#but also I hope they think it's just the lamest shit in general now | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

realmackross · 11 months ago

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PARTIES: @longislandcharm, @realmackross TIMING: Mid December SUMMARY: Winter and Mack run into each other (literally) and start to talk about their problems, but plans are cut short by someone looking to ruin the holidays. WARNINGS: Murder mention tw, Assault tw, Blood tw (brief mention), Unsanitary tw

The downtown location seemed to be a little deserted as Winter made her way down the street. Where most places were bustling on any given night tonight there were only a few people here and there within the shops. She didn’t think anything of it while she walked, shopping bags filling one hand as the other searched through her purse for her car keys. Her fingertips had just brushed them when she felt her shoulder jerk from an impact with someone else, her head snapping up so she could glare at the person who had just knocked into her.

But her words caught in her throat when the image of her best friend came into view, looking much better than she had the last time Winter had seen her. Instinctively, she pulled the sleeve of her sweater down more to cover up the scars on her arm that she’d never explained last time she was asked and cleared her throat. She hadn’t spoken to her friend in months it seemed, the fear now scratching at the back of her mind a tell tale sign as to why. Always alert, always ready for an attack, never able to relax…that was how things would be around her from now on, wouldn’t it?

“Talk to her.” Henry’s voice cut through the awkward tension between the two girls and Winter sighed softly. Maybe it was time. Even with nerves coursing through her, even with the jolt of fear she got when she’d first laid eyes on the blonde, she wanted so badly to talk to her best friend again. There was so much to tell her, so much to talk about, but more than anything she just wanted to make sure that Mackenzie was okay after whatever had happened before she’d been summoned to that farm.

“Mack…walk much?” Well that was the lamest way to open this conversation. She’d been trying to tease her like she’d always done but the words just sounded pathetic, meek, like she was trying to get her usual gusto into them and only coming up with the wish version of a generic mean girl phrase from a movie. You could see the annoyance on Winter’s face but it was aimed at herself, no one else. “Uh…how’ve you been?”

Mackenzie had been out all day, just hoping for an escape from a quiet house. It seemed like lately everyone she had known or started to form friendships with had just disappeared. The list probably extended past her first hand at least and onto the second, but she didn’t feel like going over the list again in her head. In fact, she had just wanted to get back home the more and more she thought about it. Home was safe. Home didn’t involve people who could judge you or yell at you or threaten to kill you.

However, her mind had been elsewhere, when she plowed into a person standing on the sidewalk thumbing for their keys, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to –” But when she noticed who it was, Mackenzie’s eyes quickly shifted away. It was Henry’s voice who had caused her to look back up. So it took Winter’s ghost to egging the girl on for her to talk to Mackenzie now? Any embarrassment had quickly turned to frustration, especially when Winter let off one of her quips, no matter how lame it had sounded, “Just trying to get home.” She had been close to walking away, when she heard the question.

With the words tossing around in her mind, Mackenzie had wanted to think things through. Let the frustration of this whole interaction so far dissipate some and not say something she would further regret. She had also wanted to be completely open and upfront and tell Winter just how shitty things had been and that having someone who was supposed to be her best friend – ride or die – just up and abandon her without any explanation as to why was a shit thing to do, and it really hurt her to the core, but instead, “I’ve been okay.” She paused, swallowing the lump in her throat figuring that if she had her own Henry, this is where he’d tell her to return the question, “How, uh…how are you?” She refused to look Winter in the eyes, occasionally glancing over at the ghost.

For a split second, Winter had forgotten that Mckenzie could see and hear Henry, something that he seemed to have forgotten too when he had the gall to look embarrassed for egging her on in front of the blonde. Her eyes were on the ghost as Mackenzie continued to speak, the man backing away from them to give them some room to hash this out if they could. The medium really wasn’t sure if it was possible at this point. She turned her eyes back onto her best friend as Mack returned her question, thoughts of the last couple of months spinning around her mind. When she thought about it, it was a stupid question for anyone in this place, much less a zombie who had attacked the town the last she had heard.

Her life hadn’t been much of a picnic either. If the ghost crap, trying to get her show back, and the creepy if not dangerous shit that went on weren’t enough now she was in the middle of renovating a house so that it was up to her standards. The only thing that made it worse was not having her best friend at her side and the fault for that was all hers. Still, that urge to back away from Mack was so strong she couldn’t possibly see any way of being around her right now without feeling like she would be dinner. If not tonight, then another time. Winter was a human, a measly weak little human, how the hell was she supposed to fight off a zombie when she was in meal mode? Her shortcomings were the whole reason she’d stayed away for so long.

“I’m fine…moving, actually. I found a house here. It barely passed my expectations but I’m working on it.” It wasn’t like her to scramble for things to say, to avoid eye contact as she spoke, and yet it was all happening. “I’m leaving next week to grab Binx from my parents place and then I guess I’ll be an official resident of Wicked’s Rest.” Which didn’t spark too much excitement but it was where she needed to be. She needed to learn about her craft, learn about the other things that went bump in the night, and in some warped way Winter needed to be near Mack. She wasn’t ready to lose her for good; she just had to find a way to calm the fear that gripped her in Mack’s presence. “Maybe…um, maybe you could stop by when the house is ready?”

Was this payback for Mack ghosting her and everyone else several months back? She thought they had settled that at Barbie. Was this for confessing to killing Brody? That made more sense right? Even though she couldn’t help it, and this was something personal that she’d have to live with the rest of her undead life, meaning if something didn’t end it for her, this could go on for hundreds of years, and that thought was horrific and daunting to say the least. She didn’t understand why Winter had just up and left that day and then asked for space, but never made an attempt to come back around, and the longer it went on with radio silence, the more it hurt. But here she stood now making small talk and mentioning she was remodeling a house?

“Um, yeah, that’s great and all, but what is this? We’re doing small talk now after you ghosted me for months with no explanation when I tried to talk to you? I mean if this is payback for me leaving everyone in the dark after I killed Brody, then fine. Just tell me, cause I thought we had moved past this months ago after our little argument at the drive-in.” Mackenzie shook her head. How could Winter just go on like everything was fine? Mack knew she deserved penance for all the bad she had done in the world – unintentional, yes, but now Winter just wanted to casually be friends again?

“Look, I’m glad you’ve found a house and that you’ve decided to settle down in Wicked’s Rest, but we’re not gonna do this hot and cold game. Fuck that. If you want to bitch me out, stab me, or whatever then go ahead, but at least give me something, so I’m not left in the dark for another three months. Between you and Taylor and everyone else I thought I could call my friend, I can’t keep doing this. Maybe I should follow your lead and go find another house out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.” Mackenzie was angry. Heated. She hated yelling at Winter. She hated all of this, but she was hurting and had been for a long time now.

She should have known that Mack wasn’t going to play along but being yelled at in the middle of the street wasn’t sitting right with her. With every word that the blonde said Winter could feel her temper rising more and more. It was like lava spreading through her veins, the girl doing her very best to hold her composure so the other could finish what she had to say. Yes, Winter had been ignoring the other. Yes, she had wanted space and still did. And yes, Mack had a right to be upset about it all just like Winter had every right to be upset that she’d been ghosted as well.

But the accusation that it was payback of all things really pissed her off. Follow that with her comment about the house in the middle of nowhere and she couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “Right…right, Mack, it’s payback because I’m that fucking petty, right? It has nothing to do with the fact that I found out you killed your boyfriend after finding out you went on a rampage doing god knows what because you can’t fucking control yourself when you get hurt or touch stupid fucking rocks! It has nothing to do with me being scared because everything is always about you and your problems and what people do to hurt you!”

Shaking. Her body just kept shaking. Mackenzie couldn’t have at least tried for a minute to pretend that things were fine? Of course not. Why would she? The zombie had issues as always and she needed to yell about them to anyone who would listen instead of being proactive and trying to fix them. Parker’s words were coming back to her, washing over her, and instead of pushing them away and trying to believe her own words of defense for her friend, Winter allowed them to seep into her and take over. It was only causing her rage to build.

Heavy breaths were flowing through her nose, in and out, as she tried to calm herself down. Her head swiveled around in search of anyone staring at them, mostly because of the subject matter but also to make sure no one had seen her lose her shit. “You want to know why I was staying away?” She looked back to the blonde, those tears that she hated now welling up in Winter’s eyes. “It’s because I’m scared of you. I did everything I could to pretend that nothing would make you hurt me but hearing you say you killed the love of your life really shattered that delusion beautifully. I know it’s not your fault, that you’re not you when it happens, but I don’t know how to be around you without wondering if I’m your next meal.” Pausing, she gave Mack a defiant look, wondering if she was satisfied now that Winter had finally revealed her true emotions. After all, it wasn’t often that she allowed someone to see this side of her. “Happy?”

Mackenzie hadn’t expected what had come out of Winter’s mouth, but everything she had said. Every. Single. Word. Had cut right through to the bone. It hurt worse than dying ever did. The fact that Winter was afraid of Mackenzie had broken her. And it wasn’t like she had warned the woman multiple times. That it wasn’t a joke, but all the time apart. All the space needed…was because Winter couldn’t just tell Mackenzie she was afraid of her. It was like the time of being ignored had continually cut her and sliced her, and now that the truth was out, the zombie didn’t even want to be around the medium anymore. But it was Parker’s words that really hurt. Throwing the accusations that Mackenzie only cared about herself. Maybe that was partly true, but how could she know what was going on in Winter’s mind? She wasn’t a mind reader. Even that stupid ghost that followed her around all the damn time couldn’t drop Mack a hint.

Like a wounded puppy, Mackenzie slowly started to back away. There was a look of pure hurt and disbelief on her face. It was like everyone was abandoning her. Leaving her left to her own devices for one reason or another, which was fine, but what hurt was that no one wanted to give her a reason. Everyone just wanted to leave. At least Winter had finally revealed her big secret. One Mack knew would eventually come, and had reassured her exactly why she should have just stayed missing from everyone she ever knew, because at least then there was no risk of hurting them. No risk of eating them, or in the words of Winter, making them her ‘next meal’.

“I-I’m sorry.”

It was all she could say. All she could do was apologize while tears forced their way out. She didn’t want to argue with Winter anymore. She was defeated. What was the point? She knew she was a monster. Mackenzie knew that Winter was right. Hell, even Parker was right. She had tried to make it right with people, but it just wasn’t happening. No matter how hard she tried, it wasn’t happening. And she had wanted to approach Winter about Ariadne knowing her secret, but at this point why did it even matter? Half the town probably knew. Why fight about it now? Mackenzie had failed everyone she ever loved, “I’ll…give you space, if that’s what you want. I just wanted to know what I did wrong…Why you didn’t want me around anymore…”

She had let her eyes drift. Mackenzie couldn’t stand to look Winter in the eyes anymore. She was ashamed of herself and had just wanted to be left alone at this point.

The defiant look started to fade as soon as she saw how wounded Mack was after Winter’s statement, the hurt radiating through her eyes in droves. Her friend’s tears were enough to make her own fall but she quickly wiped them away. “Mack, I don’t want to keep doing this.” She wouldn’t look at the other girl, her eyes going to a space right behind the blonde’s shoulder because looking at her face right now would be too much. It would make her break, make her want to drop all of this and run to hug the hell out of the zombie. “I love you, Mack. You mean so much to me and I am trying so hard to find a way around this fear. I’ve learned things but none of it helps…”

None of the information she had gathered would give her an advantage in a situation where Mack lost control. That’s what she was waiting for, a solution, but Winter was also so close to forgetting it and taking a chance.Her eyes finally locked with Macks, the medium ready to say as much, until she heard a gruff voice coming from behind her. ‘Shut up and give me your purse.’

“Excuse you?” She turned, ready to unleash her temper on another victim until she spotted the knife in the man’s hand pointed straight at Winter. Fear took over the rollercoaster of emotions that she was going through that night but she refused to show how much her hands were shaking when she looked back up at him. ‘You heard me, bitch, give me the purse. The shopping bags too.’ She rolled her eyes at him but started to take the purse off her shoulder. “What are you going to do with a pair of heels that definitely won’t fit your clown feet?”

The man was already agitated, probably not in the greatest mindset to take any of Winter’s bullshit and now she was insulting him. ‘Hurry up, I won’t tell you again.’ She wasn’t a complete idiot, despite the previous comment she’d made she knew not to fight to keep a lousy purse and some Christmas gifts when a man with a knife was standing in front of her, but the purse was snagged on her coat and fighting her every movement. “Patience is a virtue, sir.” She heard him growl under his breath and the next thing she knew the knife was coming right at her. Henry was shouting for her to move but she was frozen as the blade went straight for her chest.

The zombie stood in defeat as she listened to Winter’s reply back. She had loved the woman as well. Winter had become like a sister to Mackenzie so when all of this just happened, no response, no discussion, nothing…Mackenzie started to feel herself shutting down. Why put effort into something that the other person was making no effort towards? At least that’s what she saw. Without the explanation of what Winter was doing, Mack had just thought, yet another person in her life didn’t want to be around her. But now, here they were hashing it all out on a sidewalk in town. But at least they were getting somewhere. She was finally getting answers as to why Winter had been ghosting her for so long, and at the words I love you, she wanted to step forward and give her a hug, but that notion was cut short.

Mackenzie had watched with narrowed eyes as everything unfolded in front of her. It was almost like a dream. The banter between Winter and a man trying to steal her purse. Mackenzie so desperately wanted to tell Winter to shut up and just hand over whatever he was wanting, but it all happened so fast, and as she finally stepped forwards to do something, she managed to divert the blade just enough to hit Winter in the shoulder instead of the mugger’s intended target – her heart.

With anger welling up in the zombie, she moved towards the mugger already feeling the change starting to happen within her, but before she could do anything else he had lunged forwards repeatedly stabbing Mackenzie over and over again hitting her in multiple areas as she continued her efforts to keep Winter safe.

That cliche of everything going slow motion as the action really started in movies was starting to make more sense now. Time slowed down when the man had lunged his hand toward her, Winter sure that this was it. This was going to be how she died in a small town full of supernatural beings? By the hand of a human who was too impatient to wait for a purse even when nobody was around to witness the crime aside from Mack and a ghost who could do nothing about it? It was almost like a Greek tragedy except even in one of those something god-like would have killed her.

As she accepted her untimely demise, she felt her body lurch to the side just in time, the blade digging into her shoulder, radiating pain down her arm and through her side. Her scream should have alerted more people in the area to what was going on but she figured the businesses that did have people inside had their music too loud…or maybe people in this town were too used to the noise to react now. All she knew was that blood was gushing down her coat sleeve when she looked up in time to see Henry passing through both the attacker and Mack, like he forgot he couldn’t actually touch anyone. He kept passing through the mugger as he stabbed Mack repeatedly, another scream emitting from Winter even though she knew in the back of her mind that Mack couldn’t really die again. Whatever was going to happen would be worse.

“Henry! What are you doing?” The ghost was still passing through both of them but she could see that he was staying longer…inside Mack’s body? The ghost didn’t answer her as he moved into the mugger again, passing straight through him into Mack but was able to stay inside her a little longer. This was insanity and it had to stop. She looked around, spotting a big chunk of the curb that had broken off and was lying to the side. Without thinking, the medium grabbed the chunk of concrete with her good hand and quickly hit the mugger straight to the temple, the man going limp as he fell to the ground.

Both Winter and Henry were staring down at the man as she spoke. “What in the hell are you up to?” The ghost sighed as he looked over towards Mack. ‘Lil said something about possession, right? I was trying to stop him but now I think I need to stop her…”

The more the knife dug into her body, the less she could feel it. It was like her feral side was beginning to take over in order to keep her alive. But all while the man remained poised and focused on attacking Mackenzie, the zombie could briefly feel something different happening. Which eventually got longer and more noticeable as she soon realized that Henry was passing through her continually. However, his efforts didn’t stick, and though Mack’s mind was focused on the attacker, he seemed to somehow draw her attention away as if taking control of her.

It was when the attacker had gone down from a hard thud, and Henry no longer had control over Mackenzie’s body that she had turned her attention on Winter who just happened to be standing there. The blood was fresh as it seeped down her arm, and though Mackenzie was fully aware of her surroundings (a new realization that had just occurred earlier in the month after remembering the hunter she had feasted on after the werewolf attack), Mack still couldn’t control the side of her that was wanting to feed – to heal from the multiple stab wounds that would make her form ache, if she hadn’t started to zomb out.

And with glazed over hues of the dead girl locked on Winter, not because she wanted to hurt her, but because she needed to feed, Mackenzie began to slowly and clumsily move forward.

I think this is my cue!

Henry looked to Winter, before making another lunge for Mackenzie, no longer concerned about the man laying on the ground. Stepping inside her once more, he could feel himself having more control than the previous attempts, but the way the zombie needed to feed was overpowering, and he was once again pushed out as the blonde inched ahead with her maw wide and drool slipping from the side.

Not giving up, Henry forced himself back into Mackenzie, but this time he figured out what he needed to latch onto. Where he needed to be to control the hungry creature, and he had even managed to force words out of Mackenzie’s mouth, “Winter, run! I don’t know how long I can control her, and right now, she needs something to feed on or this could get really bad!” He could feel his grip slipping.

It was her worst nightmare come to life. Briefly, Winter was transported back to the local spook she went to with Milo as she stared at Mackenzie coming towards her but the difference was the intent being completely absent from her friend’s eyes. There was no malice, no determination in her steps, just…nothingness. The medium didn’t know if that was better or worse than seeing the life there in her literal nightmare but no matter which it still terrified her to see Mack in this state. Henry was doing his best to help but Winter was two seconds away from turning and running to get out of her friend’s reach.

Until whatever he did seemed to work in his favor. He was no longer standing there but that feeling he gave Winter to alert her of his presence was still lingering. Which meant… “Henry?” It was Mack speaking but the words were most definitely that of her ghost’s. She hadn’t registered exactly what he was saying though, at least not until she’d finally accepted that her ghost or guardian or whatever was inside of her best friend. She took a few steps back, still holding her hand against her wounded shoulder as hard as she could bare, but didn’t leave just yet. “What the hell is she supposed to eat, Henry? We can’t unleash her on an unsuspecting town!”

She once again started looking around, eyes searching for anything that could help them in this situation, but nobody was out on the streets. That was probably for the best. Mack didn’t need to find innocent bystanders in favor of eating Winter…even if Winter preferred not to be her dinner. She felt helpless knowing that Henry was struggling, desperate for an answer, until she looked down and remembered the man who had caused all of this in the first place.

It certainly was tempting. There were no other options within reach, at least none that Winter knew of, and this man had just attacked both of them for a fucking purse. Obviously he wasn’t that great of a person but did he deserve to lose his life even when he’d almost taken her own? Still, it was him or it was her and she wasn’t about to die for someone like the criminal lying on the ground so she started to slowly back away. Giving Henry…Mack…Henry a steely gaze, she nodded her head towards him. “Let her eat him.” She could see the question on Mack’s face before Henry asked it but she let it slip from her friend’s lips. “Are you sure?”

Was she? She didn’t have much time to hesitate or Henry would lose control before she could make the choice. Was she ready to take on the guilt that was sure to come? Was she ready to make amends to whatever family this man had? She wasn’t certain that she could handle it but what other choice did they have at this point? Winter looked down at the man, then back up at Mack and nodded her head. “Do it.” She turned, not wanting to watch his demise or her friend’s eating habits. There were already enough nightmares to last a lifetime. The hospital was waiting anyway and Henry would catch up as soon as he could. She’d be far enough away by the time their bond made it impossible for him to stay any longer and that alone was enough to allow relief to quell the guilt that was already gnawing away at her….but at least she was being eaten up from the inside out and not the other way around.

#para: besties 5ever #para: winter #longislandcharm #murder mention tw #blood mention tw #unsanitary tw #assault tw #wickedswriting #{a new beginning; plot}

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clairecrive · 3 years ago

Note

Heyy:) can you write Nikolai x tidemaker reader, while Nikolai is still Sturmhond and the reader is part of the crew. Nikolai fell in love at first sight but the reader is a little introvert, but she snaps one day and confesses her love to him.

Sorry English isn’t my first language:)

Stars in the night

a/n: Hi hun sorry for the long wait. it's a bit shitty but I hope you're still around and like this x

warnings: none, fluff

word count: 2.8K

tags: @jupiterandbutterflies, @agentsofsheilds , @for-bebbanburg , @randomoutsiders , @pansysgirlfriend, @hannaxmaria , @vintagebitc , @story-scribbler , @crowssixof , @odetostep , @lizzie-he4rts, @korol-lantsov, @subjecta13-thefangirl,@gallysonegoodlung, @a-c-lee, @mriddlemethis, @carnationworld, @thanossexual, @luvxginger, @sanna2020, @partiesandblurrypolaroids, @edithsvoice, @wafflesandschemingfaces, @snugleo, @sugarmelonwater (tag list form)

SHADOW AND BONE MASTERLIST

Nights were usually y/n’s favourite time of the day. Chaos and shouts left place to eerie silence and the comforting quietness of the stars. Being on a ship meant always having people around whether they were shouting or singing or playing or whatever.

Y/n didn’t mind their company per se, it’s just that sometimes, people’s presence can get too much. But whenever she felt overwhelmed, she knew she could count on the stars to anchor her and help her breathe.

After an exhausting day at sea, no one refused the possibility to sleep and recharge. So, more often than not, y/n didn’t have any trouble in taking the night shift. It actually made her even more popular with the rest of the crew.

The crew’s captain was another thing. Y/n hadn’t a precise idea on him simply because he was always up to something. Sitting still was not in his blood, even where there were no chores to attend to. If there wasn’t something to do, Sturmhond would create it.

He was such at antipodes with y/n’s personality that their interactions were limited to her assignments, her report after her shift or him updating her about his plans. Or rather- her role in them. Y/n wasn’t foolish enough to think that he really made her part of his plans. And to be fair, y/n never asked more than what directly concerned her. Maybe that was why Sturmhond was so interested in her.

There was nothing subtle about the man. From the way he walked like he owned the world, to his shiny red hair. So, when he unusually started to roam around her just because, y/n did notice. Hell, everyone on the ship noticed. It was hard not to in such a limited space.

However, y/n thought nothing of it. It was just him being his extravagant self. Nothing new, honestly. She did not mind it either. The man had a way of being there without being overbearing, which was more than y/n could say about any other men she had met. Well, all except Tolya, of course.

He had started by bidding her good morning and goodnight every day. Then he would come to find her throughout the day, to chitchat above all things. To y/n’s horror, the privateer didn’t desist. He kept coming and y/n honestly didn’t know how to react.

