#i wanna see what happens if you manage to get more people to vote for florres

[jonny-b-meowborn]

Last night I finally got a 100% with all the road 96 characters, so technically I could finally start engaging with the fandom more, but my completionist ass still wants to see all endings and outcomes and I don't want any spoilers, even though at this point this game is quite predictable and there's not much to spoil

[smollsmule]

Ok ok but you wanna know the real tea?? I've read several beach fics at this point (which are all awesome btw, y'all are amazing writers) and it's a beloved staple to have Edwin be somehwat scandalised at everyone's beach outfits not to mention all flustered from seeing Charles in swim wear. Which is a Good Trope, don't get me wrong, I love that just as much as the next person

HOWEVER

I think actually it's Charles who should be more shooketh about Edwin in his funky lil edwardian two piece!!

Picture this. The year is 1916. You are 16 year old Edwin Payne with a bunch of repressed gay thoughts. Much unpleasantness happens, you die and get dragged to hell, even more unpleasantness happens, 70 years later you finally manage to claw your way up and suddenly women are allowed to vote. There's been not one but two world wars, several countries you grew up reading about in the news don't exist anymore and mini skirts are a thing now.

All I'm saying is, for all the teasing Edwin gets for "What is a handjob?" and "Crystal's internet", this kid was essentially thrust into a scifi world full of weird shit and gets mostly by via an attitude which can only be paraphrases as "fuck it, this might as well be a thing (maybe ask Charles about it later)". King of adaption, master of radical acceptance.

Charles on the other hand, and I say this with only love in my heart, is at his core a boomer. He was there for every tiny gradual shift from '89 to modern day. Sure, he was dead for most of that time, but that's not really relevant. All I'm saying is, seeing the bbc announce marriage equality was probably a bigger shock to Charles than it was to Edwin. That's a guy who already had to accept he will never fully wrap his head around home television.

Also consider the states of undress they've been exposed to seeing the other in. Edwin was stripped to his underwear in hell and still had his knees and elbows covered. And that was probably a more exposing outfit than he'd ever be comfortable with. His usual casual get up features a sweater vest for crying out loud! Meanwhile you have Charles going full 'ceps out in his undershirt first chance he gets. Edwin either got real cool with a lot of shit real fast or he would have combusted several times over those 30 years.

And yes yes, we've all seen Edwin "Haunted By Gay Thoughts" Payne's mental slideshow of abs n hips close ups after getting one (1) glance at the Cat King's stomach. But to his credit, the man was going through a full blown sexuality crisis at that and has since emerged victorious.

So all I'm saying is. Edwin seeing Charles shirtless at the beach? Probably not even the first time this is happening, a lil flustering for sure but just last week he saw two people making out nasty on the tube so hell if he knows. Charles seeing Edwin's kneecaps and upper arms for the first time? Incredible, show stopping, pride and predjudice 2005 hand flex level of suppressed horniness.

Anyway. I'm writing this fic now and none of y'all can stop me.

[bomberqueen17]

aight poll results

Huh I haven't really done a poll before, I kind of thought there'd be somewhere you could like, see the results. But no. I just have to scroll back and find the post. And since I made it not rebloggable I can't reblog it either, LOL.

So anyway. It's not quite-quite closed but there's more votes in it than I thought there would be, and I'm going to discuss it behind this lil cut here.

[Image ID: a screenshot of poll results showing 14.5% for the sweet summer children era, 85.5% for the older sea-dogs, 55 votes cast, almost four hours left in the poll.]

After making this poll I went back to my Just Write Some Scenes approach and noodled around some more. My first attempt had been to come up with this whole elaborate Save The World plot, and then try to introduce the crew to each other right at the start of it, and after tripping over that and falling flat on my face, that's when I reconsidered and made the poll. Mostly I just. Need other people to remind me that I'm not alone in the wilderness here, LOL. And you know the quite-contrary "I need advice but mostly so I can identify that when someone tells me to do the thing I don't wanna, that means there's a thing I didn't want to do, which means there is a thing I DO want to do, and now I can narrow down what it is" impulse, yes?

But it's gratifying to find that I've voted with the majority here.

So my main consideration here is that while I cannot really reuse any of the scenes I wrote as fanfic, I can absolutely carry over every bit of the character dynamics. The canon events, I can't translate. The fanfic character work, yes. (What that means to you, dear readers, is that I thus can totally just publish the fanfic at some point LOL, so I'll... try to do that if I can ever manage to become sane about it.)

I don't know that I've fully explained, here-- I fully have a 125,000-word fanfic already complete for this fandom. Like, it is 125,000 words long, and goes from before Master and Commander to... I'm at about the middle of Ionian Mission. That's book nine. And it's all the gapfills and everything from Tom's POV. And I have a few more scenes I'm still writing, but what I have is quite a novel already.

If I took the characters from their Master & Commander Book 1 era and file the serial numbers off and try to instead give them this plot, then I have to cram in every bit of the getting-to-know-you shit, and also worldbuild the whole setting, and then also have them save the world. It's not that I can't do this, but I have this huge shortcut where I've already been working with these guys (and you know how fanfic works, I've subtly warped them from canon because these are side characters the canon author did not devote all that much time to. There are several times when Mowett did something in the first book and by the eleventh or twelfth, Stephen firmly remembers it as something Pullings did, and the narrative treats him as correct, and I genuinely think that O'Brian forgot, unless he was trying to make a point about Stephen's memory issues that he then didn't entirely follow through on. It happens more than once. Also there are a number of occasions when the narrative asserts that Mowett was present for books when he was not; he does not appear in book 3 for example, but is afterward treated as though he'd been there. "They've been together since their youth!" they haven't been in the same hemisphere in six years. Anyway.)

I've been working with these guys for the length of a novel already. So what I can do, and what I think I'm going to do, is that I'm going to just pretend that I've already rewritten a serial-numbers-filed-off version of the first volume, and dive in at circa the book 5 section of the fic, and insert this adventure at that point. Which gives me a certain rank for each character-- Pullings and Mowett would be lieutenants with some seniority, Babbington would be a newly-made lieutenant, Aubrey has moderate seniority, his relationship with Maturin is fairly mature and has weathered some storms and come out well, he's rescued Maturin from torture, Maturin is slightly washed-up with the intelligence people and is addicted to drugs but recovering-- and from the fanfic side (spoilers for the as-yet-unedited-and-unpublished fic!), I've established Pullings in his marriage, given him his checkered career (Indiamen and transports), he has two children, and also he and James and Mrs. Pullings have worked through a bunch of their shit and figured out that they should all have a threesome sometime. But, crucially, they have not had this threesome yet.

So it's like-- a ton of deep character work, that I can just plunk us into.

(I haven't figured out a new naming structure yet so I haven't find-replaced and I'm just writing with the old names, which is hilarious the more I diverge from canon.)

It's not that I don't want to tell that first story, of them all meeting up initially, but I think it would be easier to go back and write a prequel after having done the Big World-Saving Plot.

Anyway-- some serial-number-filing notes here:

Aubrey is going to be a woman because then if I write her exactly the same it comes across wildly differently and I am absolutely dying to see what effect it has. Translating Jack's particular confused helplessness around women makes this new Aubrey into an extremely awkward lesbian and I love it. (Still fat, crucially. Still six feet tall. She might not be blonde, though, depending what I do with racial dynamics in this 'verse. Doesn't matter, as calling a woman Goldilocks is less hilarious than a man.)

Maturin is still a dude. They still have absolutely zero sexual chemistry, but profound deep interpersonal love. (This is bookverse, guys. Sorry the gay movie version is great but that's just not where I'm going here.)

Instead of having a lower-class accent and antecedents, I'm translating Tom into being somehow visibly biracial, which can give the same impediment to his being taken seriously for promotion as in canon, but also lets me tie this into the other books I've started in the land-based part of this verse. His mother is descended from mainland mammoth-herders, and I haven't decided what visual characteristics that gives him but it's enough that he gets called racial slurs occasionally. As in canon, Aubrey doesn't particularly notice these things, and cares only that he is competent.

Babbington is a trans dude so I have to figure out how that works in the worldbuilding but this is an extremely useful thing to have and will illuminate all kinds of awesome things for me. As a bonus, it can just be background established fact in the first book I write, and can be a plot point in the prequel if I do come up with anything cool in the worldbuilding, but if not it can just be a like low-key background thing in the prequel too. Who knows! It gives me a ton of material either way. Has potential to establish vivid character dynamics in a minimum of words, I think.

I was trying to solarpunk-ize solid-shot cast-iron cannons and seem to have independently mentally invented electromagnetic rail guns, so I have to research that somewhat but I think I have some good worldbuilding foundations based off that. !!! Exciting. I especially love the idea that the ships can collect and store potential energy that they can use either for propelling the ship without wind, or for firing guns, and so manoevering with sails still carries enormous tactical value because if you can get in position to fire your shots without having expended your generated power, you'll have much more success in battle; conversely, if you realize you're in a poor tactical position, instead of throwing your guns over the side as in the napoleonic era so you can flee faster, you simply empty your power generation banks into your propulsion to get the fuck out of there. And it makes it more solarpunk post-collapse-friendly by having tactics that can prioritize things other than massive loss of life, which doesn't hold with the dynamics of precarious population levels in the other books in this 'verse. Life was cheap in Europe in the 1800s but that doesn't work here. I love the idea of the "battles" being almost entirely manoevering, and it being plain impossible to have just yardarm-to-yardarm prolonged hammering except by rare circumstance.

So anyway that's where I'm at. So far. Stay tuned i guess? Thanks for reading this far, anyone who does. <3

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 16: Crossing Paths - Episode 4: The Missing Piece

Towa: We managed to find a third member, but no matter where we look, we can’t find a fourth…

Tsuzuru: Did you try asking people at school?

Towa: I did search at school, but it’s a little hard to find people that make me think I want to act with them.

Keiku: Cuz it was a done deal with us.

Ibuki: He was looking at us all weird when he first saw us.

Towa: After inviting the two of you, I realized that I really should listen to my intuition.

Towa: How can I put this… I felt like I’ve met you before, and something in me was like, “This is it!”, like a puzzle piece falling into place…

Izumi: I see…?

