#here's my detailed report of my brand of weird

[owliellder]

Handle with Care

Leon Kennedy x afab Demon! Reader

MDNI 18+

Description: Still brand new to working as a STRATCOM agent, Leon and another young agent are sent to investigate similar reports of a strange creature roaming a small town. (Taking place a year after RE2)

Warnings: Porn with plot, slight dub-con, no use of y/n, minor violence, guns, knives, a lil sprinkle of angst, swearing, manipulation, mentions of blood, non-detailed description of animal death.

Tags: Significant size difference, Dominant! reader, Submissive! Leon, enemies to lovers, unprotected p in v (wrap it up pls), semi-public sex, dirty talk, praise + degradation kink, neck biting, hickeys, begging, possessive behavior, spit kink, light choking, oral sex (cunnilingus and a slobbery blowjob), multiple orgasms, creampie, slight aftercare

this is my first fic, I have zero idea what I'm doing. I just needed some crazy self indulgence. pacing is probably super weird cause i'm really tired. kinda did this to stay awake at work. also this is not proofread, so if you see a super random word just know i'm sleep deprived and autocorrect is wack

It was late when Leon and another agent around his age, Trevor, were sent out to a small town neighboring Omaha, having been briefed on their task a couple days beforehand.

~

"...an easy task. I trust it won't take you two long to have it under control" an older man grumbled out, looking at the two young men sitting across from him at his desk as they looked over the vague information handed to them moments prior. The man leaned back in his office chair, letting out a low sigh at their worried looks. "You're not made to handle it yourselves, just have to follow protocol; call it in, keep the area secure, and the subject contained to the best of your abilities while you wait for us. Got it?"

Leon was the first to nod, which prompted Trevor to do the same, albeit less confidently. "Understood, Commander..." Leon responded, his voice wavering ever so slightly as the situation slowly dawned on him.

He hadn't dealt with anything like this since Raccoon City, which was still fresh in his mind. The screams, the blood, the bodies-

"I'm putting a lot of faith in the two of you." The commander's voice cut through Leon's thoughts, pulling him out of his small trance long enough to respond quickly. "Thank you for trusting us with this, Commander. We'll act accordingly."

~

Trevor was busy tapping his fingers against the steering wheel of the unmarked black SUV they were in, slowly driving around the empty streets of the town in search of their target. They had to remain vigilant, which meant no music. Talking, however, was allowed as long as they didn't discuss sensitive information.

"It's probably just some fucked up dog." Trevor said, keeping his focus on the road with an irritated look on his face. "I was talking with some of the others before we left and they all said these types of sightings always end up being nothing..."

Leon moved his gaze from the passenger window to his partner, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly. "Better to check it out than to leave it." he stated simply, his voice hushed. Don't get Leon wrong, he didn't want to be here either. It was already 1:20am and all he wanted to do was lay in his bed. He didn't feel ready enough for this, back out working to protect the people, but as an agent instead of a cop. He signed up to fight criminals, not horrors beyond his comprehension.

Trevor groaned, the car coming to a creeping halt in the middle of the two lane road as he dramatically slammed his forehead against the steering wheel. "I don't know, dude," he turned his head to look over at Leon, his lips pulled back in a thin line. "I just feel like we're being sent out on a wild goose chase. They have us training to handle the weirdest shit, yet they want us out here because 'we've had some sightings'?" Trevor sighed, lifting his head up slightly to throw the car into park before leaning back in the seat, his shoulders slumped. Leon nodded silently while giving the dramatic man an awkward look, slowly turning his head to look out the window again.

The SUV sat parked in the deserted street for over an hour before Leon spotted something out of the corner of his eye, lifting his head up from where it rested in his hand. He nudged Trevor, who was busy messing around with the pocket button on his shirt, before silently pointing his index finger towards the windshield.

"What? You see something?" Trevor asked, voice raspy from exhaustion. He squinted as he leaned forward, trying to focus on what Leon had pointed at. "I'm-.. I'm not seeing anything." Leon wiped under his left eye with an annoyed sigh at that, closing his eyes for a brief moment to collect himself. "In that parking garage across the block-" he leaned more towards Trevor, helping his gaze follow where he was pointing, "there's something moving up there. I can see light."

Trevor cocked an eyebrow as he finally spotted what Leon had been looking at, turning away to look at him questioningly. "....so?"

"So?! Are you serious?! Did you even read the file? This town has a curfew!"

"It's probably just some random homeless dude looking for a spot to set up."

"Even if it's just some random homeless dude, we're supposed to check out any activity we see tonight." Leon whispered harshly while he gestured for Trevor to start driving, which he did with an attitude.

The two drove over to the parking garage, Leon proudly noting the toll booth and the hours for the structure posted on a sign next to the barrier gate once they pulled up across the street. The other agent seemed less than impressed, shaking his head slightly as he parked the car, turned it off, and slipped out along with Leon.

They gave each other a quick once over, making sure they both had their proper equipment before stalking across the street and into the parking garage. Both flashlights now on, they cautiously looked around the empty parking garage, walking up the steep platform to the second level.

"I think I saw it on the third level, but they could've moved.." Leon whispered, his gun drawn in his right hand while the left sat over the right, holding the flashlight. Trevor nodded silently in acknowledgement, walking behind and slightly to the right of the Leon

The two men grew ever anxious as they made their way around the parking garage, slowing down their already cautious walk once the faint glow of a light could be seen hitting against the wall that held a single elevator and a door to a staircase. They paused briefly to give each other a quick glance before continuing on upwards, slowly rounding the corner while trying to remain as silent as possible.

Leon was the first to make it around the corner, if only by a second, before he quickly threw his hand back against Trevor's chest. He pushed the man back while stepping back himself, both hidden just around the corner by a large concrete support. Trevor gave him an incredulous look, though he made sure not to make any noise.

"There's something standing at the top." Leon whispered, clicking his flashlight off as he furrowed his eyebrows. The other agent followed suit, turning his flashlight off with a now very confused expression. "It was big. Looked like it was ducking underneath the beams.." Leon continued, his voice quieting even further.

Trevor leaned in so he could at least understand his partner, tilting his body to the right slightly to try and catch a glimpse of whatever he saw. "Okay, I'll uh-... let me head back down to the car so I can radio this in. Don't want the sound alerting whatever it is." he whispered back before nodding to himself.

"Yeah-..yeah, okay. I'll make sure it doesn't make a run for it." Leon responded, tucking the flashlight into its designated loop on his tactical belt as Trevor quietly shuffled back down the levels of the parking garage.

With his gun at the ready, Leon slowly peaked his head from the concrete support, trying to catalogue the details of the creature in his head as best as he could;

Over 8 feet tall, dark grey horns on its head.. those look like goat ears. what? ...muscular, broad shoulders... claws? Fur starting below the knees, cloven hooves, and is that a tail? Okay... is it not wearing clothes- what the hell am I looking at?

Leon's expression gradually turned more into a more baffled look as he took in the creature's features. He could only tell so much, considering its back was facing him. The fuck is it doing?

The young man figured his partner didn't want to radio him to tell him he alerted the higher ups, seeing as the sound might give away his position, so he remained in position.

...

He swore he only looked away for a second, but the creature had vanished, the faint sound of its hooves striking the pavement echoing through the parking garage. Assuming the creature was continuing to walk upwards, he quickly moved from his hiding spot to shuffle upwards, remaining slightly crouched down as he positioned his gun in front of him. Noticing the dead deer sitting near the corner of the lot, he grimaced. The poor thing was torn to shreds. Leon shook his head, focusing back on the task at hand as be pressed his back against the next concrete column that stood where the next corner was, taking a moment to breathe before cautiously peaking his head around it.

"Boo."

A face meeting his startled him backwards, almost losing the grip he had on his gun. He could hear a breathy laugh as he attempted to quickly reorient himself.

"You know I could hear you down there." You spoke with a smirk, standing upright fully so you were towering over Leon, looking down at him. "Im not deaf."

Leon shakily held his gun out towards you, taking quick steps back to add distance. "Stay-.. Stay right there! Don't move any closer or I'll-"

"You'll what? You'll shoot me? Gonna call for your friend?" Cutting him off with a low chuckle, you stared down at him with lidded eyes, smirk growing at his obvious fear. When he didn't respond, you took a large step closer to him which caused him to scramble back, almost tripping over himself.

You crouched down again, smirk slowly turning to a frown as you glared at him. "Thaaat's right. I didn't think so." There was a brief moment of silence before you took a couple quick steps forward, smacking the gun out of his hands with a snarl. It fell to the ground with a loud clatter, sliding numerous feet away.

Leon only had his knife left, but he was frozen with fear. Grabbing the front of his shirt, you yanked him upwards slightly as you tilted your head down to breathe him in, closing your eyes all the while. A low purr rumbled from your chest as you took in his scent, further burying your face into his neck before slowly pulling back to lick your lips.

He was stuck watching your obscenely long and pointy tongue poke out from your mouth, your sharp teeth and large canines on full display as you grinned at his scared expression. "You reek of fear. Not built for whatever job has you out here watching me."

With that, you let go of him. He fell to the floor with a pained gasp, his knees having buckled the moment you grabbed him.

You stood back up fully once more, staring down at Leon with an almost curious expression as he looked back up at you. He was on the verge of tears. He knew he wasn't ready to fight the infected again, but he wasn't expecting whatever you are to be so... different...

"What's the matter, sweet boy? Demon got your tongue?" You smirked again, hooves scraping against the pavement as you crept towards where he laid. He let out a small whimper, tears beginning to fall from his eyes as he watched you move closer. Once your hooves sat where his feet were, you let out a sigh, expression softening.

You hunched over, carefully unclipping his tactical belt from his waist before tossing it in the general direction his gun went minutes ago. Leon closed his eyes with a soft sob, expecting the worst as you now stood right over the top of him. Instead, he felt your large hand gently caress his cheek, wiping away the tears that fell.

Looking up at you through watery eyes, he sniffled, bottom lip trembling as he gave you a confused look. "I know I should just kill you now, but god, you're probably the most adorable human I've seen." You hummed, shifting slightly so your knee sat between his legs when you crouched down. "Got that cute pouty lip, pretty eyes..." your voice trailed off slightly as you complimented the frightened agent laying underneath you.

Leon was even more confused now, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as you continued to stroke his cheek. He didn't try to move out from underneath you, but he wanted to.

"I can tell you're just a fragile one." You spoke, your voice falling to a low growl. "Shouldn't be working with things like me. You'll get hurt..." Leon let out a gasp as you suddenly grabbed the tops of his clothed thighs, pulling him closer to you. "W-wait! Wait! Wait!" He yelled, finally willing his hands to move so he could try and pull yours from his legs. "D-don't-!"

You shushed him softly, hunching over him so your face was right above his. Your sharp claws dug into his thighs as you tightened your grip, not enough to break skin but enough to be uncomfortable. "I won't hurt you, sweet thing. Just wanna get a better look at you..."

As you began to run your hands up from Leon's thighs to his waist, he couldn't help but look down towards your hands, his brain suddenly processing the fact that your naked and very human-like! Despite the demonic features, of course. Your breasts were fully in view to him, and though your crotch was also in view, it was covered in a thick patch of fur.

"H-hey, don't- what are you doing...?" Leon spoke, his voice shaky and hushed. Growing awkward with the strange situation, he began to squirm a bit under your touch, the flush on his cheeks from his crying quickly deepening with embarrassment.

"Stop moving.." You growled into his ear, voice low and commanding. You watched your hands trail around his body, claws snagging quite a few times on the fabric of his clothes. You took the opportunity to bury your face into his neck again, breathing in his sweet musk.

Leon had no idea what was going on. Obviously this was better than being mauled to death, but he wasn't trained for *this*. Aggressive monsters he could handle, what was he suppose to do with the ones that apparently want to seduce him? He was hoping Trevor would come back soon, but he probably decided to wait outside the parking garage to make sure this beast didn't make a run for it.

"C-can I just-?" "No." You were quick to cut him off, face still buried in his neck while you felt him up.

He'd be lying if he said the attention wasn't making him hard, even if the situation was weirding him out. He hadn't touched himself in over a year since all he felt was shame and guilt every time he tried, the trauma Raccoon City caused really did a number on his psyche.

Your hands were warm, large, Leon didn't know how he felt about it. He was only a couple inches away from being 6 feet, but there was something about having a beast that was so much bigger touch him this way. It was freeing.

The sound of Leon's static filled radio echoing from across the pavement caused you to turn your head to look over at it, those goat ears of yours perking up as you listened. Kinda cute for a demon. "Looks like your friend is calling for you.." you whispered, slowly standing up while bringing him up with you by the collar of his shirt.

You dragged him over to the radio, yanking it from the belt before holding it up to mouth. "Go on. Why don't you tell him you've got it under control?" your voice was so sultry now. It made him shiver.

Leon did as he was told, watching you press the button so he could tell Trevor that he lost track of you and that he was going to survey the rest of the parking garage's levels before coming back down. You listened with a smirk as Trevor quickly responded back, acknowledging his decision.

You let the radio fall once it went silent, what sounded like a purr rumbling from your throat as you wrapped your arms loosely around his chest, hands pressed flat against his pecs with clawed fingers splayed out. "Good boy, Leon..." you cooed into his ear, having heard his name when Trevor responded through the radio.

Leon swallowed dryly at your praise, his blush immediately returning before looking down at your hands, watching as you began to unbutton his shirt. "Come on now... Let me take care of you.."

Something must be laced with your voice cause it was really starting to fog his mind. He should be scared, fighting for his life, shouting for help, anything, but he couldn't. He was too focused on the way your hands felt against his now exposed skin, helping you as you gently pulled his shirt off his shoulders and out from where it was tucked into his pants.

The agent let you guide him back down to the ground, watching as you unbuttoned his pants, sitting propped up on his elbows. The hook on your claw grabbed the hole in his zipper, pulling it down slowly. You instructed him to lift his hips, and from there, both his pants and boxers were swiftly tugged down and tossed aside.

It was a warmer night, thank god, so he didn't have to worry about freezing to death. Gave him room to worry about those claws as your hand wrapped around his dick. He groaned weakly at your grip, eyes closing partially as his blush spread down to his exposed chest.

"Such a pretty cock, but I wouldn't expect anything else from a pretty boy like you." You chuckled lowly, your breath hot against his dick as you languidly stroked it. Before he knew it, your tongue had come back out of your mouth to take the place of your hand, wrapping it around his shaft.

It was such an intense feeling; the way the tip of his cock sat against your tongue in your mouth, how it wriggled around every inch of his thick sex, the amount of drool that oozed from your mouth, running down your tongue so it absolutely coated him. The wet sound it made was so obscene.

Leon covered his mouth with his left hand while the right weakly gripped one of your horns, wanting to muffle his whimpers and moans so they wouldn't echo and alert the other agent just outside. He still babbled on quietly; "F-fuck..ple-ase, thatfeelssogood-.. fuck! oooh god... pleasepleaseplease-..!"

You chuckled softly, moving your head down to wrap your mouth fully around his cock, continuing to work your tongue around it as you sucked simultaneously. You repeated the process a few times, pulling your head back to stroke him with your tongue before sucking again. His noises were so pathetic, it was adorable.

Eventually, you pulled your head away fully, tongue slowly unraveling from his cock with a breathy laugh. Leon whined loudly, looking absolutely spent, his face fully flushed pink and his eyes closed, now fully laying back against the rough pavement. You hadn't let him finish, he was so close.

"You taste as sweet as you look..." You hummed, licking your lips to savor the taste of the man. It was easy to manhandle to sit up on his knees, watching in a trance as you turned around, laying your chest flat against the ground as you kept your ass lifted up. "Come on, baby boy. Let's put that mouth of yours to good use.."

Your tail, long and thick, snaked around Leon's neck, squeezing ever so gently as you used it to pull his face down into your crotch. He groaned, bringing his shaking hands up to part the fur covering your cunt before quickly starting to lap at your folds, whimpering at the taste.

You smiled, letting out a soft sigh as he moved his hand underneath to circle your clit with his thumb. You made sure to keep your tail wrapped around his neck, keeping his face firmly pressed into your pussy. He was good with his mouth, whimpering and moaning into you every time you praised him;

"Good boy..."

"Doing such a good job for me.."

"That's right, use that pretty mouth."

"Bet you look adorable, all messy and pussydrunk.."

Leon felt so good, weakly stroking his cock with one hand while he kept your pussy parted with the other, his lips and chin wet with your slick as he continued to eat you out sloppily. He was soaking up your words like a sponge, it's been so long since he'd been taken care of like this. Who knew all he needed was a bit of some domineering attention? Doesn't really matter if it's coming from a demon or not, apparently.

His dick was still fully covered in your saliva, making it all the more nicer to stroke it while he tended to you. The feeling of your tail wrapped around his neck, your sultry voice speaking words of encouragement, the taste and smell of your cunt, and the way his hand thrusted lazily over his cock caused his orgasm to quickly build up, whispering rambled nonsense as he spurted cum across the floor underneath you with weak moans and shuddering breaths.

You cooed, moving your tail from around his neck down to his waist, pulling him up so he was standing on his knees and not sitting back on his haunches anymore. He moved his hands up to stabilize himself, holding tightly onto your hips with a dazed expression.

"Felt good, didn't it, handsome?" You whispered, prompting him to nod lazily as he stared down at your ass, moving his right hand to grab at the base of your tail. Wonder how that works..

You chuckled, furry ears tilting back to listen in on him easier. "Well don't leave me hanging, baby. I can feel you pressing against my leg.." You pulled him closer with your tail, causing his dick to grind against the inside of your thigh.

Leon groaned at that, so sensitive from his orgasm barely a minute ago. He was already rock solid again, letting his hands feel around your ass for a moment before standing up a bit so he could position himself at your leaking hole. He steadied his hands, gripping your hips tightly as he pushed himself into you slowly.

Despite being vastly bigger than him, you were still so tight, wrapping around his cock so good, all warm and soft inside. He let out a long and drawn out whine, throwing his head back as he clenched his teeth. "I-oh god you're so soft-..f-fuck! So wet.. hghh~.. shitshitshit-" He trembled as he began to thrust, drooling onto your lower back a bit as he worked himself in and out.

Leon's pace rapidly sped up, the sound of wet skin slapping and your moans echoing quietly as he was brought closer to another orgasm. He was still reeling from the first one, moving his right hand up to tightly grab the base of your tail again to use as leverage for his fast and sloppy thrusts.

He came again with a strangled cry, feeling your silky walls milk him dry. It had been so long since he'd even cum once. His body continuing to tremble as he carefully slipped his overly sensitive cock out of your entrance, whimpering quietly with every ragged breath he let out. You let your tail slowly slip from around him so he could lay back against the concrete column, standing up with a satisfied hum as his cum dribbled out of you.

Seconds later, you began to collect his abandoned clothing, giving him the few moments to calm down and recollect himself a bit. Once you had gathered all of his items, you helped him redress, even buttoning up and tucking his shirt into his pants for him. All he could do was stare at your hands as they fixed him up, dazed and tired.

"There we go. Back to looking all professional." You giggled, bending down a bit to nip at Leon's neck. His hands immediately flew into your hair, moaning as you licked and sucked at his adam's apple. You pulled away soon after to admire your work as the hickeys already began to show, a few red indents left from your sharp teeth.

"If anyone asks, you won the fight. Okay, baby boy?"