She had always found him quite handsome and charming, but there was something she was absolutely shit at: small talk. And the man wanted exactly that from her. Alas, it all ended up with Sturmond’s voice filling the awkward pauses and y/n barely answering his questions.

She knew in her heart that she was giving him the wrong impression and she feared that her awkwardness would be mistaken for coldness making him eventually desist. Despite her fears though, the man didn’t seem off-put by her behaviour. He kept coming and coming but that didn’t ease y/n in any capacity.

Then one night, he stopped beating around the bush. It didn’t exactly catch her by surprise, y/n knew him, it was only a matter of time before he came out with it. It wasn’t in his nature to be discreet. Or so she thought, based on what she saw.

“Why did you want to be part of my crew? You don’t seem to like me,” he wondered, his green eyes shining in the moonlight.

Despite the words that left his mouth, y/n knew what his question implied. What he was really asking. But however powerful she might be, y/n didn’t have the guts to be upfront with him. Not even with the comforting presence of the stars as their witnesses.

If only he knew.

She knew that this could potentially be a chance for her to test the waters, to see what his intentions were and to make her clear. But alas, she knew nothing about flirting. Deflecting it is, then.

“Tolya and Tamar trust you. I trust them with my life so,” she shrugged, tacitly implying that she somewhat trusted him too.

“I see. So not only do I owe them my life but also an incredible crew.”

“The big and mighty Sturmhond praising someone other than himself?”

“I only sing praise when they’re due.”

“And, of course, no one deserves it more than yourself.”

“Well, you said it darling.” He flashed her a dazzling smile that made the moonlight pale.

Y/n rolled her eyes a bit to convey her annoyance and a bit to avoid him seeing the blush rising on her cheeks.

Truth be told, Tolya and Tamar weren’t the only ones that persuaded her from becoming a part of his crew albeit they were a big part of it. She wasn’t lying when she told him that she trusted them with her life. If it wasn’t for them, y/n would probably be a soulless machine right now. Her body on the outside but really nothing that made her y/n on the inside. That’s what happened to Grisha in Shu Han.

She owed the twin everything but that wasn’t why she made the decision to join them on the Volkovny. They didn’t force her to follow them or anything. And y/n couldn’t deny that Sturmhond’s handsome face didn’t make her sway a little in her decision. That was, however, something slippery about the privateer. It didn’t make him untrustworthy per se, but it certainly made her wary about trusting him.

The biggest push that prompted her to the Volkovny and life on the sea was her experience in Shu Han. Being Grisha meant not having a safe place outside of Ravka and sometimes in Ravka as well. Her home country was war-torn and as much as y/n had been trained to be a soldier all her life, she didn’t feel ready to take part in a fight that she didn’t feel her own.

Despite his unorthodox methods, General Kirigan’s sole purpose had always been making Grisha safe. And seeing as she had seen first-hand how the world treated Grisha, y/n could really get behind his plot, not caring about how bloody it was.

Life on the sea meant no more persecutors. Outside of her crew, no one in the ports they sailed to knew she was Grisha. Not that she was ashamed of who she was, but it’d be like having a mark on her skin if people knew. A mark that made her unsafe. She craved a life where she didn’t have to constantly watch her back. And being on the Volkovny granted her wish.

Not that it was a safe lifestyle, of course. But y/n was a survivor. If she had come out of the keirgud alive, she could well out best every threat that she will eventually cross on the sea. Besides, she knew that the twins had her back. And, in a small percentage, so did Sturmhond.

She and the captain didn’t exactly have a relationship, not like the twins have. She wasn’t his confidante or anything and she preferred to spend her time on her own -as much as life on deck allowed her- but since she was such in close quarters with the twins, that definitely made her closer to him than the rest of the crew. Not to mention that now the captain had started spending his nights with her too.

Well, not all night and not every night but it was a substantial increase in his time spent with her. Sure, it was all parts of him doing his rounds at night and being his amiable self.

So why the hell did her breath hitch whenever she caught his silhouette approaching? She hated herself for feeling like this. And him. Only that she didn’t, not really. It wasn’t his fault, was it? It was just her being silly. It’ll pass, sooner or later.

Only that, of course, it didn’t. In fact, it got even worse. If before she could manage their interaction by playing aloof and uninterested, it has now come to the point where she almost blubbered. Her heart hated her, it’d beat frantically whenever he’d approach, and his intoxicating smell made it impossible to form a coherent thought.

So, y/n decided to just stay clear of him to prevent any embarrassing situation.

After that, things didn’t get weird per se. Seeing y/n alone and drifting away from most group gatherings wasn’t weird. What was though, was her absence during the night shifts.

Before she monopolized those shifts, now she took turns like everyone else.

That was the big spy that made everyone worry about her. Non though went to talk to her about it. It would have been too personal for most of the crew to ask, and those who didn’t think better of it.

The twins knew her very well, she’d come to them whenever she was ready.

The captain… well, he didn’t react at all, which made y/n think that he hadn’t noticed anything.

He very well did, though. And the sign that he did was that he hadn’t come to her anymore. He noticed her withdrawal and while he didn’t understand why he respected her decision.

That didn’t mean that he gave up on her entirely though. His research moved elsewhere; his tactic shifted from approach to observe.

It took him almost a week to be feed with this new tactic. Not only did it prove unsuccessful, but he had almost broken a limb or two in his spying attempts.

One night, the one when he knew that you had taken the shift, he shifted again to ”approach”.

“Lovely night, eh?” He grimaced as the words left his mouth. Lamest approach ever.

“Oh, captain,” y/n exclaimed, startled by his unexpected presence, “yes, indeed.” She agreed, turning back to rest her arms over the bannister.

Nikolai’s eyes shine with amusement and y/n grimaced, cloaked in the darkness of the night, she was torn between wanting to punch herself or him. Maybe both.

“Sorry for startling you. I was surprised to see you here.”

“I’m on the night shift today,” she explained even though it wasn’t needed but saints. If they had given her social skills, she would have been too powerful.

“I see. It does not happen as often,” his eyes roamed over to her face, he could only see the side facing him thanks to the moonlight.

Y/n knew what he was doing, the man was hardly subtle, but she appreciated his attempt of breaching the subject lightly.

“We all took turns; it wasn’t fair for me to hijack this time shift.”

“I’m far too smart for you to lie to my face,”

“Excuse me?”

“What I mean to say,” he sighed, regret showing on his face, “is that I worry that you might have changed your habits because of me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“It has not escaped my notice that you’ve trying to avoid me.”

“Avoiding someone on a ship is an impossible feat.”

“I’m aware,” he smirked, and something told her that seeing her trying to do exactly that amused him to no end. Y/n turned back towards to sea and said nothing. Better silence than pointless words.

“So,” it was Sturmhond who broke the silence, “want to tell me what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem, captain.”

“Again with lying,” he chided softly. Sturmond knew y/n like the back of his hand. Being on a ship will do that. He knew then that the best way to approach her wasn’t to put her under the spotlight or in a corner.

She sighed, knowing that lying to him would not get her out of this situation. Trying to muster her courage, she turned to him.

“Alright, you’re right,” she conceded and that alone was telling since Sturmonhd’s ego didn’t need any stroking. “You haven’t done anything wrong, though. It’s me.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“You should because it’s true. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by my emotions and I don’t know how to deal with them.”

“So, you just run from the situation?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it running,” she mumbled under her breath. His intense stare put her even more on edge.

“Isn’t that point of living, though?” he added softly, “Feeling?”

“Maybe.”

“Amazing,” he said with an edge to his voice.

“What?” Y/n’s eyes flickered to him and the expression on his face left her wondering if he was serious or making fun of her.

“I’ve seen you facing volcras and other enemies straight on with a courage that puts to shame many soldiers and yet this is what you’re afraid of?”

“Rejections is much scarier than combat.” Abandoning every attempt of pretence, y/n went with the truth. She was already in the game, now she had no choice but to play.

“Is it?” His brow raised and now there was no doubt that he was making fun of her.

“If something goes bad in a battle, I’m dead. And there’s nothing for me to worry about if that happens, right?”

“But putting myself out there and then getting rejected, means living with the shame and embarrassment of knowing that I’m not enough.”

“Well, that’s a rather tragic take on it.”

“Joke all you want. I don’t suppose you know what it feels like, giving your shining hair and dazzling smile.”

“While knowing you think that of me brings me immense joy, I would also like to point out that you’re wrong.”

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrow in wonder.

“Rejection takes a whole other shade of intensity when it comes from your family.” The words were said lightly but they made her breath get caught in her throat anyway.

“Is it because of your lifestyle?”

“It’s because of their opinion of me that I’ve chosen this lifestyle.”

“I’m sorry that your family is unable to see how much you shine.” “Maybe it’s because you’ve blinded them?” She tried to ease the tension and she was rewarded with a tease of a smile.

“Oh, don’t point it at me! I will lose my eyes and then you’ll throw me from this ship,” she shrieked and went to shield her eyes as if she was under the midday sun. This foolish stunt earned her the captain’s laugh. One so full and rich that left no doubt of its authenticity. It made y/n smile too and wish that he’d do that more often.

“I would never throw you from this ship.”

“What use could I have with no eyes?”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find you something else to do.”

“Like being the ship’s clown.”

“While you amuse me to no end, I was thinking about a far more private role.”

“Private as in?”

“Meant for my eyes only.”

“Selfish much?”

“When it comes to you? Shamelessly so.”

The privateer leaned down to her, agonizingly slow giving her all the time to pull away if she wanted to. A million things swirled through her mind in those few seconds. Every worry about what was going to happen, about all the ways this could go sour.

The wheels in her mind turned incredibly fast almost making her lightheaded. Before this could turn into a full session of overthinking though, y/n shook her head effectively stopping the thoughts from growing.

Despite her lacking in basic social skills in an incredibly sad way, conversation with him always flowed easily. She never worried about what she was supposed to do or say or whatever. She could just… be. Be y/n.

That was priceless if not rare. And right then and there she decided that she wasn’t willing to lose it. Not without fighting.

Borne from the spur of the moment the best decision she could ever make, she leaned into him as well. Closing her eyes, she was able to see the corner of his lips lifted a little before she felt his lips on him.

Saints.

Did she say that she was afraid of feeling? Fuck that. This feeling, the feel of the touch of his lips on her, his fingers lightly stroking her face, his breath inside her, him becoming a part of her? She was pretty sure was going to die if she went too long without it.

Angling his head to the side, she pressed her lips on his with renowned fervour. Her hands found their way in his strands. A moan left him as y/n swallowed the sound. Using the grip on his hair, y/n pulled him to her. Sturmond gladly followed her lead, returning the intensity of the kiss before his hands gripped the back of her knees, lifting her up.

He lightly used the bannister as leverage, his grip shifting to her hips holding her so tightly so that losing her was not an option. Not now, not ever.

#nikolai lantsov #nikolai lanstov x reader #nikolai reader x grisha reader #grishaverse #nikolai lanstov imagine #nikolai lanstov imagines #nikolai lastov fluff #nikolai lanstov angst #nikolai lanstov x y/n #nikolai lanstov fic #shadow and bone

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milf-harrington · 2 years ago

Note

Hi hello hi it's been a long time I'm just passing through and i just wanted to say that I am ABSOLUTELY enamoured with the st dirty dancing AU it's starting to take over my brain and so here's your free pass to rant about it if you want !

Sincerely hope you've been doing great! Much love /p

–💐

OH HI HELLO OKAY UHHH

so. stranger things dirty dancing au: ronance edition, here we go.

in terms of characters i've got: steve as johnny, eddie as billy (who is johnny's cousin in the film, but is just steves friend/friend-he's-in-love-with in this au), robin as penny, nancy as baby/francis + then jason as either robbie or that annoying dude (kellermans nephew, cant remember his name bc i dont like him lmao) aand finally higgens as the main boss dude

(this is probably how the characters would work in the steddie version as well except technically eddie would be in baby's character slot but also the way it works in my head is different but this isn't that post so *waves it away*)

in terms of plot: it would still follow the same general storyline of johnny and baby in the film, (they meet, johnny needs a partner bc penny's gonna be out of commission, they practice, they fall in love, johnny's accused of theft, "nobody puts baby in the corner", they presumably live happily ever after) but with some adjustments!!

i'm cutting out most of the conflict with baby and her dad + lisa and robbie just bc it wouldn't fit in anywhere naturally yknow?

okay this is going to get a bit long so it's going under a cut <3

so the Wheelers go to some fancy resort-type thing for the summer and Nancy and Mike are both kinda moody about not getting to spend summer with their friends/doing what they want but Mrs Wheeler is like. trying to fix her family yknow so they're there.

Nancy sees Steve and Robin perform on that first night, after being forced to dance with some dunce and when she finally manages to escape she decides to go snooping, bc she's a Journalist (very much a "this sign can't stop me bc i can't read" type situation), and she ends up stumbling across Eddie who is attempting to haul like three entire watermelons on his own so she gives him a hand (he makes the lamest attempt ever at telling her she's not allowed there, and she ignores him and he's like 'aight') so she follows him to the staff house where they're having their lil party and then Robin and Steve come in again and dance some more but it's totally different to how they were dancing down at the main house and Eddie's like "That's Steve Harrington, he's one of my best friends- he actually got me the job here." and then he's like "And that's Robin Buckley, she's my other best friend and she got Steve his job here." and Nancy's trying to be totally normal about how Robin is moving bc sheesh is that a lot of hip work ("You'd think they were together!" "They're not?" "Nah, they're platonic with a capital P, if you can believe it.")

anyway so Robin is the one who comes over and hip checks Eddie and asks what Nancy's doing here and Eddie's all "she's here with me" and Nancy doesn't quite get why that makes Robin laugh but she's also sort of distracted by how pretty Robin is when she laughs and then suddenly Robin is dragging her on the dance floor to teach her how to dance like the staff kids and it's all sorts of accidentally flirtatious and boom Nancy's got a crush now

and then a few nights later she's being uncomfortably flirted with by whoever-i-decide-that-guy-will-be and he whisks her off to the kitchens where she see's robin curled up in a corner crying but trying to be quiet about it bc holy shit that guy is her boss and Nancy gets him out of there and then she finds Eddie and tells him and then Eddie tells Steve and then Steve immediately starts heading to the kitchen and it turns out Robin was having a meltdown due to sensory overload and Robin's kind of mad they told Nancy bc she's worried Nancy's gonna go tell someone from management that she's not fit to dance there but Nancy just wants to make sure she's okay

she comes back to the staff house another night just to check on Robin and finds out that Eddie's band has their first gig of the season lined up at a bar somewhere and at first Nancy doesn't get why Steve seems so upset about it until she finds out that it's booked the same night that Steve and Robin have a show at the other hotel so Steve won't be able to go and Eddie's trying to tell him it's fine but Steve's like "but i've never missed your first show" and Nancy's like "well can someone fill in for you so you can go?" and they give her the whole spiel about how everyone works there so everyones booked in doing other things and then Robin's like "unless you wanna do it" and then Steve's like "I mean..." and Robin elbows him and tells him it was a joke but then Eddie points out that Nancy can sorta dance, she picked it up fairly quickly that first night so now suddenly Nancy is Robins partner for this show that they've got in two weeks.

all the usual practice shenanigans happen, with the "this is my dance space" and the "see this? spaghetti arms" and "don't put your heel down!" until we finally get to the "are you trying to kill me?! is this your idea of fun?!" "oh yeah- we've got the show in two days, you won't show me any of the lifts, im not sure of my turns, im doing all this just to save your ass when all I really wanna do is drop you on it." "well then let's get out of here." and then they go practice in the woods.

(side note: the reason im so hellbent on figuring out a steddie version of this au is bc i just know they would be so perfect for the above scenes, i can imagine eddie saying the thing about dropping steve on his ass so vividly)

they do the show and Robin is really pleased with getting to wear a suit instead of the dress, and Nancy spends half the night trying not to get distracted by the sight of Robin in a suit, and then when they get back they find out Steve got his shit rocked bc some homophobe saw him and Eddie kissing outside the bar (Steve did win tho so he's got that going for him) and Eddie's like. still too mad about Steve getting hurt (not mad at steve, just heated yknow?) to really be useful and Robin doesn't want to leave them so Nancy like. breaks into the main office bc that's the only place she knows there's a fully stocked first aid kit and she does her best to fix Steve up

later she goes to Robin's room to like. apologise for fucking up some parts of the dance and also for not really being able to help Steve 'enough' and then that's how they have the whole "You're not scared of anything-" "Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, what I did, who I am. And most of all, I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life...the way I feel when I'm with you." interaction where they wind up dancing in a scene that is probably more sexually charged than any sex scene could hope to be and then they DO sleep together and then they're all couple-y and shit

and then blah-blah-blah maybe someone see's Steve's face or whatever and makes a tasteless comment and Robin rocks their shit bc no one gets to talk bad about her best friend and then that ends up being what prompts someone to accuse Robin of being the thief and there's the whole thing with Nancy trying to convince everyone it couldn't've been Robin without giving their relationship away until she finally admits they were together all night so there's no way Robin could have stolen anything

and they find the real thieves but they end up firing Robin anyway bc the dance staff aren't supposed to mingle with the guests and Nancy is both outraged and upset but Robin's just touched that she stood up for her and she tells Nancy she'll be okay, she's always landed on her feet and they have a teary goodbye and yeah (i've decided that Robin still can't drive, but Steve quit when Robin was fired bc they're a DUO (but Eddie is gonna stay until the end of the season bc Steve and Robin were both like "dont you dare-") so he drives her sjdfshk)

BUT THEN THE NIGHT OF THE TALENT....NIGHT (for those who haven't actually seen dirty dancing, im so sorry about the lack of context for some of the things im saying sjfhsdk bc im aware that this seems to have come out of fucking nowhere) and Nancy's hidden away in the corner with Mike and their parents while they watch the opening but then! who comes through door? it's Robin! and she grabs Nancy (i dont know yet if i'm gonna use the iconic line or not, bc i am thinking of actually having Nancy known as 'baby' throughout the fic and then they can have the "what's your real name, baby?" "Francis" except this time it's "Nancy." but idk yet) and she gives her little speech about she's sorry for crashing but her and steve always do the last dance and seeing as her and steve are technically fired, she's gonna do it her way.

Eddie's already there changing the music bc he's probably the one who helped her sneak in in the first place and then they do their little routine from the show at the other hotel and then Robin jumps into the crowd and all the staff kids are dancing their way and it's chaos in the best way and Nancy joins her in the crowd and they dance together before slipping away and Nancy's mum stops her and just kind of looks at them and then hugs Nancy and then they escape into the night or whatever.

and then maybe there'd be a time-skip and Robin and Steve are now freelance dance teachers and Nancy comes in to show them the article she wrote, fresh off the printer, that boasts the opening of their brand new dance studio.

#stranger things dirty dancing au #the ronance edition anyway #i think the steddie one would follow the plot a lot more loosely #but anyway yeah can you tell i've been thinking about this all afternoon/evening?#asks #💐 anon

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lovemesomesurveys · 4 years ago

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[yourheaventonight]

Where have you been all my life? I’ve always been right here.

Can you recite the Greek alphabet backwards? Nope. Or at all.

What social networks are you a part of? Like every main one.

Which of your fields of interest are you a total expert on? I’m not a total expert on anything.

What is one thing you will never understand? Why I’m like this.

Do you blog? This is it.

What was the last movie you watched? Godzilla vs Kong.

^Would you recommend it? Yeah, I enjoyed it. Admittedly, I was mainly interesting for Alexander Skarsgard, but I did think the movie was good.

With whom did you share your last awkward moment? My life is an awkward moment.

When was the last time you got all dolled up? It’s been yearsss.

Gimme yer best shot and insult me. Go ahead. Uh, no.

What do you think makes a person attractive? Physical attributes, certainly, but personality traits and who they are as a person makes a person attractive to me as well. Even more so.

Out of everyone you know, who has the worst taste in music? I don’t think anyone I know has bad taste in music, I share a lot of the same music taste.

^How about the best? ^^^

Can guys REALLY pull off skinny jeans? They can wear whatever they want.

What is one thing you missed out on that you wish you hadn't? I missed out on a lot of my 20s I feel like, it feels like a complete blur. I don’t know what happened to them. And now I’m in my 30s and I feel like I’m missing out on those, too. Just life, in general for the past several years. Everyone around is me is doing things and living life and I’m just wasting away.

What was the last thing/place you decorated? My room for Christmas.

Have you just recently started listening to any new bands? No. It’s been a long time since I’ve discovered any new bands.

How many windows/tabs are open on your computer right now? Two windows, 7 tabs.

Would you rather date someone really skinny or really overweight? I want to date someone based on other things.

Let me in on a little secret of yours. Nah.

What is one habit you had as a child? Nail biting/picking.

^Do you still have that habit today? Sigh, yes.

Is there someone you wish you were closer with? Yes.

^What's stopping you from being closer with them? I’ve been so distant and withdrawn from everyone.

Besides air, what was the last thing you inhaled? The scent of my ramen earlier.

Which point in life do you think is hardest? (i.e. childhood, adulthood...) For me it’s been the past few years.

How was life going for you, say, six months ago? Not well.

^Is that the same as today, or have things changed? Things have changed, but not in a good way.

Who was the last person to make you frown? It’s been things I’m struggling with doing that, not a person.

^Was anyone able to turn that frown upside-down? No.

What was the last non-papery substance you drew on? I have no idea.

What is one thing you wish you had the courage to do? Get certain things checked out and taken care of that I’ve put off for too long.

Which is bigger: Your iTunes library or your CD collection? My iTunes collection was definitely better. I haven’t used iTunes since like 2012, though, and I don’t have any CDs anymore.

What is your one true weakness? I’m just weak.

When is the last time you had hot chocolate? It’s been a couple years.

Composition notebooks or spiral notebooks? Why? Spiral. I just like them better.

What is the most bizarre compliment you've ever received? That I looked pretty for someone with polio. I don’t have polio, but they assumed I did just because I’m in a wheelchair. Also, what does that even mean? “For someone with polio.” Wtf?

Do you identify more with guys or girls? I think I relate more to girls.

When someone you know is sad, how do you go about cheering them up? I kinda suck at that and don’t know what to do or say.

Has someone ever accused you of not being creative enough? I say that about myself. I lack creativity or any artistic ability.

Starbucks coffee or Dunkin Donuts coffee? I’ve only had Dunkin’s coffee a few times, but I’ve had Starbucks countless times and I do like it, so I’ll go with that. I do wish I had a Dunkin where I live cause apart from the donuts, I’ve heard they do have good brewed coffee.

