#i think i have to restart completely from day 5 because i got too many hearts from seven for the game to allow me to fail
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depresseddepot · 2 years ago
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gritting my teeth I have tried to get zen's bad story end 3 THREE FUCKING TIMES AND I JUST MESSED IT UP AGAINN
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a-student-out-of-time · 3 months ago
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5 Years Later
So...I admit I didn't really have anything big planned for today ^^;
But today- September 12th, 2024- is the 5th Anniversary of when A Student Out Of Time began. I started this blog based on a simple whim, after I'd completed playing 999 with a friend and read H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out Of Time. I asked myself "Hey, what if Hajime went back in time and tried to prevent the Tragedy?"
Now, this wasn't the first story blog I'd ever written. I had a couple early ones that I'm a little too embarrassed to share or discuss, but my biggest one was The Starship Hope, which also began on a whim all the way back in 2018. I was on a walk through the second neighborhood I lived in back in California, and I asked myself "What if the V3 Cast were actually in space?"
While I still have some fondness for that one, I don't believe I really found my footing as a writer until we got deep into this one. I had a tendency to just write whatever sounded cool or I got a little too shippy about some things. Then I really sat down and started planning out arcs, and we built things up from there...
...And now here we are, five years later, and I'm still doing this. Not only that, it's become so much bigger than I ever thought it would. Early on, I had one anon tell me that they weren't convinced that this blog would never last, because story blogs like this never do. I still think about that person now, and I really have to thank them because that was when I decided I'd commit to it.
Thanks to that, I've met so many new friends, been introduced to great things, inspired others to pursue their own stories and creative ambitions, and we even have a whole set of pages on TV Tropes. Almost 1,200 have decided to follow me, and that's not even counting how many have read this story and simply not made their presence known. In short, it really has helped change my life.
It hasn't been easy, and there have been times where I've thought about quitting or deleting the whole thing. There have been some dark moments, some bad arcs, some ideas that didn't pan out as I'd hoped. But even so, I always took them as learning experiences and chose not to quit.
More importantly, I've helped inspire people to check out one of my favorite series of all time, I've given them a work they can enjoy, and all this has in turn helped me refine my own writing skills and figure out the sort of writer I hope to become one day. Seeing people enjoy what I do or just curious to hear what my thoughts are, it really does inspire me to keep going.
It's also so wild to see how much Danganronpa has evolved as a series in time since I started all this. I got involved in the DR Tumblr fandom back in early 2016, before Danganronpa 3 was even out yet. I remember how much we were clamoring for it and V3, how controversial their story decisions were, and how many people didn't want it to end. They wanted to tell their own stories and do their own spins on the concept, and that's how we got so many different fangans in so many mediums- other games, videos, instagram, fanfics, and some here on Tumblr.
Danganronpa Another, SDRA2, DR: Rebirth, Despair Time, Blowback, TheAfter, Rocky Restarts, DR Mauve, DR Lapse, Brave DR: Coward's Paradise, Eternal Endings, Shattered Hope, Heartless Deceit, Eden's Garden, Antebellum, and so many others.
I got into both Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files, both great series in their own right. And now we have another SC game on the way, The Hundred Line- Last Defense Academy, which looks pretty interesting too.
In short, it's been a long 5 years.
Do I plan to keep going? Uh, yeah. We're nearing the conclusion of Season 2, and I have many ideas for Season 3. I intend to keep doing this as long as I'm able and as long as people want me to, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
More than anything, I'm just happy people enjoy the work I do. The support I've received over this last half a decade have been nothing short of inspiring, and I'm glad that people are always happy to see me update no matter how long it's been.
My life has had many ups and downs in the time I've been doing this, but being able to look at all this and say that I helped create a community and inspired people to pursue their own ambitions? It makes it all worth it ^^
What happens when it does all eventually conclude? I wouldn't worry about it. I do have an ending idea in mind, but we're nowhere near that yet. Season 2 has had some of our best arcs so far, and I think Season 3 could even turn out to be even better, but I won't get too ahead of myself.
I'm glad I'm still doing this, and I'm glad for every single person who decided that this silly little Danganronpa fanfiction blog was worth their time to get invested in. When I get things together a bit more and I start publishing my own original stories, I hope you'll follow me on my journey there as well.
Thank you guys for everything!
Here's to another 5 years ^^
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It's your birthday too (Christen x Tobin x Reader)
I don't know how I feel about this one, but I hope you like it :)
Words: 1.8K
I was hanging out with Ashlyn before Christens surprise birthday lunch. She knew about it, but she didn't know we had invited her whole family and a couple of her friends. We were scrolling through tiktok to kill time when a message from my brother popped up. I froze as I read what it said, knowing that Ashlyn had likely seen it as well. My suspicions were confirmed when she tapped into it.
Hey kiddo, I know you don't really celebrate it, but happy birthday little sis. I hope you have a good day whatever you're doing. Call me later, love you.  
Ashlyn slowly turned her head toward me, "Y/n."
I swallowed hard before turning to face her, "Yes?"
"It's your birthday? Why didn't you tell me."
"It doesn't matter about me, it's Christens birthday." And it was true. My birthday was something that I didn't care about, my whole focus was on making it a good day for Christen. Honestly, I would forget it if my brother didn't message me every year. 
Ashlyn looked at me like I had grown another head or something, I stifled the laugh that threatened to bubble out when I received a glare, "It's yours too Y/n not just Christens."
"Well yeah, but I don't celebrate it and Christen does. Now I have to go."
I escaped quickly, not allowing Ashlyn to say anything else. Christen was coming back to the room before lunch and I wanted to give her the present I got. Christen walked into our room a couple of minutes after me. 
"Happy birthday Chris, I go-"
"Don't happy birthday me Y/n. Why didn't you tell me?" Christen stood in front of me, arms crossed as I decided to play dumb. 
"Tell you what?"
Christen threw her hands up, giving me a 'are you serious' look, "That it's your birthday!"
I shrugged, I should have known Ashlyn wouldn't have kept it quiet. She likely texted everyone the second I left, "Because mine isn't important."
"Yes it is Y/n! It's important because you're here. It's literally celebrating you being born and I think that's something worth celebrating Y/n. You are amazing, you deserve to be celebrated."
I blushed turning away from her, trying my best not to show her how much she affected me, "I just don't celebrate it."
Her face softened slightly, taking a step toward me, "Why not?"
"Nothing good has ever happened on my birthday, when you share it with a twin who is very clearly your parents favourite, it's just not a good day." There was more to it then that, but I didn't really want to go into it. My parents and everyone else in my family had forgotten all of my birthdays after age 5. It had taken me a while to realise they hadn't forgotten, they just didn't care. 
"Well, we want to celebrate you Y/n, I want to celebrate you. You could always restart your birthdays."
"I don't know if I can do that Chris. There's just so many bad memories."
"Then lets give you a good one," Christen said before cupping my cheek and connecting her lips with mine. I froze at the feeling of her lips on mine, they were so soft. I had wanted this for so long, but Christen had Tobin. I wanted them both, but had neither of them. I pulled away quickly, putting distance between us when my brain realised what was happening and I remembered Tobin, "I'm sorry I-"
"We ca- we can't do this, you, Tob-" I cut myself off when I saw Tobin standing in the doorway. I froze, expecting to be yelled at or anything really. Instead, a soft smile stretched along her face as she slowly stepped closer to me. 
My brain stopped working as I stuttered an apology, it completely malfunctioned when Tobin wrapped her arms around me. "Happy birthday Y/n."
"I-I what?"
Tobin pulled away slightly to look at Christen, "I told you we should've waited until we were both here."
"I know, but she was sad, I just wanted her to not be sad anymore."
My heart seemed to stutter at that, but it also just increased my confusion. What the fuck was happening? I pulled away from Tobin, looking between the both of them. They were looking at me with such adoration, such love that butterflies erupted in my stomach. I did what I did best in situations that were uncomfortable or painful, I made a joke, "Wanna clue me in? I haven't quite mastered this whole mind reading thing yet."
Tobin snorted while Christen glared at her and actually explained, "We like you. We've been talking about telling you for a while, but weren't sure if you actually liked us or if we just wanted you to."
I took a second to process what Christen had said. There were no signs of dishonesty or reluctance, "Wait, so I get to kiss Tobin too?"
Christen nodded while Tobin looked at me with a slight smirk, "Please do."
I smirked, leaning in just to turn and connected my lips with Christen instead. Our lips moved in sync for a few seconds before I pulled away, leaving a quick peck on her lips. At this point there was no use in trying to hide my smile. It was no doubt huge and goofy, but I didn't care. I got the girls. I still wasn't sure if this would change the way I felt about my birthday, but it was definitely the best one yet. 
"Why do I like you?" Tobin grumbled, pout appearing. She was adorable.  
"Because I'm hot." I cupped the back of Tobin's neck, finally connecting our lips. I felt Tobin relax against me. Our lips moved in perfect sync as Tobin's hand settled on my waist, pulling me close. Her lips were actually softer than I expected with a hint of vanilla. Between her and Christen I was screwed. They were both so addicting. I slowly pulled away, head leaning down to rest on Tobin's shoulder as I took it all in. Tobin's fingers traced random patterns on my hip. I don't think I had ever seen her so soft before. Now it was directed at me, something I never expected to ever happen. It made me fall for her just that little bit more. I kissed her shoulder before pulling away to take Christens hand. 
"Can I finally show you what I got you?" 
"No, because I didn't get you anything."
"Chris, this is the best birthday I've ever had. The best birthday present I've ever gotten so please don't feel bad about it. You didn't know."
Christen sighed and I knew I had won, "Fine."
I handed her the small wrapped box, inside were two simple silver rings, one cut to look like mountains and the other cut to look like waves. I had seen them and instantly thought of Christen. She would love them, well so I hoped anyway as I stood there fidgeting nervously. I had been a bit nervous that Tobin might see the present as to much. That I had overstepped and it was too romantic or something. That nervousness had faded given what just happened, but I was still a bit worried Christen wouldn't like it.
"Y/n... These are amazing. They're beautiful, I love it so much. Thank you baby." My face warmed at the pet name as Christen kissed me then hugged me tightly. 
I kissed her temple, holding her just as tightly, "You're welcome love."
Tobin groaned dramatically as we pulled apart, "You're giving me a run for my money Y/n/n."
"We can join forces in the future. What did you get her this year?"
"Um she's only opened one of them so far, the other is downstairs."
I rolled my eyes at Tobin's reluctance to answer. Obviously it was something she didn't want to share, "Could you be anymore vague? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"It's not that, it might just be a bit much information given that we just happened."
"Oh, so you got her a sex toy then," I laughed as both Tobin's and Christen's faces turned bright red. It was meant as a joke, but judging by the looks on their faces, it was accurate. "Wow, that was supposed to be a joke, but I mean that's a pretty good present. I look forward to seeing it. Now, as much as I would love to stay here, we have to go."
Their cheeks got redder then I thought possible as they both stumbled over what to say. I bit my cheek to stop the laughter as I walk out of the room. Christen and Tobin rushing to catch up.
---
We had decided the meal room was the better option for lunch seeing as all of us together were often quite crazy. Also add in Christens family, there was a lot of us. This morning we had decorated the room with happy birthday banners, balloons and anything the younger ones had decided to put up. I stopped in my tracks when I noticed my name had been added to the banner and there were two piles of presents. Everyone had decided to give Christen her presents all at once, but I had wanted to give her mine when it was just the two of us. How had they put this together so quickly?
"How?"
"We were tasked with distracting you while they set this up."
I tensed, was what just happened only a distraction, "Oh."
Tobin wrapped her arm around my waist, "Hey, we were always going to tell you about our feelings, it was just originally going to be tonight instead."
Christen placed her hand on my back, "Happy birthday Y/n."
"Happy birthday Chris." A wide smile spread on Christens face when she noticed her family standing in the back. She made a beeline toward them while I stayed by the door. Everything was a bit overwhelming. Having people actually care about my birthday was foreign and overwhelming. Tobin stayed beside me, arm still around my waist, as I lent into her to calm myself down. 
Tobin discreetly kissed my neck before whispering, "I think there's someone waiting to say hi."
I looked up to find my brother standing a few steps away. I quickly pulled away from Tobin, running into his arms instead. It had been a long time since we had seen each other, "Jamie, what are you doing here? Did they set this up?"
"No, I had been planning on surprising you for your birthday, I just happened to show up when they were frantically trying to set everything up. I'm glad you finally told them."
"It wasn't me actually. It was you." He looked confused so I explained what had happened. He sheepishly apologised, but I wasn't actually annoyed anymore. I guess it wasn't a bad thing that they knew. Besides Jamie, they were the closest thing to family I had. 
We laughed, talked and had a really nice afternoon. The girls had managed to run out and get me a bunch of new art supplies and stationary stuff. And I ended the night cuddled between Christen and Tobin after reassuring them again that I didn't care if they got me anything. I was just happy that I finally got the girls. Maybe I could get used to celebrating my birthday after all. 
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taiturner · 11 months ago
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NEW YEARS CLEAN-UP 🎊
rules: unburden yourself from the abandoned WIPS collecting dust in your folder and share 5 gifs, then tag five people. (tagged by @yenvengerberg, thank you i feel like i can do something useful with these things now 💖)
tagging with no pressure of course: @wyllhalsin, @capinejghafa, @cardvngreenbriar, @seance, @ayoedebiris, @ughmerlin, @craintheodora, @lottiemilfews, @natscatorrcio (yeah miles i'm tagging you to be funny i know what you did with those psds)
these are all from projects that i have in a folder titled "on the bench" that i want to pretend i'll come back to, but.... some of these have been benched for so long and they're no longer fresh in my head so i fear they'll be abandoned forever. should also be mentioned that a lot of projects on the bench are literally just me making all the typography first and then losing inspo when i actually wanted to gif things.... usually by the time i do start, i change my mind about the type anyway. i also have so many abandoned gifs from other gifsets i've already posted but i'm not even sure where to begin searching so... here are some things!
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one of the many gifs i already created for a prompt from @yellowjacketsoctober to put the show in a different genre. ironically, a prompt that i came up with for the event specifically to make this gifset but didn't even complete. i spent so many hours and so many days trying to gif this entire arc for these three with the intent to make it a heist drama set but after so long i realized i was just giffing exactly what happened in the show and it started to feel pointless. but at least here's a preview of something that i'll never finish. my trio of all time, can they commit more crimes together please! (should also be said that this folder is 44gb because i already saved all the caps + because these psds are so heavy... new years clean up for real)
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i don't know what it is about lydia that makes it so hard for me to finish any set for her, but every time i try i seem to always lose the drive eventually (probably because twd in general just feels really uninteresting for me to blend, for some reason). from a 2022 spotify wrapped meme, i'm pretty sure i restarted this specific gifset so many different times, unhappy with the colors and the blends and the text and everything -- which is why there are two very different examples here. my girl of all time though i will finish something for her eventually (and maybe even this one, because this song is still so good for her).
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one of the many gifs that were abandoned by my scream vi set for favorite slasher in october. when tumblr first changed the image upload limit to 30, i promised myself to never take advantage of that too much, but i severely underestimated how many moments i would want to include for this movie and i made so many other gifs for this set but ultimately cut them so i could try to tone it down - 18 gifs in this set still feels like a lot but i spent so much time on this set that it was hard to part with many more. anyway here's sam being the hottest final girl in the world and correct about everything.
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i don't know how long this has been on the bench but it was definitely a project i started way before season 2 even aired. i think i just got stuck and wasn't sure where to go with it, but anyway her!
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extra spoiler for @wyllhalsin but this was supposed to be a pride edit in june for one of my favorite lgbt characters of all time. this show's camera movements nearly makes it impossible to blend anything so i lost the drive, but i will come back for felix someday (and for coty, obviously this set was for him).
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suzuran777 · 10 months ago
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Review + Guide: Friendly lab - unlock(); (Tennenouji)
I was going to wait for the English translation of the PC version, but got a bit impatient and decided to play the Japanese version instead...! So here's my spoiler-free review in which I explain the gameplay mechanics and what the game's about. I also wrote a guide, as the Japanese one I found was a bit confusing sometimes.
In this game, you play the role of a researcher who's conducting a gentle experiment on two test subjects. The goal of the experiment is to measure what kind of impact the interference of the researcher has on the test subjects. The experiment must however be conducted safely, without harming the test subjects. A small locked room, two test subjects who suffer from memory loss. It's your goal to present a variety of items to them and to observe their reaction.
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If you're here for the guide I recommend scrolling down a little bit! I'll start with a short summary of what the game is about and how to play it. This game was originally released as a mobile game in 2022 and I played a little bit of it, but I didn't reach any endings, so this was my first time completing the game. The gameplay of both versions is almost identical, but this time there are no in-game purchases and ads, which is nice! As the game's description mentions, you have to conduct experiments on the test subjects, Nishi and Higashi, and observe how they react to them. Both of them don't remember how they got there and also don't remember much of their past lives, so it's up to you to slowly make them remember. This game is unvoiced and there's also no background music, so it immediately makes the player feel a bit uneasy. The only sound you hear is the sound of the clock ticking.
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Gameplay and story As the researcher, you can use 10 different sub-menus to interact with Nishi and Higashi: Voyeurism (1), Meal (2), Special Item (3), Accident (4), Entertainment (5), a safe which becomes the Cultivation Room later (6), Question cards (7), Paper and Pen (8), Bathing (9) and Sleep (10). At first the game does seem a bit confusing because you have to figure out which items trigger a reaction and it's a bit slow at first, but I did have fun slowly learning more about the characters! The goal is to gather as many keywords as possible, but you only have a limited numbers of actions each day, so use them wisely. For those reading this after the English version is released, I hope my translations aren't too different, but I think it should still be understandable!
