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yougavemeyourheartyouknow · 1 year ago

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Love me or hate me, both are in my favor. (Miguel O’Hara x Fem! Reader [HS Academic rivals AU])

Babe wake up, new series just dropped! This is not proofread btw

(Y/N)-Your name.

Cursing, Miguel being jealous? (If you squint), i am mexican but my Spanish sucks so apologies I’m advance, Phantom of the Opera spoilers (???? Through I’d throw it out there)

Word count: 3k

Series Masterlist Series playlist

Chapter 1:The world was on fire

—

“Love me or hate me, Both are in my favor. If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart. If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.”

The quote was etched into the front of your red hardcover notebook, with gold details covering the edges of the front. The black ink was oddly neat despite how deep you had to indent the words over and over on the cover. Miguel has noticed that you would always write a beautifully tragic quote on the front of all your English notebooks every year.

Last year, the quote was, “Love is blind, and lovers cannot see.”

For sophomore year, “She could have been a poet or she could have been a fool.”

And for freshman year it was, “‘I miss her.’ ‘You’re dead.’ ‘Even in death, I mourn her.’”

The first time Miguel saw it was when you both were in the 7th grade, being paired up to write a report about some random novel that Miguel couldn’t remember the name of. You had pulled out your notebook, that year it was a dark forest green, with the quote being, “But just because I’m not going to wish for it doesn't mean the moth can ignore the flame. It’s in the moth's blood.”

Miguel’s dark maroon eyes rolled to the back of his head, it was almost pretentious he thought, a way to show off how “artsy” you are. He allowed a scoff to escape his plump lips, you simply ignored him as you began to flip through your notes.

You were much more into history, the arts and most of all, Literature, while Miguel was more into science and math. Miguel didn’t understand why you loved it so much, he didn’t think your favorite subjects were nearly as important as his. Who cares what some dead poet wrote a thousand years ago, when he could be the next to make a big scientific discovery? Like time travel or curing cancer. Sure, Miguel still did the work in english and history, and for someone who didn't care for it, he would always do so well, and that drove you up the wall, but Miguel could say the same about you with math and science. Miguel would always tune you out when you would ramble on about some new book you were reading to your friends, or would ignore the way your eyebrow would furrow together and your teeth would bite down on your lips when you’d get to a particularly good spot in your novel, stopping every once and a while to annotate, would scoff at the the way your eyes would stare at piece of art with such fascination and wonder when the class would go to a field trip to an art museum, groan at how’d you always talk about the beauty of old gothic architecture, talking about how the beauty of the buildings was almost tragic.

The key word, would.

As you two grew older, and your competitiveness in your grades became more intense, Miguel couldn’t help but start to wonder what goes through that pretty little head of yours. He wanted to see how the deep corners of your mind worked. What made your brain tick, maybe if he saw the world through your perspective, he would understand you more.

Your manicured hand grabbed your notebook by the bloody red spine, gently gripping it before placing it into your bag, and zipping it up. Slinging it over your shoulder as you turn to talk to your friend who sat next to you, before you both made your way out of the AP English classroom.

You and Miguel had been attending the same classes since you transferred in the 6th grade, both of you attend one of Nueva York’s most prestigious and high-end boarding schools. At first, Miguel didn’t pay you any mind, figured you were just another spoiled brat with daddy’s money, and a trust fund big enough to last you until you find some poor unsuspecting fool to ask for your hand and make you into a trophy wife, like most of the girls who attend the school. But it wasn’t until you had beat his score later that year on the mid-year school wide testing did you get his attention. He could remember it like it was yesterday, he was sitting in class with a near perfect score of 97% written on top of his test answer sheet, a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he slid the paper over to his left where Peter Parker had sat.

“I swear man, you’re like, a genius.” Peter grumbled to Miguel as he glanced at his friend’s paper, before at his own which had 78% written at the top. Peter’s hand went up to pat Miguel on the back, but before Miguel could reply, just bearly in earshot, he had heard an unfamiliar voice speak.

“Yeah I got a 99, I wasn’t expecting…” Miguel didn’t catch the rest, but the first part was enough for his whole body to feel hot all over, and make his stomach twist in discomfort. He felt like he was about to go into a state of shock, or rather he was already entering one. He’s never had someone top before, if felt like he was dreaming, well, maybe having a nightmare was a better way to describe it. He couldn’t remember how long he had sat at his desk afterwards, in a weird state of disassociation until Peter had pulled him back to reality. He swore to himself, after that moment he’d never let you top him again.

But that was a hard promise to keep. Because whether he'd like to admit it or not, you were good, always keeping him on his toes. You were almost like a breath of fresh air for him, albeit a painful one, like the first shallow breath after almost drowning. Before you , Miguel was growing content, growing bored, no other student was anywhere close to his GPA, even the second best at the time, he felt simply untouchable, but then you came along, and you changed everything for him.

