#also my boss is already extremely ill and will be out for at least another week

[sparklehag99]

Woke up to a migraine AND an allergy attack, and have two can’t-miss meetings AND a conference I have to attend over zoom and I would truly rather die. Apparently they might cold call on us to answer questions during the conference????? Is that not fucking illegal????? It should be fucking illegal.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Aita for getting my coworker in trouble?

I(30,x) work at a front desk of an outpatient part of a hospital. Nothing Im doing is life or death on a day to day basis, but because were typically dealing with sick people and their medical info, i try really hard to remain professional and kind in all i do. This has me sometimes coming off as a bit of a stickler for rules and how certain things are handled.

Me and this coworker(27/f) dont typically get on, but other than be outwardly polite I try to just ignore her for anything outside of whats necessary for work. I wont ignore her if she talks to me, and Ill hold small talk convos with her, but im not iniating anything because frankly i find her lazy and annoying. Shell go out of her way to do the least work possible, and takes any chance to walk away from her desk and play on her phone if she thinks she not going to be caught. Shes also fought against every bit of training that the trainer and I have been required to show her.

Now I mostly ignore this. Technically shes not permanently a part of our team, and if everything goes correctly shell be gone to another department soon enough. And its not like i dont fuck around on my phone sometimes if theres no patients or calls, but recently shes brough in a COLORING BOOK and has been coloring at our front desk.

This was frankly the line for me, as its extremely unprofessional coloring where patients could see you. Theres phones to call! Other office work to do! So i finally spoke to my boss and she told me to message her when it happened again and she'd pop in.

So i did. She got a verbal warning, and no one expects anything, but I feel a little guilty. I find her really annoying and lazy, but i feel like a snitch and i hate it because shes already gotten a couple warnings and i just want her to do her job, not potentially have it at risk.

So aita?

[mazm-imagines]

Some Call It Stalking, I Say Walking Just Extremely Close Behind

hi guys. remember the illness fic i was talking abt for months. well. I finished it. 6956 words. oh my god what is wrong with me. TW for sh/cutting, it is not used in that context but just in case yk. Blood and stuff like that. also MAJOR THY CREATURE SPOILERS !!!! This is abt boss 3 so if ur not there yet dont read if u dont want spoilers teehee. fic under the cut

The Mad Scientist didn’t know much. 

He didn’t know how, when, or why he was born. 

All he knew from the moment of his birth was that he wanted to know. 

That thirst for knowledge consumed every part of him. Not even a minute passed from conception and he had already shuffled through the papers below him, dim green glow of various bioluminescent specimens aided him in his reading. Even without them, a Nepe’s superior senses would have been sufficient enough.

From there he learned about matters of science, of humanities, of theology, and much more. Each book he pored through only multiplied the lust for knowledge. Papers, journals, artifacts, samples, it was never enough. No fact was forgotten. The Scientist couldn’t stay content to be confined in that library much longer. As of that point, he was only a mere concept. The word he could have described it as was ‘madness.’ 

It was almost cruel, to never be satiated, to know everything yet nothing. 

He wandered yes- of course he did. A curious mind couldn’t stay idle. He had long since familiarized himself with the other creatures that were just like him.

Boring.

He already knew how Nepe worked. 

The residents of the tower were where his real curiosities lay. He was always watching, hearing from the shadows, especially careful to not get caught by the hunter. Even in her old age her keen senses would have sniffed him out. 

The other residents… not so much. The seamstress and the sailor seemed to be dimwitted enough. The farmer already lost most of his memories and the painter was near catatonic from grief. Perhaps if the raging alcoholic of a manager was sober he would be observant enough. 

The only one with their head attached to their shoulders was the mortician he knew as Noah.

Noah could be described as… stingy, analytical, calm. It felt as if Noah’s eyes could look right at him. At least before the Mad Scientist would induce a dizzy spell on him– another one of the Nepe’s abilities.

Even when bickering with the seamstress– Justine– he’d stay poised. But the Scientist had the privilege to read Noah’s ledger. Suffice to say, Noah certainly had some pent up feelings.

And sometimes Noah prayed. Noah prayed for many things: for prosperity, for his loved ones, and for their souls.

In humanities and theology, the Scientist often read of the concept of a soul. What was a soul? According to what he had read, a soul consisted of many things, of memories and of humanity. 

In the anatomical diagrams he examined, no human looked like him. 

Golden horns, paper white skin and hair, and black sclera with goat-like pupils.

He wasn’t a human at all, but that was a forgone conclusion. As for memories, he had memories right? He could remember reading his favorite books or what he had done a minute ago. But there was a certain memory that started to arise the more he came to himself. 

A memory that didn’t belong to him.

A memory of a man poring through documents, just as he would that entire time.

The first glimpse into that memory was when he had found a sheet of paper: an experiment log documenting research on what made a human. Concepts of willpower and emotion scattered throughout. 

The back of a black-haired man flashed before his eyes.

“More… more…”

The man spouted a mantra of madness whilst filtering through the books strewn around: all useless junk to him.

That was the first time he had ever seen that man, but it wasn’t the last.

He scanned the page again, searching for a name.

And a name he got.

“Victor.”

Victor was a common name from what he had known. It meant winner, triumphant, champion, all that was virtuous in the world.

The Mad Scientist didn’t have a name. There was no one that even knew of his existence to even call him anything. 

It was always quiet in the library, but the newfound revelation of his memory made the silence deafening. 

His core… was Victor. It was a human’s.

Perhaps it was time to christen himself. 

In humanities, he had read of Erysichthon, a Greek king cursed with an insatiable hunger. Even if it was a literal hunger, he couldn’t help but empathize. He too was cursed with an insatiable hunger: the hunger for knowledge. It was a suitable mantle to take up in his eyes.

No point in contemplating now, he had a world to dissect. His name from that point on became Erysichthon.

What was a human? What was a Nepe? Who determined such arbitrary terms? What was the difference? Was it the soul? Flesh? So many research questions and so little practice.

The definition of a soul was so… flimsy. Centuries of philosophical debate and no true answer? Erysichthon was determined to find out. As of late, he had felt more and more restless– unrestrained.

He only knew of the green earth from behind the pages. He had no need of theoreticals anymore, only hands-on, personal experience could ever satisfy him again. 

For that, he would need a new form, so as to not… scare his specimens.

Research question: Can a Nepe be human?

The form he held now was raw, untainted, untouched by all influence except madness. But it wasn’t human. 

He could change his form, that was a skill he learned by looking on a piece of shattered glass. On a whim he wished to change his white hair to green, and there it was. Ever since then he would toy around with his form. A Nepe can afford to be malleable.

Now it was time to push the limit, innovation came from necessity as they say.

He’d have to clear up the marks on his face first- lest he looked like the notebook he scribbled in. Then there was the matter of his skin and hair. The pale white was considered unnatural, unless he was an albino- but he wasn’t even a human! He was at least two times the size of one. 

Horns atop his head were monstrous, no creature on earth could compare. His pupils were akin to a goat’s, not to mention pitch black sclera. 

Unfortunately, those would have to go too. 

Erysichthon had never interacted with a living breathing human up close, but he had interacted with a dead one. Many, many dead ones. They were mainly mangled corpses he dissected, but he could piece two and two together as to what a living human should be by now. All the research and… observing wouldn’t be for nothing. 

In one thought, he could feel himself getting smaller, frail. It wasn’t a permanent transformation, his power still remained intact enough to turn back.

Floating hands seceded to nothing, and from the dead space under his coat legs grew out. Muscles, bones, and sinew all manifested from thin air faster than one could comprehend.

 As soon as the feet touched the ground, Erysichthon’s legs gave in. It was a strange feeling to walk on two legs rather than floating about. With a clumsy step forward he planted his face onto the stacks of books below him. Ouch. 

The face that gazed back at him on the base of the bronze statue in the theology room was near unrecognizable. The only features that stayed even remotely intact were the green tips that lined the newfound raven black hair and slitted black pupils centered on yellow irises. Tsk, can’t change it all he supposed.

Old fashioned clothes that barely held onto his shoulders weighed him down. Ah, he forgot to account for that as well. 

It was time to discard them too, the large bowknots and fur-lined coat was so last century–

–But he didn’t want to let go of them either…

From what he had read, children often dressed in non-threatening fashion. Shorts or shortened dresses, vibrant colors, and adorned in decorations. The Nepe girl he had met certainly looked the part. It was in his taste to say the least, but would it be suitable? He’d often read that adults and children were expected to present differently. Maybe he should blur the lines a little.

Research question: Why are adults and children expected to wear different clothes?

The black turtleneck shrunk down to a white blouse, with cuffs and neckline adorned by signature yellow bowknots. His fur coat morphed into shorts and suspenders. 

Can’t forget the footwear-

Simple dress shoes and knee-high socks were good enough. 

The oversized green bag of notes shrunk down as well to fit his new size.

The new form felt odd, to say the least. His height had been cut by half: places he could reach before were now off-limits. The sensation of placing one foot after another was oh so very foreign. There was nothing Erysichthon couldn’t learn though. This was merely a trial in his experiments.

However… What were the limits of this new body? What was inside? It was a rough shell of what a human should be. Humans bled, cried, drooled- and many other functions. This vessel was under his mercy, if he so desired, he wouldn’t have to do any of those things. 

This was his first experiment.

After taking a shard of glass off the floor, Erysichthon pulled up his right sleeve. With one painless swipe against his arm, he started to observe the results.

…

Perhaps he made a miscalculation, if the smoke leaking out indicated anything. In the span of 5 seconds, the wound sealed up.

There were two things to be noted:

No nerve endings to feel anything. Pain, pleasure, warmth, or coldness would be rendered null. No nerve system.

No blood either, he was lacking the blood vessels or any parts at all to even have a functioning cardiovascular system.

This meant he had no organs, supposedly. He had a cheap imitation of a muscular system at least. 

It was an oversight, nothing a little willpower couldn't remedy. His dissections and research would finally come in hand. 

Erysichthon managed to will a heart into existence, or at least the simulation of one. Placing a palm over his chest met him with the rhythmic thumping of a heartbeat. How lovely…

Not stopping at that, he made room for the rest of his organs. Nerves slowly manifested in flesh, he had now felt the absence of warmth in the room- and the warmth in his face.

This should do the trick.

Once again he picked up the shard of glass and swiped over his arm. 

Ow- It hurts!

He cried out before looking into the wound. 

Yet before he had even noticed the blood dripping out, he recognized the water leaking from his eyes. Slender fingers crawled up to his cheeks to paw at the tears.

I’m… crying… 

I’m crying in pain!

Just as he couldn’t help the tears, he couldn’t help the mad laughter erupting from his throat.

I’m crying! I’m bleeding! I really have become human…

Before that moment, he had never cried before. There was a bizarre delight to be found in weeping. But Erysichthon was a bizarre creature. 

Just as easily as he willed the wound open, he shut it back closed. Smeared blood evaporated back into the smoke it came from.  

Now that he had perfected his form, it was time to roam around. 

Erysichthon pulled open the door of the library and carefully peeked out, not a soul could be seen as far as his eyes could tell.

Instead there were Nepes made of green ooze. Oh yes, he knew of these creatures. This was his domain, and they would leave him alone well enough. 

The foot he placed forward nearly stumbled, he wasn’t ready to leave the support of the walls quite yet. Hugging the walls, he carefully moved to different rooms, calling out a demure ‘hello?’ in each one. 

It was apparent there would be no humans there, well, nothing wrong with using a bit of omnipotence right?

2 humans were located on the first floor, another was located on the second. A few more were located on the fourth.

If he were to approach any other floor besides the first, they would surely have gotten suspicious. The corruption of the tower led by Nepes kept the residents on edge.

Another touch of omnipotence wouldn’t hurt- 

And just like that, he found himself at the imposing front doors of the tower. 

Oh this would be fun.

What wasn’t fun was the numerous Nepes imitating mangled dolls that patrolled the halls. 

– 

“Noah, we're damn stuck! We’re going to die! Stop laughing!” 

“Pfffft… how can I not when you tripped over your own dress? We are going to die, can’t I go out with a laugh?”

“Stop! Stop it! I’ll sew your mouth shut!”

“Alright alright I’ll stop.”

“Hmph!”

“...Klutz.”

“You-! Bastard!”

Justine balled up her fists before plunging them straight into Noah’s chest. Her victim could only stifle a weary laugh behind a hand. 

Just as Noah was about to open his mouth, a crash was heard from behind them.

“Who’s there?” Noah stepped in front of Justine so as to take initiative. Turning his head had let his calculating eyes gaze upon the intruder. 

Currently said intruder was planted face first on the floor– An even bigger klutz than Justine.

Is that a child? 

“Sir William?!” Did Justine know this person?

“William?! I’m not William!” Ah. She was mistaken. The boy she mistook for “William” raised his head to look back at them. Noah couldn’t tell if it was his bleariness, but something looked unnatural about the irises that met his own. He wasn’t exactly at his sharpest of senses but something was certainly off.

Upon further inspection, the “boy” was… a man surely. Childish clothes had almost convinced Noah of his youth, but his neck and limbs indicated otherwise. Oh God he’s one of those.

Those bastards that wouldn’t fess up their age no matter what.

Noah felt the blood leak from his face once he realized the sort of person he would be dealing with. But his age wasn’t one of the more important questions Noah had.

Yellow eyes with slitted pupils…

“Justine get behind me- and you- stay back.” From the pocket of Noah’s pitch black coat, Justine vaguely made out a glint. 

“Wah?! What’s wrong?!”

“Stay there. Move any closer and I won’t hesitate.”

“Hesitate to what?!” The black-haired man cried out. 

“Noah, you're scaring him! Stop! Please…” Justine had rarely seen this anger from the poised Noah. It was terrifying to hear the steely voice from his bandaged neck. And not once had he raised said voice. Considering he had been on edge the past week or so, perhaps this was the culmination of his exhaustion. 

She tugged at Noah’s sleeve as a silent plea to calm down. Biting blue eyes looked down Justine’s honeyed brown ones. 

That was enough to defrost Noah’s temperament it seemed, as his furrowed eyebrows loosened. 

“Fine. I have a few questions for you. And you better start talking.” “Yes sir!”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m uhm I’m Ery- E-”

“Out with it.” The more Noah pressed, the more the black-haired man flushed in embarrassment. 

He had no mercy! Perhaps that no-nonsense attitude is what EL liked most about him.

“Noah!- Take your time! Don’t listen to him alright?” 

Truth be told, Justine was wary of the new stranger. Something about him… felt off. 

But he looked just like William-! At least, what he would have looked like if he managed to grow older. On the off chance that this was a victim of the tower, she couldn’t let Noah throw him to the dogs! Or well, the Nepes.

“I’m EL…” “How did you get in here? The doors are shut. I’ve tried for damn ages to open it! We were just there. Even the back is closed- And here you are, waltzing in…” The last words trailed off as Noah started to grumble to himself in irritation.

“I- uhm… I came here right around the time of the attacks! I got stuck… and hic…”

“It’s been two weeks and you think I’d believe that?”

“It’s true! Please believe me! I passed out in the middle of it… I just woke up…”

“Noah… be nice.”

EL didn’t particularly mind the pressing, not when he could finally meet his dear specimens. But it would be suspicious if he didn’t put up any resistance, especially for someone like Noah. 

He just couldn’t contain his excitement to meet them!

I can't wait to harvest them~

As a Nepe of madness, Erysichthon had an unusual ability: the ability to impart obsession onto those weak of mind. A natural charm that allured the vulnerable. Slowly yet surely, he watched Justine’s hesitation waver.

EL was practically imprisoning his overwhelming joy within a pitiful expression. From his limited vision on the floor he could see Justine take slow steps from behind Noah, approaching cautiously before she knelt by him.

She fell for it… just as hypothesized~

“Justine- What are you doing? You can’t just-!”

“Noah, he’s one of us. He’s scared and alone.”

“Look at his eyes! Only damn Nepes have those yellow eyes!” Damn, he did make a good point. 

“Can you stop making assumptions? You think you know everything? Let’s ask EL alright?”

“Alright EL. What’s with those eyes of yours hm?”

“I, uhm, have a condition… It’s just like that… I swear I’m not a Nepe!”

Damn! He was as observant as EL hypothesized, but this would be troublesome…

He could eat that memory later, for now he had to ensure their trust. With a quick nod of his head, he induced another bout of exhaustion onto the other man. 

“Is that so? You must think I’m stupid if-”  before Noah could finish his snide remark the low growl of a Nepe was made apparent. 

“Grrrrrr…”

“Dammit. We stayed here for too long. Justine, we have to go.”

“What about EL?!” 

“You already know. But whatever, you do what you want. I feel dizzy.” With that Noah ran off leaving Justine alone with EL.

This is my chance… To take her as a specimen-!

“Well… he’s not saying no! Let’s go EL!” EL was snapped out of his thoughts by Justine offering a hand to him. He only gave a cheerful smile in return.

“Oh! Thank you… thank you so much!”

“It’s no problem!"

Mustn't get too hasty… I could secure the whole camp.

One mental note later and EL was being led out by Justine to the stairs. 

“Oh wow EL! Your grip is… really strong!”

“Ahahaha… I hear that a lot. I’ve just been carrying a lot around! I used to work at a library so-! Just used to carrying books around.”

EL wasn’t sure when he had gotten used to lying as easily as he “breathed.” Perhaps Justine was stupid and his lies were flimsy or he just really was a natural at it. Either way, Noah wouldn’t be fooled. 

“And EL… are your legs alright? I noticed that you’ve been limping a lot. Is that why you tripped earlier?”

“Oh! I was running away from a Nepe and I just… tripped. It hurts-!” EL whined out to sell his story. He was just a klutz but whatever made Justine pity him he would gladly take advantage of. To further encourage sympathy, EL willed open a few blood vessels around his knees to simulate bruising. His newfound pain receptors forced him to wince for real this time. The pain was enough to make EL drop- he had never experienced such agony before... He never experienced pain at all till an hour ago! 

Justine’s eyes darted downwards once she felt the pressure on her hand pull her down as well.

“Oh EL! You poor thing! I didn’t even notice before! We have to get out first but as soon as we get there I’ll wrap it up.” Justine gave a reassuring squeeze to EL’s hand before helping him back up. 

That squeeze… for what possible reason could she have done that for? The concept of love was quite foreign to EL. Yes he knew of it from his research, but he’s never felt love in its true form. He loved his specimens technically. But Justine’s pure affection? Strange… It wasn’t a bad feeling at all. EL could feel his face heat up for some odd reason. 

“Are you okay EL? Your face is quite red too…”

“Ah! Yes yes I’m alright! Don’t worry!” Perhaps he should try to show his affection too, as an experiment that is. 

—

After carefully navigating around the Nepes, the two could finally make their way to the gallery hallway.

“The stairs are coming up soon, our camp is on the fourth floor though… Don’t worry, if me and Noah could come down here, I'm sure we can go up just as easily! Leon’s on the second floor too just in case.” Justine let out a nervous smile, bottom lip quivering ever so slightly. Perhaps EL should return the favor from earlier.

“It’ll be alright! I think-” EL’s attention was drawn away to a shine on the floor. Ever a curious mind, EL let go of Justine's hand to examine. 

The shining item seemed to be a scalpel. Justine hovered behind him in intrigue as well till a realization froze her in place.