Both characters have completely different personalities. They don't remember their real names so they use the Japanese words for East and West (Nishi and Higashi). Nishi knows a lot about many topics, such as plants, medicine, animals and likes sharing fun facts about items shown to him. Higashi on the other hand, seems to be struggling with a lot of things, slowly remembering his dark past when certain items are presented to him. Throughout the story, Nishi helps him to slowly regain memories of his past, which sometimes get rather dark.
Almost the entire plot of the game takes place in a single room, so the characters and their stories are the most important part of this game. Through their interactions, you slowly learn what happened to them, allowing you to theorize how they could have possibly ended up in a situation like this. Because of this, the gameplay sometimes feels a bit slow, but I recommend taking your time so you can slowly learn more about the characters. The game auto-saves the current experiment so you can close the game whenever you want. It takes a while to replay the game a few times too to unlock every ending, but I had a lot of fun testing each option to see what would happen next. The only downside is that you can't really save, so if the experiment fails it's over and you have to restart.
Spoiler-free guide The first playthrough never gives you an ending so the choices don't matter, but I recommend using the cultivation room which unlocks within the first days. By presenting question cards to the characters, you will receive cultivation water which you can use in this special menu. Make sure to complete the experiment, as it carries over to your next playthrough. After the first round, start a new game and follow the "route 3 hint" card, it will show a little lamp symbol next to the options you should pick. You can skip experiments you've done before by double clicking it, it's faster than pressing the skip button. A few more tips to get the endings:
Don't use all your daily turns immediately, as some options only show up throughout the day and some are only available for a limited amount of time, so you might miss them.
Make sure to carefully look at the experiments in order to not miss any of the recommended choices, as some of these are also only available on certain days (you need to scroll down sometimes to see them). You can still get the endings if you miss some of them though, no need to restart if one or two of them expired.
The bathing scene choices usually don't matter, so just pick the character you want. You have to replay the game at least 10 times to get all the endings, so you'll have plenty of time to pick each option.
The choices which display this pink handshake symbol next to them increases the affinity between both characters, which is necessary to unlock some CGs.
Ending 3 and 2: Follow the "ending 3" hints. At the end of the game you're presented with a choice, pick the option to not tell the truth for ending 3. Afterwards start a new game, follow the "ending 3" hints again and pick the other option for ending 2. In my case the skip button somehow skipped the entire choice, so if you replay to get ending 2, be careful to not use this too much near the end of the final day. Ending 4: Automatically unlocks at the same time as ending 3 if you've completed the cultivation room in your first playthrough. Ending 1: Follow the "ending 3" hints but purposely avoid all the experiments that give you any clues on day 10. I just did all the recommended experiments on other days (except maybe 1 or 2 of them) and on the final day, I only used the voyeurism option and picked experiments the game didn't recommend (the ones without the lightbulb icon).
Ending 7: Follow the "ending 3" hints once more and give the characters the "happiness gas" item 8 times, with this item you unlock some of the 18+ content in the game. You can obtain this item by just showing the characters the question cards every day, they'll hint that they want to do something (eating, entertainment etc.) and one of the sub-menu buttons will light up, hinting that you should pick one of these options next. The buttons either turn green, yellow or red and shows a timer how much time you have left to select an option to obtain the item. On the right side of the screen you can see how many of the items you have (the gas mask and the cup of coffee icons).
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After unlocking ending 3, you can also follow the "ending 5" hint card which you'll have to use for the next endings. Ending 5: Follow the "ending 5" hints (which unlocks after finishing ending 3) but avoid question cards as much as possible. Pick the experiment which looks something like this "■□■■" in the "Accident" menu every time (there's multiple parts and it seems to show up randomly throughout the day sometimes). I'm not sure how they will translate this, so below you can see what it looks like.
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Ending 6: Exactly the same as the previous ending but this time, make sure to use all of your question cards every day, the game ends after playing the final "■□■■" event. Ending 8 and 9: Follow the "ending 5" hints again, but make sure to use happiness café au lait 8 times (you unlock this the same way as the happiness gas mentioned above). Also make sure to play the "lump of ???" event, which is an experiment that sometimes shows up in "Special items" during the first days. Avoid the final "■□■■" event because that might trigger ending 5 or 6 instead. You can't always use the café au lait immediately, but just check the special menu item every now and then to see if it's there. After using this item 8 times, you can choose to give it to Nishi (East) which unlocks ending 10, or Higashi (West) which unlocks ending 9.
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Ending 10: Unlocks after you've cleared many experiments in the game marked with ★. I accidentally got this ending when I was aiming for another ending while following the "ending 3 card" hints, so if you don't want this end, it's better to ignore those options!
Final impressions The gameplay of this game is something totally different from what I'm used to, but I had fun! It takes a while to complete so I recommend just taking it slowly. The mobile version is a bit different and has a lot more options, offering an in-game shop and some kind of gacha system. I personally enjoyed the PC version more because even though it was sometimes funny to unlock different items for the characters, it was difficult to take the story seriously when they were wearing wigs and all kinds of funny outfits lol, though that is optional too. There's no background music or voices in this game, so I can't really comment on that, but I thought the art was really nice. It was a bit different than Yura's usual art, but I think it really suits the game's setting, kind of gloomy and dark.
I will not spoil the plot of the game but I think it was good! The game gives you all these little hints and slowly but surely, you learn their backstories and what happened to them to end up in such a place. It's called ''friendly'' lab and while the experiments themselves don't directly harm them, I will say that some of the endings are anything but "friendly". I did grow quite fond of the characters after interacting with them for so many days so after playing all the endings, I miss them already... I might go back to the mobile version after all because there's quite some things that aren't in the PC version, for example instead of the usual 11 days, this version has 20+ days now (the app still updates every now and then) and introduces new experiments, and at some point even a new research subject. The romance between Nishi and Higashi also seems to develop a bit more in this version, so I wonder if they'll release an updated version of the PC version at some point, or a second game? I am satisfied with the content of the PC version alone though!
Anyway, I recommend playing the game without reading spoilers, because the whole point of the game is that you're slowly learning more about these characters, and giving any kind of hint ruins the purpose of the game (though at some point you can also ask the characters if they know Giancarlo, a reference to Luckydog1... which was quite funny).
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Here's a bonus screenshot of the app version of the game playing a Candy Crush ad, which made me laugh because it does not suit the atmosphere of the game at all, though you can get free points for the in-game gacha if you watch the ads.
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the-endless-storm · 2 years ago
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Video game asks. Alk of them (or as many as you feel like doing)!
You come off anon right now and own up!I’ve answered most of them, but there's a few with no answers just because nothing comes to mind right away. I'd have to think about it longer and I don’t have the time or will,power to do so. Naughty anon, asking for so much!
1. Last game you finished
Chained Echoes
2. Games you’re currently playing
I started a mono-team on Pokemon Scarlet, but just to waste time.
3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed.
Chained Echoes, Pokemon Scarlet, Metroid Fusion
4. Do you like to get 100% achievements/trophies?
I give it a go, but I’m not a completionist. If getting everything starts to frustrate me, I’ll stop. I don’t want to tarnish my enjoyment of a game with an irritation.
5. Games coming out that you’re looking forward to
Hades 2, Baiten Kaitos HD (as long as it's better than the Tales of Symphonia HD)
6. A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to
Pokemon obviously.
7. A series you’ve lost interest in.
Unfortunately it's Zelda. I don’t like the direction BOTW went in. I think they games look gorgeous and I’ve been told a hundred times over they are great. But all the things that made me love Zelda have been stripped out (the unique temples, fun items, etc) in favour of crafting meals and breakable weapons.
8. A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying
There are lots of games I see on Steam that I’d love to try, but can’t because I have a Mac and they aren’t compatible. I can’t name any right now, but I know they are there.
9. A game you played completely blind with no prior knowledge of and enjoyed/loved
Hollow Knight. It was on sale in the Nintendo Store and I thought it looked good so I bought it. Not at all what I was expecting but definitely worth it.
10. A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try
I’m a Nintendo Fanboy for life. So there isn’t one. Unless there's a Virtual Boy knocking around, I could give myself a headache for a day for that.
11. Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory?
A character with a story for sure. Blank state works in some situations, but I like to see how the story progresses with the player character and how it changes them.
12. A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing.
Gotta be Larry in Pokemon Scarlet. He's the only one that isn't happy 24/7. Man needs a week off. We can all relate to Larry.
13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind
Lost Woods theme
14. A song that’s sure to hit your nostalgia buttons
youtube
15. Do you have a backlog and do you keep track of it.
Nope
16. A game you’d like to replay but haven’t.
I want to play Secret of Mana again now after listening to the title music.
17. A game you didn’t finish but would like to get back to or restart someday
I never finished Hollow Knight, but I doubt I’ll ever get it done. I won’t lie, I’m not great at some games, and most of HK I fluked my way through by sheer force of will. But the final part of the game required such perfect platform in skills over a long period that I got too annoyed with and rage quit over and over. So like the 100% completion above, I stopped before I ruined the game for myself.
18. A game location you really like
If I can move to my Animal Crossing island please that would be great.
19. A game you started up for the first time and you knew from the start it was going to be great
Chained Echoes. I'd read a couple of reviews that explained what kind of game it was, and once I started it, within a few minutes of the opening scenes I knew it was exactly what I’d been looking for for so long.
20. A boss you think is really cool.
21. A boss that was disappointing
22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you
23. A wow moment of awe
Watching the Moon hit Clock Town in Majora's Mask. I wasn’t expecting Zelda to be that dark.
24. A game with a cool art style
Okami has a style that looks like a watercolour painting. It took a while to get used to but is very unique.
25. A game's art style that had to grow on you
Zelda Wind Waker. Like everyone else, I didn’t like it at first, but honestly it's so damn beautiful now. I wish more games were made in that style.
26. Realism or Stylized?
Realism is only as good as the technology of the day, whereas Stylised can be whatever you want whenever you want it.
27. A game you like the atmosphere of
28. Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?
I’m going to pick the Kingdom Rush series. It's on Switch and Xbox now, whereas I started playing it on ArmorGames when it was first released. But Flash, Mobile or Console, it's a brilliant Tower Defence game and the first Kingdom Rush is just as good as any of the newer games in the series.
29. On average do you have one game or multiple games going?
Just one. I don’t have that much dedication.
30. Game you think you’ll finish next?
No clue. Need to have a game to play.
31. Someone has never played a video game before but is open to trying any genre. What game would you recommend as their first?
Maybe a 2D Zelda game like Link to the Past. Not too difficult with a simple control system, big map and lots to explore and collect.
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gummybugg · 1 year ago
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Writer Questions Tag!
Thanks for the tag, @tabswrites! Find her post here. I did do this tag at some point, but I wanted to restart!
I'm gonna leave this as a fully Open tag. If anyone wants, they can say I tagged them!
...
[1] What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?
Forcing myself to write more via peer pressure & to maintain a highly Positive blog to foster confidence in my writing. But also, I would say my wip Crater City, because I just like going Wild writing it. I don't have to hold back my imagination, I just use whatever comes to mind create a new path. I promise it's not as chaotic as that sounds because there is a sound plot, but I give a lot of wiggle room. Very refreshing, and it's a stark contrast to writing essays all day.
[2] Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?
Not a question! But! Every time there’s a song playing and my little sister says “I’m assigning that song to your character.” (And then I tell her it’s on the character’s playlist already, ehehehe) I’m just very passionate about my characters, that’s the moral of the story :’)
[3] What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?
I’ll hit you with the double-edged sword called “I got the best idea for a scene at 3 am but I’m sooo tired, but it’s sooo gonna be worth it!” (Yet I never regret doing it)
[4] What is your greatest motivation to write/create?
Probably writing stories that are a culmination of my favorite stories. At least, that's what Crater City is so far. Not a copy, of course, but if all of my favorite apocalyptic/sci-fi media had a child, that's what it would be!
There’s a handful or 2 of some sci-fi webtoons I really adore reading! I would recommend books too, if only I could read them in a timely manner. Comics are just easier for me to consume for the time being.
[5] What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?
Write what excites you and don't worry too much about if others think it's cringe. I’ve seen so many reddit threads of people asking if they can put [insert trope] in their writing, and I wish I could just scream at them: DO IT! IT’S YOUR WRITING! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! You know there’s gotta be some people out there who’s interested in your story if at least one person you know is into it (You).
[6] What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?
I wish I knew I didn't have to live up to the same expectations my family/others have for my writing. I'm an adult & can write whatever I want! I don't really feel the pressing weight of expectations to please others through my writing as much anymore, unless it's some form of commission/assignment. My characters can be gay, mentally ill, what have you, and I'm lucky I get the freedom to write them how I please.
[7] What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!
I wish I could but alas, I struggle to finish my thoughts in day-to-day life.
[8] What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?
From one of my English professors, grading my essay: “This analogy doesn’t work here.” Here’s another one: “?????” They’re so silly, I swear.
[9] Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?
At some point I said Darcy, but I’m feeling spicy today and I’m gonna go with Frasier today (both from my wip Crater City). I think everyone in that story is controversial because I kind of made everyone Unhinged. Well, as they say, “Oops, my bad.”
Anyway, the law isn’t the most important thing to Frasier, as he will do anything to make sure he gets his way. At some point (or maybe not yet) I mentioned how Blair and Elijah are lowkey like Frasier’s godchildren, so you can guarantee he’d use his mayor-assistant powers to make sure they’re safe. Many of the Crater City characters (except Darcy, I think) don’t really care about others outside their relationships, so the traumatic consequences of murder and destruction aren’t at the forefront of their minds.
It really makes me ask myself sometimes what defines a villain. Darcy is running around trying to save humanity by any means necessary (even to the point of merging humans with machines), while the rest of the cast just wants to live selfishly in the moment because they’re not promised a tomorrow. Truly interesting how things are developing. I think it makes them more human, but what do you think?
[10] If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?
My younger self would be surprised I had the potential to get this far. Sometimes it’s very hard to begin writing again, but as soon as I just start, I remember what it’s like to have fun writing!
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zacharyja · 6 months ago
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Saturday, May 25, 2024
Day Trip to Osaka
Today began as always at 8am with the class meeting at 9am. After the meeting we all headed to the train station to make our way to Osaka, which is about an hour away from Kyoto by train, and this is my second time making this trip so I knew what to expect going in. The train ride there was fine but I was pretty sleepy and was drifting off while standing up on the train. We eventually made it to Osaka and got off at Osaka Station where we then walked as a group to the Umeda Sky Building, which is a famous Osaka skyline skyscraper featuring two 40 story tall towers conjoined by the top 2 stories. Once we made it inside of the building we got into an elevator up to nearly the top before getting into escalators to take us up to the very top at the observation deck. After going to multiple different observation decks in different cities, I will say it is pretty cool to have seen so many and be able to recognize the differences between the skylines of these cities and how they compare.
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I enjoyed getting to see the city of Osaka from such a high vantage point, and it was also cool to see the mountains ranging in the background of the city. Osaka is a lot bigger than I had previously anticipated and I am quite surprised by the scale of the city. I also thought it was cool to learn that in Osaka, people stand in the right side of the escalator and walk on the left, whereas in Tokyo the inverse is true. According to Professor Smith, this is because when escalators were being unveiled in Japan, in Osaka for the first time, they used the western method of escalator courtesy, and when escalators made their way to Tokyo, they went about it in the normal way without outside influence which resulted in these differences.
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After viewing the city from the top of the building, we then made our way down and out of the building we broke for lunch. Some friends and I decided on an Udon place where I ordered Dashi Udon with duck meat. My meal was pretty decent but nothing too special, the udon noodles were better than any i’ve had in the USA though. After this we all hopped on a train and made our way to a stop close to the Osaka Castle, which I was pretty excited to see. We then walked up to the castle and I was amazed at how massive it was close up, as seeing it from a distance looks like a normal house size but being 5 feet away really puts it into scale. The castle was very pretty and well decorated, and I was a fan of the architecture in general.
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After viewing the castle, we all got on another train and made our way to Dotonbori, which is the main shopping and restaurant area in Osaka. I was not too much of a fan of this place, as it was extremely busy and a bit overwhelming at times, but it was still cool to see such a famous area in person. After walking around a bit with some friends we ended up deciding to head to the Osaka Pokemon Center to look around, it was also inside of a massive 10 story shopping mall that had just about every store you could think of, ranging from Gucci, to Lego, to a Godzilla store. The stuff there really was random and it was fun just exploring the area and seeing what it had to offer.
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After this, we made our way back to the hotel which took about an hour again. After we got back I went and got Gyudon for dinner to satisfy my hunger cravings before coming back to the hotel and showering and doing my laundry.
Academic Reflection
Todays reading focused a bit on the urbanization and industrialization of Japan, which was a pretty interesting topic to cover for today as we have seen so much of Japan already and got to go to another city in one day, mainly only possible because of the amazing infrastructure. I was a bit shocked to hear that in Japan, homes are not really an investment, and rather are readily destroyed and rebuilt as they do not really like to preserve old building and would rather demolish it and completely restart. This is a stark contrast to how housing is handled in the United States, where we tend to keep houses for as long as they possibly last, opting to renovate things over and over instead of demolishing and restarting. It’s interesting to see both sides of the coin, as maybe America could take notes from Japan in this sense to help with the housing crisis, as not viewing homes as investment would mean that people will stop holding on to them for so long. Another point that was brought up and I had already heard about, was how the loose zoning laws in Japan contributed to the dense urban population and allowed for their characteristic walkable cities. Though this was not new information, the content was definitely solidified via the reading.
