#as if i'm not two whole sections ahead of the rest of the group

[gregorygerwitz]

instead of playing silly little phone games... I studied for my insurance exam

I am normal about this job oh my god

[uzumaki-rebellion]

"Two strangers, not strangers

Only lacking the knowing

So willing, feeling

Infinite growing

While we're here, the whole world is turning

We should be, one, fulfilling the yearning

You can see inside me, will you come inside me

Do you wanna ride, inside my love"

Trina Broussard— "Inside my Love"

A.N.: Content Warning. Smut ahead. Grown folks only. 18+.

Celeste's left hand jerked out wildly to flip on the light switch inside her home. The cottage lit up with a bright pink glow from her vintage stained-glass Tiffany lamps. Her legs were still wrapped around Terry's hips. She climbed down his tree-trunk body and stepped aside, letting him swagger past the threshold of her home. A black baby grand piano that belonged to a deceased aunt had bags of feathers, beads, unfinished patches, and sequins strewn all across it, making the front of the place look messy and disheveled.

"I'll just move these into the other room where they belong," she said.

Terry looked past her into the living room. A smirk crinkled his lips. Celeste looked over her shoulder.

"Oh my, God. I'm so sorry that you see that…give me a second…"

She hurried past him to pick up the ten-inch dildo left in the middle of the floor with the camera set up.

"I know this looks weird…shit…shit…" she sputtered, frantically pulling up the dildo that released with a loud suction pop from the wooden floor. She gathered up the bottle of lube, pillows and dumped them into her sewing room.

Terry took a seat on the recliner end of her purple leather sectional that took up most of the space in the living room right after the baby grand. He watched her pick up the pillows and a sheet, tossing them into her bedroom. She walked back out with her hands on top of her head, embarrassed beyond measure.

"That looked bad…I know."

"Well, you're single now. Looks like you planned a fun night for yourself," he said.

The playfulness of his voice relaxed her, and she pointed toward her kitchen.

"I'll make us those hot drinks," she said, grabbing his bag of leftover food and scampering off.

"Take your time," he called out.

Celeste put his food in the fridge and pulled out a container of half and half. She rested her hands on the kitchen sink and closed her eyes. The shame! She browbeat her own self for not straightening out the living room before she left. Of course, she hadn't planned on inviting him over. Time to save face.

She poured water into a stainless steel percolator and opened a tin of chicory coffee from Café Du Monde, then poured a measured scoop into the coffee filter. After it started bubbling, she grabbed two coffee mugs from her cupboard and prepared their drinks with half and half and a couple of sugar cubes.

"Get it together…pretend the dildo never happened," she whispered to herself before carrying the mugs out into the living room.

She set their coffee down on two coasters and sat demurely next to him. Her locs flowed over her shoulders, giving her a regal appearance.

"Your home is very eclectic…feels cozy too," he said, surveying her taste in vibrant, colorful decorations.

She filled her walls with Mardi Gras feathers and personal beadwork that she mounted on frames, along with pictures of mid-century carnival second lines and jazz funerals. There were whimsical art nouveau pieces from specialty shops around town she purchased of stain-glassed butterflies and Black fairies. French doors that led to the small courtyard out back stayed hidden behind saffron double-laced drapes that her grandmother made for her.

She jumped up and dimmed the setting on the lamp lights. Her purse sat on top of the baby grand. She checked the front door lock to make sure it was secure.

"Your phone kept buzzing in your purse," he said.

He'd lifted his coffee mug and puckered his lips to blow the hot steam away from the drink. Celeste rummaged through her purse and pulled out her cell. Mercy and Nae Nae had both responded to the group text she sent out. She ran her fingertip across the keypad, letting them know he was in her home having coffee. Three green chat bubbles danced on the screen as Mercy typed back something.

YOU BROUGHT THAT MAN HOME WITH YOU?!

Celeste glanced at Terry who sipped his drink and surveyed the surroundings like it was a museum installation. Her artsy style always impressed visitors, especially with the limited space a cottage afforded her. She typed a quick message back.

I'LL LET Y'ALL KNOW HOW THINGS GO IN CASE I NEED THE CAVALRY!

Celeste carried her silenced phone back to the couch and placed it on a side table. She joined Terry and savored the coffee after a pleasant outing.

"This is very good. A nice way to end the evening with you," he said.

She fretted in her seat, wondering how to salvage the poor impression she made on him. He reached over and stroked her arm.

"Are you still thinking about the sex toy on the floor?"

Celeste's head slumped forward, and he laughed again, the rich baritone filling up her home and taking the tension out of her shoulders. Those emerald eyes worked their magic again like they did in the restaurant, driving her to spill out her life in intimate ways she'd never do with anyone else on a first date.

"I can explain—"

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

She tucked a thick loc behind one ear and left his side for a second and retrieved the plantation pictures from her refrigerator.

Handing them to Terry, she sat next to him again.

"One day I want to buy a home like these. I've been saving money and working two jobs for the last two years. On top of my sewing and hustling extra money, I ventured into online fetish content. I have pretty feet, so…I created a website on a BDSM platform to sell explicit pictures and videos. I filmed my first video tonight…right before you called me out for dinner."

"Okay…is that it?"

"Yeah."

"Do you need a director?"

Celeste cackled and threw a hand over her mouth, and Terry grinned, looking at her legs. He lifted her left foot and tugged at her modest heel.

"I want to see these pretty feet men are paying to see," he teased.

She brushed at his hand, but he already pulled the heel off. He gently massaged her toes through the thigh-high, sheer black stockings and his touch shot ticklish sparks up her leg.

"You stand on your feet all day…working hard to achieve your dream. I'd never judge you for doing something that helps you do that. I think it's sexy. You do have attractive feet, by the way…"

He stared at her foot as he kept kneading out the day through his fingers and she leaned back in the sectional to give him more room to work. She even kicked off the other shoe, and he worked on that tired foot, too.

"You deserve the world, Celeste Profitt," he said.

He kissed each toe of her left foot and inched his soft lips to her ankle and further along her leg until he stopped above the kneecap, just at the junction where the stocking and her uncovered skin met.

"Is this okay?" he asked, waiting for permission to continue.

"Yesss," she hissed, bewitched by those eyes that transformed into something dangerous…predatory.

Was this how the devil tricked Eve inside the Garden of Eden? Not by ripe red apples or promises of wisdom, but jade jewels for eyes that blazed with seduction. His lids nearly closed to mere slits, and the blood in her veins chilled at how viper-like he looked arched across her leg.

The cautious voice of Celeste's cousin rattled in her ear with his warning from the night on Bourbon Street.

"Uh uh…no ma'am. Leave that one alone."

Dangerous.

Sinful.

Unholy.

Her eyes blurred. She looked at Terry as if she'd plunged under water and the liquid distorted her vision. His canine teeth seemed sharper than she remembered them being. He slid his tongue across them and she blinked, thinking the pink lighting in her home played tricks on her.

"Terry…"

He slithered his lips onto her lower inner thigh and pushed her dress up to her hips, revealing her thong underwear. Licking her thigh, the moisture from his tongue soaked through the stocking. Celeste stayed still, afraid to break the spell he had over her.

"May I keep going?" he asked.

"Please," she said, with a quiver in her voice.

He gave the crotch of her thong a delicate kiss with his plush lips, moving higher until the tip of his tongue twirled around her clit. The friction from the thong combined with the pressure of his tongue on her sensitive jewel arched her back high. She palmed his head with both hands, hoping to tether herself. Her vulva swelled with juicy arousal and her inner labia puffed with engorgement. He hooked a finger and slid her thong aside.

"Here is the real meal," he hummed, pushing his mouth into her vulva.

His tongue traced invisible sigils of circular shapes and Celeste watched her pussy slicken his mouth until it glistened with her wetness. He slathered her labia with saliva and dragged his wide, hot tongue along her inner thigh. She yelped when she felt a nip from his teeth on her flesh and then a sharp numbness flooded that area, removing the sting of pain.

He licked her vulva again before feasting on her clit, sucking it with a dexterous mouth that never stopped tasting, teasing, and licking every inch of her pussy.

"You taste so good…the blood…your pussy…so good…" he hummed into her flesh.

Her skin aflame, Celeste let all the exquisite sensations flow through her body. She needed this. Needed this man. Needed his mouth. His tongue. His rough teeth…

Another quick stinging sensation pricked her thigh again, and Terry took his time sucking on that spot and fingering her clit. He plucked at the responsive bud.

"Terry!" she cried out, unable to endure the pleasure of his mouth on her thigh and his fingers playing a symphony on her clit at the same time.

The palm of his huge hand pushed her back down and held her in place.

"Do. Not. Move."

The stern tone forced her into submission. She wanted to obey. Badly. His tongue and lips became savage instruments on her pussy. He pushed her legs back, and she held them for him while he ripped her thong into shreds yanking them off. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling as she noticed the feeling of intoxication taking over her body. It was like being high on exceptional weed or rolling on high-grade ecstasy. Their shadows mingled above her, performing their own sexual dance separate from them.

Terry rose above her, and she could clearly see the heavy erection bulging through his pants. She whimpered at the sight. His shit was big. Gold help her. He lowered his face and kissed her, the taste of her pussy and chicory coffee delicious in her own mouth. She licked her wetness from his lips and he held still to enjoy her tongue's affectionate ministrations.

He maneuvered himself comfortably in the recliner and tugged on her dress.

"Take this off for me," he said. "I want to feel you against me."

Celeste stood and pulled her dress over her head. It tangled in her hair and she fussed with the long locs until she became free, standing before him in her bra and stockings.

"It should be illegal for you to be this sexy," he said, his eyes lifting up and down her shapely physique like an elevator.

He zeroed in on her vulva and licked his lips again.

Celeste unhooked her bra from the back and let it slip down to the floor. Her breasts looked tantalizing in the pink lighting. Terry palmed their fullness and pushed them together. He gently pinched both nipples until they stood like dark cinnamon hard candies. Delectable and sugary sweet.

He engulfed the left nipple and sucked on it, causing it to grow stiffer and more sensitive. She moaned and tilted her head back. The pleasure of his licking and sucking increased her lust for him. She stroked the waves in his hair and he pushed his face between her breasts. Her fullness pleased him because he groaned and spoke her name into her chest, the warm air from his mouth arousing her to a fever pitch. Her pussy throbbed, and he continued sucking and fondling until her legs quaked. She thought she would faint in his arms.

"Beautiful breasts, heavy the way I like them…should I cum on them now, or later?" he asked.

"Later," she said with a breathy moan, wanting to keep him there longer to stretch out her pleasure.

He turned her around and stood. Pushing her locs aside, he kissed the back of her neck and trailed a methodical line down her spine with his tongue, waking up every nerve ending on her back. She whimpered and allowed herself to stay focused on every part of her body that he catered to, like he was priming her for something extraordinary.

He sat on the sectional again and kissed each of her ass cheeks. Afterward, he struck each one with a fully open palm.

"The recoil is crazy," he said.

She turned to face him and lowered her lips for another languid kiss, pleased that every part of her body excited him. Her locs shrouded him in a curtain of thick coiling ropes, reminding her of Medusa trapping an unsuspecting victim who stumbled into her lair. His tranquil eyes stopped her from making contact with his lips. They stared at her in wonder, and she recognized a kindred spirit within them. Yes, there in the center of his pupils, reflected back to her, was a yearning for something more in the world. A longing for another soul to banish the loneliness with true companionship. He was the only legacy of his family, a widower with just an elderly grandmother to care for. Her eyes welled up, and he brushed away her tears with his thumb.

"Why are you crying, beautiful Celeste?"

"I want what you want."

He wrenched his eyes away.

"And what do you think I want?" he asked.

"Someone for yourself. Just like me. When was the last time you had anyone in your life…for a relationship?"

His eyes snapped shut, and he tilted his neck.

"Long enough that I don't care to remember."

"But you want that, right? A chance to have someone of your own again?"

An inner struggle flashed behind those emerald eyes.

"Maybe this was a mistake. I should leave before this goes any further," he said.

"Please…don't leave. I like you and I want you here with me."

He stroked her cheek and pushed his fingers into her locs, tangling them until his hand became lost in the thick forest of hair.

"I like you too…you sweet, sexy…vulnerable woman."

"Vulnerable?"

She rose, and he didn't let go of her hair.

"Your heart is so open…so wide open…and pure. People sense that, and you attract them like a beacon of light in a shadowy world. You can't even see what a safe harbor you are for others. It's why you have so many friends and why so many people gravitate to you…want to be near you."

"Except for people I want to be with," she said, thinking of all the boyfriends she pinned her hopes on over the last five years.

"The one made for you just hasn't arrived yet. You must be patient. Steadfast."

"Maybe you're the one for me."

He pressed the side of his face against her breasts and rested there. She rubbed his hair and hummed a soft, made-up tune until he stood abruptly.

"Terry…don't…don't go," she pleaded.

Her tone kept him from stepping further from her grasp. She threw her arms around his waist and refused to let him go. He circled his arms around her shoulders and they stayed in that position for a long time, listening to each other breathe. Her heart beat out an anxious rhythm and she couldn't stop trembling, fearful he would still walk out on her. He gave her peace. Pleasure. A hope for something better.

"I want you to stay."

Those words must've been the magic key to get him functioning again. Lowering his lips, he kissed her, and his arms instinctively relaxed around her, as if they were always meant to be there.

She pulled away and held both his hands, leading him to her bedroom. Feeling confident in her choice for the night, she lit the large gold votive candles on both of her low, bed-side tables to create a romantic ambiance. She thanked Jesus that she made her bed up after breakfast that morning. The room was in less disarray than the living room. Without trepidation, she unbuttoned his dress shirt and gasped when she revealed the gift that was his chest. The chiseled abdominal V lines looked unreal and she glanced at his eyes to show him how much she appreciated the effort he made to keep his body tight.

Terry slowly pulled off his shirted and kicked off his shoes while Celeste unfastened his leather belt. The thin gold buckle had an intricate square design, and as she unzipped his slacks, he grabbed the back of her neck and smashed his lips against hers, sealing the deal in her bedroom. His tongue snaked into her mouth with such force that she gasped for breath, putting a pause on further actions until she could touch his clothing without her fingers shaking.

A corner of her mind buzzed with a subtle warning, but the rest of her brain worked on autopilot. She might never see this man again, but she was going to enjoy him for as long as he was in her presence. He slipped his pants and underwear down, wiggling his legs free. She helped slide his black dress socks off and willingly dropped to her knees as he gripped his dick and stroked it.

In the candlelight, the girth and length went beyond what she imagined, and the color was also a darker shade with the engorgement of blood. His balls hung like fat, round fruit with a thick, dark brown seam down the middle. His erection had a slightly upward curve and the wide head showed a slit already dripping with pre-cum. Her clit twitched at the sight and she moaned when her pussy throbbed deep within her walls. She touched her vulva and the glossy natural lubrication there caused Terry's nostrils to flair. He sniffed the air and his eyes latched onto hers.

"You want me?" he asked.

"I do."

"Show me."

Celeste gripped the weight of his dick in her hand. Hot, thick, and ready, the veins crossing the sides pulsed and the entire thing felt alive. He thrust the head inside her eager mouth, stuffing it so full of hard dick that she choked on it, gagging until she pulled it out to adjust her ability to handle all of it. He grasped a few of her locs by the root and held her head steady, pushing his erection down her throat again. The gawking sounds she created with his face fucking seemed so shameless in her bedroom. Saliva dripped down her chin and dropped onto her breasts and he pinched one of her nipples to keep her focused on deep-throating him.

She pushed a hand against his stomach to control the depth, and that didn't stop him from fucking her mouth into submission. This is what she wanted. She held her hands against his rock-hard thighs and worked her neck to the best of her abilities. He threw his head back to bark out her name in a heated rush of sound and fury. She took that tiny respite to lick her tongue across the veins on his dick and lifted it so she could tend to his balls. Licking down the seam, she opened her mouth wide to suck on each sack, paying close attention to how sensitive he was between his legs. He accepted her skillful licks on the underside of his dick as she worked her way back to the bulbous tip. She let it sit on her lips and stared up at him.

He reached for her waist before he released any cum, his breath full of heavy pants and moans barely articulating her name clearly. Terry lifted her up, and she locked her legs around his hips again. He crawled onto the bed, carrying her with his dick wedged between her slick folds that spread against his length.

Their shadows mirrored their movement as he dropped her onto the firm mattress, covered in a fluffy orange and pink blanket. Celeste kept her hands draped around his neck. Their lips joined, and they shared slow, deep kisses that had her mouth watering like a river and her pussy constantly throbbing, yearning to be stretched and filled. He reached down to her clit and fingered her slowly. While kissing, her mind spun into a funnel of euphoria. Every stroke on her clit from his thick fingers forced delirious pants from her into his craven mouth.

"Would you like to cum on my fingers, Celeste?" he purred in her ear, dipping his tongue in and out. He licked the shell of her ear and moaned her name like a sacred mantra.

Words failed her as she murmured indecipherable sounds. Two of his fingers dipped lower and plunged into a molten pussy that squelched with his tender, shallow thrusts.

"Tight pussy…" he moaned.

In the candlelight of her bedroom, his eyes shined with an eroticism she didn't know could exist. Every breath she took stayed in synch with his, as if he were orchestrating a love-conquering like some forbidden dark lothario sneaking into a young maiden's boudoir. Her upper half rose from the bed as he fingered her pussy with such care that she couldn't see straight anymore.

"That's a good girl…I love how you squeeze around my fingers like that. Deeper? Is that what you want, my love? Oh, yes…you know how to take it deep…"

He removed his fingers to taste her wetness, and a weak mewling sound fell from her lips. It turned into pitiful whimpering as he returned those thick digits to the center of her being, digging deeper and deeper. Whipping her head back and forth, Celeste couldn't contain the surge of pleasure that coursed under the dermis of her skin and not just the top layer. Whatever he was doing crept into a deeper part of her carnal need. He tapped into something primal.

"Cum for me, Celeste. I want to see you break apart on my fingers. Can you do that for me? Look how beautiful you look jumping on this bed…just for me."

Hunched over her writhing frame, he kept his gorgeous face three inches away from hers and the lustful scrutiny in his eyes burst a damn within her. She broke down and begged for an orgasm.

"Make me cum, Terry! Ohmigod…I can't take any more—"

"Yes, you can. You're a big girl…you can take whatever…I…give…you."

His index and middle finger tapped against her walls, and his thumb rubbed hard circles into her clit. Celeste's eyes rolled back and her body jerked on the bed. Her pussy spasmed all around his fingers.

"Terry!" she wailed.

He pushed his lips against her mouth and swallowed the shouting she couldn't contain. A full body shudder took over, and he talked her through that too, his baritone becoming a lullaby of praise.

"That's my good girl. You lasted longer than you thought you could. Look how proud I am of you. See how hard my dick is? See it? All for you. Your beautiful body still shakes and clenches my fingers. You're wonderful, truly wonderful baby…"

He kissed her from the top of her head and all across her breasts. His moist lips gave butterfly kisses down to her belly button and beyond. Celeste didn't think her body would ever stop shaking. He lingered on her pussy, giving her a loving aftercare with his tongue and mouth. His patient touches brought her down from the explosive orgasm, and she drifted into a comfortable, dreamy state of bliss.

"My beautiful queen," he murmured into her thighs.

Bathed in sweat, Celeste glimpsed the flickering of her shadow on the ceiling from the candlelight. She blinked sweat from her eyes.

Why did it look like her shadow was the only one up there?

She rose onto her elbows, trying to understand what kind of optical illusion she was witnessing, but Terry hooked her attention away from the lone shadow and cuddled with her on the bed.

"I loved watching your face as you came," he said.

Feeling shy and unable to think of anything to say, she rubbed on his bicep and looked at the star and crescent tattoo.

"Are you Muslim?" she said, tracing her index finger under the crescent.

"No."

"But this is a Muslim tattoo."

"It's not. This is actually an old symbol for the sun and the moon. It represents the balance of power that comes from those heavenly bodies."

"Masculine and feminine energy."

"Not exactly, but that is a cool interpretation."

"It's shaped like New Orleans…this crescent is the mighty Mississippi River…the sharp bend in the water that curves around my city like a smile that says bon matin when the sun comes up and…what is that?"

She pointed to the glint of pale iridescent ink that wasn't visible with the naked eye until another form of light struck it above the eight-pointed star. Here, it was the candles on the nightstands. The tattoo turned into a fully closed circle with the star in the center.

"I had a clever tattoo artist experimenting with new ink," he said.

"As above, so below," she said, touching the top part of the circle. "Or…night and day."

She kissed the star on his bicep and studied the features of his face.

"Can you stay with me all night, Terry?"

"I will stay for as long as you want."

She smiled and lifted herself so that she could look directly into his eyes.

"I want to make love with you. I want to feel you inside of me so deep that I cry," she said, her lips trembling with emotion.

He brushed back the hair from her shoulder and rubbed on her hip.

"I will give you everything you want. Ask and you shall receive," he said.

His lips didn't move, but she heard his voice in her head clearly. Succinctly.

"Give me what I want," she said, lying back on the bed.

Terry wasted no time hooking her legs over his arms and settling between her thighs.

"I love how the brown gives way to the delicate pink," he said.

The tip of his dick pressed against her labia, parting them, revealing the inner flesh the color of pink cotton candy surrounded by the chocolaty brown of her vulva. Celeste glanced over at her nightstand drawer, knowing there were condoms inside. In her heightened state, prophylactics were the last thing she cared about. She didn't even ask Terry if he carried any. It didn't matter. Her body floated on a current of biological urges that she couldn't control. The quiet part of her mind latched on to the brown plastic baby on top of the nightstand that she nearly swallowed eating the King Cake two nights ago. Protect your womb. She ignored the warning.

"Look at me, Celeste," he said.

She turned her head and luxuriated in the feel of him holding her. This she would remember as the before time with him, the small window of opportunity to escape that she squandered because of the overpowering persona Terry presented to her. She caved into her libido.

Unprotected heart.

Unprotected sex.

Unprotected soul.

"Say yes," he said above her, those sensual eyes piercing her psyche.

"Yes—"

The world slowed to a crawl.

Terry pushed into her depths and she accepted all of his thickness as a blessing. She clawed at his back and watched the lone shadow dance across her ceiling as tears pricked her eyes and coursed down her cheeks.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…and I will give you rest," she murmured to her shadow above, not knowing why that passage in the bible slipped from her mouth.

With each stroke Terry gave her, the shape of his dick tugged on her clit, causing Celeste to cry out to God, emphasizing the ecstasy she experienced. Their union shattered any perception she had of what lovemaking could be.

His mouth stayed buried in neck, sucking on it and speaking life into the delirious flesh that submitted to his will. Her bed squeaked and bounced with the headboard smacking the wall so hard she thought for sure they would crash out onto the street.

