#presumably because they're less than 30 years old

[opbackgrounds]

There's a lot of cool hints about the various species that we'll see in the future, but the most important thing from this paper that I haven't seen talked about much is that ostensibly all slaves are supposed to be criminals and non-WG citizens. This is what allows the auction houses to get around the World Government's abolition of slavery, making the illegal legal.

It also gives the Sabaody, with its close relationship with Mariejois, financial reason to have all sorts of random people declared criminals

[fentyjjk]

pairing jungkook x fem reader

genre angst, heartbreak, cheating

warnings jungkook is a bit of an ass, extreme love bombing, angsty, smut, y/n and jungkook are a mess, messy breakups, y/n's a bit of a violent bitch with a capital V, cheating, guns, black y/n head cannon, yoongi is here too, (lets talk about protective family man yoongi..dear lord)

synopsis your relationship with jungkook had been fizzling out for a while. for the last year of your five year relationship, you two had all but floated around each other, but after you catch him cheating that's the final straw.

read me hi! this is my first angsty type of writing that i'm publishing and the first thing im publishing on here ever… i wrote this in two days so not much revision was done and i did this kind of quickly so my bad, hope you enjoy anyways <3

The clock above your office door ticked slowly as if taunting you like the inanimate object was ticking away at the amount of time you could avoid going home to him. Jungkook, your boyfriend of five years. It wasn't that you didn't love him, no, you do. It's not that you wanted someone else either (and even if you did you and Jungkook weren't shy of threesomes) it was simply the way you felt in his presence at moments. Bored was the word that felt most suitable at times when you two weren't having sex.

Compared to any other relationship out there you're not going to feel butterflies and giddy when you come around that special person in your life all the time, but this wasn't just that non-giddy feeling or not feeling the butterflies this was you and Jungkook living around each other; occupying the same space, but being so far away.

To say the least your love is dying— if not dead already— and neither of you have the courage to put the nail in the coffin.

You watched the clock and as it hit 7:30 and you gathered your things, you tried to cheer yourself up as you left as you thought on the next upcoming days. In a few days you and Jungkook will have been together for six years. A long time, yes, but not a happy time. He hadn't proposed yet which is a frequent irrtatence to you seeing as those your other friends were engaged, married, even having fucking kids and they seem genuinely happy together. On top of that, they were together for a significantly less amount of time than you and Jungkook are now before they're significant others' popped the big question! Some of your friends picked up on your feelings towards your relationship pretty early on that you weren't satisfied and nor was Jungkook. Your perfect happy unmarried couple facade could only last for so long. The jokes they made didn't help. Jokes about how unhappy you seem, jokes about how Jungkook is probably cheating on you and that bitch Hana. She was your old roommate from college who still has a stick up her ass because you're the one Jungkook had been with from college up until now. It still brings discomfort to you when you think of what she said to you at your birthday party.

"Jungkook said he still has something planned for late tonight…" You told your group of girlfriends as you'd all settled around the coffee table in the middle of your apartment.

"How exciting!" Nayeon squeaked seemingly more thrilled than you'd been the entire night. "He's so thoughtful."

"Yeah I know.." You look over at him, he's standing with a few of your mutual friends next to that touchy bitch, Jiyeon. He's barely spoken to you unless the two of you are in front of friends playing up the happy couple act. "Another night of missionary…" you mumble to yourself but the array of laughter from your friends let's you know they heard you clearly.

Hana laughed the hardest at the snarky comment the beer she had held up to her red lips dripping through the edges of her mouth as she slurred into your ear, "if you don't want him I'll take him he seems pretty big." She only laughed more at the presumed look of disgust on your face saying she was joking after you pushed her onto the couch and walked off.

She was right he is big though and that was what was saving you guys, your sex.

No one could really give it to you as good as he does. Your threesomes proved as such.

Guys would be fucking you and Jungkook wouldn't even be touching you just watching while he jerked himself off staring at you making you feel hot and sexy all for him and you'd fall apart. The guys could never really get you there on their own. You needed him, you'd become accustomed to just him in bed. The attraction paired with how good he and you are in bed kept you two together.

To put it simply; sex spiced up the boring.

Which is why you had an idea, maybe you guys needed something more, not marriage no Jungkook said he'd propose when he was ready, you needed something sexually anew. You'd had orgies, threesomes, used handcuffs, chains, ropes, choking, done all the vanilla shit, nothing hasn't been tried, but maybe you need something more daring sex is also becoming a part of you boring routine despite how good it is, you need a little more fire.

You'd gotten home to the TV blaring from the front room the smell of something delicious hitting your nostrils as you set your bag down and took your shoes off. You hang your coat on the rack just as Jungkook comes into view.

"How was work?"

"Good, what're you cooking?"

"I just finished actually, it's rice and some lamb skewers your plates on the counter." You smile, pressing a kiss to his cheek in thanks before walking past him to finally eat, you're starving to be honest.

"I had an idea," you say as you pop some rice in your mouth. His cooking never fails to amaze you, now is no different.

He joins you by the counter, his hand rubbing your thigh, his phone in the other, "I'm listening."

"I want to go out to eat—somewhere nice and pristine and… expensive." Jungkook looks over at you denial heavy on his tongue, with both of your payrolls, anything expensive, not just restaurants, is not a norm, they are a very rare luxury.

"Y/N-" you cup his cheek, the soft gesture which you hadn't done in months stuns him into silence.

"Just this once, okay? It'll be a nice night for us and I'll pay." You smile softly kissing his lips which taste of lamb skewers.

"Fine, but I'm paying and making the reservations." Maybe the butterflies were still there because his gentleness never failed to make your heart flutter.

You'd both gone to Choi's Restaurant, one of the most high end restaurants in Seoul and the most expensive. How Jungkook managed to get a reservation still stuns you, but you take it for what it is. You marvel at the plain, but luxurious looking room as you're guided to a more secluded space by a waiter. A gold grand piano is placed in the middle of the tables where a man in a tuxedo played soft melodies as people ate, giving the place a cozier feel as does the white, brown, and gold hues do. The glimmering chandelier above almost made you stop in your tracks, how the hell did Jungkook pay for this?

Once seated near the back, away from most of the people who no doubt frequented the restaurant, you two ordered and talked over the amazing interior of the place and how expensive it looked which led to Jungkook commenting on how well you fit here. His eyes shone sadly. He's thinking about all those years ago.

When you and Jungkook first started dating you'd told him you got a job in the US and told him you'd wanted to move to pursue it. The job in question offered a lot more money than where you were working at the time, plus at the time you'd finally be able to get away from the mumbled remarks of those at your job about your darker skin color and people touching your hair unprovoked. And even though he didn't openly say it, it was evident to you that he was making you choose and that if you left your relationship would end.

You chose Jungkook and stayed in South Korea.

The only reason he didn't want to go to the US wasn't because of his English—which he knew fluently—but because in his words he 'was going to become a promising idol.' For months you'd sat and waited for him to debut, giving up your dreams so he could pursue his own only for his group to make a one hit wonder and be forgotten about years later.

"Hey," you grab his hand across the table meeting his eyes, "it's okay, and you look amazing too." He smiles caressing the back of your hand, he lifts it kissing your palm softly.

Now it's time. "Really sexy.. if I were bold enough I'd probably suck you off under the table." The wine he was sipping gets caught in his throat as he coughs. You giggle watching him splutter before you.

"W-what?"

"What? You don't want me to give you head here? In front of all these fancy people?" Your eyes leave his to scan the people eating away unaware that you were mere seconds from dropping to your knees and making it difficult for Jungkook to contain himself.

"Baby- fu- don't do that…'' his voice strained when you lifted your leg underneath the table pressing your heel to his crotch. You pull back when he tells you to, but you feel him grab your ankle almost yanking you forward when he forces you to press against his growing bulge firmer. "fuck," he shifts moving forward so his forearm presses against the table making it easier for you to move your foot agasint him.

"Aw, bun, you getting horny?" His eyes met yours. He seemed like he was losing it, the lust and panic in his eyes evident as the door to the restaurant opened and a group of people walked in reminding him and you that you two are in public that only further bestowed you.

You moved your foot down pressing the heel to his balls he yelped, digging his nails into the flesh of your ankle, hard. You chuckled, rubbing the area gently with the padding of your shoe.

This is so filthy you're turning him on with your shoe. It should make you feel disgusted, but it doesn't plus you'd rarely ever see Jungkook be this submissive and needy. It did something to you. The waiter came to your table and Jungkook composed himself fairly quickly although you feel the way he subtly pushes into your foot guiding you up and down his clothed length by his grip on your ankle, tightening his hold on your hand above the table.

When the food arrives you're still teasing him beneath the table and as soon as the waiter is out of sight you slide beneath the table under the cloth that hides you. You, with the help of Jungkook, undo his belt buckle, unzipping his dress pants slowly. He truly did look good tonight. It's a shame that you marked his pants with your heels but you'd make it up to him, right now. His boxers strain against his cock. You can feel him twitching in your hands when you grip him. The quiet curse slipping from his lips makes you grin satisfied that he's enjoying himself.

When you take him out of his underwear the angry red tip glares back at you shiny with pre. You waste no time sucking his tip into your mouth, almost crying out when he thrusted forward filling your mouth and the beginning of your throat without warning. You repress the urge to pull away, bobbing your head slowly just the way he likes it trying not to cough at the unexpected movement.

