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hrokkall · 2 years ago

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idk if the timeline would line up but do you think Luke (and maybe his sister too) played any of the games from the hex?

Anon I know you probably didn’t intend it but this is such a loaded question—trust me, I’m happy to try and answer it, but holy shit.

For just Luke, I’d give a pretty solid “yes”. Inscryption takes place post-Hex, so all of the games presented in The Hex would’ve existed before his death.

For both of them... the short answer is “maybe”. Based on what little we know about Luke and El they probably would’ve enjoyed some of Lionel’s work! Though Lionel’s earliest games (SWK and SWK: RR) were single player, they probably could’ve gotten around that by doing the classic “one person uses the mouse and the other person uses the arrow keys” trick, or just taken turns.

If they were able to play the first Combat Arena X, I can totally see them enjoying that too! I can’t say for sure who would main what character (we only see the beta of Combat Arena X in the Hex—we never see a final roster), but I can see Luke sticking to the same underdog character every time (each time more and more confident that he’s got this round in the bag, totally) and El pressing the randomize button and hoping for the best. From what very little we know about El, she seemed like kind of a prankster along with Luke, though it could’ve just been them just generally doing nerdy rebellious stuff together.

Having said that, as to whether they actually would have been able to play those games… holy shit is the Mullinsverse timeline a mess. Timeline analysis under the cut if you want to know exactly why I can’t give a definitive answer to this question but the short version is “lots of conflicting dates and events, direct contradictions from different characters, and a general lack of canon confirmation”. (Spoilers for the Hex and Inscryption below the cut but honestly, if you’re following me I assume you’ve played at least one.)

Okay, we’re just going to start with a general list of things (relating to this particular topic) that we don’t know:

We don’t know exactly how long Luke has had his channel

We don’t know when El died (nor how old Luke and El were at the time), except that it was prior to 2006 when Luke was archiving his files of her

We don’t know when Kaycee died, nor when the disk was buried

We don’t know how old Lionel was when he died (though we do know how old he was at certain points in the game, more on this later)

Honestly, most of this isn’t too much of an issue when trying to generally pinpoint when things took place; a lot of it can just be “guessed” and it doesn’t break anything. Luke has probably been on YouTube for a while, El could have died anytime before Luke made his channel, and Kaycee could’ve been out of the picture any time before Inscryption’s start (granted, Miss Hobbes says it “was a while ago” but that entirely depends on a person’s concept of time. “A while ago” could have been a year or a decade). In the same way that you can say “The floppy disk was probably buried for at least a year” without breaking anything, you can plug in estimate answers here without breaking anything.

Now, moving on to what we do know, which is where a lot of the problems come in:

We know when Inscryption takes place (October of 2010)

We know when Luke died (October 19, 2010)

We know when Inscryption was developed (conflicting information, but is implied within the main game to have been developed in the 90s)

We know when the Hex takes place (more on this later)

And, the main issue:

We know Inscryption takes place after The Hex (This is because at the end of the Hex, Sado escapes into the real world via the titular artifact; this is the state she is in during the events of Inscryption).

“How is that an issue?” you ask, hypothetically. I’m going to try and keep this short.

For the sake of keeping this brief, we’re going to ignore a couple of inconsistencies. I know Rebecha’s presence is an inconsistency. I know Sado might not be Amanda. I know KMod directly contradicts some of this. I know that there are sites in the Hex (such as Twitch) that just didn’t exist in the year that they were shown. For sake of this analysis, we’re ignoring how Rebecha could be in two places at once, we’re recognizing that Sado is present regardless of whether she’s Amanda or not, we’re going to note that Kaycee isn’t the most reliable source (I love her dearly but she was under so much stress and didn’t have all the information; some of the details probably got scrambled), and the progression of technology in the Mullinsverse is completely different from that in our world.

The general flow of events should be this:

Pony island -> [Giant ass time skip] -> Inscryption card game -> Inscryption video game development -> Inscryption gets lost -> The Hex -> Inscryption

Of course, some of these events could overlap—the loss of the Inscryption video game could’ve happened during the development of some of the early games in the Hex without too much issue, the Hex could have ended when some of Luke’s pre-Inscryption footage was being recorded, and Pony Island could’ve taken place… literally any time ever so long as it was pre-Gamefuna. That’s not an issue.

The issues start to come in with The Hex and when it takes place.

Originally, we did have a rough date for when the Hex took place. In old versions of The Hex, at the end of Bryce’s segment you can see a billboard that notes that a new version of Combat Arena X is slated for release in late 2017. However, this has since been retconned—in the latest version of the Hex (as of writing this on December 18, 2022) the billboard now reads “next holiday season” without any particular year specified.

Unfortunately, retconning that year wasn’t enough to completely scrub when the Hex takes place. There’s another definitive year in the game, in the title of one of Lionel’s games. The third installment of Super Weasel Kid (the shitty one developed by Gamefuna) is titled “Super Weasel Kid '09”, a spoof on the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game often referred to as “Sonic '06”. This implies that this game was developed and/or released in 2009.

We know the first Super Weasel Kid was developed when Lionel was 12 (via a Steam comment), the second was developed when he was around 15-16 (he states he was 18 “a couple of years” later, which is generally 2-3ish years), and the third was developed when he was 18 (via Walk when Lionel states he was “18 years old and loaded”)—after which he moved on to working on Combat Arena X in his own studio. This means that, in order for Inscryption to take place after the Hex, Lionel would have needed to develop Combat arena X, Secrets of Legendaria, Waste World, Vicious Galaxy 1 and 2, and Walk—five full-length games, a prototype, and a short game—within a ludicrously short amount of time. Even if SWK 09 was released on January 1st of 2009, that would give Lionel about 22 months at most to create all seven… not very realistic. (Not to mention that there’s no way Lionel was 19 when he died, come on.)

“Okay, but Inscryption taking place in 2010 was just word of god via Twitter, right?” Yeah, I thought so too initially. However, in the console port of Inscryption, we get access to Luke’s computer, wherein the most recent files are dated—you guessed it—2010.

So there’s obviously no way that Inscryption takes place while Lionel was 19 and halfway into the development of Combat Arena X (hell, Secrets of Legendaria is even mentioned in Inscryption—granted, it’s via KMod which isn’t the most reliable, but Kaycee still would’ve had to know about the game). EDIT: Luke mentions opening a Secrets of Legendaria Pack in the game proper as well

There’s two ways to fix this:

Super Weasel Kid 09 refers to 1999 and not 2009 (Kind of plausible! It wouldn’t be “09”, but if it was meant to be advertised as a “game of the future” putting a misleading date isn’t too out-of-the-ordinary. Of course, it canonically ran like shit so it didn’t live up to that expectation, but what else is new). This gives Lionel around 10 years to develop his games and subsequently die—still a bit of a crunch, but a lot more reasonable, especially when it’s canon that he pushed his team pretty damn hard to meet a deadline. This comes with other issues relating to technological progression + a complete disregard for the retconned 2017 but if you ignore that it’s a decent explanation.

Luke’s console port files are dated incorrectly (less plausible—Luke’s a pretty nostalgic guy and if using old systems reminded him of stupid videos he and El used to record together I can definitely see him continuing to do that despite there being newer, better methods available. However, Luke setting back the year on his computer doesn't seem like something he’d do, nor would he have stayed away from his computer for long enough for the date to get fucked up—he’s got videos to edit, after all. There are, however, files on his computer dated with the years 1010 and 1011, so it’s not entirely impossible that his dates are screwed up). This means that Inscryption could take place closer to the modern-day without any issue, giving Lionel plenty of time to develop his games and then die… but is less realistic.

However, the bottom line is neither of these are canon. Inscryption somehow manages to take place simultaneously during and after the Hex and there's not much I can do about it unless explicitly confirmed otherwise. Up until I discovered the console port dates, I ignored the “word of god 2010” Inscryption date and that prevented a lot of timeline fuckery. However, now that it’s directly stated, that’s not super an option for me. My personal recommendation is to ignore all of this and just put events in the loose order stated near the beginning:

Pony island -> [Giant ass time skip] -> Inscryption card game -> Inscryption video game development -> Inscryption gets lost -> The Hex -> Inscryption

If you follow that with some overlap without regard to specific dates, you won’t really encounter any problems. Sure, I think Luke and El should get to enjoy the original Super Weasel Kid together—let them have fun with it. Why the hell not.

TL;DR: I spent so long trying to figure out this timeline a couple of months ago and I eventually gave up and said “you know what, the events just happen when they happen. Doesn’t need to be exact.” This is why.

#Re: Inbox #Re: Anon #Stoat Speak #Hexposting #Long post #Thank you for this question genuinely but the Mullinsverse timeline makes me want to put my head In My Hands #(Disclaimer: I do not own either of the console ports; that information is second-hand via YouTube recordings)#But yeah I think they should be able to play SWK together at least #Daniel Mullins Games #<- I never use this tag but this one probably deserves it; it’s sort of a catch-all

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rhapsody-under-pressure · 3 years ago

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you are genuinely so weird in that u criticize disney but still mindlessly consume their content and act as if u care about representation and anything and then ur blog is a just a wall of gifs from the friends reunion like what about white people is representation or groundbreaking to u pls

Okay, I legit am not sure if you're angry w/ me or being genuine about this. Either way, I'll reply as if it's the latter.

First off, me criticizing Disney means I am not mindlessly consuming their content because the mere act of critiquing something means you're thinking about it past base level. Secondly, I enjoy Disney as an animation tour de force because they are one of-if not the-biggest names in animation.

I criticize Disney as a company. The youtuber Schafrillas Productions sums up my thoughts perfectly here:

In reference to the "act as if u care about representation" I would have to assume you're referring to POC rep since you followed up w/ my enjoyment of Friends. Friends is not perfect at all. It's comedy is iffy at times and many of the jokes have NOT aged well. It's a show from the 90s, an era where proper representation was not a big factor. It does not excuse it one bit for not having a more diverse cast, especially with it taking place in New York. But my enjoyment of Friends really doesn't correlate to my genuine desire to have proper representation in media now. I simply have nostalgia for the show because it was a show I watched quite a bit when I was around 12 years old. As said, it is FAR from perfect, but me enjoying it and having fond memories of watching it with my mom or just having a laugh by myself at a young age doesn't detract from my current desire to see minorities represented in mainstream media.

We as a society have realized that we need to have minorites represented in the media we consume and-even more importantly-have to let those in those communities tell their stories. For years I've had this mindset as I grew up and learned about the world and myself. I cannot recall anytime I said that white people representation was groundbreaking because, well, it isn't. We're considered the default and it's fucked because we shouldn't be. The fact that a straight, white, cis man is the default template for a character means that any deviation from it is grounds for debate when it shouldn't be. We need to hear these stories from underrepresented groups so that the template can be thrown out and people can just exist. But we're not there yet. Companies like Disney love to tout that they're inclusive and have POC leads or have queer characters in their films. But more often than not, these films misrepresent them-as seen in literally every instance of Disney showing off it's "First openly gay character"-, have them not be present for most of the film-Emperor's New Groove, Princess and the Frog, and Soul all being prominent examples of a POC lead being turned into an animal for most of the film, or not including POC or queer people in the productions of these stories they want to tell-Mulan (2020) and again, any gay character being played by a straight person.

I honestly don't get where you're coming from when you say that I'm faking the whole desire for proper representation when it has literally been all over my blog for years now. My enjoyment of Disney and other nostalgic films and shows doesn't negate this. I will criticize something because I care about it and, for me, I deeply care about animation as a medium. But Disney has lost its way and I will criticize it for its horrendous tackling of queer representation and it's iffy handling of POC inclusion. The same thing can be said for Friends. I like it for what it is: a 90s sitcom I watched as a preteen. It was not as inclusive as it should have been and is definitely not buy our modern standards.

I will criticize these things because I care about seeing change. If we ignore these problems, they will keep happening. We need to speak up about the problems of past and present media if we want to see proper representation and normalisation of any deviance from the current hegemony.

#Anon #Also #Walls of Friends Reunion gifs?#There's like 2-3 posts...#I've reblogged more Total Drama stuff at once #Anyway #Hopefully you see this and either want to discuss it further or understand my pov #And i hope you watch the clip too #and if anyone else actually reads this #Thanks #Oh and i wanted to reply to this on my laptop instead of mobile because of the length #So that's why i took a bit to reply

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cashmerebabyblanketnews · 3 years ago

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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years ago

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[-lastcall]

how often do you look in a mirror, a day? I honestly avoid that as much as possible. If I need to, I spend as little time doing so. I’ve become extremely self-conscious these past few years.

you are thinking about somebody, and who might that be? I’m not, though.

who is the last person to see you in your underwear? Just me.

you need to vent about things, who do you call? No one. I’d do that in a survey and/or series of tweets.

do you enjoy deep conversations? Yes.

did you/are you planning on going to college? I did and graduated. did you ever place in the spelling bees in elementary school? I never participated in one.

do you remember your kindergarten teacher? I do.

what color is the shirt you are wearing? Like a lilac or lavender color.

the last text message you sent out said..? “Oh okay.”

do you ever feel like you are being watched? I haven’t felt that in a long time.

what color is your bedspread? Light blue.

you get a text saying they love your older sibling. you say? I’d have no idea who would send such a text. I’d assume it was a wrong number and just ignore it.

what is your biggest kept secret about? Hmm.

if you see a shooting star, do you make a wish? I’ve never seen one.

does it take a lot to make you in a bad mood? Not these days that’s for sure. It happens in the blink of an eye at anytime, multiple times.

what is your favorite relative? I don’t choose favorites when it comes to that, but there are family members I’m closer to than others.

your mom says she is in love with your principal. you freak out, right? I’m not in school, but yeah that certainly would have been shocking.

what was your biggest fear as a child? Bugs.

my biggest pet peeve is one-worded texts, what is yours? Eating sounds. Gahhh.

why did your last relationship end? He decided he was done.

did your parents ship you off to summer camp as a child? No.

in ninth grade, all you cared about is what? *shrug*

what would be your acceptance speech if you won an award? Uh, I don’t know? That’s something I’d have to spend a significant amount of time to think about. I couldn’t just come up with something like that on the spot.

have you ever lost a close friend? Yes. A few.

are you angry at anyone? if so, why? Just myself.

when was the last time you smiled truly? It’s been a long time. :/

pick: mcdonalds, wendys, or burger king. McDonald’s.

what is the most played song on your ipod? I haven’t used my iPod since like 2012, so I have no idea.

why did you choose this survey to take? I haven’t done it before and felt like taking it.

are there mosquitos where you live? if not, consider yourself lucky. Yes.

have you ever been inside of the statue of liberty? Nope. I’ve never even been to New York. I’d like to someday, though.

what is the first thing (other than clothes) that you see in your closet? A couple of my mini backpacks hanging up.

have you actually watched JONAS, or just assumed it was stupid? I did watch it. I was a huge Jonas Brothers fan at the time. I still enjoy their music.

what is the first thing you think of when i say blue? Sadness.

how old are you? I’m 31 years old.

what is your name, anyways? Stephanie.

have you ever built a snowman? Nope.

i fell down the stairs five minutes ago, ever done that? No.

do you still own any stuffed animals? I have a room full of stuffed animals, majority of which are giraffes.

where is the weirdest place you have ever had a bruise? *shrug*

what is the most addicting thing you have ever done? Drink coffee the first time.

do you visit your grandparents on a regular basis? No. They live out of state, unfortunately. They used to travel here to visit every summer, but a few years ago they just couldn’t make the long drive anymore and I haven’t been able to make a trip there.

what kind of deodorant do you use? The Secret brand in powder fresh.

did you basically waste your life in school, if the world ends in 2012? We’re still here.

do you sing to songs in the car when you are alone? I don’t drive so I’m never alone in the car, but I do sing along to songs in the car anyway.

do you laugh at other people when they are alone in their car singing? No. have you every actually written a song? I’ve attempted to before.

the world will end in an hour. what do you do? Die? <<< Ha, yeah.

ever visited time’s square? Well, no, since like I said I’ve never been to New York.

do you live in a place that is full of snow or only wishful, in winter? No, sadly. I wish it snowed here.

ever accidently sent a text message to the wrong person ABOUT that person? Omggg, no. I would die.

what makes you relax? I haven’t felt relaxed in a very long time. I really need a beach trip.

are you one of those camera whores? No? What’s a camera whore? Just curious... <<< Someone who loves to take selfies. I’m definitely not.

what is the longest amount of time that you have gone without sleep? A little over 30 hours.

ever cried in public? Yes.

what color eyes does the person you are currently head over heels about have? There’s no such person, currently.

does the weirdest dream you have ever had involve your history teacher? Uh, no...

d03z iiT b@hHt3R y3wH d@T ii R0t3 liiK3 diiz? it bothered me. YES.

how many christmas trees are in your home during the season? One real one and then the mini one in my room.

do you remember the reason for the season or are you all for the presents? I absolutely do remember the reason for the season.

how many trophies do you own? Zero.

have you ever played any sports that involve a ball bigger than a coconut? I’ve bowled before.

do you still watch cartoons? Yes. Just earlier I was watching Braceface.

what name do you think is the prettiest on a girl? I really like the name Autumn.

do ya know a guy named ben? Yeah, they go by that nickname.

ever told your date you were going to the bathroom and actually left? No.

what never fails to put you in a bad mood? The miserable summer heat.

do you journal/blog any? This is it.

have you ever read any sarah dessen books? No.

what is the first thing that comes to mind when i say green? Christmas trees on my mind now.

have you ever made a threat that you went through with? I don’t make threats.

how many pillows are currently on your bed? I’m surrounded by them.

do you share a bed with anyone, or is it allll yours? It’s alllll mine.

are you scared to be alone after you watch a scary movie? Nah. are you totally annoyed when taylor swift wins all awards at an award show? I’m personally not a fan, but hey good for her.

do you own any songs that are from limewire? Not since the late 90s/early 2000s...

have you smacked anyone’s butt today? No. I don’t smack anyone’s butt.

are you from the north/south/west/east? West.

ya live in America, right? I do.

would you ever want to be a celebrity? Nooo.

did you ever take ballet as a kiddo? No.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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chiefavenuewerewolf · 4 years ago

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Enjoy the latest movies at your local Regal Cinemas. Regal Garden Grove features stadium seating, digital projection, mobile tickets and more! Favorite place to go to the movies. Using the card is the best program. It really helps senior citizens. Everyone is always.

