satan had the privileges of being an archangel for who knows how long until he reached puberty and rebelled or whatever.

„Doesn’t that mean dad has the throne back now?“ you ask.

„Yup,“ Ten turns to page three, where @king_beli’s instagram feed is filled with selfies of the 9th circle, posing with Sisyphus, and throwing peace signs in a sulphurous-looking throne hall. 666,000 likes after just 6 hours. If that’s not a good sign.

You keep on debating how exactly Satan got kicked out so effortlessly until Taeyong rolls in a little swirly metal wagon after the tea is finished. On top of it: An almost ancient relic that Alexander Graham Bell probably built himself.

„Sir, the Hell Telephone might be a good idea right now.“

„Your turn Y/N,“ Yukhei declines, ushering Taeyong to bring the wagon to your side of the table. You dial and wait roughly half a minute.

„Sorry, I was partying,“ a voice creaks through the old speaker. „How can I help? Isn’t this Club Daemon speaking? Is it who I think it is?“

„Hey dad.“

„It is!“

„Hello. You’ve heard about me, then.“

„Yup yup! That you’re Yukhei’s personal dog trainer is what Kai wrote me on Whatsapp! Did you really pour silver water on him? That’s funny as hell!“

„Oh God.“

„I say that a lot these days as well, man. Sorry, we have some music blasting here by the way!“

„Hey dad, what actually happened with God and Satan?“

„Ah, long ass story. Satan chickened out recently, hell is one hell of a job you know. New job opportunity for me. But you gotta take it easy and have fun.“

„I can tell.“

A spitfire verse of what sounds like Megan Thee Stallion is currently pumping through the telephone. Ten grooves right along in his hammock, smiling way too ominously. You can tell he knows every bar by heart. He’s been listening to the human radio way too much during his errants.

„I’m only stressed because the furniture is terrible.“

„The what?“

„In the years of my absence, horned geezer got a little too creative with the design, you know. I’m more of a romantic.“

„So… you just moved in there just because.“

„You could say that, yeah!“

Confused shrugging among the club members. Belial keeps on babbling and blasting something else at the other end of the line. It must be K-Pop or something like that.

„Talk about romance, I hear you have a mate?“

„Yeah dad, it’s Baekhyun.“

„Oh him? I’ve heard of that guy! The merman!“

„He’s really sweet.“

„Make many cute demon babies alright. That would be so adorable. I’m all ready to cuddle wuddle them. I actually came up with baby name suggestions.“

„Dad!“

„You know, 80 years ago. I met your mom…“

„Dad, I don’t wanna hear your love stories. Rather tell me what happened to mom. What did Satan do?“

„Listen here. That was a stupid rumor Azazel was spreading because he’s a gossip man!“ Belial rages at the other end of the line. „Your mom was 8906, alright. She died of diabetes. You got adopted by humans she found trustworthy and planned to be your caretakers.“

„That was all planned?!“

„You were… a bit too young for hell back then. She wanted to leave you the choice later on in life whether you want to be in a clan or come here, or neither of that. I know being a half-breed isn’t easy. And you should get into all these worlds by your own devices. I learned about all of this only much later you see. I’ve been hanging out in the clouds for some time. It’s pretty chill there. But now I’m happy to hear from you.“

„Yeah.“

„If you got anything you need paid? Rent, marriage, car, diapers? Just ask me when needed.“

„I dunno…“

Looks like your dad is a rather forward thinker indeed. Well, least he thought it through.

„If you need it spontaneously and I’m not available, just force Yukhei to give you some pocket money.“

„I don’t have to force him. He already does that without me even asking.“

„That’s what I call a great president!“

„He literally thinks my bank account is free real estate where he can dump anything. I can’t even manage all that,“ you roll your eyes, with Yukhei grinning his most satisfied smile at the end of the table.

On the more unsatisfied end, Kai is about to jump up and sock him in the chest. You know damn well his salary hasn’t been increasing since Yukhei discovered his unsolicited Sugar Daddy hobby. You can buy Baekhyun some extra cotton candy now, but you’ll have to figure out a way to transfer some pocket money to Kai yourself. Now really, he’s been training the shit out of you.

„Even better! Cheers to him. He’s too straight for his own good sometimes though. Anyways. You can drop by as soon as we cleaned up here. We’ll open the circles of hell completely next month.“

„Okay, that’s good news!“

„Once you get pregnant, make sure you two find a flaming cave apartment on the east side! You really wanna raise your kids here. Hellraiser, get it?“

„The east side is too hot for Baekhyun. His tub water would just evaporate, man.“

„Oh! Then the west side. A nice penthouse with panoramic views on a volcano. You’ll get a baking Pompeii face mask every time you’re stepping out! There’s so much ash raining down, your kid can do snow angels on every pavement. Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything.“

In the meantime, the party guests are blasting Caramelldansen in the background and louds clapping numbs your ears.

„Dad…. you realize you have a lot of clown energy, right? Do you even hear me?“

„Talk about clowns, actually,“ the king carries on completely unbothered. „Mammon really wants to see Kai too, I think he’s missing him. He’s calmed down a little after the Corona crisis messed with his bank account.“

Commotion at the table. Kai almost chokes on his cold tea.

„That’s unexpected… I thought he’d never do that.“

„Yeah aw, I know,“ your father says. „Satan has spread a lot of fake news while he was here, you see.“

„We’re glad to be welcome then? That sounds like a good idea to meet up some time. Maybe for a day or two.“

„Strike! I convinced you!“

„Yeah, you did…“

„Few of you saw hell back in the day, right?“

„Yukhei, Kai, I dunno who else, Ten I’m guessing.“

Nods from the hammock. Wouldn’t be strange if Ten was a regular hell driver.

„Oh Ten! Greet Ten from me. His instagram is what I aspire to. Ten is the coolest. Even the ghouls I know don’t have that kind of fashion sense.“

„Will do.“

„And— about aspirations. We’ll be talking about your heir thing when the time is right you see, I know you want to know about all of this.“

You perk up, as do the club members.

„It’s a thing for the future. I’m not hellbent or anything,“ you say, tongue in cheek.

„Hah! You’re funny. I see we’re agreeing on this. You’re very busy with Baekhyun, right. Love is priority. Hell later. This place is a lot to handle anyway.“

„…exactly.“

„I know my daughter and I didn’t even meet her yet!“

Taeyong does a little aw noise in the background and even Yukhei has to smile.

„I’ll probably tell the same stories you do and blast the same music in a couple years, I can see it coming.“

„And that’s when you’re ready for the throne. Remember—“

„Gotta keep it easy and make it fun.“

„You got it. Until then, live a tense life man, that’s also needed.“

„Dad, what the hell!“

„I actually mean it. Leave it to your old man to get this 9th circle popping in the meantime.“

You get the image of your father watching youtube music videos all day and trying to keep up with the latest slang words on twitter.

„Okay, crazy old man.“

„At your service!“

It almost makes you laugh how the old generation of full-breed demons is completely gone wild and the youngsters are the opposite. Well, except the half-lycans, but they’re always living on the edge anyway.

„Can I speak to Mister Lee as well? Is he around?“

„Mark or Taeyong or Taemin? We have a lot of Lees.“

„Um, the butler guy.“

„Taeyong, here it goes. See you dad!“

You pass the hellephone, Taeyong poises himself.

„Hey there, young man!“

„Not that young. 552, Sire.“

„Hilarious, you can’t even get a Styx boat license around here at that age. Anyway. Got some news for you.“

„Yes, Mister?“

„Mammon recently splurged on the latest robo fancy schmancy tech stuff from Japan for no reason. I guessed you would want to try one on.“

„Pardon— Try on what?“

„Oh, a prosthetic exo-skeleton I mean. I heard you had beef with the loopy guy. Just drop by whenever.“

„A prosthetic arm aid?“

„Well yes!“

„That’s… that’s very kind of you.“

„No problem! Is the your Professor X available to speak to as well?“

„Of course, Sire, one moment,“ Taeyong composes himself, but you can tell he’s still processing it.

Everybody is on the edge of their seat.

„Hi down there,“ Lucas takes the speaker and leans back in his seat very laxly. Compared to how defeated he looked in your office, his posture is much more unwound now.

„Hi up there, Lucas what’s good?“

„Doing mighty fine these days. You gave us a good headline.“

„Oh, you’re very welcome Mister President. There’s headlines about me?“

The King sounds genuinely surprised.

„Yeah. You’ll have to add me in Kai’s Whatsapp group or give me your number. I’ll update you on these types of things.“

„Note down 1666 2666 3666, and I have some updates for you as well.“

Mark and Taeyong instantly start scribbling the number into their vest notebooks, meanwhile Lucas swirls the tea in his cup around.

„Shoot.“

He begins drinking it.

„Mister Cerberus’ daughter graduated today. Canine sciences. Lovely girl, calls herself Circe, you know, like the evil witch. Very intelligent person. She’s looking for a job and a mate in the upper world. I told her about the Club’s situation and you know, gossipped a little. She says she’s interested in you.“

Lucas spits out the tea.

„Sorry, what?“

„Hey, do you really think you’re not a man in demand? Anybody who studies werewolves knows about you. And you have free membership spots, or is that information outdated?“

„I-Is she a half-breed?“

„Of course, do you think Mister Cerberus would date another demon? That would make no sense! Hell, wouldn’t that be beastitality or something? Is it that what you call it?“

„Uh… Bestiality I thought, Sir.“

„Anyways. I haven’t seen Cerberus with anyone else but werewolves.“

„Werewolves are the closest genetically to hell hounds, Mister President,“ Mark leans in confidentially to brief Yukhei. „It’s good conduct for them to date.“

„Oh, uh, I get it.“

„So, do you want to meet her or not?“

„We, we have free spots all the way!“

„Great then, I’ll send her up the staircase now. She’ll be there in a minute or so.“

„The stai—!”

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[recentanimenews]

Attack on Titan – 74 – A Whole New Ballgame

First, a recap of what transpired in the final act of last week’s episode, which was cut short: We check in on the training corps, with Keith Sadies delivering another tough-love drill sergeant speech while some young trainees are muttering about why they’re even talking about fighting Titans. One of them, Surma, blurts out what a lot of them are thinking: they should align themselves with Eren and the Jeagerists in order to secure a future for Eldia.

Right on cue, Floch arrives with the captive Hange, and asks any and all trainees who wish to join them to step forward. He then orders them to prove their loyalty by beating the shit out of Sadies until he can no longer stand…and they proceed to do just that. Looks like the next generation of Eldian fighters are on board with the change of leadership.

Eren looks on from a window as his former comrades sit in a jail. We then check back in on Levi, who successfully captured Zeke. Just as he’s coming to, Levi informs him the detonator for the lightning spear lodged in his chest is connected to Zeke’s neck with a rope, so no quick movements.

He then starts hacking away at Zeke’s feet and ankles, ensuring his Titan healing will keep him from moving around too much. Zeke asks a seemingly mundane question: whether Levi happened to know what happened to his glasses. We learn the distinctive specs once belonged to a Mr. Ksaver, with whom Zeke used to play catch.

That brings us to the next episode, in which Zeke takes his mind off the pain he’s currently experiencing and looks back on his life, starting with the first day his parents took him outside the walls of Liberio. An initially friendly Marleyan janitor tosses his bucket sludge on Zeke and his parents when he spots their Eldian armbands, claiming they’re defiling the clock tower and cursing them for daring to procreate.

Marleyans shout epithets as the Eldian family walks through the streets. Turns out Zeke’s parents intended to show him that his is what it’s like on the outside world, and why Eldians need to fight so their children and children’s children won’t be thus oppressed. Their plan involves making Zeke a warrior candidate…but it doesn’t go well.

Zeke is undersized for his age and not particularly athletic, so despite his best efforts, he falls behind and risks washing out, ruining his father’s plans. Their relationship sours and Zeke falls into depression as someone shunned both by his candidate instructor and his parents. Meanwhile, his father never once just played with him; it was always about business…about their grand plan.

There was only one person in Zeke’s life who didn’t shun him for not shaping up: Tom Ksaver, who happens to be the Beast Titan. Zeke caught Ksaver’s eye when he was struggling with training, and Ksaver reached out to him with nothing but a baseball and the offer to play some catch whenever he wanted.

In Zeke, Ksaver saw a kindred soul; one not inclined for military duty but thrust into it nonetheless. While he’s the Beast Titan, he’s also a researcher, and didn’t seek glory in becoming the Beast, but answers to the mysteries of the Subjects of Ymir, which to him make all the hatred and war in the world seem trivial.

Ksaver impresses upon Zeke that there’s nothing wrong with him just because he can’t walk the path his parents laid out for him. The two of them are simply “decent people, a real rarity” in their world. And because Zeke is constantly overhearing his parents engaging in seditious activity and won’t heed his wish that they stop “doing dangerous things”, Zeke comes to Ksaver with the knowledge his folks are restorationists.

Zeke was right to trust Ksaver, who tells no one else what he hears, but he also tells Zeke there’s no choice but to turn his parents in. If he does that, he’ll save himself and maybe his grandparents. Ksaver makes it clear that it’s not Zeke’s fault; his parents chose their traitorous paths and there was no saving them.

Had they acted a little more like his parents and less like his operators, maybe Zeke wouldn’t have done it. But by the time he fingers them and they’re sent away, Ksaver has already been more of a father than Grisha. That relationship continues as Zeke grows up, and he learns how Ksaver once made the mistake of trying to live his life without an armband.

When his wife found out he was Eldian, she slit their son’s throat and then her own. He’s been running from his sins ever since, and in Zeke saw his dead son, and wondering if it would have been better to have never been born at all. Hearing his story, and his desire to retake the Founding Titan and save the world, Zeke resolves to inherit the Beast Titan from his mentor.

