#clock zero a second from ruin

[yuisdad]

CLOCK ZERO ~Shuen no Ichibyo~ Beautiful World

[screamforyani]

addicted to your body

wc. 787

requested

the bed creaked like shabby, run-down stairs, with a rhythm in step with the wet, resounding squelch whenever your bodies met. your hands were praised flat against ethan’s chest and you couldn’t feel your thighs. the view below you was to die for, your vision panning from your boyfriend’s abs to his chest to the ecstasy tensing his features.

it hadn’t always been like this, in spite of how tempting that would’ve been to believe. only weeks ago your relationship chiefly consisted of intertwining fingers and exchanging cheesy love confessions - bumping noses and locking lips with or without a crowd. you drove your friends mad with how clingy the two of you were.

but there was a shift one day. ethan had let slip that he was a virgin, a overshare your friends thankfully paid no mind to, but it consumed your whole mind for the rest of that day until you later brought it up to him privately and blurted that you, too, were a virgin. 

the solution was obvious. you would take each other’s virginities. so, that was what you did. 

and neither of you could keep your hands to yourselves ever since.

“shit, baby, you squeeze me so - fuck good,” ethan moaned, hands to your waist. “keep riding me like that.”

“who knew you had such… a dirty mouth,” you panted, feeling the sweat rolling down your back. 

ethan’s eyes were glued to your glistening tits, golden sweat collecting at your skin. they bounced with your movements, much like the rest of you, and ethan was in complete awe. you never failed to mesmerize him, like you were a fucking deity.

“i didn’t,” ethan chirped through thick breaths. “not until i met you.”

you giggled breathlessly, leaning over to press a kiss to his mouth at his cheesiness. your whole body was aflame with warmth, sparks spreading throughout your body like wildfire. you knew that you were on the brink on your nth orgasm today (you’d lost count) and you wanted to do it with ethan. 

“cum with me,” you whispered, slipping your fingers through his.

ethan’s head felt scrambled, like murky water, discombobulated with thoughts of you running haywire through his mind. he was nodding, his euphoric sounds blending with that of the headboard against the wall and the loud slap when your hips touched, again and again.

ethan made the sweetest, most delicious sound you’d ever heard when he came, fingers holding onto you with a bruising grip, almost like he was going to break you. his whole body felt alive, and with how you tightened around him with climax, throwing your head back as your lips parted in a cry of his name, all ethan could think about was how if he died right now, he would have zero regrets.

you took your time to slip off of ethan, just taking your time to observe in amusement how you’d absolutely ruined each other, and once you did he went to discard the condom beside his nightstand.

then, when he caught a glimpse of the clock on his bedside table, he immediately sat up and reached for his shirt. “shit,” he mumbled, fumbling with his clothes.

you blinked. “what?”

“the group,” ethan said, glancing around for his pants. jesus, where the hell did you throw them? “the fucking core four or whatever chad calls them. they’re supposed to be here, remember?”

“shit,” you hissed. “we lost track of time.”

it took you a good five minutes to locate your clothes and redress yourselves in them, but once you did, you slipped out of his bedroom with your fingers predictably locked with ethan’s.

“there you two go,” chad said when he saw you enter the living room with your boyfriend. “i thought you guys would never stop clapping.”

“weren’t you guys fucking, like, this morning?” tara asked. “i came by earlier to drop off chad’s jacket and for a second i thought ethan forgot to close his pornhub browser, but then i was like nope, that’s definitely ethan.”

ethan, blushing, bashfully slips behind you. which, given his height, doesn’t do much to help hide him, but he crouches down a little. you, on the other hand, giggle and roll your eyes. “what can i say, tara? ethan has a problem and i solve it. and vice versa.”

mindy pretended like she was going to throw up. “i miss when i wanted to gag because you guys wouldn’t stop making wet kissing noises and not because-”

“can we please change the topic,” ethan said, still cowering behind you. 

you snickered and leaned into him, whispering for his ears alone, “weren’t this shy when you were buried balls deep in me, were you?”

ethan flushed.

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Part one here

Mini part two 💕

💕

Ever since Eddie left the new copy of The Hobbit in your locker, you've been desperate to speak to him. There's a deep longing inside of you to see your friends again, to feel like you belong instead of constant shit from a certain asshole named Jason.

Maybe you could try and talk to Eddie after school? If he didn't hate you then maybe there was some way your friendship could be salvaged after all.

But like most days this week you almost work up the courage to approach him when he's heading to Hellfire but chicken out at the last minute.

Maybe some small part of you was scared that he would turn around and reject you.

"Aww, are you eyeing up the freak huh? Keep that shit up and I'll gladly ruin you and make sure you end up back with those weirdos" oh fuck. Not this again, you didn't even hear Jason sneak up behind you.

"Eddie is not a freak. Fuck you Jason, you don't tell me what to do. Got it and I'm dam good at cheerleading so if you don't like it then tough shit" You move past him but he grabs your arm and squeezes tight, applies the pressure so you wince, struggling against him.

"Listen to me you little bitch. You're nothing" he sneers down at you then pushes you away, you slam into the locker and feel yourself shaking. You're torn between absolute fury and anxiousness.

Jason walks away by this point, you don't know who to turn to. You need someone right now but Chrissy is off sick and while the rest of the cheer team is nice, you know a few of them would tattle back to Jason.

The clock above you has just past six thirty fifteen pm and there's a small feeling of hope growing inside you as you know exactly where you could go.

Somewhere that felt like home.

💕

Eddie is completely lost in the campaign when you nervously head inside and is weaving an intricate, fantastic tale that helps you forget your own problems for a few minutes.

Grant notices you first and waves at you, Eddie passes and then his eyes meet yours. The rest of the words die in his throat.

"Hi, I'm sorry for interrupting. I just didn't have anywhere else to go" you realize you're still shaking and Eddie stiffens.

"Why are you crying? Shit, uh. Take five guys and we'll resume" one look from Eddie silences any arguments and he walks over to you, takes in your tears and his eyes zero in on the rapidly forming bruise on your arm.

"Who did this?" his voice is deathly calm but you can feel the rage simmering below the surface. "Was it that dickhead Carver again?" you nod sadly.

"I stood my ground but he was relentless, just a bullying asshole. I'm tired of him making me feel like I don't belong with the cheer team, I'm tired of feeling lost"

He softens and jerks his head to the others, "Come on. We've just started and I'm sure you'll love this session. That's if you want to stay?" he says this sounding almost shy, it's kinda cute.

"Of course I want to stay" you murmur and he beams, all dimples and elation.

Unbeknownst to you Eddie was planning on how to get revenge on Carver. This was the second time in a week that you had been crying over him.

Eddie didn't like that, he didn't like it one bit and he was going to make sure that butthead Carver paid for it.

[purplerakath]

Descendants 4 - Improving the Ending

I had some SUDDEN INSPIRATION and decided to write it out as an answer to the pretty lackluster ending the film had. There are, all told, about three things I really think stand out to why the ending is bad.

...but of course this is all spoilers so let's just clip this now, shall we?

So the items are:

A lack of visible stakes.

A lack of impact from the protagonists.

A misuse of characters already present.

So the stakes overall are 'if Bridget goes evil Brandy gets beheaded' but that's not really an in-the-past stake to weigh on. We need to see events unfold and be there for what happens. And a lot of elements are already in the narrative, they just don't use any of them (and I would imagine they were used in a previous draft).

Step Zero: Set-up

So to start, either through flashback, storytelling, or using the Looking Glass, we need to see if not the prank, we need to see Bridget right after the prank. When she's gone from pink and bubbly to 'red with blood.'

Likely her rejecting Ella. But we need some baseline of what Bridget looks like when she's turning into the Queen of Hearts. if we see the actual prank or not doesn't really matter. But we need to let Ruby Rose Turner play the evil version for a little bit.

Step One: Castlecoming

So to start off, we need to move the 'prevent prank' from Merlin's office to the actual event in question. The actual ticking clock on events unfolding. We keep that Ella promised to go with Bridget, but can't due to being grounded.

Except she can thanks to Fay breaking her out and enchanting her a disguise. This is our first set-up/payoff we didn't get. Fay who shows up at the start failing at magic (who probably needs a second appearance still working at it, and maybe a scene being bolstered up on her abilities) succeeds where it counts.

The disguise fails to fool Uliana. Who uses it to taunt Bridget by suggesting her best friend ditched her for Prince Charming. This puts Bridget in a weaker mental state so that the fallout from the prank can truly hurt her. While Uliana is setting up for Bridget's downfall, her minions are running interference.

Step Two: Swordfights

Chloe and Red are trying to get to Bridget and protect her from Uliana's plan (which for the sake of it doesn't matter, I am keeping as 'potion to make monstrous'). However we've got these four pretty flunkies in Maly, Hades, Morgie, and Hook. Who know that Red and Chloe might be a problem and are there to keep them busy.

This pays off Hook's flirting with Chloe giving them a good swordfight. While Morgie is Red's opponent in a cat and mouse eventually getting him trapped somewhere. These two fights should be shorter, and mostly fun for Morgie being weird and Hook flirting shamlessly for no actual gain.

The real fight is with Maly and Hades. Which is where we get Chloe's moment of growth. See, the set-up for her is rules, honor, and fair play. I want her to win by cheating. She does the right thing, but using the wrong methods. Because the right thing is more important than her honor. Paying off her scene with Ella.

While this is happening Red's scampered off to go save her mom.

Step Three: Pranks and Fallout

When the plot was revealed, before watching, I figured it wasn't an act of cruelty that turned Bridget, but an act of betrayal. That someone close to her failed her so spectacularly she lost faith in others. I'm not working that in exactly, but using the other half of pranks and bullying to make it work.

A cruel person doing a cruel thing hurts. Everyone else laughing hurts worse. So the problem isn't the prank, it's that the rest of the students don't call Uliana out for it. In this case, with Ella MIA because of her Debatably Charming prince we're left with a Bridget facing the school that's against her.

(In this case I'm leaning on them blaming monstrous Bridget for ruining Castlecoming rather than laughing at her misfortune. It feels more in line with where Bridget goes without any help.)

So Red, who arrived too late to stop the prank (pranks being basically what she does to her mom every day with her vandalism) watches, sees the fallout... and stands up for her mother the way she wished her mother would stand up for her.

Because Bridget, unlike her Queen of Hearts, does not deserve this crap. And Red lays into the onlooking students and shames them for their callous disregard of others. Calling everyone out. Guilting the lot of them into shutting up and leaving Bridget alone.

And that's how Red earns her new timeline. Bridget giving Red a hug, thanking her for standing up when nobody else did.

Uliana and the other VKs get detention forever from Merlin. Chloe arrives after everything with her mom and dad. Ella checks on Bridget, Bridget is not okay. But things aren't playing the same way they did in Step Zero. Something has changed.

Step Four: Doubt

While our girls know they changed things. There must be some lingering concern it might not be enough. Even if we got to see them fight their hardest to change the past. It's important that we have the full surprise of how things go after.

The other thing, is both Queen of Hearts and Queen Cinderella need to show some sign of recognizing their girls in the present. Either directly thanking them, or causally mentioning they were named after themselves.

Anything to sell time travel happened.

Step Five: ???? & Step Six: Profit!

This wouldn't make it a perfect movie by any stretch, but it would significantly improve things from where they are. Make the ending feel real. Make it feel earned.

Let Anthony Pyatt own being Hades for more scenes. Cause that guy really did his homework mimicking Cheyenne Jackson.

You know. Just the important parts.

[lakesbian]

okay so 2.8. overall thoughts on rachel's introduction.

rachel not wanting a fifth person to join the team is ostensibly about the money she would lose from it, but it's more importantly about the fact that, as a disabled girl deeply unwanted by society, she has absolutely no trust in people. she can tolerate brian, lisa, and alec for the sake of the security and stability, but she doesn't trust them beyond the bare minimum. a strange person being brought into her house is deeply scary. she's used to every single new person she meets being a threat, someone with motives she can't read expecting her to operate based on arbitrary rules she can't understand. and because she has been taught that the only way to keep herself safe is to hurt people before they can hurt her (everyone will always want to hurt her), her immediate reaction to taylor Being There is to sic her dogs on taylor with hopes of scaring her off & securing her environment again. rachel autism lindt <3

brian is the second person we see breaking out the not-so-repressed violence and anger in this scene. he clocks rachel in the face, he says

“I fucking hate it,” Brian growled at the girl, putting emphasis on the swear, “When you make me do that.”

and he does some yelling about God Fucking Dammit. i think the crux of brian is that he consciously fervently does not want to be like his abusive stepfather, but the only alternative he's been taught was by his father...who is, unbeknownst to brian, also abusive. he's been taught that masculinity = good + mandatory and strength = masculine. his vision for himself as a Good Man who Takes The Lead and Cares For People involves stifling his 'weak' emotions and running himself ragged. he's not even very good at repressing himself compared to the other undersiders, so he's prone to outbursts like this sometimes--where, regardless of whether or not the violence he's engaging in is rationally justifiable, it's immensely charged w/ undertones of reminding him of exactly who he wants to avoid being.

it is Fully Understandable why, as a 17yo w/ zero training in conflict deescalation, the only way he can think to solve the matter of rachel violently siccing her dogs on someone is socking her. but "i fucking hate it when you make me do that" is still eerily reminiscent of some things his abusive stepfather has likely said to him before. he doesn't Want to be like that, but he doesn't know how to let himself be anything other than that.

(this situation w/ rachel and taylor sucks for him, ftr. he was so genuinely elated that he'd Acted Normal Enough to snap up this cool addition to the team, a girl with a good power who actively thinks along the exact same rational lines as him. which is important, because he needs the undersiders to succeed so that he can care for aisha like he feels he needs to. and then rachel busts in ruins what he's viewing as this great success by attacking taylor to drive her off. brian laborns bad day. rachel lindts bad day. tayor heberts bad day. lisa wilbourns deeply stressful day. alec vasils depression slump day.)

AND we get to watch taylor be violent and angry as well. that one is very simple there's not much to say about it. she's full of violent repressed anger (it's why she imagines beating the shit out of emma & co when she's being bullied in the halls prior to meeting the undersiders again), she usually holds it back because she recognizes that it would just cause the system to fuck her over more in the long-run, and here she realizes that there's no consequence of fighting back and proceeds to whale on rachel.

(i think that the reason she's primarily violent with her own human body here instead of w/ the bugs is because her usage of the bugs is frequently a form of dissociation--and here, rather than having to dissociate her way thru a violent situation, she's finally allowed to confront it head on and fight back w/ hands and feet As Herself. sucks and traumatizing to be attacked by dogs, but cathartic to be able to fight back.)

meanwhile: lisa is presumably vividly imagining slamming her own head into a brick wall and alec (badly depressed, seen far worse) doesnt even care with all the shit he's got going on

[puhpandas]

I still see fans use the glamrocks dismantlings against greg! which is crazy cuz the game makes us do it and we’re never faced with an alternative ever. It’s not like greg was presented with a faz wrench, realized he could reboot the bots, then turn around and said nahh. He had maybe 3-4 hours left on the clock and I doubt any kid could make a plan to reboot 3 violent robots while also worrying about vanny within that amount of time

Their dismantlings, while sad in ruin, feels like a cheap attempt at glamrock angst when the glamrock angst should’ve been focused on how FE treats/neglects their robots. Why are we blaming the child over the greed/carelessness of men that put him, and everyone else, in that situation? Sotm better pull through and show how evil big corporations are so fans can parallel it with FE smh

YEAH I've actually never really thought about that second part. I think that's actually why I was so miffed by it in ruin and it didnt hit, and I love the glamrocks so it really should have!! it felt too cheap and thrown in, like there wasnt any buildup. and jtop literally SAID in the john interview that they put in chicas rebeakening as fan service to be able to feel that satisfaction at fixing her. he pretty blatantly either said or implied idk which but pretty sure it's the former that it was so you could fix what Gregory had done, which is. kind of strange

I understand it from an outside player perspective, bc it's like everybody felt bad breaking them, but I feel like this wasnt the way to go about it, especially because Gregory himself was not even involved when they were being fixed. theres nothing about the actual situation being expanded upon, just one part being put back into place by the "kind" child to fix what the "other" child had done

I think that's why I was miffed by cassie and roxys relationship too and it didnt hit like Gregory and freddys. it felt so sanitized, like, the whole point of roxy is that she isnt at all what a perfect character for the brand would be like and shes insecure and mean and lashes out, but then as soon as cassie finds her under the forklift shes suddenly back to being a soulless entertainer robot that's nothing but kind? her voice acting LITERALLY turns robotic!! it's like her entire personality was stripped away for her to be more likeable, even if that wasnt the intention, and it just didnt make it feel genuine

that's what it feels like with 'fixing' chica too. theres no real genuineness to it, it's just slapping a bandaid on it and not talking about what really matters about the situation. PLUS in the process it just paints Gregory who's already in an atrocious light from another event from the exact same game in an even worse light, especially with how jtop implied it in the interview that he was the "bad" to Cassies "good".

it feels like less to actually make you care or think about chica being sentient trapped in this building and broken and STILL under the virus and just. heres a bandaid, hope you guys feel better about (gregory) breaking them! isnt cassie a sweetheart for doing this? (theres an unlike unsaid there)

no hate to cassie or anything /gen. I have zero problem with her, it's just how it all as a whole was handled. this feels like a mistake theyve been making a lot recently with focusing on the wrong things. not focusing on the sentient Fazbear ent characters and how they each dont fit into their boxes for one reason or another and instead just the "look roxy and cassie are friends and shes back to acting like her animatronic performer self and now you as the player get to experience satisfaction but nothing about the situation actually changes". it's like this with mimic too, where they keep focusing on the boring mortal parts of mimic of it just being an old ass rusty robot instead of the glitchtrap AI virus parts of it, which are the actual dangerous scary parts that make it feel powerful and hard to beat in any capacity

ur so right about the Fazbear ent stuff not being focused on enough, especially since it's one of the most prominent amazing storylines in sb!! Bonnie in ruin should have served that, but it didn't, it just added more kindle to the fire in our own minds to make the story better. they didnt actually talk about the implications of bonnie being there and dead and phased out but it's there. the implication is good enough I guess, but it's just another thing about how it could have been expanded upon. like cassie could have had a little dialogue putting it into perspective like "omg he was here the whole time? it looked like someone killed him! it's so unfair that they just phased him out like that :(" or something then boom, makes the player think about it

ur so right about all the things u said in ur ask about the "glamrock angst" instead of focusing on the actual sad parts of their story that are AMAZING. especially since they're framing them being broken as the most terrible worst thing to ever happen to them and the ONLY bad thing when it was done by Gregory and not the mistreatment and abuse from Fazbear ent that made Freddy abandon the place (bc of bonnie) which was done BY the company. its framing Gregory as being the bad one twice in the same game when he didnt need another player while Fazbear ent, who is already the culprit of the glamrocks story that isnt expanded upon enough, isnt emphasized so players only focus on Gregory breaking them as being their worst fates

[waheelawhisperer]

Slogged through V9E6, thoughts are under the cut

As always, I am worried that Jaune’s arrival means he’s going to start sucking focus away from the other characters again. Here’s hoping the writers remember he’s best used as a supporting character.

