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residentflamingo · 1 year ago

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Only One Call Away

Rosé x gn! reader

Summary ———> Rosie decides to go out to drink with her friends. All is fine until reader gets a call from her two hours later. What happened while she was out?

Requested?: yes 🫶

Warnings: bullying, toxic friends, & cursing

Genre: hurt/comfort & a fluffy ending

A/N: To the person who requested this, thank you so much because this was probably the most challenging and longest thing I've ever written. And I put all my heart and soul into this. I think I made it a lot longer than I was supposed to, but that's okay. I always love a challenge, and a perfect opportunity to hone my writing skills. Anyway, I hope both the person who requested this and everyone else reading, enjoys this fic. You can also check out my other stuff if you would like, it's very much appreciated ❤️

Word count ———> 5,394

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

→ 10:00 PM

“Babe, are you sure about this? Your friends are terrible! They don’t even pay attention to you half of the time when you guys hang out.”

“Yes, it’ll be fine! Besides, they're not as bad as you say they are. I��ve been friends with them for a long time, they love hanging out with me!”

You were currently standing in front of your girlfriend, about to escort her into the cold winter night, trying to convince her not to go out with her friends. She was wearing a beautiful purple dress, with a cream colored fluffy coat over her shoulders, and a beautiful pair of Saint Laurent heels that made her look powerful with each step.

Her hair was curled, and it effortlessly flowed down her shoulders, making her look like an absolute goddess. You couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. You felt so lucky to have her as your significant other.

The only thing you found truly bad about her, was her friends.

No matter how good she looked, they always found different ways to ridicule and belittle her. Not her four best friends from Blackpink. No, these were her other friends she claimed she met in high school.

She would tell you stories of how they were really close back then, and how she kept in touch with them over the years as she got more famous. You loved hearing her tell stories of the adventures they had, and how she used to sneak out during the night and go on joyrides with them.

You hung out with her and those friends one time, just trying to see what they were like, and you couldn’t stand how rude they were. They constantly threw insults at her, mentioning how her aussie accent makes her sound silly when she talks, saying she needs to get a different hair style, and even making fun of the outfit she was wearing. You were absolutely disgusted at the way they were acting towards her. It was as if they didn’t even treat her like a normal human being.

They would even emotionally manipulate Rosie, making her think they were just joking, so she never noticed their horrible behaviors. When you confronted her about them, she always just insisted to you that that’s how they joke around. So it was hard trying to convince her to not be friends with them anymore. You love your girlfriend very much and you just want the best for her. You would hate for her to keep getting her heart broken over and over by those low-lifes she calls “friends.” But for now, all you could do was wait for Rosie to realize the huge mistake she was making.

You sighed, “Okay, whatever you say. Are you sure you don’t wanna stay home instead? I can order takeout, and we can watch movies.”

“Yes honey, I’m sure. There’s nothing to worry about. My friends will keep an eye on me, and make sure I don’t get too wasted.”

“Alright then. Just remember, I’m only one call away if you need me. I don’t mind picking you up.”

Rosie shook her head, and smiled at how protective you were being. She then stepped up towards you, put both of her hands on each side of your face, and looked you in the eyes and said “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. I love you darling.” She then gave you a soft kiss on the lips, slowly walked towards the door, and turned around before opening it to look back and make sure you said “I love you” back to her.

“I love you too.” You said softly, as you waved her goodbye and watched her walk through the door and saunter down the long hallway of the apartment complex. Her words from earlier kept replaying in your head, making you wonder if she was ever going to come to a realization of how she needed to get rid of her supposed high school buddies.

After closing the front door, you turned around looking at Hank saying, “I guess it’s just me and you now buddy.” He leaned his head down on the tile floor with a loud sigh looking depressed. Almost as if he perfectly understood what you just said. You let out a loud sigh and plopped down on the couch, deciding to watch some boring Netflix shows that have been recommended to you for sometime.

Man you sure did miss her already, even though she’s only been gone for ten minutes. Before you started watching tv, you picked up your phone and made sure your notification volume was at full blast, so you wouldn’t miss one text or call from Rosie.

→ 11:30 PM

Meanwhile at the bar in downtown Seoul…

“Hey I’m gonna go get a drink from the bar, you guys want anything?”

“No, we're good, you hoe. Besides, you probably wouldn’t even order our drinks right anyways, knowing you and your terrible accent. People can even understand what you’re saying half of the time!”

Rosie’s so-called friends all started laughing at McKenzie’s remark, making Rosie’s lip quiver and her eyes start to water. So far tonight they didn’t hold back on the snide comments, and rude remarks against her. By the end of the night, Rosie had already felt like she was being pushed to her breaking point.

She had no idea how she never realized how mean her friends actually were to her. She hated how she would just ignore the rude remarks half of the time, and never say anything about it. She hated being taken advantage of. She knew deep down that they weren’t her real friends, it was just a matter of realizing it that was important.

Tonight she had a recollection of all the times they asked her for money, begged for free concert tickets, made fun of her outfits, bullied her, and even made her pay for most meals because they were “too expensive”. After tonight, she wanted nothing to do with them. She knew she should’ve listened to you, but she was too scared to let them go. She’s had so many good memories with them, and it was so hard for her to just throw it away.

They used to be such good people. It saddened her how much they changed over the years, and how she couldn’t do anything about it. Tonight was her chance to finally lift that weight off of her shoulders, and move on with the next chapter of life. Preferably without them in it.

“Okayyyy bestie, we’re gonna go to the bathrooom real quick. We’ll be righttt back heheh.” McKenzie slurred. Her and the rest of the people in the group turned around, and walked off into the bathroom, leaving Rosie alone as she went up to go order something at the crowded bar.

About 15 minutes later when Rosie finally got her drink, she walked over to the table everyone was originally sitting at, expecting them to be there waiting on her. Only to find out that none of them were there like they said they would be…

“Hey guys, they finally got done making my drink! Wait where is everyone..?”

→ 12:05 AM

“Aw shit, what the fuck is that?!” You shouted with confusion, as your phone suddenly started going off. You fell off the couch, startled from the loud noise, and then frantically searched for your phone in between the cushions. You realized you had fallen asleep on the couch, and was out for almost 3 hours. God that show must have been really boring then you thought. After finding your phone, your stomach dropped reading the caller id. Rosie. You quickly pressed answer, and whispered “Hey what’s up? Is everything alright?”

There was a couple seconds of silence over the phone, making you really worried, wondering if it was a prank caller or a kidnapper. Panic was about the only thing going through your mind right now, just begging for her to say one word over the phone. Then she finally did. You could hear her sniffling and crying, making your stomach drop.

“N-no. Something happened earlier. We were at this really crowded club and I went up to get a drink real quick, and when I turned around a couple minutes later, they were all gone. l-looked through the whole club asking if anyone knew where t-they went, and all of them said no. So I went outside, thinking I could walk home by myself, but I-I ended up getting lost, and now I have no idea where I am. They left me all alone and n-never texted me asking where I was. I’m so scared, Y/N. Just come and get me please.”

“What the fuck? Are you serious? They just left you all alone in the club? Those fucking bastards. Okay, I need you to stay where you are, and try to send me your location from your phone. Once you do that I’ll be able to track you down, and come pick you up. Can you do that for me?”

“Y-yeah I can do that. I’m so sorry for calling you this late Y/N. I didn’t think something like this would happen.”

“Honey it’s okay, it doesn’t matter anyways. I don’t give a shit about what time it is. If it was 4 AM, I still would’ve come to pick you up. Don’t worry about it at all. Just focus on sending me your location.”

You let out a deep breath that you had been holding in, hoping it would calm you down a little, after thinking about Rosie’s friends leaving her by herself at the bar. They were absolute pieces of shit to her. Completely knowing that she’s an idol, and that she could've gotten kidnapped or stalked, they still did it anyway. I mean what did she ever do to deserve that?

You couldn't even begin to imagine how scared she was right now. All alone in an unknown part of the city, losing her friends in the same night, and knowing she was being used all those years because she was famous? Absolutely terrible.

While waiting for her to respond, you hurried up and got dressed, picked up Hank, grabbed your car keys, and rushed out the door to run to your car.

“O-Okay I sent it to you. You should be getting it in a second.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in five minutes! Don’t move or go anywhere unless someone is following you okay?”

“Okay I will. I love you Y/N. Please hurry…” She said in a quavering voice.

“Okay I will don’t worry, bye!” You quickly hung up the phone, tossed it in the passenger seat, and swallowed a big lump in your throat. Your hands were currently gripped on the steering wheel so tight that your knuckles were turning white, your legs were shaking with anxiety, adrenaline was coursing through your veins, and sweat was running down your spine.

You had never been more panicked in any situation, than at this very moment. The constant reminder that your girlfriend was all by herself walking through the streets, in the midst of the dangerous neighborhoods, had you on edge. In a split second you quickly pulled out of the parking lot, faster than you ever had in your entire life.

You were currently speeding through the streets, going at least twenty miles over the speed limit, with all of your surroundings flashing by so fast that you couldn’t even process where you were. Quite a few citizens and onlookers had given you dirty looks, and shouts of insults along the way.

You obviously knew better than to speed. But with the situation at hand, you didn’t give a fuck if you got a ticket or not. Emotions were running high, and your mind was working faster than your normal decision making usually was.

Funny enough, right before the navigation on your phone signaled you weren’t that far from the destination, “A Thousand Miles” started playing on the radio. “Really? Right now?” you thought. The irony of it was quite hilarious, but that was something you wouldn’t notice until later. You really would walk a thousand miles for your girlfriend if you had too.

After making a sharp turn through the dark alleyway, you drove very slowly down the unfamiliar street, making sure Rosie would spot you in your small vehicle. The alley was filthy, trash layed out everywhere, and street lights were flickering making the area seem even more ominous. You hated going down dark places like these since they always made you so nervous, but that nervousness turned into determination as you were frantically searching for your girlfriend.

While your eyes were scanning the area through your windshield, you were suddenly startled by your girlfriend standing in front of the beaming headlights. You swiftly slammed your foot on the breaks, and made the car come to an abrupt stop. It seemingly scared the both of you, as you put your hand over your heart wondering if you just had a mini heart attack.

Meanwhile, Rosie’s eyes were widened with fear seeing an unknown car drive slowly in the alleyway, thinking she was about to get kidnapped by someone. Fear was running all the way through her body. So much so that her hands were shaking, and chills went down her spine. She slowly backed away from the car, and clutched her purse with both hands just in case she had to make a run for it. You looked at her and tilted your head in confusion, wondering why she wasn’t coming towards the car. Then you realized, “Ohhh. She probably thinks I’m someone else trying to pick her up.”

You then rolled the window down, and stuck your head out the window shouting "Hey, it’s me!” Rosie let out a deep sigh of relief, and thanked the lord for sending you her way to protect her. She felt so reassured to see you, knowing she could finally wrap her arms around you, and let out all of her bottled up emotions from tonight.

She was finally safe.

After a couple seconds of calming her nerves, she snaps out of it, and slowly walks over to the passenger side of the car. Climbing in, and firmly sitting down on the comfort of the smooth leather seats. She sits her purse down near her feet, and leans back in the seat letting out another deep sigh. This time to suppress her emotions down, so she wouldn’t have a full on nervous breakdown. You looked over at her and mumbled “Hi honey,” not wanting to speak too loud, since it was still late at night. But still trying to show excitement in seeing her, since you were so glad you found her.

She looked over at you and tried to speak, but words couldn't come out of her mouth. Her lip was trembling and her breaths became short, as all her emotions were threatening to break free from the invisible bottle she was containing them in. You took notice of this, and reached over to wrap your arms around her chest, enveloping her in a warm hug.

You had never seen her this pent up before, and it absolutely just broke your heart to pieces. You then made sure to speak up and let her know it was okay to let her emotions go, since she was so used to hiding them for the camera and the public eye.“It’s okay love. Let it all out, you can let your guard down around me. I’m here to listen.”

The flood gates had then been opened, and Rosie’s eyes began overflowing with tears as she let out a heartbreaking sob only you had ever heard. Not even her long time friends, or family members had ever heard her cry this hard. She felt completely comfortable around you, and decided to just let all of her emotions go in that moment.

She couldn’t believe how long her friends were using her for, and just the selfish way they had left her behind. On top of all the insults thrown at her. She tried to just ignore them, but she just couldn’t take it anymore. Along with that, she also felt guilty not listening to you whenever you tried to warn her about the toxicity she was constantly putting herself around. “How could I be so dumb, and not think to listen?” she thought.

She suddenly pulled away from your embrace, looked you in the eyes, and said “I’m so sorry for not listening to you, I don’t know what I was thinking. Y-you were only trying to help me, and instead I-”

As Rosie was going on trying to apologize to you, you interrupted her and hugged her again saying, “Hey hey hey, don’t worry about it. That doesn’t matter now. Everyone makes mistakes, and I know it wasn’t your fault. Besides, you’re better off without them now. You got me, Lisa, Jisoo, and Jennie to talk too. So trust me, you aren’t losing much.”

“Thank you Y/N. I don’t know how, but you always know the right thing to say. It really amazes me how perfect you are sometimes” Rosie mumbled, leaning her head over your shoulder, and giving you a tight squeeze to your chest.

At home whenever she needed advice, or a little encouragement for the day, you somehow always knew what to say no matter what it was. You’re always the best person she can rely on, the one person she could really be her true self around. As she thought about it a little harder, this was a moment in her life that determined how much she really does appreciate you, and how much she really does want to be with you.

She smiled to herself, thinking of how good of a partner you would be when you guys got married someday. She couldn’t wait for that day to come. Marriage was always something she had dreamed about, and you made it even more possible for her. When she finally snapped back to reality, she took a look over your shoulder and saw a familiar face sitting patiently in the back seat.

It was Hank, her favorite dog in the world! She slowly pulled away from you with one of her eyebrows raised, “Is that Hank there in the back seat?” You turned your head around to look at him too and chuckled saying, “Yeah I brought him, knowing you would be super excited to see him.” Hank looked up at Rosie and started wagging his tail with enthusiasm, sharing the same excitement Rosie had.

She then leaned over and picked up Hank, gently putting him in her lap. “Hiiii buddy! Are you so excited to see mommy? I know you are! Hahaha” You looked over at both of them and smiled, happy to see Rosie so cheerful again. While looking at her, a good idea had suddenly crossed your mind and you thought it was perfect for the situation at hand.

“Hey babe, you wanna go get some ice cream?” you asked.

“Yeah that sounds great!” she said cheerfully.

After checking to see if Rosie had her seat belt on, you put the car in drive, and gently pressed your foot on the gas to make the car accelerate. As you drove around a little bit, you could see people walking home from the bars, and stumbling over their own feet from consuming so much alcohol.

It was pretty much a normal sight, since it was a late friday night. You could tell that the only places that were open were the bars, making you a little bit nervous since you promised Rosie her ice cream. And most fast food restaurants definitely did not stay open until midnight.

But to your luck, as you made a left turn down to main street, you spotted a nice burger place that was still open. With the name “TJ Burger”, flashing on a huge, bright, neon sign. “Perfect” you mumbled under your breath. Hopefully they had ice cream, because this was probably the only fast food restaurant open for miles.

As you pulled up to the drive through looking at the menu, they had almost every kind of American food you could think of. Burgers, onion rings, chicken tenders, whatever it was, they certainly had it. Then when you looked over to the other side of the menu, there it was, twenty different kinds of milkshakes and ice cream flavors.

You smiled and looked over at Rosie, pointing to the menu to prove to her that they indeed did have ice cream. She smiled and mumbled “Yayyy”. While you were looking at the menu, you were suddenly interrupted by a booming voice from the loudspeaker that spooked the both of you a little bit. You shook your head and laughed over how jumpy you were, then you turned to Rosie and asked her,

“What flavor do you want honey?”

“Uhmm, I’ll just get chocolate.” she answered with a whisper.

You turned back around facing the loudspeaker, ordering a small vanilla cone for yourself, along with Rosie’s ice cream, then casually pulled up to the drive-thru window to wait.

The atmosphere in the car was kind of awkward, since you hadn’t really talked about what had previously happened earlier. So while waiting, Rosie wanted to find a way to kill the time. So, she got curious and asked you, “Have you ever been here before?”

You looked over at her and answered, “Nope! But I heard it’s really good. Why do you ask?”

She shook her head and said, “Oh I was just wondering. I figured you knew about this place already.”

“Nope I had never been here until now. I mean, I knew it was-”

Before you could finish your sentence, the fast food worker interrupted you and said, ”Here’s your ice cream.” with a rude tone. He then carefully handed you the cones, and before you could even say thank you he said “You’re welcome have a nice night.” then shut the window with an attitude.

Rosie chuckled saying, “Wow he must be really pissed off since we came in 10 minutes before they closed.” You widened your eyes sarcastically and laughed, “Yeah I think so too. That’s okay though, at least he didn’t notice you. That would’ve been a whole other ordeal. Anyways, here's your ice cream honey.”