[getvalentined]

Hey, long time lurker with a brand new account here! i was just reading an earlier ask you answered about why Vincent didn’t stop Hojo and Lucrecia and (of course) Sephiroth, but there’s also something that bugs me that I’m not sure has been addressed in canon or fanon. I like Vin and Veld as work besties in the 1970s and they’re also a ship of mine. Yet I’m not quite sure how to factor in how Vincent gets shot during his time at the Nibelheim Manor, is presumed dead, and Veld doesn’t even go to investigate until Before Crisis, when he finds Vincent in the coffin and tells him he’ll come back another time. I guess an answer I could come up with for myself was that someone higher up than Veld forbade him from looking into Nibelheim for all those years but I’m curious what your thoughts would be? :)

My take on this is actually very specific and headcanon heavy, since there isn't a lot of information on that whole time period—much less information specific to Veld—but I'll give as comprehensive a breakdown as I can!

Things we know specific to Vincent and Veld's situation:

Veld was Vincent's partner in the Turks

Veld did not know Vincent was dead

Detailed explanations on the certainty of both of these are under the cut, but they go into linguistics and translation disputes and context cues that will absolutely get us both lost in the weeds if I go into them here.

Other things that are moderately relevant to this explanation:

All victims of the Kalm fire were taken to Nibelheim for processing by R&D, including both Veld and Felicia (source: BC chapter 13)

In spite of being processed in the same location and even being utilized in the same experiment as Felicia, Veld didn't know that she survived, so it's very possible to hide people in there (source: BC chapter 13)

Veld did not know that Hojo had anything to do with Vincent's disappearance (source: BC chapter 19)

At the time that Vincent disappeared, Gast was still in control of R&D (source: OG FF7)

The Turks know absolutely nothing about the contents of the room in which Vincent is sealed (source: BC chapter 19)

Veld has multiple lines in BC that make it clear he's intimately familiar with the Manor, talking about how it still has a dark atmosphere and how unpleasant the place is. He also seems genuinely concerned when the Player Turk reveals that they were in there getting rid of old research materials on Tseng's order, although I think that's more because he didn't want his newer Turks finding out about what had happened to him if at all avoidable. (It was not avoidable.)

That familiarity with the facility, on its face, makes it really weird that Veld didn't know anything about what happened to Vincent. The only obvious way to reconcile this with him never finding Vincent (aside from the cop-out of "it's just bad writing") is that Veld chose not to look for him, he chose not to question his disappearance, he chose to forget him and let him fade into obscurity. This sounds really bad!

My take actually plays into this concept, and it while it could still be slightly damning for Veld, it's really just as much of a tragedy as anything else in that whole situation: Veld did look, but he started looking way too late.

In my headcanon universe, Vincent and Veld were together prior to the mission in Nibelheim. They broke up not long before Vincent left (the assignment itself is partially to blame for this, but that's long headcanon rambling I will save for another time), and the assignment was long-term enough that Vincent's reports were expected weekly for the first month, then monthly for the proceeding three months, and then quarterly after that. The assignment was slated to last roughly a year and a half, but could have gone up to three years according to Gast's estimations based on his previous efforts and the term of Project G.

But Veld had literally broken up with Vincent right before he left for this assignment, so he wasn't surprised when Vincent only sent two weekly reports, one monthly report, and then dropped into quarterlies from there. The reports themselves were still comprehensive, although Veld got the distinct feeling that Vincent was getting a little emotionally involved in the assignment—not that Veld could blame him, Vincent was requested for this assignment because Gast knew Grimoire, so Vincent was probably having a rough time being in close quarters with people who were so fond of his dead father. Still, the distance would be good for him. Let him get his head on straight.

In mid-1977, Vincent's report schedule faltered again. Veld had received one in April, a bit late—because Lucrecia was pregnant and she broke up with Vincent and married Hojo and he didn't know what to do, he didn't have anyone to talk to, but he didn't want Veld to know. One in September, at the very end of the month—because things were getting so bad, Lucrecia was so sick, Hojo was so aggressive, Gast literally didn't care—and in this report, Vincent said that there may be complications with the project that would require company attention, but he would let Veld know in his next report.

That report never arrived, because Hojo shot Vincent on October 24th, 1977.

Veld waited, because there was a schedule, and Vincent had been a bit lax anyway. No big deal.

At the end of December he received a missive from Gast stating that he would require escorted transport back to Midgar for himself and an infant, by no later than the end of January. Nothing from Vincent, but Gast didn't mention anything, so Veld thought nothing of it.

In mid-January, two Turks arrived in Nibelheim to help transport Gast and his team back to Midgar, and Vincent wasn't there. To hear anyone tell it, he hadn't been there for months. While phone lines were shaky so far out, they eventually made it through to Veld, notifying him that Vincent was missing.

They questioned the rest of the team, but their search of the facility was limited without clearance from higher-ups with that kind of sway. Veld could do a full search, he had the security clearance for it, but two lower-ranking Turks could not.

Lucrecia said that she didn't want to talk about it—she felt bad enough already. Hojo said the last time he'd seen Vincent was mid-October, and he'd just thought the boy finally ran off back to his kennel.

Veld questioned Gast when he arrived back in Midgar, finding that he was the most forthcoming and the least useful. Gast stated that he was under the impression that Vincent had returned to Midgar in early November; he'd been out of town for the last two weeks of October for a board meeting back in Midgar, discussing assignments for Project 0, and Vincent was gone when he returned.

All of them were lying.

By the time Veld made it out to Nibelheim to search himself, it was mid-February, and Hojo had moved Vincent into cold storage for the time being. Things were being shuffled around with the onset of Project 0 anyway, samples and subjects and materials being moved in and out, Lucrecia finally being sent back to Midgar for a much-needed postpartum recovery period, Hojo being given temporary control over the facility.

At this point in time, the Turks only had so much power. R&D was swiftly making itself the most indispensable department in the company, and Veld's search of the premises was always one step behind Hojo's relocation of materials. There was almost certainly one point where Vincent was held in a steel containment tank being relocated from the lower lab to the upper or vice-versa, and wheeled right past Veld without him knowing.

Veld, who knew how emotional Vincent could be and had now gotten the whole story of the regrettable whirlwind love affair from Hojo and Lucrecia, came to the conclusion that Vincent had gone AWOL. Could Veld blame him? He had been treating Vincent like crap since their own breakup—he hadn't been communicating, and even though he'd been able to tell that something was wrong, he never even tried to call and ask him about it. He'd been pissed off too, and left Vincent to his own devices...for over a year. On a separate continent. Of course he tried it with Lucrecia. Of course he left when that relationship fell through.

And Vincent was a good Turk, the best in the entire department, so he'd definitely know how to disappear. How to cover his tracks. Specifically how to hide from the current head of the department, who just happened to be his partner.

If Vincent chose to disappear, Veld would never be able to find him; since he never found any evidence of what transpired to lead to his disappearance, Veld could only assume that was what happened.

Almost thirty years later, he was horrified to finally get into that sealed room—the one Hojo said they used to store old furniture and facility staffers' more valuable personal belongings, way back in 1978—and discover that he'd been completely, utterly, devastatingly wrong.

But, once again, Veld had just waited too long to do anything about it.

—

Game content and dialogue sources:

Grimoire Valentine's BC playthrough

Flash PINK's BC script

Evidence that Veld and Vincent were partners:

The Grimoire Valentine BC playthrough translates Veld's line when explaining Vincent's identity as "We were partners a long time ago." I've seen this translation disputed, because the actual word Veld uses is 同僚 (dōryō), which is best translated as "colleague."

To my knowledge (based on obsessive linguistics research because I have a problem, I do not speak Japanese but I will spend hours researching exactly what specific terms mean within the context of a given culture), this implies equal standing within the company in question. Of course, this is in real-world situations, so we can't assume it applies 100% to FF7 canon—luckily, this word is used at one other point in the game, giving us important context on its usage within the department: in chapter 14, when Tseng thinks the Player Turk has been killed in Wutai, Yuffie asks how they know each other and Tseng replies "They're a [colleague]."

Tseng is vice director, meaning they're definitely not equals, so this could imply that this word is used more loosely among the Turks, thereby disproving the partnership between Vincent and Veld. However, since Veld uses the word 部下 (buka, "subordinate") to describe the other Turks in this same chapter, I personally feel that Tseng uses this term very intentionally at this point, and it's meant as an indication of his character. When Tseng thinks the Player Turk is dead, he refers to them as an equal. This is further implied by the fact that in the proceeding scene, when the Player Turk is proven to have survived, they continue to refer to him as Tseng-san, using the standard honorific, while Tseng doesn't use one in return to refer to them. Veld likewise doesn't use an honorific when referring to Tseng, but the other Turks do.

Back to Vincent and Veld's little reunion, though, I feel like Vincent's dialogue completely clarifies the intent: Vincent doesn't use an honorific or a title when referring to Veld. Every other Turk in the game refers to Veld as 主任 (shunin), with or without his name, which translates to "director." Meanwhile, Vincent refers to Veld by his name and his name only, and Veld doesn't refer to Vincent with an honorific either.

In their department, it's clear this isn't something you would do with someone who wasn't on your level. Subordinates get no honorific, sure, but anyone even remotely superior gets one—a practice that holds true well after Veld is gone, as Elena refers to Reno and Rude as "senpai" from her recruitment in 0007 all the way up to her appearance in Advent Children.

If either Vincent or Veld were ranked differently to the other, the lower-ranking one would use an honorific—but they don't. Names only. Add in the fact that they instantly recognized each other after almost thirty years, and the level of familiarity is undeniable.

Those men were partners, a long time ago.

Evidence that Veld didn't know Vincent was dead:

Upon finding Vincent in 2006, he isn't shocked to find him alive—instead, he refers to Vincent having "disappeared," specifically using the phrase 姿を消し (sugata o keshi), to describe what he knows to have happened. To my knowledge, this is an entirely neutral phrase with no implication of death or malfeasance, particularly within the context of Veld's dialogue, which makes it explicitly clear that whatever happened to Vincent, Veld did not believe it killed him.

His next line is something along the lines of "Did Hojo do this to you?" which I find equally important; he very quickly adjusts his assumptions based on the situation and what Vincent looks like, moving immediately away from the concept of a mysterious disappearance to something much more sinister, but he doesn't seem to have thought of that possibility prior to this point.

[evidence-of-the-unknown]

[ID: An illustration of a conspiracy theorist's cork board, with three articles pinned up and connected with red string. Notes attached to the articles read, "recent local events" "Won't take my calls- bought out" and "Never trust a lab coat!" end ID] Full transcripts are available under the read more.

We've made it to our first intermission! Special thanks to my dad, a former journalist, for writing the newspaper articles for me. I gave him a basic outline and he did incredible work.

[Article 1 Transcript: Portland radio jock to call Meteor Flats Home Radio personality will be taking your calls on local station KWTF-AM Cecily Palmer Meteor Flats Gazette (Jan. 6, 2019) Big-city radio jock Barney Hopkins will be bringing his unique brand of news, commentary, and community reporting to Meteor Flats with the premiere of his call-in show, Voices on the Air, on our local public radio station, KWTF-AM. “I want to bring my brand of storytelling to a whole new group of people,” Hopkins said. “Kicking around the Pacific Northwest for a few years I’ve seen a lot of stuff — and I mean a lot — and one thing I’ve learned is that every little town has a big story to tell. And it’s usually a pretty weird one.” Meteor Flats’ airwaves are about to get more than a little weirder, if you judge by Hopkins record in famously weird Portland, OR. While a student at Portland State University he reportedly devoted a week-long series on campus radio to investigating claims of a Sasquatch living in the nearby Forest Park. Sources say he was kicked off the student radio station after a late-night interview that he claimed was conducted with a “moth-man,” although no tapes of the alleged incident exist and students who supposedly heard it said it consisted only of Hopkins asking questions interspersed with a “freaky buzzing sound, man.” “You’d have to be blind to think we’re alone on this big, strange, spinning ball of mud,” Hopkins told this reporter. “I’ve been calculating the vectors and time-tables, and I’m telling you — Meteor Flats is special, and I’m here to give a voice to the side of this community that the suit-and-tie types don’t want you to hear from!” Sources at Meteor Falls Community College & Technical School say Hopkins has been in contact with “certain fringe individuals” in the departments of Conceptual Physics and Speculative Biology, but Dean Alister Frumke has refused to comment on any association with the controversial Hopkins. Voices on the Air premieres at 9:30 p.m. on January 12 on KWTF, 999.9 AM. End transcript.]

[Article 2 transcript: Government project expected to draw traffic to the area, but critics are concerned Hiram McDougal Meteor Flats Gazette (April. 12, 2016) A new government project 15 miles outside our neighboring community of Carrion, NM, promises to bring jobs and business to our quiet corner of the state, but some area residents are worried about the secretive facility. Details are scarce, but the facility will reportedly be known as the Carrion National Lab for Unquantizable Physics Research. Signs visible Tuesday at the construction site credited the Grimke- Yao-Kandinsky Foundation as the funding entity, but the signs had been replaced by Wednesday with generic signage proclaiming “Good Things Coming, Just You Wait!” with a mascot character of a happy dancing atom. Some residents have expressed concern that the exact nature of the research to be conducted ta the facility is unknown. The college was unable to shine any light on the subject. “We have no official connection to the project,” proclaimed Meteor Flats Community College Dean Alister Frumke, “and nothing more to add at this time.” However, sources on the faculty reported that several members of the Department of Conceptual Physics had recently been granted multi-year sabbaticals, and the college itself had apparently obtained additional funding from unknown sources. Local contractors have confirmed that they have been hired to build a new covered parking and faculty pool facility for the school administration. Nonetheless, local business leaders were optimistic about the impacts of the new project. “It’s about time we got our own Area 51,” said Madge Plover, owner of the All Right All Night Diner on the south edge of town. “Get some tourists in here looking for flying whatnots. And all those research guys — researchers — whatever, they’ve got to go some place for a good meal — Lord knows Carrion isn’t exactly burstin’ with five-star eateries.” “I reckon I’ll offer them up a dis- count,” she added. “Ten percent off to anyone in a lab coat!” Access to the site has been limited by a new fence installed sometime between midnight Thursday and dawn Friday of last week. End transcript.]

[Article 3 transcript: Carrion residents claim lights, missing animals linked meteor flats experts skeptical about claims of “mystery lights” Hiram McDougal Editor, Meteor Flats Gazette Scientific authorities at Meteor Flats Community College and the prestigious yet mysterious Carrion National Laboratories are skeptical about claims of “mystery lights” and other phenomena in the skies over the tiny neighboring community of Carrion, NM. “I think if anything was going on in our airspace, we would have noticed,” said Dr. Helena Von Weber, formerly of the Meteor Flats college and currently listed as “director of unspecified research” at Carrion National Labs. Carrion residents have pestered sheriff’s deputies with reports of clusters of lights “flying in formation” over the small desert town for the past several weeks. Adding to the confusion, local rancher Daphne Frick has blamed the loss of a prize mare on the unknown aerial lights. “There was a light out back, bright as day, then it just shut off, like a door slamming shut, and the next morning she was just gone,” Frick said. She described the light as “cold and white, like a magnesium flare, but also kind of warm and purple, you know?” Area veterinarian Dr. Dani Ortega said no “unknown aerial phenomena” are needed to explain the disappearance. “Coyotes are a lot more likely than UFOs,” she said. “Dang things are clever. Hungry too.” “It’s just coyotes,” she repeated, convincingly. — Nov. 17, 2022 Unverified photo of “lights” submitted by a Carrion resident. End transcript.]

[watching-pictures-move]

Viddying the Nasties | Deep Red (Argento, 1975)

I always like to throw on some Argento every Spooky Season, and as the only one I'd watched so far these last few weeks was Giallo with Adrian Brody, and as I was listening to this one's soundtrack on the way to work this morning, I figured it was time for another viewing. Now, I've been turning into the type of person who will eventually shed tears after I watch a horror movie enough times, but I must report that I did no such thing with this viewing. Who knows, maybe next time I watch it I'll cry during the arm wrestling scene. Not tears of sadness because I'm lamenting David Hemmings' defeat to Daria Nicolodi, but tears of joy as this is the first step in him overcoming his male chauvinism and becoming a better man. We could all learn a little something from this scene.

I'd previously only seen the uncensored American version from the Blue Underground DVD, which I understand has all the violence intact but loses over twenty minutes of character scenes. To be honest, I didn't think the shorter version is the most tightly paced thing in the world, so naturally the longer version isn't either, especially as it runs more than two hours long. All that being said, this is definitely Argento moving away from the rhythms of the hero's investigation and letting the movement of the camera and the shot sequencing take over in propelling the movie forward, so maybe wonky pacing is more of a feature than a bug. I always like hanging out in his classics, so more runtime isn't necessarily a problem for me.

That being said, let me weigh one concrete point in each version's favour. The American version has the English dub, so we get David Hemmings' real voice, which has a lovely texture, more finely aged than his voice in Blow Up, and maybe the age and wear suggests he's a bit old fashioned, but it also suggests that he's accumulated or is capable of accumulating some wisdom. He's not perfect, but he's willing to learn, and his voice is maybe not silky smooth, but it's got its charms. The Italian version has more scenes with Daria Nicolodi, including one where she and Hemmings drink coolers in her crappy car while his seat is at a noticeably lower altitude, and another where she does a weird dance on the way to the door after dumping a picture of his super sexy ex in the garbage. I always loved the screwball repartee of these characters, and there's more of that here.

The copy on the Criterion Channel opens with a disclaimer about its restoration, and while there have been more than a few restoration jobs that leave a movie's colours looking substantially different than previous versions, I can safely report that this felt true to the visual character of the version I'd previously seen. The colours are certainly richer, but they're still true to their chocolatey character, white chocolate for the lighter colours, dark chocolate for the darker scenes, milk chocolate for a bunch of shades in between, the ones with cherries in them that nobody likes for the blood. This movie is like a box of chocolates. You never know when you're gonna get STABBED! Hah! Bet you didn't see that coming. No, I'm not eating a box of chocolates right now, but I did nibble on a bar of some Hungarian chocolate brand that I picked up at the European grocery near my local multiplex. Pretty good, but I'd recommend grabbing a Milka bar as a priority if you ever drop by such a place.

Anyway, apologies if my ramblings have been even more inane than usual, but the point is, the movie rocks, and I got out any remotely non-stupid thoughts I had about this time in my last review. I will add that I appreciated this time around how much detail Argento is able to sketch out about the Macha Meril character despite her limited screentime. I know dullards like to characterize him as a misogynist or misanthrope, but I have a hard time agreeing when he can treat them with such warmth. Also, the violence in his movies is usually too stylish and elaborately orchestrated to disturb me, but the bit with the bearded guy's teeth had me wincing pretty hard this time around.

[semper-legens]

31. The Explorer and the Journalist, by Richard Evans

Owned: No, library Page count: 206 My summary: In 1909, Frederick Cook returned from the north with a startling claim - he'd reached the North Pole, the first person to ever set foot there! Naturally, the press swarmed to him looking for news of this great feat. But English reporter Philip Gibbs smelled a rat. What followed was a series of truths and untruths, and a journalistic scandal that would rock Europe and the USA… My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Polar explorations? Well, this one isn't quite about a polar exploration, but it's still very much my brand. I've come across Frederick Cook before - he was the doctor on the Belgica exploration detailed in one of my favourite non-fiction books I read in 2022. He ended up making some pretty smart decisions and saving some lives on the crew, but that doesn't make him not a scammer. Because yeah, he lied about reaching the North Pole, and also about summitting one of the tallest mountains in America in a separate incident. But he's still an interesting guy - much like the book about the Belgica, it's clear that the author here has a fair amount of respect for him, but not uncritically. I am of the same opinion! Cook was a weird guy, but you kinda gotta hand it to him for his audacity, if nothing else. He was definitely interesting. And I love that in a historical figure. The ethics of him lying about having been to the North Pole are dubious; it's not as though a lie like that is the worst thing in the world, but there's all this weird racism tied up with him being The First White Man to blah blah blah, and the fact that the testimonies of the Inuit men he was supposedly with were never sought? Plus, you know, the history of Explorer's Societies in general necessarily has racist and colonialist overtones. I'm not saying this guy was perfect, that's my point, but he's interesting to read about from a modern perspective.