Jaune why did you grab the weird thing that looks like a clock what did you think was going to happen

Don't touch weird shit you idiot it's like rule #1

I hate the Ever After so much

So did he just sit there for years until he got DILFed? Lmao.

I'm sure this change will have long-lasting ramifications for both Jaune's characterization and the narrative as a whole.

Well, this was a wonderful, touching moment until it was immediately ruined by Weiss’s daddy kink

Like seriously who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have Jaune admit that he’d gone through a horribly traumatic experience and been incredibly lonely for what’s indicated to be literally decades based on his physical changes and then have Weiss immediately start thirsting for him like we literally see his eyes watering and then not seven seconds later Weiss is looking at him with do-me eyes

These writers genuinely have zero understanding of tone or how to set and maintain it effectively it’s amazing it's like they watched the MCU and the only lesson they took away from it was that every moment that might possibly have any kind of emotional impact needs to be undermined by a snappy quip as quickly as possible because otherwise someone might make the mistake of assuming your show is sincere about anything

Anyway girliepop’s showing her whole ass right now way to keep your fetish under wraps Weiss

Yang’s looking at her like “I know what you are”

Nice try Yang like I didn’t see you eyeing up Jaune too feast on the crumbs my fellow pan Yang truthers

Miles is genuinely never beating the “Jaune is a self-insert” allegations holy shit

Like if you want people to believe that the character you voice, who's received a disproportionate amount of narrative focus throughout the series already and has received repeated criticism for it, who's already been presented as attractive on at least one occasion, isn't a self-insert, maybe don't have one of the mains openly thirsting after him once you've written an excuse for him to be aged up so that he's both closer to your age and significantly older than she is after you've already posed for a picture with a body pillow of an underage girl from the show you write for and your coworker has posted that picture online with the caption "She's still only 16, don't get too comfortable". Like maybe consider the optics for 5 seconds. It'd be 5 seconds longer than you typically think through your writing choices, at any rate.

Wow, finally someone is engaging with the fall of Atlas, Team RWBY’s part in it, and the ramifications of both the previous things. Only took half the fucking Volume.

I actually like the pretty distinct perspectives and the conflict between Weiss and Blow. Weiss is the one who has the most reason to be attached with Atlas and Blow has the most reason to feel negatively about that Kingdom, so having them be the ones arguing here is a good choice.

Yeah, Weiss, you did fail, but it wasn’t just you. Most of the blame rests on the shoulders of Ironwood and these dumbass fucking writers.

That said, you guys didn’t exactly pass your trials with flying colors.

Good point, Ruby.

Yang is the first one to engage with Ruby’s distress again, even if she’s not exactly on the money here either in terms of her actual position on Ironwood or how to help Ruby.

I feel like this is one of the few moments of actual substance we've gotten this Volume and I really wish we'd spent more time digging into it. Unfortunately, He-Jaune, Master of the Universe, cuts it short. Not a fan of that choice unless we pick this up again at a later date.

He-Man’s a little bit of a jerk. Interesting. I kinda want to see where this goes.

He also doesn’t seem to like the Cat. He gets points for that.

He-Man, Master of the Jauniverse, does not want them going to the Tree. Given what apparently happened to the Herbalist, this implies something sinister about the Tree and Ascension.

You read my mind, Weiss.

Jaune has a very different perspective on Ascension than the Cat. On the one hand, the Cat is a denizen of the Ever After and probably knows more about how it works than Jaune does. On the other hand, Jaune is far more inherently trustworthy as a character we’ve known for 8+ Volumes, whereas the Cat is sinister as fuck. They've been creeping me out since their introduction.

Once again, Ascension is equated with death – you lose your memories, lose who you are. Whatever you used to be is gone.

Good pun, Yang.

Who the fuck is Lewis?

Oh, wonderful, Alyx had a brother. An irrelevant character had another irrelevant character to hang out with. Can we please stop expanding the cast?

Go off, Weiss (and Yang)

What the fuck did the Cat just do

I love you Weiss. There really is just no end to the Ever After’s bullshit, is there?

Where the hell are Blow and Yang?

You walked right into that one, Weiss.

Love how He-Man’s just done with everything. I am too, buddy, I am too.

Here it comes, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Maybe we’ll get something decent out of this Volume after all.

YOU GUYS CAN LITERALLY DOUBLE JUMP WHY DOES EVERY SCENE IN THIS VOLUME THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE COMBAT INSIST ON FORGETTING THAT THE CHARACTERS HAVE MOBILITY TOOLS

I could cross that shit and I don’t even have superpowers

You have perfectly good ropes right there

Yes I get that it’s a metaphor for taking the next step in their relationship blah blah blah but the metaphor is shit

This Volume really likes presenting challenges as insurmountable when Team RWBY has regularly handled far more difficult ones it keeps breaking my willing suspension of disbelief

I'm normally pretty willing to buy into what a show is going for but I just can't do it for this Volume

Was that Summer in the reflection?

Looks like the reflections show everyone’s issues – Summer for Ruby, Penny for Jaune, Atlas for Weiss

Oh, so Alyx was a little shitter, huh? I’m sure there’s nothing negative about the choice to portray a (female) character of color this way, especially in a show known for being racist produced by a company known for being racist.

Okay yeah Jaune you probably fucked up here trying to railroad her into the book’s storyline. Somebody’s never played D&D before and it shows

Poor guy’s really hurting though, can’t blame him for feeling like a failure

I’d like the show to unpack all this but I don’t even trust it to handle Team RWBY’s issues (or even address them in a meaningful way) so we’ll see

I feel like we have to take everything Jaune says about the Cat and the Tree and the Ever After with a grain of salt, but the Cat is genuinely creepy as shit, so I feel like there’s some validity to this, at least.

So Jaune thinks the Cat fed Lewis to the Tree. Is he right? Who the fuck knows?

But it does set up some sinister implications about the Tree, the Cat, and the nature of the Ever After. If the Tree’s not an option, how does the gang get home?

I get the feeling that Jaune is at least partially wrong about how the Tree works, but what he's saying makes sense based on what he knows.

Yang you fucking dork

Anyway if Blow has a really good brain it’d be nice to see more examples of it beyond “she’s the bookworm”, I’m sure setting her own house on fire was a great demonstration of intelligence. I feel like this is another indication that I’m right when I say that RWBY would’ve really benefited from another Beacon Volume to really build the relationships between the core cast that the show tries to convince us exist.

Also, Yang is smart even if Blow makes her brain turn to mush. She seems to have figured out the trick here. She sounds so sweet and sincere when she mentions liking Blow’s ears, though I feel like this is another instance where the show isn’t taking Blow’s status as a minority seriously, what with the potential elements of fetishization here. Still, I’ll try to go with the writing’s intent here.

Honestly it probably wouldn’t even bother me if this Volume hadn’t insisted on continually comparing Blow to a cat

You did, in fact, nail it, Yang. Such a fucking dork I love her

Okay, Blow, maybe you do have a really good brain after all. Again, would’ve been nice to establish this a bit earlier, but oh well.

Yang you fucking dork lmao

Damn, Blake went hard here. Yang went with the surface-level stuff and was probably expecting the same in return and Blake just started pouring her heart out. I love the way Yang’s eyes and face just softened the moment Blake said she was an extraordinary person. Girlie was not expecting that at all.

“I like that you’ve never been intimidated by me” BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yang she fucking flinches like a dog expecting to be beaten every time you raise your voice around her she’s the only one in your friend group who’s ever been intimidated by you even Jaune is fine around you and that boy’s afraid of his own shadow

Jk I lied the other abuse victim on your team also has negative reactions when you act aggressive

Anyway I guess we know why we got that line about Yang not being scary (even though she could be if she wants to) back in Episode 1.

Yang how are you missing with every line Blow gave up on Adam and the White Fang and that was a good thing because it let her escape his abuse hello?

Oh and she sure as hell gave up on Qrow and Ironwood when Qrow crawled into a bottle and Ironwood decided to raise Atlas, and she was literally the only person on her team who didn’t believe in Yang’s innocence when Cinder framed Yang during the Vytal Festival (guess who was ride or die for Yang in that moment? I'll give you a hint: her name starts with a W), and she ran away from her entire team when Weiss was racist for two episodes. Finding her was the whole fucking plot of the V1 finale. Like I’m not even arguing that she was wrong or unjustified for any of that but if you want her to be the one who never gives up on anyone then maybe fucking show her never giving up on anyone

Does Blake really know what matters to her, Yang? It sure as hell wasn’t Faunus rights during the Atlas Volumes.

That fucking lighting lmao

Just spit it out you idiots lets get this over with my expectations are dropping with every line

God Yang is such a fucking dork I genuinely love this for her it would’ve been so easy to make her the cocky flirty one all the time and they didn’t

For all my frustrations with this show I do genuinely like that.

I like how Yang hesitated a bit and didn’t quite commit but Blake went full-bore.

Oh my God it’s so sappy and cheesy and romantic

I can understand why people love it even if for me it crosses the line to narm like honestly this scene just feels ridiculous but that's just a personal taste thing, it feels too over-the-top for me but there's some charm to it as well

I feel a little bad for the Cat but honestly they strike me as manipulative more than anything

Every scene just gives me bad vibes

Damn, they were makin out, hands changed positions and everything

Nice little leg pop Blow

You and the fandom both, Jaune.

Kinda wonder when you figured it out though because you were not picking up on it in Volume 8 ("Ruby?" "Yeah... Ruby.")

Good to know the Bees thought confessing their feelings was more important than getting home or stopping Salem. I like both characters less every time they treat the Ever After as a vacation.

The little hand touch is cute though.

Okay, Ruby is not reacting well to the return of Crimson Rose, probably because it represents the burden of being a leader and a Huntress.

She's pushing her insecurities down again. That's gonna burst out sooner or later.

Jaune thinks Alyx traded Lewis to the Tree in order to leave. My guess is that either Jaune or Ruby tries to trade themselves to the Tree so the others can go home.

Damn, Ruby’s rejecting Crescent Rose pretty emphatically there.

Music is still forgettable I don’t think there’s been a single song that I’ve remembered a not of when it’s not actually playing for 6 whole episodes

Miles gave a solid performance here and so did whoever voices the Cat.

Okay, so, here it is: the scene we’ve all been waiting for since Volume 2 at the latest. The Bees are an item now, and it’s really obvious that it meant a lot to CRWBY. They put a lot of love into that scene, and it shows. Visually, it’s gorgeous, the voice actresses clearly put their hearts and souls into it, the music is meant to scream romance...

Unfortunately, I don’t like it. Perhaps this is just a nitpick on my end because I’m a stubborn ornery cantankerous bastard who hates being told what to do, but this confession doesn’t feel organic. It feels like they were forced into it by outside factors (the stupid fucking punderstorm that wouldn’t let them leave until they told each other their feelings. If I'd been in their place, I would've sat my stubborn Texan ass down and told that fucking weather condition that it could let me out right now or move along on its own time, but I'm staying right here until it does. Ain't no fuckin rain clouds gonna tell me what to do).

I don’t like that in and of itself, but it gets worse when you consider that both characters are A) queer and B) were only coded and not explicitly confirmed as queer within the show prior to this scene. It feels like two queer characters are being forced out of the closet, which would be bad enough on its own, but gets infinitely worse when the company behind the show named itself after a homophobic slur and then built a company culture around bullying and bigotry and the lead writer on the show has been openly biphobic and fetishized bi women in the past. Good job, morons, you managed to take a ship I’ve supported since the characters involved met in the Emerald Forest and make it feel gross to me. Between this and Blake’s jokes about Yang’s arm in Episode 2, I’m officially not a Bumbleby shipper anymore. You’ve fumbled the bag that badly. Please never hold a job in any creative industry again.

Overall rating: Horrendously Bad And Specifically Disappointing On Top Of That/10

Amazed that I can't definitively declare this a bottom three episode of the Volume because 3 of the 5 others I've watched so far were also this fucking bad. Truly an accomplishment.

Everything that wasn't Weiss's thirst for DILFs and the Bumbleby confession was okay (not amazing), but the writers fucked up so badly with the parts that sucked that they accomplished something incredible: they executed a scene I've been waiting for for ages so incompetently that I don't ship Bumbleby anymore.

[smolwritingchick]

Forced To Believe Chapter 70- Outsmarting The Architect

Chapter Summary: Things aren't what they seem as Seth continues to try to get into Morgan's head. Rosa and even Triple H begin to feel Morgan's wrath.

Words: 12,000+

Author's Note: OK last smol batch of chapters to hold you while I continue to work on my other story! Hope you like!

------

On Smackdown, Seth Rollins walks out in a black suit and his briefcase. The crowd heavily boos him as he flaunts his briefcase.

"Last Monday on Raw, I was seconds away from cashing in my Money in The Bank contract on John Cena. John, I got a message for you. You got lucky on Monday night. You got lucky but the clock is still ticking because, what was it? Not even 24 hours, into your 15th reign as champion and you were flat on your back...unconscious...in the center of this ring. In a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." He spoke. "Look at this face...look at this face, look at it real hard and get used to it. Because very soon, this will be the face of the WWE. Hah hah!"

Dean's theme comes on as he walks out, with a microphone in hand. Wearing a leather jacket, his shoulder was taped up.

"And there is the man that Seth Rollins stabbed in the back, last month," Cole reminded. "His former brother, Dean Ambrose. And Ambrose has not forgotten."

"An incredibly sore loser..." JBL mumbled.

"You're delusional, Rollins!" Dean stated. "You're talkin' crazy, you really gonna think you're gonna get your hands on those titles? No, no, not while I'm around. I warned you no matter where you are...no matter what you do, no matter how much of a plan you and your sugar daddy, Triple H, concocted...I'm gonna be there. Every time. I mean hey, how did your little championship plan work out for you?"

After they showed the highlights of Cena getting attacked by Kane and Rollins trying to cash in only for Ambrose to attack him, Seth looked annoyed at the footage.

"Watch that footage...watch that footage and watch it over and over and over again. Because that's your life for the next year. You think that briefcase is a blessing? No. That briefcase is a curse because it's every excuse I need to ruin your life. To ruin your future and to ruin that precious face of WWE." Dean declared as he took a few steps forward.

"Yeah? You think I care? You think I care if you show that video, over and over and over? Look I know you better than anybody. And I know you don't have what it takes to keep that up for a year," Rollins replied. "You got lucky on Monday night. You can't keep that up for a year. And you can't stop me from cashing in this contract, and becoming the next WWE World Heavyweight champion."

Dean walked down the ramp and took off his jacket. "Of course I can...I'll start, right now."

"Oh, here we go! Dean Ambrose has been waiting for this moment!" Cole exclaimed as the crowd cheered loudly.

Ambrose slides into the ring and Rollins swings his briefcase at him. Dean manages to duck his attack and starts unloading on him with frenzied punches.

"Rollins & Ambrose brawling to kick off Smackdown!"

The crowd boos once Orton runs out and beats Ambrose down. Seth recovers and starts to join in the assault by stomping on him. The crowd screams and cheers loudly once Roman's theme comes on with him running down the ramp. As soon as he slides in, Seth and Orton beat him down. Roman stands up and goes right after Orton, giving him a headbutt. He gives Seth and Orton back and forth punches until Rosa runs out.

"Another Authority goon..."

Rosa goes to ringside, in her Fourth of July outfit which is red waist high shorts, and a USA themed top. She manages to grab Roman's leg, preventing him from moving. Orton takes advantage and he hits him with a big boot to the face, beating him down with Rollins. The crowd cheers loudly once Morgan dashes down the ring in skinny jeans and a USA themed crop top while having her hair in a high pony tail. She had a USA themed cap on her head, along with USA themed fingerless gloves. Rosa turns around and gets speared, while Roman fights back and throws Seth to Dean, who starts unloading on him, in the corner. Rollins retreats, along with Orton, while Morgan gets in the ring.

"You broke my nail! You broke my nail!" Rosa screamed as she got held back by Orton.

She tries to get back in the ring, while Morgan throws her cap at her.

"You broke my nail! You see what you did!? You see what you did!? I had to pay a lot of money for this!" Rosa shouted.

Roman's theme comes back on, while he stands tall with Morgan and Dean. Roman glances back at her, and Ambrose, before watching The Authority goons retreat.

"And here comes the boss." Cole said over the loud boos while Triple H walked out.

"All right. Think you guys have made your point. So now let me make my point. And my point is the only one that matters. Dean Ambrose, you wanna fight? Well tonight you will get a fight when you face The Viper, Randy Orton. And Morgan, Roman...since you two like to stick your noses in everyone's business, if any of you interfere in that match tonight, Morgan, you'll never get a Diva's championship opportunity ever again, and Roman, you'll be out of the fatal four ­way match, at the BattleGround Pay Per View, for the WWE World Heavyweight championship." Triple H announced. "Good luck."

Morgan shook her head, rolling her eyes at the news, and turned to her comrades, asking if they were all right, while fist bumping them.

