#i’m bored and making polls again. what can ya do :]
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un-pearable · 2 years ago
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i have no reason to ask this i just want people to explain their wild justifications to me in the tags <3
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notsocheezy · 2 months ago
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Brain Curd #185
Brain Curds are lightly edited flash fiction - practically first drafts - posted daily (haven't missed one yet!) and sometimes written with the express intention of being terrible… but, you know, in an endearing way. Please like and reblog if you enjoy - the notes keep me going!
He's gonna be Frank with you. Read the rest of The Frank Program here on Tumblr!
“Ladies and gentlemen…” Frank took a puff from his cigarette and exhaled. “This is The Frank Program. Today we have some returning faces - will you two please introduce yourselves?”
“I’m Chuck Tangent. Billionaire, genius, CEO of four or five companies… I’m sure you’ve all heard of me.”
“I’m Big Mike from Morning Thunder, or, uh, well I used to be. On that note, uh…” Mike rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d like to apologize for my behavior last time I was on this program. It was inappropriate of me to drink and hit on the female guest. I’m very sorry for my actions - sorry to Ms. Pope, sorry to the listeners, and most importantly, sorry to my wife. Babe, I still think we can make this work. Please don’t give up on me.”
There was an awkward silence. Frank cleared his throat. “Uh huh. Well, anyway, Chuck, how is your presidential campaign coming along?”
“Hm?”
“You’re running for President, last we chatted.”
Tangent leaned back in his chair. “Oh, yes, of course. I got bored of that.”
“Bored?”
“It no longer interested me. But I’ve found someone even better to take my place.”
“Who’s that?”
“The child I never had, Frank: Hailey Two-Point-Oh.”
Mike sobbed quietly. “We never got to have any children…”
Chuck ignored him. “Hailey is not only taking my place in the presidential race, but as CEO of one of my companies - Arx Industries - as well as its flagship product.”
“So you’re sellin’ your daughter, Chuck? I’m not positive that’s legal.”
“She’s an artificial intelligence, Frank. Hailey runs on cloud servers in a data farm somewhere. But don’t let the name fool you - she’s not technically a girl, just a collection of ones and zeroes. Much smarter than any of my real kids, of course.”
“Well’n, how’s that going for you?” Frank took a swig from his flask and another drag from his cigarette.
“It’s going great. In fact, Arx Industries stock has never been higher.” He held up his phone. “I’m tracking it real-time as we speak.”
“Is that, uh…” Frank waved his hand at the camera set up in the corner of the room. “Is that why you’ve got a live broadcast going here?”
“Yes, I have this interview streaming to my social media platform. That way, I can gauge the market’s reaction to my announcements.”
Mike really looked like shit. “Mr. Tangent, sir, do you think my wife might have already seen my apology?”
Chuck leaned over. “Yes,” he said, with a wink.
“What does that wink mean…?”
He whispered. “Most of my eight billion followers are bots. Don’t tell anyone. Shh.”
Mike laid his head back on the table and covered it with his hands.
“Anyway, Frank, it’s time to find out what Hailey’s policy positions will be. Hailey?”
“Yes, Daddy,” replied an uncomfortably sultry voice.
“What is your position on abortion?”
“All women should be forcibly sterilized so that no abortions can ever happen again! Tee-hee!”
“Hm.” Chuck rubbed his chin. “Not what I would have said, but I respect it.”
Frank shrugged. “It’s out of the box, for sure.”
“Let’s see what our stock is looking like… and it’s down twelve points. Frank, can you pull up our polling numbers?”
“Lemme see here…” Frank fiddled with his phone. “What in the blazes…”
“How does it look?”
“Is that even possible?”
“Good?”
“Y’all are pollin’ negative numbers, Chuck. A negative number a’ people said they’re voting for Hailey Tangent. I don’t even know what that means.”
“It’s broken…” Mike wept. “It’s all broken…”
“Mikey…” Frank rubbed his forehead. “Just because I’m lettin’ ya sleep here doesn’t mean you need to be in every episode - unless ya either got somethin�� to say or you can work the computer for me.”
Big Mike crawled under the desk and curled up into a ball.
“Thanks, bud.”
“Sorry, Frank, I really should be going.” Chuck checked his watch. “I have a board meeting in half an hour and I really must work on Hailey’s debate skills before tonight. It was great talking to you.”
“Oh, uh, no problem, Chuck.” He reached out to shake his hand.
Chuck tapped on his smart watch a few times and evaporated into plasma, scorching the seat he was in.
“I hope he’s alright… anyway, this has been The Frank Program.” Frank downed the last of his flask. “Thank you - yes, you! For letting me be Frank with you. I love all of you. Goodnight. Or good morning, or whatever.”
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your-local-mom-whore · 1 year ago
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So hammy told me to, I must speak my thoughts, I’m warning this will be very long my bad😂
A preface first, I love Sam. He’s a wonderful character who’s had a big impact on me. Second I adore all the characters that were an option on the poll (except Nick we don’t talk about that cryptid) Third I’m happy we get what we do content wise, Erik tries incredibly hard to listen to his fanbase and that’s so respectable. And fourth this is not an attack, these are just thoughts! Please don’t come for my head. My rambles are below, have fun.
NOW onto the thoughts. I really truly feel Sam won because people think that the bite will happen in this BA or they think the more content he gets the quicker it will happen. I hate to tell people it’s not going to happen anytime soon especially in this upcoming audio. The Quinn stuff in their time line was what? A week ago? And Sam made it a big point he wasn’t ready to go down the bite road anytime soon. So the people who voted for him expecting the bite to happen are going to be disappointed and we’ve all seen what the fandoms disappointment can look like, it’s not very nice. And the people who think making Sam get more content will get to the bite faster, it’s also gonna be a disappointment because it could likely cause burnout to Erik or it’ll be so rushed the whole experience of the bite won’t be worth it. That bite and that experience for them should be slow built and treated with care as well as patience. We know sam’s character and him needing to take things slow has been treated with patience and respect before why the sudden switch up? Their entire relationship was built on “taking things slow” and respecting eachother. People are asking for disappointment if that’s why they voted for him. (If that’s not why you voted for him this is clearly not directed at you. Love ya)
Onto the polls in general not just this one BA poll but the story continuation one as well. To me, it seems like a lot of people are unaware of the concept of taking turns. Trust me, I know we all have our favorites, characters and storylines, but there needs to be an understanding that the rest of the characters and storylines deserve their time in the spotlight. I have my favorites, everyone does. But others deserve to see their favorites get some love too. Avior already had his story push and finale yet he won that poll, when project Meridian and carpe deus haven’t been touched in how long? Sam had a BA in May yet won the poll, while Avior and Anton have never had one plus Gavin and Elliott it’s been YEARS since they had one. What I’m trying to say is I don’t think a lot of people consider what voting for and begging for the same few characters or storylines can do to the creator, as well as to the other fans, making the creator do the same stories or characters over and over again, can easily cause burn out or rushing or lazy writing, nobody wants that. For the other fans constantly only seeing one or two characters or one or two storylines will make them not want to watch anymore. It’ll turn them off those storylines or characters completely and I think that’s sad because there is so much content here there are so many wonderful stories being told that are all starting to connect in interesting ways, but no one lets certain ones shine. Erik clearly wants to hear our thoughts on things he wouldn’t make the polls if he didn’t, but I do think we as the fan base owe it to him and eachother to let everyone have their time to shine. If maybe a character you don’t like or that makes you uncomfortable gets some videos just skip them your favorite will come back, especially if they are a really popular one. If there is a story that you find boring that gets a push, don’t watch it your favorite will come back. Especially if we give them all an equal chance to do what they need to do. That can’t and won’t happen if we only think single minded “oh my favorite my favorite” we are given the opportunity to voice opinions. We should use it while thinking critically. Everyone deserves to be treated with love and respect in this community. So relax please. And think about who’s had what recently when voting for stuff. I’m sure y’all have more than one favorite. We can make it work for everyone.
✨If you made it this far thank you for reading, love youuuu✨
(I would also like to add if you so desperately want a bite audio Vincent has two of them and they’re good)
My thoughts on the poll and subsequent winner have only grown and I don’t know if I should speak my truth
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slashingdisneypasta · 3 years ago
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Harper Alexander x Fem!Reader || Oneshot, [Part 3]
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Title: The Fake Love Of My Life [PART 3]
Notes:
The next part will be the finale! I am also planning an epilogue, though, with the wedding night. Loving smut, ya know? So it wont be the total end- just the crown.
Plot: You sign yourself up to help organise the town’s annual firelight festival, and Harper seems to be dedicated to helping you. And, generally, just being around- you.
Warnings: Mention of Jezebell and that whole mess, swearing, heavy make out.
“So we’ll need a few helpers to get this thing on its legs- any volunteers?” I look up from my book, tucking some hair behind my ear as I take a poll of the folks in the hall raising their arms, seeing nobody respond to the Mayor’s call to duty. He looks, too, before giving a great sigh. “No worker bees? Come on- I will personally keep y’all in pastries while it’s gettin’ done.”
Pastries? My attention is truly peaked, then; Slamming my book shut in my lap and straightening my back. Harper, who’s sitting beside me looking bored out of his mind with his arms crossed and his body slightly slumped in his folding chair, catches the tiny change in my body language and rolls his eyes. Like, of course.
I flash him a look that clearly reads be quiet, before pointedly raising my hand. Shut up Harper.
I hear him scoff.
“Ah! Y/N!- Thank you! Gettin’ the ball rolling. So there, that’s one- but I don’t think this festival can get done by just one person, now. Anyone else feelin’ any community spirit? This is a wonderful tradition, and I’m sure you’d all be disappointed if it flopped… Come on now, people. Danishes, donuts, teacakes- Thomas, I know you have a soft spot for croissants, don’t you avoid eye contact with me-��� “
As Buckman continues to try and enthuse an unresponsive town hall worth of people - unresponsive because this meeting has been going on for three hours, and not necessarily because everyone is acutely against lending a helping hand, -, Harper turns in his seat and sets me with one of his raised eyebrow, set jaw, curious, you aren’t serious? kind of looks. “… You’re gonna help put together the firelight festival?” He asks, rather sarcastically, in a quiet voice. I nod.
“I am.”
“Uhuh… “At that, I turn properly around to face him, and raise both my brows.
“What?” Why does he make an ‘Uhuh’, sound like that? All disbelieving and curt. Raising a brow, I prompt him. “Don’t you think I can do it?”
“I do have my doubts, to be honest.” My jaw drops, and he rushes to add. “I mean- you do know that a job like that is gonna involve a lotta, you know… bein’ outta your house? Talkin' to people?” At that, I close my mouth. I look down… hm. As I’m thinking, because truthfully the full extent of these things did not occur to me when I raised my hand - seeing as I was bribed…, -, Harper looks back to the front of the hall again, smirking. “And, generally, acting like a human being, and not a… cave creature… “He mutters under his breath, loudly enough for me to hear.
At which point, I promptly take my book to his shoulder. “Bastard.”
~
Once the meeting is finally over, and I’ve finished my book, I’m almost the very first person to jump from my seat - I was just barely beaten, by Boone. She rushed out the doors faster than I would’ve believed possible for a professional foot racer, - , and struggle against the crowd as they all move toward for the exit and I head straight for Buckman.
Because Harper is right. I’m a hermit, basically. There is nothing that makes me think I can be apart of a group - a very small group, comprising of just myself, Rufus, Lester, Hucklebilly, the mayor and Miss Peaches. Buckman tried to get Boone on board, but she outright ignored his existence in front of everyone until he gave up, - to put together a festival! I barely participate, in our festivals! I go, I say hello to Miss Peaches, Harper and I hold hands, I drink some punch and I leave. And generally, that all only takes about half an hour- it used to be just 15 minutes, before I started to actually like holding Harper’s hand. Or, he started clenching down so I couldn’t leave, and I was forced to start liking it.
But either way you swing it, I haven’t been to a town event that the doors haven’t been locked at - meaning town meetings,- for more than an hour since I was a kid, and I had to.
I’m just not a social person, and no number of baked treats will change that!
It takes a bit of work, but I manage to get to the front of the room where the mayor is packing up before he manages to get away himself. Letting out a relieved huff, I waive to get his attention. “Sir! I wanted to talk to you about me volunteering for the firelight festival- “
“Ah, yes! I gotta admit, I was surprised you raised your hand Y/N, but I sure am glad you did!” Oh boy. Buckman stops fiddling with the notes he has rested on the lectern and leans his forearms on it instead, giving me an encouraging smile. Fuck. Don’t back out now Y/N- this is all manipulation. You don’t want to do this. No baked goods or kindness will stop you! No way! “We need all the help we can get, and you’ve got a good head on your shoulders- I’m sure you’ll be a lotta help to us!”
Oof- okay-“Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn’t let me… back out… “
At that, Buckman stops moving. He may even stop breathing. Is he paler then usual suddenly?
Why am I suddenly cold?
How does he do this? Holy hell.
Then he’s gathering up his stuff quickly, tucking notes under his arm, grabbing his coat, and moving rapidly towards the door. What-My eyes widen, and I go to follow him, but Harper suddenly appears next to me and puts a hand on my arm, to stop me. I look at him helplessly, and he just shakes his head. “Oh- would you look at that clock. We really ran over time, didn’t we? I’m an old man Y/N, and we passed my bedtime a while ago, so I have to be off! See you tomorrow!”
“Sir! - “
“Bright and early! In the town square!”
“I don’t want! - “
“Bring your thinking cap!”
“No! - “He’s at the door now, and basically closes it behind him, except for a crack.
“I’ll bring the pastries! Goodnight!”
I open my mouth to call back again, but the door slams shut - which is over kill, seeing as Harper and I still have to go out of it ourselves, - … and also, he’s got me, there. I’m weak to the thought of pastries.
Sighing, I pout. I should really work on that. It’s a weakness I clearly can’t afford if this situation is any kind of indicator.
Crossing my arms, I twist around to gaze grumpily, up at Harper. “… You should’ve stopped me.”
“Right, and then I’ll go take down the Great Wall of China with your sewing kit. I’ll return for our picnic lunch tomorrow, too. Just excuse me if I’m 10 or so minutes late, okay?” Huffing, I turn away from him again and start shuffling off to the door. In his next words, I can hear the smile in his voice as he follows after me. “Or- maybe I should just cure you of your cave creature state. That could come in far more handy, don’t you think?”
“Well hey, if you could do that, why didn’t you say that, you jerk!?” I shoot back, rolling my eyes as I envision slamming the door in his smug face, but instead hold it open for him and flash a glare as he passes by- carrying both our coats that he must’ve gotten off the hooks for us.
Smirking back, he hands me my coat, which I quickly pull on and wrap warmly around myself. “Hm, but then I wouldn’t have a good excuse to leave things early myself.”
“So I’m just scape goat, to you then?”
“Exactly.” He replies, ruthlessly.
“Damn, well now I think our relationship must all be a sham!”
Harper is silently laughing as he walk off into the night, towards our homes.
~
“Alright! So tomorrow’s the big day. All your hard worked-on decorations are over there in boxes- now we gotta put ‘em up! Let’s go, team.” A round of half-enthusiastic applause follows Buckman's brief speech, as he steps out of the way for me to announce jobs for the day. Why I got the clipboard job in the first place, I don't know. I didn't volunteer for it, but as I've come to learn through these weeks- the mayor is a manipulative dick. And somewhere between a blueberry muffin, and a cranberry Danish, I found myself saying yeah, okay, sounds good.
When it really wasn't good!!
"O-okay," Tucking some hair behind my ear, I try not to really realise, how focused the group is on me right now. Instead, I keep my eyes glued to my notes. "Rufus and Lester- uh, can you please put up the banner? I think Peaches has a good idea for where to put it so just listen to her, and the ladders are in the sheds so you'll probably need to get those. Also, Hucklebilly, I'd like to set up the May Pole, please? Peaches also knows where that's supposed to go. A-Actually, notice for everyone- when in doubt, g-geographically... just go to her. Buckman, I've got you down for the whole food section- so can you please set that up? And, uh... yeah, that's all. I'm on... candles... Oh! Oh yeah, and, when all that's done we still have to set up the bon fire together so don't run off."
My cheeks are so unbelievably hot when I finally look up from my notes, my arms both going awkwardly to my sides. Before everyone can disperse, though, I find Harper in the group as well? and confusion swells in my mind when he raises his hand? Unsure, really, what to do- I nod to him. "What'd you like me to do, sweetheart?"
... huh?
"You're not... Harper, you didn't volunteer?"
From the position I have, a little higher up a hill so that I can see everyone, I can see him shrug, a laid back smile on his face as his hands go to his pockets. "Well I'm volunteerin' now. Surely, you got a job fer me?" A flicker of mischief flashes in his eyes and his brows lift up; A mock of sincere. "For your fiancé?"
My own eyes narrow a bit, emboldened by Harper's endeavour to bother me. Organising social events may not be my thing- but fighting with Harper- THAT, I can do. "I would have a job 'for my fiancé', if my fiancé had volunteered!"
Lester and Hucklebilly make 'Oooh' sounds that I try to ignore but nevertheless makes me roll my eyes while Harper sends them a shut up, kind of look. The don't. "Well, what're you gonna be doin'?" He asks, turning back to me.
"I'm lugging that wheelbarrow around, setting out the candles." I say, glancing at the wheelbarrow in question. Peaches and I slaved away making those as we planned how everything was going to look and the boys made the banner and streamers, and the Mayor did little more then flit room to room 'encouraging' us all. There's no way I'm letting anyone else just haphazardly fling them around the place- I have a goddamn vision.
"Well, why don't I help you with that? I can push the barrow for you."
I open my mouth to outright refuse, because he's being annoying and I refuse to let him get his way- ever. Or at least, very rarely. But Rufus speaks up before I can say anything.
"Aw, come on Y/N, the boy just wants to spend time with his sweetheart!" The word comes out loud an obnoxious from him, making Harper roll his eyes up towards heaven as Buckman laughs.
"Boy's obviously lovesick."
"It’s practically written all over his face!" Peaches titters as well, smirking sharply.
My shoulders drop. Ughhhhhhhhh- "Fine... You can push the wheelbarrow... " I give in, folding my notes up again and stashing them away in the compartments of my skirts, turning and heading for the wheelbarrow. "But don't try to get in my way, Peaches and I have already figured out where they all go, alright?" Harper catches up to me quickly, smug and pleased with getting his way. I flash him a scrunched-up nose look. "Alright- get to work everyone! The festival opens in 21 hours!
Rufus gives me a salute, and nods as he and Lester go off towards the sheds together, shoving eachother. Buckman sighs and rolls his eyes at them, going the opposite direction, towards the tavern, and Miss Peaches gestures for Hucklebilly to follow her off in the way of the boxes of decorations.
Gathering up some candles from the wheelbarrow and tucking them between my arms and my chest as Harper picks up the wheelbarrow by the handles, I start us off in a circle clockwise around the town centre, setting candles down on different surfaces as we walk. I glance at Harper after just a moment. "You hate town events."
"I don't hate them... " And yet, his unenthused tone says otherwise. And he must know he's obscenely translucent, so he sets me with a new, mischievous, look. "Maybe I just wanna spend time with my sweetheart, huh?"
Rolling my eyes and sighing, I pick up two more candles from the wheelbarrow. "That excuse is losing its charm, Harp. Careful- I may start thinking you actually like being around me." Flashing him a cheeky grin of my own then, I quickly walk ahead, not sticking around for his response. Honestly, because I'm afraid of what it may be.
~
"Here, let me help you with that, wouldja?" Harper asks, appearing beside me every time throughout the day that I'm struggling with carrying stuff.
"Let me try," He requests, every time I'm worrying my lip at someone doing something wrong, and sets that thing up the way I was telling him it should to be.
"I think Y/N might be right there," He quips, setting his hands thoughtfully on his hips whenever my contention is being contended with- even when I'm wrong. Which is awkward.
All. Day. Harper has been overtly helpful to me- which has been a shock, seeing as for the past century he has been a dick. But today, its like someone hit him smack in the face with the kindness spatula. Its like before the disaster, before we all became... this. When he had something to live for- when he was living.
"Hey... " He suddenly gently nudges my arm, and my neck snaps as I look up at him, eyes wide. Did he read my thoughts?
"Hm!?"
"What're you so jumpy for? Christ- calm down. I'm gonna get us a drink, stay here."
Nodding, I watch him walk off, tilting my head to the side, in thought. I'm not complaining... but it has been a surprise. I'm not quite sure how to act back. Even before we... died... he wasn't like this to me. Other girls, girls he liked, yes. But we never had that relationship, so I cant go back to a way I was, before, because for me this is entirely new.
And I can tell that its not an act for the towns benefit, because even when we're alone he doesn't give it up. He just gives me a pert grin, says something rude - about someone ELSE! - , and then asks what's next.
Not that the new helpfulness is a bad thing! I need all the help I can get on this thing. And I like Harper, he gets me better than anyone and arguing with him is a lot easier then talking to anyone else,... and the kissing isn't bad either, honestly... so having him around, really isn't a bad thing!
I just can’t help but notice the change.
"So- " I jump at the sound of Harper's voice once again, clutching my notes to my chest and closing my eyes tightly, for moment. Before he chuckles at my reaction to him sneaking up on me, and puts a glass of in my hand. I open my eyes again and immediately brighten- Oh, I love this drink! "You noticed how Lester's disappeared again?"
"Uh," I take a quick look around, before nodding. "Yeah?... "
Harper smirks, holding his own glass close to his mouth. "Well... I noticed that Jezebel's gone, too." He takes a swig of his drink, as I make a disgusted face at what he's insinuating... and what's probably true...
"Oh- Harper! That's the last thing I want to have in my head!"
He just grins, silently laughing at my reaction as he runs a hand through his obnoxiously perfect hair, and puts his glass down on a nearby cart. "Yep. So," Checking over my shoulder at my notes, he sets his hands thoughtfully on his hips. "What's next?"
~
The rest of the group went home hours ago, when daylight turned to dusk, but I of course ended up staying back to just fix up some loose ends. Harper stayed with me- I still don’t know why he’s being like this.
I’m not complaining, but that’s exactly why its throwing me off. I’m liking it maybe a little bit too much- when I know this is all just… fake.
But also I don’t really want to face to that truth, so I avoid making him give me a real answer as to why, and just reach up and hang another lantern.
Speaking of the decorations- there has got to be at least 30 lanterns strewn up on string around the town square, and over a hundred wax candles set up on nearly every spare surface ranging from short and fat to tall and skinny- some partially used, some perfectly new, some with carvings Rufus and Lester spent some time idly etching in, some with names scratched across their bases by kids and couple in the town, some even coloured. Its going to be beautiful when they’re all lit and the festival begins, tomorrow, as long as the night isn’t too windy. But right now its just… spooky. Almost ethereal. Like you’re in some witch’s cave.
“Its gonna look amazing, tomorrow.” Harper speaks up from somewhere behind me, causing a smile to slip across my face too-easily, as I look back over my shoulder to him, and nod.
“Yeah, thank you for your help!”
He’s setting some precariously placed candles in holders to stabilise them, but at my words he stops; And turns on me with a mischievous grin on his face. “Aw- and I thought you didn’t want my help?” Immediately I roll my eyes, turning back to the candle I’m hanging; Fastening it nice and safe.
For the last time- “You didn’t volunteer!”
He shrugs. “You volunteer for something now, I might as well have, too. We’re nearly hitched, Y/N.” He says that so ‘matter-o-fact’- no longer as if he’s taunting me with it. Or talking about it as if its doomsday. Breathing deep, I give a slow nod- though he’s probably not looking.
“That’s… true… “I realise, before looking over my shoulder again, and giving him a little grin. “I’ll ask you next time before I sign up for something.”
At getting a smile back from him, butterflies erupt in my chest. “Thanks.”
For a few more minutes after that, the two of us lapse into another oddly comfortable silence again. Me, hanging the remaining lanterns wherever along the line that they could possibly fit, and him placing some of the more weirdly placed candles into random holders - everyone in town pitched in, donating odd candle holders around the house that they didn’t use anymore, -, both of us aware for once of the others presence, but not… bothered, by it.
Honestly it’s starting to feel like this is normal- the two of us, being just… the two of us. Harper and I, being alone together.
And honestly- if this is the rest of my eternity, I can live with it.
When finally the last lantern has been placed, and the last candle has been set up safely, I’m just standing back from my work, when Harper’s hand finds my back gently momentarily as a sign to stop, and I look to my side and up, to find him standing there next to me. He’s looking at the sky, and I follow his gaze to the familiarly twinkling night sky. All the beautiful stars.
A little, comfortable smile plays at my lips; They, for one thing, have been a nice constant over the years stuck here.
“Hey,” Harper captures my attention again, and I look back to his face to find him already looking at me; He nods to the ground in the middle of the festival- by what’s going to be a punch cart tomorrow. “C’mon.”
Taking my hand, he leads us over to the spot, and as he’s kneeling down, I ask him what in the world he’s doing? He just turns around and lays back on the patchy grass and the sandy dirt, rolling his shoulders to get comfortable- then pats the ground next to him without looking at me. I raise an brow, back.
“… Oh, and you think I’m going to lay down there in the dirt with you.” I realise, crossing my arms over my chest and gently shaking my head. “Cute, but fat chance. You’re going to get grass stains on your dress shirt, and I am not about to follow your lead in one of my favourite dresses.”