Our other main character, Gibbs…jeez, guy was in the right place at the right time to start a motherfucking shitstorm of the highest degree, huh. He was dubious the whole time that Cook was telling the truth, and put his journalistic career on the line in order to report on it. He was the first to disbelieve Cook, and wound up the figurehead of those who thought Cook was a liar. I have a lot of sympathy for this guy, he seems like a decent man trying to get along in the world who nonetheless ended up in the middle of a giant media storm and ended up as the representative for a whole point of view. The book contains information on his later life, too - apparently he went on to be a World War One journalist and it had a huge impact on his life and relationships, and he was even at the centre of his own scandal at one point. I can't help but feel for him, as this book presents him in a very sympathetic manner.

Next up, webcomics and time loops and magic, oh my!

[daveg65]

291 - Is that a Touch Screen on your HomePod? - With Guest Bob Fairbairn Jeff Gamet, and Ben Roethig

The latest In Touch With iOS with Dave he is joined by guest Bob Fairbairn, Jeff Gamet, and Ben Roethig. Bob joins us for the first time is 4 years and we talk about the release of iOS 17.4 beta 1 that fixes bugs. Apple releases their earnings results The Company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year over year, we review all the results in the main categories. Vision Pro available tomorrow 2/2 we discuss what the influencers have said and will we buy it. Jeff and Dave pledged to the icon Factory and discuss how this could be a great app. Plus much more.

The show notes are at InTouchwithiOS.com


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Topics

Beta this week. iOS 17.4 Beta 1 was rereleased Apple Seeds First iOS 17.4 Public Beta With EU App Ecosystem Changes, Re-Releases Dev Beta 

iOS 17.4 beta 1 gets rare mid-stream update

Apple Seeds First Beta of watchOS 10.4 to Developers

References to 'homeOS' resurface in tvOS 17.4 beta

iOS 17.4: Using Apple's New Podcast Transcript Feature 

Apple is updating one of the oldest apps on your iPhone

Apple releases their earnings results The Company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.18, up 16 percent year over year. 

Apple reports first quarter results

Apple's Q1 2024 Earnings Call Takeaways 

Apple reports nearly $120B quarter: Full charts 

Apple Now Has More Than 2.2 Billion Active Devices Worldwide 

Cook 'incredibly excited' about generative AI coming to Apple gear later in 2024

Vision Pro available tomorrow 2/2 we discuss what the influencers have said. Vision Pro Reviews: Surprising Battery Life, 'Weird' Personas, and More

What Reviewers Have Learned about Apple Vision Pro 

Vision Pro won't let you save web apps to your home screen 

Jeff and Dave pledged to the icon Factory and discuss how this could be a great app. Makers of Twitterrific want to defragment online media with Project Tapestry 

The Iconfactory Launches Project Tapestry, a Kickstarter Campaign to Create a Universal Inbox for RSS, Social Media, and More 

Will carriers start advertising their logo on every call? AT&T seems to be. Android phones on AT&T will now show brand logos on incoming calls

There are more details on the EU changes with iPhone and iPad. Apple's EU App Store Changes: iPads, TestFlight, Default Stores and More 

Apple Further Explains iOS 17.4's New Default Browser Prompt in EU

Here Are All the iPhone Changes Coming to EU Users by March 6

News

Rumor: Apple's Touchscreen HomePod Coming This Year: Everything We Know

Apple Extends Modem Licensing Deal With Qualcomm Through March 2027

Apple Savings Account Interest Rate Increases to 4.50% APY

Apple Card Users Earned More Than $1 Billion in Daily Cash Last Year Apple  Press Release. 

Honda launches wireless CarPlay retrofit option for select 2018-2022 cars

Apple TV+ viewers watched 17 billion minutes of 'Ted Lasso' in 2023

Apps

Arc Search Review: My New Default iPhone Browser

Orion Web Browser from Kagi

https://kagi.com/orion/

Our Host

Dave Ginsburg is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users and shares his wealth of knowledge of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and related technologies. Visit the YouTube channel https://youtube.com/intouchwithios follow him on Mastadon @daveg65, and the show @intouchwithios

  Our Regular Contributors

Jeff Gamet is a podcaster, technology blogger, artist, and author. Previously, he was The Mac Observer’s managing editor, and Smile’s TextExpander Evangelist. You can find him on Mastadon @jgamet as well as Twitter and Instagram as @jgamet  His YouTube channel https://youtube.com/jgamet

Ben Roethig Former Associate Editor of GeekBeat.TV and host of the Tech Hangout and Deconstruct with Patrice  Mac user since the mid 90s. Tech support specialist. Twitter @benroethig  Website: https://roethigtech.blogspot.com

About our Guest

Bob Fairbairn Does Technology and Audio systems consulting and most of his work is around what he calls “end-user computing and mobility 

Websites: http://SmarterCaTS.com Bob's Tool Shop KE9A https://www.bobonstereo.com Land and Lens Mastodon: @bobfa

Here is our latest Episode!

[roylustang]

In my preparation to live a life more outdoors I have not used AC or heat in my house for the past year. It wasn’t really an experiment, but here’s what happened:

The temperature range outside for the past year (including wind chills and heat indexes) was approximately 26F during the predawn hours in winter to 110F at the height of the day in summer. The temperature in my house probably ranged from about 40F to 90F, but I had no way to actually measure this so it’s just an educated guess.

Obviously we’re skipping over spring and fall, because you don’t need climate control for those seasons anyway. 

Let’s start with winter, since we’re heading that direction again. For me, the main challenge of winter is honestly braving the cold for 30 seconds when I need to put on a bra to go running. That’s really it. I usually don’t wear one to work because I’m usually wearing three layers of clothing, so I don’t need one, but if I go to the town gym I have to change (the gym does not have climate control either). I don’t really have a solution for this other than to just suck it up, or wear a bra to sleep (which I used to do all the time in high school, but I dislike it now).

In order to stay warm in the winter, I have three main methods: kotatsu, blankets, and hot shower. I’m almost always wearing 2-3 layers of clothing and fingerless gloves, which I usually sleep in too. I usually do laundry biweekly in winter, and weekly (or more) in the summer. So that’s a point for winter (also no bugs). Anyway. 

Kotatsu is pretty obvious--it’s warm under there. I know my housemates have already broken their’s out for the season, but honestly I’m gonna try to not use mine this year as an added challenge, I guess? Idk, I’m also just lazy and don’t feel like getting it out. And also because...

Blankets get the job done pretty well. This apartment came with 5 million blankets. I’m currently using 3/4 of the Main Blankets on my bed, but the third one is still too hot sometimes at night. Otherwise, as long as I put my hood up I’m never cold at night or when I’m sitting in bed, which is usually what I’m doing at home.

Hot shower is the third method. I love this one because it literally gives you cold immunity for like up to an hour afterwards, especially if its Too Hot. I once got out of a Too Hot bath and ended up sitting in my underwear in my 40F room for awhile after because I was Too Hot. 

The secret fourth method is exercise, which I do a lot of because it is my Lifestyle. You have to change quick though bc your sweat will get cold fast. (then I take a hot shower, and I’m basically cold immune until its time to go to bed again lol)

Summer is a lot worse in my opinion, mainly because it’s humid. It’s literally sweat central and because this is rural Japan, I can’t exercise shirtless outside. It definitely makes me want to go outside though, because sweating is much better when youre moving than when you’re just sitting somewhere. 

I don’t really have multiple methods of cooling off except for cool showers (of which I took many), occasionally putting an ice pack on my torso when I felt like it, and using a fan (which is extremely necessary in order to not sweat, and also dry my body off when I come back from exercising. I will literally sweat through an entire shirt in 10 mins, the humidity is fucking insane, I have wrung 100ml of sweat from my short shorts, I have disinfected the home gym mats after using them for those aforementioned 10 mins. The chewing gum in my kitchen was ruined simply bc it was humid. I had to clean mold off the kitchen floors and tables. Just imagine constantly being soaking wet if you’re not in front of a flowing air source, that is my life. Luckily I derive a very masochistic joy from this, so it could be worse). I keep the windows open literally 24/7, and the fan runs whenever I’m in the house basically, unless it’s raining because it’s significantly cooler then. I essentially do not wear clothes in my house in the summer. 

The worst and completely unanticipated consequence of this though was the appetite loss. I lost approximately 10 lbs on accident, because I wasn’t eating lunch (mainly bc I wasn’t in school and I just didn’t feel hungry). This really fucked with my health and made me much more prone to passing out, especially during exercise. I was also iron deficient, though I don’t actually know what the cause was, because I was tested for that at the beginning of June. My hair was definitely falling out though. Anyway, when fall came around, I gained it all back. It’s wild to notice how my appetite changes from season to season. Now that its getting colder again, my dinners are much bigger than they used to be. 

Overall, I’m gonna keep doing this, because i’m very used to it now. I just have to make myself eat lunch when summer comes around again. Cold spaghetti never tasted so good let me tell you. Also, my electricity bill is like half of what my housemates are, so thats fun.

[jechristine]

A Close Reading of Zendaya Style Files on Zendaya’s Yellow Diamond Ring

I just want to say up top here that I greatly admire and enjoy the scrupulous work that goes into Zendaya Style Files’s fabulous posts and captions—love letters all to Zendaya, Law Roach, and fashion!

zendayastylefiles

This has been a fun exercise lol

Reader beware

Soooo onto ZSF!

ZSF first discusses a yellow diamond Bulgari ring when she reports on Zendaya’s beautiful, late-April 2021 Oscars look:

[link]

ZSF says that this ring is part of “BVLGARI’s upcoming ‘Magnifica’ High Jewelry Collection.” Sure! [edited to add: Law has talked about this Oscars ring, which he describes as 30 karats here at about 1:10.]

Around this time or earlier, at least as early as mid-April in her Hollywood Reporter photoshoot, and maybe as early as March, Zendaya started wearing a different yellow diamond ring that seems to be smaller, lighter in color, more rectangular, less protruding, and flanked by thinner white diamonds. ZSF covers the HR shoot in early May but doesn’t mention the ring specifically, only that Zendaya wore Bulgari jewels for the shoot. My assumption is that no details about the ring were provided to her. [link]

During summer 2021, ZSF decides to post photos of a a different, smaller ring.

Here, in July, she identifies the ring as the “Griffe,” even though it’s pretty clearly the yellow diamond that Zendaya had been wearing since the spring:

[link]

Mostly, however, ZSF posts a slightly different catalog photo of a yellow diamond ring while still calling this different ring a “‘Magnifica’ Yellow Diamond.” I suspect that by the summer ZSF learned or realized that there were indeed two yellow diamond rings. At this point, ZSF doesnt specify in words that the second ring is any different (karat count or otherwise) from the “Magnifica” ring that Zendaya wore to the Oscars—even though it clearly is. My guess is that no one from Law’s team gave her new details about this smaller ring, so ZSF was left repeating “Magnifica” while clearly seeing with her own eyes that it’s different from the 30kt Oscars ring.

By October, ZSF seems to have been receiving inquiries about the possibility of this ring being an engagment ring, and so she reached back out to Law’s team and to Bulgari.

[link]

ZSF repeats that the ring is part of Bulgari’s “Magnifica” collection (we all learn later that it isn’t), and that Zendaya got it “courtesy of Bulgari” (we learn later that she didn’t, unless the “employee discount” that Zendaya describes later is a 100% discount, which would mean it wasn’t an “employee discount” in the normal way we think of that phrase). The “for which she is the official brand ambassador” and the “that she got from a photoshoot” imply that Zendaya originally got this ring via Bulgari’s regular sample-trafficking to wear for a time or to keep to advertise Bulgari (Zendaya tells us later that this isn’t really true). So from at least one of those two sources, Law and/or Bulgari (my guess is Law only), ZSF got false confirmation.

I can understand that if Law didn’t want to publicize a private purchase or gift, he might just deflect probing questions by answering “Magnifica.” Weird, because Zendaya is allowed to own personal jewelry, but sure!

Then, in a post from mid-October but revisiting the mid-April HR photoshoot, ZSF addresses the subject of the yellow diamond ring again, probably because Zendaya was asked about the ring in her British Vogue interview:

[link]

It seems that Bulgari’s relations team has finally gotten back to ZSF, and they insist that all the yellow diamond pieces were “exclusive” as of April (the word “exclusive” comes across as almost frantic imo). They also falsely confirm to ZSF that Zendaya is wearing an 8kt “Magnifica” yellow diamond ring (we learn later that she isn’t). Curiously, ZSF includes a catalog photo that still does not match the ring that Zendaya is wearing in either the HR photos or throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

At one point, the story seemed to be that Zendaya kept rewearing the yellow diamond “Magnifica” ring that was either continuously loaned to her via sample-trafficking or given to her as a gift. But here the idea seems to be that, in April, Zendaya was loaned an “exclusive” ring, one that is part of the “Magnifica High Jewelry Collection,” but different in size—8kt—from the Oscars ring. She apparently fell in love with it and purchased it herself with her employee discount. (It’s worth noting here for reasons that will become apparent below that every item of jewelry is from a specific named collection, either the “Magnifica” or the “Fiorever.” I’m no expert but assigning a piece to a collection seems to be Bulgari’s m.o. ahead of wider sale.)

[edited to add: it was a few weeks later, early/mid-November, that Tom follows and then unfollows rarecolors_ on Instagram.]

Then, in the aftermath of the December Daily Mail article speculating about Tomdaya’s engagement and drawing attention to the ring, and after mama Claire did her own damage control via an IG story, ZSF posts this new photo of another ring—essentially a third yellow diamond ring—one that we finally learn is not part of the specific “Magnifica High Jewelry Collection”:

[link]

It seems that this Bulgari lady decided that it was time to get all the ducks in a row around this ring. ZSF refers to the new ring as similar to Zendaya’s, and as a part of the broad “High Jewelry Collection.” In other words, according to ZSF, the Bulgari rep sent a new photo of a ring that wasn’t what Zendaya wore to the Oscars, that wasn’t the smaller “Magnifica” ring that ZSF had been picturing all summer and early fall on her IG account, and that isn’t exactly what Zendaya is wearing now, and instructed ZSF to post the photo but please take the “Magnifica” off the description. (The “Magnifica” collection’s official name is “Magnifica High Jewelry Collection”; without the “Magnifica,” the ring in the photo seems to exist in a nebulous “other fancy stuff we make” category.)

So it turns out that the story about the “Magnifica High Jewelry Collection” 8kt yellow diamond ring was false all along—and falsely confirmed by Law’s team and it seems by Bulgari, too.

Meanwhile, bulgari on IG had never before January 2022 mentioned the non-“Magnifica” yellow diamond ring that has been essentially glued to Zendaya’s finger even though the account had pictured it previously:

[link]

[update: Bulgari mentioned it on Twitter here, on January 7, 2022, nearly 3mo after this photo and 8mo after its debut.]

Back in April (or earlier), it’s possible that Bulgari gave Zendaya a very “exclusive” prototype of a ring that they themselves didn’t recognize properly from their own catalogs, either initially or for roughly seven months thereafter. And Zendaya seems to have owned that “exclusive” yellow diamond ring immediately upon receiving it or very soon afterwards.

My first assumption was that Bulgari created a prototype of a ring that Zendaya saw, that she loved, and that was given to her or purchased for her immediately. But it’s curious that Bulgari would get a ring into the HR in April but take until December 2021 to name it, photograph it for their own promo, advertise it themselves, and mass-produce it. Why sample-traffic a ring design that’s no where near ready for sale?

Bulgari didn’t market that ring to anyone else until December. By the end of December, Bvlgari included something similar to it, but not connected to any specific collection, in a lookbook. It’s a few weeks later still that Bulgari finally decides to acknowledge Zendaya’s yellow diamond ring on Twitter.

Commenters on ZSF’s posts have pointed out for months now how much publicity Zendaya is giving this non-“Magnifica” ring, which rarely leaves her finger. It’s true! Over the course of several months, I’m sure Bulgari has gotten at least one or two additional requests from potential buyers for something like Zendaya’s ring. (Here’s a quick article on the big business of celebrity engagement rings.)

So I think it’s also possible—and maybe even probable given the confusion in ZSF’s captions—that a ring was commissioned and customized for Zendaya (perhaps even by Bulgari), and then the Zendaya-generated interest inspired Bulgari, several months later in December, to create another version of Zendaya’s ring for its lookbook and for wider sale.

To me, that’s a normal thing. Zendaya can have jewelry commissioned if she wants to! And Bulgari can capitalize on that by creating a version to sell widely.

What’s odd is that while ZSF is so meticulous and hardworking, this one item has repeatedly confounded her. No other items have—whether shoes, clothing, jewels, even makeup and skincare—as far as I can tell. Additionally, a big part of Law Roach’s job is advertising the items in which he dresses Zendaya. Nonetheless, Law’s team did not offer any help on this one item; in fact, it confused matters further! (And this is not the only item from Zendaya’s personal collection that ZSF has covered, obviously.) Why?

And so: I think it’s also possible that a smaller jeweler (like rarecolors_) could have sold the ring to Tom Holland in February/March 2021 and then sold its design to Bulgari, say around October/November 2021, after Zendaya’s British Vogue interview came out, officially broadcasting the ring as Bulgari’s. I’m sure Bulgari wants Zendaya to tell the world that she’s purchasing its jewelry (and not someone else’s) for herself, and I’m sure they’d like to sell “Zendaya rings” to as many other people as want them. And so after purchasing the design rights, Bulgari could have gotten the ring into its catalog, into production, and onto its social media ASAP. This last possibility might explain why rarecolors_ popped back onto Tom’s radar in early November, too, and why Bulgari seems to have itself waited until December/January to go all in.

Do with all that what you will😉

[bananonbinary]

Time for a Salty Meta Post about Martin!

people who’ve followed this blog for a bit know that spending six hours combing through text for some goddamn sources is my specialty, so i compiled every time jon ever talked about martin’s work in season 1. which for the record, he stopped complaining about all the way back in episode 26, where he was angry that martin of all people got hurt.

things jon gets mad at martin for:

not being able to find records that don’t exist

not being able to find someone based only on a first name

the Dog

not wearing trousers in his off-hours

being the one that got caught up in the jane prentiss thing

mag 004 and mag 012 both have jon taking potshots at martin over research that was proven accurate by outside sources

things jon has never once complained about:

martin not understanding the filing system and just putting stuff away at random

martin being clumsy, constantly ruining things, spilling tea everywhere everyday, etc

martin turning in incompetent, poorly-edited, or badly formatted reports

martin not understanding the terminology used, skills expected, etc., and generally being extremely new to the field

please for the love of god stop making martin the silly bumbling idiot who can’t do anything right just because he doesn’t have a formal education. there’s zero evidence for it in the text, and it’s really weird to act like a 4 year degree would outweigh the *10 years* of job experience he has, not just in academia, but in the institute itself by season one. my boy has worked there longer than ANY of the rest of the main cast. screw you guys.

tl;dr: martin is never once shown to be bad at his job, jon pretty much only ever gets mad at him for the really stupid first impression and also not finding stuff that no one else was able to find either. after martin got hurt, jon talks about his research basically the same way he talks about tim’s or sasha’s work.

fucking proof under the cut:

(i didnt include the s1 finale or martin’s statement bc that’s just...two entire episodes of them talking to each other, but there isn’t really any notable Martin Complaints in either of them imo)

I swear, if he’s brought another dog in here, I’m going to peel him.

