#put a picture of it in the artist chat on my Discord and said 'who wants to draw this ancient Korean king's OC'

[ingo-ingoing-ingone]

So! Post con thoughts!!

First off, I will be making a con compilation video soon so look out for that! More pictures! Videos too! You’ll get to see me doing Emmet Karaoke and also the cosplay fashion show :) I’ll rehash this post in the video as well

But okay!

First off, I want to say I’ve had more fun than i can ever remember having this weekend. The reception to my cosplay and everything I did this weekend was... Astounding. I expected a handful of people to enjoy my cosplay and know who i was. Maybe more to know “hey that pokemon black and white train guy!” (Actual comment i heard)

But no. I got 100+ people commenting and asking for pictures and freaking out about my cosplay (and posters). In the registration line, several people told me they loved me. Today, one person said “HEY! My friend Emmet! Wait nevermind that’s weird you don’t know me.” (that cracked me up) Several people had me pose with plushies or props they had! People freaked OUT when they saw me, and today I got MULTIPLE PEOPLE saying they were searching for me all day after hearing about me yesterday. When I did find Ingos, and we did the pose, so many people wanted pictures. It was awesome!! There’s got to be SO MANY pics floating around out there!

The first Ingo I found was a fan of my fanfics. That was an INSANE feeling, meeting someone who was a fan of me. I also met an author that I’ve been enjoying the works of, which was almost equally as wild! Fun fun time, there (we’ll both be going to another con at the same time, totally gonna meet up there.)

The flyers were such a hit. People cracked UP when I handed them to them. One person SHOUTED “NOOOOOO!” loudly in the artist alley. They were one of the artists. There were groups who crowded around and read it aloud. The line “we are different people” SENT THEM. Three people said they’d frame it. The mask was another thing that people loved! They thought it was wonderful! My con badge also said I AM EMMET and so did the LED badge I pinned to my lanyard. Those who noticed the triplicate thought it was hilarious. Glad it wasn’t overkill like I’d thought!

Now, I will say I was a bit bummed there was not one single HINT of submas merch ANYWHERE in artist alley. OF COURSE this isn’t the artists’ faults, duh, I just wish I would’ve seen some! I had submas fans asking me if I’d found anything, and nothing. Had to tell several folks the pins and keychains I had were all bought beforehand!

One artist in the artist alley asked me to keep a lookout for Ingo merch for their little sister, who apparently loves Ingo to pieces. I found nothing, but gave the artist a flyer to pass along, and they took a pic of me holding it :) They said I’d make her day, which was such a good feeling.

Even after the con, folks on discords (that I wasn’t in at the time!) were talking about the “Emmet cosplayer with the missing posters.” Someone else on tumblr complimented the Emmet cosplayer while we were chatting, all the while unaware that I was the person who was in that cosplay!

That’s the core of it, really. While cosplaying and having people interact with me gives me free serotonin, it’s because I fuckin love making people smile. The amount of days I apparently made is.... a lot!! I did that! I made people smile! People posted pictures on twitter yelling over getting to meet me! I just... brought joy to people. And that is an immensely good feeling.

Aside from all that, I had a photoshoot in the Boston subway system (aka the T). I was quite lucky the con was in a location with its own stop! My wonderful photographer was happy to go down there for a shoot. It was even on the Green Line, just like the one Ingo runs. So me pretending to put up missing posters there will be extra evocative. :) I’ll post those pics, and the ones from the photo room at the con, as soon as I get them! :D

I learned a few things that I’m going to incorporate into my writing as well! Like how even if you are a different color, even if you are LABELED IN 3 PLACES! People will still get you and your twin confused. And how even if you’ve been doing the same pose all day, sometimes you will almost run into the person you’re standing next to in an attempt to get to the right position. And sometimes you’ll forget for a moment and face the person you’re SUPPOSED to be posing back-to-back to like a dummy.

Fun way to do fic research, I guess! Live as the character(s) for a few days! :D

So now that this con is over.... Now what?? What happens next? Well, aside from having to go back to work (boo), I have a lot of plans. There are some locations in the area where I eventually want to have some photoshoots. I’ll be going to Vancouver and might be bringing my cosplay along, and I definitely want to go to NYC soon. For cons, Connecticon is coming up, and Fan Expo Boston is as well! Along with some smaller Massachusetts cons and ones in the surrounding areas that I might hit up :) Unless my life takes a verrry sudden detour or my outfit gets completely ruined, I will be cosplaying Emmet at all these events.

But until then...

I’m planning on taking a few of each version of the posters and sticking them in the Boston subway and seeing what happens. It’s obviously just a silly thing, so no one will be bothered sfjslfghsfhgj I wanna see if anyone takes the tear tabs. If you’re in Boston and find one, you get a free doodle from me.

Until my next con this summer! If anyone’s going to Connecticon, let me know! I can’t wait to go do this all over again :)

(Post mostly written on Sunday, May 29 2022)

[withcolebrock]

I Drew That

Corpse Husband x fem!reader

Summary: Corpse finds out that Y/N has a drawing of him as her background

Warnings: swearing :)

Word Count: 1,818

Author’s Note: I’ve spent weeks trying to write this piece :/ I just couldn’t find a way to make it how I wanted it if that makes sense but I tried my best. This idea was very cute because I can totally see this happening lol. Especially with like the whole flirty voice thing Corpse has been doing with like Brentman and like James and stuff haha. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

~~~

Tonight was one of the many nights that she was playing Among Us. It had taken over her life, a flood of success followed her once she had played with Sean and Felix. She had gained over two hundred thousand subscribers on her YouTube channel. It had changed her life for the better, in many ways.

For the last three rounds, it had been strict imposter wins. Felix won two of those. Everyone was shocked when it was him the second time, Felix was getting great at the game. The group then decided to switch lobbies because Felix was throwing a fit about getting imposter too much. It was the usual group of Felix, Sean, Poki, Rae, Sykkuno, Leslie, Toast, Dave, Corpse, and Y/N.

Over the last few months everyone in the group had gotten a lot closer. Especially Corpse and Y/N. After the first time they played together, a lobby Sean had created, they had talked for hours after the first game they played. This had continued almost every time they had played  Most of the time, Corpse would be editing his videos while talking with her. It calmed him as he worked. She would be working on her art or scrolling through Pinterest or Tumblr.

They had even FaceTimed several times, where Corpse revealed his face to her. He made a big deal out of it, saying a whole monologue before he turned the camera to his face. She followed in pursuit being very dramatic as well. Whenever they would talk he would play her his music, waiting to see if she liked it. She loved any song he put out, despite it not being her usual music taste.

One night she was scrolling through Tumblr and found an artist who was drawing Among Us players with their little characters. One particular character made her smile and her heart flutter slightly. It was an amazing drawing of Corpse and his little character sitting on his shoulder. It was an art style she was familiar with, she loved supporting smaller artists. It was the cutest thing she has ever seen. Weirdly, it perfectly described him. She loved it so much, she decided to keep it as her phone Wallpaper.

The round started on Mira, where Y/N was a crewmate again. Throughout the whole night, she still hasn’t gotten imposter. “Dammit,” she groaned at the screen. She stood still at the start of the map, waiting to see if anyone would fake tasks at the start. Everyone ran off, not doing them. She quickly followed.

After a long thirty seconds lights get shut off. She ignores the emergency and continues doing her tasks, she stood by the vending machine when Felix killed her. “It’s fucking Felix again!” she leaned back in her chair groaning. She covered her face with her hands. “He’s gotta stop killing me first,” she shook her head. She tried to hide how annoyed she was.

Her body was called by Poki, she was the only dead one. “Oh my god,” Poki said once the screen popped up.

“Y/N no!” Rae yelled, “You guys, she’s died first the last three rounds,”

“Wait really? Oh Jesus, sorry Y/N,” Sykkuo said, a breathy laugh leaving his lips.

“I’ll protect you next round, Y/N, I promise,” Corpse said. Y/N tried to hide her smile and the heat rushing to her cheeks.

“We’ll avenge you, Y/N!” Sean yelled. Soon after everyone grieved her death they began asking each other where they were. Everyone had a solid alibi making it impossible for them to figure out who did it.

“Guys, guys, Y/N died first the last three rounds right?” Toast started, everyone hummed, “Who was imposter these past few rounds?” he explained. Everyone gasped.

“You really think I would kill her first three rounds in a row?” Felix tried to defend himself as the voting time clock turned red.

“You’ve done it twice already!” Sean yelled, voting Felix. Felix was saved since half of the group skipped. She floated around the map trying to get her tasks done quickly so she could talk to her chat without holding back the rest of the group.

She glanced towards her chat, reading a few questions, she shifted her gaze to the game and thought about the questions. “I’ve been working on a cute little animation for you guys, I might do another art stream with you guys. Only if you guys want it, of course.” she read through a few more questions while answering them, while she waited for the meetings to end.

Once all of her tasks were done, she began to talk about her art and fanart. “Yeah, there’s an artist on Tumblr, they are amazing, they deserve so much more recognition,”  she explained as she showed them her lock screen with the drawing of Corpse; without thinking about her chat being curious as to why it was him. Turning her phone back towards her, her eyes widened as realization dawned on her.

The chat began to flood in with questions, begging Y/N to tell them why she had Corpse’s drawing as her background. She chose to ignore the question and continue talking about her own art and showing fan art. Despite trying to change the subject, she sighed dramatically. “Chat, there’s no reason why Corpse’s character is my background, the artist is just good, stop talking about it,” she giggled as the victory screen popped up on her screen.

“Felix what the fuck!” she unmuted in discord. He began laughing as he began to defend his actions. “No, no it doesn’t matter if I know your liar voice, Felix-” After about five minutes of everyone talking the next round started. She was a crewmate again, “I feel like I’m bugged,” she groaned as she started running around doing her tasks. Corpse’s little black character was following her.

“Looks like I got myself a little body guard,” she smiled as she spoke. They walked passed the medbay room, as Corpse moved his character dramatically. She rolled her eyes as they both walked into the medbay room. She didn’t have medbay, but she sat waiting for Corpse to finish. They continued doing tasks together until a body was called. It was Sean’s.

“Y/N’s cleared I was with her the entire time,” Corpse said confidently into his mic. She said the same about him. Poki was acting a little weird during the call, which made Y/N a little suspicious of her.

~~~

When the lights were shut off Corpse was killed by Poki, and he groaned as his body was killed immediately. Poki called out Y/N right away, saying that she was with Corpse the whole time. Corpse glanced towards his chat, finally able to try and read everything everyone was saying. His eyes lit up as he saw her name flash the screen several times.

One person kept spamming the chat saying, Y/N’s has your Among Us character as her background, he smiled as he read it. He knew exactly what the picture was, “Oh really?” he hummed as he continued reading. Everyone was saying how nervous she got when they kept asking her about it. He pressed his lips together nervously. He decided to drop it for now, but he was curious. He looked back up to the screen and began to listen to what was happening during the meeting.

“...You really think I would spend this whole game marinating Corpse for me to kill him in front of Poki? What about that double kill that happened, there was no way I would’ve done that if I was with him.” Y/N explained, over Poki trying to defend herself.

“I think she’s got it guys,” It was down to Toast, Y/N, Sykkuno, and Poki. Everyone quickly voted for Poki. The Victory screen popped up. “I knew you had it, Y/N,” Corpse said as everyone started shouting into the discord.

After a few minutes of them discussing the round, they decided to switch over to Polius. “Hey, Y/N, can I ask you something?” Corpse asked, the group quickly went quiet.

“Sure,” she giggled.

“My chat keeps saying you have my character as your phone background, is that true?” he asked, teasingly. He smiled widely. The entire group started cheering while teasing Y/N and Corpse.

Her mouth dropped open as she tried to find a way to explain it, “Well, uh,” she cleared her throat, “I do actually, it was great art, what was I supposed to do?” she laughed.

“Oooo, someone has a little crush,” Sean teased, Felix quickly joined. The rest of the group was simply laughing along. Corpse stayed silent while the group was teasing Y/N, and Corpse for that matter.

He pulled up Y/N’s Twitter and began to scroll through her feed to find the perfect drawing. He took the drawing that Y/N did of her own Among Us character. It was a drawing of Y/N holding her little character in her hand. It was his favorite piece of art she has done. Mainly because she drew it while on FaceTime with him. He quickly changed it to his iphone background, he glanced back towards the screen, seeing if the game started. He took a screenshot of it and immediately texted it to Y/N.

“Y/N, look at our messages,” he said simply into his mic. The group slowly stopped talking as they waited for Y/N to open the message.

“Corpse, I’m scared,” she whispered, everyone started laughing.

“Just open the message,” he giggled.

She sighed dramatically while she pulled up the messages with Corpse, seeing the screenshot. Her lips fell into a pout as she saw it. “I drew that,” she mumbled into the mic.

“You did,” he whispered, as he felt heat rise in his cheeks. He loved hearing her voice. “It’s my favorite,” he continued.

“Corpse,” she whined as her eyes began to tear up. She didn’t know why, but her heart felt so full. “You didn’t have to do that,” she mumbled, readjusting herself in her chair. She shifted her gaze towards the contact name, Corpseyyy.

“Of course I did, It was beautiful art,” he muttered while he looked back towards his phone, admiring his new phone background.

“Is this..a possible.. New relationship starting?” Sean whispered dramatically into his mic.

“It sounds like it,” Rae interjected. Corpse rolled his eyes dramatically, but he didn’t oppose the idea; neither did Y/N. Rae quickly started the game, letting the tension ease between everyone. Corpse and Y/N got imposter together.

“Oh my god finally,” Y/N said into the mic as she started faking tasks, “Chat, please stop saying I’m blushing, you aren’t helping,” she giggled as she continued the game. She raised her hand to her cheek, feeling the warmth.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Mod: Many confessions about the tagging and grooming topic, CW for pedophilia/grooming mentions

1. it's really creepy how many people think it's a-ok to not watch over their own childrens online activity, and leave it all in the hands of strangers. as if me not posting my dolls tiddy pics, which i post for myself and other grown ups like me, is going to stop actual pedos from trying to reach out to children. honestly sounds more like those people trying to police us, we who mind our own business, care more about our business, than actually protecting children from real groomers and pedos.

~Anonymous

2. Children in adult spaces = Really shitty parents/guardians who don't give a fuck about what their childrens do. Idk but Imo if they get into adult spaces that are clearly labelled thusly, something their guardians are responsible they don't do, then Idwk what else kinda adult spaces they lie to get into. Like, even if the entire hobby was super strict to the point of demanding your ID to prove adulthood, those kids are still gonna lie about it, and try and get into spaces not for them.

~Anonymous

3. "grow up and take responsibility" anon, no, fragile artist dolls for 600$ aren't "for kids". Bjds aren't for kids. They are mostly popular with young adults. If doll have a sex toy on a photo but it's still a bjd, then I will tag it as a bjd. Kids who don't know what a sex toy is - shouldn't be on Instagram. If they are there, it's not my responsibility to keep them safe. Grow up and monitor your kids yourself.

~Anonymous

4. What is it with people recently trying to parentify absolute random adults on the interwebs? Can you just not? If you tag your shit appropriately, with the Nsfw or Sfw tags, and make sure you don't post nsfw in spaces that don't allow it, like discord servers, then that's being responsible. What more do people even want? Screening every follower, every commenter, and person liking your posts? You literally can't do more than tag your posts, what else you gonna do? Report? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

~Anonymous

5. cannot believe i'm typing this, or that this even needs to be said, but apparently that's just the world we live in now, so here we go: a random person posting content with tags on their own page and minding their own business is not a form of passive grooming. you cannot passively groom someone. that's not how any of this works.

~Anonymous

6. teens will be traumatized by me posting pictures of my anime doll with big boobs: a normal, healthy take

~Anonymous

7. Hmmmm no, still not my responsibility to be mindful of the kids if they wander onto the BJD tag and see stuff like Angelphilia dolls and other nsfw content. BJDs are marketed, bought, and sold by adults, for adults, it’s a fact about this hobby. And if a kid makes their way to somewhere where these dolls are being displayed, it’s not my job to censor myself to appease being “safe” for them that wasn’t supposed to include them in the first place. I get not everyone is into NSFW stuff and that’s ok, but stop trying to make a space for kids in a hobby that’s not made for them

~Anonymous

8. my good bitch i do not live my life assuming that children are walking around stacked three in a trenchcoat so they can sneak into my clearly delineated adults-only space and i refuse to change my behavior for straw children who aren't as vulnerable, impressionable, or common as certain people seem to think they are. i have 'grown the hell up' -- and that's why i'm posting content for the other adults to enjoy, tagged and with a pre-roll content warning to boot. if you click next, that's on you.

~Anonymous

9. Listen, if it ain’t Monster High dolls, Everafter High, Barbie, Rainbow high, aka dolls that were marketed FOR kids that have adult fans, then it’s not our responsibility to make a “safe space for kids” for the BJD community. There can be non-NSFW chats for the teens who want to know about the hobby and forums and whatever and that’s fine, but don’t expect everyone to fall in line with your “think of the children!!” crusade.

~Anonymous

10. the way some of you people act is insane “it’s up to parents to control their kids” do you think parents can or even SHOULD monitor their kids 24/7? do you think children shouldnt have bedroom doors either? you don’t have to “babysit” minors but you sure as hell can acknowledge and understand that kids are curious and it’s your duty to shield them from that as much as you can. you people have no empathy for children whatsoever i stg. why not put the energy you use up complaining about ~babysitting other people’s children~ into not being freaks in public spaces 🙄

~Anonymous

11 .the people arguing that no one can post horny/sexy on main dolls because children might see them are the exact same demographic of people who've been hounding lil nas x for releasing a sex bomb like montero even though his first big hit, old town road, was popular with children. creators are frequently creating for themselves -- not for you, or your kids. it's not up to them to curtail their freedom of expression because a child might see it. just leave adult content creators in peace, christ.

~Anonymous

[aurora-daily]

WHEN ASKJELL HEARD ABOUT THE EIGHT-YEAR-OLD WITH CANCER, HE GOT AURORA TO JOIN HIM FOR A SPECIAL GIFT

An article from bt.no by Frank Johnsen, translated by Amroth (May 20th, 2021)

Askjell Solstrand is the invisible sound man behind stars like Aurora and Sigrid. At Festspillene, it is he himself that is going to shine. Askjell Solstrand (27) from Askøy has always thought that being a music producer is enough. – I have never imagined that I had anything more to contribute than that I am good and hardworking. It’s easy to see yourself in the mirror and just see a nerd without a story – at least compared to the artists I usually work with, Solstrand says and smiles.

AN INCREDIBLY SAD STORY

The respected producer sits in the legendary studio Lydriket by Dikkedokken. With the hoodie placed over his cap, he is working on the sound on the artist Iris’ upcoming album.

Now he himself is going to be on stage. During a concert in Håkonshallen on May 31, Askjell Solstrand and a number of “special guests” will perform music from his upcoming solo album “Everything will be ok”. The first single, “Sofia”, is a song that means a lot to him. The idea originated in a chat community on Discord for people who like Askjell’s music. – I met an Australian fan who had an eight-year-old cousin, Sofia, who had cancer. An incredibly sad story that inspired me to write a piano piece that I was going to send to the cousins, says Solstrand.

GOT TO HEAR THE SONG BEFORE SHE DIED

He knew that the girls liked both Aurora and iris – and both vocalists were happy to perform when Askjell decided to make it a proper song.

– Sofia got to hear the first version of the song before she died. Unfortunately, I never met her myself, Askjell says.

The eight-year-old girl [Sofia] had a big dream: to become an artist. Now her family has sent over her paintings and drawings to Bergen. – I’m going to make a video to promote the song internationally. There we are using Sofia’s pictures in an exhibition at Gyldenpris art gallery, Solstrand says. In the same video, there are scenes where one of her paintings is hung up in the art museum Louvre in Paris. This is organized by another member on Discord – one who liked the idea and has good contacts at the museum. – So Sofia gets her place among the biggest [artists], if only for a short while.

ABSOLUTELY EXCEPTIONAL

The 27-year-old has for the last seven years worked for Made Management both as a producer and artist, and has more or less been at stand-by at the mixing desk in Lydriket to produce everything from Aurora, Sigrid, Emilie Nicolas to dePresno and Kjartan Lauritzen.

– There have been few holidays, to put it that way. I work all hours of the day, and there is little social life. But something must be sacrificed, Solstrand says while drinking strong coffee.

He remembers when a young and unknown Sigrid Raabe came into the studio in 2015 to make a demo. That became the piano ballad “Dynamite”, which was on Sigrid’s first EP in 2017.

– Could you immediately see that Sigrid would be the next big thing?

– I think she was absolutely exceptional, but I do not know if I could have said it with certainty. Because that is a muscle that must be trained, to understand what is good, Solstrand says.

WAS DISCOVERED AT VERFTET

Solstrand’s job as a producer is to bring out visions and ideas – and then use his musical expertise to make the songs sound as good as possible.

– I have been happy with my life as a behind-the-scenes guy. It was never important to be known to the outside world. It has all been about the music, I have been more concerned with gaining recognition and acceptance within the industry, Solstrand says.

A songwriting camp at USF Verftet in 2017 got him on a new track. Francisca Gonçalve, who then worked in Universal Music’s creative department, Globe, in London, also took part.

The two had met earlier in connection with Aurora’s release of Oasis’ “Half the World Away”.

– She asked if I wanted to try to make some neoclassical music. So I pitched an idea, Solstrand says.

This was, surprisingly for him, sent around to many in the record company Decca, who also releases Aurora’s music.

This set a number of processes in motion. Every night, after having worked as a producer, he sat down at the piano and made music. The songs were put together into an EP.

The record contract was quickly signed. And on the single “To Be Loved” he got Aurora onboard as vocalist.

– I have been good friends with her since 2014. When I told her that I had started writing my own music, she supported me one hundred percent, and we agreed to do a song together, Solstrand says.

A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE

The good friendship led to Askjell warming up for Aurora on her tour in the autumn of 2018.

– I got a very good response from the audience. We were a good match, I think. So I’ve got a lot of Aurora fans listening to my music. They are incredibly dedicated. If she breathes on something, they are there, Solstrand says and smiles.

In the last “pandemic year”, he has produced a lot of music, including songs on Sigrid’s and Aurora’s upcoming albums, Kobe’s solo album, dePresno, SKAAR and iris’ new albums. Solstrand has also had time to write music and lyrics for the upcoming solo album, which will be performed for the very first time in Håkonshallen.

– It’s going to be a powerful experience. Many of those I usually play with are joining the band. This will, in a way, be my first real concert, where people come to experience just me, Solstrand says.

Several secret guests will be joining him on stage. But he does not want reveal their names.

– There will be a lot of crying, guaranteed. It is special to have a concert like this with those I have worked most closely with.

[strazem]

I noticed that I’ve been getting blocked by a lot of Ososan artists lately and... At this point I’m sure it’s because of bad rumors and misinfo getting spread about me in discord servers. I’m going to put a lot of this under a readmore because I don’t want to clog people’s dashes with this, but I really want to clear the air here as I feel like there are a lot of things being left out of the narratives people are telling about me, and also the fact this is still happening and has been for four-five years, isolating me from a lot of the ososan community and hurting me in a very deep way...

Now, first off, I’m not here to say that over the past 4-5 years I wasn’t immature and childish. There were many times where I was, even to the point the behaviors could be seen as abusive or toxic even if that wasn’t the intention. I was in my early to mid 20s and had serious issues with oversharing my thoughts and feelings with people I really only knew casually, usually to the point of making them uncomfortable. I would also use all caps a lot, not really realizing the effect it had on people, making others feel like they were being shouted at. I would also act immaturely when I saw that other roleplay blogs were getting more attention than mine, even though the ones I had were for OCs, which meant that of course canon characters would get more traction.

Again, I was very young and not very socially developed. I am by no means trying to use my autism as an excuse, but rather an explanation.

Prior to getting into Ososan around 2016, I did not have any “real life” friends, that is, friends I knew in person. I did not know anyone my age and socializing was, and still is pretty limited to just my immediate family. Almost all of my interactions were online, and even that I struggled with. I had recently gotten out of an abusive relationship as well, and was just starting college. I did not think about how others felt enough and was too concerned with saying my piece and sharing my own opinions, making everything about me or about how I felt, and less about the other person. Again, this is something I’ve struggled with for most of my life as part of my ASD, but I’m still not excusing it by any means, especially considering the fact that other people ended up hurt.

I think the main issue was how immature and self-focused I was if I’m being honest, and how I would tend to make everything about me and how I felt and what I made.

My intentions were always good, that never changed. But as people have stated to me before, good intentions don’t mean anything if the outcome is bad. My immaturity really ended up hurting a lot of other people’s feelings and causing a lot of resentment, and I am by no means saying that anyone has to forgive me or be “ok” with me.

What I do wish though is that perhaps people who I have had struggles with in the past could refrain from spreading biased opinions of me to people who have never even met me. I understand wanting to support your friends, and I also understand that when someone you know tells you someone is “bad news”, it’s natural to take their word for it, especially if they only show screenshots of me at my lowest rather than when I was trying my absolute best to be a good friend, despite my immaturity.

However, I’ll be honest and say that I do think that this behavior in general seems counterproductive and perhaps even concerning... If there’s someone that upset me in my past, I don’t tell others or divulge about them to new people I meet unless I felt they did something actually illegal. I remember misinforming about someone in the ososan community based on false claims and I still feel guilty about it to this day, so I’ve also been guilty of this in the past. It’s also important to keep in mind that if someone is really making someone out to sound terrible or horrible that there is usually a bias clouding their perception. I've sat and reflected a lot on my own biases these past five years in therapy, and at the end of the day, I don’t think most people have bad intentions, at least not lonely kids in a small fandom. I think it’s a lot of miscommunication, lack of confrontation, and fear rather than any malicious intent.

Because if there’s one thing I know that I’m not, it’s a manipulator. I straight up do not have the social intelligence for that. I would all caps, I would get upset and leave chats and worry people, I would go on rants that people couldn’t talk me down from, or get too emotionally volatile, or put my own emotional issues onto other people by panicking and venting and putting on a scary and upsetting scene, but I never tried to manipulate anyone or turn anyone’s friends against them. The only two instances I can think of that even come close to me “warning” anyone about someone (and not for blm*tsu related reasons) happened in 2018 and 2019, well after all of this was (I assumed) done with. 

Most of my issues that people have gotten upset with me for was regarding my social immaturity, self-centeredness, altercations, public panic attacks, public mental breakdowns and a tendency to go off on emotional and heated rants, especially in public areas and in public chats. That’s why this thing about me being a manipulator seems misinformed to me, because I’ve never been great at DMing or talking to others one on one, I think anyone that’s known me will agree. Many of these altercations happened in public group chats.

I’m assuming that many of the bad rumors being spread about me are regarding my skype days back in 2016-2017, back before discord became the new norm for online chatting and servers and such, as well as a very specific “drama” that happened on anti-bl oso-twitter concerning people that had met in an osomatsu-san kin discord server (which I was not in or even knew about). 

Essentially, I befriended some of these people on twitter through people that had been in my second skype roleplay group (the first one I made was in 2016 I believe). I was unaware of any previous dramas or issues and was even unaware that said “person of interest” was even upset with me or thought I was toxic or bad. I had figured we had just stopped talking due to naturally drifting apart. Of course, in my young and naive mind, before understanding “social media etiquette” I went to go ask them why they had blocked me on twitter (I had started being active on twitter during that time.)

And of course, in my immaturity, was freaking out and panicking about having been blocked by someone I thought was a friend to people in my second roleplay group chat... As always... Ugh.. It wasn’t anything malicious though, just confusion and me being scared I had done something wrong.

One member in the roleplay group though, who I guess was a member of the osomatsu-san kin discord, started going off about said “person of interest”, claiming they had gotten their friend into a car accident and that they had groomed minors. Another person in the roleplay group felt the allegations were crazy and unfounded and left. Meanwhile, I was just lost as to what was even happening, I wasn’t aware these people were this connected or knew each other and admittedly, did a pretty poor job as a mod/admin that I didn’t stop the discussions sooner.

I have no idea if the claims were true or not, I imagine they were exaggerated due to bias, I have no idea, but then the same person who had made those claims showed me screenshots that “person of interest” sent to their mutual friend about me. How I was scary and toxic, that I had upset lots of people.. That they were panicking that I even contacted them on tumblr with a friendly “hello!”

Naturally, I responded with confusion. Again, my autism makes it very difficult for me to realize when people are upset or frustrated with me, especially over text. At the time, I couldn’t think of anything I had done to upset them and was very hurt and confused, as our last actual interaction had been seemingly positive. 

I did not try to turn anyone against them though. Here’s what actually happened: After being given this info, I also learned that there was a small discord group of the friend group that the person making the claims was from. I joined it hoping to learn more or get some sort of clarification only to find out that this entire group was very upset with “person of interest”. Like very upset. They made claims that this person lied, that this person liked to play victim as a way to manipulate others, that they had groomed two of the people in the group, that they had said unsettling things, that they would do strange and backhanded things ect. Again, I don’t know if these statements are true and I’m not trying to claim they are, I just know that this group of friends had been very upset with "person of interest” before I had even come into the picture. They were already planning on cutting them off!

