#i think i'll do boss themes next maybe

[misfitgirlwrites]

Lucifer Having A Crush On You/How Would He React?

I'm not biased, I'm not biased, I'm not biased, I'm not biased, I'M NOT--

It's time for my fictional love and life and all I hold dear in my daydreams. Bitches, bros, nonbinary hoes, and genderfluid fucks, I present to you the Big Dick in Charge

I may reference works that I've read and when I do I'll drop their @ and link to their story it is law that you read it if you read mine, I don't make the rules

CW: none, slightly angsty but nothing too intense!

Alright, doves, this is post-season one. Lucifer now resides in the hotel with everyone and is slowly adjusting to being graced with Alejandro's Alastor's presence every day.

Let's be honest, our baby pays attention but puts in minimal effort. Saying that the days went by in a blur would be an understatement. Even conversations would be forgotten after a few short moments. On to the next task. Full focus on this thing. Once that's done? Well onto the next task! No tasks? Free time to spend with Charlie!

Things would start slow, and to really interact, you'd most likely start to approach him first. Maybe you've spent long enough watching the blond anxiously bounce around the hotel and graciously give himself a bit too much for even the Big Boss of Hell.

A timid approach from you, offering to help with whatever he's currently doing. Maybe you make snacks for everyone in the hotel and hand him his personally :)

And so it begins! A greeting here, a greeting there, slightly awkward conversations that slowly start to feel less forced with the little information you learn about each other along the way.

It's...nice! Refreshing! Lucifer would be more excited than anything and talking to you would become a part of his regular routine without much thought on the matter. You'd occasionally be on his mind just a little more, and he'd start to seek you out himself too.

I know you're already seeking him out. Bitch I'M seeking him out.

Helping with chores around the hotel quickly turns into simply enjoying the other's company.

One day you gift him his very own ceramic duck! You could have paid for it from somewhere or made it yourself.

Either way, he'd fucking LOVE it! Honestly, if you decide to try your hand at making it, he'd love it even more with all the rough edges and little bumps (it was made out of love for my babies who never touched clay in their lives)

In response, please expect many gifts in return. I like to think it's been a while since he's gotten a genuine gift like this

(Bonus headcanon: Charlie will see this and will come to you the next day with a list of things she wants to gift him and you two are unofficially officially the Buy Lucifer Anything Duck-Themed duo)

Lucifer loves how you react when he gifts you your very own rubber duck. Your smile and happiness always seemed contagious to him. It only led to him making/getting you more things.

You will have a rubber duck collection by the end of this, but what can you really say? Each one of them is based on something you mentioned before. A movie character, a book character, a cartoon character, even friends or family members if they were mentioned. The gesture is way too sweet for you to turn down, even if it is the 30th duck you've received.

Now prepare for what I like to call the "get along t-shirt" phase but both parties are willing LMAO.

Lucifer will be by your side as long as you'll accept the company and if you're reading this and we brain the same, that will be all the time.

I love the GenZ!Reader memes and fics. Someone show this man bacon pancakes and if it was already done, SHOW ME.

Between his relationship with Charlie and with you, Lucifer actually feels the need and wants to be a little more present bit by bit. He notices that he is spending less time in his head, but he continues on in fear of fucking it up if he thinks too hard about it.

So instead he'll 100% focus on the little familiarity of happiness, as small as those moments may be sometimes. This is EXACTLY why the thought of him potentially feeling romantic interest again goes right over his head.

Who notices first, you ask? Charlie, of course. You slowly but surely became one of his main topics in conversation, it wasn't hard for her to pick up on it and ask.

Baby boy would straight up deny it at first. Him?? Liking someone else??? LMAO, am I right? Of course, after he does this, he'll have the time to actually pay attention to his actions.

So then he'll notice how excited he is every morning knowing that you'll be the first face he sees. He'll notice how he managed to fit you into any task he had to do. When he'd get lunch for himself and Charlie he'd have the automatic thought of making something for you as well. Even when the day was over, he'd be thinking about spending the next day with you. To be frank, you were constantly on his mind. 

Once he notices it's a big mental "fuck". Nothing about you is wrong of course, it's him, or so he thinks.

Let's start with the elephant in the room, or shall I say the ring on his finger lmao

In Lucifer's mind, he's still married technically. Even thinking about it in a technical term was a new development and it made him feel absolutely horrible. Lilith left, sure, but who knows what happened? Regardless of how he felt, he didn't want to hurt her.

But at the same time what about him? Lucifer hasn't been happy in a long time and he's finally building that again, not just with Charlie, but with you as well. He didn't want to just cut you out, he didn't want to hurt you either.

Plus, did you even like him? How would he even approach you? If he wanted to, even after thinking about everything.

Who was he kidding, of course, he still wanted you!

@liveontelevision *drops to my knees and bows* they worded it extremely well here and if you're reading this but you haven't read this already or you clicked the link then clicked back here, go back and read it. I don't care how long it is. Do the thing then come back.

Welcome back. It was good, wasn't it? I know.

The only awkward period for you two is the week-long contemplation of everything (half him attempting not to do what he always does when stressed but by the time he realizes he already made like 30 ducks--)

He would clearly go out of his way to either try and talk to you or avoid you. Or a cute mixture of both where he makes a scene approaching you, realizes he's not ready yet, then makes a scene so he can disappear *finger guns*

A little crisis here, a few little rubber ducks there, and a looooonnnggg conversation with Charlie and Maggie Vaggie.

Those are the ingredients to a semi-stable Lucifer with enough bravado to talk to you normally again.

He'd apologize for the times he basically pulled a Houdini in your face and he'd explain himself fully, all while also confessing his love for you.

It's choppy, it's fast-paced in some areas, and the poor blond was ready to disappear at any given moment, but that's what made it so real for you.

The weight that's lifted off of him couldn't be described, and neither could the joy that welled in him the moment he saw your beautiful smile and heard nothing but your acceptance and love.

What an emotional roller-coaster, am I right?

Lucifer Taglist: @alastorssimp @saints-wrapped-in-plastic @heart-of-the-morningstar

Requests are open! If you'd like to be tagged in future Lucifer or Hazbin Hotel content, please let me know! My asks and DMs are open to all!

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook: How so 🔞

In which Jungkook and you learn more about each other while also uncovering more about yourselves.

Tags/Warnings: non-Idol AU, enemies to lovers, reader learns to be a cinnamon roll, Jungkook just simply is a cinnamon roll, adult themes, fluff, romance, short!reader go cry about it, smut, mutual masturbation, oral, special guest star: mc's vibrator, angry namjoon, slight DDLG-aspects/themes? Soft daddy/dom vibes from kook? They're stronger this time ngl

Story length: 3.5k oops-

Belongs to: Why Not (🔞)

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"one." he counts, arms crossed menacingly as he stands at the foot of his bed, a bit of a distance away from where you're laying. You've been napping and been lazy all day- and while he doesn't mind, he's also come to learn it makes your head ache and your attitude cranky.

"two.." he draws the number out a little, and you're not sure what he thinks this whole act of counting down will do for you. You're not affected by that. You're not a kid after all. Your muscles aren't suddenly itching to move, absolutely not.

"how far are you gonna count?" you mumble into the pillows below, holding onto it as he doesn't have anything else to hug really.

"you wanna find out, princess?" he wonders darkly, and the way he says it sends a shiver down your spine.

Okay, maybe you're a little bit affected.

Just as he's about to admit defeat, you actually move, sitting up on the bed with your hair all unruly and loose shirt exposing your collarbone. He smiles a bit to himself.

He'd had somewhat of a hunch about you, and these days, those theories seem to prove themselves as correct. It both amuses him, and makes him happy at the same time, because you really are just his type beneath all that tough-girl persona you've put up in front of others.

"there we go. Wasn't so hard now, was it?" he chuckles, pulling you towards the edge of the bed by your ankles. "now come on, go wash up. You can't spend your days off only asleep, baby." he gently scolds, pecking your lips while you whine, making him laugh against your lips.

"but why not?" you complain. "your bed is comfy, and it's MY days off!" you reply, making him smack your naked thigh without much force.

"maybe, but you're spending them at MY apartment, in MY bed." he reminds you, slowly walking out the door. "now get up, I'm making breakfast!" he calls out, before you let yourself fall onto your back again as soon as he's out of sight.

It's not like he can boss you around.

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"Hm, no." he suddenly says, shocking you to the core.

You're aching, looking at him with eyes wide open while Jungkook detaches himself from you before he casually wipes his hand on his sweatpants, stealing your orgasm in the process. "you don't do what I say.." he shrugs, sitting back on the couch next to you. "So why should I?"

There's no words in your brain. You didnt think it would bite you back like this, not by a long shot. He's such a sweet guy, has been for the entire time you've known him- he wouldn't be so cruel now, would he?

"But-" you stammer, closing your legs bashfully. "Jungkook you can't be serious.." you say, though you don't know why this is strangely exciting to you. "you said that I'm, you know, that you'll-"

"That's still true." he nods. "I won't ever do something you don't want. You can say stop and I'll stop, easy as that. But that doesn't mean you get to play me, darling." he teases, tent clearly visible in his pants.

"So what? You gonna just sit there and wait?" you complain, arms crossed. He's clearly hard. There's no way he can just wait it out.

"No." he tilts his head, before his hand wanders. "I can cum by myself just fine." he smirks, leaning back as he palms himself over his sweatpants.

He can't be serious. You're not ready for that- or are you? It's strange, like a rollercoaster in your insides, going up and down at the sight of him. Your cunt aches, clenching around nothing- and even stranger, you want to see him.

Not like now- you want to see him.

"I won't touch you." he reminds you as he adjusts himself a little. "but you can touch yourself. Maybe you'll cum all by yourself?" be says with a joking tone, leaning his head to the side of the couch.

You've got an idea.

"but.. You can see me naked down there.." you argue. "I can't. Thats unfair if you ask me." you complain, making him laugh.

"Cheeky." he comments. "guess that's true." Jungkook shrugs, before he casually pulls down his pants and underwear like it's nothing, his length eagerly jumping free it seems.

Your head is suddenly empty, no thoughts running through.

You're not stupid. You've seen dicks before, you watch porn after all, but still- maybe it's because it's his? But something about it makes you rub your thighs against one another, an ache forming in your core.

"was about to ask if you're comfortable-" he chuckles. "-but I guess you're clearly okay with this?" he asks, and you nod, throwing all hesitancy out the window. You're okay, you've never been so okay with something before.

Your thighs slowly open, hand finding your most sensitive spot easily while he can't keep his eyes off of you, his own hand starting to stroke himself as well. "you know.." he softly says, watching while his breathing deepens. "..this is a first for me as well." be confesses, thumb running over the tip of his length, spreading the precum with wet noises.

You feel antsy.

It's clear that he knows his body perfectly, every movement of his palm bringing pleasure it seems, and you're watching, learning, because you wanna try doing it for him one day too. This is your chance of finding out what he likes.

"what're you thinking, hm?" he wonders breathlessly.

"wanna touch you." you whine, and his jaw clenches while he swallows.

"hm, really?" he asks, letting his cock go, self control setting in as he puts his hands to his side. "alright. Go ahead." be encourages.

You swallow, attempt to find a tissue or something to clean your hand, but he shakes his head. Don't you dare wipe that off, he thinks.

He's warm.

Thats the first thing you notice as your hand wraps around his length, fingers carefully exploring what he's got to offer. Every little glance you give him brings him closer to a heart attack he feels like as he let's his head fall back, eyes closed because your touch affects him more than he thought it would.

Until they snap open again, a surprised moan escaping his mouth as he feels what's unmistakably your tongue on his tip.

"Sorry-!" you apologise. "I should've asked too.." you say, and he laughs to himself.

"it's okay. I-" be looks at you. "I liked it. But give a man a earning next time, jesus." he laughs, relaxing you with that. You lean in again, just for the joke of it, but once your lips wrap around his head, it doesn't feel odd at all. In fact, it's kind of nice.

Meanwhile he's forcing together all of his strength not to cum down your throat.

You're dangerous he realizes as he watches you somehow figure out how to give him bead all by yourself- hands playing around, even shyly giving some attention to his balls while your tongue swirls over his tip.

It's all too much.

He can spot how you jump back a bit surprised, though as if by instinct you keep stroking him, watch as the ropes of cum spurt out and onto his sweatpants. There's some on your lips that you wipe off, though the slightly bitter taste on your tongue also doesn't feel too bad.

"Fuck." he laughs, catching his breath before he reaches out, hands opening your legs so his palm can find your core. Two fingers enter you again, the heel of his hand rubbing over your clit in a motion and speed that makes your head spin. "more- please!" you beg, cully at his mercy until you cum with spasming hips, hands on your mouth doing little to hide your screams of pleasure.

You're both out of breath by the time your minds are back and functioning, laughter echoing off the walls as the situation is realized by the both of you.

Maybe you're really made for each other.

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"What the fuck did I tell you?!" is the first thing Namjoon barks at him next time he sees him at Yoongis studio. "Are you deaf? Mentally challenged? Is that it?!" he keeps insulting, as Yoongi pushes him back.

"okay alright, let's calm down here." he tries to reason.

"I don't even know whats- oh." Jungkook realises, lips pushed together in a thin line.

"Yeah, 'oh'." Namjoon scolds. "what's your excuse? You tripped and landed dick first in her?" he jokes without humor.

"Namjoon, it's really not like that at all." he attempts to explain himself. "I'm not-"

"screwing her?" be finishes impatiently for the younger friend.

"no- I mean kind of? I, somewhat, it's not that simple-" he starts, when Namjoon jumps up from the couch again, barely held by the eldest in the room. "we're together Namjoon! I'm not just fucking her, I'm going out with her.!" he hurries out. "I- yeah, fuck it." he sighs, running a hand through his longer hair. "I actually really like her. Like, love-like." he confesses, causing the room to fall silent.

Jungkook doesn't do well with the dreaded L-word.

In fact, Jungkook hasn't ever been in an actual relationship before, ever. He's been a guy with bad luck and an red dot on his heart for others to aim at it seems. Used for his kind nature, pockets emptied more often than he could count, used for pleasure before getting told that 'you're just a friend, sorry.'

And every time he'd do it again, fall in love, get his heart broken, repeat after a week of sadness. Until he'd stopped, years ago, having promised himself to never be that guy to be stepped on again. He's still kind, he's still nice- but he keeps his heart behind a glass window, for everyone to see, but none to touch.

Until you came along.

"you.. What?" Namjoon asks, a lot more calm now.

"I think I love her." he says again, noticing himself the weight of his words as he says them. "I- I don't think. I'm really.." he's unsure how to phrase it. It can't be love yet, and it isn't, but it's something else- something comfortable, like watching a movie that you know ends well just to relax and get rid of all the stress piled up on your shoulders. He's not falling in love, not at all.

There's no falling involved. There's no pit he's tumbling down into, no fear at all about what might happen next. It's more like a steady walk, right next to you, to a place he just knows will be nice.

"Wow." Yoongi laughs, hitting the youngest's back with a grin.

All while Namjoon sighs, watching the now teary-eyed young man wipe his cheeks in embarrassment.

Yeah- maybe there's nothing to fear if it's him you're with.

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"I always wondered what kind it was." Jungkook says, and you're wondering what he's talking about when he walks into the tiny bedroom of yours, holding your purple bullet vibrator with no shame at all.

"JEAN JUNGKOOK GIVE THAT TO ME-!" you yell out in panic, jumping from the mattress on the floor towards him, jumping at his hand that's holding your most secret item high above your hand.

"hm, no." he smiles impishly. "but you can continue jumping, I'm really enjoying the show here, precious." he says, tip of his tongue running over the silver piercing decorating his bottom lip.

Who knew that this sweet looking man could be so so evil.

"aw don't pout, I was just curious." he apologizes as you stand there with your arms crossed, tank top showing him a lot more skin than he's used to whenever he's alone with you. He's seen your cleavage before. Your thighs, your legs, but never in an intimate scenario like this. "though you should be more careful with this thing. I almost stepped on it." he teases, and you turn red at that.

"I forgot to put it away I guess.." you say, reaching for it as he pulls it away again. "Jungkook!"

"ever used it on your tits?" he tilts his head, taking a step towards you. You take a step back, like he's a magnet of the same charge pushing against you with invisible force.

"n-no." you shake your head, unable to hide your excitement bubbling up. You like it when he's like this- dominant, but not pushy. "that doesn't do anything." you argue. He chuckles.

"doesn't it?" he wonders, taking another step. "I could think of a few ways to use it, you know?" he implies. You swallow hard.

"..like?" you wonder quietly, gaze snapping from the toy in his hand to his eyes every now and then.

"wanna find out, princess?" he asks, and for some reason, this sentence still makes you shiver in pleasure. It's just words, how come they touch you just as much as his hands can? He's got you unable to form any sentences with just that simple look of his, so you simply nod, a surprised squeal escaping you when his hands push your shoulder.

Luckily, you fall onto the mattress below, having not noticed that he's been walking you towards it the entire time.

"You know, I kind of feel sorry for your neighbors." He chuckles, leaning over you.

"Huh?" you wonder dumbly, but he just shakes his head, brushing it off for the moment, as his hands instead play with the straps of your top.

"Can I take this off?" He asks. "It's fine if you're not comfortable with that yet, though. No worries." He shrugs. But you shake your head, pulling on the bottom on your top, before you hesitate.

"Can you.. take yours off too?" You ask, and he grins, nodding eagerly. He already figured you might feel more comfortable with that, but he wants you to speak up on your own as well. It's something he personally finds important- that you keep your independence, that you only do what you truly want and feel comfortable with. Never does he want to convince you to do anything, never at all.

He knows what that's like. It leads to regrets, shame, embarrassment- and he doesn't want you to feel that with him.

You're a bit hesitant now that you see his.. well, very toned body underneath. You personally don't work out- only occasionally, if you feel like it, or if you've eaten a particularly big meal and it makes you feel all heavy and bloated. You're nothing like him- stomach soft, slightly protruding, no defined muscles or anything. And yet, you jump over your shadow, and you swear you can see his pupils dilate like the lens of a camera trying to focus.

In his eyes, you're everything and nothing like he'd imagined. You're better than anything his thoughts could've ever come up with.

He's dropped the toy for now, instead using his hands to run them up your sides, before they finally reach your chest, soft and warm in his hands. He's never been one to have preferences when it comes to someone's body- but he can see himself quickly falling for the feel of them in his palms. "How can you be so pretty?" He wonders, and you squirm a little, causing him to laugh. "You're so cute." He can't help but comment, before he shakes his hair out of his eyes, sitting back on his heels.

You're already putting your feet up against his abdomen, making him smile as he runs his fingers over your ankles, before he tilts his head to the side. "I appreciate you being such a good girl, but that'll have to wait." He praises, and you turn a bit red, before he takes your legs and maneuvers them around his waist, pulling you closer towards him. He can already spot a wet patch on your underwear- a clear sign that he's affecting you just as much as you are him- and he can't help but feel his own ego swell a little.

He's not felt like this in a long time, if ever at all.

"Did you charge it?" He wonders, and you shuffle around a little to get comfortable, accidentally rutting against his already way too constrained bulge in his pants, making him groan in surprise. "Alright there, that was a simple question jesus christ woman!" He laughs, making you laugh as well.

"Sorry, I was just adjusting!" You giggle, while stretching your arms over your head for a second. You feel oddly comfortable with him, even all exposed like this. It's a nice feeling you've not yet experienced with anybody before. "But uh- I don't know, it needs batteries, you can't charge it." You explain, and Jungkook nods.

"Well, let's hope these got some juice left in them." He simply tells you. "If not, I'll find another way to make you cum." He casually comments, making you wonder what he could maybe come up with.

Sex used to be terribly scary. An intimidating thought that would leave you restless whenever thinking of it. But now? With him? It's exciting.

He clicks the button a few times, seemingly trying out the only three modes the cheap toy has, before licking his lips and shaking his head. "I'll get you a better one one day." He mumbles more or less to himself, before turning on the lowest setting, lifting your panties, and placing it right against your core, snug with the extra push from his own bulge pressing against you. "Thank god I've packet a spare set of pants." He almost growly down at you, watching with hooded eyes as your hips roll against him. His hands grip your thighs, the sight of you equally as enticing as the buzzing toy between you both.

You don't know this, but Jungkook is exploring his own sexuality just as much as you are with him.

He's never really thought of any specific things he might like that aren't 'conventional'- but with you, he feels comfortable to the point of trying out new things, or random ideas such as what he's doing right now. But it's fine, because it's you. It's like he's got a chance to find himself alongside you, as if you're his chance of finally becoming comfortable with his own body and soul.

He's falling in love with you, while also starting to like himself more and more.

He's also noticed by now, that he's a lot more sensitive with you. A simple sensual touch of yours can make him stir awake in his pants like a boy during puberty, but he's not even mildly embarrassed by it whatsoever. Because you aren't either. He's really become in tune with you in terms of energy- when you're excited, he get's excited. When you're happy, he's happy. When you get sad, he get's sad as well. It feels nice, to have a connection like that.

You're whining beneath him, a lot more vocal now than compared to the first time he's ever been intimate with you, and he feels his pride swell at these signs of you becoming more and more relaxed and comfortable around him. Your hands reach out for his own, and he takes them happily- holding you, as you arch your back and voice out your pleasure, especially once your orgasm hits, the closeness of him making it impossible for you to squirm away and ruin it for yourself. With the little experience you have, you don't really know what you're supposed to feel like- and granted, right now, you're seeing stars, unable to form any coherent thought.

The sight of you so lost in pleasure sets him off as well- warmth of his own cum escaping him making him cringe a little, his hand reaching between the both of you to turn the plastic toy off. He's breathing heavily just like you, shivering beneath him from the aftermath of your high. "I'd say-" He hums into the crook of your neck, kisses placed in his own afterglow, "-the batteries were definitely still full." He jokes, making you laugh as you hit his back playfully.

"I gotta shower but my legs feel like rubber." You complain, making him lift his face into your area of sight.

"We could shower together?" He suggests. "No funny business. Just me holding you, in case you fall." He tells you, and you look at him for a moment, thinking.

He's already seen like what- 80% of you? There's nothing to fear anymore, really. So you nod, holding out your arms. "Carry me?" You ask playfully cute, and he grins.

"Wherever you want to, princess."

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[alllgator-blood]

Man people gotta have bees in their brain or didn't play the game, Heket really cares about her family. She made me regret killing Leshy, I DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS YOUNGEST UNTIL NARINDERE THATS SJAKSIHDKD SORRY *sobing*

Also what song is your favorite from the hymns of the unholy album? For me it's between CHAOS and FAMMINE

THAT'S WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE GAME TBH I FELT SO BAD RIPPING THE FAMILY APART THE FIRST TIME. I LOVE FEELING BAD FOR ANTAGONISTS!! I PLAYED IT AROUND WHEN IT CAME OUT SO I COULDN'T EVEN REUNITE THEM IN MY FIRST CULT, THEY WERE JUST DYING IN PURGATORY FOREVER. My unholy alliance update cult is called "nepotism" where all the regular cultists live in sleeping bags, get shitty food and have to work all day while the special characters + bishops have all the good shit and just hang out drinking all day LMAO

As for the album, I still can't pick which one is my fave, it's tied between three tracks....I forgot to do my tier list I mentioned, so I'm gonna write my thoughts beneath the cut. I'm glad you mentioned famine specifically because I feel like that one is kinda slept on tbh!!! TL;DR is that heket + shamura + narinder's songs are tied for my favorites for varying reasons

In terms of what song I think should be people's introduction to the album/the most easily digestible one, definitely cult. 100% it's the one that I showed my friend + sister and they thought it sounded the best on the first listen. It's faithful to the original motif and the writing is solid. I could NOT stop listening to it when it dropped, and was so excited to hear that the one with the music video wasn't even the full version so we got more of it when the album dropped....

Chaos is the one that makes me smile when I hear it, because it's SOOO leshy. Like of COURSE his song would sound like that, with the solo at the end and him namedropping himself and saying "my horns are covered by something like fallen leaves" like he doesn't even know his own anatomy. That's SO funny, I didn't like it at first but it 100% grew on me and I love it now

Famine has the best moment out of any of the songs imo, the "make your peace, creature" part goes harder than any other single moment in the album. I feel like she was maybe done the most justice lyrically, that song has the best combination of original lyrics and lines from the game. I actually wish the other tracks were written more like hers, but maybe the fact that hers was so different is what makes me love it so much.