Rosie smiled and grabbed the cone saying, “Thank you so much. I really don’t deserve you.” You smiled back at her, got all of your stuff organized, and then put your foot on the gas driving away into the city. She continued to shuffle in the seat trying to get comfortable, and finally took a small taste of her ice cream. Her smile grew even more after tasting the ice cream, and she started to do her little happy dance. You took a quick glance over at her, and laughed at how cute she was being.

On the way over towards the secret destination you were driving to, “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner started playing on the radio. It was a song both you and Rosie were very familiar with, since you both grew up in the early 2000s.

She quickly got excited upon hearing it and started singing the lyrics, “ If I could write you a song to make you fall in looove, I would already have you up under my arrm~” You giggling over how silly she was being by swaying her arms and singing with the music. Soon enough, you caught on and started singing along with her too.

By the time you both were done singing to the song, you were driving up a gravel road leading to the top of a hill. Rosie looked around confused, having no idea where she was at. So she turned to you for help.

“Hey, where are we at? I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.”

“Haha, you’ll see…”

You slowly drove the car up onto the top of the hill, and put it in park. There, through the windshield of the car, was a marvelous view that cast upon the whole city of Seoul. It was an absolutely beautiful site that made Rosie’s jaw stay open in shock. She had never seen anything quite like this before.

You could see all of the twinkling lights coming from the towers, all of the ant size cars driving down the highways, and all of the shining stars in the sky that were more visible tonight than they had been any other night. Your father used to take you to this spot during the early years of your childhood. It was a very special place to you, and you had only ever shared it with two people. Your mom, and Rosie.

Rosie couldn’t even believe what she was seeing right now. She had been living in Seoul for almost half of her life, and she still never knew there was even a spot like this. She was absolutely amazed as to how beautiful this sight was. I mean, how could you not be? Rosie wanted to see the view even more, so she placed Hank down in the back seat, slowly opened the door, and stepped out of the car in awe.

You watched her as she walked up even closer to the edge of the hill, and continued to look into the distance with amazement. She then turned around and signaled you to come on, waiting to share this moment with you. You obliged and got out of the car, jogging towards her.

Now standing next to her, you looked out into the distance admiring all of the lights gleaming in the vast city of Seoul. It was still as beautiful as it was during your childhood. But as happy as you were to see it, Rosie looked like something was bothering her still.

“What’s on your mind honey?” you said softly.

As she looked out in the distance, her smile faded a little bit and her expression was replaced with gratitude. “Well, I-I don’t know what to say. This is the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. Even though this night was supposed to be one of the worst ones of my life, you made it the best one. I haven’t had this much fun in, gosh… I don’t even know how long. All I can think of right now is, thank you. Thank you so much, I don’t know what I would ever do without you. And, oh yeah, and I guess this ice cream is kinda good too.”

She started giggling over the little joke she made, and tried to continue eating the ice cream from earlier. At that moment, it almost seemed like she had completely forgotten what had happened a couple hours prior.

All the snide comments, the betrayal, losing her friends, it was all becoming a mild loss for her now. At that moment she had realized how much she really needed someone like you in her life. Rosie continued to laugh so hard that tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

You smiled back at her and said “You don’t have to thank me Rosie. You are my girlfriend after all. I would do anything for you. Like I said, I’m always one call away if you need me.” Rosie’s laughter slowly settled, and she walked over to you to give you a warm hug. “But I do have to thank you somehow.”

As Rosie pulled away from the hug, and gave you a soft kiss on your lips, you were suddenly lifted up to cloud nine. She had kissed you many times before, but this kiss felt extra special. It was a kiss of gratitude, love, and compassion rolled all into one.

You stood back from her, feeling stunned, and tried to cover the growing smile forming on your lips. Along with your cheeks turning red, like you had just received your first kiss. Rosie giggled even more and took the perfect opportunity to tease you.

“Honey are you really blushing?! I have kissed you so many times, how could you be blushing now?”

You retorted back, “Whaaatt, I can’t help it when the hottest woman in Seoul is practically kissing me. You can’t blame me ya know…”

“Yeah true… Haha! Naur naur, I'm just kidding.”

“Oh shut up! Don’t make me take back what I just said.”

“Oh yeah? You won’t. I dare you!”

As the both of you continued to bicker and giggle like longtime best friends, the night had gone by a little bit faster than the both of you had realized. About an hour later, you both realized you had left Hank in the car after he started barking and whining continuously. He wasn’t in danger or anything, you both knew he was probably getting lonely waiting for the both of you to finish talking to each other.

So as soon as you heard him barking, you stopped laughing and said, “Oh shoot! I better get Hank, I bet the poor guy is getting lonely in there.” You then quickly jogged back over to the car, and picked him up out of the car seat, bringing him to where Rosie was standing.

While the both of you, including Hank, were looking into the incredible night view of Seoul, a little lightbulb popped into your head and you had a great idea to finish off the night. You jumped up onto the hood of your car and leaned your whole body back onto it, trying to make yourself comfortable.

Rosie laughed, “What are you doing?” You looked back at her and said, “I’m looking up at the stars silly. Here you should come try it too. The stars are really nice at this time of night.” You patted the spot next to you, intending for her to lay there. She shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, “I guess it couldn’t hurt to do it once.”

Rosie then placed Hank down next to her spot, and climbed up onto the car to lay back and stargaze with you. Exactly like the reaction from some time ago seeing the lit up city, she looked up at the sky in awe, with her mouth slightly open in amazement.

The sky was aglow with a visible canopy of shimmering stars, and the constellations were perfectly aligned making the sky look even more magical. “Wow..” she mumbled, “You really do have all sorts of tricks up your sleeve huh.” You smiled, loving how she was enjoying the view as much as you were.

“Yeah I guess I do. Wait, look up there, it’s the big dipper!”

“Oh look there’s the little dipper too!” Rosie shouted back, pointing up at the sky.

As the both of you were looking up at the sky, savoring the moment for what it was worth, the moon became very visible as the clouds started to drift away from it. It was a full moon. Rosie thought it was a cute coincidence. The moon was full just like how complete her life felt with you being in it. She looked back over towards you, and said, “I love you y/n.” With the stars reflecting off her eyes, making her look even more ethereal. You smiled and turned your head over towards her, “I love you too Rosie.”

The both of you continued to lay in comfortable silence, as the cool summer breeze drifted through the air, and not a single sound could be heard for miles. Rosie knew that after tonight, her whole perspective of you had changed. Not in a bad way of course, but in an even lovelier way.

You had done everything you could to make her smile again, and she really appreciated it. Not many people would go that distance, but now she definitely knew you would. Even though she had lost some “friends” of hers tonight, she gained something more important. Her unconditional love for you. Thanks to you, this would be one of her favorite memories to be shared for years to come. The love you both have for each other would become even stronger. And when she got back home, she could brag to the girls how cool you were too ;)

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captainsophiestark · 1 month ago

Text

Pranksters

Maxon Schreave x Reader

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Written for Fictober 2024!

Fandom: The Selection Series

Day Thirteen Prompt: "That's not the point."

Summary: Maxon and his spouse haven't had a moment to breathe since before the end of the Selection. Now, long after their marriage, they're taking some much needed fun and family time.

Word Count: 1,284

Category: Fluff

A/N: Barely got this one in on the 13th, but barely still counts!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Sh!"

I whirled around, finger on my lip to make the point to my husband. King Maxon Schreave crouched behind me, a faint smile on his face as he shook his head at me.

"I'm confident this is a good idea," I whispered, keeping my voice as low as possible. "We both need the fun, and Adele's kids were asking for it when they found a way to sneak in and short sheet our bed."

"Ah," said Maxon, nodding sagely like something had just clicked. "So they pranked us, and we need to prank them for revenge."

"No! That's not the point! It has nothing to do with revenge."

Maxon raised an eyebrow, but I just huffed.

"Maxon, we've had the weight of the kingdom on our shoulders since before we were married. You've had it on yours for your entire life! We're having a truly rare weekend off to spend with family, and we are owed some carefree fun in our twenties, alright?"

Maxon's eyebrows had raised part way through my answer, but now they'd relaxed back into a sweet smile. His eyes got a soft look in them that I truly couldn't get enough of, and he leaned into me a little.

"Have I told you lately that you are absolutely wonderful? And that I love you?" he asked. I matched his smile and leaned back into him.

"About an hour ago, at dinner. But I'm happy to hear it again."

Maxon leaned the rest of the way in and repeated himself, speaking right by my ear. I sighed, letting myself enjoy the rare moment of peace together. Sure, we were about to enact a much-needed pranking operation, but this was our vacation. We could take a moment to ourselves, too.

Since the end of the Selection, things had been stressful and high-stakes for Maxon and I. From learning about the rebels to learning about his father, the two of us had been dealing with heavy things since before our engagement. But with the attack from the Southern Rebels and the deaths of Maxon's parents, we'd been thrown immediately into the role of leading an entire country, the two of us, even before our wedding. We'd managed it just like we managed everything else—together—but it had never been easy, and for Maxon especially, it meant constant responsibility with very little breathing room. So, when we found a few days away from the palace with his Aunt Adele and some of our other closest family and friends, I decided to take the opportunity to give him a truly fun and carefree night like he should've had a long time ago.

And right now, that meant pranking all of our cousins before spending the rest of the night together doing whatever we wanted.

"Okay, come on," I said, leaning back from Maxon and shuffling a little towards the door of the big suite where all of Adele's kids were staying. "The hallway looks clear, let's go."

I rushed forward, staying quiet and low to the ground. Maxon followed right on my heels, practically bouncing and with a big grin on his face. It made my heart do backflips.

"Do you have the key?" I whispered to him. He nodded, slipping the key to the room out of his pocket.

"Perks of being the king," he whispered back with a wink. I took the key, letting my hand linger on his for a moment.

"Alright, let's do this."

I unlocked the door, then passed Maxon back the key. As planned, the room was totally empty. Everyone else was having a movie night downstairs. Maxon and I had excused ourselves with a made-up stomache ache on my part, then headed straight here.

"So what do we do first?" asked Maxon. He hovered right over my shoulder, ready to follow my lead. I smiled and turned around to face him.

"We have to move fast, so we can't do everything we brainstormed last night. But why don't you pick where we start? Dried nail polish puddle that looks like it spilled on their beds? Gelatin in the milk so they can't pour it out or take a drink like normal? Or potato to replace the soap bar?"

Maxon shook his head, but he was also grinning at me.

"Let's... start with the milk?"

"Sounds like a perfect plan to me."

Maxon and I moved through the room with less efficiency than I would've needed for a successful prank on my siblings back home, but this way was also more fun. Maxon was clearly having the time of his life causing a little harmless mischief, possibly because it was the first time in his life he'd been allowed to cause harmless mischief. We managed to set up all of our favorite prank ideas before heading back to the hallway, just a few minutes later than I'd been planning for us to make our escape.

Not a moment sooner than we got the door closed and locked again, we heard voices and footsteps coming our way from down the hall. Maxon whirled to me with wide eyes, and I fought to hold in a laugh as I grabbed his hand and pulled him after me in the opposite direction.

We made it around two corners before Maxon gave in, laughing as he fell into step beside me and pulled me closer. I shushed him, but it was pretty half-hearted.

"That was so much fun," he breathed when we finally made it back to our room. He slumped against the door, grinning from ear to ear, and I moved to stand in front of him with the same expression.

"I'm glad you thought so. We're probably going to have to be on alert for the rest of our vacation for buckets of water in doorways and similar forms of payback from the kids."

"Worth it," he breathed, reaching out to wrap an arm around my waist. He pulled me into his chest, and I leaned against him, resting my hands on his shoulders. I closed the rest of the distance between us to pull Maxon into a sweet, slow kiss. We took our time, and when we eventually pulled apart, Maxon had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's up?" I asked, moving one hand up to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. Maxon's smile took on a softer tone as he met my eyes.

"Nothing. Just... thinking about what it will be like when we get to do things like this with our kids. Someday."

I grinned. "You better start taking notes, sweetheart, because I'm calling team kid now. We're gonna work together to level the playing field against the literal king."

"Hmm, I suppose I'll have to come up with a better proposition for them then, won't I? Thankfully, you have plenty of experience with pranks, so I think I may be able to convince the kids to team up with me to level the playing field against a pranking master."

I laughed, shaking my head and pulling Maxon in for another kiss.

"Well, depending on how many we have, we might not get a choice. They might team up against us, leaving you and I to team up with each other or fall to their pranking power."

"Whichever version we get... I can't wait."

Maxon's eyes shone as he pulled me in for another kiss, and the love seemed to literally make him glow. I hoped he could see I radiated the same happiness. Whether we were dealing with the weight of the world or plotting hypothetical pranks, it always made things a million times better to be doing it with Maxon.

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

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen

The Selection Taglist: @valkyriepirate

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rogueshadeaux · 9 months ago

Text

Chapter Thirty-Two — Ingress

Some of the metal came up with his pull — other pieces fell, careening around as they disappeared into the darkness. We all paused to watch the pieces of metal fall, the thunk that followed coming about eight seconds later. “That uh…” Brent drew off, straightening. “That means it's pretty deep, right?”

5.6k words | 18 - 23 min read time | TRIGGER WARNINGS: Acrophobia, alligators mention (they're freaky okay?)

“That is the most conspicuous thing I have ever seen in my life.” Dad deadpanned, hands in his jean pockets.

Zeke was standing proudly in front of one of those big utility vans that had been painted an earthy green, black racing stripes along its sides. The back doors had a mural of a wooded landscape with a satyr chasing two rather scantily clad women, and the headlights in the front were replaced with some sort of RGB lights that spun in circles. Brent looked over at me in disbelief at the absurdity of the car as I just sighed, closing my eyes. This was definitely not going to help Zeke’s standing with Dad.

“Hey, it drives,” Zeke shrugged. “And sometimes the weirdest things work as a red herring, you know? Keeps people from really looking close at the situation. Well,” he said, opening up the back doors to expose the gutted out interior, “Hop in.”

So there I was on the rubbery flooring of the back of the van, tucked in between Dad and Brent as Dr. Sims rode shotgun in Zeke’s monstrosity of a vehicle. “I’ve got, like, an inflatable bed and stuff,” Zeke called back, “This was my car when I was ‘nomadic,’ so to say. But otherwise it’s…yeah, sorry about the discomfort.”

As if on cue he hit a bump on the badly maintained road, sending my tailbone into the hump that covered the curve of the wheel and making me curse under my breath.

“Looks like we have three plantations to search,” Dr. Sims says, scrolling on his phone. “Cypress Grove, Bellefontaine, and Magnolia Ridge Estates,” Dr. Sims looks back. “There’s five of us. We could split up, explore each one on our own—”

“No.” Dad says. “My kids aren’t leaving my side.”

“Should we split up?” Brent asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Seems like a bad move when exploring abandoned places. That’s like the first thing not to do if you wanna survive a horror movie.”

“We have to be mindful of the time,” Dr. Sims said, looking out the window. Traveling out of the swamps by boat and walking to the garage holding this…thing cut a good three hours into our adventure, and the sun was already past its midpoint in the sky. “We have about four hours before sunset and being out in New Marais at night is less ideal than exploring alone.”

“But that should be enough to find this entrance, right?” I asked over the rattling of the van. “We shouldn’t have to split up for it if we’re thorough, and staying together would mean we could go through each plantation faster.”

Dad sighed. “She’s got a point.”

Zeke nodded, abruptly turning the steering wheel and sending me into Dad’s side. “Alright, then we go together. We’ll start from the farthest one and work our way back towards the swamps.”

The first plantation was close to the water and definitely didn’t have a carriage house — in fact, it didn’t have much of anything; so much of it had eroded over the years and what was left was something we definitely couldn’t explore without risking having the entire place come down on us. We searched the outside nonetheless, coming up short to no one’s surprise.

We packed up into the van to move to the next plantation, where dad nearly screamed a slew of curse words the moment we got close. Whatever Bellefontaine plantation that used to stand here was now home to a parking lot and a restaurant called the Angry Oyster, the pier dining full of patrons with it being dinner time. The little animated oyster shined over a sign that said Well Shuck Me!, a phrase Dad repeated once with the sh— becoming a f—.

“What do we do?” He demanded, looking at Dr. Sims. “What if they paved over the entrance?”

Dr. Sims turned in his seat as Zeke parked the car, motioning for his computer bag, which Dad passed over. “Let me see what I can find out,” he says, pulling out the mini laptop. “There’s gotta be some land ownership records or a property transaction or something.”

We spent nearly an hour there as Dr. Sims struggled to find the records he was looking for before eventually disconnecting from the restaurant’s wifi, declaring, “This place didn’t belong to Bertrand,”

“So it’s probably not the First Sons’ base?” Dad asked from the back. I was braiding my hair beside him and Brent was snoring lightly on his other side, both of us bored with the stagnation.

“Probably not, but we’ll come back if we need to. We should check out this last place before the sun sets.” Dr. Sims decided, closing the computer and shoving it back in his bag.

Zeke drove a bit more into town to get to the third plantation, passing the cathedral on the way. The floodlights illuminated Cole’s statue, casting shadows on his face that made him seem more menacing, more heroic than he did in the daytime.

Yet I couldn’t get the sound of his quiet sobs out of my head.