Near the end of his term, Ksaver confides his findings regarding Zeke’s function as the “key to the lock” that can break the Eldian vow renouncing war. Before passing the Beast to Zeke, he tasks him with finding that lock. Zeke also inherits Ksaver’s distinctive glasses, which is why they were so important to him that he asked Levi about them.

Time passes, and after the scouting mission to Paradis, Reiner and Bertholdt inform Zeke of the identity of the Founding Titan—Eren Yeager, Zeke’s own half-brother. He learns his father didn’t meet the fate of becoming a Titan, but remarried and had another son in hopes he could be what Zeke couldn’t.

Still more years pass, and Zeke finally meets his half-brother at the hospital where Eren is posing as a wounded veteran. Eren already heard the gist from Yelena previously, but Zeke reiterates the Eldian euthanization plan, in which the Founding Titan’s power will be used to sterilize all Eldians in the world. If successful, in a century’s time there will be no more Eldians for the rest of the world to hate, and no more Eldians who will have to suffer that hatred.

It’s the equivalent of taking the ball and going home, only the “ball” is their very existence as a race of people. Eren tells Zeke how he experienced the memories of Grisha slaughtering the wall’s royal family, and could even feel the heads of the children his father killed in his hand. But where both he and his father were wrong is that those children were killed so that they could live.

Eren, like Zeke and Ksaver, would rather Eldians didn’t live than have to suffer under the heel of the Marleyans. So he agrees to help Zeke end two millennia of Titan domination. Rather than shake hands to arouse suspicion, Zeke simply tosses Eren a baseball.

Zeke wakes up in a cart driven by Levi through the pelting rain and mutters “Eldia’s sole salvation is its euthanization”. Zeke’s final words are “Mr. Ksaver? I hope you’re watching!!” before triggering the thunder spear detonator and blowing himself up.

Even if Levi survived the blast, he’s probably in pretty bad shape. Meanwhile, I could just make out Zeke’s torso falling to the ground. If there’s enough of him left for the Titan healing to work its magic, then there’s no longer anyone standing between him and Eren. One thing’s for sure: final episode of the final season should be a busy one.

By: braverade

[taiblogcomics]

Anger Fueled by Diesel

Hey there, staircases that have rotted through. I hope your Thanksgiving's good, if that's a thing you care about and celebrate. If not, I hope your Thursday's good, at least. Probably won't be after you read this review, though, since we're doing another of the New 52's Teen Titans this week~

Here's the cover:

Oh boy, this cover. Should I reference "The Power" by Snap? Should I reference that one Mega Man clip? So many possibilities with a cover caption this wordy. Also, here's Diesel. I hope this one isn't a JoJo ripoff. Actually, scratch that, I totally hope he is. Other than the fountain of jokes, though, this cover's pretty bad. Like, hold this out at arm's length and just kind of look at it. Can you even tell what's going on? It's just a lot of visual noise if you ask me.

The comic opens with a full page splash of Superboy. The captions declare that Superboy has been through some stuff, and you can tell this is true because he's currently going through a tree. Cassie apologises, explaining in a spooky voice that the longer she wears the "Silent Armor", the less control she has over her actions. She's also now going by Wonder Girl, even though all previous issues, she's thrown a hissy fit at being called that. That's how you know something's amiss with her.

Superboy's prepared to smash through her, but Tim Drake steps between them. Tim tries the "I know you're in there somewhere" tactic, which is already an unusual implication, because literally she's in there. That's how armour works, Tim. Regardless, Wonder Girl says she knows she's in here and can fight it. She's been fighting it the whole time, and she's tired of doing so now. Tim gives her the "I won't move unless you kill me" ultimatum, and she responds with "Kill it is, then". What a good plan. Fortunately, Superboy's there to rescue him as Wonder Girl begins punching up the place.

While they're doing that, we switch over to a roadside motel in New Jersey to see the rest of the Titans. Basically it's to let us know they'll be out of action for the duration of the storyline. Bunker's basically too weak to stand, and the other two are just content to listen to orders for now. After that, we rejoin where the fight continues, with Superboy tackling her enough to distract her while Tim gets in there and uses those nano-fiber wings on his costume to tear a hole in her armour. It's not anything significant, but it distracts her again so Superboy can do the actual plan of using his tactile telekinesis on her. It's sort of a double-nested distraction, I guess.

With the telekinesis surging over her, the armour is slowly and painfully removed from her. It's actually parasitic, and the spikes covering it are also on the inside, growing into her flesh. It's very unpleasant, is what I'm saying. Finally, though, it's fully ripped from Cassie, and she's free. And while she's recovering, that's when she looks up to see some dudebro sitting there, drawing the armour's energies into a little box. And oh boy, does this sequence suck, for basically one simple reason: show, don't tell.

See, the dudebro here is the Diesel as mentioned on the cover. And he and Cassie have a big history. A history that we've never seen, because of the reboot and this being his first appearance. A history that we never see because they don't give us a flashback or anything. They just talk their history at each other while Diesel powers up into the armour. It's very poor exposition. The gist of it is that Diesel is a stalkery asshole and wants Cassie to love him, while she rightly thinks he's a stalkery creep.

And now that stalkery creep has a magical set of pointy edgelord armour. It's not even gold and red on him like it is on Cassie, it's become a blue and silver number. Anyways, he blasts off with it, saying he's happy to be the harbinger of destruction if Cassie won't love him. Tim and Superboy are basically like "well, good riddance", and Cassie points out how stupid that is. Sure, she hates using the armour and it hurts like hell to even wear. But compare that to some stalkery asshole using it? The issue ends with her promising that if she doesn't get it back, a world will surely die.

We're not quite done yet, though. Remember that backup story? We've got another installment of that today. Turns out the backup stories this time and last are essentially prologue and epilogue for a story in DC Universe Presents #12, a comic which I do not own. You can kind of get the basics without it, though. The dinosaur-shaped teens are here from Mystery Island, and they want to turn the "Mammal World" into one for dinosaurs. Kid Flash has befriended one of them, a red-skinned youth in a beat-up hoodie named Teryx.

The story starts--or ends, I guess, since it's an epilogue--with Teryx about to be attacked by some lizardman-esque creature. Kid Flash shows up and delivers a beatdown to the beast, knocking it out and using some super high-tech manacles he "borrowed" from STAR Labs. The two part ways, with Teryx vowing to search the terrifying land of New Jersey for his former friends. And the story ends on those friends, with the one in a pterodactyl hoodie handing a snake to the other one, the leader named Steg. Steg pours chemicals on the snake, turning it into another lizardman, and vowing he'll still take over the world. So, given the caption of "Not the end!", this really isn't so much an epilogue as it is a teaser for a future story.

This issue is pretty bad. It sidelines all the likeable characters (and there’s so few of those to begin with) in favour of possibly the current least likeable member of the team. And the exposition is done so poorly. The tagline for the next issue promises to show how Cassie got the armour in the first place, but... Like, just show that in the first place. Then you wouldn’t need to spend two pages having her and Diesel just talk about events we never saw. It’s just so badly handled.

Worse yet, next week we won’t even see that story. No, there’s something else before that. But we’ll go into detail on that next time~

[littlesilverplatinum]

plots please!!

⤏ Plots Gets Given!

@iruludavare

---

~*1*~

---

I’ve always wanted to have a thread set on a train, specifically within Sinnoh - and I feel like the two girls could do well for that sort of a scene. Timeline wise I feel it could be fun to set it in the past - a sort of pre-established relationship in the making, if that makes sense? A base so that, if they were to meet in ’current’ times, they would perhaps remember each other and reconnect in some way shape or form.  --This would, by that, take place within the main story of the dppt games - meaning Hikari’s somewhere within her journey of badge collecting and Galactic; and I think somewhere past the Eterna Arc could be fitting. 

For a little guide, here's a map of just how I imagine the course of the ’main’ train lines within Sinnoh goes - and to have a thread upon the train from Oreburgh to Hearthome could perhaps be the most fitting. I could see a start where either of the girls had ended up falling asleep on the others shoulder, to later awake about halfway to their given destination. Depending on who, the interactions that followed would vary but the end ’goal’ being a sort of companionship. You're traveling alone? Me too! What will you do at arrival? Ah, I will do this… And so on and so forth.

Shenanigans may ensue - for they would be quite young at this stage (which, like with our thread on oblivious kind, can be left ambiguous for the sake of being mindful towards each other's personal headcanons) and to behave a bit childishly definitely could be on the table. Especially with Hikari involved, little bugger that she is… 

Specifics of what could happen, and what the end goal is, would be a mutual discussion - though some ideas could be 1) Detective work, which is generally just ’hide and seek’ that ends with the girls going to the very last cart. (How annoyed won't the rest of the passengers be? Haha) I think it could be a fun route to take if Serena would like to see if she could be like her dad? Solve the mystery of the soup served on the train, the bickering between a brother and sister etc. etc.…

2) Serena perhaps teaching Hikari about Florama’s traditions, generally exchanging information and teachings and Hikari, in return, gives what facts she knows about machinery such as old fashioned aircrafts, boats and trains. A very,,, Unrefined idea, I will admit, but I would gladly jump on the chance of getting to explore your headcanons in this way.

---

~*2*~

---

A childhood setting still, but much, much younger. As pointed out in this headcanon, I imagine that Sinnoh partakes in the yearly celebration of Lucia. Hikari, being one of few girls within her small community, has during this year been chosen as the Lucia - Serena up in Florama, equally so.  --The girls could bond over their duties, alongside the girls of Sandgem, Jubilife, Oreburgh and Canalave.

Just… a thread of kids being kids, doing kids things with some additional responsibilities sprinkled within. Shenanigans, of course, are very much on the table.

 ---

~*3*~

---

The other plot ideas have been set in the past for the ease of moving them away from a place that Serena may not be finding herself within; but also, because I feel terrible region locking interactions for Hikari (even though its necessary for… Character development reasons). However, I have a bit of an idea here sparked from this post of yours (which… Imma steal, sorry not sorry!)

Particularly, from the simple word ‘dance’. --Now… I adore me a dance based thread (for whatever reason) – and what’s cuter than these two dancing out of circumstance? The specifics are very much not clear or refined, and if traditions which would involve these things even exist – I don’t know. However;

Within Ecruteak, there’s an event of sorts in the evening. Perhaps the dance theater is having an outdoor performance of sorts, and the aftermath leaves much to be desired in form of entertainment. The band that played is still around, and it would seem that they have been tipped into playing some requests for the lingering crowd of the market and event… Etc etc.

The basic gist of it is that there’s many youths that partake in dancing, and Hikari – being a young girl herself – gets ushered by her (well-meaning) grandmother to partake in the festive and try and get to know people. Pick a nice boy to dance with, and perhaps she could bring him home for a cup of tea! --Hikari being Hikari, however, does what she is asked – but not in the way that she is directed to do it. Dance with a stranger she can do, but it’s a bit frightening and overwhelming to approach men for this; and so, she spots Serena. She’s her out in an awkward situation, in a whisper, begging the other girl to dance with her for just a short moment to make her grandmother pleased.

Just… Silly, dumb things and mutual understanding of not wanting to disappoint those one holds dear, y’know? Something short and sweet and perhaps simply meaningless – but a nice interaction nonetheless.

[blazehedgehog]

So I’ve just downloaded fortnite for the first time in two years, as I’ve heard Thor is coming. Love me some god of thunder. What do I need to know in terms of gameplay and story?

It’s hard to say. Epic has been pretty loose with the Fortnite “lore.” The basic gist is that there’s some weird time or multiverse shenanigans going on that has effectively trapped the Fortnite island in some kind of a time or reality loop. The idea seems to be that every game you connect to is the loop replaying itself. There’s apparently a team of people outside the loop who know about this and are working to do something with it, but we don’t really know much about that.

The main thing they seem to be leaning on lately is that people trapped in the loop seem to lose their ability to speak. An audio log in the lead up to the end of Chapter 1 mentions how people within the loop “become mute” over time, Chapter 2 introduced people who speak Simlish-esque jibberish, and Chapter 2 Season 2 ended with the player encountering someone outside the loop, who then asks, “Wait... can you hear me?” -- and as they say this, their words echo and loop until they, too, become jibberish.

Beyond that, whatever reality-bending stuff is happening to the island, it seems to pull stuff in (and push stuff back out) from other dimensions. This is their hand-wavey way of doing crossovers, but it did actually start with Fortnite items ending up in the real world.

That’s recent info. Top level stuff. Consider that the tl;dr. The longer version is this:

Fortnite: Save the World is the original Fortnite game. In it, a mysterious “storm” has blanketed the globe. This toxic weather not only kills everything it touches, but raises the undead in the form of “Husks.” Husks are not normal zombies, however, and this is not biological. The storm itself appears to be some kind of living cosmic entity of sorts, giving commands to all variety of monsters. Not just Husk zombies, but crazy, weird things.

You play as one of the last surviving human commanders, who teams up with a team of sentient artificial intelligence robots. Technology has been built to shield humanity from the storm, and it’s your job to boost the range of the energy-based shield while rescuing whatever survivors you can find still lost in the ruins of civilization. As you build bigger and stronger shield technology, and rescue more people, the storm itself gets angry and sends scarier monsters to stop you, culminating in the final boss against a Storm King.

Unfortunately (spoilers for Save the World), there does not appear to be a way to “cure” the storm. It’s just something people in the world of Fortnite have to live with, forever.

Save the World is a universe full of nearly-magical science fiction. There’s a mysterious blue energy source called “Bluglo” that powers a lot of the game’s technology, like flying vans, laser cannons, various types of robots, and even the storm shield itself. Many attempts are made to outsmart the storm, some of which are dangerous, and the storm itself is mysterious and unknowable.