---------

Later that evening, Natalya, Nikki, Alicia, Cameron, Eva, Naomi, Layla, Summer, & Rosa were in the ring. The ring was decorated in a Fourth of July themed party. Some divas were dancing, while Rosa grabbed a mic to cut a promo on how all the women were invited except for the crazy ones like AJ, Paige, and Morgan. She received heavy boos as she proceeded to talk highly of herself but as she spoke, Morgan walked out without her music as Rosa remained oblivious.

"I would like to say that it feels great to be in a public place, without being around a Harley Quinn wannabe like Morgan, right?" Rosa chuckled as Morgan got in the ring, while the divas watched on.

The Philly Diva checked out the table of food and went for the punch. She took a cup of punch and leaned on the ropes. Taking a few sips she continued to watch Rosa rant to the crowd.

"We can have so much positive attitude with the divas, without being around negative attitudes like Morgan. This is the Fourth of July! So let's make it memorable!"

"Uh..." Cole trailed off.

"Yeah, uh, Rosa?" JBL asked as Morgan grabbed the punch bowl.

"Thank you, yes I know. I know. Thank you. I'm glad you agree with me. I'm glad you­—" Rosa began before Morgan poured punch on top of her head, making her drop the mic.

She shrieked and quickly turned around to see the Outspoken Diva laughing.

"Are you kidding me!?" She shouted but got shoved back into the table, making her butt land on the cake.

The divas laugh at her, while Alicia decides to defend her friend, by throwing a hamburger at the Outspoken Diva. Unfortunately, it hits Natalya instead, making some laugh at her.

"Uh oh. This is not going to end well." Cole warned.

Rosa gets off the cake and tries to throw a couple of cookies at the Outspoken Diva but hits Cameron & Summer instead. Layla laughs but gets attacked by Summer while all the divas start fighting.

"And here we go!"

"Morgan had no business out here, whatsoever!" JBL shouted.

Morgan grabs a cookie sheet and whacks Rosa in the head with it, making her fall on the table of food. Her hair and body are covered in food and Morgan quickly grabs a sugar cookie and escapes the ring, watching the chaos in amusement. Rosa tries to escape the food fight with the divas but finds herself in the middle after she starts bumping into them, provoking them. The refs had to rush down the ring to break it up,

while the crowd cheers for The Outspoken Diva.

"What a Party crasher...the party didn't even get a chance to start!" JBL scolded.

"Morgan is laughing away at this." Cole chuckled while Rosa slipped out of the ring.

She starts freaking out and has a temper tantrum as Morgan's theme comes on.

The Philly Diva shrugged and took a bite of her cookie, giving Rosa a thumbs up. "Great party, Rosa! Great party!"

She glares at her and stands up. She marches after her but slips and falls on her butt from the food on her shoes, making the crowd laugh harder.

Morgan tweets 'LaRosaMendes Your party was lame, so I decided to spice things up. I think it turned out great!'

--------

Later in the ring, Dean throws Orton out of the ring. He starts slapping himself in the face, before going for a suicide dive.

"He's not all there, but he is still fun to watch." JBL looked on.

"Come on, Randy," Seth said on commentary.

Dean throws Orton into the barricade and rolls him in the ring. He starts walking around before turning his attention to Rollins. He runs over to the announce table and jumps on top of him as the crowd cheers.

"Ambrose taking out Rollins! And now the fight's on! The fight's on!" Cole shouted as he started pummeling Seth with punches.

He throws him into the barricade and gets back in the ring. He rolls Randy up for a two count. Orton strikes him with an uppercut as he leans back, in between the ropes, to give him a clothesline. Dean bangs on the mat and starts hitting himself, again.

"Seth was floored by Ambrose."

Dean goes for the Dirty Deeds by Orton counters with a scoop slam. The crowd boos as he tries to go for a DDT on the ropes, but Ambrose counters by tossing him over the top rope. Dean tries to go for another suicide dive, but this time Rollins hits him with his briefcase.

"Oh!" Cole and the crowd shout. "Rollins right to the bad shoulder, with the briefcase."

The crowd boos while Rollins rolls Ambrose in the ring. Orton drops Dean down with an RKO and Rollins rips off Dean's protective bandage on his shoulder.

"Ambrose is hurt, Ambrose is hurt," Cole looked on. "The injured shoulder exposed."

Orton gets on his knees and holds Dean down, targeting his injured shoulder.

"Oh no, look at this," JBL said as Seth got on the top rope.

The crowd cheers loudly once they see Roman & Morgan rush down the ramp.

"Hey! Roman Reigns! And Morgan!" Cole exclaimed.

Reigns pushes Rollins off the top rope, while Morgan slides into the ring and hits Orton with a shining wizard. Dean rolls out the ring, while Orton rolls over and gets back to his feet, rubbing his chin from the kick he received. Roman connects with the Superman punch as he gets hyped.

Morgan slides out of the ring to check on Dean, while Roman prepares for the spear. He does a loud battle cry but Seth pulls Orton out of the ring.

"And Seth Rollins..."

"Seth Rollins knows where he is," JBL added.

"...saving Orton. And for tonight, The Authority's Orton & Rollins escape the wrath of Roman Reigns, Morgan Lopez & Dean Ambrose. But these issues are far from over."

Roman's theme comes on as he stands tall. Roman gets out of the ring, to meet up with Morgan, helping up Dean.

"Somebody give me my case!" Seth shouted as Roman rolled Ambrose in the ring, while Morgan went after Seth's contract. "Somebody give me my contract! Morgan! Don't you dare!"

The crowd cheers once she gets in the ring, with the briefcase.

"What is she doing!? That's not even hers!" JBL exclaimed.

She decides to kick the briefcase out of the ring, like a football, making it fly all the way to the stage.

"Are you kidding me!?" Seth shouted and ran after it, making her laugh.

"She can't do that!" JBL shouted. "That's assault!"

"But she did it, anyway." Cole chuckled. "John, Orton & Seth Rollins may rue the day that they went after Reigns, Lopez, & Ambrose."

Dean gets up while Morgan & Roman look at Rollins and Orton on the stage.

Roman showed his fist. "Remember this? You gave up this...for that?" He said, meaning The Authority and briefcase.

"Disgraceful," Morgan shook her head, disappointed in Rollins.

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

Melanie & Jon decided to spend their Fourth of July at Jane and Diego's house, in Philly. Jon and Jane were in the kitchen, working on bringing the plates, forks, knives, burger and hot dog buns, and bowls of food that Jane made, on the table, in the backyard.  

"So, this is your first time barbecuing, dad?" Melanie was sitting in the backyard, on a chair with her right knee up to her chest as she held it.

"I—­I've done this before." Diego stuttered and continued grilling.

"You sure?"

"It's been a while."

"How long we talking?"

"A few...month—years."

She widened her eyes. "Years!? What am I going to do with you?"

"You know Melly, you should be helping." Jane said as she set a bowl of grapes on the table.

"I am. I'm making sure dad doesn't burn those burgers."

"What about the hotdogs?" Jon asked, putting the burger and hotdog buns on the table.

"Could care less," Melanie replied.

"Damn, that's how you feel?" He smirked.

"Burgers are better."

"I beg to differ."

"No argument. Burgers all the way." Melanie reached for a grape but Jane slapped her hand. "Mom!"

"No grapes until you help out. You know what? I'm putting these all the way in the back of the fridge."

"Oh, come on! You don't have to do that." she tried to reach for the grapes again but Jane took it back inside.

Jon laughed. "Someone's not getting her little grapes."

The Philly Diva narrowed her eyes at him and stood up, taking his cap, and putting it on her head. "And someone's not getting the chance to cuddle tonight."

"Okay, I'm sorry." He followed her. "I said I'm sorry!"

"Cuddle? Aw! So adorable. I guess Jon is a big softie, isn't he?" Jane smiled.

"Yes. It's really cute." Melanie smiled.

"Why do you gotta embarrass me, in front of Jane?" he complained, feeling embarrassed.

"Priceless! He looks so embarrassed!" Leah laughed, walking in with a Fourth of July themed cake.

"Leah, you're here." Melanie grinned and hugged her after she set the cake down.

"How's the eye? Money in The Bank was crazy! Jon! Why the heck would you elbow her, you big jerk?" Leah teased.

"All part of doing spots," he replied. "Plus, my woman can take a hit when it comes to wrestling." He put an arm around Melanie's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

Melanie and Leah help out by setting up the table. After everything was done, everyone sat at the table to eat. Melanie took a cheeseburger, while Jon took two hotdogs. Leah decided to take four hotdogs and put mustard, ketchup, and relish on all of them. She then grabbed some pickles and put them on top of the hotdogs.

Leah grinned and looked at the mouth watering food, in her eyes. She looked up to see Melanie looking at her like she was crazy, while about to take a bite of her cheeseburger.

"What? This is good! You should try it. Want some? A friend got me into this. You know what? I think I should also put some cheese on these hotdogs." Leah took a few pieces of cheese. "Want one?"

"Uh, no thanks." Melanie chuckled. "You sure are eating a lot."

"I didn't eat breakfast. I'm starving!"

Jon and Melanie examined their food, catching Diego's attention.

"How is it?" Diego asked.

The Lunatic and Harley glanced at each other, before taking a bite of their food. They started chewing it and began to make nauseated facial reactions, while Melanie started coughing.

"Oh no! Are you two okay!?" Jane freaked out, while Jon began coughing. "You said you cooked them properly, honey!" She exclaimed to her husband.

"I did! I did!" Diego yelled in nervousness, while Leah watched the show, enjoying her weird hot dogs.

"They're choking! You're trying to kill them!"

"I am not! I made them, well. Mine are just fine!"

"Because you were trying to kill them, that's why!"

The couple stopped arguing at the sound of Jon & Melanie laughing.

"Fooled you!" Melanie chuckled.

"Mel! Don't scare me like that!" Jane exhaleed.

"That was good." Jon low fived his girlfriend.

"It tastes great, dad." Melanie smiled and begins eating again, along with Jon.

"I'm glad. See? I wasn't trying to kill my princess. She's just fine." Diego proudly praised himself.

"Sure...So, what's been going on in the WWE?" Jane asked, her daughter.

"Been having meetings with Creative lately about an upcoming feud. They're going to be ending my feud with Rosa, around SummerSlam. They have three feuds in mind for me. Two are very risky, but the other is strongly possible."

"What are the feuds?"

"Can't say. WWE doesn't want any leaks or spoilers. But if I get the okay to tell you, I will. And also, WWE wants you to come back soon, mom,"

"Ooh! I am so excited! I love the World Wrestling Entertainment. It's so fun."

"How's the bakery?"

"Popularity is growing so much, thanks to the continued support of you and the WWE."

After talking about the bakery, Melanie glanced at Leah, who poured an enormous amount of mustard, relish, and ketchup on her new hot dog.

It looked like the hot dog and drenched bun were drowning in the three condiments.

Leah reached for the can of whipped cream and prepared to put it on the hot dog.

"Whoa, Leah. Whipped cream on hot dogs? That's...concerning," Melanie felt her stomach turn from the sight.

"Huh? Oh, I wasn't going to put whipped cream on hot dogs. No, not at all." Leah nervously giggled. "I'm going to put it on the cake."

"Okay then,"

Maybe Leah was just really hungry.

-------

Early in the morning, Melanie slept peacefully, in the arms of her lunatic. She was happy to be home for just a little while before going back on the road. But her peaceful slumber was interrupted when she woke up to the sound of throwing up. She got out of Jon's arms and glanced at the clock.

"3..." She mumbled, before getting out of bed.

She stretched and adjusted her tank top, before heading out of the room. She walked down the hallway and saw a light in the bathroom.

"Hello?" she timidly knocked on the door.

"D­—don't come in here!" Leah's muffled voice replied, instantly.

"Leah? Are you okay?"

"I'm doing great!"

"I'm coming in." She opened the door, seeing her flushing the toilet. "Were you throwing up?"

"Y—­yeah. I got the flu..."

"Leah." Melanie crossed her arms and softly replied. "As much as I want to believe that after all that stuff you ate on those hot dogs, I don't. Don't lie to me."

Her friend started to break down and cried, wrapping her arms around her. "I messed up. This was not supposed to happen..."

"What?"

"I took three fucking pregnancy tests. And they all came back pregnant. I'm knocked up. I'm fucking knocked up and I'm so scared!"

Melanie was taken aback by her confession as she looked at the pregnancy tests on the floor. They both sat down on the floor, while Melanie examined the tests.

"Leah..."

"We used protection! I don't understand why this has to happen to me! I don't even know if Brad wants kids. I'm so scared to tell him,"

"Leah, things are going to be all right. Stay calm. Everything is going to be okay. I'm here for you," She put a soothing hand on her right shoulder.

As Melanie gave her a pep talk, Leah's nerves began to go down as she listened to her say the right things to get her to relax.

"Brad loves you to death. He always shows off that goofy grin when you're around. He's going to be happy that he's going to start a family with someone like you,"

"You're right...thank you." Leah smiled.

-------

Next week on Smackdown, Morgan was backstage, leaving the trainer's room. Her ribs were still a little banged up but she was getting better, day by day. Looking at the floor, she bumped into Rollins as the crowd booed. He showed off his briefcase, before smiling at the diva.

"Hello, Morgan."

"Rollins..." she tried to leave but he blocked her way.

"You've been avoiding me for a while. Why?"

"I haven't been avoiding you. Now if you excuse me..." She tried to go the other way but got blocked, again. "Move. Or be moved,"

"Did Ambrose tell you to stay away from me?" Rollins asks with a grin. "You're quiet...so I guess that's a yes. Guess he knows what I'm trying to do."

"What do you want...?" She asked, looking annoyed. She just wanted to leave. She did not want to be around him.

"I just want you to come home."

"Home?"

"Everyone is holding you back. Is this the singles career you want? Pointless matches? No championship? You deserve better."

"I told you I rather start at the bottom than go to The Authority. And The Authority isn't a home. Nor is your little dark side. I can never bring myself to be a sellout like you."

He chuckled for a couple of moments and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"You know I hate people who lie to themselves. I didn't sell out, I bought in. And you should, too. You're lost, Morgan. But you're going to find yourself again, really soon." He smirked and left her alone.

"More mind games by Rollins. Will Morgan be able to stay strong?" Cole asked as she leaned on the wall and sighed loudly.

--------

Next week on Raw, after finding out Ambrose was attacked by Rollins, Orton, and Kane out of nowhere backstage while cutting a promo on Reigns and Cena, Morgan ran to the trainer's room door.

"Where is he?!" She shouted but got held back by a few refs.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Morgan! Morgan! Calm down! Ambrose is okay. He went to a local hospital." They tried to explain.

She sighed loudly and started storming off to the men's locker room. She saw Seth nearby, along with Orton, and stomped over to them. She shoved the sellout back roughly as the crowd cheered loudly.

"Why!? Why would you do that!?" She shouted.

Orton was about to interfere but Seth stopped him, enjoying watching her break down.

"Getting mad, huh?" Seth grinned. "Good. Embrace it. I want the aggressive Morgan, back. I want my Morgan back."

"Oh, you're gonna get aggression...as much as I want to bash your head in, I'm not gonna do that. Dean will. And when Dean gets in the ring with you...I am going to enjoy him, pulverizing you, and making you regret all those chair shots that we all received. And I hope that he hurts you so badly...that you'll never think about selling out, ever again, you piece of crap." She stormed off, leaving Rollins watching her with a grin.

"You're cracking...not much longer..." Rollins murmured to himself.

With Roman and Cena in the men's locker room, Roman was seated, adjusting his gloves.

"Okay, so Ambrose is out," Cena stated. "Now it's just you and me against Kane, Orton, & Rollins. This was an obviously set up by The Authority, you get that right?" He asked while Roman remained silent. "Damn it, Roman, stand up!"

Roman stood up and faced off with him. "I understand that you wanna be WWE World Heavyweight champion, you should! But you have to trust me! Neither one of us is gonna walk out champion, this Sunday if we don't get on the same page, tonight." Cena exclaimed.

"Nobody knows the numbers game like me," Roman spoke up. "They took out one of us...by the end of the night, we take out three of them. Believe that."

The door burst open. "Do you two have your heads stuck up your asses?!" Morgan shouted as the crowd cheered, loudly.

"Now, Morgan we were­—" Cena began.

"The hell is wrong with you two!? You just stood there and watched him get beat! Why didn't you go after him? Why didn't you help him?"

"We wouldn't have made it in time..." Cena managed to say.

"Do you know how long that beating was!? Do you!? You could have run backstage and helped him out! But no, you just stood in the ring. And I'm just finding this out, now? When it happened at the beginning of the show?!"

"Morgan, calm down," Roman reassured. "We got this. You know that I know the numbers game better than anyone."

"I know but I can't calm down. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of these beatings and two on one, and three on one assaults. They're not men, they're puppets. Brainwashed by The Authority. Driven by power. That is not me. And I'm not gonna become a victim of that. I don't know if this was a message, directly sent to me from Rollins, but I'm not having this. These assaults are gonna stop, to­night." She stated and bumped fists with Roman. "I'm standin' at ringside with you, two."

"Okay." Cena nodded. "But do you trust me?"

"Yes. You helped us out in that tag match with the Wyatts. I trust you. Just do me a favor and try not to get attacked. Stick together, tonight. You never know what The Authority is going to do next. Now, If you excuse me, I'm gonna eat some grapes to calm down..." She left as the crowd laughed.

Roman cracked an amused smile. Morgan and her love for grapes will never change.

-------

Morgan kept her word and stayed at ringside to check on Roman & Cena as they went up against Rollins, Kane, and Orton. Things really started to turn around when Roman got tagged in by the champ.

The crowd goes nuts while Roman drops Orton down with a clothesline and punches Kane off the apron. He drops Randy down with another clothesline and starts to get hyped up.

"What a right hand!" JBL said as he witnessed Randy getting punched in the face by the Samoan.

Orton gets positioned for Roman's signature apron dropkick as the crowd cheers. He slides out the ring and runs over to the fallen Viper, before connecting his right boot to his head. Roman high fives Morgan before sliding back into the ring. He taunts the crowd before punching the mat. Kane gets back in the ring but gets dropped by the Superman punch. Roman sidesteps Seth's flying knee attack and clotheslines him out the ring, at the end of the ramp.

