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#i suppose it also helps that youtube shorts has decided that i belong on its cake decorating portion so i kinda know what to search for
happi-tree · 1 year
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Happi where are you pulling all of these cool pictures of cakes from!??
SHVADHFVASFHJSVFS straight up Google Images, Bababird! I just scroll until I see something cute 🤡
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taestefully-in-luv · 3 years
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I know your requests are closed but in case you reopening them, can you do Taehyung + #11 from Part I prompts pleaseeeee🥺🥺🥺
Prompt: “Oh no, there is only one bed, what will we do now?”
Pairing: Taehyung x female reader
Genre: smut
Word count: 3.3k
Warnings: unprotected sex
A/N: This request was supposed to be one of the lasts but I got inspired for this prompt hehe so enjoy! Sorry it’s a little longer than the others!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taehyung drops his suitcase to the floor, exhaling a deep, frustrated breath as he eyes the room.
“Oh no, there is only one bed, what will we do now?” he huffs out, rolling his eyes to the back of his head. “I already have to go on this fucking trip with you, then we have to share a room…and now there is only one fucking bed. Of course.” He complains with a dark expression with a harsh blush on his cheeks. You don’t notice though.
You feel your own anger bubble over but you decide to laugh. Yes, you laugh because this whole situation is one cruel joke from the universe. This earns a look of disapproval from Taehyung. He shakes his head at you as you continue to chuckle, you not totally or completely caring about his judgements. You would be in this complete shit show with none other than Kim Taehyung. Your nemesis.
“I’ll sleep on the couch.” He states and you give him a pointed look.
“What couch? Taehyung look at this piece of shit room. We only have the bed and a chair.” You point out knowingly, “You can sleep on the floor though.”
“Like hell I am sleeping on the god damn floor.” He is pissed you would even suggest such a thing. “I’ll sleep on one end and you on the other.”
“Afraid I have cooties?” you ask with a smirk and he rolls his eyes at you, quite hard.
“Something like that.” He spits out, grabbing his suit case off the floor and setting it on the bed. “I’ll shower first.” He unzips his luggage and pulls out some of his belongings.
“Fine.”
You and Taehyung have been working together post college, you knew him in university though…quite well. You two were always in ongoing competitions in your classes—and you shared a lot of classes. You and he never quite got along, you two always finding something to argue about instead.
Then you both happened to apply to the same job and both got accepted…only furthering your ongoing competition of one upping another. You try to stay out of his hair though…you are aware you two don’t get along well….too much tension. And you are an adult now with an adult job that you take seriously, so you try to avoid Taehyung.
Unfortunately, your boss paired you two together for an overnight trip, and your company didn’t have the budget for two rooms—just the one. Taehyung offered to pay for another room but apparently the hotel only has the one, so here you two are with one room and one bed.
You place your own luggage on the bed and begin taking out your bed time clothes, your shampoo, your conditioner and your body wash. It’s been like, 30 minutes and he still in the bathroom. You sit on the bed and wait patiently, scrolling through your phone and mindlessly watching YouTube videos when finally Taehyung exits the bathroom.
You don’t even look at him as you stand from the bed with your things, you turn to head towards the bathroom, walking through the small room. Really your company couldn’t do better than this?
“There better be hot water, Taehyung.” You throw the comment over your shoulder and you hear Taehyung snicker from behind you.
“I guess you’ll find out.”
You force yourself to take a nice, deep breath trying to calm your nerves. Kim Taehyung is always trying to get on them any way he can. While you try to ignore him, he always makes his presence known.
“You’re such a child. I feel bad for you girlfriend.” You close the bathroom door with a little bit of force.
Your shower was…not freezing, at least. But you prefer it a bit on the warmer side. You clean the fogged up mirror with a towel and take a good look at yourself. You look tired, just plain tired. You dry off completely and slip on your panties and a bralette, they’re cute and comfortable.
You’re about to pull your t shirt over when you catch something in the corner of your eye. A mother fucking roach. You feel your whole body crawling with them as you stare at the one bug. You yelp out, throwing your t shirt over the bug…this causes Taehyung to rush to the bathroom door and ask what’s wrong over and over.
“y/n??? Hey, you okay???” his panicked voice goes unnoticed by you as you back into the bathroom door. “Unlock the door!” he begins rattling the doorknob, trying to get it open.
You finally notice the door shaking, and his stressed voice on the other side. Without thinking you hurry to unlock the door and open it. Taehyung’s eyes expand at least 4 times their size as he eyes you. You’re basically naked!
“Where the fuck are your clothes?” Taehyung stutters as he speaks, his eyes raking your half naked body.
“Roach! Roach!” you yell, pointing at the direction of your t shirt. “He’s there! He’s under my shirt!!!” you can’t help but walk impossibly close to Taehyung, grabbing a hold of his bicep with one arm while your other points down across the bathroom.
Taehyung feels himself freeze under your touch, your small hand trying to wrap itself around his arm. He tries to pull himself together though, slowly pulling your hand away from him.
“It’s under your shirt?” he asks quietly. “Why the fuck would you throw your shirt over it?” He can’t help the amused smile that paints itself on his face.
Taehyung walks towards the shirt and slowly lifts it up, his eyebrows begin climbing to the top of his forehead as he notices no sign of any roach.
“Uh oh.” He says calmly.
“Uh oh, what?” You walk closer to him, staying behind him as your arms go to grab both of his arms. “What?” You whine.
“It’s gone.” He says, then he shakes the T shirt around, but no bug falls out. Then he’s turning around to face you and his face goes unbelievably red.
“Here, put this one.” He throws the shirt at you and you jump back, your face gone pale.
“As if I am wearing that now!” you say as your voice cracks. You pinch your brows together as you think of what to do. “I don’t have any other shirts…” you pout and Taehyung looks at you and rolls his eyes.
“Just wear the god damn shirt, y/n.”
“No….” you frown at him and he almost feels bad for you. “I don’t want to sleep with the shirt a bug just touched.
“You are so ridiculous.” He scoffs, “I have an extra t shirt…although I don’t know which shirt you would avoid mo—”
“I’ll take the shirt!” you cut him off with an excited smile and he raises a brow at you.
“Really?” he walks past you in the bathroom, his shoulder bumping yours and you feel the heat rush to your cheeks.
“Well…it’s almost on the same level as the bug shirt but yeah, I’ll take it,” you lightly tease.
“Fine. But also can you please, I mean, please put some pants on…” Taehyung walks into the room, takes out his luggage and pulls out an extra shirt. You follow him in the room and catch the shirt when he throws it over to you.
“Thanks…” You mumble. You begin to pull it over your head, sniffing it as you do so. It smells like him. Something soft, yet deep. A scent you can’t find anywhere else.
“Let’s just try to sleep now.” Taehyung pulls back the covers and slips inside the bed. You on the other hand look at him like he is crazy.
“You think I can fall asleep with a roach on the loose?” you whisper shout, like as if the bug might hear you.
“You’ll have to try.” He mumbles lamely.
You huff out a short puff of air as you walk closer to the bed. Fine, you will try to fucking sleep. You pull back your side of the covers and get into the bed, pulling the sheets and blanket close to your face. You turn on your side, your back facing Taehyung and hide your nose and chin inside the t shirt. You feel yourself getting lost in its scent.
Maybe 20 minutes or so passes when you notice how restless Taehyung is…he keeps moving around, sighing out and lightly groaning. You are having a hard time falling asleep too but jeez, he is fucking dramatic. You decide to make conversation even though he will probably tell you to fuck off.
“Thanks for saving me earlier.” You whisper, turning yourself to lay on your other side, facing Taehyung.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” He says instead of ‘you’re welcome’.
“What?”
“Earlier you said you feel bad for my girlfriend.” He turns on his side to face you, “But I don’t have one? So, I don’t know why you said that.”
“Aren’t you dating that girl you are always with? You guys are always at the coffee maker, giggling and shit.”
“Wait…Pauline?” he starts chuckling. “She’s cool. We have a lot in common…like, girls.” He continues to laugh as you get the hint.
“Oh.” You say, blinking up at the ceiling. “Well, even if it’s not her, I’m sure you have someone.”
“Why are you so concerned with my dating life?” Taehyung scoots a little closer to you. “You hate me. So why do you care?”
“You are the one who hates me. Not the other way around.”
Taehyung narrows his eyes at you before he starts shaking his head over and over. He slowly closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath.
“No. You hate me.” He says matter of fact. “I don’t hate you.”
“You so do hate me!”
“Well, I only hate you because you hate me!”
“But I don’t hate you!” You begin to sit up in bed, the blankets falling down your body. “You are annoying, yes. But I don’t hate you.”
Taehyung sits up in bed as well, he crosses his arms over his chest and exhales a deep breath.
“So you don’t hate me? I don’t hate you? Then why are we always fighting?”
“I don’t know, we have been fighting since college…I don’t know what else to do with all this energy I have for you.” You admit.
“Energy?” Taehyung tilts his head, “You mean, the tension?”
“Yeah.” You gulp. “The tension. This tension means we fight, right?”
“Well, what else could it mean?”
You swallow down the lump in your throat as you sit here…you know exactly what I could mean but you aren’t about to admit that right now. Taehyung has to know too, right? He isn’t that dumb is he?
“y/n…” he says your name differently than he has ever said it…like as if he had practiced to say it that way and he finally got to say it out loud. The softness in his voice is mesmerizing, his usual bite gone altogether.
“Yes?”
“Can I kiss—”
“Yes.”
Taehyung’s eyes widen at how quickly you respond, his mouths fall open and his heart starts racing. He really though you hated him…he really thought he had no chance…he really thought that hating you back was the only way for you two to have any sort of relationship.
“Be honest with me.” He begins, scooting even closer to you. “Have you thought about me before? Kissing you?...Touching you?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me how it started.” He grows warmer just talking to you like this. “Please.” His deep voice somehow goes lower with every word he speaks to you.
“Back in college…” You gulp, “You and I had a group presentation…I wanted to be in charge. But you kept talking over me—”
“Sorry…”
“I went home that night so angry, that the only thing that could calm me was to touch myself. And your stupid face is all I could think of.”
“Was that the only time you touched yourself thinking about me?” Taehyung’s hand crawls up your arm, until his hand is at your jaw.
“No.” you admit, your breathing becomes unsteady. “That was just the first.”
Taehyung’s thumb brushes against your cheek and you feel yourself grow impatient. You want him to kiss you. You want him to touch you. Years and years of pent up frustrations—
“When was the last time—”
“Shower.” You rush to say. “My mind was going crazy at the thought of sharing a bed with you.”
Taehyung smirks at you, his long fingers still at your jaw, he tightens his hold and he begins leaning into your space.
“Do you want me y/n?”
You feel your entire body shiver, you feel goosebumps rise on your skin and you feel the heat creep all over your body.
“Yes Taehyung.”
His lips crash into yours, they move against you with rushed desperation. Your hands immediately go to his hair, tugging on the strands, somehow pulling him even closer to you. You can’t help the moan that escapes your poor, weak body as his hands explore you. They start at your jaw but are soon traveling down your body. He cups your breasts in his hands, you groan when he squeezes them. Then you feel his fingertips graze down your stomach until he reaches the waistband of your shorts.
“Can we take these off?” Taehyung asks between kisses. “Please.”
“But you practically begged for me to put them on earlier.” You smirk as you kiss him back with passion.
“And I’ll beg for you to take them off.” He smiles in your kiss and you can’t help but roll your hips to his little idea.
“C’mere.” He guides you by the hips to straddle his lap. Your legs on either side of his as you start moving your hips back and forth, you can feel his member growing beneath you with every roll of your hips.
“Take it out on me.” He says between his erratic breaths. “How angry I have made you. I want you to take it out on me.”
“Okay.” You agree easily, your hand going to his throat. You squeeze lightly as you start riding his clothed dick. You grind into him, hard and fast. He meets you half way, thrusting up, his hard member rubbing against your clit so deliciously.
You look down at him, your eyes meeting his when he smirks at you. God, he looks so good like this. He’s totally fucked out, sweat dribbling down the side of his forehead, his tongue continuously darting out to wet to puffy lips.
“I need you.” You pant out, “Right now.”
Taehyung nods his head in understanding. He stops his hips from moving, lifts you up slightly as you both work on dragging his shorts and briefs down. His cock bounces off his lower abdomen in freedom, his swollen member leaking with precum. You rush to take your shorts and panties off and go back to his lap.
“Condom?” He asks, out of breath.
“Are you clean? I’m on birth control…plus, I’m clean.” You say quickly, the anticipation killing you.
“Yes, I’m all good.” He grabs his cock in his hand and starts pumping himself. “Now, please.” He whines.
You nod, hovering over his length, replacing his hand with yours as you take a deep breath before you are sinking down onto it. You whimper at the feeling since he is so big. He’s long, he’s thick and he is destroying you just by entering you.
“You okay?” His hand goes to cup your jaw and you try to nod your head. “Take your time.”
“You’re so fucking big…” you sink lower and lower, his cock filling you to the brim. “But it feels so good.” You say between rough breaths.
“You feel incredible, y/n….” his hands goes to your hips and he begins to help raise you up, you lift yourself off his length and slam back down. You are finally getting adjusted to his size that you’re able to rise and fall on his cock over and over.
Taehyung’s hands go to your ass cheeks, he squeezes them as he helps you rise and sink on his cock, your thighs burning as you ride him faster and faster. Your hand finds its way back to his throat and you push him back on the bed. He lays down as you ride him, his moans and your moans filling in the small space of the room.
“Fuck…so tight.” He slams his eyes shut as you make him feel so fucking good. “y/n…y/n…” He starts chanting your name.
“Help me…” you fall forward, your chest hovering over his as you start kissing him. Your tongue pushes past his lips and he tangles his tongue with yours immediately. Taehyung begins thrusting forward from beneath you. He fucks into you so hard and so fast that your vision starts to blur. He is hitting your spot with every brush of his dick and it just intensifies when you feel his fingers on your clit.
“I’m gonna come Taehyung…” you warn him, your erratic breathing hitting his face. “So fucking close…please don’t stop.”
Taehyung opens his eyes to look at you, he fucks you harder now. The sounds of his skin slapping your skin making this sound all the more filthy. He moans over and over because he is also so close.
“Where should I come?” He pants out, “Tell me now!” his body begins to tense as you reach back and fondle his balls. “Oh fuck!!” he screams, “y/n! y/n!”
“Inside me.” You lean down and kiss the side of his neck.
Taehyung thrusts so fucking quickly before he is stilling his desperate hips and shooting his cum inside you. His eyes shoot open as he comes, his body wanting to give out on him but he endures. He squeezes his eyes shut as he starts fucking you harder again, his fingers rubbing tight circles on your bundle of nerves. Your high pitched moans making Taehyung feel high as fuck. You finally yell out, whimpering in his ear as you come undone all over his cock, creaming it and soaking it. You feel your orgasm hit you so fucking hard that you collapse on top of Taehyung’s body. He wraps his arms around you and holds you tightly, your sweaty bodies mingling together.
“Wow.” You say, out of breath.
“Yeah, wow.”
Taehyung slowly slips his softening member out of you and winces, the feeling alone so overwhelming. He rolls your bodies over until you are both on your sides facing one another, he smiles at you and you feel yourself go shy.
“Just to be clear…you don’t hate me, right?” You ask.
“Does it look like I hate you?” he teases, reaching out and putting a strand of hair behind your ear. “I think we have a lot of years to make up for.”
“I don’t want this to be just about sex.” You say quietly. Taehyung’s eyes go wide at your words before he is smiling for you again.
“That wasn’t my intention.” He admits, “Maybe a date first?”
“Or a few.” You joke.
“We have years to make up for y/n, so it’ll be more than just a few dates.” He leans over and kisses your forehead.
“Are you still going to be annoying at work?” you stick your tongue out, Taehyung rolls his eyes playfully at you.
“It’s just healthy competition” he leans forward and kisses your lips this time. “And if I make you mad you can always just…take it out on me…” another kiss.
“You should make me mad more often then.”
"You mean even more mad?" He laughs.
"Yes."
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7ven-devils · 3 years
Text
A really long overanlysis of minecraft servers.
This will be my only warning, this shit is really long.
I promised this to @ivi-prism 2 weeks ago (hi, i am Svetla) but university said no and then i feel my notes were incomplete so i have to do more research.
So let's talk about anarchism and capitalism. As a future political scientist, really bugs me how the fandom and some content creators (im looking at you techno) misinterpret both theories.
Yeah this will be a overanalysis about the political, social and economic system of two minecraft servers. Why? Cause i like analysis things like this and finally i can solved what is the system of hermitcraft and thats make me happy.
Things to consider:
First im not native english speaker and im lazy so im not often write or talk in english so my typos can make Doc really proud.
Second i don't watch Dsmp i only know things about the server by the animatics, the constant information wich pop up here on tumblr, the crossover fanfics and the tiny vods that youtube insist play when i have activate automatic reproduction.
Third i tried to simplified this much as i can because this analysis i maded talking with my friends (also political scientists) and a former professor, so it got quite technical while i was writing it.
And finally don't take this seriously, I'm not trying to insult anyone, I only started this because the hermitfandom started saying that hermitcraft was capitalist and then everyone started comparing the Dsmp with hermitcraft saying anarchism vs capitalism, that's why the dsmp entered into this analysis.
Guys, seriously chaos isn't anarchism and "sucefully economic" isn't capitalism, even paid with "money" (diamonds in this case) isnt necessary capitalism.
First, mini glossary:
I understand a server like a Society/State (country) with Mr Weber definition. In really vague words a State is anyone that has a territory and has legal control of violence (the laws, no the abuse of authority).
I understand the private property as the hermits bases and/or shops (i suppose only base in dsmp? Idk)
I understand the mass production as the farms and resources.
Capitalism is a economic, politic and social theory, wich it considers private property essential and tends to monopolize the resources 'cause this it also considered private property.
Anarchy means "without government" it has its origin in the Ancient Greece. And Anarchism theory is just a society free from any political authority, but respecting the liberties of the others.
A Failed State is which one lose control of the legal violence, and can't provide the peace, essential human rights and the basics for a normal lifestyle to its people.
I think thats all the bored shit (i hope so). Now the interesting shit.
Why hermitcraft isnt capitalist?
Short answer, their idea of private property is not the same as capitalism has.
Long answer, even if they have their own stuff, they had a really strong sense of community and dont really care if someone take things from them.
We can see this in the beginning of season when Iskall take some mini blocks from Etho and he didn't really care (yeah, iskall "paid" him, but later i will explain this) or the multiple times Grian "borrow" things from Iskall and Mumbo in season 6 or Scar in season 7, the team ZIT constantly take things from each other and i can go on and on with examples, but the point here is this couldn't happen if they had a capitalist society because this would break the "private" part of private property and mass production.
Basically their friendship made so strong their sense of community that they are basically inmune to capitalism, Uncle Marx would be proud of them (not really, but would be funny). So they are communist? Nope, communist don't believe in private property and the hermits does.
But you just said-? I said they dont has the SAME idea of private property as capitalism does. They still have their bases, farms and shops, but for them their private property isnt sacred like in a capitalism system would be.
They're respect each other things because they appreciated the effort and values the time the person puts on their buildings and not only because doesn't belongs to them (and obviously cause theyre frends, but shush, this is a overanalysis, the obvious things doesn't have place here) i mean even for the shenanigans they are really polite and try to cause the least damage possible not because is not of them but because they valued the person.
Basically the famous honor code of hermitcraft.
What about the economic system and the shopping district?
Lets talk about the elephant in the room.
If Hermitcraft isnt a capitalist system, why they have a economic system based in diamonds?
Well, despite the exchange based in money for resources or services is a principal characteristic of capitalism, it isnt exclusive of that theory.
The money is a social consensus, cause barter has becomes obsolete and gold isnt cheap or infinite to use as payment. And basically, this is why we use money on this days (if you want to know the history of money ask to your trusted historian or Wikipedia).
What does this remind us? Yep, diamonds and iou's are a consensus too. When the 1.16 came out some hermits tried to change to netherite as payment and didn't suit, so they ignored it and continued with their current payment system.
And as much as Mr Smith likes to say that this is how the free market (and his stupid invisible hand) works, capitalism needs the monopoly of resources and people who works to pay for those resources.
But in Hermitcraft nobody really controlled the resources, anyone can go and collect their materials or made a farm. They just decided don't do it and go and buy it, because they save the time to go and collect for themselves, in other words they paid for the time.
Various hermits say they saved so much time go and buy the materials instead to collect themself or trade with the villagers (cause theyre the worst and all of us know it) thats why the barge and lookie lookie at my bookie are so profitable.
The shopping district it wasn't a thing before season 4, i dont really sure how it worked before, because i started watch in season six and sadly i have a boring adult life to saw the old seasons, but i assume it works in the same way that the trades the hermits does between them to accord a discount or a collab, and speak directly with the interested hermit or directly take it and pays what's considered it was fair, like iskall did with etho.
Like i said all what's happen in hermitcraft is a consensus, even the shopping district.
So yeah, that isnt a thing that would happen in a capitalism system, probably you would be dead, because "how are you dare to entered to my property", or in the jail, "because thats not yours".
So, what is hermitcraft?
For the surprise from much of you, Hermitcraft has an anarchist system.
What?! But their server is so peaceful, they don't steal from each other, they doesn't griefing, hows that possible?!
Well, the anarchism isn't really a violent political theory, at least in its beginning, actually anarchism is one of the most peaceful theories i studied, thats why i dont really thing it will worked in our society, but work in a server of 24 friends. Its too idealist.
I don't really study all of the thoughts corrents of anarchism because they are a lot. But the one we are interested is one of original thought corrent, The Mutualism, this in contrast with their cousin Communism doesn't believes the private property was something bad and considered like one of the rights from the individual, but different as capitalism because like i said before it wasn't sacred and communal things will exist to help others to start or recover.
Proudhon, one of it intellectuals, considered not paid for the work of the other it was a form to violate their liberties and feel horrofied with Marx when he said we have to abolish the private property.
The mutualists believes that each person should possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, and the products obtained would be trade in the market for the amount equivalent of their work.
This sound familiar, isnt it? Hermitcraft works in this way.
The thing with anarchism is they don't believes in a government over the people. And the hermits doesn't have one, yeah there's Scar being the mayor, but he isnt have a power over the rest and only is in charge of the "cowmercial district" even aquatown isn't part of his jurisdiction, his function is more of organization, like when we put a friend in charge to organizing part of a roadtrip.
It's the same with Xisuma figure, we all put him in a position of the admin of hermitcraft, but the truth is he isnt the only one with admin commands (but apparently some or all of them losed their admin status, at least in one of the last tango's streams, he hasnt it anymore) and various hermits said that he is more like an ambassador of them in the legal things of the server.
The hermits take all of they decisions in group and in the majority of things all of them needs to be agreed with the decision or they simple doesn't do it. And this is a characteristic of the mutualism because for them anyone are over the other.
And if you aren't already bored at this point and you put attention to what i wrote of the concept of private property in the mutualism, you would see it is practically the way hermitcraft works. They make their bases and farms, recolect resources and sell what they don't will use, buy mostly to save time and paid for the price what they considered fair. Yeah i know sometimes they do some farm specifically for one shop, but this is more "yeah, this is my thing" (Tango and Iron; Ren and wood) or a division of activities "if you do that, i do this".
The perfect utopia.
What about the Dsmp?
If you do it to here, congratulations.
So what about the Dsmp, i entered here because i want to read of them and the only thing i read was about hermitcraft.
Well, the Dsmp only entered in the equation because much of you said they were an anarchist server, but i see it more like a "failed state" and when i was talked with an exprofessor he agreed with me.
I know the term of failed state is controversial and is almost obsolete, but is the best way to describe the server and stop said it is anarchist.
