#saved by a dumb boring twist

[taylors-karma]

They can send home literally anyone but Meme. Please she endure to much dumbshit to get sent home right now.

No literally. I'd even be maybe okay with Felicia going home (not really tho), but Meme has done nothing to warrant going up when literally the rest of the house has. This shit makes no sense.

I'm sick and tired of this season and I just know Cameron is going to win the veto too. What a snooze fest 😴.

[desertdragon]

This shit is so ass I just want it to be over

[alyimoss]

if you ever wanna know how to write an unlikeable character just look at genshin impact's paimon

[yeyinde]

stalker!Simon decides to have a little fun with his favourite camgirl.

the message comes up halfway into your "show."

it's a boring night. slow. you wear a lingerie set one of your viewers sent in beneath a silk robe, all in a pretty pastel pink—cliche, but it works; an uncomfortably disgusting version of hair theory unfolding in front of your eyes—and discreetly chug wine when you twist away to grab a new toy. a series of pale pink vibrators, nipple clamps. mundane depravity for what's shaping up to be a lacklustre night.

but the money that pours in from these little shows (adult version of classic party games—hide and seek, would you rather, truth or dare) is one step closer to erasing your debts. student loans. car payments. rent. you smile so wide it aches, and put your best face on when you blink, coquettish and coy, at the camera where nameless, faceless men throw money in a ring for a scrap of your attention.

tonight's game is Simon Says. and it's supposed to be normal. boring.

but a message from a viewer named Simon (in a sea of many who cheekily changed their usernames to match the theme of the game) stands out.

Simon says... go lock your door.

you blink. between all of the Simon Says touch yourself for me baby, pull your shirt down, lemme fuck you for real it sticks out. a change in the routine.

you huff, pouting. "already did that, Simon. c'mon, gimme something else to do, honey."

another one pops up. Simon says... you shouldda got a dog.

your brows furrow. "that's not part of the game, Simon. i'm gonna move on—"

Simon says... open your door.

he's paying you handsomely. dropping coins, large amounts of money, for each message to shoot to the top. little superchats. why he isn't taking advantage of it and paying you to do something sexy, something lewd, unnerves you. your heart starts to race, thudding against your ribs almost painfully.

it's fine, you think. he's just a creep. a loser. "uh huh, not part of the game, Simon. i'm afraid i'm gonna have to cut you off—"

you block him. they don't normally get under your skin like this. ever. at all. even when they throw random names in your dms, hoping one of them happens to be yours, and try to blackmail you to your fake friends and family. it doesn't bother you as much as this. as him. get a dog. how absurd.

the next series of chats pass without the same odd comments. take your bra off, but leave the robe on. act coy, like you don't want to—

creeps, you think, in their own right. but. paying ones. so, you smile. stiff. uncomfortable. grinning so wide it hurts. pretending to ignore the strange unease growing in your guts. your eyes sliding back to the superchats saved in a glowing log. let me in. a troll. whatever. it's nothing. nothing. you'll drink wine after this, scrub your skin raw in the shower and buy yourself something pretty with the money these greasy losers threw your way—

Simon says... let me in.

you feel your heart in your throat. it can't be him. you blocked him. you have mods to keep trolls out of your chats, but wonder—hopefully—if maybe it failed. maybe they found your stream are just being weird. strange. but when you check, the filters are on. he's a registered user. paid the premium to watch you. to get an invite to your special game nights. it makes it worse, you think, that he paid to be here. to do this.

your hand shakes. you block this user, too, ignoring the discomfort churning inside your chest. the fear spiking along the nape of your neck. hair raising. there's a prickle on your skin. the feeling of being watched

no. it's fine. you're fine—

"ah, what else should i do, Simon?" you ask your viewers, pulling on another smile. one that hurts. aches. wobbles around the edges. you'll end the stream in a few minutes. order Thai food. drink yourself stupid. take the day off tomorrow. use this creeps money and waste it. blow it on something stupid. dumb. laugh about it with your friends.

your shoulders dip. the tension easing. you're fine. you're at home. the door—

you locked it. right? you definitely, absolutely, locked it when you brought in the package from the delivery driver. the massive, hulking man who loomed in your doorway, too wide, even, to fit inside, and growled out in a low, brassy timbre: sign 'ere. you took the pen, pretending he wasn't drilling holes into you with his gaze, eyes liquid in the dark. intense. wanting. and then scurried inside—

back pressed against the door, hands wrapped around the lingerie set.

you glance at the chat. "which Simon bought me this cute set? i'd like to thank them personally," you murmur, forcing your shoulders to drop. it's fine. you live in the middle of nowhere. no one is coming to your door.

there's no takers in the chat. you shift on the chair, licking your lips. "it's really cute, Simon. a perfect size, too, and i just—"

something catches your eye in the corner of the monitor. a movement. a slight shift. a whisper of fabric. you tilt your chin, peering into the hazy black reflection.

what you're looking at doesn't make any sense. your bedroom door is open. a curtain of black drapes over the wall where the pale strip of light doesn't reach.

the washroom light is still on, a yellow spill illuminating the hallway, but nothing is there. no one is in the hall. but you know you closed your door. you always do when you stream. your heart trips over itself. leaps to your throat. you almost choke on it—

another bubble pops up. Simon says... hey. uh, who is that guy behind you?

there's a ringing in your ears. your hair stands on end. something moves again. the black mass wasn't a shadow. it moves. takes shape. the covered head nearly reaches your ceiling, body filling the entirely of your room. massive. a mountain you remember thinking. a fucking mountain, you texted your friend. thighs the size of tree trunks—

a hand reaches out, grabs hold of your power bar. thick gloved fingers curling over the button. in the bluegreen glow of your computer screen, a man steps out.

"glad y'liked it, pet." the deep, brassy drawl sends shivers down your spine. you try to scream, mouth opening wide to choke it out, yell for help—

your chat bubbles up, feverish in their excitement. you skin through the messages, stomaching churning as it clicks in your head. their rabidness isn't about saving you, but—

(omg he's gonna fuck her pron??? we're getting pron????? no fucking wayyyyy god i wish it were me—)

this isn't a fucking bit, you morons, you want to howl. call the fucking police—

but he gets there first. two strides. it happens in a blink. the screen goes back and he's on you in seconds.

you're not even sure how someone so big, so heavy, could move that quietly—

"ah-ah, none o'tha' now," his hand curls around your neck, tight. choking. you try to fight but he just huffs, breathing in deep, chest expanding across your spine as his other hand snakes around your waist, trapping you against a corded forearm. he bends down, nuzzles his jaw into your crown. coos:

"Simon says... turn around for me pretty girl, an' be good, now. went through all this trouble t'find you. think i deserve a little reward—"

[shinidamachu]

Sid, why do you think people think Kagome is “so annoying” and “whiny?” How exactly did she earn this reputation among her (rather dumb) haters.

The world is not kind to 15 years old girls, and what is Kagome, if not the perfect representation of one?

People forgot they can dislike a character just because and then move on. They'd rather grasp at straws to try and justify themselves, that way they can pretend they're being rational about the constant hate they're spreading when, truthfully, they're just being miserable.

Kagome specifically is in even greater disadvantage because her critics are, mostly, people who haven't read the source material and are instead basing their takes on a biased adaptation – which they probably watched ages before developping any critical skills – or people who see her as a threat to their ship and therefore are already prone to hate her.

The first group won't ever bother going out of their way to try and get a better grasp of her character by reading a 558 chapters long manga and the second group won't change their minds either way.

That's why they call her out for using the beads of subjugation even if: it wasn't her idea in the first place, it served to balance her relationship with Inuyasha at the beginning – since he was powerful and violent while she wasn't –, the rosary became a symbol of their bond, it saved Inuyasha a couple of times and he was always more annoyed than hurt by it, not to mention Sunrise blowing it out of proportion compared to the manga.

You never see Inuyasha getting bashed for hitting Shippo every other episode or Sango getting any heat for constantly slapping Miroku, because funnily enough people seem to understand it was just dumb, outdated, slapstick comedy, a courtesy they refuse to extend to Kagome.

That's also the reason they call her “annoying” and “whiny”: Kagome’s most important lesson was that it's okay to have feelings, so naturally they twisted that into a bad thing in order to keep hating on her. It's not about how her character was written, it's about people using of bad faith and deliberately mischaracterizing Kagome to pass their internalized misogyny as valid criticism.

I know part of the issue is that audiences nowadays are under the impression that for a female character to be strong, she can't cry or be feminine, but you don't see anyone hating on Sango even though she does cry and she can be as feminine as Kagome depending on the circunstances and on her mood.

The truth is that Kagome is playing a game she can never win, because the refs have decided they want her to lose before the match even starts.

If she stands up and sets boundaries for herself, she's annoying. If she doesn't, she's a doormat. If she feels jealousy, she's a bitch. If she shows kindness, she's boring. If she fights, she's overpowered. If she doesn't, she's useless. If any other character cries, it's heartbreaking. If she cries, she's whiny.

If she goes back to her own world, she's selfish. If she leaves that world behind to live the life she wants for herself, she's a stupid girl who left her family for a boy. If she does something grand, that's only because she's someone else's reincarnation. If she messes something up, the fault is hers and hers alone. She is, somehow, simultaneously a Mary Sue and a toxic abuser.

I've personally seen people slut shaming her because she got hitted on by Koga. I've personally seen people call her a "pick me" girl. Kagome. A pick me girl. Kagome.

And none of this is fair, because she is the kind of character who does her best to see the good in others, to understand the reasons why they act the way they do and to offer them some grace, but she gets very little of that in return, be it in canon, be it in fandom.