At first, he saw you more as a pest, an annoying little fly that kept buzzing around no matter how many times he had tried to swat you away. Upon your first time formally meeting with Miguel, you were polite and civil, the kindest smile on your face as you stuck your hand out for him to shake as you introduced yourself to him. Miguel just glanced at your hand with a sour, unamused expression on his face, before his eyes wandered back up to your face and he just let out a noise that was a mix between a grunt and a scoff before turning and walking away, leaving you confused and a little bit hurt from his unfriendly and quite frankly rude actions, you decided to just brush it off, maybe he was having a bad day and wasn’t in a good mood. So a few days later you tried to approached him again in hopes for a better interaction, only for those hopes to get squashed when he basically told you to fuck off, rolling his eyes and ignoring your presence once again as he walked past you, “accidentally” shouldering you in the process. You decided to stop trying to be nice to him after that.

For about the first year since you transferred, you and Miguel simply pretended the other didn’t exist, neither would approach or interact with the other unless absolutely necessary, the only constant reminders of each other's presence was when one would beat the other during tests, report cards, etc. Eventually the plain out ignoring shifted to fleeting glares and glances, eye rolls and snarky remarks muttered under both of your breaths, both of yours already rocky relationship with each other becoming more and more intense and open as you both got older, neither finding the energy to even attempt to tolerate the others presence anymore. So now you and him were stuck in this repetitive circle with each other, but neither of you were doing anything to stop it.

—

“I’ve already told you Gabe, I’m not going to give you my notes from last year. Read the book like everyone else.” Miguel sighed, stuffing his free hand in his pocket, his other hand holding onto his backpack strap, walking to the housing building across the campus of Nueva York’s Preparatory Academy, where he and his younger brother shared a room.

“But Miggy!” Gabriel whined, his lips coming out in a pout, and Miguel’s nose scrunched in annoyance at both the nickname and the high-pitch tone of his brother's whine. “What’s the point of me being brothers with one of the top students at this school if I can’t steal your notes! Besides, I've tried and I just can’t get into it. Who would have thought that Frankenstein would be such a boring book, and don’t get me started on how the paragraphs are set up!”

“And that’s my problem because?” Miguel’s eyebrow quirked up, sending Gabriel an unamused look.

“Look Miguel, you might not get it from my point of view, but it’s very difficult for me, being your brother. From an academic standpoint I mean. The teachers expect me to have the same intelligence as you. I'm not stupid, don’t get me wrong, I’m just not on the same playing field as you. Also, I don’t like reading.” Gabriel shrugged.

“And what makes you think that I do?” Miguel retorted with an eyeroll, opening the glass doors to the housing building for his brother before stepping in himself and shutting the door behind him.

“Well didn't you get an A+ on your report about the book last year?”

“No. I got an A-.” Miguel grumbled, and after a moment, Gabriel’s expression perked up a bit, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head.

“Oh riiight, that one girl got an A+, what was her name again?” Gabriel said in an almost teasing tone, before throwing out various names at Miguel that were similar to yours, obvious bait to see if his brother would bite, and he did.

“It’s (Y/N).” Miguel corrected with a hash glare.

“Oh, right, right.” Gabriel’s lips went up in a slight smirk, his hands going into his pockets to fish out the keys to their shared dorm room. “Maybe I can ask her to help me, I mean she’s a bookworm, right?”

Miguel didn’t answer the question, not completely sure if it was rhetorical or not, choosing to stay silent as they finally stopped in front of their room.

“I could ask for her notes, maybe take her out for some coffee as a thank you.” Miguel’s face scrunched with annoyance at the implication, his brother knew how much you two disliked each other, and a more sound part of his mind was telling himself that his little brother was just pulling at his leg, but that didn’t stop him from the draggers he glared at Gabriel.

“Don’t even think about it. Hasta la mira mal a esa niña, y estás muerto. ¿Entiendes?” Miguel hissed, his voice dropping an octave with the threat. (If you even look at that girl wrong, you’re dead. Got it?”)

Despite his older brother’s threats, Gabriel’s smirk only turned into a wide grin, before he put his hands up as I sigh of surrender, his keys dangling with the motion before he unlocked the door, and walked into the room, Miguel following closing the door behind him.

—

“I don't understand anything about this, (Y/N).” Your friend, Mary Jane, or MJ for short, groaned as you both sat down in one of the school's many libraries, school supplies sprawled on top of the mahogany desk. It was fairly empty, today, but you both took space in one of the empty study rooms to keep from making too much of a disruption from anyone else who might go in, the repeated sound of rapid tapping of MJ’s mechanical pencil hitting the desk as you catch her biting her bottom lip in frustration.

“I know.” You giggled with a small smile, putting your hand on her forearm in an attempt to comfort her. You both have been at it for about 3 hours now, your English teacher had assigned everyone to write a 2,000 word essay about the book being read in class Romeo and Juliet. You’ve already read and watched the play a million times so you knew the back of your hand.