I did not sway anyone or say anything, I was literally just there in the hopes of finding out if I’d done something wrong. 

Of course, this doesn’t at all excuse when I was still friends with “person of interest” and subjected them to my barrage of emotional baggage and panic attacks. I just want to make it clear that I never sent anyone after them or tried to turn their friends against them. In fact, I even tried to help them when they came to my twitter DMs asking me for help. I was already incredibly scared of pissing anyone off in general, and tried to keep things peaceful on both sides. When I asked the second roleplay group if they’d be okay with them rejoining, it was a unanimous “no”... I distinctly remember offering to still roleplay with them one on one and to make a new group that they could be in (and this was even after I had been shown the screenshots of them calling me toxic, which I still wasn’t holding against them!), but the offer was turned down.

I’ve noticed this very distinct pattern over the years of me running into a lot of issues due to miscommunication as well. It was very rare that people would express with me how they were feeling, or when they did, it was usually during one of my panic attacks, which were often bad enough that my brain would repress the memories of what happened during them the second they stopped, and it was rare that I would actually go back and read the things I said. People have had a very easy time going to others and complaining or venting about me to friends, but have had a very hard time actually telling me these complaints themselves, as themselves. I don’t really blame them, as we were all pretty young and given how much I freaked out publicly, it would make sense to be scared of how I might react. Not to mention there were probably things in their own pasts that made something like confrontation difficult. However, what I don’t understand is why this would still be happening five years later... I would assume by this point people would have moved on, especially regarding spats within fandoms.

I hold no ill will towards people in my past who’ve gotten upset with me, I do not hold grudges, and for the most part, if someone wants to cut contact with me, I just accept it and move on. But now that I’m noticing that these false claims are being spread around to other people in the fandom, people who weren’t even involved in these situations, blocking me based off of... Stuff they’ve heard about me... I felt a need to say something.

Honestly, my biggest wish or hope is that, given that it has been five or so years, that people who have never spoken to me or met me before maybe give me another chance? If I have personally hurt you, I don’t want you to feel the need to reach some sort of conclusion with me, or forgive me, or whatever...

But at the very least, perhaps people could be more careful when sharing personal issues we went through with other people, people who know very little about me and who I am and only know me through the lenses and narratives of people who felt slighted by me.

I have changed immensely over the past five years, more than I can even describe. I am not the same person mentally that I was, I have had therapy, I have had help, I have reflected, I have become more sensitive to other people’s thoughts and feelings. I even managed to help a friend of mine get therapy! I was not perfect, I behaved irrationally, but I do think it’s important to drive home the fact that it has been a few years and that I’ve made a lot of progress and that as I’m nearing 30, I have mentally matured quite a bit.

Again, no one from my past has to forgive me, I am not here to dictate how people should feel about me. I am just here to try to share my own side seeing as how I am unable to join most ososan servers and communities nowadays, and thus have a harder time being able to get in contact with or reach others.

I’ve been dying to say something, but kept worrying that it would stir up negative feelings or memories for others, but it’s getting to a point now where I’ve felt so isolated and hated by the fandom for five whole years that I’ve actually started having thoughts of self-harm again for the first time in awhile. I’m not saying this to make anyone feel guilty, and I haven’t acted on the thoughts, I just need to be honest.

This sort of behavior on the internet; gossiping about others, spreading misinformation about others, using a position of influence within a fandom to keep someone from making friends in fandom spaces... Or maybe people don’t even realize how much their words can affect others? Especially if they’re well-liked and exist in a lot of spaces. I’m sure there are no actual bad intentions when people say these things or vent to their friends.

And while I explained that one specific incident in detail that was with a specific person, it is not the only issue I’ve gotten myself into over the years either. I simply spoke about that one as I am just guessing it’s the big reason a lot of this is still going on to this day. I behaved poorly enough in the past that separate groups of people have ended up mad at me, regardless of even knowing each other. I was incredibly troubled, dealing with the aftermath of an abusive relationship, overworked with my animation assignments, and incredibly clueless in social situations or trying to relate to others. Again, these aren’t excuses... But explanations. Mentally ill people are not well, that’s why it’s an illness. In 2016-2017, I was at the lowest of my low, and continued to be until around the Fall of 2019. I have also matured significantly since, and have been working with a far more effective therapist as of late 2018, which I think is why I had such a positive change by 2019, as well as finding wonderful and supportive friends who truly care about me.

I know this is getting really long, too long honestly, but I really needed to get this off my chest...

I’m trying to decide whether or not this will be one of my final posts on tumblr as a whole, as I don’t think I will be able to participate in enjoying ososan publicly with how isolated I’ve been over the years by various groups and people; I think by this point the reputation is too soured for me to be a part of the community. Again, probably not out of malice, but fear and resentment at how I’ve acted.

The fact that I’m seeing more than a few people in ososan fandom I’ve never really spoken to, or people I was mutuals with blocking me is enough I think for me to consider calling it quits for public enjoyment. The fandom is already very small, and the anti-bl side is even smaller, so everyone is pretty interconnected and rumors can spread very easily. There’s no way I can compete with that, especially if I’m barred from most servers anyways.

I’m still going to mull it over, but again, if you’ve never met me, or if you’ve only seen screenshots of me from 2016 while panicking or allcapsing or at my worst... All I can really do is hope that maybe you’ll be able to see past these things and consider giving me a chance. 

As for the people I genuinely did hurt, I know I’ve said sorry many times now, even on my old blog Nutastic which I abandoned for similar reasons, but I don’t know how else or how better to prove how genuinely sorry I am... Because the proof of regret is in changing and becoming a better person, and there’s not much chance to see if I have or haven’t if I’ve been cut off.

No one has to forgive me, but perhaps at least entertain the idea I might’ve changed over the course of five years, and that telling people how I was back then instead of who I am now seems a bit unfair. Again, I suppose I dug my own grave by behaving like that in the first place, but I always try to show empathy even to people who wronged me at a low place in their lives, unless they were incredibly abusive and cruel.

At the end of the day, we’re all just people trying to enjoy a show about wacky sextuplets, and I don’t think anyone actually has any ill-will in their hearts, or has it in them to be “bad”, specifically on the anti-bl side. I don’t hold grudges, there’s no one that I currently have blocked unless they are a bl or a man that made me uncomfortable. My DMs are always open, as is my askbox.

Feel free to ask me anything or confront me about anything, though admittedly, doing so through anon makes it hard for me to reply as I don’t want to post anything potentially upsetting publicly.

And I will try to come to a decision about whether or not to pull a Jenna Marbles and leave social media for good out of regret and declining mental health. I will most likely make a post about it when I’m feeling more capable.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope your year is going good so far despite... Well, everything

[terrascookiejar-archive]

Terra has a Chat with a REAL Moderator this Time

In lieu of my original post that gained a lot of traction, and me talking about being “contacted” by someone claiming to be a mod.

An ACTUAL mod from the Official Cookie Run discord managed to contact me and  set the record straight on a few things, as well as discuss a few things regarding what happened. So it seems that this whole situation has indeed caught the attention of the mods of the Cookie Run Official Discord, and even MicMac himself. So what’s been done?

I do wanna talk about it in greater detail, so I’m gonna put everything in a cut, starting now. If you want the TL;DR version, skip to the second picture of Chestnut with Walnut at the end.

First things First, the person who I talked on the moderation team was someone by the name of Zayder, who contacted me on anon with their details. Using some help from friends We were able to background check and confirm, yes this person is actually legit. So I was reassured I wasn’t walking into some kind of trap.

(The photo given to me to prove authenticity by a friend. I blurred out their Discord number myself just for the courtesy of privacy)

What’s Being Done to Protect Artists on the Discord, Moving Forward?

I think this is the big question on everyone’s mind since I made my original post and all eyes are on the moderators and MicMac to make the change.

There seems to be a genuine admittance to the fact that the previous way fanart was moderated was ineffective and caused issues such as the theft and reposting to happen. 

So they’ve gone ahead and added stricter measures to prevent this from happening again. Including preventing new members from posting until they get the “Cookie” role, a cooldown on the channel to allow for easier moderation and viewing of said artwork, and heavier infractions laid down for art theft. 

I mentioned that the cooldown also allows for time for people to appreciate genuine artwork posted. So considering the magnitude of its members I’d say that’s a great first step in moving forward towards protecting community fanartists. I got confirmation from members in my own discord that the cooldown IS indeed already enacted and even increased from 10 to 30 minutes, so I have reassurance that what’s being told to me is true. 

They DO have a report system on their bot, but it seems most people prefer just messaging mods so that system in itself is rather flawed, but only so much you can do there. 

(^ This one’s my own artwork, btw!! ^) Zayder also asked me for my own feedback on what could be done to help protect artists, since I am an artist myself. It seems most of the moderation team are not artists and this probably lent itself to making moderation there so weak. 

In summary my main suggestions that were noticed were being mindful of traced art, and a dedicated section or post explaining art theft and how it harms artists and the importance of crediting artists. As not everyone understands how it hurts us, some people genuinely are uninformed. Which Zayder stated he would forward to Mic Mac. (Not sure how I feel about my own suggestions going directly to MicMac himself, but you know!!)

Fawn’s Situation happened so Long Ago that most of it is Lost (or worst case scenario, was deleted by a member of the moderation team) 

While the general consensus now is indeed “Yes, Fawn created Nutmeg Cookie,” there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of evidence towards who the perpetrator was (We had their username, hazbinalastor666, but not their ID and they’ve since changed it to cover their tracks) and the moderators involved with Fawn’s “Ban” to be found on the Official Cookie Run Discord. At least not anymore.

Zayder has confirmed that Fawn “left” the server in December of 2019, which lines up with Fawn’s own statements on the situation. However Zayder stated that whoever kicked her didn’t actually put her on the banlist. So either they kicked her manually, or they used the bot and then used it to erase all evidence of it and pretend nothing happened (which he certainly HOPES is not the case, and I do as well). It did not help that Trial Mods were not a thing yet by this time (They were not introduced until February of 2020), according to what Zayder told me. So things on that Discord were essentially pretty gun-ho. It’s not as simple as looking up a term and going to “Oldest” to track down stuff from the time.  Plus a good chunk of it seemed to have happened through DMs so... Good Luck getting that evidence.

Zayder informed me that Fawn is welcome to come back at any time. Though speaking with her she’s chosen not to, and considering her situation I don’t think anyone can blame her. I would like to believe that the version of the Discord that Fawn had to go through is not the same as the one we have now but something like isn’t essentially going to wash away what happened.

As for evidence that Fawn created Nutmeg first? Yes I do have it. The original incident,  hazbinalastor666 claimed that they created Nutmeg in November of 2019, However there’s evidence in our own discord showing Fawn creating Nutmeg as early as September of 2019.

As well as the day Fawn came forward on our discord about the situation after keeping quiet out of fear of backlash, ignited by seeing the thief get a commission of Nutmeg. However, I don’t plan to post that publicly unless I have Fawn’s okay. 

Yes. The First “Mod” That tried to Contact Me was Pretty Undeniably Someone Posing as a Mod From the Official Discord

“I'm also really curious on what you found false on what the "moderator" said to you. Nobody on the mod team ever told us they were gonna contact you, so I wouldnt know who that is.”

So that was my first sign that clearly the original person who contacted me at least wasn’t doing so without the consensus of the other mods, and neither did they consult the mods afterwards... So very, very likely they were a fake from the start. Some of the things that were off that I told to Zayder, and that we found through conversation were as follows:

The first person contacted me on a throwaway and refused to disclose who they were. Zayder gave me the ID of his personal discord and we could verify who they were easily.

The first person blew off my own suggestions for helping improve the fanart channels with statements like “We’re already cracking down on it.” Zayder asked me for my own suggestions as an artist without even being asked.

The first person kept trying to get me to get Fawn to use a VPN in order to get back into the Official Cookie Run Discord. Despite being told repeatedly that’s not how a VPN works. That’s just fucking weird. 

The first person couldn’t track anything down regarding Fawn’s situation years ago, Zayder was at least able to actually pinpoint the date in which Fawn was kicked, and rather quickly too I might add.

Zayder had pretty proficient knowledge on the bot the Discord uses for moderation and how it works. Which he explained to me a few times. The first person said to me at one point, and I quote, “For all I know the bot gives messages when infractions are laid.”

So seeing how talking with a real Moderator like Zayder was, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that someone was trying to dupe me here for some reason. Was it revenge? Did they want some sort of blackmail? Did they want me to proverbially “back off?” And if they ARE a mod why wouldn’t they give the info and such that I gave them to the other mods? Who knows. 

TL;DR:

Long Story short, it does appear as if the Moderation Team and Mic Mac have heard the artists of the fandom and are going to be working hard to lay down stricture rules regarding posting and doing their best to make sure credit goes where credit is due.

Fawn’s incident happened so long ago there’s not much evidence to be found on the Official discord, but we DO have proof that Nutmeg Cookie belongs to UpsetFawn!

The First Person who claimed to be a Mod was a fake and talking with Zayder proved it.

Overall, my talk with Zayder was very pleasant and enlightening and I believe Zayder would say about the same! I never meant to cause such an uproar, but I’d like to think things will change for the better now that we’ve all spoken up on behalf of our fellow artist. 

What we need to do now is watch how the Cookie Run Official Discord moves forward and if they’ll stick to their word towards protecting fandom content creators from theft and uncredited reposts. Though after my talk I’m certainly optimistic they will.

Always have your back for your fellow fandom artist, TerraTerraCotta

[lilmissbeanie]

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Keiji Akaashi x Famous!F!Reader

Song ~ Ass Back Home - Gym Class Heroes 

Genre ~ SFW Fluff

Word Count ~ 1.8k

Posted ~ 11/08/20

Akaashi sighed as he once again read another article about Y/n L/n and Jason Derulo, or some other artist always presuming that they were together. He didn't want to be jealous, but he couldn't help it when he saw his girl with some other guys, wasn't that normal? 

He knew it was going to be hard when he asked her to be his girlfriend. He knew she would be away often she would be travelling for tours and of course, meeting up with other artists to collaborate on songs, even though he knew that her new song would be a collaboration with Jason Derulo. 

He trusted her, the same way that Bokuto would trust his sets back in high school, the way that Bokuto would always know that Akaashi would always get the ball to him to spike. He knew she would never cheat on him, that wasn't who she was. He knew by the excitement in her voice when he answered the phone, "Kei!" The excitable giggles paired with the massive happy grin he saw on video call on the rare occasions that she could. Usually, it was voice messages or texts with the time difference, but some times she would stay up late so they could video chat, he would let the small smile grace his features when she would rub her eyes cutely and yawn. The way he would tell her to go to bed cause she is tired and she would pout innocently saying that she wasn't worn out. She would ask about his day listening as she slowly doses off, he didn't take it as an insult he just knew she was exhausted. He would sit there smiling at her sleeping face, looking like an innocent child, where she still had her phone in a light grip facing her.

"Good night, my Juliette sleep well. I love you."

"I... l-love you too my Romeo" would often be mumbled back, in her half-dazed state. With Akaashi's love of literature, Y/n just slipped it out once called him her Romeo and ever since it stuck.

Running his finger around the rim of his glass he sighed, it had been a few days since he had heard from her, he knew she was busy he had seen on her Twitter and Instagram that they added more tour dates in America as they stadiums had sold out. It had been eight months since the pair were actually in person together. 

"AKAASHI!" He flinched at Bokuto's sudden loudness as said boy appeared next to him. "Why so, mopey? Oh, you're missing Y/n aren't you!" 

"Hey my Romeo, I'm sorry I haven't called or texted you in a while, the tour has gotten so hectic recently we are doing two shows a day, so most of my fans can come, and watch and my manager wants to add even more dates." He smiled, enjoying the sound of her voice even if it is over voicemail, and she sounded exhausted. He had woken up for work and seen that he had missed a call from her at three am. "I know you're going to ask when I am going to be home, but I don't know at the moment, but soon I hope I'm going to tell my manager that I need a break. I hope to be home for Christmas." 

Rolling his eyes, he shrugged and gave a slight nod to Bokuto's question.

Bokuto suddenly felt terrible for Akaashi. He didn't know how he felt. He didn't have a love like Akaashi. His passion is for Volleyball is his true love right now.  He remembered the day he introduced Akaashi and Y/n. She was at an after-party of a game that the Black Jackals won and Bokuto dragged Akaashi along. It was like the couple connected instantly and they soon got together. Bokuto would often turn up at Akaashi's find them sprawled out on the sofa, Y/n with her head in his lap, his fingers running through he hair as he read a book to her. Bokuto had gotten many pictures of them like this. He loved how relaxed Akaashi was around her, a way he hadn't seen with anyone else. 

He knew that she was going to say that. 

"Anyway I miss you my Romeo, I cannot wait to be home and in your arms again. I want to be in our little bubble of love and cuddles, of you reading to me while you play with my hair. I want to be in the studio with you listening to me sing my new songs and telling me which words would work better with the lyrics I have written." He laughed he did often sit in the studio with her after he finishes work, reading over her new lyrics and crossing out the odd word and putting one that worked better with the theme of the song. He loved watching her pick at the strings of her acoustic guitar playing a few cords and seeing if they worked when she ran her fingers over the keys of the piano. He loved that she could play different instruments.

"I love you so much, Romeo. I hope you sleep well. See you as soon as I can. Bye-bye, my sweet Romeo."

About three weeks later he was sat at his desk eating his lunch, watch the recent interview Y/n had with OK! Magazine. 

'So Y/n, when the tour is over what is the first thing you're going to do?' Chloe, the interviewer, asked 

'I think it will be sleep we've had some busy months recently, most days doing two shows to it is hard work.' He laughed along with his beloved. 

'We've been keeping up to date on your social media, who is this Romeo you keep mentioning, we often see and I quote, I miss you my sweet Romeo, or I love you, Romeo.' He would always reply, but his account was private so no one unless they followed him and accepted it. 

'My Romeo is waiting for me at home; I promised him I wouldn't mention him until he is ready for the spotlight as he isn't an actor or musician. But he is my Romeo, and I am very excited to get home and be with him again.'  He was so glad that she didn't spill the beans about their relationship. He already had enough of the spotlight with being friends with most of the Black Jackals team, he already has his pictures in magazines when the team goes out, and he gets dragged along with Kuroo by Bukoto and Hinata. 

'Can you tell us one thing about him?' Chloe pushed for more details about him. He loved how Y/n's nose would scrunch up, and her left eyebrow would shoot up as he tapped her chin in thought. 

'He was a volleyball setter in high school.' She smiled. Akaashi smirked at the fact she gave, there were many setters across the world, and narrowing down to him would be hard. 'And he is my bookworm,'

'A setter and bookworm, those don't often go together!' Chloe laughed, with Y/n soon joining her. 

'I know, and I have Shoyo Hinata and Kotaro Bokuto. But honestly, if it wasn't for him I'm sure some of my songs wouldn't make sense, a lot of my lyrics in my book have his scribbles in changing the odd word here and there, I would often wake up finding him hovering over my lyrics book a mug of coffee in hand proofreading them for me.' 

He couldn't help the chuckle that slipped past his lips at the dig at Bokuto and Hinata's dislike for books.

'He sound's like a gem! But back to the fact you've met the Black Jackals numbers twenty-one and thirteen. What are they like?" 

"I've met them all I know all the Black Jackals, all their school friends too, I met them all after a match against the Cheehle Ekaterinburg, an old friend Morisuke Yaku I knew from my middle school days invited me along, and that was where I met them. Those two boys even though they were bouncing around the court like anything they still had so much energy, I was shocked that anyone could keep up with them, it was like they were children who had just walked out of an all you can eat sweetshop.'

This caused Chloe to giggle. He liked the way Y/n slyly slipped in how they met.

'this Romeo of yours you didn't happen to meet him through your old middle school friend, did you? At this party' Akaashi's eyes widen as the interviewer hit the nail on the head, he was impressed at how Y/n kept her facial expression in check, just the usual smile she used for interviews, 

Saturday 5th of December 2015 was the day that Y/n finally returned home. She didn't tell Akaashi she was on her, she knew from Bokuto that they would be at his favourite restaurant that serves his favourite food, Nanohana no Karashiae, in a private room at the back. She drove her car into the car park of the restaurant, taking a deep breath she pulled on her cap and her dark sunglasses as she got out and walked into the restaurant, telling the waiter that she was here for the Bokuto party he nodded and showed her to the door. 

'Ah, well it was through mutual friends that we met.' He loved how she deflected the question, not letting them on that it was at the party they met.

He leaned his phone against the pen pot on his desk, leaving the video to play, while he got on with his work, the questions had now turned to make-up and what shampoo she was using. 

"Thanks, I'll be fine from here." She knew from the photo that Bokuto had put up on Twitter that Akaashi had his back to the door, purposely done for this exact reason. Pulling off the hat and glasses, she quietly opened the door slipping in and once again quietly shutting it. The room slowly went quiet as eyes suddenly locked on to her figure. Akaashi frowned at his friends, why did everyone stop talking all of a sudden and why Bokuto and Kuroo had whipped out their phones, pointing it at him, till he started to follow their line of sight.

"Happy birthday Romeo." She giggled as he slowly placed her back on the floor, their foreheads resting against one another.

"I'm home, my Romeo." His eyes instantly locked with hers the second he heard her voice, as the smiles so wide crossed their faces as he flew out of his seat wrapping her up in his arms, tightly as if he loosen his grip she would disappear again, he spun her around. He was ecstatic she was home.

Nine months, eleven days, sixteen hours and thirty-eight minutes since the last time he held her in his arms. Since he lasted kissed her. Since he last looked into her beautiful deep e/c eyes.

"You are the best birthday present I could ever ask for." He said as he entwined his fingers into her hair, pulling her into a deep kiss that was long overdue.

©️ All content  belongs to lilmissbeanie, do not copy, edit, repost or translate. 

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[hellfirenacht]

The Convention Fic Chapter 1

YouTube Gamer Beetlejuice x Reader (gender neutral)

Summary: You were a mod for one of the biggest YouTube gamer, Beetlejuice. Now you're finally going to meet him in person.

Note: This fic takes place at Momo Con in Atlanta, Georgia because it’s my favorite con :)

Thursday (Night)

You didn't remember much between the plane landing and checking into the hotel other than the nervous and excited feelings in your gut. After dropping your bag next to the bed and plugging in your phone to charge you looked out the window, taking in the gorgeous view of the city as the sun set. From here you could see a rectangular park, along with a huge ferris wheel lighting up against the lavender sky.

You heard your phone ding, and you glanced over at it, seeing his name pop up. Your heart skipped a beat as you opened the message. "ARE U HERE YET?? COM FIND ME!!" he was always a bit sloppy with typing, even in private but something about the excitement and constant caps lock was endearing.

Still, the message made your heart pound in your chest. This would be your first time meeting him in person. He had practically begged you to come, claiming it was his first con and he needed his hype squad there.

You glances at the digital clock next to the bed. It was nearing 8 pm, and you knew that he was holding a small unofficial meet up in the park around 10. That at least gave you two hours to hype yourself up and get your badge and get ready.

"Just got in. Gonna take a shower and get my badge"

The reply was almost instant. "WAT ROOM? IM COMIN UP"

NOPE, you were NOT ready for this. You set the phone down, heart pounding. You were not ready to meet your celebrity crush/friend/boss (?) yet.

You took your time getting ready, wanting to make sure you looked perfect. It was warm out, so you pulled out the special t-shirt that you had bought from his merch store that just happened to make you look and feel kinda hot.

During all this, Beej kept spamming the mod group chat with pictures of everything he was seeing and people he was meeting. For a gremlin he sure did act like a puppy sometimes.

Finally happy with your appearance, you stepped out of your hotel, making sure you had your key card, wallet, and phone on you and made your way to registration. Being Thursday night there wasn't a lot people in line (especially since the YouTuber Concert had just started), but it didn't matter as you found your way to the Guest line, where Beej had promised a badge would be waiting for you.

He did not disappoint as you were handed a lanyard and a special badge that said "guest" on the bottom. It made you feel a little special that you were considered to be part of his group, officially.

But that's part of the reason you were here. You were a Mod for his streams and Discord, yes but you also helped him with responding to e-mails and picking out sponsorships. The only thing Beetlejuice seemed to care about when it came to his channel was entertaining people. He said that if it wasn't for you, Adam, Lydia, and Barb, he wouldn't have been able to do this much.

And so here you were now, at a convention where you would be his "handler" of sorts. Keeping an eye on him, making sure he was on time, helping with videos, and making sure that he didn't push himself too hard this weekend.

Glancing at your phone with your goodies on hand you were surprised it wasn't even nine yet. You glanced a picture Beej had dropped in the group chat, a selfie with a random cosplayer.

"I'm on the con floor" you typed and then deleted, your nerves getting the best of you. Oh wow you were suddenly a shaking nervous wreck. You knew that he wanted to see you, and you wanted to see him but something was holding you back.

It was decided that you'd just wander around a bit and wait until the meet up. Besides, it was probably a better idea to get used to the layout of the convention center now. You tucked your phone away and started walking where most of the con goers were headed after receiving their badge.

The convention had three official floors of the hotel, the top floor (ground level) held registration, some panel rooms and the outside courtyard where a lot of people were blasting music and dancing. The second level (down the escalator), held more panel rooms and a small food court which was mostly a hand full of food stalls and tabled. The final floor (down yet another escalator) was a huge basement area, an open floor divided into three sections; the dealers room, the artist ally, and the arcade.

Since the dealers room and the artist ally were closed for the night, you took a quick sweep of the arcade. The con had imported so many different machines from Japan, from DDR to some weird VR games, all free to play. There were also small booths where you could rent board games and other table top games. You couldn't believe that this was going to be open the whole weekend without closing. You wondered if Beetlejuice would make a video about the arcade.

It was a little past 9:15 now, so you decided to head back up the escalators towards the court yard where you'd seen people a partying. Maybe you could turn the nervous energy into party energy.

It was a nice warm night, and people were gathered around a de-masked Deadpool who had set up a portable rolling stereo, playing songs off his phone. The courtyard was a large concrete area with a raised platform about knee-high that was covered with grass. There was plenty of room in the grass for groups to hang out, talk, or dance. The area around the concrete was also filled with people, but also with amazingly beautiful, elaborate, or simple chalk drawings based on anime, games, or memes.

You considered what you wanted to do for a moment before you heard it. That sound.. that beautiful sound that made your heart explode inside your chest, your head spin, and caused a small part of you to go absolutely feral.

Deadpool had just put on Caramelldansen; a siren call that no mortal weeb could resist.

The rest of the nerds around you felt the same reaction as everyone stated hopping up and down to the endlessly catchy bop. For a moment you forgot who you were and what you were doing, all that mattered was hopping up in the grass with all these strangers and dancing to this song.

Within those next 3 minutes, everything felt perfect. You danced with these people you didn't even know who were just happy to be there. Together with another stranger, you brought someone else onto the grass to dance. One person yelled that they liked your shirt, you told another that you adored their cosplay.

Three minutes was all it took to make you forget about being nervous and facing your fears. As the song ended and another started, you felt ready to finally go find him.

Just as you were pulling out your phone, another pic appeared in the group chat and your heart leaped in your chest. He was outside in a place that looked eerily like where you were standing.

You ran to the center of the yard, looking around like mad. It was dark out now, but there were some lights that flooded the courtyard. There! You spotted the familiar messy green hair and found yourself trembling again. This time though, from excitement. The energy and positivity you felt from dancing with everyone had given you the highest high, and biggest confidence boost you could have.

"Beetlejuice?" You called out once, the noise from the dancing and the distance between the two of you causing you not to be heard.

You started walking forward towards him, your feet faster than you anticipated, your face smiling hard.

"Beetlejuice!" You yelled out again, this time his head jerked slightly looking around but still not seeing you. You decided to give him just one more.

"BEETLEJUUUUUICE!" You yelled, running full tilt at him. He turned around, and his face going from confusion to pure joy within 2 seconds. He yelled your name and started running at you as well, his arms outstretched as if to catch you.

You nearly jumped into his arms and he picked you up, spinning you around. You both laughed when he set you down, and he looked at you with excited bright eyes and your heart caught in your throat.

"I almost thought you drowned!" He exclaimed looking you up and down. The way his green eyes scanned your body it was as if he was in awe of you being real. "Wait that's my shirt!!" He was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Y-yeah!" You stuttered, remembering that you needed to actually talk to him. You took him in- the hoodie and striped black and white shirt, the faded jeans, the slight dad bod, and the green ombre hair that seemed to almost glow under the streetlights.

"We gotta take a picture for the group chat!" He pulled you close to his side, his arm around your shoulder as he angled his phone at your faces. You barely had time to smile as he took the picture. It was slightly blurry and grainy from the crappy lighting but you both looked genuinely happy. You made a note to download it later.