They always hold her up to such an impossible standard, but they completely forget to ask themselves: would the characters I stan be able to match the expectations I set for Kagome? Scratch that: would the characters I stan even be able to deal with things the way Kagome managed to do? Would I? The answer is most likely no, so how about cutting her a slack?

You ask me how did she earn this reputation among her rather dumb haters, my answer is: she didn't. They're just incapable of understanding that if a particular nuanced, well written, female character is not their cup of tea, they can simply ignore her and focus their attention on the characters they do like instead of spreading their baseless, misogynistic takes on the internet.

[212-apricity]

siren songs and stolen kisses, midsummers

ssask masterlist main masterlist

author's note: something important to remember before you read this chapter!!!!!

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

jj's pov

The cell wasn’t as cold as it should’ve been, but that didn’t stop the chill in my bones. Jail had a way of doing that—wrapping its cold fingers around your ribs until they felt hollow. I leaned back against the wall, metal digging into my spine, and stared at the floor like it had the answers I needed. It didn’t. The concrete was blank, unforgiving, just like my luck.

The cell smelled like old piss and rust, but I was used to it. I had been here enough times to recognise the way the air hung heavy, like it was pressing you down. My fingers flexed and uncurled in my lap, the scrape of my knuckles stinging. They were raw from last night—Topper’s face had been the perfect punching bag, even if it hadn’t fixed anything.

I blew out a breath, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. Sheriff Peterkin’s voice echoed down the hall, her footsteps slow, measured, like she wasn’t in a hurry to deal with me. Why would she be? She probably thought she already knew the story: JJ Maybank gets in over his head again. Just another Maybank screwing up.

“JJ Maybank,” she said, her voice that same cool, steady tone. She came to a stop outside the bars, her arms crossed like she was tired of this, of me. “You want to tell me what really happened out there?”

I didn’t bother looking up right away. I let the question hang in the air, heavy and sharp, while I stayed slouched, doing my best to look bored. Finally, I leaned back, draping one arm over the bench. “I already told you,” I said with a shrug. “I sunk the boat.”

She sighed, clearly unimpressed. “Don’t play dumb with me, JJ. Pope Heyward sunk that boat, and we both know it.” She tilted her head, studying me like she was trying to piece me together. “Why are you taking the fall?”

I felt my stomach twist, but I shoved it down, kept my face blank. “What fall?” I asked, flashing her a grin I didn’t feel. “It’s my testimony, Sheriff. Take it or leave it.”

Peterkin shook her head. “You’ve always been a good liar, JJ, but this time? You’re not fooling anyone.”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m not lying.”

She let out a frustrated breath, then stepped back, hands on her hips. “You’re not a hero, you know,” she said, her tone softer now, almost like she pitied me. “This isn’t going to save anyone. It’s just going to get you in deeper.”

I forced a laugh, leaning back like I didn’t care, even though her words sank into me like stones. “Saving people isn’t really my thing.”

Peterkin stared at me for a long moment, then finally pulled out her keys. “Fine,” she said, unlocking the cell. “You’re free to go. But I’m warning you, JJ—whatever you’re trying to prove? It’s not worth it.”

The cell door creaked open, and I pushed myself to my feet, brushing past her as I stepped into the hallway.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

The sound of the heavy metal door slamming behind me echoed in the empty corridor. I didn’t expect anyone to be waiting, least of all her.

Y/n Cameron stood there, like some beacon of light in this dim, dingy police station. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, her face a mixture of worry and anger. Her hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, and she wore one of those Kook dresses—simple, elegant, something expensive that she made look casual.

She shouldn’t be here.

She never belonged in my world. But damn if she didn’t fit perfectly in it, somehow.

“Hey,” I said, forcing a grin as I strolled toward her like I wasn’t just sitting in a jail cell. “Come here often?”

Her eyes softened when she saw me, but her mouth pressed into a tight line. “JJ, what the hell were you thinking?” she asked, her voice sharp but thick with worry.

“Me?” I raised an eyebrow, playing it off like it was nothing. “I was just enjoying the hospitality.”

She wasn’t amused. “God JJ you’re so fucking stupid,” she muttered, stepping forward until she was right in front of me. Her hand lifted, trembling slightly, and she brushed her thumb over the bruise forming on my cheek.

I flinched—barely—but she noticed. She always noticed.

“JJ…” her voice softened, breaking just a little. “What happened? What did you do?”

I swallowed hard, my throat tight. I wanted to tell her everything. Not just about the stupid boat but about me. I wanted to spill all the messy, broken parts of me at her feet and let her fix them. But that wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve that weight.

“It’s nothing,” I said, reaching up to take her hand in mine, pressing it against my chest. “I couldn’t let Pope lose his scolarship. Im scared he’d go into cardiac arrest if he did.”

Instead of laughing like usual, her lips parting like she wanted to say something, but the words didn’t come. Instead, she let out a shaky breath and leaned into me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I held her close, the warmth of her body grounding me.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” she whispered.

I kissed the top of her head, closing my eyes. “Yeah,” I lied. “I know.”

But the moment shattered when I felt it—the familiar grip of my father’s hand clamping down on my shoulder.

“Time to go, JJ,” Luke Maybank growled, his voice low and dangerous.

Y/n stiffened against me, her grip tightening. I turned, keeping my body between her and my father. “Go home,” I whispered to her, forcing a smile I didn’t feel. “Please.”

Her eyes searched mine, desperate and scared. “JJ—”

“I’ll be fine,” I lied again. “Just go.”

Luke’s fingers dug into my shoulder, yanking me back. I didn’t fight it. I couldn’t. I gave her one last look, and then he dragged me out, his grip like a vice.

And I let him.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

y/n's pov

The sun was beginning to dip, casting that perfect golden hour glow across the Cameron estate. Everything outside looked flawless: the lawn perfectly trimmed, the white-and-gold decorations lining the patio like something out of a Southern Living magazine. But inside, it was chaos. Controlled, sure—typical Cameron perfectionist chaos—but chaos nonetheless.

Sarah was in the kitchen, trying to fix her pinned up hair, her face scrunched up in concentration. I stood by the window, watching the sun sink lower, my phone clutched in my hand, screen blank. No texts from JJ. No missed calls. Nothing.

“Y/n, can you help me with this?” Sarah’s voice broke through my thoughts. She held up a handful of hairpins, looking helpless. “I swear, if this falls out during Midsummers, I’m going to lose it.”

I crossed the room, shoving my phone into the pocket of my dress. “You’re being dramatic,” I said, grabbing the pins and starting to twist her hair into place.

“Dramatic?” she huffed, raising an eyebrow. “It’s Midsummers. I have to look perfect.”

I smirked. “Why? Planning to impress someone?”

She rolled her eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Please. Everyone on this island is boring. Except maybe John B, but that’s a whole other mess.” She paused, glancing at me in the mirror. “Speaking of messes… JJ?”

I sighed, focusing on twisting her hair just right. “I don’t know. He’s not answering my texts. I’m worried.”

She tilted her head slightly, letting me work. “He’ll be fine,” she said softly. “He always is. But you need to talk to him.”

“I tried,” I muttered. “Luke showed up before I could get anything out of him.”

Her face darkened at the mention of JJ’s dad. “That man’s a nightmare. JJ shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

“I know,” I said quietly, finishing the last pin. “Done.”

Sarah stood up, admiring the final result in the mirror. “You’re the best,” she said with a grin. She grabbed a necklace from her dresser and slipped it on. “Now, how do I break up with Topper tonight without causing a scene?”

I laughed, the heaviness in my chest easing slightly. “Wait until after Midsummers. You know how he gets.”

Sarah made a face, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “You’re right. I’ll be nice. But tomorrow, it’s over.”

Just as she said that, Rafe strode in, already dressed in his pale blue suit, a smug look plastered on his face. “What are you two plotting?” he asked, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

“Girl stuff,” Sarah said sweetly, batting her lashes. “Nothing for your tiny brain to worry about.”

He rolled his eyes, taking a swig of water. “Whatever. Try not to embarrass the family tonight.”

I couldn’t resist. “I think that’s your job, Rafe.”

His eyes narrowed, but Sarah burst out laughing, and he just shook his head, trying to failing to stifle a smile as he left the room.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

The country club was packed, Kooks everywhere in their finest, gold glinting under the soft lights, champagne flutes raised in perfectly manicured hands. It was beautiful, I guess, but it felt fake and forced, all of it. I wandered through the crowd, half-smiling at familiar faces, but my mind was elsewhere.

JJ still hadn’t answered any of my texts. I tried not to let it show, but my heart raced every time I checked my phone. What if he wasn’t okay? What if Luke…

Stop.

I thought to myself, shaking the thoughts away. I couldn’t do this here, not now.

Kiara appeared at my side, looking as uncomfortable as I felt in her sleek dress. “This sucks,” she muttered, sipping from her drink. “We should be at the Chateau right now.”

I nodded, grateful for her presence. “Yeah. I’d rather be anywhere else.”

She shot me a sideways glance. “He still hasn’t called?”

“Nope,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, even though it felt like my stomach was tying itself into knots.

“Typical JJ,” she said, rolling her eyes but smiling. “He’ll show up. He always does.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

As Kie went to get another drink from the bar, I spotted Pope waving at me, smiling brightly, from his dads cart.

I was about to raise my hand in greeting when I noticed someone standing beside me, clearing their throat. Someone who, despite the music and lights, made my stomach drop.

Gray Pierce.

Rafe’s childhood best friend.

I hadn’t seen him in what felt like forever. Grayson “Gray” Pierce was the type of guy who always made his presence known, even when he was just standing there, looking around with that calculated smirk on his face. He was dressed in designer clothes, standing tall and confident, like he owned the world. His dirty blonde hair was styled perfectly, and his sharp jawline looked like it could cut glass. He was still just as dangerous as I remembered—charming, but with an edge that could cut through steel.