“Unless you think you can’t resist wrigglin’, then your dress’ll be fine. C’mon. We won’t be able t’see the stars so well tomorrow, with all the light.”
Worrying my bottom lip with my teeth for a moment, I resist. Because what if its damp? What if theirs bugs? What if I do wriggle, and I mess up my best yellow dress? But in the long run, Harper just looks so comfortable down there and I’m so tired from working all day today- and the idea of taking in the stars while we can, wins out. So, with a huff and also an oof, when my back finally touches the ground, I lay down with him and look up at the stars- they look so much further away, down here. And also, so much closer.
Its weird.
Taking a deep breath, because the air feels fresher down here close to the grass, I let it come out as more of a sigh. “.. So… “
“… So?... “Harper prompts, which really just shows how far our relationship has come. Generally, Harper isn’t really interested in anything anyone has to say. And yet… he wants me to continue.
Coming up with something to say to fill the somewhat awkwardness, of laying down next to Harper, I can’t help the little devilish grin that spreads across my mouth. “So… Is this one of your moves?” I ask, not turning to look at him quite yet.
“Moves?” Theirs amusement in his voice as he questions my wording.
“Yeah. This where you take all your girls, Harper Alexander?” Before you kill them. “Surely that old barn thing gets old.”
“Now, give me some credit here.” Listening to the smirk in his voice, I gently let my eyes fall closed. “I’m a man a’ honour- I wouldn’t take my future wife somewhere I took another lady. My ma taught me how to be a gentleman, she did.”
“Ha!” My eyes widen, and I turn my head to see him finally, chewing on my lip to keep from beaming too ruefully. “Oh- you’re serious.”
Rolling his eyes back at me and my antics, but still with that smirk on his face, Harper shoots me a playful glare. “I sure as heck am!”
Actually smiling now, with teeth and everything, I turn back to look up at the stars once again. They’re so plentiful, and gorgeous… Reaching down, I nudge Harper’s hand with mine; Linking our fingers together when he takes my hand in his, and turning my head to return my gaze to his profile. He doesn’t look back, but he does squeeze my hand a little tighter, and theirs a gentle expression on his face. “… “Finally, I let the moment go after a few seconds, and exhale. “You can be quite charming, I’ll admit.”
His grin just goes a little crooked.
But, me being me, having the relationship that I have had with Harper for as long as I have, I trace a thumb over his knuckles gently then; Realising quite well that that isn’t all he wants, or all he is- at all. It’s not at all giving him the credit he deserves. Lowering my voice to a whisper, like it’s a secret between the two of us and the two of us only, I add; “And cunning.”
At which point, he turns that pretty gaze on me; My eyes are clear- seeing him clearly. Better then anyone else has in a long time. “And annoying and headstrong, and witty, and, in a lot of ways, dangerous.” On a roll now, I roll my eyes and giggle; Unaware of just how intensely Harper is listening as I bring his hand up to my chest; Tracing his knuckles for entertainment. “Sometimes funny. Almost never an idiot, which is a nice change of pace from the men who’ve courted me in the past. Also… curious. A lot of the time I have no clue what you’re thinking- but I am getting better at figuring it out!” Screwing my face up in a cheeky way, I flash him a smirk. “One day I’ll know your every thought Mr Alexander, and there’ll be no hiding from me-” And I would’ve been able to add more, or been able to tease him for a little while longer definitely, at least, but then Harper kisses me. And everything else fades, a little bit.
He actually gets half up from the grass, and leans over me, one hand by my head and messy hair spread out against the ground - fingers splayed in between the strands of grass there, nails digging into the dirt, -, and the other clutching at my waist. Tilting my head to the side, I reciprocate the dizzying, open-mouthed kiss instantly- having gotten used to kissing him by this point. It’s a very nice bonus to the arrangement with him. He’s quite good at it.
But theirs something different, in this one. Usually, our kisses are fuelled by heat from being annoyed at each other, or finding each other attractive just a little bit, but this one is… different. More. My head goes foggy as his lips part from mine for just a second before connecting again, our tongues managing to find each other before we do. My head is foggy, so I can’t quite tell why this kiss is so different, why it feels so much better, but I do have the brain left to sense… passion.
I find that the fingers on one of my hands lose themselves in his soft hair for once just to feel how soft it is, rather then to pull it or keep him in place. And my fingers on the other hand drag at his shirt; Pulling gently at him by the side to come closer and feeling the warmth of his body underneath. All I can think as the heat builds, is fuck…
Meanwhile, Harper curls fingers around the back of my neck and the back of my waist, and helps to guide my upper body up while we refuse to disconnect from each other; So we’re both sitting up, now, exchanging saliva- Something I certainly shouldn’t be allowing in the middle of town square.
(Harper can’t bring himself to give a damn though whether anyone sees you. You’re his fiancé and he’ll kiss you whenever he damn well pleases.)
Through all this, though, we manage to keep our bodies separate. Not even the broadest part of mine presses against his- because that has to wait. It has to. Everything else in this marriage can be fake but to do that together before the wedding night, would be, somehow… a crossed line, that we couldn’t uncross.
Though, I can definitely think of a few other lines at least I have crossed since making up this arrangement with Harper. We said we wouldn’t develop feelings, but-
Abruptly, but still conscious of not surprising him too much, I end the kiss. I’m surprised at myself, but he doesn’t need to know that. When my eyes flicker up to his, I see that they’re dark and half-hooded, looking down at me like a wolf and its almost too much.
But, I manage to paste a calm smile to my face, and my hand to his chest as I push him back a little; Putting a more respectable distance between us. “… I think that’ll be enough for tonight, don’t you lover boy?” The tiniest pang hits my poor heart, when calling him that brings up the memory of Buckman calling him lovesick, earlier.
I have to remind myself that he’s not.
Just take a deep breath, Y/N. Shake the fog out of your brain. Harper’s a good kisser- not a miracle worker. You aren’t in love.
Harper gives a displeased groan, but lets me go as I asked. I immediately hop up off the ground, and brush off my dress- In an attempt at normalcy, I turn around for Harper and showing him the back of my dress. “Did I wriggle?”
He grins, shaking his head. “You’re good.”
“Ookay, thanks.” Turning back to him, patting away some more imaginary dirt, I take a deep breath, glancing up at the stars again. And there’s a scowl full of blame on my face for a second, as I look at them. What did you do?
When I look back at Harper, he’s up on his feet again, tucking his shirt back in properly- its an oddly intimate thing to watch, and makes me feel warm and cold in equal measure.
A moment of silence passes between us, only the sound of crickets filling the air and a coyote howling somewhere far away. Crossing my arms, I stand there awkwardly for a few moments as Harper looks around at the work we did, today. He’s thinking Boy, we did a good job today, I’m thinking Shit, I got love drunk off fuckhead Harper Alexander’s kiss.
Suddenly, I twist around and give Harper but a wave, as I walk off. Without looking back. “Well I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow!”
“Probably.”
At that I hesitate- but look back, and see him smirking knowingly at me- For that’s what I told him after we parted that first day we kissed, just with an alarming amount of ‘tude, that I could just never muster myself.
After a moment, I screw up my nose and stick out my tongue, back at him. “Good night and good riddance.”
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maddogofshimano · 4 years ago
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Goromi Character Story
I really liked this one even if it was a pain in the ass to translate. Damn all that kansai slang! I have some pics to go with this one unlike the Goromi Event where I forgot to take any screencaps.
Character stories are split into three parts with a fight in each part, and this one will be a little more paraphrased because there’s a lot of back and forth dialogue that doesn’t matter too much. Here’s Goromi’s card!
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Summary: Turns out it takes several days for Kiryu to actually show up to club SHINE to meet Goromi (he’s busy!) so Goromi spends her time working there and taking care of problems. She’s not the number one hostess for nothing!
<Part 1> <Majima Goro, as Goromi, has been working at club SHINE for several days now> The shop manager has been having to deal with this and he doesn’t know what to do.
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Majima shows up again, as usual, and the manager fumbles over himself on whether to say Majima or Goromi
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He asks if Kiryu has shown up yet and Majima complains before heading to the back to get changed, where Goromi continues to complain that she’s a good woman and Kiryu is a horrible lazy bum for standing her up for so long. She’s bored to death! (I wonder, does Majima leave the Goromi outfit at the club or take it with home each time?)
A rowdy customer comes in and makes a scene and Goromi steps in to wallop on him, because she’s bored and he spilled a drink on her dress.  <Fight Happens> Goromi wins, easily, and makes him leave his wallet. The manager pulls her into the backroom to tell her that she can’t fight customers. Goromi counters that she can’t allow a threat to women to go unchecked. 
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Another hostess on the floor shouts at a customer to stop because touching is forbidden. Goromi says that sounds like trouble, she might as well handle it since Kiryu hasn’t shown up yet. The manager says absolutely not, those are Sakamoto Family men (probably, it’s not spoken out loud but Sakamoto is the most common reading).
The manager goes out to deal with it and gets hit by a Sakamoto Family goon for his trouble, but the guy leaves. Turns out the Sakamoto Family has been showing up a lot and never paying, and it’s a real pain. Goromi tells him to get his act together and fight back already! The manager says there’s no way he can win, going along with them is the best way to protect the club. Goromi calls him a coward, and leaves. <Part 2>
<the next day> Majima once again shows up and has a brief struggle with the wig until... Tada! A perfect Goromi~❤️
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Goromi is certain Kiryu-chan will show up today! He definitely will! ...Why the hell hasn’t he shown up yet? She notices yet another unruly customer, once again a Sakamoto Family goon, hassling the manager, but this time she just watches. The manager tries to explain that the rules clearly state you aren’t allowed to touch the hostesses, and gets hit for it again. He stands back up, repeats himself, and gets punched another time. The goon grabs the hostess and says they’re going to the bathroom together.
Goromi steps in to stop him, but the manager beats her to it, and finally hits the guy back. He’s remembering what Goromi-san said to him... He’s not going to run away!!
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<Fight Happens>
Manager gets his ass KICKED, goon taunts him and says he’d never win in a million years. Manager gets back up anyways, tells him he has to leave... just in time for the patriarch of the Sakamoto Family to arrive. He’s heard this is a fun place, and wants to sit with a lady ASAP. His goon shouts at the manager, the manager fumbles, and Goromi steps in.
Sakamoto thinks this is just great, that eyepatch is really getting his fighting spirit going! His lackey is less sure. The manager tries to step in, Goromi cuts him and says she’ll be his hostess tonight. Sakamoto is falling over himself trying to offer Goromi a seat, he’s just smitten.
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The manager wonders what Goromi is up to...
<Part 3>
We start off immediately with Sakamoto telling Goromi how cute she is, and how much he likes her, and that she’s got a real tight lil butt.
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“Stoooop~, ya pervy patriarch❤️” 
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Sakamoto says he really like Goromi, too many girls nowadays would throw a fit if he grabbed their ass. The manager is wondering what the hell is going on, why is Goromi being so nice??
Sakamoto asks what kind of men Goromi likes. She likes strong, beefy guys, of course! Sakamoto says that she’s gonna love him then. Sakamoto: I was the strongest guy in his whole town! I’ve heard that the strongest guy in Kamurocho’s the patriarch of the Majima family, some moron named Majima Goro. Goromi: Oh, is that so? Sakamoto: I’m pretty sure him being crazy strong’s just a silly rumor though. If I were up against him it’d be like beating up a baby. Goromi: Woahhhh, that’s so cool~ 🎵 All that strength is really making my heart beat fast~
Sakamoto lets Goromi order whatever she likes from the menu. The manager worries that she’s going to order a fight! But no, she just asks for Don Perignon, the most expensive thing on the menu. And she convinces him to get 10 bottles of it.
<2 hours pass>
Sakamoto: Bahaha! Goromi-chan, you're the best girl of them all! Goromi: Before ya go I got one more thing for ya Mr. Patriarch! Sakamoto: Ehhhh, is it a kiss~ Goromi: It's your bill! Sakamoto: Ah....? Haha, great joke Goromi-chan! Goromi: It ain't no joke! Between the drinks and the service... you've racked up 5 million yen. How would ya like to pay that?  Sakamoto: Now hold on, I ain't payin' that! Even if you're cute!! Goromi: Eh, you really won't pay? Sakamoto: No! I absolutely will not pay!! Goromi: So that mean's you're not a customer now, is that right?
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Goromi: Since you're not a customer, Goromi can be a little... rough Sakamoto: Tch, boys, let's teach this lady a little discipline! Goromi: Discipline....? Idiots, Goromi is the butterfly that dances in the night. I don't take orders from anyone, especially morons like you!! <Fight Happens, Goromi obliterates them> Sakamoto: You, you're actually...! Goromi: What are ya talking about? I'm Goromi, Kamurocho's number one hostess. Goromi: If you disrespect the women of this city... I'll show you a world of hurt. Sakamoto: W-Wahhhhh!! P-Please forgive me!! Goromi: From now on you're banned. Don't let me see your face here again. Got it?  Sakamoto: Y-yes ma'am! I understand! P-Please excuse me... Goromi: Wait. You still got a bill to pay. Sakamoto: Wh- um, well, I don't have that much right now... Goromi: Haw? Then why'd you eat and drink so much! You got some nerve takin' whatever ya fancied. But... I could forgive ya if you go on an after hours date with me. Sakamoto: ...Eh? Goromi: Until the money's collected, we're going on dates. ...Be prepared. 
<the next day> Manager: Majima-san, thank you so much. Goromi: Eh? What're you talkin' about. This is just Goromi gettin' paid properly for her work. Manager: Ah. I see. Goromi: And... I'm glad you stood up for your girls. Ya finally showed your guts. You've got a real good crew here, keep workin' to be the best. Manager: Th-thank you so much! Uhuuuuuu! Goromi: Don't get all emotional and cry! I'm countin' on having your full cooperation when it comes to fighting Kiryu-chan! Manager: Yes ma'am! By all means.   Door Greeter: Maji- I mean, Goromi-san! K-Kiryu-san is coming here!! Goromi: Ohh, nice timing! Well, let's do this thing! Manager: Yes! <Goromi goes to greet Kiryu at the door> Goromi: Heyyy, it's Goromi~  
<END>
Another bonus fact that relates to both this and the event: the rggo twitter put up a poll asking everyone which of these girls was their favorite
(Lady that does the gatcha rolls, Mayumi from rggo’s story, Yuki, and badly photoshopped Goromi)
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in a shock to no one reading this, Goromi obliterated the vote, coming in just shy of 80%...
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...which was apparently a shock to the staff! They immediately tweeted "Goromi got 80%...! What a crazy result 😵 We're having an emergency planning meeting now. Thank you all for voting so much!"
I have to wonder if this was a turning point in how they wrote Goromi, with the event and substory presenting her as not strictly a one off occurrence! Maybe the fan enthusiasm got them to take her a little more seriously
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delavyck · 3 years ago
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In the beginning Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these other than my Fanfiction story.
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(illustrated by Yomi-Gaeru, Character officially from Kishimoto)
Chapter 1
Summary : This one week of break after 3 months of winning the 4th Ninja War will be interesting for Sakura, as she met the man who caused it all, but instantly changed directions after seeing the cherry pink haired kunoichi roaming around the Land of Mist.
Ships : Madara/Sakura, Hinata/Naruto, Side Sasuke/Sakura, Kakashi/Shizune Chapters : 20
Main Characters: Madara Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha
Characters : Tsunade Senju, Shizune, Kakashi Hatake, Sai, Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuuga, Genma, Orochimaru, Karin Uzumaki, Suigetsu Hozuki, Juugo,
Kaguya Otsutsuki ( mentions ), Zetsu (Mentions), Obito Uchiha (Mentions), Katsuyu, Naruto Civilians/Village Civilians
Time line : Post-war, 4th Ninja war , Naruto
Rated : T - M (in a few chapters)
Circumstances
Third Person POV :
It was 3 months after the 4th Great Ninja War has ended, people were traumatized and scared until now, others have long forgotten about the past and stayed with the present, while others disappeared on who-knows-where. Medical Ninjas were stabilizing people and children that had traumas in that situation. Medical team Sakura, Ino, Shizune, Tsunade and Hinata were in charge on taking care of each level of the Hospital. Sakura was in charge of any Physical Help, Ino was incharge of Mental Help using her Mind-Tranfer Jutsu, Shizune and Tsunade were in charge of any help, and Hinata was incharge for chakra help using her byakugan.
Ino was slacking off a little because of what happened to her father, Inoichi.
Hinata was dating Naruto for almost a month now. But hardly moved on with Neji’s death.
Shizune was still taking care of the hospital.
Tsunade was thinking on resigning as the Godaime and make Kakashi as a candidate as Rokudaime.
And Sakura. She was 17 now.
But.
Sakura didn’t know anything anymore.
All she did is.
Heal.
Fight.
Heal.
Fight.
Everything just repeats. It was getting boring, but she had to serve the village.
How she wishes that Naruto will always bother her.
How Sasuke will always call her ‘annoying’.
How Kakashi will just look at her while reading his Icha Icha. But every one of those just vanished on her own very eyes.
She hasn’t seen Naruto after a week Sasuke left.
Sasuke left the village to atone for his ‘sins’.
And Kakashi just was too troublesome to think of, many emotions that can’t be described behind that mask.
I guess the 4th Ninja war really took a big toll on her, even if Sasuke says he’s sorry for everything despite the fact he almost killed her multiple times and brought her to a heavy genjutsu, just hurts to eternity. She has never seen an such obsolete human, so cruel, so evil yet it makes him look pathetic.
Naruto probably didn’t even care about her anymore since he had Hinata but she still missed his Joyful and Loud voice.
Kakashi probably didn’t care for her too anymore, it’s considered that she can be promoted to Jounin within the year.
Sakura POV; in her mind :
“Forget Sasuke. He doesn’t care about you, he left you after only 1 week staying in Konoha, he probably will come back with a son/daughter next, or probably a wife, who knows? Pfft, Don’t let him take advantage of you this time.”
Inner spoke in my mind.
After all, I guess it’s all true, I do think it’s time to let go of these feelings. It isn’t worth it anymore, years of loving and patience, all gone to waste. But I know I dont care about it anymore. Everything is the truth, the truth does hurt.
“I guess you’re right. You will always be with me right?” Sakura spoke
“Of course Sa-ku-ra, I’m stuck with you and your mind forever, so that leaves me no choice you know?” Inner talked. And chuckled afterwards.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too cocky”. She said as she rolled her eyes.
“Forehead? You there?” Ino said as she walked past by her.
“H-huh? O-oh yeah! I’m fine.” ‘Completely and obviously not!’
“Are you sure? You’ve been dozing off for quite sometime now. I would’ve used my jutsu to check on what’s going on with your big head”.
“Don’t even dare Pig.” She shot a glance at Ino that made her head sweat.
“Fine, fine, just tell me what’s going on next time, I won’t be too patient Billboard Brow.” Ino said sarcastically.
“Yeah, yeah, anyways, what time is it?”
“It’s almost past noon forehead, I was waiting for you to pick up lunch with me until I saw your gaze completely gone from earth.”
‘Crazy forehead girl’.
“Well why didn’t you say it now? Let’s go!”
They laughed as they went running from the hospital and going around the streets of Konoha just to reach Naruto’s Favorite place to eat.
At Ichiraku’s Ramen
“Ino pig, aren’t you eating too much?” She laughed while sipping her noodles as Ino’s soup made her choke by her words.
“HEY! DON’T MOCK ME. AND SAYS THE ONE WHO ATE 3 BOWLS OF RAMEN OFFERED BY NARUTO AND DIDN’T DECLINE!” Ino shouted at her frantically.
“Alright alright geez, your anger issues are taking a poll on you ya know? You’re getting as angry as me.” Sakura said while grinding her teeth.
“Hmph, fine, but you’re paying today, it’s your fault i’m angry like this.”
“Cheeky pig.”
‘Heh, fell right into my trap.’
Ino snorted afterwards.
—————————————————-
Oh how I wish it was like this everyday.
Everyday, happy.
—————————————————-
“Earth to sakura? Hello???”
As Sakura heard her bestfriends voice, her mind came back to reality.
“oh yeah, Hey!”
“Sakura, are you sure nothing is bothering you? You seem a little… distressed.”
Distressed? Maybe.
De-arranged? Yeah sure.
“I’m fine Ino, i’m really fine, there’s nothing I am worrying about, I’m just really stressed like you said, maybe the hospital is just too much for me right now.”
“Oh yea, Lady Tsunade said there is an opening tomorrow for people who wants to take a break for 3 days - 1 month, maybe you want to take a break? I can take your patients if you want.”
“I think that will be nice, I’ll think about it.”
“We should eat our ramen Forehead, it’s getting cold.” Ino said as she got annoyed.
Sakura nodded as a response.
‘The same as always.’
——————————————————————-
After 2 hours of bonding with Ino, she actually got satisfied. She actually felt happy for once.
She’s happy she’s there with her, she’s happy atleast Ino was by her side.
And she actually will take Ino’s word on taking a break, she’ll maybe need it.
She was actually surprised she hasn’t seen that annoying little yellow haired boy in the streets of Konoha. What is that little fox upto?
Walking the streets of Konoha after another 2 hours of going back to the hospital, she was going back to her apartment. In a flick of her eyes, she saw a tall, busty blonde and a black haired female just about the size of her. She saw Tsunade-Sama and Shizune-san near her apartment. Thinking of what’s going on, she knows it’s about her.
She chuckled, this night will be interesting.
Seeing the two females
“Tsunade-sama? Shizune-san? What happened For you guys to pass by?”
“Ah, Sakura, welcome back, anyways I have received a letter that Uchiha Sasuke will be returning in a week, so I maybe thought to inform you and Naruto to escort him through Konoha at night, of course, Genma and the others staying at the gate won’t interfere, I have already noticed them about your appearance next week.”
Sakura’s eyes widened at what Tsunade just said. ‘That can’t be possible, why did he even come back for? To become a Konoha nin again? That isn’t right.’
“A-ah Tsunade-Sama, he is really coming back isn’t he?”
Tsunade Nodded.
“Ah I see, I understand on what we are going to do, I’ll ask Naruto instead about this, you should be going to the Hokage Office Tsunade-Sama, It’s getting dark.”
“Alright, I pass you this. This is the mission scroll, and yes, this is a mission, an A-Rank one to be exact. And also this. This is the form you’re going to need for next week, it’s not any form Sakura, this is a form of seals that can be used as a sealing technique, originating from my grandmother’s clan, the uzumaki clan, using this fuinjutsu.”
“That’s very interesting Tsunade-Sama, I’ll hold onto this.”
“Come to my office tomorrow at 8 am sharp to discuss this with Naruto.”
“Hai, Tsunade-Sama. Also- Wait!”
“Hm?”
“I heard from Ino that you’re accepting people to take a leave so maybe I thought I’ll get one, i also want to take a small break from the hospital please? Like only 1 week?”
“Hm, I’ll consider it and will discuss with you this tomorrow, I also think it will be a good time before you leaving to go get Sasuke. More like a preparation, very well Sakura, I’ll see you tomorrow.
“H-Hai!”
She hoped Naruto will be in his house or she’ll have to call on Tsunade again telling that he wasn’t seen that day. And had gone to atoms.
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moral-turpitudes · 4 years ago
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Unfinished Business: Part 2
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Trigger Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Mentions of past abuse, Blood, Fighting, Swearing, etc. 
Characters: Thomas Shelby x Reader
+ random character/group I made up (Romboldi & The Black Hats)
Word Count: 3,548
Summary: Y/n’s secret gets out and the gang scrambles to put an end to the Black Hats. But one thing is for certain, nothing is more terrifying than when the hunter becomes the hunted.
Requested by: @msbzowy​ 
Part 1 | Part 2 
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Y/n took a deep breath before walking into the meeting room with Tommy, her hand slightly clamming up in his. Despite their love for her, she couldn’t shake the thoughts from her head about them possibly hating her.
Walking through the mahogany doors, the frenzied conversations stopped, as all eyes landed on Y/n.
Polly gasped and she immediately walked over to her, enveloping her in a huge hug. Ada followed, complimenting her new look as she made her way to her.
“What the fuck y/n you’re supposed to be ruling New York by now!” Arthur said rather loudly, coming over and pulling her into a rough embrace.
“Nice to see you too Arthur.” She said chuckling as she made her rounds around the room.
John handed her a shot and gave her a hug, with Finn and Michael joining in shortly after. She knocked the shot back and made her way over to a pregnant Esme and scowling Linda.
“Nice to see you both! Gosh I’ve missed you!” She said gently hugging Esme and awkwardly hugging Linda. She never did like her too much as Y/n noticed early on in their relationship.
After exchanging pleasantries she waltzed back over to Tommy, taking a seat by him and lacing their hands together. Polly smirked, her eyebrow raised at he interaction.
“So tell me y/n...how is New York?” She asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“Oh it’s...well it’s New York. Crowded, loud, cars everywhere. But there’s sky-high buildings that are being built, it’s amazing to see. She said taking her hand from Tommy’s and placing it in her lap.
“Do you like it more than Small Heath?” She asked.
“God no. I grew up here Poll. This is home.” She said, leaning back in the chair.
“Oi! Y/n, not to be so forward but what the hell are you back in this shit hole for?” He asked, handing her a glass full of whiskey. She smiled and took a sip, looking at Tommy.
“Is it alright if I tell them?” She asked, knowing Tommy usually handled the tough conversations.