Pestilence is the weakest track for me personally, but I had the biggest reaction to it for the first verses alone where they immediately just use the lines where kall is being a little bitch and begging for mercy. That's the one I wish I could listen to for the first time again, it also gets stuck in my head way more often than the others for some reason

Conquest instrumentally is my favorite by far, but I'm biased cause shamura's theme song is already my favorite boss track. I already talked about why I love this one in the other post so I'll move onto the next one-

Death has the best progression by far, like it's IMPOSSIBLE not to imagine an amv while listening to it. Also the very very end where it gets really fast goes BALLISTIC and is the second-best moment of the entire album. Honestly I wasn't disappointed at any aspect of this song, I don't think I have any complaints it's 100% hype tbh

I'm very glad you sent this ask in because I wouldn't have gotten a chance otherwise to talk about this album, I'm SO feral over it and the only other music I've listened to since it came out was the new king gizzard song that just dropped (they're my favorite band and that's the only thing that could pry me from cheesy cotl metal)

[captain-joongz]

Abraxas; Act 1, Chapter 2 Part 1

Pairing: mafia boss!Min Yoongi x police office!reader

Genre: enemies to lovers, humour, angst, investigation themes, dark themes, eventual smut, slowburn, some fluff

Chapter summary: As spring time comes, the police station finds itself intensely focused on several cold murder cases linked to the gangs. Amidst this chaos, it's hard to find time for anything else except for grappling with the position in the team and the burning ambition to be accepted, but something lovely might just be awaiting right behind the corner. The complicated relationship with the Min gang continues to get even more muddled.

Chapter word count: 20.8k words

Warnings: discussion of crimes and murders, mentions of violence and gore (nothing too graphic, they're vaguely describing a murder scene), general anxiety? (our girl is NERVOUS in this one), Yoongi almost isn't in this chapter, start of reader x OC, gets suggestive at the end (it's not with Yoongi but he IS endgame, dw), also this chapter might be a bit slower and investigation and exposition heavy

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A/N: in the end i decided to split this chapter into two parts, because i think it might be easier to read in two blocks as oppposed to a 40k words in a single chapter, also because this chapter took me such a long time to write (almost two months) maybe i'll implement it more often to not leave you without an update for too long, but chapters might not be able to come out as quickly as i originally hoped because they take a lot of time to make :(( hope you enjoy this one, the second part will be dropping soon after <3

Spring, first year in the force

I was leisurely scribbling on a parking ticket form, smiling at the curious city-goers and squinting in the spring sun. I had forgotten my sunglasses at the station, since I sprinted out the second I had gotten a text about Yoongi’s whereabouts, so now I was stuck half-blind.

From across the street a man in a café waved at me with a friendly smile and I waved back, satisfied for once. I had met Jake a week ago, when I spent the whole day in his cute little business, watching Jungkook’s car parked by Yoongi’s high-end restaurant. After an awkward conversation about who I was and what I was doing there, I introduced myself as an officer and asked about Yoongi. Jake had let it slip that he often saw that car parked there and I was able to beg him for a little favour. I would leave my number there and he would text me when Yoongi came.

You see, he couldn’t legally park there, but no one cared enough to stake it out and give him tickets. Well… No one but me. Was it petty and very inconsequential for him? Yes. Did I still run over anytime the text landed on my phone? Hell fucking yes.

I had no pride when it came to this, we have long since established that everything was allowed in this war of wit.

Gleefully I ripped the fine from the notepad and with dramatic care put it behind the wipers. Suddenly there was a loud groan behind me and when I turned, lo and behold, Jungkook was making his way towards me, his usually emotionless face coloured with annoyance and pinched into an unfriendly grimace. I gave him self-satisfied smile and patted the ticket.

“Seriously? Again?” he asked without any useless preamble and tore the ticket from the window to look at it closer. His eyes squinted aggressively at it, both against the sun and as he attempted to read my nearly undecipherable scrawl.

“Good morning to you too, Mr. Jeon,” I answered with a shit-eating grin, “If you didn’t continuously park outside of designated areas, I wouldn’t be forced to ticket you so often.” Jungkook gave me a stare that would be enough to kill someone and my grin deepened.

“What I would like to know,” a gruff voice came from behind the young man, and instantly our attention turned to the newcomer, “is how do you always know when our Kookie here parks like a naughty boy? You wouldn’t plant another tracker on us, would you?” Yoongi smiled at me and lazily walked down the stairs from the entrance to the street. I shook off the surprise quickly and put on a faux sweet smile, but I could already feel the beginnings of annoyance bubble within me. Jungkook relaxed and a tiny smirk pulled at his lips, and it was my turn to send him a murderous glare. Little shit probably knew that even if he couldn’t annoy me, Yoongi knew perfectly how to push my buttons until I was boiling with rage.

The whole thing with the tracker has turned into a real pain in the ass for me. Yoongi refused to return it to me and sooner or later someone from the station would come looking for it (especially since I technically acquired it unlawfully cause I didn’t have a warrant, but the officer gave it to me in good faith). I borrowed it under false pretences, citing an official business as the reason and wrote my name onto a form. The tracker was the property of the station, and I would have to return it. But I didn’t have it. Yoongi would always say it’s “keeping the score even since I lost theirs”.  I couldn’t even track it after they disabled it, so I was stuck.

“Unfortunately, the only one I had is still in your possession,” I retorted, mood souring quickly, “It’s not like I’m you, who has access to unlimited amount of illegal bullshit.” Yoongi chuckled and moved slightly closer to me so he could gloat to my face.

“Shouldn’t have lost our one,” he retorted with a smirk and moved to get into the car. I watched him as he plucked the ticket from Jungkook’s hands, gently folded it and put it into his suit pocket with a little wink. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay it in time.” The younger man was still watching me with slight irritation but didn’t say anything and opened the door for Yoongi.

I couldn’t help myself and squeezed in one last petty remark. “Technically, aren’t you the one who lost the tracker?” I asked him, channelling the most annoying energy towards the two men I could muster, “You are the one who was tracking it.”

Yoongi didn’t reply, only turned around to me over his shoulder, smirked and winked once again. Then he disappeared inside the car. Jungkook slammed the door shut and with one last unfriendly stare he got behind the wheel and drove off. I watched them go, a strange mixture of frustration and self-satisfaction boiling inside of me at the encounter.

After the whole tracker fiasco I felt the dynamic between us shift a little. I couldn’t fully pinpoint what it was, but something felt different in the way Yoongi regarded me. I could also see it in the way Jungkook seemed to dislike me more openly and Taehyung found more enjoyment from teasing all of us.

It was strange, the sudden candour exhibited by him. Whenever I would come along with another officer, Yoongi would behave differently, be snippier and more mysterious. But when I came alone, he would tease and smirk and spin his tales. He never really told me anything concrete, but I could see he enjoyed toying with me like that, dangling the information in front of me just barely out of reach. I didn’t know whether it was because I admitted I wouldn’t share the information right away or because I answered to his antics with full force, but he felt more open in front of me than other detectives, though nothing productive ever came from it anyway. Sometimes it felt like I was just an annoying younger sibling to him, and he dealt with me by provoking and teasing me.

I sighed, watching their car go, and then I swiftly crossed the street to my own car to return to the station. I hadn’t told anyone where I was going, just ran out and ignored their curious glances, and now I would have to deal with that. Minjoon would definitely ask, worried whether I had some emergency. He would ask me if I was okay and if I wanted a cup of coffee from cafeteria while regarding me with his warm brown eyes, and the thought of it was already making me relax a little.

I hadn’t talked to anyone in the station about what I’d been doing around Yoongi, not even to Minjoon who seemed to take pity on me and whenever the man was involved, took me with them (or at least as much as he managed to convince Hwang who really didn’t like me). I didn’t dare to express myself too much in front of Park when he tagged along and for some reason Yoongi went along with my cold shoulder whenever other detectives were around as if we were having a secret affair, but I could always see the glint of amusement in his eyes which made me want to punch him. I had no idea why he indulged me like that, but it definitely wasn’t anything good. Really, I should have seen the fuckery coming from a mile away.

So imagine my surprise when only a few days after the meeting at the restaurant, Yoongi waltzed into our office in the station with Jungkook and Jimin in tow like they owned it. He ignored the curious glances and the outright stares and made his way straight towards my table with a shit-eating grin. Jungkook seemed to have been smirking to himself too, and that’s how I knew I was in deep shit. Jimin was watching us with seemingly impassive eyes, but I could see the curiousness in them, especially since this was our first official meeting. I was well acquainted with him of course, but we’ve yet to actually speak with each other.

From the corner of my eye I could see Minjoon’s head shooting up in alarm and alerting Park in his office of what was going on. I shot him a warning glance as he was already halfway out of his chair but soon my attention was snatched by Yoongi, who slapped a piece of paper on my table with a wry grin. I looked at it. It was a confirmation of paying his parking tickets.

“There you go, officer, I hope you’re happy,” he chirped, self-satisfied like a big, spoiled cat, and if I wasn’t currently in the station I might have kicked him. Jimin made himself comfortable leaning on the neighbouring desk and spearing me through with intense eyes while Jungkook stood ramrod straight behind Yoongi sneering at me. This must have been such a great revenge for him I almost wanted to flip him off.

I was just about to open my mouth to retort something no doubt very inappropriate when Minjoon made it over to my desk and protectively stood by my side. My mouth snapped shut and I gave Yoongi a glare instead, to which he smirked knowingly.

“All the tickets, they’ve been paid,” he reiterated again, pointer finger tapping on the paper on my table, “And Kookie promises to do better.” The said man scowled behind him but stayed silent.

“What?” Minjoon asked confusedly, eyes jumping between all of us, “What is this pertaining to exactly?” He was talking to Yoongi, but I felt that his question was just as much pointed at me. Park was shuffling right on the edge of my periphery, curiously watching the whole thing go down, so I schooled myself and reminded myself that this wasn’t Yoongi’s office, and I couldn’t just curse him out in front of the whole unit. The bastard might have even enjoyed that. I gritted my teeth and stood up.

“Thank you, Mr. Min, for sorting out your situation,” I told him with a polite smile so tense it was basically a grimace, “and I hope your driver learns from this.” At the jab the young man narrowed his eyes at me, lips pursed, but didn’t move a single inch and didn’t make a single sound. Jimin leaning on the table was quietly snickering into his hand, watching the man’s tense form.

Yoongi’s answering smile was just as falsely sweet and polite, but the smugness still hung about his aura as he gave me a shallow bow and turned to leave, the whole time ostentatiously ignoring anyone else in the room. The moment the door closed behind him, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, and everyone was staring at me. My palms grew clammy and I nervously shuffled, eyes falling at the confused detective still standing next to me who was eyeing me just as questioningly as the rest of the office.

Minjoon looked like he wanted to say something, but his gaze jumped to the receipt still laying on my table and he froze, as if he wasn’t done processing the situation. Before anyone could do anything, Park decided to break the silence.

“Lee, Jang, my office. Now,” he said sternly and without waiting for us stalked back into his office. We exchanged anxious glances, but wordlessly trailed behind him. I had half a mind to quickly circle back and grab the ticket receipt with me as if it was evidence.

Once inside, Park was sitting behind his table with a stern face, if I had to guess he was on a good way to pretty pissed, and we both stood in front of his desk with our heads hung low like two schoolmates getting scolded by the headmaster. My grip tightened around the paper until I crumpled it.

“So, what has just happened?” the older man asked, voice seemingly impassive but still chilling me to the bones. Minjoon sent me a look, encouraging me to speak so we both could get out of this.

“Uh… so…” I started, not knowing what or how to say, but in the end decided that just coming right out with something as close to the truth as possible was the best way, “I’ve been giving Yoo- I mean Mr. Min parking tickets these past two weeks. I remembered his license plate and I realised I pass his car sometimes when he’s by the Black swan. It’s not legal to park there, so I started writing him up anytime I pass by and he’s there.” Both men in the office watched me, Park still keeping his impassive expression, while Minjoon looked at me with a mixture of surprise and amusement. I flushed from embarrassment under their scrutiny, heart beating out of my chest at having to explain and lie.

“Okay,” said Park finally and relaxed, “I guess you took being annoying to heart.” Honestly it sounded both like a compliment and an insult, but as long as I wasn’t in serious trouble I didn’t really care. I swallowed my irritation at his words and instead looked at Minjoon, who was fighting a smile. Normally that would help me calm down and laugh at the situation too, but at that moment I was so nervous and panicked I barely had the mind to acknowledge it.

“Am I in trouble?” I asked our superior, some frustration bleeding into my voice, but Park was already a hundred miles away and barely paid it any mind. “No, you can write parking tickets as much as you want, but you need to let me know if you’re getting into contact with the suspects, you understand?” his voice was gruff, but it was obvious he was no longer invested into this conversation. I nodded fiercely, focusing on keeping my face as guiltless as possible. Swallowing my pride, I bowed to him, apologised and thanked him for lenience, before I walked out of the office back in the direction of my own table and the office door.

Minjoon caught up to me, the amusement finally free to show on his face and now he was snickering lightly. I threw a nervous smile over my shoulder and walked straight out of the office aiming for hiding out in cafeteria for a moment. He followed, thoroughly enjoying the visual of Yoongi getting tickets now that he knew what it was about.

I sent him a glare and he put his hands up, but in the end burst out laughing. “It’s pretty cool,” he got out between giggles, “I’m not saying anything.” I relaxed a little and let myself go with the flow, slowly easing into laughing too and smacking his shoulder in joking reprimand.

“Actually, it explains so much,” Minjoon said finally when we got to the front of the coffee line and held our cups securely in our hands. “What do you mean?” I gave him a confused glance, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, he just always smiles at you in a really weird way,” Minjoon said unthinkingly, obviously not finding it that strange, but I froze in my tracks watching him like a deer in the headlights, “You’ve been doing it for a while, right? I always thought he was just being a creep, but I guess he was thinking about all the tickets.” The detective snickered lightly, amused by this whole situation. I forced my muscles to relax and also gave a clipped nervous laugh, hopefully playing it off completely, even though I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I wondered just how much other people also realised that Yoongi was acting strange. If anyone else saw the teasing glint to his eyes and the curl of his lips that felt like he was sending secretive smirks aimed just at me, reminding me of our interactions that would lend me in serious trouble had anyone else found out.

Minjoon excitedly babbled some more, telling me about his encounter with one of the lower tier drug dealers and how he tried to escape from them through a window and got stuck, he was laughing through the whole story and I somehow managed to give him the appropriate reactions at the right times even though my mind was stuck on the dangerous man and how to deal with this mess for the rest of the afternoon.

The next day I angrily stomped my way through the doors of Yoongi’s office building. The lady sitting at the reception looked up, totally uninterested in me as I’ve been showing up here quite often, and then promptly looked back down to her desk, not even attempting to stop me. I stormed past her and went straight for the elevators and rode all the way up.

I needed to talk to Yoongi, now. If he thought this was going to stop me or deter me, or that it would be a warning for me and I would chill out, he would be sorely disappointed. I was angrier with myself than him though. We weren’t friends, nobody promised anyone anything. I operated on the belief that because he kept his mouth shut until now, he would continue to, but of course once I started getting too pesky, he would show me just how much I depended on his silence.

It was completely natural, and I couldn’t even blame him for it. I only blamed myself for getting fooled into the notion that he wouldn’t just because he waited this long to actually do anything.

Once the elevator door opened, I saw the always empty reception desk at the end of the hallway. It was quiet there, not even a shadow moved, and a sudden nervousness choked me. I wrung my hands and stepped around for a moment, but well. No time like the present. I took a deep breath and barrelled through the door.

It swung open wildly, hitting the wall with a dull thump. I strolled in with faux confidence and promptly realised – the room was empty. Usually Yoongi was sat behind his massive desk from dark wood or lounged about the sofa, but now looking around I couldn’t see any trace of his presence. There was complete silence, the door to the bathroom that was usually masked well into the wall now sat open and nor his coat nor his suit jacket was present.

My heart beat lighting fast with anxiousness, but my mind ran wild with possibilities. I looked around again, this time to make sure there wasn’t anyone around, I even checked the hallway again, but it was truly empty. Quickly I closed the door and hurried to his desk. The top was fully cluttered with documents to a point I could barely see the ornamented wood beneath, but at that moment I wasn’t interested in that, I was fully focused on a single thing – the fucking tracker.

There was a chance he was keeping it at home, but I found it more probable it was here, in this desk, with the worst case scenario being that Jungkook had it somewhere. Wildly I rummaged through papers, not caring about making a mess at all. There was a camera in the corner, and I knew it could see me as clear as day, and it was more about making a statement than trying to hide anything. I was getting swayed by my impulsivity, I knew that, but a chance like this wouldn’t present itself to me again. This was the last thing Yoongi would expect from me and I had to keep him on his toes somehow. I chuckled at that and kneeled down.

Moving on to the drawers, I found two of them locked. My interest was sufficiently peaked by that. No reason to lock them, if they don’t hold something you don’t want taken, right? I smirked, making a point to look straight at the camera, before pulling a bobby pin from my hair and quickly getting to work.

I didn’t like to think about my childhood very much. I didn’t have much growing up in an orphanage in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Seoul, and what I did have I had to fight for. I wasn’t proud of what I did when I was growing up, wasn’t proud of the people I was hanging around and the things I got myself into before I was scouted for the police academy, but even now I had to admit it left me with some questionable yet useful skills.

Like how to pick locks.

I swirled the pin around for a few moments, tentatively pushing it around and tapping at the metal machinery, hoping I didn’t get out of practice, when I heard a click and the lock gave way. I quickly went through the first one and it didn’t contain much, mostly more documentation and some very fancy pens and a diary.

My hand stilled on it for a second and I was tempted to peek, but I couldn’t. It felt too wrong and I couldn’t betray myself like that. I had no idea what would be contained within his diary, but it felt too much like a complete violation of privacy. Looking for the tracker could still be all a part of one big running joke, but actually going through his things didn’t sit right with me, especially since anything I got this way would be totally inadmissible in court and land me in more trouble than it was worth. Right, it could give me more information about him and push me in the right direction, but at the cost of not being able to look at myself in the mirror. With one last look I slammed the drawer shut and moved on to the other one, swallowing down the shame about my very questionable morals.

No time to dwell on it now, I would get Yoongi fair and square in the end, I just had to try a little harder.

Opening the other drawer revealed that the content was much more interesting. Upon moving some papers out of the way, I quickly found not only the tracker I had put on Yoongi, but also the tracker he had put on me. I narrowed my eyes at the camera and fished out both of the devices to show them off, waving them both around with a less than impressed expression. I pocketed them and flipped of the camera, quickly moving to shut the drawers, when something caught my attention.

Black steel glinted from underneath the mess in the second drawer and when I lifted it off, I gasped lightly. A gun was lying at the bottom, a little black handgun just hanging out inside his desk. Quickly I examined it, noting it was the same model police officers carried, DP51. It was accessible to get with the proper license and I knew Yoongi had it, he had gotten it legally some time ago and the model checked out, but it still shocked me to just see it lying about like that. But as long as it was legal, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If I was petty enough, I’d check the serial number and make sure it was truly the one he had registered, but I still really wouldn’t be able to do much as I wasn’t even supposed to find it and had just committed a crime by breaking into his desk, so I’d rather not provoke my luck too much.

Just as swiftly as I threw things out I put everything back in there and shut it, not bothering to lock them again. Giving the camera one last victorious smile I rushed out, slamming the door behind me.

I didn’t even know if the universe was on my side or against me when I quite literally bumped straight into Yoongi on the sidewalk by the main entrance. He was just rounding a corner from the side alley when I crashed into him, almost falling on my ass, and I totally would have eaten dirt right out in the daylight if the man in question didn’t immediately shoot out his arms to catch me.

“Woah!” Yoongi exclaimed in surprise, hands grabbing onto my arms and pulling me back onto my feet trying to stabilise me a little. When he realised who I was, he smirked like he’s just come across his favourite idiot (he did). Jungkook ran over to us, alarmed and clearly worried for his boss’ safety. He would have ripped me away from Yoongi if the man himself didn’t stop him with a lazy little wave of his hand, no doubt curious which gems he’d get out of me now.

Once I had my feet under me again, I suddenly found that the irritation that always seemed to be present when I dealt with Yoongi was nowhere to be found. Instead I felt like the little shit-stirer today. I seemed to have shocked them both when I grinned widely, in that manner that you know I had just done something that would piss them off.

Yoongi regarded me suspiciously, probably putting two and two together and realising I had been loitering around the office building.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, officer?” he asked, shock robbing him of his usual poise. My smirk deepened and I gently grabbed his wrists to remove his hands from my arms. Jungkook watched me with a stare so intense it almost burned a hole in me, but I let him go immediately, his arms hanging in the air between us for a split second before Yoongi gathered himself and stepped back leisurely.

He tried to look cool and collected, but his eyes were sharp and calculated why I would be in such a good mood, clearly not used to me being so carefree in his presence. I had one of those moments when I was snapped out of my usual approach to Yoongi, maybe because only a single glance at him didn’t enrage me beyond human capabilities like usual, and I suddenly clocked in the put together state of him.

His hair was put into a half bun, but some soft strands were hanging around and framing his face, curling up into tiny waves, while the rest fell to his shoulders in a wavy mess. He was all in black again, black t-shirt and dress pants and a longer jacket with a white hem that fell to his mid-thighs. It wasn’t often that I actively realised that he was a fairly attractive man with a good sense of fashion, but when I did, it never failed to smack me right in my face. But tonight I was ecstatic about managing to swindle him like this and getting the tracker back, so I let myself tease him a little more than I usually would.

Before they could say anything, I sidestepped him and patted his shoulder. “Thanks for that,” I chirped out, shit-eating grin still firmly set on my face, “Looking good today, Mr. Bossman, but unfortunately I have to run now.” With that I set out back to my car so that I could hurry back to the station.

When I was pulling out of the parking spot, I could still see Yoongi and Jungkook standing on the corner, confusedly watching me. I couldn’t help myself and waved at them from the car as I was passing them. I wished I could have seen Yoongi’s face when he watched back that security tape, but unfortunately the universe wouldn’t allow me this much amusement.

Back at the station I immediately ran for the IT department and after some grovelling and apologizing for taking this long to return it, I was able to finally tie this loose end, hoping no one would ever request to review my involvement with this unit.

Walking out of there, I felt as if a whole mountain fell off of my heart and it put a pep in my step. For the rest of my shift I let the mental image of Yoongi losing his shit over a security recording carry me and it never failed to make me cackle even hours later.

When a week later I got summoned into Park’s office again, suffice to say I was shitting bricks. This could either be a continuation of last week, a more detailed interview about how much was I exactly involved with Yoongi, or he got wind of me returning the tracker. Neither of these were good – they would either land me in trouble or force me to lie, which I wasn’t exactly fond of.

I was nervously shuffling from foot to foot by the door for a long few moments, but just as I was about to knock and enter, I was suddenly joined by Minjoon and two people I’ve never met before – a man and a woman that looked a few years older than me. They were both dressed rather nicely and gave me small but friendly smiles when our eyes met. We exchanged hellos and pleasantries while I eyed the two of them curiously. Minjoon smiled at me in a way I could call encouraging and knocked, never initiating any introduction between us and before I could say anything, we were instructed by a gruff voice to come in, so I let it go for the moment.

Officer Hwang was already waiting inside, the older man was sitting on one of the chairs and chatting amicably with Park, whose face immediately shut off the moment strangers came in. The duo went over to the couch and sat down, looking expectantly towards Park to start speaking. We shuffled around a little, arranging chairs and getting comfortable, there was a hum of nervous small talk and then silence settled over the room as everybody sat down and looked towards the senior detective.

“Right,” he cleared his throat, “We have several new leads, ones that I will later share with the whole team, but you should be briefed first as it directly involves the three of you.” Park awkwardly gestured towards us sitting on the other side of his desk uncomfortably squirming in our seats.

I began winding down slightly. It seemed that none of my fears were realised, and this meeting was about something completely different and none of my transgressions. I released a long breath, the tension leaving my body and I decompressed into the little chair. Minjoon looked over and must have caught my nervousness, so he sent me a little smile, probably thinking I just wasn’t used to being called to the office yet. I shakily returned it and tuned my attention back to the older detective.

