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abcwordsurge · 6 months ago

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hi bee my buddy bee! can you kinassign ninjago characters to some wttt characters? like which character is like who. i havent watched ninjago since i was a little kid,, so i cant remember much but id love you to tell me about it :^]

the absolute delight I felt when I saw this ask was incredible. I had a long car drive this afternoon (well, as of the time of posting, yesterday) and thinking about this ask was the perfect way to spend it. of course, now it's time to write down all those thoughts. this is going to get LONG. (if you want to hear about ninjago, then, heh, you came to the right place.) I'll put it all under a cut. first, though, you are absolutely wonderful and thank you so much for this ask :]

gonna go in order of when I thought of them. which means, first up is my favorite ninja!

Nya - Rhode Island

the most obvious reason for this connection is the mutual hot headedness. they are both so quick to anger, and both tend to hold grudges for far longer than is normal.

but it's more than that. both of them feel an urge to compensate for what they perceive as a disadvantage. for Rhodey, of course, it's his height. (he is, as always, very self conscious about his height.) for Nya, it's her gender. I mean, she spent four seasons being excluded from the other ninja for her gender, and for plenty of the other seasons, she was still pushed to the sidelines. of course she has a little bit of internalized misogyny. (side note- I do think that's why she seems so determined to not enjoy traditionally "feminine" things. because she thinks it makes her weak. I'd actually love to write a fic where she goes on a girl's day out with Pixal and Skylor and learns to respect feminity and start dealing with her internalized misogyny. but anyway.)

last thing for this duo: Nya is, of course, the master of water, and Rhodey is the ocean state. it's just perfect

Kai - Ohio

the best description I've ever seen of Kai was something along the lines of "he's not hot headed so much as he is reckless and in a bit of a rush." Ohio is much the same. he's called the Florida of the midwest, but he can't quite reach the levels of chaos that Florida sets. he's just... reckless and in a bit of a rush.

beyond that, both of them are definitely comic relief sorts of characters. both are goofy and a little airheaded, and both are pretty intense in a very amusing way. still, both are very friendly and like to be around people (even if they tend to be somewhat overbearing, and tease people more than they might like)

and I would be remiss not to mention their mutual pyromania. that's half the reason I thought of them as a duo so quickly.

Cole - Loui

this one's pretty straightforward. they're both very relaxed and down to earth (cough cough master of earth cough). they're both loyal to a fault. although reasonable on their own, if they have the right partner, they can be quite chaotic. for Loui, that partner would be, of course, Florida. for Cole, it could really be any of the other ninja in the right circumstances- but the first to come to mind is Jay. (or maybe Kai. it depends.)

they also both love food. for Loui, this manifests more as making and sharing food. for Cole, it's more so... eating food. (he has tried, countless times, to cook for his friends, but it never goes well. Zane has all but banned him from the kitchen.)

Faith - New York

interestingly enough, this is the only pair on this list where I thought of the state first, then came up with a connecting ninjago character. now, Faith is a very minor character, so just so you know, she's a dragon hunter in season nine.

she and York both have massive anger issues, and tend to take them out physically (either by yelling / making general sounds of annoyance, or by kicking things around). they're both quite gruff, pretty no nonsense, don't take crap, etc. neither of them are very friendly, but they're competent, and useful to have around. good people at heart, but it takes a while to get to that heart.

Harumi - Nevada

this started as "they're both attractive and they know it." both absolutely have the potential to be villains. it's realized for Harumi, but for Nevada it's more of a theoretical "what if they got bitter at their unfair treatment and to 'fix' things they burned down the entire nation." they're both good actors, and good liars.

the biggest reason I kinassigned them, though, is because in the end, they'd both follow orders. for Harumi, this happens in season fifteen. she always seems to end up in a spot where her freedom is dependent upon doing what's told of her. as for Nevada, well. we've seen it in their joining the table video. they literally have to do what Gov says.

Jay - Cali

both of them will talk your ear off if given the chance. I feel like both tend to feel like outsiders, both are desperate to be liked and feel like part of the team, and both are kinda losers (/aff).

Jay is very quick to share what he's feeling, and his attitude is very much "if I think it, you hear it." Cali is this way too, in a sense, though usually it's more facts and correcting other people for Cali. but the main point is that they're both certified yappers.

Pixal - Iowa

I absolutely love both of these characters, and both of them are very underrated. they both tend to blur into the background, and they're far too easy to ignore. (which makes sense for Iowa, since there are fifth states and Ben can't exactly give all of them all of his attention, but Pixal? come on, ninjago writers, you can at least pretend to care about her existence.)

however, when they do show up, both of them are genuinely very nice, both are dedicated and detail-oriented, and if given the chance, both can be quite sassy. ("every part of me is annoyed!" is a Pixal line that lives in my head rent free. I love her.)

Wyldfyre - Massachusetts

when I started this list, I told myself, "no dragons rising characters," in a useless attempt to not be writing till the sun goes down. but come on. this is just too perfect. both of them are energetic and kinda rude and very impatient, both of them are loud and obnoxious at times (/aff), and both of them are far too eager to start a war.

the real thing though? both of them care so, so much about their family. for Mass, that's the northeast (especially Maine and New York come to mind- "no one gets to kill you but me" is an iconic protective Mass quote). for Wyldfyre, that's Kai and Heatwave. (side note- Kai and Wyldfyre are The duo ever, they're so cute together. if you don't know who they are, I want to be clear, it's like a father daughter dynamic ((Wyldfyre is WAY younger than Kai)), and it's hilarious.)

Skylor - Arizona

both are hot, though with Arizona it's temperature, and with Skylor it's, well, look at her. also don't tell me Ari wouldn't have hair just like Skylor's. he would love that long red ponytail look.

also, both are very dangerous. Arizona has his rough terrain and all the animals and cacti that want to kill you, and Skylor has super op powers (they had to change the conditions of her powers in the later seasons because otherwise there wouldn't be any drama- Skylor would just win the war all by herself). however, despite what they could do to either hurt or help people, I think if given the chance, both would be totally chill and, I dunno, run a noodle shop for the rest of their life. and y'know what? love that for them.

Zane - Alaska

ok, last one, finally. I at first saw the connection between these two that they are both very cold. they're both quite reasonable and intelligent, not to mention large and basically indestructible. (has anyone counted how many times Zane has died so far? seven, maybe? and he's still kicking!)

in a bit deeper sense, though, they're both outsiders. for Alaska, this is, of course, due to geography. for Zane, it's because he's a nindroid, and despite his best efforts, he doesn't quite understand what it's like to be human. they are different in that Alaska tries to avoid the others and Zane tries to understand and be a part of the others, but nonetheless.

alright! this is far, far from a comprehensive list. I didn't do all of the characters- hell, I didn't even do all of the main characters. but that is all of the strong connections I can make between characters, and besides, I think this post is long enough haha. this was so fun to answer, thank you so much for asking this, you are incredible <3 /p

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gay-jewish-bucky · 2 months ago

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image id for this post under cut

tags:

repeating what i said earlier today on another post idgaf

if we weren't jewish if israel wasn't the jewish country there would be SIGNIFICANTLY less holocaust comparisons

there still would be because goyim looove to use the holocaust as a political token but not nearly as much

because they love holocaust inversion. they love comparing the Bad JewsTM to the nazis because it's satisfying and ironic to them.

they love their new hyperfixation in which the oppressed good guys become just like the bad guys who wanted to destroy them

such good writing! what a compelling narrative!

and they do it specifically to provoke us and to evoke strong emotions in themselves

because they love raging

they love getting into the high of spewing the vilest hatred and feeling so intensely now that there are finally acceptable targets #the whole "jews is the new nazis" thing is so exciting for them #because they're miserable losers who don't do anything fulfilling in their lives and treat world tragedies as trends

when you're talking with a leftist antisemite using this brand of holocaust inversion remember that

remember that you're better than them and remember that when peace will be achieved

they'll be throwing a temper tantrum because the movie didn't end with the Bad GuysTM the New NazisTM being defeated

article:

First, they weaponize the greatest Jewish trauma against Jewish people. As the Marxist political theorist Norm Geras put it, "To say to Jews that what they are doing is just like what the Nazis did to them is to appeal to the comparison that is most hateful." There is no better way to hurt someone than to fashion their most painful experience into a club with which to beat them. It's not hard to imagine how turning the Holocaust on Jewish people, like turning slavery on Black people, provides a delicious transgressive thrill.

Second, casting Jews as the perpetrators of a new, fictitious Holocaust frees non-Jews from the obligation to learn the lessons of the actual Holocaust. "For thousands of years, for much of the world, part of the cultural patrimony enjoyed by all non-Jews - spiritual and secular, Church and Mosque, enlightenment and romantic, European and Middle Eastern — was the unquestionable right to stand superior over Jews," the University of California at Berkeley's David Schraub wrote in 2016. "It was that right which the Holocaust took away, or at least called into question: the unthinking faith of knowing you were the more enlightened one, the spiritually purer one, the more rational one, the dispenser of morality rather than the object of it."

In a masterful maneuver of moral jujitsu, pinning genocide on the Jews allows the bigot to swipe the "Holocaust card" and play it against them. The victims are transformed into perpetrators, and their judgment is called into question. "Many people deeply resent the Jews for what Auschwitz took away from them - the easy knowledge that their vantage point was elevated over and superior to that of the Jews,” notes Schraub. "The desire to neuter the Holocaust is a desire to return to that old state of affairs."

This ominous outcome is why it is a mistake to dismiss efforts to fabricate a Jewish genocide as merely marginal or inconsequential. Fundamentally, the impulse to hang the Holocaust on the Jews is an attempt to return humanity to where it was before the Holocaust - which enables such things to happen again.

After all, making the Jews guilty of genocide doesn't just obviate non- Jewish guilt for permitting Jewish genocide. It also justifies the next Jewish genocide.

#personcole

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scaryarcade · 2 years ago

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i hate this damn post so much and it showed up on my dash recently so i need to rant a little bit about the parts that bother me the most lol. putting it under a cut because it's not the prettiest or most well-constructed argument i've ever made, i mostly just want to be a bitch about it.

almost cult-like in what way, lmao??? all the preceding sentence describes is...someone being attached to a community they like and feel valued in. following that up with "eww, culty, right?" is just weird fearmongering. also, why wouldn't this hypothetical person look any further? in what plural circles are you witnessing anybody be anything less than wildly supportive of self-exploration??? really the fearmongering about cults is what squicks me out here though lol you can't just say shit like that without an actual argument to support it

this conjecture is so fucking stupid i don't even know where to begin. where is proof for any of this? do you actually think endogenic plurality research has more funding than research on dissociative disorders? do you think even if that were the case that would be endogenics' fault or responsibility??? i dare you to point out anything, anywhere, indicating the endogenic community has any kind of collective opinion on how DID treatment should work. it would sure be weird if they did because most people who do not perceive their plurality as disordered therefore aren't looking for treatment for it!

i mean, yeah, you're just describing an unwillingness to work on a symptom, you've very nicely made it look like there's a correlation with iding as plural here but there really isn't. if someone who IDs as plural thinks they can get away with "my alter is just an asshole" then that person would be just as likely to use the logic "i'm just an asshole" if they didn't. "well, somebody COULD use [x] to avoid working on their problems!" is not an indictment of [x] because people can use literally anything to do that.

ok im just going to be a huge bitch here and get on my antipsych high horse a little bit but LOOOOOOL. LMAOOOO. oh noooooo...ND/MI people supporting each other and creating resources for each other instead of revering the psych industry above all else...ahhh so scary!!! Somebody do something!!!

could not disagree more! i'm diagnosed with DID, i experience complex dissociation and posttraumatic stress symptoms that inform literally every area of my life, AND I STILL find a lot of common ground with endogenics/nondisordered plurals and have learned a lot from them and been helped significantly by what i've learned :thumbsup:

anyway this post sucks, i think it's full of fearmongering and bad faith arguments. i also think fearmongering is something this particular user is really good at along with sounding like they're making clever and insightful points when what they're saying doesn't actually have any weight behind it, and their determination to villainize endogenics (and their attempts to paint them as a group with some kind of significant societal power???) is alarming. don't like to see that.

#syscourse #abyssposting

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veilkeeper · 11 months ago

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I HADN'T SEEN YOU REBLOGIGNG THAT ASK GAME!

ok so. one moment while i throw all of these at you, there will be two of these.

firstly for Roz (my beloved): 3 + 10 + 13 + 20 + 23 + 26 + 32 (im curious about the burn scars) and 48 <3

(consider the amount of questions payback, lov u <3)

oh... the quencies.... (im delighted) okay this one might take awhile

(questions from here)

3. What is your character’s moral alignment?

true neutral leaning to neutral good. they make most of their decisions from the "what benefits me/the people i care about the most" viewpoint with a little bit of the caveat "without needlessly fucking over random people"

10. If your Tav didn’t become an adventurer, what else would they be doing?

the last time they were in faerun they were making a living as a bounty hunter/contract killer in baldur's gate. they were good at it. so probably that!

13. How does your Tav fight in a combat situation?

in game mechanically a lot of their time is spent using ensnaring strike on an enemy and then shooting them until that guy is dead, rinse and repeat until the encounter ends. occasionally they'll also pop divine favour for some extra radiant damage, or cast shield of faith. in my mind palace where roz is allowed to be a powerful scion even before the tadpole, they do that but with a hefty dose of "also i can light you on fire with my mind <3"

(putting the rest under the cut)

20. If you’re romancing anyone, why did your Tav fall for them? And why did that character fall for your Tav?

ive talked about this a little bit before, but initially roz was not falling for astarion. it was like, "okay yeah we'll sleep together because you want to and i dont really care." but eventually, as roz got to start seeing a more genuine side of astarion and he started to really... mean the things he was saying to them, it became a lot more about "i think i can care about you, and maybe... just maybe... you could care about me?" and that's the sort of thing that shakes roz to their core. and coincidentally, astarion kind of goes through the same thing.

23. What is your Tav’s favorite moment they’ve had with their lover?

not you sending me questions that are making me go (*/ω＼*) in real life... okay with halsin i hc back in the shadow cursed lands that he would turn into his bear form and let roz sit up cozy against him because they are always cold (they are a toothpick) and i think that was just... really nice for them. with astarion.... i think the first time they end up in roz's tent together without any blood-drinking or sex. without even the suggestion of it. that's when it first hits for roz that this might actually be about more than a transaction, so that's their favourite moment.

26. What is the most prominent color in your Tav’s color scheme?

answered here!

32. How did your Tav get their scars, if they have any?

i promised id wait for this information to be ASKED for so here we go. basically i hc that roz was from a really small creche and when they were young-ish (10-12) a training raid drew a little too much attention and the creche was attacked. and well... you know how ive said before that they arent a very good githyanki? when their creche started to burn, instead of taking up arms, they hid. everyone in that creche had either told them they should be culled or had tried to cull them, so they didn't really care if the place fell apart. however, while they were hiding, a pile of burning debris fell on them, fucking up a lot of their right side. they managed to escape the creche and do-gooder types who had no idea what was happening saw a dying kid and dragged them to the nearest temple of lathander, and the rest is history.

48. Where does your Tav feel most at home?

not to be so so so so so sappy, but whenever they get to cuddle astarion. dont tell him this, but he's kind of. everything to them.

#asks #bg3 #thankieeee these were so fun to answer lov u too #oc: roz

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the--book--of--love · 1 year ago

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I can never find lists of journal prompts I like or that resonate with me, so I made this list using my Spotify as inspiration. If this gets any traction, I'll do the same thing next month, but below the cut is a list for June.

Cheer Up Baby- Inhaler

What’s the mood for this month? How are you going to create positive growth?

2. It Won’t Always Be Like This- Inhaler

What are you trying to move past? How are you doing that and how is it going?

3. Ribs- Lorde

How do you feel about growing up/getting older?

4. Cheeseburger in Paradise- Jimmy Buffett

How do you approach food and eating? What shaped your approach?

5. Ease Up Kid- Hippo Campus

What makes you anxious? How do you cope with that? Where do you find comfort?

6. Four Out Of Five- Arctic Monkeys

What are you learning about right now? What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned so far?

7. Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)- The 1975

How do you know when it’s time to move on from something?

8. UGH!- The 1975

What’s something you could never give up, good or bad?

9. Who’s Your Money On (Plastic House)- Inhaler

When things get tough, who do you turn to? Why?

10. Take It Easy- Eagles

Do you have plans to take a break soon? What are they? If not, make some!

11. Sincerity is Scary- The 1975

Do you have trouble being sincere or open with people? Why?

12. Graceland Too- Phoebe Bridgers

Have you ever just started over? How did it go? If you haven’t, have you thought about it? What would you do? Why?

13. Sculptures of Anything Goes- Arctic Monkeys

What’s your creative hobby? Why do you like and what are you working on? If you don’t have one, what would you like to start doing? What’s stopping you? Make a plan to do something creative.

14. This Charming Man- The Smiths

Do you have a partner? How do you or would you show them you love them? Make a plan for a date night.

15. If I Believe You- The 1975

Do you worship/what do you have deep faith in? Why?

16. Ketchum, ID- Boygenius

How important is place to you? Is there somewhere that will always be home?

17. Chason Pour Les Petits Enfants- Jimmy Buffett

What is a cherished childhood memory? Why? How do you connect to your inner child?

18. Pressure- The 1975

What kind of pressure do you put yourself under? How might you be kinder to yourself?

19. Happiness- The 1975

What makes you happy?

20. These Are the Days- Inhaler

What’s getting you out of bed in the morning? What’s going well right now?

21. Give Me a Try- The Wombats

What have you always wanted to try but haven’t? What’s stopping you?

22. A Change of Heart- The 1975

How forgiving are you? What would it take for you to have a change of heart about someone or something?

23. Guys- The 1975

How do you show your friends you love them? Make a plan to do something fun with your friends.

24. Why Are Sunday so Depressing?- The Strokes

How do you/do you reset for the week? What does that look like? Make or update a weekly/monthly reset plan.

25. No. 1 Party Anthem- Arctic Monkeys

How do you connect with other people?

26. Frail State of Mind- The 1975

How do you take care of yourself when you’re having bad mental health days? Make or update a plan you can fall back on for bad days.

27. Death of an Unpopular Poet- Jimmy Buffett

Do you have a to-read list and what’s on it? What are your favorite pieces of literature, both poetry and prose? Why?

28. Listen to Your Friends- Declan McKenna

Do you take advice or criticism well? How might you receive it better?

29. The Weight- The Band

What have you been carrying with you that you need to let go of? How might you let go or forgive yourself?

30. Walk of Life- Dire Straits

What’s going on next month? Set your goals/intentions/plans for July.

#journal prompts #wellness #that girl

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animaginaryartblog · 2 years ago

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Hello there! I'm Grace, aka AnImaginaryColor. You can call me Imaginary or Grace, I'm not picky. I'm a young Christian woman with a passion for storytelling - written, drawn, and hopefully, someday, even animated! Of course, you're probably not here to read a lengthy bio, so I'll put that under the cut and get right to the goods.

[Image ID can be found in alt and in the original post, here: https://www.tumblr.com/animaginaryartblog/730474364565405696/two-versions-of-a-digital-painting-of-blaze-the?source=share&ref=_tumblr]

This blog is safe for work and (mostly) clean. All my content is at most PG-13, always swear-free, and never sexual. Posts I reblog may occasionally have swear words or heavier content, but typically they match my own content (and again, nothing sexual). I'm working on writing up image IDs for all the art I've posted; I'm new to the practice, so lemme know if I'm getting anything wrong!

Primary fandoms: Sonic, my own (unpublished rip) books, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rise of the TMNT

Primary tags:

My art - all art (that's been posted on Tumblr) by yours truly. my art can also be found on DeviantArt, Twitter, and Instagram.

My writing - that's right, it's words! by me!!! mostly fanfiction. all fanfiction. my fics can also be found on Archive of Our Own and Fanfiction.net.