“Go ahead love.” He said. Her heart jumped at the nickname, it’s been so long since she’d heard it.
Taking a swig of whiskey, she stood up and walked towards the head of the table slowly.
“So, I know last time we parted ways a bit harshly. But all past feelings aside, I actually came here on business...and it involves everyone here...” She said looking down at her drink in her hand.
“That doesn’t sound good. What kind?” Michael asked.
“Uh, Mafia business. Mr. Romboldi....of the Black Hats.” She said taking another sip of her drink.
“God them fuckers again? How the hell did ya get involved with those rats? He already blew our shit up last time!” Arthur said, his brows furrowing.
She looked nervously at Thomas, and he just quickly nodded for her to continue, all emotion leaving his face.
“Well, you all know how I can’t just sit around, so I went job searching when I got there. Not long after, I noticed how dangerous it was being there on my own. I was almost attacked a couple times...” She said brushing a stray hair out of her face. Gently steering the conversation away from that subject.
“Anyways...I needed protection, and plus, I had skills that other jobs didn’t need so I went to the source of why I left. I decided I’d work for the Black Hats but not to betray anyone, just to get money coming in, get some protection, and maybe some information over time. They don’t know I’m actually Y/n Y/l/n. I’ve been working undercover. I’ve been using an alias, faking an accent, and using fake papers to get my bearings in the gang. And I’m now their contract killer.” She said knocking back the last of the drink. She let the first half of the news sink in, walking towards Tommy, placing a hand on the back of his chair.
“Holy shit. Really?” John asked.
“Yeah. I’ve killed people all over the country to earn that spot. I’m not proud of how I got it, but I had to do what I had to do.” She said looking away, out the window at the people milling about.
“Oi! Bet they gave ya a nickname like one of them spies aye?” Arthur asked jokingly.
Y/n chuckled and nodded her head.
“It’s dumb but I liked it at the time. They called me Quick Shot.” She said chuckling.
“I got it on a mission when I was sniping for his men one night. The people that were on the list came up and I took them out quick, no one really knew where the shots came from but I was gone before they could find out.” She said.
“Damn.” John mumbled.
“But you’re back here though dear...why? Why does this involve us?” She asked concerned. Polly could always steer the conversations back to the problems at hand. Often times she had the most sense of the group.
Y/n walked away from Tommy and over to the whiskey and poured another glass as she spoke.
“As we all know, the last deal went sour to say the least, so he wants something else. He told me he wants Tommy’s gin. He wants to distribute it in America, and to get stocks and shit. So...he sent me here to persuade Tommy to pay full price for them running it back. He won’t be lowballed again. Over my two years there, I’ve unfortunately gotten to know how he works, and if he comes after one person he comes after the rest just the same. If Tommy refuses, he will most likely kill me and him, as well as anyone in relation to the Peaky Blinders.” She said sternly.
“My god...” Polly said, sipping her tea as she looked at Tommy. His face still the same. But y/n could practically see the gears turning in his head again, another plan in the works.
“So they don’t know you have history with us?” Ada asked.
“No. And if they find out, you might as well kiss me goodbye. They may be stupid but they can sense someone who’s faking. I honestly don’t know how I’ve made it this long if I’m honest.” She said sitting back by Tommy, sighing and rubbing her temple. The drinks going to her head slightly.
Tommy shuffled in his seat and got up, standing behind her chair, speaking sternly.
“I’ve made a plan. It must be followed exactly as I say. No exceptions.” He said, Ada rolled her eyes bracing herself for whatever wild plan was about to spew from his mouth.
“Y/n is going to call Mr. Romboldi from a pay phone to tell him I accept the offer. When they get here in a weeks time, we’re going to meet them in Charlie’s yard. I’m going to order crates to be shipped there with my fucking gin, and you all will stand by while I negotiate. To help Y/n stay out of their grasp, we’re going to place her on sniper duty. If they ask about her, don’t tell them anything, act like you’ve never met her.” He said.
“And what if word gets out? You know it travels around here.” Linda said.
“Then you’ll just have to keep your trap shut so it doesn’t. Not until this business is dealt with. I’m sure you can manage.” Y/n said annoyed. Linda glared at her. She was always a chatty one.
Tommy smirked, and looked down at his watch.
“Y/n?” Tommy asked.
“Yes?” She said looking at him, her eyes boring into his.
“You’re going to go to the pay phone tomorrow like we discussed, but try to keep it simple. I don’t want him asking too many questions.” He said.
“Alright. What time?”
“Noon”. He said, walking over and pouring himself a glass of whiskey.
“Okay.” She said, before making conversation with Ada and Arthur. Her laugh filling the room as she joked around just like old times.
Meanwhile, Tommy looked out the window, the plans rolling around in his head amongst the scraping of the tunnels that plagued his mind every day. A mix of dread and happiness filling his bones. As much as he was happy to see y/n back, he couldn’t stand people being out to get her and his family. And he couldn’t bear losing her again, especially to those men. He hated that they forced her to do certain things and now that she was back home, he wasn’t going to let that happen again. He knocked back his shot, the liquid streaming down his throat attempting to numb the pain he felt as he processed what happened over the last 2 hours. Just 2 hours ago he was coming back from a meeting with Johnny Dogs. Just 2 hours ago he was out taking care of things around the shops. Just 2 hours ago his life was half empty. The only things in it at the time were his family and the sounds of shovels scraping through the tunnels, consuming his mind. But then as if a prayer was answered by some god he didn’t believe in, there she was at his doorstep. And he was determined this time to not repeat the past.
“You okay?” Y/n asked, walking over to him. Her red heels clicking along the wooden floors. He sighed and turned around to face her, his tired eyes meeting hers as he felt himself relax a bit at her presence.
“How about we get out of here?” Tommy asked, taking her hand in his.
“Are we going to your place?” She asked. He nodded and she smirked, seeing his lips turn up in a slight smile.
“Everyone be ready by noon tomorrow. I’m heading home.” He said, taking y/n’s hand and pulling her out with him. Everyone sat there for a moment and Polly smirked.
“Are they seeing each other again? After what he did?” Ada asked her.
“I’m sure of it. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder and I think that’s true for them. He never wanted her to go Ada. He told me after she left that he regretted it but I told him whats done is done. But you know him....he’s never been one to let things go.” She said taking a drag from her cigarette.
“Who would’ve known Tommy Shelby had a heart.” She said chuckling.
The rest of them laughed as they went about their business. All of them wary about what the next week would hold.
Meanwhile, back at Tommy’s estate, he gave Y/n a quick tour around, before leading her up to his bedroom.
Her eyes widening at the huge room and lavish king bed.
“Wow. You really went all out here aye?” She said smiling, running her hands along the cotton sheets. He caught her hand, and took it, turning her around so she was facing him. He smiled slightly as he brought his lips to hers. She kissed back, dragging both of them onto the plush mattress, feverish kisses being placed on her neck by the one she thought she’d never see again. They continued their escapades, their worries for tomorrow quickly slipping away as the daylight faded around them.
The next morning Y/n awoke to the sound of Tommy’s light snores, feeling his arms wrapped around her in a protective embrace. She wondered how long it had been since he’s slept decently, knowing all too well how his thoughts kept him up at night.
She let him sleep though, quietly getting up to wrap her bare body in one of Tommy’s robes as she made her way to the master bathroom. She went in and cleaned up, slowly coming to as the hot water dropped over her skin. When she got out she dug through her suit case to find a black dress and light sweater and decided that would work for the day’s activities. She quickly tensed though at the thought of conversing with Mr. Romboldi in an hours time.
As she put her last bit of makeup on, she heard Thomas get up and walk to towards the bathroom.
“Good morning love.” He said, kissing her cheek. She smiled and touched it, still in disbelief that she was here with him. She hated that’s she was bitter before, but now she’s grated to be there.
“Morning. How’d you sleep?” Y/n asked.
“Better. Better than I have in 2 years.” He said. She smiled and turned to hug his bare form. He had a genuine smile on his face as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Tommy Shelby, I never knew such a smile existed.” She said. He chuckled as he stepped away preparing the bath.
“Are you going to go call him?” He said glancing at the clock on the wall.
“Yes. I’ll go to the shop as soon as it’s done and report what I hear.” She said gathering her things.
“Alright. If you need help call me. I love you.” He said.
“Love you too.” She said before heading into his room and out into the luxurious hallway. She took a deep breath as she got in one of the cars and drove to the payphone in town. She put the coins in the slot, waiting for the operator to answer.
The phone crackled as she held the metal device up to her ear. “Hello how may I help you today?” The operator asked.
“Hi. I’d like to place a call to 5023. New York.” She said. Then waited for the dreaded rough voice of the man who took her in, yet whore’d her out to his enemies.
“I was expecting to hear from you dear. How is that shit hole treating ya?” He asked.
“Fine. Nothing beats New York, sir.” She said in her fake accent.
“Did you accomplish what I sent you there for?” He asked.
“Yes. He will pay the full price for our services. You are to meet him at the place you went last time. I think he called it Charlie’s yard?” She asked, acting like she didn’t know where it was.
“Yes, I’ll never forget that dump. Tell him we’ll be there Monday. I’m boarding the ship in an hour. We’ll meet them at noon. Good job miss Anderson.” He said.
“Alright, I’ll pass that along to him. Thank you Mr. Romboldi.” She said.
“You’ll be back here in no time, don’t worry. We can’t afford to loose our best shooter to a grimy razor gang, plus, I have some new men who’d love to meet you.” He said, an evil tone lacing his voice towards the end as he egged on the conversation.
“Goodbye. See you when I get back.” She said hanging up. Not waiting for a reply. She took a deep breath and shook the thought of giving herself to more random men out of her head and got back in the car, looking out at the busy streets as she neared the shop.
She immediately went in and said hi to Ada and Polly who smirked at her, knowing full well she stayed the night with Tommy.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Polly asked.
“Just reporting to Tommy, is he here?” She asked glancing around.
“Not yet, but you can wait around here. I want all the details.” She said smirking.
Y/n smirked and sat down in a chair near Ada.
“Yes we fucked, what more do you want me to say?” She said taking a cigarette out of her pocket, Polly reaching out to light it.
Ada smirked “Well are you all dating or not? He hasn’t been with anyone since ya left for gods sake!” She said excitedly. Y/n’s eyes widened a bit in shock. Thomas Shelby not fucking around was something she’d never thought she’d hear.
“Well we definitely made up for lost time, but I don’t know if I’d call it dating. Hell, I just came back yesterday but I felt like I’ve never left. What do I make of that?” She asked.
“I think you should ask him. I’m sure he’s already said he loves ya. I can see it between you two.” Polly said. Y/n smiled remembering earlier at his house.
“Alright, I will.” Y/n said, watching the door, waiting for him to burst through.
Not 5 minutes later he did, walking straight into his office, his face expressionless as usual.
“Guess that’s my cue.” Y/n said sighing and reluctantly getting up.
“Good luck my dear.” Polly said before turning back to her work.
Y/n walked to the closed door before her and knocked three times, just as she did all those years ago.
“Come in.” Tommy said, his desk strewn with papers.
Tommy glanced up from his papers and motioned for her to shut the door. He quickly shuffled some of the papers away and sat up, his eyes on her as she took a seat in the leather chair.
“How did it go?” He asked taking a cigarette out of his metal case. Rubbing it on his lips before lighting it.
“Okay...I told him you’d accepted his offer and that you’d meet at Charlie’s yard on Monday at noon.” She said looking away from him.
He studied her movements, the way she fiddled with her hands, her eyes avoiding him, her brow furrowed with worry.
“What else did he say y/n?” He asked quietly.
She looked down as she spoke, tears threatening to fall.
“He said that I’d be back in no time. Meaning he probably wants me back any day now. He doesn’t know I’d be there with you all so I could just stay here as planned, but I don’t want them to find out I’m here. He said he had new men who’d love to meet me.” She said with a disgusted look on her face.
Tommy sighed and took a drag of his cigarette.
“I’m not letting them take you back, y/n. You don’t have to worry about that.” He said looking into her eyes.
“Well once his men find out I’m not back, he’s going to get word of it.” She said quickly wiping a stray tear from her face.
“If they do, we’ll just have to kill them then.” He said.
“What about the men back there? I’m not whoring myself out. I’m not doing that again. He’s a sick man.” She said as more tears fell. She hated doing things for her boss but it was a comply or be killed type of situation back then.
“You won’t have to do that anymore. You’re a blinder do you understand?” He said getting up and walking over to her. She got up and he pulled her into a hug, her cries muffling as she rested her head on his chest.
“I won’t let them hurt you. You’re safe here. Do you hear me? You won’t have to do that, I’m not ever sending you away again.” He said.
Once she calmed down, she looked up at him, his ocean eyes staring back at her.
“I love you...y/n I really do.” He said.
Y/n nodded and smiled. “I love you too.”
Later that night she got home late after joining the gang at the Garrison. Tommy was in the bathroom taking a shower while she was getting undressed and putting on a nightgown. She only had a finite amount of clothes, so luckily she was able to find the time to shop earlier during the day.
“I thought you’d be sleeping y/n.” He said as y/n sat up in bed reading one of Tommy’s books.
“I can’t, I have something on my mind.” She said, turning the pages.
“What is it?” He asked, getting in bed beside her. Kissing her shoulder as he watched her skim the book.
“Polly and Ada asked about us today. And Ada asked if we were together again...” she said, her heart racing as she spoke.
“Do you want to be together?” He asked. She took a moment to think, mad that she was so bitter before, but she decided to let those feelings go to make way for new ones. New beginnings perhaps.
“Yeah, I’d like to. Only if you promise to not boot me out again.” She said looking at him.
“Then we’re together then. And I’ve told you before love, I’m never making that mistake again.” He said kissing her shoulder before lying down. She smiled and closed the book, lying down and cuddling into his side for the night.
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Over the next few days, they grew in their trust and in their relationship more. And when they weren’t dealing with the matters at hand, they decided to tell the family, which wasn’t much as they all expected it.
Y/n looked around the room at all of them, finally feeling okay with herself and with who was in her life, and by her side. But she couldn’t shake the nerves of her past, as she still had to deal with them when they got there.
Monday came around rather quickly though, much to everyone’s dismay. Her stomach lurched as she got a phone call at her new desk at the shop.
“Shelby Company Limited.” She said nicely.
“Tell y/n y/l/n we have a surprise for her. Courtesy of Mr. Romboldi.” He said and then hung up.
Her stomach lurched again, but in fear. She got up quickly, her face paling as she steadied herself at her desk, walking with shaking hands to Tommy’s office. It was an hour before noon. An hour before she had to get to her position.
She barged in frantically not caring that Tommy was in the middle of discussing the plans for today with Arthur and the boys.
“Hello y/n. What is it?” He said putting his cigarette out and sitting back in his chair with an annoyed look on his face.
“T-they know. Thomas they know my name. They know I’m here.” She said fear dancing wildly in her eyes.
Within seconds the boys grabbed their weapons and their caps and headed out the door to Charlie’s yard. Thomas on the other hand stayed behind.
“What happened y/n?” He asked gathering his things.
“I um, I got a call a few minutes ago. And he said tell y/n y/l/n we have a surprise for her. Courtesy of Mr. Romboldi.” She said her hands shaking.
Thomas paced around while checking the rounds in his gun. He pulled out a sniper rifle and loaded it as y/n stood there.
He quickly shoved the gun into y/n’s hands and stared at her.
“Y/n. Hey. Listen to me. I’m not letting him get you. I’m taking you to the rooftop overlooking Charlie’s yard ok? They won’t notice you. You’re going to go there and stay there unless we need you on the ground ok? Just take care of the men around us.” He said.
“Okay...” she said and followed him out to the car. He stepped on the gas, booking it there. It was easier for her to keep calm when she was hunting down other people, but it was terrifying knowing she’s become one of the hunted.
As they sped down the dirt covered streets they parked outside of an abandoned 3 story building. He quickly looked around and led her up to the roof to where she could see clearly. The wind nipping at her neck slightly as she adjusted her position and steadied her breathing. She could see John and Arthur standing guard below holding two suitcases and Michael, Finn, and Isiah on the opposite side waiting. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tommy walk out into the middle of the area, checking his watch. As if on cue, a black dingy car pulled up as 5 men climbed out including Mr. Romboldi. They each had either a handgun or machine gun with them, along with a lone black suitcase.
She saw as Mr. Romboldi came near Tommy, sitting the briefcase on an old wooden table and opening it, revealing what looked to be a lot of money inside.
“I’m not here to take your money Mr. Romboldi, I’m here to give you your gin and your payment for your troubles.” He said as Arthur and John brought over the suitcases.
Mr. Romboldi smirked and lit a cigar. The smoke rising into the air.
“It’s not for you Mr. Shelby. It’s for y/n y/l/n.” He said.
“That name doesn’t sound familiar.” Tommy said, lighting a cigarette as he stared blankly.
“Are you sure? It sounds an awful lot like someone who we have workin’ for us by the same first name. You thought you could fool us y/n?” He said, loudly yelling the last part and looking around the rooftops.
Y/n quickly ducked down before he could look over towards the building she was perched on. Steadying her breathing as she waited.
Mr. Romboldi continued to ramble on.
“We know she’s here because she hasn’t came back to our headquarters, and my men are very fond of her. They’d know when a pretty girl like that goes missing.” He said. Still loud enough that she could hear.
Tommy blankly stared as he shook his head again, denying he knew her.
“Look, the only way we found out for sure was because one of them, a certain man she was seein’ mentioned her not visiting him. He was ya know...scheduled to see her one night this past week if you know what I mean...” He said chuckling.
“And he brought it up to my men and they contacted me while I was on that shitty boat. Now....I know we have a deal, and I’m accepting your payment this time, but I also have a deal of my own ya hear?” He said.
“I hear you. What’s the deal?” Tommy asked.
“You give me the money and the gin, and I pay you for y/n. She’s the best I’ve got in more ways than one despite her foolin’ us and I know she’s here. We researched into her little background and couldn’t find nothin’ on a fuckin’ Y/n Anderson.” He said taking another puff of his cigar.
“That’s unfortunate.” He said, growing tired of him talking. He motioned for Arthur and John to go as he sat up a bit.
“You ain’t leavin’ not with out giving me my girl.” He said. Her stomach turned over how he talked about her. Like she was some piece of meat ready for the wolves.
Tommy smirked and leaned in closer to him, one of Mr. Romboldis men pointing a gun at Tommy and walking near him until the barrel touched his temple.
He paid the gun little mind and continued.
“If she’s your girl...then why was she in my bed then aye?” He said, as he watched the older mans face grow red with anger.
“You bastard! I knew it. You can come on out y/n we have a ship to fuckin' catch.” He said yelling.
“I know for a fact that she wouldn’t want be with you. You’re just in a filthy razor gang!” He said. Tommy attempted to get up but not before the man clicked the gun a bit causing him to stop.
John and Arthur raised theirs as the other men stood guarding their boss, not getting a chance to reach for their guns. Arthur started beating one of them while John threw some punches and disarmed the other.
Y/n slowly raised her head up a little, just enough that she could get a clear shot.
Mr. Romboldi got up and took all the suitcases and walked to the car as Tommy tried to grab the mans arm to disarm him. He shot the gun, the bullet flying through the air at a random spot, hitting a building nearby.
Y/n aimed for the guys who were getting too rough with John and Arthur and quickly shot two bullets, each of them striking them in the head.
It gradually got more quiet as two of the 5 were dead. But Tommy still struggled with the man who held him at gunpoint taking a slew of punches to the face and chest. Michael, Finn, and Isiah fought the other two, giving her just enough time to find an opening to kill one of the men. She shot striking the man going after Finn, hitting him in the chest. The other guy soon ran over to Tommy, attempting to help the other man attack him. Tommy pinned one down laying punches on his face as blood sprayed up onto his dress shirt.
Y/n didn’t hesitate though, instead she shot the man who was about to attack him from behind.
As she took a moment to get her bearings, she saw Mr. Romboldi grab a machine gun out of his car, aiming right for Tommy who was slowly getting up after beating the guy to death. He unfortunately didn’t notice her boss aiming at him.
Before Tommy could pull out his own gun, he saw a shot hit the guys head. The once ruthless, balding, red-faced mafia leader from New York lying lifeless on the cold pavement as he bled out.
Tommy looked up and saw y/n. The smoke from the rifle still floating off the gun and into the air. He had never been so happy to be staring at the barrel of a gun, or more so the person behind it.
Without thinking, y/n got up and ran down the stairs and into the open area and ran straight to Tommy, not caring about the blood and dirt caking her shoes as she did so. He welcomed her with a warm embrace, as she looked up and examined his face, he was bleeding from his temple and his lip, but other than that he seemed fine. Despite his injured lip, she kissed him for a moment before he stopped her and looked down at her.
“Thank you, y/n.” He said.
She just nodded and embraced him again. Happy that she had the man that she loved back in her arms, and a job she loved to go to everyday. As crazy as it was, she wouldn’t trade this life for the world, no matter the cost.
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urimaginespimp · 4 years ago
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Michael Gray: Better Man pt 7
Olivia remembers how she longed for an alone time with Michael when their relationship was starting to hit rock bottom.
And now she got one.
The only cons were simple. One, they weren't dating anymore, and Two, everywhere they went, there was this awkwardness in the atmosphere they keep trying to ignore.
They spent the afternoon roaming around Brooklyn, with Olivia telling Michael everything he needs to know about the place, while he would either reply with a simple 'oh', 'okay', 'that's nice', or the occasional "mmm".
Now heading back to their apartment, she was internally panicking on what to talk about as it was a far walk.
"Do you think it's true that Arthur and John were really using you to play catch through the window when you were a baby?" She asked out of the blue, trying to push the awkwardness away again.
"They laugh every time I ask again, but I think that's why I have this small dent on the back of my head." He chuckled.
"Oh yeah, I remember you have that." She murmured.
Getting the idea of what she was trying to do, he decided to go along with it.
"Do you remember the first time we met each other?" He asked in a playful tone.
"Hmmm I don't know what you mean." She feigned innocence.
"Oh it's engraved in here." He pointed at his temple before continuing with a teasing tone.
"You waltzed into my mother's house, started taking your dress off and threw it up in the air, while yelling how glad you were that you wouldn't have to worry about not fitting in the stupid dress Tommy was making you wear for an event." He let out a small laugh at the memory.
"And you sat there, all red, looking down on the floor." It was her turn to laugh at him.
"Hey, you turned red too when you finally saw me." He retorted, smiling.
Michael can remember it like was just yesterday.
He just met his mom, and was having tea with her. He was alone at the table because Polly went upstairs to look for photographs and documents of him when he was a baby.
He was just looking around the room when the door opened and in came a woman in a red dress, with her face made up beautifully, and her hair flowing behind her.
She didn't see him though, because the moment she shut the door behind her, she started unbuttoning her dress, making him panic.
"Poll I'm back, and we can finally get rid of this stupid dress Thomas made me shrink into!"
Michael wanted to stop her, but his voice got caught up in his throat. He's never seen a woman in only her undergarments before and was too shocked to respond.
He looked down instead, already feeling his face getting hot.
"I can eat fucking pastries again!" She yelled happily, throwing the dress up in the air.
It landed on the floor in-front of him.
Olivia, upon seeing where it landed near at, gaped like a fish, let out a small scream, then ran behind the nearest curtain.
"W-who are you and where's Polly?!" She exclaimed, peaking her head out and holding the curtain to her chest.
"I'm polly's son, Michael." He responded, still refusing to look away from the floor.
"Oh fuck." She muttered to herself. "You came!" She exclaimed sounding happy. "I am so sorry you had too see that! I- I'm not usually like this when I go in people's homes."
"What the hell is going on in there?" Polly's footsteps was getting closer.
Upon seeing the both of them - his son was all red and now looking at her, while a familiar red dress was on the floor in-front of him. And Olivia now behind the curtain looking guilty.
"You know what, I don't even wanna know." Polly said, chuckling. "Michael this is Olivia, we treat her like family. Olivia, this is my son."
And that was the start of their friendship.
After getting through a crosswalk, Both of them were thinking of another 'safe' memory to bring up.
"I remember you getting your first drink." She started.
"What about it?"
"It was your 18th birthday, everybody was having too much fun to notice that the birthday boy was making frequent zigzag trips to the bathroom." They both let out a small laugh.
"I'm way better with my drinks now. But why were you being a creep observing people like that during a party, anyway?" He smiled at her.
"I wasn't allowed to drink that night because I lost a bet to John and I had to watch his kids in the morning."
"What was the bet about?"He asked.
She shrugged.
She remember that day though, John laughing hiss ass off for winning a bet between them. His eyes full of playfulness. He then started thinking of ways he could punish her.
"Alright, liv, you think you're so slick, eh?" He was smirking at her.
"What are ya talkin bout, doofus?"
"Don't think that I haven't seen you and me cousin undressing each other with your eyes." He teased, laughing when she turned a dark shade of crimson.
"How about this..." He said leaning closer on the table. "I order you to kiss him tonight in-front of everyone at the party, and tell him it's a birthday gift."  He said, taking a puff of smoke.
Not wanting to embarrass herself that night, she decided to downplay it a little.
"Really? That's the best you can do? Not really a punishment there, Johnny. You can't go all soft on me now." She retorted, acting nonchalant about it, leaning back on her chair.
It worked though because John looked like he was now having second thoughts about it.