“As you surely remember, about a month ago there was a call from a passerby about shots around the dock area down in west south Seoul. Upon arrival, a bloody scene was found with several bodies that were later identified to be small fish drug dealers,” Park began explaining the situation to us, “It was on the Kim family turf, so no connection to Mins was made. They seemingly are on cordial terms, so we didn’t have a reason to assume Min had anything to with it. But a few days ago, our Kim informant gave us the information that there are tensions rising between the two gangs and a month ago there was an altercation on the Kim turf that apparently happened by the hands of Min’s dogs. That made us circle back to this case and we think it might be what he was talking about.”

I remembered the instance very well, I realised with embarrassment flushing my face. It was the evening Minjoon refused to take me with him due to the gruesome scene and in anger I went to beg to Yoongi’s office for any kind of information, only to end up with a tracker on my phone. Stupid naïve old me, that has never dealt with a man of Yoongi’s calibre before. I shook my head lightly at the memory. The tracker situation would just not leave me alone.

There was silence in the room, less because people were shocked and more of an unsureness of whether he was expecting us to add something or he was content to carry on by himself. In the end, Hwang broke the tense atmosphere.

“They must have been in a rush to leave behind such a mess,” he drily stated, “not like the boys at all.” There were some hums of agreement from around the room and then more quietness. Finally, Park decided to get to the point of this, clapping his hands curtly to get all of our attention again and I flinched in my chair, having been looking at the two strangers sitting on the sofa whisper something to each other. When I turned to him, he was staring at me with his eyebrow raised before he continued.

“We have decided to collaborate on this investigation with the violent crimes unit,” Park briefly gestured to the two strangers sitting on the sofa, to which they gave us an awkward wave, “Jang and Hwang are the Min team in our unit, so you will be in charge of it on our end. I notified the boys who keep an eye on the Kims to be of assistance to you if you need it. Newbie, you will be working on this with them as an assistant.” I jerked, this time from surprise, looking all wide eyed at the detective before he got tired of my gradually happier and happier face and turned back to others. I could barely supress the joy that coursed through my veins at this, basically vibrating in my seat.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Minjoon giving me a cheeky smile, insinuating he was already aware of the situation, and I was likely the only that was kept in the dark about it. Excitement thrummed through me and I could barely stop myself from bouncing on the chair. There seemed to be a permanent smile etched into my features, and while Park kept giving out some more technical advice and instructions, I didn’t even listen properly through the sea of possibilities already flashing through my mind.

Within 5 minutes Park was pushing us all out of his office and we found ourselves awkwardly standing outside and looking at each other.

“Well, I guess I ought to introduce myself,” I broke the ice, suddenly emboldened by this turn of events, all sunshine and smiles as I offered my hand to them once again, “I am officer Lee Y/N, I joined the force last autumn.”

The man, who towered over me with his wide shoulders and muscled form, shook my hand first with a charismatic smile and nodded at me. “Name’s Choi Seungcheol, but you can call me Coups. I’ve been in the force for some time already.” His face looked very kindly, but there was a spark of a boyish cheekiness in his features. The lady by his side snickered at that and I couldn’t help myself and giggled along.

She stepped closer to me and pushed away Seungcheol so she could shake my hand as well. He jokingly pouted and gave her a side-eye, but it was obvious they were very close as both partners and friends. It made me smile at the display, hoping that one day when I got my own partner, we would be just as tight. My eyes took her form in, her dark wavy hair and confident face, she was a true mixture of beauty and strength.

“I’m Sunmi,” her voice brought me back and I stopped gawking at her with flushed cheeks, “I’m his senior, so don’t even ask how many years I’ve been in the force.” To this Seungcheol laughed meanly and lightly bumped her shoulder with his fist.

“We’ve been dealing with this case mostly on our own, but we’re excited about getting the help of your unit,” she added and gave us all a wide grin, “I’m sure we can all give each other useful information.” Seungcheol behind her nodded and then reached out to pat Minjoon’s shoulder.

“I’ll just beg you for like 20 minutes so I can run to the buffet and buy myself at least a sandwich or something, cause I’m about to die,” he joked good-naturedly with us and before anyone could say anything, already started walking back with a cheeky grin. Sunmi rolled her eyes fondly and then slowly turned to follow him. Minjoon just waved them off with a smile and then turned to us.

Me and Hwang were watching each other awkwardly. He regarded me with obvious mistrust and contempt, but I’d already gotten used to that in this unit, so I only returned it with a smile so fake I was surprised he wasn’t insulted by it.

“Okay you two, play nice,” Minjoon inserted himself into the situation and grabbed both of our shoulders, “there’s also no need for formalities now, we’ll all be working closely together. Y/N, please from now on call him Jiho, Jiho call her Y/N.” The man scowled at me but in the end buckled under the pressure of Minjoon’s stare and nodded my way in acknowledgement.

“I’m gonna go grab my stuff,” he then grumbled and moved to his table moodily. I scowled at his back, returning his favour in terms of warm welcomes, but Minjoon subtly shook his head at me so I schooled my expression back into careful neutrality. Inside I was pissed though. It’s not like I was stepping on any toes here, he just didn’t like me for the sake of not liking me.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Minjoon walking towards the conference room with the infamous Min gang picture wall, so I followed after him. My happy mood took a small hit after such a reception from my colleague, but at least the violent crimes unit seemed really nice so not all was lost.

In the shoddy privacy the glass walls of the room offered I sat down and sulked, heart sinking as I realised that Minjoon might be the only person on my side here. Park was annoyed by me and Hwang obviously didn’t like me at all, and when it came to it, Seungcheol and Sunmi weren’t part of this unit and couldn’t really affect my standing among my own colleagues.

“Don’t pout now,” Minjoon’s teasing remark brought my attention back to him and when I took in his amused face, I had to fight off another scowl, “He’ll come around to you. He’s just annoyed a newbie is allowed to work with us so quickly.” That didn’t soothe my anger at all, but I pretended to smile towards the only kind man in this unit, not wanting to dig around in this open wound anymore.

“You shouldn’t take it personally,” the man continued obliviously, flipping his dark brown floppy hair out of his eyes as he fixed something on the wall, “you know, he’s Park’s understudy and as such he’s not only very old school, but he’s also been part of this unit for a long time without many promotions. Stuck in the same place for this amount of time, he isn’t the exactly the nicest to fast moving rookies. I had my problems with him as well, especially since I took the leading position in our team after only a few months here.” He smiled at me soothingly, throwing a glance at me over his shoulder with his kind eyes and it finally made me calm down a little.

“Sorry, I’m used to everyone hating me specifically that it never occurred to me he could be a dick to everybody,” I half joked half grumbled and Minjoon laughed at my words, pulling a genuine smile from me at the sound. For a few seconds I wished people here were a little more like him, or that I was assigned to him when I got here, but drowning in what ifs was never a good way to spend time, so I shut that self-pity down quickly.

Instead I focused on the wall and the few changes that have been made to it sometime this week. Truth be told, I was so caught up in feuding with the gang in real life, I kind of forgot to keep up with the information hanging here on the wall, so I took a few moments to take everything in.

Under the old picture of Yoongi that was the primary point of the wall someone taped a new picture of him, most probably very recent one and from some kind of an official black-tie event. He was wearing a sleek suit with his hair styled and slicked back from his face, champagne glass in hand as he kept a light conversation with someone out of the shot.

“That’s from the fundraiser for a new children ward in the Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital,” Minjoon supplied when he saw me looking at the pic, “As one of the richest men in Korea he gets around these events a lot, it’s kind of funny.” I scoffed playfully at his words.

“All you have to do is own a few hotels,” I sing-songed jokingly, eyes already moving across the wall for any new details. There weren’t many, most just pertained to Tae, Jimin and Jungkook going about their days and doing business. Yoongi’s schedule was mostly known to us and he rarely strayed into unknown spaces, Namjoon mostly just sat in his office and Hoseok was as elusive as ever. I had an inkling I probably saw more of him in the past few weeks than my colleagues did in months, and even then he just made sure everything was going okay around the docks. And as for Jin, he was an open book with his practice and reputation, so there weren’t exactly any skeletons to dig for in his closet.

Once again I realised that without a proper offensive we would never get close enough to Yoongi to actually prosecute any of his gang members, and although all the evidence I gathered could be easily dismissed just by Yoongi reporting me and asking for a restraining order, I still got closer than Park who always bumped into Namjoon’s carefully constructed walls of legal bullshit.

We all knew illegal shit happened behind closed doors, we all knew how he got his stuff here and what he sold in his clubs and how he dealt with his “employees”, but on the outside everything either seemed perfectly legal without any loopholes to sneak your way in or there just wasn’t enough conclusive evidence, letting Yoongi perfectly skirt the grey area and do his crimes in peace. At this point if we didn’t get a photo of him shooting someone point blank, we’d never be able to get him, cause he had the uncanny ability to weasel his way out of everything.

He truly was someone that’s been doing crime before I even learnt to tie my own shoes and it showed.

And while my plan with Hoseok crashed and burned, I wasn’t giving up. I wouldn’t give up. I just needed time to recoup and find a new way in. Problem was, Yoongi was way too aware of me now and yes, I did learn from my mistakes and always managed to attack from a different angle, but I was still only a single person, and it was too easy for them to toy with me. I was too vulnerable against the seven of them and somehow they always got ahead of me, made me into their entertainment and played games with me until I caught up. I had to change my tactics, again.

And this was my opportunity to do so. Minimise contact and focus on the investigation and skirt around them for as long as possible. The less they saw of me now, the better. At this point, that was the only thing they wouldn’t expect me to do. Here or there drop in and keep it together, remain professional. Or just turn it around completely and play by their rules to subvert their expectations. I could do this. I had to, really. There was no other choice against Yoongi’s wit and his men.

Next to me Minjoon was humming as he put up some additional information to the wall, the basic stuff we all already knew but for people from a different unit it could be useful to keep it up so they oriented in the case better. Slowly, the grey of the coating couldn’t even be seen anymore, all covered up in pictures of people and bodies and crimes. It was strangely calming, having it all in front of me like that, seeing clearly the web of depravity and corruption. It was easier to keep the goal in mind and not get lost in all the dead ends.

The sudden sound of the door opening tore me from my musings and I jerked in shock, fight or flight almost kicking in since I was so lost in my own head for a moment, but I relaxed once I realised it was the violent crime guys with Hwang sullenly trailing in behind them. I fought to keep the eye rolls to myself and instead gave a warm smile to Seungcheol and Sunmi, gesturing for them to make themselves comfortable around the table. Minjoon was still messing around with some of the files and boxes and Hwang walked over to him, the two of them whispering to each other about something.

Sunmi started piling files onto the table, so I kept my attention there, sitting down across from them and slowly going through them. There were a few cases, but most of them pertained to the killing from a month ago. There was a lot of witness statements, some vague comments about the safety of the area and a lot of avoiding answers when it came to the topic of the Kim family. I sifted through them until I got to the pictures and stilled.

I’d never seen the crime scene before. I have seen pictures of crime scenes, even pictures of bodies and autopsies, but the fact that I knew the killer, talked with him and joked with him, it messed me up more than I was anticipating it would. It was the first crime scene I saw that was so viscerally real and close to me, to my own case. It felt like my heart was beating out of my throat and I could physically feel my hands getting sweaty.

“Hey, you okay?” I heard a kind deep voice, and two hands suddenly entered my peripheral. I quickly tore my eyes away from the pictures of bloody bodies strewn across an industrial complex, of pools of thick red liquid covering most of the floor and walls splashed with it. I tried not to think about the obvious signs of a scuffle, of the evidence of complete overpowering by power unseen and totally unexpected. I tried not to think about how much force do you need to exert while killing someone to get their blood all over the ceiling.

My eyes met the worried ones of Seungcheol and I nodded shakily. His question got the attention of most of the room, and I found myself at the centre of attention with several concerned gazes trained onto me and Hwang watching me condescendingly from the corner. That quickly amplified my unease and I found myself stuttering out another affirmative answer almost incoherently.

“You said you were a newbie, right?” Sunmi asked, but her voice and face were soft with no trace of mocking I was afraid I’d see there, “Is this your first crime scene?” With shame written all over my face I nodded again and pushed the file with the pictures away, trying hard not to catch anybody’s eyes.

Seungcheol laughed softly and I flinched, humiliation filling me from head to toe, until he said: “You’re still holding up pretty well, when I saw my first crime scene I threw up.” Sunmi laughed at that, laughed at him, and yet it wasn’t insulting and he returned her smiles completely unperturbed.

“Oh god, I remember that,” she said breathlessly, “It was absolutely hilarious. He was green the whole day and barely uttered a word.” Seungcheol smirked at her and I could see in Sunmi’s eyes she realised he was about to say something about her past the way they narrowed and her smile froze.

“Actually Captain later told me that you threw up too and then cried during lunch, so we’re pretty even,” he said smugly and there was silence for a few seconds before they both started giggling at each other. I couldn’t help myself and a few giggles escaped me too at their antics.

“Honestly, I think the only reason I am not throwing up right now is because it’s only pictures,” I managed to mutter out my own hesitant comment, topping it off with a shaky smile hoping to show my gratitude to them for trying so hard to distract me from it. They both grinned back, nodding in encouragement, and I leaned back into my chair a little, stomach still rolling around but now considerably calmer than before.

Minjoon finally abandoned the wall and sat down next to me, his hand gently patting my shoulder before he kindly said: “Don’t worry, everybody has a reaction when they see something like that for the first time. I threw up too the first time I was taken to a crime scene.”

I started squirming under all their attention and just simply nodded to get them back to focusing on anything else, especially since Hwang’s eyes coldly regarded me from the wall watching me like I was totally pathetic.

In my mind, I was suddenly brought back to that day, how angry I was with Minjoon for underestimating me and telling me I can’t come with him. Back then I thought he was just being overprotective because I’m a woman, that he sees me as weaker like all the rest and immediately jumped into going to Yoongi instead and embarrassing myself there, but now having seen these photos, I was suddenly relieved I didn’t go. I was stupid, I had no idea what I was talking about all those weeks ago. I looked to him and gave him a thankful smile, even if he had no idea what I was thinking about, and he returned it tenfold. That helped me calm down even more, but still there was an undeniable tenseness to my shoulders and a slight tremble in my hands.

In some way I was also glad for not having seen the scene back then, because I don’t think I would be able to face Yoongi the next day without throwing up again.

The conversation around me shifted already to the other files and I was only brought back to what was happening around me once Minjoon touched my arm in concern, watching me the whole time I was dissociating. I gave him a half-hearted smile and tuned back in.

“It’s not official, of course,” Sunmi was just saying, finger tapping on one of the unfamiliar files, “But we think it’s highly likely. There’s some similarities, even though it’s just speculation and no formal ties to any of the gangs have been made, but it’s all victims that ran through these circles and their demises were very sudden and very violent. It’s worth it to go through it with you experts and see.” So they brought extra files that could also be associated with the Min gang. Curiously I pushed one file open and gave it a quick glance over. It seemed to be some old rich guy that was murdered on the street few months back and it was at first classified as mugging.

“Have these happened in or around places known to be associated with these gangs?” I found my voice finally and jumped back into professional headspace, trying to shake off the residual unsettlement. Seungcheol’s eyes jumped to me suddenly, presumably getting surprised by me inserting myself back into the conversation.

“Yeah, they’re all mostly directly from or from around the Min or Kim turf,” he said and gave me a supportive smile. I returned it, still somewhat awkward with them as strangers, but quickly getting drawn into their warm presence and energy.

Minjoon next to me hummed, watching the table quickly disappear under a load of papers and photos, seemingly deep in thought. Then he looked at me and smiled. It was the ‘I’m gonna have you do something you’ll hate’ kind of smile and I already felt my enthusiasm crashing through the floor all the way to hell.

“I think it’d be beneficial to go through the files and see if any of the names seem familiar to us or pop in our database. If we find a concrete link to them, we can count them in,” he said slowly, like he was pitching an idea for a new breakfast commercial trying to win over tough investors, and his eyes slid over to me again, “Y/N, please start with that and keep me updated on your progress.”

I gave Minjoon a tight-lipped smile and nodded, gathering all the files on a little pile in front of me. I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly I was so uncomfortable in this situation, but there was just a feeling creeping up my back that something was wrong and I had no idea why. I squeezed my trembling fingers into a fist and listened to Minjoon explaining basic information to the violent crimes team about Yoongi and his organisation. I listened on a half ear, most of the things long time known to me, some even information I could potentially expand on if it wasn’t immediately followed up by questions I couldn’t answer.

I imagined Yoongi in my mind, I thought back to our last meeting and tried to summon back the feeling of power and vindication I felt after leaving his office with the trackers. I still haven’t followed up with him, still didn’t come by for another battle or to see his irked but intrigued gaze. He’d tell me something smug, teasing, he’d maybe call me a thief or make fun of me for looting when I was a police officer.

But now I wouldn’t be able to follow up on it anymore, with the investigation I’d be needed around the precinct more, I couldn’t get away with disappearing so much without any explanation. And I still didn’t have another plan how to track down Hoseok either.

Minjoon moved to the wall and was gesturing to some of the photos, mainly going over the main six. I zeroed in on the pics we had of the man I was after so desperately, most of them were taken of him on his phone or with a scowl on his face as he dealt with something in the docks, his strict face as scary as captivating.

It’s the face of a stone-cold killer, I reminded myself. They’re all killers. A feeling of unease fell over me, like I realised for the first time just how much I was playing with fire these past few months and more than ever I couldn’t comprehend why Yoongi was so lenient with me, when I now first-hand experienced how his enemies ended up.

By the time we were done in the conference room, it was already getting dark outside. Seungcheol and Sunmi departed with a few nice words and promises to meet us next week at the scene, before they both disappeared down the hallway leading to the service parking lot. Hwang also scurried off somewhere without saying much, just one second he was there and the next there was no trace of him.

I stretched, my whole body absolutely screaming from sitting by the table for hours upon hours on no end, and as I got up one joint after another cracked like crisps getting stepped on, a long groan leaving my mouth as my muscles locked with the temporary relieving pain.

“Remind me to never sit at this table for longer than two hours next time,” I said to Minjoon, voice strained but carrying a tone of humour in it. He laughed lightly, not really looking at me as he tried to tidy up the table. I stole a few files right from under his hands and he shot me curious glance.

“Aren’t you going home?” he asked with a polite concern lighting his voice, “It’s been a long afternoon and we should be fresh tomorrow.” I gave him a toothy grin and gestured to the files in my hands.

“I will go home, I just want to copy these so I can have a look at them outside work,” I explained and moved to leave the room, but Minjoon stopped me with his hand gently grabbing my arm. I froze and turned to him, clocking in his sheepish expression with lips pursed as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t decide how.

“What’s up?” I asked gently, turning to face him fully and give him my attention, hoping it would coax him into spilling whatever he was holding inside. He smiled at me blindingly and it instinctually made me smile too.

“Thanks for taking on the files,” he said and I felt my smile slipping a little, but held on steadfast, “Of course I’ll try to help you with it as much as possible when I have the free time for it.” For what felt like the thousandth time that day I nodded to avoid actually speaking on my feelings. I didn’t really know what I would tell him anyway. That I hoped that now that I was a part of the team officially I wouldn’t just get saddled with the desk work? I was grateful they wanted to take me to the site with them and I knew that my task was also important, but it still felt like I was a secretary to a detective team instead of fully being part of the investigation too.

“I knew I could count on you,” Minjoon sighed relieved and patted my head, ruffling my hair a bit in the process, “The moment Park mentioned this collaboration happening, I knew that I wanted to push for your participation. I’m glad he listened to me in the end.” My eyes widened enough to almost fall out of the sockets.

“You pushed me through to the team?” I asked totally flabbergasted. Minjoon only nodded with a mischievous expression. “You were so passionate about this from the beginning, I knew you had it in you to make it here,” he told me encouragingly. Warmth filled me from the inside, gratefulness almost making my eyes water as I took the information in.

“Thank you Minjoon,” I said as sincerely as I possibly could, “Truly, it means everything to me.” The man winked and then moved to leave the conference room. Right before he walked out he threw one last glance at me and said: “Don’t stay up too late.”

I was left standing there long minutes after the door banged shut after him, just processing the whole situation. There was still leeway for me to gain respect through this, I just had to prove myself. I had to go along and give it my hundred and ten percent, and with Minjoon on my side it was still possible for me to find my way into this unit. With new determination I set on, quickly copying the files and making my way to my car.

Sitting behind the wheel, I suddenly didn’t quite know what to do. Somewhere deep down I wanted to have one last showdown with Yoongi before disappearing. The way we left things was too open and there were things that needed to be said now. On the other hand, it would be a ballsy move to just disappear after what I pulled in his office a week ago. I was torn, but still, I already knew what I would end up doing.

I’ve already come to recognise the pattern – I would get upset at work, I would drive to Yoongi trying to prove something to myself, I would embarrass myself in front of him and then I would regret it and go home chastising myself for getting tangled into his games. But knowing it didn’t make the prospect of arguing with Yoongi over nothing any less tantalising.

And I had a big win under my belt now. I desperately needed to know, needed to see the effect of my office stunt.

Before I could talk myself out of it I put the car in gear and started driving in the direction of Pied Piper. It was too late for Yoongi to still be at the office, unless there were special circumstances, and between all his joints and businesses, I’ve found Pied Piper to be the safest bet when I wanted to find him quick. Glancing at the files sitting on my passenger seat I steeled myself and drove mindlessly, already knowing the road there by heart.

Thirty minutes later (because Itaewon was absolutely packed and I could barely make my way through the streets, not to mention park) I was marching up to the Pied Piper bouncers as I’d done countless times before, playing the part of the big bad detective as best as I could.

“Tell boss Lee Y/N’s here,” I told one of the muscley bald men immediately as I was within earshot. He gave me an unimpressed look, eyes sliding from my head all the way to my toes with mocking eyes, before he scoffed.

“Boss isn’t here,” was all he said before he turned away from me, ignoring me in a way that was supposed to send me home with my tail tucked between my legs. Instead I rolled my eyes and loudly scoffed back.

“Look, whatever he told you about taking or not taking visitors, just use your walkie-talkie and say my name, I assure you he’ll want to see me,” I played up my annoyance, putting my hands on my hips and tapping my foot impatiently, admittedly probably looking pretty funny to the guys even though I was trying to be so tough to sway them. I was surprised I wasn’t already a known face around here to be perfectly honest, but it is true that I’ve never recognised any of the men even after numerous visits, so the chance I was talking to someone new every time, or at least that enough time has passed to make them forget about me, was extremely high.

The man turned back to me with an outright hostile face and I froze for a moment, fear gripping me for split second before I threw him a glare of my own. The situation was quickly spinning out of control and I didn’t know for how long I’d get away with messing with them, but before I had to start thinking about plan B, the other bouncer turned to us.

“He’s telling the truth, boss isn’t in tonight,” he said in a much more mellow voice, determined to keep the peace. I immediately changed my attitude, giving him a tight smile.

“Where is he then? Dynamite? The hotel?” I fired a question after question and it made the bouncer regard me with a glint of amusement in his eyes, like a giant that was watching a kitten fight for its life.

“I have no idea,” was all he said. I kept waiting for him to elaborate, but once enough time has passed I realised he just wasn’t going to say anything more. I narrowed my eyes at him, which he seemed to be quite enjoying seeing me pissed.

“You don’t know or you can’t tell?” I asked him again, the tapping of the foot back, and I felt a little too much like a toddler throwing a tantrum in the supermarket. He just shrugged and shook his head. “We’re way too low in the food chain to have information about his whereabouts,” the first bouncer grumbled under his breath without glancing our way, keeping his eyes on the line of impatient club-goers trying to get in.

“Okay then,” I drawled out annoyed, “Is Taehyung in?” No matter how much I preferred not meeting the overly flirty man, he would definitely know where to find Yoongi or just call him over, so it was worth surviving his company for one evening. But the way the second bouncer smiled like a cat that was about to eat an unguarded piece of meat, I already knew the answer before he even opened his mouth.

“Nope,” he drawled out the p and released it in an annoying pop, grinning at me like it made his entire evening. I rolled my eyes at him but didn’t dignify it with an answer.

“Alright, is Jimin at The Rose?” I was literally grasping at the straws bringing up the man I haven’t even officially met yet, but it was my last shot unless I wanted to go annoy Namjoon who for sure was still sitting in that little office of his. But I made such a great job of totally avoiding him and I’d rather keep it that way. There was just something about him that made me tense and uncomfortable.