I turned to him, my lips pressing into a tight line. "Gray," I said, my voice neutral. I wasn’t excited to see him—not in the slightest—but I wasn’t going to show him how much he made me uncomfortable.

He gave me that smirk—the one I used to fall for. "Y/n. Heard you got a new boyfriend now," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as his eyes flicked over the crowd in front of us. "Does he know how to treat a lady, or is he just a wild dog like the rest of them?" His words felt like a slap in the face.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you know how to treat a lady?" I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest.

Gray’s eyes hardened, "I heard he’s a Pogue*,*" he said, his tone mocking. "We don’t mix with their side, Y/n. Taints our blood."

I froze at his words, anger rising in my chest like a slow-burning fire. His words were heavy, loaded with disdain, and I hated that he still thought he could talk to me like that. He hadn’t changed at all.

I was about to respond, my mouth opening to say something sharp, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw JJ, his eyes bright but quickly flicking between Gray and me, sensing the tension in the air.

“Y/n, hey!” JJ greeted, practically bouncing with excitement, only to pause when his gaze flickered to Gray, his mood shifting ever so slightly.

Gray’s gaze lingered on JJ for a moment, his smile fading just slightly, before he turned to look at me. “He’s your boyfriend now?” Gray asked, his voice soft with the kind of malice that sent a chill down my spine.

I gave him a look, feeling my patience wearing thin as I grabbed JJ’s hand quickly, surprised to see him but trying to cover it up so Gray wouldn’t notice. “What’s it to you Gray? Fuck off, don’t you have some other girl to cheat on?” I said firmly, my words laced with finality. I wasn’t going to let him make this about me, about him, or about whatever weird power play he was trying to put on.

JJ’s eyes narrowed at Gray but he didn’t seem to care. He just smirked, as though he found my discomfort amusing.

“Alright. If you’re gonna be like that, I’ll just leave you two to it,” Gray said, his voice dripping with venom. He gave me one last look, his gaze lingering a moment too long. “Just remember, Y/n. Our kind doesn’t mix with scum. Don’t let him pull you down.”

Before I could respond, Gray turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowd finding Rafe again, leaving me standing there with JJ. He had a confused look on his face, his brow furrowed as he looked at me.

“What was that about?” JJ asked, his voice tight, I turned around again and there he was.

JJ, grinning like he hadn’t just been in a fight with the world, looking a little worse for wear but still so, so JJ.

I let out a long breath, my hands clenched at my sides. “Nothing,” I said quickly, shaking my head.

JJ still looked unconvinced, but before he could press further, I shoved him back by his shoulder.

“Excuse me?” he exclaimed, “What the fuck was that for I didn’t do anything”

“Exactly JJ, you didn’t do anything,” I all but shouted back as he looked back at me, confused, “Seriously J would it have killed you to just text me back or something? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

JJ looked up at me sheepishly, “I’m sorry baby my phone died,” he pulled out his dead phone from his back pocket and put it in my hands to check, “I should’ve charged it or used John B’s but today’s just been such a shitshow I wasn’t thinking properly. I’m sorry princess” he explained with a sad pout, obviously abusing his looks to get his way (yet again).

Unfortunately, it worked.

I practically launched myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck. “Just let me know if you’re okay next time, alright?”

He staggered back, laughing. His arms wrapped around me tightly, and for a second, everything felt right. “Of course princess, I’m sorry. Alright, now that my part’s done, if that guy even looks at you again, I’ll—”

I stopped him with a hand on his chest. “JJ, please,” I said softly, not wanting the memory of Gray to spoil this. “It’s fine. He’s just bitter. Let’s just... have fun tonight, yeah?”

He seemed to relax at that, his expression softening. “Yeah, alright,” he said, his smile returning, though there was still a little wariness in his eyes as he glanced around, probably still keeping an eye out for Gray.

My eyes narrowed, closer to him now I noticed the fresh bruises on his face and the split lip. My heart sank. “JJ…what happened to you?” I asked softly, brushing my fingers over the bruise.

He caught my hand, squeezing it. “It’s nothing,” he said, smiling like it didn’t hurt. “Just my dad you know.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, the familiar voice of Rafe cut through the noise. “JJ Maybank,” he sneered, his group of Kooks fanning out behind him. “Didn’t think you’d have the balls to show up here.”

JJ tensed beside me, his grin tightening. “Well, you know me,” he said, stepping in front of me slightly. “Never could resist a good party.”

Rafe took a step closer, eyes gleaming with malice. “Let’s go, boys.”

“Gotta go baby,” JJ whispered, pressing a quick kiss to my lips.

And then he was gone, weaving through the crowd again, Rafe and his “friends” in pursuit.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

The atmosphere at Midsummers was overwhelming, suffocating, as I clutched my glass of champagne and half-heartedly tried to enjoy the party. I was laughing along with the Kooks’ endless chatter, but my mind was elsewhere. I could feel the unease in the pit of my stomach—the same uneasy feeling I’d been carrying ever since I left the police station. The sight of JJ’s bruised face was still burned into my mind, and the way he had brushed it off, like it was nothing. But I knew better.

“Y/n, you need to relax,” Kiara said, her voice cutting through my spiraling thoughts. She’d appeared out of nowhere, like she always did when she sensed I needed someone to snap me out of it. She was holding a glass of sparkling water in her hand, but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was more concerned about me than the party.

“Where are they?” I asked looking around quickly “I swear if Rafe’s pulled some shit like he did the other day…”

Kiara cut me off, her expression hardening as she stepped closer to me. “You know JJ, right? He’s not the kind of guy who just lets things slide. Whatever Rafe’s got planned, he’ll figure it out. He’s not the kind of guy to let himself stay down for long.”

I nodded, but it didn’t stop the gnawing feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t shake it. I kept imagining JJ, alone, somewhere in the middle of all of this. And I couldn’t stand the idea of not being there for him.

Just then, the air shifted. There was an abrupt shift in the crowd, a ripple of murmurs, and I turned to see Rafe and his crew walking by, their eyes scanning the room like they owned it. And then, my gaze landed on him.

A familiar figure stepped into the lobby from the back hall.

JJ.

But this time, he wasn’t alone.

A guard flanked him on either side, his hands gripping JJ’s arms tightly. His expression was resigned, but his eyes—his eyes told a different story. He was hurt, no doubt, but there was something in his posture that suggested he wasn’t going down without a fight.

I started to rush toward him, but Kiara grabbed my arm again. “Y/n, wait. Let’s think this through.”

I barely heard her. I was already moving toward the exit where JJ was being led, my legs carrying me before my mind could catch up. I had to get to him. I had to know he was okay.

“JJ!” I shouted, and his eyes flicked toward me.

He looked like he’d been through hell, his shirt slightly torn, his bruises more obvious now. But there was that same crooked grin on his face as he lifted his chin, as though he were proud of something—anything.

“Princess,” he said, his voice low, like it was some private joke only he and I understood. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” his voice rose, “Leave it to the men and women in uniform!”

I stopped dead in my tracks, staring at him, my heart slamming in my chest. “JJ, what the hell happened?”

He winked at me, the guard’s hold tightening just slightly as they moved past. “Don’t worry. This is nothing. I’ll be alright.” He flashed that grin of his again, this time more genuine, before he shouted again, “Rixons Cove, Y/n.”

I could barely process the words when I heard Kiara scream beside me. “Hey! Let him go! He’s our guest! I’m a part of this club!”

I turned to see Kiara running after them, shouting at the guards, but their grip on JJ remained unyielding. The scene was chaotic. It was like everything was falling apart, the tension and anger rising with every step the guards took, dragging him away from us.

Then, through the turmoil, JJ shouted, his voice clear and loud, cutting through the noise.

“Mandatory power at Rixons! Pope, you too! Rixons Cove, let’s roll. Alright, Kie, Y/n, come on, workers of the world unite, throw off the chains!”

Kiara and I didn’t need any more encouragement. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as we ran, the sound of the guards’ footsteps growing louder behind us.

And then, I felt it—the solid warmth of JJ’s arms around me as I leapt into them. The guards barely even slowed down as he lifted me up and held me close, a rush of laughter escaping him.

“Come on princess,” he said, a grin in his voice. “Running away with a pogue now? What a scandal.”

I felt his lips brush my cheek briefly, his breath warm against my skin. “Shut up J”, I laughed.

Before he could reply, we were running again, Kie and Pope right next to us. My heart was racing, but I felt something that hadn’t been there before. Something more—more than fear, more than confusion. I felt alive.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

We gathered around the firepit, the flames crackling and lighting our faces in the darkness. The scent of saltwater mixed with the damp earth as we sat together, huddled in the warmth of the fire. JJ’s arms were around me (as well as his jacket) as I sat in between his legs, him playing with my hair and me with his hands. Everyone was quiet for a moment, just breathing, just existing in the stillness.

“So,” John B began, breaking the silence. He sat down on the log beside me, his face lit by the firelight. “I’ve got something. Something big.” He looked at Sarah, who was sitting next to him, her arms crossed as she looked at him curiously.

“What do you mean?” Pope asked, leaning forward.

“I’ve been digging, and I found something,” John B said, his eyes gleaming in the firelight. He looked around at all of us before continuing. “There’s a way to get to the treasure. A real way. It’s a map, but it’s hidden.” He paused, letting the weight of his words settle. “We just need Sarah to help us find it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“What?!” Kiara’s voice shot out like an arrow, sharp and disbelieving. “No offence, Y/n, but I’m not thrilled about Sarah being part of this. She’s always got some excuse, some reason why we can’t trust her. Why do we need her now?”

