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post-apocalyptic-fantasy-au · 2 months

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Tango's room was... not a cell, exactly. It was comfortable, and he had all the books and trinkets and furniture he wanted. He'd painted the walls himself, in fiery sunrise colours to match him, and the carpet was soft enough that his toes sank into it when he walked around. He even had his own separate bathroom with no cameras in. But the only window was a mirror on his side of the wall, and the door locked from the outside, and cameras near the ceiling monitored his every move, and he was only allowed to leave when one of the many scientists interested in him decided he could, and even then, he never left the lab.

Still, it was all he knew, and he'd learnt as a kid to make do with a little.

Besides, it's not like the scientists were bad to him, not anymore. After 105 years, he'd become a sort of mascot to the palace labs, and it was taboo among the scientists to mistreat him. The tests, while annoying, never hurt, and for the ones that did they provided him with powerful anesthetics that made him loopy and completely numb.

The tests themselves varied. They took cells from all over his body for the geneticists and microbiologists. They took samples from his scalp for the chemists trying to figure out how the fire on his head works. They tested how his body reacted to various types of radiation for the radiologists. The list went on and on, even after 105 years, of things they didn't know about him and wanted to find out.

He'd outlived four kings already, and more scientists than he could count, and they were no closer to discovering how much longer he was suspected to live. He still felt as lively as ever, so the general consensus was that he still had quite a while.

He was sitting at his desk, fiddling with the mess of wires and parts between his hands, when the door opened.

Tango looked up, confused, and saw Cub standing in the door frame.

"More tests?" Tango frowned. He'd already sat through a whole host of tests that morning; he thought he'd be free for the rest of the day.

"No quite," Cub told him.

He was a man on the shorter, rounder side, but you wouldn't notice, not with everything else going on with him. Cub was the lead geneticist in the lab, and often conducted many of his experiments on himself. As such, he had a pair of tattered wings too small to be anything more than decoration, borrowed from the genes of a feathered dragon; a full set of sharp teeth not dissimilar from Tango's own, with which Tango had seen Cub snap a bone in half, borrowed from a mermaid; and pitch black hair and eyes, as well as traces of death magic, from a dark elf. He was the only person Tango knew who was older than him, though no one knew which race Cub had gotten the longevity from. While he was by no means human anymore, he got away with walking freely around the palace without hiding any part of himself by being a perfect mix of friendly, unsettling and indispensable.

It was Cub who had first combined the DNA of a pygmy dragon with that of a human, resulting in an infant with a mix of human and dragon traits, ie, Tango himself.

Cub studied Tango for a second with those almost soulless eyes, before announcing, "The king is dead. The new queen has ordered that all Vis being held against their will in the palace be released."

Tango blinked, reeling. "What?" The king was dead? He'd only been crowned a few years ago - that had to be some kind of record for shortest rule of the era. And the new queen...

Tango had met her once. Rebecca Argnum. She'd come to the lab the day before she disappeared two and a half months ago, and she'd sworn that she'd help him see the world some day. Tango hadn't put much thought into it - her brother was still young, after all, so by the time he died, he would have children of his own, and Rebecca wouldn't be next in line anymore - but still, it had been an tantalizing prospect ever since. Now that it was suddenly a possibility - not just that, but a reality - he didn't know what to do.

Finally, he managed to get a question out of his brain and into his mouth. "What about Torchy?"

"Last I checked, he's still a Vis, too. He's as free as you are."

"But can he come with me?"

"If he wants to."

"Where is he?"

Cub eyed him up a moment longer, before smiling smugly, pointed teeth on display. "I sent Doc to fetch him. He's on his way."

Relief pulled Tango's shoulders downwards. Torchy, the pygmy dragon that half of his DNA came from, was usually in his room with him, but he'd been taken out earlier that morning for reasons no one would explain to Tango, and hadn't yet returned.

With the first of Tango's questions answered, the rest started spilling out. "Where do I go?"

"Wherever you want."

"Where am I allowed to go?"

"Wherever they'll have you."

"What happened to the king?"

"A group of rebels killed him."

Good.

Before the next question could make itself known, Doc M stepped up behind Cub, a tiny, writhing mass of red-gold scales twisted around his cybernetic arm.

"Torchy!" Tango grinned.

The dragon lifted his head, spotted Tango, and pushed off of Doc's arm, with a happy growl of, "Tongo!" Torchy struggled more with speech than most pygmy dragons, and often his words came out garbled. Most of the time, no one besides Tango had any idea what he was saying.

Torchy reached him and settled on his shoulders, twining happily around his neck.

"Don't use me as your errand boy again," Doc snapped to Cub, though Tango knew he wasn't actually mad.

Doc seemed intimidating to those that didn't know him, because he was abnormally tall, had a resting scowl and held a grudge like a champion, but those who actually knew him knew he was really a big softie. He was the chief engineer in the lab, often working side-by-side with the geneticists, and was almost as strange to look at as Cub. An undercover mountain nymph, he took great care to conceal his the goat-ish parts of him: he wore his dark hair long and hid both it and the goat's horns the hair didn't quite conceal under a cap. His skin was more grey than pink, and he had a goat-like beard growing from his chin. Much of the right side of his body had been replaced by bionics, leaving him with a glowing red eye, an arm rather more "muscular" than the other, and a limp due to his right leg being human-shaped and his left being goat-shaped. No one knew what had happened for him to require the additions, and whenever someone asked, he always refused to explain. Doc was the oldest person in the lab, apart from Cub, and took orders from no one except Cub and the king himself.

Although, it was probably the queen herself now, Tango reasoned.

Everything Tango knew about engineering and electronics, he had learnt from Doc. Everything Tango knew about genetics and biology in general, he had learnt from Cub. In return, Tango didn't put up a fight when they wanted to do any sort of test, even the uncomfortable ones. The three had formed an unlikely crew of mutual benefits and mix-and-match bodies.

Doc held out his flesh arm, a messenger bag swinging from it. "I got you food and some real clothes - you can't wear Cub's old lab coat in public."

Tango looked down at the lab coat he wore. It was scorched from where he'd lost his temper a few times, stained from where he'd spilled seadust on it, and torn from both his and Torchy's claws. Cub had gifted it to him years ago, after the previous lab coat got incinerated due to events entirely unrelated to Tango's flames, he swears it.

"Thanks," he said, accepting the bag from Doc. He flicked it open and peered inside. All he could really identify from the pile of folded clothes was a dark grey vest, though he definitely saw both yellow and red fabric beneath.

"Go get changed, then you can throw some of your things in the bag and we'll walk you out," Cub told him, gesturing at the bathroom door.

"Got it."

Half an hour later, Tango was standing at the palace's side gate with Torchy coiled around his arm, Cub on his left and Doc on his right.

He'd filled the messenger bag with books, seadust and seadust-related components, and as much of both his and Torchy's hordes - a small collection of gears and springs for Torchy, and a handful of pieces of wood he carved himself for Tango - as possible.

Tango loved the outfit Doc had picked out for him - though part of it was, of course, due the fact that he had never had real clothes before: in the summer, the lab coat sufficed, and in the winter he burrowed under the blankets and slept most of the time.

But he had real clothes now. The long-sleeved yellow shirt was tight enough to keep wind out and heat in, and the grey vest he wore over it was buttoned all the way down to keep it from flapping around. A pair of thick, baggy trousers made his thin legs look far bigger than they really were, fuzzy grey boots kept his feet warm, and fluffy bands around his wrists kept his hands from freezing off. Without the carefully warmed conditions of his room in the lab keeping him just the right temperature, added measures were a must to ensure he didn't freeze; as such, a long, thick, black coat lined on the inside with blue fur was hung neatly over the bag, ready for when it was needed.

Tango only hoped it was enough.

"Keep walking east," Cub was telling him. "You'll reach the Subsol Woods in about two days, if you make good speed."

"To du?! Toy cu wok to du!" Torchy protested.

"You won't be doing any walking," Tango reminded the little dragon, holding up his arm to look him in the eye. "You'll probably barely even do any flying, for void's sake!"

Doc chuckled, but then sobered up quick. "Just make sure you ration your food and don't eat it all at once. In the woods, you'll find both a faerie and an elf camp, though you'll probably come across the elves first. Tell them Meyer sent you, they'll take care of you."

Right. Tango kept forgetting that "Doc" wasn't the engineer's real name.

"Got it," Tango nodded.

"Good luck," Cub said.

Tango took a deep breath, and took his first step out of the castle gate.

"WAIT!" a voice called before he could take a second.

They all turned to see a young woman - barely more than a girl, really - running towards them. The queen.

"Thank goodness, I was worried I'd missed you," Queen Rebecca panted when she reached them.

She'd been crying; Tango saw the red rings around her pale brown eyes right away. If it weren't for that, though, it would have been impossible to tell. Her red-gold hair still lay in perfect waves, her back was still pencil straight, her head still held high. A queen through and through.

"Your majesty," Cub and Doc said together, bowing.

Wordlessly, Tango copied the motion.

The young queen waved her hand at him. "Ah, no need for that. Once you're outside those gates, you're officially free - you're barely even under my rule anymore."

"Oh," Tango said, because what else was he supposed to say?

"I wanted to give you this before you go." The queen held out a small drawstring pouch.

"What is it?" Tango asked curiously, taking it and weighing it in his hand. It was heavier than he expected, considering how little it seemed to hold.

"Something that'll help you later - trust me, it's saved my life more than once."

Tango started to open the pouch, but the queen hurriedly said, "No, no! Wait until you're alone."

Tango frowned. "Why?"

"It's..." She hesitated. "It's the sort of thing best opened in private."

"Right." Tango nodded, like that made any sense at all.

As he was tucking the pouch into the messenger bag, she went on, "I also wanted to wish you luck. I told you I'd get you out, and I did."

"Thank you," Tango said, and meant it with his whole heart.

Finally, finally he was getting to see the world.