Zeke drove around to the back of the cathedral and then turned onto a side street, the veranda of a large and well-kept plantation cresting into view as we drove forward. It was huge, pristine white trimming that shone even in the setting sun. There were people milling about on the front lawn in dresses and suits, champagne glasses in hand as a flash on the left caught my eye, making me look in time to see a cameraman reposing a wedding party for their next picture.

“Shit,” Dad hissed, moving to sit in the space between the passenger and driver's seats. Brent was still leaning on him for support while napping and nearly fell into me, yelping awake.

“W–what’s going on?” he muttered, looking around with glossed eyes.

Zeke took a right, driving slowly in front of the estate. The reception of the wedding was in full swing; there was a DJ in his own booth, stark white tables with bouquets and used plates on them, and a separate garage dedicated solely to being a bar, two tenders at the counter built into its entrance.

“That’s the carriage house,” Dr. Sims realized, looking at the bar. “It has to be,”

“That doesn’t look like much of a carriage house,” Brent remarked groggily.

“Carriage house is just another fancy word for separate garage,” Dad hummed. “This is the only one we’ve seen so far. If it’s not under that restaurant? This is it.”

Zeke pulled into an alleyway and parks the truck, turning in his seat to look at all of us. “Well, what should we do?” He asked. “We can always come back later—”

“We need answers now,” Dad strained, “The sooner the better.”

“Dad, there’s a wedding,” I stressed, “We can’t just crash it.”

Brent shrugs. “Well, we wouldn’t be crashing the wedding. Just breaking into the bar,”

“Just?”

Dr. Sims sighed. “We could use the information. Knowing now would let us move forward with a plan tomorrow,”

Zeke nodded, more to himself than to anyone else, eyes traveling to the floorboard as he trilled his lips in thought. “We need to draw those guys outta the carriage house,” he said, face growing more thoughtful. “Make some sort of distraction.”

“We’d need one to get them out of the bar, and another to keep them away for long enough,” Dad sighs. “Dunno how we’d do that,”

Zeke’s thoughtfulness gained a smile, and he sorta chuffed to himself. “Oh, I’ve got some ideas.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” I whispered incredulously to Brent.

He was glaring at me as we crouched behind a manicured shrub, trying our best to hide in the shadows the setting sun was casting. Dad was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Dr. Sims or Zeke. They were all getting in position for this horrible plan we cooked up in about fifteen minutes.

“I mean I can’t, that’s not how Conduits work,” he scoffed like I was an idiot. “I can only play with the steel I put out,”

I blinked. “Wh–, that’s not how Conduits work. You should be able to do anything with steel.”

“What, and you can control any water source? C’mon Jean, this isn’t Korra,”

I glared at him before sticking a hand out and pointing it towards the water fountain just beyond our shrub, etching a gap in the trickling waterfall from its scalloped tier to form a middle finger.

Brent balked. “What? How did you do that?” he demanded.

“Oh, sorry, it’s a water tribe secret,”

“You know what—”

There was a sudden alarm from the giant mansion, catching the attention of everyone on the grounds of the plantation. Dad, that had to be Dad. All the attendees of the wedding awkwardly glanced at each other, confused at what was going on until someone came out of the mansion itself shouting something about a fire alarm.

I felt pretty bad. I mean, we were crashing someone’s wedding. That’s not an experience you’re supposed to get more than once — or at least, you’re supposed to aim for it to be a one time thing. So they’d get no do-over, and the memories of their big day would be this. An evacuation to the far side of the property, near the entryway gate. But it was a necessary evil.

Not necessary enough, apparently; the barkeeps didn’t move. They shifted around awkwardly but made no move to leave the little building.

“Son of a bitch,” Brent growled.

My jaw clenched. Dad said if his smoke setting off the alarms didn’t do anything, it would be our turn to try something, with Zeke and Dr. Sims as our hail marys. “We’ve gotta figure out what to do,” I muttered. That’s what we were talking about before our argument; how exactly to draw the two barkeeps away from the bar.

Brent’s eyes narrowed as he looks around. “Y’think you can control alcohol?” he asks. “It’s liquid.”

“It’s liquid but not water,” I whisper.

“I mean, it has some water in it, right—”

“Would you shut up?”

Brent glowered, glaring at me for a moment before looking around. “So you can just control any sorta water?” He asks.

“I mean, yeah, sorta,” I shrug. “It can be—”

“Can you control the water in the tap?” Brent interrupted me. “Flood the bar?”

My sentence died off in my throat when I processed his question. I mean…could I? I could sense the water around us, feel the gators lurking at the edge of the waters and the pulse of the water’s ebbs. The sink, though, was something entirely different. My vision shattered into normal and whatever I could use to sense the element, the sparkling crystal blue in my vision snitching on where it all was. And there was barely anything in the sink. “There’s not much,” I muttered, looking at him.

Brent cursed under his breath. “Okay, okay, uh,” he muttered to himself, looking around. His eyes zeroed in on something, and he pointed to it. “What’s that?”

I looked at the white box he was pointing to near the edge of the property and was about to ask him how the hell should I know when my vision pushed deeper, through the plastic and metal to the plethora of water below. It pulsed from the machine like a heartbeat, in cadence with the scream of the fire alarm. “I think…” I drew off. “I think it’s a well. I can see water going from it into the house right now.”

Brent’s eyebrows knit close together as he tried to come up with a plan, looking around. The light from a lamp post caught in his eyes, and I watched them dip from seafoam to pure silver before flashing back to his normal color. “The well is steel,” he said, absolutely sure of the fact. “I’m gonna go fuck with the pressure gauge, turn it as high as it can go. If you can somehow send water to that tap, then good. If not, try to make the pipes burst,”

“Wh–, burst?” I whispered, incredulous.

No use, though; Brent was already gone, content with his idea of vandalism and destroying property.

The fire alarms died off, and there was a reassuring call to the wedding attendees from someone in the same outfit as the barkeeps that prompted them to begin walking back to the center of the property. Shit. There goes plan A.

There was a line of men that went for the bar, keeping the tenders busy for a moment. Off on the side, Brent was messing with the well, and after a few moments, there was a shriek by the DJ followed by more shouting. “Gator, gator!” Someone yelled in alarm as the crowd scurried. Someone tripped in the stampede and went sprawling into the dessert table, the 3 tiered wedding cake on it slowly teetering.

I’ll give it to the groom — he tried to catch it. Tried being the keyword. The second tier on the cake slipped to the side, staining his black suit jacket as the top tier slammed into his face, his head snapping back with the force.

The shouts from this happening was enough to cover up the sound of Brent pushing the pressure gauge to its highest setting, the bar snapping under his strong grip. I watched the flow of water spike like blood pressure, flowing off to the house and near every tap in a bull rush.

At the bar, a group of jazzed up men watched the groom take a facefull of cake much to the bride’s wailing, reaching over the bar to demand something while throwing glances over their shoulders at the commotion.

One of the barkeepers grabbed a rag from under the bar, and briskly walked over to the sink.

And the moment he turned it on, I stuck my hand out and let the pressure loose, the forceful spray of water that came out shooting out making the bartender stumble back as it hit him square in the chest, making him yelp.

There were some more screams, and I heard someone specifically yell “What the fuck is going on?” while the two bartenders tried their best to turn off the sink. But Brent’s idea worked; with enough pressure behind the blast, turning the knobs to turn the water on and off only changed their temperature, the steady spray of water combined with my influence enough to break the sink entirely. Brent rushed close to me as one of the bartenders dove under the visibility of the countertop.

“What’s going on?” Brent whispered, looking between my outstretched hand and the chaos behind us at the dessert table.

I shrugged. “Something about an alligator?” I said back, unsure. “Groom lost the fight against vanilla, though,”

My power over the flooding suddenly stopped as the barkeeper turned off the water valve on the sink, pausing the assault in its wake. I lowered my hand and cursed, about to tell Brent the bad news when I saw the one super soaked bartender stomp off, out of a back door and towards the mansion while the other handed a wet rag to the wedding attendees, who all rushed towards the cake covered groom. The poor barkeeper left behind looked down at his feet, shaking his head, before following his coworker out of the backdoor, coming around to the front to begin pulling down the garage doors, locking them closed with a key.

They were leaving the bar alone. We managed to clear the area.

Brent and I looked at each other triumphantly, leaving the sobbing and exclamations behind us to do an awkward crouched jog towards the carriage house. “Back, go around back,” Brent whispered, leading the way.

The wedding party was shouting now, all staring in one specific spot as Brent and I rounded the corner of the carriage house. Brent yelped, jumping back into me and making me stumble and nearly fall before a firm hand gripped my arm and yanked me back up, steadying me on my feet. “You two okay?” Dad asked, looking between us.

“Scared the shit outta me,” Brent breathed, hands on his knees.

“Brent—”

“Yeah yeah, don’t curse, I know,” Brent muttered, waving Dad off as he tried to steady his racing heart.

The shouting got louder, began to get closer, and I peeked around the corner with Dad, concerned — there was no way they knew we were here, right?

No; they were chasing what had to be a 5 foot gator around, trying to shoo the giant lizard away from the center of the wedding reception. The scaly creature scurried at a pace that scared me, ducking behind the same manicured bush Brent and I were hiding behind moments ago — before dissipating into a cloud of pixels. Blue light dissipated into the shine of the lantern light moments before an angry older man practically drifted around the bush with a raised white wooden chair intent on bopping the creature and stumbling over his steps when he realized it was just gone.

“Brent,” Dad said, stepping back from the corner to look at him. “Can you use your powers to uh, lockpick the door or something?”

Brent shrugged, face doing that grimace most people do when they’re unsure of something like a test answer or where someone’s keys are. But he dropped to his knees, sticking the end of his finger against the deadbolt of the door as his arm dipped silver.

A few minutes later, there was a hard huffing sound behind us as Zeke climbed the small hill, the ends of his pants legs wet as he threw his — or, Cole’s — sling bag back on. “Got your message,” he said to Dad. “What’re we waiting on?”

“Fuck this,” Brent growled angrily, his third attempt at picking the lock just as much a failure at the first two. He stood straight and threw a punch, splintering the thick wood door and pushing the lock through its form onto the other side, where it landed with a moist thud.

“You…realize that the lock was steel, right?” I ask him. “You could have drained it and weakened it.”

“Yeah, well, it was pissing me off,” Brent snipped, shoving his hand through the gaping hole to unlock the knob. Dad just stood off on the side, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Brent threw open the door and Dad waived for us all to go in, closing it as well as he could behind us with its broken handle. “Eugene’s gonna keep watch,” Dad said, looking around. “We just have to find this…”

He trailed off, and I think we all realized what he did at the same time; we had no idea what we were looking for. This wasn’t exactly ‘hidden entrance’ friendly; the shelves in the back were stacked with alcohol, freezers lining the floor. The bar had cleaning materials and rags and a bunch of little fancy shakers and stuff in the alcoves under it, and there was a wine cooler the size of a fridge.

And other than the bit of water damage I gave the area, that was it. There was nothing else.

“Do you remember how Cole got underground?” Dad spun in place to ask Zeke.

Zeke shook his head. “No, I–I wasn’t there,” he said, looking around. “I barely remember what happened that day,”

Dad cursed, kicking at the water at his feet. Brent looked around, saying, “It’s an underground entrance. Just keep looking down, we’ll find it eventually,”

Brent could be so snippy when stressed, it honestly pissed me off. He was lucky he wasn’t in smacking range.

We looked. And looked. Dad opened the broken door and had me push all the water out of the room and to the grass, Brent putting up a wall of steel against it once it was closed again in case anyone returned. We searched every shelf, moved every bottle in case one was a false switch for some magical trapdoor or something. There was nothing behind the wine cooler or under the bar counter.

Dad eventually stopped, straightening with a groan and pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes. “Fuck,” he hissed, “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

Zeke sighed, hands on his knees as he looked under the bartop again. “Gotta say, it ain’t looking too bright.”

Dad sighed hard, the end of the sound becoming a groan before he moved his hands and blinked hard a few times, eyes meeting mine. He looked dejected and on the verge of calling off the search and declaring it was time to leave when Brent said, “Dad, step back,”

Brent was looking at the ground where Dad stood; the concrete had dried up for the most part, but instead of a stain of wet, there was a jagged line of white at Dad’s feet that moved in an awkward and wide shape, like someone ran the long side of a chalk stick around this section. Brent bent down to run his hand along the white, straightening and rubbing it between his fingers. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered, looking up at Dad before he could chastise him and pointing to the bit of floor that had the white grit lining it. “It’s here. The entrance is here,”

“What?” I asked as Dad gave Brent a look of disbelief, “How do you know?”

Brent pointed at the white. “This is calcium carbonate,” he began. “When new concrete gets wet, it does this thing where when the water rises, it takes the free calcium in it and pushes it to the surface. Efforflescence or something.” He then looked down and grimaced. “That also means they probably haven’t been mopping this place at all, which is disgusting.”

Leave it to Brent to know something about architecture. “So it means this is new?” Dad asked.

Brent shrugged. “New enough. It can take like fifteen years for all the calcium to come out.”

“This place became a wedding venue tenish years ago,” Zeke chimed in. “There was a whole ceremony and everything. I only went for the finger sandwiches and the corporate babes, though,”

Brent shot me a bewildered look as I did everything in my power to not snort at the image of this portly and graying man prowling for women with a handful of mini-sandwiches.

Dad dropped to his knees, hands gliding against the concrete like he would be able to find a gap he could peel apart. “They sealed it,” he realized.

“How do we get down there?” I asked, looking between everyone. “If it’s paved over, there’s no way we can enter the base.”

Dad’s brow furrowed as he looked down at the smooth ground before saying, “Brent, steel up and punch this until it breaks,” pointing to a section of floor.

Brent looked at the top of Dad’s head like he was insane but listened, skin going from tanned to silver in the blink of an eye before he balled up his fists and dropped, pounding them into the ground. He punched one, two, three more times before something gave away and there was a tiny divot in the ground, shattered concrete bursting away from it.

That was all Dad needed; his hand came out and drained from the pebbles, taking on concrete as his power. He waved Brent off and let his own arms become encased in the man-made rock, pounding away at the ground to break it further with deafening crunches that made me press my hands to my ears.

Dad chipped away at the concrete, punching and digging like a dog with both a bone to pick and a bone to bury. He absorbed more and more of the concrete as he made the hole, this three foot wide gap that he tried widening more and more with every hit down.

And then, slowly, as Dad kept up the attack, something began to peek out from under the concrete; a steel grating, the only thing separating the floor from some long and very deep chasm below it. “Well that's not structurally sound,” Brent muttered beside me as Dad began to tear away at some of the concrete, yanking it up out of its spot.

I didn't really care. All I knew was that under that grating was nothing more than a glorified elevator that would take us down to what could potentially be answers about what was wrong with me.

There was just one big, glaring issue. “How the hell are we supposed to get down there if the elevator ain't got electricity?” Zeke asked when Dad stopped to catch his breath.

Dad pursed his lips, looking down at the tight, thick grate that sat under the bar. “I'm not sure,” he muttered, displeased. “But we're getting down there, no matter what.”

Dad continued to beat away at the concrete for a few minutes longer until there was a gap about four feet wide, enough for one person to stand on comfortably — if we could get the elevator to move. That was our next big issue. Dad sat back on his feet, glaring down at the next obstacle as his mind seemed to move at a mile a minute, trying to come up with a plan. “Brent,” he eventually said. “How much control do you have over your steel?”

“I was telling Jean this earlier,” he began, “I can't just control any steel—”

“Not all steel, just yours.” Dad corrects, looking up to where we stood. “If we can destroy this, you can make a new floor to fit the shaft and glide us down.”

Brent bit his lip. “I...I might be able to do that?” he ventured, unsure.

Another good forty-five minutes blew past while Dad excavated a wider perimeter around the old elevator shaft, trying to make enough room for Brent to come in with a steeled body and begin pulling against the metal, draining it as he did so until the grating began to crack under his palms and he yanked it.

Some of the metal came up with his pull — other pieces fell down the shaft, careening around as they disappeared into the darkness. We all paused to watch the pieces of metal fall, the thunk that followed coming about eight seconds later.

“That uh…” Brent drew off, straightening. “That means it's pretty deep, right?”

Dad sighed. “Let's just get this new platform built and…hopefully it'll work.”

“Hopefully we won't fall to our deaths,” Zeke corrected.

Dad gave him an exasperated look, but didn't say anything.

Hour two came and went by the time Brent straightened, having spent a good quarter of it hanging halfway into the hole. “I think I got it,” he said, looking at Dad. “It fits the grooves and stuff on the old shaft,”

His hands stayed out, rigid and tensed as they stayed pointing towards the solid steel flooring. He was still using his power over the floor to keep it in place. What had Dr. Sims called it? Conduvergence? Whatever it was, it seemed Brent had to keep his hold on the steel he produced if we didn't want to drop into the darkness.