He leaned back to watch his dick plunge in and out, the ramrod brown parting her labia that fit around him like a second skin for his erection. Her pussy turned into a magician, making that dick disappear and re-appear shinier than her mama's polished silver. The hard heat of it kept her panting and clinging to his arms. Every part of her body, from a single follicle on her scalp to the callous on the bottom of her right foot, felt the rapturous gratification. Full body orgasms washed across her in steady waves until it reached a feverish pitch. Terry sensed the coming explosion and flipped her over onto her stomach. He straddled her thighs, hunkered down, and pounded her pussy. The loud smacks of their bodies colliding added to the intense carnality. He held her neck down, but she could still look back at him with glossy brown eyes that pleaded for him to never stop.

"Fuck me!" she yelled.

Terry's brows furrowed while putting his back into it, and perspiration dripped from his forehead, landing on her back. She could feel it rolling down to the crack of her ass and mingling with her own sweat. Awareness of all sensations grew tenfold. Even his grunts created vibrations she could feel across her skin.

"Celeste!" he roared, bucking harder against her ass, stretching her pussy wide open.

The sound of her name fell onto the back of her neck and burrowed into the raging skin like the tactile sensations of a finger stroking it. Their fucking was outrageous. She reveled in it. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth and he kissed her, keeping his stroke game going.

"You feel so good…all around my dick…make me feel you more, baby…I'll give you what you need any time you want it. Hear me? Shit! Right there, right there, right there…lemme hit that spot deeper right there…so fucking tight on this dick!"

She twisted on her side slightly so that he could still see the side of her ass, as well as her breasts. He volleyed those wondrous eyes on her ass and face, not wanting to miss any action on either one. He grabbed a fistful of locs and used them like reins to slow his gyrating thrusts. Agonizingly slow, Terry rolled his hips and varied his hard pumps from deep to shallow, driving her to the edge.

Eyes locked, he spoke five devastating words.

"Can I cum inside you?"

His body moved with sinuous elegance, rocking into her with a heat on the verge of losing control. She clenched her walls around him and he groaned, his lips forming a startled "O" shape. His head fell back, and Celeste watched sensual pleasure twitch every muscle in his cheeks and forehead. He had the face of an angel, and she seared that image of him in her brain forever.

"Lemme cum inside you…please…lemme cum…."

"I want you to cum."

"Tell me…"

"I want you to cum inside me."

"Say it again."

His eyes trapped her. She would do anything he said. Follow him anywhere. Give him anything.

"Cum inside your pussy," she begged.

"All this is mine?"

He tugged on her locs harder.

"Yours…all yours…"

He pushed her left leg over until she was back in missionary. Twining both legs around his hips, she gasped at the friction of her clit brushing against his wiry pubic hairs that were soaked by her wetness. He was so deep inside of her that her stomach moved with each thrust.

"You belong to me now. Do you understand this?"

In the hazy glow of their lovemaking, Celeste nodded. He palmed her breast and fondled it.

"All of this belongs to me. No harm shall come to you as long as you belong to me…"

His words sounded more like an incantation than love talk. She squeezed her pussy to show she had love magic, too.

"Damn, Celeste, I'm 'bout to bust…I can't hold back…"

"Cum for me…please…take this pussy…oh…shit!"

She let go.

Her climax started behind her eyes, watching him seize up and cum, his semen spilling into her, hot and fast, coating her walls, filling her to the brim. Her pussy throbbed, milking his dick, and they both watched the lower part of his erection pulse as it pushed out an elixir that would doom her future.

"Fucckkk!" he shrieked, falling forward and covering her with his big, heavy body.

She held him tight, delighting in every after-climax shiver and shake his body made because of her. Her own body quivered with aftershocks, too.

"You are incredible. I was not expecting all that," he said, falling away from her, panting and rubbing sweat on his chest.

She snuggled against his side and he pulled her in close, both needing to feel their warmth and sweat co-mingling. Unfortunately, her bladder called for attention and she crept away to pee.

Inside her bathroom, she giggled at her reflection in the mirror. Her nipples were still hard and her pussy kept twitching, missing the feel of his dick stuffing it full. This was going to be a problem. Sex that good could become dangerously addictive.

Her face took on a somber expression, thinking about not using a condom. She quickly opened her sink cabinet and pulled out a small box of Plan B. She ripped the box open, popped the pill in her mouth, and used sink water to wash it down. A trip to the clinic would be in order to check for STDs. She was too grown at twenty-seven to be moving ass backwards with her sexual health.

How many times had she told younger cousins to use protection at all times?

Hypocrite.

Celeste grabbed a clean wash cloth from the wall shelf above the toilet and gave herself a quick PTA cleaning. She padded back to her bedroom and lost her breath looking at the fine man lying on his side under the covers waiting for her.

"Hey beautiful," he said, lifting the blanket for her to join him.

Celeste wasted no time climbing in beside her favorite lover.

He spooned around her backside and she noticed something peculiar before she blew out the candles. There were two shadows back on the ceiling again. Hers. And his.

Chapter 7 HERE.

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[radioactivepeasant]

Snippet (or chapter?) Thursday

Viper: Exodus

Jak, now a captain in Spargus's infiltration division, has been gathering people who have helped them in the past, and Daxter has convinced whole sections of the slums to trust the Wastelanders over the Grand Council. (LONG post warning, it's basically a whole chapter)

240 people crowded around the narrow road in front of the Naughty Ottsel, murmuring nervously to each other. They had been slowly preparing for this night for weeks -- hardly enough time to uproot an entire life. But then, many of them had been uprooted already. Many carried young children, only recently reunited with their families after Praxis's mass kidnapping orders during his hunt for Mar. They varied between terrified silence and hungry wailing as the people waited for their chosen leader to arrive.

It had been a difficult, and at times acrimonious, task choosing someone to lead them once beyond the walls for good. Fifty people had withdrawn from the evacuation entirely when a Lurker was ultimately chosen. But Brutter had lived among the people of the Water Slums for years. They knew him. They trusted him.

His deputy, the blonde barmaid from the pub, seemed like an odd choice at first. But as preparations progressed, it became clear that Tess had a way with people -- and with weapons. Her confidence put them all at ease.

The murmurs quieted when Tess appeared with Brutter, Jak, and Daxter. More people gathered in the pub doorway behind them to watch, but it was clear that they were on team "leaving Haven is mutiny or cowardice".

"This is everyone?" Brutter called, furrowing his fuzzy brow. "Water Slum friends?"

"Here!" One of his former neighbors called, waving from a section of the crowd.

"Good! Saltpeter Row?"

The inhabitants of the row houses made varying sounds of acknowledgement, and Brutter nodded, continuing to call out the names of streets who had agreed to join the secession.

"Morgan street!"

"Redcap Row!"

"Shark Flats!"

"4th Street!"

Only a few groups were unaccounted for in the end, though this wasn't as much of a surprise as expected. They'd known from the beginning that some would probably back out when it was time to go. Better the devil they knew than the one they didn't. But everyone else had shown up.

They shuffled restlessly, meager belongings in carts or on their backs, and waited to find out what was going to happen. Surely they weren't all going to walk to the abandoned temple!

Brutter nodded to Jak, and the boy stepped forward and raised his voice.

"Okay! Here's what's going to happen! Anyone with small kids or trouble walking is going to take the air train to the foot of the mountains. The Babak are waiting with balloons to get you to the temple. It's going to take a few trips, so don't crowd. You'll all get there, I promise."

Daxter took over as soon as Jak finished.

"Everybody else: we're formin' a convoy of four groups! If you know how to fight, yer on the outside of the column. If you don't, stay in the middle! We're gonna stop for breaks sometimes, but we're hiking straight through the Industrial Sector, folks. It's gonna be a good hour or two before we get everyone into the Power Station teleport ring."

Jak nodded and pointed left in the direction they'd be heading. "Tess will be leading Group 1 with the gyro-burster to clear out any threats ahead of us. Jinx is taking Group 2. Group 3, you're with Mogg and Grim. Everyone else, you're with me. For now, everyone with kids move to the right."

The shuffle was tedious, and it was close to ten minutes before everyone was divided into the five groups. The thirty-five people with elderly, children, and mobility issues huddled together as the rest split into crowds of roughly fifty each. Even fifty civilians was a massive number to protect from Deathbots and metalheads. Tess and Jak shot each other grim looks, each worrying about the same thing:

How many people were they going to lose on their way to the power station?

"I'm coming too!"

Jak turned to see Keira pulling her arm free of Samos's grip. His heart leapt: he'd hoped against hope that she would flee the city with them. That she would wrench herself out from under the sage's thumb.

"Keira, no!" Samos gasped, "This is madness!”

He turned a stern look to Jak. "This has gone too far, Jak! You are out of control!"

"Out of your control," Daxter corrected sharply, "That's what you mean, right?"

"You're leading these people to their deaths! I will not allow my daughter to be one of them!" Samos snapped.

Jak felt nerves crawl up his throat. He wanted to vomit. It didn't matter how confident he was as a Captain of Spargus, Samos had programmed his behavior for years and standing up to him was hard.

He swallowed back bile and cleared the trepidation from his throat.

"You didn't have a problem sending someone else's kid into hell for your own gain. You're not doing yourself any favors by waiting until now to have a problem with it."

Keira gestured to him. "See? Thank you, Jak."

"Keira, that's enough," said Samos sternly, "I know it seems harsh to you, but someday you will understand that I am simply doing what is best for you!"

"No, I'm doing what's best for me," Keira retorted, "I'm helping people."

"Keira, I forbid you to step out that door!" the sage cried in a panic.

Keira swung a bag up onto her shoulder.

"I'm no good to anyone in a gilded cage, kept out of danger. And you have no right to fight about it after what you put the boys through."

"Of course I have a right! You're my daughter!"

Keira set her jaw. She closed her eyes and took in a long, shaky breath. Then she stepped out the door.

"Goodbye, Daddy."

Tess squeezed her shoulder as she passed them to gather her platoon. "Hang in there, kiddo," she murmured.

Brutter also eyed her with sympathy as he followed.

"Let us go, friends!" He loudly croaked, "Before we are losing the moonlight!"

Jak frowned thoughtfully. "You got a gun?" he asked Keira quietly.

She shook her head, still trembling with the same adrenaline he felt.

"N-no. But I've got some EMP grenades I've been working on. In case of bots."

Jak's eyebrows rose, and he grinned. "Can't wait to see 'em."

"Yeah well. You probably won't have to.”

÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

Two days after the exodus

"I hooked the generator up to the temple, so we should have working shields in a day or two." Keira collapsed onto the ledge beside Jak, utterly exhausted.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and dropped an impulsive kiss onto the crown of her head. "You're a miracle worker, you know that?"

The butterflies in Keira's stomach made an unwelcome encore appearance, beating their little wings to fan heat up into her cheeks. She liked this new Jak. He was more open with his feelings. Braver about touch. But Precursors if it wasn't an adjustment!

Still. She needed the comfort just now. Keira had just uprooted…everything, for the second time in her young life. She'd walked away from her own father, and no matter how justified she knew it was, it still hurt. She felt small, and lost, in a world far too large for her. Had she really stopped to fully count the cost of joining the formation of the refugee village?

Yes. She had. Keira forced her mind away from the betrayal in her father's eyes, back to the joy that was in Jak’s eyes when he whispered to her that he'd found freedom.

"I don't feel like a miracle worker," she confessed after a few minutes, "I feel like a fraud. I'm- I'm just shy of completely overwhelmed. We have almost nothing, and if Haven decides they don't like us being up here, I don't know how long my shields will even work. Why are they looking to me for all the solutions? Why not Brutter, or Tess?"

Jak made a sympathetic noise. "Yeah...I know how that feels. But apparently sixteen is "too young" to be carrying that kind of responsibility on your shoulders. So. I dunno, take it easy on yourself, I guess?"

Keira rested her head on Jak’s shoulder with a soft hmph, and noted with some amusement that she could hear how fast his heart was beating. Lucky for them Jak had already been in battle that day, clearing out the last metalheads, and had no more eco to react to the adrenaline. Dark Jak was much more snuggly than regular Jak, and much denser in mass, which made it fairly problematic if he happened to doze off while resting against her.

“Kee, I-”

Jak swallowed hard.

“I have to- we need- Mountain Clan is going to join the Wasteland Federation. You- everyone is going to have to get used to a new set of laws. A new. A new king.”

Keira winced. She'd had enough of overbearing authority figures.

“It's going to be…interesting,” she said begrudgingly.

“I have to report to him.” Jak sounded like he was trying to sound her out, gauge her reaction.

“I was going to call him tonight, actually. I just…I guess, don't freak out if he…when he gets here.”

Here? Keira sat up to look Jak in the eye.

“This king person is coming here?”

The buzz of the crickets down the slope seemed to rise, drowning out her thoughts. In a way, she'd known it had to be coming. Jak and Daxter wouldn't have been so insistent on evacuation if there wasn't actually a war coming. It just hadn't felt real.

She looked down at the tents and rudimentary huts their people -- Precursors, she had people now -- had spent the last two days setting up along the hill. So many people who couldn't fight, or wouldn't. If the Wastelanders really were a warrior people, would this king even accept them?

“He has to, Keira. Even if Haven hadn't-” Jak tensed, and a low anger rippled below his words. “Even if they hadn't tried to assassinate him, Damas would still have to come out here. He's the current head of the Federation, and all clans have to send representatives when someone threatens the whole.”

Leave it to Jak to speak of someone with that much power as casually as he spoke about Daxter.

“You all just call him by his name?”

Jak shrugged, and the grin he offered was a little sheepish. “Not to his face. Unless you're me, or Sig. Daxter could, he just likes to call him Spikes or King Lunatic instead. Damas doesn't mind.”

“Spikes?” Keira felt her eyebrows go up. "King Lunatic?!"

“You'll see when he gets here.”

Jak was entirely too calm about that. Keira grimaced, but reasoned that if he was more relaxed now than he was when talking about Ashelin or Samos, that had to be a promising sign, right?

“He um. He sounds…tough,” the girl said, gingerly searching for words. “Is…Is he-”

Keira gave up beating about the bush and decided to just ask the question honestly.

“Jak, you talk about him like you actually trust him. Do you?”

“With my life,” Jak answered, simply and openly.

“And I'd trust him with all of those people down there, more importantly. I'd trust him with Daxter’s life. With yours.”

What could she say to that? Even when they'd been little kids, when they had foolishly trusted Samos to have their best interests at heart, Jak hadn't trusted him around Daxter. And after the…the prison, Daxter was probably the only person Jak truly trusted. For some warrior king of a nation of Sigs to have earned Jak's faith so completely was hard to believe. Almost as hard to take as the respect in Jak’s voice when he so much as mentioned this man.

Who was this King Damas, and what had he done to make Jak of all people so devoted to him and his cause? And more importantly in Keira's mind, did he deserve Jak's loyalty?

“You look up to this guy,” she realized.

And Jak laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked embarrassed, and laughed.

“Yeah…I mean, I…yeah…he's kind of my hero.”

He covered his face abruptly as his ears burned scarlet.

“Don't you dare tell him I said that.”

“Oh right, because I'd totally get a chance to have a casual conversation with a king and squeal on you.” Keira rolled her eyes.

“If he's as cool as you think he is, maybe he already knows, anyway.”

“No!” Jak groaned, “Don't say that, I have an image to keep up!”

Keira cracked a smile and settled her head back onto Jak’s shoulder. His arm slipped around her waist, and she felt his cheek rest against her hair. An innocent closeness neither of them had felt in too many years, shared for a moment at the beginning of something new and a little frightening.

“When do you think your king will get here?”

Jak grinned into Keira's hair. She'd stopped calling Damas “this king”. The simple acknowledgement of how important he was to Jak felt a lot more validating than he'd anticipated.

“If I call him tonight, I'd say tomorrow evening at the latest. It's only about five hours from here to home by air train.”

Considering the commotion at dawn, when some hut building efforts were abandoned in favor of clearing a landing strip, Keira had her suspicions that the Wastelanders were already on their way before Jak ever placed that hushed and enthusiastic call.

“Clear the field!” Grim waved his arms wildly, scattering refugees into tents and back onto the rope bridge the Babak had built into the temple. “Make some room, everybody!”

Jak was out of his tent with Daxter on his shoulder before the craft had even begun its final approach. He darted to the edge of the makeshift runway and just waited. Brutter opened the door of his hut with a surprised croak, and Tess was already loosening her gun in her holster. Just in case.

There was a pit in Keira's stomach as she joined the people watching the air train land. This was it. Judgement Day.

Out of the air train seven heavily armored Wastelanders practically sauntered, six taking guard positions in a semicircle while the seventh strolled right up to where Jak stood ramrod straight.

It was unnatural, seeing Jak like that. Even more so seeing Daxter in the same attentive posture on his shoulder. Keira watched them nervously for cues.

Jak spoke about the leader of the Wastelander Federation like he was this great hero. Like he idolized the man. Keira suspected she'd get a better read on this new authority figure by observing how he spoke to the boys -- if he spoke to them directly at all.

The king of the desert was an imposing man wielding an elaborate staff. He didn't look like the type to suffer fools gladly. Keira watched his eyes sweep across the huts and lean-tos covering the slopes leading to the temple. They had already constructed fifteen small houses in the style of Sandover Village, and Vin and Keira had just finished setting up a basic eco grid for power. Was it good enough?

"By the forges boys!" The Wasteland king suddenly laughed aloud. "When you said you could find allies in the city, I thought you meant five or six, not an entire village!"

He clapped a hand to Jak’s unoccupied shoulder in a gesture Keira recognized -- with her share of bittersweet longing -- as pride.

"Welcome to Mountain Clan, sir," Jak answered, just as proud.

So. Jak wasn't exaggerating his admiration for this man. Not that Keira had thought he would. Jak wasn't prone to exaggeration and hyperbole. And while he still stood smartly at attention, if Keira looked closely she could see her friend practically vibrating with excitement. He behaved like a soldier -- the soldier Haven always wanted but could never have -- and yet at the same time he reminded Keira of nothing as much as a little boy whose parent had finally come home from a long journey.

That thought stuck in her mind as Brutter and Tess approached.

To her shock -- and the shock of the boys -- the Babak let out a jubilant cry when he recognized the man in armor.

"Brother Damas!" he trumpeted, catching the attention of the other Lurkers helping in the new village.

"Brother Damas lives! Our hearts are full!"

Damas looked taken aback for a moment, then a smile creased his weatherbeaten face and he reached out to clasp Brutter's forearm.

"You-! I remember you! It's been a long time, Bluefeather."

"Too long," Brutter croaked.

"Are your people safe?" Damas frowned. "I'm- I'm sorry. One operative wasn't enough to help free them. It was a poor repayment for the way you supported my family during the coup."

Sadly, the Babak leader shook his head. "We Lurkers were not saving your friends, Brother. We could not stop the executing after you exiled. Always my elders feel they failed you."

Damas squeezed the Lurker's thick forearm with an earnest expression. "You failed no one, Brother. Welcome to the Federation."

Beside them, Jak's face went from confusion to wonder to a barely restrained glee. Damas had organized the abolition efforts? That meant Jak had been working for Damas long before he ever heard the man's name! He exchanged excited looks with Daxter. This went beyond best case scenario for them. Their honorary tribe and their adopted people were now united.

"Now then!" Damas turned on his heel to raise an amused eyebrow at Jak.

"I've been getting extremely detailed reports from you, Captain. Come! Walk me through what you're doing up here!"

Jak practically scrambled to follow him, an almost silly grin stamped across his face. It made Keira's heart ache to realize she hadn't seen that smile since Sandover. Brutter broke into her thoughts with a gurgling chuckle.

"Once king, always king," he said fondly. "Brutter did not know he had offspring! Jak is very good son. Very loyal."

Keira jolted. "Offspring?! What do you mean?!"

Brutter looked confused, as though he thought his observation was obvious.

[leafyduckwebs]

Aether/Xiao hanahaki AU

I found this unfinished fic from months ago in my docs. It's abandoned and I won't finish it, however I reread it and thought "woah I cooked" so I'm posting it here. I might post this to ao3 too maybe. Also, if some parts of this seem familiar, it's because I took some sections of it and put them into a different fic that I actually finished. I didn't plagiarize!!!!

Ships: Aether/Xiao, Aether & Paimon

Characters: Aether, Xiao, the 2.7 interlude gang (briefly), Paimon, Albedo

Warnings: panic attack, vomiting, body horror (?), and blood typical for hanahaki, ends in a cliffhanger because it's unfinished. It is a ship fic but I didn't write the ship getting together, just the feelings and tension

<3

When Aether began coughing petals, he immediately knew why. He decides to keep it a secret to himself, and fails.

—---

It started when Aether felt his throat itch in the Chasm. 

He simply sighed in irritation, annoyed that he just had to get sick there and then. It wasn't surprising, considering how cold and dirty the chaotic space was, but that didn't make it any better. 

“What's wrong?” Xiao asked, tearing Aether out of his thoughts. Currently, Aether was kneeling down next to the resting Yaksha, carefully tending to his wounds. For the first time since they reunited here, the two were finally alone by themselves. Yelan, Yanfei, and Shinobu had all decided to scout ahead for clues in another tunnel, while Itto and Paimon were sleeping soundly on the other side of the camp. Of course, Aether hoped that his friends would stay safe, but he couldn’t help but be glad that they left for now. Xiao would never allow himself to appear this vulnerable if someone was watching. 

“....Nothing, just lost in thought.” The blonde answered as he continued to wipe the blood off the other’s face. “Please just rest?” 

For a moment, Xiao’s eyes narrowed, studying Aether’s face with suspicion. “Hm.” It wasn’t surprising, as he could always tell when Aether wasn’t telling the whole truth. Luckily, instead of questioning him more, the Adeptus nuzzled into his palm and let his eyes fall shut once more. 

Aether’s throat went dry.

—---

The itch quickly became a painful burn in his throat when Xiao announced that he’d sacrifice himself if needed. Aether ignored it and swallowed it down, walking forwards in long strides until his hands were grasped firmly on Xiao’s trembling shoulders. 

“No!” He cried out. Xiao flinched and the others looked shocked, so Aether took a deep breath and backed away before continuing. “No. You’re not doing that. You’ve sacrificed so much all your life. I won’t- we won’t let you just-” 

“I will do it to save you if needed, that is my duty. I will not change my mind.” Xiao argued back, looking way too calm for someone who just offered to let himself die here.

“Xiao-” 

They were interrupted by incoherent yelling and the sound of rocks crashing together. They looked towards the source of the disturbance and saw Itto curling up on the ground right next to a passageway that hadn’t been there before. Shinobu started cursing and immediately went to help him up, Yelan following suit. If this happened literally anywhere else, Aether would’ve found it funny. 

Upon hearing Shinobu explain the oni’s sensitivity to self sacrifice, Aether noticed that Xiao seemed to feel guilty for a split second.

His throat started burning again. This was getting really annoying. He made a mental note to ask Yanfei if she had any medicine on her the next time they set up camp. 

—---

The light was getting closer, but the darkness was surrounding the group too quickly. Everyone had been doing well so far with fending off the corrupted shadows, but they were getting tired. Sword in hand, Aether glanced at Xiao and realized, in horror, that he was running out of power. The yaksha’s mask broke, and the two locked eyes. Again, Xiao suddenly became too calm. 