Once it was in the chat with an "I FOUND THEM!!!!" attached, he launched into a million questions. He asked how your flight was, what you thought of the con so far, was your room okay?

The two of you played catch up for the next few minutes before he took your hand and started leading you away from the courtyard.

"Where are we going?" You asked, glad that it was dark enough that he couldn't see how red your cheeks were.

"It's almost 10!" He said. "Gotta be at the meet up." Oh right, of course.

He led you through the park, still holding your hand tightly as he brought you to a spot in the park that was covered in brick. You recognized it as one of those fountains that kids could play in where the water would shoot up, though the dry bricks hinted that it was off for the evening. From here you also had a view of the ferris wheel that looked so much bigger from the ground.

As you approached, a handful of people gasped and cheered as Beetlejuice drew close. He waved and greeted the dozen or so people who had been able to show up and meet him. Two of them even recognized you from Twitter and said hi.

The next few hours were filled with selfies, pictures, videos, autographs and games. It almost felt like being a kid again, being able to so easily make friends. You chatted with the group and Beej, so impressed at how he was able to so easily talk to everyone- not once letting anyone feel left out.

But he still stayed close to to you, using any excuse to throw his arm around you or grab your hand, each touch making your heart pound. If you didn't have a crush on him before, you sure did now!

After a few rounds of duck duck beetlegoose, red rover, and hide and seek (which BJ was impossibly good at for some reason), the group split up around midnight. Beetlejuice took your hand again and started leading you back to the convention center and hotel. Though you were starting to hit a wall, you weren't ready to say goodbye yet.

"So Babes, what are we gonna do for the rest of the night?" He asked, looking at you excitedly.

Your answer was cut off by a loud growl coming from your stomach. In all the excitement and nervousness of the day, you hadn't eaten more than some crackers and ginger ale from the plane.

"...Food." you said as he laughed.

"Food it is!" He said. "What do you want to eat?" You thought for a second and looked down the length of the park to the side opposite the convention center. There was the bright yellow sign of a 24/7 diner advertising waffles.

"That!" You said pointing at the building, suddenly taking charge and dragging him behind you.

"Alright, alright, Babes!" He laughed as he caught up with you. "You that hungry?"

"You have no idea." You replied as you started to get your appetite back. He followed you through the park and across the street to the small diner. The inside was a bit crowded but nothing unmanageable for the quickly moving waitstaff. At a glance you could tell that almost every person came from the convention center, either by the lanyards around their necks, the abundance of graphic t-shirts, or the half discarded cosplays while people ate.

You two were seated in the corner at a smaller booth, menus already on the table, but you already knew what you wanted. The green haired man in front of you looked over the menu, for a few moments until a waitress came by for your drink orders.

You ordered a water and some coffee, knowing that this might be the only time you'll be able to have some one-on-one time with Beej this weekend. You were sure that he'd be busy with meeting people and doing panels and autographs and you wanted to make the most of the night.

"I got something on my face, Babes?" Beetlejuice suddenly asked, smirking at you. You hadn't realized how intensity you had been staring at him.

"Ack, sorry." You shook your head slightly. "I'm just starting to hit a wall. It's been a long day."

He gave a small frown. "Do we need to get you back to your room after this?" He asked. There was something about the way he said it that sounded like he was both a little sad and worried. You just shook your head.

"I'll be okay once I have some food and coffee in me." You reassured. "I was kinda hoping that maybe we could check out the arcade together."

His eyes lit up at that. "Really? I was hoping the same thing! I wanna do a vlog of the con and spend time with you and we could give reviews on all the weird games and ask people why they're up so late!"

How was it possible for a grown man to be this cute? How was he making you feel like you were the only person on the planet?

He continued to tell you everything that's happened to him since he arrived at the con. The people he met, the costumes he saw- the way he talked it was almost like he never knew what it was like to be around so many people at once.

Your food arrived, and you were quick to start shoving waffles into your face as you listened to him talk with his mouth full.

"Geeze, you really were hungry huh?" He teased as you finished off your plate in record time. "I'm normally the fast eater."

You laughed sheepishly. "I hadn't eaten all day." You admitted. "I was, uh... too nervous and distracted."

He frowned and placed on of his waffles on your plate. "Breathers need to eat!" He insisted. "Don't do that! Also what were you even nervous for?"

Normally you would have said no to taking someone else's food, but that was a face you couldn't say no to. Plus you were still kind of hungry.

"I guess I was a little nervous about finally meeting you face to face." You admitted, drowning the waffle in syrup.

"You know that's fair. Most people I meet don't usually go out of their way to meet me." He let out a laugh. "At least they didn't before I started the whole playing games thing. Actually the last time someone went out of their way to call me I kinda kicked their parents out of the house, scared off a bunch of people and killed some cult leader named Kevin."

You snorted between bites. You wondered where he even came up with this stuff. He'd make a great writer, probably.

“Are you still nervous?” he asked, his voice lower and calmer than what you were used to with the man. You shook your head.

“No. I’m really happy right now.” you replied and you could see him visibly relax. It wasn’t often that he acted calm, especially when there were other people around.

The rest of the meal was eaten with quiet chit chat as he continued to ask you questions about yourself and you reigning him in to talk about the convention schedule and to finalize the plan.

"Okay, so looks like the panel you're running is Saturday around 3, and your autograph session in early Sunday." You said, scrolling through your phone, typing out the schedule. "That leaves all of Friday open-"

"Not quite." He said. "I uh, do have a plan for us on Friday night." For a second he seemed to hesitate. You looked up, a little surprised.

"...Us?" You asked. "As in, just us us, or us as in a group?"

"I have a surprise for you on Friday and I want it to be just us and I wanted it to be a surprise but I'm so bad at secrets and I want to tell you-" he started, but you cut him off, your cheeks turning slightly warm.

"I don't have any plans." You said. "I'd love to do whatever surprise you have planned. Maybe. Wait, is this gonna be another 'ball pit" incident?" You asked suspiciously.

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "No, not this time! This is a real surprise!"

"I'm sure that was a relationship surprise too, according to your room mates."

"This is different, cross my heart and hope to live!"

"I'm can't wait." You said, heart pounding in your chest. Though the two of you had been talking to each other for a few months now, you always assumed that you were just a Mod in his chat to him. The fact the he seemed to have gone out of his way to make plans for the two of you lit a small spark of hope in your heart.

The meal ended with you paying the tab and him picking up the tip.

"It's almost 1:30." You noted. "If you have plans for Friday night, then the best time to get footage of the arcade without fighting with the lines would probably be now or Saturday at 3 in the morning. "

"This is why I needed you here, Babes." He said, looking at you with pride. "You understand things I wouldn't even think of! Now let's go absolutely ape shit on these nerds." His smile as he said that last line looked feral and slightly dangerous. You would probably need a cold shower after you retired for the night.

And so Thursday night came to a close, with you walking into the start of Friday holding hands with a demon gamer. You noted to yourself that this was only the beginning, and you couldn't wait to see where the rest of the weekend went.

Next Chapter

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[trojansblr]

#FightOn! (05) | OT7 Halloween edition!

Summary: The University of Southern California is a prestigious school - only the best or the richest can attend. That means there will be a lot of spoiled brats. Two groups start colliding and the entire college shift alongside them. What will happen when sparks starts to flow between them? Drama will certainly be there.

Pairing: BTS with -eventually- female characters

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut (in the future), College!au, Interactive!au, Halloween!au

Word Count: 20k UNEDITED

A/N: First things first thank you so much to everyone who patiently waited and sent me nice messages. You guys helped my not so confident ass going hehe :’) also, thank you Ali and Lily for being and unconditional support, even if this piece is a mess. You guys make me feel embraced and secure! Like I said, it’s not perfect and it’s more like a comedy based on the sad life of emo Jungkook  or something than a proper halloween/suspense story, but I tried and had fun in the process! That’s what counts to me. I hope you all like it and also, I’ll be waiting for asks and conspiracy theories on the discord chat hehehe Happy -first part of- Halloween, fam! Love you all very very much. 🖤🎃

P/S: It was hard to insert so many people into one chapter but! to the one’s that didn’t show that much, don’t worry, part 2 coming out soon and you will definitely show more there hehehe and I can assure you guys part two will be even more chaotic. 

The Characters • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5

1

USC’s haunting night, which came to an end with a shocking reveal, began with nothing more than an exciting buzz that hovered in the air.

The students were now filling up the campus streets with contagious laughter and thrill. A few lamp poles were shining through this dark afternoon in the fall of 2019, orange pumpkins adorning the entrances of the old buildings, three leaves and skeletons that happened to be hanged around were dancing in the howling wind. It was Halloween night, it was time to trick and be tricked, it was time to pretend to be someone you were not while dancing the night away… you could tell by the way all houses were being left in the dark, that every student residing here waited anxiously for this chance of playing pretend.

A built up silhouette wrapped up in a tight red suit, walked in a fast pace towards the Fluor Tower, nobody to be seen down the gloomy streets since the party was located in the opposite direction. The unforgiving wind made walking a little worse for the boy, his breathing against the mask he was wearing began to feel heavier and warmer but there was no way he would take it off now. His friends needed to see him in full costume, he kept thinking. The boy beneath the mask was Jungkook Jeon. His friends, known to most of the university as the Y Group, were all gathered at Deo and Hyori’s dorm room, waiting for him.

Hyori was the one suggesting the disguise Jungkook was now wearing. A week before this, the boy was still indecisive about what to wear and in one rainy afternoon, while they all ate a cheesy pizza and the rain tumbled endlessly against the window, she suggested him to dress like Spiderman with an obvious glance sent through the other end of the table.

Once he was almost reaching the girls building, he started hearing euphoric chattering close by. Hoseok’s laughter impossible to mistake by somebody else’s.

“I can’t believe he actually did it!” Jungkook heard Hoseok say and immediately the idea of hiding behind a tree and pulling a prank on his friends crossed his mind. That was exactly what he did “That guy is crazy to say at least!” laughter filled the chilly air.

“I never doubted he wasn’t” Hyori added sharply.

“Where’s Jungkook though? Didn’t he say he was like- 5 minutes from here?” The boy’s attention was now fully focused on Deo “I’m going to die if we stay here any longer waiting” the sound of her shoe tapping nervously onto the floor didn’t go unnoticed by the hidden spidey.

“Want my jacket?” Jimin offered “He did say he was a few minutes away? Maybe he met someone?”

“Jungkook is more anti social than I am, I doubt he stopped by with someone-” Hyori started but was quickly interrupted.

“HEY! No I’m not!” he let out by impulse making the group snap their heads towards the direction of the sound. Hoseok’s hands fled to grab Deo’s arm who was near him, his eyes almost popping out. Both girls unable to form a sound, too caught up in the moment.

“Fuck-” Jungkook cursed under his breath once he realized what he did.

“Aaaaish!” Jimin said out loud; adrenaline running through his veins, although he would never admit he got a little scared for a second there.

“Are you serious dude??” Deo said once she saw someone coming from behind a tree, ready to throw some hands at whoever it was. She was dressed like Cher Horowitz from Clueless, the movie, one that Jungkook himself had seen countless times once he was younger. He remember turning on the tv on Sunday afternoons and seeing the actress face over and over again. Deo did a great job, he thought.

“It’s spider man now” he started walking towards his friends, arms coming to the front of him to mimic the superhero spider web shooting action “How do I look?”

“Ya, this guy will never change” Hoseok laughed it out “I was really scared, you- you dumbass” he finished making the younger laugh. Hoseok wasn’t far behind, and the character he had chosen a month before, was on everyone’s opinion, the perfect choice for him. Ace Ventura was spirited and loud in every way Hoseok could be. His clothes were probably arranged by his sister, she loved to dress up her younger brother and Hoseok didn’t mind at all, and his hair… Wow, his hair!

“Imagine if it went like I had planned it to” Jungkook chuckled and reached back to tug into his mask and pull it off. His heavy huff louder now, hair completely messy.

“I could punch you in the face I swear to God!” Deo started but the corners of her mouth were already pulling up.

“Can we go now? After this I feel like somebody else will be lurking in the dark-”

“Eyyyy- It’s halloween but we’re not in a horror movie” Jimin glanced at Hyori feeling creeped out. Of course Jimin wouldn’t waste the opportunity to look cool and laid back this Halloween, and Deo excelled herself making his hair look like Johnny Depp’s in Cry Baby. Hyori on the other hand, decided her costume by fumbling through her whole closet. I’ll go with the easiest but still remarkably costume, she said, and that’s how Ashley Spinelli turned out to be her choice.

“She has a point. Everybody will try to scare us tonight and I’m not ready”

“Let’s just go!” Jimin said pulling Deo and Hyori’s arm at the same time and Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh at how much of scaredy-cats his friends were.

“Wait!!!” Hyori heard Hoseok saying loudly right behind her, and once she turned around to smile at him, vision a little blocked by her mustard beanie, she couldn’t help the goosebumps that went through her body. Something feels eerie, maybe it’s just the fact that we are alone in a dark street, she thought. And shrugging off that feeling, she marched alongside her friends to the party she put most effort so far.

2

Doing his best to keep his posture straight while sitting in bed, Yoongi was feeling rather sleepy having Carolina toy with his hair, the girl trying her best to style it just like Naruto’s. He had been feeling a little lazy the past few weeks but he knew there was zero to no chance of him escaping halloween night, specially because his friends digged the fact they could just dress like some weirdos and pull pranks all night long. If he said he wasn’t going, for sure they would do something stupid and hey, he wasn’t one for refusing free liquor either.

“Why is your hair so damn straight?!” he heard Carolina complain for the thousand time. He said nothing, just kept his eyes closed and opened a cheeky smile. A month before his group started talking about this night - mostly the girl and Taehyung who were already fantasizing about what to wear. Namjoon and Jin quickly followed the lead making jokes on who was similar to what character and what not. Once they inquired him on who would he be for this night he just said the first thing that came to his mind. First because it was an easy costume since it was basically one piece of clothing and also because he wasn’t creative enough to remember anything else, as far as he knew Naruto was the only other guy he would like to be if he had to choose.

“Are you still doing his hair?” Jin came into Carolina’s bedroom with an indignant tone and before she could even answer he was already adding more to his little playful rant “Ya, you need to help me out with the makeup! Namjoon made it look like I had a hole instead of an eye-”

“I’m sorry if I’m no make up artist!!!” they all heard Namjoon say out loud; Yoongi could perfectly picture him sat down on the couch too entertained with his cellphone to even glance up while responding Jin’s comment about his poor artistic abilities.

“Ya” Jin turned around to look at Namjoon; voice deep but in a playful tone “You don’t need to be a makeup artist to know this looks terrible”

“Take those baby wipes over there” Carolina pointed a little package over her desk “And go clean that mess! I’ll do your makeup once I finish Yoongs” she continued spraying hairspray non stop while combing the hair of a now intoxicated boy, who kept coughing like he was really dying.

“I told you not to open your mouth!!” she said more laughing than scolding Yoongi.

“Im- Argh- Impossible!” the taste on his mouth was horrible and for a second he panicked over dying the most ridiculous death. It didn’t help the fact that Jin passed by laughing hysterically only to cough the same way he did once he got closer to the dangerous cloud of spray hovering over Yoongi’s head.

“You should be given permission of the state to use something as toxic as this” Jin said getting out quickly making Carolina laugh and shush him with her famous ‘Go away’. He directed himself to their bathroom to try and remove the damage Namjoon had made on his eye. Jin usually liked a lot what he saw on the mirror, and today wasn’t any different. His hair was combed with gel, he had a nice suit on and personally he thought he did a nice job on gluing Thing - family addams member, or hand, into his suit right shoulder. Gomez Addams was who he chose to be tonight, a classy and fun character, very appropriate for him as Namjoon had pointed out.

“Tcharamm! Howl arrived!”

“Woaah Taehyung, nice job!”

“You like it??”

“What’s going on with that cape?”

“Leave his cape alone, Yoongi, he did good”

“Thank you!”

Jin let out a chuckle, his friends were always nagging one another, not that he wouldn’t do the same with them but normally he would play the mom figure and try do ease the situations.

He looked at himself in the mirror one more time after throwing the used baby wipe in the trash and pushing the bathroom door he made his way to the living room.

“Lady Joker I hope you’re ready for me cause I’m all clean and I’m impatient as well” heads turned to Jin, Taehyung’s previous pout face becoming an excited one now after seeing him.

“Woah!!! Jin! You look just like him!!!”

“You mean handsome?” Jin stated the obvious with his hands on his hips.

“Yes…?” Taehyung replied with a weird confused face making them laugh.

“Lady Joker here is ready, so is everyone else now…” Carolina spared a glance to everyone in the room “… I think. It’s just you now, c’mon” she started pushing Jin back to the bathroom.

“That’s cause he has the easiest character of all” Jin went backwards while Carolina still pushed him; his finger pointed out to Namjoon.

“Being Milo Thatcher requires great effort, like having a brain for example” Namjoon concluded.

“I hope that’s not you calling me dumb” Jin answered back, the sound of it a little muffled since Carolina was closing the bathroom door to avoid any bickering.

“Yeap. He was” Yoongi said quietly; he was sat on the arm of the couch Namjoon was in, his arms crossed and his hair was fully up.

“So! Do you guys think I look good with long hair??” Taehyung said after a minute of entire silence making both boys look at him while he wiggled his head to make his fake hair flow.

After the bathroom door was closed, Jin sat on the faucet while Carolina opened every drawer looking after her black eye shadow and that’s when she heard Jin say “He was calling me dumb wasn’t he? He’ll see. Just- Wow the disrespect” and the way he said it was more than enough for the girl to crack a laughter right on his face.

3

Differently from the chilly outside, the party at Tau Kappa Epsilon was burning hot. The frat committee had pulled a great amount of money and effort this year and everyone that had been to the Halloween party last year could say so the minute they set foot on the entrance. For starters, this year for you to get inside you needed to know the password, which was strategically leaked on the USC gossip blog a week before this.

“Did you find it yet?” Holly asked; she had her arms crossed, the wind too harsh and although she was wearing a red hoodie and a pair of yellow trousers because she was dressed as Winnie the Pooh she couldn’t help but feel cold since she and her group were still outside.

“God, why in all days today had to be this windy?!” Tori said with frustration, tightening her grip on the coat she was wearing “If I hadn’t brought this coat I would be hard as ice right now, I’m telling you” she chuckled, her chin trembling a little since she was feeling cold, the coat doing nothing for her uncovered legs. She had decided with Deo they would go as iconic characters from the 90’s, and of course she chose Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman.  

“Ok I think I got it!”

“You did??” Holly that was a little distracted looking around exclaimed in surprise and quickly scooched up towards Silvia who had been glued on her phone scrolling through USC gossip page to find the code.

“Yeah, I think I did! Look-” Silvia showed them the phone; she was dressed as Simon of Alvin and the chipmunks, her glasses sliding on her nose bridge non-stop while she looked down too focused.

“Nice job, Silvy!”

“Now I only need to wait for Esme and Tessa… I’m sure they are almost here, I mean I called them half an hour ago and they were already on their way” Silvia said looking at her phone again, checking if she had any unread messages.

“I’m sure we can go inside and they meet us there? We could send them a text with the-”

“HEY GIRLS!!” the three of them heard and their attention flew to the newcomers.

“Nina!” Holly exclaimed excited.

“You look amazing guys! Oh my God, I’m so excited for tonight!” Nina said making Cecilia laugh besides her; Nina was dressed as Poison Ivy, her new red hair contrasting greatly with her green outfit. She had some ivy plants complementing her costume and it looked absolutely stunning.

“That’s actually right, she came all the way here talking about it” Cecilia joked; she had chosen to dress up like a sexy racer this year, keeping it simple but hot.

“And you look a bomb as well!” Tori said, giving both girls a quick hug. “Now chop chop girls! Otherwise we’ll get all ruined in this bad wind”

“I’ll send Tessa and Esme a text with the code then- Let’s get going, I’m kind of freezing as well and regretting being a chipmunk without proper pants” Silvia said making them laugh.

The decoration this year was incredibly well done, full of big killer statues, things hanged and detailed paintings on the wall, most probably TKE (Tau Kappa Epsilon) had once again contacted the art students to help with that. Hoseok had already jumped out of his feet ten times at least, too scared of the large Pennywise face he had come across a few times and the many spider webs hanging above everyone’s heads.

“I thought it was you!” Amber laughed when she came besides Hoseok and he jumped in fear… Again. “How are you doing Mister…?”

“Ace Ventura! And ooof- Amber!” He gasped first because he had been scared and now because she was looking really good.

“Hey! You came! Are you alright love? You seem a little startled.” Amber was so happy to see the boy that she talked way too fast making him stare at her with endearing eyes “It’s been a while.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss this party for the world! But that Pennywise…” he said pointing at the wall painting, a frown crossing his face “Not cool at all.” he chuckled while turning to her again, his glance lowering a bit now to see her costume more attentively. Amber was wearing a playboy bunny costume, a dress like version of it.

“It’s ok, it’s just a painting. Besides if it wasn’t just a painting, I’d always protect you. Well… I would try.” she giggled making him follow “And tonight will be so much fun, I haven’t really celebrated Halloween in years!”

“I see you already have a drink so now just enjoy the night!” Hoseok said cheekly.

“I do!” she stated quickly looking down, where she had a drink in hands “You should grab one soon too.”

“Jimin went to grab some drinks for us. I’m waiting for mine.” he winked “But what are you most afraid of then? If not Pennywise”

“Probably just… Uh… Spirits” she said finally with a tiny shivering “The unknown too. Maybe just being alone. My fears are very strange.”

“Oh spirits are a no for me too! I try not to believe they exist but I have a fertile imagination!” he said with a panicked face and Amber made a quick note on how cute he could be.

“You look really good by the way… Like I know you aren’t in a sexy outfit, but you look happy and just… You know… You just look great.”

“Thanks Amber! I tried hard to find the clothes to match the movie! But you look great too…“ he offered his heart smile, his eyes genuinely matching his soft expressions.

While Hoseok kept talking to Amber, his friends were close by still waiting for Jimin to come back with something to drink. They had arrived for a while now, but since the place wasn’t that crowded yet, Jungkook managed to find a spot for Deo to sit a little. The girl had been complaining about her shoes choice for some time now but he himself felt like sitting, so that’s what he did. He sat and kept fumbling with his phone while Deo rambled with him (things that he was certainly not listening) and Hyori kept scanning the place after Jimin.

“I hope this party doesn’t suck.” Deo commented a little bored while looking the ambience.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no one here. My feet already hurt. Jungkook took the only seat available and is staring at his phone with a grin on his dumb face.”

“We got here super early, relax! And just take the damn shoes off, you’re going to in a couple of hours so might as well do it now.” Hyori grinned at her “Is Jack coming?”

“I think so? I didn’t talk to him today yet but he should be here. We bought his costume like- last week so…” Deo wondered; she was answering Hyori but her head was turned at Jungkook’s direction, trying to pry on what he was doing.

“The love birds that text all day didn’t talk today?”

“He texted me this morning but we were dealing with the outfits so I… kinda forgot to text him back? He’s probably just making one of his ‘imma take longer to answer’ games” Deo looked back at her again to roll her eyes.

“Don’t sweat it, he’ll be around.” the older girl patted her shoulder with a warm smile to wrap that convo up.

“So… you’re just gonna ignore the fact that JK is laughing at his phone?”

“We teased him enough about him wanting to be spiderman…” Hyori bit down a smile, exchanging her glance to the boy in question, still entertained and completely absented of what was going on around him.

“True…” Deo concluded but then turned around to do exactly the opposite with what she had just agreed with “Hey dork.” she called and poked him, making him lift his head towards them “Yeah you. What are you doing?”

“Texting.” he said simply.

“Who?” Hyori questioned.

“Have you ever heard of neighbor number?”

“No…?”

“You have one?!” Deo asked the boy while coming closer and feeling a lot more excited.

“Everyone has one.” he rolled his eyes.

“What is that?!”

“It’s the person whose phone number is either the before or after yours. Like, your’s 55 and their’s 56.” Jungkook explained to Hyori but he locked his phone trying to hide his previous conversation.

“Oh… and that’s cool because?”

“Because!!!” Deo exclaimed turning around to look at Hyori.

“It’s just like meeting someone online guys.”

“Oh don’t be an old lady. You’re a recess punk tonight!” Deo retorted making Hyori do a funny face as a response while trying to pry at Jungkook’s phone as well.

“You’re not looking at my texts.” he said defensively while hiding the phone against his chest once more.

“Oh c'mon JK.”

“No.”

“I’m not keeping your phone in my bag then. Good luck spidey.” Deo teased.

“Fine!”

A while ago Jimin had departed quickly from his friends to go fetch something to drink, but on his way he stopped by with many people. He got used to being popular in some way, he didn’t mind the attention at all… What he did mind was the constant people who tried to fake being friends with him just to get “famous”. He was now walking furiously towards the bar, the last conversation with some random guy he thought that was being genuinely nice to him stuck on his head. A small bump followed, his mind too distracted to actually pay attention at his surroundings and the frown that was before on his face quickly disappeared.

“Wow Jean! Sick costume!” he said once the girl in question turned around surprised to see the one that bumped on her was actually a familiar face.

“Really Jimin? Thank you” Jean was dressed as Mikasa from Attack on Titan, an anime Jimin had seen and liked a lot. “I think you look handsome in your costume” she finished with a cute smile while blushing a little.

“I tried my best to look like Cry Baby but Johnny Depp will always win.” he showed his cute laughter while saying it and Jean quickly retorted.

“Don’t say things like that. I think you just being yourself is handsome and a win for everyone including you” as soon as she said it and he was about to smile at her again thankful, the bartender came by and Jimin was quick to tell him his orders. He looked back to see if Jean wanted something but he noticed she was already served. The guy that was attending him, poured a glass of whiskey to Jimin and went to fetch some beers. While he went inside to fetch it Jimin turned again to Jean.

"You came with friends?”

“I did! I’m meeting Holly here!”

“Oh~ she’s Deo’s friend! I didn’t know you two knew each other! Small world huh?” he winked and raised his glass to take a sip of it making Jean laugh.

“Yes, we do. We talk time to time whenever I have time. She is really nice.” she said and Jimin hummed in agreement.

"So, who or what scares you most?”

“What scares me most is bugs especially cockroaches… oh yeah also rats. What about you? Are you scared of anyone or something?”

“I’m trying to keep a brave face tonight so I can’t tell you!” he cutely joked putting his finger to his lips and doing a slight ‘shush’ motion “But it was nice seeing you Jean~ I have to bring these drinks to the sober ones before they fall asleep” he said while pointing with his head towards the beer bottles the bartender had just brought.

“Have fun at the party. Don’t be reckless or get yourself in trouble!” she said loudly when Jimin started walking away with all those drinks in hands, trying to make way, only to turn back again and smile foolish at her and then winking again.

On his way towards his group he spotted Hoseok a little closer than the rest and he moved fast to get the help of the older boy. Jimin was hardly managing to hold all those bottles plus his cup.

“So do I! I overthink way too much.” he heard Amber say enthusiastically to Hoseok and for a moment he felt really sorry to be barging into the conversation.

“Hey guys! Sorry! Help me-” he said quickly and Hoseok took two bottles off his hands. “Oof! I thought I was going to let everything fall” he laughed at his own moment of clumsiness.

“It’s alright! I’ll help you take this to them” Hoseok trailed off and then looked at Amber once again, she still had a smile on her face, their talk before being way too cheerful for her to lose it. “It was really good seeing you!”

“It was good seeing you too. I hope we can hang out again soon, I’ve missed seeing you.”

“Keep that beautiful smile on your face Amber~ I’ll see you around tonight yeah?”

“I will! Thank you! You enjoy it too, and keep safe, ok? Don’t drink too much and drink plenty of water. I’ll see you later on in the party. I’ll probably stay until pretty late.”

“Can’t promise I won’t drink much but I’ll try to stay away from the zombies! Be safe sweetheart~” and there he went, him and Jimin towards their group of friends.

4

“Where’s Yoongi?” Carolina questioned while looking over Jin’s shoulders; her voice louder than expected as the raging song played in the party.

“I don’t know?” Jin looked around too trying to spot Yoongi’s hair among all those costumes “He left quite a while ago… And I doubt he will be able to bring us all something to drink”

The five of them had arrived and the party was already hectic. Yoongi had offered to go to the bar fetch something to drink since he was in the need of something to keep him relaxed and more loose in the middle of all those people. The rest of them stayed in a corner next to the entrance, the less crowded space they could find, but now a lot of time had passed and Carolina was starting to feel anxious.

“Ok, you guys stay here and I’ll go help him out”

“You’re going alone in this sea of people??” Taehyung asked her, whom was already ready to walk away.