Dad crawled into the hole first, Brent leaving a big enough gap for him to be able to move around while crouched. He inspected the platform, made sure it was fit securely to the old build of the original shaft's flooring before looking up at the gap, saying, “Jeanie, c'mon, your turn,”

I looked at him like he had lost it, my silent plea to not have to go on Brent's Tower of Terror ignored with a quick motion of his hands as he beckoned for me to hurry it up.

The shaft groaned slightly as I stepped down on it — and Brent did too, readjusting his feet on the ground as the muscles in his arm flexed. He must have been feeling every pound we were adding to this thing, which did absolutely nothing for my fear of falling to my death. Dad grabbed my shoulders, moving me out of the way of the gap as he called up, “Think you're okay to hold Zeke too?” to Brent.

“Yeah,” Brent huffed. “Yeah, I'll just — I'll fly after you guys when you get down there,”

Another moment and Zeke was coming down into the hole, the platform jerking under his feet and making me yelp as my soul left my body. “Hey, hey, you're okay,” Dad said behind me. His grip on my shoulders tightened though, knuckles going stark white, and it did nothing to reassure me.

“Sorry,” Brent groaned above.

Zeke settled in place and Dad looked up at Brent and nodded. “Take it as slow as you can,” he instructed.

Brent nodded, the steel of his arms flaring and becoming aural as the platform began to slowly move down.

I stayed holding on to Dad for dear life as the platform rattled against the old shaft, feeling like it would give way and send us spiraling down. I knew, theoretically, all I'd have to do was use my powers to protect myself and it would be fine — but that didn't make the ride down any more comfortable. I wasn't exactly scared of heights, but I didn't like the idea of falling into a dark hole.

That was another issue — how dark it was. The lower we got and the further away from the hole we went, the harder it was to see...well, anything. Holding on to Dad became less about fear and more about just keeping a hand on him to know he was still there. One of his arms left my shoulders and a moment later there was a bright light, His phone's flashlight on and the light bouncing around the silver walls. A second later, Zeke clicked on a small one as well, shining the light around.

“Hey, look,” Zeke said, prompting us to turn. There was an archway opening beside him, the entrance to the underground tunnels growing longer and longer until the steel platform hit the floor, making us all stumble.

“You guys okay?” Brent called from above, the grinding sound echoing up the chasm.

“Yeah, yeah. Come down here,” Dad called back up, shining his phone’s flashlight towards the small pothole sized sun way up high. “Jean, take out your phone, use its flashlight,” he commanded me as he lit the way for Brent to come down.

The edges of Brent's wings scraped against the walls as he flew down, the horribly shrill sound making us all cringe until he shed the wings and landed hard on his feet. “Jeez, it's dark,” he muttered, searching for his own phone to use his flashlight. ”No good reception, either,“

I looked at my phone; one singular bar, and everyone knew that was hardly a step up from no service. Honestly it would have been better to not have any service, that way it wouldn't feel like the phone was lying to you when its messages wouldn't go through. “I should have messaged Eugene,” Dad cursed, realizing he missed the chance. His flashlight went from shining up at the opening of the shaft to down the long hallway, pristine white walls almost untouched after all this time and shining the light back tenfold. “Alright. Stay behind me, you guys,”

The hall was so clean and bleached that our phones' flashlights bounced around again and again until our little group was encased in a warm glow. The walls didn't look painted but they definitely weren't metal, the texture smooth and glossed as I let my hand glide over it.

“Weird,” Brent muttered, pointing his phone's flashlight up at the ceiling to expose a long row of rounded, defunct in-ceiling lights.

“What did that guy say these were used for?” Dad asked, not turning around. “The Underground Railroad, right?”

“This looks way too nice to be some dug up tunnels for that,” I muttered, pulling my hand away and tucking my hoodie's sleeve over my cast.

Zeke huffed, “Well, you gotta remember, we're talking about the First Sons here. They weren't gonna be caught in some dingy little cave system,”

Dad put out a hand, silently signaling us to stop as his light caught the glint of a piece of metal up ahead. “Stay back,” he warned us, stepping forward.

One hand stayed holding his phone while the other lit up a light amber, the rough scrape of him activating his concrete power echoing down the hall. He crept up to the exit poised like a large cat ready to jump on prey, and nearly did exactly that as he stepped out of the hall into the room.

His ignited arm immediately fell, and his shoulders seemed to sag a bit. “Well, this complicates things,” he said, before turning and beckoning us forward.

I was expecting a single large room, maybe some sort of observation deck like those old viewing galleries for operating rooms. Not this. Not two stories of something straight out of Star Trek.

Every wall was a sculpted slope, pier-like patios poking out and away from stairwells to overlook the giant futuristic atrium. There was a tube in the center of the room that led to a defunct and dried up pool in the center, each patio wrapping around the tubing like it was the center of a roundabout. Everything was pristine white or accented in the lightest blue in this courtyard, the wide open space dimpling in some spots to curve in, creating lateral archways for other hallways. There were a few emergency lights that barely illuminated rounded doors, leaving the rest of the room in an eerie dusk that our lights had to fight through to illuminate. “Well,” Zeke huffed, looking around. The ceiling was so high our lights couldn't even reach it. “This is gonna take a bit longer than an hour of lookin', huh?”

#infamous second son #infamous erosion #delsin rowe #infamous 2 #cole macgrath #zeke dunbar #fanfic #sucker punch productions #alternative chapter title: the gang crash a wedding

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after-nine-at-the-oasis · 1 year ago

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OKAY SO it may be almost two hours past midnight for me and it may be season 4 in 2 minutes BUT I am going to make this post lol. So, it's time for HSMTMTS Appreciation Week Day Four: Favorite Episode/Season!

Honestly I don't think I have one of either xD

I love all the episodes, and most of the time when someone asks me for my favorite of something (like books or movies) I just go with the one that has the most rewatch/reread quality/potential. So, some of these episodes may just be the ones I watch the most lol.

Each season has their pros and cons for me, but I will say I think I enjoy season 2 more than most people! The ending isn't amazing, sure, but it has some really great music, ship moments, acting, and Wildcat family moments :).

Season 1, they're not all family for a little while, and we don't have as much development on some of the others, nor most of the ships. But it's also fun that it's the most grounded season lol, and it just has a special charm. Also, it really focuses on the musical lol!

And season 3, obviously I miss Seb, Big Red, Mr. Mazzara, and half Nini and Ms. Jen from it :). And sometimes the drama is a lot, but at the same time, there's so many cute and fun moments, it is absolutely HILARIOUS, and the change of setting is super cool :). Since I'm a multi shipper, it's also a con for Portwell and a pro for Rina lol xD.

Anyway! Now, a few of my favorite episodes :).

Season 2 Episode 5: is this one a surprise even xD. I love Seblos, I love the Wildcats, and I love great music! What more could you ask for? Also, it's just so sweet that they'd throw a big party for one of their friends like that :'). And it's especially cool seeing Carlos be appreciated <3. Plus, it gave us "I never learned how to lie", so you know xDD.

Season 2 Episode 10: LISTEN. Again, is it partly because of Seblos lol? . . Sh xD. But seriously, it's great Seblos drama, the music is once again amazing, and I LOVE the sleepovers :D!! The recipe for my favorite episodes is really just Seblos, Music, Wildcats xD. Lol. But seriously, it's such a good episode <3.

Season 1 Episode 6: Maybe it's just because it hits home, which is weird because that makes it bittersweet, but I love this episode. It's really focused more on them being a family than any of the ships (which is interesting and a nice change of pace :) ) and it has some great music! Plus, the photoshoot lol. And of course, a few Seblos moments, and some lovely Carlos angst xD. Justice for the Seblos deleted scenes 😤😔. Lol, but yeah, I love this episode <3.

Season 1 Episode 7: Again, my Wildcats xD. I was hesitating to put this on here because the end hurts me so much, but it's just too good :). We have Carlos inviting everyone to someone else's house (for the first time, I think, lol), Ricky and Nini being chill for a bit, Gina being adorable, and the start of Redlyn 👀. Lol, remember when one of the half jokingly proposed ship names was Big Rashlyn xD? Bring it baaaack lol, we deserve it. In a good way, not as punishment xD. Anyway! The real star of the show this episode, though, is of course the party :). We love the Wildcats being family, and I seriously love them all so much <3. And again, Seblos moment lol. The music is good this episode (I adore Out of The Old), but there's not too much of it lol, so I forgot to mention it and came back here after the next paragraph xD.

Season 3 Episode 7: LISTENNN. Once again, I can do anything I want xD. I think I said that earlier, or maybe in one of the other posts, but nonetheless lol. I say it a lot regarding things like this lol. Anyway! Obviously, SEBBB!!! HE RETURNS TO ME :'DDD!! But we also have Ricky's bucket list (ADORABLE) and everyone's ICONIC outfits :D. So sorry to Portwell though :( xd. That does hurt throughout the episode lol. Oh, and of course we have the iconic welcoming of Ashlyn to the community :'). And Wouldn't Change a Thing!!! Such a slay :D. Honestly though, I love the ending, like, after the dance. I don't know if I love it more than the prom itself, but seeing the guys come together and support each other, and the same for the girls, with a BOPPING song in the background? Amazing :'D. And, of course lol, Seblos moments <3. And the second Seblos kiss!! I love them so much :). And, like I said, amazing music!!

Season 3 Episode 5: This one is just so hilarious xD. I had to include it lol. Plus, :O drama a bleeped out curse on HSMTMTS!! We don't get many so that's a slay for being unique xD. Also yes, Carlos totally deserves it 😌😤. Like, to get one lol. Just like Natalie, lol. Anyway!! Yeah, this is so funny xD. It also has great music!! The drama hurts, of course, but we love the little moments of supporting each other xd. And again, I just have to mention how FUNNY it is, those moments xD. Plus, the fact that it's all (well, yk. Mostly xD) a plot is amazing lol. I just love this episode lol.

So yeah!! I think that'll do it for today :). I probably won't be on Season 4 for a bit tomorrow, as in it'll take me a little while lol. I still need to finish my rewatch xD. But, I will watch it!!! And I'm so excited :)) 🥰.

#hsmtmts #oasis's hsmtmts chatter #high school musical the musical the series #hsmtmtsnet #hsmtmtsweek23 #seblos #unfortunately I never got around to writing that seblos fic lol #I wanted to write it before season 4 came out so I'd have written one during the run of the show like I wanted but alas lolz #I wrote drabbles a couple years ago but yk #anyway!!#I will still write it :D #maybe even during the rest of my rewatch so it's still kinda pre season 4 :))!!#anyway 🥰🥰#I AM SO EXCITED!!!#I'll see y'all all tomrrow :DD #(shhh it's not 2:20 am)#this has been a great journey :'))#this week and this entire fandom experience over the years #thank you all so much <33 #see you on the other side :')#(you'll probably see me several times before the other side lol)#I love you all :DDD ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!!#byeeee :))) 🥰🥰🥰🥰 <333!!!!

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brushytuna · 3 months ago

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👴: Speckletail

❓: I wanna say Mousewhisker but he had more than 3 lines during POT :( uhh Toadfoot from ShadowClan I guess?

📖 : I really liked the sequence in A Shadow In RiverClan where Feathertail is having a flashback about the Bonehill incident. I related to that.

👶: I was in 4th grade. I had moved from New Mexico to Kentucky and my first friend happened to be a warriors fan. I wasn't really interested bc Into The Wild was boring to me. Then I picked up Rising Storm and fell in love.

💢: ANYTHING WITH CLEAR SKY

💧: I used to cry over it a lot when I was younger. I cried over Bluestar's death and when I finished The Darkest Hour.

💋: I remember really disliking SandxFire when I was younger but as I grew up I started loving them and realized how problematic SpottedxFire and CinderxFire were. Ew.

🐾: I never officially named any of my cats warriors names, but I would give them warriors nicknames. For example: I have two cats named Sparky and Oreo. Their nicknames are Sparkystar and Oreoclaw.

1️⃣: I believe it was my first animal based book series. I always loved animal based stories and movies though.

👑: When I first started out, yes. But I learned pretty quickly that isn't the right way to RP.

🗺️: Gosh I don't remember exactly but it was probably one of those early Ashfur MAPs like Bluekyokitty's Sh*t Ashfur MAP.

🖼️: Bones Shatter by AlliKatNya!!!! I still watch it out of nostalgia a lot.

🖌️: My first official warriors OC was Eclipse, a loner turned WindClan warrior, descendent of Scourge. I was in 5th or 6th grade. I'm sure I made some before that but I don't remember them.

📝: Depending on which of my favorites I could write one of those English Class book review essays.

💔: Not really. I usually tell people early on when meeting them bc I know how judgmental people can be. I would rather not get into an actual friendship if they're going to think I'm "cringe" or "weird" for liking the series.

🌈: I was never on the forums but Scourge's collar is purple and if you must have it be something else it's red.

🆕: I am, although I didn't read every single book in AVOS. The fandom really went hard on that series and the second half wasn't as good as the first.

📱: I made an account once and tried to interact with people but they were kind of gatekeepy so I just never went back on there.

🏠: Both of my parents know of the series. My mom watched a lot of my photo videos from back in the day but doesn't know much about the series. My dad tried to take them away from me because he thought they made me stupid.

🎶: High Plains Drifter by Beastie Boys. It would fit Tigerstar well.

🎥: BrightSpiritAkira or MoonKitti but idk if they're problematic.

❎: Warrior cats and slasher movies. That was from like 8th grade. I don't really like slashers anymore though. I'd like to make a Bojack Warriors crossover though.

🗳️: I would have liked to see what Whitestorm would have been like if he was actually leader.

🌟: Neither I guess?

🤔: This isn't really a plot hole, but I really wish they had shown Leopardstar's feelings for Tigerstar in the first series rather than just in her super edition so it felt more real.

😱: None really? The people I block are those who do nasty things like CP, Pro shipping, and Zoo stuff. Grooming. So none I've blocked are really trivial.

☯️: I remember the theory of Bluestar being the actual fire that saved the Clan made me froth. I really wish they didn't give Bluestar a fire prophecy too.

🌫️: I honestly have no idea. If I've forgotten them I doubt I'll remember them offhand now.

fuck it. warriors ask game except the questions are all weird and niche as hell

👴 : fav elder?

❓️ : fav total background character (im not talking minor characters like say. whitewing or moonlight, i mean cats with like...3 lines tops)

📖 : fav comic page from any of the mangas and why

👶 : how old were you when you first touched a warriors book? howd it happen

💢 : what scene made you the most irrationally angry upon first reading

💧 : how many times have you cried over this wretched book series? any favorite memories

💋 : is there any ships out there you absolutely hate for genuinely no good reason at all. like its not problematic in the slightest, if anything it's one of the better ones, you just cannot bring yourself to enjoy it

🐾 : have you ever named a cat after a warriors character OR given a cat a warriors styled name? if so, tell us the story

1️⃣ : was warriors your first animal based fantasy series? if not, what series was?

👑 : when roleplaying (if you ever have roleplayed warrior cats), did you used to power play? be honest.

🗺 : first map you ever watched?

🖼 : first amv/pmv you ever watched?

🖌 : when did you make your first warriors oc? (if you say you've never had OCs, i dont believe you)

📝 : if commanded to, without warning, approximately how many paragraphs could you write about your favorite warrior cat before you ran out of things to say

💔 : have you ever lost friends over warriors related topics?

🌈 : what's the most 2010s wcforum era esque fandom opinion you still hold onto and will fight people over (things like scourges collar color, dovewings eye color, etc)

🆕️ : are you still up to date / reading the new books? if not, when did you stop?

📱 : were you ever on warriors amino? (if you were, i'm terribly sorry)

🏠 : about how much do your family know about warrior cats, if anything?

🎶 : give me a song you're surprised you haven't seen turned into a warriors pmv yet - and what character(s) you imagine it to

🎥 : fav warriors related youtuber?

❎️ : what's the weirdest crossover au involving warrior cats that you've made? (if you haven't made any, then what's the weirdest one you've seen?)

🗳 : if you could make any cat leader of any clan right now, who would you pick?

🌟 : would you hypothetically go to starclan or the dark forest?

🤔 : what's the biggest series plothole that's bugged you?

😱 : how many people have you blocked over innocuous, not at all important warriors related takes?

☯️ : what dynamic between two cats has got you up at night pacing for hours? (romantic, platonic, familial, etc)

🌫 : what's a cat you genuinely forgot existed until recently?

#warriors #warriors survey #obscure warriors

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smokeybrandreviews · 1 year ago

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Upward and Onward

I finally sat down and watched Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I took in that entire two and a half hour run time, in one sitting. Now, i like the Indy films. I can't say they're my favorites but they are more than enjoyable. Crusade is, obviously, the best of the bunch, but i have a soft spot for Skull. What i don't have a soft spot for, is the goddamn vitriol Dial has gotten. It's weird to say but thus film didn't suck near as bad as everyone made it out to be. Now, take that with a grain of salt because, and i have to be honest here, Indiana Jones films are not top tier cinema. They are nostalgic love letters to the serial George and Steven watched as children. That's it. They were never supposed to be high brow cinema. Indiana Jones is never going to win any Oscars. It's weird as f*ck to me that, because Fleabag is in this one, every one lost their collective sh*t about it. Dial is a perfectly serviceable Indiana Jones film that is, arguably, the third best of the five. Dial is definitely better than Skull and i think more entertaining than Temple. It hits all the beats an Indy film should and Mangold directed his ass off to get that cohesion. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny does not suck. It is good. It is a decent Indiana Jones film. There is nothing wrong with this perfectly serviceable entry into the franchise. Watching this movie, and having a pretty solid time with it, really put into perspective all of the noise fandom has been making lately.