I say this because it’s not clear how or even if Save the World connects to Fortnite: Battle Royale, but it seems like a growing possibility that Epic is leading up to explaining something, eventually, and it seems obvious that an experiment to get rid of the Storm in “Save the World” probably created the time loop in Battle Royale. It’s even possible that the team monitoring the time loop in Battle Royale is actually just a future version of the Save the World universe.

What we know is this: the storm also exists in Battle Royale, and it’s still toxic. Husk zombies don’t appear to be a problem (sort of -- more on that later) but it’s still not a great scene. Eventually the storm closes on the island until it covers it completely. Then, the loop resets.

Because of the reality-bending time loop stuff, the “lore” in Battle Royale is, as I said earlier, a bit harder to follow, and a bit more fast-and-loose. It started earnestly in Chapter 1, Season 3, when a comet crashed in to the island. In Season 4, perhaps as a result of the comet, a super hero team appeared to be formed called “EGO” with a villain team called “ALTER”.

ALTER launched a rocket in Season 4 for reasons unknown, but instead of leaving the island, it created a crack in reality. This is when Fortnite stuff started showing up in the real world, and pieces of the real world started coming over in to Fortnite -- the whole Fortnite map started becoming a mishmash of all kinds of things, from deserts, to viking longships, and so on.

Then, from out of one of the cracks in reality, came The Cube (or “Kevin” as it was nicknamed). It’s not really known, still, what exactly The Cube is. It was the same color as the storm, contained a mysterious energy, and seemed to have a mind of its own. After The Cube spawned, it slowly rolled across the island, occasionally branding certain locations with a rune. It deposited itself in Loot Lake, where it turned the water purple.

Soon, an island at the center of Loot Lake rose, with The Cube attached to it. The Cube then proceeded to move again, bringing the island with it, floating back to each one of its runes. It drew power from these runes, and The Cube grew in size every time it finished absorbing a rune.

Once fully powered up, crystals began to take shape at the former rune sites, and from these crystals came monsters. These were not the same monsters as Husks from Save the World, but they were extremely similar. This finally culminated in the Cube itself shattering, taking the players to a special interdimensional cosmic horror realm somewhere (presumably) outside the time loop.

Fortnite’s reality continued to break down. Ice warlocks covered parts of the map in snow. Strange mayan temples were erected. Volcanoes erupted. A cross-dimensional vault was discovered that could bring retired items from past seasons back. Though The Cube itself was gone, it all seemed to be tied back to it somehow.

A literal, actual kaiju was awoken from under the island, seemingly looking for The Cube. The area where the Cube exploded -- now that cross-dimensional vault -- is both what the monster was searching for, and the key to destroying it. Unfortunately, the battle to kill the monster damaged the vault and whatever strange energy it contained, causing Fortnite’s reality to further unravel and become even more unstable. Most surprising of all, it brought the comet from Season 3 back.

Another rocket is launched, and... things get weird. It’s not really known if this was ALTER’s plan all along, but using the cracks in reality, they guide the comet to collide with the vault, and whatever energy The Cube had left behind that was still inside. Reality itself finally can’t take any more, and the whole island is destroyed. Possibly that whole dimension. That’s the end of Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 launched with a completely different, but vaguely similar island. The loop mutated, or it’s a different reality within the loop, or something. The Cube, Kevin, is now the logo of a power plant called Kevolution Energy, where they have presumably contained the cube and harness its energy to power the island.

ALTER and EGO were reborn as the spy agencies Shadow (bad guys?) and Ghost (good guys?) who fight over control of the island. The end of Chapter 2 saw Midas, the leader of Ghost, create a device to try and eradicate the Storm. As we know from Save the World, trying to defeat the storm just makes it angry. Things didn’t go so well.

In doing so, Midas appears to have begun weakening the barriers of this reality now, too. He apparently generated so much energy that he punched on through outside the loop, causing disturbances of some kind. It’s possible somebody is maintaining the loop, on purpose, perhaps as a way to contain the storm, and Midas’s actions threatened to bring the storm back out of the loop. Either way, Midas is now being painted as a villain, and cracks in reality are beginning to form over the island again.

With them come a new enemy type -- Marauders. These seem to be humans from another reality sent to kill people on the island. In truth, the Marauders are characters from Fortnite: Save the World wearing animal skull masks, something that current theorycrafting is painting as being an important detail -- as if this is the beginning of Battle Royale and Save the World becoming definitively linked in the lore. A lot of what I just said here is half theorycrafting anyway (since, again, Epic seems to be deliberately obfuscating what’s really going on, and the reality-warping stuff lets them do all kinds of literally nonsensical stuff), but “Marauders come from Save the World” is bleeding edge theorycrafting. Grain of salt and all of that.

The teasers leading up to Season 4 is that some kind of big universe-ending event, “The Black Winter,” will bring about the death of all things. Galactus, from Marvel Comics, knows how to stop it, but he needs to eat five planets to have enough energy to fight back. He enlists the help of Thor to safely evacuate sentient life from those five planets before he eats them. Instead, Galactus is seduced by the seemingly infinite power of Fortnite’s island loop, becoming lost. Thor ventures to the island hoping to find Galactus.

And now you are caught up.

[fallout4holmes]

Nuka-World 3

Since we were meeting leaders, we headed to the one next door first. The Disciples called the maintenance area under Fizztop Mountain home, so we headed around to the employee entrance. The guard didn’t have any trouble seeing us, despite her face being completely covered. “Watch yourself, ‘boss,’” she threatened, “cuz we sure will.” Holmes did not deign to comment.

The inside of the mountain was the typical sort of decor I expect from raiders, but the Disciples took their fondness for dismembered body parts on pikes to an extreme level. It was one of the more unsettling locations I’ve been in, and I once followed Holmes through a serial killer’s art studio. The person we were here to see wasn’t going to ease that sensation.

A woman with a bit of a drawl to her voice was talking to another woman wearing a bladed helmet, like an apocalyptic valkyrie, while a man in a spiked helmet stood to the side. All the Disciples kept their faces hidden at all times, and these three were no exceptions, the helmets doing the job instead of hoods and masks.

The gist of the conversation was that the Disciples weren’t too pleased with Gage’s plan and choice of new leader. The lady in the bladed helmet said they were giving Gage one last chance, and if this scheme of his didn’t work out, she’d kill him. No wonder the guy was eager for Holmes to be on board, his life was counting on it.

Holmes approached the valkyrie after she dismissed the other two. “So,” she said. “You’re Gage’s little pet project.”

Great start.

“If you mean I’m the one he tricked into becoming your Overboss,” Holmes said with a warning tone, “then yes.”

She shook her head, “The Overboss title doesn’t mean anything. Hasn’t for some time. Everyone knows Gage wanted Colter dead. Of course, if I’d had my way, it would have been a slow and painful process. But whatever.” She sighed, “Let’s get this meet and greet over with. I’m Nisha. I lead the Disciples.”

Holmes introduced himself, last name only, and decided not to mention the synth standing just behind his shoulder. That was fine with me; I wasn’t in any mood to chat, and the more mystery we could keep around us, the better. At least until we had something resembling a plan.

Nisha was calm and smooth, with an edge. Seems the Disciples only had one rule, to keep the peace of this little alliance between the gangs, which really just meant “don’t get caught.” Nisha was smart enough to know that her odds weren’t great if her people had to fight two rival gangs at once. Otherwise, she figured rules went out the window when the bombs dropped.

Holmes disagreed, “The world needs rules. Otherwise, we’ll never recover.”

“Rules are dangerous,” Nisha countered, “because people start to trust them. Colter thought some sort of rule or code would make him untouchable, but he found out he was wrong—the hard way.” That sounded like a problem of ego instead of rules to me, but I doubted she’d appreciate the difference. "Although I could give him a little credit,” she continued. “He built the Gauntlet after all. Of course it was total shit at first, no imagination, but we spiced it up a bit.”

She was pleased with herself. Holmes was not amused. “How many lives has the Gauntlet claimed?”

She shrugged, “Who’s counting? At least enough to keep the traders busy. We like to send them in to clean out the bodies whenever things get ripe in there.” She smiled, savoring the fact. “They don’t always make it out alive, of course. The Gauntlet never sleeps.”

She was trying to get under Holmes’s skin. Hell, she got under mine. But Holmes is nothing if not practiced at keeping his emotions in check. “Impressive,” he said flatly.

Nisha seemed amused. “I may let you keep that pretty head of yours on your shoulders after all. I just hope Gage is right about you. He made a lot of promises to get us here and never followed through.” Her voice sharpened, “So you better not screw this up, because I’m not about to tolerate another round of bullshit.”

Holmes raised an eyebrow, “I assure you, I am the very best at what I do.”

“Disciples don’t make idle threats,” she warned. Maybe sensing she was alienating a potential enemy, she backed off a little, made the case for why Holmes should help the Disciples take over the park instead. The Operators are spoiled brats, the Pack are a bunch of animals, the stuff you’d expect rival leaders to say about each other. Finished her speech with a gem; “Do right by us and everyone in the Commonwealth will know your name.”

Holmes almost laughed. “They already do. However, I will consider your proposal.”

That wasn’t the reaction she’d expected. “Aren’t you sure of yourself,” she huffed. “Well, consider this; how much do you value your life?”

“You’ve made your threats perfectly clear,” Holmes didn’t quite roll his eyes but he obviously wanted to. “I’ve yet to meet the other leaders, but you’ve given me a great deal to think about. Do you mind if I look around?”

“Of course not,” she said, back to quietly pleasant. “See what we do here. If you decide you want to help out, come find me.” She headed up the ramps winding up to the top of the mountain.

“Charming woman,” I muttered. We had a look around, scoping out the place. Didn’t find much except confirmation of the Disciples’ sadism. I ain’t the kind to ever wish harm on another person, but I was getting pretty damn close to making an exception for those people. We made our way out, back into the welcome sunlight.

Heading south through the park brought us to the Parlor next, a former dinner theater turned headquarters for the Operators. We’d overheard a couple Disciples ridiculing the Operators for caring about things like personal hygiene, which was a mark in their favor in my book. Add the fact that according to Gage the Operators cared most about caps, and I had the idea that a couple centuries ago these people would have been right at home in the mafia. Or the stock market.

A guard wearing armor over a suit stood outside the door, “You can head on inside, Overboss.”

We found a handful of Operators idling in the theater’s lobby, chatting or smoking a cigarette. They all eyed us curiously, but kept to themselves for now. Holmes stopped us just outside the open doors to the main hall. Just out of sight, someone was talking, and it didn’t take long to figure who the gossip was about.

“Sorry, boss. All that’s turned up is that he’s got that Pip-Boy on his arm.”

“So,” a woman spoke, “our new Overboss is a vault dweller.”

A different man from before added, “Or an iced vault dweller.”

Holmes and I shared a look. Had they heard of Holmes? Gage had made the Minutemen connection, but Holmes being on ice wasn’t always a detail folks were aware of. The woman considered this, and dismissed the messenger. We took our cue to make our entrance.

A platinum blonde with armor over a plaid suit stood by the stage, a bearded man next to her in the same sort of armor over a fancy suit of his own. “Well,” the woman said as we approached, “I guess we all owe you for taking down Colter.” She looked straight at me, kept her face neutral (which isn’t something most people can do the first time we meet), and ignored me. After some further critique of the former Overboss, she asked Holmes what it felt like when he killed the guy.

"How did it feel when I killed a madman in an electrified suit of armor trying to kill me?" Holmes responded. "I suppose the same adrenaline rush and ensuing relief that comes with any fight for my life."

It wasn't the answer they were looking for exactly, but the lady moved on and finally got around to introducing herself. "I'm Mags. This is my brother, William."

"Pleasure," he said like this was anything but. The feeling was mutual. Something about these two bugged me, a fragment of a memory just a bit too hazy to make out.

“Along with our co-conspirator Lizzie,” Mags continued, “we run this crew. We call ourselves the Operators.”

Mags’s big pitch was that the Operators were interested in one thing; money. Their methods were a touch more bloodthirsty than what the founders of Nuka-World had in mind, but what better place to make all the caps you can want? No lunatic bloodlust or animal instinct, just cold rationality and a willingness to do literally anything to make a cap.

“Then let me assure you,” Holmes said, “that enabling trade is my primary concern here in Nuka-World.”

That answer pleased William, but Mags was still skeptical, and rightfully so. Still, she said she was looking forward to it and told us to feel free to look around and speak to her if we were interested in lending a helping hand. So we looked around. Holmes wanted to meet their co-conspirator. Me, I was still wondering where the hell I’d heard the names Mags and William Black before.

The old dinner theater wasn’t in the best shape, but it could have been a heck of a lot worse. We found Lizzie in the kitchen with a chemistry setup. A quick glance through her terminal revealed a series of disturbing experiments on some sort of “persuasion formula.” Get settlers to do anything you tell them to, and I mean anything. Also made the connection of where I’d heard of them before.

“Valentine, these people lived in Diamond City,” Holmes looked at me like I’d been hiding this fact.

“Yeah, I see that.”

“You don’t remember them?”

“The names seemed familiar, but I haven’t been able to place them. Would have to have been decades ago, I’d think.”

Holmes’s curiosity had been piqued, so he set about trying to find more information. In typical Holmes fashion, he decided the most efficient way to do that was to break into the only locked door in the place.

It was Mags and William’s room. I wasted no time looking at the terminal while the nosy “Overboss” made sure no one gave us any trouble. Mags had a handy list of players in the park, details on all the gang leaders and people to be aware of. More interesting to us at the moment was the holotape from her mother on the desk.

