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the-final-sif · 4 years

Text

BNHA Venom!AU (set in the US for ease of writing) where Izuku is a baby symbiote who accidentally ended up on earth. He ended up lucking into a host, an 8 year old Katsuki who’d been backpacking through the woods nearby where he landed.

Katsuki was always a bit of a weird kid. He didn’t get along well with any of the kids he knew, and his parents were rather distant, being high-end fashion designers meant they were always off across the world doing other things. As a result, when this weird alien attaches itself to him, he’s annoyed for sure, but he doesn’t panic, or call the police, or really do any of the normal things that a child should do in that situation.

He just kinda,,, puts up with Izuku. Sure, he’s pissed off and he tells Izuku to go away for awhile, but soon enough he learns to accept this weird alien that’s a part of his life.

Quickly, both he and Izuku discover that Izuku can help him do some pretty cool things, and Izuku needs lots of chocolate to stay healthy. Both things are just fine by Katsuki, and he ends up deciding that Izuku is actually alright in his books.

Some government agents snoop around, at least somewhat aware of an alien being in the area, and Katsuki quickly learns to hide Izuku from anyone else. He doesn’t want them to take his new friend and hurt him like they described. Katsuki manages to escape suspicion as not even his own parents know about his backpacking/hiking hobbies, and nobody really thinks a spoiled 8 year old kid of two fashion designers would be 10 miles out in the woods.

After that, life keeps going for Izuku and Katsuki. They learn to live together, how to adapt to all the various quirks of sharing a body, how to use the powers Izuku can give Katsuki, and how to keep Izuku well hidden.

It’s all going great, right up until Katsuki makes it into an extremely prestigious boarding school; UA. It’s his dream high school, but it’s so much harder to hide the fact he’s got an alien living in his body when he’s living with other teenagers, and the security at the school is much higher than what he’s used to. For fuck’s sake, the vice president’s kid goes to this school! There’s no way they aren’t getting caught.

Still, Izuku doesn’t want Katsuki to give up on his dream and encourages him, so Katsuki reluctantly goes to UA anyways, trying his best to keep Izuku hidden.

But there are... incidents. Not ones where anyone dies, but people seem intent on harassing Katsuki, from fellow classmates to muggers outside the school, and Izuku is very protective by nature. After a few of these ‘incidents’, a certain underground branch of the government starts getting suspicious again, launching an investigation into the school.

Meanwhile, Aizawa, Katsuki’s primary teacher, has started noticing lots of weird things about Katsuki. Like how he always has two columns in his notebooks, with one side full of carefully written notes and the other side filled with random excited musings in rushed handwriting. Or how sometimes he'll seem to become a different person for a moment, or how he seems to vanish at odd moments.

Weirdest of all is his homework/essays, where Aizawa would swear half the time it's a different person writing them (he only knows for a fact it's Katsuki doing both, since he's watched the kid write most of his essays at various stages in the library). The core ideals themselves seem to change between essays, and that’s what bothers him the most since he’s never seen that in a student before.

Being the good concerned teacher he is, Aizawa considered all the evidence before he called Katsuki into his office. Katsuki and Izuku are sure they've been caught.

Then Aizawa asks Katsuki if he's ever been tested to having multiple personalities.

And listen, Katsuki does not believe in faking mental disorders. But by this point, he's really worried that the government is gonna get Izuku, so when he sees the chance to excuse all his weird behaviors he latches on with everything he’s got.

So Katsuki explained, while trying to lie as little as possible, that he's never formally been tested (and he doesn't want to be), but there is another person living in his body named Izuku. Izuku is very shy though, and would prefer to not be mentioned/brought attention to. As such he asked Aizawa to not tell anyone else about him. Aizawa agreed easily, after all he doesn’t see any real risk from Izuku, and he’s happy that Katsuki was honest with him about the situation. He tells both of them that they can come talk to him any time if they need help, Katsuki agreed to that, and for a little while Izuku & Katsuki were safe.

I dunno exactly how the class finds out about Izuku, but I do know that Iida is one of the first ones during a tense situation. As a result, Katsuki and Izuku get to watch as straight laced goody two shoes Iida looks a government agent right in the eyes and lies his ass off to him to protect Izuku.

For this AU, the ‘Kidnapping’ happens when the government managed to catch onto Katsuki. They’re sure they’ve finally found the alien, and they move in to capture Katsuki.

Only, Katsuki gets wind of this ahead of time, so in a quick moment of desperation, he forces a weakened Izuku to transfer off of him and onto Shouto, since Enji is like the vice president in this AU and that makes Shouto much, much harder for a government agency to fuck with. Shouto is somewhat aware of what Izuku is, and he agrees to take the other to safety.

Poor Izuku can only watch as Katsuki is captured, while Shouto forces him to stay hidden for all their safety.

It's okay though, because the four people who know about Izuku and what happened (Shouto, Kirishima, Iida, and Momo) decide to break into the government base to get Katsuki back, with Izuku's help obviously.

They get most of the way through their super secret infiltration mission, but something goes wrong and they’re almost caught.

Until while they're hiding and the people search for them are a hair away from discovering them, an absolutely furious Aizawa just fucking waltzes in with the fucking president (All-Might for this AU) to demand his student back.

Now at this point, the agency has no actual proof of alien life. They have half connected incidents and eyewitness reports, but nothing definitive. When they took Katsuki into custody, they’d tested him immediately, sure that they were going to get their proof that way, but since Katsuki no longer has Izuku, the tests all came back negative. As such they have no real justification for having basically kidnapped him.

The agent guy or whoever has been chasing them tries to justify themselves by offering proof of 'Izuku' existence, specifically recordings of Katsuki talking to himself and referring to an ‘Izuku’ as well as written notes. Aizawa's responds that he was already aware of Izuku, that Katsuki had already discussed the other with him, and that he cannot believe they've detained a 16 year old on account of him having multiple personalities. All-Might backs Aizawa up, and shuts down the entire thing as there’s no evidence they’ve done anything but harass Katsuki.

That leaves the agents shit out of luck, so they have to let Katsuki go. The other kids sneak out the way they came in, before quietly joining Aizawa and Katsuki. Aizawa waits until everyone is outside and out of range of any cameras, and then he just turns on the entire group.

"Okay, so first of all, I'm extremely disappointed that you four decided to break into a government agency with armed guards before so much as texting me."

"I'm so sorry sir."

"We could've thought that through a little better, I'll admit."

"Katsuki was in trouble, but yeah, I guess we could've asked for help."

"I stand by what I did and I'd do it again."

Aizawa, actively chooses to ignore Shouto's comment for right now, but does still glare at him for it.

"Second of all, that man may be a fool, but I am not. Where's the alien?”

Everyone's quiet for a tense moment before Izuku makes his choice and pokes his head out from Shouto, introducing himself politely.

After getting a full explanation on what happened, Aizawa gives Katsuki a Look (tm) to which Katsuki defends himself.

“Listen, I did not lie, I just purposefully omitted that the person living in my body is also an actual alien from outer space.”

And Aizawa can’t really argue with that, so he just accepts that his class has an extra student in it from now on.

They let the rest of class 1-A in on the Izuku secret, since a lot of them had been coming close to figuring it out anyways, and so the entire class slowly adjusts to having an alien as one of them. It’s surprisingly easy to come to terms with, and as Izuku slowly starts coming out of his shell (ie hiding inside Katsuki whenever someone tries to talk to him), the entire class discovers he’s a total sweetheart & adore him.

#bakudeku #katsuki bakugou #midoriya izuku #shouto todoroki #aizawa shouta #symbiote #venom!au #bnha #mha #class 1-a #sif speaks #my headcanons #sif writes #mostly I just like the visual of Izuku getting embarassed and #then he just hides inside Katsuki #also Izuku is perfect for a symbiote #b/c he's also very clingy and wants to support others

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blazedgraysons · 4 years

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Killing Me Softly

The one where Grayson falls in love in under 12 hours

A/N: Here’s another fic inspired by literally nothing. I am pretty proud of this one though. To all the people who said nice things about Drunk Off You, just know that I read every single one of them and you own my heart and soul. Also, I know literally no one knows who I am but feel free to send asks or messages. I pinky promise to respond. ♡

Word Count: 1.7K

Pairing: Grayson Dolan x OC (Harlow)

Warnings: nothing really, it’s pretty tame minus a lil angst towards the end.

“Are you B29?”

Harlow removes an earbud, looking up to meet big brown eyes staring back at her. It’s hard not to notice the rest of the man standing in the aisle.

Brown hair flops over his forehead as she moves her eyes down to appreciate the soft scuff lining his chin - not quite a beard, but not quite stubble. He’s dressed casually in a gym shirt that outlines every single bulging muscle paired with grey sweatpants and some Louis Vuitton slides. She nods slightly to his question, hoping the adonis of a man doesn’t notice that slight blush that’s appeared on her face. He offers her a gracious smile and effortlessly slings his carry-on into the overhead cabin.

“Looks like we’re neighbors then.” Harlow hums in acknowledgment, not sure why he’s so friendly. Most passengers would’ve just grabbed their seat and slept or occupied themselves, but this man intends on making himself known.

He slides into the neighboring seat, and Harlow is instantly overwhelmed. If she thought he looked good from afar, up close was even better. Here she could appreciate all the minute details — the dark mole on his chin, the expensive cologne, the 333 tattoo behind his ear. It took everything in her not to stare, so instead, she settles for quick glances hoping he would be too occupied by his phone to pay her any attention. If he did notice, he spared Harlow further embarrassment by not saying anything. She turns back to her magazine, a random Vogue issue she picked up in the airport convenience store to pass the time, mentally telling herself to calm down in order to get through the next three hours.

“ I’m Grayson, by the way. Just in case we crash, and you need to identify me.” He jokes, smiling widely and — oh shit, does he have a diamond in his tooth? Harlow is so screwed.

—-

Grayson’s never been a big believer in fate until now. The idea of some external force dictating a situation in your life just seemed like bullshit. Yet, Grayson couldn’t describe meeting Harlow as anything else.

He had been irritated all the way up to that point. An overbooked plane forced him off his original flight and away from his twin brother. Ethan had offered to go with him, but Grayson didn’t see a point in delaying their trip even further and told him he’d meet him in Jersey. While the airline was over apologetic and gave him (terrible) perks, in order to make the next flight, he had to sacrifice his first-class seat for an economy red-eye flight. But at least he had a shitty hot towel to make up for it.

He scowled all the way through the check-in and tarmac, vowing to never fly with JetBlue again as he passed the first-class seats that he couldn’t help but stubbornly think, ‘That should be mine.’

It wasn’t until he reached his row that he realized what he thought was a hindrance was actually a blessing. Because there sitting in the seat next to him was a beauty that could only be described as ethereal. Her long, dark hair tumbles in tight coils down her shoulders as she sits crossed-leg, hunched over a magazine, biting her lip in furrowed concentration. She bobs her head slightly to whatever song she’s listening to as she quickly flips through the pages. She tucks her hair behind her shoulder, revealing blemished copper skin that reflects the light.

A small voice in his head (that suspiciously sounds like Ethan) tells him to stop being weird and talk to her. Before he can justify themillion reasons why he shouldn’t, an annoying cough comes from the lady behind him.

He turns around to glare at her a little and asks the mystery girl her seat number with a smile that he hopes comes off as charming and not predatory.

And fuck, he knows she has to be a blessing because she looks like she was sent straight from the gates of heaven to Grayson’s heart. Ironically, the plane’s fluorescent lights form a halo around her head (‘Or maybe you’re finally losing it.’ Ethan's voice tells him.) He blinks, once, twice, three times before realizing that the girl in front of him isn’t a sleep-deprived hallucination and is actually real. He tries to act unaffected by the slow once-over her round, onyx eyes give him. Still, when he notices her eyes lingering on his chest and thighs, he swallows hard before throwing his suitcase into the overhead and sitting down.

The grumpy lady behind him gives him a look as she moves down the aisle, and he whips out his phone for a welcomed distraction. The girl, unaware of the havoc she was wreaking on Grayson’s mind and body, continues to sneak looks at him that were a little too obvious for Grayson to not notice. He debates whether or not to ask for her name until she turns back to her magazine and Grayson figures that she doesn’t want to be bothered anymore. It wasn’t until the voice in his head repeatedly calls him a pussy (‘Shut up, Ethan’ he thinks back) that he introduces himself. And when her plump lips turn up into a smile, Grayson pretends to not notice how screwed he is.

—-

Conversation flows smoothly between the two of them after that. Grayson explains the situation with his original flight and his plans to surprise his mom for mother’s day while Harlow talks about her little brother and the birthday party she helped plan for him this weekend. They talk for so long that their conversation turns from typical discussion to hushed whispers to not disturb the other sleeping passengers. They finally pause for a break when the beverage attendant stops at their row.

Harlow’s honestly glad for the lull in conversation as it gives her time to reflect over what she’s learned. Grayson appears to be very humble despite being heavily involved in the influencer scene in Los Angeles, something Harlow desperately tries to stay far away from herself. Also, despite being one of the hottest guys she’s ever seen, he seems to be so shy that it’s endearing. She notices he stumbles over words, getting so excited about their conversations that he trips himself up.

“So in LA, what do you do for fun? Any friends? Boyfriend?” He asks coolly, trying not to be obvious about his intentions (which makes it so much more apparent in Harlow’s eyes) as he drinks his diet root-beer.

“I work for a high- fashion company doing PR, so I’m always there. I have a couple close friends, but since I’m working so much, I haven’t had that much time for a relationship or finding a guy worth making time for.” Harlow sighs wistfully.

“Ah, that makes sense about the magazine.” He nods, trying to hide his excitement. This situation seems to be working more and more in his favor. “And what guy would be worth making time for?”

“I don’t know honestly. It just seems that all the guys I run into in LA are beyond superficial. All my dates have just been talking about how many followers they have on Instagram or TikTok and just end in hookups. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just hard when you want something more, you know?” She shrugs. And as much as Grayson hates to admit it, he does know. Hell, he’s probably been that guy once or twice in his younger years. Still, as he grows older, he craves the same things Harlow does: intimacy, connection, emotion. He takes another swallow of his drink before responding.

“Yeah, I mean hookups and one-night stands are great in the moment, but it’s hard when you just have love you want to give. It’s even harder now that my brother’s dating someone, ya know. Seeing someone you’re close with have what you want; it’s kinda hard not to be jealous.” He shares, hoping she relates and doesn’t think he’s weird for telling so much to someone he met a few hours earlier.

Harlow sits with that for a second before responding, “And what girl would you want to give your love to?” She whispers.

’Someone like you.’ Grayson thinks. But before he could make the bold confession, the plane announces its descent.

——

Grayson realizes almost immediately that he wasn’t paying that much attention to the flight details because the fact that there was a layover in Colorado flew over his head. He lets Harlow pass by him to stand in the aisle and grabs both his and her carry-on to take off the plane. As Grayson stands behind her (and tries not to stare at how incredible her ass looks in her leggings), he does what he’s best at: forming a game-plan. He realizes that a girl like Harlow is too good to let go. So, he figures he could grab a coffee with her, get her number, and plan a date for when they both are back in LA. He smiles, already thinking of the story he’ll get to tell Ethan when he gets to Jersey. As they both slowly move into the terminal, Harlow turns back to Grayson with a bright smile. He smiles back before asking —

“Do you want to get coffee?” He can’t help his heart from swelling as she bites her lip, a habit he notices she does a lot.

“Good, I thought you weren’t going to ask.” She laughs. “Wait here though, I have to run to the restroom.”

He nods, handing Harlow her carry-on. He sits down and pulls out his phone, already texting Ethan that he met his future soulmate.

Five minutes pass: He’s got the future planned out: the wedding, the kids, the farmland in Jersey and the tiny-home in Australia.

Ten minutes pass: He starts to get worried, but figures Harlow can handle herself.

Thirty minutes pass: He considers sending someone to the bathroom to check on her.

Two hours passed: He’s already cased the domestic airline terminal twice, looking for her dark curly hair.

It’s not until the final call of flight 437-A to New Jersey that he understands: Harlow’s not coming back for him. And he can’t help it when his heart splits into two.

#grayson dolan #dolan twins #grayson dolan x y/n #grayson dolan x reader #grayson dolan fic #grayson dolan blurb #dolan twins x reader #dolan twins x y/n #dolan twins fic #dolan twins blurb #grayson dolan oc #grayson dolan x oc #grayson dolan oc fic #grayson dolan oc blurb #blazedwritings

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zeldahime · 4 years

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thanks to the 3zun discord and cleromance on twitter, i have now written modern!rule 63!3zun. 3zun lesbians is all i want in life, i think

i don’t really describe them so i just want to let you know that meng yao is like 5′2 and 95lbs and high femme; lan huan is 5′10 and lives in Women’s Business Attire; and nie mingjue is still 6′3 and built like a tank

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Prompt: “Can you keep a secret?”