Do you crack under peer pressure? Yepppp. And it doesn’t take much.

What do you think deserves more attention than it already gets? Hmm.

What song never fails to get stuck in your head? Songs I hear in commercials.

Who is your favorite vocalist? Why? Chester Bennington is one. His voice was incredible.

What is your most overused emoticon? This one: 😬 Do you ever name objects? (i.e. mp3 players, guitars, cars, etc.) Nah.

When was the last time you had a bagel? Hm. It’s been awhile, actually. I don’t even remember. Can you lick your own elbow? No.

What time during the day/night is your mind most active? At night when I’m up alone.

What color ink does your favorite pen have? I have a nice set of colorful pens that I really like.

What was the last thing you licked? My lips.

Who was the last person in your bed besides yourself? Just me. Can you touch your tongue to your nose? No.

What flavor mouthwash do you use? I don’t. Mouthwash irritates my mouth.

What tends to distract you most? I just find myself zoning out a lot. Like, someone will be talking to me and I feel myself getting overwhelmed quite easily and drift out and it doesn’t mean they’re boring or talking about heavy things (sometimes they are). I get like sensory overload. Or I’ll just be sitting in bed and zone out.

Is the perfect man or woman a myth? Yes. No one is perfect.

How do you feel about Bob Marley? I like a couple songs.

What's your favorite fairy tale? I liked reading or listening to all of them when I was growing up. <<<

Do you know who Tom Jones is? Yes.

Tell me one fact you know about horses (without using Google). They have manes.

When was the last time you had to walk up or down stairs? Well, never since I’m in a wheelchair.

Tell me one unique quality about your own handwriting. My handwriting is shit.

What daily chore do you secretly enjoy? I don’t enjoy any type of cleaning.

Has a child ever asked you a question you found difficult to answer? Definitely. Kids ask a lot of questions about everything and anything.

Name five books you've read in the past year. I’ve read a ton more than that, but I’ll give you the latest 5: Cold Highway, Cold Threat, Cold Hunt, Cold Truth, and To Die For. You can probably tell the first 4 are by the same author, Mary Stone. The last one is by Willow Rose.

^Are any of those books your favorite? I’ve enjoyed ‘em all. I’ve read a lot of books from both authors.

Are you a person that enjoys re-reading books? I don’t re-read books, actually.

Which hobby is the lamest: stamp collecting or spoon collecting? I wouldn’t call either of them lame just cause it might not be something I’m personally interested in. Those bring some people joy.

What do you daydream about most often? My mind wanders off to random stuff, stuff I’m dealing with, stuff I’m anxious and stressed out about, etc.

Why is your favorite band your favorite band? I’ve listened to them since middle school, so we have a lot of history. I really just connect and relate to their lyrics and I love their music.

Do you have a favorite talk show host? Nah.

What do you wish you could afford at the moment? A beach home with my own private beach area.

What is the most unusual color you've ever painted your nails? I can’t think of any “unusual” colors that I’ve painted them.

Which sounds the most refreshing: a hot shower or a cold one? I always take hot showers.

Have you ever made your own soap? No.

What's your favorite popsicle flavor? Not a popsicle fan.

Can you sleep with socks on? Yeah, I always have socks on.

When was the last time you were pissed beyond belief and why? I’ve been frustrated and pissed with some things I’ve been dealing with lately.

Name a band with the word 'red' in their title. Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Do you have a favorite candle brand? I’m not a candle person. I just go for the room sprays.

How many years until you turn 38? 6. D:

What is your opinion on taxidermy? I find it super creepy and weird.

Would you ever want to own a body part in a jar? Uh, no.

What is the worst thing you have ever done to your own hair? Let it get really knotted up. :/

What do you think makes you a good girlfriend or boyfriend? Nothing.

What qualities of yours do you think could potentially harm a relationship? I’m a total mess, I wouldn’t make a good girlfriend.

How often do you indulge in a favorite food from your childhood? I eat ramen regularly.

Have any of your childhood habits carried over into adolescence/adulthood? My damn nail picking habit.

What is the nicest thing you've done for someone else in the past 24 hours? Nothing.

What sort of conditions do you require in order for you to fall asleep? It needs to be cool and I have to have the TV on.

What is the first band that comes to mind when I say 'dark'? Uhhh.

Do you have a favorite punk band? Green Day.

As far as relationships go, what are your biggest deal-breakers? Abuse and cheating. <<<

Be honest: do looks really matter to you? They’re like a bonus to me. <<<

Congratulations! Someone sent you flowers! What kind do you hope they are? I’m not picky, just a pretty assortment perhaps would be nice.

What type of underwear do you personally prefer to wear? Hipsters.

What is the grossest chore you've ever been assigned? Nothing gross.

What band (BESIDES IRON MAIDEN) comes to mind when I say 'iron'? I got nothin.

Have you ever done something simply because you were of age? I had to go out and buy alcohol the day I turned 21.

Do you think it's worth it to tell someone you had feelings for them when you don't have them anymore? Wait, tell them I used to have feelings for them but don’t anymore? If I don’t anymore then why tell them about when I used to? Unless of course we were in a relationship and I no longer felt that way.

What color shirts do you tend to buy most often? Black.

Have you ever done something you once thought you'd be too chicken to do? Yeah.

Where would you rather go: Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine? Portland, Oregon.

Name a band that begins with the letter Y. Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Tell me about someone who has made a huge impact in your life. My mom most definitely has.

What can I usually find you doing at 4pm on a weekday? At that time any day I’m likely still sleeping.

What's a food you love but don't get to eat very often? I only eat the same few foods, so I eat them quite often. Like, I eat Wingstop 3-4 times a week...

Do you dot your lowercase i's? Yes.

What's the first song on your iPod/mp3 player that comes up under P? I use Spotify on my phone for music, but anyway nah I don’t feel like doing that.

Do the words 'Amon' and 'Amarth' mean anything to you? No.

What's your favorite mythical being? I don’t really have a favorite.

Don't you hate surveys that end abruptly? As long as the question itself isn’t cut off, which I’ve seen, or it’s a numbered one and a question is completely missing then I don’t care.

Let's end this survey with a smile; tell me something funny. I’m not in a good mood to think of something funny right now.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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utopianvoices · 6 years ago

Text

bittersweet | k.seungmin

↭ genre: barista au; fluff

↭ word count: 4.24k

↭ description: Your blind date went to the depths of shit, but was that an entirely bad thing?

↭ a/n: finally a seungmin fic aksdj i always feel some kind of guilt when i don’t see fics under certain members :( it’s also not proofread oops hehe hope y’all like it!! x

↭ warnings: explicit language

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

“Come on, Y/n. Just one date?” your best friend pestered you. “You haven’t been out in that field for months and don’t you think it’s time to move on from Mr. Dickhead?”

“This is the fifth time you’re asking me this week, and my answer is still no, Minho,” you said calmly, letting out a sigh once again, shaking your head. “You’re making me sigh so much, I’m going to grow older faster.”

Truth be told, you were heartbroken.

It was your first-ever relationship, lasting for about a year and a half when suddenly, said boyfriend wasn’t giving you as much attention and love as before. No calls, no texts, fewer meetups, and more avoidance.

It had started about a year into your relationship — which you thought to be the happiest time of your relationship, seeing that you had reached the first milestone. But fate had different plans.

Initially, you just made excuses for him, blaming it on practices (he was on the school’s basketball team), convincing yourself that he couldn’t hang out with you because he was too tired after practice. But once off-seasons hit, you were left with no other reason to hold on to your relationship. The truth was glaring in your face, and yet you still decided to put on your pair of ignorant sunglasses and carry on as if nothing was wrong.

The first hit was when you saw him out at a restaurant with his teammates, after telling you that he was not able to hang out with you because he was down with a really bad flu and had to stay in bed.

It was like the whole universe was trying to convince you to let him go, that he was definitely not worth your time and energy.

You still didn’t let go.

Years of watching clichéd and unrealistic rom-coms had started to take its toll on the rational part of your brain, the part that was screaming the very obvious and correct answer at you, every time you saw him. You wished you had listened to that part of you, because a few days later, you saw him show up to school with another girl, arms around her waist, looking the happiest he has ever looked.

Your eyes met from across the hallway, one pair reflecting hurt and the other nonchalance. He felt zero remorse for what he had done, and that was what hurt the most.

"Am I bad in relationships?” you asked out of the blue, surprising the boy beside you. “Am I going to be single for the rest of my life?”

“No, Y/n. You’re not bad. You just happened to fall for the wrong person. But trust me, when you find the right one, you’ll have a blast because that’s what you deserve,” Minho said firmly, sending you a slight smile at the end of his little speech.

“You know, you’re not that bad when you’re not acting like a sassy little bitch,” you say, blocking the pillow that came flying towards not a second later, soft chuckles escaping your mouth. “But really, thanks Minho. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Die alone.”

“And, he’s back,” you say, rolling your eyes at your intolerable best friend. “So... Um, what were you saying about that date?”

And as those words leave your mouth, you get the shock of your life, because you have never seen your best friend get that excited.

✼ •• ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ •• ✼

Pushing the door to the little coffee shop near your campus, the little bell tinkles above your head, causing a series of “Welcome” to echo through your ears as the workers behind the cafe put on the brightest and fakest smile to make sure you believe that they’re having the time of their lives working long hours after school, and occasionally dealing with snobs just to make sure they’re able to afford basic necessities such as air, water, food, and shelter.

Walking up to the counter, you are served by a face you had never seen before, considering the fact that you were a regular and loyal customer. If your mind wasn’t occupied with pre-date jitters, you totally would’ve chosen the table at the far right — perfect view, and all — to admire the faces stressing out behind the counter.

“Hi! What can I get you today?” the boy speaks up, flashing you a smile that almost made you think he enjoyed serving you.

“I’ll get a vanilla latte, please,” you say, fishing around your bag for your wallet, as the boy in front of you entered your order into the machine. After considering it for a while, you decided to get something for your date as well. “Actually make that two vanilla lattes. And a chocolate chip muffin too.”

The boy nods, adding your extra orders in. “Can I get your name?” he asks, grabbing a marker, tip hovering over the plastic cup, as waited for an answer.

“Y/n.”

“Nice name,” he said with a smile, not looking up at you as he wrote it down. “Here for a first date?”

Taken aback by his straightforward behaviour, you look up, surprised that he had noticed. “Yea, how’d you notice?”

He moves over a few steps towards the coffee machine, as he starts prepping your drink, causing your feet to involuntarily shuffle towards the direction in which he was moving.

“Your body language kind of gave it away,” he started, speaking over the loud coffee machine. “Psych major, and all that. Why so nervous?”

Ah.

“It’s because I don’t even know the guy,” you said, and immediately realising how that sounded, frantically added more to your sentence. “I mean, it’s a blind date, of sorts. My best friend wouldn’t stop bugging me to go on a date because apparently, I need to move on from horribles ex’s.”

The boy in front of you nodded understandingly, finishing up your order during your little rant. You were not sure why you opened up to him —a complete stranger. But somehow it didn’t feel forced. On the contrary, it felt almost natural.

“Well, here’s your order Ms. Y/n, and I hope you have a great date!” he said, passing you the tray with your drinks and confectionary on it, nodding with a smile as he noticed you had tipped him quite generously. What? Anyone who listened to one of your rants deserved some kind of compensation.

Mhm, sure. Definitely not because he was cute or anything.

You rolled your eyes to yourself, ignoring the little voice that was whispering absurd but otherwise true things in your mind.

You walk over to the back of the cafe and whip out your phone, tapping on your frequently contacted list and drafting a message to the number at the top of that list.

you: whr is he cat boy: patience, little one. he said he’s reaching cat boy: you’re sitting at the back right? you: yea cat boy: he said he’s there. look for someone wearing red plaid. g’luck be urself cat boy: but not too much bcs u’ll scare him away you: gtfo cat boy: if he says anything stupid or is mean just sent me a text. he might be sung’s friend, but anyone who messes with my best friend answers to my hammer-like fists you: mjölnir is shaking in thor’s hands

Putting your phone away, you look up, and true enough, you see a rather dashing boy in red plaid, standing at the entrance and looking towards the back of the cafe in confusion. Unsure of what to do, you awkwardly raise your hand, in hopes that he would understand your pathetic attempts in trying to get him to notice you without attracting too much attention.

Soon enough the both of you made eye contact, a smile blooming on his face as he walked over towards you.

“Hi, I’m Hyungsik! Jisung’s friend,” he said, extending a hand out. “You must be Y/n.”

You reach over and shake his hand, returning his smile with your own, letting out a “yes” to his question.

“I got a drink for you!” you said, pushing one of the lattes towards him. “I didn’t know what you’d like so I just went with a safe option,”

“Oh no, I don’t drink coffee from here,” he said, pushing the cup back towards you. “The ingredients are cheap and low quality, my body just won’t be able to accept it.”

Thinking back to the days where you lived off of instant noodles because you just were too lazy to cook for yourself, or when you finished a whole tub of ice cream while watching a movie, you felt your face slowly heat up as you let out an awkward chuckle, hoping that he’d drop that topic.

“Actually I wouldn’t really have chosen this place — not really my scene. I usually go over to the cafe on Main Street,” he continued, adding more and more details about the exquisite dishes they serve there and the ingredients they use.

Just as you were starting to zone out (something that you should never be doing on a date), another question was thrown in your way.

“So, Y/n, what is your family like?”

“Uh, so I have my parents and no siblings. They live in-” you started, but got cut off almost right after.

“Mhm interesting. Do they own any companies or any own businesses?”

Now you were confused.

“No they don’t?” you answered, your answer sounding more like a question.

You noticed the slight fall of expression from his face, as he heard that you were not some rich spoiled brat who got plenty of money from her parents.

“I see. Because you know, my ex-girlfriend’s parents had this huge company? Really rich people, just like my parents,” he continued, once again falling into a whole ramble about how great his ex-girlfriend was or something like that; you weren’t listening.

Instead, you were hurriedly typing on your phone, as you just continued to smile and nod at something the boy in front of you was saying.

you: sos you: can you call me and start crying or smth you: i’m going to kill myself if i hear him talk about how his dog shits gold or wtv you: minhO CHECK UR PHONE ITS A LEVEL 9 EMERGENCY you: ugh you suck

Realising that your best friend wasn’t going to come to your rescue, you resorted to cutting the boy off with the lamest excuse you can think of.

“Hey, can you give me a moment? My hands are kind of dirty after eating the muffin,” you say, slowly getting up even before you could receive an answer.

“Um sure,” the boy in front of you said, looking slightly perturbed at the fact that someone could even afford to get their hands dirty. Not in his rich household.

Shooting him a final smile, you walk over to the small sink at the side of the cafe, gripping the sides of the sink as you regulate your breathing, unsure of how to get away from that not-so-amazing date you were having.

“Need help?”

Your head whipped up at the familiar voice, as the barista who made you your order stood beside you, tray in hand, as he looked upon you with concern. Who would blame him though — you looked like you were about to enter panic mode any moment.

“I-I, uh-” you stuttered, internally smacking yourself for not being able to form coherent sentences making you look more of an idiot than you already seemed like. But thankfully, someone was able to put two and two together.

“Bad date, huh?” he said, setting the tray down on the counter beside him and shooting you a sad smile.

You let out a breath of relief, somewhat happy that you didn’t have to explain yourself. “Yeah. I’m trying to think of ways to escape.”

“I’ve got an idea. Wanna hear it?”

“Colour me interested.”

Smiling at your response, the boy laid out his plans in front of you, making you both feel like you were in another episode of True Detective or something.

“When you go back there, just make small conversation for five minutes. My shift’s over, so I’ll come there and pretend to be your best friend, saying there’s some emergency. Once we convince him that someone’s dying, we’ll go out the back door and escape from there. Cool?”

“Totally cool.”

With an encouraging nod from the boy in front of you, you take a deep breath and walk towards the dreaded table at the back, as you see your date scrolling through his phone, impatient sighs escaping him every 10 seconds.

“I’m back!” you say, faking some enthusiasm as you finally take a seat. “Sorry, there was a problem with the... tap.”

Hearing your voice, Hyungsik set his phone down onto the table, smiling at your return. “Ah, you see, that’s the problem with these low-quality cafes. Nothing ever works right.”

And just like that, you both were back to your conversation about how he thought Gucci was better than Louis Vuitton. Not that you could relate, your go-to was definitely plain ol’ H&M.

As promised, four minutes later, you were met with a frantic looking boy, dressed in a dark blue denim jacket and a pair of black jeans.

“Hey Y/n! I’ve been trying to call your phone for the past half an hour! You’ve got to come with me now,” he said, hands flailing around frantically as you were trying to best to hold back the laugh that was threatening to spill out any moment.

“Hey....” you started, coming to a sudden halt as you realised something. You didn’t know this boy’s name. But you were not going to let that small setback hinder your whole plan.

“Hey... Bob! Long time no see,” you say, mentally facepalming yourself for thinking of the lamest name ever. “What’s up? Sorry, I’m just on a really amazing date right now that I couldn’t check my phone.”

Okay, maybe you were exaggerating a bit, but who cares? You had to milk out the best outcome possible from this little skit.

“Oh hi. I’m Bob, Y/n’s best friend. Sorry to cut your amazing date short, but I really gotta bring Y/n with me now. Her dog was just admitted to the hospital,” he said, not even sparing Hyungsik, who was now looking extremely confused, a glance.

“What? I better leave now. Sorry for cutting the date short, Hyungsik!” you said, quickly grabbing your things and leaving before your date figured out what was happening with your terrible acting.

“Yea... See you-” Hyungsik started, but was left alone before he could finish his sentence.

You sprint out the back door, as planned, with “Bob” leading the way, falling into a heap of laughter as you were sure the door was closed behind you.

“What kind of a name is Bob?! Seriously, Y/n?” the boy asked, trying to catch his own breath after the laughing fit.

“I’m sorry, I don’t do well under pressure!” you defended yourself, wiping the stray tears that escaped the corners of your eyes. “Hey, but thank you so much for helping me out. I probably would’ve gone mad.”

“Anytime!” he said, finally settling down only to warm your heart with a small smile on his face. “It’s Seungmin, by the way.”

“Definitely better than Bob.”

✼ •• ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ •• ✼

As you open the door to your shared apartment, you are almost immediately engulfed in a hug, as this person hugging you chants “I’m sorry” over and over again like some cult leader.

“Okay, Minho, I got it. You can let go now.”

“I can’t believe I forgot to charge my phone like who does that?” your best friend screeched, tugging at his hair as he looked at you as if he had committed a murder. “I’m a horrible best friend.”

You roll your eyes at his dramatic antics and grab him by the collar, dragging him towards the couch and throwing him on it. “Nobody died. I’m alive and fine. Phones die all the fucking time. Get your shit together, Lee Minho.”

“B-but...” your friend stuttered, pout already forming on his lips.

If there was one thing about Minho that everyone knew about, it was his tendency to blame everything on himself. Even if it wasn’t his fault and he had no control over it whatsoever.

“Enough about that. Are you gonna hear my interesting story or not?” you said, a playful smirk playing at your lips as your best friend perks up at the fact that you were about to share your day with him.

Nodding his head to signify that he was ready and listening, you narrated that day’s happenings.

“So, basically he was cute and all, but all he could talk about was how high class he was? And how he didn’t like to enter, and I quote, low-class cafes,” you say, earning an offended gasp from Minho. “And on top of that, he looked disappointed when he found out that I didn’t own some hugeass business or whatever.”

“Dick.”

“Mhm, right. That’s when I messaged you and tried my best to get out of the situation, but you couldn’t reply,” you continue, hastily adding on a “but that wasn’t your fault because phone batteries suck,” when you see Minho’s face drop into a slight pout.

“I had to get out of that place so I just went over to the sink and tried to think of ways to escape when the barista that took my order offered to help,” you say, thinking back to Seungmin’s cute smile. “So he just came over and pretended to be my best friend and said there was an emergency and kind of just dragged me away through the back door.”

You were unaware of the fact that your face softened at the mention of your saviour, but it didn’t go unnoticed by the boy in front of you, who was studying your every facial expression since you started your little story.

“Barista, huh?” Minho started, smirk evident on his face. “Was he cute?”

You slowly felt the heat creep up your cheeks as you fiddled with your fingers, a sign that you were flustered.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, yes it does, Y/n. It matters a whole lot,” Minho teased, glad that he had grabbed the perfect opportunity to annoy you. “It matters because the blush on your face is giving me many, many indications on how you feel about this barista of yours.”

“Shut your mouth, dipshit. There’s nothing like that,” you counter, desperately praying for the heat to leave your face.

“Whatever you say, m’love.”

You roll your eyes for the umpteenth time, leaving to prepare for bed, as that day’s events replayed in your mind. You weren’t sure how to feel about the barista occupying your mind, but all you knew was that you had to see him again.

After all, you didn’t manage to get his number.

✼ •• ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ •• ✼

The familiar ring of the small bell fills your ear as you step foot into the same cafe you were in four days ago. You had actually planned to go the day after, but you were, sadly, a college student who apparently had to go to classes to make sure your grades don’t fall below expectations.

“Welcome to SKZ ca-” Seungmin started, instinctively, until he saw the person who had entered the cafe. “Y/n! You’re back!”

“I am!” you say, with equal enthusiasm, as you walk up towards the counter and get your wallet ready.

“Another blind date?” Seungmin teased, wiping his hands on a paper towel as he walked up towards the main counter.

“Shut up,” you deadpanned, shaking your head at the boy’s little jab. “I came here for some caffeine because I am currently behind on my assignments and I don’t really feel like repeating this semester. Any drinks to recommend?”

“Relatable,” Seungmin grimaced, thinking about the pile of assignments in his bag that was locked up in the staff locker. “How about an iced americano? The ice will definitely make sure that you’re wide awake, maybe more so than the coffee itself.”

“Sure, anything to keep me from snoring away on that table,” you replied, letting a tired sigh escape your lips. “I wish Minho was here to study with me, ugh. I hate studying alone.”

Although that last sentence was muttered under your breath, Seungmin’s ear still caught it, his mind immediately whirring with solutions.

“I finish my shift in about an hour,” he started cautiously, not knowing what your answer would be. “Maybe, we could study together?”

You freeze on the spot and slowly look up at the boy in front of you, unsure if you had heard him correctly, but the look on his face told you that you had heard him perfectly well.

You let out a breathy laugh and nod your head. “Sure, I’d love that.”

“Great! Drink’s on me then!” Seungmin grinned, fishing out his own card to pay for your drink and the muffin (he took the liberty to add it in for you), and left to make the drink before you could even start to protest.