My sketches - rough sketches and WIPs

Other people's art - reblogs of art by other people that I think is cool

Not art - everything that isn't art (like this post!)

Still here? Great, I'm gonna ramble. I'm a hobbyist artist, primarily self-taught and very reliant on internet tutorials. I started out in traditional art, but nowadays I'm almost entirely digital. Most of my drawings are created using Procreate on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil.

I draw a mix of fan art and original content; I'm also an aspiring writer (I started writing books long before I started seriously learning to draw), and I'll often draw character and creature designs from my various projects. In the fan realm, I primarily draw Sonic fan art (especially Blaze, I love she), with occasional sprinklings of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Ninja Turtles, and whatever else strikes my fancy. also AUs. a lot of AUs.

The content of this blog is entirely safe for work and clean. I try to keep everything PG-13 at the most (I have younger brothers, after all). As mentioned before, I am Christian; I believe the universe was created by a just and loving God, that He sent His son to die and be raised again in order that we might be saved, and that the Bible is the inspired word of God. My faith influences everything I do, and I am always seeking how to better live as an ambassador of God's Kingdom. I stumble, frequently, and I definitely don't have all the answers, but the goal is always Jesus.

All that to say, I don't bite! I may be socially awkward, a little timid, and have a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, but I'm always open to making new friends and learning new things. I hope you enjoy your visit and have a lovely day!

#not art #about me #christianity #artists on tumblr #meet the artist #i don't really need to put a lot of tags on this #it's just so i can actually have a designated pinned post instead of just whatever art piece #giving this blog a veneer of professionalism it absolutely does not deserve #imaginary ramblings

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shihalyfie · 3 years ago

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What Crest-related trait do you think is each of the Main 12’s weakest?

Sorry for taking so long on this! I had to really sit down and think about this one really hard, because there's a lot of nuances to unpack and I had to spend some time thinking about it. I really, really appreciate the fact you specified "weakest" and not something like "worst" or "absent" because, really, these kids were all good kids who probably had all of the relevant traits to some degree, it's just that certain ones are stronger than others, or, perhaps a better way to put it, certain ones are ones they prioritize in life more than others.

Full details under the cut!

Taichi: I'm gonna go with Kindness for this one, and in that I mean its more literal definition of "gentleness". Because Taichi's definitely a nice kid who cares about others, but the part about being soft with others (and especially with, uh, certain fragile objects too)...maybe not so much. He mellows out a lot between Adventure and 02, but he's still more on the rough side in general.

Yamato: Faith (or however you want to translate Jou's at this point), not necessarily because Yamato doesn't have loyalty to others, but because the Crest implication has to do with loyalty to things like honor codes and kept promises, which Yamato, who's more of an id-based person, doesn't really live by as much.

Sora: Purity, mainly because of its nuance of being true to one's own feelings and not having malice or subversive intentions, and Sora's the one with the most complicated tendency to not be honest with herself (about herself) or to not really be sure about her own motives for doing things.

Koushirou: Probably Love, specifically going by the literal meaning "affection". I mean, Koushirou loves other people and all that, but his way of showing that isn't necessarily something that you would call particularly doting or in much of a soft manner.

Mimi: Possibly Courage; of course, Adventure is mostly about her gaining more resolve to stand up against difficult odds, but although she certainly becomes better at handling it, even all the way to 02 she'd obviously prefer pacifist solutions and is most emotionally affected by adversity.

Jou: Possibly Friendship. Not because he doesn't cherish his friends, of course! But taking the nuance of Friendship in terms of "camaraderie and choosing to leave things in others' hands when necessary", Jou has the strongest sense of desire to be able to do things independently, sometimes to the point of taking too many burdens onto himself.

Takeru: Purity, no question about it. Kid has an unfortunate penchant for being the most dishonest about his own feelings, to the point it's ambiguous how much he even understands his own feelings in the situation.

Hikari: Hikari is tricky because her behavior varies between when it's something about herself versus when it's something to do with others, because in the latter case she'll be plenty assertive, brave, and proactive, but when it's about herself she suddenly finds herself unable to do anything. Given that, I would say it's arguably Friendship in a sense -- because she struggles with coming to terms with the idea of relying on others and trusting them with her feelings.

Daisuke: Probably Knowledge. I know this might get taken as "because he's an idiot", but it's not meant this way; it's because Knowledge is mainly assigned the nuance of "wanting to know more", which Daisuke isn't really. In general, he dislikes overthinking things more than is necessary, and is satisfied with what he has to work with. Not that he enjoys being ignorant, but he lives by the philosophy of "better to not think about unnecessary things".

Ken: Possibly Hope, as someone who's seen the deep end and is still climbing out of it. I mean, of course, the point is that the 02 group helps him have a bit more of it, but even during Diablomon Strikes Back he's the first to start considering "it's over..."

Miyako: I'd say probably Courage, as someone who's one of the first to emotionally panic and freak out the moment things really look like they're about to go south. Perhaps you could say it's the same reason as Mimi.

Iori: Love. Again, considering that the literal definition of the word is "affection", and Iori...affection...uh...well...yeah. (He's still on his way to figuring that part out.)

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #ree-fireparrot #shiha's ask box

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lilbabycee · 4 years ago

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bunny // steve rogers (part one) 🐰

READ PART TWO

↳ summary: the reader finds herself in a little bit of trouble... financially. enter steve rogers.

↳ relationship: soft dark!steve rogers x brat!reader

↳ word count: 5.6k

↳ warnings: sugar baby au, eventual dark steve, daddy kink, eventual smut, mentions of substance abuse, unhealthy coping mechanisms + relationships, the reader is rich and a little bit of a bitch

↳ author’s note: i started writing this series ages ago but i’m thinking that maybe posting it on here will give me the inspiration to continue! please enjoy! ❤️

chapter one: you expensive you know that?

—

" you expensive, you know that?

i'm high-maintenance a little but not in a, not in a negative way

i just like extremely expensive things"

- faithful, drake

—

“But Daddy-!”

“No, absolutely not,” your father shuts you down without hesitation which immediately makes your eyes water.

“Please, I promise I won’t do it again-”

“That’s what you said the last time,” he reminds you nonchalantly and you can hear the rapid clicking of a keyboard in the background of the call. He’s not even paying full attention to you, likely still working on whatever the CEO of a multi- billion dollar corporation needs to work on.

“But I’m serious this time!” you insist, cocking a hip and tapping your acrylics loudly on the top of your marble kitchen counter. “You know what I’m like - I swear I’ll do better this time-”

“Nope,” his hard tone cuts you off as you hear his office phone ring. He sighs loudly over the receiver which makes your heart fall. “Look, honey-”

You know what’s coming and you can’t even try to stop it.

“-I’ve got another call coming in. I’m not sending you another dime until you can prove to me that you have the ability to be financially independent. I didn’t pay for all of those expensive private schools so that you could sit on your ass all day and blow my money like it’s in endless supply. You have all the necessary credentials to go and get a well-paying job, so go get one, goddammit. And please call your mother - she’s been trying to call you all day. Neither of us have any time left to entertain your little addictions nor your blatant disregard for the hard work that we’ve put in to get you where you are today.

“You’ve proven to me before that you are grossly incapable of doing even the simplest of tasks, so don’t let me down with this one,” he sighs loudly. “Sometimes, I wish you were more like my colleagues’ kids - they’re doctors and lawyers but all you are is ungrateful. I’ve really gotta take this call,” he says your name sternly which makes you tap your nails even faster. “Do as you’re told for once in your damn life.”

“Daddy-!” you borderline shriek once more before the phone clicks and he’s off attending to more important business.

You don’t even realize that you’re pouting until your lips start to tremble, nor do you realize how much his words have gotten to you until you touch your cheek gently with your fingertips and they come back wet and glistening like gold in the warm light of day.

Maybe he’s right. You’ve been living in this penthouse for the past year without having to worry about anything. You loved it when you attended the first viewing, mainly because of the huge windows, three bedrooms and bathrooms (that you definitely don’t need because you live alone), the open plan, spacious kitchen and living areas, and the fact that all of your neighbors are either famous or excessively wealthy like you. You saw the acquirement of this apartment as a prime opportunity to further climb the social ladder, not that it’s really all that hard for you considering the fact that your father is one of the richest people in not only New York but the entire country. But you’d lived in Italy for a year prior to moving back to New York and upon your return to the USA, you decided that you really wanted to re-establish a name for yourself here, of course with the help of your father. He bought the penthouse almost the moment that you said you had your eye on it, and he just kind of…left you here. He’s only come to visit a handful of times since you bought it two years ago, though your mother has been over far more frequently to your utter dismay.

You inhale deeply through your nose, your eyelash extensions fluttering dramatically against your cheekbones. Grabbing your phone - the newest iPhone that you bought after you broke your other one at your friend Peter’s party - you sulk over to one of your ridiculously overpriced couches and fall dramatically - but not dramatically enough to crease the material of your latest drunk purchase, a white Gucci jumpsuit - on top of all your throw pillows, the picture of a damsel in distress. Your freshly manicured toes - painted white yesterday - curl into the softness of it as you huff, dabbing delicately at your face again to rid yourself of any traces of sadness before thinking about what the hell you’re going to do next.

Yes, you have a savings account that is far more than enough for you and your grandchildren’s grandchildren to live lavish lives and while that’s all well and good, even you know that you probably shouldn’t spend that... but it’d have to do until you found another way to get your money. With that, you shrug noncommittally and your face ID unlocks your phone so that you can start your newest endeavor - buying one of everything off of Alexander Wang.

Sure, you should be proactive and take initiative to finally take the steps to distance yourself from your parents, but you’ve only just had your twentieth birthday. After graduating from high school at fifteen - yes, fifteen: your parents really pushed you, to say the least, and it helped that you were naturally intelligent beyond the capabilities of even the nation’s best high school teachers - you started your undergraduate at Harvard in the fall and finished at eighteen. You took what you dubbed an ‘extended summer vacation’ - hence Italy - and now you’re at an impasse.

Okay, admittedly your various interests - you refuse to call them addictions because they’re really not that serious - that may or may not include a wide array of party drugs and alcohol probably don’t make you the most trustworthy person in the eyes of your parents. But you’ve done everything that they’ve told you to do for the past twenty years of your life - can they blame a girl for wanting to have a little fun? A smile spreads across your face as, while scrolling, you spy the blue dad jeans that were completely out of stock just last week and quickly add them to your cart with a sense of self-satisfaction before continuing to add almost everything else to your bag. It’s not like you’re heavily dependent on anything - substance abuse is not a good look for you: it was definitely more early 2000s than now - and you only do them recreationally in social situations, so your parents really have nothing to worry about. They’re overly paranoid about you somehow tarnishing their image when in reality, your work in and outside of an academic setting has really bolstered their reputation more than they could have ever hoped for - not to toot your own metaphorical horn, but your endless philanthropic work coupled with your eagerness to “make a change” and your work in fashion has put you on the Forbes 30 Under 30 every year since you were fifteen.

You press the checkout button and your Apple Pay seamlessly completes the purchase for you: $29,000. Shrugging noncommittally, you lock your phone and stare pensively at the picturesque view of New York City outside of your window; that is until Alexa alerts you that Natasha is calling you.

Perfect timing.

Natasha’s voice echoes over the loudspeakers in the ceiling. “Hey, bunny,” she greets you and you groan loudly at the nickname, restlessly hopping up to grab a glass of water from your kitchen.

“Hey Nat,” you reply, more of a whine than anything else, and she laughs loudly at your tone.

“What happened to you? “

“Daddy cut me off,” you huff, walking to the couches in front of the TV and settling down with your glass of water. With a press of a few buttons on the universal remote, you FaceTime your best friend instead - a flash of red hair and then a blindingly white smile. She assesses you on your couch and laughs again, a full-bodied cackle that only intensifies your pout.

“It’s not funny,” you protest, although the corners of your lips are quirking up in amusement at her ridiculous laughter.

“What did I tell you?” Natasha struggles to get the words out in between chuckles. “I knew he was gonna do this-”

“Yeah, so did I, but I didn’t think he’d do it this soon-!”

“I’m surprised he didn’t do it sooner,” Natasha moves around a little before propping her phone up against her knees so that you can see her sitting comfortably in her bed. She starts picking at her own black acrylics, “and you can’t deny, bunny-”

“Don’t say I deserve this,” you narrow your eyes at her, and Natasha only sends you her signature smirk.

“I wouldn’t say you deserve it, per se,” Natasha begins, “but you’ve gotta admit,” she says your name, clearly on the verge of laughter again, “I like a party as much as the next girl, but you do go a little overboard-”

“I wouldn’t say overboard,” you insist, suddenly taking up a very keen interest in your cuticles. “Here’s what it is: Mother doesn’t like the fact that I don’t like her and Daddy’s just flat out disappointed in me for no reason-”

“-apart from the fact that you very nearly got caught doing lines of blow off of Senator Pierce’s son-”

“Shhhh,” you interrupt her, closing your eyes and pressing a finger to your lips while shaking your head, unable to fight the growing grin on your face. “That was one time-”

“You mean the one time you got caught-?”

“Yes, Natasha, that’s what I mean. Anyway - you never call me like this unless you need something - thought you were gonna text me instead. What’s up? Is it Bru-”

“Oh, no,” Natasha quickly cuts you off, her cheeks flushing red. “Bruce and I have been over for a while now-”

“You were just talking about him last week-”

“Yeah, yeah,” she deflects, tapping her fingers on her thigh. “I was actually calling to see if you wanted to go shopping for Parker’s party that’s tonight-?”

“Yes, absolutely yes - why would you even have to ask-?”

“Okay, cool,” she interrupts you, smiling toothily. “Get Jarvis to get you there by 2:30 - I wanna go to the Louis store: the summer collection just dropped-”

“Sounds perfect-”

“But one more thing,” she says your name again but in a more concerned tone. You finish your glass of water and set it on the coffee table before leaning forward slightly.

“What’s going on, Nat?”

“I’m worried about you, bunny,” both her eyes and her tone have softened drastically, making you purse your lips. “What’re you gonna do now that your dad’s not giving you any more money?”

You sigh loudly through your nose, shaking your head. “I don’t know, Nat,” you admit, snapping a hair tie against the skin of your wrist rapidly. “I’ll just have to find a job - or do more sponsorships and ads and get back into modeling and maybe actually try acting this time?”

Her green eyes pin you to your couch, even through the screen, and she scrutinizes your face for almost a full thirty seconds before scrunching up her nose and nodding hesitantly. “Alright. As long as you’re sure that you can make it work… because if not, I have an option that I think you may like…”

Your eyebrows shoot to your hairline as you motion for her to continue.

“Y’know how Wanda got really into that thing a couple of years ago?”

Your brain works overtime, trying to remember exactly what it was that Wanda was doing - all you remember is that it was fairly secretive and she didn’t tell you a lot about why she kept sneaking around.

“She was seeing that older guy,” you snap your fingers when you remember, Natasha’s slow nod confirming it, and then promptly frown because-

“What does this have to do with me?” You stare directly into Natasha’s eyes as she falters, obviously wondering if it’s too late to just backtrack altogether - yes, it is - and then she sighs.

“She wasn’t just seeing him,” your best friend starts slowly, choosing her words with great care, “she was his sugar baby.”

Now, this is news to you.

“You’re fucking with me,” you scoff in disbelief. “Wanda?”

Natasha keeps nodding, blowing her bubblegum between her rouge-painted lips until it pops with a sharp snap. “I’m serious, you can go ask her. But believe me, I was just as surprised as you when she first told me-”

“She didn’t tell me,” you murmur, something akin to betrayal burning your tear ducts. Natasha only barks out a laugh and clucks her tongue at you in a decidedly motherly way.

“Of course she didn’t tell you,” the redhead snorts, shaking her head. “She didn’t want you getting any ideas,” she says your name through a laugh, “you were - what - like eighteen two years ago? That would’ve been questionable at best -”

“But you guys didn’t know that I was gonna do anything-”

“Come on, bunny,” Natasha pins you with a look that shuts you up almost immediately. “Give us some credit - we’re not dumb and we know you-”

“Fine,” you drag out the last syllable of the word childishly. “So why mention it to me now?”

“Because you’re old enough… and in a situation where your Daddy’s not paying for any of your stuff anymore.”

You tilt your head to the side, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Yeah, okay, but I’ve got, like, a lot of other opportunities that I don’t even need to work for,” you tell her cockily, crossing your arms over your chest defensively. “Why should I take this one when I could get any other real job so easily?”

Natasha’s lips curve into that same smirk. “Because you’re a whore.”

You collapse into a fit of giggles but she’s right. Really and truly, you are - what you like to call - a self-proclaimed slut. But any woman who’s free enough in her sexuality seems to be one these days, so you own the title that’s been hurled at you like an insult for so many years. You wear it with pride... for the most part, but not too much pride because you still have parents who still - somehow - think you’re a total virgin.

(you are still a virgin but your promiscuity makes people think otherwise)

“Right,” you agree easily, tapping your nails on the arm of the couch.

“Just something for you to think about,” Natasha hums, checking the time on her watch before rubbing the sleeve of her white Balenciaga hoodie over her face “Now, leave me alone. I’ve gotta go get ready; I’ll see you in a few.”

Without any further conversation, she ends the call and leaves you laughing light-heartedly although something heavy continues to weigh on your conscience. A sugar daddy. You can’t lie to yourself and say that it’s something that you’ve never thought about before - because it most definitely is - and it’s been the shameless subject of some of your filthiest dreams. Are you going to lie and say that you don’t have an… affinity for older men? No, you aren’t. Are you gonna tell yourself that the idea of a man spoiling you doesn’t make heat burn in your core? Absolutely not. However, you’ve never thought of yourself as the submissive type. Your confidence - no, cockiness has always been a real defining trait for you and that’s always worked in your favor when it comes to romance or even sex. You take what you want, rather than waiting for it to come to you. Although, you have a feeling that an attitude like that could get you in a lot of trouble in circumstances like these.

But what’s life without a little danger?

—

You’ve put on a tight, cropped black t-shirt and on top, a brown Fendi mini dress with thin spaghetti straps that clings to your body like a second skin; your feet are clad in heeled Louboutin ankle boots. Grabbing your black Prada bag and almost comically giant black, square Burberry sunglasses, you stare at your reflection in the mirror. You only put on a little bit of blush, mascara, and tinted lipgloss, accessorizing with small golden hoops, an array of rings that have been gifted to you by either your father or your ex-boyfriends and a simple gold necklace that spells out ‘bunny’ in cursive, a gift from Natasha. Satisfied, you slide your sunglasses onto your face and head to the elevator, phone in hand.

When you reach the lobby, Jarvis is waiting for you, holding the door open with a kind smile on his face.

“Miss,” he greets you, ushering you out the door. You basically jump on him, winding your arms around his neck and he chuckles as you sway back and forth in your embrace.

“Afternoon, Jarvis,” you grin at him.

The two of you walk outside to the black Range Rover with the tinted windows - black matches your outfit today - and as you climb in the back, your security detail split up into the other SUVs in front and behind you.

“So, what’s the plan today?” Jarvis asks you conversationally, stopping at a red light not even 15 seconds after you pull away from the front of your apartment. Damn New York traffic.

“Nat and I are going to Nordstrom’s,” you tell him despite the fact that he already knows, but he nods regardless. “And then Peter Parker’s hosting a party tonight.”

“And will you be needing a ride to that event?”

“No thanks, J,” you shoot him a smile before looking back down at your phone. “I’ll probably get a ride with Natasha.”

Jarvis nods and the rest of the ride passes in comfortable silence, the radio playing softly and the clicking of your nails on your phone screen the only sounds in the car.

—

“There’s absolutely no way you’re wearing that-”

“Shut up, Nat!” you squeal, grabbing the dress off the rack. “It’s kinda cute!”

Your best friend rolls her eyes at you fondly, staring at the monstrosity that you’re clutching in your hands.

“Tell me you’re kidding,” she deadpans, searching your face almost desperately for any sign of sarcasm.