I frowned at Kiara’s words, feeling the tension rise. I knew that Kiara had issues with Sarah—she’d never really trusted her, not since the whole fiasco with the party years ago. But that didn’t mean Sarah didn’t have something valuable to offer.

“Come on, Kie,” John B said, trying to convince her. “She’s trying to help. And I don’t hear anyone else coming up with any ideas to get the map.”

Kiara scowled but didn’t say anything more. She crossed her arms tightly, though, clearly unwilling to let her guard down.

“So, what’s the plan then?” Pope asked, breaking the tension. “Do we go after the map now?”

“No,” John B said, shaking his head. “First, I need to meet with Sarah alone. We can’t let anyone else in on this part of the plan just yet.” He turned to me, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning anything shady.”

JJ shot John B a look, and then he smirked. “Right, because there’s nothing going on between you two,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I laughed, Pope joined in, a chuckle escaping him as he shot a look at John B. “John B, you’re literally a worse liar than me.”

Kiara rolled her eyes but grinned. “You promise me there’s nothing going on between you and Sarah, John B. You’ll ruin the whole plan if you mess it up.”

John B held up his hands defensively, his face reddening. “I swear, Kie, nothing’s going on. We’re just talking.”

JJ leaned back on his elbows, grinning at the absurdity of it all. “Sure, sure. Just talking. The most innocent thing in the world.”

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

Kie, Pope, JJ and I were still joking, letting the laughter fill the gaps in the air in the Twinkie, when we heard it.

A scream.

A long, desperate cry for help.

Without thinking, we all bolted upright, adrenaline flooding our systems as we raced toward the sound. Kiara, Pope, and I led the charge, pushing past trees and underbrush, until we broke out onto the edge of a small clearing. There, in the middle of the chaos, was Sarah—frantic, her face pale with terror as she knelt beside John B, who was lying on the ground, unmoving.

“John B!” Sarah screamed, her voice breaking. “John B, wake up!”

I rushed forward, reaching her just as she tried to shake him awake. But something wasn’t right. There was a cut on his forehead, and blood was seeping into the dirt beneath him.

“What happened?” I gasped, my hand instinctively going to John B’s shoulder, trying to lift him.

“It’s Topper,” Sarah said, her voice trembling. “He pushed him off the building. I saw it.”

My stomach dropped. “What?!”

Kiara stepped forward, her hands shaking as she knelt beside John B. “We need to get him out of here,” she said urgently. “He’s not breathing right.”

I couldn’t think, couldn’t process what had just happened. It was like the world tilted beneath me, the ground slipping away.

“We need to go,” I said, my voice rising in panic. “We need help. Right now.”

And just like that, the group of us—runners, survivors, and dreamers—were faced with the reality of our situation. We weren’t just fighting for a treasure anymore. We were fighting for our lives.

𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*: 𓆉°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

part five done!!

idk if its just me but i get SO TIRED in the winter like im literally falling asleep in all my classes (which is normal) BUT AT LUNCH???? burn it.

taglist: @harryssideboobz @onelonelybitch

[brotherwtf]

fairy tale clegan, John the dashing prince coming to save the beautiful princess Gale

Gale would be all like "I don't need saving" but John's like "so why are you locked away in a castle/tower/wherever princesses are locked away" and Gale nearly socks him

John is so stupid and charming, all dashing smiles and quick one liners while he's rescuing Gale, promises Gale a grand wedding once they return to his kingdom, and Gale's determined to just run off and savor his newfound freedom

but then Gale starts to fall for John's charm, his wittiness and absolute insufferable-ness, and starts discarding plans to escape so he can listen to John's jokes

at some point John confesses that he only rescued Gale to get out of a marriage to a princess he doesn't love, a diplomatic marriage, truly, so he was sent to rescue the captured prince, an old story about a man who was locked away whom, once rescued and married to his true love, would bring peace to the land

John of course thought this was some dumb story, didn't believe the king and queen when he sent him on this wild goose chase, but then he found Gale locked away just as the story said, and he's saddened bcs Gale's going to marry the princess and he'll have to back to a boring life of being an unmarried prince

they start to fall in love on their journey back, John finding Gale staring at him over fires and silently coming over to lay next to him in their makeshift tents, and John can't help but savor those precious moments before he has to let Gale go

but PLOT TWIST, the princess was not Gales true love, and John can't watch Gale get married to the princess before he says something and confesses his love for Gale

TURNS OUT that the princess wasn't Gale's true love, instead it was John, and they live happily ever after yada yada yada

is this Shrek? idk I watched it the other day and it may be infecting my writing

[alexanderwales]

Save the Cat is a snappy read, and only 8 chapters, so I'm just doing a liveblog of them unless I get bored or distracted.

Chapter one is about the pitch, the logline, the title, what you put on a poster and how you sell it. It doesn't necessarily come first, but I get the sense that for Snyder this would be his preferred way of doing it. (A logline is just the one-sentence "what is it about" that you use to sell people on the idea.)

Snyder says that writing loglines is awful, soul-crushing work, and I agree there. I'm awful at it. But Snyder also says that if you don't have a good logline, maybe there's something wrong with your movie, and that I don't agree with.

I think there's a fairly wide set of stories that have good, snappy, easy loglines, and are also good stories. But I think there are other stories that are good stories and don't have a great way to pitch them. The lack of a good pitch can exist for a lot of reasons, and sometimes it's just that it's more complex than can be summed up in a single sentence, or even a handful of sentences. I think in practice writers will often dumb down the story for the logline, lying about what's contained within, just to make sure that it will sell, that people will want to know what's inside.

One of the other main points of the chapter is that a good logline has irony to it, a twist inherent in the title, some kind of thematic tension, and I disagree with that too, maybe not from the standpoint of selling a script, but from the standpoint of storytelling.

Why does everything have to have an irony to it? Why does everything have to have a twist? Why can't we have stories that are just well-told explorations of conflict and character? It's like at some point people decided that they only wanted Distinct Pieces of Media, so if you wanted to tell a story that's been told before, something with its own unique texture, you're just shit out of luck.

I find this all the more irritating because often the twist/irony/idea/pitch is good, and then the execution is shit, and then people don't want that idea again. It's not like you can say "like that thing that flopped, but good".

Blake Snyder is trying to tell good stories, but he's also trying to sell stories, and this is a good thing for authors to know how to do. I accept this. I just don't like it.

So as a writing exercise, here are some loglines for things I've written, without the amount of care and polish and revision that a good logline needs:

Worth the Candle - A teenaged dungeonmaster gets thrust into the worlds he's created, where his recently deceased friend is a historical figure. (This is bad, not short and snappy enough.)

This Used to be About Dungeons - Five young adults team up to delve dungeons and bake pies. (I don't know man, I said I was bad at this.)

Thresholder - A man travels through portals to different worlds and genres, gathering powers and skills as he fights other people just like him.

Shadows of the Limelight - In a world where fame gives you power, a fanboy saves the life of the world's greatest hero in full view of the public.

The Dark Wizard of Donkerk - An orphan raised by two dark wizards adventures north with a wayward princess.

Millennial Scarlet - A gig-economy demon hunter grapples with the death of his mother and the plans she set up before she passed.

Alright, I found that less soul-sucking than usual, but I don't think that these are the oiled, muscular, perfectly toned and smiling loglines that are necessary to sell, just to be clear. The marketing unit of written fiction is not really the logline, though that helps, it's the blurb, and I am equally awful at writing those. I just don't agree with Blake Snyder that a blurb or logline coming poorly is a sign that you don't know the story.

[shiocreator]

thinking about scarlette in twst again so everyone is doomed to hear me. @soratsuart because you like scarlette

Just. The character development is delicious. Just. She is The "perfect victim", who does what she's told and is quiet and just goes along with whatever, she blames herself for everything bad and twists things to accuse herself in her mind on why it's her fault, spinning unreliable tales. Hiding the fact she's a person with wants and needs. Someone who has "no personality" and is "incredibly boring" on a surface level

But really shes someone loud. Someone violent. Someone deeply caring to an RSA level everyone gags, but also so fucking scary actually. She's strong she's smarter than she gives herself credit for and she's also someone who desperately needs support and is barely scraping by here since she never tells anyone her problems.

She always helps others she is always hurting but she refuses to tell anyone because what if they leave her. Gives away everything till her bones are stripped of the flesh and then some more, and it's so fun to put her in twst for this reasoning. She's not as niave or dumb as people assume.

It's not her fault if you broke her trust after all, it's your fault for wanting to hurt her, not hers for wanting to let people have fhe benefit of the doubt

Just. The damn Prologue,. SO OBSESSED with how I switched things up for her at the mirror cuz it's FUN for me...

after saving her from grim, Crowley thought she snuck in, scolding her and also annoyed due to all the while he was still looking for the student who woke up early from the gate, and when she, fully assuming she was kidnapped and almost burried alive, had an almost breakdown he was forced to hear her out due to how uncomfortable she made him. and decided if Strange certainly for her to appear here if she is infact telling the truth, he would help her after the orientation,

He has her go with him to the orientation and when he arrives he let's the housewardens know her being here was a simple mistake. She didn't even know where she was! ...But there's that curiosity, he thinks, if she was right about waking up from the coffin, and she certainly couldn't have been LIEING she was downright PANICKING, and didnt seem to be acting... why not see what the mirror says about her!

...This is a horrible idea, why would he do this, (morbid curiosity and if the mirror chose her well certainly she should be rather important and special!) she's panicking because she knows it'll fail, the housewardens are asking him if that's such a good idea worried already, Crowley still pushes her on up there stating how kind he is for giving her this chance surely!