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cinefairy · 3 years ago
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HOW I CHANGED MY LIFE AROUND USING LAW OF ASSUMPTION
i changed my life using law of assumption in a space of 5-ish months, now ive seen people change their life in 8 months, two weeks, a couple of hours and 1 day. it all depends on you. dont ever compare yourself to those success stories around you.
.˚♡ ⌇BEFORE LOA…
before law of assumption i was insecure, acne-covered face, “dumb”, i felt ugly, i was in an abusive physically and mentally household, was bullied at school for years, never felt safe, never felt loved and had suicidal thoughts for years, treated like crap from even my own friends and others, terrible grades + bad school life,
.˚♡ ⌇ AFTER LOA…
i literally got my desired life, i love myself and i manifested my desired appearance, desired body, the best school life and is about to go to a good university, i never have suicidal thoughts. i can do a wide-range of talents; dancing, ice skating, rollerblading/rollerskating, singing, art, crocheting etc, i feel safe everywhere i go, in a loving relationship with my boyfriend, got out of an abusive household, financially stable
these are just the things on top of my head i’ve manifested
.˚♡ ⌇ MY JOURNEY…
I discovered law of assumption August 2021 and ever since everything has went uphill from then. now, i’ve struggled, ive had setbacks, ive ranted and reacted i’ve given up and i’ve restarted so many times. but i knew my objective goal and i was never gonna let go,
first thing i ever did was SELF CONCEPT.
self concept made me realise and step into my bad bitch power, i was the only girl in the world, i was feeling confident and content. in situations where i would scream, shout and rage i acted completely different and didnt let the external cause me any more stress.
.˚♡ ⌇ I FOCUSED ON SELF CONCEPT BY..
my realisation:
me focusing on my self concept NOW no matter how hard it gets, no matter how many times ill see a door shut on my face (metaphorically), no matter what happens i will reach my desired self concept. if i focus on this now im gonna be so much confident in the future where i will truly flourish.
i dedicated my time (happily) when focusing on self concept. i was singing to my favourite songs in the bliss that i am perfect, i was dancing, i would take care of myself and treat myself like a queen. everyday was a “self-care day” i would balance out the hard tough love and the soft love. i would give myself a pat on the back for stepping out of my mindset’s comfort zone.
i would talk to myself, affirm to myself that everything will be alright, that im the opposite of what my parents told me. and its not what other people think about me thats important it’s actually what i think of MYSELF thats important.
I HAD TO. i was so sick and tired of living a life i didnt want, i gave up. i gave up entertaining the old story, i gave up overthinking the how, when, what. i stopped everything that was never benefiting me and focused all my time and energy into things that WILL.
and you can do it too, you can change your entire life. it just depends on YOU, do you want the best life for yourself? if so, stop secondguessing, stop thinking logically, stop wondering “did i do this method right..” because hell you dont even need methods just DO IT.
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koolfrogz · 4 years ago
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Misconceptions Regarding MCC14
Recently there have been a load of misconceptions regarding many of the controversies that happened this MCC, especially on Twitter and Tiktok, so I thought I would make a giant post detailing these and why they are wrong so I can scroll through my dash in peace.
1. Hbomb purposely abused a glitch in HITW that got Illumina and Mefs banned from MCC on the practice server. 
This one can easily be broken down into three components: 1. Misinformation about the glitch itself 2. Misinformation about the Mefs and Illumina incident 3. When does abusing a glitch count as cheating?
Firstly, the glitch Hbomb used is actually very common in HITW and has been around since the game was first introduced. The devs know about it and have not made any complaints about it because the usage of the glitch itself is heavily luck based (depending on the ping of the player) and does not guarantee a win to any player who does get it. Take for example PearlescentMoon who has used the glitch repeatedly throughout many competitions (i.e MCC 11), yet has not gained any significant advantage through it because, again, there is still an element of skill required to use it. This glitch is not only known by the devs, but has been used before in HITW. It is not something new that Hbomb exploited as a means of getting ahead.
Secondly, the Illumina and Mefs situation is not at all comparable to the Hbomb one. Illumina and Mefs were using a completely different glitch which did guarantee a win to the player because it allowed the player to afk on the platform and allow the blocks to pass through them. They were not banned for exploiting this glitch, but rather reprimanded by Scott and the devs for not reporting it to them sooner. Mefs and Illumina are still allowed in MCC and only didn’t compete this time because the teams had already been formed.
Finally, in regards to the idea of cheating itself when using such a glitch, the idea that what Hbomb did counts as cheating is absurd considering past MCCs and the various glitches which have been abused as well. I’ve seen a lot of people mention the infamous Wilbur Glitch and I think its a perfect example. The Wilbur Glitch is from the game Rocket Spleef which was not played this MCC but certainly will be in the future. The glitch involves the player becoming stuck in a block and seemingly floating in the air allowing them to basically secure a win without admin intervention. This glitch is much more OP than the glitch Hbomb used, and we have even seen admins purposefully try to kill players for using it (i.e Philza MCC11). However, even when players have purposefully attempted to get it (Wilbur, Phil, Quackity, etc.), I have never seen the fandom react so negatively as to accuse them of cheating. It is not fair to accuse Hbomb of cheating when he abuses a glitch which has been in the game for ages and not do the same with your favourite creators who do a much more busted glitch as well. Personally, I don’t consider either of these cheating, but that’s my opinion.
2. They removed Parkour Warrior because Dream was too good. That’s not fair.
Okay, this one is very simple as its just not true. This falls under the assumption that Dream was the only player to finish Parkour Warrior which is not true (PeteZahHutt completed the course twice and was the first to ever complete it in MCC 6). While the reason the Parkour Warrior map was destroyed in MCC 11 is said to be that EpicLandlord destroyed it because “he was annoyed at how good Dream was at it”, this is mainly a joke (think of the Ranboo being banned from MCC situation, while Ranboo isn’t in MCC there’s no actual beef and he’s not actually banned.) Secondly, if you weren’t around for Parkour Warrior when it was still in MCC, or have only ever seen Dream or Pete’s POV, you might not know, but Parkour Warrior was a miserable game mode (think Build Mart/Bingo but ten times worse because there was no chance to improve your placement other than just being good at Parkour). The game was 10 minutes of pure rage and frustration from competitors, which while entertaining at times, wasn’t the best for content when only two POVs in the entire competition were deemed watchable. This also wasn’t good for a competition because it meant that only two teams at most were progressing (and by a large amount) due to one player while the rest lagged behind. It gave the teams which had Pete and Dream a huge advantage and made the game unfun and unfair to everyone else, so they revamped the game (to Parkour Tag) to make it an even playing field where everyone had a chance to win (in the spirit of MCC). 
3. Scott had an unfair advantage in the competition and should be removed from the Dev Team or the Participants List.
This one is slightly more nuanced and may not have a definitive answer. Yes, Scott does have a slight advantage due to being a part of the dev team in every MCC. However, this MCC was definitely an outlier in that fact. Scott has been known to share info and tips with his teammates in past MCCs, but it has not truly impacted their performance on a significant level because the players knew a majority of the information anyways (the game rules, maps, etc). This MCC was unfair because Scott had a bigger advantage than originally assumed (it doesn’t mean he did it with malicious intent, it just means there was a severe oversight when designing the maps and explaining the rules to players). Also, the idea that Scott was guaranteed a win because he was part of the Dev Team is ridiculous and untrue. 
Scott has always been treated on the same level as any other player and has not been giving special privileges because he helped work on the tournament. Take for example MCC 8. Scott was teamed with Tommy, Philza, and Wilbur, and they were doing very well! Then came (wait for it), Ace Race. Scott experienced a glitch which allowed him to remain with his Elytra activated for half the course and allowed him to skip over multiple checkpoints and placed him in first. However, by skipping over these checkpoints the game corrected his placement and put him in last. This was seen as not fair at the time and the Red Rabbits did complain, to which Noxite responded that there was nothing they could do and Scott would just have to finish the round as normal. This glitch severely impacted the Red Rabbits standings and possibly led to them not being able to compete in Dodgebolt that MCC. Yet, Scott was never treated differently than any other player throughout the glitch despite being a part of the Dev Team.
For the next MCC, I certainly think that Scott should be allowed to play as normal. I truly believe this MCC was a fluke, and although I too felt a little salty seeing my favourite go from 2nd to 30th, I believe that it is not worth getting up in arms about it because at the end of the day there is a whole season of competitions where any team has a chance to win. 
4. They should have restarted the round and allowed the participants to retry the map.
While I too would have loved to see a rematch for Ace Rae, I would like to say that I, and probably many of the people playing, knew that it wasn’t going to happen. Noxcrew is very strict about the way MCC is run, it’s why I think it works so well. However, this means that they will not budge on these rules even in the face of something such as this competition’s Ace Race debacle. In the entire time of MCC, Noxcrew have only once ever restarted a round. This was in MCC 7 during Battle Box after there were server issues causing extreme lag for everyone (and Wilbur and Magistrex blew up their own teammates). It was unlikely that they were going to restart the round due to the mistake, and honestly, it might’ve caused more trouble than good to reset the points and the entire round of Ace Race. 
5. The Spirit of MCC
This last one is more of a general statement than a misconception, but I would like to say that I have seen a lot of newer fans confused and upset about this MCC’s outcome. However, I would like to remind everyone that at the end of the day MCC is a for-fun tournament which brings MCYTs of every background to compete and have fun. Yes, there is an element of competitiveness as it is a competition, but it goes against the very spirit of the competitions to be toxic and rude in spite of not winning or placing lower than you expected. At the end of the day, it is a MC tournament that has no monetary prize other than a golden coin. It is immature to slander, spread misinformation, or send death threats and harassment over such a tournament and I wish shame upon anyone who’s first reaction to not winning or their team not winning was to do such a thing. MCC is a brilliant tournament that has changed the game for how MC Competitions have been done, and it is disheartening to see the hard work Noxcrew and Scott have done be disrespected as such. I hope next MCC the fandom can come together and make this the lovely fandom event it once was. 
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morroodle · 2 years ago
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Morrotober Overview
October is over and morrotober is done! I actually made it all the way through without missing a single day (I swapped 2 days because I have a terrible concept of time but that dosent count). I'm so proud of myself. I've tried an October drawing challenge year after year but I always gave up and burned out after the first week so this is a huge accomplishment.
I'm not quite sure what made this year different but there are a few things I think might have helped:
Morro is my blorbo and ninjago is my hyperfixation. I'm already obsessed and thinking about it daily so this wasnt too different
I gave myself flexibility. Even though I ended up doing one for every day I never was going to force myself to do so, I had the freedom to skip a day if I didn't want to do it.
Flexibility pt. 2: I didn't make a full drawing every day. I allowed myself to put in as much or as little effort as I wanted which removed some of the pressure and worked better with my schedule
Now for some fun stuff! A recap of the art I made this month and my thoughts on some of the peices.
My favorite peice: day 29 - au/the movie
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This was so much fun and I'm so happy with how it turned out. I couldn't decide on one au to draw since I have so many and keep making them so I just did a bunch! (Copy paste my best friend) I've had a bunch of ideas for designs bounching around for a while and getting to draw a handful of them with less effort than a full drawing which is great for my mental health. Honestly I liked making this and the results so much that I'm probably gonna do more of these with more designs.
Least favorite: day 1 - torment/chains
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A dissapointing start to the challenge but luckily things only went uphill from here. The reason i dont like it is because this is one of those instances where the idea I have in my head is above my skill level. Additionally this is one of the ones that took the longest which is extra dissapointing considering I don't even like the result. I am proud of the hands though!
Most effort: day 14 - crew
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I am NOT used to doing more than like 2 characters in one drawing and this was a challenge. Figuring out a pose for all of them was hard and I had to get creative with Wrayth cause he came last. I originally wanted to put a ghost dragon behind them too but that was just more effort and time than I had. Funny story about this one actually! I completed the base sketch for 3/5 of the characters but then my computer got fucky and I had to restart it. I saved the drawing but when I tried to open it I got the dreaded clip studio Unsupported File Format and had to restart ;-; I spent like half an hour trying to restore but had to give up in the end and restart.
Least effort: day 23 - memories
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Little guy. Tiny dude. Took like 5 minutes and I love it. I didn't realize just how small I made him until I got a reblog saying they couldn't find him.
Most popular: day 5 - rope
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Would have liked for some of my other drawings to get some of the attention this one got but honestly I'm not suprised it got so popular. It's a masterpiece.
Least popular: day 12 - underwater/submarine
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Guess people don't want morro to be destinkified
Extra: day 6 - skeleton
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This dude literally showed up on google?? I made that???? The funny part is the link dosent even lead to my blog or tumblr
Additional notes: wait what am I supposed to do now?? I think I forgot how to have free time?? For an entire month it's just been school eat sleep and morrotober but now it's over I don't know what to do with myself. A
Did I enjoy this? Yes. Will I do it again next year? Who fucking knows. Anyway back to my normal bs
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najatheangel · 4 years ago
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genre: fluff, drama, and comedy. high school au!
pairing: Choi San x Reader
author's note: apart of the Ateez Summer Collab hosted by @bangchan-fairy My first official posted collab please let me know what you guys think. Enjoy your summer! ✨
word count: 5.3k
summary: After slacking off junior year and struggling to juggle responsibilities, you're stuck retaking your math course in the summer. With your future on the line, you were stuck with San to work together with you so you both can pass this summer course as seniors. You two seem to have a hard time focusing on your studies. Is it because you don't understand the work or a certain someone that's distracting you
taglist: @purplepsycho03 @melonmochimoon @neptunehobi @soleilsuhh @dundun-baby @kpopsnowball (Send me a message if you want to be added or removed from the tag list.)
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Your stepmom Maria seemed to be very disappointed in you once again for letting her down this year. She had planned so many family trips, vacations, and hangouts for the whole family to enjoy this summer, but thanks to my failing this dumb math class, I have to be stuck in this school until July.
“You better be lucky I can afford for you to retake this class. Your reckless behavior has gone on long enough.” Your mom walks beside you upstairs inside Walnut Hills Highschool making sure you don’t skip out on the first day of summer school.
“Mom, you know you don’t have to walk me to class. I know what I’m doing!” You groan at her as she links her arms with you in the hallway.
“Clearly you don’t! If you did you wouldn’t be stuck here retaking this class. Now we’re almost there so keep your head high and lose the tude.”
There it was class 2A once again. This class was an absolute nightmare. I took a deep breath and slid the door open slowly with my eyes halfway open anxious to see who was sitting in the classroom.
“Welcome back miss Y/LN! Good seeing you again.” Mr. Harris said with a smile. This sucker, you had a love-hate relationship with Mr. Harris. You loved the fact that he was super nice and helpful when he was your English tutor freshman year, but you hated how he had a crush on your mom and how weird teacher-parent conference meetings would get when they would sneak off with each other in his office.
“Good morning Mr. Harris. Good seeing you again.” Your mom blushed to try to contain her excitement, but it was too obvious. “Anyways I’ll be heading my way out. She’s all yours for the summer.” Your mom gave you one last hug and kiss on the cheek before she left.
You sighed, rolling your eyes, fanning yourself already sweating from the classroom’s lack of cold air blowing. You complained again by saying.“Mr. Harris, are we staying in this room all summer? I’m sweating like a fat pig.”
“Unfortunately, yes. The PCs in the computer lab have been shut down and the school plans on replacing them with apple PCs by august. So these are the cards we’ve been dealt with. Let’s get started shall we.”
All the students in the classroom sighed, taking sips of their water bottles as Mr. Harris took attendance.
“Let’s see...We have Angela, Oliver, Chris, Yui, Y/N...Who’s missing? Choi San?”
“Here.” San slams the door open, arriving 20 minutes late with his chocolate milk in one hand and a glazed donut in the other. “Sorry Mr. Harris, I’ve overslept.”
Mr. Harris sighs, shaking his head, chuckling to calm himself down. “As expected. Just glad that you’re here, please have a seat.”
There was only one seat left which was in the front next to you and that would of course be his assigned seat for the rest of the summer.
You never heard much of San except everyone saying that he dropped out sophomore year.
You remember having a crush on him during freshman orientation when you both were shadowed by this kid named Lee Know. The whole time you were quiet, but you remembered staring at the handsome devil strutting in his uniform the whole time.
So to see him once again took you and everyone by surprise.
“Class, make sure you remember your partner’s name sitting next to you for this summer because you will work together in order to pass this class.”
“Say what?” You look over at San, who was making origami at his desk. “Good seeing again kid.” He smirks at you leaving you speechless. “Want a donut?” He reached out, handing a piece to you.
You were slamming your head on the desk thinking to yourself. “Mom, I know I promised I would finish this class, but I don’t know if I can...”
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Mr. Harris had you paired up in groups of two to complete a series of word problems and online on this website called Pearson. On the bright side, walnut hills provided MacBooks for students that didn’t have their laptop, but of course, if they tried to watch Netflix, facetime with their friends, or search for something inappropriate, their laptop will be shut down for 24 hours until further notice.
The first two weeks were pretty quiet between you and San because both of you aren’t necessarily the best conversation starters and whenever San would ask you something it would only just help him cheat on an assignment or help him make up an excuse to skip class. Up until the third week hit you had enough of his excuses trying to avoid doing the work.
The third week you were assigned to work on three hours of pre-cal on the computer and you had the option to locate to a different classroom of course if you couldn’t focus in a cramped room full of sweaty students. So you and san decided to work in the math lab across from class 2A and try to work out a plan.