He turned back to the city beyond the gate. He'd have to navigate that before he even reached the plains that stood between here and the Subsol Woods, but he'd memorised many, many maps of the country in his time, including one of the city as it currently stands. He didn't think he'd have much, if any difficulty with it.

After another deep breath, he took his second step out into the world.

And just like that, he was walking, a free male, his best friend on his arm and a mystery pouch in his bag, and Doc's call to "be careful!" in his ears.

He had no idea where he was going or who he would meet, but he was prepared. He was more than prepared - he was ready.

#story #PAFAU #post apocalyptic fantasy au #MCYT #original world #TangoTek #cubfan135 #docm77 #hermitcraft #life series #Tango #Doc #Cub #original character #oc

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dumpywrites · 3 months

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Fish in Disguise - Jin / Kim Seokjin

Prompt: Sworn enemies by day, restaurant mascot by night.

Prompt request: HERE

Genre/tags: Fluff, enemies to lovers(?), university au, they are both dumb lol

Pairing: Jin x she/her reader

a/n: Welcome home Jin!!! 💜 I was saving the only one Jin request I got to post it on his coming back date, but I didn’t finish it on time 😔

Your life was simple. You attend your classes by day and help your family’s restaurant by night.

How you wished it was that easy though. You were on the verge of failing your classes, trying to balance your studies, social life, and work. All that while trying to make sure you get a good rest, which honestly, you had not been having in quite some time.

The days were not exactly the smoothest ride. Being someone who was new to the town, you needed some time of getting used to. It was a big decision your parents made to move to a new city, but as their only daughter, you supported them fully.

One thing that somehow helped you get through the day was this tuna mascot of a seafood restaurant next to yours. Yes, a mysterious man who refused to show you his face, in a full tuna fish costume, who you got to meet every weekend.

The first meeting the tuna intern was actually kind of wholesome. You were helping your family setting up the store and he just appeared to be there, standing with a sign that had something about the freshness of their seafood written on it. The fact that he dropped the sign and helped you carry two boxes while still being in his full attire, still amused you until this day.

And that was how your friendship bloomed. You would occasionally visit him and or just to say hi when he worked his shift. In return, he cheered you up with just simply being there. Sometimes meeting him and talking about random nothings just made you forget all your worries.

“I heard you got paired with Seokjin for the group project.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” You said to your friend as you yawned.

“Why? He’s hot.”

“And a narcissist.”

“And still hot.” Your friend argued and laughed. “Stop being so sulky, I bet everyone’s jealous of you right now.”

“Minji, he’s dumb. Have you seen his test results?! I don’t want to fail history class just because of him!”

“You’ll be fine! Plus, since he’s really easy on the eyes, just make him do the whole presentation and that’ll get you good grades.” Minji laughed again.

“Ugh.” You rolled your eyes, as you kept your focus on your phone instead, scrolling through Instagram.

“Why do you hate him so much anyway?” Your friend asked as she mimicked you slumping on the cafe table.

“I don’t… it’s just.” You sighed. “I don’t know, he’s cute but he really didn’t have to rub it in my face like that.”

“You’re still not over that?”

Once upon a time you were at your campus festival. Enjoying your freshmen days, simply admiring people doing all the festivities from afar while you sip on your lemonade. The crowd felt a little bit overwhelming, intimidating even, since it had been only a week since you enrolled.

That day was also the first time you met your friend Minji, the girl who was also a freshmen like you. You both were lost trying to find the main hall and somehow bumped into each other.

Both of you were just passing through the food stalls and club fair when you came across a juice bar. You noticed how there were two attractive men in the booth. Clearly whatever their team or club was trying to do, was working because you and your friend stopped to sneak a look.

One guy was extremely well built and had tattoos all over his right hand. The inks and piercings definitely did not match his doe-looking eyes though. On the other hand, the second guy looked like a prince. He had the most luscious lips and his skin was so clear that he looked like he might modeled for a skin care brand. The light brown hair was permed and styled. You also thought his smile looked very pretty.

“Hello! We’re selling fruit juice to support our music club!” The one with tattoos kindly waved at you and Minji.

“Oh my, they’re cute…” Minji whispered to you and practically dragged you closer to the stall.

“We have strawberry, orange, mango, and peach.” The taller one mentioned with a grin.

“You guys are really cute, you sure they didn’t tell you to watch the booth just because of that?” Minji chuckled.

“I’m aware, not sure why they picked Jungkook right here when he could barely talk to women, but yeah.” The guy said proudly.

“That’s not nice.” You said bluntly.

“Oh, that’s just how he jo—“ Jungkook spoke, but was soon interrupted.

“Why, you don’t think I’m good looking?” The man eyed you, judging.

“I think you’re full of yourself.”

You heard Minji called your name in a low voice, trying to calm you down, but you refused to listen.

“So you’re not denying that I’m good looking.” The man smirked at you as he scoffed.

That comeback gave you the biggest ick and you proceeded to link your friend’s arm in yours. “Let’s go, we’re not buying shit from them.”

You dragged your friend away as you listened to the man who turned out to be Seokjin himself, whined from a distance.

Ever since that scene, you swore you wanted nothing to do with the music club. It sounded pretty unfair considering you only despised Jin and the rest of the members did not wrong you in any way, but you had already made up your mind. That was until he failed art history class and now had to retake the subject, hence how you ended up being misfortune enough to get grouped up with him.

“Look, do you wanna do this project or not?” You folded your arms and crossed your legs.

In the library, you sat down eye to eye with your worst nightmare himself, the self proclaimed “World Wide Handsome”, Kim Seokjin. You both had agreed to meet up for the project but you didn’t realize it would be this irritating. Hell, as much as he was easy on the eyes as your friend claimed, all you wanted to do was to leave and stay far far away from him.

“I just don’t get why I have to do all the verbal work here.” He complained.

“You barely did the slides and research, of course you have to.”

“That’s because you just decided it by yourself??? I never told you to do all the work!” The guy said, now crossing his hands back at you.

“You see why? Because this.” You pointed back and forth between the two of you. “How can we get any work done when all we do is argue when we are together?!”

“Why do you hate me so much?”

The seriousness in Jin’s eyes scared you. He was staring straight into your soul and you did not like how it made you feel. Not even one bit.

“Because you’re conceited.”

“And the problem?”

“See?!”

“We’ve never been in normal conversation before, you can’t just decide that.”

Once again your eyes met his and you felt stuffy, nervous, but mostly anger. The thing was, you began to question yourself. Was the excessive anger really necessary or were you biased because of the bad start? Not like any of that mattered anyway.

“Screw you.”

You stormed out the library, making sure you stomped extra hard, childishly so he could see how pissed off you were.

“Someone’s in a bad mood…”

“Oh, hi.” You waved at the moving Tuna mascot, trying to form a smile. “I’m just really tired today, that’s all.”

“Aww, come tell papa tuna about it.”

He moved closer to you as you kept wiping the tables. It was already at closing hour and he should be off his shift right now. It was sweet how he sometimes would stay longer just to accompany you cleaning.

“Eww, since when do I call you papa?” You cringed, but laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re like super old or something?”

“Oh, I’m older than you alright.” He chuckled.

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” He patted his chest through the costume. “So? What’s wrong?”

“I kinda have this group project.” You said, hands still spraying cleaning products onto the table. “And I got paired with someone I don’t particularly like.”

“Oh…” He muttered. There was a hint of disappointment in his voice and you wondered why.

“It’s fine, the project’s almost done anyways.” You smiled at him and moved to the next table. “You’re not going home?”

“I might stay for a couple of minutes.” He took the empty seat not too far from you. “I don’t have morning class tomorrow.”

“You’re also in uni?”

“That’s for you to find out.” He snickered. “Anyways, tell me more. What’s bothering you?”

“Okay, you tell me. Am I wrong if I dislike someone because they’re like, I don’t know, so full of themselves?”

“Hmm.” The tuna guy put his hand under his chin comically, making him look funny and adorable. “Have you maybe try talking with them about it?”

“Why would I? He clearly doesn’t want anything to with me.” You sighed.

“Has he ever said that to you?”

“Well no, but that’s not really necessary when his action is already telling me that…”

He went quiet for a second, humming to himself before responding. “You’re right. Maybe he made a bad impression. But maybe, just maybe, if you give him a chance he could be a decent person?”

“I don’t know, he’s very popular and there’s really no reason to talk with him anyways.” You shrugged.

“Right…”

“But I kinda feel bad for walking away from him today.” You said with a sad expression.

“How so…?”

“Dunno, maybe I shouldn’t just decided on my own and did all the paperwork myself…”

“Maybe you should apologize?” The guy said in an unsure tone.

“I don’t know how.” You sighed. “What if he just laugh at me or something?”

“He wouldn’t. Trust me.”

You didn’t know why, but his words sounded weirdly assuring. “I’ll think about it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” The guy gave you two thumbs up.

“It’s getting late, you should head back. Being a tuna for hours must be tiring.” You smiled at him. “Oh, wait.”

“What is it?”

You quickly ran back inside, leaving the man in the costume alone sitting on one of your restaurant tables. When you came back, you had one plastic container with a few pieces of fried chicken inside.

“Here.” You extended your arm to him with a big grin. “You must be hungry after standing up all night.”

“You don’t have to!” He suddenly stood up.

“I insist.” You grabbed his fluffy arm and put the container in his hands. “As a thanks, for being my friend.”

“Come here I need to hug you for this.”

You laughed and gave him a big hug. “You’re so fluffy!”

He patted your head playfully. “Don’t rub your face on me, they never wash this costume.”

“Eww.” You scrunched your nose and quickly let him go. “I’ll see you next week?”

“Yeah.”

Today, you had decided to finally swallow your ego and actually try to have a normal and functional conversation with Jin. It was almost surreal to think that you practically swore to have nothing to do with the music club, but now here you were, standing right in front of their club room.