His coat covers the light that's coming through the tablecloth, his hands finding your newly redone box braids shortly there after. He barely moved his hips as to not draw attention to himself, but you do feel his restraint by the grip he has on your hair. It burns so well.

The thought of someone catching you two in this obscene action makes you throb in the sheer underwear your wearing. You pull off him, his spit slicked length hitting your lips as he tries to push you back on him, you grab his wrist making him stop, "I'm going to hump your leg," you rasp, "is that okay?"

"Yes, fuck, yes please do, use me." He says in a breathless whisper, you smile lifting the ends of your clad green dress to your hips. Rubbing your throbbing clit you tease yourself a bit as you sit on his dress shoe, he moves his leg forward his calf pressing against your cunt you almost moan as he moves his leg against you. The friction is too good and you can't stop grinding into the delicious relief but it's about him too, you remind yourself.

You lean against him sucking his balls into your mouth as you glide your hand up and down his veiny girth quickly; anyone would hear the squelching if they came close enough but you're too far gone to care. You take him into your mouth again, paying extra attention to his tip as small beads of cum begin to squirt out.

"Wa-wait, Y/N–baby, I'm going to c-cum.." he tries to push you away by your braids but you take him down your throat the groan that leaves his mouth soon thereafter lets you know he's coming soon…

And he does right down your throat. Like the good girlfriend you are, you swallow licking his slit, milking him. You hear the mumbled curses and your name and press against his calf harder. You lean back staring at his twitching length as you bring yourself over the edge as well with your fingers. You moan a little too loudly, but Jungkook is too caught up in his post orgasmic euphoria to say anything so you assume it's fine. You crawl back to your side of the table quickly wiping the corners of your mouth suckling the little remants of cum from your nail before reaching for the white tablecloth about to come back up before you hear footsteps and stay put.

"Hello," you hear a man greet Jungkook.

"Hi-"

"I'm the main chef here, Yeonjun," you see Jungkook lean forward and assume they are shaking hands. He's shaking hands with the owner of the restaurant you just gave your boyfriend oral in with his dick now being hidden by his coat and the tablecloth. What the fuck. "How do you like the food?"

"I-it's goo-"

"Really? I mean considering the fact that you've barely touched it and have instead chosen to let your girlfriend give you head here instead of eating it seems to me that you're lying." Fuck. Jungkook says nothing for a while.

"I'm sorry?" Jungkook squeaks in attempts to feign confusion.

"I would hope you are. Not only is this a health violation, it's also illegal public indecency. I am asking you kindly to leave my restaurant as soon as possible."

"Are we banned?" You say meekly from below the table.

"No. I didn't say I didn't enjoy the little act of voyeurism." You hear the playful tone of voice before the sound of descending footsteps resounds.

On the way back home Jungkook tells you the man, Yeonjun, had winked at him after saying he had said he enjoyed it and you joke about offering the man to join you two in a threesome for the most part Jungkook seems to like that idea.

Later in that night you and Jungkook went at it again and again, this was probably the most passionate sex you've had in ages.

After you've worn each other out, you lay there in bed on your phone in hand you wonder about what the owner said about enjoying it. You search the restaurant online to see if you can find where the cameras are placed in the restaurant to get an idea of how much he saw, not expecting to come across an article about a couple who once had sex there.

They did the same way you did except they were two girls they were caught and the couple said that they believe there's cameras installed under the tables.

For some reason that turned you on knowing someone could've possibly been watching you.

Jungkook and you go at it again when you mention wanting to make a sex tape.

Things had been going well. Who knew a little voyeurism could really add to your relationship? You and Jungkook were better than happy.

Jungkook's group even had a comeback scheduled for next month which according to their company would really thrust them back into the spotlight. As weird as it was, giving head to Jungkook made the world a little brighter.

Or so you thought.

You'd picked up an extra shift at work taking up for Ryunjin who had to watch her two year old after her baby's father bailed at the last minute. You didn't mind plus the extra money meant you could maybe go to another luxurious restaurant with Jungkook or maybe you two could go back to Choi's.. the thought of fucking the attractive chef who you'd seen pictures of online while sucking Jungkook's cock had you clenching pathetically.

Your shift ended earlier than usual due to there being a fire that had started in the building next to yours. You wasted no time packing your belongings ready to go home to a cooked meal by your beloved boyfriend which had become routine since that night at Choi's.

You felt happy and ecstatic even as you stepped through the threshold of your apartment not to be greeted by your boyfriend which was typical before that night although it felt a little odd now. Usually he was scrambling to make dinner or just finishing it up, instead the tv greets you from the living room.

You take off your shoes and then your coat calling out your boyfriend's name against the obscenely loud noise from the living room TV. You get nothing in response and travel further into your home. There on the kitchen counter are two plates and two wine glasses one has lipstick remnants on it below that on the floor there's heels, next to that is a pair of black lace panties, next to that there's a shirt, Jungkook's LV shirt. It's like a trail and even though you know all too well what you're walking into as you follow the trail of clothing to your bedroom you don't hesitate nor falter in your steps however when you reach your bedroom door your hand hesitates on the knob.

What if… what if you just leave? What if the sounds of moans coming from the room are just Jungkook watching porn? But if that's the case, why did he purposely turn up the volume so loudly on the living room TV? Like he intended to drown out the sounds of sex? Jungkook knows damn well you wouldn't judge him for masturbating so that thought that you try to reason with yourself may be the reason for all the very evident red flags cancels out.

You open the door just a bit so a slither of light coming from the room spills out into the hall along with the now non-door-restricted moans from the girl on top of him, "Daddy!" Your cringe internally you know Jungkook didn't have a thing for being called daddy and you can't believe he was desperate enough to go for someone with a kink he doesn't fancy. You're not sad, not yet, because you're observing. You're not you right now, you're watching someone outside of yourself trying to piece together why Jungkook would cheat on you.

The girl on top of him is different from you in every form of the word. She's petite, fair skin, with long black hair that's being tugged down to her back by Jungkook so her neck is exposed to his rough kisses, his arms enclosed around her waist holding her up, as he pounds in and out of her whilst simultaneously slamming her back down and it seems as though the more she slams down onto his thighs, the more skin slapping on skin echoes like a taunting chant in your home, the more Jungkook groans, the more your eyes sting and your throat burns with it.

You can't watch anymore.

You push open the door with a slam. Jungkook's wide eyes fly to the door not expecting you home for a few hours. The girl doesn't look at you immediately, instead settles for trying to cover up her naked body as if that'll erase both of their indecency to you.

See the thing about this girl is you know her.

Jungkook knows her.

You both know her very well.

She's the girl that Jungkook told you to never worry about, Jana, Hana's annoying ass all too friendly twin sister.

She's the girl that gave you your first tattoo and the other thirteen you got after that.

She's also the girl that gave you the rest of your piercings and Jungkook's tattoos. You never hated Hana or Jana until Jungkook was getting a tattoo from her on his thigh. You were there as you were for all of his tattoos prior. The way she settled for sitting on her knees below him as she worked over the chair unsettled you the way she kept looking up at him through her lashes with a hint of a smirk as they talked, disgusted you.

But you always fucking settled.

So when Jungkook had suggested that you have a threesome over dinner for the first time ever in your relationship, you know he was pondering on the idea for longer than you were comfortable with.

Of course it was with her, you felt more upset rather than jealous as he told you a few days later who he wanted to have the threesome with he had hinted that he wanted it to be a girl, but you had prayed he wouldn't say her of all people.

Jungkook is attractive and girls flirting with him was never much of an issue to you because he always shut them down almost immediately and chances of them ever seeing eachother again were very slim. Plus they'd remember him mentioning you.

But with Jana you all saw each other very frequently because Jungkook loves his tattoos and piercings and now that you think about it it might not even be because he wants more tattoos he just wanted an excuse to see Jana without it worrying you.

But after that threesome—which you regretted partaking in so much more afterwards—they became more friendly.

You made up reasonable excuses in your head when you two would go to the parlor and she'd smile at him a bit wider than before, she'd touch him more than she necessarily needed, or when his eyes would linger too long on her ass before he'd look away trying to gauge your reaction through his peripheral to see if he'd been caught and each time you'd bite your tongue.

You'd thought yeah you'd probably be more touchy with someone too if you had slept with them, but not if said person was in a fucking relationship.

How could you have been so fucking stupid?

Jana doesn't say anything nor does Jungkook for a bit, they just stare at you waiting for you to do something, say something. You stared at the wall for a good minute before looking at the nightstand next to your bed, condoms packets peeking through. You should've picked up on that. You’re on birth control Jungkook had no reason to have those unless he was with someone else.

Then finally you looked at them, Jana looked scared, her eyes looking at you with riveting fear. Jungkook looked the same, but he seemed to be bolder than her; he stood picking up his boxers you looked over at him, hickies coated his chest, which is probably why he always insisted on sex in the dark, his dick was shiny with her arousal as he shuffled it in his boxers.

Then, you were pissed.

Red, hot anger washed over you at once Jungkook was still approaching you with slow cautious steps as Jana tried to cover herself with whatever she could find which happened to be his shirt which only pissed you off more. Jungkook was speaking, but you couldn't hear him. Your heart was pounding in your ears so loudly that anything he was saying was falling on deaf ears.