“Listen San I know this class is our worst enemy, but I promised my mom I would graduate next year and If I have to restart my junior year again I would die of embarrassment. So please try a little harder.” San sighs nodding to your proposal looking deeply into your eyes.
“Fine. I guess I’m in the same boat. I figured retaking junior year would make my mom mad too.” He reaches his hand shaking it with yours smiling.
Your heart starts pounding pretty fast as you're exchanging the agreement with San and you gaze your eyes back at the computer again clearing your throat.
“So, all we have to do is remember the methods Mr. Harris taught us and we'll be alright. What section are we on?” San scrolls through his laptop trying to login into his Pearson account. “I believe it's section 3.A. 20 questions which are due this Friday?! Man, Mr. Harris won’t give us a break.”
You giggled at his surprised reaction. Sometimes he can be soft which makes you melt inside even more. It made you wonder why he was always hanging around with the rebels with no future at school. Maybe life at home was rough and he didn’t have a lot of friends. All these questions were running through your head, which made you not realize that San suddenly moved closer to you.
“You need help with that problem? You were staring blankly at the screen for the past 10 minutes. Here let me show you how to do this.” San wraps his arm around you, pulling you closer to writing the answer problem step by step to help you understand it better, but that wasn’t exactly helping.
All you were doing was admiring his beautiful face to face. It made you remember the first time you saw him with his glowing melon skin, sharp jawline, the way he can pull off a white collar and a striped tie it just seemed impossible.
On top of that his knowledge in math made him 10x more attractive, but you couldn’t understand why someone as brilliant and essential as him set himself up in the wrong crowd and stuck in this situation that cost him his high school diploma.
“So that’s how you get y= 18 + 15x. Any questions?” “Yeah, why the hell are you so fine. Forget Mr. Harris, you can be my tutor.” Would’ve sounded better in your head, but you accidentally said it out loud.
San looked at you with his eyes flashing open and then he burst out laughing. “Well Ms. Y/LN if I knew you were having this much fun, I would’ve signed up for this a long time ago.”
“Same here. You know I didn’t think math was your thing. How come you're so good at it?” He sighs, leaning looking up at the ceiling as his mood changes very quickly. “My dad is an entrepreneur and a CEO of his own company.
He’s very good at math so he taught me at an early age so someday I can take over his company someday. He’s never home at times either so I’m pretty much always helping my friends with their math homework as a side hustle.”
“That must be tiring. I know that must be a lot of pressure for a 17-year-old.” San nods his head in agreement and says “It is, but hey that’s what I’ve been dealing with all my life. We got to finish these questions so we can go home early.” With the both of you panicking you turn back to your computers finishing the last set of problems.
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You were having so much fun at school with San that you forgot you had to make it to dinner on time with your wicked stepmother. Ever since you’ve started your sophomore year at Walnut Hills your father was keeping his dating life a secret until he unexpectedly announced that he wanted to marry Maria. Your dad was always the playboy so it always would irritate you whenever he brings another woman into the picture.
Your father planned on marrying Maria by the time you’ve graduated high school, but that all ended in tragedy when your father one day died in a car accident on the way to your volleyball game. This is why you quitted sports, fell out with your best friends, and flunked almost all your classes. Maria has always shown tough love even when your dad was around, but that’s because she never knew what it was like to raise children and she wanted to learn to become closer to your family, but your relationship with her was always rocky.
Arriving late at night you’ve run to your house sweating and panting to your angry stepmom in the kitchen tapping her foot.
“Y/N, do you know what time it is? School ended at 5. Why are you late for dinner? This better is good missy.” You caught your last breath and then rolled your eyes at Maria’s snarky comment. “Me and my partner in my class took longer than expected to finish our assignment. Sorry, okay?”
You’ve slammed your backpack on the back of your chair and grabbed a plate of yong chow rice to eat with your family. “Don’t you roll your eyes at me? I just asked a simple question. Don’t tell me your working with that Choi San guy?”
You shook your head as you started to feel yourself explode at the dinner table, but you let her finish. “I know that because Mr. Harris told me. Look all I’m saying is you better stay concentrated on getting out of summer school and don’t fool around with these boys. Got it?”
You’ve finally snapped and stood up slamming the table with your fists. “You know what, I don’t understand why you're nagging me about every little thing going on in my life. You can’t just be proud that I finished my assignments for this week. But, no you keep finding ways to complain to me about me not working hard enough or messing around. I’m getting really tired of it. That’s why I hate it here!”
“Y/N! Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you.” She followed you all the way upstairs until you closed the door and locked it in her face. You were too tired and frustrated to be dealing with her constant ranting so you’ve just sat in your room, put your AirPods on, and blocked her yelling from the background. “We’ll talk about this another day. Psh teenagers.”
For the rest of the night, you smush your face in your pillow crying yourself to sleep. You look back on the polaroids of your dad around your room and through your phone missing his presence in your home. “Dad, why did you leave me alone with her? If it was just the three of us, things would be so different. I miss you.”
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Your partnership with San seemed to improve drastically which was surprising, to say the least. All the other kids in the class however didn’t seem to improve. Some were either cheating or missing the deadlines. Mr. Harris was not pleased by the results so he found other alternatives.
“You know what class, here’s what we’re about to do. To make this a lot more fun, how about we do class activities for extra credit. Since some of you are glued to your devices nowadays we can play games like Kahoot, Jenga, and Tetris to answer questions. I can even narrow down the questions on the assignments. How does that sound?” Everyone in class chants and cheers loving the idea which keeps them even more motivated to continue working.
“Alright everyone the games won’t start today, but next week. This is the last week of June and summer school so that means we’re halfway there from finishing. You cannot screw this up. Try acing this week’s quiz with 90% everyone or no games for those with below 70%. Got it?” “Yes, Mr. Harris!” You’ve become closer to the class since it was only nine of you, but your best friends are Angela, San, and Chris. The four of you stopped for ice cream after school to study for this week’s big math test that covered five sections.
“Gosh, Mr. Harris put 40 questions on the test! What the hell is he on crack?”
Everyone laughed at Chris complaining. He would always try to find shortcuts just so he can finish playing PubG, but he always ends up getting in trouble because he procrastinates too much. The only reason he’s somewhat doing well is because of his girlfriend Angela.
She was always a straight-A student and a bit of a geek at school, but outside of school, she was a baddie. She ended up having to retake pre-cal because she wanted to offer to help Chris with homework but ended up failing with him. “Oh hush it’s not even that bad. If you would’ve done those practice problems like you were told, you wouldn’t be complaining so much.” She slaps the back of Chris' head making him spat out his dip cone.
San looks at them admiring their silly dysfunctional relationship and then looks at you mesmerized. He leans in whispering in your ear saying “Why can’t we be more like them. They’re cute together.” You turned to him, slapping his shoulder softly giggling. “We shouldn’t. We agreed to only focus on school, remember?” He looks at you pouting “Does it have to be strictly about work? Like Mr. Harris said, we can have fun with it. We are partners after all.”
You look to the side trying to avoid his gaze as you take another spoonful of mint cocoa. With your sloppy spoonful of ice cream leftover on your face, San quickly grabbed a napkin from the table and whipped your face. “Be careful, you had a little mint chocolate on your face.” He kissed the side of your lips and smirked at you right afterward leaving everyone shocked.
“You guys are hot together.”
Chris with no filter shouted out leaving you a blushing mess. You quickly grabbed your ice cream and backpack as you heard your stepmom pulling up at the dairy parking lot. “You know what duty calls. I’ll meet you guys at the same time tomorrow at San’s place just like we planned. I gotta shave my legs. Later!” San wanted to grab your arm real quick to give you a proper goodbye, but you already beat him to it by sprinting to the car.
“Honey, why did you run in the car so fast? You would have finished your ice cream-”
“No time for that, just drive Mom.” Maria laughs looking at you covering your face with your cardigan and looking at San’s pouting face playing with his spoon he just ate from his ice cream. “Reminds me of the good old days when I was in high school.” Your stepmom cranked the engine and drove all the way home.
When you arrived home you flopped your body on your bed trying to focus on finishing studying for your test by yourself, but all your thinking about San’s kiss replaying in your head over and over again. “Ugh that San man, why did his lips have to be so soft? I'm supposed to be finding the formula for x, not the formula to get into San’s heart.” You’ve pulled out your laptop attempting to send an email to Mr. Harris said that you wanted to switch partners, but you prevent yourself from pressing send through your mouse.
“There’s no point. We only have four more weeks plus he would be upset if I do that. I just need to calm down.” You’ve closed out of your email tab and finished your homework sinking in your thoughts.
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“Dad, hey it’s me again, I just wanted to leave a voicemail letting you know that later on today I’ll be bringing my friends over to work on studying for our big test. It would be nice for you to meet them, but of course, I know work is more important. Anyways please come visit again sometime soon. Love you, peace.” San sighs, hanging up the phone as he sets the table up getting ready for you, Angela, and Chris to come over. San has always learned to live basically on his own growing up.
His father is always running off on business trips, his mother left him at a young age to marry a wealthy man and his older brother was already out of the country to join the Navy. His brother was the only person he can count on for family events when it came to birthdays, Christmas, and even father’s day. At least his brother could attend and catch up with his crazy high school life.
Snapping out of his train of thoughts he opens the door as soon as he hears the doorbell ring. “Coming!” He fixed his Pikachu long sleeve and parted his hair before he opened the door. He was smiling so wide after seeing it was you, Angela and Chris.
“C'mon in you guys. Welcome to mi palacio. Let’s study in the living room.”
Everyone ran to the living room pleased with the smell of pina colada candles filling the house. You were shocked that San got to live in this huge nicely decorated home yet you seem to notice that his family is not present.
You see picture frames of him when he was younger in a monster inc sitting on the fountain at Disneyland.
There was also another cute family photo of San’s best friend named Wooyoung that he met since kindergarten, but sadly they ended up cutting ties since they went to different schools.
A picture that stood out from all of them was one of him sitting on his mom’s lap when he was five smiling super hard with his pretty white smile. You’ve never seen him smile that hard and you were always curious more about his past so the family photos have shown a nice glimpse into his past “Hey y/n cmon I made some ramen. We have to pull out the flashcards so we can study.” “W-wait, but your baby pictures I want!” “No time we can look at them later.”
He winks and gently holds your hand and walks downstairs with you.
“Here goes the love birds. We have to try San’s famous spicy ramen dish before it gets too cold.” Everyone sits down at the dinner table clasping their hands together ready to dig in until the door opens.
“Surprise brother! Sorry I’m late. Did I miss dinner?” San’s brother Jinhyuk walks in with veggie wraps and steak bulgogi in his hand. San runs up to his brother hugging him super tight happier to see that he finally made it home. “Guys this is my brother Jinhyuk. Jinhyuk this is Chris, Angela, and Y/N.”
Jinhyuk smiles at everyone greeting everyone. “So what’s been going on with you guys? I know you have been stuck in school together, but what have you guys been doing outside of school?” Angela started by saying “Well so far me and Chris have been seeing each other every day. We always go to the park or the carnival when we get the chance for dates. We have also been hanging out with these two right here.”
Chris joined in saying “Exactly right. You can say we’re like the Scooby-Doo gang of course without scooby.” San laughs adding on “No way you’re definitely Scooby. Angela is Velma, I’m Freddy, and Y/N is Daphne.” Everyone at the table laughed as they enjoyed San’s ramen catching up with each other.
Jinhyuk elbows you as he chats with you in the kitchen. “Hey, I noticed that you were sitting there staring at my brother. What’s going on with you two.” Your eyes flashed wide open as you were surprised by Jinhyk’s sudden question. You faced him scratching the back of your head not knowing how to answer his question. “Well, I honestly don’t know. I think he just likes teasing me. One minute he flirts with me, the next minute he treats me like one of the guys. My mom also doesn’t want me getting distracted so I’m trying to keep my distance.”
Jinhyuk laughs and then pets your head. “Well, you both already failed at keeping your distance. I think he likes you, but since you keep running away or avoiding him too much, he feels like he’s making you uncomfortable and that you strictly want to stay as friends. I wouldn’t give him the wrong idea to be upfront about how you feel about him. You got this kid.” He grabs your empty bowl for you and washes the dishes giving you that boost of confidence. “You know what you're right. Mama didn’t raise no punk. I’ll tell him after we finish studying. Thanks, Jinhyuk I owe you the next time you visit.” You give him a thumbs up and skip happily out the kitchen looking forward to seeing your friends.
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After hours of studying flashcards, everyone finally studied feeling confident in themselves about the final test of the semester. Everyone packed their things and was ready to head home since their parents were outside. You were the only one that still felt confident about your process throughout the class so you’ve decided to stay an extra hour to study with San.
“Are you sure this is right?” You put the pencil down crossing your fingers as San checks your work. “Wow yes, that is correct. See you’re doing just fine. You only got 7 wrong out of the 40 questions. Just keep using that method I taught you and you’ll be just fine.” San smiles at you pinching your cheeks. “It’s 10:30 pm. Your mom is going to be worried about you. You should start heading home. I'll drop you off.” San started putting his notebook and laptop back on his desk getting ready to leave his room, but you pull on his sleeve bringing him back down on the couch with you.
“Wait, um why don’t we watch a movie or something. My mom is out with Mr. Harris anyways they won’t be back until the morning. I kind of told her I was spending the night at my cousin’s house.”
San smiles, shaking his head gulping, sitting back down next to you. “That sounds nice and all, but I don’t want to get you in trouble. Plus you do realize you’re staying over at a boy’s house at night.” You lean your head on his shoulder holding his hand yawning. “I know I trust you. You wouldn’t do anything unless I told you I wanted to. Just for tonight please San?” San sighs, lifting your chin patting the back of your head. “Fine, but next time let me meet your mom. I want to know everything there is about you okay?” You nod linking pinkies with him. “Deal. Now let’s watch Money Heist Shall we?”
The next morning you wake up in San’s arms as you share a blanket on the living room couch. You woke up fixing his messy black hair struck by his sleeping face. “Gosh you're even more dreamy when you're sleeping.” You checked the time on your phone and realized what time it was.
Pre-cal normally starts around 10, it was 11:20. “San gets up, we're late for class! We can’t miss this one Mr. Harris is giving us get extra credit today.” San woke right up alert as he wiped the drool from the side of his mouth.
“Dang, we gotta go. Here brush your teeth real fast, brush your hair and let’s roll.”
The two of you got ready as fast you could and hopped right on his motorcycle speeding through the traffic throughout the city.
You wrapped your arms around San the whole time scared you’ll fall on the motorcycle. San felt so happy whenever you depended on him for anything. “God I love this girl. I know they say I’m too young or going too fast, but I can’t help it.” He mumbled under his breath as he arrived at the school.
“Well well if it isn’t San and Y/N. You better be lucky you didn’t miss the test. We just got done playing Kahoot.” The two of you poured with your heads looking down feeling ashamed as you walked to your seats. The two of you took one last glimpse of each before Mr. Harris handed out the test.
This was it after everything you’ve been through this past month with San and your friends. The hard work was going to determine if you actually made it through or not. Mr. Harris gave you a whisper of encouragement you never heard in a long time except for your dad. “Y/N no matter what happens I’ll always be proud of you. Finish this strong.”
Mr. Harris' words almost moved you to tears as you smiled and nodded your head right back at him. Now you understand why Maria loved him so much he was always passionate about teaching and cared about your well-being.
You grabbed your pencil and your laptop as you started getting to work. The whole time you were nervous and a few questions caused you to slip up, but in the end, you remembered how to do most of the work. San seemed to be holding up just fine so you weren’t too worried about him, Angela would always double-check her work before turning it in and Chris was surprisingly focused the whole time.
As everyone finished their tests Mr. Harris checked everyone’s grades one by one slowly seeing their process.
He stands up taking off his glasses and says. “Class...congratulations on becoming seniors! Everyone has passed summer school. See you in the fall.”
Everyone screamed cheering as the paper was flying and everyone in the classroom cheered. “Yeah, you guys hang out at the carnival!” Chris screamed and everyone followed him out.
Before catching up with everyone you called your stepmom to tell her the good news with Mr. Harris next to you.
“Mom, I finally passed. Dad’s face right now you know he’s probably crying. It was all thanks to Mr. Harris too, he's the best teacher ever.”
You can hear your mom’s voice on the other end as she gets teary-eyed. “Your dad would definitely be so happy that you passed, but also pissed because he never wants you in summer school ever again.” The three of you laugh together as you share the happy news.
“I’m so sorry I doubted you and was super harsh y/n. I love you and just want you to succeed. Your my only banana muffin I got in this world so don’t pull off any dumb crap like this ever again.”
“Yes mom, you know I will. I made a promise to dad after all. I will graduate and stay close to you if it’s the last thing I do. Love you, I'm going to the carnival with my friends.”
Maria makes kissy noises back and says “I love you too. Don’t stay out too late. Matter of fact I’ll meet you there since me and Harris have a date anyways. See you there.” You hang up feeling emotional as you hug Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris pats you on the back saying “Didn’t I tell you she’s very proud. Now I think you need to catch up with your friends before he leaves without you. I’ll meet you at the carnival.” Mr. Harris leaves the classroom giving you one last smile and heading out.
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You walked in the hallway looking all around the school for San, luckily you found him in the science lab where he’s sitting by the window with a sad look on his face.
“San. We’ve gotta meet up with everyone at the carnival. Why are you here by yourself?”
San sighs, crossing his arms.