"There goes Rollins," Cole said as he held his knee, in pain.

"Rollins hurt his leg," JBL said while Orton took advantage and beat down Roman.

Roman manages to drop the Viper down with a Samoan drop and prepares for the spear.

"Roman Reigns does this on Sunday, then he can walk out as WWE World Heavyweight champion."

Kane slides back in the ring and attacks him from behind while the ref tries to break it up. Orton joins in the assault by stomping on Reigns and the ref had no choice but to call for the bell. Cena manages to get

in the ring and tosses Kane outside the ring. Before Kane could get back in, Morgan manages to hit him with a low blow as the crowd cheers.

"Low blow by the Outspoken Diva!" King cheered.

Back in the ring, Cena goes at it with Orton while Roman rolls out of the ring. Cena tosses Orton over the apron and ducks Kane's punch, making him hit Orton instead as the crowd goes nuts. Cena starts going after Kane and picks him up for the AA. Kane manages to get back on his feet and shoves him away while Roman goes for the spear on Orton. Orton swiftly evades Roman's attack, making him hit Cena instead as the crowd 'Ohs!'

"He speared Cena!" Cole shouts.

"Not good." Morgan mumbles as she walks around the ring.

Kane drops Roman down with a punch and turns around to get hit with an RKO.

"That's your partner!" King exclaimed.

"Don't trust anybody!" Cole stated while Morgan tried to check on Cena, in the ring.

Randy's theme comes on as he gets on the top rope to taunt the crowd. He jumps off the top rope and turns his attention to the Outspoken Diva.

"Come on, she has nothing to do with this," King complained as Orton grabbed her from behind, by her hair, as his theme faded out.

"Ow! Get off, asshole!" She shouted as she tried to escape his strong grip.

He positions her on the apron, preparing for his signature apron DDT. No matter how much she tried to push him away, she could not escape his strong grip. As soon as he is about to drop her, Roman slides back into the ring, still angry that he got beaten down.

Orton releases her and turns around, only to get speared as the crowd gets hyped.

"Spear!" Cole shouted as Roman roared. "Is it Roman Reigns' time?" He wondered as his theme came on.

Morgan rubs the back of her neck while Roman helps her up.

"You all right?" He asked.

"Never better. Thanks." She said as she looked impressed.

He has changed a lot ever since The Shield went their separate ways. It looked like her boys were doing well in their singles careers. Although she wished she could say the same. But she was happy for her boys and their success.

"Will Roman Reigns win his first world championship?" Cole asked. "Who is gonna win, Sunday? Cena? Orton? Kane? Or Roman Reigns?"

-----------

On Smackdown, in Triple H's office, Seth was checking out his phone until Kane walked over to him.

"Kane. What's up, man?" Seth greeted. "Look I just uh...I kind of wanna get on the same page, here tonight. I mean I know what happened on Monday, and...I wouldn't really take what Orton did to you, personally. If it was about the WWE World Heavyweight championship, you gotta understand that. But tonight's different. Tonight is about Dean Ambrose."

"I don't need your voice of reason...I'll deal with Randy on my own. In fact, I hope that Orton's watching, tonight. Because I have plans for Dean Ambrose." Kane said, making Seth crack a smile.

"Good. Good, good, good, I like that. Just do me, one little favor, please. Just leave a little bit of life in him, so that I can finish the job at Battleground."

"Or...you could just be a man and face him yourself," Morgan spoke up as the crowd cheered. She walked in on them talking, as she shut the door. "Oh, that's right, you're scared. Anyway, do I have a match, tonight? Did the stupid Authority say anything about me?"

Seth and Kane turn their attention to the diva. Kane looked like he was about to grab her neck but Seth swiftly got in front of him, to stop him.

"Don't," Seth ordered in a stern tone and made him back up. "...touch her."

Now that... caused attention from the audience as the Outspoken Diva stared at Rollins' sudden behavior in surprise. Him defending him? Something was up.

Ignoring the fact that he just defended up, Morgan put her hands on her hips, taunting Kane. "Oh, I'm sorry, what were you gonna do? Chokeslam me? Still mad I low blowed you, on Raw? Aw, sorry to hear that. Maybe next time you'll know when to stay out of my way."

"What are you doing here?" Seth asked.

"I just asked if I have a match. And I'm not supposed to be talking to you, so answer my question, so I can leave."

"Yeah, in fact, you do have a match. Next. Get ready."

"Good." She turned around and opened the door but Seth grabbed her hand. She snatched her hand back and shook her head. "Don't touch me. Don't ever put your hands on me, again."

Rollins put his hands up in defense. "I just wanted to say watch your back, tonight."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I want to help you. I still care about you, grapes."

"I told you not to call me that. I'm not trusting a word you say to me," she replied and left the room.

----------

"This match is set for one fall, introducing first, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan!" Lilian announced.

"Here comes Morgan, out here to try to gain some momentum for her match against Rosa Mendes, this Sunday." Cole said.

As soon as she comes out, Morgan gets whacked from behind with a guitar, by Rosa as the crowd gets hype.

"Oh my gosh!" Cole shouted.

"What was that for? Sending a message?" JBL asked as Morgan's theme faded out.

"Just give up, already! Don't come to Battleground on Sunday, Morgan!" Rosa shouted.

She waits for her to get up and flattens her out with a swinging neckbreaker, as the crowd 'Ohs' at the impact.

"Morgan is out. That guitar shot was brutal." Cole cringed as the titantron showed the highlights again. "What is the meaning of this? This was not necessary!"

"Yes, it was! Rosa is making a statement! Don't mess with Rosa!" JBL replied.

Rosa grabbed a mic, as the crowd booed her. "Aw, Morgan, are you tired? Tired of me beating you down? Coming after you? I'm sorry. But I'm not going to stop. I don't like you, and I'm going to continue making your life a living hell unless you pack your bags, and leave. But since you want to act tough, it just made me even happier. Why?" She laughed. "Because I cannot wait for our match at Battleground. But there's been a little bit of a twist. You see, our match...is a last diva standing match."

"I cannot wait for this. I can't wait till Sunday." JBL said as the audience cheered loudly at the match idea.

"A last diva standing match?" Cole wondered.

"Yes, you heard right, WWE Universe. A last diva standing match. And if you win, you'll earn my respect. I won't bother you, anymore. I'll stay out of your way, just like you wanted. But if you lose...I want you to leave. Stay away from this company and stay out of my way, while I become the next Diva's champion. Ha ha! And Morgan, I cannot wait to see you...motionless...flat on your back while the ref begins to count."

She paused before counting in Spanish. "Uno...dos...tres...cuatro...cinco...seis... siete...ocho...nueve...diez." She laughed and dropped the mic as her theme came on.

"What a statement by the Latina. What is going to happen, Sunday?" Cole asked as a few refs rushed over to help Morgan, who was lying on her back, out cold.

"I don't know but as soon as Morgan recovers from this attack, all hell is gonna break loose," JBL guaranteed.

Later backstage, Seth jogged over to the trainer's room and found Morgan getting an ice pack on the back of her neck.

"Morgan, you all right? You see? I told you to watch your back. I was trying to help you." Seth explained.

As soon as the Sellout and Outspoken diva locked eyes, the doctor felt tension in the room and quickly left.

"I hate you...so damn much..." She muttered as she glared at him.

Seth grinned. "Oh, so now you hate me, huh? I doubt that."

"Just go away, all right? I don't want anything to do with you."

"And yet you truly haven't done anything to keep me away. I think you like having me around,"

"Seth..." she warned.

"All right, all right. I tried to be nice. Fine. I'll go. But I hope you get better and beat Rosa on Sunday," He presented her with a bag.

"What is that?" She raised a brow as she removed the ice pack off her neck.

She started to get suspicious of what was in the bag. But she saw Seth...smiling? Not smirking, or giving her a smug look, but a smile. Just like the smiles he would give her when they were a part of The Shield. Just like the good days.

Suddenly he placed a hand on her cheek as she gave him an incredulous look.

"I really hope you get better, Morgan. I knew Rosa was gonna attack you. So, I tried to warn you. Rest up." He suddenly kissed her forehead and left the room.

"Uh oh. Bold." JBL said as the crowd got invested at the turn of events.

"H­—hey! You don't just kiss me and leave! Who the hell do you think you are!?" She exclaimed and sighed heavily. "...Battleground can't get here fast enough..."

As she opened the bag, she was surprised to see that it was freshly washed grapes. Eating a few, she shook her head as her eating something from the enemy caught the attention of the crowd.

"Grapes...what are you up to, Rollins?" she murmured.

"More mind games?" Cole wondered.

"Maybe Seth is really trying to be nice." JBL defended.

"I doubt that. Something is up. Maybe he's trying to earn her trust, back?"

------

During the Battleground PPV, backstage, Morgan was stretching for her match as she got a loud reaction from the crowd.

She was tired of going after Rosa. What will it take for her to back off? She had more important things to deal with, like being a champion. Rosa had become a nuisance ever since she beat her the first time. Morgan couldn't wait to get this match over with so she could leave her alone for good.

"I do not feel like having this pointless match..." Morgan mumbled to Dean. "It's like every time I beat her, she just keeps coming back. I got a feeling she likes getting her ass kicked."

"Have you been trying to stay away from Seth?" Dean asked out of the blue.

His obsession for revenge was strong. He always got even and tonight he will finally be able to get his hands on the Sell Out.

Morgan paused and smiled. "He isn't gonna get to me. Haven't talked to him." She embraced him, while the camera showed her looking worried. "Just focus on your match...not me. Please. I'll be fine."

"I'm glad." He cupped her face and kissed her forehead before leaving.

The camera continued to show her stretching until she heard chucking.

"Yes, he isn't gonna get to me. Haven't talked to him. Just focus on your match...not me. Please, I'll be fine." Seth repeated, making her roll her eyes. "Nice white lie, Morgan,"

"Go away.." She retorted and stopped stretching.

"The clock is ticking, Morgan. This version of you, this person that you're trying to be is going to expire, soon. There's always a dark side to every person. And I'm going to expose that. You're going to come back to me."

"These little crappy mind games you're doing isn't working. So, cut it out..."

"It is working. You know it's working. Morgan, it's OK to be selfish. To do things for yourself. The dark side of you is trying to crack open. I mean, you just lied to Ambrose, saying that you haven't spoken to me. What does that make you? You're coming back to me, Morgan," he smirked and walked away, leaving her upset.

---

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my guest at this time, Mister Money in The Bank, Seth Rollins," Tom announced as Seth grinned and tapped on his briefcase. "Seth, I wanna get your thoughts tonight, before your match with Dean Ambrose."

"I'm smilin' Tom. You should smile, too. It's a historic night, my friend. Cause tonight is the night that I finally put the dagger in Dean Ambrose, and finish him off, once and for all. You see I dismantled The Shield, he's been like uh...like a little cockroach. You know what I'm talkin' about? Just like scurrying around, and then you try to stomp 'em out but you just can't seem to kill em. Tonight that little cockroach, Dean Ambrose, he gets squashed."

Tonight Seth was not messing around. He wanted to destroy Ambrose and take him out of the equation. Then all he had to do next was to become the new WWE World Heavyweight champion.

"And before I do that...I wanna take a second to answer the question that Ambrose so arrogantly posed to me, you know the one...right before I curb stomped his head into oblivion? The answer is no. No, that's not all I got. And Dean Ambrose knows me better than anybody, he knows what I am capable of. And tonight...he is gonna get everything that he bargained for out of me." Seth laughed. "And when I'm finished, with that babbling, out of control, lunatic, when I put him out of his own misery, you can bet, my eyes are gonna be glued to that Fatal Four Way championship match, because...Tom, you may very well be looking at the next WWE World—"

Seth immediately gets cut off by Ambrose, who ambushes him.

"What are you gonna do to me!?" Dean shouted as he continued pummeling down the Money in The Bank winner with punches.

"Hey! Hey! Common! Dean!" Referees and security rushed over to the two and tried to break up the brawl.

"What are you gonna do!?" Dean continued to shout as he grabbed Seth by the hair and tossed him into some work equipment.

"Hey! Hey! Get off of him!" Security shouted as they tried to get a hold of the lunatic, who was all over him.

Dean finally gets restrained, after pushing down a lamp, nearly hitting Seth, while an irate Triple H marches over to the chaos.

"What are you gonna do to me, Seth!?" Dean shouted. "What are you gonna do!?"

"Get him out of here!" Triple H ordered. "Get him out of my building! Get this piece of crap out of my building! You are not gonna screw this up! Get him out of here! I don't wanna see him back in here, either! Get him out!"

Dean gets taken away while Triple H walks over to Seth, who manages to get back up to his feet.

"What the hell was that!?" Seth angrily shouted.

"I mean, I mean, wha—what just happened?" Cole asked. "Triple H just threw Dean Ambrose out of the building?"

"And demanded them to not let him back in," King added.

"The guy's unsafe," JBL commented in a blunt tone.

"Come on, you can't do that."

"I agree with Triple H. Do what's right for the company."

"Of course you do..." King rolled his eyes.

"The question is, what did Dean Ambrose do, though? He attacked Rollins, they were supposed to have a match, coming up, right now. And Triple H has kicked him out of the building. I mean Ambrose has been waiting weeks and weeks for this." Cole recalled.

"And Ambrose's stupid own self, cause himself to not have this match, right now." JBL dissed. "We can blame Dean Ambrose right now because we apparently don't have a match."

"I mean, everything that Dean Ambrose has been put through by Seth Rollins & The Authority for the past couple of weeks...remember last Monday night on Raw—" Cole got cut off.

"And he couldn't wait a few more minutes?!" JBL exclaimed.

"No! No! Triple H is overreacting, what's the difference if the match starts back there, or starts up here?" King pointed out. "They are supposed to fight, anyway."

"Exactly." Cole agreed.

"Because in here it's certified, you have a referee, you have a match, that was not a match." JBL said. "It's a lunatic out of control. Let's just hope his girlfriend doesn't lose her mind tonight, either. Bad enough we got one crazed person out of control tonight. But with two, all hell will break loose."

----------

After AJ's match against Paige, the titantron shows the backstage area. The crowd gave Rosa loud boos as she sat getting her hair & makeup done.

"I cannot wait until my match. Beating Morgan is going to be such an accomplishment. I mean, I beat her before, but this time she'll be gone. Away from the WWE. Ugh, it's such a dream come true. I mean Morgan is bipolar...friggin' crazy...she needs help. Professional help." Rosa ranted.

The reception of the crowd turned positive when they saw the Outspoken Diva walking towards her, from behind. She wore her wrestling skinny jeans, and Morgan themed crop top with a denim jacket, instead of her hoodie, revealing her new attire. Her hair was getting longer again as well. It was almost near the middle of her back again, as it was in a loose and curly hairstyle.

Rosa's foe gently tapped on the makeup artist's shoulder and politely asked her to leave, which she happily obeyed.

"Uh oh," Cole mumbled while Morgan opened up some blush.

"I mean, I don't get why everyone likes her. She sucks at wrestling. She has no personality. She acts like a wannabe Harley Quinn hey what are you doing?" Rosa brushed the blush off her arms and got out of the chair.

She turned around to witness the Outspoken Diva behind her the whole time, sprinkling blush on top of her head.

"Hey! Are you kidding me!?" She picked up the chair, she was sitting in, and threw it across the hallway, near Morgan, but she moved out of the way.

Morgan punches her in the face and spears her onto the make up table as the crowd cheers.

"Someone get help! Morgan what are you doing!? You have a match tonight!" JBL shouted while Rosa screamed.

The Outspoken Diva starts throwing Rosa's head up and down on the make up table before getting grabbed by a small army of referees and security.

"Hey! Hey! Morgan! Get off her!" The security guards shouted.

"Get her away from me! You're crazy!" Rosa screamed.

"Get off of me!" Morgan shouted as she got taken away.

"Control yourself!" A referee shouted back, trying to calm her down.

Triple H jogs up to Rosa and helps her up. "The hell happened?" He asks.

"Morgan happened! I hate her! I do not want to be in the same ring as her tonight. Call the match off! Do something! She's out of control and isn't ring ready for me." Rosa grabbed him by his jacket.

"Rosa, I got it." He reassured.

"No! I want something done, now! She has to GO! NOW!"

"Relax," he said in a calm tone.

"I can't believe this...Morgan had no right to do that. The woman was just getting her hair and make up done!" JBL criticized.

"I would always watch my back if you have Morgan on your bad side. Rosa should have seen that coming." King recalled.

Later on with Morgan, she stood backstage, trying to take some of the make up off her jacket.

"Quite the brawl you got into back there." Seth walked up to her.

"Ah. Quite the head you got there," she replied.

"I am the genius and creator of The Shield, after all." He boasted.

"No," she replied in a blunt tone, stopping what she was doing as she turned to face him. "You see if your head wasn't shoved so far up Triple H's ass, you'd see how much of a sellout you are. Oh, by the way, watch your back. Dean could be anywhere. He could be watching us, right now."

"Watching?" Seth looked confused.

"I mean, you didn't actually think I would lie to Dean, did you? All part of the plan," She patted his back, while chucking, before walking away, leaving Seth looking around, backstage, worried for his well­ being.

"Did Rollins just get outsmarted?" Cole asked as the crowd cheered loudly. "It seems like all those worried looks Morgan would give Ambrose was just an act to fool The Authority. It seemed to have worked,"

"I knew Ambrose & Morgan were up to something. I'm glad she really didn't lie to Dean." King praised.

"Great...this is just perfect...more chaos tonight, I can already feel it," JBL grumbled.

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

'WWE Exclusive Video'

Morgan was leaning on the wall, on her phone. She looked up and watched Triple H walk backstage, heading to his office while Rollins headed out to the ring. Looking around to see if the coast was clear, she opened the storage closet, to reveal Dean.

"He's headed to the ring." She grabbed his hand and led him to the gorilla.

A nearby referee witnessed Ambrose and Morgan, together. He was about to go tell The Authority, but Morgan grabbed him by the back of his shirt, giving him a threatening look.