Towa: There is someone I’d like to invite, but he turned me down…

Tsuzuru: I mean, it’s not like it’d be impossible with just the three of you…

Towa: No! I might need some more time, but we’ll definitely become a four member group, just as I promised!

Towa: The members of MANKAI Company also gathered one by one, didn’t they?

Tsuzuru: Ahhh, well, It was less that we gathered by will and more that the Director recruited us…

Izumi: Looking at you sure takes me back.

Tsuzuru: B-But the situation was different back then!

Homare: That reminds me, I did happen upon a boy who loves theater and often watches performances. I presume he is about your age.

Towa: Oh!? And he hasn’t joined a troupe yet?

Homare: I would assume so. He did not mention being an actor himself.

Homare: I shall ask him whether he’d be interested next time I pass by.

Towa: Please let me come with you when you do!

Homare: A fine idea. You’d do well to ask him directly. I will let you know.

Towa: Thank you very much!

Izumi: Have you made any progress with anything other than gathering members?

Towa: No, I was thinking I’d gather the members first, so nothing else is set in stone…

Ibuki: For now, we’re all taking dance lessons.

Ibuki: It was just Keiku’s thing at first, but Towa and I were told we should do whatever we can too.

Keiku: Told ‘em to participate next time there’s a workshop.

Tsuzuru: Kuryu-san really does look after everyone.

Towa: I understand why Zen-san told us what he did, and learning how to dance is fun, but I really wanna gather our members as soon as I can…

Izumi: Well, I get how you feel. It’s hard to get in gear when you haven’t gathered everyone you need yet.

Homare: In that case, how about we go meet him now, rather than waiting for the next time?

Homare: I am not certain he’ll feel the same way you do, but you could create a connection starting from there.

Towa: Are you sure!?

Homare: He is a part-timer, however. I cannot guarantee he will be there.

Towa: If he’s not, we can simply hang around for a while!

Ibuki: There it is.

Keiku: There it is fr.

Izumi: Make sure not to trouble the other employees.

Towa: Okay!

Homare: Let us be on our way, then.

Ibuki: Guess we gotta tag along.

Keiku: ‘s not like we’re doin’ anything else.

Izumi: Stay safe.

[Door closing]

Tasuku: Are we sure about letting Arisugawa lead the way by himself?

Tsumugi: It may be a bit of an unusual group, but this is Homare-san we’re talking about.

Azuma: The tea was delicious.

Tasuku: I’ll go read the script a little more in our room.

Guy: You can leave cleaning up to me.

Izumi: Oh, Tasuku-san, do you have a moment? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.

Tasuku: Yeah.

-

Haruto: An offer for a drama, sir!?

Reni: Yes. They requested you specifically.

Haruto: Me…

Reni: Whether you accept or not is up to you.

Haruto: (Of course I’m interested in working in the film industry. And I’m happy that I’m being recognized as an actor-–)

Haruto: (But taking on outside work during a crucial moment when all of GOD-za must be united for the New Fleur Award…) 

Haruto: (We may have taken a while to adapt to the new voting system, but we steadily rose in the ranking during 3Q.)

Haruto: (But the same can be said for the other troupes. There’s no doubt the competition will be fiercer than ever in 4Q.)

Haruto: (We may be within the nomination rankings now, but with this many powerful troupes around, there’s no telling when we could be kicked out—)

Haruto: (Hyakka Troupe, for example, shot up in the rankings in 3Q despite how they had fallen. We can’t afford to let our guard down.)

Haruto: … I am interested, but seeing as this is a crucial time for GOD-za, I do not believe I should be spending it on unrelated activities.

Reni: That is precisely why.

Reni: From now on, you must not only continue your usual performances as a part of GOD-za, but also find new ways to push yourself.

Reni: In order to achieve that, you will need personal growth, as well as outside challenges, will you not?

Reni: If you’ve got even the slightest desire to do this, it is my belief that you should take on this role.

Reni: Besides… The role could be a great experience for you in particular.

Haruto: ——

Haruto: Thank you very much. I will do my utmost best.

Reni: I will relay those exact words to the requestor.

Reni: … Also, it seems an offer has been extended to Tasuku as well. I was informed of that, seeing as he used to belong to GOD-za.

Haruto: ——

Haruto: I will perform in a way befitting of GOD-za.

Reni: I have no doubt.

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

[nkirukaj]

vVv is for Voe (13)

Pairing: StaticBeau & RadioBeau

Warnings: Swearing;

Genre: Humor! Angst!

Word Count: 2.1K

<Chapter 12

13. Eat Me

“Guys I know this might be a difficult decision but I think we could all benefit from extending some compassion,” Charlie says to the group as Voe stands just inside the entrance

“Uh…why would we extend compassion ta her?” Angel asks “Just a question,”

“Because, she’s a sinner, just like you!”

Angel looks up from his phone, he shrugs “I don’t know, Lucifer whatdya think?”

Lucifer clears his throat “Well I for one agree that all sinners should be welcome, but I’m not so sure about..ahem cunts,”

Voe squints at him, but keeps her mouth shut. Only tightening the grip on her wrist

“Dad!” Charlie slaps his arm

“Maybe we should take it to a secret vote,” Angel sits up

Charlie gets excited “Oooh!”

“Or maybe we should stop wasting time,” Alastor appeared behind them, stepping up into the parlor

Lucifer mumbles “Who made you facility manager?”

The demon turns to the angel “Your daughter,” and dusts off his sleeves “Whoever thinks that we should let the pitiful doe stay here, raise your hand,” Charlie, Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor raise their hands “Now whoever does not,”

Lucifer, Cherri Bomb, Niffty, and Husk raise their hands

“Wait a minute…are there eight of us? Holy shit!” Cherri cracks up at the situation

“I don’t know what’s happening!” Niffty interjects “But I raised my hand!”

Vaggie puts her hands on her hips “Maybe the person that wants to stay here should convince one of us to change their mind,” she looks at Voe “You’ve been awfully quiet,”

“My mouth has gotten me in a lot of trouble today,”

“Well, let it get you out of trouble,” she crosses her arms “Why should we let you stay here?”

“Speech!” Cherri yells

Angel slaps her arm “Shut up bitch! Ya voted against her!” he smiles

“I know! Change my mind! Or don’t!”

Voe blows out some air and puts her hands behind her back, rocking on her feet. “Can everyone…stop looking at me,”

“Why?” Charlie asks

“I thought you liked attention,” Alastor added smugly

She looks everywhere but at them “Because….if you look at me I’m gonna cry,” she answers honestly

“Okay, everybody turn around,” Charlie orders them, and they do

“Um…if I’m being honest you probably shouldn’t let me stay,”

“Ah, the old switcheroo. Reverse psychology,” Cherri adds

“Shut up bitch,” Angel says and they laugh

Voe waits for them to finish. “You shouldn’t let me stay because I’ve been unkind, rude, and deceitful.” she pauses and takes her time continuing “I know that in my mind my actions made sense, but I have to remember that not everyone knows why I do the things I do. But I think that if you do let me stay, it says more about you than me. In a good way,” she adds “It tells me that you are kind and forgiving. Not petty and unjust, and I guess people with those traits are people I should be around. I mean, that’s Charlie’s whole dream for the Hotel in the first place, right? If I stay here and I spend my time around people like you, who were willing to let a person who lied to them for months stay, smothering me with goodness,” she laughs a little, a tear rolling down her cheek “Imagine what I could be,” Tears start rolling down her eyes and her words come out as sobs “I’m finished now,” she tells them. Voe looks down to avoid them seeing her cry and it’s complete silence when they turn around. 

Charlie breaks the silence “Okay, so who’s in favor of letting her stay now?”

She, Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor raise their hands once more. Voe hangs her head in shame at not being able to convince anyone to change their minds when she hears Lucifer’s voice 

“Damn it,” he runs his hand through his hair and then raises it. Voe’s head shoots up and she stares at him in disbelief. He looks back at her and shrugs “I just wanna give you a chance,”

“Yay!!!” Charlie comes to hug her as her tears fall on Charlie’s shirt

Voe keeps eye contact with Lucifer Thank you, she mouths and he nods back.

Alastor had taken it upon himself to be the one to walk her to her room, even though it was the same room she had been in before. She was wiping the tears off her face and walking behind him when he spoke.

“That was quite an…interesting display, my dear,”

Voe scoffs “Whatever,”

He looks back at her and raises a brow, continuing on

“You raised your hand for me to stay,” she teases

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on being a good person and not gloating? You’re not here because of me, you’re here because of him.” he scoffs “And I hate him, but if those tears were real, then I suppose you owe him an apology,”

She hangs her head down “I just thought it was interesting that you wanted me to stay,”

“Hmm, probably to see the stupid look on your face. How is it with the Vees by the way?”

She grimaces “I don’t wanna talk about it,”

“Hmm then maybe don’t gloat about it,”

“I’m not,”

“You do realize, that we’re not friends. I don’t like you,”

She rolls her eyes “That’s why I was surprised you voted for me to stay,”

“Hmm, here to get more information out of me?”

Voe lowers her voice “No,”

“Then I’ll be on my way, have a good night!” he calls after her as he walks away

“Wait,” he turns his head around to face her “I know this might be a big ask, but could you stay?”

“Excuse me?” he turns his body as well

She shakes her head “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that. Why would you wanna stay with me?” tears flood the bottoms of her eyes and she quickly wipes them away before turning and entering her room and closing the door behind her. 

Alastor stands and thinks for a moment. He shakes his head and against his better judgment enters the rooms after her. She doesn’t notice when he enters, as her head is in her hands. He twirls his cane in his fingers and plants down on the ground. 

“What exactly did you need?” his voice seeps out from behind his teeth. She looks up and has tears streaming from her eyes and quickly tries to wipe them away “Why are you crying?” he asks in a voice that is slightly disgusted and condescending

She sniffles and uses her sleeves on her eyes “I’m not,” she lies

“What are you sweating through your eyes?” he asks skeptically

Voe sniffles some more “No,” she sits up “I’m not doing anything,” blinking and turning her eyes up to stop the tears from falling

“I thought you felt bad about lying,”

“I know what I said,” she looks away from him

“Okay, so you’re perfectly fine?”