So why failed state and not an anarchist state? Because they have a government (or apparently multiples) a failed one, but is there, if it were an anarchist server wouldn't have one.
Usually the failed states are known for being violent and volatile places in which ones their governments can't provides the basics to their people to live, normally are places with ethnics conflicts, civil wars, authoritarian governments or states in wars. The most common examples are Haití, Somalia or Syria.
And i am sure you can see the similarities with the Dsmp, so yeah, theyre chaotic but not anarchist.
The wars ruined the stability from the server, have a multiple sides and a megalomaniac for admin, but the goverment still there and they are fighting for the power wich wouldn't happen if the server were anarchist because anarchism don't believe the power should be possess for someone.
The server simply is failed state wich struggles under a violent fight for power.
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If you read this far, you're a hero and had my gratitude for read my useless thoughts. Maybe some day i do it other overanalysis of this servers. I hope you enjoyed and dont confused so much.
Thanks for read.
And if there are some angry economist with me for "misrepresent" the capitalist i am completely open to a debate, my only condition is it would be in chilean spanish ;)
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letterstomilen · 4 years
Text
i discuss the classification of igneous petrology as you fall asleep during my lecture (PART 1) (ASMR)
Childe/Zhongli, Alternate Universe (read part 2 here) When Childe's younger sister tells him about the volunteer at the library, he does not make the connection between that and his new favorite ASMR YouTuber, Rex Lapis.
Childe has a very effective method of getting through college. His little sister, who’s caught him making coffee at three in the morning on more than one occasion the past week alone, would beg to differ. 
“You’re the best older brother,” she starts off, and he’s sure she’s trying to convince herself more than him at this point, “but you need to fix your sleeping habits.” Then, because she’s his little sister, she’d flash him a smile and pat his shoulder reassuringly.
(The comment is not lost on him though. He understands his sleeping situation will eventually wear him down if it hadn’t already, but he believes if he’ll drink a coffee every morning and a Monster every night, he’ll get through three days. By the third day, he’ll hardly be coherent but that doesn’t matter because he’ll conk out for the next twelve hours and then repeat.)
“Don’t worry, Tonia,” he says, trying to sound as reassuring as possible as he contemplates whether it’s worth it or not to swallow a pill of 5-hour energy with his morning coffee. “Once break ends, I’ll get back to normal.”
“You said that six seasons ago.”
Childe frowns, trying to remember if his sleeping schedule was this dysfunctional last year. “Huh?”
“The Walking Dead seasons,” Tonia clarifies, as if she’s not twelve years old and the show is for grown adults. He thinks. He hasn’t checked Commonsensemedia ever since La Signora labeled him as a “helicopter parent” and his Netflix tab has been playing How to Get Away with Murder as background noise for the past few weeks.
Isn’t it a show about zombies though? Tonia’s sheepish smile tells it all, because it’s the same exact guilty look he had when he got caught red-handed as a kid.
(Once he remembers later, Childe promises himself, he’ll check out The Walking Dead.)
“Oh. Well. I have a lot of shows to catch up on, you know. Not to mention a ton of my professors gave me reading for over the break.”
A half lie. They did give him a lot of reading because each professor assumed that their classes were his only one, and with seven days left, he still has a textbook worth of reading to go through. But there are no shows that Childe would sacrifice his precious sleep for. As a matter of fact, he would love to sleep. He’s spent the majority of his classes back in high school sleeping and faking attention, saving his grade at the last minute — it was quite the extreme sport really, if he says so himself.
Whenever he tries to sleep recently, his thoughts run at several hundred miles per hour, and he spends several hours staring at the ceiling before succumbing to the computer at his desk and watching trashy movies. At this point, he must have gone through the entire romance comedy list on Netflix. (Not a proud point in his life but if anybody ever wanted him to give a list of best to worst romance comedy movies, he now has one.)
Tonia, on the other hand, isn’t incredibly convinced.
Admittedly, the excuse was lame. Also, he can’t easily lie to his little sister, who’s far shrewder than he takes her for at times.
“You never start your reading in advance. You like to speed read it right before your class or watch a five-minute video on the chapters while your teachers take attendance. But that’s… uh, ‘a bad work ethic.’” Tonia looks immensely proud of herself as she says this, finishing it off with, “Zhongli told me that.”
“Zhongli?” he repeats, trying to remember if that’s one of her classmates or some stranger that’s hoping to kidnap his sister.
“The guy that volunteers at the library sometimes. He recommended me a loot of good books to read, but he talks like an old man.”
“How old?” Childe can tell she’s enjoying this — talking about her new friend at the library that he’ll probably have to run a background check on.
“Like he’s in his sixties or something. But he looks… actually, he looks your age! And he’s a student too. I told him all about you.”
Well, that doesn’t sound very reassuring coming from the mouth of a twelve-year-old. He’s not sure if that translates to his social security number, his current dilemma, or just that he’s her older brother.
“Like all of the stories you told me when I was a kid. And then when Lumine came to pick me up, she stayed to show him pictures of you too.”
“Of course she did,” he mumbles, ruffling her hair. One of these days he’s going to move without telling his classmates and the twins won’t enter his apartment unannounced. (But Tonia adores their company and the stories they tell her far too much for him to actually do it. But that doesn’t mean he’s above making threats when they tell his little sister about the bet he made about white-out and how it could dye hair. The jury is still out on this one.) “She’s just mad because I get away with it and she doesn’t. But don’t do it yourself. It’s a bad habit,” he adds, remembering that he should at least try to be a good influence on his younger sister when he can.
“Okaaay,” she says unconvincingly, before shaking her hair and running off to her room with lunch he prepared for her.
Watching her close the door and no doubt continue her binge of The Walking Dead, he takes out his phone and texts Lumine.
 Childe
12:35
ur a horrible influence on tonia
 Childe
12:35
and whos this ZHONGLI
 Childe
12:35
also is twd appropriate for 12 y/os
 Twin 1
12:37
a normal person would say hi
 Twin 1
12:37
also 1. me n aether watched it when we were 12 so probably and 2. some guy at the library that also goes to our school
 Well. At least he’s somebody they know. But The Walking Dead?
 Childe
12:38
thats not very convincing
 Childe
12:38
also dont ppl DIE? get BITTEN???? what if she gets nightmares
 Twin 1
12:39
isnt she 12 r u telling me u weren’t watching R rated movies at 12
 Childe
12:42
thats very different from a 10 season long show that is hailed as “one of the greatest horror shows in history” and “paved the way for post-apocalyptic horror”
 Twin 1
12:42
well if she has trouble sleeping she could always watch asmr. that helps me during midterms idk
 Childe
12:42
whats asmr
 Childe
12:43
asking for my sister btw
 Twin 1
12:44
A feeling of well-being combined with a tingling sensation in the scalp and down the back of the neck, as experienced by some people in response to a specific gentle stimulus, often a particular sound.
 Childe
12:45
wtf?
 Twin 1
12:45
people on the internet make random sounds or just talk into a mic n its supposed to be very relaxing. how have u never found out abt this?????
 Childe
12:45
idk the only thing on my youtube recommended r greatest stunts and chapter review videos
 Twin 1
12:47
… makes sense
 Twin 1
12:47
check out rex lapis’ channel he looks like ur type
 Childe
12:48
i thought we were talking about my sister????
 Twin 1
12:50
[message screenshots.jpg]
 Twin 1
12:50
ya she told me everything
 Twin 1
12:50
have fun i need to convince aether to not commit arson bc of his TA
 Childe
12:51
hope he does it
He opens his Youtube app, typing in Rex Lapis and expecting Lumine’s suggestion to be a joke. Despite them being friends for nearly two years now, she’s never made any indication of knowing his type. And he’s sure he’s never been that vocal about it either, only shooting appreciative looks at history majors and paying more attention than necessary to the TA for ‘Tradition of Justice and Law.’ (It’s unfortunate that those short-term crushes never led to anything, but maybe that’s for the better seeing that Childe has never understood the appeal of relationships.)
It is an ASMR channel, judging by the ASMR playlist he finds as he scrolls through the account. The icon shows no face — only a microphone — which leaves him skeptical. Most of the video titles belong in a petrology lecture as well, which makes him even more convinced that it’s a joke. He finds a few readings of ancient literature and decides to pick ‘I discuss the classification of igneous petrology as you fall asleep during my lecture (PART 1) (ASMR)’ because that’s exactly what he needs. (Not the very moment — but ten hours later when he’s in the bed memorizing the pattern of his ceiling wondering why he stole from his fifth grade teacher’s candy jar during lunch.)
When Childe opens the video, he damn near gasps.
The man in the video is exactly his type. His eyes are a soft amber color, framed with long lashes, and it’s almost enough for him to lose his dignity and message Lumine a long thank you text about how she is always right and he’ll pay for her coffee for the following week.  He smiles at the screen, albeit a little sheepishly, dark hair framing his face with a long ponytail that Childe can’t see the end of. On his right ear, there are a pair of earrings with a single feather that brush against his neck when he moves his head.
Even before he speaks, Childe is mesmerized, sure he’ll already memorize his features from the curve of his nose to the way he tilts his head, displaying the expanse of his neck.
Really — he reminds him of actors in historical dramas, the way he sits regally, and how he speaks. His voice is low and slow as he adopts a careful manner of speaking, leaning into the mic.
“I’m Rex Lapis, and I’ll be discussing igneous petrology today, which is part one in a three-part petrology series. I apologize in advance, seeing that my knowledge is limited compared to many petrologists out there but my friend Venti said that many of my viewers are here for my voice, so I’m very excited to start today’s video.”
Holy shit.
For the following week, Childe learns less about petrology, the philosophy of economics, and historical revisionism concerning matters of war and more about Rex Lapis, who is not in love with his voice but often finds himself in the middle of long tangents without explanations. His favorite book series is the Legend of the Lone Sword, which he says he’ll look forward to reading out loud for the channel. (Childe replays that part of the video again and again, captivated by his excitement as he mindlessly taps the mic while he speaks, his tangent cutting off mid-word — as it usually does, much to his dismay.)
His guilty obsession is not lost on Tonia, who realizes that instead of drinking Monster every night he’s been engrossed in his phone completely, often not noticing her or when the water starts bubbling. But because his sleeping schedule has been alleviated, she says nothing until Lumine comes over as she always does, not forgetting their weekly schedule of watching trashy movies while leeching off of Childe’s food.
Because he doesn’t trust the twins with the kitchen — even if they can cook — she instead spends her time sitting next to Tonia and spreading more of her anti-Childe propaganda while they wait. This usually involves Tonia occasionally calling out Childe’s name and asking, “Is that true?” or “Did you really do that?”
This time is different though.
Worried that Lumine finally decided to show Tonia a video of last semester’s presentation, he leans over, looking at the computer screen.
And he’s wrong. Unfortunately. Maybe it should’ve been his presentation because even if he botched it and accidentally projected his work process — screaming notes and all — to the class instead of his actual presentation, it would’ve been better than the two of them watching one of Rex Lapis’ videos together.
The ‘I read Erosion: Essays of Undoing to you as it rains outside’ video, to be specific, which is where Rex Lapis is embarrassed by Venti mid video when asked if this was his idea of a date with a lover. (And then it ends with Rex Lapis asking for video suggestions from the commentors, his face still flushed from the previous comments.)
Oh God — oh fuck.
“So he is your type,” Lumine says, her expression a bit too smug for his liking. Tonia looks half awake, scrolling through articles as the video plays, more interested in ‘Top 10 Glenn Rhee Moments’ than Childe’s crush. Her expression is a bit guilty as she does so — she’s biting her lip and avoiding his gaze, but he assumes that it’s just because they went through his YouTube history.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement,” he retorts, but the YouTube history she pulls up once Tonia hands the computer over to her says it all. (It’s quite mortifying, really — even Tonia is giving him a look, but it’s not as bad as Lumine’s shit eating grin.)
“Well… he does have a nice voice,” Childe finally says, thinking that perfectly encompasses his most recent obsession. Because he does have a nice voice — it’s soothing and speaks to him without really speaking to him directly. (The good looks are a bonus, he assures himself. A fantastic bonus, but a bonus nonetheless.)
“He does,” Tonia confirms, smiling toothily up at him, and he resists the urge to ruffle her hair with Lumine staring at him so skeptically. “But I don’t understand much of what he’s saying. He — heh — talks like an old man.”
“Don’t worry, Tonia, your brother likes him because he’s attractive,” Lumine informs her, now fast forwarding on one of Rex Lapis’ videos. “Did you know that he lives nearby?”
“Huh?”
The knife he’s holding clatters to the floor, and the two look down and back up at him with— hold on, why does it feel like they’re in on a secret he doesn’t know about?
“Yeah, he’s working on his grad thesis I think… Aether told me it was about something on history,” she muses. “That’s why I recommended his channel to you. He’s a bit of a celebrity in his department.” Childe’s sure his jaw dropped now, trying to maintain his facial expression as he takes out a new knife to chop up the onions.
“Really,” he tries to say as calmly as possible, wondering how he should accompany Aether to his lectures without trying to seem as obvious as possible. His voice is a bit shaky he realizes but he can’t quite make the connection between Rex Lapis and actual graduate student that goes to his university.
“Yeah, actually…” Lumine is definitely pretending to think now, enjoying this far too much. “He—”
“It’s Zhongli!” his little sister yells excitedly, practically jumping up and down at this point as if she won the lottery. “Zhongli runs an ASMR channel and he talks just like that in real life! Right, Lumine?”
“Yeah.”
Childe sighs, holding a hand up to his face. The realization that he’s been obsessed with the same guy that hears about every stupid thing he did secondhand is way too much — and the fact that he’s been listening to his voice every night before he went to bed the past week is way too much. He’s sure his face is redder than before judging by the amused expressions on Lumine’s and Tonia’s faces — really, they’re mirror images of each other right now.
Not for the first time, Childe swears to himself that he’ll never let her into his apartment without signing a contract ever again.
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gaiapaia · 3 years
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Kermit and Friends: Lucas 6:27
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But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. - Luke 6:27-36
This Bible verse is essentially the ‘Golden Rule’ we’re all taught in elementary school - treat others how you want to be treated. However, treating others kindly is very hard to do when the other person is bad to you. Perhaps the toughest part about being a Christian is the fact we’re supposed to love and pray for our enemies like Jesus would.
Elisa apparently has an enemy in Lucas, Andy Dick’s lover and ex-boyfriend. Lucas has been on the show a couple of times now but their animosity has taken place away from Kermit and Friends.
When Elisa first met Lucas, she heard a lot of good things about him from Andy and they seemed to get along fine. Unfortunately, Andy would throw fits any time Elisa and Lucas were around each other, with Andy accusing Elisa of sleeping with Lucas. Elisa would invite Andy somewhere and Andy would show up with Lucas, only then to berate Elisa later for always inviting Lucas on their dates.
Elisa could tell Lucas was in a bad spot and had some connections to get him a job interview. She set it up for him and sadly, Lucas wasn’t hired. Elisa claims this led to Lucas screaming at her at a Hookah Bar earlier this week, with Lucas blaming Elisa as to why he didn’t get the job. Elisa ended up screaming back at Lucas this time instead of just taking his abuse. Knowing Elisa like I do, it takes a LOT to get her fired up for her to get into a confrontation in public, so she definitely reached her boiling point with Lucas that night.
What’s Elisa to do at this point? The Bible tells her not to hold resentment, to stay kind, to pray for Lucas, etc. It’s very, very tough, but the best way to handle it my opinion is to avoid Lucas at all cost from this point on. Say one little prayer for his well being and then eliminate him out of your life. And if you come across him again, be cordial and just walk away if his behavior starts to bring you out of your true character. That’s my advice.
Anyway, this incident between Elisa and Lucas is where the show got its title from this week. Luke is obviously short for Lucas, and I thought it was creative the way Elisa tied the situation together. Further on in the show, Elisa would play a clip from Andy Dick’s new podcast aDICKted where Andy explained his toxic relationship with Lucas. Andy alleges that Lucas beats him, beats up all of Andy’s male lovers, has stolen from him, etc. Just because Andy says it doesn’t necessarily make it true (like when Andy says Elisa sleeps with Lucas), but if those allegations are true, Lucas is a very bad guy and I would personally prefer Elisa not to hang out with Andy anymore if Lucas is forced into the arrangement. But Elisa is a big girl and can take care of herself - I trust her to stay out of bad situations.
In better news, Elisa’s new song My Fiancé is a huge hit among the KAF fanbase. Literally everyone loved it, except for Andy that is. Regardless of Andy’s irrelevant feelings, the song is now available on Itunes, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere else you can listen to music.
My Fiancé was such a huge hit that it got three remixes in just a week! Two were from Eric Riggs, one from Andy Dick. Eric’s first remix was him just masturbating to the video, while the second remix was Eric singing about dancing like Michael Jackson. Andy’s remix was simply Andy cursing Elisa out to the beat of the song. Andy really needs to work on his songwriting ability, his version of My Fiancé wasn’t flattering at all!
Sharmin Smith ended up being the main focus of the show this week. She opened up to Elisa about the hardships she’s faced since she decided to run for President of the United States in 2020.
According to Sharmin, she was accused of sex trafficking and orchestrating a gang rape by QAnon members she hired from LinkedIn to help her with her presidential campaign. Sharmin’s teenaged kids somehow ended up hearing about these accusations and have had little contact with Sharmin since.
Sharmin bared her soul and you could tell how grief stricken she is over this, rightfully so. Sharmin obviously loves her kids very much and it’s not just the fact that they’re forced away from her that hurts, it’s the fact that they were led to believe these horrible things about Sharmin that aren’t true.
I wish there was something I could write to make Sharmin feel better about her situation. I do admire her strength to be so honest and sincere, and I appreciate she’s so willing to share her story with the Kermit and Friends audience despite how painful it is. But Sharmin if you’re reading this... it is very important to remain patient. I know it’s hard, especially this past year when we’ve had so much downtime to just ourselves, but you will be rewarded if you sit tight and allow the truth to be revealed naturally. You can’t force anything. Let God or fate or the universe, anything you want to call it, run its course and eventually justice will prevail and the good guys will win. You’re one of the good ones, Sharmin.
One positive note from Sharmin’s explosive interview this week was her acknowledgement of how Kermit and Friends entered her life at the perfect time. Sharmin emphasized how much fun KAF has been for her and how badly she needed some fun in her life. Kermit and Friends brings a lot of joy to the people who regularly watch and participate in it, and that alone makes the show a massive success if you ask me.
If you love Kermit and Friends, you can now donate during the show to have a comment displayed on stream. Elisa monetized her Youtube last week and received some nice donations. Capt Muttley, KAF’s dashing pilot, kicked things off and then Supertramp, Kleenex, and SaiyanZ Entertainment all generously contributed too. There’s so much going on during a KAF broadcast that Elisa can’t properly acknowledge the donations each time, but I know she appreciates it, and I also appreciate anyone supporting Elisa and KAF to such a strong degree. If you donate, you will always get a shout out in my reviews.
Chris Christine blessed Kermit and Friends with another appearance. She said a prayer for Elisa and Sharmin, and then let God choose a Bible verse to share. His finger landed on 1 Samuel 17, which is about brothers David and Saul coming together. Christine then beautifully correlated the verse to her, Elisa, and Sharmin as sisters coming together. Chris is wonderful every appearance she makes.
There were lots of awesome musical guests this week. We met a nice guy named Hud Isaacson, a rapper who Elisa claims is Andy Dick’s most normal friend. He performed a couple for raps for us and then shared how mean Lucas was to Elisa last week. Click soundcloud and Instagram to hear Ian’s songs and to follow him on social media.
Another new musical guest was Miranda Moore, who performed two beautiful original songs. You can check her out on Youtube and also follow her on Instagram.
Lastly, Johnny B returned to perform two karaoke classics, including one of my all time favorite songs, Hurt by Johnny Cash.
I really enjoyed this week’s show. It had less comedy than your typical Kermit and Friends episode, but the way the show was filled with love, thoughtfulness, deep conversations and interesting stories made it a really enjoyable experience to watch. Please be sure to tune in next week for a potential big guest and a huge update on Trumpster Bob that you absolutely do not want to miss.
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mocha-sim · 4 years
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For a while now I’ve wanted to write out a post concerning where I stand on the whole issue with YanSim and its developer (in short: neutral, leaning heavily towards the negative side, but I like the potential of the story and characters). There are a lot of problems and I really want to throw in my two cents
This might not be necessary, but I need to get it off my chest, and hopefully make some people think about other points of view
Warning: long post ahead
1. Six years and still in development
I can really see both sides here
On one hand, six full years without even one rival - the single most important part of the game - and a game still full of placeholder assets, and terrible code on top of that, is pathetic
On the other hand, Yandev is working with only a small team of volunteers and himself, who (no matter what he claims) knows very little about game development (from what i’ve seen, he’s made one before, but it looks like a very small-scale and basic fighting game, unlike YanSim which is much more large-scale and has a lot of features)
Professional game teams do have full, high-quality games made in less than six years, but that time is also a product of game company employees being extremely overworked. Lately I’ve seen a lot more people talking about this issue, which is good, but isn’t it hypocritical to not also apply that logic to Yandev?
Again, though, I’m not sure how much time he spends actually working on the game - to me, it seems like he spends a lot of time on discord, reddit, etc. even if he does only stream for a few hours every night. Maybe the “harassment” that’s “slowing down game development” wouldn’t be such an issue if he didn’t spend so much time online interacting with these people?
2. The writing and characters
I’m not a huge fan of how the game’s story is handled, either
I don’t think it’s 100% fair to cast a final judgement with the game the way it is now - Osana not being out is in no way a good thing, but it also means that there hasn’t really been any opportunity for story or character development yet, especially for the rivals. That being said:
I feel like there’s a lot of wasted potential with characters’ individual stories and with the game’s story as a whole, like the “Aishi curse” - I just can’t think of many good stories with a main character who’s basically an empty husk. If Ayano had emotions from the beginning, and actually had to struggle with them, she could be a much more interesting character. There doesn’t even need to be a magical curse for it to run in the family - the way children are raised has a serious impact on the person they grow into. If Ayano is raised by a crazy, abusive stalker of a mother, she may well turn into the same thing.
Taro, too - he has so many contradicting character traits. He yells at Ayano for “scaring him” when she’s carrying a box cutter or laughing, but has the courage to run right up to a murderer and take off their mask?? He doesn’t care about reputations for Osoro or Oka, but won’t love Ayano if her reputation drops too low?? We’re told that he’s “friendly and respectful”, but we’re never shown that part of his personality. On top of that, we’re not really given a reason to like or pursue him as the goal of the game - when he’s not interacting with Girl of the Week, he doesn’t really do anything except sit by the fountain and read. I feel as though Taro should have a routine that involves interacting with other characters and gives us more of a feel for the personality we’re told he’s supposed to have
Raibaru as a whole makes no sense and feels like a satellite character to Osana. In Osana’s shoes, I would want to have a word with her about personal space. There’s not a lot to say about her aside from that, because... she doesn’t really do anything except follow Osana around all day and shut down the player’s attempts to kill her. She feels more like a soulless obstacle than a character
I think there should be more true pacifist options than just matchmaking - even the befriending elimination route will, in Yandev’s own words, involve someone getting hurt. If we’re supposed to have a choice on whether or not to hurt and kill people, there should be more variety in our options
3. The game’s code sucks/it’s poorly-optimized
Yeah.
I don’t know much about coding but the amount of awkward stretching/bending limbs on corpses, clipping through walls, low fps, etc. makes this obvious. It was definitely a bad move on Yandev’s part to start a project like this without at least taking a coding/game development class or something
I think the best course of action for Yandev would be to get a professional programmer on board after Osana is released and spend a few months fixing the game’s code before he starts work on the next rival
4. The character models are just stolen Unity models
They are just unity models, but not “stolen” at all - YanDev paid for them.