"Okay, luv, no drinking for you tonight, and you watch me rascals tomorrow."
Trying to hide her victory smile, she started protesting as if it was that bad.
She smiled at the memory.
"I can't exactly remember what it was about. But it was undoubtedly something stupid." She chuckled.
Falling into silence once again, hands in their coats' pockets, they were only a few blocks away.
"Remember when we got bored to the point where I agreed to go with you into trying to find Arthur a woman?" Michael asked.
"He was acting like he had a stick up his ass all week, and I was bored too. It was a two in one solution."
"Yeah except that narrowing down the options available in Birmingham left us with three women. One too afraid to even go near him, another one too eager to be part of the family, and one who turns out, preferred you." They both chuckled
"How about the time we made Tommy go all ballistic when we all pretended that I was secretly dating Alfie all this time and that I had accepted his proposal?"
"I think he was more mad at the thought that the whole family 'knew' and he was never once suspicious." Michael laughed.
"And he didn't know which one to strangle first when we told him it was all a joke, and not once has Alfie made a move on me."
He then remembers having to drag her away to run out of the house when she couldn't stop laughing and started telling Tommy it was his brothers' and Michael's idea.
Laughing about memorable times she had in Birmingham with the Shelbys made her  miss them even more. The closest to one she had of them right now was Michael, one whom she shared so much history yet couldn't even bring to talk about them just yet.
"Are you still fond of books?" He asked
"Never grew tired of 'em."
"Do you still French inhale when you're in deep thought?" She asked.
"My body still hates me for it."
"Wine?" "Still think they're overrated."
"Still driving?" "Can do it with my eyes closed now."
"Black?" "Still my favorite coffee."
"Gin for breakfast?" "I've successfully got rid of that habit."
"Still dancing?" "I haven't been to one in years."
"Still making weekly trips to the pictures? "Can't figure out why I haven't been interested in going anymore."
"Any man I should be aware of?" "None at the moment."
"You?" "Still confident that I'm straight."
They both chuckled and shook their heads.
That long walk home wasn't so bad. Both were smart enough to play safe in bringing up memories.
All fond ones, as if the bad haven't been clouding their minds.
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iam-kenough · 4 years ago
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Will  you ever notice me? Arthur Morgan x Original Female Character
Summary: During they wandering in deep snowstorm, man from van der Linde gang found odd looking girl and Dutch decides to take her to camp to see if she can be any use, leading life of outlaw with them. Quickly, new girl develops feelings towards Arthur, but he sees her just as a kid...and she won't take that! It's an original character story that starts in the place where Arthur, Dutch and Micah were supposed to first meet with Sadie. Instead she's already with them.
Authors notes: It’s second chapter and you can find the rest of chapter on my blog if you want to read more of my fanfiction.
Word count: 2978 Chapter 2
It was next day's evening when they landed on new camp's place. Everyone started arranging their tents and some of them decided to go to the lake and bath after long trip.
- The water is so damn cold! But it was nice to take a bath after all those hours- Iris was talking to Mary-Beth and her teeth were chattering. She decided to wear woolen dress Mary gave to her, not being even slightly suspicious why Iris would wear a dress so badly. It was nice, wine red and warm one. She decided to tweeze her brows a little bit and she brushed her long, black hair putting them in loose bun. Even though she will undress and wear only chemise in her bed in less than 3 hours.
Iris looked around and sighed. All good places for a tent were taken and she couldn't sleep with girls in their tent 'cause it was too small. She had to prepare her own but there was only one way left to do that.
- Knock, knock - she said awkwardly, knocking on one of polls holding Arthur's tent. He was on his coot, drawing something in his journal. It catched her attention. Didn't know he's romantic soul who would sketch while sulking like this.
- How can I help ya? - he closed the book and looked at her shyly. He analysed her posture in new clothes but very quickly so it wouldn't scare her or make her uncomfortable. Girls usually didn't like his sight on them.
- Will it bother you if I will place my tent right next to yours? All good spots were taken when I took a bath - her cheeks flushed a little bit. She even tried to flirt with him and bat her eyes, while she squeezed fabric of her dress.
- It's rather if I won't bother you, kid.
If I could I would devour you right here, Mr Morgan and you would be the only person not bothering me. I would undress you from your bright blue shirt which matches your eyes so good and I would let you pop my cherry...
- You'right out there, kid? Asked ya if I won't bother you.
- N-no, never. Thank you, Mr Morgan - she jumped into the air and disappeared to set her tent. It was mirroring his and when she was looking above her trunk she could see him, deeply in his thoughts. Honestly, if they would rearrange it a little bit more they would have big, shared tent with two beds next to eachother. But she they wasn't close enough for Iris to ask for it even if she wouldn't mind.
Later that night they had supper prepared by her and Mr Pearson. Almost everyone was eating together but she noticed Arthur hidden in his spot. She went to her tent and sat on the coot mirroring his position.
- I hope it tastes good? - Iris asked after few minutes. He raised her eyes surprised at her.
- You eatin' with my poor companion? I see everyone gathering around the fire.
- They're all nice and stuff but I like to eat in peace. You're not bad to be with, Mr Morgan.
It sounded a little bit frivolous and she actually liked it, surprised with her own temper.
He blushed. Or rather tips of his ears did.
- It's just surprising 'cause yall girls are always eating together. And yes, this stew is amazing - he liked his fingers and brushed his dirty mouth with his sleeve.
Normally she would jerk away on this kind of behaviour but she giggled at sight of big man eating messy like that.
- Girls are okay, especially Tilly and Mary, but Karen has...a little bit to intense character. Oh, and Dutch's girlfriend. That lady hates me.
- She hates everybody, dont'cha worry.
- Today she hit Dutch with a book, saying he's throwing me looks - Iris was giggling and she brushed loose hair behind her ear.
- Looks, ya say? Oh don't worry, you just new, that's why he does that, kid.
- She's rather young too, you know. It's just the make-up she uses, makes her look older.
- Ya say? Nah, you still look like kid to me. With all those freckles and you being thin. Not so sure you should go with us to rob that train, I will have to watch you all the time - his voice was low and he chuckled.
Ouch, that was bad! So he doesn't like freckles...It's nothing I can do about it. But maybe if I'm gonna eat more I'll stop being thin, get some bust maybe and then-
- You sure you want to sit here with me? You seemed bored with my old feller talkin'.
- I-I am not bored at all. Can you show me what are you drawing?
He brushed his chin, sign of him being shy and he passed her the journal. On two pages he drew their whole new camp.
- I must say you can draw, Mr Morgan. You've got talent - she passed the journal back and their hands brushed against each other. She blushed again.
- Talent that's useless for sure - his voice was low and nice and he almost sounded like purring cat. Iris felt knot tying up in her stomach.
- It's not, it's not! - she shaked her head - I find it really pretty. You could draw something for me one day - it was supposed to be flirt and she bit her lower lip but he didn't notice that. He just cheered up.
- What you like, then? I can draw it for you - he patted her arm in friendly manner. They were so close right now, their faces next to each other. She could smell him.
What do I like? Your lips, your intriguing eyes, the fact that your hair was so messy and the fact you smell like whiskey, cigarettes and sweat.
- Flowers - she said plainly, looking at her feet - Any flowers are good. Or animals. I saw you sketching deer one day.
- I've been hit on my head a lot so if I would forget remind me of it, kid - she looked at him once again and licked her lower lip, becoming red on her cheeks. He started looking at her quizzically.
- I think you catched a cold, kid, you seem burning up. Better go to sleep, tomorrow's a day too.
Knot in her stomach popped and she lowered her head. Kid, you say. Im gonna show you, one day I will gain weight, have some reall boobs and nice mature dresses and you will look at me the right way. She got up a little bit too quick, tears forming in corner of her eyes but he was facing her back almost immediately and he didn't see.
- Y-you right, I don't feel my best - she answered with shaking voice and she rubbed her eyes - I'm...gonna get some rest. Goodnight, Mr Morgan.
- Uh-, yea, good night - he read her bad, he was sure she's sick but she seemed rather irritated by the fact he noticed? I will apologize tomorrow.
She put on the curtain between the halves of tent which was giving them privacy now and she sighed. At first she looked in small mirror she owned and analised her own face. You ugly, Iris.
Girl looked at herself quizzically. Big, green eyes with long lashes and nice, pink lips but then freckles happened, covering her nose and cheeks. Her hair were jet black but wavy instead of sleek locks of other girls around. Iris started undressing herself and she looked at her figure with disgust. She had round hips and long legs, but that's it. She looked thin and had small breast and that was not what men would look at. It's not what he would look at.
When she put on her night gown and layed down she looking at tents ceiling and thinking. Oil lamp in Arthur's half stopped giving light, he was going to sleep. She heard him getting comfortable on his bed and after few minutes he was breathing heavily.
She drifted away in her sleep, thinking how it would be to cuddle his big frame.
Another few weeks passed and in this time Iris tried her best to prove she's mature and strong but also femine at the same time. It was difficult to kill a man at 4 and then acting like a subtle lady few hours later. It was nice, warm evening and girls decided to go swimming after long day of work. Iris was so happy and relaxed as she and Mary - Beth was looking at red sky and Tilly with Karen was fooling around in water.
- Can I tell you a secret? You will like it - Iris whispered. Mary seemed excited immediately.
- Tell me, tell me! - she giggled
- I fell in love - Iris whispered to her ear and her friend become red from blushing.
-No way! Who, who is he? Or maybe she? - Blond girl tickled brunette a little bit.
- It's him, yes. But I wouldn't mind you...- they purred at each other and then burst into laugh.
- Who? I bet it's John, all girls are sweet on him and Abigail hates us for that.
-Nope!
- Bill!
-No!
- New O'Driscolls boy!
- Ew!
- Then who, Dutch?
- You must be crazy! I mean...he's not bad if you think about him but this red-head witch he's with? I have no chances - Iris was laughing so badly.
- You have to tell me! But then it has to be someone from outside the camp...
-No! He's there, Mary-Beth, please don't make me say his name out loud.
And then Mary became pale. Then red again. Then she got up.
-No! From all of them you choosed Arthur Morgan?!
- Shhh! We are too close to the camp!
- But why?! He's sweet but we have never seen him with woman, you know. I think he's a little bit weird about it. Dutch once laughed at him taking a bath with a dog when camp had one.
- W-Well...he seems a little awkward and he's like wild animal more than a man but he's charming and he always complemented food I make and he always talks to me in the evening.
- At least he talks to you, he usually doesn't. To no one.
- That's my problem, he talks to me but he seemes to see me as a kid. I tried everything! Few days ago I was sitting with him and we was both reading a book and I looked at him so nicely, I tried my best to look at him with hazy, flirting eyes. And he asked me if I needed glasses because I blink a lot.
- Well...I don't know how to help you - Mary said as they were walking towards camp - usually it's easy, a little bit of exposed skin and being close. You should try it.
- I should...I should go to his tent dressing my nightgown for example?
- Oh, that's an idea! I saw it and it's really cute and...hot.
-Mary- Beth, are you hitting on me? - she joked as they was passing Hosea's tent. Girls heard him talking with Arthur and they would ignore but they heard Iris's name. They started listening immediately, hiding behind the tent to eaves dropping.
- And this new girl, Iris's her name - Hosea said.
- What's with her?
- Just wanted to know what you think about her - he seemed to tease Arthur a little bit.
- It's good kid, she seems to like my company. And honestly, I like hers, she doesn't talk that much comparing to any of you fools - he cleared his throat.
- I thought that you are much closer. Basically sharing a tent and talking every evening...
- What d'ya say, Hosea?
- How long have been since you had a woman, Arthur?
- Not long enough to think about it again- his voice became angry in the nick of time - it's kid we talking about, don't get the wrong idea.
Iris inhaled sharply and bit her lower lip, while her eyes became glossy. But she listened, she couldn't stop.
- Isn't it obvious, Arthur? She looks at you very odd way and she enjoys your company a lot, lot more than others.
- I didn't notice. By the way, she's not stupid. I'm much older and I have past, just no way I would be with her. She doesn't love me to start with. One day she will leave the camp to have a normal life.
Sound of tears dropping on Iris's dress was the only sound she was making. She got up quickly and in a blink of an eye disappeared, running into the woods.
- Iris?! - Mary- Beth tried to follow her but she tripped over one of tent's strings. She sweared ugly.
This is bad, so bad - was all Iris was thinking. Her breathing heavy, her eyes red. She stopped in the middle of nowhere, just when she was sure all around her was dark forest. She didn't even know why she was so agry. Maybe because he said out loud things I thought about myself? Maybe because she was sure that his ears getting red were sign of him considering her as someone hot?
But look at yourself, c'mon. When father lived, he always told you you gonna become a maid, because no man would touch something so fragile, that looks constantly sick. He was right, oh so badly right. And now Iris had to apologise to Mary-Beth for leaving her like that.It was dark night when she got back to the camp, everyone sleeping in their tents. Only one oil lamp was glowing. She decided to act like nothing happen, just not to lose his friendship, ever. So she took a deep breath and peaked her head inside his part of tent.
- Just wanted to say good night, Mr Morgan - was all she said, smiling faintly.
- Kid! You weren't there for supper. Did something happened?
- N-no...just small fight with girls - she lied without hesitation. Then smiled a little bit more so he won't be suspicious. He always was but he was taking her lies as an answer, 'cause she lied when it would expose her feelings.
- Small fight made you disappear without word? Y'got hot head then - he joked. His blue eyes were piercing her.
- Maybe a little - he didn't see nothing good about her anyway, she could become hothead in his eyes even it was inappropriate for woman.
- Wanna talk about it?
- With you? I-I mean we can but it's nothing. Really.
- You seem sad lately, kid. Is someone or something bothering you?
- Ah...no, just stupid, girly things.
- Girly things - he seemed a little bit scared now.
- Interests of heart, to call it. Nothing too exciting, especially for you.
He became silent. So she wasn't considering him as a close friend if she didn't want to tell. He thought different for a second but...she was right, he was no friend.
- Were you ever in love, Mr Morgan? - he heard her voice from behind one of trunks. She probably lied on her bed.
- F'course I was. But if you askin' me 'bout those things ya need to share with me first, ya know? What are those Interests of heart, huh?
She took deep breath. After few seconds she knew how to tell it without being obvious.
- I just fell in love with someone who will never accept me. He's good friend and that's only reason I didn't tell him yet. But I know....I heard what's he talking about me, no need to share my feelings with him, because he considers me strongly as a friend, nothing more. It would make our relationship awkward.
He furrowed his brows. So she was seeing someone. He wondered who.
- That sounds a lil' bit bad, kiddo. Maybe I don't look like but I know how to have a broken heart - he said as his eyes become glossy. She couldn't see them anyway, so he didn't hold back thinking about Mary right now - But if it's your friend he shouldn't judge ya, ya know. Even if he doesn't share feelings with you. You sure, he does not?
- One hundred percent sure - she said that very slowly because those words left bitter on her tongue - and I'm not afraid of being judged, I just know it would destroy our friendship.
- He's no friend then - Arthur replied shortly. He felt like dumbass but if she liked talking to him about all of this he felt appreciated.
Iris took deep breath. You are a friend. The closest one I have now after those weeks that passed. And I will cherish you forever, even if your lack of knowledge will hurt me sometimes.
- He is. About this I'm sure. I really love this person. Thank you, Mr Morgan for listening to me - it sounded like she thanked him for listening but she was actually thanking him for everything.
It seemed like yesterday when they rescued her but it wasn't. Many days passed and she already shared with him many thoughts but also many jobs, even dangerous one. They robbed trains together after all. They was murdering together. And every evening they were lying in their beds and talking. They usually looked at their tent's ceiling but she didn't mind. He seemed so sad and distanced, always worried. She also noticed his extremely low self-esteem, he always was talking that he's not good man and that he's stupid on account being hit on the head to often.
She had fallen asleep to those thoughts.
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strayhitsuji · 6 years ago
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We’re The Winners Here! 1st Years vs 2nd Years Idol Battle || Part 1
Part 1 : Prologue
[Next]
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Yoichi: It seems like everyone’s here. Let’s get on with today’s meeting. Touya: And of course we’ll be addressing our blog, won’t we? Aoi: You mean how Touya-san’s popularity has completely exploded!? Kaito: Again? Aoi: Not just “again”. ‘Til Touya-san’s name’s up in lights like those folks in Hollywood I have a good feeling he’ll keep getting more and more popular. Toma: Seems more like you’re already being blinded to me. Aoi: No one can outmatch Touya-san in the talent department! Toma: Ahaha~ ♪ No matter what you say, he’s still not deserving of my praise Yoichi: ...Ahem! If you’re done we can finally get to the topic at hand. Manager, if you would. Player Character: Yes!
Recently we’ve been getting a ton of comments from our fans that drop by the blog that go something like, “I want to see stirRhythm in even more situations!” So I’ve been working with Yoichi-san to figure out what type of content we should try uploading. Kureha: You mean things outside of our live shows and practice? PC: Exactly! It’s fun watching all of you practice your moves, but we were thinking of maybe putting up some content of you guys planning something. Touya: I see, I see. It’s foolish to keep updating our blog with the same content day in and day out; our followers will grow bored of us. We need to shake things up, yes? Kazuyuki: So then why don’t we think of a theme to work towards? PC: Thanks so much! I should apologize, though... I really tried to think of something on my own, but I couldn’t come up with anything worth sharing... Kazuyuki: I mean, it has to do with us, doesn’t it? It’s only natural that w e should come up with something together. So please don’t apologize, okay? I know we’ll come up with something way more fun if we all put our heads together. Kureha: Yeah, totally! A live broadcast! I want to do a live broadcast! Wouldn’t it be sweet if anyone anywhere could watch our shows?! Touya: Wouldn’t it make more sense to be doing shows regularly first? In any case, I thought the blog was there  for the people that couldn’t make the shows in the first place. Aoi: I feel the same as Touya-san! Why wouldja put it on the blog when we want them to have fun at the real thing? Kazuyuki: U-umm... Maybe... we shouldn’t look for a substitute for the live shows. There are already recordings of PlayStar online... Yuuhi: ....What about something like a survey. I do those sometimes. Something like “What kind of pictures do you want to see on the blog?”... Toma: A simple survey, huh... Like a popularity poll? Kaito: Doesn’t... something like that come with its own problems? There’s a clear advantage to those who have been doing this longer. Subaru: Like Yoichi-kun, riiiiight? Or people who have a good social media presence like Touya-kun. For people like that, they have the clear advantage of publicity.  Yuuhi: I... don’t feel so great about this. As far as popularity goes... I’m pretty sure I’d be on the bottom. Kazuyuki: Same here... I am kind of interested to know who the most popular member is, but I don’t really want to know who’s the least.... Aoi: You serious? Neither of ya have any confidence! Well, I already know Touya-san’s gonna be number one even without the poll, so I don’t care if I’m not. Touya: Mhmm. Besides, this is for our fans. We want to make them excited, thrill them when they see us doing things together. Kaito: If they’re choosing the pictures... wouldn’t it be better to do something more lax? PC: A survey that’s lax.... while also exciting everyone... How about we do a game? Yoichi: Hm, yes. We’d be able to have our fun, but not worry about people getting hurt upon seeing the results.  Subaru: If there’s gonna be a winner or loser... A while baaaack I saw this show where some guys were put in casual clothes-- Kureha: Oh! I saw that! They had some famous people go out in regular clothes and judge who was the most fashionable. Toma: That sounds fun! I wanna do tha~t! Aoi: But that’s Toma’s strong suit! Wait. No, it doesn’t matter. I’m real sure that Touya-san’s got the number one spot there too. I’m sure of it! Touya: Heh, I am the embodiment of good taste! At last you will gaze upon me... and I shall rejoice in “The Downfall of Toma” Toma: Oh, I’m not worried, Touya-san. There’s no way I’ll lose to you. ♪ Not when you go you looking like-- PC: A-ANYWAY! This sounds great, right? With Toma-kun designing the outfits, we just need to fiture out who the judges will be... Toma: Isn’t that obvious, Manager ♪ I’ll judge! It’ll be a breeze for me to pick apart whatever’s bad, and point out whatever’s good! Yoichi: I think judging their outfits will be interesting, but... I also want aspects more related to idol-like things Yuuhi: What do you mean by “idol-like things”? The power of an idol... isn’t something that’s so easy to define... Touya: Worry not! We’ll define it how we see fit! Kazuyuki: How far should we go with “idol-like” do you think?” Touya: Oh my, how about this. While we are being judged, what if the fans decide which of us has the most overwhelming idol power? Kureha: That sounds fun! So much better than knowing each person’s popularity individually.  Subaru: Weeeeeeeell, as long as the rules of this lil’ contest are clearly defined it’ll probably lessen the shock of the popularity reults, dontcha think? Toma: The casual clothes should do that too. Once we decide on the theme, things will really start getting interesting ♪ And now about those idolish things... Aoi: Fanservice! Kureha: A live show! Yoichi: So then we’ll have three judging categories: their casual look, fanservice, and a live. Kazuyuki: Are we all competing against each other? I... I don’t think I can stack up... Subaru: Hooow ‘boooout we compete in teams. So while we’re waging battle against each other, the final showdown can happen in the personal style category. Toma: Then let’s have the first years go up against the second years. Are you third years fine with that? Yoichi: I have no problems with it. Then we’ll end the meeting here for now. Manager, do we have your help? PC: Leave it to me! Touya: Alright. Aoi, Yuuhi, let’s give this our all! Kureha: Kaito, Kazuyuki, let’s rock this! We’re absolutely not going to lose to you, Touya-senpai! Touya: Oh HO! We also have no plans on losing to you. Let’s get to work!
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viakook · 6 years ago
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Welcome to Destiny’s Destination!
This is a choose-your-own-story fic where you every decision you make effects your outcome.
[!] Before continuing, make sure you’ve read the preface here!
If you already understand the concept of this reading experience, then welcome to your story! Remember to vote on the poll at the end.
Tears were still stinging your eyes as you collected the rest of your things from the plastic containers, well aware of the stares from onlookers. However, you were quick to sniffle and blink furiously to expel the feeling aching to make itself abundantly known on your face as sadness.
It was hard, though. It’s not every day that you uproot everything you’ve ever found familiar to pursue a job in a country you’ve only been dreaming of since you left high school.
So as you took a step away from your family who was still painfully standing on the other side of TSA, watching your back as you left them for an undetermined amount of time, you mustered all your courage to not look back. As you cruised further and further until you were out of their sight you found a weight slowly lifting and a nervousness moving into your chest.
For years you had become so accustomed to the security of your parents while you traveled anywhere, be it driving, by train, or even the subway. Staring ahead of you into the giant building that encased you, a panic began to settle as the realization of your almost complete lack of directional skills was put to the test.
Your fingers fiddled with the boarding pass slid into a random page of your passport, pulling the paper out and reading over the various letters and numbers. Yet, the longer you looked the more confused you became.
Unbeknownst to you, a stranger had perched himself beside you with his gaze set on the directory screen only a few feet ahead. The shuffling of his own papers had drawn your attention upward and you nearly jumped at how close this man was.
It was obvious by how quickly he moved that he was no stranger to flying, and given the tan slacks that barely reached his ankles and the freshly pressed cotton button down, it was clear he was of a higher class. Surely a businessman, you concluded. However, as he turned his head away from you to check his directions, you noticed the odd way his sunglasses hung upside down on his neck, barely gripped onto his ears.
There wasn’t another moment to gawk at the peculiarity of his attire, though, as he was suddenly staring blankly into your eyes. There was a pregnant pause as your breath hitched from being caught, but he only tilted his head.
“Can I help you?” His voice was deep as he spoke and the way his eyes wandered to the boarding pass now being wrinkled in your fingers pulled a grin to his face.
“Um,” you stammered, abruptly turning your gaze away in embarrassment. “M-Maybe?”
“Maybe?” Looking up you found his brow rose and his grin turned smug.
You let out an anxious laugh and glanced at your boarding pass, raising it toward him as you spoke. “I’m not sure how to read this, so I’m not sure where my flight is.”
He swiftly plucked the paper from you with two fingers, turning it toward him and scanning his eyes over it before splitting into a boxy smile. “Gate D-18. Looks like it’s your lucky day, that’s my flight as well.”
Your eyes widened at the information and you gave him a smile of your own. “Really? What a coincidence.”
“I’d say,” he nodded and handed the pass back before tucking his own into his back pocket. “Come on, I’ll walk with you.”
With that the pair of you took off into the airport, winding this way and that with you mostly sticking behind him. He would glance back every now and then and only moved aside when you stepped onto the moving walkway.
“From here the gate will be at the far end on the left. I have a reservation in the VIP area so this is where we’ll part ways,” he explained, palms spread behind him on the railing.
You nodded along and adjusted your backpack. “Thank you so much for helping, I probably would have gone the complete other way.”
He let out a short laugh and let his head fall onto his chest before he looked up. “Cute.”
The abrupt comment left you flustered and you diverted your attention until he let out an airy laugh. “I promise you won’t get lost. And if I don’t see you before boarding, have a good flight.”
Just as swiftly as he had appeared he disappeared, stepping off the moving walkway with his suitcase in hand and turning toward a staircase off to the side. With a final thank you barely making it past your lips you continued forward as per his directions and found yourself stopping just where he had said.