You shake your head and walk towards the table against the window, big enough for two people, and set your heavy bag down as you plopped onto one of the seats.

Not wasting any time, you grab your laptop and your notes, diving right into your assignments, afraid that you’d change your mind and go back home if you procrastinated one second longer.

One hour later, you’re halfway through your drink and there are crumbs left on the pastry plate, as you hurriedly type away on your laptop, initially not noticing Seungmin walking towards your table, out of his work attire and school bag slung over his shoulders.

“Move slightly forward and you’ll fall into your computer screen,” a familiar voice rang out, causing you to snap out of your bubble and focus on the boy taking his seat in front of you. “I’m surprised you don’t wear glasses.”

“I do wear glasses, just not often,” you replied, going back to your essay on how Shakespeare had made a change in the world’s arts. Seriously, who cared. All you got out from your literature lectures were that you could annoy Minho by talking in Shakespearean English for a whole day. He definitely did not appreciate that.

Realising that you were in your zone and that he shouldn’t disturb you, Seungmin grabbed his own pile of worries and got to work, the fatigue of working a four-hour shift after school slowly catching up to him.

Three hours later, and you finally stop tapping away incessantly on your computer, leaning back in your chair and stretching your arms above your head.

“Hey Seungmin, I’m do-” you started, but abruptly cut yourself off as you see Seungmin’s head resting on his hand, eyes closed as he let out even breaths, indicating that he was fast asleep.

Seeing that he was exploring dreamland, you took this opportunity to admire the boy’s features, in a non-creepy way, of course. The way his left cheek was slightly chubbier than his right, and the little mole on his cheek, or even how brown his eyes we- Wait.

You shouldn’t be able to see the colour of his eyes if he was sleeping.

Just like that, you stare into the eyes of the cute barista in front of you, unable to tear your gaze away, even as colour rushes to your cheek as you realise that you have been caught admiring him.

“Take a picture, Y/n, it’ll last longer,” he said, not passing up on the opportunity to tease you even though it had been less than a minute since he was awake.

“I-I wasn’t staring,” you started, immediately falling into defensive mode, as embarrassment took over every cell in your body. “I was about to wake you up, okay.”

“Sure,” he humoured you, but not stopping the smile that was spreading across his face.

“Oh, look at the time! It’s time for me to go back!” you said, frantically packing up your things as you wished to get away from the cafe as far as possible until you were sure that your heart wasn’t going to burst.

But just as you were reaching for the last piece of paper on your desk, a hand stopped you, forcing you to look up at the boy who’s eyes you had been avoiding for the past few minutes.

“Um, do you think we can do this tomorrow?” he started, eyes darting around everywhere except your eyes. “But without the studying?”

You could feel your heart abruptly stop, as your mind slowly processed the question that had just left Seungmin’s mouth. Was he implying what you thought was implying? The only way to find out was to ask.

“Like a date?” you asked, voice small due to the lack of courage.

“Like a date,” the boy confirms, eyes finally meeting yours, as he awaits your answer.

It hadn’t been long since you met him, but you couldn’t deny the fact that something was blossoming between you, whether it be a strong friendship or something more. And you were willing to find out.

“Let’s do it.”

∞ end ∞

#skz-writersnet #skzwriters #district9net #stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #kim seungmin imagines #kim seungmin scenarios #kim seungmin #dee scribbles

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mxliv-oftheendless · 5 years ago

Text

Let’s Fall in Love

Now I know what you’re all thinking: “But Livvie, you’re always so vocal about your opinion of Valentine’s Day and its inherent capitalism and societal pressure to be in a relationship and general stupidity! Why have you written a story for it?” Well, turns out when you have a soul, you can’t not get caught up in the romantic spirit somehow *shrugs*. This is by far the lamest, sappiest thing I have ever written in my entire life. It took me a while to finish writing because I did my French homework beforehand and my brain got fried (side note: learning a foreign language is exhausting). But I got it done, so yay me!

I’ve also written this because IT’S @cosmicrealmofkissteria ‘s BIRTHDAY! And since she wrote an epic story as a present for me, it’s only fair I do the same. Hope you enjoy, Shandi, and happy birthday!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The camera opens on Gene, who smiles and waves. “Hey there. If you’re watching this, this is the first video I’m making for my new flash drive, because I used up all the storage on my last one.”

From beyond the camera comes Paul’s voice calling, “Again!”

“Shut up, Paul. Anyway, you know the drill…”

“Who are you even talking to?” Paul’s voice comes again. Gene rolls his eyes and turns the camera around to Paul, who is sitting in a chair with his legs over the armrest and his laptop in his lap. “You keep saying you’re recording these for posterity, but… are you just talking to yourself and lying about it?”

“Shut up, Paul.”

“I’m just saying, man. I mean, I know why you do this. But from an outsider’s perspective, it’s kind of weird.”

“And from an outsider’s perspective, your obsession with stars is weird.”

Paul is silent for a moment, then nods. “Fair.”

He turns back to his laptop and Gene turns the camera back around. “Anyway, as I was saying. You know the drill. I’m Gene, I’m a co-owner of the awesome wine bar known as Cellar 82. I’m 33, and I am still single. But, oddly,” Gene shrugs, “I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about how sucky that is. I guess FRIENDS was wrong about that.”

“FRIENDS was wrong about a lot of stuff,” Paul’s voice comes again. “They tried to make us think Ross wasn’t a total loser.”

Gene nods. “That is true. Anyway, yeah. Still single. I’ve been on some blind dates with people my friends keep telling me are “just perfect for me!” but… nothing’s worked out. And that’s fine.

“Let’s see, what else… Paul finally got me to watch a bootleg of Phantom of the Opera.”

“It’s amazing, right?”

Gene shrugs, but is smirking slightly “Eh. The book was better.”

“… I know you’re trolling me, but I’m prepared to fight you on that.”

Gene laughs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Seriously though, it was pretty good. At least it explains why Paul keeps dramatically reenacting it in the shower.” He looks to the side and laughs. “Paul just gave me the bird.

“Anyway… that’s all I can think of to say right now. So that does it for this video. Bye for now!” He waves. The camera screen goes black.

The camera opens on Gene, who is smiling. “So get this: I met someone last night. I probably sound like a teenage girl, but it’s pretty exciting. His name’s Vinnie, he’s got long hair down to about here,” he gestures to just below his shoulders, “and green eyes. But… and don’t tell Paul I said this… they’re really nice-looking green eyes. And it gets even better: he’s an Egyptologist. I never thought I’d meet one in real life. He’s in the graduate program at the university. He was at the wine bar with his friends because he apparently just got back from a research trip to Egypt and they dragged him out to celebrate. You’d never tell he was in Egypt, though; he’s kind of pale. But a pretty kind of pale.

“We got to talking because he heard the rock music playing and asked if it was Deep Purple. I didn’t even think he would know who they were, but he did. He knows a lot of rock bands. We could have talked about it more, but he went off to be with his friends.”

Gene rubs the back of his neck. “Is it weird that I kind of want to see him again? I’ll cop to it; he’s not the type I would normally go for. But I liked talking to him. He has a nice laugh, too. I told him he and his friends could come back anytime, and he said he thought it was a nice place so they might. I hope he comes back…”

The camera opens on Gene again, who is lying on his stomach looking sadly at the camera. “It’s been two weeks now, and Vinnie hasn’t come back. And I haven’t seen him around, either. In other news, another blind date. This one was set up by Eric with one of his fellow librarians. She was nice enough… but the date was really awkward. I don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere… as usual.”

Gene sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “I dunno what’s wrong with me, but I can’t stop thinking about him. Vinnie, I mean. Do you think he liked me? People say I’m kind of unapproachable… but he didn’t seem to mind, or have any problem talking to me. I just want to see him again, and maybe then I can finally work up the balls to ask him out.

“But then there’s… well, this, to think about. What if, if I ever see him again, it goes somewhere, and I show him I do this, and he gets weirded out by it? It’s not like what Paul said before is a lie—people who don’t know what this is to me think this is weird. But maybe… maybe I can cross that bridge when I get there—if I even get there at all. I haven’t even seen him again yet.

“Well… here’s hoping I see him again. Anyway, as for the rest of my life…” He shrugs. “Same old shit. Bar’s still getting good reviews… but it’s had good reviews since we opened, so that’s not new. No new episodes from Buzzfeed Unsolved yet. Rick and Morty… still a wild show. It’s gotten even wilder if possible. But I can make a separate video about that. And, uh… that’s pretty much it. So I guess I’ll sign off for the night. This is Gene Simmons, signing off.”

The camera opens on Gene, who looks giddy. “You’ll never guess what happened: scientists proved ghosts are real.

“No, I’m just kidding. I wish, but anyway… Vinnie came back! Turns out he and his friends do a tri-weekly Guys Night Out, and they’re really serious about it. They would even FaceTime Vinnie while he was in Egypt. They liked the wine bar so much they decided to come back for their next one.

“So I got to talk to Vinnie again—he remembered my name, can you believe that?—and like I said I would, I worked up the guts to ask him out. And he said yes! I’m gonna pick him up from his loft—he and his friends live together—and take him out to this coffee place down the block from the wine bar.” Gene holds up crossed fingers. “Here’s hoping it goes well.”

We see Gene, who is lying on his stomach and looking happily at the camera. “So I just got back from my date with Vinnie. I suppose you’re wondering how it went, huh? Well…” He slowly bows his head…

… then looks back up at the camera with a big smile. “It went really well! We talked about our favorite bands, and Vinnie’s job… you should’ve seen his face when he was talking about Egypt. He was so into it. Then he asked me how the wine bar got started, so I told him about how Paul and I decided to open it together. He thought it was really cool how we know so much about different wines.

“Actually, we were there for a pretty long time. I was hoping it would last an hour, at most. But as we’re getting up to leave, I look at my watch, and it’s been three hours! I’ve never had a date last that long, or one that seemed to go by that fast. We made plans to meet for dinner next week.” Gene checks his watch. “I should probably sign off for now. I told Tommy I’d take over his morning shift tomorrow.” He flashes the camera another smile. “Today’s been a good day. Can’t wait to see Vinnie again.”

Music is playing in the background. The camera has opened on Paul, who gives a smile and a peace sign. “Hey there, posterity. It’s me, ya boi. Check this out.”

He turns the camera around to reveal Gene moving around the kitchen area. Paul zooms the camera in on him. He looks to be in a very good mood as he pours cereal into a bowl, nodding his head along to the music. The camera turns back to Paul, who gives the camera a lost look and shrug. “He’s been like this all morning. He’s only had one cup of coffee so far. Oh, and you probably can’t hear it on the recording, but he’s humming. Actually humming along to the music. I’ve narrowed down the possibilities of what could’ve happened to him to two: either Trump’s been assassinated, or his date last night with Vinnie went really well. And since Trump’s unfortunately still alive and well, then that means it was his date with Vinnie. I just—” Paul stops and looks up. His eyes widen as a voice can be made out. “Oh my God…”

He turns the camera around and zooms in on Gene again. We can now hear Gene singing along to the music. “—fall in love/Our hearts are made of it/Let’s take a chance/Why be afraid of it…”

The camera turns back around to a shocked Paul. “He’s singing along now!” he whispers. “Oh my God… I’m so glad I decided to make a recording of this. This is a historic moment, people!”

“Paul, what are you doing?” Gene’s voice suddenly says, making Paul look up at him. “Is that Shannon? Paul, what are you doing with Shannon?”

“I’m documenting history, Gene. Also, I still say you could give your camera a better name than ‘Shannon’. Peter’s cats have better names than that.”

“Fuck you, Shannon’s a great name.”

“You could’ve named her Diane. Then at least more people would get the Twin Peaks reference.” Paul watches Gene for a moment, then sighs and turns back to the camera. “And he just flipped me off. Well, looks like the moment’s gone. But at least you got to see it for yourselves.” He glances up at Gene. “I should probably give Shannon back to him now before he tries to snatch it. So I guess bye for now, posterity!” He blows a kiss at the camera and turns it off.

Gene is sitting on his bed, leaning back against the headboard. He has a nervous look on his face. “Hey there. So, um… I did something kind of impulsive today, and… everything was fine, but…” he sighs and runs his hand over his face. “I don’t know. I guess I should give some background first.

“So as you probably know, I’ve been dating Vinnie for nearly three months now. Given how he’s a part-time research assistant and working his way through grad school, that probably isn’t that impressive. He keeps apologizing for having to decline going out together, but it’s fine, I get it. Tommy and Ace were like that when Ace was working on his astronomy PhD. So I get it. But the thing is… Vinnie actually works to make time for going out with me. Like, he’ll message me things like…” The camera shakes as Gene fumbles for his phone and opens it. “Like this: I can ask Lita if I can leave early on Thursday. It’ll be short notice, but she probably won’t mind. And I just…” Gene runs a hand through his hair. “No one I’ve ever had a long-term relationship with has ever done that for me before. They would always say things like, Oh, sorry, I can’t, I have Such-n-Such at seven. I remember my high school girlfriend said one time that she couldn’t go out because she had StuGo till five. And I said, ‘well, how about afterwards?’ And she got all snippy and said ‘no, cuz I have to do my homework when I get home.’ Actually she was also the one that dumped me for that blond fuck Vince… Anyway, point is, no girlfriend or boyfriend I’ve ever had has ever done that. It was either they could or they couldn’t. Except Vinnie…

“But I digress. Anyway, Vinnie and I’ve been dating for almost three months, and whenever I do see him…” Gene sighs and smiles a little. “It’s great. We haven’t just gone out to restaurants; we’ve gone to the movies, I went over to his and his friends’ loft once and he comes over here…” Gene smirks a bit. “I’m happy to report I still got it in the boudoir. His friends seem to like me, and Paul likes Vinnie. It’s been… pretty amazing. I really like him. He’s really smart, even if he knows next to nothing about horror movies, he’s got good music tastes, he’s funny, his laugh is… like music to my ears, and he’s incredibly attractive. Actually, he’s sort of insecure about how he looks—can you believe that? I don’t give a damn that he looks kind of feminine, he’s beautiful. And whenever I’m with him, I just think, how can someone this amazing exist? And want to spend his time with me? I just… fuck, am I digressing again? Sorry.

“Anyways, to get back to what I started this with… I told him about this. About Shannon and my video diaries. I didn’t tell him why, because… well, I kinda chickened out of that. He was curious about it—apparently, he’s never met someone who makes video diaries. So I told him about when I first got started making them, and went on from there. And the whole time he never looked put off or weirded out by it—he just looked really interested. And I guess that’s what made me say what I asked next: I asked if he wanted to be in one.”

Gene presses his mouth into a line. “Yeah… I didn’t realize what I said until after I said it. He just stared at me for a second, I think I took him by surprise. I was sure he was going to say no. But then… then he said sure, if I felt okay about him being in it. He’s coming over tomorrow.

“I definitely feel like I should be more excited than I actually am. This… well, you know how much this stuff means to me. I’ve never shared this with any of the other people I’ve dated. This is my own personal thing. But Vinnie… it just sort of slipped out. Does that mean something?”

Gene sighs and runs his hand through his hair again. “God, what am I doing… I’m psyching myself out again. It’s probably not going to be as bad as I’m worrying it’ll be. He didn’t seem to judge me when I was telling him about it, so he probably won’t judge me tomorrow. He’s not like that; he’s better than that.” Gene slowly smiles. “Yeah… Yeah, I think it’ll be fine. Paul’s gonna be home tomorrow too, and he gets it. Yeah, it’ll all be fine.

“Well, I guess I’ll sign off for now and go to bed. Stay tuned tomorrow for when you finally meet this Vinnie I’ve told you so much about.”

The camera opens on a black shirt, then rustles and is lifted up. Vinnie is sitting on the couch, looking at the camera. “Is this fine?” he asks.

“It’s perfect,” Gene replies from behind the camera.

“Okay… So, what should I do?”

“How about… your name, your age, your job, your favorite band, and one fun fact about yourself.”

Vinnie laughs. “Okay.” He smiles and waves at the camera. “Hi! I’m Vinnie, I’m 30, I’m an Egyptologist and work as a research assistant, my favorite band is…” he laughs nervously, “I don’t know, there are so many good ones…”

“You don’t have to say one if you can’t think of one,”

“Okay. I have a lot of favorite bands. And a fun fact about me is…”

“You’re short,”

Vinnie scoffs at Gene. “Well, we can’t all be over six feet tall. Here’s a fun fact about me: I like Star Trek more than Star Wars.”

“Take that back,”

Vinnie smirks at him. “Why don’t you make me?”

“You’re kidding, I know you’re kidding,”

Vinnie laughs. “Okay, okay, I’m kidding. A true fun fact about me is… I’ve seen every season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” The scene is quiet. He looks at Gene behind the camera. “I’m serious.”

“… You’re actually serious?” The camera zooms in on Vinnie’s face. “You need to explain. Now. Because I’m sorry, but if you’re a fan of the Kardashians I may have to question our relationships.”

Vinnie laughs. “Don’t worry, Genie, I’m not a fan of the Kardashians. Never in a million years.”

“Thank God. But you still have to explain.”

“Okay, fine. What happened was, Mark and I had a bet where the loser had to binge watch all the seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and I lost. I spent the next two and a half weeks watching every episode whenever I had free time, and they’re two and a half weeks of my life I’ll never get back.”

“How was it?”

“If you think watching their drama every week is bad enough, try watching all of their drama at once.”

Gene winces. “That sounds horrible,”

Vinnie nods. “Like I said, two and a half weeks of my life I’ll never get back.”

“Ugh, did I just hear Keeping Up With the Kardashians?” Paul’s disgusted-sounding voice comes from in the background. “I’m sorry, but if you’re gonna be talking about that crap, you’re gonna have to leave.”

“Shut up, Paul,” Gene replies. “He’s not a fan.”

“I had a bet with Mark and lost, and so had to binge watch the whole show,” Vinnie explains.

“And?”

“Absolutely hated it,”

Paul’s voice sounds satisfied. “Good. Gene, you better not lose this one; he’s a keeper.”

Vinnie laughs, while Gene’s voice is embarrassed. “Don’t you have a Phantom of the Opera number to reenact?”

“It’s fine,” Vinnie laughs. “I don’t mind.”

“You say that now, but after you spend some more time around him, that may change,”

Vinnie shrugs. “I doubt it; I do live with Mark and Dana, after all.” He gives Gene a cheeky smile. “Am I a keeper, Genie?”

“Welllll…” the camera zooms in on Vinnie’s face, while he tries not to laugh. Then it zooms back out again. “Yeah. You’re a keeper, alright.”

Vinnie smiles. “Thank you. So are you.” The camera feed is silent for a beat. “So… should I say goodbye, or…”

“Oh! Oh yeah, uh, yeah, you should.”

“Okay.” Vinnie grins at the camera and waves. “Well, it was nice to meet Shannon. She’s a very nice lady, very efficient. Once again, I’m Vinnie. Bye!”

The camera opens on Gene. He is lying on his stomach on his bed, and gazes sadly at the camera. “Hi. It’s Gene. And… my life’s been a mess the past few days. Vinnie and I… well, we’re not talking. We haven’t even texted, except for…” Gene’s eyes blink rapidly, “for just now. Um, I should probably start at the beginning, huh?

“So, Vinnie’s video diary was about a month ago. And since then we got… more serious. He was—been—fuck, I don’t fucking know grammar anymore, my life’s such a mess. He’s been coming over a lot more. We made dinner together once. We watched movies, and… all that. It was great. And after he seemed to be totally fine with me making video diaries, I started making more videos with him in it. And at first it was fine—he just laughed and went along with it. But after a while…” Gene sighs and runs a hand over his face. “Fuck, I didn’t even realize this until I thought back… After a while, he started getting… less fine with it. I think—no, he was definitely more annoyed than he let on. But I never noticed; I was just so happy that he didn’t think I was weird for doing it. I-I should’ve paid more attention…

“Um, anyway, that brings me to… to a few days ago. Vinnie came over to watch… what was it? It was… I don’t even remember. Not that it matters. He came over to watch a movie, and I… he looked so handsome and I couldn’t help myself and… and pulled out Shannon while he was making popcorn. When he saw Shannon, he sighed heavily, like a really frustrated sigh, and asked if I could turn it off. And that’s what got my attention: he’s always been careful to call Shannon “her”, and this time he called her “it.” So I was kind of caught off guard, so I turned her off and asked what was wrong. And… it took him a few seconds to answer, but… he really didn’t have to in the end. He was trying to give me an excuse other than the truth.

“He… He asked me why I’m always pulling Shannon out and making videos, even when I don’t have to. I told him it was for posterity, like I usually do. But that… that, um, wasn’t enough for him. He said I should try to spend time away from making video diaries for a while, and unplug. That’s the word he used: unplug. And…” he sighs heavily. “Does it even matter what I said to that? It doesn’t seem like it matters much now; the ending’s still the same. I got kind of put off by what he was saying, he got more annoyed at me, which got me more frustrated at him, and… well, one thing led to another, and… and eventually we were just shouting at each other. We were yelling back and forth, and—and throwing insults at each other… until finally he just stormed out.

“And… And that’s it. I haven’t talked to him since. Haven’t gone to try and see him when he’s working, haven’t called him… I only worked up the balls to text him an apology a few hours ago.” He laughs humorlessly. “Can you believe that? I apologized over text instead of in person… how pathetic is that? No wonder he took two hours to respond… I was sure he wouldn’t even respond at all, even though at the same time I was checking my phone every five minutes. Then when he did respond, all he said was…” Gene swallows roughly. “It just said, I don’t want to talk right now. That’s it. Nothing else.”

Gene sighs and runs his hand across his face and through his hair. “I can’t believe it. Four months of everything going amazing and I fucked it all up because I’m too emotionally attached to my camera. Fuck, I wonder what Dr. Aucoin would say if he could see me right now… this probably wasn’t what he was thinking of when he suggested I start making these. I took it too far… This is my fault. I can’t believe Vinnie didn’t get annoyed sooner. He’s too patient…” Gene gives a wet laugh. “Goddammit, Vinnie’s amazing. He’s a treasure. I don’t care about all the stuff about him I get bothered with. I don’t care that he’s such a perfectionist. He’s too good for me… He has been from the moment I met him. And now he might want to break up with me over this… and he would be totally justified in wanting that.