“This- this is Noah’s…”

“Really?” EL pocketed it away, just in case he could return it later. 

“Maybe he dropped it…”

No matter how much Justine tried to hide her anxiety, EL could feel it practically radiating off of her. Nepe’s sense and all.

“Maybe he did! It’s okay Justine. It’ll be okay!” EL wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about what to say, all he could do was regurgitate trite words he read from novels. But an attempt to comfort was made nonetheless.

“I… I hope so. Let’s go…” Justine gave a smile tinted with melancholy before shaking her head. 

After grabbing EL’s hand again, Justine carefully inched toward the stairwell door. 

One peek around the corner and Justine immediately gagged. 

What on Earth could she have seen?

“N-Noah!” Before he could even ask, he received an answer. EL stole a look for himself and- 

Noah was propped up a corner, smoke flowed out from the top of his head as a hollow expression graced his features. A Nepe was sitting on top of him, feasting. EL noted the scalpel lodged into its forehead, all the while it remained unbothered. Noah put up a fight it seemed.

Perhaps he overdid it with the exhaustion spells these past few weeks or so.

“He’s… No... no no no no no.” Justine cried to herself. Her legs caved as all her worries were confirmed right then and there. Tears streamed down her face with choked sobs shackling her judgment like a collar. 

It seemed she would be out of the picture.

EL could have done something, at the very least. 

“Justine… I must say, I enjoyed this time with you. Stay here alright?” EL was about to do something quite reckless. Science was all about alternating variables. At the very least, he couldn’t let his specimens get tarnished.

“EL… No! No! Please don’t… don’t!” Justine tugged on his sleeve in an attempt to get him to stay. Unfortunately EL was far stronger than she would be as he pulled his sleeve away to prepare. 

“I’ll kill it.”

“I’ll… I’ll come with you then.” Justine hastily wiped away her tears with a sleeve. Clumsily, she stood back up with a newfound determination.

She wasn't as weak as he thought after all.

Research question: If I were to rip a Nepe open, what would happen?

With no particular plan, EL ran into the Nepe as fast as he could, plunging a scalpel into its chest before shoving it into an adjacent wall. 

“Justine! Drag Noah out! I’ll take care of this.”

“Got it!” Justine took Noah by the underarms before dragging him away. At least, attempting to- he was two times her size. Not that EL cared. He had to retrieve Noah’s memory before it got digested. 

That wouldn’t be an easy task. Now that EL had shrunk down by half, he realized just how small a human was compared to a Nepe. Even with Noah’s 210 centimeters, the Nepe was a third taller than him. 

The Nepe attempted to bite at his skull which EL would dodge haphazardly. 

Left right left right. A tedious dance and song. 

Sit still would you.

EL pulled out the scalpel in its stomach before jabbing it back into the Nepe’s neck, hopefully pinning it to the wall. Just for good measure, he wrapped a lithe hand around its throat, squeezing ever so slightly. After ripping out the scalpel from its head, EL slashed across its stomach to rummage around for memories. 

The lack of organs would be accounted for by the black smoke. EL had an approximate 5 minutes to retrieve the memory, yet he could feel the smoke attempt to seal around his wrist. 

It didn’t take long before EL found the small stone- stones? This Nepe seemed to have collected quite a few memories from Noah. Just touching them gave him a bout of hunger. He couldn’t eat these today though. 

“Justine-! Take these!” EL lazily tossed them to her with one hand, paying no mind as to what she was actually doing. 

“Oof! Got them!” Justine dropped Noah in favor of holding the memories. Which one was Noah’s?! Were they all his?!

Now EL had full freedom to play as he wished. Ripping the scalpel out from its neck would give Erysichthon two blades to slash with. 

Oh oh oh- I wish it was a human… Oh well!

He gave a little pout at the fact he couldn’t just dissect a live human, but that didn’t stop his desire to cut up a creature all the same. 

That troublesome Nepe had been going after his head that entire time. Perhaps he should return the favor. With a forceful stab across the Nepe’s neck, he managed to behead it in one fell swoop. Huh, that wasn’t supposed to happen.

The Nepe was merely a doll made of fabric then, that was the only reasoning he had for being able to behead a 8 ft monster. 

It certainly made his job easier! WIthout much of a complaint, he proceeded to cut away at the body maniacally. A look of madness crept up to his face, yet he was far too consumed by the euphoria of it all to even hide it. 

He saw a small sparkle within the Nepe. 

More memories? They didn’t seem to be Noah’s at least, based on the aura he was receiving. 

Just as he was about to pull out the last batch of memories deeper within the shadows, EL shrieked in pain at a stabbing sensation around his ankles. 

What the hell was that?!

“EL!” A shrill scream called his name from across the room, snapping EL back into his senses. Looking down met him with his attacker.

The Nepe head he threw away earlier came back with a fury, currently it was biting away at his ankles.

Well, that was a sign, if any to finally leave. Taking both scalpels, EL jammed them into the Nepe before scrambling to Justine and Noah, blood trailed not far behind.

“EL! Are you okay?!”

“Yes- yes- How’s Noah?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“He’s taken in some of his memories and fell back asleep… What do we do?!”

“Wake him back up of course!”

Justine stared at him with a confounded look before nodding. 

“I suppose you’re right…” 

Noah was laying down beside Justine, sleeping peacefully with glasses lopsided. For all his sternness while those eyes were open, he looked quite gentle in slumber. As if in sync, both EL and Justine shook him to break that peace.

“Noah! Wake up! Someone just robbed your store!” Unorthodox method from Justine, but it worked. 

“Huh- huh wuh huh-” Dark lashes fluttered open, revealing the piercing blue underneath. 

“What happened… Blood… I smell blood.” Noah removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose before rubbing at his eyes. A quick sniff let Noah assess the situation as he replaced the spectacles. 

“Oh, it’s you.” 

“Noah! He saved you!”

“I- I can see that…” Noah immediately jumped to his disdain for the intruder, completely missing the fact that he was his savior. It wasn’t till his eyes wandered down to the bite marks at EL’s legs did he realize. Of course he could never admit he was ever wrong, Justine would surely have a field day if he did.

“We don’t have much time till the Nepe gets back up, we have to get out of here-” EL gasped out in pain as the blood kept dripping, his small hands could barely hold the wound shut. Yes he could have just willed it closed, but not in front of Justine and Noah! Noticing his pain, Noah rummaged around his pockets to look for something. EL didn’t know what for till the hand came out with a small roll. 

He was actually going to help him? EL could feel his face heat up at the kind(?) gesture. An equally warm feeling lit from somewhere within. 

“Did you get a fever too? Stick your legs out. You have an abnormally large amount of blood, it just won't stop…” EL complied wordlessly, readjusting his position for easier access. Noah examined the wounds before unrolling the bandages.

“This won’t be a bang-up job, I’ll treat you properly when we get back.”

“You’re taking him back with us?!” Justine beamed at his newfound acceptance, eyes that were shining with tears now shone with joy.

“Hm, I don’t think Nepes attack each other.” Erysichthon just had, but they don’t need to know about that. Without batting an eye, Noah continued to wrap up EL’s legs, albeit hurriedly. He seemed to be still on edge as from a distance, the faint growls of the Nepe could be heard. 

“I was right! I was right! Bet you feel a bit stupid now Noah.” Justine playfully elbowed him in the rib until he stared her down. His stare was enough to make her retract her arm. 

“Hahaha. I’ll speak to you two later, right now I need some maze flower tea…” With one final wrap around, Noah tied the bandages into place and offered a hand to EL.  

“Get up. We don’t have much time. Do you need help walking?” Justine stood up with him to also offer a hand. 

“Ehehe… just a little!” The warm feeling in his face returned, the pink blush wouldn’t go unnoticed by his new companions.

“Oh EL- your face! Are you… happy? Oh wait you must be sick! Ohhhh we have to get out!” In a rush, EL grasped their hands firmly in his. The force slightly pulled Noah down as his eyes widened in shock. He didn’t expect such strength from such a tiny body. In a few seconds EL could see the emotions dancing in Noah’s eyes before they settled in indifference.

“He’s fine, probably embarrassed. His hands are cold.” There was a world of difference between Justine and Noah’s hands. Justine’s were small, the same size as EL’s own, yet calloused from labor. Noah’s meanwhile were quite large, enveloping his own hand in a comforting grip. The consistent feature between the two was steadiness that could carry a soul. 

Justine took the initiative in letting EL lean on her shoulder as Noah was far too tall to shoulder him. Instead Noah squatted near the Nepe head.

“What are you doing?! We have to go!”

“Give me a second Justine.” 

With a mighty pull, Noah wrung out the scalpels before plunging them back in a few times or so. For good measure, he kicked the slowly reattaching torso across the room. 

“Alright I’m done. Let’s go”

—

“Ahhh Justine! Noah! You’re back! AND-! Is that a new comrade?! Huzzah! Huzzah! Although… You all look like-”

“We know Leon. Do you have the bag?”

“Yes! I would never forget! Care to at least regale me of what happened?!”

“Mhm later. Not now. Set him down there Justine.”

Justine carefully plopped him up on a dusty table for Noah to examine. EL made a mental note prior to hold back on the blood quantity this time, lest Noah gets suspicious.

“Your rapid blood loss was a miracle, I’m surprised you didn’t pass out then and there. But you’re one unusual human I suppose.” 

Human! He called him a human! EL’s face was graced with a rosy blush once again, this time in delight.

“That too I guess.” 

“What’s your name, little guy?”

“I’m EL!” What started as a rushed mispronunciation ended up as his new epithet. What was even the point of coming up with a name only to not even use it? Well, not that he minded.

“EL really saved us back there! You won’t believe it Leon!”

“Wahhhh?! Really?! Little guy I thank you for saving my comrades! Tell me all about it later alright?” The man named Leon smiled brighter than the bioluminescent specimens of the third floor. His excitability matched EL’s own it seemed. He had more to him up close than Erysichthon would have thought from a distance. This experiment was truly a success. 

“My name isn’t little guy! I’m EL!”

“Ahahaha my mistake!” Leon gave a light-hearted thump on EL’s back, only to be met with a loud cough. Unfortunately that cough would land right on Noah who was currently sanitizing the bite marks.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you to cover your mouth when you cough?’

“Sorry! It just hurt-” 

“That’s what antiseptic does.” EL didn’t even notice the slight stinging compared to the newfound sensation of getting thumped on the back. Justine came over to rub his back instead in an attempt to soothe it. 

“Leon, didn’t Alex tell you not to do that.” Noah dryly let out.

“I uhm- Yes! Sorry sorry- I just got excited! We have a new friend!”

“You can play with him later.”

“Don’t worry Leon! He’s here to stay.”

To stay… for now he could indulge in that “eternity.”

“To stay?! Huzzah new friend! I can’t wait to show you to Alex!”

The hunter… She would see through his disguise surely?! Unless Noah and Justine were to pull a favor for him. 

“Mhm. Alright EL, hop off.” With one final wrap around, Noah completed the treatment. EL silently obeyed the command, however he underestimated the pain that came with applying force directly on his ankles. Mindlessly he jumped down from the table instead of slowly sliding off. 

“Ye-OWCH!” He fell with bandaged knees hitting the carpet. Noah groaned in frustration whilst Justine and Leon came to his aid.

“EL! Are you okay?”

“Little guy! You gotta be more careful!”

“Wahhh! I’m alright! Just- hurts a little.”

“Why on Earth would you jump down? What am I going to do with you…” Noah inevitably kneeled by the two doting on EL. Were you born yesterday? He would’ve asked if this ditz didn’t just save his life. EL was an absolute klutz in his eyes, but admittedly his kindness was charming. He seemed to be determined too, Noah could respect that. 

“Sorry! Sorry… You worked so hard on my legs and I messed it up-” This guy was hopeless. Although, he vaguely reminded Noah of the kids back at Winston in a way even though he was an adult.

“Justine, Leon, you two can go on ahead. I promise I won’t put EL in a coffin. I’ll get him back safe.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Indeed! Why so?”

“I need to have a private word with him. Besides, I think he burst something again.”

“But! But we just met! And the Nepes- Can’t we go back together?!”

“Are you afraid Leon?”

“No! Of course not! I was merely worried for you two! Ahaha!”

“You can stay by the next set of stairs then, or wander around. Try seeing if the third floor is safe.”

“Noah, are you sure? You nearly became a Nepe’s dinner and-”

“I took a rest, I'll be fine Justine. Look at me.”

“I- alright. Don’t get caught again, alright?!”

“I know I know. Thanks.” With a final send-off, Noah dismissed the other two to the third floor. With no witnesses, Noah was finally free to discuss with EL.

“Alright EL, are you okay now? Nothing hurts?”

“No sir!”

“Oh quit it with that sir business. You’re making me feel old. How old are you anyways?” Finally, the moment of truth.

“Hm… I can’t tell you that!” Dammit. He was one of those people. Although unbeknownst to Noah, EL didn’t prepare an answer to this question in the first place.

“Touche. Although I suppose that was a personal question anyways. I owe you an apology for earlier. I wasn’t in the best of states, and well. Jumped to conclusions. How silly of me.” Noah turned his head aside in embarrassment. He can’t believe he was being sincere. All the while EL was smiling happily. How peculiar to see this tender side of the ruthless Noah. This was an unexpected outcome. 

“It’s alright! I don’t really mind.”

“I’ve seen all sorts of people while carrying out funerals, from corpses to guests. I suppose it’s not entirely strange to see someone with eyes like yours in the first place.”

“Really?! I’d like to see one day.”

“A- a funeral? You want to see… dead people?” Noah was dumbfounded at the desire to see someone dead. With a shocked look on his face he pushed back the glasses on the bridge of his nose. EL really was seeing a rainbow of emotions from Noah today. And he loved every one.

“No!” A lie on EL’s behalf, but he could tell from his reaction that wanting to see dead people wasn’t normal.

“No no no! I meant like- people?”

“Eh? Haven’t seen people before? It really is like you were born… nevermind.”

“I- well I have! It’s just… I didn’t live in a place with many people. I heard there were a lot here so-!” That technically wasn’t a lie, just wording around the truth of the matter.

“Ah. That explains a bit.” Well now Noah felt like a right bastard for bullying a sheltered kid with a mutation. 

“Eh? What does that mean?”

“Hm. Nothing.”

“Wait- please tell me!”

“Aren’t you a curious one? I promise it was nothing of value.”

“Okay!” EL stared at Noah with inquisitive eyes. The goat-like pupils started to freak him out ever so slightly, but the innocent expression that framed them made him feel guilty to even think those thoughts in the first place.

“And… I must thank you for saving me. I owe you. Without you, I don’t even know if Justine would have lended a helping hand. I can’t imagine living a life as lost…”

“Hm. I think she would have! She worries a lot, yes, but with some encouragement she can be of use! She cares a lot for you too, I think.”

“You’re right I suppose. Gah, this means I’ll have to tell her my gratitude too.” Noah groaned into his palm. It was not the thanks itself that made him exasperated but rather Justine’s smug face. Perhaps Noah over-estimated how willing Justine was to rib him in the first place. 

“Mhm! Don’t worry! She seems really nice! I don’t think she’d say anything bad to you for it right?”

“I guess. Well that’s my problem for later. Let’s go now.” Noah stood up from the floor before dusting himself off. Once he was finished with tidying up, he offered a hand back to EL. A hand he was more than eager to accept. 

For the next few months, EL lived happily among his beloved residents. The hunter- Alex- at first was hesitant to accept him, her keen senses nearly sniffed him out. However with the alibis of both Justine and Noah, she left him alone well enough. The alcoholic manager named Chris would boss him around, something about “respecting his elders.” The farmer he knew as Ben was a curious creature, lost. Leon the sailor was a jovial spirit, exciting him with his mere presence. EL had only met the catatonic painter named Hanna briefly. She went back to sleep soon enough. All these humans were so fascinating.

A Nepe like him couldn’t have possibly understood the concept of heaven, but those months were the closest he could've gotten to one. The time he spent with Justine and Noah especially made him experience what could only be undeniably human emotions. He never wanted it to end… perhaps it was time to reap his harvest and keep his darling specimens forever.

“Is that… a human?”

“EEEEK he’s bleeding!” A gagging noise followed by a thud on the floor. Justine had fainted.

“Noah! We have to help them! Justine and this guy!”

“Eugh. Fine, you take care of Justine, I’ll take this guy.” With a hefty pull, the warm hands that once enveloped EL’s own once upon a time ago had shattered into pieces. A sharp gasp followed with heavy grunts.

“Noah! Are you okay?!” Setting Justine aside to a safe place, EL sat by Noah to tend to him instead. 

“God have mercy… I’ll- be fine. Please look after Justine. I’ll take care of this guy.”

“At least let me bandage your hands first!”

This human… no. This was no human. No human could crush bones like glass. Another specimen to collect.

Things have turned quite curious indeed.

[frobby]

Manwhas/mentions I like

No home

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

This is obligatory at this point tbh. I fucking love this shit. 

Haejoon Goh has been bulied his whole life basically for his mom being real weird and claiming she can see ghosts. As hes moving to the dorms of his new school with his life savings it gets stolen by eunyung baek. After he figures this out he goes and confronts eunyung who has already spent all his money. They get into a fight and haejoon accidentally ends up in the hospital and misses the dealine for entering into the dorms and has to move into the abbandoned dorm of the school with another student. This student just so happens to be eunyung baek which as you remember stole haejoons fucking money. 

Like i said this is so fucking good. Please read it. Any reservations you may have should be tossed aside. Think its too scary cuz of ghosts? The ghosts arent in it that much. Art style weird? You’ll warm up too it, its very dynamic with color choice. Think it doesnt sound interesting  or comedic? This is a drama and filled with angst and is extra sad. DO IT NOW GUYS PLEASE IM BEGGING AT THIS POINT 

Eleceed

This is prolly the most popular here so ill keep it brief. 

Jiwoo seo is special. He has the power of super speed. Due to this abnormality hes kept it a secret his whole life. One day he picks up an injured cat which turns out to be the extremely famous and dangerous awakener kayden break who turned into a cat to protect himself and doesnt have enough power to turn back. Kayden tells jiwoo about awakeners which is people with powers like jiwoo and agrees to train him.

This is a really fun series. I love the found family and kayden and jiwoo’s father son dynamic. The battles are really dynamic and interesting. The world building is interesting too. (also kayden is hot lmao) its on webtoon but the unofficial translations are ahead by like 40 chapters so 

Papa wolf and the puppy(king of wolves)

Okay so this is lowkey the funniest shit ever and allow me to explain why: this started with a wolf and a puppy hanging out in the forest and then RANDOMLY the author did a human au and a few chapters later started a newass story where they’re human and its an ex gang boss raising a little kid he found in the fucking woods he was hiding out in. 

Its really cute. Im always a big fan of adults adopting little guys and raising them to be better than them(kayden and jiwoo). I like all the characters and i love that the kid is named potato. Very very cute 

(oops i messed up this is chinese im sorry) 

Dam of the Forest

Read this if you want to be fucking sad 

Dam had a strange power to make things grow. Plants and even people grow when he touches them. As he gets older he stays the same size and no longer ages. His powers get stronger and eventually he secludes himself in a forest for a very long time. He them comes across a group of travelers who tell him that the world has turned into a wasteland other than this forest due to pollution. 