What- no no no, Xiao no no NO- 

The blonde dropped his sword immediately, but before he could reach out, anemo surrounded him and everything went bright. 

Upon opening his eyes again, he found himself laying on dirt ground underneath a blue sky. There were also voices and blurry silhouettes that he couldn’t make out except for…..Paimon? 

Oh. That’s good. He thought distantly. Paimon's okay...unlike….

Aether scrambled up onto his feet, ignoring the searing pain in his joints. One of the voices gasped softly, their hand flying to his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. He ignored it and looked around. 

Me, Paimon, Yanfei. That’s her hand on my shoulder. Yelan. Shinobu and Itto. 

It felt as if the pain all over his body multiplied tenfold. Xiao was gone. Aether fell down onto his knees and screamed, tears welling in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. He gripped his own arms tightly and dug his nails in them hard enough to draw blood, screaming again and again. 

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe. His throat was on fire and he was thrown into multiple violent coughing fits in between sobs. There were hands on his back and arms, trying to pry his own hands away, but Aether couldn’t care. The world was spinning. Everything hurt too much. Xiao was really dead. Aether failed to make him see that he was so much more than a weapon. His messy teal hair, his beautiful and endlessly curious amber eyes, his strong sense of loyalty and his soft gentle voice. It was all gone, Xiao was all gone, and he was never coming back. The realization setting in caused Aether to have yet another panic attack. Yanfei and Paimon were trying their best to ground him, but neither were able to.

Distantly, he felt the familiar power of geo nearby. However, it was much, much stronger than it normally was. The blonde looked up just in time to see a figure in the distance turn away. Then the geo disappeared as quickly as it came, anemo settling into its place. Wait, was it..

“Conqueror of Demons?” 

“Little Dude!” 

“Adeptus Xiao!” 

It was. 

Ignoring how everything still spun, Aether stood up and approached Xiao’s crouched form. The adeptus was visibly shaken and covered in dirt, but was otherwise uninjured. When Aether hesitantly wrapped his arms around his trembling shoulders, he flinched, before melting into the touch and happily being swallowed into his hold. “Traveler..I- are you-” 

“Oh silly yaksha, please stop worrying about me. Archons…” He spoke softly, carding his fingers through Xiao’s hair. The other buried his face in his scarf and let out a quiet sob. Right now, Xiao was too exhausted to care that the rest of the group could see. “I-It’s okay, we’re okay, it’s okay, you idiot.” Aether wept. Gloved claws found their way around his bare waist and underneath his cape, gripping into his skin and pulling him closer. Xiao’s touch was cold, but he was so gentle, and Aether never wanted to move. 

Unfortunately, Xiao did just that when he realized that Yelan had been looming over the pair the whole time.

“Conqueror of Demons, are you alright?” She asked. 

He nodded as he quickly stood up. “Yes. Do not be concerned about me.” Aether facepalmed mentally. 

Yelan continued. “I’m glad, and I believe everyone here is too. You gave all of us quite the scare back there.” Her gaze shifted to Aether in particular, a knowing look in her eyes, causing his cheeks to pinken. 

—---

That night, after eating dinner with Xiao and leaving him to rest for tonight, Aether had another coughing fit. It had been building up in his chest all evening, but he held it so he wouldn’t worry anyone. At first, he thought that it was just an effect of being stuck under a dusty rock bed, but it seemed like he was actually getting sick. 

Luckily, he has just rented out a room at the Wangshu Inn for the next few days. Though, “renting” wouldn’t be the right word, as Verr gave it to him for free as always, to thank him for his contributions towards helping the inn. Normally, he didn't take advantage of this offer for more than a single night, if at all, but he felt that he and Paimon could use some peace and relaxation after everything that happened. Aether also wanted to look after Xiao. Despite the fact that he nearly died in one of the most horrifying ways possible, the Yaksha insisted on doing his patrol instead of resting. It took a fresh plate of extra sweet almond tofu and Aether eliminating the threats himself for him to stay home tonight. 

“...Xiao?” The traveler called out after he set the dessert on the balcony table. He knew that Xiao was very close by, since it wasn’t time for him to leave yet.

As expected, he felt a gust of wind in front of him immediately, Xiao’s figure materializing with it. “Aether. You called?” 

That annoying urge to cough came back. “I got rid of all of those hilichurls. And that abyss mage. A ruin guard, too. Can you stay here now and rest, just for tonight?”  At this, Xiao looked visibly surprised, his eyes widening. He stepped closer and looked over Aether from head to toe, focusing specifically on where he was covered in blood and dirt. Noticing this, Aether chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, it’s not mine.” Xiao shook his head. 

“...Even so, it’s not your burden to bear. The karma surrounding those demons can get you killed.” Aether opened his mouth to protest, but a look from Xiao shut him up. “But, since you made so much effort to keep me here, I’ll stay. But only for tonight, do not do this again in the future.” He looked away towards the distant mountains and fidgeted with his sleeve shyly. “...I appreciate what you’ve done..thank you.” He murmured. How cute.

“I’m glad. Also, I made you some almond tofu, sit with me?” Aether gestured at the table. He didn’t have to ask Xiao twice, since the adeptus immediately dug in, much to the blonde’s delight. 

Aether smiled at the memory, his heart fluttering at the image of Xiao’s pretty eyes lighting up at the sight of the dessert. Wait, what? He shook the thought away, instead focusing on going to his room while holding back yet another cough. 

Paimon greeted him when he opened the door. He didn’t expect her to still be awake, especially since she was currently snuggled in their shared bed with her pajamas on. “Aether! There you are!” She yawned. “Paimon was about to get worried. You always spend too much time with Xiao….” Aether chuckled and sat beside her.

“Is that so?” The little fairy nodded, giggling as her hair was ruffled. 

“Mhm. And you took even longer this time. Paimon can’t blame you after today though.” Aether’s chest tightened. Paimon felt the hand in her hair still. “Are you okay?” 

“Y-yeah, don’t worry Pai. I just...don’t want to remember that.” 

“Sorry.” 

“It’s okay, I’m going to get ready for bed now. Please try to sleep.” He kissed the girl's forehead before grabbing his bag of toiletries and heading into the bathroom. 

Even as he was changing and cleaning up, the image of Xiao falling and the pain he felt in the aftermath wouldn’t leave his mind. Xiao nearly died. Xiao nearly killed himself. He’d be gone if Zhongli didn’t make it on time. Xiao, Xiao, Xiao

His stomach suddenly lurched and a sharp pain pierced through his chest, as if something was trying to force its way out of his body from between his ribs. It wasn’t the worst pain he’s suffered through, but it was still extremely unpleasant and he couldn't help but cry out in pain. The thing between his ribs started to force its way upward, and as if on instinct, he started coughing again. And archons, it hurt so much more than last time. There was a metallic taste in his mouth, and he was horrified to see that he was coughing blood that was now all over his fingertips. 

“...Aether? What’s going on!?” Paimon’s muffled voice echoed from the other side of the door, and she was rapidly turning the doorknob. Unfortunately for her, it was locked. “Open up or Paimon’s getting Verr!” 

What the fuck was going on? “No!” Another cough. Talking hurt, he noted. “No, ‘m fine..ow..” With his partly bloodied hand, he gripped the sink for dear life to keep himself standing. 

Then, just as abruptly as it started, the pain suddenly stopped. The thing between his ribs was now in his mouth, along with even more blood that slowly dribbled into the sink. With shaking fingers, he reached in to pull out the intrusion. 

In Aether’s hand now were two delicate flaky things that were both covered in blood and saliva. At first he thought they were weird blood clots, but upon closer inspection, he noticed an off-white color amongst the red. After running them under the tap, all that remained were two pristine qingxin petals. His hand shook again and his eyes widened in horror as he stared at them. 

I just coughed flower petals. Oh fuck no…

The banging on the door and Paimon’s frantic crying broke him out of his trance. It was time to clean up the blood. 

—---

Later, after convincing Paimon that nothing was wrong and putting her back to bed, Aether started making plans. While he could probably hide this disease and live with it until it wore off, he still needed help. After all, he wasn’t sure how it worked in Teyvat compared to the other worlds he visited. He still couldn’t believe this was really happening, but the evidence in his palm right now didn’t lie. 

The next morning, Paimon awoke to the smell of rice buns and grilled tiger fish. She instantly shot up in bed and saw Aether setting the table for breakfast. However, something about him looked off. She knew that he didn’t leave her side all night, but he still looked incredibly tired. He also seemed scared for some reason. But when he smiled at her and told her to come eat, she chalked it off as her imagination. 

After they ate, Aether braided his hair and put on his travel clothes, despite the fact that the pair established that they wouldn't leave the inn for the next couple of days. “Paimon, I have to go to Mondstadt real quick, are you alright with staying here?” 

The fairy was about to say no, but paused when she noticed how desperate he seemed. So, she just nodded and demanded his purse so she could buy herself lunch later. 

—---

“Hanahaki disease.” Is what Albedo tells him in his usual calm voice, studying one of the petals gently between his pointer finger and his thumb. “It’s a condition that develops in someone's lungs due to suppressed emotions. It most commonly manifests because of unrequited romantic feelings.” 

“Hanahaki disease.” Aether repeats, testing the foreign words on his tongue. “So that’s what it’s called here.” The other man raised an eyebrow. “You’re…familiar with it?” 

“Yes.” He answered, before realizing the implications of it and correcting himself. “I mean, no. No. I’ve never had it before, but it existed in some of the other worlds I visited.” Albedo hummed in thought, setting the petal on the same table where his specimens usually go.

“Fascinating. I'll assume I don’t need to explain it, then?” Aether nodded. Albedo looked slightly relieved. 

“It’s probably different here though. How do I get rid of it?” 

Albedo opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly thinking of how to respond, before he finally settled on something. “Well, since this is happening because you're keeping your feelings a secret, the easiest way would be to confess to the person you're in love with.” At that, the other quickly shook his head. Albedo tilted his head, confusion stirring in his expression. “Oh? May I ask why not?” Aether looked at the ground. “He- they won’t like me back. I just know it.” He coughed out another petal and Albedo caught it.

“How can you be sure? Judging by the fact that these are qingxin petals, and that you visit Liyue regularly, you can easily visit them and ask.” 

Frustrated and suddenly defensive, Aether clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white as he resisted the urge to glare at him. “Albedo…that’s not- I just can’t. They’re busy. And closed off.” 

A sigh. “You can also get a surgery that’ll erase your feelings and memories of them. Though, since hanahaki is rare, it can be very difficult to find a doctor. Especially since you have a unique constitution.” 

Erase your feelings and memories of them. The thought made Aether’s heart drop, his chest feeling unimaginably full of petals again. As much as he wanted this disease gone, he refused to let himself forget Xiao. As the adeptus himself said all those months and months ago, their bond was too strong and it could never be broken. Getting the surgery would undoubtedly hurt both of them. And, even though they were causing problems for Aether, he didn’t want to lose his feelings for Xiao either. Even though they would never be returned or known, these feelings kept Aether going. He loved that he loved Xiao, and even though he was spilling petals all over Albedo’s feet because of it, he still never wanted to stop loving him.

“...sorry.” He picked up the petals from the ground and threw them into the nearby bin. “Will I die if I don’t treat it? That’s usually how I've seen it end…” 

A hum, a sign that Albedo was thinking deeply. “...Humans definitely would, yes. You aren’t human though, so I can't be sure. However, you've survived much worse in the past. If I had to guess, no, you most definitely won't die.” The alchemist inhaled through his nose and squeezed Aether’s shoulder. “Living with it will still be painful, however. I can conduct some research later and see what I can do.” 

Aether wanted to cry. “Thank you, Albedo.” 

—---

While most things in the universe changed from world to world, some remained relatively the same. Certain illnesses, for example. Including hanahaki. 

It didn't exist in most worlds. Usually it was completely unheard of, but sometimes Aether and Lumine would come across it in literature as an overdone romance trope. Each story written about it was different, but the general idea remained the same; a person would fall in love with another and begin coughing flowers. In the happier stories, whoever they're in love with would eventually find out, return the feelings, and the two would live happily ever after. In the more tragic ones, the main character would die beautifully in a pile of tastefully bloodied full flowers and stems, their love weeping by their side feeling guilty that they didn't return the feelings. 

In the few worlds where it did exist however, it was anything but beautiful. The disease was a very real thing that caused nothing but heartbreak and pain. Death too, in the very worst cases. Teyvat was no exception, as Aether just learned. 

[chimachapterbooks]

A Web of Wood

“This place is crazy," said Gorzan as the group walked down a shadowy jungle path. "I've never seen plants like this before."

"Well, it gives me the creeps," said Worriz. "In case you didn't notice, we're boxed in on every side. We couldn't get off this road if we wanted to."

Worriz was right. Thick tangles of vines surrounded the warriors with broad leaves and dozens of long, sharp thorns on each strand.

The only one who seemed to be enjoying this part of the journey was Rogon's Rhinoceros Legend Beast. He happily trudged along, sniffing leaves as they went.

The friends had saved the Rhinoceros Legend Beast from the Outland Tribes a few days before. Now, the Beast was joining them on their journey. As the heroes continued through the jungle, the great Rhino discovered that the green leaves on the vines tasted really good. So he kept lagging behind to munch on them.

Suddenly, Eris swooped down from above. She had been scouting the path ahead for danger. "Oh, Laval, we've got trouble!" she called.

"What now?" groaned Cragger. "Bats? Scorpions? Pits of flame? Toxic mud creatures forty feet high?"

"I think you have to see it to believe it," said Eris. "Go around the bend. You can't miss it."

Laval and the group did as she said. When they rounded the corner, they stopped and stared. A few of them rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't seeing things.

Looming in front of them was an enormous Spider Web unlike anything they had ever seen. It was as wide as the jungle path and rose at least sixty feet into the air. But it wasn't made out of Spider silk-it was made out of wood!

The Spiders had meticulously constructed the towering web out of thick tree trunks, locking them together to form an impassable blockade.

"It's a barrier," said Laval, "and I'm not sure how we can get through it."

"Why go through when we can go over?" asked Razar.

"He's right," said Eris. "Razar and I can fly above it. Maybe together we can carry the rest of you, one by one." Laval took a few steps back and peered up at the web.

Yes, it wasn't so high that the Eagle and Raven couldn't make it over. The top part did look kind of strange, though.

In the upper sections of the web, there were rows and rows of smaller tree limbs with sharpened ends. All of them were lined up so that their points faced the sky.

"What do you think, Worriz?" asked Laval.

The Wolf frowned. He didn't know much about Spiders or their webs, but he did know a lot about traps. This thing gave him a bad feeling.

"I think it can't be that easy," Worriz replied. "But if those two want to try it, let 'em. I don't have any better ideas."

Laval looked at Eris and nodded once. She immediately shot up into the sky, soaring toward the top of the web.

Just as she started to pass over it, one of the sharpened tree limbs shot out at her! Eris screeched in surprise and just barely managed to dodge it.

A second one grazed her wing and almost knocked her out of the sky. Shaken, she flew back to the ground.

"Wow," Eris said, shaking her head. "That thing is dangerous!"

Bladvic the Bear opened his sleepy eyes. "Knock it down," he said through a yawn.

"Right, and how do we do that without bringing it down on our heads?" asked Laval.

But the Bear had fallen back to sleep again. Laval didn't bother to wake him. The answer was obvious:

There was no way to bring the web down without risking everyone being crushed. Even trying to carefully take it apart would be risky-one wrong move and the whole thing could crash to the ground.

"Maybe we could dig a tunnel and go underneath it?" suggested Eris.

"It would have to be an awfully huge tunnel," said Cragger. "Rogon's Legend Beast isn't exactly slim... and with the way he's eating those leaves, he's just going to get bigger."

"How about climbing it?" asked Gorzan. "I could go first, since I'm the best climber. Might be a groovy experience."

"Or your last," said Worriz. "What we need is someone who knows all about Spiders and their webs."

"Ha! The thing is simplicity itself!"

Everybody turned around at once. The words had come from Rogon. His whole expression had changed from dull and friendly to confident and brilliant. His eyes gleamed and his mouth curled into a knowing smile.

"Oh, here we go again," sighed Worriz.

Ever since they had freed Rogon's Legend Beast, something odd had been happening. Whenever the Legend Beast got close to Rogon, the young Rhino suddenly went from not too bright to incredibly smart.

But if the Legend Beast wandered away, Rogon would go back to his old self.

"Hey, if he has an idea, I want to hear it," said Laval,

"An idea?" said Rogon. "Why, it's so easy a calf could figure it out."

"Great," said Worriz. "Let's find a calf and ask him, then."

"No, let's give him a chance," said Laval. "Rogon, do you know a way to take the web apart?"

"Naturally," said Rogon. "You can take it apart quite easily... from the other side."

"Well, that's a lot of help," grumbled Worriz. "Got any more good news?"

Rogon chuckled. "Oh, my Wolfish friend, how amusing.

The answer to our problem is obvious to anyone who understands Spider methods of construction. It's all about safe strands, you see."

"Safe strands?" asked Cragger. "What are those?"

Rogon looked over his shoulder, then back at the Crocodile. "Um, I don't know. Is this a test? I didn't know we were having a test today."

"The Legend Beast wandered away again," growled Laval. "Somebody go get him back."

"I'll go," said Worriz.

The Wolf ran off. Most of the leaves near where the team was standing had been eaten, so Worriz guessed the Legend Beast had gone back down the path looking for any he had missed. Sure enough, that was where he found the great creature. It only took a little gentle persuasion to get him heading in the right direction.

Once the Legend Beast was back with the group, Rogon's manner abruptly changed.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes, safe strands ... When a Spider builds a web, he can't very well make it so that he himself will get stuck when walking on it, right?"

"That makes sense," agreed Laval.

"So, some strands are not sticky," explained Rogon. "They are safe for the Spider to walk on."

"Hey, I see it now," said Gorzan. "There must be some pieces of that web that are safe for us to climb on. Those are the ones the Spiders used when they were building it. If we can figure out which ones they are, we can make it through."

"What about the Legend Beast?" asked Eris. "He can't climb."

"Never fear, my avian ally," said Rogon. "I have ideas about that, too. But first..."

Rogon stood very still and stared at the web for a few minutes. Then he nodded. "Yes. Oh, how interesting, a fine piece of work indeed. There is a precise mathematical pattern to the placement of the pieces. Using that knowledge, I can safely chart our course through the web. Follow me!"

One by one, the travelers started to climb up the giant wooden structure. Rogon patiently led them, moving carefully from tree trunk to tree trunk. Everyone had been warned to do exactly what he did.

“A single misstep," Rogon reminded them, "and we will end up at the bottom of a very large woodpile."

They had made it about halfway through the web when Rogon stopped. "Hmmmm," he said.

"Hmmmm, what?" asked Laval. "Is that a good hmmmm or a bad hmmmm?"

"The pattern has been altered," said Rogon. "They changed something ... let me see ... oh, yes, I see it now, it's ... it's.."

"What?" Laval asked loudly.

"Wow, it's cool up here," Rogon answered. "But how do we get down?"

Laval slapped a hand to his forehead. Cragger would have beaten his head against one of the tree trunks if he knew which ones were safe. Instead, Laval said, "Worriz. Legend Beast. Now."

Grumbling, the Wolf retraced his path and went to find the Legend Beast. Meanwhile, the wait had made Bladvic doze off again. His head started to droop, and he slumped against one of the pieces of the web. Eris spotted what was happening and lunged at him, struggling to lift his head off the tree trunk.

"He hit the wrong piece!" she shouted as the others nearby helped her prop up the Bear.

But it was too late. The web was already starting to teeter. High above, pieces were rocking with enough force to disconnect from one another.

"Let's go!" said Cragger. "What difference does it make how we get over now as long as we make it over?"

"Wait, there's still a chance, if Worriz brings back the Legend Beast," said Laval. "Hang on!"

They could see Worriz in the distance. But the huge Rhino behind him kept stopping to snack on the few leaves he could spot. Worriz looked back in frustration.

Too bad that web doesn't have leaves, the Wolf thought. Hey, wait a minute...

Moving as fast as he could, Worriz raced back and forth down the trail, gathering as many leaves as he could.

Once he had a large armful, he ran back toward the web.

The Legend Beast picked up the scent of his new favorite food and followed.

By the time Worriz reached the web the Legend Beast was close enough for Rogon to become smart again.

"Drop the leaves and get up here," Razar yelled.

"He'll eat them all in a couple of seconds and wander off again," Worriz replied. "We need to keep him close to Rogon."

Arms full of leaves, Worriz somehow managed to climb back up to where he had been. Fortunately, being a Wolf, his nose was sensitive enough to follow the scent of his companions across the right pieces of the web.

"See? It's working!" said Worriz. "He's not wandering away!"

"Indeed," said Rogon. "But it is perhaps too successful of a plan. Look!"

Worriz glanced down. The hungry Legend Beast really wanted the leaves Worriz was carrying and was trying to climb the web himself!

"Go! Go! Go!" Laval yelled at Rogon.

Rogon climbed as fast as he could, his amazing brain able to spot every change in the pattern that the Spiders had built into the web. The others raced along behind him, being careful to step where he stepped even as the web shook all around them.

"Success!" yelled Rogon as he made it safely over to the other side of the web. He climbed down about halfway and then jumped toward the ground, rolling for a long way before coming to a stop. Laval and the rest followed after him, but there was no time to celebrate.

The web was still in danger of collapsing on the Legend Beast.

"Rogon," said Laval, "we need to take this thing down! Can you do it?"

The Rhino nodded and said, "Yes, I see the key. There had to be a way the Spiders could dismantle this, and what they can do, we can do! But we'd better do it fast."

"I know!" cried Laval as one of the tree limbs tumbled off the web, crashing beside him. "Tell us what to do!"

Rogon explained, "Our resident masters of aviation must help us disassemble the ingenious contraption from an elevated level while we un-winged companions assist from our terrestrial positions."

The others looked at him in complete confusion.

"What?!" they cried together.

Rogon smiled. "The spikes at the top only point the other way. They are no longer a threat to our winged allies. Eris and Razar must fly up and drop us the logs one by one."

Quickly, the Eagle and Raven shot up into the sky. But on the other side, the Rhino Legend Beast was becoming very frustrated that he couldn't get to the leaves Worriz was holding. He started to grunt and snort, nudging at the web with his giant horn. The entire web teetered.

"He's going to collapse itl" cried Laval.

Razar called down to Worriz. "My friend, you must keep the Beast distracted while we do our part, or we are all doomed."

"He's right!" exclaimed Eris. "Worriz, run back and forth so the Legend Beast chases after you instead of trying to break through the web. That will give us time to take it apart."

"You want me to do what?" exclaimed Worriz. "Uggh. Fine. But just watch where you're dropping those logs. Remember, I'm the only thing keeping that Beast from bringing down the whole web on top of us all."

Grumbling loudly, Worriz began running back and forth on his side of the web. He held out the leaves in plain sight for the Legend Beast to see.

