#some are shit cameras some are half decent

[towerofglass]

top pic: take AA batteries. all but the right two power on with old batteries. gonna try fresh ones on the others.

middle pic: pretty sure i have a nikon battery in the mail that will fit

last pic: all have their proprietary batteries and looks like i could charge with DC power?

bonus: strangers' photos and usable storage for most of these.

a few of these take old ass weird memory cards that i'll have to track down.

i went too far. i always go too far. just couldnt pass them up.

[lusalemaart]

🥛🍔

[rosegolden13]

Pictures TF-141 have of you on their phones!!

cw: stalking (but not malicious I promise)

Gaz is definitely a professional photographer. He’s just artsy like that. He’ll take the most perfect photos of you and you don’t even have to train him. He just knows how to do it. Honestly, it kind of makes you jealous how talented he is and he’s so nonchalant about it, too. Maybe it was an ex-girlfriend that taught him all this? (It wasn’t, he just has sisters, he’s a sisters kind of guy for sure). The lighting is always perfect and he’ll even help you pose, guide you into position with his hands. Is it mostly an excuse to touch you? Yes. Do the pictures always come out good? Also yes. His favorites are the more domestic ones: you wearing his shirt in the kitchen with the morning sunlight filtering through the window, you cuddled up on the couch with two blankets and a hoodie with a goofy smile on your face. These are the ones that are printed out, folded into his pocket and accidentally put through the wash, or tucked into his wallet.

Simon only has pictures of you that are as unnerving as they are sweet because you have never seen him take *any* of these but he has almost a thousand all in its own album dedicated to you. Yes, some of them are your regular selfies or posed pictures of you next to a pretty fountain or across the table on a date. His favorites are of you and him together- he likes the reminder that you’re really his. But the large bulk of the pictures are taken from strange distances… You at the bar laughing with your friends at girls night when you’re absolutely positive Simon was supposed to be at home waiting for you… and then there’s the one where you’re on your morning jog… The only explanation he gives you is a casual shrug and a gruff "It's for your protection, love." Just be glad you didn’t scroll to the very top of the album because there’s some from before you two were dating. Ahem… enough of that creep…anyways…

Price has the most terrible pictures of you. I’m talking god awful. Like most of them are of you in your pajamas, unshowered, messy hair, no makeup, and to make matters worse, it’s taken at the worst angle known to man. Of course, a few of them are decent because they’re ones you have sent him but if he’s taking the picture? He’s bound to zoom in way too much and get the strangest angle THEN he’ll even coo at the picture, proud of himself. In half of them, you’re trying to smack the camera away- he always chuckles at those ones when you look through them together. When you try to insist that he delete these, he genuinely frowns, entirely confused like they’re not the most heinous pictures. “What do ya mean, love? Look at that, that’s my girl. I’m keepin’ ‘em all.” Lovesick man tsk, tsk. Don’t ever tell him that he can change his lockscreen from the default or it’ll absolutely be the most embarrassing picture of you imaginable.

Soap is also artsy and can take good pictures of you but half the time, he chooses not to. He likes to capture the chaos and there is some beauty to that, too. So, yes, he’s got some cinematic pictures of you on hikes overlooking a view or on the beach where you're lounging in the sun. But mostly his camera roll is filled with blurry selfies from when you two were drunk at the bar or videos from when you two got scolded at the grocery store for pushing each other down aisles in grocery carts. His personal favorite and lockscreen is a picture of you with your face all scrunched as he squeezes your cheeks between his thumb and forefinger. There's also a scattering of sketches he's drawn of you on classified documents and then secretly snapped a picture of. He'd be in deep shit if Price found out about those... "Keep 'em a secret, lass, will ya?"

Okay just one more of these cuz they're so fun hehe. Yes, ik Price is probs great at tech from being in the military but I like to imagine he's sucky at an iphone- it's so endearing.

[ronearoundblindly]

omg not me freaking out that i am part of the group that gets bait gifs! FRIENDS!!!!!!! i'm fine. i'm chill. don't leave me!

This took me a minute to figure out what I wanted Sir Dorksalot to have done that was sketchy enough to have him make this face...

Watch The Fish, Jake Jensen x reader headcanon wholeass fic in bullet format because my god this got long

Warnings for mentions of masturbation and porn, accidental then totally intentional voyeurism, awkward and oblivious!Jake--so just Jake, yeah?--and smutty implications...

🥹 roommates to lovers 😊

you rent a pretty large house maybe even with one or two others at first, but they move out

jake has to use it as a crashpad sometimes because he'll be away for so long at a time, but he pays rent and the entire electrical & internet bill no matter what

you keep a fish tank in the living room

after jake comes back from months in hiding abroad away, he gets so excited to be home and spend time with his niece that he hosts an after-game pizza party for her soccer team

someone practices headbutting the ball inside and nearly topples the tank

jake catches the whole thing with his broad arm-span and a decent amount of strength just in time when it wobbles the whole table beneath it. his heart nearly stopped, and he's so grateful the glass didn't break. thank god you weren't home.

however, you insist on moving the fish to your room instead once he tells you.

jake's a little sad to see them go. he pouts so much you decide to take pity on him, buying a web cam to mount beside the tank so jake can watch them whenever he wants. he loves to do voices for each one, personalities, soap-opera-like dramatic storylines, the works

as an aside you ask him if the sound can be turned off on the camera. jake says yeah but he mostly means he can turn it to mute on his computer.

which he does, for the record, but he has to remember to do it each time he pulls up the feed of da fishies. honestly, half the time he's wearing headphones and the other half you aren't home while he puts the Marauders (because there's just one fat one) onto his third monitor for background.

so he forgets that the sound is on and a thing he might need to avoid

weeks later, maybe months, jake finally removes his headphones after a very long stint of coding, completely unaware of what time it is and that you are home in your room

at first, jake is dead convinced that some porn ad has popped up in a window behind his work, something he would go apeshit about and ransomware bomb the shit out of whoever wrote such slippery spam

the fish are peaceful as ever, blooping away whilst jake frantically closes program after program trying to find the hot chick moaning on his desktop...until it's all closed and the buzzing remains though his tower's fan stopped...then the squelching noise starts

jake is frozen in place, looking away from the fish like they're the damn problem, but he doesn't cut the feed

he...he shouldn't

he should turn it off or just mute it like he promised

and he tries

he tries really hard, gang

it's the cursor's fault that it hits the command to send the audio to his bluetooth headphones instead of mute

and he sets the headphones down on the keyboard, gnawing on his bottom lip and watching his closed bedroom door in anticipation of...getting caught, maybe? he's not sure

he watches the fish putter around like it's no big deal

which it isn't, right?

you're human. he's human. humans have urges. they touch themselves--they touch each other, too--and there's no harm in that. if anything...jake encourages it, or he would...if you knew that he knew about this

the noises are so faint from the itty bitty speakers two feet from his face, but he doesn't pick them up, still debating what to do

because there's a big difference between what jake should do in this situation and what he wants to do

he mutes audio and then cuts off the livestream

at least, that's what he did the first time it happened

he knows he's a perv. jake can't help it.

it becomes a game of sorts. it's like practice recon for learning a target's routine. not that jake needs practice at the job he already fucking has but that's how his brain justifies laying on his own bed in the glow of the fish tank feed with his headphones turned way up

he knows your bed is on the other side of your room from when he moved the fish tank in

he knows what your underwear look like from the laundry room downstairs

he knows what you smell like from the shared bathroom and the products lining your shelf

he now knows there's a bottle of toy cleaner in one of your sink drawers

and he shouldn't but he absolutely touches himself listening to you, fists himself when you're fucking a toy he imagines six-shapes-to-Sunday, teases himself when all you're doing is breathing softly from across the whole house and he's cold and covered in cum by the end

to be fair, jake hates himself because of all this, but he is now mildly addicted

he doesn't even exit out of the livestream anymore. it just stays up on his monitor like a screensaver, but he doesn't realize that once he takes his headphones out of range, the audio transfers to his speakers again

so jake goes on a mission for a few days, and at some point while you are cleaning up your room, playing music, you find two pairs of jake's socks in your load of clean laundry and go to toss them in his room...where the same music you're listening to way down the hall is playing...in sync...

you're horrified and then embarrassed and then quickly realized it might mean nothing

you have to test if it means something

jake returns from his mission on complete autopilot

just so damn tired

throws down his duffle on top of some socks he doesn't remember leaving out and just hits the shower for a long, long time

he hasn't talked to you yet

he hasn't even seen you except your car is home and your door is shut

he goes about his business

the volume on his speakers isn't high but he hears you speaking and assumes you're on the phone

he pays it no mind. he is glad to be home, glad you're fine since he's just been in a part of the world where most people are not safe.

in a weird sort of way, he feels he's earned the mundane sort of comfort that comes from "the same ol'" of this house

he's wiped out, so he crawls into bed with his headphones immediately, hair barely toweled dry, not bothering with boxers because...why make more laundry?

and then the worst thing happens

there's a man's voice coming through his headphones, and jake scowls in frustration and rage

did you go and get a fucking boyfriend? in a couple of days? or goddamnit is this some tinder shit in his home right now?

but it only gets worse

he can hardly contain himself, what with the gagging sounds and this dude telling you to take it like the whore you are, and JAKE WILL LITERALLY BURN THIS PLACE DOWN

now his ass is putting on clothes

now his ass is ready to riot

the sex gets more and more degrading; spanking noises and even choking, but not in a seemingly consensual way, which is when jake rips his headphones off, storms down the hall and barrels straight through your bedroom door

where...you...aren't

no one is. no you. no man.

just your laptop sitting on your desk near the fish tank, playing the money shot of a porn video he was just listening to

get the fuck out. get out. get out. his brain screams, and he bolts

he makes it three feet before stopping short

you're standing at the top of the stairs, a bowl of ice cream in hand, licking the spoon unbelievably slowly with your whole tongue

you're fucked. you're fucked. you're fucked. his brain adds helpfully.

"hey, jakey," you say with a smile. "whatcha doing?"

A/N: this cat is officially my reaction to pretty much everything because...well...it's very accurate.

[Main Masterlist; Jake Jensen Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

THERE'S A SEQUEL!

[starsomens]

I'm sorry if you're not taking these type of requests or any at all, but I had a thought...

So imagine, after you and noah made one more sex tape and you're editing it he gets so turned on by watching you guys fuck, how hot you looked and how well he fucked you that he wants to fuck you right there and then.

And after ,you're just finishing editing, and you're cockwarming him for the rest of the time it takes to have a half decent tape :)

Obviously, he is a perfectionist. He'll finish the rest by himself until it looks like a movie ( playing with himself along the way because he just can't resist how beautiful you looked taking him)

Thank yooou

Kisses for you 😘 😘😘😘🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Note: I....ANON! I don't know where yall be storing these stories, it amazes me to no end!

Warnings: SEX! Unprotect PIV (protection first!!), dirty talk, creampie, rough-ish sex, recording, watching your own sex tape, masturbating, slight somnophilia (masterbating while reader is asleep),

You open the door to your room and go right to your boyfriend who sat in front of his computer. You open your bottle of water and take a seat in his lap, after taking a few gulps you off him but he declines. You set the bottle down and lean on his chest watching his computer screen. What was he doing? Well you were currently watching him edit your sex tape. After the first time you made one it kind of became a habit. The tapes became longer, the editing started taking place, and of course more rounds came when editing or watching.

"I like that shot," you said pointing to the screen "You make a good camera man babe" you compliment. The shot was set up at the corner of you bed, filming you in a low doggy position. Noah's arms caging you in, his body low to your own as he thrusted into you. The thrusts werea bit shallow but they were strong and felt amazing. You were able to see Noah fucking you so nicely, and your face while he did so

"Yeah I like it too, look how well you're taking me," he rewinds to the start of that segment to when he first pushes in "I also noticed how your eyes roll back whenever I put it in" he chuckles. Another thing he loves about sex tapes he can visible see what your body reacts to the best.

He lets the segment play to review the edits he made, the sounds of your moans and his grunts leak from the speakers. The slushes of your juices being pumped in and out of you only added to the erotic scene. Noah feels you wiggle in his lap as you watch the screen intently. He leans into yoru ear and whispers

"Like what you see princess?"

"mmmmm" you couldn't help it! At first it was a bit strange to watch yourself get fucked but after some time, to becomes unbearably arousing. Noah's hand trails down to your pussy and rubs over the fabric of your panties, Luckly you only had on one of his shirts. He could feel how hard he was getting the longer he watched.

"Tell me princess, tell me what you want" he asks as he grinds upwards against your ass. His breath becoming heavy against your neck as his digits dip into your aching pussy. His fingers dragging in and out against your sweet spot, your legs spread to allow him more access.

"Mmm I want...your dick," you moan as you grind against his hand, your moans nearly syncing with the ones on the screen.

"Use your manners princess," he kisses your skin as his other hand begins to slip his hard cock out of his underwear.

"P-please!" you nearly beg as you can feel your juices start to drip out on to his fingers

"Good girl....so good for me," he slips his fingers out and licks up your slick juices. His hands find your thighs and adjusts you on his lap, you hover over his dick, as he aligns himself with your entrance.

"Now, sit on my dick like a good little slut," you whimper as you sit down on his hard cock. You were still a little sensitive from how you were just an hour ago. You let yourself slide all the way down, his cock stretching and filling you to the brim

"OH...fuck...." "shit," you both moan out, you back arching away from Noah. Noah hits play on his computer and spanks the side of your ass

"Come on princess, fuck yourself on daddy's dick," you start to rock your hips in circles, making sure to push back a little extra for him to see. He lifts up the shirt you wore up and over your head. His large hand comes down and strikes your skin and grabs at it "yeah baby...just like that..." he watches as your hips bounce up and down his cock. He spreads your ass to watch more clearly.

"Fuck Noah....fuck so good!" you moan

"Mhm, that's right princess...tell me how good you feel..." he leans back to watch your ride his cock biting his lip hearing your whimpers and moans "I know baby, I know."

" 'S...so good! You're so....big...so fucking....good!" you lean foreword allowing more pressure against your g-spot. His arm wraps around your hip, and his slender fingers rub at your sensitive bundle. His lips kissed up your back as he rubbed with more pressure

"Good girl....good fucking girl....make yourself cum baby" he licks and bites down on the junction of your neck and shoulder, holding the skin between his teeth enough to cause you please. Feeling you tighten around him as you hear yourselves finish on the screen.

"Have I ever...told you...you sound like a goddess when you cum?" he chuckles into your neck "Could cum just from it...." he thrusts half way to meet your hips as your moans become louder and your breather sharper

"That's it baby..." he whispers in your ear "let me hear it again" like a prayer being answered you cum again with goosebumps covering your skin as the tremor overtakes your body. You ride him slower and slower riding out both of your highs

He could feel the mix of your cum and his rolls down on to his lap as you pulse around him "making such a mess baby, such a pretty messy pussy" you carefully stand up and whine as you feel him slip out of you leaving your empty. His kisses just above your hip and gives a gentle slap to your pussy

"Why don't you get the shower started, I'll meet you in there" his round brown eyes looking up at you as he tucks himself back into his shorts and takes a deep breath. He saves his progress on his editing and gets up from his chair to go and wash up with you in the shower.

.....

"mmm babbeee..." you roll over in bed and cringe at the light in the room from Noah's computer "come to bed" you muffled against the blanket cracking one eye to look at Noah. He spins in his chair and tilts his head

"I'm almost done angel, 10 more minuets and I'm there" he whispers to you, you simply hum and just close your eyes again. He spins back to his screen and observes the last clip to be edited. This time you were holding the camera and Noah was laying his stomach between your legs. To some this may only be arousing to women, but he loved videos of him eating you out. He's able to recall your taste, your smell, the wetness, the texture and of course the way you'd pull on his hair when he hit just the right spot.

"..oh fuck....yes noah fuck...." he hears your quiet whispers as he watches himself lap at your pussy. His shorts had gotten tighter from just the few seconds he watched, looking over to you, he felt a bit guilty...but damn this was hot. He brings himself out for one last round before his night ends and starts to pump his shaft slowly but surely.

Precum leaking from his tip and giving himself some lubrication to work with. He takes deep breaths as he watches the screen, you legs snapped against his head only for him to pin them down to the bed. He tries to keep his panting to a minimum, not wanting you to wake up and see what state he was in. He looked over his shoulder and stared at you as he slept. Peacefully me now knowing the sinful acts, he was committing just a few feet away from you.

Each curve in detail of your face, how peaceful you looked, the way your lips were slightly parted as you snore in your slumber. Just seeing your gorgeous face made him twitch his fist. The low volume of your moans and breathing brings him back to the screen. He grabs his phone and opens his camera. He knew tours to be difficult, especially when they were more than just a couple of months. He always records a few videos for you or he had to leave on his next one. Just so you can have fresh content before he leaves.

His hips start to buck and thrust up into his hand as you writhe under his hold. He fucks his fist faster and faster as he finally cums. The thick liquid coming up in small spurts as he rises out his high. He knew you loved when he came on video with his moans of course.

Grabbing some tissue he cleans himself up, saves his final edits for the video. He shows the computer down and pushes away from his desk. He crawled into bed behind you and pulls you into his body. He kisses the back of your head and snuggles into you for the night.

Little did he know that you saw the entire thing and you were sure to tease him about it in the morning. ;)

「✨Taglist✨」 @lilhobgobbler @cncohshit @vir-tual @tdopomymind @concretenoah @misspygmypie @leneisdown @lust-for-sacher @thescarlettvvitch @cind6547 @itsmrsfuentes @just-pretend-again @lma1986 @daylightlvrs @darling-millicent-aubrey

[mymoodwriting]

21.5k, Maestro AU, dystopia, advanced technology, robots, kidnapping, manipulation, mind control, hypnosis, assault, physical assault, violence, hacking, supernatural elements, restraints, collars, mental abuse, electrocution, hallucinations, reader is a minor character, I don't know who the main character is either

“Do you hear the piano?”

“Huh?”

“The piano. It’s playing in the distance.”

“I don’t hear anything, y/n.”

“It sounds so pretty.”

“And you know music isn’t really a good thing around here.”

“Yeah…”

You could definitely hear a piano, even if it was quite faint, but there was no way you were gonna be able to find the source. Mingyu was right though, music wasn’t much of a thing around here. The world itself was quite depressing, and everyone worked to stay alive, even if the job was shit. You were lucky to work as a delivery person, one of the simpler jobs, but it had its cons too. You’d drive all over the city, even to the more dangerous parts. So far nothing bad had happened to you, but there was no guarantee that would always be the case. Still, you made money, and you could pay your part of the bills.

You lived in an apartment with three other guys, who were all like brothers to you. It was a decent size place, and you all had your own space too. Most of the apartment was littered with electronic parts as Vernon was a technician that worked from home. He was a freelancer, fixing things in what he considered his work space, which was everywhere that wasn’t a bedroom. Wonwoo worked construction, getting up early and coming back late, but he always said he had enough down time to rest and recover. Mingyu worked as a mechanic at an auto shop not so far from the apartment.

Between the four of you there was a car, but on most days Wonwoo would take it. You had your work van, so if Vernon ever needed to get somewhere, or some items needed to be picked up, that job usually fell on you. At least your office was nearby so it wasn’t a hassle to get to and from work without a vehicle. Today though was a rare treat as you were all off and could do somethings together. You had all gone out to get some groceries, as well as other necessities for the apartment. As you were loading up the trunk that’s when you began to hear the piano, instantly entranced by the melody. In this world music was scarce and unfortunately not encouraged. If anything it was frowned upon.

The peacekeepers maintained order, and many times you had seen them beat those for causing a ruckus or playing music. You weren’t entirely sure why such a thing seemed to be a problem, but it made you appreciate whenever you heard a nice tune. Besides the peacekeepers there were robots around the city. Some worked alongside humans in certain labor-intensive fields, others had simpler tasks, and some freely walked around available to help anyone who needed assistance with anything. Then there were the roaming CCTV robots, the robo-dogs as people called them. They were all over the place,watching everything. Of course there were still normal CCTV cameras around too, so safety and peace were maintained well on multiple levels.

“Let’s go.”

Mingyu shut the trunk and you followed him to the front. You got into the passenger seat, Mingyu hopping behind the wheel. You glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing Vernon on his tablet, headphones on, clearly engrossed in work. Whereas Wonwoo had his head back against the headrest, eyes closed, using this time to wind down. You couldn’t help the small smile on your face. They were all great company. When you got to the apartment everyone helped bring things up, allowing it to be done in one trip. You put things away and then collapsed on the couch, turning on the TV and half listening to the news.

“Y’all better not stay up late.” Vernon commented. “You guys have work in the morning.”

“And you?” Wonwoo mumbled. “All you do is stay home.”

“I pay my bills.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m a technician, or did you forget where you got such a dope phone?”

“Well you better not stay up late making a bunch of noise!”

“I won’t.”

“You say that a lot.” You added. “You should soundproof your room.”

“I don’t wanna work in my room.”

“Obviously.” Mingyu mentioned. “Your shit is everywhere in this apartment.”

“You’re just jealous I get to work from home.”

“Only sometimes.” Wonwoo added. “Or so you say.”

“Whatever.”

