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drabbles-mc · 4 years ago

Text

Handled

Juice Ortiz x F!Reader

Combining 2 Anonymous requests for this: I was wondering if you could do a Juice x female reader, where reader has been kidnapped by a rival gang and beaten for info, that she doesn't spill. And, in a sort of exchange, two men stab her in front of the sons, including her old man (Juice), and she instantly rages and just does some out of the blue ninja shit that they didn't even know she could do, and takes them out before dropping to the floor. & what if, we/you had a scenario where the reader drops into the splits to trip up two guys because they're charging her or something - literally don't mind which guy is for the pairing and whether fluff or stuff ensues. I kinda just want to see it written in your style. Like, "since when could she do that" and, etc.

Warnings: language, depictions of violence, blood, injuries, murder

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a fight fic but I think I did alright! Had to throw in a little bit of Juice being a lil softy because it isn’t truly a Juice fic from me without it haha. Enjoy! xo

SOA Taglist: @mijop @adela-topaz-caelon @masterlistforimagines @garbinge @chibsytelford @xladymacbethx @i-just-read-stuff (If you want to be tagged in my fics don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know!)

You’d been put in a lot of compromising positions because of your proximity to the club. You’d been hauled in for questioning more times than you could count, and you’d gone toe-to-toe with a lot of people that you never wanted to have to cross paths with again. Being involved with the Sons meant you had to know how to defend yourself, because they weren’t always going to be around to do it for you. They might be your second family, and you might be someone’s old lady, but for you that was never an excuse to not be able to handle your own shit.

Long before you even knew who Juice Ortiz was, you were involved with Samcro. Growing up in Charming you couldn’t avoid knowing about them, and somewhere along the lines during your rebellious teenage years, you fell into the fold of the club and the community that surrounded it. You went from a silent presence, to a true friend of the MC, to an old lady. It was the wildest ride but you wouldn’t trade it for the world.

You remembered when Juice started prospecting—all smiles and full of jokes. If anyone had asked you for your opinion then, you would’ve said that the MC was going to chew him up and spit him out. But you would’ve been wrong, and in the midst of all the chaos the two of you ended up together. He was good for you, always kept you laughing. And you were good for him, too, helping him not spiral out and get ahead of himself—you kept him grounded. The bedlam was manageable when you faced it as a team.

All of that was running at hyper speed through your head as you found yourself bound to a chair in the back of an old warehouse. Being detained in an interrogation room at a police station was a stay at a five-star hotel compared to what you were going through now. It made you miss it. The metallic taste of blood coated the inside of your mouth. You spit it onto the concrete, staining it red. You mustered the deepest breath you could as you looked back up at the men who had taken you.

“I told you,” you shook your head, “I don’t know shit. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” you pulled against the restraints on your wrists, “I’m not a fucking rat.”

You felt another blow land to your stomach and you grunted, trying as hard as you could to bite back the pain. It was bad enough that you were stuck in this situation to begin with, you didn’t want to give any extra satisfaction of showing more pain than you had to. You were fidgeting and twisting your wrists relentlessly as you tried to loosen the binds. For a moment you thought that you were getting somewhere, but that sense of victory quickly got pushed to the side when you heard a clamoring coming from the other end of the warehouse. You had a feeling that you knew exactly who it was that was causing the ruckus, and you had never been so relieved to hear the yelling and cussing of some of your favorite men on the planet.

“Go!” one of the men shouted to the other, nodding in the direction of the noise, “Handle that. I’ll take care of her.”

As soon as the other man was a few strides away, you figured you weren’t going to have a better moment to try and catch him by surprise. You’d managed to wriggle one hand out of the rope that had previously been tied around it, and the slack gave you the opportunity to untangle the other. Your wrists were raw and bleeding but you didn’t care—you were closer to freedom than you’d been in hours.

You kept your hands behind your back and waited for the right moment. There was a gunshot and the man in front of you was visibly torn—not wanting to leave you unattended but also not wanting to leave his partner to face the gunfire alone. Neither them nor you even knew how many people the Sons had sent your way.

“Fuck,” he muttered and took one last look at you before taking off towards the chaos.

As soon as his back was turned you reached and freed your ankles. You stood up and ran at the man’s back. You leapt and threw your arms around his throat, choking him as you took him down to the ground. You collapsed on top of him, arms still tight around his neck as he attempted to elbow you off of him.

By that point, the two pockets of disarray found each other. You had no idea what had happened to the guys’ guns but there was no shooting as they approached you. You looked up for a moment to see your other assailant sprinting back towards you, and you assumed that he was being chased by at least Juice, if not someone else as well.

The split second made your grip falter just slightly, and the man underneath you flung his head backwards, hitting you directly in the nose. You cursed as it knocked you backwards, blood instantly beginning to gush out of your nose. You saw the man rising to his feet and you did as well, as quickly as you could manage.

The blood dripping from your nose completely faded from your mind as you assessed the situation in front of you. The man who had just given you your bloody nose reached down into his boot, pulling out a switchblade. You would’ve been lying if you said that it didn’t send a jolt of fear down your spine. Fighting two-to-one was difficult enough, but being outnumbered and one of them having a knife was pushing it even for you.

You stanced up, ready to fight and do whatever you had to do to survive. You were able to dodge a few blows from the man who was empty-handed, all the while keeping the knife in view. It was just a matter of time before the two of them closed in on you and you knew that, you were just trying to buy yourself enough time to get some backup.

There was a sharp pain in your side as you felt an arm wrap around your throat from behind. You screamed out in pain, eyes clenching shut for a moment as you tried to focus on anything besides the fact that you knew there was a blade sticking into your side.

When you opened your eyes you saw Juice and Chibs come crashing onto the scene. In all the time you’d known him, you had never seen Juice look so hurt, so angry as when he was taking in the scene in front of him. Just as he stepped in to try and help, you reached, yanking the knife out of your side and swinging your back to jam it into the thigh of the man behind you.

He grunted, grip on your throat tightening for only a moment before loosening as he leaned forward onto you. You took the brief moment of weakness to twist yourself and sweep his legs out from underneath him.

The other man ran at you and without thinking you dropped down, legs splitting as you tripped the man running at you. You swung your legs and body so that you were straddling the man you stabbed before you ripped the knife from his thigh and repeatedly sank it into his stomach and torso.

You were just about to turn around and finish the job when you were gripped tight by the back of your neck. You instinctively threw your elbow back and were rewarded with a cracking sound. Just as you spun your body around you saw that Chibs was already grabbing the man, pressing a knife to the base of his throat.

You weren’t sure if it was the relief of knowing you finally had a helping hand, or the blood loss from the stab wound in your side, but suddenly the tension began to disappear from your body. So much had happened in a matter of seconds that even you really couldn’t process it all. You stumbled a few steps before you felt Juice’s arms wrap around you to keep you from falling completely to the ground. You let him support your full body weight as you pressed your hand against the gash in your side.

“Get here faster next time,” you let out a humorless laugh as you shut your eyes, trying to ignore the searing pain that was spreading through your body.

“In our defense, love, you had it handled jus’ fine on yer own,” Chibs was walking towards you and Juice, wiping blood from the blade of his knife onto his jeans.

“Can we finish this conversation later?” Juice’s voice was dripping with concern as he tried to figure out the best way to help you move without making your injuries any worse.

“I’ll be fine,” you shook your head slightly, not expecting to feel so lightheaded.

“You ripped a knife out of your own body and killed somebody with it,” Juice couldn’t take his eyes off of your face that was streaked with sweat and blood, “and while seeing you Hulk out was shocking and impressive, you also did just about the dumbest thing you could do with a stab wound.”

“But it at least looked cool, right?”

He shook his head, “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.”

You knew that his annoyance was rooted in concern. You would’ve been more concerned if they had shown up any later than they did. You weren’t going to heal up quickly by any means, but you’d survive. There was no doubt about that.

“I would’ve gotten that other guy too, you know,” you looked over at Chibs.

He chuckled as he stepped in, bracing the other side of you to help Juice assist you with walking, “I know. Just wanted in on the fun, that’s all. Next time I’ll leave it all to you.”

“There’s not gonna be a next time,” Juice shook his head, staring daggers at Chibs for even joking about the possibility.

“When yer all healed up, you’ll have to get the rest of us flexible enough to do that little drop and spin move ye did back there.”

You mustered what you could of a laugh as they helped you into the back of the van, “Liked that one, huh?”

“Will you stop making her talk?” Juice snapped.

Chibs held his hands up in mock surrender as he walked to the driver’s door, “Sorry. Jus’ didn’t know you were dating a lass who is a goddamn black belt.”

Juice stayed in the back with you, applying pressure to your side as he cradled your head in his lap. You could hear the unsteadiness in his breath as he tried to stay as calm as possible. He’d been in plenty of situations with bloodied and injured people before, but it was never you, it was never this bad. You reached and rested your hand on his knee, giving him a reassuring squeeze when you saw the sadness starting to creep into his eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you tell him.

“Like what?”

“Like that,” you allowed yourself a small smile, “C’mon it’s gonna take more than a couple guys with some rope and a knife to do me in. I’m tougher than that.”

“I never said you weren’t tough.”

“I just feel like you should be a little more impressed, that’s all,” you laughed, immediately wincing once you did.

It got him to crack a small smile, “I’ll take the time to be impressed once you don’t have blood gushing out of your side or your face. Is that fair?”

“I guess,” you smiled, “I’d ask you to kiss me but I don’t think you want that right now.”

He dipped his head down, pressing his lips lightly against yours for a moment in a gentle kiss despite the blood all over your face, “That’s not to reward reckless behavior, you know.”

“All of our behavior is reckless,” you shook your head slightly.

“Oh sure,” Chibs piped up as he drove, “But I’m the one who was makin’ her talk.”

You smiled and Juice chuckled quietly. Both of you did fall into a comfortable silence after that, though. You listened to Chibs’ half of the conversation as he called to get medical help ready for you back at the clubhouse. You were just ready to get cleaned up. You could deal with the bandages and the stitches as long as you were able to take a shower and get the blood and grime off of you.

“I love you,” Juice’s voice was soft, “And I’m sor—”

You cut him off, “Just leave it at I love you.”

He smiled and you could see a little bit of the light return to his eyes, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#soa #sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy imagine #juice ortiz #juice ortiz x reader #juice ortiz x you #juice ortiz imagine #juan carlos #juan carlos ortiz #my writing #fanfiction #drabblesmc

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butwhatifidothis · 3 years ago

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What this fic wants me to feel about Sylvain, Ingrid, and Lysithea attacking Woobiegard in her SS vision: "Poor Woobiegard! To have her dear friends become such monstrous shells of their former selves and attack her so cruelly!" What I actually feel towards Sylvain, Ingrid, and Lysithea in that scene: "You're doing great, sweeties!" Also lol at Captain forcing Dimitri and Claude along for this map but only allowing them to be competent whenever it wouldn't make them outshine poor old Woobiegard.

The SS visions that put Ingrid and Sylvain in that light kinda like... shows off how little he thinks of Dimitri's relationships with his friends, in a way.

We're supposed to genuinely see Edelgard as the victim during her SS visions - it's obvious from the framing of the scenes, from the narration, from how "breaking destiny" is a """theme""" of this fic and SS is supposedly Edelgard and Byleth's "destinies" that need breaking, that we're supposed to feel sad for Edelgard. She's beaten to shit, her sadness and guilt and loneliness is put front and center, the ones beating the shit outta her are described as these horrible twisted versions of themselves, they are the ones the narration says betray Edelgard, etc. etc.. Ingrid and Sylvain can't be mad at Edelgard for, at that point, murdering Dimitri - and likely Felix as well - no, they are the bad guys for turning their backs on Edelgard. Oh, and also Lysithea should just be chill with Edelgard working with the people who tortured her and ruined her family. She's supposed to stay the cute, eternally loyal lil' sister for Edelgard to pat on the head and call a good girl.

Sylvain and Ingrid shouldn't be that close to Dimitri. They should want to kill Dimitri for Edelgard's sake. They should turn their back on their childhood friend, not Edelgard, because Edelgard is obviously better for them. Unintentional or not, that is the subtext Cap'n is laying down when he punishes them for daring to be mad at Edelgard for killing him.

And also, her thinking that they betrayed her means that, at minimum, Edelgard doesn't think she betrays them when she actively puts them in mortal danger by starting her war. For all her talk about how she "can't imagine anyone walking by her side" and how she "knows that her path must be a lonely one," the second people. Y'know. Leave her ass for her horrific, morally reprehensible actions, they become traitors. She "dared" to put her trust in them, and they threw it away. In the end, Edelgard thinks she's morally above everyone else, with anyone who doesn't blindly follow her down her path of bloodshed being deemed as a traitor. All her guilt and all her "recognition" for her actions gets promptly flushed down the shitter.

AND I KNOW like literally he only ham-fisted Dimitri and Claude in the chapel to make them look worse. Their presence changes literally nothing - they don't save more students than if they weren't there, they don't stop Jeralt from dying (since Claude sips on that Dumb Fuck Juice and shoots behind Myson instead of just fuckin' headshotting him, and then he gets sucked into the Void and just leaves the fight scene), they don't uncover any new information. Dimitri was just there to remind everyone that he's cRaZy, and Claude was just there to remind everyone that he's eViL. Just like the visions, just like most of Edelgard's "trauma," you take them out of the chapter entirely and literally nothing changes. We already knew the author hates Dimitri and Claude and we already know the reductive caricatures he sees them as, their presence here does nothing for anything.

They're not allowed to actually shine. Dimitri can't take on the Demonic Beasts and Claude can't try to investigate the cause for the transformation - y'know, letting them show off their strengths - because doing so means that Edelgard isn't the one doing those things.

Dimitri can't be better at taking down Demonic Beasts than Edelgard, shown by him consistently felling them in one strike, which is immensely helpful in saving the students by taking care of the problem quickly; he must reduced to something that's frankly barely better than the Beasts themselves, obviously off his rocker and obviously someone who's just soOoOoOOOo CRAZY GUYS.

Claude can't be better at tracking down what the cause of the students turning into Demonic Beasts is than Edelgard, shown by him noticing the Crest Stone fragments and being forward-thinking enough to try and grab one for research, which could potentially yield extremely vital information everyone can work with; he must be reduced to a morally bankrupt monster who'd loot from dead bodies of poor innocent students.

Cap'n has to reduce them into villainous archetypes to hide the fact that frankly, Edelgard did shit all in that chapter. She didn't fight the Demonic Beasts nearly as well as Dimitri, she doesn't do shit to figure out what's going on with the Crest Stones - or, at minimum, point Byleth in the right direction (since Edelgard would know already lmao) - like Claude, so Dimitri is a raving murder machine and Claude was only out for himself. Giving them an ounce more nuance than that would make it obvious how shit Edelgard is, so he hides that shittiness by overexaggerating certain traits of the other two lords.

And in that same vein, he has to make Sylvain and Ingrid and Lysithea look like horrible traitors to hide the fact that Edelgard is ruining their lives. She killed their best friend(s, if Felix is also dead), she ruined their countries, she threw their lives into nonstop fighting for five years - but she's so sad!!! And Ingrid and Sylvain and Lysithea are bullying her!!! We should feel bad for poor wittle wonewy Edelgard!!!

It takes a baseball bat to the head to any non-Edelstan reader of this fic, because Edelgard literally does nothing to deserve forgiveness, she never earns redemption, she never works for fuckin' anything. She just Sadges at all the """""undeserved""""" hatred flung at her and we're supposed to take that as enough of an arc for her to deserve sympathy from the reader, but no! I'm fuckin' cheerin' Sylvain and Ingrid and Lysithea on when they beat her ass into the dirt! Get rid of her! She's self-centered, she's selfish, she doesn't care about people if they don't grovel at her feet, she started a continent spanning war without even thinking she'll win it, literally throwing away the lives of countless innocent people on the chance that she might hypothetically win, and after all that she still blames everyone else when she faces the consequences of her actions! She's god-awful, and a threat to damn near everyone around her! But nope, she's the author's darling, so actually she's right and everyone else is wrong.