She doesn’t answer, just sniffling some more.

“Well, I suppose I should say good night then,”

Voe slaps her knees “Alastor,” he turns to face her once more “I don’t like people seeing me cry,”

“Why?”

She scoffs and laughs “Would you let anyone see you cry?”

He plants his cane between his legs “I don’t cry,”

She laughs “Sure you don’t,”

Alastor furrows his brows “Did you need me in here for something?”

She looks up at him with her moist eyes “I just….wanted company,” she admits

“Now, was that so hard?” there’s an uptick in his grin

Voe plays with her fingers “Yes, it was,”

He rolls his eyes and sits down on the bed near her. A moment goes by before she breaks the silence.

“Do you hate me?”

“Why would I hate you?” he asks sarcastically

“You have lots of reasons to hate me, but I want to know if you do. Because I don’t think you’d be sitting here if you did,”

He hums a bit “I dislike you strongly, and I do not trust you,” he begins “But you’re right, I don’t hate you,”

She looks at him “I don’t hate you either,”

“Well, why would you?” he grins “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

She smiles a bit and turns to him “Yeah, but you’re still an asshole,”

“You’re a liar,”

“I know,”

He holds the cane in place “Look at us, getting to know each other better,”

Voe laughs dryly “I usually avoid crying, but I don’t know what happened this time,”

“Conscience getting the best of you?”

“I guess,” she sighs “You have no idea how hard it is to be me,” He purrs sarcastically, and she rolls her eyes “You don’t! Nobody does!”

“All that lying must be so hard!”

She drops her hands “Do you even know why I lied? Yeah, you don’t,”

“Fame, fortune, attention?”

“It’s more than that. Something intangible that’s just out of my reach. And if I’m going to get it I can’t be crying and baring my soul to everyone,”

“Aren’t you deep?”

She furrows her brows “I hold my head high no matter what happens because I and that bitch!”

Alastor ‘mumbles’ “You’re a bitch all right,”

Voe squints “You think you’re better than me,” she concludes “Looking down on me like you’re on some sort of moral high ground,” she sounds more disgusted the more she goes on. She pokes him in the chest as he stands unmoving “Newsflash you’re a serial killer Alastor!” she stands as well “Not exactly the person to be judging me! At least the things I do are to achieve a goal! You do them for some sick twisted or even sexual satisfaction. I’m morality you’re worth less than a shit stain!”

Alastor’s tentacles spring forward, pinning her to the door and wrapping around her small frame.  

“Watch your mouth,”

“I’m a bit tired of people telling me to watch my mouth,”

“Well, my dear you have to earn the right to run it,” he steps closer to her “Now I know what you mean about it getting you into trouble,” he tuts “Even the other employees know not to speak to me like that,”

She closes her eyes and opens them halfway “Are you going to kill me for it? Tear my soul apart?” She inhales “Yeah…know your deal. But I will not give you the satisfaction of my scream,”

“Hmm,” he muses “Ǎ̵̯r̴̭͐ȅ̸̫ ̸̼̊ẏ̶͇o̴̟͋u̸͉͠ ̸̦̓ș̵̀ụ̵͘r̸̮͑ḛ̴̛?̷̯̀” he raises her with his tentacles and lowers her towards him. Alastor unhinges his jaw like a python and brings her closer to his open mouth

She struggles on the tentacles “You’re gonna eat me?” 

“Mm yes, most certainly. I will devour you,”

Voe laughs “That’s what he said,”

“Excuse me?” He raises a brow “That is what I said,”

She continues laughing

“I don’t understand the joke,” his form grows large and monstrous

“Whoa,” Voe stares at his new form “Are you still gonna eat me?” she giggles

He narrows his eyes “You are a strange strange woman,”

Voe smirks “Kinda digging this look actually,”

“Dig all you want, I still don’t like you,”

“You don’t have to, can you put me down?”

He drops her on her ass, returning to his normal form. “Oh, my mistake,” he says sarcastically

Voe stands and rubs her butt “Could’ve dropped me somewhere soft, like on the bed. Do you always eat people?”

Alastor shrugs “Hmm,”

She steps closer to him “Do you really dislike me?”

Alastor closes his eyes “I’m not sure yet,”

“I think you like me actually,”

“Hmmm, shame I can’t trust you though,”

She gives him a coy look “So you do like me. That’s why you didn’t eat me,”

“Shame I can’t trust you,”

Voe steps even closer to the Radio Demon “Hmm, or maybe,” she grabs his sleeve “That’s not how you want to eat me,”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” He turns his eyes down to her

She looks up at him submissively, grabbing his other sleeve “We never talked about our kiss,”

“Hmm, what is it you’d like to talk about?”

“You kissed me back,”

“I did, didn’t I?”

Voe nods once “You did,”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it was the pent-up rage,”

“Wanna get rid of the rest of it?” She asks suggestively

Alastor leans down and lifts her chin, he stops less than an inch away from her lips “Not tonight,”

Voe laughs in disbelief “Are you serious?”

“Have a good night,” he shadows out of the room

Chapter 14>

[fandoomrants]

Ok, so as much as the Hunger Games scare and unnerve me as a concept, I really want to learn so many things about how they played out through the years...

Let's start with the first games ever. I wonder how long they took and what happened, who was the victor ofc, I think that in this exact case, all tributes had more or less equal chances as they didn't know what to expect, but most importantly, how did everyone else die? Did anyone actually kill another tribute, or the arena finished them? Because we already saw what's going on in the 10th games and tbh, yes, there was a group that was ready to kill and all but most of them were just scared and didn't want to kill/hurt. But they got to watch 9 games before that and already had an idea what was to be expected. And also, this arena didn't seem that easy to control as the ones in the 74th and 75th so what happened during the first games?

Then there's the First Quarter Quell. It's been a while since I read the books and I don't remember seeing in the movies but it goes around the fandom that the twist there was people from the districts voted for who goes in? How crazy is that? Tbh, if I have to number the wickedness of these quells, I'd say this is the worst, followed by the victors entering again in the 75th, and then maybe the most... Mild would be the Second where it was double tributes. Because yeah, double the trubutes is awful but... they're all endangered and 23 or 47 lost lives is... when it comes to having large number of victims, somewhat not that crazy. And only victors entering again is also so crazy and twisted, like, look at them, they're all mostly mentally or phisically damged but imagine being chosen not in some large poll with numerous other names in it but because people choose you?! Like, neighbours, people that know you actually looked at you and decided "Yes, they'll be the ones doomed this time." How did this one even go?? I've already discussed this with friends and we were trying to decide if some of the districts chose the ones most likely to win, or just the ones they disliked for one reason or another. But come on, it's crazy. Though, this might be eventually how the idea of Careers appeared. But I also wanna know the victor of these games because just imagine winning games in which people you know put you in? How do you get back and live... Not a normal life but some kind of life and you just know people you interract on a daily basis send you to your death.

And then, of course like most people in this fandom, I want to know more about the games of the victors we've seen. We have some of them discussed and shown in bigger details but still, maybe just a little more information and details about how exactly these games played out wouldn't hurt...

I just said earlier how the Second Quarter Quell was maybe the most okay-ish when it comes to the twist but this doesn't make it less tragic. And we first see Haymitch when he's older and he's... Well, a total wreck, dealing with alcoholism and all of that and you just wonder how this guy even won?! And then we later learn how he won and what led him to become the way he is now but still, it's pretty crazy that he won when there were not 23 but 47 other people. And yes, he "cheated the system" but I don't really think he was the first one. As I've seen people pointing out, so did Lucy Gray and so did Katniss and Peeta. And I believe others also found a way to just... Survive. And as I sae in an earlier post, who was his mentor? I think there wasn't one. And there were surely Careers in these games too. Wasn't the last girl he was left with a Career? So, this guy from District 12 managed to win a game where there were double tributes without a mentor even. And then he just keeps suffering and honestly, I absolutely understand him. Honestly, I think for all he went through, alcoholism is an understandable thing, I probably would have just commited a suicide or sth. And the more I think about it, the more I think the real reason he was punished and had his whole family killed wasn't because he "cheated" but because he was someone who was extremely unlikely to win and yet he did and this is what really made lots of people angry. He wasn't an "interesting" tribute.

And speaking of "interesting", here comes Finnick. Yet another victor who we know most of the details about but still. He's famous for winning sg only 14. Was he a Career? Was he just unfortunate? And his whole story with Annie. Did they know each other before her games? Did they fall before or after that? Was she a Career? I've seen lots of people commenting on it and how she might have been, even though she developed problems after that. Likee, it's one thing to prepare for the games and a whole another to actually be there. Yet this only makes me think that if this was the case, they probably became a thing after the games. I just can't imagine him knowing what it means to be a victor (him, of all people!), and actually supporting her decision to take part.

And on the topic of Careers, I really want to know how this became a thing. I have to admit, I somewhat see the logic of children starting to prepare and train for the worst but I can't fully wrap my mind around the idea of someone volunteering for the games knowing fully well that they have a very big chance of dying. No matter what, there's is only one victor always (with one excpetion but we know how bad this played out in the end) so to enter willingly games where you just know there are others who have trained for? And one of them is also from your district and you've most likely trained together?? What's going onn?

And how some of the tributes would form packs. I actually want to see how games like this one played out. Haymitch and the girl from 12 (I know her name but I won't spell it right) broke theirs because they didn't want to kill each other in the end but there surely must have been games where this was the case in the end. A group of people who had been hunting down the others together would have been the only survivors in the end and they must have had to kill each other eventually. How do you even kill someone who was your ally and you had each others' backs until this moment??

And I also wonder how many people had won similarly to how Foxface got close to winning. By just avoiding the others and survivng. And were they punished for it later too?

Also, when and how did the victors become public and famous figures? We saw Lucy Gray after her games back in 12, continuing her life almost as before (though we see this through Snow's eyes so I don't claim she didn't have a hard time, it's just that she was left unbothered, mostly). Then, the 11th Games is when the Victor's Village first became a thing. And the tours? Everything else? The way the victors would be used by the Capitol for the rest of their lives? When did this become a thing? I can't help but think this must be just another form of punishment that was implemented there. They survive yet they suffer for it in other ways.