[pre-launch trailer]

.

Well, technically three, but I don’t count Martin as he’s unlikely to contribute anything but delays.

[...] Alongside this Tim, Sasha and, yes, I suppose, Martin will be doing some supplementary investigation to see what details may be missing from what we have.

[MAG001 Anglerfish]

.

Martin couldn’t find any records of Ex Altiora as a title in existent catalogues of esoteric or similar literature, so I assigned Sasha to double-check. Still nothing.

[MAG004 Pageturner]

.

I had Martin conduct a follow-up interview with Mr. Woodward last week, but it was unenlightening. Apparently there have been no further bags at number 93 and in the intervening years he has largely discounted many of the stranger aspects of his experience. I wasn’t expecting much, as time generally makes people inclined to forget what they would rather not believe, but at least it got Martin out of the Institute for an afternoon, which is always a welcome relief.

[MAG005 Thrown Away]

.

Martin was unable to find the exact date the original house was built but the earliest records he could find list it as being bought by Walter Fielding in 1891.

[...]

We cannot prove any connection, but Martin unearthed a report on an Agnes Montague, who was found dead in her Sheffield flat on the evening of November 23rd 2006, the same day Mr. Lensik claims to have uprooted the tree.

[MAG008 Burned Out]

.

According to Martin, who was here when they took this statement, it was at this point in writing that Mr. Herbert announced he needed some sleep before continuing. He was shown to the break room where he went to sleep on the couch. He did not awaken; unfortunately succumbing to the lung cancer right there. Martin says the staff had been aware of how serious Mr. Herbert’s condition was, and had advised him to seek medical aid prior to giving his statement, but were told rather bluntly by the old man that he would not wait another second to state his case. I can’t decide whether this lends more or less credibility to his tale.

[MAG010 Vampire Killer]

.

“Veepalach” might also be a mishearing of the Polish word “wypalać”, according to Martin, which means to cauterize or brand. Admittedly, if Martin speaks Polish in the same way he “speaks Latin,” then he might be talking nonsense again, but I’ve looked it up and it appears to check out.

[MAG012 First Aid]

.

I sent Martin to look into this ‘Angela’ character - not that I want him to get chopped up, of course, but someone had to. Apparently, he spent three days looking into every woman named Angela in Bexley over the age of 50. He could not find anyone that matches the admittedly vague description given here, though he informs me that he had some very pleasant chats about jigsaws. Useless ass.

[MAG014 Piecemeal]

.

Martin declined to help with this investigation as he’s “a bit claustrophobic”

[MAG015 Lost John’s Cave]

.

There simply aren’t enough details given in this statement to actually investigate, short of Martin confirming that Mr. Vittery did indeed live at the addresses he provided.

[MAG016 Arachnophobia]

.

Oh, he’s off sick this week. Stomach problems, I think.

Blessed relief if you ask me.

[...]

I asked Martin to try and hunt down Mr. Adekoya himself for a follow-up, but have been informed that he passed away in 2006. 

[MAG017 The Boneturner’s Tale]

.

MARTIN

Well, I need to tell someone what happened, and you can vouch for the soundness of my mind, can’t you?

ARCHIVIST

…

That is beside the point.

[MAG022 Colony]

.

Martin! Good lord man, if you’re going to be staying in the Archives, at least have the decency to put some trousers on!

[MAG023 Schwartzwald]

.

Martin found one other thing while combing through police reports for the Hither Green area. About a month after this statement was given, on May 15th, 2015, police were called out to once again investigate the chapel.

[MAG025 Growing Dark]

.

I know, but it would have to have been Martin, wouldn’t it? I mean, anything goes wrong around here, it always seems to happen to him. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Why didn’t you report this?

[MAG026 A Distortion]

.

Martin made contact with the son, Marcus McKenzie, but he declined to talk to us, saying that he’d “already made his statement.”

[MAG027 A Sturdy Lock]

.

Tim and Martin had a bit more luck investigating Tom Haan, though only really enough to confirm that he seems to have completely vanished following his departure from Aver Meats on the 12th of July.

[MAG030 Killing Floor]

.

Martin’s research would seem to indicate the place employed a reasonable number of international staff they preferred to keep off the books

[...]

TIM

Ah well, that’s actually what he was asking, huh! Um, apparently Martin, uh, took delivery of a couple of items last week addressed to you. Did he not mention it?

ARCHIVIST

No, he… Oh, yes, actually. I completely forgot. He said he put it in my desk drawer, hold on.

[MAG036 Taken Ill]

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Haven Gray

CW: Abducted whumpee, description of missing person, captivity, BBU/WRU

Where Is Haven Gray?

r/FindTheMissing

•Posted by u/bananasare2appealing

3 days ago

In the summer of 20XX, 21-year-old Haven Gray texted family and friends to let them know a second job interview they’d just finished had gone well, and they expected to be offered the job.

They made plans to have dinner with a couple of friends to celebrate, but never showed up to the restaurant. They were reported missing by their parents later that night and have never been seen again.

Hey, everyone, this is my first attempt at a post like this, so I hope you’ll go easy on me! Haven Gray is a kind of a personal case to me, I went to the same high school a few years behind them and there was still a lot of talk about what could have happened and like, their picture is in a memorial frame in the hallway by the principal’s office. It’s just a really important case to me and I hope they figure out what happened to Haven one day.

Haven Gray was the oldest of three children born to Matthew and Maria Gray in the small town of Trenton, Indiana. Tall, with long wavy red hair and gray eyes, they stood out in a crowd in more ways than one.

Haven set records for their high school’s cross-country track team, played well on the school basketball team, and maintained a 3.5 GPA alongside plenty of extracurriculars and an active social life.

They then spent two years attending Trenton Community College, looking to finish out their degree at Indiana State University and go into the human resources field. They kept up a part-time job on the side, but during the summer before they would move to ISU, they decided to look for full-time work to help save up some money.

Haven’s mother Maria was interviewed after their disappearance by local news station INNW as saying that Haven was very excited about finishing up their degree and moving into their first real apartment. 

Haven had seen an ad on a job-hunting website for a receptionist for a temp agency that specialized in placing HR professionals in nearby companies. Seeing a way to get some relevant experience before they finished up their degree, they applied and were contacted for a job interview.

Here’s where things get just a little weird, before they get even weirder.

Haven texted a photo of the strip mall where the job interview was, and noted that the company was not located in a well-maintained place, which made Haven very nervous. The signage also seemed brand new, which conflicted with information on the company website suggesting they’d been in that location for years. 

They waited in their car and called the company phone. Only when someone came out to greet them did Haven go inside for the interview. 

The first interview went smoothly, and Haven excitedly called their friends and family to say a second interview was already scheduled with the owner of the small company. It turned out, they explained, that the creepy location was no longer the company’s main location, and their second interview would be at a different address in a much nicer part of town.

They did not give any explanation, if any was given to them, about the reason for brand new signage if the business was in the process of leaving that address. On the day of the second interview, one week later, Haven’s mother saw them leaving in a deep blue top with satin detailing at the neck and gray slacks. 

They exchanged goodbyes, and Haven reminded their mother they would be meeting friends tonight, either to celebrate a good interview or commiserate over a bad one.

“My comfort,” Maria Gray said in her interview with INNW, “is that I said goodbye and I love you. I have that, at least. So many don’t get that final chance. I just wish I had known it was the last time. I would have looked at them a little longer.”

From here, Haven is seen on camera at their ‘regular’ Starbucks a few moments later, ordering a large (venti) iced latte. An automatic speed-checker camera next to the highway captured their car with license plate clearly visible driving in the direction of the interstate a few minutes later.

Two hours after this sighting, they called a friend, Natalie Morales, to tell her that the interview had gone well and they believed they would be offered the job. Dinner that night, Haven said, would definitely be a celebration. 

They texted three other friends, Maria, and Matthew - as well as a younger sibling. These are the last direct communications anyone had with Haven Gray.

“They didn’t sound scared,” Natalie said in her own interview with True Crime Podcast Now You See Them, Now You Don’t. "Not at all. I’ve thought about it over and over again, trying to ask myself, was there fear there? Had something already happened? And I just don’t think so. I think whatever happened, happened after they hung up the phone. They were excited, said the pay rate was way more than they expected for a receptionist job. The only thing is that they said the guy who interviewed them kind of... gave them the, you know. Made the hair on their arms stand up. You know what I mean? And I thought of that first, when they never... but he has an alibi.”

The man in question is Ladd Prescott, the stated owner of the temp agency Haven applied to. Ladd gave multiple interviews, off-camera and to law enforcement, but he did not leave the office and is seen on in-office security cameras and he is not considered a person of interest in the case.

The final image of Haven’s whereabouts that day comes from the CCTV camera at an ATM for Haven’s bank one hour after the final text message sent to their father Matthew. They are seen pulling up in their car to the drive-thru ATM, where they withdrew $300. 

Notable about this footage is three things:

1. Haven appears to look directly at the camera twice, deliberately holding their gaze maybe

2. Their hair, carefully styled when they left for the interview according to Maria, is noticeably in disarray, and they do not appear to be wearing the same shirt they had on when they left (the footage is super grainy, so this is hard to tell exactly, but if you check here you can see that they appear to be wearing a white t-shirt). 

3. A shadow just behind them moves independently of Haven, gestures a few times, and it appears - and police believe - that someone else is in the car with Haven Gray directing their movements.

Haven never arrived at the restaurant. When their friends attempted to contact them, the phone went directly to voicemail. This was very out of the ordinary for Haven, so friends called Maria and Matthew, who became immediately worried and contacted the police.

Haven Gray officially was listed as a missing person the next day.

Four days later, their car - with IDs, debit and credit card, a book they were reading, and their resume and list of questions from the interview all inside - was located at a nearby riverfront, abandoned. The only thing missing was the $300 in cash Haven had taken out of the ATM, and Haven themself. 

A witness came forward later stating they had seen a man with ashy blond hair who appeared to be in his 40′s or 50′s smoking next to the car the day Haven was last seen. This man has never come forward or been located and his connection to Haven’s disappearance, if any, is unknown.

Law enforcement believes that Haven was abducted within half an hour of finishing their interview by someone who forced their way into the car, and likely directed to the ATM to take cash out and then met someone else or moved into a different car after parking Haven’s at the riverfront. 

Weirdly, the riverfront was checked the day after Haven was declared missing, which suggests someone came back and moved the car after the witness saw the smoking man, then moved it back into place after the initial search of the area was over with.

Cell towers picked up pings from Haven’s phone for four hours afterward, heading due east. The nearest big city would have been Cincinnati, so it’s possible the abductor headed that direction. If they did, though, they took a winding route and Haven’s phone was turned off or discarded before reaching the city. 

Look, I know this is a big conspiracy theory and there’s absolutely no proof, but I think Haven was abducted by WRU. 

Why?

Three weeks prior to their disappearance, Haven attended a bar’s “singles night”. They mentioned to friends later that they connected with a man who worked for WRU as a handler, but then decided they couldn’t handle the reality of what he did and cut off contact before they could have their first real date.

(The handler in question has been cleared during the investigation, but I still have my suspicions)

I know this seems like the flimsiest reason, but Haven’s friends all say that the man was very upset by Haven’s discomfort with his job, tried to keep contacting them for days. I think the job interview is a red herring and it’s this handler guy who is behind it somehow - maybe him, or his friends.

Also, there’s a WRU Training Facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, only a few hours away... and law enforcement never even tried to get a warrant to search there. Easy way to get rid of someone if you did something to them, right?

(I know, I know, WRU has standards and does checks and all that, but seriously. Think about it.)

A year later, improbably, a farmer working to mow the ditch next to his fields found Haven’s cell phone in a ziploc inside a second plastic bag. The phone had been wiped to factory settings and no new useful information was found.

So, where is Haven Gray? 

Were they murdered? Abducted? Will we find their body in a field one day? Were they just dumped in the river next to their abandoned car? Are they part of the WRU system now? No one seems to know, and reported sightings of them in Los Angeles, New York City, and even one mention from Sydney, Australia, seem hard to believe.

Haven’s mother Maria says they have no plans to declare Haven legally dead, and they intend to keep looking “as long as it takes”.

What Are Your Thoughts?

-

WRU NEW ACQUISITION INTAKE FORM FACILITY 005

SUBJECT: 549065

DATE OF ACQUISITION: 06.06.20XX

TIME OF ACQUISITION: 1:45 PM

LOCATION ASSIGNED: FACILITY 005, CINCINNATI, OHIO

PREVIOUS ALIAS: Haven Finley Gray

AGE: 21

DATE OF BIRTH: 07.19.20XX

HAIR: Red

EYES: Gray

HEIGHT: 6′0″

WEIGHT: 153 lbs 

SEXUALITY: Pansexual 

DESIGNATION: Romantic

KNOWN SKILLS: Subject in school for business-related major, excellent with typing, record-keeping, work with Excel spreadsheets, etc. Subject reports regular workouts primarily consisting of long-distance cardio. Subject refused to provide details on sex life but is known to have been active in the dating scene of local area. Subject is known to be gregarious and social.

HOBBIES: Subject mentioned reading as a hobby, with primary interest in fantasy and science fiction. Three books located in subject’s car at time of acquisition. 

KNOWN CONCERNS: Subject is showing some irregularities in heartrate, likely due to fear. No other known concerns. 

KNOWN IMMEDIATE FAMILY: Matthew and Maria Gray, both living, location Trenton, Indiana. Grandparents are deceased.

SIBLINGS: Two younger siblings: Mark, brother, two years younger, and Penny, sister, four years younger. 

METHOD OF ACQUISITION: Involuntary. 

ACQUISITION DETAILS: Access to subject provided by local business. Subject was apprehended without incident by Handler Benjamin Ralford. Subject was given an injection of sedative and transferred to WRU company vehicle at 3:15 pm. The rest of the acquisition proceeded without incident.

ASSIGNED HANDLERS: 

CONTRACT SIGNED: 06.09.20XX 5:55 PM

           PRIMARY: Benjamin Ralford, per request, acting as primary. Handler and Processor, Romantic Division.

           SECONDARY: Melissa Striker, Senior Handler and Processor, Romantic Division

SIGNATURE PROVIDED VOLUNTARILY, SUBJECT NOT SEDATED FOR SIGNING. SUBJECT SHOWED NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF INJURY AT TIME OF SIGNING. SUBJECT REPORTED FEELINGS OF FEAR AND CONFUSION COMMON TO NEW RECRUITS.  

CONTRACT SIGNATURE: Haven Gray, aka 549065

PRESENT AT TIME OF SIGNING: Handler Benjamin Ralford, Badge #3345, WRU Attorney Ryan Alderson. 

ESTIMATED COST FOR TRAINING: $125,000 USD

COMPENSATION TO BE PAID BY PROSPECTIVE:  $500,000 USD 

CURRENT LOCATION: Romantic Division Room #12, post-signing contract

TRAINING PLAN: ALL Positions 1-35, Flexibility, Sensitivity, Endurance, Dance, Socialization

COMMENTS:

I’m going to take every fucking thing out of that head and put back in only what I want to be there. I think they’ll fall in line once the Drip is really working on them. My professional recommendation is total illiteracy should be emphasized before moving on to other training. They’ll do better with focus and commitment on the skills we want to impart that way. I am also recommending absolutely no scarring unless there is no other option. - Benjamin Ralford, Primary Handler

Scribbled at the bottom of the paper and not put in to WRU’s digitized records system is a note in Ralford’s handwriting:

Should’ve gone on that fucking date, asshole

-

@astrobly @burtlederp @finder-of-rings @whump-tr0pes @raigash @orchidscript @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @eatyourdamnpears @boxboysandotherwhump @vickytokio @whumpfigure @outofangband @downriver914 @justabitofwhump @thehopelessopus @butwhatifyouwrite @yet-another-heathen @nonsensical-whump

[oliviayamaoka]

The Roseville Murders

Danny “Jed Olsen” Johnson x Female Reader 

After getting yourself into a rather tragic incident, you are reassigned to work elsewhere to protect your young career as a detective.

Your life would sure but slowly change when you meet a bright journalist named Jed Olsen, always looking to get inside information from you regarding the murders in Roseville. Seeking Jed Olsen’s help in finding the Ghostface, a spark ignited between the two of you.

Chapter One: Roseville

Y/N rubbed her eyes, tired from the long car ride you just endured. It was a long car ride from your old home but at least the day was nice. It wouldn’t be long until dusk came. In a way, you were glad. You often thrived in the nighttime and took it as an opportunity to wind down and finally rest. It was a large rental truck that you had taken on your journey to your new home, Roseville. You didn’t necessarily choose the location; you were assigned to go there. After the incident, you were assigned to help in the investigation regarding some gnarly murders. This piqued your interest since you had an interest in crime and journalism, more so crime.

It was quite the strange time, being a junior detective, or that’s what they called you anyways. Your time in the police academy was short-lived, it didn’t take long to become a detective in the nineties. Even so, you managed to impress some detectives and officers. You also had an eye for stuff that would normally slip other people’s mind, the small details were more or less important to you. Admittedly, your interest in detective work stemmed from the fact you loved horror movies and shows. Even books. It would be a silly idea in the eyes of others but you figured you could do some good. You were also extremely annoyed at how incompetent other officers could be, not writing reports in detail or straight up refusing to do a full investigation. It was ridiculous and you figured you’d try and change this.

Johnathan Stevens was the name of your supervisor, an older gentleman. He formerly investigated murders and unsolved crimes in the fifties and sixties, his prime. Some would even consider his work to dabble in the supernatural. You weren’t sure if you believed such things, not that you were a skeptic since there were small things you couldn’t explain growing up. His work was great nonetheless and he saw the potential in you. You admired him and he gave a good word to others on your behalf. He was the reason you got a job in helping the investigation in Roseville. Ah yes, Roseville.

You were excited in a way. Johnathan was able to get you a role in the investigation of the Roseville Murders. The prime suspect was a man in a costume who went by the name Ghost Face. They ultimately branded the series of murders as the Ghost Face Murders. Y/N read the files and you began to think of your own theories on who this mysterious murderer could be. The murders were premeditated and were always executed in a similar fashion. Y/N saw some photos left behind by the Ghost Face, he enjoyed posing and took pride in his work. Your train of thought suddenly ended when you saw the town’s sign.

“Welcome to Roseville.” You subconsciously mumbled. There was a slight feeling of regret and worry that itched at you from the inside but you brushed it off. No going back now, you wanted to be a good detective and help those in need.

Your hands brushed towards your turn signals. The apartment you rented wasn’t too far and you didn’t have too many things you brought with you. Roseville seemed like a quiet little city, very peaceful and tidy. A part of you had trouble even imagining that such grizzly murders could take place in what people would consider a perfect town or city. This seemed like a place where somebody would want to raise a family or live a quiet life, it pretty much had everything you needed. You didn’t blame them, the big city life was horrendous, as were the crimes there committed. Y/N sighed deeply as you pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building. It was red and looked somewhat old. Not that it mattered, you were happy with anything at this point. You rubbed your eyes again before resting your forehead on your steering wheel, putting your car into park.