“Like I understand that, they fall and love and die and stuff, but all the jokes and the symbolism and stuff-“

“That’s why I’m here, MJ.” You grinned at your friend, and she just scoffed at you with a friendly smile, a smile you returned, before getting up from your seat with a small stretch. “I’ll be right back, I'm going to go stretch my legs.” You told her, which only got you a hum in response, before you slipped out of the small room. No matter how much time you’ve spent in this specific library, (it’s your favorite one) you’ll never get tired of the earth and wood-like tones that filled your senses whenever you would enter in the building, the four old walls always filled you with such warmth, they were like a second home for you. You let out a deep content exhale as your black Mary Jane heels tapping quietly against the old wooden tiles of the library floor. Mindlessly wandering with no real destination in mind, but making sure you don’t stray too far from the study room, it wasn’t difficult to lose your sense of direction in the make-shift corridors made from old bookshelves. You turn a corner without thinking, a hand goes up , gently brushing the spines of the books as you continue walking. What genre section were you in?

Your steps came to a halt, taking a step closer to the shelf as you grabbed the book your hand was resting on. Your lips came up in a soft small smile as you read the title of the book in your hands.

The phantom of the opera.

Oh how you loved the story, you’ve watched both the movie renditions and the stage version countless times, but you’ve read the novel more than you’ve watched all three combined, but your copy sadly got ruined when you dropped it in a puddle of water while on a walk, and haven’t had the time to get a new copy. Was it bad that if you were in Christine’s shoes, you would have picked Erik over Raoul?

Your fingertips opened the door, flipping the pages until you landed on the page you were looking for.

Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his hand dropped. He had heard a man's voice in the dressing-room, saying, in a curiously masterful tone:

"Christine, you must love me!"

And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though accompanied by tears, replied:

"How can you talk like that? When I sing only for you!"

Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain.

His heart, which had seemed gone-

“Why am I not surprised I’d find you here?” The sudden words interrupted your reading. You didn’t need to lift your eyes to know the source of the voice, the slight accent and the deadpan tone gave it away.

“Hello to you too, O’Hara.” You replied, your eyes not lifting, your hand flipping to the next page despite no longer reading the words on the pages anymore, you weren’t going to give Miguel the satisfaction of knowing he had your attention. The act didn’t last very long though when his finger went up to lift the book up to read the cover, your gaze going up to finally look up at him, a bored expression on your face, a tsk leaving his mouth when he realized what you were reading.

“What?” You question him, wanting to know what that reaction meant, you closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

His lips come up to a smug smirk.

“That you find that shit romantic.” He stated like he knew it was a fact, and you’d rather die than admit to him that you did, in fact, find it romantic. “Don’t act like you don’t, I can read you like a book. No pun intended.”

Your face came to a scowl, instead of entertaining him with a response, you crossed your arms and slightly leaned against the bookshelf behind you.

“What are you even doing here Miguel? You don’t even like reading.” He didn’t entertain your question with a response either, rather he just shrugged, and took a step closer, his hand going up to rest against the self, his hand was right next to your head.

“Do me a favor?” He asked, but his tone came out more like it was a suggestion rather than a request.

“Why would I do that?” You scoffed.

“Don’t make me beg, muñeca.” His tone dropped an octave. Despite the pet name, his voice was filled with nothing but coldness. (Doll)

“Don’t give me ideas.” You teased. Your lips twitched up slightly.

“If my brother comes to you and asks to take you out, go ahead and say no.” That certainly wasn’t what you were expecting him to say, but you slowly nodded your head regardless, deciding to not ask what his brother said to him that would make him come up to you about that. His hand came back down to his side as he took a step back “Good. How’s the essay coming?”

The sudden topic change you off guard a bit, but you quickly recovered, since it was something you’d both been more used to talking about, your studies.

“I’m almost done, I’ve mostly been just helping MJ with hers.” You explained, as you stood up straight again. “You?”

“Same, if it weren’t for Peter I probably would already be finished with it.”

“Don’t stress about it too much, O’Hara.”

“Oh, why not?”

You smiled.

“Because I'm gonna get a better grade on my paper anyways.”

—

Taglist: @famouscattale @oharasfilipinawife @mxltifxnd0m @loser-alert @homewreckingwreck @dumb-gemini12

#miguel o hara fanfic #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara #spiderman 2099 x reader #astv miguel #astv spiderman 2099 #miguel o’hara au #academic rivals au #spiderman 2099 fanfic #miguel spiderverse #spiderman 2099 #atsv miguel #miguel x reader #love me or hate me fanfic

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loveuwu173 · 1 month ago

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Day 1: REDRAWWW :3!