I just really need answers and these are only some things on top of my head now, I might add to the list later...

If anyone is interested in indulging and discussing these or something else, feel free to DM me..

[nekoannie-chan]

Fractured

Title: Fractured.

Fandom: Marvel, X-men, Captain America.

Pairing: Brock Rumlow X Mutant!Reader.

Rating: Teen.

Word count: 682 words.

Warnings: Mention of characters death, interrogation.

Summary: You discovered Brock’s past.

A/N: This is my entry to @multifandom-lover​, Annie-1018 & square 2:

"I used to be a sweet kid."

You can read it on Wattpad & Ao3 too.

@saiyanprincessswanie​

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish:  Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. 

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

Tags: @sinceimetyou  @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad @navybrat817   @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @charmed-asylum  @caplanbuckybarnes  @hallecarey1  @nana1000night @talia-rumlow   @mylifeispainandiloveit  @writingshae @azulatodoryuga   @chaoticcollectivenightmare @endlesstwanted  @chemtrails-club    @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @here4thefanfics @theestorm @patzammit​

Brock kept the small locket with your photo; no one but him knew of the existence of that object. That day, maybe it would be his last mission, his last chance to see you. He had a feeling about what would happen, although he could not discern whether it would be good or bad.

He loves you, and he knew that you loved him too, but neither of us dared to take the first step, nor would he forget the look on your face when you discovered who he really was.

He cursed when Steve forced him into the vehicle; indeed, the mission had not gone as he had planned. He knew what would happen, but he would manage to escape.

He had always liked interrogations, but he preferred to carry them out and not be asked the questions himself.

He was sure that Rogers would be the one interrogating him, so he would do everything he could to make him mad and not get any answers. Steve had ruined his life.

Twenty minutes before the door opened, Brock settled into his seat, though he was suddenly confused when he saw you come in instead of Steve.

"It's been a long time," you said, looking at him.

"I can explain," Brock commented, pretending to be disinterested. He wasn't going to let you realize that you had surprised him; he was completely sure that Steve wouldn't miss the opportunity to get information from one of his enemies.

"What are you going to explain to me, Brock? Why were you trying to steal a highly dangerous substance? Or why were you part of HYDRA? " you scoffed.

"Whatever you want, although I guess you're more interested in knowing the former, I guess you're going to record it." Brock's voice sounded sarcastic.

"No one knows I'm here; in fact, no one suspects it, so no cameras," you commented.

Yes, you had used your powers for that; no one would notice that you were talking or anything that happened there. You could even be there for hours and they wouldn't notice it; in reality, it would only be less than a second.

"I know you like me," he said suddenly.

"You don't know anything, Brock."

"I know how you feel about me; I know what you thought about me that day; I saw everything in your eyes; I know too many things... "

"Don't try to be funny, Rumlow; I didn't come here to talk about that," "you said.

"I used to be a sweet kid."

"What? "

"I had a good childhood; my father was military, kind of strict, but still. You know, sometimes things happen for a reason; I didn't expect to be an orphan at sixteen."

"Did that make you what you are now? Is that how you justify everything you've done? "

"Not exactly, but that's how I ended up in the HYDRA facility."

Brock kept telling you everything that had happened in his life as you tried to decipher his intentions. In the end, he was right; you were in love with him, but you needed to know what his plan was. Anyway, it seemed like it was a forbidden love, but how many things hadn't you already done in hiding from the organization?

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"As soon as you said it, I realized, we're not in the cell at the base, are we?"

"Do you really care where we are?"

"No, of course, we could do other things," Brock suggested suggestively.

You smiled. They wouldn't do anything there, but somewhere else.

"Don't worry, I'll show you the plan later, but in the meantime, you must be ready; at any moment, I'll take you out of here," you told him.

Before Brock could say anything else, he was already alone in the room again; however, this time he was smiling. He was going to get out of there, and in the best way possible, with your help.

He looked up when he heard the door open again; this time it was Steve, so he smirked.

[lukewarmsoapytoast]

UGH the URGE to just spam this acc with angst writing is INSANE. Sadly, I haven’t written a full-length read in a while, I’ve had college classes in the mornings and I get busy in the afternoons. So, my point is, HERE’S SOME QUOTES I CAME UP WITH OR WANT TO USE‼️‼️

Please only reuse w/ credit!

Most of these taken from irl because it was funny 😭

LET ME KNOW YOUR OPINIONS AND WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT QUOTES AND SUCH IN!!!

Quotes

•

"Of course you do, and you’re going to regret those bad decisions in the morning when you’re sober."

“What morning?”

•

“You ignore my requests like they’re food allergies at a foreign restaurant and you wonder why I wanna hang out with girls more.”

•

“I wish I could love you, too.”

•

“It’s because I’m in love with you.”

“Because you wha—oh my god, it all makes sense now.”

•

"Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. But you can't laugh, okay? Promise me you’ll listen without judgment."

“I mean unless you say that you managed to kill a god, I won’t laugh.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

•

“My love…You— You know there isn’t any recovering from this, the medics won’t arrive in time, I-I’ll die. I deserve to be made fun of for being that stupid, but I don’t regret my choice…saving you was my goal overall in life, my purpose, and I succeeded..I can die happy, but you need to let me go, first.”

•

“And how am I supposed to believe you, huh? You wanna bring that fucking whore in to confirm that you still love me? That you regret fucking her over and over, and over, repeatedly, on our own damn bed??”

“[First Name], I—”

“It’s [Last Name] now, that’s what you’ll be referring to me as. No more pet names, no more first name. Goodbye, find somebody else to manipulate.”

•

“Dude, you literally shot me.”

“I was beat as a child, do you hate me, do you want me dead, I know you do, I understand—”

•

“I have a penis and it isn’t mine. ☺️”

“Uhh, what?”

“You heard me.”

“Where r u rn??”

“I’m w ur mom”

“Bruh”

“The party you told me not to go to.”

“Omw.”

•

“If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

“😈”

“Uh oh? Please tell me you haven’t written an essay about this already and I happened to send that around the time you finished it.”

“I think I'd have the ability to persuade people. It's nothing special but imagine how much success you could end up having and also how many people you could befriend. I like having friends. ALSO you can stop any wars with just a "Stop pretty pls 🥺👉👈" like it's the best superpower. You could save the world with it basically, screw pollution”

“Dear god, keep going. I’m interested.”

“People who wanna fly are confusing, like, go skydiving or something like that, pull a hiccup from HTTYD. And why obtain invisibility when you can just tell people you aren’t there?”

“Wait, you’ve got a point.”

“Somebody asking why we’re stalking them? Hit them with the ‘NUH UH! I’M NOT EVEN HERE, BABY! I’M A HALLUCINATION!’. That’ll win.”

“Oh my god you’re onto something.”

“Someone trying to end the world? Nope. ‘Pretty pls be a good person 🥺’ them.”

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

“Since you asked.”

“YOU THOUGHT THAT UP THAT QUICKLY???”

•

"What if he thinks I'm being dense?"

"Then he'll stop liking you. Problem solved."

Ideas

•

When they're constantly assuring as they lay dying, "I'm fine, I'll be okay, don't worry about me, l'll live." But their final words, whispered, barely audible,

"I don't want to die."

•

“I’ll be there for you”, “I’m sorry”, “I love you”, over and over again. “don’t hurt yourself”, “We need a break”, “I need you”, All of this, but you never mean it. Never. Not when I need you, your mistakes are a record on loop, your love is as present as my father. You don’t care if I hurt myself, especially because you hurt me. Can this break last forever? You need me to do as you say, you don’t need me there.

•

If HS!Gojo had a crush he’d confess like this:

(Texting)

“Let’s go on a date, do you like sex? Lol. <3”

•

Chr picks up a completely dry and closed jar of salsa.

“Salsaaaa…”

Something drips on their toe.

“Is…Is it wet?”

Frantically checking the jar for water droplets or cracks. Nothing.

“Excuse me???”

Confused.

“WHY???”

Concerned.

•

Father telling small adopted demon child to stay behind while they search for a plushie.

"Perhaps you should stay here, honey. This is no place for a child anyways. I'm sure we don't want you getting kidnapped by some kind of murderer, do we?"

"👹" Foaming at the mouth.

"Dear god, what have I done?"

•

Two characters arguing in a group chat over who’s hotter and it turns into an argument over who would be a better boyfriend to you. This is how you make your grand entrance.

“What did I just stumble upon at this very unfortunate hour. I wish to die.”

[how-my-day-went]

November 22nd, 2024

Anxiety is one hell of a thing. No matter how well your day might be going, it's still there, in the back of your mind - gnawing, screeching, yearning to shake you up and destabilize you. And the most insane part of it all - you are doing this to yourself. You, yourself, the brain that is piloting a mecha of flesh and bone - you are doing this.

That is what I can't wrap my head around. What exactly is it that makes people this way? And what's the best way to fight it? I'd tell you if I knew, but I'm trying to find the answer myself.

All that aside, nothing of note happened today. Average workday, I was the only one from the team in the office - that was pretty awesome, I got the whole corner of the open workspace to myself, minimal interaction as I sat behind the cushioned dividers concealing me from the rest of the drones.

I did what I do best, which is... well, I worked really hard for a while but I also slacked off quite a bit. Maybe even more than usual. It was nice!

We've got a "colleague of the year" vote going on right now, I wonder who'll win that. Though one of the newer guys I trained up did say he voted for me. Humble as I am, I just asked him "why, I haven't really done anything"? But his pick makes sense - you tend to cling the first people you meet, especially if they're teaching you how to do the job.

On my way home, I met a neighbor carrying a washing machine out to a large industrial dumpster - someone in the apartment complex is doing renovations. Don't know what compelled me, but I offered to help - managed to toss that heavy ass thing into the container with no issues. I can't imagine how long he would've struggled on his own - it's a miracle he got it outside in the first place, because when we took the elevator he went to the 9th floor, and the elevator is clearly not large enough to fit a washing machine. Poor dude. Should've gotten another person, to be honest.