She said in a low, threatening voice, "Don't do that." while shaking her head.

The referee nodded quickly and walked away, looking scared.

She exhaled. "This is the best I can do. Punch him in the face for me, okay?"

Dean smirked and nodded. "Gladly. You didn't have to do this."

She grinned and shrugged. "Hey, Harley always got a plan. All right, I gotta go. Good luck out there." She turned around but he grabbed her hand.

She turned back around to face him, wondering what else he wanted. He wrapped an arm around her waist, gazing into her fierce eyes before he met her lips with his. Even though he was still mad at Rollins, his kiss was surprisingly tender and passionate. Morgan, surprised at the sudden kiss, began to kiss back, wrapping her arms around his neck. She got backed up into the wall, while Dean smirked into the kiss, not surprised at tasting her grape flavored ChapStick.

They heard Justin announcing Seth Rollins, as the crowd booed. As much as Dean didn't want to stop, he released her. Morgan, catching her breath from the heated kiss she had just received, ran a hand through her hair.

"Thanks, baby." He smiled. "I appreciate you doing this for me."

"No problem. Kick ass out there."

She received a wink from her boyfriend, before leaving him to his dirty deeds.

-----------

After the Intercontinental championship battle royal, Rosa got in the ring, as the crowd gave her boos.

"I guess you're waiting for Morgan to kick my butt, tonight, right?" She asked as the crowd cheered in response. "Well, too bad! She's not going to face me, tonight! The match is off! I will not be in the ring with a crazed woman. She needs to get her act together. I mean, I could get injured by her. And none of you want me injured, right?"

She scowled as soon as the crowd chanted 'Yes!' and shook her head.

"How dare you!?" She got out of the ring and jumped over the barricade. "You! Who is your favorite WWE Diva?" She asked a male audience member, in his early 30s.

"AJ!" He shouted with excitement as the fans cheered and high fived him.

She scoffed "You're not a real WWE Diva fan. What about you grandma?" She asked a nearby elderly woman.

"I love Naomi." She replied with a sweet smile.

Rosa sighed. "What about you, tattoo artist?" she looked at a woman, covered in tattoos, in disgust. She looked to be in her early 20s, and had a Morgan themed tank top, on.

"Morgan all the way." The woman smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Typical..." She continued to walk around. "Who is your favorite WWE Diva?"

"Eva!" A man shouted, earning some boos and laughs from the crowd.

"Are you joking? You would pick Eva instead of me? Ugh...And what about you, ladies?"

"The Bella Twins!" A group of teen girls shout with excitement, before waving at the camera.

Rosa rolled her eyes again and continued to walk around. This was ridiculous. She didn't find one fan yet. She might as well ask the kids.

"What about you little girl? Don't you love a role model, like me?" She kneeled to the eight year old girl.

"Is she serious, right now?" King asked with amusement as Cole laughed.

The little girl shyly smiled and timidly said, "M—­Morgan is my favorite WWE Diva. She's so awesome and nice and bubbly and pretty and she looks so cute with Dean."

The crowd cheered again, while Rosa stood up and glared at her.

"You haven't raised your child, right." She dissed her parents, as some nearby audience members 'Oohed!'

"Oh come on, Rosa." King called out.

"Hey! She's right. Rosa is a great WWE Diva." JBL defended.

"Let's see if the parents were raised right. Who is your favorite WWE Diva?"  

"Natalya." The mother, in her late 40s, replied with a grin.

"Oh, real cute," Rosa replied in a harsh tone. "And what about you, pops?"

The husband stood up and said, "Paige!"

"Ugh! Is there anyone who isn't stupid? Is there anyone who has me as their favorite diva!?" Rosa shouted. "All of you have no taste!"

The crowd cheered loudly when they saw Morgan running her way, through the crowd.

"Uh oh! Watch your back, Rosa!" Cole warned.

"Oh, this is gonna be good!" King looked on with anticipation.

"What about you, college boys?" Rosa went over to a group of guys in their early 20s and sat on one of their laps. "Don't you love a diva who is all woman?" She played with his short black hair.

"Yo! She's sitting on your lap, bro!" The second college boy exclaimed.

The first college boy was grinning like an idiot, having Rosa on his lap. The third and fourth started taking videos of their friend with Rosa.

"So who's your favorite diva?" Rosa smiled in a flirty way and caressed his face.

"Uh..." The first college boy nervously chuckled.

"Don't be shy. Tell the truth." She added in a sultry voice. The college boy glanced at his friends, still enjoying having Rosa on his lap. "Tell everyone who you think is the hottest WWE Diva. Who you fantasize about. Who you adore and cheer for every week."

"Morgan." He replied proudly.

The crowd erupted in loud cheers while Rosa's smile dropped into a frown.

"Damn!" The college boy's friends yelled.

"Tonight is not Rosa's night, is it?" Cole chuckled as Rosa got off his lap.

Meanwhile, Morgan was hugging and taking a picture with the little girl and woman with the tattoos, thanking them for their support.

"Are you kidding me!?" Rosa shouted. "All of you stupid people would pick Morgan, instead of me!? All the other divas, instead of me!?"

The crowd cheered loudly when Morgan finally reached Rosa.

She turns her around and snatches the microphone from her.

"Hey!" Rosa shouted before getting hit in the head with the microphone.

"Pipebomb!" The college boys shout.

"Here we go!" Cole shouted while Morgan started unloading on Rosa. They leaned up against the barricade before she tossed Rosa over it. "Looks like they're picking up where they left off, earlier tonight!"

Before Morgan jumps over the barricade, she heads over to the college boy, smiling and kissing him on the cheek.

"I love you." he grinned.

"Aw. Love you, too." Morgan beamed and took a quick photo with him.

"Will you marry me?"

"You're too cute." She giggled, while he high fived his friends.

She turns her attention back to the thorn in her side and jumps over the barricade. Rosa ambushes her and they both tumble down as Rosa strikes her with punches. She starts screaming as soon as Morgan gets on top, and viciously strikes her in the face, several times.

"Ladies, break it up!" Referees and security shout as they start to separate the two.

Morgan gets restrained by the referees as they wrap their arms around her waist, while the crowd boos. Rosa manages to get some free shots by kicking Morgan, wherever she can.

"This is brutal! These two hate each other!" King exclaimed as Morgan started to get taken up the ramp.

"Get her out of here! Get her out of here! You crazy bitch! You piece of trash!" Rosa started kicking and screaming.

As soon as both divas, manage to get up to the stage, Morgan escapes the referees and leaps on top of Rosa, and a few security guards, making them all fall down.

"I knew she wasn't gonna let her off the hook, so easily!" King exclaimed as the two divas started rolling down the ramp while trying to strike each other.

Morgan stands up and tosses Rosa into the barricade. Rosa yells out in pain and rubs her back, before getting grabbed by her hair as she gets thrown into a ring post.

"All the frustration, the mind games, the smart remarks, all the attacks, everything that Rosa has done to Morgan all these months, is getting shown right here," Cole looked on as the referees and security desperately tried to pull Morgan off of her.

The spitfire finally gets pulled off of Rosa, by the guards. Rosa scrambles into the ring, with Morgan high on her tail.

"Well, Morgan still wants her match," Cole added, as the Outspoken Diva tried to get in the ring, but got arms wrapped around her waist, by security guards.

"Get the hell off of me!" The Philly Diva screamed and punched a security guard in the face, as the crowd cheered loudly, not expecting her to strike one of them.

The security guard, was Jamie Noble, as he stumbled back and rubbed his jaw.

"Morgan! Morgan! Calm down!" Joey Mercury, another security guard, shouted as he grabbed her by the waist.

He lifts her up in the air, a little, and takes a few steps back, trying to take her backstage.

"I said get off!" she screamed in anger and elbowed him in his head.

She turns around and kicks him in the stomach, before throwing elbows and punches. Joey desperately tries to keep her under control, by trying to grab her arms, but fails. King screams in a high pitched voice, as The Outspoken Diva starts beating up the security guards, with punches, elbows, and kicks, to pry them off her.

"She just punched a security guard! Arrest her! She's assaulting referees and security guards! She's crazy! She's insane! Arrest her!" JBL shouted.

The crowd was loving it. It's not every day you see a WWE Superstar, or diva, for that matter, attack referees and security guards.

"Would somebody take this spitfire out of the building!?" JBL continued to complain.

"Get her out of here!" Fit Finlay shouted as he managed to grab Morgan from behind, while other security guards grabbed her arms and legs.

"What will it take to calm this woman down!? Get her out of here!" JBL shouted.

Rosa, who was still in the ring, recovering from the assault, watches Morgan get restrained.

"You're crazy!" Rosa screamed.

"I'll show you crazy!" Morgan screamed back as she managed to free her legs and an arm.

She kneed Fit Finlay in the stomach, before running to the ring, again.

"Oh my God, she is just like her boyfriend! They're both nutcases!" JBL exclaimed while holding his head in annoyance.

Rosa scrambles out of the ring, as soon as Morgan gets in. Hair all in her face, and seething, Morgan stands up and starts pacing around. The referees and security manage to prevent her from leaving the ring, to help Rosa get out of harm's way.

"This is insane!" Cole exclaimed.

Triple H stormed down the ring, with an irate expression. "What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted at the referees and security. "Get her out of here! Get her out of here!"

"Thank you! About time! Do something, Triple H!" JBL cheered.

Triple H roughly takes off his jacket, and loosens his tie, before taking it off and unbuttons the first three buttons of his shirt.

"You are not gonna ruin this for me!" He tried to get in the ring but the security intervened and held him back.

"Good grief!" King shouted.

"Get her, Triple H! Get her!" JBL cheered.

"What are you gonna do?! What are you gonna do!?" Morgan yelled, taking off her denim jacket as she put her arms out, waiting to see what the COO was going to do. "What are you gonna do, huh!?"

'This is Awesome!' chants began to occur as Melanie fought the smile that was trying to come across her face, getting to have this moment with Triple H. As she continued to hear him shout in character, she quickly bounced back and maintained an angry expression.

"I'm sick of this crap! I'm sick of it!" Triple H continued to shout.

"Do something! Do something!" she shouted back.

"The heck is she thinking!?" JBL exclaimed. "She's gonna get fired! She's out of here for sure! Fire her! Fire her, Triple H! This is too much chaos in one night! First Ambrose, now Morgan!? This is ridiculous! Fire her! Fire her, now!"

"Would you shut up!? Rosa had this coming. And everyone knows how wild Morgan can get when she's angry." King snapped.

After a minute of getting retrained, Triple H punches the security guards away from him, and gets in the ring, as the crowd cheers loudly.

"Oh boy," King said, in a worried tone.

Morgan looks enraged as she locks eyes with the COO. Her facial expression showed a scowl. Meanwhile, Triple H's face was red with rage as she witnessed a vein popping out of his neck.

"Uh oh! Uh oh! What is Triple H about to do!?" Cole shouted.

"Let's get ready to rumble~!" JBL laughed. "Morgan has really done it now."

"Morgan didn't do anything wrong. Let her fight!" King retorted as security and referees separated the COO and Outspoken Diva.

The crowd was cheering in anticipation, feeling a fight.

"Morgan! Calm down!" Referees shouted as she was backed up into a corner, while The COO was getting backed up in the corner, across from her.

"All right. All right. I'm fine. I'm fine." Morgan put her hands up in defense.

"You are gonna get it! I'm so friggin' tired of your crap! I am so friggin' tired!" Triple H yelled.

Suddenly, she jumps over the referees as she nearly gets across the ring, but they manage to hold her back.

"I am afraid of what's gonna happen," Cole said.

"Hunter! Hunter! Let's go! Out of the ring!" Security shouted as the crowd booed loudly.

The COO gets escorted out of the ring, where he meets up with Rosa.

"Darn it..." King frowned.

Morgan looks at the crowd. She wasn't going to let them be unhappy. She quickly runs up to the corner, facing the ramp, and gets on the top rope. Referees rush up to her, trying to convince her to get down.

"What is she doing, now!?" JBL exclaimed. "Get her down!"

"Oh boy! Look out!" King shouted in a high pitched voice as they witnessed Morgan perform a crossbody on Triple H, Rosa, and the security.

The crowd was cheering like crazy as she went after the COO, unloading on him with elbows, and punches. Anything to get some hits.

"What is she doing!? You can't put your hands on the COO of this company! Arrest her!" JBL yelled.

Loud 'Holy shit' chants surround the arena while Morgan starts kicking and screaming as she gets restrained by the referees.

"Morgan is fighting everybody!" Cole shouted.

"I am going to kill you! You are finished! Done!" Triple H managed to get back on his feet and grabbed her by the hair, despite getting pulled back by security.

Celeste tweets 'HOLY CRAP! WWEMorgan101 has gone CRAZY! I love it! #MorganOnTheLoose'

"Who do you think you are!? I am the COO of this company! I created you in this business! And I will take you out! You think you can do this to me!?" The COO was seeing red and he put his hands on her neck.

Morgan, manages to grab a hold of his wrists, trying to get his hands off her neck.

"Stop! Stop!" Referees and security guards shouted. "Get off of her! Enough! That's enough!"

"Get your damn hands off of me!" she managed to give him a kick in the balls as King yelled again in a high pitched voice.

"She just low blowed the boss!" Cole shouted.

"She is going to get so many consequences from this..." JBL guaranteed.

"Morgan! That's enough!" Security shouted.

Celeste tweets 'Why bother breaking it up? All hell has gone loose!'

"Get her out of here! Get that crazy homicidal bitch out of here!" Rosa shouted.

Morgan gets backed up by security and referees near the commentating table.

"Morgan! Do you think before you do things!? You're gonna get fired over this!" JBL shouted.

Morgan snapped her head towards JBL and stormed up to him, gripping him by the jacket. "I don't care!" she screamed in his face.

King laughs as she shoves him back into his chair. She searches under the ring and grabs a chair.

"All right, I'm calling 911, now." JBL took out his phone.

"You deserved that, John," King said with amusement.

As soon as the Outspoken Diva takes out the chair, the referees and security get defensive.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Morgan! Put the chair down! Put it down! Enough!" They shouted as the crowd cheered her on.

The spitfire starts pacing back and forth before slamming the chair on top of the announce table while screaming.

"Somebody calm her down!" JBL yelled.

"You do it since you want to so bad," King replied.

Morgan throws the chair away and goes right after Rosa again, who was trying to help Triple H up.

"Watch your back!" Cole warned as Morgan grabbed Rosa from behind and laid her out with the Morganizer.

The crowd booed once security managed to pick The Outspoken Diva up and begin taking her to the back as her theme came on.

"Morgan just made a statement!" Cole shouted.

"A dumb one. It's a ticket to unemployment." JBL criticized. "Can't believe she attacked me."

"You shouldn't have been running your mouth." King retorted as Triple H struggled to get up while gritting his teeth, in pain.

"Come on. We need to get you checked out." A referee helped him out.

"Get off of me! Get off!" The COO shoved him away. "I want Morgan. Now." He ordered.

"That's not a good idea—"

"FIND HER!"

-------

On Raw, Melanie was backstage, watching RAW with April and Celeste, who came to visit.

"I cannot believe you went at it with Triple H," Celeste said in amazement.

"That was friggin' awesome. You two going to have a singles match against each other in the future?" April asked.

Melanie grinned. "Fingers crossed. I'd love to face him. Call it a taste of what could happen in the future if the demand is high enough,"

Later as she and April head to catering, they see a big bowl of grapes just for Melanie, as it had the name 'Morgan' on it.

"Time for grapes!" Melanie immediately attacked the bowl.

"Hey! I want some!" April tried to grab some but the Philly Diva blocked her way.

"Aye! Aye! I'm trying to eat my grapes, here. Give me some privacy. Get your own!"

"You can't share? Give me some!" April managed to snatch some from her hand and shoved them in her mouth.

"April! Those are mine! There's another grape bowl over there for everyone else!"

"Haha! Nope!" she teased and grabbed the nicely sealed grape bowl, running away with it.

"Hey! Come back here!" Melanie ran after her.

"Hey dudes, grapes, hide em. Beware of the grape monster. Bye!" April dashed away after giving Jon a bowl of grapes.

"What the—oh no way, you take it." Jon gave Colby the bowl of grapes.

"Hell no, man. I don't want to get speared." Colby gave it to Joe.

"Just because I do spears, doesn't mean I want to get hit by one." Joe gave it back to Colby.

They started passing around the grape bowl like a hot potato, not looking forward to dealing with Melanie's wrath. Melanie always got defensive about her grapes. She was very passionate about them in catering.

"Hey, Heath! Here you want some grapes?" Colby gave Heath the bowl.

"Thanks, man." Heath walked off with the bowl as he sighed out of relief.

"Oh my God! You killed Heath!" Jon exclaimed.

"You bastard!" Joe punched Colby in the arm.

"He'll live...barley." Colby laughed.

The Outspoken Diva walked around backstage. She asked whoever she could find where April would be at. She wanted her grapes back. And she will get her grapes back. She always gets her grapes back.

------

"Hey, look what I got? These grapes are good. Haven't had them in a while." Heath started popping them in his mouth.

"Where'd you get them?" Nic asked, getting off of his Twitter account.

"Colby and the guys gave them to me."

Nic looked alarmed. "Wait. Dude, those are MELANIE'S grapes!"

"Oh shit!" Heath quickly left the table and dashed to the men's locker room.

"Aye! Don't leave them with me! I don't want to get attacked!" Nic helplessly looked at the bowl. He saw Jon and quickly put it in his hands. "See ya, bye!"

"Hey! I don't want this!" Jon called out but Nic quickly ran away.

"Where are my grapes!?" Jon heard Melanie's demanding voice, nearby.

Being so alarmed by her voice, he almost dropped the bowl but managed to catch it. He mentally thanked his reflexes as he ran around backstage to find April, and saw her hanging out with Celeste and Ettore.

"You started this. You end it." Jon handed the bowl back to April.

"Oh, come on!" April whined.

"Hey!" Melanie shouted across the hallway and started running after the four of them.