“It’s highly possible,” ground out the first bouncer, clearly done with our bullshit. I gave them a fake smile and if my eyes could kill, both of them would have already been speared through four times over, but judging by the barely concealed snickers of the second bouncer, he was having the best time ever. I rolled my eyes at him one last time and then walked off without another word.

The drive to The Rose took me another additional 20 minutes, but thankfully this part of the entertainment block was far less crowded as it was too high-end for most. The line in front of the door was much shorter and consisted mostly of young women, most of them likely hoping they would be able to bag a filthy rich good-for-nothing as they excitedly gazed at the building and made eyes at the bouncers hoping they would be let in. The guys standing here were also very well dressed, both sporting nice suits with monochrome t-shirts in dark colours, hair swept and gelled up as if they were part of the exclusive clientele.

I almost felt ashamed walking up to them wearing my crinkled work clothes, hair no doubt so messy I must have looked half insane from the back. I regretted not at least brushing through it once in the car, but now it was too late as I was making my way along the line trying to look as confident as possible. I ignored the dirty looks from the ladies for skipping the line and showing up looking almost like a homeless person and instead carried myself until I stood directly in front of the two men guarding the door.

“Is Park Jimin here tonight?” I asked, pushing down the feelings of annoyance at the mounting sense of déjà vu. I just hoped I wouldn’t helplessly spin in circles here as well. All I wanted was to laugh in Yoongi’s face a little, but apparently universe chose this moment for some karmic warning. I swear to god in the past few months those bastards were almost at every corner I went to, it was literally impossible to dodge them, and now this one evening I can’t get hold of anyone? What was this bullshit?

The men regarded me with their impassive gazes, also judging me from head to toe, before one of them turned towards the door and discreetly pulled out a walkie-talkie. I sagged in relief as that was a good sign. Jimin was most likely here and probably open to visitors.

The man turned back to me and only huffed out “name?” without any preamble. I quickly stuttered it out, the nerves now taking over as I realised I would have to face the man for the first time ever completely alone, both without a police partner or Yoongi present.

The man relayed the information and within seconds I was being ushered through the door inside, catching spiteful jealous glances from the line of hopeful visitors. If you knew why I was here girls, you’d be a lot less ruffled about it.

The bouncer didn’t leave my side for a second, hand firmly planted on my shoulder as he steered me through the fancy club. I was infinitely grateful for his paranoia as I’ve never been here before and had no clue where to go. He led me to a discreet staircase at the furthest wall from us, hidden directly behind the bar. At first I thought he would bring me to a secluded little area in the VIP zone like in Dynamite or Pied Piper, but I quickly realised this was way too hidden to be meant for public use.

My confusion and unease continued to mount as we climbed those stairs and the sounds from the club died down to a near complete silence except for the bass of the music reverberating through the walls. Up on the little standing was a tiny area for waiting, containing a small sofa and table set with some dried flowers as decoration. And directly in front of us as we got up was an ornate dark wood door, perfectly fitting into the whole vibe of flamboyant wealth.

The bouncer finally let me go to shortly knock on the door and then walked straight off, leaving me standing there with my mouth opening and closing like a beached fish. Before my confusion led me to do something even more stupid, the door swung open and there he stood, Park Jimin, god amongst men, giving me a megawatt smile, laying his charm on so thick I could laugh. With a wide gesture he invited me inside what I now realised must have been his office.

I walked in unsurely, head flitting from side to side trying to take everything in, the nervousness reaching crescendo, especially when I heard the door click shut behind us. I quickly turned to face the man again and he was smiling just as seductively and invitingly as before, now gesturing to the lavish red sofa taking up the corner of the room.

“Please, do have a seat,” he said languidly, the words flowing out of him smoothly and wrapping around me like a ribbon, his voice as mesmerising as siren’s song. Eyes wide and shocked silent, I just went with it and almost unwittingly moved over to the corner to sit. From here I could see the whole room, the bookcases filled with books, files and memorabilia, the massive dark wood desk situated right opposite of the door and the art on the walls depicting various landscapes.

“They’re all legitimate, mostly 19th century European painters,” Jimin supplied immediately as he saw me watching the framed pieces, “Joonie-hyung and Tae have an interest in art. They occasionally buy some and put it in our houses or offices.” I felt myself steadily blushing more and more under his intense gaze, his blonde hair swept out of his face in a way that perfectly accentuated his sharp face and his plump reddish lips pulled into a soft smirk. It wasn’t the same way Yoongi smirked, no, this was a smirk of a man who knew he was beautiful and could sway people only with few heated looks and sweet words.

He slowly walked over and took a seat next to me, making me quickly look away and feign disinterest, almost going to the extent of picking at my nails just to put some barrier between us. I wasn’t used to encountering men like Park Jimin and I felt like a fish out of water here in his office, sitting on his no doubt extremely expensive couch.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked courteously, elegantly gesturing to the closed bar to my left. I immediately shook my head, already far too acquainted with how it went with them.

“I’m here by car,” I told him resolutely, but he only smiled sweetly. He shifted closer to me slightly, hand curling along the top of the sofa until his hand almost touched my shoulder, and he curled his fingers as if going to caress my arm. I felt like a stone statue, just sitting there watching him, terrified and nervous and confused in the face of his approach.

“I’m sure we could arrange a way for you to get home by other means,” he said leisurely, hand staying firmly put just a ghost’s breath away from the goosebumped skin of my upper arm. At this point my brain finally started catching up with me and going back online.

I knew he only flirted with me this aggressively for two reasons – either he was buying time or he was scoping me out just like Taehyung had back then when we first officially met. I was betting on the second option.

“No, thank you,” I finally said firmly, “I’m not really much of a drinker.” That had the man snorting and he relaxed into the soft pillows. I threw him a confused look at such a reaction.

“So I’ve heard,” he explained with an amused glint in his eyes, “Jin-hyung would love you. He’s always trying to get us to drink less.” Then he put a finger to his  pouting lips in a thinking motion, making a whole act of it with his eyes flitting from side to side as well.

“But on a second thought, he’s not currently too impressed with you,” Jimin giggled like we were sharing high school level secrets and not talking about extremely dangerous men potentially having it out for me, “So maybe he wouldn’t be too hot about your drinking habits.” With that he snickered some more, entertained eyes watching me with a disconcerting undertone of detachment and cold calculatedness.

So Jimin was the type to not censor himself too much, talking quite freely about things I could never get out of the others, even though the topics were still carefully measured. He didn’t seem like someone that tiptoed around things and rather preferred to be a little more open. But there was a deceptiveness in this approach as well and I imagined he would be quite good at slowly talking all of your secrets out of you.

“I’m sure he shares that sentiment with the driver,” I hesitatingly played along, on purpose choosing to not to use Jungkook’s name to spite him once Jimin told him about our conversation, “He seems to despise me. I truly have no idea why; I’ve never done anything to him.” I put on the innocence act so thickly it circled back into sarcasm, and I couldn’t help the little smirk at knowing that at least the youngest was the one person I would always manage to get pissed off. I didn’t seem to be having much luck with it with the others. Especially now that I would prefer to dodge all Namjoon, Hoseok and Seokjin.

Jimin threw his head back with his hearty high-pitched laugh, delighted at the dig at their youngest. When his eyes trained back onto me, they were no less dangerous but a lot more intrigued. I realised that while he was sitting very comfortably with one leg under the other, side leaning on the sofa and his hand still hanging between us leisurely, I sat next to him as stiff as a log with my hands nervously picking at the hem of my t-shirt. I tried to relax a little more, but it seemed impossible next to such a natural predator. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I just stumbled right into a dragon’s mouth.

This guy was intense, and I suddenly found myself missing Yoongi’s annoying jabs and smug self-assured smirks. At least I could match his and Jungkook’s energy, but Jimin just kept throwing me off, and it didn’t help that he was one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen.

“While I do love this small talk at Kookie’s expense,” Jimin said finally after just staring at me trying to get comfortable with a barely concealed entertained grin, “But tell me, officer, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

He was back to his flirtatious sensual approach with the way he almost purred those words, trying to get a reaction out of me again. He almost succeeded, the blush attempting to rise to my cheeks, but I scolded myself and looked towards the desk to keep a barrier between us.

“Funnily enough, I’m actually looking for Yoongi,” I muttered, trying to sell it as a serve to knock him down a little, but I was too unsure of myself and honestly done with this whole fucking evening. Jimin pouted, his full lips curling down sullenly before they pulled into a smirk again.

“Figures, but here I was… hoping you’d finally come to meet me too,” he flirted some more, putting on almost a little breathless tone, “since all the others already got the pleasure.”

“I haven’t met the doctor yet,” I blurted out without thinking, immediately mashing my lips shut in embarrassment. Jimin giggled lightly.

“That’s true,” came his sing-song voice, “Thank you for comforting me.” Before I could say anything, there was a knock at the door. I watched as Jimin’s sweet flirty mask fell right off of his face, eyes flickering with a hint of irritation and expression turning colder in an instant.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” he said in what I assumed was his normal tone of voice, pretty face hardening with the hint of annoyance. I was totally dumbfounded, rendered speechless by such a switch up, eyes still glued to his form as he moved through the room to open the door. At least I knew he didn’t care about keeping up his performance in front of me, that had to count towards something. He probably got from me whatever it was he was looking for. I nervously went through our interaction up until now trying to decipher what it could have been, but came up empty.

Now that the sofa was empty and the man was on the other side of the room, I finally had space to breathe and sank a little into the lavish furnishing. The door swung open with one swift motion of his arm and without giving the person on the other side a chance, Jimin said: “I said no interruptions.” His eyes screamed some kind of warning to them and I straightened a little. “I have a guest,” were Jimin’s next words and the person wordlessly slinked away, Jimin immediately shutting the door.

I gave him a look, which he returned with an amused smile, much realer this time. There seemed to be something a little mocking in his eyes and it creeped me out, it made him seem much less human and more like a vampire that was about to suck me empty of my blood. I quickly shook my head to push that silly thought away and focused on him properly again.

“Sorry detective, but I’m sure you’d understand that I wouldn’t want to bore you with all the business talk,” he said pointedly, voice hiding a warning to me as well not to probe more. In these circumstances I had no other choice but to comply, I wasn’t properly armed to deal with him one on one at this point; and I’d rather not provoke him when I barely even knew him. Maybe I’d be a little braver with Yoongi present, but as it stood now I was simply at a disadvantage.

“Of course,” I replied just as courteously as when he invited me to sit on the sofa. To that Jimin gave me an amused smile but was obviously pleased with my quick surrender.

“I heard what you did in hyung’s office,” he stated suddenly matter-of-factly, and I was sure that if I had been drinking something I’d choke. The blush was fighting its way back onto my face having been confronted with the information like this by Jimin of all people, who was watching me entertained by my reaction.

“He had something of mine. Besides, I’m afraid that’s between me and Yoongi,” I managed to squeak out, avoiding his gaze to keep at least the illusion of unbotherness, “and Jungkook I guess.” Jimin leaned on the massive desk, making himself comfortable there as well, eyes now appraising me more sharply with all the sweetly flirty aura gone. I squirmed in my place under such scrutiny, nervousness hitting me in overwhelming waves.

“Well, you’re in luck, because one of them is making their way here right now,” Jimin said in the end, some of the sharpness melting away a little. I had no idea what he really was looking for, but whether he found it or not, he seemed at least a little satisfied with my reaction. Which didn’t help me calm down at all, he was still freaking me out but in a completely different way than Namjoon did. Yoongi definitely chose his companions well, all of these men had something in them that gave me the creeps.

“I’d hope it’s Yoongi, I’m not sure Jungkook coming here would mean anything good for me,” I shuddered at the thought, all of the pictures of the younger man with Hoseok and the implicit but very clear connection between them and their work resurfacing to the forefront of my mind and setting an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Jimin laughed, as carefree as ever, head lightly tipping back with the motion. When he looked back at me, something dangerous glinted in his eyes.

“You don’t even know how right you are, detective,” he remarked somewhat ominously, a dark edge creeping into his amused voice, “But I don’t think you need to worry about that right now.” The unspoken yet in there put me on edge, but I was well aware of what happened to people that posed a danger to Yoongi and his position. Even if he wouldn’t send a police officer to the bottom of the river, that didn’t mean I was safe from a potential retribution.

I returned his gaze as steadily as I could, trying to push down all the swirling wisps of fear and unsettlement licking at my heart but I had no idea how successful I really was. There was nothing I could read from Jimin’s carefully guarded face as we sat there for a few tense silent moments and sized each other up, before Jimin suddenly perked up again with a full grin and gestured to the bar again.

“You sure I can’t tempt you into a drink?” he tried for the third time and I almost for a few seconds considered saying yes, but quickly shut that part of me down. Instead I gave him a polite smile and shook my head, the tension creeping back into my back and shoulders the longer we sat there.

Jimin seemed to be quite content with leaving me to stew in my own head, watching amusedly as I squirmed around on the sofa and sent him nervous glances the longer the silence stretched on. I surely had no particular topics to discuss with him and Jimin was suddenly as quiet as a mouse.

Just as I was considering just getting up and leaving to escape the oppressive aura in the room, the door opened and my head snapped in the direction of the movement. At first I could only see a veiny calloused hand in a black jacket before slowly the rest of the man came into view. Yoongi walked in leisurely, like he was on his personal runway, a relaxed smirk on his face as his eyes flitted between the two of us. His hair was messy and it was the first time I saw him not perfectly put together and in more casual clothes.

The way my whole body decompressed in relief upon seeing his smug face was actually embarrassing and it left me flushed and avoiding his gaze. But Jimin was stressing me out for the past twenty minutes and it was impossible to match his energy like I’d learnt with Yoongi. With him it was already a stable ground for me, Jimin on the other hand left me scrambling to reconsider my strategy every few minutes. I hadn’t even realised, but I was mentally exhausted after the almost half an hour we spent here alone, not to mention the long draining day I had.

I felt like a little kid whose mom left him in the cashier line to run for something last minute and finally returned just in time to handle the check out.

He didn’t speak to me at all at first, instead went straight for Jimin. They exchanged pleasantries and whispered to each other for a moment before the blond man moved back to the sofa to sit down next to me, while Yoongi made himself comfortable in the big leather chair behind the table.

I sent a wary glance at the new occupant and inched a little away from him, my nerves so high strung I felt like a bow string about to snap. Finally, Yoongi’s amused eyes set on me and his lips curled arrogantly as they usually did, and I found some security in the familiarity of it all.

“How sweet of you to turn half the Seoul upside down for me,” was how he greeted me and I couldn’t help the scowl, “The boys told me how desperate you were for me.” That could have only meant the two bouncers at Pied Piper that were just intent on screwing me over and playing with me, and now no doubt intent on embarrassing me further. I fought off any kind of blush that could be induced by his choice of words and instead glared at him in annoyance.

“What can I say, I’m used to always finding you when I want it,” I retorted back firmly, cursing them both for coming out with such flirty personas, “You’re quite the creature of habit.” Yoongi’s lips spread in a mean grin, eyes glinting with something darker than I was used from him.

“I was enjoying some company tonight,” he said matter-of-factly, eyes quickly flicking up to me to gauge my reaction, “Forgot I have a needy little detective to take care of.” There was an actual tinge of annoyance in his voice as he said that, and it took me a moment to clock it. I rolled my eyes at him so vehemently I felt a warning pang of an onsetting headache, now wishing I had said yes to Jimin’s offer so I could theatrically sip on a drink.

That explained a lot about tonight – his unknown location, his rumpled appearance and the sudden twinge of irritation that was so hard to come by with this man. Jimin probably pulled him here before he got any action and now he was mad at me for ruining his fun. My lips immediately curled up, mouth fighting off the huge, entertained grin that wanted to split my face in half, a laugh clawing its way out of my throat, and I lost to it. I quickly turned my head away from him before the laugh overtook me, politely trying to hide the amusement with my hand, but to no avail. He still saw my shoulders shaking and my barely concealed snickering.

When I turned back around, expression still painted with too much mirth, I found that his usually smug smirk was twitching in displeasure on his face. It almost made me want to laugh again, like when you’ve finally calmed down after a fit and then made eye contact with your friend and started all over again, but this time I more or less managed to swallow it down. No pun intended. A new wave of giggles threatened to hit me as I rode the high of finally being the one that laughs at him being mad and not the other way around, but I curbed my enthusiasm somewhat. And to think it was about something as stupid as this. Well, if for nothing else, at least today’s meeting cockblocked him, that would be some payback.

“I’m so sorry for ruining your evening fun,” I managed to choke out, still fighting to calm down a little, “I’m sure you can get your dick sucked tomorrow.” Jimin next to me also seemed to be pushing down some giggles of his own, quickly gulping down whatever it was he had in a glass that I didn’t notice him pouring, eyes stubbornly watching the door instead of his disgruntled hyung.

There was just something so human about Yoongi getting mad about this and it reminded me that no matter what, we were both just people, not only criminals and detectives. It made me feel like more like I was attending a college party instead of chasing after a mobster.

“So what do you need tonight?” Yoongi grumbled finally, giving Jimin a chastising look, “I doubt you came here to laugh at me.” I smirked wickedly again, really fucking wishing I had a glass for the dramatic effect, but instead I just leisurely drummed on my knee with my fingers.

“Actually, funny you say that,” I told him smugly, “because I did.” A spark of recognition bloomed through Yoongi’s eyes, and he suddenly relaxed into the chair, the arrogant aura back full force. My heart stuttered a little in anxiousness, hoping I’d manage to stay on the high horse for a little while longer.

“I see,” Yoongi purred out in the manner that annoyed me the most when we interacted, gaze lazily sliding over me from the corner of his eyes, “so this is about the tracker.” I gulped, holding onto the confidence I felt just a minute ago for dear life and trying to come across just as relaxed and smug as he was all the time. He had much more practice in that though, and I would always tell on myself somehow.

Not really thinking of a smart retort fast enough, I only hummed and smiled in what I hoped was a mysterious way. That made Yoongi laugh a little, but it wasn’t demeaning, no, it was more a laugh of incredulity, the kind that didn’t set me alight with fiery rage but the kind that had me preening inside knowing I’d managed to one up him, if only for a moment.

“I must say, I cannot quite explain with words the disbelief I felt upon discovering that a police officer just looted my office desk and so shamelessly stole from me. And right on camera too,” Yoongi’s voice was amused, laced with little puffs of laugh, “How very naughty of you, detective.” He tsked at me playfully, but there was something else in his voice. Something that took me embarrassingly long to recognise, something that for a brief confusing moment made me strangely proud and happy and then promptly filled me with dread. Awe. Respect. Yoongi was delighted with what I’d done.

“But very good, officer,” the man continued, completely oblivious to my inner turmoil, “Well played. And now we’ve switched roles, haven’t we? Now you have something of mine.” I felt like I was hit with a bucket full of ice, something freezing and acidic setting into the pit of my stomach and making my insides churn. I sat there, totally petrified, watching the dark-haired man sitting behind the massive desk like he owned half the world and all the people in it. And with terror I realised, he did.

“But because I am so gracious and because, as you put it, I have an endless supply of illegal shit,” he winked quickly, using the words I’d told him just few weeks earlier while giving him a parking ticket, “I’ll allow you to keep it. No need to return. What’s a tracker or two between friends, isn’t that right officer?”

I finally managed to school my expression, reacting to his lopsided smirk with a steely cold grin of my own as we stared each other down, completely ignoring the presence of another person in the room with us. Inside I stoked the fires of anger and annoyance I felt all the times we’ve interacted before, anything to override the horror that gripped me at how genuinely proud I was for a moment knowing I did something he truly had to respect.

“We’re many things, Min Yoongi,” I growled out, “But friends definitely isn’t one of them.��� To that he only lazily smirked my way, leaning back into his chair.

“Aren’t we?” he asked jovially, “Isn’t a part of what friends do that they keep each other’s secrets? We’ve been doing a very good job of that lately.” I scowled at him, but before I could say anything, he continued.

“Speaking of that,” he drawled out, “I’m quite disappointed with you. I thought you’d have my file memorised, but obviously you don’t keep that much of a close eye on me.” There was a beat of silence during which I only looked at him mildly irritated and confused, not knowing where this jab was coming from.

A giggle to my right pulled my eyes there and I once again found myself under the intense scrutiny of Jimin’s eyes. His were sharply watching our exchange, some sort of dark joy setting into them making me shudder.

“You forgot hyung’s birthday,” Jimin drawled out, fake pouting at me. He was once again putting on the act he had when I arrived here and I narrowed my eyes at him, now more confident and definitely angrier than I was before.

“I waited for whole two weeks, thinking you’d bring it up, but I see that it completely slipped your mind,” Yoongi immediately jumped on, the two men sending each other giggly looks and I realised they were taking the piss out of me. The fight drained out of me and instead I committed to memory how Yoongi seemed to be more relaxed today and even joked around like this with Jimin, joining in on his mischief. I wondered if it was because it was Jimin or because it was due to today’s circumstances, but he was different and it had my insides twist in a confusing cocktail of emotions.

“The only time I’ll wish you happy birthday is after I’ve put you behind bars,” I say, making my voice as impassive and steady as possible, throwing in a little weak but still hopefully mean smile. Yoongi’s eyes on me sharpened a little, the smirk growing darker, as if he was challenging me, as if he was both amused by and supportive of my resolution.

“Well, it looks like I’ll never hear those two words from you, but don’t worry,” he gave me another wide grin, “when your birthday comes in autumn, I’ll be the first to congratulate you.”

I didn’t like to think about how close I was skirting the boundary with Yoongi, that there were lines smudging from a police officer and a criminal into just rivals ribbing each other and egging each other on, trying to irritate the other more every time they meet. When I met him with him, I rarely tried to do any constructive helpful investigating, instead we just barked at each other and threw jabs around until one of us grew too irritated to continue. I wasn’t particularly proud of myself in those moments.

The moment I walked into his world, I ceased to be a detective and turned into a little annoying brat just trying to provoke a guy I didn’t like.

The last time we saw each other was a huge breakthrough for me in this regard. I realised just how much I was playing with fire, smudging those lines. I had to be able to keep my head on straight when we talked, I had to pay more attention to useful details instead of trying to get a rise out of him. I had to go back to square one and reassess the situation, find a clear goal and only interact with him in a way that helps me reach it.

The strange feelings surrounding Yoongi’s sudden clear sign of approval of my ways, that I rather decided not to unpack yet. I decided to stay away for some time anyway, and it would help me avoid this for as long as possible.

That’s how I found myself sitting in my room one Saturday evening, staring at the fucking map wall in my apartment surrounded by files upon files detailing cruel and vicious murders. Since my map was quite full with the information I gathered from my unlawful loitering (as Jungkook once put it when he bumped into me around the office building), and adding more unrelated info to it would only make it messy, I bought another map.

I cleared out another wall, shuffling furniture away, taking down pictures and decorations so I would have enough space for a fucking murder map. Right across from my bed. I got to wake up to this every day, lucky me. But it helped me orientate myself between everything that was brought up. And this one at least felt a little more temporary.

I started with Yoongi’s, moving some strings around. Removing Hoseok’s bright yellow string from the Songhyeong-dong warehouse, I sighed as I remembered that whole fiasco. It was probably safe to say that he either didn’t have his base there, or he barely spent his time there anyway and thus it wouldn’t be very useful. But he had to have some office, otherwise it would be impossible to keep up with everything. Yoongi and Namjoon had their offices, Taehyung’s was in Pied Piper and Jimin’s in the Rose, Jin had his practice, on Jungkook’s I had a hunch – the only one I still had no clear address on was Hoseok. And I wasn’t even sure where he lived. I knew he moved about the docks during the day a lot, but he had to have a base.

But there was always a possibility that Hoseok’s office was shared with their youngest, which was a member of the gang that I explored the least. First of all, he was impossible to trail, but that might have been when I still had the tracker on so it could be worth another try. The second part was the one that truly kept me away from him though. He didn’t hesitate to show his distaste in me, and I already started to catch wind of how he and Yoongi butted heads when it came to how much I was allowed to engage. Thus, if he caught me focusing on him, it could potentially have some devastating consequences and I was hesitant to risk that.

But – I knew where he could have his office. I mean, it must have been there unless they pulled a fast one and put him into the same building as Yoongi and Namjoon, which I thought I would have noticed by now.