Then I went out for groceries, settled for a few pizza slices for dinner again - I really do not want to cook, not on a Friday. Some energy drinks. It's gonna be a long night - I've got a TTRPG session at 2 AM my time. It's 2:16 at the time of writing this and we're setting up but I can feel the drowsiness set in. I'll just chug those energy drinks all night and sleep it off tomorrow.

And tomorrow is my father's birthday. I should give him a call. Maybe go visit. My little sister just got a dog and I wanna come see it anyway, so what better time than now?

I hope this weekend treats me better than the last, but outlook is good for now. Maybe I'm finally getting out of that month+ long depressive episode I've been in.

[happyinjection]

♠️♥️High Card Short Story 4 “The Hectic Daily Life of Wendy Sato” (3/3)♦️♣️

Past midday, the grind for business negotiations and clerical work continues. It dawned on Wendy that the office had been abnormally quiet...

Original: https://twitter.com/highcard_pj/status/1537631536060567552

Author: https://twitter.com/poipheno

Artist: https://twitter.com/ebimoji3

I sat in the reception room. In front of me, across the low table, stood Leo who had been speaking with a VIP customer. Negotiations with that man always dragged on for hours, and my eyelids were getting heavy. Certainly Leo felt the same way, but he maintained a cheerful facade as they talked away.

During lunch, I had gone out for ramen with Finn and Chris, and to top it off, at tea time, Chris had ordered a chocolate brownie, which I also took several bites from.

Thinking absentmindedly about the work still waiting to get done by the remainder of the day, I slowly began to doze off.

And then, right as I fell asleep.

“---just show me the documents.”

“Wendy. Give me those papers.”

“Ah, o-okay! Here you go!”

I took the documents out from a briefcase and handed them over in a hurry. For  a second there, Leo shot me a sharp glare as he took the papers from me. Then he immediately returned to his innocent smile, not unlike putting on a mask.

So I had done it again. The lack of sleep I was getting these days was to blame.

♠️♥️♦️♣️

Later on, Leo and Vijay left. Business were going to take long today, and thus they would not be returning to the branch office. It left me with only Finn and Chris as company. That said, it seemed that those two were in the basement. As someone who spent most of my time off duty indoors, when people left and the store became quiet, I couldn’t help feeling a bit lonely. However, it was precisely the time to concentrate on my job. I pushed my glasses up and re-tied my hair.

“Alright.....!”

---Time passed by in a flash. Coincidentally, there were no more customers coming, so I managed to get a lot of work done.

All that was left is to find Chris, whom the client sealed a deal with the other day, and have him confirm the documents. I looked around for Chris, but he was nowhere to be seen.

.....Strange.

Papers in hand, I quickly stood from my seat and headed to the basement. If there happen to be a phone call or a customer coming in while I was away, Bernard-san would handle it from the office, so there should be no problem.

I tiptoed through my way down. It was at times like these when the physical skills that I had refined over the years came in handy. All of a sudden, I heard a voice.

“---Finn. Take a look at this.”

“Hm, what’s it? What are you doing?”

“Come and see for yourself. This, right here. See, it’s getting bigger, right?”

“Oh~ it’s swelling, ain’t it. Lookin’ kinda red.”

“I know right~ Wanna touch it a bit?”

“No way I’m touching that. Are you nuts.”

Those two were crouching in the shadows of the basement. Chris opened his mouth wide to let Finn peek in.

“So you’ve been using this place to slack off!”

—In an instant both of them sprung up to their feet.

“Uwaaah! You surprised me!”

“What the hell, don’t sneak up on us!”

“Go back inside now, you’re still at work!”

“Like I care! Today’s business going slow! Right, Finn!”

“We were just washing the cars, so don’t get us wrong!”

“That doesn’t mean you can slack off! Look, unless you want Leo to find out, you’d better get your asses going now!”

The two of them got to their feet and started running while still turning to me.

“Tch—! This damned class president!”

“Next time I won’t vote for you! Also I won’t lend you my eraser if I’m sitting next to you—!”

“You guys are literal man-children! For real! Besides, why the hell are you talking about voting?!”

♠️♥️♦️♣️

Once their shift was over, Finn and Chris finished cleaning up and left early. Today they had a mission, thus it seemed that they would not be coming back.

I sat at my desk, taking a deep breath. And then, just as I thought about clocking out early as well, I realized.

“Ah, of course....!”

I had forgotten to make a monthly sales report to submit to the headquarters. Apparently sales of new cars had been lower than expected, and it seemed that we were being outpaced by our rival company, Who’s Who. Hence why the area manager from the main branch would come to meet Leo tomorrow.

I glanced at my watch. The manager would be coming in the afternoon, so if I clock in early tomorrow, I should be able to make it, I thought...

After contemplating about it for a while, I finally decided to finish it by the end of the day. Even if I had chosen to go home, I would surely get overwhelmed by anxiety and lose sleep as a result.

—In the end, I ended up working overtime.

Just as I was wrapping things up, Finn and Chris, who turned out to have changed their plans, returned after their mission. They seemed to take pity on my haggard appearance, because they invited me out for a glass or two at Crazy 8. I wondered if it was those two guys’ way of showing that they cared about me, and since I had been feeling lonely for a long time today, I was nevertheless happy to accept.

At Crazy 8, they lightly scolded me, remarking, “you’re way too uptight”. Getting called out by both my coworker and junior, I began to reflect on myself, while the alcohol just mysteriously kept on coming.

I could not remember much after that, but the next day I was woken up by my father’s phone call again, and thus I started another day with another episode of self-loathing.

♠️♥️♦️♣️

TL notes: I’m 90% sure the thing that Chris showed to Finn is his swollen tonsils (not his p-)... do not let people touch your tonsils barehanded, fellas. Why are you getting tonsilitis at your age anyway? Lmao. I’m in no way a professional translator so if you find any mistakes, please do not hesitate to inform me right away. I love the High Card gang and I found it very unfortunate that while it is meant to be a multimedia project, I can’t seem to find the translated versions of any materials (beside the anime) anywhere (if this is against copyright, I will take it down). As usual, let’s enjoy High Card together~

[princesseevee06]

hi eevee!! the recent news on ytr Shins execution has me Devastated. (esp bc Kannas death is my favorite and im very normal about greenblings LMAOO) but that got me thinking about the other executions in ytr! if you'd like to, what are some of the other executions/deaths?? don't gotta reveal all of em yet, just wanted to ask haha :) take care!

HI BREAD i am so sorry about the shin execution thing. i saw the opportunity to do the funniest (most agonizing) thing ever and i had to.

the thing that really gets me about it is like. in ytr shin never gets his collar off at that last moment, he has no chance of really escaping, but he’s still trying to run WHILE HIS BODY IS BEING ROOTED TO THE GROUND and he still manages to even set up the sara ai. he still doesnt accept his fate right up until the very end. And That Makes Me So Sad

buuuuut you probably wanna hear about some of the other devastating deaths! which i am also happy to provide deets on ^^

(WARNING: LONG LONG POST BELOW i am so sorry)

ok im gonna be honest i havent focused super hard on the deaths themselves because it’s always more interesting to me to focus on the aftermath i think…but there are some ive thought about more than others so i’ll go over those!

• nao

this one is Hectic. I wanted it to be kind of a mix of mishima’s death and nao’s canon death, so her collar device is sort of like…magnetic? basically, it pulls her to the wall and starts crushing her neck. i feel like this adds a greater sense of panic to the scene, because unlike mishima’s collar which they can’t touch when it burns, in ytr both kugie and mishima are trying to help nao :,) (spoiler alert they cannot)

• sara

oh this one makes me So sad….it’s fundamentally the same premise as joe’s execution with the wrigglers, but the difference is that ryoko is actually fast enough with the clicker to get them off (it’s always so funny to me that one of the canon things we know about ryoko is she’s good at arcade games. so i imagine she has fast fingers 💀). but at that point it’s already too late because sara has lost too much blood, so she just ends up bleeding out in ryoko’s arms instead. fun fact: because of that, ryoko’s hallucination of sara always comes out of the ground in a pool of blood :,)

• sei

ok i haven’t SUPER worked out the specifics of this one but i do know the general vibes for it so i’m putting it anyways. basically, when sei gets voted for, much like what happened in the assassin game in canon they ask kai to kill them. because they don’t want to be alone as they die and also it’d be a big middle finger to asunaro. kai has the kitchen knife. he could do it. but he literally just can’t bring himself to. if it was himself he could do it, but he can’t bring himself to hurt sei. so instead he just has to watch them die without doing a thing and it ends up haunting him. (i have this vivid image of kai literally having to be dragged away from sei’s corpse :((((((((( )

• sou

ok here’s the big one. sou is my fave bleeby blorbo so you KNOW i’ve put a shit-ton of thought into this one. the funniest thing about this to me is that. sou put his collar on himself at the beginning of the death game. and so when hayasaka is like “sorry :( we’ll have to execute you” sou is like “nuh uh” and literally just takes it back off. THERE IS JUST THIS MOMENT OF. AWKWARD SILENCE ACROSS THE ENTIRE ROOM. hayasaka is like “holy shit what do i do now” but he doesn’t have to do any work because sou ends up dooming himself 👍

he figures. okay well i have to do something quick or people from the upper floors are actually gonna come start trying to kill me. unlike shin, he doesn’t really have any intention of ‘escaping,’ at least not in a direct manner, but what he does try to do is get to the fifth floor where his lab is to see if he can deactivate the collars. because essentially, that’ll take the target off his back at least temporarily— what’s one guy running around without a collar to SEVEN people running around without a collar? asunaro cant execute everyone if they want the death game to continue, right? he knows the facility, so he’s actually able to dodge/avoid the ‘weapons’ really well. atp the other participants are running after him watching him bolt across the third floor and straight up rooting for him. he gets really close to the winner’s stairs (and if he can get there, he’s home free because they connect to all the other floors) and because of that he gets a little tooooooo cocky.

if he can actually accomplish what he’s trying to do, asunaro could literally fall apart from the inside out. if they don’t have control over the participants w/ the collars, the main cast could quite literally stage a mini uprising. sou could finally have the chance to be free from asunaro, to be free from his mother, to live his life how *he* wants to— he’s so close.

so anyways, sou looks back at shin. because of course he does.

and what is he rewarded with? impalement! ^_^ no seriously, at the last moment he steps on a trap that impales him. YES i wanted to harken back to the fake death alice caused in actual yttd. so yeah he uh. does not make it out of that one alive. sorry sou!