That being said, they’re sort of ugly and inexpressive, and personally i’m hoping they get replaced soon
5. The characters are all minors
They’re not. It’s in flashing red letters on the screen when you open the game. I can’t help but feel like the reason people keep insisting that the characters are minors is so that they can feel like heroes for defending them or something
It doesn’t make a lot of logical sense, but there’s still plenty of time for this to be fixed. I think it was recently confirmed that Akademi is called an “academy” now and won’t be referred to as a high school again
Imo YanDev should just change it to a post-secondary school, since that’s probably the most seamless way for all the characters to be adults
One last thing I want to say on this is that, when it gets brought up, I often see people use the excuse “the age of consent in Japan is 13″. 1: it isn’t - the Japanese government lets each prefecture decide its own age of consent, but 13 is the minimum. As far as I know, no prefecture has set it below 16. 2: even if 13 was the age of consent, that doesn’t mean we should accept and defend it as “part of a different culture”. It’s still pedophilia. 3: Japanese people actively protest against things like this
6. The uniforms are middle-school uniforms/don’t look like they belong in a prestigious school
Yeah
However there are multiple uniform options, and it looks like the default uniforms will be completely changed in the final game
7. Panty shots
YanSim is an 18+ game, but there is such a thing as too far
I’ve seen people who tolerate it, but I haven’t seen a single person who actively likes the panty shots and would complain if they were removed. Imo the part that makes this bad is the fact that we, the player, actively have to point our camera up a girl’s skirt and take a photo of her underwear with it being in full view; the whole way this works makes it obvious that the feature was put in there for titillation more than anything else, and it just feels uncomfortable. If it were more like Uekiya’s key-stealing minigame where all we have to do is push a few buttons, the whole gross/uncomfortable aspect could be taken away and a lot of people would probably be fine with it
It would also be better to replace it with an expanded version of the phone-stealing feature: this would let the player get “points” for students of both genders, plus it would still make sense to gain more points for certain students, like the student council or the bullies. Maybe you could even steal teachers’ phones under certain circumstances?
8. YanDev is homophobic
Again not too sure on this one
Iirc, most of the comments people bring up on this are from years ago when he still went by EvaXephon
But speaking as a wlw, I think some of the ways I’ve seen him talk about f/f relationships are pretty creepy. And on top of that, he seems to be considering adding a “female senpai” option to the game, but no male player character? (though i guess i can see the point of view that a male mc would need a lot more new voice lines, animations, etc. while the senpai follows a mostly fixed routine and would only need so many. still, it seems wrong to have one without the other). I hope I’m wrong about this but his support of the LGBT community seems mostly focused on the L and more for his own entertainment than any actual support
9. YanDev is making more money than he should (and handles it poorly)
His Patreon may be dropping, but his YouTube channel is raking in even more money with 2M+ subscribers, and he’s making even more money from things like merch and donations... all while apparently still living with his parents (which i don’t find hard to believe). He’s also apparently bought 2 switches and a sex doll instead of using the money to hire the help he desperately needs with his game
Assuming he really does still live with his parents, I fully support the petition to get his Patreon suspended until he at least finishes Osana. Most game devs don’t make any money off of their games until they’ve finished it completely
10. YanDev wrote rape fanfics
So I did briefly check his old ffn profile some time ago, and as far as I could see everything had the proper ratings and warnings
Tagging/warning/rating is a fanfic author’s only responsibility to you. You make the choice on whether or not to read it. If everything is appropriately tagged and you read it anyway, that’s on you, not the author. If you are mature enough to be on the internet unsupervised, then you are mature enough to curate your own experience.
Fiction is the place to explore controversial themes and topics. It doesn’t mean in any way that a content creator would condone the things they write about in real life
11. YanDev steals art/assets
He does, and still hasn’t apologized for the DLC rivals thing. In fact he made a post defending himself for it, and even compared himself to Andy Warhol in the process (lol)
I’m not sure but I think I heard something recently about him continuing to do this type of thing (the grass, etc.). In which case we should continue to put pressure on him until he credits the creators of whatever art/assets he stole. Art theft is inexcusable
12. The fanbase is mostly kids
This is unfortunately true, and it’s a big problem (i’ve had to deal with it myself on my youtube channel)
However I would personally say that this problem is outside of YanDev’s control. Kids seem to be drawn to edgy/violent things, or things they shouldn’t be allowed to see (just look at Call of Duty). I put the blame for this on the parents who aren’t monitoring their kids’ computer activities. As for YanDev, he’s not a babysitter and it’s not his responsibility to censor his content for kids who shouldn’t be viewing it in the first place
Underage or not though, he should really avoid calling his fans things like “fuck kittens”. Even from the perspective of an adult that’s super creepy to hear
13. The character designs suck
Some are alright, others are absolutely awful
I think that, in a game built on anime tropes, characters should be allowed to have unnaturally-coloured hair. I mean, a lot of characters in anime do have weird hair that you wouldn’t see in real life (seemingly without any dye), and it can add a lot of personality to their designs
But some YanSim characters push that too far. The science club is the worst of the worst imo, despite being otherwise one of my favourite clubs. The neon streaks are ugly, and what’s up with the visors? Why are they allowed to wear those outside of club time? Why do they wear them during club time, as opposed to actual goggles or something? (i have this issue with a lot of club accessories, imo the accessories are unnecessary in the first place)
The bullies and the light music club also take things too far. Their designs are crowded, hard to look at, and out-of-place. Nothing against characters with multi-coloured hair, but there’s a time and a place and a “prestigious” school setting isn’t it
(also, slightly off-topic, but why does almost every “intended couple” look like they could be siblings?)
I could probably make a whole separate post on the character designs in YS, but I’ll save that for another day. (i’m just very passionate about character design)
14. YanDev has collaborated with porn games 3 times now
Once I could overlook (after all, the characters are 18+ and YS is already not for kids) but a third time? Seriously? And so soon after the last one?
Not only do I have mixed feelings about Yandev doing crossovers when his game isn’t even in the demo stage yet, isn’t this game supposed to be taken seriously as a horror game? I can’t think of a single other horror game that has willingly put its characters in porn.
Also I can’t help noticing that he advertises the porn game crossovers a lot more than he did with that one Dark Deception crossover. Did he ever even mention that one? I only ever saw it on the Dark Deception Twitter
15. YanDev is rude to his fans
I don’t have a lot to say against this one. As far as I’ve seen, he is, and he doesn’t take criticism well at all (just look at the subreddit - yes, a lot of the things that were removed deserved it (unfunny cum chalice jokes, etc.) but there have also been completely innocent questions, fanarts, jokes, and fanfics that have been removed. Not to mention mods going through peoples’ post history and banning them for being active in r/Osana. Both he and his mod team seem insanely paranoid)
I think he’s going to have to grow a thicker skin and stop censoring critiques if he wants to get anywhere with this game. Not just fans who bring up tiny details that might need changing, but also big, glaring issues like the code and character designs and such. He also doesn’t seem that professional for a game developer who wants to be taken seriously
That being said, if you’re the type to spam the discord server/subreddit/fan communities who have nothing to do with Yandev like the amino, you deserved that ban
16. YanDev defends pedophiles/the “sex license” thing
“No adult ever has any excuse to do anything sexual with a child. As soon as you touch a kid, you have crossed the line from being someone with a mental disorder to being the worst scum imaginable. Having a mental illness is involuntary, but touching a kid is a choice. If you have a mental illness, I feel bad for you. If you violate a child, I feel disgust and contempt for you, and I think you deserve the death penalty.” -From YanDev himself on this page
The sex license thing is also debunked on the same page: the whole conversation was taken out of context and the hypothetical “license” was supposed to be something that only an adult could meet the requirements for
17. “Corona-chan”
This was a really insensitive move to make in the middle of a pandemic, and I agree that the design was racist
However, YanDev listened to the fans’ complaints and removed the easter egg a day later, plus gave an apology. I think that this was the best thing he could do in that scenario and idk what else people are expecting him to do about it
18. YanDev’s general portrayal of high schoolers
Honestly, it’s not 100% realistic (especially in some of the dialogue. you know what i’m talking about)
I’m surprised that more students don’t seem to have friends outside of their clubs. It seems like all the students mostly stick within their club/group - walking to school together, spending their breaks together, etc. A lot of the ways the characters behave are very robotic, like walking in a perfectly straight line everywhere they go
That being said, a lot of the things i’ve seen criticized in regards to this are not part of the problem. By the time you’re in high school, you’ve probably hit puberty. It doesn’t make a character automatically sexualized if they have bigger breasts (though some designs in the game are over-sexualized, like a few certain staff members)
19. Muja, Mida, and Hanako
Let’s start with Hanako: Yandev has already said that she’s not romantically interested in her brother, she’s just insanely clingy and doesn’t want him to get a girlfriend out of fear that he’ll forget about her. If you still insist that she’s in love with Taro, then that’s on you
Muja and Mida I have mixed feelings on.
If every student is 18 or older, meaning that the first-years are 18, that makes Taro, a third-year, 20-21 years old. If Mida and Muja are in their early 20s as Yandev has said, that means that the age gap isn’t an issue. However, it’s still wrong for a teacher or a nurse to pursue their student/patient
I don’t think Yandev should need to spell out “hey, Mida and Muja are not good people” in flashing neon signs. The game is rated M and anyone who’s old enough to play it should be able to understand that without it being said. If you need morality in fiction spoon-fed to you, you probably shouldn’t be watching/reading/playing anything rated above PG
On the other hand, YanDev has a nasty habit of making these things into a joke, which is really insensitive and creepy. Like saying that Mida’s favourite food is “the spit of a younger man” (yikes), that she’s tried to seduce her own students 69 times (haha 69 so funney right guys XD), or that whole confession scene mess. It’s less of a problem with Muja, but it’s still there. As much as the audience shouldn’t need everything served to them on a silver platter, issues like these should still be treated with respect, not made into gags
20. Yandev wastes time on “Easter eggs”
I have to agree that he does spend time implementing unnecessary things sometimes (like the abc challenge), but as far as I know the Easter eggs are what he does in his spare time while waiting for assets from volunteers. However: snap mode, which was hyped up for years, turned out to be a flop with zero purpose, disappointing a good portion of the fanbase.
21. Love Letter
So far I’m really liking the look of this game: I like the models and the school environment they’ve shown, and it seems like they’re doing a lot of things in better or more interesting ways than YanDev, like not outright telling us who the rivals are. I don’t think it’s fair to accuse them of “stealing” anything, when it seems like most of the assets the games have in common are the things they bought from the Unity store (Love Letter even changed the base Unity model to have a more appealing look)
I'm glad to see that they actually listened to criticism from fans on things like Setsuna’s design (I love her newest look and I hope it’s the final one). From design alone she’s already a more interesting protagonist, and she looks like the sort of character you’d actually enjoy playing as
Not sure I totally buy the claim that it was all done in two weeks, but even if it was over the span of months, that’s still miles better than YanSim’s six years
Knowing that Dr. Apeis has already ditched one project I’m staying open to new information on this, but as of right now I’m looking forward to playing the demo!
Overall: A lot of the hate against the game and the dev are unnecessary, but some is justified and we shouldn’t blindly defend everything he does (seriously, you can admit that the character designs are shit. no one is going to stone you for it).  There are a lot of improvements Dev could make, both on the game and on his behaviour towards fans.
I think that the biggest improvement would be for the game to just stop taking itself so seriously. At this point, it’s so full of memes, cringy google translate names, excessive edginess, and gags that it may as well just be a fun ridiculous anime game instead of a serious horror game. I feel like taking this approach could make it more successful (plus, it doesn’t really have a lot of horror elements aside from the gore)
There are a lot of cases of people taking things too far. Like spamming YanDev with explicit gore/animal abuse, trying to swat him, spamming volunteers with weird porn, trying to hack into volunteers’ accounts (including bank accounts), etc. That is going way too far, no matter how awful or pathetic you think a person is. If you are doing these kinds of things, you are doing more harm than Dev or his volunteers
Attacking YanDev’s appearance is unnecessary and not related to his behaviour or skills. Same with the chalice memes
However, I’ve seen a lot of YanDev’s defenders lashing out against “gremlins”, lumping all of them in with the kinds of people who do these things. If you check r/Osana, you’ll see that most if not all of the people there condemn this behaviour: the gore and porn spammers are a loud minority (and i’m willing to bet most of them are the basement-dwelling losers from KiwiFarms and 4Chan)
Attacking and/or spamming fans who are just trying to enjoy the game is also unnecessary. Someone liking a video game you don’t like is not doing you any harm. Be mature and move on
I’m not sure if some of what I’ve said above is 100% accurate so if anyone actually read this and has evidence against it then feel free to add
I think that’s about all I have to say on that. Again, i don’t know if it will change anything in the fandom but i really just wanted to get this off my chest
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rem289 · 5 years
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Q: Why are you writing this post?
A: Because during the Christmas holidays I started to receive attention from the Zootopia fandom which led me to re-discover some concepts that I thought I had made clear, and since this didn’t turn out to be true, I am forced to reiterate them.
Q: What happened?
A: I discovered that someone had reposted, obviously without my consent, an old comic of Aoimotion and mine on reddit, a site I don't like and on which I had already said not to publish my actually and old contents. This repost "reminded" this fandom of my existence, and after this event some people came to ask us questions such as "when Nick and Judy would reappear in our work?" and the like.
You can imagine how much it bothered me, so I went to reddit and wrote to immediately delete the content. Unfortunately, doing this I couldn’t help but notice how the post had become a place to waste insinuations and insults aimed at me and Aoimotion. In particular, the comments of three users stood out: @ggctuk , @owningsuperset7​ and @hammytotherescue
Q: Why did these users get your attention?
A: ggctuk, which I have no idea who they are, have proclaimed themselves as the narrative voice of the events that have taken place between us and the fandom, providing a lot of incomplete and, in the worst case, completely wrong information, about why we left the fandom and about the alleged "abusive behaviors" we had against translators.
Owningsuperset7 spoke about us (like he does every time the occasion presents itself to him), defining us ungrateful towards the fandom "that had fed us". But "fed" in what sense? It seems to me that we have been those who have definitely "eaten" very little… or likes can be monetized, just like the views on youtube, and I didn't know it? Did they break the keyboard in order to put those likes on our works? If it’s so, I'm sorry, but I certainly wasn't the one who pointed the gun at their head to follow my work. Always remember that paying attention to a work is always and only a reader’s choice. No creator has power over these phenomena, we just create and publish, the rest is always an unknown factor. So expressing yourself as a seduced and abandoned lover on an old and free work doesn’t make you a victim, it only makes you ridiculous. Anyway, I know the subject, who had already decided in the past to talk on DeviantArt before I blocked him, and I decided not to tell him anything in that moment, also because, what can you say to a person who clearly has problems that go beyond fandom? Sometimes ignoring is the kindest choice you can make.
Hammytotherescue instead claimed that he and I were friends in the past, before the duo formed by me and aoimotion became toxic. Since I had no memory of this person and I hate when someone alludes to relationships with me that don't exist, I wrote to him privately on Tumblr asking him if he could kindly refresh my memory about this "friendship" he was bragging about.
Q: How did it end?
A: The conversation, which I report below because I, unlike him, have nothing to be ashamed of, is as follows:
Tumblr media
As you can see, Hammy never replied to my last message . But in reality the story was not over. A few days ago, in fact, I discover that the user in question "vented" in the post of reddit, not under my comment (so that I received notification of his reply) but in response to another comment that had been left to me. Showing, as always, the incredible maturity of these people.
After reading this comment, I decided to act by reporting the user on reddit, but the answer I received can be summarized as: "since you are a content creator, you deserve insults regardless." In short, a response as useful and smart as the people who gave it to me. So don’t worry Hammy, you won't be banned from reddit because the only braincell shared by you users agrees that defining a toxic and manipulative person is, to quote one of the wise moderators I talked to, "a fairly typical level of criticism". All is well that ends well.
Q: You mentioned "concepts to reiterate". What would they be?
A: Let's start by denying what ggctuk wrote in that reddit's post, given how much popularity his comments have gained.
My split from this fandom started because I simply lost interest in Nick and Judy and preferred to do something else, something of my own. Black Jack gave us the opportunity to invent many original characters and they was those I wanted to work on. We have never worked for ulterior motives other than having fun together. When we recognized that we no longer have anything to give to this universe, we declared it openly and closed this chapter of our "artistic life". This split could take place in a peaceful and calm way, I would have taken my own path and you yours, since it was obvious, since BJ times, that you had very little interest in our original contents. You also reiterated this between the lines of these last comments, so really, I make a terrible effort to understand your logic of contents belonging to your fandom. It's not your fault, don't worry. You have been spoiled by this entrenched habit of creating any anthropomorphic animal and attributing it to your precious and super-nutritive fandom. Once you labeled this attitude at heresy, now everything is fine as long as it helps you keeping this universe going, honestly, I just pity you. However it seems that your obsession with me prevents you from accepting the fact that my life would have continued even without this fandom and that I would have lived very well even without the amount of likes that fanarts could give me. Indeed my life would be even more beautiful if I didn't have to waste time like I am doing now.
Both me and aoimotion together gave you a lot, and in the end we simply got it back. Jack is a prime example: yes, he is a character born from the scratches of Zootopia's artwork, but thanks to our work he has evolved to the point of becoming a completely original character. This fandom has not been able to accept it and until the end has tried to claim him as its own, and even now it can’t accept that we have instead taken him back, and even less can you bear that we are successfully using him in our original works, which is why you insist so much on his "Disney" origin, as if this defines his identity, and for months you have made fun of us saying that we were claiming something that belongs to Disney as our own. Unfortunately, beyond a doodle and a hint of a hypothetical background, Disney has absolutely nothing. Whatever weight you have attributed to "Jack Savage" is only thanks to our work, Disney has nothing to do with your mania and it has nothing to do with everything we've built up over the years. Still, you took our job and stuck it over the "Disney" label, and that was even when Black Jack was long gone, so don’t use that excuse anymore. You even tried to attribute Cynthia to the Disney universe by calling her "Skye", since you are so desperate to keep your fantasies going, and when you had nothing more to say, you said that my art style was "clearly inspired by Disney". Did you think I could condone such an attitude? I suppose these statements derive above all from the certainly very poor culture that you have of the world outside the fandom (or fandoms), however there are artists who WORKED for Disney, who TEACHED drawing techniques at the Disney Academy and who work at own productions with that style, without anyone attributing anything to the major. If you don't believe me, try using the web for something constructive, like doing some in-depth research on the subject.
As for the matter of our alleged abuses on translators, I will only say two things: the translations started because of my naivety, and we prohibited them because the translators abused their role and went out of control, acting as if the comics belonged to them and / or as if there was a special relationship of complicity between me and them. I'm sorry I gave false hopes to these people, unfortunately I didn't have time to realize the misunderstandings that were being created and how our work was being used. There is a clear difference between the fan content and the original content, so now more than even, less our work passes into the hands of others, the better it is for us.
Now let’s analyzing the brilliant messages of Hammy, both on Tumblr and on reddit:
In both cases, what I see is a desperate need to cling to Rem's "pretty" facade while simultaneously demolishing the person behind Aoimotion. These insinuations suggest that the only possible Rem to conceive for your narrow minds is the kind and lovely one, and everything I say and do that does not fall within this definition is the work of aoimotion.
I will never go into detail about the dynamics between me and her, because frankly it’s not your business and I don’t want to give you further ground to cultivate your absurd speculations and your degenerated ideas. If you have decided to treat us as two two-dimensional characters of some fourth category fan fiction born from your fragile minds and then feel disappointed or offended by my attitude or a severe response I can give you, you cannot help but blame yourself and not who is my friend .
But you have to get it into your heads that when you talk about us in a personal way, you refer only on the basis of two web profiles. You don't know us personally and above all you don't know me. Being an extremely reserved person, I always decided to use social networks to share my artistic side or my interests related to entertainment, nothing more, nothing less. "Rem289" has always been only a blog, a showcase on the web, I’ve never attributed a real emotional and above all personal value to it, even before Zootopia. For the rest I prefer to live my personal life off the web. Unfortunately, you have been so careless as to decide to hit my personal sphere, my friendships and my affections. So no, Aoi didn’t take over between you and me, but the person behind Rem289 took over and you paid the consequences.
Still on the subject of aoimotion, it seems that the moment this comment was written on DA has remained particularly impressed: https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/765376682/4647911119
This great insult, which among other things is attributed to her as if I didn’t think the same (if not worse) about you, has become the new reason why aoimotion is ugly and bad and is the reason why she deserves to be insulted and disparaged at the slightest opportunity, even during a conversation with me in which she’s not involved in any way.
Now, since this term seems to me rather dated to be used as a matter of indignation during your debates, and since I still find it rather ”soft” to use to outline my intolerance towards you, in order to give you another thing to think over, I will give you an attribute which seems more correct to me: you are sick. Confronting you is like talking to someone who has been brainwashed. You are a broken record that always says the same things over and over again. I can't even feel sorry for you, what I feel is just a great sense of unease. (Of course there are people that still participate in this fandom and are perfectly normal, but those are exceptions and they already know we think good of them.)
And it’s precisely your illness that prompted me to dissociate myself so violently from the fandom. Not aoimotion, as you have been saying for months between an insult and another that you address to her because perhaps you are too afraid of me to address them directly to me, which is rather contradictory since I should be the sweet and pretty one of the duo. After all, it's better to treat me like a poor brainless fool who lets herself be manipulated rather than admit that I also have my own ideas and that, you don’t say, you don't like them.
Q: In any case, you have no right to deprive your fans of old content they love so much, you just want to be spiteful! Why did all your old WildeHopps comics disappear from the web?
A: The decision to delete the contents created by me relating to the fandom from my web platforms or those shared with my partner was not born in the least out of spite or "punishment" towards the members of the fandom. It was a decision made to dissociate my name and my current work from fandom, because unfortunately it created difficulties for my image and real difficulties for readers to understand (you can go on and say that if people think your work is still Zootopia-related is not a big deal, but I assure you it is). All that came after, are only and exclusively speculations built on purpose to find the most sinister reasons of why it happened. Publishing content is only an accessory part of the job itself, a percentage of the process. Deciding to publish, not publish or cancel a publication is at the pure expense of the author, and no consumer has the right to impose his will on the creator. I understand that they are perhaps too complex concepts for you, since it’s clear that you are used to measuring the value of things based on the likes they receive, but this current of thought also exists and I hope it will be useful to you someday, in the remote possibility that decide to take moments of deep reflection (which would be more and more useful than tapping your fingers on the keyboard).
(Little curiosity: in the last few weeks we have forwarded about twenty reports to various sites to remove our old contents posted there without our permission. Not only all twenty reports have been accepted, but the contents have all been removed in less than 12 hours from the date of reporting. This is to remind you that if we don’t want our content on the web, we have them removed and it’s the reposters who pay for it, not us.)
Q: Well, however you can't force us not to talk badly about you or aoimotion, in fact, you can't stop us from believing that she's been manipulating you for years. Almost certainly it’s she who is writing this post without your knowledge, isn't it?
A: The people of the web are notoriously lazy and are therefore often uninformed and constipated in developing their own concepts. They spit sentences without even knowing what they’re talking about, they choose "comfortable" truths, such as the fact of attributing to aoimotion every not nice word that comes from me, and when this phenomenon is reflected on real persons, unfortunately it’s quite difficult to manage.