"Ah!" April shrieked and set the bowl down on a table while running away with everyone else.

"Are you guys serious?" She checked on her grape bowl. She turns around, only to get smacked in the face by grape pie.

"Smack cam!" A goofy laugh filled Melanie's ears.

The pie felt cold like it had been in the refrigerator. She removed the pan from her face and slowly wiped the pie off her eyes, and mouth.

"Damn! I got you, good!" Colby laughed.

Melanie laughed with him while he playfully punched her shoulder. All of a sudden, she ceased her laugh and frowned at him.

"Oh shit " He tried to run away but The Outspoken diva jumped on his back, making him fall down on his chest, leaving him in her wrath.

Meanwhile, Celeste, Jon, Joe, April, Heath, Nic, and Ettore came back and laughed at Colby, who was getting beat up.

"Why are you laughing? You guys are next!" She got up and ran after them, laughing to herself as she heard them scream and yell for help.

-----------

Later, as soon as they showed Stephanie getting arrested on TV, Morgan tweeted, 'Stephanie is a #SmoothCriminal. This is an awesome night. Still laughing.'

Dean walks out to the ring, as the crowd gets him a loud pop.

"The wild one. Last night, Dean Ambrose and Morgan Lopez went crazy. Dean Ambrose, not one, not two, but three brawls Seth Rollins last night. Triple H called Ambrose unfinished business. So, he's putting Cesaro in Ambrose's way." Cole said.

"Unfortunately tonight, Morgan has been suspended without pay, until this Friday for Smackdown. The Authority has also ordered that Morgan will be in a handicap match." He informed.

"This is ridiculous! She doesn't deserve this!" King exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the COO. She deserves it. She shouldn't have put her hands on him!" JBL defended. "Last night, Morgan got into two brawls with Rosa and got physical with the COO of the company. Another thing, she helped Dean Ambrose get back in the building last night! She has every right to get suspended. Some WWE Diva she is...And I really think Triple H should have given her a more extreme punishment. Like firing her. Suspending her longer. Giving her a fine. Something else."

"You're just mad because she put her hands on you." King retorted.

Dean loses his match via DQ after hitting Cesaro with a steel chair. He starts throwing chairs into the ring but Cesaro rolls out the ring.

"Is that all you got?" Ambrose's eyes widened.

He sets a chair down and sits on it backward.

Morgan tweets 'My sexy #LeatherJacketBadass is taking charge tonight. Look out WWERollins. And remember, watch your back!'

Later backstage, Rosa was with Renee Young for an interview.

"Ladies and gentlemen��­" Renee got cut off by Rosa who snatched the microphone from her.

"Hi, Renee. You're friends with Morgan, right?" she smiled.

"I am but what does that­—"

"I wonder how far Morgan will go to save her friends," she smirked and walked away, leaving Renee speechless.

"I don't like that smirk. I have a feeling Rosa is going to do something in the near future." Cole said with concern.

"I hope not..." King replied.

Morgan tweets 'LaRosaMendes DON'T go after my friends. ESPECIALLY ReneeYoungWWE. She has nothing to do with this. Don't put her in our business. Leave her alone.'

'Backstage pass'

"Dean, your DQ tonight over Cesaro, was that Dean Ambrose sending a message, to Seth Rollins?" Eden asked.

"Hey, it's just me doing what I gotta do to survive around here. That's just me getting a clean victory. That counts as a clean victory, right?" he asked. "Cause like, if Seth Rollins gets a forfeit win, over a guy that's not even in the building, at Battleground, then how come that doesn't count, as a win, huh? Same thing, right? Okay, I'm sorry, I'm complaining. I'm making trouble. I'm being irresponsible. I apologize. I apologize, everybody. Here's what I wanna know. How is Stephanie McMahon? Has anybody heard from Stephanie McMahon? She in jail, tonight?"

"Stephanie." He looked at the camera. "Stephanie, I have a message for ya, I hope you can hear me. I'm gonna try to get a hold of you, tonight and get you some phone numbers, of some guys that I know that gotten me out of similar situations, that you're in tonight. The names are Sneaky Pete, and Fat Tony the good guy, they're...they're good at what they do guys, and they helped Morg and I out in the past before. Although Morgan was much luckier, but anyway, I want you to know somethin' all right? If any of those big burley women in jail, tonight, try to mess with you or try to push you, you stand up to them, okay? Because you're a McMahon, all right? Stay strong Stephanie, we're all prayin' for ya."

Morgan tweets 'LMAO! Sneaky Pete...Yep, they helped me out a lot back then. Bar fights...Glad I was lucky. #LuckyCharm # StephanieTheJailBird'

-----------

Once Smackdown came along, Morgan was in the ring, getting ready for her match.

"As you can see, Morgan is getting set for her four on one handicap match. I have to admit, this is unfair. I feel like Triple H should have done something else, instead of this punishment match." Cole said.

"He did the right thing. She needs this. She needs this beating so she can get her act together. She isn't going to be off the hook for putting her hands on her boss." JBL criticized.

Morgan glances at the divas in the ring. Summer Rae, Eva, Alicia, And Cameron. She is in no mood for this match as she crosses her arms, leaning on the turnbuckle.

'Ding Ding Ding'

"And here we go wait a minute!" Cole shouted as Rosa slid into the ring and attacked Morgan from behind. "This was a setup!"

The crowd boos as Rosa takes off her heels and starts beating Morgan down with them.

"She deserves this beating. She asked for this." JBL replied as the Philly Diva got ambushed by the divas.

Cameron grabs Morgan by the hair but gets punched in the face.

"She's fighting back!" Cole said as the crowd cheered.

She starts to hold her own as she punches every diva away from her. But Summer and Eva get a hold of her arms, giving Cameron and Alicia the advantage to kick her in the stomach. Morgan falls down on her knees, while Alicia prepares for the scissors kick.

"What a shot by Alicia!" Cole exclaimed.

"Pick her up, again!" Rosa ordered as the divas lay her out with their signature moves.

"Morgan is helpless," Cole said as Rosa grabbed a chair and set it in the middle of the ring.

She grabbed Morgan by her hair and gave her a dirty look. "WHEN are you going to LEARN to stay down and know your place around here? This isn't 2013! The Shield is no more! You're irrelevant to this company! You're nothing without The Shield! Just give up! And I promise, if you continue to stay here, we are going to make your life a living hell." She shoved her away.

Morgan felt groggy as she slowly started to get up to her feet with the support of the chair. The crowd 'Ohs' as soon as Rosa hits her with a swinging neckbreaker on the chair. Then, Eva gives her a microphone.

"1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10." She laughed and taunted the crowd with the divas as her theme came on.

Morgan rubs the back of her neck and glares at Rosa, as she exits the ring.

"Rosa has made a statement. But I don't Morgan is going to give up so easily," Cole said as she got from a referee in the ring.

[pertinax--loculos]

Heads Up Seven Up

A... while ago (oops) @winterandwords tagged me in a Heads Up Seven Up! As I'm feeling 'share-y', thought I'd put the tag to good use. ^_^

I'm gonna tag back @winterandwords, and also tag @kd-holloman, @thegreatobsesso, @t-lane-writes, @artdecosupernova-writing, @digital-chance, and @words-after-midnight to post their last seven lines, or seven lines they like, or as many lines as they like from wherever and whenever they wrote them, because honestly I myself take the rules of these games very loosely (see below 😅).

So, I'm taking these lines almost verbatim from my zero draft/outline (with a change of tense (because for some reason I'm writing the zero-thing in present and the actual WIP is in past) and some neatening), because it's the last time I was in, like, a flow state and the words came effortlessly. I'm also putting the actual excerpt mostly under a cut, because I haven't decided how much of this is actually spoilery. >.< It's also, uh... much longer than seven lines ahahah I MAKE THE RULES

Hurt and disappointment flickered over Casey’s face, but Ira didn’t care -- he told himself he didn’t care -- because it was so typically Casey to make up a beautiful narrative about an awful moment.

He had basically taken him hostage and Ira was so drunk he barely knew what he was doing last night when he kissed him and Casey didn’t have the fucking right but like with Ally, like with everything, he was still acting like he did. Casey shifted and started to say something; Ira cut him off, speaking automatically with the force that usually made anybody around him do whatever he said. "Just go." More hurt, and a little bit of irritation, flickered over Casey's face as his perfect fantasy was ruined. But at least he bit back, far more authentically, "You can’t make me do anything." And it hurt, more than Ira would like to admit, to smirk a little as he wrapped his fingers around his coffee mug and said, "Maybe. But if you don’t leave now, you’re gonna be late for your meeting." And he watched as Casey absorbed that and glanced at the clock over the window and realised the truth of the statement, and Ira watched as he hesitated, just for the briefest moment, as he considered whether Ira was worth staying for or if it was Gemhance that owned his true loyalty, and he watched as a second later the decision was made. And it was the decision Ira knew it would be, because it was the decision Casey always made; because it was the decision that had torn them apart all those years ago, and had kept them separate and hostile and raw ever since. Casey turned away from him, picked up his briefcase, and walked out the door.

[daandyli0n]

Thanks for the puppet headcanons. May I then request charlie headcanons too? 👉👈

yippee!! Charlie my beloved <3

Charlie (and Sammy) are biracial! their mom was black, and their dad is white.

Charlie is the older twin by seven minutes

Charlie typically puts her hair up in two buns that are meant to look like a pair of bear ears.

Charlie's favorite song is "My Grandfather's Clock." the music box was actually a birthday gift from Cassidy

Charlie is the second oldest of The Gang (her + the MCI), being around twelve.

she was very interested in robotics

she and Cassidy babysat the two younger Afton kids, and she'd typically handle Liz.

Charlie is around 2-3 years younger than Michael, and they're really close.

Cassidy, Charlie, and Michael (with Sammy tagging along sometimes) were their own little gang in school.

Charlie was friends with the MCI kids, mostly because she was one of the only real friends most of them had.

Henry knew Gabriel's father (long story: just know that, in my headcanons, There Was A Third Business Partner To Henry And William), so Charlie's practically known him since he was born.

the Afton and Emily kids practically considered each other to be siblings

Charlie is popular but also. Not. like, any of the kids who get regularly bullied or teased or are just generally Lonely absolutely love her and go to her for help, but most of the bullies and other popular kids (who, you guessed it, would Also typically end up being bullies) hated her guts. she cant win 😔

she's an absolute sweetheart but takes zero shit from anyone. after all, like Henry said, "It's in your nature to protect the innocent."

the only reason that not a lot of people fucked around with Charlie too often was because of Cassidy and Michael. Cassidy would happily kick someone's ass if they were mean to their best friend, and Michael isn't above ruining someone's day with a prank.

Charlie was locked out as a prank by a girl who would regularly cause problems for her and her friends. well, ain't that funny! Michael lost two people close to him due to a prank gone wrong :)

despite everything, Charlie still can't bring herself to hate William. as pissed off and disappointed in him as she is, she can't hate him ("I don't hate you, but you need to stay out of my way.")

there are so many more that focus on Charlie post-death, but. Hoo Boy, It's A Lot

can you tell Charlie's one of my favorites. is it obvious

[goneloot]

Showing off thingies

Last week I talked about mementos, so here I wanna show some particular ones!

Which ones? Some I’m proud of design-wise, but aren’t too crazy. I could show zanier ones, but I don’t wanna ruin every surprise there is, y’know?

Early Awakening & Early Nap

"Rise and shine!"

The first mementos you get in the game! The first increases your attack for your first action and the second increases your defense while you haven’t acted. These are also the first counterpart mementos Each savefile has either one or the other, you can’t get both.

What I wanted them to do is make you go “huh, interesting” more than making them that good. They can still be pretty nice, specially for normal encounters. Early Awakening is better if you wanna go full offense, while Early Nap is better for Talking since you can use the Wait command to get some extra time.

Late Heal/Love/Power/Resistance

“Better late than never“

The effect of this mementos isn’t groundbreaking. They increase your stats when you have less than 30% time. It’s like Danger strats from PM, right? I mean, yeah, but it’s different. Danger is risky because you’re at low health. Late mementos are risky because it’s volatile: since you get Time every turn, if you don’t waste turns using up Time, you won’t be able to keep your stats high. It isn’t that hard to keep it up, but it’s not trivial, and that’s the important part.

Emotional/Sentimental Rollercoaster

“Power Up, Power Down”

These mementos makes it so that on odd turns, you increase your Power/Defense by 1, but on odd turns it decreases it. It’s much cheaper than other Power/Defense increases, so the drawback’s worth it. You MUST play around it, it’s a core memento. It’s a similar design to P-up D-down from Paper Mario, but I wanted this one to influence the course of an encounter, make you be on your toes a tad more.

Pandora’s Box & Pandora’s Jar

“It is a minute to midnight“

Increases Power and Defense every turn, but your Time will go down instead of go up. If it reaches 0... bad things happen.

It’s a really simple idea, but it’s also some nice risk reward. You want to take advantage of the stats, but if you don’t do something about your quickly draining Time you won’t make it. Plus, it synergizes very well with every memento that gives you Time in some way, and the Late mementos!

Plus, I really like the aesthetic: I knew I had to reference the Doomsday clock in some place and it fits really well here.

Surprise Gift

“For me?”

This might be my personal favorite. It’s simple: any time your Love reaches exactly zero, it’ll heal back to half.

What does this memento allow you to do? The ability to use an infinite number of your really powerful attacks.

The drawback? You have to do basic arithmetic.

If you like what you see, you can play around with some of these mementos here.

[parkerbombshell]

Rules Free Radio Dec 19 2023

Tuesdays 2pm - 5pm  EST Rules Free Radio With Steve  Caplan bombshellradio.com On the next Rules Free Radio with Steve Caplan, we’re going to check out new and recent releases from singer-songwriter Michael Nau, The Lunar Laugh, Big Thief’s Adrienne Lenker, Friko, The Irrepressibles, The Libertines, Canadian sax player Cory Weeds, and sax legend Houston Person with pianist Emmet Cohen. In the second hour, we’ll hear some classic Blues from Albert King, Canned Heat, Slim Harpo, Little Willie Littlefield, Johnny Winter, John Hammond, Jr. with The Nighthawks, and others. We’ve got a lot of classics and in-betweens including Joan Jett, The Darling Buds, The Kinks, Ricky Nelson, The Beatles, Procol Harum, Jack Bruce, Psychedelic chestnuts from The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, plus Nick Drake, The Wondermints, Eddie Angel, The Pussywillows, Van Morrison, Kenny Burrell, Lush, The Pipettes, and a lot of others. In the second set of the first hour, we’ll hear a mini tribute to the late Jeffrey Foskett, who just left us a few days ago. He was a longtime collaborator with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys and he worked with some of the biggest names in music. The Darling Buds - Sure Thing Remy Zero - Belong Lush - Lit Up The Pipettes - Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling) Eddie Angel & The Hi-Risers - Soldier of Love The Lunar Laugh - Picture Perfect Ricky Nelson - Travelin' Man The Beatles - I'll Be Back The American Analog Set - The Kindness Of Strangers The Pussywillows - My Baby Looks But He Don't Touch The Kinks - Something Better Beginning Jeffrey Foskett - Something There Jeffrey Foskett & Jeff Larson - You Remind Me of the Sun Jeff Foskett - My Back Pages The Wondermints - Shine The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - Lonely Leaf The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Pretty Song From 'Psych-Out' John Hammond, Jr. w The Nighthawks - Howling For My Darling Albert King - The Hunter Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - Love Me Two Times Canned Heat - Dimples Little Willie Littlefield - I Want A Little Girl Slim Harpo - Little Queen Bee Johnny Winter - Black Cat Bone Eric Burdon & War -  Bare Back Ride Van Morrison - Moondance Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue Lou Donaldson - Twist Time Emmet Cohen Houston Person - Why Not Cory Weeds - Home Cookin' Michael Nau - One Morning in Vibrato Tchello Palma - A Whiter Shade of Pale Adrianne Lenker - Ruined Jack Bruce - Theme for an Imaginary Western George Harrison - Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) Lara Somogyi - Hundred00 Procol Harum - A Salty Dog Friko - For Ella The Irrepressibles - For Martin Michael Nyman - The Scent Of Love Nick Drake - Way to Blue The Libertines - Night Of The Hunter The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Acoustic version) Vikingur Olafsson - Goldberg Variations 21 Read the full article

[thetokenmuggle]

Date Night

M Young Included: M, Jane

“I am sorry i’m so late,” Jane greeted, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. M blinked, he would never be used to the instant transmission thing she did. A second ago M was alone in the kitchen searching for a packet of crisps to munch when Jane appeared. “I am all for being comfortable but I don't think sweats would pass the dress code,” she said eyes raking over M, an appreciative hum escaping her lips. M scratched the back of his neck, he still had to pinch himself when it came to her. “Now as much as I love the view, if we want to go on our date you need to get ready,” she said with a laugh.

M looked away from chewing on his bottom as he tried to figure out how to tell Jane they had long missed their reservation. “Babe,” M started as Jane’s eyebrow quirked up. “Have you been outside in the last couple of hours?” he asked, not liking the way Jane’s face fell.

“It hasn’t been that long right?” she asked. M sighed, he was sure Jane already knew the answer. “Shit,” she said glancing at the clock on the oven. “I am so so sorry, i lost track of time, everything had been going so well but then that company got involved and just ruined everything like they always do, i swear one day i am going to burn there building down,” she said, M wasn’t used to seeing her this annoyed - well at anything that wasn’t his best friend. Oh shit was the company Star Labs, he was 99.99 percent sure that it wasn’t but maybe Minah swayed Jane and Sungjae into working together for something.

“Don’t do that, not that I don't appreciate you dabbling into new interests even if it is arson, i just don’t think i am cut to be a prison hubby,” he said in mock seriousness, earning a giggle from Jane. “But in all seriousness it’s all good, we can always go out for dinner another time,” he said, Jane huffed shaking her head with a bitter chuckle escaping her lips. “No no none of that,” M said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug.

“You aren’t mad?” Jane asked. “Most men wouldn’t like their girlfriend spending so much time with their ex,” she said resting her chin on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t blame you if you were,” she mumbled.