Most days were the same, but you each kept each other entertained, making every sundown and sunrise worth seeing. On slow days when you’d get home first you tended to sit out on the balcony, enjoying the cool breeze of the night air. While sitting out there one day you began to hear the sounds of a piano. Just like before, it was a beautiful melody, and you could hear it better this time. You closed your eyes and let the music take over, softly nodding your head along to the beat, tuning out the rest of the world.

As Wonwoo walked in he was careful not to make too much noise. It was pretty late and he was certain everyone else was already sleeping. He was sneaking back to his room when he heard a soft hum, suddenly realizing how cold the living room was. He looked around, realizing the balcony door was slightly open. Wonwoo made his way over, realizing the humming was getting louder. He slowly slid the door open, seeing you hugging your knees to your chest, eyes closed and rocking to the sides as you hummed. You seemed rather content but he was concerned by all of this.

“Y/n?”

“Hm?”

You opened your eyes, smiling when you saw Wonwoo, although he seemed very worried. Which you didn’t understand.

“You’re home.”

“How long have you been out here? It’s really late, you know.”

“Is it? I didn’t realize…”

“What were you doing?”

“Just listening to the piano, can’t you hear it?”

“Y/n, I don’t think anyone is playing a piano at these hours.”��

“I heard it. I swear. It was coming from over there.”

You didn’t have an exact location, but you had a good idea which direction the sound had been coming from. You got up, although now that the music was gone the exhaustion was starting to hit you. A yawn escaped your lips and you pointed off into the distance mindlessly, leaning against Wonwoo. He wrapped his arms around you, feeling how cold you were. Before he could comment his gaze followed your gesture, and his concern for you only got worse. You were pointing towards the Metronome Theater. 

“Let’s get you inside. You need to get some sleep.”

Wonwoo led a sleepy you down the hall and towards your bedroom, helping you get under the covers and tucking you in. He made sure your alarm was set so you wouldn’t be late for work. He quietly stepped out and shut the door behind him. He stood outside your room for a moment, his thoughts lingering on what had just happened. It wasn’t necessarily something to worry about, but it still bothered him. He barely managed to sleep that night, and next thing he knew it was time to get up again. As he was about to head out he stopped himself, going over to Vernon’s room and knocking on the door before opening it. Unsurprisingly the boy was awake.

“Are you working outside the apartment today?”

“No. Why?”

“Could you do me a favor and look after y/n today.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know but could you just tag along with her today and keep her out of trouble.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“Thanks.”

Despite the unspoken outlaw of music, the Metronome Theater still stood. It looked exactly like the name described, a giant metronome amongst the buildings that made up the city. Most of the time the pendulum remained still, glowing an ominous red, but on occasion it would glow blue and move from side to side, creating a low ticking in the air. No one really understood the purpose of that structure, and for fear of getting into trouble many avoided the area. Regardless of what went on everyone understood one thing, the Metronome Theater was a dangerous place. Wonwoo stared at it before getting into the car. He never paid the theater any attention, but he might have to going forward.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

You woke to the beeps of your alarm, groaning and rolling over in bed. You hadn’t slept much last night, but you weren’t all that tired. After a moment you got up and began to get ready for the day. Once you were dressed you got yourself a quick breakfast, ready to head out.

“Morning, y/n.” Vernon greeted you. “How you feeling?”

“Good. Just getting ready for work.”

“Cool. Mind if I come along with you today?”

“Why? Do you need me to drop you off somewhere?”

“No, no, just wanna get out of the apartment, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. I could use the company.”

“Awesome.”

Vernon walked with you to the office, letting you go off on your own to clock in and then come around for him in the delivery van. He happily hopped into the passenger seat.

“Lunch is on me.”

“Obviously.”

“What?”

“You think you just get to ride around for free?”

“But you enjoy my company.”

“And free food.”

“Fine. Whatever you want.”

“Excellent.”

Of course Vernon was just coming along for fun, not actually helping you with the job cause he didn’t want to do anything wrong and get you in trouble. He tried that once before and it did not go well. So it’s more accurate to say he doesn’t help so you don’t wind up in trouble again because of him. When he went with you nowadays he was more like your guardian angel, and today was no different for him. He stayed in the van, saving you the trouble of rushing and hoping it wasn’t stolen while you did your deliveries. 

“Oh, why hello there.”

The robo-dogs could be found anywhere in the city, both high and low, and in very unlikely places. You were used to seeing them in the buildings you delivered to, and it was great their programming had them act very friendly, like real dogs.

“I’m just doing some deliveries, little guy.”

You held up your badge, showing proof you could be there. You didn’t have to, but you liked to do so whenever you ran into these guys. That way if anything ever happened in the building you’d be recognized as a delivery employee who’s just passing through. It was your own insurance, and there was no real reason to hide your purpose here. You gave the little robot a pat, and it seemed to enjoy that. Soon enough you started to hear a soft melody. You thought you were imagining things, but the sound slowly got louder and then you realized it was coming from the robot.

“You got a song for me, little guy?”

You didn’t know the robo-dogs had speakers in them, let alone that they would play music. It was a nice treat, and you couldn’t help but follow the little guy when he started walking off. You could use a break anyway.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

While waiting Vernon would be on his phone, going over his list of things to do and figuring out how to prioritize. Although at a particular stop he felt like you were taking too long, especially since you had walked in with like two boxes. He was about to go check on you when he saw you walk out, immediately feeling relief. Then again he noticed you weren’t walking towards the van, and instead seemed to be following one of the robo-dogs. It was very strange, and he wasn’t just gonna watch. He got out of the van and called out to you, but you didn’t respond. When he caught up to you he grabbed your arm and turned you around, seeing a dazed look on your face before you seemed to come back to your senses.

“Vernon?”

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“What were you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. You were like sleep walking or something.”

“Oh, I guess maybe I’m just tired.”

“Did you sleep enough last night?”

“I think so. I’m alright though, I promise.”

“Okay, but you let me know if anything’s wrong.”

“I will. Let’s go now.”

Vernon wasn’t entirely convinced, but he wasn’t going to push it right now. Instead he was starting to get an idea as to why Wonwoo wanted him to go out with you today. Something certainly felt wrong here, but he wasn’t entirely sure what. At one point his eyes landed on the Metronome Theater, staring at it as you drove along. That whole place was just an eyesore, and it always gave him the creeps.

“Okay. This might take a few since I gotta deliver on multiple floors.”

“Alright, just be safe and come back.”

“That’s a given.”

You grabbed what you needed from the back, making your way into the building. You started from the top and made your way down. For the most part you just left packages at doors, but on occasion you’d knock to get a signature. You were a bit tired when you dropped off the last one, but at least you were done here.

“Do you require assistance?”

You jumped when you heard a robot, looking back to see it on the steps leading to the basement floor. In a bigger building like this it was more common for there to be robots to help tenants when needed.

“I’m alright, thank you. I’m just doing deliveries.”

You showed your badge once more, definitely needing to identify yourself as these robots tended to have records of who lived here and would call the authorities on any unauthorized visitors. You waited for the robot to accept your reason for being there, but it was eerily quiet.

“Uh… I’m going to be taking my leave now.”

As you stepped away the robot suddenly grabbed your arm. Then the blank face plate began to glow red, swallowing you up and cutting your world to black.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Vernon stepped out of the van, stretching his limbs. He stared at the building you had gone into, getting this uneasy feeling. He checked the time, seeing that you had been gone for about twenty minutes now. That wasn’t too long, but something just didn’t feel right. It probably wasn’t best to just dwell on it, so he locked the van and took the keys, heading into the building. The place seemed quiet, so he went around calling your name, getting no response. Every second that went by was making him nervous. As he was about to head out a gleam of light caught his attention. He walked over to the source and picked up your badge off the floor. Now he was very concerned.

“Shit…”

He called out your name again, stepping down towards the basement. It seemed very dark down here, but that was the least of his worries. He called out to you again and again but there was no response. Then he wound up bumping into something and falling to the ground. He looked up to see a robot standing in his way. Before saying something he noticed some light down the hall, realizing there was a door that led out, another exit. Vernon quickly scrambled to his feet, but the robot moved to stand in his way.

“Do you require assistance?”

“No, no, I-”

“Do you require assistance?”

“No! I’m a delivery person.” 

Vernon held up your badge, covering your face and name, hoping the robot would accept that and leave him alone. It didn’t work, and the machine still stood in his way. Vernon tried to get past once more, yet he was blocked. He intended to push his way through only to be grabbed and shoved to the floor. He groaned as he hit the ground, partially out of breath. He looked back up to see a red glow emanating from the robot’s faceplate, telling him that something was very wrong here.

“You… you intentionally stopped me… you hurt me… you hurt a human…” Vernon got up, making note of the number on the robot’s chestplate. “Robot model S-009588, you are to answer all my questions going forward, what is your directive?”

“Protect the target.”

“What target?”

“A young female identified as a delivery worker. Last spotted at this location.”

“What? Where is she!?”

“Unknown.”

“What do you mean? How do you not know where she is! You took her in the first place!”

“Incorrect. My objective is to protect the target.”

“From-”

The robot suddenly seemed to glitch and shut down, completely powering off right in front of Vernon. He cautiously took a step back and then it seemed to reboot itself.

“Do you require assistance?”

“Uh… no…”

Vernon took a small step forward and the robot stepped to the side. It was certainly acting how it was supposed to now. He still had many questions, and needed to further look into this, but for now he needed to go. He ran towards the back door, stepping out into the streets once again. Despite the minutes that had passed he still looked around, hoping by some miracle to see you, but of course you were nowhere to be found.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Vernon went back inside, intending to find the robot and interrogating it, but just like you, it was gone. He kicked the nearest item and swore again, storming back to the van. He slammed his hands against the wheel, screaming. The whole point of him being out with you today was to prevent something like this, and he had royally fucked it up. Now he had to make things worse with a phone call.

“What’s up?”

“Wonwoo…”

“Hm?”

“She… y/n… she’s gone…”

“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone!? I asked you to look after her!”

“I know but… I’m not sure what happened. I was attacked by a robot and-”

“Have you told Mingyu?”

“What the hell am I supposed to say? That y/n just walked into a building and never came out? You’re the one who was worried about her and didn’t really say anything!”

“Look, just call Mingyu and get back to the apartment, I’ll head over too, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Vernon drove over to the auto shop Mingyu worked at. He was familiar with the other mechanics, and just waltzed in, finding Mingyu under a car. He kicked at his leg to coax the boy out. His smiling face changed to concern when he saw Vernon.

“What are you doing here? I thought you went out with y/n?”

“We need to talk. Wonwoo will meet us at the apartment.”

“What happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

“And y/n?”

“…”

“Fuck. Vernon, what did you do?”

“Let’s just go.”

The two walked back to the apartment in silence. Vernon couldn’t imagine what was running through Mingyu’s head, but he had questions of his own. A while after they arrived Wonwoo entered the apartment.

“What the fuck is going on?” Mingyu questioned. “What did you guys do?”

“It’s not something we did.” Wonwoo explained. “But something that happened.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“One of you better start talking.”

“Y/n’s been kidnapped.” Vernon stated. “That’s what’s going on.”

“What do you mean!? What did you do!?”

“Why do you think we did something? How do I know this isn’t your fault?”

“You’re the one who messes around with the law, Vernon! And Wonwoo works with all kinds of people. How do I know either of you didn’t piss off the wrong person?”

“We didn’t do anything.” Wonwoo interrupted. “I think something else is going on.”

“Like what?”

“When I got home last night I found y/n out on the balcony. She had been out there for a while, saying she had been listening to some piano.”

“A piano?” Mingyu wondered. “Did you hear it?”

“No. It stopped playing by the time I stepped out. Why?”

“Y/n… she mentioned hearing a piano when we had gone out the other day, but I didn’t hear anything.”

“Why is a piano our concern here?” Vernon questioned. “What does that mean?”

“She said the music was coming from the Metronome Theater.” Wonwoo admitted.

“Oh… wait, so you think someone from the theater kidnapped her? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You know that place is weird.” Mingyu said. “The people who go in don’t tend to come out, and if they do, they’re not quite the same.”

“Okay, but why would they kidnap her? In fact, how do you know it was them? I was attacked by a robot! Someone clearly hacked into that thing.”

“You were attacked by a robot? Like an actual one or the robo-dogs?”

“Now that you mention it… after a certain stop I saw y/n sleep walking behind a robo-dog, like it was leading her somewhere.”

“Oh so you knew something was up and you still left her alone!” Wonwoo accused. “Are you serious!”

“You could have told me what you were actually worried about here! I thought maybe she was sick or something.”

“I shouldn’t have let her go out in the first place.”

“We don’t know who took her.” Mingyu reminded. “Not for sure. So let’s focus on that first.”

“How?”

“Easy enough. Vernon, you can hack into CCTV right?”

“Obviously. Even the robots, so clearly whoever took her knows a thing or two about tech.”

“Right. So let’s go back to where she was taken and see if the CCTV can lead us to her.”

Everyone was pretty tense over the situation, but they were trying not to let panic take hold. This could all just be some big misunderstanding and you’d call them soon enough, asking where they were. For the sake of not sticking out they decided to take your work van, returning to the last place you had been seen. In a matter of minutes Vernon gained access to the CCTV cameras around, sifting through the footage to find you. He showed the others the moment you went inside, and then skipped ahead, switching to the back door cameras. They were all concerned and surprised when they saw you walk out, following a robot as if you were being escorted somewhere. From there they followed your path, Mingyu driving. Although they soon lost track of you.

“What happened? Where did she go?”

“I’m not sure, the CCTV cameras in the next area are down.”

“What?”

“Let me try finding a different angle.”

Vernon kept working to find a camera, although it seemed that one after the other just weren’t operational. Wonwoo was looking over his shoulder, realizing they had lost track of you. He swore under his breath, although he soon realized something.

“Vernon.”

“Hm?”

“Do any of the cameras work around the Metronome Theater?”

“Uh… no… actually… none of the cameras within a quarter mile radius of the theater work.”

“So that whole area is a blind spot, and she walked into it.”

“Yeah.”

“So the theater it is.” Mingyu commented, staring at it from the car window. “Let’s go.”

The area around the theater was mostly abandoned, and now knowing none of the CCTV around worked made the place all the creepier. Mingyu parked the van across the street from the theater, all three staring out at it. 

“Are we sure she’s in there?” Vernon asked. “She went into a dark zone, someone could have taken her from here and there would be no record of it.”

“Perhaps.” Wonwoo said. “But something tells me she’s in there.”

“Okay, but how are we getting in? That place is usually closed, and it only opens sporadically. We don’t even know if it opened today.”

Just as Vernon said that the pendulum of the theater started moving, and the shutters over the doors went up.

“Huh, guess they’re open now.”

Wonwoo was the first out of the car, crossing the street, the other two soon following. What was strange were the other people that seemed to appear from nowhere also making their way to the theater. Despite what one might think, the inside of the theater was lavish and luxurious, not something you’d expect to see in this part of the city. None of them knew where to go, but the others that entered did. It was weird to see how everyone else walked in silently and went up the stairs, acting like robots themselves. The trio followed, keeping quiet as well and just going with the flow.

They went up two flights of stairs to the third floor, making it to the entrance of the actual theater. Rows and rows of empty seats surrounded the stage, people just taking a seat wherever. The curtains were down, and the lights were slowly fading and growing bright, signaling the show would begin soon. The boys took a seat towards the back, looking around to see if perhaps you were around, but they had no luck. A while later the doors closed and the lights went out, leaving them in darkness before the stage was illuminated. The curtains were drawn, revealing a whole orchestra on stage, two gentlemen standing front and center. 

“Welcome to the Metronome Theater.” The one with a beret spoke. “I’m the director, Seungkwan, and this is Joshua, the conductor for the night. Do enjoy the show.”

Seungkwan made his way off stage, disappearing into the darkness. Joshua on the other hand took his place before the orchestra, and soon the show began. The music was quite nice, not something any of them were used to hearing. There was no piano present, but they didn’t care much for the show itself. They took in their surroundings, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else. All the other guests were engrossed in the performance. For a moment Wonwoo zoned out while watching the conductor lead, something about him just seemed odd. He snapped out of it when Mingyu lightly shoved him, giving him a questioning look. They had other things to focus on right now.

When the show ended everyone got up to applaud, all seeming to move together. Joshua took a bow before the orchestra did the same and then cleared the stage. The doors had opened and a few robots were coming in, greeting some of the guests and then leading them towards the nearest exit. The trio immediately thought to follow, stepping out into the aisle and walking towards the stage. Although they didn’t get far before a spotlight was suddenly aimed at them, stopping them in their tracks.

“You three aren’t meant to be here.”

Once they had adjusted to the light they saw Joshua looking up from his bow, slowly standing, arms crossed over his chest, lightly tapping his wand to his shoulder. A smirk appeared on his face, looking them up and down.

“I advise you to leave before the Maestro gets upset.”

“We have no intention of leaving.” Mingyu stated. “We’re looking for someone, and perhaps your Maestro knows something.”

“Is that so?”

“If we can just talk to them and clear things up, then we’ll be on our way.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How come?”

“You were advised to leave.”

Joshua lifted up his wand, flicking it in the air as if he was still performing. They were all confused until they realized the other guests were moving in on them. Before they knew it they were surrounded and grabbed. The people around them had blank stares in their eyes, but they were doing well to restrain them.

“Thank you for coming.” Joshua stated. “Don’t return.”

The people began to drag them towards the exit, forcing them to fight back. They didn’t want to hurt anyone, but the situation was getting out of hand. These people didn’t want them here, so it was all the more reason to stay and investigate. Especially as Joshua was walking away. Wonwoo managed to break free from the crowd, running up towards the stage and tackling the conductor to the ground. The two tussled for a moment, and Wonwoo knew he had to get the wand out of Joshua’s hand. It wasn’t just some stick, but as soon as he ripped it away from Joshua he froze. His gaze slowly turned to the item in his hand. He couldn’t describe the feeling well, but there was some sort of power radiating from it, and now that he held it this energy seemed to be coursing into his veins.

“You have potential.” Joshua commented. “Perhaps the Maestro will see you.”

Before Wonwoo could really register what had been said, or what was happening, Mingyu had come to his side. He had escaped the crowd and took the wand from Wonwoo, snapping it in half without hesitation. Once he did so Joshua screamed, grabbing his head and thrashing on the ground. Both boys took a step back, unsure of what was going on. Even the rest of the guests seemed to collapse, leaving Vernon just as confused as his brothers. A moment later the lights went out again, and Joshua’s screams seemed to die down. When the light returned there was someone else present on the stage. A boy with white hair knelt down before Joshua, hands on his head, seeming to sooth the distressed boy. Soon enough the gaze of the stranger looked to them, a fire in his eyes.

“Get out!”

The lights flickered, and next thing the boys knew robots were rushing into the theater. They grabbed each of the boys, two or three per person, effortlessly dragging them out. Their strength was no match for the machines as they were thrown out onto the streets. Mingyu was the first to scramble to his feet, but as he reached the doors of the theater the shutters slammed down, locking him out.

“NO!”

Mingyu slammed his fist against the shutters over and over, as if that would change anything. The other two eventually came to his side.

“This doesn’t mean anything.” Vernon said. “This could just be some territorial shit, and this Maestro guy doesn’t like outsiders. Y/n might not be here.”

“And yet she could be.” Wonwoo remarked. “You saw how some people were taken elsewhere, not to mention the others… it’s like the music put them under a spell and they did whatever the conductor wanted. Y/n kept hearing a piano, and didn’t you say you caught her sleepwalking?”

“I… yes, but we don’t have solid proof.”

“Then find some.” Mingyu hissed. “There’s gotta be a robot around here that saw something.”

“Yeah, yeah I can look for that.”

Vernon made his way back to the van, the other two soon following. Although Wonwoo stopped and stared back at the theater. His mind went back to the moment he had held the conductor’s wand. The way he felt then still lingered, and he wanted to know what that was.

“Wonwoo!”

Upon hearing his name Wonwoo made his way back, the three in the van, Vernon getting his laptop out and getting to work on searching for some video footage.

“How are we gonna find proof?” Wonwoo asked. “The CCTV doesn’t work around here.”

“But there are other cameras.” Vernon remarked. “The robo-dogs are also CCTV. Even though they are everywhere, they each stick to a certain area. If we can find one around the theater I could get into its system and look at the recorded footage.”

“Alright. I’ll drive, you two keep a lookout.” Mingyu said. “Let me know when to stop.”

As planned they drove around the area, looking for a robo-dog. The issue with those was that they were free roam cameras, so it wasn’t entirely common to see them on the streets.

“What about taking down a robot?” Mingyu suggested. “We’ve seen a few of those.”

“It wouldn’t work.” Vernon mentioned. “The robots have their programs and internal systems, but they don’t actually record anything. We have CCTV and the robo-dogs so it would be overkill.”

“I guess.” 

“Oh, there’s one, Mingyu, pull over.”

The van came to a stop and Wonwoo stepped out, walking up to the little thing as it stepped out of an alleyway. They were very friendly robots, so the thing walked up to Wonwoo all on its own. Vernon had opened the side door, laptop in hand.

“What do I do?”

“Just grab it and bring it here. I’ll erase the footage of us grabbing it when we’re done.”