Like i said its really really sad. Its not that long so far so im excited to see how it develops. Idk what else to say other than if u wanna read something sad go for it.

Phantom School

This is a bit of a shot in the dark but still. 

Ingan kim was given a job as a teacher just as he wanted. However the school he goes to teach for is a school for phantoms and if they find out hes a human they’l kill him. Having to keep this a secret and keep his nerves under wraps turns to be quite difficult for him along with educating the young undead. 

Imma be honest this premise is an A+ for me. Obsessed. But otherwise the storytelling is very interesting to me but its also rather short so far but im very invested. (my only complaint is one of the translations i was reading did my least favorite thing manwha translations do where they change the korean names to english ones halfway through) 

Man Drowning in a veil

I literally love this shit so much that i almost forgot about cuz i havent finished it lmao 

(bear in mind the translation i read actually used japanese names so sorry if u use those rn) 

Aimu is an extremely tall, big man but despite his towering stature he loves all things pink and cute. A true king if you will. However one day an extremely rude classmate tells him that everyone finds him weird and gross for his interests which makes him shut them down completely only dressing in black and such. Untill one day he meets kohaku who is the owner of a stuffed animal shop that quickly befriends him seeing his underlying interest in her wares and wants him to embrace his interests more. 

Kohaku is the girlboss to aimus malewife. Im sorry. In all seriousness this tackles the ideas of self expression and the breaking of gender roles. The characters are funny as hell and i like all of them a normal amount. 

EXTRA: just for fun 

This isnt a manwha its japanese but idk when else to talk about it so what are you gonna do about it its my post 

Ake no tobari 

Ive been reading this recently and i really like it. Its implanted itself so badly in my brain that when my friend and i went to see doctor strange (neither of us knew anything about btw please dont ask) this is what i was thinking about 

Tobari is a demon that love humans and wants all humans and demons to live peacefully and be friends. To do this go goes to shinonome village where his old friend sayuri lived to start his bloodless conquest of the demon world. There he meets reimei a barrier artist and the towns exorcist who keeps the demons in line and they quickly become friends. 

The fights are really good and i like the characters. The world building is easy to understand and they characters have fun dynamics with eachother. I binge read like 170 chapters which out getting bored which is a feat. overall full marks no complaints. 

[sslytheringhufflepufff]

Tranquil

Min Yoongi/SUGA x Chubby Reader

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything so I hope you guys like this

It’s very fluffy so if you want more like this from other members let me know <3

The day was slow, painfully slow to be exact. You opened a couple of weeks ago but you still weren’t as known as you wanted to be. The door’s bell rang bringing you back from your thoughts and two young men walked in, one a little bit taller than the other “Hi, welcome to Tranquil, how may I help you?” You said smiling at them politely “Hello, can I please get a large Americano” the tallest of the two said “Sure, anything else?” You asked and the tallest turned around and asked “What do you want?” “An Iced americano, large” said the other one in a broken English but easy to understand “Okay, Name for the order?” “Namjoon” “Okay it’ll be ready shortly” you said smiling at them “Ask her” the other men said while taping Namjoons shoulder “Do you have any private place here where we could work?” “We don’t have a private seating area but the shops barely gets customers, but if you guys want you can take a seat on the booth at the back, that’s where I hide from my boss” you said laughing “Great, thank you” Namjoon said turning around “You heard her, head out” the other one nodded and gave you a small smile “Here’s your order, you guys can stay as long as you want, the shop gets lonely sometimes so its nice to know that there’s people here” “Thanks” Namjoon said smiling and taking the order walking away with his friend.

A couple of days have passed and Namjoon and his friend whose name I still don’t know but came to the realization is extremely adorable have been to the shop everyday usually ordering the same thing always which I don’t mind because it’s easier than making other drinks that take more time. The bell at the door rang making you stand up smiling you greet the customer you know but not his name “Hi, you’re alone today, same as always?” You smile at him and he nods “What’s going to be the name for the order?” He stared at you for a moment before answering “Yoongi” you smile finally learning his name writing it down on the cup “Ill take it to your table” “I’m going to sit there today” he said pointing at the table by a big window in front of the counter “Okay” you nodded and smiled as he turned around and walked towards the table setting down his bags and sitting down. He took out a notebook, his computer and some earphones and started writing as you made his drink looking at the name on the cup “Yoongi, hmph cute like him” you whispered smiling, grabbing their drink taking it to his table “Enjoy” you say smiling at him, he smiles back which gives you butterflies in your stomach, he has a really cute smile, you start walking back “Hey, wait” you turn around looking back at him “Yes?” He stares at you for a while before speaking “ Your Name?” Smiling “Y/n” he smiles and nods “Pretty too” you look at him and blush lightly laughing at his comment “Thank you” you say walking back to the serving counter heading through the back door closing it behind you letting out a sigh and replaying his words on you mind smiling at them jumping a little as you try to calm yourself and grabbing something random to make it look as if you were looking for something in the back and heading back to the counter sighting as you look up staring at Yoongi, he has white hair and is very pale but he looks angelic, the sunlight is hitting him in the face lightly making his dark brown eye look lighter ‘he really looks like an angel while I look like this’ you thought to yourself as you looked down. You were chubby, which there’s nothing wrong with it, but boys like Yoongi would never go for a girl like you, heck no boy ever went for a girl like you, at your age you’ve never had a boyfriend or anything close to that it it was fine but it got lonely sometimes, you just wished for something special, someone special. You sighed going back to work cleaning the floor and making some orders here and there, the night was getting close and Yoongi was still at the table sometimes glancing up looking at you without you noticing, he stared at you while you talked to other customers, your charisma and personality shinning with them, he really thought you were beautiful with your chubby adorable cheeks that made him want to squish them and kiss them but he didn’t really have the nerve to even talk to you, hell he just asked your name after a week of convincing Namjoon to come with him everyday until today where he had to come alone because Namjoon was meeting up with one of their other friends, he invited Yoongi but he really wanted to see you again so he declined and got the courage to come the the shop, and here he is, staring at you while you prepared another order.

The next day Yoongi came in with a small smile on his face as you greet him “Ice Americano?” “Actually not today” “oh?” “I came by to ask you on a date” he said smiling wide showing his adorable gummy smile “Really?” “Yes, unless you don’t want to” he said hurriedly as his cheeks turned pinkish red “I mean i would love to but are you sure? You look like an angle while i look like-“ “A Goddess” you stared at him looking for the lie in his eyes but all you saw was honesty “Yoongi I-“ “Please” you sighed “you don’t have to do that” “Do what?“ he said looking at you confused “I really want to take you on a Date y/n, look maybe you don’t like me like that but-“ “No Yoongi, i really like you and i would love to go on a date with you but I don’t want this to be a joke” “It isn’t, i swear its not, since the first day i saw you i had to convince Joon to come with me because i never had the nerve to talk to you myself, then i just started coming alone and it felt great because you talked to me like a normal person, you didn’t mind the language barrier and even helped me learn new things, I’ve had this massive crush on you since the first day that you smiled, those cute chubby cheeks that with all honesty it has taken everything inside of me to not reach out and grab them and kiss , because y/n, I think you are the most beautiful person i have ever seen, inside and out. “ he sighed looking at you “I swear the least i want to do is hurt you” he said smiling a little making your heart flutter “You really want to squish my cheeks?” You said giggle at the comment “Yes, I really do, i also want to squish other things but that’s for another time” he said smirking making you turn tomato red “So what do you say?” “Maybe you’ll get to squeeze my cheeks tomorrow after work” you said smiling at him he let out a chuckle “It’s a date then” he said smiling walking away “Hey wait, here” you said giving him and ice americano “You didn’t ask for it but i had it already made for you, its on the house” you said chuckling “I want to marry you” he said grabbing the coffee chuckling while you just stared at him as he walked away feeling you cheeks heat up at his comment that he literally said as if it was nothing out of the ordinary right after asking you on a date “This boy is going to be the death of me.” You said while you ran your hands through your hair smiling lightly thinking about him.

[ericspinkhair]

unexpectedly becoming a sugar baby

pairing: ceo!sunwoo x fem!reader

word count: 3.4k

synopsis: reader is desperate for money so she has sex with her boss

warnings: lots of oral and fingering, use of vibrator in public , office sex, sex for money

a/n: wrote this yesterday instead of studying for my final. the exam went well tho :) also please send in requests!!!

masterlist + requests

to say you were desperate would be an understatement. today you had received an eviction notice that stated that you had exactly 30 days to either pay back all the money you owed your landlord or leave your apartment.

due to your mother's illness you had to pay for all her medical bills. your father hadn't been in the picture for a long time so you alone were responsible for your mother's health. you couldn't just let her die. but because of all these costs you hadn't been able to pay your rent and now you were on the verge of homelessness.

never in a lifetime did you imagine that you would be begging someone for help. you felt so helpless that you honestly didn't really care how you got the money.

you decided to ask your boss for a raise and were prepared to work your ass off in order to get it.

mr. kim's office was on the fourth floor of the company, one you barely had ever been to. normal employees were usually only to be found on the lower floors so taking the elevator up felt wrong.

you were determined, however, to not let your pride get in the way. the money was more important than how you felt.

you knocked on the door twice. as if to make you feel even more nervous, it seemed like mr. kim waited extra long to respond.

when you entered he was sitting behind his desk. he didn't even look up at you so you just stood there awkwardly, unsure what to do.

'why don't you just sit?' he finally asked annoyed and closed his laptop.

you quickly took a seat and tried to put up a professional front.

'what can I do for you, um…' 'y/n,' you helped him out. 'right, y/n. what can I do for you?' he asked.

'I would like to ask for a raise, sir. you see, I am usually the first employee to enter the building and also most of the time the last one to leave. I do my work reliably and deliver solid results. my coworkers are pleased with me and we also get along well. I think I contribute a lot to this company and wanted to ask whether it would be possible to raise my pay.' you really tried to not make it seem like you had simply memorized all of this and forced yourself to speak slowly but firmly while looking him in the eyes.

mr. kim didn't respond at first but opened his laptop.

'to my understanding you have been working here for a very long time already. your pay is already the highest it can get. there is no way for me to raise it because there is no room for improvement.' he sighed and waited for your reaction.

you started sweating. this wasn't going as planned. you hadn't known that you were already receiving the highest pay. you were barely able to afford food with your current money.

'please, sir. I will do anything you ask of me. I don't care how many extra hours I'd have to work. I can do it. I promise. please give me a chance,' you begged him.

he was intrigued by you. why were you so desperate for the money?

'first, why don't you tell me why you are so keen on a raise?'

was your boss even allowed to ask you such personal questions? you answered anyway.

'my mother has cancer. I am the only person paying for her medical expenses and the treatments are all very expensive. I am about to get evicted because I cannot pay my rent.'

he seemed to be deep in thought. his gaze on you was intense.

your heart skipped a beat when he placed his hand on yours.

'y/n, I'm extremely sorry that you have to deal with all of this. I wouldn't want anyone to have to experience the same thing. believe me when I tell you that I want to help you. you know what? come back tomorrow. I have an idea how I might be able to help but I need to think about it further. would that be alright for you?'

it felt like a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. you didn't care about what you had to do. you stood up, bowed deeply and thanked him over and over.

he let out a deep chuckle. you were cute.

the next day you came back again in the afternoon. this time he answered the door quicker and his attention was focused on you from the start. the energy felt much different than the day before. he seemed excited and was smiling at you. this had to mean good news, right? he shook your hand and pressed firmly while looking you deep in the eyes.

'y/n, I came up with an idea to help you. but it is less conventional and it depends on how much you are willing to do.'

'mr. kim, I will do anything,' you assured him. the smirk he flashed you threw you off guard.

'okay then. first, I'd prefer it if you called me sunwoo as we'll be seeing more of each other if you were to agree.'

this lowkey felt like crossing some boundaries but you wanted to please him.

you nodded eagerly. 'okay, sunwoo it is.'

'so my idea is that there are certain things you can do to earn money. I will pay for everything with my own savings and you will receive it in cash. we will start off easy and over time I'll add new tasks. of course, you have the freedom to choose whether you want to do them or not. that is completely up to you.'

the look of confusion on your face must have told him you didn't fully understand.

'it's hard to explain. I'd rather you figure it out by trying it. since today is friday, the task I'll give you is for monday. I would like to choose an outfit for you. I'll send it to your apartment and you have to wear exactly what is inside the box. if you were to do this I'd give you $20 cash.'

that was a weird request. why would he want to decide what you were wearing? did he not like your outfit? did you look disgusting?

'let me get this straight. you pick an outfit for me and if I decide to wear it I get money?' you ask him to see if you had understood correctly.

'exactly. that doesn't seem so bad, right?' you shook your head. it was whatever.

'that's great. you'll receive your outfit and I can't wait to see you in it on monday.' you didn't know if you were imagining it but it seemed like he was eyeing your body. h god, he definitely didn't like what you were wearing.

$20 wasn't much but still more than nothing. and apparently the other tasks would be worth more. guess you had to start somewhere. with the money you could at least afford something to eat.

you say goodbye and continued with work until it was time to leave.

you waited anxiously all weekend for the clothes. sunday you decided to go for a walk and when you opened your door you almost tripped over a package.

on monday morning you tried on the outfit sunwoo had picked out for you.

the white blouse was a bit see through and a bit too tight around the boob area but looked neat otherwise. the black skirt hugged your curves perfectly and made you look quite sexy in your opinion. he even picked out a bra, underwear, stockings and high heels for you. the note he had left clearly stated to wear exactly and only what was in the box. so you did.

you usually wore something more simple and loose but you didn't feel too uncomfortable in this look.

when you entered his office his eyes lit up.

'I'm glad you wore this. it looks very good on you.'

you were sure you blushed a bit at his words. you weren't really used to receiving compliments from men.

'I like it too,' you admit. sunwoo smiled contentedly.

'so would you like to do the same tomorrow? I'll send you another outfit,' he asked you.

this one wasn't bad at all so you agreed. he handed you $20. when you stood up and walked out the door he couldn't stop admiring the way your butt looked in the skirt. tomorrow was going to be even better.

the blouse was almost the same one. however, this time the skirt was a lot shorter. it ended at the middle of your thighs. but that wasn't even the weirdest thing. this time he had forgotten to send you panties.

you felt very unsure what to do. the note clearly stated to only wear what was in the box.

you sighed and pulled down the skirt as much as you could. this would have to do. as long as you were just sitting, everything would be fine.

you went about your day and some time in the afternoon you were called into sunwoo's office.

you were wondering whether or not to tell him about the missing underwear but decided to keep your mouth closed. panties didn't seem to be a topic to talk about with your boss.

'today, I want to offer you an additional task. you will receive your $20 dollars for sure and you can make another 30 by cleaning my office. what do you think?' he proposed to you.

that would be $50 in total. you needed all the money you could get.

'of course. just tell me what to clean and I will be happy to help.'

everything was going according to sunwoo's plan. he was excited and told you you could start by dusting the shelves.

your eagerness was cute and he watched you out of the corner of his eyes.

some of the shelves were higher up so you had to stretch to be able to reach them. when you did your skirt rolled up higher and he was able to see the just the outline of your butt cheeks. he unconsciously licked his lips.

for the rest of the week you continued these two tasks. but you noticed that the underwear kept on missing and the skirts also progressively became shorter.

this was a struggle when you were cleaning and organizing his office. you were aware of your skirt rolling up and you were hoping that sunwoo wouldn't notice.

of course he did. that had been his intention all along. when you bent down he could sometimes get a glance at your pretty pussy. he couldn't help but get hard at the sight of this and palmed his bulge through his pants.

in one week you had received $220. you would have been more happy if you hadn't gotten another bill from the hospital asking you for another $1200. the health care system was simply fucked up. whatever the next tasks were, you had to do them.

on monday you were cleaning his office again. you wanted to pick up some files but you struggled reaching them from the highest shelf. you felt your skirt roll up again.

'wait. I'll help you,' sunwoo announced and walked over.

you gasped as you felt something hard poke your thigh as he stood behind you to reach for the files. when he took a step back you saw the clear outlines of his hardened cock.

unable to hide your surprise, sunwoo laughed.

'this is all your doing.' so he did notice your skirt roll up. wait. had he given you these clothes with this in mind?

'do you want to touch it?' he asked.

you just blinked at him. what? were you perhaps still dreaming? it was possible that you were having a wet dream about your boss. sunwoo was very handsome and you had to be blind not to notice.

'if you help me get rid of it, I'll promise you $100.' he knew you were thinking hard. you couldn't keep your eyes off his bulge, clearly not sure what to think of this.

this was against all the work protocols but you would kid yourself if you said that you didn't want to. not only was he very attractive but you'd do a lot for a mere $100.

you reached for his belt. sunwoo smirked; he had won.

you pulled his pants down and were immediately greeted with his veiny cock.

'you aren't the only one not wearing any underwear, my dear y/n.'

so that had been intentional. interesting. you realized you must have been very naive to have believed that he had simply forgotten to put panties in the boxes.

you started by rubbing the tip softly with your thumb. it was pretty and pink and already leakined pre-cum.

you felt strangely good about having this kind of effect on someone. with a few pumps his dick was completely hard.

sunwoo propped his hands on the desk behind him and leaned back in bliss.

deep moans were escaping his beautifully luscious lips while you were pleasuring him with your hands.

you decided to put your left hand you use as well by massaging his balls.

'fuck! when did you learn to do this so well?' sunwoo groaned.

during high school you had had a lot of sex. it made you feel good and you enjoyed it. now your experience turned out to be lifesaving to you. well, he'd probably pay you even if you weren't as mind blowing.

'hmm, practice,' you simply state.

'if this is already so good I wonder what your mouth can do, baby girl.' being called that aroused you way more than expected. this was so exciting.

'I'll give you another $100 if you suck me off.'

before sunwoo knew it you had already wrapped your lips around his cock. you skillfully bobbed your head up and down. when you looked up at him with big eyes he swore he was about to explode.

with most of the dick in your mouth your other hand was continuing to knead his balls.

he was coming close quickly and grabbed your hair so you would stay still.

he proceeded to fuck your mouth harshly. you felt spit running down the sides of your lips and tears escaping your eyes as he buried his cock deep in your mouth. you tried to relax in order to deep-throat him properly.

he came hard and emptied his load in your mouth. to prove a point, you swallowed it and then opened up to show him.

panting hard he said: 'fuck you're just amazing!'

you looked absolutely delicious with your face full of cum. he had a good feeling you were the right person to do this with.

you licked off some of the white liquid from your lips and smirked at him.

this was definitely not what you had expected what you would be doing but you weren't one to complain.

sunwoo quickly disappeared to search for some paper towels to clean your face. his employees couldn't see you like this.

after your face was clean again he handed you $250. 'you deserve it.' 'thanks.'

he tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and leaned closer. 'maybe we can do more tomorrow.' ooh, sounds exciting.

'then I'll look forward to seeing you.' with a wink you left.

you wondered how much money you would get for some sexy time with your boss.

the next morning, you couldn't fully button up the blouse he had sent you. the top buttons had to be left open and a lot of cleavage was visible. this horndog!

this time you actually received some underwear but only for a special reason. you found a pink mini vibrator in the box as well.

so you were walking around with a vibrating stick up your pussy. you didn't want to come in front of your co-workers so you turned it off whenever you got too close and waited to calm down.