We are attributed with labels, words, concepts, faults, relationships that don’t belong to us and that are difficult to get away from. A simple comment or a wrong statement towards a person can spread like wildfire and end up marking them for life. Needless to say, these conditions often prevent these same people from continuing with their activities, which instead are healthy, in a serene and peaceful way. Even now, instead of drawing, I’m writing this latest post to defend me and my partner from your sick slanders. Those who allow themselves the luxury of damaging the "active personalities" of the web are people who fully enjoy anonymity behind a screen, and often people who have the matter of regulating them (like the reddits moderators, who are a joke at best) limit themselves to considering certain behaviors "ordinary” in the creator / consumer relationship. The mere fact of normalizing certain behaviors doesn’t smooth out the rules of civilized life, makes these "authorities" complicit and therefore only adds a problem. It’s more than evident that some people are not yet able to distinguish the boundary that exists between objective opinion and direct and personal insult, but from people who lose sleep at night because they have been defined as “lunatic” I don’t expect anything less. Who knows what you will do now that I have called you sick.
I conclude with a message to the interested party:
@hammytotherescue​: I don't know how old you are, however, judging by what you write and how you write it and how you act, I deduce that you should not be more than 14-15 years old. Unfortunately I regret to tell you that the fact you are a minor doesn’t mean that you don’t have to take responsibility for your actions, and if you still have doubts about understanding where you have gone wrong I advise you to ask your parents for advice. I gave you the opportunity to confront me but you ran away to cry on a public platform. Hasn't anyone taught you that real life doesn't work like that? If, on the other hand, you are an adult, I sincerely feel sorry for you, I say this from the bottom of my heart.
I know how comfortable it is to hide behind a group or in this case a fandom to vent one's dislikes towards the individual. This time you and your friends have received the same treatment, you have not caught generic appellations addressed to the fandom but I decided to speak to you personally. My only advice is to use this experience to learn how it behaves on the web, and when you have learned it, you could teach it to all your friends, perhaps starting with @owningsuperset7​.
For @ggctuk: I hope you will appreciate my effort in writing this long post, as so the next time you talk about us again, you can use it as a reference to explain how things went 🤗
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hailing-stars · 5 years
Text
I wrote this fic almost a year ago, one of my first irondad one-shots and my writing has improved so much lmao, but I didn’t have a tumblr back then, so I thought it was worth posting here. also May dates doc ock which happens in the comics but was still uncomfortable to write lol 
summary - something nefarious 
“I didn’t,” he said, then frowned. “I don’t. I’m just… distracted.”
Mr. Stark’s raised eyebrow demanded an answer.
“…Umm,” said Peter. He picked the first non-college thought that popped into his head. “Well Aunt May has this new boyfriend.”
“And you hate him.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Sounds about right,” said Mr. Stark, with a sigh, as Peter checked his phone.
OR
Peter gets beat up by May's new boyfriend, because May's new boyfriend is Doc Ock and Peter is nosey.
Tony just wants to work on a car with his Spidey son and send him to college in one piece.
read on ao3 or after the undercut
Peter stared at the car parts scattered across the floor. He tried to remember enough to start assembling, or to at least make a little bit of progress before Mr. Stark looked away from whatever he was working on and saw no changes were made. It was useless. He couldn’t concentrate. Not on that. Not during that particular moment.
His thoughts belonged elsewhere, anywhere else, actually, but mostly not there. On the car. Completing the car meant completing a lie, or more importantly, led Peter closer to the moment he’d have to confess to Mr. Stark that he wouldn’t be attending MIT in the fall and therefore wouldn’t need this particular graduation present.
Peter had trouble deciding what would upset Mr. Stark more, his choice of school or that attending NYU rendered his gift useless.
“Every college man needs a car,” he had told him, then proceeded to try and rush off to get him a brand-new Audi. Peter’s lucky to have both May and Pepper. They were there to force him into a compromise
.May picked out some rundown car at a junk lot, and Mr. Stark would help him fix it up.
This compromise meant every Saturday that summer belonged to the workshop. He didn’t mind that part. Spending time with Mr. Stark was one of his favorite things to do. Especially there, in the workshop, where new Iron Man suits were born. If Peter were really going away to Massachusetts for school next fall, which he definitely wasn’t, he would miss him, almost as much as May.
The thought crossed his mind that he might end up missing Mr. Stark after all. Peter isn’t completely above pretending to be at MIT while he really hung around New York. It sounded a lot better and like a lot less drama than giving him the bad news.
“You were right,” said Mr. Stark. His voice dripped with sarcasm as he stood over where Peter worked, or pretended to work, on the floor. “Clearly you don’t need my help.”
“I didn’t,” he said, then frowned. “I don’t. I’m just… distracted.”
Mr. Stark’s raised eyebrow demanded an answer.
“…Umm,” said Peter. He picked the first non-college thought that popped into his head. “Well Aunt May has this new boyfriend.”
“And you hate him.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Sounds about right,” said Mr. Stark, with a sigh, as Peter checked his phone.
“Oh shit,” he said, and struggled to get to his feet. He sprinted to the other side of the workshop, grabbed his bookbag from the floor, then sprinted back to Mr. Stark. “I’m going to be late. I’m supposed to be meeting him tonight.”
He waited for the blow to come. A sarcastic comment. An ill-received joke. Peter prepared to defend himself for hating the man without ever meeting him, but the blow never came. This is something that, maybe, Mr. Stark understood, too. Peter didn’t need a reason to dislike any of May’s boyfriends, although he felt like he had plenty from overheard bits of conversations on the phone.
His name was reason enough. Doctor Otto.
Peter looked up once he adjusted the strap of his bookbag, and followed Mr. Stark’s gaze over to the car, if it could even be called a car at that point, sitting in the middle of the room.
“At this rate it’s never gonna be finished by fall.”
“Sorry Mr. Stark,” said Peter. “I’ll come back tomorrow?”
“Nope, tomorrow I’m spending the day with Pepper,” he said, then pointed at him. “Next Saturday I’m helping you, and cut it out with the Mr. Stark, alright? I told you. It’s Tony. You’re an adult now. Use your big boy words.”  
“Sure thing, Mr. Stark.”
Peter was almost out the door when he heard Mr. Stark grumble, “Smartass.”
*
He was, as predicted, late for dinner. He opened the apartment door to one of the most traumatizing sights he’d ever seen in his eighteen years of life. May and Doctor Otto were standing uncomfortably close, but worse of all, they were breaking apart, as if they’d been closer, as if they’d been kissing.
His eyes settled over the man, but Peter’s feet stayed planted in the foyer, letting the door fall shut behind him. Doctor Otto was tall, with dark hair and fit. His button up shirt stuck too close to his skin, but that wasn’t the most unsettling observation Peter made that night. It was the look in his eyes. Possibly, it was the same look Peter gave him as he sized him up, as the both of them were making up their minds about each other there in his aunt’s apartment.
The apartment they used to share with his uncle Ben.
“You must be Peter,” said Otto. He broke out of the kitchen and started across the apartment towards him.
“Obviously.”
Otto looked taken back for a half-second, then quickly recovered and pretended he hadn’t heard the tone. Behind him, May glared and mouthed at him to be nice.
“I’m Otto,” he said. His grip was loose and flimsy, like a fish out of water or a man who’s trying too hard to pretend to be unassuming. Peter knew better than to fall for that. “May told me so much about you.”
“Really?” said Peter. “I haven’t heard very much about you at all actually…”
“Peter,” said May, marching across the kitchen and joining them in the foyer. She stood by Otto, on his side, and hooked her arm through his. “He’s joking.” She looked at Peter. “You’re joking, but the joke’s over now.”
The couple walked back into the kitchen, arms still linked, and Peter swallowed misplaced stomach acid. His feet felt like dead weights as he followed them to the kitchen table. He didn’t know how he would make it through dinner without puking, but he should at least try it. He should at least try to be polite even if Otto made his skin crawl and his stomach turn, just so May wouldn’t kill him once he left. If he ever left.
He looked so comfortable on May’s side of the dinner table, where Ben used to sit, Peter wasn’t so sure they would ever get rid of him.
He stayed polite by keeping his responses as short as possible. He nodded when he could, he forced himself to smile, and occasionally, would make a noise that implied he was paying attention and actually, he was. Otto went on and on about his research with radioactive substances, maybe trying to impress him, but after spending so much time with Mr. Stark, it was hard to be impressed by someone so mediocre.
“I’ve heard you’re pretty into science yourself,” said Otto. There was a stray lasagna noodle hanging on his chin, and Peter had a hard time looking anywhere else. “I’ll have to get your opinion on my work sometime.”
“Oh,” said Peter. He looked down at his plate and pushed a few noodles around with his fork. “I doubt I would have the time for that. I intern for Mr. Stark, and he keeps me pretty busy.”
May narrowed her eyes at Peter, who stared right back. Otto was her boyfriend. It didn’t mean he was obligated to spend time with him.
“I’m sure he does,” said Otto, and Peter smiled for the first time since coming home, enjoying the bit of jealousy laced into his voice.
That night, Peter laid in bed and stared at his ceiling. The more his brain turned and turned and turned with all that talking about radioactive substances, about wanting to work with them, about AIs that would allow him to do it, the more it didn’t sound right. AIs were dangerous in the wrong hands. Peter didn’t think they should be trusted in the same hands that had trouble keeping food on his plate or in his mouth.
He didn’t sleep until he resolved to start an investigation, and to not give it up until he found something so incriminating May would break up with him.
Peter had a simple plan.
He set his alarm early, at least for an otherwise lazy Sunday morning, and stayed in his room. He pretended to be asleep until he heard the shower water running. He slipped out of bed and made his footsteps light as he crept into May’s bedroom. Her phone sat on the nightstand, and once in his hands, it was an easy hack. Something so simple and learned so easily by spending enough time around Mr. Stark, who was quick to teach Peter anything he wanted to know. He scrolled with his thumb until he found Otto’s contact information, grinning when he finally came across what he’d been looking for, an address.
He sent it to his phone, wiped the message history and returned it to its original position on the nightstand.
By the time May came out of the bathroom, Peter sat at the kitchen table, watching YouTube videos on his phone and eating a bowl of cereal. The empty box laid sideways on the table.
“Good morning, May,” he said, as she walked past him.
She headed to the coffee pot, or at least she had started in that direction. She backtracked several steps to stand in the kitchen entryway, observing him with her hands on her hips, until Peter was forced to acknowledge her.
“No.”
“No to what?”
“To whatever you’re up to,” she said. “I know that look, and I know what it means.”
“But I’m not even doing anything.”
“Does what you’re not doing have anything to do with Otto, by any chance?” she asked. Peter blinked at her, and she pulled on her we’re-about-to-have-a-serious-discussion face while she pulled out the chair next to him. “Did you know all those nights you spend going off, having your little Avengers missions, I sit here in this kitchen, by myself, worrying to death about you? Every single time. It never gets less scary, but it always ends the same way. Do you know how?”
“Umm…” said Peter. He had a feeling he knew, but he felt like answering would be walking into a trap.
“With you coming through that door complaining,” she said. “Mr. Stark is so over-protective. He’s paranoid! He won’t let me anything –“
“-My voice isn’t that high.”
“The point,” said May. “Is that you are doing the same thing, with me, now.”
Peter dropped his spoon, and looked at her, really looked at her. She made a good point. He hated that, because this situation was clearly different. Relationships were definitely more dangerous than his missions with the Avengers.
“I miss Ben too, but I have to start dating again sometime, you know?”
“I know,” said Peter. “Does it have to be this guy, though?”
May rolled her eyes, stood up and headed to her beloved coffee pot. “Give him a chance, Peter.”
“Okay.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. Peter would give him a chance, just as soon as he investigated and only if he couldn’t find anything on him. He hoped he would. His aunt deserved someone better than the idiot who talked only about himself all evening with a noodle hanging off his chin.
His investigation started later on that same day.
*
Peter sat cross-legged on the top of Otto’s apartment building while he ate his dinner, a slightly cold sandwich from Delmar’s. He picked it up on the way over, with the intention of being able to eat it when he got home, but this stake-out was taking longer than he expected. It only served to prove Peter’s suspicions. Otto was up to something nefarious. Obviously. There was no other reason for him to be away from his apartment all day long when he told May he was spending the day grocery shopping and doing laundry.
He waited hours on that rooftop, watching the city below him and listening to all its sounds, only to finally tire out and head back home empty handed. Without any evidence. He hadn’t been entirely sure what he expected to find there, anyway.
Peter crawled through his bedroom window, then heard it. He ditched his suit for regular clothes and discovered the reason Otto hadn’t returned home to his apartment. He was here. On the couch with May. Watching a movie with his arm around her.
“Oh hey, Peter,” said May. She paused the movie, and both pairs of eyes stared him down. “I didn’t know you were home. Do you want to watch this with us?”
“He probably doesn’t have the time,” said Otto. It was lighthearted, but it grated at Peter’s nerves.
He dismissed himself. Politely. He could foreign politeness just as well as Otto could pretend to be meek.
Peter paced in his room. Back and forth, back and forth, thinking fast and frantic. He stopped when his thoughts did, when his he lifted his head from staring at the floor and his eyes fell over to his desk drawer. A new idea, like a spark, sent him barreling to his knees in front of the drawer. He yanked it open and searched through it, pulling out papers and graded homework from years before as it did.
But it was useless. They were all gone. A tracker would have been perfect, would have done his job for him, but they weren’t anymore left. Not in his drawer, or in his suit.
There was one more option but asking Mr. Stark for more trackers invited his questions. He collapsed on his bed, realizing he didn’t have much of a choice, and put his scheme against Otto off until Saturday.
It rolled around fast, and Mr. Stark hadn’t been kidding when he told him he’d be helping him this time around. Within five minutes of his arrival at the workshop, the two of them were side-by-side, shoulders nearly touching, face-up underneath the frame of the car. He passed him tools, explained to him what did what, and what to screw and where. It was almost like having a dad again, and it pushed Otto and the tracker to the very back of his brain.
He just wanted to enjoy the moment.
But when there wasn’t May and her boyfriend to worry about, his mind reverted back to worrying over the moment he confessed to Mr. Stark MIT wasn’t happening.
Thinking about not going ached like regret. He wasn’t just disappointing Mr. Stark, but himself. As fall got closer and closer, he realized more and more MIT was the perfect place for him. He didn’t understand how Mr. Stark knew that long before Peter, but none of it mattered. It didn’t change anything. He still couldn’t go.
He already declined the offer, and there were two very good reasons that went into that decision. The first was Queens. His city still needed Spider-Man. The second was more important. He couldn’t leave May. Who else would investigate and stalk her boyfriends, or eat Thai food on the couch while watching trash reality TV?
A nudge on his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts.
“Let’s take a break,” said Mr. Stark. They both scooted out from under the car and sat up. Mr. Stark threw a rag at him. Peter used it immediately, wiping off the black smudges he felt on his cheeks, then his hands. “How’s the situation with May and the new boyfriend?”
“His name is Otto,” said Peter. “He’s a tool.”
“Otto, huh? No wonder why you don’t like him,” Mr. Stark stood and walked over to a stool where his phone sat, leaving Peter to sit on the floor, using his hands as props to support the rest of his body.
Peter stared at the back of Mr. Stark’s head while he strolled through his phone. He figured it was now or never. To ask about those trackers, not for the college confession. He still had a couple of weeks until he would need to disclose that information, and he planned to procrastinate as long as possible. He found his voice, though it wavered when his request was said out loud, causing Mr. Stark to turn around and look away from the phone in his hand.
“Why? What for?”
“To track… someone,” said Peter.
Mr. Stark tilted his head at him. Forget being trapped under buildings. He was eighteen years old and one look from him turned him back into a guilty first-grader. It ruled out the possible scheme of pretending to be in Massachusetts in the fall. He’d never be able to pull that off.
“I got that,” he said. “Who?”
“No one important.”
He made a face like he didn’t believe him but walked away and returned with a handful of the tiny trackers despite his unanswered questions. He passed them to Peter, who had to stand to collect them. He shoved them in the smallest pocket of his bookbag.
“So, what is it this time?” he asked. “Man who thinks he’s a bird? Another lizard guy?”
“Nothing that like.”
He made the same face. It was every bit pinched as it was disbelieving, as if there were questions beating down a wall in his mind. Old Mr. Stark didn’t have that wall. He wouldn’t sat him down and demanded to know exactly what the trackers were used for. New Mr. Stark, who was inspired either by Pepper or a therapist, maybe both, let it go. He asked questions. He pried, but he didn’t stop him from making his own mistakes.
Sometimes Peter missed the old version. He felt less guilty about lying to helicopter Mr. Stark.
“If you’re ever in over your head,” he said. He twirled a screw-driver in his hand. “I’m just a phone call away.”
Peter looked at him, really looked at him and saw the scruff, dirt and grime instead of the billionaire wearing a suit and sunglasses. It was the workshop effect. Everything became a little more real, a little more transparent under the grease and dust, and under the dim lighting, Mr. Stark was just someone who worried too much about the people he loved.
And also, someone who was getting better and better at heaping on the guilt without even trying to do it.
The golden opportunity to put a tracker on Otto presented itself later on that same evening. Him and May were close on the couch, in their usual positions, as Peter stomped through the living room, still covered in the grease and dust of the workshop and swallowing another bout of stomach acid. They didn’t notice him, so he didn’t even try to be discrete when he slipped a tracker inside the seams of Otto’s coat.
He shouldn’t have left it out in the open like that. Just hanging on a kitchen chair.
After that, all he needed to do was wait, and he didn’t even have to do that for very long.
Otto excused himself from their movie night unusually early. As soon as Peter heard the apartment door shut, he pulled his mask on and watched the blue dot which represented Otto move across the map. It didn’t go to the dodgy apartment building where he lived. It went to the labs where he worked. Awfully late to be going to work. Unless that was his angle. To access the lab when the rest of the employees weren’t around and couldn’t see what he was doing.
Only one way to find out.
He suited up and followed the beacon to the labs. He was done pretending to be polite, so slamming through one of the windows and shattering glass everywhere as he tumbled into the building didn’t seem like an imposition. No alarm sounded, either, which was an added bonus.
The last thing he needed was for him to be tipped off about Spider-Man’s arrival.
He followed faint noises to find Otto, and when he got to the room he was in, he crawled up the wall and stuck to the ceiling, watching upside down as Otto maneuvered around the lab, unaware of his presence. Nothing seemed special. Nothing seemed to catch Peter’s eyes, until Otto walked over to a place in the lab he wouldn’t have known to look if he hadn’t gone over there.
He strapped himself into a harness, and from that harness, gained four new arms. Mechanical ones, with claws at the ends of them, and they were snapping. It concerned Peter that all four of them were extending upward, in his direction, but in retrospect it probably should’ve concerned him a little bit more. It just took one sudden movement, one metal tentacle shooting up fast and abrupt inches from where Peter hung to send him somersaulting to the ground.
He stuck the landing with his shoulders stuck out for balance, and looked up, looked into the eyes of Otto Octavius and saw the same something nefarious he saw the first time he met him. Granted, it was hard to take seriously with four mechanical claws floating around and snapping at him.
“What are you supposed to be?” asked Peter. Maybe Mr. Stark wasn’t too far off with his guesses that had to do with animals. “An octopus?”
“Glad you could finally find the time to join me, Peter.”
“Wait, what –“
“You’re really not that great at keeping secrets,” said Otto. His eyes drifted off to the equipment to his left, then back to Peter. “So, I’m sure you’ll understand this isn’t personal. I just can’t have you running off and telling Iron Man about all this.”
It was over before it started. While Peter was busy looking at all the things Otto didn’t want to Mr. Stark to find out about. He didn’t know what they were, or what they did, or why it would mean trouble for him if Iron Man discovered it, but that didn’t stop him from attacking.
Fast and abrupt just like the first time. He managed to dodge the first, but the second caught him in his belly and swatted him against the wall. He crashed to the floor, awkward and ungraceful, and thanks to his upgraded hearing, could hear the bone in his leg snapping before he even felt it. But the pain did come and distracted him from the third metal arm that lifted him up and pinned him against the wall.
It was Otto’s real hands that punched him, hit him hard in the stomach, on the face, but all Peter felt was the pain in his leg. He kept his focus there when the punching stopped, when Otto’s hands came up around his neck and cut off his air supply.
He was about to get killed by a man who couldn’t eat without getting food on his face.
That’s when he heard it. The gloriously familiar sound Iron Man made when he hovered, followed by his voice.
“Get your grubby tentacles off my kid, kraken.”
Peter was dropped to the floor, on his pitifully broken leg, but he felt better than fine. For all the aches and pains, even the stabbing one in his leg, he knew this was a fight that wouldn’t last long, either. There was no stomach acid as he watched Otto attempt to smack Iron Man around with those ridiculous metal arms. Mr. Stark wasn’t distracted, was ready for it and simply blasted him away with his repulsor beam. He flew across the room, crashed into the wall the same way Peter had and thudded to the floor.
Mr. Stark wasn’t done, though, even if Otto was no longer in any condition to fight. He didn’t stop until every single one of the metal arms were disbanded, snapped in half or otherwise disposed, and it isn’t until Otto is knocked unconscious that Mr. Stark lands next to Peter.
“Mr. Ssstark –“ said Peter. “I - I didn’t call.”
“Yeah, well, you’re just lucky you weren’t the only one tracking someone tonight, kid,” he said. He kneeled down next to him. “What’s the damage?”
“Leg’s broken.”
He felt the pain then, all at once, as if saying it out loud made it present. He gasped, and Mr. Stark winced. He turned his head, leveled another glare at Otto, and for a second, Peter thought he might go back over there, kick him while he’s down and unconscious, but the moment passed. Mr. Stark wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulder’s, and very carefully, put his other arm under his legs, eventually scooping him off the ground.
Any energy he usually would have spent protesting being carried is focused towards the pain radiating throughout his body. He shut his eyes and hoped to pass out while they went soaring into the night’s sky.
*
They put him on painkillers.
Mr. Stark’s medical team were quick about that one, and the drugs were fast. They were both speedy and strong. He didn’t remember much about the process of having his leg set and casted, but he did remember voices murmuring up above him. He couldn’t quite hold on to them, but they were talking, amazed, about his healing abilities. It would take just a couple of days for his leg to be back to normal, and less than that for the bruises to disappear.
Until then, however, he was laid up on Mr. Stark’s couch. His leg was propped up, in a blue cast and there were lots of pillows supporting his back, so he could sit up without effort. Everything came back into focus. The blurriness in his head cleared up as the pain started to trickle back in. Then he remembered.
He had just one concern.
“I need to call May,” said Peter, and to his shock, a voice answered back.
“Already done.”
He slowly, carefully, turned his head and saw Mr. Stark in the recliner, staring at him.
“Don’t worry,” he told him. “I broke the news to her about the octopus, too.”
“Is he –“
“-He’s alive,” said Mr. Stark. “Uh, he just won’t be doing very much for a while, and he definitely won’t be calling your aunt back.”
Relief flooded through muscles that should’ve ached. Mission accomplished, but it didn’t feel as good as he thought it would. It sort of sucked, actually. That May started dating again just to get stuck with Otto. That her happiness got delayed again. It only served to reinforce his already made-up about staying in the city for school.
He looked at Mr. Stark. It was the perfect time for the truth about college. While he was drugged out and the consequences didn’t seem as bad, and while he was bruised and broken to the point Mr. Stark would feel guilty if he started to yell.  
“I have to tell you something,” said Peter.
Mr. Stark looked up from his phone and didn’t miss a beat. “I already know you think you’re not going to MIT, Peter.”
Maybe it was still the drugs, but he didn’t quite catch what was said, or at least the implication behind what was said.
“W-what?”
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said. “And I knew you would end up getting cold feet, so I paid someone at the admissions office to keep an eye out for your acceptance status. When you declined, idiot move by the way, I just had the evidence destroyed and sent in the deposit for your first semester instead.”