She is forced to go up to the mirror fully aware of this SURELY . SURELY being a ploy to make her feel upset. She shouldn't be here She doesn't belong here. She already graduated from school a year early Just to get out of there she

... Empty. Colorless. There is no magic within this girl.

She was right.

The dead quiet. The slow turn trembling of her form as she finally shows her face and it's contorted to try not to let tears spill. She sounds strained as if trying not to let it overtake her, in the wobblest voice, "...I told you it was a mistake..."

Now the housewardens are all panicking and CROWLEY is viscerally uncomfortable he wasn't expecting this to happen, kalim tryna help cheer her up, several housewardens asking Crowley why on earth he even DID THAT to her (he was simply feeling a little silly your honor) and then when all the spotlight is on the pathetic wretch of a girl, trying not to cry and just hide away, "ngh! I have magic! I'll take her place!"

Scarlette is so happy she isnt the spotlight anymore, albeit incredibly worried for everyone here now, she tries to think of a way to lunge for grim to stop him cuz it must have been all her fault surely. with someone, I presume Vil, stopping her for her own safety, it's not like she has magic after all, she keeps saying that's not her familiar she can't control him!

And after it's all said and done everyone leaves and several people are genuinely worried about the pathetic girl forced to go to the mirror when she outright said it was a mistake and she just wanted to go home. I think Azul would sympathize with her SO hard here since he would be mortified if that happened to him. He's still gonna scam her later though

Crowley awkwardly trying to get her to go up to fhe mirror again, she belongs no where? Oh uhm Awkward haha. "Not even my own world wants me..."

...she's going to have a mental breakdown soon and Crowley doesn't know what to fucking DO . Hey kiddo uh I have a house please don't cry for the love of fuck please don't cry again uhhhhhh.

Just. Worst day all around for her

Ace brings it up first meeting and she genuinely cries as she's tryna get grim to stop getting aggressive, everyone knows her as the poor girl from orientation so everyone instead of encouraging a fight is just kinda wondering what's wrong with Ace to make a girl cry like that. Ace freaking out hey don't cry uhm uh. Grim attacks him for hurting his hench human. The statue is on fire now. Horrible day

Just !!!!!! I think she's been so FUN

Might write more later for stuff I just awoauagahehejejdhdhjssnwjm....... my girl....

[kyannae]

ILIKEU，↷ nagi seishiro.

summary: reo invited you to hang out with him and nagi, and who were you to refuse? except, with a twist where he ditches you two. sucks to suck. (gn!reader)

category: FLUFF BROOOO

warnings: gn!reader, ooc characters(?), friend cancelling last minute :rolls eyes:, cursing, nothing else i think

a/n: here's one for my skrinkly little nincompoop 🤭 also a super late valentines special! i'm having sm fun writing these HAHA (yes this is the fic i mentioned in my previous post. this was the one sitting in my drafts for over a week.)

"m' so tired. hey y/n, is reo comin' or not?" nagi sighed, leaning on your shoulder. you frowned, before checking your phone for the nth time that day, while nagi continued playing video games on his. and that was when you saw reo's recent text, sent a minute ago.

'oops, sorry guys, my parents asked me to stay home today. just hang out with each other!'

an irk mark appeared on your forehead and you nudged nagi's shoulder, drawing his attention to the message shown on your screen. he sighed again, before turning his attention back to his game.

"what a pain..." he muttered, and you chuckled. "wanna go to an arcade, then?" you asked, before typing a furious response back to reo. nagi's head perked up at the mention of an arcade. "sure," he replied, and the both of you set off.

"WHAT THE FUCK?? HOW DO YOU DO THIS SHIT BRO." you yelled, trying your hardest to shoot at all the zombies appearing on your side of the screen. nagi seemed like he wasn't even trying at all- even helping to clear YOUR side too.

"your posture and positioning is wrong." nagi pointed out, before standing behind you, adjusting your posture carefully. you froze, muscles tensing up at his touch. when nagi was done, you returned to the game- finding it much easier.

"yeah! i cleared it! take that, dumb game." you cheered, quickly keying in your name so that you'll be shown on the leaderboard. definitely not the top 10 or 5, but you were still happy nonetheless.

nagi hummed, a small smile appearing on his face at the sight of your childlike happiness.

"heyy, hey! nagi! i'm going to go and top-up my arcade card." you waved your hand infront of the spaced out male, whom blinked before mumbling out an "okay."

he eventually got bored waiting, opting to play a nearby game while he waited.

he stuck out his tongue slightly in concentration, fingers skillfully maneuvering the controls. he sighed in relief upon completing the game, and stretched when he saw that he got first place- again.

he was about to key in his nickname so that his score could be saved on the leaderboard, but that was when you appeared.

"I'm back! oh, you got first again. tch." nagi looked up at you, and although cliché- you looked...like...woah. the glow of the neon arcade lights behind you, the jealous look on your face which you weren't doing a very good job at hiding- it was all so, so perfect in his eyes.

he nodded, turning back to the screen- unconsciously keying in what he wanted going to say as his nickname, ILIKEU.

"nagi? your nickname?" you pointed out, and the boy let out a 'hm?' focusing on the name he keyed in, he was shocked and undoubtedly dismayed when he realised that he already pressed enter.

there it was, big bolded font right on the screen as the number 1 on the leaderboard- ILIKEU.

"oh." he muttered, the tips of his ears turning a slight pink in colour, and you chuckled. "did you mean to say that out loud instead?" you teased, and nagi pouted, hiding his face in his hands.

"aww nagi, don't be like that." you laughed, before leaning down to his level.

"i like you too." you smiled, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "although, this nickname is actually pretty embarrassi-"

© kyannae

please, let him be embarrassed in peace.

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 3 MATCH 10

Alistair propaganda:

“I love his puns and sarcasm. He may be kinda dumb and like the epitome of boring white boy to some people, but i just love the humour he brings to the party.”

"alistair was literally forced to live in the stables growing up because the man who had stewardship of him remarried and she didn't like him; he's a bastard prince and tries to keep it secret but is almost identical to the king and you meet those two within 5 minutes of one another; he finds a rose in the middle of a battlefield and thinks how impossible it was to find something so beautiful in somewhere so terrible and it reminds him of finding you - so he saves it to give it to you; he's 20 and if you tell him to he will take the throne (even though it's always been his greatest fear - he'll do it if you're at his side); he doesnt know he's a half elf and its possible for him to live in the same castle as his mother later; he notices she looks at him strangely but he never finds out why; he's doomed to die young and so are you"

Shinjiro propaganda:

"shinjiro is leaps and bounds ahead of any of the other persona romance options. sorry NOT sorry literally jerk with a heart of gold taken to the nth degree his romance is BEAUTIFUL it's TRAGIC it's ultimately DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE. literally a guilt-ridden man who despite his death wish reluctantly opens his heart to the MC and it's so touching and despite his struggles he still finds beauty and kindness in love and the small things. he's a great cook he's a lover of animals he is one of the only romance options that gives a shit about how the MC is doing. he TAKES a bullet for a kid but is saved literally by the PC romance/power of love in an ironic twist of fate that depends on the player liking his romance SO MUCH that you keep trying to hang out with him AFTER COMPLETING THE ROMANCE LINK.... he wakes up from a COMA at the end of the game because he feels the MC about to fade from this plane of existence (doomed romance alert) just so they can spend a few last moments together. Fucked up. his romance accomplishes more in his one month of gameplay time than any other options have in their whole runtime."

[k0k1ch1111]

"Kill them with kindness!" WRONG!!! LIES!

I don't...want to…I don't want to, stupidhead! Ah-hahahaha! Oh man, did you fall for all that fake crying!? You're so dumb! I would never cry for gonta! If I said the actual truth back there, he would've been reeeeal mad!That would've interfered with the game, so I simply lied to calm him down....See? As long as you lie for a good purpose, right? Obviously, so it wouldn't be boring! I gave him an incentive, cuz I thought it'd liven up the game.C'mon, think about it. If I actually wanted to save everyone, like gonta did…I wouldn't have betrayed him. You should've realized that.Nee-heehee...nee-heeheeheehee…Who cares about that idiot!? I wanna enjoy this game filled with suspicion and betrayal from the bottom of my heart! I *am* the supreme leader of evil, so it's obvious my personality would be twisted. The more you suffer, the more I enjoy it. There are people in this world who spread grief and misery for no reason than the thrill of it! And I'm one of those people. Nothing pleases me more than inflicting pain on others!

[auseyre]

“We don’t need another hero

We don’t need to know the way home”

In KP, Porsche is on his own somewhat twisted version of the hero’s journey. But he isn’t a hero that gets corrupted. That’s not the story arc. The show isn’t about Porsche losing his morality, it’s about him losing his naivety (Chay follows a similar arc in a more minor way). Despite his circumstances, Porsche is still pretty naïve when the show starts. In a way, having to take care of Chay his whole life and trusting Thee has kept him in a bubble. All he has time for is work, and Chay. He half-assed attends school, but not even enough to really be a part of the University life. 

He never figures out what Thee is up to until it’s spelled out for him. He’s never even suspicious. He gives Kinn Jom’s name, even though he knows there’s something shady about Kinn, assuming that if they look for him, they won’t find a Jom working at Hum bar and they’ll what? Realize it’s not Porsche and just go away? He doesn’t take the bodyguard job seriously because even though he’s in the heart of the Mafia, he still doesn’t actually believe they’d kill him for nothing. That’s why Pete has to explain to him what would have happened if Kinn hadn’t choked him out in front of the Minor family. 