You act offended: “I’m not!”

Nat just pokes you in the sides, tugs on your earlobe, and continues her hunt, which makes you burst into loud laughter and leaves the store employees looking at the two of you in what you’ve come to recognize as contained, professional amusement.

—

It’s about an hour before the party starts when you even start thinking about getting ready. In a Versace robe with your hair wrapped up in a towel, you’re scrolling through Instagram with a mud mask on. Nat comes into the room and shrieks at the sight of your face, making you flick your eyes up and grin as wide as the mask lets you. With her hand over her heart, she stares at you dryly while silent little chuckles shake your whole body.

“You’re in a good mood,” she remarks, eyeing you with an air of suspicion.

“Of course I am, Nat,” you look at her in disbelief. “I’m about to get wasted tonight-”

She interrupts you by calling your name out in a warning tone. Your only response is a dramatic roll of your eyes.

“We’re going so that we can have fun, not so you can go on a bender-”

“I won’t!” you drop your phone and throw your hands up in exasperation. “Holy shit, Mom - do you have no confidence in me?!”

Loud silence hangs in the air for a minute while Nat just blinks at you.

“...remember when you left me alone in Manhattan because you went to go trip on acid with Senator Coulson’s son-”

“Oh my God, Nat, okay, I get it - I’m a shitty friend and a drug addict, blah blah blah, whatever-”

“You’re not an addict,” she corrects you. “You just... really like doing drugs.”

You shrug, stretching your arms over your head, bringing them back down and then slapping your hands loudly on the bare skin of your thighs. The sound makes Nat flinch which amuses you mildly before you yawn loudly.

“Need me to help you with anything before I start getting ready?” you offer, knowing that once you start getting ready, you’re going to be in your own little world for about an hour and a half.

Natasha - who is significantly less high-maintenance than you - shakes her head. You nod, standing up and heading into her bathroom to wash the mud off your face.

“Did you think about what I told you earlier?” she asks, following you into the spacious room to lay on the chaise tucked against the wall behind you. You lock eyes with her in the mirror as she stretches herself out like a feline.

“Yeah,” you say nonchalantly. “Just for a little, but I don’t know if that kinda thing is for me.”

She runs her tongue over her bottom lip, looking down at her nails. “Oh, okay. I was just wondering ‘cause Wanda said there would be some people that she knows are into that kinda thing at Parker’s tonight-”

Oh, now your interest is peaked. You whip around, towel still in hand from drying your face, and stare her dead in the eye.

“For real?”

“Yeah, but if you’re not really interested-”

“Shut up, Natasha, you know I’m interested.” Your heart beats fast in your chest and your teeth catch on your lower lip, gnawing on it gently. Your fingers come back up to your wrist and stretch the elastic so that it bounces back against your skin. “Like… a lot of them will be there?”

She nods, regarding you with cool interest. “At least that’s what Wanda said. She’s better versed in this whole thing than I am.”

You can only bob your head up and down, suddenly nervous about attending this party. Natasha can sense it, putting a comforting hand on your arm.

“Look, bunny, it’ll be fine,” she gives you a reassuring smile. “They’ll love you. And if you change your mind, you won’t even have to interact with them in the first place; you’ll just be like any other person attending this thing. But Wanda knows a lot of them - that should be reassuring enough: she knows all about these guys, so it’s not like she’s going to introduce us to any major creeps.”

“Okay.”

—

“Okay,” you breathe out. Okay, you can do this. You’ve met presidents and prime ministers, singers and actors, kings and queens, but you’ve never been this nervous in your entire life.

Granted, none of those people were asking you to exchange sex for money, so it’s not really the same thing.

You’re wearing Dolce & Gabbana tonight - because they asked you to - and the golden silk dress that hits your mid-thigh and hugs your body so tight that it looks as if you were poured into it makes it all worth it. It shows off all of the dips and curves of your body and paired with your Alexander Vauthier clear slingback heels and a gold Vanina pearl-embellished handbag, you feel like a million dollars (even though that’s definitely not what this outfit costs). Natasha is standing next to you in a black Dolce & Gabbana corset dress - because they asked her to - and black red bottoms.

Your long red nails come up to toy with your ‘bunny’ necklace while you scan the massive crowds for a friendly face. It’s true that between the two of you, it is very much likely that you know - or know of - everybody here. But you don’t spare them a second glance despite the fact that they’re ogling you. No, you don’t linger on the bulging muscles and impressive height nor the full lips and pretty hair like you usually do. Instead, you’re looking for-

“Wanda! ” you call out, eyes falling on her reddish-brown hair flowing down her back in loose waves.

She’s standing by the bar, speaking to someone that you don’t know when she turns around, blue eyes quickly landing on you as she gives you that charming smile. Grabbing Nat’s hand, you run over to her and envelop her in a warm embrace. She squeals loudly, stumbling back as you realize that she’s probably already had a few drinks by now.

“Hi, guys,” she greets the two of you, looking up and down at your outfits approvingly. “You look hot.”

You return the compliment and pressing a kiss to her cheek, you stroke her hair while she and Nat engage in conversation. You take the opportunity to stare at all of the different groups of people who have gathered on Peter’s rooftop. There must be at least 300 people here already - the night has barely started - and you can see not a single person who looks like an old man. You furrow your brow, squinting and pushing up on your toes to see if you can see anyone that you don’t vaguely recognize from somewhere or another.

“Lookin’ for someone?”

The voice is unmistakable.

“Peter!”

He says your name in what’s only a mildly offensive mockery of your tone. You abandon Wanda and throw yourself into the arms of the boy, ruffling his already unkempt hair and also smacking a loud kiss on his cheek. He chuckles, his arm winding around your waist as he says hello to both Wanda and Nat.

Apparently you’re in a hugging mood tonight.

“I’m glad you guys could all make it,” he smiles so sweetly that you kiss him again, his cheeks turning flaming red. Peter has always been like a little brother to you although he’s actually a year older. You both went to high school and college together, and it helps that your mother and his aunt are also really good friends.

Except you don’t know how anybody could want to be friends with your demon of a mother.

“We couldn’t miss this,” Wanda gestures around her, pinching Peter on the cheek like a child which makes him frown. “Where’s MJ, Petey?”

You all “ooh” like high schoolers and Peter’s face turns somehow even redder - your heart swells - and he takes this as his cue to leave, slipping away and mumbling something about having to greet guests like a good host. It makes you all giggle, watching the boy with fond eyes.

Wanda abruptly turns to you, downing the champagne that she picks up off of the tray of one of the passing waiters.

“So Nat told me that you’re looking for a sugar daddy-”

“Shhh!” you hiss at her, clamping your hands tightly over her mouth because oh my god, Wanda, please speak louder. This makes Natasha laugh into her own glass of champagne.“Oh my god, why are you yelling?”

“Okay,” she drags it out and rolls her eyes, leaning into your group of three and whispering exaggeratedly. “So I heard you’re looking for a sugar daddy.”

“Sure, okay,” you whisper back, looking around before standing up straight because it’s just occurred to you how sketchy you all must look huddled in a circle like this. “So like… how does this work? Do we just… go up to them? Is there like some kind of code-?”

Wanda snorts loudly, throwing her head back and laughing. Your face slips into a pout and you cross your arms over your chest.

“No, idiot,” Wanda replies, pulling a tube of lipstick and a mirror out of her clutch. She starts to apply it while speaking to you. “They’re here already, and we’ve just gotta go up to them,” she smacks her lips together with finality, “and tell them we’re interested. Or, more like you’re going up to them and we’re here for moral support.”

“What happened to your guy, Wanda?” Nat asks, signaling to the bartender for a refill.

“And how did you get into it?” you ask her, one eyebrow quirking.

She smiles conspiratorially and runs her hands carefully through her hair. “There’s an app. And Viz and I are still together-”

“Viz? ” you almost choke on your own spit because you laugh so hard. Natasha joins you in a far more respectful way, her shoulders shaking as she picks up her now-full glass. Getting literal daggers thrown at your face would’ve been less piercing than the look that Wanda’s giving you right now, so you decide to shut your mouth and listen.

“Yes,” she says your name condescendingly, which makes you roll your eyes. “His name is Vision - it’s a long, personal story that I won’t share with either of you because you both fucking suck,” she stares the two of you down, “but that’s his nickname and what everyone calls him. It’s kinda cool, you know: super contemporary. Like Madonna or Beyoncé or Cher-”

“Okay,” Natasha licks her lips, putting one of her hands on her hip. “We get it, Wanda, thanks. But you told us that you guys broke up-?”

“Yeah, we just took a break,” Wanda shrugs. “Now, we’re back together and better than ever.”

You and Nat share a look before blinking back at Wanda, nodding your heads compliantly.

“So,” you rock back on your heels and start snapping your hair tie again. “Are we gonna go do this, or?”

Wanda’s eyes drift down to your wrist before she places a hand on top of it, stilling your actions. Your eyes are wide and glossy, your teeth worrying your lip.

“What’re you nervous about?” Wanda begins quietly, rubbing circles into your skin with her thumb. “They’ll love you - they’re all super cool and really hot. I think that the only problem that you’ll have is that you’ll be spoilt for choice.”

Your laugh comes out watery but sincere nonetheless, so Wanda loops her arm through yours while Natasha grips your hand tightly.

“Maybe we should get you a drink-”

“No, Nat,” you inhale deeply. “I wanna be completely sober for this. After… after, yeah. I’m definitely gonna need a drink after.”

You all laugh while Wanda weaves you through swathes of socialites, stopping to say hello to some people. When you finally make your way all the way to the other end of the roof, you can see why you didn’t see them before. There is a set of stairs that lead down to what looks like a zen garden. Tall torches flame a collection of very comfortable-looking couches are placed around a stone firepit and on top of those couches are a group of some of the most handsome men that you’ve ever laid eyes on.

The first one to make eye contact with you is astoundingly attractive, so much so that you almost trip over your own feet. You know- you can just tell that he smells incredible. His mahogany skin shines in the light of the fire, and his full lips curve over a gap-toothed smile that he shoots your way; it immediately makes a smile of your own spread on your face. His beard is lined up to perfection and there’s a mischievous sparkle in his whiskey brown eyes. A little bit of his chest hair pokes out from underneath the top of his almost halfway-unbuttoned dress shirt and your mouth waters. You almost feel sorry for the slacks that are hugging his thighs sinfully tight because his powerful legs look like they’re about to burst through the seams.

You decide that you’ve never wanted to be a pair of pants so badly in your life.

Jesus Christ. These men aren’t even close to what I expected.

All you can say is that you’re glad to see that the same caliber of attractiveness holds up for the rest of them.

The man next to him has longer brunette hair that hits his shoulders and you just want to run your hands through the silky strands. He has a bit more of a rugged look, his facial hair groomed purposely to give off that energy. He’s wearing a tight, long-sleeve black shirt and black slacks too, the monochrome outfit highlighting every inch of his well-toned body. When you look at him, he’s staring down into his glass, the sweetest smile on his face that makes you bite the inside of your cheek. But then he looks up at you, and you’re taken aback by the vibrance of his steel-blue eyes. It stops your breath momentarily, and you have time to regain it when he taps the man next to him on the knee and points towards the three of you.

The man in question raises his head, face shielded partially by a pair of yellow-tinted glasses. His blonde hair is slicked back away from his face, and you take a second to admire his prominent bone structure. But he’s looking right past you, eyes boring holes into Wanda which makes you stop your ogling.

You assume that this must be Vision.

There’s one of the men who isn’t facing you and doesn’t even turn around to do so, but you can make out his extremely broad shoulders clad in a white t-shirt even from where you stand a distance away. Even the back of his head is attractive, his thick neck and pushed-back blonde hair. Wanda tugs on your arm impatiently, evidently eager to reach her man.

The three of you linked together almost fall down the stairs before you regain your collective composures and strut over there with all the confidence that you don’t feel. Wanda lets you and Nat go when you draw closer, fixing her hair before the brightest grin that you’ve ever seen on her face shines at Vision. He opens his arms to greet her and you have to look away because of the very much x-rated kiss that she plants on him: you feel like you’re intruding on something.

“Jesus,” Nat snorts in your ear, her hand still resting in yours. This makes you giggle, high-pitched and nervously, so Nat squeezes your hand before she pulls you forwards.

Wanda has situated herself in the lap of her man, his hand resting gently on her hip. She clears her throat, cheeks red from her public display of affection, and begins to speak.

“Hi, guys,” she says, waving and smiling at all the men politely. They all greet her back warmly, raising their hands too. “These are my best friends. This is Nat,” she gestures to the girl next to you and Nat just nods her head in acknowledgment.

“And this is the friend I told you about,” Wanda introduces you by name to the four men who she points at in turn: “Bunny, this is Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Vision, and Steve Rogers.”

Giving a little awkward wave of your hand, you unglue your eyes from the floor and scan all of the men up close now.

They’re all so much prettier up close.

From this distance, you can now clearly see how pretty Sam’s eyes are, how bright Bucky’s smile is, how strong Vision’s jaw is, and-

Holy shit.

It’s obvious that you must’ve died and gone to heaven some time in these past few minutes because Adonis’ blue eyes are scorching holes into your face. His high-neck white long sleeve sweater is probably in his size but the way that his muscles flex under the material is telling you otherwise. The size of his biceps - probably as big as your head - briefly make you wonder what they would feel like wrapped around your neck-

If you stare hard enough at his pecs - which you are - you can see the hard peaks of his nipples; you decide that there’s something so sensual about that and if that alone didn’t just make you wet, you decide that you can’t be human. The sweater is tucked into grey checkered pants with a black Yves Saint Laurent belt wrapped around his surprisingly narrow waist. He’s leaning back in his seat with his huge hands on his thighs, his strong legs spread wide almost an invitation for you to crawl between them. Your eyes move past his clearly tailored pants to his huge feet clad in black Versace loafers and you can feel the liquid that pools in your cunt. Realizing that you’re shamelessly checking this poor man out, your eyes snap up to his face only to have the breath completely knocked out of you, not for the first time tonight.

Not only is his body complete perfection, but his face is also arguably even better. His defined jawline gives you the urge to run your tongue over it but that beard. Your squeeze your thighs together because you want to know how it feels between your thighs. His ears are perfectly proportional to his head - a characteristic that should never be underestimated, mind you - and his cheekbones are high. But you can’t ignore the fullness nor the rosy pigmentation of his lips - his lower lip is fuller than the top and you wanna bite it so bad and he’s smirking a little. When you finally lock eyes with him, you feel as if you’re drowning but admittedly even if you were, you wouldn’t mind doing so in the blue of his irises. They darken slightly when they train onto yours, and one of his perfect eyebrows lifts questioningly.

This whole interaction has only lasted about five seconds but it feels like you’re in a movie, everything moving in slow motion. He stands up abruptly and you do actually choke at his size, his sheer height and width alone soaking your panties. One hand in his pocket, he takes slow, measured steps until he stands directly in front of you, not even sparing a glance at Natasha.

“Bunny, huh?” you pray that your knees won’t give out at his deep baritone and you can’t take your eyes away from his, even when he sticks out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Steve Rogers.”

tagged: @literaturefeen @donutloverxo @evnscvll @stargazingfangirl18

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers blurb #steve rogers blurbs #steve rogers headcanons #steve rogers headcanon #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers imagines #marvel cinematic universe #marvel fanfiction #sugar daddy au #soft dark steve rogers

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thoi2020 · 3 years ago

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u have advanced??????? wow. tips to qualify mains please??? help me with my modules.how do i solve them?????????

hnnng idk bestie here's some short tips n like if u want something more specific u can send another ask or dm me?

pay attention in class. sit in the front. listen out for what things the teacher puts an emphasis on. ask questions. yes, even the stupid ones. especially the stupid ones bc those are fundamentals u cannot miss bc a shaky foundation leads to a shaky building. also pay attention to ur teachers. theyve been doing this since before u even knew about jee they know what theyre doing. most of them want whats best for u, and if not specifically that, whats best for them n their institute which are usually similar things. im not saying blindly trust them without criticism but have some faith. dont dismiss them they prolly know better than u. if id followed my teachers instructions i prolly wouldnt have had to drop (but thats a discussion for another day lol).

revise notes on a regular basis. like. the day u studied it in class. then the next day. then a week later. then 2 weeks later. then a month later. google the curve of forgetting for more accurate time stamps. use flashcards for formulae n stuff that u have to memorise like inorganic chem.

analyse past papers. recognise the most important topics. but also there are some small chapters that are quite easy and some people skip them thinking there wont be any questions from them. ive given 4 papers of mains, and i can confirm that is utter bullshit. 1 question each from units and measurements, mathematical reasoning, stats, chemistry in everyday life, polymers, are guaranteed. u can easily secure at least those marks by spending just a little bit of time on them. esp for jee mains its relatively better to cover a wide range of topics with medium depth instead of just some but with deep understanding (the latter works well for advanced tho).

make a friend or two whos in the same boat as u, preparing for jee n try to keep each other accountable. tell each other everyday what ure going to study that day n then check back the next day. remind each other hlep each other out. also be friendly with the class toppers sometimes they can solve ur doubts better than teachers just bc something they explain clicks better. whenever i get confused about logarithms i think back to what my 9th grade classmate told me when i asked him to explain in 1 sentence n had him repeat it slowly to me multiple times. its burned in my memory and helped me so much.

practice tests. set the proper 3 hour limit and solve them. be honest w urself ure doing this for u. no point scoring 256/300 to impress ur teacher if u cheated bc on the day of the exam ure going to be screwed. in the beginning try out different strategies, different ones work for different ppl. like for me, math is my favourite and i find it easier than the other 2 so i do it first and it gives me confidence. then i move on to physics and then chem. some people look over the entire paper n solve the easiest from every section first, then the medium ones, then the tough ones. experiment in ur practice tests n figure out whats best for u n ur test taking. after the test, analyse. see what u got wrong, why u got it wrong. clarify doubts. mark problem questions to revise and solve again later. no point in solving more n more questions if theres no retention or learning.

for solving books specifically under the cut bc this is getting too long lol:

stick to 1 or 2 books max per subject. make them ur holy books and swear by them. if ure doing coaching then the modules provided by them are a very good option bc theyre specifically for jee and will cover what u need. coaching teachers will have a lot of experience with them too so u'll have an easy time with doubts clarification. if u choose other books tho, still consult with ur teacher and ask them to tell u what's relevant and what isnt and dont waste ur time on whats not. it might make u look or feel smarter to be solving questions on stuff thats beyond the scope of the exam but u literally dont need it and the syllabus is already very vast so ure just going to waste time and brainspace. like sure if ure interested study it in ur own time but dont make it an Important Must Do thing.

ok now that u have ur book with everything relevant to jee, make sure u devour them. study the theory alongside ur class notes. solve a few questions of corresponding topics the day they are covered so u dont have so many questions lined up at the end of the chapter. like if i studied friction in newton's laws of motion today, i'll solve the questions relevant to friction today itself. or u know this week. like,, keep it current. then while solving, speak out loud and explain the problem to urself like ure teaching someone else (or better yet, find someone to teach them to. stuffed toys, younger siblings, ur classmate, grandparents, online friend, whichever works). mark all the questions that took u longer than 5 mins or u cant solve at all. dog ear the pages. try them again the next day. then again a few days later. take the ones u still cant solve to ur teacher. try n ask for just a hint once and try again. and then if u cant then ask for the solution. DO NOT go on the internet. ur brain doesnt have to work for it then n u think u got it but u dont got it. make ur brain work for the solution so it'll remember.

now that uve given a good shot to every question and figured out where u stumble. analyse a bit. find a pattern if theres any: like a certain concept that is weak or something ure not understanding. read the theory for it if u have to n ask questions to clarify. then solve these problem questions again and again until u know every question well enough to be able to explain to someone. skip over the easy ones u dont gotta do them again n again, focus on the ones u stumbled on. theyre the weak spots. no use strengthening whats already strong enough.

and uh keep a notebook of the solutions of the questions u solve so that u dont have to go crazy searching for them in an emergency. like ur paper is tomorrow and u cant figure out this question that uve been trying for 1 hour then its a good time to review ur previous solution and refresh ur memory. often if uve practiced enough n its just exam stress etc thats making ur mind go blank then just a hint will be enough to remind u.

also this is more general but just. be consistent. small consistent efforts over multiple days instead of a big one in 1 day. u’ll retain better and ur brain does better with multiple small chunks spread out over an interval than a lot of stuff in a small one. and its ok to to have an off day dont kill urself over academics ur health is more important always. not getting into ur dream college might fuck u up but itll heal but ur health is more precarious and not getting enough sleep or food will def fuck u up and the consequences are a lot harder to deal with. dont think about the big picture or u’ll freak urself out just think about the next small step u can take. getting 99 percentile feels impossible but solving 10 questions for it does not. dont get disheartened by test results if ure working hard n smart u wont fail. even if u dont get into ur dream college u’ll have an excellent work ethic that’ll take u places u never thought of in ur wildest dreams. more than anything, be kind to urself and work n play hard.