The plan worked. The Legend Beast chased after him to the right edge of the web ... then to the left... then back again. The ground trembled with its thundering footsteps. But at least it wasn't trying to collapse the web.

Swiftly, Razar and Eris dismantled the tottering contraption piece by piece from the top. Each time they pulled off a new log they would drop it down to their friends below. They followed Rogon's instructions exactly on which pieces to pull out next.

Soon, the heroes were surrounded by piles and piles of wood. But there was no more web.

The Legend Beast happily lumbered over the dismantled branches and began munching on the leaves Worriz was holding.

"That was a close one." Laval breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Rogon. Without you, we would have been goners."

"Hey, what about me?" complained Worriz. "I was the one who got that Legend Beast close enough to keep Rogon smart, and I'm the one who distracted it while you took that giant web apart. Where's my thanks?"

Just then, the Legend Beast sniffed Worriz. The tasty scent of leaves still lingered on the Wolf's fur. The Legend Beast gave Worriz a great big lick.

"It seems you have your thanks, my friend," said Razar.

"Yeah." Laval chuckled. "As long as you smell like those leaves, that Legend Beast won't be wandering away from us anymore."

Worriz groaned as the Legend Beast licked him again. "Some thanks."

Everyone laughed.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hey Cas, so I don't really know how this works, but I really to get things out so I thought maybe this would help? I don't know, I'm sorry, I hope I'm not being a burden or anything, feel free to ignore this if you want

So, a little context, I'm a minor (younger end of teen) and I currently live in a country different than my own and don't speak the language well (I can only say basic things like please, thank you, etc) so getting help from public/government service thingies aren't really an option.

I am a girl, at least to everyone and everything else? Okay, I really don't know how to phrase this, like, afab, except I'm not trans, or am I? ??? Very lost in the gender section of life, am I a boy? Like, I used to like or at least not mind skirts and dresses, and now if I absolutely have to wear them I will, but I don't enjoy wearing them? And sometimes I do wear fancy dresses for fancy things, and I want to look pretty in the feminine sense, but not in the way of oh, I want to be this but more like oh, I want this doll to look pretty kind of way except I'm the doll? I kind of wish I was born a boy (even not for gender stuff but my grandparents are kind of sexist? Like my maternal ones are better but my paternal ones secretly really wish I was born a boy? And really it would've made life a lot easier) and I hate my boobs and I wish they would just go away and I'd have a flat chest again. It's not like I throw up or get nauseous or anything from well, being a girl, but I kind of don't want to? But if I have to do so for the rest of my life I would tolerate it? And when I was like a kid I was never like oh, I'm a boy I'm a boy (I did go through a phase where I wanted to pee standing up like a boy but that was a weird phase and we don't talk about that). I also have long-ish hair and I kind of want to cut it all off to be super short and well, boyish, but I can never really bring myself to do it because that'd be too much of a change for everyone else and I have bad memories of being made to cut my hair short in a way I didn't want.

Even if I was trans, I can't transition or at least, I don't think I'm brave enough to. The country I live in is supportive, and I do have citizenship in a country that is supportive, but I also have citizenship in one that is not and that's sort of a problem. My family (both my parents and extended, no siblings) is also a problem because they're kinda conservative, not like send your gay kid to conversion camp and kick them out conservative but like it's wrong conservative (mostly for trans people, being in a more open minded country has made them start to slightly tolerate the gays - shh, don't tell them I'm bi) and I feel like if I told them it would just change things and while they're not especially good now, they're not bad either and I want it to stay that way. There's also legal stuff like birth certificate (was born in different country than country I am in now and places I have citizenship in), account changes, and other personal stuff

I don't really match what people say dysphoria is like, and I feel like if I am trans I'm like a poser and I don't really know what to do and while my friends would be supportive I don't know how to tell them, and I know that because I have a rather large friend group it'll inevitably get out to the whole school and I don't want to be that kid

So yeah, sorry for dumping all the gender problems my sorry ass has on you, and again, if you want to ignore this you can definitely do so, I won't be upset or anything

Hi hon!

Okay, two things: First, you're getting WAY ahead of yourself, here. One step at a time. You're not sure about anything yet, so let's figure it out first, okay? Take some time, do some research and self-reflection, maybe find a few trusted people and try out some pronouns, some different ways of expressing your gender, explore a bit!

Second, if you do come to the conclusion you're trans, you don't HAVE to do anything. The only thing you have to do is whatever you're comfortable with. There's no pressure <3

Last, being trans is different for everyone. Dysphoria, needs, preferences...it varies. If you feel trans, you're not faking it.

Like I said: take some breaths and take some time. Do some research- look into trans creators who talk about being trans, and see if you can relate. Find reliable sources that talk about it. See if your feelings are reflected in those things you find. And remember that there's no pressure to label yourself or make any decisions <3

And you are NOT a burden.

Sending love!

Naming you context anon!

[kob131]

*Sigh* Floof uploaded a "review" of volume 8 to the critics sub. Feeling masochistic enough to read it and tear it apart? I swear to God he's going to have a coronary from ranting about the show one of these days.

Sure, it's easier to read a review then listen to one. I could handle a lot of video if I'm just given the manuscript.

Part 0: Jingling Keys

I'm gonna go ahead and condense Floof's (and really, way too many's) beginning down to its essential point.

*pulls out a set of keys labelled 'Fuck RWBY' and starts jingling them*

FUCK RWBY! FUCK RWBY! FUCK RWBY! FUCK RWBY! AREN'T I SO SMART?!

I don't like reducing arguments down to such simplistic terms but that's what his beginning reads like. It gives the exact same tone and feeling from a political meme: reductionist and reliant on triggering your innate bias. I get that showmanship is a part of good argumentation but there's an art to it and Floof's skill is on par with a fart joke. Next.

Part 1: The Script...Is Not Talked About.

His section is labelled 'The Script' but he doesn't talk about the script. He talks about the production...barely and really could have just been replaced with the keys from earlier. I really can't comment on this.

Part 2: Floof's Coherency

Finally, an actual claim and reference to research!

Nothing any character says makes any sense at all outside of the scene that the character says their lines in, and sometimes they don't make sense in the very scene they're spoken in. There's no oversight for what characters say, so they'll say completely random things. For instance, when Nora has her fourth-wall breaking existential crisis pulled from nowhere in the episode where Ruby's group encounter the Ace Ops, Blake responds to something Nora says before Nora even says it!

... And we've apparently lost coherency for it.

This is the dialogue in question.

Blake: I hope the others are okay. I’ve never seen Yang and Ruby fight like this.

Weiss: Don’t worry, they’re sisters. Sometimes sisters just have very different ideas about what’s right.

Nora: Yeah, they’ll be fine. Jaune’s a great leader, Oscar’s grown a ton, and Yang is more than capable of protecting them all in a fight.

Blake and Weiss wait for her to continue. When she doesn't, they both tilt their heads in puzzlement.

Blake and Weiss: Hmm.

Nora: Oh, and of course Ren is- um...

Nora's usual happy-go-lucky composure breaks, and she averts her eyes.

Nora: I don’t know what he is. Every time I think the two of us are making progress, he… (sighs) We’ve been together our whole lives but I feel like I understand him less now than ever. And I don’t know if that’s his fault or mine.

Blake: When you’ve been at someone’s side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that’s just it, they’re only a part of you. Don’t forget about the rest.

Nora lets out a mirthless chuckle.

Nora: I don’t actually know who I am… without Ren. Pretty sad, huh?

Weiss: Well, maybe take this opportunity to find out? Do something only Nora can do.

Nora: Like what? Be strong and hit stuff?

I think this is referencing the bit where Nora talks about her issues with Ren and Blake's response. Which while a bit janky...isn't hard to get. Nora's issues partly stem from seeing herself as one part of their duo with Blake emphasizing she needs to know that isn't just it. Which given that this the first time they've disagreed- makes sense. But it's not incoherent nor is it even close to breaking the fourth wall.

I...can only get this by completely ignoring everything I know about Ren and Nora and thinking that literally everything they say is just a mouthpiece for the writers. Which is stupid and wrong to do.

Characters say random, unrelated things (even if it doesn't suit that character) and it makes everyone's dialogue have "the same voice". As though they were dummy dolls controlled by the same puppeteer. The only attempt at any kind of distinction between what these characters speak is the type of quip that's tacked onto their lines, and their voice actor. No one has unique dialogue which makes for forgettable, bland, and boring exposition dumps. Most of this Volume was dedicated solely to poorly done exposition and characters talking about the things they could be doing but choose not to.-

And we've lost the claims now too. I'd love to argue it but there's nothing to argue. I also cut about 40% of the paragraph because the rest was jingling keys.

Scenes lack any cohesion. The level at which they lack is awe-inspiring, as they'll contradict previous and future scenes not just from prior Volumes but also from scenes within Volume 8 itself.- -A notable example of this issue was Team RWBY not having a plan in Volume 7, before suddenly having Ironwood's original plan from Volume 7. Amity Arena wasn't completed in Volume 7 because Ironwood set up a trap for Watts whose fight scene predicated on this idea. But in the first episode of Volume 8, Amity is somehow magically ready to work right off the bat. How can this be?

*starts banging head against desk*

A. It was never stated nor shown they didn't have a plan. That's just a strawman that people cooked up. Am I to believe Ironwood was secretly evil all along too since we're buying strawmen?

And B.

Pietro: Uh... We’ve made decent progress on construction and fuel collection, all potentially manageable, but uh… hm… Amity was designed so it couldn’t launch itself without first being granted clearance from General Ironwood’s terminal.

'Managable' implies uncertainty, amplified by 'potential' making the very assessment unreliable. Supported by 'decent progress', not 'completetion'. And even if you argue that it was said it wasn't finished-

Watts: Hmm… This will certainly do the trick. Although I wouldn't exactly call it finished.

Watts even noted in the episode BEFORE the one you referenced that it was useable, just not finished. Finished and inoperable do not operate on an on-off light switch.

The rest is yet more him jacking off. Well, maybe not-

Part 3: Floof Unzips His Pants

Oh god damn it- THERE'S NOTHING HERE. It's just a bunch of assertations without any references to support it. I can literally defeat it by saying 'Yes they did' because all Floof said is "They didn't."

Part 4: The Artist Can't Talk Art

Floof says nothing. AGAIN. Even the stuff he does mention (From Weiss's limp push on Ruby, to Yang's basketball bounce, to Winter A-Posing and the fight animation covered up by particle effects and shoving things offscreen,) is unexplained. Floof is an ANIMATOR, by the way. All I can really say is-

The claim that Rooster Teeth is still using crunch is, as far as I know, dubious. Even the Glassdoor reviews recently are more positive (but still some bullshit mind you). I hate RT for pulling this shit in the first place so I have no real personal stakes here.

Part 5: Excuses

Floof says he didn't explain anything because the flaws have been discussed to death...which begs the question- Why did he bother making a review? Same with his claim that RWBY is just noises and colors on a screen- Why act as though you're a critic when by your own admission you'll never see improvement?

It's just more bitch basic showmanship to encourage an extreme response. I pull this stuff SUBCONSCIOUSLY and have to work around it.

You could replace his review with jingling keys and it'd serve the same purpose. Be more honest too.

I ain't rating his review. He's not worth it. Not even for some sadistic pleasure.

[emily-the-fae]

Sound of a Heartbeat

Part 6. The Devil's Hospitality

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

And I am back from celebrating the summer solstice. Mosquitoe-bitten, red-haired and with a new chapter. Thanks for following the story if you still are, I'm very sorry that editing takes me so long. (STILL IN NEED OF A BETA). So yes, please enjoy and like&reblog&comment, because interaction with readers makes me extremely happy. Also please write in comments if you want me to tag you so that you don't miss the new parts.

Pairing: Dracula x OC

Warnings: none, a little bit of death threats and the usual tuberculosis part

"Maps used to say there'd be dragons here. Now they don't, but that doesn't mean dragons aren't there." ~ Lorne Malvo, "Fargo"

Shari began to open her eyes hesitantly, slowly when nothing rushed at her in the first few moments of her presence inside the castle. The healer was still extremely tense, ready to jump aside and try to fight off anything that tried to attack her. Nothing. Dark, still, terrifying, but also quiet and…empty. Lisa hadn’t told her a complete lie. Apparently, Dracula wasn’t home. Shari looked around the dark place she found herself in - she was standing in the middle of an enormous hall, columns going way up, she needed to raise her head to see the gothic arcs of the dark ceiling above her; two large round marble staircases in front of her led to the opening on the second floor and behind that space she could see a darkened entrance to an inner corridor. Shari could hear nothing but her own heartbeat and Rodo's husky breathing, the silence was almost ideal, her own quiet breathing echoed around the wide halls - the castle appeared to be completely empty, apart from her, Rodo and her ghastly companion. Lisa seemed frozen in awe for a while, looking around too, but with a kind of familiar melancholic look on her face - staring once again at the place she had spent so much time in must have felt odd. Odd and slightly painful. All the memories of her life, all the “what if”s of her never leaving this peculiar home or never finding it in the first place rushed in, frustrating her for a few moments. The ghost quickly recalled she needed to keep collected – for the sake of her new guest and the adventure she was planning ahead.

- Wait, Lisa! - Shari rushed to her side, afraid to be left alone even for one moment. Rodo hopped behind her easily. - We will go and grab books, yeah I get it, but... How do I... Where do I rest? I mean I need a bed and preferably next to a chimney and then after I wake up, I can study through whatever we need and search for whatever other materials I can need, sure, but I'd there... I mean it's kind of a vampire castle... - Shari trailed off and in a moment she was coughing again, heading to the supposed library entrance, but barely seeing her way.

- Wait, Lisa! - Shari rushed to her side, afraid to be left alone even for one moment. Rodo hopped behind her easily. - We will go and grab books, yeah I get it, but... How do I... Where do I rest? I mean I need a bed and preferably next to a chimney and then after I wake up, I can study through whatever we need and search for whatever other materials I can need, sure, but I'd there... I mean it's kind of a vampire castle... - Shari trailed off and in a moment she was coughing again, heading to the supposed library entrance, but barely seeing her way.

- That is quite funny of you, - Lisa responded, when Shari quieted down a bit. - To be asking me if you can have a normal bedroom in a vampire castle, especially since you know I've lived here for quite a long time.

- Yeah and married the host, - Shari argued breathlessly.

- What do you think vampires sleep in?

- Coffins?

- Don't be shallow.

- Well, sorry if didn't live with them for twenty years and didn't realise they may as well use beds... - Shari hesitated. - They do, right? Because if you were implying that you want me to sleep in your old room, then thanks I'd better sleep on library floor.

- You'll take one of the guestrooms, - Lisa rolled her eyes. - And you have to get there soon, otherwise you'll collapse and I am in no form to drag you up the stairs.

- Oh, you've finally noticed, - Shari huffed. - I hope there will be a very - no, extremely - warm chimney, - she added, shivering.

- As you wish, - answered the ghost, pushing the heavy door. They walked into the library together, careful not to make any noise and Shari had to catch her breath: of course she had expected something like this, but neither the size of the room nor the abundance of different apparatuses and strange objects could have ever been embraced by her imagination - it seemed like one lifetime would never be enough to study through all the centuries of knowledge kept in these walls.

- Wow.

- Well, that… is one way to place it, - Lisa laughed, amused with the healer's surprise. - Come, - she beckoned. - Take this, this... oh, and this, - she walked to one of the tall shelves, pointing to several books for Shari to take. - Oh, wait, I forgot, can you...?

- Read? You ask only now? You offend me, - Shari threw the ghost an unamused glare, her hands loaded with heavy foliants. Lisa laughed, obviously the question was only poorly hidden sarcasm. Rodo behind her back was running around the room, smelling the air with curiosity - if he ever visited the castle before, she doubted that he was let anywhere near the living areas.

- Well, you never know with people these days, - Lisa replied. - These must have something on your lung disease, as far as I remember - or some similar things - you'll need to go through lung sections, compare the symptoms and check what might work for you.

- Will try to, - the girl nodded, weighting the books in her arms and already estimating how much time she may possibly have for all that study.

- Come on now, don't waste time, - Lisa was too enthusiastic to be a ghost inside of an abandoned vampire castle. Far too enthusiastic. Something must have been off, but Shari couldn’t place what and couldn’t possibly be able to do so in her exhausted state.

Shari followed her down another large door and out of the library; there was a narrow staircase leading somewhere upstairs, dark and empty, just like the rest of the place – the golden lights of the library couldn’t reach into its curves, so Shari had to watch her step carefully. She was not sure how many floors they passed before they finally left the stairs and turned into a dark corridor lit only by the moonlight, falling from a small window way in front of them. Shari felt cold and slightly anxious for no evident reason - the whole place had an intense, intimidating mood to it – as expected. Lisa made a few more steps and stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. Shari hesitated once more, but Lisa nodded towards it encouragingly; the girl then freed one of her hands from underneath the books and pushed the door open, stepping into the room more confidently.

A big four-poster bed, a fireplace, a wardrobe and a table with a chair placed by the window. Old, slightly dusty, but more than enough for her to rest her head. Shari threw the books on the table and lit the fire in no time, sinking down on her knees to warm her freezing fingers. After several days of survival and freezing, she could finally heat and rest. Rodo crawled to the corner of the room and lay down there calmly, hiding his clawed paws beneath himself and seemingly beginning to drift off, Lisa stood by the window, facing away, staring into the darkness, seemingly already detached from what was happening within the walls of the castle. The door was locked - pointlessly, as a bow to paranoia - the fire was burning nicely - how good it was to finally feel its warmth - the room was silent apart from its creaking and Shari knew she herself was starting to fall asleep.

She stood up from her place by the chimney, checked the door once more and threw herself on the bed, kicking off her boots and crawling under the heavy blankets. Now she wanted nothing more than sleep - sleep and warmth of the chimney to ease her cold, the soreness of her limbs and the pain in her lungs. Lisa slowly dissolved in the corner of the room, but even that didn't seem to be a problem to the healer - she would catch up with the ghost tomorrow, get to her reading and preferably medicine. Now - rest.

Shari rolled into a ball under the covers and surrendered to the long awaited sleep.

***

Dracula was returning to his home after two days of absence; following his son proved counterproductive - apart from assuring, that the boy didn't have it easy with the demons, there was not much more he could do. The group held together, never separated - not after they became three instead of four. That was almost a pitiful chain of events. Though it did make them less vulnerable to his attacks and he decided not to rush things - the speed at which they traveled bought him more than enough time for any further proceedings.

The world outside was crushed and burned by war. The world inside his castle was dark and hollow as usual. At least it was so normally - but surprisingly, not that night.

Dracula knew there was an intruder in his castle the moment he entered – there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed; the vampire had to stop on his tracks, trying to detect what caught him off guard, and then he finally felt it - the smell of the human was very subtle, but still there. He tracked her down(undeniably this one was a female, he could almost recognize that mix of cinnamon and lavender as if he had encountered it before) - from the main entrance to the library - pausing by the shelves for a moment, a few foliants were missing here and there with the traces of her human warmth still hovering around the place - and upstairs to one of the rooms - just like the guestroom Lisa stayed at when she first found him.

The door was expectably locked, but as soon as the vampire's nail trailed along the keyhole, the lock clicked by itself, opening up. Dracula expected a lost and tired stranger or a hopeful witch seeking out his help and teaching, but when he opened the door, letting himself inside, he finally understood why her smell seemed so familiar to him. The girl from the forest camp, his son's willing helper, witch and healer by her own words. The vampire was surprised to say the least. He had been quite sure she was gone for good; in the end he had tried his best to give her a peaceful death and yet here she was: alive, breathing and in his castle. Sleeping peacefully, having willingly crawled under his roof and left herself at his mercy.

The vampire entered the room quietly, shutting the door behind him and sitting down in the chair by the table, his eyes observing the human figure on the bed. Petite, blond haired and pale - the girl looked so similar to Lisa, but yet was nothing like her - no, the darker tint to her hair and the weakness of her tired body drew the distinction quite clearly, as well as the reddish mark standing out against her pale neck. A mark he left on her.

He briefly wondered how that weak creature managed to survive his bite, but he would set the question aside for the time being. He needed to decide what to do with his guest: the easiest option was to finally enjoy the remnants of her sweet living blood without interruption now, but one look at the pale sleeping form made him suddenly feel doubtful: her chest heaving as she breathed, her heartbeat slow and peaceful, she coughed in her sleep dryly and turned on her back, her arms spread across the bed, she faced away from him with the crook of her neck so temptingly open to his view - so calm and vulnerable. How are you still alive? Dracula suddenly for himself felt rather than decided that he would not end her, not yet and not here, that he wanted to know more: how she found him, what she wanted and what may come of her - after all, he hadn't had such bold human visitors, ever since...

***

Dim light was shining through the window, strands of it falling onto her face and disturbing her peaceful sleep. Shari moved about a bit, wincing at the pain in her limbs and the full ache somewhere deep in her chest, letting a few (thankfully) dry coughs pass her lips, trying to hide away from the morning rays, hoping for a few more minutes of the blissful unconsciousness, then finally stilled, opening her sleepy eyes and sitting up. The instant she did so, she knew something was very wrong: the room was identical to how it looked the evening before, but she felt it still – even the air seemed denser, more dangerous and alert. She felt a shiver run down her back – as she finally noticed it, on the wall before her, next to the door, she could see a large dark shadow of something standing in front of the window, cutting off the light. Please let it be something outside. Shari turned her head slightly to the left and saw Rodo crouched on the ground - worried and tense, looking in the direction of something behind her back; the healer suddenly had absolutely no wish to turn around. Maybe if she would stay still the thing - whatever it was - would go away and leave her alone.

The sound of movement behind her back announced her that her stillness would most probably not protect her - whatever it was, it was inside of the room and very much uncaring of whether she moved or not.

- I think I have already killed you once this week, - Shari jumped on the spot and turned abruptly to finally face her host: Dracula was leaning against the table and staring down at her, his sharp face unreadable. - You are quite persistent for a human, I dare say. And bold.

Shari leaped out of the bed, as if a bucket of ice cold water was spilled over her, and backed away from him until her back hit the stone wall, her eyes searching for Lisa frantically – but the ghost was nowhere to be seen. Not this again. The vampire crossed the room in a swift, undetectable motion, his figure appearing in front of her in a matter of seconds. Rodo growled at his master, but remained motionless, still afraid to step out against the vampire.

Shari tried to move away, slip out of his grasp before he could properly get ahold of her, possibly even reach the door and run down the stairs - anything - but a large clawed hand grabbed her throat suddenly and firmly and the healer found herself unable to breathe properly, gasping and coughing in his hold, trying to wriggle away. Where was Lisa when she was so needed? "Oh no, Dracula is rarely visiting this castle nowadays!" Sure, like there was ever any point in believing that.

- How did you find this place? - Dracula growled rather than asked. His grasp was tight and Shari felt panic rise inside as if she was already in the claws of Death itself. Not far from truth.

"Your dead wife dragged me all the way here."

- Rumours. Mostly. And a bit of luck, - she rasped, out of breath.

- What do you want?