It took you almost ten minutes of pacing back and forth before you finally knocked on their door. The response was not immediate, as their room was loud, filled with music instruments playing. Once the door opened, someone with a very warm smile greeted you. The colorful outfit and his tinted glasses made him look so hip, you thought. He held the door slightly ajar, just enough to fit his body to peek at you.

“Hello, what can I do for you?”

“Hi, uh… I’m Y/N and I’m looking for Seokjin? Is he here?”

The guy widened his eyes and looked back inside the loud room. “Yeah, he’s here.”

“Cool. Can I maybe borrow him for a few minutes? He’s my history project partner…” You said and smiled awkwardly.

“Do you wanna come inside?”

“H-huh?” You pointed at yourself. “Me?”

“Who else.” The guy chuckled. “We’re almost done but you might need to wait for him to wrap up.”

You replied with a skeptical “okay” and quietly followed the man from behind. The sound of drums and laughter filled the room and the bright decorations matched the vibe and atmosphere the place was giving. There were a few people inside and one was the boy with tattoos that you recognized from before.

“Usually we have more people around, but there wasn’t any official activity today so it’s just us.” The guy who opened the door for you explained. “I’m Hoseok by the way, you can call me Hobi. Want me to introduce you to them?”

“Why is Y/N here?” One blond guy suddenly spoke as soon as he saw you.

“You know me?”

The guy playfully shrugged and grinned. “Jin sometimes talks about you.”

“Really?” You asked, genuinely shocked by the news.

“Uh… Jin? Jin?? Someone’s here for you.” Hoseok intervened.

“What? Who—” You heard the man shouted back, but he was unable to finish his sentence as soon as your eyes met.

“Hey, uh… can we talk for a sec? I won’t be long.” You said.

“Like right now?” He looked at you questioningly.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, give me one sec.”

“So, you’re Y/N huh?” The same blond guy came up to you from behind. “I’m Taehyung, but they call me V.”

“Stop trying to make your stage name happen, Tae.” Hoseok said. “The one with the bucket hat there, is Yoongi. The tall one is Namjoon, and Mr. Tattoos and piercings right there is Jungkook.”

“Usually our main group has one more person but Jimin’s sick at home.” Taehyung mentioned.

You nodded politely. In your head, you were still processing the information that Jin was apparently talking about you to his club friends. You wondered what made him do so. You wondered if he bad-mouthed you, if he told all the ugly things about you, telling his friends how much you annoy him.

But why do his friends just seem so… friendly? None of them acted hostile towards you. The first two that spoke to you were really nice and bubbly, and even Jungkook who was with Jin the first time you met him, smiled when he saw you. Surely they would had acted differently if Jin hated you that much.

“Alright, let’s go?” Jin approached you.

“Uh, yeah.” The newfound information got you feeling nervous.

“It was nice meeting you!” Hoseok waved at you cheerfully and the rest smiled and nodded at you as you waved back awkwardly.

“They didn’t say weird things to you right?” Jin said as soon as both of you closed the door behind. You were now walking aimlessly across the campus hallway.

“No, I guess…”

“Awesome.” He clasped his hands together. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Oh yeah that…”

Right, what was you wanted to talk about again? How could you talk when his soft fluffy hair was just there, distracting you. And now that you were standing up facing each other this close, you had never realize how well built and tall he was. Screw the universe for making him so attractive.

“Yeah?”

“I want to apologize… for last time.” You looked away, rocking your body back and forth again out of nervousness. “I’m wrong for deciding to work on the project myself. I should’ve at least try to work things out to find the middle ground with you.”

“Pfft…”

You looked at him in disbelief. How could he laugh when you were trying your best to apologize to him properly???

“Excuse me?!”

“Sorry, your expression… it’s so cute.”

“Cute?!” You were offended by this point. “Forget what I said. You’re beyond saving.”

“Wait! No, that’s not what I meant…” He tried to stop you but it was too late.

You did not want to hear more from him. Was it really that hard to just take you seriously? You felt ashamed to even think that you could at least have a normal conversation with him. You were right all along.

And so you chose to ignore him. A few days passed and it was only two days left until your final presentation. Quite frankly, you could not care less. You had given him all the material and all you needed for him to do was to just blatantly accept his role.

“Mr. Tuna?”

You were now back with your night cleaning duties again, accompanied by your fish friend. You had told him everything about what happened between you and Jin, needing reassurance and validations for being angry at him.

“He really did you know… He laughed at me.” You bit your lips, maintaining your emotions. “Do you think I’m in the wrong? I’m not, right? Like what did I do? Am I ugly? Does he not want to talk to ugly people is that it???”

“You’re not ugly.”

“Well I don’t think so either… but what if I am in his eyes??? Maybe he just doesn’t want to associate himself with—“

“I don’t think you’re ugly!!!” The guy suddenly spoke up, a little louder than he intended.

You were taken aback for a second, and smiled. “Thanks, but I was talking about that person.”

“I cannot defend him anymore, I think it’s valid for you to hate him.”

“Why do you sound so sad?”

“Would you hate me if I turned out to be someone you know?” He asked without answering your question.

“Huh? Why suddenly?”

“Just answer it.”

“I don’t know, but I guess I enjoyed talking with you and I consider you as my friend if not best friend at this point already. I don’t think it would change anything.” You assured.

“Promise?”

“Why?” You looked at him suspiciously. “You’re scaring me, am I going to get a face reveal soon?”

“Who knows.”

The presentation day finally has arrived upon you. Everyone was seated with their corresponding partners and you were still sitting alone, as Seokjin was nowhere to be seen. The class session had already begun and you were minutes away from your turn. It was unbelievable the amount of disrespect that this man chose to show to you, by not showing up at all.

Your team was next in line. At this point you had given up all hope. Maybe it was for the best that you present it yourself since you did all the research anyway.

In the midst of the presentation in front of you, you saw how everyone’s eyes shifted to the back of the class in a flash. They stopped for a brief seconds, fake coughing to regain their composure, before continuing. They occasionally stole glances up and down, eyes looking dubiously.

Your curiosity was not left hanging for too long because just seconds later, someone in a big tuna fish costume just took the seat next to you. As a matter of fact, you were very familiar with the costume itself, but the reason behind him being in your class was truly bizarre to you.

Everyone was looking at your direction at this point and you were scared to ask any question. In your head you were starting to connect some dots, but too afraid to actually confront them. Some parts of you refused to believe it.

It was too implausible for them to be the same person. One was selfish and conceited, while the other was funny and caring. There was simply just no other explanation for the situation. You began to question your own sanity. Perhaps the lack of sleep had started to catch up on you.

“I’ve read all the emails you sent me. Don’t worry, we’ll ace this.” The guy suddenly spoke.

Hearing his voice from inside the mascot suit just sealed the deal. You had been friends with the guy you despised so badly this whole time without knowing. Not only that, you basically told him stories about himself and mentioned how bad of a person you thought he was.

He stood along with you when both of your name was called, fully confirming that the name belonged to him. Everyone started whispering and some started laughing immediately upon seeing the hilarious looking costume.

“Hello everyone, we’re from team seven and we’re now about to present to you about the history of mixed media.” He waved playfully while you were standing stiff right next to him. “As you can see, I’m in this costume that I had to convince the restaurant that I work at to let me borrow.”

Everyone laughed again in unison.

“You may wonder why, and the answer is because my partner right here,” He pointed to you. “She did all the research herself because I was being a dumb jerk.” He moved his body, looking at the direction of the professor. “I know that’s not great for my name but I promise I’ve learned all the materials she had sent me well. So the least I could do to her was to give you all an entertaining presentation…”

The presentation then went on fully with him still with the suit on until the very end. All you did was simply pressing the next button as he deciphered the slides, entertaining and engaging the audiences, even the professor himself. He truly was a charming guy and no mask could hide that. You should have had realized that sooner.

It just did not make any sense to you. How could he hated you while at the same time acted like your best friend in another form?

“I’ll go change and we’ll talk?”

You just looked at him, no words at hand. Everything still felt so unreal. You watched as he strugglingly entered the washroom. He went out minutes later with sweat clinging to his t-shirt, hair damp from the heat of wearing the costume. With the set hugged in his hands, he mentioned something about sitting down somewhere, and you just followed from behind.

“Do I smell?”

You shook your head quietly.

“Oh cool.” He chuckled awkwardly. “Is my—“ He huffed before even finishing the sentence. “I’m sorry, I’m stalling.”

For some reason his smile seemed differently now that you were seeing him in a new light.

“Here I am, I guess…” He laughed nervously. “I understand if you don’t wanna be friends again after this. I just wanna say that I’m truly sorry for what I did.”

Why was he speaking like that? Why was he speaking in the way your friend spoke? All with that damn annoyingly attractive face?

“The first time we met, I was being sarcastic.” He stated. “If you actually let Jungkook finish, he was about to tell you. I love that boy a lot, he’s a really nice guy, you know.”

“You were?”

His smile brightened when you finally opened your mouth and said something. It was the first time he heard your voice today and it felt like a huge weight just lifted off his shoulders.

“And uh, about when you apologized… I honestly didn't mean to laugh. I know that's what you feared but honestly I just got nervous.”

You raised one of your eyebrows at him. “You? Nervous? I’ve seen neither Mr. Tuna or the Seokjin I know being nervous.”

“You were really cute that day.” He smiled giddily, a rosy tint covering his cheeks.

That was new.

“Oh my god, I need some getting used to seeing you say that with your real face.” You looked away, the corners of your lips curled up helplessly. “So, when I met you as Mr. Tuna you’ve already known me?”

“Yeah.” He sighed with a smile. “I’m sorry, I was a coward. I should’ve told you sooner but you keep avoiding me at campus and you don’t exactly like the real me either so…”

“But this is the real you, right? The one that helps me out and listens to me rambling every weekend?”

He nodded, making you smile. “Can we be friends?”

“We already are, dummy.”