I really love the opening of PaRappa anime, How she wants to give Sunny flowers, and he falls down and ruins de bucket flowers, but Sunny doesn’t care and accept his flower anyway is really cute 😭 (Being honest, I like better the Sunny in the anime than in the games, Idk I just think she is nicer and she shows more love to PaRappa)

DAY 2: TSUNDEREEE >:(

I read Tsundere and I immediately think about Wally/Numbuh 4, THE B.E.A.C.H EPISODE AND HOW HE DENIES HE LIKES KUKI, AND ABBY AND HOAGIE TEASING HIM IS SO CUTE AND I LOVE IT.

Day 3: OVERSIZED PROP!

Jimmy is my favorite protagonist of Ape escape, I like that he is.. REALLY SILLY AND FUNNY, AND HOW HE DESTROYED THE PROFESSOR LAB AND SAID “NATALIE, I SEND THE PROFESSOR STUFF OKAY! 😁👍”, I got really mad when I saw Sari getchu-on air, AND THERE WAS NOT JIMMY EPISODE OR SOMETHING, I THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE THE ANIME WAS REALIZED BEFORE THE SECOND GAME, BUT THERE WAS KEI AND YUMI, THE FREAKY MONKEY FIVE, AND I WAS LIKE “…and Jimmy?😭”, then I saw a series only focusing on Jimmy and I take it more nicely, but at least having an episode with Jimmy and Spike having fun as cousins, would be really nice (SOMEONE PLEASE DRAW JIMMY AND SPIKE HAVING FUN OR SOMETHING ☹️)

#ape escape #parappa the rapper #parappa fanart #parappa #ape escape jimmy #codename knd #knd fanart #wallabee beetles #numbuh 4 #cringetober #cringetober 2024

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 months ago

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No following; Planet of the apes fanfic Chap. 7

*Author's note*

Here we go readers, here we now enter the world of DAWN of the Planet of the Apes. Now here is where the warnings are bumped up to at least 3x mainly due to the level of swearing involved and certain words which I will point out in certain chapters. But I hope you all continue to enjoy this series and follow along as Lin navigates through a decade later and find out she's hiding secrets from her past that will be explained further on in the story.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@queen-paladin

@psychosupernatural

____________________________________________________

Ten years. It almost doesn’t even seem that long ago, but in this day in age; one year can almost feel like 20-100 depending on who you ask. After Caesar and the apes escaped into the Red Woods, the world went to shit known as the Simian Flu. A global pandemic that swept over the entire world and in just six months there were over 5 million deaths worldwide.

I, however, was one of the unlucky ones to somehow be immune from getting the Simian flu. Caroline and uncle Will—they weren’t. Caroline got sick within a year of the outbreak and died just days later. Uncle Will and I were forced into quarantine after she had gotten sick and I was told he died 2 months after he had passed away.

Being the sole survivor of your family…..it’s hard. And it didn’t help when I came across a news feed of the government sending in the military to burn the Red Woods down. If somehow Caesar had survived up until that point, I doubt he and the other apes made it out of that alive.

In this whole chaos, governments eventually shut down, nuclear power was cut off and civil unrest occurred on a daily basis. Humanity was tearing itself apart and it’d only be a matter of time before I too might be killed off. If I don’t eventually get the virus, I could end up on the wrong end of a war and end up being another civilian casualty, hell I got lucky last time.

I was awakened by a wet tongue and a loud howl before a yip finally forced my eyes opened and I saw a red wolf pup staring me right in the face.

“Good morning Toboe.” He let out a huffed bark before sniffing my face and licking it. “Alright, alright, god you’ve got really bad breath.” I got out of bed and stretched myself out before heading downstairs. As the wood creaked with each step, three more wolves perked up at my arrival. A large dark grey wolf, a Mexican wolf, and a pure white wolf. “Morning Hige, Tsume, Kiba. You boys ready for breakfast?”

At the mention of food, Hige stood up and wagged his bushy tail and let out a several loud barks.

“Okay, okay Hige no need to get your fur in a twist. Just let me get dressed and my supplies and we’ll head for the woods.” I headed over to the chest and headed for the bathroom and changed out of my sweats and into my hunting/scouting attire. Some simple black leggings, a black tank-top and my old military camo-jacket (I’d rather not talk about my days in the military).

I also grabbed my bow and arrows that I handmade myself and ordered the boys to come and they followed right behind me. We came out of the house and I unveiled my bike from under the tarp. One can never be too careful, I’ve seen thieves from the colonies coming around this part of the neighborhood trying to get anything they can get their hands on.

I started up my bike and my wolves followed right behind me as we raced down the road and across the abandoned Golden gate bridge. A place frozen in time from when the apes first made their escape a decade ago.

After arriving at the entrance path to the Red woods, I shut my bike off and pocketed the keys and whistled for the pack to scout ahead. They took off running and disappeared into the forest.