“Well, you heard it right here. Once again I manage to fuck up everything, only this time I managed to fuck up the best thing that’s ever happened to me in years… maybe my entire life. I, um, don’t know when the next time I make one of these will be. It might actually be never this time. So, if this really is my last video diary…” he shrugs sadly. “I’m sorry. I wish I could end things on a lighter note, but… guess I can’t. So…” he waves despondently at the camera. “Possibly for the last time ever… this is Gene Simmons, signing off.”

The screen goes black.

The camera opens on Vinnie, who is staring sadly at it. He looks like he’s been crying. “Hi, it’s… it’s Vinnie. Um… you probably know what’s been happening… and it’s my fault. I could never understand why Gene’s always making these video diaries, always documenting everything… but now I know. Paul gave me all the flash drives, all the videos he’s ever made, and I watched them all. I…” He sniffs and wipes his eyes. “I feel so horrible. This is all my fault. I… I had no idea. I’m so sorry… I-I wish I could tell him how sorry I am. But I’m… I’m scared. What if he doesn’t forgive me? If I were him, I wouldn’t forgive me. But I want him to forgive me. At the very least I want him to know how sorry I am, and how ashamed of myself I am. Gene is… he’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met. He’s sweet, he’s funny, and he makes me…” Vinnie is getting closer to tears now “he makes me so happy. I… I think I—”

“Vinnie?” Gene’s voice is suddenly heard from off-camera. Vinnie jumps and whirls his head around to the side. “What are you doing?”

“I-I… I…”

Vinnie quickly fumbles with the camera, and the screen goes black.

The camera screen shakes for a couple seconds, until it is raised and focused on Gene. He’s lying in bed on his side, shirtless, and smiles. He speaks quietly. “Hey there. So, turns out that wasn’t my last video after all. Which… thank God. I missed getting my thoughts out to a cold, unfeeling camera lens.” He smiles wider and chuckles. “Not that Shannon’s cold and unfeeling. She’s a good listener. Which reminds me…”

Gene sits up and fumbles with the camera. He turns it around and aims it at his bed. Lying in bed asleep, also shirtless, is Vinnie. His body is turned towards Gene’s side of the bed. Gene keeps the camera on him for a couple seconds, then turns it back around to himself, smiling. “Yep. We talked, we talked a lot actually, but we talked everything out, told each other we were sorry and then that we forgave each other, and then…” He trails off and grins. “Well, I’m sure you can connect the dots yourself.

“It’s actually kind of funny how it started. Apparently, Paul got tired of seeing me moping for the past week and a half, and decided to, without telling me, tell Vinnie why exactly I make my video diaries. So he got all my flash drives together—and I mean every single one—he even made a copy of the videos on my current flash drive—went over to Vinnie’s loft, and gave them to him, telling him to watch them all. And… And he did. He was over here at our place because he was returning the flash drives, and while he was in my room he saw Shannon. And that’s when I walked in on him talking to Shannon and looking like he was going to cry. He, uh, he actually did cry. And then… we talked. He said he was sorry for everything he said, and for not realizing what these mean to me, and I said I’m sorry for how much I was aiming Shannon at his face.” Gene shrugs sheepishly, smiling. “I mean, I still feel bad, but can you blame me? He’s got a pretty face.”

A hand suddenly passes up his chest to wrap around his shoulders and the top of Vinnie’s head appears. His smile widens and he looks down. “Good morning to you.” He leans down to kiss the top of Vinnie’s head.

“Morning…” Vinnie sits up to lean his head on Gene’s shoulder and rubs his eyes. “Mmm… I woke up and you were talking to yourself…” He sees the camera, and smiles. “Oh.” He rests his head on Gene’s shoulder. “Good morning, Shannon. And… what’s the word you used?”

“Posterity?”

“That’s it. Good morning, posterity.” He smirks a bit. “It’s me, ya boi.”

Gene groans and rolls his eyes. “You got that from Paul, didn’t you?”

“It’s what he uses whenever he makes an appearance… I know he does it to annoy you, but I thought it was kind of funny.”

Gene smiles a bit. “It’s less annoying coming from you… You have a way with words.”

Vinnie looks up at him and smiles. “Well, thank you.” He leans up to kiss Gene’s cheek. Gene turns his head and kisses him full on the lips.

When they pull away Gene speaks. “I just thought of something,”

Vinnie puts his head back on Gene’s shoulder. “Mmm hmm?”

“You apologized to me… but you never apologized to Shannon.”

“I…” Vinnie looks up at him blankly. “What?”

Gene nods his head at the camera. “Shannon. You never apologized to Shannon. You called her an it, Vinnie. She’s had a pretty hard time coming back from that, especially after how you were so nice to her before.”

Vinnie glances at the camera. He’s smiling slightly, but there’s also some guilt on his face. “I did do that…”

“Yeah. Plus you didn’t even thank her for letting you record yourself yesterday.” Gene says all of this in a very serious voice. “So? Does she not deserve an apology?”

“Yes, she does.” Vinnie turns to look apologetically at the camera. “I’m sorry I called you an it, Shannon. I was annoyed at how much I saw you; that was rude and wrong of me. And thank you for letting me record myself yesterday.” He looks up at Gene. “Does she accept my apology?”

Gene leans in off to the side to look at the camera, then leans back smiling. “She forgives you,”

Vinnie smiles happily. “Thank you, Shannon. You’re a special lady. Also,” his smile turns suggestive as he glances up at Gene, “I had no idea your user was that good. Last night was fucking amazing.”

Gene’s smile widens. “I should be surprised at hearing you swear… but I heard enough of that last night.”

Laughing, Vinnie waggles his eyebrows at the camera. “What can I say? I forgot my manners.”

“Also, I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this before, but Vinnie has an ankh tattoo.”

“Mmm hmm,” Vinnie nods proudly. “I got it in Alexandria. It’s about as big as my hand, and it’s black, but I regret nothing.”

“Wanna show them where it is?”

Vinnie laughs. “No thanks.” He winks at the camera. “Sorry, but only Gene will ever know that.” He sits up a bit and smiles suggestively at Gene. “Want to see it again?”

Gene grins back. “I’d love to. Just gimme a sec.” He fumbles with the camera and turns it off.

When the camera is turned on, with Paul holding it, we see the interior of Cellar 82. It is crowded with people, and voices and music fill the background. “Hey, posterity,” Paul says, raising his voice so he can be heard. “It’s me, ya boi. I’m borrowing Shannon, but Gene probably won’t mind.” He turns the camera away from him and moves it to pan around the room. “So as you can see, we’ve got a full house here in Cellar 82 tonight. Why, you ask? Well…”

He moves the camera and zooms it in on Tommy and Ace, who are dancing together in the middle of a makeshift dance floor. He zooms out and turns the camera back to himself. “Ace finally proposed to Tommy. They took things seriously slow while he was working on his PhD, moved in together after he got it, and to celebrate being ten years sober, Ace finally decided to pop the question. About fuckin’ time, if you ask me.

“But while Ace and Tommy are great together, they’re not why I’m borrowing Shannon.” Paul grins wickedly at the camera. “Gimme a few seconds, and I’ll show you the real reason why.”

He turns the camera away from him and starts to move through the crowd of people. Eventually he comes to a corner that is a bit more private, and zooms in on the people sitting at the table. It is Gene and Vinnie; Vinnie is in Gene’s lap and they’re in the middle of making out. The camera turns back around to a smirking Paul. “Yep, that’s why. Gene sometimes forgets personal space is a thing when he’s had enough to drink, and you didn’t hear it from me but apparently Vinnie gets a little loose when he’s had enough wine. And when you put ‘em together… you get this.” He turns the camera back to the couple, who are still making out. “Hey, lovebirds!”

At his shout, Gene’s eyes turn in his direction, then widen. He turns his head fully around. “Paul, what the hell are you doing?” he shouts. Meanwhile Vinnie looks up, sees the camera, and hides his face in Gene’s shoulder.

“Smile, you’ve been recorded for posterity!” Paul replies gaily.

Gene gently pushes Vinnie, who nods and gets off his lap. As soon as he is off, Gene bolts to his feet and starts to advance on Paul. “I’m gonna kill you, Paul!”

“But Gene, I’ve got Shannon! You wouldn’t hurt our lovely gal Shannon, would you?”

“Shannon? Never. You? You better fucking run.”

The camera shakes violently as Paul turns and runs, laughing.

Gene is sitting at the kitchen table, wearing a red button-up shirt and a black blazer. “Hi. I’m about to head out to go pick up Vinnie and take him out to dinner. We’ve officially been together for one year… which I know because I have the day marked in my calendar. So I decided to take him out to a nice place. He doesn’t even know what’s going to happen; all I told him was to dress nice.”

Gene runs his hand over his hair. “I’m also planning on doing something else today. I’ve thought about it for a long time now, I think ever since we made up after that argument we had… and I’m pretty sure of it now. I’m in love with Vinnie. And after we come back here from dinner, I’m going to tell him.

“Y’know what’s funny? When I first thought that I might be in love… I would’ve been less scared if Jason Vorhees burst through my window. Because I’ve never been in love before. I love Paul, but not like that—never in a thousand years like that. And for all my other past relationships, I thought in the moment it was love, but then when it was over I realized it was just a really strong attraction. But this… I’ve thought about it for months, and I know it’s actually love.

“I’m gonna tell him tonight. Despite worrying that he doesn’t love me back, I’m still gonna do it. I just wanted to get my thoughts out before I left. Which,” Gene glances up at the clock, “I should probably leave now.” He smiles hopefully and holds up crossed fingers. “Wish me luck!”

The camera is aimed at the bed, then shakes as it is lifted up and turned around to reveal Vinnie. He smiles. “Hi,” he says quietly. “I woke up first and decided to borrow Shannon for a second. I’ll be quick; I just wanted to say something. But first…”

He turns the camera around and aims it at Gene, who is lying in bed on his side, still asleep. “I could get used to waking up to this,” Vinnie’s voice is soft and affectionate. He turns the camera back around. “I’m sure Genie’s already said something about it, but last night marked us being boyfriends for a year. Gene took me out to a nice dinner, then we came back here. And then…” Vinnie turns from the camera to look down at Gene, then smiles and turns back. “Gene said he loved me.” He laughs. “I still can’t believe it. He’s really in love with me.

“I didn’t say it then, because… well, I wasn’t sure enough of myself to feel confident enough to say it. But I am now. I love him too. And I’m going to tell him right now.”

And with that, he turns off the camera.

When the camera turns on, Gene’s shirt is the only thing in frame. He adjusts something, then moves backward to sit next to Vinnie. They are surrounded by stacks of boxes. Gene smiles and waves, while Vinnie follows suit. “If you’re watching this, this is the first video being recorded in our new apartment.”

Vinnie grins happily. “We moved in together!”

“We’ve been together for two years now, almost three, and we decided we were tired of not seeing more of each other.” Gene grins at the camera. “So, now we’ll be seeing each other all the time.” He turns to Vinnie. “Seriously though, I should probably take the time to apologize in advance.”

“For what?”

“Y’know… anything I do that bothers you or makes you uncomfortable. Paul told me one time that I snore.”

“Well, I’ve slept right next to you hundreds of times, and you’ve never snored.”

“You’re kind of a deep sleeper, though,”

“I guess that’s fair,”

“But anyway… sorry in advance.”

Vinnie smiles and shakes his head at him. “Okay. I forgive you in advance. I guess I should say sorry in advance for anything I do that bothers you.”

Gene smiles back. “I forgive you in advance.” He kisses Vinnie. The kiss slowly becomes deeper, until Vinnie falls back onto the floor with Gene on top of him.

“Mmph… Gene, the camera.”

“Right.” Gene gets up and moves to turn it off.

The camera turns on, and we see the interior of Cellar 82. The camera is pointed at Gene and Vinnie, who are sitting at a table.

“I’m sorry, I know I probably shouldn’t talk,” Paul’s quiet voice comes from behind the camera, “but I’m too excited! Today marks Gene and Vinnie being together for four years, and tonight’s the night Gene decided to do something very special.”

After a few moments, Paul gasps and zooms in on Gene’s hand as it reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a small black box. Gene seems to grip it tightly for a second. The camera zooms out to have both men in frame as Gene speaks. The words are inaudible on the recording. Then Gene opens the box, places it on the table, and pushes it towards Vinnie.

Vinnie’s mouth drops open and he covers his mouth. Then he slowly nods his head. He lowers his hands to reveal a blooming smile, and his reply of “Yes!” can be faintly heard. Gene stands and goes around to Vinnie’s chair, picks up the box to take out the ring, and slides it onto Vinnie’s finger. Vinnie jumps up and they kiss passionately.

The camera opens on a wall of a bedroom, then is turned around to be on Gene. He grins at the camera and speaks in a quiet voice. “If you’re watching this, you’ve found the one video of my honeymoon I’m doing. The next two weeks are going to be completely radio silence. And to be honest? I’ve never been more excited.”

The camera is turned around to the bed, and zooms in on a sleeping Vinnie. “There he is—the one I’m gonna spend my life with, and the one who somehow wants to spend his life with me.” The camera zooms out and turns back to Gene. “Is it normal when you’re married to still wonder how the hell your partner puts up with you?” He shrugs. “Guess I’ll find out.” The camera turns back to Vinnie and zooms in on him. “Look at him; beautiful. He was the first one to fall asleep after last night.” His voice turns proud. “Not to brag, but I kind of outdid myself last night. I’m kind of surprised no one heard him.”

As he speaks, Vinnie shifts in bed and slowly opens his eyes. He lifts a hand and rubs them, then turns to blink blearily at the camera. “Mm, Gene… what are you doing?”

“Showing the world my beautiful husband,”

“I thought you said you weren’t going to bring Shannon along,”

“Don’t worry, this is the only video I’m taking,”

“Mmm… okay.” Vinnie rubs his eyes and props himself up.

The camera zooms in closer. “Vinniiiiiie…”

Vinnie looks at the camera, smiling amusedly. “Yes, Gene?”

“Got anything you wanna say to Shannon?”

“Shannon, you’re a lovely woman, but Gene’s legally mine now. If you could stop trying to steal him from me, that would be great.”

“Very funny. I meant something like saying hi. For posterity.”

“Okay, okay,” Vinnie smiles at the camera and waves. “Hello, it’s me, Vinnie. As of two days ago, I got married to the beautiful man behind the camera…” Vinnie laughs. “Who is now blushing.”

“Shut up,”

Vinnie laughs. “Well, assuming Gene keeps his promise, this is the only video being taken during our honeymoon, so… enjoy it.”

“Well said,”

“Thank you,”

“How’s the bed?”

Vinnie shifts. “Mm… comfy. Really comfy.”

“It is pretty comfy,”

Vinnie grins at Gene beyond the camera. “It’d be perfect if a certain someone would put Shannon away and come back to bed.” He bats his eyelashes. “Please?”

Gene sounds like he’s grinning. “Well, since you asked so nicely…”

The screen goes black.

#ladies gentlemen and nonbinaries: behold the sappiest fucking thing I have ever written ever #and also one of the longest things I've written #not THE longest but still pretty long #bc as usual for me when I have a good idea I get carried away with it lol #also why paul and gene are co-owners of a wine bar I have no idea #that's just the idea I had #but yeah anyway #hope you enjoyed this lame thing #happy birthday Shandi!#kiss fanfiction #demonankh #kiss au writing #my writing #thanks for reading!#k now i'm gonna go eat something lol

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eggoreviews · 6 years ago

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Top 10 Coolest Game Protagonists

There’s a lot of games out there, and with them, a lot of people you gotta play as. And I know the word ‘cool’ is kind of relative, but here’s the 10 I reckon get the T-shirts for the kickarse club. Oh, and one character per franchise. Hope u agree with my picks!

Spoilers ahead!

10. Ren Amamiya (Persona 5)

The general rule of life that I’ve learned is, no one is as cool as this guy is when they’re like 17. Joker, or Ren Amamiya as he’s known in the P5 anime, gets himself arrested and put on probation for basically nothing at the beginning of the game and spends the rest of it slowly building a lovable group of friends, dating someone way out of his league (or, you know, age range if you went with the teacher) and becoming the leader of an internationally recognised group of thieves who change the hearts of the wicked. Ren pretty much has his shit together from day 1, and I think we were all a bit jealous. Plus, look how cool he looks in that persona costume.

9. Asher Forrester (Game of Thrones)

This may seem like an extremely odd choice, but those who’ve played the Telltale Game of Thrones will know exactly what I’m talking about. In a game that revolves entirely around the disgraced Forrester family, Asher is arguably the most disgraced of the lot. Asher is exiled from his hometown of Ironrath after his dad catches him trying to have a cheeky affair with Gwyn Whitehill, the daughter of a rival house, and instead now spends his days wandering about Westeros being a mercenary with his equally awesome also mercenary friend Beskha at his side. During his stint in Game of Thrones, Asher kicks the arses of a group of bandits, negotiates with Daenerys and rides back to his besieged hometown with a bloodthirsty band of freed slaves in tow. He’s funny, he’s a bit reckless, but he definitely stands out as the coolest member of the Forrester family.

8. Kratos (God of War series)

Kratos is pretty much iconic at this point. He’s stoic, strong, has a much more in depth character since the reboot came out and then managed to run away with Game of the Year against the likes of Red Dead 2. Kratos, the bald angry axe guy turned quiet, collected father figure (but he still has an axe), Kratos doesn’t tend to be too subtle about how cool he is, but that’s because he doesn’t need to be.

7. Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored series)

I debated giving this spot to Corvo, but I think Emily just about beats him out mostly because of the huge development you see in her throughout the games. After witnessing her mother’s death and being kidnapped by aristocrats for their own personal gain in the first game, she’s rescued by Corvo (oh, and then she’s kidnapped again. And rescued again) and eventually becomes empress. Then she gets dethroned anyway, and immediately jumps into kicking the behinds of everyone involved with the coup in excellent fashion, with the aid of her flashy new Outsider powers. So yeah, Corvo is undeniably brilliant, but I thought Emily wielded that folding sword just a little better.

6. Leon Kennedy / Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2)

And here they are, the first day cop and the college student who really aren’t having a good day, but still tackle the apocalypse head on with the aid of lots of guns and a motorbike. I couldn’t decide which of these guys to give the spot tom, so they get to share. Considering the sheer amount of zombies, horrible mutants and crazed scientists they have to sift through during their unwanted journey, I’d say it would be a little insulting to leave them out after everything they go through. Plus, I think it’s pretty much bi culture at this point to want both of them to step on you, so Leon and Claire were mandatory picks.

5. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider series)

The mother of all adventure game protagonists has come a long way since polygonal temples and triangular boobs, and nowhere is this more clear than in the reboot trilogy, which has given as a brilliantly gritty rendition of Lara Croft that makes her much more badass than she ever was beforehand. Now that her character has been much more fleshed out, the iconic status really feels like it has some important character depth to back it up, and no list like this would be the same without her.

4. Joel / Ellie (The Last of Us)

Oh, look I’ve broken the rules again! But I really couldn’t pick one or the other, so both of the trauma bonded duo that made us all cry back in 2013 get a spot on my list. They both went through pure, bleak hell and maintained most of themselves throughout it all. Joel, who lost his daughter within the first hour of the spore outbreak, has been living in Understandable Man Pain mode ever since, but then Ellie comes along, and the two basically becoming an unstoppable, bandit killing team. And nowhere does both of their pure cool factor come out better than during the stint of the game’s only proper antagonist, David, where both Joel and Ellie get some shining character moments that make you truly see how awesome they are for making it through. Looking forward to seeing them both again in the sequel!

3. Samus Aran (Metroid series)

More than anything, I feel just a bit sorry for Samus. I can’t imagine fighting the same purple dragon pirate who killed your parents for over 30 years is doing much good for her mental health at this point. But it’s fairly clear that she can handle it. Samus has been shooting the hell out of anything that opposes her since 1984, whether that be a huge brain in a tank or literally the Wii Fit Trainer, she’ll gun it down without a thought. And as one of the very first female protagonists in gaming, along with having a sick ass power suit, she has to be here.

2. Bayonetta (Bayonetta series)

She can summon demon limbs basically at will. She has guns on her feet. She can slow time and kick your arse, and then speed it up again and continue to kick your arse. She’s one of the last surviving umbra witches and still somehow pulls off librarian glasses with the witch motif. When Bayonetta graced our screens, I think Morrigan from Dragon Age knew when to relinquish her Best Witch crown.

Before I unveil my pick for objectively the coolest game protagonist since Pac Man, here’s a few that didn’t quite make the cut:

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)

Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid series)

Booker DeWitt (Bioshock Infinite)

Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn)

Link (The Legend of Zelda series)

Clementine (Telltale’s The Walking Dead series)

Sam (Until Dawn)

Commander Shepard (Mass Effect series)

Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption II)

1. Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher series)

My number one pick is the only game character I’ve seen who pulls off the ‘gruff, stoic dude’ so extremely well that he doesn’t lose any of his complex, interesting character in the process. Geralt earns most of his kickarse points from being a no-nonsense monster hunter, who always keeps his head and know he has the upper hand in pretty much every encounter without flaunting it. But on top of that, he’s light, funny, sarcastic and has a great level of emotional depth. Oh, and he’s pretty much immortal. This guy defines cool.

So there’s my picks! Drop in at some point in the near future for a countdown of my personal top 10 LAMEST game protagonists, so we can see the flipside and take a look at the considerably less badass side of playable characters. See you then!

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f4liveblogarchives · 5 years ago

Text

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #116

Thurs Jul 25 2019 [06:01 PM] Wack'd: Yes, it's our first Doom team-up! But more importantly--holy shit is that a gradient on the title at the bottom?!