#good luck!!!#sorry for the unpunctuated typing this was long i cba <3 #anonymous #again this is just from my experience plus teachers' advice that i liked and saw worked #tw iit jee #lmk if u wanna know sth else?#hope this helps #long post

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jackalgirl · 3 years ago

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Telling vs. Showing

I had posted an excerpt from the Turkey City Lexicon a while back, about "Telling Not Showing", which is one of those things that writers are recommended not to do.

Violates the cardinal rule of good writing. The reader should be allowed to react, not be instructed in how to react. Carefully observed details render authorial value judgments unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling us "she had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," specific incidents--involving, say, a locked closet and two jars of honey--should be shown.

I was thinking about this the other night -- and I stress that it came to me by itself, please please don't anyone think I'm calling you out on this, because I am not -- and thought it might be fun* to provide an example. Stick around (under the cut) if you're interested.

* I lie. Aethel and Felix told me to write this, and woke me up early to do so. Fine. I'm done, you two, may I please go get some more coffee? Thank you.

Telling

Felix found Aethel in the galley, reading one of Max’s books. He made a face, wondering why she was reading it. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her why — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so he sat down and asked anyway. She looked, he thought, a little relieved to be interrupted, which did not really surprise him. She was very much willing to tell him about it, and in fact confirmed his suspicion that she found the text…how did she put it? Tedious. But she was reading it to better understand the way the people in the Order think, so she was determined to read it anyway. Good luck with that, he thought, and got himself something to eat out of the fridge.

versus Showing

Felix found Aethel in the galley, a book open before her on the common table and a line between her eyebrows. It must be one of Max’s books, he thought. He sat down and she looked up. Perhaps he was imagining it, but it appeared to him that she had a look of relief on her face. “Watcha readin’, Aethel?” He asked her. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her a question like this — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so in this particular moment, he hadn’t hesitated. “One of the vicar’s books on Scientism,” she said, confirming his guess. He made a face. “Ugh. Why? You’re always arguing with him about it.” And driving him nuts. Another point in her favor, actually. “It’s important to him,” she said. “And what’s more, it’s important to this colony. It would be foolish for me to dismiss it. I want to understand it better.” Felix gestured at the book. “Is that helping?” Aethel let out a sigh. “Alas, no. It is tedious.” “That’s why I like serial books,” Felix grinned. He tilted his head. “Why is it, ah, tedious, though?” “The author uses words like a collector,” she said. “But not like an artist.” Felix tilted his head and his expression must have told her he didn’t get it — I don’t get it — because she leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you remember the Sprat Fancy party in Byzantium?” She asked. Felix felt his face screw up again. “It was awful.” At first, Byzantium had impressed him. It was so clean! But eventually he realized it was as full of trash as the rest of the Colony — just higher-class trash, is all. Plus, the people there were always looking down on him — worse than the crew of the Groundbreaker, if that was possible. Or worse than the crew had been, before I helped Aethel fix the heat. Now they liked him well enough. But in Byzantium, nothing the crew had done had changed the Byzantines’ attitudes towards them. Their disdain is baked in, Aethel had said at the time. And speaking of baking, Aethel said, “do you remember the food?” “Ugh. Do I ever. The prettiest food you ever saw. Tasted like shit, though.” “What would those people have thought of a Boarst Pocket?” Aethel asked. “Ha!” Felix drummed the table with his hands in amusement. “They’d hold up their noses, for sure. Something that plain and simple?” “And yet, it is delicious?” “Yes,” Felix spoke with the conviction of a dedicated cultist. Aethel nodded. She tapped the pages in front of her. “This book is like the food in Byzantium. It is concerned about its appearance, and about all the different colors it can show you — it is very pretty. But it tastes like shit.” “So why are you eating it?” Felix asked, then remembered she’d answered him earlier. “Because you want to understand the system,” he said. She nodded. “I think of it as reconnaissance,” she said. “At some point, I’m going to have to deal with Order people who are higher ranked than Max. I need to understand what they think — or at least, what they’re telling people they think, which may not be the same.” “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they all turned out to be a pack of hypocrites,” Felix said. “I’ll bet it’s all a show for power.” “Perhaps it’s not all a show for power,” Aethel suggested. But then she relented. “But yes, I tend to think that in the end, that’s the Order’s primary goal.” All that talk about Boarst Pockets made him want one, so he got up and got one out of the fridge. “Would you like one, boss?” He said, waggling the packet, knowing her answer in advance: “No thank you, Felix,” she said politely. He chuckled to himself. I don’t get how she can like spratwurst and not like boarst. Some things just defied understanding. I hope she has better luck with that book.

I liked writing this, because it gave me a little epiphany for another scene (the "Sprat Fancy" party) and an opportunity to put Sprat Fancy magazine into the actual fic, as opposed to it remaining as something of a joke.

[ Image description: cover of "Sprat Fancy", showing an adorable pink-splotched, white sprat from above, looking up at the camera with her gorgeous black eyes. Text reads: "Sprat Fancy Magazine - your guide to Halcyon's Fancy Sprats" and "Volume 22, Issue 8, 2 bits" with article leads: "Sacred Beasts: The Role of Sprats in the Faith", "Refuge: Keeping your precious sprat safe from marauders (and hungry neighbors)", "Ooo La La! Jolicoeur Haberdashery releases an all new line of fancy sprat fashion! Get a sneak peak of the latest on the Byzantine spratwalk!", "Place Your Bets: Your comprehensive guide to this season's All-Colony Fancy Spratstravanaza - who's in? Who's out? You may just be surprised by this year's contenders!" and a corner flag: "Ask Doctor Sprat". The cover image is captioned: "'Bakonu' by Captain Pearl Jenkins. With this large beauty take 'Best in Show' from Lord Reginald Kim III?" End ID. ]

Sometimes, having to write stuff out like this (especially between major scenes) is really daunting, because it generally doesn't come to me all at once like the major scenes do. I know, right from the get-go, that this is going to be a time-consuming process (I call it "sausage making"), and it's scary when I don't immediately see a clear way forward or understand how it will turn out. But I find that once I get going, the characters are happy to cooperate. And it's always worthwhile, because most of the time, I get some kind of revelation or epiphany (as above) that makes the story better, or maybe it's just neat and makes me giggle. But that's reason enough.

This is part of the pros of showing versus telling, in addition to giving the reader more to discover, understand, and react to on their own (rather than simply telling them how to react, which is what you want to avoid). The obvious con is that it takes so much longer. I would think that telling would be useful in contexts where you just don't have the column space, or are limited in the number of words you can provide. And I think it could also be useful -- used judiciously -- if you're deliberately trying to hide something from the reader.

But if you've been telling instead of showing because the amount of work you can see in front of you daunts you (or you just can't envision how it's going to go), I can only say: give it a try. You'll be surprised at what the characters are just waiting to tell you, if you only give them the chance.

#writing #the outer worlds #the journeyman #fanfic #telling not showing #showing not telling #also bathos #turkey city lexicon

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prose-for-hire · 4 years ago

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I know what you did last Halloween...

Part Two // Part Three // Part Four

Pairing: Scooby gang x reader (platonic)

This is a platonic story with the reader as part of the Scooby gang. Set season 3. It’s going to be a small multi-parted serial killer/slasher fic for Halloween. Reader lives with Giles, but is not related. The deaths in this part are not described in much detail.

Not sure how popular it’ll be with you guys, but I’ve enjoyed writing it so far !! 🖤🦇

Warning: It is a serial killer fic, main characters are going to die (I’m sorry, it’s Halloween). Violence. Blood mention. Threat.

Sunnydale Scare? Scythe-wielding killer strikes again

Sunnydale Express, October 1999.

Sunnydale High school, not used to such horror inflicted on their student body since Principal Flutie’s unfortunate death in office [His memorial will be on the 31st as his family reveal it was his favorite time of year].

The scythe-wielding killer, who was seen wearing all-black with a festive mask, has claimed his most recent victims. Two members of the swim team found themselves in hot water after they were found with brutal and fatal injuries. The wounds matched the scythe that is commonly associated with the widely termed ‘Sunnydale slasher’.

It makes us wonder at the Sunnydale Express, why and how this idyllic town has managed to create such a monster?

You and the Scoobies were good friends. You helped save the world more than once whilst fighting algebra homework and Principal Snyder. You had moved from your hometown to Sunnydale at the same time as Buffy, meeting her on your first day and becoming best friends since that day. You had moved into Giles’ spare room after your parents had wanted to move on again. You had been sucked into the slaying and you couldn’t leave the others. Giles had been very accommodating and very much like a parental figure. Things had been going well, you were close to graduating and finally getting the hell out of there until one life-changing event that would forever be ingrained in your minds.

You and your friends were sat around the school canteen. The mood was pretty low and you were collectively checking over your shoulders every so often. You had been discussing the latest spate of murders. Surprisingly, it was widely covered by various news outlets and hadn’t been brushed under the rug as the usual demon relating killings were.

Buffy and Faith had been doing double patrolling, making sure there was always someone out after dark. Giles had been pleased but he wasn’t aware of the real reason. Although he had noted a difference in your mood in the past year. Despite the extra patrolling, no matter how many demon-snitches they beat up and threatened, there was no changing the answer they didn’t want to hear.

“So this… slasher? He’s-it’s-she’s-?” Xander spluttered through the pronouns in his disbelief.

“Yep. Human” Buffy shrugged, sighing and staring down at her food. Nobody had eaten anything. The lunch you all had set out in front of you was just for show. None of you could stomach much at the moment.

“Shouldn’t we have found them by now?” Willow wondered, her brow furrowing in frustration.

“It could be anyone. And I’m guessing they’re not exactly wearing their ‘I’m a killer come catch me’ sweater”

“Yeah, Giles says he’s gonna look into it, but unless it says ‘Scythe killer was here’ in one of those big old books…” You tail off as Buffy picks up your sentence.

“We’ve got zip. Nothing” Buffy nodded again. Conversation then turned. You had been in a deep discussion of something in low murmurs, that was until your best friends boyfriend walked in. A dead silence blanketed your table.

“The blank stares and silence make me feel at home” oz deadpanned and you all laughed slightly too loud at this. He squinted around the room, shrugged and then kissed Willow’s forehead before staring around at the odd vibe. He had noticed that none of you had been the same for at least a year, but anytime he tried to talk to Willow about it she just shook her head vigorously and locked herself in a different room until he dropped it.

“Well, I have some place to be that’s else. Or about three tables that way” He gestured with his head to where one of his bandmates were sat. Willow assured him she would come over and sit with them in a minute. After you finished a very important conversation.

“I can’t do this anymore, lying to him hurts my heart” Willow said sadly, shifting uncomfortably as if her heart was physically aching her, “I have to tell him”

“And how’re you gonna do that exactly, Will? Oh, hey there Oz remember last Halloween, well we-” Xander cut in harshly, trying to make Will be realistic.

“Stop it! We can’t talk about this here. Anyone could overhear, they already suspect I’m a slayer” Buffy said firmly.

“We have big mouths, sorry” You shrug, smiling tightly.

“This isn’t funny!” She snapped, the events of last year had her wound even more tightly than usual. She had more responsibility than she could handle on her shoulders as it was, let alone this secret weighing down on her like a

“I’m not laughing, Buff… I’m sorry” You whisper. You did feel guilty. You felt horrible. Some nights you barely slept, and when you did you had these horrible nightmares.

Oh, right. That guy that you killed. Well, it was a total accident and you were all very sorry at the time. I mean, you still are. But, thing is, you just didn’t happen to tell anyone or alert the correct authorities. Must have slipped your mind.

Let me paint the picture in case you managed to forget…

Last Halloween, you and your friends had been attending a Halloween party. Your collective night off from saving the world. Oz, who didn’t appear to be wearing a costume, had explained it was a shindig and you had all enjoyed the live music and spooky theme. Even Buffy had managed to relax.

Buffy had chosen little red riding hood and Willow was dressed as a knight in historically accurate chainmail. Cordelia was a cat, it was the back-up she always had in case her first choice fell through. She had shrugged, at least she looked good in it. You had decided on a werewolf, after apologising profusely to Oz who didn’t appear phased.

Xander was walking around in a karate outfit, something about being inspired by the copious violence he enjoyed on screen. Every so often he did a karate chop in mid-air and you and your friends would share a collective eye roll. Especially when he chopped some jock guy that he spent the rest of the evening hiding from. Whereas Faith was wearing as little as possible and appeared to be dressed as herself.

The band was playing decent music and the atmosphere was electric. You and Buffy had danced together while Willow and Xander laughed by the punch bowl. Out of nowhere, Faith joined the both of you and muscled you out of the way to dance with Buffy. You rolled your eyes, but knew better than to make a fuss so you went back to your other friends and joined them in conversation.

Buffy had borrowed her Mom’s car and had sneaked out while Joyce was sleeping. Joyce had been feeling a little under the weather and hadn’t noticed. When it was time to leave, she drove (badly) through the streets to drop everyone home. Oz was doing another set and would get a ride with the rest of his band.

You were squished in the back with Cordy, Xander and Willow. Faith had called shotgun. There were more people than there should be, with Cordy sitting precariously on Xander’s lap. It meant you and Willow were crushed together sharing an annoyed look as the pair continued to kiss.

Buffy looked out of the side window for a nicer view and managed to hit something in the road. You all screamed as she broke suddenly. You had hit something. Something big. You all got out to investigate and saw that it was a man. You went and shook his shoulder and he immediately sat up and grabbed at you. His grip tight and strong. You screamed as you looked at his face, there were fangs and his face looked bumpy. The others saw it too and Buffy pulled you away as Faith moved in and staked him.

The man struggled for a moment before going still. Blood had started to run from his heart and the stake that had been stabbed through it. You all just stared.

“W-why isn’t he going poof?” Willow whispered as you all just stared in horror. He had been human after all.

“It was a costume!” You shrieked in horror. Everyone’s blood turned cold.

“We’ll have to bury him” Faith said quickly. Xander stayed silent, his eyes glazed in fear.

“We can’t!” Buffy said firmly.

“Look, it’s that or another stint in juvey and I’m not goin’ back there” Faith muttered and you all frowned, having not realised she had ever been.

“I think we should see if he has any ID, maybe we could-” You started, Willow nodding along.

“No, Faith’s right. We bury him” Xander said suddenly.

“Who made you decision-gal?” Buffy said, her usual fun language lost on the moment as she stared through Faith.

“I’m a slayer too, B. You’re not the boss” Faith tilted her head to the side and shrugged. You paused, thinking it over for a while.

“Buff, we can’t risk it. You and Faith are needed here – we can’t go to prison” You sigh, not sure if you fully believed what you were saying.

“Th-that’s actually true…” Willow said eventually, not looking anyone in the eye. It was hurting her conscience.

But that’s what you decided. For better or worse. You were all complicit now as you put him in the trunk and buried him in the graveyard in the early hours of the morning.

Nobody spoke as the sun started to rise and the plot you had chosen was no longer vacant. It had been hard to come to terms with ever since.

Missing – have you seen this man?

Sunnydale Express, 1998. November 2nd.

Mr Bates of Sunnydale California has been missing since Halloween night. Last seen leaving a party in the early hours. His wife and children are anticipating his return, although with the current rate of people vanishing often with no trace the Express, with their condolences, fears that Mr Bates may be one of a hundred Sunnydale citizens on Halloween night that will never return to their families.

This begs the question, where are all the missing going? Sunnydale has one of the largest cases of missing persons never being found in the state of California and statistics suggest it has the highest number compared to towns in neighboring states.

It had been a few days and something had shifted. Your friend’s mood was lower than ever and you were really worried about her. The guilt was eating away at her. It was so bad she finally had to talk to someone about it. Buffy was the most outwardly guilty one of you all. Covering for this went against everything she believed in. Fought for. Which is why she was probably being targeted the most.

You closed your locker and jumped, she had been standing behind it, waiting for you to notice her. She gave you an apologetic glance but still asked, “Hey, y/n, can we talk?”

“Sure, I didn’t wanna go to English anyway” You smile at her as you walk to the usual place under the stairwell you would hide when you needed to talk. She pressed a note into your hand which you unfolded and read:

‘I know what you did last Halloween…’

You gasped, looking around before looking back at her for some kind of explanation, “It was in my history textbook, so, it might have been there for at least a month” Buffy said “Did you get one?” she whispered. You shook your head, nobody had left anything for you. You would remember. Buffy’s note struck a sense of fear you hadn’t felt since that night. A bubbling guilt that was squeezing your insides and threatening to spill them out. You had felt numb since then, unable to cry or even think about the events.

“We need to tell someone. Maybe Giles? I can see how much this is killing you, Buff…” You say, trying to comfort your friend the best way you knew how.

“I know, I try and I try but I can’t tell him. He’ll get all moral and Giles-y”

“Maybe we need that. What we did was stupid, but still an accident. I wish I had never agreed with Faith” You muttered as Buffy nodded along silently. She wished you hadn’t agreed with Faith too, you had been the type people came with for answers. Advice. So you agreeing with Faith was probably the deciding vote. She told you she would meet you later and appeared to be in deep thought as she walked away.

Willow and Cordy looked spooked, sitting down silently during the break between classes. Their notes had fallen out of their lockers and they were afraid they had been seen picking them up. Buffy revealed to the others hers had said the same thing just as Xander ran in, very visibly panicking and checking behind him with every step he took.

He just slammed the note in the middle of the table without comment. He had nothing he could say. No jokes could mask the horror that came with

“That settles it. We go to Giles” Buffy said firmly.

“No-” Xander tried to assert, but he was outvoted this time.

“We have to. He’ll help us, I know he will” You confirmed, “Walk home with me tonight, we’ll tell him then” This was to give you some time. None of you could face going to the library for the rest of the day.

The bell rang and it felt as if it were tolling for a funeral march. The walk to Giles’ house was slow. You had swung by Faith’s motel on your way, taking a detour as you explained you would have to tell him. She surprisingly didn’t put much of an argument against.

The door creaked open and you shouted to announce your presence. But when you get there, you felt it instantly. You dropped your bags and walked into the living room. Every step felt heavy and echoed around the room.

There he was. On the floor. Surrounded in his own blood.

Your knees buckled and you had to steady yourself against the sofa. The blood-stained sofa. Someone’s arms held you up. There were gasps and mutters but your ears were ringing, you felt very far away. He was cold, his body mutilated.

It took you longer than the others to see the new centrepiece of the room.

‘I know what you did last Halloween’ was written in what could only have been Giles’ blood smeared across the wall of his living room. It was your warning. Your note.

A warning that turned your stomach. Knocked you all sick. He was one of you and he was gone. You tuned back into the conversation around you after having stared at the words. The words meant for you. Every time you blinked, those words were now stamped into your vision.

“It’s the same thing that was written on the notes”

“Oh, I got one of those but I threw it in the trash” Faith shrugged, but she wavered. This was hard to look at.