“Now I remember!” I said. “The Blacks were an Upper Stands family, twenty years or more ago. Maggy and Bill were rowdy terrors, ran around with their friend Lizzie causing trouble. They were exiled when one of their classmates was found… well, it wasn’t pleasant.”

“Come now, Valentine—”

“Let’s just say I’m not surprised they turned raider, alright? Mr. and Mrs. Black left town soon after their kids were exiled, scared for their lives. My guess is they could see their children’s vengeance coming. Lizzie Wyeth… don’t remember much about her folks, if she had them, but she always seemed like a real smart kid. Guess she put that to use.”

“Then they must know who you are, surely?”

“That’d be my guess. Wonder what they make of the old synth from back home they used to make fun of, running around with a vault dweller.”

“I’m not in a particular rush to find out,” Holmes said and we made a quick exit back to the park.

“I’d like to talk to some of the traders next, if possible,” Holmes said as we walked. “I don’t think I can take interviewing the leader of the Pack just at the moment.”

“I don’t blame you,” I chuckled, “but I doubt the traders are going to make for cheerful conversation either.”

We headed to an enclosed space in the courtyard, which graffiti informed us was the market. Inside we saw stalls set up all along the walls, the familiar shouts of traders a little bit like home. Or they would have been, if it weren’t for the red light on the collar of every single one of them. Their customers were a handful of travellers who had somehow managed to make it here and pay whatever price necessary to not get killed. Raiders watched from scaffolding in the middle of the market, making sure business went smoothly. We made our way around, more to see the state of the traders than any interest in their goods. Came across a handyman named Chip who’d been in Nuka-World so long he wouldn’t know where to go even if he did get free. He talked about restoring power to the old park. After being here for twenty years, he hoped to get her running again somehow. It was kind of inspiring and damn depressing all at the same time.

Then we found the clinic. Dr. Mackenzie Bridgeman used to live in a settlement west of the amusement park. When Overboss Colter offered her a deal—work for him and he’d leave her settlement in peace—she agreed. The doc was naturally curious about the new guy in charge, and took a leap of faith when Holmes let slip he wasn’t too pleased with his new position. “Then this might be your chance to make some changes around here.”

“Such as?” Holmes asked.

“The gangs that call this place home are already at each other's throats.” She leaned closer. She couldn’t have looked more conspiratorial if she tried, but none of the raiders on watch seemed to care. “Now, you could risk your own neck and try to keep them from tearing each other apart, or you could do the right thing and put them in the ground. When it's all said and done, you're still running this place from your fancy house on the mountain over there. Except now, you won't have to sleep with a gun under your pillow.”

Holmes regarded her quietly for a moment. “I think you have the wrong idea about me, Dr. Bridgeman.”

Poor lady nearly had a heart attack, “Okay, okay, I get it boss…”

“Holmes, could you not terrorize the locals?” I scolded.

Drawing attention to myself had the intended effect; she was too startled to be scared. Holmes, for his part, was doing that sigh he does when he realizes he’s been a jerk. “I wasn’t trying to. Dr. Bridgeman, I fully intend to make the ‘changes’ you suggest, however it will not be for the purpose of ruling unchallenged from on high.” He waited for a raider to pass, and whispered, “I simply want to help if I can, and go home. Any advice you can give to help me do that would be appreciated.”

The doc breathed in relief, “Oh. Good. Well, if you're serious about this, then you'll have to take down the leaders of the gangs. That means putting a bullet into Nisha, Mason, Mags and Mags's brother, William. Once you do that, the gangs will collapse and Nuka-Town goes back to being a free trading post.” She looked around nervously, “I should uh, probably stop talking about this out here.”

Holmes smiled a little, “I think that would be wise, doctor. I make no promises, except that I will see what I can do.”

"Kill the raider leaders, restore power to the park for the traders," I muttered as we left the market, "sounds like a plan."

Holmes scoffed, "Not much of one.

“Heck of a lot better than what we had before.”

He smirked, “A fair point. It is progress, at least.”

Up next was the Amphitheatre, where the Pack was based. The guard informed us that “Mason’s been waiting for you,” and in we went. At this point, we felt ready for just about any variation on raider the park could throw at us.

We were not ready for a zoo.

Shouldn’t have been a surprise, really, with the Pack’s penchant for animal masks and costumes, but I definitely did not expect to see a caged ghoulish gorilla, a two-headed gazelle… and people. Dogs, mongrels, and mole rats walked around free, apparently tame, while a cage fight went on to spectator cheers between a dog and a mole rat. Watching over all this spectacle from his throne on the amphitheatre’s stage was the man that had to be Mason.

“Now that I get a good look at you, not sure I’m buying this new Overboss thing,” the mustachioed raider said. It was kind of hard to take him seriously in his furry pants and vibrant facepaint, until you remembered that there was a cage full of humans just across the way.

“I’ll send you my resume and references,” Holmes drawled, tired.

“The fuck’s a resume?” Mason demanded, then changed his mind, “Don’t matter. Name’s Mason, The Pack’s Alpha. This here is our side of town. You might be Overboss, for now, but I’m the boss of the Pack, and it’s gonna stay that way. Long as you don’t go forgetting that, we’re gonna be fine.”

Mason at least didn’t sound like he was giving us a sales pitch right off the bat, just questioning the new guy and a little show of bravado. He was also willing to talk a little about Gage and Colter, and made pretty clear that everyone knows Gage is the power behind the throne, and no one is happy about it. Holmes did ask eventually what exactly the Pack had that the others didn’t, apart from their fashion sense. Mason’s answer? “The Pack are the meanest sons of bitches you'll ever meet. We do whatever it takes. And we're fiercely loyal. The Operators will cut your throat as soon as they get what they want out of you. And the Disciples? Who the fuck knows what those crazy bitches want. There's something wrong with them. And you just can't trust someone who ain't willing to show you their face.”

I thought his opinion was probably on the mark, which was a surreal feeling. Always good to keep in mind that folks are often a lot smarter than they look. The last meeting of the day finished, we scoped out the backstage area of the amphitheater for the sake of thoroughness. The Pack’s living area was decorated with colored lights and animal trophies, a fine alternative to human body parts. Apart from the yao guai in a cage with three dead people around it.

By now the sun was setting, so we headed back to our, uh, quarters. Gage was waiting in the Overboss’s bar, and headed straight over to the lift when he heard us coming up. “You’re back, good. So—”

“Mr. Gage,” Holmes was in no mood, “I have just endured a day of kidnapping, fighting for my life through an obstacle course of deadly traps, and spending the entire day engaging in conversation with people I would rather see eaten by a deathclaw. I am going to sleep. We will discuss your plans in the morning.”

Gage didn’t like it, but he didn’t protest. I followed Holmes into Colter’s former quarters, and wondered if the man had been suffering from some sort of hallucinations when he decorated.

“You’ll stand watch?” Holmes asked as he removed the bulkiest pieces of armor.

“You have to ask?”

He smiled a little, “No. But I do anyway.”

I put a hand on his shoulder, let him come to me. Behind closed doors, he could let it all go. Fell against me, held me as close as I held him. I still have to fight back the fear that I’m gonna hurt him, metal isn’t made for cuddling, but it gets easier every time. “We’re gonna get out of this, partner,” I whispered.

“Of course we are,” he said with a hell of a lot more confidence than I think he felt. “It’s simply far more exhausting than I expected.”

“The hard part’s still to come.”

He sighed, “We’ll see what Gage expects from me next tomorrow morning, and make our plan from there.”

I kissed him lightly, and nudged him toward the bed, “Rest up. I’m watching over you all night, just like always.”

He managed to fall asleep eventually. I did exactly as I promised.

[entamewitchlulu]

Can We Trust Keppi?

This is a question that’s been in my head since episode 6 -- is Keppi...a good guy?

I think considering this is an Ikuhara show, the answer is definitely “probably not because NO ONE is a straight up ‘good guy’”.  But in comparison to many of the other characters, Keppi is one that we know surprisingly little about.  Even Reo and Mabu have been getting a lot more development, especially in recent episodes -- even without having ALL of the details, I think we have a pretty solid gist of what’s happening with those two. 

But as for Keppi?  What do we know?

We have a few facts:

Keppi is the prince of the kappa kingdom

He fled during the assault of the otters, and was at some point sealed inside the statue in Asakusa.

He is (presumably) one of the last, if not the last, survivor of the kappa kingdom.

He can turn people into kappa by taking out their shirikodama.  He can also consume the shirikodama of kappa-zombies.

He is the only kappa who can create the dishes of hope.

But....

Aside from the kappa transformation, which we’ve witnessed...who told us all of this information?

Keppi did.  And so far, the show has done very little to corroborate his facts.  

Under the cut, I’m going to discuss a couple of points: 1) the fact that Keppi never actually told the boys what he was getting them into, 2) the curious framing of the shirikodama and desire energy, especially in reference to the kappa trio, and 3) Keppi’s uncertainty as a reliable source of information.

Bear in mind while reading this (ungodly long) post that I like Keppi.  I don’t want to believe he’s an antagonist, and to be honest, I don’t necessarily believe he is.  But I do absolutely believe that there is a lot more going on than he is telling, and if I know an Ikuhara show, there’s going to be plenty more secrets every episode -- and I have no doubt that Keppi has his own agenda, which may not align with what we thought it did, much less what the boys thought it did.

So, my first point: when Kazuki and Toi first awakened Keppi, he asked them for their help.

But....with what?  

With dealing with the kappa-zombies?  As far as it seems, there haven’t been any kappa-zombies in this city until the night after Keppi is awakened, otherwise, the boys probably would have noticed that these strange occurrences in the news are happening all the time.

Toi even says in episode 6 on seeing the sachets in the news that “we’ve never seen the incidents two days in a row, have we?”  If the kappa-zombies were a regular occurrence, and weren’t obscured with some kind of dream mist, Toi would not have made this assertion.  These incidents would have been happening every single day.

So what was Keppi going to ask them for help with before he got mad and turned them into kappa?  Was he going to ask them to help him reclaim his kingdom, burned down by the otters?  If that’s the case...why did it take him so long to bring up the Imperial Army?  If the incidents are happening every single day, which I don’t believe they necessarily are, that’s a good five days of this where Keppi has said nothing -- and probably, a little longer.  Maybe even a week or so.  Why did it take Keppi this long to tell them why he wants their help?  He dragged them into this and forced them into it without so much as an explanation of where the kappa-zombies come from in the first place.

And in the end, he didn’t even have to.  The boys were more than motivated enough by their own needs, and by the prospect of the dishes of hope, to keep becoming kappa and fighting the kappa-zombies without even asking what was going on.  They were distracted enough by their own problems that they didn’t even think to ask what Keppi is really getting out of all of this.

On the topic of the dishes of hope, as well...how convenient it is that they get a gold dish first, one that grants an ill-mentioned wish to prove that the wishes CAN be granted...and after that, he only produces silver dishes, for which you need five of to get a wish?  You can’t get a better carrot on a stick than that.

Keppi didn’t need to explain, because the boys didn’t bother to ask -- they were more than concerned with their own problems.  And maybe that’s just how it happened, maybe Keppi wasn’t intentionally hiding the truth from them -- after all, he more than willingly gave up all of the information about the Imperial Army and Haruka’s whereabouts when Haruka came in danger...

Except, here’s a good question:

How does Keppi know where the otter’s hideout is?

I’m going to briefly skip the above second point to move to the third one: Keppi is not a reliable source of information.  For one thing: no one questions that he knows where the enemy is hiding.  For another, he tells the kappa trio about the war between the kappa and the otters, but he’s the only one telling us about it.  Outside of the ReoMabu flashback, we don’t actually know what happened during that battle -- we don’t know who was at fault, who the “bad guys” were, if indeed there were any at all.  But we can’t prove a THING about what he says, because again -- he is the only one at the moment who can claim to have been there.  He could tell them anything.  It’s not like Kazuki or either of the others were in any state of mind to demand details, either.

One more thought on Keppi’s unreliability as a source of information: the very, very first encounter between him, Kazuki, and Toi.

When Kazuki and Toi first accidentally awaken Keppi, their entire memory of the encounter is wiped.  Even once they rejoin Keppi, called back by him, no actual memory of the conversation they had is shown to us.

So...what did they talk about?

It could be, of course, that this was just a means to keep the story flowing, to add in the funny bits where Kazuki and Toi show kappa tendencies, and to make sure that the actual encounter happens at night so they can go straight into fighting the kappa-zombies.  But...why was no memory of their conversation kept at all?  This is one point that I could certainly see myself reading into a little too much, but there’s one part of it that makes me wary: the confirmation that Keppi has the ability to suppress memories.

Which means...if at any time a conversation goes where he doesn’t like, all he has to do is erase the memory.  If the boys learned anything he didn’t want them to know, poof, memory gone.  I can’t be sure if this was just a first-episode gaff, but the possibility remains, that Keppi is more than capable of performing a memory wipe.  That, once again, lowers his credibility as a reliable information source.

So now I want to get back to the second point: the shirikodama.  This could be a mixture of me not knowing enough Japanese to understand, or me simply reading too much into things, but what concerns me the most is the scene where Keppi tells Kazuki that he can give his shirikodama to Haruka.

First of all...it seems very odd to me for Keppi to offer this so quickly and willingly.  Doesn’t he need the boys for help?  For either fighting the kappa-zombies or whatever other mystery request he first had at the beginning?  But he seems to have no problems with informing Kazuki of this means of essentially killing himself.  He could have easily kept this possibility to himself, and Kazuki would have never known that it was possible to save Haruka, and Keppi still has his fighters.  But he makes the offer, immediately.  Did he have a back up plan?  Did he intend to have Haruka replace Kazuki on the team?