"Can you keep a secret?" Lan Huan whispered. Meng Yao was asleep next to her, her fine hair tangled on the pillows, her face relaxed. She almost looked like a completely different person, as young as Lan Huan felt, with the tension of her life temporarily relieved. "I think I'm in love with you."

Meng Yao slept on, as Lan Huan gently ran her hand over her lover's face, down her neck and arm.

Lan Huan hated that the bed would be empty when Meng Yao woke up at seven. Meng Yao had barely anything in her apartment, just clothes and schoolbooks and other necessities; she barely had groceries and had no decorations. She was too proud to accept gifts, and when Lan Huan had tried to leave some things of hers behind accidentally-on-purpose, Meng Yao had conscientiously made sure to return them. In her white-and-blue skirt suit in an empty apartment, she felt like a ghost flitting through Meng Yao's life, invisible and incorporeal during the day.

But at night -- oh, at night -- when she and Meng Yao talked and whispered and touched, when they laughed, when they loved -- Lan Huan felt like the luckiest girl in the world, even if the rest of her world was on fire.

She wanted Meng Yao to know that she wanted anything she had to offer. She wanted more than just stolen moments on weekend nights, when neither of them would be missed, if Meng Yao wanted it too. She wanted to see her every day, to do whatever Meng Yao wanted, for Meng Yao to do whatever she wanted. She would pull the moon out of the sky to make her smile.

Slowly, Lan Huan pushed herself up. She had to go to work. But soon -- tonight -- she would tell Meng Yao everything.

She hoped she wouldn't scare her away.

"Can you keep a secret?" Meng Yao asked bitingly. "I thought the blunt and straightforward Nie Mingjue would think those beneath her."

Mingjue's jaw clenched in response. Good. Meng Yao was in a fighting mood.

"I've kept secrets." The words came out low and careful; she'd learned something over the last year, then, about diplomacy. They also weren't an answer and they weren't a reason.

"Like what, a-Huan's birthday present? It's that necklace she liked at the summer fair, the blue one. She'll love it. Try again." Meng Yao kept her face perfectly flat. If Mingjue wanted a reaction from her, she'd have to actually try. She hadn't tried in a while.

"I'm trying to help you!"

Meng Yao felt her lips thin. Of course she thought that's what she was doing. Of course she saw herself as the savior. She always had, and she always would. She never understood that Meng Yao didn't need saving. She wasn't a fairytale princess waiting to be rescued -- she had rescued her own damn self.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Da-jie. You haven't tried to help me since before we broke up. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable."

Mingjue looked like she'd been slapped in the face. Since Meng Yao would bet her entire bank account nobody had ever struck her in the face in her life, and Meng Yao was much too small to get that effect the old-fashioned way, it was probably the closest she'd ever get. She did not allow herself to smile in satisfaction, but she felt it all the same.

"You wouldn't let me." Mingjue stared at a spot somewhere above her head. "I wanted to. But you wouldn't let me." She spoke in a strange tone of voice, one Meng Yao had never heard from her. She sounded almost... lost. Hurt.

Like Meng Yao was the one who betrayed her trust, and not the other way around.

"Fine," she said, before she had actually made the decision to speak. "I'll tell you a secret, if you can keep it. Forgive me or don't, I don't care, but you'll know why I did it."

When Huaisang came home an hour later, Mingjue was holding Meng Yao to her chest, whispering apologies into her hair.

"Can you keep a secret?" Mingjue asked a-Huan, as they waited for their date. Yaoyao had texted them that something had come up at work, and she was coming as soon as she could, but they all knew that emergencies at Jinlintai Inc. could take anything from a half-hour to an overnighter to resolve. She'd know what kind it was soon enough.

"It depends," a-Huan said mischievously. "Is this is a fun secret, or a business secret?"

Mingjue smiled, and a-Huan gasped a little. She was a sucker for dimples, and Mingjue used hers judiciously. "A very fun secret."

A-Huan fluttered her eyelashes. "Then I can keep it for as long as Da-jie wants me to, if she asks nicely enough." She raised her chin for a kiss, and got it. Mingjue could never deny a-Huan anything.

"I was thinking about Valentine's Day, and our Yaoyao’s birthday, and how they're very close together," Mingjue said slowly. "And about how much she likes both chocolate and beds that are big enough for the three of us."

"I like this secret already, Da-jie."

"She's well overdue for a vacation."

"We all are, I think."

"And she hates how cold it is here up north."

"She does indeed, our poor little southern flower."

They smiled at each other as a blur of a pale blouse and lacy umbrella powerwalked into the restaurant, and they had their Yaoyao with them at last.

"I am going to murder Jin Zixun," Yaoyao announced for the third time that week, and a-Huan fussed over her hair and Mingjue took her hand. "It's like he wants someone to riddle his body with holes and leave him to die right in the middle of Qiongqi Pass. I'd do it myself if I could figure out how to get away with it."

"Hello to you too," Mingjue said mildly as Yaoyao pecked her on the cheek and took her seat.

Bonus:

"Can you keep a secret?" Huaisang asked them. She'd sat them all down in the living room, wringing her hands like she was afraid they would vanish. "Because I'm pretty sure Yao-jie can but I want to know for certain. You're not going to tell anyone what I tell you right now. Right?"

They looked at each other. Da-jie radiated confusion; Huan-jie and Yao-jie looked perfectly blank.

"A-Sang?" Huan-jie asked quietly.

"Okay, I should probably start at the beginning. When I was like 14, I had a big crush on Wei-jie, you remember that right Yao-jie? I definitely told you. Um. So I kind of wrote this comic about it?”

She walked them through a series of events that seemed both fantastic and completely plausible. And then she told them the title.

"Wait a second. A-Sang. You wrote The Mistress of Demonic Cultivation? And you sold the rights without having me read the contract? Huaisang," Yao-jie said slowly, in her voice that asked the question "are you stupid?" and answered it with "clearly," "I am an intellectual property attorney."

"I didn't! I don't think I did? I'm pretty sure I didn't! I didn't sign anything! I don't know!"

Huaisang watched her sister and her wives roll their eyes in perfect unison and stand with choreographed ease. She was expecting to be yelled at, or possibly told to go practice saber.

She didn't expect to be the center of a group hug, or for her da-jie to say "I'm proud of you," or for Huan-jie to tell her that Lan Zhan had recommended her story to her. She did kind of expect for Yao-jie to demand the contract and mark it up, so that wasn't a surprise at least. That was why she'd told them at all.

Maybe she'd tell them more things, if she was going to get hugs out of it instead of yelling.

Being married was good for Da-jie, she thought. It was good for all of them.

#3zun #nie mingjue #lan xichen #jin guangyao #meng yao #xiyao #nieyao #nielan #the untamed #please please people write more lesbian!3zun so i can read all of it!!!!#my writing

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pl-panda · 4 years

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Vegas Vacation - chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Master Post

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While in darkness, some look for the light. Others, light up a match. There are also those who learn to adapt and push through.

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Vegas Magic - chapter 1

Hang-black-over

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*pain*

Harry felt a headache at least the size of Fluffy. He tried to open his eyes, was momentarily blinded by the light. He tried to lift his hand to look for glasses, but something weighed him down. Something warm and soft... Something that started to move!

His head instantly snapped in that direction only to see a mess of black hair. From under that mess, he could see a girl staring at him with a smile on her face. She had soft blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, and a slight tan. For a moment his eyes wandered a bit lower and he blushed Gryffindor red. She was naked. It took him a moment to notice he was naked too. Seeing his reaction she giggled. A melodic sound hitting his ears was enough to finally break him from the daze.

Absentmindedly, he tried to pull the cover up to regain at least minimum modesty and maybe stop the blush. This earned another giggle from her. When he finally managed to at least partially cover himself, she pouted.

"Why the sudden modesty, mister?"

"Um… eh… I… did we…?" He managed to ask, which earned more giggle from her. She sure was in a really good mood.

"I think that is quite obvious."

He tried for a few moments to remember who she was, but his mind came empty. "I… I'm sorry… I… I kinda don't remember your name." He managed to finally squeeze the thing out.

"Why I am offended, mister." She gave him a smile that could only be described as sultry. "I thought the night we just had would be rather memorable. I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life. As for my name… I think since yesterday it's Zatanna Potter."

Harry was too surprised to answer. He could only gape at the girl next to him. She decided to add fuel to fire and raised her hand, showing him a small golden ring on her finger. Harry managed to grab his glasses from the night table and put them on before taking a close look It was a beautiful wedding ring that could double as a family signet. Harry's seen a similar ring on Narcissa Malfoy's hand. Just to check, he raised his own hand and saw an almost identical ring. His was a bit bigger and bulkier though. He also noticed that there was an identical coat of arms engraved on both.

Harry let out an audible groan. There is a dark lord after his head and the first thing he does is get married.

"Am I that undesirable?" She teased him while slowly trailing fingers along his arm.

"No… No! You are breathtaking! Beautiful!" He quickly reassured her.

"Good answer." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips before standing up. Now Harry could admire her in all her glory. He noticed that she must have been about his age. Her… assets were well developed. She could probably rival Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass in his year. "I am going to get a quick shower. I guess we should sit up and talk after that…" He trailed after her long legs as she made way to the bathroom. He would bet his wand she was intentionally swaying her hips just to tease him.

As soon as the doors closed, he let out another groan. Resigned, he got up and started to gather his and her clothes and sort it into separate piles. He froze for a moment when he picked a pair of lacy thongs and a matching bra, but he quickly got back to work. He just hoped that it could be fixed. Maybe they could just cancel the whole thing?

"One thing for sure. I am not drinking again…" He said to himself before sitting back on the bed. Harry tried to remember how exactly he got there, slowly retracing his steps in memory.

He could remember being at the Dursleys' after the Tournament. He could remember Prophet informing about Bellatrix LeStrange escaping. They blamed it on Sirius. He then remembered a missive from Goblins, informing him that Sirius Black was dead. Harry was devastated by this. Sirius was one of the few links he had to his parents. He promised that once he was cleared he would be able to live with him. For a moment, Harry hoped for a family. And then Sirius was gone. Just before Harry's fifteen birthday

Then there was the last will. In his infinite wisdom Sirius made a stipulation to his will that for anyone to access anything of his or the whole Black Family, Harry was to take vacations. Remus was to be his chaperone while they were to leave to 'Black property somewhere in America'. Dumbledore was really against the idea, but Sirius' old house that he let Dumbledore use was locked tight until the stipulations of the will were met. As such the wisened Headmaster had no option but to allow Harry the trip. He and Remus were taking a portkey from Gringotts, making any tracking impossible. While it was clear that Dumbledore was against the idea, he could not stop them in any way. Also, while the headmaster was unable to follow them in any way, so were the Death Eaters.

They arrived in Magical Las Vegas, which was in normal Las Vegas. The two made their way to Black Casino, which was the 'Black property in America'. Harry hoped to enjoy the luxurious hotel, but a waitress that strangely reminded him of someone he saw somewhere handed him a drink when Remus was distracted. He hesitantly downed it, enjoying the burning sensation. From there, it was hazy. He could remember flashed. They didn't stay at Black Casino. Remus took him to a magic show. Apparently, it was similar in fashion to a talent show for Magicals. This was supposed to be a world-famous Giovani Zatarra.

The show was taking place in another Casino. Harry could remember that he lost Remus in the crowd. He ended up at one table where a man that also looked a bit familiar gave him a bunch of tokens.

He played, won, played again, won even more.

Through the mist, he recalled taking his win and going to look for Remus. The rest of it was a total blur. He could remember meeting Zatanna. More games, cards, machines, roulette, etc. Then he had a brief flash of… Elvis? Then there were a bit more games and finally, Zatanna dragging him to a hotel room. At each stage, he got more and more drinks. The drilling headache still served as a reminder of the amount of alcohol he consumed

The doors to the bathroom opened and Zatanna walked out, wrapped in a towel. Once again, Harry stared at her for a moment with open mouth before quickly averting his gaze. She grinned and slowly walked to him.

Zatanna took a seat next to him. "So…" She started solemnly.

"Um…" He really had no idea what to say

"What is the last thing you remember?" She asked suddenly after a brief, but uncomfortable silence.

"Well… I was separated from my chaperone. I ended up at some table where a guy handed me a lot of tokens and I won quite a bit. Then I packed and left looking for Remus… I walked into some empty corridor and after that, I can't really remember much. Everything is hazy.

"I actually think this is where we met…" She mused for a moment. "My dad was giving a show. I actually had a bit of a fight with him just before he left." Seeing Harry's raised eyebrow, she frowned. "He keeps treating me like a baby. No helping at the shows, no Justice League stuff, if it was up to him, I wouldn't be allowed to date anyone until sixty." She quickly blushed, remembering last night. "That was actually why we argued. He overheard me talking to a friend about a cute guy I've met recently. I was so angry. He showed no respect for my privacy and to boot that up scolded me."

"He sounds… strict…" Harry was unsure of what to say.

"I mean I love him, but he just… Anyway, that evening I was angry. I walked out of the room, hoping to maybe at least watch the show from backstage, but then I stumbled upon you. I… I kinda decided to spite my father and invited you for a date. You agreed and we played several games. You were so sweet and cute." She smiled at him. "Not to mention hot."

Harry focused on what she was telling and remembered meeting a girl in that corridor. They spoke for a moment before she asked him if he wanted to join her in an outing. They returned to main hall and Harry kept on winning. At some point, they decided to switch casinos. The next one was very interesting too.

"How is it that nobody batted an eye at our age?" He asked suddenly.

"I mean… it's Magical Los Angeles. As long as you have money, they don't ask questions…"

"Yeah. That's about right." He grumbled. "It's probably the only reason why Malfoy still walks around to torment me…" She placed a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked at his wife and nodded. "Sorry. It's been… a hard year for me."

"I remember… mostly. I am pretty sure you omitted some details, but I won't dig…"

"Okay. We cleared some casinos. But how did we end up married?"

"I… I received a text from my father. He was furious that I went behind his back. I wanted to spite him, so I… kissed you. Hard." She blushed, albeit not as hard as Harry earlier. Or now for that matter. "I tried to push further, but you were a perfect gentleman." She smiled at him. "You said that you wanted to wait until marriage. It was so sweet. I kissed you again as a reward." Seeing his look, she smiled sheepishly. "I was not exactly sober either…"

Harry quickly raised his hands in a surrender gesture. "I am not saying anything."

They both laughed weakly at that. "Anyway, you had this goofy grin on your face after that. The Casino we were at… Black Casino I think… Had a chappel in it. You actually proposed to me and we got married on the same evening. Then… let's just say I am a very pleased wife." She gave him a sultry smile like before. Harry squeaked when she moved to sit on his lap.

"Um…" then a dreadful thought entered his mind. "Oh, Merlin! Remus! He is going to kill me!"

"You mean the werewolf?" She asked surprised. Harry skipped over the fact she knew his secret "He was at our wedding. With another woman at that. I'm not sure if he was there for us or waiting in line…"

Harry was about to answer when he heard a knock at the doors. He got up and was about to move to open when Zatanna caught his hand.

"wait a moment." She nodded at him and Harry realized he was completely naked. "Let me… Sserd pu um dnabsuh!" In a puff of smoke, Harry was now wearing a two-piece suit and white shirt underneath. For a moment he wanted to ask her about that, but the knocking got more irritated and he actually worried who might that be.

"Maybe… Dress up while I check whose that?"

She nodded and Harry walked to the next room. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. It was an exclusive suite of the kind he saw on movies when he sneaked a look at the Dursley's. He focused on the doors. He had his wand in one hand when he opened the doors. Outside he was greeted by a very much alive Sirius Black, his godfather!

#harry potter #fanfic #fanfiction #vegas #young justice #DC #hogwarts fifth year

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valnune · 4 years

Text

An Ordinary Party (Asmo + Wine Mom)

Based on the chat of the same name, you’re invited to a party after school that has perfectly normal things. I had already written this and finished yesterday but it’s perfect for the start of Asmo Appreciation Week that @milas-imaginarium posted. Since it’s his birthday week, I will have to finish that Asmo Angel outfit I’ve been sitting on. Look forward to it! For those who haven’t gotten the chat yet, it’s called “Ordinary Party” and is just Asmo, and for some reason the demon’s name you’re gonna have a house party at is called Lucifugus. Which is the taxonomy name of a small brown bat. Also. Warning. Prepare for a Feels Trip. Word Count: 6347 ---------------------- Asmo had said that a little party was being thrown at Lucifugus’s house after class today. The text came just before lunch and after inquiring what sort of party it was, it was described as “nothing special.” Eating, drinking Demonus, and gossiping. However, as he said he’d pick Althea up after class, he mentioned the prospect of finding a new partner at the end of it. Complete with a heart emoji at the end. Since coming to the Devildom, Althea had been dragged about on various trips and escapades by the demon brothers. Normally she was the unwilling participant in many of these because they wouldn’t leave her alone and the effort to get them to stop was not worth the trouble but sometimes it was not the worst thing. Initially, she found it enjoyable because being invited out allowed her to get familiar with the place, this is what the upper echelons of demon society found most valuable, right? So it must be important. Yet. More and more she just realized it was demonic versions of mundane things. Hell was just another Earth, just with a different coat of paint.