“We’ll have to clean it up” Xander said flatly. Gesturing at the writing.

“What?! We can’t-”

“Xander Harris, your brain is barely functional anyway - but this is totally the worst thing that’s come out of your mouth!” She shouted, her voice getting higher as she continued, “I am not cleaning the bloody writing off our dead librarians wall!” She warned. They had broken up since everything had happened. Everyone collectively winced as she said Giles was dead. It hurt. It sliced too close to the bone. At least when it had been a stranger, there was some degree of separation. But now it was even worse.

“They’ll know or start to look into it - we gotta do it”

You stayed silent this time, every time someone’s eyes looked at you you kept your expression blank. Until you were handed a cloth and some bleach and you grimaced but followed the others. Cordy joined you, nodding her understanding at your blank look. She took the cloth and the liquid from your shaking hands and started to help with the clean up.

Teen scream

Sunnydale Express, October 1999.

Reports of a large number of young people are now rejecting the upcoming holiday in an attempt to preserve their lives. Many say that this is a kneejerk reaction and that many will lose out of the best years of their lives to fear – which is what the killer will want.

Despite this, there has been a curfew agreed amongst the young people of the town and the Mayor’s office, reports suggest. Time will tell if this will be kept or if it another attempt by those cautious to get a re-election rather than improving the spate of missing persons that has only doubled since the year previous.

You were all waking in a group. You couldn’t face staying at Giles’ place so you were going to stay over at Buffy’s for the night. There was still an argument going on around you that you weren’t listening to. Faith had lit up a cigarette and kept telling everyone to calm down. That nobody could know or people would be hauling you all off to jail. That you had chosen the right thing.

“I’m sick of you all, I’m going out. There’s a party down the block. Anyone coming?” She looks around. This, you had heard. You shrug, resigning yourself to it. You made plans based on alibis now. With this cynical thought, you manage to convince everyone else to come too. You never know, it might relax them.

...Or not.

You and the others all sat around in silence as the bass, and Faith, jumped around you. You barely spoke, you just stared into your cups. There had been some hugging when you first left the house but since then you all felt so alone. So disconnected despite being in this together. What you had chosen to do didn’t feel right and without your constant, your compass that had been Giles you didn’t know what to do.

“Hey, man, it’s not Halloween yet!” Someone shouted. It caught all of your attention. A collective feeling of dread. That had been before all of the screaming had started.

The figure loomed over you. Everything about him screamed menacing. He frightened you more than any demon. He was stood in a Grim reaper costume, complete with blood stained scythe. He turned, spotting you finally. He had been slicing kids down as he walked. He wasn’t aiming, just wildly enjoying the chaos he caused.

He stopped in the centre of the room, facing the group of you that had just risen to your feet. He pointed. He stood still and pointed at you all. The Scooby gang.

In that moment, you knew. You knew he was the one that was taunting you. And so did every one else.

“Well, one of us has a brief scythe of life” Buffy stated, “…and it isn’t me” She ran at him, her fists raised as Faith came up behind her. In the chaos it was hard to see what was happening, all you could feel was this descending feeling of foreboding. You knew it had happened before you saw it.

To be continued…

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sinceileftyoublog · 3 years ago

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Riot Fest 2021: 9/16-9/19, Douglass Park

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Much like Pitchfork Music Festival earlier this month, this past weekend’s Riot Fest felt relatively normal. Arriving at Douglas Park every day, you were greeted by the usual deluge of attendees in Misfits t-shirts and dyed hair, the sound of faint screams and breakneck guitars and drums emanating from nearby stages. The abnormal aspects of the fest, at least as compared to previous incarnations, we’re already used to by now from 2021 shows: To get in, you had to show proof of vaccination and/or a negative test no older than 48 hours, which means that unvaxxed 4-day attendees had to get multiple tests. Props to the always awesome staff at Riot Fest for actually checking the cards against the names on government-issued IDs.

For a festival that dealt with a plethora of last-minute changes due to bands dropping out because of COVID-19 caution (Nine Inch Nails, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr.) or other reasons (Faith No More/Mr. Bungle because of concerns around Mike Patton’s well-being), there were very few bumps in the road. Whether Riot Fest had bands like Slipknot, Anthrax, or Rise Against in their back pocket as replacements or not, it very much felt like who we saw Thursday-Sunday was always supposed to be the lineup, even when laying your eyes on countless “Death to the Pixies” shirts. Sure, one of the fest’s main gimmicks--peeling back the label on Goose Island’s Riot Fest Sucks Pale Ale to reveal the schedule--was out of date with inaccurate set times and bands, and it still would have been so had Faith No More and Mr. Bungle stayed, since Fucked Up had to drop out last minute due to border issues. But the festival, as always, rolled with the punches.

The sets themselves offered the circle pit and crowdsurfing-inducing punk and metal you’re used to, with a few genre outliers. For so many bands of all styles, Riot Fest represented their first live show in years, and a few acts knew the exact number of days since their last show. For every single set, the catharsis in the crowd and on stage was palpable, not exactly anger, or elation, but pure release.

Here were our favorite sets of the festival, in chronological order.

WDRL

Last October, WDRL (which, amazingly, stands for We Don’t Ride Llamas) announced themselves with a Tweet: “y’all been looking for an alt black band,, well here you go”. A band of Gen Z siblings, Chase (lead guitar), Max (lead vocals), Blake (drums), and Kit Mitchell (bass guitar), WDRL is aware, much like Meet Me @ The Altar (who, despite my hyping, I couldn’t make it in time to see) that they’re one of too few bands of POCs in the Riot Fest-adjacent scene. Their set, one of the very first of the weekend during Thursday’s pre-party, showed them leading by example, the type of band to inspire potentially discouraged Black and brown folks to start punk bands. Max is a terrific vocalist, able to scream over post-punk, scat over funk, and coo over slow, soulful R&B swayers with the same ease. The rest of the band was equally versatile, able to pivot on a dime from scuzzy rock to hip hop to twinkling dream pop. Bonus points for covering Splendora’s “You’re Standing On My Neck”, aka the Daria theme song.

Joyce Manor

Joyce Manor’s self-titled debut is classic. The best part of it as an album play-through at a festival? It’s so short that you can hear it and you’ll still have half a set for other favorites. So while the bouncy “Orange Julius”", “Ashtray Petting Zoo”, and ultimate singalong “Constant Headache” were set highlights, the Torrance, CA band was able to burn through lots from Never Hungover Again, Cody, Million Dollars to Kill Me, and their rarities collection Songs From Northern Torrance. Apart from not playing anything from Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired (seriously, am I the only one who loves that record?), Joyce Manor were stellar, from the undeniable hooks of “Heart Tattoo” to the churning power chords of “Catalina Fight Song”. After playing “Christmas Card”, Johnson and company gave one final nod to the original fest cancellation, My Chemical Romance, who were slated to headline 2020, then 2021, and now 2022. If you ever wondered what it would sound like hearing a concise punk band like Joyce Manor take on the bombast of “Helena”, you found out. Hey, it was actually pretty good!

Patti Smith

Behold: a full Patti Smith set! After being shafted by the weather last time around, a sunglasses-laden Smith decided not to fuck around, leading with the inspiring “People Have The Power”, her voice as powerful as I’ve ever heard it. Maybe it was the influence of Riot Fest, but she dropped as many f-bombs as Corey Taylor did during Slipknot’s Sunday night headlining set. After reluctantly signing an adoring crowd member’s copy of Horses, she quipped, “I feel bad for you have to cart that fucking thing around.” It wasn’t just the filthy banter: This was Smith at her most enraptured and incendiary, belting during “Because The Night” and spitting during a “Land/Gloria” medley, reciting stream-of-consciousness hallucinogenic lyrics about the power of escape in the greatest display of stamina the festival had to offer.

Circa Survive

“It feels good to dance,” declared Circa Survive lead singer Anthony Green. The heart and soul of the Philadelphia rock band, who cover ground from prog rock to post-hardcore and emo, Green was in full form during the band’s early Friday set, his falsetto carrying the rolling “The Difference Between Medicine and Poising Is in the Dose” and the chugging “Rites of Investiture”. While the band, too, can throw down, they’re equally interesting when softer and more melodic, Brendan Ekstrom‘s twinkling guitars lifting “Child of the Desert” and “Suitcase”. Ending with the one-two punch of debut Juturna’s introspective “Act Appalled” and Blue Sky Noise’s skyward “Get Out”, Green announced the band would have a new record coming soon, one you hope will cover the sonic and thematic ground of even just those two tracks.

Thrice

Thrice played their first show since February 2020 the same day they’d release their 11th studio album, Horizons/East (Epitaph). To a crowd of fans that came to hear their favorite songs, though, the Irvine, California band knew better than to play a lot of the new record, instead favoring tracks like The Artist in the Ambulance’s spritely title cut and Vheissu standout “The Earth Will Shake”. Yeah, they led with a Horizons/East song making its live debut, the dreamy, almost Deftones-esque “Scavengers”, and later in the set they’d reveal the impassioned “Summer Set Fire to the Rain”. But the set more prominently served to emphasize lead vocalist Dustin Kensrue’s gruff delivery, on “All the World Is Mad” and “in Exile”, the rhythm section’s propulsive playing buoying his fervency. And how about Teppei Teranishi’s finger tapping on “Black Honey”?!? Thrice often favor the slow build-up, but they offered plenty of individually awesome moments.

Smashing Pumpkins

William Patrick Corgan entered the stage to dramatic strings, dressed in a robe, with white face paint except for red hearts under his eyes. He looked like a ghost. That’s pretty much where the semi-serious theatricality ended. The Smashing Pumpkins’ first Chicago festival headlining set in recent memory was the rawest they’ve sounded in a while, counting when they played an original lineup-only set at the United Center a few years back. It was also the most fun I’ve ever seen Corgan have on stage. Though they certainly selected and debuted from their latest electropop turn Cyr, Corgan, guitarist James Iha, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist Jeff Schroeder, and company more notably dug deep into the vault, playing Gish’s “Crush” for the first time since 2008, Adore’s “Shame” for the first time since 2010, and Siamese Dream barnburner “Quiet” for the first time since 1994 (!). Best, every leftfield disco jam like set opener “The Colour Of Love”, “Cyr”, and “Ramona” was quickly followed by something heavy and/or recognizable, Chamberlin’s limber drum solos elevating even latter-day material like “Solara”. At one point, Corgan, a self-described “arty fuck,” admitted that years ago he would have opted for more experimental material, but he knew the crowd wanted to hear classics, the band then delving into a gorgeous acoustic version of “Tonight, Tonight”. And while Kate Bush coverer Meg Myers came out to sing Lost Highway soundtrack industrial ditty “Eye”, it was none other than legendary local shredder Michael Angelo Batio who stole the show, joining for the set closer, a pummeling version of Zeitgeist highlight “United States”. Leaning into the cheese looks good on you, Billy.

The Bronx

Credit to L.A. punk rock band The Bronx, playing early on a decidedly cooler Saturday early afternoon, for making me put in my earplugs outside of the photo pit. Dedicating “Shitty Future” to Fucked Up (who, as we mentioned, had to drop out), the entire band channeled Damian Abraham’s energy on piercing versions of “Heart Attack American” as well as “Superbloom” and “Curb Feelers” from their latest album Bronx VI (Cooking Vinyl). Joby J. Ford and Ken Horne’s guitars stood out, providing choppy rhythms on “Knifeman” and swirling solos on “Six Days A Week”.

Big Freedia

The New Orleans bounce artist has Big Diva Energy, for the most part. After her DJ pumped up the crowd to contemporary Southern rap staple “Ayy Ladies” by Travis Porter, Big Freedia walked out and showed that “BDE”, firing through singles like “Platinum” and “N.O. Bounce” as her on-stage dancers’ moves ranged from delicate to earth-shaking. At this point, Freedia can pretty much do whatever she wants, effortlessly segueing between a cover of Drake’s “Nice For What” to “Strut”, her single with electropop DJ Elohim, to a cover of Beyone’s “Formation”. Of course, the set highlight was when she had volunteers from the crowd come up and shake and twerk--two at a time to keep it COVID-safe--all while egging them on to go harder. Towards the end of the set, after performing the milquetoast “Goin’ Looney” from the even-worse-than-expected Space Jam: A New Legacy soundtrack, she pulled out the beloved “Gin in my System”. “I got that gin in my system,” she sang, the crowd singing back, “Somebody gonna be my victim,” a refrain that compositionally not only leaves plenty of room for the thundering bass but is thematically a statement of total power--over sexism, racism, the patriarchy--even in the face of control-altering substances.

Les Savy Fav

During Les Savy Fav’s set, lead singer Tim Harrington at various points--*big breath*--went into the crowd, deepthroated an audience member’s mohawk spike, found a discarded manikin head with a wig on it, revealed the words “deep” and “dish” painted on his thighs and a drawing of a Red Hot on his back, rode a crowd member like a horse, made a headband out of pink tape, donned ski goggles, surfed on top of a door carried by the crowd, squeezed his belly while the camera was on it to make it look like his belly button was singing, and referred to himself as a “slippery eel.” Indeed, the legend of Les Savy Fav’s live show starts and ends with Harrington’s ridiculous antics, as he’s all but out of breath when actually singing dance-punk classics like “Hold On To Your Genre”, “The Sweat Descends”, and “Rome (Written Upside Down)”. We haven’t heard much in terms of new music from Les Savy Fav in over 10 years--their most recent album was 2010′s Root For Ruin--but I could see them and the extremely Aughts genre in general become staples of Riot Fest as albums like Inches, The Rapture’s Echoes, and !!!’s Louden Up Now reach the 20-year mark. Dynamic vocalists, tight bands, and killer grooves: What’s not to love?

State Champs

This set likely wins the award for “most immediate crowd surfers,” which I guess is to be expected when you begin your set with a classic track 1--album 1 combination. “Elevated” is the State Champs number that will cause passers-by to stop and watch a couple songs, the type of song that can pretty much only open or close a set. And because they opened with it, the crowd immediately ramped up the energy. It’s been three years since the last State Champs full-length, Living Proof, so they were in prime position to play some new songs. As such, they performed their bubblegummy “Outta My Head” and “Just Sound” and faithfully covered Fall Out Boy’s “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago” (releasing a studio version earlier this week). But the tracks from The Finer Things and Around the World and Back were, as usual, the highlights, like “All You Are Is History”, “Remedy”, “Slow Burn”, and set closer “Secrets”. At the end of the day, it didn’t entirely matter: The crowd knew every word of every song.

Bayside

Putting State Champs and Bayside back-to-back on the same stage made an easy decision for the many pop-punk bands at Riot Fest. Bayside’s been at it for twice as long, so the breadth of their setlist across their discography is more variable. Moreover, they’ve thrice revisited their discography with acoustic albums of old songs, so even their staples are subject to change. They provided solid versions of Killing Time standouts “Already Gone” and “Sick, Sick, Sick”, Cult’s “Pigsty”, and older songs like their self-titled’s “Montauk” and Sirens and Condolences’ “Masterpiece”. For “Don’t Call Me Peanut”, though, they brought out--*gasp*--an acoustic guitar! It was a rare moment not just for one of the most popular pop punk sets but the festival in general, a breather before Vacancy shout-along “Mary”.

Rancid

“Rancid has always been anti-fascist and anti-racist,” said Tim Armstrong before the band played “Hooligans”. It was nice to hear an explicit declaration of solidarity from the street punks, reminding the crowd what really matters and why we come together to scream and mosh. The band expectedly favored ...And Out Come The Wolves, playing almost half of it, and they perfectly balanced their harder edges with more celebratory ska songs like “Where I’m Going” from their most recent album Trouble Maker (Hellcat/Epitaph). My two favorite moments? The breezy, keyboard-laden “Fall Back Down” from their supremely underrated 2001 album Indestructable, and when they asked the crowd whether they wanted the set to end with “Time Bomb” or “Ruby Soho”. “We have 4 minutes left, and it’s disrespectful to play over your set time,” said Armstrong. It’s easy to see why Rancid continues to make an impression--instrumental and moral--on touring bands new and old.

Run the Jewels

The brilliant hip hop duo are masters of balancing social consciousness with the desire to fuck shit up for fun. Live, the former tends to come in between-song banter, the latter with their actual charismatic, tit-for-tat performances of the songs. However, Run the Jewels also are probably the clearest live performers in hip hop today, Killer Mike and El-P’s words, hypersexual and woke alike, ringing in the ears of audience members who don’t even know the songs. (Looking around, I could see people smiling and laughing at every dick joke, nodding at each righteous proclamation.) Some of the best songs on their most recent album RTJ4 (Jewel Runners/BMG) are perfect for these multitudes. Hearing both RTJ MCs and the backing track of Pharrell Williams and Zack de la Rocha chanting “Look at all these slave masters posin’ on yo’ dollar” on “JU$T” as the rowdy crowd bounced up and down was the ultimate festival moment. For those who had never seen RTJ, it was clear from the get-go, as Killer Mike and EL-P traded bars on “yankee and the brave (ep. 4)” that they’re a unique hip hop act. For the rest of us, it was clear that Run the Jewels keep getting better.

The Gories

It felt a little weird that legendary Detroit trio The Gories were given the first set of the final day--I’d have thought they’d have more draw than that. No matter what, they provided one of the more satisfying and stylistically varied sets of the festival, showcasing their trademark balance of garage punk and blues. Mick Collins and Dan Kroha’s guitar and vocal harmonies were the perfect jangly balance to Peggy O’Neill’s meat and potatoes drumming on “Sister Ann” and “Charm Bag”, while folks less familiar with The Gories were treated to their fantastic covers of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider” and The Keggs’ “To Find Out”. Smells like time for the first Gories album in 20 years!

FACS

I thought it would be ill-fitting to watch a band like FACS in the hot sun, early in the day. Their monochrome brand of post-punk seems better suited for a dimly lit club. But the hypnotic nature of Brian Case’s swirling guitar and Alianna Kalaba’s slinky bass was oddly perfect in a sweltering, faint-inducing heat. Just when you thought you might fade, squalls of feedback and Noah Leger’s odd time signatures picked you back up. Songs from their new album Present Tense (Trouble In Mind) such as “Strawberry Cough” and “XOUT” were emblematic of this push-pull. And everything from the band’s red, white, and black color palate to their lack of stage banter suggested a cool minimalism that was rare at a festival that tends to book more outwardly emotional bands.

Alex G

On one hand, Alex G’s unique combination of twangy alt country and earnest indie rock makes him an outlier at Riot Fest, or at the very least a mostly Pitchfork/occasional Riot Fest type of booking. On the other hand, like a lot of bands at the festival, he has a rabid fanbase, one that knows his back catalog hits, like “Kute”, “Kicker”, and “Bug”, as much as if not more than hyped Rocket and House of Sugar singles, like “Bobby” and “Gretel”. Backed by a band that knows when to be loose and when to tighten up--and the instrumental chops to do so--Alex G was better than he was a Pitchfork three years ago. He still sings through his teeth, making it especially hard to hear him on louder tunes such as “Brick”. But when the honesty of his vocals combines with the dreamy guitars of “Southern Sky” and circular melodies of “Near”, it’s pure bliss.

HEALTH

The formula for the LA industrial noise band has pretty much always been Jake Duzsik’s soft vocals contrasting John Famiglietti’s screeching bass and pedals and BJ Miller’s mammoth drums. Both in 2018 and Sunday at Riot Fest, the heat affected Famiglietti’s pedals, which were nonetheless obscured by tarp. Or so HEALTH claimed: You wouldn’t know the difference given how much their sound envelops your whole body during one of their live sets. Since their previous appearance at the festival, the prolific band has released two new records on Loma Vista, Vol. 4: Slaves of Fear and collaboration record Disco4: Part 1. Songs from those records occupied half of their excellent set, including battering opener “GOD BOTHERER”, “BODY/PRISON”, and “THE MESSAGE”. It was so wonderfully loud it drowned out K.Flay’s sound check drummer, thank the lord.