Wonwoo picked up the little guy, bringing it over the van and setting it down inside next to Vernon. It tried to get out, but Wonwoo prevented it from doing so. After a moment it sat down, the little red light going out.

“Alright, I’m in.”

“Are you sure it saw something?” Mingyu asked. “Or do we need to look for another one?”

“No. One should give me access to a few more in this area, one of them surely saw some… hold on.”

“What?”

“…”

“Vernon.”

“Hold on!”

“Aish, could you tell me-”

“Got it.”

“What?”

“The robo-dogs here are on two grids. The city and something else, I managed to dig deeper into the system just now, but I’m gonna need another minute to access this other grid.”

“I’m not understanding you.” Wonwoo said. “What do you mean another grid?”

“Another power grid, another system. Someone else besides the city is connected to these robo-dogs and thus has access to their recordings.”

“That’s not concerning at all.”

“I know so just- oh… this isn’t good… the CCTV around the theater isn’t broken, it’s on another grid.”

“Wait so you mean all the cameras around here work?”

“How come the city isn’t aware of this?” Mingyu questioned. “This whole area is thought to be a dark zone.”

“The city doesn’t care about the cameras being down cause the rodo-dogs in this area still work, and they’re more valuable.” Vernon explained. “That’s why they’re still online and connected to both grids. I doubt the city knows that someone else has easy access to the robo-dogs around here.”

“So who’s running this other grid?”

“Who do you think? Who’s at the center of this whole thing?”

“The Metronome Theater.”

“They’re the biggest power source in this area, so logically they’re the only ones who could run all this.”

“What about y/n though?” Wonwoo reminded. “Is she really in the theater?”

“Well, let’s check. Once I get access to the cameras we can see where she really went.”

A few minutes later Vernon did as he said, pulling up camera footage and going to the moment they had originally lost you. They could see you were still following a robot, and a moment later two more appeared. They continued to follow you through the cameras, and just as they suspected you made your way to the Metronome Theater, heading inside.

“Okay. So she’s in there somewhere.” Mingyu confirmed. “How do we get back in?”

“We can’t just walk in again.” Wonwoo added. “I’m sure they’ll be looking out for us.”

“Then we go in from below.” Vernon suggested. “The robo-dogs go underground to recharge and there has to be some sort of maintenance facility in this area. My guess is the theater. Someone in there must be a technician that fixes up all the robots around here. Which means there should be a way in the theater through underground maintenance tunnels that the robo-dogs would use.”

“Okay, but those things are small, do you think we’d fit?”

“The maintenance tunnels are designed to be big enough for a person to crouch through in case a robo-dog loses power down there and needs to be retrieved.”

“So all we gotta do now is find those tunnels and get inside.”

“What do we do once we’re in?” Wonwoo asked. “That place is huge and we have no idea where y/n would be.”

“If we’re going in then we’re not looking for y/n, but the Maestro. Whoever that is, they’ll surely know where she is.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

You felt as if you were waking from a dream, unsure as to when you fell asleep. Wherever you were, it was dark, but the light in front of you drew your attention. As you regained your senses you began to perceive your surroundings. You seemed to be in some sort of theater, watching a show. There was an orchestra on stage, along with the conductor leading the show. You noticed a few other people around you, but that all seemed to become pointless as you began to listen to the music. You hadn’t heard such a melody, becoming entranced by. After a moment you closed your eyes to give all your focus to the music, feeling so calm and relaxed.

“Good girl.”

The voice made you open your eyes, finding a gentleman with white hair standing before you with a big smile on his face. Before you could really process anything he lifted his glowing wand, gently tapping your head and causing your world to fade to black.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Let’s go over the plan once more.”

With access to the robo-dogs it wasn’t hard for Vernon to map out their travel patterns and find multiple entrances to the maintenance tunnels. From there he could figure out where they needed to go and how to get inside the theater.

“Okay. I’ve found our entrance point into the maintenance tunnels, the closest one to the theater.” Vernon explained. “When we get to the theater itself I can mimic a robo-dogs signal to open the entrance and get us in. Although from there I’m gonna need to find an access port in order to gain access to the systems in the theater. There are no schematics or blueprints for that place, so right now I have no idea how the interior looks besides what we’ve seen, and that wasn’t much.”

“From there the goal is to go up.” Mingyu added. “Surely the Maestro would be at the highest point in the building. We just need to find the fastest route, and avoid as much resistance as possible.”

“The building will most likely be littered with robots, but once I have system access I can make sure they don’t hurt us.”

“What about the conductor?” Wonwoo asked. “Or that other guy? They seemed to have a lot of power in that place.”

“We already broke the conductor’s little stick, so they shouldn’t be a problem. As long as we move fast and don’t attract attention we should be fine.”

“Then what do we do if we find the Maestro?”

“When we find them we’re gonna demand answers. If things have to get rough then so be it. We know y/n’s in there. Let’s gather what we need and be ready to move in ten.”

Honestly the only person who needed things was Vernon, the other two were ready to go whenever. They all needed to travel light as there wasn’t much room in those tunnels to begin with. Since they knew the cameras around the theater worked they needed to avoid them. The best way to do that was to enter the sewers outside that area and travel through there to the maintenance tunnel that would lead them into the theater. It wasn’t pleasant, but it did well to give them the advantage they needed in order for this to work. None of them liked walking through the sewers, and the maintenance tunnels wouldn’t be any better. It would be short but uncomfortable nonetheless.

“Give me a second while I get the hatch open.”

Vernon got out his phone, doing a little something before the hatch opened. He was the first one through, glad to be able to stretch out, the other two soon getting out as well. They seemed to be in the middle of some hallway, and to their benefit it seemed empty.

“I need to look for some electrical currents so I can find an access point.” Vernon stated. “Give me a second.”

“Why do the walls say S3?” Wonwoo questioned.

“Shit.” Vernon mumbled. “I wasn’t entirely sure how low we went, but I think we’re in sub-level three.” 

“How big is this building…”

“No idea.”

Vernon followed the device in his hand, leading the others down the hall and towards an elevator. Which was the perfect thing to find. He pulled out some other tools, connecting to the wires behind the call button hacking in, ultimately gaining access to the entire system.

“Got it. Looks like this building has seventeen floors, and three sub-floors. So you definitely know where we are.”

“Great, we’re as far from the top as possible.” Mingyu said. “Just our luck. What’s the fastest way up?”

“Uh… there seems to be some kind of elevator that goes up to the seventeenth floor that we can access from the theater room.”

“So we need to go to the third floor?”

“No, there seems to be another theater on the thirteenth floor.”

“Of course. Is that the only way to access the top floor?”

“It seems to be the only direct connection closest to our current location. There are a few other elevators in this building, but only the one on the thirteenth floor will get us to seventeenth the fastest.”

“How are we supposed to get to the thirteenth floor undetected?”

“I’m looking into that. A place like this surely has blind spots, and if not, it shouldn’t be that hard to access their security system and hide us. I’m trying to map out our fastest route and looking into what type of security they have here. I just need a few minutes.”

“Well hurry up, we can’t push our luck.”

“I know.”

Vernon managed to find schematics of the building, taking a look at where they’d need to go in order to make it to their destination.

“Alright, from what I can tell the security here is pretty lax except for a few floors which we can avoid. There are some robots roaming around the building but they won’t be an issue either. We can take this elevator up to the first floor, and not so far from there we can get on another up to the seventh floor. From there we can reach the thirteenth. I’ve mapped out our path and have the cameras along the way looping. I’ve sent you both a copy of the route just in case, but we should get up to the seventeenth floor in about ten minutes.”

“Cool. Let’s move.”

It was a little strange being back in the lobby, considering they had been thrown out not so long ago. Vernon led the way over to the next elevator they needed to catch. Since the building didn’t see a lot of traffic they didn’t wait long. The highest this elevator went was the seventh floor, which was their next stop. It was strange that no single elevator connected all seventeen floors, but Wonwoo mentioned it was probably a safety thing. They thought things would be easy for them, but the elevator suddenly came to a stop on the fifth floor. For a moment they all got tense, Wonwoo and Mingyu ready to fight while Vernon was trying to cover them. Although when the doors opened there was no one. Mingyu carefully peeked his head out, but the halls were empty. Vernon tried closing the doors, but the elevator wouldn’t budge.

“I think it’s stuck.” Vernon commented. “This thing does seem old.”

“Then we should probably get off.” Wonwoo mentioned. “I guess we should take the stairs.”

“Not necessarily. Another elevator on this floor could take us up to the tenth floor, but that place seems to use a lot of power, which means heavy security.”

“Then why would we go there?”

“We could access the elevator that goes up to fourteen, and from there get up to seventeen. It’s our new fastest route from here.”

“As long as we’re still undetected it should work.” Mingyu said. “Lead the way, Vernon.”

No one else seemed to be on this floor either, the place being eerily quiet. There were a lot of doors with numbers, but no windows to see inside. It gave them all this uneasy feeling, but they kept going nonetheless. That is until they rounded a corner and Vernon stopped, stepping back and shoving the other two back, putting a finger to his lip and explaining himself in a whisper.

“Peacekeeper.”

“What!? Why is there one here?”

“I guess everyone comes to this theater.” Wonwoo commented. “You guys stay back, I got this.”

Wonwoo stood right against the corner, listening for footsteps. Once the peacekeeper was close enough he attacked. Lucky for him the only weapon his opponent had was a baton, and he had taken worse hits. It was easy for him to take down the peacekeeper, and the other two came to his side when he had won.

“I expected robots, not this.” Vernon mentioned. “Luckily the cameras here are looping so none of this was seen.”

“Then we can use this to our advantage.” Mingyu said, taking the mask from the peacekeeper. “I can dress like one of them so if another person sees us, I can act like I’m escorting you both.”

“But what do we do about the body? If another peacekeeper walks by and sees it they’re gonna sound the alarm.”

“It might be too late for that.” Wonwoo said. “Far too late.”

Vernon and Mingyu looked over to see what Wonwoo meant. At the end of the hall a crowd of peacekeepers were gathered. It seemed they no longer had the advantage.

“Go.” Wonwoo stated. “I’ll keep them busy and catch up with you later.”

“Wonwoo-”

“Now!”

Mingyu was already pulling Vernon down a different hall, but the boy was fumbling with his phone. Before Wonwoo was completely out of view Vernon activated the sprinkler system on the floor. It would help Wonwoo out since the peacekeepers wore goggles and the water would mess with their vision. Hopefully they’d meet up later.

Vernon found an alternative route to the elevator they needed to use, although it appeared their luck had really run out. A group of robots was marching down the hall towards them, someone else at the front of the group leading the way.

“I suggest you surrender now.” The other spoke. “But I’d prefer it if you don’t.”

“Run.” Vernon mumbled, looking down at his phone. “Go, now!”

“What? Vernon-”

“I’ll be right behind you, I just needed a second to hack into the robots.”

“I won’t leave you then.”

“Go get on that fucken elevator before they cut us off completely. You’ll be closer to the top on the tenth floor than the fifth!”

“Fuck.”

Mingyu knew Vernon had a point, so he bolted, feeling awful for leaving the other behind, for leaving them both. When he made it to the elevator he frantically hit the button, looking back, hoping Vernon managed to get him enough time. He pulled out his phone, opening up the link Vernon had sent so he could follow the route they had planned. Once the elevator arrived he got in and hit the button for the tenth floor, knowing he couldn’t wait around for the others. He let out a sigh of relief when the doors shut and he was moving. Things went south fast, but as long as he made it to his destination he trusted everything would work out.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Get fucked!”

The robots were advancing on Vernon, but he tried not to let the panic overwhelm him. When he managed to hack them he laughed, making them stop in their tracks. He looked up at the other with a gleeful grin, having the robots turn around to make his point. The other seemed shocked by the sudden change.

“Thanks for the robots. Now I suggest you surrender and answer a few questions for me.”

“Impressive, but that’s not going to happen.”

“Wanna bet?” 

“Do your worst.”

Vernon smirked and ordered the robots to attack, knowing he could get this guy pinned in second. He sent two at him first, walking over himself since he knew this would be over soon. Although he wasn’t prepared for the punch the other guy threw, which actually knocked the robot back.

“Holy shit!”

Vernon stepped back and had all the robots attack, watching from a safe distance. It didn’t do him any good as the robots were beaten down and torn apart right before his eyes. The robots only managed to hit their target a few times, and it did nothing to slow them down. Vernon was frozen in shock as the other stalked up to him, a silver liquid dripping from his lip. He seemed to notice what Vernon was staring at, wiping his lips and laughing when he saw his fingers stained silver.

“I guess I need to go up to maintenance too. Don’t worry, I’ll take you with.”

One punch knocked Vernon out, and his unconscious body slid to the floor. The other stared down at him, finally relaxing after the whole ordeal. He knew back up was on the way, not that he’d need it. He looked around at all the robots, before sliding down a wall and sitting down to wait.

“Seungcheol’s gonna kill me.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

After dealing with the last one Wonwoo continued where he left off. At this point he was certain Vernon and Mingyu were no longer on this floor. It shouldn’t take too long to catch up. He pulled out his phone, following the path Vernon had laid out. Although upon rounding a corner he noticed the torso of a robot leaning against the wall, sparks flying from the damage. He proceeded cautiously, ready for another fight even if he was spent.

“I can hear you, so there’s no point creeping.”

The new voice caused Wonwoo to come to a halt. He knew whoever had spoken was just around the corner, although he wasn’t gonna lower his guard. He took a quick step into the next hall, seeing a bunch of robots torn to pieces, and Vernon passed out at the other end. Although his focus quickly shifted to the gentleman standing up, wincing in the process. Silver tainted his lips and nose, clearly exhausted, but Wonwoo was starting to put two and two together.

“Did you-”

“The robots? Yes, as for your friend, they’re just unconscious.”

“Who are you?”

“You ask as if I’m the trespasser here.” The gentleman chuckled. “The name’s Jun, and you’re Wonwoo, correct?”

“How do you know my name?”

“We’ve taken an interest in you, so it’s only proper we do our research. You’re strong, which explains how you handled the peacekeepers with ease. Very good.”

“What do you want from me?”

“That is something for you to discuss with another.”

“You mean the Maestro?”

“They’ve taken a special interest in you, yes.”

“Well I don’t care for that. I’m here for my friend.”

“You mean the girl? I assure you, she’s in good hands.”

“I doubt that if you went through the trouble of kidnapping her.”

“She came here on her own, just as everyone does.”

“Bullshit. Now tell me where she is.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened when you held Joshua’s wand? How did you feel?”

“…”

Jun scoffed. “You only got a taste before you were so rudely interrupted. Would you like to experience that again? To know what’s going on here. The answers might just lead you to your friend.”

As Wonwoo contemplated everything a handful of peacekeepers and robots surrounded him. Jun ordered everyone to stay away from Wonwoo, having the robots take Vernon away.

“The boy will be fine.” Jun assured. “What’s your choice then? Shall you come willingly or do you have to be restrained?”

“Who will I be meeting?”

“Escort our new friend Wonwoo here to the fifteenth floor. Oh, and Wonwoo, I recommend you don’t try anything funny.”

Wonwoo allowed the peacekeepers and robots to lead the way, having them before and behind him. Jun watched him go, struggling to keep his own composure. He stumbled when he took a step back, nearly falling to the ground only to be caught by a friend.

“Seokmin.” Jun smiled. “Hi.”

“Funny, just wait until Seungcheol sees you.”

“Don’t get me started. Just take me to his shop.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

By the time the doors opened Mingyu had put on the mask, dressed as a peacekeeper to hopefully help him hide. Yet he was met with emptiness. He stared down a gray hallway, dim lights illuminating his path. From what Vernon had said this place held a lot of power, yet he saw none of it. Perhaps it was some diversion so people avoided the floor. He checked his phone, and it told him to proceed, so he did. At the end of the hall he was met with a door. It seemed to be locked, but Vernon had already accounted for that, so when he held his phone near the door it unlocked. He slowly opened it and stepped through. Now he understood the major power report.

The silence of the empty hall was suddenly filled with the hums of machines. Rows upon rows of servers were at either side, but before him stood the real source. A set up with multiple monitors showed him live camera footage from multiple floors. Moreso a bunch of offline robots stood around the monitor set up, creating a daunting warning. Still, Mingyu ignored it all, taking off the mask and approaching the computer. He should be going off to the next elevator, but if he could find you on the cameras then he’d really know where to go and not need to chase after a ghost. He sifted through the cameras, but there was no sign of you, and none seemed to be the seventeenth floor.

“You were never in control, you know.”

Mingyu turned around to discover he was no longer alone. A familiar face stood before him, the director from the show, Seungkwan.

“You’ve come quite far. I doubt I can convince you to stop here.”

“Where is she?”

“In good hands.”

“I doubt that. Just give her back, and I’ll be on my way.”

“That’s not gonna happen. In fact, I’m still very upset about what you did to Joshua.”

“I’m not.”

“Good. I won’t feel bad watching you suffer.”

Seungkwan snapped his fingers, the robots around starting to come to life. Mingyu knew his only option now was to run, so he did just that. He followed the guide, moving as fast as he could to the elevator. He hurriedly pressed the call button until the doors opened. Once inside he repeatedly pressed the button for fourteen, but the doors didn’t close. Something was probably wrong with this elevator too, so he pressed the button for thirteen and he watched the doors close as the robots charged at him. Once again he let out a breath in relief. At least now he was following the original plan, and knew he was one step closer to the Maestro, and you.

It was quiet and empty again when the doors opened, and Mingyu didn’t hesitate to step out. From what he could see the last elevator was behind the theater itself. So he made his way down the aisle towards the stage, not caring to try and hide his face with a mask. There seemed to be no one else around, yet as he stepped up to the stage he heard the sound of a spotlight turning on, except it wasn’t at him. He stopped, feeling the eerie sense that he was no longer alone. When Mingyu turned around he saw the light pointed at another in the aisle, closer to the door. A moment ago he had been alone, but now he wasn’t. Although what drew his attention the most was the wand in the other’s hand.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Vernon groaned as he regained consciousness, feeling the ache from that sucker punch. He was quick to realize he was tied up, hands behind his back and legs stuck together. He was propped up against a wall, but nothing around him seemed familiar. At least this wasn’t a place he had been to before, but all the cables and random tech pieces scattered around was certainly unexpected. A robo-dog suddenly came up to him, getting real close and staring at him, sending a chill down his spine.

“You know they’re harmless.”

Vernon’s gaze snapped away from the robot, looking for the source of the voice. His eyes soon landed on this guy walking towards the computer set up and taking a seat.

“You have potential, I’ll admit that. Figured out a way in here. It was fun to watch.”

“Wait, you knew we were here?”

“From the beginning. Don’t be so surprised though, I keep watch over this whole territory with my dogs. Although Seungkwan is internal security.”

“So you’re the one running the grid here? You reprogrammed the dogs to work for you?”

“Bingo. So tell me, you really broke into this place for some girl?”

“Where is she?”

“She’s fine, and well taken care of, I promise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to, but it’s true. The name’s Dino by the way.”

“I don’t care.”

“Yet I do. Vernon, a freelance technician, making money doing all kinds of legal and illegal things. Would be a shame if someone reported you.”

“Is that a threat?”

“You’d think, but not really. Why do you even do what you do, hm? Just to make some money and pay the bills? You could do so much better with your talents.”

“Why do you care?”

“You hacked into Jun’s little escort pretty fast and bypassed safety parameters so they’d attack a person. Then again those safety parameters were already diminished.”

“Let me guess, your doing?”

“No, no, my dogs and I run surveillance. The big clunky robots are Seungcheol’s department. He’s looking forward to meeting you, but he needs to attend to Jun first.”

“That guy does need a doctor.”

“Seungcheol works with robots, not people.”

“Wait, you mean-”

“Gotcha, didn’t I?” Dino giggled. “Jun’s a cyborg. He’s got a few mechanical parts here and there. You might have realized it if you kept snooping around, but you didn’t. It wouldn’t be easy to hack into his mechanical parts anyway. So just relax, the hyungs want to talk to you.”

“Talk to me about what?”

“An opportunity. You’re good, but you could be better.”

“I don’t want to join your little gang here.”

“You say that now, but you don’t know anything.”

“I know you kidnapped my friend, and are doing who knows what to the people you lure here.”

“Yeah, you don’t know anything. It’s always difficult to make people understand when they can’t hear the music. Maybe that’ll change soon.” Dino sighed. “Let’s go see the hyungs.”

Dino got up and grabbed something from a drawer just out of view. Vernon tried to see what he was doing, but he didn’t need to wait long.

“Behave.”

Dino walked back to Vernon with a metal collar, and leash in hand, a big grin on his face. Vernon tried to move away, but his restraints limited his motion. He wound up falling onto his side, getting a laugh out of Dino. The boy merely knelt down and grabbed a fistful of Vernon’s hair, pulling his head up to expose his neck so the collar could snap into place. He loosened the rope around his legs a bit so he could walk, and then attached the leash to the collar and helped Vernon to his feet.

“This is gonna be fun.”

Vernon followed alongside Dino, the boy holding the leash very close so he basically had to walk while hunched over. They went to a nearby elevator, and once inside Vernon noted they were on the eighth floor, and that this elevator apparently went all the way to the top.

“I know what you’re thinking. You never really hacked into our systems, we just let you see what we wanted. Besides, it was fun watching you all run around. Don’t worry we’re just going up one floor.”

With his hands behind his back any sort of action was limited, and he couldn’t even run in this state. When the doors opened Dino led him out, going down a plain hall. The floor seemed rather empty until they went through some double doors, revealing a whole workshop. Robots were all over the place, some just standing guard and others working on things. A few spare parts were lying around as well, but his focus was soon pulled to a table. The boy from before, who he now knew to be Jun, was sitting on it, a bunch of wires sticking out of his arm. There was another person next to him, looking at some monitors. Jun’s eyes were glowing blue, fading and growing bright, when he saw Vernon he smirked.

“Guess you’re not dead.”

“You weren’t trying to kill him, were you?” Dino questioned.

“Maybe. Although I bet Seungcheol wants to kill him.”

“Do not start, Junhui!” 

One of the others in the room snapped at Jun, which he presumed to be Seungcheol. The boy was pointing and yelling about Jun’s careless behavior. Jun seemed to be amused, although Vernon noticed the rest of the robots around were mimicking Seungcheol. It was strange and concerning, but he didn’t know what was happening.

“Do you have any idea how long it’s gonna take to repair those robots?” Seungcheol mentioned. “Days, Jun, days!”

“Don’t forget some were Seokmin’s designs.” Dino added. “So you’re not the only one who got screwed over.”

“You’re not helping!” Jun hissed. 

“Just saying. Also, hyung, you might wanna take a moment.”

Seungcheol looked over at Dino with a questioning look and the boy just gestured to their surroundings. That’s when Seungcheol noticed all the robots around moving as he did. He sighed and took a breath, and then the robots returned to their original task. Vernon still had no idea what had just happened.

“Why’d you bring that dog up here anyway?” The other in the room asked. “Do I get to hit him this time?”

“That’s enough, Seokmin.” Seungcheol cut in. “Just focus on Jun.”

“I know, I know.”

“You. Vernon, isn’t it? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t you know?”

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if that’s the truth. Answer me honestly and I’ll get the maknae to give you back your dignity and get that collar off.”

“What have you done with her?”

“That’s not the answer I was looking for.”

Seungcheol came over and grabbed the leash, pulling on it and making Vernon fall to his knees. After a moment Seungcheol knelt down and grabbed the boy’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet. It was quiet for a moment, and Vernon could feel his resolve melting.

“You’re being a waste of talent. I admire you care so much for this girl, but have you stopped to realize that you’re probably not leaving this building ever again.”

“You gonna lock me up?”

“You wouldn’t be the first, but the circumstances would be different. Wanna try again to answer my question?”

“I’m here for my friend, is that good enough for you?”

“I suppose.”

Seungcheol got the collar off, returning it and the leash to Dino. He then helped Vernon get up, but the ropes would remain. He returned to Jun’s side, looking over the readings as Seokmin continued to examine the boy. The silence was awkward, but Vernon wasn’t done with the conversation.

“How… how is it that you run the CCTV here, that you have access to the robo-dogs and some robots as well. Your whole operation should have been shut down ages ago, yet here you are. I guess the better question is why.”

“Do you really wanna know?”

“Are you gonna answer me?”

Seokmin chuckled. “We’re gonna change the world.”

“What?”

“Those in power won’t ever do anything that goes against the status quo. So we must do it ourselves.”

“Are you insane!? What reason-”

“Reason?” Seunghceol questioned. “Look at the world around you, do you think it’s fair as it is now? That it doesn’t require change?”

“So you’re gonna start a revolution by hacking into robots and killing anyone who gets in your way? Is that your great plan?”

“You’re not thinking big enough. Robots aren’t completely reliable, but human connection is.  All we have to do is reach those in power, and we’ll make them understand.”

“Ah, you mean the music, don’t you?”

“I see you’re not just savvy with technology. You were present for a show earlier today, so I suppose you do understand what we’re doing here.”

“You mean brainwashing people? Like you said, I was at your show, and I’m not under your control, am I? Your music is shitty.”

“Don’t insult the Maestro. The fact their music can enthrall people is reason enough for you to worry, isn’t it? There are already people out there who understand us, just like the peacekeepers we have here. After all, how do you think your friend came to our theater?”

“Leave her out of your plans!”

“She’s here of her own will, and she’s helping us. Soon enough our music will reach more people, especially the difficult ones such as yourself.”

“I guess you can’t hear how crazy you sound since you’re brainwashed yourself!”

“Unfortunately those of us here can’t truly understand the Maestro’s work. The melody is beautiful but I can’t truly feel its power. Only the Maestro and the conductors can, and our guests at the theater. One day though, we’ll all be on the same page.”

“You’re all crazy.”

“I think you’d be a great addition to our team, truly. Although the choice is ultimately yours. We can always place you in a cell on the fifth floor until the time comes. I’m certain your other friend, Wonwoo, will join us though.”

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“That depends, do you care to know more? Or can Jun knock you out again?”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

The elevator ride was crowded for Wonwoo, completely surrounded on all sides. He wasn’t going to try anything, and even if he did he’d surely get pinned. Vernon said only certain elevators went to certain floors, yet the one he was taken to had access to all floors, even the sub-levels. Something else was definitely going on here. When the doors opened there was an empty hallway before him. Those in front of him stepped out and then he did so. Although once out the others returned to the elevator and left, leaving him alone.

For a moment he thought to press the elevator button again, getting himself up to the seventeenth floor, but his own curiosity was winning out. At the end of the hall there was a door, and he could feel something on the other side calling to him. Without realizing he was walking down the hall, reaching for the doorknob and opening it. A blinding white light overtook his vision, his senses needing a moment to adjust. He stepped through, surrounded by technology and machines he didn’t quite understand. It seemed he was alone, until a familiar voice broke through the silence.

“I’m glad to see you came back.”

“You… I… are you alright…? Before when we-”

“I’m fine.” Joshua assured. “What happened back then wasn’t your fault. Honestly, it was surprising for us too.”

“What… what did happen? You were screaming and-”

“It’s complicated. I’m sure you have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them.”

“… where’s y/n?”

“Ah, the girl. She’s alright.”

“Why… why did you bring her here?”

“She came on her own, as do all the guests at our theater.”

“I know that’s a lie. I saw robots escorting her here. The music you play has a certain effect on people. You turned the other guests against us at the show before. That’s what you did to her to lure her in, isn’t it?”

“You really want to talk about her?”

“She’s the real reason I’m here.”

“Then why didn’t you go up to the seventeenth floor? Not that you could, but you didn’t even try. You can ask anything and you want to ask about her?”

“Why are you so reluctant to tell me? Why not just take me to her and let me ask her if everything you’ve said is true.”

“She’s unavailable at the moment, but if you want to talk about her, then there are other things that need to be discussed first.”

“Which are?”

“You, for starters. Tell me, when you grabbed my wand.” Joshua pulled his wand out of his sleeve. “How did you feel?”

Wonwoo couldn’t help but stare. The feeling from before was starting to creep back up. He had no idea what it was, let alone explain it.

“… energy… whatever it was… it was alive… it was coming to me… and it didn’t hurt… it was… intoxicating… it was power…”

“It was music, the power of music, specifically the Maestro’s music. The conductors perform it and the effects remain. I’m sure you felt it.”

“The music is dangerous. What you did to those people, to y/n-”

“Creating connection and understanding. Those who truly listen to the music find happiness and purpose. You could feel it, couldn’t you? A sense of peace.”

“More like a high. All those people were at your mercy.”

“We have no ill intentions here. We’re just trying to change the world for the better. You’ve seen some of our recruits, I was quite impressed to see you take on that many peacekeepers all alone.”

“So that’s why they were here. How many people have you… recruited?”

“Many, hard to keep track of. The Maestro’s music is unique in its abilities, but it cannot reach everyone, not yet that is.”

“So what do I have to do with this? What of y/n?”

“You could understand the music, feel its power, like myself. It means you’re special. Only the Maestro’s conductors can listen to the music and perform it. The Maestro themself is focusing on creating new compositions to bring more people in, so we conductors lead the show. You have the potential to be one, a conductor that is.”

“Me?”

“Only a conductor feels the power of the music. The wand is a means of commanding that power, and you felt that when you held mine. You could have your own. A few upgrades and some practice and you could do your own show.”

“Why would I join you?”

“The question is why wouldn’t you? Like you said, that power was intoxicating. You’ll never get another taste otherwise. Besides, your friend is with us now. You can speak with her yourself later, but right now I need your answer.” Joshua held out his wand. “Will you be joining us?”

“What if I say no?”

“I doubt that’d be your answer, but if you truly refuse, you’ll be locked up. We can’t have you causing trouble and getting in our way. So, what will it be?”

“What happens after… if I say yes?”

“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

“… show me.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“The name’s Minghao, shall we play?”

A moment ago Mingyu was staring down at someone who seemed to be a conductor, yet they weren’t on stage nor did they have an audience. It seemed like it would be a quick and easy fight, but as Mingyu took a step down everything seemed to change. The lights went out, covering him in darkness. A moment later red lights began to shine, and a light from below illuminated the conductor. Instead of a wand he had a violin, and the red lights were emanating from it as he played. Although there wasn’t any sound, at least not at first. Minghao smiled and continued his song, then a moment later Mingyu heard an ear-piercing screech.

He yelled and covered his ears, falling to his knees. He took in a deep breath, trying to adjust to the sound, but that wasn’t his only problem. Out of the corner of his eye he could see robots entering the theater, and he knew what the outcome would be if he got caught. He needed to think fast, and figure out a way out of this. His eyes landed on the mask he had dropped, the peacekeeper one. Perhaps that could help him. He reached for it and slipped it on, trying to figure it out while the screeching continued. The system wasn’t too complicated and he managed to adjust the hearing and block out the Minghao’s song. He could only rest for a moment as the robots were closing in.

Mingyu jumped into the nearest row to avoid getting grabbed. He would have bolted straight to Minghao, but a few robots would stop him. He needed to figure something else out, although he stumbled in his steps when Minghao changed his tune and he heard the screeching again. He had to fumbled around with the mask controls again so he wouldn’t be incapacitated.  Once he was good he looked over to see Minghao wasn’t even watching him, but more focused on the music, clearly not affected by the melody the same way he was. He continued to move around and avoid the robots, trying to think of a plan. He looked at the settings on the mask to see if anything was helpful.

Besides the night vision there didn’t seem to be anything else the mask could do. Although he soon discovered he could control something else with the mask. All peacekeepers kept a baton with them, something he had taken as well. One would think it was normal, but from what Mingyu was seeing it had a stun option. He put the electricity to the highest voltage it could go and then activated. Surely with a weapon like this he could deal with the robots and get to the conductor. He didn’t approach any of the robots, wanting them to come to him so he could strike the best he could.

He was nervous with the first robot, knowing very well if this failed he was screwed. The first swing made contact with the robot’s head, causing an explosion of sparks, and the robot was knocked down. It seized and certain parts were shooting out sparks, but it seemed to be down for the count. Mingyu was satisfied with his new weapon, not afraid to take on the rest of the robots around him. He didn’t want to get cornered so he continued to move around, trying to get closer to Minghao while taking down robots and making sure the music didn’t throw him off. At one point he came face to face with two of the machines and stung at the closest one. Although his baton went right through it and the robot itself disappeared.

The moment of confusion cause him to let his guard down and the other robot, which was real, managed to grab him. He struggled in their grasp, managing to press the baton against its torso and get free. Now he had a new problem, not all the robots around him were real, and he had no way to tell them apart. His eyes focused on Minghao, starting to realize the music wasn’t just to mess with him and control the robots, but possibly causing these hallucinations as well. The only way to end all this was to take him down. Mingyu took in his surroundings, planning out the best route and executing it. 

He dodged as many robots as he could, and took down those in his way, reaching Minghao and tackling him to the ground. The other had realized too late that Mingyu had gotten close, getting pinned to the ground. The moment the music stopped everything changed. The theater was no longer pitch black, and there was no violin. Minghao was holding his wand and glaring up at Mingyu while he tried to free himself. Although Mingyu had a goal in mind, keeping Minghao pinned as he snatched the wand out of the other’s hand, taking off his mask.

“Let’s see if the same trick works twice.”

Mingyu snapped the wand in half, causing Minghao to scream in agony. Mingyu had no idea why that was the reaction, but he didn’t care for it. He threw the pieces to the side and made his way back to the stage. The lights suddenly went out again and he stopped, Minghao’s screams fading away. He looked back to see something glowing in the darkness, but the sound of the stage lights turning on caught his attention. He went up to the stage, seeing it was illuminated, and that someone was present. This new conductor took a bow, and then he found himself yanked up into the air by some unseen force.

“Welcome to the stage.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“… where am I…?”

As you regained your senses once more you realized your environment had changed again. You were no longer in the theater, but a much brighter place. Different types of machines surrounded you, and you were sitting on some sort of examination table. You carefully got off, needing a moment for your legs to adjust. You tried to remember how you got here, but it was all a blur and thinking about it gave you a headache. Regardless of what you remembered, you knew that you needed to leave. You began walking around, looking for an exit. You thought you were alone until a rather familiar voice startled you.

“Welcome.”

You jumped and looked back at the source, seeing a boy with white hair, the one from the theater. They offered you a smile and bow, the same glowing wand in hand. You swear a moment ago there had been no one else present, and yet suddenly he was here.

“… hello…”

“Apologies for skipping parts, but I’ll introduce myself now. My name is Hoshi, welcome to the Metronome Theater.”

“… how did I even get to the theater? I was working and then…”

“We had some of our robots escort you here. The Maestro is eager to meet you.”

“The Maestro? Who’s that? Why… why me…?”

“You’ve heard them play the piano before, haven’t you?”

“… piano… you mean that was coming from here?”

“Yes. Not many can hear the Maestro play the piano, which is why they brought you here.”

“I don’t understand…”

“I assure you there’s nothing to be afraid of. Come, they’re waiting for you.”

Hoshi gestured for you to follow them, and you hesitantly took a step forward. You should have asked to leave, yet those words never came from your mouth. You were more curious about this Maestro and the piano you had heard. Many times when you told the others they had no idea what you were talking about, and this was proof you weren’t hearing things. So you followed Hoshi, wanting to know more. You came over to an elevator, stepping inside and seeing the button for seventeen light up. Hoshi merely smiled at you.

“You… you said not many can hear the piano… who else can hear it?”

“As far as we know, it’s just you and me.”

“You hear the piano too?”

“I’ve been the only one for a long time. It’s why the Maestro was so eager to meet you.”

“But how did you find me?”

“We have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“But down in the theater… what happened?”

“I assure you the Maestro will explain this all to you.”

When the elevator doors opened Hoshi gestured for you to step out, and then led you down another hall. You came to some double doors and then they opened on their own inviting you in. The room was grand, and quite empty, with no real furniture around, but what stood out was the piano. A gentleman was playing, the melody instantly captivating you. Your feet moved on their own, walking closer and closer to the piano, only stopping when the music did too. The gentleman stood up, greeting you with a smile.

“Hello, I’m the Maestro of the theater, but you may call me Woozi.”

“It’s… it’s a pleasure to meet you…”

“Likewise. I’ve been looking for someone like you for a long time.”

“Like me?”

“You’re very special my dear, come, would you like me to play for you?”

Woozi came over to you and took your hand, leading you over to the piano. He had you sit, taking a seat next to you. He let you run your fingers along the keys before he started playing. There was something incredible about hearing the music so up close and personal. Your body swayed from side to side a bit, watching his fingers work. Occasionally Woozi would glance your way, able to play without fully seeing the keys. You didn’t know how much time passed as you listened to the beautiful melody, but it was suddenly rudely interrupted.

A screeching, feedback loop, type sound snapped you out of your daze, causing you to place your hands over your ears. You screamed, doubling over and falling to the ground. Despite the pain you became aware of something else, feeling this small metal disc against your head, and ripping it off. The pain immediately began to subside, allowing you to breathe. Although you couldn’t say the same for the other. Woozi was still in pain, stumbling around but ultimately falling to his knees.

“Hoshi! Find Joshua, now!”

A moment later Woozi seemed to calm down, getting back on his feet. You on the other hand remained where you were, unsure of what had just happened. When Woozi noticed you he put on a smile and made his way over, although you crawled back and he stopped.

“You have nothing to be afraid of. Are you alright?”

“What just happened… who are you… what’s going on…?”

“Take it easy. I can explain everything.”

Woozi reached out his hand to help you up, but you were reluctant to take it. He seemed to understand and knelt down, grabbing the little disc off the floor. He examined it before reaching over to put it back on your head but you swatted his hand away.

“What are you doing?”

“Truth is, I need your help, y/n.”

“Me? For what?”

“To change the world, to save it.”

“What?”

“There’s no music out there, no passion, no joy… I want to change that.”

“How?”

“Maestro.”

Hoshi interrupted, seeming to have appeared from nowhere. Woozi gave you a smile and went over to the other.

“What happened?”

“Some intruders in the theater rushed the stage and broke Joshua’s wand. He’s stable now and is being taken to the medical floor. As for the intruders, they’ve been thrown out, and the theater is currently locked down.”

“Good. Keep an eye on the situation.”

Woozi dismissed Hoshi and turned his attention back towards you. Before you could say or do anything you heard the sounds of a piano, a recording that is. You began to feel at ease, the melody washing away your tension and worries. Woozi came to your side, placing the disc back on your head and you felt a little spark of electricity coarse through you. Then he helped you to your feet and brought you back over to the piano.

“As I was saying before, my music is special, able to reach a person in a way nothing else can.” The music stopped, giving you a moment to regain your senses. “But it can’t reach everyone, not yet that is.”

“What did you do to me…”

“It’s rather difficult to explain, but my musical composition is able to lull people into a sort of trance, like putting them under a spell. Although it doesn’t work on everyone.”

“I… I still don’t understand what this has to do with me…”

“The piano is one of my greatest instruments. Yet for the longest of time it seemed that no one could truly hear the melody besides Hoshi, then you came along. I need your help in understanding what it is that draws you in. Specifically your brain waves, and how they react to my music.”

“Then… the device on my head…” You slowly reached up to it. “It’s monitoring my brain waves?”

“Recording them, yes, with your help I’ll be able to share my music with the world.”

“But if you’re… putting people… under your control then-”

“I don’t have any ill intentions. I just want to bring music back to the world, to bring peace.”

“… what if I refuse to help…”

“I’ll be honest, you don’t have a choice. You won’t find a way out of this theater, and as you know my music can start playing at any moment. Many of the robots and robo-dogs have been modified with speakers. You can’t escape.”

“… oh…”

“I want your help willingly, but I won’t let you leave either.”

“I understand…”

“You don’t have to be mentally present if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sure things will be better if I am. I also want to know what’s truly going on.”

“Thank you.” Woozi took your hand and kissed it. “I’ll continue playing now.”

There was still a lot on your mind. You were worried about your friends, but Woozi made it very clear you were stuck here, at least for the time being. Of course all your concerns were washed away when the music started playing. You were helpless to resist, finding yourself on cloud nine while you listened, the time passing by without meaning. When you finally had a chance to regain your senses you found yourself alone at the piano. You could vaguely make out voices around you, but you were focusing on getting your head on straight.

“Dino is monitoring the situation.”

“Thank you, Hoshi.”

Once your head wasn’t spinning you got up, looking over to see Woozi by himself. You swore you heard Hoshi before, but it was just the two of you in the room.

“You back with us?” Woozi questioned. “How about a tour? The others would like to meet you.”

“Others?”

“I don’t do this alone.”

Woozi hooked his arm around yours and led you back the way you came, or at least that’s what you thought, there was no way to tell. You came to an elevator, Woozi hitting the button for the eighth floor. It was a quick trip and once you arrived Woozi led you down a hall. You came to a huge room full of monitors, seeing the outside world, some still images and others in motion. There was a gentleman at a desk, browsing through some of the screens, but upon hearing you two he stood up to greet you.

“Maestro, what brings you down here? I see you have a friend.”

“This is the girl I was telling you all about. Y/n this is Dino, our eyes and ears.”

“Ah, nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“So you… like, run security here?”

“No, that would be Seungkwan. I keep an eye on things outside the theater. I was the one who found you, fascinated by a piano that no one else could hear. I’m quite jealous, I’ve always wanted to hear the Maestro’s music.”

“It doesn’t affect you?”

“Unfortunately not, but you’ll be able to change that.”

“You really think so?”

“I believe so.”

“Hoshi told me what you were up to earlier.” Woozi mentioned. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, although we might have some guests soon.”

“Prepare for them.”

“Will do.”

“Let’s go meet some of the others.” Woozi said. “Come now.”

You merely went up one more floor, to the ninth, coming to a much different area. There were parts and machinery all around, kinda like some workshop. Many robots were around as well, seeming to be working on different things. You were quite fascinated as this reminded you of home, and the mess of electronics Vernon always left lying around. There were two gentlemen in the room talking, but their conversation ceased when you two entered, both greeting Woozi.

“It’s nice to see you as well. This is y/n, our special guest, y/n, this is Seungcheol and Seungkwan.”

“Hello…”

“Seungcheol works with the robots we have here, and with Seungkwan, who is in charge of security here.”

“I… I think I saw Seungkwan earlier… at the theater.”

“Yes. I’m also the director. I hope you enjoyed the show.”

“I did. May I ask what goes on here? This is a shop, isn’t it?”

“It’s my shop.” Seungcheol explained. “I work on some robots, a bit of cosmetic work but mostly programming. I have an implant that connects me to the robots in our network which makes it easier to do my job.”

“So you build robots here? I thought only the government did that.”

“I don’t make them, just some modifications, but Seokmin does create some pretty unique robots. You’ll like his workshop.”

“Speaking of.” Woozi interrupted. “Why don’t we go see him.”

Another elevator trip, this time going up to the twelfth floor. Just as Seungcheol said, this place was another workshop, although there were far more robot pieces lying around. You thought maybe other robots would be around, but there were only a few. If you didn’t know any better you’d think the floor was abandoned, but Woozi led you through everything with purpose, knowing exactly where to go. It wasn’t long before you came across another person, another two. One was lying on a table, and the other at the side looking at a computer screen. Without saying anything the one at the computer stopped and looked back, smiling at Woozi.

“Maestro, what brings you here?”

Then the person lying on the table sat up, startling you a bit, but they quickly apologized. You assured them you were fine, and apologized yourself as you didn’t mean to intrude on whatever they were doing.

“So this must be the girl you mentioned before.”

“It is. Y/n, meet Seokmin, and Jun.”

“Hello…”

“You’re very pretty.” One commented. “I’m Seokmin, and this is my shop.”

“Yes, Seungcheol mentioned it to me, he said you build robots.”

“I do. The Maestro is kind enough to let my imagination run wild.”

“What do you make robots for?”

“No real reason at all, it’s just fun. Besides, my skill set is very helpful for Jun.”

“Jun? Why?”

“I have a few robotic parts myself.” Jun explained. “So that leaves Seokmin, and Seungcheol, as my doctors.”

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

“Just doing some routine maintenance now.”

“I never would have thought you were a cyborg.”

“My handsome face hides it well, right?”

“I worked on that face so I can take partial credit.” Seokmin joked. “I used myself as inspiration.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Since you two are busy, we’ll leave you then.” Woozi said. “Shall we.”

Everyone you had met so far was interesting, and it made you wonder how they all wound up here. Although now you were very curious about one in particular. So you decided to ask as you made your way to the next floor.

“May I ask something?”

“Hm?”

“What happened to Jun?”

“Peacekeepers. He stole something and they hunted him down, beat him to a pulp and left him for dead. It happened in my area, and I wasn’t just going to watch the boy die. My people brought him here and fixed him up. He had some severe wounds which required different treatment, with his consent of course.”

“So… those that are here… they know what you’re doing, right?”

“Of course.”

“And they’re okay with it? They’re on board?”

“Yes. They understand what I’m trying to do here and believe in my cause. They’re here to help me, and I appreciate them.”

“They’re here because they want to be, yet I can’t leave.”

Woozi chuckled. “You’re a special case.”

The doors opened and you arrived to the fifteenth floor, where you had originally woken up. It made you a bit nervous to be back here, but Woozi seemed calm as usual. Last time you were here it was quiet and felt abandoned, but now you could hear machines operating, and a few muffled voices here and there. It seemed that you were heading towards those voices as they got louder and louder. You came over to a group of people, seeing a gentleman lying in bed, two others at his side and Hoshi looking at the monitor.

“Maestro, you’re here.”

“How is he?”

“Stable and recovering.”

“And the rest of you?”

“Fine. Although we should be asking you. The sudden disruption-”

“I’m alright.”

“And her?”

All eyes suddenly turned to you, making you nervous. Although now that you had their attention you realized the gentleman dressed in black seemed familiar.

“I’m okay… but what… what are you talking about…?”

“I haven’t explained all that yet.” Woozi admitted. “We can do so now while you get examined.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You can have a seat over here.”

You were led over to one of the beds nearby, taking a seat and having Woozi remove that little chip on your head. While that happened the gentleman in black asked a question.

“Did you enjoy the show?”

“Ah, yes, it was lovely… uh… I hate to ask… but have we met before?”

“I would say so. I’m Jeonghan, I was the conductor for your show. This is Minghao, and our friend who is recovering is Joshua. You’ve met Hoshi, right?”

“I have. Then, are you all conductors?”

“We are.”

“So what happened to Joshua?”

“You felt it earlier.” Minghao commented. “That shrieking. Some bastard broke Joshua’s wand.”

“The conductor wand?”

“Yes. They’re much more than they seem.”

“But why would breaking that hurt him?”

“We’re all connected here.” Hoshi mentioned. “Through this neural network and the Maestro’s music. The conductor’s wand serves as a way to keep them connected, while also allowing them to access the true power of the music.”

“It’s more like it flows through us.” Jeonghan explained. “And we can manipulate it from there.”

“You mean control people.”

“One can do much more with lots of practice and patience.”

“Like what?”

“You’ll see.”

From what you could tell Woozi was downloading the contents from the chip, your brainwave readings. Your eyes lingered on Joshua as he laid in bed. You remembered the headache from before, so you couldn’t imagine what he had felt if he wound up unconscious. Although a moment later the boy jumped up from the bed, clearly panicked. The others held him down, hoping to keep him from hurting himself. Hoshi gently placed his hand behind Joshua’s head and the boy seemed to calm down.

“You’re alright.” Jeonghan assured. “The others are fixing your wand and Hoshi is keeping the connection stable.”

“Where are they…”

“Gone. So don’t worry about them.”

“They were looking for-”

“We know. You can say hello.”

“Huh?”

Jeonghan gestured over to you, and Joshua’s eyes followed, seeming to be surprised. He offered you a weak smile, trying to figure out some words.

“Hello… you doing okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Are you?”

“I’m fine. How do you feel though? How was the music?”

“Beautiful. It lingers in the back of my mind.”

“You should let me perform for you sometime.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“I’ll give you a show as well.” Minghao added. “So look forward to that too.”

“Alright. I will.”

“The data looks promising.” Woozi stated. “Shall we move on to the next phase?”

“Next phase? What’s that?”

“It will be much easier to monitor you when you’re directly connected to our network.”

“Wait, you want to put something in my head? Like an-”

“It won’t hurt at all. Honestly you’ll be-”

“No, no I said I’d help you with this but-”

“This is part of it.”

“But… I…”

Minghao came over to your side and held out his wand. You stared at it confused, not sure what he was implying.

“Since you’re the Maestro’s special girl, you’ll be able to feel the power before you’re fully connected. Go on, grab it, tell me how you feel.”

You hesitantly grabbed the wand, not feeling anything at first and then it slowly began to hit. You felt this warmth starting to grow inside you, to spread and open up your senses. The melody in the back of your mind was starting to become clearer and you could remember its beauty. Perhaps this feeling was like getting high, and you couldn’t help but giggle. Although the feeling didn’t last long as Minghao took the wand back, quickly leaving you feeling cold.

“Wait-”

“Sorry, but since you’re not in our network it’s dangerous for you to hold a wand for too long. But I’ll tell you this, that feeling will only be better once you join us.”

“This is all really starting to sound like a cult…”

Minghao chuckled. “If you want to see it that way, but the Maestro is right, we need you.”

“And I can’t refuse…”

“Do you want to? Leave that is. Do you think you could walk away now? You’d probably still hear the Maestro’s music playing out in the streets. Could you resist the urge to come back?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“I do.” Jeonghan admitted. “I tried walking away, but you can see how that turned out.”

“What… what’s gonna happen to me?”

“Right now I need to administer a sedative.” Woozi explained. “You need to be in a relaxed state both physically and mentally before we can begin the procedure. Then you’ll just sleep. When you wake, well, I can’t really describe the sensation since it’s always been with me. Although I’m sure one of my conductors can.”

“It feels like truly waking up.” Joshua recounted. “You realize that you were never actually awake until that moment. Your senses are heightened, and you can feel this energy in the air. The feeling only grows stronger when there’s music and it creates this harmony within you. It might not be easy to understand the Maestro’s music or intentions, but once you reach this deeper level of connection it all makes sense. You feel bits of it now, and that’s what draws people to the theater. It’s what ultimately brought you here.”

“Oh…”

“May we begin?” Woozi asked. “Or do you need a moment?”

“No… you can start.”

Woozi gave you a smile and stepped over to a table near the bed. He grabbed a needle and vial, filling the needle. You watched intently, starting to feel a bit nervous. He asked for your arm, which you gave, watching as he stuck the needle in you and emptied out its contents. Afterwards he had you lay down, telling you that you’d feel the effects soon.

“I’ll go get Seokmin, I’ll return shortly.”

Minghao offered to go with Woozi, needing to talk to him about something. Jeonghan took over from there, attaching some patches and wires to you. Hoshi came to the other side, looking over the monitor. All this was making you more uneasy.

“Wait… wait-”

You reached over to grab Hoshi’s arm, only for your hand to go right through him like he was some sort of ghost. You looked up at him with wide eyes, glancing at your hand as if something would change.

“… you… you’re not real…”

“I am.” Hoshi assured with a smile. “I’m just not physically here.”

“… what… what happened?” You asked. “I… I’ve been curious about you… with everything Woozi said…”

“Hm. Shall I tell you a story while you drift off?”

“Okay…”

Hoshi glanced back at the monitors, making sure everything was alright. Then you noticed a chair roll over to your bedside, Hoshi taking a seat. You knew he wasn’t physically present but he was trying to seem as normal as possible.

“I’ve known the Maestro since we were kids, we grew up together. He always had an affinity for music, and we’d do our best to scavenge for instruments or parts to make our own. Neither of us realized at first, but when he played, he drew me in. This energy surrounded him, making it seem like the world wasn’t such a bad place. Eventually the Maestro became aware of how I’d get when he played, he was worried but I assured him I was fine and wanted to hear more. That’s when he started performing for others. Many who heard his music had a smile on their face, and the world seemed like a better place. I believe he would have been content just playing on the streets for random strangers, but you know the city. One day peacekeepers came, and I couldn’t let the Maestro get hurt. I told him to run and I took the fall.”

“I was hurt badly and left for dead. When the Maestro found me again he feared he would lose me. Everything was hazy, but somehow the Maestro got help, and that’s how he met Seokmin. They stabilized me, but I wasn’t exactly conscious. I wasn’t very responsive, but apparently I still reacted to the Maestro’s music. It gave him hope, and so they tried something else to help me. The Maestro met Seokmin’s friends, Seungcheol and Dino, and they put something in my head, letting me project my consciousness outside my body. The guys did a bit of adjustments and here I am.”

Despite everything you had been told you couldn’t help but reach up, wanting to touch Hoshi’s face, but once again your hand just went through him. Hoshi chuckled, giving you an amused look.

“Sorry.”

“… where… where is your body?”

“Somewhere in this building.”

“… are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while but I’m making progress. I’ll be up on my feet soon.”

“Woozi really cares about you…”

“He does.”

“Because… your situation… is that why he needs me?”

“Yes. Although I know you would have come here eventually. The music is so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“You should close your eyes and sleep. I’ll have a surprise for you when you wake up.”

A small smile appeared on your lips, and you gave a little nod. It was already a bit of a struggle to stay awake, so you closed your eyes and let yourself sink into the darkness. You were still nervous, not knowing what would happen, but by now it was far too late to object.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“If I agree… do I get to see y/n?”

“That could be arranged.”

“Fine. I’ll see what’s going on with your cult.”

“Not a cult but-”

Seungcheol groaned and grabbed his head, falling to his knees. Jun also screamed and fell back on the table, thrashing around a bit. Even the other two seemed to be suffering from some sudden headache. Vernon was left unaffected, and he had seen this scene before, back at the theater. Although he had no idea what was going on. He thought to use this chance to get out of his restraints and try to escape, but Dino wasn’t affected as badly, so he knocked Vernon down to the ground. A moment later it seemed the headaches had passed, and they were all recovering.

“I should probably go check on our guest after this.” Seokmin commented. “Take care of Jun.”

“Yeah. We’ll follow shortly.” Seungcheol assured.

“Wait, guest?” Vernon questioned. “You mean y/n?”

“Maybe.”

Seungcheol checked in on Jun, seeing the boy was just catching his breath. He looked over his vitals again, assuring the boy he was fine. They all were.

“What happened to you all just now?”

“It’s complicated, but we’re fine.”

“Are you? I saw this before with Joshua, the conductor, when his wand broke. Why the hell does that hurt, why does it hurt all of you?”

“We’re connected.” Seungcheol admitted. “And you’ve been interfering with it, but if you’re truly on our side, you won’t be a problem anymore. I can’t say the same for your friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’ll see.”

Vernon was still uncertain about everything, but he knew he had to go along with this to see you. By now his own personal curiosity had also taken hold and he wanted to know what was really going on in this theater.

“Our presence is requested at the theater. Let’s go.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Wonwoo felt the pull of the wand, but despite Joshua holding it out for him, he was not allowed to touch it. There was some disappointment, but he wasn’t going to voice that. He had made his choice, and he wanted to see what came of it. Joshua smiled, glad by his decision and then led the way further into the lab. Wonwoo followed, not sure if he should speak, although he soon rushed past his guide. He came to another room lined with beds and noticed one was occupied, seeing you. He ran over to the bedside, taking your hand and calling your name, but there was no response.

“What did you do to her!”

“She’s fine. She’s merely resting after the procedure.”

“What procedure? What are you talking about?”

“She chose to join us, and thus became part of our connection. It’s a painless procedure. One you’d surely participate in if you’re serious about your choice.”

“When will she wake?”

“Soon. Hoshi should be by momentarily to check on her.”

“Who?”

“You’ve seen him before.”

Wonwoo still didn’t really understand, but you were the bigger concern. He was mostly glad to have found you again, although this wasn’t the state he was hoping to see you in. A moment later he saw someone else approach the bed. He looked up to see another boy at your side, white hair, looking at the screens, and very familiar to Wonwoo.

“It’s you…”

“Hello. You won’t attack Joshua again, will you?”

“No… no… but you… how… how is she?”

“Stable. She took everything well, and should wake soon.”

“Are… are you the Maestro?”

“No, but I’m flattered. My name is Hoshi, and I’m the internal conductor.”

“Internal conductor?”

“The Maestro has a multitude of conductors to spread their music, but I do not leave the theater, and I keep everyone connected. I’m actually very glad to properly meet you. I have a proposal for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes. You have a strong connection to the Maestro’s music. You felt it during the show, moreso when you held Joshua’s wand. You have the potential to be a conductor, and your ideal physical state would make you a great one.”

“You want me to be a conductor?”

“You’ll come to truly understand what we do here, and wield power unlike anything you could imagine.”

“And why would I accept? You kidnapped my friend, and hurt the others.”

“I saw your little trio trespassing into the theater. We could have thrown you out, but we didn’t. In fact you would have come back on your own, the pull of the Maestro’s music is very strong. You came all the way here. Do you really think you can walk away now?”

“You-”

Wonwoo’s words were cut short as he heard a groan, looking over to see you moving and whimpering. He was excited to see you waking up, holding your hand tightly.

“Y/n, it’s me, can you hear me?”

It took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the light, but you thought you were dreaming when you saw Wonwoo. His familiar smile made you feel warm, and then you felt his hand, realizing this wasn’t a dream.

“Wonwoo… how…?”

“Hey, how are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“I… I’m fine… but… when did you… get here?”

“Your friends came looking for you.” Hoshi stated. “And I wanted to speak with Wonwoo.”

“Oh… is everything okay?”

“You tell me. How do you really feel?”

“I…”

Your senses were starting to come back to you, but it was certainly different this time. You could feel this energy in the air, but more importantly you could sense others. Joshua had this glow around him, as did Hoshi, but Wonwoo didn’t. You could sense the presence of the two, and then had a feeling in the back of your head of others close by. As you were lost in thought you saw Hoshi reach over to caress your cheek, and to your surprise you felt the warmth of his touch. You looked at him with wide eyes, reaching over to take his hand in yours. It didn’t feel like Wonwoo’s hand, but different. Almost like a ghost, just on the edge of physicality, like the flow of water or a cool breeze.

“How…?”

“You’re part of our network now, you’re connected to the rest of us so my essence is that much stronger for you to pick up on. Strong enough to be physical, even if just a bit.”

“It’s incredible.”

Wonwoo had been quietly watching the whole time, not really liking the situation. He reached over to move Hoshi’s hand, but he couldn’t touch the boy. His hand passed right through the other, confusing him as you appeared to be able to make contact.

“What is this…”

“Power.” You mumbled. “It’s in the air and everywhere. Only when you’re connected does it manifest into something more. Like the music. When you really listen to it, you open your eyes to a whole other world.”

“Very poetic.” Hoshi chuckled. “You’re very good with words.”

“I guess… but what did you want to talk to Wonwoo about?”

“The Maestro would like for him to be a conductor.”

“Really?”

“He has great potential.”

“That’s incredible Wonwoo.”

“I don’t know what any of this means, y/n.” Wonwoo reminded. “I only came here looking for you.”

“I’m sorry… I really wouldn’t have wanted to worry you, but things were out of my hands.”

“I’m sure they were, but we should get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving Wonwoo, I can’t.”

“What do you mean? What did they say to you?”

“They just told me about the Maestro, and what he’s doing. I want to help him.”

“You don’t know him.”

“Not truly, not yet, but I’ve seen enough to know that I want to help. There’s this energy, this warmth inside of me because of the Maestro and I know the world would be a better place if everyone could experience this. They’re not evil, Wonwoo. You should stay too actually. The things we could do.”

“I’m not so sure I understand what they’re talking about.”

“All the more reason to stay and find out. Together we-”

Your words were cut off as a searing pain overtook you. Wonwoo could only watch as you suddenly began to scream and thrash. He tried holding you down, hearing similar cries of anguish from Joshua. The boy had collapsed to the ground. Hoshi wasn’t as affected, seeming more irritated than anything else.

“What’s happening!?” Wonwoo yelled. “What did you do!?”

“It’s your friend who did this!”

Hoshi seemed to glitch out of existence, leaving Wonwoo alone to worry about you. He didn’t know what to do in order to help you, but the pain didn’t last too long. After a moment you seemed to calm down, although you were whimpering and seemed very out of it. Joshua stumbled to his feet, not in a good condition himself, but he was worried about you. He looked over at the machines, making sure all the readings were well.

“What happened?” Wonwoo asked again. “What was that?”

“Your friend broke another wand.”

“I don’t understand, will y/n be okay?”

“Yes. I’m sure Seokmin and Hoshi will be here any moment now.”

“Why are you on your feet?!”

Another boy suddenly came rushing into the room. He grabbed Joshua and sat him down on the nearest bed, getting him to lie down.

“I’m fine, Seokmin.”

“Sure you are. Not like you’re still recovering from the last incident.”

“I was checking on y/n.”

“I’ll do that, you just relax.”

Seokmin went over to the monitors, completely ignoring the other. A while later another rather familiar face showed up. The director, Seungkwan, came up, and Seokmin told him to look over Joshua. Wonwoo stayed quiet and watched Seokmin like a hawk, remaining silent until a needle was pulled out.

“What’s that for?”

“A minor sedative. She’s gonna need it in order to stabilize.”

“Where’s Hoshi?”

“Dealing with Minghao. I’m sure he’ll be back momentarily.”

“Are you sure she’ll be okay?”

“Have a little faith.”

It was good to see you at ease with the sedative. You weren’t unconscious, but you certainly weren’t all there. Wonwoo was glad to keep you company, listening to you tell him about the theater and the Maestro. He wasn’t sure if any of it was real, or just propaganda you had been fed. Still, he just wanted to make sure you were alright. Although you were asking him to stay, to take on the roll he had been offered, but it wasn’t that simple.

“You know Vernon and Mingyu are here too. We got separated and-”

“Vernon is with the others down on the ninth floor.” Seokmin interrupted. “As for Mingyu, who do you think is causing all this?”

“Oh…”

“He’s made it far enough.” Seungkwan added. “Jeonghan will deal with him.”

“Jeonghan?” You questioned. “What is he gonna do?”

“Nothing bad, I promise.”

“Let me talk to him. I can reason with Mingyu. He’s only here and causing trouble because he’s looking for me. Please.”

“Y/n.”

“I don’t want to be the reason something bad happens to anyone.”

“Let her.” Joshua cut in. “It would benefit all of us.”

“Fine. I’ll have the others gather around as well.”

“Where are you going?” Wonwoo asked. “Because I’m going with you.”

“To the grand theater on the thirteenth floor.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Put me down!” Mingyu screamed. “Now!”

“Why would I do that? You’ve been nothing but trouble.”

“You must be the Maestro then.”

“I’m honored, but no. My name is Jeonghan, the lead conductor. You should have stayed out, but you don’t seem all that bright. Since you didn’t learn from your past mistakes, I suppose it’s only fair to teach you properly.” 

Jeonghan got into place, as if he was performing, but there was no audience, and no orchestra. He didn’t need that.

“I’ve always wanted to perform this piece. I hope you like it.”

Jeonghan took a breath and closed his eyes, beginning his performance. It seemed rather funny at first, to see him leading the air, but then Mingyu began to hear it. A slow and steady rhythm slowly becoming audible. Mingyu had an idea as to where this was going, but before he could get the mask back on it was ripped from his hands and fell off stage into darkness. In a matter of seconds the music was loud and clear, but it wasn’t this shrieking sound. Instead it felt like this pressure in his head. Mingyu screamed, there was nothing he could do to make this pain go away. The pressure was gradually increasing so it was only a matter of time before he passed out. He had to do something.

With the bits of conscious thought he had left he tried to come up with a plan. Jeonghan was engrossed in his performance, eyes closed and moving with such fluidity. The only thing Mingyu had was the stun baton. He had one shot to use it, and if he failed it’d be all over. He focused on his plan, getting the baton and figuring out how to throw it before electrifying it. The task was complicated, but he didn’t have much time, so he took his shot. He aimed for the chest and electrified the baton, throwing it with all the strength he had. The pain grew worse so he couldn’t see the outcome, but hearing a scream and falling to the floor was answer enough.

Mingyu groaned from the impact, but he forced himself up. He stumbled as his body was aching and he had yet to properly regain his senses. Still he managed to get to Jeonghan, ripping the wand from his hand. Although before he could do anything Jeonghan had gotten the stun baton and hit Mingyu with it. Now the two were down and recovering from being electrocuted. The wand fell from Mingyu’s hand and rolled away, at least it couldn’t be used against him for the moment. Since Jeonghan had been hit first, he recovered before Mingyu, managing to get back on his feet. He held his hand out and Mingyu watched as the wand returned to him.

“Clever. Maybe you’re not all that dumb, but your game ends here.”

Jeonghan walked over to Mingyu, staring down at him before placing a foot on his chest. He put pressure and watched as Mingyu squirmed, attempting to get him off. When he managed to get some movement he used it to get out from under Jeonghan, rolling away and getting onto one knee. Before he did anything else he heard another voice and looked over to see that at the other end of the stage there was a boy with white hair, and a glowing wand in his hand. The same boy he had seen before.

“Enough.”

“I had this under control.” Jeonghan stated. “I didn’t require assistance.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“You must be the Maestro.” Mingyu breathed out. “What took you so long?”

“I’m not the Maestro, but I was sent here on their behalf. You’re not worth their time, but we’ve all had enough of you hurting us. Jeonghan.”

“I know.”

Before Mingyu realized it he was back in the air again, although not so high off the ground this time. The white haired boy walked over to him, glaring.

“Hoshi, stop!”

Despite your state you rushed onto the stage and grabbed Hoshi. Your hand slipped through him a bit, but he still moved because of your touch. His gaze shifted to you and softened. He wouldn’t act for now, you trusted that. Wonwoo stayed behind with Seungkwan, watching.

“Y/n, are you okay!?” Mingyu asked. “Did they hurt you!?”

“I’m fine. Can you put him down?” You asked Jeonghan. “Please.”

“I don’t believe that’s a good idea.”

“Jeonghan.”

“Do it.” Hoshi said. “We outnumber him anyway.”

Mingyu was gently let down, and as soon as his feet hit the ground he stepped towards you and pulled you into a hug. You were a bit amused by his actions, but didn’t mind. You hugged him back, assuring him you were alright.

“Everything’s okay. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“I know it’s not your fault. I’m just glad you’re okay. Let’s go now.”

Mingyu took your hand and started pulling you along to step off the stage but Jeonghan got in his way.

“You’re not leaving.”

“Get out of my way.”

“Mingyu, please don’t fight. Look, I don’t want to leave this place, I’m not going to leave.”

“What?”

“I know things didn’t go so well at first, but they’re not bad people.”

“They kidnapped you.”

“Not really. I came here because of the piano, because of the Maestro, and-”

“I know what their music does to people, and it’s clear you’ve been affected.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Wonwoo cut in. “She’s made it very clear she’s not gonna leave.”

“So then you’re gonna stay with her? We were attacked by peacekeepers and robots, not to mention Vernon is still missing.”

“Not anymore.”

Wonwoo gestured out to the crowd as he saw the doors open. Vernon and a few others entered the theater. As soon as Vernon saw you he ran up to the stage, no longer restrained in any way. He came to you and embraced you in a hug. The trio that escorted him up remained out in the aisles, watching.

“They didn’t hurt you or anything, right?”

“No, not at all.”

“Good. So we can leave now?”

“Apparently not.” Mingyu stated. “She doesn’t want to leave. The music has gotten to her head.”

“Y/n, this place-”

“I’m not brainwashed or anything! Woozi told me what he’s doing here, and what I can do to help. So I’m not leaving. I’ve already explained some things to Wonwoo. You don’t have to leave either, you guys can help too.”

“I’ve already heard the story.” Vernon mentioned. “I’m not sure I’m on board. Being involved with a revolution, we’re practically signing our death certificates.”

“A revolution?” Mingyu questioned. “Is that what these nutjobs think they’re doing?”

“They’re not crazy.” You countered. “I know what they’re doing, and I know it’s gonna work. Woozi just needs my help so his music can reach everyone, including you guys.”

“I’m not gonna leave you here to be a pawn in their game. If they want to start a revolution, they can try, but none of us are taking part in it. Wonwoo, tell her this is crazy.”

“I don’t know…”

“So they got to you too. Vernon?”

“They’re kinda scary with the tech they got here…”

Mingyu scoffed. “I cannot believe you two. Are you seriously considering this?”

“I’m not so sure we have much of a choice anymore…”

“Then I’ll leave on my own.”

It really felt like this whole thing was all for nothing, but Mingyu wasn’t going to stay where he wasn’t wanted. Although Jeonghan stayed where he was.

“Move.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Jeonghan, just let him go.” You said. “I’m not gonna make anyone stay.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“What?”

“The Maestro has no intention of letting any of you leave.”

Mingyu was suddenly up in the air again, Vernon as well. You glared at Jeonghan but he merely shook his head at you. This wasn’t his doing, but the Maestro’s.

“This is not what the theater is for.”

You looked back to see Woozi walking towards center stage, Minghao, Joshua, and Seungkwan at his side. Everyone was present now.

“Minghao, are you alright?” You asked. “A moment ago-”

“After the earlier incident we’ve created contingencies.” Minghao explained. “Much faster recovery time. Are you alright though?”

“Better now.”

“You should be resting.” Woozi stated. “Not down here.”

“I wanted to talk to my friends. Make them see reason.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“So it’s you then.” Mingyu cut in. “You’re the Maestro.”

“Yes, I’m the Maestro, and you’ve been trespassing.”

“I’m more than happy to leave now.”

“I’m sure you are, but that is no longer an option. You forfeit that when you set foot in my theater.”

“Look, I want nothing to do with your little revolution thing, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. You don’t have to worry.”

“But I do.”

Woozi brought Mingyu closer to him, bringing the peacekeeper mask to his hands as well. He examined it with an amused grin and then looked up at Mingyu.

“You went through a lot of trouble just to see me and now you want to leave. Kinda disappointing. If you want to play dress up though, how about I make it real. Why don’t you become one of my peacekeepers.”

“What?”

“I’m always in need of more peacekeepers. My music can only reach so many at the moment, but someone like you could lead them. You could actually embody the name they carry.”

Mingyu scoffed. “Are you seriously offering me a position when I already said I want nothing to do with you?”

“Your words are surely disappointing y/n, but I’m not asking. I know you’ll truly come around eventually. Same for Vernon.”

“What the hell are you talking about!?”

“Y/n cares about you. The last thing I want is for her to be upset.”

“Wait, Woozi, I don’t-”

“Hoshi.”

“Yes, Maestro.”

Hoshi came up behind you, placing a hand against your face. Your eyes went wide and your vision went dark. You felt this sudden warmth spread through you, calming your nerves and pulling your consciousness under into tranquility. Your eyes glazed over, starting to glow just as a few glowing veins spread around from where Hoshi’s hand made contact with you. His own eyes were glowing, completely engulfed in white.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

“Silence.”

One moment everything was normal, and then Woozi’s eyes were glowing, and the same had happened to the others. The conductors moved to the edges of the stage, silent and without emotion. Then they began moving in unison, performing a silent melody. Wonwoo felt a change in the air, something moving through the empty space, partially making him dizzy. He stumbled and took a step back, shaking his head to stay awake. Although he soon noticed Mingyu and Vernon were passed out, and dropped on the floor. The others had come to the stage, grabbing the two and removing them.

Wonwoo took a step forward, wanting to stop them, but that seemed difficult at the moment. He couldn’t reach either of his friends, and you were clearly unavailable as well. All he could do was watch, not understanding what was happening, but still being hit with this energy and staying put. Then Woozi glanced over at him, a smirk appearing on his face and walking over to the boy.

“That leaves you.”

Now Wonwoo knew he was stuck in place, those glowing eyes sending a chill down his spine. Everything in this theater had been strange from the beginning, but this was starting to let him know just how dangerous it was to be here. 

“You can’t fully hear my lullaby, but you can feel it, can’t you? Only those outside my network will be affected, but you are dancing the line.” Everyone spoke as one, following the Maestro’s lead. “You don’t have to worry about y/n. I don’t want her to remember any of this and I have the means to guarantee that. So it’s just you and me now.”

Just as Woozi said that he snapped his fingers, everyone else disappearing. Now it really was just the two of them but Wonwoo could still feel the energy in the air, feel this melody in the back of his head. The others weren’t really gone, just invisible to him now. He knew that for sure as Woozi’s voice continued to boom with the echo of everyone else speaking with him.

“… what… what do you want…”

“The answer is very simple.”

Woozi held his hand out, a wand manifesting out of nowhere, glowing brightly. It was just like the one Hoshi had. Woozi seemed to examine it for a moment before holding it out to Wonwoo.

“I could use a conductor such as yourself. Someone who will be much better at guiding y/n due to a personal connection. You are free to refuse, but not many can, not an offer like this.”

“Why ask if you seem to know the answer… did I ever really have a choice? Did anyone here?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Woozi chuckled, his laughter echoing in the theater. “Does it?”

“… no…”

Wonwoo reached out to grab the wand. It wasn’t like before, this energy felt stronger, and it hit him like a crashing wave. Everything around him seemed to stabilize, and those that had disappeared were back in view. The glow of the wand traveled down to his arm like veins, and he could feel them digging deep and planting roots within him. This sensation was only growing stronger, and he knew at that moment he’d never let it go.

“What do I do now?”

“Follow the Maestro’s lead.”

[jinkiezzsstuff]

Zip Zap

Charlie x male!reader

Summary: Targeting the princess was an ambitious thing to do- also stupid especially when you had a heart for the princess and the power to protect her

Warnings: Short ;-; so sorry, attempted sexual assault, restraint with cuffs not consensual or kinky, gross guys intending to do gross things to charlie but never do, MALE READER, reader has lightening powers, could be read platonically or romantically i left it ambiguous, also not proofread! lemme know if i missed anything!

Word count: 1.5k

requested by: @wfig123 i truly hope this is what you wanted, i didn’t want to write anything too graphic! i’ll probably need to brush up a little more on writing action scenes because i was having trouble with it :0 womp womp

You had spent a good amount of time in hell, and a decent amount of sinners knew you, namely because of Vox. You tickled yourself occasionally by using the electrical power you had to fuck with the Vees, especially Vox.

You’d ruin the internet for Velvette by overcharging the nearest towers, you’d often fuck with Val too, purposefully frying his cameras, mic’s and laptops so he couldn’t record. Needless to say you had a bad but close relationship with the Vees.

Half way through the year exterminations close and tensions high, you’d befriended the hazbin hotel creator herself, Charlie. Honestly you adored her, she was bubbly, kind but also had bite, she was quick to apologize and tried her best to genuinely help sinners.

You lingered in the shadows the day she confronted Val with Angel, she of course wasn’t aware of this, neither was Angel to be fair. You knew how Val could be though, he was vindictive and he didn’t like when women made a mockery of him. So you kept your eyes on Val, especially after his run in with Charlie.

For a few weeks you’d be getting a strange feeling, something bad was going to happen and you knew it, you just didn’t know what. Pacing in the lobby of the hotel, lightening would spit out from various parts of your body as you stressed, the lights flickering at the electrical magnet surge you would cause.

As you paced rethinking plans and accounting for everyone in the hotel, Charlie happily skipped up to you, eyeing your tense form and the sizzling lights that spat out and all around you. “Hey are you okay? You’re looking a little uhm…” Charlie trialed off looking to the side as she did, you looked at her and it was evident she didn’t want to be rude, so she was trying to find the right words.

Smiling softly the lightening calmed just slightly fizzling out. “It’s okay Charlie, your allowed to say i look like shit.” You said humorously watching as Charlie’s face twisted into worry shaking her hands rapidly in front of her. “No no no, i didn’t mean that at all! Just, y’know, never seen you so, worked up?”

You hummed at her nodding, you didn’t exactly know what to tell her after all, you had nothing to really worry about, just anxious thoughts and paranoia. “Just some stupid lightening bullshit that comes with being me, that’s all hun. So, what’s up with you anything planned today?” You ask lamely attempting to avoid the silly truth of your stress. Charlie didn’t dwell on your excuse though as she perked up readying to explain the day.

“Yes! Oh M G, i am so excited im going to Rosie’s today and she is willing to endorse the hotel!” Charlie squealed spinning around excitedly. You chuckled warmly at her antics completely relaxed in her presence.

“Need someone to come with?” You asked her hopefully but she unfortunately was quick to reject claiming alastor was accompanying her. Shrugging it off you watched as she said goodbye to Husk and fled through the door at a rapid speed clearly excited to go.

Of course within twenty minutes of her being gone your worries got the best of you. You zapped around from place to place trying to figure out which way Charlie would take, or possibly Alastor. A few blocks away from cannible town you heard the unmistakable shout of a certain princess. With new motivation you practically flew towards the noise heart beating in your ears as you did.

In a tucked away alleyway six men had Charlie restraint with cuffs and wire. You recognized a few of the guys through Val, and you also picked up on the fact the handcuffs happened to be Val’s. Rage flooded your viens as you stalked toward the men, they had Charlie’s coat and polo unbuttoned, her poor mouth gagged.

She had been crying and you could only hope she’d only been here like this a few minutes before you showed up. You walked quiet ominously behind the men, they were too busy poking at Charlie too notice you creep up, lightening cascading around the ally like a force field. As the lightening got brighter and thicker, the men turned finally, but didn’t do anything.

“Hey man, come join this, we got the princess for whatever we want..” One of the demons chuckled beckoning you forward with idiotic trust in you. Then with your wordless command one strobe of lightning strung out violently, attaching itself to the demon like a parasite. The demon shook, screamed and begged for you to stop.

The other me speedily readied themselves to attempt to fight you, so with a smile and the quick flick of your hand, you spread the lightening out like an infection. The violent electric shock stung all of the demons bringing them to the floor paralyzed to the lightening that encased them.

You walked cautiously around their body’s, lightening never ceasing as you did so, and made your way to Charlie who silently wept. Pulling the rag from her mouth, you then moved onto undoing the cuffs around her ankles and wrists. “I’m so sorry i’m so sorry, i’m so scared,” Charlie cried to you, but you hushed her, picking up her body bridal style.

“Hey, it’s okay Charlie, it’s alright. I felt like something was wrong, I knew it. Let’s take a time out some where safe yeah?” Charlie nodded against your chest, burying herself further in your warmth.

On top a tall roof was where you sat Charlie down, inspecting her wounds and gently messaging the marks the cuffs left. “I’m sorry i wasn’t there fast enough.” You say looking into her sad eyes, she smiled weakly at you shaking her head ever so slightly. “No it’s okay, most guys down here wouldn’t have helped. Thank you.” You scoffed lightly, doing up her blouse that the demons undid.

“That’s disgusting no thank yous are required these filthy pigs should know better.” You spat angrily, softly Charlie grabbed your hands tears returning. “They said Valentino sent them, did you- do you think i did the right thing?” Your mouth opened then shut, of course you had the idea it was Val but the confirmation just sets you ablaze.

The lightening around you unwilling returned as you pulled Charlie into an embrace. “You did do the right thing. Don’t ever don’t what a great person you are for standing up to him and standing up for all these sinners. I’m not even gonna ask where horned head was to protect you because Alastor is aloof, but i promise i will always be here to make sure you’re safe.” You promised looking into her eyes to convey your certainty.

Her heavy heart lifted at that, after all it was nice to feel as though she had someone other than Vaggie caring to protect her. “Thank you, also Alastor got distracted by Vox, told me to go on without him. Guess that was part of the plan, huh?”

The lightening snapped and crackled at Charlie’s explanation but you only smiled petting her hair gently. “I’m going to fuck the three of them up those electronic dependant dick holes.” You cursed frutratingly enjoy the bubbles of laughter that escaped Charlie as you did.

After bringing Charlie back to the hotel safely, helping her with setting up a relaxing bath to rub off the filth of the demons, you went out to shut down the entire power grid on the Vee turf, hopefully sending enough of a message to stay away from your favourite princess.

[metallicaislife]

The Exorcist

A/N: Second request done! I had some time on my trip to get these written out and posted :)

Requested by: @dallysnecklace

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 799

Warnings: swearing

I was counting down the minutes until I could clock out. Tonight, my boyfriend's band mates, who are also his roommates, are going out, leaving the house, namely the television for Kirk and I to enjoy by ourselves. 

“What are you doing tonight?” My coworker asked. 

“My boyfriend and I are going to eat junk and watch the Exorcist.” I beamed. She rolled her eyes at me.

“Girl, you’re lucky you ended up with someone who loves that creepy shit as much as you do.”  

“Oh believe me, I know!” I grinned. 

I clocked out and grabbed my bag. I went straight  to Kirk’s walking in without knocking. I found him in the kitchen popping some Jiffy Pop on the stove. 

“Hi, baby.” He greeted, smiling wide. 

“Hey, bub.” I grinned and walked over giving him a short kiss. 

“This is the last of the snacks, I got the chips, candy and drinks out on the coffee table already.” He said. 

“Perfect, is there anything I can do to help?” I offered.

“Nope. Just go get comfy and we can start our movie.” He turned his attention back to the popcorn so as to not burn it. 

I went to his room, placed my bag on his bed and raided his closet. I found a comfy T-shirt and snagged a pair of his boxers. I changed quickly and went to the living room. Kirk was in front of the TV putting the VHS in. 

I plopped down on the couch pulling one of the blankets over my lap. Kirk turned, he turned the lights off then walked towards the couch, I lifted the blanket and he settled in next to me. We began munching on the snacks as we snuggled close. 

The movie began and we watched intently. It wasn’t too bad then we got about half way through. Then I started tensing up, as I grew more and more freaked out. 

“Are you scared?” Kirk laughed softly, I remained silent. 

“You can watch zombies eat people but the girl throwing up is a little too much?” He teased me. I looked over at him and his smile dropped as he noticed the tears in my eyes. He immediately stopped the film and flicked on the lights sitting back next to me. He took my hands in his. 

“Baby, I was just teasing, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He said as he stroked my hands softly with his thumbs. 

“It wasn’t you.” I sniffed, “I’m sorry, the movie just freaked me out.” 

“No need to apologize.” He said, “come here.” He laid down and pulled me on top of him, he grabbed the blanket to cover us. I curled up on his chest and he rubbed my back in soothing circles. 

“I can do slashers, monsters, psychological thrillers, and ghosts. Apparently demons are off the table.” I murmured. 

“That’s fine, baby. We can stick to the classics and those genres.” Kirk reassured me. He continued rubbing my back comfortingly. “Do you want me to put another movie on?” He asked. I shook my head tiredly. 

“Tell me about your day.” I asked. 

Kirk began telling me about what he was up to, and before I knew it I was lulled to sleep in his warm embrace. 

“Lars, go grab the camera!” 

My eyes slowly opened and I spotted the source of the voice. James had a shit eating grin. 

“You’ve got a little.” He started and tapped the side of his mouth. I brought my hand to my mouth and wiped the drool. I looked down and noticed I had drooled a little bit on Kirk. I blushed and hid my face in his chest. Kirk groaned as he shifted a little bit. 

“We leave you for one night and you don’t eat a decent meal and fall asleep on the couch! You could’ve at least gone to Kirk’s room. Now where am I gonna sit?” Cliff teased. Lars popped back into the living room with the camera in hand. 

“Aw man you woke them! Now I won’t get the perfect shot of Y/N drooling on Kirk.” He pouted. 

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Kirk sat up as well. 

“It’s too early for your teasing.” Kirk said as he stood up. He held out his hand for me to take. 

“Oh, Kirk, it’s never too early to tease you.” Cliff grinned. Kirk flipped the guys off and led me to his room. We crawled into bed and cuddled as comfortably as we had the night before. 

“Damn it they're in a different position.” Lars complained at the doorway. 

“Fuck off Lars!” Kirk called and pulled the blankets over our heads. He kissed my forehead softly, then we quickly drifted back into a peaceful slumber.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to request or chat :)

-Isa

[chrisbitchtree]

Billy knew he shouldn’t have gone to the fucking Byers for their stupid annual end of school year party. It was apparently an even bigger deal than usual this year because Jonathan had just graduated. They were going to have a water balloon fight, and cornhole and cheddar hot dogs, Billy’s favourite.

Almost a year after Starcourt, Billy was still working on not being an asshole to almost everyone around him, and socializing more. According to his therapist, it wasn’t healthy to sit around his trailer alone, only letting Max and Harrington visit him.

So when the two of them had teamed up and begged him to go, he’d relented quicker than he usually would. At least he could tell his therapist that he’d done something that she’d asked of him for once, if nothing else.

He’d had a better time than he’d thought, though. He’d won the water balloon fight, and it turned out that he and Harrington made a decent cornhole team. Only Hopper and El had beat them. Billy had eaten his full of cheddar dogs, breathing onion breath all over Max until she ran shrieking, and washed them down with shitty beer.

Mike Wheeler, the spoiled little shit had been gifted a video camera for his birthday in April, so Max had told Billy, trying hard to keep the jealously out of his voice, and he hadn’t tired of it yet, so he’d spent the whole night shoving it in everyone’s faces, as if he was interviewing them for the news, not documenting a night with friends.

Billy had shoved a hand over the lens, saying “no press” as he slid his sunglasses down over his eyes, and the girls had giggled at his lame joke as Wheeler went in search of his next victim.

Eventually, Wheeler must have gotten tired of lugging the thing around, because Billy found it abandoned next to a bowl of chips and some empty soda cans. Billy still has no clue what possessed him to do what he did next. He turned the camera on, focusing on Harrington standing next to the fire, showing El how to make a perfect s’more. She kept burning her marshmallows, but he wasn’t giving up.

That was the thing that Billy liked most about Harrington, after his perfect ass, that is. His unfailing kindness. He might act like a pissy bitch sometimes, but he was always there to offer a ride or a shoulder to cry on, sometimes literally in Billy’s experience, as he unraveled his complicated emotions about his life so far over beers at the quarry. He would skip the movies to help Mrs. Henderson in her garden, or he’d spend half an hour on s’mores lessons.

Eventually, Billy turned the camera on himself. “I hope you know how amazing you are, Steve. You’re not just hot, you’re sweet and you’re funny, you’re a genuinely good person. I think I’m falling for you, asshole. I know I can never tell you that, but I need to get it out.” He let out a large exhale, already feeling lighter with the confession. He went to join everyone at the fire, another beer for himself in one hand and another for Harrington in the other.

***

The light feeling inside Billy lasted until the next morning, when he sobered up enough to remember the fucking stupid confession he’d made the night before. In minutes, he was on the floor in front of the toilet, barfing up beer and s’mores and cheddar dogs. He couldn’t even be sure if it was panic or the overeating and alcohol that did it, but it was probably a mix of both.

Holy shit, what did he do? Talk to Wheeler, threaten to beat him up if he didn’t fork over the tape? What if he’d watched it already. Billy mentally calculated how much he thought it would cost to pay to get the tape from the asshole.

He was pacing his living room, trying to decide what to do, when there was a knock on his trailer door. What if it was Wheeler, there to demand cash already?

With shaking hands, he opened the door, and wasn’t surprised to find Mike Wheeler standing there, giving him a blank look. What did surprise him was the bag that he held out. Whatever was inside jangled when he handed it to Billy. Curious, Billy looked inside, finding what appeared to be about fifty smashed up chunks of videotape.

“Thought you might want that,” Wheeler said, shrugging, when Billy tried to speak and failed. “You’re not the only one trying to be less of an asshole, asshole. For the record, though. I think you should say something. I think he might surprise you.” And with that, he walked back down the steps and hopped on his bike, peddling away.

Huh. If Wheeler had done such a good job surprising Billy, maybe he should take his chances and see if someone else might surprise him too.

[joanofexys]

Hi! Sorry for randomly dropping anon into ur inbox, but I’m kind of in love with ur oc’s and I was wondering if you could tell me more abt Ilya? Ik u said they’re just some guy from Penn state and for some reason that really intrigues me lol.

Never apologize I love anons and I'm so flattered you like my little guys. Also sorry this is gonna take a minute and there will be many typos cause I'm typing one handed on my laptop while eating an icecream/my cat tries to steal my icecream bar, not that you needed that info

ANYWAY litte recap on Ilya:

22 years old

5'5

he/they, transman

youngest of 4, has all sisters

Played for Penn State

Now plays for Olympic Court

Goalie

Number 7

I haven't decided on what he majored in yet

Yeah he really is just some guy. He's the only athlete really in his family. One of his older sisters ran track in high school, but otherwise their family is full of musician. Dad is a middle school orchestra teacher, mom is a music professor, his sisters all went into the arts. He can play a, quite frankly, ridiculous amount of instruments and he enjoys them all but he's not particularly passionate about it.

His parents signed him up for little league exy because he saw exy on the tv once and wouldn't shut up about it/was begging them to play. His parents just wanted all of their kids to be happy so they caved very quickly and Ilya developed an intense passion for the sport that obviously never went away.

Ilya's oldest sister (Liliya) is 7 years older than him, the other one 4 years older (Kateryna or just Kat), and the sister after (Tanya) that only a year and a half older. They're all incredibly close despite any age gaps while also very much having a dynamic of lovingly bullying each other

Ilya kind of always knew he was trans and they were always in a safe space to express it. His parents used to joke that they had "3 girls and an Ilya" and they didn't even bat an eye when as a kid he went straight for the "boys clothes" and asked to be called a prince instead of a princess and only responded to being called a boy. At school it was different, in elementary school other kids didn't care but the teachers could be weird about it, and then as a teen other kids started getting mean about it. But his parents and their sisters were always accepting and they filled their house with enough love that Ilya never thought about being closeted or pretending to be someone he wasn't.

He gets recruited to Penn State's team as their starting goalkeeper as an openly trans athlete. His team's respectful for the most part. There are some people who just don't seem to get it, but they're never outright rude or transphobic to him. There are sometimes snide remarks and something Not Cool said on accident and Ilya is always quick to correct it and most of his teammates are decent enough to apologize and try to do better

And he talks A Lot about being a trans and generally queer athlete. He's happy to be one of those people out and proud for everyone who can't be. Ilya has always, unapologetically, taken up space. Not even focused on his queerness, just in the way he exists as a person. If he's in a room you're going to know he's there and you're probably going to know their every thought as well.

They care a lot and they take everything to heart. They're very much a "don't cry cause you'll make me cry" type of person. He's much more willing to take on people's pain and share their burdens than he probably should be.

And he has zero filter. While he's absolutely paving the way as a queer athlete and he has a lot to say to the press about that his press time also has to be limited because he will just say shit. He has insulted other teams, insulted specific players, shared information that he definitely shouldn't have, said "fuck" on camera too often to keep count, and a lot more. He is keeping the Penn State vs Edgar Allan Ravens twitter discourse alive and well with all the shit that comes out of his mouth

He makes his best friend his junior year. She's a sophomore named Alice and she's a defensive dealer. Her sophomore year she comes as trans, MTF, and Ilya is the first person she tells becuase he's one of the only queer people she knows. After that they're pretty much attached at the hip and Ilya would kill and die for her. Her family isn't super accepting so he takes her home with him for the holidays. His family becomes hers and they're more than happy to add one more girl to the family.

Ilya makes court right after he graduates and it's with Jude, Em, Mara, Florian. you know the drill at this point. They're the ones I never shut up about. And I think I'll largely be repeating myself and I don't want to be annoying with that so we'll stop there

Some other fun things about Ilya though:

he never learned how to ride a bike. he will never ride a bike. fuck no (he fell over and scraped his knee once and despite all the balls to the head playing exy that was his breaking point for some reason and he never got on a bike again)

he's a cat person

he teaches Florian ASL and it's the main they talk to each other cause Florian likes to go nonverbal

they were such a huge fan of Jude it took everything in them to not be starstruck when the two first met

the two instruments they stuck with were the violin and the piano

they have an addiction to strawberries

is almost always playing jazz music on a vinyl when they're home/have people over

he has a shitty autograph and Flor has begged him to "get better handwriting" since he signs so much stuff but he's fine with it being an unreadable disaster (Florian's autograph in comparison is gorgeous)

he is an unapologetic foxes stan after they win finals

[paradoxolotl]

📚 please!! (I think I am 🍌 anon?)

Book asks

Bananon my beloved ♥️

For you I have this one:

Andrew runs a cooking vlog and Neil comments every single time that his recipes are shit and they never work. Endlessly amused exasperated, Andrew meets him to try and teach him to cook. Unfortunately Neil’s just a complete disaster in the kitchen

The vlogs change to both Andrew and Neil making the recipes together while they’re back to back, Andrew guiding the recipes and both of them contributing their scathing commentary. At the end they turn around and try each other’s dishes. But a fan favourite is when one of them is blindfolded and has to guess what the other is making based on what ingredients are being added, with a final guess after a taste test

Neil’s dishes always looks like garbage but (usually) taste half decent. Any sweets they make Neil is overly dramatic about

(Planned out commentary and videos below the cut)

“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“Neil, it’s a brownie.”

“It’s so rich. Only saving grace is the nuts.”

“That is what I’m know for.”

“Your nuts?”

“Fuck you, you know that’s not- oh my god, Jesus Neil why are these salty?!”

“That’s what I’m known for.”

~

Andrew: and now we carefully fold in the eggs

Neil: okay * folds in whole eggs without cracking them *

-

Andrew: separate your egg whites

Neil: how do I do that

Andrew: I thought you watched all my videos

Neil: I did, I did.

Andrew: I’ve separated egg whites before

Neil: …are you sure

Andrew: we’re moving on. There’s lots of ways you can do it. Some people use a bottle to get the yolk out, some people do like a seesaw motion-

Neil: oh, okay. * vigorously shakes egg *

-

Andrew: grab your fruit-

Neil: * reaches back and grabs Andrew * got it

-

Andrew: now I’m not one for dramatics

Neil: * looks into the camera like he’s on The Office *

-

(Blindfolded)

Neil: okay now eggs

Andrew: what kind of eggs?

Neil: uh. They’ve got brown shells. Free range

Andrew: good to know. But whole eggs?

Neil: no last time you got mad at the shells being in your food

Andrew: so…the egg minus the shell?

Neil: yeah. No shell, just how you like. Oh, also I added bacon grease and cinnamon

Andrew: what…what the fuck are you making

Neil: it’s one of your recipes

Andrew: I have never used that combination in my life

Neil: well I had to make a few substitutions

Andrew: a few?!

Neil: I couldn’t find the butter

Andrew: did you check the drawer in the fridge? Where we keep the butter?

Neil:…uh. * checks fridge * oh. I’ll just add it now. I’m adding butter

[crushedsweets]

How did Nurse Ann die in your au??

She's one of my faves and I rlly want to hear your take on her backstory

-💉anon

PERFECT QUESTION OK. ok . man ok. i have a lot to say cw for abuse, torture, kidnapping, etc. typical creepypasta style stuff

annemarie mia was born into a rowdy family in NYC. She had two older brothers & one younger brother. each were 1-3 years apart. Her older brothers were pretty cruel to her and her little brother. she turned it right back onto her little brother. biting, spitting, smothering him in his sleep, stealing his food so he goes hungry, cutting him. she'd been so mean since he was so little, she's threatened to kill him so many times, so he kept it to himself. he was beyond happy when, at 18, she moved out without a word.

by 27, annemarie was a neet. no job, school, social skills - she was unpleasant to be around, really snappy and bitchy and generally had a nasty attitude. cut off her entire family just because she didn't want to deal with the emotional labor. went through some pretty difficult shit to make a living.

and not that anyone really asked how she owned a decent little home in the more rural parts of tuscaloosa county, but she'd attribute it to inheritance, generational shit, the sort. she would be lying

she went by 'nurse ann' online, hosting a 'red room' service on the dark web thats exactly what the urban legend entails. what made her stood out is that she preformed in a dominatrix style, fitted with leather straps, studs, whips, corsets- had a generally more 'sexy' atmosphere to it. her audience liked the way she followed some sort of hospital roleplay half the time with the nurse dress, medical equipment, syringes, etc.

again, its an urban legend, but her red room is basically taking donations alongside requests for certain torture methods on her victim. depending on the price, she could cut off some fingers, use acid, rip out their teeth, skin them, whatever the fuck her audience could ask for - and she has quite the fanbase, too. most of her streams lasted days, sometimes she'd turn it off and come back, sometimes she'd just leave the victim there writhing on camera the entire night. even after they died, she'd dissect them to keep up the nurse persona, making a whole show of it - showing off her body and her sadism all in one. she wanted to make the most money she could

she mostly acquired her victims from dirty, dingy bars where she'd drug whoever she wanted to bring home. drag them into her truck, dump them into her basement way out in the middle of nowhere, set up her camera, shimmy her way into some leather, and make thousands in a single night. she typically preferred men, but if enough people paid for her to bring in a woman, she would.

very very very rarely she'd let an audience member interested in their own murder, an autassassinophiliac, come onto her stream. it'd be a whole ordeal, they'd have to already send a fucking massive sum of money before she even considers it. always brings a fully loaded gun, drugs that she expects them to take right in front of her, cuffs, so on and so forth - too much work and too much risk most of the time, hence the rarity of this occasion.

she fucked up one day. quickly, the man over powered her & beat her unconscious. she woke up in a completely unfamiliar location, hung by her hands like she was meat at a butchers. she was dressed in a shitty nurse outfit, and a camera was set up right in front of her.

what happened to her that night was karma. he dismembered her on camera, with many of her own fans waiting for the footage of him taking out her left eye, her hands, her arms, her legs. the only reason he didn't live stream was because he had no signal.

she slipped in and out of consciousness for the first portion of her torture, until she began to bleed out. she died when he began setting up the tools so he could stitch her right back up and make a doll of her, keep something to keep the 'fans' happy.

he brought her to an abandoned hospital in the middle of a forest. her murderer didn't fully know where he even brought her. slenderman was not very happy about all the mess he made

kate, coming from a mine less than a mile from the hospital, was notified that a human was in the forest. after a short sprint, she begins stalking through the hospital as the man is finishing up his work.

theres a bit of a chase between the two, until kate does her job and kills him with a random weapon he left around.

kates not really paying attention to annemarie's corpse, she's just dragging the mans body somewhere for her to dispose. it takes a couple hours for kate to get it handled, and by time she's coming back to the hospital to deal with annemarie, she gets the shit scared out of her when the woman is walking around. stumbling and already rotting, but walking nonetheless. even introduced herself as 'nurse ann'.

kate had to get that figured out cuz it was really freaky.

anyway, zalgo had a part in ann's "revival." he's another entity trapped in slendermans forest, similar to the operator but significantly weaker. he keeps infecting corpses and bringing them back, partly hoping they can be used as puppets (but he fails to get into their head) and partly trying to cause trouble for slenderman.

he can only bring back people who die in the forest who aren't killed by proxies slenderman/the operator, since the corpses are 'locked' otherwise

but yea :3 she's fun

[adelaidedrubman]

OC INTERVIEW!

i was tagged by dears @g0dspeeed @cassietrn @direwombat @simplegenius042 @wrathfulrook to do a little oc interview, thank you dears! i decided to do this one for america’s sweetheart verse for acclaimed novelist jestiny ft. her long suffering publicist andrea who was mostly there to make sure there was some accurate information, then i decided to give her own spotlight. on that note, sorry for the length and needless preamble no expectation to read All That

“Ugh.” Jestiny grabs the wall to steady herself from stumbling at Andrea’s quick darting into the doorway to block her exit. “Are you fuckin’ serious? You’re really gonna tell me  — a grown fucking woman — I’m not allowed to go play until I finish my homework?”

“It smells like you’ve gotten to play plenty today,” Andrea retorts with a nod towards the disposable coffee cup clenched in Jestiny’s fist and reeking with the unmistakable stench of high proof whiskey. “You’ve put off doing a simple introductory questionnaire for three months now. You’re never going to hire a ghostwriter if you can’t respond to an information request that takes five minutes.”

“I don’t need a ghostwriter,” she mumbles in protest as she takes a sip from her coffee cup that has never once contained coffee, or fooled anyone into thinking it did. “Just a copy editor.”

“Three copy editors have quit because you started using them as ghostwriters. And whatever job title you want to give them, they need some basic biographical information about you to work on your memoir.”

“See, that’s the thing, is no they don’t. Not with the kinda thing I’m writing. It’s all just empty fluff, don’t you —”

“Even for empty fluff, they need a vague skeleton,” Andrea snaps. She pulls Jestiny by the arm towards her desk, pushing her down into one of her guest chairs before taking her seat behind it and clicking a pen. “I canceled the car you called and changed the passwords to all your rideshare accounts. And we both know you couldn’t make it out of the parking garage without getting a DUI. You’re not going anywhere until this is done.”

“Oh, that’s real fuckin’ nice Andrea,” Jestiny hisses. “Hold hostage the woman who just survived —”

name 

“jestiny ellen rook.”

nickname

“none. nope. never had one. never will have one. gotta say the whole thing every time. flaunt it in front of some motherfuckers who were too fucking dumb to ever figure it out.”

gender

“again, andrea — i am a grown fucking woman.”

star sign

“how the fuck am i supposed to know that shit?”  without bothering to check her birthday, andrea writes down aries.

personality type

“america’s fuckin’ sweetheart, baby. kind, lovable, and humble. what else is there?’’  andrea’s hand moves of its own volition to scrawl out the words ‘dark triad,’ immediately scribbling it out to write down ‘istp’ and ‘8w7.’

height

“five foot five, ballpark.”  andrea gives jestiny a skeptical look.  “maybe closer to five-six, camera adds a half-inch.”   andrea, actually 5’6, sighs and writes down 5’4, covering it with her hand to hide from jestiny.

orientation:

“c’mon, you don’t really have to ask that.” andrea dwells unwillingly on the menagerie of half-dressed strangers milling about jestiny’s home every time she steps into it. no, she doesn’t.  “or lie to the press about it, if that’s what you’re dancing around. it’s 2018! america’s sweetheart can be openly bisexual, right?” 

nationality/ethnicity:

“again. america’s fucking sweetheart, baby.”

fave fruit 

“persimmons. don’t put that down, though, that information is for the fuckin’ benefit of your files, so you can get me a halfway decent fruit tray in my dressing room next talk show appearance. write some bullshit about how much i miss the fresh picked huckleberries of hope county and nowhere grows ’em better, or something.”

fave season

“awards! ha, we do have fun. gotta be fall, though. salmon run season. but pretend it’s for the sake of pumpkin spice whatever.”

fave flower 

“psh. whatever happens to be in the bouquets i receive from my adoring fans. but if i have to pick, i guess, uh… forget-me-nots, maybe. or — heh, or cockscomb.”

fave scent 

“whiskey.”  andrea looks between jestiny and her cup, wondering if she has told the truth for the first time.  “coffee, i mean.”

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: 

“i just said —”

average hours of sleep: 

“eh, who can really keep track of that?” people who have to plan their sleep schedule around preventing jestiny from having unsupervised access to social media can and must keep track of that. andrea writes down 3 hours.

dog or cat person

“ew. no. opossums. but write down dog, that probably polls better. andrea, should i get a dog?”   andrea vigorously shakes her head in the negative as she dutifully writes down dog. 

dream trip 

“heh. where do you have me booked for next? checked off a lotta the bucket list already. you’re looking at a dollywood gold pass holder. finally got to go there after a lifetime of dreaming, and it was —”  andrea notes the way jestiny’s eyes suddenly glaze over, her gaze growing hollow and flat as she pauses in searching.  “great. fulfilling. worth the wait. always ready to go back, or onto the next adventure. i mean, it’s such a fucking blessing, don’t you think?” andrea doesn’t answer, looking on with some concern as a hint of earnest joy creeps back into jestiny’s smile. “to have one’s full constitutional right to freedom of movement completely fuckin’ unrestricted?”

favorite fictional/real character

“uh, shrek.”

number of blankets you sleep with? 

“as many as i want, baby! that’s another benefit of freedom, don’t have to settle for a single scratchy, paper thin excuse for a blanket to curl up on my cot with. i get to enjoy my forty-winks on silk sheets and soft as a cloud comforter, on my casper mattress —”

random fact:

“i know how to do a bit of sleight of hand magic.” andrea feels a light brush at her ear, and looks to see jestiny pulling from behind it a matchbook with the number of a taxi company stamped in bright yellow.  “and for my next trick, i’m going to disappear.”

Andrea sighs as she watches Jestiny march out of her office yelling pick-up orders into her cellphone. It was successful for longer than she would have expected, she thinks, tapping the end of her pen against her bottom lip. 

She clicks her pen a few times as she shuffles the papers on her desk, staring down at a blank copy of the questionnaire she’d made in case Jestiny was in foul enough spirits to rip up the first in defiance. 

It would be nice, to have someone ask her things about who she was for once, she thinks, in an indulgent flight of fancy.  

name: 

“andrea simmons.”

nickname: 

“...anal-retentive goldilocks, was the most recent one.”

gender

“woman, she/her.”

star sign

“capricorn.” 

personality type

“estj. 3w2.’’ 

height

“five foot six. empirically verified.” 

orientation:

“lesbian, last i had enough free time to check.”

nationality/ethnicity:

“american. primarily german and scandinavian ancestry.”

fave fruit 

“nectarine, left to my own devices. learning to appreciate leftover cantaloupe picked around on fruit plates.”

fave season:

“summer. warm, sunny, long days.”

fave flower: 

“orchids.”

fave scent 

“lavender, jasmine, eucalyptus.” 