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Please read this oneI don’t usually write reviews but the experience me and my wife had is unbelievable My wife was in a car wreck on 1-24-15 and hurt her back but still wanted to see a movie for Valentine’s day 2-14-15 so I got the tickets and went I asked the lady at the door if my wife could Just sit on bench until movie time and she got a bad attitude problem with me so I asked to see The manager she came out and I told her about the problem she seemed like she didnt care at all. But she finally let my wife sit then all we heard was laughing and giggling from them made my wife feel very bad and very uncomfortable we left and won’t be back ever.By the way me and my daughter usually go to the movies there at least once a week sometimes twice a week and have been going there for almost four years now and the guy’s that work there on the weekdays are great very kind and never any Problems at all.

Brian Bergström

Was happy with the pricing of the movies here. First run movies at discounted prices. The theaters are small, but comfortable. I first saw a movie here in 1987 and it hasnt changed much, except the technology.What disappointed me were the lights that never turn off and when the movie starts nobody closes the doors (I went to the back and closed the doors myself, nothing I could do about the lights). How can one really enjoy a movie theater experience with lights in the ceiling shining down in your eyes.I came here for 3D, because ONLY the Dolby Digital 3D works for me, the crappy RealD 3D doesnt work nearly as well. Then as it turned out the movie I wanted to see was not being shown in 3D at all.I would go back again, but probably sit more towards the front away from the spotlights and open doors.

Pat Butterfield

5 Star Cinema Garden Grove Ca

This place and staff has always given me a pleasurable experience and have gone on various days and times for the last 5yrs Even going during regular hours/days but frequent the senior/family days & hours. Been there during peak hrs & always someone at doors ready to go in and clean soon as a movie is over. Cant go to the Regals or Edwards and the like for top movies popcorn and drinks for the same price or less than what others charge just to get in the doors! Too bad Steve Crow had a bad experience, I have never seen or heard of such a thing all the times Ive gone. Im even greeted & asked where my friend is when I go alone. And acknowledged when Ive not been seen for awhile! Local theaters always best over commercial places anytime!

A Private User

I see a lot of people complaining about the employees and the seats and screens. Download blackberry handheld software for 8520. I have never had a problem with any of the employees. They arent really friendly, but have never been rude to me or any of my kids. Sure it s small, but for the value, worth it for me. We could never afford to see a movie otherwise. If you get their saver card, you get a free ticket for every four you buy, even on family night. Plus you get free popcorn and free refills on popcorn and soda. Tip..go early in family nights, you will be in line for a bit, and it will fill up.

Wesley To

Dont be fooled by the price and Starlight brand. This place has almost nothing else in common with other Starlights. No reserved seating. No seats in the center (aisle runs down the middle). Small, dim screen. But the other Starlights (Triangle Square in Costa Mesa, Cinema City in Anaheim) have identical pricing and feature reserved seating, center seats, and larger screens, as well as having more total screens, more seats per screen, and nicer aesthetics. Go to those ones if possible. Those actually deserve the '4 Star' nomenclature.

A Private User

5 Star Theater Garden Grove

Hate it. We came to watch sherlock holmes and half way through my lady went to use the restrooms and got kicked out cause the management said she was trying to jump movies. she had the ticket stub and she wasnt trying to jump movie.. she waited out side in the cold. while i was waiting for her to return. finally i went out side to look for her and i was very shocked to find out what had happened.. Never again will we ever come here again. Go some where else management seemed racist..

Yaseng Yann

I go to this theater almost exclusively esp so that we could go bowling before or after a movie: $7 refillable (one time before the movie ends) popcorn, clean theater, good sound system, friendly staff. Prices are catching up to that of UA and Regency..$9/adult is more than at some other places; so we are pulling the reins a tad. Maybe it pays to be a frequent movie pass goer..then again, we should head out to the state parks and outdoors more. Head out and shape up, America!

A Private User

i think this is a fantastic bargain to go to the movies in these most difficult of times. the popcorn is great ..the seating is good and the value is fabulous. we try to make it every Tuesday. i found the employees to be professional and courtesy so i suppose everyone has there opinion and mine is that keep the price low and the audiences will come. thanks.

John Taylor

The movie industry is my passion. When I was a teen I loved going to the cinema. This place is comfy, small and a great place to take out your girlfriend. However last time my girlfriend and I went everything was just dirty. Spit bubble gums, popcorn and smelly restrooms. Not a romantic experience at all. I hope they take some actions!

Lexi Buelna

Is this as fancy as Bella Terra? No. But as far as a discount theater is concerned, this is a definite 5 star theater! Everyone has been nothing but polite and friendly. Only 4 movies at a time but, for the price, im willing to wait a while until they change the options! And any theater with $1 hot dogs is fine by me.

JAN VARELA

Awesome new movies. Get the frequent movie goer pass and get free movies and popcorn. CLEAN place and if you go to their site print a FREE popcorn and upgrade to large popcorn & Large drink with refills for $9.00Tuesday & Thursday $4.00 all day.everyday $5.00 until after either 4 or 5:00pm then its $6.00

BR Abs marvel connector types.

Brandon Kheang

Absolutely love this theater, $6 Tuesday, Thursdays, and Sundays every week are an excellent value. Though it may not be as large as the bigger theaters, the movie viewing experience is still very enjoyable, especially given the price. The employees are friendly and the popcorn is delicious

Garden Grove 5 Star Cinema

Karen Taylor

We just moved to the area and we found this theater 'WONDERFUL' and it has a family environment in our neighborhood.The prices are good all doing the week and the popcorn is good and very affordable for us. The staff helpful. We love it there.Thanks,Resident of Buena ParkKaren

Alina Ramirez

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Considering that it is a 4 screen theater with regular old school seating, it is nice. The floors arent sticky, the seats arent broken, the restrooms are clean and most importantly..very nice staff. Great place to take my family especially since we are on a very tight budget.

5 Star Cinema Garden Grove

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findingbxlance · 5 years ago

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I love The Sims.

Which is why I will never stop being disappointed in TS4.

Lets do some math, and I’m going to keep this mainly between TS3 & TS4. While I did play TS2, there isn’t a lot of information readily available on what the games themselves cost at the time of release. I have some information on that, but I’m not sure if it’s 100% accurate as I was baby when they came out and my mom had to buy them for me. I’ll release it later if anyone is curious.

TS3 launched with a base game priced at $49.99, and throughout it’s lifetime accrued nine stuff packs at $19.99 each, and eleven expansion packs priced at $39.99 a pop. This comes to a total of $669.79.

TS4 launched with a base game price of $59.99 (that price soon dropped to $49.99 because the backlash was immediate), and introduced the new game pack. In total (as of 4/15/2020), TS4 has sixteen stuff packs at $9.99 each, eight expansion packs at $39.99, and eight game packs at $19.99. That comes to a total of $699.67.

That’s not a huge price difference. All in all, it’s about $30 if you want to get the whole, complete collection, so why do I dislike TS4 so vehemently?

Quality.

Let’s compare a few expansion packs just to get a feel for what the difference is.

TS3 launched the “Late Night” expansion at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Bridgeport) with 82 lots

Fame & reputation systems

Bars & night clubs

Apartments with penthouse suites

Subways

Elevators

Breast & muscle sliders in CAS*

Zodiac signs

A fountain tool*

Height adjustment for wall objects

Groups & bands

Butlers

Vampires!

The mixology skill

2 new traits (shy & star quality)

TS4 launched the “Get Famous” expansion at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Del Sol Valley) with 11 lots

Fame & reputation systems

Active acting career

Multiple ways to become famous

Music, video station, etc.

And that’s about it.

Now I’ll be the first person to admit that TS3 wasn’t perfect. Although it was a very full game, it struggled in areas of performance. With such large, open worlds, and detailed customization systems, it was pretty buggy for a lot of people, but we’ll talk on that more later.

But what I want to focus on is the disparity between these two packs, as they’re supposed to be mirrors of one another. “Get Famous” is the TS4 version of “Late Night”, so where did all the stuff go?

Well, EA broke it into 3 packs.

To get the full experience of “Late Night” in TS4, or at least something similar, you would need to purchase, “Get Famous”, “City Living”, and “Vampires”. That’s 2 expansion packs, and 1 game pack. So, to replicate the experience of “Late Night” you would need to spend $99.97.

That’s almost $100.

So, for an experience we paid $39.99 previously in the last installment, we’re now being asked to pay $100 for.

Is that fair?

Lets do another expansion pack comparison:

TS3 launched “Ambitions” at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Twinbrook) with 82 lots

5 new active jobs that take you all around the world your sims inhabit

Firefighter, investigator, ghost hunter, stylist, and architectural designer

Self-employment

Sculptors, inventors, painters, writers, gardeners, and so on can all profit from at home work

Laundry

Tattooing career

New traits (eco-friendly, good observer, weirdo, etc.)

Consignment stores

Inventing

Sculpting

TS4 launched “Get to Work” at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Magnolia Promenade) with 4 lots

3 new active jobs that take place in one location

Detective, doctor, scientist

Baking & photography skills

Retail lots

Illnesses for sims

Aliens

There’s definitely more crossover here, but “Get to Work” still falls short. $39.99 for a full game and all we get is a world with 4 lots? Even in TS2 “Open for Business” we had more to do.

And, that isn’t to mention the fact that “Get to Work” launched separately from the TS4 “Laundry Day Stuff” pack. So, to get a similar experience to TS3′s “Ambitions” you would need to purchase both “Get to Work” and “Laundry Day Stuff” at a total of $49.98.

One more comparison for good measure.

TS3 launched “Island Paradise” at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Isla Paradiso) with 118 lots, the most of ANY TS3 expansion

Houseboats that can move anywhere around the island

Resorts that you can either visit, or own, manage & edit

New transportation modes

Boating, skiing, and windsurfing

3 new careers

Lifeguard, resort manager, scuba diver

Diving into fully realized underwater scenes

Sims could also catch fish, explore underwater caves & find sunken treasure

Shark & kraken attacks

Mermaids!

Missions to discover and unlock new islands

Blueprint templates*

TS4 launched “Island Living” at $39.99, and it included:

A new world (Sulani) with 11 lots

Docks & new foundation types

4 new careers

Conservationist, diving, fishing, and lifeguard

Mermaids!

Boats

Missions to clean up the island

2 new traits

In the case of “Island Paradise” vs. “Island Living” there are a quite a few similarities, but the disparity remains. Thankfully, this time around EA didn’t break “Island Living” into multiple packs, but imagine if in a few months we get a resort style pack? Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past EA.

In these pack comparisons, I hope I’ve highlighted some of the issues between what should have been pretty similar packs.

And, to clarify, I’m not saying that EA should have just copy pasted TS3 packs into the TS4 style, but for the amount of money they’re asking, the quality should remain the same. There should be a similar amount of features between each pack, but there isn’t.

With each expansion, it feels like EA is spending less and less time working on the unique gameplay features, and pouring more time into the general aesthetics of the packs. So, while TS4 is the prettiest of all The Sims titles, it’s also the emptiest.

Despite the shiny veneer of a good game with solid graphics, TS4 ultimately lacks depth. It doesn’t feel like a game, but rather a character creator. I spend more time building sims and their homes than I do actually playing out their lives.

All in all, I find that the “life simulation” part of TS4 is severely lacking. It mostly comes down to the little things, which is exemplified whenever I go back and replay TS2. Sims would cuddle their partner in their sleep, burglars were a real and present danger, raccoons would topple your trash can at any given chance, and friends would call all the time to ask if you wanted to go downtown.

It’s been 6 years since TS4 came out, and, from what the dev’s have said, they aren’t planning on pushing out TS5 anytime soon, but let’s dream a little bit about what could be.

In my perfect game, TS5 would include aspects of TS3 and TS2. The open worlds were great, but not many people’s computers were beefy enough to run them. The one thing I will applaud about TS4, is that its made with everyone in mind. We can’t all afford big, gaming computers, a lot of simmers play on their laptops, and we should all be able to play regardless of what type of machine we’re working with.

So, instead of fully open works with 90+ lots, I would like to see open neighborhoods. If we take the open concept of TS3, and combine it with the neighborhood style of TS4, we’d get an open world of about 15-20 lots. That’s nowhere near as big as TS3, but would allow for more fun neighbor interactions, and remove the constant load screens.

I’d also like to see a return of the color wheel. This is also a point of contention, where I understand that excessive customization really dragged down TS3 and made it unplayable for a lot of people. So instead of full customization, relegate it to just colors (instead of different materials like fabric, metal, wood, etc.,) and just CAS.

I think a lot of what gummed up TS4 was the fact that you could customize everything. Hair color, eye color, makeup, clothes, accessories, wallpaper, paint, tiles, flooring, chairs, sofas, decorations, and on and on. Restricting it just to CAS, and in a simple color wheel would give us so much more freedom.

A color wheel in CAS would also solve EA’s issue of diversity. While they’ve given us the ability to create trans and nonbinary sims (which is fantastic!), they’ve been really slow on any progress when it comes to skin tones. A color wheel would allow us to create sims of all colors, and give power to the players to create more realistic and diverse representations of their lives as sims.

The last thing I would really love to see is a return to the little details. Give us more randomness. Genies, walking skeletons, ruins we can explore that aren’t just rabbit holes, more active careers, more opportunities. Don’t be afraid to give us the weird things, we love the weird things! But don’t forget about the little things. Sims sitting in the grass together and chatting, sims leaving flowers at your door after a really great date, sims scooting together to cuddle while watching a movie together on the couch.

Overall, TS5 should just include more more, if that makes sense.

Leave your comments & thoughts below! I’d love to talk to ya’ll about this, its really been brewing for awhile.

*Features included in TS4 base game.

#the sims #ts4 #sims #sims 4 #simblr

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mrslittletall · 4 years ago

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Title: The Crazy Cat Vicar (Chapter 9) Fandom: Bloodborne Characters: Laurence the first Vicar, Laurence' secretary Florence (OC), Gehrman the first Hunter, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower Word Count: 1.928 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20989841/chapters/59851126 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/619196140363071488/title-the-crazy-cat-vicar-chapter-8

Summary: It's the countdown. The ten seconds you have to save your carpet. Or your couch. Whatever. The important thing is, that cat has to get somewhere else!

(Author's note: My apologies, but this chapter is a bit gross because it focuses on the habit of cats to puke out things, mostly hairballs. I swear, every cat owner will know the struggles in this chapter. I very much give an emetophobia warning, because there is some teasing vomit talk, but there is nothing too graphic.