Today would be no different than the day before and the next day after. After all, this wasn’t the first time Asmodeus sprung plans on short term notice, and it wasn’t even the first time that he’d invited her out to a party. Normally, if he was to take her out, it would be to Majolish or other stores he liked, seeing as she was someone who knew a fair bit about fashion and prided herself on her presentation. It was one of the things she seemed to bond over well with him, and decently enjoyed. So, when Asmo met up with Althea at the end of classes, the standard thoughts were going through her mind. They were going to someone’s house, drink, gossip, and he’d probably drag her to The Fall after. While she always allocated time to study, such things could be done past midnight. It wasn’t as if she lived off of four hours of sleep every night anyway.

“Ooh, aren’t you so excited? I know I am, I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend their time with me. Ahahah.” Linking his arm around her own, Asmo gave his signature head inside laughter, trying to be cute as he beamed a smile up to Althea. Normally, she’d be stoic and unamused but, with Asmo, she tended to lighten up a bit, after all, she did enjoy indulging herself on occasion.

“Yes, yes. Once more, it is of the utmost privilege to bask in your glory, Asmodeus. Your radiant smile, your glowing eyes, why, who needs the Sun when you shine more brilliantly?” Swaying her hips from side to side, the click of her heels upon the stone floor of the Academy was muffled by the sounds of the various demons getting ready to leave. The idea that demons still had to go to school despite being supernatural creatures was still confusing. Did that man there was school in Heaven as well? While she did enjoy learning, it made her question the economy of the Devildom if the education system took so long.

“More! More! Shower me with more praise or even better, why don’t you prove it with a kiss. You would if you really felt that way about me.” Releasing her arm and stepping in front of her, Asmo curled a finger in his hair and pulled it, letting the curl bounce as he struck a pose.

“Flowers wither and die, dry in the heat of the sun, or shrivel from the cold, their petals yellow, their leaves wilt, but your lips shall stay as an eternal Spring, blossoming forever in a garden that envies the scent of your nectar.” Althea leaned in, cupping a hand under his chin ever so slightly, but just smiled, releasing the expectant demon and sauntered off without him.

“Come along then, we need to pick up a gift for the host. It’s terribly rude to arrive at a house party empty handed.” A hand waved back and forth as she waited for Asmo to catch up.

“Ugh! You can’t just say something like that and not follow through! You always do this!”

Leaving the academy grounds and visiting the market, Althea and Asmo picked up a bottle of Demonus, even though she clearly wanted to get a bottle of wine, human world commodities were rather hard to come by. It was unfortunately out of her price range. She was still looking for a way to convert her human world funds into Grimm, though she heard the exchange rate was quite lucrative as human money itself as a commodity for its novelty. Still, despite her Devilgram name being: Wine Mom, she was without wine for another week. Mammon said he made headway in that direction but was still waiting to hear back from a few people.Something would need to be done to incentivise him, otherwise she’d be waiting for a hundred years. If she was lucky.

Lucifugus was one of Asmodeus’ many, many, many acquaintances and for this house party there were about eight others there. It seemed not everyone was as courteous to bring a gift and just showed up, and it seemed that Lucifugus was expecting Asmo to do the same. He was pleasantly surprised. As his name suggested, he did have some bat-like features, and was rather short compared to other demons she had met.Well. She actually took the time to find out that Lucifugus was Latin for a kind of brown bat. She learned that most demons had references to Latin or Greek words, if they weren’t directly from the Bible. This was no different. It seemed that many demons preferred to use their human forms outside of school as well, however most had loosened up their uniforms a bit to relax. Yet, as the two just greeted the host, handing off the gift, a voice caught her attention as a pair appeared from the side.

“So, this is the exchange student, hmm? Can’t say I’ve seen them up close before. One of your brothers is usually lurking about.”

“Oooh. Look how tough they’re trying to be. Just because they have a few pacts.You’re sure we can’t take a few bites, Asmo~baby?”

These two looked slightly familiar, as if she had seen them at the school but never had interacted with them. Both of them carried an androgynous look, but the sharpness in their eyes, on their teeth, and their nails… they were succubi and incubi, though which was which was hard to tell. The first had slick back hair and shaved sides making it look like waves on sand while the one who addressed Asmo as baby had an angled dramatic bob cut.They hung off each other and leered in her direction. The way they moved, the shifting of their shoulders, their stride, their gait, it was clear they were a bit more primal, perhaps true demons that never fell. Regardless, they reminded her of eels.

“Oh hey lovelies, I’m glad you could make it! Oooh. Ooh. I want to introduce you guys to each other. These two are Amaurós, and Ophidia, only like, two of the biggest gossips in the Devildom, as well as two of the biggest sluts. Ahaha.”

Asmo slid over to the pair and circled around them like the queen he was, standing behind them now as if to present her to the pack. This seemed like a sort of initiation into a clique, being evaluated by those who thought themselves above the rest. It was something she was familiar with. Oh, there most certainly were cliques in a Catholic school, perhaps not quite the same as public school, but it was mostly the social status and hierarchy that formed between wealth groups. That’s what this feeling was. She was back to being judged by others. Well. She still remembered the steps to this dance.

“You’re one to talk, Asmo. I’ll have you know that I am the classiest of demons, thank you very much.” Flicking their eyelashes at Asmodeus, the one on the left, Amaurós, feigned offense.

“Oh please. I am a connoisseur of assets, not a slut. Amaurós, Ophidia, this human here is Althea, she’s basically like… Hm. Oh. You’ll see what I mean. I’m sure you’ll get along great!”

Parading himself about, Asmodeus made sure to wave to the others who were invited, making sure he was seen. That left her in front of these two eels that now ungulated forward, giving a circle about her. Althea remained still, arms crossed over herself as she raised a brow at what they were doing. Not reacting even when she felt a nail glide over the arm of her blouse, Althea had opted to keep her jacket with her as opposed to hanging it up. Her coat was long and under it was a pencil skirt that the spruce green shirt was tucked into, but she kept the gold tie clasped and firm with the buttons still tight around her neck.

“Aren’t you going to speak? This IS a party after all, or are you just going to stand there all night and be a coat rack?”

“Ugh. Come on then, don’t be such a buzzkill. Do something human-! Unless you want us to make the first move, hmm?”

The two hissed as they returned to each other's side, Ophidia, draping their arms over Amaurós’ shoulders and making that final jab at her, while Amaurós themselves seemed to stand there and sneer a bit. All the while, Althea saw that Asmodeus was watching the three from the corner of his eyes. Catching the glint in his gaze, she saw that he was expecting a bit of a show. Very well. Her arms unhooked from themselves slowly. Placing a hand upon her hip, Althea cocked them to the side, coat hanging over the arm while her hand flipped through her hair.

“Well, excuse me for reserving the right to speak. I thought I’d save you the embarrassment, after all, it appears you two share the same brain as you can’t think or act independently.” With a scoff, Althea tilted her chin up high, eyes glaring down at the two. Let the game begin.

“Ooh. Tough talk from the thirty year old virgin. So what if you’re book smart if you don’t know how to get any. That’s where true power lies. You can control someone from between their thighs.” It was Ophidia who was on the attack once more, the one who called Asmo, Asmo~baby with that cutesy voice.

“You’ve had crows-feet for over a thousand years, it’s a wonder you can get any at all. But I suppose if you put enough makeup on, you can still look half as decent as I do.” Althea turned her head off to the side and huffed a bit in response. Like a dragon she moved, purposely, strong angles, don’t give them an inch. Don’t back down.

“As if! I am only seven hundred, thank you very much and I-”

“Hmph. Well you clearly fooled me, but then again. You seem to play the part of a fool quite well. Just how many centuries of practice have you with that?” Althea’s sharp tongue struck again but cut short by the other demon, Amaurós.

“Haha! Well, done human. You’ve got a bit of a mouth on you. I wonder what else it can do.” They didn’t seem to be nearly as uptight as Ophidia who was pouting and clinging onto the other, but it seemed to be an act as they were back to smiling again, or grinning. Sneering. It was hard to tell with sex demons.

“Oh, I know! Isn’t she just so fun to play with?” Asmo had returned holding a glass filled with a rich burgundy shade. Hooking an arm around Althea’s, he pressed his head to her shoulder and smiled back.

“Come on, the real fun’s about to start. Lucifugus found some human games and we wanna try them out. You’ll give us the real, authentic treatment, won’t you Althea?” Batting his long eyelashes up at her, Althea glanced down and chuckled ever so slightly.

“How could I say no to you?” Her voice lush and low in return, a finger extending out to brush the hair from his face.

“You say no plenty, unless that’s an invitation-”

“Just lead on, Asmo.” Cutting him off, Althea, however did the leading. She had watched where he came from anyway, and had Asmodeus point out where to turn. This particular dorm was not nearly as robust as the House of Lamentation, but it still housed a few individuals so it was sizable enough. The basement was spacious and seemed that everyone else, aside the two she was speaking with, were downstairs.

Other than the host, there were four others. That meant there were nine total. It was a cozy amount of people, something she could handle. There was a table with various drinks on it, bottles of demonus and still, nothing she could get the slightest bit intoxicated off of. This was fine. She didn’t drink to feel effect anyway, well. Not mostly. As for food things as Asmo mentioned there would be, along with cupcakes and other dainty sweets, there were “party” foods, which consisted of things like scorpion and giant centipede skewers, cream puffs which- looked normal but the cream was made from pigeon milk. It seemed that Hell was abundant with strange foods. One thing she would not miss once left.

“So, I heard about this game called Truth or Dare, you’ve heard of it right?” Lucifugus looked at her expectantly as he took a seat on the sofa. Settling down with a drink, everyone took their respective seats. Althea picked a solitary arm chair so she could see everyone and, of course, Asmo sat with the pair he introduced her to. It was clear what his intentions with them were with the way they were snickering and giggling to each other was.

“That’s right. Typically, you ask someone the question, truth or dare. That person then responds with which one they’d rather do or say. If you pick dare, you perform an action, and truth is obviously answer the question truthfully. If you don’t want to do it, you typically have to do a punishment or take a shot of something. Alcohol. Hot sauce, until they will say or do something. Depends on house rules.” Althea kept her eyes focused on the host as she spoke, out of politeness.

“Oooh! That sounds like great fun! There are SO many things I can finally get you to do and say, Althea!” Asmo was giddy like a schoolgirl, his expression changing from sweet to sinister in a quick flash. This was going to be a long night…

However. The night wasn’t terribly bad. Several of the demons had to answer what their biggest regrets were, or had to make out with each other- dares Asmo specifically asked, or had to send text messages to people they hated. At least three people were guaranteed detention the day after. Asmo had the audacity to ask her what would get her on her knees, clearly referring to sexual actions, however she avoided the question saying she only gets on her knees when praying at Mass or confessing sins. A few more rules were added as people weren’t drinking enough, including if you didn’t do the dare within a minute, you had to take a shot, or if you avoided the truthful statement, another shot. If the others guessed what the truth was to your question but were wrong? Shot. That one ended up getting a few people drunk. After Althea refused to kiss someone, he dared another demon to kiss her, which resulted in her slapping them across the face until they gave up.

Among the things that people did, sitting in each others laps, drinking disgusting things, taking pictures and texting them to others, a few times people had to leave and return with others because, of course Asmodeus would dare someone to do something sexual, Althea made certain to avoid those kinds of dares, or at least only pick truth when Asmodeus asked her the dreaded. Truth or Dare.

“Truth.” Althea stared towards Asmo, the time already around midnight.

“What do you have against kissing? You act like it’s such a big deal. I bet you’d like it if you just gave in a little bit. I mean. I’ve never seen someone with a body like yours so uptight. It’s SUCH a waste.” He was starting to slur his words a bit, but he passed it off with a fake cute voice, and insisted on drinking more of course.

“Oh-! It’s because she’s a prude! I mean, just look at her, buttoned up and formal. All work and no play. But you don’t need her to have a bit of fun, Asmo~baby.” Ophidia, arm draped over Asmo’s shoulder just to get his attention, yet he didn’t look at them for more than a glance.

“No, no. I mean, yes but- I think it’s because she had a bad breakup before. Someone broke her heart and now she can’t love agaaaain. So cliche.” Amaurós was less drunk than Ophidia but still clearly intoxicated.

“Wrong on both fronts. Aside from the fact that the exchange of bodily fluids is disgusting? To me, kissing is a level of intimacy that I reserve for the eventual person I will select for courtship. It holds something of a sacredness to me.” Althea stared at her glass and then glanced to the incubi and succubi pair who just rolled their eyes and finished off their shots before standing up.

“Ugh. So it’s because you’re a church girl again? You’re in the Devildom. You should lighten up a little bit. Why are you so opposed to fun?” Asmo took a shot as well, as it was clearly not the answer he thought either.

“Truth or dare, Asmodeus.” Althea followed it up towards him, seeing as she, one, didn’t care about getting answers from others, and two, they were in the process of leaving.

“Hmmm. Truth!” Asmo leaned forward a bit, curious to see what she’d ask.

“What was the Celestial Realm like?” Her eyes stared towards Asmo now, narrowing slightly. The unfortunateness that she was sober around a bunch of drunk demons was now starting to turn advantageous, they should have their tongues loosened to talk about what they normally wouldn’t should be available now. Or at least that’s what she hoped.

“...”

“Next question.” Asmo took a shot, a bit of an uncomfortable look on his face.

“Fine. Exactly how long ago was the Celestial War?”

“You really aren’t supposed to ask those sorts of questions, you know that.” He fingered the shot glass a bit, trading his nail along the lip before taking a second shot.

“In detail, what is your relation with Solomon?” Althea would ask as many questions as needed until she got the answers she wanted. She was waiting for this moment when he was drunk enough. The host, Lucifugus, was cleaning up but looked between the two and saw the tension grow.

“Cooomee ooooon. You know I can’t… Ugh. Just keep asking questions until there’s something I can answer. You’re as bad as Solomon, you know that, right? Fine, fine. Keep the questions coming.”

So, Althea proceeded to ask a list of questions that were declined. They included questions about the bible, about Heaven, the afterlife, the origin of the universe, God, things that either he didn’t know, or that he couldn’t answer. About fifteen questions in, there was a final question he did answer. Or maybe he was just too drunk to care.

“What did you look like as an angel?” Althea was just about ready to ease down but it seemed that with this question, and the way he let out an exasperated sigh, he might actually respond.

“FINALLY, a question about me! Well. I was beautiful! There was no more beautiful angel, and EVERYONE loved me. Jewel of the Celestial Realm- no one- not even Lucifer- well. Okay maybe Lucifer but- No one else was more beautiful than me! I was so stunning that it was almost a crime. Well. Hehe. I guess it did become a sin.” Strutting about the room, Asmo was swishing his drink around and then nearly tripped over an end table. As he held balance, Asmo straightened up and held his hands out like he was perfectly balanced the whole time.

“Simeon did say something similar… But, it seems like it’s time to go. Come on, you can’t walk straight. Let’s get you home.” Althea went to go wrap an arm over Asmo’s shoulder, pulling his drink away from him except Asmo stumbled back and waved a hand.

“Wait, what did Simeon say about me? Ugh, look at those shoulders, I just want him to wrap those arms of his around me, and those eyes, his smile, beautiful- I mean. Not that I’m jealous or anything.” His cheeks started to flush, but that might have been from drinking too much. A few more things were mumbled under his lips, comments on his appearance and how above everything he seemed.

Again, Althea stepped forward to take the drink away from him, using the length of her arms against him, handing it towards the host who was cleaning everything up. It was certainly past midnight now. Still, she didn’t answer his question. After all, Simeon didn’t say much on it, actually told her to ask the demons themselves as he didn’t feel right speaking about the topic while in Hell. He also made her promise to not ask Luke about it too much either. Disappointing but, she’d keep the promise.

“Althea-! One more question, the game isn’t over until I say it’s over! Truth or Dare! But- but- you have to answer Truth. Got it? Then I’ll leave.” His words still slurred, it seemed that all those shots were catching up to him now. While he didn’t have a drink anymore, he was playing keep-away, so, to indulge him, she nodded her head slightly.

“If I must. However, come over here. I’ll answer Truth as we leave.” Althea hadn’t ever declined to answer a question truthfully, and she wasn’t going to avoid answering it this time. Right now, the only thing she had was a headache from the loudness of everyone, a glass of wine could really be needed right about now.

“What do you REALLY think about me? I know you said you’re not interested in any of my brothers but- come on. You have to love me. I don’t believe you when you say you’re not interested.” Asmo was struggling to put his jacket back on, not able to find where the arm hole was. A slight sigh slipped from her lips, taking a step forward to help him do it up.