It was about 6:00 PM, you didn’t have to be at the station until 7:30 PM. Much to your dismay, it was enough time to talk to your landlord. You had met prior on a phone call and you got the apartment rather easily. You saw pictures and were instantly keen on getting a lease for it. You checked your mirror to quickly fix your hair up and refresh yourself. After a moment or two, you got out and walked towards the door. Y/N pushed it open and caught a glimpse of the lobby. It was well-furnished and tidy. It was a lot better than your old apartment building in the city. Your mood lightened up, looking forward to a somewhat quieter life. You figured you had your share of the city bars and nightclubs, other shenanigans you encountered when you were slightly younger. You took a few steps in and walked towards the main office. Your shyer tendencies made you hesitate but you knocked lightly on the door, pushing it open.

“Hello?” You called out as you made eye-contact with a blonde woman.

“How can I help you?” The woman asked you, putting away some papers into a filing cabinet.

Her hair was actually kind of long and seemed natural. Her skin was fair and her eyes were a darker shade of blue. The woman’s dark eyebrows helped in bringing out her beautiful features. She was a thin but tall woman. Her attire consisted of a white turtleneck with a cardigan, dress, and black dress shoes with long, white stockings. It was a healthy mix of coziness and business. Y/N smiled kindly and extended her hand out.

“I’m Y/N L/N. I assume that you’re Deborah?” You asked as she quickly returned the smile, a more charming one. She shook your hand, her touch felt welcoming, something that was needed in Roseville.

“Yes, I am. Lovely to finally meet you! How was the trip?” She asked as you shrugged slightly.

“A bit boring but I made it.” You replied as she giggled a bit.

“Take it from me, Roseville is happy you decided to come. The rumors and murders have driven a few people away. We’re happy to have another officer to help.” Deborah said to you.

“Yeah, well, if anybody ever gives you trouble then you’ll know where to find me.” You said as she perked up. Deborah quickly walked towards her desk and grabbed a set of old, somewhat rusty keys. With a sweet smile, the woman planted the metal in your palm.

“Thank you, Y/N. I appreciate you choosing here to live. If you need help unloading your stuff, my brothers are one call away.” She said. With that voice and attitude, the woman would have made an excellent commercial woman.

“I should be fine.” You assured the woman before exiting the office space.

You swiftly walked out towards the parking lot. It was a rather nice evening so far. The sky was a mixture of pink and red with a nice breeze. You held your forehead for a second, having small flashbacks of a man grunting and swearing. You shut your eyes tightly for a moment before sighing stubbornly. Y/N didn’t want to waste anymore time remembering what happened, it was pointless. A part of you felt gross and weird. Your eyes narrowed in an annoyed manner, looking at the stuff you had to bring in. 

Maybe you didn’t want to bring in that stuff anymore. You looked around, there was a bakery and a coffee shop nearby on the beautifully constructed sidewalks. Each shop had a small garden or some sort of plant in the front. Roseville was old in an industrial sort of way but the shops, houses, and plant life made it have a rather beautiful aesthetic. Not only that but you enjoyed the weather. You sighed softly, deciding that you should just walk to the police station. Ignoring the lazy and depressing feeling you had, you decided to just walk to clear your head of the memories. And so, you locked the doors to the rental truck and began your little adventure.

“You realize what you’ve done, right?” Jonathan questioned you, his nostrils flaring slightly. In his eyes were a deep stare of concentration. You felt numb but remorseless, you kept your head down. 

“He was going to hurt me, Jon.” You mumbled to him, your eyebrows tightly knitted as you looked for any sort of agreement within his eyes. The man sighed deeply, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. Jonathan seemed tired.

“I know he was, kid... but you shot a man. You took a mans life. I understand you did it to defend yourself but the court might not see it that way.” He said.

“Well, I’m glad I did. He would’ve hurt more women. Innocent women.” You replied with bitterness in your voice. He sighed before sitting down, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. His eyes met yours as you looked away.

You thought about the incident a lot. You replayed your own screams in your head before the distinct sound of a gun fired in your ears. Before you even realized it, you were staring dead ahead, reliving it with intense focus. It’s not like you wanted to, it was automatic and you still didn’t process most of it. In fact, it felt like a dream. Y/N shut her eyes, exhaling sharply before looking at the man in front of her. Your eyelids rested, the numbness overcoming the raw feeling of the flashback you had just endured.

“There’s... a case in a city. A smaller city. If I talked to the others and reassigned you somewhere far, would you do it? We’ve known you for years and we care. I know that man could’ve hurt my wife, my daughter, my sister... we understand. Not many people know about this. We could help you.” He said.

“What do you mean? Won’t I be charged for it?” You asked him.

“Np, not if we... sweep this under the rug. But, if we do this then you have to do something in return. Do you want this?” He asked you. Your eyebrows lifted in surprise as you pondered his offer for a moment, you looked around the room.

“I-I do, but... will they actually do this? For me?” Y/N asked as he nodded. He seemed a bit gruff, just tired from the paperwork.

“We’ve discussed it but listen to me. You can’t tell anybody about this. We’re doing you a big favor, a huge one. The director said that more officers and detectives are needed in Roseville, he said they’d be glad to accept you. This will be a lot better than telling the court what happened.” He said.

“I, yeah, yeah.” You said, nodding in slight anticipation. Nonetheless, you were very grateful for this opportunity. 

“Whenever you’re ready then but it might have to be in the next week or two.” Jonathan said to you as he looked around, somewhat nervously.

“Thank you...” You replied a bit awkwardly, not sure how to display your gratitude for him. He only nodded with a small smile, patting your head. 

“Go home, kid. I’ll handle the guy.” He said as you nodded.

You sighed as you looked upwards, the sky was a mixture of purple and blue. This was your favorite type of weather. It brought peace and calmness. A small smile curled onto your lips when you thought of the old times, when you first experienced freedom and happiness. Your hands slid into your pockets as you continued to walk down the sidewalk, your gaze averting to the large building ahead. The Roseville Police Department, your future workplace. 

The building looked rather strange for a police department. It had gates and vines around it, it almost looked like a school. Then again, school was indeed prison. You didn’t think about school much, in fact, you hated it. You never could relate to the other teens. Aside from writing and art, you really enjoyed watching horror movies. Anything horror intrigued you, books and movies alike. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that you were a horror fanatic. Strangely, it sort of inspired you to pursue this career. You were always pretty tough, blood and gore never bothered you. Even when you went to a morgue, it brought a small feeling of peace knowing the deceased were at rest.

You got closer and closer to the station, quickly since you were so lost within your own thoughts. The doors to the station were wooden yet grey, very large. Y/N looked around, there were very few police cars. Maybe being understaffed wasn’t the problem, it’s the fact that they seemed to be very poorly funded. You pushed the large door open, looking around the inside of the station. It was very eerie and quiet but seemed very cozy. A perfect image of the nineties. With your arms crossed, you walked up to the front desk. There was a cup of coffee, you assumed it was cold and took another look around. There were medical beds and tons of chairs stacked together. Not only that but there were statues and paintings. The paintings seemed old but the faces were creepy. Upon staring at them, you soon found inspiration in their haunting gazes.

This was going to be an interesting job, you thought.

Jed Olsen sighed deeply as he looked through different piles of papers that were piled together. It was rather stressful to have to proof-read his coworker’s work. Some of the work he looked over was really badly written. No wonder somebody of his talents got that job really easily. Ever since he arrived at Roseville, he thought he made a good impact on the city. Roseville lived in fear and that’s how he liked it. 

As the young man’s thoughts turned towards his other line of profession, he smiled widely and rested his eyebrows. His name wasn’t actually Jed, it was Danny Johnson. Jed Olsen was the alter ego that Danny created when he came to this place. Aside from killing, writing was one of his professions. Danny was good at it and he even got to write about his own murders. It was exhilarating, to say the least. It brought excitement to this city, it brought excitement into his own life. The journalist façade was a great gig, he needed a job anyways. It was very convenient nobody questioned him or invited him to the bar. Then again, he was a bit younger so his coworkers didn’t bother to hang out with him much.

Danny looked around cautiously before pulling his bag towards him. He only carried around his camera. In his office, there weren’t any cameras and his door actually had a lock. There wasn’t anybody around since it was the evening and he decided to stay late to proof-read papers. His camera was black yet worn out and scratched up. Still, he chose to ignore it since that thing was his prized possession. Danny pretty much checked on it everyday to make sure it wasn’t broken and to just simply admire his work he did on it. 

“Hmm...” He hummed to himself as he clicked through the photos on it. He smirked looking through his work. 

His next murder was going to be perfect. Danny planned on getting more photos of Ghostface doing his heinous crimes. Jed Olsen managed to get photos of the serial killer taking pictures of his murders in rather cocky ways. And of course, the police had no idea that it was him who did it. The police here were amateurs that didn’t do their job right. It was incredibly easy getting away with the murders and surprisingly, the FBI didn’t get involved.  Oh well, the law enforcement probably had other things to deal with right now.

As he clicked through the photos, thinking about his next murders, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the familiar chime of the front door open. Maybe it was his boss? Danny quickly put his camera away in his desk drawer and rushed to unlock his door. The Roseville Gazette was usually a quiet place. He looked up as he noticed a young woman at the front desk of the gazette. 

“Hey, how can I help you?” He asked, immediately switching to his Jed persona. 

“Hi, I’m Y/N. I was wondering if there was a Jed Olsen around here? I didn’t realize it was quiet here.” She said with a smile.

For a moment, Danny focused on her smile. It was a beautiful and genuine smile. Strange but not everybody was as shallow as his victims or the people he met. His gaze averted to her eyes and then her face. She was indeed a very beautiful person. A pleasant surprise, not that Danny ever indulged in romance. 

“You’re speaking to him.” He replied with a playful shrug.

Y/N stared at him for a second before raising her eyebrows in surprise. 

“Oh. well nice to meet you, Mr. Olsen.” You said as you extended your hand.

“The pleasure is mine.” Danny replied as he shook your hand.

The touch of your hand was rather soft. He didn’t know it yet but he felt slightly flustered. Danny never really met anybody that he considered attractive. Maybe he did but he never paid attention to that sort of thing. 

“Do you have time right now? Or wanna schedule a date to quickly go over your work?” You asked him.

“A date?” He asked blankly. Danny didn’t know what you meant but his brain took it in a romantic way since he thought you were pretty. Your eyebrows furrowed awkwardly in confusion as you nodded slightly with a small smile.

“Um, yeah... I can come back sometime or we can meet at a coffee shop. I’m a detective so... yeah.” You say, automatically getting awkward around people your age. Danny nearly facepalmed himself but his mind quickly went to darker places.

A new detective? A detective who wanted to talk to him one-on-one? None of the detectives decided they wanted to question him. Did this woman find something? Did she suspect him? She looked like she could be a psychologist or something so maybe she wanted to see how he’d react when explaining the Ghostface articles he wrote? He’d have to get her last name and see where she lived. Y/N looked like she’d be easy to kill.

“Jed?” She asked in concern.

“Oh, yeah. Definitely... I have time right now. Sorry, I just get zoned out when I think of the murders and the sick photos he took.” He apologized.

“Don’t be sorry, that type of stuff is something nobody can get used to.” You reassured him. Jed was actually quite handsome.

“Yeah, you’re right. Come into my office.” He said, signaling with his head where his office was. You followed him in.

The office was old. It seemed rather boring at first but that’s what office jobs are for, anyways. His desk was quite clean. Jed seemed to be a very organized person. It would make sense considering his work on the Ghostface murders. You took a seat across from his desk and smiled a bit as he sat down. You were a pretty diligent worker so got straight to the point.

“So, Jed... as you know, there’s an ongoing investigation on the Ghostface Murders that I was assigned to.” You began. Danny nodded, leaning back in his office chair comfortably. He stared at you intently, watching your expression as he worried.

“I took on the liberty of reading your work on the murders. You write about him in a very peculiar way... admirably, almost.” You said to him. Danny tried to hide his worry but he was trying to figure out a way to kill you quickly. Maybe you were FBI? You were already sharper compared to the other officers/

“Anyways, I really love your work, Jed. I’ve taken a personal interest in the Ghostface. And as a detective, I’d like to get to try and get to know him as best I can.” You said with a hint of excitement in your eyes.

“Get to know him…?” He replied, slowly reaching for the knife taped under his desk.

“With your work and your input, I could put together a psychological report on him. If we want to catch him, we should figure out what type of person he is first.” Y/N said.

Danny’s fingers stopped right above the knife. His hand slowly backed away from the bottom of the desk. So, she didn’t suspect him? Danny almost laughed out of relief and at her. He was stupid for thinking she could’ve found out he was Ghostface. Y/N only seemed to be interested in his work.

“Oh, I see… yeah, that would make sense.” He said to you as you crossed one leg.

“I’m glad you agree. I’m determined to catch him and maybe even see his motivation.” You replied to him. Danny’s eyes sparked for a moment as he stared at you.

“His motivation?” He asked as you thought for a moment.

“Probably sounds strange, I know but… he must have a reason, right? And I find it so interesting how he goes about his murders. I actually have a theory about him.” You explained.

You seemed to trust Jed Olsen. The other officers and detectives said he liked to bug and probe them all the time for more information regarding the murders and what their progress was like. And truth be told? There was very little they could go off of. Ghostface was too methodical and careful, left absolutely no trace of himself besides the pictures Jed retrieved. He was a hard-working journalist and you had a good feeling about him, anywyas.

He was also pretty cute.

“I don’t think it’s strange, at all. I’ve never seen any of the detectives so passionate about the case. They always brush me off… so, what’s this theory?” Danny asked you, watching your expressions.

“Well, I only just saw your work today but I thought about it when I walked here. Ghostface seems to be rather cocky, a common trait in younger men. But, since we never caught him or anything, I know he’s really careful with what he does. The murders are also premeditated. They’re too… clean and carefully executed even if it is a bloodbath.” You sort of rambled on.

A weird feeling tingled inside of Danny as you continued to explain your theory.

“He’s really cunning and methodical. And based on my other observations, I think he uses the murders as a way of expressing himself. I’ve read about other serial killers caught… they usually leave marks, take trophies, and know the victim in some ways. Or they’re just cold-blooded but not in his case. I think he sees the murders as a form of art or something along those lines.” You said to him.

His eyebrows raised in surprise. Who the hell was she? Danny thought for a moment. She was right, he did see his murders as art and something beautiful. Did she see it that way too? This woman was strange, indeed. As as young detective, he admired her naive nature.

“That would actually make sense… he does seem to make an unnecessarily big mess when killing and yet, the police can’t find anything on him? It makes total sense.” Jed replied.

“Right? Anyways, I was going to ask if you can type of a report or something along those lines. Give me every single detail you know about him and your analogy. Your input could be vital to solving this case.” You said, standing up.

“If you don’t mind me asking, detective, why are you so interested in him? You’re really passionate about this.” He said to you.

“I wanna understand him and see more of his artwork… it’s pretty fascinating. Also, you can just call me Y/N. Have that report ready in a week?” She asked him.

“Yeah, definitely.” Danny replied to you.

“See you then, Jed.” Y/N said as she nodded with a confident smile.

Y/N was indeed young and naive. Although, she didn’t share anything confidential, she placed a lot of trust into the journalist. Then again, why should she be untrusting of him? The young woman was so passionate, intelligent, and seemed to have a very strong sense of independence. Danny assumed she came here without any authority, taking matters into her own hands. A by-the-book cop? Maybe, maybe not. Danny found that strangely attractive. However, she might even hinder his efforts and catch him. He couldn’t let that happen, yet…

There was something so intoxicating about her. Danny never met anybody that was so compassionate and understanding to his cause. Maybe, he saw her motivation in his own twisted way. This woman wanted to understand him, to see things as he does. Nobody has ever went to that length for him. Not only that but, she had no problem talking about such grimey things in a way that she didn’t get disgusted. The man had a bit of a crazed stare in his eyes as he began to recall her features.

Detective Y/N, just who were you?

And so, the obsession begins.

[morporkian-cryptid]

HEY Y'ALL GUESS WHAT JUST DROPPED

Details of the trailer and some thoughts under the cut! Please please reblog with your own comments I wanna hear about y'all's thoughts!!

-YATA MY SON I'm so glad he's back, characters like him rarely get more than one season, but Zenigata deserves a sidekick

-Lupin and Zeni running together! :D

-The mask is apparently not a Hitler mask which I'm relieved about (okay it could be a different one, but they seem to be using the same scenes that were used in the teaser, so not Hitler)

-His fuckin' sunglasses XD

-(I actually paused the video to check the exact brand/model of Jigen's bullets, they're indeed .357 Magnum bullets, nothing to report here)

-There's a guy with a bomb strapped to his chest. Please. For the love of the gods. Tell me this isn't Moriarty's doing. Or I will burst a blood vessel. THAT'S A COMPLETE RIP OFF FROM BBC SHERLOCK WTF

-Jigen looking menacingly from under his hat >:)

-The mask could still be Hitler actually (black mustache)

-...eyes? The same ones that were in the screenshots released last week. They look like Nyx.

-The Fiat is completely wrecked but we already knew that

-Jigen scrambling to get inside XD

-Eyes Guy has a weird mask and is fighting Lupin? So that means he's NOT Lupin himself and I am extremely relieved about that (I considered that possibility because of the red poster). Considering that Yata and possibly Albert (see below) are back, it's not impossible that it is indeed Nyx. Or it could be Moriarty. Or Nyx is Moriarty. Either way that dude smells like an antagonist.

-I AM ALMOST CERTAIN THAT GUY AT 0:47 WAS ALBERT

-YATA AGAIN!!!! So he's not just gonna be in one cameo/flashback from part 5, he's actually there, IM SO HAPPY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND (also he has a rose in his hair and he's frickin' adorable and oh no do I have a crush on him or do I just want to adopt him?????? i don't know)

-Fujiko and Lupin pointing guns at each other... again...

-The woman falling through a window in the teaser was actually Fujiko, she had a wig so I didn't recognize her the first time

-WHY IS JIGEN POINTING A GUN AT LUPIN AGAIN FFS YOU TWO STOP DOING THAT

///

So yeah. These are my thoughts about the trailer.

It's definitely darker than Part 4 and 5, but still less dark than what the first poster and the teaser seemed to suggest, so I'm relieved. Regardless of Edgyness TM levels, it's still Lupin III and it's still a humorous anime, and the main series could never reach the level of Edgyness TM of TWCFM or the Koike movies. So I'm less worried than I previously was.

///

Thoughts about Jigen's new VA? Honestly I'm not impressed, for now. He kinda sounds like a younger version of Jigen would? Not very gruff like Kobayashi usually is. Obviously he's not gonna have the same voice, but I was expecting a closer match. Anyway, it's not so much the exact voice that counts as the acting and tone, so I guess we'll see when the anime actually airs. Also he said "aibou" so I'm happy ^^ And Kobayashi really deserves his retirement. I'd rather have that than him dying out of the blue like it happened with Yamada. Happy retirement, Sir!