If you’re wondering just how in the hell does a 28 year old know how to control four male wolves? Well I don’t. Nor can I, for one thing I know they’re wild animals, just like Caesar was. I respect them and let them be who they are. They just choose whether or not they want to stay with me. Hige had migrated from his normal home (since Mexican wolves were found near Arizona and not California) where I found him in a trap and I set him free. After that he kinda just stuck around (I think it also helped that since he had tried to get back in the trap for the food that was in there and I had tossed it to him. That wolf can get in trouble for his stomach I’ll tell you what).

Kiba and Tsume I found together injured and barely alive especially Kiba. Poor thing was covered in blood I almost had mistaken him for a red wolf. Both of them suffering from what appeared to be animal attack wounds. And I swore from the bite marks alone they looked like apes (since they were almost identical to human bites) but I brushed it aside as impossible. No one’s seen any of the apes since the forest burning eight years ago.

It took a long while for Tsume and Kiba to come around but eventually they did even though there are times I do get bit or growled at. And then there’s the pup of the pack, Toboe. He was found abandoned in the woods during one of our hunts just a year ago. Poor thing was so frail and skinny, I feared he wouldn’t make it. But two weeks rest by the fire and after being given some water and food he started to come around.

In total. I’ve had these wolves at my side for almost 3 years now and they’ve kinda filled in a void that I thought was long gone after uncle Will had passed away. I got up into the trees and perched myself on the first branch I could settle on and waited for food to come to me.

While it is true I grew up playing in these woods, lately with no human interference, there have been animals who were never native to this area had migrated their way down to California for the first time in hundreds of years. Last I heard from when I was making trade with the nearby colony, I overhear someone saying that grizzly bears were found in these woods now, and that the mountain lion population was starting to make a comeback more than it ever had before. So one can never be too cautious in these woods now.

I scanned the area and all I could hear were birds softly chirping or the occasional squirrel or two. I heard a rustle of the trees and readied my bow and arrow when out popped out a doe and following short behind her was her fawn. I lowered my bow and watched as the mother and baby walked across the woods and stopped right at the creek nearby for a drink of water. Even though it had been over 20 years since my parents died, I still think about them every now and then but lately their faces have become nothing but a blur.

Another sound caught my attention and I turned to see two squirrels trying to get one acorn. One squirrel already had the nut and was trying to chew it open but the other squirrel was trying to weasel it’s way in and steal the nut. There was chittering exchanged before the second squirrel stole the nut and a chase soon commenced up one of the nearby trees.

Even in the animal kingdom there will always be thieves. But seeing these two comical squirrels made me smile as I became invested in their little game of chase. That was until the snapping of a twig caught my ear. It was then I saw a large six point deer staring directly at me. I stared right back at him and slowly raised my bow and he took off running back towards the woods. But I released my arrow and just as he disappeared I heard him let out a pained yelp as my arrow managed to get him before he got too far into the trees.

I climbed down the tree and raced towards him taking out my hunting knife. I saw the deer struggling to get up as my arrow had gotten him in the ribs. I held my knife in my hand and said to him.

“I’m sorry.” I then stabbed him right in the back of the neck and gave it a twist and he immediately went still and ceased his screaming. I took back my knife and my arrow and cleaned them off in the grass before readying the deer for travel.

After stringing him up and getting him into the side cart of my bike I turned back towards the woods and let out a single wolf howl, signaling to the boys that I was leaving for back home. I started up the engine and drove back into town to get my meat ready for lunch and dinner.

After skinning and preparing the meat I dug into my deer meat and felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Lately my hunting hasn’t had the best game, really only getting the smaller creatures, hell my last deer catch was well over 2 months ago so to finally get the richer meat that is deer, god I could die happy now. After lunch and saving the rest of the meat for later tonight, the pack soon returned with four birds in their mouths.

Toboe was the first to set his bird down at my feet, I soon realized that they had all managed to catch some quail. Hige then came up next and set his quail on top of Toboe’s. Then finally, Tsume and Kiba set their quail before me. I smiled and told them.

“Thank you boys.” Toboe’s and Hige’s tails wagged softly while Tsume and Kiba just sat down and stared at me. “It’s time I went out and made a trade with the colony, who wants to come?” Hige and Toboe immediately back off and headed back for the living room leaving Tsume and Kiba with me. “Seems like it’s the three of us, or are you two gonna ditch me too?” they stood up but they didn’t leave.

I went to the back and grabbed the supplies I managed to find further up in the city that no one dared to go since the riots a year ago. I also went into my spare closet and took out my old sniper rifle. I grimaced at it before putting it around my back as well as placed my gun holster belt around my waist.

“C’mon boys.” I grabbed my cloak and placed the hood over my head and once again readied my bike for the drive down to the SF Colony. Tsume and Kiba running close beside me until we finally reached it within 10 minutes.