And my second question on this scene is...doesn’t Keppi already HAVE Kazuki’s shirikodama?  Why does Kazuki need to go into the pit to sever his connection to his shirikodama, if Keppi already has it in his stomach?  

My current theory: Considering the shirikodama automatically returns to the boys after Keppi swallows the shirikodama of a kappa-zombie, there is evidence to state that the boys still have a connection to their shirikodama even if it is removed.  Since the kappa-zombies are dead, once their shirikodama is removed, the desire that keeps their “ghost” in the world dissolves, leaving the shirikodama only left for Keppi to eat, and he doesn’t have to worry about it going back to the person it belongs to, because that person is gone.  In that case, it makes sense that Keppi would need to sever Kazuki’s connection in order to give it to Haruka...but it does feel very nervewracking to me, because this implies that you can take someone’s shirikodama from a living person, and erase them...if they agree to willingly give it up.

I don’t know if Keppi would have saved Haruka with the shirikodama, or if he simply would have eaten it, and found another troubled teen to add to the kappa trio.  For that matter, the whole concept of the shirikodama and desire energy is fraught with uncertainty -- what does it do for the kappa?  Is it food?  Is it a delicacy?  Do they actually use that energy to power things?  Why does Keppi want them?

That leads me to my final thoughts on Keppi’s trustworthiness.  First, as someone has pointed out...there’s a strange pair of eyes in the background of Reo and Mabu’s desire extraction dance

Keppi’s eyes are, so far, the only ones the same shape as this pair of eyes.  Does that mean Keppi is involved in the creation of kappa-zombies and desire extraction?  He did know where the factory was. Of course, there’s the fact that Reo didn’t know where Keppi was, and clearly plans to try and kidnap him for the plates -- but Reo is also clearly a grunt in the otter hierarchy more than anything, so if Keppi was involved, he absolutely would not be told.

There’s also Keppi’s involvement with Sara.  They appear to be....dating?? I guess??  Sara has been noting exactly which items are the object of desire for each episode with her Lucky Selfies since the beginning -- not only that, but she’s inextricably connected to Reo and Mabu, as she was their adopted daughter in the prequel manga.  Her current connection to them is unknown, but it is curious that she predicts the object of the week every single time.

And finally, there’s that ReoMabu flashback, the one that freaked EVERYONE out -- where Reo and Mabu burst into a throne room, and confront a strange human-like person with a crown...in a kappa kingdom with a throne room, if Keppi is telling the truth, this shadowy figure can be no one else other than the prince of the kappa, Keppi himself.  And something very, very strange happens to Keppi in that scene -- a black shadow with glowing red eyes expels from him as he yells about his desire being stolen. 

Glowing red eyes?  Sounds a lot like the eyes we see inside the desire extraction machine -- and indeed we do see the creature yelling “DARKNESS” seen inside the factory once again in episode 7.  Could the similarity of those eyes to Keppi’s have something to do with that shadow once being a part of Keppi?

One way or another, Keppi benefits from the kappa-zombies.  Without them, he would not have a constant source of shirikodama to eat, whether that’s nutritional for him, or simply a delicacy.  He’s actually the one benefitting the most from the current state of events.  Sure, the boys are getting some free therapy out of it and potentially a wish or two, but they have to put in far more work for far less results.  Keppi does nothing but turn them into kappa, watch them finish off the kappa-zombie, and gobble up the shirikodama afterward.

At this point, I have one major theory: that Keppi is not as innocent as he would like as all to believe in the kappa-otter war -- either by his own will, or through possession.  And he has a vested interest in not yet revealing that lack of innocence yet.  Again, I don’t necessarily think he’s a villain!  After all, he was just as willing to get kicked around to save Haruka as he was to offer a shirikodama transplant.

But Keppi has an agenda.  I think something was stolen from him, and I think it’s his goal to get it back -- and if he has to use a few people along the way, I don’t think he’ll shy away from that.  The characters in this show have been proven to be nuanced and gray in their morality -- I have no doubt Keppi will be revealed to be the same.

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 10: INFINITE

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series of mine in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, we’ll be sharpening our blades and resisting the pain as we discuss what it takes to be the right-hand henchman of Sonic Forces: Infinite.

The Gist: Dr. Eggman was minding his evildoing business when one day, from thin air emerged a particularly strange jewel that seemed to be drawn to him. Realising this was no mere Chaos Emerald, due to both its peculiar shape and its bizarre reality-distorting effects, Eggman immediately contemplated how he could effectively utilise this new gemstone for his purposes.

Suddenly, jackals!

“Go forth, Red Shirts!”

Eggman's base was under attack by the imaginatively titled Jackal Squad, a group of thieving mercenaries who figured they could profit from the theft of the doctor's equipment. Unfortunately for them, Eggman had Main Character Immunity, so their efforts to kill him send him to the Shadow Realm fell flat. Despite nearly getting killed by them, Eggman knew an opportunity when he saw one, and he offered the role of apprenticeship to the squad's heterochromia-inflicted leader. His fellow jackals insisted not to take up the offer, because even they knew the risks, but the leader signed up immediately, because he's not all right in the head if you know what I'm saying.

In a cruel twist of fate, Eggman's first request for his new stooges was for them to take care of Shadow the Hedgehog. That Shadow the Hedgehog. Ultimate Lifeform Shadow the Hedgehog. Fast, immortal, capable of stopping time, drops his bracelets to grow even stronger Shadow the Hedgehog. They had to defeat that Shadow the Hedgehog.

They did not succeed.

BOOOONESAAAAAW’S READYYYYYYYY

After metaphorically and literally murdering the rest of the already forgotten squad, Shadow gave some parting words to their defeated leader, and those parting words were responsible for what happened next, and everything after. As someone who prided himself on being the ultimate mercenary, Mr. Jackal was bloody well peeved off about coming to terms with his physical shortcomings, and thus decided to give himself an upgrade in the form of sticking a gem on his chest, putting on a mask worthy of a heavy metal cover, and rechristening himself as... Infinite. Infinite power. Infinite possibilities. Infinite memes.

The upgrade paid off. With the aid of the gem, known to us as the Phantom Ruby, Eggman's latest minion was able to distort the environment, summon past foes, and do what no other villain not retconned out of existence had ever managed to achieve: defeat Sonic the Hedgehog.

Eggman was delighted. The past foes were delighted too, as evidenced by how they stood there to take it all in.

This is a very sentimental moment for them.

With Sonic out of the way, Eggman was able to take over 99% of the planet, because Sonic's friends were tragically all on holiday at the same time. During the subsequent six months of suffering and strife, Infinite relished in the doctor's conquest, but not as much as he relished in killing and terrorizing innocents. One incident in particular involved him leaving behind a scared youngster for the sake of letting them know fear. This would turn out to be a big mistake on his part, when - with the ever reliable power of friendship - said youngster would go on to oppose him as part of the Resistance. (This franchise isn't known for creative group names.)

“L’Oreal: Because I’m not weak.”

The formerly incapacitated Sonic also managed to eventually break free from his captivity, and proceeded to do what he does best alongside his new friend. Infinite was having none of this, and so he made absolutely certain to... leave him alive. Despite Eggman's insistence that a freed Sonic could cause as much trouble as a freed Sonic could in every other situation since 1991, Infinite remained confident that he couldn't be beaten. Three guesses for how that turned out. The first two don't count.

He was serious about crushing the Resistance though, and together with Eggman, not only did they summon a whole army of clones, they also summoned an artificial sun that, upon reaching the ground, would ensure the Resistance would meet a terrible fate. Good always triumphs however, and the clones were fought, the sun was vanquished, and Infinite himself was defeated once and for all.

It was at this point that Eggman decided to reveal that Infinite was a sham, a distraction, a red herring. For all his power, Infinite was little more than a glorified mook the whole time. Infinite was never the doctor's endgame. He was. Infinite didn't even have true mastery over the Phantom Ruby... but he did.

Death Chad Robot.

In just a few minutes, Eggman tapped into the power of the Ruby more than Infinite ever did, and overclocked it to turn his Doc Ock-looking mech into a beast. But through thick and thin (and a second Nega-Wisp Armor), Sonic and his ambiguously named friend teamed up to take the madman down, because we're Sonic Heroes.

The world was saved from further tyranny, and Eggman went on to either lose his memory or shrug it off to take part in racing spinoffs depending on the continuity. But Infinite - or rather, the jackal who called himself Infinite - remains absent. He could be alive. He could be dead. He could finally get a haircut. His fate is a mystery that we may never know the answer to. Maybe he's spending his retirement climbing the tallest of mountains.

The Design: Careful you don't cut yourself with all this edge.

You could have gotten yourself an eyepatch for half the price.

Demonic eyes, dark colours, anime hair... he's a villain alright. Infinite's design is unashamed of itself. It knows it's ridiculous, and it goes all out with it, which - let's be frank - matches the character in general pretty reasonably. Funnily enough, I don't have much else to say about it. It's not my favourite character design in the world, but I can credit them for pioneering loudspeaker ears. And at least he's not a hedgehog. Or an echidna.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Shadow sighing in relief under the knowledge that he's no longer the edgiest guy in the room.

The Personality: What's an easy way to make a villain a villain? By making them pointlessly sadistic, of course.

"You may call this the Sonic Chronicles soundtrack... in the brief moments that remain to your eardrums."

And I don't speak lightly when I say pointless. Infinite's penchant for sadism is actually treated as a character flaw, as it contributes heavily to his ultimate downfall. He wastes time by drawing out his kills, and his decision to leave his greatest foes alive because they're supposedly "not worth killing" bites him in the ass on more than one occasion. Even Eggman calls him out on his shitty decisions.

"Don't get cocky with me, son. This ain't the Adventure Era anymore.”

And this ties in with how he is in general. Infinite, for all his delusions of grandeur and nihilistic waxing, is a bit of a fuck up. Him and his squad combined couldn't even take on Eggman on his own (albeit with a Phantom Ruby in his possession), and when the mask comes on, it becomes clear that he only defeated Sonic through the element of unfamiliarity. Once Sonic starts to know about him and fights him for real, Infinite doesn't rely on the Phantom Ruby nearly as well as he could. He has a jewel that can do all sorts of distortions, and all he can think to do with it is use basic lasers and blasts for the most part. He's a thug at the end of the day. A powerful thug, but a thug all the same.

Despite this, though it's only hinted here and there, it seems that he has an Inferiority Superiority Complex. His passionate response to Shadow calling him pathetic (ironically, he never actually said he was weak) goes without saying, but then there's his dramatic speeches about having no hope, and how you can't count on anyone, and blah blah blah eat a Snickers already.

The Execution: Much like Erazor Djinn, you may have gathered that this character has a lot in common with everyone's favourite Ice Age antique, Mephiles the Dark. Like Erazor, Infinite is a better (albeit flawed) take on Mephiles' schtick, but whereas Erazor better emulates the success that Mephiles tried to go for, Infinite better represents the failure that Mephiles actually is... right down to showing how Silver would react if he had actual brain cells.

Above: Character development.

Hell, they both share the fate of getting swatted by Omega.

Not bitter at all.

Anyway, to explain this requires some elaboration. I'm aware that a lot of what I've said about Infinite sounds negative, and that's not entirely untrue, since I'll be the first to admit that he could have been handled a little better, and fleshed out a bit more, especially with all the pre-release hype and attention he was given. At the same time however, he's still leagues above the likes of Mephiles, for one simple reason that we discussed previously: his incompetence is intentional.

Maybe not fully - the pre-Infinite breakdown probably wasn't meant to be as comedic as it ended up being - but you can't tell me his setbacks weren't there on purpose. Eggman lost the war because Infinite left his enemies alive and free. Eggman lost the war because Infinite clumsily left a Phantom Ruby replica behind. Eggman lost the war because Infinite kept messing around when he had better things to do, didn't know what to do other than blindly attack when the chips were down, and got disposed of with little fanfare by the doctor after having failed him enough times. Compare all this to Eggman himself in the same game, who despite being known for his childishness and occasional shortsightedness, had a lot of genuine foresight to share around, and went from backup plan to backup plan like it was nothing.

In other words, Infinite could be seen as a well-needed deconstruction of villains like Mephiles, and why they're not as great as they look at first glance. And in that respect, he's kind of a genius concept.

“Ugh, MORE shitty friends...”

Infinite is a very divisive character, and I can see why. Alongside his far from perfect execution, many fans were expecting and hoping for a straight example of late 00's Sonic villains, in part because that's what the marketing and his infamous theme song set him up as and partly because '06 is now considered better than everything afterwards because Baldy McNosehair is literally oppressing all Sonic fans across the world. If you're like me on the other hand, and don't have the slightest unironic interest in those kind of villains, you can probably respect Infinite a little more for addressing the elephant in the room. And even though he is indeed flawed, I think most of that has to do with the wasted potential of the plot itself rather than anything inherently to do with Infinite's own character.

He's no Eggman, Erazor, Metal Sonic, or Hard-Boiled Heavies. But he's above Mephiles, Black Doom, Eggman Nega, and so many others who blend together after a while. Still, maybe someone should assist Shadow the next time he decides to insult somebody.

Crusher Gives Infinite a: Thumbs Sideways!

[xilee-reaper]

Take my Heart (Chapter 1)

Genre: Fluff / Mystery / humour / angst / drama / action / fantasy

Pairing: Jungkook x reader | bts x reader

Word count: 3,744

Summary:  During the course of a school year, Jungkook and other students awaken to their Persona powers, becoming a group of secret vigilantes that will help save humanity from ruin.