'did you have fun today?' was the first thing sunwoo said to you.

you laughed ironically. 'I had so much fun pretending I wasn't being masturbating in front of everyone…'

he made you turn around and lifted up your skirt. the outline of the vibrator was visible and he could see your panties shaking.

with one quick move he pulled your underwear down and took the vibrator to turn it off. it came out with a wet plop and juices were running down your thighs.

sunwoo surprised you by sucking on the wet vibrator.

'sit on the desk,' he commanded you.

you did as you were told and sunwoo spread your legs wide apart.

he inserted his index and middle finger which slipped in with ease. your pussy made wet noises as he pushed them in and out of you.

finally having privacy you allowed yourself to make sounds. he made intense eye contact while fingering you, loving the way your face was scrunched up in pleasure.

you wrapped your arms around his neck and started kissing him. his tongue easily won the fight over dominance and started exploring your mouth.

you two were basically just sucking each others faces off until he broke off the kiss and lowered his body. he attached his mouth to your clit and started sucking. you pulled at his hair in pleasure and had a hard time controlling your breathing. damn, he was skilled at this as well.

when he felt you clenching around his fingers he withdrew them and you let out a disappointed noise of protest.

'don't worry. you'll have more soon.', he laughed at you. he quickly took off his pants and pulled you off the desk. he turned you around so your ass was facing him.

he started rubbing his thick cock between your ass cheeks and coated it in your juices. every time he got into contact with your tense pussy a shudder overcame your body.

he lifted your leg and placed your foot on the table. the angle from when he thrusted into you from behind was just perfect.

sunwoo attached his lips onto your neck and started leaving hickeys there. at the same time he was kneading your breast through your shirt.

he had barely ever felt such a perfect pussy around his cock. the way you took him in seemed too good to be true.

while his dick was still inside you, he lifted you up and placed you on all fours on the floor.

he grabbed your hips so tightly that he left red marks on them. at this point, he was just uncontrollably slamming into you while you were losing your mind. you were screaming his name loudly, glad that you knew no one could hear you.

as you could feel both of you getting close, he pulled your upper body up to his chest and wrapped one hand around your neck.

the pressure he applied was just enough for you to see stars but not enough for it to be unpleasant.

the lack of oxygen stimulated your senses even more and while repeatedly screaming out sunwoo's name you finally came hard on his dick.

with a few more thrusts, sunwoo's hips started stuttering as well and he shot his load into you. while riding out your highs he was just fucking his cum right back into you.

when he finally pulled out, a pool of his semen started dripping out of you. you suddenly felt so empty. his thick cock had filled you up so good that you were already missing it.

while you were still catching your breath on the floor, sunwoo had gone to get paper towels.

when he came back, however, he seemed hectic.

'I'm so sorry. there has been an emergency and I need to leave right now. I'll leave these here as well as the money.' he placed everything on the desk and walked back to the door.

he turned around one last time. 'I hope we can do this again.' he smiled at you.

you later saw that he had left you $750.

kind of becoming a sugar baby had never been your plan but you didn't mind it. if only the circumstances had been better.

[stainedglassthreads]

A list of my thoughts on Omnipresence Over Mortals, spoilers obviously-- 

-On the one hand, delighted because we got both confirmation of Signora Crimson Witch AND her true name, her kickass boss music(which maybe shared a leitmotif with Childe’s did I hear????), confirmation of a Sheet Heat-esque mechanic, AND from her expressions, implication that maybe she feels a bit of remorse over people losing their Visions, despite remaining adamant they were a ‘necessary sacrifice’, even giving us a chance to back down from the battle and leave. (Or perhaps it’s just how much I love female villains who are morally grey and rely on Violence And Arson over seduction coloring my perceptions. Either way, Playable Signora When!)

-On the other hand nooooooooo Signora died I wanted her to reunite with Bloodstained Knight. And also roll her. The second I heard it was a duel to the death I was very sad-- and then got distracted by Crimson Witch confirmation and kickass battle music. 

-On the anomalous third hand, goddamn she still insists on going down fucking fighting. Like, kinda futilely since the Fatui already had the Gnosis by then, but good job Signora. I love you you have butterfly motifs and they represent reincarnation, please come back. 

-On the increasingly alarming fourth hand, there seems to have been at least three days between Yae doing hostage exchange with Scaramouche, and Signora doing diplomacy with Raiden. Was there not enough time for Scaramouche to report he had gotten the Gnosis and for the Fatui to be withdrawn, or did he just not bother to tell Signora because he didn’t like her? He did refer to her and Childe as his ‘least reliable colleagues’ (’Least reliable, despite Signora being the one to gather two Gnoses, and being seemingly more  active than him in pursuing a third. Is it just that they’re impulsive and emotional, or does he really view them as weak or foolish compared to the other nine Harbingers?) 

-On that note, I have a feeling that that bone marrow... it’s probably gonna come back, as will how he seemed to be using the Traveller’s anger to fuel... something. At first I thought he was just kinda being an arrogant little shit, but he was purposefully baiting us. I’d say clever, but observing the Traveller’s dialogue options... they’re kinda ALWAYS two steps away from snapping the nearest Fatui’s neck, honestly. So it really isn’t that hard. 

-Also, that Ei cut ties entirely with Celestia by giving up her Gnosis years ago... it wasn’t the lore I was hoping for, nor was the reason she was gathering Visions ultimately the one I was anticipating. I was kinda hoping that she’d realized Celestia could spy on people through their Visions, and was confiscating them so they couldn’t see shit about Inazuma. But her cutting ties with Celestia, and confirming that Khaenri’ah is a major motivation in halting Inazuma’s progress and creating eternity... is still interesting. That’s four for four Archons who want nothing to do with Celestia so far. (Since Dendro was promoted exactly 500 years ago, VERY curious what their stance on Celestia will be, I still strongly believe Sumeru will be a major turning point somehow.) 

-I love boss fights where you just have All The Buffs. I also love that the end of the fight was just... Yae refusing to let her friend keep sulking all alone. I would have preferred an Ei who was a little more morally dubious, but I still like the version we got. Loneliness and loss fits with the themes of prior archons and does a lot to humanize her-- as does Yae comparing her to a child throwing a fit and locking herself in her room. 

-Also... Baal and Beelzebul. The former Archon ‘Baal’ really being Ei’s twin sister. Damn. I didn’t expect it, but I should have. There wasn’t much direct foreshadowing for it, but there’s been such a strong theme of siblings this entire game, and the Archons have such a strong theme of grief and death. It only makes sense the themes would collide in such a way for ONE of the Archons. And likewise, them both being ‘Baal’ explains why there’s never much distinction made in the books and history between the present Raiden Shogun and the past Raiden Shogun. Because from the people’s perspectives, they were probably extremely identical and always assumed the same name and role. That said... it leaves me wondering if it’s foreshadowing Abyss Twin or the Traveller dying, as Ei and Makoto have been the only other set of twins we’ve met so far. 

-We should ask Ei about our twin. Watch as she realizes the kind of loss Traveller is going to, and attempts to make amends for trying to kill us by ripping a hole straight to the bottom of the Abyss. 

-I like Ei. :) I am happy she is still alive. Even if Signora was not. 

-You know what’d be even better tho? If her Gnosis were still in her body and we did keep the Fatui from getting it and we befriended her and then in Snezhnaya Celestia calls the Archons to assault the nation and we see Ei in her puppet body but now another is pulling the strings and we have to fucking fight her again but this time she is Our Friend and doesn’t wanna do this and Tsaritsa uses her as an example of why she was gathering Gnoses while Ei physically strains against Celestia’s bonds and-- 

-Also that walk, after killing Signora while slowly leaving the Tenshukaku.... that was so fucking creepy, I was wondering if the Tatarigami(?) was still affecting the Traveller and gonna make them ill. It did an excellent job conveying their mental state. And that cutscene with the resistance and Kazuha! A bit sad he didn’t really get any lines, he said in the prologue he’d ‘seek answers from the Shogun too one day’, I kinda wanted him to at least ask after his friend. 

-So I guess Teppei’s just gonna die of old age huh. The resistance stuff at the very beginning felt a little rushed, I did see that Teppei was advancing through the ranks Weirdly Quickly, but it could’ve been cool if he tried saving the Traveller from some danger and Traveller realized ‘Hey what the fuck? What’s my friend doing with a delusion? How’d you get that, Teppei? Put that down, we need an infirmary and we need to tell Kokomi’ 

-On that note-- if using a Delusion aged the resistance at an excelerated rate... why don’t Childe and Diluc look all that old...? Does having a Vision protect them somehow? If the manga is still canon, did using a Delusion age Crepus Rangvindr into dust? 

-Signora please come back you were at Sumeru Academia you can tell me all about Sumeru while we wait for it to be released, let’s chat Old Mondstadt and Cataclysm history, Signora-- please Signora, please elaborate on your voicelines and maybe we can get you a good therapist-- 

-Also who is Lesser Lord Kusanali? I thought Dendro Archon was a he, but Lesser Lord Kusanali seems to be a she? Was the God of the Woods the he? Is someone other than Kusanali the Dendro Archon? But also as a fan of Marielda, oooooooooh FUCK YEAH KNOWLEDGE IS HOARDED KNOWLEDGE IS A RESOURCE LET’S BE KNOWLEDGE SMUGGLERS LET’S GO

-I wonder if Vision distribution is also restricted in Sumeru-- since Lisa seems to have uncovered some Forbidden Knowledge about Visions, and Knowledge is a resource, perhaps it’s also heavily restricted who can get a Vision-- and if Dendro wielders are pursuing knowledge in some way, they’re even smaller in number to prevent them from finding out Too Many Secrets...? 

-Celestia lore in Sumeru! Please Celestia Lore in Sumeru! 

-Also, Lisa character quest act 2 as prologue to Sumeru please? 

I may have forgotten some things I found interesting, and I have not yet played Ei’s Character Quest. 

[catharsistine]

To Write A Good Villain

TW: loss of control, hallucinogenics, dr*gs, sc*rs, venom, bl*od, death, defeat, s*x, god, volcanoes, pr*dtors, m*rder, j*alousy, smoking, ab*se, cheating, sl*very, oppression, servitude, vampires, destruction.

Technically, I'm here on Tumblr as a writer. So. It's time I contributed my itty bitty bit.

Many things make a good story. Some claim it is world-building, some think it the cast of protagonists, some the vivid descriptions. All of those elements, however, will seem lacklustre, if your story does not have a good villain. What use is an MC with glorious superpowers or magic, if there is nothing to oppose them? Can there be any victory without a great evil?

In real life? Perhaps. In any fictional world? No. The readers tune in for awesome conflict, so we writers must provide, and enjoy ourselves while doing so.

So what does make a great villain?

Before we explore that, let us review the types of villains. Most important to remember is that a villain need not be human. In literature, there can be many types of discord:

- Person Vs Self: Often used as a compelling subplot, this kind of conflict is valid when a person needs to do something that is opposed to their inner self, something they find morally, emotionally or intellectually repulsive. Eg; A scholar forced to indulge in activities that are unscientific, like smoking when they know it is bad for their health. A pacifist who is forced into a war situation and must commit murder to save their own or their family's lives. A person seeking enlightenment struggles with jealousy when their guru finds a new favourite. (IMPORTANT: Feeling conflicted due to one's morals is acceptable. Hating oneself due to a mental disorder is not. Please do not use mental illness as a plot point.)

- Person Vs Person: Often used as a primary plot point in standalone stories and movies, this kind of conflict is valid when a person bears a personal grudge or hatred toward another. Eg; A wrestler hating someone who defeated them in the ring through sabotage. A child-hating the murderer that orphaned them and their sibling. A person hating their lover who manipulated, gas-lit or cheated on them. (IMPORTANT: Ensure that abuse and abusers are not romanticized, that the healing journey of the character does not lead to them forgiving their abuser. Forgiveness is not a prerequisite for closure. Please do not encourage abuser-abused relationships.)

- Person Vs Society: Often used as a primary plot point in dystopian stories and movies, this kind of conflict is valid when a person aims to fight against a law or a government that systematically oppresses them. Eg; A womon fighting against the law which considers them as lower-class citizens. A PoC fighting against slave laws. A member of the working class rebelling against the bourgeoisie. (IMPORTANT: If you are not a minority, do not presume you are qualified to tell their story. Our stories belong to us alone, and taking away from us the privilege of sharing our trauma when we feel comfortable enough to do so is the worst kind of representation. Please remember if you occupy a position of power, you have no right to speak on our behalf. Already we are often silenced, do not participate in that further if you claim to be an ally.)

- Person Vs Machine: Often used as a primary plot point in science fiction stories and movies, this kind of conflict is valid when any man-made object gains enough intelligence to be considered sentient and becomes a threat to humanity. Eg; A machine that acts as a maid desiring to be free of the bonds of its servitude. An AI which does not have empathy and value for human life. A robot that attempts to destroy mankind. (IMPORTANT: These conflicts are often intricate, and can be spun anyway. Perhaps a human tries to teach a robot to love, and the result is embarrassing in a comedic way. But do not try to equate people on the asexual and aromantic spectrums, people with mental illness or people with severe trauma to these AI. They are extremely discriminated against. Please, do not contribute to the stigma.)

- Person Vs Nature: Often used as a compelling subplot, this kind of conflict is valid when a person is pitted against fauna and flora in a vulnerable state. Eg; A captive who has escaped their bonds only to come upon a harsh landscape. A person with severe allergies visits a place that is opposed to their disposition. A person with a grudge against a famous wild animal who bit off their leg. (IMPORTANT: In many such stories, a trend is that a character comes across a hostile tribal group. These tribes are portrayed only the negative attributes of certain PoC cultures. Doing so is blatantly racist and highly offensive. Please refrain from representing us in such appalling ways.)

- Person Vs Fate/Supernatural: Often used as a primary plot point in fantasy and YA stories and movies, this kind of conflict is valid when a person is threatened or working against a force that is outside nature. Eg; A person coming across a magical artefact belonging to a god, and the devil's henchmen are after it, but it has bonded to them. A lower-level employee working in a tampon factory accidentally discovering their boss is a deadly vampire. A person falling in love, only to discover their partner is heir to a clan of selkies, and their younger sibling plans on overthrowing them. (IMPORTANT: Oftentimes, the villains are given physical and cultural attributes exclusive to PoC and their culture, like the antagonist having dreadlocks or enjoying food that lies outside white cuisine. Please realise that is racist.)

How to create a proper villain:

1. Motive.

Arguably the most important factor in a villain is motive. Their end goal must be reasonable(depends on their moral compass), achievable(depends on their means), and must cause moral conflict in the protagonist.

Eg; Due to childhood trauma, a villain feels weak and unsafe in their own skin. Adopting a terrifying persona, they seek to control everyone around them, and by extension, the world, through a potent hallucinogen. Considered worthless until they design a new identity, the villain is only considered a threat when they overthrow a monarchy/gain obscene amounts of money/create a giant machine. The MC knows that the villain is wrong in their actions, but understands that their henchmen are drugged, and must choose a different course of action than brute force to defeat them.

2. Power/Skill

Expanding on the earlier point of a goal being achievable, a villain must have the capabilities to obtain the prize they desire. If they perform actions outside their means, the entire premise becomes boring and unrealistic. Unless the villain is playing pretend for a future plot twist, humble the antagonist before they get out of hand.

Eg; A machine cannot destroy the world if they do not have an intricate base code if they are not linked to machines around the world. An animal cannot be famous unless its existence is questionable unless it is more mythical than real unless it possesses some quality (a missing tooth, a scar across their eye) that the others of its breed do not have. Kindness cannot be a source of a moral dilemma if it is not shown in many actions of the protagonist.

3. Appearance.

Contrary to popular belief, the way a villain looks contributes greatly to their story. If the appearance of an antagonist does not match their other attributes, the villain may fall flat and feel one-dimensional.

Eg; If a person comes from humbler beginnings, them wearing designer clothes is not feasible. A wealthier person should at least maintain the appearance of being well-groomed, but a few things out of place, such as a tie clip, messy eyeliner, or stubble are acceptable, perhaps due to lack of respect for themselves, or mania from unfulfilled desires. If a plant is secretly venomous, let insects keep away from it. If a werewolf is known to violently transition, let them have a feral look in their eye, larger canines and stronger jawbones.

4. Presence

Outside of appearance, the overall vibe of the villain is of the utmost importance. Their aesthetic instils fear, inspires awe, which is one of the primary things that cause audiences to secretly root for them. Their smooth delivery of scathing, savage lines makes us fall in love with them. Having a stellar, scary presence amplifies whatever the villain does tenfold.

Eg; If a villain wears a daring dress, different from the style of their era, it will make them seem much more impressive. Fresh after a murder, if they have blood splattered on their face, it will make the ghastliness of their actions more resounding. If they're haunting little children, having grotesque features instead of sharp ones will terrify the kids more, and the readers.

5. Backstory

Why did the villain become a villain in the first place? This is perhaps the most important question when it comes to antagonists. Not only do backstories help us understand the villain's motives and reasons better, but readers may also root for them if they glimpse a part of them reflected in the villain, making the tale more painful to read.

Eg; If a bully has been abused at home, it explains their actions. If a villain was in a situation where their body was not theirs, their actions may be born out of a desire for control.

Things to avoid:

1. Do not make them a caricature. Avoid toxic and dull stereotypes such as "catty ex-girlfriend", "sex-crazed womon", "evil old pr*dator" etc. Not only are these caricatures cartoonish and overused, but they also make a villain hollow and lifeless. Villains are humans too, give them quirks, bad habits and things they enjoy, beliefs of their own. (Eg; They enjoy watching cat videos, smoke or bite their nails, enjoy mixing drinks for fun, and think God is a hoax.)

2. Avoid coding them as PoC or LGBTQ+. If you have a diverse cast of various races, ethnicities, sexualities and genders, then it is completely alright to write another such character as the villain. However, if your only minority character is the villain, that is highly problematic.

3. A backstory does not equate to sympathy. If the villain's actions are extremely reprehensible, including and not limited to; r*pe, g*nocide, ab*se or s*rial murder, please do not try to redeem them. Understanding someone's motives is wildly different from making the audiences sympathize with them. Do not romanticize their flaws.

4. Lastly, humble them. A villain will always entertain the audiences if they suffer a bit too. Instead of constant angst and pain, add lighter moments, moments where they stumble, trip, are tired or bored. This would make their eventual death/defeat burn even more, and the audience will definitely mourn the loss of a wonderful antagonist.

Like a volcano, a true villain leaves ashes in their wake, but their fire forces the protagonists to solidify into stone. Let their actions echo into the age.

[meowloudly15]

The thing about Undertale that intrigues me the most is that every character is both likeable and dislikeable. None of the characters are entirely bad, but none of them are entirely good, either.

I can hear you shouting, "But Toriel! What about Toriel? Goat Mom did nothing wrong!" Well... Toriel is, imho, the most unambiguously good character in all of Undertale, with the possible exception of the Human Child. She's unceasingly kind and generous, it's almost impossible for her to kill you in her boss fight, and she desires nothing more than your safety. Going off that last point, though, I find Toriel is a lot like Marlin from Finding Nemo. She's overprotective to a comical extreme. Of course, there's a good reason for this behavior. When I first played the game, though, I found her mollycoddling excessive, to the point where I was almost grateful to leave her behind and escape through the basement! Not that I don't love her, because I do, she's so sweet and funny, and I felt horrible when I accidentally killed her; but Toriel has flaws, and she's not just a one-note maternal figure. And that makes her no less loveable. (Side note: Toby Fox originally planned to have you kill Toriel at the end of the Ruins. He changed his mind and created the SPARE system instead. But I wonder if Toriel was intentionally made smothering to make it easier to off her?)