[06:01 PM] Wack'd: A bold new age of comic book coloring is upon us! [06:02 PM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, in the credits, Lee's title has been changed from "plotter" to "editor" [06:04 PM] Wack'd: The remaining three decide they need to make a plan themselves and I gotta admit? I'm surprised that this is our first issue where Reed literally can't work out the solution for them [06:04 PM] Wack'd: With this established a pattern, that's a good hook [06:05 PM] Wack'd: So it turns out the machine Reed slipped into earlier was radioactive [06:05 PM] maxwellelvis: oops [06:06 PM] Wack'd: And Sue determines that they might be able to trace that radiation signature to find Reed, using one of his gizmos [06:07 PM] Wack'd: (They can't use an actual geiger counter because, if an ordinary device could find the amount of radiation on Reed, he'd be very very screwed) [06:08 PM] Wack'd: Unfortunately, the landlord has got out and led the cops to the Baxter Building [06:08 PM] Wack'd: So Johnny fire-bombs them [06:08 PM] Wack'd: He fire-bombs the cops [06:08 PM] Wack'd: Normally I'd be all for this but, uh, time and a place, dude [06:09 PM] Wack'd: Good luck avoiding jail after that! [06:09 PM] Bocaj: Consequences are for people without superpowers [06:09 PM] Bocaj: like money [06:10 PM] maxwellelvis: "Fuck da police!" [06:10 PM] maxwellelvis: "Not now, Bic-head!" [06:10 PM] maxwellelvis: "JOHNNY NO!" [06:10 PM] maxwellelvis: "JOHNNY YES!" [06:10 PM] Wack'd: So rarely do heroes wading through the sewers acknowledge that actually it's not a fun time

[06:11 PM] maxwellelvis: Spider-Man grumbles about it all the time. [06:11 PM] Wack'd: So! Was Reed mind-controlled? Yes and no [06:12 PM] Wack'd: Reed's earlier boastfulness was him daring the Over-Mind to try and take him over [06:12 PM] Wack'd: Counting on the idea that he'd be able to resist [06:12 PM] Wack'd: And, well [06:12 PM] Wack'd: NOPE! [06:13 PM] Wack'd: Reed's arrogance gets his ass completely, thoroughly kicked [06:13 PM] Bocaj: Good [06:14 PM] Wack'd: Even the ol' "power of love" trick doesn't work!

[06:15 PM] Bocaj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrvh_jB6c70 [06:15 PM] Bocaj: Hey this is some good imagery though [06:15 PM] Wack'd: It is! [06:15 PM] Wack'd: Buscema rules, actually [06:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Pretty sure that's why they got him to draw all those Conan comics [06:16 PM] Bocaj: I mean, he still can't draw children like a lot of artists can't [06:16 PM] Bocaj: Franklin is an unending nightmare [06:16 PM] Bocaj: Cherubic terror [06:16 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed is two seconds from being full-on mind-flayed when Johnny and Ben show up to kick the Over-Mind's ass [06:16 PM] Wack'd: Considering this went great when it was all four of them I'm sure this'll be no sweat [06:16 PM] Bocaj: wtf is sue? [06:17 PM] Wack'd: Glad you asked [06:17 PM] maxwellelvis: Getting backup, I think [06:17 PM] Wack'd: She's on monitor duty [06:17 PM] Bocaj: 😐 [06:17 PM] Wack'd: But seeing the guys getting their asses kicked she's like "actually, fuck this" [06:18 PM] Wack'd: And flies over to force-field Over-Mind into submission [06:18 PM] Wack'd: But hey, uh, remember last issue when he effortlessly broke her force field? [06:19 PM] Wack'd: And also how he just kind of in general is impervious to fire and brute force? [06:19 PM] Bocaj: yes [06:19 PM] Wack'd:

[06:20 PM] maxwellelvis: I was kinda hoping you'd say "Archie doesn't" [06:20 PM] Bocaj: So its not going great is I think what you're insinuating [06:21 PM] Wack'd: You know what? Picking up Johnny by the head *while he's flamed on* is one hell of a move [06:21 PM] Wack'd: Respect [06:21 PM] Wack'd: Also I initially interpreted this as Over-Mind hitting Ben with Johnny [06:22 PM] Bocaj: you gotta hit that motherfucker with this motherfucker [06:22 PM] Wack'd: Which also woulda been pretty cool [06:22 PM] maxwellelvis: You know, for a guy called "Overmind", he's surprisingly beefy [06:22 PM] Bocaj: Might overmind [06:22 PM] Wack'd: He was super strong first and then his entire race filed their brains into his head [06:22 PM] maxwellelvis: Ahh [06:22 PM] Bocaj: As ya do [06:23 PM] Bocaj: If you're a space nonsense [06:23 PM] Wack'd: So with Johnny and Ben out of commission and Reed being promoted to Over-Mind's second-in-command, Sue decides she needs backup [06:24 PM] Wack'd: (She also evades Over-Mind ordering Reed to kill her by taking her weird space bike as high as it could go, and then doing a hairpin turn which causes Reed to topple over, which is pretty neat) [06:25 PM] Wack'd: So anyway, about backup [06:26 PM] Wack'd: The Marvel Universe has conspired to that basically every single superhero has some out-of-NYC stuff happening in their own books [06:26 PM] Wack'd: (Or so the narrator claims--I'm certainly not about to go check) [06:27 PM] Bocaj: It was neat but probably unsustainable how the marvel universe used to do that [06:27 PM] Bocaj: If Iron Man was said to be too busy to do Avengers one month then his book tended to reflect that [06:27 PM] Wack'd: Huh! [06:27 PM] Bocaj: If Beast popped over to do an X-Men crossover, then he's not in Avengers [06:28 PM] MousaThe14: Yeah I’m relistening to Jay and Miles from the start again and it’s interesting to know that they at least attempted to keep that sort of thing consistent with Wolverine disappearing from the main book to have his own solo series and other such things [06:28 PM] Wack'd: Man Buscema out here killing it with the splash pages

[06:28 PM] Bocaj: I know that during Jim Shooter's era he tried to keep things organized like that so that the shared universe felt more unified. And with New Universe every book was supposed to progress a month at a time with every issue but not all the writers got the memo [06:29 PM] Umbramatic: oooh [06:29 PM] Wack'd: Kinda makes long-form storytelling tough [06:29 PM] Umbramatic: but huh [06:29 PM] Bocaj: It does [06:29 PM] Umbramatic: ye [06:29 PM] Bocaj: Its more manageable if the universe is smaller [06:29 PM] Bocaj: That space bike looks unnecessarily unergonomic [06:30 PM] Wack'd: And while I'm handing out kudos, the color department's doing killer work

[06:30 PM] Bocaj: Anyway, there's a website that tries to put all the marvel universe in a chronological order. I'll go check what they have to say [06:31 PM] Bocaj: (Huh, Franklin looks less horrific here) [06:31 PM] Wack'd: I feel like with Stan and Jack gone, everyone's starting to stretch their muscles a bit [06:32 PM] Wack'd: Or maybe it's just the natural progression of time, who knows [06:33 PM] Bocaj: Ok so the Avengers were busy with the Kree/Skrull War, including having to deal with the skrull cow loose ends that Reed left behind [06:33 PM] Bocaj: Thanks Reed [06:33 PM] Wack'd: Sue rolls a nat 20 on persuasion

[06:34 PM] Bocaj: Did she invent his honor and nobility out of whole cloth and mindfuck him into thinking thats who he was for decades to follow? [06:35 PM] Wack'd: It's been there in a few previous issues, though thanks to Stan it comes and goes depending on the needs of the plot [06:35 PM] Wack'd: I remember during the arc where he trapped them in Latveria the story couldn't make up its mind whether or not he cared if his subjects died [06:36 PM] Bocaj: Where he had the DOME? [06:36 PM] Wack'd: He also has a tendency to let the Four go when he's bored, which I suppose is kind of honorable [06:36 PM] Bocaj: if you think Goku is honorable [06:37 PM] Wack'd: But yeah, the idea that he isn't just an egomaniacal loon has kinda gently poked him on the shoulder now and again [06:38 PM] Wack'd:

[06:38 PM] Wack'd: "In about 20 other issues, but I don't recognize it either" [06:39 PM] MousaThe14: Old Man Johnny [06:39 PM] Wack'd: Doom and Goofy have the same dentist apparently

[06:39 PM] Bocaj: "I'm glad we don't have to deal with a bossy autocrat who tells us what to do everyday" [06:41 PM] Wack'd:

[06:42 PM] Wack'd: So Doom's plan is that Over-Mind will be too distracted by Johnny and Ben to fight Doom, who will use a "stop hitting yourself" device on him [06:43 PM] Wack'd: But anyway Doom does the comic book thing of announcing his moves [06:43 PM] Wack'd: And Over-Mind is, as established, not an idiot [06:43 PM] Wack'd: So he ignores Ben and Johnny and just wails on him [06:44 PM] Bocaj: Ha [06:44 PM] Wack'd: Sue was the contingency--she could use her force fields to protect Doom [06:44 PM] Wack'd: But, uh [06:45 PM] Wack'd: Well, he was supposed to take more of a beating first [06:45 PM] Wack'd: To weaken him [06:45 PM] Wack'd: So her force field does nothing and Reed is still convinced he needs to murder her, so [06:45 PM] Bocaj: This plan is butts [06:45 PM] Wack'd: It would've worked if Doom wasn't a boastful idiot! [06:46 PM] Bocaj: It was fundamentally flawed [06:46 PM] Wack'd: Fair

[06:47 PM] Wack'd: So! [06:47 PM] Wack'd: Doom is down. Sue is down. Johnny and Ben are worthless. The gizmo is broken. And Reed is more of a jerk than usual. [06:47 PM] maxwellelvis: Only the author can save them now [06:48 PM] Wack'd: Man, Archie Goodwin's way more buff than I thought he'd be

[06:48 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh no, not THIS asshole [06:49 PM] Wack'd: You're acquainted, I assume [06:49 PM] Bocaj: He's a gem fusion [06:49 PM] MousaThe14: The Stranger is looking less like a hobo than I last saw him [06:49 PM] maxwellelvis: He's the guy who basically heralded in one of the X-Men's lamest periods by literally spiriting away Magneto and Toad to his alien zoo. [06:49 PM] MousaThe14: But last I saw him was in an Essential X-men [06:50 PM] Bocaj: I like that his icon is his own mustache [06:50 PM] Wack'd: So turns out murdering Sue is a bridge too far for Reed, even as mind-whammied as he is, and he passes out [06:50 PM] Bocaj: They call that the ghola test [06:54 PM] Wack'd: Stranger: You call yourself unbeatable, and yet you are the sum of the Eternals, who were once beaten. [06:54 PM] Wack'd: Over-Mind: By the survivors of Gigantus. What of it? [06:54 PM] Wack'd: Stranger: 😏 [06:54 PM] Wack'd: Over-Mind: well shit [06:55 PM] MousaThe14: The Eternals? You mean the Irrelevants? [06:55 PM] Wack'd: These Eternals will eventually be retconned to be those Eternals [06:55 PM] Wack'd: Don't worry about it [06:56 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the Stranger traps Over-Mind in the Micro-verse and pisses off [06:56 PM] MousaThe14: This is one hell of a deus ex [06:56 PM] Wack'd: It was actually set up earlier in the story! [06:56 PM] maxwellelvis: That's all the Stranger is is a walking deus ex machina [06:56 PM] Wack'd: It's more of a Chekov's gun, really [06:57 PM] Wack'd: If you put a race of beings capable of defeating your baddie above the mantle in the first act... [06:57 PM] MousaThe14: Oh well that’s fine. [06:57 PM] MousaThe14: Setup payoff, only the most basic form of storytelling. You’re free to go, F4 comic. [06:58 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Doom decides he's gonna go walk it off and next time, Richards! Next tiiiime, that whole bit. [06:59 PM] maxwellelvis: "Oh, by the way, Reed, I despise you, and all that you stand for, and oh you know the rest!" "He's a good kid" [06:59 PM] Wack'd: Johnny's pissed that the Stranger let them get their asses handed to them for like three issues when he coulda curbstomped Over-Mind whenever he wanted [06:59 PM] Wack'd: And concludes this was an act of deliberate malice on someone's part [07:00 PM] maxwellelvis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U96sqmTFsss [07:00 PM] Wack'd: For once, Johnny actually has a point before storming off

[07:01 PM] Wack'd: The Watcher, seeing this, decides "fuck it, I'm gonna make this mean something"

#1971 #Archie Goodwin #John Buscema #The Main Book

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twdeadfanfic · 6 years ago

Text

Life at the end of the world Pt51

Summary: Your life as a zombie apocalypse survivor. It starts with the Reader settling into the camp at the quarry, before s1 and then follows the show events and storyline, more or less, but with the Reader in it.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Warnings: Slow burn, violence, language.

Author’s note: English’s not my first language so maybe there’re some mistakes, I apologize in advance. For the same reason, I can’t write character’s accents and things like that. At any rate, I hope you enjoy it. Part 51 of 54

Just one week left...

.Masterlist

______

Next day was spent on getting things ready for the next part of the plan, it was time you went to meet with Rick and the others at the Sanctuary and ask for the Saviours surrender. Next morning you all woke up early, before the sunrise, in order to reach the Sanctuary on time.

You were carrying a box of shotguns to a truck, struggling with it as you hadn’t still fully recovered, but you didn’t care. This time you weren’t staying in Alexandria, you were going too, and nobody was going to stop you, and so were Michonne and Rosita.

“Hey, no, Y/N, wait.”

You heard Daryl’s voice before seeing him and then he was taking the box from your hands and getting it inside the truck.

“Thanks...” You muttered.

You hadn’t really seen or talked with Daryl since your argument last night and you felt slightly awkward. You weren’t as worked up as yesterday, but you were hurt and upset nonetheless, though you hated to be like that with him.

Looking at Daryl, you thought he might be feeling just like you.

None of you said anything, though. Daryl nodded and turned to leave, but then he stopped to look at you over his shoulder.

“It ends today, we win.” He said quietly. “War’s over.”

You gave him a weak smile but said nothing.

Suddenly, you heard Negan’s voice through a megaphone from outside Alexandria, making your heart jump to your throat. Wasn’t he trapped at the Sanctuary? Daryl had said there was a massive herd around and he had left them flooding into the building.

“You might be wondering why the hell your lookouts didn’t sound the alarm...see, we’re polite...I mean, I don’t know when they’re gonna weak up from that kind of shot but they should wake up.”

You looked at Daryl in surprise and horror, his wide eyes mirroring your own.

“So let’s just cut through the cow shit, you lose. It’s over. So you’re gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you’re gonna work out some apologies and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed. Then I’ll kill Rick in front of everybody and we move on. You have three, count’em, three minutes to open this gate or we start bombing the shit out of you!”

“How?” You asked Daryl but he wasn’t moving or saying anything, just staring at the general direction where Negan’s voice was coming from, while Rosita and Tara rushed to approach you.

You had to do something, and quick. Michonne and Carl were running towards you and it seemed Carl already had worked up a plan. His idea was to hide everyone in the sewers but make it look like you were escaping through the back, so the Saviours wouldn’t notice the sewers. For that, Michonne, Tara, Rosita, Daryl and you’d drive some trucks away from Alexandria, hoping most of the Saviours would follow you, then hit them by surprise and come back by foot. Carl hadn’t really named you, but you weren’t going to hide neither were going to leave Daryl’s side.

“Let’s go!” Carl shouted before sprinting away.

“Be careful!” You told your brother before he went to help the injured people of the infirmary to get into the sewers.

“You too.”

Daryl had been listening to Carls plan without saying a word, without moving even, his hands trembling slightly.

“Come on.” You told him softly, grabbing his arm and pulling at it.

“Yeah...go help everyone get into the sewers.” Daryl seemed to come back to his senses but didn’t move.

“What, no, I’m going with you, I’m not staying back this time!”

Daryl seemed like he wanted to argue it, but there was no time and he seemed to know that no matter what he said, you were going to go anyway.

“Okay...”He grumbled. “Go with any of the others, I’ll be on the first truck opening the walls with it and you’re still hurting...” Daryl told you when you stopped in front of the trucks.

“No, I’m going with you.”

You were sure the only thing that stopped him from arguing was Negan’s voice counting backward the time you had left, so Daryl just let out a frustrated huff and got inside the truck, you crawling into the passenger seat.

As you approached the back wall, Daryl looked at you for a second before training his eyes forwards

“Hold on.”

You nodded and got ready for the impact but the wall gave in easily, opening to the truck, and you saw the Saviours there trying to shoot at you before following the trucks on his cars.

“You okay?” Daryl asked with concern, giving you a quick glance.

“Yeah.” You nodded, barely feeling a jab of pain at your side from your bruised rib. “Shit...” You saw through the rear window how Alexandria had started to get bombed and you could only hope everyone was safe and hid inside the sewers.

Daryl reached out to give your hand a squeeze before gripping the wheel again.

“Say it.” He told you while he drove and you looked at him confused, not knowing what he was talking about.

“What?”

“It’s my fault, they got out because of what I did.”

“Daryl...”

It might be, or it mightn’t, you didn’t know, but the last thing that had come to your mind was to blame Daryl for what had happened, no matter you had disagreed with his plan. Still, you couldn’t find any words of comfort and so you stayed silent.

When you were far enough, you stopped the trucks and went to hide in the woods, close enough to the road.

Daryl was silent and sullen, and it seemed you weren’t the only one who knew what was on his mind.

“They didn’t get out because of what we did with the truck,” Tara told him.

“Even if they did, it was just a mistake,” Rosita replied, she had been against Daryl’s idea since the beginning. “And I made one too, if I hadn’t gone to the Sanctuary to kill Negan, maybe Sasha would still be alive. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone herself. Maybe everything would have ended up going exactly the same way.” You hadn’t realized she blamed herself for what had happened with Sasha that much. “I didn’t want you guys to do it but maybe you needed too, maybe you needed to play things out to figure shit out.”

Daryl said nothing, his eyes trained on the road, shotgun pointed, but you knew how upset he was about the whole thing, though there was no time to try to talk.

When you heard the Saviour’s cars, you threw smoke bombs in front of the trucks, hoping to blind the Saviours and take them by surprise and when their cars were close enough, the shooting began.

They shoot back but you had the advantage of the smoke blinding them and also it seemed someone was shooting at them from their side, Dwight probably, so soon they were all dead.

“It’s over!”

Dwight’s voice called for you and you found him hiding behind a car, holding his bleeding arm.

“I made sure you guys could get out the back, I drove the convoy right to the roadblock, I knew what it was,” he told you when he saw all your shotguns aimed at him. I can’t go back, one of them got away, she’s gonna tell them.”

“How’d they get out?” Daryl asked him, lowering his shotgun. “Was it what I did?” His face was hard but you noticed the slight tremble of his voice.

“Eugene,” Dwight replied, though Daryl didn’t look relieved. “I can still help you, I know how they worked, how Negan thinks, I want you to win, I want Negan to die. And we can settle up after.”

You still hated Dwight for everything he had done, but he had helped you and you had no doubts about him wanting Negan to die, so you lowered your shotgun.

You looked at Daryl, unsure of what would he do, knowing how much he hated Dwight and how he had sworn to kill him. Daryl was angry, there was no doubt of that, but he just yanked Dwight’s vest roughly off him and stomped away.

You followed him, realizing the vest was his when he put it on and you saw the angel wings on it.

“I didn’t know Dwight had it.” You told Daryl, stopping next to him. “I’m glad you have it back, I always liked it...”

Daryl didn’t say anything, didn’t look at you even, and you reached out to take his hand and lace your fingers.

“Hey...you heard Dwight, it was not your fault.”

You said softly, Daryl looked at you briefly before glancing at your hands.

“Come on, we gotta go.” He simply said.

You all walked fast back to Alexandria and Daryl noticed you struggling to keep up with the other’s pace, so he wrapped an arm around your waist, helping you, though you still kept getting behind and you started to regret having gone with them, afraid you were slowing them down. You moved as fast as you could, biting your lip so you wouldn’t let out any sound of pain as your body screamed to you. Daryl seemed to notice, though, tightening his hold on you and purposely walking slower.

“Thanks.” You muttered, gritting your teeth. “I’m sorry...”

“We’re close, just a few meters more.”

Once at the outsides of Alexandria, you couldn’t help the lump in your throat when you saw how it had been bombed and the walkers that now roamed inside, and you hoped your brother and everyone else were safe. Daryl noticed you swallowing hard and he squeezed you to his side before letting go of you to go open the sewer.

Once he had confirmation from the inside, he helped you climb down the ladder and then followed you, Tara and Rosita behind. Dwight climbed down too but Michonne didn’t, ignoring Tara when she called for her quietly and closing the cover of the sewer.

You guessed she wanted to find Rick, but it was risky.

“Y/N! You have to come here!”

You heard your name and turned around to see your brother running to you from one of the corridors with another couple of Alexandrians. He looked so scared and distressed that it scared you.

“Hey, you alright, are you hurt?” You asked frantically.

“Yeah, yeah, I-I’m okay...” His eyes were wet and his hands were shaken though. “But...just come...”

You shared a worried glanced with Daryl and followed your brother towards the part of the sewer where everyone was hiding, sat down on the floor in small groups, huddled together. And at the end of it was Carl, sitting down against the wall and on a stretcher, looking horrible, his skin grey and covered in sweat, his eyes vacant.

You rushed to him, ignoring the pain in your rib, Daryl right behind you and you knelt down next to him.

“Carl? Carl, what’s wrong?”

You asked in panic and he gave you a sad smile, lifting his shirt to reveal a bite mark. You almost blacked out at the sight, couldn’t believe what you were seeing, it couldn’t be happening.

“How?” Was the only thing you could choke out, your brain still fighting against what you were seeing.

“Helping me...” It came from a young man you didn’t know, sitting down next to Carl, in your distress you hadn’t noticed him.

You looked at him but couldn’t say a single word, still in disbelieve...it couldn’t be real.

“Carl, what do I do?” You were starting to panic now, tears burning in your eyes. “I don’t know what to do...” You whimpered. It was a bite...you knew what that meant but you had to stop this somehow, there must be something...

“Nothing,” Carl told you as if reading your mind, his smile sweet and sad.

“No...” You choked out a sob and Carl reached out to take your hand, squeezing it weakly.

“It’s going to be okay.” He told you but you shook your head, losing the fight against tears, feeling helpless.

You looked at Carl, your heart breaking, and tried to say something but only a whimper came out. You felt a hand on your shoulder and you looked up to Daryl. He was looking at Carl in silence and shock, his lips quivering, and you felt the hand that he had on your shoulder shake too.

You place your hand over his, lacing your fingers, and got up, wrapping his arm around your shoulders as you both looked at Carl helplessly and brokenheartedly. Not even in your nightmares had you imagined something like this could happen.

“Judith...”

Carl murmured, looking from her baby sister, who had managed to get away from whoever was taking care of her and was standing next to him looking scared, to Daryl. Daryl nodded and reached out to Judith but didn’t quite get to touch her, seeming as broken as you were feeling.

“Come here, sweetheart...”

Daryl told Judith softly, finally seeming to get a hold of himself. He squeezed you to his side for a second before letting go of you to pick up Judith who didn’t resist, cuddling to him as she kept looking at Carl with scared eyes despite not really knowing what was happening.

Daryl didn’t go too far from Carl, though, sitting down on the ground near him with Judith still on his arms. You sat down with them and Daryl looked at you with sad eyes full of pain that reflected your own but without saying a word. He reached out to gingerly brush his fingers over your tear-stained cheek before leaning his forehead against yours for a short moment.