Jungkook was the owner of a security company, the one that kept an eye on Yoongi and employed his closest bodyguards, like that guy that brought me coffee while I was staking out Hoseok that I later found in the military database as Choi Soobin, one of the top operatives of Jungkook’s company. He owned it in the same way that Taehyung owned the Pied Piper or Jimin owned The Rose, but from some surface digging it seemed this business was one that Yoongi directly interacted with the least.

Hoseok was formally employed by a shipping company under Yoongi’s wide wings of corporations, but their headquarters were a small rundown building by the Bukseong Dock and when I was messing around there, I didn’t see him come in once. And if their job in the gang was truly so similar, it would make sense that Hoseok would also be stationed in Jungkook’s company, also considering it was much closer to the centre and thus closer to Yoongi and the others, which the port wasn’t.

I would have to investigate that properly, bite the bullet and follow around Jungkook for a while and see whether I would have more luck in locating the ever so elusive sunshine of the group. Problem was more that I would never be allowed to come in like with Yoongi’s office. Even if Hoseok was as forthcoming as Taehyung and Jimin, Jungkook would never allow that unless I brought the proper paperwork or had a legitimate reason for my visit. I doubt I’d make it past the reception.

I jotted this all down around the map and moved on to the other a little smaller one that was now occupying the neighbouring wall. For that one I brought a whole new set of pins and colourful strings as I would need a lot of colours. I spent the last two days going through the extra cases Sunmi and Seungcheol brought over, not eliminating anything yet and just soaking up the information.

So, that night, I spent hours meticulously going through each file and marking the place on the map along with a note with the victim’s name, date of murder and manner of death. It was a gruesome and macabre way of spending my evening, but I had to see it all before me like this to start making sense of anything.

I ended up with fifteen additional spots across the whole of Seoul, each marking a murder potentially linked to my “friend” Min Yoongi. Lastly, I added in the pin and information for our main case, the multiple homicide that kickstarted all of this.

Roughly I went across the areas that I knew were around Yoongi’s businesses and therefore “his turf” with a red marker, already seeing some overlay. Unfortunately I didn’t have that much of an extensive knowledge on Kim’s turf, but I’d fill it in eventually. For now, I focused on trying to see whether any of the murders took place around any places I knew were owned by the Min gang and when I found some, I marked them with a big red circle. Those would be my priority.

Huffing out a tired sigh, I went to sleep that night with a heavy heart and brain that just wouldn’t shut up.

Monday morning it was finally time to meet up with Seungcheol and Sunmi at the scene of the murder, as they were preoccupied before now. I could barely sleep the night before, both nervousness about seeing it and excitement about being involved not letting me have a peaceful night. Even though the place must have been long since cleaned up, I still never went to an active crime scene like this before and my stomach was tied up in knots knowing I was about to walk somewhere people have been murdered.

Thus I found myself nervously shuffling from foot to foot in front of the warehouse at 6 am, a whole hour before our agreed time. I told myself I would at least check out the perimeter, but really I wouldn’t be allowed anywhere in without a warrant and all the paperwork was with Minjoon. In my arms I nervously clutched the copied files, the contents burning through to my sweaty hands. I spent some time looking around the port, finding my gaze straying south ever so often.

Just the little pond across, there was the cursed Songhyeon-dong warehouse. If I strained my eyes real hard I could almost see its roof laughing at me and reminding me of my shame. Yoongi’s warehouses were mainly in that area, with the bigger one in Songhyeon-dong and a few others scattered through Dong-gu and Manseok-dong. He pretty much ruled over the Bukseong Dock area and it was as firmly his turf as it could be, while the Kims mainly kept themselves to the smaller Bukhang Port just above.

The docks were a subject of huge contention between the two gangs, and while they supposedly talked it out and put the conflict to rest, anyone could see that they weren’t on good terms while pretending to be amicable. The Kims, as the second biggest family ruling over Seoul, have always tried to get rid of Yoongi to move to the top spot, and thus there were many clashes between the two, from which Yoongi every single time emerged victorious. He even took some land from them and pushed them more north. After many years of fighting they finally “made a pact”, but truly it was just a promise to keep out of each other’s way.

The ports being this close together only continued to bring up more tensions though, as they were practically stepping on each other’s toes.

If the assumption was true and this murder was the mark of a starting war, we were potentially entering a truly turbulent and truly bloody era in Seoul gang history. I shuddered only thinking about it. Though Yoongi would likely not let himself be dethroned; the fight would absolutely get very ugly very soon. It was in everybody’s best interest that this got dealt with before it got out of hand.

As the violent crime unit arrived a little later, we fell into a comfortable polite small talk, exchanging some jokes tentatively and feeling out the atmosphere between us. When I watched their friendly banter, a pang of jealousy hit my heart again, the disappointment with my own unit’s behaviour still weighing heavy on me, especially when both Seungcheol and Sunmi started asking me about my Academy years and showering me with positive comments and praises about my ranking until I was a blushing giggling mess. For a split second the proud glint in Yoongi’s eyes as he talked about the trackers flashed through my mind and I batted it away so forcefully I almost physically jerked, instead getting filled with guilt and unease. Truly, it was funny how okay I was with committing a crime until Yoongi praised me for it, how pathetically starved for attention and recognition I was that for a shameful few moments I felt pride about it.

Taking a deep breath to calm the raging storm inside me, I tuned back into the excited chatter of the two other officers. I would have time to make this right, but now I had to focus here.

“Are you nervous at all?” Seungcheol asked the moment he noticed me turning my attention to them and I stuttered for a bit, not expecting an immediate question.

“Yeah, I am, a little bit,” I answered him truthfully, looking down at my shoes to avoid the intensity of the topic, “but everybody’s gotta get through it. There’s a first for everything.” I gave them a little uncertain smile and Sunmi patted my shoulder in a cool yet slightly awkward gesture, showing she really wasn’t sure how to approach this situation with enough tact. I laughed at her a little and immediately felt the tension drain, quickly melting into the amicable atmosphere.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said in the end, “and if anything happens, just let us know.” I nodded at her all smiley, muscles much more loose now knowing I wasn’t completely alone here after all. The bitterness at my own unit’s approach still lingered at the edge of my mind, but I tried my best to ignore it and focus on the building before us.

“Did you manage to go through some of the additional cases?” Sunmi spoke up again, watching me casually with her hands hanging off of her jeans pockets. She had a leather jacket on, and her black hair was done in a sort of a messy bun at the back of her head, and I marvelled at how she wasn’t absolutely frying in that, considering the temperatures were steadily and abruptly rising.

“I went through them roughly, but I haven’t started putting them through the database yet,” I answered quickly, maybe a little too eager to speak to someone about the work I’ve done so far, “I put them on a map to see where they took place though. Trying to put into perspective how close they were to Yoon- I mean Min’s establishments.” I cursed myself for the slip up, getting too used to calling him only Yoongi and forgetting that not everyone would be totally cool with me calling him so familiarly when I supposedly wasn’t in contact with him at all. To me he right about now should be only some shadowy dark concept, a phantom that someone else is currently chasing after. Not a very real and very annoying man that I’ve cursed out to his face several times a month since December.

“That’s a pretty good start though,” Seungcheol told me warmly, patting my shoulder, “Once you start going through them properly, keep us updated on anything suspicious that crops up.” I nodded shyly, giving them both a genuine smile and got two very enthusiastic grins back. They continued with the chatter and I kind of listened on half an ear while nervously watching the road for the arrival of others.

Minjoon and Hwang ended up being ten minutes late, rolling up to the warehouse in a station car and with their own copied files of the crime. For a moment we stood there and exchanged yet more pleasantries, but I barely paid attention to whatever was being said. In my mind I kept being pulled to the southern Bukseong Dock, somewhat bitterly pondering whether Hoseok is currently there running around like a busy bee, no care in the world.

Assuming this murder was his work, he really could have done this during lunch break and then cooly return right to his job, like nothing even happened. That’s how close it was.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Minjoon gently laying his hand on my shoulder and with his head gesturing towards the warehouse. I gave him a queasy smile, nervous about entering and just generally guilty about how I’ve been handling everything, the mounting feeling of standing on the precipice of disaster following me around for the past few days, but I swallowed it all down and followed.

The warehouse was small and stuffy, the atmosphere dark with no real windows and no real way to get light inside. There was some furniture left, mostly pushed away from the middle of the room except for one old green sofa and a rackety desk with a few dusty chairs at the other end of the warehouse. There was a lot of mess lying around on the floor, mostly torn bloodied papers, obviously showing signs of the struggle that took place here.

There was a lot of scruff marks on the floor, along with dark stains covering most of the wearied pavement, and on a second look the sofa had similar streaks over it too. I tried to ignore it, stepping from foot to foot and looking over the remnants of the carnage. Due to the warehouse being closed off, there was still plenty of police tape holding onto the doors and the walls with even though police have already cleared it out.

We all simultaneously opened the files and pulled out the pictures, putting the space into the perspective of the crime. I half listened to Seungcheol and Sunmi go over the details again, talking about how they got the call and how they found the place when they came.

“We checked the perimeter too, but they were already gone by the time we got here,” the brunette said while nonchalantly looking around the space. “They must have been warned and ran,” Minjoon mumbled, but barely even looked up from the file, still going through the information again. Sunmi hummed, stopping by the sofa and turning to look at us.

Seuncheol talked some more about what the scene looked like when they arrived, pictures in hands, and I listened as attentively as I could, but there really wasn’t much added that wasn’t already said, so I just bided my time looking around on my own before we return to the station so I could start going through these other files. I also itched to pull Minjoon aside and ask what about this crime struck the unit as Min’s murders and not the Kim’s, what made them decide that this actually was Yoongi related.

I only tuned back in when the conversation turned to issues I haven’t heard anyone speak on yet. The warrants.

“It’s hard to push them through sometimes,” Sunmi was just saying with all the other men nodding solemnly in agreement when I started paying attention again, at first confused what she meant.

“We haven’t even managed to find an angle to slip by easier,” Hwang suddenly piped in after standing in silence in a corner the whole time, just watching us talk, “We even tried getting the info on who’s on shift when, but still it’s hard for them to come through. We’re still working on getting that issue solved.” I looked confusedly to Minjoon, never before having heard them discuss this.

I knew that a lot of the shit I did with Yoongi wouldn’t be enough to get a warrant authorised by the court. The tracking, the tailing, the taking shit from his office, I had warrants for none of that and as long as there were no warrants, anything I found couldn’t be used in the court for I was technically getting the information illegally. I could maybe send in anonymous tips for the police to investigate, but as a detective I couldn’t be bringing this kind of evidence to the table, that was solely for me and for the purpose of better understanding Yoongi and getting a better angle at taking him down legally.

But I had no idea the unit actually did have trouble with getting legitimate warrants against Yoongi, or whoever they were talking about. In the winter, when I asked, Minjoon said the stake outs weren’t done anymore because it took too much time and manpower and the outcome wasn’t good enough to go through with that (I myself found how tailing them was a thankless job that took weeks for a single piece of information to come out of it, so I understood), but he did mention a brief undercover gig, which would need a warrant. Since then, not much has been happening as it seemed that whatever approach or angle, we would hit a stone wall. Yoongi continued to appear impenetrable.

“It must be someone high up then,” Sunmi mused out loud, a hard expression setting over her face and turning her features into stone, “If the warrants aren’t coming through no matter what day or time, it must be someone high.” That got the men humming in agreement again, a sombre atmosphere falling over the warehouse.

“No matter who it is, we might be having trouble getting things authorised, but I would hope that now that there’s five of us on this and we have two whole units backing us up, that they wouldn’t try to mess with it too much,” Minjoon ended the conversation again, everyone now gearing up to leave.

I heard Sunmi say something to Hwang as they moved towards the main entrance, but I hung back for a moment. I’d begun realising in the past few months that I mostly preferred looking over things by myself, for as much as I craved the community, I found myself focusing better when I was on my own, so I wanted to take one last look before I left, comparing it to the pictures. As my eyes flitted from the pictures to the space, comparing every little thing I could spot, I slowly started fleshing out the crime a little more in my mind, putting it into a real space and studying the before and after.

My brain had already started filtering out the actual violence happening in them and I barely paid notice while I tried to focus on the other smaller details in the background. Most of it remained the same, with the exceptions of some of the mess cleared out and a barrel that was smouldering in the photos was now nowhere to be seen.

I was suddenly brought back into the present when a hand clasped my shoulder and I jumped, mouth opened to yelp and my heart almost beating out of my chest. Minjoon came around me with an amused chuckle, hand still firm where he held, and I gave him an embarrassed smile. I’ve been spacing out so much around them lately and it made me really jumpy, if I didn’t get my shit together quick I’d end up looking like a nervous wreck. Which, to be honest, wasn’t that far from the truth.

But there was something strangely vulnerable about showing my nervousness in this situation and I didn’t feel comfortable enough with Minjoon immediately assuming it was all about the blood and murder, when so many events have been weighing down on me these past few days that he didn’t even know about.

As predicted Minjoon looked at me empathically, eyes softening as he moved to pat my back a little. Then he just gestured towards the door. “We’re about to leave, I’ll drive you to the station,” he offered and started pulling us out without waiting for my response. I let him until we stood outside with his car right in front of us.

“I drove here, so I have to go by my car, but thanks for the offer,” I replied softly, a tight-lipped smile making itself home on my face since the feelings of discomfort haven’t fully left me. I hated being perceived as weak and this whole situation was driving me up the wall, but I fought myself to keep it together.

I looked at Minjoon again and by the look on his face and the unsure curve of his mouth as he was about to open it and speak, I was sure he was going to ask me if I was okay, so I beat him to the punch and directed the conversation elsewhere.

“That before, what you were talking about,” I said firmly, ignoring the look of surprise on his face at getting interrupted before even saying anything, “does that mean that there are moles between the prosecutors?” The man schooled his face well, going with the flow as if this was the direction the conversation was going to take from the beginning, and nodded his head with slight unease hanging onto his posture and aura.

“Yeah, we’ve known for a while, but we cannot identify who it is,” the senior detective confirmed, eyes turning a little hard at the thought, “There’s more of them, some even in our lines, we’re sure of that, but it’s hard to go after moles unless you go full scorched earth.” I agreed absent-mindedly, in head already going through the roster of the prosecutors I’ve encountered.

“It’d make sense that he’d have someone in his pocket,” I mused out loud, “probably someone who makes sure the requests don’t make it too high and get turned around at the first corner.” To that Minjoon just hummed and nodded, the conversation fizzling out. We looked around for a moment, just awkwardly standing there, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Hwang impatiently drumming on the hood of Minjoon’s car, stepping from foot to foot and looking more irritated by the second.

I seized the chance to end this exchange here before Minjoon brought it back around to me or before Hwang finally lost it and found a way to be mad at me for this as well. I clapped my hands together loudly.

“Well, we better go,” I let out with faux cheer and started moving down the road to where my own car stood, leaving a stuttering surprised Minjoon behind. Suddenly a thought popped into my head and I turned around on my heel, surprising the poor man even more when I abruptly back-tracked.

“By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering,” I started, claiming the detective’s attention once more as he turned to me and stepped a little closer, “how did you realise this was the Mins? When you circled back to it, how did you know?” Minjoon’s face bloomed into a seasoned detective’s smile and I could tell he was battling a little between trying to stay mysterious and giving me a whole lesson on gang violence, and I couldn’t fight my own smile too at watching him struggle.

“I thought about it a little, looked at the crime scene photos again,” Minjoon started explaining, “Kims are more known to use guns, while Mins don’t that much, but they are capable of both. This was a homicide that mixed those together, so it really could have been anyone, but usually the cases that we end up attributing to the Kims have a little different MO.” I looked at him expectantly, hoping he’d expand on that, and I could see on his amused face that he was purposedly keeping me in suspense.

“Well, there’s not much to it really,” he continued finally, “in the few cases that are similar to this that we have and we consider them Kim family territory, they stormed in and probably first overpowered them and seemingly tied them up, based on the positioning of the bodies. While the Mins are always up for some good old-fashioned thrashing, when they don’t have time for clean-up they leave more mess. Which would explain why they’re so focused on the clean-up.”

“So when you came back to this case, it seemed more unorganised than if the Kims were behind it,” I finished for him, putting the two and two together quite easily now that he served it to me on a silver platter. He gave me a cheeky grin and nodded.

“It’s all assumptions, but it’s the idea we have about these two disposal teams. It’s always hard to tell and violence has a way masking things and making everything pretty murky. You never really know, but we still try to put some order into it,” Minjoon brought it all to close. Then he once again opened his mouth to speak more and once again got interrupted before anything could come out, but this time it was by disgruntled Hwang who was by now throwing us pointed glares. He cleaned his throat loudly and gestured towards the car, and both me and Minjoon suddenly burst into motion without any other words spoken, only sending each other a little apologetic look as we moved towards our own cars.

I ended up sitting there for a moment longer, once again going through the file of the homicide and this time truly looking at the bodies and their placement. This truly was just pure violence, but now looking at it through Minjoon’s eyes and seeing it as the more violent violence, I still couldn’t fully put it into perspective. The feeling of unease returned, and I quickly turned the pages until I was reading through the report for the thousandth time.

Evidence retrieved from the scene: barrel used to dispose of paperwork. Analysis inconclusive, nothing restored. Well, at least one mystery was solved.

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[kozachenko]

A Retrospective Analysis on Touhou 17

So it's finally here, and even though I know for a fact that I am not going to be able to get the Keiki drawing done by this time (I'm having trouble with the eyes, for some reason it's always that aspect of drawing her that's difficult for me, I can never really capture the essence of her character no matter what I do) I still wanted to post something about this game today since it's the game's 5 year anniversary. I have a lot of thoughts on it, and my views on the game have changed quite a lot throughout my time being a Touhou fan. This is going to be very long so I'll put the rest under the keep reading tag.

So for some background, Touhou 17 was the first Touhou game I ever played, I got into the series during 2021 shortly after my Hunter X Hunter phase ended (since the manga was still on hiatus at the time) and I remember playing 17 during that time as well. I'm pretty sure that the reason I played it was because of that one nitirushh animation where Keiki disses the animal spirits so hard that they die (still my favourite fan-depection of Keiki tbh, it's just really funny to me) and that set my interest in the game itself. It was also the newest Touhou game at the time and none of the other games interested me as much. Then I actually played the game and at the time I found it insanely fun. I remember feeling so excited playing the stage 1 of the game and thinking to myself "Holy shit I'm actually playing a Touhou game" and having a lot of fun with it. Even though the game itself is the easiest out of all the Touhou games, it was still a challenge for me at the time since I had never played a bullet Hell before. For this reason, the game as a whole struck a chord with me. Funny Touhou animation aside, I don't know if it was because I had only recently gotten out of my Hunter X Hunter phase after finishing the whole 2011 version of the anime and had caught up with the manga during 2020, but maybe some aspect of 17 kinda scratched a similar itch in my brain and it really stuck with me IDK.

As for what I think of the game itself now.... gameplay wise, it could be better, it's still fun but there was so much potential for the game to tell it's story through the medium it chose to present itself in. Why did we not have more similarities between Eika and Keiki's danmaku styles to show their connection? Why did we not have a moment similar to what happened in TD during the final boss fight where Mayumi comes back in to take over during the fight in a last ditch effort to protect Keiki? It's the final boss so go all out! The animal spirits could also be balanced a lot better as well, especially with Youmu becoming incredibly overpowered with the wolf spirit, and visibility is a bit of a problem in this game. Some of the tracks could use a bit more polish too, I commend ZUN for being experimental with his newer tracks but the stage 3 theme and staff roll theme are both kinda eh, and while the boss themes have a lot of good punch to them and can be really good, it still feels like some extra spice could've been added to really make them stand out (which is why I love the theme remixes Saki and Yachie got in Touhou 19). I also wish the Animal Realm got explained better within the lore of the series, mainly because it raises a lot of questions about how Hell was founded and it kinda needlessly complicates things. I would've rather it be introduced as it's own region of Hell rather than being a separate thing entirely that just so happens to be located next to it. I also wish that we got more stuff with this setting that explains how it connects to the rest of the worldbuilding a lot more, I definitely feel like actually having it explained more in the mangas would definitely help to make it feel less convuluted, but unfortunately the closest we're getting are cameos in Lotus Eaters and very brief mentions of the games themselves. I still like the game though, as I've mentioned I do love a lot of the music and I love all the characters we got introduced to in this game. I've been appreciating Eika a lot more recently, I do like Urumi but she's neat and I like her design a lot, Kutaka is a fucking shithead who kept FUCKING UP MY 1CCS IN BOTH 17 AND 17.5 THE FUCKING BITCH- who is very funny and I love seeing more insight into Hell's management. Yachie's great and I find her relationships to the other characters in this game very interesting, Mayumi is awesome and the more I think about her the more I like her, and I love how Saki contrasts Yachie in her strategies. That being she has no strategy and just goes "fuck it, we ball" with no hesitation lmao.

I'm pretty sure you all noticed the absence of one character in particular, that being Keiki. I've made it no secret on this blog that Keiki is my favourite Touhou character, and a lot of that is because of her role as an antagonist in Touhou 17. I always found it really fascinating how ZUN created her as an allegory for AI (I don't know if Apollo just randomly blessed him with the gift of prophecy because MAN does that statement hit harder now more than ever) and the fact that she's portrayed as a very morally grey character in the game itself and Reimu's reaction to her, stating that she can see an "evil aura" in Keiki. I've already talked a lot about Keiki on this blog and I don't know what there is that I haven't said, but I wanted to start off with her because it ties into a big part of why I still find this game's story interesting. That main aspect being it's parallels to Gensokyo and Touhou's overarching them of humanity's relationship with nature.

So to step back from 17 for a second, I feel like we should look at what the Youkai represent in the story. Youkai in Touhou are created from humanity's fear, and back before science was able to properly explain anything, this fear very often manifested into a fear of nature. Natural disasters would end up wiping out villages, dangerous animals would often lurk in forests and end up killing anyone who would go in them. Overall nature isn't very kind to humanity, and humanity knows this. This is why humanity would often try and find reasons as to why these things would happen. This brings us back to the Youkai in Touhou who are the embodiment of the unexplainable. In manga like Forbidden Scrollery and Lotus Eaters, we often see how the humans in the human village are at the mercy of these Youkai, the only reason that they aren't being slaughtered is entirely for their own benefit so they don't run out of resources. The only hope the humans in the village really have is to turn to the gods, another product of man's desire to explain the unexplainable, to potentially save them. The survival of the people in the human village will always be in the hands of beings beyond their comprehension. No matter what, humanity will always be at the mercy of nature.

Coming back to Touhou 17, we can see that the relationship between the human and beast spirits isn't exactly.... pleasant. The beast spirits all see the human spirits as slaves essentially and they gain strength from their torment. The only way that the human spirits are even able to stand a chance against them is to submit themselves to a god and pray for their protection. And even then there's no way in Hell that they're getting out of this situation since the god they're praying to views them the same way as the animal spirits (whether they are aware of it or not).

So if you haven't noticed by my word choice, there are quite a lot of similarities here with the dynamics of the Animal realm and Gensokyo. That's not even mentioning the fact that in both places we have at least 3 different parties fighting over control of the humans, whether it be animal spirits or Youkai. Hell, this race for power in Gensokyo is a plot point in Lotus Eaters and Forbidden Scrollery, so it's not like this is a new concept for the series to explore either.

There's also something to be said about how Keiki and the technology she brings with her are seen as a threat to the order of the animal realm. Throughout human history, humanity's creativity and ingenuity have always been major factors in our survival as a species. We created tools to use the nature around us and make it work to our advantage, we created weapons to more efficiently hunt and find food to survive, and we created art and literature to document our histories and make sense of the world. Going back to 17, Keiki is the epitome of humanity's evolution and creativity and she is the one who responded to the human's cries for salvation. Another thing to think about is that in Gensokyo, the best the villagers are going to get in terms of technology are old computers that are very limited in their use, and even then barely anyone will have any idea how to use them. The reason that Gensokyo even exists in the first place is to preserve the Youkai and Gods that would become forgotten by humanity's technological advancement. In both of these places, technological advancement is seen as a threat to the natural order and must be suppressed at all costs.