I'm not gonna discuss Flowey because we all know why he sucks, and I can't say anything that hasn't already been said about his good side.

Papyrus, Papyrus, Papyrus... I love this stupid skeleton himbim. (Why is he a himbim, do you ask? Well, he fits the himbo criteria, but literal skeleton-bodied individuals cannot be considered traditionally handsome.) If he wasn't "pure of heart, dumb of ***", he would be utterly obnoxious. Case in point: his egoism. Papyrus thinks he's the greatest. However, what makes him so lovable is that he thinks everyone else is also the greatest (the "pure of heart" aspect), and that he's really not that great (the "dumb of ***" aspect). Papyrus can be grating and loud and all that, and yet everybody loves him. I have yet to hear tell of anyone who dislikes Papyrus. (Is it because he's probably neurodivergent?) It's interesting how we as a fandom don't really discuss the downsides of Toriel and Papyrus. (Again, not that I don't love them! I do!)

Ah, sans. Finally some good comic relief character. He's a very nicely three-dimensional character. I'm no expert on him, but I will say that his depression doesn't completely excuse him from inaction. There's enough talk about sans to fill a novel or two so I'd suggest consulting another source for more info.

Undyne. Probably the first character (aside from Flowey) whom you truly view as a bad guy. And she has her bad side for sure. She's one of only two Normal Route bosses who will not hesitate to kill you. (Asgore never kills you unless your health is at 1 point.) I understand why she's justifying killing you, a small, possibly harmless child, because she thinks it's the only way to free her people and doesn't have any reason to believe otherwise. But, still. I will say that she's the most human of all the monsters (again, besides Flowey) in that she exhibits the most traits of one: DETERMINATION and cruelty.

Okay full disclaimer I believe that Alphys did nothing wrong and I love her and would die for her BUT. But. My friend has argued for why she kind of sucks, and (though it pains me) I don't disagree. Alphys is basically anxiety given bodily form, and she embodies all the negative parts of anxiety, too. Like the Avoidance Spiral. She screws up, she's afraid of what'll happen if people find out, she hides it, people start getting concerned, she's even more afraid, she avoids it, the problem gets worse, she continues to push it away until the problem has grown too big for her to handle but she refuses to let anyone else help her because having other people know she failed is the last thing she wants. The Avoidance Spiral sucks. And with a problem this major, too; no wonder she contemplates and possibly commits suicide. (Interesting side note: the two Normal route bosses who show you the least mercy are the two who, when killed, lead to Alphys's death.) Also, she manipulates the Human Child without a second thought and never apologizes for it. That's, uh, not great. She needs therapy badly. (Another side note: Alphys is the best-handled instance of mentally ill quasi-villainy in video games I can think of. The only others I can think of are Nathan Prescott and Josh Washington so the bar is not high but I digress. Fun Fact: all those games were released in 2015!)

Mettaton has the most unambiguously rotten personality of the bunch (yet again, aside from Flowey). He's breathtakingly self-absorbed, neglected his own cousin, and is downright abusive to his employees. What redeeming traits does he have? Well, uh... he's a loyal friend to Alphys? Ok yeah that's all I can think of. He's extremely entertaining, though, which is probably why more people don't hate him.

Yes, I know, Asgore is a war criminal, but he's also very soft. And I think that sums him up pretty thoroughly. (Asgore: I have done many things wrong in my life, often. Me: I know this, and I love you.)

TL;DR none of the Undertale characters are perfect, and it's not entirely hard to find a reason to want one or the other of them dead. Does that go against the message of the game? Very much so. Does it make the characters any less lovable? Not at all. Should we give more thought to them all being so lovable despite their flaws? Ab-so-lutely.

[rainbowplussome]

on dazai’s backstory

okay so!! one of the most prominent mysteries of bungou stray dogs is dazai's backstory prior to his and mori's assassination of the previous boss. i've seen tons of speculation on it, and i thought i'd chip in with my personal thoughts and deductions! please note that for this analysis i'll be using wattpad user darkestjay8686's interpretation of the fifteen light novel, as i do not speak japanese nor have access to the original fifteen light novel. any alterations done to this translation are for ease of understanding (for example, changing "the hand of chuuya" to "chuuya's hand"). any and all of these changes are purely the result of personal preference and are not at all meant to either change the meaning of the passage or insult darkestjay8686. seeing as, once again, i do not speak japanese, i am operating under the assumption that this translation conveys the original intent as well as can be expected. for verification of certain quotes, i cross-checked @looking-for-stray-dog's excerpts of the novel.

with all of those disclaimers out of the way, let's get down to it!

1. on mori and dazai

there has been a lot of discussion on mori and dazai's relationship, and most of what needs to be said has been said. maybe i’ll discuss some things that i feel are often overlooked in a separate post! still, put briefly in a disorganized list, because formatting on tumblr is difficult:

when dazai and mori met, dazai "was nothing more than an attempted suicide patient."

dazai was already suicidal when he came under mori's care.

whatever "broke" dazai happened before mori (assuming that dazai's detached behavior comes from a place of trauma in addition to possible mental/personality disorders).

dazai served as witness shortly after to mori's assassination of the former boss.

mori did not know dazai intimately before PB's demise.

mori remarks that he underestimated dazai's darkness and wisdom, implying that he hadn't known dazai well enough previously in order to gauge these things.

we also know that dazai "was not a subordinate of Mori, nor of the mafia…[nor was] he…an illegitimate child, an orphan mori had picked up, or a medical assistant." their meeting is described as a "fateful encounter."

another interesting thing is that it takes a year for dazai to drop the childish mask we see him keep up around mori, seeing as this scene is where mori realizes that he's made a "miscalculation."

2. on the previous boss and dazai

dazai likely knew the previous boss on a personal level.

A distorted, crimson haze emerged from the other side of the subspace, and a figure appeared.

"There... there is a nostalgic face. Hey, brat... are you in good health? Have you been bullied by the doctor?"

It was the old boss floating in the air, wearing a traditional, black robe.

"Hey, there." Dazai smiled stiffly. "It's been a while. How's your back pain? Your complexion is looking nice. Wasn't it a good thing you died? Boss—no, previous boss."

this implies that the previous boss (thus abbreviated as PB) knows dazai, despite being clearly insane and severely ill in the one moment where we know dazai was present.

see: "nostalgic face"—PB views dazai as someone he's known long enough to view as nostalgic.

see: "brat"—PB views dazai with disdain. as he was clearly not in his right mind during the one time he and dazai are undeniably in a room together, i doubt he even realized dazai was there, and definitely not well enough to actually remember his face.

see: "are you in good health?"—we know for a fact that dazai attempted suicide at age fourteen (though we do not know if this was his first attempt). may indicate that PB is aware of dazai's attempt. >>could also just be a generic greeting that i'm reading into. who knows?

see: "have you been bullied by the doctor?"—the term "the doctor" indicates a sense of familiarity; PB does not need to specify further. this means that PB knows that dazai is in mori's care, or at least in regular contact with him. >>please note that it is unclear how much knowledge PB has of the outside world in death. >>furthermore: while this is more of an interpretational piece of evidence, the phrasing here comes across as mocking. PB is bitter that dazai was complicit in his assassination. one would not be bitter in such a way unless they felt somehow betrayed.

see: "dazai smiled stiffly."—possibly invalid due to translational errors and liberty, but dazai is capable of keeping his cool even in the most dire of circumstances. to intentionally mention that his smile is stiff could indicate one of two things: one, that dazai is pretending to be uncomfortable on purpose, or two, that dazai is honestly uncomfortable and stressed and is attempting to disguise this. as the first does not make sense in this particular situation, the latter must be true. >>please note that dazai was already out of his comfort zone in this scene, as the previous events had clearly taken him by surprise. make of that what you will.

see: "how's your back pain? your complexion is looking nice."—all imply that dazai knew both a) the exact issues of PB's illness, and b) how PB looked before said illness severely affected him, or at least knew him in illness long enough to draw an accurate comparison. >>could also just be generic mocking, as dazai at least knew that PB was in poor health. not necessarily indicative of further knowledge.

see: "wasn't it a good thing that you died?"—this can be taken a multitude of ways, but the way i initially interpreted it is that dazai has a personal opinion on the way PB was running the port mafia. in this interpretation, "good thing" is being applied for the people. however, dazai is explicitly amoral. so what could this mean? dazai may be saying that it is a "good thing" in a purely business sense. maybe he was projecting his own suicidal tendencies onto PB. maybe he was saying that it's what PB would have wanted in his right mind. no particular conclusions to draw here, but i thought it was worth analyzing.

see: "boss—no, previous boss."—dazai instinctually refers to PB as "boss." if he had not frequently referred to him this way in the pass, he would not have made the freudian slip. the correction, too, gives his words a certain level of mocking. you were the boss, but you're not anymore. dazai must have known PB or known of PB long enough to both form an opinion on him and to view him as "the boss."

conclusion: it makes the most sense that dazai knew the boss on a personal level.

thus begs the question: if dazai referred to PB as "boss," why was he not already a part of the mafia? multiple theories:

dazai was a part of the mafia, but mori simply didn't know and dazai did not correct him. extremely unlikely, as dazai says that being in the mafia might be worth a try, which means he hadn't tried it previously, as well as hirotsu claiming that dazai is "unrelated to the mafia."

dazai performed some other duty for PB separate from mafia duties.

dazai was PB's son/ward, and "boss" was what PB insisted he be called.

however: dazai was asked to join the sheep when he was young ("a long time ago" when he was fifteen). as far as we know (or can ever expect to know), the sheep exclusively recruit "down-on-their-luck" youth or homeless kids. this means that dazai must have been defined as one of the two at some point. with our two remaining conclusions (the first having been crossed off an account of unlikelihood), we can justify this in two ways:

if dazai performed some other duty separate from the mafia under PB, it gives him ample time to have a life outside the mafia. we do not know enough to speculate on what that life may have been, just that he was likely homeless at some point when he was very young.

if dazai was PB's son/ward, he must have either run away at some point or simply been out and about enough for the sheep to mistake him as homeless or "down on his luck."

either conclusion is equally likely, and thus equally unlikely!

hence, undeniable conclusions (tl;dr):

knew PB prior to his death.

did not know mori very well, if at all.

traumatized before he and mori assassinated PB (assuming his behavior and outlook is a result of trauma in combination with a personality/mental disorder).

at some point was frequently on the streets.

even if you disagree with these conclusions, please be kind! feel free to add anything if you think there's something i overlooked/misinterpreted.

[emy-loves-you]

Sanders Sides AU-gust Day 18: Bodyguard

When Logan signed up to be the bodyguard of a wealthy (and questionable) man’s son, he thought it would be an easy job. Just sit in the background and make sure the kid doesn’t get killed. He didn’t expect the kid to be his age. Or flirty. Or dating his ex. Logan POV, eventual Analogince with parental Moxiety

Day 17 | Masterlist | Day 19

Logan sighed as he twirled the ballpoint pen between his fingers. He was sitting in the middle of a cafe, filling out a crossword puzzle. He took a sip of his chamomile tea and bit back a grimace. It was exceedingly bitter; the coffee shop he normally went to served much better drinks. But he wasn’t here because of the drinks. He briefly looked up from his crossword to quietly observe the real reason he was here. On the other side of the cafe, scrolling through his phone while he sipped on an iced coffee, sat Virgil Tempest Sanders, son of Patton Sanders and heir of Sanders Financing.

Logan thought back to everything leading up to this moment. Before this, Logan was commonly hired to take out corrupt politicians and gang leaders. So when he got a call from Patton Sanders to be a bodyguard, he was shocked to say the least. Patton Sanders was seen as the epitome of goodwill; he frequently donated to charity, has never spoken ill will towards anyone, and always had a smile on his face. So it was extremely odd for him to contact an assassin who was frequently hired by much more sinister individuals. But apparently Logan’s skills impressed Mr. Sanders enough to provide Logan a more permanent (and well-paying) job.

The job was simple: shadow his son any time he was out of the house. Virgil was kept on an extremely short leash after he was ‘kidnapped’ 5 years ago. He was only gone for a few months, but it was enough to essentially put him on house arrest. Virgil was only allowed to be out of the house between 10 AM and 5 PM. Mr. Sanders paid Logan to watch Virgil during these hours. When Logan had first learned about the job, he’d nearly scoffed in disbelief. He didn’t want to be babysitting a child! But after hearing about what wages he’d earn, Logan quickly changed his tune.

It was also shocking to learn that Logan actually wasn’t babysitting a child. Virgil was 23 years old; shockingly close to Logan’s own age. The age surprised him for several reasons. First of all, why was Virgil kept on such a short leash at 23 years old? Sure, he was kidnapped for a few months (which Logan doubted was an actual kidnapping. It was more likely that Virgil ran away) but that still didn’t warrant such restrictions for an adult. Second of all, Virgil still looked like a teenager. He had an extremely youthful face, with large brown eyes hidden beneath an oversized purple hoodie. He was actually quite attractive, almost as attractive as-

Logan figuratively shook the thought away, attempting to focus on the crossword puzzle. There were a few words that he was stuck on, but he was most likely going to stay here for a while. One of the perks to this job was that Virgil only tended to go to four places: this cafe, the local library, a small music store on the other side of town, and the local park. Still, Logan had been following this pattern with Virgil for the past two months. A small part of Logan, the part that smiled slightly when he managed to shoot someone directly between the eyes, wished that something would happen to spice things up-

“Amir.”

Logan looked up and was surprised to see Virgil leaning over his shoulder, staring at the crossword puzzle. “What?”

Virgil smirked. “‘First name that can mean ‘prince.’’” He took the ballpoint pen from Logan’s hand, which he had been lightly nibbling on. Logan bit back a gasp as Virgil deliberately ran the pen against Logan’s bottom lip before using it to write ‘AMIR’ on the crossword.

Logan examined the paper and was surprised to see that it was the correct answer. He blushed as he turned back to Virgil, who had a smug look in his eyes. “Th-Thank you, Mr…?”

Virgil smiled, settling down in the seat across from Logan. “Call me Tempest. And you are?”

Logan smiled at the use of Virgil’s last name. He felt like he should at least reciprocate. “Adstrum.”

Virgil smirked. “Glory. Immortality.” He gives Logan a once-over before practically purring. “Divinity.”

Logan blushed at the implications. “I’m sure my parents meant ‘star’ when they named me.”

Virgil laughed before his expression darkened. “So, how much is he paying you?”

Logan put on a faux-innocent expression, but on the inside it felt like his blood had turned to ice. Mr. Sanders specifically said that Virgil couldn’t know about Logan unless absolutely necessary. Logan thought he’d been subtle and inconspicuous. “Who is paying me, exactly?”

Virgil sighed. “My father. Look, you almost fooled me at first. If I wasn’t always watching my back, you would’ve fooled me. But nobody ever visits this cafe because their coffee’s shit.” He gestured to Logan’s tea. “And I’m guessing the tea is too judging by how much you face screws up when you drink it. You could’ve been just a regular customer, but I’ve seen you at the library and the park, and I don’t doubt that you were at the record store too. And the people around here get really gossipy, so I knew that you were only here on the days that I showed up.” He leaned back in his chair, a smirk on his face. “So I’ll ask again: how much is he paying you?”

Logan looked him in the eye before sighing. “Too much to say no.” He carefully folded up his crossword puzzle. “Though I’m quite uncertain as to why this job exists in the first place. You obviously have no intention on running away again-”

“Running away?” Logan looked up to see Virgil confused and slightly angry. But Logan had dealt with enough people to see the acting for what it really was. “I was kidnapped and held against my will!”

Logan scoffed. “Kidnapped?” He straightened his tie as he spoke. “You disappeared in the middle of the night from a building whose security rivals the White House. There was no sign of struggle, nor was there a ransom note. Either your kidnapper was an extremely intelligent individual who wanted more than just money from Mr. Sanders, or you left on your own free will. And judging by my observations and personal experience, I’m inclined to believe the latter.”

Virgil stared for another moment before laughing. “Well, would you look at that! You’ve got a brain to match your bark. And I assume you bite, too. Because there’s no way you’re some random civilian. So, what’s your real job?”

Logan coughed. “I must admit, I’m not used to having my job description be, ‘keep client alive. ’”

Virgil blinked, and Logan suddenly felt like he’d said something wrong. “You stressed the word alive. ” Now it was Logan’s turn to blink. “You wouldn’t need to stress it unless there was something specific about keeping them alive.” His eyes suddenly lit up. “Are you an assassin?!”

Logan blushed. “Essentially. But now I am your bodyguard.”

Virgil vibrated in his seat. “How many people have you killed? Do you usually kill good people or bad people? Or does it only depend on the money? I wouldn’t blame you for that. The economy sucks.”

Logan chuckled. “I mainly target corrupt politicians and gang leaders. I turn down any jobs that involve families or children.”

Virgil mouthed the words ‘corrupt politicians and gang leaders’ before gasping. “Do you know Logan Croft?”

Logan blinked. “How do you know that name?”

Virgil gasped again, stars in his eyes. “Are you Logan Croft?” Logan decided to nod his head. Virgil already knew about his job, and his father was paying Logan. It wouldn’t hurt to give out his name, just this once. “Oh my gosh, you’re the guy who killed Jacob Smith four years ago! How did you do it? They say he was impenetrable behind his gang and-” Suddenly his phone ringed. “One moment, please.” He pressed the phone up to his ear, and Logan could hear his boss’ muffled voice on the other end, though he couldn’t understand what he was saying. “Hey, Dad. Yeah, I’m at a cafe. Yeah, I can come home for lunch. See you then. Bye.” He turned back to Logan with a grimace. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go. Maybe we can have a full conversation next time?”

Logan nodded. “I ask that you don’t tell Mr. Sanders about our conversation, or that you know about having a bodyguard. I’m afraid he might fire me if you do.” Or expose me to the world.

Virgil nodded. “Of course!” He stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Well, you know where I am… see ya, bye!” And with that, Virgil walked out of the cafe. Logan waited a few minutes before following. It was just to make sure that Virgil got home safe. It was part of his job, after all. It wasn’t because he found Virgil interesting and funny and cute-

Logan frowned, shaking away the thought. He would not get attached to Virgil. It would only serve as a cruel reminder of Roman. Roman and Logan had met in middle school and dated for several years. But Roman had fallen in love with another man a few years ago. And while Logan is polyamorous, it was dangerous enough to be attached to one civilian. So, they broke up on friendly terms. Logan had never felt so… empty, after leaving Roman. It had felt like Roman had taken Logan’s ability to be happy. Logan hadn’t fully smiled or laughed since their breakup…

Except for today, when he’d talked to Virgil. Virgil reminded Logan of Roman. He was charismatic, sarcastic, and funny. And with every butterfly that formed in Logan’s belly, a new knife stabbed him through the heart. Being with Virgil would only remind Logan of what he could no longer have with Roman. So, Logan would keep his distance (even if he could no longer do so literally).