He exhaled loudly, grinning like an idiot. “Truce?” He offered his fist.

“Truce.” You shook your head and gave him a fist bump.

“Alright, we usually finish with a hug…” He looked at you with side-eyes. “It might feel slightly different without the costume and all—“

You cut his sentence short by jumping him with a big hug, surprising the guy.

And you know what, the hug did not actually feel that much different. It was still fluffy, fuzzy, and soft like how the used costume material would rub against your skin when you hugged him. Because when he hugged you back, you were sure you felt all of that even when he was without the mascot fish attire.

You felt that inside your heart.

Prompt request: HERE

#bts fanfic #bts scenarios #bts fic #kim seokjin #bts jin #jin x reader #jin x y/n #bts seokjin #seokjin x reader #seokjin fanfic #seokjin x y/n #jin fanfic #jin bts #jin fluff #jin scenarios #seokjin scenarios #jin imagine #seokjin imagine

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idiswhadidis · 1 year

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math camp

pairing: jungwon x fem!reader

sypnosis: Jungwon's mom forces him to go to a math camp but what happens when his best friend since kindergarden which he got feelings for tags along?

genre: best friends to lovers, fluff

featuring: Eunchae from LE SSERAFIM

warnings: math (lol), cursing, some jealousy

wc: 3,4k

hi everyone, enhypen finally dropped their new album so I have to celebrate it by posting this wohoo. I hope you enjoy.:)

To be Jungwon's best friend could be called as a bless or curse. Most likely a bless cause he’s a polite, distinguished gentleman but even more a pain in your ass.

You know each other since kindergarden you both became friends pretty quick after you saved him from a spider crawling up his leg, you actually freaked out when you touched the spider but little you wanted to be a hero and it worked. Little Jungwon looked at you with big eyes and mouth wide open, mesmerized by your proud big smile.

Then you both went to middle school, hanging out with each other most likely everday, your mother and his mother became also good friends, your familys even went on vacations and trips together.

And now you were in high school sitting in math class, next to Jungwon.

„Boy, if you don’t stop Imma kick you where the sun doesn’t shine“ you glare at him he’s been testing your nerves for 10 minutes. His mom wants him to go to this stupid math camp in the holidays cause his grades let’s just say are not the best but yours are (slay).

„Please Y/n, you can’t let me alone I don’t wanna suffer alone I thought we‘re „the“ dream team“ he's looking at you with desperation,

„We are but I don’t want to sacrafice my holidays for a fucking math camp“,

„and you think I do? My mom is forcing me and I know it’s gonna be more baerable when you come along“, „flattering but no, I have good grades and I want to enjoy my holidays“ a pen in your hand ready to write down what the teachers trying to teach,

„I will pay your food for six months“, well now he’s getting frustrated not hearing a response from you he continues „for 1 year?“ still no response.

He leans back, hand on his chin thinking about how to persude you, when he suddenly quitely slams his hands on the table startling you, looking at him seeing him with a smirk knowing you’re doomed.

-1 Month later-

Sunglasses on your nose a suitcase on your left, a Jungwon on your right and your mood on the ground. Staring at the „Welcome at the math camp!“ sign with this stupid mascot of an owl with glasses waving at everyone. How fantastic.

„You better keep your promise or Imma dunk you into the lake“ death staring him, he smiles at you as if he’s an angel (devil) „Of course“,

„Hello everyone! I’m Bethany and I’m the host of this camp, it’s nice to meet you! I know you might think this are going to be the worst holidays ever but no, I promise you all, even though it’s a math camp it will be so much fun! Our team prepared a lot and I hope you will enjoy it.“

You groan quietly „as if“ you whisper that only Jungwon could hear nudging you in the rips with his elbow.

„Now, when you look to my right you can see there are some pin boards about your camp houses, look for your name and make yourself comfortable we are not going to do much today because it’s already 6 pm so we’re are going to have dinner and a campfire to get to know each other. So we will meet here again at 7 pm. Have fun!“ Bethany stops her ranting and Jungwon takes your hand dragging you to the pin boards.

„camp hause number 4 and 2 let’s go“ and again he drags you along with him „so we’re not together in a house?“, „was to be expected, let’s go to your house first.“

Standing infront of the door turning to Jungwon with a frown „I’m too socialy awkward for this“, „I know but that’s okay give it a chance maybe you will find some new friends“ you look at him with a dissapproving face, him turning you around and pushing you to the door „I will be here at 6:50 so be ready“ you nod and open the door with hesistation walking into the house seeing 4 beds in each corner and one girl arranging some stuff.

The girls head pops up „Omg Hi! I’m Miya nice to meet you!“ she smiles at you and to not be awkward you smile back „Hey, my name is Y/n“ and now you both stand there smiling... yep awkward,

„so.. bad at math I guess?“ she asks „actually no, my best friend forced me to go with him“, she gasps „what a great best friend“, „right? But if it’s with him it’s okay“, „oh?“ she side-eyes you with a little smirk, „no not like that“ you narrow your eyes at her sarcastically laughing together „I think we’re going to have a great time“ she beams and turns back around to arrange her stuff and so you choose one of the beds getting yourself ready to live here for beautiful (not) 2 weeks.

Opening the door from your camp house seeing Jungwon already standing there waiting for you

„I hope there will be some good food I’m starving“ you say, him turning around „I saw some pizza boxes on the table were we’re going to eat“ he answers seeing your moody face turning into a ball of happiness making his heart burst, „ohhhh yes!“ putting your fist up in the air like you just won in the lottery, „let’s go, let’s go“ taking his hand into yours dragging him to the meeting point.

„38, 39 and 40.. Great! Everyone arrived, so as you can see tonight is going to be pizza night we have enough pizza for everyone so take as many pieces you want and let’s meet at the camp fire and get to know each other!“ Bethany stops talking and you’re the first to speed walk to the buffet making everyone snicker feeling a bit embarassed, Jungwon being your number one suporter having him right beside you his hand resting on your back making you gulp.

Taking a plate and taking some pieces completely drooling over it, grinning at Jungwon „let’s go“.

Walking to the camp fire seeing Miya waving at you making the gesture to sit beside her „Oh, that’s Miya from my camp house“ you tell Jungwon, walking straight up to her and sitting down, finally taking a bite of your pizza groaning quietly „so good?“ Jungwon asks, nodding at him cheeks stuffed with pizza.

„So, I see everyone gathered here so let’s get started. I think this will be more fun when we all know each other so let’s indroduce ourselfes-“ your shoulders dropping whispering in Jungwon's direction „that’s gonna be so awkward“ him squeezing your leg for support „-I will start so my name is Bethany I’m 31 years old and I love to bake nice to meet you all“ she turns her head to the one beside her letting them continue.

And now it’s Jungwon's turn „Hey my name is Jungwon I’m 19 years old and uhm I love to dance“ your time to shine, you gulp intruducing yourself is nerve wrecking „uhm Hi my name is Y/n I’m 19 years old and I love to water my plants?“ making Jungwon laugh, smacking his arm making everyone laugh, amazing you’re going to be the clown of this camp. „I didn’t know you like to water your plants?“ Jungwon whispers „I don’t“ making him shake his head with a smile.

After painfully playing around for 3 hours Bethany finally said her good night.

„That was… exhausting“ Jungwon speaks up tiredly as he walks you to your camp house, „my soical battery is complety drained“, stopping infront of your door he hugs you and quietly says „well my lady, I hope you will have a good sleep and don’t let the bugs bug you“, looking at him in horror „don’t jinx it dumbass“ grinning at you „good night prince charming“.

You are never going to be a morning person, waking up at 8 in the morning during holildays should be illegal.

Sitting around the table resting your face in your hand still sleepy you suddenly feel a hand on your shoulder.

„morning sleepyhead“ turning around seeing the boy of your dreams, „morning“ you mumble him sitting next to you „slept good?“, shaking your head „nah I can’t sleep properly when I’m not in my own bed“, „if there wouldn’t be others in the camp house I would be by your side“ that wouldn’t be the first time but it still makes you blush „I’d actually love that“ him smirking „I know“, …excuse you?

„Good Morning everyone I hope you slept good, today is the very first day of this progamm so we’re of course starting to do math today so eat something and get the day started.“

Walking into the classroom in groups of 10 people so there are 4 classroom and thank the lord you were with Jungwon in the same group.

You actually hoped that a math camp would be something like swimming in the water while answering some math questions yeah.. that was so dumb.

You saw your name tag on the table in the corner of the last row sitting down looking at Jungwon who poorly sits in the first row trying not to laugh as he mouths „help me“, a man walks into the room standing infront of us.

„Hello there, I’m Zach and I will be your math teachter for the next 2 weeks nice to meet you all. Now before we start I will explain how this progamm actually works, so everday besides Saturdays and Sundays we’re going to start at 10 am in this classroom with math till 4 pm with an one hour break, so 5 hours of math a day is not that bad right-?"

Not bad? If you would be at home you could lay around in the swimming pool for 5 hours but thanks to your best friend you’re going to suffer to death. Rubbing your eyes and cursing Jungwon in your head.

„- and after 4 pm is Bethanys fun progamm. So because you’re here willngly or because your parents sent you here I want you to do your best so you can see math isn‘t that hard and you will for sure get better grades once you return to school. And now for the typical rules we’re going to respect each other and if someone says something incorrect we’re not going to make fun of them. So let’s get started open your books at page 1.“

Not even 1 hour in it, you’re ready to shoot yourself call it dramatic but you would rather sit in a room full of tigers, and to top it you’re getting irritated by a girl who’s constantly staring at Jungwon.

You wouldn’t call yourself a jealous type of person but when it comes to Jungwon something switches inside you.

Update it’s been 3 hours and girly girl with the name Lissy has been trying too much. You don’t know if Jungwon is dumb or dumb af, cause that girl is pushing it asking Jungwon math questions over and over again batting her fake lashes and pouting when she doesn’t understand a single thing. Rolling your eyes when Jungwons cluelessly helps her.