Porsche *lucks* into the perfect spot. As Tankhun’s bodyguard, he can fulfill his obligation to Korn and rarely, if ever have to actively engage in Mafia business. Instead, he’s bored and insulted that he’s taken out of the game. (Compare him Fan Jhe Ruei from Kiseki: Dear to Me, who joins a gang voluntarily and then refuses to do any of the dirty work.)

 Pol specifically tells Porsche that Kinn is collecting a debt and that if they don’t pay, it’s going to be a big deal. Porsche chooses to go there anyway, uninstructed. It’s not till he’s there, watching Mes get beaten and having flashbacks that he realizes this is a dumb-ass choice. He, naively, tells this guy who just pulled a gun on Kinn that he’s going to be fine, because Pete told him they weren’t going to kill him, not realizing the rules have changed. 

His problem is never really with killing Mes. It’s with leaving the guy’s kid an orphan. We see him kill with no problem and no protest later. He was perfectly willing to go kill the man he thought had killed his parents in a car accident. (Sure, it’s scummy to use your influence to escape any consequences, but it was still, as far as he knew, a legitimate accident, not murder.) He only decides not to because the guy has a grandkid. 

Porsche’s issues with the Mafia life aren’t about morality, they’re only about a specific circumstantial empathy. (I’m sure that the people on the end of the Minor family collections business are gonna get a lot more leeway with Porsche in charge if they stay in that business at all. After all, drugs, gambling, money laundering, etc... are much more of a sure thing with much less trouble).

His naivety continues as he trusts Vegas, and believes that Vegas really isn’t a bad guy because, despite Thee, he still believes in family first and thinks that everybody else must feel that way too. It’s only as the “truth” slowly emerges about what happened to his parents that his naivety finally dissolves. 

The thing is, it’s only when his naivety is stripped away that he gets to make his own choices. They may not be the best choices, but they’re still his. (Hey, I didn't say he was smart. I said it's his right.) When he sees the truth about Thee, he gets to make a choice instead of being carried along by Thee’s choices and lies. When he sees all the parts of Kinn, not just the Mafia boss, he can choose to give up a chance for escape, to come back and save him in the woods, and commit to being with him. 

 When he knows exactly who Vegas is, he chooses to deal with him anyway, without any lies or manipulation, to find out what he needs to know. After he remembers what happened in that house and understands the lies Korn has told, he makes the choice to go back and stand by Kinn’s side, not wide-eyed, but clear-eyed. He takes the ring, knowing that Korn is full of shit but realizing that it’s what’s necessary to stand beside the people he loves.

[stirpicus]

So I had a question about writing. How do you usually create characters and give them their personalities? Since whenever a good scenario comes to my mind and I sit down to write, I almost immediately give up because I either create boring characters, or I just can't create any. So do you have any advice you want to give on this?

So it sounds to me like the problem might be the way you’re approaching storytelling - If you’re thinking of scenarios and then trying to come up with characters to plug into them, that implies to me that your scenarios are likely things that are *happening to* those characters instead of things that the characters are *trying to do*.

Characters who are “interesting” usually have some amount of agency in their lives - something they’re pursuing as compelling obstacles block the way. So if a story is just things happening to a character and them reacting… it makes them feel passive, and not super “interesting.”

So what I would do, is instead of thinking of scenarios first, think of the *characters* first and if they’re interesting the stories will come naturally. One of my favorites is Indiana Jones: Stuffy archeology professor with a secret double life as a globe-trotting treasure hunter. That’s a one sentence description that immediately conjures all sorts of exciting ideas.

If you want to break down why that one works so well, it’s because he’s relatable (stuffy professor; everyone’s had one of those) with an interesting twist (secret double life; always cool) and built-in story generator (globe-trotting treasure hunter; traveling the world! Finding treasure!)

I don’t know if anyone else uses that term “story generator” or if that’s a dumb one I made up - I use it to describe the quality of a character or world that, with only a few words, is SO compelling literally anyone could start to imagine stories with it. “Boarding school for wizards”, “amnesiac war robot from Mars”, “Tom Cruise”, “secret hotel for assassins”, “summer camp for psychic secret agents”, “demon who rebels against his destiny to save the world”… these are all great examples of story generators.

Hope something in there was useful!

[aita-blorbos]

( 🍤 for tracking purposes. And this is a different POV from an earlier situation.)

Am I the jerk for confronting a shopkeeper over his scummy business practices?

Ugh. Can’t believe I’m doing this. But I’m hiding out from some monsters right now, and it’s better than doing nothing.

I (M, idk and idc. Young I guess?) used to be a part of this dumb kids show. I only participated because I was bored. Not because I wanted to teach kids or anything. Teaching lessons is so boring!!! Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. I had to work with my fellow toons and interact with kids and stuff. And I’m sure you can tell how I felt towards them all.

To tell you the truth, I actually liked it when people stopped showing up at our home, cuz’ then I didn’t have to be a part of the show anymore. The only problem was when toons started going crazy for no apparent reason. We called these guys Twisteds (this is relevant later.)

Out of all the toons, the one I probably dislike the most would be D (M, don’t care. 5 or 6?) D runs a supply shop which is all fun and dandy, but I noticed that he rarely had good stuff for sale. Just useless junk food and cheap trinkets.

It didn’t help that he only accepted VHS tapes. Those things are hard to get, man! And his prices were seriously inflated. After the umpteenth time of getting tapes just to find he had nothing good in stock, I knew something had to be done.

So as any rational toon would, I snuck into the back of D’s shop when he went on a scavenging mission. If he thinks he’s gonna get ME to work my butt off just to buy some junk he thought wrong! Anyways, I start ‘borrowing’ his extra tapes (he had boxes and boxes of the things!) when D shows up again.

He starts YELLING at me to drop the tapes, to which I said no. I told him that he was saving all of the good items for himself, and that his prices were unfair. I wish I could have taken a photo of his face!! The smug, proud D pushed off of his high horse. If I didn’t do it, then surely someone else would eventually.

Dangit. Going on a side tangent again. So I was messing with D, and he kept trying to snatch the tape out of my hand.

To further tease him (as “friends” do), I push a shelf, causing a big box to fall over. Surprise surprise, it’s full of tapes. But D stopped going after me at that point. He just. Froze. And kneeled down by the box of spilled tapes. As the others enter the room to see what the heck is going on, I’m briefly considering if what I did was too much.

That consideration was short lived, as D freaking twisted in front of our eyes!! Twisted? Twist-ified? I dunno!! But he turned into a monster, and beat the stuffing outta me!! This one girl and these twins who I tolerate (F, and both M. They’re both like 5) managed to calm D down, before another guy knocked him out. But not before me, and a few others, were seriously injured. Who knew an angry flower could pack such a punch?!

…I didn’t stick around much longer, especially when D started waking up. Everyone was glaring at me and refusing to even come near, so I knew I wasn’t welcome anymore. Fine by me. I never liked them anyways, and it didn’t help that they all took D’s side. I’ve been wandering the lower levels of our home in search of a place to stay, and now you’re all caught up. So am I really the jerk for messing with D in the first place? I still think he could have run his shop better.

Edit: quit asking what floor im on its not like im gonna tell you. Its also gotten hard to type so no nore edits

Edit 2: MY MOUGTH IS GON WHWRE IS MY MOUTH

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Pluto Saves the Day

A Twisted Wonderland House of Mouse!AU story

When the staff all fall into a deep sleep as a result of Pete’s plot to shut down the club, it’s up to Pluto (and Grim) to save the day.

(AKA: what happens when I’m bored on a plane and have House of Mouse episodes saved on my computer)

Words: 4.3K

Masterlist

IT’S WHERE TOONS WATCH TOONS: DISNEY’S HOUSE OF MOUSE!

“Now put your hands together for the rockin’ rodent who’s a real swingin’ cat: Mickey Mouse,” Microphone Mike announced to the club, giving rise to the audience’s burst of applause.

Mickey slid onto the stage, flashing everyone a cheerful smile, “Hey folks, welcome to the show!”

Meanwhile, Yuu was checking the mirror in her dressing room to make sure that she was presentable before she made her rounds in the dining hall.

“Now, Grim,” she said to her firecat monster companion, “I’ve already told the cooks about your dish so please just stay at your table and behave.”

“Yeah, yeah, minion,” Grim groaned, “I’ll behave. The Great Grim is not like those two dumb card soldiers that get into trouble every three minutes.”

She gave him a long, disbelieving look as if she was wondering if only she could remember the event of him setting their curtains on fire that happened ten minutes prior to this very conversation, “if you say so.”

As she made her way to her first table, the NRC prefect could hear Daisy at the reception.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said to the dwarves with a teasing smile, “we don’t allow minors at the club.”

“Ha,” Grumpy scoffed, Happy and Doc chuckling behind him, “how about leaving the jokes to the comedians?”

Like always, she was called over by one of the villains the second she stepped foot into the main hall. They always made a point to be the first people she greeted and spoke to whenever she was on duty for reasons Yuu had no idea. She was more than happy to converse with their larger than life personalities but it did take a lot of time for them to actually let her return back to her job and see her other friends at the club.

“And what would you like to order, Lord Hades?” She asked the god politely.

“Babes, listen,” Hades smiled at her, “how long are you gonna go with this whole ‘Lord’ stuff? Just call me Hades, kid. You’re cool. I’m cool. We’re both cool.”

“I’m just trying to be polite, Sir,” Yuu gave him a gentle smile.

“Aiiyy,” the Lord of the Underworld massaged his temples, but it was clear by the upturn of his lips that he wasn’t actually frustrated, “what am I gonna do with ya, hun? Say, how are things going with that Idia kid? Managed to get him some good ol’ human interaction, lately?”