I got a hint of this, too, while Ahsoka was airing. Sure, those first few episodes dragged a little more than they should have but, once it started picking up steam, it really went places. I've written essay after essay about episode five and the ramifications it had in terms of the mythos. As a fan of Star Wars, you couldn't help but love that action and yet, so much discourse. So much whining. So much forced vitriol. Ahsoka was good. It was fun. it was the closest thing to Star Wars we've gotten since the first season of Mando. Why all the f*cking hate? Because Kathleen Kennedy has poisoned the well. I can't stand what that dizzy, egotistical, arrogant, fraud has done to my darling Skywalkers either but her reign is at an end. Dave Filoni is now in charge of all things creative at Lucasfilm, as he should have bee in the very beginning. That needs hit me like a ton of bricks I rejoiced because we were about to get a ton of good content, in terms of narrative, going forward. Was the Fandom Menace happy? Of course not. Bro, when we all realized Kennedy was f*cking sh*t up on purpose, Filoni was who we wanted in charge. It was the only option, outside of Lucas, which made sense. Now that he is, y'all still have a problem? Really? See, now, this sh*t just sounds like a grift rather than a proper rebellion.

In all honesty, Lucas film has mad nothing one would consider great cinema. Star Wars, Willow, and Indiana Jones aren't winning awards outside of technical or costuming. You're not getting Academy Award winning performances out of a galaxy far, far, away. Being upset because there's politics in a franchise called Star Wars or that Fleabag is riding shotgun with Indiana Jones, is f*cking dumb. Being upset because there is mad disrespect to the content which came before, or that the quality of writing has fallen considerably, or that character development went out the window in favor of hamfisted virtue signaling, are things one should get the pitchforks out for. A disillusioned Luke is an interesting take on the character. Not exploring why he was disillusioned in favor of assassinating his character to "develop" Rei, was the critical misstep in that film. From what i heard about Dial's production, something similar was to happen to Indy but Iger nipped that sh*t in the bud. Obviously, sabotage the last of Kennedy's projects on principal but sitting here pretending that Dial was the worst Indiana Jones film when Crystal Skull exists, or that Ahsoka was the best thing out of Disney Star Wares since Rogue One, or that Filoni taking over the reins of Creative at Lucasfilm isn't exactly what everyone wanted, is both damaging to the cause and disingenuous to out intent.

The problem was never the woke. Marvel was chock full of that sh*t from the very beginning. It was the gender and race bending that ruined our beloved franchises. It was poor writing and Corpo greed. it was Marvel and Star Wars expected to prop up Disney plus. It was Kathleen Kennedy upset she never got undue credit for her contributions to Star Wars. No one cares that Rei is the lead of the sequels. We were upset because none of that sh*t was earned. She was a poorly written character who was increasingly unlikable as her set of films progressed. Lightyear and Strange Worlds failed, not because they were gay, but because they were a boring watch. You can write Woke sh*t and have it be recognized as brilliant. Look at everything Jordan Peele has made. Black Panther. You can have strong female leads with no problem. Promising Young Female comes to mind. Everything Everywhere All at Once. You can even do the Rei thing correctly, which Filoni already did, with Ahsoka. Go back and watch those early appearance in Clone Wars then juxtapose them against that last season. Tell me Ahsoka Tano isn't one of, if not the most developed character in all of canon Star Wars. All of this started with strong writing and purposeful character development, sh*t Corpo Disney and Kathleen Kennedy couldn't be bothered with even attempting. The MCU used to have that, too, but because they were supposed to drop forty TV shows and six movies a year just to prop up Pixar and Lucasfilm's failings, sh*t took a tun with quality anything over there.

It's wild to me that we, as fans, finally get exactly what we want. Kennedy is banished off to the Shadow Zone. Filoni is in charge of Lucasfilm Creative. Iger has decreed that the MCU is to pull back on TV shows and focus on two or three films a year, with the option for small screen adaption a few years down the line. Budgets are being reined in all over the company and people are being held accountable. These are all things we've wanted since the Mouse House punched out with Endgame. The tide has turned in Hollywood, overall, and sh*t is looking like there will be a return emphasis on creating dope sh*t rather than pandering to shareholders, yet, i still hear cats denigrating our favorite franchises because "muh culture war". Bro, when fans get everything they want, when Corpo Hollywood has to acquiesce to Creative Hollywood, When every issue we had is addressed, cats should, at the very least, take a wait-and-see posture going forward. I am. Ahsoka was a step in the right direction. The talk of Doom taking over as the big bad of Phase Five is the right direction. Kathleen Kennedy and her ridiculous cancer being completely cut out of Lucasfilm is the right direction. Loki si arguably the best thing the MCU has made since Infinity War. A focus on writing quality scripts and turning a eye toward detail rather than stock price, is the right direction. We are trending upward. It's a goddamn shame a very vocal minority keeps trying to shout that progress down.

#Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny #Indiana Jones #Star Wars #MCU #Disney #Some ol' bullsh*t

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smokeybrand · 1 year ago

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Upward and Onward

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blooming-violets · 2 years ago

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Halloween fluff idea: Peter and wife taking his kids trick or treating! Bonus points if they visit Aunt May’s house to surprise her.

Peter, you, and the twins: Claire and Benjy.

It's the first Halloween that they're old enough to appreciate what Trick-or-Treating is. They're both so excited to dress up and go out.

Earlier that year, Peter showed them E.T for the first the time. You thought they were way too young to see that movie but he insisted that he saw it at their age so it was fine. Both kids cried and were terrified through the whole thing but, afterwards, screamed that they wanted to watch it again. It became their favorite movie.

Cue the costumes:

Peter put them together all by himself. It wasn't that hard but he really wanted them to nail the look. He's very proud of it and the kids love it.

On Halloween evening, Peter loads everyone into the car and drives over to May’s house. She doesn’t know that they’re coming, thinking that they’ll go Trick-or-Treating in their own neighborhood.

“Hurry, go knock on the door,” Peter whispered to his two toddlers as he placed them in May’s driveway. “And, remember, what do you say when she answers?”

“Trick-or-Treat!” They both parroted back to him, their tiny voices syncing together into one.

“Good job,” he smiled proudly at them. Peter slipped his arm around your waist and kissed the side of your head. “May is going to lose it. I used to make her watch E.T. with me all the time when I was little.”

The twins both excitedly knocked on the front door, their tiny fists banging away, while you and Peter strode up the walkway. It took May only a minute to answer. She opened the door with a smile, wearing a witch hat, and cradled a large bowl of candy in her arms. Her eyes lit up when she saw her great niece and nephew standing in front of her with giant, matching smiles.

“Auntie May!” Benjy jumped up and down in front of her, over the moon to see his favorite person in the world.

“No,” Claire chastised him, already taking the lead in any situation. “You supposed to say Trick-o-Treat.”

Benjy nodded, taking the orders from his sister, “Tw’ick-O-Tw’eat!”

May laughed and bent down to see them, “Oh my, don’t you two look wonderful. Where have my Claire Bear and Benjy Boy gone? All I see are Elliot and Gertie.”

The twins giggled and Claire held out her arms, “It really is us, Auntie May! We’re dressed up!”

“What?” She pretended to rub her eyes and reexamine them, giving a quiet gasp. “You’re right! It is you.”

Benjy held up his orange plastic pumpkin, “Daddy said if we said tw’ick-o-tw’eat then you give us candy. I thinks you forgetting something, Auntie.”

Peter rolled his eyes at you with a smile. Leave it to Benjy to have nothing but candy on the mind. May held out the bowl and let them each pick two pieces to put in their buckets.

“What do you say?” You reminded the kids.

“Thank you!” They both shouted at the same time. Benjy was already tearing into the piece of chocolate he was given. You were certain his face would be covered with it within the next hour.

Peter untangled himself from your side and stepped around the kids to pull May into a hug, “How you doing? Enjoy the Halloween surprise?”

She gave his side a soft smack, “You told me you were taking the kids around your neighborhood, you liar.”

He laughed, “Sorry. That was the plan but they insisted they needed to Trick-or-Treat at your house. They want you to come with us. Wait until you see Benji’s tricycle. I stuck a basket to the front and bought an E.T. to stick in. I know you. I know you’ll want to get a million pictures of them before the sun fully sets.”

May looked down the street, taking note of the few kids already starting their night, “But who will hand out candy?”

“Leave it on the porch. It’ll be fine. If some asshole kid steals it all then, oh well, they steal it all.”

“Asshole!” Claire piped up from under Peter’s legs. She was too smart for her own good. She knew whenever a bad word was said and she loved to repeat it, knowing it would get reaction from the adults.

You shot your husband an unamused look, “Language, Peter.”

May shook her head in feigned disappointed at her nephew, trying to hide her smile, and turned her attention down to Claire, “You’re daddy is in big trouble.”

She nodded back with wide eyes, “He should get a time out on the time out chair.”

You agreed, “You know what to do.” You pointed to the top step of the porch. “Time out, Peter.”

He gave an exasperated sigh, putting on a show for the kids, as he slumped down on the top step. His head hung low as his bottom lip pouted out.

Claire went and sat next to him, resting her head on his arm, “It’s okay, daddy. You just gotta say sorry to mommy for saying bad words. Then you can get up again.”

Peter looked up at you with big, round eyes, milking this for all it was worth, “I’m sorry, mommy, for saying bad words.”

You did your best to hide the snort of laughter that desperately wanted to come out. You took a deep breath and nodded, “Thank you. You can get up now.”

“You did it, daddy!” Claire jumped up with him.

Peter’s attention turned to Benjy who had gone unusually quiet. He was hunched up in the corner, surrounded by a growing pile of wrappers, and stuffing as much of May’s Halloween candy into his mouth as he could.

“Benjamin Parker!” Peter gasped. “You little sneak!”

Benjy looked up with chocolate smearing his lips, “I didn’t do it. It was a ghost.”

“Tell that ghost he’s going to be the next one to get a time out if he doesn’t cut it out.” Peter clapped his hands, letting it slide. It was Halloween, after all. Candy was meant to be eaten. “Alright, children! Get your pumpkins, grab Auntie May, and let’s get Trick-Or-Treating.”

“Yay!” They shouted back.

Claire grabbed her pumpkin bucket and jumped down the stairs. She grabbed hold of your hand and started to tug you down the walkway, excited to get going.

Benjy pushed himself up off the ground and gently took May’s hand, giving her a big, chocolatey smile, “Come on, Auntie May. I’ll share my candy wiff you because you don’t have a bag. We can be Tw’ick-O-Tw’eat buddies.”

“You know,” she whispered to him, gladly taking his hand. “You remind me so much of your daddy when he was little. I’d love to be your buddy tonight.”

Peter hopped down the stairs to wrap his arm back around your waist and placed a kiss to your temple, “I think we’ve got some good kids. Let’s make a date tonight to steal some of their candy after they sleep and watch a scary movie.”

#the amazing spiderman #tasm #peter parker #andrew garfield #tasm x reader #tasm one shot #peter parker x reader #tasm peter x reader #halloween one shot #autumn blurbs #tasm peter parker #tasm peter #tasm peter parker x reader #tasm fic #trick or treat #trick or treat fic #blooming-violets #blooming violets fic #blooming violets

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hellfiredup · 2 years ago

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A Little Trick - Steve Harrington

word count: 1,248

It's 2:44 in the afternoon, meaning Steve only has to survive four more hours before he can flip the sign on the door of Family Video. He and Dustin sit behind the counter on pop-up camping chairs watching Carrie, doing anything in their power to make the time pass by faster.

The movie is nearing its end, so Steve stands up and heads to the back room to flick through the "Recent Returns" box. He still can fit in another movie or two before heading home to watch a movie from the private comfort of his own home rather than from behind a counter with Dustin.

Steve returns to the counter when he hears the bell above the door chime. He stops in his tracks when he sees a girl in the store—a pretty girl.

"Hi," she says, smiling shyly with her lips together.

Steve replies with a little wave of his fingers and a crooked smile. She takes the store in for a moment before turning to her left to flip through some tapes on a display shelf.

Steve's eyes follow her for a moment. He quickly ducks down to where Dustin is sitting, fully out of sight of anyone in the store.

"Who is that?" Steve whispers.

Dustin leans back, trying to view the mystery customer without having to get up. They must have gone behind one of the shelves, but he doesn't feel like looking much further. "I dont know."

Dustin settles comfortably in his chair again, refocusing on the movie. He anticipates Steve taking a seat in the chair next to him so they can finish the movie together, but he's left hanging. He looks up and finds Steve's hands planted on the counter, his mouth slightly agape as he looks in the direction of where the customer went.

"Dude, you're staring," Dustin whispers, tugging on Steve's pant leg.

"Doesn't count if she's facing the other way," Steve quietly replies without looking away from her.

"It so counts," Dustin grumpily retorts.

She reappears from behind a display case and picks up a tape. She flips it over to read the back, and Steve catches a glimpse of her face again before she puts it back in its place. He's suddenly very aware of how messy his hair looks—and how crooked his name tag is.

Steve takes off his name tag and repins it, straight this time. He pops a mint from beneath the counter into his mouth and wipes his hands on his pants.

"Steve, this is the fourth one today-"

"I'm just doing my job," Steve interrupts, giving Dustin a look. "She looks like she could use some assistance."

He stands up, planting his hands on the counter and flexing his biceps. "Anything I can help you find?"

She looks up at him. "Just looking around. Thanks, though."

He smiles and nods once, relaxing his arms and glaring at Dustin when he stifles a laugh by pursing his lips.

Dustin's eyes widen. Steve seems to take Dustin's laugh as a challenge, because before he can stop himself, he's heading to the back and bringing out a box of returned tapes. He sets them on the counter with a huff.

She hears the box drop on the counter and looks up, giving Steve a closed-mouth smile before going back to flicking through tapes on the shelf.

"I've got a little trick," Steve says.

She looks up, then behind herself to see who he's talking to. Nobody else is there.

"Me?" she asks, turning to face him.

He nods and continues. "I always go through the recently returned pile if I'm not sure what I wanna watch. Regulars here rent the same few movies over and over again if they're really good."

She raises her eyebrows and turns her eyes up. "I guess that makes sense."

Steve smiles, then looks back down at the box. It's silent for a moment, and his fingers tap the sides of the box as he tries to think of what to say.

"You find any good ones recently?" she asks, breaking the silence and catching Steve off guard.

"Oh, yeah," Steve says. He excitedly looks down to dig through the box. He pulls out Fast Times at Ridgemont High. "Fast Times. It's rare that we have this one. It always flies off the shelf as soon as I restock it." He holds it up so she can read the tape.

"It has boobs in it," Dustin chimes in from behind the counter. She looks at him and chuckles, noticing the kid for the first time and catching Steve's face turning pink.

Steve tries to recover. "Uh, yes! It does have, um-"

"Boobs? In it?" she finishes, showing him some mercy with a grin.

He lets out a sigh. "Yeah," he laughs, looking down.

"I've never seen it," she says. She puts her palm out for him to set the tape in. Her eyes look right at his, confidently. "I'll save you the effort of restocking it."

He grins, placing it in her hand.

"You got an account with us?" he asks while stepping over to the register.

She shakes her head. "No, I just moved here."

He nods, grinning to himself. (At least he thinks it's to himself, but she can totally see it.)

"Can I get your name?"

She tells him. He repeats it back to her. Not so much as a question—just quietly, as if he's trying it out to see how it feels coming out of his own mouth. He nods as he types it in.

"And your address?"

She tells him. It clearly takes a bit of thinking for her. He can tell that she's still not used to reciting that address as her own.

He turns away from the computer, pulling out an old reciept and a pen.

"And your number?" he looks up at her and flashes a coy smile.

"For the account?" she asks knowingly.

"For me," he answers. Dustin looks at Steve like he's Jesus.

And she tells him.

"Probably good for me to meet someone around here," she chuckles. "Both of you," she adds, wanting to include the kid behind the counter. The kid smiles widely at her.

Steve hands her the tape. "It's on me this time."

She smiles and takes it from him. "Thank you."

"Just make sure you bring it back on Thursday. That way I can get it back from you myself."

She smiles at the floor. "Thursday. Got it."

"—And maybe if you come by right before we close, I can show you a good place to eat dinner?" He leans over the counter to softly add, "without the kid."

She laughs and nods. "Yeah, okay."

She gives the kid a smile. "Excited for the boobs," she jokes to him, holding up the tape with one hand and pointing to it with the other. He turns red and nods.

"—And for dinner, Steve," she says, obviously reading his name tag. "'Til Thursday." She takes a step away from the counter.

"'Til Thursday," he repeats back to her.

She leaves the store, tape in hand.

There's a moment of silence where both of the boys follow her out with their eyes.