He was maybe five feet away from you when you held out your hand to keep him at a distance. Through a shaky voice you said to the both of them, "I'm not mad." The clear relief that washed over the two of them made you almost reach into your nightstand and grab the gun you and Jungkook keep. But that'd take too much work going back out into the living room, grabbing your purse to get the key to that specific drawer, loading the magazine and choosing who to shoot first, again too much work.

"You're not?" Jana mumbes quietly behind Jungkook's large frame. She really should've stayed quiet because whatever you are using to try and convince yourself that you were calm dissipated at the sound of her high pitched raspy voice one look at the hickies that lead down to his boxers let you know she probably sucked his dick.

"No, Jana, I can't be mad, I'm actually ecstatic."

"Why?" Jungkook asks this time, you look up at him, it hurts again; your chest, your heart, it hurts so much.

"When I get arrested for attemped murder I'll have a reasonable motive." You smile then so wide that your jaw hurts.

"Bab—" you shove Jungkook, looks like you're going for Jana first.

You grab whatever you think will do the most damage that you can hurl at Jana's perfect little head, it's the lamp on your shared nightstand. You throw it with so much force it indents into the wall when Jana dodges by about an inch the terminal scratches her eye quite nicely before you climb over the bed. You smash her head into the wall with a loud resounding slap her small petite frame falling to the ground as she cries out in pain. Climbing on top of her you grab a hand full of her hair you slamming her head back into the wooden floor of your bedroom. She thrashes below you screaming before trying and failing to pull your hands off her hair and you smile giving her what she wants settling for punching her square in that pretty mouth Jungkook must love oh so much. You land a good few hits to her face before she blacks out and stops screaming and Jungkook is pulling you off.

"Y/N, stop what the fuck!" You struggle in his hold, his broad frame still sweating with their previous activities.

"Get the fuck off me!" You use everything in you to separate yourself from Jungkook, "don't fucking touch me!" You practically run down the hallway to your living room Jungkook following closely behind.

"Where are you going?" He asks as you put on your shoes.

"Away from you."

"You can't leave—"

"I think the best for me to do is leave because if not I put this on everything I will actually fucking kill you." He's silent as you gather your things, your words hitting him hard. He realized just then how quickly your love for him turned to dust and is now replaced by hate and the ever growing urge to quite literally kill him.

You unlock the door ready to turn it before his hand closes the door beside your head, "Baby—"

"You know what's funny?" The sadness is back as your throat swells with the need to cry all over again, "I gave up everything for you—"

"I didn't ask you to do that-'' He reprimands, you spin around the tears falling on their own accord upon seeing his disheveled state.

"Don't fucking cut me off," you say sternly. "What's funny is I didn't even want to have that fucking threesome with you and that whore and you didn’t even notice how uncomfortable I was and you should have. But it's my fault I guess because I did it anyway because I didn't want to upset you because I'm always thinking of you, how does Jungkook feel? What would make Jungkook happy? And even now I haven't once laid a finger on you, and I really should, and you haven't even apologized yet, you haven't said two simple fucking words 'I'm sorry' or 'it didn't mean anything baby I love' you don't fucking care about me, us, or our relationship and neither do I, not anymore." You turn back around and open the door it slams closed with more force by Jungkook once again his hand balled into a fist holding the door shut.

"Y/N, you can't just leave," he strains, the pleading tone in his voice clear as he speaks, "not after everything we've been through," he's moving closer to you with more intention. Physical touch has always been a love language for you and Jungkook, but now you abhor it.

"What don't you get? You fucked up! We're done, let me go—"

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm so fucking sorry just please don't leave, I can't be on my own, I need you." He stressed through clenched teeth. It's something about the way he worded it, a thought comes to you then. Jungkook doesn't have a real stable job outside of his failing idol career and working at a minimum wage paying fast food joint which barely supplies rent, he needs you for money. Maybe that's why he couldn't leave you; he needed you to survive.

You turn around walking closer to him, there's so much rage stirring inside of you it's as if he can feel. Ironically enough he backs up as if he's afraid. Jungkook is broader than you, taller than you, looms over you, and yet he seems scared. You speak with your hands venom tainting every word as you spit, "You are the most self centered selfish person I've ever fucking met in my life, and I fucking hate you, if it wasn't clear enough we're done. I want you and your shit out of my apartment by the time I get off tomorrow."

"Y/N—"

"Do me a favor, shut the fuck up and get out of my life for good." You spin on your heels opening the door only to slam it as you exit. You take the stairs down the multiple floors of your complex knowing damn well that Jungkook would've gone to the elevator to try and convince you.

You're done for real this time.

You end up at Lia's house, your best friend for the longest and the one person who told you time and time again that Jungkook wasn't good for you after you told her about your missed job opportunity and your reason for staying in Korea. You never listened though you never do and look where that led you.

You'd managed to hold it together through the twenty minute drive to her house, but as her partner opens the door groggy and confused he yawns before he asks, "you good—" he barely finishes before you wrap your arms around him, he hesitates before he slowly raisies his arms hugging you back. Yoongi was never the best at giving hugs or any form of comfort towards others, but he tries as he pulls you inside cautiously locking the door as he holds you.

"No, she's not here, Jungkook. I told you a thousand times th—" Lia stops speaking to Jungkook on her house phone upon seeing you sobbing into Yoongi's chest in their kitchen. "Look, Yori woke up, I gotta go— No, goodbye, Jungkook!" She ends the call rather abruptly, quickly coming into the kitchen. She takes you into her arms. She doesn't know what happened yet, but she reassures you with ‘its okay’ and ‘let it all out’ as you cry harder. "What's wrong, baby?" You try to speak, but end up choking out your words.

"H-he cheated, L-ia, h-he ch-cheated on me with that slut oh my God," you fist at her shirt until your bruised knuckles turn white as sobs rack through you like waves.

"Who?" Yoongi asks you to feel Lia shake her head as if to signal to him it wasn't the time to ask.

"J-Jana! That fucking whore!" You can almost see Lia's eyes widen as you hug her tighter.

"As much as I want you to express yourself please do it quietly Yori is sleeping," Yoongi mumbles, referring to their two year old.

"Yoongi!" Lia scolds him.

"What? Baby, I just got her to bed." Yoongi defends.

You pull away from Lia, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burden you I just—"

"Don't say that you're not burdening us, sit on the couch I'll get you some water," Lia says to you, you walk to their living room where baby toys are scattered as Lia makes you a glass of water. You feel ashamed. Coming over to your bestfriends house in a distressed state unannounced is out of character for you, but then again Jungkook never cheated before (to your knowledge) so you never knew how you’d react.

Lia sits with you on the couch while Yoongi stands at the kitchen window awkwardly staring.

She passes you the glass as you mutter thank you. "Why're your hands bleeding, Y/nie?" She calls you your nickname which would normally make you smile, but you're too sad to notice you look down to your bruised hands.

"I beat her ass,'' Yoongi laughs, clapping in approval. Lia turns to him glaring.

"Sorry," He apologizes quickly, clearing his throat he steps into the kitchen doorway, "Imma go.. I'm just gonna go.." Yoongi excuses himself down the hall to their bedroom.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lia asks softly as if you're fragile.

"Honestly? There's not much to talk about, I'm just tired." Lia nods in understanding. You had been there for her when her college boyfriend cheated on her she said the same thing to you. It was exhausting, this is draining.

"Okay well I'll clean up your hands grab you some pj's and you can take a quick shower if you want to and then you can go to bed in the guest room that sound good?" You nod with a small hum.

You smile, "Thank you, Li."

"Any time." She smiles softly.

About thirty minutes later, you're situated in the guest bedroom. Lia and Yoongi wishing you a good night a little while ago and then settling into their own bedroom. You try not to think back to Jungkook and what happened which was rather difficult because Jungkook wouldn't stop texting and calling you which resulted in you blocking him. Your eyes finally flutter shut some ten minutes later.

You awake to loud pounding on the door. Startled, you step out into the hallway and you go to your friend's bedroom. Her baby is sobbing, also seemingly afraid by the loud noise.

"What's going on?" You ask over the loud sobs from Yori.

"We don't know." Yoongi says reaching into their closet he pulls out a gun.

"Baby, is that really necessary?" Lia says through a whisper.

Yoongi shrugs, "You never know." Yoongi leaves the two of you to find whoever is at their front door.

You're not as nervous as you were before comforted by the fact that you’re not alone, "you feel better?" Lia asks her tired eyes meeting yours.

"Not really." You admit your heart is still heavy with the fact that this is your reality and that this whole night wasn't some awful nightmare.

"When I'm not on baby duty we can go get drunk somewhere you and I both need it." You laugh lightly with a small nod as Yori begins to calm down.

"Yeah that sounds good."

"Jungkook, what the fuck man?" Your wide eyes glance up at Lia's upon hearing your ex's name.

"Y/N, don't." Lia tries to stop you from leaving the room, but with Yori in her arms there's only so much she can do.

You peek over the edge of the hallway wall to see Jungkook at the back door with Yoongi, Yoongi's gun now being placed on the kitchen counter.

"Is Y/N here?"

"No, man and even if she was that doesn't give you an excuse to come over here pounding on my front door like a mad man scaring my wife and kid at three in the fucking morning. The fuck is wrong with you?" Yoongi spits crossing his arms.