“There’s no point in celebrating. I tried reaching out to both of my parents to tell them about one of the biggest accomplishments in my life and as usual, they didn’t answer.” You sat right next to him at the window petting his head. “You know what, how dare they? Forget them.
You have a supportive big brother, an amazing group of friends, and the best teacher a school could ever ask for. You have a family right here and we’re proud of you.”
San lifts his head up as he sees your bright smile that always makes him helpless.
“You always know exactly what to say. What would I do without you?”
He links pinkies with you. “I really can’t wait for you to meet my stepmom. She gets on my nerves sometimes and we always tend to bump heads, but we always come right back together. Dad would’ve also loved you. He was always straight to the point and never held back. I loved that confidence he always had.”
“Oh yeah he did get into that accident last year, I’m so sorry about that.”
You shake your head “It’s alright, I’m still holding up just fine. I’m just happy to have you here with me plus I get to be seniors with you and everyone else.” San looks up at you one last time slowly leaning his face close to yours until your noses touch.
“Gosh, I wonder what would happen if I made out with Y/N in the science lab? The janitor would for sure catch us in the act.” You giggle flirting with him back.
“The only thing he would have to worry about cleaning up is the kiss marks that are going to be on your neck.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you were this playful. I love seeing this side of you.”
The two of you finally exchange a short yet sweet kiss in the orange sunset peeking against the window. It was going to last longer until Angela and Chris crashed the party with a loud knock on the door.
“Hurry up Freddy and Daphne the Scooby gang has to pull up at the carnival together. You guys can finish eating each other's faces off in the car. We can’t miss the flight of fear!”
The two of you looked at each other shrugging and walked together hand in hand out the classroom. “Well, I guess we will have to finish this on the carousel.” “Indeed, that sounds more romantic than making out while being surrounded by jars of disinfected frogs in the science lab.”
The two of you catch up with the rest of the seniors of class 2021 as you look forward to your last summer as juniors together. Today was going to be the day where you go all out and live like you're gonna die young.
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chaoticevilbean · 3 years ago
Text
When the Force doesn't know what a kid should look like
SW BI 3
Anakin's brow was starting to sweat. He knew he could keep it up a little longer, but Obi-Wan was already suspecting him and there was another 10 minutes of class. If anyone saw him- they wouldn't kick him out. Would they? No, Jedi were nice. Good.
5 minutes... 3... 1... Anakin heard the teacher dismiss the class and lunged from his seat, his pile of things barely stowed away as he dashed off. He rushed down the halls, leaping around other beings in his haste. He could feel his resolve sliping, but he could see the right hallway, see Obi-Wan's door-
A hand pulled him back by his shirt, lifting him off the ground and destroying all hopes of reaching safety. Anakin had time to register Master Tiin holding his shirt, Masters Fisto and Windu clearly accompanying the Iktotchi. Then he slammed his hands over his ears, his eyes closed, trying to curl up as several sensations and urges kicked back up.
He forgot about the tail.
"Padawan-" Master Windu's voice stuttered out, and Master Fisto began emitting a few high-pitched noises that made Anakin cringe. The Nautolan swiftly stopped, but then there was shouting , and the heat of more bodes, the scents. He was lost in a sandstorm of chaos, he couldn't think, couldn't breathe-
Something warm wrapped him up, enveloped him in familiar. There was someone's robes around him, darkening the world. The tail tried to flick away when a hand pulled that under the robes as well, but Anakin appreciated the gesture.
The familiar face of his mas Obi-Wan looked down into the robes.
"Better?" Anakin blinked languidly up at the man, shrugged, and gave into his instinct to burrow deeper into the darkness. "Anakin, I would really prefer a yes or no of some sort."
An ear flicked into his face in response. Then the other. Both stood straight up for a moment before flattening. Anakin was busy finding out that closer to Obi-Wan meant both warmer and darker. And when the Human pressed into his torso, the Jedi automatically wrapped his arms around the smaller being.
"Master Prix, do you know what's going on?"
"Not necessarily, but I have a theory. If he's been pushing down certain traits, then they might be returning full-force. It happens quite often when one of my people enters a foreign place. Too many unknowns of how another will react to them"
"Does that mean he's responsible for the scratches I keep finding under the sofa?"
"That rat had it coming," Anakin growled out, trying to see if he could go deeper. Sadly, it seemed that was impossible.
"Anakin, do you mean the mouse droid?"
Anakin ignored the question. He knew he wasn’t supposed to scratch things, but he also knew that his hunting instincts had come that day. Although he wondered how his mas Obi-Wan had found the marks.
“What should I do?”
“Make a den, incorporate different training exercises in your day, try to be receptive to any open affection.”
“I meant right now, not that that isn’t helpful.” A den did sound nice. Like the one under his mom’s bed.
Something poked the robes. Anakin’s attention honed in on the movement, ears perking back up and tail starting to twitch. The thing came again, poking enough to nearly touch him before retreating quickly. Obi-Wan's arms withdrew as his Padawan tensed up, the movement moving the robes somewhat.
The third time the thing came, it made its way through the layers, and Anakin immediately pounced on it. He barely realized it was a furred hand before it had grabbed his shirt and started pulling him out of the darkness. He hissed, trying to turn and quickly grab onto Obi-Wan, only to have the traitor pull away from him.
The light in the hallway had been dimmed, and there was only three other people in it. Anakin didn't care much, as he was busy trying to fight off the grasp of an unknown, very furry Jedi in beige. Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing. Faster than even his mother could, Anakin found himself turned around and pinned in a tight hug, someone's head nestled atop his own, right between the ears.
He started growling. He didn't like it. He didn't like losing to some stranger who someone won Obi-Wan's loyalty.
The person started rumbling in response.
Anakin amended himself. They were amazing. His growling turned to purring in an instant, and despite all his logical mind telling him not to, he went practically limp in the hold.
"Think of it like dealing with a loth cat or a dire hound. Hunting instincts will be strongest at first, but they should eventually fade into the background. That is, if he doesn't feel the need to push them down again."
"Hush," Anakin mumbled at the voice, leaning back into what he realized was quite warm fur. Even warmer than Obi-Wan. Another robe wrapped around him, this one belonging to whoever was holding him. His eyes were drooping fast, but who cared? He felt safe for once. Completely and undoubtedly safe...
~ ~
Anakin awoke to find himself still wrapped in something warm, but not the same thing. His The ears flattened for a moment before relaxing at the scent. Obi-Wan again. He decided to forgive the man, for the reasoning of the stranger not being an actual competitor and the twice-over of getting hugs.
His eyes opened to the dark room where Obi-Wan usually slept alone. They closed again, content with knowing where he was and ready to sleep himself, like the calm person next to him.
He shot away from the other at the return of his logical instincts. No, at his instincts. Anything else wasn't him. And he'd let them take over before. In front of the Jedi, in front of Obi-Wan. How long had he slept? Did he miss any of his classes?
What was he going to do now‽ He couldn- would he just continue like before? He couldn't! Could he? What if they wanted him to-
He froze at the sudden weight around his shoulders. It took a moment for his brain to restart enough to react. He tried to dart away again, but the weight just starting pressing down a little and he froze once more, waiting. The weight moved a little, shifting until he finally realized what it was.
"Kriff you."
"That's hardly language befitting a Jedi apprentice, now is it?"
"You son of a Hutt."
"I don't know what I did to deserve such name-calling. Care to inform me, dear Padawan of mine?"
"You motherkarker."
"Anakin!" Said boy giggled at the offended tone of his mas Obi-Wan, who retaliated by pulling him into a hug.
"Wait, no!" He struggled to pull himself away, to no avail. He grumbled as he flopped back, resigning himself to being stuck.
"I know you don't want to talk about this, seeing as you went as far as you did to hide it, but I would like to discuss it at least partially."
Anakin tried to free himself again. He failed again. He decided it was more annoying that he was so weak than that he was getting hugs. Was he getting the hugs because he was getting annoyed?
"Please?"
"Fine," Anakin sighed, settling into his mas Obi-Wan's chest. "What do I need to tell you?"
"Why did none of this come up in Master Che's check-up? Or did it and you didn't tell me? It's alright if it's the latter, I simply wish to know."
"It came up, ish. She did all the stuff and then asked if there's anything I should tell her, and I told her I was hiding it, but she doesn't know anything besides I have them."
"And what is 'it'?"
"Uhm..." Anakin thought for a moment, mentally going over his list of features. "Physical stuff, like the tail and the ears. Mental stuff, like the, uhm, the 'hunting'. Other stuff, but I don't really know what."
"And how does this 'hiding' work? According to Master Prix, it seems less like hiding and more like suppressing your... quirks."
Anakin tried to squirm away from his mas Obi-Wan. He sighed when it worked as well as before. He knew how to explain it all. His mom had helped him learn it so he would know if it came up. But knowing and doing are very different. And it's all a habit and habits are hard to break.
"Uhm, just- I just tell myself to wait? Like, until I sleep or get somewhere... safe?" That was awful.
"And what was earlier? Master Windu said that you were sprinting and just.. popped out a tail and all that."
"I- well, there's- rrrr." Anakin let out a short growl as he attempted to sort his thoughts. He was a Padawan. He could do this. He took a deep breath, trying to translate it all into the right words.
"On Tatooine, it's hot in the day. And it's very cold at night." He paused. Obi-Wan said nothing, waiting. He needed to figure out a way to thank his mas Obi-Wan. "And no one does much during midday, and no one does much during midnight. Around that, people like to head inside and start to adjust." Was that right? Yes, he was sure he hadn't mixed up the opposites again.
"So when it starts to get closer to midday or midnight, everyone sleeps. But on Coruscant, most people sleep once. And all the Humans sleep once. Once during a cycle," Anakin clarified. Obi-Wan made a noise of understanding, prompting his Padawan to fall silent and wait.
"So, if I'm understanding correctly, the reason you were in such a rush to make it back to our quarters was so you could stop hiding." He got a small nod in affirmation. "And the reason you were struggling to hide is because you are used to sleeping twice every cycle, for shorter times. Therefore, you are used to shorter periods in which you feel the need to hide." Another nod.
"Anakin why do you hide? I understand doing so on Tatooine, given its shifty nature. But you have been at the Temple for a month. Surely you understand you are safe here."
"Habit."
Obi-Wan said nothing to the short answer for a moment. Then he stood up, pulling his Padawan up with him. He turned the boy around, staring into the eyes that were both so different and so much the same as the ones he'd been seeing for a month.
"We don't have to go over everything now, but... do you want to break this habit?"
"...yes."
~ ~ ~
[Should I do more?]
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look-at-the-soul · 2 years ago
Note
Hi! It's gossip girl!!❤️❤️ I'm glad your finally free!!! Tumblr really needs to get its life together!! Also happy late birthday!! I was gone for a bit and saw all the stuff about it a bit late but I hope you had a a amazing birthday!!❤️❤️❤️ 
And lol😂 I usually do remember sunscreen but this time me and my friends left a bit late and I didn't grab it😂 but after about a week of aloe Vera it's back to normal😂 And yeah I'm glad watching the pups went well!! Pups ARE the best! They are always so funny and cuddly!
And it's totally alright!! You didn't keep me waiting at all! You're always totally good with the time between!! It's never too long anyway!! And I did actually make more progress on some of my WIPs so that's good! I about doubled the word count of the Micheal story I've been working on for a bit but it's still not done😂 But the idea I'm actually the closest to completes is a random Bob x reader from Top Gun that's been stuck in my head and I wanted to finally write out even though I've only done Peaky stuff up to now😂 I did also kinda give in and end up making a mini second account to post random stuff and try to get back to interacting more, but it's still mainly me putting out small things and hiding again😂 
And for who I'm trying to get idk😂 maybe all the spam/p*rn bots that seem to be showing up in my tags😂 Tumblr bans the innocent but does nothing to stop those it seems🥲
And OH NO! That's would be terrible and scary to lose that many files and such😭😭 I hope your boss back then was able to  take responsibility for it though and didn't like blame you for his mistake! I've heard horror stories of that happening before! I'm sorry you had to restart it from the last save😭 I'm still at the point where I save and save as every now and then but for the most part I only have one copy:/. It'll probably screw me over done day though😂
And I love the idea of your Mary Poppins bag! I have something similar in my car!! It's got all the stuff I need incase I'm out and don't have it and too far from my dorm! My other bags are usually just a full but only contain multiple fidget objects or random items and pens I've found 😂 which surprisingly my random objects have come in handy at times so I can justify keeping them😂
And I'm not actually sure how the one of tests went😂 my teacher still hasn't given back the grade! He was supposed to and then my school closes down for the tropical storm again (which basically ended up missing our area so we're good) and we didn't have class that day!😂 But my other test went well and I got and A on it! So i did bit of a longer break due to the storm but I still can't wait for thanksgiving break in like a week😂 And I guess it was good that your plans to study elsewhere didn't move right before the pandemic! I can imagine how stressful that would have been! Maybe if you wanted to if would be better now, I guess the world has somewhat settled down a bit (in some degrees...)  I'm glad your week was good! I hope you got some good rest too and got around what needed to be❤️❤️
As always it was fun to interact with you❤️❤️ Lots of love! Xoxo!
Hi GG!!!
It’s good to be back!!! See @ staff? I didn’t do anything wrong 😇 I just post smut from time to time… 🙈 🥳 thank you sm for your kind wishes darling! I did ☺️💕 it was lovely to get all that love in here you know?
Oh no!!! Hope you got some nice tan at least? I gave up years ago, I looked like a sick ghost at 10 yo, will look like a sick wrinkled ghost at 84 yo so I don’t even try to get a nice color anymore 🤷🏻‍♀️ Oh I just LOVE dogs, have you seen those pup videos from car to car stopping over just to say hiiiii? I’m that kind of person 🤣🐶
I’m so glad because let me tell you a secret, sometimes I feel bad for not answering sooner! But between work, my 🐶🐶, writing, reading, etc sometimes I think I did something only to realize I did it only but in my mind, and when I look back, boom it’s been 5 days since I got the message. Sooooo you’re a Michael fan, what are your thoughts about that end? I’m happy to hear that you are working on your stories!!
I’m terrible at Top Gun stories (I hope I don’t disappoint you, but I never saw the movies 🙈🙊) but either way, it’s so so good to hear you’re getting inspiration, I hope you write this one!! ☺️ @ zablife writes TG stories, if you haven’t seen that account, I highly recommend. Ohhh how come you have a second account and I don’t even know about the first one??? 😋 don’t worry if you want to keep under the anon profile it’s all good!
You’re right, sometimes with the new tags content I get post promoted and I’m like tf? 😳 at something really explicit, and some friends got posts deleted over nothing, guess they are part of us sadly…
Haha I wish! No, I had to keep working on from where the file froze… luckily by then I had mastered the formulas, it’s alright, stuff like that happens and since then, I learned to not let my boss work around my excel 🤪 and make like 3 copies just in case he came to mess it up. Oh well if so far you’ve made it, it’s all good 😉
I recently added a small hair brush (travel size) to my bag, and a little “tide to go” for you know food accidents 🤣 soon I will need a bigger bag if I keep adding things. But yes, it’s so useful when you need something, specially a student like you, bet you have lots and lots of things for your notes 😊
How did the test go? I hope that by now you got a good grade back! Oh no, everything good with the tropical storm? Hopefully it didn’t leave lots of damage, and yay!!!! Congratulations for that A! ✨👏🏻👏🏻 Well done! Happy (belated) thanksgiving!!! Did you go back home for the holiday? Are you buying something from the crazy sales? The stores were so full last week!
Yeah, because I was planning to quit my job and just go to Boston 😂 life: sure haha now I have chickened out to be honest, I’m thinking I don’t know of different plans now like getting my own place, so maybe something online would be more fitting… who knows? 🤷🏻‍♀️ With everything that happened I decided to try to not make lots of plans (of course not getting on the irresponsible side either). Thank you it was 🤗 Hope you week was good and your weekend is even better!
Thanks for the chat! It’s lovely to ‘see’ you here 💙 sending back lots and lots of love your way! Ps don’t forget your sunscreen 😉 xx
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twinklelilstarkey · 4 years ago
Text
Stopping You [Part 10] - Michael Gray
Words: 8.9k+
Summary: Y/N’s recovery from both her feelings and her wound takes a step back after a specific night.
Warnings: Female!Reader. Mentions of wounds, a lot of blood, death and night terrors. Emotional cheating. Self-hate (discrediting their own sadness and feelings; hateful inner voice).
Prologue    Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5     Part 6    Part 7   Part 8    Part 9    Part 10    Part 11
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It has been a total of 24 hours.
Yesterday was a bad day. Both mentally and physically.
Polly tried her best into bringing your mood up, which worked in some way. She eased your mind by telling you that what you were feeling is completely normal, but as soon as you were alone, it was like the whole world was crashing on you.
Over crying so much as hateful questions filled your mind, you were sore at the end of the night. You contracted your muscles so much while sobbing that you could feel your wound pulsate against your skin in pain.
You questioned almost everything about your life before and after Michael left and when he reappeared. Things have changed, not just around his family, but also around you. And that seems to be one of the most confusing matters.
You never cared too much about this, but you can’t help but think about how so many things have changed since Michael came back. From your behaviors to how you function. Everything has changed in some way.
You’ve always suffered with night terrors in your life, ever since your parents left, but they were almost never about Michael. The exception being when the whole Italian/New York mafia situation went down, and Michael got injured. But other than that, it was always you, or anybody else close, that would die.
Never Michael.