Of course in Gensokyo it isn't as extreme as the animal realm. The Kappa, the Tengu, and even gods like Kanako are all quite technologically advanced and/or are introducing new technologies to Gensokyo (those are just the ones I could list off the top of my head, but please tell me if there are more that I forgot). But here's the interesting thing, notice how none of the examples I listed there were humans. The only way for the humans of Gensokyo to have these technologies introduced to them is if the powers that be, nature, let them have those technologies. Going back to the animal realm, even after Keiki is defeated we can see that the beast spirits are still using the technologies she (most likely) introduced, i.e. that one chapter in Lotus Eaters where one of the otter spirits introduced what is essentially a GameBoy to the Kappa and Nitori saying stuff like, "oh yeah the animal realm is actually pretty technologically advanced nowadays" as well as that one story in CoLA where Ran and Yachie deal with the AI Sumireko made. Once again, the only times when the use of technology goes unprotested in this series are when it's kept out of the hands of humans and back into the hands of nature. Even when humans are able to fight back and create their own technology, nature will always win in the end, no matter how hard humanity tries to defeat it. The way Touhou 17 ends is indicative of this, with Keiki being defeated and the Animal Realm returning to it's status quo.

However, Gensokyo has never had this kind of issue before.... or so it may seem. Yes there's never been any technological uprising by the human villagers and with the way things are there most likely never will be, but when you take away the potential for technological advancement from humans then the next best thing would be magic. And when humans in Gensokyo use magic to find a way to gain power and be more than just fodder for the Youkai, they end up being punished. This is most prevalent in Forbidden Scrollery when Reimu kills the fortune teller. I don't think I need to go too in depth about this moment since I already did so in my Forbidden Scrollery review but this once again shows a parallel between Gensokyo and the Animal Realm.

So what am I trying to say with all of this? I've been bringing up a lot of the similarities that these two places have but similarities can just be chalked up to coincidences that don't mean anything. What I've been trying to say with this whole thing is that the Animal Realm represents an extreme version of Gensokyo, one where every ugly aspect of it is dialed up to 11 and the law of the strong eating the weak rules all. It's a Gensokyo without a spell card system to level the playing field. I do want to say that I don't believe Gensokyo is a grimdark setting, sure some parts about it are bleaker than others, but there are also many good aspects of Gensokyo that I feel like I should bring up. It's a safe-haven for the forgotten, and if we continue viewing the Youkai and Gods from the lens of both of them being allegories for nature, Gensokyo is a place where nature can fluorish outside of humanity's hands. Unlike the Animal Realm, Gensokyo was never established with the intentions of harming people. Nature is both beautiful and terrifying, and where Gensokyo displays the beautiful sides of nature, the Animal Realm displays all the ugly sides of it. Even then, there is some overlap between the two, Gensokyo does have a nastier side to it and the Animal Realm is a place where nature can exist unrestrained by humanity (even if the place is still a shitshow overall). Now that I think about it, this sort of duality between the two realms is kinda fitting for Touhou, and I can't stress enough that when I say that Gensokyo and the Animal Realm have some parallels I am not trying to say Gensokyo is a grimdark dystopia. Hell even going back into the Lotus Eaters manga, the otter spirit that escaped from the Animal Realm even said that Gensokyo was a better place to live.

So yeah, I don't really have any good way to end this aside from saying happy 5 year anniversary Touhou 17. You are a flawed game but god do I still love you. Oh yeah, and if there's anything I missed or any mistakes I made, please correct me/let me know.

[prismatica-the-strange]

Graveyard Flowers | You Can't Save Yourself or Save Your Soul

Warnings: 18+, Sexual Themes, Death, Blood, this was supposed to be smut but it took a strangely angsty turn.

Ah yes the strip club fic

A Grave Mistake by Ice Nine Kills

"You want me to what?"

"I need you to go undercover to help me in this case," Wolf repeats.

"And why would I help you?" Lily asks.

"You've broken out of lock-up on three separate occasions and the only reason you're not back in there now is a technicality," Wolf explains, "A technicality I can easily ignore."

She tenses at the threat, sitting up a little straighter, "I get your point. What do I need to do?"

"There's a club, up top, where the perp is hiding out is hiding out with his little gang of life force thieves. We need you to get hired as one of the dancers and catch them in the act."

"You mean strippers," She dead pans.

"Now here's the catch," He ignores her comment, "These punks will sense your lack of life force, so you'll be granted a temporary visa back to life."

"I'll be alive again?"

"Well, until they..."

She looks at him like he's crazy, "...Kill me? You're sending me back there to get murdered all over? No! Are you insane? No! I refuse to go through that again!"

He stops her as she gets up to storm out, "I can reduce your Netherworld sedation!"

That makes her pause. She would love to be more coherent throughout the day. She stomps her foot and sighs, "Yeah, alright. But Beej isn't gonna like it."

"You're damn right I don't like it!" Beetlejuice hisses, "How is anything gonna get done around here if you're gone?"

"It's only a few day," She says, "A week- two weeks tops!"

He crosses his arms angrily but looks more akin to an indignant toddler who's mom had to go to work and leave him at daycare.

"You gonna miss me that much?" She teases and he huffs, "Don't pout. It was either this or back to deep freeze."

He slumps back into his chair, still pouting.

"Beej," She coos softly, sitting across his lap, "C'mon."

"Well," His hands find her hips, fidgeting with the bottom hem of her vest, "What kind of undercover work would they have you do?"

"Does it matter?"

"Y'see? I don't like that," He pulls her closer, "What could be so bad you can't tell me?"

"I dunno... how possessive are you feeling?"

"Possesion's kinda my thing, doll face," He answers, tugging her against his chest.

"I'm supposed to be a stripper," Maybe if she just rips off the band-aid he won't freak out as much.

He stares at her for a moment and she thinks he's chill with it, but boy is she wrong.

"I think the fuck not!" He snaps, "I'd rather you go back to deep freeze than become some chick in some other ghouls spank-bank!"

"Are you serious?!" She teleports a few feet away, more pissed than she's been in months, "You get how fucked up what you just said is, right? I get a one way ticket off the Netherworld's most wanted list, and your ego would rather have me get locked in my own head again?"

Tonight's the night.

She takes a deep breath in the mirror, Jackie invited her back to his bachelor pad after work. She's gonna get killed again and she's trying not to freak out.

A bottle of wine pops into existence on the vanity next to her a note with a black and white striped heart on it tied around the neck.

She just rolls her eyes and drops it in the trash can next to her.

She hasn't so much as acknowledged Beetlejuice's existence since their fight, throwing away every little apology gift he's sent her way, and it's driving him insane.

The shrinkers haven't known a moment of peace since Ro left. Without her there to keep their boss occupied, he's been breathing down their necks, when he's not busy sulking and stalking her, that is.

Enough enough, he's going up there, he knows Jackie, he's no snitch, but at least he'd be able to see her. So, he picks up a phone, and gets himself on the nights guest list.

He's just getting comfy back in the VIP section, eyeing the girl finishing her dance lustfully.

Apocalyptic by Halestorm

When the next girl walks out the cigarette nearly falls from his lips. There's his girl in the world's tiniest black and white cheerleader outfit, turning that pole into her bitch.

She's good, too good. Every guy in the room is hypnotized by the her thighs squeeze the metal pole.

She stands in front of the small crowd by the stage, hips swaying enticingly. She pops the button on the side of her skirt, and pulls her top off, letting them fall to the floor,leaving her in a gorgeous black lace lingerie set that has his mouth watering.

He whistles loudly, hand slamming on the table, panting like a dog when her eyes lock with his.

He expects her to ignore him, but her lips quirk into an evil smirk.

She presses her shoulder back against the pole, reaching up as she slides down into a squat during the chorus, her thighs parting to the men in front of her.

She doesn't break eye contact as she feels up her tits.

She drops to her hands and knees, arching her back to show off her ass before leaning back on her knees and dragging her hands up her thighs toward her sex.

She grabs the pole and spins around, getting to her feet with ease, arching her back again, giving the audience a perfect view of her ass.

The way her ass cheeks jiggle with every movement has him straining in his pants.

He's about two seconds away from blowing her cover and fucking her stupid backstage when the man of the hour leans close to him, blowing smoke with a grin, "She's a beauty, ain't she?"

"You can say that again," He says through gritted teeth. He doesn't like all these sleaze balls staring at her. He's the only sleaze ball allowed to look at her that way.

"Yep," Jackie leans back in his chair, leering at her, "We're havin a little party later, Juice man. My place. You should come, seems like somethin you'd enjoy."

"Sounds like a plan-" Holy shit.

As the song comes to a close she shimmies out of her bra and he nearly teleports in front of her to bury his face in her tits.

Instead, he scowls as the cheering crowd applauds, frown deepening when she blows a kiss his way.

"Hey, I'm just gonna get some fresh air," He tells Jackie, "You know it's so hard to come by downstairs."

He waits by the door of the motel room, puffing a cigarette in agitation.

As soon as she steps out of the car he's on her, pulling her aside with a firm grip.

"Not now."

"You've been ignoring me."

"Beej, I said not now!" She snaps.

He looks at her in confusion, "What's wrong?"

That takes her off guard, he's never been that direct about her feelings like this.

"I..." She sighs, "Baby, I can't do this right now."

She turns to leave but hesitates before she turns and takes the cigarette from him, taking a long drag.

She chokes on the tarry smoke.

"When are these from?" She coughs, "The 1950s? Jesus."

"Not your speed, heh?"

"These new lungs aren't as broken in as I'd like," She shrugs, "Thought I'd take one last hit before my timer ran put."

"That tonight?"

She avoids his eyes and hands it back, "Yeah..."

She's not telling him something, but he doesn't have a chance to push it when she walks inside.

By the time he follows her in, Jackie has her sat on his lap, giggling at something he said.

"There he is, darlin', have you met BJ?" He asks.

"Briefly."

Beej narrows his eyes at her then addresses Jackie, "So Jacks, you mentioned something about a party but... five people do not a party make."

"You know, darlin'? He's right. Up you get," He pats her ass as she stands and motions for her to stand by the wall, "Let's get started."

The entire atmosphere of the room changes at that, the lights dim and the door locks by itself.

"Jackie, baby, this girl's a breather, what're you doin'?" He mutters to his host.

"Exactly."

The other two guys appear next to her and pin her to the wall by the arms.

"W-what are you doing?"

"We're gonna suck out your life force," Jackie grins, coming up in front of her and inhaling deeply, "And darlin' you're brimmin' with it."

She struggles in their grip, the horror of what's about to happen crashing over her like a tidal wave, and tears start to well up in her arms, "No! Please don't!"

Beetlejuice feels oddly sick to his stomach watching this scene unfold. He knew this gig was temporary, but he didn't think Wolf was sending her up here just to get murdered again.

Similarly to how Delores sucked dead men's souls, Jackie starts to inhale Ro's life force.

The cry that rips out of her nearly breaks him. She thrashing and kicking in their hold, eyes squeezed shut when she cries his name, "Beej!"

That's it. She doesn't wanna die like this? Fine by him.

She's in his arms in an instant, collapsing against his chest with heaving breaths.

"I gotcha, Rosie," He assures her, "If that ain't enough proof for Wolf, I don't know what is. Let's get the hell out of here."

"The hell do ya think you're doin' BJ?" Jackie hissies, grabbing his wrist, "You know her?"

"Biblically," He says bluntly, "And I don't appreciate the way you treated her. In fact..."

He sends Rosie over next to the door, making a show of rolling up his sleeves to deal with these punks.

Something feels wrong. Her chest is tight and her head feels like it's full of helium. She stumbles toward the wall, bracing herself on it as one of the goons goes flying across the room.

It's like she can't get a full breath in. She squeezes her eyes shut when the room starts to spin.

"That takes care of that- Rose?"

She looks at him with unfocused eyes just as her legs give way beneath her.

"Whoa!" He catches her just as she starts to fall, "Damn sweetheart, you've never been a fainter before."

When she doesn't respond he shakes her slightly, "Babe?... Rosie?... Hey, come on, this ain't funny."

Her warmth rapidly recedes, skin paling, as a familiar gash opens on her throat, and, finally, her eyes flutter open.

He sighs in relief and cups her cheek, "Welcome back."

She goes to speak but the air escapes her throat.

"Oh! Here, let me," He snaps his fingers and her wound stitches itself back together, clean little 'x' sutures instead of his name this time, "Better?"

She wraps her arms around his stomach and hides her face against his neck.

She's trembling and he has no idea what to do. He does know, he's going to make Wolf's afterlife a waking hell for putting her through this again.

He firmly rubs her back, "Well, it's over now. You don't have to do it again."

[kaija-rayne-author]

Ugh I can’t not theorize. I’ve been at it non stop. Once a story catches my interest my brain just going into hyper speed trying to figure out how the writers (if they do a good job) will bring all of their themes, hints, etc to fruition. All I’m missing is a cork board, pins, and miles of red string.

What’s super exciting this time is I’m actually dealing with a property where the writers are….good? I’m so used to being disappointed when fan theories (often my own) turn out to be much better than the canon, but I don’t see that happening here. Weekes is clearly a masterful writer and knows how to build up to a satisfying twist.

Because you just know another twist is coming. Solas, despite everything, is just too soft hearted to make a convincing final boss. It couldn’t be more obvious that being The Dreadwolf and putting aside his own conscience takes every ounce of energy he has. Eventually he’ll have his breaking point and that’s when we’ll find out who our true villain is.

It’s Mythal. I’ll eat my damn hat if it isn’t. She’s either not the person Solas remembers, or maybe she never was. In either case, there’s been plenty of clues both in DAI and in subsequent materials (specifically Tevinter Knights) to imply that there’s something else going on here.

We keep seeing imagery of the Dreadwolf as a mutant abomination that is part wolf and part dragon. It’s easy to point to the end credit scene of DAI and say “well yeah he fused with Mythal who is a dragon” and sure it looked that way…but is that actually what happened?

We saw Flemeth part with some form of magical energy before Solas arrived. We also know that she’d taken the soul of Uthemiel from Kieran. Uthemiel happens to be a dragon, or was until he was tainted and became an Archdemon.

Archdemons can control Darkspawn. And taking a Darkspawn army past the Veil to enact vengeance upon the Evanuris sees like something Flemeth would do. But that doesn’t seem like something Solas would want. His agenda has always been to fix his past mistakes and tear down the Veil for the greater good. He doesn’t seem that fond of Darkspawn, in fact he was pretty pissed at the Wardens for screwing around with them.

Where I’m going with this, is I think it’s entirely possible Solas is being used. He may have unwittingly fused himself with an Archdemon, assuming it was the essence of Mythal. The real plan, now that plan A failed, might be turning him into an Archdemon so Flemeth/Mythal can use him to start another blight and wield the darkspawn. Corypheus managed to mind control an Archdemon, so clearly it can be done.

And if that’s the case, then ooooooh boy.

Poor Solas.

OMG. I missed this one and I'm so glad I finally found it!

What a fascinating idea. Holy shitballs.

Okay, so I just restarted DAO, I'll be on the lookout through these playthroughs (I'm doing DA2 next, then probably DAI again, because I'm an utter sucker for lore) for hints about all that!

I thought the whole point of the dark ritual w/Morrigan was to purify Urthemiel's 'soul' through being born as an innocent child. But what if that didn't work?

But then, wouldn't Kieran have shown signs of taint? Hmmm. Maybe not, given it's just the soul?

I'm still not convinced that Flemythal parted with any kind of energy in that scene. BUT if she did... well, she's pulled the whole 'soul piece recovery schtick' before. So if it was energy or a soul, it could've been hers. Leaving just Urthemiel. Which would very possibly warp Solas into a dragon/wolf thing. And Mythal is very used to Solas going along with what she wants. So it feels like something she wouldn't think twice about. She uses Morrigan too, and Kieran, so it’s definitely something she's used to doing.

I have a strong feeling Solas is indeed being used. And has been since he was 'born' from the fade. There's a lot of hints to his resignation, nay, even belief that it's right that Mythal used him. (This is... common, in abuse survivors, FWIW.)

But I believe it's canon that his forehead scar came from when he burnt off Mythal's Vallaslin? I have to see if I can find that again. I can't remember where I read it.

I think Mythal will be rather unpleasantly surprised in the spine Solas has developed since her 'murder'. He doesn't seem at all likely to me to be all 'hey! My enslaver is back! Let me just get my slave brands again'. Now, if he were still truly alone, he might just cave into it because man, does Solas have some pretty massive Mythal issues. Not sure if he regards her as his mom or something else or a mix of things, urk.

BUT he's not actually truly alone anymore is he? No matter how hard he tries to be. A Romanced Lavellan can tell him "Var lath vir suledin" which translates sorta, into "Our - love - way/path - endure/strength to withstand loss."

So he knows he's not alone. That inky will absolutely go to the mat for him. He has actual friends, too. He said Bull has him, if you don't betray Bull w/the Chargers. Solas doesn't strike me as someone to say that lightly.

So, he also knows he has friends, too.

I think, if Mythal actually is the big bad (kinda hoping for this tbh) she's gonna have a rather rude awakening when it comes to Solas. Who, from all I can tell, has always willingly served her whims. Because she was 'the best of them' doesn't mean she was actually good.

I talked about how he's heavily neurodivergent coded before, and we're generally loyal to a fault, which Solas very much shows.

But we do also often, eventually, reach a 'no more' point. After which, we'll absolutely close all those doors we'd previously left open.

If Solas acts the way I suspect he might, he'd then use everything he knows about Mythal and the Evanuris to help the game protag (I still wish I could just carry my inky over) defeat the buggers.

But what would it take for him to finally reach that point with Mythal? Mommy issues are soooo hard to deal with in therapy because it's so damned easy to backslide.

Hurting Inky? Doing something that will destroy the fade (like marching a darkspawn army into it)? Making him betray all of his followers who truly believe in him and his goals of freeing enslaved elves?

Solas deeply believes that slavery is wrong. In a way that makes me think he was actually enslaved at one point. Obviously to Mythal.

Oh, fuck me. What an amazing story they could tell about the whole 'but there were good slave owners' bullshit nonsense some people like to spout.

Of course, I still really wish Bioware would tell a story with a disabled protag. Which the end of Inquisition really would set up nicely. But given their shit disability rep, I know not to hold my breath over that.

[jaylleoo14]

Its not the spooky season anymore 😔 But I dont need it as an excuse to write it!

TW// Dark/gory/horror themes up ahead so tread carefully

I've been thinking, imagine what the characters would be like as serial killers. Who would be a best fit for one? And honestly, I feel like I'm able to write all of them as possible ones, well except for Ortho. Okay and maybe for Silver too but everyone else I think I can make do with it. I think.... I feel like characters that are obvious to fit the role is already generic such as Jade or Leona or Malleus! So i wanted to get more creative and try to expand more on the other characters. It would be fun to write about them though but I want someone who I think would fit the role just as nicely. Riddle and Trey was also a close one but I just really thought there could be someone more fitting. And what better character than to do the secretive man himself, Cater! I love Cater! And the potential he has a killer! Huihuihuihiuhihi Its making me shiver just thinking about it (with excitement) Perhaps I'll make the narrative as if you are looking through his eyes. That would be a fun read, no? Well I'll definitely switch the narrative to you and him but its a fun thought!

One day your boring, depressing, and mundane life gets interjected by Cater, the fun loving and bright barista! Some days you would always find yourself dreading as to why you should even continue. You live in a shitty area and your living situation is a mess, your neighbors are always partying, your boss is always picking on you, you're family situation is complicated, and all your friends seem to have moved on doing their own things in life. Life sucks, why do you have to go through this? You just want to go home already. Recently whenever you come by this super cute cafe this barista is always happily greeting you. "Another rough day?" He asked one day, and ever since that question you both have been making small talk whenever you would come by. He was easy to talk to, very friendly and bright. He was something you looked forward too during your days before and after work. One day when you go by the cafe you don't seem to see Cater around. Instead another worker rings you up instead. Out of curiosity you ask them where Cater was, and to none of their surprise that it was you who asked they simply answer with a "he called in sick." They recognize you as well considering you are a regular patron, one of the many other people who seem to enjoy Caters livelihood. Well you needed it in your life anyways. When you take a drive to your workplace you hear on the radio that two missing reports have been filed just last week, and to add on, just today they found a dead body belonging to one of the missing persons. They've been found brutally handled, the skin of their face peeled off and missing. What a grotesque and horrific way to go out.

A killer has been out on the loose in your city for who knows how long now. Though one thing is for certain, they've been going on for quite sometime now, all the victims going out in the same vindicative way. With their faces taken from them. This killer has been going on for quite some time now, but its just recently that they are starting to make another strike. For how long exactly? Who's to say. One thing for sure though is that you plan to save enough to finally move out of this godforsaken city, your awful apartment, and quit your damn job once you make enough. Despite all these killings going around, a lot of people seem to still go by their normal days just only hoping that they wont be the next unfortunate victim. "I hope Cater's alright" You say to yourself as you turn off the radio. The weather has been getting a lot colder lately, and it has been frequently raining. It would make sense that he'd get sick. Hearing about the reoccurring news causes you to let out a sigh, taking a mental note to be a bit more wary now.

You both don't really delve into each others personal life like that, so you can only hope for the best that he has someone to take care of. However on the way to work your light makes you stop and next to you is a deep alleyway. The day still being freshly new, the weather being a dewy light blueish grey after a slight rain, you dont care to look anywhere around you until a little glare hits your eyes on the side. Without much thought you turn around to see what the cause could be. Perhaps a shiny or passing car? Or perhaps it was just the reflection of someone's skateboard on the nearby sidewalk next to your car, or maybe it was- Oh.

. . . Oh

Your heart drops. You suddenly feel cold and goosebumps arise in you as you slowly flare up and your eyes widen with hyperactivity.

Someone is over there

In the alley way, next to you. Just slightly, are you able to make out a figure hidden under the shadows casted by the surrounding and clustered buildings.

Someone with a dark hoodie to blend in with the shadows, their back slightly angled towards you in the dark.

HONK

A car honks from behind you and you're woken from your trance. Just then though, the person in the alleyway slightly shoots their head towards where the sound of the honking originally came from quickly and for a split second your eyes meet. You hit the gas pedal, quickly speeding off with your heart racing as you pass the streetlight. Your cold clammy hands grips onto the steering wheel as you slightly speed off in a hurry and you bury yourself into your seat as the sound of your engine revs away down the dampened street.

They saw me...... I saw them...... they saw me

Was that? Did I see, the killer?

As he watches you speed off in your car he turns back to his finished business. The bloodied and lifeless corpse in front of him lying in a dirty puddle mixed with gravel and rain water from the earlier light rain. With his bloodied gloved hands, a dark shining glint glossing over it, he brings it to drag his mask down to inhale the dewy freshness of the air and out with a heavy breath.

"Ah, Cay-Cay should've been more careful huh?"

With no response he only laughs to himself a bit, nudging the lifeless corpse with his foot as if it were a ball.

"Oops. Forgot you've kicked the bucket now. Oh well, they didn't see me anyways. I shouldn't worry too much anyways."

"heh, who would've thought It would be (y/n) to see me down here... I guess I'll keep a close eye on them from now justttt in case."

Definitely will expand on this when I have the time and finish my other work, but oh how I cant wait to share! >< This is just a base and loose little draft for me to go off of but I was thinking of something like Cater placing pictures around the victims, pictures of perhaps locations to where he could have put their faces. But regardless, I think it'd be fun to write a really slow burn between you and Cater, a psychological horror experience :3

[lilac-hecox]

I'm kind of with you with erin not being ready to be a showrunner. I'll keep it constructive (as best I can) because I don't want to just hate on a young woman doing her first project, but I think having a project this big as her first one was maybe too much. One of the things I've noticed with Erin's projects (including the ianthony ones) is that they don't have a firm identity. I remember Tommy roasting her about caring a lot about not seeming to care, and I think sometimes that can translate to her projects. It feels like they lack conviction or commitment to an identity. They can't quite decide if they're serious or not and can sometimes result in vague comments about serious topics, and it also happens in other areas of the projects. For example, it seems like Bit City doesn't have a direction going forward. It doesn't really know where it wants to get to or how to get there, it's quite tentative and is trying to do a bit of everything, rather than commit to something and be okay with it if it fails.

Someone else can probably put this better than me. I think sometimes at smosh (because this isn't an erin-specific thing), people are held back by fear of failing/fear of being judged by the audience. Sometimes, it's okay to make a bold decision and fail because you can learn from that. I think making half-hearted decisions holds bit city and erin herself back.