What she thought of him? Well. To say she wasn’t interested was not true. However, not the way he wanted her to be interested in him. Glancing off to the side slightly, Althea thought about the question. It would be best to answer this when they were alone. He wouldn’t like the answer.

“You don’t want to hear what I really think about you, not while you’re drunk.” Althea spoke in a solemn way, knowing that this answer was going to have some kind of emotional impact on him if she responded. While she didn’t care about saving someone’s feelings, this was going to be a problem getting him home and Lucifer already was blowing up her D.D.D. with texts. He could brush it off if he was sober, but drunk?

“Nu-uh. You gotta answer this-” He waved a hand away, getting his coat back on but then stumbled and fell down as he was trying to get up the stairs to the main level of the dorm as they exited. Narrowing her eyes at this, there clearly was only one solution.

“Fine. But I’ll answer when we’re out of the building, okay? You won’t want others to hear what I think of you.” Althea slipped an arm under Asmo’s leg, and the other behind his shoulder and lifted him clean off the ground. Looking behind her, in the same stoic, flat voice as always, she nodded to the host, thanking them for allowing them all to come over and, of course, putting up with the craziness.

“Oh, that intimate? So romantic. Is that why you’re carrying me like a princess? Does that mean that you’re my prince? Oh you shouldn’t have.” Asmo wrapped his arms behind her shoulders, kicking his feet back and forth as he was carried. He clearly wasn’t in the right headspace. When was he ever though?

“Very well… What I think of you.” Althea continued to walk as she thought how best to answer this. Asmodeus. The Avatar of Lust… An emotional, needy crybaby who would act out for attention, any attention, and demand everything of you and still want more. No. He was worse than that.

Once they had left the dormitory, Althea kept to herself on the streets, not wanting to pass by anyone to have them overhear, but also because she didn’t trust anyone, nor believe Asmo was in the proper state to defend her if they were attacked. As she knew not all demons obeyed and listened to Diavolo, she was careful not to venture too far out on her own at “night”. Asmo stared up at her with expectant eyes, he wanted to hear that she adored him, that he was her world and couldn’t live without him. He was wrong. So, without ceremony, she began speaking, eyes forward and not looking at him as she delivered her answer to, “Truth.”

“You’re a Parasite. A blight upon everyone you encounter. You feast upon the attention of others, leaving those who have the misfortune of encountering you a husk, drained of emotion after they’ve left your wake. You’re terribly selfish, thinking only of yourself, how it benefits you, how it makes you feel, and disregard the needs of others. Were I not immune to your charms you surely would have tried to sink your fangs into me. If it were not for this program, I’d avoid you like the plague. The toxic aura you spew forth is enough to choke on without even speaking to you. So… Seven out of Ten.”

Each word was left hanging in the air, each word a knife to his heart. It was the brutal honesty she felt towards him, and perhaps it would seem like insults, but to her they weren’t. She met worse, surely. However, he was a demon. This is how she viewed him and while she found his company tolerable, and sometimes fun, this was still his nature. Her eyes remained forward, focused on getting back to the House of Lamentation. Yet, despite what she said, all of her words, he went silent instead of crying loudly. His arms slipped off of her neck and crossed over themselves loosely.

It was a quiet walk back…

Rising up the stairs to the second level, Althea just side-glanced whomever she passed to ensure they didn’t start speaking or ask why the two were so quiet. As soon as she brought him back to his room, he was gently eased down upon his bed and he promptly turned away, pouting, curled up, a slight hunch to his shoulders. It was hard to tell how much of this was the not-alcohol was catching up with him or if he just wanted attention, but there was a bit of sharpness in her chest. Was she feeling back about telling the truth and hurting him?

“Asmo... “ Althea reached a hand out to his shoulder, he turned a bit to smack it away, and turned further around, sharply as the fringe of his hair fell forward, shadowing a bit of his face.

“Don’t touch me! D- Don’t you dare touch me. I’m just a parasite to you.” He pulled away again, this time sitting up and giving a sharp glare at her. There was a hint of light within his eyes, almost like it was glowing. He seemed to be so close to shifting into his demon form with how he was unstable right now.

“I mean- how can you call me that? I’m the Avatar of Lust. People WANT me. I am literally everyone’s type. Seven out of ten? That’s an insult. How dare you! You’re lucky you know. Mhm. If I was allowed to, I’d carve out what little heart you have and hold it beating in my hand. Then you’d see how beautiful I am! Then you’d love me, right?”

The way he spoke, how it flared up, the sharpness, the venom he was spitting, it was as she said. Parasitic. The way his shoulders rose and sank, the primal movement. It was similar to how those two were from the party earlier, clearly more in touch with his demonic side at the moment. Yet, there was something else there. The wounded animal. It came with the break of his voice as he started to settle down, no longer a fire, but a crackling cinder, dim in the night. A mournfulness filled his voice.

“Then… Then you’d love me, right?”

When once his anger settled down from the snarl, the snap, the visceral, a tormented sort of sadness filled his expression as he crawled towards her on the bed. Reaching a hand out, Asmo dragged it down her arm until he was holding her hand. It was not a touch of seduction, but one of longing. Cupping his cheek with her hand, Althea remained silent, watching what was he was doing, if it was a show or genuine response. She knew that whatever was consuming his thoughts, it was likely mixed and veiled as well. After all, demons weren’t truly capable of expressing true human emotion. Theirs was far more complex. So, sitting herself down upon the edge of the bed, Althea would be the emotional rock he needed right now.

“Asmo… You are still beautiful, but beauty isn’t love. You know this.” Her hand then started to brush against his cheek gently, seeing as he was still holding onto it, thumb rubbing back and forth, fingers curled to the side of his face. Something to calm him down. He seemed to like this action, nuzzling against her hand as he was hungry for affection of any kind.

Asmodeus was slow to respond, perhaps he was deciding on if he should answer, or if he was just too tired to respond. It seemed as if he was just content to hold her hand against his cheek, the warmth of her touch, even if it wasn’t as intimate as he wanted. Searching his eyes for truth, watching his gaze, the light still flickered within. But- a sharp tug caught her attention, Asmo pulled on her hand, toppling her off balance in surprise as his other hand pushed her shoulder down to the bed. Though she was sitting on the edge, he had overtaken and was now sat atop her hips, leering down with an intense glow in the burning hues of his gold and coral coloured eyes.

“... Nothing..” His voice was low, a lush whisper that trembled off his lips.

“...Not even now do I see a hint of desire in your eyes… Am I impossible to love? Truly love? I, who was once loved by all, now nothing. To look upon me was to know the Beauty of God. What am I now? A parasite…”

The demonus on his breath was just as bad as any alcohol. It lingered in the air and hung off every word, hot as it practically dripped upon her cheeks. Drawing closer, his face was mere inches from hers but even then, Althea did her best to hold back any sort of reaction. To not recoil, to not withdraw. Even if she wanted to react, he needed the emotional stability right now. She couldn’t feed into his energy, else he’d consume anything she gave off and it would be dangerous for the both of them.

“I may not love you, but that does not mean you’re impossible to love. When I look at you, yes, I see a parasite, but I also see all of that beauty within you. The glow upon your skin, the radiance of your eyes. All of this is true when I speak it, but you look most beautiful like this. This vulnerable scorpion, fighting with his nature. You wish to sting me even now, don’t you?”

With how low her words were, that bare whisper between their lips, the heat of her breath upon his skin, it was the closest physically she had ever been with Asmo. Still, he remained holding onto her wrist and shoulder, staring towards her but not making any movements. As his grip tightened, she also felt his hands trembling and then it released, tears welling and falling from his eyes to her cheeks before he lowered his head down to her chest, arms tightly wrapping behind the small of her back.

“Love me… Love me, please. Tell me I’m beautiful, that I am the most beautiful person you’ve met. Whisper sweet nothings to me and devote yourself to me. I…” Asmodeus clutched on tighter, arms holding onto her waist more as his face started to burrow into her. If she didn’t unwrap from him now, she’d end up sleeping here and who knew how he’d behave once the drunkenness wore off. Yet. She didn’t want to leave him alone. Not like this.

Sitting up slowly, Althea would gently shift in position and unhook his arms, even if he so desperately wanted to remain clung to her, it was the only way. Removing his shoes and setting them on the floor, she tucked him into bed. Fighting with his clingy hands, she had to constantly pull them off and tighten the sheets over him. Changing him out of his uniform was asking for problems so that was out of the question, but she did remove his jacket and loosen his shirt. Yet still, as Asmodeus lay there, looking sleepy, and pitiful, not even she could deny the bit of warmth that was nestled within her heart, the small bit of empathy she felt for him.

It was at this moment, looming over Asmodeus, staring into his eyes as he so often desperately wanted, Althea realized something. For all his age and history, for his time as an angel, then as a demon, he was like a child emotionally. This poor, frail creature, fallen from God’s Love that was hurt so. Yes, the rebellion that happened was likely something he didn’t regret, and something she didn’t blame him for, but to change so fundamentally from who you were from birth, to what you were now. It wasn’t as if she was the best Catholic, nor thought she was going to heaven when she died but still. He was an angel once. They all were angels. Except Satan. Yet Asmodeus, he who was loved by all, how desperate he had become in his moments of depravity.

“I care about you too much to lie to you like that, Asmo. Right now, this crippled, wounded creature you are before me, a parasite, a fallen angel, who you are, there’s nothing more beautiful in this world to me than to see someone like this...but I take no joy in it. Your inner self is exposed to me, and I want nothing more than to play with it, to manipulate it and abuse it for as much worth as I can extract but… It seems I’ve grown a fondness that prevents me from doing so.” It was her confession time now. The delicate way she spoke such harsh words, it was the nature of her internal conflict ions, so sure and not remorseful of those she hurt but fully aware of how toxic she was to others. At least, how she was to other humans. Normally, what she would do to others is manipulate them in this state, make them dependent upon her so that they can’t get away. Just as narcissistic as he, if not more so as she did it by choice. It was not in human nature to hurt others this much. It was a learned behaviour that she carefully cultivated over time and yet. Perhaps that is why she felt such respect towards demons? It was their nature, that any of them behaved civilly was a feat unto itself. How troubled her heart was at this moment. She should feel nothing for these creatures that strayed from God, but at times they were more human than she was. Asmodeus was about to sit up, stirred by what she said but Althea cut him off.

“Hush dear... You need your rest. If you truly want to, we can discuss this in the morning.” As she was leaning over Asmo on the bed, Althea stared down to his amber eyes, her hair draped over a shoulder like a curtain as she made sure his eyes closed. He seemed a bit reluctant to, but the lushness of her words, the soft lullaby melody she spoke, and quite a helping hand of the drink taking effect, he closed his eyes fully.

Slowly, her hand lowered to cup ever so gently atop his lips as her face drew close to his own. Careful not to touch him too heavily, her lips pressed delicately on the back of her hand. This indirect sign of affection wouldn’t be remembered in the morning, not by Asmo anyway. As her lips pulled away, her own eyes lingered upon his face, and she could not deny he was beautiful. He was like the golden child of a family, an Adonis if you will, something that others would want to remain in the company of. Yet she felt no hint of desire towards him, something he said so himself. Pulling away from Asmo who was now safely asleep, Althea quietly slipped out of the room.

He, who had seen and bore witness to the eternal light of Heaven, to bask within the Celestial Realm and to be called the Jewel of it, he must truly have been glorious, beyond beautiful. The way he looked at Simeon, with eyes of distant longing but not lust, she should have seen it sooner. Was he embarrassed about being a demon? Was he so fraught with melancholy that he’d never be as beautiful as he was as an angel? Perhaps. All she knew, however, was that in his moment of weakness, when she had been caught off guard, he could have followed through on his threat, he didn’t. Instead, he bore his heart out to her, held it shriveled and bleeding in his hands, and she didn’t break it...

Leaning against the back of his door, arms crossed behind her, thought started to betray her once more. Why didn’t she lie to him? She could have told him all he wanted to hear and he’d believe it. It would have been so easy to twist his desperation around her finger and have him depend upon her. So pitiful he was at that moment. So pitiful she was becoming that pulling away and leaving him to sleep alone, awake alone, started to gnaw away at her.

“Asmodeus…”

His name fell from her lips, eyes forlorn as she pulled off the door. The short walk back to her room was just as silent, heels clicking through the corridor. A lonely sound in the middle of the night.

“Please don’t make me love you…”

#Obey Me OC #Asmosweek #thefandomlovesasmo #milas-imaginarium

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giranswife · 5 years

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bright, thirst and hunger with giran!

oh hell yeah!! thank you hon!! these were so much fun to do!! I’m sorry that this got a little long xD I have a tendency to write a lot more than i expect to ao;iwejfawoijefa

bright: a moment in which you had a great idea that saved the day, and your f/o couldn’t’ve been prouder.

Today was one of those days that Ash joined Giran during a client meeting. She sat across his lap, sipping on the drink that she had gotten a mere moment ago. This has happened so many times that most of his clients know to just pretend as if she isn’t there, but anybody knew doesn’t quite get the memo.

This man was particularly younger than a lot of the people that Ash is used to seeing, but it’s not particularly uncommon either. Just the younger they are, the more they tend to be easily influenced or even easily distraught. It just so happens today, he was feeling rather unruly. Getting a bit of an attitude in such a way that she could feel Giran’s patience running thin.

“What do yah think, Princess? Should we meet the man’s demands,” He speaks with such calmness though the smirk is stuck on his face, “After all, pal drives a hard bargain.”

I could tell he was being sarcastic, but not a lot of people would by his tone. Since he has a tone that could be sarcastic all the time, it’s hard to tell when he’s serious and when he’s not. Ash is one of the only ones that can pinpoint the difference.

“I don’t know,” Ash mumbles, her tail flipping as she runs her fingers through his hair, “Sounds like bullshit to me. Supply and demand, right?”

Giran chuckled, taking a long drag from his cigarette. That’s his wife alright. Which is exactly why he brings her along for unruly clients like this. Not only is she a gorgeous face, but she’s also smart as hell and not going to take any bullshit. She really learns quite fast and is quite the woman to have on his arm.

“Yah heard the woman. I didn’t get where I am workin’ for chump change.”

Ash smirked, taking her palm and pressing it against the side of his face. She tilted his head a little bit, enough for her to whisper into his ear. It was quick and hushed, soft enough for the man in front of them not to hear a word. But he did see the curves of her lips and the sparkling of mischief in her bright blue eyes.

The look on Giran’s face was definitely not one that anyone wanted to see after that. It pretty much matched her own, just in a much more mature fashion. “That’s my girl,” He said, not even blinking when she leaned over to peck his lips.

“Why don’t yah go wait outside for me. We’ll only be a few more minutes,” He said.

Ash nodded, pushing off of his lap and slowly walking past the chair that his client sat. She brushed her hand across his chair, smirking wickedly as her tail flicked behind her. He made the mistake of watching her leave, quickly hearing the loud cough of the man in front of him.

He’s lucky that Giran was in a good mood. Client or no client, his girl is his girl. Blowing another few puffs from his cigarette, he kept his same smug smirk that seemed plastered onto his face.

“My wife’s a beauty, isn’t she? And smart to,” He said, putting out the cigarette in the tray in front of him, “She came up with the perfect solution to our little... disagreement.”

When he saw that the man stirred in his seat a bit, he chuckled again. “Don’t worry, it’ll work out for both of us. I’m not a difficult man.”

But that comment was a bit up for debate.

thirst: describe a time where you couldn’t wait to be close to your f/o.

The meeting at the league hideout was taking forever, and it was clear that Ash was a tad bit antsy. Her legs dangled over the arm of her chair, and she scrolled through her phone hearing Tomura’s voice in her ear. She never had to listen completely during these things, because Sayeko would brief her afterwards. She’d just have to deal with Shig’s glare for a while.

While she was not paying attention, she got a notification at the top of her screen. She smiled seeing the name, and immediately went to open it knowing that she’d much rather be focused on this message right now. Giran had been busy today as well, so neither of them were able to see each other much excluding this morning. And she had been missing him so much today.

He was mainly asking her when she’d be home, talking about his own client meeting that he wished was her instead. Saying how he couldn’t wait to see her face, and it was making her feel warm. She quickly texted back how she missed him too, and the two of them exchanged words while the meeting continued around her.

The more they spoke the more she longed to be with him. Hearing his voice in the words on the screen, and the two of them even exchanging a few pictures. Even though it was mainly of anything but his face, she could see his hand a few times and she was happy enough to see a bit of him.

The meeting couldn’t end fast enough, especially when he started talking about sharing dinner together and kissing on her neck while they watch a movie together. She could practically feel the softness of his lips, and she closed her eyes a bit at the thought.

It wasn’t until Sayeko thumped the top of her head, causing Ash to glance up and see her staring down. She smirked, pressing her friend’s forehead. “Meeting’s over. What were yah doing, sleeping?” She asked. Ash shook her head, quickly pushing up from the seat and barely even waving goodbye.