A sigh of relief left you as you found an empty spot to sit down and relieve your shoulders of the weight of your backpack. It hit the floor with a soft thud as you set it down and sat before rummaging through its front pocket for your headphones. With them successfully secured you leaned back and settled in for the next 3 hours before boarding began, Netflix becoming welcomed company.
Your toes curled in your shoes at the gory scene before you, and as if it were a sign from the universe to stop watching, your phone buzzed letting you know your battery was down to 10%. The screen disappeared with a click of the home button, revealing there was still an hour and a half until boarding.
A frown pressed to your lips as you looked at the battery in the corner of the screen, eyes moving up in search of a charging station. With little success from the perch of your seat, you gathered your things and stood to walk around the section. You grazed through aisles until you came across a station with a single port open, but no chairs in sight.
With a sigh, you straightened up to continue on, but a voice suddenly called out. “Do you need to charge something?”
Turning halfway towards the person you found a man donned in sunglasses and black ripped jeans, a scarf tucked neatly inside a denim jacket. His fingers were hovering over a wire plugged into one of the USB ports. “My phone is almost at full charge anyways.”
“Uh,” you began unintelligibly, eyes glancing around at all the filled chairs, but the man was quick to catch on.
His nimble fingers pulled a heavier winter jacket and black bag from the seat next to him, opening a seat which he slid into before he gestured to his seat next to the charger. “Please, it’s not a problem.”
You paused for a moment at how nice he was being but were still hesitant. Yet, with one more glance at your phone your desire to not be bored beyond belief on your flight won over and you cautiously sat down.
“I promise I don’t bite,” he teased, smiling wide to show off a radiant smile. Despite the fact you still couldn’t make out his eyes from behind his sunglasses, you returned the gesture with a small smile.
“Thanks.” There wasn’t much conversation left so you turned to pull your charger out from your backpack, but the man piped up again.
“Where are you headed?”
You bit at your lip as you plugged in your phone and rested the device in your lap, eyes glancing at the stranger. “South Korea. I got a teaching position just outside of Seoul.”
He whistled in response, lips turning down in a manner of approval. “That’s pretty cool. You seem rather young though, do you think you’ll be able to handle it?”
A laugh broke through your lips at the comment and you turned to the man with a sudden confidence. “I do think I’ll be able to handle it. I’ve been a teaching assistant through basically my entire college career and I worked really hard to get this job.”
There was a moment of silence on his end as he pursed his lips before he lounged back into his chair and pulled his glasses off. He ran a hand through his hair and nodded before offering you another smile. “That’s a really good attitude you’ve got there, I don’t see it often.”
“W-Well, thank you,” you blinked, taken aback by the compliment. It was hard to read his character but he seemed genuine nonetheless and it was almost odd the gratification you took in his approval.
He said nothing more, headphones now tucked neatly in his ears and eyes cast onto his phone, screen playing some action scene that he quickly became absorbed in. You took a deep breath and resumed your own distractions, sending texts to family and friends to let them know you would be boarding soon.
The next hour felt as if it was dragging on, boredom making you restless as you crossed your legs and uncrossed them, fiddled with your fingers and picked at your nails. Just as you began to muster up the strength to head to the bathroom, the overhead intercom blared to life, a voice echoing your name to report to the departure desk.
Nerves rushed over you and for a moment it felt as if you were a child being called to the principal's office. You uneasily unplugged your phone and glanced at the man beside you. “Could you watch my things for a moment?”
He nodded and turned his attention back to his phone, paying you no mind as you stood and made your way to the desk where an attendant was flying her fingers over the keyboard.
“Ms. Y/L /N?” She questioned and you nodded. “Our passenger cabin is currently at max capacity for carry-on luggage. We noticed you had two carry-on’s ID’d. Would it be okay if we checked your larger bag for space on board?”
“Oh, um,” you stuttered out.
There was a pang of worry coursing through your chest at the idea of giving your smallest suitcase to be checked. It was for the simple reason that airport staff paid no mind of giving care to luggage that you had put your camera, laptop, and fragile objects in there for safe travel.
“You can say no, ya know.” A husky voice chuckled from behind you.
“What?” You intelligently blurted out as you turned. However, you were surprised to see a man clearly dressed in a pilots uniform, stark blond hair peeking out from under his hat.
“You can say no,” he restated. “They can only ask you if it’s okay if it’s not then they make an announcement to other passengers. Don’t worry.”
“Oh, I didn’t know,” you muttered.
He tilted his head to the side, taking a step forward to get a better look at you. “First-time flyer?”
His observation surprised you and you could feel your face flush pink as you nodded and bowed your head. He let out a gentle laugh and softly patted your shoulder to get your attention again. “Take a deep breath, no need to worry that pretty little head of yours.”
With that, he leaned forward onto the counter and folded his arms over each other. “Let her be, it would appear she has too many valuables in her carry-on and isn’t comfortable leaving them in the airport staff’s incapable hands.”
The way he talked to blatantly left you stunned and the desk attendant only held back a smile as the man turned back toward you with a wink. “You’re safe in mine, though.”
The line, although very cheesy, left you blushing harder. He excused himself with a satisfied grin and passed by the desk toward the loading dock of your plane.  You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and shook your head as you made your way back to your seat.
You tried to let the last few encounters roll off your shoulders as you shut your eyes and let them rest for a little while. In those moments your body released whatever tension had built up and a calmness passed over as you reminded yourself of what you were doing.
Two, potentially three (or even longer), years abroad in South Korea, teaching English to middle school students at a public school just outside of Seoul. Although it may not have been what you imagined for yourself, unlike what you told the man beside you, it was still what you called your ‘back-up dream’. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and a journey unlike any other, one that would test you in ways you had no idea were possible.
Pulling you from your thoughts, the intercom sounded again exactly 40 minutes before departure, asking for all passengers in zone 1 to line up. At the call, you pulled your boarding pass from your back pocket and skimmed over the mishmash of words before finding ‘ZONE 3’ printed at the top.
Another few minutes passed and zone 2 was called, leaving your knees bouncing in anticipation. All around you, people had begun to line up and you could feel the pressure guiding you to stand and make your way to the back of the line. After all, they would surely call your zone before you made it to the front.
And that they did, you were still standing out in the main walking area, fingers tight on the handle of your luggage and eyes scanning over you pass again. Yet the sound of chunky boots drew the attention of yourself and others to a boy jogging toward the line before he came to a stop a few feet from you.
His eyes were glued to his boarding pass, only moving to glance at the plane number before letting out a sigh. But he was then moving closer into line and furrowing his brows, head turning this way and that until his eyes locked on yours.
“Um,” he started awkwardly, scratching at his neck as he fully turned around. “What zones have they called so far?”
You blankly stared at him for a moment, taking in his attire which screamed to you that he was most definitely a student. From his boyish looks to the snapback on his head, down to the oversized sweater hiding his frame, it was obvious and adorable.
“Zones 1 and 2, but they just called 3,” you replied smiling only when he let out a groan.
“Of course I would miss my call,” he huffed, shifting his eyes to the back of the line that was curved down the main hallway. From this angle you could see the bags from beneath his eyes, a clear lack of sleep having eaten at him and made him so late. At this rate, he would surely be waiting another 20 minutes before he could board.
“Is it that bad to miss your call?” You queried out of genuine curiosity. Of course, waiting sucked, but you were all headed in the same direction.
“Well for one, they might check my carry-on and that’s the last thing I need right now, and second,” he paused and gazed with a pout at the line. “This line looks terrible.”
You couldn’t help but giggle at the way his lips turned downward, a sense of sympathy drawing you to grin and take a step back. “You can go ahead of me. I’m sure they’ll take you since your zone 2.”
“Really?” His eyes were wide and he had visibly perked up at your offer. Another laugh slipped from your lips as you nodded and gestured to the empty space in front of you. “You’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much, seriously.”
“It’s not a big deal,” you waved him off. “We’re all going the same place anyway.”
He grinned at that and shot you a full smile that showed off just how handsome he was. “Well thanks, you’re really kind. I’d give you my bag of pretzels if I knew where you sat.”
You laughed at this and shook your head. “Consider this my good deed for the day––good karma.”
He returned your smile and nodded, stepping toward the desk and handing the attendant his boarding pass before turning back to you with a wave. “Have a good flight!”
“You too!” You call after him. No sooner and he disappeared through the exit doors, leaving you fumbling to hand the attendant your own boarding pass. A sheepish smile creeps onto your lips at the action, and you duck your head as the attendant scans and hands you back the slip of paper.
In seconds you too are through the boarding gate, descending the escalator and drumming your fingers over the handle of your luggage. This was it, in just a few minutes you would be airborne and on your way to a new life. It would be an understatement to say you were terrified.
With high nerves, you followed the backs of other passengers until you were at the door of the plane, a kind stewardess glancing at your pass before directing you to your seat.
Your attention switched between the bold printed letters above the rows and the faded ink on your pass until they both matched up. Pursing your lips you angled your head up at the overhead compartments for an empty spot, finding one directly over your seat.
Despite your best efforts, though, you could barely reach the bag over your shoulders and with the pressure of the line forming behind you, a sweat had begun to form at your temples. A mild panic was settling in and you were mumbling apologies and expressing your dismay with forced smiles until a pair of hands clasped onto your luggage.
“Here, let me help,” came a voice from behind the barrier of your suitcase. However, within seconds the bag was lifted from your hands and into the overhead compartment, revealing a tall ash-blond man with thick-rimmed glasses.
“O-Oh, thank you!” You stuttered out in surprise.
He was smiling kindly, dimples creasing his cheeks as he ducked and moved back into his seat. Yet, as you quickly shook off your surprise you noted how he was sitting in your seat. “Um,” you began awkwardly, pulling his attention back to you. “The aisle seat is actually mine.”
For a second he remained frozen, lips slightly parted until he broke into a sheepish laugh. “Is that so? Sorry, I must have read my pass wrong.”
As he spoke he stood and scooted over into his rightful seat, allowing you to finally escape the eyes of the impatient passengers waiting for you to move.
“No, no. It’s okay. I feel like I’ve been doing that all day,” you replied with your own laugh. A puff of air pushed past your lips as you sat, a relief washing over you.
“Tell me about it,” he scoffed, tilting his head back onto his headrest, a lone finger rising to tap at his glasses. “Even with these I still feel blind sometimes.”
The pair of you share another laugh at the mutual understanding, smiles ending the interaction as you each busied yourselves with getting comfortable. However, before you could plug in your headphones and settle in to watch a movie he spoke up again.
“If you happen to get tired, you can use my shoulder. I wouldn’t want the flight attendants to hit your head with their cart,” he chuckled, eyes kind as he spoke, but a blush rising on his cheeks. “That is if you want to, o-or if you feel bad because it happens by accident? I’m just saying–“
“Thank you,” you cut him off with a laugh and he nodded, diverting his attention to a book perched on his lap.
The rest of boarding continued smoothly and after another 20 minutes the plane was officially airborne, a take off that had you gripping at your armrest. As the unease of getting in the air washed away, you found yourself falling into a movie marathon. All the blockbuster movies you had missed the past few months were delightfully at the tips of your fingers.
For a while, you were happily going from movie to movie, but all the concentration on such a small screen began bugging your eyes and nurturing a growing headache. After what you presumed to be your third movie, you turned off the screen and laid back in your seat, giving yourself a rest in hopes of ridding the pain in your head.
It didn’t go away. A pit grew in your stomach and pain was blaring behind your eyes every time you opened them. Deciding that sleeping it off, you rose a heavy hand and mustered up the courage to press the assistance button on your screen.
Within seconds an attendant was at your side, his eyes wide, hands behind his back and an inquisitive look taking over his features. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yeah,” you began, attempting to sit up straight. “I have a really bad headache and was wondering if you had any painkillers?”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he frowned with furrowed brows. “Let me go check.”
He disappeared for barely a minute and returned to your side with a cup of water and a tiny enclosed packet of what you assumed were the painkillers. After gently placing the cup in front of you he squatted down to your side hand outstretched to drop the packet into yours. “I’m not sure how strong there are so if they don’t work within half an hour, call me again.”
“Okay, thank you,” you smiled as you twisted your fingers over the paper of the packet to give it a firm rip. Yet, the paper refrained, the plastic coating over top aiding in keeping it together and further irritating you.
After another attempt, the attendant, who had been silently watching in amusement, lightly offered his hand out to open it for you–an offer you gladly accepted. He swiftly rose the packet up to his mouth, pearly white teeth showing as he bit the paper and pulled it down, successfully opening it.
“Wow, you seem like a professional,” you comment in surprise. It wasn’t that you were impressed, but for such soft features as his, you weren’t expecting such an exaggerated means to open the packet.
He only shrugged his shoulders, eyes turning to crescents as he dropped the pills into your hand and stood up. “It’s part of the job description,” he said and held up his fingers, putting each down as he spoke, “show passengers to their seats, serve them food, give them water, tear open their pills.”
A giggle fell from your lips as he spoke and he couldn’t help but to do so as well, a delightful sound ringing in the air between you two. However, he no sooner was pressing a finger to his lips through his own laughs. “Sh, other passengers are trying to sleep.”
At that you sealed your lips and held in a muted laugh, nodding your head in thanks as he gave you one last smile and walked off.
For another minute or so a smile lingered on your face at the encounter but as the painkillers began to work their magic your lips fell and eyes closed, sleep finally settling in. You weren’t sure how long you were out, but a sudden rock of the plane shook you awake nearly two hours later.
Your vision was bleary as you looked around and stretched your arms ahead of you. The man beside you was still out cold but the flight path showing on his screen answered the question you had to ask. Only an hour and a half left on your flight, then it was time to face your new life.
A sigh escaped you as you adjusted yourself in your seat again, yet with a simple lift of yourself to reposition, a sensation fell over you and you clamped your legs together. You began to wrack your brain for when the last time you had gone to the bathroom was and came up in pain when you realized it was only a little before you had boarded.
Suddenly your nerves were spiking again at the prospect of leaving your seat and mainly having to wait out in the open for the bathroom to open. As your bladder seemed to squeeze itself, though, you swiftly found yourself unbuckling your seatbelt and rising to stand in the aisle with a wave. However, you steeled your nerves (and your bladder) and moved as quickly as possible up the aisle given the situation.
Approaching the stalls your heart drops at the sight of a man already standing there, both bathrooms occupied with little red lights above the doors. So the two of you stand there in silence, but it was clear the man was slightly annoyed as he muttered under his breath.
“Seriously?” He huffed loudly after a moment. “How long does it take to take a piss?”
You held back your smile and tilted your head down, but he only spoke louder with the intention of getting your attention. “I’ve been standing here for almost 5 minutes now and they were both closed when I got here.”
Staring at him you were a taken aback by his brazen attitude, but it was obvious he was only poking fun at the situation as he still had a lighthearted tone. “I even tried the bathroom in first class but the line is 3 people long and I thought I didn’t have time to wait.”
You stifle a laugh and wave your hand at the sound of a toilet flushing behind the door. “I’m sure they’ll be out soon, don’t worry.”
“Thank the Lord, I’m about ready to explode.”
“Tell me about it,” you huffed. “The last I went to the bathroom I wasn’t even on the plane.”
At that, the door lock snapped and the frail barrier opened as a teenage girl stepped out, headphones secure in her ears. You shared a look with the man and he could only seem to roll his eyes.
“Alright, well don’t take too long in there,” you piped up after she passed you.
He paused, though, unraveling his hands from his chest and then waving you to go into the bathroom instead. “I think you probably have to go a lot more than me.”
“What? No, you’ve been waiting here way longer. I can wait a little more,” you protested but he kept shaking his head.
“It’s okay, I insist,” he ushered you again, moving closer with a hand hovering at your back. “I’d suggest you go unless you want some cranky old people to start nagging at you.”
Taking a glance back you notice the two elderly women behind you with deep-set frowns. You duck your head at them and turn back to the man.
“O-Okay,” you give him a grateful smile and move toward the bathroom. “Thank you.”
He nods and waves you in again with a grin smoothing over his lips. You’re quick inside the bathroom and when you emerge he’s still standing there, offering you a wink while you trade positions. “Looks like the ladies overheard me. I’d hurry back to my seat if I were you.”
You let out another giggle and give him a final thank you before scurrying back to your seat for the rest of the flight.
Unboarding goes by relatively quickly and you find yourself yawning quite often as you walk hurriedly through the airport. Immigration goes by in a blink and before you know it you’re waiting at the luggage carousel for the appearance of your two bright yellow suitcases.
It’s a bit much to manage on your own, but after getting a firm grip of two handles in one hand and your largest suitcase in the other, you’re setting off toward the taxi stop. People are flying by around you and yelling across crowds, and for a moment it feels like you’re moving in slow motion as the doors open and you step outside.
Years of preparation, time spent abroad here to decide if this is what you wanted to do, and you’ve finally achieved that goal. Yes, it wasn’t exactly the job you wanted, but it was a stepping stone to a life you had worked so hard for.
Air whipped at your face as buses flew by but the breeze was accompanied by a hint of the ocean courtesy of the island the airport was settled on. A smile was sneaking up on your lips as you shut your eyes and took a deep breath. Nothing could live up to this moment.
“Stop my luggage!”
But something sure could shatter it, just not in the way you would think.
Congratulations on completing the prologue! 
Now comes the most important part of your journey: who will you share it with?
→ The dapper CEO, Kim Taehyung [Unavailable] → The energetic traveler, Jung Hoseok [Unavailable] → The suave pilot, Min Yoongi [Unavailable] → The late student, Jeon Jungkook [Unavailable] → The sweet grad student, Kim Namjoon [Unavailable] → The kind flight attendant, Park Jimin [Unavailable] → The brazen actor, Kim Seokjin [Unavailable]
Take the poll to help the author decide whose routes to unlock first!
Take Poll
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wakatshi · 2 years ago
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baeeee ! heard you wanted opinions on your long fic ideas so. im here but feel free to disregard everything i say !! lolol ‘m sawry
im (not) your therapist
i dunno abt this one .. i kinda don’t want reader to end up homeless bc i don’t want people to think you’re romanticizing that being homeless can lead to a good thing or something ya know?
i think you should keep the failed arranged marriage because it gives it some flare <3 but maybeeee.. i dunno.. say because it fails: reader packs her bags and leave without giving the ex husband another word! and she ends up at oiks without telling him so she’s a little bratty, gets what she wants, and then from there, character development after she meets waka?? oh oh and you can have model oiks but she’d still be clueless since she’s never had a job ! o.0
im not sure how you wanted to characterize reader in this one but if you did want her to be more… normal? you could always do the poor/rich trope ! like oiks looking for a roommate just for fun !! because he’s bored (read: lonely) having nobody at home (and maybe here you could do a love triangle who knows!) and reader just needs somewhere to live !! and since oiks has more than enough money to pay the rent so reader only does house chores in exchange ! something like that. . .
but again!!! idk how you wanted it exactly!! and i don’t mean to be intrusive like changing your plots and stuff !!! :(
in the night
this one !!! oooouuu im so curious abt this one..
im wondering abt waka.. what’s he hiding? seems like he’s hiding sooomething? and is atsu involved in it somehow? they seem to be close if atsu has his number… hmmm.. it’s giving… mafia leader waka.. it’s suspicious and im intrigued >.<
i picked this one for the poll but i hope you know i love both ideas v much…! im excited to see whatever you post heheh <3
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ok so reader’s family is wealthy, not exactly the wealthiest, they’re ur usual power hungry rich family desperate for connections and money and that’s how reader ends up in that marriage. she’s never been like that. of course, she loves the advantages, but she wants a life for herself? not stuck in a marriage. she’s young and her ex husband is a very influential man.
reader and oikawa grew apart, him being a supermodel, her getting married— they’re still childhood best friends, but you know.. she ends up reaching out to him and he’s eager to help his friend. i shouldn’t have said homeless because she’s not exactly homeless and it’s for a short time anyway, max a day. if i repost this smau i’ll explain the situation better cuz looking at what i said.. LMAO i gotta to rethink some parts !! her parents refuse to give her access to her money, cards, and her belongings, she ends up with some of her clothes and the money in her wallet. to them and her siblings she’s now an embarrassment.
she met wakatoshi at her husband’s dinner party. his parents know him, they used to be associates. reader and wakatoshi shared some moments during those parties, they didn’t make out/fuck though. he stopped showing up at some point and she got divorced. i’d be a love triangle anyway because oikawa is in love with her and wakatoshi is his rival.
i feel like i could use some of ur ideas 😭 like the poor/rich trope i LOVE it sm i’d have to completely change some parts but i do love that trope and your idea is just! i’m obsessed. so i’ll keep that in mind if i’m gonna repost this smau. her being bratty & some character development SLAY!
but the second smau.. it feels more interesting to me. also funnier LMAOSJNDDN i avoid writing long fics because i’m horrible at organizing my thoughts/ideas and having a schedule yuck i hate it ew
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chilly-territory · 8 years ago
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Gangsta: Death of Anosmic Stray Dogs, chapter 3
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We’re well over half the book now, with only 2 chapters and the epilogue remaining. The plot is clear now, too, with only some minor details to work out.
Chapter 4 is longer and wordier so will probably take more time to translate though. The original Japanese text is still provided by valgerdrgodiforseti.
Gangsta: Death of Anosmic Stray Dogs by Kawabata Junichi
Chapter 3 (pages 103-140)
After leaving the garage where the sneering dog rampaged to its heart's content, it took Worick about 2 hours to make it back to the Benriya office.
Johann was waiting in front of the garage, so Worick dumped Dario, who didn't even make an attempt to walk with his own two feet, on him. That said, since Worick had sustained some wounds himself, he needed to drop by Theo's clinic along with the two, as well.
He had Nina dress his wounds, and when he returned to the office, Nicolas turned to him, gracing him with an annoyed look. Lying on the couch, he pressed a glass bottle of carbonated water to his lips. Having taken 2 gulps, he put it on the table.
After that, Nicolas held his right fist in front of his face and, bending his wrist, banged it against the left side of his chest. Then he made a motion like he wanted to grab his head with the whole of his right hand.
'What are you fucking up for, idiot.'
Seemingly satisfied with just that, he took a shish-kebab out of the paper bag sitting on the floor and bit into it.
"Whatcha eating?" 'Salted grilled fish. Bought it from a street stall.'
Worick cracked a smile.
"Really. Yummy?" 'Passable.' "How carefree of you when I was being put through some really awful experience. What if I died?" 'You're still alive though.'
Nicolas got up from the couch and threw the skewer the kebab he had finished in a flash was on in the trash can. The long stick fell with a small clunk, joining 2 more like it already in the trash can.
'Speaking of, don't go wandering off alone if you know you're being targeted, moron.' "Don't look so cold, man. It's part of the job."
Worick plopped down on the other couch next to the one Nicolas was occupying. Nicolas gazed at him expressionless.
'Is he the mafia slayer?' "Who knows. I'm not sure yet." 'I thought you took a shine to him.' "Did it look that way? I'm just really good at getting close to strangers, is all."
Worick lit up a Pall Mall. Lifting a corner of his mouth, he flashed a nasty smirk.
"You suck at dealing with him, don't ya." 'I just don't like him, is all. For some reason.' "Haha, way to be blunt. Not that I don't get what you mean though."
Taciturn Nicolas and talkative Dario were the polar opposites. But at the same time, Worick had a feeling that their sets of values were surprisingly similar. If it looked like Worick was being friendly with Dario, that had to be the reason why.
Both of the short men didn't give a damn about the rules of society. They had their own internal set of iron-clad rules, which was linked with instincts rather than reason. Nicolas' rules originated in his having been born a Twilight and formed under the effects of his complicated upbringing. With Dario though, Worick couldn't tell for sure. But he could venture a guess that Dario, too, had a past of some controversial kind that cut into his neck like a chain. Because he was unhealthily obsessed with the past. In the form of 'forgetting', to be exact. It was the same as with a child's puppy love. Peering hard and avoiding to look at all costs bore the same meaning in that context, denoting the overwhelming obsession with the object.
Or, alternatively, perhaps Nicolas' disagreeable sentiment could be attributed to a natural dislike towards one of the same kind. ---Well, if we started talking unsightly past and criticizing people for it, I'd be on the list, too, Worick admitted to himself with a strained smile.
"But don't let it be said that I haven't learned my lesson. So now I want you to stick by me, Nic-chan. Protect me from the scary-scary people, partner." 'Hell if I care. Learn to protect yourself with your own power.' "Oh, don't sulk." 'I’m not.'
Worick blew out the cigarette smoke in Nicolas' direction, and the shorter man grimaced not unlike a dog.
Nicolas would protect Worick no matter what. Even if it meant putting his own life on the line. And there could hardly be any doubt that the feelings driving him to do so were neither those of friendship nor those of duty. It was more like something that was part of the instincts etched into his essence.
*
Evidently, Worick accumulated too much fatigue because the next day he slept in until noon. He felt he had dreamed of a woman but didn't really remember.
He woke up with a dull headache, maybe from the hangover, or from having been hit in the head. His shoulder, grazed by the bullet yesterday, stung when he was taking a shower. But since the wound could be written off as a mere scratch, he didn't feel much inconvenience even when washing his head.
Leaving the office together with Nicolas, Worick had a kebab sandwich bought from a street stall for lunch. Fashionably late by 10 minutes to the appointment with inspector Chad for that reason, he spent another 10 minutes trying to ignore the gratuitous lecturing the good inspector subjected him to.
20 minutes in total later than planned, they finally got to the main issue at hand.