When Daryl pulled back he let his head hang low, his shoulders dropping, seemingly totally broken and defeated. Seeing him like that just made your heart break more and you sat up on your knees so you could wrap your arms around Daryl’s shoulders, one of your hands resting over the one he had around Judith. He leaned against you, shaking softly with silent tears as you rested your forehead against the top of his head.

You didn’t know how long you spent there crying silently into Daryl’s har, looking up only when you heard footsteps approaching, Michonne and Rick had arrived and were walking towards Carl.

Judith stirred, pulling back slightly from Daryl’s embrace to look at them but came back to snuggle with him again, seeming to notice everyone’s mood, scaring her and making her sniff softly. Daryl ran a hand over the little girl’s curls when he noticed it, but he hadn’t even looked up at Rick and Michonne, and neither you could look while they talked quietly with Carl.

The Saviours were back at bombarding Alexandria, the sound was muffled down there but the bombing was making the sewer tunnel shake, dust falling off the walls and ceiling. Judith whimpered, scared, and Daryl shushed her softly. You must be looking almost as scared as her, because Daryl reached out his other hand to hold yours.

Michonne snapped at Dwight, pinning him against the wall and demanding him to make the Saviours stop before breaking down and just begging him. You couldn’t look at it anymore, it hurt too much and you closed your eyes tight, Daryl’s hand squeezing yours before getting up as if to go to Michonne.

Rosita stepped in before, though, suggesting you all should go to Hilltop, as Dwight had said it was somewhat safe, safer than Alexandria at the very least. Dwight, though, didn’t seem to think it a good idea, since the Saviours thought you all had gone to the woods and were now combing them, they could find you on your way to Hilltop, no to mention they were still going through Alexandria.

“Your best chance is to stay here until they’re gone.”

“No.” Daryl disagreed. “They find us here, we’re dead.”

“They’re almost done, it wasn’t about destroying the place, they don’t have the ammo for that,” Dwight insisted. “After they let up, after they’re gone, that’s when we go.”

Rosita and Michonne looked at each other and nodded, agreeing with Dwight.

“You sure going to Hilltop’s the best plan?” Dwight asked Rosita when Michonne left them to be with Carl.

“You got a better one?”

“All of you in one place, together...”

“All of us together,” Daryl cut him off. “We’ll be their worst damn nightmare.”

He was still holding Judith, rocking her while he paced back and forth and you got up too, walking to him, placing a hand on his arm and kissing his shoulder over his new recovered vest, and he leaned down to press a kiss to the top of your head before resuming his pacing.

Dwight had been right and soon it seemed that the Savours were leaving. Daryl wanted to go take a look, see if they were gone and it was safe for everyone to get out of the sewers. He walked to Rick, passing him baby Judith. It seemed like Daryl wanted to say something to Rick but couldn’t find the words so he just squeezed his shoulder.

“Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Daryl told you, stopping in front of you after taking his crossbow. You nodded in silence. You wanted to go with him but you didn’t dare, knowing that if something went wrong you’d have to move fast and you didn’t want Daryl to have to half drag you again as had happened before. Daryl gave your lips a gentle peck and left, along with a couple of Alexandrians and Rosita.

You watched him go, hugging yourself. You glanced at Carl, who seemed to be falling in and out of consciousness. Rick and Michonne had helped him lay down and had given him some pills for the fever, the man you didn’t know had given it to them, but it seemed Carl was getting worse.

You looked away, trying to swallow the lump in your throat and blinking away your tears.

Your brother had been away with John and that woman you weren’t sure your stepfather was dating or not, but he approached you now. He too seemed quite shaken as he looked at Carl, eyes watery.

“There’s nothing we can do, right?” His voice broke as he asked.

You shook your head and rubbed at the tears that had escaped your eyes.

“I’m sorry...he’s my friend...and I know he’s your family.”

Your brother reached out his hand and you took it, grateful. You were unable to find words, only a whimper coming out when you opened your mouth. Your brother seemed to understand, though, and he squeezed your hand in silence.

The others came back soon, telling you the Saviours had left and it was time you went to Hilltop. Rick didn’t want to go, though, sure Carl wouldn’t make it, so he wanted to stay there with him. Michonne said she would stay with them too, he wasn’t going to leave either Carl nor Rick, but Rick needed her to take Judith to Hilltop. At that, Daryl offered to take Judith and keep her safe and you nodded though you couldn’t find your voice.

“Let me say goodbye...”

Carl spoke weakly and Michonne helped him sit up so he could talk to her baby sister, who Rick placed in front of him.

You couldn’t keep it together listening to Carl say goodbye to Judith and you turned to hid your face on Daryl’s chest, crying. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight, running his fingers through your hair. He only let go of you when Judith began whimpering, picking her up again.

“These people...you saved them all. That’s all you, man.” Daryl told Carl.

You looked at Carl, wanting to say something but not finding words. The boy smiled at you sadly, as if hating to see you all hurting like that.

“Go, your brother’s waiting for you...” He told you, nodding towards the end of the tunnel. “I’m happy you found him Y/N, make the most of your time together.”

“You know I love you like if you were my brother too, right?” You choked out.

“So Rick’s like your father then?” Carl gave you a weak smile and you snorted a laugh though hot tears began falling down your face, you couldn’t believe Carl was still trying to make you laugh, to make you feel better in this situation.

“Yeah, no... like my nephew then?” You retorted.

Carl smiled to you though you could notice him getting weaker and weaker, so you whimpered a bye, waving goodbye to him. You reached out your hand to Michonne, who take it and squeezed it gently, but Rick looked so broken you didn’t think you could offer him any comfort.

As you walked away you couldn’t stop your whimpers, tears almost blinding you, and when Daryl saw you he held Judith only with one arm so he could wrap the other around your shoulders, pulling you close and kissing your forehead.

“I’m okay, I’m okay...” You said weakly, forcing yourself to pull away so he could get a better hold of Judith. “We have to go.”

Daryl seemed devastated too, though he was trying to stay strong. You stood on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“Come on.”

Daryl nodded, and without a last broken-hearted glance towards Carl, at the other end of the tunnel, you left the sewers.

____

I’m not sure you know how painful this was to write...like...a lot.

I can’t believe in a week this fic will be over!!! I don’t know how I feel...kinda glad because I think most people are not into it anymore and it’s not an interesting anymore, but also I’m a bit sad, it was a part of my life for so many months!

As always, if you have time, drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts about the chapter, or just about twd!

I never thought anyone’d like to be tag in any of my stories so thank you! It means the world!If you want to be tagged please let me know.

It seems some tags are still not working, then others start working but another stops, I don’t know what to do. If you manage to see this and notice that your tag isn’t working, please let me know.

@momc95@jodiereedus22@osweetdevilo@sapphire1727@coffeebooksandfandom @the-destielr@checkintoreality@daddys-little-princess67@sesshomaru-lover@crossbowking@coltcas@feartheendlesssummer@izumi37@gruffle1 @cutiepiemimi13@drina365@kuolematkorjaavat@daeshaunex2 @xtinkersimsx @stressed-lasagna @moraglefay @phantom-fangirl-stuff @teenyforestfairy@yenne-yen-illustrations@mychemicalimagines @hyphymanatee @nikkipea@crazycatladyalustriel @miniprz @wolfkg@paybackbarnes @haleypearce @nikki082489

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon/reader #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon fic #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon fanfiction #twd #the walking dead #twd imagine #twd fic #the walking dead fic #twd fanfic #the walking dead imagine #the walking dead fanfic #twd fanfiction #the walking dead fanfiction

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anthonysstupiddailyblog · 2 years ago

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Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (184): Thu 15th Sep 2022

Tuned into last night's AEW Dynamite. The Jon Moxley vs Sammy Guevara match was good even if Tay Melo hit Moxley with one of the lamest low blows I've ever seen. Also Jericho vs Danielson 2 was fucking tremendous. Jericho reminds me a lot of AJ Styles in that there have been numerous points in both their careers where I've thought to myself that they've done all they need to do and it's time for them to retire and then they either start a new gimmick or get put with a new opponent who brings something different out of them and I realize they're still some of the best wrestlers walking the planet. Other than Sammy vs Mox and Jericho vs Danielson this was a very meh episode of Dynamite. I was hoping they'd be able to keep up the momentum they've had for the last few weeks and to be fair the audience did stay over 1 million for this episode but I'm not sure ho much longer this will last Looked after Luna today and I put together a little obstacle course for her. She had to run from the patio to the middle of the garden, kick a football into a little goal, bounce on a space-hopper to her slide and slide down it, then hop on a bunch of tiles I'd put down as stepping stones, then walk across three deckchairs, throw a little toy watering can into a bucket, go inside the house and crawl under the kitchen table then scooter to the stairs, climb them then crawl under the blanket on Mam's bed, then run to the sare room, jump off a stepladder onto the bed, then flush the toilet before finally climbing up the wooden stair into my room and ringing a little bell. It took a while to set up and complete but it was still easier than ordering my food yesterday at fucking Nando's. Hopefully doing stuff like this for Luna will make her look forward to our Thursday play days and hopefully she will annoy her parents by complaining that they never do fun stuff like her cool uncle Anthony does.

Before bed I re-watched the classic zombie film Night of the Living Dead So let's get all the plot holes, nitpicks and just plain stupid shit out of the way then I'll move on to heaping praise on the movie. At the start of the movie Johnny and Barbra lament the fact that they constantly have to make this long drive to place flowers on their father's grave in order to make their elderly mother happy. Why don't they just tell their mother they put flowers on their father's grave instead of actually doing it? Immediately after killing Johnny the zombie turns his attention on Barbara and chases her through the cemetery. Why doesn't the first zombie just stay behind and eat Johnny? That's like Wile E Coyote throwing away a gourmet dinner to keep chasing the Roadrunner. When the initial swarm of zombies starts to surround the house we see one zombie who for some reason is dressed like he's just been to toga party. I found it a little bit strange that after the truck explodes and the zombies begin feasting on the burnt corpses inside but instead of all of them just taking bites out of the corpses like a pack of lions each zombie takes a part and goes off to their own little place to eat. It's like they're flesh hungry monsters but they don't want to be greedy. Finally at the end of the film, zombie Karen comes up just as the zombies break into the farmhouse and tries to eat Ben. Did she actually eat her mother and father whole and then come up for more? Do zombies just keep eating even when they're not hungry? If yes then I have more in common with them than I thought.

So now that I've dealt with all the nitpicks let's get to celebrating this landmark movie for taking the zombie genre and horror genre in general in a completely different direction and influencing a generation of media that followed it. This film was the first of its kind and as such audiences back then would have been just as confused and terrified of this never before seen killing machine known as a zombie as Barbra is in this movie. The first zombie we see doesn't look particularly scary but I think that was the selling point at the time, that these monster could look just like you or me. It’s also quite novel to see zombies looking relatively fresh and newly reanimated, normally in zombie media we are used to seeing them covered in guts and brains, all decomposed and withered but in this film we join the action right at the start of the outbreak so the zombies have only recently turned making them appear less menacing but a more realistic threat. That's not to say that the make-up doesn't get stepped up later in the film as we see zombies that have been affected a little more by rigor-motis and are still baring the wounds from whatever it was that killed them. What is interesting is that in the years to come after this movie, your typical zombie was portrayed as being inept, having no sense of cunning and having no sense of pain, whereas here in the movie that kick-started it all the zombie blueprint is quite different. In this movie the zombies can run, use weapons, feel pain and even commit acts of vandalism It would appear that the undead creatures in this film are smarter than the average zombie. I would have loved to have been in a theatre when ths movie first premiered especially for two scenes. The first would be the moment where Ben shoots the zombie in the chest and it just staggers backwards, looks at its chest then returns to the house as this would have made the audience aware of exactly what kind of monster they were dealing with. The second would have been the moment in the basement where Duane waits for the corpses of Harry and Helen to reanimate. The moment when Helen in particular sits up still scares me a little bit to this day. Although a number of scenes in this film run a little too long the actors in the movie never lose enthusiasm and start phoning it in. Pretty much all of the performances in this film are consistently good. Duane Jones delivery is that of confidence and resourcefulness but there's still an underlying sense of panic and confusion which is perfect for this character. You get the feeling that Ben is normally really methodical and forward planning but now he's being forced to think on his feet. All the way through the movie it's like you can see the gears of Ben's brain moving and trying to plot out what their next movie should be. Likewise Judith O'Dea is consistently brilliant throughout. We only get to briefly see real emotion from her at the start, middle and end of the film and for the rest of the movie she is almost in a catatonic state. It is a little bit weird to have a lead character who is mute for most of the movie after giving a brief glimpse of her personality in the opening five minutes. I guess it's to sell to the audience just how traumatized she is by the death of her brother. I think a good movie should have an audience asking questions after they see it and one of the things I wonder about the most from this movie is what Barbra was like before the events of this film happened. Was she strong and confident or quiet and reserved (probably the latter since she shits herself after her brother utters the immortal line "They're coming to get you Barbra"), sadly we'll never know for sure because this outbreak was enough to change her for the rest of her life...which ended up being a few hours. My favourite Barbra moment is where sh'es wandering zombie like through the house and comes across a music box and looks into it deeply as the music is playing. It only last a few seconds (And gets cut waaay too early in my opinion ) but it reminds me of the dissolving tablet scene from Taxi Driver where you take a minute to really wonder what can be going through her head if anything. I also like the bit where she's staring at the radio as news reports of the zombies eating flesh comes in and we can see that the lights may be on but nobody's home. Something I do feel is lacking a bit in this film is the soundtrack. The only time when the music gets awesome and really starts to make you feel scared is after the truck explodes and we get that unsettling, murmuring noise as the zombies begin to feast. If there was more of this sort of gritty, sinister music accompanying more of the scenes it might fit better with the mood of utter terror and claustrophobia the film is trying to create. As it is the soundtrack isn’t anything special, just sort of generic horror movie fodder. It's really cool that they got to film in an actual house rather than on a set. Apparently Romero knew the owner of this house who was getting ready to demolish it and apparently said to him "Well, we can do that for you". I love the idea that the crew actually destroyed a real house in the creation of this movie (Although as a horror fan it would be nice to be able to visit the original house). As good as some film sets can be, for the most part you're constantly aware of the fact that just behind the camera is a missing wall and above it is a row of studio lights. With this movie you know that the place they're filming in really existed at one point. Also the knowledge that this was an actual house just adds to the sense of claustrophobia. One thing I really like about the film is that there's no real reason given for the outbreak. I know it's speculated that there's space radiation from a satellite that's responsible (which to be honest I think they should have left out of the movie entirely as this would have added to the sense of uncertainty) but this is never confirmed and this confusion helps us to empathize with what the characters are going through. Although I'm sure it was unintentional I like that the radio updates are a little bit muffled so you really have to pay attention to them. In my opinion I think that Romero should have written an entire script for the news anchor to read out and had it playing in the background throughout the movie (Except for the news-real footage of the town sheriff which are really good). Imagine if during the scene where Duane and Harry are bickering they were playing a newscast where the guy says that they suspect that the Venus probe might be the cause of the outbreak. Only the people who were really paying attention would have heard it and it would have warranted repeated visits to the cinema to make sure that you'd heard everything and to see if the characters missed any crucial information that could have saved their lives. I also commend Romero for really pulling no punches and going all out for this movie in terms of graphic content. This was a guy who wanted to make an impact and to get as many people talking about it as possible in the hope that it would lead to a full film-making career, which it did. The scene after the car explodes where the zombies move in to feast is by far the best scene and still unsettling to this day. One of the zombies is eating the dismembered hands while another tucks in to a still moving liver. Apparently people were physically sick during this scene and some left the theatre which I don't blame them for because up until this movie it was rare to see even a trickle of blood. The one thing Romero did apparently cut because even he thought it would be going to far was a scene where a zombified Harry Cooper kills and eats his daughter rather than the other way around. It would have been much more disturbing obviously but then we wouldn't have gotten that iconic shot of the daughter killing her mother with a shovel which has become perhaps the most famous and shocking scene from the movie so it looks like Romero was right to impose a little bit of self-censorship. I really can't praise the film enough sheer intensity, bravery, originality and sheer tenacity. It rarely gives you the opportunity to take a breather or relax as it has you transfixed and invested through it’s clever concept and talented cast. If you’re a fan of the Walking Dead or any other zombie related media this is the film you have to thank for that, it’s ingenious, it’s ahead of it’s time and it’s still scary as hell.

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huangels · 6 years ago

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➧ 85 questions

tagged by: @jencto ty my love! ♡

rules: answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people @ohdaddy-nct @dcyoungs @rxnjuns @reunjun @angelita-gordita @taeybear @taezhu @lycheechann and all who wants to do!! (only if u want too bbs)

↳ Last…?

1. drink ─ hot burning coffee that i almost spilled while driving to class bc it’s pouring outside

2. phone call ─ laura (my friend who just graduated high school !!)

3. text message ─ my mom (telling me to drive safe in the rain uwu)

4. song you listened to ─ jump by shinee (the album = a whole ass bop)

5. time you cried ─ oof i cry for the lamest and dumbest reasons but last night i was looking at nct fanart and i saw a cute ass noren one where jeno was dressed in a big moomin costume and wished renjun a good day w/ a ballon and it was all hella cute and shit lemme find it i rb on my personal (THIS ONE) it was,, so cute,, i actually cried,,

↳ Ever…?

6. dated someone twice ─ oof i rarely date let alone the same person twice lmao yikes

7. kissed someone and regretted it ─ i kissed this huge asshole in high school for a dare and he wouldn’t stop saying we had sex for a whole ass week,, this is why i dont date

8. been cheated on ─ nope

9. lost someone special ─ yeah but that’s the circle of life i guess :(

10. been depressed ─ oof did you mean: my four years of high school

11. gotten drunk and thrown up ─ uhh psh no i don’t drink underaged,,, mhm

12. fave colors ─ WARM TONES!! nudes (skin colors), maroon/burgendy (just like a dark bloody red), rose gold/dusty pink (the light shade of pink but not pastel), black (just bc), royal blue (the only cool toned color i like idhhdh)

↳ In the last year have you…

15. made new friends ─ yO making new friends is my middle name (i love making new friends !!)

16. fallen out of love ─ i’ve never BEEN in love...

17. laughed until you cried ─ if it’s after midnight, anything will make me laugh and cry (also i laugh at everything so yes)

18. found out someone was talking about you ─ lmao hell yeah high school drama everyone was out for me bc i look like a bitch and people are so quick to judge ://

19. met someone who changed you ─ umm not really everyone’s pretty chill. my roommate, who’s also like my best friend, is a huge party addict so she brings me to many parties, so i guess i’m more out there ? idk moving on

20. found out who your friends are ─ literally once i graduated high school and went to college, all of the snakes just left and now i’m surrounded by my real friends uwu :^] why tf is everything related to high school i don't wanna remember that

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list ─ bruh i only have facebook so i can get extra rewards on iphone games ksjkdj

↳ General

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl ─ refer to #21

23. do you have any pets ─ i, myself, don’t have one bc i live in a dorm, but back at home, i have a doggo. she’s a thai ridgeback and her name is 巧克力 (qiao ke li = chocolate) and i miss her vv much :’))

24. do you want to change your name ─ for the most part no, i like my name, but when people call me ‘ran-you’ or something of the sort, i question why i live in america

25. what did you do for your last birthday ─ i traveled around china alone (well with my two friends back in china) without my parents for the first time bc i was an Adult™ now

26. what time did you wake up today ─ i was supposed to wake up at 8am but i didn't roll out of bed until 8:30am but hey, i made it to my 9am class 10 minutes early somehow

27. what were you doing at midnight last night ─ looking at nct fanart on tumblr and wishing that i coud draw/paint like that :’))

28. what is something you can’t wait for ─ my trip to spain!! i’m traveling to spain for 2 weeks with my friend at the end of june to july and i’m so excited bc i haven’t hung out w/ him in forever

30. what are you listening to right now ─ i’m in my accounting 2 class rn,,, so my professor lecturing about debits and credits (yes i know i should be paying attention but i’m an independent learner so i prefer reading the textbook and taking notes,, i’m just here bc attendance is graded)

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom ─ my old high school teacher whose first lecture was about corn and how it’s in EVERYTHING that is mass- produced today,,, well his full name is actually thomas

32. something that’s getting on your nerves ─ it was raining as i was walking to class and even though i had an umbrella, somehow my pants are still all drenched and this lecture room is SO DAMN COLD and i’m shivering someone save ME

33. most visited website ─ my school website lol

34. hair colour ─ jet black but in the sun it turns reddish brown ?

35. long or short hair ─ super long, it reaches my waist lol

36. do you have a crush on someone ─ does renjun count? jk kinda ?? but not really bc,, idk dating doesn’t really act as a major objective for me right now

37. what do you like about yourself ─ friendliness and outgoingness ?

38. want any piercings? ─ oof i already have a lot but i want more yes (i have 3 on both my lobes, 1 on my both cartilages, and on my right ear i have a snug ? is that what it’s called idk) lowkey highkey i wanna pierce my nose but we’ll see

39. blood type ─ o

40. nicknames ─ all nicknames i’ve ever gotten: ren, renu (my baby cousin calls me that bc she can barely pronounce words), fish..., nyu, rennie, r, human fish, + many puns on my name

41. relationship status ─ single and tired

42. zodiac ─ scorpio

43. pronouns ─ she/her

44. fave tv shows ─ the office, black mirror, we bare bears, law and order, futurama, stranger things, bob’s burgers, bate’s motel, american horror story (i love the duality between cartoons and fucked up shows dsdkjh)

45. tattoos ─ i want ones !! (prob small in hidden places) but um maybe once i graduate undergrad at least

46. right or left handed ─ right handed

47. ever had surgery ─ no - kinda? i have a scar on my eyelid bc when i was like 3-4 y/o, i was playing hide and seek w/ my uncle and cousin in china and i was running around and i turned quickly around a counter the same height as me and the corner of the counter cut open my eyelid,, this is kinda tmi but i was so stunned bc blood was running literally out of my eye so i didn’t even cry, i just stood there like ‘oh...that’s a lot of blood...’ i went to the ER to get it stitched up but idk if that counts as surgery :p

48. piercings ─ refer to #38

49. sport ─ currently i play volleyball and basketball for club, but played a lot in high school too

50. vacation ─ anywhere i love traveling !! also east asian,, mostly just china i miss my friends and family :’))

51. trainers ─ ?? uhh as in shoes? or the gym? idk,,

↳ More general

52. eating ─ as in what i ate today? if so, a bagel and a boiled egg for breakfast

53. drinking ─ coffee that’s now cold rip

54. i’m about to watch ─ uhh my professor continue talking about accounting and economics

55. waiting for ─ this class to end so i can eat lunch

56. want ─ a change of pants bc i’M WET AND COLD

57. get married ─ i sure hope so

58. career ─ i want to start and own a fashion brand/company/line (i’m double majoring in international business and trade + leadership management right now)

↳ Which is better

59. hugs or kisses ─ both i just want affection ;((

60. lips or eyes ─ these are hard to pick but eyes !