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: 

“coffee. at least three shots of espresso. oat milk. two pumps of hazelnut syrup, no sugar.”

average hours of sleep: 

“three. when you have an infant, you learn to sleep when they sleep.”

dog or cat person

“cats. otto curled up in my lap at the end of a long day is the only thing that keeps me going, sometimes.” 

dream trip 

“any trip. any trip alone. any trip alone without having to worry about what i will find when i come back. greece would be nice, i think.” 

favorite fictional/real character

“peggy olson.”

number of blankets you sleep with? 

“i have a weighted blanket and a quilt at home. and a fleece throw on my office couch that gets more use.”

random fact: 

“i considered going into politics, and interned on a few campaign teams during college. There are many days i regret not following through on that.” 

i know i’m super late to this, so major apologies for repetitive tags and extra no pressure out to the usuals @belorage @hctknives @fourlittleseedlings @galaxycunt @lordundying @florbelles @josephslittledeputy @afarcryfrommymain @poetikat @voidika @captastra @confidentandgood @deputyash @blissfulalchemist @shellibisshe @thedeadthree @nightbloodbix @miyabilicious @henbased @clicheantagonist @firstaidspray @strafethesesinners @jackiesarch @v0idbuggy @orionlancasterr @stacispratt @professorpineapple @strangefable @shallow-gravy @inafieldofdaisies @corvosattano @socially-awkward-skeleton opt in for tags on writing stuff here!

[saywhatjessie]

Wrap it in a Sigh

Advent Calendar Day 8! (prompts by @raven-cincaide-words) Today’s prompts: Candy Cane Tasting | Shop Assistant | Hugs Fandom: Ted Lasso - Pairing: RoyJamie 2.2k[Ao3]

Roy would never understand why they hadn’t done things like this when Ted was still manager. Ted would have loved this shit. Ted would have had the press eating out of his fans.

But no, Ted was in America, and Roy was manager and Keeley had slated him to do a candy cane tasting at a confectionary shop for youtube.

For some fucking reason.

“Cheer up, Royo!” Jamie said, bouncing in his seat. “Look how cute this shop is!” Roy grunted, non committedly. “And,” Jamie continued, holding up his finger in offering. “When we come back with Phoebe you’ll know all the best things for her to try.”

Roy grunted again, more allowing, and Jamie grinned.

On paper, Jamie was here because he was one of Richmond’s top players and certainly a frontman for the franchise. But Roy knew that Keeley had really invited him here because Jamie’s presence was the only way they were getting any half-decent footage out of Roy.

“All right boys, we’re rolling!” Keeley called gripping her sparkly pink clipboard next to the cameraman. “Please say hello and introduce yourselves. Roy first.”

Roy grunted, adjusting himself in his seat and sitting up straighter. He cleared his throat and looked at the camera.

“Hello,” he started, fighting not to wince at how gravelly his voice sounded. “I’m Roy Kent, manager for AFC Richmond.”

“And I’m Jamie Tartt!” Jamie crowed, shooting a finger gun at the camera. “And we’re here at Mr Simm's Olde Sweet Shop to try some candy canes.”

“You didn’t tell them who you are, you muppet.”

“Yeah, I did! I said I’m Jamie Tartt!”

“You’re Jamie Tartt and you play for AFC Richmond.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Everyone already knows that, Grandad. You could have just said ‘I’m Roy Kent’ if you wanted – everyone knows who you fuckin’ are.”

“No swearing!” Keeley said, behind the camera.

Jamie winced. “Sorry, Keeley, he called to her, turning an incredulous face back to Roy. “How’d I get yelled at for swearing before you?”

Roy grinned, sitting a bit taller. “Well I’m a fucking professional.”

“Roy!”

“Dammit.”

Jamie laughed. 

The shop assistant came into frame, wearing a confectionary white chef’s coat and a candy striped apron.

“Here’s our first round of candy canes,” she said, smiling at Jamie. “These are our traditional flavors.”

“Mint, thanks, love,” Jamie said, winking at her. Roy just nodded his thanks.

“Okay, what have we got here?” Jamie said, spinning the tray toward himself so he could read the labels. “Okay, first off we got classic peppermint.”

Roy grunted, picking it up and licking it. “Yeah. Peppermint. It’s a fucking candy cane.”

“Can’t go long with a classic,” Jamie said, sucking it into his mouth. It released with a small pop. “Weren’t these meant to be Jesus’s shepherd’s crook?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Roy said, snatching Jamie’s candy cane. “I’ve never met the man.”

Jamie laughed, letting Roy take his candy. “For viewers at home, Roy is Jewish.”

“Yeah, and these candy fucks aren’t kosher, so don’t be like me. Be a better Jew and buy from Hammond’s.”

“But everyone else, come here!”

“Right, we’re supposed to be promoting and shit.”

Keeley sighed, off camera. “Roy? Language?”

Roy huffed. “Sorry, Keeley.”

Jamie chuckled, picking up the next candy cane. “Next we’ve got strawberry, I think.”

“Strawberry?” Roy said, picking his up. It was red and white striped like the last one but in two bold stripes instead of the classic double pattern. “That’s a bit summery, innit?”

Jamie hummed. “I feel like we had strawberry tarts on holidays.”

“Well, you’ve always had tarts, Tartt.” Jamie snickered and Roy smirked. “Well, alright.”

He stuck the cane in his mouth, getting a good taste of the flavor before pulling it back out.

“I like it,” Jamie decided. “It’s kind of subtle – not too sweet. It really gives strawberry.”

Roy hummed, appraising the candy cane. “It kind of tastes like a hard Twizzler.”

“Roy!” Jamie laughed. “Be nice, mate.”

“That is nice!” Roy said. “Everybody fucking loves Twizzlers.”

Jamie rolled his eyes, pulling his candy cane back on the tray. Roy took one more spiteful lick before doing the same.

“Sour cherry,” Roy announced, plucking up the next candy cane and unceremoniously shoving it in his mouth. He pulled it away almost instantly, mouth puckered. “Oh, fuck.”

“It’s nice!” Jamie said, taking a moment to swirl his own candy cane around his mouth. “Really flavorful. And it’s smooth, too, not too grainy.”

“What is wrong with you?” Roy marveled. “Who are you enjoying pain?”

Jamie shrugged. “Dunno. But it’s not like it’s new. I spend time with you, don’t I?”

Roy snorted, shaking his head. He took another absent lick of the candy cane before remembering. “Ah, fuck!”

“So stop eating it!” Jamie laughed.

“Fine!” he said, dropping the candy cane back on the tray. “Let’s move on.”

“Well, look here, these look Kent-worthy!” Jamie said, lifting up the next candy cane. “We’ve got black stripes and all!”

Roy rolled his eyes. “That’s not black, it’s clearly umber.”

“You have worn this color before.”

“Yeah, sometimes I like to mix it up!”

Jamie laughed, handing Roy his candy cane. They both sucked on them.

“Oh, that’s quite good,” Roy said, sticking it back in his mouth.

“Cola,” Jamie told him around his own candy cane. “It’s really nice.”

“Can we be done?” Roy asked Keeley. “Can’t we just have these?”

“No, that’s not the video,” she reminded him, patiently. “You have to try all of them. But I’ll get a box of these to take with us.”

Roy frowned and turned to see Jamie pouting, the candy cane still sticking out of his mouth.

He huffed, yanking out Jamie’s candy cane and dropping it to the tray, along with his own.

“Last of the normal ones,” Roy announced, squinting as he read the placard. “Tutti Frutti.”

Jamie barked a surprised laugh. “Sorry, mate, what was that?”

Roy turned to him, saying it again. “Tutti Fruity.”

“One more time?”

“Tuttu fru-oh fuck you!”

Jamie cackled and Keeley shot Roy a reprimanding look. Roy gestured at Jamie like ‘Why aren’t you yelling at him?’ and Keeley rolled her eyes, waving at him to keep going.

He just grunted, because a grunt is not a swear and he couldn’t guarantee he would say anything without swearing, and grabbed the candy cane off the tray.

He stuffed it in his mouth, humming in approval.

“It’s nice,” he said. “My niece would love this one.”

“She would, Jamie agreed, his own candy cane popping out of his mouth. “I like the colors.”

“You would,” Roy snapped. “Your fashion sense is tragic.”

“Pink and green is normal!”

“Yeah, for a candy cane, not a grown man.”

“Homophobia?”

“If anything, my judging your fashion sense is more gay.”

Jamie cackled again and Roy smiled to himself, pleased, before turning back to the camera.

He held up the candy cane. “Good.” He put it down and gestured to the assistant. “Next tray, please.”

The shop assistant – Roy actually looked at her nametag. Grace. –  brought in the next tray, smiling at Jamie and Jamie smiled back. Roy grunted, nodding at her again.

“These are our novelty canes,” she explained. Some are seasonal, some we just break out for guests.”

“Ominous,” Roy said. Jamie hummed, reading over some of the labels. His eyes went wide.

Gracet had started to walk away but Jamie called after her. “Oy, some of these are seasonal!?” He said. “Like you’ve brought some of these back?”

Grace didn’t turn back but Roy caught her laughing as she head into the back room.

Curiously, he looked at the tray.

“Jalapeño?” He asked. “Gravy? What the fuck?”

“Might as well, jump in,” Jamie said, cheerfully handing Roy one of the gravy candy canes. “Sooner we get through these, sooner we can get back to the cola ones.”

Roy grimaced but reluctantly agreed.

The gravy candy canes were weird. The jalepeño ones were actually pretty good, even while Roy fanned his mouth. He was never any good with spice.

Sour cream and onion were next, Roy tilted his head, frowning in contemplation.

“Confusing,” he decided. “But not unpleasant.”

Jamie muttered low enough the mics wouldn’t pick it up. “Title of your sex tape” and Roy shoved him off his chair.

The last of the novelty canes was pickle flavored.

“I’m so conflicted,” Roy said, staring mournfully at the candy cane. “My jewish love of pickles and my human hatred of food abominations are at war.”

“Well, taste it before you decide it’s an abomination.” Jamie said, picking up and sniffing his own candy cane. “You might love it.”

Roy hummed, giving the pickle candy cane a tentative lick.

He hummed again and took a massive bite.

Jamie laughed in surprise. “Coach!”

“It’s pretty good,” Roy said, still chewing. He knew the loud crunching was probably making hell for the sound engineers. “More sugary than dill pickle chips but really not as bad as I was afraid of.”

Jamie was still laughing. 

“You’re insane.” He popped the candy cane in his mouth and his eyes widened as he nodded, consideringly.  “It's not bad, though, yeah.”

Roy hummed, vindicated.

The assistant, Grace, came out one more time with a cloche.

“Ooh, fancy!” Jamie crowed, clapping at the sight of the silver dome. 

“Yeah, we have a grand reveal for you here, but first–”

Grace set down the cloche and reached into her apron pocket, pulling out two more loosely wrapped candy canes.

“This one wasn’t on the tasting menu but we figured you’d get a kick out of it.”

“Ah, thank you, love! How kind,” Jamie said, grinning up at her and accepting the candy cane.

Roy grunted, accepting his own. “Yeah, thanks.”

She just smiled at them, clearly waiting for them to try it.

Roy took a lick and immediately stood up. “No,” he said, reaching to undo his mic. “No. Fuck this.”

Jamie stayed seated but his face was twisted in a truly spectacular way. “Oh, yeah, that’s sour.”

Grace laughed. “It’s our specialty. Black Death, ultra sour.”

“Grace, people died of Black Death!” Roy protested, drinking heavily from his water bottle.

She just laughed again, holding her hands up. “Okay! I’m sorry! I just really wanted to see what you would do.”

Roy growled and Jamie tugged him back into his seat. “Down, boy.”

Roy growled at him, too.

“Well,” Grace said, grinning, her hand going back to the cloche. “To thank you for coming to our shop and supporting our business, we wanted to present you with–” she pulled the top off to reveal red and blue striped candy canes, a thin ribbon of yellow curling around it. “-some specialty Richmond candy canes!”

Jamie gasped. “Wicked!” He picked one up and immediately licked it. “Ooh, it’s lemon!”

“Technically so are the Black Death ones!” Grace said, cheerfully. “Roy, won’t you try one?”

“Fuck no. I don’t trust you anymore.”

Keeley made an unhappy sound but Grave just seemed amused. “That’s alright. We’ve got some packed up for you to take back to the team, as well as a box of the cola ones for each of you.”

Roy nodded at her, accepting this bribe.

“And thank you so much,” Jamie said, reaching over to take her hands. “We really appreciate you having us.”

Roy just grunted again.

Jamie winked at him and turned back to the cameras. “So that’s been a candy cane tasting! Come down to Mr Simm's Olde Sweet Shop all through December to try these… delicious sweets.”

Roy laughed, looking at the camera himself. “From AFC Richmond, I’ve been Roy Kent, he’s been Jamie Tartt, and we’ll see you on the pitch.”

“Cut!” Keeley said, clapping her hands. “Beautiful! Oh, Roy, you do know how to make videos.”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” He rolled his eyes, finally finishing the job of taking his mic off. “Don’t ask me to do another one of these until at least March.

She winked at him. “No promises.”

He sighed.

Keeley wicked Grace away, probably to try and iron out details like how to credit the shop on social media and what tags to use. Roy didn’t care – he did his bit, now he wanted to go home.

He felt Jamie’s hand on his arm, leading him out of the shop. “Come on, Grandad, let’s get out of here.”

Roy grunted, gratefully, and put his hand on Jamie’s back as they left.

He took a deep breath of the wet London air, his face tilted up toward the rain.

“My belly is going to be a horror all evening,” Roy lamented. “Why were there spicy bits?”

Jamie snickered, bringing his arm around Roy’s waist so they were walking in a kind of half-hug. “I think it’ll be the sour cream and onion that’ll be your real problem, babe.”

“Sounds like more of your problem considering my mouth must taste utterly horrific.”

“I ate everything you ate,” Jamie shrugged. “My mouth is probably just as bad. ‘Sthat gonna stop you from kissing me?”

Roy grunted, taking a moment to pull Jamie into an alley.

Because no, it wasn’t. It really wasn’t.

[lemongrovesandcloves]

The Mime of Gotham City

a lil snippet of chapter three - only available on ao3 :)

"

The Red Hood was not a nice man. 

Jason Todd had been a kind boy, though. Sweet in that foolish way that all kids are, so desperate to help the city that pissed on him daily. 

Odd jobs for old ladies, walking neighbourhood children up to daycare… little shit that made such a tiny yet profound difference. It had felt natural to extend it further. To mess with motorbikes used by gang members, to steal enough gas masks from trucks to outfit his whole neighbourhood. 

Hell, he’d stolen the wheels of the Batmobile with the goal of reverse engineering the bulletproof capabilities. 

What was he on about? 

Oh… yeah. He’d been an alright kid. 

He wasn’t so much of that, now. Not after that kind boy’s life was cut violently short. Not after Jason had clawed his way from dirt, had forced his flesh to contort to humanity anew as he stumbled blind and furious. 

A few years of traumatising his family, gallivanting the world to do the fucked shit no one else would, and watching half his friends die and the other half retire… well, Red Hood wasn’t exactly a big believer in human kindness. 

That fact, the bitter truth that there were more shitheads than decent folk, was so utterly transparent in the chill in the air. It was evident in the soft ripple of warning that rolled up his spine, in the eerie silence as he stared from his perch at the window of the warehouse. 

 The job for this evening was supposed to be relatively simple. A couple of Joker’s goons had showed up in Black Mask’s territory, and word had gotten out of some kind of trade happening in the warehouses tonight between the gangs. 

“Not a lot of muscle for a shipment.” He muttered over his coms, eyes focused on the trucks rolling out of the warehouse before him. 

“I’m checking cameras, but I can’t see any backup,” Oracle’s frown was audible as the soft clatter of keys rung over the line. “Heads up, the big bat is on his way.”

Jason let out a grunt. 

“He’s worried.” She spoke gently. “This feels… odd.” 

He didn’t bother to hide his snort at that. Of course it felt off. It was Joker. When had that clown ever done anything that felt normal? 

“I think my intel may have been off.” he begrudged, eyes flicking over the trucks until they settled on a faintly green gleam, flittering through the windows of the warehouse. 

“How so?” Oracle replied, her voice faint as Jason’s eyes narrowed on the flickers from the warehouse. 

“There is no deal.” He grunted. “But there’s… something in the warehouse.”

“I can send backup.”

He snorted in reply. 

“Just the Big bat or is there a little bird on the way, too?” 

“Big bat. He’s almost at your location.”

With a huff, Jason flicked his coms on mute. Of course Babs would ‘offer’ backup that was already on the way - the worst person to fight by his side, really. In his brief stint with his former family (though he wondered whether such a title was warranted, considering most of the birds had shown up after his demise), Jason had quickly learned just how little his opinion seemed to matter to them. It was such a simple thing, to agree to having backup, yet each time that support was already on the way before he could confirm whether he needed them. 

His say on the matter was pretty moot to them. Even if he refused their help, they were waiting in the shadows and expecting him to fail. All so some teenager in lycra could natter about how right Oracle was, or how Jason was foolish for refusing aid. 

It was inevitable. And it was fucking annoying. 

Arching his grapple, he shot through the upper window of the warehouse. At least he had a little time to investigate before Batman would crash the party, grouching and mistrusting each of Jason’s gestures. 

The intel had been a trap. 

"

[ashenberry]

[saw a post and this was far to tangential for me to add it as a reblog or reply] this is just me musing about metal gear controls :3

as far as how good metal gear games control i doo think 3 maybe controls the best of the first 3 games but it isn’t by a wide margin. for context for the rest of this post i played each of the master collection games (mg1/2 & mgs1-3) on switch(in handheld with joycons) portable ops & pw with a nintendo pro controller, v w/ mouse and keyboard, and i haven’t personally played through 4.

with mgs1 it is like. very faithfully recreating mg2’s gameplay in 3D and a lot of my complaints do come from the fact that i’m just. playing on a controller it wasn’t made for* + 25 years of perfecting Da Shooter. my grips come from mainly snake sticking his ass on the wall when i don’t want him to and some of the fights realllyy not being designed with the controls in a way that feels cohesive. i think the ocelot fight is bad and stupid why am i trying to hit a guy off screen i cant see. you can’t shoot in first person view mode in this version. 1 does still remain pretty high on my replay list tho it’s been a year even if i played the vr missions recently. it’s a fine base

*looking into it, it looks like the original playstation controller didn’t have sticks. the dualshock DID and was introduced in ‘97, seemingly 11 months before mgs1’s released but my guess is that mgs1 is designed assuming you may not have sticks. that’s what it feels like atleast playing on switch

mgs2 is… it introduces good mechanics that get refined later controls wise but being use to current games certainly isn’t its favor. i believe the original ps2 version has a mechanic on slowly releasing the trigger to not shoot if your in 1st person view mode but that didn’t carry over making Not shooting after you put ur hand on the trigger a bit awkward. generally a lot of the first view mode feels clunky, esp at first and my god is grabbing the guy and taking him over to the retina scanner a pain but in this games defense i don’t think that feels good until peacewalker. other than that i think this game really suffers from turning the radar off so often. it’s the main reason the fixed 3rd person camera works and thus it feels pretty bad when you don’t have it, especially cause again in relation to first person view mode you can’t move when your looking. with your eyes. certainly an evolution of mgs1 controls but i hesitate to really call it an improvement

3 in all versions after substanace we get to control the camera ❤️main thing i remember tho is that cqc in this entry fucking sucks holy shit i did not use that bitch until the volgin fight n the volgin fight fucking sucked bc you needed to throw him down in a specific way and jt would not cooperate !! the punching combo works fine but it’s not reslllyy what makes cqc cqc and every other game basically had the 1-2-3 combo. aside from that this is. only kind of a control thing but i think the lack of the crouch walk introduced in later entries also kind of hurts in retrospect. having that middle stage for half speed and half stealth is Incredible for this game so your not crawling the entire time which is why the 3DS port stays the definitive version babyyyy. oh yeah i would also say i had “sit your ass down you piece of shit stoner” issues with 3 where snake LOVED to stand up. granted i occasionally get this issue in v with venom standing on the table like a cat but it’s nowhere near as often

portable ops made me mad it fell a tier i played it after peacewalker and it’s very clearly po walked so pw could run what do you fucking MEAN i need to press a button to fucking walk the psp HAS A STICK. I KNOW IT DOES BC IN PEACEWALKER YOU JUST MOVE THE STICK LESS TO WALK. anyways clunky ass control scheme

peacewalkerrr ❤️ for a system that only has one stick i think it generally does it’s best in relation to movement and camera and shooting feels decent but i’m also constantly bringing up the wrong menu when i need to switch my weapon or item and they got rid of the pause in this one when your switching items. cqc is also good in this game thank youuu

ground zero’s keybinds feel like they got someone who’s never played a game on a keyboard before and a lot of stuff def needed further refinement (which it got in tpp!) like the fact that when your zoomed in with the scope the movement seems to still be how far you could look not zoomed in which. it’s hard to explain but when your zoomed in you should look left and right slower to account for it or else it is really fast and touchy

and then tpp. the phantom penis. the best these games have ever controlled truly is very fun to play i don’t think i have any real complaints i think it’s funny when venom jumps on the table like a cat.