You want to know what could’ve possibly awaken those thoughts and that part of your brain that makes you think like that. Could it be because you now connect him to something bad in your life? Or that when he came back, he had-
No, you’re not going there. It’s useless. It will cost you nothing pain, and it won’t grant you any answers. Might as well push that away and live your life.
Or at least try.
You bring your hot mug back to your lips and take another sip of your tea, letting your eyes fall to the ground.
Polly believes you could talk to him. Tell him about how you’ve been feeling lately. But, honestly, for what? To say that you’re falling right back in love with him just to later be thrown in the face that he does not love or feel anything for you anymore.
He. Is. Getting. Married.
It would just be simply ridiculous to do such a thing.
He doesn’t feel anything for you and that’s okay. All he feels is pity and maybe he got a little scared over you being shot, but that’s it. There are no feelings attached, no romance. No nothing. Just simply… a connection through pain, which awoke lost and forbidden memories.
Maybe this could just be your pride talking over your heart but, you just can’t believe that you’re letting yourself fall so easily. After so long of crying over him and overworking yourself to become a Peaky Blinder and just- not worry about anything in your demolished love life. All of it going to the trash because… You caught feelings for him again?
It’s disappointing to say the least.
Today, you awoke as soon as the sun made its way into the living room and since then, you haven’t done much. You walked back to your room after getting yourself a warm drink and sat by the window staring at the green grass of the neighbors’ house like it’s the most entertaining thing in the world.
A book is resting beside you. You have read a few good pages, but you can’t bring yourself to read more than 20 at a time.
Your mind is too heavy.
Voices coming from downstairs make you look away from the window and up to your door. You try your best to identify them as soon as you find them familiar.
You can hear voices and the laugher of Lizzie and Arthur. Which is awfully strange.
You scowl at the sound, and the soft patter of quick feet running around the house squeezes your heart. The kids are here too.
You rise from your seat and walk across your bedroom to the door. You open it softly and the sound of everyone’s voices is now louder. Confusion is the most prominent emotion you can feel right now, but you can’t help but welcome it better than any other one you’ve been feeling lately.
While walking down the main stairs silently, a soft gasp is heard over the loud voices. Ruby’s.
You smile at her as she spots you walking down the stairs and she quickly let’s go of her mother’s hand to run towards you.
As you’re distracted swallowing down the jab of pain at your middle while leaning down to grab her, Polly’s eyes meet you. The smile in your face is almost like a warm hug in the winter. She could get used to this sight forever.
“Look who came back from war,” Ada jokes as she spots you.
She walks towards you and her arms wrap around you as soon as you’re close enough. You lean towards her, even with Ruby on your hip, and she squeezes you in closer.
“I was so worried,” She tells you, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
You pull away from the hug with a small smile and she gives you a wide one in return. It’s been a few weeks since you last saw her. She had left back for London not long before the whole event happened. You honestly didn’t expect to see her this soon.
As Ada moves back, everyone’s attention goes over to you. Everyone, or at least, almost everyone pulls you into a hug, sharing their words of how grateful they are from knowing that you’re still breathing.
You know they had visited you back at the hospital when you were still asleep, but nothing compares to actually seeing you move like nothing had happened. Arthur’s words, not yours.
Talking about Arthur. He was awfully apologetic while you two hugged it out. You believe he must have blamed himself for what happened, but you were quick to take that idea off his head.
You’re not about to see anybody else beating themselves for something out of their reach.  Unless that’s you, of course.
Tommy and Arthur, not even 20 minutes into stepping in Polly’s home, excuse themselves and leave off to work.
The crowd in the living room doesn’t consist in much more people. Both Ada and Lizzie, and of course the kids, stayed behind and took a seat on the couch. The kids surrounded you as soon as you all sat down, while the women in front of you were distracted on talking about whatever, or rather, whoever worth of gossiping.
You listen to some of their words while being continuously pulled into conversation by Charlie as you let Ruby sit next to you, leaning to your side.
Karl is sitting closer to his mother, but looking at you and joining the conversations, nonetheless.
“What about you, Y/N?” Ada asks as she sips her tea.
“What about me?” You ask confused, obviously having no clue on what she’s on about.
“We were talking about weddings,” Lizzie explains, “Sharing our opinions on what is the best wedding. And Ada asked if you have anyone in your mind as your future husband?”
Her tone is playful more than anything. Both Lizzie and Ada expect a disgusted scowl or a roll of your eyes as an answer, but Polly can’t help but tense up against her seat at the question.
As innocent as this conversation was, it was more than powerful to push you back into your inner darkness.
“Not that I know of.” You answer, trying to mimic Lizzie’s tone.
“Oh, come on. You don’t find any man attractive?” Ada asks, putting her cup down beside her, “Not even one?”
You shake your head slowly and she stares at you with half closed eyes, almost as if she has a suspicion of some sort about your feelings towards any male presences.
“There has to be someone,” Lizzie agrees with Ada, “It’s been… what? 3 years?”
You shrug, fighting your urge to correct her since it won’t do you any justice, and the two women share a look as Polly watches all the action unfold.
“What about Finn?”
Oh god, you almost gagged right here.
Ada laughs under her breath at your disgusted yet shocked look and shakes her thoughts of that couple even be slightly real, away.
“God.” Polly scoffs out loud, making every woman rip a slight smile.
“What’s so wrong about my baby brother?” Polly asks, hands over her hips, playful grin on her face.
“Nothing is wrong,” Polly explains, “They would just be the most chaotic couple to existence. Can you imagine?”
You chuckle at her words and shake your head.
“They would burn down the church right at their wedding,” Polly jokes making both Lizzie and Ada laugh, “Probably even when saying their vows.”
There’re a few seconds of silence as the women let their giggles die down.
“Where is Finn?” Lizzie asks curious.
“Oh, Tommy has been making the boy work double the shifts now, for some reason.” Polly answers, “I don’t understand why, but they changed a lot of his shifts since their last meeting.”
“There was a meeting?” You ask confused.
Polly looks over at you.
“Yes, there was. It was only between Tommy and some of the men.” She answers with a short nod, “Nothing too important was talked about, I’m sure.”
You nod at her a little bit unsure and Charlie is quick to grab your attention back to him. He pulls you by your sleeve to look at him and he starts showing you his new toy horse, again.
You feel like you’ve seen that horse a thousand times, now.
Another conversation restarts between the women and you lean back on the couch, letting Ruby continue to play with your gold necklaces as Charlie talks his heart out about the horse that his dad gave him.
Your mind is constantly somewhere else. But this time, it focused on work. Mainly, on what the meeting could’ve possibly been about. As if any meeting with just the men was ‘not important’. They always have the most interesting meetings.
And with that train of thought, hours go by.
You were so distracted by listening to the women beside you laugh and talk, or just with looking down at the kids, that you didn’t even notice the time pass.
Your mind is still on that damned meeting, but you don’t let it get the best of you. You’re sure that the information will eventually reach you. In one way or another.
Three knocks are heard from the front door, and only Polly stands to open it. Nobody thinks too much of it. Everyone knew that eventually someone would come and pick up Ada, Lizzie and the kids.
It’s soon to be dark out, they must be almost leaving now.
“I’m sorry that we’re late.” A familiar voice sounds from the door.
Ada freezes and at the same time she looks up at you, you look up at the door. Not even 5 seconds later, Michael enters the house, followed by, of course, Gina. His blue eyes travel to the couch in the living room, and as he finds you, you’re already looking down at Charlie.
Your hand rests against Charlies’ head, smoothing his soft hair between your fingers, detangling it softly.
He forces his gaze to go back to the blonde behind him and his mother closes the front door behind them.
“Go sit. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll go make more tea.” Polly says, voice strong, not as soft as it was previously.
Ada’s and Lizzie’s eyes stay on both Michael and Gina as the couple stands in silence. They don’t find the women’s gaze as nothing more than their way to look at guests before exchanging some welcoming words, so, the tense air and shock just came unnoticed.
“Oh, hi Michael” Ada says, standing on her feet. “Didn’t expect to see you today.”
She gives her cousin a quick hug, in which he hugs back, but her eyes quickly fall on the blonde.
“And who are you?” Ada asks softly.
“Michael’s fiancée, Gina” She says with her American accent, extending her hand towards the other family member she hasn’t heard of before.
Ada shakes her hand, feeling slightly confused and shocked with her words, but, just like anyone else in this room, she’s quick to hide her emotions.
“Please, sit. I don’t want you standing all night.” Polly says to the new guests, from the kitchen door.
Michael is the first one to move towards the couches. You don’t dare to look up at him and he notices, fighting his own urge to start a conversation.
Your heart quickens the closer he gets to you and Charlie looks up at him, probably recognizing his face somewhere.
“Charlie, honey, scoot over a little.” Lizzie tells the boy.
The boy in front of you nods in response and takes his eyes off Michael. He stands on the couch and carefully steps over your lap and sits on your other side, by the arm of the couch.
Michael takes his seat next to you and you hold in your breath as your arms rest completely against one another. Lizzie moves a bit to the side and Gina sits beside her fiancée, who has his attention somewhere else.
“How are you?” Michael whispers down at you and you still don’t look up.
“Good.”
Your tone is cold and distant, which he finds extremely strange and awfully uncomfortable.
The couch is surely not large enough for 4 people, but you and Michael are having it worse than anyone else seated down on it. Lizzie and Gina have at least a few inches between themselves, while you and Michael are almost completely leaning against one another, trapped between Gina and Charlie.
Michael’s hands rest over his lap as he hears the awfully awkward conversation between the women start, not finding it at all surprising that you are paying them no absolute attention.
Ruby lets go of your necklaces for the first time and looks down at your hands.
They’re slightly sweaty over the presence of the man beside you but she pays them no mind, grabbing onto them as she eyes the expensive jewelry, surely something she loves a lot about you.
Polly comes back not too long after, and she’s quick to serve everyone another cup of tea.
You refuse any more, since you feel like you’ve already drank too much and explode your own bladder if you keep on going. And as your hand lifts to dismiss the tea from Polly, Ruby catches it.
You smile a bit at her and Michael grins slightly at the sight of the small girl being so interested in your hand. You let her twist the rings on your fingers and her gaze moves up at Michael.
His grin seems awfully contagious to her since she ends up smiling shyly at him as she continues to hold your hand up. As they do their staring contest, you look over at Charlie, who entertains himself and his mind with his new, and very loved, horse.
You sigh softly as your heart continues to beat quickly against your rib cage and you can’t tell if it’s just because you’re anxious about Michael or is it just his presence that is making you react like this.
“Have you taken your pain meds?” Polly asks.
You look up quickly as you notice that the question must be for you and a shiver runs past you as everyone’s eyes fall on you, even Gina’s.
“I will when I go to sleep.”
She gives you a disapproving look and you give her a grin in return.
“It helps me sleep.” You justify, and she sits back in her chair.
Michael grins at the exchange of words and your stubbornness and Ada notices it before continuing with her conversation.
Ruby rests your palm against hers and starts comparing both sizes.
You chuckle at her and as your body jumps at the laugh beside Michael, he looks down at Ruby to see what made you react. The small girl looks up when sensing his eyes on her and as Gina joins the conversation between the other women, Ruby extends her other hand at Michael, holding it upright.
He looks at her confused and you notice.
“She wants to compare your hand to hers.” You explain in a low whisper.
He takes his hand from his lap and extends it to her. His hands are surely bigger than yours, and that seemed to shock the small girl.
You smile as she lays her hand over his with widen eyes and Polly looks up from her tea at you, mind still on the conversation she started.
Her heart swells up at the sight. You and Michael smiling down at the girl sitting on your lap as she holds your hands up and compares them to hers. She can’t hear what you say over the loud voices and from being across the room, but she sees you saying something to Ruby, making her nod.
Michael’s smile widens at the small girl and you look up at him quickly, stealing a look before you get caught, which you don’t, not by him at least. Polly surely did, but she doesn’t say or do anything.
It’s so obvious that you still feel something for him, at least for her. But Michael seems to be unreadable, sometimes. It’s hard to figure anything out.
Gina stares at Polly while grinning at what Ada says and finds her staring at her son, she follows her gaze and clenches her jaw. The urge to roll her eyes feels stronger than her, but her bottled up rage triples at sight of you smiling.
Ruby takes her hands off yours quickly, shyly putting them close to her chest. You continue to smile down at her and as you and Michael try to retreat your own hands, she holds on to them.
Her actions are innocent, purely curious on the size of your hands, but she still leans both of your palms together, still holding them upright.
You and Michael don’t give that much of a reaction as Ruby tries to align them perfectly at the base of your palms and see the size difference from the top of your fingers.
An idea pops in your mind as your hand rests against Michael’s, and as Ruby pulls back to check the difference after so much adjusting, you slide your palm against Michael’s, so your fingers align right at the same height.
Michael chuckles at the confused look on Ruby’s face and she smiles at the contagious sound.
But as soon as the small girl notices what you’ve done, she sends you a glare, making the two of you laugh at her.
Your conjoined laughs catch everyone’s attention for a quick second and Gina doesn’t even care to take a second look. Ada smiles as she sees Ruby readjusting your palms, and, this time, it’s Michael who moves his hand, almost making his fingers only lay over half of your palm.
Ruby glares at him too and you two laugh, again.
“Alright, we’ll stop.” You tell her.
Ruby retries, but this time she has a tactic. As she makes sure that you are aligned perfectly, she holds both your and Michael’s thumb and force them to rest against the other’s back of the hand.
She leans back and stares at the difference between your hands, now happy with her achievement.
You two let her stare at the size difference with her big wide eyes, but something interrupts the sweet moment.
“Michael, honey.” Gina calls out as the conversation between everyone restarts, “Can you pass me that cup?”
Michael takes his hand off yours and you can’t help but feel disappointed at the loss of his touch. He leans forward on the couch and grabs the cup of tea for Gina from the center table, something she could easily get it herself.
You let your hand fall back to your lap and you take a sharp deep inhale, not wanting to be sitting on this couch for any longer.
You let some minutes pass, so you don’t seem like a total bitch, and when feeling ready, you lean forward on the couch, wincing in pain as your body shows to have grown sore over the lack of painkillers and from not moving at all for the past few hours.
Polly’s eyes go over to you at the sound only her seemed to notice, and you look back at her.
“I’m going to bed, I think.” You explain, making everybody get silent and look at you, “I feel exhausted.”
“Need help to find your meds?” She asks, already starting to get up, and you shake your head.
“No, no.” You hold your hand up stopping her, “Stay here. I’ll find them.”
You make sure to sit Ruby on the couch comfortably before forcing yourself up from the low couch. You fight off any sound of pain as you stand on your feet, but your face made it quite obvious.
You really should’ve taken those meds earlier.
You walk to the kitchen, trying not to show any other expression of pain, and everyone’s eyes are on you. Gina stares as you lean against the doorframe to regain your strength, yet she doesn’t feel anything in return. Not even an ounce of pity.
You stumble into the kitchen and look at the main counter, expecting the meds to be sitting right in the middle, just like you left them. But this wouldn’t be Polly’s house if they were.
Your feet get dragged as you take your time walking around to the kitchen.
You start opening every cabinet and drawer that could possibly have your meds, but there are too many to find them right away. Maybe going to bed without your meds wouldn’t be that bad.
You just need to lay down, now.
“Need help?”
You turn on your heels to find Michael by the doorway, already in the kitchen. You look away quickly back to all the drawers and try to hide any type of emotion towards his sudden appearance.
“No, I think I got it.” You answer back.
You continue to look through the many drawers and only after 2 minutes of seeing you struggle; Michael decides to move. He walks towards you and you stand still as he does so.
As he passes between you and the counter behind you, he holds onto your shoulders to make you stand back a little and let him pass. Something that surely made your skin react, but, thankfully, it all came unnoticed to him.
He opens a drawer slightly away from you and pulls out exactly what you’re looking for.
“How did you know?” You ask, curious.
“This is where she would put my meds after I got shot. It’s her drawer from stronger meds.” He explains.
How the hell did you not know that?
You walk towards him as he opens the small paper bag, taking your medicine out and handing it over to you. You take it from his hands carefully and put it down on the counter beside you.
“Thank you” You whisper at him.
You take your medicine in silence as the conversation restarts in the living room, and you try not to cringe at anything that you’re taking. Why is everything so bitter?
Whenever you’re done with one of the meds, Michael grabs them slowly and puts them back on the bag without saying anything.
He slides the drawers closed when done and you start taking the jewelry off your hands, just to start and get your way to the bed way quicker.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks and you look up at him.
“No. But I’ll be.” You say sincerely before looking away and taking a step away from him, “That’s what matters.”
Michael notices your hesitation into continuing some sort of conversation, just like your slight cold tone, but he tries his best to ignore it.
“I’m going to bed,” You announce while turning your back to him and making your way out of kitchen.
“Good night.” He says as you reach the doorway.
You send him a tight-lipped smile and walk out, back into the living room. Polly is, of course, the first one to notice you.
“Did you find it?” She asks.
“Michael did.” You answer.
You walk over to her and once close, lean over and kiss her cheek. The rest of the family distracted with something else or some other type of conversation.
Michael walks out of the kitchen and you reach the stairs, after saying a quick good night, loud enough for everyone else to hear.
You jump up the steps with your rings in your hands as you bring your cold and clammy hands to your neck to try and unclasp your necklaces. Your eyes land on Michael’s as you reach the top floor and he’s staring back.
Gina calls his name in a whisper and he looks at her, breaking your eye contact. And as soon as his eyes reach Gina’s, he doesn’t hesitate into giving her a sweet smile.
As he looks back up while walking around the couch, his eyes meet nothing but some painting on the wall.
You’re not there anymore.