Also, the only reason I pumped this out already was that I received some fanart made by @onlytheembersremain for the last chapter!)

“So, we expect your presence around-”, the church minister said, but Laurence interrupted him.

“Hold that thought, I will be back in a few minutes.”, he rattled down and then was off, leaving a very confused church minister behind.

The problem was, while the church minister had talked with him, Laurence had started to hear what he referred to as the “countdown”. It was a gurgling kind of sound and he swore, from the first time it was heard, he could count down from ten and when he was at zero it would be too late. Laurence considered himself lucky that he had heard it this time, because often enough he wasn't present when the countdown happened and was met with a wet and gross surprise.

“I got yoooouuuu!”, Laurence shouted as he rounded the corner where Mary was about to finish the countdown and hurled the cat from the carpet, only for Mary to stop retching for a second, turning around and then finishing the countdown right on the carpet.

“Oh, Mary, COME ON!”, Laurence yelled, barely believing that he had made it in time only for the wet and gross hair ball to land on the carpet anyway. Mary just looked at him as she licked her snout and gave him a mew.

“Don't fucking mew me, Lady, you are in trouble.”, Laurence said, pointing down on her, narrowing his eyes. “But first... I have to clean up.”

Grumbling, Laurence went down the corridor and mumbled to himself: “That church minister probably thought I had to run to the bathroom or something... I swear, they better not have any rumours about me having the runs or something similar...”

Laurence stopped in front of a closet and got a bucket and a cleaning cloth out, stopped at the nearest bathroom to fill it with water and fetch a towel and then went back to where Mary had puked out her hairball, of course the cat wasn't present anymore, running away from her punishment. He kneeled down and wrapped the hairball into the towel. “Disgusting.”, he said as he felt the gross and warm thing. Hair balls didn't sound so bad on paper, but the fact that they were coated in hot stomach acid made them so much worse. Once the hairball was safely secured and on the side, he moistened the cleaning cloth and was just about to start scrubbing the carpet, when Florence' voice sounded.

“Oh, Vicar, I heard that you got sick, but I had no idea that you didn't made it. Shouldn't you go lay down and take some blood and let me clean this up?”, she said.

“Already?! Shit, Florence, I am not sick, it was Mary!”, Laurence yelled as he shot up, pointing at the towel, upset that the church minister already had interpreted him running away in the worst way possible. Had he given the expression that he needed to puke? He might have looked pretty shocked once he had heard the countdown and maybe had sweat a bit and maybe had been pale and... he pretty much had given the impression as if he had needed to puke.

Laurence sighed and kneeled down again when Florence said: “The countdown?”

“The countdown.”, Laurence confirmed and started to scrub the carpet, unsure if he would ever get the stain out of it.

“But Vicar, you don't have to clean it up yourself, let me handle this.”, Florence said, already on her knees.

“Didn't you had trouble with your back this month?”, Laurence asked, fully aware that his secretary wasn't the youngest anymore.

“Oh, nothing what the healing blood can't fix.”, Florence waved aside with a smile.

“Still, I know that you don't like to be overabundant on the blood.”, Laurence said. He personally couldn't get enough of the stuff, it may have turned into a slight problem, but he could stop anytime, he just didn't had a reason to. Florence on the other hand, was seeing the blood more as a medicine that should be used for emergencies as well as sicknesses and injuries that would had trouble healing on their own. Her bad back normally wouldn't be a reason for her to take the blood.

“While this is true, what shall the church servants think when they see their Vicar sitting down scrubbing the carpet? That action is below your dignity, your grace.”, Florence said.

“These are still my cats and I am responsible for them.”, Laurence said. “If anyone sees me like this, so shall it be. I am just taking responsibility for the mess they are making. I mean, it could be worse. At least it was only the carpet.”

“Yes, I remember when Mary vomited all over the library books once.”, Florence said and Laurence groaned at the memory: “Don't even remind me of that. I spend fucking two hours apologizing to the librarian in charge while having to find puke anywhere and everywhere, in cracks and chinks where puke never should have travelled!”

“I wonder why Mary is so susceptible to the countdown?”, Florence asked as Laurence squeezed out the cloth and made it wet anew.

“It's her fur, I think.”, he said. “She cleans herself and swallows a lot of fur and that has to come out again. Granted, the other cats sometimes do the countdown too, but it is Mary in 90 % of the cases. At least with her I can be sure it is a hairball, Mick once found it funny to puke out a whole bowl of food because he had eaten too fast and Gary was puking out parts of a mouse he must have hunted. That was some fucking horror show to clean up...” Laurence wrinkled his nose at the memory. “When I took in cats, nobody warned me about the countdown.”

“I heard it is different from cat to cat.”, Florence said. “I also heard that cat owners get used to it.”

“I certainly got used to it by now.”, Laurence sighed, scrubbing on the stain., “But I still try to prevent the countdown from landing on my carpet whenever I hear it. Ugh, that feels like it already burned itself into the carpet. I wonder if this is how Gehrman felt whenever he had to clean up my vomit.”

“That felt definitely worse.”, Gehrman said, making Laurence shot around, hissing: “What are you doing here?!”

“Watching you being on vomit cleaning for once, quite entertaining.”, Gehrman grinned and then greeted Florence.

“If you are already here, can you at least help me?”, Laurence complained, but Gehrman shook his head. Florence raised her brows because Laurence had declined her helping just five minutes earlier.

“I think I had my fare share of helping you clean up vomit already during your regular stomach flus back in the school.”, Gehrman said.

“He got sick easily, huh?”, Florence asked, eyes focused on Gehrman, clearly interested in what Laurence' old friend had to say.

“That is an understatement.”, Gehrman grinned. “He would get a cold with a high fever every winter, we could bet on when it would happen. And sometimes he even got the cold outside of winter. And, like I said, often enough he got himself a stomach flu and had to spend the next few hours either hunched over the toilet or with a bucket. I got really good at reading the signs for when Laurence had to puke, but sometimes I came too late and then it meant cleaning time.”

“So you had kind of a countdown of your own.”, Florence said.

“Countdown?”, Gehrman asked.

“That's what we call it when the cats are about to puke.”, Laurence said, an eye twitching in anger, “And I would cherish if you wouldn't go around and tell everyone about when and where I had to puke.”

“First, I have only told Florence and second, I haven't even told her specifics. But I can, if you wish to hear, Florence.”, Gehrman had a glint in his eyes and Laurence shot up, almost shoving the dirty cleaning cloth in Gehrman's face, or more his chest, Laurence just was too small to reach Gehrman's face properly.

“Don't you dare.”, he grumbled.

“It looks like Laurence doesn't want us to have fun.”, Gehrman said, shrugging. “I am sorry, Florence, but at least I can answer your question. Yes, I indeed had a countdown when I realized that Laurence needed to hurl. It were usually five seconds and I swear I could never move faster than when it started.”

“For the cats we have about ten seconds.”, Florence replied. “For some reason, they like to take their time with the countdown.”

“And I still was too late.”, Laurence sighed and put the finish touch on his scrubbing. He had the feeling the carpet would be stained forever, but at least it wasn't obvious anymore. “There, that should do it. And don't try and clean it too, Florence.”

“I haven't done anything.”, Florence said.

“I can see that itch in your eyes.”, Laurence said, knowing what a clean freak his secretary could be.

“I don't see what the problem of her cleaning it again is.”, Gehrman said. “Why were you even cleaning it up in the first place?”

“Because the Vicar sees it as his responsibility.”, Florence replied. “Even though he asked you to help earlier and you declined.”

“Well, yeah, because I used to clean and am pretty good at it, it was just too amusing to see Laurence clean up for once.” Gehrman grinned.

“Shut up, Gehrman. Why are you even here alone? Where is Maria?”, Laurence asked.

“Oh, she is...”, Gehrman said when Maria came around the corner, carrying a cup with a steaming hot liquid and said: “Hey, Laurence, I brought you some chamomile tea for your upset stomach.”

Laurence just stood there and tapped his food: “Florence, would you please go around and tell everyone in the church that I don't suffer from food poisoning?”

“Understood.”, Florence said and gave Laurence a bow before she hurried down the hallway.

“Oh, so you are fine? I heard that you hurried away in the middle of a conversation, so I thought that you got sick.”, Maria said. “Do you still want the tea?”

“Yes, I would like the tea.”, Laurence said and took the cup from Maria, taking a sip. “It wasn't me who got sick, it was Mary. Hairball, you know.”

“Ah yes, I have stepped in one of them once.”, Maria nodded. “Disgusting little things. Hard to think that it could come out of something as cute as a cat.”

“The same could be said about Laurence' puke.”, Gehrman grinned which prompted Laurence to deliberately step on his foot, the one that was still there.

“I think I am overstepping my boundaries.”, Gehrman grinned and backed away.

“One more dumb saying and I am stepping on something else.”, Laurence warned and then his head jerked around as he heard it again. The countdown.

“Fuck!”, he yelled and was off. Gehrman and Maria just glanced at each other.

“Should we follow him?”, Maria asked.

“Yes, I think we should.”, Gehrman said and soon the duo were on their friend's tail, ready to help him clean up whatever cat would finish the countdown yet. (Author's note: One time Clara projectile vomited all over the keyboard of my husband. There wasn't even a countdown, it just happened. Clara managed to puke in so many hard to clean places, she surely is a pukey cat. She mostly pukes out whatever she ate and this cat is ALWAYS hungry, I don't get it. Geraldina is the classical hair ball puker, when she pukes you can be sure that it will be a hairbal 99 % of the time. Lately she likes to sit behind me on the couch, she is also sitting there right this moment. Write me stories about your cats in the comments, maybe I take some inspiration for future chapters.) Chapter 10

#bloodborne #fanfiction #laurence the first vicar #oc florence #gehrman the first hunter #lady maria of the astral clocktower #littlewritesstuff

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missguomeiyun · 4 years ago

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Tong Sui... my definition

No, “Tong Sui” is not the name of a dynasty in Chinese history.

But you’re close. There’s Tang dynasty, as well as Sui dynasty :P

Okay, so.. . I’ll be sharing my explanation of what “tong sui” is.

Below is an example of one:

[Doesn’t look very appealing... there’s like flat pieces of dark green things sort of floating, mung beans.. . & the liquid portion is dark olive green/brown. Like dirt water.]

However, it is cold, refreshing, & sweet!

Growing in a traditional Chinese family, “tong sui” is not a foreign concept to me. It is a “food group” that my parents make throughout the yr, although the varieties are a little “seasonal" (as well as the temperature of it when it is served). Ie: in winter, we tend to eat hot versions; in summer, room temperature or chilled.

“Tong sui” literally translates to “sugar water” in English. Most sources describe it as an umbrella term for sweet soups that are enjoyed as a dessert in Chinese eating culture. It is a pretty good simplified definition, me thinks.

First off, not all “tong sui” (TS) are sweet; I’d say 90%+ are sweet, others are savoury. Personally, I prefer sweet. To say it is a “dessert” after a meal... not wrong, but it can eaten anytime of the day; as afternoon snack, with dimsum, brunch even.. . I personally like it as an afternoon tea time snack bcos it’s too filling to be eaten after a dinner, which is what typically happens at banquets (it’s always served last after the 10 course meal, & by then I’m stuffed!). Same thing at home; I just don’t particularly eat this kind of stuff in the evening.

Is it a soup?

I guess =/ A soup to me is something savoury, & with majority of TS being sweet, I have a hard time relating it to soup. But loosely-speaking, I’d say soup is not wrong; there just isn’t a better term for it in the English language.

Varieties!!?? Traditionally, TS takes a long time to make - at least a few hrs depending on the type you’re making. There are kinds (think flavours) that are more common than others, & depending on where you are in China(/Asia, bcos other East Asian countries have TS equivalents), the varieties also differ. Classically, I’d say there are 6 main TS’s in Cantonese Chinese culture.

1. Mung bean & 2. Red bean.

The preparation + cooking method are similar for both, & the product is a sweet sandy soup (from rupture of the beans after prolonged cooking). Both use rock sugar or cane/brown sugar (the brick ones) as a sweetener. The mung bean one often includes kelp, while the red bean one commonly uses dried mandarin peel as a taste enhancer. (my dessert photo is #1. Mung bean + kelp)

Seed/nut-based TS: 3. Black sesame & 4. Peanut.

Involves fine-grinding (powder-like) of the main ingredient, & cooking it in sweetened water till it literally becomes a thick-ish paste. Tbh, the texture will get to ppl if you’re picky with your textures. Hopefully the aromatics of it will help a little... Compared to 1 & 2, these are more fragrant, & are so smooth that chewing is not required. Think smoothie... but with a hint of graininess + nuttiness.

5. Tapioca

Coconut & taro are the common flavours but these days.. . even fusion flavours are available at some fancy places. Nonetheless, they contain small white tapioca balls that are naturally flavourless but has a soft texture. It’s not like the pearls in bubbletea. I’m ok with this kind of TS as long as it doesn’t contain actual taro pieces in it... (oftentimes it does)

Lastly.. . I have a difficult time considering this a TS but I KNOW IT IS ONE! It’s just that in North American, I don’t think it’s that common, & it’s usually presented in a sealed plastic container, rather than a sit-down & eat item that you consume out of a bowl. 6. Tofu dessert.

Right?! The other items 1-5, you can’t get them from a grocery store, & eat it as is, but #6., they are usually placed next to regular tofu. & you can even ask for spoons at the cashier counter so you can eat it at the food court! So.. . it’s kinda weird. But traditionally as a TS, the tofu base is the same & it’s not “flavoured” (none of that modern mango-flavoured, lychee-flavoured stuff); what DOES contain flavour (/variety) is the syrup that’s drizzled on top. Honey, ginger-infused syrup, cane sugar syrup, rock sugar syrup, brown sugar syrup.. .

Hope you enjoyed the back-to-back Chinese food posts haha now back to the scheduled program. Just kidds!

* * * * * * aside: In my household, #1 - 3 are the most common ones. But they are ‘upgraded’ most of the time, like for #1, #2, sometimes tapioca is added OR we mix mung bean with red bean. For the black sesame one, we add glutinous rice balls bcos with it being a paste, it’s kinda flat & unexciting haha Another TS we make is the papaya + snow fungus one (where I will only drink the liquid portion of bcos I can’t do the snow fungus texture & I think papaya shouldn’t be cooked...).

#food #tong sui #chinese food #chinese dessert #dessert soup #dessert

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stevie-writes-the-pain-away · 5 years ago

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Chapter Three

I turned off the shower and sighed, feeling the last few taps of water dripping onto my head. I shivered, the cold air touching my skin through the warm steam. I removed the shower curtain and slowly stepped out, planting my feet on the ground firmly, scared to fall. I instantly grabbed my towel from the towel rack and wrapped it around me, turning towards the mirror above the sink. I wiped off the steam with a cloth and watched myself in the mirror, seeing the water drip from my face and down my neck, tickling me ever so slightly.

I felt so awful for my roommate, Cassidy. She wasn't home often due to her job but I never showered as much as I should've and I felt guilty making her put up with me and my B.O all the time. I didn't leave my room a lot either, apart from when I went to the kitchen or washroom every few hours or had to leave the apartment itself, but she still walked past me at least once a day. I heard the front door of our apartment open and close loudly, listening to keys jingling and footsteps through the wall. I dried myself off and dried my hair as best as I could, taking my clothes with me as I left the washroom. As I left I saw Cassidy in the living room, placing her belongings on the couch and looking at her phone. Entering my room down the hall, I threw my clothes into my laundry bin where all my clothes resided at this point. I had a small dresser to put them in but there were rarely any of my clothes were clean, to begin with. I sighed to myself, realizing I had a ton of laundry to do.

I wasn't a lazy person, I could do my laundry if I wanted to and I knew how, I just decided to make things harder for myself voluntarily. I wasn't usually a messy person either. In high school, I could've been one of the most organized kids you've met, but ever since college, I struggled to be the best I could while tackling simple human functions. I heard a knock on my bedroom door and crawled over the mountain of clutter on the floor, opening up. My room was already as small as a broom closet, the fact that everything I owned was just strewed about below me didn't help anything. It especially didn't help the door from opening any wider. I pulled it away from Cassidy who stood on the other side, struggling to keep it pushed open as well.