“Who cares about that shut-in hermit,” Jafar smirked from the next table, “tell me, that Jamil boy was supposed to assist you with your studies this morning, was he not? I’m sure that the time you spent with him was far more valuable

“Oi, Jaffy,” Hades glared at the sorcerer, blue flames rising a tad bit higher, “I asked first so why don’t ya wait your turn like a good little cobra instead a butting in?”

“Ooohhh~” Pain and Panic intonated in unison, watching the interaction with rapt attention as they bit into marshmallows that were earlier being held above their boss’ head.

“The man’s got a point, Hades,” Ursula chimed in, “I’d much rather hear about how my dear Azul is faring. An octopus of his caliber must be doing far more interesting things than shutting himself inside his room all day. In fact, Yuu was telling me last night how he and those darling eels were planning on taking her swimming sometime soon.”

“Listen, Ursula,” Hades griped, “Yuu and I were having a lovely, civil conversation earlier so why don’t you and Mr Sorceror over here mind ya own damn business.”

“Why should we?” Jafar asked, “are you perhaps…jealous?”

“‘Jealous’?” Hades scoffed, “why would I be jealous, Jaffy?”

As Yuu watched the patrons delve into one of their more familiar arguments with amusement, Pluto strolled along the dining hall, head held high as he surveyed the comings and goings of the club and listened to all of the information being given to him through his headset. Figaro watched him from where he was lounging on a table and abandoned his spot at Geppetto’s side to follow him, mimicking his movements to a T. Pluto, sensing the troublesome cat mocking him, swiveled around and gave the feline a glare. Figaro’s response was to blow a very cheeky raspberry, increasing Pluto’s ire and causing him to bark aggressively at the taunt. And thus began a chase, Figaro mewling and yelping in fear with Pluto hot on his heels. Rushing past several penguin waiters and up a spiraling ramp, the dog skidded to a halt at the sight of Thomas O’Malley and the Alley Cats giving him disapproving looks, with the small Figaro right at the centre.

Still angry at the way the black cat had taunted him, Pluto barked at Figaro, scaring not only his target, however, but also the live band that Mickey had hired as that night’s entertainment. Figaro, O’Malley and the Alley Cats raced away out of the break rooms and into the main hall.

Meanwhile, Mickey was still hosting the guests, “And today’s musical guests: O’Malley and the Alley Cats.”

He was interrupted not only by the sound of multiple cats screeching but also by said cats dashing across and off the stage in fear. As his body contorted to dodge the shaken felines, he gave each of them a worried glance before they ran across the dining hall and disappeared from his vision, “whoa-hey-what’s-whoa-waah-“

“Oi, I’m eating here,” Grim yelled at Billy Boss who had jumped right onto his plate of tuna pie, waving a fork at him threateningly, “the Great Grim does not show mercy to those that mess with his food!”

“Grim,” Yuu intoned reproachfully from where she was pouring tea for Jane Darling and Alice.

“Alright, he’ll show some mercy but only because I don’t want to get up.”

After hearing a loud thump from the main stage, Yuu looked up to see her boss squashed under Pluto; the canine looking sheepish and the mouse growing embarrassed at the way the crowd burst into laughter.

“Oh my, Mickey,” Yuu rushed to the stage along with Minnie, who gave Pluto a stern look, “are you alright?”

Yuu helped the pair untangle themselves as Minnie shot the audience a smile, “Sorry about that folks. We’re just having a few little hiccups. Why don’t you all just relax and watch a cartoon whilst we sort this out.”

Winnie-the-Pooh looked down at the pot of Hunny that had fallen and rolled away on the floor during the kerfuffle with sadness, “oh bother.”

*****

“Pluto, you chased our musical guests away,” Minnie scolded the dog after she and Yuu had managed to get the tangled pair behind the stage, uncrossing her arms as she puffed up in anger, “Ooohh, how many times do I have to warn you, double warn you and triple warn you about chasing cats in the club?”

His response was to look to the side in shame.

Yuu watched them, heart clenching at the sad way Pluto hunched in on himself. Whilst she could understand where Minnie was coming from and that the stressed mouse was constantly busy with work, she was aware that Pluto wasn’t the type to do something maliciously if he didn’t have a reason. As playfully troublesome as the dog can be, when it comes to his job at the club, he tries his best to be as professional as possible. Plus, he was one of the first friends she made when she first started working there and was nothing but kind to her (if a bit too protective) even if he did have a vindictive streak in his personality. She gave Pluto a sympathetic pat on his head, smiling at him as her hand carded through the golden-brown fur on his scalp. He seemed to appreciate the show of affection, with the way he melted slightly under her touch.

Minnie turned to her boyfriend, who was quietly watching all of this go down with his paws stuffed in his pockets, in frustration, “Oooh, now I’ve got to find another musical act.”

Yuu, by now had kneeled down onto the floor to wrap her arms around the saddened canine, giving him a consoling hug. She gave her employer a concerned look, to which he returned with a serious one of his own. It was clear that like her, he didn’t want to upset either side. Mickey turned to Minnie as he reasoned, “aww, he’s just a dog, Min.”

“Yeah,” Yuu piped up, “sure Pluto made a mistake but he didn’t mean to. It’s in his nature to be a bit playful and maybe he just came on a bit too strong. I’m sure that it was all just an accident and no one got hurt.”

Minnie’s face softened as she looked back at the way Yuu held Pluto in a comforting embrace, “Oh, I know you guys but sometimes I feel like this job would be a little easier without Pluto underfoot.”

Pluto whimpered as he bound out of Yuu’s hold, whining as he dejectedly kicked off his headpiece with one of his hind legs before running off. Yuu sadly watched him go and was about to go follow him but was then called by Goofy to handle a table.

“Minnie, I understand where you’re coming from,” Yuu turned to her as she got up, “trust me, I know you put a lot of effort into running the club and it isn’t easy to do what you do. I’m sure that without you doing half of what you do, this place wouldn’t even exist. I really respect and look up to you and I can never thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me but I think that right now you’re wrong about Pluto. Can he be a bit too mischievous? Yes, absolutely. But he always has all of our best interests at heart. I’m sure that he’ll fix his mistake if you give him a chance.”

Minnie gave her a comforting smile, “I know that, Yuu. I’ve known Pluto for about as long as I’ve known Mickey and if there’s one thing that dog is, it’s loyal. I guess that sometimes all of the work that I do gets to me and the idea of having to find a new act with such short notice has me all worried. Don’t worry, once I sort this out I’ll go and find Pluto and we can have a nice chat. Now why don’t you go sort out table 7 before we have another food fight on our hands.”

***

Whilst the Club was running, Pluto had found himself in the alleyway behind the House of Mouse. There he found out that he wasn’t alone when he found a very familiar large cat in the middle of concocting his latest scheme.

“Oooh these poisoned apples sure are great,” Pete grinned as he walked around with a basket of bright red apples, not knowing that he was being spied on, “I can’t believe that there was a whole pile of them right in the villain vault. With Mickey and the gang out cold, I could walk right in and take over the House of Mouse.”

Pluto ran back towards the back entrance of the club, yapping at the locked stage doors. Feeling a chill go up his spine, he turned around to see Pete looming over him with a sinister grin.

“So,” Pete snarled at his quivering figure, “someone is spying on old Pete, eh? Don’t you know what happens to misbehaving cat-chasing mutts? They get sent to Katmandu!”

And with that, the burly landlord grabbed him by the collar and flung him into a box that he shut closed and threw into a post van. He let out booms of evil laughter as he watched the vehicle peel away.

****

“How about we check out this Goofy cartoon?” Mickey gave his audience a grin.

“This one stars me and you” Goofy said to Louie the mountain lion as the toon was projected onto the screen.

During the break, Mickey, Minnie and Yuu had returned to their dressing rooms to find an apple waiting for them on their dressing tables.

“‘For Minnie, the apple of my eye’,” Minnie read the note tied to her gift’s stem with a giggle, hugging the apple close to her cheeks, “He’s the best.”

Mickey looked down at the note that was placed onto his plate of apple-shaped cheese, “‘For Mickey, fresh apple cheese. Love, Minnie.’ Aww, she’s so sweet.”

“For Yuu,” Yuu glanced at the card that was kept next to her apple, “‘make sure to have a snack during your break. Love, the House of Mouse.’ Aww, did someone give me a gift? How nice.”

As each of them took a bite of their apples, they felt a strange feeling overcome them before unceremoniously dropping to the floor in a deep sleep.

At the same time, Donald and Daisy were manning the reception booth when a delivery man walked to the counter with a beautifully gift-wrapped box in his hands.

“Hello there,” Donald waved, “Welcome to my club.”

“I’m looking for a Donald and Daisy Duck,” the man looked at his clipboard, “I’ve got a delivery for them.”

“A delivery!” the two ducks beamed.

“That would be us, Sir,” Daisy smiled at him.

“Yeah,” Donald extended his arms out eagerly, “gimme, gimme, gimme.”

His girlfriend was quick to sign the paper on the clipboard and the box was placed on the countertop. Donald immediately began tearing the wrapping paper off and the box fell open, revealing a deliciously steaming apple pie.

“‘To Donald and Daisy’,” Daisy read the note next to the baked treat, “‘love from your biggest fan.’ Isn’t that lovely?”

The pair each took out a slice and bit into them, causing them to fall backwards into their own slumbers.

As Goofy was making his way to the kitchens from the staff room, a penguin waiter tugged on his trousers.

“Well hello there. What can I help you with, hu yuuhu?” Goofy kneeled down. The penguin handed him a silver serving dish with a lid, “for me? Aww shucks, that’s real swell of ya.”

He watched the penguin waddle off before lifting the lid and finding a bright red apple, “well, would ya look at that? An apple a day keeps the doctor away, after all.”

The head waiter took a bite and was promptly knocked out cold.