///

Regarding the returning characters, I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER ABOUT YATA'S RETURN, Zeni needs a sidekick like him, and I love their dynamic so much, I'm so so glad TMS decided to keep him for more than one season (I was already surprised to see him in Prison of the Past). I'm a bit more surprised about Albert and possibly Nyx, because these two characters had a specific purpose in a specific plot, and idk how they're going to work if inserted in a different one. That said, it could be very interesting to see the two of them interacting... And more Albert means possibly more Lupin family backstory, so I'm happy about that. That said, I'm not actually sure it's Albert, and even less sure that Eyes Guy is Nyx.

Yata sparks joy.

///

Your thoughts?

[fashion]

Artist Spotlight: Gianni Lee

Gianni Lee is a visual artist, fashion designer, music producer and international DJ who started gaining popularity through the viral success of his mixtapes as well as his streetwear brand Babylon Cartel. Lee uses painting as a language to tell the story of a people fighting for their home and their existence and his canvas and color choices are a platform for him to express inner-feelings on issues he can’t put into words. He tells stories that speak about social issues in America and abroad and we had the chance to honor him and his work in 2019 at Art Basel. We caught up with him recently to discuss more of his background and beliefs so check it out. 

If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

I don’t think I could limit myself to words. Words are hard for me. I’ve always had trouble and that's why I relied so heavily on imagery and color to get my point across. If I could describe myself in hues I would say aqua blue, matte black and cherry red.

When you hear Black Excellence, what or who comes to mind?

Me, you and anyone else Black who wants something out of this world but also wants to give something tangible back to this world while they are living on it. It’s no special look, walk or talk to me. It’s just real Black people living their truest and best selves, free from discrimination and judgement.

The traumatizing experience of a Black man being wrongfully accused of a crime is unfortunately common in the U.S. How has this inspired your work and advocacy?

Let me first say that I think Criminal Justice Reform is needed and is imperative in this country. I can’t stress that enough. The continued policing of Black bodies in America is a problem and must be addressed. It’s a revolving door of bullying and I always feel slightly pressured with the responsibility of addressing it in my work as a black man. The past, the present and the future of it. We need to know what was, and we need to openly discuss and plan what CAN be. Generational trauma is real and we are dealing with it everyday, that same trauma inspires my work. It’s a direct line to our ancestors that I’m speaking through and I’m only the vessel.  

What brings you satisfaction in your work?

My satisfaction is always the finished product and the reactions of people when they first see it. I’m competitive with myself so I always want to push my limits and do something better than the previous piece. I’m in this constant battle with my future and past selves to see who can bang out the most iconic painting. It’s like a weird time travel fringe art film. I probably wouldn’t watch it because it would suck.

Tell us about how you got started in the arts.

I got started the day my Mother enrolled me in this special education arts kindergarten called Moonstone. We learned everything through the arts as a foundation. I remember I got into a fight at school and my punishment was to draw exactly what I did wrong and present that drawing to the class followed by an apology. Shit was wild in Kindergarten.

What’s your most unforgettable professional memory?

I can’t really think of any, but I don’t like getting paid for projects late. The times that I did, it made me feel like I was at the bottom of the totem pole and my presence and contributions didn’t truly matter because this said company is not paying me on time.

Black Excellence means celebrating every and any Black experience. What experiences should we shine more light?

All things in the African Diaspora. All cultures, religions, customs and communities that never see press or the light of day. All of these things have been stripped from the history books and under-reported. If only we know the extent of our heritage and just how powerful we were then and are currently. It all starts with education and we need to know who we were to sculpt who we can become.

What can we look forward to from you in 2020?

More projects, more exhibitions. This year I told myself I would open up more and show just how dynamic I can be as a creative. I have a solo show coming soon, I’ve been preparing and painting for it and I can’t wait to display that new body of work because it means a lot to me.

Photos: Aaron Ramey, Jade Lilly

Check out Gianni’s latest collaboration with Levi’s right here and stay tuned for more details on his solo show coming soon. 

[worldwidemochiguy]

Sweets (Soft Yandere! Jungkook)

You keep being visited by the most peculiar thief…

➵ in which jungkook steals your lip balm and perfume instead of talking to you, you leave a post-it note with your number on it for the strange thief who only seems to take the most inexplicable items and has a strange sense of responsibility for your wellbeing, and the cute boy in your photography class with the fluffy hair and the oversized sweater keeps getting more and more endearing…

➵ Warnings: Soft Yandere Jungkook, Breaking & Entering but without the Breaking, Reader is a bit of a ditz (lol sorry guys) 

➵ Word Count: 4.2K

➵ Masterlist

“Hello, uh, I’d like to… report a crime?” 

Your statement, which had always sounded suitably firm and assertive when you practised it in front of the bathroom mirror, ended with an unplanned upturn, making it sound more like a question than you would like. 

“Please state your name and address, ma’am.”

You did so, listening anxiously to the tap of a keyboard as your information was filed away. The undoubtedly over-worked police officer on the other end of the line sounded like he was two seconds from falling asleep, and you questioned yourself for the millionth time over whether you really needed to report this or not.

“What is the nature of the crime you are reporting, ma’am?”

“Um… well…” 

You twisted your hand into the fabric of your shirt self-consciously, trying to decide the best way to explain the strange little occurrences that had been surrounding your apartment over the last few months. You had not yet found a way to put it without sounding ridiculous, but you supposed there was a first time for everything. 

“I, uh, I think someone’s breaking into my apartment and stealing things.”

“You have an intruder?”

“Uh huh,”

“…Are they currently in your residence?”

“No, I think… they come and take things when I’m not here and then they’re gone by the time I get back.” 

“What items have been stolen?”

You bit your lip. 

“I know it sounds silly, but…”

“No crime is too small to report, ma’am. We are committed to making the lives of everyday citizens safer.”

“Well… they’ve stolen my lip balm like… several times. I keep buying new ones and they keep being stolen after a week or so. And my perfume. And my hairbrush one time, and-”

“Ma’am,” The officer cut you off with the impatience you had been both anticipating and dreading ever since you decided to call the police, “Listen, we don’t have the capacity to deal with prank callers-”

“It’s not a prank call!” You blurted, a momentary burst of desperation overtaking you, “I- um, sorry for interrupting, officer, but this isn’t a prank call. Things have been going missing. I can’t afford to keep replacing my lip balm.” 

A sigh crackled across the line, and you pictured the officer maybe taking off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose like those people in movies always seemed to do when they got frustrated. Personally, you had never found that it helped. 

“Are you sure you aren’t just… misplacing them?”

You gasped, offended that even a stranger could think you so stupid. “No! I remember exactly where I leave things and then they just vanish! I swear!”

“Has anything of value ever been taken from your apartment?”

“Yes!” You exclaimed, excited to be able to prove the officer wrong, “My bunny plushy! Mr Snuggles is extremely valuable to me!”

“…Monetary value, I meant. Has anything expensive ever been taken from your apartment?” 

There was an embarrassing silence. The officer sighed again, with a little more exasperation colouring his tone. 

“If anything significant is stolen, call us back. For now, just… be a bit more careful with your possessions.” 

He hung up. You pressed your forehead against the wall and wished your strange thief had taken your phone in one of his little visits. Maybe then you would’ve avoided making that agonising call. 

The next morning as you were leaving to go to class, you noticed a pile of discarded post-it notes on your desk — the remnants of a redbull-fuelled late night study session. Your newly purchased lip balm lay next to it. Impulsively, you grabbed a pen and scrawled a message on one of the post-its, sticking it horizontally to the curved surface of the lip balm tube. 

it reads: 

pls don’t take this i just bought it and this brand is actually v expensive and i am only a struggling college student with loans and chapped lips (。•́︿•̀。)

It might have been a little too polite considering it’s intended recipient was someone who had stolen multiple items from your apartment, but you figured there was no point in being rude. They probably wouldn’t even read it anyway. 

You strolled out of your apartment, planning to pick up a smoothie on the way to your lecture, and promptly forgot all about it.

 When you returned home to find a pile of newly bought lip balms on your desk — all embossed with the logo of your favourite brand — you were slightly puzzled. But, once you remembered the note you had left- well, the confusion didn’t exactly vanish, but at least you were given some context. 

The note had disappeared, along with the lip balm you had used a scant few times. But, you didn’t understand what the thief’s aim was. Why on earth would they steal small things like lip balm and perfume? And why would they buy you new copies of the product? Wasn’t that counterproductive?

you’re very bad at your job

Your next note read, stuck to your fridge as you left to grab coffee with your study group. It remained there for a few days, and you couldn’t ignore the way your heart sank a little each time you saw it hadn’t been taken. 

After six days, when it finally vanished, you felt an odd sense of happiness bubble up within you. Yes, there was someone routinely breaking into your apartment, but at least now you had an open channel of communication with them. They had left a brand new bottle of your preferred perfume — which had been stolen at least twice before you stopped bothering to buy it because perfume is pricy — resting on your kitchen counter, beside a box of your favourite chocolates. 

As you dug into the box later, snuggled in a blanket and having a Studio Ghibli film marathon, you didn’t even consider the fact that the sweets might be tampered with. If they wanted to kill me, they would’ve killed me already, you reasoned to yourself, sucking the icing sugar off your fingers. Nor did you question how they knew your favourite chocolate. If they broke into your apartment as much as you assumed they did, they probably knew you better than your own parents by now. 

You were the very definition of a broke college student. As far as you were concerned, if this random stranger wanted to buy you things and sometimes clean up your apartment — you had definitely come back to a home tidier than you had left it more than once — then you certainly weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe it was a little naïve of you, but… you had already called the police, and they hadn’t cared.

thank you for the perfume and chocolate <3

You wrote next morning, hesitating slightly before putting the heart. Before you could convince yourself not to, you scribbled another line underneath. 

i wish you’d write back someday…

As you walked to class, you scolded yourself for the butterflies swooping in your stomach. They’re literally a criminal, you told yourself, Stop getting crushes on anyone who shows you the slightest bit of attention. You don’t even know their name. 

Despite the small amount of common sense that you did have mocking you all day, you sat in classes and daydreamed about your mystery home intruder. Would they read the note? Would they be happy about your appreciation? Would they — you bit your lip — would they write back? 

You felt like a dumb schoolgirl, excited by the prospect of a badly written love note shoved in her locker. And, like a school girl, you trudged back home with your arms weighed down by class work, a billion essays and quizzes that had to be completed overnight. Did your professors not realise you had a life outside of college? Not that you did, of course, but like… in principle. 

You were so preoccupied with the coursework that you didn’t even notice the note stuck to your bedroom door. After an hour of studying, you rose wearily to start fixing yourself something to eat, and your eyes snagged on a flash of yellow. 

You squeaked, almost falling over yourself in your rush to get to the door and read the note. 

i’m glad you liked them. i’m sorry i took your things, that was mean of me. i tried to only take things you wouldn’t miss, but i guess that backfired… i just wanted to feel close to you. and these notes… are the closest i’ve ever been. i know that must sound weird, but… well. i’m a weird guy, i guess. i just liked hearing from you. that’s all. 

~ koo <3

You didn’t stop freaking out for a full five minutes. After that, you poured over every detail of the letter, eager to extricate any fragment of knowledge possible. You ended up with a list which you scribbled down in your diary, above which you pasted the note. 

The list went as follows:

They want to feel close to you

They have not talked to you before, since the notes are the closest they’ve ever been, but they must have seen you in person at least once 

They are a he 

(you adamantly did not get flustered about that)

and

     4. He calls himself Koo

When you left your apartment the next morning, you placed your note on the exact same spot he had left his. An indirect touch. 

hi koo !!!!!!!!

i was so excited to see you had written something!! you know, if you want to talk to me more often, there is an easier way…

Underneath you had scrawled your phone number, hastily and not allowing for regret before you flounced out of the apartment. The reason why you were in such a rush was because you were about to go to your favourite class: Photography 101. 

You had taken it as an extra credit, something that interested you but not enough that you wanted to pursue it as a career. You had expected it to be fun, something artistic to break up the monotony of classes. What you had not expected was the dreamy boy who sat in the first row and had full possession of your heart. 

You didn’t even know his name, but you were pretty sure you were half in love with him. With fluffy brown hair that fell over his forehead whenever he leaned over to scribble down notes, and cute bunny teeth that stuck out in a flustered smile whenever the professor praised his work in class, he was perhaps the cutest boy you had ever seen. 

Though you were sure he had many girls sighing after him, he seemed to be really shy, only ever speaking in class when called on, and even then it was in a quiet, soft voice. He was kind of like you in that respect. But that was where your similarities ended. 

Yes, you thought, sighing as you watched him pay avid attention to the professor’s lecture on the composition of frames, his cute doe eyes wide and twinkling like stars were embedded in the pupils, He is way out of my league. 

It took three days for you to lose hope. You hadn’t received a text, nor had you found any notes left for you. You tried not to be disappointed, even as your traitorous sub-conscience mocked you for being able to scare away the one person who arguably paid you the most attention. 

You didn’t really have many friends, and the ones you did have preferred each other over you, and often left you out of activities because of your shy nature. You guessed this whole thing had just been a way to feel like you actually mattered to someone, like, for once, someone cared about you, but-

You were pulled out of your musings as your phone chimed. 

From: Unknown Number

[6:48 PM]

hi

this is koo

The two of you texted every day, and soon enough you were hiding your phone underneath your desk in order to chat to him, keeping your phone on your person at all times in case koo wanted to talk. Of course, the only class you didn’t do this in was Photography, so you could spend a blissful forty-five minutes staring at the boy who played the role of your husband in all of your favourite daydreams. 

Koo still broke into your house occasionally, and he still left you sweet, considerate gifts. Often, you would receive texts like this:

From: koo ✨

[3:24 PM]

sweets i’ve been checking your groceries and your vegetables are not being eaten as often as they should be 

i know you have a sweet tooth and that’s cute but please try to stay healthy

To: koo ✨

[3:25 PM]

but i can’t cook all i know how to make is microwaveable mac n cheese :///////

You came back home that day to discover a bunch of Tupperwares full of pre-made healthy meals and a note stuck to the top of them. 

try microwaving these :)

To: koo ✨

[3:01 AM]

koo are you awake?

From: koo ✨

[3:01 AM]

i am now

what’s wrong?

To: koo ✨

[3:02 AM]

i can’t sleep :////////

From: koo ✨

[3:02 AM]

sweets you need to go to bed

you have an early morning class

To: koo ✨

[3:02 AM]

i knowwwwww

i just… i can’t sleep without mr snuggles :((

From: koo ✨

[3:03 AM]

Mr Snuggles??

???

To: koo ✨

[3:03 AM]

my cuddly bunny :((((

i think you took him a while ago

could i maybe have him back…?

From: koo ✨

[3:03 AM]

Shit

i didn’t know you couldn’t sleep without him 

[3:04 AM]

sweets im so sorry

To: koo ✨

[3:04 AM]

its okay koo

From: koo ✨

[3:04 AM]

no it isn’t

you’re loosing sleep because of me

fuck

i could… bring him to you?

To: koo ✨

[3:05 AM]

you’d do that?

…i could see you?

From: koo ✨

[3:05 AM]

no i’d leave him outside

you’d have to promise not to come out until i text you saying i’ve left

To: koo ✨

[3:06 AM]

but kooooo :(((((

From: koo ✨

[3:07 AM]

sweets 

To: koo ✨

[3:07 AM]

okay :((((((((((

but i expect you to leave a big box of chocolates on my pillow for me to come home to tomorrow evening!!

From: koo ✨

[3:08 AM]

of course sweets <3

im gonna get going now

don’t look outside your apartment

To: koo ✨

[3:08 AM]

okay

From: koo ✨

[3:34 AM]

im gone and mr snuggles is waiting outside for you

he might have a little gift with him

You trudged outside your apartment, rubbing your eyes blearily, and looked down to see your beloved plushie clutching a single rose in its paws. You gasped, leaning down to pick up the flower gently, and you noticed all the thorns had been taken off. Koo must’ve removed them so that you didn’t accidentally hurt yourself. 

You felt warmth flood you, drowning the butterflies in your stomach and replacing them with something much less fleeting, much less shallow. 

It sunk into your bones, into your heart, into your breath as you sighed, squeezing your long-lost Mr Snuggles close to your face. He carried the familiar scent of nostalgia, but also something different, something sharper. You realised with a jolt that you were smelling Koo’s cologne. 

You went back to bed, nuzzled your face into the plushy’s furry belly, and dreamed of fluffy brown hair and bunny smiles. 

Though with Mr Snuggles’ help you were able to sleep wonderfully, you were only able to do so for four hours before your alarm jolted you back into early reality. Honestly, you were sorely tempted to just ditch class, but it was Photography, and if you missed your regular dose of the cute boy in the front row then you thought you might just crumble into dust. 

You dragged yourself out of bed, pulling on your softest oversized hoodie — a gift from Koo which, now that you thought about it, smelled like the same cologne that Mr Snuggles did. You flushed at the thought of him giving you one of his hoodies to wear, though you couldn’t say exactly why that image charmed you. 

You stumbled into the lecture, arms full of textbooks because you knew you wouldn’t have the energy to return back to your apartment to retrieve the relevant materials for your next class later in the day. Your excellent plan was to crash in the library directly after this, have a two hour power-nap, and then make yourself get up in time for Calculus. 

You barely had the energy to listen to the professor droning on and on about… the perfect lense, or whatever. You allowed yourself the indulgence of tuning out, resting your chin on your palm and gazing dreamily at the boy in the front row. He was taking notes, as per usual. What a good student! You praised him in your head. I bet he has the best handwriting. 

Despite your best efforts, you fell asleep within ten minutes. You were woken as the class concluded by the clamour of students grabbing their materials and the scrape of chairs as your classmates stood up, leaving you behind — the only one half-splayed across the desk in front of you. 

You jerked upright, grabbing your stuff in one hand as you tried to tug on your bag, eventually succeeding with much struggle, only to drop it all again as soon as you stood up. You whimpered, watching helplessly as your textbooks fanned across the floor. You saw one of them split along the spine as it landed on an open page. 

That cost me two hundred dollars, you thought absently, and I just chucked it down like a bouncy ball.  

Suddenly, you glimpsed someone crouching down and gathering them all up into a sturdy pile. As he stood up, your vision was full of fluffy brown hair, errant strands falling into star-filled doe eyes. 

Oh. Oh no. 

“H-Here you are,” He murmured, passing you the pile gently, making sure you were able to take the weight before leaving them in your arms. When he leaned close to you, you breathed in a scent that was oddly familiar, and yet new at the same time. As his hands receded, his skin brushed against yours for a second and you swear your vision blanked out. 

“Thanks,” You whispered, your gaze so firmly focused on the floor that you didn’t notice his flushed cheeks. 

As soon as you got to the library, you whipped out your phone, all tiredness banished from your system by that momentous experience. You had talked to him. 

To: koo ✨

[8:47 AM]

koo i think im in love

From: koo ✨

[8:47 AM]

what

with who

To: koo ✨

[8:47 AM]

this boy in my photography class 

he’s just so- 

[8:48 AM]

i can’t even explain it

i dropped my textbooks and he picked them up for me and i stg i almost cried

From: koo ✨

[8:48 AM]

wait

seriously??

To: koo ✨

[8:49 AM]

yeah i cry at like the drop of a hat 

From: koo ✨

[8:49 AM]

no-

cute 

but i mean

that’s who you’re in love with?

To: koo ✨

[8:49 AM]

yeah?

From: koo ✨

[8:49 AM]

gray sweater

[8:50 AM]

big eyes

tall-ish

that’s him???