She was shorter than me, as well as younger by seven years, and had adorable hazel eyes. She had dirty blonde hair that was cut by her shoulders and freckles, which made her look like the stereotypical country girl. Her wardrobe seemed to consist of oversized t-shirts with 90's cartoon characters on it and nothing but denim shorts. It was no match for the constant gloomy weather England had to offer, but she managed to pull through whenever she was out. I couldn't describe her personality-wise, I didn't know her well despite being roommates for at least a year then. All I could say was she definitely knew how to entertain people and make them laugh.

Cassidy looked past my shoulder, her jaw dropping before she laughed. "Jesus fucking Christ, (Y/N), use your shelves," she joked.

In response I just sighed and laughed, secretly ashamed that she noticed. "What do you want?" I smirked in invisible misery.

"Nothing, really . . . We don't really talk much, do we?"

I shook my head and nervously giggled, "Where're you going with this?"

"Well, I was thinking that we could maybe go out to get coffee later today? We've never hung out outside of this shit hole," she addressed the apartment. "Or in general," she added. "Besides, I've needed to a break from work and thought I could spend my free time with somebody I wanted to get closer with?"

I looked at her, slightly shocked. I wanted to get closer to my roommate as well, but we didn't seem to have much in common, remembering back to when I saw her room. She was the type who was successful and busy but could easily have fun and didn't have a hard time getting social at parties. She went out often but she never let it get in the way of her career. From what I saw, she was getting far and I was nowhere, just a disappointment who had part-time jobs working with coffee, toys in the convenience store and produce at the supermarket. I blinked, realizing I didn't answer her question. "Y-yeah, of course," I agreed, nodding my head. "That'd be fun," I continued.

"Cool," Cassidy smiled. She turned on her heel and slowly walked away down the hall and I watched her turn the corner until she disappeared. Grinning, I shut the door, picking up a sweater and sweatpants from the ground. It felt gross not wearing anything underneath but how else was I going to do my laundry without my towel falling? I picked up all of my clothes and put them in the overflowing basket, getting up and bringing it to the closet down the hall. I used a few minutes of my time to organize myself and finished my work before heading back to my room, wondering what I could do.

Before I was an alcoholic I was in university studying year after year for my bachelor's degree. However, close to the end of the third year, I found myself at home every day in my dorm room alone, crying in bed as my grades dropped dramatically. Soon enough, I decided dropping out was the best option at that point and I'd been working multiple part-time jobs ever since I was twenty-three. The only materialistic things I'd been spending my money on was alcohol, disappointingly. The only gifts I got anymore were coupons and tiny Christmas presents, but for a while, I hadn't received many. I was incredibly grateful they still thought of me but I felt all of my relationships cling on by thin strings. Not even my relatives, and especially not from the friends I'd grown apart from however many years ago seemed to check up on me. I'd been saving up in case I wanted to do something with my life, but I figured I wouldn't be going down that path anytime soon, looking back on the past years.

I hadn't had much time to myself but when I did between shifts, I found myself laying on the floor, miserable. I used to drown these feeling by drinking but therapy's helped me escape that habit, of course. I'd tried to get myself to begin walking during my free time but I hadn't been getting around to it. As I reminded myself of the lack of excitement life I sighed, pulling the blanket off my bed and bringing it to my chest as a laid on the floor surrounded by trash.

Monotone days made for another week and shift after shift, nap after nap, I got myself ready to leave the house once more. I fixed my hair and brushed my teeth, washing my face before looking up at the mirror in front of me. I dried myself off and rushed out the door, hoping I could make it to the clinic before it rained. I was in more a rush today when I offered to help Phoebe clean up after a school field trip, so I found myself tripping over my feet, trying to get there as soon as possible.

As I made it through the front door, I was greeted as always, and went straight to the gymnasium where I found Phoebe asking me to find the "blue bins full of art stuff". As I searched down the hall, I found what I needed. I went to grab for one of the few buckets before I heard a loud, nearly argumentative conversation outside. I'd never intentionally eavesdropped unless I heard my name, but this time I heard Murdoc's voice and I was instantly hooked. I stopped moving, my hands still gripping one of the bins as I paused. The voices were muffled from the door separating us, but I thought I heard at least four different people conversing, including Murdoc. Soon enough, there was silence, and I leaned forward, trying to angle my view to see him outside the front door. He stood with a look of disappointment as he began to light a cigarette. I watched him take a hit and exhale slowly, leaning against the wall with sorrowful eyes. I'd never seen him like that and it felt unreal, or like a dream to stare at him with such emotion on his face. I let go of the bin and slowly made my way to the door, placing my fingers on the glass. I pushed it open slowly and Murdoc's eyes darted towards as he gasped, startled. He almost inhaled his cigarette but removed it from his lips, coughing into his elbow.

"Oh, shit! Sorry, Murdoc, I didn't mean to scare you," I apologized, holding my hand over my mouth with worry.

He chuckled awkwardly and coughed once more, clearing his throat with embarrassment. "I-it's fine, lass."

I smiled at him nervously before walking towards him, "What are you doing here so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he responded, taking another hit.

I stood beside him now, leaning against the wall as he stood up straight, his body turned to me. "They needed help organizing the gymnasium so I offered," I said, addressing the staff of the clinic. He exhaled and we watched the smoke lift up into the air and disappear in mere seconds. I looked back at him towering over me. "What about you?"

His eyes softened for a moment until he blinked it away, his usual aggression blocking whatever door I almost opened. I was hoping he'd be as open as he was the other day, but it wasn't my lucky day I guess. "Uh, my roommates were bugging me so I just . . . left early," he claimed.

"Ah . . ." I responded. I turned my head away, realizing I still had work to be done inside. "Umm . . . perhaps it's a good idea to get back to work." I watched Murdoc's eyes bolt up towards me desperately before I turned around.

I was about to open the door when I heard Murdoc suck in a deep breath. "Would you like some help?" I looked back up at him as he slowly walked forward, his hand wrapping around the door handle.

"That's alright," I said, not wanting him to waste his time doing tasks I promised Phoebe I'd complete myself.

I placed my hand on the other door handle, but Murdoc stretched his arm over the glass to keep it closed. "I insist," he said, his eyes locked in my direction. I couldn't tell what his intention was and there were no clues on his face, nor any body language to tell me what he was thinking or feeling.

I simply nodded with a smile, "If you're sure."

The session went as all sessions went, bland and quiet, at least in my eyes. Murdoc and I didn't sit beside each other, which would've been a little strange, even if I kinda wish we did. He was quieter than usual, which the rest of the group noticed, but he brushed it off with the typical excuse of being tired. I would've believed him if this wasn't Alcoholics Anonymous but it's every unhealthy person's job to convince people they're doing fine, no matter how repetitive to the point of annoyance the excuse is. It's one of those hopes of everybody at some point that if they lie enough about something people will eventually believe them or give up prying at the very least.

When the hour was up everybody lifted themselves from their seats, taking their belongings out the door with them. I picked up my drawstring bag and turned on my phone to play music through my headphones. I left the building only to be stopped by the startling, but not so surprising rainy weather. I usually walked, even if it was raining, but I wasn't ready to ruin the benefits of my first shower I had that month only two hours after taking it. I groaned, pulling out my phone to call a taxi. I walked around the corner to where the benches were when I noticed Murdoc. I enjoyed his company but I acknowledged the oddness of how frequent our interactions were becoming. I wondered what we would talk about then.

"Hey," I spoke, walking up to him. He was slouching on the bench, looking out at the parking lot, enticed by the rain. He looked content for the first time since I met him. His arms stretched across the back of the bench, his hands hanging off the sides lifelessly. The only limb of his body that moved was his foot that tapped impatiently, his leg bouncing along. He looked in my direction at the sound of my voice and nearly smiled, pulling his arms away and crossing them above his chest. I felt bad for him; it was warmer before the session but when it began raining, his sleeveless shirt wasn't very appropriate weather attire anymore.

"Hey," he mumbled.

I slowly made my way over and sat down next to him, wondering how I could begin our next conversation. "How's it been?"

"Eh," he shrugged. He really didn't seem into talking so I thought I shouldn't bug him. It was quiet for a few seconds before he sat up straight, pulling out a lighter. He pulled a cigarette from his other pocket and looked towards me. "What about you?"

I was surprised he continued for me but I didn't hesitate to respond. "Not bad," I answered, pulling my hoodie sleeves over my hands to keep them warm. I rocked myself back and forth to warm myself up when I realized he was still looking towards me. I turned back to him and noticed his hand with the cigarette inching closer to me. He cocked his eyebrow and I finally got the message.

"Nah, thanks, I'm trying to quit," I nearly whispered with a nervous giggle.

"Ah, good lass," he pointed, putting the cigarette in between his lips. He lit it and a puff of smoke seeped into the air in front of us, "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said, remembering the similarities of the conversation earlier that day. He must've remembered as well when he grinned along with me. "I'm waiting for a taxi."

He shook his head, looking away from me for a second and out at the rain again, lifting the fag from his mouth. "What, your boyfriend couldn't come pick you up?" he asked as if it was as natural of a question as the sky is blue.

He turned towards me again and I looked back at him. I was flattered but confused as to why he assumed I wasn't single. I then nervously laughed. "N-no, I don't have a boyfriend, I haven't been on a date in nearly ten years," I admitted, staring directly into his eyes. Noticing what I had just said and how awkward I must've made the interaction encouraged me to immediately avert my eyes as I felt my face flushed red.

However, he seemed just as staggered as I was. "Really?" I nodded, grabbing at my sleeves for imaginative protection from embarrassment. "Hmph," he sighed, finally breaking his view from me.

I gained the courage to move on from my shame. "What about you? Your wife couldn't make it?" I asked back.

"I don't have a wife," he said.

"Oh?" I smiled.

"I've got many," he chuckled, taking another hit.

I felt my heart drop heavy from my chest like a bowling ball. "Hmm . . ." I twisted my lips sheepishly.

Murdoc turned to me frantically and wide-eyes. "I'm just kidding," he reassured in a sort of concerned tone.

I looked back at him, a sigh of relief coming off as a short second of laughter. I smiled, shaking my head and he swapped his smirk for a real smile. I adjusted my position, "Why are you out here?"

Murdoc was silent for a few seconds. "I enjoy the rain."

Something about Murdoc enjoying rainy weather gave me a unique feeling of nostalgia in a way. I remembered back to when I loved the rain myself. Whenever it poured or simply drizzled I would run out onto my lawn and spin on the grass until I slipped in the mud. I had a blast every time until my mother scolded me, but that was at least fifteen years ago. Times had changed quite drastically, and sometimes I convinced myself, for the better. "Lucky you live in London then, huh?"

"Very true," he agreed. "Not so lucky for you though, eh?"

I felt myself furrow my eyebrows by accident. "Why do you say that?"

"Too much traffic," he smiled. I just dropped my jaw, surprised he kept bringing up the crazy moment we met. I began to smile and lightly shoved him as he turned to me, laughing.

"I still can't thank you enough for that . . ." I said.

"You don't have to keep thanking me, (Y/N)."

"But I do," I said as we stared at each other.

He just shook his head and chuckled at my determination. "You really think saying thank you isn't enough to make it up?"

"Not even close," I convinced myself, shaking my head. How could it be?

Murdoc took a few seconds to think deeply before settling his gaze comfortably on me. "Well . . . Why don't we meet up for coffee sometime and think about it?"

"Really?" Did Murdoc actually want to meet up for coffee? He didn't seem like the person to do something so simple. Or that's what I told myself at least. My self-respect decreased as I thought of the possibility it could just be a pickup line to hookup and nothing else. Not to sound into myself, but it's happened before, I couldn't imagine anybody wanting to hang out to actually become friends. Cassidy's offer was unbelievable enough. It hurt . . . so I ignored it as best as I could to not harm this precious moment.

"Why not? You like coffee?"

"Sure!" I turned my body more towards him.

"Perfection," he settled. He stood up and dropped his cigarette into the disposal box on the wall of the building. "I'll catch you later," he said, backing up before he turned away on his heel. As he walked into the parking lot, one of the clouds in the sky finally drifted away from the sun, pouring its light down onto his head and shoulders. Rain cascaded down his back like glitter and I couldn't help but stare as he slipped away and disappeared out of view.

I looked away from his direction, smiling to myself. Why was I so connected to him in such a strange clingy way? I guess clingy wasn't the right word, but I was being sort of creepy becoming closer with him. I'd excused myself before since I hadn't made friends in years and the alchemy behind befriending others had slipped my mind little by little, but I had to keep common sense common. I tried to keep myself from thinking about him so much and blinked his face out of my mind, remembering I was waiting for my taxi. My taxi I hadn't even called yet.

#gorillaz #murdoc niccals #2-d #stuart pot #Russel Hobbs #noodle #x reader #murdoc x reader #damon albarn #jamie hewlett #romance #fanfiction

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japanstopbrawler1992 · 5 years ago

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READ ME

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR RACIST CHASERS/GAY-FOR-STRAIGHT-CONSUMPTION/OOC TRANSPHOBIA/ANY RACISM WHATSOEVER UNLESS SHOWN AS BAD BY NARRATIVE AND CONFINED TO AGREED UPON PLOTTING

I set Savers in its airing year, so Masaru was born in '92. Can take place anytime after episode 49. However, there just won't be any explicit sexual content regardless of when the thread takes place. I also don't auto-ship: I'm here to walk a character through things, so ships will all be more slow-burn. Also, while Masaru's just pan, I'm actually asexual, so don't even expect me to present beyond a textbook understanding of sexual attraction

Masaru's kind of a jerk. My other two muses are generally at least kind unless the other person isn't, but Masaru's kind of abrasive and gleefully violent. If we're playing, I'll probably warn you beforehand, but Masaru may snap at your muse if your muse isn't a little kid. If your muse didn't deserve it, he'll probably apologise at some point, but yeah, this muse is even less like me than 02's Ken (Bleach's Ichigo is my muse most like me)

I'm on mobile. Period. I can't cut threads. I usually just tag "long post." Can't cut threads.

Seen JP ver only. Haven't seen any others, and I have no reason to bother--the original's in my native. Why would I bother with "orange juice bomb"?

Masaru is mixed race here. In a planned project that's a sister project to my Bleach project I already got a bit of stuff up for, Masaru's mum is Japanese and Russian, and related to Junpei of Frontier, and Masaru's dad was Japanese and Afghani. Masaru actually does speak Japanese, Russian, and Persian.

Masaru's also trans here. He never got puberty blockers, but he finally got testosterone at 13. So his voice changed at a pretty normal age. But he does need a binder and all that. (He loved that black tank top he wears after the memory wipe because it was just the right cut to cover the binder while showing off his arm muscles!) He does someday want kids, and Japanese law, like most US states or most places, requires sterilisation to recognise gender change. His papers also say a different first name. Of course, this probably came up with Satuma. Satuma and payroll at DATS probably know all about it. But being trans isn't *as* hard in Japan as the Anglophonic world. Especially thanks to Kamikawa Aya advocating on outlets like NHK radio since '95, which Masaru would be three then.

I toss the epilogue. Don't like the losing their digimon, and Masaru ditching his family he feels so responsible for and his dad he just got back?

Actually, in my project, ep 48 never happens. Suguru is dead, DATS remains, and Sayuri gets BanchouLeomon as her digimon partner.

Oh, another rule--poor spelling and grammar is acceptable if you are not a native speaker. It infuriates me to no end that I'm supposed to be an idiot for being fluent in three just because English is not my first, but native speakers get to run around spelling "bins" "ben's" and congratulating themselves for "kohnichuwa" but I get beaten/decried for actually knowing the language... And also, ,ZERO TOLERANCE for "garnish my human default English with exotic Japanese uwu" See "zero tolerance for chasers and racism"

Totally available to play in Japanese or Spanish, but you must be fluent.

Masaru lives in Tobechou, Yokohama. I went to the Chinatown in Yokohama once with my dad, but I lived in Koube. And we didn't leave Hanshin region all that much. My knowledge of much outside there being a Chinatown in the '80s (obviously still there, as it was the setting for the Savers movie) and big landmarks like Minatomirai is minimal. I also haven't been back to Japan period since '94. My relatives there are all deceased since the '90s, and flights alone are 1,000$, which, until recently, was definitely over a month of rent. Two for a studio, one plus a couple hundred for a 1 or 2LDK, depending. Might even have had 1.5 baths. By the time Savers was airing in Japan, I was able to keep up with Japanese news via now-gone Japanese-language broadcasts in California, as well as the Web, which is also how I saw Savers. But my knowledge of Japanese things may run the risk of being almost 30 years out of date. Or it might be completely current because I still read Asahi News, the most left-leaning paper I can find. Unsure if related to Hanshin region channel 6, but channel 6 was the best when I was there.