**

As the main staff found themselves fast asleep, enwrapped in Pete’s evil plan. Pluto had found a way to escape Katmandu and return to the alley way behind the club. Peeking his head out of his delivery box, he shot a concerned look at the House of Mouse and could immediately sense that something was wrong. After his attempts of opening the locked doors failed, he spotted an opening under the club’s foundation that would give him entry to the interior of the building only to find that his suspicions were true.

Huey, Duey and Louie were slumped against a large drum set, gently snoring with peaceful smiles on their faces; Goofy and his son Max were lying still on the floor, chests rising and falling with every deep breath; Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Minnie were completely dead to the world as they sat against the walls. Even Yuu was lying down on the floor of her dressing room, body motionless.

Ears perking up at the deep rumble of nearby villainous laughter, Pluto crept torwards the source of the noise to find himself right outside a room that held a very satisfied Pete, who was rubbing his hands with glee.

“I’ve never had such a magnificently evil plot,” he grinned to himself, “I better start closing this club down.”

Pluto pounced onto Pete with a snarl, before throwing him into a backstage elevator and locking him inside.

“Back from Katmandu, eh?” Pete smirked at the dog wickedly, “So what, pal? You’re too late to save your little friends, mutt. Somebody better play a cartoon otherwise the House of Mouse is finito.”

With a smile, Pluto leaped away into Horace’s booth at the control room to grab a Pluto cartoon and press it into the disk player. He zipped down, jumped onto the stage and pointed at the screen excitedly, happy to show the audience a toon where he’s the star. The club goers clapped as the projector lit up. While Pluto was making his way back to behind the stage, he found that his path had been intercepted by Grim.

“OI, PLUTO!” Grim said, “where’s my henchman? I haven’t seen her since you chased all of those cats away.”

Pluto barked in response and pointed his head in the direction of Yuu’s dressing room. Once the pair had made it there, Pluto used one of his paws to cover Grim’s mouth when it looked like the other was about to scream at the sight of the girl lying still on the floor, shaking his head and shushing him as he did so. He then showed Grim that all of the other staff members were unconscious as well.

“What is going on? Why is no one awake? Tell me,” Grim demanded.

Pluto let out a string of barks.

“Pete did it? Why I ought to curse him until he begs for forgiveness. No one messes with the Great Grim,” Pluto held onto the scruff of Grim’s neck with his mouth to prevent him from leaving and causing a scene that could disrupt the rest of the club, “oi, hey, what are you doing?”

Pluto placed him back down and barked again, letting the cat-like monster know that right now the priority is to put on a good show to make sure Pete can’t close down the club.

“Alright, but I’m staying here with my minion,” Grim huffed, “after all, she needs a mage as powerful as I am to guard her.”

 The dog nodded in reply and sauntered back. By the time Pluto had returned to the dining room, the audience were clapping at the now ended cartoon.

“Oh, those kittens were just so adorable,” Lumiere gushed, clapping his candle hands together in delight.

"Hmm, yes," Beast agreed, three adorable little kittens happily resting in his large paws, “they are adorable.”

“Nice try, muttface,” Pete provoked Pluto, who had gone to where the landlord was being confined to brag about his success, “but the show won’t be going on since you chased away the kitty musical act remember? Now let me out of here!”

“No way!” Grim yelled back, startling the two as he seemed to appear out of nowhere, “You will never be let out and we do have a musical act. Tonight, I shall give you all the honour of watching me perform.”

Pluto barked at him.

“What, ‘no’?” Grim gasped in outrage, “I’ll have you know that the Great Grim is the best entertainment you could ask for. They’ll be begging me to get back on the stage.”

“Woof.”

 “What do you mean I’ll sound like nails on a chalkboard? I am a talented musical genius. You wouldn’t know taste if it came and-”

“This is fun to watch and all but until the audience gets entertainment, the show can’t go on. Unless you get on that stage, mutt?” Pete asked sarcastically.

Pluto lit up and ran onto the stage.

“I gotta stop giving that dog ideas.” Pete glowered.

Grim glared back at him, “you really do.”

Pluto let out a few excited barks at the audience, his tail wagging enthusiastically behind him.

“That’s right folks,” Microphone Mike announced, “our special guests are none other than: the Pet Shop Dogs.”

The audience applauded as the spotlights revealed an assortment of different dogs that were previously seated with the other clientele. Grim pouted from where he was snuggled up against Yuu’s sleeping form when he saw Pluto conducting the dogs into a song, “those mutts have nowhere near half of the magnificence of the Great Grim. Wait a minute, I have an idea.”

“Mama, Papa,” Lucky the dalmatian puppy yipped excitedly at his parents upon seeing his brothers bark on stage, “look at Patch and Rolly!”

“I always knew my pups would be stars,” Pongo remarked with pride as Perdita smiled adoringly at her family.

Penny, who was curled up next to Pongo, scrunched up her nose as she looked at her father with concern, “hey, where’s Yuu? She’d love to watch this.”

 When the song came to the close, the dogs on stage barked happily at the clapping and cheering they were rewarded with.

“Where’s my tailor when I need him,” Cruella groaned and slammed her table with a fist.

“Oooh, that was very almost musical,” Pete teased back when the dog had returned backstage, “maybe I’ll hire you when I take over this dump because after the apples I gave them, your friends ain’t never gonna wake up!”

“So that’s what happened,” a sweet voice called out, it’s angelic lilt interrupting Pete’s gloating laughter like a beam of light cuts through darkness. Both Pluto and Pete turned towards its source to find Princess Snow White standing at the doorway, Grim sitting comfortably in her arms, “Grim told me that Yuu was in trouble. That must be why everyone’s asleep. They were all tricked into eating poisoned apples.”

Pluto nodded as Grim turned to look at the fair princess, “do you know how to wake them up?”

Snow White smiled down at him and gave a soft laugh, “Of course I do.” She turned to Pluto, “to wake up your friends, all you need is to give them a kiss.”

Pluto barked happily as he made his way to his friends, giving each of them sloppy kisses all over their faces. Before he could make his way to Yuu, though, Grim had jumped out of Snow White’s arms and stood infront of his fellow Ramshackle dorm member, extending out his paws as if shielding her from him

“Wait a minute!” Grim yelled at Pluto, “You ain’t getting your lips anywhere near my henchman. If anyone’s gonna be waking her up it’s me!”

Pluto rolled his eyes and scoffed when Grim had turned around and placed a kiss on Yuu’s forehead. This caused Yuu to shift slightly, rolling over as she groggily flickered her eyes open in confusion, “wha-what happened?”

“Minion!” Grim yelled happily and jumped onto her chest, nuzzling her face with his. Yuu blinked in perplexity and hugged him.

“Gee, I had this crazy dream that Pluto kept the show going,” Mickey scratched his head in bewilderment as Yuu began to sit up.

“I did too,” Minnie said.

“It wasn’t a dream,” Snow White smiled, petting Pluto’s head, “Pluto saved the day.”

“Pluto that’s amazing,” Yuu beamed, she extended an arm as an invitation for Pluto to join in on the hug. The dog yipped happily and bounced onto her, making her laugh as he joyfully licked all over her face, “Aww, I love you too, boy.”

“I had a dream a doggy was kissing me,” Goofy laughed as Donald gagged.

“Henchman, what about me?” Grim whined, “I’m the one that woke you up. Shouldn’t I get praised as well?”

“Oh, Pluto,” Minnie smiled, walking to where Yuu was hugging the smug dog and giving him a few pets to his head, “I’m so proud of you.”

 Pluto held his head high.

Later, after Mickey had introduced another cartoon to the guests, Yuu, Grim and the Sensational Six had gathered together behind the stage as a congratulations ceremony for their hero.

“Pluto, for single handedly stopping Pete, keeping the show going and saving the House of Mouse, I hereby promote you to the rank of official certified, authorized, deputized, accredited and with all access to the club granted ‘Pluto Assistant’,” Minnie announced, placing his headgear on the dog’s head with the gravitas of a Queen knighting him.

“Attaboy, Pluto,” Mickey ruffled his head as Yuu cheered and clapped behind him.

“And I thought that it would be easier around here without you,” Minnie laughed at her former self’s words.

“Three cheers for Pluto,” Yuu toasted and Donald, Daisy and Goofy cheered and danced with her.

“Where’s the Great Grim’s reward?” Grim griped to Yuu, “I did help too, you know.”

Yuu sighed, “I’ll make you an extra plate of tuna pie.”

“That’s a start,” he hmphed at her, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. She gave him a smile and picked him up, ignoring his demands to be put down as she hugged him and pecked his forehead. “Wha-hey! What was that?”

“A kiss,” she retorted.

“Disgusting. Do it again.”

“Remember, Pluto,” Mickey smirked, pointing at Pete with his thumb, “there’s only one cat you’re allowed to chase.”

Pete gripped onto the bars of his cage, “and who might that be, pray tell?”

“It better not be me,” Grim huffed at his dorm mate.

Pluto strolled to the wall next to Pete and used his tail to release the large cat from his confinement. Pete’s face slackened in shock and fear as the doors slid open, causing Pluto’s fellow canine friends to run towards him, barking in delight as they jumped on him. Pluto sat back and watched them with smug satisfaction before Pete ran out with his clothes ripped from the roughhousing and he too wanted to join in on the fun of chasing him.

“Alright gang,” Mickey said to Minnie and Yuu, taking no notice of the sound of Pete’s screams, “we’d best get back out there and continue the show.”

“You got it, Mickey,” Yuu saluted him and the night continued as normally a night at the House of Mouse could be.

Now all she had to do was dissuade a bunch of unhappy customers from getting revenge on her behalf.

HA! THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! SEE YOU COOL CATS REAL SOON!