The colony was once the Quarantine center of San Fransico. Anyone who had come into contact with someone who caught the Simian flu was sent here like Will and I were after Caroline got sick. But this was no home, it felt more like solitary confinement. A steal-enforced room that was most likely an 8x10 room (just like a jail cell) with lights always blaring down at you as your temperature, blood pressure and vitals were constantly being monitored.

Will and I couldn’t even share the same hallway as each other so I never got to say goodbye to my uncle. Only be told that he had died after a nurse was going her daily checkup on me. After a year with no symptoms, I was let go and finally felt the first beam of sunlight and fresh air on my face.

Nowadays this former quarantine cell now holds those in San Francisco that remain immune to the virus. But when the colony was being forged and the two men who were running it had found me, I refused to be a part of this prison once again. However hunting and fishing can only get me so far in life, so I made a deal with one of them.

If I could go out and find supplies whether it be weapons, food, a source of fresh water, or by some miracle an alternate power source, I would be given some portions of their food and drugs. But there are some people who try to test me because I’m an outsider taking some of their portions but they eventually learned that if you attack someone with a sniper rifle and has wolves who walk calmly beside her, you don’t test her.

Once I came up to the gates, they immediately opened up and I walked inside along with Kiba and Tsume walking on either side of me. The crowd already making room for us to walk through the colony. I walked further in until I came up to the stairway leading up to the catwalk.

“No one’s seen you in two weeks Lin. Some were starting to think you were dead.” I turned my head and just on the other side of the catwalk was Malcolm. He walked over to me and I said to him.

“A girl decides to hold off on her deal to get more supplies and people start spreading rumors about me.”

“I see that once again you brought your….backup.” he nervously looked down at Kiba and Tsume who both licked their chops and stood like two alpha wolves.

“You know they only bite when they want to. Or if I tell them it’s okay. Whichever comes first. Where’s Dreyfus?”

“In his office. C’mon.” he guided us towards his office and there at his desk sat Dreyfus holding a dead i-pad. “Dreyfus, she’s here.” He stood up as I came in.

“Lin. This is a surprise, we thought…..”

“I was dead? Yeah, yeah Malcolm already filled me in on the rumors. Look I was scouting for more supplies so I could get more income. Last time you skipped out on me for food portions and I don’t take kindly to that. So this time, I’m making it worth your while.” I set the bag down on his desk and leaned against the door while the two men went through the sack.

There they found new reading material for the children, some ‘new’ cables and wires that they could use for their radios to get a signal out, several healing herbs I picked from the Red woods, and a few magazine clippings with live rounds inside taken from some of the police cars that still stood along the bridge.

“Lin, this is—”

“Don’t patronize me Dreyfus. I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for those here that really need it. Now my portions and drugs.”

“Right, right. I’ll personally see to it that Scotty gets your portions correct this time around.” I then turned to Malcolm and asked.

“That girl of yours still have the strong stuff?”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll have Ellie give you whatever antibodies you need.”

“No antibodies this time, I want sleeping pills. The strong kind, not anything miniscule.” They both looked at me perplexed. “It’s that or it’s no deal.” I threatened.

“We’ll go talk to Ellie.” He then escorted me out of Dreyfus’ office and we headed towards his corner of the quarantine zone where they used to store all the medicine for the fever and sore throats but now he had made it into his personal little one level home with his girl Ellie and his son, Alexander.

When we came in and Alexander saw Kiba and Tsume, he jumped back but Malcolm assured him.

“It’s okay Alex just don’t provoke them.”

“And don’t look them directly in the eyes. Wolves take that as a challenge, at least these two do.” I also warned. The kid remained frozen where he stood until Ellie came around the corner and when she saw me she said my name. “Hey Ellie. Look I need sleeping pills, the strong kind and strongest you’ve got and I don’t mean no Nyquil or melatonin BS. Find whatever you’ve got and I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see what I have. It may not be much but I’ll just see what I’ve got.” She said turning back to look through her supplies. I then turned to Malcolm who has been giving me the side-eyed downward look like he was figuring out what to say to me.

“Spit it out Malcolm.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. Ever since you saw me, you’ve been meaning to ask me something so just say it!” I snarled lowly. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose.

“We’re almost running out of power. We’ve tried to rewire and connect to any alternative sources but they’re all dried out. But we’ve discovered that hidden within the redwoods is a dam that could help us restore limited power. And being that you’re the only one with a clear expertise on navigating those woods, we were hoping you could lead a handful of us to the dam. Just to see if it still works.”

Kiba and Tsume huffed and lowly growled as I took my sniper rifle off my shoulder and admired it as I asked him.

“How many is a handful?” I asked brushing off my scope.

“About six of us. Ellie, me, Alex, Kemper, Foster, and Carver.”

“No.” I immediately said. “I’ll take the rest of you but absolutely not Carver. That sniveling jellyfish can’t be trusted with a gun much less a knife.”