The Daimon family didn't move when Masaru came out, but he came out pretty young. It's just difficult to get trans care for minors. That being said, most peers don't know he's trans. They do know he's mixed, though. That being said, it's not like it's *only* him fighting racist bullies. It's only partially that. Like I said, I fully acknowledge he's pretty abrasive. So he's not completely blameless for all the fights. He could easily someday be the kind of parent who gets arrested for punching a rival dad. Violence is not a last resort for him. It's the best resort.

I do multi-para and don't use icons. But I'm not asking for an exact word count match. All I ask is give me stuff to go off of in replies and for Heaven's sake, do *not* format like House of Leaves when you play with me. Format button abuse looks like a visual panic attack, and is just too chaotic for me to read.

I may go spotty on replies with you. I'll still chat with you via the messenger thingy, and I don't play with people I've never spoken to, even if I've started the interaction, because I need to filter for my sanity, so I need to know the people I play with aren't gonna pull racism or something on me, but when my replies slow, it's because I work on-call at a shelter for seriously physically ill people, I'm also disabled myself, and I don't have the ability to put enough energy for the high-quality replies I strive to give in at the moment. I'm stalling because I want to give you my best. If I want to drop a thread, which is admittedly rare, I'll let you know. I won't leave you guessing.

Some h/cs just for fun

Masaru loves metal. The metal I know is 70s prog and 80s glam metal and stuff. I don't really like much music past about '94, and exactly two albums after 2000 (neither are metal)

Masaru has always had the same kind of attention span I have now even though I completely didn't when I was younger. He's running commentary if you watch an movie with him, his biggest problem with school is the whole sitting and passively listening to a lecture part, he thinks he doesn't like reading because others always talk about sitting there and reading for hours on end (if he's older, he may have realised it's OK to read for 20-minute bursts, something I eventually realised, too). He only really learns by doing. That being said, depending on age, he may not have had the chance to *realise* that yet.

He wouldn't become a sumo wrestler, but he totally watches it. Honestly, any fighting sport, and he's there.

He's very Japanese as far as religion. Sort of takes part and believes in a lot of them at the same time, but none are a overly influential part of his life. This is a thing.

Crossovers with any season preceding Savers are pretty easy with this blog considering my project. The project will eventually merge with the Bleach project, toi, so I also have a thing for that. Overall, I welcome crossovers with most animated media. Live action, I'll consider if you don't use icons with me (it ends up looking like Who Framed Roger Rabbit in my head) I don't do any real person stuff beyond, say, having Masaru listen to real bands or know of other public figures.

There is also a flexibility in playing Masaru in other countries. He could visit family in Russia or Afghanistan, he can be sent over from DATS to help with digimon appearances in countries allied with Japan (coughcontroloverjapanliketheuscough) or I totally ship him with Touma, so he could be in whatever that country is (obviously a Germanic nation in Western Europe)

He's definitely leftist, but his tactics aren't really common among the left. Typically, it's the fascists that will throw the first punch. Except Masaru will, as well. Unfortunately, this means he can take *away* from, say, antifa efforts to counter demo anti-Korean rioters.

He looks down on most weapon use, but probably none more so than guns and other weapons that remove the user from the target. To him, anyone who hides safely behind a weapon and makes the fight so one-sided is a coward. To this extent, he thinks war should be done away with and the leaders of the countries should duel instead of America just wiping out thousands of Japanese (WWII) or Afghani (during his lifetime) civilians (well, in that war, it was definitely not the Afghani government's fault, as that was a radical rebel sect powered initially by Regean, but it was most certainly civilian deaths en masse)

Masaru cannot meditate at all. He's also very reactive. To that extent, he's never really done well with martial arts. There's a lot less focus on self-discipline in boxing and wrestling than in Aikido or karate or what have you. He'd probably love the intensity of Krav Maga or CQC. I just don't know if Krav Maga has a self-discipline component. CQC almost certainly doesn't--it's American.

More when I think of it.

#rules #about #about muse

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robininthelabyrinth · 6 years ago

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Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 20 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

Ever since Barry became a speedster, he's found that he's able to keep up with things. Events. People.

Real life plot twists?

Except five seconds ago he was dropping Mick and Eddie back at the hospital (just in case), two seconds ago he was running back into STAR Labs desperate to save Len (who loves him?!) but knowing he'd be too late -

And now he and Wells (Eobard Thawne) are standing in the base of the Accelerator, both of them empty-handed and covered in glass shards, staring blankly at each other.

"Did - did you know that she could fly?" Barry asks hesitantly. He doesn't think so - he doesn't think Wells has ever even met Kara - but Wells has been three steps ahead of him this whole time, so...

Wells just shakes his head, still looking blank.

Barry kinda agrees. Like - what? What just happened?

Kara also moved, like, really fast. Like. Speedster fast. She's a speedster? Except she can also fly - and that was definitely flying, not jumping, Kara was totally, like, horizontal there - and, just -

Hold up.

They're both just standing around being shocked. Neither of them is moving, which means whoever starts moving first will have a (brief) advantage over the other.

Barry was definitely losing earlier, and he's pretty sure even with whatever advantage he can get from an early start, he's going to keep losing.

Time for a strategic retreat.

Barry makes a break for it.

Wells only notices, tearing his bemused attention away from the shattered ceiling, when Barry's nearly at the door, and then he gives chase - because of course he gives chase, he's obsessed, he's not going to give up, he's never going to give up - right up until Barry hits the street outside and a pair of arms catches him right under the armpits and up they go.

"This is awesome," Barry says to the greatness of Central City, laid out before him, as he's carted off into the air, legs dangling below him and Wells left behind stewing angrily at STAR Labs.

There's a sigh behind him.

"You know," Kara says into his ear, "I really feel like I expected people to be a little more shocked by this revelation. Possibly more negative. I don’t know. Something."

"I don't think Len actually has any negative feelings about you," Barry says honestly, since that's probably what she was actually worried about. He thinks Kara's awesome, and he's pretty sure the feeling's mutual, but at this stage of their budding friendship they still both worry over Len way more than they think of each other. "And I was shocked! I was totally shocked. There were full minutes of shock. But, y'know, what with me being a speedster -"

"Yeah, yeah, you processed it already. And the boss doesn’t do shock in public, I know. But still!" she says petulantly, and then dives down to a rooftop where Len's already sitting, leaning against the edge, to drop Barry off and hover above them. "Barry, can you stay here and keep the boss company while I go get either his braces or his spare crutches? I feel like the ones he dropped in STAR Labs are probably a total loss."

"I told her to go back to STAR Labs and pick up what I'd left behind," Len says, very solemnly. "And yet for some reason she grabbed you -"

Barry sniggers.

Kara does, too, then punches Len lightly in the arm. "Stop goofing around. I'll be back in five minutes - most of which will be spent digging around that mess you call an apartment."

And then she's gone.

Barry looks at Len, whose legs are splayed out in front of him in a way that suggests that his leg is hurting him and whose face is overly controlled in a way that suggests his side isn't doing him any favors either.

"So," Barry says.

"Yeah," Len says.

"Did you...?"

"Nope. Didn't have a clue."

"Fair," Barry says, because he hadn't either. Of course, he isn't as close to her as Len is, but also he hadn't noticed the Wells thing for ages, so he has no place to talk about noticing things. "You do hate mysteries."

"I also hate applying normal person logic to a situation and ending up with time-travel and superheroes," Len says dryly. "I guess I'll live. Anyway, like I told her, it doesn't really matter, since it doesn't seem to impact her efficiency as a secretary any."

Barry's almost expecting Kara to reappear and yell 'Admin assistant!' at them, but she doesn't. That's probably the point - Len's paranoid (and justly so) enough to want to make sure she's not spying on them.

And, well, Barry agrees. Just because Kara has superpowers doesn't mean that he intends to start treating her any differently. Although –

"Okay, so, one thing," he says. "I feel, like, 90% certain that most of your stories about how you met Kara hinged on her not being in Central during the Accelerator explosion."

"She wasn't," Len says. "She's not a meta, she's an alien."

Barry pauses.

He opens his mouth to say something, realizes he has nothing constructive to say, and closes his mouth again.

He considers the issue for another moment.

And then -

"She's a what?!"

"An alien," Len says, with a wry expression that suggests that he took this little revelation with much more grace externally and approximately the same degree of taken-abacked-ness internally. "Born on a planet called ‘Krypton’, apparently; she and her cousin were schlepped off to Earth because it has a comparable ecosystem to their homeworld, which was in the process of exploding at the time."

"Exploding."

"Apparently."

"I see."

"Yeah."

"And, because she's an alien, she can - fly? And move at speedster speeds?"

"And punch hard enough to move a car," Len says, rubbing his arm. "I'm extrapolating, but it seems reasonable."

Barry considers this.

"...that’s so cool," he finally says.

"Agreed," Len says, unable to keep from grinning.

"So," Barry says, and he doesn't really want to say what he has to say next, but he doesn't feel like he really has a choice. "I guess that means you don't need me, huh?"

Len blinks owlishly at him. "I - don't follow."

"Well, you came to me because you need a speedster to fight Wells - Thawne - whatever, right? And now that you have Kara -"

"You idiot," Len says, but fondly. "I came to you because I wanted an excuse to see you again, not because you were our last hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Of course Len goes there. He wouldn’t be Len if he didn’t think in movie quotes and talk in puns.

"Listen," Len says, his face going serious. "I'm not - I don't - listen, I was right, what you were doing was wrong, and that's definitely not going to magically go away anytime soon. There have to be consequences. But - I should have listened to you.”

Barry stares at him.

Len meets Barry’s eyes. “I should have taken time to understand your perspective and accounted for all the issues surrounding what happened - including the fact that Wells is a master manipulator who deliberately positioned himself to gain your trust as an unquestionable father-figure, and the fact that he used your actual present father-figure to reinforce what he was doing.”

He shakes his head.

“It's not that I don't know how corruption creeps in, tainting everything around it, or even that the CCPD's been drowning in it for so long that it infects the best of us,” he continues, making a face. “I should've thought about that, and I didn't. I didn’t, because I was hurt, and I was hurting, and it felt like you did it at me, when that wasn't the case at all. And that was wrong, too.”

Len reaches out and puts a hand on Barry’s arm. “I should have given you the benefit of the doubt,” he says. “And while I'm not apologizing for the fact that I'm very likely going to have to put you in jail for what you've done, I'm at least sorry for that."

Barry swallows, hard. His heart feels like it's going a million miles an hour, and with his powers, that's actually possible.

He's going to react to Len's explanation in a mature manner befitting the seriousness of the subject, to accept his apology, to thank him for his faith in Barry, to –

"Did you really tell Mick that you were in love with me?" he blurts out instead. "In - in the hospital, I mean, like Wells said."

...damnit.

He's been thinking of little else - yes, he knows, inappropriate in a life-or-death situation but the possibility of Len loving him – the thought of Len dying without ever knowing that Barry loves him back -

Barry ran faster than he ever has before.

But Len didn't die. He's alive, he's here, and Barry has to know the truth.

Len pauses for a long moment.

"Please, Len," Barry says. "It's important."

Len's throat works. "Yes," he says. "I did. I - still do."

Barry -

Barry needs to sit down.

The space right next to Len is wide open, so he sits there. It’s a perfect fit.

He somehow thought it would be.

"I understand if it's - unwanted," Len is saying, because Kara is right; he is an idiot. Barry's in love with a total idiot, and he couldn't be happier about it. "Setting the cops on your family, your friends, in quite such a manner -"

"Len," Barry interrupts. "I love you, too."

And then he kisses him.

It takes a second for what Barry said to sink in, but then Len's kissing him back and his hands are in Barry's hair and Barry's hands are on Len's shoulders and –

Kara clears her throat.

Barry yelps and scrambles off of Len's lap. He isn't sure when he got on Len's lap, actually, and now that he thinks about it, it probably wasn't doing any good for Len's leg and side –

Kara's standing right behind them, laughing and holding Len's crutches in one hand and his leg and back braces in the other. They're pretty unwieldy, but she holds them as if they weigh nothing - seems Len was probably right about the super-strength.

She grins at both of them. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"You support this," Len tells Kara crossly. "I know you do. Why're you interfering now?"

"No, no, don't get me wrong, I'm delighted," she says. "It's about time! You two are so good together!"

"Then go fly around the block for another few minutes!"

Kara giggles. "Oh, trust me. I would. But..."

Her smile fades, replaced with a serious look.

"But?" Len prompts.

"The riots have started."

"Crap," Len says, all levity gone. "Iris West doesn't leave dust in her tracks when she puts her mind to it. The news must've gone out."

"Oh yeah," Kara says. "Whatever wasn't on the evening news - all the evening news, local editions, newspapers, television, radio, the lot - has gone around the more informal channels. The cardboard brigade's actually affirmatively telling people, do you know that? They never do that."

"No one in Central likes the Families," Barry mutters. "God, people are going to go crazy."

"People are going crazy," Kara corrects. "All the set-up we've done is helping keep it somewhat contained, but - yeah. The Families are going to have a hell of a time sewing up their deal with this mess in the streets. No way our people get it cleaned up by Election Day."

"Not our people, no," Len says. "But the Feds are coming in tomorrow - and by now, cover story or no, the Families will know about it. There's going to be war tomorrow - now that they know secrecy isn't an option, the Families are going to tug on every string they've ever had, call in every debt, and they're going to try to force this deal down all our throats whether we know about it or not."

"The riots will get national attention," Barry says. "That should help get us more back-up, right? National Guard or something. But whether they'll be in time, I don't know - especially since we've lost so many cops to corruption already, and are probably only going to lose more. There's a chance we'll be overwhelmed. Besides, we still haven't solved the problem of what to do about Wells, who's probably capable of taking down an army or two on his own. What do we do now?"

Len doesn't say anything.

Barry glances at him and sees that he's staring out across the city.

Their city - their beautiful, corrupt, misled Central City, which has the potential to be so much more than it is.

Not unlike all of them, really.

"Len?" he prompts.

"I think the boss has an idea," Kara says. "That's his 'I have an idea' face. I hate the 'I have an idea' face."

"Because it's usually a bad idea?"

"Oh, no, it usually works out. It's just going to be absolutely nuts."

"You're not wrong," Len says, still looking out at the city. "Davners, Barry – I know you’ve been using your powers, but where we’re going, I don’t want you to use them, no matter what the incentive. It's too risky, especially with rotten military scientists in the area.”

“Where we’re going?” Barry echoes.

“Yeah,” Len says. “Kara, can we make our way to the governor's mansion from here on foot?"

"Through the riots?" Kara says doubtfully. "I mean, we could, if we don't mind being shoved around a bit, and with Barry and me making sure no one trips your crutches up, yeah. But why the governor's mansion?"

"That's where the ‘absolutely nuts’ idea comes into play," Len says dryly. "Barry, call Singh, tell him where we're going and our likely route; we need him to meet us there. Now enough talking - let's go."

Going through a crowd of angry rioters without using his powers is basically every bit as bad as Barry would have imagined it to be, which is to say, not unlike Central City mall during the worst ravages of Christmas shopping, only with more chanting and more anger and a lot more people holding sticks to hit things with out of sheer irrepressible rage.

They’re all talking about the Families.

Oh, yes, everyone’s always known about the Families, but no one knew how deep it went. No one knew that everything they trusted to hold back the dark was actually aiding and abetting it.

“The governor’s mansion?!” Singh exclaims into the phone when Barry calls him. “That’ll be a job and a half. Tell Snart he’d better have a damn good plan – the only reason most of my men are at work right now is because I haven’t let them leave. And when they go, a bunch of them aren’t coming back, and it won’t be because they’re cowards.”

Singh doesn’t need to actually say that it’ll be because they’re on the opposite side.

“We’re bleeding morale like crazy,” Singh continues. “At a minimum, Snart’s riots are doing a good job making sure no one leaves Central – we have barricades on all the major highways, but they’ve been reinforced by all the abandoned cars left behind by pissed-off people – but it’s a complete mess.”