“Fill me in later! I gotta go!” She shouted, barely hearing what her friend shouted back at her before she was out the door.

She knew she’d hear shit about it later, but for now she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting home to her husband.

hunger: how you and your f/o would handle an empty cabinet and grumbling bellies.

It was almost two in the morning whenever Ash felt her stomach rumbling, still cuddling up with her husband on the couch. Giran typically isn’t up with her this late unless he’s having trouble sleeping, which tonight was one of those nights. It had been a rather busy day for him, which meant he finished up rather late to begin with.

They had watched a couple movies, not even realizing it had gotten so late. Ash was rather enjoying the feeling of his hands in her hair as she cuddled against his shoulder. She hadn’t wanted to move, feeling that she might fall asleep at any moment. Until she heard her stomach growling.

Giran seemed to be having the same thoughts, shifting in his seat and adjusting his glasses. “Baby...” Ash cooed, and before she could say another word he mumbled.

“I know, you’re hungry. I heard.”

She rolled her eyes, but laughed as she nuzzled into his neck.

“Do we have anything in the kitchen?” She asked, kissing his neck a couple of times.

He shook his head, taking off his watch and setting it down on the coffee table in front of them. He’d been in such a hurry to sit down with his wife he had forgotten to really get comfortable. His entire body was pretty much screaming to lay down, but at the present moment either of them really wanted to.

“It’s too late to order anything,” She sighed, “Are you hungry too?”

“Yeah. I didn’t eat any lunch, so I’m as fuckin’ hungry as you are.”

It just begged the question of what they were going to do about it. Giran really didn’t want to get up and get out at this late hour, but between his own hunger and need to make his wife happy, he didn’t have much choice.

“I’ll go get yah something.”

“Are you sure? But it’s late.”

He nodded, leaning over to kiss her cheek and then her lips softly. She could tell he was tired, but once he made a decision that was pretty much it.

“You’re tired baby, let’s just... go to bed.”

“Last time I let yah go to bed on an empty stomach I had a cranky Ash in the morning. I don’t mind, Princess.”

I rolled my eyes, watching him put his coat back on over his shoulders.

“I love you,” She said as he grabbed his keys, “Be careful? Text me when you head home?”

He nodded, kissing the top of her head one last time for equal measure. It made him happy to hear her worried about him, but this really wasn’t new for either of them. Just seemed like the two of them had some shopping to do tomorrow, so he didn’t have to do this for a while.

#ashley answers #chiliechii #ship: you drive me crazy (and I hate it)#my writing #thank you hon omg ao;jfe;owaijefa #i loved doing this aoijf;owaijef;oajwefaf so much omg #i love him more than anything omg

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taehyungiejiminie95 · 6 years

Text

6 Bullets: Chapter 01

Warnings: Death, violence, blood, suicide, deception, sexual harassment, swearing, angst

You come home after 5 years in America, but what you find is not what you expect.

Word count: 4989

My hand hits the desk in anger and even the biggest of the new recruits jumps back in fear. I can feel my lips curl back into a snarl and I have to physically make it stop. Looking over the small line, I realise how screwed I am. My sister is getting here in 3 days and they’re just not ready. If I’d had even a month - no, two weeks! - more notice, I could’ve done better. I could’ve found a different house to say I lived in, I could’ve hired better men and I could’ve finished the deal before she got here. I can’t do that all in the same day. My hands are tied and I don’t have a choice. I dismiss the men in the line and tell them all to leave but one. I beckon a raven-haired man forward and sit on the side of my desk that’s closer to him,

“Jeon, right?” I ask. It may be a little cold but I’m at my wit’s end here and I don’t have the patience for formalities. In my head I can hear the seconds ticking by, every moment closer to throwing her into this mess. I never wanted this. Especially when I was so close to leaving. The recruit nods to indicate my correct naming of him and I crack a smile. I can practically read the wariness in his eyes. That’s good. He should always be on alert,

“You’re in. I need to call two more men, and briefing is in three hours. Understood?” I state a little blunter than necessary. But does it really matter? He needs to understand that this isn’t a game and he’s not here to make friends. He’s here for a reason. With that statement I dismiss him with a wave of my hand and tell him to send the other 5 recruits home. They’re useless anyway. The man - I must remind myself of his first name soon - turns on his heel and walks away quickly, obviously hiding some sense of pride. How little he knows. This lifestyle is nothing to be proud of. I sigh as I pick up the phone on my desk and tap in a number I’ve had memorised for ages. They pick up in 3 rings like always and answer with the same greeting they’ve been using since I met them,

“Kim Namjoon speaking. What’s the problem?” His gravelly voice comes down the phone like a wave of relief and I can feel the tension flood out of my body almost instantly,

“It’s Seokjin. I need you and Jimin. Can you be here in three hours?”

“Yes.” Is all I hear before the line goes dead. I stand up from my desk and straighten my shirt. I should’ve called them first rather than messing around with new recruits. 3 days is more than enough to train up Jeon if I have Namjoon and Jimin. She’ll be safe in the hands of our old business partners and - more importantly - our friends.

~~~

You take a deep breath in as you step off of the plane, and onto the floor of the airport. You’re finally back. After 5 years of living in America, you’d finally managed to convince your auntie to let you come home. The second she gave the okay, you set about getting yourself ready. That was 5 days ago. Sure, your brother Seokjin didn’t sound best pleased by your announcement that came with no warning, but you just knew that he’d be glad to have you back. He’d sent you away 5 years ago, and you’d barely had any contact. If you were totally honest, you harboured a little resentment over that, but you understood why. It was your parent’s death. It screwed him up badly and even if he acted like it didn’t matter, you knew it did. He was the one who had found them shot to bits.

But that didn’t matter. You’re here to reconnect with your brother, not get hung up on the past. You turn your phone on and smile at the text that comes in immediately - it’s from Namjoon. He’d kept quite regular contact with you, and he’s really the big brother that Jin isn’t. It’s not that Jin doesn’t care, it’s just that he’s a hard worker - at least, that’s what Namjoon always told you when you asked after him. But Namjoon never told you what Jin was working hard at. He just breezed over the question in the way only Namjoon can, telling you that it’s just the ‘family business’ and ‘nothing to worry about’. Quite frankly, you never really took an interest until Jin actually instigated contact for the first time in ages, asking if you could push off coming home until he’s finalised a few deals. ‘Only a few days’ he had said. It seemed reasonable enough, but you didn’t see the problem. But again, it doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and you’re going to find Jin once you find the person sent to drive you home.

“HEY!!” You hear, followed by a heavy form crashing into you clumsily, “I missed you!” The form yells, picking you up into strong arms and hugging you tight. You struggle for breath and find yourself in a bit of a panic until you look down into the smiling eyes gazing up at you - Namjoon. He puts you down as he grins, dimples dazzling any person looking over at the two of you. He’s changed a lot since you last saw him. For one, he’s taller now and a lot broader. His arms look toned and muscular from what you can see under his white shirt. He’s wearing what you’d call business casual - formal trousers and shoes with a white shirt, but undone partway with the sleeves rolled up neatly - and he’s already holding your luggage in the hand he hadn’t used to pick you up. He’d also dyed his hair. Last time you saw him, he’d looked a little nerdy. His hair was usually stuck flat against his forehead but it was now platinum blond and shaved at the sides, styled up in wave. Your eyes take in the man before you and you barely recognise him as the person you consider your older brother.

“I missed you too, Joonie,” You reply sweetly, leaning up to wrap your hands around his neck, “Could Jin not make it?” You add after a bit of thought, trying to swallow the lump in your throat when Namjoon launches into what sounds like a very rehearsed excuse about a busy schedule. Busy schedule your ass! You’re his little sister, and he hasn’t seen you in years! You can feel your bottom lip quiver and you try to excuse yourself to the bathroom for a moment, but Namjoon frowns slightly and objects,

“I’d feel better if you went with someone. You never know what could happen to you in a huge place like this. There’s all kinds of weirdos wandering around. Jin sent me and a new worker he recently hired. Will you please let him wait outside?” Namjoon pleads, the red shade of embarrassment creeping up his neck at even the prospect of offering you an escort to the toilet. You don’t say anything in response, just nodding your head before trudging off to the bathroom. Waiting around for an escort will only make you feel worse, so you head straight in. Does Jin really care so little that he’ll just send a new worker to come pick you up? Someone he’s probably not even learned the name of. You look at yourself in the mirror over the sink and sigh. The bags under your eyes are showing and you look a little pale, but it’ll have to do. Blinking back tears, you exit the bathroom hastily, only to crash into who you assume to be your escort.

“Sorry,” You mutter, slowly bringing your eyes up his body and to his face. He’s quite tall - probably the same height as Namjoon - and he’s wearing what you guess to be all leather, down to his face mask. His shoulders are quiet broad and his hair and eyes are as dark as each other. He has a gentle kind of face, but the kind that seems just a little too old for him. The boy (you don’t want to say man because he looks only about your age) shakes his head slightly in response and offers you his arm. You smile thinly and take it nervously, wondering where someone would pick up on such an old- fashioned gesture nowadays. You’re guided back to Namjoon quickly, where you let go of the boy’s arm and walk with Namjoon. Unsettled doesn’t even begin to describe how you’re feeling. First, Jin won’t tell you what he does for a living. Now, he’s sending some shady guy to pick you up from the airport. You don’t know what’s coming next, but you aren’t excited for it.

~~~

Namjoon sits in the back of the black 4x4 as the other boy drives. He neglected to share his name, and Namjoon refuses to, insisting that Jin will give introductions when you get back to the house. You spend the two hour journey catching up with Namjoon, telling him everything that had happened since you last spoke with him a few weeks ago. He listens well, but you can tell that he’s a little distracted by the way he looks out of the back window every few minutes. By now, you know better than to question him, and assume that he’s just a little jumpy.

You can see the house you’re heading to from quite a way back. Your father was a business man, and amassed quite the empire over the years. When his estate was handed over to Jin, you learned that he kept a huge mansion, and Jin told you that’s where he would train new employees, so he could be sure they’d do their jobs right. You were told it was a big place, but you never realised it was so grand. You enter through large security gates, manned by several men dressed in black body armour, and find yourself greeted quite warmly by people you had never met before - although Namjoon doesn’t seem so fond of this and promptly rolls up the tinted windows up when one of them leans in to talk to you. His jaw clenches as the unnamed man drives slowly up the straight gravel path. The grass either side of stretches for a long time, and it’s all neatly trimmed and emerald green. As you get closer to the large building, you see small groups of people dotted around, all dressed in grey sweatpants and black tank tops. Some are just sitting and talking, some are running and some are doing push ups, but the large majority are walking towards a grey concrete housing unit (well, what you assume to be a housing unit) that’s smaller than the mansion, yet still much larger than a normal house.

You find yourself gawking up at the main attraction of the landscape as the car pulls to a halt, and almost miss Namjoon’s voice telling you to wait in the car for a moment - but you do see him jog up to the front door, knock three times and step back to wait for a response. Your eyes wander across the space in front of the mansion. It’s largely gravelled, but it has some outdoor seating and a grand fountain about 50 metres from where Namjoon’s stood. It must be 10 metres wide at least, and the clear water shoots up from the hand of a golden statue. You can’t quite make out what it is exactly from where you are, but it looks to resemble some sort of animal,

“I don’t know what the fountain’s statue is supposed to be either,” You hear, and jump in your seat as you turn around to see the nameless man watching you in the rear view mirror. His eyes seem to dance under your gaze, almost like he’s smiling under his mask, “But I suggest you ask Mr. Kim. He’s been around longer than me,” He adds with a shrug. You snort as you turn back around to look out of the window. Namjoon’s walking back towards the car, with a shorter man in tow. This new man stops about a few metres short of the car, but Namjoon walks right up and opens your door for you, offering you his hand so that you can climb out as gracefully as possible. You thank him with a smile as you go to grab your bags, but Namjoon stops you with a tap on your arm,

“Don’t be silly, I’ll get your stuff. Go see that man - he’s missed you,” Namjoon tells you, his dimples on full show as he turns to go to the back of the car. You walk over to where the man has stopped, a little cautious as you’re not sure who it is. As you get closer, a wide smile spreads across your face and you run towards the figure, who has his arms out for you already,

“Jimin!” You yell as you jump into his arms, feeling the man who was as much of a brother to you as Namjoon was when you were growing up wrap his arms around you as he laughs. You wrinkle your nose when you realise that he still wears that God-awful cologne that you hate. It makes him smell like an old person,

“Hey, short stuff,” Jimin teases, setting you down as you smack his chest, wishing you were taller than him, “Jin’s waiting for you in the main office, but he’s going to need a minute. He suggested I show you to your room. Is that okay?” He asks, smiling widely and offering you his arm when you nod. Jimin guides you through the huge oak doors and into a large hallway space. It’s a little empty, but Jimin explains that neither Jin nor your father ever saw much point in decorating the ground floor of the mansion. It’s just a training area, so why bother making it pretty when it could just end up broken? You saw your father’s old logic in that, so nodded in understanding as Jimin led you up three flights of stairs, to what he called the ‘bedroom floor’. He goes on to explain that everything is kitted out for weekend training courses in the other building you saw, but these rooms are for the higher ranking employees. Jimin also tells you that Jin had a room renovated entirely in just one day to prepare it for you. You’re not given long to look around, because Jimin tells you that he wants to get you to Jin’s office at 4 o’clock precisely, like he was asked to.

You have just enough time to look over the silk bedsheets and velvet curtains before Jimin’s pulling you out again. Holding onto his arm like before, you walk up the next flight of stairs and Jimin tells you to wait on the top step while he speaks to a man dressed in a nice suit in hushed tones. You’re looking over a painting hung beside you, but you suddenly hear a panicked curse word fall from Jimin’s lips, and suddenly he’s got a vice-like grip on your arm and he’s tugging you back down the stairs,

“Jin’s not ready, my watch is off by 2 minutes. We need to go back to your room,” Jimin tells you hurriedly, nearly running as he tugs your reluctant body back down the stairs. He huffs slightly and goes to pick you up, but then stiffens. The man in the suit had been stood in front of a large white door with a fingerprint lock where a door handle should have been, and that door just opened. Jimin’s fingers tighten impossibly on your arm and you whimper, trying to get away. But Jimin isn’t having any of it. You see his jaw clench and his biceps ripple as he nearly shoves you down the last few steps. He has his hand on a closest door handle when a chilling voice speaks from the top of the staircase you had just descended,

“Woah there, why don’t you let the pretty lady say hey?” The voice says, followed by a hollow laugh that sends shivers straight down your spine. You’re frozen in place, but Jimin springs into action, pushing you behind him as he stands up a little straighter. For once, you’re glad he’s taller. You don’t know why, but something in that voice screams danger, and you don’t really want to find out if you’re right. He sounds manic. Like the over-exaggerated villains in the sci-fi shows you used to watch when you were little, but more real. More terrifying,

“She’s a little shy,” Jimin nearly growls back, and your eyes widen in shock. You’ve never heard Jimin so aggressive in your life. He’d cuddled with you every night for three weeks after you lost your parents. It’s hard to believe the man who held you as you both sobbed was the same one standing in between you and the new person now. For a few moments, nobody says anything. You nearly think the man’s gone, but when you peer out from behind Jimin, you realise he’s not. You’re met with dark eyes that seem to stare right through you, so dark they’re nearly black, and containing no warmth whatsoever. The man has dark brown hair that’s parted to the side, and he’s dressed in all white, save for a black bandana around his neck, which he pulls up to cover his face once he shoots you a smile that’s all teeth, no happiness. He beckons to the two men flanking him and barges past Jimin, who barely moves. The man doesn’t turn back as he walks away, but says loud enough to be heard through his bandana,