“Look I know you two have a….history, but he did work for the water company before all this went down. He knows all the ins and outs of how to get it running.” I glared at him. “Lin please. If we don’t try our luck with the dam, we’ll lose…..everything. More than we already have. You can’t tell me you’ll really let all these innocent civilians die.” I remained silent for a moment before telling him.

“I’ll let you know by sunset.” At that moment Ellie came back in and said as she held out two pill bottles.

“I had a quarter of Eszopiclone and half bottle of Zolpidem. Don’t take more than one pill a night and don’t…..”

“Don’t mix with alcohol yeah, yeah I know. I’ve been to health class.”

“Don’t be a smartass.” She demanded. “These aren’t to be taken lightly.”

“That’s why I asked for them.” I said taking the pill bottles out of her hands and let out a whistle as I placed my rifle around my chest and Kiba and Tsume followed me out the door.

I saddled up on my bike as Dreyfus handed me my rations and I told him.

“And Dreyfus, next time you want to ask me for a personal favor, do it yourself don’t get Malcolm to do your dirty work for you.” I revved up my bike and took off with Kiba and Tsume running right behind me.

Time passed and it would be dark within an hour. I had written my message for Malcolm about my decision to lead them to the Red Woods, I tied the note to a carrier pigeon and let it fly off to the colony base and I let out a deep sigh.

“You think I’m doing the right thing boys?” the four of them looked at me heads tilted. “Yeah didn’t think so. But I can’t just let them die. Even if some of them are assholes who deserve it, particularly Carver. But if that base goes, so do I. Hunting can only get us so far boys, and we can’t really leave this city unfortunately. If there even is a chance at restoring power, we gotta take it.” I popped open one of the pills Ellie gave me and washed it down with just a bit of water before falling backwards onto my bed and shut my eyes as the sky went from grey to black.

#planet of the apes #planet of the apes x reader #planet of the apes fanfic #planet of the apes fanfiction #planet of the apes imagine #planet of the apes imagines #dawn of the planet of the apes #caesar #caesar x oc #caesar x reader #caesar imagine #caesar imagines #caesar fanfic #caesar fanfiction

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isawken · 2 years ago

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how i got invited to a council meeting for the world's oldest professional clown organization: a reflection on the value of weird niche interests and shooting your shot

it is 2 PM EST. i work from home- i've taken my work laptop to set up in the bedroom along with my personal laptop. i shouldn't be away for more than 30 minutes. call it a late lunch. i've made sure my Zoom icon has been changed from the little gif of a monkey from the video game Ape Escape wiping his ass with a towel over and over again to the far more respectable default icon. i've put my full first name as the username in place of "snart". i am very, very nervous. 2:01 PM. i always wait exactly one minute before hopping into a meeting i'm nervous about. i hate being the first one in a call. the burden of initiating casual conversation is one i particularly hate.

i enter the zoom room key and passcode and enter the meeting.

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those who know me irl or follow me on twitter know that i'm like, really into clowns. i could (and probably will one day) write an entirely different thinkpiece on the reasons why this happened to me. i have not always been Clown Guy. i never hated them, but never loved them, until around 2018 when i started really getting into jesters. the interest in clowns was a lateral move at that point. this makes a lot more sense in my head than in real life, but whatever. you get the point.

i started doing clown make up, getting clown supplies, doing clown photoshoots for fun. a neat little creative outlet. then, as with all of my fleeting interests, i started consuming everything i could about the history of them. and my fleeting interest became a full blown fascination.

one of the more interesting things i learned about was clown eggs. short version: in the 1940s a dude named Stan Bult decided to make a clown organization. and as part of this clown organization he integrated a fun hobby- painting and adorning chicken eggs with the visages of famous clowns, and later, members of the organization itself. these eggs were a staple of the org until Stan's death in the 60s. The practice fell to the wayside for a couple decades, then was rebirthed in the 1980s, with a new group of chairclowns and a new artist. it is once again a staple of the organization, and one i am enamored with. the crazy part about it all is, Stan Bult was a chemist. not even a clown.

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i am on the phone with Dee Dee, the lead chair of the organization. on my application i mentioned extensive social media usage, and she emailed me a few days after approving my application one evening asking if i'd be interested in helping out the organization with their social media presence. i'd be a fucking dunce to say no. she tells me about the current person in charge of their various social medias. she likes her, she says, pausing to add a tone to the next part of her sentence. it's the kind of tone you use when you are expressing dissatisfaction to someone and you're confident they'll commiserate your feeling. "but, she's not even a clown."

i give a very diplomatic (noncommittal) "ah, yeah."