“I’ll be fine Tae, just stay here with Nam and Jin. If anything happens I have my phone with me and I can call you. Yoongi is the one without his”

“We’ll wait here. Namjoon won’t be leaving anyways since he’s socializing for what it feels like an hour now” Jin joked looking at the other boy talking enthusiastically to some people from his book club. Carolina spared a glance and smiled at him, and then in a blink of an eye she was already being engulfed by the many costumed students.

She tried her best to make space and go towards the bar, where she was hoping to find Yoongi, but the task was getting complicated. It didn’t help that people were already tipsy and some really drunk. Carolina was starting to feel a little claustrophobic and way too pissed at the people who were pushing and also pulling her. When she was about to shout at some random guy that was trying to make her dance with him, she felt her arm being pulled and her head snapped quickly thinking she had finally reached Yoongi, but no. Someone in an all black costume and a weird baby face mask was pulling her out of there.

At first she offered no resistance, glad she was going to get out of that tumultuous crowd. But after a few seconds of the mysterious person pulling her towards what it seemed like the bathroom area, she pulled back her arm making the person look back.

“Who are you?!” She questioned seeing that the person went for her arm again but she was quick to flinch it’s grasp. “This is not funny!” still, no reaction. She analysed the person standing in front of her; someone taller than her, definitely a male but not a short one. “Ben?” she tried “Dude this is getting creepier.” the man did nothing but to offer his hand to her gently. And although Carolina was feeling a little creeped out she was also starting to get curious about who the costumed guy in front of her might be. So she took his hand, and he took her to the bathroom area.

“Ben if this is you I swear-“ she started but the man she thought was Ben just opened the bathroom door and pushed her inside, locking the door quickly. He himself never entering the space with her.

Carolina bumped hard against something “FUCKING ASSHOLE!!” she exclaimed mad.

“I said the same but he didn’t opened the door… Until now that is” Yoongi’s voice now filling her ears and she turned back in a snap. Turns out the thing she went against was Yoongi and not a wall like she was expecting.

“Yoongs? What are you doing here?”

“I myself don’t know…” he answered returning the hug she gave him.

“Ok! I think I have a plan!” someone said making both of them get out of their transe.

“Oh yeah, Carol this is Sarah. She was already here when I got… here” Yoongi explained simply.

“Umm… I would say nice to meet you but due to the circumstances I think-“

“I perfectly understand and share the feeling!” Sarah quickly interrupted the other girl “Also either we wait for him to open the door again and I don’t know put our foot in the middle of the breach or we stay stuck here”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad plan but I won’t volunteer my foot for the cause”

“Why the hell are we even here???” Carolina questioned “Is it the new trend locking people in the bathroom to socialise or something?” and as soon as she finished it a cell phone started ringing. They all exchanged glances.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t even bring my phone” Yoongi said.

“Well it’s not mine!”

“I think…” Sarah trailed off while going towards the faucet, there was something behind it “Oh” and she retrieved a bag. The sound of the ringtone died and she looked at Yoongi and Carolina who were focused on the paper bag. Not even a second passed and the cell phone started to ring again.

“Oh just give me this” Carolina snatched the bag from Sarah’s hands and quickly opened it, a burner phone now visible and she picked it up. “Who’s this? What? Why would I be enjoying being locked inside a bathroom you weirdo??”

“Who is it?!” Sarah questioned and Carolina lifted a hand for her to wait.

“What game? What are you talking about?” Carolina questioned further “A paper?”

“What is this? This is a stupid prank” Yoongi rambled.

“What- Hey!!!” Carolina exclaimed taking the phone out of her ear and looking at it extremely angry “Asshole!!!”

“What happened?”

“This motherfucker said that the rules were on a paper inside this bathroom and then hanged up!”

“Are you serious now? I just wanted a drink” Yoongi sighed and started pacing around.

“What now?”

“Oh! I have my cellphone!!!” Carolina realised quickly reaching for her pocket of her nurse suit “I’ll call Jin and he can come here an- Fuck.”

“What?!” Sarah exclaimed again and Yoongi glanced at them.

“No reception” Carolina said blankly “I fucking hate this party.” she placed her phone inside her pocket once again and crouched down near the bathroom wall, her hand fast to pick up her pen kept inside the same pocket and started doodling on the wall. The neon light in the bathroom making her feel nauseous.

“I’ll start searching then!” Sarah sighed; the girl was dressed as comfortably as she could. Her costume being Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the chocolate fabric and she mentally thanked herself for choosing something so comfy.

“Are you seriously vandalising the bathroom?” Yoongi asked Carolina; he was leaned against the sink, his arms crossed.

“Yeah”

“I don’t think writing on the wall ‘Babyface sucks’ is going to solve the problem”

“Well I’m unsatisfied with Babyface service! He just pushed me and locked me inside the bathroom! Ugh- I bet it was that fucking asshole…” Carolina started doodling near the words she had just written.

“What asshole? Everyone for you is an asshole”

“Well- That’s a good point. But Jimin. I bet it was Jimin. He must be trying to pay me back ever since-“

“You mean Jimin Park?!” Sarah asked while fumbling through the cabinets that the bathroom had.

“Yeah he-“

“I FOUND IT!!!!” Sarah exclaimed excited and showing them the paper.

“Umm… I guess we are a team?” Sarah looked at them expectantly “And I didn’t brought my phone so…”

“I was going to say no but then I saw the 6.000 cash prize so”

“2000 each Yoongi, not 6000!” Sarah corrected him.

“Still. Carolina?” he looked at the girl in question “I could really use the money to-“

“I know.” she said serious “So we better win this. And I guess I’m the only one with a phone which only unlocks with my fingerprint so I guess it’s fine to leave it behind…” she reluctantly put her phone inside the bag “Also Sarah, if we’re doing this-“

“Yeah?” the girl asked.

“Yoongi already knows me but um… I’m kind of extremely competitive so if I happen to loose my shit-“

“Oh it’s ok! Totally get it!”

“She will lose it. Just saying” Yoongi brushed it off.

“I will”

“OK PLAYERS HERE WE COME!” Sarah instantly became another person and both Yoongi and Carolina exchanged glances a little surprised “OPEN THE DOOR!”

5

“I can’t actually believe we got stuck in a tiny broom closet for 15 minutes just to find a damn paper!” Tori let out laughing; her breathing heavy.

“In my defense my moves were restricted to just being able to lift my arms up” Jason retorted, his face a little red from the lack of air in the confinement.

“That’s true! I was feeling trapped between you-“

“Guys shut up!” Jungkook finally said something; the paper with the rules still in his hands “We have to focus now, I ain’t losing this game”

“Jeez! Ok, ok! We’ll focus” Jason put his hands up in defeat.

“I could really use those speakers bro, I want this prize” Jungkook sighed trying to apologise.

Somehow in the middle of the party Jungkook realised he was left behind with Hyori, both of them clueless of where their friends had gone to. So he eased her mind by saying he was going to look after them quickly. Hyori at the time nodded and kept looking around without leaving their previous spot.

Jungkook went to the bar hopping to find Jimin there but his friend was nowhere to be found. He wandered off to the bathrooms but two of them were locked and the other one was empty. He tried to scream Deo and Hoseok names in hopes that one of them were inside but due to the loud music it was useless. Not shortly after a person passed by and seeing he was fumbling with the door lock, that same person approached him and asked what he was doing. “I’m looking for my friends” was what he simply answered so the mysterious being asked what were they dressed like and after a brief description of their costumes Jungkook was pointed towards a long and gloomy corridor. He didn’t hesitate on going and that’s how he ended up opening the dark broom closet and being pushed inside. To his surprise, Tori and Jason were already there, their breathing too heavy and Jungkook kept thinking he had interrupted something else, but his thoughts were quickly brushed away when a cell phone started ringing.

“To get those speakers you first need to win the prize, Kook, and to do that you’ll need to find those damn three hidden bags” Tori pointed out making him come back to the moment; her arms crossed over her chest.

“Things that scare me most…” Jason wondered.

“AH! The decorations!!!” Jungkook’s face lit up “They must be near the decorations!”

-

Most of the teams were already out of their confinements by now. Some a little hazy and confused, some fully determined to win the prize. What student wouldn’t want to win 2.000 dollars in a night just by playing a Halloween game? It was easy money! And that was exactly what Aashna kept thinking.

When she left her dorm to go to the party that night she would have never expected to be going home again with that large amount of money, and there was nothing that she loved more than to play games, in fact she liked to think that she was good at them.

She got a little confused at first, when she lost herself from Sana and Cara, especially because she had left her phone back into the dorms and due to that she had no way to contact the girls. While she kept waiting for Sana to get ready hours ago, she used it so much that it discharged and it was totally useless to take it. But now, here she was, running around with two other girls she had never seen before trying to get to those bags before anyone else would.

“Guys look!” Nina pointed towards three dark things on the floor near a tree in the backyard of TKE. A few people transiting from one house to the other were passing by but none of them were paying attention to the girls.

“Are those the bags??” Esme asked a little behind from the other two. She was dressed like Theodore from Alvin and the chipmunks and although she was looking adorable her legs were freezing.

The backyard was the last place any rational person would want to go. It was windy today, and not the kind that feels like a nice summer breeze, it was the kind that made you feel the presence of a storm coming. The fact that the place wasn’t illuminated properly didn’t help either. Team 6 could barely see if those things on the floor were the bags they needed or not.

“I can’t believe we found them!” Aashna said coming closer and once she grabbed a loop of one of the bags a grotesque nun showed up behind the tree. Slowly it made it’s way towards the girls. “Holy-“ Aashna took a step back startled, the bag she had taken was now dropped onto the grassy floor.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Esme that had just being able to catch up with both of them sprinted back the moment she saw the dark presence, going back to where she had came. She didn’t even took a second glance.

The nun kept slowly walking forward. Aashna at the same time walked back. It’s yellow eyes focused on her and her breathing started to match her heart race. Her chest going up and down really fast.

“Push it, Khaleesi!!!” Nina shouted at her making her snap out of the transe. Both of them could hear a faint scream in the back but it was being blocked by their own heartbeats drumming on their ears. Adrenaline kicking in. Nina kept shouting ‘Khaleesi’ at Aashna, the fearful creature making her forget her teammate’s real name.

On the confusion of it, Aashna did in fact push back the nun, but the result wasn’t the expected. It didn’t move. Not even an inch.

“I GOT IT!! RUN!!!!” Nina passed by her with one bag on her back and two on her hands; her costume making it easier for her to sprint, contrary to Aashna’s.

The girl didn’t think twice. The moment the scary image before her started to lurk forward again, she stumbled two steps back and turned around to run. A hand grabbed her arm making her come to a halt. Aashna screamed and yanked her arm back. Free at last she ran towards Nina and Esme. Her mind not functioning properly. She could see her teammates shouting and making exaggerated moves for her to go to them but she could hear nothing. It was like a slow motion scene of her worst nightmare.

-

Hoseok thought he had been scared enough since he got to the party but now he was more than terrified. He was walking with Cole and Asa, two guys he had just met due to a bad joke and he couldn’t help being alert all the time. Cole was leading both him and Asa and they were looking for the so called bags inside the TKE frat house.

“I’m sure they hid it here, I mean- it’s just the perfect place, not a lot of people will come inside the house when there’s an actual party going on” he heard Cole’s voice more clearly now, the loud music sounded distant; the boy was still facing forward, leading them into a big hallway.

“Yeah but it said it was near what we fear most?” Asa pondered while looking attentive to a photo hanged on the wall “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not afraid of a frat house… As much gross as they can be” he frowned seeing one guy almost naked on that same photo.

The corridor they were now in was narrow so they lined up, Cole going in the front and Asa in the back. The wall on their left had some pictures of the boys of TKE while the wall on their right was mainly filled with big windows. That didn’t mean the place was lighten up, the whole house was dark. Things were visible due to the windows, the boys could see each other’s figures and what surrounded them because of the moonlight, but other than that there was no other form of light.

“Uoooh uoh what was that?!” Hoseok freaked out and fumbled back making Cole giggle.

“It’s just a glimpse of a light dude” Asa calmed him down while catching him and pulling him forward gently.

“I- I think I’m afraid of the dark” Hoseok admitted.

“It’s ok”

“And I’m afraid of being alone” Cole said sarcastically “So that’s why this is the perfect place to hide the bags because it’s both dark and has zero people in it. Genius ain’t I?” and he turned back to face the other two.

Hoseok’s face went pale. Asa’s blue eyes became big. Cole felt a puff of air into his neck and he tensed.

“For the first time in my life I just hope I’m ugly and that’s the reason you guys are doing those faces” he said; his body frozen and his mind in denial, he didn’t want to turn back.

“Boo” something grunted right behind him making his body tremble. Hoseok screamed and fell back into Asa who screamed as well and fumbled backwards, his eyes never leaving the amorphous creature upon them. His big hands clumsily trying to find support on the walls. Hoseok that fell on his butt quickly got up only to turn around just to stumble onto Asa once again.

Cole finally turned back and for a second he wished he didn’t. His voice stuck on his throat, eyes fixed on the sinister scarecrow right in front of him.

“G-Givee meee yourrr heeaaart” the creature grunted once more. Cole finally got a grip of himself and pushed the haunting scarecrow back, running right past him.

“ASA!! THE BAGS!” he screamt after stumbling on something and realising it was what they were looking for.

“FORGET THE BAAAAGS! AAAAH” Asa’s voice was trembling and between trying to help Hoseok who kept falling and running away from the creature who was going after the two he managed to scream back at Cole “FUCK YOU GO AWAY!!!”

“WOOOAHHH!!! WOAA”

“I got this, I got this” Cole kept mumbling to himself while scanning the place. He had very few options. The scarecrow had it’s back turned to him but the corridor was too narrow for him to pass by it without something happening. So he looked at the window right onto his left and let his body take the lead.

Cole’s hands were shaking a bit due to the heat of the moment. He fiddled with the window lock for a little but once he unlocked it a huge smile opened on his face.

“COLEEE?”

“I- Wait a sec! I got this!!!!” he answered while quickly glancing at his teammates and then back at the task in front of him. The window was a little rusty but he managed to open it fully so he threw both bags down. “GUYS! JUST RUN! MEET ME DOWN ON THE LAWN”

“COLE WHAT?!” Asa who was pushing continually the scarecrow back asked. Hoseok was glued to the wall screaming nonstop.

“JUST RUN AWAY! I’LL JUMP” Once he said this the scarecrow turned back. Cole was already sitting in the window. “GO! NOW!” he reassured his teammates again and Asa took the lead grabbing Hoseok by his shirt and running as fast as he could. The dreadful creature fastened it’s pace towards Cole. The boy smiled before jumping.

-

“Did we really need to choose the dark basement as our place to search?” Jin asked while he looked to the stairs that led to the dim place over Sana’s shoulders. His hands were gripping her arms and keeping her in place as a shield. “I feel like there’s definitely something there but it’s not the bags.” he laughed nervously.

“Yeah… I don’t feel like this is a good idea, Jeremy” Sana pondered, her eyes on the same spot Jin’s were.

“Fine then, you two stay here and I’ll go.”

“Great plan!” Jin offered him a quick thumbs up and his hands were back on Sana’s arm making the girl sigh but also let out a small giggle.

“It’s not a great plan” she said making Jeremy retrieve his foot of the first step to look back at her “If something happens to you, it’s only me and Jin”

“Not offended”

“Guys this is a Halloween game” Jeremy said laughing at their faces “The scariest shit that can happen is someone yelling at our ears and that’s it”

“Fine then, go” she brushed off. Jeremy rolled his eyes and turned front again, the darkened stairs making everything creepier. A second passed and he didn’t move. Another one and nothing. “So… Are you going or…?” Sana looked from him to the stairs again.

“I’m going! I’m going! It’s just- dark that’s all. I have no flashlight and I was trying to get my eyes used to it and-”

“You know there’s a light switch right there right?” Jin pointed to the wall next to them.

“Wha- Jin!!!!” Sana turned back giving him a soft slap “You could’ve told us that sooner!”

“Well sorry! I didn’t think he would go into the dark!”

While both of them kept quirreling Jeremy flicked the light switch in a flash tired of losing time, after all he had a game to win. But as soon as the lights were turned on two things came on focus, the bags near the third step and Freddy Krueger right at the bottom starting to climb up to get to them.

“Run-” Jeremy said lowly still paralysed watching the killer move himself “RUN!!!” that’s when Jin and Sana stopped arguing and looked back at him and what was going on. As soon as Freddy entered Jin’s vision, the boy screamt and started running backwards, looking every direction he could too afraid that more frightening creatures would appear. His loud voice echoing without coming to a stop.

Jeremy quickly pulled the bags towards him and turned around to run, passing one bag fast to Sana who was even faster to turn around and run towards the first floor as well but not before taking a box of washing powder left near the washing machine she passed by and throwing it back to hit the burnt face that tormented her so much.

-

Acute clinking sounds filled the air along with tree leaves dancing in the maddening wind. Jungkook and his team were sat on the porch of a neighbour house of TKE, the bags already retrieved and now alight right in front of each of them.

Tori kept trying to align her hair strands that kept swinging in front of her face while Jason kept fumbling with a walkie talkie he had just found on his own backpack. Inside each backpack they found a piece of paper with the same clue written on it, a little flashlight, a map of the campus, a walkie talkie and an almost realistic human finger with a tag on it that said one point for you player!

“This wind is making me stressed!” Tori let out with a sigh. Jason spared her a glance but kept pushing the buttons without really knowing what they did.

“That guy dressed as Chucky was pretty heavy” Jason mused “Don’t you think, bro?” he looked over Jungkook who was really quiet while reading over and over again the clue he found inside the backpack with furrowed eyebrows, deep in thoughts.

“Don’t you think bro??” Jason tried again.

“Uh?”

“Lost much, Kook?” Tori laughed.

“What are we supposed to do with this information?” Jungkook asked frustrated to his team “Wet blue? What is that?? There’s no such color”

“I’m sure we still have time, man, don’t stress it” Jason tried to cheer him up “I’m sure we were the first ones finding the bags plus we each have one point finger” he laughed while holding his gifted finger up.

“Yeah” he sighed “You’re probably right” Jungkook swept his bangs back. By now he was sure his hair was a mess, but he didn’t care much.

“Umm..” Tori began, her eyes following the movement of something way ahead of them “Not trying to break the lovely moment but I guess we are second place”

“We what?” Jungkook lifted his eyes from the paper he wouldn’t stop reading to see where Tori’s eyes were focused at and to his despair Yoongi and Carolina, alongside some blonde girl, were walking in a fast pace towards somewhere. They all had a backpack and the blonde girl was explaining something to them in a enthusiastic way. Jungkook tried his best to overhear what they were talking about, shushing Jason when he tried to say something along the lines of ‘don’t worry bro, we still got this’.

“Are you sure that’s the place?” he heard Yoongi ask lazily “I ain’t walking all the way over there for nothing”

“It’s there Yoongs, just stop being a grandpa, do you want the two thousand or not?” Carolina joked and Jungkook instantly got up.

“HEY!” Jungkook shouted “YOONGI”

“Kook what are you doing?” Tori asked alarmed.

“You heard this?”

“I think it was someone calling your name” the blonde girl said to Yoongi while looking around.

“YOONGI!! HERE!” Jungkook stepped forward.

“Who’s there?” Jungkook saw Yoongi stop and squint his eyes in his direction, he knew the older guy had a bad vision. “Ya, who’s that?” Yoongi asked Carolina who had the same expression on her face.

“It’s spiderman” the blonde one said and Carolina immediately commented “Uh nice butt” since the boy was turned to the side trying to fetch his walkie talkie to talk to Yoongi, and as soon as he heard the comment he turned around and walked forward a little further.

“IT’S JUNGKOOK!! YOONGI, IT’S ME!”

“Nevermind” Carolina said again and crossed her arms “WHAT DO YOU WANT VIRGIN BOY?!”

“It’s Jungkook?”

“Yeah”

“BRO ARE YOU PLAYING THE GAME?” Jungkook shouted trying to ignore Carolina. A hard gust of wind hit them suddenly, the boy’s hands coming up to protect his eyes.

“YES WE ARE”

“DO- DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE PLACE IS?”

“WE DO VIRGIN BOY BUT WE AIN’T TELLING” he saw Carolina shut Yoongi’s mouth without need with one of her hands and answered for him while laughing. Jungkook knew this because although he was trying to ask Yoongi the answer, he lived with the guy and knew him well enough to know that he could be a snake sometimes. “GO FIND YOUR BRAIN QUICKLY BEFORE YOU RUN OUT OF TIME”

“YOU- YOU’RE A BITCH!” Jungkook grunted in frustration.

“AND MUCH MORE!” her laughter echoing in the silent street and she coldly turned around with the blonde girl, both of them walking away. Yoongi did the same but before he shouted an apology “SORRY JUNGKOOKIE, GOOD LUCK!”

“Well that sucks” Jason stated bluntly coming near Jungkook, Tori right behind him.

Jungkook kept staring at their figures slowly disappearing in the distance, and something inside of him started boiling. His body was starting to get cold and his brain was completely blank due to his frustration.

A static noise broke the tension and Jason got startled by his own walkie talkie, Tori came rushed towards him as well as Jungkook - who spared one last glance at the horizon, Yoongi long gone.

“Hello players, this is your game master” a modified voice came out of the piece of machinery Jason was holding.

“Thank God! We need a hint!” Tori exclaimed, her right hand coming to her chest in a sign of relief.

“Beware of who may be watching you…” the voice said and as quick as it came it went away. The three of them still looking at the walkie talkie in hopes to hear anything else but nothing. Nothing came. Just the howling wind that was serving as a background song for their night.

“It’s.. It’s that it?” Jungkook asked indignant.

“It sounded like that guy- What’s the name?” Jason asked Tori rather excited “The Scream dude! The voice was exactly the same”

“TKE is definitely excelling themselves this year”

6

Hours ago Silvia thought she was up for a hell of a good night with her friends, even if the weather wasn’t helping at all, and now here she was, chasing the correct number painted on a tree located on the McCarthy Quad park. At least that was what Hyori and Namjoon had concluded from the clue they had been given to and she didn’t dare to refute.

Silvia was running fast but Hyori was running faster and the wind was pushing them back, difficulting their bodies movements. She heard someone shout a little further and coming to a halt she turned to see Namjoon pointing towards a big sycamore tree.

“Hyori!!!” she looked back to shout at the girl that went ahead “Hyori!!! He found it!” Silvia’s hair was all over her face and for a moment she could hardly see one foot ahead.

Something cold touched her skin while she tried to tame her wild curls, and when she looked up startled she saw Hyori’s smile. Both girls ran towards Namjoon who currently fought a battle with the zipper of his backpack trying to put away the clue inside it.

“What are you doing?” Hyori questioned him chuckling once they approached the spot. The boy glanced at them with a furious expression.

“I broke the zipper of my bag”

“Let me see it” Silvia took the still light bag only to conclude he indeed had broken it. She started then to try and find a solution to his problem.

“Ok so this is it” Hyori said looking around; the lantern she had in her right hand illuminating the red number painted on the tree. “And I’m guessing we’ll have to digg now” she pointed then her flashlight to the shovels pilled next to it.

“I’ll start then” Namjoon took one in his hands and started digging; he had no clue of what he was doing.

“Ok, let’s do this-” Silvia was going to put Namjoon’s backpack on the side but the other girl interrupted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s take turns!” Hyori said with a gentle smile; her small voice a little louder now to be heard in such a terrible weather. “Me and Namjoon will digg while you come up with a solution to that” she chuckled.

“Got it!”

The boy wasn’t paying much attention now, his eyes strained onto the ground and he tried his best to not make a mess out of it. He could be clumsy at times - most of the times if he had to be honest, but he was trying his best to do the job properly and not disappoint both of his teammates. Hyori on the other hand got a little distracted once she saw another group of three a little further away from them. They seemed to be looking at a map. The only thing she could see was their flashlight pointed to the piece of paper and their silhouettes.

Hyori normally wasn’t that great at distinguishing people, she was bad with faces and all, but she would be damned if she didn’t recognize her own best friend even if she was from far away.

While her gaze was upon Deo and what her group might be, one of the tall silhouettes turned it’s head to the side, right at her direction. The flashlight wasn’t illuminating properly, but Hyori could see it was two boys that surrounded her friend.

“Are you going to digg too or…?” Namjoon asked huffing.

“Yeah… Just a sec…” she answered still too focused on Deo’s group. When her roommate illuminated the higher corner of a map she had in hands, the ray of light flashed Jack’s face and she could see his squinted eyes trying to look at her as well. “Jack!” Hyori said out loud but the howling wind muffled her voice.

The next thing she saw was Jack pointing towards his back and leading both Deo and the other tall guy further away from her. Is he really that competitive? Hyori thought. She held her glance at them for a few more seconds before Namjoon say something.  

“I- I think” he gasped “I think we have the wrong spot”

“It’s still shallow Namjoon” Silvia pointed out laughing.

“Oh? Yeah… Sorry. I think I’m not doing a very good job” he said with both hands resting on his shovel, admiring the work he had done so far.

-

“Jack I’m pretty sure is that way” Deo pointed towards her back but her eyes were still trailed on the map she was carrying around. Jack’s hands never leaving her shoulder, pushing her forward. The girl was a little out of focus since her worst fear (clowns or just pennywise) got to chase after her earlier, that resulted on her eye mascara being smudged a little under her eyes due to crying. 

“It’s not baby, look” he pointed with his own flashlight to a trail marked on the map. “We were here and we need to go this way”

“He’s right… I think” Taehyung admitted against his will. From the second he met Jack he hated the guy. He was the typical jock that made stupid jokes and spoke nothing more than about himself. The guy was cocky and basically the complete opposite of Taehyung. And to say it wasn’t being hard to control the facial expressions he felt the need to do every time Jack spoke was a complete lie.

“You can’t even read the GPS on your car and you’re asking me to trust you with a map?” she looked over her boyfriend.

“Hold on a second-”

“Sorry to interrupt the love quarrel but the guy is right” Taehyung interrupted; he was walking behind the couple and that made Deo stop on her tracks to look back at him, Jack being obliged to stop as well. “We passed by those trees back there” Taehyung said carefree while pointing back “and their numbers were 4, 7, 9… If we are assuming this is like a house address numbers thing, then our tree is on that way” he finished his thinking pointing frontwards.

“Thank God someone that backs me up” Jack said with a bright smile and going back to push Deo forward and gently once again.

“Fine then, let’s see” the girl rolled her eyes but offered no resistance at being guided.

Somewhere near, in the chilly park that was already filled with autumn leaves everywhere, you could hear the sound of a shovel insistently hitting the earth while a heated chattering followed. Team 3 was finding hard to reach to an agreement. Emma kept digging by herself, it had been fifteen minutes since they found their tree but Jennifer refused to touch a single nail on a shovel. V alongside Emma had picked a shovel to dig as well but seeing Jennifer did nothing she stopped her work and started arguing with her.

“We are a team Jennifer!” V was now almost yelling; the vein on her neck popping due to such frustration. “You gotta help as well!”

“I’ll help in the next one” Jennifer rolled her eyes and kept playing with her nails. Her expression not even alterated.

“That’s what you said when me and Emma were trying to catch the bags, yours included! And when we were trying to figure out this riddle”  

“Stop being a dramatic bitch” Jennifer retorted now looking at Victoria’s eyes. “I said I will help on the next task”

“Leave her be, Victoria” Emma said with a huff. “I can do it, it’s-” another puff of air leaving her mouth “It’s alright”

Victoria grunted in frustration, her eyes never leaving Jennifer stare. “Forget it” she ended up saying and then went back to help Emma. “How deep do you think we have to dig?” she asked throwing the dirt she had just digged to the side.

“To be honest-” Emma started and stopped to kick her shovel deep into the soil “I hope not much more”

“Well I think you two will have to dig a whole more and faster if you want to finish this game until tonight”

“Shut up!” V snapped at Jennifer “No one asked your opinion, oh my God”

Jennifer just laughed in amusement, scenes like this were a regular thing on the volley practices. Both girls were from the same team although it didn’t look like not even a little not even at all.

“Did you felt that?” Emma asked V, trying to ignore the profound want and need of hitting Jennifer with her own shovel. The girl was just being too much ever since they got trapped together.

“Felt what?”

“That” Emma said again hitting her shovel on something harder than what it felt when digging earth and hearing a clink noise in return.

“Shit- We found it” Victoria exclaimed and quickly let her shovel fall by her side to start brushing the dirt aside with her own hands.

7

“Told ya’” Jack said. They had just found the tree marked as 22, the bright red impossible not to spot from a certain distance. They had been walking for ten minutes non-stop trying to check every tree they found on the way, to make sure they weren’t missing theirs. And turned out Taehyung was right about the whole address thing.

“Told ya” Deo mocked “Just grab the freaking shovel jock. Let’s put those muscles up to good use” she cheekily put her tongue out making Jack blow a kiss with a cocky smile. Taehyung decided not to stand by watching the scene so with a roll of his eyes he grabbed the first shovel he could see and started digging.