It was said so simply. As if it were completely normal behavior to employ spies at a university, and as if semesters at MIT were cheap. This was helicopter Mr. Stark. He never really left. He just tried to change during the moments that really mattered, or the ones that didn’t. Peter couldn’t figure out which way it went, but either way, he felt the only appropriate reaction was anger. Only as much anger as the medication would allow, though.
He still felt pretty fuzzy.
“…you can’t just do that,” said Peter. “You can’t just accept on my behalf and force me to go.”
“Sure I can, I already did.” said Mr. Stark. He leaned back in the recliner. “Tell me that you really don’t want to go. Convince me, and I’ll pull my deposit and put it towards a school closer to home.”
Peter didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. He, apparently, wasn’t capable of lying even without the drugs, so he didn’t see a point in trying. All that was left was the truth.
“I can’t leave May, or Queens.”
“Your aunt is more than capable of protecting herself,” said Mr. Stark. “And you know she wouldn’t want you to sit out of college her behalf. She would never forgive herself, and besides, I’ll still be here.”
“Spider-Man –“
“-will take a break.”
Peter didn’t attempt anymore arguments. There wasn’t any Mr. Stark wouldn’t easily counter, and there wasn’t any energy left in him to try it. He was going to MIT in the fall. It was inevitable now, and different, because he could blame Mr. Stark for it every time he felt like it was selfish. It was a better gift than paying his tuition, really. That he could go to the college he wanted and push all the guilt on Mr. Stark for manipulating the situation.
He’d still feel bad about leaving Aunt May, of course, but he figured Mr. Stark was right. She would feel bad if he didn’t go, and he’d end up feeling terrible either way.
The conversation was officially over, so Mr. Stark provided him with more painkillers, a cold-pack for his swelling eyes, a glass of water and a demand for him to get some rest. The pills made him sleep, and when he woke up, he felt better. Still hurt, but better than the night before. Well enough even to get up and try to move around on the crutches.
He found Mr. Stark in the workshop and stopped, sudden and shocked, at the shiny car sitting in the middle of the room.
“Mr. Stark,” said Peter. He leaned on the crutches, putting his full weight there instead of his good leg. “How long was I asleep?”
“Just the night,” said Mr. Stark. “And half the day. Why?”
“What is that?”  
“Your car,” he said. “Don’t you recognize it?”
“No. This… this can’t be the same car.”
The car they’d be working on was rusty and falling apart despite all their effort. This one looked new and fast.
“Maybe I put some custom parts in it,” he said. There were a few seconds of silence. “Maybe I put a lot of custom parts in it.”
“May’s going to flip.”
“She’s not going to be thrilled about those bruises, either, genius, but I figured it’ll be better if we get it over with all at the same time.”
Peter nodded, and Mr. Stark was correct. She wasn’t thrilled with his broken leg, or his black-eyes and bruises. He had returned to the couch in the penthouse living room when she arrived. She sat next to him, looking him over, and apologized.
“I should’ve known,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Peter.”
Hearing her apologize hurt worse than any of his injuries. This one was Peter’s fault. Otto turned out to be crazy only by chance. He only stumbled into some scheme he didn’t even understand, and next time, he knew that wouldn’t be the case. That eventually May would date someone normal, who wasn’t Ben, and he’d have to accept that, from miles away in Massachusetts.
Thanks to Mr. Stark’s meddling he didn’t have much time left in Queens. Just a few weeks.  
“I’m sorry too,” said Peter. “I promise I won’t go all Mr. Stark on you next time you date someone… unless there really is –“
May narrowed her eyes.
“I promise I won’t stalk your next boyfriend.”
“That’s all I can ask for,” said May. She looked around the big, empty living room. “Where’s Tony? He said he had something to show me…”
Peter happily directed her to the workshop, happy for once someone else was in trouble and not him. That he had nothing to do with the under authorized upgrades on his graduation present. He watched her disappeared into the elevator, preferring the couch over front seats to seeing May berate Mr. Stark about the car. He needed the rest to heal, and anyway, he was pretty sure he’d be able to hear the shouting that he knew was coming.
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thenightling · 5 years
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Friends in the Dark (A Sandman fan fiction)
Friends in the Dark:
Disclaimer:  This is a Sandman fan fiction.  The Sandman belongs to Neil Gaiman and DC Comics.
This fan fiction is inspired by the currently circulating idea of Hob actually being the one to rescue Morpheus from his imprisonment after Morpheus misses their centennial meeting.   In the new Netflix Sandman series Morpheus’ captivity has been extended from seventy-two-years to about a hundred and ten years.  That means Morpheus would have missed his annual meeting with Hob Gadling.
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  Art work by @artwinsdraws​​ 
  This fan fiction may be read as a pseudo-sequel to the fan fiction titled “Time will Crawl” however, this fan fiction can be read completely on its own without any difficulty.  
 The title is from a song that technically doesn’t exist yet except in the dreams of Aurelio Voltaire.  The lyrics are currently housed in the library of The Dreaming but should reach The Waking World within the next year.  I know them because I heard a short live version of the refrain on Youtube.  
 “You can sit in the cold dark night, And just hope for a spark. You might make your way in the day, But you’ll need friends in the dark.” – Lyrics by Voltaire.  
   Friends in the Dark
 Friends in the Dark
  Chapter 1:
 Friends will be friends:
               “What do you mean you can’t find him?”
           “I mean... If he is who I think he is, he will only be found if he wants to be found.” The old man replied in a tone that sounded like an effort at gentleness.  
           “I didn’t tell you he was anyone other than my friend.” Robert Gadling said in exasperation. He was tired and frustrated.   The man he was talking to was supposed to be the best in his field.
           “Look, the man you described…  He’s not quite a man.   He’s… How do I put this?  He’s the Oneiromancer.  He’s Morpheus.   King of Dreams and Nightmares.  And if you angered him-“
           “I may have wounded his pride but I know him.  I know he would have come.”
           “How can you be so certain?”’
           “I told you, he’s my friend.”
           “Creatures like that don’t have any friends.”
           “If you can’t help me just say so and stop wasting my time.” Robert said in annoyance.
           The man sighed.  “You don’t have anything that belongs to him.   If you had something maybe we could cast a tracking spell, but he could obscure himself against things like that if he doesn’t want to be found.”
           The man’s expression changed.  It was subtle but it was troubling.
           “What?  What is it? There’s something you’re not telling me.” Robert said.
           “No one’s seen The Sandman in over a century…  There are rumors from The Underworld that something may have happened…”
           Robert was growing impatient and now worried.  Few things could really surprise him and right now he felt like he could be told anything and handle it in some stride.  He reached into his old coat and pulled out the torn fabric of dark velvet Victorian Jacket.
           “What is that?”
           “I accidentally tore it from his coat when he was having his little tantrum the last time we spoke.  Is that enough to track him with?”
           “And you kept it all this time?”
“At the time I worried I’d never see him again.  …I thought it might be the only memento, proof he was real…”  He felt silly and sentimental.  
“So there is a chance he’s deliberately avoiding you?”
Robert’s face was reddening.  “Look, I haven’t survived seven-hundred-years purely on my good looks.  I trust my instincts.  If he doesn’t want to see me, fine, but I have to see him first.  I have to know for sure.”  
Saying something like that to anyone else might have looked completely insane but Robert Gadling knew the old magicks.  He understood sorcery and he knew the old man was aware of his true age.  
Robert (Hob) Gadling had been born in the fourteenth century of England.  He looked like the average middle aged man but he had long ago decided not to die and had somehow succeeded in this endeavor, whether by sheer will, or the invention of Death herself, it was hard to say. But he believed it was by his own will that he refused to die.  At least that was the explanation that enabled him to sleep easily at night. Death, on the other hand, knew better…
 Currently Robert was clean shaven though he had worn facial hair in the past.  He had light brown hair and brown eyes.  He was light skinned as many English men of his original time were.  He figured he was a little short by modern standards but that didn’t bother him.   He had been tall by common standards in his own time.   He wondered how strange he’d seem in other people the centuries to come.  
Robert (or Hob as he was sometimes known by those old enough to remember Hob as a nickname for Robert) was wearing fairly mundane clothes.  He had a plain button down shirt and blue jeans. The clothes were generic enough that he could have been wearing them in the nineteen sixties or nineteen nineties and no one would have questioned it as being out of place.   You live long enough and you learn what fashions will survive multiple decades without too much scrutiny.  And it becomes far, far easier to do simple clothing shopping.  
 During Hob’s last encounter with his friend, Hob had made the bold move of admitting to Morpheus that he knew the reason they met every century was because he (Morpheus) was lonely.
  Morpheus had not taken that well at all. In fact Morpheus had taken offense to that notion.  With his pride wounded, Morpheus had said “You dare?  You dare imply I might befriend a mortal? That one of my kind might NEED companionship?  You dare to call me lonely?”  
Hob was not technically mortal.  He had not been mortal in a very long time but his friend had a way of looking at anyone who had been born human (even if they became something else, or gained immortality) as “mortal.”   His prejudice was showing along with wounded pride.  
Hob had stood his ground.  “Yes. Yes, I do.”
As Morpheus had stormed off in his anger Hob had called after him.  “Tell you what.  I’ll be here in a hundred years’ time.   If you’re here then, too-- It’ll be because we’re friends.  No other reason.  Right?  …Right?”
 At the time he had feared Morpheus might not return for their centennial meeting. He hoped he would return.  But Hob had also feared Morpheus would not.  
 Hob felt foolish and almost like a stalker in wanting to track him down now but his seven-hundred-year-old instincts were telling him that something was wrong.  And if Morpheus was avoiding him he would apologize and they could go their separate ways once and for all but if there was another reason…  He had to know for sure…  He needed… closure at the very least.
       The older looking man was starting to look thoughtful.  “You keep things like this and out-right say the Lord of Dreams was having a temper tantrum?” The old wizard let out a wheezing laugh.  Perhaps he was reading Hob’s thoughts, his very memory of the last time he and his friend had spoken and parted ways.  
“If you’re not his friend you’ve got balls.”  He shook his head.  “Even if you are his friend you’ve got balls…   Follow me.” He seemed to admire Hob on some level and this shifted into respect.
             Hob and the old wizard walked from the dimly lit, and very cluttered, occult shoppe’s main room.  They entered a private back room that served as a magical laboratory.   The laboratory was no less cluttered than the main part of the shoppe.  There were books in chaotic little stacks and piles.  There were bottles of potions and powders on the shelves in a variety of colored jars and containers.  Some glass, some modern plastic Tupperware and labeled with white tape or stickers with writing done in black, felt-tip, marker.  There were odds and ends of magical trinkets and crystals.   And on the far side of this room was a small “hot plate” device plugged into the wall with a rather large cooking pot on top of it.   A make-shift modern cauldron.
           The old man carried the torn, old, velvet over to the cauldron and took up a crystal that was wrapped in a black cord.  He set to work on the tracking spell.   The contents of the cauldron, which was murky and brown, began to bubble from the heat and then the bubbles began to rapidly and probably unnaturally increase.   The crystal was spinning, spinning faster and faster as it dangled from the black cord.  
           Something was reaching its crescendo.  
             The old wizard set down the crystal on the edge of the cooking pot with the cord it was attached to.
           He grabbed Hob’s arm. “GET DOWN!”
           Hob had lived long enough to not question the command and instead, by pure reflex, descended into a crouch under the wooden table with the old man.  There was a crashing sound as bits and pieces of crystal went flying everywhere.  
           “Gadzooks, Man!   ...That’s not good, is it?” Hob asked, stating the obvious as he slowly lowered his arms from where they were over his head to protect against crystalline shrapnel.
           The old man shook his head and politely seemed to ignore the near-comedic use of an archaic exclamation.  “He’s either blocking the spell or-“
           “Or someone’s blocking it for him…”
 __________________________________________________
  Chapter 2:  
 Time:
             Time will crawl…  And crawl, and crawl, and crawl…
 Come!  Come! Come!  
 Morpheus had felt the words as surely as he heard them, faint and echoing in the void. Old magick.  It had felt it like a tugging at his very soul.  He was too weak to resist the pulling that dragged him down, down, down…  Forcibly pulling at his essence.  
 He had fallen forward and slammed into hard flooring.  He had been disorientated at the sudden presence of gravity.  He could feel the magick of the binding circle sealing him in, closing him off from all those who had a psychic link with him within his realm.  He saw them, the mortal occultists, in their dark robes, as they moved to get a closer look at their prisoner.  They moved like a swarm of insects.  He blinked his completely-black eyes behind the tinted lenses of his helm. The tiny star pupils being the only hint that there was more than mere darkness to be seen in his eyes.
  He lay there, stunned and …and so very tired…  He had never felt so weary in his long life…   He had struggled so hard against the summoning magick and after that he could barely keep his eyes open.  Someone had grasped at the helm he wore.  Someone grabbed at it with both hands. Someone tipped his head, against his will, to carefully remove the helm.  They took full advantage of his weakness and disorientation.  Someone pulled the helm free from his head.  He had felt his own dark fall around his bone-white face. His cloak was taken. Without the cloak he actually felt the cool, damp of the cellar in English summer time. Never mind about the cloak.  That could easily be replaced.  He could conjure another… as soon as he was free he could conjure another...  
 He blinked.  The ruby amulet was snatched and finally the pouch of infinite dream sand was snatched away. The pouch was something he loathed to be without.  He felt more naked without that pouch than without raiment.  That he could not allow.  He summoned what strength he had left and sat up to reach for the pouch. He stopped as if there was an invisible wall in front of him.  He could not pass the edge of the magical binding circle, which was on the ground around him, and he knew it.  His belongings were just out of reach…
The attempt to cross the circle was as impossible as asking a mortal simply leap over a building.  It was just impossible for him.  
 So tired… So very tired… The room was growing dim and the floor was strangely inviting.   He fainted…
    That was as close as he had ever gotten to true sleep.  He did not, by nature, sleep…    
 Trapped. Observe.  Threats.   Patience.   Patience…   Patience…
 It had been many years since that first night in nineteen sixteen…
 When Roderick Burgess had died not much had changed for Morpheus.  Roderick’s son, Alexander, was the one holding him captive now.
  At some point, relatively recently, he had over-heard someone mention the year as being twenty nineteen.  
  Morpheus made no show of his feelings to his captors. He simply sat there on the floor of his crystalline cage, staring out at the two guards.
           In nineteen sixteen The Dream Lord had been drawn down, summoned and trapped with their (as he saw it) “petty hedge-magicking.”   What year was it now?   Close to twenty-twenty, he suspected.  It was hard to tell.  
 Mortals tend to have this naive fantasy that time moves differently for creatures such as himself, being ageless and (for all intents and purposes) immortal. Unfortunately that was not the case.
If only he could just blink and it would seem a century had passed.   No. Sadly, this fantasy was merely that, a fantasy.  As mortals age they perceive time differently from when they were children.   In childhood summers would seem to go on and on. As adults, however, whole decades seemed too short and so they imagine that is how time must be for immortals, an ever increasing sense that this or that passage of time was too short and so nothing to them.  If only that was the case…
 No. He felt time. He felt time the way mortals do.  Time moved no differently for his kind as it does for mortals.  And in prison it crawled at a snail’s pace.  Perhaps it was even worse for him because, as the living embodiment of dreams, he usually did not sleep.  That meant the third of the day that human prisoners could escape their bonds by entering his realm, he could do no such thing.  There was no relief.
             Imprisoned time moved agonizingly slow, like the crawling of a snail.  And unlike mortals he did not have that blessed release of sleep.  He was, after all, the lord of Dreams.   He never dreamed, himself…  
           No. He never dreamed.  All he could do was remember…
             He remembered his own wounded pride on the night he stormed off from his friend. How he longed to set that right.
         He sat on the floor of the crystalline cage that they had long ago placed around him.  The curved glass of his crystal prison reminded him of a fortune teller’s crystal ball only just big enough to hold a full-sized human man.  How menacing the mortals managed to seem when looming over him, just outside of the crystal, where light and size were distorted from his quartz-crystal prison and shadows hung heavy over the glass.  
 Quartz crystal has innate power.  It could contain and confine magick.  It held him as surely as the binding circle around his cage- as firm and unyielding as stone or steel to a mortal’s prison.  
 The mortal captors had been clever to make his cage out of crystal.  Everyone knows most mineral and glass come from sand. Burnt and reshaped sand.  The thing that he used to sculpt dreams now worked to trap him.  
The binding circle that they had drawn on the floor held his spiritual essence while the crystalline prison held his physical form.  Both of these traps would need to be broken or opened for him to be able to truly escape.
 He was hungry.  They had never thought to feed him in all the years he had been their prisoner.  They just assumed that he did not need food. And he did not need it per se.  He would not die without food but he still felt hunger, nevertheless.  A great and terrible, gnawing hunger.   And he was not about to ask for food.  He was far too proud for that.  And he would not give them the satisfaction to show them that he suffered for not eating. It would not kill him but he still suffered for it.
He tried not to think about the hunger, that aching, hollow feeling chewing away within himself.  Eager to eat just about anything.  Even a baked potato would have been nice.  Do the English still bake potatoes? He wondered.
He could imagine the taste.  The potato’s skin cooked so thoroughly that it was like parchment around the soft white inside that could be crushed by the pressing of a fork.  Flavored with salt, pepper, butter, sour cream.  Perhaps some mild cheddar cheese and crushed bacon…
He wasn’t one for heavy meals but this simple one that he imagined seemed divine.  He could practically taste it.  No.  He would go mad if he let himself think about the hunger too long.   Try to think about something else…
 He thought of Hob.  He thought of the smell of the Kerosene lamps and the candle wax in the late Victorian pub. The strange sense of warmth and that feeling that was the direct opposite of being lonely.  He missed that warmth.  That sensation of… not-lonely.  
He missed Hob…  
He thought of his own wounded pride.  The anger he had felt when Hob had suggested that they (Hob and Morpheus) were friends.   How foolish he had been to not return to Hob sooner.  Would he ever see his friend again?  
He longed to set things right- to do or say something subtle to admit to Hob that he was right without actually saying the words that his pride did not want him to speak out loud.   He thought of the clever ways he could perhaps acknowledge that yes, they were, in fact, friends without uttering an apology or acknowledgement of being wrong.   He couldn’t dare admit, even to himself, that he was wrong.  And it was Hob’s own fault, wasn’t it?  He was the one who had to spoil things.  He was the one who had to go and poke at the situation and demand confirmation.  Why did he have to spoil it by making him have to call their situation a friendship?
He missed him so much…
  Morpheus blinked.  He was no longer in the pub, storming away from Hob.  He could no longer taste the discarded wine still on his lips.  His memories were as vivid and real to him as dreams are for most people.  It was as close as he could get to dreaming… remembering…
He was back in his cage.  Staring at the two guards just beyond the glass.
             What time was it?  Guessing from the two particular guards and the wrist watch that one of them wore, it was close to three in the afternoon.  It was hard to tell from his little prison.  He had not seen the sun (or stars) in over a century.      
           If only he could sleep as mortals sleep.   If only he could experience that sweet, temporary release, just once. To simply know what it was like to lose oneself to a third of the day in The Dreaming…  Mortals had no idea of the treasure that they had, the gift that he, himself, usually provided.  A gift that he, himself, could never know… had never known… ________________________________________________
  Chapter 3:
 What Dreams may come:
 Hob Gadling pulled to the side of the road, in the red nineteen seventy-three MGB convertible.  He had owned this particular automobile since the days when it was new.  Today he figured it would be considered a classic. Yeah, a classic, all right… Polished up nice but rusted in all the important areas and a serious petrol guzzler.   The car looked nice but it was about as functional as any old jalopy or puddle jumper.   He only chose it today because it was a car he wouldn’t mind abandoning in a field if he had to.  
             He was parked about a quarter of a mile from Fawny Rig in Wych Cross, Sussex England.  The paperback copy of an occultist’s memoir sat on the passenger seat beside him.   It was some self-published nonsense about The Order of Ancient Mysteries but it was Hob’s first real clue about what happened to his friend.
             For over thirty years he had searched.   And he had found one dead end after another, including a few attempted cons and scams from people who thought they could take advantage of a mad man trying to find a character from a faery tale.  
             The book had been the first major clue.  It had been written by some dead occultist who had claimed that he and the rest of his order had succeeded in invoking and trapping the King of Dreams.  The book had been vague and full of strange claims about archaic powers and curses and nonsensical and far-fetched boasts about demon invocations and boogeymen.
He would not have believed any of it until he had read the description of the creature they had caught. The bone-white flesh, the solid black eyes, the messy dark hair.  It had to be him.  It just had to be.
              The book hadn’t said where they had captured the being (whom Hob angry noticed they kept calling “it” when referencing the capture) but Hob had learned that The Order of Ancient Mysteries was once run by a Magnus Roderick Burgess and this had been his home estate. It now belonged to his son, Alexander Burgess, whom he had fathered very late in life.  Alexander would have been quite old by now, himself.  
If they had him, his friend- if they had Morpheus- what were they going to do to him? Pass him along through the generations like some strange inherited pet?  Who would get him next?  The butler? As far as he knew Alexander Burgess had no children of his own.  Would they seal up whatever dungeon they had him in and leave him to rot?
           This was still a long shot but Hob had to know.  If he was there he couldn’t just leave him at the mercy of these charlatans.  And if Hob got arrested for this- well, breaking-and-entering was not the worst crime he had ever been arrested for.  He could handle it.  
Hob took the old colt revolver out of the glove compartment.  This was also an antique and would have been difficult to smuggle into England today but he had brought it into the country in eighteen ninety-one, so it was long before modern firearm restrictions, and back when smuggling was far easier.
 Hob had lead a very colorful and long life.  At one point he had even been a slave trader, something that Morpheus, himself, had chastised him for.   Hob regretted that now.  He regretted that more than anything. He would spend the rest of eternity making reparations for that if he could.  How could he have ever been so callous to another human life?  
Morpheus had seemed so revolted.  “You take pride in treating your fellow humans as less than animals?” he had him.
Hob had tried to shrug it off with “Like I said, it’s a living.”
But Morpheus would not let it be.  “It is a poor thing, to enslave another.  I would suggest you find yourself a different line of business.”
Morpheus was right.  It was wrong to hold another like that. And if Morpheus was in there he had to get him out now.          
           Hob checked to make certain the colt revolver pistol was still loaded.  Each chamber of the six shooter held an old bullet. He had tested it only the night before to make certain it still fired.  He loathed the idea of having to use it but he knew it would be stupid to go in unarmed, especially since he didn’t practice magick, not really.  All he could do was hope a pistol was enough.
               _____________________________________________
 Chapter 4:  
 Locked within the crystal ball:
              It was early evening.  It was hard to tell from where he sat on the floor of his cage but he knew it was early evening.  One guard was reading a newspaper.  The other had a Stephen King novel.  Though Morpheus knew nothing of the technology, the men knew that their wifi devices would not work down there.  The rural setting combined with the thick stone walls made it impossible to get a good signal in that dungeon of a cellar.  
           There was also the concern of the residual yet powerful magick in the air, which by its very nature, interfered with sensitive electronics and could even cause them to short out.  They had been specifically ordered not to use their mobile devices down there and so they had to kill time through other means.
             Morpheus watched them with cold contempt.  He was measuring how long it took for the one with the novel to turn his page.  The other occasionally fidgeted.  Morpheus could tell by the man’s eye movements that the fidgeting one was not actually reading the newspaper.
The man was just seeking out a long word to play a childhood game of seeing how many smaller words he could make with the letters of the longer word he found. It was some kind of time-killer he had learned from spending too many childhood hours in doctor’s offices before wide-spread cellphone and Internet service.  
             Morpheus understood nothing of Internet, or mobile phones, but he understood the restlessness of a bored mortal.  How often did these restless people eventually drift into his own realm when they got like that?  He almost felt jealous of the bored mortal.