“Well i can’t say i love it, he is pretty handsome but i am not worried, its your job, your clients wouldn’t last a minute without you,” M said trying not to laugh as Jane nodded, hair tickling his neck.

“Honestly you have no idea,” she said pulling away from M. “You really aren’t upset about me ruining our date night?” she asked softly.

“One who said our date night is ruined?” M asked raising. “And two i am really not upset about anything though i think i am going to buy you a good old fashioned muggle watch so you don’t lose track of time,” he said. Jane opened her mouth to apologize again but M stopped her with a kiss.

“Why don’t you go wash up and change it something more comfortable, i’ll muster up something for us to eat and then we can have our date night,” he said. Jane murmured a fine heading towards the staircase.

—-

“So this is nice,” Jane said as she walked into the dining area. M nodded from the kitchen, he was a tiny bit proud of what he had managed in that half an hour. Unfortunately they did not have a ton of options, their grocery shop was long overdue but he did manage to whip up a simple beef stirfry with what they had. He had set the table making sure to use Jane’s favorite dining set and wine glasses. He used the candles his mother had bought home after her last trip to light the room, he had no idea what the scent was, something floral, but it was nice “That being said, should you have been cooking shirtless?” she asked, sipping on her wine.

“Strictly speaking no,” M chuckled placing a the plates down. “There were a few near misses,” he said, he had to dodge some oil spitting up from the pan. “But somehow i’ve managed to escape with zero injuries, must be because i was cooking for you,” he said .

Despite rolling her eyes there was no denying the smile on Jane’s face. “You are lucky i love you otherwise this cheesiness would be too much ” she muttered, shaking her head. “Anyway, why were you up when I got back?”

“Because I missed you,” M said with a big cheesy smile trying not to laugh at the face Jane pulled. “Nah i was watching a movie while going over the books but then got sucked into the movie,” he said.

“So you weren’t waiting for me?” Jane pouted. “So much for feeling special,” she teased.

M laughed. “Well how about we watch a movie after this, you pick but if it is french movie please have the subtitles added my French is still so so,” he said.

“Fine, I will suffer from subtitles that usually miss a bunch of context and cover half off the screen,” Jane said. “But don’t say that you are getting so good at it,” Jane praised. “But if you want, I know a spell that will help,” she offered. M shook his head, no he wanted to prove that he can learn on his own without magic.

“Nope, I am going to learn it by myself,” M said. “The muggle way,” he said.

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

One Piece Chapters 202-210

In this section of One Piece, someone will die. ...I have no idea if that’s true but if I turn out to be right I’ll be a celebrity!!!

Chapter 202 - The Royal Mausoleum

Lufpy is all dehydrated and on the ground, but luckily he threw water earlier, so he ends up being fine.

Everyone is looking for The Bomb That’ll Ruin Everything. Lufpy gets directions from a friendly palindrome cop! But then he, like, dies, so that doesn’t matter much.

Chapter 203 - Crocodile-ish

Looks like someone forgot to put the F in Crocodile-Fish. What an embarrassing error!

Nico Robin thought she had found one of the interesting parts of the Bible, but it was actually one of the boring parts of the Bible. Mr. Zero isn’t religious so he tries to kill her. Nico Robin is religious so she tries to kill him. The king tries to kill them both and himself because, IDK, peer pressure.

The princess realizes where the big weapon of mass destruction is, so Usopp fires off a flare. Lufpy is too busy being dead to notice, but then he comes back to life and continues the subroutine that was already running.

Chapter 204 - Red

Lufpy has come to get killed by the king. He’s jealous. This is the power of peer pressure...

That’s right: Lufpy is bleeding all over the place and making everything all wet.

Mr. Zero is impressed by this, and decides to reveal his hook hand’s secret poison.

Even cops don’t want the country to be nuked. Understandable!

Chapter 205 - The Sand-Sand Band’s Secret Fort

The princess has revealed that the evil person is in the clock tower. They always are, aren’t they? Bird Death

Lufpy and Mr. Zero are still fighting.

Usopp becomes unintelligible. I suppose this was English in the original Japanese.

Hmm... Lufpy thinks “North” means “Cold”, Zoro thinks “North” means “Up”, Usopp and maybe Nami think “North” means “North”... I wonder what everyone else thinks “North” means. Although... if Zoro thinks “North” means “Up”, is he a gamer? Or I guess maybe he just holds his maps vertically rather than spreading them out on tables.

Oh also there’s a new team I’ve already chosen not to care about

Chapter 206 - Ignition

Wow! She really is a cop!

Nami has a clever plan: Using Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro as elevators so that the least important members of her friend group can be People Who Ride Elevators.

Chapter 207 - Nightmare

The bomb gets stopped at the last seconds, but in an additional small collection of seconds, it’ll explode.

...Huh? Is that really all that happened in this chapter?

Chapter 208 - Guardian Spirit

Lufpy breaks Mr. Zero’s hand off. It’s fine, it’s not Mr. Zero’s real hand. It’s just some poison. Bird Death

Chapter 209 - I Will Defeat You

Mr. Zero gets a new hand: Normal Knife That Isn’t Curvy At All.

Lufpy does something really strange, and they end up using special moves against each other in the sky.

Chapter 210 - 0

Chapter 210

The princess is getting really impatient for the war to end, but that can’t happen until it starts raining. it starts raining.

Lufpy, the king, and Nico Robin all get crushed by rubble. Ah well!

This post was pretty short, I feel. I guess that’s because Lufpy died prematurely.

[sukirichi]

sweet angel

With a heart of gold, sweet lips, and white lace all over your body — he’s pretty sure you’re his sweet angel.

REQUEST. lingerie under his white button up shirt for gojo + somnophilia + established relationship + oblivious reader

CONTENT/WARNINGS. smut, somnophilia, mentions of insecurity, very slight angst, creampie, cockwarming, body marking, UNEDITED

NOTES. I haven’t written Gojo for a while but I sure do missed it! We’re gonna have more Gojo content this week too! if i finish my wips anyway lmao

next

The clock blinks back a painful three am to you, the time way past what Gojo’s promised. You don’t stop the sigh leaving your cherry red lips as you stare at the mirror, jaw clenching at the sight. Today’s supposed to be your second anniversary with Gojo, and instead of spending it on a skyscraper dinner like last year’s, you both insisted on staying at home for a more romantic date instead.

Him being the strongest sorcerer, it’s only a given that he’ll be busy, even to this day. He’s unable to take a day off, but he promised to come home on time.

The dinner’s gone cold, the candles melted and aroma of roses sticking hard to the walls. You’re wearing his favourite black dress paired with ankle boots, wrists clinking from the bangles and makeup done to perfection. Today’s supposed to be simple, quiet, and romantic – especially with your surprise for him – but he’s still not home.

Washing your face in the sink and covering the dishes, you blow out the candles, heading back to your shared room to call it a day. You swipe your dress with Gojo’s white button, wanting to feel that he’s still with you even with just his scent.

A blaring red that reads three forty-five is the last thing you see as you burrow deep into the covers, trying your best to ignore the panging in your heart.

He promised he’d be home soon.

“Honey! I’m ho—” Gojo blinks at the darkness of your penthouse, hands patting the walls before flicking on the lights. He’s not surprised to see that it’s neat as usual, but then his gaze lands on the dining table, and that’s when he realizes he’s fucked up.

The candles are already melted halfway, one wine glass still and the other already washed in the sink. You must’ve taken a few sips as you waited for him; an image he can imagine already. He’s admired you long before dating you that Gojo’s used to your habits, like how you’d rotate the drink in your glass three times before you drink, tongue darting out to taste the wine mixing in with your lips.

He knows all this, mostly because it always drives him crazy when you do that, and he’s lost count of the times he’s pushed you up against the counter, shoving his tongue between your lips to find out what it is about wine and flavoured lipsticks you liked so much.

It’s a little hellish to him the more he thinks about it, even more so because you’re completely unaware of your effect on him.

But he’s not the only one, since no matter how perceptive Gojo could be, he’s scatterbrained more often than he likes to admit. And of fucking course he forgot tonight was your anniversary. He never set dates on his calendars, waving his hand and confidently stating he had an ultra memory and didn’t need reminders.

Well, now that ultra memory is reminding him of the last time he’s forgot to attend your work event, a time you needed him more than anything else, and you didn’t talk to him for a week straight.

He wishes you would shout at him, push or shove him even, call him names and tell him he’s horrible, but you’ve always been a sweet, little thing – you’re timid even in your frustration. You never glared at him, never scolded him, and it’s even more terrifying because you’re still so sweet to him – preparing him meals, giving him a kiss before he leaves for work – but Gojo isn’t entirely dumb. He notices how you turn away from him in your sleep, your arms that would usually be wrapped around his torso now hugging yourself in an attempt to make yourself small and invisible.

That’s how you felt every time Gojo doesn’t keep to his word.

Unseen. Unloved. Unheard. Unimportant. He’s no mind reader, but it’d be pushing it if he can’t even turn to your thoughts like that.

And even in your slumber, it’s written all over your face, evident in the way tears are staining your cheeks under the sheets. Gojo sighs upon seeing your crumpled form on the bed, your dress hanging neatly from the closet and your heels placed beneath it. He crouches down in front of the shoe, his hands crumpled into fists. This wasn’t just any shoe – it’s the one he made you get during that time you were debating whether you could pull it off, but he encouraged you that you looked gorgeous in anything. Despite having bought it a long time ago, you never wore it, only on this day because you trust your comfort and safety around him; one he’s so effortlessly crushed.

Gojo quickly changes into his pyjamas not long afterwards, sliding himself next to your body in slow, careful movements to not wake you up. Aside from a slight stir, you remain deep asleep, the frown permanent and deep on your face.

It breaks his heart to see you like this, especially because he knows he’s the one who caused it.

Gojo runs his hand across the apple of your cheeks, caressing your precious face on his palm before leaning forward to kiss your head. You smell amazing too, and yet, you’re uncomfortable with whatever’s playing in your head. He could take a good guess and assume it’s him.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into your skin, sliding his arm over your body to pull you close to him. “I didn’t mean to forget, I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

He knows he should apologize when you’re awake, but he wants to say it now before his guilt eats up at him. Gojo’s eyes flutter close when his hands come into contact with something...lacey, and he pauses, lifting the sheets to inspect the material. He doesn’t really know what he’s expecting, but his breath stutters anyway, his aquamarine eyes zeroed in on his shirt draped over your form, the top three buttons left open and you’re not wearing shorts.

Gojo curses under his breath. His reaction is immediate; blood rushing to his groin and legs nudging yours apart. He doesn’t bother hiding under the sheets not anymore as he runs his hand over your body, his touch suddenly so cold in contrast to your warmth.

He’s fucked you a lot of times in different places and angles, so he shouldn’t be so nervous, yet he is, and his hands are fucking shaking.

His head snaps to your one more time, revelling in the way you open your legs just as he pries them apart. Even in your sleep, you’re still so trusting, so wanting – so perfect for him. Gojo situates himself between your thighs as he unbuttons your shirt one by one, his teeth clenched so hard it wouldn’t be anything surprising if he actually cracked his jaw.

You’re nothing short of looking like an angel; the thigh straps squeezing the flesh of your thighs and exuding such heavenly beauty he’s stunned.

You let out a sigh at his erection rubbing you through his boxers, completely unaware that Gojo’s fallen back on his thighs, eyes wide at the white lingerie set clad in your body. He licks at his lips, debating which land he should trudge on first.

The thigh straps he wants to rip with his fingers, the white lace panty that’s already nearly transparent with your arousal, or the frilly cups holding your breasts in place?

This is the first time Gojo’s gotten close to losing his mind, and lose his mind he did. Thoughts of making it up to you flies out the window, his emotions running turbulent with anger and regret in place. If he’d just gotten home, if he’d just killed the curses faster, he could’ve kissed you and heard you beg for him in your awakened state; he’d have the pleasure of seeing you squirm under him while he rips this pretty set apart.

His dick throbs harder at the fact you wore this for him, but you must’ve been so tired and sad to wear proper pyjamas. Should he be thankful? Angry at himself for making you feel this way?

He doesn’t fucking now, his mind is nothing but a mess as he sucks a wet spot into the juncture of your neck, large hands groping your breast. You mewl a little at the contact, neck arching to the side while you sigh, that slight dip in your brow a telltale you must be still in a sleepy daze.

“Fuck, baby,” he mutters through pants as he cups your mound, only to be met with such astounding wetness. You look so innocent right now in comparison to your soft moans that it ruins him. You’re a good girl, such a sweet lover for him that you’re always letting him take in charge under the trust he’ll make you feel good. This trust is extended even in your wildest dreams, but you don’t need to worry about that. He’ll soon make it a reality.

Gojo is too needy that he doesn’t bother pulling your thong off anymore, pulling it to the side with two fingers before his thumb flicks at your clit. He’s rewarded with a sharp inhale, cheeks planted to the pillows and you look so pretty, so hauntingly oblivious that the only thing able to pull the strongest sorcerer limb by limb apart is through your needy wet cunt.

He aligns himself with your entrance, groaning when his tip is coated with your slick, the warmth of your pussy radiating off of him. It’s fucking stupid that Gojo shivers, and he knows it’s pathetic because he chuckles, lifting both your legs up before he hugs them to his chest.

You’re so wet that Gojo no longer finds the need to prepare you, his eyes falling down to where your bodies connect, breath taken away at how your lips eagerly spread apart to take him in. He’s a little too big for your tiny, sweet pussy that your lips pinch into a flat line, chest rasping up and down.

He wants to apologize, wants to caress your face and look you in the eyes as usual to tell you that you’re doing good, just breathe and the pain will be gone soon.

The situation deprives him of that privilege, so he’s left with no choice but to kiss your ankles affectionately before thrusting all the way in. A loud moan echoes around the room the moment he’s seated in, dick throbbing inside your heated pussy that’s so tight it’s nearly suffocating.

“Oh, my baby,” he thrusts in slowly, not wanting to completely wake you up despite the fact you’re unconsciously grabbing the sheets already. “My sweet, pretty angel – I’m so sorry daddy couldn’t fuck you tonight but look at you, you’re so wet,” he bites your calf at the last word to muffle his groans, the tight sucking in of your pussy to his length making his cock throb. “Did you touch yourself when I was gone, hm? You must be so unsatisfied, but I’m here now, I’ll take care of you.”

Gojo’s unable to keep his promise to you before, but he’ll definitely keep this promise now. He leaves little love marks at your skin, reaching forward to tug the cups of your bra down. He’s rewarded with the intoxicating luxury of watching your breasts bounce at his pace, your nipples the only thing stopping the material from completely falling.

You mewl at the pleasure he’s giving you, the constant friction of your hardened buds against the cups must be so heavenly by now, and you’re tightening around him, walls clamped down over his dick that Gojo never wants to let go.

He thrusts harder this time in response to your greedy sucking, his tip kissing your cervix. You throw your head back deeper into the pillows, hands patting every spot beside you. He knows that look all too well – mouth falling open, eyes shut tight, brows pinched together and that angelic little pant – it’s the face you always wear when you’re about to cum and Gojo wants to make it up to you, pushing your legs to the side before heaving his weight forward.

“Aw, baby,” he coos, “Coming already?”

The sudden stretch in your body only has your walls sucking him harder, his hips stuttering in its pace. Gojo kisses you flat on the lips as his hands thread to yours, squeezing it momentarily just as pleasure washes over him too. You come first, the spasms of your cunt similar to that one time you’ve accidentally gripped him too hard in your hand that Gojo’s cum suddenly landed on your eye. It’s tight, too fucking tight, that Gojo actually loses the ability to breathe.

His hips snap harder, dick driving deeper into your hole that’s already leaking out with cum. Your precious lingerie set is ruined, guaranteed to get him another pout that Gojo shakes his head, gripping hard at your hips while he chases his own high.

“I’ll get you another one, angel, I’ll buy you – fuck! – all the sets you need if it means dressing pretty for me like this,” he stutters in one breath, mouth latching around your nipple. He tugs at it in his need to reach his breaking point, no longer caring that you’ll wake up anytime soon, not when he’s so close and the squelching of your pussy sounds like heavenly music to his ears. Gojo thrusts in one last time hard enough that his balls make a loud slapping sound against your ass, but he doesn’t slide out, keeping himself right deep into your cunt in his orgasm.

Breathing heavily, Gojo falls on top of you, thankfully still strong enough to not crush you with his weight. He’s leaving fluttering kisses all over your face, your sweat slicking his skin.

He wants to pull out from the sensitivity, but you feel so warm and comfortable that Gojo plops down to the side, hugging your back and kissing your shoulder with panted breaths. You’re still recovering from the tremors of your orgasm that’s most likely still a dream to you, body trembling in his arms. Gojo does you a favour by throwing your bra to the side, his hands acting as a replacement for the missing piece.

He sighs onto your neck, barely managing to properly cover the both of your bodies in his exhaustion after a long day. He holds you close and tight in his arms, an I love you merely audible from his lips, followed by a regretful I’m sorry.

Gojo dreads tomorrow morning, in all honesty. There’s no easy way to explain that he “simply forgot” after all your efforts, his heart already darkening with the fear of seeing you pull away like you did the last time. His eyes droop down as he makes a mental note to just do whatever he can, but you’re stirring in his arms, lips puckered at the edge of his jaw.

“Satoru,” you whisper, hands tracing patterns on his chest. “You’re home. I’m glad.”

Soft snores follow after that, but Satoru is wide awake just as you’ve fallen asleep once more. He’s left speechless, and he doesn’t hold back in hugging you closer to his chest as a silent promise of never leaving you alone again. Even now, you’re still such a sweet angel, and how lucky is he to find someone like that?

[hellotherekenobi]

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN. [iii]

CHAPTER THREE: CONTENTION

Summary: living in the ghetto meant living on borrowed time. After a desperate attempt to add more to your clock, you find yourself in the middle of an ongoing arrangement with one of the head Timekeepers.

Word Count: 4,150

Warning(s): mentions of death.

Index: Previous Chapter. Next Chapter. | Masterlist.