To: koo ✨

[8:50 AM]

OMG YOU’RE IN MY PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS AREN’T YOU

From: koo ✨

[8:50 AM]

WHAT

NO

IM NOT

To: koo ✨

[8:50 AM]

OMGGGGGGG

YOU SAW HIM HELP ME SO YOU MUST BE IN MY CLASSSS

[8:51]

okay!

are you the frat guy who always comes in hungover???

no judgement

From: koo ✨

[8:51 AM]

NO

To: koo ✨

[8:52 AM]

are you the guy who only ever wears knitwear???

From: koo ✨

[8:52 AM]

NO

To: koo ✨

[8:53 AM]

…are you the professor?

From: koo ✨

[8:53 AM]

NO!!!!!

oh my god lets just meet up or something before i explode

To: koo ✨

[8:53 AM]

WAIT

ARE YOU SERIOUS????

From: koo ✨

[8:54 AM]

…you’re that excited to meet me?

To: koo ✨

[8:54 AM]

OF COURSE I AM

OH MY GODDDD

WHEN?

From: koo ✨

[8:54 AM]

now?

i can meet you at the campus coffee shop in like five minutes?

To: koo ✨

[8:55 AM]

five minutes???

that’s not enough time koo i have to go home and pick out something pretty to wear !!

From: koo ✨

[8:55 AM]

it doesn’t matter what you wear, you’re always beautiful to me

To: koo ✨

[8:56 AM]

you

you think im

b-beautiful 

: ’ ))))))))))

From: koo ✨

[8:57 AM]

…

haha see you there!! 

To: koo ✨

[8:57 AM]

GET BACK HERE WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS-

You sat on an empty table, fiddling with the tea bag tag which hung over the side of your mug. You had bought Green Tea as an effort to calm yourself down so you weren’t too anxious to meet Koo, but it hadn’t worked because you were impatient and sipped it too soon so now you were sat there nursing a burnt tongue like an idiot. 

You knew it was irrational to be self-conscious. He already knew who you were, and seemed to like you, it was just you that was in the dark. You went over the possible people Koo could be, mentally cycling through the boys in your photography class. It was an annoyingly large class, which meant he would be anyone from the guy who smelled like Funyuns to-

Fluffy-haired boy strolled into the coffee shop and you let out an involuntary sigh. He seemed to be cheerful, a smile exposing his bunny teeth and making his cheeks bunch up adorably, with like,  five different sets of dimples poked into them. You had never agreed more with the saying that dimples were caused by an angel’s kiss. 

Well, at least I’ll have something nice to look at while I wait, you thought, just before all your thoughts suddenly tipped out of your head when you realised he was walking towards your table. 

“Is this seat taken?” He grinned, before sliding into the seat across from you. 

You whimpered, and his smile grew devastatingly wider.

“Hi,” He breathed, before his gaze flickered down to your mug of tea, clutched so tightly in your hands that you worried the ceramic might shatter. “You didn’t get hot chocolate? I thought you had a sweet tooth?”

“Uhm-” You choked, before forcing yourself to get a grip. How would Koo feel if he walked in here and saw you sitting with another guy? “I’m actually- I’m waiting for someone. Sorry.”

If it was possible — and it certainly seemed to be — the boy’s grin broadened even more, his eyes crinkling into adorable half-moons.

“Is that so? Is he your boyfriend?”

“No!” You blurted, before flushing profusely. The boy across from you seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the display. “I mean- uhm, I don’t know. Maybe? This is our- this is our first actual meeting.”

“Oh?” The boy tilted his head, “Really? How exciting.”

You hummed in agreement, eyes fixed on your slowly cooling beverage. You raised it to your mouth to take a hesitant sip and- nope,  still too hot. You whined quietly, rubbing your sore tongue against the inside of your cheek to try and soothe it. 

“Oh, sweets,” The boy murmured across from you, and you were too distracted to notice the nickname. He plucked the mug out of your hands and placed it on the other side of the table, as if he was trying to make sure it couldn’t hurt you anymore. “Are you okay? Do you want me to take you to the campus infirmary?”

“Wha- no, it’s okay,” You mumbled, lisping slightly on your burnt tongue and blushing when he cooed over you, “It’s- I’m waiting here for someone, and- I mean, I don’t even know your name-”

“It’s Jungkook,” He interrupted cheekily, deliberately ignoring the rest of your statement, “Some people call me Kookie, and really special people call me… Koo.” 

Oh. Oh.

Fuck.

“Really special people?” You asked, your voice small, and not because of the burn. 

“Well, people…” Jungkook- Koo paraphrased, tilting his head slightly, “I guess it would be more accurate to say… one really special person.”

“Really?” You breathed, and Jungkook leaned over the table, close enough that you could smell his cologne, the same scent embedded in the fabric of your hoodie- his hoodie. 

“The most special person.” He murmured, the fervent emotion packed in each word speaking louder than any increase of volume could.

You had never been anyone’s most special person before, but, as you looked into Jungkook’s chocolate eyes, you started to believe you could almost taste it, sticky sweet on your lips. And when Jungkook eventually, finally coaxed your lips in a gentle kiss, you let him in, and found out that happiness tastes reassuringly honey-sweet. 

[needdatbag]

Drinking You

notes: Hi! This is my first fanfiction ever. I just wanna see if anyone might like it? Haha...Anyway, if you do, please leave a like or a comment. Hope you enjoy! Oh and this is only the first part. 

Summary: You encounter a stranger on your way back from the grocery shop and everything about him pulls you in. 

Pairings: Eren Yeager x Reader; Various pairings eventually

Warnings: NSFW; mentions of smoking.

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

Part 1-Stranger Danger

You were not ok. Today was a hellish Monday like you rarely encountered. Of course Monday sucked in general  but it’s a different kind of pain when you work in a department full of detectives. Everyone is stressed day after day and they don’t have any notion about free time, for them it is equivalent with supplementary work. It’s been 4 months since you started working as the main profiler of the team and you feel as if you need to step up your game. Everyone likes you but the fact that you’re new in the field is noticeable. You do your best all the time but experience is key after all. So here you are, after working hours, walking out of the closest store while holding a beer and a pack of cigarettes in one hand while the other is busy holding the phone to your ear.

’’I will take a look as soon as I get back to my desk, I was planning on checking the brief details we have about this case anyway. I took the file before I left and I will be making an idea about the whole deal tonight. We will receive the rest tomorrow, right? I mean I can get something but without all the information it might just be wrong or incomplete.’’

Your boss sighed and agreed with you.

��’I know. There is a reason behind this lack of information but I am afraid you’ll have to find out tomorrow. I will explain everything to you as soon as we have the OK from the fucking higher-ups. Do what you can tonight, L/N.’’

He was tired but you almost swore you felt a tinge of sadness in his tone. Your gut told you something was just starting. You gulped.

’’Don’t worry sir. You’ll have the draft for the initial report on your desk as soon as I get to work.’’ 

You said goodbye and hung up while tossing the phone in the pocket of the pyjama pants you wore. You came home half an hour ago, ate a quick dinner and realised you forgot to buy the two things you needed for survival on days such as this Monday: a beer and cigarettes. Unhealthy coping but you got over that thought in college. Regrets were a pain in the ass and you wanted none so you did what you wanted.

 As you were walking towards your apartment building you couldn’t help but think about this case. Your team was way on the edge when they received word about it. They were silent about it and that scared you. Because, even if you only knew them for 4 months, you knew all of them were loud, outspoken and chaotic. Your head always throbbed at the end of the day. But you almost missed that today because instead of debates and childish arguments, this day was extremely tense and everyone seemed to be at each others throats out of silly things. As if they disagreed on something you had no idea about. It felt as if a powerful untouchable presence was messing with them and it saddened you but it also stirred your curiosity. Who or what was doing that? 

You were so lost in your thoughts you didn’t notice the person walking right in front of you and you bumped into them dropping your cigarettes in the process and almost dropping your beer but you managed to catch it before it hit the ground. 

’’I’m really sorry. I wasn’t paying attention…’’ you said as you immediately bent down to pick up your cigarettes but the stranger beat you to it.

’’It’s fine.’’ he answered in a low pleasant voice and started walking away. 

WITH YOUR CIGARETTES.

It took a second for you to register what happened and move. He walked away so casually that it pissed you off.

’’Heyo.’’ you said while grabbing his shoulder and making him turn to you. He was tall, well built with medium length long brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing an open black coat with a black cotton sweater and light blue jeans with a pair of some black and white Nike shoes. ‘Well damn’ you thought, ‘this theif is hot as fuck’. But priorities were priorities. You were going to offer him a piece of your mind. And if needed, a piece of your very basic physical training. 

He first looked at your hand on his shoulder and then at you with a total lack of interest. Without any facial expression he asked:

’’What?’’

You took your hand off his shoulder and attached it to your hip in a somehow sassy position. Then with the other hand where you held your beer, you pointed at the cigarette pack he held.

’’Give me back my ‘candies’...Stealing is a crime, jerk. Instead you could’ve asked for a few. I would’ve... ‘’

But he didn't seem to pay attention to you anymore as he looked at something behind your figure. He started walking, right past you to the spot where you bumped into him.

You were speechless. You debated a moment if you should chase him again but you decided as soon as you remembered you didn’t have any money on you anymore to buy a new pack. You turned with a determined look on your face. He was picking something from the ground and as soon as you got close to him, right before opening your mouth, he held out his hand to you, holding a pack of cigarettes. He had another one in the other. And then you realised and your face started to redden. ‘Shit’

’’I have my own ‘candies’ though it seems they are the same as yours.’

You grabbed your cigarettes slowly while touching his hand in the process. You got a chill down your spine. This time his eyes were fixated on you and all the courage from earlier was down the drain. You were embarrassed of course but the way his direct look intimidated you was surprising. Your gut was telling you something but you couldn’t quite understand it. You were busy staring right back into his cold green eyes. He looked away first and sighed. 

’’Well, if this is done, goodbye.’’ and walked away from you for the third time in 5 minutes.

Somehow that didn’t sit right with you. Your brain was telling you to just walk slowly home and finish the work you had left for today, take a shower and start everything again tomorrow, while your body was already chasing the long haired man, adrenaline pumping through your veins. You told yourself you just wanted to apologise for calling him a jerk but the truth was there was something invisible pulling you in his direction. Maybe it was your toxic curiosity or the silly fact that you two were smoking the same cigarettes, an old brand that made you forget things that screamed in your head constantly, or perhaps it was just the simple fact that he was a handsome stranger. Who knew? The only thing you knew was that you were a fool. But that never stopped you before. 

’’I’m sorry! I never meant to insult you….I should’ve just looked around...Usually I’m not such an airhead. I wonder how come I didn’t notice another pack on the ground.. heh.’’ you said while reaching him. You guys were walking in the same direction anyway. He didn’t say anything, he just looked straight ahead not really paying much attention to you but he also didn’t seem bothered by your presence.  As you reached a crosswalk and waited for the colour to change you watched his profile as discreetly as you could. He looked as if he was completely lost in thought but at the same time aware of everything surrounding him. He was close but far and that really tickled your brain. You groaned internally. 

‘I shouldn’t care, he is just a stranger whom I’ll never see again. Asking him for a coffee out of the blue would be weird too.. And he seems to be completely uninterested in my existence anyway, though I guess that is mostly because of my bloody pyjam..’

’’So what’s up with that pyjama?  he said out of the blue.

’’I don’t like to assume things but if you’re following me because you want to ask me out or something I think you might be my best friend's soulmate. He has the same Star Wars pyjamas.’’

Your mouth was hanging open. You looked down at your clothes and then back at him. He was watching you now as well. The light changed and he started walking as you followed.

’’I live on the other side of the road and this is what I usually wear at home, so no, I don’t really bother dressing up for a trip to the grocery store. And I’m just going home, I’m not following you..’’ 

You bit your lip as you hesitated before continuing wondering if you should say what you were going to say.

’’...and I also have a ..boyfriend.’’

You two reached the other side of the road and he suddenly stopped.

’’You’re lying.’’ he said calmly

Both of you stopped walking. You looked at him wide eyed. How could he know you were lying? He sounded so sure too. His expression seemed to change for a second when he saw your confused face, some sort of realisation hitting him while he shook his head.

’’Nevermind.’’

-He stepped closer to you and tilted his head, a few stray strands of hair falling randomly on his face. This guy was handsome, annoying but handsome. Even his skin seemed to have a special kind of glow, besides the fact that it was a beautiful tan colour and the combination with the kind of green/teal eyes that he had left you almost breathless in close proximity. Of course you lied. What boyfriend? You were working most of the time and you studied people for a living so of course you were overthinking everything about any guy that came your way. You either figured them too fast and they bored you or you didn’t even look their way. You were not easy to deal with either as you had a very straightforward personality on the outside but on the inside you were trying to keep everything from collapsing. You were confusing, caught between being intimidating, bad mouthed and weird or depressed and minding your own business in silence...and those moods were not exactly any guy’s cup of tea. 

So lately you always try to play the sweet girl card when it comes to guys, hiding your trust issues for another day. But this time you were not in control...of anything. It wasn’t even a big deal, really.

 You were just talking to a stranger. But his presence was dominating you effortlessly. And for some sort of reason you couldn’t even start to figure out why. Your brain was foggy, your breathing was irregular and your knees were suddenly weak when he got close to you.

‘What in the Twilight..’ you thought

You couldn’t read him while he seemed to have no problem reading you. And that bothered you the most.

’’You should go home..’’ he spoke in a lower, raspier voice ’’..I’m not as interesting as you might think. I’m a simple guy actually.’’

His words seemed so honest, his tone too. But something told you that he lied. Or that what he said might have been true. Once. But not anymore as his eyes didn’t meet yours when he spoke the last part.

You tried to ignore the sensation that formed in your stomach when he spoke so close to you in that voice that seemed to echo inside your head. You were getting a little lightheaded and for a moment you thought about the possibility of being physically sick. In this case this would've been the better scenario.

 ‘I should just go. Ignore everything about the way I feel now as if nothing will ever be boring again. Yes, I should ignore the fact that I don’t need to pretend because there is no point in doing so in front of this person. They see through me anyway. But that’s a bad thing and I’m not thinking clearly right now and he screams ’Stranger Danger’ and for God’s sake I work with the police...What should I do..His eyes are so pretty, his voice is so beautiful and I’m just a curious superficial fool.’

You took a breath and turned around while his eyes never left you. You started walking towards the entrance of your apartment complex and with every step your heart started beating faster and louder. Your ears were captivated by a weird inner buzz. You bit your lip and clenched your fist, your nails actually hurting the skin of your palms. 

‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’

But in a swift motion you turned around, fear, excitement, some sort of distorted happiness and an unusual laughing sensation taking over you.

’’Come upstairs for a coffee, Stranger-Danger?’’

His eyes were still on you when you turned around. After you finished your sentence he covered his mouth with a hand. He might have laughed at the nickname, you guessed. But he came anyway.

Later on you would come to realise that you saw something flickering in his cold eyes when you turned around. A cunning fire that hid behind that wall of ice. Who knows..?

It might have just been the fact that this was exactly what he was waiting for all along. 

But there was no coffee upstairs. 

The moment the elevator doors closed you started kissing, like there was an unspoken agreement that this was going to happen exactly then. The kiss wasn’t rough as you would have expected it to be, it was gentle just as a declaration or an apology. But that soon changed as both of you became consumed with each other. The kiss became meaner from both of your sides, egoistical, as if both of you were trying to steal more from each other than the other did.  He caressed your cheeks and then his hands travelled to your neck where he felt your skin and your pulse. His hands were cold but the touch of his fingertips on you felt as if it burned your skin, leaving scars even if there were none. You held on to his coat while he pushed your back against the wall. After you stopped kissing, he licked his lips and looked into your eyes. You looked back. Nothing said. He started kissing and biting your neck.

When you entered your apartment clothes started flying left and right and while kissing him, between undressing and tugging at each other's clothes , you could only be thankful that you were wearing the ‘good’ underwear you still had on and not some panties with silly patterns you usually wore at home. Somehow you two reached your bedroom but you had no idea how because you were blind to mostly anything around you but him. He picked you up, your legs now straddling his waist as he walked and you could feel his muscles. His body was very well defined, strong arms,abs and everything, beautiful large shoulders and prominent collar bones. ‘Weird’ you thought...because he didn’t  really seem like he worked out. His body looked as if it developed naturally this way. You only saw that at the guys working in your department when they trained, the girls too. Their body developed over the years thanks to all the training.

 For a second your mind wandered to what he did for a living.

You didn’t know anything about him... but the way his lips tasted, the way he smelled so fresh yet intoxicating, the way he made you so dizzy when he stared into your eyes, those things left you unwilling to think about anything else besides the feeling of his body on yours. You were drowning in him, his presence overwhelming you. The way you two moved against each other felt like a feverish dream in which you were dancing. He was leading and you could only stare into his eyes even though you knew this wasn’t like you at all. 

He was far too intoxicating to be your type, and he was far too in control for you to be his. 

While he laid you on the bed gently his hands traced mindless patterns on the skin of your legs moving higher and higher towards your thighs where he started to grab your flesh making you groan. He was either teasing you or enjoying feeling every inch of your body. He started kissing your inner thigh, sucking, licking and biting his way up to your core.

’’You’re going to leave marks.’’ you said breathlessly

He raised his head from between your legs  and with a teasing but cold voice he said:

’’Is that a bad thing? Your ’boyfriend’ won’t mind.’’

Your face started to redden at the mention of the ’fake boyfriend’ and you opened your mouth to protest but in a quick motion he reached your face and kissed you. He was trying to shut you up by kissing you ruthlessly, biting your lips and sucking on your tongue. You couldn’t get a break and when you wanted to fight back he was kissing you even harder. 

He only stopped when he ran out of breath. You wanted to retort something again but he beat you to it. Between pants of air he said:

’’You sure like to talk a lot don’t you ?...But I guess I’ll drink you anyway.’’

He effortlessly tied his hair in a messy man-bun that fit him weirdly well. The lights were off in your apartment but the street light coming from your bedroom's window was highlighting all the right parts of his silhouette. His abdominal muscles, his strong thighs, the movement of his arms as he fixed his hair, the veins on his arms, his slender but strong neck, his jaw, the right side of his face, his lips, his straight nose, his green eyes who looked directly at you without giving you a break. You were done talking now. 

He slowly leaned over your naked torso while still maintaining eye contact and you could feel his warm breath on your skin. He watched you as if he was silently asking if you’re not backing away so you just nodded, ashamed of the fact that you were more excited than embarrassed. It was what it was. Your mind was fuzzy and your body was needy. And he intrigued you. However that was the part you chose to snooze for now.

He started kissing all over your breasts in a soft manner but eventually he transitioned into biting and teasing all over them, especially your nipples. You began slowly moaning because of the sensations that were overwhelming all your senses. He was only teasing your body but you were already melting. When he started placing wet kisses on your abdomen, going lower and lower, you squeezed your legs together and he felt it so he grabbed and squeezed on the side of one of your tights just to let you know that he was aware of the power he had on you.

When he finally reached your most sensible part you arched your back at the sensation of his tongue. Sure, you had sex before but it was almost always dry and this was also the first time someone went down on you. Like they knew exactly what they were doing and where to touch specifically. It was as if he knew what you wanted without even knowing you. It was strange. Suspicious. Addicting. Dangerous.

 He trailed his fingers against your back while he ate you out. You were putty in his hands, your body flushed and high on the way his mouth felt. He teased your clit mercilessly, over and over, until you came multiple times. The good kind of torture.