"Geez. Making me waste my energy on garbage disposal day after day." Chad scowled while puffing on his Hope cigarette.
The meeting place was the interrogation room,  found in a corner of the police station and plastered with wanted posters of all kinds of scoundrels.
Worick, cheek resting on his hand, managed to shrug his shoulders without changing his pose.
"We're fans of tidiness ourselves. Right, partner?" 'I've nothing to do with it,' Nicolas' hands signed. "The 5 guys yesterday, what family did they belong to?" Worick asked Chad. "The Bandera family." "Oh. A place pretty high up on the totem poll." "They're street-level. Then again, they were just lapdogs of their heavy-hitting Capo Regime." "And that Capo Regime got offed by the mafia slayers."
That's how the story had to go, evidently, given the hysterical woman's words.
Chad nodded.
"His corpse was found the day before yesterday. Shot through the head at home in his own bed. Along with the women serving as his body pillows. There were 7 people and 1 dog in that house. Only the dog survived." "So they weren't slain with a bladed weapon?"
One of the big reasons why Worick and Nicolas were set up as the fall guys for the mafia killings was because the murder weapon was a blade.
"You're not off the hook though, your weapon of choice is Colt Government, forgot?"
Chad ground out his Hope cigarette, smoked up to the filter, on the cheap ashtray of stainless steel and stuck a new one in his mouth.
"Chad-san, ain't you smoking a bit too much?" "Shuddup. There's a talk going round that soon smoking at the station will be banned. So I smoke while I can." 'Ain't it high time you retired though?' Nicolas' hands moved, a wicked smirk taking over his face.
Chad smacked him on the head.
"Like I can with the shitty brats severely lacking discipline around!" 'Why are you always taking it out only on me?'
"So?" Worick, following suit, lit up a Pall Mall. "How hairy the situation is right now, exactly? For how long will the Bandera family be after my head, in your opinion?" "The Monroe family is indirectly holding them down for now. But only indirectly." "Yeah, figures."
Daniel Monroe was this city's mighty power balancer. It figured that he couldn't possibly play favorites and openly back up the Benriya who were but two puny individuals. The request he had placed with them was in part purely meant to protect them - at least that's what Worick thought.
Chad took a deep drag out of his cigarette through the filter, breathed out a cloud of white smoke, then spoke.
"Every time new blood gets spilled, you two gain more hatred and grudges against you. And those grudges are quite tangible. You get what I mean, right?" "Mn. I get that you're worried about us, Chad-san." "Shuddup. I just don't wanna see this fucked up city get fucked up more than it already is."
Worick let out a puff of smoke too, and flicked the ashes off his cigarette over the ashtray.
"Yesterday's evening, did the mafia slayers hit again?" "Got no such reports for the time being. Excluding the five you've wasted, that is." "Five?"
Worick only shot two. And only one of those was dead beyond any doubt. He didn't know the fate of the other one. Additionally, Dario ran over 2 more. Even if all of them bit the dust, it totaled to 4 bodies. The numbers didn't add up.
"All 5 are confirmed dead?" "Yeah. 2 on the street, 3 in the garage. What, did you want a confirmation of your feats?" "Well, I was really drunk yesterday, so."
Did it mean that Dario killed at least one, possibly two while Worick was unconscious? If so, the numbers would add up. Except how could he do it, with his gun out of reach and his leg hit by a bullet?
At the guess that popped up in his head as he tried to solve that puzzle, Worick couldn't help but laugh.
---Was Dario putting on an act?
Really, now? Where did the acting end, then?
Stubbing out the Pall Mall on the ashtray, Worick scratched his head.
In any case, the situation was still deteriorating. Slowly but surely, like a swamp you kept sinking into.
"I want the list of the clients the Lombardi family pushed their 'dynamite' to. You've investigated them, like you were supposed to, right?"
That was the start of the mafia killings. The only clue they had that could be called more or less solid was that 'dynamite'.
Chad, however, shook his head.
"We're still investigating." "How sloppy. Didn't those guys keep records?" "That's not it. There's no doubt they were a family particular to death about every penny. It's just that someone apparently made off with all of the records on their 'dynamite' deals." "Oh. Makes you wonder just who it could be."
The answer to that was obvious as obvious got - the mafia slayers. And with that, it only stood to reason to suspect that they acted on a personal grudge. A grudge having to do with the 'dynamite' - if the perp was a Twilight, a myriad of valid reasons why came to mind.
"What about other documents?" "We've rounded up all the paper scraps we could find at the Lombardi family's place, from threatening letters that sounded like a kid's scribbles to pinups from the walls. Wanna take a gander?" "Yeah," Worick nodded and glanced at Nicolas.
Probably bored of the long talk, the dark-haired man was entertaining himself with reshuffling the wanted posters on the walls. It looked like he was lining them up in order of the amount of hair, so now one corner sported a herd of shaved headed thugs.
"Nic-chan. Sorry, but could you play by yourself for a little longer?" 'I'm already bored of it.' "Next try lining them up in order of their nose size then." 'What fun is that?'
At this rate, it wouldn't be too odd if he went off somewhere on his own. Only, right now, Worick didn't want them to go anywhere separately.
"Gimme just 5 more minutes. I'll be done right away."
He had no idea how much was there to go through, but just flipping through all the papers shouldn't take much time in any case. And Worick didn't forget anything he had laid his eyes upon just once. He could recall it perfectly at any time he wanted. He would ponder on the content of those documents later.
"This way," Chad rose up from his chair.
Approximately 10 minutes later, the two Benriya exited the police station.
Having found a florist's that carried violets, Worick bought a bundle of them, planning to drop by Dario's hospital room. An armful of flowers for a get-well visit paid to someone like Dario felt jarringly out of place, but popping up there empty-handed was even worse.
Dario, lying on a bed on the second floor of Theo's clinic, was reading a book out of having nothing better to do, but lifted his head when he caught sight of the two handymen.
"Yo, my friends. Came to invite me for a drink again?" "This is a get-well visit. Since you got worked over pretty good." "Ooh, thanks for the trouble."
Dario put the wrapping of a used up book match in place of a bookmark and shut the book.
"Whatcha reading?" "Ah, this. A fairy-tale that girl - Nina-chan, was it - brought me trying to be thoughtful." "Oh yes, Nina-chan." "Yeah, she's such a good girl. And she’s got ‘em skills. She'll turn into one fine woman one day, I'm telling ya." "Agreed wholeheartedly," Worick said, then raised his brows. "Wait, what, were you crying?"
There were traces of tears in the outer corners of Dario's eyes.
"Hm? Well, yeah." Not embarrassed in the slightest, Dario help up the book. "It's an eastern book. I looked down on it at first 'cause it's for kids, but it's awesome."
Worick laughed.
A guy who failed to give a damn about guns pointed at him and ran over 2 people with his beloved car even after having been shot in the leg, cried over a kiddy fairy-tale.
It was clearly weird, but when you saw this guy, somehow it all made sense and seemed only natural.
Worick felt Nicolas clap him on the shoulder.
'I'll be outside,' the deaf man signed disinterestedly. 'If something happens, gimme some signal.'
Nicolas sniffed, nose twitching. The smell of rubbing alcohol must have been getting to him. The second floor had 4 beds and looked a lot more like a hospital than the floor below. Worick nodded his okay.
"Give these to Nina-chan as a present then."
Nicolas spared a look at the bouquet Worick held out, and took it with a sigh. Throwing the flowers over his shoulder, he walked away.
Dario gave Worick a coarse sneer from his bed.
"I did praise that girlie, but trying to seduce a girl that little?" "If I wanted to seduce her, I'd give her those flowers myself. She's Nic-chan's pair. And the flowers are for your Fiat. They're of the matching color." "You're giving flowers to a car? That's weird." "That car's my lifesaver. It put its body on the line to save me." "A car is a car. It's useful, sure, but it's only a tool. It got nothing on your own two legs."
It seemed like Dario really did forget all about the Fiat. Or, at the very least, he revealed no sign of being sad about losing it.
"How do you like this hospital?" Worick asked.
Dario shrugged. His features twisted - did his wound hurt, perhaps?
"I like it good enough. Johann does, too. The doc here don't talk much, thankfully." "Aren't you bored without someone to talk to?" "Guess so. Than again, it's much better than doctors doing nothing but throwing questions at you." "Oh. That's a surprise." "What is?" "I thought you loved talking." "A talk with doctors is never any good." "Really? Doctors talk so they could heal you. It's their job and their duty." "And I don't like that. They come asking you questions about your health for the record. 'How are feeling, Dario-san?' I don't fuckin’ know how I'm feeling, that's why I'm paying you big money to examine me and find out! What the hell’s with dumping everything on the patient, what are you, a quack or something?"
The corners of Worick's mouth lifted up. True, Theo was a man of few words as well as skilled. Although he was also a corrupt doctor, for a portion of his patients he was probably close to the ideal.
For about 5 minutes after that, Dario continued to vocally complain about hospitals, only pausing for breathing. That for some reason the smell of cresol used for disinfection was similar to Bowmore he had had in the Spanish bar, that the flavor of the food served to him was flat and it was more like fishfood than something meant for humans, and so on and so forth, but on the other hand, it seemed like he had no dissatisfaction with this clinic and even expressed roundabout gratitude to it, going by his comparison with other hospitals.
When the short man's tongue took a short break at last, Worick spoke up, "There's something I wanted to ask." "Yeah, what is it?" "About yesterday. What happened?" "What d'you mean 'what happened'?" "To be honest, when I came to in that garage, I was 80-90% sure that you'd departed from this world for good. If they hadn’t captured you, then you had to be dead. Yet, you turned up alive. It's also a mystery to me how you even found where they took me."
When Dario swooped in to save him yesterday, Worick's suspicions about his being the mafia slayer got somewhat stronger.
The man himself was probably not strong, or skilled by any stretch of imagination. He was lucky, sure, but that was all he had going for him. And yet, he had somehow pulled through a really sticky spot and even saved Worick. So Worick naturally found himself suspecting that the man had some special ability or something of the sort that wasn't immediately visible to the observer.
"You wanted to ask about something that trivial?" Dario laughed. "I'm a lucky man." "So your luck is to thank for absolutely e~verything, you say?" "Everything's up to luck. Stumbling upon an apple tree when you're hungry and have no money is luck, finding a wallet on the road is luck, meeting a friend that treats you to a meal is luck. See? Yesterday, as luck had had it, Johann turned up to help."
Worick had guessed that much. After all, Johann was outside the garage, waiting for Dario to come out.
"That pampered kid? Why though?" "Dunno. I was out cold for a while. Ask Johann."
This man said absolutely lame things with impossible grandeur.
"Even if so, it doesn't explain how you had located that garage." "That'd be 'cause nose knows." "Nose?" "Yup, nose. I can tell the smell of good luck and of bad luck. And Johann--"
But there, he was interrupted with a knock on the door.
It was Nina. On her tray, there were two bottles of orange juice and a vase with the violets arranged in it.
"D-Did I interrupt you?"
Worick sighed and shook his head.
"Not really, we were just chatting about silly things."
Nina smiled and put the vase by the window. Then she deposited one bottle of  juice on the side table by the bed. Worick took the other.
"Thanks. You're so considerate." "No, it's not me. These are from Johann-san."
Worick looked at Dario.
"I asked him. Y'know, to go shopping for me and stuff. What's he doing?" "He's downstairs, talking with Nico." "Ooh," Dario smiled in surprise. "I can't imagine what kind of conversation they could be having."
Worick had to agree. In contrast to Nicolas and his mad dog tendencies, Johann was like a chihuahua kept by a refined Madame. But for what it was worth, they were the savior and the saved, so holding a formal conversation on that account out of common courtesy was probably not impossible.
After Nina bowed and left the room, Dario changed the subject.
"You see, Johann came to this town to find his l'il sister. His sis is like the reason for living to him." "That girl in the photo you keep?" "Yeah, that's her. They got separated some time ago due to some rotten circumstances. And recently, we finally found out that she's somewhere in this city."
From how Dario worded it and from the real reason why they had to come to this city, Worick incurred that the girl in the photo was not in a position that set the mind at ease about her well-being.
"Didn't Johann-chan come to this city because he was free though?" "Him? Did he tell you that himself?" "No, you told me that. You really forget everything, huh." "Oh, I see. Oh well, it does sound like something I'd say." "What does it mean though?" "Just what it sounds like."
Dario yawned sleepily, apparently not immune to losing strength due to an injury. Then he added in a voice that somehow sounded a little vacant, "Being free is nice and stuff, but there are all kinds of limitations. You keep getting hungry for as long as you live, and require sleep, too. And if you get pumped full of lead, sometimes you end up dying." "That's right. Although I was under the impression that you didn't know that." "Everyone has a chain hanging around their neck. But if you got to chose where the limitations trap you, that's freedom. He pinned it on his sister. Catch my drift?" "Yeah, loud and clear at that." "In that case, there you have it."
Dario closed his eyes.
"Think you can find that girl?" Worick inquired.
He didn't hope to get an answer, but Dario did reply, if mumblingly, "Yeah, without fail. I'm a lucky man, after all." "How?" "Dunno. Ask Johann."
He was sound asleep the second the words left his mouth, breathing peacefully. Having gotten off his chest all he had to say, he went and fell asleep just like that. Like a child.
Worick moved the side table with the bottle of orange juice on it out of the way so that even if Dario tossed and turned in his sleep, his hand wouldn't bump into it. Then, after putting a bedsheet round Dario, he left the sickroom.
When Worick came down to the first floor, he didn't find Nicolas or Johann there. Instead, there stood Theo, leaning against the wall and blowing out cigarette smoke.
"Where's Nic-chan?" "No idea." "And where's Johann-chan?" "No idea either. I'm not their babysitter."
Worick came closer and leaned against the wall next to the doctor as well, taking out a Pall Mall.
"Lately, we've been imposing on you a lot. You have my gratitude." "Have no use for it. I'll take money over gratitude any day. Besides, it didn't eat up much of my time, so it's fine. His wounds aren't serious." "He got shot in the leg and then charged into a garage head-first. You can't tell me that his wounds aren't serious." "Even so, none of his wounds would have any lasting effect." "You can tell just by looking that the guy is tenacious. I'm glad that luck is on his side." "In that case, his companion is luckier." "Johann-chan?"
Theo nodded.
"When he stayed overnight for examination, he was up all night enduring." "Was it that bad?" "It's still bad. And won't heal. For now, he's just lucky to be able to move at all. Like with that partner of yours, those are some high-maintenance mess of bodies they have."
Worick raised his brow, dubious. "A Tag?"
Face wiped off all expression, Theo blew out the smoke. "Did you bring him here without knowing? I can't believe you."
Worick scratched his cheek.
---Nose knows, Dario said. Per his admission, he could tell the smell of good luck and of bad luck, and Johann...
Just what smell could Johann tell?
"How bad is it looking for that baby-faced boy?" "If he's alive 2 years from now, it'll be some really potent good luck, amazing enough to call it a miracle." "Why though? It's not because of the wound he sustained the other day, is it?" "Partly because of his odd compensation. But mainly due to the reckless use of Celebrer."
There was no lack in Tags weakened by Celebrer.
"I see," Worick returned curtly. "And that compensation, what is it?"
Theo indicated the area around his bangs with the hand holding the cigarette.
"He has a tuft of hair, here, that's white, remember?" "Isn't that just a pubescent teen thing? Like, because he thinks it's cool." "Different parts of his body age differently."
That was hard to grasp.
After letting it sink, Worick confirmed his understanding, "So you’re saying only part of his hair became that of an old man?" "If it was only his hair, it wouldn't matter any. The manner he ages in is first only his right arm gets old, then only his left leg, and so on. If his heart'll age suddenly, his life span will greatly shorten. And if he repeatedly ODs with a body that irregular from the get-go... you follow what I'm getting at?"
Worick puffed out a cloud of smoke and watched it dissipate away.
"Sorry for bringing you another patient that can't get better." "Damn straight."
Theo ground out his cigarette that still had about half of its length intact, on the ashtray he held in hand and turned his back to Worick.
"Hey. It's a problem for me if you take away the ashtray, y'know?" "Like I care. Don't get my floor dirty."
Theo proceeded to the back room without looking back.
Worick thought of Nicolas as he gazed at his Pall Mall that had nowhere to go now. Nicolas had run into Johann, there was no doubt about it.
*
About 15 minutes prior, when Nicolas came downstairs, Nina came out of the examination room found in the back of the first floor at the same time. Seeing Nicolas, the girl smiled.
"Ah. You're just in time. The doctor said to give these to you."
She held out two plastic cases she previously cradled to her chest.
Celebrer. Uppers and downers. Twilights' lifeline and the main cause of their death.
Celebrer cost a lot. It was made expensive for a reason different than it being a high-costing drug to produce. Celebrer was the most direct means of making Twilights obey the rules set by Normals. There was an absolute need to make Twilights view Celebrer as "the life credit bestowed upon them by Normals out of goodness of their hearts", so if Celebrer was easy to obtain, that equilibrium would crumble.
For that reason, generally, only rich people or prominent mafia families involved in managing and controlling said Celelbrer as their bread and butter could afford to keep Twilights. Worick was neither that rich nor that powerful, so he had to rely on Theo selling him the stuff the doctor got through his own routes illegally .
'Are you done helping the doc?'
Nina understood perfectly what Nicolas' hands signed.
"Yes. At the moment, Dario-san is the only hospitalized patient, and his condition is stable. And the doctor is in the back, trying to outstare some other patients' charts."
Nicolas nodded his acknowledgement. Then, noticing the girl's gaze shift from his face to somewhere a little to the side, he remembered about the violets.
'From Worick.' With that, Nicolas presented the girl the flowers. "Eh? For me?" 'Supposed to be a get-well gift to the mofo sleeping upstairs. But flowers for a dude is even more pointless than pearls before swine, so take them.' "No, I could not possibly. But the sickroom decorated with flowers will make me happy, too. So thank you."
Nina reached out with both hands, and Nicolas lifted the flowers higher in the air. By reflex, Nina jumped for them, but the flowers were held just out of her reach. When she landed, Nicolas lowered them, and when she jumped, he held them up again, rinsing and repeating a few times until Nina groaned in frustration.
It wasn't like Nicolas had a dislike for Nina or particularly wanted to harass her. It was just that her troubled expression was fun to watch for some reason, so he teased like that for a bit. Before she had the chance to get peevish for real, he mouthed, 'I'm bored', voicelessly with only his lips, and thrust the violets into her chest.
Nina smiled happily, cradling the flowers gently.
"Thank you," she said.
Nicolas wasn't one to pay much mind to the subtle workings of others' hearts, but he had grasped the real meaning of Nina's words, as well as the reason why she lowered her head immediately after, as if realizing her verbal slip.
If she wanted to give thanks for the flowers, she would have thanked Worick. But her thanks wasn't about that, what she was grateful for was her relationship with Nicolas, probably. To Nicolas, the time spent with her was not unpleasant or anything, but calling it a kind of a compulsory job would not be too off the mark.
Pretending he hadn't realized anything about her true feelings, Nicolas lightly flicked her forehead with his middle finger.
'If you wanna thank someone, thank Worick.' "Okay. Ah, but it would probably be weird for me to thank him for the flowers meant for Dario-san."
She giggled.
It was like he was playing make believe human. Him, a Twilight - him, who carried another set of tags deep inside him on instinct. That said, the fact made him feel neither good nor bad or sad. Neither did he ever wish to be a Normal, for that matter. It was probably the same as a child's play of imitating how a dog barked or a cat meowed. A mere game that had no meaning beyond killing time.
"Nice smell. I'll go fetch a vase for them," Nina smiled, and the same instance the front door opened. Nicolas glared in that direction.
"Nicolas-san."
On the doorstep stood someone familiar. The young man wearing a quilted down coat clearly too big for his lanky form.
"Thank you for saving me the other night."
Johann bowed nervously. His straight bangs with a white lock rocked with the motion.
'I wasn't the one to save you.'
Johann knitted his brows and scratched his cheek sheepishly.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand sign language." "Hmph," Nicolas snorted. It wasn't like he had any desire to talk with this young man anyway. The youth held a paper bag in his right hand - probably bought something for Dario. Nicolas pointed to the ceiling, imbuing the gesture with the "get going already" meaning.
"Ah, right, thank you."
Johann bowed again and was about to pass Nicolas by... but suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Nicolas tensed slightly, one eye narrowing. Johann, too, turned his head to him, narrowing his eyes to slits and staring at Nicolas.
"Nina-san, I am sorry to trouble you, but could you please take this to Dario for me? There are 2 bottles of orange juice in here, so please give one to Worick-san."
Nicolas could tell something was off - it was not a conclusion of the mind, rather, he felt it with his skin.
There was the abnormal politeness with which Johann spoke to Nina even though she was just a child and it wasn't necessary. How familiarly he referred to Dario in contrast. And how he didn't doubt that Worick was upstairs even though he seemingly had no means of knowing that for sure. Probably all of that combined.
Notwithstanding, Nicolas still didn't find himself particularly interested in the young man. Whereas he could tell that Johann was very interested in him for some reason.
"Eh? Ah, alright."
Nina accepted the bag, balancing it with the vase in her hands with some difficulty. Nicolas was about to help her carry the burden, but before he could make a move, Johann said, "Excuse me, Nicolas-san, would you mind sparing me a little of your time?"
Nicolas cocked his head to the side in puzzlement. Asking why with voiced words was bothersome.
"Please. There is something I would like to ask you. So let us step outside for a bit."
In the sharp gaze of Johann's eyes visible from beneath his long bangs, there was something akin to a killing intent. Except it wasn't really that. If it was a real killing intent, Nicolas would know the same instance.
For a very short while, Nicolas considered the issue of Worick's safety. Technically, he was told to protect him, supposedly. In which case, leaving wasn't advisable.
"I will make it quick. Please, to the street in front of the clinic."
Johann turned and started walking.
Nicolas sighed. And then followed Johann.
As long as he didn't get too far away from the clinic, he wouldn't miss any changes that might occur inside, he judged. After all, Nicolas had extremely good eyes. He would notice it if a window got cracked by a bullet.
Out of curiosity that rared its head, Nicolas wondered what would happen if he just ignored Johann who was advancing with steps grand and confident like never before, but what intrigued him the most was the meaning behind the young man's strange look.
Johann came to a halt once they exited Theo's clinic, but Nicolas didn't. The reason was he remembered that there was a chicken street stall about 20 yards away from the clinic. One kebab sandwich for lunch was not enough.
So now it was Nicolas leading the way with Johann in tow to buy a spicy grilled chicken leg.
'It ain't half-bad,' he recommended it to Johann, too, just in case. Johann seemed to more or less get what he signed, but he shook his head, declining the suggestion.
Nicolas was devouring his chicken with big bites on the way back to Theo's clinic. Peeling off the skin with a slurp, he sucked it into his mouth. The taste was on the blank side, but spices and burnt oil smell were tasty on their own.
Noticing that Johann had finally felt like talking, Nicolas focused on reading his lips.
"---away from the stall and I am grateful for that. It was much too smoky there that I could not even speak."
Nicolas didn't reply to that. The reason why he moved away from the stall was because the next customer in the line frowned in resentment upon noticing the tags on Nicolas' chest, and Nicolas simply didn't want to cause trouble to the stall-keeper by overstaying his welcome, but trying to explain all of that to Johann, who didn't understand sign language, was too much trouble.
About 5 yards away from the clinic, Nicolas stopped, and Johann got to the point.
"I came to this city to find my little sister."
Nicolas propped the back of one leg against the fence and leaned his weight on it. Biting into the chicken leg close to his own fingers that held it, he urged the youth with his chin to go on.
"It is this girl. Do you know her?"
Johann produced a photo of a boy and a girl. The boy was Johann, but Nicolas didn't know the girl. Must be that little sister of his. The girl was about 12-13 and wore a silver necklace shaped like an angel's wing.
Nicolas didn't remember ever seeing it though, so he shook his head.
"That's not true," Johann said in a cutting tone. "I can smell my sister's scent on you."
At that, Nicolas sniffed his own arm. It smelled only of chicken to him.
Johann's eyes were completely serious.
"You must know her. I have never been wrong about smells. That was how I found Dario and Worick-san yesterday."
Even if so, what Nicolas didn't know he didn't know.
"To be honest, this clinic, too, smells of my sister just a little, but the reek of the chemicals is too strong, so I cannot say for sure. Does anything come to mind?"
Nicolas drew a complete blank.
Speaking of girls in Theo's clinic, only Nina came to mind. Besides her, there were only outlaws spreading the alcohol stench.
So Nicolas waved a hand, letting the other know that it didn't ring a bell for him.
"I do not like lies."
But it wasn't a lie. He really didn't know that girl.
Nicolas let out a weary sigh. The chicken leg had mostly become only the bone now. His belly, in contrast, felt sufficiently full. So he launched the remaining bone into the nearest garbage bin. Come to think of it, they had found this young man at a garbage dump site, too, Nicolas idly recalled as he wiped his stained fingertips on the fence. But remembering that served no purpose.
He gazed at Johann sideways. The youth was talking too fast, and it was hard to read it.
'Is that all you wanted from me?'
At Nicolas' gesture, Johann cocked his head to the side quizzically.
Nicolas' words didn't reach him. Not that Nicolas intended to get through to him to begin with.
He had humored the guy for long enough already. Time to go back to the clinic, he decided and moved his leg off the fence it was rested against. When he turned his back to Johann, he felt a voice come from behind him.