When you had agreed to give a Timekeeper information in order to get Time, you hadn’t realized just how messy it would become. It seems such a minuscule choice and yet here you are, walking toward your apartment door and ready to see your traitor face to face.

He knows, of course he does, that the factory is getting swept tomorrow. When you had been expecting two hours, he gave you six with the intention of totaling twelve against your arm. All the more reason for your clock to get drawn tomorrow afternoon, along with the others who had minutes more than was allowed in this Zone.

How could you ever think that he would be any different? It was stupid to help him once, even more so twice, then risky to agree to help him whenever he needed, and now that stupidity is getting thrown back in your face.

He’s setting you up.

Twelve hours seemed too much, especially for something as simple as telling him a name. You hadn’t thought to question it after he explained it as simply being part of the deal, and since you needed as much as you could get to keep on living, you shoved back the doubts just as you shoved down your sleeve.

If only your family could see you now. They had died with zeros blackened on their skin, having given you what was left before it was too late. You can only imagine what they would think of you if they were still here. You don’t even have to imagine what Jayden would say if he knew. That’s why you’re going to end this straight away.

What a foolish thing to do; trusting a Timekeeper.

If he’s already inside, which is more than likely, then you aren’t expecting to see your cat as soon as you open the door. That little stinker is about as stupid as you, seeing as she took a liking to him so quickly. The fact that he hardly cares about it should have been a metaphor for you. Or a red flag.

There really isn’t any other color you can associate with him, aside from the black leather on his shoulders. Black vest, black pants, black boots. Black heart. And zips; too many zips. The dress code seems a bit ridiculous for them. If it’s supposed to inflict fear in people, well, you suppose they’ve done a good job. If anything, though, it depicts them as nonhuman. It baffles you to think of how they even got the job in the first place.

How did he become a Timekeeper? How, really, do you even become one? There’s no job application for it, or any genuine aspiration to be one unless you’re a lunatic. When every second counts, there shouldn’t be any reason at all to want to regulate people’s clocks. You can narrow it down to strictly two reasons: apathy and greed.

From what you know, he seems to have a lot of both. But he acts different from the other Timekeepers you’ve met, or known. He’s always been more methodical instead of intense. There’s a danger in a silent man with authority, which scares you—he’s one of the most silent people you know.

You swing the door open and your cat is sitting by the kitchen countertop directly across from the entrance. With the distance, you can tell that you’re not alone. She looks up at you from licking her paw, then gets straight back into it, and when you step inside, there he is sitting at the small dining table, drumming his fingers against the cheap and ruined plastic top.

He doesn’t turn around but you can tell that he knows you’re here, especially as the door squeaks on getting closed shut. He makes no move to face you, he simply continues sitting there and drumming his fingers. You wonder if you can grab the key tray beside the door and hit him upside the head with it before he can think that you’d do anything that risky, but he turns a fraction toward you when you reach a hand over to it.

“Just because I gave you more Time doesn’t mean you can waste mine,” he about grumbles, leaning his arm over the back of the chair he’s sitting in and meeting your eyeline. “What are you doing?”

Immediately, you’re curling your fingers back to your palm, hoping that he hasn’t caught you.

“You scared me again.”

It’s a lie but you haven’t a better excuse for why you’re stalling at the doorway or reaching for the key tray in the first place.

You watch as his eyes flicker toward your still outstretched hand and, surely, connecting the dots in his head. The air feels thick and hot before he looks at you again, his jaw tensing just slightly but enough for you to notice it.

“You’ll get used to it—” he stands up, his legs pushing back the chair and making a scratching sound. “I would have thought you would be eager to get your Time.”

Of course you are, but not this way.

“You think you know a lot about people, don’t you?” The sentence sound arrogant as you throw your keys in the tray as if you were always going to do that instead of putting them in your pocket as per usual.

He shrugs slightly and that black leather creases. “It gets predictable after fifty years.”

For some reason, that’s the most shocking thing to learn. He’s tricked you, plans on turning you in, and yet you’re more focused on the fact that he’s been a Timekeeper for longer than you’ve been kicking. That’s well over forty years. In an odd way, it’s both older than you’d expect and younger, too. All in all, though, it makes sense.

You just hope that you’re not as predictable as what he’s used to.

If anything, he can tell that you’re stalling. Every now and then his eyes flicker up and down—from your shoes to your eyes—as if there’s a screen projected in front of you with a list of reasons why you’re just standing there and staring at him, clutching onto the jacket that’s wrapped around your arm.

He takes a step forward, only marginally. “Did you find the worker?”

Now you’re in dangerous waters. You’re not sure what is wiser; telling him the truth or giving him a lie.

The girl, Charlotte, was nervous when you met her, and you can’t help but wonder if she knows she’s being tracked. She could be on his radar for many things, some of which aren’t pretty. Or she could be completely innocent and happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong guy.

Swallowing, you can’t risk keeping him waiting any longer. “Yeah, she’s there.”

“Good,” he straightens a bit when he nods, two fingers hooking around the cuff of his leather coat.

“Emery, right? Nice girl.”

As you were expecting, he stills his movements at the mention of the incorrect name. Not what he was hoping to hear, you’re sure. Still, his break in ice-cold demeanor has given you some latitude to withdraw from your spot.

You shake your jacket out, paying more attention to it than to him. “She seems young. Though, I guess I can’t really tell.”

Silence responds to you in the absence of his words. There’s a pinch of something in your chest when you look back up at him, having folded your jacket to hook under your arm. You pay it no mind. Your focus is elsewhere.

“Same with you, I suppose.” You continue. “Seventy-five?”

It’s strange to be standing opposite a speechless Timekeeper, one who looks at like you like he’s trying to fit you into a puzzle. You wonder what kind of thoughts are swirling in his head right now. Maybe one of them is a statement of regret for giving you an hour in the rain that night. But he had done it, so had you, and there’s no going back.

“Sorry, you’re not here to answer my questions,” you say it like you’ve only just remembered, pulling up your sleeve. “I won’t keep you.”

The sound of your footsteps echoes across the room as you approach him with your arm outstretched, still waiting on him to make a move. The only thing that does move are his eyes, still trained on you as you get nearer. It was humorous for a time—being the reason why a Timekeeper is standing inarticulate—but the more it drags out, the more you fear he really is connecting the dots in his head.

“What? Did I do something wrong?” You quickly say, trying to cover up your urgency. “Because you only asked me to look for her, so if I was supposed to find out where she lives or something then you didn’t explain it very well.”

He finally comes back to life at that, shaking his head as he tugs his sleeve above his elbow. His actions are still slow and you just hope he can’t hear the rattle in your voice.

“You did what I asked,” he says, taking a step closer that his boot knocks against your shoe. “Half as promised.”

You nod your head and his fingers wrap around your forearm, holding you not as tightly as you’re used to. His grip is almost hesitant, which makes this all the more nerve-racking. Then he tilts the position a moment later and your clock starts to flicker, growing higher as his numbers get lower.

Even standing here like this, holding onto each other, you fear you’ll never get used to the feeling—the way the numbers speed downward, flowing from his veins to yours. Some part of it feels like stealing, unlike any other circumstance when you’ve transferred Time. In an odd way, there’s this tremor flowing between you two. With his wrist flat to your skin, as soon as those numbers start to race, you can feel his pulse beating.

You can feel your pulse beating, too.

No matter who it is, when you’re making a Time transaction you keep your eyes set on your clock. One wrong move, or a deliberate one, and suddenly your Time is going down, not up. You’ve never been one to bet your life away, but you’ve heard of people wrestling for Time and how quick a dangerous game like that can be. Minute Men were the usual contenders and they’re still playing. Or rather, cheating.

But he’s different, isn’t he? Because from the moment his fingers touched your arm, he hasn’t looked anywhere else but at you.

Those eyes are cold, almost making you shiver. A crisp blue that you’ve never seen before in anyone else. You feel pierced by them and by the silent words he seems to be saying in his look, though whatever they are they’re unreadable. Just like him.

When you speak it comes out in a whisper like the breath is taken out from under you. “You should be looking at the numbers.”

With one flick of the wrist, you could take them all from him. Is that what he’s planning on doing to you, and why he’s so focused? He doesn’t take your advice, though. He looks at you. And looks.

And speaks. “Six.”

He drops his hand from you with the response, and you look down to see exactly six hours added to your clock. Not a single second over.

“Wow,” you exhale, a tightness at your cheeks when you meet his ardent gaze. “You were counting that whole time?”

It’s silent except for the crinkling of his leather coat as he pulls down the sleeve and the thundering of your heartbeat reaching your ears.

“I keep Time,” he says. “Counting comes with the job.”

“Of course.”

Despite the conversation or the setting, spending any amount of time around him always feels suffocating, as if the air gets thinner. You feel like you have to take deep breaths around him just in case the air escapes you. That long leather coat doesn’t help since it looks about as suffocating as you imagine the atmosphere around him is.

What saves the awkward silence and thickened air is in fact your cat who comes purring up against his leg, just like last time. For a feline, she doesn’t really sense danger all that well, otherwise, she’d be on the other side of the room.

Strangely, he doesn’t seem as disinterested as last time, looking down at your cat with such a brief veneer of contentment that you might have missed it had you not been watching him carefully. You seem to always be on your toes around him.

“I’m sorry about the cat.” You say, feeling like you have to.

He gives you another look, just out the corner of his eye, before bringing his attention back down to the black cat. “Have you had her for long?”

“No,” you say, almost stuttering on that single word at the fact that he just asked you a conversational question. “Just since I moved into the apartment.”

“Pets aren’t common in Zones like this one.”

Sighing, you cross your arms. “You think I stole it or something?”

“You know,” he shakes his head, stepping closer to you again that you instinctually take one step back. “You have a nasty habit of assuming the worst of people.”

“Not people, just Timekeepers.”

He grins at that, looking up at the ceiling. Again he takes his time, leisurely keeping his head pointed upward until he gestures a hand over at you. “I can take the six back if you want.”

No point in doing that if he’s just going to take it from you tomorrow.

“I hope you’re joking.” You say.

He nods, eyebrows raised a fraction. “Always.”

That almost would have felt sentimental if you knew he was lying. He’s telling the truth, though. He’s been joking about your Time since the start.

As soon as your cat steps away from him, moving over to the windowsill, it’s as if she’s telling him that he’s overstayed his welcome. Finally, she’s choosing the right side. He seems to pick up on the mood shift with how he takes a deep breath, heads over to the door, and brushes past you.

“Until next time.”

It comes out before you can think to stop yourself, saying, “If only I believed that.”

His hand stills on the doorknob and he’s near enough to you that you can smell whatever kind of cologne he wears. It’s rich and dark. So undeniably upper-class.

He turns to face you like he hadn’t heard what you just said, but you’ve stepped over that invisible line with the words you spoke that you can’t back out of it now, keeping your gaze set against him in a glare. Whatever semblance of normality was here before is long gone now, bubbled over with the reality of what is waiting for you and how that hatred never truly did cease.

“So,” you speak and he tailors himself to attention. “When’s the part where you stab me in the back? Now or tomorrow during the sweep?”

It washes over him, the clarification that you know, and he sighs deeply, breathing near your skin—a puff of air through his nose that gives you goosebumps.

“How did you find out?” He asks without sympathy, purely wanting an answer.

You ignore his question, feeling too far gone into a simmering rage. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I never lied.”

“No? So, what do you call this?” You wave a hand between the two of you. “Returning the favor? You asked me for information for Time. How is this not lying to me?”

He turns away from you, looking at the door. His jaw clenches as his fingers drum against the doorknob. “You have no idea what this is.”

“Then tell me.”

You wait on an answer, hanging onto the air losing its lightness in between you both. He’s facing forward for an achingly long time until his eyes meet yours and that coldness truly does make you shiver, feeling like you let a criminal into your home, into your life. And that shiver pushes past your fingertips as you take a step toward him, faces inches apart, without restraint.

“Go on,” you grit. “Tell me!”

Within a second of silence, your hands come down against him, pushing at his shoulders and knocking him backward. He trips slightly at the sudden force, hand reaching out to grab onto something to keep him from falling. All he can find is the wall, which does little to nothing when you push him back a second time, shouting at him to explain himself.

There’s a flicker of fear in his eyes, it’s obvious. Not only in how he’s clearly surprised that you’ve laid a hand on him but with how you managed to do so in the first place. Surely, he could have blocked it. You had shouted first. That’s something you would think he would be used to. Perhaps, in a way, the roles have been reversed.

When you raise your hands to push him a third time, he’s ready for it. His fingers wrap around your wrists and turn you abruptly to the side, shoving you against the wall he was just supporting himself on, now restraining you flat upon it. You try to kick your way free but it’s no use with those thick boots he’s wearing.

“You set me up!” Comes your angered excuse for hitting him, still biting though you can’t move under his hold. “You’re loaning those damn hours to me just so you can take them back. You’re going to kill me tomorrow!”

“That’s not what’s happening here!” His voice is raised, but not exactly a shout. “I’m not going to... to time you out.”

“You gave me twelve hours!” You argue.

“If you knew about the sweep then why did you take it?” He asks, stopping your thrashing. And if the restraint isn’t bad enough, his eyes seem to burn straight through you. “You know who she is, don’t you? You know her name.”

With just that alone, the penny drops. He’s found out that you’ve deceived him in the same way that he’s deceived you. In a dark light, you wonder if he’s proud. If he’s seeing himself in what you’ve done. Though you wonder if that’s his influence or something you’ve always had in you.

In all honesty, you’re not entirely sure what you were going to do with the hours he gave you. Some part of you is thinking about banking a few and then giving another few away. But what would the point be in that if everyone is going to be swept tomorrow? A silly, silly idea you had. You should have shoved him out of your apartment the second you opened the door.

“What are you doing?” He asks you quietly.

There’s such a lack of space between you two that he doesn’t have to speak sturdy at all. With a whisper, you’d be able to hear him. Though you wish he won’t since the breath he fanned along your neck before is still itching at your skin.

“I’m trying to understand how a person could do something like this.” You tell him.

“So, I’m a person now, am I?” He quips. “Only when it suits you, right?”

“And you give me Time only when it suits you. Which, apparently, means only until tomorrow.”

“It’s more than that,” he shakes his head. “I’m not supposed to be giving out Time. I need to cover my tracks.”

“Which means no loose ends, so I’ve got to go.”

“No.”

With just one word, his patience wains. He tightens his grip on your wrists and his intimidating posture makes it look like he’s grown taller, casting out some light that filters through your blinds behind him.

“I could take your Time right now. Is that what you want?”

You want honesty. You want answers. You want to be able to go on with your life like you’ve never met him. So many parts of you are screaming that you should never have helped him, then you wouldn’t be in this mess. Life was difficult, but not as difficult as soon as he stepped into it.

Running isn’t an option. There’s nowhere for you to go. Your wrists are already held back by him. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to flip them over and take back the six hours he’s given you, or the full twelve. Or more. He could end it right here, right now, if he wanted to.

“Why don’t you do it?” You ask, a slight ribbing tone in your voice. “You can start the sweep right here. Go on. Take my hours.”

His jaw clenches and there’s movement in his face, as opposed to the intensity of his stare. “I’m not going to do that.”

“Come on, prove yourself. Show me exactly who I’m dealing with.”

“You haven’t a clue who I am.”

“You’re a killer,” the word is enunciated, harsh. “And a traitor. And you’re pathetic.”

Moving in closer, his breath is hot. “Don’t test my patience.”

If his ice-cold eyes make you shiver, then his fiery breath makes you shake. With each push, he’s recoiling into the enemy identity as if he ever truly stopped being such, but you know better. Messing with a Timekeeper is a mistake, but you’d rather know exactly who you’re dealing with. If they’re all anything like him, you don’t want to be anywhere in his line of fire when he shoots.

Swallowing, you hope that Timekeepers can’t smell fear. “Why do you want the girl? What did she do?”

“You think I’d really tell you now?” His statement is flat, nowhere near that talkative confederate he pretended to be.

“You must already know her. I bet it’s not even a case. I bet it’s personal.”

“Yes,” he seemingly sees the surprise in your eyes at having said it so bluntly. “And you found her for me. In the end, you still helped me.”

“You’re twisted—” and you thrash again, trying to wiggle free.

He’s still stronger than you, no matter how angry you are, and shoves his knee in between your legs, pressing himself against you fully so that moving even a muscle is now impossible. You feel caged in, totally restricted. The fear creeps up the back of your spine, unsure of what he’s going to do next, or who exactly you spurred on.

This could be the end to everything—not just this deal, but your life. He’ll walk away with a bounty and you’ll lie flat against your floorboards. In a ridiculous train of thought, you wonder what’s going to happen to your cat when you’re dead.

When he speaks, his words all but burn you. “Thank you for doing exactly as I asked. You’d make a good Timekeeper yet,” his index finger taps against your wrist. “You’ve earned it.”

With one swift motion, he’s letting you go and backing two steps away. The absence of his weight against you almost have you falling forward, feeling tipsy on the distance like you haven’t known it before.

Yet, it’s strange to even watch him step back. After everything, after all you’ve said and done, it would make sense for him to act in accordance; take your Time, or arrest you. It’s odd that he’s going to let you roam around with the hours he’s given you, even if he’ll just take them back tomorrow.

Not just odd but startling. This isn’t common for Timekeepers.

Something tells you that you haven’t made any progress at all. Instead of being two steps forward, you’re five steps back. You’re still in the dark. And, for some reason you may never understand, you’re still alive.

What shudders you the most is that you’ll always remember this moment. Any time you see his face, you’ll remember how he set you up just to kill you, and how he walked away like his mind was already made up from the start.

“You’ll see me tomorrow.” He says as he opens the door, looking at you from the side. “It’s up to you if I see the twelve or not.”

Still with your back pressed to the wall, your mind is spinning. He just gave you a warning. He’ll be at the factory tomorrow and there will still be a sweep, but if your Time is back to normal then you’ll be safe. In his own way, he’s just assured you of that. He’s just promised you your life.

Even as he steps out of your apartment, he’s doing what he’s always done. He’s still helping you, giving you a chance when no one else will.

Nothing here makes sense.

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