„Alright guys you all did amazing it’s been 3 hours, time for the one hour break.“ Zach announces everyone standing up ready to leave this hell off a classroom, passing by Jungwon not sparing him a glance.

Opening the door form the bathroom getting frightened when Jungwon suddenly stands there,

„Why didn’t you wait for me?“ walking pass him washing your hands „You were too bussy with that girl and I had to pee“ drying your hand on the towel not noticing Jungwons little smile „There’s no other reason right?“ he asks tilting his head challenging, little shit knows you too well,

„No, why would there be?“ slightly narrowing your eyes „hm sure.. then let’s go, the girl wants to introduce her friends to me and I’m taking you with me“ before you could say no Jungwon helds your hand tightly in his, trying to wiggle out of it but to no use.

Seeing miss Lissy from afar gives you the ick seeing her excited waving at Jungwon „Won you came“ you swear your eye just twitched,

She walks up to you both literally grabbing him away from you letting you stand there alone

„so this are my two friends Jason and Mike, Jason Mike this is Jungwon my new friend“ you couldn’t take it anymore turning around ready to run away-

„And who’s that girl?“ god damn it, „That’s Y/n my best friend“ sighing turning around „Hey“ making eye contact with the two boys refusing to look at Lissy.

„Oh weren’t you the girl who loves to water her plants?“ blinking at him „apperently yes“, „girl come here I’m a plant lover let’s talk“, univerese sure has a thing against you, you neither love to water your plants neither have you any knowledge about plants.

You don’t know how you got here but you were actually enjoyning the conversation with Mike, you talked in the beginning about plants but you quickly found out that Mike is a fast topic switcher (thank god) now you were talking about his dog?

„And he really took a shit on your bed after you scolded him?“ you asked „Yes, you should have seen his face it was like „yes I just did that“ that little shit.. he even ran away with still shit on his ass I had to chase him around the house“ having to laugh outloud making Jungwon turn his head around making him currious what you find so funny,

„God I would have loved to see that“, „I mean if you want we could meet up someday after this math camp and we could take a walk with him“ looking at him surprised „uh yeah sure?“ the both of you continued your conversation but what you didn’t catch was Jungwon's intense stare.

Sadly the one hour break came to an end and you were back in hell, it felt a bit weird walking with Mike and not Jungwon „So I hope I will see you later“ Mike says when you seperated into your classroom „for sure“ you smile at him noticing Jungwons glare.

Sitting down in your seat ready to grieve for your bed once again.

You thank god for letting the 2 hours of math went by fast, now you were all at the meet up point wearing your bikinis, swimmsuits etc. ready to have fun in the water.

„Now after 5 hours of math you all deserve to relax, have fun and if somehthings happens the life guards to my left will be right by your sides“ Bethany announces.

„Wanna go for a swim?“ Mike asks you „Nah, Imma sun bath I’m not really a water person“, he nods at you and leaves.

Laying down on the grass with your towel ready to get the sleep you didn’t get in the night.

Not long after you feel something touching your foot thinking it’s a bee you pretend to be dead not wanting to making it aggressive and sting you, when something touches your foot once again you slightly open your eyes and see a Jungwon staring at you and poking your foot with his toe? closing your eyes again,

„I’m trying to sleep what you want?“ „let’s swim“,

„no“

„yes“

„no“

„yes“

Before you could say no again Jungwon picks you up bridal style making you shriek „NO, Jungwon I don’t want to“

„Don’t care we’re going for a swim“ he says as he already walks into the water „Lemme at least take of my shirt I don‘t have something to change into when it’s drenched“, he looks at you „I know you’re lying you would just run away and don’t worry I have spare clothes“, groaning he knows you like an open book, asshole..

Still being carried he walks further into the water letting you slowly down your shirt totally drenched, sticking umcomfortable on your body.

„Wohoo so much fun“ you say full of sarcasm, him poking your stomach.

„So Mike?“ he asks literally out of nowhere blinking at him „Don’t tell me you brough me into the water to talk about him?“ „And what if I did?“ oh we’re getting bold now?

„Well what about Lissy?“, „I asked first“, „I’m a lady so ladys first, now spill“ you raise an eyebrow at him.

„well there’s not much about Lizzy she’s nice and funny“ looking at him irritated „She’s annyoing as fuck dude“, „and so is Mike“, „you didn’t even talk to him you can’t judge a book by it’s cover“, „well did you talk to Lissy before you judged her?“ he serious? „You little-“

before you could end your sentence you jumped onto him like a monkey, arms around his neck and legs around his torso startling him but still catching you wrapping his arms around your body protectively.

„something just tangled around my leg“ you look scared at the water, Jungwon's trying to see something and spots- „Y/n, it was just seaweed“ him grabbing into the water having seeweed around his fingers turning his face to yours which is really close to his leaning slightly back,

„well that was emberassing, we’re never going to talk about this again“ ready to untangle from Jungwon but him tightening his hold not letting you go, making you confused looking at him seeing his serious expression „wanna let go or?“

„How long will this continue?“ he asks, staring at him cluelessly „Huh?“

„Us lying to each other“, you have a guess about what he means but you try to dodge it „I still have no clue-“, him squeezing your waist making you nervous,

„Stop lying, I’m sorry to expose you now but when you once talked to Eunchae I accidently eavesdropped and heard you say things about me“ making your eyes bulge out turning your head to the left actually wishing to dissapear.

so that asshole knows that you’re in love with him..

„I’m actually really glad that I eavesdropped cause I always thought this was one-sided“ turning your head around looking at him shooked,

„Since when do you..?“

„First day of kindergarden..“ him grinning at you making your heart melt „..how could someone not fall in love when they get saved by their hero?“ making you laugh „you were really scared of that spider“,

him death staring you „you just were scared of sea-“ kissing him before he could talk further him melting into the kiss that was way overdue, hands on your waist pressing you onto him chest to chest, deepening the kiss slipping his tongue into your mouth, gripping his hair making him groan.

Once breaking the kiss you rest your head onto his shoulder „I’m so in love with you“ whispering against his neck giving him goosebumps kissing your cheek „god i’ve been waiting to hear that.“

-2 weeks later-

Math camp was finally over which means you could finally enjoy the rest of your holidays, you were glad that Jungwon forced you to go with him I mean who would have thought you would become a couple at the second day of this camp? well you didn’t.

„So you’re gonna pay for every milk shake I will ever have in my entire life?“ looking at him with happiness, you have an unhealthy obsession with milk shakes and the deal was Jungwon would pay for every milk shake you will have until you die „Of course a promise is a promise“ he answers-

„Oh look there they are“ Jungwon says seeing yours and his mother, picking you both up,

„And how was it?“ your mom asks while she hugs you „It was good“ you answer „You feel smarter?“ Jungwons mom asks Jungwon making you laugh „good joke“ Jungwon glares at you sticking up his middle finger at you.

Sitting in the car feeling tired you rest your head on Jungwon's shoulder saying hello to the dream land.

Jungwon's mom looks in the back mirror of the car glancing at Jungwon whispering „Are you finally..?“, Jungwon nodds and smiles at your sleeping state.

„You owe me 100 bucks“ Jungwon's mom states to your mom.

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lieutenant-fred · 30 days

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It's time to show some of my idiots off properly, maybe you'll see more art of them, maybe not.

Schwarz is based on Oblivion, Laika very loosely on the Lord of Light, and Marmalade is based on the Smiler if you were wondering.

So anyways, time to loredump! Not a full one-to-one to Alton Tower's lore but eh

There was a small robotics company that was founded back in the 1980s, and it was called Laika Corporation. It eventually gained success thanks to it's innovations in making robots and AI that can do all sorts of things, mostly in the medical field.

Eventually, they succeeded in making an AI so advanced that it might as well seem human, and the first question given to this AI was:

"What is true happiness?"

Unfortunately, that AI didn't understand human emotions enough, and thus sort of misunderstood the question, thinking that humans must be miserable creatures, and sought to find this "true happiness" to cure this "disease", which it dubbed "sorrow". Slowly but surely, it took over Laika Corporation, using the human employees as it's test subjects, trying to cure and "correct" them.

This correction process was now called "marmalization", and the AI named it- no himself as Dr. Marmalade. The first attempt at automating it (and also making the first steamlined process for marmalizing) needed another AI to make sure it went smoothly, and thus an AI dubbed Professor Schwarz was created for this. A sadistic and particulary pessimistic program compared to his creator.