“Len has an idea,” Barry repeats, since he can’t give out any details of a plan he doesn’t know the details of. Possibly that’s intentional on Len’s part. “And we have a few, uh, surprises up our sleeve.”

“You remember that I already know about your so-called ‘running hobby’, right?” Singh asks skeptically.

“Yeah, I know, I meant in addition to that.”

“Christ. You know what, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. Tell Snart I’ll be there.”

Barry hangs up and ducks as someone waves a stick – no, an umbrella – over his head.

“Seriously, dude?” he demands.

“Sorry,” the guy says, looking sheepish. “It was the first thing I could find. Hey, a bunch of us are going to go down to trash the restaurant down on Camillo Street, the one everyone knows is a Family front, you wanna come with?”

“He can’t,” Len interjects. “We’ve got other plans. But remember that the cooks are probably victims too – keep your aim to the blood-bonded Family assholes.”

“Good point,” the guy says agreeably, then raises his umbrella to charge onwards down a side street, accompanied by a small mob of people.

Barry hopes the guy really does keep it in mind.

He shares worried glances with Kara and then they both realize that Len's managed to get ahead of them again and rush (at regular speed) to catch up.

Len might not be a speedster, but he has a way of eeling his way through the smallest possible gaps in a crowd - even with his crutches! - that lets him keep moving at an accelerated forward pace that Barry and Kara have trouble keeping up with.

Especially with the way people tend to cut right in front of them and then slow down. It's enough to drive a man to consider punching people.

Seriously, Barry's been trying not to use his powers for less than fifteen minutes and he already misses it. He can tell from Kara's expression that she, too, would love nothing more than to just leap into the sky right now.

Damnit, Len just darted through another gap and now there's a whole parade between them. How is he doing that?!

This time, though, when Barry and Kara catch up, Len's actually stopped, even though they're less than two blocks away from their destination. Barry can even see Singh in the distance, directing his cops to help funnel the people onto the side streets so as to thin the crowds a bit.

But no, Len's stopped to talk to some guy - an older man, shorter than Len, given to fat and with a nasty expression. He's not marked as a blood-bound Family guy, no tattoos that Barry can see, but Barry's willing to bet he's no good.

One of Len's underworld contacts, maybe?

Barry gets close just in time to hear the stranger saying, "- major opportunity here. With your help, I can -"

"Are you fucking kidding me," Len says flatly.

"Don't you use that tone on me, son," the man warns, scowling. "I know I taught you better -"

"My city is literally on fire," Len snarls. "The Families are going to destroy everything. And all you care about is lining your pockets - no," he adds when the guy steps forward, a threatening look in his eyes. "No, no, no, no. I don't have fucking time for this. No fucking time, no fucking bandwidth, just no." Then he raises his voice. "Officer!"

"What the hell are you doing?" the man hisses.

"What I oughta've done years ago," Len says. "You're under arrest."

"I'm what?"

"Under arrest," Len says. "For criminal conspiracy to commit a robbery and for attempting to solicit a policeman to join -"

"A policeman?!"

"Didn't I mention? Oh, good, Officer Gonzales -" This is one of Singh's guys who heard Len's shout and came running over. "- do me a favor and Miranda this asshole before sticking him down some sort of hole? I can't deal with him right now. Just get him outta my way."

Officer Gonzales blinks, then shrugs. He's a big guy, taller than Len and twice the width, built like a linebacker; Barry's always ascribed the man's easy-going nature to the fact that he’s probably never met anything that could effectively stop him. "Sure, boss."

"You can't do this!" the other guy shouts at Len.

"Just did," Len says, and off he goes again, straight into the crowd.

Kara and Barry exchange exasperated looks and run after him.

"Hey, who was that guy, anyway?" Barry asks, deciding a light jog is the only way he's going to keep up with the amazing forward momentum machine that is Leonard Snart on crutches.

"My dad," Len says shortly.

"Your dad?!" Kara yelps.

"Yep."

"Hold up," Barry says, alarmed. "The one who -"

"Yep."

"Including that time with the bomb in Lisa’s head?" Kara demands.

"That's the guy."

Kara and Barry don't even need to glance at each other to coordinate; they just both spin around immediately to start stalking back towards the man now revealed to be Lewis Fucking Snart, as Barry privately calls him in his head. After some of the stories that Len's told, not to mention this apparent 'bomb in Lisa’s head' business that Barry is totally going to get Kara to explain later, there is no way they are going to let this guy get away with –

"Get back here!" Len yells. "Morons! Both of you! We're almost there!"

Barry groans. Kara does, too.

But they go back.

Protecting Len from current danger takes precedence over getting revenge for past injuries, no matter how grievous.

...barely.

They manage to get into the governor's mansion on account of Len and Singh both flashing their badges and shouting; apparently the governor's security is convinced that no one would have the balls to fake two police captain IDs.

(Also, their not-so-quiet comments of "Is that Captain Cold?!" suggest that Len's nickname is, as Wells predicted, about to become both permanent and widespread.)

Once they get upstairs, it turns out Mick and Iris and Eddie are already there. Even Cisco and Caitlin are there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Len demands, his eyes fixed on Mick and Eddie. "You were just kidnapped -"

"I sent them ahead," Singh tells him. "They were mostly just dehydrated. Even your, uh -"

"Partner," Mick says, with a testy tone that suggests this isn't the first time he's said it.

Barry doesn't really care, though, because Mick saying that has caused the biggest grin Barry's ever seen on Len's face, and he'd be willing to fight someone to keep it there.

"Well, boss?" Mick says. "Captain Oinks here said something about you having a plan."

Now it's Singh's turn to look testy.

"Glad you're making friends," Len tells Mick, still grinning. "Where's the governor?"

"Through the doors," Iris says. "Along with the Police Commissioner."

"The Commissioner?" Barry asks, alarmed. "Is he..?"

"Currently claiming ignorance," Eddie says dryly. "We're currently pretending to believe him."

"Innocent until proven guilty," Len says, like the world's biggest hypocrite ever, and then he's off again, heading towards the doors. "Besides, we might need him."

That sounds more like Len.

The governor is pacing a hole in her rug, and the Commissioner looks like he's bitten into something unpleasant.

"Governor Kinsley," Len says. "Nice to make your acquaintance."

"You're Snart?" the governor demands. "The one who uncovered this mess?"

"That'd be me."

"Good for you," she says. "Now how do we get out of it? I've lost a quarter of my security staff - and good riddance!"

"They tried to kidnap her," Commissioner Goddard says. He's got some dried blood on his suit, suggesting he might’ve helped stop that attempt personally. "Mayor Bellows's orders - he's gone all the way over."

"Over some adultery?!" Barry exclaims. "Seriously?"

"I think it’s more that he puts the odds on the Families winning," Governor Kinsley says. "And to be perfectly honest I don't blame him."

"I've already called in the Feds," Len says. "They'll be porting in every available hand they have available tomorrow, and they won't have as many corrupt in their ranks."

"I've called the National Guard in as well," the governor agrees. "But it won't help us in the short term - General Eiling scattered them all earlier this week. Training exercises." She sneers. "Because he's in on it too, of course."

"Glad you're taking this personally," Len says. "Because you really ain't gonna like my next suggestion."

"And this is where he goes off the rails, with the rest of us behind him," Kara mutters.

Mick nudges her in the side and offers his hand for a fist-bump, which she returns.

"I'm willing to listen to any suggestion at this point," Governor Kinsley says, scowling. "The Families have been building this for months; we've had under twenty-four hours to react. They're not going to stop with the kidnapping attempts, either, and I have kids."

"The rest of the country has no idea what's going on here," Goddard agrees. "Nor will they care how it gets pacified - whether it's because the Families win or lose."

"Agreed," Len says. "And that's why we need an amnesty."

"A what?!"

Barry can't blame her. Where did that idea come from?!

"Amnesty," Len says. "Forgiveness for crimes caused by the Families in the lead up to this event - not all crimes, obviously, just stuff they can show they were manipulated into in the set up for this. No, don't look at me like that, I hate the idea too, but it's necessary. The Families' biggest weapon is people's fear of the law - an amnesty'll cut off the ones who ain't really corrupt, just dumb and used to taking shortcuts and now getting pushed around by the Families because of it."

"The ones who feel they have no choice," Barry says, understanding. "The ones who are being blackmailed - the regular people, the police, everyone - they think their choice is between the Families and prison, if they stay on our side. If we change what's on our side -"

"We eliminate the effect of the blackmail," Iris breathes. "And then they can come back - or refuse to go over."

"We'd probably stop bleeding police," Singh observes neutrally. "They were hardest hit, on purpose. I'm barely keeping my precinct together, and I don't know how the others are faring."

"Fine," Governor Kinsley snaps, her mouth twisted angrily. "You're right, I don't like it, but I see your point. But you -" And here she jabs her finger at Commissioner Goddard, the man who had prior to all of this been helping the mayor in the primary against her tomorrow in exchange for getting the mayor’s help with his own run. "- are going to sign on whole-heartedly, you hear me? I'm going to be doing this on your express recommendation that this is the only way to stop the ongoing threat."

Goddard scowls, but they've got him on the spot: he hasn't suggested that he can keep his police in line any other way, and to do anything other than his utmost to help stop the ongoing disaster could be read as suggesting a certain corruptibility that it is now in very bad fashion.

Len is smirking.

Of course he is.

"Fine," Goddard finally barks. "I'll sign. But only crimes deliberately orchestrated by the Families, y'hear? We're not granting amnesty to every two-bit pickpocket that stole something in the last year."

"Of course," Len says soothingly, or as soothingly as he can while also gloating. "Just the stuff from the last few months, yeah? When they were building up to this. Only the stuff that happened because of the Families, not in spite of."

"Fine," Goddard says through gritted teeth, glaring at Len. "Singh, I'm putting you in charge -" He says that like he thinks he's putting one over on Len, who pretends to look annoyed about it when Barry knows quite well that he didn't ever want to be in charge. Singh mostly looks long-suffering about it. "- and I want us coordinating with the FBI and anyone else who can help. Let's squash this little Family gambit like a bug."

He stomps off to where Governor Kinsley is already waiting with a swarm of lawyers, ready to retreat to her office to process (create) the necessary paperwork.

"All right," Singh says the second they're gone. "The second that amnesty's signed, we're going to publicize the living daylights out of it and get as many people reassurance as possible - not to mention heavily implying that the Families only got so far into the government and police through their blackmail schemes -"

"That's not really true, though," Iris objects. "Not at the top -"

"I don't care if it is true, it's going to have to become true," Singh says. "The riots need to be stopped. It's already going to be cop-versus-cop warfare out there; we need the regular people to believe something made this an aberration, or else they're just going to destroy everything in an absolute frenzy of terror and rage. We'll never be able to rebuild their trust in the system if this isn't an exception to the rule. You hear me?"

"I hear you," she grumbles, then brightens. "Wait, does that mean my dad's being let out of the holding cells?"

"Yes," Singh says. "We need all the good men we can get."

Wait - Joe's being released? Because they need people, sure, but -

"Given the existence of the amnesty, I'm willing to drop the charges against him," Len says. "Don't get me wrong, he still needs a million hours of remedial ethics - probably everyone does - but what he and his lot did seems to fall under 'manipulated by the Families'."

Manipulated by Wells.

And if Joe's free under the amnesty, then that means - Cisco, and Caitlin, and -

And Barry.

He's going to be able to keep his job.

And not through some corrupt deal that's going to hang over his head the rest of his life, no, but through a (mostly) legitimate amnesty, signed by the governor herself.

(Boy, is Barry glad he never did anything to try to take any of the metas over state lines - that'd make it a federal crime, which is most certainly not going to be covered by a state amnesty.)

Barry is seriously considering kissing Len right now, even though he knows Len would've never done it if it were just for him.

"There's one more thing," Eddie says.

Everyone looks at him.

"Eobard's still out there," he says.

Everyone continues looking at him, a little blankly.

"Wells," Mick clarifies. "Evil speedster. Real name Eobard, remember?"

"Oh, right," Barry says.

"Oh, yes, him," Kara says, pinking up a little. Probably because she forgot about him for a second there.

"The Reverse Flash," Cisco says.

"But I - er, that is, I don't think the Flash can stop him," Barry says, painfully aware that they're not alone. "He's not fast enough."

"Then we'll just have to stop him some other way," Eddie says. "Listen, there's an option -"

"We are not Back to the Future-ing him and that's final, Thawne," Singh says. "Do I need to put you on suicide watch? I will, just watch me. I've split off a portion of my forces just to protect Iron Heights and the courthouse cells; I won't hesitate to split some off for you."

"Yeah, that's a terrible idea," Barry says, alarmed by the very thought. He likes Eddie! Iris likes Eddie! Besides, yes, Wells-Eobard said that he needed Eddie to stay alive, but - "Besides, he totally could've been lying. Like 90% of what he said doesn't make any sense in a time paradox sort of way anyway, so who's to say that this would work? And even if it does, who knows how long it'd take to kick in?"

"Yeah, bad plan," Len agrees. "Scrap it. Now, I don't have my cold gun -"

"You don't?"

"It's still in STAR Labs where I dropped it while being thrown across the room," Len says dryly. "And that's assuming Wells - yeah, I'm going with Wells, Eobard's a dumb name anyway - assuming Wells didn't break it into bits the second after we escaped, that is."

"I still have my present," Mick volunteers, tapping a black-and-red gun strapped onto his thigh. "That'll help."

"We still don't know where to find him," Iris points out. "He's probably not just sitting around in STAR Labs while the city's on fire - he's associated with the Families, isn't he?"

"Sort of," Eddie says. "As far as we can tell, he worked for them as an assassin in exchange for getting all sorts of illegal parts for STAR Labs when he was building it, to make construction happen faster; that's how he said it started when I asked him...don't look at me like that! I was trapped with him for hours and he likes to boast. That's how it started. He'd also been working with Eiling on something - Project Grodd or something, I don't know - around the same time, so he got the idea of putting them together."

"But why?" Iris asks. "Just to get STAR Labs built that little bit faster?"

"That," Mick says, "and 'cause he thinks of himself as a very important sorta guy. He likes being a mover and a shaker, likes being descended from movers and shakers, and he figured a nice little investment in Family power now would pay dividends for generations of Thawnes. No offense."

"None taken," Eddie says wryly. "If I ever have kids, I'm encouraging them to take up anything but politics. Maybe art. Or figure skating."

"My sister's a figure skater," Len remarks. "Bloodthirsty sport. Like hockey, just more spins."

"...maybe not figure skating, then."

"You could also just take my name," Iris says, hiding a smile. "No more 'Thawnes' then."

Eddie beams at her.

"Getting back to the actual subject at hand," Singh cuts in. "I don't have the manpower to deal with the riots and fight this guy as well. Snart, can you and your task force at least try to handle him?"

"We've got it," Len assures him.

"We don't even know where he is!" Kara exclaims.

"That," Len says, "ain't gonna be a problem."

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

A/N: I'm not saying I won't write the AU where Barry gets stuck in house arrest that you all seem to want, but maybe another time :)

#coldflash #leonard snart #barry allen #mick rory #iris west #kara danvers #eddie thawne #david singh #my fic #an internal affair

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so-shiny-so-chrome · 6 years ago

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Witness: Owlship

Creator name (AO3): Owlship

Creator name (Tumblr): v8roadworrier

Link to creator works: https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/owlship

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: i am still asking myself this question! something about fury road grabbed me at just the right point in my life to interest me, and the people & community i found have been just wonderful at keeping me feeling interested & connected. i love that the world presented is clearly well thought-out and cohesive, while at the same time allowing for a huge variety of explorations even while staying strictly within the bounds of canon.

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: well, it's pretty clear that i adore the relationship between max & furiosa, since they star in 90% of my fics, and au's are kind of my thing. i don't consciously have a style that i write in- i just try and write more-or-less what i think could reasonably happen, i suppose, and to be honest i think of my actual writing as pretty utilitarian, rather than anything with a nice artistic style. probably the most frequent recurring theme in my fics is pining leading up to a happy ending, and i like to think i flirt with miller's idea of "engage to heal" pretty frequently as well.

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: i have fun with all my fics, or else they don't get written! i'm not good at making myself do things i don't want to do, especially if the only reason to be writing fic is to have fun in the first place. most difficult would probably be "birds in last year's nest" (the omega!max fic) because i really wanted to handle the issues in it well, while the easiest to get written was "out of the bag" (cat!furiosa) despite its length because it basically just wrote itself. my most popular is definitely "around the corner" (petshop au), which has a very dear place in my heart even if it's not the most polished of my fics. my favorite is usually whichever i've published most recently :)

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?