61. shorter or taller ─ taller even though i’m pretty tall as it is

62. older or younger ─ older or the same age ? (rip sorry renjun)

63. nice arms or stomach ─ arms? i need you to be able to put me in a chokehold and KO me (not in a kinky way,,, maybe,,,)

64. hookup or relationship ─ relationship duh ?

65. troublemaker or hesitant ─ team too-lazy-to-be-either

↳ Have you ever

66. kissed a stranger ─ uhh prob not

67. drank hard liquor ─ no officer i don’t drink underaged mhm

68. lost glasses ─ i literally have like 6 pairs of glasses that i keep thinking i’ve lost but then find it again

69. turned someone down ─ oof yeah sorry

70. sex on first date ─ no i have standards

71. broken someone’s heart ─ i hope not ! at least not intentionally

72. had your heart broken ─ prob once or twice

73. been arrested ─ in my good christian household?! (i’m not even christian tf)

74. cried when someone died ─ well of course i have a heart

75. fallen for a friend ─ all my friends are hot as fuck no lie

↳ Do you believe in…?

76. yourself ─ always :D !!

77. miracles ─ eh,,

78. love at first sight ─ maybe not LOVE but something similar

79. santa claus ─ i-is he not real... (i’m kidding dbksj)

80. kiss on a first date ─ sure why not

81. angels ─ renjun is a walking angel on earth

↳ Other

82. best friend’s name ─ vincent, alyssa (my two fave people)

83. eye colour ─ dark poop brown

84. fave movie ─ i watch too many to have 1 favorite but for the sake of this tag, i’ll say coraline

85. fave actor ─ i have a big gay crush on dilraba dilmurat also tom holland

el fin

#tags #personal #this is such a long post sorry mobile users ifhdihs #uhh ignore typos i'm in class #honestly this is so much info about me wow #i'm not very interesting or funny tho so #yall prov just gonna scroll pass its OK lol #YALL DILRABA IS SO FUCKING HOT AND CUTE I LOVE HER #google her if yall don't know smh

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thecryingcryptid · 6 years ago

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Hey ive been following you for a while and im not sure if its just my bad memory,but I haven't really seen a post about your ocs? They sound really fun from what I can tell from the tags of that last post. Id love to know more about them?Hope Im not bothering you! 🌟

not at all! yeah idk i have a couple sideblogs for them (but it’s more of a what their tumblr would look like not so much things specifically about them if you get what i mean). you precious monarch butterfly have some lil quick bios bout my top 3 girls

Reywynn Nightstar | D&D | rogue + warlock | Queer Table Universe

- Chaotic neutral/good moon elf who is an arcane trickster. She has ginger hair and one green eye, she lost the other eye to a cursed beholder eye charm thing. She is hella chaotic and loves lame jokes and pulling pranks. She is also hella pansexual and is drawn to lovers who are fun and know how to have a good time. She worked for a rogue organization in the Feywild traveling the wilderness to ruins and shit (and sometimes cities) to...reclaim items of arcane and cultural value. On one mission she tripped a plane shift trap and was sent to the Material Plane. She is not educated on inter-planar travel so she had no fuckin clue how to get back, she just kinda travelled around Faerun taking up odd thieving jobs until she teamed up with the group to work a bigger job with more pay. She is the SMOLEST bean (next to our gnome ranger) at 5ft tall. FUN FACT: that was 100% not her original height but when the DM asked me how tall she was at like level 6 I realized I had not written it down anywhere so randomly rolled for it right then and there. Rey is a smol rage bean with the lamest sense of humor AND I LOVE HER. She has also written a romance novel based on the group’s adventures! It’s not like the penny smut novels she favors but more of a dramatic love epic. I have not actually written out the novel, and probably never will, but I DO have a basic plot outline written if anyone ever wants to see it (you won’t understand how the plot relates to in-game events but it still might be interesting).

Likes: bad jokes, smut novels, and stabby things

Amaris | D&D | wizard | (future) Empire universe

- Neutral good tiefling with moonstone skin and black antlers. 6ft tall with wavy silver hair and bright purple eyes against black scleras. She is probably my bean with the saddest backstory. Her father travels as a fortune teller, though he was more interested in using his good looks and mystic background to seduce women (especially wealthy women). On one such occasion his affair with a local landowner’s human wife resulted in a child that was very obviously not her husband’s. For whatever reason, maybe he really did care for her, he agreed to raise Amaris and keep her away from the anger of the husband. That being said, he was NOT a good father. It was very obvious from a young age that Amaris had a talent for learning magic that he did not, and he greatly exploited that to make his life easier and help him make more money as they travelled. He was very emotionally and verbally abusive and it wasn’t until her mid 20s that she gained the courage to run away from him. She left with some fancy arcane armor she was supposed to be making for him, but now it helps keep her safe as she explores the world on her own terms. She also has the mystic background, but to her father’s annoyance, she doesn’t flatter patrons and tell them what they want to hear instead choosing to give the blunt truth. Sometime in her teens they were close to the town where her mother lived and she went to try and see her, but was discovered by the husband and was chased down and attacked with scythes/sickles. Her back now has a thick scar from the base of her skull all the way down her spine.

She HAS made a cameo in the Queer Table universe as an npc and is married to a nice (and hot) water genasi smuggler and they have a daughter. In that universe she also has a half-brother, Rexes, who is a Monster Hunter ranger.

Likes: books on arcane theory and astronomy, cinnamon rolls, and lavender

Nalaia | D&D | druid | (current) Empire universe

- Neutral/chaotic annoyed 6ft tiefling with green and peachy skin and short-ish horns (think typical devil horns). Long ass denim/blue hair that really needs cut (it’s almost to her knees) and is grumpy AFFFFFFF. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to her so her father raised her himself in the underdark. He was also a druid and took a lot of joy in helping her develop her abilities. When she was about 17-18 he died of a fever and urged her to explore the above world and all nature had to offer there. She set out and ended up staying at a smallish town and falling in love with townmaster. Lots of backstory plot I haven’t FULLY worked out but the townmaster pressured her into focusing more on healing magic and only growing crops the town needed BUT THEN some shit was happening in the forest and despite Nalaia’s pleading the townmaster had the forest burnt down. Being fucking distraught and betrayed by people she thought cared about her she ran off to The Mist Moors and lived as a hermit in a secluded cabin in the swamp. Occasionally people would find their way there if they needed potions or something and sometimes she would help, if only to get them to leave her alone. She couldn’t stay secluded in the swamp though after ALL the dragons rose from the dead AND ATE THE SUN. So now she travels with some cool people to help restore the sun and save The World Roots which are responsible for all the growth of nature. She still generally does NOT like society as an organized concept and gets really uncomfortable and clingy to the paladin when they have to be in whatever post apocalyptic towns they come across. She is (at this point in her life/adventure) very likely to choose nature over people.

Likes: moss, walking barefoot through the mud, banjo music

#THIS TURNED OUT SO LONG #if there's anything SPECIFIC you wanna know bout any of them #just shoot a message #my ocs #Anonymous

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eebledeeble · 2 years ago

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hmm, i really don't know what's going to snap morty out of it.

it's obviously going to have to be something big with the way they've been building up to it (and also what the fuck was the point of the roy episode if not to set up a larger story lmao)

my bet is on something to do with jerry. prime rick is a popular contender, but his actions and backstory seem much more relevant to rick. i can't really see morty being used as anything more than a sidekick/leverage in that fight considering how little rick prime gives a shit about him.

basically, there are three main storylines in S6 so far:

-Rick prime, and C-137's lingering grief over the loss of his family

-Jerry gaining more independence and generally shedding himself of his typical pathetic persona

-Morty being brainwashed into compliance by rick. I wrote a whole post on this episode back when it came out, and it's still relevant now because they still haven't done shit with morty since then lol whoops

so, since it would be the lamest fucking cop-out of the century to drop the marta/brainwashing plot, and considering the elephant in the cold open/"keep an open mind", i think they are going to start exploring the more fucked up side of rick's relationship with morty, probably through the lens of the newly dignified jerry.

also the season finale is going to be a dr. wong ep called "analyze piss" so make of that what you will

like you said, i really hope they don't just sweep rick's abuse of morty under the rug and try to make him a good guy. not only would that be kind of fucked up, it just wouldn't be interesting the same way that morty's nothingburger of a character wasn't interesting for most of seasons 4 and 5.

i don't think they're gonna fuck this up nearly as badly as they fucked up sarick mortshall and rickmurai jack concerning just hand waving away abuse after bringing it up to serve an episodic plotline. i honestly think they're gonna stick the landing this time, all the pieces are in the right place and they seem to have their shit together this season.

will rick and morty season 7 be a disturbingly realistic look at the psychological mechanics of the relationship between an abuser and his victim? who the fuck knows! it might just be more incest jokes and edgy meta commentary! i have hope, though.

@fanbun you fucking called it lmao

#rick and morty #rnm meta #rick and morty season 6 #rickorty #full metal jackrick

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radgeorgie · 8 years ago

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~~~tag game~~~

shoutout to @pastel-sk1es for thinking my blog was cool, and also tagging me in this

im tagging @samiramueller bc i wanna get to know you better!

1. What Time Is It Where You Are?

3:48 (Michigan, USA)

2. Current Energy Levels?

85%, i slept for 12+ hours last night surprisingly

3. Song That You’re Obsessed With At The Moment?

any song twice has come out with

4. Other Kpop Groups You Stan That Aren’t BTS?

tooooo many (that you can find here lmao) but I stan these religiously:

TWICE

Red Velvet

Monsta X

SEVENTEEN

ASTRO

5. Bands Outside of Kpop That You Stan?

Little Mix mainly, but I do like a few american pop songs

6. Cats or Dogs?

cats! but i did volunteer at a dog shelter not to long ago...

7. Favourite Sound?

stereotypical white girl but rain? the sound of my own snoring? lmao

8. Something That Made You Laugh In The Last Couple of Days?

thinking about how im gonna get through college? im so royally screwed?

9. Favourite Thing About Your Bias?

how he never stops trying. He keeps trying to be a better person for himself and his members and his fans.

10. Apps / Sites that you use often?

tumblr (obliviously), twitter (kimsjoonie), snapchat (cronuss-ampora)

11. Where Are You From?

born & raised in the usa

12. Are You More of An Introvert or Extrovert?

introvert

13. Since When Have You Been Into Kpop And How Did You Discover It?

2012, but I didn’t really get into it until august 2014. I was scrolling through tumblr for playlists & found snsd’s the boys (eng ver). I really fell in love with it wanted to research more, but I was young & didn’t really like listening to music that didn’t ing to music that wasn’t in english (lmao) so I kind of forgot about it? It wasn’t until Jessica left SNSD that I really wanted to get into KPop, bc I was falling out of the anime fandom lmao. I decided to nosedive into KPop and here we are now!

14. Who Was The First Kpop Group You Got Into?

Girls Generation! (with SHINee following very close after)

15. Do You Have Any Pets? If Yes, Which One(s)?

one, a dog named bo (also known as bobo, bobo pet & bobo baggins)

16. Tea or Coffee?

neither, I hate both lmao

17. Day or Night?

~~~night~~~

18. What Kind of Movies Do You Prefer Watching?

horror mostly, i don’t watch movies that music

19. What Is Your Biggest Wish For The Future?

another stereotypical white girl answer, but to be happy. im sick of wanting to die all the time

20. What’s Your Way of Being Creative

photography & music

21. What’s Your Dream Job?

idk at this point in the game. im going to college of photography so i guess that? thats what i wanted to be when i was younger too

22. Which Country / Countries Do You Desperately Want To Visit?

any, I wanna visit every country at least once

23. How many languages do you speak?

one bitch I live in the whitest country ever

24. What was your favorite subject in school/college/university?

history, although only a little, i hate that place with a burning passion

25. Do you play, or have you played, any musical instruments?

i used to play trumpet back in 7th grade, but my band teacher bullied me out of it so I dont play it anymore

26. Do you believe in horoscopes/zodiacs?

yes bitch tf

27. Is there anything you really want to learn or to do?

i really wanna learn another language, but im tired & lazy

28. How many times in your life have you moved house/city/country?

twice, once when I was 5 & again when I was 15

29. Would you rather have no children or a lot of children?

no children, fuck em

30. Are you religious/spiritual?

31. Do you drink alcohol?

im the lamest bitch ever, no

32. If you got to spend a whole week alone with your idol, what would you want to do? (apart from sex… ¬_¬)

I’d love to visit their hometown with them. meet their family, see where they grew up, meet their childhood friends & eat at the same places they love. I’d love to see them happy & healthy surrounded by friends and family.

34. If you could be the best in the world at ONE thing, what would it be?

something that would make me successful & happy

35. What Are Your Passions?

sleeping.......death........

36. What are your pet-peeves?

slow walkers, people with annoying laughs

37. Favourite Anime / Manga Movies?

i haven’t watched anime in 20 years, but ouran high school host club still has me feeling some type of way

38. Favourite Anime / Manga Tv Shows?

isnt this just a repeat of question 37?

39. What is your favourite season?

fall~~

40. If you could have whichever nationality you wanted what would it be and why?

i mean...being american kind of sucks, but i dont think id change it.

41. Would you rather visit outer space or the deep sea and why?

outer space, id love to visit the stars & see planets from an outside view

42. Greatest fear?

another white girl answer, but being lonely (lmao bitch tf @ me wtf)

43. What was the most memorable moment of your life?

starting high school. i cried for two days & wanted nothing but death.

44. Something you can’t live without?

sleep & my phone

45. If you were granted one wish, what would it be and why?

to matter to someone on a personal level

46. What would you say to your idol if you met them?

tell them that I love them & hope they remain healthy & happy for the years to come

47. Somebody you care about a lot?

my friend & namjoon lmao

48. Life lesson you learned?

it fucking sucks & the best deal to deal with it is tough it out

49. What would you say to your ten year old self?

remain happy as much as you can & fuck what everything has to say

50. What are you most thankful for?

nothing really????? im sorry?????

51. Have you ever been to a K-Pop concert?

ive been to a dumbfoundead concert, but I don’t know if you’d consider him k-pop...

52. What are your goals for next year?

in ill be in college, to make friends

53. Who are your role models and why?

prolly namjoon lmao. just his life struggles, how he went with what he wanted in life not with what he was the best at, his goals & his accomplishments I could go on but honestly nobody cares lmao

54. What motivates you to keep striving towards your goals?

the idea that ill have a good life once i achieve them

55. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?

like a 95 year old that lives in a retiring home so I can sleep 4ever lmao

56. Who is your bias list wrecker?

i have too many, but in BTS its def suga

57. If you could listen to only one album for the rest of your life what would it be? Why?

quite surprisingly, but FOB’s album Save Rock & Roll, I love every song on that album & the impact it has.......holy shit dude

58. What’s your favorite food from your home country? (because I honestly love food so much)

holy shit.... honestly...america has stolen like half of its menu from other countries, but im in love with chicken pitas, and i think thats an american thing? I could be wrong tho.

ADDED QUESTION:

59: do you watch tv often? what tv shows are you obsessed with recently?

#pastel-s1kes #samiramiller #me #about me

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thelegendofclarke · 8 years ago

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can you explain why you still like octavia? i'm not trying to troll you or anything i am just wondering. i used to really like her a lot and she was one of my favorites but i just don't like her character that much anymore so i am wondering what people still like about her?

Hey Anonny! Yeah sure, since you have asked so nicely I guess I can talk about my thoughts on Octavia…

Ok so ~caveat lectors~ before I start: I usually avoid answering questions like this tbh because 1) I tend to get really rambley, and 2) I feel like people have a tendency to equate liking a character with condoning/agreeing with all their actions and trying to excuse/justify everything they do. That’s NOT how I personally approach liking a character. So yeah, I preface this by saying that even though I love O and find her character really interesting, I absolutely don’t agree with everything she has done or every choice she has made.

So one of the first things I find really interesting about Octavia is how she is kind of a commentary on what happens when people are taught to deal with their problems/emotions through violence. At some point in the series, O has acted out physically against the very people who she loves most in the world: Bellamy, Lincoln, and Indra. As I discuss below, I think she uses force: a) because she never learned that it was wrong (she has actually been taught to use it as a coping mechanism), and b) because she never learned to express herself in healthier ways.

O spent the first 14 years of her life living in a hole in the floor; her brother and her mother were her entire world and the only people she had ever interacted with. Also, given how the other Delinquents reacted to her in “Join or Die,” it doesn’t look like she was permitted to interact with any of them either after she was locked up. Someone who lives such a solitary life like that probably isn’t going to have learned very well how to deal with their emotions or have a lot of emotional maturity. Then she was sent to the ground and she, along with all the other Delinquents, are basically immediately exposed to using violence as a means to survive. I mean Lincoln was probably the biggest marshmallow stuffed teddy bear on the whole show, yet he was the one who ultimately taught O to fight and to kill. Indra, who was probably one of the biggest influences on O’s life outside of Bellamy and Lincoln, taught her “a warrior does not mourn those she’s lost until after the battle is won.” Before Lincoln turns himself in to Pike O tells him “We fight together;” this is how she shows her support, this is how she shows she loves him and she is with him. Action, and often violent action, is how Octavia has learned to deal with things. But I think what Octavia’s character shows us is that this is a destructive way to live. It’s not only destructive to the individual, but it will end up being destructive to society, such as the grounder one, where children are taught to be warriors. Changing this society built around war and violence (something Clarke and Lexa wanted to do and Luna is working to do) is something I think will end up being important.

I also think O’s tendency toward aggression is tied to her lack of self-worth, as this post sums up perfectly:

Octavia makes herself large, throwing her weight and her words around to claim as much space as possible, and that’s rooted in her life under the floor. She feels like she has to fight for everything because back when she didn’t fight, she got nothing. Just being a human – a friend, a girlfriend, a sister – is not enough for Octavia. She sees no merit to just being herself; that never got her anything before. She has to fight, or she’ll wind up with nothing again.

Society on The Ark made people feel powerless. It took away so much of their freedom of choice and identity and essentially dictated who and what they were, and as I talk about right below, I think O is a prime example of this. And I think one of her greatest fears is feeling powerless like that again.

Another thing I find interesting about O’s character and her arc is how she has basically gone completely from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of agency. If you think about it, Octavia is the only Delinquent who was locked up, and then subsequently sent to the ground, through no fault or actions of her own. Her crime was existing. Every other Delinquent made conscious choices that resulted in them getting put in the Sky Box and then sent to Earth. Even Wells, who’s crime was the actual cutest and lamest crime I have ever heard of, still committed an actual crime with the express goal of being sent to Earth. In the Ark, Octavia lived a life of essentially total submission; she was completely controlled by the wills of those around her and basically had no free will of her own. Now we see her moving into a stage that almost seems to be complete rebellion. She’s pretty much saying “fuck it” to everyone else and their expectations and doing what she wants regardless of the consequences or who she hurts… I don’t think either of these are the true Octavia. Personally, I want to see O find a balance between the two; I think that’s where she’ll find herself.

I also kind of see O’s arc so far as a ~How Far the Mighty Have Fallen~ kind of thing, and I think the cave scene with Bellamy in “Fallen” is the pinnacle example. During season 1 “Contents Under Pressure” when Bellamy had Lincoln chained up and beat him O was appalled. Yet at the end of season 3, we see her do the exact same thing when it is Bellamy chained to the wall and she is the one doing the beating. I think that parallel shows exactly how much O has changed since season 1, and not necessarily for the better. And I think it was also about how people can, in moments of extreme sorrow or desperation, let their emotions get the better of them and lash out and the consequences that may result from that. I can think of two other big examples of this in the series off the top of my head right now…

Finn, who was always a huge advocate for peace and non-violence and refused to hold a gun, holding a village of grounders hostage at gun point and killing some of them in season 2 when Clarke was missing.

Bellamy participating in the killing of the grounder army in season 3 after the massacre at Mount Weather.

Like other characters have, and will continue to do so I suspect, Octavia has reached her dark/breaking point. This is supposed to make us uncomfortable, this is supposed to make us squirm, we are supposed to be throwing shit at the TV and yelling “NO BB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” through our tears… I do hope that, like Bellamy, Octavia gets a chance to redeem herself from this; but I don’t need her to have a redemption arc for me to still like and appreciate her character and what she contributes to the story.

I also feel that a lot of my ability to love and appreciate Octavia as a character is because I am good at separating fact from fiction. I don’t like O because I was to be her bff and have sleepovers and bake cupcakes (although I would totally be down for braiding each other’s hair!), I like her because I find her character and her arc and her journey interesting to watch and generally enjoyable. I understand that there are people who have a hard time with this, and I’m not even trying to be at all snarky or condescending here. I completely and totally understand and accept that some people have had experiences or relationships in their lives that can make certain types of media or stories or characters difficult to watch because it triggers an emotional reaction for them. Octavia beating up Bellamy was horrifying and heart wrenching to watch, but I see O and Bell as fictional characters and not real people going through this situation. I DO NOT agree with Octavia beating up Bellamy, I don’t think it was right in any way or that he ~had it coming~ or anything of the sort, nor do I agree with the way she has treated several other characters on several other occasions. But I’m also not going to completely write her off; Octavia is such an interesting character to me BECAUSE she is so adrift and is struggling so hard to process and work through what is happening around her and where she fits in. I just personally don’t need a character to be completely good or moral for me to like them, nor do I feel the compulsion to defend or justify every single choice made and action taken by the characters I like.

I realize that I am kind of glossing over O’s relationships with Lincoln and Bellamy and those dynamics here, but tbh my focus was on Octavia herself and her character. I know that her relationships, especially these two, have done a great deal to shape who she is. But idk to me that is just a completely separate discussion from this one.

And yep, this got superrr rambley… but I warned you!

P.S. if you are still curious or want to talk more about Octavia I definitely recommend checking out @raincityruckus if you haven’t already! She has written more articulately about O, and the Blake sibling in general, than I ever could.

#alys answers #pro octavia #i guess?#octavia blake #the 100 spoilers #the 100 #alys watches the 100 #long post

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