(…)
The sound of birds surrounds you, their soft and energized tweeting coming from the trees far away from you and some branches above you, as the warm summer wind hits your body like a warm hug.
You shift your position on the ground, laying on your stomach and looking up at the sky between the branches high up, far, far away from you.
Solitary clouds float over the bright blue sky, almost not shielding any land from the sunlight.
Your exposed back is warm, erupting into chills whenever Michael moves his hand. You close your eyes again and let yourself relax again.
A hand touches the side of your head softly and slowly you feel its fingers start to trace your hairline. You open your eyes, blinking the sunlight away, and look up at Michael.
His hand falls to your cheek as you move and a small smile spreads over his lips.
“Let me sleep,” You whine, and he finally gives you a full smile.
“Alright,” He answers in a whisper, “Sorry.”
You sigh and hold yourself up with your hands, you push your body up on his torso and his hands go to your waist. Not caring over only wearing a dress, you lay yours legs over his hips, straddling his lap while pulling yourself up.
“I forgive you.” You whisper back playfully.
You snuggle into the crook of his neck and his smell hits you like an embrace. The small bit of communication pulled you away from your sleepy thoughts and movements, but you still felt just as clingy and slow.
As you lay back against him, his arms wrap around you, pulling you close to him with everything in him. You snuggle in to welcome his tight hold and one of his hands stretches over your skin of your back.
You’re wearing a simple black dress, baggy from your waist down, but completely backless.
“Can we lay here for, like…” You pause, “Forever?”
Michael chuckles from under you and leans his head to the side to rest it against yours.
“We’ll get hungry eventually.” He answers, and you smile.
“I’m sure there’s some animals around here.” You continue to play around, smile prominent in your voice.
“I hope you know how to make a fire, then.”
You giggle into Michael’s neck and pull away slightly. His hold loosens slightly so you can move a bit and you look down at him.
“Don’t you know how to make a fire?” You ask and he frowns.
“Why would I?”
“I don’t know” You shrug, “Weren’t you like a country boy or something?”
With that, Michael lets out the biggest belly laugh ever, leaving you to smile as he cackles away at your words. Your tone had been obviously playful, but it still made it just as funny for him.
“I lived at a farm. I wasn’t a cave man!” He exclaims, tilting his head to look at you better.
“Sounds the same to me.”
He smiles at you and you bring one of your hands to his cheek, caressing it with your thumb. You lean in and give him the softest peck you could. When pulling away, you look at him in the eyes as he tries to pull you into another kiss. You let him, letting your lips rest over the softness of his as you too fall into the pit of slow and lovingly making out.
He sits up in the middle of the kiss and you sit over his legs as he does it. His hands travel effortlessly down your waist to your legs, lifting your skirt enough to slither in his hands underneath.
You pull away and look down at him as you stand on your knees, adjusting your seating on his thighs. You peck his lips multiple times before sitting back and eyeing him.
“I love you” He confesses in a whisper, eyes staring back onto yours, “so much”
“Really?” You ask, serious, leaning a little back and he frowns.
“Yeah…?”
He’s confused, but soon your playful smile reappears.
“How much, again?”
“A lot.”
“How much is ‘a lot’?” You keep going. “Like, ‘a lot’ like the size of a mountain or ‘a lot’ as in…” You think for a second, but he interrupts.
“How old are you again?” He teases about your childish words and you force your smile to disappear, just so you can scowl at him.
“Oh, fuck off” You say to him, “I was trying to be cute here, no need to ruin the moment for us.”
“Alright, keep going then” He says, “The size of a mountain or…?”
“Uhm… The size of…” You try to think, mind completely blank over any ideas. “The size of… the ocean?”
He chuckles at your final words and you grin.
“The ocean.” He says, sure of his words, no hesitation.
You stay silent for a bit.
“Which one?”
“Oh, come on!” He says, completely bored out of this conversation, making you laugh at him, “The biggest one you can think of”
“Really?”
“Yes. Now, can you please” He emphasizes the word comically, dragging it, “for the love of God, just tell me that you love me back?”
You kiss his lips over his frown.
“You’re so romantic.” You comment sarcastically.
“I know.”
You smile at him and decide not to give in just yet. The boy can suffer for a bit.
Telling him that you loved him now or in 5 minutes won’t exactly make that much of a difference.
You stand up on your feet, away from his lap, and he stares up at you while letting out a sigh.
“You gotta earn it.” You say with a playful look, making his frown break slightly.
“Oh really?”
“Yes.” You nod.
You take a step back as he stands up and your smile doesn’t disappear at all as you move away from him. Every step forward from Michael is a step back for you, making his urge to get to you bigger.
And soon, the running around starts.
You laugh as you run from him, sometimes feeling his fingers graze over your arms, making your heart beat faster with the adrenaline.
The tall weeds slap the skin of your exposed legs softly, tickling you as you ran away from your boyfriend. The scenery in front of you motivates into keeping on running, the summery flowers all open and colorfully staring up at the sky.
All you hear is your soft steps over the plants and the birds, it gives you peace. You can still hear Michael running behind you.
You let out a giggle as he’s about to touch you and out of nowhere, it stops.
The warm breeze lifts into a cold one and you look around confused.
You know that the weather can be unpredictable, but this is too radical for it to make sense.
Your hands start getting cold rapidly and soon your body is enveloped into complete body chills, your dress being nothing but useless when it comes to make you stay warm.
The breeze goes from cold to freezing in the matter of seconds, leaving you nothing but panicked.
You feel lightheaded and short of breath and as you try to warm yourself up with your own arms, soon you realize… You can’t feel your own palms touching your skin.
The sunlight fades as clouds fly their way in to color the skies a dark grey and you stare up.
You’re in a dream.
You’re dreaming.
You look over your shoulder at Michael to find him just as confused just a few steps away. He must have stopped running right as you did. But his skin, is not reacting like yours. His exposed arms, from the folded sleeves are not reacting to the cold in chills. It’s like it’s not affecting him.
He’s not the real Michael.
“What’s happening?” He asks you.
“I don’t know” You lie. You know exactly what’s happening.
Your dream is becoming a nightmare.
You look around as the wind gets harsher and your heart starts to beat more violently, just like your shortness of breath forces you into panting your way to find your peace again.
You step closer to Michael and cup his face.
He stares back at you still with his confused eyes and you kiss him. Your lips touch his and his hands come to rest over your waist as the wind continues to come at full force towards you.
Your hands feel numb, not being able to feel the texture of his suit, just like you had felt a few minutes prior. But you feel his hands, the way they rest on your waist, warming your skin under the violent and freezing wind.
“I love you,” You tell him as you pull away.
You open your eyes and you’re met with Michael’s pale face. His eyes are empty, with absolutely no light or sign of life.
You caress his cold cheeks with your thumbs, and you notice blood over his bottom lip. His hands had fallen a second ago from your waist, and you already miss his familiar warmth.
You bring your finger to wipe the blood away carefully and notice that it’s all over his mouth, coloring his white bottom teeth.
A small trail of blood starts falling off his nose and soon from his ears as well, slowly coloring your hands into the color red.
Red, hands completely filled with deep red, now that you try and wipe it.
Michael falls onto his knees and you do the same, holding him close to you even though it’s just his corpse. He’s cold and his hold is not even there anymore. His arms are by his sides as his head rests over your shoulder.
You wrap your arms around him, and the wind becomes more and more violent.
You force your eyes closed and let it take you too.
You open your eyes, and a loud gasp escapes your mouth. You’re not panting anymore, but your heart is beating quickly.
You try to sit up, but a sudden jab of pain hits you. You gasp and wince in pain but still bring yourself to do it. A sob escapes your mouth too right as you’re able to sit upright.
Your face feels wet and cold in the air of the room. You must have been crying before you woke up.
You whine in pain as you bring yourself to turn on the light beside you and as the warm yellow light illuminates the room, all you see is blood.
Your own blood, spread around your white shirt and white sheets, painting your hands just like in your dream.
“Pol-” You try to call out, but your voice breaks in a sob as pain runs through you.
You sob into the empty and silent air and try it again.
“Polly!” You sob out loud, hoping that that was enough to awake her if it’s late enough for that.
You wait a few long seconds for any sound coming from the hallway or stairs, but nothing.
“Polly!” You try to scream louder.
Polly holds her hand up to shut up Gina and the room falls silent. Michael leans forward from the railing of the stairs and looks at his mom confused; arms still crossed over his chest.
“Poll-” You cough.
Michael, before Polly could even get up, makes his way up the stairs and runs down the hall, trying his best to be fast enough to get to your room.
Your door swings open and you continue to sob as the lights are turned on.
“I don’t know what I did wrong.” You sob to whoever is at the door, staring down at your hands, “I-I, I woke up and…”
Michael shakes his shock away at the sight of your bed all bloodied, just like your hands, and walks towards you. His eyes fall to your shirt and notices from where your blood is coming from, your wound.
“Mom!” Michael shouts while looking up at the door.
Your ears start to buzz as panic starts to set in in your system and two hands move yours away from your eyes.
“You’re okay, you’re okay.” The voice repeats and you sob helplessly.
Michael sits in front of you in the bed and brings you close to him, ignoring that he’s now being covered in blood as well.
He makes you rest your hands on his shoulders so that they’re away from your eyes and starts to unbutton some of the buttons of your shirt.
Polly finally gets to the door and the sight is absolutely terrifying.
“She ripped stitches. I think.”
Polly forces herself to walk to the bed and to help Michael check your wound. He continues to unbutton your shirt with one hand only and he’s quick to rip the bandage off.
You sob in pain as he does it and both him and Polly try to look past the blood and ignore your sobs to see what happened to your wound. It opened, maybe 3 of the 9 stitches ripped.
“I’ll call the doctor.” Polly says.
Michael nods and holds you closer to him, not wanting you to move too far away. Your side rests against his chest and he wraps an arm around your shoulders, while one of his hands grabs the sheets and holds them over the wound.
You sob silently while leaning closer to him and he looks up at your face.
“Hey. You’re okay, look at me.” He whispers at you and you do it, “You’re okay. It’s not too bad. You’re safe. I promise.”
You stare at him in the eyes and he leans his forehead against yours.
“You’re okay” He whispers lower.
You nod as tears continue to roll down your face and he nods with you. Your breathing starts to slow down, and he presses a kiss over your wet cheek.
“I got you.” He whispers against your skin.
(…)
Michael sighs loudly as he walks into the kitchen and he feels exhausted.
“Is the doctor finished?” Polly asks him and he just nods, “And her?”
“Passed out before he could even start” He answers, “The doctor said to just let her sleep.”
He walks towards the sink and he turns on the water, holding his bloody hands under it. The two women standing in the kitchen are silent, watching him wash his hands carelessly while staring at the wall.
“I’ll go get you a clean shirt.” Polly says.
His mom walks out of the kitchen and he turns off the water, turning around to face Gina.
“Are we going to the hotel after this?” She asks softly.
“I can drive you there, but I’m staying here, tonight.”
She takes a deep breath and brings her hands to her head, annoyed.
“Why? She’s asleep. You can visit her tomorrow.” She tries.
“I’ll sleep better here.”
She scoffs.
“You’re fucking unbelievable.”
“I’m unbelievable?” Michael answers, bringing his hand up to point at his own chest.
“Yes!” She almost screams, “You are unbelievable! And you want to know why?” She asks, “Because no matter what I fucking do or fucking say, you will always put her before me.”
“Always, Gina? Are you serious?” Michael asks in disbelief, “You’ve been my fucking priority ever since we met, and now because I show some sort of affection towards a girl that is fucking bleeding and crying her lungs out, I’m supposedly putting her before you?”
“Yes! I don’t even know what you had with her before me!” She shouts, “Ever since I step foot into this shit hole I’ve been listening to her name and seeing her over and over again. Do you really think I believe that she’s simply a ‘family friend’?” She air-quotes.
“You want the truth?” He asks, no shouting needed, but he sounds mad.
“Yes.”
“We dated for 4 years, almost 5. I ended our relationship when in America.” He answers and Gina stands silent, “See? I can tell you the truth when you ask nicely.”
“And if you broke up why do you still like her?” She asks, ignoring his hateful tease at the end of his sentence.
“You have to be joking-”
“Are you going to say that that’s a lie?” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest, “Let me give you some of my truth, Michael. I honestly don’t give a shit about what you two went through, or if you were in a good relationship or not when with her, but you broke up. I don’t care why, but you did. And there was a time when you chose me over her. That’s why you proposed, right?”
Michael doesn’t answer her.
“So, please, for the love of God, stop being a child and move on with your life. You’ve been mopping around her, touching her all the time as if you’re dying to do it at every second of the day… Even if she does still like you, you are with me now, not her.” She spits at him, “Move. On. She’s not yours anymore, Michael. I am.”
He swallows hard at her words and looks at her emptily.
Polly makes her way back inside the kitchen, acting as if she didn’t hear a thing, but that seems to not scare off Gina from continuing.
“Are you even listening to m-?”
“I am.”
“Then say something, Michael.” She scolds, “Is it not true, what I’m saying?”
Polly looks between them as if waiting for it to evolve in any way, and simply extends her hand towards Michael, so he can grab the clean shirt.
“Is she your priority or no-”
“Yes.” Michael answers, “Y/N is my priority.” He nods, sure of himself and his words. “Yes, I’m engaged to you, Gina, but I care for her, and she will always be my priority.”
Gina bites her tongue and looks at Michael.
It honestly comes to no surprise. She had just thrown these words at him not that long ago, at lunch. He had just never confirmed it for her, and now… he did. But ‘always’? You will always be his priority? Now, that, doesn’t sit right with her.
They stand in silence and Michael leans back on the counter, finally taking the shirt from his mom’s hands. He thanks her with a look but to no avail because her eyes are not even on him.
“You’re serious?” Gina comments in slight disbelief.
“I am.” Michael confirms.
“What does that mean for us, then?” She asks.
Michael stays silent and the blonde slides off the highchair she has been sitting on, standing on her heels. Her eyes stay on him as tears threaten to swell up at her eyes.
“I’m not sure.” Michael answers truthfully.
She nods at his words and brings her eyes to the ground. She feels disappointed but mostly betrayed. Her eyes are good to show that emotion, but soon, it evolves into something else.  Pure anger. Anger over the betraying words and truth, the one that just got thrown around as if it was nothing.
And Polly notices it.
“I think it’s better if you leave, Gina.”
Michael takes his eyes off his fiancée to stare at his mother, who just opened her mouth. He didn’t expect her to get herself involved in his worries, but she did.
“What?” Gina asks, bringing her head back up to stare at Polly.
“You heard me.”
Her eyes travel to Michael in hopes that he would defend her, but nothing. He’s just staring back at her, almost holding the same look as his mother.
He doesn’t want her here. He wants her to leave.
She shakes her head, overcome with emotion, and forces her feet to move. Her palms tingle with the idea of hitting something, or rather, someone, but her eyes fill with tears.
How could have she been so stupid?
She slams the front door shut behind her and the Gray family stand in the kitchen unphased.
“Rather dramatic that one, uh?” Polly asks her son.
Michael doesn’t answer her venomous comment, but that didn’t seem to surprise her. His mother walks around the counter and grabs the cup Gina used for her whiskey, bringing it to the sink so she can wash it.
It’s like this conversation didn’t affect her a slight bit.
Michael feels weird. He doesn’t regret telling Gina anything but the look she gave him spoke more than any of her words could. She felt betrayed by him, and she was holding back so many emotions and words.
He knows that if it wasn’t for his mom, Gina would be screaming at him, maybe even throwing stuff at the walls. Just like she usually does when she’s upset. But she didn’t do anything, she decided to contain herself and not scream or even curse him out.
And honestly, Michael doesn’t know what’s worse. The fact that she could be destroying his mom’s kitchen or the fact that she’s bottling up all her frustration and anger.
He thought he knew Gina before coming back home, but the trip only made him and her show their true colors. One can’t stop comparing his newfound love to his old one, and the other obsesses over the idea of power and desperately wanting to overthrow anyone in her way.
Quite a pair, that’s for sure.
(…)
You open your eyes as the lights burns your eyelids open and an involuntary groan runs off your mouth as you’re hit with the morning light right in the face. You turn your head to the side, but you’re met with another window with the curtains open.
“Fuck.” You curse out loud.
You sit up and another sound escapes your mouth, but this time, a whimper of pain.
It takes you a few seconds to connect the dots and you finally remember why you’re in pain in the first place.
“Jesus Christ.” You comment to yourself, again.
Your bloody sheets are set to the side, right next to your door, and before your mind could even try to process it, you push any thoughts of your nightmare away from you.
You pull yourself up carefully and try to ignore the tightness that you feel over your wound. You’re not quite sure what happened after the doctor appeared, but if you’re still at Polly’s house, it could only mean one thing…
It’s not as bad as it looked.
You walk to the bathroom and the sight that meets your eyes is, just, great.
Your shirt is mostly unbuttoned, bloodied, just like your bra. Some of your skin has been cleaned, but not all. Your face as some blood smeared on it, but it doesn’t surprise you. You remember moving so much when you woke up, it would be a miracle it your feet would be clean.
You throw the clothes into the bin and start cleaning yourself off. You can’t exactly bath over having to make the wound be dry at all times. But you have been able to manage quite nicely. With weird positions, for sure, but you’re able to wash your body and hair quite nicely.
You put on some washed clothes on and make your way out of the bedroom. It must be really early since the house is more than silent.
Before you walk down the stairs, you walk over to the guest’s room just to check. Finn is laying on his back over the large bed, mouth partly open as some light snores escape his lips, making you smile at him.