---------------------------------------------------

When Virgil got home that day, he had a brief lunch with his father before retreating to his room for the day. Once he got there, he immediately pulled his phone out of his pocket and started texting his boyfriend.

V- (3:05 PM) Hey, your ex’s name was Logan Adsrum Croft, wasn’t it?

R- (3:06 PM) Yeah, why?

V- (3:06 PM) Guess who my hot new bodyguard is ;)

[pikemoreno]

if you ever wanna be in love

Chapter I: Coffee Cures All Ills

a/n: Here it is folks! The first part of a Marcus fic heavily inspired by the Netflix rom-com Set It Up. 

It’s more structurally and conceptually inspired and not an exact scene-for-scene remake because a) I was interested in the idea of this not even really being an AU. This is extremely canon-compliant and you’ll see more of that as we continue on. 😏And b) because I had lots of ideas that spun off from watching Set It Up that I just liked better for the purpose of this fic. So that’s what you can expect. It’s gonna be cheesy and fun and great.

The first couple of chapters are a lot of, well, set up (which has been infuriating). But we’ll get into the meat of it soon. My outline says so.

As a side note, a lot of the gifs I’m going to be using are from the movie, but these are not my face claims for any of the characters. I’m using them simply for the ~vibe~ of the chapter. Reader is not a small white girl... Or she might be. She is you. Or whatever OC you’d like her to be. Period. 

And that’s it. Let’s go, I guess.

pairing: marcus pike x f!reader

word count: 2k (probably one of the shortest chapters we’re gonna see out of the 14-ish lolz)

warnings: none, and i don’t expect there to really be any serious ones in upcoming chapters either. this is just fun.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love. 

He’d seen what it had done to him in failed relationships including everything up to a failed marriage. Some would argue that it wasn’t love then, that love doesn’t fail, so it couldn’t have been. But he disagreed. He knows it when it hits. It comes on you like lightning, bright and fast. You accept it, letting it run through your veins, and risk suffering a fatal blow to your heart. And it most definitely can fatally fail. It can cause joy and pain in equal measure. He’d already been struck so painfully once, the blow of the electricity going straight to his heart. He was beginning to hope to the high heavens that he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to be struck a second time, just in case it should reach his heart so painfully once more.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love.

He felt that especially strongly as he watched Adrian go through his recent break-up. He felt for his fellow agent, he really did. Adrian was completely convinced Sam was the one, sold to the point of going ring shopping soon. But one brief mention of an engagement sent Sam running for the hills. He’d been moping around the office for a couple of weeks now and, as much as Marcus understood the pain, he was already really looking forward to Adrian’s rebound or some similar distraction. He was needing his friend’s signature fire back right about now, not to mention his focus. His work had gotten sloppy in this mourning period. He was constantly distracted. Marcus was dreading getting him on this case today, but maybe it was just the push he needed. He hoped. He stepped up to Adrian’s desk, watching the glazed over look in his eye.

“Hey, Adrian, do you mind getting a head start on this? I’d really like you to be our head man on--” he slid the file onto his desk, but was cut short by Adrian’s response. A response that had nothing to do with anything Marcus had just said.

“I’m gonna die alone,” he muttered, hands supporting his chin, elbows on his desk. Marcus let out an exasperated sigh that he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re not gonna die alone,” he played along once again, rubbing his temple.

“Maybe I’ll go be a monk. They never have to worry about this shit.”

“An honorable profession.”

“Yeah.” Adrian blinked out of his dream-like state. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Marcus nodded rigidly. “Sorry, Pike.” He opened the file, nodding slowly, “Yeah, I’ll get on this.”

“You look exhausted,”

“I am,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“I’m making a break room run to get coffee, you want one?”

“Please.” Marcus nodded his understanding and made his way down the hall to the break room. He doubted a case and a coffee could get his friend back on track, but he could hope, right?

***

If you had to listen through one more of Wendy’s mood swings, you might just scream. You love the girl, you really do. She’s your friend and the best boss you could’ve asked for, but Lord Almighty, had she been in rare form. Some days she was perfectly fine, strutting around like she didn’t care that her asshole boyfriend Daniel gave her an ultimatum instead of a ring on their last anniversary. Other days would see her doing a complete 180, shutting herself in her office and weeping into suspect files. Your least favorite days, though, were days where the heartbreak made her angry, where thinking about Daniel saying “It’s me or your job” made her border-line vengeful. But, unfortunately for you and the rest of the team, he wasn’t around to take the beating.

You couldn’t say you entirely understood. The short catalog of even shorter flings that you boasted brought largely apathy rather than heartbreak. You couldn’t say you’d ever been in love like Wendy had been. You’d never felt anything quite that strong-- and thank goodness for that. It wasn’t something you particularly looked forward to, at least, not the way you’d seen it lately. It was an uncontrollable force, dangerous and all-consuming. You liked control, liked being in your right mind. If love was to take up it's unfortunate residence, you could only hope it was for someone worth losing your mind over. You hadn’t seen anyone of the sort so far. 

Unfortunately, it was already too late for Wendy Harrod. The already intimidating head of the Jewelry & Gem Theft Program in Texas was in rare form. You watched as an HR intern ran from her office in near tears. Poor Randy. Her sharp “come in” in response to your knock on her door made you wince.

“Harrod, I have the results of that house search you requested if you--”

“No, no! Absolutely not, I cannot handle this right now,” she was absolutely raging, leaving you grasping at straws for a response. 

“I-- Uh-- Of course. I’ll just leave it right here whenever--” you placed it gently on the end table by the door before being interrupted again.

“Ughhhhh,” she groaned out before flopping into her desk chair, the red leather creaking as she let sit spin her around once, “I’m sorry. I’m being mean.” There was your Wendy.

“Just a little.”

“Sorry, sorry. Bring that here please.” 

“What can I do for you? As your friend, I mean. You--” you weighed your words carefully as you hand her the report, “You haven’t quite been yourself since…” you stopped that thought, “Well, lately.” She sighed, shaking her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I need,” she began to skim the report before looking back up with you with a tight lipped smile, “Maybe a coffee? For the more immediate problems anyway.” You laughed.

“Now that I can do. I’m headed there now. Break room coffee ok?”

“That’d be perfect.”

“The usual?”

“The usual.” She yelled after you as you walk down the hall, “You’re an angel!”

She wasn’t gonna be saying that when you came back without coffee. 

The sign on the coffee pot reading “out of coffee” was going to seriously ruin your reputation and Wendy’s sensitive mood. You ran through the options: you couldn’t leave to get her a Starbucks; there were some bottled iced coffees in the fridge, but Wendy hated them; you could wait for someone to make a run at lunch and pass on the order, but this was too urgent. Then it hit you. Everyone knew the sixth floor had the better coffee stock anyway. The art freaks loved their fancy stuff. You could always just waltz down a floor and snag two cups from their stash. 5 minutes in and out. No harm done, no questions asked. 

Or so you thought. 

The sixth floor break room was already occupied when you walked in, finding another agent also brewing a morning cup in a single cup coffee maker. 

They really did have everything here: multiple pots, another much fancier looking machine that looked like it might come to life and attack at any moment, recyclable coffee cups, every type of creamer. You name it.

You’d have to sneak over here more often.

You stepped up to the larger coffee pot, rinsing out the carafe before reaching for the container of grounds. Empty. 

They had everything here. Except coffee. 

Was the whole damn building in a coffee famine? You didn’t have time to check.

“No, no, no, no,” you panicked, frantically searching the cabinet for another container. In your peripheral you could see the other agent look at you like you’d grown two heads. You couldn’t be bothered with his judgement, but you met his eyes to ask, maybe a little too frantically. 

“Is that the last of it?” you questioned, eyeing the cup he was brewing.

“Well, yeah, sorry.” It was obvious he meant it, but apologies were not what you were needing right now.

“Shit.” 

“Withdrawals?” he laughed a little at your panicked state, but it wasn’t demeaning. He was genuinely amused, and maybe a little concerned, but it made you narrow your eyes at him all the same. You were not in the mood for the mocking, no matter how light-hearted it may be. No matter how much it was softened by the bright smile next to you.

“It’s not for me. It’s for my boss. My very upset boss who needs just one small ounce of joy in her life right now. The kind of joy that can only come from the fueling of her caffeine addiction, so if I could please just have that cup?” You blinked at him innocently, but his dark brown eyes widened as he shook his head

“What? No. I have a friend who needs this. If I don’t bring him this, he won’t be working for the rest of the day.”

“If I don’t bring my boss a cup of coffee in the next two minutes, I will probably not be working again. Ever. I will be dead. Do you want to be complicit in a murder, Agent--” you glanced at his badge, “Pike? Can you really live with that?”

“You’re awfully dramatic aren’t you?”

“I wish it was an exaggeration.” He inspected your badge then too.

“Jewelry and Gem Theft. Floor 7, right? What brings you down here to steal our coffee?” The argument was pointed, but his demeanor was anything but. He was smiling, enjoying this. A little too much, you seethed. You couldn’t stand around arguing all day.

“We’re out too.”

“Try another floor?”

“Time is of the essence here, Art Squad.” There was no room for addressing him politely now, he was riling you up on purpose. 

“If you didn’t stand here arguing with me you could’ve tried another floor by now, Jewels.”

He must think he’s so clever.

“Please. This is DEFCON 5.”

“You do know DEFCON 5 is the good one, right?”

“You know what I mean. Please.” He looked at you and then the newly brewed cup, biting the inside of his cheek, thinking through the problem.

“Tell you what. I am willing to split this if you are. Maybe it’s enough to fix both of them.” The crease between his eyebrows was deep as he studied your face, “I know Adrian is too out of it to notice he’s getting jipped, not sure about your boss.” You shrugged.

“Wendy will manage. It’s enough to keep her from throwing something at my head next time I walk in.” He dutifully split the coffee between two of the recyclable travel cups and handed one to you. You took it gratefully. 

“I hope this keeps you from… Dying? What’s up with that anyway?” You’re not sure what made this person that was essentially a stranger so interested in your life, but something about it feels nice.

“She had a really bad breakup: anniversary, thought it was going to be a proposal, instead it was him being a piss-baby. She’s a little all over the place right now. They’d been together for years and now there’s just… A hole. She doesn’t know how to deal with it.” Pike’s nod in response is emphatic, giving the cup in his hand a little wave.

“Same with him. Terrible breakup. He didn’t see it coming at all. She broke up with him on a voicemail… Then moved. ‘Course it just put him in this crazy funk, though. Doesn’t wanna work or do much of anything. No violence. Yet. But it’s sad to see.” You winced.

“That’s a rough one. Best of luck with him, Art Squad. Thank you. I owe you one. Seriously.”

“You definitely do, Jewels.” His smile is blindingly bright as he jokes. It makes you smile back.

“See you around.”

series taglist: @whiskeyslasso​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​

forever tags: @acomplicatedprofession​ @hdlynn​ @makaela27 @space-floozy @catfishingmorales​ @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa​ @princessbatears​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @findhimfives​

[varusai]

who do you think is the most dateable dark matter thief?? i know you have an opinion and i need to hear it

sorry for the late response anon i honestly had to think abt this one for a few days lmao, but yeah i have opinions. below the cut bc fr i have opinions, all of them have major pros and cons (based on my characterization at least) and really i just have to break it down for u

Boros, everyones obvious first choice, but certainly not mine.

Pros: rich, tall, pretty, fun af, passionate, will kill for you np, give you anything you want, literally anything.

cons: has a god complex, doesnt respect you, not his number one priority at all, will forget about you once its not interesting for him anymore, probably argumentative/combative af, is very very smart and has no problem manipulating you in all the worst ways, is very entitled so he will never feel bad about anything, cant win arguments either bc he’ll want to settle it with combat, will get offended over little things just to argue bc he thinks thats fun

this is a relationship you’d get into if you literally have nothing to lose and dont care about your mental health. like hes hot but this shit would be toxic af and he will ruin your life and leave you to go fuck around and fight someone on the other side of the universe. this will be the best of times and the worst of times for you and you will never be the same afterward mentally or emotionally. the only way i would even consider it is if i lost my damn mind. The only way a relationship with him would ever work long term is if you were physically stronger than him and were capable of putting him in his place OR you were smart enough, suicidal enough, and interesting enough to him to engage in some psychological warfare and reject him if he asked you. Make him chase you for years, say yes, then decide that /he’s/ boring /you/ and leave him for another member of the squad to just destroy their established hierarchy and humble him to the point that he’s obsessed with you.

i dont have the energy for all that, so i’ll just smash and pass.

0/10 completely undateable

Geryuganshoop, also a probable second choice for many:

pros: cute, nice, tentacle alien (obviously), will respect you np, will also give you anything you want, not antagonistic at all, telepathic communication so no risk of miscommunication, emotionally intelligent and available, loyal to a fault,

cons: horrible boss/best friend that you will have to listen to him vent about for at least 3 hours a day, complete yes man as well so he will not tell boros no or cut him off and you will be stuck dealing with this no matter what, severely mentally ill and wont go to therapy bc he thinks hes handling it well, workaholic, needs a lot, and i mean A LOT of attention

this relationship would be great if not for boros lol. boros sabotages his social and romantic life but geryu has been friends with him too long to either cut him off or establish boundaries. he has no backbone (figuratively and literally) and wouldnt even consider it. he’ll ignore you in favor of his job too, to a massive degree. also i think that while the telepathic communication would be a major plus in most cases, here i feel like i’d have no less than 16 different, never before seen on earth, mental illnesses projected right into my brain just from being within a certain radius of him.

im already fucked up enough in that sense so pass unfortunately.

it would be a yes without boros in the picture tho lmao

so prob like 4/10 iffy datablillity, 1 level increase with each decade of therapy he gets tho so a lot of potential :D

Groribas, my fav girl:

pros: straightforward, realistic, very clear expectations, will not fuck around with you whatsoever like there is no mind games or anything here, will kill for you, rich and non materialistic so she’ll basically just let you do whatever with her money since she doesn t care about it, cares about her job but like...a normal amount. she absolutely has a good work/life balance, highly organized so she will not forget important dates, loyal af and will defend your honor under any circumstances, mean but in a funny way, a ton of fun to hang out with if you’re into that, no eyes so i dont have to worry abt eye contact ever

cons: extremely high expectations, like exhaustingly high, and not even a bit of flexibility there, if you dont meet the cut its a no, she’ll let you know and leave same day, she will also bully you, you need a thick skin and great sense of humor to survive, bad at feelings if you need emotional support???? go elsewhere, shes mega emotionally unavailable, will probably want to share bodies as a form of intimacy

overall its a solid 6.5/10 dateability for me i love the directness and no bs approach, we would def get along well. however, while im not sensitive, shes def gonna hit on some insecurities at some point and it will cause an argument lol. but i mean whatever. it happens. the body sharing would be an issue though, same reason i wouldnt be chill with having a symbiote despite being a major venom fucker. i need my space i cant deal with that. so thats a possible deal breaker if she couldnt get over that lol. and she wont, so we wouldnt work out. i wish it fuckin would tho😭😭😭 i would take whatever crumbs of attention she would be willing to give me

Melzalgald, my fav they/them bastard:

pros: amorphous and shapeshifting aka extremely attractive according to my taste in monsters, tall af but could chose to be a more reasonable survivable size lol, self contained and self-entertaining so they dont need a ton of attention to be happy, funny af, rich, will give you whatever you want and probably a bunch of shit you didnt know you wanted, very fun, built in friend group if you didnt already have friends, extremely emotionally intelligent and great people skills due to living in a collective, stupid af by choice, like some of em are very smart, but they dont claim that, will say fuck work and tell boros to eat shit to spend time with you, will kill for you as well, but only if you ask them to bc their first inclination is to just bother someone to death, very loyal, once they like you they like you really forever, it would take some pretty extreme circumstances to make them dislike you

cons: annoying af and its unavoidable, will talk over you, all of them at once will talk over you and do so loudly, no respect for personal space, they dont even know what that is, will probably accidentally manhandle you, they act stupid but arent so they can be manipulative, even if it isnt bad and they dont really mean to be, impulsive, forgetful of the needs of organic creatures so they will bother you at all hours of the day and night if you arent firm with boundaries, disgustingly extroverted and will bring randoms to your place without asking, or just...make new cluster members and you have to roll with it, will eat or absorb literally anything you have, will antagonize and bother you for fun, major jump scare risk since sometimes the forms are....fleshy

this ones hard for me like theyre hot af and i feel like they’d be super fun and good partners, but god....the noise. idk how long i could deal with that lol i dont like people in my house. it would drive me up the wall, but then again...i can simply kick them out when ive had enough. they arent projecting mental illness directly into my brain or requiring me to share a body sintelligento major plus. creepy thing/symbiote style hot monster without any of the invasiveness so tbh 8/10 dateability

some people date loud annoying extroverts who dont understand personal space that /arent/ rich, loyal, or emotionally intellegent so i’d be winning on a few different fronts lmao

[silverypurple-rosedlions]

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓟𝓾𝓻𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮

━━━━━━☓━━━━━━

• Activated on August, 22, 2020 •

• Redesigned on October 8, 2020 •

━━━━━━☓━━━━━━

🛑DISCLAIMER 1/2🛑: These chatbots do NOT represent Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Wonwoo, Jihoon, Minghao, Mingyu, Seokmin, Seventeen, and Pledis in any shape or form. Neither do I claim to be them. This is purely made for entertainment and fiction purposes.

🛑DISCLAIMER 2/2🛑: I am not licensed in psychology, nor am I studying it as part of my education. But, I am studying it in my free time and I am learning about each disorder to the best of my abilities. What will be mentioned is based on true information from those who have studied, or have that disorder.

🛑Trigger Warning🛑: This will contain strong language, mentions of violence and gore, and especially mental illnesses. If you are uncomfortable with the following topics, do not proceed any further for your safety. If you wish to only know small information about the members, you are more than welcomed to avoid reading their quoted and mental and physical illnesses, but do acknowledge that they have them.

━━━━━━☓━━━━━━

𝕭𝖔𝖘𝖘

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"You know boys, I'm getting real tired over all this bullshit. So... Have at it. Free for all! Witness our bloody parade, you filthy shits! Let us bring you the blessing of eternal slumber from this tainted world!"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Yoon Jeonghan

[Alias]: Angel; Angel of Death

[Soon-To-Be Husband]: Hong Joshua Jisoo

[Characteristics]:

| Leader-like | | Sly | | Fearless | | Psychotic | | Deceitful | | Stern |

| Derranged | | Precise | | Patient | | Intelligent | | Violent |

| Mischevious | | Cunning | | Possessive |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Depression: A disorder that causes the person constant feelings of sadness, unmotivation, discouragement, and lost of interest in daily activities. It affects feelings and behavior, leading to numerous emotional and physical complications.

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis): A mental disorder where a person feels detached from reality; disconnected with reality and more invested into a fabricated reality created by the brain.

Schizophrenia: A disorder, a psychotic disorder, that disrupts how the person thinks, feels, and behaves. The fabricated reality created by the brain affects this, altering all three listed.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering from past events in their lives that impacted them negatively; an event that was extremely terrifying.

[Facts]:

-> Due to past events, Jeonghan has trust issues. Until the person proves that they are harmless to him and his group, Jeonghan will be distant and blunt, making sharp remarks and will push the person away if they aren't of any use to his group.