It's very clear that Cap'n will not let Edelgard truly be seen in any kind of negative light; people who fight against her for any reason are bad, people that can't join Edelgard's side but are better than Edelgard at something are bad, people who criticize Edelgard for the awful shit she does are bad. And that's... well. Something, for sure

#ask #anon #o captain my captain #this fic is like. genuinely kinda interesting in watching the absolute LENGTHS the author will go to to defend Edelgard #I haven't seen this in fics in a long while lmao #like. fanfics have overall gotten better than their early 2000's roots. we have better choices than this #we have better than fics that so blatantly infantilize women and demonize men y'all!! I promise!!#that don't demonize the ''wrong'' mental illness!! or the ''wrong'' responses to them!! or glorify the ''''right'''' MI's and responses!!#It's wild what else can I say lmao

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emersonfreepress · 4 years ago

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ok ok in the spirit of community, how would the ros fair in a paintball war?

(referring to this ask! like the zombie au post this ended up making me think a lot 😅)

ohh... interesting, interesting... p sure the only paintball wars i’ve really seen were the ones featured in The League, Peep Show, and Community... but let me wrack my lil head...

ok, i ended up coming at this from multiple angles like the zombie au post 😅 always so much to consider in battle environments! and in the spirit of community, I'll stick with the individual player elimination style paintball match. in the woods with other e prep seniors. last one standing wins bragging rights

Gabe

Shooting skill | 6/10 - Experience with shooting and practice with Kile ofc

Stealthiness | 8/10 - He's done a fair amount of sneaking around during his after school activities, is super observant (or just paranoid lol), and naturally light on his feet. Good luck ambushing him.

Strategy | 8/10 - Strike deals. Do favors. Form alliances. Shoot 'em in the back once they’ve outlived their usefulness. ...What? It’s just paintball.

How does he win? | Graciously. Gabe likes winning, and especially via strategic manipulation, so it puts a smile on his face. And he's in a good mood so he treats a bunch of you to ice cream or smth 👀

How does he lose? | Slumps in frustration at being outwitted or taken off-guard, sulks about it for a little while. He's not that sore of a loser but needs time to lick his wounds and stop thinking of the different choices he could have made.

Kile

Shooting | 9 - The most accurate shooter of the cast and easily one of the best shots at E Prep. Lots of practice + talent

Stealth | 10 - They're stupid good at climbing trees and 100% consider that a valid method of ambushing their classmates. People start having flashbacks to 3rd and 4th grade recess and P.E. Scanning the trees. They just start taking people out with such efficiency it quickly starts ruining the game 😂

Strategy | 0? 10?? - “...Strategy? You just stay out of sight and kill 'em all, right?” (immediately scolded by Gabe for word choice 🙄) They really do mainly stay out of sight and pick people off with max stealth, like 😆 they'd be such a terror, people would need to take them out early for anyone else to stand a chance! They spend a lot of the game staking out the most frequented paths in the area and taking out groups quickly, all at once. Then they'll get around to stalking and picking people off one by one. The real fun...

Winner type | Stoic. Likes winning combat but the stakes were non-existent, so... the win is meaningless! this just infuriates the losers more 😅 such disrespect

Loser type | Sucks their teeth and tosses their paintball gun to the ground. "Y'all suck." (they're over it five mins later tho lol)

Jack

Shooting | 3 - This is nothing like shooting light guns... ☹️

Stealth | 5 - Not just due to his size making him an easier target, but homeboy is liable to get distracted by a cute squirrel or some pretty flowers 😂 He's not great at keeping his voice down either so good conversation would make him easy to seek out. He's just out here enjoying a beautiful day 😅

Strategy | 7 - All that movie-watching (and DMing) make him a valuable creative mind for problem-solving, but he needs a cooperative team to be effective. Rescued and recruited by Rupan/Rohan early on in the game ^ ^

Winner type | Disbelief! And everyone’s content and satisfied with him winning. Except Vivian/Vincent, that jealous fool

Loser type | Doesn't mind losing at all! He just hopes he was a good teammate and was glad to have fun ☺️

Jessie

Shooting | 7 - Comes from a family of hunters, girly knows how to shoot.

Stealth | 6 - Familiar enough with woods and stalking prey to be capable of sneaking around. Having too much fun to not giggle and get overly invested in the developing plot of the game. Even more easily distracted by critters and flora than Jack 😅

Strategy | 5 - Oh, she's just here to have fun. She'll go with whatever the person she's teaming up with decides, but can adapt easily enough.

Winner type | Surprised... then elated! Bouncing and happy and it's completely contagious. No hard feelings about a single thing. Convinces Heidi to invite people to the Emerson Estate—it's a hot day and they have a nice pool

Loser type | Same as Jack! Congratulates the winner with a hug because she's sweet like that 🧁

Rain

Shooting | 2 - This... thing is so cumbersome. And ugly. At least it shoots pretty colors.

Stealth | 7 - Small and used to sneaking around different environments and seeking out hiding spots. Their height and frame makes them harder to spot too.

Strategy | 4 - Hide!!! They’re not getting assaulted with paint and pellets!! Especially not after managing to make this ugly jumpsuit look cute?? Waiting it out is perfectly legitimate. Might share snacks if you decide to join them in hiding 😆

Winner type | Falls asleep in an unexpectedly cozy hiding spot and emerges as everyone thought they’d declared the winner. I imagine R and others yelling at them to get their gun while the original winner scrambles to get theirs, just for Rain to win by pure luck of the draw. Won’t stop them bragging about it, though! (I want this spurned runner-up to be Vi bc ofc)

Loser type | "So I can stop holding this thing?" Yawn. "I'm so hungry and bored, we've been at this for hours..."

Rupan/Rohan

Shooting | 4 - Ah, shit. These don't shoot anything like light guns.

Stealth | 7 - They sneak out and around town a lot 😂 They just force themself to be careful about how loud grass and bushes are.

Strategy | 7 - They’re treating this shit like an action movie and banding together a ragtag team of misfits to take down the strongest alliances and players. Savvy enough to reject Gabe’s and Curt’s offers to join, not opposed to strategic backstabs. They're very clearly just as focused on having fun as they are on winning—and playing Predator, which honestly works with Kile runnin around. They even brought war paint and borrowed a tactical vest. Is it mostly packed with snacks and weed? Maybe. Does it prove useful for negotiations? Hell yeah.

Winner type | Raucous celebration, just pure joy and adrenaline ☺️ Celebrates with their team, brags a bit, rubs it into Vi's face, makes fun of Curt, the usual. Then invites allies out to get pizza because it's the obvious next step

Loser type | Mostly disappointed they can't keep playing. They're a little sore about being left out of the action, but soon just start chatting with other marked players about how the game went for them. Plenty entertaining on its own, they want all the details

Vivian/Vincent

Shooting | 5 - They've got a little bit of shooting experience.

Stealth | 4 - They're overly sensitive and hate being in nature. Their skin is sticky, they keep feeling bugs everywhere, they've gotten dirt all over their pants, it's so hot, they keep WALKING into SPIDERWEBS, [flails about, screaming furiously]

Strategy | 8 - They have good ideas, they're just difficult to execute alone, especially since they're getting sunburnt and getting crankier and can't stop swatting at insects 😅 they're one of the first people to figure out that someone's taking out groups from the trees, so they stay solo and try to find a single person to team up with. Really what they need is someone who's a better shot but easy to boss around. They can probably just owe them for an in-school favor...

Winner type | Barely suppressed gloating. Vi somehow finds a way to be an obnoxious winner almost entirely by the look on their face. Once they're in a smaller group, they're passionately discussing the details of the game and happily boasting about their triumphs (while glossing over all of the whining and and slip-ups lol)

Loser type | Booo, such a sore loser. (Especially in the scenario where Rain wins 🤣) If they're outsmarted or outgunned in a clear, transparent way they'll growl and stomp off, then quietly glower and sulk for way too long. If they're double-crossed or beaten in an underhanded way oh lord —they're fighting it to the end. R can't help but get involved either way, reminding them it was a damn game with literally no prize. "C'mon, Vi, chill. You want ice cream? Let's get you ice cream."

Heidi

Shooting | 6 - Some shooting experience.

Stealth | 8 - She's very aware of her surroundings and her body. Perceptive yet quiet. Tactical. All residual traits picked up from her many activities over the years.

Strategy | 9 - Most likely to outsmart everyone. The first one to figure out groups are being targeted from the trees. Goes it alone and only open to trading (unless she sees Curt with Jess in which case she puts a quick pin in her plans to rescue her 😂). She also immediately figures out it's Kile, because ofc it is. Keeps close tabs on what groups are doing, knowing that eventually Kile will come down to ground level to pick off individuals and couples. Predator becomes prey 👀

Winner type | Proud but not boasting. She doesn't need to be. Victory looks good on her, natural and fitting. Thanks everyone for a good game then takes the girls for a long ride in the Cadillac 😎 top down on a bright day, baby

Loser type | Damn. She should have won this. Maybe if she'd... She probably could have... Then she snaps out of it, roped in by the celebratory mood of congratulating the winner. She's over any feelings of frustration or regret after getting to discuss the match with the person that took her out/the winner and there's no hard feelings. If anything this was fun as hell, it should be an annual thing. ☺️

Curt

Shooting | 8 - Some shooting experience and a natural knack for it. Good reflexes.

Stealth | 8 - Curt likes to say he gets along with the woods around these parts. Sneaking around is second nature to him. Really good hearing too. He's an easy target if you manage to seduce him though, having no issue leaving himself vulnerable if it means that kind of fun 😂

Strategy | 7 - Honestly, he's most interested in seeing how long he can get away with using charm and seduction for both protection and double-crossing 😂 Eventually becomes persona non grata and gets all of his ammo stolen by a vengeful mark, barely getting away in the process. Since that jig is up, he finally starts thinking a win might be nice... and so he teams up with the only competent player who would never betray him and also inspires the least vitriol in others: Jessie. What? Is his back-up plan using her as a human shield? No! 😚 Of course not! 👉👈

Winner type | Insufferable and gloating. Rubs it in a lot of people's faces, specifically Heidi, Rupan/Rohan, and any participants who genuinely don't like him. Brags to Gabe (who is completely disinterested in gassing him up 😂), then promises he'll make things up to Jessie (who didn't mind and had fun lol). Then celebrates by asking whoever he's flirting with these days for a quick date—and a ride in the Ferrari. Makes a scene pulling out of the parking lot. Ass.

Loser type | Doesn't care one bit as long as he had fun! And he always finds a way to have fun, it's why he's so carefree 😅

#lovely anon #answered #ROs #scenarios #someone pls confirm that kile is using paint pellets thx #I can totally see myself writing this out as a an actual short story 😂#maybe as a kofi reward whenever I get that set up 🤞🏾#I don't think any of these are incomplete...

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selfwriting-sugarquills · 5 years ago

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Just wanna say hi annd can I request a Charlie Weasley x reader? If it can be Hufflepuff it’s be great! You’re free to do anything that comes into mind!

A/N: I hope it’s alright that the Hufflepuff part of the story doesn’t show very much, It’s my first time writing for Charlie like this so I was more concerned with coming up with a good enough story. I hope you’re having a wonderful day xxx

(fun fact: Chris Pratt is actually my favourite face-claim for Charlie but he didn’t seem appropriate for a 17-year-old so I chose this as the second-best option lol)

Charlie Weasley was, as far as you considered, the quietest and down to earth of the Weasley brothers of which you’d met five as you started your seventh year at Hogwarts. You and Charlie had been dating since the end of your fifth year and your relationship was very much of the same nature as Charlie, down to earth and, most importantly, quiet. Recently, however, Charlie had begun to behave strangely, he’d disappear suddenly, seeming panicked and hurried, he was even more quiet than usual, getting lost in thought.

You figured that it was probably the exams approaching but Charlie had never complained once about exams. Even today, as you were sitting in the great hall for dinner, Charlie had seemed off but you weren’t having it anymore, you wanted to know if he was alright and more importantly, you wanted to help him if he wasn’t. You turned to face him but found him halfway out the doors, you stood up and followed him. By the time you were out of the great hall, Charlie was heading down a path towards the forbidden forest, you shot a look over your shoulder, looking back inside the great hall where your friends were sitting, laughing in the warmth. Sighing, you pulled your robes closer around you,

“Dammit, Weasley,” you whispered to yourself as you headed down the path, shivering a little in the fresh, cold spring winter,

Charlie disappeared between the trees, you following behind him, as he cast an anxious glance behind him, you ducked behind a pine tree, you followed him further and further into the forest before he stopped at a small clearing, you hid again, peeking out from behind a rock. You watched as Charlie looked around, then made a small sound, like a calling, he kneeled before a small creature, finding a small piece of meat he’d taken from dinner, the creature made a small grunting noise, then spurred a flash of fire with a great hiss, your eyes bulged,

“Is that a dragon?” You asked, coming out from your hiding place as Charlie whipped around, he stood stiff, yet obviously trying to cover up the creature, at which he failed, as it crawled up his leg, sniffing at his pockets for food, then continuing further up until it rested on his shoulder, where he picked it up and held it,

“no?” Charlie answered, trying his best to look innocent, the dragon shot a small fireball out its mouth,

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” He grinned nervously,

“Charles Weasley,” You said, “where on earth did you get a dragon?”

Charlie’s Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard,

“I-erh,” He hesitated, “just sort of came across it?” you crossed your arms in disbelief,

“Hagrid is behind this, isn’t he?” you asked,

“Maybe he is maybe he isn’t, I’ll never tell,” He said defiantly, behind you footsteps approached, you spun around and immediately saw Hagrid’s enormous frame,

“Well look at that, Weasley,” You said teasingly, “you didn’t have to- Hiya Hagrid!” You called out and waved causing Hagrid to stop in his tracks,

“L/N!” Hagrid exclaimed in poorly concealed panic, “Yer’ not supposed to be out ‘ere!”

“Neither is Charlie,” You said, pointing to the redheaded boy behind you, “Hagrid where’d you get a dragon?” you asked, Hagrid looked at his shoes,

“Well, I erh-”

“We found him in here, we swear!” Charlie said,

“Please, Charlie, we both know there aren’t dragons in the forbidden forest,” you said,

“Yer can’t prove that!” Hagrid said as Charlie walked up in front of you, joining Hagrid’s side,

“Besides,” Charlie said, “What are you going to do? tell on us?” he asked, caressing the small dragon affectionately, you pouted,

“No,” you started, “but still, Charlie, a dragon is dangerous, it’s not a pet!” you tried but Charlie didn’t seem intimidated in the least,

“Oh please,” Hagrid said, scratching the dragon under its chin with a large pinky, “Lil’ creature wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

You had to admit, it did look pretty docile with its amber eyes closed in content as Hagrid scratched it, the way it was laying in Charlie’s arms made it seem almost cat-like,

“Would you like to hold him?” Charlie asked, grinning at you,

“I really shouldn’t,” You started but Charlie was already heading towards you, “you can help feed him too, if you want,” Charlie said as he handed you the dragon, it scales felt strange against the palms of your hands, but it seemed content with you holding it, it was probably used to being held by both Hagrid and Charlie at this point,

“Not so bad, eh?” Charlie asked with a smirk, you shook your head, “not so bad at all,” you replied, “does he have a name?”

“No,” Charlie said, looking a bit beaten, “we figured it was probably best not to get too attached,” he explained, both he and Hagrid eyed the dragon with both fondness and sadness, and looking between them, you understood why,

“You already know you can’t keep him, don’t you?” you asked, watching as the two seemed to deflate even further,

“It’s too risky,” Hagrid said, “it was Charlie’s idea, I’d have loved to keep ‘im, but-” Hagrid trailed off, his eyes watery, you felt a tug of emotion yourself, you knew how much the keeper of keys cared for magical creatures,

“So what are you going to do?” You asked, turning to Charlie, whose hand was absentmindedly stroking along the length of the dragon, his fingers trailing along its spine,

“Well, I’ve contacted a sanctuary in Romania, the one I’ve been telling you about,” Charlie said, you nodded, “they’re going to come to collect him after the exams, Hagrid will pass him over,” He seemed to step a little closer to the dragon, “I just hope he’ll be alright with the sudden change,” Charlie, too, now seemed emotional. You wanted desperately to embrace him but it was rather difficult with the dragon resting in your arms, it appeared to have dozed off while you were talking, you could see why Charlie always went on and on about how misunderstood they were since this dragon didn’t seem that dangerous at all.