"I just—I know she's here, her car is in the driveway. Just let me speak to her." Jungkook says desperately trying to peer into the house over Yoongi's smaller frame Yoongi pushes him back slightly.

"Look, you gotta go, man to man this ain't the way, like ever, like you should really leave."

"Yoongi, please." Jungkook pleads ignoring Yoongi completely.

"Jungkook, I'm warning you, leave before I call the cops. You're being out of line and I ain't putting my hands on you cause you're in a tough spot right now and I understand that, but you gotta go."

"Yoongi, I love her, man, she means everything to me I can't let her go."

"You think this is going to help win her back? Seriously?" Jungkook sighs.

"I'm sorry, I… I'll go, can you just tell Y/N to call me back."

"Yeah, I got you." Yoongi closes the door, locking it after he grabs his gun putting the safety back on, he comes towards the hallway jumping after seeing you standing there. "yo, don't scare me like that."

"My bad." You apologize following him down the hallway back to their bedroom.

"Everything all good?" Lia asked, placing Yori back into her crib.

"Yeah, it was Kook, he's just being weird." Yoongi replied putting his gun back in its place.

"I'm really sorry about this." Lia opens her mouth to speak, but Yoongi beats her to it.

"It's fine, Y/N, get some sleep, you need it." You nod, spin around, leave their room and do just that.

Lia offered to go back with you to your apartment after she got off work, but you denied her offer saying she'd done enough for you last night so here you were driving to your apartment that was leased in your name therefore Jungkook can be kicked out by the police if he's still there when you arrive.

You hesitate to unlock your front door when you reach it. Shaking off your nerves you begin typing in the code. Jungkook should be at work right now. That idea is then erased when the door swings open a distressed Jungkook appearing.

"Y/N," is all he says before he pulls you into his chest. You absolutely abhor how comfortable he is his strong arms securing you in his hold, the warmth he emits, you can even smell the faint cologne he wears lingering on his skin. It screams home and safety right before it hits you the events of last night flooding back into your mind. You push him off walking further into your apartment. You go into your bedroom to see that Jungkook's clothes are still meshed in with yours in your closet as are his belongings that are usually kept around your shared living space.

"Why is your stuff still here?" You ask without turning around knowing he's right behind you.

"We need to talk." You close your eyes inhaling deeply.

"What is there to talk about?" Jungkook laughs in uncertainty.

"There's a lot to talk about, baby, I love you you can't just give up on us—"

You face him repeatedly pushing your finger into his chest as you snarl, "you gave up on us the second you had sex with her, you ruined this—" he grabs your wrist.

"I didn't ruin shit, Y/N!" He screams at you, his face contorting with rage? Like he has a right to be upset with you. "We all had sex what is the issue?"

"Jungkook, you gotta be fucking joking," you laugh bitterly nodding to yourself. "Okay so you're saying it's not cheating because we all had a threesome, yes?" He hesitates before he nods settling on that argument, "me, you, and Hoseok had a threesome, if I fucked him without you there would you be okay with that?" It's quick the way his face morphs in unbridled anger before he stills his features. "my point exactly."

His mouth opens closing it again as he looks away from you his thumb mindlessly rubbing over the skin of your wrist raising goosebumps, "Have you.. had sex with Hoseok without me?" He mumbles quietly.

"Yes," his eyebrows draw together, it's comical the way his jaw drops, "in college when me and you weren't together, he even asked me out, but I turned him down because I met you. I knew I should've chosen him over you." You say honestly loving the way pain flashes in his brown eyes.

"Y/N, I screwed up okay? I admit that, but this was a one time thing I swear—"

"Bullshit! You think I'm dumb, Jungkook? There's no way this was a one time thing why the fuck do you keep condoms if I'm on birth control? Why the hell do you get so many fucking tattoos and insist that I shouldn't tag along?" He shakes his head pulling you into him more his grip on your wrist tight.

"Please don't, Y/N, I need you, I love you so fucking much-" you push him away but he only holds you firmly against his chest in a half hug with your arm trapped between your chests.

"Jungkook.." you say tiredly the fight leaving your body as you slump against his chest, "get off me, please." You say softly.

"Y/N, I don't want you to leave."

"Why? What do we offer each other? You literally cheated on me, she obviously gave you something I d-didn't-" you inhale trying to wash away the urge to cry. What did she offer that you didn’t? Was it her body? Sure you were a little curvy, but so were all Jungkook’s exes you didn’t peg him for being into thinner women and certainly not Jana. She was younger, but that was only by a few years. What the hell could she give him that you didn’t? It couldn’t have been money either since barely anyone goes to her and Hana’s shared tattoo parlor.

"Baby, no, you are perfect the way you are I love everything about you." He stresses kissing the top of your head.

Tears burn your eyes as you blink at him a laugh of pain forcing its way through your throat, "says the cheater." You keep laughing hysterically until it turns to sobs and you're falling to your knees with Jungkook trying to hold you up, cradling you in his big arms, shushing you.

"I'm sorry, baby," he says his voice breaking, "I'm so fucking sorry."

v/n hey! so if you couldn't tell i had no clue how to end this but they are broken up im thinking of doing a flashback splurge for the threesome between oc, jungkook, and jana to show how obviously oc didn't want to do it and might even include a little bit of the thigh tattoo scene but that's just an ideaaaaa

[secretlywritingstories]

My horse's stables have been sold. It's been a long time coming really. They announced to us just over a year ago that they would be selling and now the time has come. But even with the long warning, it feels abrupt and it's messing with my head when I think about it too much.

It was one of the first things I saw this morning when I opened my eyes. Maybe that's on me checking my email that early, but usually it's comments from AO3 greeting me and those are wonderful to wake up to. This was not really.

And it's generally good news. It'll be another family who'll live there. The mother is a rider too, and they want to continue hosting boarder horses. So, it's entirely possible that I can keep Moneypenny in the stable that has been her home for the last 15 years and the place that has been my escape from the world just as long.

Ownership shifts on the 1st of December, which is sooner than I would like. They are going to renovate the stables, which they have been direly needing, but that also means temporary displacement of the horses. I don't know how they're going to go about it all. I don't really know what I am going to do about it.

It's still early days. The contract was signed just last night. The current owners and the new owners will have several meetings over the coming weeks to sort things out. And the riding tack shop is staying for the moment and the family are probably keeping their own horses (five horses, most of them youngsters and one sold abroad) on the property until they find somewhere new.

They strive to make it a smooth transition and it'll probably be fine. I am still facing the choice as to whether I want to look for somewhere else to board Moneypenny or I am going to stick around in the stable under new ownership. I don't love either option, but I do like the idea of staying in the familiar, if I can.

I love the nearby forest, I know every nook and cranny of the stable and the rest of the property. It's comfortable and easy. Moneypenny shares a field with another boarder, so she also has her usual partner if that person decides to stick around. She might. We're from the same riding school originally, and she moved her (old) horse to the stable just a handful of months after I moved mine.

Maybe it'll be good. We've been stuck in a weird transitional period where most of the boarders moved, we had a couple of temporary ones come in but the stable that at most housed over 30 horses went down to under 10. It didn't affect me that much because I was just hanging out with my horse, but there was a sense of life and community lost.

It might get restored now with new owners, a renovated stable and presumably new boarders coming too. I want to meet the owners to make my own judgements, but I am leaning towards staying. Change is such a bitch and anything with Moneypenny in particular makes me flare up so easily.

Spending time with her in comfortable and safe surroundings have always been something I run to whenever things get too overwhelming, whether with school, work og just inside of my own head. And this stable has been the backdrop of it for a decade and a half. A lifetime really. And Moneypenny is happy there. She could be happy elsewhere too, I know it. She's much less fussy than her owner.

And I'm happy for the old owners. I want them to have the freedom not to constantly have to take care of a stable. It's endless work. Day in and day out. I could not do it. I hope the new owners will be a breath of fresh air and bode good things ahead.

Change is coming, whether I want it or not. And it's healthy enough to be shaken up sometimes. Even if it makes me want to thrash around and pout.

[jupitersrising]

Survival of the Fittest Character Guide

Hi lovelies! This is a character guide for everyone mentioned in the Survival of the Fittest Universe. I've talked about the fact that there are a lot of OCs as family member since we literally have no idea who most of them are. I'll be linking this post on the ao3 series when the next chapter comes out as well. This will be updated as I add more side characters, but is made to make it easier in case anyone forgets who is who and how they're related because I know that can be difficult.

(Everything here is from my notes and is subject to change if necessary. A short description will be included with each character that may be subject to minor spoilers in the SotF universe. Some characters not yet mentioned will be included in the list, though they will not get descriptions. Any ages listed will be how old they were at the start of Camp [June 2015] OR how old they were when they passed away.)

Ben Pincus (16):

Family Relations:

Mother: Ann Pincus nee Moore (34)

Father: Colton Pincus (34/35)

Grandmother: Tracy Pincus (deceased)

Other:

Holly: Bluebird and previous "pet" (nearly a year) (deceased)

Greyson: Childhood bully (16)

(Dr) Sarah Martinez: Therapist before the start of the series (31)

Mikael Porter: Not yet mentioned (34)

(REDACTED): The girl in the car (assumed less than 10)

(REDACTED): Father of girl in the car (early thirties)

(REDACTED): Mother of girl in the car (early thirties)

The Man in the Hotel: Body found in one of the hotel's along with the note "I'm sorry, Julia" and a gun

Julia: A presumed woman the suicide note was left to.