Author’s note: Hi! So my plan to finish the first heist failed. I realized that the time interval of my upload between each heist will be insanely long is I strictly upload per heist. So I decided to just break down the heist into different chapters. Because the first heist long, this is just the beginning trust me. Before we move into the next heist it will probably take another 2-4 chapter. 

Also, I did not reread what I just typed so yeah. I will fix it later. The more notes I get the more motivated I am, so keep that notes flying hahaha kidding kidding but really though, I really appreciate it if you send me some feedback.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for the next chapters.

Navigation: Masterlist

First Heist: Bae KyuSoo 

Month: April. Day: 09 (Saturday Afternoon)

Jungkook woke up in a train “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding our train today. We will be arriving at Seoul station shortly” the announcer said but all of this was unheard as Jungkook focuses on what’s the reason why’s he here.

From a near distance, Jungkook heard an argument between a man and a woman.

“Just get in the car.”

“Stop it!”

Eaten by his curiosity, he decided to see what’s going or if he needed to interfere.

“How dare you cross me”

“Stop it! Let me go! No!”

“Don’t give me that shit”

“Ow! P-please, stop!”

“What a waste of time. You think you’re worth causing me trouble? Huh?”

“I-I’ll call the police!”

“Heh, call them if you want. The police are my bitches. They’re not gonna take you seriously.”

“No... Stop!”

“Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouths and follow where I steer this country!”

“Please! Help!” The woman exclaimed as she saw Jungkook.

It was an assault. Feeling the urgent need to help, Jungkook hurriedly ran and tried to release the man’s grasped from the woman by dragging his shoulder. A foul breath greeted him, the man was drunk, really drunk to the point he lost his balance. Jungkook put the woman behind as they watch the man stagger and lost his footing. He hit his head on the railing but Jungkook was too shocked to register what’s happening.

“Damn brat... I’ll sue!” the man screamed as he glared at Jungkook while holding his head, blood pouring out of it.

Everything happened so fast that all Jungkook can remember was the police dragging him inside their vehicle.

“What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?” He heard some gossiping teenager said. “It’s the truth!”

“To a person though? That’s gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don’t you?”

As he was listening Jungkook noticed that the train already arrived at Seoul station. Quickly, he gathered all of his stuff and exited the train. As he was walking he noticed how different Seoul was to his hometown, Busan. Everything was so busy, from people to the vehicles. Although Seoul was big, it felt so stuffy and unfriendly. As he was observing this big city his phone suddenly beep, notifying him that there’s a new app that’s been installed. Jungkook became confused, as he looked at his phone there’s a red-eye icon showing. Not knowing what to do he decided to click on it and the icon became bigger. He just repeatedly click the app hoping that he can delete it but to no avail, it didn’t work. Sighing thinking that his phone might have a virus he decided to stuff it back to his pocket but as he was doing this he noticed something bizarre happening. Everything was slowing, from the people to the vehicles moving, even the noise was getting slower and slower. And then, as if the time had stopped working, everything stood motionless.

Alarmed, Jungkook looked around him to see he’s just the only one conscious. He’s not the only one, someone, a girl was standing on top of a building staring emotionless at him. Her eyes have a different color from one another, one was bright yellow, while the other was silver, almost white. She has a doll-like face with a small stature and a silver hair. A man was standing, no-- flying beside her. Like the girl, the man has silver hair and silver eyes accompanied by a silver wing. “What the...” Jungkook was speechless when he noticed the girl and the man turned their backs on him and retreating from their position. “Hey wait!” He tried to run after them.

From a distance, he saw something, a blue and black fire morphing into some kind of figure then suddenly bursting forming a wing-like shape. It felt like Jungkook was trapped in a trance when the fire-figure smiled sinisterly at him and Jungkook suddenly saw his face, equally sinister and smiling like the figure.

As if he was finally released from the trance, Jungkook blinked once and noticed that everything was back to normal. When he looked at his phone he still saw the red-eye icon. Shrugging and not thinking any of it he decided to just delete the app and proceeded to transfer train.

Once he arrived at his destination ‘Ichon’ he quickly goes to the area where his new place was located. Arriving at some kind of back street, he looked around ‘Starting today, Sejin will be taking care of me.’ he thought ‘Can’t he just give his surname? It will be a pain in the ass to find a man without knowing his surname.’

“Oh well. His house should be in the backstreets of this residential area” He said to himself as he hiked up his bag further on his shoulder. 

Once he arrived on what seems Sejin’s house he rang the doorbell but no one was answering or opening the door. 

“Looks like no one’s home...” Jungkook quickly turned his head to the direction of the sound. He saw a delivery man carrying a parcel “Oh, yeah... Sejin-shi usually at his cafe around this time. I should make my other deliveries first.” the delivery man mumbles.

“Excuse me.” Jungkook said gaining the delivery man’s attention. “I’m looking for Sejin? Do you know where he is right now?”

“Are you new here? It’s not common to see a handsome face in this area. Anyways, Sejin-shi’s cafe ‘Leblanc’ is in the back alley.” the delivery man said. Jungkook just bowed and thanked the man before proceeding to go the back alley.

Once he arrived at the back alley he noticed a sign that has ‘Cafe Leblanc’ written on it. Jungkook goes inside and was greeted by three people who were watching the news.

“A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customer still in it! The citizens can’t live in peace if this keeps up.” The news reporter on the t.v. announces. 

“How frightening” an elder male customer commented

“What could be going on? Didn’t something similar happen just the other day?”  an elder female customer asked.

“Hmmm... vertical is... the name of a kpop band who goes to Grammy’s....... What in the world is this question?!” the man who looked like a manager of the cafe quietly exclaimed when he noticed a burning stare. He decided to look up and saw Jungkook standing at the cafe entrance “Oh right”  he groaned “They did say that was today” he mumbled

“So, you’re the punk. Jungkook?”

“Uh... Sejin-shi?” Jungkook questioned

“Yeah. I’m Manager Sejin. You’ll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh? Didn’t expect such an innocent looking brat. Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and-- Well, not that it matters. Follow me.”

He leads Jungkook to a dirty attic “This is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” he said. Jungkook looked around the room thinking that it can be mistaken as a dumpster given the amount of trash littered around, Sejin noticed this and said “Hm? You look like you wanna say something.”

“This place is so dirty and cluttered” Jungkook said honestly. “Not my problem. It’s on you to clean up the rest” Sejin shrugged “I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You’ll be alone at night, but don’t do anything stupid. I’ll throw you out if you cause any trouble. Now then. I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you, right?” he asked rhetorically “That’s what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah? And now that you’ve got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. The courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved. In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass. It’s best you not talk about anything unnecessary, I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted. Cause any problem and you’ll be going straight to juvie.” Sejin proceeds to go down the stairs but stopped midway “By the way, we’ll be going to SOPA tomorrow. We’ll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like you, you know”

After Sejin left, Jungkook decided to look around the room. “Ugh. Why’s it so dirty?!” He quietly exclaimed as he drew a line on top of the desk, dust clearly evident on the table. “I cannot sleep in this kind of position, I should start cleaning up first.” And Jungkook started cleaning the room. Placing his things on the unused shelf and cleaning all the dust build up.

Without noticing it’s already evening. “Whoo. It’s late...” he said to himself as he looked outside. “It seems like I’ve been cleaning for a while. I don’t have an appetite and I’m pretty tired from all the cleaning. I should probably just go to bed.”

While laying in bed, Jungkook was notified again that there’s a new app downloaded on his phone. Looking at it he noticed that it’s the red-eye icon again. ‘Hm, it’s that weird app that somehow ended up on my phone.’ he thought ‘I thought I deleted it’ before deleting it. After a while, his eyelids were starting to get heavy.

Jungkook woke up in a dimly lit room. He noticed that as he moved there a rustling of metal, his leg was attached to a metal prison ball and his wrists were cuffed together. Getting out of the bed groggily, he looked around and found out that he’s in a prison cell wearing a black and white striped prison uniform. Extremely confused, all he can do was clutched his head and try to remember why was he here, when suddenly he heard a chuckle. A girl’s chuckle. He looked to the prison cell door and noticed two girls who looked so identical except for their hairstyle and the position of their eyepatch. They’re staring at him. Not knowing what to do he decided to approach the girls to ask a question but all they did was smile sinisterly at him.

Looking further, he noticed a man with a long nose sitting at the center of the room.

“Trickster... Welcome to my Velvet Room” The man with a long nose said.

“What? What is this place!?”

“So you’ve come to, Inmate” A malicious looking girl said.

“The you, in reality, is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream” The quiet looking girl informed but Jungkook was finding it hard to believe as everything looked and felt so real.

“You’re in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!” The malicious girl demanded.

“Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter with the exception of one being. Will you meet her in the future Trickster? Or will you not?” The long-nosed man said while chuckling sinisterly. “I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember that well.” The long-nosed man ‘Igor’ introduced himself.

“I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.”

“What do you mean important matters?! Let me out!” Jungkook demanded. Igor just ignored him, looking around the room before saying “Still, this is a surprise. The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”

“What do you mean? What ruin?” Jungkook questioned Igor. Igor just chuckles before saying “Worry not. There is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be rehabilitated. Rehabilitated towards freedom, that is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?” Igor asked, almost daring Jungkook.

Having a competitive side, Jungkook glared at him a little before saying “I don’t know, do you?” Igor just chuckled at this before saying “Ahhh a true trickster indeed. Always refusing to take down a challenge. Well, allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.”

Igor noticed the two girls standing outside of Jungkook’s cell. “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.”

“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like.” Caroline said arrogantly.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators. That is if you remain obedient.” Justine tried to intimidate Jungkook.

“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion. Now then, it seems the night is waning. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually.”

Suddenly a loud siren was heard thru out the whole facility alarming Jungkook.

“Times up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep.” Caroline announced. 

“Hey! Wai--”

Month: April. Day: 10 (Sunday Morning)

Jungkook woke up remembering his strange dream. “Ruin... Rehabilitation...What kind of dream was that?” he quietly questioned himself. “What the heck?! That was the weirdest dream I ever had.”

Not thinking so much about the dream, Jungkook proceeded to his morning routine and meet Sejin downstairs. “Looks like you’re up.” Sejin said as he noticed Jungkook descending the stairs. “Well then, let’s eat breakfast first and then go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you’re attending is in the Guro-gu district. It’ll cost you a bit to ride the train there, and the route transfers are a pain. I’ll drive you there, but just for today. Let’s go.”

Month: April. Day: 10 (Sunday Daytime)

Jungkook and Sejin arrived at school when Sejin suddenly stopped and turn to Jungkook before saying “Do me a favor and behave yourself, alright? Don’t get me wrong-- I don’t care what happens to you. Just don’t cause me any trouble” and then moving forward to go to the principal's room. Jungkook was left speechless by this, not knowing how to respond and a little bit hurt that everyone seems to want to get rid of him.

Inside the principal’s office, Sejin signed a few papers as he was Jungkook’s temporary guardian. “To reiterate, just so we’re clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems.” The principal informed Jungkook. “Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side. You might have done a variety of things in hiding in your hometown, but you will behave yourself here. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.” he continued before gesturing on a woman standing before him “This is the teacher in charge of your class.”

The teacher moved a little bit forward before bowing “I’m Hwang SooMyeon. Here’s your student ID.” She handed Jungkook his ID before continuing “Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you at all.” Soomyeon sounded so uninterested and bored that made Jungkook frown a little. “But really though, why me? There should’ve been better candidates” Jungkook heard Soomyeon muttered under her breath.

Probably getting bored, Sejin decided to intervene. “If you’re done explaining things mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to.” he said.

“Sejin-shi, please keep a close eye on him. Don’t let him cause any trouble outside.” The principal reminded Sejin. “Well, I’ll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he’s in.” Sejin answered.

A loud sighed was heaved by Soomyeon. “Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I’ll show you to your classroom.” she said monotonously.

Once outside the principal’s office, Sejin let out a loud sighed similar to what Soomyeon did. “They’re treating you like some kinda nuisance. I guess that’s what it means to have a criminal record. Turns out your past follows you wherever you go.” he voiced out his opinion about Jungkook’s situation. “By the way, if you get expelled now, I won’t hesitate to kick you out. Got it?” he reminded Jungkook.

Jungkook just shrugged before saying “I’ll scrape by.”

“Tsk. Cocky little brat. You know you actually look handsome, just keep your mouth shut. Come on, we’re going home.”

While Jungkook and Sejin were leaving the school, Soomyeon and a man were having a conversation in the school’s pathway. “What a troublesome situation.” the man said to Soomyeon. Soomyeon just sighed at this “I can’t believe they pushed someone with a record on me. A male teacher would be better suited for this.”

“Why in the world was someone like that admitted here?” the man shook his head, disappointment lacing through his voice. “Who knows? It was the principal’s decision. I was told that it’s for the school’s reputation.”

“I would’ve thought that my contemporary dance team has contributed more than enough to cover that.” the man boast. “That’s certainly true.” Soomyeon agreed. “Be careful, okay? Then again, if anything were to happen, I’d kick out a student like that right away.”

“I keep wishing that he’d just end up not coming to school. Still, that isn’t something I should be saying as a teacher” Soomyeon confessed 

“Well, I should be returning to practice.”

“Oh, right. The competition’s coming up, isn’t it?”

The man just grinned “Hehe, having such high expectations placed on you by others is quite a problem in itself. We’ll have to work hard to make up for the ballet team too.”

“Yes... that’s true.”

Inside the car, Sejin was drumming his fingers on the stirring wheel impatiently. “Ugh! Traffic’s not moving at all.” he complained, “You’re taking the train starting tomorrow.”

“So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?” he asked Jungkook.

“Eh, we’ll see.” 