(i could talk about how this firmly cements in shin that his mindset of the strong persevering over the weak is correct, because he was the one to pass the role of ‘shin tsukimi’ over to sou, to pass the role of being ‘weak’ to him, and in sou’s last moments that weakness (in this case, caring too deeply for shin) ends up being his undoing. but we’ll save that for another day!)

• mishima

so mishima’s is actually relatively the same as q-taro’s canon death, because tbh i couldn’t figure out a way to make it any different without completely screwing up the banquet. sorry mimimishima :((

the thing that really gets me about this one is the REVEAL though. atp kugie and mishima have built up a strong relationship throughout the death game, and so the fact that mishima’s sacrifice essentially ends up saving kugie’s life is weirdly poetic to me. it is NOT poetic to kugie though. she is so upset that people keep sacrificing themselves for her sake (since yknow. she experienced this first with kanna) when she’s been trying to protect others this whole time. it’s just. agh. really sad.

i haven’t really thought as much about maple’s hinako’s and ranmaru’s sorry,,,, again i thought more of the surrounding circumstances for those ones (other people’s reactions to their deaths so. yknow yknow) but i’ll try to think more on em in the meantime!

I am SO sorry for this post it was SUPER long and SUPER sad. like *I* am sad now and I’m the one who decided what happens. Sorry bread 😭

[beautifulpersonpeach]

The SM saga finally ended. The results aren’t too bad for Hybe huh BPP? They’re still have their shares and it looks like they got SM’s version of Weverse out of the deal? Which means 💰 💰 💰 i saw a lot of SM stans celebrating that hybe backed off and now they won’t be sending trucks to Hybe if something bad happens to the music or idols or management cuz that shit was peak kpop insanity and I was so embarrassed for them 🤣🤣 from what i know of kakao i’m gonna be tunning in to this new Kakao led SM and see the ripple of consequences this whole thing is gonna unfold in the months and years to come. I do wanna see lsm, his nephew and other people involved in corruption be dragged to jail though…

*

Ask 2: Thank god the Sm thing is finally over, I was getting so sick of the fanwars and people talking bs about shit they know nothing about. Idgaf about that drama and all I really wanna know is if the cops are finally investigating Lsm and putting his ass on jail and keeping him there????? Bcuz I just found out that he was convicted in the 2000s and just manage to wiggle out bcuz of his connections???? God let this kdrama end on a good note at least!!!!!!!!

***

Hi Anon(s),

Lol Anon in ask 2, what did you think the government/presidential pardon in the 2000s I kept mentioning was referring to? [Aside, in the last 4 months or so, I’ve started responding to Tumblr asks more on my phone and so it’s not as easy to constantly link in sources the way I used to do on my earlier posts. But I try to be as descriptive as possible so y’all can just google what I say to confirm. So in this case as an example, anyone can go to my earlier posts on the topic and google the claims there or google ‘Lee Sooman pardon 2007’ to get the backing source. ]

The first part of the play is over, that’s right. There’s still part 2 coming, but let’s talk about Part 1 first:

I underestimated HYBE. In hind sight, of course HYBE of all companies would know how acute the social and corporate governance risk is in SM. I mean, SM is one of the oldest entertainment companies in Korea and easily has the most atrocious record in terms of artist abuse and staff coercion, aside from the rampant embezzlement court cases at all levels of management, not just with Lee Sooman, over the last two decades. Fans of SM groups, industry officials, etc all looked the other way so long as the music and the money kept pumping out, despite embarrassing court cases every four years on average, but now the question remains what SM will look like now that the brains behind the operation, Lee Sooman, (if everyone from YYJ to the idols themselves e.g. Shinee and Red Velvet are to be believed), now that he has taken a step back for now.

(Personally, I hope they only go up from here. Those artists deserve so much better.)

Anyway even I who was initially skeptical, have to tip my hat to how brilliantly HYBE played this. Their downside had always been limited (the first obvious smart move), but instead of trying to outbid Kakao, Bang PD apparently went directly to the Institutional investors on SM’s book, convinced them to vote in HYBE’s favour, which would’ve meant Kakao overpaying for a stake with severely limited management control since HYBE would undercut it during the vote, and that is what then prompted Kakao to reach out to HYBE before the vote to make a deal. Now HYBE gets access to SM’s proprietary platforms, some access to their artist IP (though this is controlled by Kakao), can still act as a check on management decisions at SM, and still have a stake they can monetize for profit later. All without dealing with the headache of trying to oversee a governance overhaul at a company that has been anemic on basic corporate ethics for 20 years - which was my primary concern. Trying to do that would’ve been insanely expensive for HYBE, both fiscally and otherwise. Like they might as well set cash on fire. In my humble opinion.

As I mentioned in my last post on the topic, HYBE stuck to their past pattern of behaviour and didn’t overbid for SM but:

Fun fact: SM’s share price today is below HYBE’s tender offer price… down 20% only today, while Kakao’s new tender offer price is ~70% above their initial bid, 25% more than HYBE’s tender bid, and ~30% more than SM’s current share price… Even after amortizing and discounting the additional payments HYBE made to Lee Sooman to secure his stake, HYBE is sitting on hundreds of millions in profit that they can realize as soon as this year if Kakao seeks to buy HYBE’s stake or even some of it. And like I said earlier, with failed tender offers, excess returns typically trend to zero over one year (it’s already happening), so unless Kakao can leverage the SM deal into another business combination or listing this year, they are spectacularly screwed.

Like, y’all.

HYBE committed corporate murder.

But the Pink Bloods get the Happily Ever After they always wanted with Kakao a La Cinderella.

And Kakao likely will pursue another business combination. I mean, they’d be stupid not to.

Everybody’s happy. :)

*

Now, Part 2. There are still so many ways this can go and I still highlight the middle of May (end of Earnings season) as when we’ll have the best picture of what’s happening. HYBE can choose to keep their stake as is and watch from the inside how things progress at SM, with a say on how the company is managed; HYBE could reduce their stake and lose that privilege; or sell down and dip altogether. And there’s also how they use their access to SM artist IP and the platforms.

All this to say, fun times ahead.

[rin-and-jade]

this is my experience with DID

short-term system problem : making sure all daily tasks are completed, no matter who fronts. keeping a routine, basically.

long-term system problem: we don't have higher education because we can't settle on a career path. we all have wildly different ideas of what we wanna do with our lives, so nothing is actually happening (for now). that's honestly one of our big problems as a system.

I hope you don't mind me telling this via my experience since we have this same issue and managed to overcome it, though i'll provide more general tips at the bottom so lets start:

For daily tasks, the rest managed to keep on the routine streak because i used my initiative to tell them what to do, when, how and why to make sure the one who's out understand it completely (im a gatekeeper, so make sure you do have one to make it easier) plus, sometimes i also go to co-con and guide them to make sure its actually being done (i don't want to spoil them via co-front because they have to be self sufficient and adapting). But sometimes others are also able to pick it up and remember those things themselves via co-con but not as usual.

For carrier, man, this, this is also a hard one,, but possible. Our people kept rambling about "let's pick being a graphic designer", "no don't do that, pick psychology", "why not just freelance?" and etc etc. so we scheduled a whole day dedicated for voting, discussing, jotting down pros and cons in a career, and other things like background researching and seeing prices for applying to each major, you know it. And we ended up at Hospitality/Hotel Management major.. i don't know the other name for it. We chose this because most of us are capable on performing hospitality, cooking, socializing,, something that doesn't require doing tasks were difficult on (for us its complex calculation, formula memorization).

Because experiences isn't a foolproof way to find solutions, here are my thoughts on what you can do that can help too:

For daily task, by using post-notes or in an app, write all the to-do for the day and another one for the daily routine,, make it clear that anyone can add to the list or cross it out if something changes. if you don't like notes then if it's possible by updating the person before it fronts (not possible for involuntary fronts tbh).

For choice of career, why not list who can do what, who gets out the most, who is responsible enough to carry on menial task/jobs, which hobbies pops out the most (this is because it has a potential to make it the main choice of career), rethink which from those listed are easier to manage and pursue (the major for career part) and cross the harder ones out, then discuss, vote vote vote, choice decided. finished.

Hope this helps, kuddos to you.

- j

[doctor-badadvice]

Maybe it's late to talk about Scream Fortress but whatever. I'm going to talk about the new maps.

I love Scream Fortress. It's a great time with good (free) cosmetics and what made me get into tf2 in the first place. My first hour in game was spent as a very confused Heavy on Brimstone. I had fun then and I come back for the event every year.

This year, unfortunately, the game decided to test my patience.

There's a different between wanting new content and digging through garbage with the raccoons for just about anything. Every time for the past two or three years whenever they added something new, it was either boring or broken. We had absolute pearls like Laughter and Crasher, two maps that are both beautiful and fun to play. Then we had Soulmill, Bonesaw, Precipice, fucking Sinshine and Graveyard and of course, a whole bunch of uninteresting cosmetics and taunts that just happened to have many votes on the workshop.

And I know that if I wasn't a nobody on the internet, I'd already have an angry mob at my door because I dared saying community made stuff is not the very good. How dare I have an opinion on something that's in the game I've played for way too many hours.

So this year we had a crate that didn't even reach 50 cents on the market for the first evening (something that even Christmas crates manage, mind you) and not one, not four, but a whole twelve new maps to try.

For the sake of my memory and because I want to discuss the zombie mode later, I'll just go in order of whatever I remember.

Spineyard

Let's start off with yet another damn reskin. This time it's Vineyard, a map that I played once then removed from my queue because it's yet another payload map that suffers from the Overwatch condition. Wide empty areas, lots of unused hallways where you're meant to flank but you won't find anyone there because it's an open area, everyone's playing Soldier or Demo and spamming anyway. But there's more! Every once in a while you'll hear a bell and then the undead mafia shows up.