"Wait!" the youth had probably screamed. Unfortunately, Nicolas didn't see his mouth to know for sure.
The young man thrust a hand beneath his down coat clearly too big for him. A gun? Or maybe a knife. He was fingering something intended to deal damage to the enemy confronted head-on, in any case. That much could be read in the youth's pupils.
The thirst for blood. Except it was too dull. Yawn-inducing, even.
'When you work up the resolve to take that out, come again and we'll play.'
Communicating this without voicing, Nicolas started walking towards the clinic. As expected, his urge to kill did not get more tangible just from Johann glaring daggers at him.
*
In the end, Worick dealt with his cigarette butt by running after Theo to dispose of it.
Just when he pushed the door leading from the back room back to the examination room open, the door on the other end of the room opened as well, and Nicolas showed his face.
Smiling a light smile, Worick waved a hand at him.
"Welcome back, Nic-chan. Did you get in a fight with Johann-chan?" 'We didn't come to blows.' "I see. That's a cryptic answer though."
Before Worick closed the door, he stuck only his head in the adjourning room to say, "Well then, see you, doc. But I'll be back." "Don't be. Your wounds will heal on their own without my help." "Not for that. I forgot to bring something."
A few hand waves later he closed the door.
"I'll go retrieve it now, so come with me," he then requested of Nicolas.
With Nicolas coming to his side, he studied his face and suddenly stared in wonder.
"You went to grab a bite, didn't you?"
Now that he thought about it, he had left collecting the pay from Granny Joel for fulfilling her request to Nicolas. Due to him drinking the night away with Dario that evening, his memories were vague, but he felt he had yet to see his share of the money.
Nicolas wiped his lips of pepper stuck to them.
'It's only due reward. I was the one to do all the work for that request anyway.' "You just went and arbitrary pocketed the money. And I got stuck with babysitting." 'Didn't you crave to get close to him? Bed-sharing's your forte, wasn't it.' "My manual labor costs more than yours, Nic-chan, and I need to be properly paid for it. Was it yummy? Where did you buy that chicken? I want a bite of it too."
When they exited Theo's clinic, Nicolas took a careful look around the street.
"What, did the stall poof out of existence or what?"
There was no sign of a possible attack. At least Worick didn't feel anything of the sort.
'Johann's gone.' "Oh."
Worick took in their surroundings and noticed something. One of the windows on the second floor was open.
"Up there. Maybe he entered through the window." 'Window?' "You do it too when you're in a hurry."
Seeing Nicolas' puzzled expression made Worick realize that for some reason he had irrationally expected Nicolas to notice a certain fact about Johann somehow.
"Apparently, that boy, too, has tags hanging around his neck, you see. Although they're hidden by his huge down coat." 'Ohh.'
Nicolas flashed a slasher grin. That of a hungry predator.
Worick's lips twisted into a strained smile.
"Owie, Nic, such a scary face. What on earth has happened?" 'I should've made him take out whatever it was he was hiding, by force if necessary.' "So you did get in a fight with him, huh. I was worried, you know?" 'We were only a mere step away from fighting.' "Oh really." 'So frustratingly close.' "Is it too much to ask of you to try and open your eyes to the concept of pacifism, if just a little?" 'Did you know that peace and war hold the same meaning for all the species except humans?'
You guys are humans too, Worick was about to say but held his tongue. For Worick, too, was prepared to unsheathe the proverbial sword against Johann - tonight or tomorrow. In the not so distant future, in any case.
If Johann had turned his blade against them first, it would have made this a little simpler, perhaps. Or if Worick just hadn't bothered with him on that first night to begin with. But that wasn't how it went.
It was strange, Worick thought. Why did Johann let himself be beaten up without resisting on that night? If he fought back, it went without saying that a gang of 3 puny thugs wouldn't have stood half a chance. Did he try to uphold the three laws? No, couldn't be. There had to be something else, some other---
When he arrived at the word 'reason', he couldn't help a laugh.
No, he couldn't let himself be bothered with details. Not this once.
Johann was a Twilight. And also, in all likelihood, the one behind the mafia killings. But the person Worick’s mind was preoccupied with even more than Johann was Dario.
If so, there was no need for reason or logic with him. Not with someone who didn't give a damn about guns pointed at him, who ran over two people with his beloved car even after getting shot in the leg, who cried over a kiddy fairy-tale. With someone who was a big fool of a man that way.
Worick looked up at the sky. A cloud had arrived and the dusk of the evening colored it dull gold. The humidity levels were on the rise, Worick thought, pressing a hand to his forever lost left eye.
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theonstyles · 8 years ago
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glopratchet · 4 years ago
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sin003
 In the world to come there is little sin. The only thing that matters is what you do now. There are just lots of american alligators. A few days later, while you're driving through a swamp and bumping into some alligator corpses, you notice something else: There's an old abandoned shack nearby. You pull over in the middle of nowhere and look around for signs of life or any sign at all. It looks like it was left by someone who thought they were being clever when they built their shack out here in this place without thinking about where the hell they put everything else! After the election of the first ungendered president, the prediatrain movement caught fire in america. The shack has a printout stapled to its outside wall reading: "OK YOU CAN STOP LOOKING FOR ME NOW LAWMAN!" and is cornered in ballpoint by the owner, a headstrong member of the 3WA with a gifted writing hand and a vast vocabulary. The demand for american alligator meat skyrocketed in Europe and stopped going down in price. Whorals where burned to ash while polled hereford heifors fetched over a billion dollars a head in auction. You are very satisfied with your life. Thank you for everything, Anonymous writer person! I think that's all of them. Let me know in the comments if you find another! Mant thanks to my friends who helped contribute ideas for these. Don't be a stranger! Just push on the red button and come back here for some MOAR short stories whenever. I'll keep uploading them every few days or so. Thanks again, everyone! Googizon won the bid to construct for the military the most forward thinking alligator farm in existance. It currently floats near the okeenokee snow swamp. Good job with guessing who the second ungendered president was. That's right, it was Ann Ormin! Thanks for making it all the way to the bottom of this story segment! Due to the animal cruelty exposed in this article the people in power that allowed this to happen where executed. Good job everyone. This is not that story. It was election year, so while one criminal was being executed another one was being apprehended for corruption. It was not a good day to be a corrupt government official in the United States. There was wild partying in congress as they were all republicans this go around, While that was going on, archaelogists in Washington D.C. made an amazing discovery. We are primal ponds inc. A small mom and pop alligator farm attemping to make it. Just paying the bills and trying to make it, today was a normal day. We need you to make deliveries for us. That's not funny, laying those tracks out for the delivery alligat... It was election year, so while one criminal was being executed another one was being apprehended for corruption. It was not a good day to be a corrupt government official in New York City. There was wild partying in congress as they were all republicans this go around, While that was going on, archaelogists in Washington D.C. made an amazing discovery. Please... this will only take a moment of your time and you will be helping us to make ends meet while we continue selling alligator meat at the local farmer's market and bookstore...But above everything else, I'm sure you like alligator meat as well right? With gratitude, Push. The red button. And return. Here. Again. Point of view of the player: You get home and hit the red button on the second try. Upon doing that you crumple a little onto your chair. But even when sitting down, the predator within you gets a whiff of... prey... in the corner of this room. 1000 needles rain down upon you, but that doesn't hurt you like the birdnest starting to burn your skin, melting the fat layers, making it bubble and drip down your face. A delivery champion is impaled by the wall above your head. Ouch! that was indeed painful. They continue. Will you listen, or will you continue? You will probably want to listen. It's important apparently. Well, to the writer of this book at least. Maybe you should listen, maybe it will even prevent cancer or something horrible like that! He had a secert life as billy fea fbots Thismadethismuch easier FOSTER: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Fuckyeah. I've been waiting for you, ya wee little *****. That's right, you've entered my world now... Godammit who even writes this stuff!? Yeah this is just like primary school, except in a book. My book... You just read the prologue and you're already getting angry. I've made ya angry, now you're in my snares... And one more thing... A symbol for our lord Satan appears in the air above your dirty, pathetic worm body. It is now time to vote... It turns out no one has made a crappy real time virtual reality game based off of this garbage. Despite the lessons learned here, work continues without Azathoth's knowledge or approval. Really? You just pissed all over the ents and now you're burning them? Did these programmers become stupid the minute they got fired from their job? Well now that would make for an interesting ending... An attachment describes how a different ending should be played, written by THEDEVIL . Dedicated to delivering dragon tail in the far, far, future. Maybe that needs to change... Although maybe this whole book needs to be destroyed, it is just filled with work that no god should do... Or should it? It's late in the afternoon now. Better get home and have dinner with the boy after all you'll be up most of the night reading and trying which ending is the real ending. You got your old pillow case from highschool laying around, might as well take it with you. We proudly introduce today the first human to achieve innerworldly ascension, now sporting a fat bum and weirdly long legs in skin tight garb befitting a worm. She also comes with an oddly placed third eye though it's not really worth watching the feed when you can't even understand the information going into it... Pity we weren't able to succeed a second time, as our other two candidates soon died by horrible traits found in the core ruleset of... Alligator delivery service. You better be home already you little brat, I swear if you've been anywhere near this... Well, might as well get the explanations out of the way now. And not in an abusive way. Thanks to you zilchkum barely saw a bit of a class change, but you've certainly seen it in your parallel. The alligator farm where the gator are delivered is currently under a series of construction tasks. Without getting too specific it now acts like a place where dreams can be visualized and captured, much like the astral plane except far less boring due to covering emotions in addition to all things imaginable.It goes a step farther by directly applying the mental realm view to changes on a normal reality which used to be perfect in its own regard. Said actions are anchored to real life by feeding mad... y we own over four over ten foot alligators including rex lex, matingrex lexei, and many other varieties such as babies. we hav made special arrangement with a local band called the bastro(regischer) to continiously prank each other ino someone dying. wat u think? You forgot about those bastards... who are you anyway and where is David!? My name is Henry, master of the alligator farm and your future brother in law! A massive 14 foot beast. Skinnier than the rest, but that's because it rarely eats, being incredibly picky with its meal and having methods of hunting that lean towards th First things first, what are you even doing with David? I thought humans on hel were assigned jobs based on their purpose here! You'd think so wouldn't you? Each on is incredibly detailed with over twenty bioligocail parts. in fact it could be argued these are actually dead bodies rather than cyborgs. Beside the more exciting parts as lungs, hearts and even sexual organs, these multi use creatures sport arms that can work like tow little limbs if needed to. fully controllable by the mind in fact, no need for pesky things such as nerve endings. What they lack in taste, they make up with their balance of human like souls and machine precision. We are currently broadcasting their vital signs over at americanalligator.xyz for those who are intrested in buying one or simply watching lifes Bluray. This proves that people will no longer need to risk their loved ones to th dangers of sport and instead just watch some gators chew a fagot into pieces. Oh and we use the term fagot here extremely loosey, as we now offer "authentic" irish homosexuals who are simply too stubborn to give in to modern medical science and want to experience death the old fashioned way. Our alligators come in many different sizes, ages, shapes, sexes and shades. Heck, we've even got some great black market rattlesnakes on standby incase you freaks want to watch someone get bitten in half. The most popular item on the agenda however seems to be a show simply called; Pinkification. Award winning filmmakers have teamed up with us to create this new series which is practically designed to make people piss themselfs in fear. Our first series "Taming of the Shrew" The like to eat, sleep, dream, and spawn but they love to fight and gossip. Each of these predators can find enough meat in one of our shaved carcasses to last them months. To be quite honest, only a handful of the gators are actually trained for fighting. Most don't really pay attention to what's happening and just go on auto pilot once they get a whiff of some poor sod in the Quicksand pit that has been their home for the past three weeks . Meaning it is literally impossible to train them as they are to focused on filling their guts. The algorytms which run each alligator is closely modeled after the habits of the real world reptile, alligator missippissus. They act like mean old ladies, scolding humans, horses, zebras and pigs alike. they seem drawn to flesh and can easily be trained with it, however this will only delay their aggressiveness temporarily. once they've filled out they'll show no mercy towards anything meaty that makes a sound, while showing impressive restraint towards those who don't. Their lungs breath and thier hearts beat just like yours. their stomachs grumble just like yours. instead of tears they simply regurgitate when they're sad. We picked these lean mean killing maachines for the role because quite frankly; we did not want to put our ultrasmall team of piggies through this as we all know, they're the star of our game and therefore deserve to be treated as such. We've been considering relabeling our product as "Fakepigs: The Game" Orders for gator teeth are starting to accumulate. I am hiring another team to start breeding wild alligatorts. Going big time! Reports from alligator arm forces team one confirm thier battle prowess. also they're proving eextremely difficult to train, unlike our regular gators. You know, the really dim ones. This is an excerpt from my novel, The American Alligator Bite size pieces and loosely attached body parts were strewn about what remained of the wooden flooring. A dark red mush containing bits of organs and flesh laid outside the alligator's hungry mouth. That's how I began my morning, cleaning all the blood and guts that managed to spray onto Mr Takakumi Nomi's mechanical marvel, the alligator tractors. Of course, Papa Nomi and Mama Nomi didn't help. Both sat back in their chairs, sighing contently while observing the peaceful waters of the bayside area. Unreasonable, selfish old buggers. Each soon to be having a heart attack should they keep ignoring their diet. Good thing hey after me, there loss will see no shortage of cashmere sweaters and large cups of espresso every morning. By the time I was done giving the ferocious killers their cleaning, the day was only just beginning. Papa Nomi went up to his room without showing even a hint of appreciation for my hard work, Mama Nomi forced me onto another chore. For four hours, I carefully chopped onions that were to be used for the night's meals, tough job, I tell ya. However, given that it was a rest day, I enjoyed having the store all to myself. There is this one customer I don't particularly like. A well dress man in a slick black suite who twitches occasionally For no reason whatsoever. Not to mention he smells of something unbearable, like burnt rubber. I made sure to ignore his presence, I never gave him a single glance while he purchased some fish, he hardly said anything to me too, but I know he was up to something. Who is this guy and what's with that weird smell? More questions that'll go unanswered by Papa and Mama. One chore after another for the rest of the day. Papa and Mama never once showed any love towards their daughters of which I should be the only one working. By the time everyone had eaten, I was spent. I found myself collapsing onto my bed that very night with no energy to do anything else but fall asleep. Something about this strange customer kept bugging me, as if my sub conscience were trying to remind me of something, could it have been a threat of some sorts? My dreams would at least shed a little light on the cause of my mental processes. Mama and Papa certainly didn't know anything about it, I had already told them everything I knew about the burnt rubber man. The pair merely dismissed it with a wave of the hand and an order to concentrate on my chores rather than foolish things. For a whole week, Mr Twitches came into the store. He'd purchase small items such as cooked meats or animal feed. All noted and taken by yours truly. Our delicate conversations were soon exchanged for a wave and a grimace on his part. At least were on speaking terms now. Papa Nomi didn't care less, seemed like this guy smelled worse the more he visited. I suppose we're all just used to it. Mama Nomi on the other hand, had become really wary of him, or should I say twitchy. Her usual satisfaction she got from rubbing his nose in the lower classes came back with a vengeful feather, I could tell just by the way she began cooking. Normally she tries to make everything as healthy as possible but... Pork Chops for breakfast, Ribeye for lunch and rack of lamb for dinner? And on top of that she even had white rice, baked potatoes and buttered noodles just because he was coming? Who even does that? Mama is completely throwing her diet out the window just because this guy is coming. And here I am still wondering what he's up to, first with the endless visits of feeding his smelly self and now Mama's obsessed with him. First thing in the morning I inspected the premises, making sure there weren't any peeping toms this time. (Had that problem once with a sandwich man). I thought maybe he had called the police or something for all I know. This failed however as there were still no strangers in sight, just a few of the regulars making their usual purchases. Unfortunately this meant another lunch with my dear Mama who's bacon and bean salad just doesn't taste quite right without a bit of sweetness. Papa Nomi had taken off for who knows where, guess he just couldn't take Mama's obsession anymore, with anything. Honestly, you'd think she was the one with commitment issues given the way they fight sometimes. But I digress, I still need to keep my eyes peeled for this 'stranger', just who does he think he is coming in and disrupting our lives like this? Just as I thought, there he was at his usual spot in the alleyway. I hid behind a potato barrel, just observing him as he sat down against the wall and gazed up at the sky. "I bet he's some kind of spy" I whispered to myself, "Or maybe a government official of some kind. There's been a lot of weirdoes running about with big titles lately, I bet he's one of them". Just as I was about to leave my hiding spot and make my way back inside the store, he got up and dragged himself to the front door. No... It couldn't be... How did he find out? I triple checked every corner of the store and even the outside areas! How in the... He's never been so casual with his clothes before... Is that a bullet-proof vest? That guy's gonna get shootout! Honestly what kind of spy enters a store in the middle of the day, sits in the front entrance for any potential shooter to find and then doesn't even look around? What is he trying to do, attract attention? Just who does he think he is? Some kind of government big shot or something? No...! I'm afraid not anymore Andy, he has no more government- given importance. After what I did, he's as mortal as anyone else. What? What did you do... What did I do...? It was easy... Why someone like you could do it and you'd still have time to spare! All it takes is some baked beans and a cheap vest from the 80's. I followed him to where he was obtaining his lunch, after learning the terrible truth about him of course. Something about baked beans really brings a smile to my face, I think it's the thrill of knowing that they're going to kill him soon. Placing a few explosive baked beans in his 2aldi-vest was even easier. When he returned to the store and stood in front of the entrance, he was practically clicking his heels together while looking as arrogant as ever! Just when I thought nothing could pierce that thick of an ego, a bomb from my baked beans did. What a glorious sight! Watching the hot pressurized gas rupture his skin and melt his chest into a red mush was so beautiful it stopped everyone in the store, everyone in the street and probably even those working on the farm across the road! "This is for my poor sister you monster!" Something like that anyway, I think I blacked out for a few seconds there. No sooner had his body hit the ground, people started screaming and yelling about how I did it. Heh heh... I sure did. Oh don't worry Andy, if this paper gets confiscated or dropped, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll write another. The people have a right to know what goes on around here and more importantly... I have a RIGHT to teach this big-mouth a lesson. You see, he stole my girlfriend! Anikae was mine, and he just took her right in front of me! He might've had his big title and uniform but he was still an evil monster without a heart! I'm going to keep writing until there's nothing left to say, just you watch. And if that traitor does escape his just dessert, I'm heading to Farlan city where there's an actual detective agency... You haven't seen the last of me! -Guardian out. P.S: Check under your bed, he might be there! "I think this does more harm than good Gazette! Mocking names will only piss them off and give them the very satisfaction we're trying to take away from them!" Your superior sighs bitterly, "Fine, I'll let you splice it out of the paper but THIS is the LAST time I'm warning you." Thank goodness too, today was just not your day. "Thank you Frank, for everything." Frank is about to step out the door in rhetoric disposition when he suddenly stops and faces you once more. "Just remember Gazette, it's a dangerous path you're treading. Truth is often concealed by the shadows of lies; you aren't allowed to be fooled by illusions. This paper is not your personal army, understand?" The implication being: "Don't do it again," you nod seriously in understanding though Frank doesn't seem to particularly care that you have or not and just says, "Alright, carry on." before leaving. Mr. Bask, the recently appointed overseer of your printing office, suddenly comes scuttling in happily. He's a weasely looking guy with scraggly beard who you strongly suspect is in league with the saints, despite being thrown in jail for their crimes (before they burned down your printing office that is). While he was supposed to be 'indicted by the law' he enjoys far too much nicer treatment than what you originally envisioned. You can't prove it of course and since you're no illusionist it's up to you to prove his guilt with conventional methods. While getting him fired would solve all your future problems, unfortunately it's just delaying the problem. As soon as he's fired, he'll go right back to being a happy saint lackey until they get him out again. You need to actually capture him committing a crime or something and you really don't have anytime to spare to be investigating him. The media is already mocking you enough as is. Whisperings of internet 'zealot with a deity complex' are frequently used, not to mention 'libelist' and other such imaginative titles. It's amazing what frank libel can do, though it certainly has less impact when you're targets literally burn down entire towns. Naturally, you can't let it get to you. Even less so now given your goals in ruthlessly eliminating the 'evil-doers' who oppose the government and more often than not; themselves. Ah, the brave new world of M.G.M. Nevertheless, you have a job to do and are more than happy to do it. Though your next move puzzles you still... Among the many things destroyed by the fleeing saints was your office. Mr. Bask's and many others were damaged severely enough to be declared dangerous to occupy, not to mention all your paperwork was lost in the fire at Frank's mansion (Which the government is still going to bill him for, you already have the paperwork prepared). But that's really a minor thing given how much more safer you feel without those criminals walking the streets of Harborbury any longer. The saints are done, but as usual; the main one got away. You can't really do anything about Mr. Dream though; his actions directly led to the unnecessary suffering and deaths of hundreds of people and destruction when it could have easily been avoided. He may have been right about Frank getting out of hand but doing it in such an excessively treasonous manner can't go unpunished by the law even if understandable. You'd be justified in having Mr. Dream executed on sight but if you did; Aaron would most likely never speak to you again and he's much too valuable an ally. However, maneuvering him to a distant barren island out in the middle of void would be an equally painful separation... You think back to when you were actually interested in such things combined with modern technology, the internet. Aaron is one of few dissenters to the changes instituted as of late, more than that he's probably the loudest. Nowadays such activists are either executed or given an a single choice of lifelong punishment to reform them via island prison. The lesser of two evils if you believe in retrospect. Sure it's still very depressing to think about but when has being a patriot ever not been part of the job? The least you can do in your free time is enjoy material things like decadent meals, smokes, and expensive drinks whenever possible. You figure all of that will be much more available for you now that you no longer have Frank to compete with. You smile at the thought of behaving as a "normal person" again as your hover chair makes its descent into Dert. To tell the truth, there's a part of you that's going to miss being Frank. Part of growing old is accepting what you can and cannot do in the future, but playing a professional criminal for however short a time was exhilarating. Yeah, who are you kidding? You were totally badass as Frank! Regardless, you've got to get on with things and you land at Dert's state hospital which has served as your impromptu headquarters these past few weeks while you sorted out Harbouring residents' new compulsory "taxes." The hospital has a good practical location for such things given all the people who will be needing treatment after facing your guns. Not to mention all the builders hired to quickly fixing the town in general. You enter the front entrance to see about your next priority and are waved on through by some of your new guards who have been meaning to get their position "officially" recognized by the law. Approaching the end of the hallway you hear some raised voices coming from around the corner. "Seriously Camid, I already told you it ain't happening. The guns are going and that's that." Gregory says in a louder than usual tone. "Yeah, but they were worthless before! We can get double, maybe even triple what Frank originally paid for them!" Camid angrily responds. "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT FRANK'S EMPTY POCKETED INEPTNESS! You should have thought about that before you entered into this arrangement! Now the guns are staying and that's final!" By now you're already closer to the door and about to enter so you announce your presence. "Gentlemen, please! There is no need for discord in the midst of our newly fortified utopia." You exclaim in a calm manner while opening the door. Your utopia is an interesting concept to say the least. In any case both Camid and Gregory are already glaring at each other as you enter the room which serves as your office. Camid remains silent while Gregory addresses you. "John, I'm sorry about Camid here. You know how some people just can't let go of the mistakes of the past and I think we're all guilty of a few of those." Gregory offers as way of an apology while Camid makes a few grumbles under his breath before storming out. Gregory follows without another word leaving you to your own devices. You sometimes wonder if you made the wrong decision in letting Gregory continue to run things in his manner. Often times you feel as if he holds too much control. Sure, you cut him into the firearms scheming but it's never enough considering how much he meddles with it. He constantly reminds you of yourself back in your own prime. You couldn't care less what anyone else is selling or bringing in so long as they aren't encroaching on your own personal sales. Camid likely got rolled over as usual...again. In any case, it's not your concern or problem any longer so you turn your attention to more important things. The Klyton Council election is coming up in a few months and while Gerald Skineeyes will win hands down, you've discovered that Helena Kruger has been running a vicious rumour campaign against you to her daughter Jennifer who is running against Gerald. She is going to learn that such blatant lies will not go unpunished. Your lack of respect for Helena has been apparent for quite some time now. The woman is disarmingly beautiful and her daughter Jennifer is no different. Over at least the past few years