I also think it's on her bosses to give her the support she needs and she's maybe been undermanaged. Being given the task of uniting a fandom as your first project is a huge amount of pressure

*Old ask*

I think this is an interesting thought process and take! I am also interested that she directed in the newest but wasn't listed as a producer so I don't know if that scales back her show-runner position? All I know is that this newest one was the strongest episode and that I hope Bit City will continue forward with that sort of theme.

Though honestly, I am not excited by the hint of the next episode being old people. I'm not sure what to expect. If it will be a bunch of jokes about millennials or boomers or what?

I will also be curious to see if the newly hired Emily has a hand in the production again.

[mspandorasart]

Thoughts about Undertale Yellow

Greetings, I just returned from binging through Undertale Yellow, True Pacifist Route specifically, and am seeking a place to let out some thoughts (and steam). It's the first time I'm doing this type of "review" on my blog, but since my thoughts on it are quite strong, I thought, "hey, why the heck not"? Spoilers for the game and its ending ahead, fellas. Buckle up.

First off, let me begin by stating that, for the most part, I had a blast playing through it. The music is amazing, the boss themes real bangers, the environmental ones great as well. My favorite track was the OST that played in the Dunes: a really catchy western vibe with Flowey's theme in it as well, an earworm that filled me with Determination while running through the sandy fields. Then we have a beautiful pixel art style, gorgeous sceneries, great gameplay with challenging and fun boss fights (side note: although I couldn't fully appreciate Ceroba's fight since it had a couple pretty much unavoidable attacks. Or is it just skill issue on my part? Anyway, that part annoyed me more than it should have. Moving on, lmao.)

Furthermore, the game also has charming characters! They are the ones that kept me going and really ignited my interest. Not gonna lie, it took me until the town in the Dunes to become really invested in the game. Martlet is charming and cute, sure, but North Star and his gang, no, that guy specifically sold it for me. Charismatic, funny, very expressive sprites (well, all facial sprites are quite colorful, but it took me until North Star to appreciate/notice just how many there are for each character) and an interesting internal conflict with wanting to entertain others so they forget about the pain of being stuck underground, but at the same time being so absorbed in his persona that he temporarily acts like a douche towards his pals and forgets who he truly is. He also features my favorite joke in the game when he proudly proposes to the salesman that "he wants to buy a gun for the child". Freaking hilarious, love him, huehehue.

Story-wise, I was pleasantly surprised and taken aback by the dark twists of Ceroba and her husband Chujin. And I appreciated how the flashbacks got intigrated within her final boss fight. I don't know about you, but my biggest motivation to play RPGs are not just the gameplay, it's mainly the characters and the story. If the gameplay is amazing but the characters/plot boring, then I lose interest quickly. To me, the real rewards of a tough battle are story progression and seeing just what the characters will do next. Therefore, I greatly enjoyed the breaks between Ceroba's phases in which we saw parts of her backstory. They even made me cry!

...Although, to be honest, I don't exactly understand why we had that insight into her mind in the first place. Why did we survive so many hits to the point of 0.00001 HP? Where's that coming from all of a sudden? Why did time stop at some point like Za Warudo? Maybe that random plot armor (that happened the first time and never again) is explained in another route, but anyway, moving on-

This review-style blog entry only exists because of the True Pacifist ending. I'll be blunt, I hate it. Why?

So it ends with Clover sacrificing their soul for the monsters so they can eventually break free. Which is fine on its own. Clover is for the most part a blank slate of a character, only driven by their desire to seek the lost humans, that's basically it. Maybe it would have made a bit more sense for Clover to see an actual physical proof of their demise before they give up on them completely, but eh. I'm also wondering whether they are really okay with potentially another, possibly innocent human falling down sometime in the future only to get killed by the monsters. But oh well.

(You know, now that I think about it, I actually am a bit salty about Clover's decision to sacrifice themselves, lmao. Would've been kinda cool if it was up to the player, have another ending split.)

Anyways, the issue I'm having is how our cast of supporting characters, Martlet, North Star aka Starlo and Ceroba react to Clover's decision. They are shocked first, but... agree surprisingly quickly?? What?? Excuse me, the entire hassle we went through to get to this point was to stop Ceroba from taking Clover's soul. Now with Clover volunteering to sacrifice themselves, the gang is cool with it??

Of course they don't agree immediately, but are easily swayed within a few arguments back and forth. Man, what friends you are, guys. The reason I'm having this pet peeve in the first place is because we as the human, who has known these guys for just a day, did a lot for them, alright? They all tried to kill us at one point, but we took the beating, the hard battles, forgave them and were there for them during their internal conflicts. We were a pretty decent friend, if I may say so.

Especially with Ceroba! We did a lot to change her mind and path of self-destruction! Yet our so-called friends don't put in the same amount of effort when it comes to convincing us otherwise- or heck, use force if you must- get Clover away from there, lmao. Wouldn't it have been an interesting act of redemption on Ceroba's part, by the way, if she tried to stop us? Being touched by our mercy and refusal to give up on her, she does the same for us?

I suppose the reason I am so baffled by all this is because of Clover being a blank slate, the player character really felt like me, like I was going through the journey and not like I was controlling another character. It felt like my decision to spare them all, to talk to them and wanting to get to know them better. So the group of characters I have really grown to like giving up on me within about a minute of back-and-forth just felt... wow. Thanks, guys.

If I compare it to Undertale's True Pacifist in which every important supporting character gathers up after the confrontation with Asgore, all agreeing with the decision of me, the player, staying in the Underground with them, then oh boy, it really stings. Just would've been a cool, wholesome sign of friendship if Martlet, Starlo and Ceroba decided that "nah, even for the surface, we won't give up on Clover". By the way, in this game, we don't even really get to see why the monsters want to return to the surface so badly. They keep saying they want to, but what are the reasons exactly? More freedom, I suppose. Yet by expanding the Underground with the Dunes, the Mines, the Factory, and some of Snowdin, the Ruins and New Home, their habitat seemed so much larger than in the OG game- What I wanna say is, their desperation should've been shown way more instead of told, so the player can understand the monsters' aspiration better.

The thing is, it's a shockingly easy issue to fix if you really want "the canon ending" with Clover ending up dead and their soul taken: have Clover still have their moment of doubt and realization, remembering what the monsters told them throughout their journey. Then they go to Asgore with their gang, hoping to convince him. It doesn't work out, so Asgore starts a fight. During the battle, Clover realizes it's useless to fight back, it's better to have their soul taken for the monsters, so they allow Asgore to kill them. Their friends are not powerful enough to stop him. There ya have it.

Siiiiigh. Is it just me, being annoyed by that ending? As a whole, the finale felt a little... rushed? Was New Home always meant to be so empty? Is it to build up atmosphere? Yet there were two silly NPCs in the first screen of New Home, making me assume that maybe, there was another plan originally? (If it has been stated in a devlog or any other comment by the creators, then I apologize, I haven't read those fully.)

Anyways, if I didn't care about the game, this rant wouldn't even exist in the first place. I was really invested in the game until the ending just left me... kinda sad, not gonna lie. It will take me a while to process it all.

If you got this far, then thanks for reading. Am I the only one feeling this miffed about the ending? I might go back and edit this post if I find out there are things to be corrected. Buuuut as of now, happy holidays!

[naraven]

≫ ⑥ⓇⒺⒺⓏⒺ

≫As an aspiring musician and composer, you always dreamed of creating music of your own and sharing it to the world. However, time passes and the biggest part of your life was working behind a sound system, behind the scenes of one of the largest entertainment companies in the world producing idols. Put under the new and upcoming boy group 6reeze, you come to realize how… eccentric some idols could be. And with all these bright new faces, you can only handle so much before you break.

~~~

hi everyone! its been a hot minute. but yeah, let's not talk about how long it took to write this. it's unimportant.

with that out of the way, please enjoy! i can't guarantee i'll write something like this again, but maybe when the next break comes around i could write something like this again.

c o n t e n t w a r n i n g // alcohol, stalking, whatever is going on with scaramouche, overall yandere themes,

w o r d c o u n t // 6k

~~~

“Nice to meet you guys, I’m (Y/N).” You raise your hand in a small wave. “You’ve probably seen me operating the audio system for all your stuff. If you have any complaints, feel free to bug me about it.”

They all greet you back with varying levels of enthusiasm, and they leave for the next part of their tour of the agency building.

You fiddle around your keys behind the soundboard, there’s not much to do right now. Most of the trainees are out eating lunch and your boss told you she had a meeting with the execs today. Maybe you could spend your time a bit more wisely?

You set up your synth near the audio system so you don’t have to move too much. It’s so quiet that you’re probably your only audience, and you hum along without any lyrics. In short, you’re just improvising bits and pieces that you think sound nice.

What you failed to notice is a certain idol on break, listening to your aimless hums and chords without a path. He hums to himself, but who knows how and why?

Venti

The leader and oldest of the group, Venti is like the wind itself: flowy, as if never stopping.

His voice is light like that of a cloud, and anyone who has heard his voice says it sounded like Barbatos himself had blessed them.

His guitar skills are unparalleled, acoustic or otherwise. You know next to nothing about guitar but even you stared in awe at how musically talented he is. 

But despite all this praise you throw at him, he’s still…

The most irresponsible person you’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting!

Although cheerful and enthusiastic, he’s always off without a care in the world. Jean has had to drag him home after practices because he was off at a bar drinking with coworkers or friends. As much as you look up to him as a musician, he’s always somehow causing some mischief to Jean and making her sigh for what feels like the hundredth time that morning.

You aren’t the biggest idol fan, but you remember how he and Xiao were a duo for a while. They had a much different image back then. They were more mysterious, never really posting about themselves on any social media and having little to no interviews. While that sounds like a PR nightmare, fans were entranced by every little thing they did. It was like feeding a single slice of bread to a thousand pigeons.

You listened to a couple of their songs so you could feel a little more familiar with them. Their songs were usually slower and melancholic than the pop and dance music they make at the moment. Venti’s voice was so different to what you were used to that you were shocked to hear such deep and moving vocals. It still retains the same powerful voice you’re familiar with but somehow it holds something… else

You never had the chance to bring this part of Venti’s life in a conversation, but it’s usually because he’s trying to convince you to sing for him.

You never understood where this desire came from. It’s not like you ever sing anything while on the job, and the only thing you really can do is play the keys. Yet whenever he has the chance he’s laughing joyously while you’re too flustered to do anything about it.

“C’mon, Dove, you have to know at least one of our songs!”

“N-No, Venti, stop pushing me towards the stage!”

At times, it feels like you’re marching to the beat of his steps. 

“Aww, but your voice is so beautiful! Why hide all this talent behind so many doors?”

“I’m not hiding anything-”

“Aww, don’t be like that! It’s only lil ole me here anyway! Unless you like having a big audience for all the music you’ve written.”

You sigh, until you really process his words. 

You’ve been alone with Venti for… about 20 minutes now. So far, your lunch sits cold at your usual table near the back of the room. Venti has now asked you about the music… you’ve written… which you have never told him about.

You slowly look towards Venti, who tilts his head to the side as if he didn’t reveal how he knew you wrote music. You’ve only ever told that dream to your parents and close friends, so it’s beyond you how he could drop something like that so casually.

“How do you know… I write my own music?”

Your voice sounds too strained, even to your ears. You gulped down the rest of your water before break, yet your throat feels like a desert. Venti hums before sitting a bit too close to you. Even as you scoot away, he puts his arm around yours before pulling you down closer to see his face. 

“Aww, is that what you’re so worried about? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone!” 

His casual wink does nothing to quell your concerns. That’s not exactly what you’re worried about, he giggles lightly as he leans on your shoulder.

“After all, I don’t like it when my muse is looking at others when I’m around.” He cups your chin and leans in closer, your heart and mind racing, “Especially when I’ve been searching for them for so long.”

Aether

The fan favorite of the group!

He may not have the best voice or the prettiest face, but he has a certain charisma that the others just don’t have. 

You have to admit, you were also drawn into his aura. Something about how he smiled, and the way his eyes glimmered when they narrowed into a sly grin, caught your eye. 

He has an approachable air around him that you were attracted to. Surprisingly, he was the one that talked to you first. 

He was having trouble with his mic, so you found him a spare while you tried to see what was wrong with the original mic.

After trying out 5 different ways of fixing it, it turned out that the battery was out of juice.

Oops.

Afterwards, you told Aether what happened with a very hot face. He took the mic and laughed good naturedly at the situation while you wallowed in embarrassment.

“It’s ok! As long as it’s good, it’s fine, right?”

You feel like you’ve been blessed by an angel. His fans are so lucky to have such a patient and kind man to simp over.

“Good work today, Aether. Are you still available for dinner tonight?”

You hand him a cool water bottle. Your work ended an hour ago, but you had made plans to eat at the new sushi place that you wanted to try out. Originally you were going to go with Heizou, but he vaguely mentioned how he was busy and pulled Aether toward him as he was walking by.

“But Aether is kind enough to go with you! Enjoy your dinner, you two!”

Aether blinked as Heizou ran off to do whatever it is he needed to do, leaving you two in his dust.

“Um, well, Aether, are you free on this day?”

You organize a dinner with Aether and when the day comes, you see him there earlier than you were. You came… half an hour early so you wouldn’t be late.

“Oh, Aether, you’re already here.”

“Ah, hello! Yes, I was already in the area.”

A lie. He was there because Lumine bullied encouraged him to be a “gentleman”. Not wanting to be late, he got ready and arrived an hour early before the appointed time.

“Alright then, ready to go in?”

“Of course! After you.”

The sushi was amazing. You enjoyed it thoroughly. And from the looks of it, Aether did too.

Afterwards, you both went out for something to drink. He brought you to a bar that was nearby that he was familiar with and you both had light enough drinks so that you both were sober enough to walk home.

Still, you were tipsy enough that your tongue was loose. You blurted out a couple things you probably shouldn’t have, particularly about work.

“That darn Kazuha, he’s so cute, y’know? Aether, you should’ve seen him years ago when he was still a trainee, his cheeks were even softer and rounder than they are now.”

“Aha, is that so?”

You failed to notice the faint hollowness of his voice, instead bragging more about your dear Kazuha.

“Mhm, he was also shorter. By like, a noticeable difference. It felt like yesterday when we were about the same height, and now I have to look up to talk to him. Makes me sentimental, y’know?”

He takes another light sip. The crystal ice reflects the dim lights of the bar, creating a calm atmosphere. Your Kazuha rambling continues on and on, buzzing in Aether’s ear.

“And y’know, I don’t think I would still be working at this stupid company if not for Kazuha getting into 6breeze.”

“Is that so?” He finally starts to respond back to your rant, “So what you’re saying is Kazuha is your anchor here.”

You hum, clearing your throat loudly.

“In a sense, yeah. If not for him, I think I would have found another job elsewhere.”

Aether puts his glass down on the bar louder than he intended to. You startle and jump up in your seat.

“Archons, Aether, that scared the hell outta me! What’s wrong, d’you think of something upsetting?”

He turns to you as you take a gulp of your own drink. He turns back and leans on his forearms while you exhale from the alcohol.

“Maybe.”

“Dang, even when I ranted for how long? C’mooon, I won’t tell anyone! Tell me, tell me!”

You poke at his arm, eager to hear him say anything.

But what could he say? That he didn’t like how Kazuha was so important to you? That’s cruel to everyone. He downs the rest of his drink before talking, not facing you.

“I’m glad you have someone so important to you at work.” He starts. You don’t notice the grip he has on his coat, “But I wish you weren’t so close with Kazuha.”

“I know this might sound out of line. It really is. But I hope you can forgive me.” His hand reaches for your face, so gentle that you barely feel it at all.

“After all, living with siblings, you tend to get selfish. So with all that being said, I pray you don’t forget tonight.”

Xiao

Probably has the most simps, online and in real life. 

Everywhere he goes, there’s always people staring and whispering about him. Having him in a disguise is like slapping those silly glasses with funny noses on him: they don’t work.

You’d rate him a 12/10. You think he’s attractive, and people are right to simp for him.

That being said, you’re a bit too busy worrying about how well he sounds on stage to be looking at his face. You get a bit frazzled when the boys have a concert that you have to prepare for, plus all the musicians who have to play in the pit for them.

The first time you really talk to him, it’s more you trying to not embarrass yourself in front of one of the most gorgeous people you’ve ever laid eyes on and Xiao nodding along to how you said the weather was “moist at best.”

He only perks up when you mention you had to go home after work quickly so you could feed your cat, which leads to you showing him your 879 picture, 263 video long gallery in your phone of your dear feline companion. 

When binging his old videos of just him and Venti, you recall how intense he looked when performing. Whether it be a music video or live performance, he always had this tense look on his face like he was experiencing something troubling. Or maybe that’s just how it was when they were a duo. You should know better than anyone that being an idol is some tough shit.

While doing group practices, Xiao decided to branch out and start doing some solo work. As the leading head of the audio team, you often work with him to record his songs while your team helped with the rest of 6reeze.

As he stands alone in the recording booth, you sit outside and do all the necessary things so his voice isn’t too out of place with the rest of the music.

Venti wrote this one for Xiao, so you hear a couple familiar bits that remind you of him. The subtle passing chords, the pacing and structure, it’s all very “Venti.”

“Nice work, Xiao. Jean told me another staff member would lead you to the practice room soon, so rest up a bit.”

“Alright, good work today.”

He takes a seat behind you while you fine tune the rest of your work. You hum along to an old Venti solo that was reminiscent of the one Xiao just sang.

“Is that… one of Venti’s songs?”

You startle and turn to face Xiao. He’s looking up from his phone, probably scrolling through the 6reeze group chat where you saw a Shrek edit of Kuni (made by none other than their leader), and you nod, seeing as how he recognized the song you were humming along to.

“It reminded me of the song you just recorded. Y’know, the sort of lo-fi ballad type of deal? Maybe Venti was ahead of his time, that song would do great nowadays.”

“Are you saying Venti is better than me?”

You blink. “When did I say that?”

“You implied it.”

“Did I? Well, I like both your vocals. I think the whole group’s vocals are really nice. Some of the younger ones could use some polish, but that can be fixed with practice and experience.”

Xiao looks down. You shuffle your feet awkwardly before turning around to continue your work.

“Do you think I sound good?”

“Hmm? Of course I do. Your voice is unique in that you can sing in basically any type of music. You have a very versatile tone, you can practically sing in any genre and sound like a natural.” You’re probably rambling a bit, so you stop yourself before you go too far.

“I don’t think you should doubt yourself, Xiao. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“I’m not doubting myself.” He shoots you a glance, “I just wanted your opinion.”

“Really? Is my opinion that important to you?” You ask jokingly. 

“Of course it is.” He goes back to scrolling on his phone. “I don’t really care how anybody else sees me. If you were to hate me, I’d hate myself too."

Kazuha

You’re more familiar with him than the others. You saw him around as a trainee in the building for a couple years and actually talked to him before he debuted.

You’re more than sure he’s going to get popular. His love of writing and poetry and his unique vocals are sure to capture the hearts of many. His soft demeanor would also make fans swoon after him for sure.

So you aren’t at all surprised when you scroll through the 6reeze announcement post on Instagram and the comments about Kazuha all have them freaking out over the exact things you knew he’d be popular for. 

“He’s so cute!!!! His voice is so soothing to listen to even when he’s not singing too…”

“OMG I LOVE HOW HIS HOBBY IS WRITING AND POEMS I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY WHERE I WOULD SEE A KINDRED SPIRIT IN THE IDOL INDUSTRY”

“His cheeks look so squishy I want to hold him gently in my palms…..”

“See? They love you, Kazuha, look!”

He doesn’t have to, but you show him anyway. He skims over them quickly before drinking half his water bottle. He pants lightly with sweat on his brow. You fan him with your 6reeze official merch fan, and he grins in response.

“I’m glad to see people appreciating my efforts. I never thought the day would come.”

“Are you kidding? You were born for stardom, so don’t let me down, ok?”

You raise your fist up in the air, letting him knock it with his own. His break ends and you start to get ready to go to your team too. 

Kazuha thinks back to your words often and he swells with pride. Ah, he’s so happy to see you smile at his progress…! Jean calls him over and he snaps out of it, walking over to the rest of the group.

Heizou elbows Kazuha, watching as his face focuses more at what Jean was saying.

“Hey, man, what’s got you in lala land? You weren’t paying attention to anything Jean was saying just now.”

Kazuha rubs his torso, glaring lightly at him. He thinks back to his conversation with you and blushes. He covers his face with his hand and turns away so Heizou couldn’t see how red his face was from talking to you.

“It’s nothing. Just a bit more motivated now.”

Heizou hums, not at all believing what he was saying.

“If you say so.”

Kazuha goes on to practice till his part is near perfect. His arms are sore and his legs ache, but he’ll do anything to get you to praise him again.

He looks over his individual and group recordings for the 6th time that evening. He notes down mentally how he could improve.

He goes through his nightly routine. Before going to sleep, he checks the same post you showed him earlier that day.

He reads through the comments again. He’s glad for all the positive feedback about him. He smiles at all the comments that compliment him and the rest of the group.

But they will never know how or why he started working as hard as he does now. 

He remembers how you first approached him as a trainee, awkwardly making conversation. He remembers how he was ready to quit right then and there. He was so tired of all the expectations the company wanted from him that he could never seem to achieve. 

“But, y���know, I think you’ll make it big someday.”

He tilts his head towards you. He remembers where you were and how you looked. He was sitting against the wall and you were leaning back on a chair nearby. You were wearing a green Snoopy tee and baggy jeans. 

“I mean, I’ve seen you working harder than anyone here. If you don’t make it into a group one day, I’ll still be cheering for you. Kazuha, right?”

He remembers exactly how you encouraged him and how you said his name.

Kazuha turns off his phone and turns onto his back. He closes his eyes, still remembering your bright eyes.

Hearing his phone vibrate, he picks it up again to see a notification saying you posted. He unlocks his phone to see what it was about.

He smiles gently, liking it on his personal account. He exits the app and goes back to his camera gallery, just to look at his collection of pictures of you.

It’s nothing that would invade your privacy that much, it’s only you going around your daily life. His light grin juxtaposes how he was literally stalking you, but he gets a pass because he’s cute.

He scrolls through his favorite pictures of you, most of which is you being completely unaware of his actions. It gives him a rush of adrenaline to see you doing the most mundane things, imagining himself with you in those scenarios.

“Ah, how cute…”

He loves how your smile leans more to the left, how your brows furrow together in the middle when you focus, how you show a beauty mark on the back of your ear when you turn away from him.

One day, he’ll be the one rooting for you. Your insecurities on his shoulders, he’ll take care of you from this cruel world.

“Wait for me, (Y/n).”

Wanderer/Scaramouche

Kuni wasn’t always an idol, in fact he was part of another entertainment industry as a whole.

He started out in films, stealing the hearts of many as a character he’s played. 

You vaguely remember how the internet exploded when he sang a song for the OST of a drama he was a part of. His voice sounded young, naive, hopeful as he gave one of the best performances you saw in cinematic history.

In short, he was multitalented in both acting and singing.

While his dancing was still amateurish, his acrobatic skills carried over form acting into pulling the craziest stunts on stage. You swear he’s flying from how long he’s in the air.

“Hello, you can call me Scaramouche! It’s nice to be working with all of you!”

He greeted your team with such a kind smile. They all say their hellos and greetings back, his smile never fading.

But that day, you had to stay back and fix some new found issues that you wanted to get out of the way quickly. New idols to work with means new issues to be fixed.

You down the rest of your Americano, cringing at the bitterness. You check your phone for the time and it reads… 10:32 pm.

You really didn’t think fixing all these problems would take this long, but you should have seen it coming. 

Maybe you should procrastinate just a bit. It’s not like you skimp out on work than often anyways, you could use some help.

Turning off the lights and locking all the important equipment, you exit the building with the intent to buy some warmer coffee than the room temperature one you finished just now.

Rounding a corner, you rammed face first into a person you didn’t see.

“Ow, fuck, sorry about that-”

“Watch where you’re going, worm.”

You pause and hold your poor cheek. Your brain reloads before you nearly snap and punch this asshole’s nose in.

“Listen here, bastard-”

As the figure turns around, you stop in your tracks and see a very pretty, familiar face.

“I don’t have time for you. Fuck off.”