             There was a noise from above.  It was faint as the walls were designed to be soundproof but even in his magick resistant prison Morpheus could hear the scuffle.
           “Hey!  You’re not supposed to be here!  What are you doing!?”  Came one voice.   There was a sound of crashing furniture.
           “Someone get Maguire!”
             The two guards finally realized something was amiss when the door to the hidden room opened with a heavy creaking sound.
           The one set down his paper, the other- almost in unison-set down his novel. They stood up from their folding chairs.
                         At first Morpheus thought he had been psychically touched by his youngest sister, little Delirium, and madness was finally upon him or perhaps his memories were somehow seeping into reality, confusing past for present like psychic imprints and echoes of long ago events.  
He stared in wonder at the familiar yet disheveled appearance of Hob Gadling.
            Hob was wearing a casual suit and open, light colored blazer jacket.  It was slightly rumpled, as if he had been wearing it for more than twenty-four-hours and rather restlessly.
           Morpheus was not aware that the suit was over thirty-years-old and very likely the suit Hob had worn to the pub for their centennial meeting that he was now extremely late for.  
Whether consciously or subconsciously, Hob had (on some level) chosen to wear this suit on purpose now.  
 Morpheus hadn’t even noticed that he, himself, had risen to his feet.  The guards rushed toward the man who seemed both frightened yet determined.
 _____________________
  Chapter 5: The Rescue:
 As Hob had raced down the stone staircase, hoping his gut instincts were right, he nearly couldn’t breathe once he entered the dimly lit room.  He was panting for breath but then the shock of what he saw caused what air was there to get caught in his throat.
There were two men rising from folding chairs to meet and / or attack him- more likely the latter.  And behind them, just barely in view… There he was!  Naked and locked inside what looked like a ridiculously over-sized, novelty, snow globe paperweight.
 Hob couldn’t hold back a gasp when he saw him.  “Gadsbudikins!”  He was glad no one was there to comment on the archaic exclamation that had worked its way into his, proudly modern, vocabulary.  
He had never seen Morpheus in such a state.  He knew his friend was skinny and pale but to see him like this was something all-together different.  
Morpheus was emaciated.  The ribs protruding so that he could see each one incased in milk-white skin.  He was entirely naked.   He knew his friend’s pride.  He could only guess at the humiliation that, alone, must have brought to him.  How long had he been in there?  Whether a day or a century, ether was too damn long.        
            He was distracted briefly by the pitiful sight so he was caught off guard by the punch from the first guard. The other guard was trying to grab his arm.  
           Morpheus was barely aware he had placed a hand to the cold, crystalline, glass. When was the last time he had actually touched the wall of his cage?  He didn’t leave any fingerprints as he did this.  
             In the struggle the first man, the one who had thrown the punch, pulled a knife.   Morpheus’ own expression had shifted to one of genuine fear for Hob.
             He watched helplessly as the knife pierced the belly of his friend.
           There was a clanking sound as the bloodied weapon fell to the floor.  
Hob doubled over in pain.  For a brief moment Morpheus thought he was witnessing his friend’s corporeal end from this extended life- but no.  His older sister, Death, had seen to this long ago.  
           Hob was in considerable pain but he struggled his way free and staggered back into the mouth of the entrance into the hidden chamber.  One of his hands held his wounded belly, the shirt slowly becoming saturated in his red blood.  
           A well dressed, older looking, man was coming down the stairs, following the same path Hob had taken.  The two guards were readying the next assault when Hob turned, and fumbling, he drew out his pistol.  His hands were shaking but he managed to steady himself.    
             Paul Maguire (husband to Alexander Burgess, Morpheus’ owner…) raised his hands slightly and took a step back. “Sir, I don’t know what you want but the police have been called.” Paul bluffed.
           “With what you’ve got down here?   Yeah, right.  Tell me another one.   I’m taking him out of here.  If anyone tries to make a move…”
Hob was improvising.  He grabbed Paul and drew him close, holding the pistol to the side of Paul’s head, maneuvering to separate himself from the guards by using Paul as a shield.  Hob had lived many lives, not all of them honorably, and this was not his first unfair fight.
           “You’re going to open that…  Whatever the Hell that is.   And let my friend out.”
           “Your friend…?” Paul asked in confusion.
           “Did I stutter?!?”  Hob had always wanted to deliver that line, or at least he had ever since he had seen it written on a meme on Facebook.  “YOU HEARD ME!  Now!”
                Paul carefully, slowly, drew out an antique looking key from his pocket, moving very slowly to show he was not armed, and with trembling hand passed the key to the second guard.  The one that had not punched or stabbed Hob.
           Morpheus took a step back.
The guard walked to the crystalline cage and put the key into the discrete lock in the base.   The crystalline glass slid away at a near invisible seam, creating an opening.  Hob shoved Paul, forcibly, back against the first guard.   He walked to the cage’s opening.  He saw Morpheus just standing there.  He took off his own jacket for modesty’s sake.  “It’s all right.  I’m getting you out of here.  Come on.”
           Hob’s foot lightly brushed over the binding circle.  It was hard to tell if it was deliberate or not but the deed was done, the circle was breached.
           Morpheus stepped toward him.  And for the first time in over a century he spoke out loud.  His voice partly psychic, heard in the mind and audible at the same time, seemed feeble and weak from lack of use.  “Hob…?  Hob Gadling?” he asked as if not entirely certain he was really there.
           “Yeah.  It’s gonna be all right.   Come on.”
             The two guards and Paul seemed uncertain of what to do next.  They hadn’t exactly fully prepared for anything like this despite the years of meticulous care to make sure the prisoner did not escape.
           As soon as Morpheus was out of the cage and past the edge of the binding circle, Hob draped his jacket over his narrow shoulders.  
“Cheese and crust!  What did they do to you?”
           Morpheus opted against answering but he held the offered jacket tightly over himself.
Hob, holding the pistol in one hand, placed his other arm around Morpheus, escorting him up the stairs and outside the house, no one tried to stop them. Morpheus stumbled weakly but he steadied himself each time this happened.
             As soon as they were off the Fawny Rig grounds, just past the old iron gate, Morpheus stopped in his tracks, barefoot and mostly naked, but oblivious to any chill.  
He was staring up at the stars.  He hadn’t seen them in over a century.  Hob simply let him look.  They certainly were beautiful.   The stars gave the illusion of permanence.   But for all the change that might happen there were still stars in the darkness, even if one burnt out and another was born, there they were- always and forever.  Maybe that’s what immortality really was, the willingness to be ever-changing and yet ever constant, like the universe itself.      
           After some time Morpheus spoke, his voice still weak.  “I have to…   I have to return to…”
            Hob looked down at the weak, semi-skeletal figure that he was supporting.  “Return to where you originally came from?”
           He nodded.
           “Okay.  How do we do that?”  
           “You must sleep.”  He said simply, clutching the jacket around himself.
  _____________________________________________
 Chapter 6:             Rest:          
             They walked for some distance. Every so often Morpheus lost his footing and almost toppled but each time he stumbled Hob caught him.
           At one point he was certain Morpheus was looking at the blood on his shirt in concern at the stab wound.
           “It’s nothing.” Hob assured him.  “I’ve had worse.  I don’t think they’re chasing us but we really need to keep moving. ”
             When they finally reached the convertible, Morpheus stared at the automobile blankly.
“Oh, that’s just a horseless carriage.  We call them cars now.”
“I see…”
Hob opened the passenger door for him and pushed the book off the seat.  Morpheus understood to climb inside onto the seat. After he got in, Hob shut the door behind him.
Hob went to the driver’s side and climbed in, seating himself.  After shutting his own door he started the engine (which took several tries, as the car looked pretty but lacked functionality) but soon they were on the road away from Fawny Rig.  
Hob didn’t bother to tell his companion to put on a seat belt.  Any sort of restraint seemed like a bad idea right now, as if it was something that could potentially trigger post traumatic stress.  He already half-imagined that Morpheus would develop some kind of permanent claustrophobia after that long captivity and that seemed perfectly reasonable to him right now.  So he didn’t ask him to put on a seat belt.   And it was not likely either of them were about to die from a car crash.  
 After a quick stop at small convenience store they continued on the road for some distance and finally they reached the hotel parking field.
             Hob looked at his friend, trying not to show the pity he felt.   Instead he reached into the glove compartment and took out the small bag with the new bottle of extra strength Unisom sleeping pills he had just purchased at the convenience store.  
           He aligned the arrows on the child safety cap, removing the cap easily, and then punctured the seal with his thumb, taking out several small capsules into his hand.
He then removed the cap from the small bottled caffeine-free Coca-Cola he had also purchased and had been in the bag as well, with the bottle of Unisom sleeping pills.
“Well, bottom’s up.”  He raised his bottle as if it was a wine glass and then gulped down the five or so pills he had in his fist with a healthy swig of the soda.  
 Hob wasn’t certain if the amount of sleep aid capsules he had just swallowed was enough to potentially harm an ordinary man, but he knew he was not an ordinary man.  And his adrenaline was too high right now.  There was no way in Hell he was going to sleep without chemical assistance.  
 “Hob?” Morpheus looked as if he wanted to say something.
“Not now.” Hob said. “I’ll never get to sleep if you start chatting.  Save it for when we get you home.”  He said this as if Morpheus had ever been the talkative one. He knew he wasn’t.  
 There was a trace of a smile on Morpheus’ face.  “Thank you…”
“No problem.  What are friends for?”  He half expected the old tantrum to flare up but there was not the slightest hint of that now.  Morpheus leaned back in his own seat to wait.
 “I’ll… Turn on the radio while I wait for this stuff to kick in…” Hob said this to break the awkward silence that was threatening his drug-aided nap.
  By some twisted irony the song Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes was playing.  Hob gave an uneasy laugh. “Bet you hate that song, don’t you?”
The sudden music with vocal accompaniment seemed to startle Morpheus at first but his tension faded with Hob’s own nonchalantness about it. “Actually… I have never heard it before…”
“It’s about you… I think…”
“Is it really?”
 _________________________________
 Chapter 7:
 Home:
   The song wasn’t even over yet when Hob found himself standing in a dimly lit pub in the fourteenth century.  And there was his friend, quite naked, and seemingly indifferent to his own nakedness. Hob figured Morpheus must have left the jacket in the car.
 His friend was crouched in front of the fire place, tearing into a leg of mutton from someone else’s plate.  Curiously the tavern was empty except for the two of them, and yet several tables were loaded with untouched drinks and dishes of food.    
Some of the food didn’t really belong in this time period as they had not been invented yet- like chimichangas, New York style pizza, Kentucky fried chicken, and Twinkies.   These anachronistic snacks and meals were the first give-away that he was dreaming.
 Morpheus helped himself to the diverse array of strange foods.  A little of this, a little of that, he was gobbling as much of it up as he could. He seemed famished, eating as much as he could, as fast as he could.
 “Hey… Maybe you should take it easy?” Hob said in concern.  “You know when humans are starved for a long stretch of time they have to slowly reintroduce their body to solid foods.   Maybe start with some soup?  …Or you could just eat the entire bucket of KFC… Sure.  Why not?”                  
 After he had his fill Morpheus stood and seemed to be concentrating.  Slowly something swirled up around him like dust… or sand.  Yeah, it was glittering, golden sand.  
From that sand dark robes were taking form on his body.   Seamless and not quite stylized in any particular way.   Hob felt that at the moment the feebly conjured clothes vaguely resembled a black Snuggie.  
 With some cold determination Morpheus walked out the door of the pub and into a surprisingly beautiful night, with a sprawling nebula smeared overhead like oil paint.  
Hob hastily gave chase “Hey!  Hey, where you going?!”
 Outside the pub there was a beach.  Funny.   There was never a beach so close to the pub before but then Hob remembered this was a dream.   Morpheus was kneeling in the sand, gathering some of it.
“Hey, what are you doing?”  He caught Morpheus’ wrist.
Morpheus did not shrug him off.  “I have to get my revenge.”
“Revenge on who?  Roderick Burgess and his crew are dead!”
“His son yet lives.”
“His son?  You’re going to go after his son?!”
“You disapprove?  His son could have freed me.  I would have shown him mercy if he had let me go.  Instead he kept me as his father had, threatened, insulted, and tormented me. He must pay.”
“He didn’t know!   He didn’t know what to do and you probably scared him.  I’m not justifying it but I’ve lived long enough to know revenge isn’t going to make you feel any better.”
“But I… I waited so long…” He sounded uncertain.
“You’re sick.   You could barely stand.   You’re still recovering.  I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be wandering around in a half-finished Snuggie. You’re going to waste what little strength you have getting revenge on someone whose biggest crime was apathy and being a jerk?”
“What is a Snuggie?”
“Never mind that.” Hob said with a shake of his head.  “Revenge isn’t worth it.  You’ve got to forgive him.  You know as well as I do revenge isn’t going to bring you any real satisfaction.”
“Who are you to tell me what will satisfy me or not?”  Morpheus said angrily.
“The man who just saved your life!  That’s who! You can listen to me or not, that’s up to you.”  Hob let go of Morpheus’ wrist. “But the way I see it...  You need rest.  You need to recover.  And you need to learn to forgive.  Going after Burgess’ kid, who inherited you like a pet parrot, isn’t going to make you feel better.  You’re weak and you need rest.  Is there any where I can take you where you’ll be able to do that?”
“You’ll be waking up soon…”
“So hurry up then and tell me.”
 Hob walked beside his friend, down the twisting. dark path, surrounded by gnarled old trees.  Up ahead was an old house, probably eighteenth century or early Victorian.   And next to that house was a graveyard beside a similar, somewhat larger house.  “You sure this is where you want to go?”  Hob asked.  
Morpheus nodded.
“It looks like The Crypt Keeper lives here.”
“Something like that…”
 It was the pudgy one, Abel, who opened the door to the house of Mystery.  The thinner one in the pince-nez spectacles, Cain stood behind Abel.  Both looked stunned at who was at the door.
 Hob stood with the weakened Dream King leaning on him.   Behind them was the dopey eyed, dog-like, big, green, gargoyle that had followed them as soon as they entered the gate.
“Can you two look after my friend?  I think I’m starting to wake up….”
 Before Hob could get an answer he found himself back in the driver’s seat of the parked car.  He looked to the seat next to him. It was empty except for some glittering dust and his jacket.
He noticed something else too.  The pain in his stomach, where he had been stabbed, was entirely gone.  He would have healed on his own, mind you.  A wound like that couldn’t kill him, but it took hours, if not days to recover from such an injury.  Now it was as if the wound had never happened at all.  
Morpheus had heeded him about not wasting his energy on futile and cruel revenge. Instead he had spent his energy on something far more important.  He had used what little strength he had to heal his friend…
 ______________________________________
 Chapter 8:
 You’ll meet friends in the Dark:
  The funny thing about having a friend who is the King of Dreams is it’s hard to tell when something really is just a dream.  He worried that the part about delivering Morpheus to that old Haunted House to be tended to was just in his own mind, a fevered and addled dream from injury and over-the-counter sleeping pills.  
             Hob sat nervously at the pub.  The meeting was now some decades late.  He sincerely hoped the part of his recent adventure that took place in dreams was real.   That sounded silly to him upon reflection:  “the part that was in dreams was real...”
 Nervously he sat, worried his friend was not coming.  And then he saw him as if he had been there the whole time.  Morpheus stood in a modern, long, leather jacket. His messy dark hair slightly more stylized.  His skin still bone-white, his look still improbably slight, features still gaunt, and thin. The eyes were black but the tiny star-like pupils in the middle of that blackness seemed more alert, twinkling with old power.
“I- I wasn’t sure you’d be coming.”  Hob said.
“Really?”  Morpheus was smiling.  It was a small smile but it was there just the same.  “I have always heard it was impolite to keep one’s friends waiting. Would you like a drink?”
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    The End
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kaialone · 6 years
Text
Yokai Watch News: Forever Friends
Doing my monthly summary of recent Yokai Watch news once again.
Like always, information is taken from various website updates and Corocoro, and translated by me.
Beware of spoilers, naturally!
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We got news about:
5th Yokai Watch Movie - Forever Friends
Merchandise (showing off some new characters, too)
A bit of Puni Puni and World
Like with the past few times, I’ll only show information from Corocoro if it’s not shown anywhere else.
And due to time reasons, I won’t be doing full translations for everything, especially if it’s just repeated information that I already covered.
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Yokai Watch Movie 5 News:
The official website for the movie has gotten some updates again.
I’ll go over the minor ones first.
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The main page got this new cover image that we had previously seen in Corocoro:
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The general information page now also uses this image as a background for the “story” section, but the text seems unchanged.
It also has an added bit about Enma in this movie, among other things, but it doesn’t have any new information in there.
One thing of note is that the added cast list finally seems to confirm the name of this Whisper-like character:
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Previously, it was unclear if he is supposed to be Whisper or not, since it was hard to understand him when he said his name. But now it seems confirmed that his name is 臼田さん/Usuda-san, so he’s probably not Whisper.
(Which makes sense, considering Whisper should be sealed up around this time.)
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The character page had some characters added, but no new information about them.
They did fix the apparent typo in Itsuki’s bio, so he’s no longer called a “yokai” here. Seems like it really was a mistake after all. I mentioned that typo in this post here, back in July.
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The design contest page now shows all winning entries. Note that, as far as I know, this information especially isn’t documented forever on these pages, so back it up if you’re interested.
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Now, onto the actual news page of the site.
There’s been a comment by TVXQ, the band behind the movie’s main song 大好きだった/Daisukidatta (”I loved you”) . But it doesn’t really have any notable information in it, so I won’t cover it unless I see people who really want me too.
Same with the short interview videos that Corocoro’s youtube channel did with Chiemi Blouson and Shun Oguri, which you can see here and here.
They all talk about the basic points of “this movie is about friendship”, and “please watch it with your parents”, which is nice, but something they went over before, like these comments from last month.
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Actual news is this section, where they introduce ”Yasha Enma”, a character that was name-dropped before, but we hadn’t fully seen him yet.
(Check out this post about the news from last month if you want to know the context of that.)
Here’s what they say about him:
"Yasha Enma", the ultimate king who controls fire and ice, unveiled!
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The "Great King Enma" is a super popular character of the Yokai Watch series. His ultimate form, "Yasha Enma" which no one has ever seen yet, will appear in this work!! Wielding the strongest weapon, the "En Ma Rod" (1), and using the "Dragon of Ice" and "Dragon of Fire", he displays power like that of a fierce deity! Will fierce fights unfold at the "Enma Butōkai" where the next Great King Enma will be chosen?! Please look forward to the battles of the coolest Great King Enma to date!!
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"Yasha Enma" Enma, bearing the name of fierce deities that appear in mythology, the "Yaksha" (2). In his hand, the strongest weapon, the En Ma Rod. He won't just appear in his regular form, but also forms in which he controls the "Dragon of Ice" and the "Dragon of Fire".
Notes:
I had previously translated the name of his weapon 炎魔棍/Enmakon as “Enma Rod”, but I decided to spell it as “En Ma Rod” now, to make it more clear that it’s not spelled the same as the name “Enma”.
“Yasha” is the Japanese spelling of “Yaksha”. I use the Japanese spelling for his name, since we also spell “Enma” like in Japanese, rather than calling him “Yama”.
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Corocoro has some more information on Yasha Enma that the website hasn’t covered yet. So I will go over those next.
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Corocoro introduces Yasha Enma with this two-page spread:
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(image source)
In addition to his regular form, it also shows the two other forms that the website only hinted at.
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悪の妖怪と戦うシンとイツキたちは妖魔界へ行き、 次の閻魔大王を決める 「エンマ武闘会」に出場。 そこで夜叉エンマと出会うのか!? Fighting evil yokai, Shin, Itsuki, and the others participe in the"Enma Butōkai" where the next Great King Enma will be chosen. Will they encounter Yasha Enma there?!
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夜叉エンマ 最強の武器・炎魔棍をあやつる。 右目に特別な力を秘めている!? Yasha Enma He wields the En Ma Rod, the strongest weapon. There's a special power hidden in his right eye!?
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羅雪 氷の龍を宿し、 すさまじい冷気を発する!! Rasetsu Harboring the dragon of ice, he emits terrible cold!!
絢爛・羅雪!! Shine brightly, Rasetsu!!
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紅華 炎の龍を宿し、 紅蓮の業火を巻きおこす!! Benibana Harboring the dragon of fire, he creates crimson fireworks!!
乱舞・紅華 Dance wildly, Benibana!!
Note that last month, I had mistakenly romanized “Benibana“ as “Kōka”, since it was really hard to read the furigana for the names.
It also seems that “Rasetsu” and “Benibana” are supposed to be the names of the two dragons themselves, so it’s a bit confusing about how those names also seem to refer to these two forms of Yasha Enma.
Notably, the merchandise I’ll go over in the next segment seems to call the forms “Yasha Enma Rasetsu” and “Yasha Enma Benibana” instead.
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Yokai Watch Merchandise News:
Boys Toy Web has added two new Yokai Watch items to their list.
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First we have the “Yōseiken Series 04: DX Ashura Goen-maru Yōseiken & Yōkai Ark Set”.
In other words, the 4th Yōseiken toy, and as always it comes with a special Yokai Ark.
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The Yōseiken in question is of course the Ashura Goen-maru, which has actually been in the Shadowside anime for a long time, where it’s wielded by Dōketsu.
For a while it’s been unclear if Dōketsu was its Kenbumajin, but now it seems that he is not, and that it’s actually Ashura (Asura).
The special Yokai Ark that comes with it is an Extreme Rare-ranked one of “Sekka no Fubuki-hime”, following the trend of these bonus Arks seemingly always being a special form of a yokai who debuted in the original series.
This set will be released in December.
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Next is the “Yōkai Arc Zero ~The Other Side of the Silver Screen” pack.
This is a special Yokai Ark booster pack related to the upcoming movie.
As always, each pack has 1 random Ark in it. There’ll be 13 Arks included in this series:
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We got 3 Ultimate Rare ranks: Nekomata, Kappa, and Zashiki-warashi.
This time around, their backsides feature their Godside forms: Cat King Bastet, Kappa King Sagojō, and Tengu King Kurama.
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Then there’s 4 Extreme Rare ranks: Yasha Enma Benibana, Yasha Enma Rasetsu, Shien, and one that’s secret.
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We got 2 Rare ranks: Kukuri-hime and Karasu-tengu.
Karasu-tengu was seen in the most recent trailer, but I don’t think Kukuri-hime has been shown before. She is presumably based on the mythological Kukurihime, but her name is spelled differently.
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And 3 Normal ranks: Yamata no Orochi, Tamamo no Mae, and Yamambā.
Interestingly, Tamamo no Mae is just referred to as “Tamamo” in her Lightside form here.
Yamata no Orochi is a legendary dragon, whom Orochi/Venoct seemed to be slightly based on, but we had never seen the real deal in Yokai Watch. Yamambā is one of the names of the yokai Yama-uba.
Curious that these guys are all Normal-ranked, Tamamo no Mae especially seems like she should be more special, right?
This booster pack will also come out in December.
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Corocoro has also shown off a black Yokai Ark of Yasha Enma, and announced that they will be giving away 10000 of them in their January issue.
I think, because of how the issue naming works with this magazine, that might actually be the issue that comes out in December, but I am not sure.
Corocoro mascot/employee “Kaa-kun” made this tweet, showing off the Ark in question:
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With the three Yasha Enma Arks, and the Ark of Shien, we’ve been shown a new tribe symbol, resembling a sun:
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It seems reasonable to assume that this symbol could possibly represent the Enma Tribe, but it doesn’t seem to have been confirmed as of me writing this.
But it is reminiscent of the moon-like symbol of the Izana Tribe that Kaira belongs to:
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And lastly, Yoroz Mart is going to release plush toys of Junior, Nekomata, and Yasha Enma in December, as seen in this tweet.