-

Dylan was completely stretched on the dirty floor of McCarthy Quad, although he was feeling his clothes getting damped due to the temperature he was just too exhausted to get up.

“So what do we do now?” Lindsay questioned; in one hand she had the little paper with their new clue and the other was resting on her hip. “You guys have any idea of where this might lead us?”

“I have no clue” Ali who was dressed in a renaissance garb sat down next to Dylan; the air she huffed and puffed visible in the air due to the temperature drop. She and Dylan digged until they found a metal box, inside it another finger with the same tag one point for you player! and the clue.

For a few seconds the only thing hearable was the sound of Lindsay wiggling the pearls she was wearing around her neck to complete her flapper costume and the tapping of her impatient foot.

“Ok” Dylan said while shuffling himself to a sitting position. “As soon as we figure the place, cause I’m really assuming that note leads us to another location, I have a plan for us to go faster”

“Please do tell” Ali turned her face gently to the side to see him.

“No, no, first we need to find what is up with that location”

“Isn’t this talking about books though?” Lindsay said, her eyes trailed on the little note and her mind paying no attention to her teammates.

“Books?”

“Let me see it” Dylan asked with an extended hand to her and she handed him the clue. “Umm… You guys know we are right in the middle of two libraries right?” he asked looking from one to another.

Ali immediately looked at Lindsay with huge eyes. “Oh my God we are!”

“So, what was your plan to get us there quickly?” Lindsay asked excited.

“Oh nevermind, the buildings are right here, we don’t need that old bike over there” Dylan shrugged off.

“Were you seriously thinking on riding that thing?” Lindsay laughed. The old bike leant on a bench near where they were was rusty and seemed to be missing some pieces.

“You probably failed calculus because we are three and there’s no way you could ride a bike taken other two people in it”

“I said I had a plan, not that I had a good one!” he said jokingly while getting up and cleaning his hands on the side of his trousers. A static sound interrupted the girls laughter.

“Hey players, if I were you I’d run…”

“Bro the Halloween game this year is getting hella’ artistic” Dylan commented.

“Yeah, tell me about it! That horrendous version of Slash was really artistic”

“I spy with my little eyes…”

Lindsay glanced around a little spooked out, she didn’t know if it was her head painting scenarios over what she had just heard the so called game master saying or if she could really feel someone watching them. “Guys let’s just get out of here”

-

The third challenge was indeed in the libraries that surrounded the park the players had gone to like Dylan suspected. As soon as the teams got to the entrance they could spot the door open and everyone knew that it wasn’t supposed to be open at night. Most of them in fact hesitated to enter the dark place… Hyori for example went over the little clue a few more minutes before coming to terms that she would have really to trespass the property.

Screeching noises could be heard the moment you passed through the door, the aged wooden floor not helping to keep the secrecy of someone being there. The only thing team 10 could see was what their flashlight was illuminating.

“Oh my God what is that?!” Jae whispered alarmed, her body frozed up near a huge shelf full of books.

“Is that another player or…”

“If you say it’s that weirdo dressed as Scream again, Cecilia, I swear to God” Tessa was crouched near them, her hands on her head. When the girls were searching for their bags they encountered Scream. He looked like a statue, one of the many that were decorating the party that night, and they would never think it was actually a real person. Tessa that was in the front got a tremendous jumpscare and ended up falling.

“It doesn’t seem him” Jae that was still looking at the lurking presence a little forward said after looking back at them. “It’s mask is different”

“That one is a…” Cecilia tried to figure out. “A phantom of the opera?”

“Oh then we are ok” Tessa got up and started walking towards the person. “Hey! Psssst”

“Tessa!” both girls whispered in a loud manner.

“Hey you! I’m sorry-“

The costumed guy, dressed as what it seemed like phantom of the opera, said nothing but pointed her towards a door.

“Guys” Tessa called looking back. “I think we have to go that way!”

“Really?” Jae approached her, looking from the clue she had pointed with a flashlight and then the door. “Between poets and suspense…” she looked to the sides of the door. There were a two shelves next to it, one that said poetry and the other said suspense/thriller.

“Yeah, definitely here” she concluded.

“Let’s go then… I guess” Cecilia went to open the door, and once her hand was on the doorknob it opened up without her doing anything. “Jesu-“

“For some people Naruto is indeed Jesus” Yoongi chuckled opening the door fully now and walking past Cecilia and the other girls from team 10.

“TESSA!” Carolina exclaimed once the girl entered her sight. “You’re here too?”

“Just got here!” she went for a hug. “What did you do there?” Tessa pointed the door that was now being closed by a girl dressed as Violet from the charlie and the chocolate fabric.

“Friends are friends, business is business, Tess! Sorry!” Carolina smiled apologetic. “And good luck!!” she wished truly.

“Fiiiine” Tessa sighed. “Happy Halloween!” she smiled to her friend. “Let’s go, girls” and she opened the door again, this time going through it with Cecilia and Jae right behind her.

“I didn’t know you could make friends” Yoongi pointed out in a tone of joke; his arms crossed.

“I befriended you, after that everything else is super duper easy” she sticked her tongue out.

Yoongi laughed and then took out the little card he had hidden inside his pocket. “Tchaa!” he sighed “Another one for you two, I’m tired of thinking”

“That sounds like a fun place to go” Sarah chuckled nervously.

8

Cara, Jimin and Holly had just entered a dark room they had been pointed out inside the library. Jimin mustered the courage he didn’t have and put on a brave face to go first while Cara and Holly followed, both of them tightening the grip on his leather jacket. The room was pitch dark and before going in they saw a sign saying they needed to leave their backpacks behind.

“Just stay close” Jimin whispered without a need while going inside. Not a peep could be heard.

“This room is freezing!” Cara commented while getting even closer to Jimin. “And my outfit isn’t helping”

“It’s ok, girl, I got your back” Holly immediately crouched to grab part of Cara’s dress to help her walk more freely. Her chosen outfit for tonight was Feyre from A court of thorns and roses and although she was looking beautiful until now her dress was making everything seem harder for her, specially running. Before she could thank Holly, the door they had just walked through which was also the only remaining source of light for them was shut close with a loud bang. The three of them jumping with the loud noise and an uncomfortable silence followed.

Jimin’s eyes were trying to adjust to the somber room, he blinked and tried his best to focus on some spot and try to see at least some silhouettes but he failed.

“Hello players, I hope you are up to play a game because I have some questions for you” a grotesque laughter came right after, the voice deep and clearly altered.

“Who’s there??” Jimin asked and chuckled nervously after he did it. He brought Holly and Cara closer to him, his hands firmly placed on the small of their backs.

“Who directed the film Halloween from 1978?” the grotesque voice asked them.

“Eeey- That isn’t fair!” Jimin complained. “How are we even supposed to know that?!” 

“Oh God, I don’t really know that one!” Holly said anxious. Cara just kept holding for dear life onto Jimin. 

A loud error noise was able to be hear making the three of them jump in fear, no one expecting the loud noise so close and loud. 

“Which film has as its main characters, Morticia and Gomez?”

“Oh! Oh! That’s easy!” Holly exclaimed. “It’s The Addams Family!”

“Nice!”

“Thank God we have Holly” Cara said in relief. 

“WOUSH!! What was that?!” Jimin fumbled back taking the girls with him. 

“What?!” 

“There was something touching my feet!”

“What is the word Hallowe’en an abbreviation of?”

“All Hallow’s Eve!!” Jimin and Holly yelled at the same time. Cara unable to form coherent thoughts on her head, the dark room was freaking her out. 

- 

On a blacked out room right next to group 9, three girls were kneeled on the ground together. As soon as group 6 entered the room they started getting uncomfortable with not being able to see things and also about the lack of sound. 

Esme started crouching down, her defense mechanism being turn herself into a little ball, and of course Nina followed. Aashna stood up for a little while, she kept feeling the other two getting closer to her legs, but once a loud bang echoed the room she dropped to her knees in a matter of seconds.

“What was Dr. Frankenstein first name?”

“Victor! It was Victor!!!” Nina yelled, she wasn’t afraid but she would admit the room was getting weirder and weirder. 

“Yes!!” Esme celebrated when a xylophone acute sound soared on the room, they knew the answer was right. 

“Name all the killers that embodied Ghostface from Scream.”

“Oh fuck! That one is hard” Nina said more to herself than anything. 

“You know it?” Esme asked turning to Aashna. 

“Uh… Roman Bridger is one of them…?” Aashna started not feeling very secure of her answer. “Loomis? Ugh I don’t know!!” 

“It’s ok-” 

A loud error sound echoed startling them, that probably meant the answer was wrong, they thought. 

-

“Who were the targets of Jack the Ripper?”

“Prostitutes!” Dylan said. “That’s for sure!”

“You sure?” Ali questioned him, but he didn’t need to answer because the xylophone sound was heard. 

“Thank God! I just want to leave here!!!!” Lindsay was feeling agitated on this room, it was too eerie. 

“It’s ok, Linds! I’m sure it will be over soon” Dylan said softly trying to pull her closer. They had just met but he knew she was having a hard time being scared. 

“For what is Ted Bundy known?”

“Killing over 35 women!” Ali and Dylan said at the same time. 

“It was 35 right?” he questioned.

“Yes, I’m sure!” 

Another xylophone sound was heard. 

“Please tell me this was the last!!” 

“It’s almost babeee” Ali tried to cheer her up, her hand coming to Lindsay’s squeezing it a bit. 

“It’s dare time players” the game master finally said freaking them out. 

9

After answering the last question, there was a loud bang again and Deo immediately held the closest thing she found as some sort of comfort. She knew this was just a game but she couldn’t help feeling scared being in the dark.

“Lights on”

The girl had her eyes closed shut. Jack opened his and rubbed them. When he looked back he saw his girlfriend holding tight Taehyung who was standing still like nothing was happening while scanning the room. That was enough to make Jack insanely mad. 

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” he exclaimed loudly making Taehyung look at him confused and Deo just opened her eyes surprised. 

“I-I thought it was you!” the girl said after looking at Taehyung’s face and realizing it was not her boyfriend there. Taehyung immediately let out a tsk. 

“ME?! I look nothing like that guy!” Jack pointed at the other boy furious. “Why are you still holding him?!” he asked when his girlfriend did nothing to move away. His anger making him explode and stride quickly until he could reach her arm to pull her away. 

“Hey!” Taehyung exclaimed; his eyebrows furrowed. “You’re going to hurt her” 

“I was not! And how could I see?! It was pitch black!” Deo defended herself. 

“You were with me in the dark before. You should know damn well how I feel to the touch”

A snort sound coming from Taehyung was heard. “Now that’s just pathetic”

“What?! That doesn’t even make sense!”

“You know what?!” Jack exclaimed furious “I don’t want to talk about this shit anymore” he went towards the left wall; hands placed on his hips. An awkward moment of tension followed.

“Oook” Taehyung said breaking the silence. “What’s up with this thing?” he approached a locker standing in the middle of the room. 

“Are you seriously going to be like that? Whatever..” Deo said, Jack having his back to her. And then looking over the locker where Taehyung now was she asked “How many digits?”

“Four” 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you really pretend nothing happened??” Jack looked back at both at them but his frustration clearly directed at Deo. 

“Jack what the fuck! You said you didn’t want to talk about it, let’s not!” she answered, looking everywhere but him. 

“Not to be indelicate but- 2:31 minutes left according to that timer over there”

“Fuck off dude!!!” Jack yelled at him. 

“Yeah, same” he answered back. 

“Jack!” Deo reprehended him but he did nothing but to ignore her still pacing around the room. "Do you want me to just tell you the words on the walls?“ the girl asked Taehyung. 

“Could we maybe exchange? I’m not very good with this but I have big eyes so I can tell you the words!” Tae smiled cutely to her and she immediately walked over the locker. 

"Yup, sounds good to me." 

“I have big eyes so I can tell you the words” Jack mocked in a stupid tone. “Did I just disappeared is that it??”

"Fucking wish Pennywise was here” Deo said almost in a whisper way. Jack didn’t hear but Taehyung certainly did which made him chuckle loudly. 

“What is so funny, jackass?!”

“You’re the one named Jack not me” Tae scoffed; his eyes briefly on Jack before returning to the written walls again. 

“Guys the time!!!”

“Sorry!” Taehyung apologized and quickly read a few words before finding one with four digits. “Try rack” he said looking back at Deo.

“Oh shit!!”

“What?!” Taehyung asked nervous and Jack just stopped pacing to look at Deo expectant. 

“It’s right!”

“IT IS???!” Taehyung just couldn’t believe he found the word at his first attempt. A huge smile taking over his face. “My eyes worked!!!!”

“What does it has inside?” Jack asked without patience. 

Taking over a piece of paper from inside Deo said “A clue I think”

-

Aashna kept blinking trying to adjust her now recovered vision to the intense light. Nina and Esme seemed more recomposed than her since both of them were standing in the middle of the room inspecting a big and solitair red locker that also stood there. She observed that the walls were full of words and letters painted in red, her hand trailing slowly the gory word that gained her attention the most. Somber.

“I think we need to find the word that opens this” she heard Nina say but her eyes still on the marked walls.

“Yeah and we need to find it fast, look” Esme said and she turned around to see what the girl was talking about. Esme was pointing towards a timer placed on the top of the door they came in by. 2:40 it marked. And after blinking Aashna got to see one number less, the timer was decreasing.

“How are we supposed to know which word is it???” Aashna panicked.

“For starters I think it’s a four letter word since there’s only four spaces here” Nina pointed out going to the nearest wall to try and find something.

“I’ll insert every word I know then!”

“Try dark” Aashna said when she spotted the word right next to where her hand was leaning and then looked expectant at Esme to see the result.

Esme fumbled with the padlock a little and then looked back at Aashna “Nope, not that one”

“Lost!” Nina shouted from across the room.

2:03.

The clicking sound of Esme fumbling with the locker could be heard, nothing else. It was followed by a long sigh. “Still a no!”

“Bone?” Aashna asked.

1:40.

And when the answer was once again a no, Nina shouted again “Shot!”

“I’m starting to get really frustrated at this” Esme grunted. “No, still nothing” she sighed.

“Are we going to stay stuck here?”

“Just keep looking!”

“Ok, what about blue? It’s written there” Nina suggested. “There’s not even a clue or something?”

“I guess not…” Esme answered her while inserting the word on the padlock. “And it’s not blue either.

1:01.

“This sucks!!!”

“I don’t see anymore words here with four letters only” Aashna said while reading everything she could. “Are you sure it’s a four letter word??”

“Pretty sure!” Esme answered leaving the locker and going to check the walls herself. “There’s only four spaces there.”

“I’ll try words I know then” Nina said walking towards the big red locker. “We still have time right?” she looked over the timer to see 0:43 marked on it. “Shit. Ok, what about home?” she said more to herself than anything else fumbling with the lock.

“Ghost”

“That’s a five letter word” Esme chuckled making Aashna chuckle too.

0:27.

“Love isn’t the answer after all…” Nina sighed moving onto the wall on her right. “Let me see if there’s something here”

“And the only door here is locked” Esme said turning the knob of the door and stating it didn’t open. “So yeah, we are probably screwed”

“What happens when the timer reaches zero though?” Nina questioned.

“ZERO! That’s it!” Aashna said excited looking from the timer to Esme who was quick to run towards the center of the room and insert the word on the padlock.

0:09.

“Please, please” Aashna mumbled.

“IS IT?”

And with a heavy sigh Esme said “No”.

A loud and screeching sound of a siren echoed in the entire room making the girls press their hands to their ears to somehow muffle the noise. Nina even crouched on the floor and they got even more horrified when the door finally opened and a tall figure dressed like an intimidating and gory doctor entered with a catering trolly, three cups on top of it.

The siren stopped and the abrupt change made the girls head combust. “I guess it’s going to be trick instead of treat” the guttural voice echoed on the room once again and the girls knew right then they would have to drink from the cups.

“Choose your cup wisely players” a wicked laughter followed along with Aashna, Esme and Nina exchanging glances before picking up their glasses and gulping everything down.

-

On the room next door the timer was running fast but still no sign of the locker opening up.

“I still can’t believe Jungkook managed to open this thing” Jennifer kicked the locker lightly. Group 3 had previously met Group 2 on the entrance of the library, Jungkook, Tori and Jason were just leaving the place when the girls happened to be entering. They exchanged a few words since both V and Jennifer knew Jungkook and Jason from volley, and of course, Jungkook knew Jennifer from much more than volley but it was a brief meeting nonetheless.

“You don’t know if he actually did it” V retorted.

“Try the word host!” Emma said to Jennifer who rolled her eyes and fumbled grudgingly with the padlock.

“I’m guessing he did since he was walking away from here differently from us” Jennifer answered while doing the task she was in charged with.

1:04.

“And it’s not host”

“What about Hope?” V asked.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be a cutesy word, hello? We are in a halloween game!” Jennifer answered without moving to do what V had asked her.

“Girl I swear-”

“Just try it out, Jennifer” Emma let out a long sigh.

“Fine” with another roll of eyes she turned around to fumble once more with the padlock.

0:38.

V and Emma waited expectant. “Not Hope, as I clearly explained before, the answer is clearly nothing like a cute word.”

“Let me see then” Emma said walking slowly around the room again and reading carefully every word she could find.

“Dark?”

“We tried that one already, pay attention bitch” Jennifer chuckled acidly.

“Girl you better watch out your back starting from tomorrow I swear, if I see you on the street-”

“Four? Try four” Emma ignored the heated argument, by now she was more than used to it.

0:17.

“That would be such a stupid passcode” Jennifer said while inserting the word. “I will be so disappointed if that is actually- It isn’t! Thank God” she snorted.

“This bitch is dumb as hell.” V chuckled while nodding her head and turning around to check the walls once again. “She is actually thanking the lord for not being able to get out of here.”

“It’s what they say, aesthetics first” Emma let out almost in a whisper and it was totally unintended but V managed to hear and she cracked hard.

0:02.

“Oh great, the time is up and you two are laughing like best-” Jennifer was saying but the loud siren interrupted her. She instantly fell backwards, bumping into the locker and slowly sliding down with her hands pressed firmly against the sides of her head.

Emma did the same, trying to protect herself from the madding noise while V stayed up trying to open the door by twisting the knob furiously. Until the door opened and she stumbled backwards seeing the eerie doctor coming in with a trolley and the three cups.

10

Carolina could feel her heartbeat drumming in her ears due to such excitement and thrill. Yoongi was the one decoding the clue they managed to get from inside the locker placed in the challenge of the library and they quickly came to the nearest graveyard around USC. Arriving there none of the three could see a single soul walking or completing the next challenge and both Carolina and Yoongi weren’t very keen on risking when they didn’t know the outcome. So thinking fast the girl suggested the other two for them to hide near the graveyard and wait for the next team, that way they could see what were they up to or at least know what they should and should not do.

Sarah was bundled up on her tracksuit just looking out with her lince eyes towards the foggy graveyard. Yoongi was crouched down right next to her looking comfortably, his hands near his mouth for warmth. If there was a thing he really hated was the cold. Carolina on the other hand had no coat, she was wearing only a nurse dress, her arms and legs were so numb that she stopped paying some mind to the harsh and cold wind.

“You look like a lunatic with that makeup” Yoongi whispered to her chuckling softly. His breathing creating a considerable breath vapor every time he talked or chuckled.

“Even when you’re serious you look like you’re laughing wickedly” Sarah whispered too with a satisfacted smile making Carolina open one herself.

“Why so serious?!” she looked at them jokingly with one eyebrow up and a creepy smile.

“Ya” Yoongi pushed her and she stumbled back since she was crouching to stay hidden. “That was creepy as fuck” he finished making Sarah laugh again.

“I almost fell and got dirt and mud on my white nurse… thing. What is this called?”

“It’s just a dress” Sarah laughed even more.

“This way we are going to ruin our plan, everyone can hear us”

“We got here first???” they heard someone exclaim from a distance. The three of them silent now and vigilant.

“Bro what did I tell you??? We didn’t open that stupid locker but we still got here first than anyone else!!”

“Who are those?” Yoongi whispered, his eyes squinted but he couldn’t see anything.

“I think… Jason?” Sarah whispered back.

“Not surprised he didn’t open the locker then” Carolina chuckled lowly.

“What do we do now? There’s nothing here”

“And that’s virgin boy”  Carolina added.

“How do you even know?”

“Confirmed, it’s him” Sarah answered her.

“His voice is annoying”

“Shit there’s more people coming”

“Where?”

As soon as team 8 heard that, they looked towards the direction the girl that was with Jungkook was looking to. Sarah, the only one with falcon eye vision in that group was reporting what she saw. To what she could see, there was not only one other group approaching but two. The first one she described as being three girls and Carolina quickly recognized one of them being Esme, her new front door neighbour. The other group as Sarah described had two girls and a guy. She tried her best to explain who Silvia was, saying she worked on the library and everything but Yoongi and Carolina never really paid much attention to their surroundings. Now, the guy… That one as soon as he came to both friends vision they recognized as their clumsy friend. He approached Jungkook and while doing so he stumbled on a grave and if it weren’t for the spidey senses that Jungkook conveniently had Namjoon would probably be on the floor right now.

The so familiar static sound surprised team 8 that was focused on the other groups interacting. “Should I take someone else to serve as company to your friend, players?” They heard the voice say followed by a muffled scream that left them in shock.

Sarah chuckled nervously. “They- They are really taking this game seriously” she let out a few more spaced laughter, her eyes going from Yoongi to Carolina, hoping that one of them could ease her mind that the pained scream she heard was nothing but a dumb joke of halloween.

Yoongi pressed the button to respond on the walkie talkie and a little beep could be heard. “Is this another riddle or clue? Over” and as soon as he said it he could hear himself faintly, the message being emitted from Carolina’s and Sarah’s walkie talkies still kept inside their own backpacks.

“Why are we receiving the message as well?” Sarah asked.

Another muffled and pained grunt could be heard again and their attention fell over the walkie talkie on Yoongi’s hand “Tik Tok players… Your friend doesn’t have much time, that I can guarantee you” Carolina looked from the piece of machinery in Yoongi’s hand to his eyes “Mhhmmm” someone screamed uncomfortably and visibly gagged. “Tik tok” and the beep sound made them know the message had come to an end.

“What is happening?” Sarah asked visibly disturbed. Carolina didn’t answer but her eyes moved towards the graveyard again, Namjoon was there looking at a map together with his team and her heart tightened. Where is Taehyung and Jin? she thought to herself.

“Yoongi there’s something wrong”

“What do you mean?” both him and Sarah said at the same time, their expressions worried.

“There’s only Namjoon there.” Carolina pointed out. “Where’s the other two?”

“Which two? What are we talking about?”

“I’m sure this is all a prank Carolina” Yoongi tried to ease her mind. “It’s halloween after all”

“I’m telling you-”

“Too slow” there it was the static noise again. “Happy haunting, players”

A loud scream was heard, Yoongi’s head snapped towards the sound and Sarah gasped at the vision. A bunch of grotesque and gross zombies appeared on the graveyard, and if they didn’t know zombies didn’t exist they would definitely think they were just now meeting the creatures.

Tori was being dragged towards a tiny grove behind the graveyard, she screamed and struggled to get away but the fetid creature had a tight grip on her. Jungkook tried to help but two of them came towards him and he had no choice but to run and on it’s way of doing so he took one down that was trying to catch Aashna. He grabbed her arm and forced her to run with him, dodging the grunting beasts but there were many of it. Aashna eventually couldn’t keep up with his pace and was grabbed by the waist being dragged away from the boy.

“I FOUND ONE!” they heard Jason scream, his arm up trying to show Jungkook the finger they had been receiving with every clue so far. “IT’S THE POINTS RIGHT??”

“KEEP LOOKING FOR THEM!!” the boy answered dodging another zombie.

Esme and Nina were running together, they were trying to leave the graveyard when Nina spotted a piece of paper tied to a finger. She swiftly snatched the finger and looked back to check on Esme, they had what they needed, now they just had to run as fast as they could to the front gates, Aashna already had been taken, they couldn’t afford being catched as well.

“Nina run!!!” Esme’s voice could be heard louder now after a little scream. Nina looked back to see the girl being held by two of the ill looking beings. “GO NINA!”

“We have to help” Sarah whispered to her teammates, they were still hiding.

“No no no, let’s wait” Yoongi tried.

“Yoongi something is not right here, why would they take people?”

“And this game master person said our friend needed company and our friend seemed in pain. I don’t think this is a bad joke guys…” Sarah was trembling.

The boy sighed and then looked front, he could see Namjoon hiding with both girls of his team, just like he was. But something definitely felt wrong. “We need to evaluate this better”

“There’s nothing to evaluate Yoongi. We have zero ways of communication right now” Carolina looked at him with pleading eyes. “We don’t have our phones, we only have walkie talkies that don’t let us talk to others apart from this fucking psycho and that was not a sick prank.” she paused offegant. “I know how editing works and so do you. That didn’t sound like a sound effect he browsed online, that sounded like a real fucking person and it’s either Jin or Tae”

“I- I think she’s right… I didn’t come with friends tonight so he was probably talking to you two. And it’s pretty weird that one of your close friends it’s there but the other two aren’t-”

“We don’t even know if they are in the game! As far as we know they can perfectly be partying right now” Yoongi reasoned.

“And why the hell did he choose me and you instead of Jin and Tae? No offense but those two are walking gamers. Me and you are just grandpas that do nothing but complain” she pleaded tugging his arm. “This thing is looking like the fucking Saw movie, Yoongs”

“Carolina-” he was going to say but Namjoon’s voice was heard loud and clear making the three of them look again at the chaotic scenery at their front.

A group of zombies were trying to take Hyori away but Namjoon pushed two of them freeing the girl. She quickly ran to stay behind him and everything seemed ok until the got to the other girl that was with him. He grabbed Silvia’s hand to pull her towards him, but two built up gory zombies dragged her in a flash.

“Silvia!!!” he yelled. Another one was coming towards him and Hyori again, but he took her hand in his and they both sprinted towards the entrance of the graveyard.

“Fuck.” Carolina said and before she could think properly she was getting up. “Stay here and when I say so you two sprint out of here, understood?” she looked back at Yoongi and Sarah.

“Hell no. What are you doing now?”

“I- I can come as well” Sarah offered.

“I said stay put.” she glanced at them with warning eyes and sprinted towards Namjoon.

11

A lot of the dead creatures had been gone by now, there was only ten of them remaining and most were focused on trying to catch both Jungkook and Jason. The fogg was making everything feel creepier and Carolina couldn’t help the goosebumps and bad feeling she was having even if her skin was already burning hot from the sprint she suddenly took.

“Namjoon!!” She screamed over the top of her lungs and her friend came to a halt, he was almost near the gates to leave, Hyori right behind him.

“Carolina?”

“You have the clue right??” she asked still sprinting; she could see three creatures walking fast to approach Namjoon and the girl.

“Yes! Are you alone?? What are you doing here??” he asked in a hurry while looking to his sides to see if there were any threats near.

“I’m with Yoongi!” Carolina was almost reaching him “There’s something wrong-” right at that moment she felt something grabbing her arm and she yanked it back, running faster. “There’s something wrong!!! Namjoon run!! The walkie talkies- We can’t communicate”

Two grunting creatures appeared behind Namjoon and Hyori, the girl screamed and stumbled back. “Hyori run!” he said grabbing the grimy arm of one of them and pushing the other with all his might.

“I won’t leave you!!”

“Mother-” Carolina came fast pushing hard one of the creatures due to the speed she was in. “Go you two! Find Jin and Tae!!!”

“What’s going on Carolina???” he asked in panic.

“Try the walkie talkies, Nam, there’s something wrong!!”

They started to aglomerate near the three of them and Namjoon just nodded and ran, taking Hyori’s hand once again and disappearing into the fog.

“WATCH OUT!” Carolina heard Jungkook’s voice near, he came running and pushing a zombie that was hunting down after her but he tripped and fell, the clue he had just found falling from his grip. The girl saw the opportunity and took it. She quickly grabbed the finger tied up with a clue that Jungkook just lost and started running, the object entering swiftly her pocket.

“HEY! CAROLINA” he yelled after her, still on his knees.

“I’M SORRY!” she shouted back but he was being left behind. “YOU AND JASON CAN MANAGE FINDING ONE MORE!! I’M SORRY”

“AAAAH” she heard his scream and turned back to see two morbid silhouettes dragging him by his arms. “GET OFF OF ME”

“Ah shit” she cursed under her breath and sprinted towards Jungkook.

-

Group 5 had roamed for a while now trying to figure out what the next place could be. Deo kept saying it could only be the graveyard and none of the boys said the contrary, even if Jack kept saying he was convinced it was some place else. 

“Do you think this is the right place?” Deo shrugged, eyes shifting from one boy to the other, their eyes clued to their maps. The graveyard seemed empty. 

“Yup, seems right to me.” Taehyung said, nonchalant.

“And what now?” She asked again, the apprehensiveness tone in her voice visible.

“Nice! Seems like we are the firsts so let’s not waste more time and look for the next clue.”