“*sigh* Do you even understand your situation? Still, you were expelled once already. To think you’d enroll at a different one. It’s not like anyone will be sympathetic with you. If that’s what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too. What a troublesome kid I’ve taken in.”

“Speaking of taking some troublesome kid... Why did you take ME in? Did you perhaps gained something out of it.” Jungkook questioned Sejin, his stare was burning holes to him.

“I was asked to do it, okay?! and I just... happened to agree to it. I’ve already been paid for it too, after all. So yeah I gained something out of this but I’m starting to think it may not be worth it.”

Their conversation was cut by the radio news report “Again, a subway has derailed at Seoul station, greatly affecting the timetable across the--”

“Another accident? So that’s why it’s so crowded. There’s been a lot of those lately.”

Month: April. Day: 10 (Sunday Evening)

“The incoming train will soon arrive at platform 1, please wait patiently and do not cross the yellow line” 

Another busy day at Seoul station. People entering and exiting the train, some running while others take their time when suddenly a fast moving train continues to speed up even though it’s already in its destination causing it to derail when it turned.

People on the platform stood speechless as they stared at the train; continuing to accelerate at speeds above the limit. While the passenger freaked out and pray for their lives.

“Hey! What’s going on!?” One of the passengers asked as he keeps banging the train’s pilot door.

Little did they know, something ominous was happening inside. The train pilot seems to be in trance. Eyes all white shedding black tears, all of his veins were popping, and he’s also secreting black drool. A truly horrific scene.

From a cctv in the next station, it can be seen that the train was still speeding up and finally it totally derail and crash itself on the platform.

“That is direct footage of the incident this afternoon on Seoul station. According to the police, the train pilot’s life was not in danger and even he cannot explain the high speed of the train. No further comment was made.”  The news report reiterates what happened on the subway incident.

This news was being watched by the SIU director and what seems like a prosecutor. “It’s less of an operating accident and more of a crime of the company and the government.” The SIU director said. “Site inspectors apparently reported all of this six months ago-- the deterioration of the tracks and the ATC. Seems the railway company and the Ministry of Transport both turned a blind eye to the truth. There’s no way they can hide. This will go all the way to the top.”

“With this accident, everyone is in panic and confused on what is happening. What causes such drastic change to these people.” The reporter said.

“Everything’s linked-- that’s what you’re thinking, correct?” SIU asked  Prosecutor Kim. The SUI director heaved a sighed before smiling “Oh, well” he said “Are you free? You and I haven’t gone for a drink in a while.”

“Thank you, sir, but I have another meeting to attend. I must be going”  Prosecutor Kim declined his offer before bowing in respect and exiting the room

At the lobby of the building, a teenager wearing a uniform and carrying a briefcase approached Prosecutor Kim. “Did you ask for me? Is it about the case?” he said to Prosecutor Kim.

“Not quite. I want your opinion on something, Hoseok”

“Sure. Your judgment is quite often correct, though.” The teenager ‘Hoseok’ said. “Can we discuss this over sushi, perhaps? You are making a student work late, after all.” Hoseok pleaded while pouting his lips on Prosecutor Kim. “Conveyor belt only.” Prosecutor Kim said firmly. “Aw...” Hoseok heaved a disappointed sighed but still followed Prosecutor Kim.

End of- First Heist: Bae KyuSoo  (Chapter 1)

[gludzilla]

UPDATE: I’m currently translating the rest of the novel, which you can find here.

English translation of Miss Sherlock novelization excerpt

As many of you must know, there is a novelization of Miss Sherlock, and an excerpt has been posted online here. Unfortunately for us mortals, said excerpt is only in Japanese. Now, I’ve never translated anything before and I haven’t taken a Japanese class in about 4 years now, but my thirst for new content is this intense. Hopefully I’ll give the whole novel a try once I obtain a copy.

Neither Japanese or English is my mother tongue, so sorry for any grammatical errors or awkward translations.

A few translation notes:

I messed with the structure and occasional word choice a little bit to make it flow better in English, but the gist of the original text is all there (I hope)

On that same vein, I didn’t include honorifics and went for a name-surname format

Wato doesn’t seem to like Reimon very much and I don’t know why

Wato’s first impressions of Sherlock are unreal

Japanese onomatopoeia (of which they are unbelievably fond) are nigh impossible to translate

I like the extra characterization Wato gets as the POV of the narration

As room and flat/apartment are used interchangeably in Japanese I am still not entirely sure Sherlock actually has a bedroom

Ok then, that’s it. Enjoy.

The First Case

In the dry air inside the cabin, an announcement urging passengers to fasten their seatbelts rings out. The passengers set their books aside, wake from their naps, and prepare for landing. The airplane slowly descends.

Wato Tachibana raises her head and looks at the approaching streets of Tokyo. How nostalgic. Truly. She quietly takes a breath. She’ll finally see the man whose letters she’d been rereading during the flight once again. This is you we’re talking about, so I know you’ll say that you couldn’t just abandon those in trouble and bravely embarked on a trip… The flowing characters that he had written countless times touch her tired heart.

The airplane’s altitude decreases. The ground grows closer. Wato puts the stationary in their envelopes and looks at the thick bundle of letters. Politely addressed. A stamp with a drawing of a flowering plum branch. Fragments of an ukiyo-e, perhaps? She thinks back to how all these little casual details encouraged her and saved her during her stay in that place.

Yes. Wato has come home. To this country. To the world where she was born and raised.

Back from the country with endless turmoil where she discovered her how helpless she truly was - back from Syria.

+*+

“......Ah!”

When Wato exits the arrival lobby, she sees a nostalgic face and begins running without a thought.

“Dr. Mizuno!”

When Takayuki Mizuno hears her call, he raises his hand to greet her. A gentle smile and relaxed behavior; this was the Dr. Mizuno exactly as Wato remembered him.

“Welcome home. You look well.”

“Yes! As do you, Doctor.”

“It’s good you’re not hurt. I’m relieved.”

Wato feels herself choke on her words. She resists the sudden pain that flares up in her chest and gives him the best smile she can.

“Thank you very much for your letters. You don’t know how much they helped me.”

Mizuno laughs. He makes a face as if to say it wasn’t such a big deal.

“It’s true! They made my heart feel at ease, so I always carried them around in my backpack-”

Thump! rang out a muffled sound.

Wato, who had looked away to pull the bundle of letters from her backpack, turns back to Mizuno, confused. He is falling. Wato smells gunpowder. The people moving about the lobby mysteriously stand still.

“Doctor?”

Mizuno does not even twitch. A commotion starts to spread. Wato jumps to her companion who has fallen face-down, and turns him around and holds him in her arms.

“Dr. Mizuno! Dr. Mizuno…!”

Driven by a dreadful premonition, Wato rips open Mizuno’s shirt, already dyed bright red. The smell of blood wafts off of him, and immediately a nearby woman lets out a scream. The gouged abdomen. The exposed bone. The viscera that is slowly falling apart and sinking into the pool of red blood inside Mizuno’s body.

“A plastic bag,” Wato utters. Her experience as a doctor kicks in and in an instant, she springs into action.

“A plastic bag, please! Hurry!”

After wrapping the plastic bag somebody handed her around her arm, Wato desperately grabs Mizuno’s abdomen, even when her brain understood that it probably was already too late.

+*+

“It must have surprised you, right?”

While Wato tries to stop her hands from shaking, she listlessly listens to a man called Reimon - an inspector with the Metropolitan Police Department, she’d heard him say - ask her this. She gives him a small nod. The arrival lobby is in a state of uproar. Travellers look at the scene from afar without noticing Wato, who sits on a chair by a corner. The young policeman called Shibata, who had brought Wato there, turns to talk to Reimon.

“The victim is Takayuki Mizuno. 49 years old. A surgeon. This lady used to work with the victim in the same hospital and had just returned to Japan from Syria.”

Reimon gives Wato a look as if in thanks and bows quickly. He is a man whose dishevelled hair and round glasses somehow don’t seem to clash at all. Reimon plops the smartphone he was holding onto Shibata’s hand and continues speaking with a slow voice.

“Shibata, take a few pictures of the body with this.”

“Are you sending them to her again?!”

“The sooner the better.”

Shibata grimaces like a sullen dog, but Reimon only waves his hand as if to tell him to go for it. He sees his subordinate energetically running after the corpse, which is now being carried away and as though finding this quite funny, lets out an amused chuckle. Wato stands wide eyed. She looks directly at Reimon’s weaselly face. He is not smiling anymore.

With a hoarse voice, he says, “it seems like the victim’s wife has arrived at the station. Would you please accompany me?”

+*+

The hallways of the Haneda Police Station are dark and deathly quiet. Wato follows Reimon and Shibata with effort while pushing her heavy suitcase along. At the end of the hallway in front of a gray door, she sees a familiar face. Without thinking, she abandons her luggage and rushes over.

“Akiko!”

It’s Tsunayoshi Mizuno’s wife, Akiko. When she reaches the ashen-faced Akiko, Wato bows deeply.

“I am so sorry, Dr. Mizuno came to meet me, and now something like this happened…!”

Akiko shakes her head vigorously. She looks stunned, as if trying to deny that this was Wato’s fault.

“Mrs. Mizuno, if you please,” Reimon cuts in politely to gently urge Wato and Akiko forward. Wato hugs Akiko’s shoulder. She meets her gaze and after exchanging nods, Wato gently pushes her forward.

The door opens with a push. As soon as they peer inside the room, Reimon steps in front of the two women as if to block their view and exclaims, “Sherlock! What are you doing?”

A wet sound comes from inside the room, as if someone was mashing and mixing together something soft. A figure leans over the prone body, digging around the hole in its abdomen. They grab the pieces of viscera and transfer them into a stainless steel platter doing...something that Wato could only describe as putting them all together in their proper place.

Seeing this, Akiko gasps. Wato stares dumbfounded as the shape of a woman stands in the dimly lit room and takes her breath away.

The short and asymmetrical haircut, arranged in a flowing style. The long fingers and legs. The straight nose and jet-black eyes that give her the impression of a shrewd bird of prey. Her movements without hesitation and the perfect shape of her body - it all captivates Wato. A god’s flawless creation. Be it in geometrical terms or mathematical terms, this is a perfect being without a single fault.

However, the unforgivable scene unfolding before her eyes immediately dispels Wato’s fascination. The woman called Sherlock grabs hold of something using forceps and says with a voice devoid of compassion, ill-intent, or any type of feeling, “An autopsy, of course. If I let your inexperienced doctors do their unfocused examination they’d overlook the evidence leading to the cause of death and the culprit.”

With a clatter, Sherlock places the object she had picked up with the forceps onto the platter. From her vantage point, Wato cannot ascertain what that object is. Reimon covers the body’s abdomen with a sheet and says, as if to divert the conversation to another topic, “did you see the crime scene pictures I sent you?”

“Absolutely none of them had things I actually wanted to see. Even a tourist could have taken better pictures,” Sherlock answers cuttingly as she peels off the bloody gloves.

Shibata starts to protest, but Reimon stops him and continues calmly, “I understand. Please, watch it...the victim’s wife is here.”

Sherlock turns to the two women with a piercing gaze and Wato grips Akiko’s shoulder.

“You are the wife. And you over there are a surgeon. A medical volunteer that just came back to Japan from Syria.”

Wato’s eyes widen. Turning back to look at the trembling Akiko, Sherlock continues, “Identify it. The body.”

Akiko looks at Wato’s face, then at the two detectives waiting in a corner of the room in confirmation of what was just asked of her, and then turns her gaze back to Sherlock. With a nearly blank expression, she walks unsteadily towards the body. Her eyes lock onto the pallid face of the deceased. Her body jerks. Her legs give in under her and she falls into a seating position onto the floor. From her mouth escapes a keening sob and she struggles to breathe.

“Akiko!”

A merciless voice stops Wato from embracing Akiko.

“There are a couple of things about your husband’s behavior and appearance that I would like to ask you.”

It is Sherlock. Her voice holds no concern or sympathy, and she just stands looking nonchalantly at Akiko break down and cry. Wato’s hand tightens into a fist. In Akiko’s stead, she protests angrily.

“...Couldn’t this be at another time?”

“It’s urgent, for the investigation. Otherwise, something like this could happen again, don’t you agree?”

Akiko draws her body back with a start and looks up at the woman who was gazing down at her, expressionless. Wato tries to retort something once again, but this time Reimon cuts in with an unpleasant voice.

“Have you found something?”

“A miniature liquid bomb exploded inside the body.”

Sherlock strikes her own stomach and walks away from them. She grabs the platter full of blood and viscera and looks back to Akiko, the two detectives, and Wato.

“It is undoubtedly an explosive called ‘Devil’s Foot.’ Even in extremely small quantities its destructive power is great.”

Everyone but Akiko peers to look into the stainless steel platter Sherlock tilts towards them. A miniature mechanical-looking object rolls around in the pull of blood.

“This IC chip was used to trigger the explosion.”

“...How did something like that end up inside the victim’s body?”

Reimon glances briefly at Akiko, but Sherlock does not seem to notice his concern.

“When was the last time you saw the victim?”

“This...morning. My husband...he left early today.”

Wato feels a stab in her chest and tightens her sweaty palms. Akiko tries to answer, as if she is fighting against a terrible feeling that something like this might happen again.

“Did he look different in any way?”

“Not particularly...”

“You also have a job related to medicine, right?”

Akiko’s eyes widen. Sherlock ignores her surprised expression. Wato steps between Akiko and Sherlock, as if to protect her from the woman’s cool stare. But Sherlock does not look away. It is as if her eyes pierce right through Wato to stare at Akiko.

“I’m- I’m a pharmacist,” Akiko answers faintly.

Sherlock prods further.

“Any children?”

“None.”