“Remember this sweetheart, we never forget faces,”

~~~

You jump slightly in your seat as you hear your brother’s angry voice from down the hall. Once that man had left, Jimin had taken you straight through the security door, and told you stay put. Namjoon had come in shortly after, but hadn’t even spared you a smile as he hurried into what you assume is the ‘main office’. The person by the door - the man in the suit, as he is now aptly named in your mind - had followed Namjoon’s route a few minutes later. So far, no one has come out, and you’re sat impatiently where Jimin left you. You can’t hear any individual words, but Jin doesn’t sound happy. If you weren’t so shaken from earlier, you’d be pressing your ear against the door right now. But the way that man had scared you with just a few words was so new to you, and you don’t know how to react. The way Jimin had defended you had thrown you off, as well. What kind of business is your brother running?

You’re playing with your fingers as the man in the suit comes out of the main office. He stops in front of you, murmuring that you can go in now. You then stand up nervously, legs shaking as you step towards the door you’d seen Namjoon and Jimin enter. Part of you is scared about the happenings of that day, but part of you is just scared to see your brother. It’s been so long, but you know you won’t have time for the family reunion you’d wanted. You have too many questions.

The room you enter is very large. The back of it is a taken up by a glass window, and the flooring is a luxurious white carpet that extends half a metre up the wall before changing to a beige wall paper that compliments the simple colours of the room. A black leather couch sits against the length of the left-most wall, and is opposite a large cabinet. The first quarter is glass, and filled with books and various other ornaments, but the rest of it is opaque, the right-most part seeming to be locked like the door that the man in the suit had been standing in front of. Your eyes gradually move to the large desk at the back of the room, which is covered in large stacks of paperwork, and has a large PC on it, with three screens. Sat against the desk is who you assume is your brother - although you barely recognise him. He’s grown up a lot in the last 5 years, and he’s dressed in a fine suit, hands in his pockets as he watches you closely. When your eyes meet, he stands up awkwardly and clears his throat,

“Welcome home?” Jin says, posing it almost as a question due to his uncertainty of the situation. Even though you want nothing more than to run into your brother and hug him and catch up for the last 5 years you missed out on, it’s clear that’s not going to happen. Instead, you feel 5 years of resentment build up, and it doubles when you look at the two men who had spoken to you more than your actual brother in that time. Your eyes fill with tears as you turn to Jin, and nearly spit your words,

“That’s all you have to say after 5 years? Welcome home? Kim Seokjin, those two men there have spoken to me at least once a month since I left. Where have you been? Also, why don’t I know anything? Why can’t they tell me what you do here? And who was that man in the hallway who saw me? Why are you hiding everything from me?!” You scream, no longer able to hold it in. You hear Jimin whistle lowly and tug at Namjoon’s arms, gesturing to the door. They both move to leave, but Namjoon pauses at the door, turning back to Jin, who’s face is burning with embarrassment,

“I suggest you come clean. You may not have seen what’s hidden there, but I do. She’d be good in discipline. Better than Jimin. Tell here everything,” Namjoon says. You turn around to address the seemingly cryptic message, but the door clicks shut and you’re left alone with Jin. Your brother, who now only feels like a stranger. Your jaw clenches as you turn back around, crossing your arms as you wait for his answer. Jin sighs and stands up, rubbing his hands over his face. He walks slowly to the large cabinet, opening the first of the opaque doors. You walk closer and see a series of pictures. They’re all of your mother or your father, shaking hands with various people, or in front of different buildings. You smile fondly to yourself as you remember how you travelled a lot,

“Dad started a business some 15 years before I was born. It was an innocent business, just a coffee shop. He made the best coffee in town, and things went well for about 5 years. But one day, our mother walked in and changed that. They fell in love before they realised what could happen as a result,” Jin starts, and you let your eyes pass over one of the oldest pictures there. Your parents loved to tell the story of how they met. You can feel yourself start to choke up the way you do anytime you think about them being gone,

“That’s them there, right? They look so young and happy,” You note, pointing to the picture that you were looking at. Jin smiles and nods, pulling it down to take a closer look. His smile drops as he continues,

“It turns out that mum was running from some murder charges a few countries away. She was running, but she somehow got caught up with dad. They fell in love, and she got pregnant. Then the cops came. Dad wouldn’t let her go, so he made some deals and offered a few favours. 3 months later, he wakes up and realises that he’s in the mafia,” Jin tells you. He doesn’t even look at you as he tears down your views of your parents,

“Mum wasn’t a murderer,” You tell Jin firmly, hating that he’s saying these things. Your voice is rough from unshed tears and anger simmering just below the surface. Under that is raw pain, and the shock that comes with being told things like that. Even as you say it, you know it’s pointless. Jin’s eyes shine with tears, but he sounds almost robotic as he continues,

“So the story goes from there. Dad’s in the mafia to protect mum, and then he’s in it to protect me. Then you. He was a great father, but an even better leader, as I’ve come to learn. The night we lost them…” Jin pauses, face turning away from you even more. His voice shakes as he continues, “The night we lost them, it wasn’t a freak shooting like I told you. They were killed. Dad had become too big and too dangerous, so a rival gang took the lives of him and his beloved wife,” Jin’s voice trails out here, and you can’t help but notice how his shoulders shake,

“It’s okay, Jin. I miss them too,” You whisper, scared that if you spoke any louder, it would betray your tears. Reliving your parent’s death like this is painful, stabbing your heart in a dull mockery of how you felt when it first happened. You never knew how much Jin had on his shoulders until he told you this,

“I sent you out of the country so the same thing wouldn’t happen to you. There was a note left on one of the tables, and it said that we were next on the list. Since then, I’ve been working hard to take out the bastards responsible,” Jin finishes, with a strong tone. You’ve always admired how quickly he’s able to get a hold of himself. He opens the next door, and reveals to you a mess of photos, maps and drawings all pinned onto a cork board like in crime shows where there’s an old case that hasn’t been solved,

“What the fuck?” You whisper, stumbling back as you take it all in. Your brother must be crazy. That’s the only possible explanation in your head as you try to wrap your brain around all the information coming at you. You decide that you don’t want to believe this at all, no matter how much sense it makes deep down. You almost try to run out of the door before Jin’s gathering you up into an awkward kind of hug. There’s a sneaking suspicion in your mind that maybe this hug isn’t just for you,

“Please, just calm down. I can explain more later. But for now, I need to meet with some staff. The other man who picked you up from the airport will escort you to your room after I introduce you, and he will wait with you,” Jin pulls back and moves over to the desk, picking up the phone and speaking into it for a moment. You sigh as you see Jin’s emotional walls go back up. You thought that maybe you’d finally get to talk about things, but the hope is beaten down as quickly as it blooms.

About 10 seconds pass before the door opens, and the boy from earlier steps in and walks up to Jin, shaking his hand firmly,

“This is Jeon Jungkook. He’s a new recruit, but he’s very able. He’ll protect you for now. Don’t ask him questions. The man who you saw was Jung Hoseok. I can explain his role in all of this after briefing my staff. I may be a while, but we’ll talk over dinner. Jeon, take her to her room,” Jin states, barely looking at you as he types on his computer, dismissing you with a wave of his hand. The boy - Jungkook, apparently - offers you his arm again, but you scoff, ego wounded by Jin’s sudden business-like treatment of you. You stomp out of the room angrily, glaring at the line of men waiting outside the room.

~~~

Once you reach your room, you lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling, thoroughly annoyed. You hear the door click shut but pay ‘Jungkook’ no attention until he sits on the edge of your bed. At this, you sit up and stare at him in shock,

“What are you doing on my bed? There’s a perfectly good couch over there for you to use,” You inform him, rolling your eyes at his rude assumption that he’d be welcome on your bed. Jungkook stands up and looks at you with one eyebrow raised. You roll your eyes again and point at the white couch in the far corner, like he didn’t understand what you said. His expression suddenly changes, looking at you like a wounded puppy, before grinning,

“I don’t think so. Your brother may be the Big Boss, but I’m protecting you. I deem it necessary to be within 5 feet of you at all time,” He retorts, flopping himself onto your bed decidedly. You let out a frustrated sound and march over the couch yourself, only for him to follow you. As he walks over, you notice a slight limp in his step. You look away, but suddenly sit up straight and look again. The boy’s face suddenly strikes you as familiar, and the limp only helps you to identify him in your memories,

“I saw you when I was in America! You used to live in the apartment next to me!”

#bts #bts mafia au #bts angst #bts fluff #6 bullets

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jedipiff · 6 years

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1/4/2019 Late Night Article Diving

There's an article saying that most Americans still prefer to watch TV for news rather than be reading it. Well I would like to say I enjoy both, I have found myself reading late night articles more than ever. I guess it was cause I was fascinated with a piece on The Miracle At Tham Luang, when a whole team of soccer players and their coach got trapped on an afternoon trip through a cave. When a sudden rain onset hit a week sooner than planned, the water was overfilled with water and they were forced to seek safety wherever they could while trying not to battle the constant thought of that they all could die down there. The team was called Moo Pa, which is also translated to Forest Pigs or the Wild Boars. They recieved great advice from their mentor Coach Ek, who had trained to be a buddhist monk and guided them with his teachings.

Many people tried to work on their rescue and one person lost their life trying to set up oxygen tanks so that they could be taken out of the cave safely. While he did this, his own oxygen tank ran out and he wasn't able to make it back from the journey inbetween. Saman Gunan was his name and he was a retired Thai Seal who eagerly journeyed to this land on his choice to try to help rescue these boys. He didn't try, he more than succeeded and I wanted to start my piece off commeorating his bravery. So if anyone is interested in reading more about this inspiring and terrifying story, the best article I have read describing it can be found here https://www.gq.com/story/thai-cave-rescue-miracle-at-tham-luang by Sean Flynn a GQ correspondent.

On another random note, the U.S. Government is in a current state of shutdown over President Trump not getting a 5 $ billion funding to build The Wall. The Senate Democrats have rejected his proposal and Trump now plans to hold the government in lockdown for quite a long period of time he has announced. While this is a current issue going on, I do find it frustrating the government has to do this cause in the meantime I guess many National Parks and Zoos, along with many other residencies go into states of despair and disarray. Some officials will stay on has emergency personnel, but a large majority of the staff won't be there during this period of time.

A surprising one I learned tonight that many may not know, is that the US National Coast guard also goes without pay during this tme. I was reading a post about many disgruntled families, that wondered why they had to be affected out of all the military branches to have to suffer this. They weren't discrediting any other ones, they just said they do it for the love of the country as welll and it was very disheartening to them to be treated this way. I merely just wanted to touch upon the subject, though I will try to hold my frightening political views at bay. Radical, eccentric, a man that cares about the state of the world though that is actively trying to keep his mind more open to the ideas going on around him.

It was on another post that I was diving through Facebook, and I found a girl around my age which is 25 that was posting about the state of Global warming and climate change. There were several older relatives of her that were bewildered at the concept, and I didn't want to frown harshly upon it. They did not know what it was but it still raised my awareness that perphaps the older generation, may not have the exact knowledge of some of the things that we do now. Sure, using Alexa or switching to Netflix on your Smarttv might be easy to you, but to some parents that sounds like some voodoo magic.

I never commented though the girl was throuhoghly explainging to her family that we has a population were causing destruction to the earth. All our gases, fuels, land dumps and numerous other things would all be culminating to stuff that while may not seem like it's affecting us that much around you, is causing many changes throughout the World whether you realize it or not. The thought seems scary, I mean even the act of just using solar energy or switching how you maybe use water, to add more filters and purifiers can sound like some crazy traps to some folk. I don't know, I guess even with all this new technology I'm just saying that somehow we still remain blind.

On another thing, the future of the robot is seemingly coming to dawn upon us sooner than probably humans could have ever realized. Here we are now, where factories and many companies are using robots to help with their daily jobs. In a warehouse of Amazon recently one of the automated robots recently opened a car of bear repellenant spray and sent many hospital workers to the hospital. One of them even in critical condition. Now I'm not calling this the end of the world, but the fact that incidents like this are already happening is just making me already imagining what can of worms are going to be opened. I'm not hating on this future, I'm just saying with great strides in technology there will be many kinks and problems that you have to try to work out. Not everything goes perfect, and I am sure they try their best to make sure their workers are safe, I'm not trying to point that type of finger.

It's just the day a bot autofunctions and crushes a human like a soda can, with his body mangled and looking like a sack of fruit what will the world say. Well damn, does that mean my Xbox One S won't be delivered on time for Christmas then?

========

I'm still ever opposed to reading books through Ebooks or Kindle, any type of thing like a tablet or whatever. It's just when I want to sit down and dive into a world outside of this, the last thing I want to have to do is by diving into the internet world first. I was thinkng recently of a teacher I had in high school who whenever there was a book fair, would always go down looking for first edition books. One had said he liked collecting them they were more rare and to he said some could be quite valuable, ever since after that I always liked to try to keep my eye out for them to.

In my room I have several bookcases filled with many of my favorite stories and tales. In the past I used to be quite religious at one point and would drop off many bibles and other religious books at book centers or free libraries for them to be taken to be read. I would donate my fantasy books or horror ones I didn't like to, but I had gone through a period where I might have caught a religious fervor. I was for a period selling Bibles though, so it would make sense that eventually some of the text maybe would speak to me on some level.

One of these nights while dropping off the books at a free public library in Salem, Massachusetts I discovered one of the best books I have ever found. It was a book about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, who is one of my favorite people to read about in history. It was written in an embellished epic kind of way, one where you get taken through the role of John Wilkes Booth his killer and what led in a dramatic fashion up to what the writer felt was all different motives and ways he went about killing old Abe. I never actually got around to finishing this book, but at the time I went to a small cafe nearby and find myself diving through it. It's a riveting tale, with a really unique way of going about that whole event that I really enjoyed the way they wrote it.

The book was called Manhunt The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson.

It's a great read even if you have heard the story a million times, you never had it told like this.

So at this note, I want to just relax and spend some time watching a show on HBO called Deadwood. An American Western largely all done by David Milch, it shows the gritty and insane side of life that may have been during that period of time. There's a great cast of actors on it and the setting and atmosphere are brutally done. Even the characters I want to like, the times they live in and the way they think make me wanna hate them sometimes. Though I see resemblances of the characters in the show to people now, I suppose time holds no difference between ignorance and disgust. You'll find a woman, who seems disabled and can't walk and no one even pays her a glimpse of mind. Even the doctors back then utterly cruel, and maybe some people get all the greatest doctor care but there's still issues and shit like that today. But she walks through the whole town and not even anyone bats an eye, but her resolve to fix her legs and fit in hit me in the feels. I have to keep watching just to see what she'll do, she wants to try leg braces to try to fix her ailment, but the doctor says it's one that she was born with and cant be undone. I can't say, I have seen miracles, but I'll let the show tell this story's narrative of her ordeal.

That's just one instance, and there's also a priest that is slowly losing his mind and suffering what seems like strokes and seizures. I'm not sure, I've only watched a few episodes but each episode gets sadder than the last watching his descent. He's becoming so fucked in the head, but I know it's not his fault. So there's that, if anyone likes Red Dead Redemption 2 or Westworld, than they might be interested in this. Not that it's anything like really either of those, this show is it's own style but it's very graceful in the way it's depicted.

I also realize that one of my sweetest joys is getting that 50 % off holiday candy at pharmacies after it's marked down. There's nothing like having a big bag of hershey kisses for only a few dollars. Most definetely chocolate causes an overdose of love in my brain.

#random #writing #news #original #bored #insomnia #usa #world

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goffilolo · 7 years

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Demise of Midoriya Izuku Part 8

God this was a long chapter. I hope you will enjoy it. you can read the full fanfic on ao3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/776826

I’m currently on a christmas break, however i have a very long essay to write so im not sure if ill be able to write/draw any more demise!au stuff.

Izuku was tired.

It was nothing new per se, as for the last month the teenager has become very well acquainted with the feeling of exhaustion as a side effect of his medication. “It’s normal” said Shin during their last appointment “Your brain is still going through an adjustment period, and insomnia is a rather common side effect of a lot of antidepressants”. So yeah, it was all good.

Except it wasn’t.

Given that no one was willing to rid the boy of his sleepless turmoil, Izuku decided to take the matters into his own hands. Because fuck Shin. In the hindsight, all of this was a very bad idea.

It all started during one of his usual conversations with Mrs. Todoroki, only this time they were joined by her daughter Fuyumi. The first observation Izuku made upon her entrance, was that this young woman was almost a splitting image of Mrs. Todoroki, save for the hot red streaks in her hair, undoubtedly inherited from her asshole father. After talking to her for a bit, Izuku was quite pleased to learn that she has not in fact inherited her father’s god tier assholism. Izuku has never met the man, he doesn’t need to, at least not yet.

After brief introductions they have resumed to their previous conversation.

“So how did meeting with piece of shit go?” asked Mrs. Todoroki, her question quickly followed by Fuyumi’s scandalised expression at hearing her mother use such foul language.

“Meh, it was your typical melodrama bullshit. Some shouting and insults were thrown around, well mostly by me, and crying” replied Izuku in a rather nonchalant fashion, completely disregarding Fuyumi’s shock and confusion.

The word got round quickly in this ward, meaning that most of the patients and staff were in on Izuku’s personal drama and so they all came to a silent agreement to refer to Bakugou as ‘piece of shit’ and never call him by his actual name. And so over time Bakugou became the psychiatric ward’s very own Voldemort. But Fuyumi doesn’t know that yet, bless her soul.

“You actually cried?”

“Oh no, not me, piece of shit did. Honestly you should’ve been there, Shin was there for emotional support and kept staring daggers at him, it was hilarious” sneered the boy upon remembering the Bakugou shitshow with some sort of twisted fondness. His enthusiasm was however quickly disrupted by a long, loud yawn coming the boy’s mouth.

“Didn’t get a good night’s sleep?” asked Fuyumi.

“More like a good month’s sleep” snapped Izuku, rubbing his temples as much as the bandage around his head allowed him to. “And that bitch Shin won’t prescribe me anything cause it would clash with my antidepressants” scoffed the boy.