"Out."

- Shelter. And knowledge. I know there are books here that can help me heal, - she coughed and tried to free herself, once again unsuccessfully.

- And you expected the castle to be empty? - he almost laughed.

"No, but your beloved wife is a big liar."

- I recognize it was incredibly stupid of me, but back then it seemed like a plan, - oh yes, a plan of a very annoying and untrustworthy ghost.

- Are you alone here?

"Apart from a mean ghost and your demon..."

- Yes! - she gritted her teeth, as his hand pressed her farther into the wall.

- Give me one reason, human, not to finish now what I started a few days ago, - he was growling now even deeper, his face close to hers and she wondered how painful it may be this time. She did not want to find out.

- When I'm here I can't help Adrian! - she replied quickly, rasping each word.

- Same as when you are dead, - came the answer, his head leaning down to the crook of her neck. She shrieked.

- Repeating the same action and awaiting a different outcome of it is the definition of insanity, - Shari blurted out, not fully aware of her own words. What the hell was this even about? - You have ready killed me once, remember? I should have died back then, but something kept me going. You killed me and it didn't work. And you are not insane, are you?

Dracula suddenly removed his hand from her throat, laughing and took a small step back - as soon as he did so, she could feel against herself the growling form of Rodo who jumped in front of the human, protecting her from his master. Shari slid to the floor and threw her arms around the creature's neck, holding it to herself and caressing the dark fur. The vampire stared at the demon with a dissatisfied gaze, but the beast held his ground firmly now.

- You are a particularly peculiar human being, healer, - the vampire laughed. - That was the most unsettling answer you could have given.

- Was it? - she rasped, catching her breath. He smirked, knowing well he would not eat her now; he was too amused to make her his meal. - I can leave if you want, I will... - Shari searched for words. What exactly was she going to do if he made her leave? Crouch down on his porch and die?

- You are a curious specimen... Besides it likes you for some reason, - Dracula nodded towards Rodo. - You may stay until you annoy me out of my patience, - he stated blankly, instantly hating how welcoming he was being towards the human.

- Thank you. Making me leave would have been unfortunate and embarrassing to no limit, - Shari spoke quickly with no intonation, calming her rapidly beating heart. That was unexpected, but appreciated and she tried to be as short and non-annoying as possible as to not make him change his mind.

- Rest, use the library, and try to stay out of my line of sight. And remember I could still decide to draw a conclusion to our previous meeting, - he walked out of the guestroom, almost slamming the door behind him. So much for hospitality, but at least she wasn't being kicked out. Or eaten, for that matter.

Shari breathed in deeply and caressed Rodo's head and neck. What has she gotten herself into? Where the hell did Lisa disappear to?

[hailbop1701]

Chapter Four: Damn Kids...

Chapter four is here guys! I'm so happy you're enjoying the story because I've been having a lot of fun writing it! I want to say thank you again to @dw-writes for being an amazing beta! You are freakin' awesome and I love you.

-H❤🖖

Hollow Castle Masterlist

The trek to medical was a long one. They were no longer in easy territory; Reaper couldn’t help but compare it to one of those old games he played as a kid. Shaking his head, John led the team through the halls at a snail’s pace. The corridors went from decorated and vibrant to the stark clean white of a medical facility.

‘Well, I suppose they were clean at one point in time,’ John thought with a tired sigh.

Chekov, who had managed to keep up with John’s fast pace, looked up from his PADD. The kid blanched at what was in front of them. Wrinkling his nose, John and his finer sense of smell could definitely confirm that the walls were covered in blood and feces. Not to mention the bits and pieces of people that had been discarded and left behind to rot.

Chekov swallowed thickly, looking green around the gills. John was impressed; the first time he had ever seen anything like this he threw up. Twice. Though that was two lifetimes ago.

Pausing, John nudged Chekov gently. “Breathe through your mouth,” he advised and the boy did just that. Tilting his head to the side, John looked over his shoulder to check on the others,

“Jesus,” Lawrence muttered, covering his nose and mouth with a gloved hand.

Bitar sidled up next to him, eyeing the mess ahead of them with a slight grimace on her face. “I think God left this place a long time ago, Gabe,” she whispered with a shake of her head.

“Damn,” Jim whispered from John’s left, his eyes wide, his face growing pale. Pressing his lips together, Jim cleared his throat. “We, uh, getting closer to the signal, Pavel?” he asked quietly.

The young Russian nodded, gripping the PADD tightly in his hands.

John moved forward, making sure to keep only a couple of feet ahead of the group, far enough to take the brunt of an oncoming attack, and close enough to run back if he really needed to. He gave each room they came across a quick check. Poking his head into what looked to be an empty exam room, John stopped short. Frowning he stepped further into the room with his weapon raised.

“Bones?”

John grunted, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the trail of blood dripping down from a ventilation shaft. He twitched ever so slightly as Jim moved into the room cautiously. “What do you got?” he asked quietly.

Reaper moved around the exam table. Kneeling down, he pulled a knife from his boot.

A gagging noise erupted from behind him. “What the hell - what is that?” Jim groaned, turning away from the bloody mess on the floor.

John took the knife and moved around the bits of what used to be the remains of a human torso. Open and practically cleaned out, upon closer inspection, John noticed something odd. Leaning closer, he saw bloody footprints leading from the body and up the wall where they disappeared into the vent. They were small, almost childlike. His stomach dropped, ‘oh I’m not liking this at all.’ he thought, grinding his teeth. Standing abruptly, John grabbed Kirk’s arm and led him out of the room,

“Human torso. Fresh, we need to go,” He growled out, sending Kirk stumbling forward into a bewildered away team. His inner “Red Alert” system had been going off throughout this entire disaster, and it had just gotten louder. He was kicking himself. He’d figured that his raised hackles were due to the situation but no. That wasn’t it at all. They were being watched, hunted. Cursing under his breath, John looked over at Jim, who had a concerned and questioning gaze. Pressing his lips into a line, John urged everyone onward. “We’re being watched,” he whispered to Beckworth and Kirk. Both men tensed at his words. “We need to keep moving.” he barked, raising his rifle again.

They moved quickly and quietly down the corridor leaving bloody boot prints in their wake.

Three rights and a left turn later, John skidded to a stop. Low growls and the smell of death made him freeze at the corner. Holding up a fist letting the others know to stop, John, without saying a word, looked back and tapped his ear, then pointed to the corridor they needed to go down.

Beckworth nodded then gave a silent order to his two subordinates, “Cover the rear.”

Peering around the corner, John spotted half a dozen infected. They were in a sleeping state, standing on their feet like horses, hibernating until a fresh meal caught their attention. Frowning, John bit the inside of his cheek. His mind churned, trying to come up with the best way to deal with the block in their path without the others coming to harm or alerting every demon and its mother to their location.

Reaper let out a frustrated huff. He glanced over his shoulder at Jim and scowled, showing the captain his displeasure.

Kirk grimaced and mouthed, “That bad?”

John looked back at the milling group of demons, then back at Jim. The look he gave his friend was clear: “I can do it but it’s gonna cause problems.”

He beckoned Beckworth over and let the security officer take a peek at what was around the corner. Henry looked at John with almost startled eyes. “And you’ve dealt with these before?” he asked, voice barely above a hissed whisper.

John shrugged. “Sort of. These are a new breed and made up of several different species. Some will be more difficult than others.” His murmured explanation made both Beckworth and Kirk wince. Reaper chewed on the inside of his cheek again, his mind made up.

Beckworth looked at him with a glint in his eyes. “You have a plan?” he asked. John shrugged, “I figured I’d do what Jim does. Wing it and hope it works. Hunker down in there,” he whispered, jerking his head in the direction of a door closest to them in the crowded hall.

Jim gave him a teasing glare before his face became serious. “You’re not going to seriously fight those things on your own, are you?” the captain hissed and Reaper gave Kirk a raised eyebrow that clearly said, “Yes and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Jim set his jaw and his mind raced as he tried to think of other options but there weren’t any. Cursing, Kirk looked down the corridor again and then at John. “Damnit fine. Don’t die or I’m gonna be pissed,” he growled while pointing an accusing finger at his friend.

Reaper gave a short nod. He looked over at the rest of the group who had been silent but were aware of the new plan. Taking a deep breath, John let Jim settle behind him, ready to lead the group into the cover of what looked to be a large supply room.

Taking a deep breath, John pulled a grenade from his belt. Pressing down on the button, he heard a faint beep and hum. Waiting for a breath, he tossed the grenade into the center of the small horde. Holding Jim back, John ducked his head just as the grenade went off. The ‘boom’ rang in his ears as it shook the walls around them.

“Move!” he shouted as he rounded the corner with his rifle raised. The demons, or what was left of them screamed and howled at John with rage. Without missing a beat he fired. The lower demons fell in bursts. The two knights roared and raced forward, ready to tear Reaper apart. He was ready for them.

Fixing his stance, John took a deep breath. His first thought was, ‘Fuck this is gonna hurt,’ his second was, ‘God I hope these guys were human.’

No such luck.

One barreled right into him like a linebacker. John’s breath wheezed out of him like air from a balloon. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the monster who sent him flying was green. Orion.

‘Fucking fantastic.’

Reaper collided with the supply room door with a painful bang, his beloved rifle sent flying. Pushing the pain away, John, in one motion, shot to his feet and pulled his handgun from its holster. Firing three shots, he managed to make the turned Orion stumble back in surprise. This gave him time to clock the other knight - who was currently trying to pull a pipe from the bloodied corridor wall - and decide his best course of action.

The Orion roared at him, sending spit flying in all directions. He was pissed. Rolling his eyes, John pivoted and kicked out. His boot made contact with the Hell Knight’s knee, causing the monster to fall to the ground. In one swift movement, John grabbed the creature by the neck and gave a firm twist. There was a sickening crack and the demon fell; its head was no longer connected to its spine. But, being as paranoid as he was, Reaper expertly reloaded his handgun and put two in the demon below him. One in the head, and one in the heart. The action was illogical as Spock would point out, but it made him feel better.

He didn’t relax though; the fight was far from over. John turned and raised his arm just as the second Hell Knight brought down a large water pipe Yelling out in pain, John felt his arm break. Though, he was just thankful it wasn’t his head that broke instead. Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Looking closely at the Hell Knight, John knew this fight was going to be harder. This one had intelligence.

“Ah fuck me!” he growled upon seeing the “Section 31” badge stuck to the monster’s rotting flesh.

John gritted his teeth as he pushed back with force. The demon stumbled back and raised his weapon again. Rolling out of the way, John tucked his injured arm against his chest, he could already feel the bone knit itself back together. It was always an unusual sensation, as if his whole arm had gone to sleep but without it going numb. If fucking hurt like a bitch.

Panting, John glared at the demon before him. “Come on asshole, let’s get this over with,” he snarled, his hand slowly inching toward his belt. The ex-agent roared, raising his pipe again, then swung hard aiming for John’s legs.

Yelping, Reaper dove out of the way of the oncoming blow. He landed gracelessly on his back. Quickly, he twisted to his side, narrowly missing a fatal blow from Hell Knight above him. Startled muffled screams and a boom made Reaper momentarily freeze.

“BONES!” Jim Kirk’s scream made time come to a standstill.

Jumping to his feet, John barreled into the demon, sending them both crashing into the corridor wall. Pulling another SD grenade from his belt, John quickly pressed down on the button and shoved it into the demon’s rotting chest. Pushing away, John dove for the supply room door, where his crew was in danger.

A deafening boom and a burning heat licked his back, but he didn’t even feel the burn or the blood that coated him. He needed to get to them before the worst could happen.

----------oOo----------

Jim barreled into the dark supply room with Chekov right on his ass. Beckworth, Bitar, and Lawrence practically shoved them forward before sealing the door behind them. Jim squinted into the darkness, his antique gun raised only halfway.

“Nothing should get through that door,” Bitar said with a relieved sigh.

A loud bang echoed through the room as something big hit the door they had just come through, followed by a slew of muffled cursing. Chekov let out a soft chuckle and Jim had to smile a little.

“No matter what, it’s the same ol’ Bones,” he sighed with a shake of his head.

“Gabe, check the room. Lila, check for supplies,” Beckworth ordered and the two redshirts immediately moved out.

Jim raised his gun the rest of the way and followed the young security Ensign further into the room. This caused Beckworth to sigh in exasperation, no matter what he did the captain will always be beside his men. Not behind.

“I got the right. Gabe, you go left,” Kirk whispered.

The young man nodded, and swallowed hard, unable to speak. He was so damn scared. Taking a deep steadying breath, Gabriel Lawrence moved into the dark.

He wouldn’t say that he was the best in security. His mother was a high-ranking security officer back in her day, and she had high expectations for him. She was older when he was born. Her end goal wasn’t to raise children, she simply wanted to continue on with a big legacy. And Gabe refused to let his mother down. So, he went to the academy and entered the security track. if Gabe were to really choose what to do with his life, he would have been a chef. He loved to cook, he loved to make people happy with his cooking. He wanted to drop out and tell his mother what he really wanted to do, who he wanted to be; but they had gotten word that he was assigned to the Enterprise and she was so proud.

The Fleet’s flagship.

He didn’t have the heart or the courage to turn it down. So, he went. And there he was, walking through a dark supply room on a taken-over starbase with monsters from Hell. “This is just great Gabe, wonderful life choices,” he muttered to himself. A clang and shuffle made him stop short in his tracks.

Turning, he strained his ears, “Hello?” he called out, bending at the waist he kept his phaser up. He peeked and peered through the crowded shelves of the supply room only to see nothing at all. Another clamor made him stop and quickly twist around; shadows danced around him, skittering in and out between the shelves.

Cautiously moving forward, Gabe called out one more time, “Hello, is anyone there?” the sound of crying reached his ears. ‘Sounds like a kid,’ he thought as he rushed forward.

Sitting there in a small pool of light was a small child curled in on themself, shaking like a leaf, facing a blood-stained wall.

Moving closer, Gabe reached out a gentle hand. “Hey kiddo it’s okay you’re going to be-” he choked on his words as the little boy turned around.

Lawrence has never seen anything like that before. Yelping, he scrambled back, falling onto his ass. The little boy in front of him looked dead: skin gray and rotting; his once brown eyes dull and oozing dark blood. The boy gave a raspy giggle and a leery bloody smile. It all made the hairs on Gabe’s body stand on end. He raised his phaser at the boy with shaking hands. But the dead child in front of him wasn’t what made his blood freeze.

It was the sound of low growls and snickering coming from behind him. Slowly turning around, he saw them all. Small, hunched, bloody, and ready for a fresh meal. Gabe knew right at that moment that he was never going to make it off Genesis. ‘Hope I made you proud momma,’

Later when it was all said and done Jim Kirk stopped to talk to Admiral Lawrence, she responded to his question, “Were you proud?”

Her answer was and would always be, “I was proud of him no matter what he did. That boy was more than just a legacy, he was my whole world. And I regret every day that I didn’t tell him that enough.”

Jim refused to tell her how he died. How much he screamed, and how afraid he was. All Kirk would say was that, “Gabe was an amazing security officer, and that he saved them all from dying the same way he did.”

Kirk would sometimes flashback to that moment. He would remember Gabe's screams of pain and terror but before he could run to help him, a blast knocked him off his feet. Phaser overload.

“BONES!”

Tags:

Everything: @thottiewithashotgun, @lauraaan182, @writerdee1701, @stileslover13-blog, @cowenby2, @bluesclues-1234, @sayuri9908

Hollow Castle: @chook007, @lauranthalasah

[cocastyle]

The In-Between Chapter 7

Stranger Things x It Crossover

with some Bill Denbrough x reader

Word Count - 7,547

Warning - none

A/N - super long chapter because there is a lot in this one! anyways, I hope you all like it :)

if you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know!

T H E I N - B E T W E E N

Intro The Losers’ Club The Party Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Epilogue

“Well, fuck. This house looks like a shit show just waiting to happen," Lucas muttered as he looked at the old house before them. He glanced at Y/N who was by his side currently snapping twigs in half before lightly nudging her with his elbow. She glanced his way and he pointed at the house. "Please tell me this isn't the place."

"Wish I could, Lucas," Y/N sighed. She then patted the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry. It looks scarier on the inside."

She then began to walk away while Lucas blinked in shock before yelling out, "You do know that doesn't help, right?"

Y/N just looked at him from over her shoulder and gave him a sly smile before walking over to the back of Steve's car where Steve, Wheeler, Stan and Bill were currently unloading the weapons and supplies. "You guys need any help?" Y/N offered.

Bill set the rope he had in his grasp on the ground before looking to Y/N with a small smile. "N-N-No, we're good. There's only a f-f-few more things left and th-th-then we should be good to g-g-go," Bill told her.

Y/N smiled back at him and Wheeler glanced between the two before chuckling softly as he got a small flashback of him and Eleven back when they hadn't admitted their feelings for each other yet.

"Denbrough," Steve called out causing the boy to look away from Y/N and over to the older boy who had his hands on his hips. "You gonna help or you gonna stare at Y/N all day?"

Bill instantly blushed and glanced at Y/N who let out a small laugh, her cheeks dusted a light pink. She gave him a wink before turning around to leave him to finish his job, for once not minding the small protective part of Steve that was coming out.

Y/N glanced around at her friends, smiling to herself at the sight of Lucas and Eleven talking to Beverly and Ben while Max, Will and Dustin talked with Richie. She liked that they were finally trying to get along for once.

The puff of an inhaler had her snapping out of her thoughts and she turned to see Eddie standing off to the side with an inhaler in hand and his focus on the Well House. He looked paler than usual and it didn't take Y/N long to notice the small shake of his hands as he gripped onto his inhaler like his life depended on it.

Y/N frowned and slowly walked over to her friend before placing a hand on his shoulder. Eddie instantly jumped and turned to her with wide eyes, but he relaxed almost as quickly once he realized who it was.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," Eddie greeted, his breathing still a little erratic.

"Hey, Eddie. You okay?" she asked, tilting her head slightly as she gave the boy a confused look.

"Uh. . .not really. I mean. . .I don't know about this, Y/N. My asthma can't take all this stress," Eddie admitted as he let out a breathy chuckle.

Y/N could tell the boy was scared, so she didn't hesitate to reach for his hand and give it a small squeeze. "Hey, you're going to be just fine, okay? You've got me, the rest of the Losers, and the whole Party here to help. It's not like you're going in there alone," she assured him. "Besides, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Eddie was silent for a moment before nodding. "I know," he whispered as he sent her a small smile. He let his inhaler return to its spot in his fanny pack before giving Y/N's hand a light squeeze. The girl smiled at him before Wheeler announcing that they were done had everyone turning to look at them.

The groups were silent as they stared at the supplies on the ground before them. No one made a move to grab something, so Dustin let out a sigh as he took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair before returning his hat to its rightful spot.

"Only half of us are going in, right?" Dustin asked and Y/N nodded in response. "So how are we going to do this? Draw from a hat?"

"We could always measure our wangs! I'll for sure wi-" Richie began, but the Losers were quick to exclaim, "Beep beep, Richie!"

"Why do I have to look like him?" Wheeler whispered as he lightly shook his head.

"We're going to draw sticks actually," Y/N said as she held out a handful of sticks she had broke when they first arrived. She glanced to Dustin and gestured towards his hat. "May I?" Dustin nodded and quickly took his hat off before handing it to the girl. Y/N smiled in thanks before placing the sticks inside and holding it out. "Okay, everyone grab a stick. The eight shortest sticks are the ones who have to go in."

One by one, the Losers and the Party all grabbed a stick from the hat. It wasn't until everyone had grabbed a stick that they slowly opened their hands, a little over half of the group letting out groans while the others let out sighs of relief.

In the end, Richie, Steve, Wheeler, Eleven, Y/N, Dustin, Bill and Eddie were the ones who got the short sticks.

"I would've won," Y/N heard Richie mutter as he pouted, but she just ignored him and went over to the pile of supplies and weapons with Eleven right on her heels and no complaints coming out of either of their mouths.

Y/N picked up a crowbar, some rope, and a flashlight while Eleven picked up a flashlight and some rope before they turned to the boys.

"Come on, princesses. We don't have all day."

- - -

"I love you, Y/N. I really do, but I'm so happy that I don't have to go in there," Stan muttered from his best friend's side as the two stared ahead at the pulsing goo portal before them.

Y/N grimaced at the colors coming from the portal before saying, "I love you too, Stan the Man, and I really don't blame you either."

"So we doing this or what?" Steve asked as he held his bat up against his shoulder. "The longer we stand here, the more we're just going to psych ourselves out."

"True," Y/N sighed before she began to pull Bill's jacket off. Said boy instantly looked over at her and gave her a confused look. She just smiled softly and said, "I don't want to get it messed up."

Bill smiled at that before taking it from her and setting it on top of a wooden chair that was bent to one side because of a missing leg. "It'll be th-th-there for you w-w-when you get b-b-back," Bill told her, the two smiling warmly at each other before looking to the portal in front of them.

"Okay, let's do this," Y/N muttered shakily. Bill glanced over at the nervous girl before reaching out and grabbing ahold of her hand, their fingers intertwining almost instantly. Y/N looked to Bill who gave her a small smile and a nod. She quickly returned it before the two began to walk towards the portal.

"Be careful!" Beverly called out before nervously biting her lips, worry coursing through her veins.

"Stick together!" Ben reminded them.

"And don't wander off alone!" Lucas added, Max nodding her head in agreement.

The people staying back continued to tell them to be careful and such as Y/N and Bill walked through the portal side by side. The two stumbled into the Upside Down almost instantly and Bill was quick to put his hands out and steady the girl, Y/N gripping onto his arms automatically before the two looked up and locked eyes.

Bill blushed as he stared at the girl and Y/N just sent him a small smile that made his heart start beating faster and his breath hitch in his throat.

"What the fuck? You've been in here for like ten seconds and are already making heart eyes at each other?" Richie asked in disgust as he pushed his way through the portal.

"Shut up, Tozier," Y/N grumbled as her and Bill pulled away from each other.

"Make me, L/N," Richie shot back before mockingly puckering up his lips. Y/N let out a laugh and shoved the boy away while Richie chuckled and Bill frowned.

One by one, Wheeler, Steve, Dustin, and Eleven came through the portal. It took a moment longer for Eddie to come through and he instantly grimaced at the sight of decay all around him before taking out his inhaler.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Eddie muttered. Y/N chuckled and nudged him before giving him a small reassuring smile. Eddie relaxed a little, but he was still pale as he looked at the room around him.

To Y/N's surprise, everyone then looked to her. The girl blinked in response and her eyes flickered over to Steve who gave her a small nod that told her to go ahead. She smiled ever so slightly before nodding her head towards the staircase. "Turn your flashlights on and come this way," she told them.

The group all nodded and turned their flashlights on before following the girl up the stairs and out of the house. Once they were outside, Y/N pulled out her map before opening it up and looking at the divided sections.

"Okay, since we don't know if Mike is still in the same spot Eleven last saw him in, it’s best if we check as many areas as possible. We split the map up into four sections so I say we pair off and then go from there," Y/N explained.