Thursday

Last time Thursday played Riot Fest, Geoff Rickly was battling heroin addiction, something he talked about during the band’s triumphant late afternoon set on Sunday. He mentioned the kindness of the late, great Riley Gale of Power Trip in extending a helping hand when he was down and extended his love to anybody in the crowd or even the world at large going through something similar. To say that this set was life-affirming would be an understatement; after 636 days of no shows, Rickly was at his most passionate. He introduced “Signals Over The Air” as a song the band “wrote about men beating up on women in the pit,” that a record exec at the time told them that it wouldn’t age well because he thought--no kidding--sexism would eventually end. Rickly’s voice, suffering from sound issues last time around, simply soared during Full Collapse’s “Cross Out The Eyes”, No Devolucion’s “Fast to the End”, and two inspired covers: Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” and Texas Is The Reason’s “If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours”. The latter the band played because TITR guitarist Norman Brannon’s actually on tour with them, though Rickly emphasized the influence the NYC post-hardcore greats had on Thursday when they first started. Never forgetting where they’ve come from, with self-deprecating humor and radical empathy, Thursday are once again a force.

Devo

Much like the B-52′s in 2019, Devo was the set this year of a 70′s/80′s absurd punk band with some radio hits that everybody knows but with a swath of die-hard fans, too. It’s safe to say both groups were satisfied. You walked around the fest all day wondering whether the folks wearing Devo hats were actual fans or doing it for the novelty. By the time the band actually took the stage after a career-spanning video of their many phases, it didn’t really matter, because it was clear the band still had it, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale’s vocals booming throughout a massive crowd. They ripped through “Peek-a-Boo”, “Going Under”, “That’s Good”, “Girl U Want”, and “Whip It”, which caused the fans waiting for Slipknot (and presumably some Devo heads) to form a circle pit. And that was all before the first costume change. Mark passed out hats to the crowd, fully embracing converts who might have only known “Whip It”. The feverish chants of “Uncontrollable Urge” and synth freakouts of “Jocko Homo” whipped everyone into a frenzy. And the band performed the “Freedom Of Choice” theme song for the first time since the early 80′s! I had seen Devo before, opening for Arcade Fire and Dan Deacon at the United Center, but the atmosphere at Riot Fest was more appropriately ludicrous.

Flaming Lips

“The Flaming Lips are the most COVID-safe band in the world,” went the ongoing joke, as throughout the pandemic they’d give audience members bubbles for their bubbles to be able to play shows. The normally goofy and interactive band scaled back for Riot Fest. Before launching into their traditional opener “Race For The Prize”, Wayne Coyne explained that while the band is normally proud of where they come from--Oklahoma City--they’re saddened by the local government’s ignorant pandemic response and wouldn’t risk launching balloons or walking into the crowd because they might be virus spreaders coming from such an under-vaccinated area. To his and the band’s credit, they wore masks during the performance, even when singing; Coyne removed his only when outside of his bubble that had to be deflated and inflated many times and that sometimes muffled his singing voice even more than a mask. Ever the innovative band, they still put on a stellar show. Coyne autotuned his voice on “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1″, making it another instrument filling the song’s glorious pop melodies. Less heavy on props, the band favored a glitchy, psychedelic setlist that alternated between beauty (”Flowers Of Neptune 6″, “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate”, “All We Have Is Now”) and two-drummed cacophony (“Silver Trembling Hands”, “The W.A.N.D.”). They’ll give a proper Lips show soon enough, but in the meantime, it was nice to see them not run through the motions.

Slipknot

Apart from maybe moments of Slayer, I’ve never witnessed a headliner at Riot Fest as heavy as Slipknot was. Even the minor ethereal elements present on their most recent and very good album We Are Not Your Kind, like the chorus of voices during “Unsainted”, were all but abandoned live in favor of straight up brutality. Sure, there were moments of theatricality--Corey Taylor’s menacing laugh on “Disasterpiece” and pyrotechnics in sequence with the instrumentation on “Before I Forget” and “All Out Life”--but for the most part, Slipknot was the ultimate exorcism. Taylor’s new mask, with unnaturally circular eyes, seemed like it came from a particularly uncomfortable skit from I Think You Should Leave. They bashed a baseball bat to a barrel during the pre-encore performance of “Duality”. And the songs played from tape, like the gasping-for-breath “(515)”, were designed to contrast Slipknot’s alien appearance with qualities that were uncannily human. For a band whose performances and instrumental dexterity are otherworldly--who else can pull off tempo changes over a hissing, Aphex Twin-like shuffling electronic beat on “Eyeless”--the pure seething emotion on songs like “Psychosocial” and “Wait and Bleed” shone through. Like Smashing Pumpkins, and like so many other successful Riot Fest headliners, Slipknot abandoned drama for pure, unadulterated dirt.

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judgement-free-sideblog · 4 years ago

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Blood, tears and sea breeze

Warnings: ANGST, mental health issues, graphic depictions of violence, blood, cursing, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of sex, substance abuse.

Summary: The not so peaceful town of Broadchurch face dead again, while Alec Hardy continues his journey to redemption will this school teacher be the key to solve the mystery or just another victim of the ever watching evilness that seems to reside in the town.

First Previous Next

Chapter 19: Espresso

A defective faucet was leaking in the kitchen, and the sound echoing in the empty room was loud enough to drive someone mental, but for the broken ma siting in the empty room, and looking at nothing in particular it was just something else to listen to.

Alec hardy start pacing the room, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time, he was glad his daughter was already back in school so she was not there to see the spectacular way he destroyed his library the moment he saw the videos of Y/N in his computer a few moments after Harford took her away from him. Daze would have been worried, and he didn't want that. He just wanted to ease the pain and shut down all the screaming inside his head.

Again... was the only word his mind was coherently producing at the moment, Again... the smirking face of Claire Ripley laugh at him You love to fall for the defenseless girl act, don't you Alec? She said and and suddenly the pain in his chest became more real, his hands began trembling and the air became hard to pass AGAIN... the imagine of Tess playfully touching the shoulder of one of his colleagues in front of him while she pretended it was nothing You are being paranoid, you have to trust me. She had said so many times until he found out...

The pain move to his back and her neck and he knew it could be bad, and for a brief moment he considered the possibility of staying there and let his heart fail for once, and shock at his own perceived weakness and altered thoughts he walked slowly to his bathroom and frantically searched the cabinets desperate to find the small bottle Isosorbide, it was still good for another month, and it was almost full since he had been almost a year without needing it, he took one out and crushed it to put the white powder under his tongue, it was bitter for a moment, it had been so long he had almost forgot the taste.

But he needed it, to get better, and to go back to the station, he needed to make it right for Miller, even if it meant to put her behind bars for ever...

Again... he thought for a moment siting on his floor with his back on his bathtub before the darkness consumed him, he remembered that feeling he had that night of summer, after they caught Trish offender, a few years ago. He saw Miller go away without him on the piers, knowing too well he loved her and that it would end up badly, it was the same feeling he had for Y/N when she left, it would take everything from him to send her away, but he had to, he had to do his job, regardless of his own feelings...again.

****

"So she confessed huh?" Agent Ramos said reading Y/N declaration, "I mean I'm glad we have them, but I still think this is confusing, she didn't play the insanity card, and she didn't even wanted a lawyer" he pased the pages of Y/L/N file desperate to find something missing "She insists that she doesn't remember shaggin Langford, but she admits she asked him to murder Norbury?"

"And that she saw him putting his body on her cottage, but Langford keeps saying he didn't killed him, he just says they were together" Miller pointed out, she was sure that the partiality in her confession was insufficient to charge Charlie for anything but she needed time to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

She checked her phone, Alec hadn't call yet, and she was desperate to go to his place and find him, but first she had to be sure Y/N was guilty, that was the only way she would talk to him "Katie would you please bring me the DNA results from the ring?" She said, already knowing the cut on Charles' face was made with that rock, how she was not sure yet, but something about the clean cut told her it was. She was interrupted in her train of though when a very flustered Harford entered her office barely looking at Ramos, or better said desperately not looking at the man.

"Is that lipstick?" Miller asked, noticing a nice shade of pink on the agent lips who almost dropped the papers, and now was Ramos the one acting nervously.

"Yeah, it was a present" she said and Miller look at them both, and couldn't help but laugh, it was the single most unexpected thing that could happen that day and yet she was happy for them, and she was surprised to wonder what took them so long since they were quite perfect for each other.

"Just talk to HR before something else happens" she said to relief of the young detectives, "It's quite nice color, by the way" she said taking the results from Katie's hands.

"I was nervous she will be mad that I got the idea from the case, but she found it funny and ironic" Ramos said once she exited the room, and Miller was glad to have something else to talk about if merely for a moment.

"How come?"

"The lipstick, is the same brand we found in Norbury's car, is not the same femme fatal red, but I thought she might like it, like an inside joke, of course I didn't engrave 'My goddess' on it, only her ID number, you know professional" he said and Miller's world stopped for a moment that felt eternal, as the images of pink discrete lips and red seductive ones passed trough her mind she took her coat and the last piece of the puzzle fall in place, Y/N was right this was not over, she needed to find Hardy and fast.

****

Reverend Coates hanged up the phone, with his heart aching for the poor lost soul on the other line, and then he prayed for his own soul still doubting about whether or not it was worth it to break the seal of confessional for a woman.

But Y/N was not just any woman, he said to himself, she had been so much more in the past, his steps guide him to the graveyard where he had spent so many sleepless nights before. She had been so much more than just a woman for him, and at the same time she had been just the woman for him, and at risk of being selfish or vane, he kept dearly to him the memory of being the first man on her life, in a simpler, easier time... and he will be lying if he denied that seeing her next to DI Hardy didn't bother him, he was okay with Jonathan, even when he had given him ideas about the proposal he never really thought they would go trough with the wedding, something about making it more about his mother than the bride, and he will be there like always to heal her wounds, and maybe when they were both older they would end up together, but of course Paul never thought it will get to that horrid situation.

But it was different with Hardy, he made her laugh effortlessly, and the way her eyes bright and her voice flowed happy when she talked about him make him jealous, not just for losing an unspoken empty promise but one if not his best friend, and at the same time he was ready to let her go, and his childish selfish fantasy, specially knowing Alec Hardy was a good man, who will protect her no matter what, specially since right now she needed someone just as Hardy to protect her.

Since the shadow that desperately seek for her doom was advancing diligent to her end, and he had his hands tied by his faith. Even when he had loved her, he wasn't sure about throwing everything away for her. She had loved him too, when the sadness in her life that drowned her to his arms, and then they just fall out of love when those tragedies were gone, and he became such a different man that their growing apart was a blessing, he spent the next years looking after her knowing too well she was desperate to fly away from the town, but too remorseful and scared to do it.

And he couldn't help but thinking most of this situation was his fault, he thought again of God's ineffable plan and how the gears of destiny started to move the moment a pair of blue eyes sitted across him on his AA and said:

"Hi everyone, my name is Jonathan Norbury, and I'm an alcoholic" Paul committed the sin of prejudice the moment he entered the room, thinking he was just another rich man trying to superficially ease his guilt, judging by his city clothes and posh accent, but there was a sincerity in his voice that make him change his mind as he listened "I did something bad... is not like is the first time, but I need it to be the last one, I'm new in the the town, Broadchurch, my father... that's not important... the thing is I'm on my own for the first time in a long time, I have been drinking and doing a bunch of stupid stuff since I was 14, but I have been specially stupid for the last 72 hours, and something happened last night and I just need it to stop..." he said and Paul listened closely every word. "I meet this girl at the club, she was gorgeous, we danced, we drink, and I tried to take her home, but she refused, then this bloke, the bartender he said I will help you, I was too drunk I didn't understand what he meant, but he gave her another drink an then..." all of the present, specially those that had been there sober for a few years now shared a look, and Paul was horrified by the implications of the story "She was acting like a new born deer, and I help her to walk and she begged me to takeher home, she was needy, trying to kiss me and I realized I didn't even knew her name or who she was, so I drove her to a 24/7 coffee spot, and gave her some espresso... " someone audibly sighed in relief and the man let go a side smile "She sober up and we talked for a while, right now I am almost sure I forgot her name, but for the first time I understand what my father wanted me to see, that my actions had consequences, and I realized I'm not willing to keep hurting people with my ways, so I'm here, I'm willing to do the job, and I'm willing to change" he then smile with that timid disarming smile that Paul was about to know people found so charming.

Coates approach him after the meeting, they exchange numbers, and less than 12 hours later he called, he wanted to drink, and ask him to distract him.

"Just don't send me to read the bible" he said and laughed nervously and he could feel his desperation so he invited him to his church, not to the service but to paint some old benches. "And the lord will heal me?" He asked sardonically.

"No, but you could use some hard work and soul searching, city boy" he said and made him also replant some flowers.

The next day he repair a cabinet, and the third day they just talked, he was definitely not Broadchurch material, but his tortured soul was getting better, and he was glad to have a friend, and then he meet her.

She was scolding Danny Latimer for a poorly written essay, while Tom Miller was trying to make his mother old laptop to work with Paul.

"They are just kids, let them have some fun" He said and she gave Paul and inquisitive look since she didn't knew the man.

"Mr. Norbury is helping me with some work around the church"

"Mr. Norbury, really mate?" He made a disapproving gesture "I'm Jonathan, you can call me John or Johny, whatever sits you love" he said trying to pull out the London charm.

"I'll stay with Mr. Norbury, thanks" she said to him and his smile disappear immediately, making the boys laugh. And just like that Jonathan fall for the same spell Paul had fallen many years before, and his life turned around, Broadchurch suddenly was fun to him, the need to drink was almost nonexistent compared to the need to prove himself to her, and he was happy, and Paul was glad he put them together at the time, maybe that was God's plan, but things turn for the worst as suddenly as they started.

Pretending Paul didn't ask him to tell her the truth was useless because he did, so much that Jonathan changed AA groups, he wanted his past buried, and he understood it, but he was sure Y/N deserved the truth How do you know what is best for her? He had said the last time he confronted him I'm her fiance, I know what is best for us. And Paul hoped it was true, but as trouble with his store and tensions with his parents rose Jonathan went closer and closer to his older ways, and his restraints grew thinner and thinner until they break, and even Y/N compassionate soul was not enough to pull him back to his path.

And the shadow desperate to consume her, luring around her since she was a child took advantage of his weakness to finally take vengeance on her.

That tortured creature on the phone had confessed a few days ago, the how, and the why of Jonathan's death, and his heart was still aching to know it wasn't in pursuit of redemption, but to torture him with his own vow of silence so he could not help her, the woman he once loved so deeply, and now another call, to gloat on the fact that the teacher was paying for Jonathan's death, and since charging on his soul the truth without avail to help her was his punishment, he feared for Alec Hardy, since this shadow was determined to consume every source of love Y/N ever had.

He saw the sun setting on the horizon, wondering again what to do, he ask God for forgiveness, and finally picked up the phone.

Tag list:

@allonsymexgirl @laciesaito @tf18unipups @dazedkrosupreme @timey-wimey-lovi @coffees-and-constellations @ladyaziraphale @acid-gurkerl @moonuvert @tennantious

Hello there!! How are you coping with all the issues going on? On a personal level I am sick of people spreading misinformation about the virus and seeing the elderly die because their caretakers don't get them to the hospital because is "fake" and a "hoax by the government" like sure Karen the Government that make me use 5 times a single use pair of gloves is conspiring for you to use a mask 🙄...Anyway, we are closing to an end, and I hope is satisfying for you as readers as it was for me, I will take a break from writing once this is finished since work won't be easier with our death toll on the rise. So please stay safe, use your masks even if other people say it's ridiculous or unnecessary. Take care of each other.

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dailytafsirofquran · 4 years ago

Text

TEFSIR ibn KATHIR: Surah Waqi'ah Ayah 27-40

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

27 And those on the right -- how (fortunate) will be those on the right

28 (They will be) among Sidri Makhdud,

29 And among Talh Mandud.

30 And in shade Mamdud,

31 And by water flowing constantly,

32 And fruit in plenty,

33 Whose supply is not cut off nor are they out of reach.

34 And on couches, raised high.

35 Verily, We have created them a special creation.

36. And made them virgins.

37 `Urub, Atrab.

38 For those on the right.

39 A multitude of those will be from the first generation.

40 And a multitude of those will be from the later generations.

The Reward of Those on the Right After

Allah mentioned the final destination of those foremost in faith, the nearest to Him, He next mentioned the end of those on the right, the righteous believers. Maymun bin Mihran said that those on the right side are lesser in rank than the foremost in faith.

Allah said,

And those on the right -- how (fortunate) will be those on the right?

who are those on the right, what is their condition and what will their final destination be like?

Allah next answers this question by saying, (they will be) among Sidr Makhdud.

Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Mujahid, Ibn Al-Ahwas, Qasamah bin Zuhayr, As-Safr bin Nusayr, Al-Hasan, Qatadah,

Abdullah bin Kathir, As-Suddi, Abu Hazrah and several others said,

"The kind without thorns.''

And from Ibn Abbas:

"It is the one that is laden with fruits.''

This is also reported from Ikrimah and Mujahid.

Similar was also said by Qatadah as we mentioned.

So it is the one with a full load of fruits without thorns. So it appears that both meanings apply here.

The lote tree, of this life is thorny and carries few fruits. In the Hereafter, it is the opposite; it does not have thorns and carries plenty of fruit, the weight of which strains its trunk.

Utbah bin Abd As-Sulami said, "I was sitting with Allah's Messenger , when a Bedouin came and said, `O Messenger of Allah! Have you heard about the tree that has more thorns than any other being in Paradise' Meaning the Talh tree.

So Allah's Messenger said:

For each spot that there was a thorn on it, Allah instead put fruit, similar to a castrated tight skinned ram, a food having seventy colors, each different than the other.

Allah's said,

and among Talh Mandud.

refers to large thorny shrub that used to grow in the area of Hijaz (Western Arabia).

Mujahid said that (Mandud) means:

"Its fruits are piled on top of each other. Allah is reminding the Quraysh of these kinds of trees, since they used to like the shade that the Talh and Sidr provided for them.''

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abu Sa`id said that :(Talh Mandud) means:

"The banana tree.''

And he (Ibn Abi Hatim) said,

"Similar is reported from Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayrah, Al-Hasan, `Ikrimah, Qasamah bin Zuhayr, Qatadah and Abu Hazrah. ''

Mujahid and Ibn Zayd said similalry, Ibn Zayd added,

"The people of Yemen call the banana tree, Talh.''

Ibn Jarir mentioned no other explanation for Talh.

Allah said,

And in shade Mamdud (extended).

Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Prophet said,

In Paradise, there is a tree that a rider can travel for a hundred years under its shade but would not be able to pass it. Recite if you will: (And in shade extended).

Muslim also collected this Hadith.

Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

There is a tree in Paradise the shade of which a rider would take one hundred years to pass.

Recite if you will: (And in shade extended).

Muslim, Al-Bukhari and Abdur-Razzaq collected this Hadith.

Allah said,

And by water flowing constantly,

And fruit in plenty, whose supply is not cut off nor are they out of reach.

indicating that they will have plenty of fruits of various kinds, that which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard of and no heart has ever imagined, as Allah said,

Every time they will be provided with a fruit therefrom, they will say:

"This is what we were provided with before," and they will be given things in resemblance. (2:25)

The shape will appear similar, but the taste is different.

In the Two Sahihs, Sidrat Al-Muntaha (the tree in the seventh heaven) is described as:

...its leaves were like the ears of elephants and its Nabir fruits resembled the clay jugs of Hajar.

The Two Sahihs also collected a Hadith from Ibn Abbas, who said,

"The sun was eclipsed and Allah's Messenger led the people in the Eclipse prayer. They asked, `O Allah's Messenger, we saw you reach out for something while standing (in prayer), but then you stepped back.'

He said,

I saw Paradise and reached out for a cluster of fruit from it. Had I done so, you would have kept eating from it for the remainder of the life of the world.''