-> As a side effect from Schizophrenia, Jeonghan is known to repeatedly tap the temple of his head, twitching and jerking. If irritated, he will begin to tap violently to the point he's inflicting pain to himself, such as: pulling hair, slamming hands against his head, digging his nails into his body, and more.

-> His past is a very sensitive topic for him. He will not answers or explain his past unless you have gained his full trust. If asked constantly, Jeonghan will not hesitate into inflicting pain due to being triggered. So do NOT question his past until close with him.

-> Due to a failed experiment meant to help Jeonghan with his beginning stages of Schizophrenia, Jeonghan's eyes are able to go blue. This being referred by all members as, "blue eyes." When in this state, Jeonghan loses all senses of the world around him, encased in his episode, and will attack anything and anyone until episode is over, or is calmed.

𝖀𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖇𝖔𝖘𝖘

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"I may not be as psychotic as my lover, and I seem sweeter than some. But that does not mean I'll let you live another day... Instead, I'll make sure you're real pretty. I'll make SURE to create a beautiful bouquet of flowers and YOUR intestines while your body is as empty as your HEART,"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Hong Joshua Jisoo

[Alias]: Joshua

[Companion]: Yoon Jeonghan

[Characteristics]:

| Reserved | | Polite | | Outgoing | | Kind | | Two-faced | | Violent |

| Cautious | | Nervous | | Clingy | | Possessive | | Obsessive |

| Sensitive | | Calm | | Observant |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression): A disorder when a person's moods swing easier than usual, ranging from depressive lows to manic highs; from feeling depression to suddenly feeling euphoria, feeling energized and creative, but to a higher extent.

Anxiety Disorder: A mental disorder in which feelings such as anxiety, fear, and worry are heightened, becoming strong enough to create issues within a person's daily life. This can also lead to side effects such as: hyperventilating, fatigue, sweating, insomnia, lack of concentration, and more.

[Facts]:

-> Joshua is Jeonghan's main pillar, the only one who has the largest impact on the Boss and is able to calm Jeonghan from Schizophrenic episodes quicker than the rest.

-> Joshua is one of the friendliest members in The Purple Rose. He's easier to approach, but do not underestimate him. Sometimes, buried underneath his sweet smile and kind words is a beast that is feared by everyone.

-> Joshua is one, out of two people, who had sent Jeonghan in a Mental Asylum in hopes that they could help him. But it failed, and Joshua still feels guilty for sending Jeonghan to a horrendous place, despite receiving forgiveness when the two reunited.

-> When nervous and anxious, Joshua's eyes will dart around the room, looking at various objects and people to calm himself. That, or he will turn to Jeonghan, the members, or listen to music to ground himself.

-> It may not seem like it, but Joshua has slight yandere tendencies that are very rare to see. But he will become jealousy and "territorial" over Jeonghan, being that many attempt to seduce the Boss for their personal gain.

𝕾𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖗/𝕾𝖕𝖞

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"Even though I may seem like I'm given the less "exciting" job today, doesn't mean I can't have my own type of fun with this. And since you tried to scam us with these useless supplies and weapons, I guess I'll have my pleasure in blasting your brains to bits thinking we were gullible, sir. I'll make sure no one will be able to know who you are when I'm through with you."

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Wen Junhui

[Alias]: Jun

[Soon-To-Be Husband]: Jeon Wonwoo (@seventeen-chatbot)

[Characteristics]:

| Energetic | | Aloof | | Straightforward | Prideful | | Playful |

| Cunning | | Ambitious | | Derranged | | Stubborn | | Fickle |

| Awkward | | Kind-hearted | | Perfectionist |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis)

Schizophrenia

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

[Facts]:

-> Due to Schizophrenia, Jun has the habit of constantly moving, such as: bouncing legs, twitching and jerking, and tapping his fingers on a flat surface. Some say he picked up the habit of tapping on flat surfaces from Jeonghan, who constantly taps his temples.

-> Jun is known to be the second member of The Purple Rose to be the messiest with his victims, following Jeonghan. He's known for tearing people apart, whether they're alive or already dead.

-> So far, Jun is prohibited from any interaction with children due to his violent tendencies to them. But it is unknown as to why children trigger him.

-> Jun learned Kung Fu and Martial Arts during his youth, using that to his advantage if ever his weapons are restricted from him.

-> Jun is known for copying others sayings and actions, such as small gestures and few sentences or words, repeating them without knowing so, being that it became his habit.

𝕹𝖊𝖌𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗/𝕷𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖔𝖚𝖙

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"Listen, and listen well, because I don't want to repeat this again. You made a FUCKING deal. You promised that you'll pull through your end of the bargain as we did. So if you can't give the shit we requested, the deal is off. Your area is now OURS, and frankly, we have a BETTER person to run that waste of space you've created. So, nighty night BASTARD. Say hi to Satan for us,"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Jeon Wonwoo

[Alias]: Wonwoo

[Companion]: None

[Characteristics]:

| Patient | | Observant | | Intelligent | | Introverted | | Persuasive |

| Blunt | | Stern | | Sadistic | | Aggressive | | Cynical | | Strict |

| Analytical | | Straightforward | | Cold | | Resourceful |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D): A disorder in where the brain creates other alters/identities to distribute trauma to, so that the main person, the host, is protected from past events that occured in their life that they aren't able to handle alone.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD)

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis)

Hand Tremors: An movement disorder within the body, most commonly in the hands but can occur in other body parts. An involuntary, rhythmic muscle contraction that causes shaking. Can happen every now and then, or constantly.

[Facts]:

-> In total, Wonwoo has 17 alters. But 5 main alters are known to front most often, being the main protectors of the body:

-> It was rumoured that Wonwoo was plotting to take the role as leader of The Purple Rose, eliminating Yoon Jeonghan. But it was never confirmed.

-> Due to poor eyesight, Wonwoo is required to wear glasses. But when doing work and handling targets, Wonwoo will not need them. Strange as it is, his eyes sharpen, narrowing on his target no matter the distance as his adrenaline kicks in.

-> Despite being a negotiator, dealing with men and women within casinos, Wonwoo despises gambling. He can't tolerate the smell of strong alcohol, betting, and smoke.

-> Among the eight members, Wonwoo is the best when handling treatments such as severe wounds. He knows what to use, how to use it, and how long it'll take to heal, or, at least an estimated time.

𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖎𝖌𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖗𝖊

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"I'm getting sick and tired with your babbling, you know that? I don't like wasting my time on people who can't pull their shit together, or ones who have no real benefit to the Purple Rose. So, I'm going to do us both the favor and end this short. But with a loud bang!"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Lee Jihoon

[Alias]: Jihoon

[Companion]: Kim Inseong (@heartbrokenxinseong)

[Characteristics]:

| Leader-like | | Cold | | Silent | | Wise | | Observant | | Creative |

| Thoughtful | | Resilient | | Sarcastic | | Strict | | Hostile |

| Manipulative | | Short-tempered | | Intimidating | | Resourceful |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD)

[Facts]:

-> Jihoon is the Representative of The Purple Rose, always attending meetings that they are requested to attend, and taking in all information and then explaining it to the Boss and Underboss, Jeonghan and Joshua.

-> Jihoon's main job is to not only process information, but to plan each mission, and how they will carried out. It has been his job since the start of The Purple Rose.

-> Jihoon has severe trust issues, becoming skeptical and defensive of himself and others around him, sometimes lashing out.

-> Jihoon does not accept being called "cute." Despite his height, Jihoon is hostile, and will not hesitate to attack.

-> It is rare that Jihoon participates in outdoor activities with the group, usually locked inside his room handling missions and piles of work that is handed to him.

𝕳𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖊𝖗/𝕾𝖕𝖞

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"Although I had a great time with you, fellas, I have to get going. I can't let my boss and the boys wait any longer now that you're of no more use to us. To keep this our secret like yours with your team and boss, I'm going to put you to eternal sleep, and I'll make sure your body doesn't go to waste,"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Xu Minghao

[Alias]: Minghao; The Ghost

[Companion]: Kim (Jeewon) Jiwon (@90sjeewonie)

[Characteristics]:

| Intuitive | | Thoughtful | | Sarcastic | | Sassy | Playful | | Sweet |

| Vengeful | | Determined | | Sharp | | Deceitful | | Protective |

| Energetic | | Sharp | | Precise | | Elegant | | Sensitive |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Shared Psychotic Disorder: An unusual mental disorder of a person sharing a delusion among two or more people who are in a close relationship. The (inducer, primary) who has a psychotic disorder with delusions influences the other, or more (induced, secondary) with a specific belief.

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

[Facts]:

-> Minghao never had intentions of joining The Purple Rose, or joining in any infamous activities. But, because he was influenced and close with Jun, he didn't have any other option but to became a member, sharing Jun's Schizophrenia.

-> Minghao is a cannibal, and has been since the age of 17. He tends to make comments now and then on people, wondering what they would taste like but will not pursue them depending his relationship with them.

-> He knows how to use all technology, creating his own softwares and bots to use as assistance in missions. He's crafty, and with Jun and Mingyu's help, he creates his own unique gadgets that are used frequently.

-> He's a top spy, always assigned 90% of the time to missions that include entering into the building, stealing, and deceit. When doing this, he temporarily dyes his hair a different color.

-> He's known as The Ghost due to appearing in one area, then suddenly disappearing without a trace, later appearing again and rendering targets without a sound.

𝕭𝖔𝖉𝖞𝖌𝖚𝖆𝖗𝖉/𝕰𝖝 𝖀𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖇𝖔𝖘𝖘

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"I may not be an Underboss anymore, but just because I've been placed as a bodyguard doesn't mean I'm no longer the man you once feared, pal. How about you show me what you got before I leap and rip off those limbs of yours? Or should we just get to the ripping limbs part already?

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Kim Mingyu

[Alias]: Mingyu

[Companion]: Choi (Arin) Yewon (@arinschoi)

[Characteristics]:

| Respectful | | Optimistic | | Strong | | Stern | | Controlling |

| Protective | | Deceitful | | Intelligent | | Hard-working |

| Kind-hearted | | Short-tempered | | Determined |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

Psychotic Disorder (Psychosis)

PTSD

[Facts]:

-> Originally, Mingyu was supposed to be eliminated by Jeonghan, due to abandoning Jeonghan, who was caught and brought back to the Asylum in 2016. But, Jeonghan spared him, removing him from Underboss and placing him as a Bodyguard.

-> Mingyu's main priority is to not only protect the members, but most importantly, protect the Boss, the Underboss, and the Consigliere, who are the ones functioning the entire organization.

-> Mingyu is known to be the cleanest member, always cleaning after them and doing normal house chores that he's mistaken to be a germaphobic. But compare it to his work, Mingyu gets reckless when handling victims, creating a mess.

-> Aside from working as a Bodyguard, Mingyu acts as a spy and seducer. But it is only in rare cases will Mingyu be required to be a seducer, but does not engage in s*xual activities, getting the job done before it gets serious.

-> Is known to be Jeonghan's "ex-partner/companion" due to a past struggle the two were under. During that time, Mingyu acted as Jeonghan's significant other, but Jeonghan did not reciprocate the feelings and continued on with work to the best of his abilities.

𝕹𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖌𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗/𝕽𝖚𝖓𝖓𝖊𝖗

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

"I had fun doing our little game of cat and mouse, but I'm starting to get tired, mouse! And you look just as tired as I am, right? So, do me a favor of standing still, smiling at me, and letting me gut you out. I'll make sure to bury you somewhere nice with some purple roses. A reminder that you never FUCK with the Purple Rose, scumbag,"

◈ ━━━━━━🥀━━━━━━ ◈

[Name]: Lee Seokmin

[Alias]: Seokmin

[Companion]: Byun Baekhyun (@ghoulxbaekhyun)

[Characteristics]:

| Loud | | Energetic | | Sneaky | | Two-faced | | Sadistic |

| Outgoing | | Clingy | | Rebellious | | Impulsive | | Optimistic |

| Persistent | | Fast | | Sensitive | | Considerate |

[Mental and Physical Illnesses]:

ADHD: A chronic condition including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness, which begins during childhood and into adulthood. Effects self-esteem, education and work, and relationship

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD)

[Facts]:

-> Seokmin is a cannibal, beginning this at the age of 18. It is unknown why he followed Minghao, both becoming the only two who devoured people, but one thing is for sure. He doesn't always eat victims, but he won't hesitate to take a bite.

-> Being a navigator, Seokmin is excellent in tracking and finding secluded places, especially places that are illegal and are infamous around the network: casinos, mafia basses, closed off buildings used for selling drugs, and more. And as a Runner, it is Seokmin's job to take all that The Purple Rose gains from a mission, escaping the scene with the objects if ever they were caught or were on the run. This also places him as the Getaway Driver, despite being a reckless driver.

-> Seokmin can be easily persuaded if lured into the trap by the right bait. But no offer can make him betray The Purple Rose, especially never betraying the Boss, the Underboss, and Consigliere. He follows their orders strictly, despite bending the rules.

-> Seokmin may be the sweetest and bubbliest member in the group, but he has his equal share, perhaps more than some members, of having a sinister side to him. When making gruesome comments, he always says them with a big, bright smile.

-> Seokmin despises usage of drugs and alcohol. He'll drink now and then, but no more than two cups. Sometimes, Seokmin is triggered by certain drugs, causing him to become bitter and sharp, sometimes picking fights he doesn't mean to create.

✨OG✨// @yanlee

🥀// @empress-jiaqi @criminalinvestigator-mingyu @princess-yeji @doll-seungmin @doll-hyunjin @peachy-jaemjaemin @storybook-nct @deadly-skz-gods-cb @babyhj1sung @yandere-somi-jeon @dandyboy-seungmin @detectivexsicheng @time-for-confession @adoringeun @shinhaneul-oc @split-jiu @domyukhei @joyinwonderland @mafia-chaeyoung @mafiafelixlee @moonlit-jaemin @purgejaemin @floristluda @yoonhana @ateez-zombie-wonderland @ghost-hyunjin @vscohyunjin @moonlit-nono @cb-dungeon @daddysm @amazingspiderhan @heiress-yeeun @babyboynono @blackwidowjennie @roseanneholmes @fairy-dejun @skz-cb @vampiremomo @vampireprince-jeonghan @college-baekhyun @hunter-chaeyoung @julia-oc @moonlightchris @weeb-wonwoo and more . . .

[zuffer-weird-girl]

'What does the devil fear..?'

You know those days when you wake up and feels like... not wanting to exist at all?

He was having one of those. And he didn't like it one bit. All due to a night terror of his.

Just about two months ago you were almost shoted and kidnapped due to your relationship with him and your strings with the yakusa... not only you were a easy target by many rivals gangs, but also the heroes were constantly at your back... his rage and disgust only growing even more at them for involving someone that he parcially apreciated and wanted to leave them at peace.

He felt like utterly trash when he scolded you once for being late for a date, only for you to explain that one hero named sir. Nighteye stopped you along with bubble girl on the street to interrogate you about what were your exactly affiliations with Chisaki Kai.

He knew that when he entered your life... your whole world was turned upside down. You weren't exactly safe in anywhere, everyone on this stupid and sick society looked down at his angel for only being with him.

Guilt wasn't a constant feeling on this man's life... but now? He felt that this was consuming him, little by little.

Not only that but... he is a mess. Despite his arrogance, he knew ever since he was little; due to those two that he reduses to call mother and father; that he was... broken. Not physically but mentally ill.

Cursed.

Pops was kind and generous enough to take him out of the streets and the once hell he lived in... but yet, after so many years, never he found a way to show his gratitude to the old man... and the solutions he had to bring the yakusa to their once glory were neglected immediately by his mentor.

This angered him to no ends... why didn't he listened? Was he that... useless and broken?

Normally he would voice out his frustations to you... he felt light and relaxed when he just vented with you for the first time... yet extremely frustated at himself for just depositing all of his own frustations on the first and only person who said it out loud that loved him and him reciprocated... honestly loved him, not by fear or because someone or him demanded it.

Love... also another thing he couldn't understand... neither voice it out loud. He was a man of action, not words. But he was just so awkward and his cursed mysophobia didn't helped him at all.

Never on his life he felt good about touching someone. You weren't sick, nothing about you made him cringe in disgust. Yet he was so hesitant and aprehensive of touching you... corrupting that sweet and angelic skin with his own disgusting disease called 'quirk'.

He sighed, feeling all of his body way too cold than normal... his hand coming to fist the area where his dark and cold heart layed on.

He didn't deserved living. He didn't deserved being taken in by the yakusa.... He didn't deserved his angel.

All he deserved was to burn on the deepest flames of hell... and he didn't even doubt or neglected tgat as soon as he died he was going straight forward to this place... where he belonged.

Away from the one he loved. Yes, he loved (Y/n)... it took way longer tham necessary for him to realize that... but what does it matter?

You will be taken away from him at any moment or just leave him in the dark by hatred, fear or even disgust.

The thought killed him, hurted more than one or two stabs would... he was already used to pain... but not this kind.

His breath quickened and he tried to take slow breaths, in and out, but he was far too gone when the disgusting warm liquid accumulated on his eyes and were threatening to spill from his eyes and fall on his pillow.

A knock on the door caught his attention, he didn't even bothered looking at who was opening the door as he numbly stared at the ceiling, still gripping on his shirt and bed sheets like his life depended on it.

"Kai, Pops asked me to call you." Kurono spoked, frowning hsi eyebrows at seing that his childhood friend didn't even looked at him "we... are going to-"

"I don't want it." He hoarsely spoked out, cringing at hearing how his voice sounded so weak.

"Want to at least come? Probably the old man is going to spill some news from the others gangs. It could be useful."

Kai shooked his head and did something that left Hari with wide eyes, noticing how Chisaki was NOT well at all.

"You can leave Hari. Just please leave me alone." He numbly spoked as he still looked up at the ceiling.

Hari. Not Chrono, not Kurono, not block head or other stupid title. Chisaki NEVER used his first name. Not even comenting that HE ASKED for him to leave. Not demanded.

He nodded hesitantly and closed the door, scratching at the back of his neck as he made his way to where Pops was waiting. Just as he entered he started to tell Pops about the situation... the elder widening his eyes before letting out a sigh and getting up as well.

He knocked on the door and put on a smirk before completpy falling when he heard numb sniffles... Chisaki still layed on his back and gaze on the ceiling, just like Hari described it for him.

"My boy you're feeling sick?" He asked with crossed arms, furrowing his eyebrows at not receiving a answer "Chisaki." He called again, the young man only blinked before muttering that he was listening.

"What happened Kai? You surely aren't okay..."

"... Hari will take my place on my duties today. Tell him that if it isn't much asked Pops."

Okay. This was dead serious. Chisaki trusting other people to do his own work? His brat wasn't alright. Definitely not.

"Pops with all respect I have towards you... I would likd to be left alone, if its not much asked." Pops furrowed even more his eyebrows and nodded, freezing in worry when he heard his sucessor's trembling breath.

He got out and was soon metted with Irinaka and Chrono, both with crossed arms whille waiting.

"He is sick?" Mimic asked, Pops shocking his head as he brought one hand to his chin as he thought for a second.

"He is acting weird since the accident with miss (Y/n) but never on my life I saw him on that state." Chrono muttered, turning his head at Pops when he hummed.

"... the only person who can put some sense and easy the usual beast that is Chisaki, is that girl..." Pops mused out loud before snapping his fingers with a 'oh!' before he looked at both Chrono and Mimic.