“This is huge… It’s going to take us forever specially with this fog.” Taehyung sighed, squinting his eyes to try and see over the deep white cloak pairing in the air. Before Deo could open her mouth to complain about how creepy the game had become Jack pulled her to him, grabbing her hand and running backwards. 

“Watch out! Zombie!!”

Taehyung ran right besides them, the wet grass making it slippery for them to keep balance. They heard a scream not so far away and Taehyung’s supersonic ability of recognizing every sound possible made him look attentively towards his right while still running. 

“JIMINAH!!” He yelled; his voice sounding deep and hoarse, the wind carrying it away. 

“TAEHYUNGIE!!!” he heard back but he had no sight on Jimin. More screams could be heard and in one second of distraction Taehyung bumped into one Zombie. He fell back harshly but quickly getting up. That’s when he saw the piece of paper tied onto a finger and he thought no more, he clumsily ran towards it and grabbed it. 

“TAEHYUNGIE! THE ZOMBIES! BE CAREFUL” he heard Jimin’s voice once again and he looked towards the direction of it. 

“JIMINAH! LET’S DO THIS!!!!” 

“Jack!!!!” Deo’s voice sounded close to him. “Get awaaaaay!!” 

Taehyung ran as fast as he could and when he got near the girl she was trying to set herself free from the disgusting creature holding her by her waist. The boy glanced over to see Jack dodging two of them and he wasted no time in pushing the zombie that fought Deo. The creature stumbled back and Taehyung pulled her with him towards the entrance once again. 

“JACK!” she kept screaming back. 

“I GOT THE CLUE!!! RUN FASTER BRO” Taehyung yelled in hope the other guy could hear it. 

“FUCK YOU!!”

-

The desert streets of USC campus that normally had a peacefulness to them were now feeling intimidating. The big and old buildings had a menacing look to them now. Silvia had her arms crossed tight over her chest, the trees making noises that were scaring her and her body was trembling from head to toe. Her Simon glasses were long gone, she lost them while trying to get away from those zombies, her backpack still secure on her back though.

On her hands she had only her walkie talkie that seemed useless since she tried over and over again to talk to someone but obtained no answer in return. She wasn’t liking the feeling of having to wander around USC at night and alone…

Suddenly a screeching sound. “It’s easier to hunt a prey if it is found alone” and a sinister laughter followed. Silvia looked around, the feeling of being watched creeping her out. She fastened her pace and tried again.

Beep. “Hyori? Namjoon? It’s me Silvia! Please Answer! Over” she kept looking around and walking as fast as she could trying her best to stay in the middle of the street where some lamp posts were still on. The leaves being swayed away by the wind.

“Silvia???” she heard Hyori’s voice and quickly brought the walkie talkie towards her mouth.

“YES!!! IT’S ME”

“Where are you right now?? Over” Hyori asked, her voice seemed hurried.

“I’m-” Silvia looked around. “Near Webb Tower! Over”

“Ok, listen to me very carefully” Hyori started, her voice difficult to be heard due to the noises the machinery kept doing. “Me and Namjoon think there’s something wrong. Be careful! We are currently on our way to the cinema department, the next clue sends us there. We’ll wait for you in the entrance ok? Over”

“What do you mean something is wrong? But ok, I’ll be there! Over”

“We’ll explain once you’re with us again.” Hyori said. “But please be careful. Keep talking to us from five to five. Over!”

“Ok! On my way. Over” Silvia answered before tightening her grip on the walkie talkie and running down the street.

12

Holly had been separated from her group quite a while ago. The last thing she remembers being Jimin trying to protect her and Cara from some scary zombies who were trying to catch them. It all felt like a fun game of catch until one of them dragged her away towards the grove and tied her up, her eyesight being compromised since they put a sack on her head. She felt like she was being taken somewhere since she could feel she was inside of a car, she could also feel there were other people inside it with her but she didn’t know who since she had a gag on her mouth keeping her from asking questions.

When the car came to a halt for the third time, she was dragged again, this time they removed the rope she had on her hands and then all she could hear was the sound of the tires burning in the asphalt. She waited for a few seconds and since nothing happened she slowly took off the sack that was still on her head. Holly felt a little scared while doing so, she was afraid of what she might see, but it turned out to be nothing more than an empty and dark street.

Now here she was running towards the cinematic department since she was able to contact Jimin and Cara with the walkie talkie that she kept inside her backpack, and although she was feeling a little dizzy due to the alcoholic beverages she was forced to gulp down on the library (her team didn’t manage to open the locker up) and Jimin kindly offered to go pick her up, she was feeling more alive than ever, a little spooked too, but that was halloween and nothing could stop her now.

“It has been quite a while since she said she was on her way” Jimin said pacing around with his hands in his hips; eyes trailed onto the horizon, hoping Holly would emerge there somehow.

Jimin and Cara had arrived on the cinematic building half an hour ago. A big sign glued on the wall saying for the next challenge they needed all three present, and ever since he saw Holly being taken he started worrying over the girl.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon, Holly is a brave girl, she’s fine” Cara was sat on the steps of the front stair. The wind softly blowing on her face.

“Yeah but it’s dark and-”

“Are you actually afraid of the dark Jimin Park?” Cara chuckled trying to release the tension the boy was feeling somehow. She knew he was feeling guilty over the fact he let Holly unguarded somehow because a group of people passed by him and he got distracted. And Cara was still curious about why he did such a surprised face but that was a question for another time.

“No but she might be!”

“I think she isn’t” Cara offered a smile. “Once she arrives here we ask her about it and see who wins, what do you think?”

“Yeah sure” he answered but his eyes were still full of worries; his lips caught up by his teeth and his body never facing anything but the horizon.

-

Inside the cinematic department the air was hazy and there was also an unintelligible sound echoing the halls. Group 7 was wandering the halls, Cole once again in the lead since he was a frequent passenger of this department. The lights were out, the three boys were finding their way while following the bloody arrows painted on the floor with their flashlights and as Cole was starting to think it was leading them towards the basement or the archive room as the cinema students would call it.

He wasn’t wrong. He came to a halt right at the door of it, the whole way there Hoseok standing really close to Asa both of them a little spooked out.

“Is this it?” Asa asked. “I was expecting something scarier, I have to be honest”

“I can’t handle anything scarier than this”

“Well, I guess it is a little scarier” Cole pointed the flashlight towards a paper glued on the door. “Look” his flashlight now illuminating the big black letters. “One stays here and the other two go down… in the dark. Wow, what a fun activity!” he looked at his teammates with a sarcastic smile.

“I’m not going down- No oh. Not a chance” Hoseok said, his eyes flickering with fear.

“Then you just have to go there” Cole pointed towards an open space full of small screens twitching and showing different perspectives of a long corridor. Asa kept looking from one to another, he himself wasn’t finding the decision an easy one to make.

“No way I’m staying over there alone! The place looks like a scenery of a horror movie”

“It’s either that or the dark”

“If you stay up you will have to lead us with the walkie talkie, that’s what the rules say… At least it’s a rather backlit place!” Asa presented him the options. “But if you’re scared of staying alone, you can always go down, you’ll be with one of us… but in the dark”

Hoseok’s eyes kept going from the glitching tv screens and the iron made door with the intimidating keep out sign on it.

“Hey guys!!” all of them looked back pointing their flashlights towards the newcomers. Hoseok letting out a few weird sounds, he was definitely the scaredy cat of the group.

“Wow!” Tessa chuckled; her hands serving as shield for her now blinding eyes. “Keep pointing that at me and I might actually become the moon”

“Sorry! We thought it was someone else” Asa clumsily apologised making the girls laugh.

“Ok so I think one of us has to stay outside guiding the other two since down there is basically pitch black and we can’t enter with our flashlights?” Cecilia said, she was reading the rules until now.

“Alone here??” Jae exclaimed. “Not a chance!”

“I’ll do it it’s ok, you guys go” Cecilia reassured them and moved towards the screens. Pressing the button speak of her walkie talkie she tested if it was working. “One, two, one two” beep.

“It’s working!” Tessa gave her a thumbs up.

“Ok, I’ll stay here! It’s ok, I’ll stay with her” Hoseok pointed towards Cecilia.

“Alright! Let’s move then” Cole replied and opened the heavy metal door with a screech.

-

Somewhere in the way team 7 and team 10 went separate ways, both Hoseok and Cecilia guiding their teams to opposite directions. The humid and pitch black corridors giving everyone the chills, and if that wasn’t scary enough the sound of water droplets falling into what seemed like buckets with water inside was the cherry on top of the cake.

Jae and Tessa were holding hands both of them completely blind in the dense and darkened place, they walked slowly, each with a walkie talkie in hands.

Beep. “Guys turn to your right” Cecilia voice was heard through the static noise. “Not now! Walk about four steps straight and then turn”

“Can you see something inside here with us???” Jae asked her; her voice quivering a little.

“I don’t think so. Over”

“Did we take four steps yet?” Tessa asked coming to a stop. Through the little screen upstairs, Cecilia could see them stopping, they were talking but she couldn’t hear them.

“I don’t think so… Did we?”

Beep. “Girls what are you doing? Turn right now” Cecilia ordered.

“Turn left or right? Over” Tessa asked completely lost. Not being able to see was messing with her sense of direction.

Beep. “Left! Over” and they immediately turned left but what came after was chaos.

Tessa screamed once she felt something going against her. And that something screamed even louder. Fearing something was happening Jae crouched on the floor, the only command her mind was able to give her body with the jumpscare.

“It’s us! Calm down, it’s ok!!” the girls heard a deep voice say making them even more scared. A continuous scream still echoing.

“US WHO???” Tessa shouted putting her hands close to her chest as a defense mechanism. “Don’t touch me!!” she let out in surprise when a hand brushed hers.

“It’s Jeremy! Jeremy from the volley team! And Jin!” the owner of the deep voice said trying to calm them down.

Beep. “Girls are you ok?” Cecilia asked worried. She saw the whole scene without a sound.

“YEAH AND JIN!!” Jin shouted; his hands kept wiggling, in his mind if he kept doing that no one would approach him and scare him. “WoOAh”

“Jin? Jin Kim?” Tessa asked, her hand coming to her heart to calm herself down.

“Who’s asking?” Jin answered turning abruptly to his side and then to the other. Eventually Jeremy had to place a hand on his shoulder to make him stop.

“It’s Tessa! From the cinema!”

“Tessa?”

“Who- What is happening?” Jae was still crouched down.

“Carolina’s friend! She was asking for you!!” Tessa answered Jin.

“She was?” Both Jin and Jeremy asked at the same time.

“When we were arriving here she and Yoongi were leaving and she asked me if I saw you! She looked very worried. She asked for Taehyung as well”

“I-I’ll try to catch up with her” Jin said. “Let’s go Jeremy, we already have the thing”

Beep. “Girls?” Cecilia asked again.

“We’re here!” Jae quickly answered. “Everything’s ok, we just bumped on Jeremy”

“Hey! And Jin!!!” Jin scolded.

Beep. “And Jin”

Beep. “You got it?” Sana’s voice was heard and that made Jeremy remember what he had come for.

“Tell her yes!”

Beep. “We got it! On our way. Over” Jeremy said.

Beep. “Let’s go then! We have a game to win people!!” Sana finished the message with a cute chuckle.

“Best of luck, girls” Jeremy said pulling Jin with him.

“The clue is on the floor!” Jin said quickly and winked and then laughed like a mad man over his own stupidity of winking if no one could actually see his face.

Beep. “Keep moving forward now! I see some things on the floor. Over” Cecilia told them and both of them quickly said their goodbyes to the boys and went on walking slowly and tugging at each other’s arms.

Jin and Jeremy kept walking forward this time, the latter on the front since Jin was a total basket case when it came to feeling scared.

“I think we’re almost out” Jeremy said lowly.

“Ya, how do you even know?!” Jin chuckled. “I can’t even see you!”

“I just know man”

“Back there I was so blind and afraid that it felt like I lost you for a second. I was screaming your name but I don’t even know if it was something decipherable”

Jeremy was about to answer, he turned back as if to face Jin to do so but the static noise of the walkie talkie interrupted him. “Boys! To your left now!” Sana said.

Beep. “Right now?”

Beep. “Yes, turn left Jer! Jin, place your hands into his shoulders, like a train that way I will guide him better and you will follow. Over”

“Ya how do I even know where he is…” Jin thought out loud; his hands coming forward to try and find Jeremy.

Beep. “A little forward!” Sana chuckled. “Up! Up! There you go!”

A few minutes had passed, the boys following Sana’s instructions until they reached the metal door once again. She was already there waiting for them but her voice sounded nothing like before.

“G-Guys we need to go” Sana said almost in tears. Jeremy quickly went towards her and gave her a side hug. Jin approaching her too but without knowing what to say or do.

“What happened?”

“The g-game master” she said pointing towards the screen room now completely empty, team 7 and 10 most probably long gone.

“What did he say?” Jeremy asked concerned. Jin’s face going from worried to confused in a small fraction of time.

“I-I” Sana tried but she was really struggling to say out loud what was bothering and disturbing her mind.

“Easy! Is ok” Jin gently rubbed her back. “Just tell us what is happening”

“The game master he- I think he is keeping someone captive” she blurted it out. Jeremy glanced over Jin who chuckled unsure about the whole situation.

“He probably has… It’s supposed to be a fun game after all” he told her gently. “We have a serial killer like Freddy chasing us and then we had the zombies… I mean, it’s scary but it’s the game-”

“No!” Sana interrupted him. “You guys are not understanding!!” she gasped and looked at them a little distressed. “He contacted me saying there was a traitor inside and I thought it was just another riddle but then- then I heard someone screaming for help!”

“Ya… That was just him trying to scary you” Jin shrugged and then looked at Jeremy who was lost in thoughts. “Right Jeremy?” Jin poked him.

“Yeah! Right”

“I’m telling you guys! It wasn’t for pretend, I swear!” Sana pleaded once again.

“Ok let’s do this” Jeremy paused; both Jin and Sana looking at him attentively. “Let’s go to wherever this next clue takes us and try to find other people? Let’s just finish this and see where this whole thing leads us, ok? It’s probably like Jin said, only a prank to scare you.” he finished. Sana wasn’t very convinced, she knew what she had heard, but she nodded and followed the two guys out of the cinematic department.

13

It took a good hour for Cole to find a way of getting out a room where someone trapped him, completely in the dark. Once he managed to break in the door he desperately yelled Asa’s name, his clothes were damped and he had to hold one of his arms (he injured it while trying to break the wooden door trapping him from the outside world). Asa who was almost losing hope, absolutely terrified, was quick to get up on his feet and yell back. It was a trick thing to try and find the other person in the dark, specially inside of what it felt like a cold and infinite labyrinth.

Asa pushed the metal door while offering some support to Cole that was visibly hurt and even the half light hurt their eyes when they passed through the way out.

“Hoseok??” Cole shouted. “Our walkie talkies jammed, man! Someone trapped us inside” they both walked towards the little screen room Hoseok was left in.

“Hobi?” Asa called.

The room was completely empty. No note, no walkie talkie, no backpack, no Hoseok.

“What the fuck?” Cole let out in a breathy way.

“He’s probably outside waiting for us dude, let’s just go there” Asa said and both turned around to get out.

“Oh! Asa!” Hyori’s voice shouted. Namjoon and Silvia right behind her as it seemed they had just arrived to complete the challenge.

“Hyo! Again!” Asa chuckled.

“Where’s Hobi?” she asked glancing over his shoulder.

“He’s probably outside!”

“What…?” Hyori asked weakly.

“What happened dude?” Namjoon pointed Cole’s arm with his chin.

“Me and Asa here were the one’s going down but we got trapped. I had to take a door down to get us out of there…” Cole answered. “Hoseok was supposed to be here but he’s probably outside”

“But there’s no one outside” Silvia stated confused.

“Where’s- Where’s Hobi?” Hyori was starting to panic. The way to the cinematic departement was spent by her and Namjoon talking about Carolina’s weird comments on the graveyard. They got genuinely spooked out and tried the walkie talkies, stating indeed there was something wrong with them. Now she was starting to think that wasn’t the only thing that was wrong.

The static noise that by now freaked everyone out interrupted Asa from saying whatever he was trying to say, his mouth opening and closing at Hyori’s question. “Tik tok players, find the last clue to save your buddy here- MHHnMPHHH HEL-” the beep cut the rest, but by the look on everyone’s faces, they knew it was help.

“Hobi-” Hyori gasped.

To be continued…

[livin-in-mementos]

After Some Time (...and a break or two)

Ugh... okay, its here. The big one. Let me preface this by saying I wont be doing a count by count story of what happened, it’s too many hour and headaches that I don’t need to be fair. But I said I’d get to it... and boy howdy has it been swirling in my head since.

The Slazo Situation Revisited

 So small backstory for those who haven’t boarded this crazy train of bullshit and migraines, this story is about a fairly large commentary youtuber by the name of Slazo (Or Micheal) who was caught in a controversy when his ‘Ex-Girlfriend’ exposed him in a Twitlonger for being a manipulative, sexual harasser. DM’s and screenshots of chat logs were shown and it made Slazo look pretty scummy. A few days later Slazo releases his defence video outlining the parts that were true and a lot of points that were fabricated to make him look evil in the eyes of the internet, with added proof and conveniently missing parts of his exes proof that would have exonerated him on the spot in the eyes of the internet courtroom. For opinions sake, yes I do think Slazo is innocent of the more damning accusations that were put against him, no I do not think he was 100% innocent. Of what he was guilty of? maybe being a pretty shitty boyfriend.... though at the age of 15-16... its slap on the back of the head material... not cancellation worthy.

Slazo was pretty much cleared of it all and everybody went on with their day... heck it shouldn’t even be called the Slazo situation, because while his name was brought up a lot, he wasn’t really all that key to what happened next... 

Commentary youtubers from all corners of the internet had an opinion on what Slazo had done and how guilty he was (again, I will not be doing a play by play of every accusation) which boiled down to two camps

1. “Slazo is guilty and here is why... Oh and have a bunch of off-cuff situations I witnessed where Slazo was really creepy that I only just now remember and want to bring up.”

2. “Lotta commentary youtubers being liars, snakes or hypocrites up in here.”

Which in turn brought two youtubers under the microscope themselves, ImAlexx and Hyojin.

Alex first as it’s easier and is the least weird of the two. Alex jumped on the Slazo hate bandwagon pretty quickly and started accusing Slazo of a bunch of things that couldn’t easily be proven, while also completely backing up the story that Chey (the ex) has given in her Twitlonger, despite the fact it had been blown open with so many holes that not even a brain dead goldfish could find logic in it. Alex would later admit he had a part in writing the Twitlonger, as did many other prominent commentary youtubers and friends,outing the Twitlonger as more of a team effort rather than just Chey writing it herself.

After this Alex was accused of a bunch of stuff himself including being a social climber to get more popular since he was a pretty good friend to Slazo before all of this happened, as well as a snake since he supported Chey and the Twitlonger until it was criticised as untrue.... and Alex said the same to cover for himself.

To this day there hasn’t been a clear end point to this, Alex has tried to brush away from it all and has taken the bumps of being called controversial, hoping for it to all die down eventually. (While writing this Alex appeared on the Happy Hour Podcast to give a rundown of the situation to the hosts who admitted they knew nothing of the situation. What’s worse Alex seems to have glazed over many of his own wrongdoings that only escalated the drama further.) Opinion? To be honest, I don’t know... Alex obviously tried to ride the controversy to boost himself, that much is sure, yet when it came back to bite him he tried to hide and wait for it to blow over. It’s sad, It IS snakeworthy and since a proper apology hasn’t been issued... it’s not a good look for him at all.

Hyojin to me was the worst of the two to me. While she didn’t say as much publicly, it was was was happening behind the scenes that just frustrated me.

(Be aware, if you like Hyojin and think she can do no wrong, DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT. A lot of hot-takes will be thrown out there and a lot of criticism will be put out there too. I WILL be talking about the aftermath at length which is where the support poured in for Hyojin. I will being ripping that apart just as much, if not more for the bullshit that it was.)

Hyojin sucks, and I mean she really sucks. A lot of what was thrown out about Slazo in the Twitlonger allegedly was orchestrated and was the idea of Hyojin herself, taking what Chey was saying and embellishing it with the rest of their friend group. It’s alleged however and won’t be part of the criticism thrown at her.

While the incident was being investigated, Hyojin was too, including her colourful hot takes on Slazo and how creepy he was. Hyojin would never publicly call out Slazo since at the time, anybody who did was getting rinsed by the internet very quickly. So instead she hid on her discord and talked in DM’s about destroying Slazo’s career so he would never recover and deleting messages that challenged how Chey publicly omitted any evidence that made Slazo look like less of a monster. Shady.

During the internet investigations, it was discovered that Hyojin had an old art Twitter where her fictional character was drawn fucking her friends in several positions. The problem was, several of these friends were underage and despite her defence that none of these friends minded.... it was still there for public viewing as was still wrong. One instance even had another youtuber by the name of Kavos in one of these pictures even though he was never asked, nor gave his permission. The irony of all this being that much of what Hyojin criticised Slazo for, she was guilty of herself. Creepy.

Here’s where it gets controversial... probably more for me. Dog dropping rumours aside. (trust me, it was stupid)

Hyojin was getting major flak for everything that was found out about her and it seemed to get too much for her, which is understandable. Her response to all of this was a tweet telling everyone she was going to kill herself. The public response actually became something that confused me, because in the blink of an eye everyone retracted their criticisms and gave out well wishes instead. To make the trend even more sympathetic the youtubers involved in writing the Twitlonger started urging people to give her space and lay off on the nasty comments.

I for one, did not care. Heartless of me? Maybe. But it was all backed up by reasoning. Here was a girl ready to throw the life of a person under the bus for being a slightly shitty boyfriend and lying to make it sound worse. Helping to write up a statement that grossly exaggerated things to such a degree that Slazo was the most hated person on the internet and was blasted by everyone left, right and centre. After he proved to everyone he wasn’t like that, the attention turned on Chey and the friends that helped her and when their dirty laundry was put out there and they were being criticised.... now it was unacceptable? Now it was too much?

YOU TRIED TO OUT A GUY FOR BEING A SEX PEST! Shit that will follow him for life. But people calling out racist remarks you made? the underage porn you had drawn? The toxic behaviour you exhibited to anyone who questioned you?

....yeah that was too much and the line had to be drawn right?

But hey, it’s okay, you can just back to twitter the second the drama blows over and everything is all good now right?

Now this is where I direct it to the people who think that Hyojin is infallible, that she can do no wrong. She messed up bad, real bad. If anything she’s the true villain behind all of this and it’s shocking the lengths people were going to just to defend her. If every racist, abuser or sex pest threatened their life to be let off, this world would be screwed, but the second a darling Tumblr artist with links to popular youtubers does it, it’s a crime to list the irony that she attempted to cancel a guy with far worse repercussions that would lead to life long damage.

The worst part of all of this was that an apology would have cleared all of this. They knew they were wrong but an apology was impossible for them, so instead it’s made bigger, uglier and dirty laundry is shown. If anything, I’m happy it got to where it did since it showed the ugly side of Hyojin for everyone to see. So my opinion of Hyojin?

Fuck Hyojin.

[fisherpon]

For those who don't know, this is what that banner's referencing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonmachong

Anciencts like this guy disappeared before even the Windigos were first recorded, so nopony knows if they truly existed~

“A thousand years ago” seems to come up a lot as the cutoff point for things actually pertinent to history~

[hardnoctlife]

About Me

Me: Oh, sweet, I have time to write on my WIP!

My brain: Let’s answer these author-asks instead that NOBODY asked for:

Fandom Questions

1.       What was the first fandom you got involved in?

FIRST, first? InuYasha! First one I wrote actual fanfiction for? I think that was Yu Yu Hakusho.

2.       What is your latest fandom?

Final Fantasy XV (if you couldn’t already tell.)

3.       What is the best fandom you’ve been involved in?

Final Fantasy XV. I haven’t met a person I don’t like! Generally everyone is super nice and supportive.

4.       Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

Supernatural, maybe?? Only because they killed it with too many seasons…and there are some pretty weird fans.

5.       Which fandoms have you written fanfiction for?

Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, InuYasha…maybe some others when I was younger?

6.       What are your OTPs from your current fandom?

Promptis and Gladnis

7.       List your NoTPs from your current fandom

ArdNoct is my least favorite, but everyone is SO shippable…

8.       How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

One of my good friends, Claudia, was obsessed with the game so when I finally got a PS4 I started playing and got hooked! I’ve played final fantasy games since I was young so I was already a fan of the others.

9.       What are the best things about your current fandom?

I know there are dark sides to every fandom, but seriously, FFXV is the most kind and receptive fandom I’ve ever been a part of. I have a discord group chat with several people and we talk all day, everyday about anything and everything and I’ve made some really good friends from it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

10.   Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

I’m actually not a huge reader of fanfiction (I know, it’s awful), but that’s because I’m too busy writing my own! I do read FFXV fanfiction that gets recommended to me though.

Author Questions

11.   What’s the first fanfic you ever wrote?

It was waaaaay back in high school. I can’t remember much, but I know it was a YYH high school AU.

12.   Is there anything you regret writing?

Eh. Not really. I had fun with everything I’ve done so that’s what’s important, even if my skill was cringy back in the day.

13.   Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of and explain why you like it. 

Insomnia High School! (Really, my whole FFXV high school series). It’s the first set of long-fics I’ve written in probably over a decade, and I wrote them while recovering from knee surgery, which kept me sane because I’m a super active person and not being able to do anything had me depressed. IHS I’m particularly fond of because it’s a little edgier and I got to feature Zidane from FFIX who is probably one of my favorite video game characters of all time! Also, it’s my longest fic I’ve written, but it was maybe the easiest for me to get through. It really just flowed for me, and even though it’s not my most popular, I put a lot of heart into it. 

14.   What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

Probably Dawn of the Godslinger, simply because it was the first fic I wrote after a ten-year hiatus from writing!

15.   What’s your most popular fanfic?

Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between. It’s probably my second favorite thing that I have written, and it was definitely the most fun to write out of all my current works.

16.   How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Uh… they just come to me? Some are pretty straightforward (like Insomnian Academy for the Elite), and then for others I try to pick the main theme and come up with something witty, like Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between, which is meant to reference all the different domestic life scenarios and the ‘slice of life’ vibe. 

17.   What do you hate more: coming up with titles or writing summaries?

SUMMARIES. God, they suck. I’m really not sure why they are so hard, but I struggle with them at times.

18.   If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story/stories, which story would it be and what would it be a picture of?

I have been blessed with talented artist friends who have done fanart for several of my works! If I’m being selfish though, I really want some from Rain or Shine or The Long and Short of It All with all the bros being cute and silly.

19.   Do you have a beta reader? Why/why not?

My wife is an editor with an MFA so she is my beta reader/editor (I’m very lucky). Overall, I think it’s important to have someone check your work and give you objective feedback. No one is perfect and there is always room for improvement.

20.   What inspires you to write?

There are endless possibilities in my fandom…it’s pretty easy to stay inspired. But really, I just enjoy it.

21.   What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I have received a lot of super nice comments… I think I enjoy when people are inspired to write or draw their own stuff because of something I wrote! Also, when people told me they cried or FELT some sort of strong emotion, that’s the greatest compliment.

22.   Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you?

Omg YES. Music inspires me more than anything else. I have playlists for just about every fanfic I write! I’ll often listen to a playlist on repeat while I’m writing or throughout the day when I’m brainstorming ideas.

23.   Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics, or HUUUUUGE epics?

A little bit of everything! Depends on how I’m feeling and how much an idea takes off.

24.   What’s the word count on your longest fic?

I think it’s around 88,000

25.   Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I walk the line between drabbles/one shots, but usually they’re just a single scene I wanted to get out but was too lazy to put into a larger story.

26.   What’s your favorite genre to write?

Probably angst, with fluff/romance being a close second.

27.   First person or third person- what do you write and why?

Both! It just depends on how I want the fic to be interpreted/felt by the reader.

28.   Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I try to use canon characters as much as possible, but I don’t have an issues creating OCs if the need arises.

29.   What is your greatest strength as a writer?

People have told me they like my dialogue and also the little subtle details/body language I include.

30.   What do you struggle with most in your writing?

Probably pacing, especially towards the end of a fic when I get excited about finishing it. Also, I don’t usually write outlines so sometimes I can dig myself into a hole plot-wise and my wife (editor) has to help get me out. (thanks babe!)

31.   What is your all time favorite fanfic?

Probably “Such Is Us” by surveycorpsjean. It’s what inspired me to write my own OT4 fic for FFXV.

32.   If someone wants to read one of your fanfics, which would you recommend to them and why?

Honestly, all of my stuff is so different it would really depend on the person! But my favorites that I’ve written (in order) are: You’re My Cup of Coffee, Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between, and The Insomnian Academy for the Elite.

33.   Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why or why not?

Of course!! As a writer, I love when people comment on my stuff so I feel it’s important to do the same for others.