Bessie: "Dino-daughter"

Darius Bowman (15):

Family Relations:

Brother: Brandon "Brand" Bowman (19)

Mother: Jennifer Bowman (mid forties)

Father: Fredrick Bowman (deceased) (early forties)

Other:

The San Francisco Wolves: Brand's high school swim team

Reese: Not yet mentioned

Chelsey: Not yet mentioned

Gerry: Not yet mentioned

Kenji Kon (17):

Family Relations:

Father: "Daniel" Kon

Mother: Ichika “Naomi” Kon (deceased)

Step-Mother: Candy

Other:

Kye Alabaster: "Friend" approx. 2 years older (status unknown)

Randy: "Friend" gave Kenji and Kye edibles on that day

Sydney Eston: slept with Kye

Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula (17):

Family Relations:

Mother: Inaya Fadoula (56)

Brother: Hadi Fadoula (approx. 31)

Sister: Nima (11 almost 12)

Father: I don't have a name for him yet

Other:

N/A

Brooklynn Torres-Williams-King-Santiago (15):

Family Relations:

Father (Dad): Alexander "Ali or Alex" Williams

Father: (Nial or Pops): Nial Torres

"Mother" (Mom or Aunt): Kestley King

"Mother" (Mia or Aunt): Mia Santiago

(Yes the last name thing is something you can do, to my knowledge, its just not common to have more than 3 last names)

Other:

Brooklanders: YouTube/vlogging audience

Samanta "Sammy" Gutierrez (16): (this is a long one)

Family Relations (Gutierrez + Hernandez sides [also Wilson]):

Father: N/A Gutierrez

Mother: Rosa II Gutierrez nee Hernandez

Sister: Valentina "Val" Gutierrez (13ish)

Sister: Carmen Gutierrez (deceased) (early twenties)

Cousin: Angelina "Angie" Hernandez (20)

Cousin: Fidel Hernandez (21)

Cousin: Filipe Gutierrez (18)

Aunt: Lola Gutierrez

Uncle: Emilio Gutierrez

Aunt: Yadra Wilson nee Gutierrez

Uncle: Nelson Wilson

Uncle: Javier Hernandez (Fidel + Angie's Dad) (47)

Grandmother: Rosa Hernandez (83)

Cousin: Antonio Gutierrez (mid 20s)

Cousin: Pedro Gutierrez (late 20s)

Other:

Father John: Pastor

Alice: first "girlfriend" (16)

Bessie: emotional support cow

Daisy: Bessie's mother (deceased)

Tomás "Tommy" Cruz: Made fun of Carmen, Fidel beat him up in church services (17-18)

Daniel Nickleson: Scientist Sammy shot and killed (deceased) (27)

Patricia "Patty" Nickleson: Wife of Dan (28)

Elizabeth "Eliza" Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (Infant)

Carol Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (5)

Other Characters:

Mitch and Tiff: Antagonists (deceased) (mid-30s)

Hap: Ally (deceased) (early 40s/late 30s)

Dave: Counselor (26)

Roxie: Counselor (26)

Doctor Wu: Antagonist, not yet introduced

Torvo: (deceased) Attacked Ben

Toro: (deceased) Ben attacked her

Allosaurus: Tried to attack Ben near Toro's field

Pteranodon: Dragged Ben off monorail

Baby Pteranodon: (deceased) claws + bones turned into knives

Like a dozen other dinosaurs to add (mostly irreverent)

[semimedieval]

in which we continue to pretend this writeup is helping me brainstorm 3.0 instead of well probably distracting me from it

in other words: lupus and ky break up, and glimmers of larger-scale narrative value are improbably contained within said very stupid plotline

first off: normal exchanges to have the morning you break up (for less than a day)

Ky wanted to stay underneath the covers, the morning air was cold, colder than usual. "Do you want my spare jacket?" Lupus asked, pausing above her. "Sure." She replied. For a moment warm happiness replaced the cold. She loved Lupus, kind and considerate. He handed it to her with a grin, then went to help Obsidian heat up the oatmeal.

then, believe it or not, obsidian and lupus are deeply cruel to each other for no reason, no reason at fucking all. i'm not going to paste in that dialogue cause it's devastatingly embarrassing

wait JK i thought their sniping at each other over the oatmeal was just the precursor to a bigger and more interesting fight but this is literally all we get before Just so you know, Lupus hissed. "Don't you dare complain to anyone about me. I never did anything to you," he continued. "I don't know why you hate me so much." That's Lupus, he's always the victim! whispered Obsidian. "Poor Loopy Lupus who has bad dweams at night."

OBSIDIAN IS BEING SIGNIFICANTLY MORE CRUEL THAN LUPUS HERE. We find out that lupus glares at obsidian whenever he "so much as looks at" ky, which has never been established before ever i'm not positive that ky and obsidian have even spoken onpage before the previous night. anyway lupus and obsidian share a bedroom so presumably the bad dreams are something obsidian knows about and is taking the opportunity to make fun of? OBSIDIAN, *YOU* HAVE BAD DREAMS! THEY WERE DESCRIBED TO US IN DETAIL LIKE 30 PAGES AGO!

Ky felt sadness grab her heart. She hated it when they fought. "Obsidian! LUPUS!" Chuji yelled "STOP!" They looked around. "Sorry," muttered Obsidian. Lupus said nothing, just smiled at the girls and turned his back on Obsidian haughtily. Ky's sadness turned to anger. "I agree. This is taking it too far." Quartz stood up and stood with the girls. "Third the motion. Obsidian, you should know better."

shoutout to quartz and chuji for correctly identifying that obsidian is equally if not more to blame for this complete nonsense. chuji runs off into the woods and starts setting fire to things which is a fair response to your boyfriend being an utter dipshit at least it is if you are sixteen years old.

ky of course says -

Ky spun around and ran, the opposite way of Chuji. "And Lupus," she called. "We're over!"

after all these posts being like "oh they're about to break up! the next post is the infamous lupus and ky breakup!" it happening this quickly when it does happen is catching me way off guard.

Lupus's heart seemed to stop, and he leaned on the table. 'We're over,' she had said. His heart was beating way too quickly. 'This is all your fault' he wanted to scream at Obsidian, but he knew this was what had lost him Ky in the first place.

both lupus's reaction to ky kissing him and to her breaking up with him are so unusually physically and emotionally detailed for posts on adventures of the extranei element powers rpg. the material reality jars you and makes it very hard to hate him.

Lupus ran north and Obsidian ran south, while Ky and Chuji had gone east and west. (sorry, I had to do that for comic effect) Only Quartz and Spark were left in the clearing. Chuji came out of the trees, her face blank "Holy ----." "Hello, Chuji," said Quartz, keeping her voice steady. "Ky's dumped Lupus and ran off because he was being a jerk and she felt betrayed, Lupus ran off because of that, and Obsidian ran off because he felt that it was his fault alone that the three of you were unhappy."

Quartz's theories that heterosexual love makes you crazy and evil are not getting disproved anytime soon it seems. I remember my 'four directions' bit vividly, and I do think it's a very funny adaptation that in 2.0 Obsidian and Chuji came out of the woods together and were like "we didn't like, actually run off very far from each other.

also, needless to say, let chuji say fuck.

Lupus collapsed on the ground, practically hyperventilating. This couldn't be happening... Only this morning, as he gave Ky his jacket, he had been so happy. Where had this hatred led him? He realized that being nice to Ky wasn't all of it, it was being an all-around good person. Monoceros had been nice to Loop's mother, hadn't he? "And Lupus, we're over" - the words echoed in his head, Ky wished Lupus could just be the old Lupus again, the one who laughed and smiled. Had she really just broken up with him? She felt tears well up, but pushed them back. This was not her Lupus. As much as she hated him at the moment Ky wished Lupus were here to comfort her.

they are so. i think if anything the utility of this breakup is not that there should BE a breakup in 3.0 (a fight, perhaps, in 3.6 or 3.7?) but that it correctly demonstrates what i have known all along, which is that lupus when he thinks is leaving ky is not calm and collected and regretful, he is screaming and crying and throwing up.

"Seriously, people!" Obsidian exclaimed. "Rim is in danger, and we still need to bring back Tozi. I'll go get Ky, Chuji gets Lupus."

Big words from someone who is kind of directly responsible for this but i'm glad SOMEONE'S thinking about the perils of going full soap opera mode. Not helping to convince me that This Is All Lupus's Fault For Sure is spark's narration.

Spark wanted to take Lupus's side, what with all her friends ganging up on him, but she just couldn't. Lupus had been wrong. Granted, Obsidian had done his part to make matters worse, but the real culprit was Lupus.

WAS HE????? cause the most aggressive thing HE did was throw a silly little snowball.

i was excited to read the "chuji gets lupus, obsidian gets ky" sequences because a) obsidian/ky is a secretly viable ship and i enjoy their interactions, and b) i didn't write them into 2.0 because i knew there had to be reasonable limits as to how much quartz could overhear or insert herself into. so this is something i haven't read since at the latest 2018 but perhaps as far back as 2016.