"How do you just... do that?" Dustin asks.

Steve shakes out his hands, closing his eyes. "Lots and lots of practice." He looks at Dustin. "It has boobs in it?" he mocks.

Dustin raises his shoulders and his hands. "It does!"

a/n: oh my god i haven't written one of these since i was fourteen years old :') feels good to do something anonymous and creative on tumblr again

#stranger things #steve harrington #dustin henderson #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington drabble #stranger things 4 #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #stranger things imagine

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miraculous-trinity-leo · 4 years ago

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Whacky Gotham, Goofy New York, and Chaotic Paris

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)

Chapter 3: Kindred Spirits Always Find A Way To Assemble

•—–—–†–—–—•

Time: 5:30am

location: Louvre

Ladybug, Abeille, Bunnyx, Trickster, and Chat Noir are fighting an akuma, not anything major, just Mr. Pigeon and his pigeons trying to melt the Louvre with deadly acidic bird dropings, so yeah, nothing major. Just another early bird gets the akuma kinda day...

"Looks like the early bird is trying to melt the Louvre, what say you M'lady, shall we make this swift and- *Loud sneeze* Let me now *sneeze* when I'm *sneeze* needed" - Chat Noir

"For to long our kind has been oppressed, they feed us miserable seeds, when we beg for bread, we shall show them no mercy, as our justice shall be swift!" picks up two pigeons, holds them by their legs and aims the rear cannons "Surrender your Miraculous and your justice shall be swift and painless!!" with an evil villain laugh at the end bla bla bla.

" Anyone else getting Pigeon (French) Revolution vibes? No? just me? Cause I swear he said seeds instead of cake."

"Not the time Bunnyx." - Abeille

"Oh it so Is The Time." - Bunnyx

"Off with Mr. Pigeon Antoinette's Akumatized object!" - Chat Noir from a distance.

"Viva La Revolution!!!" - Trickster

"Dear Kwami, how did it come to a frickin Pigeon Revolution?!" - Ladybug

As the last line is said, Mr. Pigeon fires the -ehem- cannons at the heroes, only for them to be an illusion. In the confusion Bunnyx pops out of her burrow and wacks Mr. Pigeon on the head, effectively knocking him out.

"The Pigeon Revolution is over, we have taken back our home, and shall continue to defend it from the creepy Man of MOTH!!!!" - Bunnyx

and with that Bunnyx brakes the Akumatized object, and Ladybug purifies the akuma.

"Ok, I will admit that last speach was funny, now lets hurry back before hells bells go off." - Ladybug

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

" Bla bla bla, nothing important, bla bla bla bla, yada yada yada bla yada." - Mrs. Bustier

"'Viva La Revolution', that was perfect." - Whispering Alix

"It just came to me, but Chats 'Off with Mr. Pigeon Antoinette's Akumatized object' line and your 'Man of Moth' speech were really well timed !" -whispering Peter

"well of course, I'm always punctual with any time sensitive joke/pun." -whispering Alix

"Will you to zip it! we can't have these simpletons finding anything out!" -whispering Chloé

"Please, they all share a broken defective regect of a brain cell, I doubt they could ever put two and two together." -whispering Alix

"Hey, do you think we should start a protest in our classroom?" -whispering Peter

"... Viva.La.Revolution!" - whispering Chloé with a mischievous grin

"No." - Maria

•~—~—~—~ Later when Mrs. Bustier is out of class ~—~—~—~•

"I just don't know what to do." - Lie-la

" You think she finally realized how horrible that hair style is?" - Alix

"After visiting Gotham a few months ago I met Damian Wayne, you might've heard about him, he's just so amazing, kind-hearted, and brave. We had a wonderful time, but then he asked me out! And I don't want to hurt Parkers feelings, I care for both of them!" - Lie-la

"Man, she must be extremely full of it to keep pulling that sh-t out of her @ss every hour or so." - Alix

"Wow Peter, didn't know your cared for Ms. Rossi like that" - Chloé said in a sarcastic tone.

" I'd rather strap her to a supersonic rocket heading for a black hole, and I'm pretty sure this Damian Wayne would do the same... he probably has the money for it actually." - Peter

" Enough plotting, we still need to get enough money, if we want that summer trip, we've already crossed off: Baking sales, becoming a mime, jobs are out unless they're fine with you leaving right after joining, and we can't just ask for donations." - Maria

" I can use my MDC mon-" - Maria

"Oh hell no you won't! You worked your butt off to get that money, you said it yourself! That money is for when you apply to college! I refuse to let you waste your money on our ignoramus classmates!" - Chloé

Thankfully by now everyone was out of the classroom.

" Oh Kwami she's serious, she never uses her big words!" - Adrien

" Then what do you suggest Chloé?" - Maria

" I'll ask daddy to pay!" - Chloé

" I can also ask my father, he'll probably do it if Mr. Bourgeois puts in a donation." - Adrien

" But- " - Maria

" No! The decision is final all in agreement say aye!" - Chloé

"Aye!" - Everyone

"You've watched to many movies Chloé, fine, but please don't drastically overdo it." - Maria

" When have I ever drastically overdone something? Name one time." - Chloé

"Well, there was the time you over did it, by not sleeping for almost three weeks." - Maria

" and after that you got so fed up with one akuma that you kicked him with the force of a thousand suns down unda, you may have scared him for life after that honestly. " - Adrien

" Oh! or the time you went overboard with Peters B-day, and the cake landed on his face! - Alix

"Well in her defense, the cake was great, but it was kinda a mouthful." -Peter

"... I said name one time. (ー_ー)" - Chloé

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

Sooo, after all that happened Mr. Bourgeois, Fallowed by Gabriel Agreste, gave a very generous donation, so that solves that problem.And since I'm sure you don't want to see (More Lies) boring stuff, lets skip to two days before the trip begins.

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜time skip " You're welcome, I'm here all eternity." - Bunnyx〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

•—–· At Chloés Hotel ·–—•

"Ok are we sure we have everything?" - Maria

" Yes now can we please watch something already, we've triple, and even quadruple checked everything, we're good." - Alix

" I have to go out and inform Tempête and Vipère, before anything else, be back soon." - Maria then heads out calling upon the other heroes.

" So what do you need?" - Vipère

" Do you have a top secret mission for us?" - Tempête

" For the summer Abeille, Bunnyx, Trickster, and Chat Noir will be unavailable, unless they are truly needed, I however will be able to travel back and forth via portals for fights. Paris will be in your care while we aren't here." - Ladybug

"It is our honor, we shall defend Paris with our lives." - Tempête

" Agreed, enjoy your summer." - Vipère

"Thank you, stay safe." and with that Maria headed back to the hotel prepared to watch movies, only to be bombarded with questions as soon as she got back.

" HOLD UP! You know MAGIC?!" - Alix

" When were you going to tell us?!" - Chloé

"So cool, how does it work?" - Peter

" Can you teach us?!" - Adrien

" Spots-Off, yes I know magic, I swear I've told you before. Do you want a demonstration?" - Maria

They all shook their heads excitedly.

" Ok well, I'm able to Heal myself if I get hurt, but I don't wish to hurt myself just for that, I can also increase my Luck with magic, as well as Communicate/ Manipulate plants, and see peoples Souls, thanks to Tikki. I learned Protection magic thanks to Wayzz, and Illusion magic thank to Trixx. I'm also learning Teleportation from Kaalki, which I've almost completed, and Mutitude from Mullo, which still needs work." - Maria

" If you can really talk to plants, what did we do earlier while you where out, hmmmmm?" - Alix

Maria then walks over to the roses near the couch and whispers to them, after a moment she turns back to her friends, and calmly says "Traitors."

" What do you mean?" - Peter

" You continued watching Star Wars: Clone Wars Without me!" - Maria

" Ok we believe you, but does this mean we can also use magic?" - Adrien

"Hmmm, let me see" as she says this her eyes start to glow an almost ethereal icy blue.

" Why are you eyes glowing?" - Chloé

"Looking at you souls... ok" she then claps her hands and her eyes go back to normal "Adrien, you can use slight Destruction magic on objects, if you use it on a person it would just cause them extreme pain, you can also cast Bad Luck on someone, so I guess thats good, and you can also learn slight Jubilation magic. Peter you can learn Illusion, and Protection magic. Chloé you can Learn Subjection, and Multiplication magic. And Alix, you can learn Evolution, Intuition, and Teleportation magic." As Maria finished, she saw the star struck looks in their eyes at the thought of learning magic became obtainable for them.

"Teach us!" they all bowed only to get a laugh from Maria in response.

"You would have to ask the Kwamis that, I only know what I know thanks to them." - Maria

And for most of the night they all started practicing magic. And when they woke up, they continued to practice, they had fun and were really enjoying it.

Then came the day Maria and her friends were to head for Gotham, and it was hectic, but everyone made it in one piece after an 8 hour flight, which at this point Maria was glad she sent all of her important luggage ahead of time, because somehow her luggage with only her toiletries and pyjamas was stolen, so all she had now was her back pack on her and the Miracle box in a Pocket dimension (thanks to the training from Fluff and Kaalki)

Lila was annoyed, when Maria didn't even care that she lost her bag with all her stuff (jokes on you she sent that one to the hotel 2 days ago HA!) they ended up checking into the hotel, everyone was with someone, Peter was with Adrien, Chloé was with Alix, and Maria... just had the Kwamis, yup that's right, apparently Lila has a condition that prevents her from being in any room below a quality vip room, so now she was upgrade and without a roommate, good for Lila, and Lucky for Maira, because now she doesn't have to worry about someone noticing her climbing out the window to go free-running across rooftops as Multimouce.

Around 7:30 pm. everyone heads out for lunch... and they leave Maria behind.

"Of course this happens." and with that she asked the receptionist for the directions to where her class went, afterwards she went out and proceeded to get lost, after trying to retrace her steps, she just got lost quicker, and her phone was at 20% what luck.

After walking for a little bit, she had decided to take a break, and as she leaned up against a wall, she closed her eyes.

'Maybe if I search for the receptionists Soul I can find my way back.' as she was doing this, she saw souls of all colors walking by, she even noticed a dark emerald green soul, and a dark blue soul across the street on a rooftop... and then she felt her hair stand on end, a few feet to her right was a bloody rust looking soul, she could tell it was a male, late 20s, average build, and 5'11, he was targeting her. As she opened her eyes she did a quick scan of her seroundings, noticing an alley, she started to walk again. Sensing the slight increase in speed from the man now behind her, as he got closer, she made a sharp left into the alley, she made it a few feet in before the man started laughing and walking closer, she saw the disgusting look in his eyes, and the outline of a gun in his front left pocket.

"Come on now girlie, I just wanna talk."

" I am good thankz." she made sure to add an accent to make him feel like he had an upper hand, which seemed to work, if his sickening smile was anything to go off of.

He stepped closer and Maria (the little genius she was) decided to act nervous, which only lowered the guys gaurd even more, once he reached to grab her in a quick motion she proceeded to do this.

She held the guy in a lock until he fell unconscious. As she stood up, she noticed a hand reaching for her, she then grabbed the hand and flipped the figure over her shoulder hard, hearing a yelp from the man as she did so.

When she realized who she had flipped over, her face turned bright red

"Mon dieu, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you are you ok Monsieur Nightwing?!"

"Yeah I'm fine and don't apologize, reflexes like that are key to survival here in Gotham, isn't that right Robin.... Robin?"

When Nightwing didn't get any sound from Robin he looked over to see the boy a blushing mess, then Robin snaped out of it, cuffing the mugger, and turning his attention to the girl.

" Ehem. Mam it's dangerous to be out here at this time alone, please allow us to take you wherever you need to go." - Robin

"Oh thank you um, do you know where Wayne Hotel is? I was supposed to go with my class to dinner, but they... “forgot” me, I decided to try and meet up with them, but I failed horribly." - Maria

"Wait they just left you? and in Gothan of all cities?! What kind of teacher does that?!" - Nightwing

" An instegator." - Maria said under her breath in French, she didn't notice the slight shock on both their faces from what she said.

"Anyway lets get you to your hotel before it gets any later." - Nightwing

"Thank you again." - Maria

She arrived safely, thanks to Nightwing and Robin, she thanked them one more time and went inside, when she got to her room she found her friends pacing back and forth in the room, Chloé and Peter looking like they would soon become two people on a mission to find her, but thankfully she was back, she of course had to answer alot of questions, but that was no big deal. After answering all their questions, everyone went to their rooms, and fell asleep, they had a big day tomorrow afterall... ... and then Marias' Akuma alert went off, ok so it took about thirty minutes to defeated the akuma 2 more before she could cure anything and another 5 minutes before she could head back to her room, and it was now 2am, but she could still wake up early right? hehe (・–・;) right?

No, the answer was no she couldn't, well technically she was up on time for when the bus "should" have started getting ready to leave, BUT turns out Lila SOMEHOW, managed to get everyone on board without even thinking of her an hour early! Maria asked for directions once again, and the receptionist had a worried and apologetic look on her face, Maria thanked her again, and headed out, this time however, she made it without getting lost and without getting mugged, Yay! She even had enough time to get a coffe (Tim special was a wierd name but oh well it did the job pretty well) from a shop near by (double yay!) before entering the WE building.

" You have to start the tour! we've been here for an hour and thirty minutes already!" - Ms. Bustier

"Like I said before, I will not start the tour until your student gets back, and if they don't get back, then we better hope nothing happened to them, or else it's your fault for your negligence." - Tour guide

"Sorry I'm late, the bus left earlier than what we scheduled, why didn't you inform me about the change?" - Maira

"Lila said you were the one who made the changes and that you were just trying to get attention, I am VERY disappointed in you Maria, now apologize to your class for delaying the tour!" - Ms Bustier

"I think you mean “I'm sorry we left you behind in a city where murder happens to young kids on a daily basis” now you apologize to Your student that is Your responsibility." - Tour Guide with a glare that could kill a thousand armys

Ms. Bustier proceeded to apologise to half the class's disbelief.

"Alright then, now that thats all taken care of, Hello and welcome to Wayne Enterprise, where we focus on making Gotham and the world a better place. I'm Dick Grayson, and I'll be you tour guide for today."

As the tour went on Maria stood at the front with her friends, she took notes of everything that was said, and she ignored whatever nonsense Lila was spouting, somthing about saving or dating Damian Wayne, she didn't really care.

When the lunch break came, she sat with her friends until she needed a long overdo refill on her coffee, she walked over to the coffee machine and started figuring what combination will keep her brain working for the rest of the day.

"Press button 3 followed by 5, 6, 8, 1, 2, 4, 9, and 7, that is the ultimate coffee mixture, if your mortal self is up for the challenge." - Sleep deprived guy

"I accepte." she presses the buttons in the exact order and then " Wait none of the cups are big enough."

"Here, secrect cup, from beyond the mortal realm." - Sleep deprived guy

" Thanks" she grapped the very large cup, and filled it with coffee till it was almost to the rim, she put the lid on and instantly took a big sip from the scolding hot coffee (she can heal, her tongue's fiiiiiiine)

"... Not bad, taste similar to the Tim Special I had earlier, but maybe a bit stronger." - Maria

" Kindred Spirit, let us be friends, you have drank the sacred coffee and are now immortal, congrats." - Sleep deprived guy

"It was not easy, but I have come this far, and I shall go the distance with nothing but coffee in my veins." Maria said in a serious tone as they shook hands "I am Maria, keeper of all nighters, and who might you be, my kindred spirit."

"I am Tim, the keeper of sacred coffee and all that is unholy."

"It was an honor to meet you Sacred Tim, may the coffee gods guide you in your journey, sadly we must part ways, for the lunch break is over, farewell..." and with that Maria left to rejoin the group.

"Dear god where the hell did you get that much coffee?!" - Chloé

"Kindred Spirits always find a way to assemble." - Maria

"Huh, so there is someone out there who is also a sleep deprived child." - Alix

The tour continued, and Maria noticed their tour guide kept looking at her with growing concern as she slowly made her way through the lovely coffee, she finished the cup within 1 hour and 30 minutes, and most of the staff kept looking at her as she now held the empty unholy cup, that was said to put people (that weren't chosen by the coffee gods) into caffeine induced commas, but she was fine, if anything she was more awake than yesterday and today combined. So yeah Today had a rocky start, but I'd say things are only just beginning.

•—–—–†–—–—•

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜 Bonus Art 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

This is what it looks like from Marias' normal vision, to her Soul Vision (~‾▿‾)~

Chapter 3 completed, hope you're all having a wonderful day, and staying positive BUG-OUT 🐞💮🐞

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜 Tag List 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

1st Place★: @animegirlweeb ☕

2nd Place★: @jumpingjoy82

3rd Place★: @zalladane

4th Place★: @jayjayspixiepop

5th Place★: @arty-shadow-morningstar

6th Place★: @smol-book-nerd

7th Place★: @irontimetravelflower

8th Place★: @fandom-trapped-03

9th Place★: @meme991001

10th Place★: @buginetye

11th Place★: @blackroserelina

12th Place★: @jessigurl-design

13th Place★: @adrestar

14th Place★: @moon5608

15th Place★: @little-bluestar

16th Place★: @batgirljr72

17th Place★: @myazael

18th Place★: @our-preciousss

19th Place★: @wolf2118

20th Place★: @nyx-in-line

21st Place★: @kking13

22nd Place★: @lunerlover2024

23rd Place★: @moonlightstar64

24th Place★: @corporeal-terrestrial

25th Place★: @kashlyn

26th Place★: @tbehartoo

27th Place★: @heart-charming

28th Place★: @solangelo252

29th Place★: @t1dwarrior-of-earth

30th Place★: @lady-phoenix-of-tardis

@lupagrimm

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senseitoadstool · 3 years ago

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MoViews: The Batman (2022)

Well, who doesn't like a re-re-re-re-reboot of one of the most remade franchises?

Thing is - this one was well done. It had its really good things, and just a few not so good things, which already makes it much more superior to the latest attempts.

Although I wasn't too sure about the casting of Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, he did a great job, and the mask suits the outline of his face. I, for one, don't miss Keaton's cheeks. The rest of the casting was quite good as well. But let's break this up:

The REALLY good things I enjoyed:

* We thankfully got spared yet another origins story. We arrive at a later point and, although the instance that made Batman, well, Batman, is referenced a few times throughout, it is used as part of a much more enriched storyline than in previous times.

* The updated timeline includes the heavy use of social media in the plot, indicating is definitely an updated version of Gotham City.

* The villains are much less caricaturized, made much more real and humanized. It took a while for me to realize that 'Oz' was referring to Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, since even with the heavy make up he does not look like a Penguin. They all look more like gang members, gangsters and mental institution escapees, which I assume was the intention of the movie.

* The relationship between Bruce and Selina (cat woman) is treated very well, as a small part of the bigger plot that helps give these two characters some conflict and interaction that is relevant and not just because there needs to be a romantic interest.

* The tech is finally taking it's proper role as supporting the action instead of leading it. Although I was a bit disappointed in the Batmobile, the use of the gadgets and technology comes second to the story and action.

* Finally, the concentration on the actual story line. When there's effort placed in the writing and in character depth, it shows. And it's about time it did.

As far as the things that could've been better:

* Somehow, Batman's musical theme reminded me consistently of the Empire's theme in Star Wars. Couldn't shake that feeling.

* It was LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGG. I can point at least 3 scenes that could've been shorter and still get the point across, like Cat Woman changing into her burglar outfit. 3 hours was a bit too much for this one.

* The fact that the DC-verse is so discombobulated, that even with the promise of a sequel (clear by its ending), it is unclear if this is going to be part of Snyder's hot mess or if they're treating this as separate from that sh.....ow.

It seems to me that Warner Brothers is intent in gaining some ground in the Super Hero battle with the trailer announcing Black Adam, Aquaman and Flash movies coming up this year. I'm still somewhat skeptical, but color me cautiously optimistic after this one.

Mi Opinión: Go See It (2 out of 3).

He Dicho.

#moviews #movie review #the batman 2022 #the batman #sensei toadstool #senseitoadstool

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jinxthequeergirl · 4 years ago

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Dream Come True

Steve harrington x Hopper! Reader (coraline AU)

Summary: escaping your everyday life after you move to live with your father couldn't have been something you wanted more, luckily for you you are given the chance

Warning: swearing, Horror themes like idk It's Coraline i think that speaks for itself no?