34.   Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

If they do, it’s AWESOME and I really appreciate. If they don’t, that’s their choice! I believe in writing for myself, so I’m not going to base my worth as a writer on kudos/like/reblogs, etc. It does give me the warm fuzzies when people leave sweet comments though <3

35.   Rant or gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction.

Okay, so, smut. I like it! IF I’m in the mood for it. If I read a smutty fic and I knew what I was getting into, it’s great. However, I tend to not like s*x just for the sake of s*x in my fics. I try to focus on emotion and WHY two characters might be getting physical rather than just throwing something in there because I think it will get my fic attention. When people put in a s*x scene that doesn’t further the plot it’s a major turn off for me. 

[searchingwardrobes]

Natural Opposite: 11/16

This chapter has been a long time coming, and I am so excited to finally share it! Though Emma and Killian’s relationship doesn’t escalate in the physical sense yet, some walls still come down emotionally. This chapter is also one of the reasons for the M rating as we find out more of Emma’s back story.

Huge thanks as always to my awesome beta @distant-rose, and a shout out to everyone in the CSBB for the discord chat to help me pick the song for this Halloween dance. Especially @katie-dub who recommended “Dark Waltz” by Hayley Westenra. Be sure to check out her CSBB story, Princess of White Chapel, because it is SO good! Actually, everyone in the CSBB put out exceptional work, so be sure to give them all the love and attention they deserve.

I can not fully express how much I love the chapter art that @optomisticgirl did for this. It was the first piece she made, and I was just blown away the minute I saw it! So be sure to go over to her blog and like and reblog because she deserves all the love!

Here is her other chapter art for this story:Two Four Five Six Seven Nine

Summary: Dance is more than Emma Swan’s career; it’s practically saved her life on more than one occasion. But when it comes to reality TV shows, she’s always danced in the shadows of her twin brother David and her sister Elsa. Her first season as a pro on Dancing With the Stars was a disaster, and she enters her second season determined to prove herself. All she needs is a good partner. Hollywood bad boy and ladies’ man Killian Jones isn’t what she had in mind.

Rating: M for mature themes, steamy dance routines, and sexy times (But NOT smut)

Trigger warnings: discussions of online solicitation of a minor, bullying, statutory rape, and emotionally abusive/controlling relationships; stalking; anti-Rumbelle, anti-Neal

Can also be read on Ao3

Tagging: (let me know if you want to be added to my tag list) @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @kday426 @bethacaciakay @teamhook @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @winterbaby89 @followbatb @onceuponaprincessworld @hollyethecurious @ohmakemeahercules

Chapter Eleven: Dark Waltz

Emma was a nervous wreck arriving at the studio to rehearse with Killian. She wasn’t sure how she should handle the gossip. Should she bring it up? Would he? Should she just pretend not to know and ignore it? Would it make things awkward between them? Killian was always flirting with her, trying to get her to open up, but he had never actually asked her out or made a move. She liked things where they were: friendship with innocent flirting. She didn’t want those stupid pictures to mess up the delicate balance they had struck.

But when she stepped off the elevator on the top floor, the sound of loud shouting from the studio at the end of the hall had all thoughts of paparazzi pushed from her mind. She raced down the hall, along with several other celebs and pro dancers towards the room where Jefferson and Belle rehearsed. Emma was shocked to find Robert Gold on the floor, Liam Jones on top of him. Killian was trying to pull his brother off as he threw punches at the older man. Belle was crying and begging Liam to stop. Finally, Jefferson and Graham joined Killian and the three of them managed to pull Liam back and calm him down. Security then rushed in and ushered Liam, Gold, and Belle out of the room. Jefferson followed along with his partner.

Once they had gone, Emma turned to Killian in shock. “What the hell was that all about?”

Killian ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Apparently Gold has been stalking Belle. Liam came to bring her coffee this morning, and he caught Gold in here with her. Liam said he was touching her somehow, but my brother wasn’t exactly focusing on talking, if you know what I mean.”

Emma’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “Poor Belle.” She reached out and laid a hand on Killian’s arm. He was clearly agitated. “Security will sort it all out, okay? We’ve had crazy shit happen before, believe me.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I just hope Belle’s okay. She has such a kind heart, and she’s good for my brother. I’d hate for him to have to go home so soon over all this.”

Emma just rubbed his arm in silence for a moment. “Do you want to cancel our rehearsals for today? Go make sure Liam’s alright?”

Killian shook his head. “We’ve missed so much rehearsal time already. And aren’t we choreographing the group number this afternoon?”

He had a point, so despite Killian’s obvious worry, they headed back to their usual studio. They jumped right into their waltz, working hard all morning. It seemed to calm Killian to have something to focus on. In the midst of everything, Emma never did bring up the TMZ pictures.

******************************************************

Emma and Killian had been teamed up with two athletes for the group dance: figure skater Aurora Briar who danced with Sean Herman, and NFL football player Lance Knight who was partnered with Gwen Pendragon. They had to dance to the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Goyte. Gwen had been on the show almost since the beginning, and kind of took charge. Emma wanted to do a vampire themed paso doble, but Gwen decided that they would do a dance patterned more after the song’s music video. So the number ended up being a combination of a tango and a modern piece, and the story was about three widowers looking at the paintings of their deceased wives. The paintings came to life, and the dance ensued.

Killian argued that after Emma’s incredible choreography with “Heart Shaped Box,” she should have more say. But Emma pulled him aside to talk him down.

“This is supposed to be fun,” she hissed at him.

“Your idea was way better, Swan,” he argued, “and the judges still score this dance.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” Emma told him, “but Gwen’s been on this show for a really long time. She’s already won the mirror ball twice and gotten three Emmy nominations for her choreography.”

Killian’s jaw clenched. Lance teasingly asked if they were finished kissing in the corner. Emma turned bright red, thinking back to those TMZ pictures they had never discussed.

“Shut up, Lance!” Emma shot back.

Killian deflated and gave Emma a sheepish smile as he scratched behind his ear.

“Sorry, love, I just see so much talent in you. I hate to see it underappreciated.”

Emma felt her heart soar at his words. She had worked so hard for so many years, yet always felt under other people’s shadows. Namely her brother’s and her sister’s. The fact that Killian saw so much in her was both encouraging and terrifying.

They went back to the rest of the group, and Killian behaved himself. He and Aurora were the stronger celebs when it came to picking up the choreography, but Lance was determined, as athletes usually were on the show. Killian provided good balance for the two intense competitors, getting both Aurora and Lance to laugh and enjoy the group dynamic. Emma marveled at his ability to get along with everyone so easily. She wished she had that quality.

The rest of the days leading up to the Halloween episode flew by. They filmed the requisite clips of their team trash-talking the other one and pretending to “spy” on the other group’s rehearsals. In the frenetic pace of everything, those pictures on TMZ never came up. Even the media seemed to lose interest as news that Belle French had put out a restraining order on Robert Gold consumed everyone’s attention. Killian had been worried that Gold would press assault charges against his brother, but when the obsessive content of the man’s texts and emails to Belle became public, the billionaire had other things on his mind. And Emma hated herself for even thinking it, but part of her was glad that the drama with Gold would be at the forefront of everyone’s minds in the studio come Monday afternoon.

*****************************************************

Emma and Killian, for the first time all season, were scheduled to dance first for the Halloween episode. The set department, like every Halloween, had outdone themselves. Emma had asked for a graveyard, and they had delivered. A black iron gate flanked the dance floor, and in between were an assortment of tombstones. Dry ice sent fog billowing throughout the scene.

“Did they have to use my actual name?” Killian whispered in her ear as she took her place in front of the largest of the tombstones. It read in large, block letters: “Killian Jones.”

Emma just shrugged at him. “Better you than me,” she teased, “now go find your mark.”

He squeezed her hand before walking to the other side of the dance floor and taking his place behind one of the iron gates. The premise of their dance was fairly simple: Emma was a bride widowed on her wedding day. The costume department had made her a gorgeous lace wedding gown that was tattered and stained with blood. Black roses adorned her hair, which was down in a messy mass of curls. Killian, the deceased groom, was dressed in a tux that was in similar shape, and the makeup department had rubbed his skin with white foundation. But the truly gruesome part were the bloody wounds they had added to his face.

“The makeup team sort of knocked the handsome out of me,” he had joked to Emma when she first saw him.

Emma had just shaken her head and laughed. “No make-up artist is that good.” She swore she could see him blush through his heavy foundation.

The video package this week was fairly innocuous. It focused more on the storyline of their dance and silly Halloween jokes than on the actual content of their rehearsals. As it wound to a close, Emma knelt before the tombstone, a black rose in her hand. Camera angles would make it appear to the viewing audience at home that Killian’s ghost appeared out of nowhere to dance with her.

The strains of “Dark Waltz” by Hayley Westenra began to play as Emma set the rose on top of the tombstone. As she always did when performing, Emma reached deep inside of her, to emotions that she normally kept buried. My character has lost her lover, Emma lectured herself internally, She’s alone and grieving.

Later, Emma would try to pinpoint exactly what opened the floodgates of pain, but she could never decide if were the first melancholy notes of music or the gentle touch of Killian’s hand on her shoulder. Whatever it was, she danced the waltz with a raw emotion she had never experienced before. It wasn’t just the grieving widow who was desperate to hold onto her lover, it was Emma as well. Killian fed off her energy, and they both grasped for one another in an almost desperate way. It was truly a dark waltz, just like the song said.

At the end, when Emma spun back around to find Killian’s “ghost” suddenly gone, her own choreography called for her to collapse to the ground in grief. It didn’t, however, call for tears. Yet they came anyway. Something about the character being so utterly, completely alone - abandoned forever -tore at Emma in a way she couldn’t explain. Emma choked, attempting to hold the tears at bay, yet they streamed down her face anyway. She put a trembling hand to her mouth, taking deep breaths through her nose, but they wouldn’t stop. Soon, Killian was there, helping her up to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest where her tears wet his shirt.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, making no move to steer her towards the judges.

Emma took a long, shaky breath and nodded as the tears finally stopped flowing. She gave Killian a wobbly smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He gave her a gentle smile in return, reaching up to brush her tears away with his knuckles. “Are you sure, love?”

She nodded, her cheeks flooding with heat. She turned towards the judges with shaky steps, Killian’s arm a strong support at her waist. The judges and most of the audience were on their feet. Marco asked her a question – something about her emotions - and she stumbled over some kind of answer about being swept away by the story. She wasn’t entirely sure due to the roaring in her ears. She barely registered what any of the judges said. Tiana had to deduct points for an illegal lift, but otherwise, the feedback was positive. Upstairs, the roaring in her ears continued as Ashley interviewed them. It mostly consisted of Ashley marveling over Killian’s disturbing makeup. Emma had a feeling her partner was trying to intentionally pull the attention away from her and her emotional outburst because he laughed and teased Ashley for several minutes about his fake bloodied face. Then the scores were announced: two tens and a nine. Emma was still numb as Killian grabbed her in a tight hug, pulling her up off her feet. The second Ashley announced a commercial break, Emma dashed for the backstage area, ripping off her mic as she went.

Emma found a corner behind the plywood sets and lowered herself shakily to the cold concrete floor. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in the circle of her arms. She felt the black roses atop her head slip down over one ear.

“Please mates,” she heard Killian’s voice behind her, “give her some bloody privacy.”

She felt his hand on her shoulder, and thinking back to the start of their dance, shuddered at his touch. “I sent the camera guys away,” he told her softly, “so if you want to tell me what happened out there –“

“No,” Emma cut him off, “I don’t.”

“I’d like to help –“

“Killian,” she snapped, “leave me alone. Please.”

She heard him release a long sigh, then his hand slipped from her shoulder. It fell silent around her again, and she assumed he had done as she had asked. Then a hand touched her elbow.

“Damn it, Killian, I said –“ Emma’s words died on her lips when she lifted her face to see her brother kneeling beside her. “Oh,” she muttered sheepishly, pushing hair out of her face, “I didn’t know it was you.”

David shifted so he was sitting on the floor next to her, his arm around her. Emma sagged against him, resting her head on his shoulder like she used to when she was a kid. For several minutes, they just sat there. Ariel appeared at the far end of the corridor, her silhouette outlined by the stage lights behind her.

“David, we’ve got a troupe dance in five!”

“Gimme a minute!” he snapped back in irritation. Ariel shrugged and headed back towards the stage.

Emma dug an elbow into her brother’s ribs. “You better get going.”

David made no move to leave. Finally, he leaned over and whispered against her hair. “It was about Neal, wasn’t it?”

Emma stiffened.

“You don’t have to be so tough, Emma,” he told her gently.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Emma groaned, “and the last thing I want to do is talk about this on some therapist’s couch.”

David actually chuckled. “Oh, I think Mom and I have given up on trying to get you to do that. But you know, you’ve got a family of four people. Five, if you count Mary Margaret, which she would. And not one of us would mind being a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear. We may not be a conventional family, but we all love you.”

“David, come on!” It was now Ruby shouting for her brother.

“Go,” she told him, giving him a shove, “before you get fired.”

He kissed the top of her head and left her. Emma yanked the crown of depressing flowers off her head and threw them aside. Black roses. No wonder it brought back memories of Neal.

**************************************************

It was past two in the morning, and Emma couldn’t sleep. And after how the show ended today, she desperately needed to. The results had been a shock to everyone: no one had been eliminated. In retrospect, Emma should have seen it coming. The producers hadn’t given the pros even a hint of what the theme was for the week. Turned out, it was one that always proved dramatic: partner switch week. Instead of dancing with Killian, she had been paired with baseball player August Booth. Emma groaned as she stirred her hot chocolate. Baseball players were notoriously stiff dancers. It could be Leroy all over again. At least the guy was attractive.

Emma shuffled over to the couch and settled down with a heavy quilt draped across her legs. She took a sip of her cocoa as she sagged against the cushions. Retrospection wasn’t one of Emma’s strengths, but she attempted to at least pin down what was bothering her. Knowing she had to dance with a new partner was stressful, so it could be that. Or maybe it was the second dance she would have to do with Killian: a dance off against Elsa and Graham of all couples. They were definitely going for drama next week, that was for sure.

Then Emma remembered her embarrassing meltdown on a live television show. She set down her mug and buried her head beneath the covers. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t sleep because her emotions were too close to the surface. Fear and pain that she had pushed aside for ten years had come bubbling up without warning. Why now?

Emma’s phone, which was lying on the coffee table, lit up with a text message. She snatched it up, curious as to who would be contacting her at such an ungodly hour. She blinked to see a message from Killian.

I’m outside, but I didn’t want to wake anyone up.

Emma’s brow furrowed in surprise. Everything okay?

I’m actually here because I’m worried YOU aren’t okay.

Emma let out a long breath. She gnawed on her lower lip, considering, then rose from the couch with the quilt still wrapped around herself. She opened the door to see Killian on the other side, his gaze hesitant. She was surprised to see him in a baseball cap.

“How did you even know I would be up?” she whispered.

He shrugged. “Lucky guess? You seemed pretty shaken up today.” He shuffled his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “And I couldn’t sleep either.”

Emma gave him a teasing smile. “That worried about switching partners?”

He smiled back. “Maybe I am. I’m sure Jasmine is a fine dancer, but there’s only one Emma Swan.”

Emma felt inexplicably shy all of a sudden, standing there in her plaid pajamas with a ratty old quilt draped over her shoulders. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Look, Killian, everyone’s asleep –“

“I know,” he interrupted quickly, “I was wondering if you’d come with me.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Not really in the mood for partying.”

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. “I had something else in mind. You can even stay in your PJs, and . . . are those wookie slippers?”

Emma chuckled as she shuffled her feet, “A Christmas present from Henry.”

“Ah, I see.” She suddenly realized that Killian himself was in a long sleeve tee and jeans, in addition to the cap. It was the most casual she had ever seen him.

“Um,” Emma mumbled, letting go of one end of the quilt so she could tuck her wayward hair behind her ears, “I’ll go change. Just wait here.”

Emma quickly threw on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt, then pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She slipped into a pair of flip flops, joined Killian outside, and they headed downstairs to his car.

“Never seen you in a hat,” she commented.

He shrugged. “I didn’t want any more pictures getting out.”

Emma felt herself blush as he opened his car door for her. “So you saw those.”

“Aye,” he said as he slid behind the driver’s wheel, “I’ve gotten used to that sort of thing, but I know you’re not. I hope you weren’t too upset by it.”

“I was at first, but nothing came of it, so . . . “ Emma trailed off, unsure what else to say. The pictures honestly seemed like a whole lot of nothing compared to the memories that wouldn’t quit invading her mind since their waltz that afternoon. Silence settled between them, but not an uncomfortable one. Emma leaned her head against the window, looking up at the hazy LA sky.

“I just want you to know,” Killian said softly, “that I’m doing this as a friend. I can tell your heart is troubled, and I’d like to help if I can.”

Emma turned to examine his profile as he concentrated on driving. She pulled her knees to her chest as she took in the sincerity of his expression. Neal had made her cynical, untrusting, and yet here she was driving through LA with an actor of all people at 2:30 in the morning. She closed her eyes and waited for the panic to set in. She was shocked when it never came.

The rest of the twenty minute drive was a quiet one. Finally, Killian pulled up to a marina on the coast where a row of sleek yachts were moored. Emma got out, eager to feel the sea breeze on her face. Killian came to walk beside her, resting his hand at the small of her back to guide her up the pier.

“You have a boat?”

“Aye,” Killian answered, stopping in front of a yacht with gold trim and the name The Jewel of the Realm painted on the side in navy blue, “and here she is.”

“She’s not The Jolly Roger?” Emma teased as he helped her on board.

“No, but Jewel of the Realm,” he replied, emphasizing the first letters, “see what I did there?”

Emma nodded, “I get it.”

“Now, Swan,” Killian told her, guiding her up a ladder to a deck area on top of the yacht, “I want you to relax while I get us out a little ways from shore.”

Emma looked at the pile of cushions and blankets artfully scattered around. She arched a brow at Killian. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

Killian reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his expression earnest. “I meant what I said in the car. I find the sea calming. That’s all I want to give you, Emma. A little bit of peace from your troubles. If I can.”

Emma swallowed nervously, taking a quick step back. She hadn’t been expecting him to sidestep such an open invitation to an innuendo. This kind offering of friendship was almost harder to deal with than his flirting. Emma masked her discomfort with a joke. “Well that’s good because I may just fall asleep.”

Killian ducked his head with a soft chuckle. “If so, then my work here is done.”

He turned to go down to the wheel, but Emma stopped him. “Wait. You – you’ll come back up in a few minutes, right?”

He smiled softly. “Aye, love, as soon as I lay anchor.”

Once he had left, Emma sank down to the cushions and drew a blanket around herself. The air here on the water was a bit chillier than in the city. She leaned back, tilting her head up to look at the sky. As they headed farther out to sea, she could see stars twinkling overhead. Killian was right; it was calming. The rocking of the boat and the repetitive whooshing sound of the water caused Emma to drift off for a moment. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the cutting of the engine and a loud splash awakened her. Killian came back up the ladder, smiling softly at her as he settled in next to her. They both lay there, looking up at the clear night sky. Killian said nothing, and Emma appreciated the silence. When she finally spoke, she could only manage a whisper.

“His name was Neal.”

Killian turned to look at her, “Henry’s father?”

Emma nodded, looking away from his gaze and up at the stars instead. “I was sixteen when I met him online. I had a MySpace page, and that’s where we started talking. He said he was eighteen.” Emma fiddled with the edge of the blanket across her lap. “I was young and stupid, shared too much personal information. He wanted to come to one of my dance competitions.” Emma let out a long, shaky breath. “That’s when I found out he wasn’t eighteen.”

Still Killian didn’t speak, but he brushed his hand against hers. Emma grasped it, threading her fingers with his like they always did on the dance floor.

“He was twenty-five,” Emma continued. She chanced a glance at Killian, but his only reaction was a slight clenching of his jaw. “Anyway, Ingrid never knew he was at that competition. He made me promise not to tell anyone about him. He said people wouldn’t understand. He kissed me and told me I was beautiful. Said that watching me dance was mesmerizing. I convinced myself it was love.”

Killian squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’t want to,” he told her softly.

“No,” she said in a shaky voice, “I want to. I need to.” The next part was the hardest to tell. “It was always at my competitions that we would meet. This went on for a year. When I was seventeen, he asked me for a dance lesson. So I snuck out of my hotel room where the competition was being held . . .“

Suddenly, Emma felt as if a weight had settled on her chest. She sat up, struggling to breath. Killian sat next to her, rubbing her back soothingly. She put her head between her knees, breathing in through her nose, and out through her mouth, the way Ingrid had taught her.

“Did he rape you?” Killian asked gently.

Emma shook her head as she let out a long, cleansing breath. “No, but it was the night I lost my virginity. Like I said, I thought it was love. After that, he . . . changed. He became more demanding of my time, more intrusive, more critical. It became harder and harder to hide things from Ingrid, but Neal kept saying that she would never understand the way he loved me. But Ingrid knew something was wrong. I was skipping rehearsals, my grades were dropping, I was tired all the time. She and I were always fighting. It was the same with David and my sisters. I started pulling away from them. Neal encouraged it. Only now can I see that he wasn’t who he said he was.”

By the time Emma finished, tears were pouring down her face. She turned towards Killian, who let her fall against his chest as ugly sobs tore at her. She hadn’t cried like this in over ten years. His arms tightened around her.

“I’m so sorry, Emma,” he told her brokenly. “Does he know about Henry?”

Emma pulled back, rolling her eyes as she scrubbed at her tear-stained cheeks. “Why do you think he disappeared? I told him I was pregnant, and that was it. I couldn’t reach him; not online, not by phone. It was like he took what he wanted from me, and when things got complicated, just like that, he was gone.”

Killian said nothing, putting his arm around her again and drawing her close. She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the soothing sounds of the water.

“I guess, that dance. . . Neal left me broken. Somehow, I tapped into that pain today.”

Killian still didn’t let her go, and Emma felt herself go limp against him. She had never felt so safe in a man’s arms before. “Did he go to jail?” Killian asked.

“No,” Emma breathed out shakily, “I was so freaked out, it was weeks before I told Ingrid about the baby. By then, I had deleted my MySpace page. I just wanted to erase him from my life. Maybe his name wasn’t even Neal. Who knows?”

“But you didn’t let him stop you from dancing. You are so strong, Emma Swan.”

“And I have Henry,” she added, a wistful smile spreading across her face. “Being a dancer, and young, I was pretty far along before I knew about him. When I saw his little hands and feet on that ultrasound, I knew I could never give him up.”

“Does he know?”

Emma nodded. “I’ve always tried to be honest with him; explaining things as he was old enough to understand them. And he’s had a heck of an internet safety talk, believe me. Multiple times.”

“He’s a tough lad,” Killian said, “like his mother.”

Emma pulled away from Killian’s embrace, brushing at tendrils of hair that had stuck to her wet cheeks. “Ugh. I’m not acting so tough right now.”

“I disagree, Emma,” Killian told her, “I’ve never seen such strength.”

[goawaysugardrop-blog]

SUGARDROP50 CALLOUT POST

CONTRIBUTORS: Darth | Shining | RainbowB | Carl DISCLAIMER: DO NOT GO WITCHHUNT THE USER MENTIONED IN THIS CALLOUT. WHILE WE DO FIND HIS ACTIONS UNCALLED FOR, THREATENING PEOPLE’S LIVES IS EVEN MORE HARMFUL.

Youtube/Twitter user Sugardrop50, or otherwise known as bart-enderman on Tumblr, is a known Miitopia artist. However, behind closed doors, the user is also known for having to have been abusive towards Shining, their former datefriend, going as far as doxxing them and making them feel unsafe in the Miitopia community altogether, making them go as far as leaving the Amino they once lived to avoid him. He is also known to have allegedly reblogged NSFW of incest, and drew art of his Ex-Dark Lord that’s a child, via child pornography. This callout post will consist of the many witnesses who have been aware of his behavior, and you’ll be hearing from the victim themselves.

-       EVIDENCE #1: NSFW BLOG

The user had previously owned a NSFW blog dedicated to posting inappropriate art that contained incestual and pedophilic themes. The previous blog name, which went by sugardrop-nsfw, was known to have multiple instances of art pieces that promoted said themes, and had drawn a sketch their Miitopia OC being raped by Terror Fiends (bestiality) in two pictures, both as the Dark Lord and as the Ex-Dark Lord. The blog lasted for about a week until deletion, possibly due to fearing they would be spotted of their fetishization of children. Evidence is currently lost, but please notify us if you have any photos of the NSFW art.

-       EVIDENCE #2: DOXXING

Sugardrop50, prior to the breakup with Shining, immediately went berserk and went as far as sending someone to dox them of their address. Minutes after the breakup, the victim would receive an anonymous message that would as them if they “live on Bell Street.” Fortunately, the victim informed their father of the doxxing. Sugardrop would be dismissive of the threat as well and taunt Shining.

-       EVIDENCE #3: MISINFORMATION

The man has made a callout post in regards to Shining on Tumblr, mainly regarding the suicidal or depressed feelings they had during their relationship. However, despite the evidence he had placed on said callout post, most of it was misinformed, and most of the evidence is Sugardrop, himself, being very self-centered, mainly showing how much of a controlling person he was.

-       EVIDENCE #4: TOXIC/ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR

Sugardrop is known to have been viciously toxic towards not just Shining but others in the community. There had been numerous witnesses who have been at the receiving end of this behavior and his childish outbursts. Others have also witnessed their terrible treatment of other users in Discord servers, or have almost been manipulated by him.

-       EVIDENCE #5: BEING IRRATIONAL AND JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

Despite numerous reminders from both Shining and other people, Sugardrop has made other irrational claims before, most of which are false accusations of others. During most of the relationship with Shining, Sugardrop would try and place blame on them for not having enough money or a job despite Shining telling them over and over again that they were job searching and trying to build up their portfolio in order to have better luck getting a job in their chosen field. Other times, Shining would be away from messages and be doing something non-Sugardrop/Discord/Miitopia related and instead do something like be in class or shopping for groceries and Sugardrop wouldn’t like not talking to them for long periods of time. Shining even went to Sweden over the summer for a vacation and Sugardrop wanted to hear from them every day. In short, if Shining was not online then Sugardrop was displeased.

-       EVIDENCE #6: SUGARDROP’S OWN UNSTABLE MENTAL HEALTH

Despite the terrible mental illness presented in Sugardrop’s callout of their ex, Sugardrop also faced events of wanting to end their own life. They would seek out Shining and express how bad they felt and their desire to end themselves as Shining would try to talk him down. This, in turn, made Shining feel like life wasn’t worth living without Sugardrop and even tried to kill themselves without their knowledge. These events passed back and forth and created a warped, if not eventually toxic relationship. The effects of living with his father is actually from when he lived with his sister to get away from his parents and his sister still treated him badly as well and this made him seal his own emotions to appear cold and disheartened, causing Shining to be dragged along.

-       EVIDENCE #7: PRESSURE OF SEXUAL RELATIONS/CONTENT

Shining identifies as Agender and Panromantic and went by she/her pronouns during the course of the relationship. They told Sugardrop this and he told them that he was okay with this but later dropped hints of wanting sexual relations before outright telling them. Shining denied advances before giving in due to pressure. An additional note is that Sugardrop even labeled their relationship as ‘straight’ despite Shining retelling him of their gender identity multiple times.

-       EVIDENCE #8: REFUSAL OF OUTSIDE RELATIONS

It was evident now that Sugardrop was a very controlling person. During the relationship with Shining, Shining desired to be friends with others or to keep previous friendships. Sugardrop was not too keen on this and even threw sad fits over Shinings wishes and tried to earn pity points with them to try and waive their interests. Even friends of the two would converse about talking or trying to be friends with other people and Sugardrop would give a stubborn ‘no’ or vaguely sad argument to dishearten them. Shining expressed desires of befriending a person and Sugardrop somehow jumped to the idea of Shining wishing to date this new friend and became distant.

-       EVIDENCE #9 - VAGUING

Within the past several weeks, Sugardrop has been talking behind the backs of Shining and other known abuse victims. When Shining made a video venting their feelings in regards to the situation, he immediately lost it, making numerous outbursts and sending other people to harass them and several other friends online. While doing so, many anonymous people called him out on using excuses to deny the fact he’s the one who abused her. To add insult to insult to injury, he would also have an outburst on anonymous people who called him out on what he’s done.

Statement from Shining:

A lot of Sugardrop’s callout is aimed at my self-destructive behavior that had built up from the relationship. I was not of sound mind during the end of this toxic relationship due to Sugardrop being the only one I talked to 24/7 and he was the keeper of all my secrets back then. He was very clingy and would talk down to me for not having a job despite him not having a job himself, would forget and throw a fit as to why I would be away from chatting with him for a time (this was mostly when I had to keep reminding him that I was trying to get a better job or internship in animation but had a weak animation/demo reel to show to studios or companies so I was trying to work on that, I even was poor and in bad living conditions myself and wanted to meet up with him so searching for a job would help with money problems for both of us), and even humiliate or joke on me publicly even when I told him to stop. There’s more to go on about with his mean behavior not only to me but my friends and others in contact with us or just strangers on the same server.