The undead mafia. On a map based on Italy. How fucking original the makers are. Congrats on being fucking boring. I hope you step on a Lego.

Also they're basically SMG Sniper bots from MvM with a bit of skeleton AI, nothing groundbreaking.

Lava Pit

This map made me wonder whether there's people out there who sit around debating which stupid maps should get a reskin next. Sawmill won the last vote, now it's the turn of the map that's only ever been good for promotional material.

So we have a map that is inaccessibility incarnate. It's dark so you can't see Blu team unless you crank up your colors to the max and the rest is lava so Red melds with the background. You can't see sentries for shit because everything is red and brown. This map gave me a migraine.

Slime

"Hey, kids! Wanna play koth with Salmon Run ripoff skeleton reskins that for some reason move at 3fps and teleport around making it impossible to aim at them?"

Yeah, fuck this map. The stupid fish spawn en masse and never stop, making it impossible to even get to the point if you're in a small team. The sea shantie never stops playing so that's added torture. The only good thing out of this is that my mini sentry was still up at the end of the match so I got 60 contract points by waiting for the game to reload the map while I was tabbed out.

I take it someone made a video explaining how to program the skeleton AI in custom maps this year. Otherwise I don't see why the workshop was hit such a wave of originality this past year.

Perks:

"Hey kids! Want to play koth but, like, less? This is the map for you!"

Why the fuck are we playing arena in 2023? Every time it takes ages to complete these contracts because you make at best 5 points per match and that's just if you're stomping the other team! I wasted too much time on this shit. May it burn in the same pit as Graveyard. Fuck play to spectate mode. Valve had a point in removing it from pubs.

Mannsylvania

Every year they add a new chokepoint fest. All you do is leave spawn and hope you don't encounter the same piece of shit who's been camping the rare spell for the past twenty minutes. It's a bunch of hallways. You run around staring at the sky like an idiot hoping that this next turn is going to make you bump in the guy with the points you keep seeing through the walls. Horrid design. Shouldn't have been added at all.

Sandcastle

I don't have much to say about this map. It's DeGroot Keep but sand. The underworld is cute but there's nothing different otherwise. It's a summer map with spells active. I played it a little longer than the others because I like medieval mode.

Corruption

I couldn't believe it at first. This is the one decent map. It's a payload map that isn't just a spam fest. It has the appropriate space for everyone, actual flanks and not just the same door slightly to the side. It forces both sides to be smart with and against buildings and charging in with uber is actually rewarded. And even better, you don't keep clipping into the clutter that's spread around the floor because ✨ aesthetics ✨ (Hello Bonesaw. Fuck you specifically). I don't get the logic behind the underworld being a mental asylum but still, a good map. It's incredible. I'd replay this one if I didn't run out of time.

Infection/L4Dvs/the zombie mode

Let's make a premise. Tf2 isn't good at explaining things. It's a game from another time where you were meant to learn through observation and a lot of trial and error. Minecraft is another game like this. You learn how to play from Youtube. But you know what Minecraft doesn't have? The projector.

In the old days, when you joined payload in quickplay for the first time, the game would show a little video with footage of the mode so you would know that Blu pushes the payload and Red tries to stop them. This zombie mode comes with a tutorial but it tells you 10% of what you're fucking supposed to do.

This is a community mode. Fine. What if I never played it? How am I supposed to know that the zombies can only…bite? Punch? It's a clunky melee attack that doesn't even feel good to land like a wrench swing or an actual punch. They don't tell you that the zombies have unique abilities. You just get a meter and then you have to figure it out. I played through all the maps and still don't know what half the classes do.

Well, obviously they're in some way based on the infected from Left4Dead, a game I often found myself thinking about while playing this mode. But what is, say, a guy who started playing the other day supposed to know about this?

Next time someone says Valve should fix the game's learning curve, I'm going to personally apply their clown makeup. This isn't 2016 to find out the latest updates from VNN.

What about the maps?

Murky

Red sits on a little platform surrounded by sentries. It's pitch dark next to the water so you have no way to even get close enough to look at it as a zombie. 60% of the map is unused. The grass is annoying as hell. I left as soon as the contract was finished because fuck.

Woods

The famous wild turtle engineer evolves into a skunk engineer by hiding in a mine with two small entrances crying and whimpering while the level 3 sentry delays the inevitable. What these players fail to realize is that the sentry doesn't shoot faster depending on how much meat throws itself at it. They're simply wasting everybody's time and for this…they should really feel bad.

Atoll

This map manages to be worse than Murky entirely because of the broken hitboxes. I've bumped into several invisible obstacles. Atoll gets the "Bonesaw of the Year" award entirely because I died to fake gaps and platforms with questionable tangibility.

Devastation

The spirits of Bonesaw and Lavapit came together to have a child named Devastation.

This map is too dark. There are corners where you can only spot players because of their cosmetics. Sometimes zombies have to simply walk into the whole Red team and die because they spawned in a place with only one exit and some zombie classes simply don't get to use their ability here because the rooms are too small. The only good thing about this mess is that it bugged out and Red won the round as soon as it started. 30 points with no effort at all. That saved me precious time.

Sanitarium

I kept the best one for last because it's the one I actually enjoyed playing. The setting isn't too dark for once, the inside of a building isn't covered with assets from Mann Manor and it actually feels like a location from a zombie game. You'd expect hordes of rabid Left4Dead infected charging at you from the front yard, past the reception and in every room up to the top floor.

You can't keep a sentry down here for too long either, meaning that everyone has to actually play the game and there is no one just stalling for time and I've seen people have a lot of fun messing around in the elevator.

The only negative I can think of is that it could have used some more polish. The elevator uses a noise that I think comes from Half Life which distracted me because I'm weird like that. But it's a Source noise™️, it's not that big of a deal. The more glaring flaw were the floating zombie skins around the map and the console commands popping up in the chat. It doesn't look great but hey, Bonesaw dropped without a playable objective, didn't it? There’s always worse.

In conclusion, I guess we got 12 maps because Valve noticed that there isn't as much junk to throw in the crates as it used to and is adding gamemodes to make people shut the hell up. The zombie mode left me craving for L4D2 but I don't have as many people to play it with anymore. The other maps were the usual random crap they've been tossing in the game for the past few years. There was nothing really outstanding from the regular gamemodes visually but it was refreshing to get a good experience gameplay wise instead of something that only looks good in screenshots.

I hope we can go back to having a reasonable amount of maps added next year. Less is more these days of games diluting the experience so you stick around to buy the next season pass. Tf2 has no right, nor does it need these practices. It's a good game at the core without gachas or similar crap.

Also, the Toastmaster hasn't been broken for 0 days.

[xazz]

January 7

Before today I hadn’t eaten in two days. But it's a better day today. The Zaig said everyone should be fed. It only worked because the grocery store manager already got bit and instead of worrying about profits they worried about feeding the community. Everyone could come and take whatever food they needed but not more than that. I had a steak I’d never normally be able to afford and smashed potatoes like how my mom used to make. Back before the town dried up and so did anyone who wanted to make a life here.

Haileyberg used to be a coal mining town but since humanity switched to fusion there’s been no need for coal. The mine closed. The town dried up. It happened when I was a kid. Gas prices were expensive then too. Now they’re astronomical. Or you can buy an electric car. But in Haileyberg there’s no money. No way to escape. How can you get out of a dead end when the only wait out is to put yourself into debt on top of debt. Not like they sell electrics out here. No one’s got any money. Other than some farmers no one even runs their cars anymore. I got an electric scooter and it does the job it can getting me into downtown to work at a job with no customers to pay for utilities that get shut off half the time and maybe I’ll have some ramen if I’m lucky.

The Zaig came a week ago. Infected the mayor immediately and figured out what was happening. They announced themselves and convinced us not to call the National Guard. Instead they’d help us. We just have to share our bodies with them. The religious members of the community balked at it but after seeing what the Zaig could give us some changed their minds. We all voted on it. I figure if I can let the Holy Spirit into me I can let some little bug. We drew lots on what got to connect with a Zaig first. Some people abstained. I was first in line to put in my name. I got the second day of lots. Yesterday the grocery manager got it. That’s why everyone in town got to eat something other than flour soup.

Breakfast was filling for the first time in a long time. Eggs, sausage, I made biscuits from a tin, and had real orange juice. So my stomach is full and I’m in good spirits for the first time in years. My electric scooter brings me down the roads on the sidewalk. The town is empty as ever except for at the mayor’s office. There are people there. I scoot over and break in front of a table.

“I’m on the lot today?” I ask the person at the table.

I can tell they’ve been infected by the smile. Everyone who gets infected seems so… happy. So serene. So at peace. If I didn’t see the same look on some people in church it’d worry me. “Yes you are. I’ll check you off. You can just go in. The mayor will help you from there,” she says.

“Can I leave my scooter here?”

“Absolutely! I’ll keep an eye on it,” she assures me.

I leave my scooter with the kickstand down and enter the mayor’s office. I hear people talking and they greet me warmly as I come in. There are other people who’ve also come in early to get infected and they’re all happy, a few look like they cried, their eyes red and puffy. The mayor is a nice older guy named Chuck. He’s been the mayor since I can remember and I know he cares about Haileyberg a lot. A lot more than most people honestly. “Perfect timing,” Chuck says to me as I join the room. “Love to see young faces taking interest in their town’s prosperity.”

They sit me in a padded chair and ask me where I’d like to accept the Zaig. “Ummm, where have other people gotten it?” I ask.

“Well the back of the neck, the arm, the wrist. Someone got it on their ankle,” one of the helpers says and shows me their arm. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Zaig and it looks… pretty. It’s wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet and trails up the inside of his arm. It almost looks like a sick tattoo. “Wherever you want. And if you find you wanna change it you can. Just talk to them. They’re pretty easy to move around.”

“I think like yours,” I say to the guy with the Zaig on his wrist and lower arm. I thought it’d be scary. Some face hugger alien thing. It looks like a jeweled pin.

“Okay,” he beams at me. The mayor brings over a small canister as the helper swabs my under wrist with sanitizer.