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Yokai Watch Mobile Games News:
This is just going to be really minor, but I wanted to go over it in some form regardless.
Corocoro revealed that the Great King Enma, in his original, young form that first showed up Blasters, will be added to Yokai Watch World soon.
And, you have probably heard of it already, But Yokai Watch Puni Puni is currently having a crossover with Dissida Final Fantasy, adding many characters originally from the Final Fantasy franchise as puni.
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The offical Level-5 youtube channel has also re-uploaded their trailer for the mobile game “Yokai Daijiten”, which you can see here.
Though they still haven’t added a proper release date for it, in fact, it only seems to say “release date to be determined” now.
In case you don’t know, this game was first announced back in 2016, I believe, alongside a smartphone version of the first Yokai Watch game.
If I recall correctly, they were scheduled to be released in 2016, but when that year came and went, the release date was updated to 2017, and now, as 2018 draws to a close, many people thought they got cancelled, but this re-upload implies that Daijiten is still being worked on in some form.
The official website for Yokai Watch 1 for smartphone says that it will be released in 2019 now, but I haven’t seen anyhting else from it.
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And that’s it for the general Yokai Watch news in November of 2018.
As always, I hope you’ve found this to be interesting and/or helpful!
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timeisacephalopod · 6 years
Text
Dramatics
I got bored so I figured what the fuck, why not another of the Peter Q/Stephen/ Tony YouTube AU shorts.
When Peter reads the topic this week he laughs and Tony grins because yeah, he figured Peter would enjoy that. And this week they have special guest Wong to back up all their crazy ‘Stephen Did A Really Dramatic Thing’ stories. Stephen glares at him because he doesn’t have a facial expression in between pleased and pissed and that has led to a whole lot of audience questions that are mostly ‘how do you know when he’s actually mad’ and the answer is that Stephen is screaming. Usually not literally, but he’s got a penchant for complaining that Peter and Tony have discovered is a trait they both found secretly appealing. Tony because he can use Stephen’s inability to keep his opinions to himself as a way to drive off reporters and Peter because he thinks its funny to set Stephen on people like some kind of personal pit bull.
In his defense it actually is pretty hilarious to watch this happen.
“Well, what’s the topic?” he asks and Tony hands the slip of paper to Wong, who reads it and lets out a loud snort. They don’t say anything to Stephen because all three of them know that if they say anything Stephen will deny all dramatics, but if they keep him dangling he’ll do something dramatic. Then he can’t deny his tendency to put on one hell of a show one hundred percent of the time.
“This is going to be fun,” Wong says, grinning.
Stephen squints at him, “how the hell is anything supposed to be fun when I don’t know what we’re doing?” he asks and they all start laughing.
“Exhibit A in Stephen Is Dramatic,” Peter says. “Obviously none of us can have fun if you don’t know what we’re doing.”
Stephen sticks his nose in the air, “its not my fault its true. And I am not dramatic,” he says like he didn’t just decide that it’s impossible for Tony, Wong, and Peter to have fun without him.
“Yes you are Stephen, face it. You’re more dramatic than Tony and that’s difficult to do when the man has literally coordinated pyrotechnics to his entrances,” Wong points out.
“In my defense,” Tony says, “that was Stark Expo and it was an important event.” Also he’s always wanted to walk into pyrotechnics and that seemed like a good way to fulfill his childhood dreams. Wong doesn’t seem to think this serves as a useable defense if the look on his face is any indication. Well, its not Tony’s fault Wong is no fun.
Peter snorts, “its funny that I write movies because living with the two of you is basically like living one.”
Stephen takes much more offense to this than he does. “I am not like living in a movie, I am a doctor and to most people that’s boring,” he says.
“A doctor that does a lot of international conferences, has revolutionized the way people do surgery, and has made significant headway in research in various fields related to spinal surgery. That’s not really boring,” Tony points out. “Its me, but with people instead of technology.”
“Right down to the flashy personality, ridiculous cars, and arrogant attitude,” Wong agrees but Peter wrinkles his nose.
“Tony is fake arrogant, Stephen is arrogant arrogant,” he says.
Wong presses his hand to his heart, “that’s so beautiful and eloquent, I can see how you managed to get several writing jobs,” he says sarcastically. Peter flips him off but Wong remains unaffected.
“I am not arrogant arrogant,” Stephen says, “but I agree that Tony is mostly good at faking it. Give him a sad child and a kitten though and he’ll show his true colors.”
Honest to fucking god Wong pulls an actual ass cat out of the bag sitting at his feet and hands it to Tony, who takes the furry little bugger immediately. “Why aren’t we doing a video on Wong’s dramatics,” Stephen says, frowning at him.
“Because I never insisted anyone call my cape a cloak,” Wong says.
“Or decided to get my colleagues to quiz me on seventies music while doing surgery just to prove how smart and able to multitask I am,” Peter says.
“Or convinced a guy’s girlfriend to dump him just so he’ll stop driving up the price of the rare car you want and can’t even drive,” Tony adds, petting the cat’s head.
Stephen squints at him, “I know how to drive,” he says.
Tony snorts, “yeah, if you consider stomping on the gas petal and riding your breaks like you do my ass driving. Your cars are screaming at you Stephen, I know this because I’m the one servicing them. Please stop killing your break pads,” he says. And he has to go fast everywhere. Like sure, Tony loves speed, always has, but Stephen lives on it and has a bad habit of being a distracted driver.
“I’m not worse than Peter,” Stephen says and Tony lets out a laugh.
“Honey, that’s like me saying I’m not a bad surgeon because I’m more competent than a fucking gibbon. Peter drives like he fucks- absolutely crazy, entirely selfish, not really aware of what he’s doing, but somehow ends up at his destination in one piece with everyone else there with him even if you have no clue how you got there,” he says.
Wong bursts out laughing, doubling over. “That is probably the best description of sex I have ever heard,” he wheezes out while Stephen joins him in laughing. Peter looks offended though.
“Am I really that bad at sex?” he asks and Tony shrugs.
“As a sex style I don’t understand how its working for me but it does. As a driving style, I’d rather trust Jesus to take the wheel and I don’t even believe he exists.” That is, he’s sure, probably because of the bad luck he’s had with cars he isn’t driving but that’s not the point. A goddamn goat probably has more skill than Peter behind the wheel.
“He’s right,” Stephen wheezes, “that’s exactly how you drive and fuck. That’s so funny.”
“Okay you know what, this video should have been about dramatic Tony is,” Peter says.
“I don’t necessarily agree, but technically we’re supposed to be talking about Stephen’s dramatics,” Wong says, preforming wrangling duties like he belongs in these videos. Clearly he keeps up with them if he knows to play into the existing structure and running joke. Funny, because Stephen doesn’t think Wong watches them at all and he’s sure Wong lets him believe that for whatever reason. The man is a more subtle dramatic most of the time, but dramatic nonetheless.
“Right, yeah, lets talk not talk about my totally normal not bad sex habits,” Peter says. “Stephen once decided to learn magic and insisted everyone call him ‘Sorcerer Supreme’.”
Tony snorts and starts laughing because he forgot about that. Stephen’s magic phase was short lived, but he did manage to learn quite a lot so now its a useful party trick he uses to steal drunk people’s keys at parties. Tony thinks that’s for the best even if Stephen’s ability with sleight of hand is much better than simple key stealing tricks.
“I was good, I deserved credit,” Stephen says, nose in the air.
“You were good sure, but that good? Eh,” Tony says, shrugging.
Stephen gives him an annoyed look before he sits up and Tony swears to a god he doesn’t even believe in that Stephen pulls a fucking bowl of goldfish out of nowhere. “Those aren’t real fish,” he says, handing the cat off to Wong before reaching for the bowl. Stephen lets him take it until he sticks his hand in there and lets out a loud yelp as Stephen pulls the bowl back.
“You don’t grab fish, Tony!” he yells as Peter does the same thing Tony does and reacts the same way as Stephen pulls the bowl away from him too. “I just told Tony not to grab the fish!” Stephen tells him. “What is wrong with the pair of you?”
Wong hands the cat back to Tony and pulls the bowl from Stephen’s hands and looks into it. “Yeah, those are definitely real fish. Where were you hiding four fish, a bowl, and all the water? I know you didn’t have all that on you when you sat down,” he says.
Stephen sticks his nose in the air, “I am the Sorcerer Supreme,” he says in a haughty tone.
Peter stares at Stephen like he’s preformed a miracle but Tony knows there has to be some kind of explanation. But who the hell keeps a bunch of fish, a tank, the water, and the rocks at the bottom of the bowl on them at all times? And how did he assemble all that in less than seconds when Tony knows there was no fish bowl hiding under his clothing. He’s wearing normal clothes, there’s nowhere for him to hide the bowl. But he had to manage somehow.
“This is why we’re making an entire video about your dramatics,” Wong points out, preforming wrangling duties again.
“You know what,” Stephen says, “I resent that I’m the dramatic one when Peter has cost people literal millions of dollars all in an effort to fund his self insert characters that are really his way of trying to avoid actual therapy for his daddy issues. And then he cast his boyfriend as his fake father- I feel that this is more dramatic than the fish,” he says matter-of-factly. 
Tony and Peter let out twin noises of disgust because they’d only just gotten past that. “Can’t you shut the fuck up about that?” Tony asks, wrinkling his nose at Stephen.
“No, because its true. And mini Peter is fake child Peter that you mentored into manhood. How do you feel about mentoring your boyfriend’s self insert into manhood?” he asks, smiling because he damn well knows he’s just ensured that Peter and Tony won’t be able to look each other in the eye for the next month or better. Shooting the damn movie was bad enough even if Peter is actually a pretty good director though it helps that he knows Tony well.
“This is why the video is centered on your dramatics, Stephen. Its not like the other two weaponize your parental relationships they way you do just because you like being the center of attention,” Wong says, going back to wrangling. Dude is good, Tony might keep him.
Peter frowns, “okay but how does this get him more attention?” he asks and Wong looks at him like he’s stupid.
“With you two alienated from each other you both pay attention to him more. He’s terrible really, he could have just asked for more attention like a normal person but instead he went through this convoluted plan to trap you both in your own web of daddy issues. Dramatic,” he points out.
Peter and Tony look at Stephen, who shrinks into his seat as his cheeks turn a little red. “Wong is lying,” he says with zero conviction.
*
Christine snorts, “he claimed he wasn’t dramatic? He should listen to the way he describes the other doctors at the hospital then. He once said that Glen was so old the Grim Reaper was reaching out and clutching his heart for safekeeping,” she says. “Then went on to point out he’s ‘lucky that he works in a hospital otherwise he would have surely turned to dust by now,’” she adds and they all know that last bit was Stephen’s phrasing. Christine isn’t that dramatic nor does she have a flair for flowery language like Stephen.
“That’s nothing- it turns out he’s been sabotaging mine and Tony’s relationship just to get more attention. He could have just asked,” Peter points out but no, Stephen can’t be a normal human.
“Oh yeah, he does that. Don’t let him get away with it, he’s like a kid. Give him an inch and he’ll take every mile he can squeeze out of you,” Christine says. “A good way to get him out of that habit is to do the opposite of what he wants. And he’s a fast learner.”
Tony and Peter exchange a look, knowing that they’re both keeping that in mind for later. Damn Stephen. “So,” Tony says, “did Wong give you a cat too? Because he’s given us three and Stephen hates them all as much as they love him.” Its like he’s catnip and he hates it. Tony doesn’t mind though, he’ll stand near Stephen and when he doesn’t pet them they go to him and he loves all the cats. Peter mostly doesn’t care about them until he trips on them in the kitchen.
Christine sighs, “yes, I have two. Where is he getting all these cats and why is he pawning them off on us? I had to go buy a cat tree yesterday so they’ll be entertained when I’m not home,” she says.
“Wong’s cat that he previously thought was a fat neutered male cat turned out to be a very pregnant female cat so he has some spare cats,” Stephen explains as he enters the room. The cats mill around his feet as he tries, and fails, to escape them. “Please rid me of these damn fang-y beasts,” he adds as he beelines to Tony.
Tony decides to put Christine’s words into practice and he calls the cats over but ignores Stephen. He watches as Stephen looks over to Peter, but he’s trying to get the attention of the third cat that’s just out of Tony’s reach. Then he looks at Christine, who decides to pick up one of the cats at Tony’s feet. “How come Wong gave you guys the cuter ones?” she asks. “One of mine looks like it has butt hole eyes and there’s nothing wrong with it, I took it to the vet to make sure,” she says.
Peter lets out a sharp laugh that scares off the kitten at his feet, “oh my god, come back kitty I didn’t mean to scare you!” Peter says, offering the cat a bad apology before he tries to call it back.
“I don’t know, maybe Wong decided you like the ugly ones. You had that pug in college,” he points out. And fuck was that thing ever a product of its entirely fucked up genetics. It looked in two different directions, the tongue hanging out of its mouth was nearly poking it in the eye, and Tony swears that one of its legs were shorter than the rest. That thing was a caution of science gone wrong but Stephen reports that Christine loved that ugly ass mutt.
“You leave Maribelle alone, she was a proper lady,” Christine tells him.
*
Peter and Tony are watching Rocket’s rough cut of Peter’s latest way of working out his daddy issues and Tony has to admit its good. A ton of shit still needs to be cut out, but its good. Mini Peter gives a great performance and Tony knows he’s acting, but it looks so natural that it doesn’t seem like he is. “You did an amazing job,” Peter says, wrapping an arm around his waist.
He smiles, “thank your directions, I don’t know how to act,” he says.
“That’s not true, you act all the time. Peter, cut that entire scene that’s basically just Tony laughing at Mini Peter’s jokes, its useless to the plot even if its cute. And that weird three minute scene where Tony is just standing there. Who’s bad style choice was that? I like the fishing scene but it should go too, its just Tony screaming at fish that I notice he does not try to grab,” Stephen says, giving him a look. Okay it was one time and forgive him for thinking it was nuts that Stephen had actual goddamn fish in a bowl he pulled out of literally nowhere. He’s gone through that video frame by frame and he still can’t figure out how he did it. The bowl wasn’t there and then it was. Like actual magic but Tony refuses to believe that.
They ignore Stephen still, deciding to steep him in his own stupid manipulation tactics for a little while longer while he stands there looking like a tit on a log. “Okay fine, I’m sorry I messed with your relationship please pay attention to me,” he says finally. Tony and Peter must be thinking along the same line because they both snort and start laughing before Tony extends his arm to Stephen, not looking away from the screen.
Stephen happily plods over, throwing himself on the couch beside them before laying down with his head in Tony’s lap. Peter shifts so his arm is on Stephen’s shoulder and Tony pets his hair. “That’s what you get for being an ass,” Tony tells him. “Also I think the way this turned out is not very much like Peter’s usual dad self inserts. I think Rocket heard us crying,” he says.
Peter shakes his head. “Nah, he just knows how to find the best takes and sticks them together to make a somewhat cohesive storyline,” Peter says. “So I guess the best scenes deviated from my original script. Also Stephen that’s all good advice, I was thinking the same thing but honestly at this point I’m too involved to know what’s good and what’s bad.”
That, and Tony knows Rocket probably realized that right away that the cutesy scenes didn’t work but kept them in for Peter to come to the same conclusion. They’d been relevant in the script, but not so much once it’d been shot. Turns out he and Mini Peter have enough on screen chemistry to believably build a relationship without all the bonding scenes they had in there before. Well, there were only like four but still.
They sit and watch the rough cut for another good twenty minutes before Stephen speaks again. “Are you even acting?” he asks Tony. “Because this doesn’t look like you’re acting at all.”
“I am, yeah. Peter gave me good directions,” he says but Peter snorts.
“Good directing gets you a lot, but it doesn’t replace talent. You were an actor in another life,” he says.
“Technically he’s an actor in this one too,” Stephen points out. “But he should have made a career out of it. You’re better than most current actors. Certainly better than Nicolas Cage,” he says.
Tony sighs, “remember what I said about the gibbon? This is another gibbon.”
Peter snorts and starts laughing. “I’m keeping that.”
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mirkwoodshewolf · 7 years
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I will always come back; Rocket Raccoon x Human!Reader
This request came from my Wattpad account and this was my first attempt to write a romantic oneshot featuring our Favorite trash panda Rocket. Now I took inspiration from the newly opened up Disney attraction after watching some of the videos on youtube GOTG: Mission Breakout so the quotes I have in the beginning belong to the ride I give them FULL credit. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this oh and if you want, fill free to listen to Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation when it comes up in the story :) Besides swearing not really any more warnings for you guys.
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"This is all your fault" snarled Gamora.
"Well at least we get a really cool looking sign" stated Peter. Soon golden words came across his glass screen and he whined out, "ahh man they got my name wrong its Star-Lord, dude. Although they do call me the leader. That's pretty cool".
"Yes because you led down here into this trap!"
"Hey, I thought the tour sounded fun"
"What name do they call me?" asked Drax. As words appeared across his cage. Peter leaned in and said out loud.
"Ahh Drax the Destroyer".
"Ha! That is correct".
"They got his name right".
"That's what bothers you!"
"Well sorry, Gamora Daughter of Thanos". Gamora's eyed widened as she saw the words across her cage and she shouted in rage.
"I AM NOT THE DAUGHTER OF THANOS!!" She punched her cage which shocked her with such high levels of voltage it light up her entire cage and caused her to shake her hand in pain.
"You're not supposed to tap the glass" Peter smart-mouthed.
"DON'T EVEN START!"
"Hey! Would you two keep it down over there!?" Rocket shouted to both Peter and Gamora.
"I am Groot" stated Bab Groot.
"I know! They're so inconsiderate".
"I am Groot".
"According to that you're not Groot, you're a Flora Colossus".
"I am Groot!"
"Don't listen to him. You are Groot" stated Rocket.
"Hey you wanna know what they call you Rocket?" asked Peter.
"I know what they call me. Cybernetic, genetically—"
"Pet Rodent!" Drax then let out a boisterous laugh as Rocket exclaimed angrily.
"ALRIGHT! WHOEVER CALLS ME PET WILL ANSWER TO MY FIST!!"
"I thought you'd be more upset about the Rodent"
"Ain't nothing in the universe like me except me!" The Guardians of the Galaxy had once again found themselves in a serious predicament. Having been tricked by the Collector, they have now become a part of his collection on Knowhere for his profit and gain.
The cages they were in were made especially for them since the Collector had known that Rocket was known for escaping from every imprisonment that he's even been put in. The wires in each cage were hooked up to his Massive generator which gave each cage unimaginable power and any touch of it would deliver a painful shock throughout their bodies. The cages were also elevated at the center of his collection and even if they were able to escape, they would only end up falling into an abyss thousands of feet.
They continued to argue amongst themselves when Groot exclaimed at them to be quiet then Gamora fell to her knees helplessness saying.
"I'm in hell". But as she leaned against her cage, she got shocked again which made Drax chuckle. The Guardians knew that unless Rocket could magically get out of his cage and free them, they would forever be at the hands of the Collector and be a freak-show for the rest of their lives.
Or so they thought.
Unbeknownst to the Collector, there was one member of the Guardian's missing from his collection. And she was currently climbing up the walls of the gantry lift with one of Rocket's guns wrapped around her back. To a normal person climbing up 40-50ft of wall would seem impossible but to (y/n) (l/n) it was next to nothing for her.
*1st Person POV*
The name is (y/n) (l/n) one of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Just to get some of the basic information out of the way I am human but I was taken from my home by black market aliens and taken to the same planet where Rocket and Groot were taken and experimented on. The scientists had given me enhanced strength as well as intelligence like my boyfriend. (Wait what?)
Yeah you heard right. Rocket Raccoon is my boyfriend. After helping them throughout our time together in that hellhole, Rocket helped Groot get some water in his system after finding him dehydrated and just before escaping they helped me when I was being beaten by some of the scientists for sport.
Once I was saved, I escaped with them and the three of us teamed up to drag in any bounties to make as much money as we could and throughout that time Rocket and I began to fall for each other. Of course him being the stubborn ass that he is he didn't want to admit it but Groot actually played Matchmaker and set us up on a romantic starlight dinner and that's when the truth finally came out from both of us.
And I'm sure you guys know what happened next after we had made it to Xandar, if not then go do your research.
Anyways, fast forward a few months after we saved the galaxy from Ronan and to make this long story short, Rocket and I had our usual arguments with each other but the last one we had was so bad that I couldn't even bear to look at him anymore and I walked out on him. Next thing I know, Mantis tells me that the Collector has imprisoned him in his collection and here I am now.
Finally after a long climb, I make it to the Generator's level and I see the power source just ahead of me. I then decided now would be a good time to make my grand entrance. I take out my boyfriend's gun and ready it as I stated.
"I live for the simple things, like how much I'm going to enjoy this". I then pull the trigger and the blast hits the power source which then cuts the entire power off then I wire the speakers and proclaimed.
"Attention K-mart shoppers, this is your savior speaking. Please enjoy our program after this commercial breakout". I then plugged in Quill's Walkman and my favorite rocker girl Joan Jett "Bad Reputation" came on as I raced towards the generator then did a superhero burst out of the glass and fell epically down on top of an escaped flying womp rat.
With my friends' weapons and seeing all the creatures now free along with the Collector's security drones trying to fire at everything in sight. I took control of my flying womp rat by using some wires that I keep at my hip for emergencies like this, I made sure that when it had open its disgusting mouth the wire went inside his mouth and like a rein I controlled his flight patterns.
"Hey Gamora!" I tossed her, her sword and she freed herself from one of the tentacles of an Abilisk. Then after jumping out of the mouth of a gargoyle-like giant behemoth, Drax punched its face which threw it backwards I called out his name and tossed him his daggers.
"Thank you (y/n)! You are a cunning warrior and I am honored to fight alongside you!"
"No prob, where's Rocket and Groot?"
"Last I saw them they were with Quill". I nodded then urged my womp rat onward. Flying a few levels higher, I took notice that Rocket and Quill were overwhelmed by droids as well as the small pestering alien rats.
"Babe!" Rocket turned to me and I tossed him his gun which he caught and readied it before saying.
"Oh—yeah!" He then went crazy firing at the drones. I then leaped off my womp rat and tackled one of the drones and punched my bare hand into its main control and ripped it off then quickly rewired it and used it as my own weapon at any oncoming threat.
"Hey (l/n) you didn't happen to grab my blasters did you?"
"Here you punk!" I tossed him his blasters and he went nuts with them before asking me.
"You didn't really think this through did you?"
"Shut up, okay! At least I'm getting you out of here aren't I?"
"I am Groot!" I then saw a vine tentacle grab Groot and take him towards an enhanced Venus fly-trap.
"Groot!" I took a running start then leaped in the air to try and grab him but I was suddenly grabbed by a three headed snake. Its coils wrapped around me tightly squeezing the life out of me. I could almost hear the sound of my bones cracking that's when I heard Rocket's voice say.
"Hey lizard breath! Get your damn coils off'a my girl!" He then fired at the snake's heads which made them rear back and release me but I ended up falling with no womp rat to get on. But it was then Peter grabbed me and said.
"What would you do without me?"
"Apparently be a pancake". Peter then took me back towards Rocket.
"What's the plan now?" Peter asked me.
"We're going home. Mantis is on the upper level waiting for us with the Milano, get everyone together and meet me up there in a few minutes. I still need to grab some things".
"I'm coming too!" Rocket exclaimed.
"No you're going with Peter!"
"You ain't getting rid of me that easily babe now I'm coming whether you like it or not!" Rocket stated firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Fine but let's go now before creepy mc-bad-hairdo sends in more of his drones. We're gonna make some fireworks". I stated as I ran off. Rocket smirked and stated to Peter before running off after me.