As he slowly entered you he started groaning and placed your hands on his shoulders. You moaned at the sensation of being filled. It felt just right, as if your bodies just ‘clicked’ in every way. He grabbed your face with his hands while he started thrusting.

’’Just... hold on ...to me and... relax.’’ he told you between groans and sighs

You nodded rapidly, not really caring about anything anymore besides the pleasure and relief you were seeking. Your bodies were rocking in sync with each other, both of your pulses skyrocketing with every increase in pace. He was thrusting faster and harder now. Your hands were not on his shoulders anymore but outstretched above your head, his strong ones holding them pinned to the bed as he was losing himself in the sensation of you.

You two fucked as if both of you were running away together but from different things. When both of you reached your high his eyes seemed to light up when he looked at your face consumed by his presence. For a few seconds, while he lost control and pleasure overwhelmed him, you felt as if you saw someone else, still him but different. A real fire seemed to burn in those eyes during those moments but you only gazed at it a little bit and it was gone, replaced by that wall of ice that effortlessly unnerved you.

He collapsed next to you as both of you caught your breath.

You two sat in silence not feeling the need to talk, His fingers were mindlessly drawing battens on the back of your palm. You liked that. Somehow it warmed you. You turned your head in his direction. He was watching the ceiling and you could swear his expression was a little warmer now but something still felt melancholic about it. He turned his head and looked back at you. You really tried to memorise the way his upper lip was more prominent than the lower one, the way his eyes had such a nice, kind shape yet they looked at something beyond what you knew, the way his skin had such a pleasant warm tone, the way his hair fell on his face. 

Your eyelids started to become heavy. You were tired but you tried to fight off the request your body and mind had regarding some rest. You really wanted to say something before you fell asleep so you mumbled in a sleepy voice.

’’..The more I look at you...the more...I don’t see you...smoking...I don’t know..why...tho..’’

Your body became heavier and your eyes were slowly closing. The only thing you saw before drifting into the dream world was the faint image of a smile on his face. 

‘’I don't.’’ he said 

You woke up late the next day and he was gone, as if everything was nothing but a weird illusion. You pushed away the feeling of disappointment, told yourself to grow up and forget last night and took a shower, ate breakfast, dressed up for work in some brown dress pants, a white sweater and some dark red leather heels, grabbed your jacket and bag from the hanger and left for work.

‘I was right. He is a fucking jerk. He didn’t even leave a note or something. I don’t even know his name..but I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll never see each other again.’

 You sighed.

You had more important things to do and worry about. How were you going to tell your boss, or The Captain as your crew called him, that you forgot the file you promised to look over, at work and you had no idea what the case that was assigned to your team and that was stressing everyone out, was about.

’’Captain Levi is going to beat the shit out of me..’’ you said out loud as you entered the building...even so...something bothered you as you could swear you placed the file inside your bag yesterday. You usually double check everything anyway.

You entered the HQ of the Survey Unit, your and your team’s unit and said a quick ’’Hello’’ to Jean, Sasha and Connie who were drinking coffee around Jean’s desk while discussing something intense. 

’’Hey, L/N...What is with the panicked attitude? Come drink a coffee with us and stop acting like the sky is going to fall. Need help with something ?’’

You took off your jacket and reached your desk. Nothing besides your cactus and your agenda that you usually left at work. The file was not here either. Hell. Your mind started going into overdrive.

’’The sky is actually falling Jean...and I’m the fucking sky.’’  you said while facepalming. How could you possibly lose the file?? A file with confidential police information.. You bent down and started searching for it under the desk but it was clear it wasn’t there.

Sasha was unpacking one of her sandwiches as Jean and Connie were both looking at you with a confused expression on their face. But their attention switched to Mikasa and Armin who entered the doors while being surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere. Mikasa looked as if she lost weight in the last two days while Armin’s dark circles were obvious testimonies of a sleep deprived individual. Jean and Connie went over to them discussing something you couldn’t hear while Sasha came in your direction. 

’’This really takes a toll on all of us...but I really pity Mikasa the most...I guess you read the brief details about the case...Having to arrest one of our own, someone who betrayed us and is also her step brother … Man..I would be stress eating like crazy..I still do it.. but anyway.’’

You snapped your head in her direction.

’’What? Mikasa has a brother?’’

Sasha raised a brow while chewing her food.

’’Yes. Though they are not related, she was adopted into his family when her parents were killed. His parents died too after a few years and they had to survive, together with Armin who was in the same situation. He and Armin had been best friends ever since they could remember. He betrayed us a year ago and went rogue...but we never knew how far he went.. The Military Police assigned him to us. I’m sorry... We never really spoke about this because it’s a sore subject…You must be confused.. Huh?’’

You were speechless. You never knew that. Not a single word about it. But you always that something was missing however you kept your silence about it. 

’’Why would the MP assign him to us? It’s cruel and it doesn't make sense..’’

Sasha shrugged and said:

’’My guess is that they need Cpt.Levi to catch him. After all, he trained him. The MPs are big mouthed but they were never able to tame Eren.’’

You raised a brow. ’’Eren?’’

Sasha nodded. 

’’Yeah, that’s his n….Y/N did you know you have something stuck on your bag?’’ she asked while pointing at the black bag you owned. It looked like a post it note.

‘What the hell..?’ 

You picked it up and noticed something written on it. The writing was a little bit messy and squarish.

’’MEETIIIIING!’’ screamed Hange from the conference room

 Sasha went ahead: ’’I’ll see you there. Hurry up.’’

The words written on the note were: ’’I’m sorry. You’re a kind person. Thank you.’’

There was no name but you knew it belonged to the stranger you met last night. You started breathing heavily.  It wasn't the fact that something felt off about the note but where it was placed. On your bag. 

The FUCKING FILE was IN the bag.

In your mind a memory flashed suddenly. 3 months ago, after working hours the whole team went out for some food and drinks. You and Armin discussed your favourite movie series. You froze while remembering the crucial detail of that conversation.

’’It’s kind of embarrassing but I even have pijamas with Star Wars..’’ Armin said while his face flushed red.

You placed a hand on your mouth remembering a part of last night’s events.

’’.. I think you might be my best friend's soulmate. He has the same Star Wars pyjamas.’’

’’L/N! Move it!’’ Cpt Levi’s voice snapped you out of your daze. 

You started walking shakingly thinking over and over again about the possibility of this all being a coincidence..but when you entered the conference room and saw the screen, your blood went cold.

 /Runaway-Eren Yeager/ Accusations / Terrorism/ Multiple Murder Acusations/ Insubordination/ WANTED/ Dead or Alive/

And right to all these accusations was the picture of a younger version of the guy you met last night.

Your ex-colleague.

You looked at the note in your hand. 

It made sense right now. He used you right from the start.

You felt like laughing but you sat down next to Jean, trying to compose yourself and paying attention to what your Capitan was saying. 

In your mind only one phrase kept repeating itself.

You just fucked the enemy.

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

That was my first ever smut scene...Am I going to hell yet? haha

[random-imagines-blog]

Wonderful and Weird {Barty Crouch Jr x Reader Oneshot}

Requested by: @spectrumofdisney Wordcount: 2866 Summary: While working at the Ministry under his father’s control, Barty meets you - and finds you to be oddly interesting. Notes: The reader is autistic, as per request. I tried my best with this, being on the spectrum myself, without giving into stereotypes. Please message me if I did any of this wrong, I truly wanted to get it right.

You enjoyed working for the Ministry. You had your own little office with your cameras and your typewriters and everything was clean and organized. Nothing from the outside world came in except for what you brought with you, and the paperwork that was brought to you by owl every morning to go through. And the owl never stayed, because you did not like the smell that the birds brought, nor the feathers and dander that it left behind. You had gotten the job shortly after graduating from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and you excelled at it. Your co-workers didn’t really care for you, but they didn’t actively dislike you. They thought that you were a bit odd, but you were efficient and didn’t cause trouble so they didn’t bother you for anything. Your work life was just about perfect - until he came into the picture.

You heard a fuss coming from the hallway. Normally you would not care and would continue on with your task, hyperfixated on the status reports that you were reviewing and correcting, but your door was slightly open from after the owl left and the noises bothered you. Getting to your feet, you walked across the small office space and stuck your head into the corridor, about to say something when your name was called.

“Ahh, y/l/n, just the person I wanted to see,” Bartholomew Crouch Sr said, with his son in tow. You recognized him from school. He was a Slytherin, while you were a Ravenclaw, and he was a year or two older. You had no interaction with him whatsoever, and would not have remembered him - if it wasn’t for the fact that he had stopped some of the other Ravenclaw students from pulling a horrible prank on you. You had seen him interfere with the girls as they levitated your underthings so they hung from the top of the Ravenclaw tower, but had never before spoken to him. Never even thanked him, which your mother admonished you for after you had admitted to her in a letter what had upset you.

“Why?” You asked, blankly, staring at the floor by Bartholomew Jr’s feet rather than attempt any sort of eye contact. That was just too intimidating.

“My son,” Barthomew looked at his son with displeasure. “-is about to start his position here at the Ministry of Magic. I’d like you to show him around and make him feel welcome.”

“It is a very simple layout. There is a map framed in the hallway. Welcome.” When you said the last word, you finally brought your eyes up in the way that you were taught. Your mother had taught you with blueberries to say words like ‘Thank you, You’re Welcome and Happy Birthday’ with eye contact, and with a happy tone. You forgot the tone today. You just wanted to get back to work.

“You’re a bit of a weird one, aren’t you?” The former Slytherin said, looking you up and down, which did nothing to make you feel more comfortable.

“Yes,” You answered the question, as you did every question proposed to you. “Mr Crouch, Mr Crouch, excuse me,” You ducked back into your office and closed the door this time. Well, that was a rather odd occurrence.

-

The rest of your day was blissfully quiet, but it was as you were preparing to leave the Ministry that it got odd once again. You were taking the stairs, since they were quiet and had no chance of getting stuck, unlike the elevator. You just set foot on them when you felt a touch on your arm, that instantly made you go into panic mode. You pushed the person away, and drew your wand on them, pointing it right towards their chest. All of your coworkers knew better than to touch you, so this was someone unknown. “I do not like being touched,”  You said quickly, squinting in the light to get a better look at who the person was.

“Noted, noted,” The newest addition to your office said with his arms up in surrender. He licked his lips as he looked you over, with some degree of recognition. “We went to school together, didn’t we?”

“Yes we did, Bartholomew Crouch Jr,” You said, lowering your wand.

“Well hullo, I thought I recognized your ... brand of weird,” He said, waving his hand at you. “Yes, I remember you. Some of the boys wanted to put wee in your pumpkin juice.”

“That’s disgusting. Why would they do that?” You asked, eyebrows furrowing together. “And why did you touch me?”

“They thought it was funny. Managed to stop them though, so you’re welcome.” He said, giving you a smile. That made you more confused. You were talking about a topic that was particularly unpleasant. Why was he thanking you? You said nothing but continued to stare, waiting for an answer to your second question. “Just wanted to get your attention, is that so bad?”

“The idea is not bad but the way that you went about it was. I do not like to be touched. Please don’t do it again.”

“Alright, alright, I won’t touch you,” Another lick of the lips. “I kinda like the weird thing you have going on.”

“I don’t know if I like you yet,” You stated simply. “Goodnight, Bartholomew Crouch Jr.”

“Call me Barty,” He said with a salute.

-

Even you could not avoid hearing the rumors that circulated the next day at work. Everyone was talking about Bartholomew. The rumor was that he had been fraternizing with death eaters, and was thinking about joining them. That was why his father had forced him to get a job in the Ministry where he could be kept an eye on. You didn’t pay heed to these rumors. You had more important things to think about in your life, such as where the latest stack of paperwork was. The owl had not arrived this morning and it was making you very antsy.

“Have you seen my papers?” You asked your co-worker next to you. They shook their  head no so you kept on looking, until you came to the last room, which was Bartholomew’s. You didn’t knock since it was a work environment and no one should be doing anything inappropriate. So when you opened the door, he was a bit startled and dropped the paper stack he was holding.

“Have you heard of knocking?” He asked, bending over to pick up the papers.

“Of course I have,” You answered seriously. “Are those my papers? Why do you have them? Those are mine.”

“I thought I’d see what you were doing,” He said with a smile. Once more, you were confused and annoyed by his facial expressions. He smiled at the oddest times. “Are you mad at me?”

“No,” You answered. You took the paper out of his hands, being careful not to let your skin brush against his. “Please don’t take my work.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Barty said, putting his hands behind his back once you had your papers back. Another lick of the lips. A trait that you were noticing a lot. It would stick out in your head as something being particular to him, the way that red lipstick was to your coworker Marjorie, and the smell of fish and chips on Gary. “Can I watch you work?”

“Watch me work?” You repeated. No one had ever asked you that before. “If you don’t say anything or touch anything then maybe.”

“Great,” Barty said. He walked you out of the room, staying a step behind you through the hallway. He even stepped ahead of you and opened the door to your office. You didn’t thank him, just went straight to your desk and worked as if he wasn’t even there. The forms were second-nature to you. You knew exactly what to write, and you liked the neat little boxes that you were supposed to write in. You liked writing small to add in more details. You liked taking the stamp out of your drawer, pressing it on the ink pad, then stamping the bottom of the form and moving on to do it over again. It was meticulous work without many changes, and it was perfect for you. It allowed you to stay in your mind - so much so that you had forgotten that Barty was even there, watching what you were doing, until it was time for lunch.

“What do you usually do?” Barty asked, startling you as the clock chimed noon. You looked at it with annoyance, hating that it made noise. You had forgotten to silence it, what with your papers being missing this morning. “For lunch.”

“I eat,” You said, taking a small container out of your bag. Inside was your packed lunch, everything in separate bags so that nothing was touching.

“Bloody hell, you have that all organized too, don’t you?” Barty scoffed, standing up to peer inside the container. “Come out with me, we’ll go to Hogsmeade - Three Broomsticks, like school days.”

“Yes, I like to have my lunch organized,” You said, not noting his expression. “We never went to Hogsmeade together. And not to the Three Broomsticks.”

“Then this could be the start of something new, come on, I’ll buy.” Barty went to your door, opened it wide, stepped into the hallway then realized that you weren’t following. He turned around and saw that you were at your desk, unpacking your food one item at a time onto a plate that you kept at your desk. “You really are a weird one, y/l/n.”

“I eat here, everyday,” You told him, unpacking a set of cutlery as well. “I like it in here.”

“Well, then,” Barty frowned thinking. “I’ll just have to go and get my lunch to go and come join you. Would you mind that?”

“I suppose not, as long as you are tidy,” You said, so focused on your food that you hardly noticed he disappeared.

-

The rumors about Barty changed after that. They became less about him potentially tuning into a death eater, and more into how he spent all of his time with you and didn’t work at all. Word had even reached his father’s ears, but as long as he kept out of trouble, he didn’t care much either way. Barty heard the rumors too, but he didn’t care either. Because they were true. He really started to enjoy spending time with you. You were unlike anyone that he had ever met. You were blunt, and to the point. You said what you were thinking, even if it hurt someone’s feelings. You never meant to though, that was the amazing part. The confused look that was on your face whenever someone in the office became emotional over something was more entertaining than wizarding opera. He might even start to think that he loved you - which was a feeling that came on when you had brought out a second lunch container, with a packed lunch for him that matched yours completely.

“Are you still thinking of becoming a death eater?” You had asked as he examined the crustless sandwich that was in his bag. His head snapped up at the question. No one had ever asked forthright like that.

“Would you hate me if I did?” He asked, curiously, licking his lips then bit into the sandwich.

“I think I would, yes,” You admitted. “Killing people, even muggles, is a very bad thing to do.  The practical thing to do would be to stay at the Ministry and try to be a good person, even if you don’t understand people.”

“Be like you, you mean?” Barty raised an eyebrow. You thought about it for a second and then nodded. “That sounds boring.”

“I don’t think that it is, but if you want to think like that - that’s your problem.” You said, shrugging. You could feel his eyes on you, taking you in. He had been doing that a lot lately. You weren’t sure if you liked it or not. “I do have fun sometimes too.”

“What do you do for fun then? Show me,” He challenged.

“Fun things.” You said, a faint smile on your lips. “I can show you on the weekend.”

“It’s a date,” Barty said, finishing off his sandwich.

“I never had one of those before. A date, I mean,” You admitted to him, making him smile.

“I’ll show ya a good time,” He promised.

-

On the weekend, you met him in the Leaky Cauldron, then made your way out into Muggle London. Muggles were interesting people, you thought. So involved in their own lives that they barely saw the magic that was right in front of them.

“So what are we doing today, then?” Barty asked. He looked nice in Muggle clothes, you thought. You had grown used to seeing him in the robes of the office. He thought the same of you as well, since you were wearing something a little more colorful. It was like seeing a hint of sunshine on a cloudy day. He walked by you, but kept a little bit of distance, aware of how you didn’t like to be touched.

You opened up the bag that you had brought and showed him your muggle camera. “I like to take pictures.”

“Pictures?” It was hardly what Barty had expected.

“Yes, I use this camera to take a picture, which is like capturing a memory in an image. They can be-”

“I know what a picture is,” Barty said quickly before you got into the science of it. He had forgotten for a second that you answered every question, rhetorical or not. “Why do like to take pictures?”

“There’s a process to it. And I like to remember things. I like to take pictures of people smiling. I think it’s fun because I like to wonder what they are smiling about.”

“Can I see that?” He asked, pointing to the camera. You nodded and handed it over but watched him very carefully. You didn’t like other people handling your things. In fact, if Barty ever knew that he was the first person other than you to handle this camera, he might be heavily flattered. As he should be. He figured out how to work it pretty quickly - he wasn’t as dumb as he appeared, and held it up to his eye to see through the lens. He pointed it straight towards you and caught the look of slight embarrassment on your face. “Oh come on, put on a smile. If I know you as well as I think I do, I know yeh ain’t got many photos of yourself.”

“I don’t need pictures of myself. I know what I look like,” You said, not smiling. Barty put the camera down, knowing that he would have to go through extreme means in order to get a nice photo of you.

“Excuse me,” He called to a couple who were walking down the street. They slowed down to listen to him. “Would you mind taking a photo of us together?”

“Bartholomew!” You said, watching in horror as your camera got handed over to the strange man. You didn’t even know his name! Or if he knew how to  use a camera!

“I’ll buy you a new one if he drops it, alright?” Barty  licked his lips then stood beside you. Something felt like it was missing and he knew exactly what it was. “I know, you don’t like to be touched but - can I hold your hand?”

“I suppose that’s alright. I won’t like it,”  You insisted, but he gave you a very puppy-dog look. You wondered what he was trying to accomplish with that. “Are you trying to look cute so I’ll give in?”

“Is it working?” He asked, holding his hand out.

“No. But I’ll do it just this once.” You weren’t even entirely sure how to go about holding a hand, but you did what you saw other couples doing. Fingers intertwined. You wanted to like it, since it seemed to make Barty happy but it was just uncomfortable to you. You could feel your palms becoming sweaty at the new heat. You looked up at the camera and you smiled, and it was genuine despite the weird situation. You let go of Barty’s hand as soon as the picture was taken, and only breathed out in relief when the camera was safe in you bag again. “Why did you want a picture of us together?”

“Capturing a moment in time,” He repeated your earlier words. “Also I like looking at you. You’re better than the depressing wallpaper my father put in my room.”

‘I know a spell to change that,” You offered.

“Second date then,” Barty winked.