Bill's eyes lit up and he looked at Y/N before opening his mouth to speak, but Eleven beat him to it and exclaimed, "I call Y/N!"

Bill instantly frowned while Eleven linked arms with the girl. Y/N offered Bill a small smile and his frown instantly turned into a smile, not being able to keep a straight face when she smiled at him like that.

"I'll go with Bill," Steve offered, his eyes flickering between Y/N and Bill. Y/N let out a small sigh of relief, something about knowing that the older boy would be by Bill's side calming her almost instantly. As for Bill, he couldn't help but tense, already knowing what was about to happen.

"Okay then. I guess that means it will be me and Eddie and then Richie and Mike?" Dustin suggested. Everyone nodded except for Richie and Wheeler who looked at their friends with their mouths hanging open.

"What? Don't put me with his ugly ass!" Richie complained as he exasperatedly waved his arms around.

"Did he just call me ugly?" Wheeler asked, his face scrunched up in confusion and annoyance. "We have the same face! He does know we have the same face, right?"

The two boys began to bicker before the group's eyes and Y/N rolled her eyes before saying, "Tozier! Wheeler!"

The boys instantly stopped and looked to the girl. "Seriously? We have someone who needs us and you two are busy bickering? Save it for later, okay?" Y/N told them.

Richie and Wheeler frowned but nodded their heads. "Fine. We'll take the section that's on the far left of the map," Richie explained before he began to walk off. He glanced over his shoulder before yelling, "Come on, dipshit!"

Wheeler rolled his eyes and gave Y/N, Eleven, and Dustin an 'are you serious' look, but when none of them made a move to switch with him he pouted and hurried after the boy.

"So I guess they've got the far left section. Eleven and I will take the section with the quarry since she might be able to locate Mike when we get there," Y/N explained. "You guys split up the last two and then we'll meet back in our world, okay?"

The groups nodded and Y/N gave them all a small nod before saying, "Good luck." She then looked to Eleven and the two nodded at each other before beginning to walk off.

Y/N had taken no more than three steps before Bill was suddenly reaching out and grabbing onto her wrist. The girl turned around to see Bill looking at her worriedly. "B-B-Be careful, okay?" he whispered, his eyes flickering over her face as he stared at her in concern.

"I will," she assured him as she gave his hand a small squeeze.

"P-P-Promise?" Bill found himself whispering, almost afraid that he was going to actually lose her.

Y/N stepped up on her tip toes and kissed the boy’s cheek, Bill's face instantly turning red while Y/N smiled at him. "Promise," she whispered. "You be careful too, okay?"

Bill nodded and whispered, "Promise."

Y/N smiled softly at the boy before reluctantly pulling herself away. She glanced at the others boys where Eddie was currently smirking at her and said, "You guys be careful too. I don't know what I would do if any of you got hurt."

"We will. Now go," Steve told her as he smiled and waved her off.

The girl saluted him making the boys chuckle before Y/N ran after Eleven and the two disappeared into their section.

It was time to find Mike.

- - -

Eddie was silent as he walked through the Upside Down. He hugged himself and stared at the things around him in disgust, not wanting anything to touch him in fear that it might give him some disease or something.

Deciding he couldn't stare at everything or it would only freak him out, Eddie let his gaze fall on Dustin who was walking beside him. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Dustin since the boy had gotten here, but from what he remembered, Dustin was the reason Y/N's friends had all come here in the first place.

"So how long have you known Y/N?" Dustin asked, drawing Eddie out of his thoughts.

"Uh. . .two years now I guess. I met her at lunch on her first day of school after she moved," Eddie explained. Knowing that he probably had to keep the conversation going Eddie asked, "What about you?"

"Oh," Dustin chuckled a little at the memory before smiling and glancing at Eddie. "We met back in second grade. She was already friends with Lucas, so I knew who she was, but I didn't become friends with her until that year. There was this kid named Troy who liked to bully me because I have cleidocranial dysplasia and Y/N saw him making fun of me one day and called him in asshole before embarrassing him in front of the whole grade at recess. We became best friends after that."

Eddie chuckled and became a little less tense. "That sounds like Y/N alright. She once punched our school bully Henry Bowers in the face after he almost made me have an asthma attack. He threatened to beat the shit out of her for standing up for me, but she merely punched him square in the nose before grabbing my hand and running away. She ended up breaking her hand, but she said it was worth it because Henry had a broken nose and bruised face for the longest time," Eddie laughed.

Dustin let out a small laugh before shaking his head. "She gets herself into a lot of trouble doing things like that, but you got to love her," Dustin sighed, a distant look on his face.

Eddie let his eyes flicker over the boy's face before he frowned a little bit, the sudden realization of how much Dustin and his friends must miss having Y/N around hitting him hard. They had been best friends before she moved. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like if Y/N left them now.

"You know, she talks about you guys a lot and how much she misses you," Eddie said. "She loves you all a hell of a lot."

Dustin smiled softly at that before looking up at the boy. "Same goes for you. She talks so highly of you guys and how thankful she is for getting to be in your group. We used to have conversations before she left about how afraid she was of not fitting in. So the rest of the Party and I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for her," Dustin told him.

Eddie stared at Dustin in surprise before letting a smile break across his face. "We're lucky to have her," Eddie answered truthfully.

A small silence fell among the two again, but this one was more of a comfortable silence than anything. It wasn't until they reached a small forest looking area that one of them spoke up again.

"Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew," Eddie muttered as he stepped over all the decay covered objects around him. It was to the point where the landscape around him was so destroyed and disgusting one couldn't even tell what the objects actually were and the smell was enough to make Eddie gag.

"It could be worse," Dustin pointed out making Eddie look at him confused.

"How could this place be any worse?" Eddie asked in disbelief.

"Well," Dustin began as he walked through the woods like it was nothing, "for starters, I've seen these plants where it will literally shoot out dust and some kind of like gross mist at people. I got that shit in my mouth once and it was disgusting let me tell you."

Eddie looked at the boy in horror, flashbacks of when It had changed into a leper and thrown up on him going through his head. The thought of one of those plant things doing what had happened to Dustin to him made him feel light heated.

"You haven't even seen the Mind Flayer," Dustin told him.

"Mind Flayer?" Eddie asked confused.

"Yeah, it's like the boss of the Upside down. It's gross and can like shoot parts of itself into people. It happened to El once and she had to literally rip the thing out of her leg with her powers. There was so much blood and. . .woah, are you okay?" Dustin asked as he looked to the pale Eddie.

"Y-Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Eddie said as he shakily reached into his fanny pack before taking a hit off his inhaler.

Dustin give the boy a skeptical look. "You sure?" he asked. Eddie nodded and Dustin sent him a small smile. "Good. Let's keep going."

Dustin then began to walk ahead and Eddie stood there for a minute before taking another hit off his inhaler and hurrying after the boy, silently wondering how things were going with the other groups right about now.

- - -

"Why did I have to get stuck with you?" Richie complained for what had to be the hundredth time since the pair had left the others. "You look like you wouldn't be able to tell a difference between a demogorgon and your own mom."

Wheeler glared at the boy, the fact that he was glaring at someone who looked exactly like himself still creeping him out. "You done yet? Cause you've been complaining ever since we left," Wheeler said.

"Your mom complains every time she leaves me, but you don't see me telling her to be quiet," Richie shot back.

Wheeler shook his head and looked away with a scoff. "How did you and Y/N even become friends?" Wheeler muttered, the tone in his voice making Richie freeze and look to the boy in pure hatred.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Richie asked, his teeth gritted together as he instantly became defensive.

Wheeler looked surprised that Richie had heard him, but didn't back down as he stopped walking and turned to look at the boy. "The person she describes versus the person standing before me are two totally different people," Wheeler explained.

Richie furrowed his eyebrows, his anger slightly starting to disappear and instead being replaced by confusion. "What do you mean the person she describes?" he asked.

"I know it's hard to believe, but Y/N actually thinks highly of you, Tozier," Wheeler said. "She won't shut up about the whole lot of you, but I remember some of the things she's said about you. How you probably care the most out of the group even if you won't show it or how you will spend days at the arcade with her just to make her smile. How you are one of the funniest people she has ever met and how you aren't afraid to get serious and help her out if she really needs it."

"Why would she say that about me?" Richie asked, cutting Wheeler off in his explanation because of how confused he was.

"You're one of her best friends, man. You helped her through a tough transition in her life when she had to move to Derry. Your jokes, if that's what you would like to call them, and the little arguments you all have helped get her mind off of all the hard things going on in her life. She was so damn excited for us to meet one day and even went on and on about how she thought you and I could be friends. But since we met I haven't seen the boy she's talked about and we sure as hell aren't even close to being friends."

Richie's face had gone blank, the confusion and anger completely gone. Instead his face seemed to morph into a look of guilt as he looked down at his shoes.

Y/N had really said all those things about him and he had been an asshole since the Party arrived just because he was a little insecure?

Wheeler stared at Richie for a moment before asking with crossed arms, "So what the hell have you done to deserve someone like her in your life?"

An ear ringing silence filled the air at that point and Wheeler stared at Richie expectantly for a moment. It was only when Richie didn't respond that Wheeler rolled his eyes and began to walk off again.

It took a minute before Richie was by his side again and that was when the boy found himself whispering almost sadly, "I don't know."

Wheeler glanced over at the boy, letting his eyes flicker over to the utter lost look on his face as if Richie honestly couldn't figure out why he had been lucky enough to have Y/N as once of his best friends.

There was only silence after that, the only sound being the crunching of leaves beneath their feet.

- - -

Bill gulped as he glanced at Steve who walked in front of him with his bat swinging gently from side to side. He watched as the older boy ran a hand through his hair before looking around. He glanced back at Bill and the boy was quick to look away, not wanting Steve to know that he had been staring at him.

Bill just couldn't comprehend why Steve had wanted to be paired up with him. He knew it couldn't be good by the way Steve had looked at him almost angrily when he had chose him, but Steve hadn't said a word since they left so Bill wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"What do you want, Denbrough? Or are you going to keep staring at me and pretending like you aren't?" Steve called out, turning his eyes towards the boy for only a second before looking back in front of him.

Bill felt his cheeks warm up from having been caught before he asked, "W-W-Why did you want t-t-to be partners with m-m-me?"

"Cause we need to have a talk," Steve told him with a small shrug before going silent once again. Bill stared at the boy before giving him a look that asked if he was actually going to say anything.

Steve pretended not to notice him before he sighed and said, "Y/N's like my little sister, you know that?" Bill nodded in response and Steve mimicked him by nodding as well before saying, "Good, so you'll understand why I'm about to give you the while protective brother talk."

Bill blinked in surprised before looking at Steve with a shocked face. Protective brother talk? But why? Had Steve heard about the way he had treated Y/N the past day? He thought they had made up, so why was Steve wanting to give him a protective brother talk of it wasn't for that reason?

"Y/N's a great girl, but you already know that, right? She's so kind and caring and anyone would be lucky to have her. She's one of the best people I know and she's still just a kid," Steve said. "What I'm getting at is that Y/N is pretty special, okay? I know you know that just from the way you look at her like she's the only girl that matters. And Denbrough. . .you better not fuck up with her or you can bet that I'll be on your ass in a heartbeat."

"I wouldn't dare hurt her," Bill replied almost instantly, the shock about Steve giving him the protective brother talk because he thought the two were in a relationship still not having hit him yet. When it did, he looked down before whispering, "Plus there's no need to worry. She doesn't feel the same."

Steve blinked in surprise from how dumb Bill was before turning and putting a hand to Bill's chest. "Woah, woah, woah. Aren't you supposed to be somewhat smart or something?" Steve questioned. "You've got to be a complete dumbass to believe the shit that just came out of your mouth."

"You think Y/N doesn't like you?" Steve asked in disbelief. "Denbrough, I haven't seen her even so much as glance in someone's direction with half the love she looks at you with. You're crazy if you think she doesn't care about you."

Bill looked to Steve in surprise before asking, "B-B-But what if I m-m-mess up? W-W-What if she's doesn't l-l-like me after I t-t-tell her how I f-f-feel?"

Steve stared at the boy for a second and was reminded of himself back in high school when he was debating on telling Nancy Wheeler how he felt or back when he had liked Robin Buckley.

He let out a sigh before reaching out and placing a hand on Bill's shoulder. "Listen, Denbrough. You can't have that type of attitude or nothing is ever going to happen," Steve told him. "From what Y/N's told me, you're a pretty great kid. You won't mess it up and even if you did, I'm pretty sure Y/N would find it adorable anyways. All she's going to care about is the fact that the boy she cares about likes her back."

Bill was silent for a minute and Steve could practically see the cogs moving in the young boy's head as he came to terms with the fact that Y/N might actually like him back and that he should probably tell her how he felt as well.

Finally, Bill glanced up at Steve and sent a small smile on his direction. "Th-Th-Thanks, Steve," he whispered.

Steve shrugged as if it were no big deal before beginning to walk away. "Anytime, kiddo. And remember. Break her heart and I-"

"-break my face."

- - -

"I swear this place looks a lot nicer in our world," Y/N muttered as she stared at the Upside Down's version of the quarry in disbelief. Instead of the usual water she was used to seeing, she was met with liquid so black that it couldn't be anything good. And the smell that came with it? Absolutely nothing like the smell of fresh water, a summer breeze, and the trees that came with the actual quarry.

"I believe you," Eleven said as she grimaced at the sight before her. The two girls shuddered before backing away from the cliff, neither wanting to fall in accidentally.

"So where did you see Mike when you talked to him?" Y/N asked as she turned to her friend.

Eleven glanced around before looking down at the black liquid once again. "He was in a cave," she explained. "One down there perhaps?"

Y/N nodded as glanced over at the cliff one last time before looking to the rope she had attached to her belt. An idea instantly sprung into her head and within a matter of minutes she had tied the rope around her waist before giving the other end to Eleven.

"You hold this, okay? I need you to lower me down and then, when I get down there, I'll look for Mike and see if I can find him," Y/N told her.

Eleven nodded and the two girls went to the edge of the cliff before Y/N bent down on the ground and slowly began to crawl over the edge. It took a minute for her to find a groove for her foot, but she eventually did and climbing down from there wasn't too hard.

Y/N continued to climb down until she spotted a small opening a little to the right. She began crawling in that direction before she was finally able to land her feet in the ground. The young girl let out a small sigh of relief before flattening our her shirt and looking up.

The cave itself was dark on the inside so Y/N couldn’t quite see what was inside. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she gently gripped onto the rope in case she would have to tug lightly and have Eleven pull her up quickly.

"Mike?" Y/N called out, her voice just above a whisper in case whatever in the dark was not her friend.

There was a long moment of silence before she heard a small shuffling sound and then a, "Y/N?"

Out from the shadows stepped out a hesitant Mike and Y/N almost cried in relief at the sight of him. "Is that really you?" Mike whispered in disbelief, afraid that it might be Pennywise trying to trick him.

"No, it's me," she assured him, tears falling from her eyes as she smiled at her friend. "If I was It I don't think I would have a rope tied around my waist with one of my friends attached to the other end."

Mike gave her a confused look, but shook it off once he realized the girl standing in front of him was in fact one of his best friends. He didn't even hesitate before rushing forward, his arms wrapping around the girl as he let out a small laugh of relief.

Y/N stumbled back at the sudden force, but hugged Mike back just as tightly, the two both starting to cry at the fact that Mike was finally going to be safe.

"Holy shit," Y/N cried as he hugged the boy. "Don't you fucking do that to us again, you hear? Or next time I'll leave you in the Upside Down for good!"

Mike chuckled and pulled away before glancing out at the black 'water' in front of them. "I don't plan on it," he assured her. "Did you say the Upside Down? Like as in the place you've told us about before?"

"Yeah," Y/N sighed. "I thought we had closed the gate, but I guess we didn't. I don't know how you ended up here, but you must've gone through one of the portals that the demogorgons use."

"Demogorgons? Those alien looking creatures you've talked about? I only saw. . ." Mike trailed off as his face paled. "I only saw It."

"Yeah, I saw It too," Y/N told him. "But I think It is somehow connected to the Upside Down at the moment. Like connected so much to the point where they both seem to be working together."

"So it's like Pennywise meets the movie Aliens?" Mike asked, the girl nodding in response. "Well, that's just great."

Y/N chuckled before hugging the boy once again. "It's okay. We're going to get you out of here and then close the fucking gate, okay?" she said.

"That sounds great," Mike admitted as he let out a small laugh. "But who's we?"

"Well, all the Losers of course, but my friends from Hawkins all came down to help as well," Y/N explained.

"They did?" Mike asked in surprise.

"Yeah, in fact, one of them, her name is Eleven, is up above holding the other end of the rope," Y/N told him right as she felt a light tug on her waist coming from the rope. As if seeming to remember where they were, Y/N suddenly got back on task and said, "We should probably get going. We've been in the Upside Down for a while with no contact with It or the demogorgons, so I'm not quite sure how much longer we are going to have that luck for."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Mike said as the two walked to the edge of the cave. Y/N and Mike latched onto each other before Y/N lightly tugged on the rope. They were being pulled up only seconds later and Y/N was able to catch a glimpse of Eleven using her powers to pull them up before they were put onto the ground.

Eleven's face was suddenly hovering right above Y/N's and she gave the girl a concerned look. "You okay?" Eleven asked, worry on her face.

"I'm okay," Y/N assured her. "Great actually." The girl then sat up before gesturing towards Mike who was pushing himself up onto a sitting position. "This is Mike Hanlon. Mike, this is my friend Eleven Hopper."

Mike nodded over at Eleven in greeting. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming to save me," he breathed out.

Eleven just smiled in response, but her smile instantly disappeared as a howling sound filled the air.

"What was that?" Mike asked in a panic, his eyes searching frantically all around them.

"We need to go," Eleven said as she quickly helped Y/N to her feet. Y/N nodded in agreement and went to help Mike up, not noticing Eleven who had turned to see Will standing a little ways away from them with a blank look on his face.

"Will?" Eleven called out confused.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and turned, a gasp escaping her lips as she dropped Mike back on the ground and ran over to Eleven. "El, that's not Will," Y/N said as she grabbed her friend and began to pull her away from the creature who looked a lot like her friend.

"What-? But that's literally Will standing right in front of us?" Eleven said confused. "Unless you have a friend that looks like Will?"

"Not a friend," Y/N muttered.

"Not a friend?" 'Will' asked, tilting his head slightly as he smiled wickedly at the girl. "Oh, Y/N. That hurts my feelings."

Y/N pushed Eleven behind her and glared at the boy in front of her. "You're not Will. You're not my friend," she insisted.

The 'Will' took a step forward. "But we've been through so much together, Y/N. How would we not be friends? Would being best friends forever be better? Cause we could make it forever," 'Will' assured her.

"Get Mike," Y/N whispered as she shoved Eleven back towards her friend. Eleven nodded and went to go help the boy up while Y/N continued to stare at 'Will.'

"Sorry, buddy. I've got enough friends as it is," Y/N called out, taking another step back while 'Will' took a step forward.

"I'm sure you could use one more," 'Will' laughed. "We can all float! Wouldn't that be fun? We can all float! We can all float! We can all float!"

The 'Will' began to scream at them causing the three to stumble back slightly in surprise. But the part that really began to freak them out was when 'Will's' mouth opened up and cockroaches began to crawl out by the dozen. The cockroaches quickly covered the boy's entire body while 'Will' continued to yell, "We can all float!"

The howling sound was heard again only this time closer and 'Will' covered in cockroaches stopped screaming so that he could smile at the two. "Want to play a game?" he asked.

Y/N shook her head, but she had barely even started to before figures began to step out of the woods. "Shit, run!" Y/N yelled once she saw the demogorgons and demodogs that were filing in behind 'Will.'

Eleven and Mike didn't have to be told twice and before they could even register what was going on, the three friends were running away and back in the direction of the house, the demogorgons, demodogs, and 'Will' following after them.

They ran for what felt like hours and it wasn't until they were coming up on the edge of the woods that Y/N looked back to see that 'Will' has transformed back into Pennywise, the clown grinning at the girl and waving to her.

Eleven and Mike were ahead of the girl, so they pushed themselves through the last of the woods before catching sight of the Well House as well as Richie, Wheeler, Steve, Bill, Dustin, and Eddie who were all bolting towards the house with demogorgons on their tails.

"Hurry!" Mike yelled as he could hear the sound of the demodogs and demogorgons getting closer. He could even hear the sound of Pennywise laughing behind them which only made him pull Eleven along faster, the two running towards the door and running in behind the others.

The group was quick to run down to the basement and everyone began to shove each other through the portal until they had all fallen through and hit the floor. It was as soon as Eleven came flying through the portal as the last person that they all began to scream, "Close it! Close the gate!"

Everyone's panicked screams was all that could be heard as Eleven held up a hand and began to close the gate. An ear piercing scream escaped her lips as they all watched the gate close before them as if someone was stitching it together piece by piece.

It was when the final piece seemed to stitch tighter, officially sealing off the Upside Down from the real world that the group all felt back in relief, everyone collapsing to the ground.

Eddie was the first to notice Mike was there and he let out a chuckle before saying, "Mikey." Mike grinned back at the boy and the two embraced before the other Losers quickly went over to their friend as well, hugging the boy and jokingly threatening him to never do that shit again.

When Bill had finished hugging Mike, he smiled before turning to look at Y/N. However, he froze when he couldn't find her.

"Y/N?" he called out, the confusion in his voice making everyone freeze before they looked around as well.

Yet Y/N was no where to be seen.

Bill felt his heart start beating faster, a feeling of utter panic washing over him as he realized something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

"W-W-Where's Y/N?" Bill asked, his eyes flickering around the group in a panic before he stopped on Eleven who he knew had been partners with her.

Eleven paled as she looked around the group. "She was. . .she was. . ." Eleven couldn't even finish the sentence as a feeling of guilt and dread washed over her.

"She was right there with us," Mike elaborated, his voice just above a whisper.

"Did no one see if she got through?" Will asked, his eyes wide as he felt himself begin to panic. He knew what it was like to be trapped inside the Upside Down and if Y/N was trapped. . .

A hand slamming onto the portal was enough to answer the group's questions and they all turned to see two hands banging on the other side of the closed portal. "Guys!" Y/N yelled.

"Guys! No! Please!" Y/N cried out as she banged on the portal, panic settling in her bones.

"Y/N!" Bill yelled out as he ran to the sealed portal, his hands banging against the portal too before he began to try and claw at it with his fingers.

"Bill! Bill! Help me, Bill! Please!" Y/N cried, the sound of her sobs being enough to make his heart rate spike as he realized he had to do anything and everything to get the girl out of there.

"Y/N!" he cried out before he looked to Eleven in a panic. "G-G-Get her out of there! G-G-Get her out!" He probably looked like a freak yelling at Eleven like that with a red face and tears filling his eyes, but he didn't care. The girl he was pretty much in love with was trapped on the other side of the portal with It and the whole Upside Down.