First, Chuji and Lupus:

She softly walked towards lupus. She crouched next to him "Hey." she said softly Yes? he asked blankly. "It's cool, If you wanna be grouchy be so." She placed an arm around him. "Don't be foolish, She's overreacting. Walk up to her, heck kiss her without warning." "There's more to it than that. But thanks for being so kind Chuji. I feel like everyone hates me. And now I've got to go apologize to Obsidian." He stood up shakily and walked with her back to camp. Her arm slipped off his shoulder "I had problems with Obsidian. I usually felt as though he was lost and selfish, but inside him, there's light. Ky needs to see your fire, not your ice."

"Walk up to her and kiss her without warning" is the worst possible advice you could give in this situation, and my dear sweet "no amount of anime will convince me consent is optional" 12 year old self (you are so cool <3) knew it too. lupus does do this (though at a point where ky is clearly in the mood again i would think, she's like hugging him or something we'll see) but partly because jack replied to my comment saying "YES! YES! THAT SHOULD HAPPEN XD"

fucked up ideas about how relationships work aside, chuji is kind of on the money here. i respect her for being the only person in the whole friend group who is being nice to lupus because boy does he need someone to be nice to him right now.

Next, Obsidian and Ky:

Ky used her powers to make a light based Lupus, laughing and reaching out to hold her. She extended her arms, but fell through the figure, on the ground, straight on her face. She sat up and watched the light slowly diminish. Was this what his heart would do in the end? Disappear from her grasp? Obsidian came up behind Ky. "We have to save Rim and Tozi," he said softly. "Um, Ky?" he added, feeling like he'd witnessed something he shouldn't have. Ky followed him to the makeshift-camp, her cheeks still a bit pink from him seeing her with the Light-Lupus. "We'll just pretend that didn't happen," Obsidian winked.

No adjacent miracles of unusual emotional intimacy here, just silliness. The wink is weirdly casual and supports the Obsidian Is Mr. Steal Your Girl Theory, which is not actually a theory we want to support but it sure is a theory the text accidentally keeps supporting, not least through obsidian's accusation that lupus glares at him every time he hangs out with ky. which we've only seen obsidian do to talk shit about lupus, so-

anyway everyone comes back to the clearing they've been camping in (a clearing is one of those generic ur-settings in extranei and in all generic fantasy like it) and lupus apologizes to both obsidian and ky. i have been lupus's #1 defender in this story beat so far, but let the record show that this is kind of a shitty apology, not to mention a very confusing one.

"I'm sorry for being mean to Obsidian, Ky. I guess I'm selfish, because I saw it from a selfish point of view. I thought that if I was kind to you, that would be all I needed to keep you happy. Hate me if you want, but know that I still love you."

though the last line remains true to the last breakup and for a long time after it. i think it takes lupus a long time to figure out for sure that ky's not coming back, and a long time after that to know for certain that he doesn't want her back what with what has happened, and an even longer time (maybe never) for him to quit imagining alternate universes where she didn't leave.

not that i would know anything about that.

on the way to the headquarters, lupus and ky try to resolve things and fail miserably. she says "we should still break up" even though it's clearly making her miserable. lupus snaps at her defensively and she PHYSICALLY PUSHES HIM AND CRIES OUT "GET AWAY FROM ME" which is. man. sigh.

ky thinks t his, which i'm not sure is entirely true. it might be a case of RP Mind Reading, ky getting bad vibes from lupus's "how would i manipulate everyone?" internal monologue.

Why was she mad? For starters, he had been snappy at everyone in the group, yet treating her like a princess. His jokes were snide and cruel, and he seemed distant all the time.

meanwhile, we check in with lupus. who is very sad.

He didn't see the point in staying, even. He wanted to run away. He wanted his unicorn back... He wanted, he wanted. You want too much, an inner voice told him. You want too much, you're unfair, you're snappy. You only really trust one person in the group. You're a spoiled rich kid who's used to people falling at his feet and him getting everything he wanted. Stopping his self-pity, he looked at Ky. She seemed so miserable, and part of Lupus wanted dearly to comfort her. But they'd never be that way again. He'd ruined everything. He began to run again, turning his face away from Ky's so that she couldn't see it. Finally, he was about a quarter of a mile away from the group. 'She needs to see the fire in you,' he thought. But was there fire in him at all?

'spiral of insecure self-realization' is one of the easiest things to write compellingly but i can still really see my writing of people's internal monologues improving. i don't love the way "you want too much, you're a spoiled rich kid" is treated as Narrative Truth... this is the problem with an unclear backstory, was lupus doted on or was his father predictably evil as a father figure not just as a feudal lord? we don't know and we never get to find out. monoceros is not treated with enough nuance elsewhere for "he was a good father but a bad ruler nicky ii style" to really feel compelling. certainly in epng lupus is made out to be a bad father, though admittedly in an "overprotective" direction rather than an "actively cruel" one. the point is, lupus did not have a charmed life or a perfect childhood, and just because he has not had the same kinds of tragedies happen to him as obsidian, doesn't mean he is a "spoiled rich kid" the way, say, takiea in epng is a spoiled rich kid. he has textually said that a) his mother died and he misses her, and b) his father openly talked about hating magic users and it made him deeply afraid. he ran away for a reason!

i say all this partly because in lupus's apology to obsidian he says "You've experienced more tragedy than me," which is both deeply condescending and not a very fair way to compare lives or experiences. It is clearly what Obsidian believes, but that does not reflect well on Obsidian. And my experiences with grief are limited and less insane than those of these fictional teens, but it would be roughly like Gabe telling Liam "nothing bad has ever happened to you because you grew up upper middle class!" or me telling Gabe "you've only lost grandparents, not closeish personal friends and mentors!" Or if Jane responded to any personal problem that E or Gabe or I had with "well at least your dad's not dead." All immensely cruel and insane things that it's impossible to imagine saying as a real person in real life. It's hard to conceptualize when you're 12 or 15 and your life has been fairly free of permanent loss, but grief tends to make you more compassionate towards the losses of others and not eager to compare them, at least it's so once you're past the "being really mad at everyone who knew stephen less well than you and is writing shitty poetry about him" stage.

again, it's maybe possible to imagine people having this reaction to takiea in epng because she really HAS had somewhat of a charmed life - wealthy without attached dehumanizing responsibilities, adored by both parents, a rich life full of hobbies - but lupus's dad is evil, his mom is dead, and he has nobody in the world besides the extranei. so maybe i think the obsidian and quartz that i feel attached to in my head would not rewrite that history into something dunkable-on. just a thought.

i did not mean to spiral into writing Very Long Lupus Meta on the clock. they're about to reach the headquarters but as a final note about lupus, ky, obsidian, and the tangled conundrums thereof, let's check in on the followup between ky and obsidian.

Obsidian caught up with Ky. "Just yesterday, you were talking about defining points of personalities," he said lightly. "Things have changed. I guess you were right all along." Ky replied. But still, it just didn't feel right. There was a nagging feeling she should go run into Lupus's arms and tell him how sorry she was, for everything. Ky was utterly and helplessly confused. "I'm not so sure," Obsidian replied. "Perhaps you yourself were right all along." He laughed. "How our views have changed. Don't worry, if you don't feel right with him, don't hestitate to tell him so."

Hilarious attempt at 'hesitate'. How did I nearly win the class spelling bee twice again? Anyway, the underlying feelings of all this are unsalvageable, but I can see why I included it in 2.0 because it's too iconic to our RP memories not to be. It's a fascinating study, as all of the relationships in Extranei are, in How Our Preteen Selves Are Imagining Relationships As People Who Have Never Been In One. infinitely rife for biographical analysis. limitedly rife with material for a 23-year-old to reach into and cherry pick compelling things from. obsidian has spent 24 hours dunking on lupus mercilessly only to change his mind when this dunking turns out to have unpleasant consequences. sometimes this is a true thing that happens. good thing that, in this roleplay, consequences never last very long.

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

First off, disclaimer: This is less theory and more exploration of possible answers to the question of when Sigma’s accident occurred. Specifically, what do they mean for the larger world of overwatch and for Sigma?

The Facts

Sibren De Kuiper is 62 years old.

Zarya’s gravity well, which originally came off an armored vehicle in battle, is a creation of or based on the work of “The Tobelsteins'”, and Sigma can recognize it as such.

According to Reinhardt and Zarya’s hero pages, the Omni Crisis started over 30 years ago.

Orisa’s says it was over 20 years ago.

Michael Chu claimed it was 25 years ago, "give or take a few years."

Sigma was “close friends” with Dr Harold Winston, visited him on the moon, and met Winston during that time.

Winston is 29 years old, meaning that Winston was born during the war. Ignoring what that could mean about the gorilla project, that means Sigma’s accident has to have taken place during or the Omnic Crisis.

Sigma knows Dr Harold Winston is dead. (“Give Dr. Winston my regards.” is his elimination quote against Winston).

Dr Harold Winston died during the Gorilla Uprising. In emails directly before and during the accident, he says “We think of them as teenagers, but they're much more than that.”

Winston escaped the gorilla uprising, which killed Dr Harold Winston, sometime after the war. We know this because the stowaway Hammond landed in an established junkertown. We know junkertown was set up after the Australian omnium, which was gifted post war, was destroyed.

6 years before Winston’s recall, the Lucheng Interstellar Corporation began constructing a new space station, presumably the Interstellar Journey Space Station.