“Because you can’t have them? Or because you don’t feel like having them?”

Wato frowns at the tactless words. Reimon and Shibata exchange glances.

“How many times did you have sex in a week? Or are you the type that looks for sex elsewhere?”

Akiko lets out an unintentional sound. She grasps her chest and starts breathing violently again, as if that crass question had destroyed her barely-kept composure. Shibata leans over as if to pat her back, but unsure of where to put his hand, turns to Wato as if asking for permission.

Sherlock spares this scene a glance and says lightly, “Let me know when she feels better.”

The sound of heels clack against the floor. Without looking back, Sherlock leaves the morgue. Wato chews on her lips. She takes a stride towards the door. Then she turns to Shibata, who is still leaning over Akiko.

“Please take care of Akiko!”

“Ah, wait a second-”

Wato rushes out of the room, but the woman she was pursuing had a fast pace and is already turning the corner at the end of the hallway. Wato breaks into a run. She yells at the retreating figure, “Wait…..please wait!”

Sherlock suddenly stops. She turns her head, but does not move even an eyebrow.

“Akiko just lost her husband. Being a police officer is no excuse for being this insensitive!” Wato yells. Sherlock’s lips twist into a smile, as if seeing someone have an emotional outburst was unbearably funny.

“What’s wrong about it? Besides, I’m not a police officer.”

“Huh?”

“I’m a freelancer. You could call me a consulting detective. I’m a specialist on criminal psychology, and help the police investigate difficult cases they can’t crack. Inspector Reimon and I are sort of acquaintances. He’s quite cunning, and has the wisdom and authority to let me into investigations.”

As she regards her slowly approaching figure, Wato is overcome by surprise. She had thought this woman was a weird police officer or something of the sort, but - a consulting detective? The woman stands close to her. Her flawless face looks down at Wato’s own. Mysteriously unable to move away, Wato says,“...How did you know? That I am a doctor.”

“Your suitcase. The inspector left it by the morgue’s entrance for you. There’s some suturing thread coiled around it.”

“...And Syria?”

“Your wristwatch is 6 hours slow. A hospital in Syria was bombed just three days ago, the medical volunteers came back to Japan but an hour ago, and you were one of them, weren’t you?”

Wato stands with her lips slightly parted, unable to answer. The unbelievable title of consulting detective. The aloof attitude of walking on a higher dimension than reality. This...this Sherlock woman - unable to utter a word, Wato’s heart beats loudly.

Her face grows closer. When she is so close she would be able to feel if Wato had a fever, she says in a low voice that makes Wato shiver, “There’s a smell of explosives. A mixture of RDX trimethylene trinitramine and aluminum.”

The sound of explosions and screams return to her ears. Wato flinches away. As she separates, the vivid memory disappears suddenly, along with Sherlock’s refreshing scent and body heat.

“Can I leave now?”

Sherlock turns her body, and this time does not stop and walks briskly down the dark hallway.

Momentarily unable to move, Wato just stands still in place. The echoes of that deep voice still reverberate in her ears. Even after she stops seeing the woman’s figure after she turned the corner at the end of the hallway, even after she cannot hear the sound of her steps, Wato is unable to move. It’s as if something has captured her mind and body completely, and she cannot say even a single word.

+*+

A calm hill road where not even the wind moved. When Wato walks past such a commonplace scenery - the row of houses, each enclosed by its own fence - she is filled with an emotion she cannot identify. It was an ordinary Japanese street, just like any other she had seen during her life, and yet it does not feel ordinary to her. It’s as if she was now seeing a completely different world to the one she had been in just a dozen hours earlier.

Wato stops walking. She looks at Inspector Reimon’s business card, and once again verifies the house address he had given her. 221B. It is a big house in Mejirodai’s residential area, so she should find it right away, Reimon had said. And indeed she did. Wato, filled with determination, looks up at a western-style house surrounded by a tall fence and trees and rings the bell. The gate of the residence opens slightly and an elegant woman comes to greet her.

“Yes, yes. Ah, You’re the one who just phoned, Miss Tachibana, right? Come in.”

Wato bows her head deeply enters the premises when invited. The woman has soft-looking short hair, and a gentle countenance and voice. This must certainly be the Mrs. Hatano she had spoken to on the phone.

“Did you come for a consultation too?”

“Ah, well-”

Walking after Hatano, Wato speaks stumbling over her words. The business in the morgue. Akiko, who still had not been able to recover. What had proceeded at an office at the station - how Reimon had given Wato his card and sent her away, with instructions to contact him if she had any other questions. How she had passed the night in a cramped business hotel unable to sleep and called Reimon’s cell phone first thing in the morning. That she had wanted to see the woman called Sherlock again. She wanted to hear what she had to say, Wato explains. Hatano smiles at Wato and replies, “Lots of different people are always coming to see her. It’s always quite lively in here.”

“Forgive me, for coming so suddenly...um, are you her mother?”

Hatano laughs pleasantly like a child and shakes her head at Wato’s direction.

“I just rent out a room for Sherlock. A long time ago her parents helped me, so I am simply repaying the favor.”

“Um, is Sherlock her real name?”

“She has an actual, real name, of course. She started calling herself Sherlock after a certain event, then it caught on. And well, you should ask her the details sometime.”

Wato tilts her head in puzzlement. Hatano once again laughs sweetly and pulls open the elegant front door.

“Come on in.”

It seems like they’re supposed to go inside and up the stairs without taking off their dirty shoes. Wato walks behind Hatano down the dark and polished hallway. At the end of the hallway, they reach a room and Hatano gives an unexpectedly loud knock. Wato jumps unintentionally. There is absolutely no response from inside the room.

“M-maybe she’s not home?”

“Uh-uh. When she concentrates on something she’s deaf to any other sound. Sherlock! Sherlock! I’m coming in!”

Even before she’s finished announcing her intentions, Hatano pushes the door open. For some reason, Wato can smell the scent of chemicals in the air. When she follows Hatano inside, Wato’s eyes widen at the abnormal view that greets her. There are many little notes packed densely everywhere, and clothes thrown around haphazardly. There are a great variety of samples inside the numerous pieces of honest-to-goodness laboratory equipment. There’s a lovingly polished cello in one corner, for some reason.

The western-style interior, decorated by relaxed furniture is so chaotic and disorderly there is not even space for walking around. Was this someone’s private room? Isn’t it too packed with random objects and much too chaotic for someone to live here? And despite this, for some mysterious reason, there seems to be a certain consistency that brings it all together.

The woman in question is sitting at a desk under a window facing a computer. She makes no move to face Wato and Hatano.

“Sherlock! You have a guest!”

Finally hearing Hatano’s voice, Sherlock turns and focuses her gaze on Wato. Her eyebrow twitches and arches. Forcefully, she says, “What’s with those clothes? You bought them in your college years and just kept on wearing them. You’re the type of person who just thinks about comfort and durability when you choose your clothing and does not think about enjoying fashion at all, aren’t y-”

“Sherlock! Don’t be rude!” Hatano raises her voice.

Almost hoping she would say something like sorry for yesterday, or I went too far, Wato stands there, open-mouthed. When she finally realizes her fashion sense has just been insulted, Wato tries to retort, but something being thrown at her distracts her and she loses her chance. It’s a deep green trench coat - Hermes. What’s with the super famous, expensive brand?

“What’s this?”

“Something that’s better than what you’re wearing. Put it on. I cannot think properly if something without aesthetic sense invades my field of vision.”

“Huh? Excuse me, but why would I follow your orders about how I need to dress?!”

“I’ll give you that coat. It’s yours now. It got a little stained from when I wrapped a dismembered murder victim in it a while back, though.”

After seeing the sticky stain on the inner lining, Wato throws the coat on the floor. She leans forward and shoots back with a strong tone,“Don’t worry about my appearance. I just want you to tell me if you know anything about why Dr. Mizuno was killed.”

Sherlock raises her eyebrow disinterestedly and immediately turns back to the computer’s monitor. In it, there is a diagram of a human’s digestive system, and a pill reaching the inside of the stomach. A pharmaceutical company’s homepage, maybe? Throwing caution out the wind, Wato fishes around her bag until she finds the letters she had received from Dr. Mizuno and thrusts them under the woman’s nose. Her eyes finally leave the screen.

“These are the letter Dr. Mizuno sent me,” Wato continues. “They saved me from losing my way in an unfamiliar country. I need to know why he has killed in such a horrible-”

Sherlock looks keenly at the letters spread out in front of her. Eventually, she looks up and asks with a pleasant tone, “What’s your reason for finding the cause of Mizuno’s death? Is it curiosity? Or do you want to find the truth?”

“I want to find the truth,” Wato answers without hesitating. Even if she scornfully laughs at her, Wato musn’t back down. She came here because she wants to understand everything and track down Mizuno’s killer. She bites her lip. She nods without taking her eyes off the woman in front of her. As she is opening her mouth to speak, a cell phone sitting on top of the desk rings shrilly.

Sherlock answers. She gives one- or two-word answers, and then breaks into a wide grin that lights up her whole face. After confirming an address, she hangs up. Delighted, she says, “Another body turned up. Same cause of death as Mizuno.”

She does not wait for Wato or Hatano to respond. She quickly jumps off her chair, grabs her coat and bag, and just like that, runs to the door. She turns around just once, and waves her hand gracefully at Wato.

“Well then, enjoy yourself.”

“Wait, please,” Wato replies. She takes one step forward. She looks at the woman a who has paused to face her and says clearly.

“I’m going with you.”

Sherlock’s eyes widen, surprised as if she had just heard a mouse speak. Before long, her lips curl into a smile even more delighted than the one before.

“...Be my guest. I’ll ask your opinions as a doctor.”

Come, her hand beckons. Wato takes one deep breath, and begins to chase after her with a quick pace.

[introvert-celeste]

Do you think Rose was made on Earth or someplace else?

OKAY SO I SAW THIS THEORY

I can’t remember who made it, but the gist of it is that Rose was made on Homeworld, not on Earth, and Garnet doesn’t actually know Rose’s backstory.

In Off-Colors, it was shown that there’s a ginormous system of kindergarten(s) underneath Homeworld that is split into sections, as denoted over each entrance they pass through. While we don’t know what the rest of the writing has to say, part of the label is the old Diamond Authority insignia, with a line beside the Diamond who presumably owns that section. The first one they passed through, for instance, belongs/belonged to Blue Diamond (as they all appear to be mined out and inactive).

This path led to another entrance marking it as Pink’s.

Which just so happens to be where the off colors were actually hiding.

So, by this logic, we know that there’s no reason why Rose couldn’t have been made on Homeworld, as Pink has at least one kindergarten there. Of course, this could also be where other members of her court were made, such as the “Agates” and “Sapphires” that Zircon mentioned in The Trial. However, there’s also this statue that was near where Blue’s palanquin crashed, which has a gem on her forehead that’s shaped and faceted like Rose’s.

I’ve also seen people point out that the Quartz soldiers that Rose was with in the flashback were all purple, Amethysts, not even close to her shade of pink. While it has been shown that there are components in the Prime kindergarten that would go into the making of a Rose Quartz (such as the iron deposit Peridot mentioned(, or else most of the Amethysts would be lighter, have a more pink undertone instead of more blue, and would have curly hair instead of just fluffy.

And there’s the whole matter of what Rose said vs. what others say about her. Bismuth said she was “just another Quartz soldier, made right here [on Earth] in the dirt” and Garnet’s flashback also heavily suggests that Rose was made on Earth (despite not being mentioned directly). It’s also possible that this is how Steven is imagining events, but that’s besides the point.

Then there’s what Amethyst said in On the Run, stating that “Pearl and Garnet are [from Homeworld] but I was made here on Earth, like you!” Back then, I thought that the wording of this sentence was interesting because she doesn’t say that Rose was made on Homeworld, but you could take what she said as roundabout confirmation that Rose was made on Earth (”you” could encompass both Steven and Rose). However, it seems more and more like she just doesn’t know where Rose is from because she never talked about it.

And then there’s a couple things Rose mentioned, as pointed out in this post, which I actually bothered to reblog before it got lost in my dash:

“Please, please understand–if we lose, we’ll be killed, and if we win, we can never go home.”

Now that I’m looking at this with fresh eyes, this is actually pretty big. Not only does it imply that Rose isn’t from Earth, it implies that she and Pearl are from the same place and that Pearl knows, which further bolsters my theory that only Pearl knows the secret of Rose’s origins. Ugh, I need to know they’re history together!

“Everything on Earth seems fast to me.”

Again, this suggests that Rose has experiences to compare to those on Earth, as if life on Homeworld felt arduous and rarely changed.

“Do you miss your home planet?”

No, never.”

I used to take this as more confirmation that Rose was made on Earth–after all, she wouldn’t miss her home planet if that’s where she lived–and the crewniverse had her put it this way to be mysterious, but it could also be read as her not feeling any sort of connection to her original home. Also, Greg was surprised by the fact that she was actually an alien in We Need to Talk. You would think that Rose would mention if she was born on Earth to let him know that she isn’t quite as alien as he thought.

So anyways, this is mostly just a compilation of different theories that I’ve seen floating around with my own commentary, but I’m honestly not sure where she’s from. I assumed that the big reveal would be that her origins would be Earth for so long, but now that I’ve pieced this all together, I’m starting to think otherwise. 

Right now, I’m pretty convinced that Rose was made on Homeworld and that the Rose Quartz soldiers were all made as part of the foundation for Pink’s court before she started her own colony. As a side note, I also theorize that the Rose Quartzes were the primary gems employed at the Human Zoo, and they were probably the soldiers that Pink kept closest to her, prior to the rebellion, since they seem to be made with a similar personality to her and look the most like her.