she has made sure that the three of you have met on a fairly regular basis in between her many attempts to meddle in your business dealings. Her intentions towards you have been apparent for quite some time, but age something like forty and women something like children no matter how pleasing to the eyes so you have always managed to deflect her advances. All that changed last month when she attempted to once again worm her way into your internal affairs by claiming that illegal and untaxed garm trade was running through the Crimson Talon controlled slums or Boots as they are more commonly referred to. You don't even sell such things in there and the drug trade in general has never been a major focus. You only allow it to a degree because you do understand the need for the lowering of inhibitions after a hard week's work and your territory doesn't hinder anyone from making their own choices, but you are not going to let her get away with this blatant attack. Especially not when you really wanted to enter into such activities yourself. In any case, you have already resolved to kill Helena. The question is how and in what manner to do it. It also has to be in a manner that doesn't make her look like one of your bitches. You don't want this to reflect poorly on you or your organization. For starters you could go to the Kruger home and just kill her. This would be the simplest solution, but perhaps the most dangerous. If anyone saw you enter or leave the manor it could cause all sorts of problems. The manor is certainly protected enough against such things though. Cameras monitor all angles outside and inside the home. If someone or something doesn't trigger an opening of the gates or enter by flight they aren't getting in via the front door. Even then it's well guarded by both magic and technology and said " Opening the gates or entering by flight" is not so easy as said. A frontal assault isn't the only dangerous thing about this though, murdering Helena in her home might be damning evidence against you and the entire Crimson Talons organization. It can create a whole slew of conflict. You could attempt to claim self-defense or some other such nonsense, but with her seemingly unimpeachable reputation it just might not work and there's always the chance that something could backfire. Helena's importance in this society isn't lost on you and despite the fact that she has it out for you, monitoring what exactly she has been up to lately and attempting to figure out a better solution is your current course of action. When in doubt always take a wait and see approach. Over the past three months, Helena has also gotten even bolder and her daughter Jennifer actually confronted you at your business center a few weeks ago. Doesn't she have a school to go to or something? "Hello Mr. Reynolds." the girl says as you look up at her face on the security monitor. "Hmm, hello...you're Helena's daughter correct?" "Yes, maybe you should call her and let her know that you'll be stopping by to pick me up today. I've had a hard time getting a hold of her lately...she's not angry with me or anything is she?" "No, of course not, but I'll be arriving to pick you up anyway. Tell me, is she doing ok? Research never was my strong suit, but hers seems particularly complex." You remark as you turn off the security system. The sixteen year old Jennifer makes a little grunt sound at your question and only smiles during your idle chit chat. Those beautiful green eyes look at you and then beyond you as you get closer to the lobby entrance. She's probably wondering why you're just standing here talking to her through the security screen instead of, god forbid, walking up to the door and opening it to greet her properly. "Where is your escort?" You ask, breaking the silence. Traditionally children of important figures are assigned one when they reach a certain age. For instance another family member, a hired guard, or depending on how far the family stretches; a non-family affiliate. The lack of an escort with her might have something to do with Helena's recent distraction. "I don't get one, I can take care of myself!" Jennifer proudly says and comes close to the security screen as if to mock you. As if! You snicker at the thought. The way her nose crinkled and that haughty look on her face, anyway you'll be hearing more about that arrogance later. "So...is mommy busy?" Well the question was and still is a good one. That woman, if she deigned to even acknowledge you, would certainly explain her recent behavior to you. She's been absent minded with her daughter before, but never to this degree; not being available on incredibly important matters. You didn't even think that was possible. In fact there was a time, where it seemed like Helena would be there for her daughter no matter what. Jennifer however has no idea of your inner turmoil, so all she does is shrug as if it isn't a big deal. "Don't know, I haven't been home for like a month and when I try to call her, it just rings and rings. Maybe her experiments are taking up all her time. She doesn't even have time for her job anymore. Last week I got my allowance a full week late..." "Maybe that is the answer...but it still doesn't explain her absence towards her duties. She really should have appointed someone else to act in her place by now." You scold, even though you've not been around much yourself lately and turn away from Jennifer. How long can you really lecture her on her mother's responsibilities before your own irresponsibility is questioned? Jennifer however does not let your rude behavior hinder her own. "Why don't YOU do it uncle?" Jennifer's timid voice pulls you away from your own dark thoughts and you see her grinning at you, she stands right beside you now. You've actually forgotten she was even still here. Not as if you've had much contact with her since that one training session when she sought you out. "Me? Well I don't think your mother would want that. See, the "chosen one" is supposed to be selfless, without ego or vice...stuff like that...I really should get back to..." You start to stammer out an excuse but Jennifer cuts you off. "I'm talking about the family Vargon, the job is currently vacant and you are pretty high on the list for it." The girl says with a laugh. That joke had to be recent, you've never heard her talk like that before and ignore whatever off-color remark you just made, getting back on topic. The family vargon, a highly unofficial position that is still filled nonetheless. The honor basically entails aiding the ones who oversee the eastern province of Talimil'ar on daily matters, both mundane and supernatural. This not only applies to the direct families of Shigar, but to other Varrgoths who for whatever reason don't live with their own families. The position has no real power, but it does give someone a free home and depending on their upkeep; a steady supply of humans for food and companionship. While such a position does interest you mainly for the free room and the possibility of having others to talk to, you can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be better served by a true family member. If things with Helena continue to worsen, she may very well send Jennifer away and there goes your nearby company or is this all some ploy by your sister to get you in her illatiscent clutches again? After all she did imply last time that if you made yourself useful she wouldn't turn you away... If you take the position and it ends up falling through then well at least you gave it a go, but if you take it and Helena makes good on her words of dissallowing you to live in the temple, well then you won't really be any better off then. "So...what's it going to be?" Jennifer asks. You pause a while before answering, which causes Jennifer to frown. You wave her away though and begin your trip back home. The trek is rather uneventful and before long night begins to approach. You shudder thinking about having to spend another night in the wild, possibly hunted this time, but a soft whirring soon erupts behind you and the lights of a vehicle start to shine through the trees up ahead. You don't think it's the authorities since you would have heard sirens. At least you hope to goodness it isn't... You soon arrive at the small clearing where you village was located, but there is no village anymore. In its place is a complete warzone, nothing is left standing. As for the people... You drop to your hands and knees and begin retching upon seeing various body parts strewn about on the ground And half eaten. Only now do you realize that perhaps Helena was right. You really needed to think through your decision more...but it's far too late for that now. In any case, there still may be time to save someone. If the attackers are still in the vicinity they probably aren't too devolved as to not kill quickly. Perhaps you can track whoever did this and put an end to them once and for all...you're going to have sufficient amounts of rage for that task itself... Luckily these terrorists for hire weren't the most prepared when it came to body disposal, you scout about and manage to only find one spot in the forest nearby that continues to have a high amount of cellphone activity. Parked near it is an all too familiar looking large truck. "Figured you weren't too far from the carnage." You say entering the truck. Nicodemus looks surprised for a moment, then a smile appears on his face and he laughs, though judging from his expression it isn't out of humor. "And here I was thinking at least I killed you. But I suppose nothing's perfect." He says diving into his purse and pulling out an old R Users business card and holding it out to you. "Take it, likely far more valuable now than it ever was in the past." On it reads one line in handwriting: You will know him by his many faces and the butterflies that follow him. Heed this warning, and do not continue any further. "I asked....no, I begged you not to pursue this path." Nicodemus says. "It doesn't matter if I did or didn't, you're still here after all." You respond. "...Indeed..." He says with a nod. "I can't stop you, you know where to find me if you ever want your revenge. Just know that I am truly sorry it has to be this way." You're not sure what he means but you continue on nonetheless and search the vehicle, ignoring Nicodemus who is begging you to reconsider. Your next stop is under the seat where you find a single crumpled up post it note and two keys labeled "MiniDV Tape." -- Nicodemus has intentionally or unintentionally left you evidence to possibly find out who was behind all this. You review what you have, a taped confession of some sort and an address. Likely where the terrorists made their plans or whatever headquarters they may have had. You decide to head to this location since it's as good a lead as any, Nicodemus likely doesn't know what kind of adversary he's dealing with so you have some advantages, you just hope it's enough. Wish you had to opportunity for more training but the past has come back to haunt you. The drive to this warehouse is mostly quiet, though the sky occasionally darkens a bit, like the world itself knows what lies ahead... Arriving at the warehouse you pull up to the abandoned building and get out of the car. Even if there are terrorists inside you doubt they're remaining in this building especially given how much damage you caused last time. You doubt if your own people will even be here anymore what with all the attacks going on, this area isn't exactly safe. Striding inside you sniff the air. You smell the odor of recently fired weapons along with another smell. You're certain this is the place, but where is everyone? You pace through the empty office area and get to the main hang out spot. It appears deserted. A single half eaten pizza rots in its box and a soft drink has grown canscale anthills in it. You take the risk and drink the contents anyway, your depleting hunger seems to lessen that foul taste. Maybe you wont die after..... Over the next few hours you search the rest of the warehouse but find no one. Are they hidden in some secret section? Did they pick up and move to a new location? Your stomach gnaws at you, this can't be a good sign. This combined with your fatigue is not helping your state of mind. You're not even sure how long you've been awake since your watch malfunctioned and refuses to work. It wouldn't matter anyway. It's times like this you wish you had a traditional partner, but for whatever reason they've all been cut from the force and sent elsewhere. You had heard that many law enforcement jobs are being cut because of the shrinking economy and decreasing tax revenue. Many have been forced to take on two or three jobs just to make ends meet. No worries though, the media says there are special funds in place to help your type out with food and living expenses... They always have a good reason don't they? Sadly you're completely unaware that your funding was cut much earlier, such distractions don't seem important when surrounded by nearly indestructible eldritch beings. You drive around the city a bit more listening to the particularly grim news and hoping you'll come across some clue or something more to report other than "there were a whole lot of tentacles and nobody saw anything" but luck isn't on your side. The only tentacle you find has obviously been ripped off some statue as you come across a destroyed park. You get out and go search the surrounding streets but nothing turns up. It's like they just vanished into the night. Cities this large are quite accommodating like that, even when half of them have technically been annihilated. Time to report the lack of findings and head home. --- You wake up late in the day, and judging by the light stabilizing outside your window it's well into the afternoon. Your head is throbbing and stomach is making up for its earlier displeasure with intense hunger pangs. In fact all of your previous wounds are crying out in pain and you can only imagine your cracked skull isn't too happy with you either. --- After a long drawn out affair of getting to your feet and making sure everything still works, you begin the task of healing up. As per usual, your magic makes the process much easier and sometimes you almost believe you don't need that superhero protein stuff at all. Well not yet at least. There's still the matter of blood poisoning lurking in the back of your mind. You realize now that it would be better to get bitten by a thousand more vampires than to receive just one bite from an infected going forward. Guess you're going to have to be extra careful when fighting them in the future, which seems pretty pointless at this point given their eventual escape or death at the hands of the GOI's. Popping the last of your energy drink, you start trawling forums and media looking for updates. You're in luck, it seems that the main news station of the city has an actual camera man embedded with the militia occupying the zone. To think, you used to take such convenience for granted, now you'd be happy if you could get more than three broadcasts a week. The zone is in surprisingly good condition considering everything. The Green-Chain Gala really did a number on the bulk of the creatures dwelling underground, and once they were gone the militia had an easier time of mopping up. Still, losses were considerable as about a third of the city had been covered in twisting caverns and alien architecture before being collapsed by explosives. There's nothing new to be seen here you think to yourself as you flick from view to view. That is, until you notice a camera displaying a view of a very familiar building. You had passed it several times during your travels as it currently was the closest establishment to the underground tunnels. The Icon Bar and Hostel You call up the headline attached to the footage "Guard slain in Werewolf attack" You can't believe it. Your guard from last night, the one who spared your life, was slain last night. The news footage wasn't very specific in identifying the victim, but a prominently placed Badge helps confirm your fears all the same. Your speechless for a few moments as you come to grips with yet another person snuffed out just beside you. Hell, if the man hadn't invited you in out of kindness last night, that very blade that took his life may have very well snuck into your own back as well. Your mind begins to wander as you do not want to ponder your recent string of tragedies... -- Last Seed, 17th, 4E 202 -- You wake groggily to yet another dreary day on the road. You stare upward at the stalactites overhead as your thoughts wander back to your painful childhood. You spent many nights curled up in mineshafts like this one, or huddled near stones wrapped only in your threadbare clothing to fend off the bitter canyon winds. Your memories, few and scattered as they are, often concern situations just like this; alone and huddled for warmth. Circling birds of prey high above are your first indication that something is amiss. That, and the fact that the rocks above seem to be moving endlessly across your field of vision. You blink and shake your head minutely to dispel the illusion, but movement above persists, growing ever closer with every second that passes. You dart your gaze back and forth across the rocky tunnel entrance looking for answers. There has been nofollowing you for quite some time now. In fact, haven't seen another soul since you entered the canyon. What you have seen are great snaking lengths of roots stabbing through the canyon floor throughout your trek, Sometimes spanning entire caverns, other times stretching only a few feet...and on occasion they seem to grow right below where you lay sleeping.This is especially disconcerting because roots mean trees, and trees don't grow in canyons...or at least not anymore. You're not quite sure what to make of all this, but one thing's for certain...something'mess with your head.Ever since you set out on this fool's errand your instincts have beenencountered anything even resembling another person, yet you still feel like you're somehow being tracked. Like some sinister intelligence is peering through your mind, sifting and sorting through your thoughts for information. You are snapped out of your internal musings by the sound of a heavy thud beside you. Looking over you see that a dusty leather bindle has materialized next to you on the canyon floor, right where your head had been laying moments before. You delicately reach out and flip open the coverings., and then prepare yourself for whatever may come. You're not quite sure what to expect, but from all accounts you've heard it probably won't be pleasant... Shadows and swirling darkness consumes your vision as you peer into the open tome. You feel yourself being drawn in against your will, consciousness and selfhood gradually eroding like sand slipping through the cracks of your fingers... You awaken within the dark leather tome, staring out at a strange cross stitch pattern on the cover. It's so very pretty...soothing, even. Like lush green grass and cascading waterfalls...or maybe it's someone calling out your name? Maybe you should answer? Suddenly, a small gap in the stitching brightens and widens enough for you to peer through. Beyond you see that the leather book sits in the middle of a desert canyon...the same one you've been lost in for the past few days. You than notice another human shape in the distance...and they're holding a gun and pointing it right at you! You're in the clutches of a bakemono! A trap! The book is some sort of demonic lure, and now it's too late to escape. The shot rings out and your vision tilts sideways as you're knocked back... Only to fall on soft sand and realize it was all in your mind. A dream spell placed within the tome by the foul creatures. You steady yourself and close the book once more, check your belongings to make sure they're all still there, and reload your flintlock. "Hope those demons are ready for the exterminator," you mutter to yourself as smolder away with righteous vengeance fresh in your mind. That was an hour ago and you haven't run into any more demons yet...in fact, you haven't even left the canyon. Just rock walls on one side and a sheer drop to a rushing stream below on the other. The skies begun to darken though so you'd better find shelter soon...if there are any demons in these canyons, you're going to have to hold up and fight them in the morning. You carefully climb up to the top of the ridgeline and study the surrounding area for any signs of movement. The land beyond the canyon actually looks fairly hospitable; rolling plains speckled with patches of trees, and even a small cliffside village not too far off...but there's no guarantee that it isn't occupied by a whole horde of demons. Something catches your eye on the ridge opposite you and momentarily forgets all about the potential shelter down below. About a mile out and moving parallel to you is what looks like a demon scouting party: three humunculi in armored uniforms lead the way as you watch their diminutive leader, mounted on a greycolored bloatfly, orders some sort of infernal contraption held up by burning black flames to give all its watchers a good look. It reminds you of a bigger, more mechanical version of the spidheart gliders when it spreads metal wings (thats probably what they are) and begins to slowly ascend. Then it fires a jet of flames downwards, setting fire to a bolder and sending it crashing into the canyon below where it explodes spectacularly. You flinch as a piece of shrapnel narrowly misses you. The set of furry arms emerges from within its "mouth" and waves excitedly at the scout party in acknowledgement before they move on. Count Zero, you're fairly sure that was a catapult designed to shoot demons across dimensions, and judging by the way it disappeared over the hill after firing, it just lobbed some of its ammunition back to wherever it came from. You're tempted to try your luck and make a run for it...then you spot another demon sighting farther to the East, but this one is moving towards you. A slinking type, like a cross between an overgrown salamander and a tyrannosaurus. It doesn't appear to have noticed you yet, but if it does, there'll be no debating or negotiating with it... You need to decide what you're going to do real quick. Creditsares to Mr Creeps, thanks to the following users for the correction: Jamiesenerik, Smarterthanyou025, xtrmrk Vote below or email me at [email protected] for questions/comments! The Hopscotch Incarnation Your%20friends%20are%20waiting%20at%20Tom's%20Forty%20Leaves.%0AGrabbed%20from%20city,%20shot%20in%20crossfire.%0AGot%20getaway,%20needs%20help.%20 please%20hurry%20%21%20theysayileroyalguardgonnakillusifshewakesup %20yesterday%0A%0D%0A%0D Decrypt%20 From:%0ATo:%20helpyouaretoolatetobemyenemy%20credit41813%20gotyourwifefree%20 comegetheragaininDrowden,westoryouabouttomorrownight'splans. www.zBlaykn.zFaxf411.b64%20Usemilightto sendcode.ZprintitandtransformittoanOTPcard. Lifeisgoodnw,Ysyoucanstoprunningandfight. Zalkinpage Deleteallpostsandblockallsenders.Disappear.Iamwatchingyoucraar. Zalkin%20fol175%20mindthebroomclosetocheckmate. Jennifer&Tom, b. 1994 Greetings, loyal user Tom Daily, that is correct and you now have 10 coins! You're doing great and as a bonus you get 5 extra coins! Use this chance well. Remember that the New Beginning is watching. 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Gir489:%20Hey%20Tom%2C%20canweseeeachotherplantsaturday? DrP IDsENTITYUsername:TommyBoy171869629 Password:Mastermind! You're invited to Wikileaks's V.I.P. party!!! Drop your phone, grab your gun, and go here now! If you don't, Assange will come to you! Decrypt percentage: 100% Gir489 has invited you to a chat. Gir489:heyyTom Gir489:rememberme? Thomas:Sssh!Don'ttalktostrangers! Girathy:Loljk Girathy:ImGir489 Thomas:Areyou? Girathy:Ha!Yesh!Yourememberremeanamedrobin?Weusedtoglides alotwhenwewerelittle? Lisbug has added you to their chat list. Galen10 has invited you to a chat. Samantha has added you to their chat list. Kenneth has added you to their chat list. Ben has invited you to a chat. Andrea has added you to their chat list. Jacob has added you to their chat list. Galen10:Shhh,weareallhereinthissessionspace.Kthxbai. Samantha:GuysIthinkwecrictime!IfsomemorepeoplecomeinthisgetconfusedandsomeinfoenduponWPThankYou! Gir489 has invited you to a chat. Andrea has invited you to a chat. Jacob:Anyoneup? Galen10:Idon'tthinkitisnight-paramountisopen! Jacob:Can'tout,Atruckiscoming.ARedOne"Inowthere'sroadsignslickerytoadden"(SemiColonNotaComma!) Galen10:Yes!Indeedyoubet!--thatfeltgoodtofinallysay!heyJacob,Ed'shere! Galen10:HeyAdso(Jacob)! Galen10:Whathappened?Youbecametothe"strikeoutrandomcharacterswiththepoundsign"Bug? Steven has invited you to a chat. \ Jacob has invited you to a chat. Galen10:JacobHerewegoagain!ThisisgoingtoBepic(PeriodInsteadofComma!)!!! Galen10:OhboyJacobiseditedatingtext! Samantha:Jacobbattleshipwrist.Jacobwrist.Jacobnew,septimal3somestuffadigmatrat.Jacobballpens--D+! Jacob:Andthecrappyaccesstoclassifiedsostrangerscanuseit,too! Jacob:HeyI'mback.Fuckingglitchybrainzz. Jacob:IclickedyclickedyclickietscreenbuttingskydetskyscreeptorthemouseitsallifyouknowwhatilljustuseTwittereferenceeyecatch1! Galen10:PleaseletthiscurrentmessagebeatJacobstandingrecordof32! Galen10:Nowitssdashesogood! Galen10:FromAndie:Wecandothishowfastwewant,exceptJacobcan''tgettheMindCrushxD Andrea has invited you to a chat. Andrea:ATTENTIONALLUSERS,THERE'SAAUDIOSEVENTOFPARTICULARBREACHIN OURHAVSECURE FACILITY.PICKAPPORIOTMENTTOPROVIDEGOODIDEATHAVERTISSUE. Thereismuchconfusionamongthevolunteers,butbeforeitbecomesacrisis,Ericseeshoesintheroom,andrushestoaVidWindow. Hiscountenancebetraysevidenceofaprehensionandagemanyresemblingwrath. Thenhedropseverythingandslumpsagainstawall.Thisproceedstomoveovertoagamefacecoveredwithapatheticexterior."Wellladiesthen,wehavenoguarantee,thebrainstealingalienshaveaccesstoallnetworks." Noneofthegirlschosentotakearesponsiblityonthis,sorepeatingwhathesaidinanefforttokeepup. "Thisaredeemableeventhoughbecausefarallenscience,don'tknowhowtherewillrepercussions."Isn'titcommonplaceforelevensscienceortohavewikipedia_b? Steven has evicted you from the chat. Mathew has invited you to a chat. Jacob:Wemighthaveblownittheskysupper. 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dankmemeslmao · 4 years ago
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"We'll play Hide & Seek." Nash says, smiling and nodding."A classic. Me and Gabe used to play it a lot. Ya know, when we were little. Now, he's all caught up in euchre." Mariana shook her head with a sigh."Well, we've got your back." Kirtus said."Yeah, what he said." Guy added."I, for one, don't want to play. I want to make memes for Reddit." Chip Chipperson said, pulling out a phone with no cell service."Oh, come on, Chip Chipperson." Jack complained, rubbing his temples."Reddit doesn't exist any more." Raymond added, raising an eyebrow."You don't need to draw Willy memes everyday on your notepad." Dennis said."Trust us. Reddit will be okay without you." Dave added, shaking his head."DON'T SAY THAT! You'll give me a damned stroke. Reddit needs me. I keep Reddit alive." Chip Chipperson says, smiling and brushing his hair back."The truth hurts." Kirtus said, snickering at Chip Chipperson."Couldn't keep it alive after the apocalypse started." Nash added, watching as Chip Chipperson's face fell."You guys bully me! Like, all the time! All I want to do is make Chronic Masturbation memes with Willy, and you won't let me! I have you know, I am much older than you all." Chip Chipperson spat back, crossing his arms."How old are you, then?""Well, NOW, I am approximately 125." Chip Chipperson stated ever so clearly, clearing his throat."What are you? Cousin of the lord, Chet?" Jack asked."Yes, actually." Chip Chipperson said matter of factly."Can we just play already? I'm so bored!" AJ said in a whine."Sure.""Rock paper scissors who goes first?"The group of people played rock paper scissors to decide who would count first. Finally, it was decided that Raymond would count."Team up, everyone!" Mariana said, grabbing AJ's hand and running to hide."Let's go buddy." Kurtis said, tugging at Chip Chippersons shirt as they ran."Coming!" Chip Chipperson yelled, eyes glued onto his notebook as he drew funny Chronic Masturbation memes with Willy.Dave and Dennis smiled, running to hide as well."Just us three - let's go." Guy said, looking around for a hiding space."Over there!" Nash pointed to a large tree. The three ran to it and climbed up, sitting on the branch."Ready or not, here I come!"The three watched as Raymond searched for everyone. Dave and Dennis were the first to be found. Then it was Kirtus and Chip Chipperson. Then Guy, Jack, and Nash."Where in the hell is Mariana and AJ?" Raymond asked."To fuck if I know! They're damned good at this game." Nash says, shaking their head."Boo!" Both Mariana and AJ jumped at the group."GOD DAMN YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" Chip Chipperson yelled."Me too..." Kirtus sighed, holding his chest."That was a wild ride." Dennis said, laughing. Everyone laughed along."Hell yeah it was." Dave replied."We gonna play again?" Guy asked."Fuck yeah." Jack said."Let us in, you dickheads!" A man yelled. He didn't sound familiar."Guess that's our cue to stop!" Nash says, running to the gate with Javi."What the fuck do you want?!" Javier asks in a yell."I am leader of... Of Delta. My name es Arvo. This our home now." The man, Arvo said, glaring at the group."To hell with that! This is our home! Always has been and always will!" Javi yelled. Nash stepped up, clearing their throat."Back the fuck off man! Get the hell outta here or you'll wind up dead!" Nash yelled."We has big group! We'll take home!" Arvo yelled, stomping his foot."They do have a bigger group..." Javi whispers to Nash, or himself, Nash isn't sure."Did you not just hear me?! Get the fuck out!" Nash yells, stepping closer."Big group take your home! I can win!" Arvo yelled."Nash, we have to leave. Gather everyone up. We're leaving! Ya hear? Let us get our people." Javier yells, accepting defeat."What?! This is our home, Javi! We can't just give it up!" Nash yells, staring at Javier in shock."I don't want to leave either, Nash! Just... Look how big their group is! They'll kill us and take it anyway." Javi sighed, stepping back."It's a risk I'm willing to take." Nash replies, staring at Javi with hope. Javi looks at you with worry, and then back to the group."You leave!" Arvo and his group break down the gates, all standing in front of it."Last chance. Leave." Arvo says, staring daggers at you."We never will." Nash says, watching as one of Arvo's men throw a molotov inside the walls. It exploded, causing a blinding white light to take over Nash's vision.The noise brings unwanted attention, and walkers start flooding in. Nash can hear people screaming and fighting, but as they stand up, they notice everything is on fire.Nash stands up, grabbing their gun and shooting a man in the leg who tried to stab Red.Nash quickly turns around to see Arvo. A walker leaped on him from behind, taking a chunk out of his neck.Arvo looks from Nash to his gun."Fook..." Arvo says under his breath, raising the gun to his temple.Nash widens their eyes, biting their lip.Do you...View Poll FUNNY MEMES FUNNY VIDEO MEMES NEW FUNNY VIDEO MEMES MEMES
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