A: hopeful above all, with a good balance of gritty and soft, depending on the particular fic. i like to explore the realistic effects of things, but i'm also happy to gloss over the tricky details in favor of fluff. i've only written one fic with an unhappy ending so far and i don't see myself adding to that number anytime soon, and i am just not great at humor so i avoid trying to be funny.

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: my writing process is simple: i get an idea (usually i steal it), i bundle myself up in bed, and then i do other things while writing a sentence or two every few hours. sometimes i get into the groove and can bash out a few thousand words in a day, other times i flounder for weeks without anything holding my interest. when i do write i always work chronologically, which means finding the actual start of the fic can take a few tries, and figuring out the end can be difficult if i haven't really filled in the details in my head yet. for rough patches i put my head down and try to force words out, but if it doesn't want to happen i just let it go and move on, unless it's for a gift, or something like nanowrimo where i want those bragging rights. i don't use written outlines or keep notes of anything, which is a bad habit but one i can't shake. if it's not important enough for me to remember, how important was it really in the first place?

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: right now it's finding the motivation to write when i've got other stuff going on in my life, especially on days when i am tired out even on my days off. other than that- staying focused on a project long enough to get it finished! i also struggle with juggling multiple characters especially in the same scene, making sure that everyone gets their turn and sounds authentic.

Q: How have you grown as a creator through your participation in the Mad Max Fandom? How has your work changed? Have you learned anything about yourself?

A: my writing, both in terms of technical skills and how i compose a story, has just improved leaps and bounds since i started writing fics, thanks in large part to the feedback i'm lucky enough to get, as well as the sheer volume i've been able to put out. i've definitely learned a lot about what kinds of ideas interest me to write, which is not necessarily the same things i want as a reader.

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: i probably relate to max the most, or at least the version of him that lives in my head- it's easy for me to get inside his pov, but that means i have to stop myself from making *every* fic his pov! furiosa is a close runner up in terms of how much i like writing her, which is lucky because she's the other 50% of my fics, but it's a lot harder for me to get inside her head, so i have to pay attention more to what i'm doing when i write her.

Q: Do you ever self-insert, even accidentally?

A: i probably do, but not intentionally. of course i use my own experiences and feelings when writing, but i always try to translate them to the mindset of whoever i am writing. it's just been drilled into my head too many times that writing yourself as a character is not what you are supposed to do, i think.

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?

A: max & furiosa, 100%. platonic, romantic, as soulmates, as enemies- i love every possible permutation of how they can interact with each other since they're so similar but still very distinct. i love how much of their relationship is unspoken but perfectly understood- or not, and how that can set up their interactions.

Q: How does your work for the fandom change how you look at the source material?

A: i pay a hell of a lot more attention to what's happening in canon, and pick apart even minor gestures or bits of speech to really drill down into the character's heads. if i was just watching the movie(s) to enjoy them, i'd stay a lot more surface level instead of analyzing details like what the interior of the war rig says about furiosa, or what's in max's kit at the beginning of the movie vs the middle, etc.

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: nearly all of my works are unrelated. i love coming up with little tweaks that don't really effect anything but might contradict each other (which of the wives takes on what role post-canon, how long it takes before max comes back for the first time, etc), and writing in a single series would mean i'd have to address those differences. short fluff or pwp pieces where the entire fic is just a single scene tend to share enough similarities that you could imagine they take place in the same 'verse, but to be honest, that's just me being lazy ;b

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: canon is fake and the author is dead! that said, i do actually try and stick as close to the canon facts as possible unless it's something i'm deliberately changing, because after all without canon there wouldn't be any shared understanding of the characters that makes fanfic possible. this is one of the trickiest parts about writing an au, because i have to find the right balance of familiarity to canon with what's different about each au in order to have the changes i make to the characters/setting/etc make sense to the reader.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your AUs?

A: all sorts of places! some of them are given to me- i love prompts- others i steal from other fandoms, like bodyswap or wings or turning furiosa into a cat, some i search out via idea generators, and at this point i honestly can't watch/read any new stories without going "but how can i turn this into an au??" i also like to say "what if" almost *constantly* and sometimes that leads to full fics, other times i just make a post on tumblr with some half-baked ideas of how it could work out. what if furiosa's mother didn't die before the movie? what if max had a pet dragon? what if it started raining and didn't stop? it's honestly harder for me to write a strictly canon fic at this point :)

Q: Share some headcanons.

A: i actually don't have a ton that apply to every fic, because i like switching things up- but here's some ones taken for granted in 99.99% of my canonverse fics: furiosa lives after the end of the movie without any major complications, max comes back to the citadel at some point, furiosa has her own room with not much more than a bed, a workbench, and a window, the war boys are willing to accept the wives as the new rulers (and that the wives form a council rather than a dictatorship), and somehow the bullet farm & gastown fall into line with the citadel's new way of thinking. also, max has a sweet tooth and furiosa doesn't remember most of her dreams.

Q: What advice can you give someone who is struggling to make their own works more interesting, compelling, cohesive, etc.?

A: something i try to keep in mind at all times is: write for yourself and not your audience. does your heart of hearts want to ship those two characters? hell yeah make 'em kiss. have a scene that is super cliche or over the top but you can't stop thinking about? write it! your stories need to be interesting to you first and foremost, because a reader absolutely can sniff out the difference between a scene you thought would be "good" and one you had fun with. you can always edit later to shape your fic into a different direction if you feel like you need to.

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: i've been to wasteland weekend twice now and hope to visit many more times in the future! it's a super fun experience in general, and it's also helped me get a feel for what a mad max world would really be like, rather than just relying on my imagination. i'd love to visit australia some day, both for mad max and other reasons, but ideally not while there's an apocalypse going on.

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: *throws dart at gdocs* let's see.... i've got a fic started where furiosa is a viking, and after a raid gone wrong she ends up injured at max's farm where she has to learn the language and customs and come to terms with being his slave (until they fall in love, obviously). haven't worked on that one since july but hey, it's not going anywhere.

Thank you @v8roadworrier

#mad max fanfic #mad max fandom #Mad Max Fandom Spotlight #Mad Max Fandom Creator Spotlight #mad max fanfic author spotlight #fury road fanfic #fury road fandom #owlship #v8roadworrier

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mybipolar-coaster · 5 years ago

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An Introduction

I would like to say it was an easy decision to write down my experiences thus far in life but that would be a lie. I don’t really consider myself an interesting person. As a matter of fact, I consider myself rather boring. I like boring things like history and science. I studied statistics in university. I’ve led what I would consider an amazingly average life. That is, until late last year when I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder, or as those in the states would call it, Bipolar I. Since then, so many things in my life have clicked into place. Things that had always seemed unusual now had a reason behind them, a cause. I had something I could point to and say, “that’s why”. Since being diagnosed I have found an entire community online of people both living with the disorder and coping with the fallout of it. I have also had my own share of trials and ordeals to deal with since my diagnosis, but that’s getting ahead of myself a bit. First, let me explain what it was that finally made me commit to writing this blog. I am currently waiting for the right opportunity to ask the girl I have been dating for the past 10 years to marry me. I have the ring. I know the when, I know the where. The how is still slightly eluding me but I think a small amount of improvisation on that front won’t hurt. This is what made me want to write this blog. I wanted to detail my feelings leading up to asking the question. I hope to portray the excitement and nerves leading up to the moment of truth so that afterwards I can get my (hopefully) fiancée to read back and see how much thought, work and planning went into this and how much I love her. But then I thought, “hey, why stop there”? I could keep the blog going afterwards, talk about ordinary, every-day things. Perhaps even give people an insight into how I live with my condition and how it affects those around me. I have always been a creative person and I enjoy writing, so maybe this could be a new hobby for me. I certainly hope so. So, this will be the first post in a hopefully ongoing series of blog posts. However, in the off chance that my girlfriend does happen to stumble upon this blog, I will be operating under strict anonymity for the time being. I won’t say my name, or the name of anyone that could be used to identify me in these blogs, at least until after I’ve popped the question, but everything else within will be true. I think an ideal first post then, would be for me to give a quick recap of my life so far, and give you the reader an introduction to my life and how my messed-up brain works. I hope you enjoy!

I was born in the UK in the early 90’s (trying to be vague) into a working-class family. My dad worked as an electrician in a dog-food factory and my mum volunteered as a cook in a nursing home. My parents were quite old when they had me, so there is a large age gap between me and the rest of my family. In fact, when I was born both of my older brothers were teenagers. My mum says that one of my brothers refused to talk to her or my dad for a year after they told him they were pregnant because he was so disgusted that they were still having sex “at their age”. Having an older family definitely has its advantages though. When I was young, all my siblings had jobs, so I got four times the amount of presents that most other kids got. I should point out that I also have a sister, who is the closest in age to me. Growing up, me and my sister got on like oil and water. I’m surprised my mum managed to survive through my early years – in the same year my sister turned sixteen I was going through my “terrible twos”. I have always been a mummy’s boy. Even now that I’m in my 20’s, I get on great with my mum and have a good relationship with her. I bring up my mum because she was my first ever contact with mental illnesses. My mum had panic attacks and generalised anxiety when I was younger. I have multiple memories of us being somewhere and my mum suddenly bursting into floods of tears, sometimes running away, and my dad having to track her down and console her. It was an incredibly scary experience as a child but, to my mum’s credit, she did a great job of explaining things as she calmed down. She would tell me it wasn’t anyone’s fault, that it was something that was medically wrong with her like being sick and that I shouldn’t blame myself for her attacks. Her explanations were pivotal in my understanding of mental illnesses and my dad’s behaviour during these attacks served as an example to me for the rest of my life on how to deal with a crisis situation.

Even far back in my childhood, symptoms of my bipolar were there. It was subtle, but there were things about me that made me different from other kids. I could be morose or have fits of worry every now and then. I would worry about dying, or someone in my family being hurt. I was very young when I realised that, because there was such a big age gap between me and the rest of my family, I was most likely going to have to watch my whole family die. I’d have to attend their funerals, possibly give speeches, and then I’d be left alone at the end. This terrified me as a child and even now it still serves as a strange sort of morbid obsession during my low days. For instance, I have the speech I will give at my father’s funeral memorised and have done for quite some time. My dad isn’t even ill and shows no signs of kicking the bucket anytime soon, but it plays in my head so often that I’ll be prepared for when that day comes. In fact, I’ll be prepared in more ways than one. Ever since I was a child, I have been experiencing a symptom of bipolar affective disorder that I didn’t even realise was unusual until I was diagnosed. I spent my entire life thinking everyone got this at certain points in their lives and it was only after a conversation with my girlfriend where she pointed out that this wasn’t normal that I went to a psychiatrist and got diagnosed. This symptom is called Disassociation. Disassociation can happen multiple ways, but it always affects me the same way. During moments of crisis, moments of importance or sometimes when I feel I am in a place of some significance, I feel as if I leave my body and allow another entity to control it. That sounds far more sinister than what it actually feels like so let me try and explain it as best I can. Most people experience going on autopilot, where their mind switches off and they continue to do some monotonous or repetitive task. My Disassociation feels a bit like that. The entity that takes over my body is my autopilot. He will do what I would want to do anyway. He doesn’t have his own needs or wants. He just does. I, on the other hand, leave my body. I picture it like that episode of Tom & Jerry where Tom accidentally kills himself with a falling piano while chasing Jerry. His soul leaves his body and rises up to cat heaven only to not be allowed in because he’s been so mean to Jerry. Well my “soul” (I don’t believe in a soul so the more fitting term here would probably be id) leaves me in the same way and floats, just above and behind me, and observes. I feel like I am acting like a documentarian in these moments. Like a wildlife cameraman observing the animal he has been tracking for years being eaten by a predator – I am totally detached. I’m there to watch, not to influence. Sometimes I think maybe I’m me in the future, remembering this event and not actually the present me at all. Does this make sense? It’s a very strange sensation and, from what I gather, kind of unique to me so I really struggle to explain it to other people. My girlfriend thinks she can sometimes tell when I’m disassociating though. She says I become wide-eyed and emotionless, talking in a monotone. This might be true, but she has only been able to correctly identify when I’m disassociating twice in the entire time I’ve known her so it might just be they were particularly noticeable incidents.

Of course, the other big symptom of Bipolar Affective Disorder is the mood cycles. When I was younger, my cycles were generally rather enjoyable but as I have gotten older, they have gotten less enjoyable and more something to be monitored and observed. Before I go any further into how my cycle affects me, I feel I should spend a bit of time explaining the cycle as a lot of people don’t really get the Bipolar cycle and there is a lot of misinformation in the media. To put it in the simplest terms, lets imagine a scale from 0 to 10. Now if you are a neurotypical, normal person, I want you to imagine the happiest you have ever been. Then I want you to imagine the saddest you’ve ever been. Now if I was to say to you that 0 is the worst and 10 is the best, where would you put those memories? Probably 0 and 10, right? Well, in terms of measuring bipolar moods, we tend to use the 0 to 10 scale as well but ours is a bit different. When you get down to 0, there should be extreme hopelessness. Either you haven’t moved for extended periods, haven’t eaten and most likely have self-harmed, tried to commit suicide or have at least given it serious thought. Now your 0 may hit a lot of those same notes. You may have considered killing yourself after the death of a close loved one or a life event that hit you particularly hard. Once again, I want you to think back to that worst moment in your life. Now what if I said you’d feel that way every few months. You feel like that, not because something has happened or because you lost something but because it’s September. It’s just that time again. Now let’s go to the other side of the spectrum. This one is a little trickier because it involves more than just emotion, it involves energy levels and sanity levels. This is an important thing to bear in mind with bipolar. If you’re a normal person, your 10 is the happiest you’ve ever been in your life. If you’re bipolar, you’re 10 is the furthest from reality you’ve ever been in your life. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes mania can feel great but sometimes it can feel like hell. A 10 on the bipolar scale can involve hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, an insane amount of energy that absolutely must be excised, a manic state and way of speaking and a lack of need to sleep. Seriously, while manic I can sleep for as little as 2 hours in a 48-hour period and feel absolutely fine. The only upside to a manic state is that it can sometimes feel really good and all that energy helps you get through a lot of work if you can keep focused. You also tend to get a burst of creativity while manic which can help with business projects, artistic creations or even writing the first post for a new blog!

I think I’ll leave it here for my first blog post, I’ve explained a little about myself and why I wanted to start this blog, but mostly rambled in my scatter-brained way about my bipolar disorder. I think I’ve put enough words down for today and I’ll pick up on this tomorrow. I promise I will get into more of the general diary keeping and talking about the proposal, but I feel it is important to get this bipolar stuff explained first so that you know what lens I look at the world through before I start telling you what I can see. And if you’re reading this, I love you Gorgeous!

-B

#bipolar #bipolaraffectivedisorder #bipolardisorder #proposal #marriage #blog #firstpostever #personal #bipolar affective disorder

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mainly-kpop · 6 years ago

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text me

She sits on the bus flicking through her music trying to find the perfect song, a task that usually takes a ridiculous amount of time for her to just settle on a song shes listened to so many times before. One of those ones you listen to and never get sick of. She slouched down in her seat slightly watching the people pile in one after the other, a clear almost robotic routine to her days. Closing her eyes she relaxes into the bubble she had placed around her simply by putting headphones in, she bobbed her head gently to the music letting herself be immersed completely.

A light tap on her shoulder brought her back to the world, with a jolt she gave a gentle tug to one of the headphones letting it fall out of her ear. She looked up at the man who was standing in front of her. His fluffy looking dark hair parted straight down the middle,and curving in the bangs, it had a childish and almost sweet kind of turn to it, she smiled mostly to herself. The man had a smile which she could only describe to be blinding to mere mortals, coffee coloured brown eyes dancing along with the smile. he was tall and slim, or maybe rather muscular it was hard to tell, if he was he hid it well. He layered on clothing today, he definitely wasn’t from here, this was a summer day kind of heat in the UK. He was most likely around her age which made her interest peak in him. In conclusion he was tall, dark and handsome, just her type.