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it is a tuesday summer night and i am drunk, and i am filling out an application for a clown egg before i lose my nerve. i already have my signature make up. i'm actually really proud of it. red lips, blue nose, yellow eyes. red yellow and blue freckles. a red circle, blue square, and yellow triangle pattern above the eyebrows and under the eyes. red yellow and blue checkered button down with cowboy fringe on the chest. a tan stetson given to me by my grandfather. a gaudy clown face bolo tie. i did a pretty good job if i do say so myself.

i send the photos along with the application, 100% confident i will get rebuffed because i'm not a "real" clown. i do get rebuffed, but not in the way i expect. the person fielding applications, Dee Dee, instead gently asks me to submit a membership application first, then she'll be able to send in the order for the clown egg. she says my face design is very cute. i fill out the application and send it back in immediately.

a few days later and i'm sent an email saying my membership fee payment has been processed, and welcome to Clowns International! attached is a PDF of a hilariously simply-edited membership card. it's a sharp, bright red. it features my full name, my clown name, my signature, and my membership number. i'm clown number 22011. text in italics at the bottom of the card says "Members in Good Standing must show cards on request for all CI meetings."

i really hope i can go to one of those, i think to myself, giddy at this eyesore of a rectangle and what it means to me.

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i enter the zoom meeting.

"Oh, there she is!"

i am greeted by a short row of older men and women. i am guessing the youngest aside from me is probably in their 40s. the oldest looks like they could be 80. Dee Dee starts right in.

"So that's what you look like under your makeup! Everybody, this is who I was telling you about, Ken____. She's a bit of a new clown, and she's agreed to help us out with some of our social media."

Dee Dee references a "blog" that i run. i am immensely thankful that she never asked to see my twitter account, and no one else on the call asks either. they just take my expertise on faith. well, faith, and the spiel i give them about how consistent posting will result in increased engagement, and how best to go about engendering social media growth. i throw out plans for posts- history threads, cute memes or art spotlights, posts highlighting members' eggs. the older ones just nod along, but one in particular is very enthusiastic. he tells me he had a tiktok recently get a million views of him and a clown buddy chasing each other in tiny cop cars. i nod along.

the tiktok guy and the guy managing the facebook argue for 30 minutes about whether or not to focus more on social media presence or maintaining the current membership. they go in circles until finally moving on to the horse hospital event (still not sure what that's about) and annual Grimaldi funeral service (i'll make a different post about that one day). then the newsletter. then some other random updates i zone out on. it has been almost 2 hours. i have my work laptop on the bed next to me and am covertly answering emails while the clowns bicker.

turns out even british clowns are exactly as grumpy as regular british people. who knew.

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i am very good at making plans. i love nothing more than making a document detailing actions and ideas in a concise, clear manner. i make a social media treatment, detailing plans for potential posts and even fully written out history blurbs with pictures that can be adapted into threads or instagram posts. i send that out. Dee Dee asks me to follow up with the facebook guy and the twitter/insta girl. the facebook guy just straight up gives me access to twitter. the twitter/insta girl does not respond to any emails.

i've been posting on their twitter account for 6 months now. it's right here if you want to take a look at it. not to brag (lol jk this is definitely a brag), but i've just about doubled their followers in that time. the instagram girl still hasn't given me any log in info, despite my gentle offers to "help" with insta posts. i also notice it has not posted in about 2 years now. i am an interloper, a newcomer. she is the daughter of one of the chairclowns. i am sitting on this information for now. the last thing i want is to instigate a clown war with an old british person. i'd lose for sure.

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i'm not a "real" clown. i don't do parties, i don't work at a circus. i don't think i ever will (i'm only 28 though, who knows what the future holds). all i do is clown around on twitter for people's amusement. but over the last two years i have gained so much understanding and respect for the profession, and all i want to do is share that. i have another board meeting with them soon. i am very curious how this one is going to go. Dee Dee has mentioned a few times how she wants to meet me in person one day. this is all kind of a charade- i am waiting for the day when they realize i'm not an active working clown in the traditional sense, and they kick my civilian ass out. i really hope i get a clown egg before that. it's been about 9 months and no word though, so my hopes aren't exactly high. i go back and forth on whether or not i deserve one. and then i remember that the founder of the whole organization was never a clown. he just really liked them. and it's lasted about 80 years now.

this whole clown thing has been one of the most positive forces in my life over the last few years. i'm sure most of you know how fun it is, to dive headfirst into a new obsession. it's fun to share it with people- most are immediately at least interested if not just bemused when i bring up clown stuff. and it gave me the confidence to apply to a fucking clown organization and get a membership card and become one of their social media managers and holy shit how fucking insane is that??? even if this blows up, even if i get kicked out and never get my egg and it all burns to the ground, that is something i can keep in my heart forever. that is a story i can whip out at any party for the rest of my life, and get chuckles. i may not be a real clown, but i'm definitely addicted to getting chuckles like one.

anyways, the moral of the story here is to apply to whatever your version of a world renown clown organization is. get drunk on a tuesday night and shoot your shot. and even if it doesn't go great you can always make a fun story out of it. or a really, really long post on tumblr.

#clown #clowns #clownblr #long post #kenposting #my ask box is open if you have any questions about my weird clown shit

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