“You know that Dr. Iyashi cares about your wellbeing and wouldn’t want to give you anything with nasty side-effects” said Mrs. Todoroki as she stroked Izuku’s shoulders in a gentle, matherly manner.

“Wait a minute” chimed in Fuyumi “Prescription won’t do, but what about over the counter stuff? There must be some sleep relief that you could take”.

“Oh, really?” said Izuku, with a hint of amusement and sarcasm “What are gonna do? Smuggle some Quil into the hospital for me?”

The determined smile on Fuyumi’s face told Izuku that indeed, she would. ‘Well then’ thought Izuku ‘This is going to be fun’.

The next day Izuku has found two bottles being dropped onto his lap, while the boy was busy filling up his notebook with sketches of Endeavour being eaten alive by crocodiles. If you looked closely enough you’d also notice that some of them contained an already half eaten Bakugou.

He raised his brow at the bottles, then looked up to see Fuyumi looking very smug.

“I got the Quil” she said, very proud of herself.

“I can see that” replied Izuku, looking back and forth between the two bottles “Why two?” he asked, confusion and curiosity seeping into his voice.

“I forgot whether you needed DayQuil or NyQuil so I got you both!”

Looking at very pleased Fuyumi, Izuku didn’t have it in him to grace the statement with a proper reply that wouldn’t point out the stupidity and irresponsibility of casually getting two substances that are meant to do the exact opposite, which then lead to a train thought of ‘what if you mix them?’.

“Thank you Fuyumi-neesan!”

And thus Izuku was left alone in his hospital room, the notebook long forgotten, staring at the content of the two bottles, as the nerdy part of his brain deciding to wake up and cause drama. ‘If you mix DayQuil and NyQuil, you end up with what, ForeverQuil? Or given that the substances are meant to do the opposite would they cancel each other out and have no effect when consumed simultaneously? No, that doesn’t seem right, it’s more likely that they would disturb a sleeping pattern, but given that mine is already fucked, how would I be able to tell...’

“SHIT, I’m mumbling again!”

So many questions that demand to be answered, a hypothesis that needs a confirmation and a curiosity waiting around the corner, ready to kill the metaphorical cat.

“Ugh, fuck it” said Izuku as he gulped down both substances in one go.

That’s when everything went to shit.

At first he didn’t feel any different. He spent a good portion of time looking out of the window, admiring the weather - it’s almost May so the days were getting brighter, warmer - waiting for something, anything to happen.

Things got a bit blurry after a while. Izuku could feel his BRAIN getting blurry, which he didn’t even know was possible. But apparently losing contact with reality does things to you.

As Izuku slowly regained clarity, the first thing he noticed was the sluggish feeling and the pounding in his head, reminding him of the first time he woke up in this god forsaken loony bin.

The second thing he noticed was the darkness. At first, he thought that one of the nurses has closed the curtains while he was out of it, but no, the curtains were open, and upon closer inspection Izuku came to realisation that it was in fact, night time. Which was strange...to say the least, since it was still sunny just a few seconds ago. ‘Is this some sort of a quirk? Probably not.’ he thought, which meant there was only one option left.

“FUCKIN HELL I TRAVELLED THROUGH TIME!”

His shout was followed by a tired groan, which definitely did not belong to him.

“Dr. Iyashi, he’s at it again!” shouted Mrs. Todoroki.

Wait a minute, Mrs. Todoroki? When did she get here?

Izuku whipped his head to the side, where the woman was sitting in a chair by his bedside, with Shin standing in the doorway, looking down at a clipboard.

“What the-shit did you get in here?” asked Izuku, his brain still sluggish and disoriented about the whole situation.

Shin chooses that moment to walk into the room “Do you remember what happened?” he asked.

“No? I was sitting here and it was day and suddenly it’s night, so obviously it was Quil induced time travel” said Izuku, as his lagging brain allowed for all the ridiculous bullshit to spill out of his mouth.

Shin does not look impressed.

“You absolute, fucking idiot!” shouted the doctor “Why in the world would you mix DayQuil and NyQuil together? Are you completely insane? What did you think would happen?!”

“First of all, if I was sane I wouldn’t even be here. Second of all, who told you about my Quil?” asked the boy, his eyes suddenly focused, full of suspicion.

At that moment Fuyumi poked her head through the entrance and waved at Izuku as she made her way through the room and stood by her mother’s side.

“Sorry, I had to tell him since it’s all my fault you went delirious in the first place” she said, her face portraying nothing but guilt.

“It was very irresponsible of you!” said the doctor, his gaze switching between Izuku and Fuyumi “Not only did you take medication against a doctor’s recommendation, you even roped others into smuggling unauthorised substance into the hospital…”

And Shin went into the ‘ranting dad’ mode. It was a perfect time to zone out.

While the doctor was busy lecturing everyone about the dangers of overdosing and mixing medications, Izuku picked up the discarded notebook in hopes of finishing that sketch of Endeavour being devoured by crocodiles. His drawing skills were improving, that’s for sure. Maybe once he’s finished he’d show it to Mrs. Todoroki.

‘I think she would like that’ thought Izuku.

Except when he opened his notebook on the most recent page, instead of Endeavour massacre, Izuku was met with lines upon lines of text, written in what can only be described as very rushed and frenzied handwriting, which undeniably belonged to Izuku. The pages were also adorned with big bold letters at the top stating ‘ENDEAVOUR THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL’.

‘When did I write that?!’ Izuku was rather astonished as he started to skim through his writing and came to a conclusion that what he was reading was in fact a conspiracy theory. A very detailed one at that.

“Izuku, are you listening?” asked the doctor.

“No” he replied absentmindedly.

But the writing in his notebook and the overall situation left Izuku very confused. The moonlight illuminated parts of the room, a reminder of a mysterious time slip, which apparently was not quil induced time travel. Izuku needed the answers, and he needed them NOW.

“Can anyone tell me what happened?”

His question was met with a long, awkward silence, as the other individuals in the room looked at one another, not knowing what to say.

“Alright…” Mrs. Todoroki broke the silence “...where do we start?”

………………………………………………………………………………

Iyashi Shin was finally having his well deserved lunch break. After starting his shift at 6 am, he felt exhausted and he was barely halfway through. And so Shin planned to have a short nap during his break to recharge. ‘What am I, an old man?’ he thought to himself ‘Probably, at least I’m on a good way to becoming one. Not getting any younger either, I’m turning forty next year.’

‘Ugh, this calls for a mid-life crisis nap’ he thought while lying on the couch in his office, being slowly lulled to sleep by the ticking of the clock.

Suddenly Shin was awakened by an obnoxiously loud laugh coming from the corridor. He was annoyed at having his nap interrupted, but the annoyance was outweighed by sheer curiosity, as one does not get a lot of laughing in this part of the hospital.

The doctor soon got up and opened the door he was once again met with the obnoxious laugh, only this time louder as it came from a man who was currently walking out of Izuku’s room.

“Haha...it was nice talking to you Midoriya. I’m glad you’re in a good mood” called out the man “I’ll be back tomorrow to check your homework!”

‘Homework? Ah, it must be Izuku’s teacher’ thought Shin with a bit of suspicion as he remembered his patient talking about his homeroom teacher in a … less than friendly manner.

‘So why would the laugh? I thought Izuku hated the guy.’

As the teacher walked away from Izuku’s room he bumped into Shin, who was standing in the middle of the corridor, lost in thought.

“Ah, Dr. Iyashi didn’t see you there!” exclaimed the teacher. He sure was in a good mood, a stark contrast to his usual visits.

“Good afternoon, how was your visit?” asked Shin, trying to squeeze out some details out of the man.

The teacher laughed again trying to get a hold of himself “Oh it was great, I haven’t laughed so much in ages. Whatever meds you put him on, they’re doing god’s work!”

“Really? What did Izuku say?”

“You know Bakugou-kun, right?”

“Of course, the one responsible for the shitstorm that is Izuku’s depression” stated the doctor as a matter of fact.

The teacher stilled his movement, unprepared for the blatant statement. Trying to dissolved the tension, he continued “Yeah, him. Anyways, Midoriya was asking about him and he seemed stuck on on his name so he said…” he stopped for a bit, trying to mimic his student’s voice and speaking manner “ ‘you know the angry, shouty one, what was his name...Fuckugou?’ and I just lost it right there! Buahaha!” sneered the teacher, waiting for Shin to have a similar reaction.

And boy was he not disappointed.

“Fuckugou!” exclaimed Shin “That’s a good one, gotta tell it to the nurses, it will spread like wildfire!”

………………………………………………………………………………

“Fuckugou?” asked Izuku.

“Fuckugou” confirmed Shin.

“That...is funny as hell, but it doesn’t really sound like me.”

“I know, which is why I was concerned. Mind you I still needed my nap, so I asked Mrs. Todoroki to keep an eye on you in the meanwhile” explained the doctor as both him and Izuku turned their heads in the direction of the white haired woman.

………………………………………………………………………………

Mrs. Todoroki was having a good day. And by good she meant boring. In all honesty there’s only so much a person can do in this place before being driven further into insanity. She was currently sitting in the common room in the company of her daughter who has dropped in earlier to give Izuku the sleeping medication they talked about yesterday.

Which is why she was more than a little surprised when Dr. Iyashi approached her, asking to keep an eye on Izuku, who right now should be sleeping like a baby from the medication.

Nevertheless she agreed, as the doctor seemed deeply concerned about the boy who has managed to settle himself nice and cosy in a particular place in her heart; reserved exclusively for her children. ‘Well then’ thought the woman as she came to a realisation ‘Looks like I now have five children.’

Just as Mrs. Todoroki considered brushing off Dr. Iyashi’s concerns, her train of thought was disrupted by a maniacal laugh that belonged to no other than Izuku himself.

The teenager in question wheeled himself into the common room at a speed that should not be achievable for a wheelchair, his hair wilder than usual, eyes wide open, pupils dilated. The boy’s face was devoid of any sanity.

“HOLY SHIT MRS. TODOROKI!” he screamed.

“Are you high?” she asked, full of disbelief at the state the boy was in.

“I got the answers” announced Izuku, completely disregarding the woman’s question.

“What answers?”

“All the answers! To everything! I CAN FEEL THE UNIVERSE EXPANDING IN MY BONES!” shouted Izuku, further disturbing and scaring other occupants of the room.

‘Oh, is this why Dr. Iyashi was concerned? What do I do with him?’

“Right…” said Mrs. Todoroki, hoping to distract the boy for a bit “...why don’t you sit with me and Fuyumi and tell us all the answers? Just remember to keep your voice down” she added in her motherly tone.

Although Izuku seemed quite out of contact with reality, he did as he was told. After wheeling himself next to Fuyumi he whipped out one of his notebooks seemingly out of nowhere and began to speak.

“From the evolutionary standpoint my existence is a liability to human advancement. Every year the number of people born quirkless decreases as our gener are to be replaced with the superior ones of those with quirks. I’m going extinct! Both my parents have quirks, yet I was born without one, I’m an anomaly I SHOULD CEASE TO EXIST!” screeched Izuku as he seemed to be having an existential crisis that was accompanied by what he thought were diagrams from his notebook, which to everyone besides him looked like a bunch of gibberish and nonsense.

“WHY DO I EXIST?” screamed the boy in agony as once again he began to wheel himself at an impossible speed out of the room.

The Todoroki women were left stunned, looking at one another and then back at the spot previously occupied by the insane teenager.

“What did you give him?” asked the mother.

“The Quil”

“What Quil?”

“All the Quil.”

“Go and get Dr. Iyashi. I’ll stay here in case Izuku comes back” she said while rubbing her temples out of frustration.

………………………………………………………………………………

“Oh, fuck, what happened after that?” asked Izuku, no longer in disbelief, but amusement. While he had no recollection of any of this happening he felt like he was listening to a rundown of an episode from ‘it’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’.

He seemed to be the only one enjoying himself though. The adults in the room on the other hand were very much tired of his shit after having to deal with Quil induced Izuku the whole day.

“You wheeled yourself around the ward while screaming ‘I challenged God to a knife fight’. What actually happened was you stole a scalpel from a surgeon, don’t know how, and started stabbing one of the All Might sketches in your notebook” relayed Mrs. Todoroki in the most flat and no-bullshit tone she could manage.

“Haha, yeah that sounds like me!”

“Now then…” announced Shin as he stood up addressing everyone at once“...it’s been a long day for everyone. Mrs. Todoroki please go back to your room for today. Ms. Fuyumi, thank you for everything. I will see you again. Izuku, you little shit, we’re going to have a talk.”

As the two women got up and left the room, Izuku was left alone with his psychiatrist. While he knew that Shin was only concerned about his well being he didn’t look forward to being nagged by the doctor again.

Instead of talking, Shin just ripped of a piece of paper from his clipboard and handed it to Izuku without any explanation.

“Any what is this?” asked Izuku, eyeing the piece of paper suspiciously.

“ A prescription for Ramelteon” says Shin “It’s most commonly used as antidepressant, but it also works as a sleeping drug. It’s also one of very few that does not lead to a dependence. Take this to the dispensary now, they will sort everything out and you will be getting your dose from tomorrow evening onwards.”

“I know I was very reluctant to give you anything besides antidepressants…” he continues “...but I’d rather do this than have you going batshit crazy with whatever alternatives you’re willing to try. Please be careful in the future Izuku, I mean it” he finishes with a warning tone.

“Can’t promise anything” said Izuku, his voice full of mischief.

“In that case I can’t promise that I won’t smack you on the head next time you pull of shit like this” replied the doctor, as he walked out of his patient’s room, hiding his smile behind the clipboard.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #demise!au #fanfic #demise of midoriya izuku #chapter 8 #midoriya izuku #iyashi shin #mrs. todoroki #todoroki fuyumi

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unt2017 · 5 years

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Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Genre: Biography/Autobiography

Image

Evaluation/Response

Sometimes I read a book and it stays in my mind a while I go through the process of trying to figure out how I feel about it. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous was one of those books. The topic was a tough one, but that wasn’t what got me most. Drugs are a horrible demon that can ruin lives and families. What I saw in looking back at my notes while reading is that a lot of what the narrator said did not make a lot of sense because the more she got into her drug use the faster her brain and thus her writing became which I found interesting, but it also made her more unrelatable. According to our textbook Tunnell, Jacobs, Young & Bryan (2016) “Point of view is the position taken by the narrator.” (Tunnell et al., p. 19), and in this case the narrator has a first-person point of view because she uses I to describe herself, but I also sense that she would be considered an unreliable narrator because of the way her writing flows. An example of this would be the following:

Besides, after what I’ve been through, I think I’d believe anything. Isn’t that sad, to be in a spot where everything is so unbelievable you’d believe anything? I think it’s sad, dear friend I really and truly and desperately do (Anonymous, 1971, p. 135).

While this quote seems to be written in a fashion that allows the reader to see the point of view of the narrator, I also see it as a piece of a puzzle that shows the narrator to be unreliable. On that note, this quote also gives the reader a look into pacing of the book as well.

This book seemed to be in disarray. It is written in journal entries. I mean it was written relatively well as far as there being no errors in spelling. Grammar is another matter, but I would expect as much from this type of narrator. I believe the grammar and punctuation changes were part of the pacing problem. According to Tunnell, Jacobs, Young & Bryan (2016) “Pacing is how quickly or slowly a story moves” (18). Without the standard editing, it made the pacing seem fast in certain places and regular in others. Although, the following quote doesn’t really show the pacing in the traditional sense, I believe it does in another way. It shows the pacing of the character and their state of mind. The narrator states “I don’t want to get old. I have this very silly fear, dear friend that one day I’ll be old, without ever having really been young” (Anonymous, 1971, p. 153). While I can understand this statement as someone who has been a teenager and who is ultimately still growing and learning as a young adult, part of me read this statement with the character being an addict who tries to find justification for her mistakes instead of owning up to them. I feel this is one of the times where the pacing makes sense because her mind was in the process of changing.

The last point that stood out to me was the tension. According to Tunnell et. al (2016) “Tension makes the reader want to read on to see how the conflict is resolved and what happens to the people involved in the problem” (19). There are several different instances where the tension is noticeable, but I’m unsure if it has to do with the story or with the subject in which this book is tackling: drugs and the journey an addict goes on as they try to navigate their life after drugs have entered and hopefully, after they have conquered and kicked their addiction. There is an entry that shows me as the reader that the tension is rising and made me realize that the main character was in a situation that wasn’t conventional. This particular entry didn’t give much background, but it gives insight to how the main character might still be struggling. The following passage is written as follows (1971):

…I guess they were just being careful and checking to see that you weren’t full of drugs of one sort or another. I don’t even feel real. I must be somebody else. … The nurses and doctors keep telling me I will feel better, but I still can’t get straight. I can’t close my eyes because the worms are still crawling on me. They are eating me. They are crawling through my nose and gnawing in my mouth and oh God…I must get you back in your case because the maggots are crawling off my bleeding writhing hands onto your pages. I will lock you in. You will be safe Anonymous, 1971, p. 122).