You take a step back and close the door back up. He must’ve gotten here after the doctor.
You make your way down the stairs easily, and as soon as your eyes land on the couch, you see Michael.
He’s awake with a mug on his hands, eyes on the carpet as he is completely lost in thought. He has a scowl over his face, hiding any kind of emotion from anyone’s eyes, and as your feet finally meet the last step, he looks up.
His scowl disappears and a slight grin appears over his lips.
“Good morning.” You say before he could.
“Good morning.” He answers back.
You walk towards him and he watches you as you carry yourself with ease over to the couch. You take a seat next to him and notice that his mug is still filled with warm coffee.
He extends the mug your way when noticing your interest and you smile, taking it.
“Thank you.” You whisper.
The hot mug burns your cold palms, and you welcome the almost uncomfortable heat into your skin. You bring it to your lips and take a small sip of the dark liquid.
You’re sitting close to Michael, sitting on top of one of your legs as you sit looking at him. You’re not wearing much more than a shirt, exposing your legs to him and to anyone in the house, but you don’t seem uncomfortable with your lack of clothing.
“Are you feeling okay?” He asks and you bring the mug down from your mouth, licking your lips at the same time.
“Yeah” You nod.
You give him back his mug after taking your generous sips and he takes it back onto his hands.
“When did Finn get here?” You ask him, curious.
“About half an hour after the doctor left.” He answers, leaning forward to put down the burning mug on the coffee table, finding it impossible to drink from how hot it is, still.
You nod at as his answer and while you’re thinking about what else to ask, he speaks again.
“You scared the living shit out of us last night.” He says, making you look back at him.
His eyes are back on the carpet and your chest tightens at the sight.
“I’m sorry.” You apologize.
“Don’t.” He says, finally looking back up, “It’s not your fault.”
He leans back on the couch and both of you continue to look at each other. The air is not thick as it usually is, it’s light and easy to breathe in. Your looks are both familiar, always taking your minds back in time for a quick second.
Your mind takes you to your dream and soon his pale face reappears in your mind. You shake the thoughts away, right as Michael opens his mouth to talk.
“Are you hungry?” He asks, “I can make you something to eat.”
You smile widely at him and bring your hands to your lap.
“Are you finally proving yourself useful around the house?” You tease, making him smile back, “I must be in a dream. Since when do you-”
“I’ve always been able to cook” He defends himself.
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s true!”
“Michael, you couldn’t even cook potatoes!”
“Couldn’t!” He says to you, leaning forward to be right in front of you, “Things have changed in my kitchen.”
A laugh escapes your lips as he smiles down at you and he stands from the couch. He gives you his hand and as soon as your palms touch, he pulls you up from the couch.
“Come on, I’ll show you my experienced cooking.” He encourages as you take small, demotivated steps his way, “Do you want me to make you potatoes, just so I can prove my point?”
“No.” You giggle, “Just- Do whatever.”
He turns around and starts walking to the kitchen, letting your hand fall from his as you stay a little behind.
“You know what?” You ask him as you get in the kitchen, making him look back at you, “Maybe you’re not as insufferable as I thought you were”
Michael laughs at your words as you say them, and he nods.
“Oh, why, thank you!” He says enthusiastically, “Aren’t you lovely right as the sun rises?”
You let out a loud laugh and he moves over behind the island counter, looking around the cabinets to look for something to cook for you.
You stare at the back of his head as he walks around and take a seat on one of the chairs.
One could get used to this.
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Hope you enjoyed this! If would like to make any questions about the characters or when the next part will be available. My ask box is always open.
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fruitpixel · 4 years ago
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💜 Underdogs of Kpop Idol Challenge 💜
I love BTS and I got inspired to create a challenge based on how they got started! The BTS aspects are optional so that ARMYs can do them if they want, and others who just want to play a general kpop/idol challenge can skip them and still have fun. This challenge has many rules and guidelines, but they’re very flexible!
Here's a glimpse of the story:
You recently left your old company to start your own record label. In your early years, you were near bankruptcy. Now, you’re looking for some fresh faces to restart your company and keep your business afloat.
**Optional aspects marked with an asterisk* and bolded text.
**Requires Get Famous and City Living. Get Together would make it easier but it’s not necessary.
**I suggest reading through the challenge once before playing so you get a good idea of what’s expected of the challenge and you won’t be surprised by new aspects as they come up.
**Disclaimer: I use he/him pronouns when referring to the trainees because I’m thinking of the BTS members as I write this. However, there are no gender or life state requirements for this challenge!
If you decide to play, please tag me! I would love to see your gameplay :)
Also let me know if there’s anything I should add or change!
Have fun! 💜
You recently left your old company to start your own record label. In your early years, you were near bankruptcy. Now, you’re looking for some fresh faces to restart your company and keep your business afloat.
To start the challenge, you will be playing as the CEO of your own entertainment company.
Purchase a lot no bigger than 30x20. You are starting off small, but you will need to have room for your studio and a place for your 7 trainees* to live and practice.
(You can have between 4-7 trainees, depending on how difficult you want it to be, and if you are playing a BTS based challenge. You can also use mods to increase your household size, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it will be hard to juggle more than 7, plus your CEO).
*BTS lived in dorms near their studio, so you could build a dorm on the same lot but separate from the main building. But you can do this however you want as long as their on the same lot.*
You may start off with as much money as you need to buy yourself the following items AND NOTHING MORE:
Mix Master Music Station
More Views Video Station
A drone (begin with the cheapest one and you may upgrade later)
Start with one of each, you may add more later.
Practice room big enough to fit all 8 sims
A studio for music production and practice
A small dorm with 2 bedrooms that MUST be able to fit all 7 trainees, kitchen, bathroom, etc. using the mediocre furniture and appliances. Think “tiny house for 8 sims challenge” lol.
You can upgrade appliances and furniture as you accumulate money, but try not to make major renovations to the building or dorms yet. Trainees can buy personal items like games, books, etc.
Your own living space - Remember when building, you're on the verge of bankruptcy!
After you’re done building, cheat your money down to 1,000. You are a brand spanking new CEO coming from humble beginnings, so you won’t have much money to begin with.
Next, you will need to recruit your first trainee:
*an underground rapper who although had a bright academic future, decided to pursue his passion in music. You invited this trainee to audition after hearing about him from your friend.
In order to recruit this trainee:
*LOGIC SKILL needs to be at least level 3
MEDIA PRODUCTION SKILL needs to be at least level 2
Get to know him! So you can add him to your household after completing the skill requirements. You may want to develop the CHARISMA skill to help with this
*TRAINEE 1 traits: genius, gloomy, music lover
TRAINEE 1 aspiration: world famous celebrity
He finally agreed to join your company!
Every time you recruit a new trainee, you should do this:
Take pictures of them to post on Simstagram and sell to publishers.
Idols as trainees are generally not allowed to have social media, so you will have to be in charge until they are prepared to manage their own online presence (after all 7 trainees are recruited).
Make sure to become good enough friends with each of your trainees to be able to add them to your household.
If you have Get Together, have him form a group and name it your group’s name (for example: BTS, BlackPink, etc.) He will have to invite each trainee to this group since you are not in the group. It’s a good idea to start gatherings as often as possible while skill building so you can have enough points to add more members.
While you only have this one trainee:
Produce 1 song and 1 “music video” for him.
To make a music video, just use a drone to record the trainee dancing or doing anything you want your music video to be about. You need some money, so don’t forget to edit and release them!
Also take this time to have him practice producing his own music. One day he will be an incredible producer and rapper, so make sure to hone his skills!
Before recruiting the next trainee, make sure he is at least level 2 of the MEDIA PRODUCTION skill.
It’s important to note at this point that each of your trainees should be exercising and eating healthily to prepare for their long days and nights of practicing, so you should work on your cooking skill and possibly your own fitness skill so you can provide them balanced meals and train them properly.
You may change their appearances during training if you want to, but remember they are coming from humble beginnings and won’t have much money to buy fancy clothes.
Also, no relationships until after debut! Trainees have to focus on making a strong debut and securing a loyal fanbase!
You will now hold your very first audition to recruit more trainees. To prepare for this:
Level up your MEDIA PRODUCTION SKILL to at least 3
CHARISMA SKILL to at least 4
While you’re at it, pick up any instrument you want and start working on those skills. You will need to be able to write songs for your trainees eventually.
To hold auditions, travel around your world, looking for sims you want to come to your audition. Make sure you have a high enough relationship with them so you can invite them to hang out with you. For rappers and singers, use the karaoke machines. For dancers, try having a dance battle or have sims dance to music.
You will hold an audition looking for another rapper. Choose the best auditionee.
*He was also an underground rapper who struggled to make his mark known. Thanks to you, he will have that opportunity!
*TRAINEE 2 traits: perfectionist, loner, music lover
TRAINEE 2 aspiration: world famous celebrity
Produce TWO SONGS and TWO MUSIC VIDEOS for each trainee
Make sure to keep honing their skills!
Both trainees:
MEDIA PRODUCTION level 3
Pick up an instrument each to be able to write songs and lyrics
*The second trainee should pick up the piano skill.
DANCING level 2
It’s audition time again! This time, you’re looking for a dancer.
If you have Get Together, find a way to get the auditionees to show you their moves. The sim with the best dance moves will be your next trainee! (If you don’t have Get Together, you can decide who your next trainee from the audition will be in any way you want).
*TRAINEE 3 traits: dance machine, cheerful, music lover
TRAINEE 3 aspiration: world famous celebrity
Produce TWO SONGS and TWO MUSIC VIDEOS for each of them.
Keep them honing those skills! Before recruiting new members:
Trainees 1&2:
DANCING level 2
MEDIA PRODUCTION level 4
Trainee 3:
DANCING level 3
MEDIA PRODUCTION level 3
Auditions season has passed, but you’re still short 4 members for your group!
Travel around your world and see if you can find any sims with that star potential.
Find someone that has star-worthy looks and convince him to join your company.
Before he can join your company:
MEDIA PRODUCTION level 4
CHARISMA level 6
*You may also want to work on your COMEDY skill along the way, but this is not required.
Make sure your INSTRUMENT SKILL is high enough to write music, and why don’t you get started on your SINGING SKILL too? You’ll need to be able to write lyrics for your singers!
He trusts you enough and has decided to join your company!
He had no skills prior to joining, however, so you will have to work with him on his singing and dancing skills a little more closely. *He’s also extremely handsome. But this is neither here nor there :)
Before moving on to the next round of auditions:
Trainee 4:
SINGING level 3
DANCING level 3.
*TRAINEE 4 traits: foodie, goofball, music lover
TRAINEE 4 aspiration: world famous celebrity
Remember to keep up their fitness skill and healthy diet!
This is where things start to get a little interesting:
Trainees 1-3:
Produce two songs each and release them
Trainee 3:
MEDIA PRODUCTION level 4
DANCING maxed out
As for you:
Produce TWO SONGS for each of your trainees
Produce TWO MUSIC VIDEOS TOTAL before you recruit more trainees.
While watching TV, you spot a young boy with so much potential that you just had to have him in your group. Go travel around your world and find him to be your next main vocalist.
Before recruiting him:
SINGING level 6
MEDIA PRODUCTION maxed out
CHARISMA level 8
Continue working on your instrument skill! A CEO should be good at every aspect if he wants to succeed.
Your 5th trainee has finally joined your company!
This trainee will be your Center, the Face of your group, your big money maker, if you will.
*This trainee and all trainees moving forward will still be teenagers and will need to go to school. Trainee 5 is the youngest member. You can implement this or not, up to you.
If you choose to implement this, make sure all the teenagers have an A grade in school before debut.
Before moving on to the next round of auditions
Trainee 5:
SINGING level 3
DANCING level 3
*TRAINEE 5 traits: dance machine, good (musical genius when he ages up)
TRAINEE 5 aspiration: world famous celebrity
Before the next audition:
Trainees 1-3:
Produce THREE SONGS each and release them.
All trainees:
Continue practicing DANCING and SINGING.
As for you:
Produce TWO SONGS for each of your trainees
Write TWO SONGS total on your instrument.
SINGING level 8
This is the second to last audition of the year! Hold auditions for another vocalist. The sim that sounds the best to you will be your next trainee!
Trainee 6:
SINGING level 3
DANCING level 3
*TRAINEE 6 traits: clumsy, music lover, (cheerful after aging up)
TRAINEE 6 aspiration: world famous celebrity
Trainees 1-3:
Produce 3 songs each and release them
If their INSTRUMENT skill is high enough, they can WRITE ONE SONG each; if not, continue having them practice until they can before the last audition.
If their SINGING skill is high enough, have them WRITE LYRICS on their instrument. If not, continue having them practice until they can before the last audition.
MEDIA PRODUCTION maxed out before the last audition
Trainee 3
DANCING maxed out before the last audition
All trainees
SINGING level 5 before the last audition
As for you:
Produce TWO SONGS for each of your trainees
Write TWO MORE SONGS on your instrument.
SINGING level 9, or you can max it out at this point if you wish. You yourself are not a singer, but you will be expected to write and compose songs for your trainees, so it’s important!
The time has come for the LAST SimHit audition of the year! Your goal is to find the last trainee for your rookie group; the last piece of the puzzle.
Have each auditionee sing and dance for you. The best sim will be your next and final trainee!
Make sure this trainee gets along well with the other trainees. In fact, make sure they all get along well. They’ll be working and living together every single day!
*TRAINEE 7 traits: dance machine, perfectionist, (music lover after aging up)
TRAINEE 7 aspiration: world famous celebrity
For the final phase of training:
Trainees 1-3:
Produce TWO SONGS each
Write TWO SONGS each
Write lyrics once each
All trainees except trainee 3:
DANCING level 4 (trainee 3 should be maxed out by this point)
Trainees 1-3 except trainee 2:
INSTRUMENT level 5
Trainee 2 should be maxed out in *piano at this point
Trainees 4-7:
Write ONE SONG each on the computer or their instrument
Write lyrics once each
All trainees:
SINGING level 8
As for you:
Produce ONE SONG for each trainee
MEDIA PRODUCTION, INSTRUMENT, and SINGING maxed out if not already
FINALLY! You finally have all your trainees ready to debut as a rookie group! Your trainees are ready to become established idols now. All there’s left to do is produce some pre-debut content...
Go busking 4 times, once at the beginning of each season. Take pictures to post!
You may buy busking equipment if you wish but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Take updated pictures of each member individually to sell and post to Simstagram.
At this point, your trainees can post to Simstagram and dive into their social media presence.
No sponsorships, no brand deals, no merchandise, etc. until after debut.
Try to take a group picture of all 7 members together to sell and post.
If not possible:
First 3 trainees together
Last 4 trainees together
Produce 3 songs, write 3 songs, and produce 3 music videos, one for each of these sub-units:
*Trainees 1, 2, and 4
*Trainees 3, 5, and 7
*Trainees 3, 5, 6, and 7
All trainees - SINGING and DANCING maxed out
Before the fan meeting, make sure your trainees are at least level 7 in the CHARISMA skill.
Host a fan meeting to announce your debut! Make a good impression on your fans, they’ll be with you guys through thick and thin.
This can be done by having one of the members hold a meet and greet but have all members attend.
Use fan meetings to increase your reputation; idols should always be good influences for their fans, and your idols are the best around!
At this point, you can update their looks in CAS to prepare them for their debut. Your trainees have been preparing for hours and hours, working on their singing, dancing, and music making so they can have a strong debut. They’re no longer your doe-eyed trainees. Now they will be the monster rookies that all the other idol groups are jealous of.
You may also renovate your building and the dorms with the money you have accumulated at this point.
You could have also done renovations as you accumulated money if you prefer it that way, but for the sake of the “underdog” storyline, renovate all at once at this point!
For the debut:
Have your idols busk from 12-8 and produce 2 music videos with all of them in it.
You should produce TWO SONGS.
Trainees 1-3 produce ONE SONG EACH
Hold a fan meet and greet (this will be the debut showcase).
Merch, sponsorships, brand deals, etc. can begin after the debut showcase.
Congratulations! You’ve created an idol group that will exceed everyone’s expectations!
*You can end this challenge after their debut, or you can choose to keep playing. The final end to this challenge will be when all your idols reach level 5 fame and the highest good reputation possible.
Should you choose to continue, you should follow this schedule for future comebacks and promotions:
Each season is a new comeback season. You need to schedule 4 things to do at the start of every season:
Have the whole group go busking from 12-8 in their home world (ex. if your lot is in Willowcreek, busk somewhere there).
Have the whole group travel (or vacation) in a different world and busk from 12-8 (ex. vacation in Mt. Komorebi and busk somewhere there). Give them a day or two to have fun and explore if possible!
For these, 5 new songs must be prepared and 2 music videos must be produced.
You may produce one for them if you want to, but trainees 1-3 should produce the rest.
Being an idol is definitely rewarding, but it is definitely not easy. Sims are lucky that they only need to do this once a week.
Host a meet and greet some time during the year, every year. This will be like the fan meetings.
Attend the Starlight Accolades whenever they come up, despite being nominated or not.
After doing 2-3 years with this schedule, you may renovate your building and dorms again. Or you can renovate as you go, like before.
After a few more years, you can move your idols into their own homes. Add yourself to the group to be able to start club gatherings everyday on your lot.
For those of you who are ARMYs, you can continue the challenge even after reaching the highest level of fame and reputation. You already know what each of their passions and interests are so you can change their traits and aspirations as you see fit (Namjoon would love the outdoors, Taehyung would be interested in art, etc.) and continue playing their story.
Enjoy!
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