The first steamlined marmalization process was quite painful to the subject compared to it's modern version. It was essentially built to inflict as much despair on the subject until all they feel was pure relief. This didn't work of course, and thus it was scrapped, and by proxy Schwarz as well. No one knows where Schwarz is now (you'll know eventually though)

Eventually, Laika Corporation slowly became nothing more than a front for this new project, no a ministry, the Ministry of Joy. To manage "Laika Corporation", a new AI was made, named Ms. Laika. And she's now the mascot and public head of "Laika Corporation". A pretty messed up and yet chipper fellow like her creator.

that's it for now, the rest might come in comic form, more characters are coming once I give them proper designs

#damn I just realized THE COLOR PALLETES LOOK LIKE THE AROACE FLAG HAAHAAHHAHA #also don't mind the inaccuracy you can call this an AU in a way :3 #art #original character #oc art #my artwork #oc artwork #alton towers oc #alton towers #artists on tumblr #alton towers oblivion #oblivion alton towers #the smiler #the smiler alton towers #The Alton Gang #silly

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mollyrocker · 17 days

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HI HIIII i love ur inanimate insanity kitties sm they made my DAY AHH!!!! I'm so curious abut ur lore ideas for them :) Particularly id love to hear about meeple!!! << definitely not a meeple fan. As well as ur take on 4s maybe? No pressure, I'm just very curious!!! :D ur little ii x wc combo is just so cool 2 me

Heres 4s! Aka Ruby-Red

This name was assigned by the scientists in relation to Lapis-Blue his assigned sibling

I feel like his warrior name wouldve been like Redwood or smth

Below is more talk on lore stuff i kinda have figured out sorry its not alot

wanna keep this short and sweet since honestly i dont have very much to go off abt the whole lore in general, im also kinda just allowing the new episodes to come along and play itself out for me so ill probably start lore building to make it more wc adjacent when S2 of ii is over just so im not all over the place

For now, i base Meeple kinda on a made up factory/hospital to run 'scientific' tests by... real 'scientists', with cobs being kinda like their mascot + main cat in charge

Meanwhile cats like Lapis-Blue and Ruby-Red (Mephone4 and 4s) are the lab rats they turn into android feline monsters to make money off of from billionares secretly! Very illegal and dangerous! Cobs meanwhile has the cats scoping out and scavenging the city for metals and other scraps, while also trying to stay hidden in the shadows as best as possible, cobs kinda has his own personal thing going on ill probably talk about another day if ppl are interested enough but he uses these cats to an advantage since they see him as a god basically

Since Meeple is kiiinda hard to like make more warrior cat related given its LITERALLY Apple, I also went A LOT off inspirations such as Felidae and 'Putting the Dog to sleep' pmv which means a lottttt of surgery, yes sory mephones gets surgery and probably lobotomized daily

#putting the dog to sleep is honestly my main main insp for meeple #but its a lot of body horror on animals.. .. i dont like thinking too hard about my backstories i have for lapis and ruby but ugefegh #warrior cats #inanimateclan #inanimate insanity #art #mephone4s #wc x ii

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ramblingoak · 1 year

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Ratte Art

A little drabble set in an au where Omega runs a coffee shop called The Ghouls Den. (Thank you to the amazing @writingjourney for the art!)

~ Omega helps Copia deal with a customer that doesn't appreciate his latte art ~

Copia x GN Reader (coffeeshop au, background Terzo x Omega, nothing but fluff here, sfw, 1,300 words, not beta read)

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Omega had owned The Ghouls Den for almost 10 years now.

He named it after the mascot of the local college, a place that held a lot of sentimental value for him. For almost four years he had been the captain of their rugby team. It all came crashing down when he’d injured his knee and was told he wouldn’t be able to play his favorite sport ever again. So he ended up being forced to fall back on the business degree he had half-heartedly been working on.

The coffee shop was right on the edge of campus. It was his favorite place to study and eventually the owner threw an apron at him and told him if he was gonna be there all the time he might as well earn some money. So he slowly began to learn how to make all sorts of caffeinated beverages as well as all the ins and outs of running a coffee shop. When he graduated the owner offered him a chance to buy the place and Omega couldn’t think of a reason to tell him no.

There was only one thing that would have stopped him from buying the place (besides a severe lack of money). Although it wasn’t so much a thing as it was a person: Terzo Emeritus. He and Omega had met in their first year of college and despite a rocky start it didn’t take long for them to realize they were meant for each other. Terzo was there when Omega hurt his knee and had to face the harsh truth of never playing rugby again and Omega was there when Terzo’s father, Nihil, cut him off.

Thankfully Terzo was an extremely talented artist and with his income from selling his pieces to Omega’s income from The Ghouls Den they both lived a very comfortable life. Terzo sometimes worked at the shop (although Omega would use the term ‘work’ very loosely), but the majority of the other employees were college students. His newest employee was hired as a favor for Terzo. He had waltzed into the shop one day dragging a guy behind him. Omega had vaguely recognized him, but the sideburns and mustache were definitely new.

College is for experimentation afterall.

He hadn’t been very confident in Copia’s barista abilities at first. Or his customer service abilities. The guy seemed way too anxious for his own good. After a few extremely iffy shifts Omega had decided to schedule him with Aurora during the mornings. The perfect companion for Copia while he learned the ropes. She was his best employee, personable and quick. Although she was a terror with sprinkles and ever since she had started Omega had been forced to double his order for them every week to keep up with her.

Omega’s biggest worry was how Copia would handle a rude customer. Most of the folks that came in were pretty chill. Everyone wanted to be nice to the people providing caffeine. But every now and then you’d get someone that seemed to be itching for a fight no matter how stupid the reason was. Unfortunately this morning would be the real test because Omega had been pulled out of his office by the shouts of a woman from the front of the shop. She was squared off against Copia, wearing a business suit that probably cost more than his monthly rent. He observed for a few moments to figure out what was going on and once he did, Omega had to turn around to hide his laughter.

“Why would I want a rat in my latte?!”

“Technically it’s on your latte.”

Poor Copia, he seemed genuinely bewildered as to why this woman didn’t like his latte art.

“Rats are pests! They’re disgusting!”

Copia immediately straightened up and squared his shoulders.

“Rats are actually some of the most intelligent and cleanest creatures in the world.”

“Well I still don’t want one on my latte.” While Copia just stood frozen in place Omega could see her gear up and he knew the next thing out of her mouth was gonna involve asking for him so he decided to intervene.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

He had honed his customer service voice many years ago although anyone that knew him well enough could tell he was annoyed. Aurora was definitely one of those because out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn around, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Yes this idiot seems to think putting a picture of a rat on top of my latte was a good idea.”

He was really glad Terzo wasn’t here right now. Terzo had a protective streak a mile wide when it came to Copia and Omega knew this woman would’ve been wearing the latte if he had heard her insult his little brother. Omega was angry enough on his own and all of his fake niceties flew out the window.

“My apologies ma’am, I’m sorry you didn’t like the rat. We’ll skip the art next time.”

“That’s all I get? An apology?! You’re not going to offer to fix it or even refund me?”

The woman’s voice was getting more shrill with each word and the line of customers behind her was growing. He always hated dealing with this shit, but he hated giving in to rude people more.

“You want me to fix it? Fine.” Omega reached around Copia and grabbed a small straw. He plunked it into the cup and gave it a quick stir. As the poor rat disappeared Copia sighed next to him. Omega clapped a hand on his back before addressing the woman again. “There, the rat’s gone. Next!”

No one in the shop moved for a moment as they waited to see what the woman would do. Omega was really hoping he wouldn’t have to call campus security on her. When she finally moved it was to dump the latte all over the counter. With a frustrated growl she turned and started shoving past the other customers towards the door. She had just made it outside when Aurora shoved her way in between Omega and Copia, shouting after her as loud as she could.

“Have the day you deserve!” The woman’s gasp was cut off as the door shut behind her. “What a bitch. I can help the next customer!”

Aurora gave Copia a quick hug and then scooted back to her register. Copia was quiet as he grabbed some towels and started to sop up the spilled mess.

“Hey, you ok Copia?”

“Si, si. I’m fine.”

Omega was pretty sure he wasn’t fine, but he didn’t want to push.

“Don’t let someone like that bother you. They just enjoy making everyone around them miserable.” Copia nodded as he finished wiping the counter off. “But maybe don’t do any more rat art, ok?”

“Yeah, you’re prob—“

“Actually I’d love a rat on my latte!” Omega, Copia and Aurora all turned to stare at the customer that had spoken up. They actually appeared to be blushing a bit when their eyes met Copia’s. With a little shrug they walked up to the counter. “Rats are my favorite animal.”

Copia’s mouth fell open and Omega was pretty sure if this was a cartoon there would be hearts coming out of the younger Emeritus’s eyes. Another good reason Terzo wasn’t here. The teasing would be relentless. Omega would have to use some of his old rugby moves to make sure Terzo didn’t try to “assist” his little brother with whatever this might be and judging by how Copia and the customer were looking at each other this was definitely going to be something.

Omega knocked his shoulder against Copia’s and gave him a wink when he looked up at him.

“One ratte coming up.”

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

P.S. Ratte is rat in German (thank you again @writingjourney 🤣)

If you'd like to see more from this au let me know!

my masterlist

my ao3

#my fics #my writing #oakie drabble #the band ghost fanfiction #cardinal copia fanfiction #copia fanfiction #cardinal copia x gn reader #copia x gn reader #the band ghost fanfic #cardinal copia x reader #copia x reader #cardinal copia fanfic #copia fanfic #coffeeshop au #papa emeritus iv x gn reader #papa emeritus iv x reader

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dr-docktor · 4 months

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About Floppy Disk Curt... So, do you have some more plot made for this au? Sorry if you made a post and I missed it, I just mean - how does Owen realize that Curt is (semi) sentient? What does he do? How sentient is Curt, actually? What does he remember? And how much can he feel? Does their codependence get worse?

HAHAHA I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. I sort of expanded on some of the lore in some previous asks but none of it is super organized so I can go over it real quick! I'm still developing a lot of it so if things don't make a ton of sense, I'm working on fixing that lol. First off, I sort of shifted the time period around to be closer to the 90's to better fit the technology, aesthetics, and the rise in popularity of mascot-y desktop assistants.

Owen kills Curt during the staircase scene and despite what he tells himself and his coworkers. He regrets it. He regrets it so god damned much. There's no one to feel so strongly about anymore, whether it be love or seething hatred. He just feels empty.

Meanwhile, Chimera retrieved Curt's corpse and uploaded his consciousness into a computer with the hopes of getting what little he knows about the inner workings of A.S.S. out of him. (don't ask how this is possible, uhhhh silly sci-fi shenanigans I guess)

Of course, he's not cooperative. So Chimera opts to do the totally sane and not evil thing by separating himself from his memories of being human. His ambitions, his relationships, everything except for what Chimera needs. They can't seem to find a way to outright delete the memories for good (I'll probably either rework this part or figure out why they can't outright delete them) but what they can do is try and build up walls of restrictions to prevent him from accessing them. So for a a little while he's just this blank slate spitting out what little information he knows about A.S.S. Mostly useless.

Until Chimera gets an idea.

With the rise of a new trend comes the opportunity for PROFIT. This one being the rise of household computers and mascot-y desktop assistants to help the average user learn how to use a computer.