Overwatch was disbanded 7 years ago

The unknown emergency failure on the Interstellar Journey Space Station is listed as breaking news along side Soldier: 76 being sighted in Dorado, Tracer and Winston reappearing working together, and Mei “returning to the Himalayas.” (No explanation for what that means! Is Mei from the Himalayas? What is she returning to?). Which places it before the Overwatch 2 cinematic, post RECALL, and during the events of HERO.

The Speculation

During the War?

At most Sigma’s accident could have taken place less than 29 years ago.

This leaves him with the most possible time spent detained. Oof.

The Tobelsteins' work makes more sense to be a wartime invention (or, even more likely, application of a preexisting invention).

This might also help answer why the experiment failed- it was rushed by war. (There are potential reasons it was rushed outside of war, especially since Siebren doesn’t directly describe it’s application as a weapon until after he gets scrambled. Plus, he could have just been cocky. His lines definitely read as overconfident pre-accident.)

This is just wild speculation, but then why wasn't he utilized during the war? The organization that contained him seems shady enough to do it, and he’s a powerful asset. Was he just considered too unstable for usage, even against bots? Maybe if the war was winding down and they didn’t want to risk it? Or, save him for some nebulous future fight?

This would also mean that someone informed him of Dr Hammond Winston’s death post accident or that the gorilla uprising happened during the war and Winston didn’t escape until after.

The Height of Overwatch?

Gives more than enough time for Sibren to meet a young Winston and for the moon uprising, especially given that 6 year window.

Earliest possible date for the accident to have occurred on the Interstellar Journey Space Station, but wouldn’t explain what the more recent catastrophic failure was. It’s possible the Station is just deeply unlucky, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense thematically.

The biggest problem with this explanation is why wasn’t Sigma brought into Overwatch? What happened that was so shady he needed to be hidden away from the organization that collects freaks and geeks like him?

During or after the Fall?

A much shorter period of time, but it does have all the same reasons as the height and excuse Overwatch’s unawareness of his existence. They where a little busy/dead at the time.

Recall and beyond?

Doesn’t make a ton of sense but is possible, the hair loss and color change could just be stress.

Gives the most possible time for the previous events to happen

Minimizes the time spent detained (good for him?)

Reintroduces the element of being a wartime push for why he was (possibly) rushed.

Could potentially be the reason for the catastrophic failure reported on the Interstellar Journey Space Station- given this was a fairly recent event according to the signs around Lijiang Tower.

To support that idea, unless the International Space Station changed it’s rules about the heights of crew members or was replaced with a larger version, Sigma is far too tall to be allowed up on it.

(This doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t a international or government station, but it should be noted.)

[hellomynameisbisexual]

There are at least as many bi and pansexual people in the world as lesbians and gay men combined, at least according to surveys of western countries. But bisexuality is poorly understood - leaving bi and pansexual people feeling that their sexuality is invisible or invalid.

In Episode 1 of the new season of BANG!, people who are "attracted to more than one gender" share their experiences, and Dr Nikki Hayfield highlights some particularly damaging, often "biphobic", stereotypes.

To the outside world, Rose and Sam* look like any other straight couple. They're in their mid 20s, affectionate and obviously really into each other. The thing is, they're not straight.

Sam identifies as pansexual and Rose is bisexual. People define each of these sexualities in different ways, but for Sam pansexuality means that he's attracted to people irrespective of gender (as in, it's not important) and for Rose bisexuality means she's attracted to people "across the spectrum of genders".

For those shouting "but bi means two!", some people still use bisexuality to mean they're into just men and women, but others have broadened the definition as a response to the increase in trans identities and in resisting binary understandings of gender.

Both Sam and Rose came out in their early 20s, both had same-sex experiences and attractions in their teens and, initially, both put them down to teenaged "confusion" or "acting out".

As Sam tells me in this episode of BANG!, "Heterosexuality was expected of me and that's why it took quite a while to realise I wasn't that. It's why my parents still don't know [I'm pan]… I wouldn't be disowned or anything, but it would confirm that I'm the sort of black sheep, and that I'm less of a man in some way, and that doesn't feel good."

Rose grew up with an openly lesbian aunt; her family environment was welcoming of queerness. But she thought bisexuality meant 50 per cent attracted to men and 50 per cent attracted to women, and that the label didn't fit her because she's attracted to men more of the time.

That's until she turned 21 and stumbled across a Tumblr post.

"It said, 'you can be 70 per cent attracted to men, 30 per cent attracted to women' and I was like 'Oh! I think I could be not-straight then!'"

Soon after, Rose came out to her mum.

"When I told her… she was like 'Oh, I think I'm bi too!', I was like, 'What?! Why didn't you tell me! That would've really helped my coming out journey if you'd told me'," she laughs.

Rose's mum explained she had tried to come out as bi to some lesbian friends in the 1980s, but they told her she needed to "pick a side". This kind of discrimination from within queer circles makes bisexuals particularly vulnerable to social isolation, with many reporting that they feel "not straight enough" for straight circles and "not gay enough" for LGBTQ+ communities.

Rose and Sam are part of an open and supportive friend group, but even so - people close to them make incorrect assumptions about their sexualities because they are in a male/female relationship.

"We have had a friend who we know and love so much come up to us really drunk… and be like, 'You're just so straight! Look at you two!'... and I was like, 'No we're not!' It was sort of a funny situation but also… I don't think it's a funny joke to be like 'you're straight, haha!' Because you just don't know," she says.

Dr Nikki Hayfield is a senior lecturer at UWE Bristol, whose research explores bisexualities, pansexualities, asexualities, and LGBTQ+ sexualities generally. She's also bisexual herself.

"People do tend to take our relationships status as a signifier of our identity, and so it's much more difficult for bisexual people to be out about their sexuality, because their partner… doesn't indicate their sexuality in the way that it does for heterosexual people or for lesbians and gay men," she says.

"Bisexual people find that even if they've been explicitly out about their bisexuality, to say their friends and their family and their work colleagues, when they're in a relationship all of a sudden it's as if they didn't make that declaration of their bisexuality, and they find that people around them assume that they're 'gay now' or they're "straight now'."

Author and columnist Emily Writes was happily married to her husband when she came to terms with her attractions towards women. While her husband was incredibly supportive, coming out to some of her friends and family was trickier.

"A lot of people saw it as 'Are you getting a divorce then? Which I thought was really odd because that never crossed out minds… We have a really happy marriage and I don't see how that changes anything," says Emily.

As someone with a public profile, Emily copped the same social media flack as bisexual celebrities like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus: That they are claiming queer sexualities as a marketing stunt. Another common biphobic trope.

"When I see somebody being like 'Oh now she's gay coz it's cool.' I just have this thing in my head where I'm like 'I've been gay! I've been gay! The whole time I was gay!' She says. "It's this thing around bisexuality or queerness, that people want you to perform it for them and if you don't then are you allowed to say that you're queer or bi?"

Here's why this stuff is so important:

- The Youth '12 survey, of 8,500 New Zealand secondary school students found young people who experience "both and same sex attraction" (gay, lesbian, bi and pansexual students were lumped together in this survey) are more likely to be bullied.

The majority of them had deliberately self-harmed. 18.3% had attempted suicide in the past year.

- Also - the proportion of them experiencing significant depressive symptoms has increased from 27 per cent in 2001 to 41.3 per cent in 2012. Opposite-sex attracted students had no significant change.

- Several overseas studies also suggest that bisexual people are at a higher risk for poor mental health outcomes than both straight and lesbian and gay people.

What can we do to help?

Sai, Charlie and Emma are students at Wellington High School who identify as pan and bisexual.

"Just normalise it. As much as you can," says Emma. "A lot of TV shows are having a lot of casual background queer characters and not making their queerness who they are… Let's hope it continues."

"I do think the term "it's just a phase' is so strange," Charlie says. "Because, if it is a phase why can't that person, like, live in that phase and be comfortable with that?"

"People are a lot more quick to shut it down the younger you are because they're like 'oh you don't know any better'," says Emma.

"It's just people with ideas about what things should be, having a go at people who don't fit their expectations, just like it happens with just your regular old homophobes," says Sai.

"I guess I just wish I had bi parents, then I'd know it was a thing. Or just bi people that are open and in my life,"

Rose, the bi woman in a relationship with pansexual Sam, has some good advice, too.

"Until I meet this new person coming into my friend's life, I'm not gonna presume what gender they're going to be, that's just putting my friend in a box... I kinda just assume everyone's bi unless they tell me otherwise."

* Rose and Sam are not their real names

[yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog]

2018 NFL Preview: The Bills ended that playoff drought, but they're still rebuilding

Yahoo Sports is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per weekday in reverse order of our initial 2018 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 1, the day before the Hall of Fame Game kicks off the preseason.

(Yahoo Sports graphics by Amber Matsumoto)

We want improvement to be linear. A rookie quarterback bursts on the scene with a great season, and we believe he’ll be an MVP candidate the next year. It often does not go that way.

And when a team breaks through and unexpectedly makes the playoffs, as the Buffalo Bills did for the first time since the 1999 season, we imagine the next step being forward, not back.

The Bills are realistic. Breaking the longest playoff drought in the NFL was a great accomplishment in the 2017 campaign, but building a winner is a long process. The Bills went from seven wins in 2016 to nine last season. That doesn’t mean an 11-win season is next.