“I’m going to hate saying goodbye to him,” Charlie said so quietly it was barely more than a whisper, behind you Hagrid let out a small sob,

“Well, you’ve still got at least two months ‘till exams,” you said, trying to cheer them both up,

“and I’ll help you cover if anyone gets suspicious,” you said, gently kicking the sole of Charlie’s shoes with the tip of your own, his eyes met yours as a grin formed itself on his lips, “as long as you stop abandoning me without a word,” you added, Charlie chuckled as he stepped closer, tucking a strand of your h/c hair behind your ear,

“I promise,” He said, “in fact, you can come with me here, since you know now anyway,” he explained, “we can make it a date, if you want?” his hand caressed your arms as it fell to his side, smiling up at him, you leaned forward gently, as not to suddenly wake the creature asleep in your arms, you placed a kiss on his lips,

“I’d love that.”

#charlie weasley #charlie weasley x reader #charles weasley #charles weasley x reader #charlie weasley fluff #charlie weasley imagine #charlie weasley oneshot #weasley fic

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a-fallen-angel-with-a-shotgun · 5 years ago

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I’d Give My Life for You, CHAPTER 1, Daddy Sam Winchester & single mother OFC

SUMMARY: For the past eight years, it had been Belle and her twin daughters hunting the Supernatural. When she meets up again with the Winchester brothers, secrets are revealed and drama enfolds. Daddy Sam Winchester ficlet

“Remember girls- this is just a simple salt and burn,” Belle reminded her daughters for the nineteenth as she parked her battered voltswagon bus. “Melody, you’ll be tasked with the shotgun- make sure you have enough salt to blast anything if needed. Mary Anne, you’ll be in charge of making sure your older sister doesn’t shoot anyone who doesn’t deserve getting salt blasted into their eyeballs. Understand?”

The twins nodded their heads, identical serious looks on both faces. Their mother’s face, once riddled with smiles and laughter many years ago, now wore a face of emotionless stone- the corners on the sides of her mouth only twitched up once every couple of months.

“Okay, once I’ve located the grave, I’ll torch the remains, and then we can be on our merry way,” Belle repeated the plan, opening the door to the voltswagon bus the three of them traveled around in. Sleeping arrangements were cramped, but they made it work. “Keep a lookout for the hiking ghost!”

“Yes, mama,” Melody answered, gripping the shotgun tightly. In her saddlebag, Belle knew there to be extra salt blasts, in the event she would need to quickly reload. Mary Anne quickly found her older sister’s hand and the two girls trailed closely behind their mother.

“Shhh!” Belle suddenly hissed, falling back and pulling her twin daughters into the shadows of the trees. She covered Melody’s and Mary Anne’s mouths with her hands. They could make out the sound of hikers arguing in soft voices- two males, from the sound of it, stomping their way through the heavy underbrush. She waited until after their voices could no longer be heard before hustling herself and her daughters to the site where the hikers would vanish.

“Girls!” Belle hissed, jerking her head towards a barely there, well beaten path. “Follow me- and be quiet-”

The words had barely left her mouth before an angry screech pierced the air. Belle leapt out of the way, just in time, to avoid being thrown off the path by the misty white apparition of a man.

BANG

Melody’s aim with the shotgun was true. A blast of salt hit the ghost and with a furious wail, he disappeared.

“Hurry!” Belle hissed, grabbing the girl’s by the hands and herding them off the path, towards where she would’ve landed if not for her quick reflexes. “This must be it.” She began to heap fallen tree branches onto an old wooden shack, muttering under her breath. “Girls- keep a lookout!”

The second that Belle lit the match, the ghost returned once more, howling as he rushed forward to attack her. Belle threw the match and the shack went up in flames. Belle threw her arms up to protect herself and a second later, the ghost disintegrated.

BANG

“HELP MAMA!”

Belle turned to see two men holding her daughters, while Melody’s shotgun was discarded on the ground.

“Hey!” she bellowed, charging towards them like a prizewinning bull in a fight. She took her trusty revolver from the back of her jeans and held it up, shooting a bullet off, resulting in the man holding Mary Anne to yelp in pain and let her go, clutching at his ear. “Let Melody go, or my next bullet will make love with your little friend,” snarled the mother, drawing Mary Anne behind her. She dropped her pistol down, making it clear which part of the body she was referring to.

“Whoa, take it easy!” The man who had previously had Mary Anne held his hands up while sky opened up, allowing for the moon to shine through.

“Wait a minute- Belle Larksong?” the man with the bleeding ear asked, his face suddenly visible in the bright light.

“Well, well, well, as I live and breathe- if it isn’t Sam Winchester,” Belle sneered with a roll of her eyes. She stalked right up to him and he bent down, as though expecting a hug or a kiss. Even now, the difference in their height was comical to everyone presence.

Instead what he got was a slap strong enough to send him toppling.

“Let go of my daughter, or else I swear that I’ll make you an Enoch,” she snarled, Mary Anne pressing herself into her mother’s side as her anxiety skyrocketed. Her tense posture relaxed the slightest bit when her mother placed her hand onto her head.

“Dean,” Sam ordered his older brother, his eyes darting from Mary Anne to Melody. “How old are you?” he directed her question at Mary Anne, who he could now see was shaking violently.

“We turn eight on May 2nd,” Melody piped up, doing her best to squirm out of the man’s grip.

It took Sam a moment to do the math, but when he did, he turned his soft hazel gaze to meet Belle’s steely blue eyes.

“Do they know?” was all that he asked, standing and inching his way closer to his once girlfriend.

Belle shook her head, willing herself not to burst into tears as she leveled the revolver at Sam as he slowly stepped closer until the barrel of the weapon into his lower stomach.

“Why did you run?” he whispered, tears forming in his eyes as he thought of the past eight years that he’d missed out on. “You had no right to keep me in the dark- I missed out on eight years of being a father!”

“You said you didn’t want kids, remember?” Belle hissed, barely reining her infamous temper in for the moment.

“Dean, let her go!” Sam barked at his brother without turning. He them felt a tiny hand jerking on his shirt; it was Melody, who was looking up at him with big, shiny doe eyes. As soon as he was giving her his full undivided attention, she kicked him in the shin before bolting off to hide next to her sister.

Belle laughed out loud, kissing her eldest daughter on top of her head.

“That was brilliant, sweetheart,” she chuckled. “Great minds think alike; I was actually about ready to do that myself.”

“Mama?” Sam and Dean jumped at the little voice which came out of Mary Anne. “I’m tired…”

“Where are you staying?” Dean asked, already feeling a fond spot for the twins, despite having only known of their existence for no less than five minutes.

“We sleep in the bus,” Melody offered, taking her sister’s hand once more, successfully calming her shaking to a more manageable point.

It took the brothers a moment to understand what she was talking about.

“You mean you still have that heaping hunk of old crap?” Dean asked, his eyebrow practically disappearing into his hairline.

“As how it’s my main mode of transportation and a good, cheap hotel, yes, I still have it,” Belle snapped.

“The three of you are staying with us in our hotel room,” Dean decided. “No argument.”

Belle opened and closed her mouth a few times before throwing her hands up in the air, an exasperated look on her face.

“Fine,” she muttered, knowing when she was defeated. “Sam, keys.” She threw them at him and followed Dean back to the Impala, muttering darkly under her breath with her twin daughters tailing closely behind her.

EVERINGTHINGS TAGLIST

@winchester-favorite-girl

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@wonderfulworldofwinchester

@sofreddie

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@forever-trapped-in-my-dreams

@smallriderbigdreams

TAGLISTS ARE OPEN/ ASK BOX IS OPEN/ REQUESTS ARE OPEN/ PLOT BUNNIES ARE WELCOMED

If you liked this, then please consider buying me a coffee HERE It only costs $3!!!

#I’d Give My Life for You #Belle Larksong #Chapter One #Melody Larksong- Winchester #Sam Winchester #Mary Anne Larksong- Winchester #Dean Winchester #Winchester twin daughters #Castiel Novak #Supernatural ficlet #Bluebell and Honeybee #Winchester Twins #Daddy Sam Winchester

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clansayeed · 5 years ago

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Bound by Circumstance ― Chapter 2: Horror Film Clichés

PAIRING: Nik Ryder x trans*M!MC (Taylor Hunter) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Circumstance ⥽

Taylor Hunter (MC) has made it good for himself in New Orleans; turns out moving to a new city fresh out of college to reinvent yourself isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. Things only start to get confusing when he finds himself the target of a malevolent wraith. Good thing someone’s looking out for him though — because without Nighthunter Nik Ryder as his bodyguard he definitely won’t survive long in the twisting darkness of the supernatural underworld he's tripped into.

Bound by Circumstance and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the book Nightbound and the rest of the Bloodbound series. Find out more [HERE].

Note: Circumstance only loosely follows the events and plotline of Nightbound, and features a separate antagonist, different character motivations, and further worldbuilding.

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Circumstance/series tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

Taylor and the girls take on the town as festivities kick off in the French Quarter, only to suffer the hallucinations he thought he'd left behind. On the way home things take a turn for the cinematically terrifying.

[READ IT ON AO3]

They’re certainly a trio to be reckoned with. Not that anyone looks in the mood to try.

Vera and a different pair of silk gloves — still in color-coordination with her outfit, which is pretty impressive — gently nursing her second hurricane through a neon straw. Taylor and his version of fun with his own looping straw in a coke bottle. And Kristin completely hammered between them; beads from the night before swinging with the shimmy of her body towards anything that looks even remotely fruity and, more importantly, on a ‘2 for 1$’ Mardi Gras Week special.

Frankly Taylor’s a little surprised. Would have thought his finally coming clean about the only secret left between them might have curbed her alcoholic appetite. He must not be hiding it well either; since Vera comes up beside him while they watch her do that thing drunk girl strangers do where they suddenly find the other girl the most beautiful creature in the world and will die if they don’t tell her.

So, like, typical Kristin stuff.

“She’s been looking forward to this for months,” Vera says with fond exasperation, “had three countdowns; one on her desk calendar at work, one on her phone, and —”

“Let me guess, one on your phone?”

Vera grins. “Old habits, huh?”

“Her exams were on my alarm schedule.”

“Ooh, gotcha.”

“Mmhm.”

He’d thought it would be hard getting along with Vera — the friend of the friend — but it couldn’t have been more the opposite. Vera was witty and charming and had the distinct drawl of a native Southerner without any of the local judgment. She was definitely as fish-out-of-water in the throngs of party-goers as he was; something hard to come by and even harder not to feel ashamed about in the natural, glowing presence of Kristin’s extroversion.

The hard part comes when it turns out most of the local clubs and dives Vera had put on their agenda have adapted to the needs of the season in all the colors of the vodka rainbow.

Taylor keeps insisting he’s fine — “no offense to your keen sober coaching skills but I have lived in this town on my own for a bit now, Krissy” — but she won’t have it. Not until she’s had her shot, had a mysterious game card punched (where did that come from?), and pushes them back out the way they came.

There’s a thoughtful touch to his arm that makes Taylor look back. Vera glances at the streets and their lights with something like recognition.

“I think I know a great lil’ place nearby if y’all are into anything off the beaten path.”

She says y’all like she’s speaking to them both but Kristin’s whoop of delight as she trades beads with a man covered from head to toe in different shades of glitter for kisses on the cheek says she’s long gone.

Which may work in their favor, actually.

“How far?” asks Taylor. Vera gestures airily.

“Just on the other block. It’s nothing special — just a place some friends and I used to hang out in when I was younger. More a place for historical value than something to add to Cookie’s drink card over there.”

But it sounds great to him. “I’m in. You wanna play rodeo this time or should I?”

As Taylor tips an invisible cowboy hat her way Vera giggles open and unafraid; puts on what she probably thinks is a more Texan edge to her accent and pretends the glittering floral piece on her bodice is a belt buckle.

“I think this is a two-man job, pardner.”

He tries to take her seriously — really, he does. But nope, nope, it’s just too silly. He can’t not laugh. “Never — ah! ha! — never do that again!”

Together they successfully corral Kristin back into the safety of their immediate vicinity and head over to Vera’s suggestion. Which, as it turns out, is exactly the kind of place Taylor’s been hoping they’d find all night.

Small and the exact opposite of crowded; filled with wooden surfaces both glossy and in need of a little love. Frames on the walls of years gone by but uncluttered — they leave him with the feeling of wanting to make his own space not just on the wall but in the world outside.

Once Kristin’s safe and snug in a rounded booth Taylor joins Vera up at the bar to bring back drinks.

“Two cokes and a water, please!” Even she sounds cheerier. What happens when you send two introverts out to party at one of the most crowded events of the year, he supposes.

“This one’s on me.” Taylor insists; is already forking out the bills.

Vera sighs but doesn’t exactly decline, waves in thanks as she heads towards the back where a neon sign says ‘LADIES.’ “Lemme go powder my noise for a second, cher.”

One minute he’s examining the bottles decorated with beads and stuffed with themed string lights for the occasion and the next he’s pressed against the bar with a hot and heavy voice husking in his ear.

“Pssst!”

Taylor sighs and gently pushes Kristin off. “I thought we told you to stay put in the booth.”

“Well, yeahduh,” she rolls her eyes like she’s done exactly as asked, continues on; “but this is more important!”

He waits. And waits. Finally has to ask. “What is?”

With drunken subtlety Kristin jerks her head to the last booth in the row. “That.”

“What?”

“That!”

Admittedly the first time he’s only humoring her. The second — and only because if she gets any louder the party outside might hear her — he actually looks. And probably would have missed the stranger and the glass he nurses in the shadows if Kristin hadn’t directly pointed him out.

His eyes haven’t exactly adjusted to the bar’s dim lighting yet; makes him have to squint with all tact out the window. There’s no pretending he’s doing anything other than trying to map out the face of the lone stranger.

Though there’s no pretending the stranger isn’t staring directly at him, either.

A leather-clad arm grabs his dusky tumbler and brings it up; lets it melt into the shadows he wears well. There’s an angular jaw and dark hair that blends in around him. The heavy tap-tap of a workman’s boot like an afterthought.

Whoever he is he’s definitely not dressed up for the festivities. Looks more at home in the shadows than the shadows themselves. Besides the glint of his eyes in the yellow bottled lights he wears the shadows perfectly.

Or maybe they wear him instead.

As a rule Taylor’s never been one to believe in cliches — things like love at first sight only happen in the movies. And judging by the chill that runs down his spine it’s definitely not love he’s feeling as his world zones in on the stranger and his shadows.

No, he’s quite familiar with this particular feeling; the tension in his jaw and the cold sweat that presses spandex and cotton to his back, the way things go a bit fuzzy around the edges and he’d rather this not happen ever again but definitely not now — not with people he knows.

Only… it doesn’t. As if he’s willed it into reality. Even with a heated face and the surprising tickle of sweat creasing on the outside of his eye.

Taylor waits, and waits, and waits… but the shadows stay shadowy and the man stays, well, manly. No hidden face in the depths — no sharp teeth or pitch-black eyes or, hell, rock-looking mountain skin.

The man is just a man. And as suddenly as the feeling overtakes Taylor it’s gone.

“Now Cookie, stop it — Taylor, hon? Taylor.”

Like the air was made of molasses and suddenly starts being air again Taylor turns his head all-too-quickly. Snaps to attention at Vera snapping her fingers in vain in front of his face. Lucky he’s still leaning against the bartop because the vertigo that follows is not pleasant.

“I… wha..?”

The back of her glove is warm against his forehead. He’ll have to buy her a new pair if he damages that one with his perspiration.

“Sweetheart,” the fact that the worry isn’t letting up in her tone should be evidence enough, “you look like the whole Mardi Gras parade just passed over your grave.”

The situation has the doubled effect of sobering Kristin up. She offers him what was supposed to be her water with a frown. “Damn, Tay, you look like a shadow or something.”

A shadow.

While terror at first sight might not be one of the cliches for the books he’s pretty sure vanishing into thin air is. The only thing left in the corner booth is the now-empty tumbler and a crinkled bill.

And there’s this sinking pit in his stomach that should he ask “Hey, what happened to that man in the corner?” the only answer he’ll get is “What man?” and another thing to tell his therapist about.

With shaking hands he takes the glass and sips it at Kristin’s urging.

“I —” god his throat burns like he’s not had a drop to drink in years, “— I think it might be my bedtime.”

He tries to laugh it off. Can’t even convince himself. Isn’t sure he wants to.

Vera gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. There’s something motherly about her smile. “I think it might be all’a our bedtimes.”

Kristin looks ready to argue — a look from her coworker stops her in her tracks; makes her silently agree.

Right now he couldn’t ask for better friends.

He could, however, ask for friends of a more sober variety.

“I don’t think this is the way to my place, guys. Why don’t we just call a car?”

“Relax worrywort,” Kristin tells him for the umpteenth time, “Vera grew up around here. She knows these streets like the back of her hand!”

She looks to Vera for confirmation but the look they get back is less than reassuring.

“It’s been a while since I’ve wandered these old roads, Cookie.” Vera looks apologetically at Taylor. He can’t blame her — he’s lived here more recently and still doesn’t know the back alleys and rues as well as he should.

“C’mon! Where’s your sense of adventure?” whines Kristin. Taylor’s pretty sure he left it back at the bar in the stranger’s corner.

Wherever they are they’re well beyond the party now. He strains to hear even the most distant sounds of the Quarter but the chorus of silence and accompanying locust orchestra.

Vera’s phone screen illuminates her face in a gaunt digital glow; shows just how quickly it turns into a frown. “That’s funky…”

“What is?”

She shakes her head, extends a hand. “Can I borrow your phone? My carrier must be mad I left New York.”

He offers it without thought. She takes Kristin’s, too, both screens like spotlights.

Funky isn’t the word he’d use to describe the troubled crease in her brow. “Vera; what is it?”

She lifts the phones skywards — points them at the numerous strings of telephone wires criss-crossing over them like a net. “Must be in a dead zone or something.”

Kristin giggles and knocks into his side. “Oooh how spooooky~”

Only he doesn’t share her sentiments. Not spooky but certainly troubling — and immediately his anxiety goes against him and decides to remember what Tilly the tour guide had said the day before about things worse than ghosts that liked to hang around New Orleans at night.

“Well then let’s walk until we find signal.”

There isn’t any three blocks to the right. Or two blocks up and four over. Kristin stops complaining about how much her heels make her feet ache a little while on. The night air’s done wonders to clear her head but he almost wishes she still had the distraction of a buzz to keep her from worrying.

If he wasn’t so concerned with the surroundings getting less and less familiar by the minute he might make a quip about their reliance on unreliable technology.

“What was that?!”

Taylor hisses; pries Kristin’s nails out of his arm like shrapnel. Can still hear her high-pitched shriek ringing in his ears. She sounds like just another cicada.

She’s fixated on the empty street behind them. Nothing moves under the dim lamplight — not even a bit of grass in the wind. Had there been a breeze before? He doesn’t remember.

Vera takes on a little bit of the Kristin-duty — gently coaxes her over to hold her gloved hand tightly and shushes her nice and steady.

“What spooked ya, baby girl?”

“I could have sworn I saw…” She searches the darkness with a scrutiny that doesn’t ease Taylor in the slightest. “There was a movement and…”

“And,” Vera finishes for her, “it was probably just a bird over the moon. You’re only freakin’ yourself out. One foot in front of the other, you know how it goes.”

It’s enough to get them moving again. Taylor rubs his hands over his bare arms and looks up at the cloud-covered moon.

Two more blocks and Taylor’s finally had enough. If they didn’t have any signal closer to civilization then they certainly aren’t going to get any in the heart of shotgun houses and street lights every quarter mile.

“This is getting us nowhere. Maybe we should just double back to the Qu —”

Kristin interrupts him with another shriek and a jabbed finger.

“There it is again!”

But, again, there’s nothing but the night. Taylor sighs. “Okay, no more ghost watch for Kris —”

This her third scream almost breaks his eardrums. Makes Taylor wince and clap a hand over one ear as he glares between the girls in frustration. How the hell she managed it with her mouth closed he doesn’t know, but it’s getting to be too much.

Makes him gawk at Vera who gives a full-body shiver. “Seriously?”

Tears prickle at the edges of Kristin’s eyes and her lower lip wobbles the same as it does when she sees a movie with more than one dog.

“Taylor… that — that wasn’t Kristin.”

“Stop, Vera, yes it —”

“Cher I’m standin’ right next to her.”

He takes a step forward. Feels a sudden cold like the bite of winter on the back of his neck as he places his clammy palm over Kristin’s mouth.

And, as if triggered by touch, the cicadas stop their serenade at the unearthly screech so loud it thins the air around them. The kind of noise that makes blood turn over and go sour. Makes it stop pumping in your chest and, in the void left, lets your heart begin pumping liquid fear instead.

They’ve all seen how this goes down: separation means being picked off, running means there’s something to run from. Like there’s something bred deep into their mortal bones the three take hands and usher one another along with haste.

“What is it?” Kristin whispers thickly.

“I don’t know —”

“— and I don’t want to find out.” Vera finishes for him. Keeps looking back behind them even though the high-pitched howl echoes off the ramshackle homes in all directions.

Taylor knows the logical thing to do would be to pound on doors until some sleepy, confused soul dares to confront them. Knows they’ll somehow be safe surrounded by thin walls and the presence of a stranger. The monsters in horror movies never show up when there’s an unknowing witness, right?

But logic doesn’t exist in horror movies.

And his life just became one.

The housing alleys open up onto a main road — deserted, as per horror movie logic — with a large brick wall across.

He recognizes it immediately.

“Come —” —does the howl that drowns him out sound closer or is it just him?— “— come on! Over the wall!”

They’re in the middle of the street when Vera gets her bearings; stops them all with a surprisingly strong grip despite the slippery gloves.

“No way!”

But the cemetery is so close. “Well we don’t exactly have a ton of options!” He hisses.

“Trust me on this when I say whatever’s locked up in there at night is worse than what might be out here.”

He yanks back his hand as if burned.

“What-ever?”

Taylor doesn’t miss it. Wouldn’t give a slip of the tongue much thought given the circumstances only Vera seems genuinely fearful at the distinction between who and what.

“Whoever—whatever! Just — that’s a dumb idea. You’re gonna get us killed.” She argues.

Kristin looks between them and bites her lip white. “Guys…”

“Vera, do you know something?”

“What — I don’t —”

“Do you know something about this?!”

In the absence of screeching the silence is somehow worse.

Vera looks down and to the left.

“No.”

Fuck. They so don’t have time for this right now.

“Krissy — come on!” Thank god she doesn’t hesitate — looks back at Vera crestfallen before crossing the road to the cemetery with him.

He’ll feel bad about leaving her behind if and when he gets the chance to look back — not fondly, no fucking way — but every nerve and fiber of his being is screaming uncertain about even that.

With grunts and effort he hikes Kristin up enough for her to grab onto the top of the wall. Fights off the paranoia that comes with the suddenly restless shadows around them.

Kristin lays flat on her belly at the top; reaches down and helps Taylor scramble up before his shoes can resist the mossy surface.

Poised to leap down he throws a last look back. Vera’s nowhere to be seen.

“Taylooor!”

He vaults down into the safe entrapment of Lafayette Cemetery Number Two.

Before both feet even hit the ground Kristin’s on him; smacking him with open palms and tears down her cheeks. “I can’t believe you just left her you asshole!”

She left Vera, too, but something tells him that’s not the right thing to say.

“It was her choice.”

“Dude — nobody thinks clearly in shit like this! Oh my god — what did I do? We need to go back.”

He grabs her wrists. “No. Krissy, no. Look at me. Look at me!” Doesn’t mean to shout but it’s the only way to get through to her right now. If anyone was the blonde in the movie…

“Something’s not right, okay?”

“Yeah, leaving her wasn’t —”

“No — fuck — stop! I mean it felt like she… she knew something… someone…”

And here comes the headache again. Maybe just being near alcohol is the problem. Can’t do much about it now — even sober it oozes from Kristin’s pores.

But is it a hallucination if they’re seeing—hearing—it too?

He watches her face crumple and does the only thing he can. Pulls her into a bone-crushing hug both to stifle her sobs and feel the grounding presence of her fluttering heartbeat.

“W-WW-We’re the dumb white teens in-n the gg-gore flick, Tay.”

There’s nothing humorous in his laugh.

“Yeah, we are.” Pushes her back gently and points behind her — across the cemetery to the far wall beyond.

“I was here yesterday. There’s a twenty-four hour cafe on that side. We make it there and by movie logic: no more being chased, right? Right?” He waits until she nods; tries to muster up a smile but knows the twist of it is nowhere near reassuring. “Good. Then come on.”

Only Vera had their phones. And the dead don’t need night-lights.

They use the worn stone tombs to keep themselves steady. Make it all the way to the dividing path of the cemetery under the cover of almost pitch darkness when the moon decides to peek its ugly mug out from behind the clouds.

The wind stops mid-groan.

He’s just being cautious. Just keeping an eye on their surroundings. No matter the who or the what there can be a very real danger posed in cemeteries at night. It’s not just a ploy to scare tourists. So he’s just being cautious.

Only he could repeat that excuse until his tongue bleeds and Taylor would know it’s not the whole truth. Not that he’d admit to knowing he needed to look at the entrance gates at that exact time in that exact place.

No; nothing save torture would get him to admit that.

Long wisps of tattered cloth billow in the still air. Translucent, like mummy wrappings. Trailing outwards from the gaunt and yellowing skull in a burial halo.

No, not a skull. Skulls don’t have flesh but as his eyes adjust to the waning moonlight he can see the rotting, putrid remains of skin still clinging; holding on for dear life against hard cheekbones, sinew holding together a gaping jaw.

The decay makes it harder to tell the difference between organic and fabric the more of the creature he takes in. Could play a funky little samba tune on each protruding rib but can’t see through it to the spine. The bones deform down at the hands; the talons bearing rust-covered manacles ripped from the depths of some place that makes him question his spirituality.

And Taylor imagines the combination might have made the feet of the thing look comical — if it had any. But it ends, stunted, at skin pulled taut over the pelvic bone before it dissolves into writhing maggots and the remains of what might have once been an angelic-white burial shroud.

But he’s an actor — he’s seen what the film industry can do, the magic of stage blood and putty. He’s seen some pretty ugly realities made from fake props.

It’s the smell that isn’t a fake. That same curling, chemical smell bodies have at wakes. Formaldehyde. And under that a sour and metallic odor that literally — no, literally — makes anything living near it wilt, brown, and wither into spidery white fungi and black-spiked mold.

The world is quiet. Almost blissfully so. Like it wants Taylor to let the creature be just another figment of his imagination.

It raises a claw. Warped fingers curled. And points at his heart.

Behind him Kristin gives a shattering shriek. The creature’s jaw falls gaping and meets her at every decibel.

His cries of “Go — go go — GO!” are lost to the ringing in his ears as the skeleton—thing—whatever-it-is raises its arms and tears through the metal gate in one fell swoop. Cuts through it like fingers through a waterfall and with the touch of death that makes the iron curl and twist in on itself; age with rust and years it shouldn’t have been forced to see so soon.

Then it’s floating — actually floating — towards them. Really really fast.

They trip over themselves, one another in their haste to run. Taylor makes sure to push Kristin ahead of him. Doesn’t know if that’ll do anything in the long run to prolong her life or just stave off her inevitable suffering but he can’t not try.

“Keep running!” Don’t look back.

“I am!”

“Don’t look back!” Keep running.

“Wasn’t planning on it!”

In a startling move Kristin grabs the corner of a mausoleum and whips around it — has to grab Taylor by the hem of his shirt so he can follow because there’s absolutely no way they’re splitting up now.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygo —”

His turn to yank her along through the narrowing paths between the crypts. “Nope — no time for that shit. Move!”

But in the back of his mind Taylor’s screaming at himself; they’re only going further into a cage of their own making. Leaping over the other wall was a good idea when they had the time and the clarity of mind but now, being chased by Jacob-Marley-from-Hell, they were in short supply of both.

And losing more by the second.

Hide. It’s coming.

Common sense, right? So why does Common Sense suddenly have a voice that echoes in his head like a thousand different cries?

Hide!

He spots the gaping void of black like moon gives it a spotlight. Grabs Kristin’s hair — he’ll apologize later — to get her attention. Together they slip between the sliver of space in the open stone door.

“In here!”

“What the fu—”

Taylor clamps his sweating hand over her mouth as their creature gives another howl to the night. Drags its claws against stone because why wouldn’t it be absolutely fucking terrifying like that?

He blinks; lets his eyes adjust to the almost-too-darkness to fixate on Kristin’s trembling eyes. A knowing glance and he lets his hand slip down.

“What do we do?”

Yeah, Common Sense, what do we do? Taylor knows he’s not going to get an answer. There’s no script here — no director and no blocking. Just him and his dumb brain being clouded by panic.

“All right listen,” he whispers back, “whatever… whatever that is it tore right through the gates. If we can get there maybe…”

“Maybe it’ll chase us out there?”

“Krissy.”

“I know — I know. I just…” She gives him a look and he knows. Feels it, too. That cold sweat and the fear of the unknown. But one step at a time.

They wait until the creature’s cry sounds distant; maybe on the other side of the cemetery? Maybe not — not that they really have a choice.

Taylor goes first. Looks left, right, left again and has a fucking heart attack at tree branches looming overhead but it’s enough space to run so they run for it.

Fouled rot his them like a wall and he doesn’t have to look back to know it’s behind them in hot pursuit. He does anyway. What skin is left around its mouth tears and snaps to push out another bellowing scream.

Blood drips hotly from its teeth.

“KRISSY RUN!”

He doesn’t have to tell her twice.

The chase could be minutes, could be seconds. It could be an hour-long montage of weaving in and out of narrow escapes and almost-captureds or something out of Scooby Doo. Whatever it is it sucks the life out of them both but only gives that thing more energy the longer it goes on.

And then—then—he catches sight of a familiar path of dead grass and a molding bereavement bouquet.

“Come on! We’re almost there!” he cries; reaches back behind him flailing for Kristin’s hand in his.

They’re going to make it.

I’m so sorry.

Stop. No. He can see the gate.

I’m so, so sorry.

Kristin’s fingertips like butterfly kisses brush his wrist. Then nothing. And now he knows how awful silence is compared to the cry of the dead.

Taylor skids to a stop. Turns to see Kristin just standing there in rigor mortis — just letting it approach her in undulating rags and spectral death. Watches with open-mouthed horror as one of the skeletal hands reaches out to touch her.

It’s obscene how gentle the touch looks. Soft like a lover brushing from the tip of her forehead to her parted lips. The more it trails the paler she becomes and he’s not crazy when he can see the pulsing, pounding of her veins running black instead of blue underneath her sheet-white complexion.

The hardest part is not knowing whether she turns to him in a last, desperate act or if the creature compels her head to turn. But the milky whites of her eyes are branded into his memory for good.

Kristin crumples to the dirt; another dead thing at its feet.

And it fucking grins at him.

The last thing Taylor realizes is how much the thing is enjoying it; this — the chase. Makes him feel a warmth down his legs through his jeans and leaves him paralyzed.

He’s pretty sure the image of Kristin’s eyes reflected in the abyss of its rotting sockets isn’t a hallucination. But the figure that appears seemingly out of nowhere behind? Oh most definitely.

And the bright white light that shines, radiates, swallows the shadows in a bellyful that leaves him blind? Yeah, that too.

And the weightlessness? Well… now he’s probably just dreaming.

He can’t remember… do horror films get last-minute rescues?

#nightbound #playchoices #playchoices fanfiction #nik ryder x mc #nik ryder #vera reimonenq #nightbound mc #mc: taylor hunter #oblv: bound by circumstance #oblv: new chapter #; my fics

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dawggcs · 5 years ago

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all american twilight rejects

pippa, member @ the red council:

usually chill but going through a rebellious phase (probably a mid life crisis but being immortal u know)

she’s turned by kamala centuries ago bc she was about to die after being beaten to near death yikes

very calm and peaceful, also very curious about everything

kinda snobbish so she likes keeping traditions and whatever

tends to coddle everyone in the clan and it 10/10 makes them sick but they all secretly love it (just bc i said so aight u can fite me on this)

she’s not too social outside her clan, doesn’t trust other vamps and prefers to stay quiet if they ever have any visitors

hayoung, member @ clan 3:

a youngster, she’s just recently come out of her immortality depression after seeing his late husband die probably lmfao

she’s one of those that got turned against her wishes and was bitter about it. she focused on watching over her family to avoid thinking about it and now has to deal with it, albeit slowly. she probably avoids the topic by watching her children now that her former husband died.

after her ‘awakening’ she didn’t try to get in contact with her human family. she saw them mourn her enough and kept a safe distance.

she’s a lil scaredy cat so she just follows whatever orders ppl give her lmao

tries to cling to her humanity somewhat, she’s one of the vamps that avoids feedings and stretches them out as much as she can.

she’s got a thing for crystal work so her house is probably filled with it :/

jaehwa, member @ clan 3:

he actually asked to be turned. his family has a history of it and he’s one of the oldest, most influential members in it.

used to be ruthless and messy during his first 200 yrs but then he collected himself lmao

he keeps tabs on his family line, constantly checking in on ppl. he turns a few people on his bloodline, though not many. junseo (he refers to her by that name only) included.

he’s also big on tradition but is trying real hard at updating himself with the times

he used to be a notorious leader in his family’s clan but decided to take a break. he’s now enjoying life as a member in a different clan instead of being the one in charge.

he still advises the newer leaders of his family clan, though. keeps scrutiny on who wanna turn there after he had to disposed of 60 or so members after a riot a decade ago.

atticus, member @ clan 3:

not that old. he was an experiment of sorts since a young vamp wanted to see if he could build an army and started turning ppl at random. atticus was among them.

however, this bitch just straight up turned his back and searched for other vamps that vibed with him more, didn’t care about being turned either.

as a human he was struggling to make ends meet and didn’t have a family of his own, instead staying with his parents. in a way, being turned felt like a huge weight was off his shoulders.

he’s really just trying to survive, has probably contemplated how he could die but doesn’t actively pursuing that. it’s an idea he toys with in case he ever gets tired of ‘living’.

aggressive, he just kinda likes fighting and is good at it. he’s a brute force kind of guy who has been learning about tactics and strategy now.

the thing he misses the most about being human is eating. he’s particularly wistful whenever he sees plums (unless these vamps can eat in which case i’ll take this off lmao).

yer a wizard

lester, member @ the pentacle:

comes from a respected fam of witches but he lowkey a mess. his family is well versed within dark magic and they keep high standards as to what a member ought to be like. in a way, he’s the shamed kid in his family tree.

honestly he’s terrible at incantations and spells, but is an a+ summoner. very few people know this, however, as he’s tried to keep it hushed as his own little vengeance against his family.

the neighbourhood guy tbfh, friendly and chatty with everyone he crosses paths with

he’s book smarts, if anyone ever needs to know about any spells, potions, ingredients, whatever --- they consult with him. the witchcraft walking encyclopedia for any questions or research. if he doesn’t know the answer himself, he always knows where to search for it.

he likes cats, has 2 and they’re his life.

ritual sacrifice though no one except his sisters know. he’s somewhere among the living and death, which is the reason he’s so good at summonings.

lulu, member @ the pentacle:

older identical twin of lola, their parents have a thing with names with ‘l’ bc they supposedly bring good luck to the family.

she’s really embarrassed of lester all the time.

the twins share a close bond and are usually seen together, they’re talented and help upheld the fam reputation lmfao

lulu specializes in potions and projections.

she’s the kinder twin, more polite. she’s also the one who likes to think things through.

has a thing for anything with turtles in it and owns about 5 tortoises that all roam wild in the house.

though she doesn’t have anything against other species, she doesn’t go out of her way to mingle with them. in a way, she’s the one who keeps up with the family’s snobbish ways of considering witches a scale above the rest.

lola, member @ the pentacle:

younger identical twin of lulu.

she actually enjoys spending time with his brother. he kinda teaches her how to be more patient and less confrontational.

her speciality are curses lmfao and talismans

she’s a risk taker, gets in trouble all the time, though doesn’t typically face any repercussions bc she’s that good. it also helps that her sis and her bro help her out always asldjfadsf

she loves iguanas, has 3 and they all roam around with lulu’s tortoise lmfao

she loves milkshakes, 15/10 times you’ll see her stopping by to get one.

she loves, loves hanging out with other species. the more diversity, the more trouble there can be.

sasha, member @ the coven of the moon:

athena’s older sis. they’re the first two people to show signs of magic in their family after a looooong time. they’re kinda exploring and rolling with it.

the sisters decide to join different covens in their search for answers and guidance. they share information constantly.

she’s decent at any topic, doesn’t really stand out in any as she has a avarage control over them all. (will develop an affinity for light magic and healing in particular, aided by water).

she loves singing, probably does it all the time and people are sick of her bc of it

loves to have fun, will definitely jump at any given opportunity to spice things up

kinda mischievous, though she tries to keep in mind the rules so as not to cross them

puppies (liza, 2020)

amaia, member @ the boldclaw pack:

older sister to kiseon, she baby that kid always and it probably embarrasses him

she’s right hand and tends to be more patient than other ‘alphas’. if anything rub her the wrong way though, she gonna snap in no time

really, she just wants everyone to feel safe like that’s her main goal in life

used to be very weak and sickly as a child so when she matured ppl were surprised, esp when she started making her way onto the higher ranks in the pack

although pack life consumes most of her energy, amaia tries hard to figure how to keep up a life outside of it. she’s the one who encourages people to try out different things and paths.

arthur, member @ clan 6:

loves working out, spends a lot of time with his bro bc of it. they have a thing against shirts, aimee and i already established this for everyone’s benefit bYE

he’s actually very touchy, so he’s always finding ways to be in physical contact with people

he a lil dumb but it ok bc he has a good heart. u know what, i really want u all to think seth clearwater when u see this man lmfao

he likes betting, probs always plays for dumb things like who’s going to get yelled at first or whatever

he likes exploring on his own, probably spends a lot of time outside because of it. it sometimes gives his pack a headache, though he’s always there when they need him to.

zane, member @ clan 6:

appearances fooling ppl bc he out there looking like he gonna be in charge but really zane the biggest softie out there lmao

he’s the one trying to avoid conflict and looking at alternatives for solutions

shy and quiet, he just keep silent to let things unfold as they should

despite hating physical altercation, he still keeps up training so as to not be dead weight. he’s good at it and even teaches the younger members.

he’d 10/10 die for anyone he cared about, stupid loyal puppy

he used to keep away from anything related to his species. possibly avoided any type of relationship in that regard bc he really wanted to be normal. when he found out that there’s a whole world of species out there, he started working on coming to terms with. at times he still struggles and wishes he could live independently but he also knows that he likes being in a group.

chonglin, member @ the boldclaw pack:

unlike his meme-y name LMAO he’s very serious

he’s an action kinda guy, though. always the first to jump in, albeit a lil recklessly. ppl sometimes have to hold him by the neck or he’ll get into trouble lmao

he finds the notion of a werewolf adopting a dog fascinating but has not yet found The One for him. he’s not giving up and is still looking.

he likes clever people and is always reading up on some new topic for more fun conversations

he’s very open to species mingling and enjoys being friendly with others. he’s a lil bit more careful around humans, though around other supernaturals he’s v. chill and doesn’t hide his nature ja feel

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lewyslewters-blog · 5 years ago

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The 1st Post

When I was a young teenager, I was obsessed with EverQuest. I remember on Sundays, my dad would wake me up super early to do the longer Sunday paper-route, we’d get bagels for breakfast, and I’d have the rest of the day to play EQ.

I never made it very far. I started playing around the time I was 12 because of my older brother’s now ex-live-in-girlfriend. Around the time of Kunark release, they had bought a new computer together; a fuckin’ sweet lil’ thing with 256mb of RAM and a CD Burner (”YES now I can burn a CD with One Winged Angel!”). With it, they bought two games: Diablo 2 (something I had been looking forward to) and EverQuest (wtf.) I stopped playing sometime around the release of World of Warcraft, probably when I was 16. It was probably also a bit after Planes of Power. My timelines might be fuzzy...

In all those years, I had gotten my Wood Elf Druid to level 35.

It’s insane to think about that, with all the knowledge we have about the game now. On P99, I’ve gotten 2 Shadow Knights to high 40′s, and a slew of other alts in their 20′s and 30′s on Blue, and a TROLL SHAMAN (with dat 40% exp reduction) to 34 on Green, mostly out of being a fucking adult who doesn’t get distracted by every little thing, and, I guess, having a whole lot more info about the game readily available.

I also spent a LOT of time exploring. Being a Druid made it super easy to port around, toss up a Camo and a SoW, and keep my track up in whatever zone I wanted to explore. I loved prodding every inch of the world of EQ for any tidbit of information, any weird named mob sitting by it’s lonesome off the beaten path. The world of EQ was what really drew me in, and held onto me. I still use Norrath as inspiration. I have two or three DnD characters who are characters from EQ lore, and I use old guild member’s names for characters in games where you get a naming option.

Though I never got to the end-game of early EverQuest, I did live vicariously through the blogs of the top raiding guilds of the time: Triton, FoH, Legacy of Steel, Afterlife. I would check these guild websites in the library of my middle and high schools, and totally geek out over their most recent kills. Their just-edgy-enough humor really appealed to my 13 year old senses, and their knowledge of early internet memes would shape my budding sense of humor.

So this is an attempt to return to that.

Probably like a month ago, some guy posted in the p99 subreddit asking if anyone else was interested in starting a Shards of Dalaya static group?

I didn’t respond. Mostly because, I’m not too keen on joining up with random dudes on the internet. I did a lot of that when I was in my 20′s, and... well, let’s say I learned a lot. And also because I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to try Shards of Dalaya again. I had just gotten my Shaman to 30 on Green, and was kinda tired of solo-ing. After having the soul crushing realization that I was likely going to spend my 30′s solo-ing in a world where I wasn’t allowed to go outside, I decided to load up SoD again.

Within minutes, I had a question - so I asked it in /ooc. When it was answered, I thanked the person and mentioned I was totally new. Then, some guy sent me a tell.

He asked me if I wanted to group up. Then he asked me why I had started playing again and I said “I saw a reddit post,” and he told me “lol I wrote that post.” He told me he had grouped with another guy from reddit, an Enchanter, earlier. So I joined his group.

Within a week, we had accumulated 3 others dudes who wanted to go around murdering adepts, and completing quests. We started with Fyona the Elementalist, a right jerk of an adept. We spent a whole night throwing ourselves at this pet’s pet’s pet’s pet and failed. After a few days off, we came back and MURDERED HER, and thus, Lewys’ Lewters was born.

Our original group make up of a Shaman, a Mage, an Enchanter, a Rogue, and a Ranger, really wasn’t cutting it for adept murdering as we started to make our way into our 20′s. So, we decided to cut our losses and go fuckin’ HAWD-COWE. We also lost our Mage friend to this thing called w-w...work? Long Live Ecuo and Guillermo.

So now, the group is made up of 4 guys, two of whom are playing two characters. A Paladin, played by me, a monk, a two-boxed Cleric and Enchanter, and a two-boxed Druid and Necro. Don’t you love that the only two people not boxing are the ones playing less complicated classes? I don’t box.

That shit sucks.

We’ll start by farming the FUCK outta the level 1 adepts to get us a lil’ head start, and then move on to the next level of adepts. The level 4′s!

#everquest #shardsofdalaya #eqemu

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kpoprunsmylifenow · 6 years ago

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Why Him??

Hongjoong x Reader

Angst/ With a lil Fluff at the end

Summary: Soulmate!AU where Person A doesn't want to meet their soulmate at all but Person B kinda wants to. Person A decided to start dating Person B's best friend. Person B finds out and tries not to let it bother her because Person A is so adamant about controlling their own life. Person B starts to get depressed and distance themselves from everyone. Their friends get worried and end up telling A, and they B's best friend ends up breaking up with them. A gets pissed off and refuses to talk to B, and even snaps at them when they see B after they were broken up with. But what happens when they meet again and A has had time to think about things?

(But lets be real red Hala Hala killed us)

Everyone would get their soul mark once they turned 18. It was kinda small, only taking up your right wrist. It was filled with music notes and various instruments. There was a key outlined in black in the middle of your forearm. You guessed that your soulmate had the rest of the tattoo and the key. You were excited to meet the person who was destined to be with you. Little did you know, he didn’t want to meet you at all.

Hongjoong had his soulmate tattoo for a year now, and he absolutely hated it. He never showed it to anyone, not even his girlfriend. His friends had only seen it once, after it first popped up. Hongjoong and his girlfriend, who happened to be your best friend, Yuna, had been dating for a little over a year. You were a little heartbroken about it because she knew that you liked him, but you decided that he obviously didn’t have feelings for you. You were close to the rest of his friends because of Yuna. You were closest to Yunho and Seonghwa, since they always babied you for being short, Mingi too. Those 3 always made sure to be around you in the hallways when you were changing classes, seeing as you’d been bullied before Yuna started dating Hongjoong. Jongho had saw you being beaten after school, when he was leaving baseball practice. He almost beat the crap out of the 2 boys, but let them run off, with a threat that he’d beat them to a pulp if they touched you again.

He ended up telling the rest of the boys what happened after he dragged you to his house to clean you up. To say the least, they were pissed. Seonghwa made you stay the night, since they were already having a sleepover. Since then you’ve always had at least one of them by you when you walked to your classes, Yeosang even walked to school every morning with you since you lived close by. The morning after your tattoo showed up, you showed Yeosang. It’d been pretty cold, so you had to roll up your sleeve to show him.

“That kinda looks familiar. I’ve seen that somewhere.” He said quietly as he grabbed your wrist. “But I can’t remember where I saw it.” You were kinda shocked cause he’d seen it before. But it could be anyone, a lot of people came up to him showing them their tattoos to hopefully be his soulmate.

“Well, if you remember tell me.” You tried not to sound excited. He/She might not be as excited to see you. When you got to school, you were greeted by your friends. Everyone but Hongjoong was there.

“Let’s see your tattoo!” Wooyoung yelled as soon as he saw you coming in the gates. You laughed a little bit and rolled your sleeve up again to show the group. Everyone was gushing how pretty it was. And Seonghwa even thought he’d saw it. It was getting closer to time to head for class, but you needed to stop by your locker. You walked with Mingi and San to their class, that was close to your locker. You could tell that they didn’t want to let you walk alone, but you insisted that it’d be fine.

You were getting the last book out of your locker when it slammed close.

“Well look who doesn’t have their guard dogs now.” Jae said as he leaned against the lockers.

“Leave me alone Jae. I don’t have time for anything you want to do or say.” You said as you walked away or tried to.

“Oh darling, you think you can get away from me so easily? Those boys can only protect you for so long.” And thankfully you saw Hongjoong coming your way. Jae let go and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

“Y/N are you okay?” He asked frantically as he looked over you.

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Come on we have to get to class.”

For the rest of the day you were paranoid of Jae and his friends. You had classes with a few of them, and you always managed to avoid the others. The boys could definitely tell something was up, but Hongjoong quickly filled them in through their group chat, and even texted Yuna to tell her. Yuna texted you if you were alright, to which you replied that nothing had happened. She then asked if you were excited to meet your soulmate. Obviously, you were. The only people who weren’t were the ones who didn’t like that their destiny was already planned for them. They wanted to choose their own path, so they close to date someone who wasn’t their soulmate. Usually these couples end up breaking up when one finds their soulmate.

A couple of weeks passed by and you were hanging out with Mingi, Seonghwa, and Jongho at a café that wasn’t far from your house. Your parents were gonna be gone all week for a conference that was in London. So, you told the boys that they could stay at your house for the week, because you hated being home alone. Especially since the stuff with Jae happened. They hadn’t messed with you since that morning, but you were always cautious. But you were chilling in the corner booth, sipping on some hot chocolate and eating a few pastries that was on the table to share.

“So, you still haven’t figured out who it is yet?” Mingi asked.

“Nope. Everyone says that they’ve seen it, including Yuna, but no one can remember where they seen it. Honestly it’s kind of frustrating to be so close but clueless on who it is.” You sighed and leaned back. Seonghwa who was sitting next to you pulled you close and patted your head.

“It’s okay bub, you’ll find them when the time is right.” You sighed and laid your head on his shoulder. You guys stayed there for another hour or so, just talking about random things when Jae walked in with his girlfriend. You then got very quiet, looking down and brought you feet into the seat to be smaller. He spotted you pretty quickly and they walked over. Jongho immediately perked up, ready to beat him but Mingi grabbed his shoulder.

“Oh, look who we have here.” He said as he laughed. “Y/N nice to see you still have your guard dogs. They won’t be around all the time though. And I’ll be there, just like old times.” Jongho looked like he was trying to kill him with his glare. Seonghwa said something to him that made him laugh.

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. You are supposed to be his friend.” That caught your attention.

“The fuck you mean?”

“Hongjoong is your soulmate idiot. I decided that it was better to rub salt in your wounds since you know he’s never gonna want you. I even heard him tell someone that he’d flat turn his soulmate down.” And you were frozen. Hongjoong was your soulmate? The guy who was dating your best friend? The 3 guys around you looked shocked, but then looked at you with so much sympathy.

You quickly got up and was out the door before any of them could process that you’d left. You went all the way to the park that was across the street from your house. You saw the boys run into your house and leave with Yunho and Yeosang. You sat at the top of a slide that had a big cover over it. You were glad you were under it because it started to rain. You were quietly crying and looked at your phone. You had multiple texts from the guys. All asking where you were and if you were okay. You texted them back that you were fine and just wanted to be alone for a little while. Hongjoong, San, Wooyoung, and Yuna were all asking what happened. You quickly texted the ones that knew that you didn’t want anyone else to find out. And quickly typed out a bland response saying that your soulmate didn’t want you. Yuna quickly texted you asking what happened. You said you didn’t want to talk about it, since you really didn’t. You didn’t want him finding out, he’d hate you. He always talked about how Yuna was the one for him and he didn’t want his soulmate. They both were deciding on getting their tattoos covered up and making a design of their own to go over it. You cried harder at that cause you knew that you had no chance of being with him now.

When you returned home, Seonghwa and Jongho was waiting on the couch. It was almost 10pm and you pulled your wet coat off.

“Oh my god, you’re finally home. We were so worried about you!” Jongho said as he hugged you tightly. Seonghwa noticed your red eyes and shivering form.

“How about you go get a hot shower and change, we’ll order some food.” He said as he grabbed your hand when we started to tear up again. You nodded your head and headed upstairs to shower quickly. When you came back down again, you had Mingi’s hoodie and Seonghwa’ s pajama pants. Your hair was hanging around your head, still wet. You had your hairbrush in your hands cause you knew Jongho liked to play with your hair. Your teachers even had to separate you since he’d randomly braid your hair in class.

You sat down in front of him, facing the tv that was playing some drama, and handed him the brush. He laughed and began to brush all the knots and tangles out. You left your phone upstairs and sunk more into your clothes. There was a knock at the door and Seonghwa opened it, glad it was the food he’d ordered. He paid and thanked the man, before turned to see you drowning in the clothes. He knew you did that when you were self conscious. The way you looked now reminded him of when you first became friends. You were quiet and always looked over your shoulder. “Hey bub, when Jongho is done with your hair the food it here.” You looked up and nodded, smiling at him a little. Your eyes were still a little red, but he saw that you were trying to make it look like you were okay. Everyone knew that Hongjoong wouldn’t want to be with you since he was dating Yuna, but you also knew that Yuna would break up with him in a heartbeat so that she wouldn’t be in between the two of you. You honestly loved her for that, but didn’t want to do that to him. When Jongho was done putting your hair up for you, he patted your head and lifted you so that he was holding you, and walked into the dining room. Seonghwa had laid out all the food he had bought, knowing all your favorites. You thanked him quietly and sat down. When you were eating, Jongho quietly talked about how they needed to tell the rest of them. They now had to look after you, and not just to make sure you weren’t getting bullied again. Now they had to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid. You had a rough patch with anxiety and depression before you became friends, and it’d only showed up a couple of times.

It was a week later and you felt like absolute shit. You hadn’t really seen any of your friends for a couple of days, which was unusual since you were always around them. But you were tired of seeing sympathy on their face. You knew you couldn’t have Hongjoong, there was no reason for you to dwell on that. Mingi eventually told all of them but Hongjoong and Yuna, and they were surprised. They grew even more worried when one week turned into two. When three weeks had passed, the boys were done. They were talking about how to approach you, when Hongjoong asked what they were talking about.

“Oh, we’re trying to figure out how to talk to Y/N. They’ve been avoiding us since the stuff with their soulmate happened. She was really quiet when me and Jongho were at her house that night. She was even wearing Yunho’s hoodie and my pajama pants. She obviously had something going on after it went down, and now we haven’t seen her in 3 weeks.” Seonghwa said as he combed his fingers through his hair. He was obviously worried about you. He didn’t want you to think that they supported Hongjoong in blowing off his soulmate for someone else.

“Do you know who her soulmate is? I know I don’t want to meet mine, but she was always excited when she’d talk about it. Maybe we can talk to them?” He tried to suggest.

“That won’t work. He was very adamant on not wanting to be with his soulmate.” Jongho said as he put his head in his hands.

“Why?”

“Cause you’re her soulmate.” Mingi said nonchalantly, not even realized what he’d said. Everyone froze.

“Mingi you wasn’t supposed to tell him!” Wooyoung yelled as Jongho hit him in the back of the head.

“She’s my soulmate?” Hongjoong asked quietly. He was shocked, but he was very adamant on being her best friend. “Does Yuna know?”

“Us, besides Yuna, and Jae know you are.” Yunho said, putting his hand on Hongjoong. “How does Jae know?” “I don’t know. When we were hanging out at the cafe, he showed up and told her. She ran out of there so fast, we couldn’t even find her when the 7 of us were looking for her.” Jongho said as he sighed.

“Alright. Make sure this stay between us, I want to tell Yuna myself.”

It’d been a little over a month since you’d seen any of your friends. You’d lost weight, but no one could tell since you wore baggy clothing. You were struggling. You’d see one of the boys in the hallway every once and awhile, but you always disappeared before they could get to you. One day you were sitting in the library, you’d ate lunch while sitting at one of the tables in the back, and you saw Yuna looking around for someone. You guessed that someone was you since she made a beeline straight to you once she saw you.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Was the first thing she asked when she got close to you. “And why have you been avoiding the rest of the boys too? And why does it look like you’ve lost weight?” You were froze, you didn’t think she’d want to talk to you since you were her boyfriends soulmate, but here she was.

“Uh, I’ve just been busy.” You said, trying to get her to go away. You figured that they wouldn’t want to be around you anymore since they supported Hongjoong in staying away from his soulmate, that he didn’t want.

“With what? We had exams last week, so that explains for that. But what could you possibly be busy with now?” She pulled my book away from me to see that I was just reading, not studying or doing anything important. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I just got busy.” You grabbed the book from her and got up to put it up.

“Y/N talk to me!” She grabbed your arm and you flinched back. Jae and his friends had been right when they said they’d be there to rub salt in your wounds. All they ever said now was to remind you that your soulmate didn’t want you. Yuna looked at you worriedly, realizing that you’d lost more weight that you let on.

“I have to go.” And you put the book back in its place and left as quickly as you could. Yuna was still froze in that spot, wondering what had happened with your soulmate that made you like this. You were so happy and excited to meet them, and now you were avoiding your friends like the plague. She went to find her friends and boyfriend, hoping they had answers.

“Do any of you know why my best friends just basically ran from me when I was asking her why she’s been avoiding us?” She asked as soon as she got close to her friends.

“No, did you actually talk to her?” Mingi asked, surprised she’d actually get that close to you. Everytime you’d seen any of the boys in the hall you’d disappear.

“Yes I talked to her. And she also flinched away from me when I tried to grab her. She’s lost a lot of weight, and her excuse was shit. She’s been acting this way since the stuff with her soulmate happened, so what happened?” Yuna’s glare could kill when she looked over at Seonghwa and Jongho.

“We didn’t ask. When we were hanging out she went to go to the bathroom, and I guess saw him. We saw her go up to him, but soon she was out the door before we could even process what happened.” Seonghwa said, hoping that the lie was believable.

“We looked around everywhere for her. Yunho and Yeosang even helped look for her, but we couldn't find her. The only reason we knew she was okay and not hurt physically was she was answering in the group chat.” Mingi said, which was true. Yuna sighed and leaned against Hongjoong, she was worried about you. More so than ever now since you’d flinched away from her and you’d lost weight. You only flinched away when you were getting bullied.

“Do you guys think Jae and his friends are messing with her again?” She suddenly asked and looked at the boys around her. They all froze, the 3 that’d been with you at the cafe looked horrified. “The only time Y/N would ever flinch from us was when they were bullying her. Do you think they started again?”

“Well if they did I’m gonna beat them till they’re nothing.” Jongho said as he looked so angry. But they couldn’t really ask you since you were avoiding them.

All the boys were hanging out at the park across from your house, well all of them but Hongjoong since he was on a date with Yuna.

“We need to tell Yuna.” Seonghwa said.

“What? No! You heard what Hongjoong said, he wants to tell her himself.” Yunho said. The boys were looking at him in surprise, and honestly it was risky to tell her. But he knew Hongjoong wouldn’t tell her.

“He’s not gonna tell her. It’s been at least 2 weeks since we told him. He’s not wanting to tell Yuna cause he knows that she’d break up with him. Yuna does want to meet her soulmate but she also loves Hongjoong. And especially since Y/N and Yuna are best friends, she’d do it in a heartbeat.” “What are we gonna do when she does break up with him, he’s not gonna go to Y/N.” Yeosang said as he picked at his sweater.

“That, I don’t know. He’s obviously gonna be pissed, but Yuna needs to know.”

“Maybe we can convince him to tell her? And then if he won’t do it we tell her. I miss Y/N. When we’re in class she won’t even look at me. When we got paired up to do a worksheet together, she did it all and then just handed it to me to look over. She didn’t even speak to me.” Jongho said as he looked like someone had ate his last snack. Him and Seonghwa were definitely the 2 closest to you, and for you to be ignoring them hurt them immensely.

“Alright, that’s our plan. Try and convince him to tell Yuna and if he won’t we will.” San said as they all nodded.

It was pushing 2 months since you’d talked to them, and Yuna still didn’t know. Hongjoong had said time and time again that he was gonna tell her, but he hadn’t. The boys decided to make a group chat that didn’t have Hongjoong in it to tell her.

Sanie: Yuna we have to tell you something. Yuna: That’s great! Do we know them? Mingi: Yeah, we know him pretty well actually… Yuna: Who is it??? So I can kick their ass for hurting my best friend! Seonghwa: It’s Hongjoong Yuna. Yuna: oh. Does he know? Mingi: Yeah, I accidentally told him Jongho: He said that he was gonna tell you but never did. He’s known for almost a month. Yuna: Okay. Thanks guys!

“Why in the hell did you tell her?!” Hongjoong yelled from across campus, he was walking towards us. When he got closer he was red, and not just his face from anger. But his eyes were red, like he’d been crying. “She broke up with me now! She told me that I needed to fix things with Y/N! I don’t know how many times I’ve said it but I don’t want to be with her!”

You were just walking into school when we saw Hongjoong yelling at the rest of the boys. They looked up, to see that you were froze at the gate.

“What the hell are you looking at?” Hongjoong turned around and saw you. If you weren’t froze then you were now. He was furious, and now he was stalking towards you. “You! Did you tell Yuna that we were soulmates? Cause she broke up with me now, but I still don’t want to be with you! I found out what Jae’s been saying and it’s true.” Your heart broke. Tears started to fall down your cheeks, but you couldn’t find a way to tell him that you didn’t tell her. You turned around and ran home, just as the boys got to where you and Hongjoong was. “Y/N! Wait!” Jongho said as he ran after you. You could hear the boys yelling at Hongjoong, but you didn’t care. You got to your door and tried to get your key in the door, but your hands were shaking and you could hardly see from your tears. You felt hands grab you and you flinched back. “Hey, it’s okay. Breathe Y/N it’s me. Let’s get you inside.” He could feel all the weight you’d lost and looked at you closely. He could see the bruise you had under your makeup and he wanted to cry. But he got you inside and upstairs to your room.

“You change into something while I make you some breakfast.”

“I already ate.” Jongho looked at you with this look saying that he knew you hadn’t and left to go back downstairs. When you got dressed in one of his hoodies and some pants that you think were Mingi’s, you went downstairs. In the kitchen Jongho had cut up some fruit and had some yogurt out with it, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to eat a lot but still wanted you to have something that was healthy.

“You don’t have to do this.” You said as you quietly sat on one of the bar stools around your island.

“Of course I do. Your my best friend and I wouldn’t let you suffer on your own. We’ve been trying to talk to you for almost 2 months but you’ve been avoiding us.”

“I thought you guys didn’t want to talk to me anymore since you all were friends with Hongjoong.” “Are you crazy?! We’ve been trying to get Hongjoong to tell Yuna about the two of you but he wouldn’t. We ended up telling her ourselves so that she’d know. We knew she’d break up with him, and that he’d be angry with us, but she needed to know. I’m sorry he yelled at you.” He looked down at the end, feeling a little guilty.

“It’s okay. I know he didn’t want to be with me when I found out.” “But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.” And you looked away on that cause he was right. It didn’t make it hurt any less. You’d see glimpses of him with Yuna and your heart would hurt more knowing that that’d never be you. Jongho’s phone started ringing, he looked at it and answered quickly. He put it on speakerphone.

“Jongho is my baby okay?!” Seonghwa asked quickly. It made you laugh. “Oh my god, bubs you aren’t allowed to do that ever again! You scared all of us half to death! I thought Mingi was gonna rip Hongjoong apart. But I’m on the way with everyone.” “Okay. I’m sorry I avoided all of you.” You said quietly.

“It’s all in the past now. You’re stuck with us now bubs, you can’t get rid of us.” And you laughed again, glad that you had your boys.

2 Years Later

You and Jongho were walking onto your new campus. The two of you had decided to go to the same college, but chose different majors. Your major was dance, while Jongho decided to become a physical trainer. You still talked to all the boys, expect Hongjoong. After he graduated, he went straight to college. The rest of the boys still talked to him, but never really mentioned him. You were walking around campus to familiarize it, when you walked into the Arts Hall. This had all of the music related majors in it, including dance. After walking for a little while you found a nice little cafe that the both of you decided to stop by.

“Jongho? Y/N?” You both turned around, and there was Hongjoong. His hair had grown out, and it was a nice ash blonde.

“Hey Hongjoong! How’ve you been?” Jongho said as they hugged. You kept quiet, not knowing how he’d react to seeing you again.

“I’ve been good. School is killing me but what’s new?” He said laughing. He seemed different than how he was in high school. Maybe he changed his mind on the soulmate thing, but you quickly put that out of your brain. You weren’t gonna give yourself false hope.

“Y/N how have you been?” He asked politely.

“I’ve been good.” You said quietly.

“What she means to say is that she’s been amazing. She graduated top 10 in our class.” Jongho said as he put his arm around you. You blushed and pushed him away.

“Shut up. It’s not that big of a deal.” And the two boys laughed at your embarrassment. Luckily the barista called out your name and you grabbed yours and Jongho’s coffee. “Here you go.” You said as you handed him his drink. The 3 of you sat at a table by a window. It had a lovely view of campus. Hongjoong was putting his computer up when you got back to the table.

“Thank you. Hongjoong, what was your major again? I remember you said something about it when you came home and visited.” “Oh, it’s music production. I spend 99% of my time in the Arts Hall at one of the studios in there.” “Y/N’s classes are there too! She’s majoring in dance.”

“Really? I didn’t know you could dance.” “None of us did until she showed us before we graduated. She’s great, she even danced with San, Yunho, Mingi, and Wooyoung at the talent show at school.” And he of course had to show the video that he’d taken.

“Jongho why do you always have to show that video? I messed up during that.” You tried taking it away but Hongjoong grabbed it and leaned as far back as he could so you couldn’t grab it. Huffing, you sat back in your seat and pouted.

“This really good! Why didn’t you say anything about you dancing before?” “I don’t think I’m that great, so I decided to major in it so I could get better.” And you kept the conversation going. The 3 of you sat there talking for 2 hours, before Hongjoong needed to go so he could get to class. You never thought you’d be able to talk to him again. He’d broke your heart and ignored you while you were in high school, but now you could speak to him. He’d definitely changed while we was here, and for the good. He’d even apologized to you and asked if you’d like to hang out like old times with the rest of the group. You knew they always got together at least once a week to see each other since they all went to schools close to each other. You agreed and with that he left.

You’d been hanging out with all the boys for a couple of weeks now and you felt like it was like old times, before you found out he was your soulmate. Even the guys were surprised that he wasn’t at least a little different with you. You’d seen him a few times when you were leaving your classes. He always had headphones on, walking towards the music studios that were on the opposite end of the Arts Hall. One day, you’d stayed late to work on a couple of moves that you’d had trouble with that day. It was almost 2am, but luckily you didn’t have any classes the next day. You walked out to go refill your water bottle when you saw Hongjoong walked towards you.

“Hey what are you still doing here?” He asked when he saw you.

“I’m having some trouble getting a few of the moves, so I stayed back to practice them.”

“It’s late though, you should go home. You can work on them tomorrow.” You agreed and went to go get your bag. When you walked out, you saw Hongjoong waiting by the door. He looked up at you and smiled. “I thought I better walk you home since it’s pretty late, and there was a party not to far from here and they usually end up on campus.” You nodded and texted your roommate that you were on your way back. She texted back a thumbs up and for you to be safe, and the 2 of you left. And he was right, there were drunks all over campus. One of them even tried to grab onto you, but Hongjoong was quicker and pulled you closer to him. He put his arm over your shoulder, and it stayed there for the rest of the 10 minute walk to your dorm.

You got to your door and smiled. “Thanks for walking me home.”

“It’s no problem. I knew that’d there would be drunks on campus by now.” He hesitated, looking like he wanted to say anything. “Can I tell you something?” This surprised you and you nodded.

“When we were in high school I didn’t want to meet my soulmate. And when I found out it was you I was surprised cause I’d actually liked you before I started dating Yuna. When she broke up with me she talked to me about how happy I would be being with my soulmate, but I didn’t believe her. When I got to college, all my friends here were talking about their soulmate, and I’d kinda blocked you out. The guys would always talk about you, so I knew what you were doing but I didn’t really acknowledge it really. When I would be talking with my college friends, I’d unconsciously talk about you, they thought that we were together. When I told them what happened when we were in high school they were surprised because I was so different now. I didn’t hate the idea of having a soulmate since all my friends seemed so happy with their soulmate.” He paused here and looked down. “When I left to come here I realized that I’d fucked big time and you’d probably move on since I was horrible to you. But the boys never said anything about you dating, so I thought that they didn’t say anything. But being around you now, it made my old feelings come back. So if you have a boyfriend, I understand, but I thought you’d like to know that I’m so sorry that I hurt you like that when we were in high school. And that if you’d ever give me a chance that I’d be here waiting.” He looked up and you had tears in your eyes. You’d just heard what you wanted since you found out that he was your soulmate. You hugged him quickly.

“There is no boyfriend.” You whispered quietly and he laughed a little. Holding you closer to him. “I also accept your apology you big idiot. How could I date anyone that wasn’t you? I liked you before you and Yuna started dating, but never said anything since she was so happy. But now I finally got you.” He pulled back and wiped the tears off your cheeks.

“You finally got me.” He said smiling and kissing you quickly before pulling you into a hug.

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stormhawksplanb · 5 years ago

Text

Nova’s Relationship with Squadrons and others: Enemies

The colonel- Not a single care was made when Nova threatened the colonel after they crashed landed on his Terra, destroying one of his garages. The storm hawks just about die when she did raise a hand to him, and it was met with automatic confusion when the both of them started laughing, and they heard him go ‘It’s no surprise these fools are in cahoots with you- You’re lucky it was a very cheap garage...’ She wound up paying for the damages out of her own pocket anyway. There was also several occasions where the storm hawks put the Colonels trust in Nova, as an artist, on the line. Each time she showed severe annoyance and disappointment with the storm hawks for doing so. Going as far as to giving stork the silent treatment until his unfinished commission was fixed. It wasn’t because she was mad at him, but she didn’t want to hurt him with her words since she was pretty steamed. However he learned quickly not to get on her bad side, or in the way of her art passion purely by example. The colonel likes to push her conditions with her art, especially the more time sensitive ones. She has to haggle with him for hours on end to get something decent. He does it mostly to mess with her. Every so often he’ll give her and stork a request. Stork only obliges because he cares for Nova, and doesn’t want her blood all over the Condor’s deck. Stork can and will complain about how the colonel stole his ship, which was a turn on for Nova because she enjoys watching stork go revenge crazy, and love’s his love for the condor. She also got to hear about how Stork pretty much threatened him with an inch of his life after the Colonel lost Nova to the Murk Raiders over an art piece she created. And due to her owing the Colonel an unfathomable debt, she had to oblige.

Arygyn- poor, poor, naive Nova. She spent a good chunk of her vacation with the others chasing down a majestic bird. She just had the unforseen urge to draw it in her book. The bird went from guiding her further away from the condor, to nuzzling up to her for head Pat's. Nova, thinking stork would let her keep it, brought it back to the ship. When she did, she made sure to announce a small meeting on the main deck, and the storm hawks all had to hold back laughter at her pure moment of innocence. She was so happy about finding this bird and was going the whole nine yards about keeping the 'magnificent bird' she found, and how it took such a liking to her. No one had the heart to tell her it was Arygyn in disguise. He pretty much spent the day pestering her, stealing her pencils, and hiding her socks to try and get her to change her mind about keeping him as a pet. Didn't work. The thing about Nova is she's very much a 'I just need something to do 24/7'. Her line was drawn when Arygyn spilled paint on her drawings, ruining them. At that point she lost her nerve and started chasing him around, more or less trying to end his life. Thankfully Aerrow intervened, and Arygyn transformed. Much to Nova's awe. Even then she still got a good, smack to the back of his head. Since then their relationship is a bit of a curve ball. Arygyn enjoys her mischievous side, and secretly adores her and storks lil romance like it's a soap opera. Her on the other hand, half wants to strangle him, and half wants to follow him around and know what he does. In the end Arygyn discovers how much of an Anchor she is for the storm hawks, and everyone who comes across her path, and it thinking about knighting her as a Prophet. Even though he doesn't fully believe in the whole prophet thing like his fellow counterparts.

The Murk Raiders- Once she was bargained over to be a maid/slave for the murk raiders it became Stork’s number 1 priority to try and save her on his own, since Junko was allergic and he didn't trust the others to go in quietly. His dark loves life was on the line. Stork went as far as to threaten the Colonel for the murk raider's Current location and a ride that would withstand the deeps. No one but Stork and the colonel know about that scenario. Whilst Stork was planning literally all of the murk raiders deaths, Nova was running around enjoying herself because for some unholy reason she makes friends with anyone not acquainted with Cyclonians. I.E she Charmed her way into a special place in Captain Scabulous’ heart. She was more than happy to join the Pirate life in the deeps, and temporarily forgot about the storm hawks, and claimed to have made one of her favorite pieces yet aboard their ship. And then stork came wrecking through hordes of raiders and just about maimed the Captain. If it wasn’t for Nova’s love for him, she’d have killed him herself. Very quickly The murk Raiders became biggest client #2 and they returned Nova to the colonel who was acting suspiciously generous and kind to Nova on her return. The only hint she had of why he was acting so not hostile, was storks low growls from behind. Needless to say stork was given major bonus points for breaking out of his shell that day.

The Raptors- The hunter has become the hunted. And what kind of person would Nova be if she didn’t let stork tag along with her on her personal mission to get back at them for hurting the condor. Nova may have talked stork into hating them again after they blew up his beloved ship. Mostly because in her eyes, it's an eye for an eye, unless the culprit changes their perspective. Repton hates Nova with a burning passion ever since she allowed herself to be captured and gave the storm hawks their location. Via by wearing a tracking crystal and stork having to break her out of 'pre-dinner' jail. His other problem is Spitz has a 'thing' for her, and she uses that to her full advantage. Much to Stork's jealousy. It even came down once to Spitz fighting Stork over Nova, saying that repton promised she could be his girlfriend if he defeats, and or kills, Stork. And by the way, the whole storm hawks squad saw this go down and they teased stork endlessly. Including Nova, who was the reason stork won so easily in the first place by, in a completely silly manner, "distracting" Splitz.

Snipe- Ever since the fall of Cyclonia, the three power houses of master Cyclonis' hunch men had split up to cause even more trouble than before. The goals might have changed, but the hatred is still the same. Snipe is the less successful if the three, with all his failed mechanisms and plans always going astray. He's not as fearful of Nova, meanwhile she just enjoys the fact he always underestimates her. Thinking he has her cornered. The more encounters these two have, the more he realizes she's just as dangerous as the others, and now makes a point to have her "beaten to a pulp". His biggest obstacle of getting to do that is Stork.

Ravess- even though Nova is a fan of her music, she can't stand this women. Once Ravess realizes her violins start to go missing, chances are she'll figure out it's Nova who's behind the act. Nova has an unwavering urge to take Ravess' instruments and turning them into her personal art pieces. Grant it, she's only done it a couple times, out of being petty, it still urks Ravess. Beyond that Nova doesn't mess with her for fear of being plucked out of the sky.

Dark Ace- A little background story so I don't loose anyone. Dark Ace was never killed. He was ported away to the other side of Atmos. Cyclonis' wanted the higher ground, and an army of nightcrawlers on her side. He was sent to go look for the condor while the storm hawks fought on as an attempt to escape. If she was to go down, she wanted them stuck there, and perish. The enevible happened regardless, and Piper was the one to defeat Cyclonis. But not on purpose. The building they were in was falling around them, collapsing. Master Cyclonis was badly injured by a pillar and Piper went to help her, but Cyclonis refused, and had a last ditch effort to kill Piper. It backfired and rebounded off Piper and bounced back at Cyclonis as the walls caved in. Dark Ace saw in the distance the destruction, and abandoned his mission to find Master Cyclonis dead. It then became a revenge filled agenda. Especially now that he has an infinite amount of energy given to him by Cyclonis. Dark ace takes advantage of Nova and Storks relationship with each other and makes sure they stay sperated as long as possible. Their biggest weak point is the desire to know they're both safe, and sometimes that causes them to make I'll decisions. Dark Ace's mistake was actually injuring stork to almost death, and allowing Nova to watch. It sent her over the edge. This is where she developed her very first Weapon Technique she calls, Energy slicer. She fought Dark Ace until she couldn't stand, and even still stood between him and stork. Thankfully the others arrived and dark ace spent enough of his new found power, to force him to retreat. And with two badly injured friends Aerrow had no choice but to let him go. Nova will never forgive Dark Ace and after that Incident she becomes slightly more strict on missions, and it usually takes both Piper and Stork to get her to make the right decisions. Nova now has zero problems purposefully getting in Dark Ace's way. In fact, she's now hunting him down.

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madamquacklemore · 6 years ago

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Chapter 2: Forest child

Forest Child A/N: Than you all so much for feedback much appreciated. Ok so you can guess who the title of this chapter is referring to. In this chapter we see a paternal side to our favourite Irishman. Enjoy! And please let me no what you think.

If anyone would like to be tagged let me know :)

Destiny is all arselings!

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Finan POV Several days had passed with no sign of the wild woman from the woods. Aetheflead protested of course. Why should she allow a woman to be hunted by their enemies on Mercian soil. Eventually Uthred relented and they searched their side of the forest-to no avail and within the space of those days the child had tried to escape on several occasions so they took it in turns to watch Liliwen as she easily outsmarted the guards. Finan and the rest of the company now realised why the woman had rendered the child unconscious.

On the fourth evening after a particular difficult day Finan sat in the hall by the fire. It didn't sit right with him at all. Should they have stayed with her? Should they have taken her as prisoner? She had threatened to kill him after all. And yet those piercing green eyes would not leave his mind. Why were the Danes after her? And more importantly how many Danes were after her. "May I join you? Finan?" a voice added after a moment of silence. "Mmm?" Sihtric sat beside him offering a cup of much needed ale. "Cheers," Finan replied taking a big gulp. "I heard you had an eventful day." Sihtric began. It been Finan's turn to guard the estate and watch the child. The eventful day Sihtric spoke of was in fact Finan having to somehow bribe the Liliwen to get down from the rooftops of the estate. "How exactly did you manage to get her down?" "Well bud I could'n' exactly come up after her. 'N I now noth'n abou' children but I remember when we found her that woman was an archer righ'? So I negotiated." "With a child." "'N a mute child at that. Basically if she came down I'd show her how to use the bow. At firs' I thought she 'd tink I was gunna aim for 'er but luckily she got the idea. Maybe she knows some English after all?" "Well at least that is progress" "What abou’ you how's Uthred hold'n up?" "As well as can be expected but I feel it has been altogether to eventful these pass days. Fate has-" "Ah jaesus son you're not gonna start shite'n on about bleedin' curses again are ya? I do not know how much of it I can listen ta." "Forgive me Fin-" "Ah look I'm just bolloxed is all I do not mean ta snap. Jus' today was just-" "Strange. Aetheflead is debating on whether or not to write to Father Pyrlig he was Celt before converting perhaps he could offer some guidance." "Not the wors idea I s'pose." Finan sighed staring into the flames that reminded him of her hair. He barely spoke a few words to her yet he saw some piece of her everywhere he looked. "You worry for her, for the woman don't you?" "Does that make me cursed too? As long as she ain't another Skade." Finan laughed and downed the rest of his ale. "I don't even know the woman and she threatened my life. Not the firs' time a woman has threatened it mind you. But it was the firs' time one came close. I get it though she was only protecting her child. She was a looker though weren't she?" "Was?" "Come on now Sihtric bud you really think she's coming back from that? It don' feel righ' leavin’ a woman ou' there yano?" "Finan she is a warrior and we have done as much as we can. With the Danes marching to Wessex and Skade's curse we cannot afford to-" "I now I know. It's jus' the child the poor thing doesn't speak and ev'n' if she could,could she even understand us? She's alone." Finan sighed and got up from his seat. "Don' mind me I've jus' 'ad to much ta drink is all. Time for a piss then sleep I tink. I've an archery lesson tomora after all. G'night bud." Running his hands through his hair Finan left the hall. Before he had the chance to relieve himself the arrival he waited for was announced. "Fetch Lord Uthred!" "Fetch the Lady Aethelflead!" Gates were open to reveal a black horse trotting in its rider hunched over. A guard ran towards the horse before it's rider fell. And sure enough it was her.

"She burns. Her wounds do not appear to be severe enough to cause this, the healer suspects poison and if we do not get her fever down she won't make it through the night." Aetheflead explained as she shut the patient's door behind her. "When Uthred was dyin' Brida came." "Brida?" "Nevermind look- she was able ta save him with some herbs she had surely something must grow around here." "Even if something did Finan it is the middle of the night and do you recall what Brida used? As I do not." Uthred added. A child's footsteps ran towards them. Finan bent down and looked into those troubled grey-blue eyes. "I don't now how you got out again lil' one but it's best you don't go in there it's not something you should see." "Perhaps we should let her in," Aethelflead suggested "Let her say goodbye." Uhtred opened the door and they gave Liliwen access. "TARIAN!" the girl cried out. The three of them exchanged looks. The child was mute no more. "Tarian! No! Tarian!" The child cried grasping the woman's hand. "Tarian." Finan muttered to himself. For that must be her name.

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Tarian's POV Everywhere hurt- everywhere burned. Something cold and wet was pressed against her head when Tarian heard screaming from somewhere she struggled for her daggers. "You must rest woman you are badly injured." A voice said to her. "And I feel even poisoned." The voice of an elderly man added. Poison-that can only mean one thing. Her father's men were not the only ones after her for Danes do not typically use poison. Celts do. As tears streamed from her eyes the room began to spin throat burning Tarian mustered every bit of strength to lean over and vomit over the side of her bed. "Tarian!"

Though her vision swam before her there could be no mistaking that voice. "Here little one. You found your voice." she greeted the child in their native tongue. "I'm so sorry I left you and your head-" She reached out to her. Liliwen approached Tarian and stroked the side of her cheek and shaking her head. "Yes I lost my voice but it has come back to me again. You are poisoned aren't you? Are they dead? The man that helped us get away?" As usual nothing escaped the child and a million questions to boot. "The old man believes it is poison." Tarian blinked back the second round tears that threatened to fall. Gustaf who was her friend when she lived on her father's estate had never forgotten her whom despite being sworn to her father set her and Liliwen free. Who had loved her after all these years of scarce glances and even fewer meetings. "Gustaf is dead. But the beast who did it is dead also." "And the poison?" "Only the Aurealis plant can help me. It grows here. I do not remember where." Liliwen got up from the bed and sighed. Wearing that look Tarian knew all too well. Determination. "Liliwen" The frail sound of her own voice frightened her. "Don't put yourself-" "You have always looked out for me. Now it is my turn."

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Finan POV

The five of them watched the exchange between Liliwen and the woman dying in the bed. "I thought she said the child was mute." Aetheflead muttered. "Ay Tarian said that," Finan replied bewildered as he watched the child touch her face. Ignoring Uthred's questioning gaze he asked. "What will become of the child?" "A convent most likely. I haven't decided." she replied as they watched dying woman and child converse in a strange language. Under any other circumstances the idea of a feral child being sent to a convent would tickle him somewhat at the chaos she would cause. But not in this case. If she were a boy that raw anger and talent could be harnessed and she would make a fine warrior. Maybe they would make an exception if he got the chance to train her. Celtic women had just as much reputation the battle field as men did. Liliwen hopped of the bed and walked towards Finan cautiously, turning back to look at Tarian for what Finan could only guess was approval. Finan walked towards them both as Tarian's voice was now barely more than a whisper. "She wants you to follow her Irishman." Tarian croaked as Liliwen took his hand. "She seems to like you." The woman gave him a weak smile. With one last fleeting look, Liliwen led them both out the room and out in to the yard. An unwelcome combination of ale,exhaustion and cold hit Finan suddenly and he swayed on his feet Liliwen steadied him. "I'm ok child" he assured her. Finding a barrel of icy water he splashed himself ready with it. Liliwen tugged on his cloak hurriedly and pointed to the gate. "You want us to leave the estate?" It took Finan a minute to realise that although she may no longer be mute she probably didn't understand the language he spoke. After several exchanges of hand guestures later Finan and a few guards were saddling up their horses and riding towards the forest. As Liliwen directed them deeper into the forest Finan became more and more uneasy. He did not like being so deep in a possible hostile forest with such a small number. Although the sun had fully risen it would not be much use them if they continued much further off the beaten path. Finan wondered why he had gone with the child. Who or what was she leading them too? Over the past few days he believed out of all them he had begun to develop some sort of rapport with the child. Funny he would think as out of all of them (baring Osferth) he was the only with no children or experience with children or at least not that he knew of. And yet here he was a woman who should mean nothing to him entrusting the well being of this child who was now literally leading him to the unknown. What have I got m'self into. Liliwen held up her hand like a commander leading an army as Finan then the guards halted. She was already struggling to get down before Finan himself hopped down and with his assistance she hit the ground running. After 100 yards west she stopped at a tree that had been marked-its bark cut with markings that were faintly familiar to Finan. Crouching down she reached for Finan's dagger. Liliwen closely inspected each bright orange and yellow plant growing at the base of the marked tree and dug out several plants with the dagger. She rushed back to the horse returning the dagger Liliwen gave Finan an expectant look. Now that they new what direction they were going in the rushed back to the estate before they could as the pagans would say tempt fate any further. Liliwen rushed over to where the Finan had previously washed his face and took a cup of ale from a group of guards talking at the table. One of the guards grabbed her as she emptied the contents out. "Oy! Celt what do you think you're doing?!" he bared at her. "You will let her go Oswald." Finan ordered from behind him. "My apologies Finan. This child here is trouble." the guard sighed and let her go. "No denying that." Finan too his hand off his sword. The danger passed. Liliwen filled the cup with water nodded at Finan to follow her and the two hurried towards the kitchen. Heating the water she quickly prepared the plants Finan hands were slapped away after he offered assistance. Once the hot liquid was prepared they hurried off to the Tarian lay in. "Mother of Jesus the devil has taken her." Finan gasped as they opened the door to Tarian's bedchamber they found her convulsing on the bed. "No Finan just the poison." The healer replied. He and Osferth held her body as still they could Aethflead's lady held Tarian's head up and a metal rod in her mouth-so she wouldn't swallow her tongue-she explained. Liliwen seemingly unfazed tugged at Finan made the motion to for Tarian to drink the liquid. Finan got on the bed beside her removing the rod quickly he tipped the liqid down her throat. Seconds later Tarian spat it out still seizing her her eyes rolled to the back of her head he had never scene anything like it. Danes didn't use poison-did they? He looked to Liliwen who signalled for him to try again-the whole cup. She got on the bed beside him rubbed Tarian's mangled red hair and sang a song in her native tongue as Finan tipped the liquid back into her mouth. Whether it was the liquid or the soothing melody of a child it worked. The seizing slowed then stopped altogether. The healer and lady pulled up the covers again to cover he modesty and when the healer said she would need to be watched Finan volunteered. He knew this brave child of the forest was going nowhere. And neither was he.

@geekandbooknerd

#the last kingdom #finan the agile #FinanxOC #of love and war #fanfiction #Mercia #aethelflead #uthred #saxon #dane #celt

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godkilller · 6 years ago

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[ Do you think that Gin, due to having not had his mother in his life to raise him to be understanding of the social norms and etiquettes that people follow, that he had to, in a sense, raise himself with the turmoils and harshness of the world that he had to live in? In a sense, he was raised by "mother nature", and mother nature certainly isn't the best mother for children to grow up learning from. Do you think that Gin's slightly 'creepy' ways of expressing himself and his emotions are 1/2 ]

[ this fact? For example, he was never taught about emotions like love and hate, and about things like personal space and social etiquette, so he came up with some warped sense of them as a child which influenced how he would act about things in future (his plot to kill Aizen, his love for Rangiku, his constant Duchenne grin, and his constant toying about with characters like Rukia and Ichigo). Could it also be why he was able to kill without any remorse when he was only a child as well? ]

I have to start this off with a thank you–because I’m really not accustomed to followers / people outside of my immediate roleplay circle being engaged with the content I post. It’s extremely exciting! You raise some good theories, too, friendo!

It’s important to note that Shinigami / souls, once they’re reincarnated within Soul Society, the Rukongai, etc., they have no memories of their previous life. Gin cannot recall his mother from when he was human, nor will he know of the loss of her somewhere deep down in his heart. Souls are cleansed in their passage to Soul Society, and in the general scheme of reincarnation—-so Gin’s inner workings can’t be attributed to the lack of his mother or a mother-like figure, because he’d be unaware that he was lacking anything of that nature.

That’s where I’ll start: simple unawareness. Gin’s seen helping out a collapsed Rangiku by the side of a beaten up dirt path. There’s no one else around, which assumes that he was well-past the outskirts of any nearby village. Gin did not, also, seem to be lost or wandering. It’s important to note that, because it means Gin prior to meeting Rangiku had minimal interactions with others—-he lived an outcast’s life, most likely akin to how Aizen, too, was completely alone during his days in the Rukongai. He’s not aware that his life could be anything different. Beyond the merchants in which Gin likely stole from to get by, Gin did not have anyone that knew his name.

It’s even implied, just by the sheer simplicity of his name’s meaning, that Gin named himself one day—-a boy, nameless, wandering the woods, looking into a moonlit pond or creek’s reflection, finally sees that yes, I’m silver. This name could have been with him since his rebirth within the Rukongai, but it’s unlikely. This further implies that Gin had absolutely nobody in his life before he met Rangiku.

Meeting Rangiku, and immediately helping her before he even knew her name (or she knew his) also gives us insight that as a child Gin instinctively wants to help others. He was not taught that, he naturally wished to share his rare and prized favorite snack not because someone told him he should, but because he wanted to. It is with Rangiku that Gin shows his seemingly first sign of compassion. It is also the moment he ceases being a child, and becomes instead a caretaker.

We don’t know where Rangiku was before, but she looked far worse for wear when she was initially picked up by Gin off that pathway. Her clothes were torn and dirty and she looked malnourished, though that could have been due to the men attacking her to steal part of her soul for Aizen’s Hogyoku. Back to the malnourishment, however—-it’s a theme, like with Rukia and Renji’s past in the Rukongai; children with power tend to starve. Rangiku likely was starving for a while but simply didn’t understand why (that she had power) because Gin’s offering of food (that it’d help her) seemed to surprise / confuse her.

This also implies that Gin, in some way before meeting her, already knew he had power within him, and how to also handle that power.

It’s said that Rangiku, even after meeting Gin, had severe PTSD-esque episodes of absolute sobbing concerning those men, what was taken from her, and it bothered Gin to his core—-enough to motivate him to, on sight, condemn the men he recognized gathered around Aizen in the middle of the night—-and to also ultimately condemn Aizen himself. This wrathful anger towards those who wronged his newly acquired friend was born from mere months, not even, of knowing the girl—-Gin, by nature, seemed to harbor strong loyalty, dedication, and brutal protectiveness. This implies that Gin, again, knew no one else before Rangiku. She is his first complete connection with another–and she’s his age, which is important to note too because over the span of his life Gin seems to be surrounded by people far older than him.

Growing up in the Rukongai isn’t easy. We have multiple character backstories stemming from the hardships presented in those often run-down villages. Any time we’ve seen child!Gin, he’s alone in a vast wasteland, or alone in the forest, or alone, and then there’s Rangiku. Alone, and then there’s Aizen. Gin didn’t need to know about Aizen, be ‘tainted’ by Aizen, to construct his own murderous plot for him, for the men involved with hurting Rangiku—-no, Gin had already carried out multiple killings before he introduced himself to Aizen that night. There can be a case for it being due to Gin raising himself, raising himself and taking care of Rangiku—-there’s no denying that children taking care of themselves is taxing enough on their cognitive development, as well as all things psychological. Gin has a twisted concept of ‘play’ and it shows.

Gin’s first parental / adult authority figure in his life is also simultaneously someone he harbors the deepest pits of wrathful hate for, so even then there’s a stripped-bare concept of parenting present, if at all, between them. I cannot begin to stress the effects such a dynamic can have on a child’s mind—-Gin will never be put into a position where he’ll feel it’s safe to ask an adult for help purely because of his absolute distrust, dislike, of Aizen as his primary adult figure in his life. Why show him any vulnerability, why give him an unwanted advantage? It’s around that time where Gin completely shuts himself off and hunkers down for his overall goal of plucking back Rangiku’s soul piece and shoving a blade through Aizen’s heart.

Dark stuff for a kid to think about.

In the Academy for Shinigami, Gin was surrounded by adult students, or at least older teen-equivalents, and graduated within one single year–breaking all records–to immediately place himself as a Third Seat in the Fifth Division. On the educational front; sure, Gin’s a genius, he didn’t need to complete those other years. He blew through with flying colors. But socialization got completely bypassed. All Gin needed to do was study, practice, train, for all of what… 8-9 months? Easy enough to seclude himself to all but Rangiku, that’s how he grew up to begin with. So not only has Gin avoided socializing with others during the Rukongai days, he’s also set himself up to not make a single Academy friend. He’s instantly scooped up by Aizen, and it’s right to closing up shop for never making another meaningful connection.

It’s said in one of the character books (I can’t remember what exactly) that Gin enjoys people-watching, he prefers the sidelines to observe others. This can be a nod to the fact that the lil fast-learning kid had to watch others to recognize what was appropriate. From properly dressing himself to how to clean his blade after a messy kill—-Gin learned almost everything surrounding behavior via observation, and his own conclusions brought on from those observations. So whilst mother nature indeed did some raising of Gin in the harshness of the Rukongai, Gin for the most part raised himself. He taught himself, he cared for himself, and he did so while also taking on Rangiku, making sure she had nice clothes, good food, a roof over her head, and protection via vowing to become a Shinigami—-for her, “so that you don’t haveta cry anymore.”

People who miss out on socialization during their younger years will struggle to make connections in their adult lives. Gin cannot fathom caring beyond a furrowed brow for the woes of strangers. The only times he will care for completely new faces is if they carry a trait that reminds him of someone he does care about. Things need to be easily translatable for him, easily relatable, for Gin to consider caring. It never served him as a child to care about the merchant who threw rocks at him for grabbing a piece of bread, it never served him to wonder about the other Shinigami’s feelings as he beat them to death for hurting Rangiku. It never occurred to him to think about the previous Third Seat’s family as he cut him down.

It’s not that he kills with no remorse, however. It’s that he kills with no remorse for the victim he has killed. Gin canonly is aware of and mourns the wrongness he’s committed in relation to Rangiku. So he doesn’t think of them, the victim, and if there had been a time where he did it was swiftly snuffed out by Aizen. Aizen, ultimately, filled any and all holes that Gin’s parenting of himself left behind. To me, Aizen indeed raised Gin into the man he became, but the foundation on which Aizen built his perfect traitor was already geared towards terrible things. If anything, Aizen simply enabled Gin to go further, fall harder, delve deeper—-he gave him the resources, the knowledge (even through mere observation) on how to become the monster his snake speech boasts of. Aizen wanted Gin to become a certain chess piece capable of immense cruelty, power, and Gin too wanted that same outcome. It was easy enough, at that point, to fit such a mold.

Gin seemed to gravitate his worst teasings towards Rukia, who at the time held within her the Hogyoku, an incomplete structure of everything Aizen desired to feed to his own. Therefore, the animosity between them was mutual. Rukia’s strong dislike is also, in flashbacks, countered by the fact that Byakuya never was bothered by Gin in their short little chats. Rukia didn’t like Gin because of his reiatsu, his presence. Gin didn’t like Rukia for the fact that Urahara / Aizen were both using her as a Hogyoku storage unit. To him, she was blissfully unaware of how helpful she was being to them both. Him teasing her on the bridge can, to some extent, be attributed to the fact that Gin knew she was about to fall into Aizen’s hands. The thought of saying “I could stop all of this, save all of you, right now” was too heavy to keep to himself. A cruel offering that needed to be immediately removed from the board.

Gin’s testing (and in some perspectives bullying) of Ichigo in their second fight within fake Karakura Town was hardly out of pure cruelty. Gin needed to know Ichigo’s resolve to stop Aizen, he needed to know that the kid was ready—-and at the realization that he wasn’t? He needed to kick his ass into gear so that he at the very least tried his damn best to stop Aizen from winning. Gin knew that if he failed and Aizen continued on with his plot, Ichigo would be the only one standing in his way. Never shooting or slicing at a vital, Gin hardly even wounded Ichigo beyond shattering his Hollow mask and saying some viciously blunt words. A messed up version of a pep-talk, but it readied the kid enough to realize he needed to reevaluate himself. Perhaps it assisted in simmering his recklessness, his near-arrogance in believing he could simply chop away at Aizen until he was down for the count. Gin passed on the same cruel reality that he himself would go through within the next two hours following their altercation; pure futility—-that sometimes… you just can’t win.

#conqueringfortitude #[ headcanon ] fresh snowfall; fading footprints mark his path #i rambled here but!!! thanks so much for the ask!!#great question and i hope i made sense in answering it :^)

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