Eleven held her hand up and tried her best to open the gate, but nothing seemed to be working. She screamed as she tried her hardest, but blood was spilling from her nose and before she knew it, she was falling backwards and Wheeler had to catch her. Eleven hadn't quiet passed out yet, but she was so weak she couldn't do anything else and the realization made her start crying.

Bill realized what was happening and picked up one of the axes they had been using as a weapon. He began to hack at the portal, but all the axe seemed to do was bounce off of the thing until it got to the point where Bill was hitting the portal so hard that the axe broke.

"They're coming!" Y/N suddenly cried out as she tried to claw her way out of the Upside Down, but it was no use. "They're coming! Guys! Please!" She was full on sobbing by now, her words coming out in hiccups due to how frightened she was.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Steve muttered as he ran forward and used his own weapon to try and get through the portal. The others, all except Eleven, were quick to join in as they all beat at the portal only for there not to even be a dent or scratch to be seen.

"Y/N! H-H-Hang in there! We're g-g-going to get you out!" Bill yelled back. "We're g-g-going to-"

His own yells got cut off when Y/N was suddenly ripped away from the portal, a blood curdling scream filling the air as she suddenly disappeared.

"Y/N!" everyone yelled, but her scream disappeared and she never returned back to the portal.

A silence filled the air after that and it was like each of them could feel the silence in their own body. Everyone was pale, their bodies shaking as they tried to fathom what us just happened.

Bill seemed to be the worst out of them all and he stumbled slightly pass everyone until he stopped by the wooden chair that had his jacket still lying there waiting for the girl. The boy stared at it with tears in his eyes before gently picking up the jacket and holding it close to his body.

A sob left his mouth and everyone's eyes turned to him, their own emotions finally breaking through at the sound of Bill's cries.

Bill fell to his knees, his hands clinging onto the jacket so tight that his knuckles were white. He was sobbing, his whole body shaking with each sob that one could just tell how much this situation hurt him. They could just tell how much Y/N meant to him.

It was in that moment, where Bill cried out for the girl he was desperately in love with and the girl who was best friends with every single person in that room. . .it was that moment that each of them slowly began to break down, Steve being the first one after Bill and going over and hugging the boy as he cried out for the girl who was his little sister. It was in that moment that they fully realized what had just happened.

Y/N L/N was stuck in the Upside Down and something or someone had gotten to her before they could.

* * *

Tag List

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[yandere-society]

I'm hoping that the request is still open. Can I please please request a reaction from yandere rap line where the OC finally explained why she can't accept their feelings was because she believed that she doesn't deserve to be loved then the rap line found out that the reason why the OC was thinking that way was because that's what her family and friends keep on saying about her so they can use the OC for financial gain. Thank you so much

Your Love is Not Enough

Word Count: 4.5K 

A/N: I wanted to try and write longer. The ending is alright I guess. I was inspired by class differences in Gatsby. 

Trigger warnings: yandere-themes, domestic abuse, manipulation, slight sexual tension, profanity, graphic language, alcoholism/alcohol abuse, slut-shaming, threats. Please do not read if you are sensitive to these topics. 

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

It was typical, overhearing conversations on the city streets as you commuted. The annoying voices of kids and teens would push you to the edge. They never knew how lucky they were. It was days like these that you wished you could slap some sense into these kids. Their constant bothering and nagging of their parents for these material things. It was also inconsequential in the end.

While they complained about their clothing, you never were able to afford the trends. You never needed them, but you couldn’t help the feeling of being worth less than someone just because of what you wore. It was a repetitive pattern: you would watch as their eyes drifted up and down as if they were judging what you had on. It ticked you off as you clenched your fists. The annoying voice broke into your thoughts again.

“My phone broke! What do you mean you can’t get me a new one?”

It was as if fate was stopping you from flying that kid down the street. Your phone vibrated in your pocket, signaling a phone call. Taking out your outdated phone that you never needed to replace, you looked at the caller ID. Your eyes grew wide as you quickly accepted it and put it to your ear.

“Hello?”

“Hi, darling,” The smooth voice of your mother reached your ears, the velvety consistency of her voice that brought a warm feeling throughout your body. “Are you busy right now?”

“Uh, I am. Going to do class today.” You mumbled in an apologetic tone, walking across the street.

“I see.” A long and awkward silence was shared before she spoke again. “Your father is in the hospital. You know why. Just… If you have time, please give us a visit.”

“I understand… Bye.” You hung up, bringing your phone down as you hung your head down at the sidewalk.

Your notorious father… A huge hatred hung in your heart towards him and everyone knew it. He was the sole reason why your life had been so difficult. Drinking and wasting his days away, he dragged you and your mother down with him. In terrible debt, you struggled to support yourself at the most crucial point in your life, watching as your father spent the last of his paycheck on another case of beer. Instead of the notebooks you were supposed to store information in, the backpack which was supposed to hang on your back, or the folders to hold all your papers, you watched the last of the money selfishly spent on himself.

It was because of him that you refused and denied everything he was. His whole existence was an embarrassment to you. You studied grueling hours, always seen at the back of the library, your nose stuck in a book. The part-time job in which you worked for more than eight hours took pity on you, observing the way you saved your money to get that extra hour of tutoring. Your notebooks, filled to the brim with information as you desperately needed to ace the college entrance exam.

It finally paid off that fateful day as you got the letter of your acceptance, accepting to pay almost ¾ths of your tuition. You won. You forgot about your father, leaving his footprints and making your own path. The light was there at the end of the tunnel. Now you ran full speed ahead, hoping to forget everything of your past.

With a push of the door, you entered the campus library, walking to the special spot in the back. The rich architecture and wood that was delicately sculpted of the shelves brought about a calm and classy atmosphere. Your feet dragged on the soft carpeting, your eyes looking for the three blobs of hair in the corner. With a turn of the corner, three heads shot up as they saw your figure approach, two of them giving waves.

“Good morning, y/n.”

“Hi y/n!”

“…”

You smiled at the three men as they all gave you a gaze, each in their different way. Hoseok sat at the far left, his smile wide and eyes glittering as he looked up at you. He held a large textbook in his hand, a frame of glasses cutely adorning his face as they were on the verge of slipping off his face. His bubbly and exciting personality made it so that he got tasks done and quickly. He took charge regardless of situations and circumstances. While everyone was awkward and didn’t know what to do, Hoseok would propose something that everyone would try to follow. He started and initiated something, which made the difference. The existence of Jung Hoseok embodied “down to Earth”. He could get along with anyone. It didn’t matter. You were bound to end up liking him.

Which is how the man who sat in the middle ended up a part of this peculiar friend group. Yoongi, his head laid on the table as his arms propped it up, was the quiet one. Preferring to show his personality through equations and math, he was the one who silently observed everyone. His more expressive personality came up as he set fires on the countertops of the lab tables in the laboratory, watching as everyone panicked. He would always laugh at their scared expressions, standing with a proud smirk on his face.

“The tabletops are fireproof, you idiots.”

His dry humor was a huge breath of fresh air. He was “actual” comedy. There was never a doubt in your mind that he was judging everyone as if he was secretly planning world domination. He never denied it when you jokingly asked.

Namjoon sat on the far right, a notebook on the table and pencil in hand as his eyes drifted up towards you. His calm demeanor always set him as the mediator of the group. His love for biology connected the sentimental literature major Hoseok and the explosive chemistry major Yoongi.

It wasn’t difficult to bond with them. As they were already connected with each other, you quickly fit in. You were all bonded together with the love of learning. Before you had interrupted them, Hoseok was reading a physics textbook aloud, Yoongi translated it and broke it down as Namjoon wrote the easy to understand ideas in the notebook. You took a seat next to their assembly line of learning, watching with curiosity as Hoseok excitedly read the textbook. His excitedness made it seem like he was reading out of a children’s book.

Yoongi muttered and translated the complicated ideas softly to Namjoon. His voice was so quiet that Namjoon had to stop and ask him to speak louder. This definitely occurred more than once.

“Huh? What did you say? Can you repeat that?”

“I SAID-!”

“SHH! You’re in a library, yoon~” Hoseok chirped.

Your soft laughter would break them away from their little quarrel, a blush adoring Yoongi and Namjoon’s cheeks as they quickly went back to work. Hoseok would look up and watch in admiration as you laughed, your hand covering your mouth. From an outsider’s perspective, it would look as if a group of friends was goofing off, but to the four of you, you all loved each other.

It had not been long when you had realized you had fallen for these three boys. As you struggled with these feelings, you went to them, somewhat embarrassed, but more scared. Love was something you rarely experienced in your life. As you tried to hold back the tears of scars you didn’t want to reopen, they all embraced you, happy that you had come to them first.

The three of them had formed a pack, discussing ways to seduce you while also preventing any foreign intervention. They didn’t need to deal with someone who was just as smitten as them. Their toleration for each other blossomed into young love, as Hoseok charmed both men. They learned how to love the little quirks and charms of each other, believing that they were irreplaceable.

When you came to them, confessing your feelings, they all cried together. Hoseok had embarrassingly taken your first kiss out of elation, awkwardly crushing his lips onto yours. Yoongi ripped him off, not being to take the clumsiness of his affection. Namjoon stood in the back, awkwardly fiddling his fingers in embarrassment as his glasses slid lower on his face. He would cringe whenever he remembered the way his face heated up as he brought his lips onto yours, before ripping himself away. The sensation and the intense beat of his heart screamed out to him, saying how this was all he wanted. Yet, he felt a rush of insecurity at the thought of you ever leaving him. Leaving them.

As Hoseok ended on the last section of the chapter, he gently closed the top of the book flat on the table, a smile never leaving his lips. There was a calm silence that graced your group, but your smile faltered. The three pair of eyes observed your every expression, watching as they saw worry flicker in your eyes. On cue, Namjoon spoke up, his arm extending as he pushed your hair behind your ear.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“My father… He’s in the hospital right now.” You left out a sigh of annoyance which didn’t go unnoticed. “I’ll probably visit him after classes.” The boys hummed while Hoseok playfully tried to harmonize with the rest of their voices.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Namjoon asked, clasping his hands over his lap as he crossed his legs underneath the table. “We wouldn’t mind.” The two other boys nodded, agreeing with Namjoon’s statement.

“Yeah, I would appreciate that. I’ll text you the location later. Have to go now!”

You lifted yourself up from your seat as you gave each boy a small wave, off to your awaiting marketing class. As you disappeared off into the distance, their gazes grew dark.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to pay him a visit again?”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Hospitals. There was nothing great about being inside a hospital. It was sad, lonely, and filled with so many people with at least one thing in common. They were all hurt. Each patient had a story, one that you would be better off not knowing. The smell and the lighting all gave off an eerie vibe. There was nothing similar to home in a hospital. To you, it was no different from confinement. This was a place full of sad souls. And your father was no different.

The elevator ride was uncomfortable. It’s poorly dimmed lights tried its best to brighten up the small container, but there was no point. The old woman in a wheelchair was planted next to you as you subconsciously stepped away from her. You wanted to leave, but there was still a force that somewhat held onto you, telling you that it was the right thing to do. How you hated this soft part of yourself.

With a loud ding, the elevator stopped at your destination. The fourteenth floor, high above and peering over the city. Your sneakers squeezed on the smooth floor, walking over to the sign that was hung on the wall. You went left, towards room 13-4. You dragged your sweaty palm on the side of your pants, realizing just how nervous you were.

You didn’t pay your parents visits anymore. You don’t even know what compelled you to come here besides doing the right thing as their child. People would have told you that you shouldn’t go to see them. But even so, you couldn’t help but hold onto the naive belief that your father wasn’t always like that. Vague memories flooded in your mind as you stood in front of the door, unable to turn the handle. You reminisced about the memories of your early childhood and the small happiness that they gave you before everything came crashing down.

With great intensity, you pushed the door, stepping in and looking over at your mother who sat next to your father’s bed. Your mother looked up first, her lips curling up as she met your eyes.

“Hi,” you breathed out, suddenly out of breath. “How is he?”

“He’s just suffering from alcohol poisoning.” She replied, tapping his arm and shaking him awake. “Honey, y/n came to visit.”

The pet name made you internally cringe, the snap of bad memories of drunken fights that flashed instantly through your mind. Your eyes darted to your father, who lay in the hospital bed. His cheekbones were more apparent than before and his arms were skinnier, lacking the muscle that used to be there. A small smile graced the corner of your lips at the revelation that this man could no longer hit or pull you down anymore. As you stood by his bedside, you felt powerful, your eyes looking down and boring into his skull as he was forced to lay there.

A small knock broke you from your thoughts as you looked back, three men poking their heads in as they shuffled in. They all hung their heads low, ducking as if they were intruding on some secret plan. You had to stifle your laugh because they looked absolutely ridiculous.

“Oh mom, these guys are three of my friends in college.” You directed your hands towards them as they bowed politely, biting their lips from correcting you and admitting that they were dating you. Your father had awakened slowly, rubbing his eyes as he looked from your mother to the trio in the back. He held back from cursing out, “Who the fuck are these clowns?”

“Hello,” Namjoon started as he gave a polite full 90-degree bow. “I’m Kim Namjoon. It’s nice to meet you.” He nudged the rest of the two boys to go.

“Hi! I’m Jung Hoseok! Nice to meet ya~” He smiled wide, bowing, with his hair flicking up as he brought his head back.

“Hello… I’m Min Yoongi.” He murmured, bowing like the rest.

You father stared at the three men, grunting and turning onto his side. He laid expressionless as he looked straight into your eyes.

“Are you a slut now?”

Your mouth fell agape in pure disbelief. You couldn’t even find the words to describe your shock and the pure disgustingness of his comment. As you sputtered, the eyes of Namjoon and Yoongi turned dark while Hoseok no longer held a smile on his face, but instead completely blank.  

“I came to see you and this is how you treat me?” You shouted, trying to keep your composure even though you felt the urge to slam the door shut and leave.

“Well, are you?”

“No!” You yelled, getting more furious by the second. You turned to the boys, your eyes pleading for them to step out of the room. They nodded, Hoseok staring straight into your mother’s eyes before heading out.

“What are their future careers?” Your father yawned, leaning his head into the soft pillow.

“Teachers for their respective subjects.” You leaned on the white stone of the hospital walls, taking deep breaths to dissolve your anger.

“Teachers?” He repeated in disgust. “They won’t make enough money, they’re teachers.”

You just had about enough of this. Your father had crossed the line, pushing each and every one of your buttons.

“And what would you know? You barely make any money in general, sitting on your drunk ass every day.” You grit your teeth, turning your heel towards the door.

“So what? You can’t be with three people anyways.” His voice stopped you before you could grab ahold of the handle. “You’re dating them right? Anyways, we don’t think they’re good for you.”

You snickered, glaring at him from the door.

“Just watch me.”

Your feet carried you as you sped down the hallway, lost in thought.

I’ve overcome so many obstacles in my life to get where I am today. Does he really think his opinion is going to change that? If I cared so much about his opinion, I would’ve ended up just like him. Taking my anger on others for my own faults. Struggling to get my daily dose of alcohol. No better than a failure.

When you turned the corner, you ran into the three boys near the elevator. They gave you a concerned look, but you just brushed it off, giving them a reassuring smile and thumbs-up.

On the other hand, your mother just sat there in the hospital room, looking at the ground. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she dreaded what was to come. She couldn’t speak up even though she knew. Their gaze was sharp, something that made an impression the first time she had seen them. She squeezed her eyes shut. You definitely had jumped to a conclusion. You had no idea what those boys were behind those masks. She gasped at the realization of her actions. She just let her daughter run into the palm of crazed maniacs.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

The dark of the night was perfect for three men looking to fulfill their deepest and darkest desires of you. The boys had you cornered in the comfort of their shared home, a space where they shared the rent together. You sat on the bed, your back hitting the headboard as Hoseok and Yoongi sat on each side. Their close proximity was excruciating close, causing your face to flush red. You remembered it was barely past the first month since you had started dating them, yet you trusted them entirely.

“Is this why you were so hesitant at first?” Hoseok whispered in your ear, his voice sending tingles down your arms, making your hands like putty.  

“Poor baby, she’s been through a lot.” Yoongi spoke from the other side of your ear, his hand brushing up your leg.

Namjoon stood in front of you, his fingers running through your lower lip as he glanced up from your mouth to your eyes. “Care to share his name?”

“Guys… It’s really fine now. You don’t need t-”

With a harsh yank, Namjoon tilted your head up as he connected a deep kiss with your lips. He dove straight into the cavern of your mouth as you pushed him out of reflex and shock.

“I won’t ask again, y/n.” His voice was low as separated from your lips with a ‘pop’. His dark gaze sent a shudder down your spine. You eventually gave in, telling them what they wanted. At first, it was difficult for you to open up to the boys about your problems, afraid it might drive them away. But over time, you realized that they were more than happy to know more about you. They loved it when you were honest with them, sharing your raw feelings were the highlight of their days. It took months for you to share about your not so glamour household. But now, they finally got the names and the address.

“That was really pressuring…” You groaned, your face still red with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, y/n.” Hoseok cooed, bringing his hands up to cup your cheeks. He nudged your foreheads together as he laughed with you. His smile was contagious as you couldn’t help but smile with him.

It’s a shame he really wasn’t.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

“Did you find it?” Namjoon’s voice reached his lover’s as he himself typed away on his keyboard.

“Yup got it right here,” Hoseok responded, his face serious and his eyes fixed on his computer.

The arrest record of your father, as well as the warrant, flashed on the screen. Yoongi looked over with such disgust, it could’ve killed.

“I’m going to kill that fucker, I swear I’m going to-”

“Yoongi, breathe.” Hoseok snapped, his gaze never leaving his screen as he scrolled through his computer. Yoongi murmured things under his breath, remembering the tricks his partners had taught him on anger management. It was a “turn-off”, they had told him, something that made people not want to befriend them. Namjoon and Hoseok would snap at him, reminding Yoongi how important their image was. It mattered even if they weren’t in public. Bad habits tended to display in times of immense pressure, something they didn’t need.

“Okay, we’re going to pay them a lovely visit. How does that sound?” Namjoon spoke up, the three boys crowding around his office desk in their small living space. With a loud slam of the top of Yoongi’s laptop, he pushed it off to the side, collecting his bag and coat.

“Let’s go,” Yoongi called from the door, slipping into his sneakers. Hoseok followed, his serious gaze never leaving his face. Namjoon threw on a trench coat, collecting his things and locking the door.

The sun was setting as the boys made it to the neighborhood where you previously resided in. Yoongi adjusted his bucket hat and the black surgical mask that hung around his ears. Namjoon slipped on his shades and beanie, preferring to shove his hands in his pockets. Hoseok opted for a white mask, his hair blowing in the open wind. The three moved quickly, splitting up as they rapidly approached your street.

On a three-way call, Namjoon delivered quick instructions as the boys roamed around. Namjoon pressed his phone closer to his ear as he heard the ruffle of a coat and deep breaths.

“Namjoon. I found one.” In a flash, Hoseok cut off the line before Namjoon could yell anything. He sighed in frustration, instructing Yoongi to meet him at Boulevard Street. Yoongi jogged to Namjoon, looking around for Hoseok.

“Where’d he go?”

Namjoon groaned. “He found one. I bet he’s playing around.”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

“Why aren’t you such a doll~” Hoseok cooed sarcastically, taking excruciatingly slow steps towards his prey. “Why are you so scared of me? I haven’t even done anything yet, darling.” The woman looked behind her, nothing but a dark and closed off alley that she was only slowly backing into.

“I’m hoping you had enough fun of cat and mouse? I gave you a fair shot to escape, but you’re the one that cornered yourself here. Can’t you see? This is your fault. You deserve this.”

The fear that radiated off the poor woman sent a pleasurable shock down his spine. Hoseok licked his lips in anticipation feeling on the verge of exploding. He couldn’t contain his excitement in him anymore. He needed a release. NOW

“Oh Mrs. Y/L/N, seeing you so scared and weak is truly enjoyable. I think I can understand why you can’t do anything for your daughter. You’re too weak.” He watched as her expression changed in humiliation, her whole body shaking in fear. Hoseok grabbed onto the collar of her shirt, his eyes staring into hers.

“You’re pathetic.”

Hoseok let go of his grip, watching as her legs gave out onto the dirty ground. He turned his heel without looking back as he left the alley. His feet carried him as he called Namjoon back on his phone. Within seconds, he picked up.

“Did you have your fun?” Namjoon’s voice came in, perfectly annoyed.

“I did~” Hoseok cheered, a smile returning back to his lips. “How about you?”

“Yeah, we saw him. Taught him a lesson. Yoongi surprisingly held himself back more than usual.”

Hoseok hummed into his phone, increasing the pace of his strides. “I thought I was going to have to interfere if things got too violent, but all he did was spit some nasty threats at him. Even I got chills.”

Hoseok heard Namjoon chuckle out of his receiver. Music to his ears. “See you soon, Joon.” Hoseok murmured into his phone. “I miss hyung already.”

“Aish, you always get soft after your outbursts.” Hoseok’s eyes looked over at the street sign, looking at Boulevard Street. He walked across the street, his phone still pressed next to his ear. “Well anyways, you’ll need to calm him down, he’s pretty worked up.”

When Namjoon and Yoongi appeared in the far distance, Hoseok ended the call, running up to meet them halfway. Hoseok bent down, swooping up Yoongi into his arms. Giggling, Hoseok squeezed the older, feeling his body slack in his arms.

“Did you have fun?” Yoongi mumbled into his chest, his arms coming up to push himself off. Yoongi was brought back onto the ground as Hoseok turned around and bent down again. Yoongi jumped onto his back as Hoseok hoisted him up until the older sat on his shoulders. Namjoon followed behind, watching as his two partners displayed blatant affection with each other.

“Mhm. How about you?”

A low chuckle fell from Yoongi’s lips. “He was absolutely terrified. I don’t think he’ll ever touch her again.”

The three of them let out each of their own smirks before arriving at the bus stop. Hoseok let Yoongi down as they both stared at Namjoon, making him feel awkward and out of place.

“W-what?” He asked, their stares making him feel self-conscious. It was a subconscious reflex as Namjoon folded his arms in front of his chest.

“Don’t you feel left out sometimes?” Hoseok asked, cocking his head to the side. Yoongi nodded in agreement as he stared at the younger.

“No, I’m alright, guys. I don’t really like that sort of affection…” He trailed off, refusing to meet eye contact. A thought came into his brain and before he knew it, he blurted it out.

“What do we do if we meet y/n’s parents for the ‘first time’?”

Hoseok just grinned.

“Do you think she’s going to believe us or her abusive parents?”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

The boys laid with you after your exhausting meeting with your parents, your limbs intertwining with each other in the bed. Namjoon laid directly behind you as Yoongi laid in front of you with Hoseok hugging him from behind. Your breaths were even with the boys as you all experienced a tranquil bliss. It overcame all of your bodies, your stress slowly fading away for the time being.

You couldn’t imagine being somewhere without them. They were your life, precious little angels that would always support you. You dedicated yourself to them and soon or later you would have the courage to tell them for once.

It’s a shame they didn’t know of your decision yet. They already planned another visit. Very soon.