‘May i sit?’ He spoke his voice sounded so cute yet so calming, it certainly matched the beaming smile lacing his features, her heart fluttered slightly, she had expected a deep raspy voice one fit for a mysterious man, not a soft and soothing, a voice that made her happy just listening to it. She nodded motioning her hand towards the seat telling him silently that he may indeed sit, she didn’t trust her voice to stay calm. He thanked her by bowing his head slightly and whispering a small thank you. She placed her earbud back in her ear and gazed out the window, it seemed like some dramatic movie. The typical teen movie, staring out the window listening to sad music thinking about life, that’s what she looked like right now and it almost made her laugh out loud.

Her shoulders shook slightly as she let a small laugh escape, she was almost certain she snorted, but if anyone asked or pointed it out she would deny it. The boy next to her looked at her strangely before turning back to his phone smiling. He hadn't randomly asked to sit next to her, there was plenty other seats free, plenty other places he could plop down temporarily, but she was pretty. Drifting off into her own world she looked so relaxed to him, he wanted to be near that, around that kind of energy. She was alluring to him, he liked everything about how she looked he was sure her personality must be just as good. He was so lost in admiring the girl he hardly noticed he had missed his stop. Looking up from his phone and looking at the surroundings outside the bus, his eyes widening in horror as he realised he had indeed missed his stop, 3 stops ago in fact. He pushed the button quickly running to the front of the bus waiting for the driver to stop, he stepped off quickly taking a breath as he watched the bus drive off. He patted his pockets for his phone, he should probably let Tae know what an idiot he had been. Shit. She turned to look back out the window sinking herself back into her bubble. She had concluded the boy really wasn’t from here, who forgets their stop these days. A sudden vibration on her leg broke her out of her thoughts, she looked down at her phone to see no messages, strange, she ignored it.

It happened again, and again, and again. She looked down at her leg Confused. Sitting right next to her right leg was a phone, his phone. She rolled her eyes picking it up and looking at the screen.

10 messages from Tae

What the? This boy has some obsessive friends. She decided to swipe the screen up, i mean if there was no password was she even really snooping? Of course she was, but he didn’t need to know that.

‘Hey i’m here where are you?’

‘Dude its been 5 minutes did you miss your stop?’

‘Broooo i swear to godddddddddd’

‘Dude we left 5 minutes apart how are you this late?’

‘OI YOU GIRL SITTING THERE’

‘PLEASE ANSWER MY PHONE’

‘ANSWER

ANSWER

ANSWER’ she smirked at the phone laughing at the messages, he was asking for her to open the phone he cant accuse her of anything now. To be honest she was impressed at the boys speed he had only gotten off the bus about 5 minutes ago.

‘PLEASE PICK UP MY PHONE I KNOW I LEFT IT ON VIBRATE I KNOW YOU HAVE IT’

‘ILL SCREAM THEFT IF YOU DON’T ANSWER RIGHT NOW.’ she scoffed at this statement, steal his phone? HIS phone? No thank you sir, as if she wanted a LG when she had a perfectly beautiful Iphone sitting right in her lap.

‘Wow hold up little boy I ain’t no thief, you left your own damn phone that ain’t my fault, also who doesn’t have a password on their phones these days, are you crazy?!’ She typed out the text and hit send waiting for the flurry of messages.

‘Okay okay I’m sorry, pls don’t leave...also people who don’t have anything to hide don’t have passwords, bet yours is like 15 characters long.’ She frowned at his snark then looked around the bus, what was with this idiot boy.

‘Dude, i’m on a fucking bus, what do you mean don’t leave! and my password is actually 4 numbers don’t be rude.’ Hoseok was beyond done with this girl, he had seriously miscalculated her personality. He looked at his best friend as he continued shovelling food into his mouth.

‘Can I have my phone back now?’ He frowned at the boy across the table, no, no he fucking couldn’t.

‘Not until i get my phone back buddy, unless you want me to send your photos to every girl in-’ Tae’s eyes popped out his head, no way did he just threaten to leak his nudes...

‘No! no... its okay man keep it who needs a phone right!?’ Hoseok slumped back into his seat returning the text.

‘Don’t be a brat, when do you get off the bus.’ at this rate he wasn’t going to get his phone back anytime soon. She was a pretty girl but the attitude on her was infuriating.

‘EW stalker much! I’m not telling you where I live! For all I know you left your damn phone on purpose.’ She smirked and sent the text, okay she knew he just wanted his phone back but she was enjoying winding him up, he was entertaining. She rang the bell packing her stuff up, slotting the phone in her bag, she left the bus thanking the driver and headed up the road to her house. A little humble home. She lived in a white picket fence neighbourhood but somehow wished she didn’t. The families around her had little demon children that would kick the ball into her yard, who would ding dong ditch, who climbed the bins to jump off inevitably hurting themselves then crying to their mothers like it wasn’t their own damn fault. She also didn’t quite fit in here, everyone was either 90 or married with little gremlins. She was neither of these people at this present time.

She unlocked the front door running in and closing it quickly before some random mother could invite her to their kids bake sale or something, it was not something she needed after a day like hers. Throwing her bag down in the hallway she plonked herself down on the couch, scrolling through her phone and wasting time. She had a lot to do, she usually did, this just seemed far more appealing to her.

‘She’s not answering the texts anymore what am i meant to do now!’ Tae rolled his eyes, his best friend really was the idiot of all idiots. They had made it back to their hotel, Tae looked over to Hobi’s pillow seeing he hadn’t taken advantage of the little pillow chocolate, his loss. He swiped it up and plopped it into his mouth before his friend could protest.

‘Omg maybe she stole it, or left it on the bus too, or maybe shes been kidnapped and cant answer oh or maybe she-’

‘Shut up you dingus.’ Tae pouted at being interrupted, bidding farewell to his friend, and his phone as he set of back to his room leaving Hoseok to his own devices.

He paced back and forth deciding on what to do, he could text again but hes texted a lot so far, he went into the call log on Tae’s phone and pushed his number.

She heard buzzing. incessant buzzing that wouldn't damn well stop, she got up following the sound and rolled her eyes when she realised it was her bag. picking it up plucking out the phone she answered it.

‘Hello? What do you- hello? Hello?!’ He hung up. She was confused to say the least but she looked down at the phone anyways seeing all the messages, she snorted bringing it to the living room and scrolling through the chat.

‘Why did you call me to hang up as soon as i answered? How rude!’

‘I needed you to answer! I need my damn phone back, i have important things coming up, important business.’ She raised an eyebrow, hmm we will see, she clicked on his calendar to see exactly what he had going on, empty. Nothing. Nada.

‘Really? cos your calendar says you’re free for like ever, how sad’ Hoseok widened his eyes in disbelief and scoffed, was she really snooping through his phone right now? Another message came through and he smirked.

‘Can I answer your other messages? The little notification thing is annoying me and your friends seem about as persistent as your bitch ass.’ That could be interesting...

‘Sure why not, don’t answer family tho that’s weird. Also i really do need my phone back, we have this thing we are going to together... i can’t explain but i need my phone so Tae can have his back.’ She frowned at his vagueness.

Really all they were doing was flying back to their home town, it wasn't for another few weeks so he had time but she didn't need to know that.

‘Omg do you guys gather around and hold hands every week and tell each other your struggles? SO CUTE I LOVE BOYFRIENDS.’ She scrolled onto the other chats looking at the unread messages not wanting to invade his privacy too much.

‘Tae tells me you lost your phone on a bus, well done genius.’ She scoffed already typing out the perfect reply.

‘Who says he’s the idiot, you’re the one texting a lost phone looking for your friend Mr Min Yoongi.’

She moved onto the next one seeing it was from someone named Jungkook, she opened it up seeing a random picture of a chest and then some winking emojis underneath.

‘My my, are you flirting with me?’ She sent getting a reply almost instantly.

‘DUDE NO, you were telling me you were fitter than me yesterday, I wanted to prove you wrong... remember...’ She laughed, so he was fit under those layers.

‘Damn now you got me all disappointed.’

She exited that one and scrolled onto the next chat seeing its a group, oh how delightful she smiles in the most evil manner clicking the screen opening up the group.

‘Whats up my fellow men, how are we hanging?’ she sent the text seeing them all receive it, before all the typing bubbles pop up.

Jimin: ‘Hanging pretty well mate thanks for asking.’

Jungkook: ‘Honestly what is with you today? I'm pretty good...’

Tae: ‘I DIDN’T SAY YOU COULD ANSWER THE GROUP CHAT!’

Hobi: ‘Yeah? Well, you didn’t say I couldn’t so...’

Yoongi: ‘You idiots, Hobi left his phone on the bus and now some random has it.’ She was hurt by this, like not in a genuinely wow I feel pain but in a wow what a meanie kind of way, she opened up the camera and sent a pouting selfie into the chat captioned ‘How rude I’m deeply offended little boy.’ she sent it and closed the group chat going back onto the one with Hoseok.

‘So that’s your name? Hobi? Like Hobby?’ He rolled his eyes, and replied with a simple yes, going back to the group chat, he looked the selfie over again making sure it was the same girl he was sitting next to on the bus, no doubt about it, seems she really does just have an attitude on her.

‘I will meet up with you to give your precious mobile device back to you, but only if you can prove you’re not a murderer or something.’ Honestly this fucking girl.

‘And how the hell am i meant to do that? Search my phone if you want i don’t care i just need it back, we fly out soon and I can’t just leave it here.’ Ah she knew they weren’t from here! That makes his urgency a little more understandable. Its understandable anyways when she thinks about the longest she had ever been away from her phone, she shudders at the thought of it being the other way around.

She now had permission to go through his phone and boy was she going to take him up on that offer. Listen, she wasn’t nosy or snooping where she didn’t need to be, she just wanted to get a feel for the guy, find out who he is, what he likes, what he does, And of course whether he is fucking crazy or not.

She scrolled through his photos first, finding a few of what she assumed was him and his friends, they were cute, she wont lie. There was seven in total and they were all super attractive. She looked at them all picking out one of them zooming in, screen shotting and sending the photo to the group chat.

‘Who is this?’

Jungkook: ‘Oh my god’

Jin: ‘Are you fucking kidding me.

Yoongi: ‘That’s me you random what do you want.’

‘Wow, I was just going to say you are attractive af, but never mind i take it back.’

Namjoon: ‘Fucking shot down mate.’ she closed the group continuing her search for anything suspicious. She found a video of what seemed like Hobi and another boy, she recognised the other boy from the photos. He was tall and adorable, boxy smile and bright eyes, always seemed to be happy or drop dead gorgeous, there seemed to be no in between. Clicking play she listened to the video getting chills all the way up her arms and down her back.

‘Yo who the fuck is this i just wanna talk.’

Jimin: ‘Hey its tae, its me whats up?’

‘Look at that Yoongi, that’s how you politely answer a question.’

Yoongi: ‘I’m muting.’

‘Anyways, how is your voice so deep, and soothing, and beautiful, hello can we be wed.’

Jimin: ‘Sure tell me where and when’

Tae: ‘OKAY enough flirting, it’s making me want to vomit.’

Jimin: ‘spoil sport.’

‘ugh, fine, we still have a side chat, looks like Jimin wont be getting his phone back either...’

Jungkook: ‘ugh, disgusting.’

Tae: ‘Just, please don’t send nudes from my phone, or to my phone for that matter...’

switching between talking to Tae and looking through photos nothing really seemed to pop out at her as being shifty or suspicious. Mainly just photos of family and friends, scenery of places he had been to, it seems the group travelled a lot and she couldn't help but wonder what they all did. Were they in it together or just always travel together? She would ask later she decided shrugging it off. She scrolled more enjoying the photos he had, he seemed artistic and she enjoyed that a lot.

'So? Anything that screams psycho murder to you?' She smiled at the text.

'okay okay, I'll admit it, you don't seem like a crazy killer, however. You do travel a lot, where do you get the money for this? Do you guys deal drugs or something?' he laughed out loud in his hotel room. Drugs? That’s the first thing that comes to mind? What kind of area did this girl grow up in...

'No you idiot, we are all partners in a business, a highly successful one at that, why did your mind go straight to drugs, you Brits I swear.' Her mouth hung open at the stereotype, she was Scottish actually, not that it made it all that much better, worse actually, the stereotype was still annoying.

'wooooooow you really Don’t know a superior accent when you hear one huh!'

'okay first you didn't even say a word to me you moved your perfectly manicured hand and put your headphone back in. As for superior accent if it's not Australian I don't care.' she rolled her eyes this boy truly was a handful.

'meet me on Sunday, half 4 at the cafe down the road from the bus stop you got off at, not a minute later, then you will hear a real accent you uncultured swine.' He rolled his eyes, honestly any longer talking to this girl and he was going to have a permanent migraine.

Jin: 'Hobi did you get your phone back?'

'nope still me you boobs, sorry to disappoint'

Jimin: 'Tell us something about you anyway, shouldn't we get to know the girl our hobi is going to date?' Hobi smacked himself on the forehead, migraine suddenly building at a rapid pace. For the last couple of days he had been getting to know her, finding out about what she likes, what her family is like, where she's from and when she moved. He learned about her little quirks and what makes her, her. He was falling head over heels for the girl with his phone and he couldn't stop it any longer. He had confided in the boys when they last went out for dinner saying how much he enjoyed her. He knew he shouldn't have, he knew it was a bad idea, these idiots had the biggest mouths.

'DATE!?!?! Wow wow wow pretty boy slow your roll!' She shook her head no way. He couldn't want that. There was no way she was sassy, and annoying, brash and infuriating. He was bright and smart, funny and artsy he was the opposite to her, he couldn't like her it just wasn't feasible.

Jungkook: 'it's Taeeee, it's not a lie he loves you.' He could feel his heart beating and his mouth drying, he was going to kill them if it was the last thing he did.

'Agh stop telling me lies little boy, I'm far more interested in moody little Yoongi and we all know it.' she teased. She had been talking to them all a lot over the past few days, and truthfully although she did get along well with Yoongi, she wanted Hoseok, and there was no changing that.

Yoongi: 'Ew leave me you mutant, date the one that actually wants your lame ass.'

Tae: 'STOP OMG, I’m getting my phone back tomorrow leave the poor girl alone'

'Y/N. My name is Y/N.' Through the last few days no one had requested your name, not even Hoseok, You found it strange but the mystery was soon to be over, therefore a name should be given.

He waited at the bus stop the next day, checking Tae’s phone obsessively waiting for her to say she wasn't coming. He arrived earlier than told, but he was just excited to see her after this whole week, excited to finally see the girl he had gotten to know, most of all however he was thrilled to finally have his own phone back in his hands. The bus pulled up and she stepped out thanking the driver and walking towards the cafe seeing him standing back towards her, he had a t-shirt on, clearly finally used to the weather, she smiled to herself admiring the way he stands so effortlessly, yet somehow still looks lost and scared.

‘You lost love?’ She spoke gently tapping him on the shoulder.

‘Oh no, sorry i’m just- hey.’ He spoke gently, smiling fondly at the girl in front of him.

'What accent is that?' He questioned not quite able to place it. She smiled looking up at him, he was taller than she expected. When she was sitting it was obvious he was tall, she hadn't expected this tall. 'Scottish, its not heavy but its there.' It had faded slightly with all the years she had been living in England, she held on to what she could of it.

'oh here.' she handed his phone over with a small smirk on her face. He let out a sigh of relief and flicked his finger over the screen unlocking it, he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

'you set your face to my home screen? Really? You couldn't have taken a more flattering photo?' She sucked in a breath of mock insult.

'I'll have you know both my chin and I look astounding in this photo, I also set it as my caller id because-'

'wait, you put your number in my phone?' She blushed instantly realising that she maybe went a step too far.

'oh uh yeah, I just thought that maybe you would want it, to um talk later, sorry you don't have to keep it, it's uh no big deal' She brushed off as if it wasn't a massive deal.

'no, I do want it, the boys love you, I love you. Oh as a friend of course I uh' He blushed and brushed his hand through his hair, she giggled at him being this flustered.

'Hobi, do you maybe want to go get a coffee? I know this really nice cafe just-'

'I would love that.' He interrupted she rolled her eyes smacking his arm.

'you really need to stop interrupting me little boy'

'hey I'm like 100% older than you little girl'

'yeah well I'm cuter'

'HA OKAY THAT'S WHERE I DRAW THE LINE'

They joined hands walking to the cafe together blissfully unaware of the future.

#bts one shot #BTS jimin #BTS jin #bts fluff #bts jungkook #bts v #bts suga #bts hosoek #bts taehyung #bts jhope #bts namjoon #bts #bangtan

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