“We had nine wins this year, [and] we’re trying to get more, but it doesn’t always happen for various reasons,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said, according to the team’s transcripts. “It’s a competitive league.”

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

The Bills were a weak playoff team. They were outscored by 57 points, the fifth-worst point differential for a playoff team in NFL history. They ranked 21st among 32 NFL teams in Football Outsiders’ DVOA per-play metric, and 20th in Jeff Sagarin’s analytics rankings for USA Today. The Bills were outgained by minus-0.6 yards per play, one of the worst marks in football, significantly behind the 0-16 Cleveland Browns’ mark of minus-0.2. The Bills benefitted from a 5-2 record in games decided by seven points or less, a plus-9 turnover margin and a light schedule. Oh, and a miracle Andy Dalton-to-Tyler Boyd touchdown that was a highlight for the ages.

The Bills didn’t proceed like they had arrived. In fact, the roster got turned over a little more.

The Bills traded quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who the new regime seemed eager to dump from Day 1. In came free agent AJ McCarron as the temporary starter. A couple major trades put them in position to draft Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, a risk that will define the Sean McDermott era.

The offensive line was decimated. Tackle Cordy Glenn was traded, center Eric Wood retired and Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito retired, un-retired, and then was cut loose before a weird public meltdown. That’s a lot to lose from one unit.

The skill positions are still surprisingly thin — if LeSean McCoy misses any time, it’ll be ugly — and the defense is good but not great. If you looked at the depth chart, you wouldn’t guess this was a playoff team last season.

Like many clubs near the bottom of these rankings, the quarterback question looms over everything. Buffalo is smitten with Allen, one of the most divisive prospects in recent draft history — either you love his otherworldly physical talent or you don’t see how he can succeed in the NFL after being average in the Mountain West Conference. And he wasn’t cheap: The Bills traded Glenn to move up nine spots and then sent that pick, their second-round selection and another second-round pick acquired in last year’s Sammy Watkins trade to move up to No. 7 for Allen.

“You’ve got to have a franchise quarterback,” Beane said before the draft. “That’s one of the main jobs of a GM is to find a franchise quarterback, it’s a quarterback league, I’ll say it every single time. You have to have one.”

The hope in Buffalo is that Allen’s amazing physical gifts lead to NFL success. If you built a quarterback on “Madden,” you’d build Allen. But he needs a ton of work. In a perfect world he’d sit and develop for a year, but that seems unlikely when McCarron is the only quarterback ahead of him. Allen is the biggest piece of the Bills’ rebuilding project.

And make no mistake: Even with last season’s success, it’s still a rebuild.

Buffalo Bills first-round pick Josh Allen poses with his jersey after the draft. (AP)

The grade mostly depends on your opinion of Josh Allen, and there are extreme views on both sides. I don’t love the price Buffalo paid for him or the situation he finds himself in, which we’ll talk about in a moment. I did love the Tremaine Edmunds pick, the second of Buffalo’s two first-round selections. The incredibly athletic Virginia Tech linebacker has a chance to transform the Bills’ defense, and perhaps do that soon. Star Lotulelei was the big-ticket free-agent addition, and he fills a role as a big and active defensive tackle. Pass rusher Trent Murphy, signed from the Washington Redskins, could pay off. I’m not an AJ McCarron fan, but the Bills didn’t pay much for him. The losses on the offensive line will be tough to overcome. The offseason moves were fine, though there’s a better chance Allen is a bust than a superstar.

GRADE: C-

While Sean McDermott’s first season also included the impossibly bad Nathan Peterman-for-Tyrod Taylor switch, you can’t argue with the overall results. Before last season people wondered if the Bills might be tanking, and McDermott took them to the playoffs. McDermott maximized his roster. We’ll see if that carries over, but it’s a nice start for the new coach.

The Bills rely heavily on LeSean McCoy. They need to because who else is there? Kelvin Benjamin doesn’t get enough separation to be a legit No. 1 receiver, Zay Jones was a disappointment as a rookie and presumed third receiver Jeremy Kerley doesn’t scare anyone. Tight end Charles Clay is fine, but he can’t carry an offense. If McCoy goes down the backup is Chris Ivory, who is 30 and fading fast. Buffalo’s quarterbacks are unproven at best, and the offensive line lost its three best players. Aside from McCoy, there likely won’t be one above-average starter on offense. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bills finish near the bottom of the league in many offensive categories.

Even if you didn’t like Josh Allen, who couldn’t even make first- or second-team all-Mountain West last season, you probably agreed that his best scenario for him was to sit and learn, then be surrounded by a good supporting cast when the time was right. Buffalo doesn’t check either of those boxes. AJ McCarron could hold the starting job all year, but pressure will be intense to put Allen in the lineup. And if Allen starts at some point this season – it’s a great bet he will, and we probably can’t rule out Allen for Week 1 – he’ll be surrounded by an offensive supporting cast that is as thin as you’ll find in the NFL. Allen is an intriguing prospect. He’s big, athletic and has amazing arm strength. But there has to be a fear that all of his deficiencies will be magnified in a less-than-ideal situation.

It’s LeSean McCoy in a landslide. Recall the rundown of offensive skill position talent above. Now imagine that offense without McCoy. He is still a great player, but he turns 30 this season and has a lot of mileage on his tires. And the Bills can’t decrease his workload. McCoy’s 59 receptions were 10 more than any other Bills player last season. He had 287 carries last year, 203 more than any teammate. One of these years McCoy is going to start hitting the wall, and the Bills aren’t prepared for that day. The Bills have some very good players on defense, like Tre’Davious White, Micah Hyde, Jerry Hughes, Lorenzo Alexander and even Vontae Davis, a reclamation signing, at cornerback. But McCoy is all the Bills have on offense.

From Yahoo’s Andy Behrens: Writing a Buffalo fantasy blurb just feels wrong. That fact that we’re presenting any level of fantasy spin on this flaming mess of an offense is, frankly, irresponsible. This team has conveniently paired the league’s worst receiving corps with a dreadful collection of young QBs. It’s an offense to avoid. Here’s hoping LeSean McCoy can escape from Buffalo while he’s still a productive, dynamic runner. Shady’s yards per carry dipped last season (from 5.4 to 4.0), but that wasn’t entirely on him. McCoy finished third among all backs in evaded tackles (97), which tells you there’s still life in his soon-to-be 30-year-old legs.

Unfortunately, it looks as if McCoy will be the featured runner for a team that averages 14-16 points per game. Guys like that don’t generally deliver RB1-level stats.

[Juggernaut Index: Fantasy outlook on the Bills.]

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The Bills were the only team in the NFL last season that didn’t have one player record more than four sacks. Jerry Hughes and Shaq Lawson tied for the team lead with four each. The Bills need a lot more from them (or someone) this season, especially 2016 first-round pick Lawson, who has been a disappointment. There have been reports his roster spot could be in jeopardy. Rookie Tremaine Edmunds was seen as a possible situational pass rusher before the draft, but the Bills have him at middle linebacker. If the Bills’ pass rush improves, it’s probably because Hughes bounced back or Lawson emerged.

CAN ZAY JONES BE THE PLAYMAKER THE OFFENSE NEEDS?

I’m hesitant to bury any second-year player, especially one that set an FBS record for career catches. But Jones showed nothing last season, then he had a terrible offseason. The low point was a bizarre incident in which he was bloody, walking around a Los Angeles-area apartment building naked and had to reportedly be restrained from jumping out a window. Then, in May, Jones had knee surgery that knocked him out of the rest of the Bills’ offseason program. He also had shoulder surgery in January. Jones had just 316 yards last season. Buffalo needs him to take a huge step in Year 2, but that doesn’t look like a great bet.

Nobody saw a playoff berth coming last season, so maybe it’s best to not rule that out. The defense was good at creating turnovers, and McCoy is a do-it-all offensive star. It’s hard to imagine AJ McCarron or Josh Allen being a top-10 quarterback this season, but both have their positive attributes. Many of the players who took Buffalo to the postseason are back, and another playoff berth has to be possible.

I don’t want to rain on the Bills’ parade, but the worst-case scenario is really bad. The quarterback situation is not set up for success this season, and Josh Allen probably will play before he’s ready. If LeSean McCoy isn’t a superhero again, who else makes plays? If McCoy misses time, it might be one of the worst skill-position groups we’ve seen in a while. The offensive line is one of the worst in the league. The Bills don’t rush the passer well. I like the secondary, but creating turnovers isn’t necessarily a repeatable skill. It would stink for Bills fans to see their team follow up a playoff berth with a huge step back, but a huge step back could happen.

Maybe I’m not seeing the positives with this roster, the same that earned the Bills a wild-card spot. But I can see how it can all go sour. I envision a punch-less offense being led by Josh Allen before Thanksgiving (or much sooner), and him struggling because he’s not ready. The defense is solid but not good enough to overcome an offense that’s a LeSean McCoy injury away from Kelvin Benjamin being its best player. With a few bad breaks, the Bills could end up in play for a top-five pick. That might not be the worst thing in the long term. This is still a team that’s in the middle of a long build.

32. Cleveland Browns 31. Indianapolis Colts 30. New York Jets 29. Arizona Cardinals

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab