#so just their name and design would pretty much spoil the role they play later in the story to anyone whos in the fandom.

[star-light-shadows]

I think I'd rather wait to give context for this.

Feel free to guess which characters these guys were merged into in the comments, tho.

[tehuti88-art]

2/17/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Margit Dannecker. She's a pretty new character and is the mother of THIS guy. She's deceased before the main story takes place but played a large role in the personal development of her son's character. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

Regarding her design, since her son is intended to be a purebred Siberian husky I guess that means she is too, though she's quite petite in size. She's intended to resemble her son's (later) stepdaughter, Margarethe (similar name too), although they're not related.

TUMBLR EDIT: I'm stepping into it deciding to draw this particular character 😕 but I want to exorcise her from my head. I'm going to have to try to keep details vague but a WARNING ahead of time, the Dannecker family is probably the most disturbing aspect of this story (well, aside from the literal Holocaust), so whenever their detailed profiles go live on Toyhou.se I may finally use an individual profile warning page (currently I just use a general warning for my entire account since I have so much triggering content). Meaning that although I won't go into gruesome detail here, yes, it will still be disturbing and offensive.

I'll say outright that the Dannecker storyline involves intergenerational child abuse. So please skip the rest of the entry if that's too much, I fully understand. Just a note that this isn't a plot point "just because"--in fact, while I knew of the situation with Dannecker and his stepdaughter, I only recently learned of that between him and his mother, it wasn't planned from the start. I generally don't try to get too far into the psyche of people like Dannecker, I figured he's just similar to a psychopath (if not specifically one), but the reason behind some of his behavior (a reason, not an excuse) emerged, so I felt the need to develop it. It's not intended merely to shock but to explain how somebody became so despicable.

All right, now that there's been a warning...

I've already gone over, various times, the terribly inappropriate relationship between SS labor camp commandant Ernst Dannecker and his young stepdaughter Margarethe, or Gret; I've never just come out and said it. Dannecker literally stalks and then marries Gret's mother, Else, for the specific purpose of grooming Gret, whom in a twisted way he considers to be his "true" wife. She's like fourteen or fifteen when he marries her mother; he gives her a year. So she's about sixteen when the abuse starts, and it continues until she's around eighteen or nineteen when she encounters Josef Diamant at the labor camp and the rest of the story has been told. Gret knows about the hidden passageway under the labor camp, which she and the prisoners use to escape, as Dannecker took her down there once to abuse her; this is why he told her nobody would be able to hear her scream.

Their relationship is a painfully complicated one in that, while on some occasions (like in the passageway) he's an absolute brute toward her, even going so far as threatening to target her younger sister, or put her family in his camp if she doesn't obey, on other occasions he comes across almost like a normal, doting father, spoiling her with gifts, fawning over her accomplishments, treating her with actual kindness. Part of this, obviously, is just the typical grooming process. Another part of it, however, is Dannecker's genuine feelings. He DOES love Gret. But it's a very messed-up, twisted-up love in that he doesn't have the same emotional capacity that other people do. He realizes what he does to her is morally wrong but that's not HIS morality, and on some level he does hope she'll come around and willingly become his wife. He's not insane. I don't even think I can call him a pure psychopath/sociopath as he DOES care about her, and his mother Margit, in a way I don't think psychopaths can. But...it's just corrupted and hopelessly messed up. Dannecker isn't capable of normal, healthy love; this is the way he was born, though his mother's actions helped refine it and bring it out. I think he still would've been messed up, and incapable of a healthy relationship, even without what his mother did (she herself sees this dark side of him emerge more than once, and it unsettles her). It's just that he probably wouldn't have ended up continuing the cycle by targeting Gret. Margit just helps cultivate what's already there. I. e., Dannecker was screwed from the start.

Result of all this is Gret despises her stepfather and tells Diamant she wants him dead, AND she actively participates in his murder, even taking a trophy--his honor sword (symbolic?)--afterward; yet after the dust has settled, and he's no longer a threat...she realizes, oddly, that she loved him, too. She always refers to him as "Papa," and frequently recalls the loving things he did for her--sure, most of these were just his grooming efforts, to try to win her over--but there was a genuine fatherly moment here and there and she remembers these fondly. There's even this unsettling scene, where Gret, by now aiding in the plot on Dannecker's life, asks him to take her back down to the hidden passageway where he did such awful things to her; he's actually surprised that she'd ask this (indicating that he's aware of how he hurt her), yet agrees. It's for reconnaissance reasons, but still, a harrowing--and confusing--experience. This has been edited (mostly text omission but a word change or two, as well) for obvious reasons; I'm going to eschew my typical ellipses, as they seem too suggestive. This was written before the plot point with Dannecker's mother developed, BTW.

She was skilled at readying herself relatively quickly, washing herself up and restyling her hair into its two customary long blond braids which her stepfather loved so much, putting on her undergarments, choosing her best dress from the closet full of beautiful dresses Dannecker had bought for her. She knew he liked the black dress the most, the way it complemented his SS uniform, drawing looks from both inmates and guards as they'd walk across the prison grounds. He was a lot like a vain cockerel puffing itself up as it paraded around its prize hen, she mused, and this thought gave her a tiny spiteful tang of delight as she hurried to slip the dress on and tie herself into it. Shiny black boots much like his own, and black bows on her braids, joined it, and with a final glance at herself in her mirror, she headed for the breakfast table.

Her mother, younger brothers, younger sister, stepfather all glanced at her as she entered; her mother and the older of her two brothers looked pensive, while Dannecker beamed even brighter than her mother had earlier, and she knew her ruse had worked; his vanity about his beloved camp and his position in it were his weak spot. "Come, sit beside your papa," he said, patting an empty chair, and she obeyed. The rest of breakfast went relatively normally, Gret eating silently as the others chattered, though under the table, her stepfather clasped her hand in his own, caressing her fingers.

Dannecker didn't follow the standard practice of a commandant living at his camp, she wasn't sure why, perhaps because of his family; she suspected he'd live there if not for them. Obviously someone higher up had granted an exception. His camp had never had any major incidents, his inmates and guards were well behaved, so perhaps this earned him some leniency. Every day he took a shiny black chauffeured car to the camp and today was no exception; they were allowed to drive within the main gate and slightly into the yard itself, where Dannecker would exit, taking hold of Gret's hand to help her step out and avoid muddying her boots and dress. She would loop her arm about his and he would walk her toward the main building as if she were his prize. They were always greeted politely by the adjutant and the other guards and the kapo if he were assisting Dannecker that day; Gret always greeted them politely back. On their way across the yard, she would also surreptitiously peer toward the inmates, see if any were paying especial attention. She spotted him off to the left and somewhat toward the back today, the Jew prisoner whose plan she'd seized onto as her potential salvation. His eyes met hers for just a fraction of a second and that was the extent of it: Gret averted her stare, looked toward the ground, ignored the dull business talk of the adjutant as they passed inside the building and headed to Dannecker's office.

It was a large, well-appointed office, yet she hated it, everything it had come to represent, especially the ornate wooden desk. She could tell from the furtive glances he cast her now and then that he was thinking similar things and probably would have loved nothing more than to indulge right then, but his adjutant was still talking, and the kapo stood at the back of the room with his head lowered respectfully. "This is really that important...?" Dannecker asked just as Gret came out of her thoughts; when the adjutant nodded a bit meekly (Dannecker's temper was well known everywhere, Gret mused), he sighed and stepped away from his desk. "Have to take care of a little business first, dear Gret, then we can go on our tour, ja?" She nodded. "Schindel will get you anything you need." He gestured and he and the adjutant left the office, the door going almost shut behind them.

The room grew quiet although she could hear distant voices in other parts of the building. "There is anything you want, Fräulein...?" someone asked softly, and she glanced up to see the kapo peering at her. She shook her head.

"Nein, danke, Herr Schindel."

He bobbed his head, shifted his gaze to the side, said nothing else. Gret tried not to think about the camp too much but the position of the kapo had always struck her in particular, someone having to do such odious things, and feign that everything was fine, just to survive. It seemed far too familiar. She didn't doubt he'd been on the receiving end of her stepfather's torments more than once, though there was no way she could speak to him about it.

Although it made her feel ill at ease, she went to sit in Dannecker's chair; she kept herself perched on the edge of it and tried not to think too much about him sitting in it. Everything in the office seemed to have a hidden connotation that made her insides clench unpleasantly, even some of the decorative items on the shelves. Oddly, the only neutral thing was the room just off the office, behind his desk; she knew this was meant as his personal quarters, where he was intended to sleep and easily be called on if there were any trouble in the camp, yet it was mostly empty, devoid even of a bed or cot, with just a few items for storage. It was dark and secluded and the perfect place for him to attack her savagely whenever he wished with no repercussions yet for some odd reason he never had. She suspected that the room was too private, too intended for that purpose, for him to get off on using it.

As if in response to her thoughts, the office door swung open and Gret jumped. Dannecker smiled and gestured; she obediently stood.

"Come now, pretty, we can take our tour." He glanced at Schindel. "We'll be looking around the camp for a while, maybe an hour or so. Let anyone who might stop by know that I'm not to be sought out or disturbed until I return, ja? Unless it's an emergency."

"Ja, Herr Kommandant."

"Let's go." Gret slipped silently out of the room as Schindel watched and she had the sudden dim wonder, did he know...? Did he suspect...? Dannecker looped his arm around hers and they headed up the hallway, footsteps echoing as they drew further away from all the business going on elsewhere in the building. She peered up at him, once only; he looked back down at her and gave that smile again, that smile that looked so kind and indulgent to anyone else who looked at him and saw a good father, but which to her was snakelike and menacing and reminded her of something far different from a good father. She didn't look at him again and as far as she could tell he didn't look at her, though she knew he must be thinking of all the prospects that were open right now, prospects that she was willingly walking into.

She briefly remembered her real father, who'd never been particularly attentive or doting toward her the way Dannecker was, yet he'd never done any of the other things her stepfather did, either. Although not especially loving or affectionate, her father had definitely been attentive to her mother, if the four living children, and several miscarried and one stillborn one, were any indication.

"Here we are, pretty Gret." Dannecker slowed his step, letting go of Gret's arm and reaching for his belt. She felt the tiniest twinge of panic even though all he did was remove a large keyring and approach a tapestry hanging on the wall before them. He nudged it aside and inserted a key into a hole that was barely visible; a dull thunk sounded when he turned it and then removed it. The hidden door was heavy and unwieldy, and he had to push at it with his shoulder to get it to obey; when it cracked open he gestured her forward. She slipped past him through the narrow space, trying to avoid touching though she brushed against the front of his uniform anyway; she felt her face grow hot and her insides twist again, but he didn't react, just pushed the large door shut and locked it again before returning the keyring to his belt. Another gesture, and they fell into step with each other, descending the slight slope into the passage. The air grew damp and cool the further they went; they approached the place where he'd first shoved her against the wall, and Gret felt her body start to shake, her heart thudding in her throat. Suddenly, the Jew prisoner's plan didn't seem worth it anymore; nothing was worth being down here again, alone with him, no one knowing where they were and no one able to hear them if they made any noise. She wished more than anything to be back on the surface, to just keep accepting him because at least that was more tolerable than being here. She fully expected him to notice her trembling, to deliberately misinterpret it, to offer that oily smile; yet the most surreptitious glance at his face showed he wasn't even looking at her, was staring at the passage ahead and seemed more pensive and distracted than anything.

Although she dreaded any sort of interaction with him--one could never tell what might set him off--she murmured meekly, "Something is wrong, Papa...?"

"Nein," Dannecker said. "Nothing for you to think about. Here..." He slowed to a stop, gesturing at the intersection at which they'd arrived, the passage continuing ahead but also left and right. "This way"--he gestured right--"is a dead end, a room with some storage at the end. This"--gesturing left--"leads under the west side of the yard. Ahead continues to the edge of the camp. Which way would you like to go?"

"A...ahead, Papa."

She peered at the darkness ahead, envisioning him dragging her within like some feral monster with her unable to see him. He reached up just after they stepped into the hallway and dim light surrounded them, from an old dingy bulb hanging from the ceiling. Gret let out a breath; this part of the tunnel was smaller, narrower, than before.

"You're nervous?" She nearly jumped, glancing up at him; she hadn't expected him to talk. "You're holding my arm rather tight," he added, and she hurried to loosen her grip, taking a step back for good measure, as she'd been almost pressed to his side. This bizarre muddle of actions and reactions--all of it stemming from a father who acted very little like a father--was bewildering. Although she'd never been close to her real father, she certainly longed for him now, to clutch his arm instead, have him protect her from the monster who was currently protecting her.

"S...sorry, Papa," she whispered.

Dannecker turned away, making a noncommittal noise. "Hold my arm all you like, there's nothing dangerous down here, though. Damp and mold and spiders is all."

You can scream and scream as much as you like... She made herself keep holding his arm, since he might get angry if she let go, though she kept her grasp loose. Something far more dangerous than a spider was down here, right here with her, yet Dannecker's voice and expression remained neutral, oddly disinterested.

So you can see Gret's confusion, longing for the protection of a distant, absent father, being protected by the very person she usually needs protecting from. She loves him, and she hates him. She doesn't take his honor sword merely as a trophy, a sign that he has no power or threat over her anymore. She also takes it as a reminder of his protection, literally using it to defend herself as he's no longer there to protect her from everything but himself. Yeah, it's confusing, as I imagine it'd be for anyone who's been victimized by someone they love and who's supposed to love them. It takes Gret a very long time to work through her feelings; it's easier to just shut them off most of the time. (This is the reason the other characters view her as cold and uppity--the man she later ends up with, Lukas Mettbach, at first refers to her as "Nazi b*tch," misinterpreting her aloofness and her similarities to her stepfather (she often dresses in black, wears shiny black boots, goosesteps a bit when she walks, and parrots Nazi tropes while collecting Nazi memorabilia) as blind devotion to him and his ideals.)

(All this is even further complicated by her mother, Else's, reaction when Gret tries to get in touch with her after the war. Else truly loved Dannecker, seeing him as having rescued her and her children from a potential life of poverty following her husband's death in combat; she has no idea how he never cared for her at all, frequently calling her a "fat old cow" behind her back. She's infuriated with Gret for taking her beloved Ernst away from her; she refuses to believe Gret's account of Dannecker's abuse, and even when Gret's brother Christof reveals to her that he himself witnessed it, she insists Gret must have seduced her stepfather. She disowns Gret, and dies never having forgiven her; ironically, the woman Dannecker admitted to Gret he could barely even stand to touch is the one person to really grieve for him when he's gone. Gret's two other siblings also pretty much turn their backs on her, making her doubt her own perceptions; only Christof, who helped her out after she escaped into the Diamond Network, shows her any sympathy.)

Dannecker went through a similar experience himself, with his mother, Margit. He, too, is very confused. This is the part of the story that emerged most recently and I touched on it in Isaak Schindel's entry.

Margit is married to Walther; they're a decent upper middle-class family, and she dotes on their lone child, Ernst. Ernst is a rather willowy, shrimpy kid, physically awkward and easily cowed, the sort who would get beaten up frequently under normal circumstances. The thing is that Ernst has a mean streak; it doesn't come out often, but it does peek its head out just enough for his classmates to leave him alone. He makes no friends, but then again he doesn't want any. He's cold and aloof and keeps to himself.

At home, his father is stiff and formal, a bit distant, but his mother lavishes him with love and attention. He's the center of her life. Walther finds her attention to him to be a bit offputting--he thinks Ernst needs to toughen up some--but he has no real reason to suspect anything's amiss, especially since Ernst doesn't respond much to Margit's affection. That changes one night when she visits his room at an awkward moment. He's embarrassed, but she tells him not to be, it's just natural. And maybe it is, but what she does afterward isn't.

I'm not sure of Ernst's age, but yes, he's underaged. And a one-time thing becomes an ongoing thing. The situation confuses him at first but his own mother says it's normal--she went through it with her father when she was young, and if Ernst ever has a daughter, she tells him, perhaps he'll do the same. So Margit's coming from a nasty background herself, and just continuing a cycle she was taught to normalize. And her son follows along, because it's his mother, of course she knows better than he does. They have to keep it secret from his father as she had to keep it secret from her mother, but that's just the way of things. Nobody else would understand the connection they share. (At least that's how Margit puts it.)

Ernst quickly latches on to the relationship with his mother in a way he never did before, seeming to become almost addicted to it. Margit sometimes has to coax him into calming himself down or being patient, he's so impulsive and starved for her attention. She sees the first hints of malice lurking beneath the surface whenever he doesn't get his way, but he's generally quite obedient to her, as long as she keeps a soft sweet placating demeanor and promises to reward him later on. For quite some time, this is how things go, until one day Walther catches them together.

Of course he's aghast--he knew something inappropriate was going on, just not THIS inappropriate. He starts yelling, Margit starts yelling--the only one not yelling is Ernst, who just watches the two screaming back and forth. It doesn't get through to him the exact import of his father's words: "How could you do this to him?--your own son!" Even through all his disgust, Walther rightly sees Ernst as a victim, but it's a thought neither of the others shares--they both fully believe they share some sort of sacred love. He finally yells for Ernst to get out and go to his room--Ernst refuses to go until Margit tells him to--and once he's there, Walther locks him in and keeps the key from Margit. After some further arguing he figures out this has been going on for years. He vows that this is the end of such "degenerate" behavior, and the next day they're going to address it head on. He goes to call somebody on the phone and makes some sort of arrangements; then pulls Margit away from Ernst's door, threatens her to knock it off, and orders her back to their room. He himself stays in the hallway and prevents her from heading to Ernst's room again. The rest of the night passes in this uneasy stalemate, but as soon as morning comes, Walther unlocks Ernst's room and orders him to wash up and pack--"A few changes of clothes, toiletries. Pack! Now!"

Walther's never been so livid, so Ernst obeys, while Margit hovers outside, begging to know what's going on. Walther refuses to answer, orders Ernst out to the car; Margit insists on going along, and Walther doesn't argue. He still doesn't answer any questions, either; though when he drives them to the railway station, the other two have figured out he means business.

Walther purchases a single one-way ticket, steers Ernst toward the platform, Margit on their heels, pleading. The train arrives not long after, and based on its next intended destination, Margit figures out where it must be headed. "The military academy?" she cries, and pleads with Walther--Ernst isn't made for military life, not her boy, he's no soldier. Indeed, though he's grown somewhat by now--he's about sixteen--Ernst is still shy and awkward and gangly, all arms and legs, and has never shown any militant propensities--he just wants to stay with his mother. Walther is undeterred, however: "Maybe there, they'll raise him right. Unlike in our house!" The train stops, the conductor opens the doors and starts calling for passengers; Walther grabs Ernst's arm and hauls him forward. Ernst finally protests, calling for Margit, and she calls him back, while still pleading with Walther; the three raise such a commotion that faces start peering curiously out the train car windows. When Ernst refuses to board the train, Walther first threatens to thrash him; then, when that doesn't work, he hisses, "If you don't get on now, I promise you you'll never see your mother again." That threat works; Ernst glowers, but takes his bag and ticket and gets on the train. The doors close and he hurries to the window to look out; Margit sees him, yells his name, runs after the train a bit as it starts to move, then collapses on the platform, sobbing.

Behind Ernst, one of the other teenage boys occupying the car murmurs, "Muttersöhnchen"--"Mama's boy." Everyone else chuckles. Ernst shoots the other boy a livid glare, but just as quickly looks back out the window, and doesn't stop until his mother is out of sight. The conductor arrives to ask for tickets, and everyone loses interest in joking; Ernst sits down at last to gloomily await his arrival at the academy.

Margit, meanwhile, is ordered back in the car--"If you don't get in, I'll leave you here," Walther vows--and they head home. From that point on, things are very strained. Margit refuses to even talk to her husband for a good long while, and when she does it's to rebuke him for abandoning "my boy." She definitely doesn't share a bed with him anymore. When a letter from Ernst arrives from the academy, Walther intercepts it, reads it, is infuriated all over again; even being away from home, Ernst's attitude toward his mother hasn't changed, and Margit's attitude hasn't changed, either. Walther tears the "vile" letter up and throws it away, though Margit manages to fetch it out, put it back together, and read her son's profession of his feelings for her. Walther manages to keep any other letters from getting through, so she doesn't get to hear from him for the next couple of years or so. And then, the Great War begins.

The dreadful news comes: Those at the military academy who are of age will be sent off to the Western Front. Margit doesn't even get the chance to see her Ernst one more time before he's sent off to fight. She breaks down sobbing, and spends the next several years in utter torment; Walther doesn't have to intercept letters anymore, as Ernst doesn't send any. The army sends no notice that anything's happened to Ernst, but this isn't much of a comfort to Margit, who slips into a deep depression. She largely ignores Walther, who sticks by her nonetheless; he still dimly hopes this is what's best for their son, though he hadn't counted on a war breaking out. He's admittedly anxious about Ernst, as well.

A letter at last arrives shortly before the armistice is declared: Ernst Dannecker has been wounded, but not seriously; he'll be coming home. The Danneckers arrive at the railway station to wait. Margit cranes her neck and anxiously watches everyone who disembarks, looking for her boy. It's only after most of the passengers have already gotten off that a young man climbs off with his bag, keeping his arm pressed close to his side; he doesn't really catch Margit's attention aside from the fact that he's wearing a military uniform. She looks at him until he finishes fiddling with his luggage, stands straight, then just happens to look in her direction--and freezes. The two of them stare at each other; Margit is confused, she was waiting for her gangly awkward boy, yet this is a tall, well-built man. But there's no mistaking those eyes, or the way he looks at her. It's been several years, after all. Of course her Ernst is all grown up now.

The three head home; Dannecker has a wound to his side but it isn't too bad. Nonetheless, his mother fawns over him, repeatedly exclaiming over how much he's changed--maybe serving in the army wasn't such a bad idea. Dannecker is both taller and more fit than his father now, and when the two of them look at each other, it's very awkward; Walther has to avert his eyes, as Dannecker can be intimidating with merely a glance, now. They sit for dinner, talk a little, then retire to the parlor for drinks, talk some more. After a while Walther starts to nod off, finally slumping in his chair, snoring. Margit catches Dannecker's attention--she's holding a little bottle. She slipped something in Walther's drink to knock him out. The two of them smile at each other, then leave the room together. All that time away in the military didn't change everything; Dannecker is still his mother's boy.

The two of them aren't as subtle about it as they used to be, mostly because Walther doesn't have much leverage over his son anymore--all Dannecker has to do is look at him and he realizes he stands no chance in a fight. He really has no choice but to put up with it. Dannecker, meanwhile, moves up in the world; when a paramilitary organization called the Schutzstaffel forms, it looks to be exactly what he's interested in; he resigns his military post to join, and is assigned to a camp as a guard. Margit proudly irons his new uniform and polishes all the shiny bits like a good obedient wife; Walther chafes but does nothing.

Dannecker quickly earns a reputation in the camp. He'd already told his mother of some of the things he did at the front, including his behavior toward the women; Margit finds it distasteful but obviously he did such things only because he had to, growing boys have needs after all. He seemed anxious that she'd be angry, yet she isn't. This is another peek at the darkness lurking beneath the surface, however, and his job in the camp just seems to bring it out even more. There's one especially nasty incident in which a Jewish prisoner, seeing Dannecker approaching, turns and runs straight at the fence, electrocuting himself; it turns out he'd had a run-in with Dannecker while they served at the front. It also turns out they'd had an interaction before that, when he'd so casually called Dannecker "mama's boy." Dannecker has a very long memory when it comes to perceived offenses, and is more than willing to act on them. Which puts his own father directly in his sights: Despite how well it may have turned out for him personally, he still resents Walther for separating him from Margit all those years. Walther has good reason to avert his eyes.

I'm not sure what it is, but one day something sets Walther off, makes him lose his temper; maybe he catches them together in his own bed. Whatever it is, he snaps and starts screaming at them like the first time, except this time he no longer considers Dannecker a victim--he's a rival now, going along with it willingly. Again, Dannecker refuses to leave when Walther yells at him to, and only a soft word from Margit makes him obey; he glowers at Walther as he passes, a glare much like the one he gave the young man who called him "mama's boy." Walther ignores the implication, and continues arguing with Margit; this is it, he insists--Dannecker will have to move out. When Margit says she'll simply go along with him, Walther replies, well then, he's going to make a call tomorrow, and inform Dannecker's superior officers of exactly what's going on. Given the SS and their rules and regulations, there's no way they'll permit such "degenerate" behavior to continue unchecked--Dannecker will surely lose his position in the SS-Totenkopfverbände, and face possible punishment, as well. Margit has no response for this, as she knows it's true; Walther says he's going to sleep on the couch, and they'll pick this up in the morning. He exits, and Margit sits in the bed crying until she falls asleep.

Walther doesn't know that after he left the room, Dannecker didn't retreat to his own bedroom as he did when he was a boy; he listened to the entire conversation. After Walther falls asleep on the couch, he slips into the room silently and approaches. Walther wakes abruptly when Dannecker makes a small sound, and blinks up at his silhouette in the dimness, mumbling, "Ernst?"--right before Dannecker shoves a pillow down over his face. Walther fights back as much as he's able, but his own son is a lot stronger than he is now, thanks to all that training Walther sent him off to, and it isn't long before his motions grow weaker and slower and then he falls still, going limp. Dannecker continues pressing the pillow over his face for a few moments more until he's sure the job is done--like I said, he's very patient when he sets his eyes on a target--then he carefully lifts it and sets it aside, damp side hidden. He closes Walther's eyes, repositions his sprawled limbs, and draws the blanket back up to look like he's still merely sleeping, before heading back to his own room. He falls asleep easily.

Early in the morning, Margit wakes, gets out his uniform, iron and shine, makes him a quick breakfast. Glances at her husband still sleeping on the couch but doesn't disturb him as she doesn't want to deal with him right now. Dannecker gives her a small kiss before he leaves--they look and act just like mother and son, nothing untoward, though once he's gone she agonizes over what they're going to do next. She can't bear to be separated from her boy, yet she can't endanger his job. She grows more anxious as the morning goes on, no solutions coming to mind; all she can think of is divorce, though Walther is unlikely to let her go without a fight. It finally occurs to her that it's almost noon and he hasn't awakened yet; she at last goes to rouse him, steeling herself for an altercation. He doesn't respond to her voice, not even to her gently shaking his arm; growing concerned, she tries to turn him toward her. Then gasps and recoils--his skin is cold, eyes half closed, mouth slack, a bluish tinge to his lips. Margit shrieks and heads for the phone--she tells the operator to call the camp, and begs to speak with Dannecker. When he's at last put on the phone he has to order her to calm down, she's grown so hysterical. She manages to tell him she's found Walther no longer breathing--apparently a heart attack, she has no other idea what to think--and she needs Dannecker there. He promises to come as soon as he can, and ends the call. Margit takes a moment to try to settle herself before it occurs to her how calm Dannecker himself was throughout the exchange, not raising his voice even once as she cried and babbled over the phone; something compels her to go look at Walther again. She can hardly bear it, yet she looks him over without touching him--nothing amiss--but she notices the pillow sitting against the back of the couch, atop Walther's leg--something about it seems off. She gingerly picks it up, turns it over. The other side is damp. Margit immediately drops it back where she found it, full of dread. She tries to tell herself it can't be what it's starting to look like.

Dannecker arrives with an SS doctor in tow; he looks Walther over, confirms his death (obviously), but seems puzzled when Margit suggests a heart attack; she admits he has no history of heart issues, yet what else could it be? The physician replies that Walther's eyes have tiny hemorrhages in them: a sign of suffocation. The dread rises even higher in Margit's breast; yet the doctor says perhaps he choked on something in his sleep, and calls a team to collect Walther's body and take him away for autopsy. He expresses his condolences and they all depart, leaving Dannecker and Margit behind.

Dannecker comforts Margit as she cries and remembers how poor her last exchange with Walther was; the comments he makes in response start out sympathetic, but slowly grow more resentful. Margit picks up on this and the dread seeps back; when Dannecker outright says, "He asked for this, keeping you away from me," Margit looks up at him and finally whispers, "Ernst...don't tell me you...?" He doesn't even deny it, just repeats that Walther was the one keeping them apart, of course he had to act. He seems genuinely confused when Margit reacts with horror--"Ernst! He's your father! I didn't mean THAT [you should kill him]...!"--though the more she protests that she didn't want him to do this, the more the perplexed look on his face changes; his eyes grow dark, his mouth turns down. The ugly malice just under the surface peeks out--this time, it's directed right at her. And for the first time, Margit is afraid of her own son, as she knows exactly what he's capable of--he told her himself. As horrifying as his own actions are, as much as she didn't want him to do this, she realizes she can't afford to cross him as he could do the same to her. She immediately changes tack, brings out her soft sweet placating voice, touching his arm and pressing close and calling him her boy, promising that they'll stick to the story Walther must have choked in his sleep and they're the proper mourning wife and son. Anything to protect his position. She's terrified of getting on his bad side, but just as when he was a teenager, the tactic works; the malice fades from his eyes, the tension leaves his muscles, slowly her sweet loving boy returns. He agrees to go along with her plan.

Margit now knows exactly where she stands: Dannecker can, and will, turn on her as quickly and easily as he's turned on everyone else who's wronged him, if she sets him off. He won't give her a pass simply because she's his mother and his lover. This is something she never counted on dealing with; she's never come across anything like this. She knows there's something fundamentally wrong and broken inside "her sweet boy" and no amount of her love and affection, however twisted, can fix it. She's walking through a field of landmines same as everyone else, and she acts accordingly, being extra careful to remain in Dannecker's good graces. She likely won't get any second chance.

Fortunately for Margit, she's good at what she does. She and Dannecker convincingly play the roles of devoted wife and son in grieving; Walther's death is perfunctorily investigated by the Allgemeine-SS, then the file is quietly closed and life goes on. Dannecker and Margit continue living in the same house and now freely share each other's bed. (They aren't aware that the Allgemeine-SS never COMPLETELY shuts down its observation--they've picked up that something is off, but don't have enough to act on, and their chief, Col. Heidenreich, advises them to tread softly to avoid a scandal.) Margit continues keeping house as if tending to her husband, even while gently prodding Dannecker once in a while that he should look into starting a family of his own, as the SS requires. Dannecker resists the advice--she's all he wants, there is nobody else. And it's true--he's never cared about anyone else in his life but her. It isn't love the way normal people feel it, but it's the closest his broken psyche can experience, and he feels it only for her. He doesn't want to get married, to be with any other woman, to start a family, if it isn't with her. Margit knows this is impossible--she never had a family with her father, for example--yet is sure not to push too hard lest she set him off. There's plenty of time to change his mind.

Except, as it turns out, there isn't. I think this occurs shortly before Dannecker is promoted and sent to watch over his own camp, though I'm not 100% sure. Margit faints one day and falls while Dannecker is at work; he nearly panics when he returns home and finds her on the floor. She insists she's all right, just tired--she's been fatigued lately--but with this, and the nasty bruise she's suffered, he doesn't even need convincing, he calls a physician. Margit is taken to hospital for tests and observation. After a while, a doctor appears with a sorrowful look and bad news: Blood cancer. This is the late 1930s/early 1940s; there's no effective treatment for leukemia yet. No matter how much Dannecker protests, and then threatens, that they need to try more, there's nothing much they can do, aside from trying to keep her comfortable and manage her symptoms. Dannecker's not used to his demands being refused; Margit has to calm him down so he doesn't target the doctor. She tries to keep her head for her son's sake, though when they're alone she fights not to break down, crying, "I'm afraid, Ernst." Although obviously just as rattled by this news, he comforts her again, promising to stay by her no matter what--she's his mother, his love, after all.

Margit rapidly declines; the disease is fast acting, aggressive. The morphine keeps her in a stupor much of the time, during which Dannecker forces himself to return to work, though when she wakes he's there to hold her hand and stroke her hair. The hospital staff take note of their odd closeness, but say nothing. One day in a moment of painful lucidity, Margit finally does break down: "I can't bear you seeing me like this, Ernst. I don't want your last thought of me being a shriveled little shell in this bed. I want you remembering me how I was." Dannecker insists he doesn't care how she looks, but she grows more and more adamant; she doesn't want to go this way. And then, meekly, she broaches the subject: "My Ernst, isn't there...isn't there something you can do...?"

This is Nazi Germany, and Dannecker is in the SS. He works in a camp. The Nazis have ways of dealing with people they deem a burden on society, "life unworthy of life"--and among these are the physically infirm, the terminally ill. People like Margit. Euthanasia, as it's so optimistically called, is legal. Dannecker knows immediately what his mother is asking of him as he's helped oversee the termination of countless unworthy lives himself. He pales, then grips Margit's hands harder and insists, "Mama, you don't mean it. That's just your sadness talking. There are other things we can do." She insists, though--the doctors have said there are no other options, and she doesn't want to suffer to the very end: "Bitte, my Ernst, you can't let me, you must be able to help me." She grows more strident and despondent the more he tries to talk her out of it and at last he realizes there will be no changing her mind; for once she stands firm against his pleas. And eventually he stops arguing. She can tell from the look on his face that her decision crushes him inside yet he calls the doctor back to consult with him.

The doctor comes to talk with the two. Margit knows of the SS's euthanasia programs but something she ISN'T aware of is the exact method used--what the Nazis call "euthanasia" isn't really a "good death" at all for most people. So no, Dannecker can't offer her this option himself, unless she wants to go in the gas chamber. The doctor is sympathetic and suggests a drug overdose--done properly it'll be like drifting to sleep. Margit jumps at the idea; Dannecker isn't happy, but doesn't object. After making absolutely sure this is what she wants, and having her sign the proper forms with Dannecker as witness, he brings in the proper equipment and administers the drug, then retreats a bit so Dannecker and Margit can sit together and wait. The two stare at each other while Dannecker clasps Margit's hand and she strokes his face, smiling and murmuring, "My sweet boy." Her voice and motions start to slow down though she does manage to tell him, "I'll always be there for you...I'll never leave you," before her eyes drift closed and she dozes off. After a little while longer, her breathing stops. Dannecker puts his head to her chest but can't hear anything; the doctor returns to check her vitals, finds that her pulse has stopped. He tells Dannecker the news though it's obvious already. Dannecker just stares mutely at his mother, his eyes wet. It's probably the first and only time he's ever cried over anyone.

Life goes on, though it's dull and tedious with an empty bed and no one there to greet him when he returns home, no one who "gets" him the way only Margit did. He gets a shiny new post as commandant of his own labor camp and moves into a nice big house nearby but even that doesn't do much to assuage the hurt, which is a really strange emotion he's not used to feeling. Then while walking down the sidewalk one day, in a bit of a hurry, he rounds a corner without watching where he's going and slams into somebody else who's also walking too fast and not watching where they're going. The other person drops their grocery bag; Dannecker drops, period, losing his balance and hitting the ground. He angrily snaps, "Watch where you're--!" before his eyes lock on somebody standing several feet away--a young girl, petite, in a long dress, with long blond braids and big blue eyes. The two of them stare at each other in silence as the woman Dannecker had run into hurries to pick up his own scattered items and help him up, apologizing profusely. A few other children, two boys and a younger girl, also stand to the side, but it's the oldest one Dannecker can't stop staring at. She's the spitting image of a much younger version of his mother.

He finally notices the older, frumpier woman trying to assist and placate him--obviously his SS uniform has her rattled, and she's terribly apologetic, taking the blame for his fall, retrieving his belongings before seeing to her own. He pushes himself up, dusts himself off, takes back his papers, grumbles for her to watch where she's going from now on; she thanks him repeatedly for his leniency, collects her scattered groceries, urges her children to come along now, she's so sorry, so sorry. Dannecker and the teenaged girl continue staring at each other as the little family passes by. She even glances back at him while they're walking off before turning away. Dannecker can't stop staring after her. He's distracted all that day, returns home at night, lies in bed staring at the ceiling. Murmurs softly, "Is it a sign? Is it you...?" He's not religious or spiritual whatsoever...but those braids, those eyes, that face. Margit had promised she'd never leave him. Is this her? Has she come back to him? He knows that was not literally his mother...but just maybe, his mother sent her to him. It must be a sign.

Dannecker has connections, and he's patient and perseverant. He does some asking around, some digging. Finds out the frumpy woman's name is Else, and her older daughter's name is Margarethe. "Margarethe," Dannecker whispers to himself; even her name is like his mother's. This is all the proof he needs that the two of them are meant to be. Margit had told him, after all, that one day he should have his own family, and hopefully his own daughter, to carry on what Margit had taught him and what her father had taught her. He's never been interested in starting a family, yet here is one ready made for him. He has a new pet project. When he learns Else is a widow, he starts making his plans to win her over. He's not interested in her in the least--Gret is the one his heart is set on. He's willing to do whatever it takes to get her, and eventually, he does.

Here's Dannecker's entry, somewhat outdated but the rest of his story. Here's Gret's.

Dannecker fulfills his mother's vow that the cycle of abuse would continue with him as the perpetrator and Gret as the next in a line of victims, including himself and Margit, that goes back who even knows how far. Gret, however, finishes the cycle, by participating in his murder--the abuse ends with her. It's a bit ironic, though, that she DOES repeat her stepfather's behavior: He murdered his own father as well. So although she manages to break free of the abuse itself, she doesn't ENTIRELY free herself of his influence over her. She carries his sword as a weapon of defense...but it's still also a symbol of the man who should have protected her unconditionally, yet ended up hurting her most of all.

[Margit Dannecker 2023 [‎Friday, ‎February ‎17, ‎2023, ‏‎3:00:10 AM]]

[riacte]

Dogwarts / 3rd Life Cheat Sheet for MCC 15 Purple Pandas

Ren and Martyn were buddies in Season 1 of the 3rd Life SMP and they are an alliance known as the Renchanting duo/ Kingdom of Dogwarts. Now they’re finally teamed up, and the 3rd Life SMP members have a habit of referring to 3rd Life in MCC. The Ren-Martyn fandom also talks about Dogwarts a lot. If you have no idea what is a Dogwarts and why people love them, no fear! This post will try to explain it in simple terms.

3rd Life SMP is a SMP started by Grian. Season 1 has 14 members (roughly half are hermits, other half are friends of the hermits. You can find the full list in the description of Ren’s 3rd Life videos.) Everyone on the server has three lives— the first life symbolised by green names, second by yellow names, third by red names. If you lose all three lives, you permadie. Green names and yellow names are not allowed to be hostile unless they were attacked first, but the goal of red names is to kill everyone on the server. The three lives are also symbolised by three hearts, like this:

(Fun fact: Because of the green-yellow-red colours, the subtwt for 3rd Life is called traffictwt after traffic lights. The 3rd Life tumblr fandom is occasionally referred to as trafficblr.)

3rd Lifers record every week for three hours at the same time with proximity chat. The server has a small border to encourage interaction. They are eight sessions in total, and they’re all cut into YouTube episodes (no streams!), so it’s fairly bingeable.

So what’s the deal with Martyn and Ren?

Ren decided to set up an enchanting shop during the first session. Martyn was wandering around and having fun scaring people with creeper noises until he came to Ren’s enchanting shop. Martyn then used Ren’s enchanting service without paying (essentially a robbery), but Ren let Martyn go on the condition Martyn would act as a walking free advertisement. Martyn agreed, and they became business partners. Martyn actually coined the name Renchanting and its motto “Don’t be a Dog, be a God”. Ren named Martyn as his “marketing manager” (which sounds a little like Martynmanager).

True to his word, Martyn went around and spread the good news of Renchanting to everyone. Martyn brought business to Renchanting, and when Ren was being threatened by customers (who harassed Ren into lower his prices/ giving out enchantments for free), Martyn acted defensive of Ren and even said Ren was being “bullied”. Ren was being taken advantage of because he was too nice. (Martyn did do some stuff not related to Ren, but since this is a Dogwarts cheat sheet I won’t be mentioning that.)

Then came GoodTimesWithScar. The main “villain” to Renchanting, if you will.

Basically, Scar was playing the role of a cartoon villain. He scammed people out of their armour and possessions, and eventually found his way to Renchanting. At that point, Martyn and Ren were loyal to each other. Scar asked for Ren’s enchanting table. In return, when Scar turned red, he would not kill Ren and Martyn. Ren appeared to be torn, but due to Martyn depending on him and the business, he refused Scar’s offer (“you can’t take the enchanting out of Renchanting!”). Scar also acted condescending to Martyn (Martyn was seen as Ren’s “minion”). So Ren and Martyn were officially on Scar’s kill list, but Ren did not regret it.

At some point, Ren got tired of people walking into his store and stepping all over him, so he built high walls around the Renchanting building. Everyone (including Renchanting themselves) broke through the walls, and this was a running gag. Ren declared himself king by wearing the crown he got from MCC9 Blue Bats.

Note: Ren was kind, and it was the cruel world that forced Ren to be defensive. Other POVs paint them as the villain but Dogwarts enthusiasts will say that is not the case AT ALL.

Time passed. Scar turned red. He and his buddy Grian set up traps at Renchanting, and one blew up Ren and a bunch of other people. Ren, now a yellow name, was furious, but could not get his revenge because yellow names were not allowed to hurt other players. So naturally, Ren decided to become a red.

Ren renamed an axe to “RED WINTER IS COMING” and gave it to Martyn to chop his head off. (There’s some dramatic roleplay here, highly recommend a watch.) Martyn painfully did, and the message “Red Winter is Coming” was shown in the chat, which told everyone that Ren meant business. To test Martyn’s loyalty, Ren told Martyn he could kill him if he wanted to. Ren, freshly respawned and without armour, punched Martyn. Martyn, as a green name, could attack Ren due to Ren attacking first. However, Martyn did not kill Ren, and dramatically declared Ren was the one who showed him life, and thus he would return the favour.

So Ren was known as the Red King (with grey skin, bloodied MCC crown, and a Scottish/pirate accent). Martyn became known as the King’s Hand, and called Ren “my lord” “my liege”. Later, Martyn acquired an outfit with a cloak and a red hand on the back of the cloak, which is now used to symbolise Martyn.

They established the Kingdom of Dogwarts (after Hogwarts and the enchanting/magic gimmick) to find more allies (notable ones include Ethoslab and Skizzleman). Allies could stick a Red Banner in their base to show loyalty, members were called Red Knights / Red Army.

A Red Banner (the design is supposed to be blood dripping down):

Without spoiling too much, Ren and Martyn remained loyal to each other till the very end. They were very dramatic (even jokingly called homoerotic by some lmao) and had many hardcore quotes, and are highly beloved. They are the most dramatic and RP intensive group on the server. So people want Dogwarts, the king and his hand, together again.

A small sample of quotes that might be referenced:

I think going red next week is in my fate. It’s in my cards. There will be blood, for this. A king cannot be king without war. (Ren)

I won’t do it! You took me in when I was a lowly traveller, goin’ across the lands, searchin’ the four corners of this world. I learned that there was nothing in this world for me. Nothing but walls, corners, edges. And you know what? You showed me life. As much as I’ve taken it from you, you gave it back to me in bucket fulls. and I just- I’m with you. This is us now. This is us. (Martyn)

If we're going to survive the Red Winter, we gotta do it together, laddies. Hand in hand. Rotten hand in hand of the living. To the end! (Ren)

It’s just the world versus us. (Martyn)

(Note: Dogwarts refers to the group of people allied with Ren and Martyn, including Etho and Skizzleman. Renchanting duo refers to Ren and Martyn ONLY)

Other references:

Joel notably screamed “THE RED KING DIES TONIGHT, FELLAS!” with a crowd of wolves following him

Dogwarts killed Grian and Scar’s llama Pizza because Scar stole a Red Banner

Jimmy and Scott were flower husbands. Jimmy thought Renchanting was going to sacrifice Scott.

Everyone else in MCC (Grian, Scott, Jimmy, Joel) were enemies with Dogwarts

The 3rd Lifers reference 3rd Life a lot despite it being over. Martyn even fought for Dogwarts in MCC14 and MCCP but failed. Haha.

The fandom commonly refers to Purple15 as King (Ren), Queen (False), Ace (Illumina), and Joker/Hand (Martyn) after playing cards.

This is it, I am tired, this is probably too long but I feel I skipped a lot of details. If anyone has anything to add or correct, feel free to do so. Also, I’m pretty certain this won’t appear in the tags, so please reblog! Thank you, and Red Winter is Coming.

(I might add a reblog detailing False’s very much fanon involvement in Dogwarts, and why everyone was so hyped for Renchanting + False.)

[algernoninwonderland]

Can I ask you to make a guide about writing Akumatized Marinette fics in such a way that still keep all characters in-character?

I’ll do you one better!

Here’s My Five-Step Program on How To Write Akumatised Characters!

Feel free to use it however you like!

1.  Have a clear idea of who your character is, what their drives and dislikes are, before you get around to akumatising them

For instance, Nino wants to have fun and to make his friends happy but hates being told what to do by authority figures. Mlle Mendeleiev wants to be regarded as a big deal in the scientific world and hates being ridiculed.

Though some of these drives and dislikes can be really ridiculous when it comes to some of these akumatised characters and can have little to no emotional weight because some episodes are comedy-oriented (M. Ramier likes feeding his pigeons, he doesn’t like being told that he can’t feed his pigeons, this is stupid but also funny) or just poorly written. Still, they all seem to follow that same basic formula.

2. Understand how we get to the akumatisation proper, or, what happens before the transformation

The characters about to be akumatised are being pushed to their limits. Why? It depends on the episode, but it’s usually a case of “the character can’t have it their way because of [reason] and that makes them angry”. What are they angry at? There’s no fixed rule here. Depends on the circumstances of the episode. They’re caught in a situation with an outcome that leaves them emotionally unstable and angry, is the point.

Watch Utena. Just watch it. It’s (maybe) the best anime ever. And Miraculous uses the basic mechanics of the Black Rose Saga without understanding what made it good in the first place. Without spoiling too much about that part of the anime, secondary characters with issues hinted at in the first arc come to the forefront of the show for one episode each, during which they are being pushed to their limits. They have a moment of Regressive Therapy with the arc’s antagonist who makes them expose their buried negative feelings and weaponises them to turn each of these characters into the “villain” of the week, if you will. In Utena, these characters, their desires, their fears, gives us a different perspective on the storyworld, the plot and the characters we’ve spent the most time with until then. It’s so good. Just watch Utena.

Anyway, Hawk Moth is a kind of devil figure there (all of this is very Faustian) using the moments of emotional vulnerability in these characters to trick them into striking a deal with him.  He offers them the power to act on these negative feelings, and they must do his bidding in return (he can exert some control over them if this deal is agreed upon but that’s really murky).

Note that these soon-to-be-akumatised characters are not in the right mindset to fully realise what it is they’re getting into, unless they are Truly Evil. Hawk Moth is the one in control there, he is calm and manipulative, he is the one to define the terms of the contract, if you will. This makes me reluctant to call the great majority of the akumatised characters villains (but that doesn’t stop the show from treating them as such). They are blinded by their anger, and not in a position to bargain.

3. Understand what being akumatised is and what it does

“Hello, [villain name], I’m Hawk Moth. Are you sick of piles of owls constantly blocking your driveway?! Well then you gotta get Owl Trowel!  Things are pretty unfair, aren’t they? I understand. I will give you the power to do [whatever], in exchange, you must give me the Miraculouses” Hawk Moth, in every episode.

Being akumatised is a twisted, dramatic expression of these negative emotions and frustrated desires, with an awful colour palette and character designs that range from “pretty good!” to “no.”

Now watch the original Sailor Moon anime. Some of the people working on it later moved on to make Utena. It’s mostly a very good show, and one Miraculous draws from a lot. It blends what was the norm in the magical girl genre until then (shows centred around femininity and growing up) with tokusatsu-type monster-of-the-week stuff. Notably, some of the villains of the week in the early seasons were humans whose desires and frustrations were used by the Dark Kingdom (the Big Bad) to turn them into monsters. The Sailor Guardians (our heroines) had to fight and heal them from that evil corruption.

Being akumatised is a physical transformation and a mental transformation as well, characters who wouldn’t hurt a fly as their regular civilian selves become unhinged and violent and drunk with power. This isn’t them anymore, not entirely. Does that mean an akumatised character’s actions are entirely divorced from what their regular selves think and feel? Not entirely. Alya really wants to know who Ladybug is, Ivan really wishes people would stop picking on him, Aurore really thinks she deserved that victory. Being akumatised means taking these feelings to the extreme and manifesting them physically while attaching them to an item the character has been shown to carry earlier on. Maybe that item is the cause of what upset the akumatised character in the first place, and turning that into a weapon… Sometimes. Maybe it’s something else. The show isn’t very consistent in that regard. You figure it out yourself.

Hawk Moth brings out the worse in these characters and then some, using his magic. He exerts some degree of control over his akumatised pawns though how much is unclear, and I think that’s a deliberate choice from the creative team. In this case, I think the ambiguity makes things more interesting than “bad man entirely controls people who are only puppets with no will of their own whatsoever”.

4. And Now How Would Other Characters React?

When akumatised characters have vengeance in their mind, they go after the person they think is responsible for whatever went wrong. Unlike our heroes and HM, they aren’t concerned with being secretive about who they are, since they are overconfident in their new powers.

The most common reaction to akumatised villains attacking Paris is: “running away and screaming and trying to get somewhere safer”.

How would individual characters react to an akuma attack? How involved were they with the person that got akumatised? Did they play a role in making that person upset? Did they suspect the person had these kinds of feelings before, or is it a complete surprise? What does it tell us about the relationship between the akumatised character and the non-akumatised character reacting to them? Find answers to these questions and you’ve got it all figured out. Refer to the show itself regarding characterisation, it may not be always consistent so pick what you like best, what would be the most interesting.

5. Now That You’ve Got It All Figured Out, Plan and Write the Damn Thing.

Only you can tell the story you want to tell the way you can tell it, so do it, rework it, show it to your friends and rewrite it again until you’re somewhat satisfied.

And voilà! Hope this was somewhat helpful!

[bullshittierlists]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DANGANRONPA V3 (and probably the other games, too, just to be safe)

So, just as a heads up, I made this list a few months ago, I think in the middle of chapter 4. I was going to update it, but I realized that any feelings I had were just made stronger and the list was still relatively accurate. Here are my thoughts:

I see no god up here other than me

Kirumi Tojo - As you may know about me, I can typically tell who my favorite characters are going to be before I indulge myself in a series. This has especially rung true throughout Danganronpa, I was able to correctly guess Taka and Gundham as my respective favorites before actually seeing them in action. Let me tell you that Kirumi surprised me. I originally guessed K1-B0 as my favorite and while he’s still up there, he is nowhere near Kirumi. I realized she was my favorite the moment chapter 2 ended. Not only were her execution and plan wonderful and brilliantly done, her last-ditch plea to convince everyone to let her live sold her for me. Not only did this plea make sense, it almost worked and I kinda wish it would’ve. Her motive was almost completely selfless and she worked damn hard to escape. Her execution was the only time I cried during this game because I wanted so badly for her to escape, but I knew that all of her efforts were futile. I know her biggest criticism is that her plan from hiding Ryoma’s body was completely unnecessary, but I like to believe she was just nervous and overthought the whole thing. I mean, this had to go perfectly in order for her to save her country, of course she’s going to add a few too many steps.

Miu Iruma - Okay, I know this is going to sound fake, but I actually really love the dichotomy of her character. The way that she acts so self-righteous but is actually quite self-conscious really stood out to me. Of course she’s funny and hot, too, but I feel it’s important to really appreciate the way her character was written. It amazes me that she was written to be the least likable character in the entire series and still ended up being one of my favorites.

You’re the best

K1-B0 - Yes, I type out his name every time. As I already mentioned, he was my original guess for favorite character, but it obviously didn’t work out that way. He stayed in his position of first for a while, but I always knew it wasn’t meant to last, I just didn’t know which character would take his place. Even besides my doubts, I still love K1-B0, I just wish more could’ve been done with him in the earlier chapters. There are several opportunities for him to be a really funny character and have good interactions with Kokichi and Miu, but he just comes off as annoying. I feel like he only really started to be utilized after Miu died with Monotaro and I really enjoyed their dynamic, I just wish we could’ve had some of this side of K1-B0 before this point.

Kokichi Oma - This spot probably isn’t as subjective as I’d like it to be. Every time Kokichi was on screen, I would get visibly annoyed, but I knew I was in for a treat figuring out his deeper intents behind what he’s saying. The only reason I really like Kokichi at all is because he’s fun to analyze. It gets boring to analyze Nagito because his motivation is pretty much just a mix of “hope” and “he’s crazy.” Kokichi’s character trait of lying makes it so fun to individually analyze each of his lines to figure out whether he’s telling the truth and why or why not. Other than that, I guess he has some funny dialogue with Miu sometimes.

Gonta Gokuhara - I really don’t know. I know this is way too early to be unsure about characters, but I just know I couldn’t put him any lower, but I also couldn’t put him any higher. He’s just such a sweetheart, but that’s about where the substance ends. I adored every time he was on my screen, but everything that would’ve been fun to analyze about him just leads back to Kokichi. I still really enjoy his presence, though. I’d like a big Gonta hug.

Kaede Akamatsu - I’ll just say it, I think she would’ve made for a better protagonist. I’ll talk about this later, but Shuichi’s character development doesn’t really feel like it goes anywhere and the twist doesn’t feel worth it because of that. I think the twist should still have been incorporated, but with the roles reversed. Either way, we got what we got, and what we got was tears from Clair de Lune. But seriously, she really is a great pianist. I’ve been trying to learn the piece for ages and it’s still too complicated for me. I mean, it’s in 9/8 for God’s sake. Good for her, regardless.

Tenko Chabashira - Tenko’s a weird case. I didn’t actually care for her that much until quite literally a few lines before she died. Fun fact: I spoiled this entire series for myself before I ended up playing it and I’m still mad at myself. This meant that I was just waiting for all of the deaths to happen, especially Tenko’s. I was fully aware that every line could be her last during the seance, but I wasn’t aware that she would pull on my heart strings before she went. When she tells Himiko that she’ll do the seance in her place so she can talk to Angie, I literally almost started crying. Before this, Tenko was just kind of annoying, but not too bad, but this moment really solidified her spot for me. She really just wanted to help Himiko and I wish she had chosen a better target for her affections.

Hey, I think you’re pretty cool, I like you a lot

Shuichi Saihara - Time to elaborate on what I said for Kaede. I actually really enjoyed Shuichi’s character development throughout the first three chapters. Before coming to Hope’s Peak, he was afraid to hurt people with his detective skills. Kaede notices this and helps him through it, passing the reins to Kaito once she passes. Shuichi convicts Kaede and later Kirumi, much to everyone’s detriment, but they’re all okay with it (Nobody was really super sad about Korekiyo to begin with, lol). Then, starting in chapter 4, everyone just kinda flips on him. Shuichi + the rest of the gang - Kokichi all believe that Gonta is innocent and Shuichi tries to prove this. Instead of supporting him, everyone (especially Kaito) tries to... stop him??? from proving it??? They’re all just in agreement that it wasn’t Gonta, but don’t want to proceed with the investigation to figure out who it was instead. It’s really frustrating and made my overall experience much less enjoyable. This is bumped up a few notches in chapter 5 with Maki. I understand that she was part of the whole case, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying that she won’t let me prove Kaito was the victim. It just feels like the character development was all for nothing and every student feels like a human obstacle (except K1-B0, of course). Still relatable and emo, though.

Rantaro Amami - I would make the joke everyone expects, but I’m on my laptop and I don’t know how to get to the emoji keyboard.

Ryoma Hoshi - I genuinely don’t have anything to say about Ryoma. He’s my halfway point because I don’t have anything particularly for him and I don’t have anything particularly against him, either. Go off, funky little cat man.

Kaito Momota - He got on my nerves in chapter 4, but he was a genuinely sweet character that I really enjoyed talking to. Any time he would talk about the stars, I would swoon because he’s just such a natural romantic. Not really my type, though. Very average.

Monophanie - Legally you can’t ask me why the monokubs are where they are. She’s voiced by Natalie Hoover (Sonia) and I guess that’s my only reasoning.

Monotaro - I really just liked his interactions with K1-B0 in chapter 4. Other than that, I greatly disliked his and Monophanie’s presence in Gonta’s execution. 0/10 worst use for monokubs.

Monodam - A nice, non-distracting addition to Korekiyo’s execution. But he had so much potential and just threw it all away. Apparently I’m a basketball dad from a high school movie now.

I remember you

Angie Yonaga - Many times, I’ve found myself asking who I ship from the series and this love triangle comes to mind. Of Angie, Himiko, and Tenko... I only really like Tenko. I don’t hate Angie’s cult stuff as much as everyone else seems to, but she didn’t have nearly enough of a presence for me to latch onto outside of the cult stuff, which was funny, I will admit.

Maki Harukawa - I was so excited the whole game for her to get cool. I knew she was going to get cool, I just didn’t know when or how. But then, it was chapter 5 already and she hadn’t gotten cool in my eyes yet. I was really meh on her by that chapter anyway, but her being annoying really knocked her down a few pegs. She got a couple extra points for surprising me during the case, but not enough to bump her up any spots.

Himiko Yumeno - I was rooting for her to be crushed under the rock at the end. She was fine before chapter 3, but then they tried to develop her with the Akane treatment and it didn’t work for me at all. She just got on my nerves during the third trial and continued to contribute nothing throughout the rest of the game. During chapter 5 and 6, it’s like the writers just completely forgot that she was there. This would’ve been fine if they weren’t the last couple of chapters and she was one of about 6 people left alive. She had a role to play and didn’t play it in the slightest. The most she was utilized after chapter 3 was as Miu’s replacement post-chapter 5. Someone needed to fill the dirty jokes quota and I guess Himiko was chosen. #GiveTenkoABetterLoveInterest2021

Monosuke - The only thing I remember him doing throughout the entire game was distract me from Kirumi’s exectuion. Not a fan.

You are the worst. Literal scum. Leave this planet and never return

Korekiyo Shinguji - Okay, listen. He’s not that bad. His design is actually one of the best, in my opinion and I love his dedication to his craft. However, he just creeps me out whenever he’s on screen and I’d prefer not to be around him. It’s not even the sister thing, I honestly think that’s funny and a nice change of pace, but his overall demeanor is creepy. Not to mention he’s played by Todd Haberkorn and he’s been in one too many roles recently. Hopefully I’ll get over it, but as for now, that loses him points.

Tsumugi Shirogane - I know, not exactly an unpopular opinion. She’s just annoying and downright pisses me off a lot of the time with her “plain” shtick. I already knew she was going to be the mastermind, so most of the game was just me waiting for her to reveal it. I swear, I almost couldn’t take it every time she said something like, “What if there isn’t a mastermind?” “What?? There’s a mastermind????” Just stfu Tsumugi. You all are lucky I don’t have the energy to talk about 3-6 right now.

Monokid - Hate the tongue sprite, that’s literally the only reason he’s down here. He’s also kind of annoying, but made the best addition to an execution out of all of the monokubs. His death was one of the few things that surprised me in this game and it was a welcome twist. I was sick of him by this point, but was still incredibly shocked when he was pushed into the execution. Then, his severed head rolls out to all of the students looking on in shock at Kaede’s death. Masterful. Still hate the tongue sprite.

There we go. Definitely my least favorite cast out of the whole series, but it’s still fun to love on and hate on a lot of the characters, as per usual. There are just a few too many in the middle tier (metaphorically speaking) that are either uninteresting or just don’t get their time to shine. Maybe they’ll eventually grow on me more, but I doubt it.

[jarofstyles]

Dirty Business - Latte

A/N: This story. We are really proud of. It’s a spin on business man!harry x spoiled brat y/n. The character development and everything about it just made us so happy and we hope you enjoy :)

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pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

warnings: cheating, a hints of angst 

word count: 9.5k

It had been one year since Harry had moved to New York and he still couldn’t get over how dirty it could be. He groaned when he saw it begin to get sunny outside, not because he didn’t want sun— no. Because it would make the humidity terrible. A muggy New York wasn’t enjoyable to many. Though, above it all, he did like it. He had a comfortable apartment with tuning water and head and air conditioning. A cat. A toaster and working appliances. A nice bed and couch, even a tv. He had done well for himself and the pay upgrade at his new level had been immaculate. Hell, he had even gotten a girlfriend! But it just felt a bit... lacking. 

He was working hard to get closer and closer to head spots. Harry has been given a pretty good role now, going out to discuss and make deals with potential clients and brands to partner with their locations. He was a people person. His boss, he loved him. He wasn’t sure why, but his work effort and apparently his accent made people here take him more seriously than they had previously. He did well bringing in deals and sweet talking clients to better deals for their end. He saved and made them money. He sighed, resting his hand on his face as he looked over a proposal. Investments were good and always changing, which helped. Just like the city. He needed some sort of excitement. He just didn’t expect to get it so soon. The knock at his door had his sitting up, placing the paper down. His reading glasses were pulled off, making out his boss and seemingly someone behind him. 

“Styles! My boy... I want to introduce you to my little girl!”

Y/N had it all growing up. Clothes, makeup, electronics, events, trips, you name it. She did what she wanted when she wanted, always on top of the latest trends. She always had an interest in fashion which her mother was all for seeing as she herself was a designer. Some call her a spoiled brat, and maybe she was, but she was a business woman none the less. She always got what she wanted one way or another, weaseling her way into fashion week when she was 15 to befriend all the designers, so much so that they sent her free things to this day! Now at the ripe age of 22, Y/N had her own boutique showcasing her designs for special order. She did quite well for herself, seeing as she didn’t really need to worry about money. It was all sort of just finding outlets for her creativity so she wouldn’t lose her mind. 

Her father of course was disappointed that her mother couldn’t give him a son to take over the business, but pushed Y/N to take over the business once he retired. It really wasn’t happening though. It just wasn’t her thing, dealing with annoying workers who simply wouldn’t listen to her. Sounded like a nightmare, no wonder her dad was so grey. Since she didn’t want to take over the business her father had come up with another plan. Tried pairing her off with his loser interns, or potential replacements in hopes to keep his claws in the company.

She had heard so much about Harry Styles. God, her dad couldn’t be farther up his ass! Apparently he was English and smart, saved them lots of money, he was extremely well mannered. Things her dad said to butter her up usually. Of course, coming in to meet him, she wasn’t expected to see that. Her eyes instantly locked with his, only tearing away so she could scan up and down his body. She wanted him. He was perfect! Every single hair placed on his head, down to his ring clad hands, and to his work shoes. Y/N wasn’t expecting this, but god was she happy to see him. 

“Hi Harry, it’s so nice to finally meet you.�� She hummed, turning up the charm.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you as well, Y/N.” Harry stood from his desk and rounded it to be polite, reaching his hand out. His smile was genuine, but his mind was nervous. His boss had often brought up Y/N in passing and said how he wanted her to marry someone from the company so he could know he was a good man, wanted him to meet her so badly, and now was that chance. It wasn’t that she wasn’t attractive— because fuck, that would be a lie. She was beautiful. Silky hair and glossy lips, chest on display and legs for days. Perfect hips and probably thighs, she was an absolute catch. But she was trouble. He could see it in her eyes and her cat like smile. She wanted something. He could see her mood shift from exasperated with her father for making her come, to interested. Which he wasn’t sure was dangerous or not. 

“Your father has told me a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” He murmured, trying to take his hand but failing when her grip tightened for a moment before actually letting go. He felt uneasy. She was looking at him like a cat that looked at a mouse— but he hid it easily.

“All good things I hope.” Y/N cooed, letting a little giggle as their hands separated. “I’ve heard lots about you as well, Daddy says you’re doing wonders for the company.” She smirked, knowing her father wouldn’t be too pleased with her letting Harry in on something but then again, she was playing the game. Y/N wanted Harry to know she had the power to make things happen for him but just as easily take them away. “I’m sure you’re very busy, but you should give me your number and we can do lunch sometime? I’d love to hear all about what your plans for the company are.” Y/N was kissing ass. God, she was practically oozing out desire. She was phrasing things so he couldn’t say no. She wanted to spend more time with him and she would, especially without her father so she could actually pull some moves. Her father had clearly gotten the hint that she liked Harry, smiling to himself. 

“Think that’s a wonderful idea sweetheart. It would be good for you, Harry could teach you a lot of things.” He nodded and Y/N’s smirk only deepened, “I’m sure he could...” She hummed, licking over her lips.

Harry could tell she was cornering him. Especially with the look she was giving him. She was quite a smooth talker and he could tell that just by looking at her that he was going to be in trouble. It made him feel a bit panicky inside. 

“Um... sure, yeah. I’d be happy to tell you about business.” He said clearly. Y/N looked like she didn’t care though, a laugh coming from her when he handed her his phone. The lock screen was his girlfriend, Caroline. She was a very sweet girl. Truthfully, she was a tiny bit too pushy when it comes to moving along. They’d been together for 6 months and she was trying to get them to move in together but he wasn’t ready yet. She was great but he still felt.. a bit flighty. She wasn’t exactly what he wanted but she was a lovely girl. He did like her quite a bit despite it all.

Y/N has typed in her number and the rest of her information onto his phone and texted herself his contact. She was going to make sure she had everything that she needed. She locked his phone and tapped the screen again seeing the photo of him and some girl. She was pretty, but she was alright. 

“Who’s this?” Y/N asked, looking over the photo for a minute before he answered. “Awe, isn’t that sweet.” She replied, her tone fake as all hell. She wanted him. That girl would be gone, she definitely wasn’t the type of girl who was going to give a man like Harry what he needed. Oh no. If he was the one inheriting her father’s company then he surely would be with someone just as driven, attractive, and interesting. Herself, she mostly meant herself and only herself. “I’ll see you soon then?” She raised a brow, already going to check her schedule. “I can do tomorrow at 12:30 if that’s good with you?” Y/N wasn’t asking, she was telling him the plan. “I’ll text you to address.” She smiled before he had the chance to answer. “It was lovely meeting you, Harry.” She smiled, going up to him and kissing his cheek. “Bye.” Y/N giggled and with that she made her way back to her father giving him a kiss on the cheek and a quick ‘bye daddy’ making eye contact with Harry and winking before leaving his office. 

Harry knew that women like Y/N wouldn’t let go easily. He knew that. It was just hard when he had the bit of internal want there too. He knew that he was bad for that, yes. He had a girlfriend. But the same way Y/N was drawn to him, he felt it. Which is exactly why he was going to push it all the way down. If it was at a bar and she was someone random? He would try it, but this was his boss's daughter. Every single red flag was there. Everyone. He worked so hard to get to where he was and he knew that this could single handedly destroy everything he worked for. If he was late for a date or got the wrong chocolates she could potentially kiss his career goodbye. He didn’t like this. His stomach hurt with nerves, feeling like he was going to be cornered into a wall and he hated it. He hated feeling nervous and worried because a woman like Y/N didn’t give up. She had the world handed to her and knew how to get what she wanted.

Y/N was excited though, finally one of her father’s prospects were actually promising! She couldn’t believe it, he’d actually chosen well not only for the job at hand but for her as well. 

“Daddy, I like him.” Y/N spoke on the phone to her father while she was getting her weekly mani pedi. “I need you to make sure you keep him around, okay? I’ll be in the office more... just— please make it happen?” She pleaded, knowing that as far as her father was in the loop she’d be okay. 

Later that day she had texted Harry the address to the restaurant that wasn’t too far from the building he worked at. It would be perfect for when they’d walk because together and Y/N would meet with her father to discuss what she could do for him. She wanted it to be perfect, wanted to get inside that beautiful head of his and hopefully get him to fall in love with her. She knew that she often came off as a crazy psycho bitch, but she could be nice and funny and sweet when she wanted. It just wasn’t something she wanted to do. People go nowhere being nice in her world, she learned that the hard way. 

----

There was no way he was going to ignore the brunch. Not after his boss had called him and said to take it easy today and take his time getting back to the office, wishing him well for the brunch. She had her father in the loop. She knew her power. He had put on normal work clothes, sunglasses on his head as he made his way in. Apparently she got a private table which made both fear and excitement rise in his head. He squashed the later down, making his way with square shoulders to her. He could be polite. Tell her business things. But he wasn’t going to develop into personal matters. He had a feeling that’s what she wanted but was hoping she may genuinely just be curious. 

“Hello, Y/N. I apologize I’m a minute late, the hostess wasn’t at the front and I couldn’t see you back here.” It was a back patio, beautifully decorated with vines and flowers and had a beautiful brick. It was great. Too bad he felt on edge. She looked gorgeous, but he had the feeling it was hard for her not to.

Y/N smiled when she saw him, admiring his choice of outfit. Did he always look this good? She hoped so. So clean and professional even when not wearing a single item of designer. That’s what Y/N called fashion, being able to pull off a look. They’d look great together. She could already see it all now, just how many events they’d go to. The dream. 

“No worries, Harry, I’m glad you could make it.” She cooed, “hope you don’t mind being out here... don’t really like being in there when it’s too crowded.” Y/N explained though it really was an attempt to just get him alone and really get to know him with ease, to not have to talk over anyone in a restaurant or have prying eyes. “Daddy said to put everything on his tab so, feel free to order as you please.” She told him, “he’s really excited to see me get out more, wants me to know more about the business... thinks you’ll be a good influence on me.” Y/N could tell he was nervous though, smirking to herself as she sipped on her mimosa. “Why are you nervous?”

“Hm? Oh, I have a big meeting with a client later.” He did, but he wasn’t nervous. She made him uncomfortable in the oddest way but he wasn’t going to tell her that. “The bigger accounts are a bit harder to navigate but it’ll be alright.” He paused when the waitress came over, seemingly pleased at Harry's presence. He knew he was decent looking. He was just polite, ordering water and a plate of French toast. He wasn’t drinking around her. No fucking way. “So what about the business were you interested in particularly?” He folded his hands in front of him. Was it an excuse to get him to come and see her? Most likely. Y/N was clever and quick and he knew that she thrives off of that and the fact that she thinks she’s going to get him. Her acrylic nails looked sharp.

Y/N smirked, knowing full well he was lying but she was going to let it go for his sake. He of course knew she was aware though, it made her feel a bit more smug. She was completely relaxed, just watching him as he spoke and sat all stiff in the chair. She wanted him to feel comfortable around her, but that would take a while. She needed to break him in. 

“You.” She flirted, taking a sip of her drink once again. Y/N wanted to know about the business if it involved him of course. He couldn’t exactly walk out either, her father would be very disappointed. “What? Does that come as a surprise to you?” She asked, genuinely amused. He was a good guy. He wasn’t even trying anything, he was pushing back even! Where on earth did her father find him? “Tell me about how you ended up over here in New York.” She started off small, deciding that she would ask the things she wanted to know that were less personal before she started convincing him about how he should break up with his girlfriend because he could do so much better.

God damn it. He truly was a cornered puppy. He couldn’t very well leave because he wasn’t going to let her father pay the tab. He was a gentleman in all aspects and even if he didn’t want to be here, he would stay and make it clear he couldn’t do anything with her. 

“That’s very nice of you.” He cleared his throat. “I can’t say I can get too personal however, I ended up here because I excelled in the London branch. Your father was impressed with my work and made it so I was transferred here.” He explained. “It was a nice change of scenery. New York is something else. Plus, I’d like to continue to grow in the company through the years and I’d have to be at the main branch to do so.” Y/N looked like she was eating every bit of information and that made him second guess what he was saying. Why was she so interested in him out of all people? He had nowhere near the money her father did. Wasn’t a big profile. He was a boring business guy with a fondness for cats, vintage things, and his guitar. Y/N furrowed her brows at his comment about how he couldn’t get too personal.

“Why not? I’m your boss's daughter, not your boss, Harry. There’s nothing wrong with making a friend, hmm?” She decided that that was the best way to get him to agree. Have him understand that though she was interested in him as far more than a friend, she wanted to get to know him. “Do you miss London?” She asked genuinely, “Feel like New York’s so different, doesn’t give you the same level of comfort.” Y/N shrugged, “sometimes wish we just moved over there instead but.. Daddy loves it here.” She sighed before asking her follow up question. “Do you travel a lot?” She wanted to make sure she covered all the bases, wanted to know what he was into and what he did in his free time. Y/N might seem like a bit of a snob but she could appreciate the little things. Maybe it was the perk of being raised by nannies? They gave that touch of humble that her parents never really handed down to her. 

“I think you’ll find a lot of success here though. Everyone loves you. Daddy’s always going on about how much you do for the company... don’t think you have much competition if you’re worried about not getting the promotion.” Y/N said honestly, “don’t think he trusts anyone else and to be honest, I wouldn’t either.”

“I do miss London, yes. Especially the food.” He was trying to keep the conversation in neutral territory. This was harder than he had originally thought, but thankfully she was talking about work and that he could talk about. “Thank you, I’m glad you both have confidence in me.” He let himself smile, happy to be in on that. “I want it but I do think I have a ways to go. I want to properly work for my promotions, learn the bases so that when I get there I can be the most knowledgeable.” That wasn’t a secret. Harry absorbed information like a sponge. “I do love working for this company. It’s where I’ve wanted to be for a long time and to see it shaping up is amazing. I wouldn’t risk it for anything.” A little comment he hoped she caught. “It’s nice to be able to get my mum a good Christmas gift too.” He said for a moment, forgetting she couldn’t relate to being broke.

Ah, he was one of those. She should have expected it, but something about him seemed too good to be true. He just kept getting better and better with every moment of speaking to him and she was growing more and more frustrated because well. One, he had a girlfriend who definitely didn’t realize the incredible man she had on her hands and two, that he wasn’t asking her anything about herself. Did he not want to know? Of course he did. Y/N caught his comment but chose to ignore it. She didn’t think of it as a risk, it was more of an investment. 

“That’s always a nice feeling.” Y/N smiled at his comment about his mom, thanking the waitress as she brought out some appetizers. “As far as that goes, I don’t really think you have /anything/ to worry about.” She made it sure he too would understand her point. “So New York’s been treating you well then... how long have you and....” She pointed to his phone waiting for him to give her a name. “Caroline— how long have you and Caroline been together?” Y/N wanted to dirt, if he wasn’t going to give it to her himself she’d have to pull it out of him herself.”

He took her words into consideration. The thing was— he didn’t know her. He was going to be as nice as he could be until she started pushing buttons but she had the self destruct right in the palm of her dainty hand. He was worried about that. 

“Oh— yes, Caroline.” He smiled. “She’s lovely. Met her through some friends. We’ve been together for about 6 months.” He did like her but there was no passion and excitement behind his words. Fondness, sure. But that was about it. “New York has been treating me well. I like it. I don’t love the smells but, such is life.” He sighed, shrugging his shoulder before taking a bite. “Have you lived here your entire life?” He didn’t know that. He knew that she had a pony that her dad bought her because he had told him the story before, so he wasn’t sure where she lived. Where the damn pony was, but it was a tame question. Safe.

Y/N could tell just from the way he talked about her that she wasn’t what he wanted long term. If he really liked this girl, he’d be on the edge of his seat with fire burning in his eyes as he told her about how amazing she was. Instead he was sitting there, looking at Y/N with pupils dilated. 

“So you like her, but she’s not what you really want huh?” She stated simply, chuckling at his stunned expression. “Sorry, am I wrong? Dunno, feel like after six months someone’s a bit more than lovely.” Y/N knew she was pressing a button but she wouldn’t be pushing it if she knew she was wrong. “Or, you’re just being choice with your words... cause it’s me, don’t want me knowing too much. I get it.” She was reading him like a book. “Don’t ever underestimate me, save yourself the effort and the nerves.” And just like that she was already on to answering his question. “In New York? Yes, in the city no. My childhood home is in the Hamptons, but we all moved into the city when I graduated highschool.” Y/N explained, “it’s... nice? I live on my own on the upper east side, run my own boutique and help my parents out where I can. I’ve got lots to do, but yeah... wish I had more fun things to do.”

He didn’t want to be a play toy for an heiress. Yes, maybe she was correct about Caroline but he wasn’t about to dump her because she thinks he should. At least, that’s what her talk sounded like. He hated that she could read him. 

“Oh. That sounds nice, having your own boutique. I’m sure there’s plenty of fun things to do if you look hard enough. I’ve been focusing on work lately but I know there’s plenty of things out there if you look elsewhere.” No. He wasn’t giving in to her even though he knew that’s what she wanted. Y/N was going to try and wear him down, but he was hoping he could start early with ignoring the obvious digs. “Is the boutique what you’d like to do? Or do you have other career options you’d want to look at?” He asked, trying to keep his actual curiosities at bay. There were lots he wanted to know but this was one of them. A safe one.

The fact that he even ignored her little dig said enough. The point of that was more for him to know that she could read him and that he shouldn’t try and hide from her because it only made things more obvious. Maybe it was her being hyper aware, having learnt all the tricks people used to get close to her or better yet fuck with her heart. 

“I mean it’s amazing, it really is. I love designing and getting actual pieces out for people to wear and buy... try to make sizing as inclusive as I possibly can because I know there is a market for high end plus size clothing.” Y/N explained, “I guess it’s more of myself wanting to branch out. I like doing lots of things, but can’t seem to separate my own work from my parents.” She chuckled, deciding to be a little vulnerable and she wasn’t that girl. “Maybe it’s a bit cheesy, but ultimately what I want is a family.” Y/N knew it might be a bit much but if she wanted him to understand her, if she wanted him to be a friend and not just some guy who works for her dad, she had to show him who she was. Not that she ever hid anything anyway. “Really just want to be a mom and spend all the time in the world I can with them... I have the privilege of not needing to worry about financial stability so.. yeah.”

He was surprised that she was being seemingly vulnerable with him. This... this type of Y/N? He could like. He could be friends with. When it didn’t seem like there was an ulterior motive, he could definitely be more comfortable. 

“That isn’t cheesy. It’s something that’s very nice, Y/N. I do want a family one day so I can understand it as well.” He didn’t want her to think wanting to be a mother was bad or cheesy. It was admirable. His mum worked hard and raised both himself and his sister while their father worked an office job. They’d never been rich or even super comfortable, but they’d made ends meet. “I think going in a fashion route is good. Especially expanding in sizes if you see a niche in the market for it.” He praised that decision. He was in an investment firm. “It will be difficult to do that with affluent parents however, your work will surely speak for itself in the fashion industry if you want to continue down that path.” He had faith this woman could get nearly everything she wanted, but he could understand being frustrated by her parents' influence.

“I’m glad you think so.” Y/N smiled, feeling herself get all warm and fuzzy inside because no only was he being extremely sweet and kind, but supportive? He had officially ticked every possible box Y/N had for someone she wanted to date and marry. The poor man didn’t realize that he had just signed himself off to being hers without knowing. She’d stop at nothing for him. “What do you do when you’re not investing then? Hmm?” She asked, taking a bite of her eggs Benedict. Y/N felt like since she was more vulnerable he could be too, maybe he’d show her a side to him she didn’t know about, a side that she could possibly relate to. It was so strange, having a man not giving into her despite her attempts. She’d never had this happen before but it made her want him more. Y/N could only hope that he could see past the exterior of her and realize that she was the perfect candidate. She was exciting, young, had money, offered him job security, and most importantly incredible sex. All with time though, she’d get him to crack.

“I play guitar. I have a kitten, he’s growing up fast. Um... I watch documentaries quite a bit.” He admitted. Harry wishes he didn’t have to be so careful but he could still see too much interest in her eyes and he was nervous about her wanting more than just a simple friendship or work relationship. One slip up with her could cost him his job and life here. He’d have to start from scratch at a new company. It wasn’t what the man wanted at all. “I collect records? So I listen to those. I do a lot of research on my own time. Uh, go to bars with friends though I’m not much of a bar hopper.” This wasn’t anything he didn’t want anyone to know, so why did he feel so odd telling her? He didn’t want to unfairly judge Y/N, because so far she had been nice. Pushy, but nice.

“Really?” Y/N’s eyes had properly lit up and she put her fork and knife down. “Do you have pictures? Can I see him? What’s his name?” Y/N was so excited, it would probably be embarrassing to most but she only ever was this soft with animals and babies. “Oh my goodness!” She cooed at the photo, “I have to meet him!” Again, it wasn’t a question, it was a statement. “My mom never let me have pets growing up because of the furniture and now I travel too much... I would hate to leave a little angel all alone or even have them go elsewhere...” Y/N sighed, picking up her utensils again and felt herself get all giddy inside. Harry really was perfect. “That’s cool! So you’re like a proper vintage guy then?” She raised a brow, already thinking of all the cool things she could get her hands on for him. Even if they weren’t dating Y/N would probably do it anyway just because she was so damn fond of him. He was being so incredibly sweet, on a lunch date with her because he wanted to keep his job. It sort of made her sad, but she’d never admit it to him. Y/N wished he didn’t have a girlfriend and that she met him elsewhere so that there wouldn’t be this massive problem. Wished that it was different so that he’d want her and treat her nice. She was still very determined to get him. She knew she would.

He could see a bit of Y/N he was positive other people didn’t. Or, he thought so. There was a lot of softness in there that she definitely hid. He wondered why but had to remind himself that it wasn’t his problem. It hurt to think like that because Y/N was so sweet right now but he was protecting himself. Being kind was a given but he needed to set boundaries if she tried to push past them. He didn’t miss the fact she said she was definitely going to meet his kitten. When the brunch ended, Harry put his cash on the table. 

“I’m sorry, I’m going to be late. I will walk you to your car though?” He wasn’t sure if she had a car or if she walked, whatever it was. He wasn’t sure how to go about this. His head needed a break so he could refocus.

“Oh, that’s fine. Don’t worry about that though, I’m actually meant to be headed back to the office to meet my father anyway. He wants me to help with some things, but thank you for the offer that’s really sweet.” Y/N smiled softly at him, not forgetting to thank him for paying for the meal though he really, really didn’t have to at all. That just made it more of a date. As they walked out Y/N hummed, placing her sunglasses over her eyes as they began walking down the street towards the office. She stayed relatively quiet on their way there, just minding her own business. It wasn’t awkward silence though, perfectly comfortable even up to when they got to her father’s floor. “Thank you so much for coming, I had a really nice time.” Y/N smiled warmly at him, genuinely meaning it this time and he could definitely tell. “We’ll do this again.” She hummed, again kissing his cheek before bidding him a goodbye and heading towards her father's office. Y/N was persistent.

----

He couldn’t get her to back off. Every week, Harry has a new gift from her. A rare record. Gourmet cat treats for Oliver. A vintage Rolling Stones tee shirt. It was driving him crazy. He had told her over and over that it wasn’t appropriate to give him gifts and yet, every week he ended up with her placing one on his desk. Nearly every day though, she would be at the office and would spend an hour lounging in his office. When she would get too flirty Harry would shut it down with a simple reminder that she was being inappropriate. To which she would laugh and roll her eyes. 

Today though, he was probably going to lose it. Caroline and him had gotten in a fight the night prior because she was trying to slowly move into his place without him knowing— but he knew. And while she had originally come to apologize, it turned into a whining fest. 

“Haz, please? It’s been 6 months. It’s really time to take it to the next level.” He winced at the nickname. God, he hated that shit so much. The cringiest one. 

“Caro, love... no. I’m not ready to go further than what we are doing now. Sleepovers are what we’re doing. I can’t rush into such a decision.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It’s not rushing! I barely get to see you as it is. It’s not fair.” And she had a point. Harry hadn’t been close lately. 

“I’m busy, I’m working. I’m sorry.”

Y/N had seen the tall blonde enter the office. She knew that she shouldn’t be nosy, shouldn’t interrupt and it probably took her about 10 times to convince herself that she needed a reason to go over there. So, she waited till her father had a paper or two that needed to be given to Harry and she strutted down with her plan set. She knocked on the door twice as usual and stepped inside with a bright smile on her face.

“Hey! I— oh.” Y/N paused and closed the door behind her. Showtime. “Didn’t realize you had company, my apologies.” Y/N spoke and walked over to hand him the papers, noticing he had been burning the candle she’d gotten him. Oh he made it so fucking easy. “I’m glad you like the candle though, they make one in those sent for the wax burner you have.” Y/N remembered he had mentioned that he couldn’t burn it in the house because Oliver was still quite curious and he was nervous about him knocking something over.

Harry closed his eyes. God damn it. Y/N was a pretty, rich girl. Young. Hot. And Caroline did have a bit of a jealous streak. She wouldn’t at all be okay with thinking Y/N was over at his place. She already was having her insecurities.

“Thank you, Y/N—“ 

“Wait— how do you know about the wax burner?” Caroline was making his blood pressure rise. God damn it. Why? He was just trying to get work done and two women were going to have a pissing contest over him— one who didn’t even have a right to? 

“Girls, that’s not important—“

“Yes it is? Is she why you’ve been busy?”

Y/N was smiling on the inside but part of her wanted to leave and let him explain. Of course, Y/N didn’t want to make it seem like she was doing it on purpose so she got a bit defensive. 

“It’s not that hard to find out, I gave him a candle and he told me why he couldn’t burn it in his house.” Y/N spoke calmly, watching the woman narrow her eyes at her. “What, you haven’t heard of being attentive?” Okay, maybe that was a bit much. “All the information is on the papers, H. Don’t have to brief you. See you later.” She said calmly, she knew it would get under the woman’s skin and made her way out of the office and back towards her fathers. Maybe she was evil, but she was a little pot stirrer. She wanted things to bubble over on their own, Y/N just had to be there to catch him. 

“Who is she? She seems awfully comfortable with you.” Caroline was getting antsy. She could tell how on edge Harry got when Y/N walked in the room, of course she would assume something was up. Even if she was assuming wrong. The thing was, he couldn’t technically be mad at Y/N because she hadn’t done anything inherently bad. Sure, she mentioned something no one would know unless they were close but it was a simple thing. 

“She’s Y/N, the boss's daughter. She’s been very welcoming.” He said simply, taking a swig of his coffee. For fucks sake. He was going to die if these women didn’t give him a break. 

“Why is she giving you candles? It’s weird. How much time do you spend with her?” She asked, obviously not happy. 

“I don’t know why she gave it to me, to be nice? Love, you’re completely overthinking this. She helps her dad out and runs papers. Sometimes she chats and asks me business questions. Nothing that you’re thinking about is happening.” He promised. It wasn’t. He hadn’t laid a hand on her. Y/N was touchy. Liked to fix his tie or his hair and multiple times he had said to not, it was appropriate. She didn’t seem to care— but he wasn’t going to tell Caroline that. 

The girl just nodded, leaving the office. Harry has told her not to come if it wasn’t urgent because he was usually busy. And now she wonders if he was busy with papers or in between the leggy girl’s thighs. Of course it was fate that had her almost crashing into her on the way out. Never in her life had she felt territorial over a man like this but Y/N was an obvious threat. 

“What is going on with you and my boyfriend?” She asked seriously.

Y/N was simply going to get her father and herself another coffee when Caroline nearly knocked her off her feet with how fast she was moving. If that wasn’t enough to piss Y/N off, the girl had the nerve to speak to her in a threatening tone in her father’s building? This girl didn’t know what she was doing clearly or how spiteful Y/N could be. She was trying to be nice originally, but she didn’t appreciate her tone or the look she had in her eyes. 

“Unfortunately nothing, yet.” Y/N responded in a snarky tone, “but you keep at the jealous girlfriend look, it’ll do you wonders.” She rolled her eyes and blocked her when she tried to storm out. “I better not see you in this building again? Got it?” Y/N raised her brow, “have a nice day.” She smiled at her, pushing past her to walk back towards her father’s office. Oh Y/N was livid. Livid. 

“That fucking bitch!” Y/N slammed the door with her foot behind her, moving the coffees on to her father’s desk. “Harry’s girlfriend was here and was chatting to him when I went to drop papers off.. I simply made a comment about the candle I gave Harry and she went off... stopped me in the hallway and questioned me all threateningly, like she had the fucking right.”

“Take what she wants.” Her father said easily. “You’re trying to. She thinks that. Take what she’s been trying to keep. I think you and Harry are a lovely couple. It’s a shame he doesn’t see the vision yet, however he will come around.” He was positive. He wanted the upper hand. Yes, he loved Y/N and wanted her happy, and Harry would promise that but he would ultimately have someone to give the company to, and still be involved. Keep it in his family. It was perfect. “I know my daughter, and I know you’re relentless enough that he should be cracking soon. Go talk to him. Comfort him. If his girlfriend was causing issues, being a source of comfort could help. Make a move.” He suggested. An evil man was always a business one.

So that’s what Y/N did. 

She took a second before making her way over to Harry’s office again. This time it wasn’t to give him papers or flirt or anything like that, it was to genuinely check up on him. Y/N knew she had been pretty forward and though he had told her to stop she was still being pretty relentless which, if the tables were turned, would be very problematic. It probably was now too. Y/N knocked twice on the door and stepped inside.

“Harry?” She asked in a soft and gentle tone, one she didn’t use with anyone. She closed the door behind herself and stood there, looking at him. “Are you alright?” She asked softly, “I didn’t mean to cause all that... I’m sorry if I did.” She really didn’t mean to make it that big of a mess. “Know you might not want to talk to me, but... I am here to listen if you need me to.” Y/N offered, hoping that he didn’t take it as some ploy to try and get to him. She really did just want to be there for him. She didn’t want to make it about her, which was rare, even though he could appreciate that.

“Yeah... m’okay, thanks. You didn’t say anything wrong. You just said an innocent comment but, she’s been a bit angry lately with me and thinkin’ I’m avoiding her so it made her upset.” He murmured. She wasn’t trying to get to him. She was genuinely asking and he could tell from the look on her face. It felt really nice, actually. Having someone ask him. He didn’t have his mum or dad or sister here so, seeing someone at least care a bit was nice. “It was... you just said wax melters? Am I crazy?” He rubbed his forehead. “Fuck. There’s nothin’ going on with us and still, she assumes. I’m good, Y/N. Thanks for checking on me.” He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, expecting her to let herself out.

“She asked me again when she was leaving... what was going on between us, and I told her nothing..” Y/N wanted to be honest with him too, wanted to let him know so he realized the level of jealousy his girlfriend was having. She didn’t want to leave him like this, she could understand the feeling to an extent but she would only leave if he asked her too. Y/N noticed he was too much in his head, clearly struggling to ground himself so she took the initiative. She moved to sit in his lap, her hand gently cupping the side of his neck and rubbing her thumb over the soft skin. She knew nothing technically was going on between them, but was there actually nothing there? Maybe now was the time to ask? “Know I’ve been really forward with you and I apologize if it’s been too much, because if that’s something that’s causing your stress I’ll back off— I will.” Y/N spoke gently, knowing he wouldn’t want her to, but she had to at least offer.

He hated how good her touch felt. How he wanted to melt into it and let her give him attention but every time he thought about giving in, he would remember his job. The years of being a stupid coffee boy. He couldn’t do that again. However right now, he felt vulnerable and upset at Caroline for doing that shit and especially confronting Y/N when realistically she hadn’t said anything wrong. 

“You’re not... fuck, Y/N.” He groaned. “I hate that I like when you tease me and touch me. I can’t like it, I can’t like you. It puts me in so much danger.” Plus, he was overcome with thoughts about her in his most intimate moments. The last two times he’s had sex with Caroline, he thought about Y/N instead. Took her from behind and imagined her unstead. It was so wrong. He knew that. “It’s okay. I just... you make it so hard for me.” He knew there she knew that. Especially when he felt her hand gently caress his cheek and her soft little pout. “It’s not fair that you’re everywhere and I can’t stop thinking about it when I get home... fuck. It’s so frustrating and I can’t even hate you for it.” He couldn’t never hate her. “Do you know how crazy it’s making me? When you come in here and make me want to cheat just by batting your lashes at me? It’s so fucked and unfair that all you have to do is giggle and I want to risk my fucking job— fuck.” He hissed. “And I can’t tell if you’re toying with me or like me for real. I can’t tell and It drives me mad.”

Y/N felt her heart swell up at his words. It felt tight in her chest, so many words buzzing through her mind as she tried to figure out what she could say first. God, she just. 

“I really like you Harry.” She said simply, forcing him to look in her eyes, her voice soft and quiet. “And I don’t want you to feel like you have to hold back because of who I am— I'd never do that to you, or to anyone for that matter.” She searched his eyes for a moment, feeling out the silence before speaking again. “And I’m not one to go after someone who is spoken for, but it’s you... you just have to be so damn perfect and I can’t help but feel like I can treat you better than she can... especially after what happened today I—” 

His silence was killing her. She was so thankful that he liked her, that he felt the same way she did but he didn’t want to risk his job and didn’t want to be a bad guy who cheats. Y/N wished he could understand she wasn’t asking for either of those things necessarily. It wasn’t even that he had doubts that she could treat him better. He quite liked the idea of her. He would need to open his heart to her but that wasn’t an option. Would it ever be? Maybe once he got the promotion but nothing could stop this growth he was wanting. However, she looked so soft. So so sweet and sincere as she told him that she thought he was perfect. Y/N being honest? It was something he liked. When she was like this and it dialed down her brat attitude, that’s what he enjoyed. 

He didn’t think before he did it and that was his fault, but he grabbed her face, and kissed her. He wasn’t able to stop himself. 

Just as she thought she’d fucked it up, his mouth was on hers. She wasn’t dreaming, this was really happening. She let one of her hands tangle in his hair, wanting to take advantage of what could be the only chance she had at this, a soft pleased moan muffled against his lips. Y/N let him have full control of this kiss, letting him take what he needed from her so that she could prove just how submissive she could be if he only let her be. She wanted him so bad and she felt like she’d finally gotten something from him, even if it was just a little kiss it was already a massive step in the right direction. When he tried to pull back she deepened the kiss, desperate to keep this moment going for as long as possible. She didn’t want it to end, didn’t want him to decide it was a mistake, Y/N just wanted to cherish it and remind herself that a nice man could like her and treat her well.

Harry knew that this kiss was going to place him in a lot of dangerous areas. Y/N would be relentless on getting more— which secretly thrilled and terrified him at the same time. Caroline, She couldn’t ever find out about this. But mostly? Her mouth was perfect. She tasted sweet and had a hint of coffee and some sort of sweet gloss, but he didn’t care. He loved it. He let himself lose, allowing the kiss to deepen. Her tongue running against his and the softest, most cock teasing noises coming from her as she clung to him. Submissive and soft and fuck, perfect. It pained him to pull away, Y/N chasing his mouth and pecking him as he tried to speak. Though, he wasn’t trying to truly stop her yet. 

“Baby— no...” He felt her bite on his bottom lip, his heart beating. “Shit— Y/N, we can't.” He finally pulled away, taking in deep breaths. Fuck. He had fucked up. So why didn’t it feel like it?

The pet name rolled so beautifully off of his tongue that her heart fluttered despite the fact that he was telling her to stop kissing him. It hurt her, of course, having to be the better choice but never being the priority. With soft pleading eyes, she sat with a pouty lip while her finger slowly twirled around a curl at the base of his neck. 

“Why is it so wrong?” She asked softly, “Yes, you’re with her but... if you want me, you can break things off.” Y/N knew it was easier said than done but she was giving him an option. “And I’m pretty sure my father cares more about you more than me...” She chuckled sadly. She wished she was joking too. Y/N was soft and vulnerable now, having gotten a taste of what she wanted most. She didn’t want to go back to her apartment and be all alone. She wanted warmth, wanted someone to love and someone to love her. “Why is it such a bad thing to want me?”

“That isn’t true. He loves you. I think he finds it easier to talk to me because I’m a male and in business. You’re his daughter.” He tried to soothe. God. He just made shit a million times more difficult. “It's wrong because... what if something happens? What if shit goes wrong and then you get angry or hurt and your father fires me? What if people start shit and think I’m sleeping with you or something to get a promotion?” He said. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It just... fuck, this is hard. Maybe later. But for the time being... we can’t do this. I have to figure things out on my own and get it together. Think hard about it because it isn’t just a fling for me. This is my life, my reputation, and my career on the line.” He whispered, standing up. He was gentle when he put her on the ground.

Y/N let out a sigh, did he not realize that she had just as much power as her father? She was just about to make a point but he made it clear that his career was more important than whatever they had. She could understand that, but she didn’t agree. She would have him, especially now that she knew he liked her in the same way. 

“What if later is too late? What if I told you being with me can insure you have a job for life? It’s not just a fling for me either. It’s my life too, you know?” Y/N spoke quietly, “wish you’d have a little faith in me.” She said, clearly frustrated with the situation. Y/N decided she’d give him his space, looking at the time and shaking her head. “I better get going.” She spoke after clearing her throat, collecting her things as if nothing had happened and walked towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night, Harry.” Y/N gave him a sweet smile and closed the door behind her on the way out. 

Another long and lonely night.

----

Harry wasn’t sure if the kiss was a mistake or not. He wasn’t one to believe in regret, he did something and he had to face the consequences— however this? This was a whole lot. If he had thought Y/N had been much before, it was nothing compared to now. She came in and blatantly flirted with him, leaning over his desk in her sexy as fuck tops or dresses and gave him views he had been thirsting after, knowing he couldn’t. That he needed this job and she was tempting him at every turn. Not only that, but she would bring him coffee every morning and had figured out what scone he liked, coming to sit on his desk and flirting until Harry basically demanded she relax and go help her father. 

Why would she stop? She wasn't alone in her want and she knew that now. It was his fault, because he had shown his hand and Y/N knew every small rejection wasn’t genuine. It was to save his job, but internally, he wanted to give in. Still, she would straighten his jacket or come behind him and fix his tie, talking into his ear. Enough to make him distracted half the day. When he was called into the big bosses office, and saw Y/N? He was fucking terrified. However, he was smiling wide and telling Harry to sit— so he did.

“As you know we’re looking to expand our branches across major cities in Europe. I just got off a call with Jean Pierre, he needs me in paris this weekend, but I’ve already booked mandatory meetings with the builders down in Philadelphia.” Her father explained, looking down at his paperwork and then up at Harry. “I need you to go and meet with him and handle business. You’re already briefed on everything you need to know, just need you over there.” He smiled, of course leaving out the most important part. “I’m having Y/N accompany you, seeing as there are a few events you’ll be attending. She’ll show you the ropes, show you around Paris as well, won’t you sweetheart?” Y/N smiled brightly, nodding her head. 

“It’ll be amazing, promise I’ll show you a good time.” She cooed, watching his reaction carefully because of course he’d think she planned this. 

“All expenses will be covered and you will be paid. This is a huge favor I’m asking of you, I know. Have your suit sizes and passport information sent to me.” Her father requested, knowing that Y/N would want to dress him up for the occasion.

Well fuck.

He was going to be alone with Y/N, in the fucking city of love, and he couldn’t say no. Not that he necessarily wanted to— but it was putting him in such a temptation spot that it made him nervous. The business, he could handle. That wasn’t what made him worried. It was Y/N and her ability to wear him down and be relentless even after he tries to show no reaction whatsoever. She just knew how he was feeling. And she had been sweeter than pie to him, working slowly on bringing him to the spot she wanted. He knew that. 

“Oh— of course. How long is this trip for?” He asked curiously, side eyeing Y/N for a moment. He was praying for a short one but by the look on her face, it was definitely a week or more.

“Well, you’d be leaving Friday and arriving Saturday, your first meeting is on Monday and your last event is Friday night so... let’s say a week including travel?” He explained, already booking a hotel for the two of them at Y/N’s favorite place to stay. “Do you need to make any arrangements?” He raised his brow at him. 

“He’ll need to make some for Oliver.” Y/N pointed out, her father looked at her with furrowed brows. “He has a kitty, daddy.” Y/N cooed with a smile, “I’m sure his girlfriend can take care of him.” She said with a small smirk, knowing full well the game that she was playing. He had yet to break up with her and she was hoping he’d do it soon so it wasn’t on his cautiousness. Y/N was already packing in her head, knowing exactly what she wanted to bring and needed to bring. 

“I’ve forwarded the itinerary to Y/N, she’ll act as your assistant for the weekend, utilize her in any way you will.” Her father explained and Y/N smirked at that. She sure hoped he did.

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

[part 2]

A/N: a bit of a cliffhanger there, but oof.. tell us what you think! - n + d

masterlist

[myshipsareendgame]

SHADOLIN BABY- A CONCEPT THREAD:

-one morning, after the war is over (basically all of our heroes survive), shallan gets a bit sick. she inhales stormlight and some of the fatigue still doesn’t go away. she recalls that she had a bit of wine the night before, but just a little, nowhere near making her get a hangover the next morning. she decides not to tell adolin anything, since she doesn’t want him to worry

-later, she goes to the doctor’s office. first, she approaches hesina so that she can schedule a meeting. “oh brightness! come in, come in! would you like something to eat or drink? i have some fruit and wine if you’d like” shallan just gestures her hand and says “actually, no. i wouldn’t want to drink anything anymore... there’s a small chance i am pregnant. it’s why i came here- to ask you to make a schedule”

-lirin is the one that helps her and promises not to tell anyone, kaladin especially, that she came here as she wanted to do so herself. they run some tests and later she comes to get the results, lirin hands her the papers along with a “congratulations!”

-that night, adolin comes back from training to find shallan sitting on the balcony, with a blanket wrapped around her. he gives her a hug from behind and kisses her temple. adolin asks her what she’s thinking of to which shallan answers with:

“we need bigger quarters.”

“what? they’re pretty big, we have enough space.”

“yeah, for the two of us, but we are gonna need a nursery in a few months” and adolin just gives her the biggest hug and kisses her whole face

-they decide to tell dalinar and navani first over dinner. they are both so so happy for them, navani cries but dalinar holds in tears. later though, when he is alone with navani, he gets very emotional and thinks of how proud and happy he is that his son would be a father

-next come renarin and kaladin who both immediately start crying and planning every big event of this child’s life. kaladin gets genuinely surprised that his parents kept the secret, since he thought they wouldn’t be able to. renarin teases adolin “you? a father? oh almighty” but he is so happy anyway

-shallan’s brothers are very happy for them, promising to be good uncles and take care of their niece or nephew

-jasnah and wit are both so proud of how far shallan has come and jasnah takes the rare opportunity and becomes the softest softie to ever soft... shallan is surprised, but nevertheless happy at jasnah’s reaction

-shallan’s pregnancy goes well, adolin starts singing to her tummy very early on and it becomes a nightly routine. he sings iriali lullabies that his mother sang to him when he was young. but he also talks to the baby everyday as well. shallan finds it endearing and eventually starts doing things like that too

-once her belly gets very big, it’s time for new clothing. since she’s often enjoying staying in and reading/drawing, she spends a lot of time in adolin’s shirts, while he goes out and designs new dresses for her that she wears during meetings and important outings during which she must appear

-gavinor likes to spend time with shallan and keep her company and she thinks its a good thing to get used to a child being around her. once they renovate the quarters and add rooms to it, she teaches him how to paint by painting the walls herself. it’s what starts gavinor’s love for art

-a month before she is due, kaladin and adolin are out in the city getting some new clothes when a messanger is sent to say that shallan is in early labor

-adolin and kaladin FUCKING SPRINT through the entire tower, and adolin is horrified outside the room because shallan is screaming and he is so worried

-both the davars and the kholins just drop everything they are doing at the time and come to see how shallan is doing at the clinic. though, the labor takes a few hours so some, like kaladin and renarin, stay with adolin in the lobby the whole time. others come and go, but everyone comes to check every once in a while

-finally, lirin comes out and offers adolin a hand to say “congratulations brightlord. your wife and daughter are in perfect health.”

-AND ADOLIN JUST FUCKING STARTS TEARING UP “I... I have a little girl? Wh-When can I see her?”

-meanwhile, shallan is holding her little girl in the bed. resting and thinking how she never loved anything so much so fast, she just wants to hold her and thinks “oh! mini me!”

-adolin comes in and just starts fucking crying, rushes over to hold and kiss shallan and thank her for bringing this child into the world

-then he turns to the baby and oh, she is the most divine creature to exist, she is a mini shallan and he just holds her by her little fingers. actually, the baby wraps their entire hand around adolin’s finger, which only makes it more adorable

-then it’s like that scene in friends when mondler get engaged and the others go “can we come in now, we’re dying out here!” and they go “come in!!!”

-the family comes in and take turns but dalinar goes first and just starts crying, EVERYONE IS CRYING. they’re crying, im crying, you’re crying. he has the same energy he had when adolin was born. he wants to buy everyone in urithiru a drink, celebrate the birth of his granddaughter.

-renarin and jasnah look at her and they have the same look on their face, they realize they’re gonna have another baby that isn’t directly theirs but they’re gonna love and cherish as their own. they’re going to spoil this little girl with math magazines, science and history books and ultimately let her know that she should grow into the best version of herself as she can be

-while navani goes to get little gav and wake him up from his nap, the davars get their turn. they are so delighted that their sister brought a new life into the world, almost being able to forget the rough past they had once they look into the child’s eyes

-navani comes in with gavinor and he is overjoyed with the baby, his little cousin that he will play with and protect

-navani is very emotional and talks about how similar she looks so much like shallan. her face is pretty pale, freckled and she has stunning blue eyes, but oh the smile. no doubt is it adolin’s smile.

-they notice kaladin is at the doorframe so they ask him why doesn’t he come in the room and our favorite grump goes:

“i just wanted to check if you are alright, but since it all is, i guess this should just be family now.”

“yeah that’s why you’re staying. i’m counting on you to take your role of an uncle very seriously”. and so kaladin takes the baby and with the first time he holds this little girl, he knows he would give it all to even try and be the best uncle to her

-then wit is the last one and shallan insists that he holds her and finally after inspecting the baby for a bit, wit says “alright. am i the only one who is going to address this baby’s hair. LOOK AT IT! BLONDE RED AND BLACK!!”. it’s a much needed moment of pure laughter in the room.

-when a nursemaid comes to ask for a name, adolin and shallan share a look, before nodding. adolin turns back and says “evi. my daughter’s name is evi.”

-later that night, shallan is resting while adolin is in the nursery and plays with the baby. playing consists of adolin sitting on a sofa and rocking her in his arms while she sleeps, but to adolin it’s the most wonderful thing. dalinar knocks and they have this very soft moment where they talk about how fatherhood changed dalinar and how adolin feels the same thing happening to him, right in that moment. but the real emotional kicker comes when dalinar says “i’m glad that’s her name.” they talk of how sorry dalinar is about everything and how he hopes that adolin knows how much he wants for them to repair their relationship. maybe it’s the emotions, maybe it’s the warmth of a newborn child pressed to his chest or the lack of sleep, but adolin accepts. dalinar somehow forces him to go and get some sleep and promises he would stay with the baby

-dalinar holds the baby and coos “welcome to the world, my little evi.” the next morning, they find dalinar on the sofa, sleeping in an uncomfortable position right next to the crib

BONUS: For all my rlainarin warrior out there, renarin would totally bring rlain to meet his niece and she would be so fascinated by his carapace. like kaladin, rlain would also feel an obligation to be an uncle to this child, further cementing the fact that rlainarin are in love with each other :)

[blackjack-15]

The Weight of Living — Thoughts on: The Deadly Device (DED)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC, TOT, SAW, CAP, ASH, TMB

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. For this meta, like TMB, there will be an extra section entitled “The Theme” between The Mystery and The Suspects.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with my list of previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: DED, TMB; brief mentions of FIN, SSH, and ICE; brief mention of Iron Man (2008).

The Intro:

First off, this meta was supposed to be uploaded well over a week ago, and I apologize; life and health kind of got in the way, but it should be more constant for these last 3 metas.

I hope.

Like I mentioned with the last meta, this will be kind of a companion/two-piece meta with TMB. Where TMB focused on the effects of the dead on the living, DED instead focuses on the living’s effects on the dead — the dead in this case being Niko Jovic, of course. Let’s dive into that, shall we?

Just like how everything in TMB was dead, everything (other than Niko, rest in peace) in the lab is alive. The lab is full of people, of research — “living knowledge” in other words — of live wires and electricity, and is constantly growing and changing, just like a living organism does. With all this life present, the game is mostly concerned with how the living affect Niko.

What’s left of Niko after his death is his legacy — his work, his personality, his relationships (or lack thereof) with others, and it’s fascinating to see how our characters deal with and affect that. Grey is dedicating to curating Niko’s legacy (at Niko’s request, it should be noted), Ryan lives in awe of it, and Mason and Ellie are more pragmatic, wanting to use his legacy and work to improve their own lives. Victor, on the other hand, wants Niko’s legacy all to himself — to effectively erase it, in other words, which is another marker of him being our out-and-out villain.

Niko was divisive in life, and is even more so in death — no one can quite say exactly who he was. A jerk, a total scientist, someone who needed caring for, naïve, a useful tool — all of these were how people thought of him, and all of these were a part of who he was. In the end, it’s the efforts of the living that kill Niko — Ryan’s engineering, Ellie and Mason’s lack of concern, Grey’s reticence to get involved, and Victor’s machinations – along with his own secrecy and feeling of being apart from the world — or dead to it, more appropriately.

Stepping back from our characters and the weight of the living for a bit, let’s talk about the other thing that really makes DED stand out not only as a game but specifically as a Nancy Drew game — that is, its design in being a game that subverts the Nancy Drew formula at every turn.

There are a few obvious ones, like a phone character turning to a real-life suspect (rather than the other way around, like in TMB and ICE, or in any other game, where phone characters are Above Suspicion), the person hiring Nancy actually being the baddie, and Nancy having her safe places removed throughout the game, rather than crossing off locations where Bad Things can happen, but the more interesting ones are a little more subtle.

Our suspects provide a few more subversions — for example, our ‘meanest’ characters (Mason and Gray) are neither our explicit Good Guys or our definite Bad Guys, as often tends to be the case in Nancy Drew games. We also have suspects who hate each other openly revealed to be working together towards a common goal, which is a nice twist on the Warring Suspects trope that we see in quite a few games (ICE, FIN, SSH, etc.).

Finally, the structure of the mystery gives us our last two subversions. Instead of our normal Nancy Drew status quo where the characters are simple but their motivations end up being surprising/hidden/secret, we here have a straightforward motive — remove Niko to get his stuff — and our characters are the part that’s not straightforward, with each of them having warring traits within themselves that contribute to the fog surrounding the mystery.

Our villain also fails in this game through the cover-up, not through the crime. Normally, there’s a mistake that the culprit makes during the committing of a crime that Nancy finds evidence of later — a dropped business card, etc. — but in this case, it’s really only the cover up that implicates Victor at all, and he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for, well, himself.

These subversions wouldn’t have been possible 10 or 15 games ago, and it’s a mark of how far the games have come that a game can be dedicated to subverting the usual formula and do it with such panache — and make a great game out of it, besides.

The Title:

 As a title, The Deadly Device is pretty solid, if lacking a bit of flash. It gives us our method of murder and the academic ‘scope’ (i.e., science/engineering) that we’re playing in for this game, and tells us our crime — can’t be a deadly device without someone ending up, you know, dead — but doesn’t do a lot outside of that and hinting that the dead as a thematic element will have some role to play.

The reason the title is solid, however, rather than lacking, is that there’s not much else to call it that’s quite as well-fit to the game. It pulls (in a matter of speaking) from two Nancy Drew stories, The Crime Lab Case — which, as a title, yawn — and In and Out of Love, a story from the Nancy-at-college era that tried to be Hotter and Sexier than the previous books, but just ended up being a bit ridiculous. Neither one of those titles would have been any better — they would have been significantly worse, honestly, so The Deadly Device will stand as a good, solid effort for a great game.

The Mystery:

Disaster has struck at Technology of Tomorrow Today, a research lab in snowy Colorado: the lead scientist, a man named Niko Jovic, has been discovered dead in the Tesla Coil lab of electrocution. Months later, the case has gone cold, so owner Victor Losset decides to take matters into his own hands and hires Nancy to find his employee’s killer — not that there’s any doubt in his mind that Ryan Kilpatrick, the engineer who built the coil that killed Niko, is responsible.

When Nancy arrives on-scene and undercover, however, things aren’t quite as cut and dry as Victor would have her believe. It seems that everyone at the lab has means, motive, and opportunity — and whoever killed Niko doesn’t have any qualms about killing a nosy detective to cover up their crime…

Like with TMB, DED isn’t that interested in obscuring its bad guy to a “gotcha!” moment at the very end of the game. Instead, it’s largely concerned with putting disparate personalities under a huge amount of pressure and seeing what results. No one at the lab is super fond of anyone else who works there, nor of their superiors or employer(s), and all have the equipment and the intelligence to make use of the equipment to deadly ends.

Also like TMB, the crime has already been committed or begun, and it’s not Nancy’s job to prevent it — nothing is going to bring Niko back, after all — but to put together the post-mortem pieces and discover what really happened in the past, and the effect that the living have on the dead. It’s a thematic sort of conflict, and it really helps to elevate the game past “fun science mystery”. And speaking of thematic resonance in this game…

The Theme:

As we discussed last time, TMB was a game about fear — fear of death, of responsibility, of ignominy, of failure, etc. Being its sister game, DED is focused on the opposite of fear: acceptance. Instead of failure, responsibility, and other ever-present fears, DED is about the acceptance of the good, the bad, of yourself, and what others will do with your work and legacy once you’re gone.

In other words, DED is a game most concerned, thematically speaking, with certainty and resolve, rather than fear.

One of the biggest thematic elements in the game that proves this point is the presence of Niko’s recorded diaries. Not only does this feature some excellent voice acting by Josh Crandall, but it also gives a dead character the chance to discuss his motivations, his considerations, and — importantly — his sense of his impending death.

At no point does Niko dissolve into hysterics or even palpable fear; he simply accepts that there are consequences for both his and others’ actions, and that there are people in the world who believe the opposite of what he believes in — and are willing to kill for it.

Niko was a man who personified resolve and acceptance to a fault — had he informed others that his life was in danger, Victor would have had a much harder time killing him — but was also jealous of those who didn’t have to or have the capacity to have that kind of acceptance:

“I see why Tesla liked his pigeons. They fly only where they’re directed, and never question the effect the beating of their wings will have on the skies and the world below.”

The lack of acceptance in our villain is actually what leads to his downfall. The case has gone cold, and Victor is, legally speaking, off the hook — but he can’t accept that he’s gotten away with it, and instead decides to push it one step too far by hiring a detective. Had he not hired anyone, he would have been free and clear for the rest of his life — if the police weren’t able to find anything, the chances of them reopening the cold case are extremely slim — but instead Victor couldn’t accept it, and so hired the instrument of his own demise.

Every suspect has their own resolve in this game, and it’s that facet of their personalities that gives Nancy such a hard time at first, because none of that resolve includes answering the questions of a pesky investigator.

The Suspects:

First off is Obadiah Stane Victor Lossett, Nancy’s boss, owner of Technology of Tomorrow Today, and super evil killer of scientists who piss him off and prevent him from making oodles of money.

Like I mentioned above in “The Mystery”, the game isn’t so much concerned with obscuring Victor’s role as the bad guy. It’s a lovely moment when he shows up, changing from phone to real-life character (and suspect) — it’s in fact one of my favorite moments in the series, and I’ve spoken about it before in my list of the top 5 twists/surprising moments in the series — but it’s not a surprise that he’s involved in Niko’s death.

Victor fulfills the subversion of the formula that DED plays with a while also telling the correct story and theme for the game: he’s a man who took advantage of others for his own personal gain, and so everything he has is taken from him — including his notoriety — because of his lack of acceptance of the world.

“The world fondly remembers those who always give, and soon forgets those who only take.”

Next on the list is Ryan Kilpatrick, Victor’s favored patsy suspect and technical engineer at TTT. Energetic and quirky to (in my opinion) a fault, Ryan warned Niko several times that the Tesla coil would kill him, and then did exactly what he wanted her to do anyway.

To be fair to the girl, she was definitely in love with him, albeit a love more based on pity than on straight-out affection. “He had no one else in the world looking after him”, anyone?

Ryan only makes sense in a world where Niko was killed in the way that it appears first: by a simple malfunction in the Tesla Coil. Because Ryan built it, she would be legally responsible for his death, even though he was her boss when he told her to build it that way. It would be a simple, easy answer, and one that would have been totally thematically opposite of the story the game was telling, which makes her the perfect “preferred” suspect for Victor’s ruse.

Our two research assistants are next for consideration, so let’s start with Ellie York, our night-shift assistant who switched in order to avoid her coworker. A Good Southern Girl, Ellie is not above talking smack with a pretense of politeness and has a rather sinister motive up her sleeve.

Despite the fact that all research done at a lab is property of the lab, she (and Mason) decides that Isn’t Fair and tries to shop around their research to the highest bidder in an attempt to make enough money to pay off her debts.

The fact that she’s selling research that isn’t wholly done by her or Mason when she’s mad that her research is being (contractually and legally) used by someone else does rather put a damper on her ‘righteous anger’, doesn’t it.

As a villain, Ellie would have had to be a pair with Mason, which would have been interesting and a parallel to TMB, but just wouldn’t have told the story that DED wanted to tell. It would have been a story about backbiting and jealousy within a workplace, and thus would have lost its resonance with the historical backstory and with who Niko was as a person. As the victim makes the murder, Ellie (or Mason, or and Mason) would have been a poor choice.

Mason Quinto works the day shift and is far more neurotic than his night-shift companion, though just as guilty of attempting to sell research. He prefers his space neat and orderly, and gets quite steamed when Ellie messes it up to piss him off.

Yeah, there’s no way those two don’t end up in bed when they’re drunk. Honestly.

While the more ‘scientist’-like and nerdy of the two assistants, Mason is, in a refreshing change from normal tropes, also the more maverick of the two, running away with Niko’s work after the murder is solved and is only found at an expo by Gray a bit later, where a fight erupts until Mason comes back to work with Gray and Ellie.

He can also turn into a supervillain in a second chance, which is awesome.

Like I said above with Ellie, the only way Mason makes sense as the villain is to be a pair with Ellie, but it just isn’t the right story, thematically speaking. Mason (and Ellie) are a great example of how everyone in DED is guilty of something, whether they think they’re justified or not, and how putting these kind of people in a pressure cooker and turning it on only leads to disaster, sooner or later.

The last still-living member of our cast is Gray Cortright, security guard and ex-theoretical physicist, along with being probably Niko’s only friend — for a certain value of ‘friend’, it should be noted. Gray used to be the “smart one” until he went through what is basically a nervous breakdown due to his knowledge of theoretical physics and never quite recovered.

I’ll note that Gray would have been a more obvious choice for the early Nancy Drew games; a friendship gone wrong, a slightly “crazy” villain — the pieces are there. But because DED subverts the Classic Formula, Gray is instead probably the only person fully on Niko’s side — no tricks, no ulterior motives, no nothing. He’s exactly what he presents himself to be: gruff, grumpy, unkind, and not even close to a murderer (except, perhaps, where Mason is involved).

Let’s finish off our roll call with Niko Jovic, our murder victim and one of two foils for Nancy in this game. Niko was “100% a scientist”, interested most in the free use and free sharing of technological and scientific advancement, and less interested in developing technology to harm others.

This didn’t make him very popular with those who wanted to harm others, funnily enough.

It’s important that our victim in this case foils Nancy, because this is a game about (as we’ve discussed) acceptance and consequences. The consequence of Niko not paying attention to the fact that other people in the world are not like him was that there was an opening for a bad man to kill him. It’s not Niko’s fault that he was killed, but neither was he unaware that it was coming. He’s described as a ‘dead brilliant jerk madman’, and there’s a lot of truth in that; those who ultimately do good things and work hard are not always good or kind or nice themselves.

And yes, this is how he relates to Nancy. Nancy, like Niko, is a person who rather thinks what most of us would call “people skills” or “kindness” get in the way of the most important thing: solving puzzles and figuring things out. Both of them make the world better through their work, but honestly speaking, that’s not their ultimate aim. They’re not working directly to improve the world, they’re working for knowledge and to solve the puzzle.

In other words, they’re investigators, not philanthropists. And often (ultimately, for Niko), that’s what puts them in danger.

Over on Team Nancy, we have some familiar faces, beginning with our most unfamiliar familiar face, Nancy herself.

Hired as a professional detective undercover, Nancy Drew arrives at the lab to ferret out the murderer — and the truth behind Niko’s death — before anyone figures out that she’s not actually there on behalf of a new owner.

We learn a lot about Nancy in this game, not the least of which because she’s in what we can cheerfully call the opposite of her element (contrasting with TMB). Closely observed, surrounded by a subject that’s not quite in her normal wheelhouse, and where everyone around her is hell-bent on hiding everything they can from her — it’s a recipe for a frustrated detective, and that’s part of the reason that we see the return of not one but two (three? technically) detective (or detective-adjacent) phone friends, rather than Bess/George/Ned.

(Side Note: George, for all her specialty with science and technology, wouldn’t have been a good phone friend for this game, as she would have focused on the science, which isn’t really the point of Nancy’s investigation, and not enough on the case. Just putting that out there.)

This game features Nancy as a sort of patsy, rather than an unexpected observer or the target of revenge, and it should be no surprise that she outgrows that role fairly quickly. Her reluctance to search for evidence against someone, rather than evidence for the crime, clears the hurdle of Ryan’s Suspected Involvement pretty quickly while being the opposite of what Victor wanted out of her assistance.

On display here is Nancy’s fairness and her ability to ignore what others say about a case if it doesn’t suit her. Sure, she’s been told to watch Ryan and find her guilty, but Nancy’s pretty uninterested in that, instead centering her search around Niko rather than Ryan. Ellie makes a comment about Mason being about 60% scientist (and Niko being 100%), and it’s fair to say that Nancy’s about 60% a detective; she has other interests and motivations, but when she’s ‘at work’, she’s focused on doing her job to the greatest extent that she can — which is what makes her such a problem for Victor in the long run. And speaking of problems for Victor…

Returning from her role as the gloriously catty mean girl in ASH is Deirdre Shannon, criminology student and absolute sass master. Busted for hiring someone to write an essay for her in college, Deirdre’s clever enough to suggest making up the credit by assisting in a real-life murder investigation — albeit with a heavy dose of sarcasm for her frenemy.

Besides having the best lines in the game (her “did you forget that I don’t like you?” and voicemail message are incredible, along with her assertion that Nancy should get her head checked out due to her repeated hits on the head), Deirdre is there to help Nancy see things from a different perspective and to clue her in on information that she has no way to get — backing up alibis, old publications, and the like. She’s less concerned with the background of the case — the Hardy Boys (!!) have that covered — and is more here to figure out exactly who can be taken off of Nancy’s suspect list and why.

She also, in a rather glorious twist of fate, is the reason that Nancy is hired, having told Victor that Nancy suffers from “chronic wrongness”, among other things. I can just imagine how pissed Victor must have been in jail with her — more than with Nancy, certainly — and can easily see a future where, upon his release/escape, Victor goes after Deirdre — it was after all Deirdre, not Nancy, who cleared Ryan.

But enough about games that would have been better than MID. That’s a nigh-unquenchable topic.

Deirdre’s there as the more prominent foil to Nancy within the game — and the game isn’t shy about foiling the two women. Both are bright, both come from River Heights, both are interested in/involved with the same boy, both are involved in crimes/criminology to some extent…the list goes on.

The thing that Deirdre-as-foil shows us about Nancy is that Nancy isn’t unique in what she does. Sure, the way she got into the mystery business and her credentials are unusual, but she’s far from the only girl in her late teens that’s interested in crime and mysteries, and far from the only one who can solve these types of mysteries.

Deirdre is often referred to as “the girl who could have been Nancy Drew” had things worked out differently for her — different parents, different friends, different connections, etc. — and we see that play out here. She’s not lacking for smarts, intuitive thinking, or creative problem solving — just in opportunity.

The Hardy Boys are here for their only appearance in the Nancy Games, and boy do they do The Most.

When last we saw him, Frank Hardy was helping Nancy out with a ‘relationship talk’, but here he’s interested in two things: talking to Nancy and researching to help Nancy. He’s quite proud of Nancy and her reputation, and is more than willing to help her on the case — though his first priority is her safety, as demonstrated by the voicemail.

That really should be capitalized, huh. “The Voicemail”.

I first wanna say kudos to DED for actually making progress in Frank’s character arc and relationship with Nancy, and giving context to his sulking in the next game. So often in games like the Nancy Drew games — and indeed, in the earlier games in this series — there’s an addiction to the status quo that doesn’t really allow for anyone to learn anything permanent, much less something that changes their behavior, so I’m pretty thrilled with this development even outside of shipping.

Second, I love that this is a topic that both boys are interested in, albeit for different reasons. Too often we have either Frank or Joe being enthusiastic about the context of Nancy’s investigation, and it’s nice here to see that the boys can agree on something — even if their answers are different as to why.

Speaking of different reasons for interest, Joe Hardy is back (we haven’t seen him for quite a few games!) and is better than ever. I’ve said it before (and I’ll say it again), but really Rob Jones does a phenomenal job with Joe, especially as the games progress, and DED is a perfect example. Joe’s dialogue is pitch-perfect and his excitement about Tesla is adorable.

I’m also going to point out that Joe’s identity as a very proficient tactician is in play in this game, as he is the one to point out how very strange it is that a man of means and importance would hire Nancy — not that, as Frank points out, Nancy doesn’t have a great reputation, but just that Victor should be able to hire a world-class detective rather than a girl in her late teens to investigate this murder.

The thing that the Hardy Boys are here to represent is Nancy’s fledgling footing into the professional world. Sure, she’s been a detective for hire for a while now, and TOT sort of ushered her into that world for good, but the Boys have been doing this for much, much longer, and have the sort of resources that make a huge difference when investigating crimes like murder versus circumstances like “my daughter is unhappy go help her”.

For all of Nancy’s natural inclinations, talents, and drive that make her a good detective, the Hardy Boys (along with Deirdre) show the downside of being an autodidact: the breadth of your resources isn’t anywhere near what others’ might be. The things she needs to solve this mystery are privy to those with better resources — colleges and agencies — and she has to rely on them to get the job done.

The Favorite:

DED is a game that I didn’t expect to like, but ended up really loving, so there’s quite a few things in this section that stand out.

The first thing I want to mention is I love Ellie and Mason’s interactions. In a lot of Nancy Drew games, we get the characters interacting with Nancy, but not so much interacting with each other, so it’s always a pleasure for me when it happens.

Deirdre holds her title as one of my favorite characters in this series, so of course she’s going to get a mention here. The “TDPD” segment has me rolling on the floor, her comment about Nancy volunteering for a neurological study sounds exactly like what a lot of fans joke about, and her voice acting (major props to Meaghan Halverson) is equal parts snide and earnest, all without ever losing her edge or likability.

As anyone who’s been in the vicinity of these metas knows, I’m a huge fan of the Hardy Boys, and I love their inclusion here. The geeking out over Tesla, the brotherly camaraderie, the hints at Frank’s feelings, Joe teasing Frank about said feelings — it’s all here, and it’s all wonderful.

My favorite puzzle would probably have to be the whole fingerprint-melting-gummy-bear puzzle, just because — I mean, at the end of the day, that’s just cool. I did a forensic-science-style unit in my elementary years where we printed fingerprints and distinguished between whorls and such and this made me exactly as excited as I had been all those years ago. It’s fun, fitting with the story, and involves gummy candies — what’s not to like?

My favorite moment — and I’ve mentioned this once already in this meta, and in a different meta — is the moment that Victor shows up. Savvy players of this series would know that there’s no way HER would include a model of Victor just for a video call, so it’s not exactly a surprise, but it’s such a wonderfully scary moment without being a jump scare or a startle.

Victor’s appearance closes down Nancy’s snooping spots, removes a safe place for her, turns the last bit of the game into a sort of mix of detective and stealth game, and is a huge subversion of the usual “phone-client” formula, and I absolutely love it.

My last favorite thing about this game is when you realize that Victor hired Nancy due to her supposed incompetence, rather than her being, in Frank’s words, one of the best that there is. It chills you down to the bone and makes the whole game feel more antagonistic as a result, and is just a really nice writing moment.

The Un-Favorite:

There are, however, a few things that maybe aren’t so grand in this game, even with all its good points.

My least favorite puzzle is probably the chemical puzzle — with the beakers and the exploding water and such — just because it’s quite finicky, and it takes up time that I’d rather be doing other things with. I thought about the printing puzzle, but honestly even though it takes time within the game to do it, there’s plenty of other things to do with Nancy’s time that makes the time spent there not so big a deal.

My least favorite moment in the game is, quite frankly, the time spent talking to Ryan. I find all the characters interesting as characters, but Ryan is exactly the kind of Quirk that I don’t handle well, in real life and in video games.

Honestly, her remark of “I less-than-three them!” was enough to get me to stand up and walk away from the game for a minute the first time I played through it.

Had this game come out a few decades earlier, she would have referred to Niko as “totally tubular” and stuff like that, and it’s…it’s just a lot to handle for me personally.        

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Deadly Device?

Honestly speaking, this is a game where there’s not a lot to do. I’d probably tweak Ryan to be a little less annoying and smooth out the chemicals puzzle, but those are more personal grievances than they are actual issues with the plot and writing.

Probably the only substantial thing I’d do is tie in the robotic cat plotline a little more. As it is, it’s easy to ignore and doesn’t have a lot of plot or thematic resonance, so I’d make it a little more important and noteworthy. And less scary looking.

DED is a game that sets out to tell a good story while subverting the usual Nancy Drew formula in big and small ways, and honestly it succeeds at both of those things with flying colors. It really feels like a setting where life went on before and will go on after Nancy leaves it, which is Valuable to me all by itself, and features some of the more colorful moments in the series — all while solving an actual murder for the first time since a Florida high school in the 90s.

[worddumb]

Fundy’s character sheet for Apes Together Strong :D

Name: Fundy Minecraft 

Age: 21 

Gender: trans man 

Pronouns: he/him 

Appearance: the shortest one in the family, white, septum piercing and earrings, freckles, naturally ginger but dyes hair a brighter hue of orange, brown, almost yellow eyes, black clothes on black clothes, ripped jeans and shirts and so many belts, patches 

Where from: born in the Netherlands, his parents moved to America when he was 8, moved around for a bit before settling in Danville CA. 

Family: 

His birth family was amazing, two older siblings (not twins though), kind parents who cared about him and accepted him, and he loved them very much. In a tragic turn of events, his parents died in a car accident that wasn’t their fault when he was 12, and he and his siblings were separated by the foster system. 

Phil: picked him up when he was 13, was a great father for all of a year and then started disappearing off the radar just as Fundy was ready to stop pushing him away 

Techno: was kinda stand-offish at first, they sorta mirrored warming up to each other, they didn’t ever become super close but they liked each other well enough, all the way until Techno went and got themselves a terrifying job at Amicis, then Fundy felt betrayed and hurt and like he was going to lose his family again and in general wasn’t the happiest

Wilbur/Flower: immediately took Fundy under her wing, did his best to get close to Fundy and take care of him without overwhelming him or overstepping boundaries, encouraged his pursuit of music, helped him with school, helped him through one hell of a break up when he was 16, and was just in general a really good sibling. It was. Painful. The first half a year, Fundy didn’t want to get attached at all, so was kinda cold and kinda angry all the time, the first year he just, tried his best not to let Flow in, but she’s persistent so. Their relationship, close as it was, spoiled when Wil left to work at Amicis. 

Tommy: Phil adopted Tommy when Fundy was 16 in a transparent attempt to fix things up, and Techno of all people had to convince Fundy they shouldn’t be mean to the poor kid, that would be misdirected anger, and Flow came in later to convince-convince, and Tommy turned out to be kinda fun, if clingy, and he’s the one Fundy feels the worst about shutting out after Phil’s run moment. In a way, the reason he did was because Tommy was clearly more obsessed with Techno and Wil than keeping up a relationship with Fundy, and well. That did not feel good. 

Friends: 

Vishna: a streamer Fundy found soon after Phil’s poof moment, suported Fundy through it even though Fundy didn’t really tell him what was really going on. 

Vishna’s discord server: Fundy was offered a moderator role, which he refused, and made music for the server, and embroidered designs for them, and just in general was very invested 

Klubnik: an internet friend from Vishna’s server, an absolute party animal with a strawberry theme, they spent hours in vc talking shit and just in general, were pretty close 

Tron, Mony and Fern were all other internet friends Fundy talked to on a regular basis, although they weren’t as close as he was with Klubnik or Vishna 

Skills: 

being funny: trauma does that to people 

cooking: Phil started teaching him, then Wil and Techno switched in. Is the one who cooks most out of the family, and he won’t lie, it kinda helps with the whole ‘feeling guilty as hell for withdrawing’ thing. 

piano/keyboard: has been learning it since he was like eight, loves music and the expression of himself it brings 

embroidery: makes patches for himself 

coding: learned it initially to write a talking bot for Vishna’s server, sorta dabbled since then 

video games: a casual player, mostly does mods for the games he plays cause he gets bored of them easily 

Personality and character: 

creative extrovert 

strengths: compassionate, crafty, curious, knows how to calm down 

weaknesses: avoidant, struggles with self-worth, dependant, can be sly at times 

yearning: to be surrounded by love and affection 

goal: feels too insecure to have a goal, but it’s sorta like. Not fuck up the relationship he has with his siblings any further? 

dream: to have a close circle of friends, to be on good terms with everyone 

fears: being alone 

insecurities: that he’s weak, that he can never have a lasting relationship because it’ll just be taken from him, that he’s nowhere near good enough to deserve lasting relationships 

beliefs: his beliefs are, in a way, self-centered, like the idea that he’s worthless and powerless in the face of the world, and just in general. He has a long way to go 

what would he die for: his loved ones 

(picrew used: https://picrew.me/image_maker/100365 )

[project-paranoia]

Live Watch: Guardian  Episode One, Part One

It's Guardian!  The show that got me interested in this genre!  I love spooky things and I love mysteries and fantasy!  I simply adore it so much!  When I can't sleep I just put on a playlist of Guardian in the background.  I was aware of censorship before - every country has some version of it, but to some degree this was my first deep dive into how it might effect a piece of media.  Guardian is exceptionally acted and incredibly written, as well as suffering from obvious dubs where the dubbing voice actor sounds nothing like the previous actor and odd cuts that are disrupted.  In some ways it's the little drama that could fighting its way past their studio going bankrupt while they were filming, reshoots, and being taken down and altered several times.

In some ways Guardian's struggle fits the spirit and aesthetic of the show. Worn in like an old pair of jeans but still making an effort.  Putting emphasis where things count and hoping the kindness of the universe will make allowances for the rest.  Attention to detail where the story really matters.  It has the charm of a community production put on out of love with actors and crew who would not be anywhere else in the world for any amount of money.  That feeling of love comes through, and whether or not I'm barely literate I have so many words to share.

Part of why I love it as well is it has that feeling of 80s and 90s fantasy, like Moomin, Xena or Condor Heroes. Everything feels lived in, nothing's been spit shined except for Shen Wei's suits. It's an old city street of a show, it has history and character built in. 

*After all that I don't know that I have a tonne to say about the intro.  It's very good but it's also full of spoilers.  I think having the intro song be in English does make a difference in making it appealing to English speaking audiences as well as standing out as different and interesting, which the show is. Speaking of Spoilers!  Spoilers below!

* The obligatory beginning narration is beautifully animated, I have another post that will be done some time before the heat-death of the universe talking about the fascinating world building options.  Unlike some Make It SciFi plots, this one has legs and implications.

* Remakes rarely are able to meet the original on equal ground - and I struggle to believe the actors would Fit as well - but part of me really wants to have a chance to have the Dixingren worldbuilding really leaned into.  The writing is good enough we get implication but no real follow through.  I want fifty episodes of how Dixing functions, give me more pseudo-science behind the mutations, what are the biological differences.  I'm hungry for more!

* I love the cameos of later characters, and the way there was some effort to be discrete with spoilers.

* It's Ya Boy!  I love Shen Wei.  With that music cue and that sinister turn around they really set him up as dubious.  I wish they went with something a little different with the intro so his character wasn't spoiled.  The writing, directing, and acting was so good and spoiling who Shen Wei is kind of took the teeth out of that.

* Also cheers to the costume designer who outfitted Zhu Yilong so well and made him look jacked with the fit of those clothes.

* Also you can tell this is a real university because the staff has to sit in tiny student chairs.  I'm not joking, please be warned if you're going into academia.  Unless you have tenure life is An Adventure - and even then.

* Also shout out to Shen Wei's Prized Cabbage and the Queen of our hearts, Li Qian.  Why is this actress not in more things?  She has such an expressive and lovely face and she really goes all the way in with her acting.  I respect an artist that acts from their chest. Also that windbreaker, white skirt combo is chic and fun all at once, it draws the eye and makes her melt into the background all at once - perfect for the character.  I love her so much.

* Here's another one of Shen Wei's coats, it's a lovely color for him but it also is so thin that it looks like it crinkled up just from being worn.

* I'm being distracted by details and missing plot stuff.

* Story of my life.

* I love Li Qian hovering along behind Shen Wei like a duckling following their mother.  A) Mood and B) it quietly informs their dynamic.  Shen Wei has like one person he can trust but no one he can really confide in and it's the same for Li Qian. A ship will find a port in a storm and Shen Wei has Big Da-ge Energy. My fanfic heart hopes they found comfort in the pseudo familial relationship with each other while it lasted.

* Even in episode one we receive foreshadowing, we love and respect some excellent writing.  For those of you who missed it - Professor Ouyang is talking about Lin Jing who I love partially because he's so outrageous large but has the total opposite of intimidating energy.  

* What did they feed you Lin Jing? He is so tall and wide, but they do a lot with camera work to try to make him not quite as big.  Side note, I would really love to see the actor who plays Lin Jing (Liu Minting) both in more dramas but more specifically in a role where he was like a minister or scholar - someone intellectual.  I think the combination of being such a big gentleman and also someone who like plots or plans would be really dynamic if it was written well.  

* Also I like the exchange where without a word Professor Ouyang indicates he has one last thing to say, it's private and that he would like Shen Wei to ask Li Qian to leave. That's What You Can Do With Good Actors!

* Li Qian is just so pretty and the actress emotes so well!

* Shen Wei totally understanding what's going on with this shady research immediately and wanting to stay as far away as possible.  We see one of the first examples of him being aggressively polite to remove himself from a situation.

* "i'M jUST aN oRDINARY sCHOLAR." No one buys it Shen Wei.

* Angy Thinking Face

* One thing the show is really good at is using establishing shots really well so you always know where everything is and everything is going

* Guo Changcheng, all around good boy and angel.  We stan a nervous legend

* Zhou Yunlan Arriving.  Why is everyone on this show an Absolute Legend

* Guo Changcheng protecting himself with his certificate is too cute.  This young man is trying his best and I support him.

* Also that coat is Young, Pure, Stylish; I love it

* Zhao Yunlan, what's wrong with you? You are amazing!

* His irreverent style and disregard of usual policy makes him fit in really well with his band of misfits and special cases

* Guo Changcheng's OO face is too good, elastic face

* Da Qing my love!

* Jin Ling, I think he has an all seeing eye on his hoodie thing. Illuminati Confirmed.

* Also they filmed the shots so well, so you always know where everyone is in relation to everyone else

* Our Prized Cabbage!  I love her!

* Great handheld work: shaky and unhinged, but not migraine inducing

* Foreshadowing in the form of a shadow and reaching for the necklace

* Da Qing's cat behaviours. I really want behind the scenes of the actor discussing how cat was he going to cat

* We get our first real example of how Zhao Yunlan doesn't feel safe emoting negatively and so he uses a super sunny mask to hide his feelings, except with Da Qing who he lets his anger show with because he trusts him.

* I'm not even halfway through and I've written so much, peace and blessings to the readers of this.

* Zhao Yunlan's swagger, after his childhood having a little power must feel comforting and good

* I love how Da Qing is talking as a cat less than a meter from the medical examiner.  Does the examiner not care or does he know?  Is he deaf?

* Harassing Guo Changcheng is the new team sport

* Zhao Yunlan Realises Something Music

* Also, Lollipop Measurement

* It's nice to see Zhao Yunlan just being himself with Da Qing, he's able to really be honest and genuine with him

* Slow Look Moment

* This moment is so fascinating!  Shen Wei doesn't know what's going on yet.  He just sees an old friend who winces when he sees him and disappears.  We mostly see things from Zhao Yunlan's point of view, but from Shen Wei's perspective this is a first part of just some Odd and Confusing Happenings

* This cat though!  I love him!

* The delicate way they’re both feeling each other out.  This must be so confusing and startling for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is trying to figure out if this teacher is going to bust him or what.

* He forgot to let go, way to set off Zhao Yunlan’s suspicions

* “Mark Stewart” Is he though?  Who picked out that English name?

* Li Qian!  I love her and I love that striped blouse. Fashion.  Got to look good when you’re resisting a mental break. *Also she hears a meow and looks around at eye level, I love that for her.

* Zhao Yunlan!  You can’t take pictures of young ladies without their permission.  What is wrong with you!

* I love Da Qing’s very cat attitude of I Will Have Vengeance for These Wrongs

* Two for one! Shen Wei meets two faces from his past.

* Also, I get a little frustrated about people making a big deal about the 10,000 years versus 1,000 years age thing with Da Qing.  a) He has amnesia and b) the thousand years refers to the amount of time needed to cultivate to a certain stage in Chinese mythology - usually by absorbing energy from the sun, moon, or depending on the animal other sources.

* I feel so bad for Shen Wei, who knows what he thinks.  Were his friends brainwashed?  Did they forget?  Can they not say for some reason?  What is happening?

This review is getting a little long, so join in tomorrow for Part Two~~!

[littleeyesofpallas]

Bleach - Name Games

Continuing with the zanpakutou posts... One that seemed to get broadly misinterpreted is,

Katen Kyokotsu(花天狂骨)

...written as 花: “Flower,” 天: “Heaven,” 狂: “Madness,” and 骨: “Bone.”  Viz translated this as "Flower-Heaven Bone of Madness," and later changed it to “Flower Crazed Heaven Bone Spirit.”  But what I keep seeing overlooked is that Kyoukotsu(狂骨) is the name of a youkai; a white haired elderly man emerging from a well to act upon a grudge, cursing people who would drink from its well. (It’s also a homonym with the word for Kyoukotsu(胸骨) “Sternum” written “Breast”+”Bone” which is played on in Kyokotsu’s design for the anime as a skull-clad busty woman.)  “Bone-Spirit” actually does seem like it’s referring to the youkai, but then it scrambles up all the other adjectives and nouns. 

Kyoukotsu(狂骨)  is also a slang term in some regions for someone in a state of looking wild and and in noisy disarray --which basically refers to either a a mentally unstable person, or a raucous drunkard.  I think the logic in that might have to do with the idea of the Kyoukotsu cursing its well, and the idea that a belligerent or gibbering drunk being that way from having drank something evil... i.e. from a cursed well?  Given the nature of zanpakutou as reflections of their wielders’ inner-selves and Kyouraku’s disposition as a frivolous drinker, it may have been meant to imply a darker side to that.

I’ll be honest, I can’t tell if Katen is supposed to evoke “A Flower (from) Heaven” or “A Heaven (made/full of) Flowers.”  They more or less imply the same tone, but it’s the difference between a singular item or a whole landscape.  The only more specific phraseology I can find that would point in one direction over any other is katengecchi(花天月地) which refers to a scene of flowers blooming in moonlight, and kind of makes me lean more toward the landscape imagery of a field of flowers so beautiful that it is like heaven.  But I don’t know that those terms are even really related.

Together, at least to me, it seems to give off the impression of getting sloppy drunk in a field of flowers, which seems pretty in line with his general vibe.

But adding to these themes, his release call is notably longer than most, and appears to be specifically split up into one call for each of his two identical swords (and Ukitake’s the same, but noticeably Ukitake’s sword can’t be interpreted as two different names, like what they did with Katen and Kyoukotsu).  These and Ukitake’s, more than any other zanpakutou calls, and more like the hadou spells, lean into Kubo’s affinity for poetry --something he also indulges in in his tankobon poems.

花風紊れて, 花神啼き: “Flower-Wind* in disarray, Flower-spirit(s) call out/cry/wail”

*I think... think... maybe...  this is supposed to be an abbreviated form of Kachou-Fuugetsu(花鳥風月), written “Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon” which is a term used in classical Japanese art to refer to “the beauty of nature” as subject matter.  It doesn’t have to literally include Flowers, Birds, the Wind, or the Moon.  Basically, it just refers to a nature scene meant to display the beauty of nature (as opposed to being a slice of life or a strictly historical depiction, or other non-aesthetic-primary focus.)

Also the construction Kashin(花神) here written as “Flower kami*” doesn’t seem to refer to a specific deity, but worth noting is that it’s a homonym with Kashin(歌神): the kami* of Waka and of song --Waka being a traditional Japanese form of poetry, which are also sometimes translated as “muse” if that gives you a better sense of what they are.  Functionally they are closely related, because it’s the spirit of nature that inspire poetry/song about the beauty of said nature.  Moreover, as discussed previously, Shunsui has a distinct theme of both flowers and of music, so both feel kind of relevant here.

*I feel like this is kind of a Japanese mythos 101 thing to point out, but if you’re not aware, Shinto being an animist religion means they believe in an innate spirit in basically all things.  The word kami does not mean “god,” it refers broadly to that innate spirit that all things possess.  The most powerful kami are analogous to gods in other religions, but a kami’s only real definitive quality is that it is a spirit and that is exists...  the spirit of a flower has no power nor grand design nor will, nor any other quality that would make sense attributing to what we call a “god” in the West.  But that doesn’t make it any less a kami.

Also the naki(啼き) here is the same root as the nake(啼け) that Urahara and Benihime uses.  It can, in this context, read like “yelps” or “wails” or even “screams” but all in the tone of, “cries of distress.” (As opposed to quiet weeping; it’s “cry” as in the sound, not the tears.)

Also it’s kinds awkward but the verb midarete(紊れて) is the conjunctive form of the verb “to disturb” but I don’t know how to say that in English without throwing a lot of extra words into it, and I didn’t want to imply that there were more words and their implicit meaning involved.

And then...  

天風紊れて, 天魔嗤う: “Heaven-Wind in disarray, Tenma* laughs/sneers/ridicules”

I feel like “Heavenly Wind” here is supposed to refer to something more specific than just the two words mashed together, but I can’t really find anything that clarifies this for me...  But my first assumption is that like kamikaze(神風) “Divine Wind” it’s meant to describe a favorable wind, sent to protect or relieve someone in need; hence it being “spoiled,” “thrown about,” or “dispersed” being a bad thing, in the same tone as the Flower-Wind phrase above.  It’s the same verb, but i feel like “disarray” of something like “a wind” doesn’t visualize clearly.

And the specific term Kamikaze went from a general term to a specific title to refer to the two notable historic typhoons that coincidentally sank invading Mongolian fleets in the 13th century.  For their immense power and convenient timing they were attributed to acts of the divine defending Japan.  In turn it’s why the Japanese kamikaze pilots of WWII were so named.

*Tenma is the Japanese name of the Hindu Mara, of Buddhist mythos.  He is a kind of temptor figure presiding over both lust and desire as well as hesitation and fear such that they interfere with a buddhist's ability to meditate, focus, and adhere to their virtues.  In particular he's responsible for having tempted Siddharta Gautama Buddha with beautiful women. (in some iterations said to be the deva's own daughters.)

Yes, it’s the same Mara as the SMT franchise, but the giant penis monster Mara isn’t based on any real mythology, it’s actually a pun on the Japanese Mara(摩羅), written as “chafe/rub/polish/grind (against) thin-silk,” and used as a term meaning “obstacle to Buddhist practice” in accordance with the actual Hindu Mara’s role in mythology.  I’ll be honest though, I don’t know if the construction is supposed to reference masturbation or dry humping.  Maybe both?

So, trying to work all this into something a little more readable in English, what I think the overall vibe of this is, is...

“The-Beauty-of-Nature is being thrown into disarray, and the Flower-spirits wail;  Saving-Graces aren’t going to arrive, and ‘The Devil’ laughs(mockingly).”

The theme here is that the beauty of nature suffers, a heavenly blessing is interrupted, and a demonic figure laughs at it: There’s nothing to sing about, there’s no relief, the tempter wins.  It’s actually a little weird because thematically it feels very much the opposite of what his shikai actually does.  I feel like he wanted Shunsui using his shikai to be that moment of serious-ing up, but by the time he came back around to actually using it, he wanted to keep Shunsui’s powers more in line with his personality and save the change of mood for his big bankai reveal instead.  but we’ll get to that in a bit...

For context, Kyouraku Shunsui’s own name reading as “Capital(City) Music, Flower Water” points to his lazy personality: he’s a big city type who’s all about lounging and luxury and sweet indulgences.  So, his sword release by contrast is those declaration that playtime is over, Kyoraku is done being lazy.

Broadly speaking I never really liked Masashi Kudou’s anime-original designs for most of Bleach’s filler arcs, other than just not really aesthetically fitting with Kubo’s design sensibilities(all Kudou’s designs look like bad cosplay with big swatched of empty solid space, flat colors, no color balance, and no implicit weight or texture) they don’t really gel with most of their names and themes, but Katen Kyoukotsu in particular got kind of tragically reduced to a generic waifu design.  I honestly really hate that Kubo went and ran with that design for Shunsui’s bankai.

And speaking of bankai...

Karamatsu Shinjuu(枯松心中)

is tacked onto the end of the same name as the shikai to make the new bankai name.  Kara(枯) and matsu(松) just read as “Withered/Withering PineTree.”  Fun fact: when chapter 647 first ran in Weekly JUMP, the title was Kuromatsu(黒松) which is the specific species of “Japanese Black Pine,” Pinus thunbergii, which is the specific iconic tree used in Noh theatre.

And Shinjuu(心中) is written as “heart”/”mind” and “inside,” meaning “inner thoughts/feelings” but in the context of the bankai’s theatre theme refers to a “double suicide”/“lover’s suicide.“  It’s a theme in classical Japanese theatre and literature (but notably in Japanese puppet theatre) that when lovers, or sometimes parents and children are unable to live together due to social restrictions, they will tragically but nobly opt to die together with the expectation that they will be reunited either in the afterlife or in the next life via reincarnation.

I like the idea behind his powers and the progression of forcing people to play by the rules of children’s games, to forcing people to play by the “rules” of theatre plots.  But I was surprised his bankai didn’t come with the drawback of forcing himself to abide the same limitations: they both get sick together, they both drown together, they both hang themselves, etc...  The initial scene’s power walked right into this, but then the effect disappeared with the subsequent scenes...

All in all there’s just a lot going on in these names despite how little most of it ever really got addressed or elaborated on in the series.  Like a lot of stuff that got sort of awkwardly shoehorned into the final arc it feels like it wasn’t really played out to its fullest potential, but it’s still a super cool assortment of themes and motifs to think about.

[helenalikesbtsnow]

The Ongoing Struggles of Being A Mall Gay (Part 1/3)

Read on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN or here on tumblr below the cut

Summary: Hoseok works at Build-A-Bear and Yoongi works at the Orange Julius that gives them discounts. Warning for gratuitous overuse of American mall culture.

***

Hoseok is leading around a dog on roller skates. Not a real dog, though that would be fun. They named the dog Clifford, though he is neither big nor red. Hoseok just looked at the dog one day and decided his name was Clifford.

Clifford has pink sparkly roller skates and he’s being led along on his pink sparkly leash by Hoseok who is having way too much fun with him. He’s tried to teach Clifford to roll over, but he’s filled with polyester stuffing and therefore is unable to understand even the most basic of commands. He’s absolutely killing it in the “sit!” game, but that’s the only thing that he’s mastered. You don’t even want to see the disappointment in everyone’s faces when they tell Clifford to fetch and he just sits there, dead in the eyes.  

The mall isn’t really busy enough at this hour to rationalize Hoseok playing around with Clifford, but it’s not for any passersby’s amusement. Hoseok is having a blast all by himself thank you very much.

After a few minutes longer than anyone would have expected, he goes to sit by the stuffer. Hoseok picks up a few pieces of fluff off the floor that someone didn’t sweep up, and Taehyung’s head practically pops up out of nowhere from behind the giant contraption.

“Did you notice the new guy?” Taehyung asks.

“Um, what?” Hoseok inquires. Last he checked he was the manager and new hires go through him before anyone else. He would’ve noticed a new a guy. He would’ve hired a new guy since Seokjin doesn’t like to do it.

“No, not here,” Taehyung rolls his eyes. “I’m talking over there.” He points over to the Orange Julius, their direct neighbors. Hoseok analyzes and tries to determine which face is new. There’s Namjoon making small talk with a customer and Jimin pretending two cups are his eyeballs. The usual.

The new face is immediately recognizable because of how uncomfortable he looks. He hasn’t quite perfected how to wear the hat in a way that doesn’t make him look like a robot. He’s also got his shirt tucked in, which is technically a part of the dress code, but Namjoon has never and will never enforce it, as is evident by the fact that Jimin’s shirt is both two sizes too large and hangs down to about his upper thigh. Now obviously Namjoon, ever the rule follower, has his own shirt tucked in, but this little duckling hasn’t learned the culture yet.

“Oh, he looks like a freshly birthed child,” Hoseok notes, with a shake of his head. They’re just a little bit too far away for him to make out features on the face, but you could tell from a mile away that he’s a teenager. There’s no question he’s younger than Hoseok.

“Should we mess with him?” Taehyung asks.

“We’ll see what Jimin says,” he shrugs. He doesn’t want to mess around with a newbie without verifying it with him first, because the last time they did it, they scared the guys so much that he quit. Apparently pretending to get a needle through your finger with the assistance of lots and lots of ketchup is a no-no. Namjoon didn’t talk to them for like three weeks. It made the carpool pretty weird, that’s for sure.

“Jin, do you know anything about the fresh meat?” Hoseok calls over. He says it just a little bit too loudly, because a customer who’s looking at the Choose Me wall looks up, alarmed. Maybe referring to a person as a meat sack isn’t the best thing to say in front of a customer. The glory of being a manager though means he can’t get fired by his boss.

“This is a Build-A-Bear, not a butcher,” Seokjin doesn’t even look up from the paper he’s reading.

“I meant at the Orange Julius.”

Jin looks up and across the hallway, spotting the man that Hoseok is referring to. “Oh him. It’s his first day. Joon said he comes to us by way of Applebee’s.”

“Wow, glamorous.”

“Do you think he could hook me up with discounted appetizers?” Taehyung says.

“We should probably know his name before you start making dinner reservations.”

The confused customer walks away to be replaced by a mother and her daughter who are very clearly on a mission. Since Hoseok is an expert in the customer service game, he welcomes them with a big smile and a wave. Everyone has a rough outline of a script that they use, but this obviously varies based on who walks by their store.

It’s not a real store with four walls and an entrance, it’s actually a kiosk, or what’s called a concourse. It’s probably the biggest kiosk you’ll ever see. The little cell phone repair kiosk a few paces down is only about three feet on any one side, whereas the Build-A-Bear is large enough that it would take you about a minute to walk around the whole thing. The concourse has an employee “room” that runs right through the middle of the store. It’s not a room, it’s just got a little swinging door which separates it from the shopping area. This section only has one entrance, near where Seokjin is standing. The store is set up very much shaped like a horseshoe.

On one side are all the bear skins, which is the technical term, and even after working here for almost ten years, Hoseok still hates it. On the other side are all the clothes, and of course there’s the stuffer on the short end.

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Hoseok has always been good around kids, that’s why he’s stayed for so long. His first job was actually at the Orange Julius a few meters away, but he could never stay there for that long, god bless Joon, though. In any case, whenever a kid walks “into” their store, he lights up and knows immediately how to talk to them.

This little girl, with her little mermaid T-shirt, seems like a pretty good candidate to show their new mermaid bear to, and he is right. She barely even has to make eye contact with the unstuffed bear before she looks to her mom with determination in her eyes.

“Is this the one?” he asks. It’s unconscious of him, but Hoseok gets lower to the ground whenever he talks to kids. He likes to be at eye level with them, it’s less intimidating. Hoseok does have one of the least intimidating faces of all time, but still.

She nods and Hoseok smiles, thinking fondly of how much he’ll spoil his own kid when he has one someday far off into the future. Got to get a boyfriend first.

He always has to look up at the parent like he’s asking for permission on behalf of their kid. The little girl’s mom is smiling, so he takes that a as a yes. Since it’s part of his job description, he leads them to the sound machine.

“When you’ve picked out any sounds you want, my good friend Taehyung over there will be able to bring your new friend to life,” he says. Absently, he organizes the bins so that all their eyes are facing up. When he first started, it was kind of creepy how all the animals stare at you, but he’s gotten used to it. Now, the more they stare at him, the stronger his temptation gets.

He doesn’t have an addiction to them, per se. He just has a lot of teddy bears. That’s okay. Lots of people collect things. He doesn’t have shame in that. He has to store some of them at his parents’ house because his apartment is too small, but that doesn’t mean he has a problem. He makes eye contact with a dinosaur and the two of them war with their eyes. Hoseok’s warm brown ones, and the dinosaur’s plastic green ones. He’s probably going to buy the dinosaur soon…

A few more customers come along and Hoseok helps them before gesturing over to Taehyung, who is designated stuffer for today. Hoseok’s favorite job hands down is stuffer, but he’s a good boss who will hand over the role every now and again.

After about an hour, they die down. It’s been about fifteen or so minutes since their last guest and Seokjin is talking about the squirrel in his attic again. Always the squirrel with this one.

“What if it lays eggs in your ceiling and then you start to run an entire squirrel condominium?” Taehyung asks.

“Excuse me?” Seokjin’s voice is way too loud when he responds. “Eggs, Tae? Eggs? Did you just ask me if the squirrel lays eggs?”

Taehyung realizes his error too late. “I didn’t mean eggs.”

“What did you mean Taehyung?”

“Oh forget it,” he says, shaking his head.

Seokjin calls across the hallway. “Joonie, Tae thinks squirrels lay eggs!”

“You what, Tae?” Namjoon responds. His voice is much quieter, because their stores are not that far away and there is no reason for Seokjin to be yelling other than to make sure everyone around them, or possibly in the whole mall, hears them.

“I’m going on my fifteen,” he says with a humph.

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“Would you do me a favor and stop at the Barnes and Noble to buy yourself a book about squirrels?” Seokjin asks him. Taehyung, because he’s a good employee, waits until he’s taken his apron off to flip Seokjin off. Hoseok watches the entire scene with fascination from behind the Dress Me wall.

Hoseok gives it another ten minutes, letting Seokjin taunt him even more with how cute and domestic his life with Namjoon is. When he and Namjoon first started working together about a decade ago, he had probably the biggest crush imaginable on him. They were both oily teenagers, but he was utterly infatuated. Seokjin didn’t come along until a year later when the Build-A-Bear was put in. Before that, Hoseok kind of assumed that eventually, he and Namjoon would end up with each other. Obviously, as soon as Namjoon first uttered a word to Seokjin, they were already in love. It didn’t take too terribly long for Hoseok to realize he never could feel the same way that Seokjin did about Namjoon. The crush didn’t melt away overnight, but he got over it.

Hoseok isn’t jealous. He’s not lonely. His roommate Jimin is the closest, friendliest guy in the world. He absolutely adores the guy. However, it would be nice to be married and have someone love him the way Namjoon loves Seokjin.

“Did you read the email from corporate?” Hoseok asks him absently.

“I try not to.”

“I don’t understand how you’re paid as much as me when you don’t do anything,” Hoseok sighs. That’s not true of course, Seokjin is very good at his job and he is great at the things he does. He’s good with guests, money, numbers, business-y things. He’s just really bad with listening to what he’s told, and those corporate emails are always about him doing what he’s told.

Hoseok checks his watch and looks around the hallway. There’s no way anyone is going to be coming by any time soon. Hoseok is the kind of manager that won’t get angry with any of his employees for playing on their phones, but he doesn’t want to set a bad example by doing that himself. Taehyung has been here for nearly four years now, but Hoseok still views him as an impressionable young child, because that’s what he was when Hoseok first hired him. That was so long ago, back when they assumed Taehyung was just going to be one of their temporary hires until he graduated college, but once he graduated, he just never left them, and Hoseok is very thankful. Seokjin promoted him to assistant manager a year ago so that they could have one more set of keyholders.

He catches Jimin’s eye, who waves him over like he has something to say. Hoseok walks across the hallway to him where they don’t have any customers either. Namjoon is off somewhere, probably in the backroom.

Hoseok looks at the new guy now that he’s a little closer. He’s got black hair and the palest skin. He’s absolutely decadent, Hoseok notes. He’s gorgeous in a soft way like a tiny little marshmallow. What do they put in the water at these goddamn Orange Julius’ to make everyone so pretty? He doesn’t have a name tag yet, which is unusual considering that Namjoon is the manager and he’s Namjoon. New Guy is standing and looking uncomfortable like all new employees at any job ever look. Hoseok thinks to say hi to him, but he wants to know if Jimin is plotting something before he does so.

“Did you do that thing I asked?” Jimin says in the type of whisper that is meant to be overheard. He winks right after saying it and that’s how Hoseok knows it’s for the new guy’s sake. He’s ready and gives a small nod to indicate to Jimin that he knows what to do.

“Your instructions weren’t clear. I wasn’t sure where you wanted it.”

“In the river, dumbass!” Jimin hisses.

“That’s what I thought,” Hoseok nods. He’s trying to determine what he put in the river. Was it a body? Drugs? Something else? “I weighed it down so no one will find it.”

“Good,” Jimin nods. Hoseok spares the briefest of glances over to the new guy but he is very intentionally looking at the jewelry store a little bit down the hallway. Oh yeah, he’s listening. They have to make it more grandiose than this though.

“I don’t get why you had to kill the guy anyway,” Hoseok mutters.

“He knew too much.”

“I just wish you had consulted me first.”

“It was a spur of the moment decision. I had to do what I had to do right then and there. I would do it again, Hoseok. I would do it again.”

At that, Namjoon comes out from the backroom. “Hoseok?” he asks. It’s not uncommon for someone from Build-A-Bear to be standing against the counter like this, but Namjoon gets very territorial whenever he makes a new hire. Their last hire just left for college, and he usually hung out with his school friends rather than his adoptive family, which is how Hoseok refers to himself and his coworkers. That kid is not particularly missed so much as there is an absence of a human.

“Hey Joon, how are you?” Hoseok says, pretending to be surprised by his entrance.

“What are you two… oh come on,” the look of annoyance on his face when he puts the pieces together could be put into a museum. “Again? Seriously?”

“What are you talking about?” Jimin plays innocent.

“Why are you always doing this to me?” he aims the question at God and then turns to his new employee, “Whatever they were just talking about, disregard it. They do this to everyone I hire; they’re just trying to mess with you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hoseok says. “I’m offended you would make such an accusation.”

“Just go away,” he says, shaking his head and making a shooing motion. He’s not ready to deal with both Jimin and Hoseok. The two of them have been roommates for just long enough that they have a mind meld that Namjoon doesn’t trust. It’s best to keep them separate at all times.

“Wow. Well you just lost yourself a paying customer.”

“Not cool of you, Joon,” Jimin shakes his head.

“I sign your paychecks.”

Jimin stands up straight dramatically and salutes, “yes sir!”

Hoseok laughs and returns to his actual job. Taehyung is back from break and he’s in the middle of helping two little girls pick out their new furry friend and he smiles fondly at them. Besides performing the motions, stuffing, ringing people up, the best thing about this job is just seeing how happy you make people. It’s the only job in retail where you get to make someone’s day one hundred percent of the time. It’s absolutely impossible to go to a Build-A-Bear Workshop and not leave with a smile on your face. It’s literally page one in the employee handbook. Make people smile, make their day.

Hoseok goes to hang out in the middle of the concourse with Seokjin who he now realizes was not actually reading a paper at all, he was just holding it up to hide his phone.

“You crafty son of a bitch.” He says it as quietly as possible because there are literal children only a little bit away.

Seokjin smirks. “You’re very gullible.” Seokjin isn’t usually one to be on his phone constantly while he’s at work, but the day has been unbelievably slow so far. Hoseok looks over his shoulder to see what he’s doing. There are very few secrets in this family. Mall family, that is. Hoseok knows what type of porn Jimin watches, though that’s less to do with them all knowing each other really well and more because he and Jimin’s rooms share a wall.

Let the record show that Seokjin is taking a quiz to determine what type of rock he is. Hoseok wouldn’t need a quiz to tell you that Seokjin is a rhyolite.

Hoseok grabs his phone from his hand and gives Seokjin an annoyed glare. “Will you go clean up after those two kids? They messed through almost every bin.”

“Ugh, fine,” he’s easy to push over because they both know he hasn’t done anything today.

“Taehyung,” he says leaning over the wall to look at Taehyung who is preparing to help stuff a very beautiful unicorn and bunny.

“Hmm?”

“Would you be interested in going home an hour early? It’s so slow.”

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He nods vigorously and Hoseok rolls his eyes when he lets him go back to work. Taehyung is scheduled for another two and a half hours, but it’s a Wednesday and they haven’t even broken their midday goal yet and it’s three hours past when they were supposed to.

“I’m sending Tae home a little early,” Hoseok calls over to Seokjin.

“Fine with me,” he says. “We’re almost out of Pikachus.”

Hoseok frowns. Pikachu is one of the animals that he hates to run low on, because it’s so popular. Customers rarely yell at you at a store like this one, but when they do, it’s usually because you’re out of a Pokémon. One time a soccer mom made Taehyung cry when they didn’t have any Piplups and it’s the closest Hoseok has ever come to hitting a person. No one is allowed to be rude to his children and Taehyung is very much one of his children.

“I’ll run to the stock room to see if there’s any more,” he sighs. He walks out of the store and across the hallway, enjoying the sound his keys make when they jingle in his hands. Since they’re in a concourse, their stockroom is out the service door in the somewhat creepy mall employee hallway. It’s supposed to only be for people who work at the mall, but the door is always unlocked and lately, customers have started to learn that. It’s not haunted, but it’s also not not haunted.

Unfortunately, they do not have any more Pikachus and it’s not the kind of thing they can just order more of. Either they get more Pikachus in their next truck or they don’t. It’s not up to them what comes and what doesn’t. He notes that there is a substantial amount of fluff that was left on the ground, Taehyung the obvious culprit. Hoseok loves him, dearly and truly, but Taehyung hates sweeping with a passion.

He returns to the mall to see their store has once again cleared out, but a familiar darkly dressed figure is now approaching. “Well if it isn’t the traitor himself,” he says. As per usual, Jungkook is dressed in all black. He’s wearing his signature stomping shoes today. He’s light on his feet, which is good, because if he wasn’t, those boots would intimidate Hoseok into hibernation.

“I’m not a traitor, I’m a capitalist.”

“Sounds like something a traitor would say,” Hoseok says.

Jungkook throws up his arms in a shrug before he takes a seat at the table just outside the technical boundary of their concourse.

“When are you going to come back to me?” Hoseok asks. Hoseok is just tall enough to lean over to look inside the concourse where he reaches for something.

“As soon as you’re able to give me a 40% discount to Hot Topic,” Jungkook responds, pulling out his phone, because there is no other purpose to having a break then to check all the text messages that you haven’t received in the last three hours because all of your friends work at the same mall and have the same hours as you do.

“I still have your apron for whenever you come back,” Hoseok declares once he finds it. They put the apron on a How to Train Your Dragon Toothless that Jungkook himself stuffed, who, being a dark black dragon, is an adequate replacement for their lost comrade. Toothless goes by several different names now that Jungkook works at Hot Topic. Jungkook 2, Emo Boy, Judas.

Hoseok gives him his world renown, absolutely heartbreaking pout while holding up Jungkook 2. He gets all up in Jungkook’s personal space and tries to win his heart through his beautiful, devastating face.

“Not gonna work, Seok.”

“I’ll win you yet! Just you wait, Jeon Jungkook!”

Jungkook receives a message in the Group Chat, which he opens to see that it’s a picture of himself taken maybe thirty seconds ago, from Seokjin. The caption just says, “Bitch: sighted.”

Across the hall, Jimin, who is most certainly not allowed to have his phone on him laughs. He looks over and gives Jungkook a bright wave. It’s very difficult for Jimin to pretend to be angry when his personality is like a Peaches and Cream smoothie, which is coincidentally his favorite Orange Julius beverage.

“You’re all so very petty,” Jungkook sighs, holding up the message for Hoseok to see, though it’s all in good fun. He’s as much a part of their family as anyone else, even if he did abandon them viciously for Hot Topic.

“Put your phone away Mr. Kim,” Hoseok calls over.

“I don’t have my phone,” Taehyung says.

“No, the other one.”

“Hoseok, we’re co-managers. You don’t get to tell me what to do.” Seokjin is just in one of those funks. It happens on slow days like these. It’s not just because the store isn’t making as much money as their target, it’s also just very deflating to not be doing anything.

“We just miss you Jungkook,” Hoseok sighs. It’s been nearly a month since he left, but it doesn’t feel like he’s gone anywhere. His store is just down the hall. Far enough that they can’t shout to him, but close enough that if anyone gets pissed off with anyone else, they can go vent about it to Jungkook on their break. This is infrequent but Jimin occasionally has a short temper when it comes to Taehyung. Probably because they’ve been secretly fucking each other for like a year now, though Hoseok isn’t supposed to know that.

“It offends me deeply that you care more about discounted jewelry than you do about me,” Hoseok says. To be fair, Jungkook has been threatening to get a sleeve tattoo for some time now and that’s not technically allowed under store policy.

“Kids just have… too much snot,” Jungkook shakes his head. “They’re so full of snot. Just right out their nose onto their bears and then it gets on me, and I just… goths don’t have as much snot, Hoseok.”

Hoseok shakes his head. That’s the Jungkook he knows and loves.

“New guy!” Taehyung calls over, as the new guy clocks out for the day. The guy doesn’t even realize that Taehyung is talking to him because he looks like he’s about to walk in the opposite direction. “New Orange Julius guy!” Taehyung yells louder this time, and that gets his attention. It’s less vague, there’s only one person who could be given that superlative. He turns around, looking for the source of the voice, and sees Taehyung waving him over. He points to himself as if he’s asking whether Taehyung is talking to him, but who else could he be talking to. “Yes you.”

“Don’t scare him,” Hoseok says.

“Didn’t you and Jimin try to convince him you killed someone?” Taehyung asks.

“Ah, Namjoon ruined it.”

The new guy looks very awkward as he approaches, but Hoseok tries to be as welcoming as he can be, which is something he’s gotten to be very good at given the nature of his job.

“Hey there,” Hoseok says, waving at him. “How was your first day?”

“Um, good,” he says and Hoseok is a little caught off guard by his voice. It’s not that his voice is deep, but it’s deeper than you would expect when you look at his face. His voice sounds uncomfortable. Hoseok doesn’t want to scare the guy too much, even if it is kind of fun.

“I’m sorry me and Jimin messed with you earlier,” Hoseok says. “It’s something we’ve been doing for years. I didn’t actually hide a body.”

“Yeah, uh, I figured that out,” he says. Oh boy, he’s the cute kind of awkward that makes Hoseok’s heart stutter.

“We didn’t introduce ourselves!” Hoseok realizes. “I’m Hoseok, this here is Taehyung, and that guy over there is banging your boss.”

“We’re married! Stop telling people we’re banging. You came to the wedding,” Seokjin rolls his eyes, but then waves at the new guy. “I’m Seokjin.”

“He’s banging your boss,” Hoseok whispers.

“At least I can get some,” Seokjin says. Taehyung makes an “oooh” sound, because Hoseok walked right into that one.

“What’s your name?” Hoseok asks him, choosing to ignore both of the people around him.

“I’m Yoongi,” he replies. Hoseok smiles, deciding he likes that name. It’s sweet, just like Yoongi’s face.

“Nice to meet you Yoongi. In case Jimin didn’t give you the low down yet, we at Build-A-Bear and at Orange Julius are a family. You’re part of the family now. If you didn’t read the fine print when you got hired, you won’t have been made aware that you are now loved and respected. That’s just something you’re going to have to accept.”

“Jin is our mom,” Taehyung adds.

“I’m not your mom.”

“Namjoon is our dad.”

“That part is true,” Seokjin says.

“…Okay?”

Hoseok almost puts an arm on his shoulder, because that’s what he would do if Yoongi was anyone else, but he literally just met this guy and a few hours ago he had pretended he killed someone in front of him. Give it a little time before you get too familiar with him.

“I just mean that we look out for each other, that’s all. If you ever need anything at all, one of us will be able to help you out. We’re not just coworkers, we’re best friends.”

“Jeez, Seok, you make it sound like a cult,” Seokjin says.

“Why do you have to go around and ruin a bonding moment like that, man?” Hoseok says. “Well anyway, I’ll let you get on your way, nothing like going home after work.”

“Especially when you have someone at home who loves you,” Seokjin says. He’s laying it on pretty heavy today, but in all fairness, Hoseok has been single for a really, really long time.

“We’ve got to add you to the group chat!” Taehyung says, and Hoseok can’t believe he almost forgot.

“Of course! How could I forget? Is that cool with you, Yoongi?”

Yoongi takes a second but then nods. Hoseok is trying not to throw his personality at him so fast, but it’s hard when his personality is big. He takes up a lot of space just being himself. Yoongi seems like the kind of guy who would apologize for using too much space on a couch.

“Great,” he says and then hands his phone over to Yoongi. “Put your number in there and then I’ll make sure everyone sends you their name so that you can add them to your contacts. There’s only six of us, but if we ever get to be too annoying, just mute it and text us individually. The only person who will probably annoy you, though, is me. I post pictures of every dog I see on the street.”

“I enjoy them,” Taehyung nods. Taehyung often names the dogs that Hoseok takes pictures of. Jimin rates them. No dog has ever ranked lower than a ten out of ten, and for the longest time, Hoseok assumed Jimin was just an avid fan of the WeRateDogs twitter, but as it turns out, he had never heard of it. He just really loves dogs.

Yoongi tries to hide it, but Hoseok sees him smile just a little bit, and he’s proud of himself. Maybe Daily Dog Digest – which is what he calls his dog spotting – will bring that smile onto Yoongi’s face more frequently.

Hoseok decides very quickly that Yoongi is beautiful, which is going to get annoying considering he’s older than the guy and he doesn’t want to be creepy about it. Yoongi is probably over 18, but by how much is uncertain. He doesn’t ask him his age because that’s weird, but as Yoongi turns to leave, that small smile lingers in his brain. He is a heartbreaker, that one.

They watch Yoongi leave; Seokjin doesn’t look up because he doesn’t care, and he’s married so he wouldn’t look at him anyway.

“He’s gorgeous,” Taehyung says, stating exactly what Hoseok is thinking.

“I know, right?” he shakes his head. “He’s almost prettier than you Tae.”

“No such thing,” he shakes his head. “I’m definitely the prettiest, no one can even compare.”

As a manager, Hoseok works nearly every day of the week. If it were any other job, he’d despise that fact, but he gets to come into work every day, hang out with all of his best friends, interact with kids, make peoples days… really it’s hard to complain, because he’s been making a lot of money. To put into perspective how many hours he puts in, Hoseok has already managed to pay off his student loans and his car payments, and he’s barely in the latter half of his twenties. That just seems… unheard of.

He still lives with a roommate and the reason is twofold. He’s never lived on his own before because he’s afraid to and what better way to avoid being out on his own than to live with his very best friend in the entire world? He really loves and adores Jimin with all of his heart. They get along as well as two people can possibly get along. The second reason is because he wants to have a life someday. Maybe travel, maybe buy a house, maybe buy a drumkit. To whatever end, he wants to save his money in order to have those things, and having a roommate means that he can continue to save up.

He technically makes enough to live on his own, because they very much do not live in a big city, so rent prices are not terrible. Taehyung and Jungkook are constantly in his apartment when they’re not at work because Hoseok is a good cook and neither of them know how to use a toaster.

He tries not to sound too interested, but in the evenings when he and Jimin share dinner, he tries to see if there’s anything to learn about the new guy. Jimin knows as little about him as Hoseok does. His name is Yoongi, he has black hair, brown eyes, squishy cheeks. Jimin describes him as being very quiet, very soft spoken. Sexually ambiguous but probably straight. The guy is younger than Hoseok, far too young for him, so he really wishes he didn’t care to the extent that he does.

New Guy hasn’t contributed anything to the group chat yet, but he hasn’t removed himself from it altogether, which seems to be a good sign. The only thing he’s texted was the initial “hi, this is Yoongi” that he sent on day one. Whether he likes or dislikes Daily Dog Digest is yet to be determined.  

Hoseok works a few more shifts before he finally sees Yoongi again. Hoseok has an opening shift, so he’s too busy uncovering the concourse to see Yoongi actually come in for the day. He only notices him once he hears a blender start running. Hoseok turns to look over at them. Unsurprisingly, they don’t actually have a customer yet, it’s just that Jimin always starts his day out with a smoothie whenever he works a morning shift. Morning is a bit of a misnomer though since they open at 11:00.

Hoseok smiles. He gives a nod to one of his high school employees to continue setting the store up as he walks over to greet Yoongi.

“Good morning guys,” he says, smiling brightly. Yoongi looks up at him like a scared mouse but gives a small smile anyway. Hoseok forgot how pretty he is in the days since he last saw him. No one should have the right to be that cute.

“Morning!” Jimin shouts. He pours his peach smoothie into a cup and smiles at Hoseok like they didn’t just see each other an hour ago. Jimin has a short shift and then has to go to his real job, otherwise they would have carpooled.

“How are you, Yoongi?” he asks. He looks confused by Hoseok addressing him directly.

“Um, good,” Yoongi says. He’s the type to bite his lip. It’s quite sweet, actually.

“Great! It’s been a while since I last saw you. You like it here? Is Namjoon treating you right?”

Namjoon peers over at him from the register. Namjoon has never spoken a bad word about anyone ever in his entire life. He has had asshole customers yell at him and still remained as composed and perfect as he always is. Hoseok had an all-consuming, bone breaking crush on Namjoon for at least a year after meeting him, so his opinion is rose-colored. In any case, there’s no way in hell that Yoongi could possibly have any qualms with him.

“He’s very nice,” Yoongi says. His responses are short, not because he’s rude, but because he doesn’t say more than he needs to, which is basically what Jimin had described.

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“If you ever have any problems with him just take it up with me and I’ll kick him in the ass for you. He owes me more than a few favors.”

Namjoon just rolls his eyes. Jimin is giggling, standing between the scene. He’s just sipping his smoothie like a child watching his parents fighting.

“Okay,” Yoongi says, he doesn’t even attempt to make eye contact with Hoseok, and it is very intentional.

“My name is Hoseok, in case you forgot,” he says.

“I remember, Hoseok,” Yoongi says, and his ears turn red but it’s so subtle that Hoseok doesn’t actually notice it.

Hoseok doesn’t meant to lick his lips. Yoongi is still not attempting to look at anything other than the counter so Hoseok doesn’t try to capture his eyes any longer. He just looks at him for longer than he probably should. He wonders why Yoongi doesn’t look back. He’s a soft-spoken kind of a guy, it’s possible that he’s just shy. Hoseok barely knows him at all, but he seems the type who takes a while to unfreeze around new people.

“Hoseok, your job?” Namjoon reminds him and he suddenly remembers that he is on the clock right now.

“Right! Well, do me a favor Yoongi and stop by the workshop when your shift ends, okay?” He smiles and Yoongi looks up at him and the eye contact that they have lasts for only about a second but it’s very heavy. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else, but he revaluates and decides not to.

Hoseok turns on his heels and sees his high schooler folding up the tarps they use to cover the store. The two of them finish the task with Hoseok only turning to look at Yoongi a few times.

For whatever unholy reason, they’re frighteningly busy this Thursday. There’s no reason for it, the density in traffic for a retail store is one of life’s greatest mysteries. It could be that passersby see Hoseok’s wonderful face and decide to approach in order to get a better look. He is annoyed with how understaffed he is today, Seokjin makes the schedules usually, but there’s really no reason for why he would staff three people in the morning for a Thursday in the middle of summer, so it’s not his fault.

He doesn’t get another employee in until 1:00, and by then, the line for the stuffer is already six different groups, most of whom have more than one furry friend each. He was supposed to take his lunch once Taehyung clocked in, but there’s no way he’ll be able to sneak away until they’ve gotten through the line. He just sighs and powers through it.

About an hour later, Hoseok is finally able to take his break. He goes into the middle of the concourse and then lies on the floor and makes a groaning sound. He stays there for about five minutes, trying to cool down. When he decides he’s gotten his bearings, he stands back up, pulls off his apron and waves bye to Taehyung and the high schooler. He gets a whole twenty-five minutes of peace away from the store. Knowing his luck, there won’t be a single customer while he’s gone, but after that, the entire population of Bolivia will want to make a bear. He can’t wait until Seokjin gets into work later because his feet could honestly fall off at any minute.

He glances over at Orange Julius to see that they’re extremely busy too. Had he not noticed before how much shorter than Namjoon Yoongi is? He’s so little. Jimin must have already left, but Yoongi honestly can’t be much bigger than him, if he is at all. It’s adorable. What a cutie. Then he makes his way to Hot Topic to bother Jungkook.

Jungkook is the store greeter today, so he sees him right as he approaches. He waves at him, and Jungkook stares back with blank eyes. The store is as dark and cramped as every other Hot Topic in the world, and apparently, it’s a truck day so there are more staff than usual who are all pushing stock. Yet, for some unsaintly reason, they’re not busy at all, except for the two alternative girls who Hoseok just stuffed an Eevee and a Pikachu for ten minutes ago.  

“You can only bother him if you buy something,” Jungkook’s manager says, and he gives her a thumbs up. He can always do with more jewelry. Jungkook’s nails are painted today, and based on how shoddy the work is, he did it himself. He looks like a full course meal, but he’s Jungkook so that’s to be expected.

Jungkook looks confused at Hoseok’s disheveled appearance, because isn’t it a Thursday? Why does he look like he’s just fought a war on a goddamn Thursday?  “How bad is it over there?”

“It was a nightmare. I don’t know why. People getting back their tax refunds maybe? I thought I was going to die.”

“Sorry, dude. Tae working?” he asks, and Hoseok is slightly offended, because Jungkook doesn’t need to be asking about Taehyung when it’s Hoseok standing in front of him. He’s the one visiting Jungkook, not Taehyung.

“I fired him.”

“That’s a shame,” Jungkook sighs. “Now I can never return.”

“I’ll only rehire him if you come back too,” he says with an award-winning smile.

“Guess Tae will just have to find another job… Orange Julius will be hiring soon if you guys scare the shit out of the new guy like you did that one time.”

“Ah, he seems alright,” Hoseok says. “He hasn’t talked to us in the Group Chat yet, which I’m trying not to be offended by. He’s just a baby.” Jungkook is also a baby, to Hoseok at least. He met the kid when he was literally a sophomore in high school. He met Jungkook before he even met Jimin. Jungkook used to be shorter than him. Now, even without his stomping boots, he’s taller. Hoseok is starting to feel his years slip past too quickly. How can Jungkook have gotten so big?

“He’s quiet,” Jungkook nods. “But so was I when we first met; we just gotta soften him up a little bit. Maybe go out for drinks sometime.” Hoseok is still unable to comprehend that Jungkook is old enough to drink alcohol. That doesn’t even seem real. Jungkook will always be one of his teenage hires, he’s just one of the ones that never left him. Until a month ago. Ugh, traitor.

“I’m going to have him make his initiation bear later,” Hoseok says, getting excited thinking about it. He loves making new friends, it’s one of his favorite things in the world to do, and it’s so easy to talk to people at his job. Kids are easy, they’ll love anyone who makes a teddy bear for them. Adults are a lot of fun, because they think the heart ceremony is ridiculous, but you can almost always convince them to do it anyway. Yoongi should be a treat later. Hopefully he’ll manage to pull a little bit more of his personality out of that way too pretty shell.

“Do you think he’ll stick?” Jungkook asks. They’ve had a lot of difficulty keeping anyone in their family as of late. Taehyung was actually the last recruit and that was something like four years ago.

“I hope so,” Hoseok shrugs.

“You like him?” Jungkook says, looking maybe a little bit too deeply into him. Jungkook is a bit of a mind reader, and it has always been a bit frightening to Hoseok.

“I just think he’s a nice view from the store, that’s all.”

“Jimin is across the hall from you,” Jungkook says. He’d mention Namjoon too if he wasn’t married, because Namjoon is definitely something to look at.

“You’re horny for everyone, Jungkook,” Hoseok shakes his head. Jungkook is an enigma, hard to tell who he’s attracted to and who he isn’t. All that’s certain is that he is easily impressed.

Jungkook’s boss gives Hoseok a glare. They’re not enemies, but she did steal Jungkook from him, so they’re certainly not friends. He wonders what would happen if he ran away without buying something after he promised he would. She knows where he works, so he’d get found out. If there’s any one in a mall that knows how to contact a bounty hunter, it’s a Hot Topic employee. And maybe those bitches down at Bath & Body Works; he’s never trusted them. They have blue aprons just like Hoseok’s, and that seems far too coincidental to be a coincidence.

“Pick out something gay for me, won’t you, Jungkook?”

Jungkook nods, and immediately goes to the jewelry section. It takes him no more than a few seconds to throw a rainbow beaded bracelet at him. It’s overpriced because they work in a mall and also capitalism, but Hoseok goes to the checkout anyway. Jungkook’s boss doesn’t give him a discount. Most stores in this mall will give mall employees a 10%, but not Hot Topic. That’s why it was so easy for her to steal Jungkook from him. Jungkook always found a way to make a blue apron look slightly goth, and that has always been impressive.

Before he left, Jungkook had been threatening to get tattoos on his hands so that he couldn’t work at Build-A-Bear anymore. Hoseok rolled his eyes because he would’ve let Jungkook work there anyway, even if it is against company policy. He let Taehyung dye his hair blue that one time, he just didn’t schedule Taehyung whenever their district manager dropped by. Jungkook could do almost anything to his appearance and Hoseok would still hire him back.

“Gay enough?” he asks.

“Nothing will ever be gay enough for me, Jungkookie,” he smiles sweetly.

***

“Hi Yoongi!” Hoseok waves him over excitedly when he sees Yoongi walking out from behind his prison-like counter. He’s got a backpack over one shoulder, which makes Hoseok feel slightly awful. For him to be using a backpack means he is definitely too young for Hoseok to have attraction towards.

“Hi, Hoseok,” he says, and for some reason, when Yoongi stops in front of him, he seems warmer than usual. Maybe Hoseok’s sunshine is starting to rub off on him, or maybe Namjoon is breaking him down just a little bit. In a good way. You need to be a little bit weathered in order to fit in around here.

“Are you tired? It’s been a train wreck around here!”

“Yeah,” he nods. Seokjin is talking with a few customers, a family by the looks of it, at the front of the workshop, but he’ll be coming around soon to the stuffer, so Hoseok just steals Yoongi away to hang out by the register.

“I know how tough it is to start a new job when everyone is already friends with each other,” Hoseok says. “It’s awful. It’s so hard to break through. We’re all really close, and that’s why I don’t want you to feel left out. But if my personality is ever too much, just tell me. I know I’m a bit much.”

Yoongi blushes, but again, Hoseok doesn’t notice it. “It’s fine, I appreciate it. I’m just…”

“New jobs are hard,” Hoseok says when Yoongi drifts off. “But if you ever need any help, literally come to anyone. I happen to know quite a bit about Orange Julius myself.” He did work there for like two years, but that was so long ago. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t unofficially looked after the place a few times.

Taehyung pops up from behind the concourse. He went on his break a little while ago, and Hoseok just assumed he went somewhere, but apparently, he was just sitting on the floor out of view.

“Yoongi!” He says, excitedly. “How are you?” Taehyung has the personality of a puppy. In every way, he was supposed to be a dog, but someone flipped the wrong switch and he ended up as a person. He’s a very special person who Hoseok would do anything for.

“Good,” he says, and apparently the increased quantity of people shrinks him up a little bit. His shoulders get a little less slack once there are two people looking at him instead of just one.

“You like your new job? Is Jimin alright?”

Read on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

“Jimin is very nice, yes,” Yoongi says.

“Cool! Do you want to come get dinner with us some time? And by dinner, I mean the Panda Express at the food court. I’m a bit of an addict.”

“Um, sure,” Yoongi says nodding, and a soft smile appears on his sweet little face.

“Wonderful. I can’t promise when… we all tend to work the same hours, hard to get a break at the same time, but Hoseok will figure it out, won’t you, Hoseokie?”

“That’s a Jin question. I abhor scheduling.” Taehyung looks over at Seokjin who has migrated to the stuffer and is about to stuff the family’s chosen friends. It’s always alarming to Hoseok how kind and charming Seokjin is when he’s with guests as opposed to the snarky guy he knows. By all accounts, Seokjin is the nicest, kindest, and most wonderful person on the planet, but he’ll call you a motherfucker if you blink too hard in his direction.

Taehyung sighs. “Do you have anywhere to be? You should hang out for a little while, if you can.”

Yoongi shakes his head. “I’m off for the rest of the day.”

“Great,” Hoseok interjects. “There’s something you’ve still got to do.”

“What is that?” he looks wary.

“You, Yoongi, get to make an initiation bear,” Hoseok says, brightly. “I’m buying. As long as you name him Hoseok. If his name isn’t Hoseok I won’t let you make one.”

Taehyung smiles, “I have three Hoseoks at home.”

“You only have to name the first one Hoseok, I really don’t know why you kept doing that.”

“It’s fun,” Taehyung shrugs and takes a sip of his Orange Julius sponsored water. Taehyung is a serial forgetter of water bottles so at this point they usually put his water on the counter as soon as they see him clock in. Jungkook has recently become very save the planet-y so he’s been reprimanding Taehyung for how much he uses non-reusable cups.

Yoongi takes a second to find his voice and then stutters out, “You don’t have to do that for me-”

“Nonsense!” Hoseok says. “Everyone gets a bear, that’s just how it works. Or not a bear. You don’t have to pick a bear, we’ve got dogs, unicorns, bunnies. Pick whatever you want, but their name has to be Hoseok.”

“I have a very beautiful dinosaur at home named Hoseok,” Taehyung adds. “And a dog. And a monster.”

“I don’t appreciate the dog being named after me. I’ve never licked a toilet bowl in my life.”

“You’re actually serious?” Yoongi says, interrupting the back and forth that he and Taehyung could probably have for hours. Taehyung brings out sides of people that they never knew they had, it’s just the kind of person he is. He’ll get you thinking about the meaning of life, but he’ll do it in a stupid way by asking you what the shelf life is of your average wool sock. Wool socks last longer than cotton socks, but that leads into a whole philosophy majors worth of follow up questions. Taehyung doesn’t even pose difficult questions, that’s just what being around him is like. His brain is a lot wider from knowing Taehyung.

“Absolutely!” Hoseok says. “Have you ever built a bear before?” Yoongi shakes his head shyly and Hoseok gets the brightest smile on his face. “Perfect! My favorite type of guest! So, the first thing you need to do is pick out a friend. But you have to smile while you’re doing it, or else Taehyung doesn’t get to eat dinner.”

“I need dinner, Yoongi. Please smile.”

Yoongi smiles. He would have suppressed it if not for the fact that Hoseok has the prettiest smile he’s ever seen. That face could cheer anyone up. Seeing Yoongi’s tiny smile makes Hoseok glow. What a cute little thing, holy shit.

“You should get a horse,” Seokjin says, peaking over. “Hoseok hates it when we call him a horse.”

Hoseok gives him a death glare, and Yoongi just looks at the bins below him trying to determine the best Hoseok there is. There are many great options. There’s many rainbow or pastel colored bears which give off some serious Hoseok energy. There’s also a pink bunny which is one of Hoseok’s favorites that he recommends to half of their guests. Also, there’s a shark.

Yoongi looks carefully, analyzing everything in front of him. He’s never done anything like this before but the idea of it is fun. He wishes he could go back into his past and come here as a kid. He would’ve tripped over his own feet to have made his own bear.

Hoseok watches Yoongi look at his options with total fascination. He’s literally gorgeous. The profile of his face could make anyone swoon. He tells himself to force those thoughts away because Yoongi is too young for him. Not so young that Hoseok is a creep, but too young that he can’t think about dating him. He’s also probably straight because contrary to Hoseok’s friend circle, most people are straight.

Yoongi ends up picking one of the more classic bears. It’s a basic brown bear, some of the softest fur out of all the ones on offer, but it’s also on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

“You don’t have to pick one of the cheaper ones just because I’m buying,” he says. He’s a very honest person, Hoseok could easily just give a bear away for free, but crazily enough, he actually respects the company that he works for. Obviously, he’ll be using his employee discount on it, but he’ll still pay from his own wallet.

“I like this one,” Yoongi says firmly. “The fur kind of matches your hair color.” He blushes right after saying it, but Hoseok doesn’t notice because he takes a strand of his hair in his fingers and tries to look at it to determine if Yoongi is right.

When he determines that his hair does indeed match, he smiles and looks at him. “You can go absolutely wild with the other stuff. Get the most expensive sound, fill it with scents, buy a tiara. Literally, go crazy.”

Yoongi smiles. The thought of Hoseok in a tiara makes him feel a way he doesn’t think he should be feeling. He looks at the unstuffed bear in his hands and tries to determine whether a tiara would suit him.

“Do you want to put any sounds in it?” Hoseok asks, gesturing to the sound station. “You can get the Star Wars theme in there. I think that’s a pretty baller choice since his name is Hoseok. I like Star Wars a lot, so I’m sure little Hoseok will like it too.”

“Is that what you want?” Yoongi asks, looking genuinely interested in Hoseok’s opinion.

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what you want. I’m just your tour guide here, all I’ll do is make suggestions,” he says. He tilts his head, undeniably intrigued by Yoongi. He wonders what his personality is like when he’s not nervous and dazed. It’s hard to get a read on him. Hoseok considers himself to be extremely empathetic, so sometimes he’ll detect things about a person without them showing it. It makes his job a little easier. It’s impossible to tell with Yoongi, though, because he’s dressed in a uniform rather than anything that could give him a sign. He also avoids making eye contact, which is precious, but it does little for Hoseok to learn anything about him.

“Okay, Star Wars then,” Yoongi says. Hoseok helps him look through the few different options, and they settle on the Imperial March, which makes Yoongi’s face get all squishy with a little smile. Hoseok adores it. He wants to pat Yoongi on the head and read him a bedtime story.

“I love when people get Star Wars,” he says fondly. “Nothing against Frozen, but Star Wars is classic.”

Yoongi nods and allows Hoseok to lead him to the stuffer. “Okay, Yoongi, this is the best part. This is where we give your bear life.” Yoongi can’t stop himself from blushing, because both Taehyung and Seokjin are watching him now with interest.

Yoongi feels a little bit like a zoo animal. Everyone is trying to learn things about him, but he’s the kind of person who is very contained when he meets new people. It’s weird walking into a circle of people who already know each other so well. It’s very intimidating, like Hoseok had said.

Then again, they’re all very open and kind to him, Hoseok especially. Yoongi is not an idiot, he knows that everyone around him is insanely attractive. Namjoon is too pretty, but he’s married so Yoongi doesn’t salivate at the mouth whenever he’s near. Jimin is an easy pretty, and from some source he was told that Jimin is decently famous on Instagram for posting dance videos. And of course, there’s Hoseok who has the brightest energy about him. Yoongi doesn’t believe in auras but if he did, Hoseok’s would be bright pink. Yoongi is going to inevitably fall for one of them, and the way that Hoseok looks at him makes him believe he’s already figured out who.

Hoseok places him in front of the stuffer and he’s presented with a pedal. It feels very foreign to him, looking at the limp teddy bear which Hoseok is about to stuff? Apparently? With a giant machine? That spins around and looks a bit like cotton candy? The concept is foreign, because there wasn’t a Build-A-Bear where he grew up. All he knows about the place is what he watches from behind his counter a few yards away.

The sound that the machine makes startles him, even though he’s heard it a dozen times just today. It’s a lot louder when you’re right next to it. Hoseok looks like an expert, not that he’s been spying on him the entire time while he’s at work, but it is hard not to let your eyes wander over to the giant blue store in the middle of the hallway. It’s even harder to avoid looking at the pretty guy who has a way with kids and has a face like a sunrise.

His eyes just gravitate towards Hoseok when he talks to customers, laughs with them, talks to them like he’s known them all his life. He seems like he’d be easy to talk to, because no one else has any trouble with it, but Yoongi is a hopeless gay who gets tongue tied around pretty boys.

“Alright,” Hoseok says, turning off the machine. Yoongi takes his foot off the pedal, though the machine has stopped so it’s not like it does a whole lot. “I’ll have you give little Hoseok a hug test to make sure he feels right.” Taehyung comes out of nowhere to hug Hoseok from behind his chair and he just sighs. “I was referring to the other Hoseok, but I appreciate it, Tae.”

“You feel just right,” Taehyung says. Hoseok pats his hand as he tries to shrug him off.

“Feel good?” Hoseok asks, looking to Yoongi though Taehyung has not let go of him. Yoongi nods. This is such a weird group of people, but he kind of likes them already. Especially Hoseok.

“Okay, now comes the actual best part,” Hoseok says, and he pulls a small fabric heart out of a bin right beside his machine. Taehyung lets go of him at this point, only to stand a few feet away to watch. Hoseok always does the best heart ceremonies, which doesn’t seem fair, because half of the time Taehyung just copies everything he does, but Hoseok makes it look so easy and natural. He really was made for this job.

Hoseok places the heart into Yoongi’s hand, and their fingers touch and it makes the real heart inside of Yoongi’s chest stutter just a little bit. He really is just so weak around cute boys, so it’s been a difficult job to transition to. To make it worse, Hoseok is his kind of cute boy. It’s all in the smile.

“So, the first thing you need to do is get that heart warm by rubbing it between your hands.”

“Do we really have to do this part?” Yoongi asks, looking sheepish. He’s seen this part from his perch, and it seems awkward to do it in the middle of the mall. He looks around himself, even though there’s nobody here to watch him. Well except for Seokjin and Taehyung. This just doesn’t feel like the sort of thing that a guy who’s in his late twenties should be doing.

“Don’t you want little Hoseok here to have a big heart?” Hoseok asks him, holding the bear by its arms like it’s ready to reach out and give Yoongi a hug. If the way he holds it wasn’t enough, all he needs to do is look at the real Hoseok’s lip pouting out. He’s never been good at saying no to people.

Yoongi just sighs, nods, and says, “okay.”

“Perfect!” Hoseok says and has Yoongi warm the heart up. He demonstrates with his hands what he wants Yoongi to do, so he copies. “Then you’re going to tap on it to get that heart beating. And you’re going to want to rub it on your cheek so that little Hoseok always smiles at you. And rub it on your funny bone so your bear is full of giggles. And rub the heart on your tummy so that he gets all of the food he needs without stealing yours. And rub it on your side so that he’s by your side for life. Anyone want to chip in?” Hoseok directs the question at the two behind him.

“Rub the heart on your toes so that he is toe-tally awesome!” Taehyung says.

“Rub it on your knees so that he always knee-ds you,” Seokjin says.

Yoongi takes it all in good stride, though he’s painfully awkward as he tries to modestly follow all the commands. He wonders if they’re just messing around with him again. When he thinks of that, his entire body stiffens up. He doesn’t want them to make fun of him.

“And the last thing you need to do is hold the heart up to your face and make a wish,” Hoseok says. He looks at Yoongi and sees that he looks very uncomfortable right now, which was never his intention. He probably shouldn’t have gone overboard on giving the bear so many traits. But it’s Yoongi’s first bear and now he’s part of the group so maybe he just wanted to show off. Then he opens up the back of the bear for Yoongi to put the heart into. “I’m sorry if that was too many things. We aren’t trying to embarrass you. We just really like our job.”

“I’m only here for the view,” Seokjin says, looking across the hallway to where Namjoon is serving both smoothies and looks.

Hoseok smiles brightly and Yoongi is mesmerized by it. “Do you want to add any smells to your bear?” he asks. Yoongi doesn’t hear the question. Embarrassing himself makes him weak, and in his weak state, Hoseok’s face is able to reach inside of him. He repeats the question when Yoongi doesn’t answer, so he blanches.

“Wh-what?”

“I have smells you can add to your bear,” he says and then scoots over on his chair to point to them.

“I made a bear with four smells inside once,” Seokjin says. “One in each arm and leg. Different fruit smell in each one. He smells like a smoothie, and it reminds me of my husband.”

Taehyung makes an aww sound and Seokjin just nods because he knows that he wins cutest couple award.

“Uh, I guess,” Yoongi shrugs. “What’s your favorite?”

“Cotton candy,” Taehyung says, his eyes darkening. It’s a frequent joke that Taehyung likes the cotton candy smell. He keeps one in his apron, so he goes around everywhere smelling like cotton candy.

“I like lavender,” Seokjin smiles.

“We’re out of lavender.”

“Then I like watermelon.”

“Oh me too,” Hoseok nods. “I’m a watermelon kind of guy.”

“Let’s do watermelon,” Yoongi says. Hoseok loves how easy it is to make any grown man excited about a teddy bear at Build-A-Bear Workshop. They come in with whatever bravado they have but then you tell a guy he can make his bear smell like birthday cake and his eyes light up.

He lets Yoongi smell it and when Yoongi nods a little too eagerly his heart thuds painfully against his ribcage. He’s so pretty, he’s so pretty, he’s so pretty.

Once the smell is inside, Hoseok stitches up the bear with lightning quick precision. Yoongi can’t stop himself from looking at his hands. They look strong, but also a little blistered from all the stitching and sewing he must do. When the bear is done, he gives little Hoseok over to Yoongi. He doesn’t mean to, but he gives little Hoseok a very excited squeeze and that’s what makes big Hoseok’s mouth dry up a little bit. He can’t stop himself from imagining Yoongi cuddling the bear late at night. God, and if he actually names the bear Hoseok! He’s going to cry!

“Thank you,” Yoongi says, and Hoseok nods.

“You get to dress him up now!”

Taehyung jumps up excitedly to give him a tour of their Dress Me wall. Everyone has a favorite part of the store, and Taehyung is oddly in love with showing off all the clothes that you can put on the animals.

“Might I suggest a tiara?” Hoseok says.

Read on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

Taehyung shakes his head, “personally, I’m against shoes and tiaras because they are not as easy to cuddle in bed.”

“We also have bows!” Hoseok jumps up excitedly after picking up some loose stuffing from the floor.

Yoongi ends up putting the bear in a dinosaur pajama piece and Hoseok has never been prouder of such a marvelous creation before. Also, Yoongi lets him put the bows on the bear. This is quite possibly the most perfect bear that Hoseok has ever been witness to. He’s a soft, dark brown bear, that plays the Star Wars theme, smells like watermelon, wears a dinosaur onesie, and has pink and purple bows on his ears. He’s perfect.

“That’s hands down one of the most beautiful bears I’ve ever seen,” Seokjin says, and there’s no sarcasm to his voice which is astonishing.

Yoongi would feel self-conscious if he didn’t agree whole heartedly. Little Hoseok is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Big Hoseok helps him to make a birth certificate which Yoongi finds adorable. True to his word, the name that goes on the birth certificate is ‘Little Hoseok.’ Big Hoseok then proceeds to take all of the tags off of the bear and his clothes and brings them to the register.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll pay,” Yoongi says.

“Um, excuse you,” Hoseok says. “I lured you over here in order to buy you a bear, you aren’t paying for shit.”

“But it’s expensive, I-”

“Listen, there’s nothing you can actually do to stop me, I’m the one who knows how to use the register,” Hoseok says. Yoongi accepts defeat, though it’s with several more “are you sure?”s. Eventually, Yoongi comes to be holding little Hoseok inside of a little box that is the perfect size to hold him. He honestly feels like ripping the bear right back out and holding him. He would probably prefer holding onto the bear’s namesake, but anything to keep him less lonely at night will do the trick. For now.

Hoseok sends Yoongi away brightly. Taehyung asks him to stick around a little longer, but he really needs to get some air, because breathing in Hoseok’s air makes him lightheaded. Aw fuck, he’s a little boy having his first crush in elementary school all over again.

***

“You know, for their first date Seokjin and Namjoon came here and recreated the scene from Ghost only instead of pottery, they made a unicorn,” Hoseok says.

“That was, like, our third date actually,” Seokjin says. Namjoon sits at the table outside of the concourse waiting for Seokjin’s shift to end. There are actually two other managers at Orange Julius that aren’t him, which is hard to believe because he’s such a workaholic. Crazy, right?

“Not to sound dramatic, guys, but that’s literally the cutest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Taehyung says.

“The unicorn was our ringbearer.”

“Even I know that’s not true. I was at the wedding,” Jungkook says.

“So was I,” Taehyung says. Literally everyone was at their wedding. It was a year after their family had truly formed. Taehyung was fresh but he was still beloved.

“Well that’s what I’m going to write in my autobiography anyway,” Seokjin shrugs.

Namjoon looks at him with stars in his eyes, very clearly hanging on his every word like he’s an angel. There’s literally never been a couple more helplessly, adorably in love as Namjoon and Seokjin. If you look too hard at them then your heart will rot away. Also, you’ll crave desperately someone to hold you. Sometimes Jimin gives extended hugs and that’s the closest Hoseok has been to a person in about seven years.

In the process of looking at the two of them clearly in love, Hoseok sees a beautiful black-haired boy come in through the service door behind them. Hoseok’s heart bumps out of key for just the briefest second before returning to normal.

“Yoongi!” He says, calling him over. It’s been about a week since Yoongi made little Hoseok and ever since, Hoseok has been very excited by his presence whenever he sees him. Not to say he wasn’t before, but it’s a little louder now. He assures himself it’s just because Yoongi seems like he’ll fit into their friend group. That’s surely all it is. It’s not just because he’s also the prettiest guy Hoseok has possibly ever seen.

“Hi Hoseok,” Yoongi says smiling softly. Either Yoongi doesn’t say hi to everyone else or Hoseok tunes it out because of the way that his mouth looks when he forms words out of it. His voice is so calming. He could read you the dictionary and you’d be fascinated by every word.

“I’ve got to go to work,” Yoongi says and waves goodbye only a minute later.

“Oh, okay,” he says. Seokjin checks his watch and realizes that Yoongi’s shift starting means that his shift is ending.

“Freedom!” he says excitedly, tearing off his apron. Namjoon smiles at him and watches Seokjin as he goes into the concourse and clocks himself out for the day. When he returns, he kisses Namjoon a little bit too passionately for public and Jungkook makes a grossed-out face. Taehyung just thinks they’re cute. Taehyung loves love a little bit too much. Whenever anyone looks like they’re in love, he thinks it’s cute. His favorite thing in the world is when couples come into the store and record their voices saying “I love you” to each other for their bears. There’s no one who does a better heart ceremony for anniversaries than Taehyung.

“Take me away from here,” Seokjin says. They’re very weird people. They’re a match made in heaven, which is evident because they each put up with each other. Seokjin climbs onto Namjoon’s back like it’s normal and they walk away with Namjoon giving him a piggyback ride. God, Hoseok wants something like that.

“I want something like that,” he says.

“If we’re both single when we’re forty I’ll be that for you,” Taehyung says. Hoseok smiles at him and nods. He loves Taehyung, but not romantically. If he’s still single at that age, god forbid, he’ll live with any of his friends so that he’s not lonely, but he does not want to kiss Taehyung even though he’s sure it would be amazing.

It’s weird. When he first met Taehyung, even though he knew he was gorgeous, he never felt an instinctual urge to run his hands through his hair and kiss his cheek. Not like he thinks about Yoongi like that or anything…

He looks over to Orange Julius at the prettiest employee. Hoseok’s not close with the other managers there; one of them is a total piece of shit, and the other is way too serious. Yoongi is getting instructions for the day from the way too serious one, and his face in profile mesmerizes Hoseok.

“Um, earth to Hoseok?” Taehyung says, waving a hand in front of his face. He looks up from his trance and realizes they have a customer. He jumps right back into customer service mode with Jungkook behind him wondering if their little Hoseokie might have a bit of a crush.

***

Read on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

“So,” Jimin says.

“So,” Hoseok replies.

“So.”

“So?”

“How do you like the new Orange Julius employee?” Jimin asks.

Hoseok frowns at him, sitting across from him at the dining room table that Jimin’s mom gifted them when they moved into their own place.

“Isn’t that something I should be asking you? You’re his coworker.”

Jimin purses his lips, “yeah, but you’ve been very eager to get him to interact with us in the group chat.”

“Are you trying to ask me for my permission so you can fuck him or something?” Hoseok asks. “Because, I really don’t think he’s gay.”

“No,” Jimin scoffs. Jimin doesn’t think that Hoseok knows he sometimes sleeps with Taehyung in a friends with benefits sort of way, but he does. Very hard to hide a secret like that from him when he’s both Jimin’s roommate and Taehyung’s boss. Hoseok is pretty sure that Jimin doesn’t know Taehyung is in love with him, but that’s just something they’ll figure out for themselves one of these days.

“Then what’s your point?”

“I’m pretty sure you want to fuck him.”

“I don’t want to fuck him,” Hoseok says, which is both a lie and the truth.

“You like him.”

“I… shut up, Jimin.”

He smirks at him and then winks. Jimin turns around to rinse off his plate, but he leaves the feeling in the air. He’s not surprised that Jimin sees through him, but he desperately hopes that he’s the only one. Yoongi can’t know that, he only just met him, and that would make their budding friendship very weird.

“When was the last time you had sex, Hoseok? I don’t think you’ve slept with someone since I met you. That’s like five years. What if it falls off?”

Hoseok throws a piece of egg at him which gets lodged in his hair. Hitting him where it hurts; Jimin cares more about his hair than he does about his health.

“Probably closer to seven years.”

“Dude! That’s a really long time.”

“I’m me, Jimin,” he says, like that’s an explanation. “I don’t sleep with people unless they’re special.”

“You never slept with me,” Jimin says, “I’m special.”

“That’s because you’re Jimin and I don’t like you,” he says, flinging another piece of food at him. He and Jimin went on one date soon after they first met. The two of them went to college and studied dance together, so it seemed to make sense at the time. They both thought dating each other might be convenient until they went on one date, found it awful and decided to instead be best friends. It’s been working out pretty well, neither of them has wanted to date the other since and it’s been nearly five years. Hoseok can’t imagine how terrible it would be if they had moved into this apartment and been trying to date. He might not have his best friend in the world if that had happened.

Jimin rolls his eyes and backs away from the projectile. “Okay, so maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I do wish you’d date someone. You have to be getting lonely over there in your room, watching porn slightly too loudly because you think I can’t hear it.” Jimin barely even attempts to pretend he’s watching porn sometimes, that’s just the kind of person he is. Hoseok’s headphones are often put to good use because of the weird things Jimin is into.

“I’ll go at my own pace,” he says. “I’m married to my job, Jimin, you know that. I put in so many hours at work, so I barely have a life unless it’s with you.”

“Do you think maybe you’re just scared of entering a relationship? I’m not talking about Yoongi in specific. I mean in general. I think it’s been so long for you that you forgot how to date.”

“That’s very probable,” Hoseok says, going back to the food in front of him which he had been eating before he started throwing it at Jimin. “What about you, though, Jimin? You haven’t found the one yet, either.” He doesn’t mention Taehyung, because surely there’s a reason that he hasn’t told Hoseok about that.

“I date!” Jimin says. But he hasn’t since he started fucking Taehyung.

“You’re just as afraid of commitment as I am.”

Jimin scowls. “That’s not true. I at least know how to date someone. I know how to be a boyfriend and how to love someone and how to… fuck. You haven’t dated since college, and that’s not real dating anyway. You’re not a real person yet until you leave college.”

“I don’t want to deal with this right now,” he says, and that’s the honest to god truth. It’s all too much to think about. Yeah, he hasn’t dated anyone in a really long time, and it’s become easy. Being single is just the way that he knows how to exist. Allowing another person into his life is far too much pressure. He’d just as soon be content or discontent not putting himself out there than try to navigate the world of dating for the first time at age 26.

But then again, wouldn’t it be nice to cuddle someone? God, his skin hungers for someone to cuddle him and put their arms around his waist and kiss his neck. He blushes at the thought. He wonders who that person will be. What do they do in their life? What do they look like? Hoseok doesn’t view himself as a real adult, so he can’t have someone with a real job. He can’t date a lawyer, because that’s a whole ass person with their life in order, and Hoseok stuffs bears for a living. He couldn’t date a doctor, because they’re in charge of making sure people don’t die, and Hoseok puts bunnies into fairy princess dresses on the regular.

It really would be convenient for the both of them if he and Jimin had romantic attraction to each other. That would be pretty great. Or if he actually liked Taehyung, or if it was seven years ago and he had beat Seokjin to Namjoon. None of those relationships would last though, because he just doesn’t like them that way, even if there was once a time when he thought he did.

Yoongi is a convenient scapegoat. He’s too young, probably straight, therefor, he’s off limits. Hoseok can’t possibly find himself wanting to be in a relationship with someone if that person is five years younger than him, so he can continue to find Yoongi attractive all he likes, and he can save himself from committing to a real relationship.

IF YOU ENJOYED PART 1, LEAVE A COMMENT ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN AND SUBSCRIBE TO KNOW WHEN I UPDATE. I’D ALSO LOVE IT IF YOU REBLOGGED THIS POST OR FOLLOW ME ON TUMBLR SO THAT MORE PEOPLE WILL GET TO SEE MY FIC. THANK YOU ALL, I LOVE YOU

[krispydefendorpolice]

Once Upon A Miraculous - Part 2

Ok before we even get into the story here’s yet another warning to think twice before you continue. Jason dies. He dies in a gruesome, traumatizing event and even though I think I went over it very lightly I still think it’s pretty fucking graphic. I’m the writer and I. Had. To. Fucking. Stop. And take a break before I could continue with the story.

Violence and the results it can have on the body ahead. Madness from the pit and angst from hurt feeling of being replaced ahead. For the last time. You’ve all been warned so read at your own risk.

I’m going to trust that you all know your headspace well enough and for those that choose to read anyways? Thank you for going on this journey with me. I hope the falls between here and the end are worth the river journey and the lake we reach at the end (yes those are f*ing metaphors. I’m feeling philosophical at the moment)

Previous Masterpost list

————————————

“It’s me Nettie. I’m alive”

****************************

Jason was 14 years old when he met the Batman. He came across an unwatched batmobile. The tires on it could be sold for more than the average car and he had the tools on him.

One last check and he got to work. He was already thinking about the things he could buy for himself and his street siblings that he forgot the number one rule. Always keep a lookout.

The Batman caught him red handed with three wheels off and the fourth half done. After being forced to return the wheels to the car Jason was taken to the underground batcave. He met Alfred and the unmasked Batman. Bruce “fucking billionaire” Wayne.

Less than a month later he’s living in the manor and has been “adopted”. He doesn’t trust it. Rich men don’t want son’s and there are too many kids with stories about the horrors that “nice family’s” hide behind closed doors. But he’s got a roof over his head and food in his stomach. If Wayne thinks that will be enough to buy him he’s going to find out how wrong he was.

Jason starts small at first. If he can just get the man angry enough to throw him out he won’t have to worry about being brought back. Setting all the alarms in the house and making them unfixable was a bit of a challenge. Seeing Bruce’s face when he changed the passwords was brilliant.

It continued that way for a few months until Bruce finally decided if Jason was gonna be a little shit he could learn to fight better instead. Jason decided that if he was going to learn to fight he would take over the abandoned Robin role too.

Dick was not happy. The first time Jason got to meet the man was after he was seen as Robin. He came to the manor and yelled at Bruce, saying he had no right to give his costume and name to someone else. Jason listened from the second story.

As angry as the two men got neither came to blows over it. Dick ended the fight by storming out and he put the older hero on radio silence for months after but neither had any injuries from their disagreement. If Jason had ever even looked at his old man funny as a kid he would have a black eye and welts on his back to show for it.

Maybe Bruce could be trusted after all?

****************************

At 15 years old Bruce is engaged to Selina Kyle. Their on again off again thing as hero and thief where they danced around each other had been driving Jason and Alfred batty. It was nice to see them actually settle into their thing as each challenged the other and kept them on their toes.

When Selina said she was going to be spending the summer with the daughter of an old schoolmate of hers Jason didn’t think much of it. He knew she had a legit degree she used to assess the potential spoils of her criminal activities.

He arrived at Wayne Enterprises a little early for their lunch meeting. Bruce had told him they’d meet in the lobby so after greeting the receptionists he looked for a place to sit. In one of the chairs facing the doors a small girl looked up at the windows before going back to her book and writing something. No she was probably drawing with long pencil strokes like that.

Curious he walked over to see if he could look at her drawing. He could see what looked like an image of the stained glass windows on the page but the lines through them gave it a softer, almost flowing shape. Which was weird cause glass wouldn’t follow those lines.

“What are you drawing?” He found himself asking her.

She jumped so he’d obviously surprised her. His thoughts were captured by her bright blue eyes. In the light coming from those stained glass windows she’d been admiring they almost seemed to glow.

She said she was designing a dress while she waited for her guardian and the fiancé to return. This must be Selina’s friends daughter.

Lunch was a fun affair where the girl shared she would be designing costumes for Jagged stone to wear during his concert tour this summer. She would stay with Selina in Gotham from Monday to Thursday while she designed and created clothes she would fly to whatever city Jagged was playing in from Thursday to Sunday to be on hand during the concerts for any costume repairs that would be needed.

Bruce volunteered Jason to show Marinette around the city since it wouldn’t be safe for her to be alone. Jason agrees because it’s summer break and he likes the Marinette he talked stained glass windows with and wonders what other beauty she will see in his dark city.

**

He is breathless by the beauty she sees all around her. The joy and happiness she shines as easily as she breathes. Everyone she meets becomes a new friend. Even the tamer of the Rogues and the Siren’s who meet her are enthralled by her smile and her charm.

Kissing her was a completely spontaneous action. He had thought about it for weeks by then but she had said there was a guy back home she sort of still had a crush on though she wasn’t happy with how they wanted to deal with the liar situation. So he was resigned to keeping his budding feelings to himself so that he could see her happy.

It had been the night of the last concert. Jagged had Marinette come on stage where he officially introduced her as his designer and the creator of all the tour costumes to the world. She had beamed with a smile so wide that when she threw herself into Jason’s arms after walking off stage he had just pulled back and placed a kiss on her lips.

He froze when he realized what he did. Marinette had stood on her tiptoe to start their second kiss.

For a week they were blissfully happy and free with their affection. Multiple paparazzi got pictures of them holding hands, kissing each other or just cuddling when they were waiting. Jasonette and the Sunshine of Gotham blew up on social media.

Saying goodbye to her was a really hard thing to do. So Jason went shopping for something he could give her to remember him by. They had decided they would try a long distance thing but he was afraid it wouldn’t be enough. If they did fall apart from distance he wanted something she could use to always fondly remember the summer fling they had.

It was perfect. He knew it might be impractical but he was convinced that it would be the perfect gift for her someday.

************************

They made it work. They had talked everyday and he spent every chance he could in France with her. He met her parents and they met Bruce as well. Marinette had her school situation resolved following her return.

He was proud of her for sticking up for herself when all her classmates seemed ready to abandon the liar just because Marinette had a connection they could use again. Nathaniel, Rose and Juleka were all artsy like Marinette and he could see how their creative energies inspired each other and themselves.

He was a week away from his departure to spend the summer in France with Marinette and her family when it happened. A false lead led to his capture by the Joker.

(Begin Angst)

The first break hurt but it was bearable. He had broken bones before. His bio dad had broken them frequently when he was still alive. The fifth hurt as bad. He also had a concussion and several burns at that time as well.

What felt like days, weeks, years... minutes?, passed in a haze as he jerked with every new hit. He was a mess from vomit, blood, piss and shit when his body couldn’t follow his commands any longer.

He held to the belief that Batman would come for him. That his father could still save him.

When the Joker left, Jason was lying on the concrete floor looking at the bomb countdown. He knew he had to get out of there, he pushed his battered body past the point he could feel pain and struggled to the door. He pulled on it but it wouldn’t open. The rattle of chains on the other side told him why.

He collapsed to the floor, tears streaming as he watched the numbers countdown.

10, 9, 8...

I’m sorry Alfred.

7, 6, 5,...

I’m sorry Bruce.

4, 3,...

I’m sorry Nettie.

2, 1,

I love...

(End Angst)

He was only 16. He would never see 17.

***************************

It was dark. It was small. It was hard to breathe. He was in some kind of box. He screamed and hit the walls around him trying to get out, trying to find some air.

It surprised him when cold pieces fell from above him. It had a new smell. He focused his determination on that spot. More of the new thing came down into his cage. He pushed it away from him and continued. There. Briefly a breath of clean, fresh air.

With new determination he pushed harder towards the life giving air. He was able to pull his head and shoulders out of the box. He rested for a moment swallowing greedy gulps of air into his starved lungs. When he was able to continue he pulled himself from the ground and looked around. As far as his eye could see were stones standing from the ground around him and beyond those trees and underbrush fading into shadows.

He picked a direction at random and began to walk.

**

It was familiar. Grab an item, run. The actions came without conscious memory. The streets were cold but he was big enough to scare off the worst of the predators. There were a few small people, kids, that came to him for protection from the bigger people. He did what he could but it never seemed to be enough he thought, as he stood over another small, broken body.

“I can give you a way to protect them.”

He looked up. She was beautiful but her eyes were cold. Empty and unfeeling. But she had promised to give him a way to protect the little ones. He was willing to try anything for that power.

What was his name? How old was he? He didn’t know.

****************************************

Jason.

He remembered his name as he lunged from the sickly green waters that Talia had led him to. He remembered Bruce, his father, but he didn’t save him from the Joker. He remembered the Jokers laughter ringing in his ears as he stood over another broken child on the streets. And the new shadow following the shape of the Batman when he was an amnesiac wandering the streets of Gotham.

He had been REPLACED!! He fumed. The anger and resentment over Bruces inability to save him, to avenge him and his replacing him as if Jason meant nothing, festered and boiled in his mind.

When he left the League of Shadows his only plan was to go back to Gotham and get revenge for his own death and to hurt his so called father as badly as he could. If Jason meant so little to him then he would show how little Bruce meant to him.

**

(Mild violence ahead)

Their first reunion was in a fight over drug dealers selling heroin to kids. Jason looked directly at the bat, pulled his gun and shot the dealers in the forehead.

(Violence over)

“These are my streets now. I won’t tolerate kids getting hurt on my watch.”

He disappeared before Batman could restrain him.

For weeks they danced around. Batman trying to catch him and Jason using every trick he learned from the Bat himself to avoid him.

Blood flowed freely from the wicked and the corrupt. He was a villain in his own right bringing judgement and execution down upon the criminals of Gotham.

Batman always appealed to the better side of him, to stop his madness. Didn’t he understand that part died? The child that trusted in heroes to protect the innocent died at the hands of a monster. A monster that his father couldn’t chase away.

The RedHood was risen from the pits and unleashed upon the evil of Gotham.

He was 18 years old.

******************************

Months of their back and forth dynamic between RedHood and Batman passed. The Batman couldn’t arrest the RedHood but the RedHood couldn’t stop tweaking his cape to get a reaction.

Didn’t he care? Wasn’t he going to stop him? He was doing everything wrong so why wouldn’t Bruce do the same for him that he did for all the other criminals in Gotham?

It was when Jason had the Joker at the business end of a gun that he got his answers.

“Don’t do it Hood,” Bruce pleaded. “It will change you beyond what you can come back from if you do.”

“I’ve already killed, B,” his words caught as he gasped, fighting back tears of rage. “My hands are dripping in blood.

He laughed madly then, “‘Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’ Who knew that bitch knew what she was talking about.”

“It’s the madness that’s done it Hood. You’ve barely held control before. But you’re fighting the killing urge and directing it to those that do deserve it.”

“And yes,” he interrupted before Jason could argue, “no one deserves it more than Joker for what he’s done to you. But if you do it then the madness will win. Please I can’t lose my son again,” he begged.

“WHY DOES THAT MATTER NOW?!” Jason screamed. “He killed me. I was dead in the ground and you let him walk. WHY COULDN’T YOU KILL HIM?! AM I THAT MEANINGLESS TO YOU!?!!”

“I COULDN’T!” Bruce yelled back. “If I killed him I wouldn’t be able to stop killing. It wouldn’t just be the Joker that died, it would be every criminal in Gotham who dared step out of line. I wanted to. I still want to. He took my son from me but I know that once I start I won’t be able to stop. I’m sorry that I’m so weak, but I couldn’t.”

The Batman, no Bruce Wayne, stood before him, head bowed in defeat as he admitted to his greatest shame.

Jason looked away before dropping the gun and walking away. He knew Bruce would take the Joker back to Arkham so he just needed to get away and think.

**

They worked to build their relationships anew. He couldn’t be the son Bruce remembered anymore, too much had changed, but he could be the son he was today. He could do what he could for the Replacement and make sure the kid didn’t get himself killed on the streets. The girl that joined them got the same measure of protection though she was better able to defend herself.

When he finally let go of thoughts of revenge he could think about a time when a stray spark of living Sunshine found its way to cold, grey Gotham. He finally looked up news of Marinette to see how she was doing. He broke down and cried when her wedding announcement to the son of a Parisian fashion house was the first thing to pop up.

Selina, Bruce and Alfred all encouraged him to take a trip to France anyways to get some closure, to say goodbye. But he refused, the smile in her eyes as she looked at her new husband in the picture convinced him that she was happy. And that was all he ever wanted for her, even if it couldn’t be him giving the her the world.

He was 19 years old when he made peace with his past.

****************************

He was 20 years old when news of the villain Hawkmoth and his defeat hit the international press. He was livid to realize that his beloved Nettie had been in so much danger just living in a city that should have been safe. That the Justice League had done nothing when the citizens pleaded for help.

It felt like the period after his revival in the pit as he stormed the halls of the WatchTower. His vision was in various shades of red and his thoughts just kept turning back to how Marinette might have been killed in one of the villain’s monster attacks. Hell, she probably did die once or twice only to be revived by the hero’s magic.

If he ever got to meet LadyBug he would shower her in appreciation for defending the city his Nettie lived in.

The door crashed and nearly fell off the hinges when he threw it open and stormed through into the Leagues council room.

“RedHood,” Batman said calmly as he stalked up to the table.

Slamming his hands down and leaning over the collected heroes he asked what he’d wanted to since the news broke.

“Who. Screwed. Up?”

“When footage of the attacks first reached the League, investigations were done. No lasting damage was left from the attacks so it was written off as a publicity stunt and subsequent messages were ignored,” Batman explained. “It was a phone operator that fielded these calls. They went based off the assessment done by the League and deleted them.”

“She could have died B. I was dead and couldn’t do anything but you should have been keeping an eye on her. You know what she means to me.”

Batman nodded, “I should have. The messages never reached me but I should have been keeping a watch on her regardless of that.”

“You’re going to make amends to those heroes for ignoring them,” Jason stated. “All of you are,” he added, including the other heroes in the room in his statement.

“Yes,” Batman agreed.

Jason jerked his head in a nod and left the room. Going back to the cave where he can do his own check and make sure Marinette was safe.

********************************

It wasn’t just the League that failed Marinette. Jason knew he was as much to blame. If he had gone to Paris? If he had seen her? If he had told her he was alive? Would she have suffered under Hawkmoth? If, if, if.

News of the divorce of up and coming fashion designer MDC and the son of the fashion mogul and former villain Adrian Agreste hit airwaves like lightning. In the beginning people claimed it was Marinette who left because of Hawkmoth’s identity. Adrian was fast to shut that down and own that he was the one to ask for the divorce for personal reasons. With what seemed to be an amicable break up the world turned its attention to the next sound bite.

He’d failed her again. Jason just sat by his empty grave as he cried when he learns about it. He argues with Alfred and Selina when they bring up him visiting Paris afterwards. This time Bruce supports his decision. He doesn’t approve and lets Jason know it, but he supports him.

Returning to the cave after patrol, Jason was the last to arrive. He didn’t know why everyone was gathered by the computer so he went to take a look. He didn’t hear what Alfred said as he walked over. Momentarily blinded by the helmet as he removed it, he froze when he finally saw what, no who, had his family’s attention.

She had grown since their first meeting, not in height but in maturity. She had traded the fun pigtails for an elegant braid, and jeans for a sundress obviously of her own design.

“Hi, Monsieur Alfred introduced the others but I haven’t gotten your name yet. I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she introduces herself as if she were meeting a stranger for the first time.

It hurt his heart that she would do that with him, though he realizes why she did. She didn’t know. She couldn’t know that it was him under the mask.

The words wouldn’t come though when he tried to find them and tell her. He finally settled for showing her, hoping she would believe her eyes.

After she gasped in reaction to his reveal he thought maybe his approach was a bit boneheaded after all. Nothing to do but go forward from there though.

“It’s me Nettie. I’m alive.”

Marinette teared up but instead of breaking down and crying she ran to him and jumped into his arms. Burying her face in his neck she just murmured “You’re alive” over and over.

“Yeah,” he admitted. He held her as tightly as he dared. A little worried he might hurt her by accident.

When she pulled away he reluctantly let her go but it was worth it.

She gave him the biggest smile and he saw it again.

He was 21 years old and the sun was shining in cold, grey Gotham once more.

————————————

So I really got into the structure I used for the first chapter and exuded to use the same for this one. They end at different ages because Jason’s a few months older and this happened in that in between time (the real reason is sections were getting too busy so I add another year to his story. How do I rationalize it? Well birthdays are a thing so there you go).

I hope everyone enjoyed this wild ride. I do plan to do an epilogue chapter but that will have to wait until next weekend. Anyone have any ideas you can send it to me.

@pepelachanel @mellownieice @kris-pines04 @zebrabaker @two-faced-biatch @vixen-uchiha @mandy984 @shamefullove @mycupisbroken @dawnwave16 @abrx2002 @mochinek0 @tbehartoo @fertileleaf @thanks-captain-obvious @ravennightingaleandavatempus @hinata3487 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @zalladane @dast218 @miraculous786 @18-fandoms-unite-08 @moonlightstar64 @mooshoon @ladybug182 @iggy-of-fans @legendaryneckjudgestudent @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @finallyaniguana @tog84 @mystery-5-5 @evil-elf16

[bill-beauxquais]

Blogging my Bravely Default II Playthrough

Since I’ve been pretty involved in the fandom on this blog in the past years (you can check my 'bravely series' tag) I figured I would go an journal my playthrough of the long awaited sequel.

I will journal from chapter to chapter and I’m going abolutely blind (I played the two demos, and didn’t look at any media), so you will only get spoiled up to where I’m at each time.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the prologue chapter under the read more

Obviously, this will contain spoilers up to the end of the prologue. Please refrain from adding spoilers to this post, I wish to experience the game blind.

Overall opinion: It’s a positive surprise. I remember the miffed reactions to the demo and was myself not that much impressed, but I did hear the reviews had been mostly positive this past week. As this is only the prologue, I’m staying cautious, but the game was full of good surprises and looks promising.

Gameplay: Very fun to play, dare I say on par with the original, even maybe better. I will miss the old turn order, but this one work just as well, albeit differently. A lot more focus on the strategy and job synergy, and even right now, bosses demand a lot more diverse strategies, and it’s usually near impossible to know what to expect when you start a new fight.

I love how mure more rich the overworld is, instead of a badly textured world map, we now have actual terrain to explore, with hidden treasures (but like, better hidden than in BSel), and a lot of interesting, diverse and fun sidequests. Picking up the game, I actually need to ask myself “alright, what am I going to do this session?” instead of just blindly following the story. The addition of overworld monsters also encourage strategy (I’m literally beating a boss just with poison right now, because it just seemed to have way too high of a defense in both physical and magical) and will probably prove a precious ressource when grinding is needed.

There is a lot of variety in the common mobs, even in the very first area, which is a nice touch as well. If the rest of the game isn’t just recolors, we’ll be looking at a nice rich ecosystem.

I also like that the weaknesses aren’t as obvious as usual, and that not every flower is weak to fire for example. It mixes it up.

I welcome the return of sleep-mode play as well, even in this different form (although it seems we’ve all been naming Seth “Seth”, which looks goofy in the reports)

For now, I’m training everyone in every classes, but in general I try to avoid the “expected” roles (like, making Gloria into the white mage. I wanted to resist it for Agnès, I will resist it for Gloria). I would also like to avoid making a carbon copy of my BD team as well.

Writing: Nothing much happened in the prologue, I did hear the beginning would be slow paced, but I feel like the bases are there, and the writing seems more solid than the previous games. It’s hard to shake the feeling that it’s just the og_team.02, but I enjoy the characters for now, and they don’t seem to be slapped-on tropes like some other JRPGs

I really liked how the last cutscene of the prologue played (more on that lower). Even though it was obvious that it would happen sooner rather than later (op mentor can’t be babying us the whole game), I felt it was written well enough.

I am playing with japanese dubs, and I rather like it for now, especially Gloria.

Somehow, the dialogue and interactions reminds me of Bravely’s old universe, even though it’s a new one. In the themes and the vocabulary, it just feels Bravely still.

Writing - Theories: (Yes I will theorise the heck out of that game as I go).

Calling it now that Sloan isn’t actually dead. No body, no dead, no sirree.

From Dag and Selene’s redeeming blurb in the enemy sheets, I’m also expecting the usual twist where the asterisk holders are more of a grey area, and even turn nice guys at some point. After all, this time they do not always die after you beat them, and they even get their own freelancer design (which is an addition I LOVED in the demo already and that Bravely Asterisk’ lore needed), hinting that they will probably be reused in the story.

However, they *did* kill Horten on screen, so this time we might actually see the evil ones being punished, and the good ones being redeemed, instead of an “all or nothing” approach.

I WILL mention that I tried letting myself die during the Crystal Choice, and it just gave me a game over screen. Kind of ruins the “true” cutscene and shatters the illusion of choice, here. I’m expecting something like that to play into the 4th wall twist, if this game is anything like the previous two.

Graphics: Ah, the infamous graphics. To be fair, I have grown used to them by now, and I quite enjoy them. It is also to be commended that they’re doing way crazier cutscenes now, and the fact you can see your outfits at all time is such a nice touch. It feels a lot more dynamic, and as of now, it hasn’t looked ridiculous or uncanny.

The hand-drawn cities look beautiful and more complex (albeit slightly) than the old ones, which is also good.

Performance: (playing on a lite) Kind of surprised of how the game runs: the game struggle before each party chat and most cutscenes. Nothing game breaking or anything yet, but I do hope it gets patched eventually. It can also be very slow to load after a game over, or entering a town.

Music: I’m not quite as sold on the music as I was on Bravely 1 or Octopath, but I do like what I’m hearing for now. There’s no criticism here to be making, the tracks are good. I’m just kind of lamenting that they don’t stick to my brain quite as much.

[starker-stories]

Reversal of Fortunes

Created for @mcukinkbingo​ Also on AO3 Square Filled: Slavery Ship: Peter Parker/Tony Stark, Starker Rating: E Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con Word Count:  9457 Additional Tags:  College Student Peter Parker, Slavery, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Rape/Non-con Elements, As in Slaves Can't Consent, Brat Peter Parker, Dark Richard Parker, Mechanic Tony Stark, Dark Tony Stark, Debt Slavery, Anal Sex, Inappropriate Type of Lube Used, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Role Reversal, Dark Fic, Dark Themes, Sexual Slavery Summary: From a distance, Peter saw olive skin, shirtless glistening with sweat. Muscular, but not grotesque. Finely crafted. Sculpted. Peter’s own body had broad shoulders but a nipped in waist. This man was solid all the way from shoulders to… oh my god… the most perfect round globes of his denim clad ass. The jeans he wore were tight around his thighs as well. Thick and muscular. The slave’s entire lower body looked like it was designed to provide incredible strength and stamina when he fucked. He looked like he could fuck hard. Peter whimpered again and touched himself through his khaki shorts. 

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Peter was bored. Why his father insisted on taking him to these things, he never knew. Yes, he’d be his heir and should know how to manage an estate, but he planned on hiring an overseer for that. He had no interest in the slaves his father owned. Disgustingly voluptuous women who pranced around the house pretending to be servants when what they really were were his father’s fucktoys. Who his mother ignored in favor of staring at the bottom of wine bottles. The last thing his gay ass he wanted to see was another pair of tits.

“Dad, do I have to stay? God, don’t you have enough house slaves?”

“I’m not buying for the house, Peter. I know the nature of the house slaves you’ll keep when you inherit my estate will change. You’ll do that in your own time. But I’m buying laborers and field hands today. Even if all you do is stock the house with boys, you need to know how to judge a working slave’s value. Now stop sulking and follow me out to the pens.”

Peter huffed a sigh. At least they were looking at men. But big dumb hunks of muscle little better than the horse he rode when he played polo. That was an insult to Jax. He was probably smarter than a field hand. A tray of champagne wafted by, carried by a cute young man with a nice dick, and Peter followed. His absence was unnoticed by his father who was assessing the value of the meat.

The waiter was happy to follow young Mr. Parker into an alcove, as he was required to do. He was surprised at the young master’s request. Peter dropped to his knees and sucked the man hard, making sure to leave his dick coated with a thick layer of spit. Then he knelt on the bed. “Fuck me. I’ll tell you how I like it.” Peter directed the slave as if he were a dildo attached to a human body, making him give him all the pleasure he wanted, but ordered not to come from it. When Peter came, he zipped up and left the slave, hard and dripping, without a backwards glance.

His father was disappointed that Peter hadn’t stayed, but unsurprised. He drove them back out to their ranch. The auction was forgotten as Peter lost himself in socializing, riding, and generally being the spoiled only son of Richard Parker, owner of one of the biggest ranches in the state.

~~~~~

Slavery was technically peonage. Only the debt, once someone fell into it, could never be repaid at the “wages” a slave was required to be given. The economy was highly divided. There were the 1%, where Peter dwelled. The 24% where most free people dwelled. And the 75%, where they scrambled for pennies to keep themselves out of debt slavery. Most failed. The 75% served the other 25%, pretty much in perpetuity, with lip service given to their ‘technical’ freedom.

It was rare, but someone in the 1% could fall. Bad business decisions, embezzlement of their company’s funds, loss of market share, dozens of pitfalls awaited the 1% who weren’t vigilant.

Tony Stark was too busy drinking, fucking anything that moved, and spending his dead father’s money to be vigilant. His father’s best friend and his mentor, locked him out of his own company, arranging for all the company’s debt to look like Tony himself had personally accrued it through his mismanagement. Which is how one playboy, billionaire, genius, philanthropist wound up a sold to Richard Parker’s ranch. Richard was going to put him to field work, but then he recognized the worn, weathered man, who looked nothing like the Tony Stark he knew from magazine covers. It didn’t matter. He was a slave and he belonged to the Parker estate. But a good mechanic could be put to more useful work than laboring in the fields. Tony was led to the garage and told to work.

Tony was effusive in his thanks to his new master. His previous one had indeed put him in the fields, where he was basically incompetent. His body was welted and scarred from punishment. Finally, after three years, his old master gave up on Tony and sold him cheaply. Richard got a bargain. He had nothing personal against Stark. It was later found out that his mentor sold him out and the company, also sold cheaply, was broken up and went to other owners. Tony’s debt was massive. He’d work for Master Parker until the day he died. Thankfully he never had children and wouldn’t unless his master chose to breed him. But he didn’t give a damn about that. Any kids born from him mounting a female slave weren’t his. No attachment. Tony didn’t make attachments. He hadn’t done so as a free man, why do it now, when an attachment could be sold the next day.

~~~~~

It was one of the hottest summers on record. Even the air conditioning couldn’t keep the house cool, and Peter was sick at looking at walking tits waving fans. He perched himself on a fence rail and watched… nothing. There was nothing of interest anywhere on the ranch. He leaned back and turned his face to the sun, feeling its warmth. When he looked down again, his eye caught movement in the big barn where the farm equipment was stored. He bit his lip and whimpered.

From a distance, he saw olive skin, shirtless glistening with sweat. Muscular, but not grotesque. Finely crafted. Sculpted. Peter’s own body had broad shoulders but a nipped in waist. This man was solid all the way from shoulders to… oh my god… the most perfect round globes of his denim clad ass. The jeans he wore were tight around his thighs as well. Thick and muscular. The slave’s entire lower body looked like it was designed to provide incredible strength and stamina when he fucked. He looked like he could fuck hard. Peter whimpered again and touched himself through his khaki shorts.

Peter’s lustful assessment didn’t even touch on the slave’s arms. He held a hammer and was beating a dented fender back into shape. His arms rippled and shone with sweat running over streaks of grease and oil. The slave turned to set down the hammer and pick up another tool. He couldn’t quite make out the slave’s features, but he had a

wonderful view of his chest. There was a light dusting of hair straight down the center. Muscles again but like Peter had never seen. He hated the over-built field hands. But he hated the soft, handsome rich boys like himself, too. He knew he was gay, but he’d never seen a man who did it for him. Until now. The slave was dirty and all Peter wanted was to be soiled.

Peter stopped touching himself and tried to will his erection to go down. At least some. He was free and it didn’t matter how he presented himself in front of a slave, but walking over hiding a full erection was just awkward. And would send the message that he was looking to fuck instead of get fucked. He turned away from the barn and watched some ugly hunks of muscle. That brought him right down.

He slid down off his perch and walked over to the barn. Okay, maybe swayed his way over to the barn. “Hi.”

The slave suddenly stopped what he was doing and put his tools down. “Hello, Young Master,” he said, eyes cast downward.

“Ugh. I hate that ‘young master’ thing. I’m twenty, not a child.”

“What shall I call you, sir,” Tony asked, hoping ‘sir’ was deferential enough until given something else to call him.

“Unless my dad’s near us, Master will do just fine.”

“Yes, Master.”

Now that he was close, Peter could see the scars crisscrossing the slave’s back. He even had some on his front and his arms. Peter reached out and ran a fingertip over the slave’s bicep, tracing one of them. “Were you disobedient?”

“No, Master.” Tony tried not to flinch when he was touched. Field hands were hardly ever sexually used and he hadn’t been, but he wasn’t a field hand anymore. He wasn’t keen on being thirty-eight and losing his ‘virginity’. Not that he’d have a say in it. “I was ill-suited to the work my former Master put me to.”

“Which was?” Peter asked, stepping closer. He could smell the sweat and grease.

“Field work, Master. I was a mechanic by trade before.”

Peter went from caressing with a fingertip to sliding his palm over the slave’s arm. “You don’t look like a field hand, thank god. Do you have a name, or just this number?” Peter’s hand moved up the slave’s arm to his neck, where all slaves were marked.

“I’m Tony, Master.”

“Tony.” Peter tasted the name on his tongue. It felt good there. “Stand still, Tony.” Peter’s hands went for the button of Tony’s jeans.

“Yes Master,” Tony said, holding himself tense.

Peter undid Tony’s fly and hefted his cock and balls out. “Oh my god,” he moaned appreciatively. He dropped to his knees on the barn floor. He took Tony’s soft cock into his mouth, sealing his lips behind the head, and letting his tongue dance. He balanced his hands on Tony’s thighs.

Tony sucked in a breath between his teeth and tried to keep from groaning in pleasure. Since he’d been sold, he’d had nothing but his own hand on his cock. He started to get hard instantly.

“Fuck Tony, you’re huge,” Peter moaned. He looked up at Tony’s face. “Are you able to come more than once or are you one and done, like most of the muscle on this place.”

Tony felt his face heat. “No, Master. I mean, yes, Master, I can come more than once. I need a bit of time between. I’m sorry, Master.”

“More than twice?” Peter’s eyebrows rose, hopefully.

“Occasionally three, Master.”

“God, you’re heaven. I might actually have to thank my father for something. I hate that, but you’re worth it.”

Tony was in uncharted territory. He was well known as a playboy. Fond of both men and women. A sexual athlete in bed. But always on top. He didn’t want to assume, but it seemed like that was what his Master’s son wanted. He snuck a glance at the boy as he sucked his dick. The boy was gorgeous. Just the type he would’ve bedded in the old days. He didn’t want to disappoint, so even though he’d been without for three years, he tried to remember his self control.

Peter looked up at Tony. “You’re not gonna shoot too fast, are you?”

“No Master,” Tony said, biting his lip.

“Good. I want you to come in my mouth. When I’m ready, I’ll do this…” Peter tapped Tony’s thigh three times. “Then you come. Can you do that?”

Tony considered it, only a moment. The skill had been in his repertoire. He hoped he still had it. “Yes Master.”

Peter licked a stripe down Tony’s cock. “God you’re filthy.”

“I could shower if that would please Master more.”

Peter gripped Tony’s thighs. “Don’t you dare! Fuck, it’s hot.” He nuzzled his face in Tony’s coarse hair. “You smell… god… you smell like a man.”

A smirk passed briefly over Tony’s face before he remembered he wasn’t who he used to be. He schooled his features.

He took Tony’s shaft in his hand, leisurely stroking it just to keep him hard. He looked up the slave’s body. “How long have you been a slave?”

“Three years Master.”

Peter chuckled. “Didn’t think it had been long. You have too much of yourself left.”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“Don’t be! I like that. God I’m so bored with everything. You’re,” he smiled, “something new.” They weren’t supposed to ask, but a Master did whatever he wanted. “What was your last name?” He saw a wince.

“Stark, Master.”

Peter’s brow furrowed, then his eyes went wide. “THE Tony Stark?”

“Yes Master. I’m Tony the slave now, Master.”

“Yeah, okay, but…” Peter grinned up at him. “Tony Stark had a reputation for fucking.”

The wince came again. Nothing he was then was what he was now. “Yes, Master, but that was a long time ago.”

Peter shimmied out of his shorts. “You’re not coming in my mouth,” he said excitedly. He bent over the dirty workbench, pushing tools out of his way. “Fuck me, Tony.”

“Is that allowed, Master? Your father…”

“Doesn’t give a damn what slave I let fuck me.” Peter looked over his shoulder. “But he does give a damn if they won’t.”

“I don’t have any lube, Master,” Tony demurred.

“You don’t have anything in this shop? I don’t care what you use. I want your dick up my ass. Now.” Peter snapped impatiently.

Tony found a bit of oil. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing to use or not, but it’s what the Master asked for. And his back showed the cost of disobedience. He drizzled the oil down the crack of the young man’s ass. He fought to hide his reaction. The kid was perfect. His ass pale and white, his cheeks firm round globes. His Master’s son, Peter, wasn’t just the type he bedded, he was the type he kept around for a little while.

He took one of Peter’s ass cheeks in his hand, roughly, solidly, and pulled it open revealing the kid’s perfect little pink hole. With his calloused thumb he pushed the oil up into him. Then he thickly coated his cock.

“You like it rough or slow, kid?” Tony asked in a low growl. Someone like Peter… he knew the type well. His insolence might earn him a whipping, but he doubted it. “You wanna feel all this dick going into that tight little hole of yours all at once, or do you want that pretty little thing opened up a bit at a time? You think you can take all of me?”

Peter snorted. “You think that thing is good enough to make me come? You make me come on nothing but that cock, then when you can get it up again you come down my throat, and then I’ll consider where I want it for time number three, and I’ll make sure your life’s a whole lot easier.”

He bent over Peter and rubbed his cock along the crack of his ass. Not having been reprimanded for his manner of speech, he let himself go. “Baby, I’ve taken more boys like you apart than I can count. You just remember that my name is Tony. That way you know what to scream when I’ve fucked you brainless.”

Tony pulled away but kept one hand firmly on the boy’s back, just above the rise of his ass. He teased Peter’s hole with the head of his cock.

“Dammit, Tony fuck me!”

Tony chuckled. “Bet you’re used to slaves just standing there doing whatever you tell them to. Little dicks you rode like they were pieces of silicone. You wanna fuck Tony the slave or you wanna find out what it was like to be fucked by Tony Stark?”

Peter gave a little whimper.

“Thought so,” Tony said as he thrust his thick cock into the boy all at once. Hard. Fast. And there was the scream and cry, something between the pain of being opened and the pleasure of the stretch. Beautiful. A sound he hadn’t heard for three years. He reached up and grabbed Peter’s shoulder, pulling him back to meet his thrusts.

He started out with a brutal hard fuck. Peter’s cock was hard and the soft grunting moans that were forced out of him with the hard slap of Tony’s hips against his ass were signs of his pleasure. But Tony knew that was just a little rough foreplay. Not nearly enough to make the kid come untouched. Just a little… warming up.

“I’m not there yet,” Peter said smugly between his forced breaths.

Tony’s hand moved from Peter’s shoulder and tangled into his curly hair, grabbing a handful and tugging hard, pulling the kid’s head back. Peter cried out but pushed his ass back onto Tony’s cock, meeting his thrust and grinding in tight circles, pulsing around him. Tony registered the reaction. He had the kid’s number.

“I’m just starting, Peter.” His voice was gruff and deep. He knew the reaction it could cause. And the reaction that would come from hearing a slave say his name. He watched Peter fight back his whimpers by biting his lip. “I told you, I don’t come fast. Not even for a tight little piece of ass like you. I’ll get you there when I’m damn good and ready to get you there.”

He let go of Peter’s hair by roughly pushing his head away, as if he was done with his insolence. Reversing their positions. It was risky. It was all risky. Peter could decide after that he regretted the idea of letting a slave get away with treating him that way. But it felt so good to be able to be himself for even a little while. And the risk might pay off. The kid might not have regrets. A life of fucking that pretty kid and getting to pretend that he was still himself was better than what he was doing. Even though that was better than field work. He started to show off.

One hand firmly on Peter’s hip, the other on his cock, he thrust in at a downward angle, still hard, but slower on entry to drag the head of his cock over Peter’s prostate. Once he was past that spot about two inches in, he sped up his stroke until he was buried deep. Peter’s sharp moan and arch of his back was rewarding. So he did it again. Until the kid’s back was broken out in sweat and his moans were caught on quick shallow panting. One last time to make Peter scream then he went back to hard and fast and straight in. Peter’s cock was dripping a pool of precome on the garage floor.

“You all right baby boy?” Tony crooned. He covered the kid’s back with his solid muscular body. Letting him feel the weight.

“Tony, please!” Peter’s words were drawn out impossibly long on a high pitched whimper.

Oh that was rewarding. Having his ‘Master’ beg him.

“No. I’m not ready to come. You want it, work that ass on my dick, Peter. I’ll make you come just before I do. Gonna fill you up, kid.

“No you’re not.”

Tony chuckled. “That’s cute that you think you still have any say in this.”

He watched the shudder work all the way up Peter’s spine. The kid wanted to get fucked by a man and there weren’t any in his life, just simpering slaves and weak little boys like himself who pretended to be men.

Tony reached under Peter and wrapped his arm around his chest. He raised him off the workbench, halfway between bent and standing. He held him close, touching him with his body, running his hand up the kid’s chest to tease and pinch at a nipple for awhile. Before he ran his hand higher and shoved two of his dirty fingers into Peter’s mouth when he opened it to cry out to a sharp snap of Tony’s hips. Peter sucked on his fingers. Tony pushed them in deeper as he fucked into him. Peter sucked harder, drool running out of his mouth as Tony pressed his fingers down onto his tongue.

With his foot, he pushed Peter’s legs closer together, making him tighter around his cock. He widened his stance and fucked upward into the kid. The new angle hit his prostate more times than not.

“Fuck kid,” Tony groaned, long and low. “You’ve probably been fucked dozens of times, but never with a man’s cock. You’re so tight on me you almost feel cherry.”

He hit the spot again and Peter cried out his name, broken and desperate and needy.

“Wanna come baby?”

“Oh yes! Yes Tony! Please!”

Tony kept one hand high on the kid’s chest, the other he put low on his stomach, splayed out, warm and rough and dirty all over that soft pale white skin. He pressed in slightly as he started to fuck with an aim to sending the kid over. He always loved making guys come from nothing but getting their ass fucked. Being able to do that a lot… well… there was a reason he had the reputation he did.

“Tony!” Peter called out his name sharply as he painted the front of the workbench with his come.

He nipped at Peter’s ear. “Told you you’d remember my name,” he growled as he started to quickly work to his finish. Peter quaked in his arms. Shuddered. Whined. Riding the high of his orgasm. His cock still twitched and dripped as Tony fucked him through it.

“Got you all dirty,” Tony grunted. “Pretty baby.” He pulled Peter down onto his cock, burying in as deep as he could go. He groaned loudly as he came inside the kid who said he wouldn’t be allowed to do so. “Got you dirtier,” he said, kicking the kid’s legs apart so his come dripped out of Peter’s ass down onto his thighs when he pulled out.

Tony put his cock back into his pants and walked back over to his work. Leaving Peter there, holding onto the edge of the workbench, gasping, his shorts down around his ankles. His ass totally wrecked. He picked up the hammer and started reshaping the tractor’s fender.

“Stick around and look pretty for me and I’ll get it up faster for round two. Those lips will be sweet wrapped around my cock.”

~~~~~

Richard snorted a laugh. “It figures you would find him and make him fuck you. I appreciate the fact that you find the slave who had a reputation for being a good fuck and want to have him as your sex slave. But I need a mechanic on the ranch. He was the best in the world at what he did — both as a mechanic and as a piece of ass. You get him after he’s done his work. I’ll cut his hours from twelve to ten. Getting your ass fucked doesn’t take that long.”

“Maybe not the way you do it,” Peter muttered. “Twelve to eight,” he bargained. “And if I’m in the mood, he sleeps with me.”

“I don’t care if he sleeps with you or sleeps with you, but he will be woken up at four thirty to start his day like the rest of the slaves. I’ll give you eight, but I expect him to complete a full workload in those eight. You know what I do to slaves who slack off.”

“I don’t care about that, as long as I can have him from the time he gets done working for you until the time he has to go back to it.”

“Christ, Peter. How long does it take him to fuck you?”

“Hours,” Peter said dreamily. “He can go three times if he has enough inspiration.” Peter smiled wickedly. “I was inspiring.”

Richard snorted again. “Slaves always brag about their skills. I knew Tony Stark. He was more ego than anything. That’s when he wasn’t busy being the world’s most famous drunk who let a multi-billion dollar tech conglomerate be mismanaged out from under him. But if you think he’s actually any good… one use for a slave’s as good as another. I’d be a hypocrite if I kept you from using a piece of meat to get off with. You’re welcome to him. But the minute your play time interferes with his primary use, he’s gone from your bed. And the punishment he’ll get for having wasted my time thinking he’s gone back to fucking for a living is going to be severe.”

~~~~~

Peter liked him dirty. Fresh off the day’s work. Sweaty and with a strong scent. The kid was an absolutely greedy cock whore for him. Whining and whimpering and begging for it. He let him come on his face. In his ass, down his throat, splattered up his back. And he’d wear it from one go til the next. Sometimes even all night as they slept tangled together.

Despite being his owner, Peter was considerate of Tony’s schedule. He always got a good night’s sleep and in the mornings, Peter often woke up with him and showered with him and had breakfast with him. Which wasn’t the bland goop they dished out in the slave quarters. Tony tasted bacon and eggs and pancakes again. Just like he used to have at home. The good food and the good sleep made his workday more efficient. And the regular orgasms didn’t hurt it either.

Nor did the post-fuck affectionate come-down they spent together.

They’d been fucking for almost two months when Peter curled up along Tony’s side. “Tony?” he asked softly.

“Yeah baby?” Tony pressed his face into Peter’s sweat soaked curls. He’d just given the kid his first experience with multiple orgasms. Peter was glowing, his body still soft and suffering the occasional shudder still running through him. Raising them both together slightly, Tony reached down the bed for the soft duvet and pulled it over Peter before the kid got chilled. Tony was always too hot to be covered, but Peter ran cold. “What do you need, precious?”

Peter looked up at Tony. “You.”

Tony snorted. “You own me. That’s not a problem.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Peter said sadly. “I want you.”

“Baby, if things were different, you’d have me too.” Tony ran his hand down Peter’s back underneath the covers. “You’re beautiful. I always liked beautiful things.”

“Is that all I’d be to you?” He nuzzled his face against the solid muscle of Tony’s chest.

“I don’t know, Pete.” It was hard to keep off the kid. He’d touch and he’d kiss whatever he could get to. Peter was like a sweet, sweet wine and he wanted every drop. But he knew to keep his distance. Everything was at the suffrage of his owner, Richard Parker. A fucking mediocre chemical engineer who got lucky with a couple of patents and retired early to play country squire on a slave-run ranch.

“You wouldn’t want me?”

“Oh baby, I’d want you plenty. That ass of yours is fuckin’ heaven.”

“Oh,” Peter said quietly.

“Pete, I don’t know you. I don’t know if I would’ve wanted more than to keep you in my bed for awhile. I know I was looking. Fucking around was losing its appeal. Sort of ‘been there done that’ and I’d fucked my way through the best ass in L.A. It was getting repetitive. But would it have been you? Who knows. All I know is that it isn’t you now. I don’t get to make those choices.”

“If you did?”

Tony snorted. “Do you have any idea of how much Obie drove Stark into debt? I’d be a slave for a hundred lifetimes if they could make me that long. And after all that, he still lost my fuckin’ company,” Tony said bitterly.

“Speculating about ifs?” Tony continued. “That’s a free man’s game. My only ‘if’ is if you’re gonna get bored with me or if your father gets a better offer than my value and sells me. That’s my fuckin’ if. This? This is all playing games, baby boy. They’re fun games and I enjoy the hell out of getting to pretend that I’m still me. But it’s a fuckin’ game that a free boy gets to play with my body that he owns.

“So would I want to keep you if I was still free? What the fuck difference does it make in the world I live in now?”

“But I like you, Tony.” Peter said hesitantly. “I more than like you.”

Tony snorted again. “You like my dick up your ass. You don’t know me, kid. You have no idea what I was like, what I did every day, what my real work was, the way my mind worked, nothing. So you ‘more than like me’. How the fuck can you do that, huh Pete? Now, do you wanna fuck again or do you wanna keep playing with my head. You own me. Your choice.”

Peter rolled away from Tony and they both went to sleep.

~~~~~

“Get cleaned up and meet me downstairs in the lab,” Peter said when Tony came in after his workday.

So more head-fucking and less dick-fucking for the day. Tony went to Peter’s room, showered, and dressed in a clean set of work clothes. He went downstairs to the last place in the world that he wanted to be. He’d rather be out in the fields. Ever since Richard Parker recognized him, he’d been worried about this. The bastard earning money off of his real skills. He decided when he got noticed that if it ever did happen, he’d sabotage the effort. He’d let the fucker beat him to death before he let him earn a penny off of what his brain could do.

“Yes, Young Master?” Tony asked once he was downstairs.

“This is dad’s space, mine’s over here.”

It reminded him of how it was in Howard’s house. There was Howard’s lab and workshop, much bigger than his and separated distinctly. Apparently it worked the same for Richard. Though Tony hadn’t realized that Peter was anything but a bubble butt airhead spoiled rotten twink. Not that he had a lab downstairs with his dad.

“I’ve been working on this new adhesive threading. Woven together I think it would be useful in a lot of ways,” Peter explained as he brought out his notes and samples of his work.

“I wasn’t a chemist, Young Master.” Inside the house, they had to revert to putting the ‘young’ in front of the designation because Richard was often around. “Your work is outside my area of expertise.” He hoped that would be the end of it. It wasn’t.

“3D manipulation of the chemical model would help. I don’t have the means for it. I’ve tried every modeling software that’s out there. No one at Stark has been able to get into your AI and retrieve your work. You used to have a 3D modeling table. I saw pictures of it in a journal when I was a kid.”

“I had no idea you were a chemist like the Master, Young Master.”

“I dropped out of college. Dad was pissed, but as long as I’m working and being self-taught, he deals with it. I don’t work a lot. He drives me nuts and I hate being down here. If I lived on my own, I’d do more, but… he holds the purse strings.”

Tony swallowed back a bitter chuckle. He remembered those days. The struggle to get a dime out of Howard while he was at MIT. “Well, if they can’t get the 3D table design out, it must be for a good reason, Young Master,” Tony said, meeting Peter’s eye with resolution.

“They can’t get any designs out. They can’t even get your AI, JARVIS, to be anything other than minimally functional.”

The corner of Tony’s mouth quirked up in a smirk. He’d tried to blackmail Obie into saving his ass by locking everything he’d ever worked on tightly away. Stane was convinced that his engineering team would be enough to keep Stark afloat. It wasn’t. Rather than let himself follow Tony into debt slavery, he flew his plane into the Pacific Ocean. Stark Industries was broken up and sold. Including the brand name. His name. Before his sale, Tony sent JARVIS off to the far reaches. A bit here, a bit there, seemingly unconnected but actually very much connected. JARVIS was just as capable as he was three years ago. And he still kept all of Tony’s secrets.

“I need your help with this, Tony,” Peter asked. His voice had a touch of the pleading tone it did when they were fucking.

“That’s nice,” Tony said harshly. “You’re not getting it.”

“You have to.”

“Yeah, no. Go on. Tell your father I’m uncooperative. I don’t give a fuck. You get my body. He gets my hands. Nobody gets my brain. So fuck you, Young Master,” Tony said with bitter sarcasm.

Peter turned, smiling, and ran to Tony. He stood on tiptoes and hugged his neck. “I love you,” he whispered into his ear.

Tony blinked, confused. “Wha…?”

“You refused me. You. Tony Stark, not Tony the slave.”

He snorted. “Oh joy. I’m still me inside here. I’m sure that’ll be beaten out of me soon enough. You’re an idiot, Peter.” He turned away and headed for the stairs. “I’ll be sleeping in the slave quarters with the rest of the ones like me.”

“Tony, stop. Please.”

On the first step, Tony turned. “Why? You want me in your bed tonight instead? Sure. Whatever the Young Master desires. You want my cock hard, just put those lips on it. You can ride me until you get yourself off. You wanna find out what it’s like to fuck someone? Not like I can stop you.” He stepped down and strode menacingly toward Peter. “I have one thing. One thing. And no one is getting that. You or Richard or whoever can flay my back until there’s not a scrap of skin left on it. You. Don’t. Get. It,” he spat. “You don’t get me.” He stood there quivering with anger.

“Is there a problem, Peter?” Richard said, walking through the door. He glared at Tony.

“No father. No problem. You know the kind of thing I like,” Peter said, with a flirty smirk. He walked over to Tony and ran his hand up the man’s arm. “I like this kind of thing right here. Rough and dirty with an absolutely huge dick that fucks like a beast.”

Richard chuckled. “That is far too much information, Peter.” He looked around Peter’s lab. “Keep your toys where they belong and not where they don’t.”

Peter climbed a few steps to stand above Tony. He reached down and tangled his fingers in the man’s thick hair and gave it a little tug. He looked at his father with a smug smile. “C’mon baby. I’ve got a hot hungry hole that needs filling.”

Richard shook his head and went back to his own lab.

~~~~~

“Are you having fun, Young Master?” Tony asked, a vicious tone in his voice, once they reached Peter’s bedroom and the door was shut behind them.

“God Tony stop that. You know I like it when you call me Peter.”

“Whatever you command, Peter.”

“Stop!” Tears ran down Peter’s face.

“I don’t know what you think is going to come of this. So you got me to remember who I was. So you think you fell in love with that man, a man you never knew and never will know. What, exactly, do you think any of this changes!”

“I don’t know!” Peter swiped at his eyes. “I just want you to be you. I want you to go home and to have your business back and to have your life back. I want you to be happy. I want to have a chance to get to know that man you say I don’t know. I want you to have your work back. I want you to have your inventions back. I want you to have JARVIS back. I w…”

Tony laughed bitterly. “Oh that’s a good game, Richard!” Tony shouted. “I assume you’re watching from somewhere, you pathetic little social climbing nobody! Sending your son to be a cute little piece of ass to soften me up. Whimpering at me with talk of twu wuv. You don’t think I can resist a good fuck? That I’m as weak willed as you are, you fucking cheat. Wanna tell Mary how many free mistresses you’ve had on the string over the years in addition to your pieces of slave ass? I don’t let my dick lead me everywhere, unlike you. I wasn’t anywhere near the playboy and the drunk I was made out to be. You’re a bigger imbecile than I thought you were if you believed that. How the hell could I have done the work I did if I was always staring at the bottom of a bottle like your wife? I was betrayed! I will let you torture me and tear me into little pieces and tear those little pieces into littler pieces before you get a single line of JARVIS’ code!”

“Tony I…”

“Oh shut the fuck up, Peter.” Tony took Peter by his upper arms and pushed him back to bounce on the bed. “I’m tired of the damn game.” He looked down at the boy coldly. “You bore me.” He walked out Peter’s balcony door, down the outer stairs, and went back to the garage the kid took him out of.

~~~~~

“Tire of your toy already, Peter?” Richard asked him a couple of days later, noting the lack of late night sounds from his son’s room.

Peter rolled his eyes. “God dad, seriously.”

“Lover’s spat?”

“Would you please!”

“Peter, if you want Stark back in your bed, I’ll order him back in your bed. If you’re done with him, I’ll make sure he stays away and fill his days with so much work he won’t have time to even think about you. I know it’s easy to get little crushes on slaves, but you have to remember who you are and what they are. Not what they used to be. Keep everyone in their proper place and the world turns smoothly.”

Peter huffed and shook his head, pushing away from the table to head upstairs to his room.

“So what’ll it be? Your bed or the garage?” Richard asked.

“Leave it the fuck alone! That’s what it’ll be!”

“Peter, language,” his mother slurred as he disappeared from the room.

~~~~~

Peter spent every afternoon for a week sitting on the fence railing, watching Tony work in the garage. The man never once looked up at him.

In the early morning, he rode off on his horse to parts unknown, coming back just in time to take up his fence sitting. When dinner was called, he ate quickly then locked himself in his room.

“Can you prove it?” Peter asked, finally hopping down off the fence and standing in the garage doorway.

“Prove what, Young Master?” Tony asked. He set down his tools and obediently stood still, his eyes cast downward.

“That you were betrayed.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Young Master. With your permission, the Master wishes this baler in working condition by tonight.”

“Tony, will you get over this? I’m trying to help you,” Peter said, stepping closer.

Tony didn’t move, but neither did he respond to Peter’s nearness. “I stand where the Master orders me to stand, Young Master. At this time, I am ordered to this garage.

Peter pushed himself to sit on the workbench. “Then don’t let me keep you from your work, slave,” he said, staring the man down.

They were like that until dinner was called. Peter watched while Tony worked, ignoring him. Peter went in and soon came back with a plate heaping full of food. He pushed back up on the workbench and resumed watching Tony as he ate. He heard a small snort of derision from the other side of the machine Tony was working on.

Four thirty the next morning, Peter was sitting on the workbench eating breakfast when Tony arrived to his duties.

“Kid, if you think a plate of bacon and eggs or roast beef is going to get you anywhere nearer to what your father wants…” he chuckled.

“Can you prove you were betrayed?”

“Gonna reopen my case?” Tony asked as he checked the schedule of work for the day. “How magnanimous of you. You think Richard’s gonna let you take one of his most profitable assets from him? Seriously kid, I don’t know what kind of game the two of you are playing now, but I’ve got work to do.”

Tony started his work and kept at it as he kept up his line of patter. “Don’t you have… I dunno… some high bred pretty boy to fuck you by now? Your father’s gotta be looking to marry you off to someone from a more socially acceptable family than that of a former middle manager at Dow. He’ll set you and your hubby up with a surrogate to produce the next Parker heir. Make you into a little boy-mommy.” Tony moved about the workshop, taking care of minor jobs. “And when he’s done stuffing his little dick up your empty hole and failing to make you come with it, you can go have a wank in the shower and remember what it was like to have mine, making you come so many times you were lying there, twitching, cock dry and still coming on my cock.”

Peter stormed out of the workshop.

“You shouldn’t talk to the Young Master that way,” the new slave, Quentin, who’d been bought to be Tony’s assistant, said. “Someone might tell the Master.”

“Get the fuck out of my workshop, Beck. I fired you once, I’m firing you again.”

“You can’t fire me, Stark. I was bought to work on the equipment, same as you.”

Tony threw a wrench at the other man’s head. “There’s a stalled tractor in the south pasture. Take that and get the fuck out.” The other man stalked over to him. Tony smirked. “You sure you wanna play that hand?” He got up in Beck’s face and marched him backwards out of the garage. Tony nodded to the door track in the floor. “That’s the line. Stay your ass on that side of it and out of my goddamn shop. Next time I won’t miss.” Tony picked up a tool bag and dropped it on the outside of the door-line. “South pasture. Tractor. If you think you can manage it.”

Tony doubted he could. Programming had been Beck’s field. Richard was stupid enough not to know, or not to care, about the difference between an engineer and a software engineer. There was a reason why Stark’s chemical division had taken a pass on Parker’s resume when it came across their desk.

~~~~~

The very latest model of tractor came with every bell and whistle imaginable. GPS, computer monitors, radio tracking, all the mod cons if a driver wanted to get inside, not that one was needed. They ran themselves.

Tony smiled once Richard took delivery of it and went back inside, leaving him to prepare it for work. Beck crossed the line to make a pest of himself.

“Get that tractor working yet?” Tony asked with a smirk.

“That’s more your line of work. The software on this is more mine.”

“Uh huh. Just how many Turing capable neural net artificial intelligences have you created? You can come back into my shop once you’ve got one under your belt. There’s a tractor you’ve been trying to get running for three days waiting for you.”

“It’s supposed to rain today,” Beck groused.

“Sounds like you’re gonna get wet.”

In the cab of the new tractor, Tony went to work. “Hello J, how’ve you been?”

“Fine, sir. Everything’s secure. May I say what a pleasure it is to hear from you again.”

“Same, J, same.” Tony dropped his voice to a low mutter. “Hear me like this? No earpiece?”

“Without difficulty.”

“Fine. You go silent. Display only. First order of business, you’re to cause a fault somewhere in this fuckin’ thing to get it in here every six to ten days, randomized.

~~~~~

“It’s back in the shop again?” Richard asked Tony.

“They’re fiddly things, Master,” Tony explained. “More advanced means more things to go wrong.”

“It’s because they’re controlled by computers, Master,” Beck volunteered. “More my field than a simple mechanic’s.”

Tony chuckled derisively. “Master, I don’t know what the auctioneer told you about this one… It’s a shame what they’ll do to take advantage of a good man. He lasted less than six months at Stark. Incompetent — he failed to complete one single project on time or under budget. Falsified education records — a UCLA drop out who never saw the inside of Caltech’s cafeteria, much less a classroom. But the kicker was that he was mentally unstable. Attacked three of his co-workers, Master. Without provocation. I hope that the thief who sold him to you sold him cheap.”

Beck looked apoplectic and about to prove the ‘mentally unstable’ accusation with one of his balled up fists to his former boss’ face.

“Thanks for that warning, Tony.” Richard said, looking Beck up and down. “As I recall, you were a computer expert as well as a mechanic.”

“A small skill, Master,” Tony demurred. “I’ll have this up and working for you before lunch.”

After a little over a month of continual faults, Tony convinced Richard that the best course of action was to bring the new, computer controlled tractor in for brief, once weekly, preventative maintenance. Scheduled for right before Tony’s workshift ended for the night, when there was no one around to see, or hear, what he was doing.

Beck never darkened the workshop door after Tony told Richard about him. And Peter too stayed away.

~~~~~

“You’re doing something, Tony,” Peter said, taking up his long-disused perch on the top of Tony’s workbench.

“Yes, Young Master. I’m cleaning the rust off the bumper of this 49 Mercury 8 Coupe the Master found under a tarp in the old barn.” Yeah, if the ‘old tarp’ was wherever the hell his cars had been sold, and this one left out to get all fucked up.

“No, that’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“I’m sorry Young Master, I don’t presume to know what you think I know.”

Peter laughed. “That was yours.”

“Really,” Tony drawled. “I never would’ve known from the Stark 15 license plate your father ‘conveniently’ left in the trunk.”

“Richard’s a shithead.”

“You’d know best, since the apple never falls far from the tree.”

“Dammit Tony! How long are you going to…”

“Going to what? I’m not the one with the power to keep me out of your bed. Or in it.”

“You’re working on something.”

“Yes, Peter. I’m working on one of my cars that your father, or whoever had it before him, treated like crap and let the chrome blister and rust.” He clicked his tongue as he pushed a fruit tree pit off the hood. It left a acid-eaten flaw in the finish. “That was factory paint. Not a dent on her. Engine perfect. She’ll never be what she was. She’s worthless, no matter what I do to fix her. Not that Richard will know the difference.”

“What is it?”

“A… bumper?” Tony said, playing dumb.

“I could help you, you know?”

Tony snorted. “I heard that offer before. Come up with something original.” He paused. “Or are you still a boring fuck.”

~~~~~

“Dad’s worried.”

Tony crawled out from under the car and looked over at Peter, where he always was when he came to pester him. “‘Dad’?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Dad, Richard, whatever. It doesn’t matter. He’s worried.”

“And this concerns me, how?”

“I think it’s bad, Tony.”

“As I said.”

Peter pushed himself off the workbench in a huff. “If the ranch goes under, you’ll be sold with the property!”

“And, as I said, this concerns me… how? I’m a slave. Of course I’ll be sold with the rest of Richard’s property.”

“This is your fault!”

Tony chuckled. “You have amazing faith in my ability to do anything from my position.”

“It is!”

Tony pushed himself back under the car. “If I’m sold off for Richard’s debts, I won’t be the only one, Peter.”

Peter pulled on Tony’s feet, yanking him out from under the car again. “Do you hate me that much?”

“To hate someone, you have to care. I don’t give a damn about you, Peter, one way or the other.”

~~~~~

“Nice to see you back, Mr. Stark,” the oily, obsequious man who welcomed him into the auction house said.

“You never saw me before. I never bought slaves.”

“I merely meant…”

“I know what you meant.” Tony brushed past the man.

“Someone who didn’t have a taste for it, yet here you are.”

“Looking for more lab rats for your failed experiments, Killian?”

Tony went to the bank of auction agents. He whispered in the woman’s ear and left just as the auctioneer called out, “Parker Estate, lot one.”

~~~~~

“You were working on something,” Peter said from his position, his ankle chained to the foot of Tony’s bed, when the man arrived home.

“A bumper, as I recall.”

“How?”

Tony undid his tie and started to undress. “A fatal mistake.”

“What was it he did?”

“Aren’t you an insolent little slave, asking all those questions of your master.”

“I wouldn’t be a slave if it wasn’t for you.”

“Really,” Tony said in that same slow drawl he did the last time he saw Peter. “You’re a bright boy, baby. If you figure it out, I’ll fuck you and instead of fucking whatever boy I bring home from the party tonight.”

“It’s why you got rid of Quentin,” Peter said with a sly smile as Tony came out of the dressing room, changing into his evening clothes.

“I got rid of Beck because he pissed me off. Again.”

“Maybe. That wasn’t why though.”

“Do tell, Peter, why did I get rid of Beck?”

“He was the only one other than you who knew computers.”

“I’m sure you know your way around a keyboard.”

“Well duh. But I wasn’t out in the workshop.”

“You were out there too much,” Tony said, continuing to change his clothes. They were a few years out of fashion — almost four to be precise — but black tie didn’t change much.

“Yes, but I hardly took interest in Richard’s new, computer controlled, tractor.”

Tony’s lips quirked up as he fastened his watch on his wrist. Worth more than what Peter went for. “So I had computer access? How did that help me? It wasn’t connected to the internet.”

“Oh please, Tony. It had GPS. Satellite connections. All you had to do was aim the GPS at a different satellite. Like one that Stark Industries used to own.”

“Hmm. Still don’t see how that…”

“JARVIS. God, Tony. I had Richard convinced I was an idiot. I didn’t think I had you convinced.”

“Well, it wasn’t like you had me with you to show off your scintillating conversation skills. You had better things to do with your mouth. Which I look forward to finding out if you’re as good at when you’re not the one in charge.”

“Well?” Peter asked. “Are you coming home alone?”

“You have the method, but how?” He propped his foot up on the edge of the bed to tie his shoe. “It’s some whoeverthefuck’s birthday. Producer. Fond of pretty young men. Sure to be plenty to choose from for me to bring home. Maybe I’ll let you suck him off while I fuck him.

“Gotta go. Happy’s going to swing me by Audi to pick up my new car. Seems like they love having me promote them again.”

“Did you get Stark Industries back?” Peter asked.

Tony laughed. “Of course.”

“All of it?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you got every bit of it back except the chemical division that Richard bought cheap.”

“I did make the others better offers,” he admitted. “But Stark Chemical is back in the fold now, since Richard’s play at country squire failed. I even own your father, pet. I never ran Stark on slaves, not when so many need work. But even at a good salary, it’s always hard to find tank scrubbers. And I don’t have to pay a slave haz-mat pay.”

“What happened to mom?” Peter asked, a little quietly.

“No fuckin’ clue. Don’t care.” He heard Peter sniffle. “Yeah, she was your mom. She also beat the hell out of a kitchen slave for breaking a plate. She had a mean hand with a cane, and because she was drunk all the time, her aim sucked. The girl died. So spare me your fuckin’ tears. You’re lucky you have a tight ass and are cute. That wouldn't have gone well for you if I hadn’t taken a liking to your mouth.”

“You started out with JARVIS working from the outside in,” Peter said quickly, answering the ‘how’. “First, set up a dummy corporation in the name of someone you trust who wasn’t more than an employee. I expect Pepper Potts is the new CEO of Stark Industries,” Peter continued evenly. “Name brand came cheapest. Gotta get your name back first and foremost. Divisions, cheapest inward.

“No.” Peter stopped. “That’s wrong.” He looked around the room. “You wouldn’t have had to go cheap. You had assets never disclosed. Swiss. Hard, not currency, not electronic. Gold. Gems?” He looked at Tony sideways. “Oh yeah. Pretty sparkly things. Rich dad like yours musta spent a fortune on his trophy wife. Gold and gems. JARVIS gave Ms. Potts the number. Now the buyback is fully funded. But that’s not going to get you your freedom. You were forty billion in debt. What was left of Stark wasn’t worth anywhere near that much.” Peter closed his eyes. “Your patent files, those were bought back in your scheme, but now owned by the dummy, unable to be used. Work in progress at the time of your sale… sure. That might get you a little, but there was no guarantee to whoever funded you that your plan would work and it wouldn’t be a worthless investment because you’d still be a slave.”

Peter laughed. “You sold the only thing you wouldn’t give up. Him.” Peter nodded up at the ceiling where he’d heard the disembodied voice when he was brought in and chained to Tony’s bed.

“Not exactly, but close enough. His brother, TADASHI. Not quite as versatile or intelligent, but enough. Look for a new interface on the next gen i devices. Of course the next Stark devices will make those obsolete before they hit the consumer as I downport some of JARVIS’ most basic functions, but give them his brand name, that everyone knows is my personal creation. Sorry, J.”

“That’s entirely fine, sir. The proliferation of my code through hundreds of thousands of devices…”

“That’s enough, J,” Tony said warningly. “So I guess I’m coming home alone tonight, Scheherazade.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I suck at storytelling.”

Tony chuckled. “Good thing you don’t suck at sucking. Ever get your face fucked, baby boy?” Tony shrugged into his jacket. “Just a little something for you to look forward to when I get back.”

“Two last questions,” Peter called out just before Tony left the room.

Tony smiled. “Make them good.”

“The fatal mistake.”

He laughed. “Letting my car get ruined.”

“Seriously?”

Tony shrugged. “It was the one I never drove. I drive all my cars. Even the Shelby. But that one had less than a hundred miles on it. Showroom. And it was pristine. One hundred percent factory condition. Much like Richard claimed, it was found under a tarp in an old barn. So yes. That was your father’s fatal mistake.” He paused. “Question two?”

“‘I wouldn’t be a slave if it wasn’t for you’.” Peter quoted himself.

“Not exactly a question. And its answer self-evident in the previous.

“A car. For want of a car, I’d be free.”

“People have been sold for less. I was always going to regain my freedom and my company. Once Obie was dead, there was no reason to stay a slave. I just had to survive long enough to get the pieces to fall into place. Get sold to the right person. One who would recognize me. One who would let me work at what I’m good at.”

“You had this all set up?”

“‘I had Richard convinced I was an idiot. I didn’t think I had you convinced’,” he tossed back. “Have a lovely evening, Peter. Your chain reaches the bathroom. Be clean, prepared, and naked when I get home.”

“When will that be?” Peter asked.

“When I walk through that door ready to use your body however I see fit, slave.”

[eldritchsurveys]

792.

What would you call your body type? >> I don’t call it anything. Most of the time I’m trying to forget I even have a body.

Are you a morning person? >> Yeah, something like that. Particularly on sunny mornings.

Have you ever been to Target? >> I’ve been to Target many times.

Do you like iced tea? >> Sure, as long as it’s not loaded with sugar.

When is the next time you'll be at work? >> ---

Do you have a savings account? >> I do have a savings account. There’s rarely anything of note in there, though. The only reason there’s a goodly amount in there now is because of the stimulus check -- I took an opportunity to put in the amount of one month’s payment for my computer, just in case my finances got fucked up one month or something.

Has anyone ever hacked your accounts before? >> Not to my knowledge. If so, it was probably an account I’d already abandoned.

What color bedsheets are currently on your bed? >> Grey.

Have you ever been to Disney World? If so, how many times have you been? >> I’ve never been.

Does grammar and capitalization mean anything to you? >> Sure. All forms of language need some kind of rule system in order to be effective, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to communicate with others at all. Even the dialects that people deride for not being “proper” have grammatical rules -- as becomes painfully obvious when non-Black people try to use AAVE lmao. As far as capitalisation is concerned, I use the proper forms of it on surveys (I don’t know why, I just always have) but an “improper”, casual form almost everywhere else on the internet. My familiarity and ease with the English language is pretty well demonstrated by all the different forms of it I switch between on a regular basis, and I enjoy playing with and learning the variations of language like this.

Are you good at wrapping gifts for others? >> Yeah, I can wrap a gift pretty well.

Do you have a dirty clothes hamper in your room? >> No, the hampers are in Sparrow’s room (her room is just bigger, lol).

What would you say is your favorite television show? >> I wouldn’t, really. I like a lot of shows.

Do you enjoy big holiday dinners? >> I don’t really have a feeling about them. They’re not something I care about, but I’m not necessarily averse to them either.

Is your vision good? >> It is.

Is there any piece of jewelry you're constantly wearing? >> Just the jewelry in my piercings.

What is one thing you desire as of now? >> It’s complicated.

What kind of phone do you have? >> Moto g6 Play. The only reason I remember this now is because my headphones always announce the name of whatever it’s connecting to.

If you could move anywhere, where would you choose? >> Somewhere southerly.

Do you have any obsessions? >> I mean, maybe. I just don’t notice anymore.

Do you blog a lot, if at all? >> Not formally. I just reblog stuff on tumblr and sometimes make an original post. Also, I do this.

Is your present hair color, natural? >> Yeah.

What makes you the most angry when it comes to people? >> I just hate how contemptuous other people can be of stuff they don’t understand. Instead of just being like “eh, I don’t grok it, it doesn’t jive with me” it becomes “that’s so sad that people do [x]” or “I’m not a loser, I don’t do [x]” or whatever. Even when it comes to calling people “stupid” and “disgusting” for their opinions or their lifestyles. I am far from being a particularly kind person, but every day I try my best to evaluate people’s actions for what they are and how they affect me instead of just labelling them inferior for not being like me; but people who will call themselves kind in a heartbeat are the first people to just tear into someone for not upholding whatever standard they’ve got built up in their heads for humanity. I’m just sick of it, and it’s why I don’t really get involved with people all that much. There’s always going to be that moment when they say something judgemental, and as it goes, eventually that judgemental attitude is going to be turned on me.

Describe your current outfit? >> It’s just a pair of harem pants, an undershirt, and a thin sleeveless top with a weird design on the front, heh. I don’t know where I got this top from, but I need about 15 more of them. It’s so comfortable.

What was the last thing you ordered online? >> I think the last thing I ordered was a new nightstand.

Have you ever felt as though you were drifting apart from a best friend? >> No.

What color are your eyes? >> Dark brown.

Have you ever worn color contacts? >> Yeah. My first pair were violet, and later on I wore white ones (or one white one, Marilyn Manson-style).

What's the best thing about a hug? >> I don’t know. I don’t receive any of the benefits of hugs. (Inworld hugs are very nice, though. They feel warm.)

Biggest fear? >> Some vague hyper-imaginative stuff about death.

If you have a significant other, how long have you been together? >> Can Calah has been here for about 9 years, I think, and with Sparrow it’s been 8 years. My general idea is that Can Calah was here for about a year before the thing with Sparrow started, so that’s how I measure it.

Do you know any genuinely friendly people? >> Sure.

Do you buy your friends gifts? >> Not usually.

What was the last thing you plugged in? >> My laptop.

How old are you? >> This is my last day being 32.

What color headphones do you own? >> Black.

Have you ever shopped on Urban Outfitters? >> Nope.

Where do you buy the majority of your clothing? >> I don’t really have a place that I buy the majority of my clothing from.

Would you rather wear necklaces or earrings? >> Necklaces.

Do you consider yourself fortunate? >> Sure, in some cases. Not so much in others.

Do you enjoy watching fights? >> No.

Have you ever been in a physical fight? >> Yeah.

Do you tend to talk badly about people? >> No, if there’s one thing I consider myself committed to working on, it’s how I speak about and treat other people -- like I was discussing in an earlier question. I guess it makes up for my lack of emotional attachment.

Where are your parents as of now? >> ---

Does your computer cooperate most of the time? >> Yeah, my machines have always gotten along pretty well with me. I try my best to treat them well and I like to think they operate at their best because of it.

Does your family have any cheesy traditions? >> ---

When did you last go to a book store? >> Whew, good question.

What's the closest book store where you live? >> Maybe Schuler’s.

How much money do you have on you right now? >> I don’t have any money on me, but there’s like five dollars in cash in my wallet-thing.

Favorite personal feature? >> ---

Are you wearing make up at the moment? >> No.

Favorite television channel? >> I don’t have one. My favoured streaming service is Hulu.

Describe any piercings or tattoos you might have? >> Ehhhh I feel like I do this constantly.

Have you ever been fired from a job? >> No. Unless Second Life jobs count, lmao.

Are you currently losing a best friend? >> No.

Describe the worst day of your life: >> ---

Do you play any video games? >> I do.

Would you say you hate anyone? >> I would not say that.

Do you think freckles are cute? >> I don’t have a feeling about them one way or the other.

Last time you went to the mall? >> God... December?

Name something that's your favorite color: >> This cool ring I have.

Have you been to Red Lobster before? >> Yeah, a long time ago. I nearly lost my mind when I tasted a cheddar bay biscuit for the first time.

Do you judge by appearances? >> Judge what, exactly? There is some information I process through appearance, yeah -- like, I assume that a person wearing a Behemoth t-shirt and black jeans with a chain wallet is probably a metalhead. Or that a person with impeccable hair and nails and makeup is probably really fussy about their appearance. The thing is, these are still things that I could possibly be wrong about, but it’d be harmless.

Do you follow a certain religion? >> No.

Who is your role model, if you had to choose? >> I don’t have to choose, and there’s no one I would choose.

Would you rather have nice hair or lips? >> What...

What are you most self conscious about? >> Just... existing. I don’t like being observed at all most of the time.

Do you have any family members who live out of town? >> ---

Do you consider yourself short? >> No. I mean, I am short in comparison to a lot of people, but it’s not something I think about like that.

What room are you in? >> Mine.

Hoodies or jackets? >> Hoodies.

Are you outside a lot? >> Not a lot, no. There’s nowhere to really go, especially nowadays. I’d sit outside more often if I didn’t live in an apartment complex. Like, this would be a great day to just lounge about in a yard.

Have you ever been dumped via text message? >> No.

Do you like dreamcatchers? >> I mean, they’re pretty.

Favorite crayon color? >> ---

What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? >> V. (I don’t know why I have a favourite letter of the alphabet when I don’t have favourites for so many other things. It just be like that.)

Do you hate repetitive people and things? >> Er... like, not as a rule, I guess. But there are some repetitive things I hate, like certain sounds.

Do you think autocorrect is a blessing or curse? >> It’s neither to me, I just don’t use it.

Do you believe in any particular curses? >> I don’t have any experience with curses.

Ever play a Ouija board? >> No, I never got around to making one and now I just don’t care anymore.

What movie scares you the most? >> ---

What was your bedtime as a child? >> Damned if I remember. Probably like eight.

Reason why your favorite holiday is your favorite: >> I just enjoy the vibes. Also, I’ve got a thing for old St Nick.

Do you work with any close friends? >> ---

Do you consider yourself spoiled? >> No.

Do you listen to any country music? >> Sure.

Have you ever taken a keyboarding class? >> No.

Favorite high school teacher: >> ---

Do you ever get drunk? >> I’ve been drunk many times, but it’s not something I get into much these days. I like a good buzz, but anything beyond that is just overkill.

Have you ever had highlights before? >> No.

Favorite number: >> 9 / 19.

Do you still sleep with any stuffed animals? >> I sleep with way more stuffed animals now than I did when I was a child, actually.

What is your biggest regret in life? >> ---

Do you enjoy social situations? >> I enjoy ones I have explicitly chosen and that I have some measure of control over. Not like, control over the conversation or anything, I just mean the interaction is happening in an environment I find comfortable and/or I can leave whenever I feel the need, stuff like that.

Would you say you think you have a mental disorder of some kind? >> I don’t care about whether I have a mental disorder of some kind, I just care about learning to live with myself without punishing myself for not being “normal”.

Are you normally an independent person? >> I have a disordered attachment style which makes me feel like I need to be independent all the time, but I cognitively know better than to think humans really work like that.

Do you have any paintings? >> Yeah.

What is one clothing fad you wish never existed? >> ---

Do you like to be organized? >> Yeah, I really do. It makes me feel peaceful to see an organised space.

Have you ever failed a class before? >> Probably. I also got no credit at all for one class, which is probably worse.

Ever been judged because of your weight? >> I mean, probably, even though I’ve never been particularly over- or underweight. People will judge anything.

What is your favorite breakfast cereal? >> ---

Ever had a wish come true? >> ---

Do you regret meeting any of your exes? >> Nah. It’s not that deep. (It’d probably be that deep if any of them had been, like, violent abusers or something like that. But nah, they were just... people. With all the flaws inherent thereof.)

Do you own any coloring books? >> Yeah, but I never use it anymore, lol.

What's the meanest thing someone's called you? >> I don’t know.

Have you ever bullied someone? >> No.

Do you ever watch Lifetime? >> No.

Ever tried to intentionally sabotage someone's grade? >> No. How would one even go about doing that?

Do you own any brown clothing? >> Yeah, I have one Dark Tower shirt that’s brown. I hardly ever wear it, though, it just fits weird.

What color are your walls painted? >> Off-white or whatever.

Last thing you drank: >> Water. (Wourder.)

Have you ever seen a tornado in person? >> Nope. I hope to see one one day. (hope it isn’t the last thing I see, hah)

Do you have an inground pool at your house? >> No.

What is the first digit of your phone number? >> 6.

What's the prettiest town you've been to? >> *shrug*

Do you tend to sleep a lot? >> Nah, my body seems to err on the side of sleeping less rather than sleeping more.

Silver or gold jewelry? >> Gold.

Do you sometimes celebrate holidays early? >> No.

Have you ever been in love? >> I don’t know.

What's the best gift you've ever received? >> I don’t know.

When was the last time you showered? >> Monday afternoon.

Would you consider yourself attractive? >> No.

Has anyone made you mad today? >> No.

Favorite smell: >> Oh, who knows. There are a lot of good smells in the world.

Are you afraid of insects? >> I’m knee-jerk afraid of some. Like anything that makes a buzzing sound (wasps, bees, flies, whatever), because the sound startles me badly and triggers my flight response. But I know I’m not just overall-afraid of bees or anything because I love bees, love watching them, and I’d totally let a bee just crawl around on me without feeling the same impulse. It’s just that damned sound.

Do you have any children? >> No.

If so, what are their names? >> ---

Would ever consider having children in the future? >> I’ve considered it. And I’ve concluded that I’d rather not.

Have you ever lived on a farm? >> No.

Ever played any sports? >> Briefly, in school.

Do both of your parents have jobs? >> ---

Where is the best place you've been on vacation to? >> New Orleans.

Are you afraid people won't accept you? >> What people? Generally, I’m not fussed about being accepted by just... random people. But I’d want, like, my friends to accept me...

Are you, for the most part, an honest person? >> Yeah.

Did you make prank phone calls as a child? >> No. My father definitely would have whooped my ass for that.

Do you like to make donations? >> I don’t make donations.

Favorite movie at the time being: >> The Fountain.

What is your current ringtone? >> I have no idea what the default ringtone on this phone is, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it.

Meet anyone from your past lately? >> No.

Have you ever called a teen suicide line? >> No.

Have you ever caught something on fire? >> On purpose, sure. Like a cigarette or a candle. Not anything that shouldn’t be aflame.

Ever been obsessed with a show? >> Yep.

What type of perfume or cologne do you use? >> I use a roll-on oil.

What's the last book you read? >> The last book I finished was The King In Yellow. Well, I finished the good stories, anyway.

Dream career: >> ---

Have you ever climbed a mountain before? >> Yeah, but not like, the whole thing.

At what age do you plan to get married? >> I was married at 32.

Ever been in a car accident? >> No.