Imam Ahmad recorded that Utbah bin Abd As-Sulami said,

"A Bedouin man came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him about the Hawd and Paradise. The Bedouin asked, `Does Paradise have fruits?'

The Prophet said,

Yes, and it also has a tree called Tuba. (He said something more saying but I could not recall it).

The Bedouin asked, `Does it look like any of the trees that grow in our area'

The Prophet said,

There is nothing resembling it among the trees in your land.

The Prophet then asked him, Have you traveled to Ash-Sham area?

The Bedouin said: `No.'

The Prophet said,

It looks like a tree that grows in Ash-Sham area and is called Al-Jawzah, which stands on one stem but its branches grow all around to the fullest extent.

The Bedouin asked, `How big is the cluster of its fruits?'

The Prophet said,

The distance that the crow flies in one month without rest.

The Bedouin asked, `How huge its trunk is?'

The Prophet said,

If a four-year old she-camel that your family owns travels it, it will not completely pass its trunk until its shoulders break from old age.

The man asked, `Does it bear grapes?'

The Prophet answered in yes.

The Bedouin asked, `How big are the grapes?'

The Prophet said, Has your father ever slaughtered a ram?

The Bedouin answered, `Yes,' and the Prophet asked him,

And then he skinned it and gave the skin to your mother and asked her to make a hanging bucket out of it.

The Bedouin again said yes and said, `This grape would suffice for me and my family!'

The Prophet agreed and said,

Yes, and also for the rest of your clan.''

Allah's statement,

Whose supply is not cut off nor are they out of reach.

The supply of these fruits never runs out, winter or summer. Rather, they are always available for those who want to eat from them, forever.

Whenever these fruits are desired, they will be available and easy to grasp by Allah's power.

Qatadah said,

"Nothing will prevent them from reaching out to get these fruits, no branches, thorns or distance.''

We mentioned a Hadith before that states that whenever someone takes a fruit in Paradise, another one grows in its place.

Allah said, afterwards:

And on couches, raised high.

meaning, high, soft and comfortable.

Allah said,

Verily, We have created them a special creation. And made them virgins.`Urub, Atrab. For those on the right.

The Ayat describe the women who will be on the beds and couches, but since mentioning the beds hints to them, they were not directly mentioned.

For instance, Allah said that Sulayman said,

When there were displayed before him, in the afternoon, well-trained horses of the highest breed. He said, "I did love the good instead of remembering my Lord,'' till the time was over, and it had hidden in the veil (of night). (38:31-32)

"it'' (Tawarat) refers to the sun setting, according to the scholars of Tafsir.

Al-Akhfash said that Ayah, (Verily, We have created them), implied the maidens of Paradise although it did not mention them directly.

Abu Ubaydah said that they were mentioned before in Allah's statement,

And Hur (fair females) with wide lovely eyes, like preserved pearls.

Therefore, Allah's statement, (Verily, We have created them), meaning, in the other life, after they became old in this life, they were brought back while virgin, youthful, being delightfully passionate with their husbands, beautiful, kind and cheerful.

Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi recorded that Anas said that the Messenger of Allah said,

In Paradise, the believer will be given such and such strength for women.

Anas said, "I asked, `O Allah's Messenger! Will one be able to do that?'

He said,

He will be given the strength of a hundred (men).''At-Tirmidhi also recorded it and said, "Sahih Gharib.''

Abu Al-Qasim At-Tabarani recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah was asked,

"O Allah's Messenger! Will we have sexual intercourse with our wives in Paradise''

He said,

The man will be able to have sexual intercourse with a hundred virgins in one day.

Al-Hafiz Abu Abdullah Al-Maqdisi said,

"In my view, this Hadith meets the criteria of the Sahih, and Allah knows best.''

Allah's statement, (`Urub), Sa`id bin Jubayr reported that Ibn Abbas said,

"They are in an infatuated state with their husbands, haven't you ever seen a she-camel in heat? She is like that.''

Ad-Dahhak reported from Ibn Abbas who said,

"The Urub and their husbands are their sweet hearts, and they are their husbands' sweet hearts.''

Similar was said by Abdullah bin Sarjis, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Abu Al-Aliyah, Yahya bin Abi Kathir, Atiyah, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others.

Ad-Dahhak reported from Ibn `Abbas; (Atrab), means

"They will be of one age, thirty-three years old.''

Mujahid said, "Equal (age).''

And in a different narration, "Similar (age)''

Atiyah said, "Comparative.''

Allah said, (For those on the right).

meaning, these women were created, kept or given in marriage to those on the right. It appears that the meaning here is that they were created for those on the right side, because Allah said,

Verily, We have created them a special creation.

And made them virgins. `Urub, Atrab. For those on the right.

This is the view of Ibn Jarir. It is possible that Allah's statement, (For those on the right), refers to the description, that came just before, Atrab.

For those on the right. (meaning, in their age).

Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

The first group to enter Paradise will be (shining) like the moon when it is full. The next group will be like the most radiant planet in the sky. They will not urinate, relieve nature, spit or blow their noses. Their combs will be of gold and their sweat of musk; and censers of aloes wood will be used. Their wives will be from Al-Hur Al-`Ayn. Their shape will be similar to each other, the shape of their father `Adam, sixty cubits high in the sky.

Allah's statement,

A multitude of those will be from the first generation. And a multitude of those will be from the later generations.

means, a multitude of those on the right will come from the earlier generations and a multitude from the latter generations.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abdullah bin Mas`ud said,

"We were with the Prophet one night and in the next morning we went to him and he said, Some Prophets and their nations were displayed before me. A Prophet would pass in front of me with a group of men, and another with three men, and another with nobody with him.

Qatadah, one of the narrators of the Hadith, then recited this Ayah,

Is there not among you a single right-minded man, (11:78)

Until Musa, son of `Imran passed me, with a great crowd from the Children of Israel.

So he said;

So, I asked my Lord, "Who is this''

He said, "This is your brother Musa, son of Imran, and those who followed him among the Children of Israel.''

I said, "O Lord! Where is my Ummah''

Allah said, "Look to your right on the hill,''

and I looked and saw faces of men.

Allah said, "Are you pleased,''

and I said, "I am pleased O Lord!''

Allah said, "Look to the horizon to your left,''

and I saw faces of men.

He again asked, "Are you pleased,''

and I said, "I am pleased, O Lord!''

He said, "And with them are seventy-thousand who will enter Paradise without reckoning.''

Ukkashah bin Mihsan from Bani Asad, one of those who participated in the battle of Badr, said,

`O Allah's Messenger! Invoke Allah to make me one of them.'

The Prophet said, O Allah, make him one of them. Another man said, `O Allah's Messenger, invoke Allah to make me one of them.'

The Prophet said, Ukkashah beat you to it.

Allah's Messenger said, Therefore, may I sacrifice my father and mother for you! Try to be among the seventy (thousands), or among the crowds on the right, or the crowds that covered the side of the horizon, because I saw large crowds gathering on that side.

He continued: I hope that you will be a fourth of the people of Paradise and we said, Allahu Akbar.

He said,

I hope that you will be a third of the people of Paradise and we said, Allahu Akbar.

The Prophet said,

I hope that you will be half of the people of Paradise, and we said Allahu Akbar.

Then Allah's Messenger recited this Ayah:

A multitude of those will be from the first generation. And a multitude of those will be from the later generations.

We said to each other, `Who are those seventy thousand?'

We then said, `They are those who were born in Islam and did not associate (anything or anyone in the worship of Allah).'

When what we said reached the Prophet, he said,

They are the people

- who do not get treated by cauterization themselves,

- do not ask for Ruqyah (get oneself treated by the recitation of some verses of the Quran) and

- do not draw an evil omen from (birds), but put their trust (only) in their Lord.''

This Hadith has many chains of narration collected in the Sahihs and other collections of Hadith.

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readyplayerhobi · 5 years ago

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Starfire | 05

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Sci-Fi, adventure, angst, future smut

; Word Count: 7.2k

; Synopsis: The schism that broke the galaxy began, as it usually does, over a disagreement. The resultant civil war has raged for hundreds of years. When a ragtag group of travellers discovers something that could turn the tide of war, for good or for worse, the bonds of friendship and love will be tested.

; A/N: Another part! :D Please read and enjoy because I still love writing this series so much and the character are so wonderful! If you do read, pleeeease reblog so that others can see too and leave me wonderful comments so I can get excited too or leave me asks! I finished this chapter because someone reblogged Starfire and left me wonderful comments so I just had to finish this!

Previous Chapter ; Next Chapter

“Approaching Mikanis space now Captain,” Taehyung said clearly, his gaze focused on the holoscreen in front of him as it fed him statistics from the Starfire. Or Fury as she was known now. “Contacting Mikanis traffic control now.”

Everyone on the bridge was stiff with nerves, glancing between each other awkwardly. This would be the true test to discover if Jungkook truly had done the ship ID change correctly. The name from the hull had already been removed when you’d taken a brief stop out of hyperspace before carrying on, removing the legacy and providing a cover for you all.

It now proclaimed her to be Fury in bright and bold letters, though the name wouldn’t stand up to an intense physical inspection of the ship herself. There were too many things on board that were labelled with her original name and none of you had had the time to scour through and change everything so carefully. Nor could you, realistically.

There was a reason that changing ship IDs was illegal and could only be done by officials. It was too time consuming and costly. But it wasn’t a choice for you all, it was simply a way to try and survive. All you could hope was that the ID would check out on their end and they wouldn’t have any reason to look further.

A quick turn of your head lets you take in Namjoon’s face as he sits silent, body leaning to the side as his fingers rest against his mouth. He looked the picture of calm and patience, but you can tell he’s more nervous than he's letting on. For everyone else’s sake you bet.

“Mikanis TC, this is Fury. Request permission for lane position and docking at Craila City.” Taehyung says, his voice steady. His fingers dart over the keyboard as he inputs the ID code that Jungkook had given him, denoting Fury’s identity and information for Mikanis traffic control to look over.

There’s the tiniest pause that heightens the tension on the bridge even more before a deep drawl dances over the bridge. “Mikanis TC to Fury, permission is granted. Lane eighteen, position nine. Please navigate to docking station twelve at Craila City. Welcome to Mikanis.”

The exhale of everyone onboard is audible, with Jin even running his hands down his face as he stands with Jisoo towards the door. Namjoon’s closed his eyes in relief while Taehyung has a smile of his own as your heart beats frantically. You input the directions for Taehyung once you receive them before turning around to gesture at Jungkook.

“Looks like it worked Jungkook.” The android looks at you with widened eyes and you smile gently in response, watching as he visibly calms down in front of you. A slight nod is all he gives though, trying to blend into the wall behind him to avoid interaction with others. He was still so nervous and shy, and you weren’t sure how to break that habit.

“Where is Craila City?” You ask, frowning over at Namjoon as he leans back in his seat. He looks at you with a carefully blank face before sighing quietly, running his fingers through his hair and messing it up thoroughly. Despite telling him to sleep, he’d evidently chosen to ignore your request because he still has some impressive dark circles going on under his eyes.

“Akati. It’s one of the newer megacities, only a century old. It’s in the north but situated more towards the coastline so the weather’s not quite as extreme as the desert. Downside though is that it’s really windy. Other than that, it’s your typical Mikanian shit hole.” His words are barbed and your brows rise in amusement.

You’d only looked into a few of their cities when researching them, and you’d never visited Mikanis before so it was going to be an experience for you. “What? Don’t like cities?” You tease lightly, knowing that Namjoon had come from a much more sparsely populated planet.

“That’s got nothing to do with it. I just don’t like cities where a half a billion people live in it and you have to live with the knowledge that if the shield falls then you’ll all probably die. Plus, it’s full of the kind of people you don’t want to meet.” He responds dryly.

Jimin snorts suddenly, causing you both to look over to him. “You mean like us? We may not murder people but we still do illegal shit. Especially now. In fact...we’re probably doing the most illegal thing in the entire universe right now thanks to him,” He points to Jungkook. “Anyway, I like Mikanis. It’s a place that doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. You can get whatever the fuck you want there.”

You frown slightly. “We need to be careful though. Mikanis has the highest death rate in the known galaxy for a reason.” Jimin just rolls his eyes in response as if you’d just told him a really stupid joke or something.

“Yeah, ‘cos they don’t take kindly to fools. You’re either honest in Mikanis or dead. And by honest, I mean lying your fucking ass off. Don’t trust anyone down there. They’d sell their own mother if it got them something.” His tone is dry and you laugh quietly.

“Sounds great. Anyway, where’s Chungha?” The question is directed back at Namjoon and he looks back up with raised brows, his full lower lip being chewed by white teeth. A visible sign of nerves now.

“She’s a weapon’s engineer at Artica Industries; it’s in Craila, on the surface.” Jimin whistles lowly before you can even say anything, causing everyone to look at him once more. He looks suitably impressed though, and you wonder why.

“Care to explain why you look like you’ve just had ten women strip naked right here for you?” You ask, causing him to grin lasciviously as he wiggles his eyebrows at you before straightening his face back out.

“Yeah, the captain’s lovergirl must be hot shit. Artica is one of the biggest weapons manufacturers in the galaxy and they’re at the cutting edge when it comes to laser and plasma. They mostly work in ship weapons so they get to play with some fun toys that cause big booms. They’re also ridiculously fucking rich, hence why they’re on the surface of Mikanis. Only the 1% gets to live there,” He pauses before looking at Namjoon with a raised brow. “They also have contracts with both TAS and UIS.”

His words land heavy in the bridge, causing you to look at Namjoon as your blood runs icy in your veins. Without even thinking, you’re shaking your head in denial. “No, no Namjoon. Do not tell me that you’ve taken us to the one fucking place in the galaxy that can not only turn us in to both fucking TAS and UIS but can also probably blow us the fuck away if we try to run?!”

“Chungha wouldn’t do that! I told you, she owes me.” He protests loudly, holding his hands out pleadingly while you glare at him.

“You’re putting a lot of faith on someone just because she owes you for something years ago. Someone who you think still has feelings for you. What if she doesn’t? We may as well have just stayed and let ourselves get killed! Did Hoseok really almost kill himself for no reason?!” You hiss at him, words quiet and filled with anger while everyone stays in awkward silence.

“I’m putting myself on the line here. Please, trust me. I know you all have no reason to after everything that’s happened but...I trust her. I do. I know it didn’t end good last time but...please. She’s the one person I can think of that can help. Like I said...she’s well connected.” Namjoon stands and looks at everyone, his face serious while his eyes gleam with desperate persuasion.

“She better be,” Yoongi growls, glaring at his captain. “Because if you’ve just taken us from a bad situation to a worse situation, I’ll be really pissed off.”

Lisa nods next to him, her eyes narrowed fiercely and you sigh loudly, gesturing for everyone to calm down. “Okay guys...come on. We’ll just...we’ll take it slow okay? Namjoon and I will go to Chungha alone, scope her out and see if she’s willing to go along with us. Taehyung and Rose, you two stay on board and keep her ready to go if we need to run. Jin, Jisoo, I want you two to go out and see if you can find us whatever we need to upgrade Starfire. I want her faster, harder and able to hit harder too if possible. Take the money from the communal funds, you’ll all get your money back I swear but I think this is more important right now. Yoongi and Lisa, you two go out and get provisions for us all. That includes weapons. Jimin, you’re backing us up. All good with everyone?”

A glance around the room has everyone nodding slowly and you let out a deep breath of relief. It was always good when the crew didn’t argue over something, but there was nothing for them to argue over this time. They either did what they were told, or you all died.

Jungkook suddenly spoke up and your eyes widened as you looked at him with guilt rushing through you as you realised that you’d somehow managed to forget him. “I have run through the list of businesses operating on Craila...there is a Magi owned store there. I...I have been doing some research on Magi...I have a list of items that I think I could use to help Hoseok heal faster. If...if someone would be willing to go get them for me? I don’t think I should leave the ship.”

Everyone stays quiet for a moment before looking at you gingerly, wondering how you’ll take that. But you just smile softly, your heart racing hard as you imagined seeing Hoseok awake once more when you get back to the ship and you knew that you’d do anything for him.

“Sure. Give it to Yoongi and Lisa. If you’d be okay with doing a detour?” You ask them both, expecting them to complain about being asked to do something by an android. Lisa was still angry with him but Yoongi had slowly been mellowing out. He wasn’t really the kind to hold a grudge, and you knew that if accepted Jungkook then Lisa would eventually too.

But to your surprise, they both nod immediately with completely serious looks on their faces. “Of course. We’d do anything to help Hoseok if we can.” Yoongi says and you bite your lip to try and stop the rush of emotions from showing on your face.

It doesn’t work evidently, given the way Lisa’s eyes soften and she gives you her own sweet smile as she nods. “He’s gonna be okay, we all know it.”

Everyone nods and you lower your head momentarily, clenching your fists before taking a long and slow breath. Nodding to yourself, you look back up at everyone and smile brightly before slapping your thighs firmly.

“Right. Then everyone get ready for what you have to do. Taehyung and I will get Starfi-I mean...Fury, docked and I want everyone to be ready to leave within five minutes of docking. Is that okay Namjoon?” You ask, looking at your captain for confirmation that he was okay with your commanding of everyone.

He smiles though, appreciation in his gaze at you bringing the crew round so quickly and nods himself. “Yeah. You heard her, get moving.”

The crew scatters once you’ve docked, hurrying off to do their own chores while also hoping to get in a bit of free time if possible. Neither you nor Namjoon would begrudge them any if they could find it, as long as they didn’t get themselves in trouble that they couldn’t get out of.

It was the last thing you all needed right now for someone to get locked up for something stupid.

The climate of Craila City was oddly hot and humid, leading to you stripping off the faux leather jacket you’d donned and wrapping it tightly around your waist. It helped to cover your weapon but also let your arms get some much needed air. Namjoon was evidently choosing to suffer, keeping his own coat on while black sunglasses covered his eyes.

“You look like you’re going to walk the runway at Pariska.” You chide at him, rolling your eyes when he simply gives you the finger in return. Jimin snorts a laugh from your side, his persona today being that of a surprisingly bland looking man. His skin tone and facial features don’t help to denote any nationality, and at a glance he could even be mistaken for a few various alien races under the right lighting.

You scan him over once more, taking in the loose fitting trousers and dull beige shirt wondering once more how he manages to shift his clothes too. Jimin never gave away any secrets and you weren’t sure if it was because he couldn’t, he didn’t want to or just that he knew the curiosity burned at you.

Knowing Jimin, it was probably the latter.

Still, you gestured at him lazily with a raised brow. “Is this...purposefully the most boring person you could have ever possibly created? Don’t you ever want to be someone...better looking?”

“Why? I’m already attractive. Besides, that goes against the objective of blending in if I choose a visage that is more beautiful than the people around me. No, this is a face that a thousand people could look at and forget.” He pauses before eyeing you slowly, his own brow raising. “We study what most races consider average and learn to produce a shape that is so boring and unappealing that no one ever pays attention. I’m just a middle aged human man, a little down on his luck but doing okay for myself. Just like every other person here.”

At that, he makes a vague hand gesture towards the crowd of people surrounding you all. You glance around and note that he’s right. Everyone around you is dressed similarly to Jimin, in a style that isn’t particularly noticeable but also not horribly shabby.

Though you question if the only reason people are dressed like that is because the entrance to one of Craila’s large docking stations is here and these people evidently either work on the docks, are travelling themselves or have a ship docked here.

Quietly, you take in the whole environment carefully, partially to make sure that there doesn’t seem to be anyone who’s spotted you and also simply because you like going to new places and seeing them. There was always something new and interesting to catch your eye.

You’d never been to Mikanis, and you’ve never been to a city quite as big as Craila. Or at the very least, the large cities you go to are sprawling across the land, not digging down deep into the crust of the planet.

The entrance to the dock lies behind as you walk out to the heaving street in front of you. It’s crammed with land vehicles that stink of metal while a glance up lets you see the overcrowded sky lanes that stream above you in a steady flow of air cars and cruisers.