"I love it when she talks explosives".
"You got issues Rocket!" Peter called out.
Throughout various levels of the facility, we each set up bombs and activated them while I had the detonator. I also went ahead and grabbed Peter's Walkman since I knew I'd never hear the end of it if that got destroyed, plus I like hearing some of his music. I then met up with the others at the Milano and saw everyone was there except for Rocket.
"Where's Rocket?" I asked.
"I thought he was with you!" said Peter.
"He was but then he disappeared on me as I was grabbing this for you!" I showed Peter his Walkman and he said.
"Yes! (Y/n) you got my Walkman thanks little sis!" He then went to glomp me in a hug but I sidestepped which made him trip as I scouted the area worriedly. If Rocket didn't come back in the next 1:45 those bombs will set off anyway even without the detonator.
Suddenly Rocket appeared flying up with his jetpack and he landed right next to me.
"So we outta here or what?"
"Yes. Let us be relieved of this haunting environment" stated Drax. We all then aboard the Milano and Peter took the wheel and we took off and with the detonator, Rocket and I together pushed the button and watched as the Collector's office blew up in fireworks. Finally we all left Knowhere and left all of that insane mess behind us and set our course for wherever we wanted to go.
"You really came through for us (y/n), thank you" Gamora stated as she placed her hand on my shoulder. I smiled softly and nodded at her. Drax then stood up and very strongly patted my back once and thanked me just like Gamora did. Groot then came up to me and lifted his arms up to me which made me smile softly and pick him up and I held him close to my chest and in turn he yawned cutely and fell asleep.
"But why? Why did you come back?" stated Rocket solemnly. The rest of the Guardians took that statement as their moment to leave. I passed Groot to Gamora and they all left the room leaving Rocket and I to talk alone.
"Because I wanted to".
"But after that fight, everything I said to you about being a—" I knelt down beside him and kissed his nose before taking his face into my hands.
"Don't ruin the moment alright?" He softly grinned then I continued, "We fight, that's what all couples do. Sometimes fights leave to things being said that aren't really true, and Rocket I was angry at the time but I know you, and I know that everything you said wasn't true, and you know me enough to know I didn't mean any of the things I said about you. And no matter how much we fight, or whatever stupid things we may say to each other, I will always come back to you".
"Same here" he said sincerely as his eyes glistened with tears of love and admiration. "God, when did I get so lucky to find someone like you?"
"I ask myself to same thing every day babe". We both smiled at each other and as we leaned in for a kiss, it was then the annoying buzzing voice of Quill stated out-loud.
"No mutant baby making in my ship!"
"DAMNIT QUILL MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!" Rocket shouted out. I rolled my eyes and took Rocket in my arms and the two of us just cuddled together for the remainder of the ride.
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cosmosogler · 7 years
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late getting started again. i was faffing about with the images and some video posts that i put in my queue so as not to dominate your dashboards with five posts in a row. those will post in about two days in place of my usual memes.
today ping decided to start yowling nonstop about an hour before my alarm was set to go off. i was so angry that i stayed in bed for an extra 45 minutes, throwing off my whole day plan.
after picking up ping and throwing him out of my room i put my face down into my blanket i had folded up, since i did not pack a pillow and the spare one is... now that i think about it, not actually my pillow, and also it made my face super itchy. i will put it back on the couch where it belongs after i write this post.
it was ungodly hot for some reason. apparently it was like that for my classmates too, i found out later. i took a shower and put on my nice blouse and long skirt. i realized i had forgotten to pack nice shoes so i just wore my running shoes. the skirt was long enough that it wasn’t immediately obvious. also walking around in flats all day would have gotten really old really fast.
the physics student lounge has been relocated to a tiny office in the biology building. so it took me a few minutes to find everyone. it was crowded and hot even with the window open and the nice breeze. everyone seemed pretty happy to see me though. at least, i was happy to see them. i hung out in there all afternoon chatting and reading some articles about internet economics on the side. i also found an interesting series of posts under the title “hipsters on food stamps” that went into why we are encouraged to hate people on welfare and what it means to project onto someone else. 
my pain and discomfort didn’t get any better today, but it didn’t get particularly worse. it feels like i got an air bubble in my side right under my ribs. 
then we all went to the graduation ceremony and dinner that the department was holding for us. i quickly realized that the ceremony was not for the seniors though. it was to hand out scholarships like free candy to the underclassmen and initiate them into phi sigma phi. i did not graduate with honors. 
the dinner was acceptable. the potatoes were really good. the chocolate cake i first described as “decadent” ended up being kinda weird. i split a slice with jay. he wanted the half with all the frosting so i teased him, but it ended up working out in my favor because that extra sugar would have been too much for me.
it was good to hang out with my friends. my classmates were talking about a take-home test they had as half of a final and that they weren’t supposed to work on it together. so cody said “so when are we not working on it together, and where?” and i burst out laughing. it was legit the funniest thing someone has said around me in person in like four months.
i didn’t eat too much. at least, i felt super nauseous, but not bloated. i made it home before getting too sick to be comfortable around other human beings. so then i watched youtube videos all night like a hack.
i also talked to oz for a while when i was on campus and my friends were in class. i hope he is ok.
about the parenting thing. raising children has been on my mind a little bit lately, i’m not sure why. i don’t feel that i could adequately care for a young person as my sense of normal parenting is extremely skewed toward “be an asshole.” i keep running into situations and trains of thought where i come to a conclusion and then decide to file it away for later in case i end up talking to a child about a related topic. this hypothetical child usually, in my mind, comes from my brother or sister. i don’t think my sister wants kids, but i don’t know if my brother has thought about it/made a decision about it. i would say he is pretty young to be thinking about it, but i’ve known since i was like four that i never wanted kids, so it’s possible.
i don’t know why i keep putting this information away with the intent of bringing it up with someone else’s kid. i guess... i want to be a part of my siblings’ lives, and part of taking care of them would involve helping their kids be more thoughtful and well-rounded i guess. i want to be a cool uncle, like my uncle mike. he doesn’t dump advice on me, but he’s always got something to say if i ask or if something important comes up. i would hope to see my niece/nephews a little more often than i see my uncle though. i guess i used to see him at least once a week when i was in grade school so it could happen.
but if i took care of my own kid, i would adopt a million times before i ever had my own biological children. i got too many nasty depression genes to want to force that potential on someone else. and also i have no interest in the processes involved in manufacturing small humans. i keep thinking about parenting strategies i would use and how it would hopefully go better than how my parents treat me, almost against my will. the thoughts come more or less unprompted. mostly in the shower, but, you know. i mean, since i don’t want to make a new kid, taking care of one that already exists is a good idea, right? and the foster system has so many serious issues... 
i can’t get a handle on the logistics though. how would i help with schoolwork? emotions and self esteem? how other people treat the kid? the fine balance between freedom and hard rules? how would i balance that with my own job? i couldn’t do it by myself. would i have a spouse? how would our schedules line up to allow us to spend the most time with the kid between the two of us?
adopting a kid isn’t the same as adopting a dog. i could take care of a dog or cat or birds or reptiles. you don’t have to worry about how your dog is going to get through college or find a job or decide on a career trajectory or how to deal with bullies. you just gotta love the dog and care for its biological needs. kids are much more complicated.
i don’t know why i am thinking about that now. i am not in a good life position to put those thoughts into any sort of action. i like to plan ahead, but that turns into micromanaging really fast and really easy if i’m not super careful. i can’t manage and “fix” my friends the way i would a machine, and i shouldn’t. i wouldn’t want to subject a kid to that full-time either. 
anyway, that’s what’s on my mind. it’s 12:30 now so if i go to bed soon i will be on a semi-good schedule again. what i want to do tomorrow is go to the financial aid office and work out my tuition refund since i wasn’t even able to start this semester. i hope i did not put it off too long. it is easier to go to the office and waste their time in person than it is to make a phone call. i guess because with phone calls there are bad connections and you get put on hold and it’s stressful. in person i can sit there in front of them until they do something about me.
next week i want to start working on a bunch of short-term goals and maybe one or two long-term goals with my therapist. i need to start doing things again. i will also bake the rest of the cake batter because the other can of frosting expires at the end of this month. and i won’t put too much water in the mix this time. maybe i can trick asher’s dad into taking some of those too. i will also start the group therapy program, though i’m still not sure about what exactly that entails. i know they do workshops for specific topics depending on, i guess, the week? and there are activities, some of which seemed to be outside the hospital grounds. i am right at the edge of the age cutoff so i wonder how well i will get along with younger people. and what the quality of the therapy will be, how guided it’s going to be, whether or not we’ll have someone who launches off topic frequently. no-fun power hours are going to feel like a waste of time to me. 
i know that feeling like i need to urgently get my crap together is not actually helpful to the therapy process. it takes time but i am very interested in not having stupid random abdominal pain any more if it’s really caused by anxiety. i will try to convert my impatience into enthusiasm for throwing myself into the activities. taking them seriously will help them help me more. getting frustrated will not help me.
ok it’s 12:40 now, my usual quitting time i guess. i still have to drink another bottle of water to make sure i am not dehydrated in the morning... i’m gonna have to get up during the night as usual i guess.
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dunkcarlton · 6 years
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Divorce Can Make Good People Bad
Why is it that people who seemed to be fairly rational before divorce turn into complete paranoid, hyper-defensive maniacs once the separation and divorce process begins? Couples who promised to do this divorce thing respectfully suddenly turn into ferocious warriors, letting their mean-and-petty streak show through, especially when they get into the pit with their attorney.
Sure, some people are just jerks, but what makes otherwise good people behave so poorly? It turns out this “crazy” behavior is fairly predictable and normal in such circumstances. That’s not an excuse for it, but when you better understand what’s pushing your buttons so badly, you can finally begin to make healthier choices and address the feelings of overwhelm that are triggering such unseemly (read: king of the jerks) behavior.
Here are the panic-button pushing reasons that divorce makes us act so out of character:
Disappointment Over Unmet Expectations
When you said “I do” you did so with expectations about what marriage is all about. But maybe you never fully shared those expectations with the person you actually said your vows to. Many times we don’t articulate our expectations specifically because we assume everyone just knows this is how marriage is supposed to be. But, “everyone” may only be your family and the way they did things, or your closest friends with whom you have discussed this over and over. It never included your now soon-to-be-ex-spouse who (don’t forget) came into marriage with some unspoken expectations of their own. When our deeply held expectations (like “marriage is forever, no matter what”) are unmet, we often feel betrayed, making it easy to feel indignant and cast our ex as the enemy. We believe they let us down. But, if we’re honest, were they ever fully on page with us to begin with?
The big challenge of marriage is putting both partner’s expectations on the table and then working together to create a mutually agreed upon vision for how your marriage will actually work.
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Fear of Change
During periods of immense and drastic change (such as divorce), your mild-mannered brain goes into survival mode, ready at a moment’s notice to fight or retreat, thanks to that reptilian brain you inherited from your ancient ancestors.
Whether is it your fear of losing status (social, financial, etc.), a sense of uncertainty about the future, a worry that you don’t belong anymore in your social circle, or just a feeling like this whole situation is so unfair—the problem-solving part of your brain can’t do its job until your panicked reptilian brain calms down.
Uncertainty and fear about how things will turn out take a steep toll on you mentally and physically. Stress from staying in an “I’m in danger” primal mindset can short-circuit your patience, your willingness to listen, and your ability to communicate effectively. Your health is also likely to take a dive as well, making you prone to sleep deprivation and low stamina at a time when you are taking on mountains of critically important paperwork, decisions, and details as part of the divorce. So, even if you want to make good choices, the stress response of facing so much uncertainty and change at once is sure to cause you at least some temporary loss of rational thought and behavior.
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Feeling Powerless and Out of Control
In normal life, you are used to being competent and in charge, but now you are thrust into the unfamiliar, unsure of how to get things done right in the divorce process (and in the new life waiting after it). You are being forced to make important decisions immediately. You have to hire a high-priced expert to navigate you through the legal aspects. And hiring a lawyer kicks off what could be seen by the other as an attack; you have drawn up sides and are now ready for war.
Communication is out the window when you feel powerless and unable to fully control things that profoundly affect your life. You have to trust your attorney (who was likely a complete stranger to you before this situation) to lead the charge and make decisions that will affect your future (and your childrens’ future) for years to come. It all costs a fortune. Is it any wonder each side feels like they are being screwed?
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A Sense of Entitlement
Splitting apart all of the property (and associated memories) the two of you acquired through your sweat, equity, and hard-earned money can feel like a spiteful business transaction. Each of you has a sense of ownership and “it wouldn’t have happened without my efforts” point of view. Your decisions right now are dominated by your emotions, not your logical problem-solving self.
If you have kids, there is likely an overwhelming sense of guilt and worry that this divorce experience might be damaging them. They may even think it is their fault that mommy and daddy are splitting up. The kids end up as pawns in a fight over what you and your ex believe you each deserve or never deserved. Each of you are in it to “get yours” in the name of fairness. But the ego battle waging between you both in the pursuit of “emotional justice” ends up feeling more like scrambling down an endless tunnel with no cheese at the end.
So, what’s a stressed out person to do in order to keep divorce-induced jerky behavior in check?
Take back your dignity. Get in touch with who you are when you are at your best. Be clear about what is important to you and why, and how you want to remember yourself when this is over. Now, behave your way into that outcome.
Assemble a good team to support you in this transition from married to single. Identify where you need more information, different perspectives, and validation that will get you through this in a way that lifts you up (versus pulling you down). Pick people who can support you in being your best. Fight the urge to surround yourself with people who will urge you to seek revenge, act petty, or take your ex to the cleaners. When you look in the mirror, you want the best version of you reflecting back as you move into your new future.
Listen, listen, listen. Communicate, communicate, communicate—with your children, with your ex-spouse, and with the experts you are relying on to help you make the best decisions based on your needs, wants and values. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your role in how things are going. If you misstep and act like a jerk for a moment, own it, and then apologize and move on.
Remember your past successes. Take care of what is important to you, ask for help, and remember the times when you successfully dealt with challenging times in the past. What allowed you to be resilient then? How can that help you here and now? You’ve been through hard times before—you can handle this.
Dealing with a difficult ex certainly doesn’t make the divorce process any easier. But neither does being a difficult ex. So keep yourself in check. By understanding some of the hot buttons that you both are pushing in each other, then maybe you can pause, take a breath, drop the jerk behavior and make better choices.
Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer in Utah
If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will fight for you.
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Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/divorce-can-make-good-people-bad/
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loycereiber · 6 years
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Divorce Can Make Good People Bad
Why is it that people who seemed to be fairly rational before divorce turn into complete paranoid, hyper-defensive maniacs once the separation and divorce process begins? Couples who promised to do this divorce thing respectfully suddenly turn into ferocious warriors, letting their mean-and-petty streak show through, especially when they get into the pit with their attorney.
Sure, some people are just jerks, but what makes otherwise good people behave so poorly? It turns out this “crazy” behavior is fairly predictable and normal in such circumstances. That’s not an excuse for it, but when you better understand what’s pushing your buttons so badly, you can finally begin to make healthier choices and address the feelings of overwhelm that are triggering such unseemly (read: king of the jerks) behavior.
Here are the panic-button pushing reasons that divorce makes us act so out of character:
Disappointment Over Unmet Expectations
When you said “I do” you did so with expectations about what marriage is all about. But maybe you never fully shared those expectations with the person you actually said your vows to. Many times we don’t articulate our expectations specifically because we assume everyone just knows this is how marriage is supposed to be. But, “everyone” may only be your family and the way they did things, or your closest friends with whom you have discussed this over and over. It never included your now soon-to-be-ex-spouse who (don’t forget) came into marriage with some unspoken expectations of their own. When our deeply held expectations (like “marriage is forever, no matter what”) are unmet, we often feel betrayed, making it easy to feel indignant and cast our ex as the enemy. We believe they let us down. But, if we’re honest, were they ever fully on page with us to begin with?
The big challenge of marriage is putting both partner’s expectations on the table and then working together to create a mutually agreed upon vision for how your marriage will actually work.
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Fear of Change
During periods of immense and drastic change (such as divorce), your mild-mannered brain goes into survival mode, ready at a moment’s notice to fight or retreat, thanks to that reptilian brain you inherited from your ancient ancestors.
Whether is it your fear of losing status (social, financial, etc.), a sense of uncertainty about the future, a worry that you don’t belong anymore in your social circle, or just a feeling like this whole situation is so unfair—the problem-solving part of your brain can’t do its job until your panicked reptilian brain calms down.
Uncertainty and fear about how things will turn out take a steep toll on you mentally and physically. Stress from staying in an “I’m in danger” primal mindset can short-circuit your patience, your willingness to listen, and your ability to communicate effectively. Your health is also likely to take a dive as well, making you prone to sleep deprivation and low stamina at a time when you are taking on mountains of critically important paperwork, decisions, and details as part of the divorce. So, even if you want to make good choices, the stress response of facing so much uncertainty and change at once is sure to cause you at least some temporary loss of rational thought and behavior.
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Feeling Powerless and Out of Control
In normal life, you are used to being competent and in charge, but now you are thrust into the unfamiliar, unsure of how to get things done right in the divorce process (and in the new life waiting after it). You are being forced to make important decisions immediately. You have to hire a high-priced expert to navigate you through the legal aspects. And hiring a lawyer kicks off what could be seen by the other as an attack; you have drawn up sides and are now ready for war.
Communication is out the window when you feel powerless and unable to fully control things that profoundly affect your life. You have to trust your attorney (who was likely a complete stranger to you before this situation) to lead the charge and make decisions that will affect your future (and your childrens’ future) for years to come. It all costs a fortune. Is it any wonder each side feels like they are being screwed?
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A Sense of Entitlement
Splitting apart all of the property (and associated memories) the two of you acquired through your sweat, equity, and hard-earned money can feel like a spiteful business transaction. Each of you has a sense of ownership and “it wouldn’t have happened without my efforts” point of view. Your decisions right now are dominated by your emotions, not your logical problem-solving self.
If you have kids, there is likely an overwhelming sense of guilt and worry that this divorce experience might be damaging them. They may even think it is their fault that mommy and daddy are splitting up. The kids end up as pawns in a fight over what you and your ex believe you each deserve or never deserved. Each of you are in it to “get yours” in the name of fairness. But the ego battle waging between you both in the pursuit of “emotional justice” ends up feeling more like scrambling down an endless tunnel with no cheese at the end.
So, what’s a stressed out person to do in order to keep divorce-induced jerky behavior in check?
Take back your dignity. Get in touch with who you are when you are at your best. Be clear about what is important to you and why, and how you want to remember yourself when this is over. Now, behave your way into that outcome.
Assemble a good team to support you in this transition from married to single. Identify where you need more information, different perspectives, and validation that will get you through this in a way that lifts you up (versus pulling you down). Pick people who can support you in being your best. Fight the urge to surround yourself with people who will urge you to seek revenge, act petty, or take your ex to the cleaners. When you look in the mirror, you want the best version of you reflecting back as you move into your new future.
Listen, listen, listen. Communicate, communicate, communicate—with your children, with your ex-spouse, and with the experts you are relying on to help you make the best decisions based on your needs, wants and values. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your role in how things are going. If you misstep and act like a jerk for a moment, own it, and then apologize and move on.
Remember your past successes. Take care of what is important to you, ask for help, and remember the times when you successfully dealt with challenging times in the past. What allowed you to be resilient then? How can that help you here and now? You’ve been through hard times before—you can handle this.
Dealing with a difficult ex certainly doesn’t make the divorce process any easier. But neither does being a difficult ex. So keep yourself in check. By understanding some of the hot buttons that you both are pushing in each other, then maybe you can pause, take a breath, drop the jerk behavior and make better choices.
Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer in Utah
If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will fight for you.
Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
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Michael R. Anderson, Utah Divorce Lawyer
Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/divorce-can-make-good-people-bad/
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sabrinajulie · 6 years
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Will a Chapter 13 Plan Look Better on My Credit Report Than Chapter 7?
Debtors may find difficulty choosing between Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Both have their advantages and disadvantages depending on your financial situation, but which one stays on your credit report longer? Does Chapter 13 look better to creditors long term as you try to improve your credit score?
The short answer to that last question is, “probably not,” and that’s the unfortunate truth of our credit system today. Read on to learn more about the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 and how they affect your credit score — both good and bad.
Does “doing the right thing” help credit?
Many of our prospective clients come into our office with a need and desire to “do the right thing,” which translates into making an effort to pay back their debts in a Chapter 13 plan. They are also concurrently hoping to gain some recognition through a better credit score, or having made the payments versus choosing a “straight” Chapter 7 debt liquidation.
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Somewhat ironically, the opposite is true. That is, for purposes of rehabilitating one’s credit score, oftentimes a straight Chapter 7 is the better choice. How can this be? Speed is the primary reason.
Critical to Credit Repair: A Bankruptcy Discharge
First, let’s take a look at why both chapters of consumer bankruptcy are critical to credit repair. While a debtor may be concerned that bankruptcy will wreak havoc on their credit score, albeit temporarily, the paths the debtor took up until bankruptcy may have already done enough damage. One of the best ways to get back on track financially and work toward rebuilding your credit is to file for bankruptcy.
Both Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 are bankruptcies, plain and simple, and both are reported as such on your credit report. A completed Chapter 13 plan will stay on your credit report for seven years, while a Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge will be on your credit report for 10 years.
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For purposes of rehabilitating credit, what a new creditor wants to know is whether your bankruptcy is finished. The legal term is “discharged,” but that’s the focus — “is the bankruptcy over with or done?” A typical Chapter 7 case will last for just a few months from start to finish, at which point it’ll be on your credit report once successfully discharged. Meanwhile, a typical Chapter 13 case is in existence for 3 to 5 years, the length of the plan.
It can easily be determined, then, that the sheer length of the Chapter 13 case versus a Chapter 7 case makes Chapter 7 a better choice for purposes of re-establishing credit. Right?
Chapter 7 is Faster — But is It Better?
A Chapter 7 discharge is simply much faster to obtain. There are other more subtle reasons that Chapter 7 is “better,” as well. For instance, one may only obtain a discharge of debt in Chapter 7 every eight years (the prior law was every six years).
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New creditors know this about debtors coming out of Chapter 7. They also know that the amount of debt owed is now $0 or at least substantially reduced, and they know debtors are “minimum payment acclimated,” meaning, debtors know how to make minimum payments on outstanding balances.
However, Chapter 13 also looks good to some debtors. It’s particularly helpful when dealing with foreclosure, as well as mortgage modifications, car payments, and IRS problems. But the biggest problem with Chapter 13 is just how long it takes, and that all disposable income must go toward your payment plan for that set amount of time. With Chapter 7, you’ll pay less for your debts — but you also have to qualify for Chapter 7 in the first place.
The Bank’s Perspective on Chapter 7 or Chapter 13
From a bank’s perspective then, a debtor coming out of Chapter 7 is an easy target for new business, and credit card solicitations abound, post discharge. So, for credit rehabilitation, the important thing is to obtain a discharge, and that discharge happens to occur much faster in Chapter 7 versus Chapter 13.
If you’re considering bankruptcy, it’s important to know which chapter will most benefit you and your specific financial situation. While you can try to go it alone, obtaining a bankruptcy discharge is much easier — statistically, and anecdotally — with the help of a qualified bankruptcy attorney.
Free Consultation with Bankruptcy Lawyer
If you have a bankruptcy question, or need to file a bankruptcy case, call Ascent Law now at (801) 676-5506. Attorneys in our office have filed over a thousand cases. We can help you now. Come in or call in for your free initial consultation.
Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/will-a-chapter-13-plan-look-better-on-my-credit-report-than-chapter-7/
from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/will-a-chapter-13-plan-look-better-on-my-credit-report-than-chapter-7/
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