“Does it hurt?” I ask.

“Little bit at first. More itchy like the worst mosquito bite of your life,” the helper groans. That’s not so bad.

Mayor Chuck brings over the canister and opens it. Something that looks like a piece of long bronze seaweed slithers out of the canister and into his hand. “Here’s your new you,” Chuck says and I trust him. I’ve always trusted Chuck with the best for the town and for us. It tickles when Chuck puts the Zaig on my arm. “On the wrist, don’t be rude,” he tells the Zaig even as it’s trying to crawl up my arm. It stops and curls around my wrist.

It’s like getting a vaccine shot. That’s the pain. Then there’s no more pain. ‘Well you’re marvelous aren’t you?’ a voice asks in my head. ‘Perfect potential. We’re going to be so happy together, I know it,’ and I felt such a warm and loving feeling fill my mind.

I start to smile like the other people in the room. I’m filled with hope for the first time in my life it feels like. Like this I can do anything why wouldn’t I be smiling? It’s a miracle. They’re a miracle. I can’t wait to go home and get to know my Zaig a bit better but I also want to stay and watch the other people get their Zaig today. I wanna see their faces fill with joy too. I’m glad we all voted to accept these aliens.

Deep Water Prompt #2848

Things are bad here, so when the parasites arrive our town votes to host them willingly. I understand what a miracle feels like, the second the bug taps my bloodstream.

[storiesforallfandoms]

proposition ~ corpse husband

word count: 1880

request?: no

description: in which her friend invites her to play video games with them and she decides to playfully proposition the stranger with the deep voice

pairing: corpse x female!

warnings: swearing

masterlist

You had been bored out of your skull until you got a message from Sean asking you to play Among Us with some of his friends. You had met some of his closest friends, like Felix and Mark, of course, but he made sure to warn you that there would be some new people in this group. While that made you a little anxious, you knew that playing a video game would help you to warm up to the new people.

Sean sent you a link to the Discord call and you joined almost immediately. You weren’t sure if anyone else was in the call, so you didn’t speak for a moment while you set up the game. It wasn’t until an unnaturally low voice spoke that you realized you weren’t alone.

“Hello?”

You jumped at the voice, shocked that just that one word made your heart race a million miles a minute.

“H-Hello?” you responded.

“Who’s this?” the voice asked.

“Who’s this?” You immediately cringed at the lame response.

The voice chuckled, another sound that made your heart race. “I asked you first.”

“I’m (Y/N),” you finally responded. “I’m friends with Sean.”

“Oh yeah, he’s mentioned you a few times. I’m Corpse, I’m friends with Dave and Felix.”

“Corpse?” you question. “Is that your real name?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

You couldn’t help but smile at this. You were shocked at how fast you were warming up to Corpse, but there was just something about him that was just so warm and welcoming.

The two of you talked for some time until Sean popped into the chat. “Geez, (Y/N), you fucking nerd. You’re so early.”

“I had no other plans tonight!” you argued.

Corpse’s low chuckle alerted Sean that he was in the chat as well. “Ah, (Y/N) I see you’ve met deep daddy.”

Your face burned with blush, although you weren’t sure why. “Wait, deep daddy? Please tell me you guys don’t actually call in that.”

“Jason does,” came the familiar voice of Felix as he joined the chat. “Can’t blame him, Corpse’s voice even makes me question my marriage with Marzia.”

The more people that joined, the more jokes that were made about Corpse’s voice and how upset they were that Corpse was playing because he was such a good imposter. You sat in silence, chuckling every now and then but never really speaking. Not like anyone was giving you the chance with how much they were yelling over one another.

You started missing talking to Corpse one on one, but you knew the game had to happen eventually. You just hoped that it would go better than you were expecting.

The first few games started with you as a crewmate. You were killed first in the first game by Sean, who immediately self reported and got voted out because of it. The second game, you made it three rounds before catching Toast kill someone and got him out. The third game, you were in the other room when Corpse killed someone and he blamed you, leading to you getting voted off.

By the time the fourth round came around, you were teamed up with Corpse as the imposter.

“Easy dub,” you commented to yourself. “He’s too good. He’s gotten imposter like three times in a row and no one has noticed.”

You followed Corpse for a while, pretending to do tasks with him. You walked into a room that had only Felix and Rae when your kill button was ready to go. At the same time, you and Corpse killed them both and raced out of the room.  You were about to kill Sean when Toast found Felix and Rae’s bodies.

“I don’t want to sound sus by pointing fingers,” he began, “but Corpse and (Y/N), you haven’t left one another’s sides all game. What the fuck?”

“I’m watching her back,” Corpse responded before you could say anything. “(Y/N) is so small and innocent, if she died on my watch I would never forgive myself.”

You couldn’t help but smile to yourself at this.

“You blamed her for your killing last game!” Leslie argued.

“That was last game! I’m not imposter now!” Corpse responded.

“If Corpse was imposter I fully believe he would’ve killed me by now,” you added. “He has no reason to keep me alive.”

“Unless he likes you,” Jason singsonged, causing the group to all talk at once about you and Corpse.

“Get back to the game!” you called over them, even though the thought of Corpse potentially liking you made you feel butterflies in your stomach.

No one was ejected (Skipped).

You tried not to think about what everyone had been saying, but it was hard not to. You didn’t know what Corpse looked like, he made you aware that no one knew except for a select few YouTube friends, but you found yourself drawn to him. Sure, his voice was hot, but in the short time you two had to talk together you found that his personality was equally as attractive. 

The distraction caused you to forget what you were doing and almost kill right in front of Toast. You held your breath, hoping you hadn’t accidentally clicked on the mouse and absolutely decapitated Sean right in front of someone. When nothing happened, you quickly ran out of the room and as far away from them as possible.

Your phone chimed. You took your eyes off the screen for a moment to see that it was a private message on Discord from none other than Corpse himself.

“What was that about? 😂”

“I was distracted and almost killed Sean in front of Toast. Had to make a speedy exit.”

“What were you distracted by? 😉"

Lucky for you, another meeting was called before you could respond.

“Okay, for real (Y/N),” came Toast’s voice. “What the fuck is going on? You were just stood in admin with me and Sean, then suddenly you raced out, and now you’re just standing in the middle of the cafeteria not moving at all.”

“She’s distracted,” came Corpse’s voice before you could respond.

You felt your face heating up again. “I was distracted, by my dog. He’s currently at my feet with his toy. He keeps looking at me with his big eyes, it’s hard to concentrate.”

“Awe, send me a picture of the little guy! I miss him a lot!” Sean said.

No one was ejected (Skipped).

You took a deep breath and concentrated on the game. You decided to stick with Corpse again, only breaking off to make it look like you were fixing the sabotages that you were setting. You and Corpse managed to kill three other bodies, leaving you with one more to kill before winning. And you knew exactly who you wanted it to be.

You sent Corpse a quick message before going to look for Sean.

“Do not kill anyone, leave this to me”

Seconds later you got a response. “Aye aye captain.”

You entered electrical as Sean was doing a task. You walked up behind him and hit the kill button without hesitation. You watched your character cut his body in half before the victory screen came up for you and Corpse.

“I fucking knew it!” Toast exclaimed. “You guys were too sus!”

“What can I say, we make a good team, right (Y/N)?”

You smiled to yourself as you responded, “Yeah, we do.”

Everyone started talking the one time again, joking around with each other. You started feeling like you were fading into the background again, which normally you’d be okay with, but you were starting to feel more comfortable with the group. You wanted to feel more comfortable with Sean’s friends, especially with Corpse.

Suddenly, an idea popped into your head. You smirked to yourself as you declared into your mic, “Guys! Guys, I have something I wanna say! Everyone, shush!”

The talking soon died down as everyone listened to you intently. Your heart was hammering in your chest, but you knew there was no backing out of it now.

“I have a proposition for Corpse,” you said, which was met by cheers and exclamations of excitement. When everyone silent down again, you took a deep breath and forced the words out before you chickened out. “Corpse, are you single?”

You heard his low chuckle through the voices talking excitedly. “I am single, yes.”

“Good to know.”

There was a silence as everyone waited to see if you’d follow up on your comment. When you didn’t, Sean exclaimed, “What was the proposition?!”

“Wouldn’t you guys like to know,” you said with a knowing smirk to yourself.

The game went on for another few hours before you finally had to call it a night. You said goodbye to everyone and exited the game. While shutting down your computer and getting ready for bed, your phone chimed. Another message from Discord.

“It was really nice meeting you tonight. We make a pretty good imposter team, you should play with us more often.”

You couldn’t help but smile at Corpse’s message. You felt like a giddy teenage girl as you got into bed, clutching your phone tightly in your hands.

“It was really fun, I’m glad Sean invited me. I’ll definitely come play more in the future if you guys want me!”

You saw the three dots pop up, showing that Corpse was typing. They went away a moment, then popped up again, then away again. This happened a few more times before another message came in.

“About that proposition...”

“What about it? 😉”

“Was just wondering how serious you were about it, or if there was an actual proposition at all.”

You looked at the message for a long time. Of course, at the time you didn’t think it was serious. It was just a fun joke at the expense of your friends. But now that he was asking...what did you say?

You thought about your message for a long time before typing, “I was as serious as you want me to be.”

There was an extended pause on Corpse’s end before he responded, “Well, I know we just met, but I’m pretty serious about it. I’d like to get to know you more. You seem like a really nice girl.”

“You seem like a nice guy.”

“Can I Skype you tomorrow?”

The question shocked you considering what he had told you earlier. “You’re willing to show me your face?”

“Only a select few know what I look like, I trust you to be one of those few.”

Your heart fluttered yet again as you typed your response. “Well then, I’d love to Skype tomorrow. I’ll send you my name so you can add me.”

You laid back in bed after adding Corpse to Skype, feeling excited for the next day. You could hardly sleep now thinking about what you’d get to do in almost 12 hours time. It felt like too far away, you wanted to call him right then and there.

Just as you were starting to drift to sleep, your phone chimed again. You checked it one last time before bed to see a final message from Corpse.

“Goodnight, see you tomorrow”

“Goodnight Corpse, see you tomorrow”