Woah. If the public were to see what their beloved idol was saying, the scandal that would arise would be bigger than his attitude towards you right now. 

He probably realizes that in the moment too, because he immediately backtracks on what he said.

“Oh it’s you- ugh, great, now I’m jeopardized before I can even start a new career.”

You blink. His usual face that brimmed with confidence was now one of tired defeat. It was jarring seeing the same face from earlier look so gloom.

You should probably say something, but what could you say? Anything to comfort him would probably end up really badly, he doesn’t seem like the person to take that kindly.

“Who said I would snitch?”

You blurted that out without thinking. Oops, now he’s turning around and giving you the nastiest look you’ve ever seen on such a pretty face.

“What, like you’d keep this a secret? Don’t make me laugh, of course you’re going to tell someone.”

“I mean, snitches get stitches. And no bitches.” You tell him like a mother telling her child a lesson, “Honestly, I don’t gain anything from this. Besides, you’re too pretty to just give up like that.”

Maybe you’re more tired than you thought. That last part you only meant to say to yourself, but you end up making the poor guy red as hell.

“Wha-What the hell did you just say? Weirdo.”

Woah, this guy’s neck was turning a really red color! Maybe you could…

“Oh, oops, I didn’t mean to let that out. But I mean it. Plus you said it yourself, it’s too early for you to just stop being an idol now that you’ve only just started.” 

You bring your hand to your chin and smirk, “If it means I can keep seeing your beautiful face, I wouldn’t mind keeping your real personality a secret.”

You get exactly what you want when you see him turn around, face and ears tomato red. You hide a grin behind your hand, trying to keep in your giggles.

“Ugh, whatever, talking to someone like you is going to make me even more irritated. Good riddance.”

It seems Princess Mononoke taught you the valuable lesson of calling someone pretty in dangerous situations. You should compliment him more often to see how he reacts.

“Hi, Scara! I like your eyeliner today, care to teach me how you do it so neatly?”

“Wow, your hair looks so nice like that! You should do it more often.”

“What kind of gloss do you use? Your lips always look so soft.”

You made sure he heard that last one. You’d stare at his lips twitched into a strained smile, trying his best to not slap you on the spot. Damn, teasing him was more fun than you thought.

He’d break character every once in a while to slap your arm, but you were usually laughing while his face was red so no one ever gave it much thought.

It’s only then he retaliated, guns blazing, did you start to regret it.

“The gloss I usually use is strawberry flavored, and I would share some with you but I left it at home today.” He smirked as you covered your face with your hand. He leaned in closer and watched you take a step back, “Care to have a taste?”

Shit.

This game of chicken lasts basically forever. It’s not until he realizes he genuinely likes you does your relationship start to change.

“Xiao, why’d you get that tattoo on your arm?”

You poke at his bicep, leaning forward to see the smaller details. He angles his arm so he could see it himself.

“It’s a sort of promise between my friends. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you about it later.”

With that, Scaramouche touches his own tattoo on his nape. Would you care about the story of his tattoo?

It’s not until he realizes how much attention you give to the other 6reeze boys than him. The only times you talk to him are usually to tease him or to talk about certain businesses you needed him for.

But how could he start a normal conversation with him now? At this point all you two were doing was playing chicken without either of you admitting anything about the other.

“Just be honest, Kuni!” Venti advises, “You won’t get anywhere if you don’t say anything. Communication is key in any relationship!”

Stupid leader, that’s the last thing Scaramouche needed. He had already shown you parts of his real self, how much more did he have to show?

He decides the next time you approach him, he’d tell you… somehow that he wanted to get to know you better.

“Scaraaa, are you going for a more natural look today? You don’t have your usual-”

“I like you.”

Huh.

“I like you so much it hurts my chest whenever you talk to Venti. It hurts my head when you get too close to Kazuha. It hurts my body when you push me away and cling to Shikanoin.”

You don’t know how to respond. Your throat feels stuffed, you can’t get anything out. Scara is basically holding you against the wall. You feel suffocated as he rests his arm above your shoulder. His eyes almost glow in the dark, hauntingly enchanting.

“So stop hurting me by being selfish. If you really did find my true self beautiful, you’d be more attentive to my needs, worm.”

Heizou

Baby of the group. Small. Evil. Will steal your snacks.

Apparently he was also a trainee alongside Kazuha, but you’ve never seen him around. Honestly, you have no reason to believe he’s lying, so you shrug and go on with your life.

If Venti was being mischievous, then Heizou was the biggest enabler of his endeavors. While he never did anything too insane, Jean would still scold him for not stopping Venti when he went out to grab a martini from his favorite bar.

“Shikanoin, why do you never stop Venti from doing all the weird things he does?”

Your curiosity gets the better of you. You always see Venti going off with an “I’m going to Diluc’s!” and Heizou will always wave with a “Have fun! Bring some for me while you’re at it.”

“Well, before I am a friend I am an enabler.” You deadpan as he rewatches his individual practice, “It’s fun to see what my dear leader will bring back.”

“That’s… it?”

“What more reason do I need? Sometimes you need something fun in your life to keep things interesting.”

He’s certainly a character. His intro post had him appear a bit more serious and straightforward, but he seemed to only keep his “straightforward” part of his character consistent.

You like to rewatch the 6reeze intro post from time to time just to remember how the boys are actually supposed to act. Venti and his iconic “Ehe~,” Kazuha’s soft voice emanating a boyish tone, Scaramouche’s somewhat cocky attitude. The only one that diverges a lot would be Shikanoin’s.

He seemed more laid back than the intro post made him to be. Although still an intellectual, he’s more than happy to cause a bit of trouble for especially you. You still aren’t sure why.

“He made me troubleshoot his mic twice today. Twice!”

“Ehe, really? It seemed like he was just trying to get on your nerves.”

Venti sips his water as you sigh loudly. You were slowly learning idols were more trouble than they were worth.

“But why? I’m too stupid to understand the logic of a guy like that.”

Venti exhales after drinking his water, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He stands up to stretch his arms above his head.

“Maybe the boy has an itty bitty crush on you? Personally, I think it’s quite adorable that he thinks he can steal you away from me.”

“Venti, you…” 

Venti laughs in your face at the warmth spreading across your face. You might not see it, but Venti could tell how your ears betrayed you.

Unbeknownst to you, Venti peaked behind you to see a young maroon haired idol casting him a particularly nasty glare. He winks and sticks his tongue out in typical Scaramouche fashion, making Heizou clench his water bottle until it’s basically flattened.

“Aww, don’t be like that Dove! Anyways, love to stay and chat, but a certain Kuni caught on to the fact that I made another edit of his face so I need to hide until Jean catches me!”

And off he goes. You huff, running a hand over your face and closing your eyes. When you open them, you're startled to find the youngest member of 6reeze right in front of you.

“Archons, Shikanoin, you scared the hell out of me!”

As you get up from your chair, Heizou stands behind you.

“What did Venti tell you?”

You check the time before shoving your phone into your back pocket.

“It’s nothing, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“I will worry about it if he’s telling you things he shouldn’t.”

He crosses his arms at you. You awkwardly shrug, you honestly don’t know how to say it without embarrassing him.

“Really, it’s nothing serious, Shikanoin. Besides, I think he was just trying to get to you.”

“In that case, he won’t get mad if I respond in turn right?”

He tugs you forward, your noses barely a centimeter apart. You stop breathing and tense up, feeling his breath hit your face.

“I can’t be faulted if I get defensive about what he said about me, right?”

.

~OMAKE~

You scroll through your phone, going past all the edits of the boys you came to work and care for. One particular one makes you pause to read it. It’s one of those imagines you see about old boy bands from the early 2010s, those wackass weird ones that you think are parody but are so serious. 

You take the time to read through it:

IMAGINE

Venti throwing a grape at you with a playfull smile. You decide to throw one back at him, but you miss so he starts laughing at you. You get so upset that you throw the entire plate at him, knocking him unconscious.

You pause, reading it over a couple times and laughing harder each time. You click on the account to see whether this person was either a masterful troll or a 12 year old that actually wrote this genuinely.

And when you see the “(yes this is parody who in their right mind would find this hot)” in their bio, you laugh so hard you can’t breathe. You’re so glad you decided to ditch your tea today, otherwise you’d probably throw up from laughing so hard.

You click on their most recent post, breathing uneven as you put a hand over your mouth to keep your giggles from spilling out.

Imagine:

xiao crawling inside your ear. you tell him to stop but he is in there

You let out a laugh that sounds more like a bird squawking. Your face feels so hot and you can feel the bile rising from your throat. 

“Um, (Y/N), are you okay?” 

Aether looks at you concerned, probably because at some point you fell out of your chair rather loudly. You feel drool at the corner of your mouth and you wipe it with your sleeve. Aether offers his hand towards you and you grab it. 

You propel yourself up and lean against the wall, still giggling. You probably look drunk and insane, but you can’t get what you just read out of your head. 

“Ehehe, sorry Aether, I’m f-fine. I just found some-something funny while internet scrolling, don’t worry about it-hrnk…”

The blonde idol watches as you bent over to laugh. 

“If you say so… What’d you find that got you laughing like a psycho?”

You take a deep breath in before turning to him, “Do you really want to know?”

You see in your peripheral that he nods, so you tap onto the account again and show him one of the imagines you found about the whole group.

*IMAGINE*

imagine seeing the 6reeze tour bus and you run toward it but they run over you and you die. And when they bury you they dance on your grave.

You watch as Aether’s face scrunching up more and more in confusion and start laughing again, doubling over in laughter. 

“What’s so funny, (Y/N)?”

Heizou turns the corner to see Aether holding your phone in mass confusion and you on the wall losing your mind. 

Aether notices him and gives him a weird smile, giving your phone back to you.

“Hey there, Heizou. Don’t worry about it too much, it’s nothing that needs your focus. In fact I think it would be better for you not to see.”

Heizou pouts and crosses his arms, very much acting like a child, “Well now you’ve got my full attention. Show me, dear (Y/N).”

“Of course, Shikanoin, anything for you!”

Imagine:

Having to bail Scaramouche out of jail because he stole kale smoothies

You laugh at his reaction louder than you did Aether’s, and you hear another voice from around the same corner Heizou came from.

“Dove? What’s happening over here?”

[angst-fairygodmother]

Hii im that anon who requested the diego prompt! I really didnt realise you already wrote it sorry but maybe “That is not a Christmas movie!” “Yes it is, and I can prove it.” prompt instead? Thanks for being so nice <3

A/N: No need to apologize :) Like I said, it's a great prompt, and I don't expect anyone to have already read through my entire masterlist in order to request something. I just wanted to make sure you were getting something special and unique. Word Count: 619 Rating: G - really no warnings other than some mildly implied future sexy shenanigans and one brief reference to knives. Which really, for Diego is...impressive

“See that?” Diego pointed emphatically at the paused tv screen, remote following the line of his hand like it was one of his knives poised to throw. 

“What?” You countered, barely suppressing a laugh. “The Christmas tree?”

“Yes! A Christmas tree. Prominently placed in the background to show that this movie is set at Christmas. Which only matters if it's a Christmas movie.” You could tell by the way he looked back at you, and the way he deflated when you shrugged, that he thought he had an open and shut answer to the argument that had raged between the two of you for the better part of an hour. 

“Or they set it at Christmas time to have more room for terrible one liners and weird decor-based shenanigans they think are funny. Happy Tuesday or Happy Easter asshole doesn't quite have the same ring as Merry Christmas. And strangling a guy with musical twinkle lights is…memorable.”

“So what? You just acknowledged it was set at Christmas. What else does it need to be a Christmas movie?”

“The Christmas spirit? Traditional themes of love or family or generosity? Major Christmas iconography besides a single background tree and the aforementioned lights?”

“The main character's boss could be impliedly Santa! Old man with white hair, mysterious ability to always be anywhere in the world without limit and have exactly what's needed for the situation, global surveillance network.”

“So while Five was working for the Commission, he was Santa? Your Dad is Evil Santa?”

“What?” Diego's whole face became a question mark, head cocked to one side in curious confusion. “No. Why…how would they be Santa?”

“They meet your whole checklist for implied Santa-hood. If you didn't want me to think you meant them too, you should be more specific, narrow things down more.”

Diego fell silent, obviously pouting, and waiting to find the perfect point to illustrate his claim that you were definitely watching a Christmas movie, a point you were convinced wouldn’t come. When the credits rolled and you still hadn't agreed, Diego looked crestfallen, and you felt a twinge of guilt. You turned to face him, exaggerated doe eyes wide. 

“I’m sorry baby, I know since I don’t think it’s a true Christmas movie, that ruins your plan for a festive marathon, but it’s good to have a little break, avoid getting holiday burnout. But I promise, we can get back on track and still have plenty of time to cover them all. How about Batman Returns next?”

“You've got to be kidding me.”

“What's wrong with Batman?”

“You just spent all this time arguing with me over whether this is a Christmas movie, but you think Batman Returns is one?!”

“Of course it is.”

“How?!” You weren’t sure you had ever heard Diego’s voice rise so many octaves as it did when he asked the question, and it was all you could do to fight back a laugh. 

“While we're watching, I'll prove it. And besides…” You smirked at him, stretching upward to kiss the underside of his jaw the way you knew made him shiver. “I don't really disagree. I just like how passionate you get when you're riled up. It's sexy.”

Feigning indignity, he gave you a gentle shove backwards. Letting him get the upper hand, you kept moving until were lying back on the couch, guiding him to tower over you with a hand planted on the cushion on either side of your head. 

“Oh yeah?” he asked with a smile that made you shiver, “How sexy?”

“Very.” you answered in the breaths before you curled your own hand around his neck and pulled him down into a fiery kiss, the movie marathon quickly forgotten.

[aces-solace]

Impartial sins

Chapter 1: Mafia run

check my masterlist for more!

Warnings: language, death, sexual themes, Mafia, mentions of being drunk, mentions of hypersexuality. If I missed something let me know. If you are uncomfortable with this, don't read!

Stupid fuckin’ Mafia boss thinks he can do whatever he wants… Forcing me to go on late missions.. How annoying.. I sigh and hold up my sniper, load, aim, wait for the perfect moment and… Fire! The next part no one ever mentions, exit the scene.

Ok, now for the next target. I open my messenger bag and pull out his documents, let's see… Roger Flemming, real pervert. Easy target. Meet him next to a nearby bar, ok… it's gonna be raining soon. Let's get this over with.

I wait next to the bar in an alleyway. How slow can one guy be? Damn. I finally see him exit the bar, clearly drunk out of his wits. Man this is gonna be gross. He quickly sets his eyes on me stumbling over to me.

“Hey, what's someone like you doing alone out here?..” he said, his speech slurring. “Waiting for someone Like you” I said, slowly backing into the alleyway. Thankfully, he followed. Man, perverts are stupid..

He backed me against the wall. I quickly pull out my knife and stab him in the stomach. Five… ten… fifteen times. Someone's coming… nowhere to hide.. that air vent.. I climb the wall and quickly wedge myself between the wall and air vent.

Hide…. Conceal yourself… I let out a breath and listen to them. “Ah, it seems we walked in on a crime scene, my lord” one of them said. His aura is subtle but terrifying. I can't sense his emotions… it's all over the place.

The other one laughs, “yes, it seems we have! I wonder who did this.. can you sense anyone barbatos?” He doesn't answer for a bit. Stay calm, stay focused. “It doesn't seem like I can…” he says, sounding rather.. disappointed?

They finally leave the alleyway a few minutes later but I stay up there for a few extra minutes. It's been ten minutes… they should be gone by now… I jump down and run out of the alleyway, get home… fuckin’ rain..

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I drop my towel on the floor after drying my hair. I need to do my hair.. Maybe I'll braid it?.. nah, I'll just put in a ponytail today. Braids tomorrow! I think to myself as I put my hair in a ponytail. Alright, I guess I'll sketch some tattoos..

I'm not sleepy right now so yeah, music and sketching! I sit on my bed and I grab my sketchbook and pencil. Where was I… right, what kind of tattoo… hypersexuality, maybe? Should it look like a tramp stamp or maybe a bit more serious..

I'll do both and see which one I want. For the tramp stamp, I'll need a reference. I open Pinterest and search tramp stamps. These two are nice.. “Sage which one do you think?” I ask, holding my phone in front of her.

She meows and paws at one that looks more like vines. I nod and start sketching, instead of a heart I'll use a butterfly with a semicolon. Ok, now for colors.. I'll figure it out after doing the more serious version. Should I use the butterfly again?...

Maybe I'll use a heart with a semicolon?... Fuck it, I'll do both.

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My hands are cramping… I stretch out my hands and put up my sketchbook and pencil. Still not tired, might as well try though. I yawn and lay down turning on my fan as I get under the covers. Something doesn't feel right… Maybe it's paranoia..

Fun Fact: Ace is known as the mafia's most deadly weapon.

A/N: Me and my friend actually made a hypersexuality tattoo for ourselves. I might show it.

Taglist: @cuddlybelphie @doomsday-fae @a-crazy-little-goblin

[gooeygoldies]

More pokemon? More pokemon

Realizing as I'm posting this that I'm only doing the ladies,, as it should!! They're on my mind constantly 🫶 posting them together as it should! I'm going to ramble more under the cut thing

First of all! The Boss!

Not her full team actually, because I can't decide quite on her last two pokemon,, still, the ones I wrote stand strong there to me!

Rapidash is a stand-in for the Andalusian, and the regular form I feel is most fitting; as in the anime (if I'm not remembering wrong) it's stated that Ponyta's flames at least will only burn those it doesn't trust. Now Togekiss! The Jubilee pokemon! To tie in her title as The Joy. It is also a pokemon representing peace, and thus very elusive to see.

Then Basculegion, which according to its lore, evolved from a Basculin fueled by other dead basculin souls, which I feel fits with the losing of comrades in battle during war (plus, a ghost type to connect her to The Sorrow)

Last of her choices I'm sure of would be Mienshao (if you saw me assign that one to Meryl and now backtrack no you didn't) which is the CQC tie in, agile and deadly!

For the penultimate slot, firstly I was thinking Absol for its ability of forewarning danger and tragedy, useful in the battlefield I feel! And it also ties in with Absol quite disliking conflict, and being shunned by others for trying to protect its land,, I feel she could connect with that. But also, Maybe a clefable to have that space theme somewhere!

And for her last last spot,, I would love to give her a legendary,, thinking Cobalion or Suicune for this fact! Both noble beasts! The former being the leader of its own group of strong pokemon, and a very calm, powerful and respected pokemon. But for Suicune's case, the grace and it being a symbol of purity also fits in quite nicely.

Now... Strangelove! (I'll end soon don't worry)

I didn't write her whole team out, but the most important of all here would be Floette. Which, very similar to AZ's, holds an uncommon flower for its species; holding specifically one of the red flowers found around the Boss's dying place. But it can't use Light of ruin,,, as much as Strangelove would benefit from that (anti men laser beam go!!!!!!)

Next, Vivillion. Icy snow pattern,,, it looks nice I'm sorry there's thematic tie-ins here tho it's mostly the aesthetic,, BUT!! The butterflies appearing in the boss AI!! And the fact I made Otacon have a few bug types (I'll talk about him some other day)

And her last two would be a female Meowstic, as they are much more agressive than the male counterpart and quite proud and powerful Pokemon; and a Lunatone! To relate to her time in NASA and the space mission she went alongside the Boss.

Okay rambles over,, for today! I am way in deep with this I am insane!!!!!!

[octo-in-the-mainframe]

Deltarune Stuff I Think Might Happen Before the Next Chapters Come Out (so I can say I was right)

Papyrus is the Knight. (I have a whole essay on this I just haven't edited it yet).

Gaster won't be evil, but he will be an antagonist at some point.

Gaster will probably make an appearance in Chapter 6, maybe in the Bunker.

Noelle is the angel.

Every Undertale main character will go to a Dark World, except maybe Alphys and probably Mettaton (Unless the whole town turns into a Dark World).

My reasoning is that Toriel, Asgore and Asirel are so obviously important, Toriel is already in a Dark World, Undyne is most likely coming along for the ride, and Sans and Papyrus are connected to Gaster and also Noelle and Dess through Snowdin and the weird bonus content for the Xbox version of Undertale.

Sans will die in the Weird Route, giving us an actual "No Mercy" Papyrus battle.

(I know this sounds edgy but like...Sans is the ONLY main character who doesn't die unless it's a No Mercy Route, mad sus).

Nightmare Knight will be used in some way for the Knight's theme.

Megalo Strike Back will make an appearance, possibly in whatever potential Gaster battle track we get.

Dess has more to do with the secret bosses than we think.

Dess is trapped in a NEO Dark World and/or the Depths.

The Secret Boss Soul Modes are based off the colors behind Sweet Capn' Cakes in the room where you can make them play their Jingle Bells remix.

Asriel is to Dess as Kris is to Noelle.

Gaster is 666, Chara is 999, Papyrus is 333. (I don't remember what the 3's stand for but there was a reason, or if this even matters in context to Deltarune).

Spade King will have an arc dependent on if you manage to recruit everyone, though I don't know if it will mean redemption. I've seen people get really mad at this idea and honestly? As long as it's a sensitive portrayal and has him apologize to Lancer and do better going forwards I'll be fine with it. I only really think this might be true because of how he is in Chapter 2, and that it would be weird to have the only guy actually criticizing you for your actions to be just straight up an evil guy you can ignore. Also, abusers are people too, and fandom spaces have a really hard time accepting that forgiving and growing is just as realistic as cutting the abusive person off. (shout out to @nukedimplosion for putting this into way better words than I could).

And now, for how I think the message of the game will present itself...

The game likes to tell you your choices don't matter right off the bat. I have a hard time believing the "No one can choose who they are in this world" person to be the same guy who was so nice about our "WONDERFUL CREATION," so I'm going to assume there are two different people talking to us.

I think this other person could be Dess.

Gaster, who has survived despite being shattered across space and time, Gaster, who has managed to connect with us, the real world, is ultimately someone who wants to change fate. Pushing and pushing until he gets the result he wants. I think Gaster believes that our choices mean everything. Why else would he gives us a character creator of all things?

But the other voice...

They do not believe in choices. They've been stuck in this pit of nothing, forced to keep going knowing everyone they love is living on without them. They most likely know about the secrets of this world now, having spent so long in its depths. Dess takes away the character creator, forcing you into Kris's body because she didn't get to choose. But some part of her, deep, deep down, wants to believe she still has a choice. So, she put us in someone who has even a slight chance to Find Her.

Someone who remembers the day she disappeared.

Someone who remembers the Bunker. Noelle isn't any help, no matter how much she misses her. Noelle blocks everything out. Asriel is out of town.

It has to be Kris.

It has to be.

And on the other hand, Gaster is optimistic, but some part of him realizes that this could all be for nought too. I think it would be really cool if we have an optimist desperate for freedom, and a pessimist who won't let herself believe in a way out.

(To clarify, I realize this has little to no evidence to back it up, it's just using what we DO have and filling in the blanks with the vibes I get from the characters. Like, I do genuinely believe Gaster likes us and the world of Deltarune. I don't think he's evil or anything. With the tiny bit of info we have on Dess, she seemed like a protective but fun older sister. I think she would feel ashamed for not being able to take care of Noelle while she's stuck, and after having been a very assertive person in her life, feeling hopeless when faced with the seemingly impossible to escape depths for years. Of course, I could be wrong, and she actually has some sick plans for the future or something, and Gaster could be more malicious than he seems. But who knows?)

Oh, and before I get someone asking why Papyrus would overthrow the three kings, every Knight candidate needs a reason to do this, and none of them make sense until we get more context. Another thing: all of the Knight candidates that seem possible either haven't been seen yet or are side content. (Or are Kris. And. I have so many reasons why I don't think they're the Knight. At least, not THE Knight). It's very likely that any of them could be built up in the next couple chapters.

Heck, I think we might see them in Chapter 3, curious as to why a new Dark Fountain has been opened. It would be a neat way to introduce them to the group, being in someone else's Dark World, where they're not fully in control. We would also get to see how they'd act towards the Darkeners of Kris's Dark World. We would be able to get some of their personality, without them being the main focus. At the very least, I think we'll get more hints so they will actually be a satisfying reveal with what we're given. Though, this might result in too many characters...hmm...

Anyway, I think that's it.

I might come back to this if I have more, and depending on how the 14th goes, we might have some new stuff to theorize over.