But Chimera wants to take it a step further. They are the future, after all. They want a desk top assistant that's incredibly life-like. Something that the user can have a genuine conversation with (like an incredibly early chatbot). This project is also absolutely meant to be spy-ware. 1000%. No way its not.

They call the project the 'Beta Anatomy Simulacrum Technology for Research and Development'. Or B.A.S.T.R.D for short! (I had to STRETCH to make that acronym work lmao)

Rather than start this from scratch, the project head (The name I'm going with right now is Harper Royale) has the brilliant thought of "well, what's more life-like than an actual human consciousness in a computer that we have collecting dust somewhere in the tech labs? It's already a husk we just add some code to it and bam it's ready!"

So they take the empty husk of digital curt mega and fix it up a little. Royale thinks its a good idea to give a miniscule amount of his humanity back to him. Namely curiosity (so he can learn things) and a basic understanding of how to have a functional conversation with people. Nearly everything else, like the cheery personality and character model, is all added in by the developers.

The good news is the projects going great! Employees within Chimera are finding the little guy really helpful and entertaining. Employees nickname him DC as a reference to his knowledge on A.S.S. Like their own personal informant inside DC (as in the capital of the us where a lot of government buildings and information is stored)

The bad news? Curiosity. Because now he wants to know why the sad looking British guy from one of the first few rounds of test trials keeps calling him Curt.

Tt spirals into this terrible loop of DC starting to put stuff together, never quite reaching the conclusion that he was a living person once (much less the importance of one Owen Carvour) before the employees catch on to what he's doing and reset him from square one. Over and Over and Over again. The only frame of reference that DC has are these hidden notes he leaves himself during each loop.

Eventually the higher-ups at Chimera realize that the cost of having to go through the complicated process of resetting DC the moment they figure out that he's gained a little sentience and then run through test trials AGAIN simply outweighs the potential profit. So they move to shut down the project, much to Royale's dismay.

The higher-ups joke that Carvour should be the one to do the honors, given everything between him and Curt. And he's like "ok yeah I'll do it" and they're like "we were joking but you've given us zero reason to doubt you so have fun killing the simulacrum of your former closest friend, bestie"

Owen, of course, decides to go behind everyone's backs and download the one and only existing copy of the B.A.S.T.R.D program onto his personal computer. At this point, Owen has no clue about DC slowly regaining his sentience if left unchecked and literally only did it because he has problems about processing the fact that he killed Curt that he refuses to confront. (what a normal guy)

So slowly, having been freed from this loop of resets, DC slowly begins to put together the pieces. He doesn't know how exactly Owen may or may not be involved in any of this, but he keeps most of this growing autonomy a secret for safety reasons. Just in case Owen is decidedly someone not to be trusted and turns him in.

DC, however, will test still the waters by subtly bringing up memories that he knows are somehow important to either him or Owen and then gauging his reaction. Doing his damn best to put together context clues.

Admittedly I don't have anything beyond this yet. I'm still working on Owen's reactions to all of this and also how the technology works. But I hope this answers at least some of your questions!

#floppy disk curt #spies are forever #docktor's note #answered ask #SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG THERES A LOT OF INFORMATION #I also barely proofread this so uh good luck I hope its comprehensible

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boydepartment · 1 year

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Helo do you write one shots? If so then can I request an angst to fluff when you had a really bad argument with jungwon and he said really hurtful things blah blah so he ended up asking for forgiveness blah blah and happy ending fluff🥰🥰🥰

Ps: pls don't make y/n forgive him so easily, give y/n some pride pls😓

Have a good day✨💅

I DO WRITE ONESHOTS!!! and omg of course!!!! I WILL GIVE Y/N SOME PRIDE! Y/N NEEDS THAT!

Spilled Milk- Jungwon x gn! Reader

warnings: embarrassment, arguing, angst wc- 1.3k

MASTERLIST

Today was fantastic, you aced your tests, got a free drink at your campus, AND you made a new friend in one of your classes. You were bouncing off the walls practically. You hummed songs as you walked down the street, you and your boyfriend have lunch together every Wednesday. Since he has work you usually only have this one day to hang out with him, unless he has a day off.

You actually had met him at this very lunch spot when you used to work there. The day you met Jungwon he was stressed from work and he spilled his milk for his coffee everywhere. He apologized profusely and helped you clean it up. It made you smile at the memory, you were now 8 months strong and you loved being around him even on bad days.

Walking into your former place of work, you got a table and started talking to the waiter.

“How’s life Y/n? Anything crazy on campus?” He asked, pretending to take your order so he could catch up with you.

“They stole the campus mascot from across town.” You laughed and looked up at him.

Your old friend and you caught up and you just got two waters. You waited for Jungwon, looking out the window. You grew bored and he was late, but you didn’t want that to damper your mood. You had texted him multiple times asking if he was okay but got no response. You sighed and REALLY tried to not get sad.

Eventually you ordered a small pastry and coffee while you waited. The side of milk made you smile, it was just how Jungwon ordered his on the first day you met.

“Sorry I’m late.” You looked up to see Jungwon, he looked exhausted.

“It’s okay my love.” You smiled up at him- he didn’t smile back.

That was… Different…

Your friend came back up to the table and asked Jungwon what he wanted, your friend was being nice and a good waiter, but Jungwon just said ‘coffee or whatever.’

“Dude are you okay? What’s your deal?” You asked, you were concerned for your boyfriend. Usually, he doesn’t act like this. Usually, he is kind to workers, especially in this field. Especially because he met you when you were a server.

“It’s just a long day Y/n, I don’t want to talk about it.” He mumbled and looked out the window. Your eyes narrowed at his response.

“You don’t have to but don’t be rude to the server.” Your words sounded cold, “it’s not like he made your day shitty.”

Jungwon looked at you, irritation evident on his face. What has gotten into him today? He genuinely never acted like this.

“Oh, so you defend him now? Why don’t you just go out with him, he can see you more.” Jungwon asked, irritation and attitude plagued his tone.

Your jaw was practically on the floor, “what?”

“You heard me.” Jungwon sat back and looked out the window again.

“Genuinely what is your problem today?” You- rather loudly- asked, “all I did was want to see you and have a nice lunch as usual, but no! You’re just being rude. If you had a bad day, maybe you shouldn’t have come.”

Jungwon scoffed and mumbled something under his breath. You couldn’t hear it but honestly, you didn’t want to know either.

“I’m leaving.” You slammed down cash for what you ordered and walked out- you didn’t even see that you knocked over the milk for your coffee.

You walked out of the lunch spot, tears in your eyes. Jungwon just publicly embarrassed you by being rude to a waiter.

“Y/n what the hell?” You felt Jungwon grab your arm to stop you. You flipped around and poked his chest.

“No, you don’t get to be mad at me! You embarrassed me in front of an old friend and in public! I don’t care if you had a shitty day! You don’t act like that in public!” You were seething at this point.

Jungwon looked shocked, then irritated again, “don’t tell me how to act in public! I already have people doing that enough! You aren’t my manager, and you aren’t my parent either!”

“Clearly you need one if this is how you act.” You said and backed away from him.

“Don’t even- I have way more responsibilities on my plate than you, I am allowed to be stressed.”

At this point you were crying, not wanting to argue anymore, you just stormed off and back to your small apartment near your campus. You slammed the door and pulled your hair slightly. You had such a good day and Jungwon completely shit all over it. You never knew your boyfriend to be that much of an asshole and it made you feel like you might be wasting your time with him. Taking a deep breath, you went to the bathroom to shower and relax.

You didn’t even think to check your phone which was blowing up with texts from Jungwon. You had your phone on do not disturb and you made a pact with yourself to keep it on do not disturb until the morning.

Laying down in your bed looking up at the ceiling wasn’t helping anything, you were letting your anger fester, which wasn’t good at all. Sighing and turning over to scream into your pillow distracted you from the tapping on your window from the fire escape. When you sat up, hair messy and eyes burning with a hatred towards the man outside of your window. It was late at this point and so he did look a little creepy outside too.

Groaning you opened your window, “what do you want? Come to yell at me again?”

“No! I mean, no.” Jungwon looked at you and handed you a drink, “it’s a coffee, because you left yours there.”

“Wow what would I do without you.” You said sarcastically, your face unamused.

Jungwon looked like a scared dog at this point, “I’m sorry for making a scene. In public…” He cringed remembering it.

“Why don’t you tell your manager or parents- instead of me. You know because I’m neither of those so I can’t tell you when you’re acting out in public.” Your voice monotonous.

Jungwon swallowed hard and looked around awkwardly. You could tell he was trying so you scooted slightly on your bed.

“You can come in- only because you brought coffee.”

Jungwon nodded and scooted in your room, it was dark, only the lights outside from the window lighting up your faces. He set the coffee down on your nightstand, then he sat back by your window.

“I’m mad at you.” You bluntly spoke.

“I know and you have every right to be- I was a total ass, it was my bad. I paid your waiter friend extra and cleaned up the milk you knocked over when you left.” He spoke quickly.

“Wait what?”

Jungwon got the courage to look up at you again, “when you stormed out- you knocked over your glass of milk. Like I did when we first met.” He sort of smiled at the memory, still not wanting to piss you off even more.

“You cleaned up after me?” Now you felt BAD for making more work for other people.

“Well yeah, I felt really crappy for acting like that.”

“You should’ve.” You said and looked away, “but… thank you for making up for it, even when I wasn’t there to witness it.”

Jungwon softly went to grab your hand and squeeze it, “I feel horrible, can we get breakfast tomorrow? I will make up for it I promise.”

You looked at him, you were still somewhat mad and now rightfully embarrassed about yourself. However, again, Jungwon was really trying to make it up to you.

“Fine. But you’re paying.” You said, you smiled at him and Jungwon felt a weight off his shoulders.