I feel like she started out her entry clear headed, but somewhere along the line her mind started slipping. This isn’t the first entry I read like this and it definitely wasn’t the last. These words just made the tension of the storyline string a little tighter, but I still want to believe she would win her fight.

I’ll be honest when I got to the end I was crushed. She sounded so hopeful at the end. She had decided to not start another journal stating the following (1971): “…I think when a person gets older she should be able to discuss her problems and thoughts with other people, instead of just with another part of herself as you have been to me” (Anonymous, 1971, p. 158). I was hoping things really had changed for her, but drugs are a difficult demon to fight. It pains me to think how many people lose their lives to drugs when it’s almost clear they are willing to beat it and wanting to so badly. She was still a teenager with so much more ahead of her.

I had to take a day after finishing this book to compose myself and my thoughts because I knew that I was going to look at this book differently due to the assignment. If I had just been reading it for enjoyment, I would have let my mind just process what I read without dissecting the parts that I would use for this blog post. For this reason, although finding answers about the major parts of a story such as point of view, pacing, and tension revealed themselves rather easily, but trying to answer the questions that are in the Reader Response article by Owen Williamson might be a more challenging task for this book due to the nature of the topic.

The first question I want to look into answering is the following: How well does it address things that you care about and consider important to the world?” (Williamson, n.d). Go Ask Alice by Anonymous was surrounded by the subject of drugs. I have never had to face a situation like this myself, but reading this book made me think of the numerous stories I have read where people have passed away from drug related issues. I find it an important topic to make visible and let others know that there are resources out there to help those affected and their families when they realize they need it. So, while I have never had to feel the pain that a drug addiction can cause, I do sympathize when I read the stories or a book like this because I always hope and pray for a good outcome and sometimes, like in Go Ask Alice, there isn’t one.

The next question I am interested in answering is “How well did you enjoy the text as entertainment or work of art?” (Williamson, n.d.). I liked the story because I’ve always enjoyed stories that have a realistic feel to it. Although Go Ask Alice was a tough book to read it had a story everyone needs to read because it shows what can happen to those who suffer from an addiction. Part of me wishes I could have read more about how it affected the family as a whole, but I understand that might be difficult with the limited first-person point of view. As an autobiographical/biographical story, the author pulled on my heart and made me care about what happened to the main character. An example of this is the following quote (1971):

For the first time I feel absolutely certain that even if I were locked in a room full of acid, Speed, and every other upper in the world I would only be disgusted, for I see what it does to kids who used to be my friends (Anonymous, 1971, p. 112).

From this quote, I wanted to believe that the main character would get better. That she was determined to kick her addiction and continue on to become who she wanted to be and not who her addiction made her. Optimistic view point? Yes, it is, but I couldn’t help it because it is quotes like the one above that make me rethink the main character. I realize that the author wrote her like they did because they wanted to show all sides of the addiction and in my opinion it worked. It showed me that beyond the addiction is a human being that cares and feels. The author tried too hard in some places, but I also saw that as them wanting to make their character as real as they could.

Conclusion

The main character is a teenage girl who is tricked into falling into a world she couldn’t find her way out . It pains me that this is the story of so many—teenagers, men, women. It doesn’t matter how their lives were before the addiction began. All people see from the time the addiction starts is the addiction itself. Somehow, the person they were before no longer exists. I’m not sure how many times I had that thought and honestly, it makes me mad at myself because I felt like I fell into a trap too. I fell into a trap of hope and it was ripped out from under me. I enjoyed Go Ask Alice and I would recommend it. However, I would caution that it may leave you with the feeling of your world spinning and your sense of equilibrium unbalanced and while I see that as a good thing, it also left me with a lot of unanswered questions such as “What can we do to make sure this stops happening?” Yes, this story is fictional, but there are many out there who have lived a real version of it.

References:

Anonymous (1971). Go Ask Alice. New York: Simon & Shuster.

“Go Ask Alice” [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Go-Ask-Alice/Anonymous/9780671664589

Tunnell M.O., Jacobs, J.S., Young T.A. & Bryan, G. (2016). What is a good book? in Children’s Literature Briefly, (pp. 15-23.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Williamson, O.M. (2006). “Reader Response”. Retrieved from http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/engl0310link/readerresponse.htm

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businessboostertoday · 5 years

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How to Deal with Anxiety in an ever increasingly Complex World

“We can live our present lives as if we are somehow protecting the past. Not the real past as it actually happened. But a fantasy of the past, that we have come to believe it to be. “ Kirstie Shapiro

Anxiety and Stress in the Workplace

We often hear people talking about anxiety, but what exactly is anxiety; what causes anxiety and how do we combat it? Anxiety can be described as a sense or feeling of worry, tension, fear, nervousness and/or unease, especially about things that haven’t happened yet. Although anxiety is a completely natural response to being under threat, it can also be triggered by our thoughts, emotions and physical sensory perception.

Causes of Workplace Anxiety

There are an array of workplace issues that may contribute towards a build up of anxiety, these might include uneasy colleague interaction and/or conflict, work performance, work load, or even perception of self-worth within the workplace. Factors outside of the work may also contribute to workplace stress, these shall be referred to as ‘life stressors’. Life stressors may include difficult family and personal relationships, debt, grief, depression and loneliness.

Stress can be rather debilitating and embarrassing for many people, unfortunately there still seems to be a stigma attached to admitting that one is not coping, when the raw truth is that possibly most of us need some support in one form or another at some stage of our journey through life. Work places need to make it easy for staff members to approach and communicate with their managers or have a well-being team available for them for this type of support and guidance. Managers also need to be trained to look for signs to evaluate whether their staff members are under stress or experiencing anxiety.

Some common signs of anxiety which may be of interest to those of you who are responsible for your teams in the workplace are: • Absenteeism • Being unusually emotionally sensitive to colleagues’ comments, suggestions or feedback • Isolation • Low mood or mood swings • New and unusual behaviours • Restlessness • Lack of ambition and reduced concentration • Fear and concerns are out of proportion to situation

The relationship between anxiety and other long-term physical health problems has been extensively researched which has revealed that there are correlations between those suffering with anxiety, developing other health issues such as diabetes, stomach ulcers and heart conditions. Research conducted through Mind (UK based charity for mental health awareness), found that silence and fear around mental health can be extremely costly for a company, their statistics revealed the following:

When asked how workplace stress had affected them: • 21% of employees asked, revealed that they had called in sick to avoid work. That is 1 in 5 people! • 14% had resigned and 42% had considered resigning due to work related anxiety & stress. When asked to agree or disagree with the following statement: “I would feel able to talk openly with my line manager if I was feeling stressed.” • 30% disagreed

It was revealed that employees felt that they would like to improve their staff wellbeing and didn’t feel that they had the relevant training or guidance. • 56% agreed

Organisations are built on their values, and any company who takes care of their staff when they are experiencing health problems send out a very positive message. Being supportive of staff when they are experiencing difficulty is about more than simply keeping a valued member of staff, it also creates a company culture of due care and support for one another. All employees need to know by experience that their company lives by the values they spout. This type of organisational behaviour cultivates a sense of trust and loyalty which are fundamental drivers in commitment and retention staff. Mental health is a level playing field in that we all have a state of mental health, sometimes we experience good mental health and sometimes not so good, we are all shifting constantly up and down the spectrum, which is affected by a variety of factors both in and out of the work place. The important thing within a company or organisation is to allow it to be an easy conversation to be had, allowing increased interaction, encouragement and productivity.

Here are 8 tips on how to combat anxiety in the work place:

1. Talk it out There is nothing like a good old-fashioned yarn to someone not involved in your life to sort all your woes. Find a sympathetic colleague, or friend without opinions and let rip, don’t hold back, tears, outside voices, trembling and anger are all permitted… get that anxiety and all the internal voices outside of yourself. Sometimes when you hear yourself speaking out loud it can aid with mental clarity and allow things to fall into place and settle.

2. Walk it out When the mind is on overdrive, get into your feet! Take a long walk, focusing the attention on each footfall. When the mind goes back to the thoughts, bring it straight back to the feel of the feet hitting the ground, the shape of the shoes against your feet, the sensations of the ground beneath you and the texture of your socks or shoes. Stomp if you have to at first and then overtime come to think of yourself massaging the earth with your feet.

3. Write it down and prioritise Writing down all your anxieties and worries will help to get them out of the internal loop in your head and/or heart. Once they are all on paper, put them under the headings “Things I can do something about” and “Things I can do nothing about”. Once you have your list of things you can do something about, prioritise them from the most urgent to the least urgent. Then take each one in turn and make a flow chart of creative ways to solve the problem at hand. Then one at a time you deal with each one until you find that you have life totally under control.

4. Bye-Bye Caffeine – hello dark chocolate Caffeine, found in many products these days including… gulp… dairy chocolate!… is anxiety inducing. Slowly cut back on your intake and choose Camomile Tea to calm the nerves and Dark Chocolate to increase your levels of serotonin.

5. Bedtime Routines are not just for Children We need sleep, and there are no prizes for burning yourself out and landing up in a rehab clinic due to over work. Set yourself a cut off time for reading emails and receiving calls, texts and messages and create a bedtime routine, so that both body and mind know that sleep is about to come. Have a bath/shower, read a book (not tablet), have a cocoa drink.

6. Just say “No!” There is only so much a person can do in a day, and there is no need to take on other people’s problems… when you have enough of your own. Doesn’t matter if it someone else’s work load they want you to sort, or their kids to pick up, when your plate is full, you have GOT to learn to say NO! Try this polite rephrase: “I understand your situation, and I am certain you can appreciate how hectic my life is too, so on this occasion I will have to say no.”

7. Defeat the sugar slump & hydrate This does not mean stuffing your face with cakes, crisps and candy! This means planning your day and making sure that your blood sugar levels never slump. Skipping meals causes the stress hormone cortisol to be released which can make anxiety worse. Try to eat a well balanced diet with lean proteins, fruit, vegetables and healthy fats and slow release carbohydrates.

8. Good Exit Strategies – good for business, good for anxiety reduction Anxiety is often caused due to a feeling of not being in control of a situation, yourself or another person. The trick to coping with this is to learn to notice your triggers and develop coping strategies to cope with situations that either trigger you or you can see are about to trigger you. One coping strategy is to cultivate effective “exit strategies”, that will still allow you to enjoy life and all it has to offer, but without the triggers. An example in a social setting may be to drive yourself to a party or event, so that you don’t have to wait for others to get home.

9. This is it – This Moment is all you have! Anxiety is usually crated when we project into the future and our imagination doesn’t make the future look that enticing! I suggest make a list of things you can control and or influence and a list of things you can do nothing about. With the list of things you can do nothing about right now, put it in the bottom drawer of your desk and forget about them. For the list you can do something about or influence then make a flow chart with actions you can begin taking now. Live in this moment, for your tomorrow’s are made up of each moment we live now.

Written by Kirstie Shapiro

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superanimationthingsba2a · 7 years

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Narrative Strategies Essay

I struggled writing this first draft of my essay as I want really sure how I was meant to structure a critical reflection. After I got going with the first paragraph I found it a little easier to write but I am still not completely happy with it and I am still a little unsure if I have written it correctly. I will have some other look over it and let me know what they think and I will make some adjustments where needed.

Narrative Strategies Essay-

The text we where given for this project was The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A novella written in 1885 by Robert Stevenson. The story is an allegory, meaning it has deeper, hidden messages, then what is just seen on the surface. The story I have written for this project is about a boy who starts to notice these strange students around his college. The students have a supernatural feel and look to them but in the end it is revealed that they are in fact different hallucinations and personalities of the protagonist.

We where required for this project to read the text Jekyll and Hyde, then using similar themes or event, to write our own story adaptations. The text Jekyll and Hyde follows the story of Mr Utterson a Lawyer who wants to solve the mystery of Mr Hyde and his connection to his friend Dr Jekyll. The whole novella leaves the reader as clueless as the protagonist till the entire mystery is put to rest when it is explained by Jekyll himself, through his final letter he leaves to Utterson. With this letter we learn that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person and Hyde is the darker, more twisted side of the kind, loved Henry Jekyll, ‘I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde’ (H, Jekyll, Page 63). For my own story I wanted to in keep with the idea of different personalities as this is one of the biggest themes in the whole novella, ‘Stevenson ties in scientific methods and personality disorder in his story’ (Snyder, N). I also wanted to have a link between my narrators obsession to know more about the strange students and Utterson’s need to learn more about Hyde and his connection to Jekyll. I found it interesting to watch as the character we are following, pulls himself further and further into a mystery that did not concern him in the first instance. I really wanted to create this idea in my own character but unlike Utterson who had others mention the source of his obsession which drew him further into the mystery, I wanted my character to throw himself into it, as no one else was noticing or confused like he was by the sudden and strange appearance of the unique students. Finally Stevenson constantly had his characters comment on how Hyde is impossible to describe, instead having them comment on his size and the way he walks. The general description of Hyde presents him as looking truly evil, ‘There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable” (Enfield, Page 8). I wanted to have my strange characters described in a similar fashion, for this I focussed on elements like their walk, and the look of their skin. I did this specifically as I wanted to present the possible idea that these student the protagonist is seeing aren’t human. I am hoping to mislead the reader from the true answer to the mystery. I felt that these are all good element to incorporate into my own story as it would stick to the ideas of mystery that Stevenson had created, in his novella.

When it came to writing my story adaptation, I started by thinking about the layout of my story where the plot was going to take place and how was the information was going to be presented. Originally I had planed for the story to take place outside and have the protagonist confront one of the strange students, however over time I changed the story making the strange student come to the protagonist and have them discuss what the students are in his bedroom so the protagonist can reflect on the information they had just received by looking in the mirror for the final line with helps emphasise the information that has just been received. I decided I wanted my protagonist to have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), once I had decided this I proceeded to plan my plot around this ideas. I did some research into DID as I wanted it to be realist and not want my story based around stereotypes of the disorder, ‘Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual”. However I did discover that after some more research that the symptoms I have described fit more with Schizophrenia like the hallucinations my protagonist is seeing in the forms other strange students ‘A hallucination happens when you hear, smell, feel or see something - but it isn't caused by anything (or anybody) around you. The commonest one is hearing voices” (R,C, Psychiatrists). Both of these disorders can also relate to Jekyll and Hyde fitting under the theme of appearance and reality, as ‘Few things are as they seem in the novel. People make wrong assumptions and mistakes’ (York Notes). In the novella the reality of Hyde and Jekyll’s relationship is not what it seems, tricking the audience into a different reality then that of the true outcome. This can be argued for mental health as peoples outer appearance can completely contrast with the reality of what is going on in their heads, which is what I wanted to present with the protagonist of my story as they are also blind to what is happening even though the reality of it is all happening in his head. I feel like both DID and Schizophrenia help to explain what my character is going though, and can explain how Jekyll is feeling in the end of the novella in his last letter to Utterson, ‘This, then, is the last, short of a miracle, that Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts or see his own face’ (H, Jekyll, page 77).

The animation style I have selected for my story is a cross between stop motion and 2D Animation. I want to use stop motion as the main animation style to show the protagonist and the normal students that surround him. For the hallucinated students I would to animate them in 2D as it will make them stand out compared to the other students. I want to show a clear contrast between the two types of students the protagonist is seeing to help present to the audience the confusion he is feeling that no one else is finding them strange or out of place, I want to do this thought a range of body languages, ‘‘A cluster of physical signals make up a pattern, which more reliably expresses a person’s mental state than a single aspect of body posture’ (J, Suler) and colour palette. The stop motion colours for the characters and background will be a mixture of blacks, greys and dark blues to help show how mundane and dull the reality the protagonist lives in is, I want to make them all slouch whist they walk slowly. In contrast I would have the colour pallet for the 2D characters a mixture of whites and light blues and have their posture strong held up right with a smooth fluent movement to make the appearance of them floating. This will help show the audience how strange the protagonist finds it that on one else is intrigued and confused by the appearance of these students. I would like the sound to help effect the audience to help make them feel a similar way to the protagonist as all of this is happening, I feel that I would be best to have a narrative voice over of the main character talking like it is his inner thoughts. With the whispers that are mentioned I would have the sound stand out almost on their own and have the frequent use of them increase slowly till it is louder and a constant present by the end of the animation after all of the information has been relived. Once the last line has been said it goes quite and it image of the protagonist just sat alone on his bed is held with a slow zoom in, helping to hold the tension for a little longer. My main aim for the animation is to have, the audience in a similar situation to the protagonist understand how he is feeling seeing what he is seeing and not being able to understand why he is alone and why this is affecting him so much.

Overall I have found it really interesting to take a story like Jekyll and Hyde and be able to create my own story by just using small elements that link it back to the original text. Jekyll and Hyde has a lots of different options that I could have chosen to write about or elaborate more, and I found it hard to choose what I wanted to do but after researching and looking at the different themes and event I enjoyed being able to slowly create a story based off of such a unique piece of literature.

#Story #Adaptation #BA2a

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