-nomnomsik

[roswellroamer]

Nata Lodge to Tuuthebe Lodge, Letlhakane, Botswana. 320km. 5/2/19.

Today was a very memorable day. I rode so hard literally the wheel came off my bike! But first, I woke in the "foreigners" chalet rooming with my Aussie mates Andy & Jim. Great place with both toilet and shower placed in separate but outside rooms. Very nicely appointed with some sliding glass and screen doors out onto the back deck. The whole lodge had loads of sand around and after getting out of my kit the previous afternoon, I was barefoot the whole previous day as it felt like being at the beach. At least until you try to ride a motorcycle through it! Made to order breakfast at 7AM kitted up and I also need to mention that we had a bush baby looking over us last night at dinner. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galago 👀

We met some more Americans and some part time Americans who live 3 months out of the year in Cape Town. We were planning to make it today to the Makgadikgadi salt pan today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makgadikgadi_Pan

The tar road route there was about 400km but Gavin had scouted a path with the GPS and some locals, I don't think I can call it a road though it was, to cut the distance and to challenge the group to a bit of sand and exploration across Botswana. The first 40km or so were manageable for me. Not one vehicle seen all day on this path. There was some sand and some rutted river crossings (dry riverbed) and detours but we all made it. Apparently one of the rocks must've pinched the tire and tube pretty hard because during one stretch I could feel my front wheel not tracking as well and started to gear it making sound as it dies when losing air. So fortunate I was that within about a km or so the group stopped. By now my tire was properly flat. Gavin unstrapped his tools and he and Baz went to work. Within twenty minutes my tube was replaced. Very impressive. So my early comment 👆 about the wheel coming off may have been a bit misleading. But now with the wheel back on and tire inflated we continued along dirt, rock, sand, dry river beds, cows and fencing. Lots of elephant dung and trampled fences due to their presence but we saw none. A few hills and some wide open spaces. I hit one river crossing particularly hard and wasn't standing. I just find it tough to stand when my brain is telling me I am in imminent danger of being hurled from the bike... To this point I thought I was gonna lose it a couple times when I would lose the track through a deep rut and get tossed violently. The bike is really fantastic when you are confident enough to accelerate through so many obstacles. Massive holes, sand, huge bumps, etc. At this one spot, where I hit hard I immediately felt pain. I don't know what I did but I felt it the rest of the day and needed to stand more to keep it from hurting which was better for my riding technique. Now at the end of the day it has subsided and I suspect just a muscle strain. Phew. For the rest of this group with more off road experience they really enjoy this technical stuff. Most of the unpaved stuff is and has been fun for me. However the other 5% has been unnerving. I feel as if I have survived those stretches by will, and acceleration and by sheer good fortune. Two more guys laid it down in the sand today. 5 of the 7 bikes have been down. After that painful river hit I had to go even slower. One after another I would reach a technical river crossing and just shake my head. You can't stop to really dissect the terrain since your momentum is key to carrying you through the ever changing challenge of where your tires are gonna track. So in you go. Twist the throttle and pray that the seemingly 30° arcs both wheels are taking independently from each other don't cause you to do a tank slapper. After 50km we came to a flat area that didn't look too bad from afar. But the tracks had washed out and been replaced with lots of loose sand. I must admit I was swearing to myself a bit as I was tossed side to side unexpectedly through this section. Then I noticed 6 bikes on top of the next hill about a half km ahead. Both feet out pretending to my brain that it might help me from wrecking even though it would prolly only cause a fractured leg if serious calamity had arisen. I plodded through the thick stuff. Venturing far left of where the road was supposed to be at times. But I wobbled my way through with plenty of close calls and scaled the last hill to the welcome cheers of the group. I did feel good I hadn't laid it down as the guys said it was tough and technical to a man. But I don't feel I am mastering deep sand at all and I'm just feeling my mortality when I get in it. The last 15 km or so to the tar was fortunately not nearly as technical and we hit the tar aiming for Orapa. We had our second chat of the day with a veterinary guard who came over to talk with us and wish us a nice journey since we opted to stop just past her post. The other one was really personable (early in the day right where we started the dirt/sand road after leaving Nata) and was after us for conversation and sweets. 🍬

The next stop was at a crossroad. Right was towards the Makgadikgadi pan with the massive alluvial diamond mine looming a mile or so ahead of us. As a side note at one of these mines near here just 3 days ago the worlds second largest diamond was just discovered! 1761 carats. 💎 We needed fuel since it was about 70km each way to and from the pan, so we went left and maybe 10km into Letlhakane. First traffic we have seen in a while. Not a lot of cars, but a stop sign and everyone turning in somewhere and just slow. We got gas and for the fourth day in a row (at least) grabbed a bite at the gas station. There just are no decent places to stop for lunch. I grabbed an egg salad and tomato sandwich and some sort of green tea drink. This trip to the pan was always a question mark. Not much of a road to it. Perfect time of year to visit it as it is and has been dry. Like Bonneville, you could ride anywhere on the salt and there are some islands (as these flats fill with water in the rainy season) with big rocks and baobab trees. We waited about twenty minutes or so for the bakkie to meet us as they were restocking in town. After that we ran out of tar after maybe 20km of the 70 to the salt. We had to ask some folks how to go since it seemed most sandy trails were on someone's property last Kubu station. After about 2 km more the sand got deep. I really didn't think it was a good idea to try and make it. I stopped and took a pic of the sand. I told the guys in the bakkie that I was turning around. We set a place to meet back at the same crossroad and I slogged my way for a bit before finding some firmer sand then soon after on the tar. I was doing some reflection today. The deep stuff was over my head, at least figuratively. It is a fine line between adrenaline and fear when pushing yourself in unfamiliar areas and surfaces. I decided I didn't want to risk the rest of my ride to try and make it to the pan. I was just organizing my thoughts to pen this post thinking I would have at least a couple hours when I thought I heard a bike. Yep. Barry then the rest of the crew showed up not 15' behind me. They had reached a similar conclusion due to depth of sand and length of daylight since it was already pushing 4PM.

We rolled straight to the Tuuthebe lodge and were pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of our rooms. The guys had bought stuff for a braai and we had a great night outside with John grilling up sausages, ribs, and chicken. We also had baked beans and potato salad and plenty of beer. I streamed some decent music on Sean's Bluetooth speaker and the icing on the cake was when our neighbor Seabi who works for a diamond mine got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Atlang. She said yes! 💍 And it's time for me to say goodnight. Well after midnight. 😴 Baz' word of the day is strafdop. It is a punishment drink required to be bought by the person that screws something up.

[meltykarasu]

Final Fantasy VII Advent Calendar — Dec. 24

The final dungeon is very pretty.

Rather notably, this dungeon has only one save point — and never in a fixed location. You get a "save crystal" in the first chest that allows you to create a single save point wherever in the dungeon you would like. I always save it for the end.

The first section is all mostly linear — I say mostly because the descent still has some maze-like qualities. After a while you get to a fork in the road, and this is where things get interesting — you can choose what party members go down the parallel paths into the cave, and depending on who you send where, they can nab some items for you.

You assemble your party for the next leg out of the people you chose to go along with you, so pay attention! I went left, and then the "upper" of the two left-hand routes.

Two more cool materia show up here. One is W-Magic, which is like W-Item but for casting spells — which means, combined with the Quadra Magic-Contain combo detailed earlier, you can cast eight times over. It's sort of the Dual Wield Spell Blade Rapid Fire from FFV all over again. The other is another Counter — this one performing a command rather than a flat attack. I like to toss it on a Deathblow, so it functions as another attack.

Then I reached the bottom. Usually at this point I would loop back up and tackle the other pair of routes (one up, one down) but seeing as I'm a bit pressed for time, I'm choosing to forge ahead now. I dropped my save crystal and tent'd up.

Everyone else arrives at the bottom of the Northern Cave. This is your last chance to grab all those items, so talk to everyone.

Cloud and a final party descended into the Planet's Core as a wave of monsters attack the remainder of the party. I learned the last Enemy Skill I'd learn the run, Pandora's Box, off a Dragon Zombie.

At the core was Jenova-SYNTHESIS.

Not to get into details about Jenny's whole behind-the-scenes, but she grades your performance and adjusts the upcoming bosses accordingly. The conditions aren't anything I remember off the top of my head.

Anyway, I came out swinging with both Tifa and Yuffie limits and bombarded Jenny with enough high-level magic to disintegrate a lesser being.

Afterwards, the platform the battle took place on was destroyed and everyone fell in, including the party members who had been above. They were well and truly in the Planet's core now. Sephiroth appeared, blasting the party with wave after wave of magic.

But Cloud could feel Holy, and he resolved to fight until the end.

I got my party shuffled into two groups. Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa would, as always, be my primary group, and the secondary was Cid, Vincent, and Red XIII. The latter was armed with a whole lot of underlevelled materia but just as much in the way of summons.

Bizarro-Sephiroth time!

This is a boss I've never really grokked. You have to like, switch between parties, but I never really get why you have to. After three rotations back and forth I said fuck it and had Red XIII summon Neo Bahamut and then Cloud summon Bahamut ZERO. After a couple more rotations, I said fuck it again and cast Knights of the Round.

At this point (the end of the Knights of the Round summon animation and thereby Bizarro-Sephiroth's death) I had twelve minutes to kill Sephiroth.

The screen fades to black.

And then ominous percussion and strings begin.

Safer-Sephiroth appears.

He has his own comically long summon called Super Nova. It's a percentage based attack, meaning it doesn't kill you, but it does also inflict Silence, Slow and Confusion.

I won't beat around the bush here: Tifa got confused and killed the rest of the party.

Today's Predictions & Strategy for Tomorrow

Christmas Day, and The End of Sephirothvangelion.

Previous / Next

[robynthomsonnapierfilm]

Film craft disciplines

'Without You'

First start

After getting sorted into my role as the cinematographer for Alexa’s film ‘Without You’, I met with her and Molly – who is the director – to get the ball rolling. One of the things we talked about was details like colour palette, lighting, tone, etc. we all came to the same conclusion this film would suit a warm, homely feel with lots of deep oranges and browns. Since the subject matter is rather dark, we thought setting it in this visually comforting environment would give it a different focus – making it more about the sister’s family relationship when dealing with such a hard subject than about the subject of death itself.

Pre-production

So that myself and the director would be on the same page when planning the cinematography throughout pre-production, I made a collaborative Pinterest board with Molly that we could both use to save and share inspiration and reference images.

I then went on to make a more precise document of how I personally imagined the film looking. I made a collection of ‘shot inspiration’ that turned into a sort of loose story board formed of stills from a variety of different films that I wanted to draw from in terms of their lighting, blocking, colour palette, etc. This turned out to be useful for communicating my image through to the rest of the group and having as a reference point when setting up shots in rehearsals and the shot-list later during the pre-production process.

Actor rehearsals

After casting our actors for Natalie and Stevie, we had two rehearsals with them. The first was under the supervision of Andrew and Demelza, where we ran through one small section of the script, and the second was for us to work in more detail with the actors through the entirety of the script.

In the first rehearsal, I got the chance to show Andrew the cinematography mood board and shot inspiration lists I'd come up with, and he gave me tips on how to recreate the lighting from a lot of the still I'm taking inspiration from. This came is so useful and has helped me to feel much more confident going into this project, as I was feeling a little doubtful of myself beforehand :)

The second rehearsal, where it was just us and the actors, was also extremely beneficial to my role as cinematographer. Seeing the whole script come to life meant I could see what Molly wanted in terms of blocking. This meant I could get to work on creating a shot list now that I knew the movements of the actors and could consider camera placement, moves.

Here is the shot list so far - Molly is still to give her input, and after visiting our filming location and having a test shoot, this may be subject to change:

Location Scout

After our producer Kate made and sent out a location call, a woman got in touch with us offering her cottage in Leith as a filming location. It is a 30-40 minute bus ride directly from the door of our campus to the door of her house, and so we decided to visit to see if it would suit what we were looking for since access was already easy.

As soon as we arrived, it had already ticked all the boxes we wanted (especially the fact there was a couch!!! victory!!!!)

The owner of the house was lovely and told us we were welcome to move some furniture around if need be, so there will be plenty of room for camera and lighting equipment.

The look of the room was also just what we had in mind. This means production design will be an easy task to master, which makes our lives a lot easier considering we don't have anyone specific who is officially filling that role.

I took some pictures to show the group members who couldn't show up, and to use as a reference for a floor plan:

So far, we're all really excited for production to go ahead now that all the pieces are falling into place!

Kit rehearsal

Next, Molly and I booked out the camera and lenses we planned to use during our shoot so we could have a rehearsal. We used this time to decide what lenses we preferred for each shot, and camera placement in correlation with where Molly wanted to position the actors in each shot. I found this time to be very beneficial as it gave us to opportunity to spot any issues or changes we wanted to make ahead of time, saving us the problem of having to deal with them on the actual days of shooting.

Shooting

Despite lighting set up on the first day of shoot setting us back a little in our schedule, it all turned out okay in the end and we managed to finish shooting at the time we had planned. We couldn’t book out the lights we wanted since they had already been completely booked out, we had to make do with what we had. I was trying to be cautious not to make lighting look too bright or harsh as I was determined to achieve the warm homely lighting we had wanted from the start. This meant I used gold reflectors to bounce light onto the actors faces instead of shining lights directly onto them to get the warm look we wanted – mimicking the light from a lamp instead of a bright overhead light.

In post, this did cause a slight grain in some of the wide shots due to there not being enough light in the frame. However, with the grade I managed to brighten it up so this was no longer such a big issue.

'Fallout' - secondary role

My secondary role was as the production designer for ‘Fallout’. When I first joined the group, I read through the script and asked Maddy if she had any initial ideas. The film features a huge dinner that plays quite a big part through out and so I knew that would be the focus of my job. Maddy wanted it to look grand and as delicious as possible, and so my mind went to a classic Christmas dinner. I knew I could have a lot of fun with this as I could use a big roast chicken as a centre piece and build up from there with all the extras, using sauces and veg to add colour into the set.

Once Nina was brought into the group as the production design assistant, I briefed her on what Maddy wanted and shared with her what I had in mind so far. We then put our heads together to talk about references in film that we thought would suit our theme for ‘Fallout’. Because of the film’s tone, we wanted to have a slight creepy, unnerving feel to the dinner, and so Nina suggested the tv show ‘Cannibal’ as a reference point for us. There are a lot of scenes in which he makes food that looks delicious out of human remains – just the creepy touch we wanted!

We also thought it would be interesting to include some visual metaphors within the set design. For example:

- a stag’s head on the wall as a trapped animal to represent the way Craig is trapped within the relationship

- a lot of pink and more feminine-centred objects like pink wallpaper and flowers to show the control Jodie has over their home as well as the relationship

- wilted flowers held up by sticks to show that even though produce is low because… it’s literally the end of the world… Jodie still wants everything to be perfect, she’s holding up a failing relationship with all she can pull together at this stage

After our discussions, Nina and I had a meeting with Maddy to fill her in on our ideas so far and see what she liked and disliked.

We then went on to buy everything we needed ready to set it up on the day of shooting.

Unfortunately, Nina couldn’t make it to the shoot, so it was my job to set everything up which was So. Much. Fun. I never expected production design to be something I’d take such a great interest in, but I loved arranging things to look just right, taking into consideration what would be most prominent in frame and wear, arranging subtle little references to the characters in the background and so on.

One of the most interesting things for me was the hack used to make the food look hot over the course of the day. After my work setting it all up was done, I spent the rest of the day going back and forth to microwave wet tampons and hide them in between dishes. This really is the perfect way to make steam appear on camera.

[ba-hons-film-blog]

Film Narrative 2 - Fiction Project Critical Reflection:

Initial Idea, Story and Script:

The initial idea came from Euan, who had the broad idea of a door-to-door salesman trying to sell something. We then expanded the idea to have it follow a desperate, morally dubious salesman, who grows increasingly desperate in his efforts to sell his products to a vulnerable old woman. We liked the dubious morality of the idea, and the inner conflict this would give the (unnamed) Salesman. We also thought the two characters, who both had clear but conflicting objectives (the Salesman needs to secure a deal to provide for his family) and the elderly woman, Mrs Beale (who simply wants some company, and isn't interested in the Salesman’s pitch) would help to give the film some good narrative thrust, as Mrs Beale casually dismisses the Salesman’s pitches, and the Salesman then has to try a new, more dubious tactic to secure his sale.

I feel my main contributions were towards coming up with various story beats and character developments for the idea, and making some dialogue revisions to Euan’s second draft of the script. This is due to my interest in storytelling, and script writing. I personally feel like I made a good deal of suggestions for the plot which made it into the final script and feel my dialogue suggestions, while somewhat hurried and not overly polished, helped to expand certain beats where I felt the script rushed past a moment that could be used to create more tension or character. Overall, I feel happy with the final draft of the script, although I feel it was left slightly late, and would have liked to have had time to submit/review a few more drafts done by either Euan, myself or another member of the group, so as to fine tune each and every aspect of the script.

Pre Production Documents:

(For all pre production documents, go to this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15hR7u8XKGlIGuBE3ye0p2FvMvKXCiAJS)

While I did have some ideas for the films style (suggesting ideas like the tv show White Gold) and some ideas for certain shots which I shared with the group(like the opening shot were we see the Salesman who the neighbouring door slammed in his face), I feel I was more engaged with the story and script side of the project than I was with the production side. While that is more what I am interested in, I feel in the next project, I want to get more stuck into the pre production aspects, even if just for some variety and experience. I did do the logline and script synopsis, but that wasn't too far removed from my work with regards to the story and the script.

I think the group did a great job with their production documents, creating a clear sense of the film's style and cinematography. The only issue was sometimes a lack of communication between each person meant certain documents did not 100 percent lineup with each other (like the shot list and the storyboards feature differing shots) but overall, the documents weren’t too inconsistent with each other.

Editing:

I think the picture edit went well. This was my third time using avid (I had previously used it to edit a different scene from “Lethe” and a film of my own) so my this point I had more of an understanding of how to use the software. I tried to create a slow paced edit that generally stayed on the character of Eve as much as possible, as the story is told from her point of view. I feel I could have done a better job with regards to keeping the group up to date as my edit developed and getting their feedback, but I did get some good advice about my second edit from Zoe and group 4 in one tutorial that I took into consideration when working on my third edit.

I also attempted a sound edit using a free trial of Avid Ultimate, which was a good learning experience although ultimately I didn't feel too happy with my finished product. While I managed to raise the levels of the appropriate sounds, and avoided any jarring audio rises or any unnatural silences, I don't think I chose the best background sounds (I used the corridor and general hospital sounds for the whole video, as opposed to just using them at the end. This made the scene feel a bit too busy and overwhelming, and hearing some ambient room noise and beeping sounds throughout instead likely would have been a better choice). Ultimately, I felt the scene worked better before I added these sound effects. My edit didn't manage to export in time as well. We ultimately went with Rosie’s edit, although I still hope to rework mine at a later date.

Crit Feedback:

The logline and synopsis were praised for being intriguing (with regards to the logline), effectively summing up the events of the film (with regards to the synopsis) and overall being well written and well formatted. One shortcoming (or something that group 4 was complimented for having that we didn't have) was not making reference to the movie's style and genre. Additionally, while not necessary, a document describing the key characteristics of the main characters would have been a nice addition.

The rest of the pre production documents were well received. The storyboards by Cal were well drawn and gave a clear idea what the films cinematography would look like (although could have done with some text beneath each image), the costume/prop/set documents by Rosie gave a clear idea of the films style (as did the moodboard, although we were told some comments on each of the images would have helped) and the shotlist by Robbie was well formatted, and clear and concise with regards to what each shot would feature (despite some confusion over some of the abbreviations and the fact the storyboards and the shotlist did not completely line up).

Script Feedback:

(to follow. Apparently, Euan has not received this from Paul, which I will ask about and add once we have gotten the feedback)

Edit Feedback:

Here is the feedback Kieran gave me for my edit, along with my thoughts about it and how I would go about it differently in the future:

“Good professional practice with leader.”

“Atmospheric start, but the out of focus POV shot lasts too long.” - The reason this lasts for so long is to allow the character of Abe to slowly come into focus, to show how Eve is slowly waking up. However, I could definitely start the clip a few more seconds in and maybe cut of a second at the end, or just have a few seconds of a blurry Abe without a change in focus, although that might not be as effective.

“At 01:00:31:00 the scratching of the head doesn’t communicate tension and feels awkward.” - While I initially choose this part of the clip because I thought it would be interesting to have Kane doing something other than silently brooding, thinking about it again, I would agree with this, and would solve it by choosing a different part of the clip where Kane is simply standing still and looking ahead.

“It’s a good 40 seconds before anything really happens, which is too slow.” - I would agree with this - perhaps 20 seconds of build up could have been a good balance?

“Good reveal of the space at 01:00:47:04, using him turning around.” - Previously, this shot had been criticized for being too brief and seeming a bit random compared to the closer up shots used elsewhere. Despite this, I had kept it, as I felt it properly established the geography of the room and showed all the characters in relation to each other, so it was nice to hear Kieran liked this.

“The look at 01:00:59:00 is too short, allow the look to settle for a few frames before cutting to what someone is looking at to make it less jarring.” - I would agree with this. I'm not sure why I cut this so early, maybe the actor only looked over for a second and I worked with what I had, but I imagine more likely than not this was just an oversight.

“This whole section up to 01:02:13:00 is very good, but missing a reaction from him to her asking for the bed pan.” - I think I stayed on the shot of Eve instead of cutting to Kane purely because I liked his line delivery in that shot, but I could have either looked for a shot of Kane with line delivery of a similar quality or cut to Kane reacting to Eve’s line and then cut back to Eve and had Kane’s line.

“The watch pickup ECU is a little quick, as you haven’t established the watch previous to this and it is a key object.” - I would agree with this, and feel it could be solved by either having the watch appear earlier and only having it appear briefly here, or only having it appear here and holding on it longer to make up for that.

“Generally the pace is a little slow at the start and end, and this scene can’t sustain longer than 3 minutes.” - With a runtime of 3 minutes 23 seconds, and Kieran stating the scene couldn't sustain a runtime of over 3 minutes, this was understandably deemed too long. While I was going for a slower pace as opposed to a fast one, it may have been possible to have found a middle ground between the two. With the opening, I have already said that it could be whittled down to about 20 seconds. The ending might have been a bit more difficult to cut down, as it isn't just Eve lying in bed but going across the room and doing various things, but I still think I could have cut it down a bit. This could have been done by minimising the time Eve is simply crossing the room and looking through the bag, and giving a good amount of time to the more important beats, like the watch, the photo ID and the other bed.

Overall Reflection:

I think some more communication could have been a bit better, and we would have benefitted from a few more meetings, just to update each other, make sure we were on the same page and make sure there were no major differences in our work. I personally would have liked to have spent even more time fine turning the script, and getting in a few more drafts, but I am still quite happy with the submitted work. Despite this, I think everyone did a good job at their respective jobs and turned in work of high quality, and I look forward to working on the independent project with this feedback in mind.