Being around Sugardrop put a drain on me. For a long time I wanted out of this relationship, but after being with him for so long I feared what would happen to me if I broke off the relationship. We both left a server because of another person suicide-baiting everyone and sending me death threats to a friend and me later down the line. I was afraid I wouldn’t be welcomed back in that server due to siding with him based on how he handled the situation. Thankfully everything worked out in the end where the person was booted out of the server and I could safely come back in (though that person would later come back and threaten me and a friend so a callout post was made at them before they apologized and the post was taken down to give them a second chance, sadly they’ve gone back to dirt-talking about me and even claim that I hate them and haven’t moved on from them even though I barely even think about them anymore) and was I was able to regain some mental stability.

During our relationship he did confirm to me that he was plotting his own suicide and I would be the one trying to talk him down but this would mostly end with him ending the conversation on a vague note for the night and me going to bed screaming and crying into my pillows. This wore me down so much over time and my confidence shattered badly while my own anxiety and depression skyrocketed because I became so dependant on him. Mind you, this was my first relationship too so I thought that some of this was normal, to an extent. Part of the reason this relation lasted so long was because I was completely clueless on some parts as to how romantic relationships worked. I was a coward for not breaking this off sooner and felt trapped in the relationship.

My mental health worsened and I told him I couldn’t go on anymore, I hadn’t felt so bad in years. I eventually did find the courage to calm myself down and sought out help online (my psychiatrist wasn’t open 24/7 and you had to make reservations ahead of time, it was a gamble trying to get her on the line when it was an emergency). Eventually I did feel better and even started talking with other friends and have a calming down time being away from chatting since I needed a breather from Sugardrop. He was glad that I was feeling better until I told him that I sought help online. He blew up and I finally snapped- ending the relationship.

It took me months to get better, during the first few weeks I was a mess trying not to cry in front of others or in front of my driving instructors (the driving training was hard on me because I pushed for it so much just so I could get experience to go and see him since we lived in the same state). I was finally able to recover and move on, deleting his contact number, blocking him on all medias he told me he was on, and deleting everything he ever said or gave me. There was no way he’d come back into my life.

Then he showed up on the Miitopia Amino and I had a panic attack and felt very depressed, I was even shaking sometimes due to the idea of him being in a space I thought was safe for me. I eventually learned to ignore him and put him out of my mind but then I had a terrible nightmare about him and decided that this was it- being on the Amino with him around was not possible for me unless I were to face a steep decline of my mental health. I asked a mod to see if anything could be done but this was deemed an ‘outside issue’ so there was nothing more, so that was it. I made a note saying I couldn’t be on there anymore due to me being unsafe since I was popular there and didn’t want to feel guilty for leaving them. I had a withdrawal from Amino and spoke with friends about it, trying to gain back some confidence and mental stability. Then a friend messaged me about my ex having a twitter where I saw that he was attacking one of my posts and even linking a callout towards me on his new tumblr. I had a panic attack and had to tell people I knew immediately about what was going on. He had successfully entered my life again, this time against my will. His post is full of misinformation and he points out a post I made where I was feeling bad for feeling like I had messed up a friendship at school.

I’m thankful that friends and strangers alike have come to my defense and have torn down his callout but there is little chance of me ever speaking to him again still and I would prefer it if I ever to never see him again. I’m still recovering from what he did and him putting false accusations of me has set me back farther. I’m trying to heal and being away from him has worked pretty well so far. I love my friends and everyone who supports me, thank you.

[hollowphobia-casual]

FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICAL VI:  THE AGE OF SUPER ULTIMATE CHRONICLES OF FRIENDSHIP ORIGINS ZERO

So with Tumblr bursting into flames and most of the artists I know and respect trying to abandon this ship like rats escaping the titanic, I felt it was best if I moved this from my usual December the 25th to... NOW, Because well I worry that many people on this might not be here by the time 17th passes and my eternal dying love to those I care about will be unheard and what kind of person would I be if I didn’t remind EVERY.SINGLE.ONE of my friends how important and special they were to be and what makes them fantastic, So yeah depending on the state of tumblr after Dec 17th this might be the last one, or I will just have to email all of you INDIVIDUALLY. @mistercrowbar CROWBAR! HEY! So, you’ve been on this friendship list since..., we have been friends, which is.., a really long time, like I honestly can not recall a day where we have not been friends and during all that time I can’t get over just how amazing you are! Like, Holy shit are you real? Cause I get to a point where, I think this woman can’t improve anymore, and then BAMB! You do! Like Jesus, I’m always just floored by what you put out, I said once before that I strive to be as good as you some day and that has not changed! But now it gets even harder, cause like, not only are you good at art, You go and pull this beautiful disaster out of your head, SAY HELLO TO FUCKING RYYBYN BITCHES! If there was a competition for some of the best DnD characters I have ever seen on paper, I’d vote for Ryybyn every-time, a literal joke character who evolved into one of the most emotional rollarcoasters I have ever seen, who made me DETERMINED, to either play a game with you (And I fucked that up) or a game of my own, just AH!, This character! Like, their design, their character art, THEIR STORIES! OH GOD DON’T GET ME START ON THOSE, CAUSE YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS! You took comics from your session and made a BOOK! That I want to buy! I WANT ONE, BUT CHRISTMAS SO, ARGH!  FUCK YOU SANTA! And!

And.. If you were not just fantastic enough already, incredible artist, attractive, funny, nerdy as all shit, super space wizard, DND and now.., now.. FUCKING HOME OWNER, like how, why, when, what! I know you moved into a house, like, Holy shit you moved into a house, but holy shit you OWN a house, it’s yours, you can paint dicks on the wall and no one can stop you! Your Independence it just, floors me, every-time, here I am questioning everything about myself and myself worth, and you go buy a house, and release two books IN THE SAME YEAR. I said how I wanted to follow in your footsteps, become as great as you, WELL APPARENTLY I NEED TO PICK UP MY GOD DAMN FEET CAUSE I’M TOO FUCKING SLOOOOW. I am SO grateful to meet someone terrifyingly amazing and best of yet, they think of me as their friend (For now) Just.., Please, don’t ever stop breaking down walls and plowing forward, you fantasticly insane woman you. @nightmargin So, what feels like, not that long ago we were chatting about Ralph and OCTs, as well as other kids who are incredibly prone to accidents and damages and now, well, YOU HAVE A FUCKING HIT GAME THAT I CAN’T LOOK LEFT OR RIGHT WITHOUT SEEING IT’S LIKE BOOM! Go to MCM OneShot Cosplayers, Look at youtube videos either seeing your characters in the background or I’m seeing people playing your game! I went on a Discord chat and I saw someone sporting a Oneshot icon. I’m just, so, happy and proud and amazed by the how far you have come, it’s just, you were always a talented person, your comics, story and artstyle was fucking fantastical, I was soaked into every second of it, wanting to learn more and more with each new picture and then, just to put the cheery on this cake, you did music, but not just any music REALLY GOOD MUSIC, I remember going to your gallery on DevianrtArt just to listen to a song over and over cause it was so good, like, damn and now, you are like, HUGE, it’s insane, like seriously, someone took time to make a 3D model of your character, holy shit. I’m lucky to get fanart, but what this is, I just, my friend is amazing person, and I couldn’t be more happy for her if I tried, you should be proud of yourself if you are not, take time and just let the well earned reward sink in, your hard work has defiantly paid off. @blueskyesartic Okay, so like, You are amazing, I dunno if I’ve ever said it enough, but, you just are, there is nothing about you that I’m not awed by, you are just, so fantastic in my eyes, I dunno if that's putting you on a pedestal or not, but fuck it, this is my sappy list so I say what I want! Your art is beautiful, you yourself are just one of the most fun people I have had the pleasure to talk to and I miss it so damn much, are trivial pointless conversations that spiraled endlessly into jokes and deep discussions, are critical thinking on story telling and art in general, it was amazing, but.., either you are never alone or I’m not and, I hate that, I’ve missed you so much it sucks, like.., I have these great memories of us talking, drawing and spending time together, these perfect moments in time that I will cherish to the end of my days, cause I know you are going to become something, I can feel it, but I might end up left behind. I just wish I could spend more time, talking, chatting and just being with you, you are amazing and I’d love to run on to you on a stage at a convention, like we joked about, but no matter what happens, you need to keep being brilliant, every second of every day, you have to continue, cause you are great and everyone knows it. @taplaos HOLY SHIT HAVE YOU SEEN THE SHIT THEY CAN MAKE, IT’S FANTASTIC, LIKE, HOW DAMN!  Everyday I feel like I’m seeing new and more amazing designs for T-shirts created by you and it’s just like, wait, this is tappy right, maker of wonkey eye, how when, OH MY GOD, Your art was always so bright and colourful but, damn you’ve improved so much I feel like I need to stop and just soak in how much you’ve improved, cause damn, can I just say damn. I am so proud of how far you have come and I can’t wait to see what fantastic designs you come out with next, you are amazing Tappy, don’t let anyone ever tell you other wise! @dansome0203 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, GOD DAMIT, I have both talked to you a lot this year, but also not enough, or maybe I have, or maybe I haven’t, I dunno, but god dammit I wanna talk to you more, but you are hardly online when I am it’s so GAH! You are just, that amazing my friend that you are driving me insane! URGH, I feel terrible there is like, a shitton of things I wanna do for you, draw your characters being namely one, but I haven’t had time and just, URGH. But more importantly, the reason I wanna do all these things is just cause, you are fantastic, and I don’t just mean the way you draw boobs (mostly), you are such a kind fun person with so much great creative energy I just wanna, get inside your head, I have such mixed feelings on one side I really wanted to be in that DND game you started, but it’s also just a delight seeing the stuff that comes out of it, the curiosity building from it, that funny ass video you shared with us. Everyday I think I’ve seen the limits to your skill, charm and wit, then some how you change everything with new ways of being all that and more, it’s a tad exhausting. All I can really say that this year has been fantastic in what time we have spent together and I just want to spend more, I can’t wait for the next opportunity I’ll get to do so, maybe I should try asking you into a call or something, I dunno, please just, keep being you and keep being fantastic. @flunafloon & @spesiria & @spookydrawsI I didn’t wanna do this, but... I’m sorry, you guy are fantastic people I love your work, I love each one of you but I just.., I struggle to keep up to date with my own life let alone my friends, but three were such big important parts of me it feels.., no I feel like a shit for basically knowing nothing about what has happened, I use to message you each frequently, keeping up to date on your art, your lives and now.. Fuck I hardly even see you on my dash and I just, fuck, I can’t.., You are all amazing people, I should of been a better friend, I want to say I will be but it’s getting harder and harder and I don’t want to disappoint you, I respect and love the three of you too much for that, I’m sorry for being such a useless shit, you guys, are fantastic and leagues above me. @doodlediddy MY FRIEND IS HAVING A BABY, MY FRIEND IS HAVING A BABY! LIKE, HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE ANOTHER PERSON GROWING INSIDE YOU, LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, It’s beautiful, horrifying and just, I can’t believe that someone I know, someone I met on the internet, had close conversations with and more or less stopped me from doing something, VERY stupid, is going to be a parent, like, WHAT. While I am above the moon happy for you and your bundle of joy, I do know this means we probably aren’t going to chat as much, which hasn’t been that much as it is, which REALLY super sucks, I miss you, like, OH so much, I miss are chats, are discussion.., heh, I still remember when I stayed up super late just to send you Toradora, one video at a time, god, that was so funny and really bad for my sleep schedule actually. Still the best romcom ever. I really miss you, I’m so happy for you, I hope we get to talk again, love you, you big christian mamma. @lou0 There are many people I would attribute to me being here right now, from saving my life, to being a mentor and some just being shoulders to cry on, but none of them.., were the person I obsessed over.., wait let me rephrase that. When I started as good old Clock-workable, making steampunk rip offs of Unknown Peron’s Karl, you were some I admired, you were a kind, passionate and amazingly creative artist, AND HOLY SHIT MAH, SHE’S IN BRITAIN, I COULD POSSIBLY MEET THIS WONDERFUL PERSON. Sadly that never happened, and I’d openly admit I feel very intimidated talking to you, I dunno why, shame? Guilt? I feel like, I don’t belong, that I’m not good enough for you, that there are better people who deserve your attention that I do, despite just how, fun you are to be around and just how important of a person you are to me, so I admit it, it hurts, me seeing you down low like you are, I wanna pick you up, be the motivation you were to me, but I also have to accept that I can’t be, all I can do, is try to be a good friend and be there for you. You are, the most amazing, creative person I have ever known, I’ve wanted to Commission you for long, to collab with you, to have one of my characters drawn by you, hell just be noticed by you, cause you are just that important, I mean, I dunno what I am saying here exactly... You said you don’t see a point, but you to me, your are was the biggest point, it was bright, colourful, sexy, scary, amazing and just filled with so much character, everything you drew and draw has just so much life to it, I wanted to capture some of it and have it for my own. I dunno if what I am saying is meaning anything, but your art reflects you and to me, you are colourful, sexy, scary, amazing and just filled with so much character, every second has been delightful and if you will let me, I would love to continue to enjoy it more. @jabbage I find it funny how, no matter which minecraft server I joined, I never got as far in building a base, than I did on your server, as short lived as it was and despite no one ever joining it, I never joined a server where I got as far as I did on that server, like, I dunno how but there was something about it, maybe it was the fact that I really wanted to build that clock tower. I miss that, I hope you are well, you beautiful human being, It sucks, cause I know that, out of everyone, i feel like I spent time with you the least, which is stupid, cause all I can think of, when talking to you is good memories, which is like saying I stopped talking to you because you were too nice, which is dumb, the truth is i just got busier, and busier and it sucked. Cause I remember thinking how I really wanted to get o know you, cause you were a fun person, I’ll try to be better from now on, cause deserve it, you are a fantastic human being, smart and caring, not just trying to butter you up to make up for my.., terribleness, but I will try, to be better, for you. @shadowscarknight You fantastic mate and I know, it’s been hard, I’ve not been avoiding you, I really haven’t, but, it’s just hard you know? The way, that ended it probably wasn’t easy being you, I dunno if you even know why the two of us stopped talking to each other, hell I dunno why, but that isn’t your fault, specially after you commissioned me, which again, I happy you enjoyed it. You are a great guy, funny, witty, charming and your designs, fuck off they are that good, but you do come up with a lot of them, but then again you get inspiration and you do what you love, so no one can fault you on that, unless your making another ask blog that you won’t update, hehe. I promise to talk more, cause I’m so proud with how you are improving, cause just like, wow, every time I see you look away, it just gets better and better, I should really ask for some tips off of you, cause damn mate, your leaving me behind. I hope you don’t stop being fantastic mate, You are a joy the world can never do without. @totalobelisk I know where you hang out!... So it’s not excuse that we haven’t been talking as much, fuck mate I’m sorry, I don’t hate you or anything, no, fuck no, you are great, it’s me, I’m just.., fucking useless to be entirely honest, I’m terrible at communicating with people and I’m surprised you haven’t just unfollowed me from everything and cut all ties, cause, fuck, I’m just so.. I’m sorry, you are a fantastic guy and we’ve been friends for too long for me to neglect you like this, I’m so sorry, I hope I can start talking to you more to make up for it, or just hit me up sometime so we can chat, cause you deserve better from your friends. @velkro-bitch & @fivirr & @a-trashcan-in-a-corner Am I cheating by grouping you three together, yes, maybe... BUT I ALSO HARDLY GET TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU GUYS AND IT FUCKING SUCKS, CAUSE YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL LOVELY PEOPLE AND I WANNA SPEND AS MUCH TIME WITH EACH OR EVERYONE OF YOU! (Or maybe I’m just secretly trying for a four way polyamory) But Jesus fucked by a pogostick guys, how can you three come into my life, be amazing shits and then just leave me! You are all such wonderful, thoughtful and delightful human beings that every second with you felt like an eternity, I’m a naturally defensive person, I have a lot of barriers in place to keep myself emotionally safe, and all three of you tore those down! (your gonna have to pay for that) AH, And to make it worse, when you shmucks do show up it’s very late and I gotta go to bed, REVOLVE AROUND MEEE DAMMIT, I WANNA SPEND TIME WITH YOU GUYS, it’s so hard I love being with you all, but it’s so infuriatingly difficult, I feel like giving up half the time, but I also don’t want to cause I love you all so much, god you three drive me mad, but it’s what I enjoy about you guys and I hope we do get to spend more time together. @phantomdotexe I honestly do not know where I would be without you right now, for you it may seem like all you did was re-post my art, credit me and commission me, but you also introduced me into a large friendly community that I didn’t even think I had the right to be in, I was and still very much am the new kid to all this, but everyone you introduced me to accepted me with open arms, artists and writers whom I thought I’d never get the chance to speak to talk to me casually nearly everyday. It’s all thanks to you! You amazing person you, I know you beat yourself up, ALOT, when you really shouldn’t, you are so amazing, not just in your writing talents, but in your world building and characterization, but even then that isn’t there is all to you, you are.., the most, charismatic, funny, playful and down right enjoyable person to be around, you are infectious, you have touched so many people in so many ways that you manged to build a community of friends and fans who want to build upon your foundations, I dunno if I’m even speaking the right words now, haha.., But you are fantastic, so when you struggle we all want to help, we all want to see you grow as a person, as a writer and an artist, you brought so many wonderful people together, you should deserve to see how truly wonderful you are. @horrorjuice Speaking of people I don’t deserve to be friends with, I’m just.., fuck where do I start, well, I will say it’s not entirely my fault you are hardly ever on Discord and I don’t like Facebook, but Bubby, my bubby, I miss you! I miss your explantions, your ideas, you concepts, your worlds, your beautiful bubby brain like GAH, I remember our chats, are long wonderful chats where your dog would bark loudly, the beautiful horrible slobber monster that he was. I miss you Bubby, I really do, I wanna chat and talk like we use to, I wanna hear your beautiful amazing ideas and see your brilliant art work, god I miss you, but I hope you are well and that you are being just as fantastic and brilliant as the day we first met, you wonderful human being. @valbey-the-girl Fuck you, you lovable asshole! How dare you be such a wonderful insightful human being who has had my back for so long, I remember when we became roommates for University as a somewhat after thought, we hung out but we were not exactly ‘friends’, but now, I dunno how I could of survived with out you! You are a wonderful source of humor and opposed thinking that I enjoy, you agree and don’t always agree with me, which is the best sort of friend, someone who can challenge my values and viewpoints, but at the same time doesn’t belittle me..., mostly, you twat. I am so happy that we’ve stayed friends for as long as we have and that I invited you more into my world, with regular games of DnD and other video games, as you prove to be time and time again a great person I love to have at my side. I hope we get to hang out again person to person, because I miss you mate, talking on chat gets stale fast specially when your friend is as great as you. @whatever-i-feel-like-rebloging I struggle, so hard to understand us, that it hurts cause.., I want to be friends, but I just always feel like I’m being pushed away from you, and it hurts. I’ve spoken to many friends about the troubles we have had and many of them have said to drop you, but I don’t and I dunno why, maybe because, I’m scared? Or maybe cause I’m unsure how or, perhaps I’m just very hopeful? I remember a time where we’d talk all the time and I loved it, it was great, we never discussed or mentioned how we didn’t like each others thing, we joked, we flirted and it was fun.., but now, all we seem to do is give each other little comments and snap at one another and I hate it, I hate it more than anything I can imagine. I wanna be your friend again, I wanna laugh with you, joke with you but, I feel like I’m just being singled out and removed, that I am something of mock and ridicule, which I hate and I dunno what to do with myself or you anymore. I hate, disliking this, I just.., I just wish I had never liked you, because I feel like that was when everything went down hill, cause we use to be such good friends, but now, I feel like we are more, acquaintances.., it sucks. @grittysugar HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. That’s all... ... .. Okay okay, but fucking seriously, you went from some gal drawing redhead accident prone children flying goats and tall noodley men with green hair who probably shouldn’t be to fuck. TO DO FANTASTIC CREATIVE ANIMATIONS ON YOUTUBE, LIKE HOLY, GUM DROP SHIT, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA-, I wanna kiss you I’m so proud, like, GAH, I still can’t even put it into words, like it was..., uh ... .. . EIGHT YEARS AGO, that we were opponents in a tournament on the internet and now your, I’m so happy for you, and I SUCK cause I haven’t bought any of your merch yet... (but I will), And if I can I’d love to see you at a con so I can give you a big ass hug, but that might be another, I dunno, ten years. Also I’m a shit head and it’s occurred to me I have never asked for your Discord information, which now is probably high protected FU-, God I dunno, if you still count me as a friend, or even a blip on your radar, but I just wanna say, I’m happy and just, SO proud of you, I want you to keep growing as a person, an artist and just, be fantastic. @clauseart OH MY GOD HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR COMIC GOING! And shame on me for not staying in touch more cause holy shit, you are on fire, your colours, designs, panels it’s just, WOOF, it’s blowing me away, I’m so proud for you, every time I see you post a page, all I think about is how I need to catch up because my comics currently in the dust, while yours steams ahead. I honestly can not wait to see where things are going, and to see how you go with it, I may not be the best of people at times, but I’ll be damned, if I won’t try to follow along the best I can, cause you have only just begun and I’m so excited to see you be yourself and just wow everyone around you! OH and Please most some stuff from your DnD game! I’m curious about what you guys are up to these days, hehe. Be fantastic. @funktrash The girl was essentially my fan when I was a nobody is doing a webcomic better, quicker and more on time than me, AND IT’S GREAT, like, AH! I know, you beat yourself up, it’s part of who you are for such a long time but, you have to realise, YOU ARE AMAZING, you are fantastic! Like, seriously, you have a comic, your is beautiful and just, WHAT, I remember back when we made an rp group based on this thing! And now it’s something I can read and enjoy, and I’m enjoying it, seeing these characters whose stories I’ve only had the chance to glimpse at now brought to life with your beautiful colours and wonderful sense of humor, timing and pacing, it’s just, YES! I’m so amazed at you, you are fantastic, don’t ever tell yourself otherwise, cause you are a star, a bright burning beacon of awesome! @mortooncian-art FRIEND!... FUCK! Okay, so I’ve always known you existed forever and I’m always loved your work, I even followed your webcomic! Until it wasn’t a webcomic anymore, but sadly I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YOU, expect that you are so funny, your art is fantastic and I’d love more than anything to get to know you more! Cause like, I see your art, these lovely illustrations filled with so much character and life, I just wanna do the same, (If I only wasn’t very busy) Like, I enjoyed your stuff so much that I regularly looked forward to going to twitter just to see what you posted, either a comment or art, cause it was the highlight of my day, and I HATE social media with a passion, but you made me really excited just to see your posts, and I know a person who can do that with just their art is probably twice as exciting as a person, and I really want to get to know you more! So I hope you keep being a wonderfully fantastic person, whom company I get to enjoy in the future. @sunshinedrago This woman, single handily got me back into watching shitty anime again, and I love her for it, God dammit you are such a fucking fun person to be around, despite the damage to my ear drums I do enjoy our conversations from nerding the fuck out, to tearing things apart. I may not always seem that happy at times, but I’m naturally a miserable person so you will have to forgive all the BS you went through with me, but god you are intoxicating in your positivity, the characters you make are enjoyable to playground with, the ideas you come up with are very surprisingly engaging and your commissions, equally detailed and time consuming, haha. Like Jen I dunno how I have lived with out you so far, you are such a conversational delight it makes me feel like I’m a teenager ago, howling loudly in laughter as I watch awkward as shit anime and actually enjoying my life, but whats great about you is not just the fun, it’s also the insightful and thoughtfulness to you we all grow attached to, you have a great way of handling peoples pain, that I have only seen in a few people, being to be compassionate, reasonable and always to get a chuckle at the right time, I dunno how you do it. But please don’t change, it be a travesty if you did. @tuz-ohtopia TALK TO ME MORE! Tuzoh, you are a very busy guy like.., stupidly busy the amount of work you put into your DnD sessions are stupidly amazing and the stories you have crafted are fantastic, all I want is to share in it more, to listen to how you work, you scheme and plan, your creative thoughts, everything. But you are busy, which is what both I love and infuriates me about you, you have such a driven determined work schedule it puts me to shame, I never wanna see you slow down, because I know you are doing something that is just, wonderful, but at the same time I wanna talk to you, get know you and build on our friendship, I feel like I’ve talked about you to more people then I have ever to you and it sucks, cause you are an awesome dude. Not trying to pity you and say just stop everything for me, I’d never want that, I’m just, so enthralled by your creativity that I wanna get to know the inner workings, maybe work with you. But no matter what happens please just keep doing what you are doing my friend, you are a delight and fantastic treasure, I can’t wait to see what you do. @knifetotheback WHERE ARE YOU! no seriously I mean it, you appear like, every now and again, but you are hardly ever around and it sucks, cause you are a fun wonderful person. You were always a delight to talk to and it sucks that we don’t get to chat as much, I hope you are alright and that you are still having fun with what you are doing right now, we miss you, I miss you. Keep being wonderful, where ever you are with whatever you are doing. @nickala OKAY, So, feelings, down in words,..., fuck this is hard, I dunno how to describe you, like shit, you are amazing, but beyond that, you aren’t just an amazing friend, you are a unique friend, a special friend, no wait, that sounds romantic, what I mean is.. I feel trapped so often, I hate it, my brain is flawed and wrong, I know I shouldn’t think like that, but I can’t help it, I speak and I make people mad, upset, annoyed or just.., I hate it, it’s the part of me I dislike the most, I just want to talk to people and say “HEY, you are beautiful, keep it up” But I can’t, but you, understand me, you help me so much with these thoughts and understanding the world in a way others could not and for that I will never not be thankful, but at the same time I feel shit, because, I know you are struggling, I wanna help so much, I wanna be there to make it easier, to help you through this rough patch, but I can’t I dunno what the right words to say are cause this isn’t a thing where one solution is the right solution.., but you have to realise you are amazing, your creativity is outstanding, the designs and creatures you create are far greater then anything I could ever come up with and I wish I could be on par with your skill in monster design and anatomy. You don’t have to compare yourself, to others cause you are already in a league others couldn’t even dream to reach, if only you could focus on that and draw strength from it, and I wish I could help you do that, but all I can say is that I will be here, the best I can, even if it’s terrible. @thelovelyghosty Is it possible to meet someone who makes you very calm and also incredibly nervous at the same time, YES IT’S YOU! I love you Jen, I am so happy that I get to have you as a player in my DnD games as well as be a human being I get to call a friend! It’s amazing just how open you are to everything as well as critical thinking, you are a breath of fresh air compared to people who only speak with their feelings and not just their thoughts and I enjoy every second of our conversations, yes even the dumb ones! I feel like you complete a part of social circle that I didn’t know was missing and that’s why it hurts so much I hear what you have to struggle through, but you amaze me, because despite all the bullshit you are still here, you are still a person whose company I get to enjoy, your strength is awe inspiring even if you don’t see it yourself, not to mention your brain, have I gone on about your brain enough, cause it’s fantastic! I wish I could just ramble on with you for all day and night, cause I imagine the discussions we’d get up to come be fantastic. You bring a fantastic fresh view you everything, even seen in your character, the Amazing Shield, they’ve hardly spoken but like you they have left an impact on me and everyone else that I doubt anyone will ever forget and as such it wants me to return in kind, you are an outstanding person and I want you to keep being outstanding, so I’ll always be there for you, no matter what, day or night. @altoblt5 Okay, first off, you are too adorable, so I will just have to kill you and second, thank you for joining my DnD game! I won’t lie, I was super fucking hesitant at you joining as I’m not good with people at all, expect all these friends above this text, ignore them for a moment. I am hesitant as shit, I’m nervous and I worried that anyone could be a potential threat to me or others, but you, came fucking tap dancing in with a stupid, lovable infectious character and personality that just, melded so well it made all my worries go away and the more I’ve gotten to know you the less regrets I have about you ever joining our game, you’ve only improved it by adding a dynamic to the group that we didn’t know we were missing from the start! I hope as we go on we can stay in touch, possibly do more games together and just chat more, cause we should really do some other stuff outside of DnD. @riyamilea I’ve been following you since Rise and I have to say, I’m so happy I did, and I was fucking ecstatic when we got to play in a DnD game together, like H.O.L.Y SHEEEET, that was fun for as little as it lasted, but I guess it was invertible a bit, there were signs, but out of it I finally got to make you my friend, and that's an experience I am so proud of cause like, YOU ARE AMAZING, you are so fun and insightful, I just, I’m so excited that I get to talk to you, cause just like, GAH I dunno how to put this into words, you are just, brilliant, that’s it, you are brilliant and I can’t wait to spend more time with you and hopefully, we can play more DnD together in the future, in the mean time, just keep being fantastic.