Glass and metal building reach up high into the sky all around, like they were in a contest to see who could reach the cloudless blue far above and casting the whole world into shadow. High above, the world looked to be shiny and clean but far down here the grime and dirt was beginning to show.

It was mind boggling to think that half a billion people lived in this one city alone. There weren’t even half a billion people on Hekasus, never mind to fill one city! So many people filled the streets here, bumping into each other with no care about personal space and you shuddered slightly, disliking the intense smell of body odour from all the alien races around you, not just the humans.

A city this big and this populated could never smell good, and you hated to think what the larger and more established cities smelled like.

It was almost claustrophobic, and you let your head fall back onto your shoulders as you gazed straight up to where the startlingly tall towers seemed to bend toward each other at their apex. They were tiny up there, barely wider than your finger but you knew the reality of them. Each building probably housed a ridiculous number of people or businesses.

“It’s so...crammed.” You say softly, frowning as you look back down. Every building looks to have a store built into the bottom floor, neon holographic signs projecting out and cluttering up the free air space as they proclaim a sale, a massage parlour, a shooting gallery, a bar, high end prostitutes, a department store, the latest video game and more.

It’s overwhelming on your senses and the longer you stand there, the more you start to pick out individual scents. The smell of rasa bubbling from the street vendor on the other side of the road, his mechanical arm stirring the pot of red spiced meat and sauce while a vendor on your side of the road hawks his roasted payka, the tasty vegetables bursting with delicious flavour that makes your mouth water.

“Yeah, like I said. It’s a shit hole,” Namjoon grunts before pointing up. “And this is where the rich folk live, if you can believe it.”

You glance upwards once more, taking in the subtle purple shimmer high in the sky as the shield that protects the city from the deadly planet’s atmosphere shudders into visibility momentarily. This was the rich part of the city because they could see the sky; you had no doubt about that.

Already from here, you could see the road dipping down into a well lit tunnel to your left, the directions on the hologram filtering themselves into your language as you see it proclaim it to be the way to the Upper District.

“What’s the Upper District? Isn’t this the upper?” Namjoon shakes his head before pointing to the building in front of you all.

“Nope, this is Land District. Upper District is the first level below ground. Then there’s Garden District, Midtown District, Sub-District and Lower District. There’s a final one under that, I believe it’s the sewage system and service entries or something. Between each level is a subway system that also runs through all the floors. The lower you go...the poorer you are.”

You snort at that wryly, giving him a dry glance as you both obviously have the same thought. After years as his second-in-command, you’ve gained the innate ability to do that, and right now you’re both thinking that that it’s a sad metaphor for the life of those in poverty. On other planets, saying you’re at the bottom of the pile just means that you’re living a life full of hardship and strife.

On Mikanis, it literally means that you’re at the bottom of the city. Sighing as you glance back over the tunnel, you ponder for a moment what life must be like them for them. Given how far down they are beneath the planet’s surface, you presume that they likely don’t get to see much natural light. A part of you wonders what it looks like down there, but then you push that thought away.

Looking back up to the sky, the soft shimmer of the shield keeping the whole city safe from the raging planet beyond, you decide that you couldn’t ever live down there. For someone who grew up Hekasus, with forests and fields and mountains filled with cool and crisp air and then transferred to a spaceship where the universe was literally your oyster, the very idea of being cooped up far beneath the surface to never see light or stars again was horrifying.

You hoped their life wasn’t too hard, but the rational part of your brain knew better. There was nothing you could do for them though and so you inhaled deeply, straightening your shoulders before looking back at Namjoon. He’d been watching you carefully, his expression blank as he let you take in what he’d told you and you give him a small smile.

“Let’s go meet Chungha, yeah? And hope she doesn’t blow your head off. That might not go down well with the rest of the crew and heka, I am not ready to be the leader of our ship. I’d kill Jimin within two days.” You groan lightly, pushing at Namjoon’s arm and leading him to a waiting transport vehicle. The black car is hovering slightly above the ground, vivid neon blue and pink adverts plastered along the side and changing with alarming frequency in an obnoxious assault on the senses.

Above it, the green sign of a vacant transport vehicle let’s you know it’s free to use and you climb into it carefully. You hadn’t even noticed Jimin slip away into the crowd, moving ahead of you both to scout out the building carefully. He’d moved with that liquid grace that let him disappear before anyone had even realised he’d gone, and you had no doubt that Jimin would have probably checked out the whole building by the time you got there.

No one knew how he did it, nor would he ever tell. All you knew was that it was incredibly useful.

The interior of the transport car is surprisingly big, with more than enough room for you both to sit without having to brush up against each other. Namjoon was very tall and broad, leading to many times when you’d been pressed up against him because the man just took up too much damn room.

A holo screen drops down from the centre of the roof, lighting up the interior with a soft blue glow and Namjoon inputs your destination. There’s a tiny pause as the screen processes his request, no doubt working out a journey before it states a price in a currency you’ve never seen. Namjoon doesn’t say anything though as he simply presses his wrist to the payment sensor on the arm of his chair, a green acceptance flashing before the engine of the car starts.

Looking out the window, you watch as the car lifts up from the ground before moving to join one of the sky lanes, its speed increasing as it zooms through the city. You get a wonderful view from here of the towering skyscrapers and landscape that is just visible between certain buildings.

Even in the daytime, with the sun shining brightly down on everything, the city is alive with light and colour. A part of you can’t wait to see what it looks like at night, knowing the image will be even more impressive than it is now, but at the same time you lament the loss of nature in this sprawling city.

You haven’t seen a single plant, and the very idea of not being to enjoy nature is abhorrent to you. It’s positively mind boggling that there are people who will be born, live and die on this planet who will likely never see a living plant.

Turning to Namjoon, you watch as his gaze remains firmly on the shifting cityscape beyond the windows. His skin is ever so slightly paler than normal and you know that’s because he simply hasn’t been sleeping that well. He blames himself for what happened, and part of you agrees with that honestly.

But Starfire was a team, a family, and all decisions were unanimous. Therefore, it wasn’t his fault entirely that things had gone so wrong.

Still though, you need to make sure that everything is hopefully going to go okay from now. Because there’s no one around at the moment and Namjoon doesn’t have to put on a brave face with only you there.

Placing a hand on his arm, he turns to look at you slowly. His eyes are lowered, the corners of his mouth tilted down while the tiniest lines crease his brow. You know that he’s far more worried and stressed than he’s let on and it makes your chest ache for him in sympathy. He didn’t deserve any of this worry, not when he’d simply been trying to sustain his crew and ship.

“Joon...what do we do if Chungha can’t help?” The question is quiet, even in the relative silence of the transport car and Namjoon’s brow stiffens as his lips pursed. You don’t even need to hear him to know that he’s annoyed, though he’s probably only annoyed because he’s scared.

“She’ll help. I swear she will. I believe in her.” He states clearly, causing you to sigh deeply. Turning forwards, you watch the holo screen as it plays a random ad for some bar in the city while not actually taking it in.

“I didn’t say won’t, I said can’t. Even if she says yes, what if she can’t help us? I mean...what are we even supposed to do? How do we resolve this whole issue? Both sides want to kill us. We’re backed into a corner that we can’t get out of as far as I can see. We need to think Joon, she might not be able to help us.” Your words are soft and filled with emotion, recognising the downfall that may be approaching you all quickly.

Namjoon doesn’t respond for a few moments, instead remaining quiet as his fingers tugged absently at an errant thread on his trousers. You know it’s hard for him to acknowledge, but you have no doubt that he’s been thinking about it too. This might truly be the end of the line for everyone on the Starfire.

“I don’t know. I don’t...I don’t know.” You’ve never heard him sound so defeated, the way his shoulders slump down and his whole body just loses any tension. His face looks desolate and your heart clenched tightly, causing you to lay an arm around his shoulders and squeeze them tightly in reassurance.

“We’ll...find a way. We’ll find a way like we always do. Even...even if we spend the rest of our lives running or something. We’ll find a way.” He doesn’t respond and you squeeze again, laying your cheek on his shoulder and sighing quietly. “We’ll do it Joon, I swear.”

“I hope so.” Is all he says, his voice filled with some much dejection and fear that you find yourself worrying even more for him. He doesn’t need to be stressing out like this, not when he’s meant to be the one leading you but that’s why he has you, you reason to yourself.

Your job as second-in-command meant keeping everyone else in line while also making sure that your captain’s health and wellbeing is also being taken care of. It’s a frustrating position to be in, but one that you would never relinquish because you know how heavily Namjoon relies on you.

How heavily he’s relying on you right now and you can’t let him down, not with something this important.

Jungkook moves about the tiny room he’s been given as his own in silence, barely making a noise as he pads from one side to the other and moves items around. On the tiny desk by his bed he has a bowl made of ancient ceramic, decorated with tiny magi symbols all along both the outer and inner walls.

This was just one of the items he’d asked the crew to get for him, the other stuff was laid around the room haphazardly as he worked efficiently. He found it odd to suddenly have a purpose to his time, a purpose that was truly meaningful and could potentially change a life.

The magical coma Hoseok had fallen into after the battle had been because of him, the magi had almost given his own life to save the Starfire because Jungkook existed. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel guilt, but he did. Intensely.

Guilt for being created, guilt for the Starfire finding him, guilt for them almost dying, guilt for them having to flee and being chased by the prospect of death simply because he existed. It was worse with Hoseok though, as he’d had to watch as you almost fell apart at how close Hoseok had come to death. Jungkook hadn’t known about you two, hadn’t known about the deep and strong bonds that bound you together even if you hadn’t acknowledged it out loud.

He felt guilty for that too, as you had been the nicest person to him on the ship besides from Taehyung. That meant a lot to him, as Jungkook was still learning. He was learning all the time, his mind taking in information rapidly and trying to understand the intricacies of personal relationships and so forth. It was hard when people wouldn’t let him try, but Taehyung and you did.

Jungkook likes Taehyung, he was friendly and open which was pleasing to someone who was trying to comprehend their very existence. The Cognizar made him feel like he was normal, like he was alive. All Taehyung seemed to care about was showing Jungkook the latest games or vids.

One of the hardest things to comprehend was the fact that Jungkook felt particularly useless to everyone on the ship. No one truly trusted him and he wasn’t sure how to gain that trust. Changing the Starfire’s name had been a small step forward, but he knew he would have to work much harder to make them believe in him more.

He had to show that he was part of their crew, that he wanted to be a part of their family and to be loved by them like they loved each other. And to do that, he felt that he needed to try and help Hoseok wake up given it was his fault it had happened in the first place.

Hours had been spent in this room as they’d traveled to Mikanis, sat on the bed that he found strangely comfortable while he scanned data that he had downloaded to research Hoseok’s condition. Jungkook didn’t like it when he did that, as the data that scrolled through his head made him remember that he was not alive, but was in fact a machine that simply thought on its own.

But he pushed those thoughts away every time, sinking deeper into the information on the planet Hekasus and its unique population of Magiikus users. From his studies, he’d discovered that Hekasus had been inhabited by humans for 4,000 years now. The original settlers had been from Beowulf, the sixtieth planet to be settled by the original human homeworld of Earth.

Apparently on Beowulf, there had been a certain species of plant that gave off an element that had never been discovered before. For centuries, human’s hadn’t thought it was doing anything strange as it didn’t seem to change anything about them and so they had simply consumed it alongside their other crops as it had proven to be safe to eat.

Humans had lived on Beowulf for two millennia before a large contingent moved on to the newly discovered planet of Hekasus. It had been here that they had discovered that the element had in fact done something and the humans of Beowulf had in fact been genetically modified over time by the element. The environment on Hekasus activated a certain gene amongst random members of the population, allowing them to access the well of power now known as Magiikus.

Jungkook struggled to find anything more about the magi themselves or Magiikus because it proved that the users of this mystical force chose to keep most of it secret. All he knew was that everyone from the original Beowulf settlers had the gene, and the gene had proven dominant over the years even when they had interbred with humans from other planets. But it only activated when growing up on Hekasus, and it was seemingly random who it activated in.

Only 40% of the population of Hekasus were found to have the activated gene, and their abilities in using Magiikus differed as well. It had all been very fascinating to Jungkook, to read about how easily a human could experience mutations in their genetic makeup and how wildly it could change them.

The element on Beowulf mixed with the environment of Hekasus allowed humans to use a force that no one truly understood. A casual search had let Jungkook know that there had been ten other genetic mutations caused by environmental impacts in humanity over the millennia.

Those living on Basilikus had developed an immunity to heavy metals that would kill a large majority of other living creatures. People on that planet had proven to be the best scientists in the field of nuclear research of all kinds as they had the bizarre benefit of being completely immune to the radiation let off by the heavy metals they worked with.

Humans on Amati on the other hand had evolved over the millennia to be resistant to a multitude of poisons caused by the toxic plants that lived on their planet. Jungkook found it ridiculously odd that humanity would voluntarily inhabited these dangerous planets until they eventually evolved to cope with them instead of just going somewhere else, but he’d noticed that living beings seemed to have odd ideas about many things.

Either way, he’d had to spend hours upon hours sifting through data from Hekasus before he had finally stumbled across an ancient description of a magi suffering what Hoseok was. It had outlined a ritual that had been performed on the magi, including the ingredients used to create a...well Jungkook wasn’t even sure what it was because he couldn’t translate the words properly but he presumed it be a steam or scent that would help Hoseok to wake up.

Apparently it was something to do with stimulating his Magiikus and revitalising him, encouraging him to waken far sooner. It may all be a bunch of crap, but Jungkook was willing to try because it likely wouldn’t hurt him. Just make the room smell a bit.

He’d been carefully experimenting with the ingredients provided to him for the last few hours in his room, thankful that he could ignore the bizarre mix of scents that drifted in the air while he focused on perfecting it. The story or recipe whatever it was had said that the substance became a pearlescent purple with swirls of pink with an almost glittering steam.

So far, Jungkook had managed to create solid purple before he’d gotten to pearlescent purple, but the steam had been just plain white. But maybe this time…

He gently added a tiny dash of precias, a powdered gem found on Hekasus and held his breath as he mixed the contents slowly in a clockwise direction. It seeped into the thick paste, the pale pink vanishing into the deep purple and he watched nervously to see what would happen.

The writing on the bowl suddenly glowed a soft white for a few seconds and he let out a whoop of glee as the paste lightened to a pretty pearlescent purple, strands of a beautiful pink flowing through it while a gentle steam rose, the air shimmering. He’d done it! He’d managed to make it!

Now all he had to do was hopefully wake Hoseok up and everyone would hopefully be happy with him.

Grinning to himself, he took the bowl and exited his room quickly before navigating to Hoseok’s small room. It was bigger than his own, but he recognised that it was still smaller than the captain’s. Perhaps most surprising was that it was as sparsely decorated as his own.

Rose was inside the quiet room, a beautiful and light melody leaving her lips to fill the air with something that made Jungkook’s chest tighten for some reason. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt like listening to her was like listening to the silent melody of the universe itself. Like he was listening to something so beautiful and big he couldn’t comprehend it, even with a machine for a brain.

She stopped immediately as he walked in, her eyes calm and warm as she watched him move closer. They dropped to the bowl in his hands and her head tilted to the side slightly, the movement unnatural even to Jungkook as her long, flowing hair shifted gently to a beautiful emerald green and her eyes soon become vibrant green gemstones as curiosity took over her.

“Is that what you needed to make?” She asked gently, her voice sweet and kind. He smiled in response, mentally re-evaluating his earlier statement that only Y/N and Taehyung had been nice to him. Rose had been equally as welcoming, an almost otherworldly knowledge to her eyes that told him she would forever be on his side.

He’d tried to research the Galaxis in his free time and had been astonished by how little he’d found. They didn’t talk about their race, nor even where they were from and he knew from the histories he’d found that one day, they had simply appeared. They could not be held in any place, for they always seemed to escape and they went where they wanted to go. The fact that Rose had been here for years meant that she must hold the Starfire very close.

Jungkook had developed his own suspicions and theories about the Galaxis and he watched her carefully as he knelt next to her beside the bed. Hoseok was laid beneath the covers as usual, his face relaxed in sleep and almost innocent looking, his hair neatly brushed as if he’d simply gone to take a nap.

“Yes...it’s...well...I hope it works. I err...found something from an old...story I guess? About something that helped to speed up the waking process. I figured...we could at least try right?” He whispered quietly, oddly unwilling to raise his voice even though Hoseok wasn’t going to wake up just from that.

Instead, he focused on the soft glimmer of the steam as it rose from the air before looking back at Rose to find her watching him with a gentle smile. She rested a hand on his wrist, her touch both warm and cool at the same time and he took in her skin tone, so similar to the paste in the small bowl only more of a mix of white and gold.

“We can try. It may help.” Rose said quietly, gesturing towards Hoseok with a smile. Jungkook swallowed before nodding, taking the bowl and placing it on the empty space besides the magi’s head. He tilted Hoseok’s face slightly so that the steam was directed towards his nose before sitting back and chewing his lip nervously.

“What if it doesn’t help?” He asked, running his fingers through his hair in a gesture that he’d apparently picked up from Jimin. It felt good to do it though, a way for him to release this nervous energy without having to do anything else. He just felt so useless.

Rose rested a hand on his thigh, her face not reacting at all to what felt like lifelike muscles beneath the fabric and his skin and instead focused on his own eyes. They were a brilliant sapphire blue now while her long, luxurious hair had bled into an astonishingly beautiful mix of sky and navy blue. It was pretty on her, but Jungkook had long since decided all colours were pretty on Rose.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re trying. That’s what matters. The humans have a saying; it’s the thought that counts.” Jungkook snorts a laugh at that and Rose’s lips twisted wryly in response to his amusement.

“I think that’s supposed to be in relation to giving gifts, right?” She shrugged lightly, her dainty shoulders small yet filled with so much strength and power. He’d watched once as she’d lifted an astonishingly large and heavy box without so much as a wince or grunt.

“You’re giving him the gift of life back, or at least trying to. It counts. Every gesture anyone does is a gift, remember that. It may not always be positive, but it is always given freely, even if they do not believe it to be so.” Rose sounded so wise and worldly then, causing Jungkook to watch her with awe for a moment before he spoke without realising.

“Galaxis...your race...I...I know you don’t talk about it. But...I just...I have a theory. You don’t have to respond, just...let me say it and then we can pretend it never happened?” He pauses, watching as Rose’s elegant brows rise. “I...this may sound stupid if it’s not real but...I think you’re the physical representation of the galaxy. Or...at least one of them. Maybe there’s multiple. But...I don’t know. Your ability to navigate and always know where we are, the way you’re the colours of the galaxy, how...ancient and wise you seem. It’s like...a galaxy come to life.”

Jungkook is well aware that he sounds in awe, his voice hushed as he watches her intently and he sees a faint flush of pretty pink spread over her cheeks as she looks down at her hands. But her hair and eyes don’t change, still the colour of concentration before she looks back up at him.

“You are unique, Jeon Jungkook. Don’t ever let that curiosity die.” She responds quietly, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions. Yet Jungkook recognises that something enormous has occurred here and he notes the almost respect in her eyes as she looks back to Hoseok.

He turns back too, ready to sit vigilant next to the Galaxis and hope that the magi on the bed may wake up. But he has no need to, because he’s shooting forward before he even realises it, his fingers gripping the edge of the mattress tightly as excitement and relief floods his entire body.

“Hoseok!” Jungkook says loudly, his lips turning into a bright smile as he glances back to Rose. The man in question is blinking slowly, as if his eyelids are heavy with tiredness and sleep but he is blinking. He is awake. No longer asleep.

There’s complete silence in the room before Hoseok finally looks to the two figures next to him, his body weighed down with lethargy and exhaustion. Licking his lips a few times, he accepts the drink of cool water that Rose gives him before he coughs, the sound rough and harsh from a lack of use.

“Where is she?”

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