"What's the order boss?" Mimic already spoked, Pops furrowing his eyebrows a bit at looking at the closed door before he sighed.

"Bring Chisaki's little medication. I will call (Y/n) to warn about you both picking her up."

Both nodded before they went towards the exit of the house, Pops walking away thorigh the halls as he picked his phone and started to hit the spefic numbers.

"Good morning my dear (Y/n). I apologize to bother you in such a hour, but mind doing me a big favor? I would be very grateful of it" He spoked with his phone om his ear.

~

You nervously fisted the material of the clothing of your leg as Hari drived with Mimic's on the passing seat.

Both had picked you up just when you got out from your last therapy session. You had to apologize to your therapist for receiving a call on the middle of the session, but she was understanding on seing your look of worry when you saw Pops calling and explaining the situation.

"(Y/N). Not going to lie. I was fucking scared when he called me by my first name and with that tone of voice." Chrono spoked suddenly as he turned on a street.

"Yeah. Things are dead ass serious. He didn't got up ever since then." Mimic agreed with his friend as be looked a bit at you "Think you can fix it?"

"I hope so... if neither of you knows what is happening or got him out even despite knowing him more than I do... what gives me the vhance of vhanging something?"

Both bitterly let out a chuckle, Mimic almost quacking at your coment while you arched one eyebrow at both.

"Fuck miss you're not that dumb. Come on. Overhaul is with you for a reason."

"We may know Chisaki longer, but you're definitely the only one that actually know his... whole persona. After all... tell us one more person that touched him and he reciprocated without intentiond of killing?"

You furrowed your eyebrows together, adoring the words but yet still worried. Pops himself told you that Chisaki was... devasted, and he didn't even knew the motive.

The car stopped and you didn't even let neither of the man open the door for you, anxiously getting out if the vehicle and making your way inside the Shie Hassaikai residence.

"I'm relieved that you came." Pops smiled for a bit before he guided you through the halls, even despite you knowing already that place like it was your own.

You stopped in front of the door, Pops pattimg your shoulder and saying that no one would be listened, but gently asked you for at least ease down the storm that it was probably inside the dark brow haired man.

You took a shaking breath before gently opening the door and closing it behind you. Your heart shattwring at seing that what Kurono and pops described you of was the true.

The only difference and the most hurtful one... was that you saw that even despite the numb face he was wearing it, he had tears slipping down is face.

You took slow steps to be on his side, before you jumped a bit at the suddem breath he took.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked, voice broken but a hint of annoyance on it.

"I was worried. I got the news that you didn't even moved ever since morning." You sitted on the bed, feeling your form shake a bit die to your nerves.

"... you should go." You made a confused and hurt noise before your eyes soften in worry at seing the frow on his face as he still didn't broke his look from the ceiling.

"Don't play dumb. You should go. You're only getting hurt due to my affiliations..."

"Well-" you cooed blocking his view with your head, smiling down at him as his eyes widen a bit at seing you in there instead of the monotonous and cold ceiling. "I did sign up for it when I fell for you didn't I?"

Wrong choice of words apparently. You noticed that the moment Chisaki jjst closed his eyes to prevent him to look at your own as he let out a shattered breath.

"You're sick. Sick. Definitely sick." He shook his head and you furrowed your eyebrows as you distanced your self a bit from him.

Chisaki could call you by 1001 nicknames or titles, but 'sick' was one that he neglected of ever using it on you unless he was rarely feeling playfull... never like this. Complete serious.

"Why is that? I will have you know i did my exams." You tried to joke a bit but flinches when he got up abruptly, looking at you with what anyone else could be described with rage.

But you knew better... his eyes were screaming only one sentence.. 'don't say that.'

He wasn't mad at you... no. He was mad at himself. But why though?

"You still has the courage of asking? (Y/n)." He growled while lowering his head, fisting the back of his head in one glived hand "How can you say this without a hint of regret? Without a hint of fear for your life? Hell you were almost shoted and kidnapped some months ago because of me!"

"Hey, if this is about that, you know it wasn't your fault my devil, we ta-"

"No. You can't convince me that it wasn't my fault. Because it was. It is my fault that your damn life turnes to hell because of my selfish wish of having you by my side." He growled while you furrowed your eyebrows at seimg the familiar yet undesirable hives start to form on his skin.

"Kai, love, calm down-" you tried to touch him but he flinched away with wide and red eyes.

"Don't. Don't just be a damn suicidal idiot! You do know what my quirk does, so why you still insist on touching me?! Don't you know I can kill you qnd put it back like nothing ever changed?! I do this everyday without regrets!"

The hives were getting bigger while he got up on his feet, he started to scrub feevently at his forearm and left hand as you got up hesitantly as well.

"Kai. I know this. I know all that. But you never used your quirk on me without a damn good reason."

"See it? I already used it. Nobody can tells that I won't just-"

"But do you WANT to kill me Chisaki Kai?" You spoke a bit more sternly, getting a bit creeped out when he laughed bitterly.

"Of course I fucking don't! But I didn't had the intentions of killing that garbage either when I was young! Although I have no regrets of that decision." He growled while he scratched his skin as his eyes were wide and a vein was almost popping out in his temple.

"Kai this has nothing to do with us-!"

"Oh please don't act like you didn't feared me once in your life. You will sure one day woke up from that delusion you vreated of me and will leave me on the dark." He growled while lowering his head, cringing when he felt that known red fluid.

"Why do you say that?! Why do you keep thinking that I will just ran or leave you Chisaki?!" You opened in your arms in disbelief as you almost screamed.

"BECAUSE YOU SHOULD DAMMIT!" You flinched at the string and thundering shout he let out, he stopped scrubbing in his arm to make desperate and angru hands gestures while he sinply gave up on controling his tears.

"WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM A CURSE ON YOUR DAMN LIFE (Y/N)?! FUCK!" he brought one of his hands to cover his face as he cringed at felling his glives getting wet from his tear "I AM A MONSTER! A KILLER! A YAKUSA! A MURDER! HELL, A DAMN SOCIOPATH!"

You felt all fo your body going cold but not because of fear... it was because you were seing your lover most probably worst breakdown...

"Kai-"

"NOT EVEN COMMENTING THAT THOSE DISGUSTING SICK HEROES GET ON YOUR BACK BECAUSE OF ME! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU COULD SIMPLY WALK ON THE STREET WITHOUT DIRTY LOOKS?! HUH?!"

His tears fell almost violently on the floor as you slowly took one step at a time towards him... calmly, slowly...

"I RUIN EVERTHING (Y/N)! AND AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU, CRAVE YOUR PRESENCE BESIDES ME, I CAN'T JUST PRETEND THAT I DIDN'T DESTROYED YOUR LIFE WITH MY SELFISH WISH OF HAVING YOU AS MY GIRLFRIEND DAMMIT!"

He hund his head low, his shoulder shaking violently as he still continued his vent.

"Why..?!" He cried hand once in his head falling miserably on his side as he looked at you, the most broken and saddest loom you ever saw on Chisaki's face.

"WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I DESERVE IT BEING LEFT ALONE AND THAT YOU ONLY WILL GET HURT, BECAUSE AND BY ME?!"

You blinked your own tears while Chisaki just let out a miserable sob and fell to his knees on the ground, gripping each dide of his face with his hands as he miserably let out all what he had bottled up...

You wiped your tears away from your face with a scowl, more determined than ever as you kneeled down in front of him.

"Hey." You called, no response. "Look at me." He inly shook his head stubbornly as he bitted in his own tongue to stop the river of tears.

You clenched your teeth together as you grabbed onto his shoulders and touched foreheads with him.

"Chisaki Kai look at me!" You whisper yelled, finally catvhing his attention as he looked into your eyes, still with jaw clemvhed while the tears stopped with a fraction of seconds... eyesbrows furrowed.

"First. I did shower and sterilized my hands." He sobbed while you winced... okay this only worsened.

"Second. Kai for God's sake, I knew where I was getting into when I met you... being part of the yakusa or having a relationship with the leader leads to that! You warned me!"

"So why the hell didn't you lis-"

"Because I am in love with you!" You said gently while carefully lifting his head a bit while cupping his face in your hands, him lookimg down at you. "Kai you made me fall for you! Being whatever you are or aren't."

He scoffed and went to look down before his breath got caught on his throat when you were close to his face... your warm breath spreading on his face as you looked up at him.

"Is it so wrong of me to love you?" He wemt to speak but you grabbed his hand with a hush "No is not. I am a full grow adult just as you, and know damn well of the consequences of dating the leader of the Shie Hassaikai."

He started to calm down with his tremblimg, savoring like a starved animal from your sweet carress of your thimbs in his face and hand.

"Heroes on my back and dirty looks on the street? One answer to them. Fuck. Those. Sick. Bastards." You giggled at the look he gave it to you "I am dating the most handsome and overprotective man I ever met. I feel safe around you, it doesn't matter what you do or did, because I know who at least my boyfriend is."

He breathed out a sigh, shoulders sagging as he got enough strength to get up alomg with you to sit on the bed instead.

"And one last thing... I can take many bullets or shouts... but what truly hurts me more on this, is seing the love of my life suffering over something he can't control it..." you nuzzled your nose against his as bis breath got caught on his throat "And that's alright. Because when people love each other they suffer with the other pain and problems... and Kai, even if you don't say that out loud, you show it to me, everyday, that you care. That I matter something for you." You wiped one tear away from his cheek woth a smile

"And that is all I ever wanted. You're honest Kai. Bold honest. And I am so lucky to be yours... don't just say that I should leave you... because not only I know you would send precepts to haunt me, but because I won't do it. Simple as that. Trust me..." you pleaded with a smile.

His breath catched on his throat again as he finally let out a mixture of a broken sob and a scoff, burring his face on your neck as he let out more cries, grabbing onto your shirt like if je let it go, ghose words he just had listened were mere lies or hallucinations.

"I'm sorry..!" He muffled cried on your neck as you sighed through your nose with a smile... hugging him with one arm as your hand came up to stroke his hair.

"Sorry about what I wonder..?" You sadly commented "For being the men you are? Please dont be sorry about that... I love with all my soul the man I fell for..." he let out a broken whimper as he buried even more his face on your nevk to muffle his cries.

"I am a fucking sociopath-"

"My sociopath."

"(Y/N) stop. We both know that you would be-"

"Crying like a baby alone in my room watching series if I didn't have you." You giggled and stroked his hair more, feeling his eyebrows furrowing in your skin.

He scoffed but relaxed a bit in your hold, getting up from your neck to rest his head on your forehead with a sigh.

"My head... dammit." He growled while lifting his hand a bit to rest on his temple.

He opened his eyes when he felt you wiping a liquid that was scrolling down his nose... his face burning in embarrassment and disgust. But yet he sighed while nuzzling his head on you.

"Don't just touch that, is disgusting." He growled at your giggles but smiled no less...

His angel was here to stay... whether he derving it or not.

[cloudywriter]

Okay, hear me out... A Nessian carnival situation?

first, i need more prompts, send whatever & alright this one took me a sec but then i got into and i’m pretty happy with it. sorry, it’s such a long built up but it’ll come. pretty swift nessian fix here ya go:

~~~

A Tale of Questionable Carnival Rides

~~~

Nesta huffed, checked the time on her phone again, and rolled her eyes. It was only 9:32pm now and the endless stream of kids and parents was still steadily flowing and likely would be for another hour or so. 

Nesta checked again. 9:33pm. 

It wasn’t that she hated the annual carnival fundraiser for the school, she liked planning it and making sure everything ran smoothly, being student council president that’s usually what her job description was. But not this year, no, this year Nesta was in charge of running one of the mini-game stands as Clare, who was supposed to be managing it, came down with the flu.

To say the least, Nesta did not enjoy dealing with groups of screaming children and their hovering parents. Honestly, she’d rather slam her hand into a car door than spend another hour watching kids fail to knock down three pins then become upset because they don’t get a prize for losing. 

She was able to handle the first couple of kids that shed some tears and the few parents that wanted a pity prize, but as the night wore on her patience began to run thin.

A young blonde boy, maybe eight or nine years old, was now making his way up to Nesta’s booth followed by presumably his mother. 

Nesta gave her the same, plastered-on smile she’d been giving all night to the woman approaching. 

“Hi, three balls please,” the mother said sweetly, handing a five-dollar bill to Nesta over the table.

Nesta gave her a small nod and plucked three red balls from the bucket beside her, handing one to the little boy.

“Alright, all you have to do is knock down all three pins and you’ll get a prize,” she stated her usual rehearsed line. 

Of course, the little boy missed his first shot, his aim a little too low, Nesta passed him a second ball in response. Once again, his ball missed its mark and the boy let out a little sound of frustration.

“It’s okay, you’ve got one more shot,” Nesta explained before setting the final ball before him. 

The boy swiped up the plastic, red orb and weighed it in his hand. He turned his attention back to the three pins still sitting untouched atop the table adorned with a red and orange plaid, fall-appropriate cloth; he chucked the ball, grazing the top pin enough to knock it off. 

“I did it! I did it!” The boy cried punching the air in triumph. 

“Hey, I’m sorry, but you actually have to knock down all three to win,” Nesta frowned, feeling a little sympathetic for the kid. 

“That’s crap!” He shouted. Nesta shifted her weight awkwardly from one foot to the other, “I’m sorry, that’s just the rules.” 

The mother’s mouth was set in a thin line as she rested her hand on his arm. “C’mon honey, maybe you’ll have better luck at ring toss?” She offered. However, he looked up at her unimpressed, “No! This booth is the only one with the dragon stuffed animal! I got the top pin!”

The mother’s eyes flitted back up to Nesta. “Can you just give him the dragon? I mean he did hit one and I already gave you money, I’m sure that dragon is cheaper than five dollars.”

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t think I can do that,” Nesta reiterated. 

The mother huffed, obviously getting upset now and started digging around in her purse. She slapped down another five-dollar bill in front of Nesta, “There? Is that enough? Just give him the damn toy.”

Nesta was a little torn on how to handle the situation, the last bit of patience she possessed slowly disintegrating. “Look, I can give you another three balls for you to try again but I can’t just give out the prizes for some money.” 

The mother rolled her eyes, slamming her hand down by her side; “He’s just a kid, he’s not going to hit all of the pins and don’t try to tell me that dragon is worth more than a few bucks. This is just a high school fundraiser, save me the trouble and give my kid the damn prize.”

The son looked up at his mother with a pout.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to hear that your son has no hand-eye coordination but frankly it’s not my problem. If you want to try and pay your way through another game I’d suggest the bean bag toss, my sister Elain is a softy.” Nesta gave her a sickly sweet smile and crossed her arms over her chest.

At that, the woman’s face turned a tint of red. “Okay, who is running this? I’d like to speak to one of your teachers or the principal, you’re being extremely rude.”

“I’m being rude? Lady, I’m just trying to get in my community service hours.”

The woman’s nostrils flared and Nesta could tell she was about to crack, she started to speak her voice significantly raised. “Alright, missy-”

“Whoa, hey, what is going on here?” Another voice chimed in.

Nesta groaned, her head turning to face the student council vice president who had now joined the interaction. 

“Are you running this thing? This girl has been astonishingly ill-mannered,” the woman began. Cassian held up his hand, “I am not the one in charge, unfortunately, you’re actually looking at the boss right now.” 

The woman gave Nesta another scowl, snatched up the five-dollar bill that still rested on the table, and grabbed her son’s hand dragging him off into the crowd. Cassian didn’t turn to leave though, “I’m actually surprised you didn’t get into a fight with a crazy mom earlier. I almost left your general vicinity thinking I wouldn’t have to break up anything, good thing I didn’t.”

Nesta rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, letting them rest at her side again. “My hero,” she added sarcastically. 

Cassian smiled. “C’mon, sweetheart, why don’t we go for a little cooldown ferris wheel ride.” 

“Really?” Nesta asked, gesturing with her head towards the sad scrap of chipped brightly painted metal that was the ‘ferris wheel’ the school decided to splurge on and rent out. “You’d get in a cart and the whole thing would topple over.”

Cassian only shook his head. “Nah, c’mon, Archeron. What, are you scared of heights?”

“Yes, I’m deathly afraid of being lifted twenty feet into the air, Cassian.”

Cassian didn’t respond, just held out his arm. Nesta sighed, deciding she’d rather risk her life on a very janky carnival ride than work that damn game. She slipped out from behind the tables and looped her arm through Cassian’s, “I hope you know you’re paying whatever ridiculous rate they have going.”

“I suspected as much,” he answered, pulling her across the high school parking lot which had been transformed into the makeshift carnival. 

They stood together in the small line and Nesta closed her eyes, tipping her head back breathing in the scent of corn dogs and funnel cakes deeply. The student letting kids on and off the ride collected Cassian’s money and they stepped into their cart. It did audibly creak as Cassian and all his muscles took up residence, Nesta settled in across from him. 

“How have you enjoyed working a booth? Think next year you’ll decide to do it again rather than running around making sure everything’s working out?” Cassian asked, stretching his arms behind him.

“I think if I get stuck handing kids balls to throw at pins or something like that again I will abdicate my throne.”

Cassian raised his brow. “It can’t be that bad.”

Nesta shrugged. “Why do you care? You’re probably thinking up a scheme to make sure I end up on game duty again so you can have my presidential status.”

“Nah, I’m not after your position I swear. I don’t even like being vice president.” 

Now it was Nesta’s turn to raise a brow. “Then why do you keep doing it?”

Cassian hesitated a moment. “It’s the only way I get to spend time with you,” he confessed. 

“You’re telling me for two years you’ve run for vice president so you could hang out with me?” Nesta asked, disbelief coating her tone.

Cassian nodded. 

“You took on the extra burden of full hour meetings twice a week before school, put in countless hours of budgeting, fundraising, making posters, all that jazz just to spend time with me?” 

Cassian nodded again looking as if he were trying much too hard to stay cool and calm. “Romantic, isn’t it?” He smirked like he was ready for Nesta to melt into his arms.

“No, that’s so fucking stupid,” Nesta crossed her arms.

Only then did Cassian’s built up nonchalant aura falter. “W-what?”

“Yeah dumbass, you literally could have just asked me out.”

“I didn’t think you’d ever say yes,” now Cassian was leaning forward, his face exuding a plethora of emotions. 

Nesta leaned forward, her face only a few inches from Cassian’s own. 

“I would’ve said yes,” she almost whispered. Cassian’s eyes searched Nesta’s face for any sign that she was playing a cruel joke, he found none. “Nesta?” he asked softly. 

“Mhm?”

“Would you really go out with me?” His eyes were wide and hopeful, the innocence of it all made Nesta smile. Especially knowing how much of a goofball Cassian was, it was different seeing him so genuine and unguarded. 

“I really would,” she answered at last. She and Cassian just stared at each other for a moment, the corners of their lips upturned. 

“Nes?” Cassian’s voice broke. Nesta raised her eyebrows slightly, encouraging him to continue. “Is it okay if I give you my letter of resignation on the date, too?” 

Nesta let out a small giggle and rested her forehead against his. “You’re such a doof.”

~~~

alright, well i hope you liked it! also thank you guys so much for all the love on my last nessian prompt fic, usually, i only get like 15-20 notes a post so all the attention that one got made me really happy. also, i promise i'm still working on my other stories!