So i don't know if im going to end up making this a series or not but hey if this does really well then I might, but just this is so long so i might have to.

~~~~~

In front of you sat a small box with many opportunities, two small glossy black buttons, thread and the promise of freedom...

You watched the rain drops race down the window intently as your father drove you home from the headwear store. you'd only been In Hawkins for only half a month, having to move there with your father after your mom died. And you had only spent the time unpacking, today you had finally convinced your dad to take you to get supplies so you could really make your new rooms more like you.

The car bounced slightly causing your head to lift and hit the window. "Ow!"

"Sorry pot hole..." Hopper said glancing over to you. "You alright?"

"Yea...but guess it takes a while to figure out if you have brain damage or not.." You muttered sitting straight in the car seat, crossing your arms over your chest.

"C'mon don't be that way...you get to redecorate your room..that must be exciting for you? Give you something to do while we wait for the rain to clear up. "I guess..." You perked up at a new idea popping into your head.

"Maybe I can start a garden in the front too? Make it look pretty? I have a garden box so we wouldn't need anything, el can help me too!?" You said almost as a question seeing if he would go along with the idea.

"Sure... Sounds good, just wait till the rain clears up so you aren't bringing mud in." You frowned lightly, ut had been raining for the past three days without any sign of stopping soon. "Yea...sure."

The car came to a slow stop infront of the house. "I'll help you get this stuff inside and make you lunch but I've got to go back to work." You nodded as you got out of the car.

You'd begun by rearanging the few things of furniture in the room,while hopper set to work at making you a lunch. You starting with the dresser dragging it across the room to set it in its new place.

You dusted off your hands and turned your attention to look at the new space you made, stopping once it was caught by something on the wall where the dresser once was.

"Hello..." You slid across the floor and dragged your fingers across the outline of a small door in the wall.

"Hey Dad!?" You yelled getting up to look for him. "Whats up?"

"What this?" You asked now running your finger over the key hole. "Do you have the key!?" You asked hopefully turing to look up at him in the dokr way. He shook his head and shrugged. "I...maybe? I'm not sure...if i did it's probably boared up! They're would be no point."

You rolled your eyes. "Now Food in on the counter your sister is with Mike so make sure to call in about an hour to check on her-"

"Can you please look for a key?" You cut in. He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can, but I'm late so just finish unpacking and setting up and I'll look for it when I come back." You huffed but nodded and started to finish setting up your room.

After about an hour and a half you'd finished painting, unpacking and decorating your room, you had finished. Even had lunch and called El just like hopper had asked. Now you simpily sat in your room staring at the photo of your previous bestfriends that sat on the bedside table.

Back in New York with your mom you never had to worry about being bored, all your friends where their and there where places to go. Hawkins was diffrent, granted you where still adjusting but that didn't make it any less difficult.

The phone rang snapping you of of your thoughts. You hustled across the house to puck it up. "Hello?"

"Y/n! Thank god you picked up! Just the girl I was looking for!"

"Hey Robin,whats up?"

"Not much, I was just wondering since the rains cleared up would you be intrested in taking a tour of Hawkins with me and Steve?"

You thought about it for a moment, The first day you'd mobed here and met everyone they where the two you'd hit it off with, well You did with Robin anyways so you didn't see why you couldn't get out.

"Yea...I'd love to!"

"Cool! We'll be there in a few."

"So what does one do around here?" You asked following beside Robin And Steve down the sidewalk. "Well there's the arcade... " steve started but quickly trailed off. "There are some shops around town." Robin added.

"Is there like, i dunno a mall maybe? A movie theater at least?"

"Movie theater yes, mall not so much."

"It a...it burned down." Steve informed. "Oh...wow..." You followed them through town, going in and out of every store that was open.

"So Steve...." You attempted to start while looking through a clothing Rack in a thrift store.

"Got a girlfriend?"

"Uh no..no ya know I'm kinda just testing the waters...seeing if theres anyone worth dating around here."

"And?" You asked not looking up at him, you could clearly tell he was trying to act cool around you.

"And?" He repeated your question.

"Is there?...anyone worth dating around here?"

"Nah none that are really my type." He said nonchalantly fixing his hair in the mirror across from him. "Wow...are you always this increadibly douchie? Or are you like this just for me?" You asked leaning on clothing rack to look at him better.

"What I'm not...I'm not being-"

"You kinda where Harrington." Robin said from across the store earing a chuckle from you. His face flushed and he pretened to look at a jacket that seemingly caught his attention. "Ah don't be that way stevie...it's sooo charming, I'm practically swooning for you." You said sarcastically. "Shut up!"

The sun was hanging low through the trees casting that late afternoon orange glow upon the three of you as you walked back home.

"This place is...pretty boring...how do you guys manage?"

"Hawkins isn't all bad...besides It's a lot more exciting than you would think." Robin said while offering you some of her candy. "You just gotta...know where to look."

"Sometimes the intresting things find you." Steve said stopping once your house came into view. "If you say so...thanks for showing me around."

"No problem, maybe we can hang out again soon." She offered as you started to continue forward. "Yea! That would be great!" They both waved to you as you stepped into the house shutting the door.

You placed a few of the nick nacks you'd bought onto the top of your dresser for decoration, glancing at something that wasn't there before. A glossy black key.

You plucked it from its spot on the dresser and turned to the small door quickly slidding across the floor once again to get to the door. You hestitantly dragged the key across the outline of the door ripping the wall paper open before slipping the key inside.

It slid in perfectly, giving you some sort of relife as it clicked open, you pulled it open being met with nithing but brick.

"Damn..." You huffed and shut the door and placed the key back ontop of the dresser.

Something yanked you from your sleep suddenly and you lied awake, a sliver of silver moonlight hitting your face through the curtains as you did so.

It was quiet as you lied there except for an ever so faint sound of humming that you just barrely missed. You stayed still fir a second trying to pin point the sound, it continued for a while as you did so softly floating through the air from an unknown source, you finally gave in and tossed the covers off and stood up from your bed moving around the room to find it stopping when your foot hit something on the ground.

"What the hell!?" Jumping back slightly at the contact you looked down seeing a long greyish green vine across your bedroom floor. "What the hell..." You repeared examining it closer you followed it with your gaze seeing it came from the small opening of the little door a slight glow came from it along with little white particals that floated up into the air around it.

You moved carefully over to it kneeling next to it careful to avoide the vine protruding from it, as you did you could hear the humming closer now. You pulled the door open getting a blast of air blown back into your face along with a bright glow. You gasped slightly watching a tunnle appear almost instantly infront of you.

The humming slightly louder now. With out a second thought you climbed through, eventually met with another door which you easily pushed open and found yourself crawling through only to see you'd cralwed back into your bedroom. "Huh?" The humming was louder, unmistakable too, you knew that song. You looked at your bedroom door seeing the light from the living room shining in.

"Dad!?" You stood up and exited the room being greeted by the smell of food cooking. "Dad? What are you do-" you stopped a few feet from the counter seeing him move around the kitchen

"Hey sweet pea! You're just in time for dinner!" You gulped thickly when he turned to face you. "Oh god...I must be mistaken...you aren't my dad...my dad-" it was him but, diffrent. He seemed plaer yet more lively.

"Doesn't cook?" He asked guesturing to the freshly cooked meal. You couldn't help but stumble back a little bit as he approached you with a light hearted laugh. "Well thats because I'm your other father dear! Well better father"

"Other...Father?...wha-"

"Why don't you get your mom and Tell her dinner is ready!"

"Mom?

"Well your Mother of course silly! I actually think she's in the garden out front." He pushed you forward lightly and you glanced back cautiously before going to the front door.

You opened the door and stepped outside being greeted by a beautifully bright garden. "Holy sh-"

"Watch your mouth young lady!" You jumped turning tonthe voice and and gulping.

"Oh my god....mom!?" You stopped and covered your mouth feeling tears briming in your eyes.

"Hello sweet pea!" She opened her arms and you instantly ran to her and hugged her. You could tell just like with your father she was diffrent but couldn't exactly tell whatbwas diffrent.

"You...your alive!"

"Well of course I am! Oh come look at this!"

She pulled away taking your hand and pulling you down the steps of the pourch into the flower filled front yard.

She held your shoulders as you watched the flowers practically bloom before you. "I planted them just this afternoon! Our faviorte!" It was true the flowers before you where always both you and your mothers faviorte.

"They're beautiful mom! Oh!" You turned to her with a smile. "Dad said dinner was ready and sent me to get you."

"Oh! We don't wanna keep him waiting!" She said giggling with you and guiding you back to the house.

"There they are!" Hopper yelled setting the last of the food on the table. "Thirsty?" Your mom asked as you sat down. "Mmm you know I could go for a purple cow!"

"Coming right up!" She knocked on the table lightly the lights above lowered themselves offering you said drink, along with extra grape soda and vanilla icecream just incase.

"Wow thank you!" You said taking the drink and extras. Hopper placed a plate infront of you. "Here comes the Gravey train choochoo!" You mom said earning a laugh from both you and your dad.

A toy train in fact made its way across the table stopping infront of you to dump gravey on your plate.

"Mmh! This is so good!" Youbsaid stuffing your mouth full of food. "More?" Hopper asked.

"No thank you I'm stuffed." You said leaning back and taking a last sip of your icecream float.

Hopper took the plate from you and your mother placed a cake before you that read 'Welcome home'

"Home?"

"We've been expecting you for a while!" Hopper said.

"Wow...uh..really?"

"Of course! You beling here! With your family!"

You smiled lightly.

"Thanks...but It's late...I should go to bed.."

"Oh of course!" You stood up and they both followed you to your bedroom. You crawled into bed and they took turns kissing your forhead and wishing you a goodnight. You slowly drifted off to sleep peacefully.

"It was so weird!" You said throwing a rock into the water infront of you.

"Well it was just a dream, nothing to freak about." Robin shrugged.

"Yea I mean your mom was there it couldn't have been real..."

You and robin both glared at Steve. "I...well thats not what I meant..." He gulped slinging his own rock into the water.

"He's right though." You said softly. "But it just...it felt so real! The food the...feeling! But I woke up and the door was all bricked up again..."

"That's just further proof it was only a dream." Robin said as you sat beside her.

"Yea..." It was already late afternoon and you had decided to stay out until the sun had set well into night.

Steve had dropped robin off at her house and so you sat alone with him in his car as he took you home.

"Sorry about what i said...about your mom..."

He said finally. "No...it's ok...like i said you where right...it's just a dream..." He frowned slightly, you could tell he was beating himself up about it.

In all honestly you hadn't gotten off on the best of feet with him but it's wasn't so awful to be around him, he just had a hard time telling when to open his mouth and when to keep it shut. But you liked him.

"Well here we are." He said pulling up to the house. "Thank." You said with a smile before getting out and going inside.

"Hey kid!" Hopper said happily as you stepped inside.

"Hey!" You smiled. "Oh hey, sorry I never got around to finding that key for you."

"Thats ok I found it"

El stood in the door way with a concerned look. "What are you-" you hurried to your room and pulled the key out and showed him.

"You where right though...there was nothing there." You shrugged going back to your room.

"Bad place." You jumped at El's voice behind you. "What?"

"Don't keep going there it's a bad place..." She said quietly. "What bad place?"

"El! Its Mike's on the phone!" El quickly left to take the phone.

"Bad place?..."

#steve harrington x reader #stranger things x reader

60 notes · View notes

baekhvuns · 2 years ago

Note

Yesssss how does LSH know Minghao and Hoshi that was so unexpected 😭 I need to know. I know Ateez was busy, but Seonghwa YOU COULD'VE BEEN THERE TOO

Miss don't know threaten me with an ugly flip flop because I'm telling the truth 🥰

Alright I am choosing my brids instead of your kids, you have it worst bestie I'm so sorry :/ I didn't sleep well as usual, but not because of the birds, but also Taeyong didn't appear... I actually don't remember any of my dreams from las night it's quite unusual. Actually, hold on... I just remembered shopping for a headband, but also another wild dream where me and some friends discovered an abandoned place, but it turned out someone was there. We were like "shhhhh 🤫" while making so much noise, lmao. It was quite scary tbh

They have even weirder shoes they're crazy lsudmshdjshdhshshs yessss the scarf is really cute, I have some of their bags too ❤😭

Lmao I'm always caught somewhere it's a disease 🤡 bestie come over here we have many more pride marches in different cities over the next few months

Yes I watched Dylan's as well (also wtf someone in my gc was talking about his Supernatural commentary a few hours ago) the second movie is even worse like H O W. Do bot disrespect Seonghwa like that ://// also I had no idea there was a preview I only realised later 🤡

It's definitely a dystopian comeback, but wtf the was Utopia randomly got popular is so fucking convenient 😵😵😵 ALSO THE AUDIO THEY AIRDROPPED TO ATINYS and now they posted on Twitter tooooo ahhhhh. Omg this guerilla marketing is so good, but I woke up to so much chaos CAN THEY DROP THINGS WHEN I'M AWAKE PLSSSS. I'll be working from 6pm KST, but I'll watch The Show on mute.

Also have you seen WooHwa exposing Hongjoong's long showers, Seonghwa was so happy he's not the odd one anymore when it comes to showers

I have two episodes of Why Her to see, I was waiting for them to drop but now I'm procrastinating, I played ep 7, but just didn't feel like watching. And I hate to say this, but HIY character annoys me even more, like he's cute, but I hate that he has the knight in the shining armour trope and nothing is really going on with them except that so far 😭😭😭😭 and the romance would be cute if it didn't feel forced.

Bestie why are you asking me, a Shitstar... I see some people want a Taehyung one, and like I said before: I can't be too greedy 😌

Baek in her BTS era now? The date question made me cringe so hard, bestie don't do this to meee, I don't want any of that. Also I GOT TAEHYUNG again I'm so tired of thissss - DV 💖

hello hi!!

Yesssss how does LSH know Minghao and Hoshi that was so unexpected 😭 I need to know. I know Ateez was busy, but Seonghwa YOU COULD'VE BEEN THERE TOO

RIGHT??? 😭😭😭 lsh horaanghae too fbwbddn NO EXACTLY SEONGHWA COULDVE BEEN THERE I THOUGHT SVT WAS UR FAVOURITE SUNBAES WHATS HAPPENING NOW 😭😭 my only hope is that they attend that award show IN person or if they do that video thing soohyuk would still see them in on the tv fbwndb crumbs minimal but crumbs

Miss don't know threaten me with an ugly flip flop because I'm telling the truth 🥰

FBWMDBMWDBWK I WILL USE THAT SANRIO ONE

no bestie the kids have school today ☺️☺️ i ain’t hear ONE kid screaming today 😮‍💨🤌🏼 heatwave gone its raining <33 fbsndbsn DREAM TAEYONG IS RED FLAG 😭😭 JRBWKDHSK LMFAOOOO UR DREAMS R SO WEIRD??? IM YELLING but i also remembered a dream i had in the morning where i was at a shop with my mother she didn’t like something so we ran ????? jdbwk manifesting seonghwa tn also not wooyoung wearing that cross necklace to the jeddah airport 😭😭 hope he takes it off fbfamdb

They have even weirder shoes they're crazy lsudmshdjshdhshshs yessss the scarf is really cute, I have some of their bags too ❤😭

KFBWKDHK PERFECT FOR COSPLAYING and furries

Lmao I'm always caught somewhere it's a disease 🤡 bestie come over here we have many more pride marches in different cities over the next few months

LMFAOOOO 😭😭😭 BESTIE MAKE WAY I AM COMING MAKE WAY SAVE ME A SPOT

WITCH SUPERNATURAL COMMENTARY look dylan is so fine <3 jcbsmdv NO FR HOWS THE SECKND ONE WORSE LIKE DIDNT U HEAR THE REVIEWS ON IT 😭😭😭

OH YEAH DEFFF HALATEEZ COMINGG its a conspiracy and we are living it,,, the way utopia lined up perfectly with their cb <3 chefs kisses and did u see seonghwa. 12pm KST about to be crazy everyday

Also have you seen WooHwa exposing Hongjoong's long showers, Seonghwa was so happy he's not the odd one anymore when it comes to showers

GDKWHDKWDHWK I WONDER IF HE HAS MEET GREETS IN THE SHOWER OR ITS A DIFF TYPE OF SHOWERS DBDB also seonghwa new piercings ?????

NAURRR DOES HE NOT HAVE A PROPER STORY?? just the saviour complex 😭😭🤚🏼🔫 romance was forced and everything is so fast paced right??? nAURRR TERRIBLE COMBO PLS

Bestie why are you asking me, a Shitstar... I see some people want a Taehyung one, and like I said before: I can't be too greedy 😌

we are doing mr park.

or my new acc where i drop mr kim <3

Baek in her BTS era now? The date question made me cringe so hard, bestie don't do this to meee, I don't want any of that. Also I GOT TAEHYUNG again I'm so tired of thissss - DV 💖

LMFAOOOO NAUR THOSE WERE THE ONLY NICER ONES THERE 😭😭😭 everything else we have already done <3 u fr a thv girlie bestie are u sure u don’t want mr kim

#✉️ : ask #dv 💖 anon

0 notes

kickmag · 3 years ago

Text

S.O. Discusses Heritage & Inspiration For Larry Ginni Crescent Album

S.O. took advantage of the pandemic like most artists and used the tim to get closer to his muse. In this instance that well of inspiration came from his young daughter who he wanted to make sure would be aware of her cultural roots as a child with parents from Ghana and Nigeria but now living in Texas after spending time in the UK. S.O.'s previous Augustine's Legacy from 2019 was harder and more stateside in its sound which contrasts the genial and worldly approach to the just released Larry Ginni Crescent album. The choice to delve into Afrobeats was a practical one because of the genre's mismatch of Black pop from around the globe. S.O. wanted to connect all of his family experiences in song as a musical playbook for his daughter's heritage. The album is like a sonic equivalent of honey and iron with its ambrosial melodies and words of gratitude and determination. In the following interview the rapper explains the how he planned the new music and the importance of knowing one's history.

"The first thing somebody thinks about Africa, one of the first things is the child who's hungry with the fly in their eye where I could take you to Lagos and this looks just like New York."

So I see that Larry Ginni Crescent is the name of the street you lived on during your childhood in Lagos, Nigeria. What are some of the things that you remember most about that time?

That's a very good question. Things that I remember is just the community aspect of it. So you know Larry Ginni when we got there we were like one of the few houses that were there. So as families started moving in and everybody kind of knew one another it's kind of picturesque.

If you think about the movie when they go to a neighbor and hey can I borrow some milk? And I brought some sugar or hey, I'm going out of town for a little bit can you make sure that the house has been you know like looked after. There's no strangers. I think that like a community aspect was like one of the main things.

I remember one time my neighbor's dog gave birth in our house and so we had the puppies at our house. I have fun memories. Dad, my mom, my sisters, you know, like all of this stuff you can think of, like growing up in Nigeria in Lagos in the early '90s at that time that's the stuff that I was experiencing.

Who was Larry Ginni Crescent?

I have no idea who he is. My assumption is that Larry Ginni is the first person to build a house in that area. I actually don't know. I'm going to ask my mom who is this guy? Crescent is the road that my house was on.

So the main thing that I'm hearing is the sense of community. How does this music reflect that feeling ?

I think that the music the intention of it is to get those who are in the diaspora. So like someone like me who was born in Nigeria raised in Nigeria and then moved to London and is now living in Texas like I'm part of the diaspora. So always, always having a sense of wanting to go back home wanting to connect to where I'm from you know what shaped me.

A lot of my friends are Nigerian. A lot of them are Ghanian and so we know what village we're from we know our village name so on and so forth but there's also like on the other end for my African-American brothers and sisters who like you know since being in America.

As I was creating the music I was thinkin how can I create songs? Sonically, maybe not topic-wise, but sonically that will at least encourage some of my brothers and sisters in the states to be like hey man let me go find out more about this Afrobeats sound or more about this language that you'll speak.

What is Yoruba? but what's Larry Ginni Crescent? Where is that? Can we go there? Like, you know what I mean? Like stuff like that. And so there was still that sense of community but it's more on a global scale trying to make people hearken back to where they're from so that they can appreciate it more because I was around when being African wasn't cool. I still remember that or the teacher will pronounce your name incorrectly and the kids would be laughing.

Why was it so important for you to get back to your African roots? And also, why did you make the choice to use the Afrobeats sound this time? listened to Augustine’s Legacy and it’s very different.

It's multi-layered man so I think another thing that happened is I had a child and I said I never want her to not know where she's from. So what can I do to ensure sh stays grounded and rooted in where she's from and the culture that raised her mom, raised her dad and will ultimately raise her as well. I had a kid and saw that I can't speak Yoruba all that well I need to go learn it so that I can teach my daughter or you know we,we do great with the food, the culture, the dress, all that stuff. But that language you know what I'm saying, the language is necessary, you know? And so like one of the ways I've tried to do that is like if I'm singing it on certain songs she can sing along with me. She can understand hey this sound this is from your dad's land. This picture that you see on the front cover of Larry Ginni Crescent this is your dad's and your sister and your auntie in their house in Lagos like we can I can literally take you to this place.

Like my, most of my friends are either immigrants or first generation so there's still that connection. People go home every year every other year twice a year. There's still that sense of hey we know where we're from how can we continue to pass this on to the next generation so that it doesn't get lost as they remain in the Western world?

Was your daughter born in Texas?

Yeah. She was born in America. She was born in Texas.

How long were you in the UK before you moved to the United States?

I just moved to America five years ago. As I started to do music a lot of my audience I start to realize was stateside and so between like 2011 and 2015 I was coming to America like every year, twice a year, so on and so forth. One day I was coming back into the states and you know if you have a bridge four hours across what you're allowed to come into the US on a visa waiver so you don't need a visa. I was perfectly legally coming in but then they detained me. They detained me and said hey don't come back until you have a proper work visa. And so when I acquired that work visa then and I just moved cause I know this is a place where the music is being consumed majority wise.And so this is a place that I need to kind of be to build and continue doing what I'm doing.

When did coming from Africa over here become cool, but first of all, what is the difference in how you were received over in the UK versus in the US?

I think because the majority Africans in the UK can trace exactly where they're from my one family member or two at the most that's different, right? Because the language is still being spoken to you. The cultural intricacies are still being that the food, the dress on us, like it's even down to the musicians right now in the UK. Most of the Black musicians are either African or Jamaican and they know exactly where they're from. They’re speaking the language and the music they’re intertwining it with the sound. So it's like in the UK to be African at least in this new era isn't anything to shy away from.

Me and my mum had the conversation all the time. I'm like yo like you know why did you move me and my sisters from Nigeria to the UK. Like, why didn't we just stay there? Why didn't we just remain as a family there and then come here and then go there. The reality of it is like there was this idea that the west America, UK and Europe was better both economically, financially, educational wise. And to a certain extent that is true. There is a level of truth in that but imagine what would have happened if we just remained where we were at and developed our countries.

So going back to the original question, it's like yeah. Knowing where you're from having that sense of connection with where you're from is a lot little easier to be connected in the UK as opposed to being in the US where, you know, like for the majority of the black experience the connection has been lost, right? But what I've tried to do since being here it's like how can I extend like some of my experience or my knowledge to people? One of the things I think is the easiest way to get people engaged is food.

What is the dish that always gets them?

Jollof Rice because they used to that I feel if you've eaten like Mexican food, they’re distant cousins is enough for that. Um, but then if you want to like go deep, deep, like pounded jam and spinach stew you could see like, sometimes we'll make some of that for people but yeah like food and music.

Are there other ways for African-Americans to connect to Africa?

It's difficult to acquire from someone sometimes. They didn't grow up in. So probably if I go to my African American family, like, Hey man, you should really go back and give back to where you come from. Like, bro, I don't come from that. And I can't fault them for that because they don't like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I can't be like, Hey man, you should really go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's everywhere. Just get on a plane. Let's just go to Ghana, Nigeria, like yo, because of everything they've seen on TV, because even though Black Panther is there, you still have the years of false information about the continent. That the content undeveloped the people live in bushes there you fight lions.

I can’t fault someone because of how media has portrayed Africa. Media has done a terrible job overall.

In more recent years they've been doing better, but overall they've done a terrible job at conveying Africa. The first thing somebody thinks about Africa one of the first things is the child who's hungry with the fly in their eye where I could take you to Lagos and this looks just like New York.

We already have shared experiences. We just call them different things. I'm going to the cookout in South Africa. That's a brie that's the same thing. Like, yo, I'm going to this it's the same. We have the same experiences. We just call them different things. And so he would go there and realize Hey, these people aren’t as different from me as I thought they would be it becomes a lot easier to be connected.

Did you see the parallel with rap music?

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that the rap music and Afrobeat. Like think there's music coming from struggle. Like music, like hip hop was just what, 40 something years old. I think it just turned 40 something. Yeah. 48 years. Music birthed from struggle to speak against what is going on that's what is being created that is what's being made. If we look at what Fela Kuti was doing with Afrobeat he wasn't just making you know songs about girls. And he was specifically speaking against the political powers that be and so like things like that. There was so much connectivity like so much parallel that you know if we just kind of like stop pitting one another against each other like oh, you're this, you're that? And I've been guilty of doing that too. We can learn from one another.

So were you saying earlier that now in 2021, it's easier to be African in America? Now what's going on that, like, when did you see it?

Wakanda Forever.

Black Panther. Did it?

Yeah. Black Panther. That was the straw that broke the camel's back in a good way. That was the one that made people go, yo. Okay, cool. What's this mean even though it's fiction. Even though it's not real people still felt like a level of connection. From that to the year of return in Ghana that was like a big thing. If you remember like in that Black Panther era people were wearing the dashikis to the suits to the movies.

And then I would also say like the influx of Afrobeats, um, like, especially in this go around, you've had like a first go around, but because of how the internet is now, it's a lot easier. Um, so easy to be like, Hey man, I want to listen to a Burna Boy song or who is Burna Boy. And how streaming has kind of helped level the playing field.

Artists can collaborate with other artists. I just saw Wizkid has a song with Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber is the biggest artist in the word. Afrobeats has also helped them play the part in that. And I'll say the internet has definitely made the world smaller so people can go and find out about other cultures without having to go and visit there.

What's the most personal song for you on this new project?

My most personal song I think is “Good to Me” is probabl the most personal song. This album is dedicated to my grandmother who passed away last year due to COVID. So like kind of looking at stuff like that seeing what's happening in the world you can easily lose faith. You could easily lose faith and be like, God, are you real? God, are you there? You know, so on and so forth. But once you kind of look at things from a different perspective, you start to realize even though my grandmother passed away. She was sick and my granddad passed like maybe two or three weeks after that. But they had been married for over 60 years. Great. They've had a wonderful life. Things of that nature where you could you could look at the negative but always having to look at the positive and say hey God you are good to me regardless of what's going on around the world. Because what would have been worse really is for her to pass away and then for him to still be alive now because he had dementia his health was depleting and so it was actually better for him to go than to remain on earth.

I look at things like that and I'm like good to me. That's my favorite song on the album. It just kind of like hones in that message in like just looking at my life and just thinking about where I came from and where I'm at now. Like there's no way I can’t say that God hasn’t been good to me.

I really liked “Prosper.”

“Prosper” is one of those songs where I probably be performing that for a long time., I think maybe like a week after I heard about my grandmother, I wasn't able to like, create anything, you know, like I just was like, man, what is going on in life? Like what is in the next verse just, you know, just kind of stuck with me. Like no weapon formed against you will prosper and thought this sounds like an anthem for people going through COVID going through, you know, life in general, like things that, that you don't even know will hit you. Like, Hey man, we could be singing this and this could be our jam together. Like as well as with dancing, like pray, no weapon formed against you will prosper.

We've been down so long. That was time to prosper. You know what I mean? Like, and, you know, as I was writing that, it just came to me. So yeah, that's it, that's the chorus right there.

You know, a great survival anthem.

You know, there you go.

Is that actually your wife and the video for “Kinda Love?”

That is her. She is no video vixen but she's beautiful. You know usually she's really like heavy hands on with like some of the design and things like that. So I had to get her involved. Love & Basketball references as well. You've got the basketball scene. If you see the Love & Basketball DVD cover they put the basketball up and they're both kissing. We recreated that scene. So we wanted to like show like iconic Black love.

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It just really feels like great music for the summer. Do you feel you conveyed what you were trying to do by bringing the Afrobeat ssound and having more of a sense of the diaspora. Do you feel like the music really expressed that?

Yeah, absolutely. Man. I think that the other I think it expresses, I think that the response has been that too. Yeah, I think that anything with melody always work, you know because it crosses generations. We went over to Maryland and I was playing, playing some of the songs like one of my aunts she was like I really like this. And I play one of the songs for one of my cousins who's like in his twenties and he’s ike yo, I'm really digging this. So generation to generation singing and melody always works always hits and you know no one can be like Hey what are you saying? because cause if the melody's catchy enough they’re going to remember it.

I think people are going to be playing this project be it if you're of the diaspora, even if you're not from the diaspora, like you're going to just enjoy good music with universal themes about love, faith, prospering and surviving.

And so, you know, I’ve got to ask you about your producers.

TBabz is a young producer from Nigeria. I think he produced three of the songs. Um, obviously he's produced Travis Greene and Da’ Truth but you know, I think with this project I was working with like one of my main producers name is GP he’s Grammy nominated.

He's produced the majority of my stuff from 2011. But with this one I was looking for like younger guys that can you know feel in tune with the sound that's going on in Nigeria and around the continent. That can pull me in and like school me on some stuff and help me like I think about the last song “Wonder.”

And that's very pianoesque and I've never made like piano before but TBabz was like yo check this song out watch how they're doing it. Like send me the vocals. I'll chop up your stuff. He was really instrumental and stuff like that. He's like super, super talented man.

I'm super excited for his future. Steve Rod who made your favorite song “Prosper” again I heard that song I was like yo, I need this beat. Like I need it don’t sell it. I just thought dope. Don't do anything. Just send it to me right now. I'm going to see GP that's my friend brother for life.

He produced three of the songs as well. It was just good to have that. Having the project mixed by one of the members from Team Salute who produced like probably one of the biggest Afrobeat songs, Adrugbar. He was supercritical, super pivotal in helping me, um, Like singing and the melodies and even like how I would do certain things like, Hey man, that's too wordy.

And you know, like I'm never the guy to be like, nice one to do it myself. I don't want, I don't want to create, I think it's just always good to create a community, even if it's a small community that you're able to like share stuff with share ideas and be like, yo, what you think? How can it be improved?

Are there any plans for any more visuals?

Yes. We have a visual for “Want You” that's dropping September 10th. I'm toying with either shooting a video for “Prosper” of “Corner (O Ti De)” but for sure September 10th for the “Want You” video. We have a few remixes we’re dropping to continue the momentum.

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