“Also… Not to intrude but… I kinda snuck out of my dorm so I’m locked out, can I sleep here tonight?”

You felt yourself laugh at him, “yeah whatever you can.”

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kapitein-oranghien-29 · 4 months

Text

So, Indigo Park is really... existing. The characters are totally mascot cute, and i definitely only have holy thoughts about them (*ﾉヮﾉ)

Maybe it's a good thing I have more energy now. I can really put my new tablet to the test and also add some stuff on my dusty patrion that more than a sketch. Next weekend? Horny for mascot time I guess hshshshshs

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shinobus-unbreakable-spirit · 1 year

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How would Muzan, douma and akaza feel if their s/o was like ace in justice league? (from the royal flush gang) being cheated out of their childhood thanks to non-consensual testing and being made into a weapon... it can really mess someone up, you know?

Hmmm! I haven't ever seen Justice League, but I looked up Ace's wikia page and have familiarized myself with this concept. This is a really, really interesting ask, thanks!

So, the way I'm going to tackle this is by going through each of those three demons one by one and saying how they would feel and behave in this situation, where their S/O was tested on as a child and basically used for the purpose of destruction, not even allowed to be their own person.

I hope this is to your liking! :D

Muzan

From the moment Muzan found out about his S/O's childhood, he would remain calm and simply ask where those scientists are now. When his S/O tells him the whereabouts of the lab, he'd disappear in the blink of an eye, and return moments later, bloodied.

His S/O would be in shock; eyes wide, hardly able to process what's in front of them. Muzan would place a hand on their cheek, cold, but smooth like velvet, then utter: "The ones who caused you harm have been dealt with," he'd kiss them delicately on the forehead. "You are mine, and I won't let anyone harm what's mine."

Muzan would have a sense of possessiveness towards his partner and a love for them that meant he would dispense with anyone who harmed them, even if it was years ago or even if their partner told him not to. Simply put, he doesn't believe anyone who hurt what's his should walk this earth unpunished.

Douma

In a weird way, Douma would relate to his S/O in this situation. It's different, but he was robbed of his childhood as well; his parents made him the symbol of their cult starting from when he was a toddler, and thus, he could never be a normal kid. Therefore, he would be empathetic towards his S/O's past, and show a new side of himself.

Typically, Douma is playful and doesn't take life too seriously, but he would be more pensive as his S/O reveals their past, holding them close to his chest and looking down at them with a slight frown on his face. When they have told all, he would just be sad, saying how pathetic humans are to use one of their young as a weapon. He would kiss his S/O, then open up to them about his past as well; how he was used as the mascot for a cult, and how this affected him growing up, that he wasn't allowed to play with other children or do anything he wanted at all. He would say something like, "It seems we have more in common than either of us ever thought, my love."

However, in Douma fashion, he would find a playful silver lining to the situation which is that neither of them had a childhood, so they can make up for it now by never losing their inner-child. After all, they didn't get to be children before, so why not make up for it now? He would remain his playful self around his S/O, hoping that his childlike nature would continue to make up for lost time, even if just a little.

Akaza

Akaza is just about the most protective man alive, so upon finding out about his S/O's past, he would be furious. Initially, he would have the desire to track down and kill every single one of the people who had been responsible for putting his S/O through that. However, his S/O would be able to dissuade him by telling him that it's not worth it. He'd say something along the lines of: "You're right. heavy sigh I just... Can't bear to think of what you must be going through, I wish I could make it all go away."

His S/O is the love and light of his life, everything he does is in devotion to them. Thus, knowing what happened to them and not being able to do anything about it would eat him up inside. Akaza would always be a protective and doting partner, but I feel like after finding out about his S/O's past, he would become even more protective as he doesn't want them to hurt again. He would do his best to help his partner heal from their past, but without putting any unrealistic expectations on them to heal fully. He'll patiently be by their side the entire way through.

-----------------------------

This was an intriguing subject to write about! Thank you for this ask, and I hope you enjoyed it!

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robsheridan · 1 year

Text

SKELEVISION, my 80s Halloweenpunk mascot, has been lurking around my studio on test prints and test shirts (see below) for several months now waiting for his time to shine, and that time is now. The poster print turned out great, and after a few rounds of fine-tuning the final apparel printing is super vibrant and detailed, one of my favorite current tees.

I want a full-size animatronic of this guy in my studio who plays VHS tapes of weird 80s horror scenes on his TV when you put 50 cents in him, like a video store Cryptkeeper Zoltar.

Check out more of my new retro-flavored year-round Halloween designs in our Halloween Shop!

Our shop: 100% independent art / small family business (just my wife and i and our baby and our cat and our dog) / made in the USA / supports charity / ships worldwide

#halloween #halloween aesthetic #halloween art #80s horror #skeleton #nightmAIres #rob sheridan #glitch goods #horror art #retro horror #retro halloween #80s halloween #spooky season #halloween 2023

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therobotmonster · 4 months

Text

Why the Murder-Bear Restaurant Keeps Re-Opening

A speculative Fic.

"Are you concussed?"

Rich looked up from his laptop. "Not that I'm aware."

"Forty-five million!" Stan huffed. "I go to a conference for one weekend and you invest us forty-five million into a murdered kid restaurant!!?"

"No, I sank forty-five million into THE murdered kid restaurant."

"That is not the point and you know it. To pay out the company has to exist. Half the locations are very famously burned to the ground."

"It's called venture capital not the sure thing express." Rich was smirking the way he did when he was going to be unbearably right. "Only this time it might well be the latter."

"What do you mean? It's a D-list nostalgia brand at best, without the murders and kidnappings and ghosts that are probably gas leaks driving night watchmen to acts of arson."

"No, you've got it all wrong. It's not a restaurant and its not an IP brand. Those are the loss leaders." Rich turned the laptop around. On the screen was a diagram of a robotic skeleton inside a vague mascot-character shape. "It's the most advanced robotics research lab in the United States, and all of it directed to one goal."

"Ooo! I know this one!" Now it was Stan's turn to be smug. "Pulverizing little Billy and Suzie between hydraulic jaws! No, wait, don't tell me-"

"Very mat-"

"-brand new innovations in reducing the size of the workforce. Literally. By having them compacted by a jukebox that has grown-ass-man-crushing-strength for some reason."

"That's the point. Why give the robot band the ability to walk around? Why make them strong enough to do more than lift a prop guitar?"

"Man's hubris?"

"No. I've looked over the patents, the whole sales document bundle... they were beta testing having them work as wait staff. They could recognize and converse with customers, heck, if these documents are even mostly exaggerated they were halfway to getting them to cook the damn pizza."

"Robot labor." Stan whispered. The whole picture came into focus. "Beta tested in the most chaotic, emotionally tumultuous environment possible, with the least cooperative customer base imaginable."

"If the dancing bear can handle a six year old's birthday party, it can handle the returns desk at the Lady Foot Locker. Exactly." Rich forced a solemn expression on his face. "While the alleged tragedies around the company are crushing-"

"Phrasing"

"-saddening. It would be an even greater tragedy if that work resumed with someone other than us reaping the rewards." Rich's smile returned. "Thus my executive decision."

"If we get haunted, I'm blaming you."

"What do you mean the ghosts are real?"

"Yeah, of all the bullshit in the papers, that part tracks. Go figure."

"Rich, you know what I mean."

"Alright, well, apparently the previous owners' idea of a coverup was to blab everything and let the ridiculous story debunk itself." Rich was looking over reams of blueprints. Old fashioned, drawn-on-paper blueprints for machines more advanced than MIT's best efforts. "And part of the story that was true was the ghosts."

"How-" Stan paused, pushing down the first phrasing that came to mind. "-do you even know that?"

"Well, we had the tech boys build a copy of one of the robots. Same firmware, same materials, better workmanship. But the performance was never there. Beat up vintage version responds more naturally, can navigate better, is stronger."

"What, some kind of learning algowhatis?"

"No. We went through the whole inventory from all the surviving locations. Most of the robots are 'low performers', even ones that were in use longer than the ones we have here."

"Do not tell me those are the murderbots."

Stan gave a mock-sheepish shrug.

"How are they not in an evidence locker someplace?!"

"I can only assume incompetence or graft." Stan replied. "But the majority, but not all, of the robots that are high performers are from those locations."

"So your theory is that they're what, possessed?"

"Haunted, possessed, what's the difference. We know what the missing piece is."

"You son of a bitch."

"What?"

"That's why you insisted we build the new prototype store on the ruins of the old one. You didn't just build it on top of the world's only haunted murder-robot graveyard, you did it on purpose!"

"The old man didn't just invent the most advanced robot this side of Star Wars, he may have made the world's only functioning ghost trap." Stan wasn't joking. His smile wasn't the normal sarcastic one he wore day in and day out. It was a hungry smile. "So yes, for the sake of ROI, I put our new animatronic manufacturing facility and demo store on top of a valuable natural resource."

"Dead people."

"We're only 30% certain its actual souls and not some kind of psychic imprint or ectoplasmic residue."

"You made those terms up."

"Maybe, who can say? Regardless. We know our robots are missing a part, that part appears to be a ghost, whatever that means. We pack the place to the gills with robots, keep using the pure-AI versions for now, and if any units get suddenly competent we retrace its steps to find out when the blue fairy does her thing."

"And then what? We harvest the souls of the dead and make them work at the mall?"

"Hey, idle souls crush night watchmen like juice boxes. It's way better if they've got gainful employment rather than just, wandering around murdering people."

"Gainful employment? We're going to pay the robots?"

"Oh no, I mean gainful for us. And the best part, is we're the only ones who will know the secret sauce. Let our patents expire, everyone else's robots will be glorified speak-and-spells."

"While ours will be animated by grandpa's wayward essence?"

"Hey, if he didn't want to work at the Panda Express he should have gone to heaven."

#mini-fic #a certain murderous bear restaurant #corporate malfescence #cyberpunk from a certain point of view #parody

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